| Subject: Big Blue Sky Part Fourteen |
Author:
Karen
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Date Posted: 19:34:33 11/07/07 Wed
In reply to:
Karen
's message, "Big Blue Sky" on 20:35:06 04/21/06 Fri
Big Blue Sky
Chapter Fourteen
Charity, Montana
30 miles from the Brookes Ranch
Sunday 11 Nov 2007
2045
In her mind, Mac rechecked the instructions the deputy had given her. ‘Turn left at the second stop light then go east about a mile and a half. It’s a big old white Victorian house ma’am, you can’t miss it,’ he said of the small local hospital.
‘There’, she spotted it through the two large trees that occupied the front yard. In another era, the building had obviously served as the residence of an influential citizen. Mac pulled into the wide paved driveway and followed the arrow to guest parking. She jerked the parking brake a bit harder than necessary. It relieved as much tension as possible before walking into whatever she would find.
Harm was in there. They’d brought him here over her protests. She’d wanted him airlifted to the nearest major trauma center. She had no idea of the extent of his injuries, but everyone, from Harm and the medics to the sheriff, had repeatedly reassured her he would be fine. However, did they, any of them, really know what they were talking about? Were they just solicitously patting her on the head and telling her not to worry? Did they mean he’d be fine in time? With therapy? What?
Although she’d brought her emotions down a bit during the half hour drive, she found that they were skyrocketing again as she approached the front door. No amount of controlled breathing, of telling herself to suck it up she was a marine, would work this time. Losing a fellow soldier, having them drop wounded around you in battle is a harsh emotional hit, but this was Harm, the man she’d come to love beyond all reason in just a week. A small part of her mind wondered if that were really true. If she were honest, she’d probably admit it had been this way since the day they first shook hands, she just hadn’t allowed her conscious mind to fully accept it until last week.
Bursting through the door, she glanced around almost frantically before spotting the duty nurse at a desk to her right. She was just sitting there reading some silly woman’s magazine. Didn’t she understand she had an injured man to tend?
All of Mac’s considerable command forces rose inside of her. She stormed in the woman’s direction. The nurse glanced up somewhat startled, but just as Mac opened her mouth to reprimand her, a voice from behind froze her in her tracks.
“Mac, where have you been? What happened?”
“Harm.” She whirled in place. “What are you doing out of bed?”
“Waiting for you to pick me up. Did you bring me some clean clothes? Im afraid the others are done for.” He motioned vaguely to the hospital garb he wore, swaying a bit unsteadily with the gesture. “Apparently, it’s SOP to cut them away…”
“Harm?” Her voice quivered, “You’re…okay?” She couldn’t believe her eyes, he looked a bit rough around the edges maybe a trifle pale, but he was standing before her, obviously a bit shaky, but speaking to her as if nothing were wrong.
“Of course, I’m okay. I told you...”
“I…I know but…but all that blood, the three bullets. I didn’t kill you?!” It was a statement and a question, perhaps silly on its face, perhaps overly emotional. If she’d really believed him in danger of dying nothing would have stopped her from being at the hospital, even if she’d had to run the entire way. The fear she had been to blame for his injuries had led her to irrational and careless thinking.
“Kill me? You?” he scoffed. “Mac, you didn’t shoot me!”
“But how? I mean there were five shots fired. I counted them. One was mine. It had to be…” she was wavering between confusion and the kind of relief that makes for near hysteria. “Harm, one had to be mine…I thought I’d killed you.”
She trembled with unspent emotion. Harm could see it. Something had her wound way too tight for reason to prevail. It may have been from thinking she’d shot him, but there was something Beth had said. Three men had come to the house. Two of them had taken Mac to the barn. Beth said she had returned fairly quickly, that she was okay...but, oh god, had something happened to her.
‘One thing at a time Rabb,’ he cautioned himself. With his undamaged arm, he pulled her close. “Mac, I’m okay, it wasn’t you, listen to me,” she started to sob softly. “Do you hear me?” he insisted. She nodded once. “You didn’t shoot me. You aimed at the man behind me…listen,” he squeezed her gently. “It was just that one man’s bullet; it hit a rock and split in three pieces. Do you hear me?” She was sobbing harder now. Relief had broken through all her stored tension. Her famous self-control was in meltdown and her barriers were crumbling rapidly.
