Dark Titan Journey: Wilderness Travel (21 page)

Nathan’s pulse quickened and a cough stuck in his throat. “What, and give me a heart attack?”

“From the grotesque shock,” Jasmine giggled.

Nathan stared at her. “Woman, you are so hot you can walk by a block of ice and melt it. You’re so fine men fight over drinking your bath water,”

“Wow,” Jasmine said, grinning. “Thank you.”

“Just saying,” Nathan said. They could hear everyone around them whispering. With the ear buds, they could hear what they were all saying. The kids were talking about the riders and Howard’s family was talking about seeing their family. Jasmine wrapped her other arm around Nathan’s waist. She smiled when he didn’t move away. All the kids crawled over to them, forming a circle.

“Hey Nathan,” John said. “Why did we lie in the woods so long after the horses passed by?” he asked.

“I heard you five talking about that. You all came up with good reasons. Those horses were running like they were being chased. I didn’t want to get out on the road and get caught up in some people looking for revenge,” Nathan said.

“Damn, I didn’t think about that,” Amanda said, hitting her leg.

“They could have come back to check their trail. That was good insight you had,” Nathan said.

“You heard that?” Amanda asked.

“Yes, and the other words you threw in there as well,” Nathan said with a frown.

Amanda grinned, “I didn’t like them.”

“We don’t know them or what happened, so don’t judge until you get information,” Nathan said.

“You judge people all the time without information,” Amanda shot back.

Letting out a long sigh, Nathan said, “Amanda, I’ve been a cop and a nurse for a long time. I can usually judge a person’s character just from body language and their expressions.”

“Did you like the riders?” she asked.

“No, they were assholes,” Nathan answered.

“That’s what I thought,” she complained.

“A gut feeling is something to go on but you need to get a little more life experience to develop it,” Nathan said.

“So I can’t dislike somebody if my gut tells me they’re bad?” Amanda asked.

“I didn’t say that. It’s true, your gut is sometimes right, but don’t start ‘cranking a gat’ on people because of it,” Nathan said, and everyone giggled. “Okay, it’s test time.” Nathan started asking questions about what he had taught them so far.

Chapter 15

Day 20

Everyone was eating and being quizzed as dawn broke over the horizon. When Nathan stood up everyone else did as well, and they all checked around the area. With everything collected they followed Nathan across the field to the road. In less than an hour Nathan stopped the group.

“Howard, I think you and your family need to lead us in,” Nathan said.

“I was going to suggest that,” Howard said, and started down the road.

It didn’t take long before Howard turned off the road and down a long driveway. Up ahead the group saw the group of buildings. Nathan was shocked at the size of the house with, its massive columns on the front porch. The house was a giant antebellum plantation house. Nathan had seen it was big from the satellite photos but only from the roof. The barn on the other side of the ‘yard’ was even bigger. The ‘yard’ was over forty acres.

“Holy shit, Howard!” Nathan cried out. “That isn’t a house, it’s a hotel!”

Howard and his family laughed. “You could say that. It’s been in the family for over two hundred years. It has fourteen bedrooms and nine bathrooms. The first construction was in 1799,” Howard said with some pride. “When my granddad was a kid they updated it with electricity and water.”

“Shit,” was all Nathan could say.

Nathan could see movement at the house, but they were half a mile away so he couldn’t tell what the people were doing. Suddenly a squad car came toward them from the house. Oddly, it was a black and white 1957 Chevy, complete with a fish bowl light and two silver sirens on the hood.

“That car is a work of art,” Nathan said as it stopped in front of them and two older men with guns jumped out.

The men never aimed the guns at the group as they froze. Then the one on the passenger side cried out, “Howard!” and ran to Howard, followed by the other.

Nathan and his group stopped as Howard’s family ran to the two old men. Everyone was crying as they hugged. Nathan looked down the road and saw more people running toward them. Ten more people ran up and joined the hug as Nathan and his group moved closer together, watching the reunion.

It was a full ten minutes before Howard turned around with tears on his face. “Dad, this is the man that saved my family, Nathan Owens.” Howard led his dad to Nathan. “Nathan, this is my dad, Bob Mans.”

Nathan held out his hand but Bob dove at Nathan and wrapped his arms around him, squeezing the air out of his lungs. “Whatever you need, tell me. I’m indebted to you for life,” Bob cried into Nathan’s shoulder.

Nathan returned the hug, hoping the old man would quit squeezing so hard. “No sir, it was my pleasure.”

Bob let go and Nathan sucked down a lungful of air. The old farmer had one hell of a bear hug. “Nathan, thank you seems kind of poor, but I’m serious. Tell me what you need,” Bob said.

