Chapter 55
Journal Entry ~July 1st ~10: 00pm
Linda has been gone for a month and it has not been as difficult as I expected to adjust. Truthfully, Grace, Cody, meetings, and work keep me so busy I have not had much time to dwell on the failure of our marriage. While Grace has been the light in my life; Cody is the wind that fills my sails. Each time I look into the beautiful faces of my babies my heart fills with so much love it feels as if it will burst. They are the most wonderful gifts a man could ask for in this life. Dottie is great with both children and I feel confident that we are going to do just fine.
It would be easy to use my dwindling time as an excuse to quit going to my NA meetings, but I won't. I go not because I feel I need to, but because I made a commitment to myself to see this through and I intend to do just that. As much as I would like to erase that part of my life with Jack and the pills, it makes up who I am, and has shaped my future whether I wanted it to or not. Attending the meetings keeps me focused on what is important in my life, and how fragile it really is. In the blink of an eye we can lose what we hold most precious through no fault of our own. It is how we handle it and move forward that determines our destiny. We can wallow in our misfortune or take a stand to become stronger. I chose to make a stand to hold on to life's most precious treasures, and have come through it all a better man.
Today Inez had a big blowout birthday party for Caleb and Buck since his birthday was yesterday. I was not here when Caleb joined their family, but seeing him today you would think he had always been a part of their lives. He has thrived under their love and protection, and his sisters adore their big brother. Not to mention that Caleb and Jason are closer than some biological kin I have seen, but then I should know better than most that the brothers we choose are the miracles in our lives.
Kelli is fourteen days away from her due date and has been experiencing false labor for the last two weeks. I am not sure who is more on edge, her or Vin. Dr Weeks is very satisfied that she has carried the twins over thirty-eight weeks, especially considering that she has estimated each of them to be over seven pounds in weight. Vin wants to take an active part in the delivery and if all goes well he might have the chance to do so. Kelli is just tired, and I believe more than ready to deliver anytime the boys decide to make an entrance. Buck says they are waiting for my birthday, if that's so, we'll know in six more days.
I know it will be a relief to all of us to see those babies safely delivered. With all that's happened, and the bomb scare at the hospital when Cody was born, I am not the only one concerned. Thank God JD was alert or we could have had a major disaster. Tomorrow Vin has to be back in court, and I hope this is the last time before the trial. We still have not found anyone other than Karl who could be directing the activities of the militia, but we will not give up the search. We have too much riding on the outcome.
Federal Courthouse ~July 2nd ~11:00am
Vin felt as if he was the prisoner, not Karl Chambers. Chris had insisted that he, Josiah, Buck, and Ezra accompany the Texan to court. After pushing their way through a mob of Chamber's followers outside this morning, they had finally made their way into the building. It was unlikely that Vin would be called to testify today; however, his presence was required. If they did not get to him today, then tomorrow for sure, at least that's what the prosecutor planned. Tanner needed to tell his story to the judge in order to keep important evidence in play.
Chambers's attorney was making every effort to have as much evidence thrown out as possible. Tanner could put the man on death row and Karl knew it. He also knew that the Texan was the only link between himself and the incriminating evidence. Without Vin's testimony most of the damning proof would have to be thrown out. Karl was getting desperate, and new rumors were spreading that he had upped the price to a million dollars to make certain that Vin did not testify. The money was only payable upon Karl's release, in order to insure that he walked out of jail a free man.
The security for Vin and his family had been increased after the failed attempt to kill Tanner the last time they were here, and Chris was taking no chances. There were a million reasons for Larabee to worry. He knew that all the delaying tactics and postponements used by Chamber's attorneys were wearing on Vin's nerves, especially now. In a world where everything was fair, this mess would already have been over with, and Tanner would be home with his wife waiting on the imminent birth of their twins. Instead he was stuck all day in a federal courthouse with a bounty on his head, while the wheels of justice turned ever so slowly.
Court had been recessed for fifteen minutes, and the agents waited in the hallway for it to reconvene. The vest Tanner was wearing under his suit was uncomfortable as hell, but he had promised Kelli he would not take it off. She was into her ninth month, and the Texan wanted to be with her, not sitting around in a crowded courthouse waiting for the opposing attorneys to drag things out. Tanner looked at his watch for the umpteenth time.
