Chapter 16

Kahlan's head snapped up; she left the scope lying on the dead tree in front of her. "Did you see where it came from?" she asked the men around her.

"Agent Rossi's team, I think," Murph told her.

She saw Rossi and them taking cover behind different pieces of farm machinery. Another shot rang out and Kahlan saw a puff of smoke emitting from a barrel sticking out of a window aimed at the men. Kahlan grabbed the borrowed rifle, took aim, and was about to squeeze the trigger when another shot rang out from somewhere else. Focusing on the target, Kahlan shot and watched with satisfaction as the stock of the gun exploded into splintered wood, and the barrel was pulled back into the building. With a quick glance she saw Murph taking aim toward Hotch's group. Using the rifle scope, she panned around to see what had Murph's attention. She saw another young man running from the greenhouse, back toward the house. She saw him take another shot at the greenhouse with the pistol in his hand. Murph fired and hit the young man in the forearm, making him lose the pistol. Nice, she thought as she quickly scanned back to Rossi and them. Morgan breached the building with the deputy.

"Sheriff's got the men," Barns announced. With a quick look, she saw the deputies handcuffing the two men.

One more shot rang out from Hotch's direction. Kahlan scanned the area but saw nothing. It must have come from inside the building, she thought frantically. She wasn't sure who was in which building, until she saw JJ and a deputy escorting the boy from the greenhouse. "Come on," Kahlan told Smith. "You two stay and keep providing cover fire as needed," she told Murph and Barns.

"Here," Murph said as he handed her his glock. Kahlan took it with a nod.

As Kahlan and Smith made their way down the hill towards the big barn another shot rang out. She couldn't tell where it came from, but she saw Rossi and them exit the building with another man in cuffs. The deputy with Rossi was leading the man away as Rossi, Reid, and Morgan made their way to the big building they guessed was a machine shop for tractors and such. Another two shots rang out. That time, though, she was sure it came from Hotch's direction. Son of a bitch!

Kahlan and Smith finally made it to the barn and entered it through a little door in the back. They had to take a second for their eyes to adjust to the dim light. Kahlan heard crying and her heart sank. They searched the horse stalls and found a young boy locked in one of them. Jesus Christ! Kahlan thought as she took in the boys battered and bruised body. He was huddled in the corner with his arms wrapped around his legs and his head buried in his knees. "Hey there," she approached him with the kindest voice she muster. Her voice shocked the boy into looking up. He jumped to his feet as soon as he saw the deputy's uniform. Kahlan studied the boy's face. "Damien?" she asked as she got closer to him. The boy nodded enthusiastically. "We're here to take you home," she told him softly as another shot rang out outside making the boy flinch. She knelt down in front of him. "Your mom and dad miss you. They want you to come home," she tried to sooth him. He slammed himself into her, squeezing her neck tightly with both arms as he cried. She held him for a moment and another shot rang out. "Deputy Smith, here, is going to take you out of here, then we're going to get you home, but I need your help first. Can you help me?" The boy nodded. If it wasn't for his cries, Kahlan would have been worried that the boy couldn't speak. "How many other boys are here? Do you know?" she asked him as she held him away from her so she could look him in the eyes.

"I know Mike, Wyatt," he started as Kahlan's heart tried to get into her throat. "Chris, and Tommy. I've never been out of the barn, so I don't know. I know there's a guy named Chase, too."

"That's awesome, Damien. Thank you so much," she told him as she passed him off to Smith.

"Gotta watch Chris. He's mean," Damien told her as Smith picked him up. He was much too thin for an eight year old boy.

"Yeah? He like Holt?" With the blank look on his face she changed the question. "Does he help the old man?"

"Yep, but the old man's meaner," he told her through tears.

"Ok." She said with a smile and turned to Smith. "Get him up to Murph and get back down here." The deputy turned to leave and she added, "Be careful."

She quickly cleared the rest of the barn and only found horses and empty stalls. "House is cleared," came Rossi's voice over the comm link. She sighed thankfully at that.

"You got Holt?" she heard Blake ask.

"No, but we have two of the boys in here with the other kids," Rossi explained.

Kahlan emerged from the barn and took one look at the house, she really wanted to go see if Wyatt was one of the found boys, but she decided to go toward where she last saw Hotch. It bothered her that she wasn't hearing his voice on the comm link. She knew the greenhouse was cleared so she carefully approached the other barn.

