Jonathan and Jennifer sat down and made a timeline of everything that happened so far.
"Ok, so tomorrow, I'll go into town and get copies of the police reports we've made so far".
"No, we will go into town and get them. I don't want you going out alone".
"Ok, fine. We will go together".
Jennifer went and grabbed the box of paper clips, and reorganized their papers. She put some post-it notes on each stack, indicating the date.
After it was all organized like she wanted it, she turned to Jonathan.
"Darling, what if we put this in the wall safe for safe keeping? Just in case they realize that we have it".
"Good idea".
He got up and went and put the papers in the safe.
She followed him.
He shielded the combination with his hands.
"Darling, we've been married 14 years. When are you going to tell me the combination to the safe?"
"Darling, we've been all through this. You get nervous when I get my weapons out. This is where I keep them. If they make you nervous, it's better that you don't know the combination".
He put the papers in, locked the safe back and came over to kiss her.
"Ok, fine".
They decided to head to bed, so she got them water while he made sure the doors and windows were locked and turned out the lights.
She snuggled up to him when he climbed in bed, and he stroked her hair as she lightly scratched his chest.
"Darling, there's something about this that isn't making sense. If these people are after something that is here on our property that we don't know about, they've had all this time to come on the property and get it. We would have never known".
"I agree. That's why I think there's more to it than that. I think it's like you said earlier-we are missing something. And more likely, we are missing more than one something".
"Darling, has anyone…made a pass at you recently?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
"Well, that incident today with the lady made me think-maybe she was trying to get me out of the way so that she could come after you".
"Well, it would be a waste of her time if she did, because if I can't have you, I certainly don't want anyone else".
"Glad to hear it".
He rolled on top of her and kissed her, as he held her tight.
They were just about to make love when the phone rang.
"This better be good".
Jonathan reached over and picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Mr. H., it's me, Max."
"Hey Max. How are things at the house?"
"Not so good, Mr. H. I came in from a poker game, and gathered the mail. You have a threatening letter. I wouldn't normally open your mail, but it wasn't sealed-it was just folded, and it was mixed in with the coupons, honest. It says 'if you don't back off and abandon your ranch, there will be consequences that you will forever regret'. And when I came up to the house, someone had been here and they did a little damage."
"It's alright, Max. What kind of damage?"
"They egged all the windows, they cut the blooms off all the flowers and bushes, they sprinkled so much bird seed that all the birds in California came and congregated on your driveway and lawn. If I may be frank, Mr. H., it was a mad house. I finally began scooping up the seeds and just put them in the bird feeder".
"Ok, Max. I want you to call Lt. Gray. Make a report, and then give him this number. Tell him to call me tomorrow and we'll fill him in".
"You got it, Mr. H."
"And if you don't feel safe, I'll post security at the house and get you a hotel".
"I'll be alright."
"Thanks Max".
"Sure thing, Mr. H. I'll call Lt. Grey right now".
As soon as he hung up, Jennifer put her hand on his chest.
"Is he alright?"
"He is alright, but he came home from poker and found a threatening letter in the mail. And then he drove up to the house and found evidence that someone had been in the front of the house because all the windows were egged, the bushes and flowers were hacked to pieces and they poured so much bird seed all around that he said all the birds in the state of California were in our yard".
Jennifer chuckled.
"I'm sure that was a sight. What did he do?"
"He said he scooped up the bird seed and put it in the bird feeder. As far as the letter goes, he's going to call Herschel and fill him in, file a report, and then have him call us".
"Good".
She settled back onto his chest and was just about to fall asleep when they heard a knock at the door.
"Now what? I swear this place is a three-ring circus".
They got up, put their robes on, and headed to the front door.
Jonathan opened the door and found one of the former ranch hands, Tate Coleman, on the other side.
"Hi, Mr. Hart, Mrs. Hart. I'm sorry to bother you at this time of night. But I just had to come."
"It's ok, Tate. Come on in".
"I just had to let you know that Mr. Gregory is planning to take over your ranch by any means necessary. He's talking about doing little things to start with, like tampering with your phone lines and your power lines and vandalizing your property, but he's also talking about big things too, like burning down the stables. I only took the job with him because he promised us more money and I need that money to help out my parents, but I wish to hell I'd never taken the job. I don't want to be part of something like this. That's not part of being a ranch hand".
"How do you know that he's really going to do these things?"
"I heard him talking with some of the other guys. They were planning out what they want to do. They didn't mention dates or anything, just that they were going to keep up the heat".
"Tate, if you want your job back on this ranch, you can have it. More money per hour, same job as before".
"Thank you, sir, I accept".
They shook hands.
"You can talk to Kyle in the morning, and start tomorrow if you'd like".
"Sounds good. Again, I'm sorry for bothering you, I just wouldn't have been able to sleep tonight if I didn't warn you."
"Did you hear him say why he's doing this?"
"No ma'am. But I did hear some of the other ranch hands talking and they said he's taken over just about every ranch around here except yours".
"Interesting".
"How many of our former hands are working over there?"
"A good number. About 8 of the ones that were working here last month, plus the guy that used to be the foreman here-Jake Rindell-he's the foreman over there now."
