An Undeclared War (Countdown to Armageddon Book 4) (25 page)

     Paul said, “Okay, Sheriff. I’ll start on
Holcomb Road and work my way north.”

     “And I’ll start on Highway 121 and work south.”

     “Good. While you two start your rounds, I’m going to the farm implement places on I-10 to see if I can find some dry batteries.”

     Deputy Paul gave Tom a puzzled look.

     “I’m going to spend the next few days trying to get a couple of the patrol cars running so I can get you guys off horseback.”

     His first two deputies rode off in different directions, and Tom hung a handmade sign on the front door of the Sheriff’s Office.

OUT DOING SHERIFF STUFF

WILL RETURN SOON

     The Sheriff’s Office was on the town square in Kerrville, directly across the street from the courthouse, and next door to the county jail.

     The jail currently had no residents, but would soon, after the city council hired a few more deputies to
help Jim Colson run it and a judge to issue arrest warrants.

     Tom tipped his hat to a couple of women walking down the sidewalk toward him, thinking they were just out for a stroll.

     “Are you Sheriff Haskins?”

     “Yes, ma’am. Yes I am.”

     The younger of the two women held out her hand.

     “I’m Dawn Hawkins. The city council just hired me to be your day shift dispatcher. They said I should get right over here and get started.”

     “Oh. Well, in that case, let’s go back inside.”

     He looked
inquiringly at the older woman, who explained, “I’m Debbie. I’m Dawn’s mom. I just thought I’d walk her to work on her first day.”

     “I’m happy to meet both of you. Shall we go back in?”

     “Oh, I’m not here to meddle. I’ll be on my way. Please be gentle with my Dawnie. This will be her first job, other than cashier at the Dairy Queen.”

     “Yes, ma’am. I’m sure she’ll be fine. She’ll be off at five p.m. if you’d like to come back and pick her up.”

     “Oh, I’d like that, and thank you.”

     Tom smiled as he watched the woman walk away. Dawn looked at him and said,
“Please don’t mind her, Sheriff. She still treats me like I’m twelve. I’ll do a good job, and I’ll be the best dispatcher you’ve ever had.”

     Tom chuckled.

     “Well, that won’t be a tough thing to be. You’re the only dispatcher I’ve ever had so far. Let’s get you started.”

     They went back inside and he showed her to her desk.

     “Now, then. Right now we’ve only got one working radio, and it’s my own personal one. It’s set on the frequency of the compound where I’m staying with friends.

     “I’ve got some friends who work for the San Antonio Police Department. They’ve got a guy down there who’s a whiz at electronics. He was able to take all of the SAPD’s radios and replace all the burned out stuff inside them to make them work again. He’s working on six radios for us,
as well as our base station, and they should be ready in a couple of weeks.

     “In the meantime, we’ve got a major communications problem. Have you ever used a ham radio before?”

     “No, sir.”

     “Okay. That’s what this is. It was taken from a dead prepper on Farm Road 40 and wired into our antenna. It’s set on the same frequency as the one in my compound. Don’t mess with the frequency, it needs to stay right where it is. You’ll hear some chatter occasionally, but just ignore it.

     “If you need me for any reason, call on that radio. Whoever answers, tell them you need to get ahold of Sheriff Haskins. They will call me on my handheld radio and will relay messages back and forth.”

     “Yes, sir. What are my other duties?”

     “Any time someone comes in the door wanting to fill out a report or file a complaint against somebody, give them one of these forms to fill out. Have them be as thorough as possible, especially when it comes to descriptions of the people who have wronged them. And be sure they put their address or directions to their house so I can come and see them if I have any questions.

     “Leave the windows open. The only other thing I want you to do is listen for gunshots.”

     “Gunshots?”

     “Yes. Point east for me.”

     She pointed to the east.

     “Very good. You’d be amazed at how many people don’t know their directions. We’ve got two deputies out on horseback making their rounds. Their instructions are to fire two quick shots at any sign of trouble. If you hear two quick shots, use the ham radio and cal
l for me immediately. And tell me whether they came from the east or the west.”

     “Yes, sir. Anything else?”

     “Nope. That’s about it. I mean, this office hasn’t been used in over a year. It’s in sad shape. I’m sure that if you get bored between visitors you can find something to keep you busy. Are you one of those type of people who will get offended if I ask them to straighten things up or sweep a floor occasionally?”

     “No sir. I’m the type of person who will
straighten up or sweep a floor before you have to ask.”

     He smiled. He liked that answer. This girl was smart as a whip, and eager to work.

     They’d get along just fine.

-48-

     “Hey, whoever’s on the desk. This is Tom. Can somebody let me in?”

     “Ten four, Tom. How far away are you?”

     “I’m out front now.”

    
Jordan was in the feed barn repairing a sagging door.

     “I copied, Hannah. I’m heading that way.”

     Jordan dragged the mesquite tree out of the way and Tom drove his old Ford into the yard.

     “Hello, Tom. I missed you when you left this morning. I wanted to share some coffee with you so you could tell me all about your sheriff adventures.”

     “Oh, hell, boy. I ain’t had any yet.”

     “Then where’d you get off to so early in the morning?”

