Frontier Justice - 01 (21 page)

“I don’t believe I like you,” said Tanner.

The soldier tightened his grip on his weapon and stepped back, looking to the agent for orders.

Agent Sparks sat on the ground, wiggling a loose tooth. He tipped his head to the side and let a large mouthful of blood drip out.

“If he moves, shoot him.”

When the soldier turned back and started to raise his weapon, he found himself staring down the barrel of Tanner’s Police Magnum.

“Think about it.”

The soldier lowered his rifle and took his hand off the grip, letting the weapon hang freely in front of him.

“You’ll pay for that,” growled Agent Sparks.

“My mother used to tell me to think before I opened my mouth. Yours should have done the same.”

The agent slowly got to his feet, nearly falling once in the process.

“Samantha, we need to go,” he said, his teeth covered in blood.

“I can’t—I won’t get into another helicopter,” she said, stepping back behind Tanner.

“Dear, I understand that you’re afraid, but there’s no other way. It would take a full day to get a convoy here.”

She shook her head.

“Then I’ll just stay with Tanner. He’ll take me to my mom.”

“Samantha, I’m sorry, dear, but that’s not an option. It’s my job to bring you to safety. You understand, right? You don’t want me to lose my job, do you?”

“I don’t care if you lose your job.”

He stood up straight and smoothed his clothing.

“You give me no choice then, young lady. As an agent of the government, I’m giving you a lawful order to come with me. If you disobey that order, you’re subject to prosecution. Do you understand what that means, Samantha?”

“It means you think I’m an idiot.”

He sighed and turned back to Tanner.

“I don’t suppose you’re going to be smart and just walk away.”

“Do I look smart? Don’t answer that.”

The agent leaned in and lowered his voice.

“With one radio call, I can have a gunship raining down a living hell on you.”

Tanner moved the point of aim of his shotgun to the agent’s belly button.

“And with one squeeze of the trigger, I can turn you into Hamburger Helper.”

Samantha touched his arm.

“Remember, peace and tranquility.”

He glanced at her and then back to the two men.

“Both of you put your weapons on the ground. You can thank Sam later.”

“This isn’t over,” Agent Sparks said, taking a semi-automatic pistol from his belt and setting it on the ground.

The soldier didn’t say anything as he unbuckled his rifle and let it drop by his feet.

“I’ll give you to the count of sixty to get that helicopter off the ground.”

The soldier looked to Agent Sparks who gestured for him to go ahead. Sparks started to say something, but Tanner cut him off.

“Fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven …”

He turned and followed the soldier back to the helicopter. As they lifted off, Agent Sparks leaned out the open door and gave Tanner the one- finger salute.

Tanner and Samantha sat with their backs against the door of a shiny yellow Corvette. The proud owner sat inside, his skin sagging so badly that he could have been mistaken for one of the horrors in Madame Tussaud’s wax museum. Tanner was eating a Slim Jim, and Samantha a pack of red licorice.

“So?”

“So what?”

“So, who are you exactly that the Secret Service is out looking for you?”

“You know already.”

“I know that the president has a daughter named Samantha.”

“You just didn’t know she was so cute, right?” she said with a grin.

“I didn’t know she was such a pain.”

She paused, hunting for the right words, or perhaps just the right delivery.

“So, are you’re still going to take me to Virginia?”

“I suppose. But that convoy he mentioned will likely show up somewhere along the way. You won’t need me then.”

She stood up and looked off in the direction the helicopter had flown.

“Do you think Agent Sparks will tell my mom that I’m alive?”

“I can’t imagine why not.”

“Good. I’m sure she’s worried.” She sat back down and took a drink of water.

“How’d they know where to find you?”

She gently grabbed his hand and placed it against her forearm.

“Feel,” she said.

“It feels like a grain of rice is under your skin.”

“They said it’s a short-range wireless tracker. That if I ever got lost, it would help them to find me.”

“That’s good, right?”

She shrugged.

“Are you going to give me that sad childhood story? Too many vacations in the Hamptons?”

“No, not that. My mom is great. My dad’s dead, but he was okay, too.” “I’m sorry. About your dad, I mean.”

“Do you have any family?”

“A son.”

“What’s he like?”

Tanner looked off in the distance, reliving better times.

“He’s a good man. Better than me, that’s for sure.”

“Is he a criminal, too?”

Tanner laughed. “Quit calling me that.”

“Sorry.”

“No, he’s not a criminal. He’s a lawman. The kind you might have found standing beside Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday.”

“He sounds very brave. Maybe one day I can meet him.”

“Maybe. If he’s still alive.”

“Do you think he is? Alive I mean.”

He shrugged. “Could be. We have a cabin. If he made it there, he could have waited this thing out.”

“I hope he’s alive.”

“Thank you.”

She grabbed another piece of licorice and started chewing.

“Sam,” he said, “I have a question for you.”

“Sure.”

“Why didn’t you go with that agent?”

“I told you. I’m not getting back in another helicopter.”

“That’s it?”

She looked up at him and wrinkled her brow.

“What other reason could I have for not going?”

He shrugged, taking a big bite of the beef stick.

“I just figured you liked me.”

“In your dreams.”

He grinned. “Okay, then what gives?”

“It’s just that…”

“Yeah?”