"Vin, it's only been five minutes since the last time you looked at your watch." Chris noted. "I know you don't want to be here, but it's…"
"Bullshit, that's what it is Chris." Tanner said with disgust. "Five weeks to trial and they're playing lawyer games that won't change a damn thing."
"Regardless of what his attorney tries, your testimony will put the man away Vin." Buck addressed the Texan. "All the game playing in the world won't change the truth."
"Did y'all see the sadistic smile that bastard wore? I don't like this." Vin began to pace as he thought about the cocky assuredness of Karl Chambers in the courtroom. "If Karl has raised the price on my head to insure his freedom, we need to tighten the security on Kel and the kids. He'll try to use them to get to me." He stopped in front of Chris. "Get us the hell out of here."
"Shelly Turner made a plea bargain and got three to five. Gary Hough is looking at twenty-five to life, and eleven of Karl's followers have already had their trials and been found guilty under the RICCO act. You know Chambers has to be getting worried Vin. That's all you're seeing." Chris held up his hands when Vin glared his way." Alright, I'll talk to the prosecutor and see what he can tell me." He walked down the hall to find the U.S. Attorney.
"The money is only payable if Mr. Chambers walks out of jail a free man, and that brother is not going to happen." Although Standish could not envision how Vin actually felt, his time with Barbara had taught him how vulnerable his own feelings had become when he dared to share his life with someone special. Ezra could not even imagine how those feeling increased when your wife and children were threatened. Knowing that a madman wanted to harm his family had to have Vin trapped in a personal hell. "Mark is with Kel, and Barbara will be checking on her later this afternoon. I am confident that your concern is unwarranted."
The bailiff stepped into the corridor and announced that court would be back in sessions in five minutes.
Tanner reached for his cell phone before he remembered he had to leave it with the bailiff. It seemed that Judge Langley did not allow them in his courtroom. "Damn, I need to call home." He started to exit through the front doors.
"Hold on Vin." Buck stopped him. "You are not going out there."
"It don't feel right Bucklin, I need to make sure Kel is okay." Vin pulled away from Wilmington and moved toward the double doors.
"Tanner, stop!" Chris yelled as he walked up. "Where in the hell do you think you are going? You have to be in that courtroom in less than two minutes."
"Chris, the trial is five weeks off! Why in the hell are we here?" Vin replied angrily.
Larabee sighed. "Chambers's attorney is trying to get the judge to dismiss you as a witness, and If he does that his client walks. The federal prosecutors might need you to answer some questions for the Judge so he won't exclude your testimony."
"That is highly unusual. "Ezra commented. "Unquestionably this is just another delaying tactic."
"Yes it is, but the defense made a motion. The Judge is bound by law to hear it, and that means you have to be available to answer his questions if need be." Chris explained. "It's all bullshit, but the Judge insists you be present."
"Vin, go on in, we've come too far to lose this guy now.' Buck offered." I'll call and check on Kel for you."
"Don't upset her, but make sure…hell, just tell her I'll be home as soon as I can." Vin swore softly. "Damnit, make certain Buck."
"I will."
"Mark is there, and so is Walter. She'll be fine." Chris placed his hand on Vin's back. "Let's go nail that bastard, and shut his lawyer up."
Vin hesitated and then nodded. "Maybe, 'm overreactin', but they better damn well get this over with soon. I should be with my wife, not here watchin' Karl play the system." He pushed open the door to enter the courtroom, followed by Chris and Ezra.
Buck headed outside, opened his cell, and dialed the Tanner's number receiving only a busy signal. He tried three more times and it was still busy. Finally he called Inez, and when he found out she had talked to Kelli not long ago he was satisfied all was well. He closed his cell phone and headed into the courtroom, they would break for lunch soon, and he would try again.
