“I do not want to consume a pig which lives in filth,” he said. “Pigs are filthy animals, but it must have clean water and clean food. If not, the meat too shall be unclean.”
It did not take long to find a small home, with three healthy hogs. The sty was clean and the pigs could not be smelled from a mile up the road. A small child came outside with a green plastic bucket filled with fresh water. A young woman followed behind him with a container of scraps to feed the animals.
“Buenas, Señor Delgado,” she said.
“Buenas Señora Martel, I am interested in purchasing one of your pigs. Which one is for sale?” Eduardo asked.
“You take your pick Señor Delgado and I will give it to you,” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
“No, I shall buy it. That one over there,” he said.
“Sí, Señor,” she said as she went to get a rope.
“I shall rent your cart there to transport it to my home. It will be returned in the morning,” he said, never dismounting the horse.
Carlos jumped down, pulling the pig towards the cart, securing the animal inside, then tying the ropes of the cart to his horse. From his pocket he pulled six gold coins, handing them to the woman. He was back on his horse in less than five minutes.
“Four gold coins for the pig, and two for the use of the cart,” Eduardo said, turning his horse for home.
Saxton watched the exchange. The woman was offering him more than just the pigs. Eduardo took no interest in her other than what he’d come to purchase. He paid for what he needed. He did not take anything more.
“Señor Delgado,” she called after him. “Two men arrived in our village last night with weapons.”
“I spotted them on my way in,” he told her. “We must defend and protect our way of life from outsiders.”
“I will relay the message Señor,” she said.
“Good day Señora Martel,” he told her.
Connard looked around. He didn’t see anyone.
Saxton said, “In the first village Connard, there were two men next to the small white house. They wore boots. No one in the villages wears boots.”
“Oh,” Connard said. “But in this village?”
“The two men in the sarapes, with the caps,” Saxton said. “The caps don’t fit.”
Carlos was frowning. “I saw those dudes! I thought maybe they had went into Bogotá on vacation or something!”
Eduardo stopped his horse, turning to face his younger brother. “For this, I pay a king’s ransom for your education in America?”
“What?” Carlos said. “I liked their hats.”
The Czar said nothing as he turned his horse once more heading towards the homestead.
Carlos called out to his brother. “Hey Eddie, do we have a signal or something when we see them coming at us? You know...”
It was the look on Eduardo’s face which made Carlos stop talking. “If you say we should use the caw caw as a signal, I will shoot you right here. Right now,” he said deadpan.
Carlos poked out his bottom lip. The homestead was coming into view over the hill. A small voice could be heard whispering behind the riders, “caw caw...caw...caw.”
Bobby Ray started to laugh. “You two are as different as Saxton and Connard,” he told Eduardo.
“My brother is spoiled. He reaps the benefits, but does not understand the labor which is required to make the money,” he said.
“I understand it just fine. If I don’t have to do it right now, then why stress myself,” he said with a grin.
“Knowing how and thinking you know how are two different things little brother. It takes years to hone a skill. You will not wake up one day and understand how to maintain a farm or run a billion-dollar oil company, or manage a working ranch. These men have spent years, as have I, to learn and improve on our skills. To be a man of worth and power, you too must understand this,” he told Carlos.
“Yeah, whatever. When the time comes you will teach me,” Carlos said.
“And what happens when my time is over and you have not stepped forward to learn anything?” Eduardo said quietly as they came up the hill to the home. “I will not live forever. I cannot take care of you forever.”
The silence escorted them all to the barn as each man pondered the legacy they would leave should their lives come to an abrupt end.
Chapter Sixteen – Tea, Taint and Tales...
Saturday– Las Tierras
The men returned, working on the patio, readying the pit for roasting the pig. Big Sarge was happy to get outside and away from all the women who had gathered in the living room for tea. Austin and Robbie crawled around the floor, while Isabella lay in the bassinette curiously watching the mobile go around.