"We've got Thomas and Joshua," Rossi clarified over the comm link. He knew Kahlan was waiting for word about Wyatt.

Kahlan tried not to think about it as she heard yelling coming from inside the barn. She made her way into the barn and her heart sank. Hotch was lying on the ground, blood pooling under his head. That would have been scary enough, but she almost stopped breathing when she saw Wyatt standing over Hotch. She also saw Chase holding a pistol as he stood over an obviously dead deputy. She noticed, too, that Holt was on the other side of Wyatt. "No! You don't need to hurt him anymore!" Wyatt yelled. Kahlan's heart swelled with pride as she realized Wyatt was standing over Hotch to protect him from Holt.

"Boy, if you don't move, you're gonna end up like that piece of shit!" Holt yelled as he gestured to the deputy.

Kahlan noticed Holt didn't have a weapon as he advanced on her son. She took aim at the only one with a weapon and shot Chase in the hand, making him scream as he dropped the pistol. Holt turned on her and froze as he saw the gun in her hand. Chase went to grab the gun with his other hand. "I wouldn't if I were you, son," Kahlan told him as she aimed at him again. Wyatt's eyes went wide as soon as he saw his mother, but he didn't move from his position by Hotch. Kahlan's eyes locked with Wyatt's for a second, and she was thankful he didn't say anything.

"And what do you think you're gonna do bitch? Shoot us all?" Holt asked as he glanced at Chase.

Chase dove for the weapon, but a bullet to his chest brought him up short. Holt rushed forward while Kahlan was focused on Chase. He slammed into her, and his sheer size and weight knocked her to the ground. Her gun went flying but she kneed Holt in the nuts and got out from under him. Holt got up much quicker than Kahlan would have thought possible for the big older man. "Now what you gonna do?" Holt asked as Kahlan noticed the gun was too far away for her to grab.

Kahlan smiled at the man. "You should just give up now," she warned him.

Holt laughed: a big, full bellied, disgusting laugh. "You think you can hurt me?" he asked hitting himself in the chest with both of his hands as he advanced on her.

Another shot rang out from outside the barn. As soon as Holt glanced toward the shot Kahlan kicked. Her right foot caught him in the sternum causing the air to leave his lungs. He fell to his knees and Kahlan gave him a kick to the side of his head. "You stupid bitch!" Holt yelled as soon as he had the breath to do it.

Kahlan smiled at him again. She wanted to kill the man so bad her soul was aching, but she couldn't outright, not in front of her son. She had to give him a chance to surrender. "Give up?" she asked him in a cocky voice.

He struggled to his feet, but didn't go after Kahlan, instead he turned and advanced on Wyatt. Wyatt screamed and tried to back up but landed on Hotch as his feet tripped over him.

"Don't you touch him!" Kahlan yelled and attacked. She punched him in the armpit as he was reaching out for Wyatt, and he went down again.

Kahlan helped her son up. "Look out!" Wyatt yelled. Kahlan spun and threw the knife that was hidden in her belt. Holt made a few gurgling noises as he fell to the ground with the knife sticking out of his throat. She quickly turned back to Wyatt and scooped him up in a bear hug. She couldn't stop the tears from streaming down her face.

Wyatt struggled to get free and she couldn't stop the hurt from showing on her face. "No mom, you gotta help him first," Wyatt told her as he pointed at Hotch. "Chase hit him with a shovel."

Kahlan ran over to Hotch and checked his wound. He had a deep gash going across the back of his head. Kahlan carefully examined the wound with her fingers to see if she could feel any skull fractures. Hotch moaned as her bloody fingers grouped the wound. Kahlan looked around for something to stop the bleeding, seeing none, she told Wyatt to give her his shirt. He pulled the dirty T-shirt off, and tears escaped her eyes as she saw the bruises and scars that covered her son's torso. He gave her the shirt and put his hand on her shoulder. He's comforting me? She held the shirt to Hotch's head and rolled him over. She cleaned the dirt off his face as best she could and noticed two slugs buried in his vest. Jesus Christ!

"Hotch?" Came Rossi's voice over the comm link. Apparently, everything outside the barn had settled down.

She reached up and keyed the mic. "In the barn, he's wounded," she explained and turned back to her son. "Wyatt, is there any water in here?"

"Yeah. I'll get some," he told her as he ran around the corner.