Larabee 7
Kelli hung up the phone and smiled. Inez was the fifth person to call today to check on her. Dr. Weeks had told them that the babies were ready, and could arrive anytime now. Her only concern was about the size of the boys, she estimated that both of them weighed at least seven pounds. Their twins were not in the percentage of multiples that arrived early, so far they were right on schedule, and as long as Kelli delivered soon, all should be fine. Dr Weeks was concerned about the possibility of a hard delivery if the babies grew much more, so she had advised Kelli to walk as much as possible. Andi was staying with the Wilmington's until lunchtime, but Jason was concerned, and had been shadowing his mother all morning.
"Missy, you need to light somewhere." Max had watched Kelli flit around all morning. She had packed, unpacked, and repacked her bag to take to the hospital twice. The nursery had been inspected from top to bottom, making certain that nothing had been forgotten, between the baby shower the women had for her last week, and what she and Vin had added, Max was fairly sure they had all they needed.
"I'm fine Max. Dr Weeks told me to stay as active as possible, and that's what 'm doin'." Kelli stopped to touch the cradles Vin had made for the boys gently setting them into motion. "Oh Max, it won't be long and until those cradles will be full of Tanner babies." She smiled. "You know, I think 'm gonna miss being pregnant though."
Max burst out laughing. "You, Missy, are in a nesting mode. When those boys get here you won't have time to miss being pregnant."
"Maybe," Kelli sighed. "I promised Jason I'd walk down to the barn with him after lunch to spend time with his horses. If I lay down for a while will you make certain 'm up by twelve-thirty?"
"I promise." Max turned down the covers for her. "Now rest, I'll keep Jason busy, and Mila will have lunch ready when you get up."
Federal Courthouse ~12:30pm
Vin was the first one out of the courtroom when they broke for lunch. They were not required to return until two o'clock and he planned on making a trip home in the meantime. Something had been nagging at him all day, and one thing he learned long ago was not to ignore his instincts.
"Look Vin, I understand your anxiety, but you are overreacting." Chris pulled Tanner aside. "The ranch is as secure as we can make it, and if Kelli began having labor pains, you know Max would reach us."
"Chris, we have to leave…NOW!"
Larabee studied his brother's face. What he saw was more than an anxious husband, and father-to-be. He recognized the look of a man set on a clear-cut course of action. Chris had learned not to ignore Tanner in this state of mind, and he knew that no amount of talking would persuade him to change his decision. "Okay, just let me tell the attorney we're leaving."
Buck and Ezra had watched the exchange between Tanner and Larabee, and neither man was surprised at the outcome. Vin had made up his mind to leave, with or without them. Larabee would not even consider letting him walk out of here alone.
Larabee 7 ~12:45
Lunch was well underway at the Tanner household. Walter had already finished the bowl of soup and the sandwich that his wife had prepared for him. He was enjoying his second cup of coffee and the lively conversation going on around him, when the radio he carried on his belt came to life.
"Boss, are you there?"
"Excuse me." Walter said, rising from the table and stepping outside onto the porch to take the report from one his men. "Go ahead Bill."
"Don and I found a suspicious looking black bag nestled down in a pile of the leaves close to Camp Larabee."
Walter swore softly. "Stay with it. Be on alert and I'll be there in a few minutes with Agent Westin to check it out."
"Copy that, boss."
Walter walked back inside. "Mark, could I trouble you for a moment?"
Westin looked up from the stacked sandwich that he had just finished building with surprise. "Sure."
"I'll be back to eat that." He told Max as he got up from the table to join Walter.
"Something wrong, Walter?" Mark asked, once he stepped out onto the porch.
"Some of my men found a suspicious black bag that I think you, Bandit, and I should go check out." Walter told him and then filled him in on the description of the bag and the location where it had been found.
Westin made a quick decision. He didn't like leaving his post as Kelli's bodyguard, but if the RMR had gone to the trouble again to plant more explosives on the ranch they needed to know. "All right, just let me go talk to Kelli for a minute." Mark told the older man.
He went back inside. "Kelli, Walter has asked me to go take a look at something. Will you be all right until I get back?"
"Sure." Kelli told him, "Go on ahead." She laughed as she considered her oversized condition. "It's not like 'm goin' to go very far from here anytime soon."
