Chapter Eighteen

Wednesday, October 30 th .

Wild Stallion Ranch. Montana.

Virge was up in the hayloft when I got a text from Penny. I sat down on a bale of straw to read it.

"Want to go to a Hallowe'en party tomorrow night?"

"Where?"

"One of my girlfriends is having it. Her parents have a big house and they're letting her have a party."

"Sure. I could go."

"Bring Virgil and Vicki too. It will be fun."

"I'll ask him."

I hollered up the ladder to Virge, "Want to go to a Hallowe'en party tomorrow night?"

"Do I have to dress up?"

"Umm…I never asked that."

"Penny inviting us?"

"Yep. You can think about it and consider asking Vicki. Penny mentioned you bringing Vicki."

"I'll think about it, but only if I don't have to dress up. I hate doing that shit."

"Yeah, me too."

"Yeah, but you'd do it if Penny put pressure on you, and I wouldn't."

"Shut up, Virge."

Music City Marriott. Nashville. Tennessee.

Mason opened his eyes not expecting to see Annie's gorgeous gray eyes staring into his.

She ran a feathery finger down his bare chest and made him shiver. "You have some incredible tats."

He smiled. "You do too. You surprise me in every way possible."

"Ditto. I'm hungry this morning and you're responsible."

Mason laughed. "Not me. It must be from all that singing you did at Coyote Ugly last night. I can't believe how good you are."

"I sing at my own roadhouse. It's what I do for fun."

"I've had more fun with you in a couple of days than I've had in my entire live," said Mason, "and that is not an exaggeration."

"You're a sweet guy."

He laughed. "Not usually. I'm a mean fucker most of the time. Are you ready to get up?"

"First I'll check and see if you have any morning wood for me."

Annie burrowed her head under the covers and made Mason laugh. "Not time to get up yet."

Benson Motel. Shadow Valley. West Virginia.

Ray had been quiet after they left Nashville and headed out of state. Bobby figured Ray was a little shaken up after watching him bash J.T. Turnbull's head in with a tire iron.

"Nothing has changed between us, Ray. We're best buddies…like for always. I owe you and I would never hurt you. Honest."

"Guess I wasn't ready for that other side of you," said Ray. "You told me it was there, but I guess I didn't want to believe it."

"When I was on the road twenty-four-seven, I used to lose my temper a lot when assholes would slow me down and do the stupidest damned stuff on the highways. Now, I rarely get mad at all. Nothing to get pissed at. Life is good for us."

"Yeah," said Ray. We were doing so good in the trailer. I loved living there."

"Our new place will be just as good when we get it fixed up. You'll see."

"Never pictured myself as a mountain man," said Ray.

"Fake song-writing mountain men," said Bobby. "We're faking it until we make it." He laughed and so did Ray.

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek. Montana.

Molly hollered from the dispatch desk. "Incoming, Sheriff."

Without bothering to take his coat off, Travis hurried to the squad room. "What have you got?"

"A friend of Barb Joliceur's from the bank stopped to give her a ride to work and she found Barb all beat up and crying."

"Tell the woman to stay with Barb and I'll be there in fifteen minutes."

"Copy that," said Molly.

"Come on, boys. Barb Joliceur was your interview. Y'all know her better than I do."

"Dan is in our run, Dad," I said. "He didn't beat her up for not verifying his alibi."

"Dan has the best motive," said Travis. "Y'all are right about that. He could've sent one of his men to do the job for him."

"We took his phone," argued Virge. "How did he send one of his boys?"

"Don't press me, Virgie," snapped Travis. "He could've had an extra phone up his ass. Did you do a cavity search?"

"Hell no."

That made me laugh.

Joliceur Residence. Shelby.

When we arrived at Barb's house in Shelby, she was lying on her sofa with the other girl from the bank—Beth—watching over her and giving her hot tea.

Travis looked down at the black and blue mess of Barb's face and growled at her, "Who beat you up, Barb? This is not the time to tell more fuckin lies."