“Come here,” he coaxed, not trusting his leg to support them. Turning her, he led her to the cubicle where he had been treated. He strained with the effort to pretend not to limp. Lowering himself onto the bed, he pulled her close. “Do you understand Mac? They’re just superficial cuts. I’ll be all healed in a few days. Mac? Oh god, Mac, what happened? What did they do?” She was sobbing so hard by now, the nurse had ventured towards them with an anticipatory look on her face.
Harm stopped her with a gesture, “Mac, tell me, talk to me… Whatever...”
“No,” she replied, “not what you think. I killed him. He would have, but I killed him.”
“Oh baby,” he crooned, pulling her close. The nurse stepped in, assisting him as they slid Mac next to him on the small emergency bed.
“Do you want something for her?” she asked quietly.
“She’ll be okay. Just give us a few minutes,” Harm replied, confident in Mac’s ability to recover now that she was turning loose of everything she’d been holding inside. He was fairly certain some of it was still there from Iraq. Nodding the nurse retreated to her station, but didn’t draw the curtains completely. Mac was too upset, maybe too relieved, to respond to the fact they were talking around her.
“Mac, honey,” Harm kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay, just take some deep breaths, you’re okay now. We’re all okay,” he continued to speak soft, soothing words, the meaning less important than the sound of his voice. It took a few minutes, a few hiccups, and a few deep controlled breaths, but she finally calmed.
“They would have killed everyone, they were going to do horrible things then kill everyone to get what they wanted,” she informed him hollowly, as though from some detached vacuum.
“Who, the men in Iraq, or the men at the ranch?” he asked.
Pulling back slightly, she looked into his face for a long moment, then slowly she nodded. He understood.
“Both. In…in Iraq you saved us. We wouldn’t have had a chance no matter how well we fought. There were just too many. I didn’t even realize that until long afterwards, but it’s true.”
“Mac, we only...”
“I know, Harm, I know. You did your job; we were doing ours. Bad ‘intel’ got us in that position, you got us out. Everyone there had trained for what was happening. They at least had the chance to fight back, and still it was bad. This time I knew there wouldn’t be anyone else. It was just me. Beth…the children… they weren’t trained to fight people like that in their own homes or anywhere else for that matter. It was horrible. They were so frightened.” She sank back against his chest for the genuine solace he offered.
“Are they okay, now?” He knew they were. He had talked to Beth right after Mac left the ranch, but she needed to tell him. Once again, she was responsible for saving precious lives. She needed to tell the tale while it was fresh, to relieve the pressure on her emotions.
She nodded against his chest as she relaxed in his arms. “The sheriff is there with them. Beth was more afraid for the children, I think. One of the men slapped Shaun around a little; he isn’t hurt badly, just some bruises. Sam is scared, but I’m not sure if she was more scared of them, or scared of losing you.
“We’ll be home in an hour,” he reassured. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”
She hesitated so long Harm thought she was going to bottle it up again. He had just taken a breath to urge her to talk to him when her voice started.
After…you left...they took you away,” she shuddered and her voice choked slightly. Taking a deep breath she continued, “The sheriff said Billy and I needed to help him catalogue the cattle that they’d attempted to steal…for evidence. They can’t keep cattle in an evidence locker until the trial. They needed photos and an inventory as we unloaded them from the truck. He was short a man and the Ag Department investigator that was supposed to be on the job never showed. Sheriff Borden doesn’t trust the FBI. He believes they’re more interested in strutting around, making showy headlines, than actually getting their case put together properly.” She made a small, scornful sound, this was more or less the way Harm had always felt about the FBI.
“Anyway, he kept telling me you were okay, but I didn’t…I couldn’t believe him. There was no way for me to get back to the ranch and pick up the car, though. He wasn’t going to shorten his manpower further by sending a deputy to take me, and he said he didn’t have time to mess with moving all the vehicles so we could get the ranch truck out of the draw.”
“I’m sure you let the sheriff know you weren’t happy, but…,” Harm started.