Kahlan heard the big barn doors open and saw Rossi and Morgan run in. Kahlan noticed the look of extreme fear on Rossi's face as he ran up and knelt down by Hotch. "Damn it, Hotch," he told the unconscious man.

"It's just a flesh wound. I don't think there're any fractures." Morgan came up and knelt down to examine his boss, too.

"Isn't that touching!"

All three of them turned as one and saw a young teen standing there with the pistol. Neither Rossi nor Morgan had their guns drawn. So they all stayed frozen.

"Look, son, you don't want to do anything stupid," Rossi tried to tell him, but an evil smile spread on his face. Rossi glanced at Kahlan.

"Oh, but I think I do," the boy said as he cocked the pistol. Kahlan slowly started to pull herself out from under Hotch's shoulders. "Don't even think about it!" the boy said menacingly. Kahlan froze; she couldn't risk getting one of them shot.

Kahlan noticed Wyatt coming up behind the teen quietly. "You must be Chris," Kahlan said as she tried to keep his attention.

"Yeah, how do you know that?"

"I've seen your picture. I've met your mom and dad."

Chris looked at her coldly. "My dad's right there, bitch!" he yelled as he pointed at Holt. "Which one of you. . ."

He was stopped short and crumpled to the ground. Wyatt was standing behind him with a two by four in his hands. Rossi and Morgan both released the breath they'd been holding. Wyatt smiled at his mom. "I've been wanting to that for a very long time," he told her seriously.

Rossi actually laughed. "Like mother, like son?" Rossi asked.

"Yeah." Kahlan told him with a giant grin. She motioned for Wyatt to come over. She put an arm around his waist. "Dave, Derek, meet my son, Wyatt."

Rossi stuck his hand out, but Wyatt looked at it warily. Kahlan nodded to him and he finally took Rossi's hand and shook it with a small smile. The boy was obviously not that comfortable around men, and after Holt, who could blame him.

Morgan got up and went to handcuff Chris before he could wake up and cause any more problems.

"Medics are in route," Blake told the comm link.

Kahlan took off Hotch's vest and ripped his shirt open. Two more bruises joined his earlier bruise. Finally, Hotch's eyes started fluttering. He moaned as his hand went to his head.

Rossi grabbed it to stop him from hurting the wound more. "It's about time you wake your lazy ass up," Rossi joked.

Hotch tried to focus the three images of Rossi he was seeing into one. "Yeah? What were you doing, having coffee in the house?" Morgan shook his head and Kahlan laughed. Hotch got a stricken look on his face as he remembered what happened before he was knocked out. "The boy?"

"Right here," Wyatt told him as he moved into Hotch's view. Hotch visibly relaxed and smiled up at Wyatt, and Wyatt smiled back. "You saved me," Wyatt told Hotch reverently. Kahlan looked at her son questioningly. "Chase was gonna shoot me, but he jumped in front of me," Wyatt explained.

Kahlan smiled down at Hotch. "Thank you," she told him tenderly.

Hotch looked from the boy to the woman and back again. Yep, same eyes. "You must be Wyatt."

Wyatt smiled and put his arm around his mother's shoulders.

Rossi stood up. "Let's get you out of the dirt," he told Hotch. Both he and Morgan grabbed his shoulders and drug him to a big wooden work bench. Kahlan cleared it with a swipe of her hand and then helped Rossi and Morgan lift Hotch onto it. Wyatt grabbed the bucket of water from where he had sat it before hitting Chris. Kahlan took off her vest and then ripped a piece of her shirt off, stuck it in the water, rung it out, and started wiping the dirt off Hotch's face.

While she continued, she looked at Rossi. "I only heard of six boys being found." Rossi nodded. Kahlan pursed her lips. That meant two were still unaccounted for.

"You got him?" Morgan asked her nodding to Hotch.

"Of course," she told him with a smile. Morgan nodded and went to Chris. He picked up the boy easily, threw him over his shoulder, and left the barn. Rossi patted Hotch on the arm and followed Morgan.

Kahlan cleaned more of Hotch's face, but he grabbed her hand to stop her. "How's everyone else?"

Kahlan shook her head. "I don't know. I came in here before everything settled down outside." She could see the worry on his face. "If you promise to stay laid down, I'll go check."

He smiled. "Go."