"I'm sorry." Barb sniffled and cried a little. "I lied when the deputies were here because I was so pissed off at Dan for using me as his alibi. Nobody was supposed to know about us, and he goes and tells the Sheriff we were sleeping together, for chrissakes."

"Uh huh. So, you got mad and decided not to verify his alibi for the morning of Sandra's murder and look what that got you."

"He sent one of his thugs to do this to me."

"Name?"

"A piece of scum named Easy Menard. Kind of a bodyguard type. I've seen him with Dan a time or two."

"Have you ever been to Dan Darkers' property up in Sweetgrass?"

"Never. I never asked Dan any questions. It was a no-strings relationship and that's the way we both wanted it. Foolish, I realize. But I always had a feeling he wasn't one of the good guys."

"What made you think that, Barb?'

"The way he talked, and didn't take any crap from anybody, and he got a lot of phone calls like those drug guys do. You see it on TV. They're always talking on their phones."

"Yep." Travis shoved the recorder into his pocket and said, "You'd better go to a clinic and get checked out, Barb. You might have broken bones or rib fractures. I can drop you off."

"I'll take her," said Beth. "I didn't want to go to work today anyway." She laughed.

Travis said, "I'll call the clinic and get a list of your injuries for evidence, Barb." To me: "Harlan, take some pictures of Barb's bruises. We'll need the photographs for Easy Menard's record when he goes to trial."

"Copy."

When we left Barb's place in Shelby, I said, "We should go up there to Sweetgrass right now and arrest this Easy guy, and I say we walk right into that building and find out the fuckin truth of it. We can take care of it all at the same time."

"Yep. Good call, Harlan. We're doing it exactly that way, son."

Darkers' Residence. Sweetgrass.

On the drive from Shelby, Travis called and sent Billy and Ted up to Sweetgrass and told them to wait for us on the road out of sight from Darkers' place.

"Don't breach the property until we get there, Billy. There's too many men working there for just the two of y'all."

"Copy, boss. Waiting for you."

I parked right behind Billy's squad, and we all spilled out. Max and Sarge too. We left Butchie at the station with Molly. She was more of a pet—not a working dog like our boys.

Having the dogs with us was equal to having four extra men. The dogs were fast and fearless and perfectly trained.

Walking in the driveway, Travis split us up. "Billy, take Ted and Max and secure the trailer. Arrest everybody inside. We'll sort them out at the station."

"Copy."

We took Sarge and headed for the building back in the trees. Travis opened the door and hollered, "Police. Everybody down on your knees. Hands on your heads."

Time for one quick look inside. Long tables covered in product. Four guys. One of them firing at us.

"Virge," hollered Dad.

Virge turned and fired and hit the shooter in the throat with his first shot. A pink cloud floated up as the dead guy went down.

Dead guy had got his shot off before Virge fired and the bullet caught Virge in his left shoulder.

"You fucker," hollered Virge. His eyes narrowed and he gritted his teeth. Pain, anger and adrenaline manifested in Virge and spewed out like a fuckin volcano. Blood gushing from his shoulder, Virgie blasted the three other guys before Dad could get a hold of him.

"Shit," said Travis when the shooting stopped. "Get their weapons, Harlan, and bag them. Take Sarge with you in case they ain't dead yet. See if anybody needs an ambulance or if they all belong to Doctor Olsen."

I moved between the long tables covered in pill bottles and pill presses and cartons half packed with pill containers.

First guy I came to wasn't dead. Virge hit him high in the chest and he was bleeding real good and gasping for breath. Kind of gurgling like he was choking.

"Ambulance, Dad," I hollered.

Moving on, the guy at the end of the row had his brains blown out by my deadly brother.

"One for Doc Olsen."

Around the other side was the shooter Virge had taken out with his first shot—definitely dead—and a few feet from him was the fourth guy trying to work through another high center mass shot. Not going to make it.

"Another one for the ambulance, Dad."

"Harlan you and Sarge hold this building. If either one of those shot guys moves, finish them. It will be a gift to them. Mercy. They probably won't make it anyway."

