The Guardians (15 page)

"Great!" said Nate.  "I've got to get back on the road as soon as I can," he said as he looked at his brother who looked away and avoided eye contact.

"That sort of attitude is exactly what will get you on the road to recovery as soon as possible.  Keep it up," she said.  "If you don't have any more questions, I'll be on my way.  It was great talking to you.  I'll be back in the next day or two to see how you are doing."

"OK, thank you very much Ma'am.  It's a God send to get this kind of care in today's world," Nate said as he reached out to shake her hand.

Doctor Stewart left the room and Luke took a seat next to his brother.  He sat staring at the floor with his elbows on his knees while wringing his hands.  "So...is she one of the reasons you are torn about leaving?" asked Nate.

"Not exactly...well...maybe," Luke stuttered.  "It's not exactly like I can just turn right around and come right back if we get all the way there and can't find Mom and Dad.  I've got a good thing here, and I can see things possibly working out with her.  It's not like back in the day when I could just call her up.  If I walk out that door, I may never see her again."

"That may be true, but if you don't go, you'll likely never see our parents again.  I thought our family was inseparable.  I don't know what you've gone through to change how you see things now, but you're not the Lucas Hoskins I expected to find," said Nate in a disappointed tone.

Luke just sat there wringing his hands while continuing to stare at the floor.  "What's your plan?" Luke asked.

"Well, I had always pictured us working that out together.  Now, with my leg the way it is and being on my own.....well.....I guess I had better start putting something together.  I've got a few weeks to get it all worked out I suppose," replied Nate.

"Well, if you need anything let me know," Luke said as he stood up.

"I could obviously use some suitable clothes," Nate responded. "I doubt they kept my blood covered stuff.  Also, my pack if they still have it somewhere.  I could use some maps or an atlas to start my planning.  Oh, and what about my guns?  I had a Beretta M9 and a shotgun.  The M9 was on my hip, but the shotgun was somewhere in the front of the Humvee at the time of the crash."

Luke took out a pen and some scratch paper and started jotting down everything Nate was saying.  After he finished his list, he put it in his shirt pocket and said, "I'll see what I can find out.  The first time I saw you, you were already stripped down."  Luke then turned to leave the room.  Half way to the door, he paused for a moment, turned to face Nate, stuttered, then said, "Never mind."

"What is it?" asked Nate.

"Nothing.  I've got to get going.  I'll be back later this evening," Luke said as he left the room.

Nate laid his head back into the pillow and thought to himself, now what?

****

Chapter 15: Rustlers

Having decided to attempt to track whoever had been accessing the Thomas Farm on foot in order to investigate the disappearing cattle, Evan said, "I think we should split up and cover a wider swath looking for signs.  Perhaps one directly over the hot trail, while the others hang back and off to the side, hand railing the course to the left and the right.  They may not have been using the exact path every time and we don't want to miss anything."

I agree," said Jason.  "I'll take point and use my scope to look up ahead on the trail.  Let's move in bounds.  I'll advance, stop, and glass the area, then I'll signal for you two to follow and then you two can advance on each side accordingly.  We want to take our time and be thorough while simultaneously thinking defensively.  We don't want to stumble across someone that may be coming back this way."

"You fella's just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it," said Ollie.

"Jason's gonna be up front, I'll offset the trail to the right, then you hang back a bit to the left," Evan said.  "We'll keep that bound unless Jason has us rally on him, or unless something goes down."

"OK then, I'll keep my eyes on you two," said Ollie.

Jason slipped into the woods and followed the trail until he was almost out of sight.  He glassed the area up ahead with his scope for a few moments and then motioned for Evan and Ollie to proceed.  Evan hand railed the trail off to the right, and Ollie followed to the left.  They occasionally saw a squirrel in a tree, and at one point, they flushed out a grouse on accident.  Aside from that, it remained mostly quiet and uneventful as they ascended a long gradual hill following the trail.  The woods were heavy with brush and freshly crisp fallen leaves, making stealthy travel a challenge.  They continued this bound through the woods until reaching a ridgeline.  Jason gave the signal to rally on the ridge.  Evan and Ollie worked their way up the hill and joined him in a well-hidden position to survey the terrain that gradually descended in front of them.

