The Free Republic of Texas 2015 (13 page)

Bob went first and got all six with 7 shots in under 3 seconds, very good time, Sam was next and when his gun was empty he had fired 8 shots and only 4 plates were down in 10 second, Bob watched Sam as the fire started burning in his eyes and knew he had Sam hooked and now had a shooting Partner.

When they had enough and had picked up the brass for reloading they sat in the shade and had a cold coke, Sam opened with, SHIT !! I’m better then this, and Bob agreed with him but pointed out that Sam had not fired a round in how long, Sam had to think on it and looked at Bob shook his head and said,  almost 5 years and then only at rocks and beer cans in the old gravel pit.

They agreed that this was going to become their morning thing daily, Bob said and how will “Princess Pie Killer” handle it you leaving home every morning alone? Sam said , well I’ll bet the first morning she don’t budge, the  second she will try to keep me In bed and the third she will be here watching and the afternoon of  the third day she will be in the store with John getting geared up to join us, both men laughed and Bob said ya know this is good, I been trying to get Mary out shooting but she isn’t interested, bet she and Jade arrive at the store together.

Chapter 13

Three days later and Jody and Bob were back at the ranch, in the meeting that was called the next morning, they both reported on how it went.

Bob’s cousin Bill after hearing the tape said that he had heard rumors of all this and would be more then happy to go to work on it but he wanted the exclusive on the story and since he would be dealing with very corrupt people including almost the entire Sheriff’s dept. that he would like somebody watching his back. That was easy to work out because he had a friend who was a retired Ranger and who would be happy to follow him around as he was so bored with retirement that he was about to get a job as a door greeter at Wal-Mart !! And he hated people , so that showed how desperate he was.

Jody reported that the Dallas Law Firm was willing to handle the fire works when they hit and would also handle and correlate the information as Bill got it dug up, their fees weren’t small but not as would be normally the case as the founder of the firm was an old line Lawyer who hated crooked cops and politicians and said so loudly at ever chance, he said he might look at replacing the County Attorney just so he could prosecute the bastards !!

The last thing to be decided was to hire a top CPA firm to help Bill wade through the books, that was handled with a call to the Law firm.

Now they only had to sit back and wait for the storm to blow in and that’s just what it did.

In the meantime all the work moved ahead as planned, the berry barriers were planted and growing, the fruit trees were all in and doing well, the gardens were doing very well under the care of the clan women who seemingly could make a rock grow.

The Clan hunters were having a wonderful time filling the freezers and smoke houses with wild pork, Jody had a bit of a problem explaining to them about game laws and about the difference between wild pigs and deer, but It seemed to work out most of the time, not that there wasn’t always fresh venison at the tribal feasts that seemed to occur weekly, Sam said it seemed if a frog croaked or an Owl hooted it was cause to kill and cook half  the critters in the forest, earning him a sore rib or two from his loving bride who could hit with as much passion as she could kiss him which she did right after slugging him, Sam observed that kissing didn’t hurt and bruise!

It was decided that some fish ponds would be a good thing to build so that was started, they figured they could quietly just pipe free flowing water from the river thru  the ponds and out the other side back into the river, not stopping the flow at all, just diverting it.

Jody and Sam decided it was better to ask forgiveness then permission so they just did it. And as time passed it would turn out to be a very good idea.

All in all the ranch was turning into a place that could feed hundreds of people and with rationing, maybe a few thousand.

As the outside gardens produced , the ranch built stands on the roads nearby and the clan women who wanted to live more normal so to speak ran them, the idea was to sell for a profit but less then most did so more folks could afford the produce.

Miss Ellie was drafted to provide the names of folks who were in need due to loss of jobs or sickness, these folks were given all they could use , unless it was a case of just being too damn lazy to work and provide, but there was a thin line there because kids need good food regardless of worthless parents, Miss Ellie handled that too, nobody knew just how but she did it.

The greenhouses were up and ready to run, it was kind of difficult to explain the greenhouse concept to the Clan women but Jade worked it out and soon they were all on the same page, I really never quite figured out why we needed greenhouses as the growing season was most of the year, but I figured if I could have fresh salad all winter then it was worth it.

We also hired some locals to locate and cut Oak trees that were dead or dying, this wood was stored in three sided wood sheds to be dry and ready when needed, not that much wood was needed as winters were very mild, but ya just never know.

It was hard to believe but we were coming up on the first year since we first started this, it seemed like just a few days, but I guess it was because we were all doing what we wanted and enjoyed doing so it was never like having to go to work and punch a time clock, in fact Jody made it a rule that all hands had to make it to the Saturday night whatever feast the Clan was putting on because most were spending too much time at work, that was sure a change in life styles.

On the Sat. night of the one year anniversary we were all spread out in the woods at tables for the dinner when Jody got a call on his cell, he walked  away for a bit then looked at me, Bob, John and nodded toward the path to the house, I told Jade I’d be right back and left.

After we were all together he said Jim Daniels had called him from a pay phone to say that he had been pulled to the far side of the county for no good reason and he thought it might be smart to be on guard against somebody maybe breaking into the business area of the mall.

We loaded into Johns truck and slipped thru the woods without lights, after getting close to the back of the mall we unloaded and entered the back of the gun shop where we settled down to wait, we figured this was the target because if they could find anything illegal in here that was all they would need to worm into our affairs.

As the hours passed it got quieter and quieter, no traffic on the road at all, about 3:00 am we all heard the sounds of a vehicle approaching, standing in the dark we watched an extended cab pickup with at least four people in it slow down and drive by, we could see all the faces looking in our direction as it passed, but within 5 minutes it was back and moving even more slowly, it turned at the end of the mall and went out of sight.

