Chapter 21

Here's another one! Thanks so much for the comments and I hope you have a merry holidays!

Matt looked at the woman standing in the doorway.

"How do you know who I am," he asked.

Thea smiled.

"My son called me," she said, "Not that I needed him to tell me who you were."

"Then you know why I'm here," Matt said.

Thea nodded.

"Come on inside out of the cold," she said, "My name's Thea."

"You know my name already," Matt said, "But nice to meet you."

"I've heard about you a bit," she said, "You look just like I pictured you."

He extended his hand and Thea shook it.

"Would you like some coffee or tea," Thea said, "How about you Bonnie?"

"Some tea would be great," Bonnie said.

"I'll take some coffee," Matt said, as Thea led them into the living room. He looked around and saw the pictures hanging up on the wall. "You have quite an impressive spread here."

"It's not bad," Thea said, "Are you a rancher?"

"My daddy was like his daddy before him," Matt said, "But mostly he was into oil."

Thea nodded and poured some coffee for him.

"It's mighty cold to be out in the valley today," she said, "We have a storm coming later on. You're going to have to spend the night here."

"I'm here to see…"

"C.J., yes I know," Thea said, "She's out with the men working at a neighboring ranch before the storm hits. They won't be back until later today."

Bonnie looked at the both of them.

"Who's C.J.?"

"Honey, that's Kelly's real name," Thea said, "I suppose it doesn't matter who knows now."

"She's got some hit men leaving a trail of bodies to find her," Matt said, "They might be on their way here."

Thea nodded.

"We can take care of ourselves out here in the valley," Thea said, "And we're not about to let anything bad happen to your friend."

"Jonathon's sending some more men from Denver, but he's not sure they can get here before tomorrow morning."

"If not, we're going to have to activate the phone tree Bonnie and get folks on out here," Thea said.

"These men are professionally trained killers," Matt said.

"We know that," Thea said, "We also know that they don't have any right to mess with anyone in the valley and that they're coming whether we invited them to our land or not."

"There's not anyone in the valley who doesn't own at least one shotgun," Bonnie said, "We can take care of our own."

"They might need more than that if these guys show up here," Matt said, "I have a friend in the hospital who nearly got blown up by a bomb meant for Jonathon."

Thea shook her head.

"Men like that have no conscience," she said, "They're lucky it's going to be the federal authorities they will ultimately answer to and not me for trying to harm my son."

"I'm not arguing with you," Matt said, "But these men are very dangerous and they've been given their orders. They'll kill anyone who gets in their way."

"They'll be messing with the wrong people if they show up here," Thea said, "These are our homes and our lands and we will protect them."

Jed and Kelly joined up with Reed and the other hands, and looked back as the cattle settled into their pastures closer to the ranch.

"It looks like we finished just in time," Jed said, looking at the darkening sky.

"We should head back and get something to eat before you head on back," Reed said, "I know my mom will be glad to see you all."

Jed nodded and the three of them headed back down the trail to the ranch house.

C.J. pulled the reins on her mare and glanced in the distance at the figure on horseback. She pulled her hat down over her brow and chirped to her horse to move forward. She rode across the meadow, her braided hair flying behind her, the grassy plain blurring past her.

The figure on the sorrel quarter horse turned around suddenly and she pulled her horse to a stop a short distance away.

"Don't think I didn't see you coming on up here," the boy said.

He was dressed like she was, from the sole of his worn boots to the tip of his cowboy hat. Like her, his body wore denim as its uniform and a faded flannel shirt. Needless to say, it fit differently on him than it did on her. At 14, she was beginning to notice these things.

"Houston, you have eyes on the back of your head," C.J. said, "Your daddy and my uncle said we're supposed to work together."

"You work that half of the field and I'll work this half," he said.

C.J. looked around.

"Why is my half a lot bigger than your half?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm just testing what you said," he said, "You told me that you read in some magazine that a woman had to work twice as hard as a man to get paid half as much. Now, we both know that we're getting paid equally nothing for our work so I just wanted to see if the rest of what you said was true."

C.J. looked at him.

"We both know that's not how it works," she said.

"So do you want to be a rancher?"

"No, I want to be a lawyer," she said. "I want to argue cases before the Supreme Court."

Her passion for what she wanted in life stopped his teasing in its tracks as it often did.

"You'll be a great one, I know it," Matt said, "You're smart and you sure like to talk a lot."

"Nothing wrong with either," C.J. said, "What do you want to be?"

"I never really thought about it much," he said, "I guess I'm going to be an oilman like my daddy but I think I might want to do something else."

"You can do anything you want," she said, "or be anything. You're very bright. You just need to spend more time studying."