Odessa broke the comfortable silence, “I will admit Ry, that at first I didn’t get it. I was also really mad at you about marrying him, but after last night, I knew.”
“Knew what?” Ryanne said.
“He sang to you that night you left the ranch to meet him,” she said with her lip twisted.
Ryanne blushed deeply, trying to hide her embarrassment from her mother.
Dora spoke up, “Girl please. If he had sung to me like he did last night, I would have come home pregnant too!”
“Girl, that beautiful baritone had me all squishy inside and feeling some kind of way last night,” Jason said, crossing his legs, showing off a Manolo Bhlanik baby doll shoe.
Grandma Patsy said, “I know I can’t have any babies, but I wouldn’t kick him out of bed for trying!”
“Mama!” Lucy exclaimed.
“What? I am old, I ain’t dead. That is a fine man Ryanne, and he ate my chili without flinching,” she said with a nod of her grey head. “I will welcome him home any night!”
“I just threw up a little in my mouth Grandma,” Belva said touching her hair. Mary Jean forced a change in conversation as she entered the living room, walking stiffly as if she had ridden a very large horse.
“What happened to you?” Sue Ella asked.
Mary Jean pressed her lips together.
“Oooh,” Belva said. “You went for a ride on the bucking bull?”
“What bull?” Dora asked.
“Tonda,” Belva said pointing at her.
“Don’t be throwing salty shade over here Belva Blakemore, I saw someone toe-tipping out of your room last too,” Mary Jean said.
Belva turned her head away as Dora, Ryanne and Odessa stared at Mary Jean waiting for an explanation. Mary Jean didn’t care what they thought or believed. Her night with the big man was worth every aching sore muscle she had.
“Kevin Jr. and I have an open relationship. He was also otherwise engaged last night,” she said to his mother and sisters, raising her eyebrow.
“You girls and your bad choices,” Grandma Patsy said.
Belva leaned forward, taking a sugar cube for her tea cup. “At the time Grandma, the choices don’t seem or feel bad. The heart tells us that in this moment that is the right man. It is the right time and life is to be lived. We just wake up months later after we have compromised, overlooked and made excuses for all the wrong things feeling stupid. It happens. I can attest to this first hand. It cost me a great deal,” she said with a sorrowful smile.
“No one ever talks about your life and what happened to you Belva. May I ask why, if you don’t mind sharing with us,” Odessa said.
“I loved the wrong man. Young, dumb, thinking I was in love, I ran off and married him. He thought Daddy was going to welcome him into the family with open arms,” she said looking over at Jason. “Bobby Ray Blakemore don’t play when it comes to his kids. Especially if someone is trying to use one of them for personal gain. My husband tried and he got nothing. So the stupid man thought if he knocked me up, then the Blakemore heir would be welcomed home. Nope.”
She said all of these things with a straight face.
“Daddy left me in that single wide trailer in a rough part of town to live with the idiotic choice I married.
Each day, each month that my belly got bigger, and Daddy didn’t show up to move us out of that trailer park to the Busy B, hubby became more pissed. He started taking it out on me. Finally, he beat me so bad, that I had to make the call. I called Saxton,” she said.
Lucy’s eyes teared up as Patsy lowered her head.
“I knew I couldn’t call Daddy because he would have killed him. I don’t know if Saxton did or not. Most of it is a blank to me. I just remember my brother walking in and seeing me bleeding. I came to in the hospital,” she gulped loudly. “The damage was too severe. I lost that child and the right to bear any others. I can’t have children, which is why Austin inherits the Busy B and not me.”
She shrugged. “I am okay with it. It was my fault, but I am happy. I went back to college and fell in love with history. I traveled the world studying historical landmarks and understanding the roles children played in developing societies. After three years, some fancy lawyer in a suit brought me divorce papers. I came back to the US, started graduate school, earned a doctorate, taught at the collegiate level, and now, I am the head of Philanthropy at Blakemore Oil focusing on taking care of the children of the world. I have a good life.”
“What about love?” Ryanne asked.