"What's up?" asked Evan.

"Is this your fence Ollie?" asked Jason as he held up the end  of a cut strand of barbed wire fencing.

"Sure as hell is," Ollie replied.  "Looks like it's not been cut long.  The ends aren't as rusted as the rest."

"There are also hoof prints through here coming from that way," Jason said as he pointed along the ridgeline heading towards Ollie's farm.

"They must be keeping a watch on the place through the access point we followed, while someone else was leading the stolen cattle up this way, and then off of the property down through here," added Evan.  "Were does this end up Ollie?" he then asked.

"There's a creek at the bottom and on the other side is an old mining road that leads up to the old coal mine behind the Murphy place," Ollie said.  "You could get to a lot of the properties from that road if you didn't mind a hike in the woods to come in the back away."

"You mean like they are doing here?" said Jason.

"Yes, just like them sons-a-bitches are doing here," replied Ollie with a scowl on his face.

"Well, let's keep going to follow this out," said Jason.  "We have got to get to the bottom of this or you won't be able to sleep at night."

"Right behind you," said Ollie with a feisty voice.

They continued a little further through the woods, now following the livestock trail as well as the human prints.  Coming up to another rise in the terrain, Jason gave the down signal, followed by rally on me and quiet.  Evan and Ollie followed his signals and moved into Jason's position to join him.

"I thought I saw movement up ahead.  We'll just lay low for a minute and watch," Jason said as Evan and Ollie moved in close to him behind a cluster of trees and brush.

Evan took out his binoculars and scanned the area as well.  As he panned from right to left, he saw movement and stopped.  He scanned the area trying to get a better look, but his binoculars were at their maximum useful range.  "Jason, look towards that big rock with the downed tree laying across it," Evan whispered.

Jason dialed back the zoom on his scope to get a wider field of view in order to find Evan's possible target.  "OK, got it," Jason said as he acquired the rock in his scope.

"OK, now go just about ten feet to the right of that," said Evan.  "You see the shiny spot?"

"Yep, got it," Jason said as he reached up and dialed more zoom into his Nightforce scope.  "Holy hell, those are sunglasses.  The sun is hitting them just right to make a nice shiny reflection for us.  Looks like they are on a ball cap....yep, just moved.  It's a man.  Looks like he's laying back against a tree.  I can't see much beyond that.  There are just too many branches and too much brush in the way."

"That SOB is probably laying low until nightfall before he comes on down to the pasture," said Ollie getting more and more irritated about the intrusion onto his land and herd.

"That or he's supposed to be a lookout for someone else," added Jason.

"Let's go introduce ourselves," Ollie said with a serious tone.

"Let's try and pinch him in," said Evan.  "Jason, do you have your handheld?"

"Yep," replied Jason as he pulled it out of his cargo pocket.

"Good," Evan said.  "Ollie, you cover this angle.  If we spook him and he runs this way, you can stop him.  Preferably of his own free and breathing will.  We need intel so we need him talking.  I'll swing wide right.  Jason, you swing wide left.  We'll both circle around and pinch him in.  Earpieces for the radios only.  No gunfire unless necessary.  We don't know who else is out here.  Once in position and we can see the entire situation, we'll work out a plan."

"Roger Roger," said Jason as he proceeded off to the left, concealing himself behind the terrain until reaching a suitable spot to begin his arc around and through the woods and down into the descending terrain below.

"Keep your eyes peeled," Evan said to Ollie as he followed a similar path around to the right of their person of interest.

