Raising a Cowgirl (17 page)

For three days, they stayed on high alert. Each of them working twelve-hour shifts
as they researched and tried to figure out the enemy’s next move before they struck
again.

Thane and Mason were still in San Diego, they were working with some of the guys from
the base who were off duty. It seemed everyone took this threat seriously, because
they all wanted to help.

Thane was on speakerphone, “We have the list of people they attempted to contact.
It doesn’t look like everyone responded. Plus, there were deleted files we are trying
to grab. The CO seems to think we are dealing with a well-paid individual, the one
woman we tracked down who would know anything, has been institutionalized for severe
paranoia, seems she thinks that someone is following her and trying to kill her.
We haven’t been able to get past the doc.”

“What about the rest of the people?” Alex asked.

“We didn’t want to alarm them until we showed up. In case someone called to make
arrangements for a dog or time off. As soon as we get the deleted files, we are going
to go. What’s happening there?” Thane asked.

Alex and his friends explained what was happening around the ranch. They at least
got a laugh out of the LC when they told him about the town's people.

They finished their conversation and Thane promised to call if something new came
up.

“Perimeter?” Gage asked and looked over Jessie’s shoulder.

“Clear, and the town also. David said his deputies have called in every hour to let
us know if someone they don't recognize drives through town,” Alex said.

“We need to get the girls downstairs and…” Gage said.

“Breach on the northwest corner!” Jessie yelled, cutting Gage off and the men began
running. Gage pulled out his walkie-talkie and began yelling.

“Breach, everyone we have a Breach!”

“Shit,” Jessie said from behind him.

“I got the girls, go Master Chief,” Drake said and met Jolie and Sammi, with Desire
and Sable close behind. The last sight he caught of her was her tear-stained face
mouthing ‘I love you’, to him before she turned away.

It didn’t take all of the men long to be armed and in position.

If you would've walked into the yard, you would have been fooled by the sun shining
and the gentle breeze blowing in the trees. It was a normal day, all except for the
men who were sent to kill them.

“Status?” Gage whispered into his mic.

“I have at least twenty maybe more coming across the field right to the house. The
sensors are going off all around the ranch, and Rex is repor
ting the same from David’s farm, plus from Desire, Slade, and Dillion's place
as well. Snipers are almost in place,” Jessie said quietly.

Because of the time of day this was happening they had been caught a little unaware,
they were coming at full light, not bothering to hide themselves from the ranch, it
made Gage wonder what the hell they were up to. No one with brains did this.

He heard David in his ear, “Didn’t come through town, we are clear, coming up behind
them. I will let you know what we see.”

Shit
, Gage swore in his head, something was terribly wrong, but he couldn’t take the time
to wait, they were going to have company soon, and he was not going to let them in
the house.

Gage heard the first sniper fire and then all hell broke loose. He ran for the back
door. He heard the Mayor yelling to his people to move left, so moving quietly, he
stole a look around the door. Already there were three bodies on the ground, and
thank God, all of them wore jeans and sneakers, not from there at all.

“I need cover at the back,” Gage whispered. He needed to make it to the barn, which
was where his major weapons were. Holding his gun up, he waited and then he heard
someone laying ground fire and he bolted out of the back door and didn’t look back
until he reached the loft with the window.

Sliding to his spot and pulling his rifle at the s
a
me time, Gage grimaced.
Jolie was gonna be pissed he tore another pair of jeans
, he thought as he looked through the scope.

Damn, whoever wanted them was serious, there was practically an army out there. Even
though they were not trained there were still too many of them. Taking a deep breath,
Gage began to count.

“One…Two…Three…” he said and shot. One down.

He turned his scope and saw Drake in the yard taking down one guy who had made a run
for the house.
Dumbass
.

“One…Two…Three…” He shot. Two down.

He could hear them chatting on the talkies. “We have about thirty or forty coming
behind, and at least fifty in the front. Rex and Jolly are talking care of the ones
on David’s land. They counted at least thirty or more.
Desire's husbands were covering the backside from their ranch. Dillon and Slad
e
are counting fifteen at their ranch, which they have been able to keep back. They
are reporting that several of the men already ran away. Someone picked them up in
an old truck.
”

Fuck, this was some serious firepower
. He saw Alex drop down from a tree and take on two men. And Slone joined him a
second later for the third that appeared. Jessie was still on the cameras calling
to people when he saw a threat.

“Gage, two under you coming from the back,” Jessie said and he turned.
Fuckers, they thought they could sneak up on him?
He crawled slowly to the ladder on his belly. His knife pulled out in one hand
while the other held a handgun. He had already cleared the hay from where he was,
so other than the minute sound of him moving—there was nothing. The noises from the
outside covered him.

He took a slow and steady breath and exhaled gently before he looked over the edge.
Hell with two, more like four, and they didn’t seem to care how much noise
they
made.

Gage moved slowly, he had to rethink. Looking over the edge again, he saw where they
were moving and how fast they would get there. Taking another deep breath, he grasped
his gun and began to count. "Three…" he said and leaned over and fired. "One down…Two
down…Three down…" he counted as he dropped them, then shit the gun jammed.

