

### MURDER and REDEMPTION

### By Robert D. Coleman

Copyright © 2020 by Robert D. Coleman

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Please do not participate in or encourage the piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

### CONTENTS

Chapter 1  
Chapter 2  
Chapter 3  
Chapter 4  
Chapter 5  
Chapter 6  
Chapter 7  
Chapter 8  
Chapter 9  
Chapter 10  
Chapter 11  
Chapter 12  
Chapter 13  
Chapter 14  
Chapter 15

CHAPTER 1

John Carter set up in his bed he couldn't sleep, there was no need to just lay there. Standing up, he turned the light on. Squinting as his eyes adjusted to the light and turning to check the time. It was 4:30 am. He could sleep for another hour or so, but what was the point.

He put on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and made up his king-sized bed. He still slept on his side. It was still hard to believe that Carolyn was gone. He had hoped that giving her time she would come home, but after almost 10 months he was starting to lose hope on that.

Walking to the bathroom and looking in the mirror he didn't like what he saw looking back at him. His hair was long by his standards, to the middle of his ear and a full beard. Taking a long look at himself. Why would she come back? Brushing his teeth and washing his face he walked to the kitchen and started some coffee.

Setting at the table while waiting on his coffee he thought about everything that had happened last year. That last run-in with Slone and him leaving me in that ditch. Why didn't he just kill me? That didn't make any sense. But he would make himself crazy trying to make sense of the things Slone did.

He got up and poured himself a cup of coffee and set it back down. Things just went downhill from there. Slone was gone and no leads to go on. He lost re-election to James Wright, It had been closer than anybody had thought, but he still lost. Then a few months into Wrights term he developed some health problems and resigned. He felt there was more to it than that. But that was the official story. His former Chief Deputy Greg Roberts was now Interim Sheriff until a special election could be held. He hoped Roberts would run, he would make a good Sheriff.

He finished his coffee and got up and walked back to the bedroom he took a quick shower and got dressed, putting on an old pair of jeans and a tee-shirt. He sat down and pulled on and an old pair of work boots. He grabbed his shoulder holster and put it on. He hit the combination of the gun safe. He took out his Papaw's 38 with the J.D.C. on the handle. He looked at it for a moment and put it back in the safe. Reaching back in the safe he pulled out his 9mm. He checked the load in the clip of it and snapped it back. He placed it in his shoulder holster, then putting on a long-sleeved shirt to cover the gun.

Coming out of the bedroom and heading to the front door, he stopped at his hat rack. Passing over his nice Stetson silver belly and grabbing and old beat-up straw cowboy hat, he placed it on his head. He stopped briefly and looked in the mirror in the hall. No his best look. He turned off the lights and walked out the door and got into his truck.

It was still dark outside as he drove across town. He stopped at a convenience store, he wanted another cup of coffee for the trip. As he was pouring his coffee he heard a familiar voice from behind him. "Well if it's not John Carter." Carter turned to see Groesbeck Mayor Bobby Boseman. Carter forced a smile. "Good morning Mayor," Carter said. Boseman looked Carter over. "Well, I can see you have embraced the cowboy life. So what are you doing nowadays?" Carter walked passed Boseman to the counter. "Oh, a little bit of this and that," Carter says as he pays for his coffee and heads for the door he hears Boseman say. "I'm so glad things have worked out well for you John."

Carter hurries to his truck and heads down the road. He didn't think Boseman got up this early. He drove outside of town and pulled into the 75-acre place that his father owned. He got out and unlocked the gate and drove up to the stable. His Dad had owned this place for several years. He kept a few cows on it, and it had a large stable that he kept a few horses that he used to work his cows.

