Texas Pride

by Gerry Bartlett

  “I do know a few guys who like straight razors.” Albert drained his third cup of coffee and signaled the waitress. “You say Shannon got loose first yesterday?”

  “Yeah. She tore her wrist on a nail getting her knot untied.” Billy managed a smile. “Can you believe it?”

  “I’m liking her more and more. But I think you have a problem, Bill. What are you going to do if your client is guilty?” Albert asked for the check.

  “Not sure. I don’t represent murderers, even if it was a mercy killing.” Billy grabbed the check. “This one is on me.”

  “Thanks.” Albert grinned. “I’ll keep digging. It would be too bad if Billingsley did take out his sugar mama. Let’s hope the Greenes did the deed and I can find the proof. Then you can get Rupert off with a clear conscience.”

  “Fingers crossed.” Billy pulled out a credit card. He stared at it. Hard to believe that the group taking him down hadn’t bothered to keep it and the three others in his wallet. But then credit cards made a paper trail. He dug through his wallet. Of course, they’d kept his cash. He added the tip to the credit card receipt then followed Albert out of the restaurant.

  “Any word on your plane?” Albert yawned and stretched.

  “Not yet. But I’m sure my uncle’s trackers will run it down.” They both turned when a pair of black SUVs with dark tinted windows drove in to the campground. “What do you bet this is the FBI?”

  “No bets on that.” They exchanged looks as men in dark suits got out of the two vehicles and slammed the doors. “I’ll leave you to your debriefing.” Albert ambled away, his steps faster as the men got closer to the restaurant.

  “Chicken.” Billy walked down the steps to meet the federal agents. The man in the lead pulled off his dark glasses and held out his hand.

  “William Pagan?” Of course, the man recognized him. They’d probably looked him up as soon as they’d been contacted about the incident. He was in data bases as a lawyer, a registered voter, hell, even as a man with a driver’s license in the state of Texas.

  “Yes.” Billy shook his hand. “You are?”

  The man introduced himself and his fellow agents. “We’re here about the people who shot down your plane. Got a call from a Jacob Johnson an hour ago. He found your plane hidden in the woods near a camp that must have belonged to that crew. You want to sit down with us and tell us about the incident?”

  “Did Jacob say whether they were still there? Or had they cleared out?”

  “No sign of life. Apparently, those folks took off as soon as they realized you and your companion had slipped away from them.” The agent gestured toward the Tribal headquarters. “Any chance we can find a room where we can talk? Away from the casino?”

  “Sure. Let’s go.” Billy led the way. He wasn’t surprised to be met by a couple of the reservation’s security guards at the door. When he explained what he wanted, they found a conference room for him and promised to inform the chief about the situation.

  “I’ve been told you’re a lawyer. Do I need to read you your rights?” The agent settled at the head of the table then pulled out a tablet and a pile of file folders.

  “I sure as hell hope not. I’m a witness and a victim. Haven’t done anything that would warrant a Miranda warning.” Billy sat at the opposite end of the table and felt his calm unravel. He took a steadying breath and looked the man in the eyes. “If this is going to become confrontational, I may need to bring in someone from the Tribe to counsel me.”

  “As to that, do what you want. I’m interested in why you were flying low enough to attract those people’s attention. Not that we’re upset about that. Sorry for your sake, and Ms. Calhoun’s of course, but rousting out this particular group, if they’re who we think they are, might be a good thing for us.” He pulled out photos from one of the file folders. “Look at these and tell me if you recognize anyone.”

  “They called themselves Exiles.” Billy studied the mug shots. Obviously, these people had been in trouble before. He pointed to a photo of the woman called Maggie.

  “I knew it! That’s Margaret Lioni.” He nodded and one of the agents got on his phone and left the room. “We’ve been after her and her followers for years. Anyone else?”

  Billy recognized a few others, including the woman’s brother and that asshole Will who’d held them at gunpoint. “I hope you catch them. But they seemed determined to stay off the grid.” He looked up. “Be careful. They’re well-armed.”