Belva’s cheeks pinked up. “It has found its way back to me.”
“Do tell,” Dora said leaning forward.
“Yes, tell us who was sneaking out of your room last night,” Sue Ella asked.
“Not yet,” Belva responded. “It is new, and I am unsure of myself in the relationship. I will let everyone know when it gets more serious.”
Jason threw his napkin at her, “Tease! Ain’t that many single men here and it sure as hell wasn’t me!”
The room exploded in laughter.
Outside Big Sarge saw no laughing matter. The pig, tricked into thinking he was going to have a lavish life, was massaged as he ate a hearty helping of scraps from last night’s feast. He watched his son-in-law use the air gun to blast a fast death into the animal’s brain, dropping it to the ground. Bobby Ray and Dusty wrapped the rope about its hind legs as Eduardo made the call to pull.
Three men dragged the rope as the animal was hoisted upwards, its snout pointing towards the ground. Yuńior, carrying a large metal bucket, placed it under the pig’s mouth. Eduardo requested a moment of prayer for thanksgiving and the blessing of the bounty. Just as Big Sarge began to think his son-in-law was not so bad after all, he spotted the largest knife he had ever seen in his life. The knife slipped into the pig’s gut and Eduardo pulled hard, slicing the animal from the tooter to the rooter. Blood guts, taint, and everything else oozed, poured or plopped out.
Kevin Jr. started to gag.
Carlos was sweating hard and Roget covered his good eye.
“Shiiiiit man, couldn’t you just go to the grocery store and pick up a nicely packaged and wrapped rack of ribs and a ham?” Roget asked.
“Do you see a grocery store anywhere Roget? Besides, we shall feast upon fresh meat,” Eduardo said.
“I know man, but I don’t want to eat that...fresh...like right now...” he started to say, but was interrupted by Saxton.
“Get down!” Saxton yelled as he spotted the red dot on the pink pig’s flesh. A silent thud went into the meat. “Move!” he commanded as lowered heads ran toward the house scrambling to safety. He was the last inside.
“’Dessa!” he called out. “On me!”
She knew the command.
She knew the timber of his voice.
She knew the call to arms and that danger was near.
Saxton had left the homestead this morning for a ride, but Agent Blakemore had come inside the house. They were coming under fire and bad men were headed their way. From the diaper bag she grabbed her piece, seated a round in the chamber and took the safety off. Saxton’s back up piece was also in the diaper bag under a towel.
“Down,” she yelled to the ladies. “Move towards the kitchen. Get those babies out of here!”
The sound of scurrying feet moving across the wooden floor headed to Eduardo’s office could be heard.
“You know where to hide, get going,” Odessa commanded the ladies.
Eduardo stopped and watched the transformation from mild mannered wife and mom to a woman ready to fight. Saxton moved with speed and agility as he ran across the open floor, Odessa tossing a weapon at him. He caught it in midair and never missed a step.
“Fucking beautiful,” Eduardo said. The idea of seeing the Blakemores in action was physically exciting him. So many times they had thwarted his efforts to kill them. So many times they had busted up Mateo’s operations, taking minimal lives, but effectively ending several dark receptacles of human trafficking. Today, he would see the Blakemores in action. He found himself smiling when he joined the others in his weapons room.
“So what is the plan?” Eduardo asked Saxton.
Everyone looked at Eduardo, then at the former agent.
Saxton asked, “Why is everyone looking at me?”
Eduardo said, “Because no one is better at being the tough shoot’ em up cowboy than you. Do what you do. It is time to go to work Agent Blakemore.”
He inhaled, doing a quick assessment of his team. Dusty only had one hand. Roget only had one eye. Big Sarge only one good leg. Kevin Jr. couldn’t shoot skee ball. He didn’t know what Carlos could do, and his dad was hellahandy with a shot gun and Connard was a skilled marksman. Jason was also standing inside the room, adorned in a bright pink shirt.