"I know and less time playing," Matt said, nodding.

"You need to find a balance," C.J. said, "Between the two. That's what my uncle tells me anyway."

"You're right," Matt said, "I'll start tomorrow. And so will you."

C.J. nodded.

"Because you need to stop hitting the books all the time and play more."

She turned and looked at him.

"What," she said, "I play plenty, I just have my priorities straight."

"So do I," he said, "Why don't we study tomorrow and then go fishing afterward?"

C.J. thought about it.

"That'll work," she said, "So what can you do better than me again?"

"I can beat you in a horse race across this meadow," Matt said, shaking the reins and taking off across the pasture. C.J. shook her head and took off after him, the wind on her back thinking for a moment that there was no greater place on earth.

"I finally got the men we needed and they'll definitely be at the ranch by tomorrow morning," Jonathon said on the phone, "The storm might be causing some delays."

"Hopefully that will be soon enough," Matt said, "After what I just drove away from in Silver Lode."

"Yeah, the coroner called my office and identified the man as Jack Pruitt, a retired federal agent who's been working as a private detective and security consultant."

"What was he doing in Silver Lode," Matt asked.

"I might know the answer to that, but I'll have to ask one of my mom's ranch hands for more information."

"A ranch hand?"

"It's a long story," Jonathon said, "But apparently, this guy in town was the one who discovered evidence that some people in my organization might be on the take."

"And then he dies mysteriously in a fire".

"Oh the fire didn't kill him," Jonathon said, "The medical examiner found two gunshot wounds to the chest during the autopsy."

"Sounds like the hit men paid him a visit."

"It's been labeled a homicide and handed off to the county sheriff's," Jonathon said, "Although the FBI will be sending some agents into town as well."

"Why was he there and how did they find him?"

"No one knows the answer to those questions," Jonathon said, "That's what we need to find out."

Kelly saw the strange vehicle tailing them as they rode their horses down a dirt path adjacent to the street, trying to beat the snow storm back to Reed's house. Usually, the short road didn't see much traffic and Reed's ranch was just over the hill. She looked around and saw the tinted windows through the falling snow.

"Is Reed's mother expecting company," she asked Jed.

He turned his head and narrowed his eyes.

"I've never seen that car before," he said.

Then the vehicle passed them, closely and then turned around and stopped, blocking the road about 10 yards ahead of them. The other ranch hands pulled the reins on their horses and just looked at each other.

Before the men stepped out of the black sedan, Kelly knew. She pulled back on Sienna's reins.

"It's them," she said, "They found me."

Two men got out of either side of the car with guns drawn.

"We're here for the woman," one of them said, "The rest of you can leave now. Do not interfere in any way or do anything foolish."

"Who are you," Reed said.

Jed reined his horse and pulled up in front of Kelly's.

"You're not taking her," Jed said, "And you can tell your boss that he's done hurting her."

"That's not very wise," the man said, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"It's not going to be the easy way," Jed said, "So why don't you go back and tell your boss that?"

The man looked at Kelly.

"Come along now, Ms Parsons" he said, "Make it easy on your friends and come with us."

Kelly shook her head.

"You're going to have to kill me before you take me back to him," she said.

"You're not worth anything to us dead," the man said, "The same's not true about your friends. They're in our way as long as they're alive."

He and the other man aimed their guns at them. The ranch hands looked at one another, as their horses danced nervously.

Kelly looked at the four men whose lives rested in her hands for a moment then she made her decision.

Matt sat in the living room with Thea and Bonnie, waiting for C.J., Jed and the other ranch hands to return from Reed's ranch.

Thea poured more coffee.

"So Jonathon said his men are going to be here by morning," she said.

Matt nodded, then looked at his watch again.

"She'll be back with them soon," Thea said, smiling, "That snow's really starting to come down."

"It's been months since I've seen her," Matt said, "I've missed her so much."

Thea studied him.

"This isn't what you expected, was it?"

Matt looked at his coffee mug.

"I should never have left town like I did," Matt said, "Not until I was sure everything was all right."

"There's no way to know," Thea said, "if the other person doesn't tell you."

"I should have known anyway," he said, "We go way back, she and I."

"The important thing is what you do now," Thea said. "She really needs a friend, someone she trusts in her corner to help her through this."

"I intend to do that," Matt said, "I care about her very much."

"It's not going to be easy, Matt," Thea said, "She's been through a really rough time, physically and emotionally. She's come a ways since she escaped but a part of her is still imprisoned there."

"Jonathon told me about her injuries."

Thea sighed.

"There's things that happened to her that only she knows about," Thea said, "There's a lot she hasn't told anyone including who's responsible."

"Okay, I'll go with you," Kelly said, looking around at the other men, "If you let these men go."