As Evan crept through the woods, with every inch closer to the man it seemed as if the woods got quieter and the sounds he made walking on the organic debris that was layering the forest floor got louder.  As Evan got into a position behind the man, ninety degrees to Ollie's perspective, he heard Jason whisper over the radio that he was in position directly across from him.

Just as Evan began to key the mic to work out a plan with Jason, they were startled by the thundering boom from Ollie's powerful .30-06 rifle.  The man they had been sneaking up on leaped to his feet and began to run up the hill towards Ollie.  They could now see that he was carrying an AR-15 and a load bearing chest rig containing numerous magazines.  As the man reached for a radio on his belt Evan leapt up, pointed his VZ58 at the man's back, and yelled, "Drop the weapon! Drop the weapon!"

The man spun around bringing the rifle into position, and as Evan began to squeeze the trigger, one of Jason's .300 Win Mag rounds ripped through the man's side dropping him to the ground.  As he fell to the ground, the round in the chamber of his AR-15 rifle was fired, narrowly missing Evan as he heard the round whiz by his head.

Evan and Jason both sprinted up the hill towards Ollie's position.  As they reached the ridge they saw Ollie frantically pointing and yelling, "Towards the house!  He's running towards the house!"

Evan and Jason both sprinted through the woods towards the Thomas home.  All Evan could think about was the women and children at the house.  Hopefully, Jake was able to hear the shots off in the distance, he thought as he dodged tree branches trying to gain on the man.  Just then, he heard Ollie's rifle fire again.  He turned his head back to look in Jason's direction and yelled, "Go help Ollie!  I'll cover the house!"

Jason diverted his run back up the hill towards Ollie.  I'm a sitting duck for an ambush right now, thought Evan as he frantically ran down the hill.  All that guy has to do is duck off into the brush where I can't see him and cut me to pieces as I run by, he thought.  As he neared the pasture, the brush began to thin out to open his field of view.  He was then able to see the man, who was wearing the old style desert camouflage from the Gulf War era, running across the field towards the barn.  Evan broke out into the field running at a full sprint.  He was gaining on the man, but wasn't going to be able to catch him before reaching the barn, or even worse if he continued for the house.  Who knows how much observing these guys have done to know our force strength, Evan thought.  I can't risk it he said to himself.

He slid to a stop, raised his rifle into firing position and fired.  Damn it! He thought as he realized he missed.  He was breathing so heavy it was difficult to stabilize the short barrel of the VZ58 for a steady shot at what was at least one hundred and fifty yards.  Holding his breath, he fired another shot as the man now passed the barn and headed for the house. "Shit", he yelled aloud as he missed again.  He calmed and steadied himself, took a little more lead on the target, and fired a third shot.  He waited what seemed like a second of flight time for the bullet to impact, and with a thud, the man hit the ground face first, limp like a rag doll, and slid to a stop.

He took off running again towards the house, not knowing what may have transpired while they were gone.  As he approached the downed trespasser he visually verified a wound in the center of the man's back.  He kicked the gun clear of the man for good measure and then resumed his run towards the house.  Jake had observed the events unfold and ran out onto the back deck with his own rifle in hand.  Exhausted and out of breath from his extended run, he mustered just enough wind to yell to Jake, "Keep everyone inside.  Get them in the basement and then stand watch from the first floor.  I'll be back!"

He then turned to run back to Jason and Ollie.  As he began a jog he heard Jason's voice over the radio say in a steady monotone voice, "Ollie is down....We lost him.  Is the house secure?"

Evan dropped to his knees in the middle of the pasture and pounded his fist into the ground in a fit of rage and sorrow.  He turned and saw Mildred standing on the deck, watching him with a blank look on her face.  It was as if she knew.  He yelled, "Jake!" and Jake took Mildred by the hand and pulled her into the house.  He got back up and began his trot back up to Jason.  He said, "Secure and on my way.  Are you secure?"

"Can't make any promises, but it seems to be.  I'll cover you the best I can," replied Jason.