We waited in the dark with our handguns on but also with baseball bats as we wanted prisoners unless they came in armed then it was gonna be bad.

The longest 30 minutes of my life passed before we heard the sound of somebody  picking the lock on the back door which was a good trick as it was the best lock money could buy, and it did take a long time for them to get in, we held back in the shadows and waited, one voice was heard giving orders, he told one to find the gun sale paper works, another to place the gun’s in the rack and case, this seemed strange but then it became clear, the other man was told to go into the basement and look for a hidden vault that was filled with unlicensed full auto weapons.

After that there was just the sounds of people moving in the dark, this crew knew how to move and what to look for, after about an hour the one who went down stairs came up and said he found a vault but of course he couldn’t open it, the leader said don’t worry cause when the stolen guns were found in the cases they would get warrants to get into the entire operation.

Having heard enough Jody hit the lights and the four found themselves looking into four guns pointed at their heads, they froze until Jody said well boys best be getting down on your bellies, the leader started to say something but was stopped by a fist to the gut from one pissed off  John.

After they were all face down and hand cuffed they were searched, all four had Special deputy’s badges, all had driver’s license’s showing  all to be kin to the bad elements of the county Sheriffs dept.

The leader having got his breath back started yelling about how much trouble we were in and how we best let them up as they was the “Law”…

John planted a boot in his butt and told him he wouldn’t make a pimple on a real Lawman’s ass and to shut up before he got peeved.

Jody picked up the house phone and pushed a quick dial number and when it was answered said “ Officer Daniels” this is Jody Brown in Dogtrot, we have had a break in at the gun shop and have four men in custody at this time, we need you to come right now please, he then hung up and called the dispatcher at the Dept of public safety ( Highway patrol) and told them what was happening and that Deputy Daniels was gonna need back up. He then hung up and we settled down to wait, when asked what this was about the leader said he wanted a lawyer and that all of them did.

In about 30 minutes we could hear the sound of cop cars heading our way, the first to arrive was a DPS car with two Patrolmen in it, followed shortly by Jim’s county car, all 3 trooped in together and looked the whole thing over, we had all put our guns away behind the counter and the ball bats were in a closet by the bathrooms.

Jim asked the troopers to search the four while he got his camera from his car, which worked out real fine because when the DPS guys found the Special Deputies credentials they were pissed to say the least.

Jim came back in and upon seeing the creds said he was requesting the DPS guys to call in some of their investigators because this was way too big for him seeing as how these good ol boys were kin to half the County Sheriffs Dept.

The troopers agreed and one went to call it in, Jim started getting our statements and then went down to look at the poker table set up down stairs with money and beer bottles on it, he was smiling when he saw it and shook his head while looking at Jody who just smiled back.

After the State crime scene crew got there and did their thing and the investigators got through with their work, things weren’t looking good for the Sheriff and his Dept.

The four still hadn’t said a word and most likely wouldn’t but as soon as they were gone and the place cleared out we looked at the gun racks and cases and found 2 rifles and a shotgun that didn’t belong there as well as 3 handguns in a case they had really planned to nail us good, we didn’t mention any of this to the DPS guys because we weren’t going to offer anything we didn’t need to, but every thing from the time we arrived at the store was on film, all the talk between the four about hiding the stolen guns was on there and we figured the film might come in handy later.

Jody asked Jim what the fall out was going to be over his being involved in the arrest but he just smiled and said well I figure the Sheriffs gonna fire me in a fit of anger and I’ll file a big law suit five minutes later and file to run against him 6 minutes later coz I need a job! We all laughed and Jody handed him the card for the Law Firm in Dallas and said he would call them about somebody to handle the law suit and they would contact him.

It sure seemed like a good nights work and we all headed back home except for John who lived in the gun shop.

When I got home I expected a full out war from Jade but she and Mary were sitting up with fresh coffee and some pie, we told them what happened and that was that, when I asked why she had not blown a gasket she said because Jody had made a tribal hand sign to her that meant possible danger and to stay back, I couldn’t believe she would obey that but she did, it came from childhood training. I wanted to know some of this hand signing myself!

Morning came and we were on the porch having breakfast when Jim drove into the yard, Jade was up and gone and back with a plate of food by the time he came inside the screened porch, he looked at the food and the three of us and said ya know I could get used to this!

He said he was now unemployed by the county and needed a job and said he had called the law firm first thing and they had already called in a firm to handle his suit and with the report from the DPS and the video from us it would blow the mess sky high.

Jim said well I don’t want any money from the county, things are bad enough as it is with those crooks stealing the place blind, and besides, I figure if I win the suit and refuse to take the money I’m a shoo in for Sheriff !! which got a laugh from us all?

Jody said he thought that with the lame break in and the crooks being Special deputy’s it would make the whole county take over much more simple and that was a good thing! And he proved to be right.

In less then 30 days the full story was out and the books were examined and found to be millions short, and with the IRS and FBI tracking things the hidden bank accounts were located, and locked down, the County commissioners and the Sheriff and his cronies were all in jail with 3 million dollars bond each and all their property had liens placed on it by the IRS, meaning they couldn’t use it for bail and no bail bondsman in the state trusted them to stay put for the trial.

Jim Daniels was elected by land slide in a special election, this all went so fast none of use could believe it, we had been prepared for a battle of months and yet one stupid arrogant old man too long in power and believing he was bullet proof had brought the whole mess down, and most of them were talking as fast as they could to try to cut their charges by helping, so far the prosecutors didn’t feel the need to deal.