  “At least now we’ve got a fresh trail.” The agent gathered the photos and slid them back into the folder.

  “What’s their beef with the government? No one likes to pay taxes, but that doesn’t lead to armed camps and what looked like a militia to me.” Billy leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Obviously, they have records.”

  “Yeah. Margaret, or Maggie as she likes to be called, has been arrested a couple of times during protests. She interprets the Constitution to suit herself. The right to bear arms? She’d take an AK47 into a kindergarten class if she felt like it. You can imagine how that would go over after some of the school shootings we’ve had.”

  “Sounds certifiable. Acted like it too.” Billy knew he and Shannon had been lucky to escape.

  “But brilliant. Has her own law degree.” The agent typed on his tablet then settled back.

  “Tell me more about her group. She ranted about income tax.”

  “Yeah, that’s one of her hobby horses. The group calls itself Exiles because they claim to have seceded from the United States and say paying income tax is unconstitutional. Want their own country inside Texas which they say was taken away from Mexico illegally.” The agent frowned when one of his men rolled his eyes. “Oh, believe me, Maggie Lioni can quote you chapter and verse from history to back up this shit. But she’s a bloodthirsty bitch. Armed and extremely dangerous. Didn’t you think so, Mr. Pagan?”

  “Hell yes. She threatened to kill us. Said she’d done it before. That’s why we took our chances in the woods. First opportunity, we ran.” Billy looked around the table. All eyes were on him. “It was clear to me she didn’t want to leave any witnesses.”

  “You’re right. Group moves around frequently, just when we get a line on them. That clusterfuck her people caused when they shot down your plane meant they’d have to head out again. So you were on borrowed time. Good thing you got away.”

  “They chased us for miles. Shot at us too.” Billy reached for the pitcher of water in the center of the table, poured a glass then gulped it down, proud that his hand didn’t shake. But his insides were shaking. Shit. He and Shannon could have ended up in a shallow grave in those woods. That water sloshed in his stomach and he swallowed again. He was determined to keep it together in front of these men who took serious to a whole new level.

  “Why were you flying so low that they could shoot you down?” The head agent turned the tablet so Billy could see a map. “According to the scouts that found your plane, you were here.” He used his fingertips to enlarge a spot on the map. “That’s still miles from the reservation. There’s no landing field anywhere near here. You told your local airport that you were just going to fly over here and then come back to home base. Trip shouldn’t have lasted more than a couple of hours.”

  “That’s right. I flew low because I wanted to show the area to my lady. I spent many summers on the reservation, exploring the Big Thicket. I wanted Shannon to see how rough it was. I was taught survival skills in those woods when I was a kid. I got a text and let her take the wheel. Mistake, I admit it. The plane dipped and that’s when we were hit the first time.” He sounded like an idiot. Couldn’t be helped.

  “Really?” The agent just kept staring at him, waiting.

  “We weren’t that far from the reservation. It was just a buzz over what I thought was an uninhabited area. Then we were going to take a look at some Calhoun oil wells on reservation prop
erty. We had a map with us, binoculars, and a camera with a telephoto lens. Shannon works in marketing and public relations for the company. Thought maybe photos might be good in a brochure someday. But that paraphernalia made the people who shot us down suspicious. Thought we had to be government agents, spying on them.”

  “That was a tough break. But you obviously handled yourselves well to get away.” The agent smiled. “Those survival skills came in handy.” His phone buzzed and he listened for a moment. “We’ve got tread marks that gave us the type of vehicles they’re driving. And they don’t have much of a head start. How many people did you see in the compound, what kinds of weapons?” The agent tossed more questions at Billy.

  He spent the next hour answering with as much detail as he could. They wanted to question Shannon too but decided that could wait since they were happy with the information Billy had given them and eager to get in on the chase. When another call came in, they left.