“But it was my responsibility, you’re right,” she anticipated him. “You couldn’t be there and the cattle don’t belong to Billy, even though he has charge of their care. Harm, he was truly amazing. He literally recognized most of the cattle by their color and hide patterns. He even spotted two that had strayed in from a neighbor’s property before we caught them and read their ear tags. I guess what bothered me most was that you couldn’t be there. I thought I was responsible for that…you’re sure about...”
“Absolutely,” he replied. “Look,” he bent his head to show her a shallow cut in his scalp held together with butterfly bandages. It seemed to bleed buckets, but the doc said it was barely more than a scratch. They don’t even think I have a concussion. Well…not much anyway,” he brushed it off.
“Did you tell him how many times you’ve had a concussion?” she questioned him closely.
“Well… yeah as close as I could remember anyway The leg is more like a small cut or a knife wound, just took a few stitches,” he prevaricated a bit more. “The worst one is the arm. It was a bigger piece, it made the muscle a bit weak. That’s why I couldn’t fire when they all started to run. The doctor won’t let me ride with the roundup tomorrow, so you and Shaun will have to do the honors.”
Mac was well enough versed in battle wounds to make her own assessment. Apparently Harm wasn’t injured badly enough for any permanent damage, but she’d seen the blood and the weakness. She’d also noticed his attempt to hide the limp a few minutes ago. She wasn’t certain if she needed to let it go, or if he needed to be tough, but she decided to allow his little fiction, at least for now.
“Oh, Harm you’ll miss your first roundup.”
“There will be others. It will give me time to practice riding that damned horse,” he chuckled and gave her another brief squeeze. Brushing his lips to her forehead he urged, “Finish your story.”
Sighing deeply she moved into the tale. It was obvious Harm had some information. She wasn’t sure how much, but it didn’t matter. It was time for her to let him in completely.
***
She should have realized when they drove up to the quiet ranch house that something was amiss. It would have been normal for the worried family to be watching for their arrival, to surround her with questions. However, Mac had never arrived home to a family after a mission, so it didn’t really make an impression. She was too distracted by the thought she’d been responsible for at least part of Harms injuries.
Fortunately, the young deputy thought it was odd, but at her insistence, he let her out and turned the car around, intent on returning to the crime scene. Billy and Aron would camp in the hills with the cattle tonight.
Slowly, with heavy steps, she mounted the porch and opened the front door. Although her need to get to Harm burned at her, her plodding movements revealed a deep concern for what she would find. Totally self-absorbed, her entire core was at war with itself. She would have to cut the questions short so she could pack a bag and head into to town. She was slammed back to reality, when she walked straight into the barrel of a rifle pointed directly at her face. From down the hall she saw another man with a rifle. It was the dark skinned man with the long wavy red hair.
Turning carefully, her heart pounding in her chest, she looked into the living room. Against the far wall, Beth stood with an arm around each of her grandchildren. It appeared she was forcibly restraining Shaun and with good reason, he already had a nasty bruise blooming across one cheek. For a split second she checked inwardly, apparently teenage bravado ran in the family.
“Who are you, and what do you want?” She turned to the man whose weapon was leveled at her.
Name’s Don Casey. We want our ranch back and we mean to have it.” The man, in his early sixties, was brittle and worn by his hard life. The way he blustered and waved his rifle gave every indication he’d be easy to take down.
“What in the world are you talking about?” Mac exclaimed with some exasperation.
“They think we stole their ranch from them. I told them we bought it from the bank when their folks abandoned it.” Beth volunteered dispassionately.
“That ain’t true. Mama said she never did, she was forced out after Daddy was drafted. You was in with those Army people, they stole it and gave it to you,” the stubborn man insisted.
Beth sighed and hugged Sam and Shaun closer. It was like arguing with a brick wall.
“So you think you can just come in here and take over the ranch? What do you mean to do with the family?”
A voice that curled her insides answered from behind. “They might be free go, once they’ve signed the papers, otherwise they’ll just disappear, ‘unpleasantly’. Naturally, we didn’t know about you, I think we’ll have to take particular care of you. I’m thinking you’re a bit tougher than the others. You killed my man up there,” he nodded in the direction of the mountains across the valley.