“A place to sleep and a little grub would be nice,” Nathan said as Emma let out a loud screech. Looking over his shoulder, Nathan saw Emma standing up. “You can get out, you do it all the time,” Nathan told her. Emma just extended her arms and open and closed her hands to be picked up.

Complying with to order, Nathan picked her up and kissed her cheek making her giggle. He turned to Bob, “You have a shock collar that would fit her?” Nathan asked.

Bob let out a loud laugh. “I don’t think they make ‘em that small.”

Out of nowhere a gray-haired woman flew at Nathan and wrapped her arms around him. She cried into his chest as she squeezed him. Nathan was just thankful she didn’t have Bob’s strength. “Nathan, this is my wife Mindy,” Bob said as Mindy let go.

“Let’s get you to the house and get some food in ya,” she said, stroking Emma’s cheek.

“Sounds good,” Nathan said as Bob went down the line hugging each person in Nathan’s group.

Two men took the harnesses from Tom and John and pulled the wagon to the house. As the group moved up to the house Nathan was becoming more impressed as the house kept growing, or maybe he was shrinking. When they reached the house more people were there waiting and lots of hugs and tears were shared.

Nathan pointed at the porch and his group dropped their packs. The kids sat down in the rocking chairs that lined the porch. Nathan turned around and surveyed the barn and the field that was to the front of the house. “Jasmine, stay here. I’m going to walk around.” He handed Emma to her. Emma let Nathan know she wanted to go with him.

Stepping off the porch, Nathan called Ares to follow, as the Mans family was still celebrating the return of Howard and his family. Nathan was beyond shocked at the size of the metal barn. He had seen smaller aircraft hangers. Walking in through the front sliding door, Nathan stopped staring at a combine, a massive tractor, two little tractors and backhoe. Even with all this equipment there was still room for more. Nathan noticed several rooms in the back, but he didn’t go in them. Seeing stairs Nathan went upstairs to the loft and was stunned at the stacks of bales of hay. Moving to the front he looked out the loft door that faced the road. Looking down, he stepped back from the edge; the ground was forty feet away.

Being a typical guy, Nathan thought the barn was too cool. Upon heading back downstairs Nathan laughed at the chicken coop. He had a chicken coop! Bob had a chicken operation! Nathan guessed there were over two hundred chickens there. Nathan’s nose told him where the pigs were. He continued exploring and stopped at the horse corral. There were over a dozen horses, and they all looked great. There was a massive Belgium that Nathan liked.

The horse all came over to check him out and Nathan petted and stroked their necks. Hearing barking behind him, Nathan spun around to see Ares bouncing around a billy goat. The billy was pretty damn big, with a full, thick curl of horn. He just chewed his cud as Ares barked at him.

“Ares, you keep that up and he’s going to pop you,” Nathan warned. Ares stopped barking, looking from Nathan to the goat. “Come here before you get in trouble,” Nathan said, tapping his leg.

Ares bounded over, panting. Nathan patted his back and continued his exploration. It was over an hour later that Bob and another man found Nathan in the greenhouse. “How do you like the set up?” Bob asked.

“Set up? This is a paradise,” Nathan said.

Bob laughed as he pointed to the man coming behind him. “Nathan, this is my brother Rodger. He’s the sheriff.” Rodger wrapped his arms around Nathan. Thankfully, Nathan had taken a deep breath before this, because Rodger was just as strong as his brother.

When Rodger let Nathan go Nathan had little circling lights in his vision. “I’m grateful for what you did for Howard,” Rodger said. “Not many would do that.”

“Well sir I thought I could help so I did,” Nathan said when he was able to breathe. Looking at his watch, he saw he had been gone for almost two hours. “How’s my group doing?”

“They’re asleep on the porch,” Bob said. “Except the little one. Emma, right?”

“Yeah. I should’ve known,” Nathan said. “Let me go get her.”

“My wife has her and they’re in the kitchen. Let Emma stay there for a bit. We don’t have grandbabies that little anymore,” Bob said.

Nathan nodded. “Okay, but if Mindy gets driven mad it’s on you.”

“She is a good little girl. When my daughter was that size I wanted to take her to the preacher and get the devil thrown out,” Bob said.

“Never thought about that,” Nathan said, more to himself than Bob. Both Bob and Rodger busted out laughing.

Rodger wiped his eyes. “Howard told us how you came by your group. I have to say I’m pleased to know ya.”

“Just trying to help without getting killed,” Nathan replied. “Did Howard tell you about the gunfire we heard last night?”

“Yeah. We heard it here as well. The Kirby family tried to hit a farm to the south of here. The farm lost one and the Kirbys lost two that we know of,” Rodger answered.

Bob led them out of the greenhouse and turned to Nathan. “What do you think of the set up?” he asked.

“I told you it’s paradise,” Nathan said.

“What about security? Howard said you were real good on that,” Bob said.