“I can fight, I want to help too,” he said with his bottom lip poked out. A bullet came through the glass, breaking the mahogany wainscoting, splintering the wood. Everyone ducked but Jason. Bobby Ray was the closest to him as Jason screamed like a scene from Home Alone.
“Get your candy ass down on the floor,” Bobby Ray yelled, yanking him down to the ground.
“Let’s take the fight to them,” Saxton said. He scooted into the closet grabbing two grenade launchers handing one to Kevin Jr. and one to Carlos. “The fight stays outside, we do not allow them into the house with the women. You two, use these; aim, point, and blow up the grounds, not the buildings. We do not want to kill off any livestock.”
He looked at his Uncle and Big Sarge. Shotguns with shells were distributed to the two of them. “You two find cover at the front and rear entrance. Let them get close before you shoot,” he said.
Saxton looked at Roget, he was compromised with only one good eye, but needed as well. “Roget, you’re on ammo. Stay low, keep us fueled up, but watch your six,” he said with care.
Jason popped back up on his feet. “I can fight too Saxton. Don’t leave me out. I am still a man and capable of self-defense,” he said to Saxton, but was looking at Connard.
“Fine,” Saxton said, handing him a machete. “If anything comes through those patio doors, you start slicing.”
“Ooohh!” Jason yelled as he tried to lift the machete, but only ended up nicking the wood floor from the weight of the blade as the tip dropped with a thud. Saxton took the machete and replaced it with a pair of scissors from Eduardo’s desk. “On second thought, if they make it through the patio doors, scream and run towards the kitchen, okay?” He took the scissors and faced the pointy end outwards. He didn’t look at his brother or Jason as he continued to move towards the door.
“Connard, Eduardo, Daddy and I will head outside. Each of us take a corner of the house. Blow out knee caps and drop them where they stand,” he said.
“Odessa, anything gets past us and into this house, you know what to do,” he slid a bag towards her filled with weapons. “Arm anyone that can shoot.”
“Got it Saxton,” she said.
“And baby...,” he said as she turned to face him. “I don’t want any additional holes in you that would ruin my breakfast in the morning.”
She gave a slight salute and took off to the kitchen.
“On my count, we move. Only end a life if necessary. Kevin Jr., don’t get kidnapped,” he sai
d. “On three....one, two and three...”
The men scattered.
Yuńior had a weapon in his hand and Eduardo pulled him back. “Find Mara. Have her and Sue Ella take all the babies to Margherit’s through the tunnels. You get back to the house and stay close to Ryanne!”
“Sí Papa,” he said, crawling low, to the kitchen.
Instructions in head, heartbeat in mouth, each man moving toward their posts. Whoever had taken it upon themselves to come for Eduardo Delgado was in for a world of surprise. The attack was not going to end as they had hoped.
It wasn’t even going to be close.
Chapter Seventeen – A day of reckoning...
Looking back on it days later, a shudder ran through Odessa as she thought of all that had occurred. There were at least a hundred of them to the mere twenty people in Eduardo’s home. Even at one point when it seemed the bleakest, everyone dug in, and fought harder. It was like fighting a hydra. If one head as removed, another popped up.
Five men came from behind the barn. It was an intentional open field between the building and the main house. Green camouflaged clad men tip toed from their hiding place, making it to the open field only to have Carlos send a grenade in front of them blowing all five in different directions. The bodies scattered through the air like fireworks from a stationary position.
Three times the men rushed the house, coming up to the front door, meeting a rather large shot gun manned by Big Sarge.
“Come and get some of this muther...,” Big Sarge said squeezing off a round, wounding a man who tumbled down the front stairs. The same action was repeated three more times as bodies rolled down the steps. More men came, more men rolled down the steps from the shotgun blasts.
Connard was on the move. Guarding the back corner of the house. He shot several times, nicking, but not fatally wounding anyone. He laid down a suppressive fire as his father moved from one location to a better vantage point, firing at on comers, but careful not to waste any bullets.
A Weekend with the Blakemores (The Blakemore Files Book 8) Page 13