"No Kelly," Jed said.

"I want your promise that you won't hurt them first," Kelly said.

The two men holding guns looked at each other, then the leader nodded.

"You have our word," he said.

She looked at Jed.

"I'm sorry, this is the only way," she said, "I can't let any more blood be spilled because of me."

Jed reached for his jacket and put his hand inside of it, slowly. Kelly watched him carefully out of the corner of her eye while speaking to the two men.

"Okay, I'll step down as soon as you let them leave."

"What's to say you won't try to leave with them," the man said.

She looked them in the eyes, her gaze not wavering.

"You have my word."

"Okay," the man said, waving the other ranch hands to leave with his arm, "Go, now."

Kelly breathed a bit more easily. Jed's hand remained in his pocket. The other men looked uneasily at Kelly, then clicked to their horses and rode off.

"I'm staying with Kelly, until she leaves," Jed said, "You can shoot me if you want but I'm not going."

"Now since we all know that they're going to call what passes for local law enforcement here, you're going to have to come with us now," the man said, pointing his gun at the both of them.

The two men moved towards Kelly and her horse, when suddenly, Jed pulled out his handgun and shot one of the men who fell to the ground where he stood. The other whipped his gun out and fired at both of them.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Jed yelled to Kelly and she nudged Sienna's belly with her heels, spurring her into a gallop.

The man fired behind them, a couple of bullets whistling past Kelly's head.

Kelly and Jed rode their horses through the falling snow across the frozen ground. Ahead of them were the other ranch hands.

They stopped their horses when they reached the men. They looked back and saw the man running toward them across the meadow.

"I can't believe he's following us," Kelly said, "There must be more of them coming."

They watched as the man stopped running and then went back to his car.

"He's probably calling them right now," Jed said, breathing heavily, "And they're probably going to hit the ranches."

"We can't go back there," Kelly said, "We'll go to one of the hunting cabins and hole up there for a while."

Jed nodded, and Kelly noticed he held onto his side.

Reed nodded.

"We'll go get help," he said, "We might not get back to you if the snow's thick."

"Sounds like a plan," Jed said as they all dispersed in different directions.

Matt looked outside the window, at the snow falling and sticking onto the ground.

"It's snowing pretty hard out there," he said.

"The weather service said it might be a pretty good-sized storm," Thea said, "Don't worry, they're smart. They'll head back here before it gets too bad."

"I'm not sure what I'm going to say to her," Matt said.

Thea smiled.

"Oh I think you'll know," she said, "You'll do just fine if you allow yourself."

"I hope so," Matt said, "I don't want to hurt her any worse than she's been already."

"She's a remarkable woman, Matt. She's strong, she works very hard and very resourceful when needed," Thea said, "But I don't think I'm telling anything you don't already know."

"No, you're not," Matt said, smiling, "She's all that and much more."

Thea looked at the young man and smiled, wondering if he knew the depths of his own feelings.

Kelly and Jed rode through the wall of snow, falling to the cabin. The wind whistled through the trees, and picked up snow on the ground to meet that which fell from the sky. Kelly fought to keep her eyes open and pick out landmarks on the trail ahead.

She looked behind her and noticed Jed had fallen behind and was leaning forward over his horse. She pulled the reins around and rode Sienna back towards him.

"How are you doing," she said, barely hearing her own voice in the wind, "Can you hear me."

He just nodded, but didn't say a word. She put her hand on his shoulder, and noticed it felt damp. She pulled her hand back, and saw blood dripping from her glove. Tears stung her eyes but were quickly blown away. She looked in the direction from which she came and knew she couldn't go back. She would have to go forward to the cabin.

"Oh my god," she said, and saw that Jed struggled just to stay on his horse.

She jumped off Sienna, her legs nearly buckling from the cold wind that struck them, searing through her denim. She put one hand on his horse and another trying to keep him from falling off. His reins remained wrapped in his hands. She loosened one of them and grabbed it, while getting back on her horse.

She rode off slowly, with Sienna picking her way carefully through the rocky trail with Jed trailing behind her. Figuring that the cabin was still about a mile away, she looked for where the trail forked off ahead. She had to get Jed to shelter which was warm and dry, so she could look at his bullet wound and try to stop the bleeding. Hopefully, the cold air would staunch some of the blood flow, enough to prevent him from bleeding out before they got there. She knew from a bullet wound in her own shoulder a couple years ago that there was still time before it became too late to do anything.

"Come on girl," Kelly said to her horse as they headed up the trail.

Matt and Thea looked up, hearing commotion outside the house. Thea looked out the window into the yard.

"It's Reed," she said, "One of the ranch hands, but he's by himself."