“You want me to be honest or blow smoke up your ass?” Nathan asked, shocking Bob.

“You don’t think we’re secure?” Bob asked with a worried tone.

“No sir,” Nathan said. “It wouldn’t take much for a determined enemy to take you.”

“How so?” Rodger asked.

Nathan pointed to the fence that surrounded the yard. “You only have one fence to break up an assault. You need another one halfway to the house, and you need to put the barbed wire closer together so your enemy has to climb over and you can shoot his ass. You don’t have anyone watching the back where the woods run right up to the fence. You need to cut those trees back about twenty yards. They give the attacker something to hide behind so he can shoot at you. You need multiple gates along the driveway so the attacker has to get out and move them. I would get boards and drive nails in them to make spike traps. It will work on horses or cars. You also need to get people out at the corners of your property to give you an early warning system. Then you need to build a four-foot-tall, three-foot-deep box around your house and fill it with dirt so people in the house are safe from bullets,” Nathan said. “Want me to continue?”

“Shit, you’re good,” Rodger said, impressed.

“You told Howard we needed twenty guns” Bob observed. “Why that many?”

“That would be the minimum,” Nathan said. “You want enough to defend with a wall of lead, but also some to push the attack back without losing your strength of defense.”

“Hell, I don’t have enough guns to outfit all the people here now. We aren’t even going to talk about ammo,” Bob said with a worried expression.

“Well your brother is the sheriff,” Nathan said.

Rodger laughed. “We had to confiscate ammo just for the department. I was able to bring some but it seems you want pounds of it.”

“More like tons,” Nathan said and Rodger started coughing.

“We could ask Dennis,” Bob said to Rodger.

“They are using up what they have, and before long they will be using it against those government boys,” Rodger said.

“I want to talk about that later, but hold on a second let me think,” Nathan said. An idea began to form in Nathan’s head. “Rodger, how are your deputies holding up?”

“Not good, we can’t get money to pay ’em,” Rodger replied. “I’ve been paying in food that Bob’s been giving me.”

“How many trucks and trailers could you get here tonight?” Nathan asked.

“Six. If you count Bob’s, seven,” Rodger said.

Nathan smiled. “What if I told you I can get you several tons of supplies, at least four tons of ammo, and about a thousand rifles?”

“I would want to know who we’re going to kill for it,” Rodger asked with a stern face.

“Nobody. I already did that when I rescued Howard,” Nathan said.

Rodger gasped. “You think it’s still there?”

“Pretty damn sure, but it won’t be for much longer. What you have to ask yourself is whether you kill federal agents if they try to stop us,” Nathan said.

“Shit, one of my deputies already shot a Homeland boy,” Rodger stated with a hint of pride.

“You sure you can get back to the spot?” Bob asked.

“Without a doubt,” Nathan answered confidently.

Bob looked at Rodger then back to Nathan. “What do you want out of the deal, one of the trucks?” Bob asked.

“No, it would just get me killed. I want to ask you to buy me some good horses and tack. Don’t offer yours because you’ll need them. And there are a few things at that camp I want,” Nathan said.

“That’s it?” Rodger asked, shocked.

“Basically, yeah,” Nathan replied.

“How many horses?” Bob asked.

“At least six. No more than ten,” Nathan said.

Letting out a long whistle, Bob shook his head. “Nathan, I don’t have enough for that trade. I know where we can get some horses but I don’t keep that kind of cash around.”

Nathan pulled out ten thousand dollars out of his messenger bag and handed it to Bob, along with four gold eagles. “That enough?”

“Shit, I could buy winged horses with this!” Bob shouted.

“I need tack too, don’t forget,” Nathan reminded him.

“When was the last time you bought tack?” Bob asked.

Nathan just laughed. “Well, we have deal?”

Rodger looked at Bob and nodded. “We have a deal,” Bob said, holding out his hand. Nathan shook Bob’s hand, then Rodger’s.

“Bob, I’m going to ask you to stay here in case this goes bad. I need Rodger in case it’s just law enforcement,” Nathan said. Bob was getting ready to unload when Rodger put his hand on Bob’s chest. “Bob, I want your word you will take care of those kids in there if I don’t come back,” Nathan requested.

Stunned but also filled with pride, Bob took a step back. “I would be honored. But you come back.”

“I’ll do my best. But I want your word you will watch over them while I’m gone,” Nathan said.

“If they’re hurt, it’s because I’m dead,” Bob said with a straight face.

“Well I’m going to let you gentleman get the stuff ready. I’m going to get some sleep, if you don’t mind. Make sure I’m up at four,” Nathan said, walking up to the house. Nathan never made it inside the house. Instead he just joined the rest to the group on the front porch. Lying down in front of his group as they slept in the rocking chairs, Nathan soon dozed off.