Chapter 11
The sound of the front door getting kicked open woke George from his nap.
He snapped awake and grabbed the nearby .45, his shoes and cell phone. He slipped out the back side of the house and ducked out of sight.
Peering through some shrubs, he watched the house while tying his shoes and checking his pistol. He had the pistol and one extra loaded clip, just enough for self defense and none for heroics.
Keeping low behind the shrubbery, he worked his way around to the front of the house. There in the driveway were two battered, dust covered pickup trucks, both had the look of many a hard mile out in the desert back country.
Locals most likely, locals with a cavalier attitude about trespassing and petty crimes.
A tall, denim clad, muscular male figure stepped out the broken front door, his long dark hair was tied in a ponytail and mirrored sunglasses hid his eyes, he took a drag on his cigarette and ground it out on the stonework beside the ruined door, then stepped back inside the house.
Crouching low, George retreated up a small gulley curving up behind the house and slipped behind a clump of rocks where he could watch the house unseen. He opened his cellphone and pressed the buttons rapidly.
After few rings, a voice answered, "Rangers office, Thompson speaking, how may I help you?" George spoke carefully, "George Bryce here. Stan, I've got a trespasser problem right now, I'm fine and I am armed. I beat it out the back door when they kicked in the front door. Mia's in town with Rachel so she's safe."
There was a brief pause and Thompson asked, "Any idea of how many there are?"
George replied tersely, "I know of one, a big guy with a long ponytail and all muscular, but there are two pickup trucks, both kind of wornout looking, GMC's I think."
Chief Thompson replied, "Sit tight and stay out of sight, I know that guy, he and his friends are tough customers, we're on our way. I'm sending a Sheriff's helicopter ahead of us, so they'll get there soon."
"I'll be here." Replied George and he settled down behind the rocks to wait.
Returning from their shopping trip, Rachel and Mia chatted gaily about the experience and how much she enjoyed meeting the Wharton's.
Mia grinned and said, "Wait'll George sees this stuff, he'll love it!" Rachel laughed and replied, "He loves the girl wearing it, that stuff is just eye candy!"
Rachel held up her phone and pulled up a phone number, tapping the screen she handed the phone to Mia and said, "Ask him if he's decent?"
The phone's suddenly buzzing in his pocket nearly gave George heart failure, opening it quickly he hissed, "What?!"
"D...Darling?!" it was Mia, George reined in his anxiety and replied more calmly, " I'm okay, I'm outside hiding in the bushes, we've got trespassers; I've called the rangers and they're on the way."
"Darling? Are you all right?" asked a worried sounding Mia.
George replied, "I'm fine actually and I'm armed. Where are you two?"
Before Mia could reply, he spotted the white van rounding the last bend below the house.
George all but shouted, "Stop right where you are! I can see you and that means so can they."
The van stopped suddenly and to George's horror, the passenger door opened and Mia slid out, she slipped into the bushes before he could say anything and started out towards the house.
George ground his teeth in frustration and began heading back down the small gulley, grimly determined to head off Mia before she could get into trouble.
He all but tumbled down the last stretch of gulley and barely kept his feet under him as he suddenly appeared in front of the startled trespassers, they dropped the loot they had gathered and dodged behind the nearest truck, drawing their pistols.
George ducked behind a convenient boulder and heard a flat popping sound, the bullets splatting against the rock told him what the sound was, he was under fire!
A movement to his left caught his eye, Mia in attack mode was slithering low to the ground, hidden from the trespasser's view, her blazing eyes focused on them. George quickly snapped off a couple of shots and leapt up from behind the boulder, charging towards the trespassers while firing rapidly to make them duck.
Mia got there first, she reared up from the scrub with her eyes blazing, mouth wide open and fighting fangs fully extended, her clawed hands reaching out to rend and tear those who dared defile her home.
The apparent leader of the trespassers screamed in horror at what he was seeing; a fighting mad lamia on the attack.
Then he simply collapsed and lay still, his female companion also collapsed screaming and spontaneously relieved herself completely. The second man turned to face her and was raising his pistol when Mia tore into him with terrible strength and moments later, he lay dead.
George ran up to her and cried, "Mia! Stop! I'm okay! I'm okay..." Mia stopped at once and seemingly shrank back into a frightened young lamia, her blazing eyes dimming to amber now and streaming tears of anguish, the blaze of anger extinguished by the shock of what she had just done.
Frantically, she glomped onto him and he held her closely while she cried her heart out in anguish.
The sound of crunching gravel under tires interrupted the moment. Rachel had pulled up to see what was going on, at a glance, she saw one man's torn body lying there with a pistol still in his outstretched hand, the other male was either still unconscious or dead and the hysterical young woman reeked of her own filth.
The air was filled suddenly with the loud whop, whopping sound of helicopter rotors, the sheriff's chopper had arrived. George made no effort at hiding Mia's long tail, her secret was out in a big way now.
The chopper circled around them a few times and then flew away just as the green pickup truck of Ranger Thompson's pulled up and skidded to a halt. The truck doors flew open and suddenly, there were armed men seemingly everywhere.
George hastily dropped his pistol and stood stock still with a frightened Mia still clinging to him.
Chief Thompson looked them over quickly and yelled, "Are you alright? No injuries?" George cried, "We're okay!"