"Where's everyone else," Matt asked.

"I don't know," Thea said, "Something's wrong."

Thea opened the door and Reed came rushing in, short of breath and covered with snow.

"What happened Reed," Thea said, "Where's everyone else?"

He bent over to catch his breath.

"We got ambushed by some men with guns on the way to my house," Reed said, "They were after Kelly."

"Did they get her," Matt asked.

Reed shook his head.

"She offered to go with them if they would let the rest of us go," he said, "Somehow she and Jed got away. I think Jed shot one of the men. He was dead when we rode back."

"Where did Jed and Kelly go," Thea said.

"They rode off to the cabin on the ridge," Reed said, "They thought there might be more men who might show up at the local ranches."

"Bonnie and I will activate the phone tree," Thea said, "Have you talked to anyone else?"

"The other guys are making calls right now," Reed said.

"What about C.J…Kelly," Matt said, "Was she hurt?"

"I don't know, but I think Jed was hurt," Reed said, "He didn't talk very much."

Thea looked at Matt.

"I'm going up there," he said, "They might need help."

Thea nodded.

"Reed, get him a horse from the barn," she said.

"But it's snowing like crazy," Reed said, "He'll never make it up that ridge. He doesn't even know the area."

"He's right, they might need our help up there especially if one or both of them are hurt," Thea said, "Give him directions and pack up the first aid kit. I'll get him some warmer clothes from Jonathon's closet."

Reed nodded.

"I hope you're sure about this," Reed said, "Or you're going to find yourself in real trouble."

"I've never been so sure about anything in my life," Matt said.

Kelly struggled to hold onto her own reins and that of Jed's horse as she rode up the ridge. When she reached the fork, she took the right trail. If she followed it, she would find the clearing with the cabin in about 400 yards. The snow made it impossible to see, but she pushed forward, looking back several times to see that Jed had grown silent again.

Sienna neighed as she pushed through the snow, her feet gaining some traction from the rocky trail. Finally, Kelly saw the outline of the cabin ahead, and a smaller dwelling next to it. She rode to that dwelling and jumped off her horse. She pulled Jed's horse into the small shed and gingerly helped him dismount his horse. He slid into her, nearly knocking her over but she held him upright and half walked, half dragged him to the cabin's door.

"I'm sorry, I'm not much help," Jed mumbled.

"It's okay," Kelly said, "I was always stronger than I looked."

She reached for the door knob, hoping it wasn't locked and found it turned easily in her hand. She pushed it open and looked inside at darkness.

"The power's on a generator," Jed said, "It's in the back. If there's no gas left in it, there's candles and flashlights in the kitchen."

The cabin was more spacious than Kelly had thought. In the darkness, she could make out a larger living room with a fire place and an adjoining kitchen and bedroom. Kelly bumped into what turned out to be a worn sofa and several chairs and a table in front of the fire place.

Jed struggled to sit on the couch and Kelly stumbled into the kitchen where she found that the generator worked and soon the cabin was filled with some light. She saw skins of animals and stuffed fish hanging from the walls and pictures of hunters, including one of a younger Jonathon with an older man who looked like he did now. A ladder in front of one wall led to a loft upstairs.

She found a small first aid kit in the kitchen but didn't know what good it would do against a bullet wound. She knew she had to try to stop the bleeding and find out how seriously injured Jed had been.

"I hope this doesn't hurt," she said, gently unbuttoning his shirt after removing his jacket. Jed shivered after she removed his shirt, which was stained with blood.

"You'd better start a fire so we can get some heat," Jed said, "Or we're going to freeze."

Kelly looked at the fireplace, which had kindling wood and a stack of wood next to it. After several attempts, a fire erupted from the lumber and a soft heat permeated the cabin.

The wound bled profusely so Kelly found some gauze in the kit and pressed on the wound. The flesh looked angry, with only one small penetrating wound into his shoulder area, near his collar bone. She knew from similar bullet wounds that it was likely the bullet was lodged in the shoulder and could only be removed by a surgeon. The dangerous part was how close the bullet rested near a major artery. If it nicked the artery or worse, he could bleed to death within minutes.

But he hadn't so far, so she figured the major arteries must be still intact. But how long would his luck hold out, she didn't know. She said a silent prayer as she held the pad to his shoulder.

Matt grabbed the reins and mounted the horse, while Reed gave him instructions on how to reach the cabin. He told him to focus on landmarks, due to poor visibility. Matt nodded and rode the horse out of the barn into the blinding, swirling snow.

"I hope you know what you're getting yourself into," Reed said, "One wrong turn and you'll die out there."

"I'm going to find them," Matt said, and Reed watched him ride off until he disappeared into the snow.