  Feeling drained, Billy finally got out of the conference room. He’d had to turn off his cell phone when he walked into that room. Now, when he turned it on, he saw texts from Shannon and a call from the chief. Before he could do anything about either of those, Daniel stopped him in the hall.

  “Chief wants to see you.”

  “I left Shannon in the cabin with no way to get breakfast.” Billy wanted to at least send her a quick text.

  “I sent someone over there with food an hour ago.” Daniel smiled and gestured toward the chief’s office. “He’s waiting. It’s important.”

  “All right. And thanks for taking care of Shannon. I was trapped in there.” He sent her a quick text saying he’d be there soon.

  “I figured.” Daniel followed him into the office.

  Billy took a breath. The Chief looked solemn and had a pile of papers in front of him. “Yes, sir? Sorry if you had to wait for me.”

  “I hope the FBI was satisfied with your report.”

  “They had to be. I told them all I knew. Jacob and his trackers ran the location down pretty quick.” Billy sat when the chief gestured.

  “Yes. They did a good job. They say your plane looks in decent shape. Of course, it has bullet holes, a busted fuel tank, and will need repairs. But the big problem will be getting it out of there. The roads are too narrow to haul it out on a flatbed truck.” He frowned. “Unless you take the wings off. An expensive proposition.”

  “I’ll leave that to an insurance adjuster. I’ll call them later.” Billy really couldn’t get too excited about stuff like that now. He was still shaken by the idea that he and Shannon had had such a close call.

  “I had Daniel pull our records on the Calhoun oil wells. You reminded me about our dealings with Conrad Calhoun. I should have said something last night to Ms. Shannon.” The chief picked up a paper and passed it across the desk. “Take a look.”

  “What is it?” Billy got up and took it. “An agreement? With Calhoun Oil. This is dated two years ago.”

  “Yes. We have an agreement that should explain your numbers. Our lawyer here drafted it and you can see that Conrad Calhoun signed it. Right after we got permission for the casino, I had to find financing to build the casino and to enhance the grounds around it. We knew we had to make the entire experience here look inviting. It would be expensive.” The chief tented his fingers. “Income has always been an issue for the tribe and tourism at the campgrounds doesn’t bring in enough to sustain the programs we wish to provide for our people. What did provide a steady cash flow were our oil wells. Though the price of oil has declined in recent years.”

  “So you thought about asking for more wells to be drilled.” Billy could see that the contract was favorable to Calhoun. If his uncle had brought it to him, he’d have tried to get better terms. He glanced at his cousin Daniel, the accountant. “What did you think about this?”

  “I advised against it. There weren’t enough safeguards there to keep wells from being drilled where we might not want them. You know we have lands we wish to remain untouched because of the wildlife and the lake. Oil drilling is noisy, messy, and not always kind to the environment.” Daniel glanced at the chief. “But Conrad Calhoun offered to advance us the money we needed with little interest. The best part, as you can see, was that he would take payments out of future royalties, which he has done. The new wells are near the old and so far have not caused any problems that we can’t live with. The price of oil is coming up, so we are able to pay back the loan faster than we anticipated.”

  Billy felt one worry fall off his shoulders. “Then any discrepancies in the paperwork on the Calhoun end might be because Conrad didn’t file the paperwork at Calhoun headquarters or tell anyone how he’d handled this.”

  “He liked to make deals on his own. He grumbled about having a board of directors that tried to tie his hands.” The chief frowned. “I knew how he felt. I have the Tribal Council looking over my shoulder. Budget, always budget.” He threw a pen across his desk.

  “Billy doesn’t want to hear about our issues, Chief.” Daniel got to his feet. “Remember, he has just survived a plane crash and a rough time in the woods. He’s a city dweller. I’m sure this has taken its toll.”

  “Yes, this has been a hard twenty-four hours. And I’m anxious to get back to the cabin and check on Shannon.”

  “Of course. You will wish to go home soon, I’m sure.” The chief stood and walked around the desk. “I understand.”