Ten minutes after Mark and Walter had left; Jason was done with his lunch and was chopping at the bit to go down to the barn as Kelli had told them they would do.
"Can we go now?" Jason asked. "Do we have to wait until Mark comes back?"
Kelli considered his question carefully. She knew she should wait until Mark had come back from wherever he had gone to with Walter, but she didn't want to disappoint Jason. "All right, go get your boots on." She told her son finally, spending time with Jason was important. He was more worried about something going wrong with the babies than Andi, and Kelli wanted to make things as normal as possible for him.
"If Mark comes to the house before Jason and I come back, will you send him on down to the barn?" Kelli asked Max.
"Sure...Andi and I are going to tackle making dessert for after dinner tonight." Max said as she noticed Andi's crestfallen face at having not been included in going to the barn with her mom and brother. Andi beamed at Max's words.
Jason was determined to take care of his mom, and he filled Kelli's water bottle to take with them. Dad said it was important for her to drink plenty of water. He handed Kelli her sunglasses before the two of them headed outside.
Normally Jason would run ahead and be waiting on her in front of Thor's stall, but today he walked by his mom's side. Kelli moved slow and awkward. The babies were not as active as they had been, but the doctor said it was because they were running out of room to move around. She believed it, and it felt like she had gained a lot more than forty three pounds. Reaching the entrance to the barn was a personal triumph for her.
"Okay, let's start with Dreamer, and we'll work our way up to Peso." Honestly she found grooming the horses relaxing, and soon forgot her discomfort, and the time.
When they had groomed Dreamer, and Thor, they started on Dancer. Kelli found that she had already emptied the water bottle that Jason had filled for her before they had left the house.
"Jason, will you go and get me some more cold water?" Kelli asked her son.
"Sure." Jason said and started out of the barn. "Are you going to be okay here all by yourself?"
Kelli smiled at his thoughtfulness. "I'll be fine. I'm going to go over here and sit down on one of these bales of hay to rest until you come back."
Jason had not been gone but two minutes when Kelli realized he had forgotten to take the water bottle. Shaking her head, she smiled, and decided to try and yell loud enough for him to hear her. She moved to the barn door with Tracker on her heels.
Suddenly the light was block out by an imposing shadow that moved steadily towards her. "Hello Blaze." Kelli felt a blow to her head before she saw who was there. Reeling backwards she fell against the side of Peso's stall. Tracker lunged at her attacker.
Tracker took the man by surprise, but the large man recovered quickly and violently threw the dog off him. Kelli heard the Aussie whimper as he hit the ground. "God damn dog," the intruder yelled.
Kelli managed to take a deep breath and tried to pull herself upright by grasping the railing of the stall. "Who are you, and what do you want?" She demanded.
The shadow laughed and moved into the light. "I'm hurt darlin'. You don't remember me…Mrs. Tanner? Or should I say Blaze?"
"Bubba?" Kelli recognized the imposing figure that approached her.
"That's right...Bubba, just the dumb hick bartender you played for a fool in Rocky Meadows, or so you think. I am also the man who is going to use you to send your bastard of a husband to hell for his double-crossing ways." He brandished a twelve inch blade in front of her. First though, I'm going to give him a present."
"Karl sent you to do his dirty work didn't he?" Kelli's mind raced, trying to think of a way to get rid of this man before Jason returned.
"Bubba laughed. "Karl didn't need to send me. I am his protector, and have been all my life. Not that it matters, but you won't be telling anyone anyway, so I'll explain. Karl and I are brothers, I was born on the wrong side of the blanket as they say, but it never made a difference to Karl. We are brothers in every way that counts, and partners. All these years, as Karl worked to fight the enforcers and purify the white race; I covered his back, and still do. It all comes down to family and loyalty. Your traitorous husband tried to destroy my family, and I have spent the last seven months stalking his. It was all me; the letters, the attacks, and the bombs. It was only due to the incompetence of the men I hired that Tanner is still alive."
Kelli slid along the wall closer to the latch of the gate of Peso's stall. "Y'all didn't kill for a cause. Y'all killed to protect your money. I bet Agent Abbott found out about you and Karl didn't he? That's why he died."
