As the shots stopped and the sound of the car disappeared, Rick raised his head. "Robbie, Laurie? Are you all right?"
"I'm okay, Mama?" he replied, then Laurie looked over at them, her lip trembling. "I'm fine…where's Davie?"
"Grandpa, you're squishing me!" a little voice answered, then Rick got up enough to slide Davie out from under him. "Sorry, little guy…..just want to make sure you're in one piece."
Suddenly the sound of a car approaching at high speed caught Rick's ear, and he turned on his transmitter. "A.J…..it's Rick…someone's shot at us…call Ron and Oscar…" he began, then heard the noise of the gun case close. Turning, he saw his wife crawling out the front door.
"Laurie..don't…" he began, then the car screeched by the driveway. At once he saw she had his gun and had hidden behind the porch rail, and he switched gears. "Aim for the tires, darlin', now!"
A volley of shots followed, as Rick watched Laurie raise up and use the rail as her gun rest. Immediately the car attempted to speed back out then down the highway, only for smoke to rise from the back. As the car started to disappear out of sight, Robbie warned Davie, "Stay down, don't move, son.", then turned on his radio.
"Andy, this Robbie…we're under fire here at the ranch….my mom's gotten off a couple of shots and I think the sniper's leaving, but.."
Before he could finish, a loud crash sounded, then a faint wail of a siren brought a smile to the two men.
"All right, sweetheart….you can come back in…I need you to stay with Davie, okay?" Rick stood up and went outside, finding Laurie staring at the smoke coming from around the bend.
"Yes, Rick…be careful, love." She said, shaking with anger. Her eyes were hard until she saw the worry in his eyes, then she got up from her knees and hugged him and then Robbie as he came out the front door.
"I'll watch Davie….go get him!" Laurie said firmly, then went inside. Rick managed a smile as Robbie shook his head then led the way down the driveway to the road.
"How does she do that, Pop?"
"I'd don't know, son….talk about thinking under pressure…" Rick grinned wryly, then flushed with anger at the sight of a dark sedan, smashed against the guardrail at the curve of the highway about 300 yards ahead. As the two Simons began to run toward the wreck, the driver's side door opened, and a dark-haired man stumbled out, then hit the pavement on his knees as Robbie hollered, "Police! Down on your face, now!"
"I'm wounded, I can't .." the shooter yelled back, blood streaming from his face as he held up his hands. Just then a sheriff's car pulled up, then Deputy Andy got out, gun in hand. "Down, now!"
As Rick backed off and let his son and Andy handle the man, he saw what the deputy had seen, a gun stuck in the man's rear waistband.
"Damn it…thanks, Andy."
"Don't mention it, Rick….is everyone okay?" the sandy-haired man asked, lifting up the handcuffed man.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, Laurie's the one who got my pistol and took out this ..piece of work." Rick growled, then told the others, "You take him away, I'm going to check on them."
Running back down the road, he rushed up the walk and into the house, then stopped as he saw Laurie holding Davie tightly on her lap, his Rough Rider pistol next to her.
"Sweetheart….." He began, then Davie looked up and announced, "Grandma's telling me a story about Daddy!"
"Good boy…" Rick said, sitting down next to them, then taking the gun and putting it in his holster. At once the little boy climbed into his lap, then he reached around him and pulled Laurie into his embrace. "Are you okay?"
"Now I am….oh, Rick." She put her face to his, then kissed him, making Davie giggle.
"It's all right, Robbie and Andy got the guy….he's not going to hurt anyone….thanks to my Valkrie….."
"You're right, Pop." Robbie spoke from the doorway, his face set with determination. At once Davie got up from his grandparents embrace and ran to him. "Daddy!"
Instantly their son's face crumpled, and he knelt to put his arms around the boy. "Shh, it's all right, Davie…you're a good boy." He looked up as Davie started to sniffle, and murmured, "if he hadn't decided to come see you, Pop."
"He did, and he's safe, Robbie. Let's make sure this …piece of work makes it to jail so we can find out who set this up." Rick grated. The phone ringing interrupted him, and Laurie picked up the extension. "Hello?" she said, then a smile crossed her face.
"Dad, we're okay…The guy didn't get too far…no, I won't turn down staying in town tonight….here, you talk to him." Laurie held the phone to Rick. "Dad wants to talk to you."
"Thanks, sweetheart." He took the phone from her hand, then held onto her fingers and kissed them. "My Valkrie." He told her. "All yours, my love. I'll pack us some things." She replied. As he released her hand, Davie came from his father's arms and latched onto her. "Grandma, can I help?"
"Of course, honey…I couldn't pack for Grandpa without you." She turned and winked at him, then vanished into their room, Davie in tow.
"Dad, hi.. listen, can you get us two Kelvar's…I want to make sure Laurie's premonition doesn't come true." Rick asked, seeing relief in Robbie's eyes.
"You got it, son. I'll have Ron bring them to your brother's condo tonight. Now…I'll alert him about the shooter and have him pull any info on him, and what his connection to Stinson is." The older man replied. "In the meantime, I want Robbie to help you secure the place, then the four of you get over here now."
"Okay, Dad. I'll call when we're on our way." Rick assured him. "Thanks for taking care of things."
"No problem, Rick. Talk to you later."
As he hung up the phone, Rick heard a knock at the front door, then Chief Rob Gamez came in, a worried look on his face that cleared when he saw father and son.
"Thank God…Robbie, Rick…" he said, then hugged both of them. "Andy told me you guys were all right, but when I saw the cruiser…"
"We're okay, Rob…I'm just glad you're here…Laurie and Davie will be out in a minute, then Oscar wants us to get to A.J.'s for the night." Rick reassured him. Rob shook his head.
"Is it true Laurie's the one who plugged that guy? Man, what a shot!"
"Yeah, don't tick off my warrior…here she is." Rick smiled as Laurie came out of the bedroom, lugging one bag and letting Davie drag another one on its wheels."
"Here, Grandpa…I made sure you got clean underwear!" he announced proudly, breaking the four adults up.
"Way to go, Davie!" Rick finally caught his breath, then bent down and high-fived his grandson. Robbie wiped his eyes, then took the little boy's hand. "Come on, smarty pants, let's take Grandpa and Grandma to Uncle A.J.'s."
"Are we going to use your siren, Daddy?" Davie asked hopefully, then Robbie winced.
"Sorry, Pop, I forgot…uh…"
"Don't worry, Robbie, use my truck and I'll get yours to the station." Rob promised.
It was fortunate that their grandson was along to take their minds off the danger of the afternoon, Rick decided later, as he was able to distract his wife from worrying about the next morning until they were getting ready for bed in at A.J's condo.
"Rick…are you going to be allowed to bring your weapon to the courthouse?" Laurie asked, as she laid out Rick's pajamas. He came into the bedroom, then shook his head.
"No, darlin…but I'll make sure everyone at the exits and outside the panel room is armed. I think today was just a scare tactic though." Laurie yawned, then Rick chuckled.
"Okay, now we're tired!" Laughing, Laurie scooted into Rick's arms. "Not too tired!" she winked.