"Copy that."

"I'm going to help Billy. Virgil, sit on the floor, put pressure on your arm and don't move until the paramedics get here."

"Copy, Dad." Virge slid down the wall onto the concrete floor and held tight to his shoulder.

Billy and Ted were wrapping up in the trailer. Mrs. Darkers was cuffed and sitting on the floor in the small living room. Next to her was a guy Travis hadn't seen before. Figured it was Easy Menard.

"That's it? Just the two of them in the house?"

"Yep," said Ted. "Only the two."

"I've got some calls to make. Ted, load up your prisoners, secure them and wait in the squad. Billy, go to the building and put pressure on Virge's arm until the ambulance comes."

Billy's eyes widened. "He took one?"

"Yeah. After he got shot, he got mad and made a bit of a mess out there."

Billy hurried out the door and headed for the cinderblock building at the back of the property.

Travis called the local DEA boys in Great Falls and gave them the address. Told them to hurry because he didn't have time to hang around babysitting the fucking scene. He had wounded deputies.

They said they'd leave right away.

Two ambulances arrived next. One of them took Virgil to Cut Bank Hospital and I went with him. Dad said to go. He had the scene tight.

The other bunch of paramedics scraped up the other two guys Virge had shot and put them in the second ambulance. Sirens screaming, we raced to the hospital.

In the back of the ambulance, Virge was white as snow and pretty quiet as the paramedic kept pressure on his shoulder wound.

When he spoke, he made me laugh. "I ain't going to the fuckin Hallowe'en party, so you can forget it."

"I probably won't be going either when Penny finds out I was there when her mother was arrested."

"Too bad Darkers was in our run," mumbled Virge. "If he was in his drug building with his crew, I'd like to have shot that fucker in the face."

"Uh huh."

Travis waited in the drug building for Doctor Olsen to arrive and process the dead bodies. "This looks like a manufacturing operation, Travis. Congratulations on shutting it down."

"Thanks, Doc."

He, Ted and Billy helped the doctor bag the two dead bodies and Ted and Travis carried them to Doc Olsen's van.

"Ted, take your prisoners to the station and lock them up. We'll book them when we get the charges sorted out. Then come back up here and pick Billy up. He'll be waiting for the feds to show. We can't leave the building until the evidence is taken into chain of custody by the DEA."

"Copy, boss."

"I'm going to the hospital. I'll call you from there as soon as I know how Virge is doing."

"Copy that."

Cut Bank Hospital.

The ambulance drove right into the garage and the paramedics wheeled Virge down the hallway to one of the operating rooms. They'd called ahead and the doctor was right there in the gangway ready to take a look at Virgie's shoulder. He had so much fuckin blood all over him, it was scaring the shit out of me.

To one of the medics, the doc said, "You're right. The bullet is lodged in the bone in his shoulder. Good call. We'll get him prepped for surgery."

I sat in the waiting area across the hall and saw the second ambulance bring in the other two guys who were in way worse shape than my brother. Neither one of those guys were conscious and might never be again.

Other doctors appeared and took those death-door guys into different operating rooms.

I waited.

I was sitting all alone looking at an old magazine when Dad showed up.

"How's he doing?"

"Good. He's not so mad now. Bullet is still in there. They're taking it out. He says he's not going to the Hallowe'en party tomorrow."

Dad laughed. "Stay put. I'll get us coffee and a snack. We might be here for a while."

I was glad to sit in my uncomfortable chair and not have to walk around. Seeing my little brother get shot made me shaky and my gut was kind of pukey.

Sheriff's Office. Coyote Creek.

Ted brought Toby Darkers and Easy Menard in and locked them up. He put Menard in the last empty cell and shoved Toby in with Lila Gordon, the only other female. "Got some company for you, Lila."

Lila looked scared. Not happy for company.

Ted didn't have to worry about booking anyone until the following morning when Billy and Travis were there to sort it all out. Dan Darkers would be getting charges added too, now that his drug operation had been exposed.

Molly asked questions and Ted gave her his full report of the arrests in Darkers' trailer.