"Abbott was going to expose us, and that was simply not acceptable, anymore than what Dusty Slater did." He grinned wickedly. "Now he'll pay, because I plan to finish this personally. Too bad he'll miss the delivery of his baby, but at least he'll see the results of my work. Once I deliver your whelp, I'll deal with your son when he returns." Bubba raised the knife menacingly over Kelli's abdomen.
"Go to hell!" With one hand Kelli struck out to ward off Bubba's attack with the knife while the fingers of her other hand tripped the latch on the stall gate. An agitated Peso ran out of the stall and into the man that had invaded his territory and was attacking his master's mate.
Tanner Home
Jason was just running out of the house with another bottle of water for his mom when his Dad and Uncles arrived back at the ranch.
"Jason, where are you off to in such a hurry?" Vin asked as he got out of the truck.
"Down to the barn, Mom's waitin' for me." Jason replied as he continued toward the Tanner stable.
It was just about that time when they heard a scream pierce the air. "That's Kelli!" Vin exclaimed and took off running ahead of his son.
Chris and Vin were the first to enter through the door, Buck, Josiah and Ezra only seconds behind them. Sanchez grabbed Jason to hold him back as Tanner's eyes scanned the barn and found Kelli sitting on the ground with her back against Peso's stall. He raced over to her while Buck and Chris approached the man Peso had pinned against the opposite wall intent on doing some serious damage to.
"Get him away from me!" Bubba yelled as the horse's hooves struck close to his head.
Buck shook his head, "I don't know Chris. I say we should let Peso finish the bastard off."
Tanner yelled. "Kill the sonofabitch for all I care, get Rain over here ASAP." Vin knelt down in front of Kelli to access how badly she was injured.
"Vin, I'll be okay. Call Matt, Tracker is hurt." Kelli protested his attention.
"We'll take care of Tracker, but you're first." He saw the bruise forming on her temple and the blood on her hand. "Tell me where you're hurt baby."
"Nowhere...maybe my head…Hell, I don't know. He was goin' to…" Kelli began to shake when she realized how close they had come to losing their babies. "Vin, it was Bubba… he… he was going to cut the babies out of me and then kill Jason."
"You're gonna be alright..." Vin told her softly as he withdrew a handkerchief from his pocket and bound Kelli's bleeding hand with it until they could get it checked out.
He helped her slowly to her feet, slipping an arm around her waist to support her as they made their way to the door. Kelli's legs buckled under her and only quick thinking on his part kept her from tumbling to the ground again. He swept her up into his arms as Jason broke away from Ezra, and ran forward.
"Mom! Dad, is she okay?" Jason's eyes were wide as he took in the blood soaked makeshift bandage on Kelli's hand and the bruise on her face.
"She's goin' to be just fine." Vin assured him as he started toward the house with his wife.
"Rain and Nathan are on their way over." Ezra said as he, Josiah, and Jason followed after Tanner to the house
"Good." Tanner replied. "We need to put a call in to Dr. Weeks too and let her know what's happened."
"I'm on it." Standish assured him.
They reached the house at last and Vin moved through the kitchen to settle Kelli onto the couch where she would be the most comfortable. Max took Andi and Jason out of the room as Tanner hovered over his pregnant wife.
It was just at that moment that Mark and Walter returned to the house, with Bandit on their heels. "What happened?" Westin asked.
"My wife was attacked in the barn by one of the RMR men." Tanner's eyes were laced with fury as he gazed at the MCAT agent. "Where the hell were you? You were supposed to be guardin' her and my kids?"
Mark paled as Tanner's words sunk in. "She said she would be okay."
"Does she look okay to you?" Tanner shouted.
Walter stepped forward. "Vin my men found what looked like a bag of explosives up by Camp Larabee. I asked Mark to bring Bandit and check it out. "He looked over at Kelli. "I'm sorry. What happened to the man who attacked her?"
"Chris is dealin' with him." Vin trusted his brother to see to Bubba. He turned his attention back to Kelli, while they waited for the Jacksons and a return call from Dr. Weeks.