“Maybe I did,” Mac bluffed, turning slowly. There was no point in letting him know about Harm, or in discussing the finer points of self-defense with this moral cretin.
“I think, perhaps, that deserves a little special consideration. Red, come with me. Don, you stay here. If any of them so much as twitch, kill ‘em.” The man’s face was as gut-curdling as his voice. Slightly older than his brother, this one had obviously never avoided a fight and judging by his demeanor had very likely started most of them.
“Anything you say, Wayne,” the younger man replied in a manner that showed not only complete subservience, but pleasure in the task. It was very possible that the older had misled the younger regarding the fictitious swindle, probably since they were young men. Don now followed his brother’s hideous schemes with an unquestioning loyalty that bordered on worship.
“Go on,” Wayne Casey prodded Mac out the door with the barrel of his rifle. She longed to take it away from him and wrap it around his ugly head, but now was not the time. There were two of them and she had the safety of Beth and the kids to consider. Stumbling ahead, she feigned fearful surrender.
As they walked towards the barn, Mac tried again.
“Has it occurred you could sue the Army for your ranch, if what you say is true?” she asked somewhat timidly.
The icy voice warned her, “I may have neglected to tell you to shut up, and that’s my fault. If I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it. Personally, I just happen to think this way gives me more pleasure.”
“You like killing people and stealing their property?” Mac was not able to contain herself. Aghast, she nearly dropped her masquerade.
He grabbed the back of her neck in his iron hand, squeezing so hard her knees almost buckled. Shoving her forward, she fell to her hands and knees then scrambled to her feet just in time to avoid a well-aimed kick. “I told you to shut up. The answer to your question should be obvious.”
The man sounded as though he had at least a decent education and a sharp mind. She sincerely doubted the Brookes’ had acted illegally in acquiring their ranch. He knew that. There was no excuse for him to act this way, he plainly took pleasure in doing so. Wayne was simply one of those individuals who were ruthless and mean for no good reason. The delicate veil that separates man from beast and preserves civilization was irreparably shredded in him. He dredged up only the flimsiest of excuses to justify his actions.
As his thought processes became clear to her, it at least gave her an indication of what it would take to get away from him. And one of them would be unlikely to survive.
The fact that this man didn’t know of her, meant he probably didn’t have information about Harm either. She concluded that their military training would be unknown to him as well. Though his information wasn’t up to date, he was quick and intelligent. The first move she made would be the only chance she would have. He would know in a heartbeat what he was dealing with. She would have to pick her moment carefully and make it count.
“Stay here, guard the door, Red,” her captor ordered the other man.
Red gave her a puzzling glance, then, “Look, Wayne, I don’t like…” but he got no further.
Wayne grabbed Mac’s shoulder in his hard fist and shoved the rifle into her back. “I didn’t ask your opinion, Red,” he dragged her around shoving her face close to the other man. I could just put a bullet through her now, and you too. I’m not happy with losing Graney that way. You should have been watching out for him.”
Red seemed to almost physically withdraw from the confrontation, but for a fraction of a second something sparked in his dark brown eyes. Mac had been gratified to see the blood-soaked bandage around his upper arm. Perhaps his wound was the reason he folded so easily. At the moment, she was too concerned with her own survival to worry about the other man’s motivation. He needed to back off or her chances of living to escape would suddenly drop to zero.
“You know,” Wayne Casey mused, with appalling relish, “I half way considered just letting the old woman sign the ranch over, take those two brats, and leave. Now things are complicated. We can’t let this one live, so we can’t let the others live. That’s going to be messy and inconvenient. However, Im at least going to have the pleasure of making her hurt… a lot… before I kill them all. We’ll find the safe with the help of the old woman, and at least have the payroll for the roundup to console us.”
“She’s not going to just hand over all that cash. What makes you think they have a lot of cash anyway?” He contradicted himself.
“She will when she sees what I’m going to do to her darling grandchildren. These big ranches always pay their casual labor in cash after a roundup, and there will be bonuses for the regular hands. She’ll have a cash box somewhere. It’s not enough to compensate us for what we’re losing, but its enough for the three of us to get away. Unless you’d like to stay with the ‘family’? I don’t mind just splitting it with my brother.”