  “I have clients in Houston to deal with, and I know Shannon is anxious to get home too.” Billy shook hands with the two men. “I’m glad things seem to be going well here. The casino, the grounds, everything looks good. I hope you will consider the advertising Shannon mentioned. For the restaurant. I had two excellent meals there.”

  “It will be done.” The chief nodded to Daniel. “Tell Shannon that I remember her father well. It is thanks to Conrad Calhoun that we were able to open and become successful here so quickly.” He sat behind his desk again. “Tell the person checking the numbers at the oil company that we will continue to pay off our loan the way it was arranged. I can e-mail you a copy of this contract if you need it.” The chief opened his laptop.

  “Please do. I don’t think Conrad turned one in at Calhoun headquarters.” Billy couldn’t wait to tell Shannon and Ethan that this time their father hadn’t pulled a fast one.

  “One of our security people will drive you home. In about an hour?” Daniel walked him out to the golf cart.

  “Thanks. That’s perfect.” Billy looked around and saw that the casino was still going strong. The rumble of big motors warned him a moment before the Blue Star Brotherhood came roaring down the road out of the woods where the cabins were located. They didn’t stop, just drove past. Many of the men saluted him before they were down the road and out of sight.

  “Friends of yours?” Daniel looked amused.

  “Yes. Be glad. I think they dropped some serious cash here last night.” Billy settled into the golf cart. “What do you think about the casino business?”

  “It helps where we need income. I can say no more.”

  “And if someone has a gambling problem?” Billy realized there was still one motorcycle parked in front of the casino. Was it Simon?

  “We post signs with telephone numbers for a helpline.” Daniel was clearly uncomfortable with the subject.

  “I guess that’s all you can do.” None of his business. “I’ll be in touch. Tell Jacob thanks for tracking down my plane. I’ll call him later and thank him personally.” He took off, eager to see Shannon. His phone buzzed. He had a text from Mai. Shit. Court later today. They needed to get back to town in a hurry.

  * * * *

  “Are you and Billy taking a break? After what you went through together?” Cassidy had invited her out to lunch and Shannon had been happy to take her new sister up on the invitation.

  “Not exactly a break. He’s had a busy s
chedule the past three weeks. He has a big client list plus his aunt has a court date coming up. Then I needed to get work done here.” Shannon heard herself making excuses. She twisted her napkin. “Honestly, Cass, he doesn’t sleep. When I stay over there, I don’t get any rest.” She ignored Cass’s raised eyebrows.” Oh, come on, you know what I mean. Billy takes insomnia to a whole new level. Sometimes I just need a good night’s sleep. You know?”

  “I certainly do.” Cass flushed. “Mason won’t let me out of his sight when we’re not at work, even though… Well, I’m not in danger now but he likes me next to him. Every night. Sometimes I wish I could have my own bedroom again.” She sighed. “But I’m getting used to sharing a bed. And enjoying it.” She picked up her water glass. “You and Billy aren’t at that point?”

  “We haven’t broken up or anything.” Shannon played with her wine glass. She’d automatically ordered a glass with lunch. Bad habit. Now she finished it then shook her head when the waiter asked if she wanted another. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t keep drinking. Billy wasn’t here and he wouldn’t know. But she would. If only this vague craving would go away.

  “I’d think that harrowing experience in the woods would have brought you two closer.” Cass toyed with her salad. “You made Billy sound like a hero when you were telling me about it.”

  “He was. I didn’t exaggerate the things he did. But then later that night we had a long talk. About our breakup back in college. It opened old wounds for him.” Shannon pushed her plate away. She wasn’t about to tell Cass about the drinking issue. It was nice to have someone in her life who didn’t know what a lush she’d been most of her adult life. “I dumped him in the worst way possible back then. He hasn’t forgotten.”

  “But he still wants you. I’ve seen you two together. He can’t take his eyes off you.” Cass pointed her fork at Shannon’s bracelet. “He gave you that. I think that means almost as much as a ring.” She waved her own ring finger with the large diamond on it. “Okay, maybe not as much.” She smiled.