Jennifer noticed Jonathan's grim expression.
"Do they know that you are wanting to quit that ranch?"
"No, I didn't say anything to them. I waited till everyone was asleep and grabbed my bag and walked out. If they ask me, I'll just tell them that you asked me to come back to help you with a specific project or something".
"Got it. Well, thank you for letting us know".
"My pleasure. And thank you for allowing me to work for you again".
"Goodnight Tate".
"Goodnight, ma'am, Mr. Hart".
He tipped his cowboy hat to Jennifer and then headed out the door.
Jonathan locked the door behind him, and then turned out the light.
"Now what?"
"Now, we go to bed, get a good night's sleep, and figure this out in the morning".
***The Next Morning***
Jonathan and Jennifer had a quiet breakfast. Both of them were on edge, trying to figure out what their next move should be.
Jennifer finally broke the ice.
"Any thoughts?"
"Yeah. Brace yourself, darling. This house is about to get pretty noisy and pretty congested. I'm calling in some reinforcements".
He picked up the phone and called his Navy buddy, Bill McDowell.
"Bill, it's Jonathan. Jennifer and I are at the ranch. We need some help. Can you come up here for a bit? We'll open up the loft up above the garage where you can stay".
"On my way".
"We will need some provisions, too."
"You got it. I'll be there this afternoon".
"I tell you what. I'll send Jack to fly you out here".
"See you soon".
He hung up and then called Jack.
"Hey, I need you fly to Seattle, pick up a buddy of mine, Bill McDowell. He's going to be bringing lots of supplies with him. Pack a bag, because you and Bill will be staying here a couple of days. I will rent you guys a truck and have it waiting on you at the airport".
"I can be wheels up in an hour".
"Great. See you soon".
Jennifer started marinating some steaks for them to eat later that night, and quickly threw a few side dishes together.
Jonathan called Stanley while Jennifer was in the shower.
"Stanley, I need about 25 cameras that go on the outside of your house. If you can grab some from the product closet and bag them up, and take them to the airport to meet my pilot within an hour, there's a nice hefty bonus in your future".
"You got it, Mr. Hart".
"Thank you".
He hung up and called Max.
"Max-can you go in the garage and get the two air mattresses, as well as my tool box and the cordless power screw driver, the power drill, plus the chargers and a couple of hammers and a box of nails, and take all of that to the plane and ask Jack to bring it? He's leaving in an hour".
"You got it, Mr. H."
"Thanks, Max".
He made it to the bedroom just as Jennifer was getting out of the shower.
"Darling, I'm going to take a quick shower and then we can drive into town, get the police reports and then make a few stops and be back here before the guys get here".
"Perfect".
They headed out the door in under an hour, and less than two hours later, they were down to the final stop.
Jonathan loaded up a buggy with duct tape, rope, and 3 pairs of night vision goggles.
They checked out, and headed to the car.
After they were back on the highway, Jonathan reached over and took her hand and kissed the back of it.
"I'm concerned".
"About what?"
"How all of this is affecting you."
"Well, there are two answers to that. 1 is that it's driving me crazy trying to figure out what they are after, since it isn't clear. And the other is, I'm a little concerned. You bought black pants, a black shirt, and black gloves and boots at one stop, and duct tape, rope, and night vision goggles at the last one. What are you planning?"
"Well, nothing is concrete just yet. But I was thinking I might have Bill and Jack accompany me to the other ranch to see what's going on at night, and we don't want to be seen".
"Jonathan! You will not! That is highly dangerous! You can't put your friends lives at risk like that. And I won't let you risk yours like that either".
"I'm not talking about going off the rails, darling. I'm talking about looking around. That's all".
"It's not safe. Think about it, Jonathan. They are practically watching our every move as it is. So that means they will somehow know that you left our property and arrived on theirs".
"Jennifer, we have to get the upper hand somehow".
"I understand that, but putting your life at risk is not the way".
"It might be the only way".
Jonathan took the back way to their ranch, and they were both shocked to see that the property directly behind them had a nice, large sold sign on it, from Holt Gregory's real estate company.
"So now he owns the property behind us, across the street from us, and the property directly to our east".
"Well, lucky him. Whatever view he chooses, he gets to look at our beautiful property".
They pulled up into the driveway, and into the garage.
"Darling, I'm going to go for a long ride. I'll be back in a little bit".
"Take the walkie talkie with you".
She nodded and grabbed one and slipped it in her pocket.
She made her way down to the stables, and selected Sunbeam-a light golden colored horse.
For the next couple of hours, she was flying through the air, and riding with the wind, as fast as Sunbeam could go. They finally came to rest at the very top edge of the property. She slowed down and began to slowly walk Sunbeam, to let her rest her legs a little bit.
Jennifer saw some movement through the trees, and quietly climbed down off her horse and hid behind a tree as she watched through the trees.
She saw 6 men, 2 she recognized and 4 she didn't. They were building a dam in the river, to stop the water flow all together.
She watched for a few minutes, and then quietly slipped back to Sunbeam.
She took the reins, led her out of sight, and saddled up and rode back to the house.