“No! No, we’ll do it your way, I need to disappear too. If I go inside again, I won’t come out,” the dark man protested, referring to his prison record. No doubt, he realized too many people had seen him, and his appearance was remarkable. He’d be easy to find once the police started searching, unless he had money and lots of it.
“Good. I thought you’d see it my way,” Wayne sneered. “Now guard the door.” With no further conversation, he shoved Mac around pushing her into the barn. Twenty feet inside the door he stopped, throwing her against the haystack. He reached behind him and took down a hay hook from a nail in one of the barns center support beams. Grabbing two bales of hay with one hand, he kept his rifle trained on her as they fell to the ground. Mac knew what he had in mind and it wasn’t going to happen if she had even the slightest opportunity.
He stuck the hay hook back on the nail and grabbed her arm. Spinning her, he threw her face down over the bales of hay. Mac anticipated his every move tensing her well-trained muscles waiting for that single opportunity. First, he leaned his rifle against the same support beam that held the hay hooks. Then with deliberate slowness, she heard the fastening of his jeans open. It took an instant and an eternity before he slowly lowered himself over her and reached around to unfasten her Levis. He hadn’t pulled out a knife, he used no weapon. For just that split second, he had unwisely depended on her display of fear to be genuine. That was all it took.
Mac suddenly arched backwards with all her might, the back of her head contacting his nose. Before he had time to react, her booted foot came up between his legs making another good, sharp, debilitating, connection, then she brought the same foot down on his instep. As he staggered backwards, she spun around, shoving into him with all her might. Propelling him against the barns center support, she was surprised when his body suddenly stiffened and arched. A low guttural moan escaped his lips, followed in seconds by a frothing of blood. For that moment in time, she had forgotten about Red at the door.
Backing away, she grabbed Wayne’s rifle and spun towards the man she saw as her secondary aggressor. He stood motionless, half in the doorway, for a bare moment, then slipped out and disappeared. For a split second, Mac assessed whether she could do anything for the Wayne Casey. She decided without qualm that securing the safety of Beth and the children was her priority If this man was alive let the sheriff and medics get him down, if not it would be wasting precious time to try to do anything for him. Checking the rifle, she headed for the door. Her last thought of Wayne Casey was that this was precisely why hay hooks needed to be hung properly.
She reached the door and peered around. Nothing. The barnyard was filled with still cold moonlight and nothing else. There were no sounds from the house. She ran to the back door and opened it cautiously. It slid open softly on well-oiled hinges.
Stepping inside she heard the muffled sounds of Don’s voice. Only a few words traveled the winding passageways from the front of the house to the back. She locked the door behind her after making sure the room was clear. She didn’t need anyone coming up from behind. Moving silently to the gun cabinet, she quickly removed one of the ranch guns, not trusting the weapon she had taken from her attacker.
Like a cat, she traveled through the kitchen, then the dining room, checking each to see that it was clear. As she approached the wide doorway of the dining room where it opened into the large living room, she saw Red standing near the front door addressing Don.
“Yeah, your brother’s having his little fun with that woman,” he informed.
“He heh,” the younger sibling gave a filthy little giggle. “So what are we going to do?” the younger Casey gave a gleeful leer in the direction of his captives.
“Wayne says tie them up and meet him in the barn,” Red replied believably.
“What for? He told me to wait here,” Don argued.
“Well, he said he wanted to…uh…share her with you.”
Mac saw a movement as Beth restrained Shaun and gathered Sam closer.
“Naw, that don’t sound like Wayne,” the weaker brother argued. “Once he gets ahold of a woman there ain’t nothin’ left to share.”
As this last was said a flicker in Beth’s eye told Mac that she’d been seen by the older woman. Leaning sideways just a small fraction, she barely spoke into Shaun’s ear. The young man gave an almost imperceptible nod as Beth’s arm moved from his shoulder. The two men looked in their direction, alerted by movement, but all they saw was the older woman consoling Sam, who stood stoic but trembling against her grandmother’s shoulder. She may not have fully understood the references but she knew it was bad. Tears brimmed her eyes, but she refused to allow them to escape down her face. She was beginning to believe she’d lost two more of her family.