The youngest of the rangers gaped when he realized that he was seeing Mia's powerful tail and not a huge python. He blurted out, "What th' hell?! You have a tail?" Ranger Thompson barked, "You're not to discuss this with anyone! Y'got it Henderson?"
"Yessir!" quickly replied the younger ranger.
Rachel walked up, held up her I.D. and declared, "I'm responsible for this woman, any questions about her will be directed at me. Right now, I'm taking her inside where she can clean up a bit."
She took Mia's arm and the two started towards the house, Thompson called out suddenly, " Whoah! Hold up there ladies! Let us take a look inside before you enter the house!"
They waited while he and Henderson went through the house looking for anyone hiding inside. A few minutes later, they reemerged and gave them the go ahead. Moments later, Rachel and Mia went inside for her to wash up.
Ranger Ortiz was snapping photos of the sprawled trespassers and the crime scene. The young woman was still babbling about giant snakes and staring at her filthy hands while Ortiz knelt down and checked the leader's neck for a pulse.
A moment later he rose and called out, "Hey Chief! I'm not getting a pulse on this one and she's not making any sense. The other male looks like he met up with a mountain lion or something."
Ranger Thompson was getting a statement from George and he looked at George for a moment before he declared, "I'm writing this up as a self defense scenario, justifiable homicide. Anything you'd like to add?"
George shrugged and replied, "They were shooting at me when Mia surprised them, it was all over in seconds."
Ortiz commented drily, "Those two have been a two-man petty crime spree for years, the girl is a recent addition. Your lady must've put the fear of God in them to get such a reaction."
Mia emerged from the house with Rachel right behind her, she sinuated right up to Chief Thompson and held out her hands for him to cuff her. He looked at her curiously and asked, "Mrs. Bryce, just what are you doing?"
Mia blinked at him in surprise and said matter of factly, "I'm surrendering, I'm ready to be arrested now."
He smiled at her and glanced at his cohorts for a moment then replied, "You're not under arrest, you didn't do anything wrong, you were defending your home and family. George told us what happened, that man had a gun pointed at you, you are damn lucky he didn't shoot you. We'll finish up the incident report, call for a tow truck and the coroner will come get the bodies, she's already been notified and her crew is on the way."
After that, George just sat in the fitful shade and watched as first the rangers, then the coroner's crew investigated the crime scene.
As a precaution, Mia and Rachel had gone back inside the house so as not to attract any undue attention from the coroners. The tow truck arrived and quickly hauled the battered pickup trucks away.
After they and the coroner's crew had left, Mia came back out and sat with George in the shade. Chief Thompson came over to where they sat and said, "I think we're all done here, I've talked with the helicopter crew and apparently, they didn't notice Mia's tail, so we got lucky. The girl's higher than a kite on peyote, so she'll likely think it was a drug induced nightmare she had. The coroner's going to run a toxicology test on the deceased and check for hallucinogens in their systems."
He turned and beckoned to his underlings, the two stepped closer and Chief Thompson said, "Gentlemen, I want you to meet George and Mia Bryce, they live here now. Mia is from Algeria and as you can see, she's kinda special."
Mia smiled shyly at the two rangers and they smiled back.
The older one tipped his hat and said, "I'm Jorge Ortiz, I patrol the area just north of here so if you call, I'll be the one showing up."
He jerked a thumb at his younger cohort, grinned and said, "The pup here is Brad Henderson, he's still a little rough around the edges, but he'll make a fine ranger someday."
Brad flushed and retorted, "Don't listen to him, he tried to give a saguaro a ticket for littering because some owls were nesting in it. He's going senile, I swear he'd forget to eat if I didn't make sure he ate his lunch!"
He tipped his hat to Mia and said apologetically, "Sorry about the tail comment, I've never seen or heard of anyone like you ma'am and was a little surprised."
Mia smiled and extended her hand to shake his hand, their hands clasped briefly and she said cheerfully, "Just call me Mia, I'm a little young for Ma'am. Although my mother would be fine with it."
Jorge grinned and asked, "I don't mean to be rude, but just what are you? My boss seems to know something about you and I'm fine with that, it's just that like Brad here, I've never seen or heard of anything or anyone like you."
George grinned and said, "Mia is a lamia from Southern Algeria, she and her family lived in a hidden oasis when I met her. I married her and brought her home with me, we hope to bring the rest of her family here before too much longer."
Brad grinned and asked, "How big of a family?" Jorge laughed and remarked, "Down boy! You just met her and already you're asking about her sister?" Brad's ruddy face flushed and he said defensively, "I was just curious, sheesh!"
George answered, "Her mom and dad and her three sisters are still out in the Sahara desert."
"Her dad?" asked Brad, George grinned and replied, "He's human like me, lamias are only female and need human males to mate with. By the way, just so you'll know, a lamia will never leave her husband, they mate for life. Mia and I are in it for the long haul!"
Chief Thompson stepped forward and said, "Sorry to break up this little party, but we've got work to do. Remember gentlemen, you are not to discuss this case with anyone not connected to it. The Bryce's have a right to their privacy and I won't have either of you two spoiling things for them."
Jorge and Brad nodded in agreement and the trio loaded the babbling woman into the truck, climbed in and drove back down the hill.