"I can't tell you what went down in the drug building, but I do know two guys are dead, two are nearly dead and Virgie is shot in the shoulder."

"Oh, no." Molly swiped at a tear. "Who did all that shooting?"

"Virgie."

"All by himself?"

"Yes, ma'am. He's the designated shooter when it comes down to it because he's the best shot of all of us…like in a tense situation. Virgie has no nerves."

"Oh, my. I hope he's not in a lot of pain."

"You can call Travis or Harlan at the hospital and get yourself an update."

"I'll do that. Thank you, Ted. Where are the dogs?"

"With Billy and the drugs, waiting for the feds."

"Okay, good."

Butchie was curled up under Molly's desk.

Wild Stallion Ranch.

I didn't want to leave Virge at the hospital, but the doc said we had to go and come back in the morning when he'd be awake. If he was doing good, he might be able to go by tomorrow night, but probably he'd have to stay until Friday.

I fed the horses myself, then went into the house and got cleaned up. Dad was stressed after the big Darkers' bust and mostly freaked about Virgie getting shot. He didn't seem too worried about all the guys my brother shot. Seemed to take that in his stride as an everyday happening.

"Soon as you're cleaned up, son, we'll go to the Run and get some ribs and drink a couple of pitchers."

"Sure, Dad. I won't be long." I raced upstairs to my bathroom—mine and Virgie's—and while I was washing the barn smell off me, I got a text from Penny.

"Were you there when my mother was arrested?"

"Yes."

"Good. She's mean and she belongs in jail. I couldn't live there anymore, and I had to move out. Are we still on for the party?"

"I'm not sure. One of your father's guys shot my brother and if he comes home from the hospital tomorrow, I won't be going to a party."

"I understand. I'm sorry your brother got shot."

"Not your fault."

Dry Run Roadhouse. Coyote Creek. Montana.

Travis settled in on the last bar stool with a pitcher of Miller and told Jack about Virgil getting shot up at Darkers' place.

"So sorry, Travis. He's going to be okay, isn't he?"

"Yeah. Might have to have physio on his left arm. The bullet went into his shoulder bone."

"One thing about being young," said Jack. "You have time to get over these things. You and I get shot, Travis, we're done for."

Travis chuckled. "I think you're right about that. Personally, I've got no come-back left in me."

Savanna came into the roadhouse an hour later, Travis told her about Virge, and she burst into tears. "I'll go to Cut Bank and sit with him for a while tomorrow. How long does he have to stay in the hospital?"

"Don't know yet. The doc said we'll see how tomorrow goes."

Shadow Mountain. West Virginia.

High on the side of Shadow Mountain in West Virginia, Bobby and Ray settled into their new cabin. They'd brought a truckload of their belongings with them—still to be unloaded—and were enjoying sitting on the old wooden front porch watching the sun go down.

"Sure is beautiful up here," said Ray, gazing up at the sky.

"Write a song about it," said Bobby. "I'm making a list of what we need to get by. We'll drive down the mountain into the town tomorrow and load up on groceries now that we know the old fridge works."

"We need a dog," mumbled Ray, "to complete this picture."

Bobby laughed. "Yeah, you're right. Dog is next."

Ray strummed a few chords and started singing a new song about living in the mountains with an old hound dog.

Bobby laughed at the words.

Nashville International Airport. Tennessee.

Trying to hide his distress, Mason put Annie on a plane to Texas. "I'll poke around for a couple more days trying to find a trail before I give up. I can hardly bear to see you go home."

"I've enjoyed our time together so much, Mason."

"It meant a lot to me, Annie."

"If you decide to take a job working for me, just call. We always have openings for excellent people."

"I've lived this bounty hunter life on the road so long, I don't think I'd make a very good cop, but thanks for the offer."

"I'll call you if we have anything else come up you might be interested in."

Mason pulled her into his arms and kissed her at length. Much longer than just a goodbye kiss.

Annie stroked his long hair and whispered, "It would be so easy to stay here and love you and never go home."