"Wyatt, will you stay with him?" Kahlan asked her son. She wasn't sure if he wanted to or not with the way he acted toward Morgan and Rossi.

He looked at Hotch and smiled. "Yeah."

Kahlan smiled at him and pulled him into another hug. She let go of him and quickly ran out of the barn.

Wyatt watched Hotch; he wasn't sure what to make of the man. "Why would you do that?"

Hotch turned his head to look at the boy. He winced as he noticed the wounds on Wyatt's chest. "Do what?"

"Jump in front of me? Why would you do that for someone you don't even know?"

Hotch smiled. "Because it's my job. Me and my friends work to save people just like you all the time."

Wyatt looked at him skeptically. Hotch had the feeling the boy was profiling him just like his mother had done. "You know my mom?"

"Yeah. She's the reason we're here. She never stopped looking for you, but she couldn't find you on her own, so she came to me and my friends for help."

Wyatt stared at him as he tilted his head a little. "You like her."

Hotch noticed it wasn't a question. He is profiling me! Hotch took a deep breath; he wasn't sure how to reply to the obviously intelligent boy standing in front of him. He had the feeling Wyatt's bright blue eyes were reading his soul. "Your mom's very nice." Hah! A perfectly neutral answer.

Wyatt regarded him some more and then smiled. "She likes you."

Hotch couldn't stop the shock from showing on his face. "Why do you think that?"

Wyatt raised his eyebrows as if to say 'really?' and then laughed a little. "She looks at you the same way she used to look at my dad. I've seen pictures."

Kahlan came back into the barn. Thank God! Hotch thought as soon as he saw her. She studied the two males for a moment and then smiled. "Reid got grazed by a bullet; only a scratch," she clarified before Hotch could ask. "Deputy Hanes got shot in the arm, but he'll be fine, too. Everybody else we came in with is fine. Well, except Hank," she added with a look at the dead deputy. Hotch nodded. He wasn't going to ask her about the boys, not in front of Wyatt. "What happened in here?" she asked them both.

"Hank entered first, and he was shot down before I even had a chance to clear the doorway. Then I came in. I walked along the wall. I could hear someone yelling."

"The old man was yelling at me. I was trying to get to the guy on the ground. He finally shoved me over to him, and when I stood up and turned around, Chase was pointing his gun at me," Wyatt swallowed hard. "He told me he was going kill me, and that's when he jumped in front of me," he told her as he pointed at Hotch.

"My vest stopped the slugs, but I was falling. Then, Holt grabbed me by the collar. He shook me and then he pushed me back. That when I got hit from behind."

"Chase hit you with a shovel," Wyatt told him.

"Don't I know it," Hotch joked as he put a hand to his head. "What happened when you came in?" he asked Kahlan. He had seen Holt's and Chases' bodies lying on the ground.

"I saw Wyatt standing over you, protecting you from Chase."

"Chase still wanted to shoot him," Wyatt explained.

Hotch looked at boy with wonder.

"I disarmed Chase and gave him a chance to give up. He didn't take it," she told him simply. "Neither did Holt."

Hotch eyed her, he knew she wasn't telling the whole story.

"The old man attacked my mom," Wyatt told him.

"Really?" Hotch asked him. It didn't surprise him, though.

"Mom told him to stop, but he just laughed at her. Then he came after me, and then mom took care of him."

Hotch nodded his understanding. She only used the force necessary to protect her son, just like she promised.

They heard several vehicles approaching, so Kahlan went outside to call one of the medics over to the barn. They had Hotch loaded up in one ambulance in no time, and they put the wounded deputy in with him. It went ahead and took off as they loaded the boys slowly into an ambulance. Rossi knew there would be a lot of paperwork to fill out on the boys, but he didn't think the boys would want him riding with them. The boys didn't mind Kahlan, though, so she rode with the five boys who hadn't helped in the fight. Rossi jumped into the SUV to follow the ambulances.

Chris was going in the cruisers with the other young men after the medic patched them up. The sheriff took them into town to the station. He knew there was going to be a big mess with these young men who grew up with Holt after their abductions, but they were still responsible for the crimes they had committed that day. Cook actually felt sorry for the young men in the beginning, but when he heard that one of them had killed his deputy, all he wanted to do was pass them off to the state boys that would be coming to get them later in the day. Holt's wife was also arrested, and the young woman and her kids were escorted off the property.

They still had several things that needed to be done at the ranch.