     “I was going through old complaints, trying to make some sense of them. Some of them are more than a year old, filled out by people who are dead now. Or they were complaining about outlaws who are dead now. I had to throw away eight reports, for example, that were filled out about the Tony Pike gang.”

     “If they’re old, why not toss them all?”

     “Because some of them are still valid. Some of them name some pretty bad characters and tell of pretty bad things they did. In some cases the bad guys are still out there, and they need to be brought in to answer the charges and face the judge.”

     “I thought we didn’t have a judge.”

     “The city council is trying to talk Judge John Hardy into coming out of retirement. He’s one of the biggest landowners in the county, so he don’t need any more acreage. They’re trying to appeal to his sense of civic duty to get him to come back to the bench for a year or two.”

     “Isn’t he the one you said was feeble?”

     “Yes. In a lot of ways he is. But he knows the law. And even if he can’t remember how to tie his shoes some days, as long as he knows the law he’s good to go.”

     “So what happens if they hire him?”

     “Then I’ll give him the complaints that are still valid. Meaning, the ones where both the complainant and the accused are still alive and still in the county, and the ones where it appears a crime has been committed.

     “He’ll look at them, decide which ones
have legal standing, and he’ll issue arrest warrants for those cases. We’ll pick up the accused, and he’ll hold summary trials at the county courthouse.”

     “What’s a summary trial?”

     “Well, I ain’t no lawyer. But the way they explained it to me is that’s when the accused is brought before the judge and makes his plea. He can have an attorney present if he wants, but he’s not required to. The complainant can attend if he or she wants to present evidence, but that’s not required. There is no prosecutor or court reporter or any of that fancy stuff. Just the judge reviewing the evidence and rendering his judgment.”

     “That sounds kind of… informal. Especially for a murder case.”

     “These aren’t murder cases. Those will have to wait until the county hires public defenders and prosecutors, which they’re working on but say might take awhile. Not enough qualified people still alive, I guess. No, these are cases like petty theft, larceny, horse thieving, minor assault, that kind of stuff.

     “When we arrest somebody accused of murder, we’re gonna just throw ‘em in the jail and let ‘em stew for awhile.”

     “Interesting. Are you going back out?”

     “Yes. I’m going to grab
an early lunch first and talk to your mom and see if I can talk her into letting Zachary spend the rest of the day with me.”

     “Mom, letting Zach go into town with you? Yeah, good luck with that.”

     “Thanks. I’ll probably need it.”

     Linda shook her head. She was obviously concerned.

     “Tom, he’s only a boy. And he hasn’t been outside these gates in a year.”

     “I know that, dear. But while you weren’t paying attention, your boy has done a lot of growing. Heck, he’s more a man than he is a boy. And it’s a lot safer out there now than it was when he first came in here.”

     “But why do you need his help?”

     “I don’t
need
his help. I can do it just as easy without him. But like I said, he’s growing up, and he’s been wanting to prove himself. He asked me awhile back to teach him some of the stuff I know about cars, so he knows how to get them running again. Well, it just so happens that’s what I’m going to be working on the next few days. So this is a great opportunity to let him try out his new man legs and get away from here for awhile.”

     “What if you have to go out on a call, on some sort of shootout or something?”

     “Then I’ll drop him off at the office first. There’s a pretty young girl we just hired to run the office. Her name is Dawn and she’s as sweet as sugar. Zach will enjoy being around her, I reckon.”

     “What if he gets hungry, Tom, or frightened? He’s just a boy.”

     “Oh, for crying out loud. He’ll always be ‘just a boy’ until you give him the chance to prove he’s more than that. And I think he’s ready to do just that.”

     Zachary joined the conversation from the doorway.

     “So do I.”

     It wasn’t that he was eavesdropping, necessarily. It was just that
Jordan, coming back into the house after replacing the mesquite tree, gave his little brother a high five and said he was proud of him. Zach had asked him why, then went off to find Tom to see if Jordan was pulling his leg.

     Linda drew a breath. She’d have preferred that Zachary ha
dn’t injected himself into the conversation. But it was what it was. It was too late to change it. So she decided to hear him out.

     “Mom, you all have been bragging about
Jordan becoming a man, and taking more responsibility around here. Well, I’m not even three years behind him. And I’m capable of doing more than I’ve been allowed to do. All I want is a chance to show you guys that.”

     “But Zachary, you’re my baby.”

     “That’s just it, Mom. I’m not a baby. I haven’t been for a long time. And I don’t want you holding me back. I want to show you that I can do much more than you and Dad have let me do so far.”

     The argument was over. She lost. All three of them knew it. She would place Zachary in Tom’s capable hands, and trust him to bring her youngest son back safely.

     And she’d hold her breath until he did.

     “Promise me you’ll be careful. And at the first sign of trouble, you’ll get him the hell out of there.”

     Tom went to her and held her.

     “I love this boy too. I’m not going to let anything happen to him. I promise.”

-49
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     “Hello in the building! Kerr County Sheriff! We come in peace. We mean you no harm. If you’re in the building come out now so nobody gets hurt!”

     Tom couldn’t help thinking that maybe it was a good thing Zachary was along for the ride. If he hadn’t been, Tom probably would have barged right into the abandoned farm implement company. Wouldn’t have asked if anyone had taken up residence there. Might have walked in on somebody and startled them, and been shot for his efforts.