“Well … it’s just that our helicopter didn’t exactly crash. I mean, we crashed, but we didn’t just crash.”

“What are you saying?”

“I think someone shot us down.”

“Who would shoot down a helicopter with the president’s daughter inside?”

“I heard Oscar and the pilot talking. They called it friendly fire. It didn’t seem too friendly to me, though.”

“Friendly fire just means that it was our own military.”

“Oh.”

“It sounds like someone doesn’t want you to get home.”

“Oh,” she said again. “But, you’re going to take me to my mom, right?”

“Yes.”

“All the way? No matter what?”

He looked over and saw that there were tears in the corners of her eyes.

“No matter what,” he said.

She blinked a few times and swallowed hard.

“Okay then, what else do you have to eat? I’m still hungry.”

CHAPTER

19

M
ason met back up with his deputies at the police station about an hour after his confrontation with Rommel. They sat around the briefing table, drinking tap water from Styrofoam cups.

Coon raised a cup to his nose and sniffed the water.

“Seems clean enough. I guess we should be thankful.”

“Yeah,” said Vince, “thankful.” He looked over at the empty coffeepot. “Marshal, any idea when they’re going to have electricity back on? I could really use a cup of coffee.”

“It could be some time. Weeks, months, or even longer.”

“That’s a long time to go without a cup of coffee on the job,” said Chief Blue. “We may have to build a fire pit or some other way to boil water here at the office. With hot water, we could make our own percolator of sorts. Men can be clever when coffee’s on the line.”

Without another word, Mason unplugged the coffeemaker and filled it with water from the tap. He grabbed a packet of coffee and carried everything out to his truck. When he returned, his hands were empty.

“You letting the Sun work some magic on the coffee, Marshal?” asked Don.

“Actually, I have an inverter out in my truck. It runs off a couple of spare lead-acid batteries in the back. Give it a few minutes, and we’ll have hot coffee.”

“Serious?” said Coon. “Marshal, don’t joke about something like that.”

“Only the best for those helping to keep me alive.”

“I’m just glad we didn’t have to shoot anyone today,” said Don. “I had them in my sights though, just as you instructed. If it had gone south, I could have dropped two of them pretty quick.”

“I had the other two,” said Vince.

Mason turned to Coon.

“If they were covering the four gunmen outside, who were you targeting?”

“Marshal, sir, I had the fellow with the big orange target on his chest.”

“I thought you were supposed to be a crack shot.”

“I am,” he said, confidently. “That fellow was awful skinny. I would’ve had to hit him right in the zipper to make sure he took a bullet.”

Mason chuckled. “I see.”

“You think they’ll leave?” asked Chief Blue.

“No, I think they’ll wait for us to come again.”

“Not to question your leadership, Marshal,” said Don, “but is that really the best strategy? When we show up in twenty-four hours, they’ll be ready.”

“Who says we’re going to show up in twenty-four hours?” The others sat up and looked at Mason.

“But you said … Ah, I get it,” Don said, grinning. “We’re going to let them sweat it out. Then when they figure we didn’t have the nerve, we’ll move on them.”

“Maybe. Or maybe we’ll just pick them off one at a time. When their numbers get low enough, they’ll skip out in the middle of the night.”

“I like the idea of keeping them on their back foot,” said Vince. As he said the words, he caught himself staring over at Don’s prosthetic leg.

Don saw him too and grinned.

“Just to be safe, we should keep an eye on them,” said Mason.

“We could do it in shifts,” offered Chief Blue.

“I’ll go first,” volunteered Vince.

“And I’ll relieve you tonight,” the chief said. “My wife won’t like it, but I don’t sleep much anyway.”

“I’ll pick it up in the morning,” said Don. “We can use the radios to stay in touch.”

“If they’re still around tomorrow, I’m happy to take a shift, too,” said Coon.

Mason glanced at his watch and smiled.

“It’s coffee time.”

“Come on, this is worth seeing,” Ava said, pulling on Mason’s arm with one hand and carrying a folded blanket with the other. She led him up a long grassy hill located on the outskirts of town.

The sun was still shining, although it was getting late in the day. Bowie ran huge circles around them, occasionally dropping to roll around in the tall grass like a pig enjoying fresh mud. It was as nice a spring day as Mason could remember.

When they got to the top of the hill, Ava let him go and wrapped her arms around a huge Northern Red Oak.

“This is it,” she said with unmistakable pride. “Well?”

Mason wasn’t sure exactly what to say. It was a perfectly fine tree, standing nearly one hundred feet tall and measuring three feet across. But there were thousands of similar trees in forests all around.

“It’s … really great.”

“You’re a terrible liar,” she laughed. “Come take a look.”

Mason moved up beside her. On the trunk were carvings of names and initials, most of them surrounded by hearts. She ran her fingers over one that read,
Jon loves Ava.

“My first love,” she said. “Jon Singer. We were only sixteen when he carved that.”

Mason smiled. Everyone had a first love, and they were never forgotten.

“Did you bring me here to make me jealous?”

“Yes.” She winked. “Is it working?”

“Of course. So, what happened between you two?”

“The usual stuff. Jon moved off to play college football in Tennessee, and I went off to medical school. He married a lovely cheerleader, and they even invited me to their wedding. They have two boys.” Her smile faded. “I wonder if his family is even alive. Those beautiful little boys…”

He put his arm around her.