Another two steps and Mac would clear the wide arched and columned formal doorway. That would put her in position to make her move. It would be traumatic for the children if she had to shoot both of them, but then, it would be less harmful than being dead.
One more step and she hit a loose board in the antique hardwood floor. The board creaked and both men spun on her. Her weapon raised, she commanded, “Drop it and I won’t kill you.”
“Where’s my brother?” Don Casey demanded bringing his weapon to firing level. Given no choice, Mac fired her weapon, but the younger Casey crumpled to the floor. Her shot hit the doorway behind him and would have hit the red-headed man if he’d been there. Looking back quickly, she saw Beth standing over Don Casey with a fireplace poker in her hand.
“Im sure sorry for them believing their land was stolen, but it didn’t happen that way,” she commented sardonically.
“Im sure it didn’t Beth, but he wasn’t going to believe it. His brother had him convinced, although, I’m not sure the older one really believed it. From the things he said to me, I think he used it as an excuse to steal, and kill, and whatever, just because he enjoyed it.
Beth just nodded. “Hope he isn’t dead. Never killed anyone before, but then I’ve never been there when my family was in danger.” She began to tremble slightly with the emotion of what she’d done. Shaun stepped up, taking the poker from her, and guiding her to the couch. “Sam, get Grams a small brandy from the cupboard,” he ordered his sister in a tone that set her to action. The relief in seeing Mac was obvious in her face, but her Grams needed help.
Footsteps at the door caused Mac to turn, crouch, and raise her weapon.
“Whoa, ma’am. Hold on, it’s just me, Deputy James,” the stocky young man called out. “I saw this red headed guy run out the front door. Figured he was up to no good. He’s in the back of my car.”
“Good! He didn’t get away,” Mac was relieved. The family didn’t need to worry about any of them running around loose. “He was one of them.” She surrendered her weapon to the deputy.
“When the sheriff gets here, we’ll just arrest the lot of them. I heard a shot so I already called for the medics.”
“I hit the doorframe,” Mac waved her hand. “I thought you went back up to help the sheriff.” Mac’s comment held more surprise than criticism.
“Well I started to, then I got to thinking, now why in the world after all these folks have suffered wouldn’t they have come running outside to see if you and Captain Rabb were okay when I brought you home? It just didn’t make sense unless something was wrong. Then I remembered you telling the sheriff that three men got away. So, I figured I’d better come back and check. Sorry I missed all the action,” he admitted.
“Thank you, Deputy,” Mac addressed the young man sincerely. “You caught the last of them and the family will rest easier for that. You certainly noticed more than I did I’m ashamed to say.”
“You’re welcome, ma’am. I guess you were probably just a bit upset about the Captain, something like that…” He left off when he saw the frown on her face.
Where is Harm, what happened? Those men talked about shooting someone,” Beth asked panic rising in her voice.
“Oh, it’s nothing, ma’am. The sheriff says it’s nothing serious, just a few scratches. They went ahead and took him down to Charity just to check him over,” Deputy James transitioned smoothly.
“Mac?” Beth looked at her for verification.
“I...I don’t know Beth they all said he was okay, but…I just don’t know. I was coming back to take him a change of clothes and get the Lexus when…when all this happened,” she waved a distracted hand. “I need to go to him.”
Beth was on her feet, “Of course you do. Get on upstairs and pack a bag. You might want to splash some cold water on your face and change your shirt too,” she referred to the bloodstains and dirt that soiled her garments.
“Harm’s seen me worse, but you’re right, a quick change won’t hurt. Soon as the sheriff gets here,” she knew the protocol, there would be more police reports. “Uhm…Deputy, can I talk to you?” she stepped into the hall, still keeping an eye on the unconscious form in the living room.
“Look, there’s another man in the barn. I’m not exactly sure what condition he’s in, but he tried to…”
“Scum! Say no more ma’am. I understand, I’ll go take a look. Is he unconscious, or what?”
“I think he may be dead,” Mac gave it to him straight.
“Oh? Oh,” the young officer assessed this information. “How did that happen?”
“He got hung up on a hay hook.” The young officer raised an eyebrow. “I think you’ll find my lawyer will make a good case for self-defense,” Mac deadpanned.