He threw the gun and in one fluid movement, jumped out at the remaining man who had
frozen when his buddies were shot. Gage landed on his leg with a precise kick, he
knocked the gun out of the man's hand.

Crying out in pain, the man pulled a knife and swept it a couple of times in the air,
warning Gage to stay back.

“Who are you?” Gage demanded and moved quickly striking the man's cheek with his blade.

“None of your business,” the man snarled and he recognized the accent from a country
known for its drugs.

“I beg to differ, fucker, since you seem intent on killing me,” Gage said, striking
again, this time the other cheek.

The man howled and quickly pulled more knifes from his boot, throwing them with amazing
precision as well, one of them sticking in his leg.
Well shit, now Jolie AND David were going to be pissed.

“I don’t have time for this shit.” Gage sighed as the man threw the last knife, he
shifted to the side, and the knife missed its mark—him. With a flick of his wrist
though, his knife hit its target and buried itself in the man's chest.

“Status,” Gage barked and limped to the bottom of the loft and pulled the rope. As
his guns came sliding down the chute, he grabbed them.

“Drake, Alex, and Slone are in the front holding their own. The townsmen are in the
rear doing the same. Snipers are searching out to see how many are left. David’s
coming across the field slowly. The rest are covering the side and making their way
to David’s place,” Jessie said.

“Need cover,” Gage said and peered around the edge of the door. He could see David
moving slowly with the deputies. Now more bodies were laying in the yard, none of
them were theirs.
At least something was going their way
.

He heard Jessie swear in the mic and he paused. Gage had intended on covering for
David and the others, but when he heard a piercing scream, and Jessie calling for
back up, Gage knew they had been tricked. Somehow, they had gotten into the house.

As he ran, he could hear the ping of bullets hitting the door. Jessie was calling
out numbers that almost stopped him cold. How could that many men get in the house
without them knowing?
Don’t think. MOVE!

Thane paced as they listened. Jessie had patched him in when the guns began firing.
They were outnumbered, but his men knew how to survive, the ones attacking didn’t
by the sounds of it. Running willy-nilly across the yard trying to get to the house.

All a fucking diversion
, he thought and listened, this didn’t make a lick of sense. Voodoo stood tense hoping
they did not have to listen to anyone dying.

“Uh, sirs?” the Ensign said hesitantly.

“Shhh,” Thane said.

“But…” the Ensign said.

“What?!” Thane barked as he pulled the listening device from his ear.

“Someone had contacted a Tulu Patrick in New Orleans,” the Ensign said. “We just
caught the chatter. Whoever it was said they were coming to take her to her son.
Would be there in the morning.”

“FUCK!” Thane yelled and turned to see Mason already in motion running for the door.
“Patch the feed through to my phone, call the Commander, say they are after Mason’s
mom. We need transportation ASAP, on our way to the airport, either they give us
something or we steal it!” he yelled over his shoulder and sprinted to keep up.
Shit, he was getting out of shape, maybe he needed to run a little more in the mornings
at the ranch
.

His phone rang. “Another contact with a
n
Arden Plane
, asking for her to meet with someone who served with ‘
Dag
,’ she is in a small town outside of New Orleans called, Magic. Should we make contact?”

“Fuck, yes, tell her to hide until we get there, toss her phone and call this number
in twenty-hours from a pay phone,” Thane said and rattled off the number to his extra
burner phone.

“Copy, patching through,” the Ensign said and he put the phone on speaker. He could
hear the battle rage in the house. Jessie calling out numbers as someone breached
the house.

Gage didn’t pause when he reached the back, throwing open the door and sweeping the
room. Damn, they were all downstairs. He could hear them, but coming up behind them
would be a death sentence, and he could not afford to make Jolie and Sammi wait anymore.

David flew in behind him and looked wild-eyed around the room, pulling his gun when
he saw Gage standing, listening. David paused and looked down, they could hear the
men talking, there were probably ten or more in the basement firing at the steel door.

Mayor Deke came into the room, handed them each an automatic weapon, and pointed to
the floor silently. Gage smiled and nodded, point to where they should not fire,
and where they should. Each of the men moved silently to a different place in the
house. Deke stayed in the kitchen. David in the living room, and Gage in the playroom.
He whispered his countdown into the mic and held his breath when he reached, one.

He heard the weapons being emptied and did the same, right through the floor, angling
and shooting away from the safe room. He wanted to laugh when he heard the men below
screaming.
Bastards should never have come into their house and fucked with them.

When Gage emptied his gun, he reloaded and paused. There was no sound coming from
below, only the ringing in his ears from the weapons that were fired.

“Jessie?” Gage whispered.

“Fuckin' A, sounded like Armageddon in here. I think we are good,” Jessie laughed
and Gage could hear Sammi crying in the background.

Gage moved as fast as his now blood-flowing wound on his leg would allow. David and
him crept down the bullet-ridden stairs with Deke as their backup and saw approximately
ten men on the floor, all dead. Gage breathed a sigh of relief and said to Jessie,
“Let us check on the others, stay tight.”