“I see,” he eyed her carefully. “Someone said you were a Marine, but I thought they said ‘you’ were a lawyer.”
Mac just smiled.
“I’ll watch this man if you want to take a look in the barn,” she offered.
“I think that would be a good idea,” he turned quickly then turned back. “Maybe I’ll just put cuffs on this one in case he comes around.” He knelt beside the unconscious form quickly securing him, then picked the rifle from the floor. “I’ll just leave these on the porch ‘til the sheriff gets here,” he offered. Mac heard his footsteps as he strode down the porch and stepped off the side heading for the barn.
***
“The sheriff showed up a few minutes later, asked us what happened, and said he’d be out tomorrow or the next day to get statements. Then the deputy told me how to find you. That’s about it,” she concluded her story. “When I left Sheriff Borden was talking to Beth. I think he was mostly just comforting her. He said he’d leave a deputy until I…uh…we got back home.”
Harm just held her, gently wrapping his large arms around her. He wouldn’t diminish her experience or her bravery by telling her he wished he’d been there to protect her. They had established an equal working relationship long ago, both in the courtroom and in the field under fire. What Mac had done both here and in Iraq was amazing for any individual, but she was tough when it counted. There’d been more than one occasion when he’d felt she was a good deal tougher than he was.
“Thank you,” he finally said.
“What for?” she looked up at him.
“For surviving, and for saving Beth and the children.”
“I wasn’t crying because I killed him, Harm,” she told him. “I didn’t mean to, but that’s not why I was crying.”
“I know. You did what you had to, Mac. You would never have allowed them to hurt Beth and the kids. I’m glad you weren’t hurt.”
Slowly she pulled out of his arms. “How about we get you home, sailor?” she smiled up at him.
“Sounds good,” he agreed.
Three months later
Flight line at the Brookes Ranch
Beth watched as the big new plane landed. She’d already packed a bag for him even though Harm still kept clothes at the cabin.
Since Mac had gone back to the base to serve her last few months and train her replacement they had taken turns spending weekends on the Peninsula, or at the ranch when she could get an extra day or two.
Beth had laughed long and hard for the first time in a long time when Mac spent Christmas with them. She had regaled Beth and Harm with the gossip that saturated the base over the ‘notorious’ Captain Rabb retiring, his sudden marriage to the base JAG, and his new career raising cattle and two teenagers.
In January the insurance company had finally paid off on the corporate jet, lost when Charlie and Joan were killed, and Harm had chosen to replace it with a less expensive but still very nice Beechcraft King Air. Harm and Shaun had made use of every opportunity to take the plane up to ‘check the cattle’.
“Boys and their toys,” Beth had been heard to mumble more than once.
The call had come half an hour ago.
“She just collapsed, ma’am,” Mac’s young yeoman, Mara Brady, had said. “She was in court giving a closing argument and she just fell down unconscious.”
“No, ma’am. No one knows what’s wrong,” she’d replied to the obvious question. “They just took her to the hospital in an ambulance, but she must have woke up because she called and said she’d court martial me if I called anyone, but ma’am I couldn’t just not call,” the young woman stumbled over the double negative and the confusing facts.
Beth had reassured the worried yeoman that she’d done the right thing, and guaranteed she would not be brought up on charges.
Turning to the radio in the den, she had called, “Brooke’s Two, this is Brooke’s base.
“Base this is Two,” answered Harm.
“Harm, I just got a call from Bremerton. Mac is sick. No one…”
“We’ll be right there,” was Harm’s terse reply. She could hear the sound of the engines straining as he put the plane into a steep turn.
Now she waited as he taxied to the hangar. She knew he would have questions, but she didn’t have any answers. The way doctors were nowadays it was unlikely anyone would know anything until he got to the Washington. Mac could have a hangnail or be dying and no one would say a word.
Less than half an hour later, the plane was filled with gas, and a thorough preflight performed. Harm had called the flight club on Whidbey Island to request permission to land.
Beth, Sam, and Shaun stood watching as the King Air took off into the afternoon sun. They would pray hard until they got a call. Slowly they walked back to the truck. It would be a long afternoon.
The end
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