He got out and put his tailgate down getting back in he backed up to his Dad's old Dugan Trailer. His Dad had bought it many years ago. It had been built right here in Groesbeck and had hauled many cows over the years. He pulled the trailer inside the stable and walked overturned on the lights. The three horses all walked over and stuck there heads over the gates to there stalls. He walked over and filled a bucket up with feed and stopped at each gate and gave each horse some. At the last gate, he opened it and entered. He patted the horse named Poko on the neck. She was a red mare about 5 years old, they were all good horses but she was the best at cutting cows. He fastened the lead rope to her halter, as she ate the feed he got the saddle and blanket and put it on her and lead her to the trailer. He opened the gate and got in and she stepped up in the trailer behind him, he walked her to the front and tied her. He walked back and closed the back gate and got in the truck and headed out.

Stopping to lock the gate he turned out on the road. It would take him about 45 minutes to get to Hubbard Texas over in Hill County, That's where they were meeting at. When he got just outside of Hubbard he saw the red barn and pulled in there were several men with trailers already there.

He pulled around and parked and got out and walked over to where the men were standing. A man named Frank Garrison spoke up. "Ok, I think everybody is here now. I'm going to go over it one more time. We are going to hit Fred Freeman's place. He lives up in Dallas, only comes down on the weekends. There are no close neighbors so this should be easy. We get in, get what we want and get out. He has the brand FF registered in Hill County cut back anything branded. Ok, let's do this."

The men started breaking up and heading back to their trucks and trailers. Carter sees a young 16 or 17-year-old boy setting in Garrison's truck. Carter walks over to Garrison. "Who is the kid?" Garrison gives him an annoyed look. "He is my son Jim, I thought It was about time he earns his keep." Carter looks over at the boy setting in the truck and then back to Garrison. "This is really not the place for kids!" Garrison turns back to Carter in anger. "That's really not for you to decide! So If you want to get paid, Get in your truck and get gone." Carter nodded and headed for his truck. What kind of father would involve his son in a job like this?

Carter followed the other trucks and trailers a few miles outside of Hubbard. The lead truck pulled into a gate, a man got out of the passenger side with a pair of bolt cutters and cut the lock off of the gate and opened it. The trucks started driving in. the pasture had a lot of trees at the front, it would give them cover from the road.

They stopped at a corner of the pasture. One of the trailers had a portable pin in it. Some of the men started setting it up. Carter parked his truck and trailer and got Poko out. Garrison looked over at Carter. "Get started rounding some of them up while we get the pins set up.

Carter mounted up on Poko and looked around. He saw the young Jim Garrison leading a horse. "Hey kid your with me," Carter said. Jim looked over at his father who nodded. He mounted his horse and rode over to were Carter waited. They turned and rode off in one direction. Two other pairs of men rode off in other directions. As they rode. Carter looked over at the boy. "So your father is bringing you into the family business?" Jim looked over at him. "Ya, what choice did I have. When my Dad says to do something you do it. All the time growing up, I thought my Dad just bought and sold cattle. Then I find out he is a cattle thief." They see a bunch of cows and start bunching them up. Carter says. "Just because your father is a cattle thief doesn't mean you have to be." The boy looks over at him and laffs. "Really, That's great advice coming from another Cattle thief. Oh, and by the way, my Dad just brought me along to involve me, so I won't rat him out." Cater nodded. "I see."

They got a bunch together and started moving them toward the pin. Carter felt bad for the boy. Getting caught up in his father's life. The men had the pins set up and they pushed their cattle inside the pin where they had put out a sack of feed. Carter turned to Jim. "Let's go get another bunch. They both turned and started riding off. They quickly gathered up another bunch of cattle and started them back toward the pin. Carter says. "Hey, Jim, why don't you head over that hill and check for a few more. We got to hurry and get out of here." Jim swings his horse around and heads over the hill.

As Carter puts the last of his cattle in the pin he hears a loud siren he looks up and sees a Texas Department of Public Safety ATV with its lights flashing, followed by Texas Rangers some on four-wheelers and some on horseback. A loudspeaker came on and said. "Stop where you are! Put your hands on your head. A female Ranger started riding toward Carter. He turned Poko and hit her with his spurs and she started running full speed. He looked over his shoulder and saw the female Ranger coming after him full speed, her cowboy hat pulled down low and her long red hair in a ponytail flew in the wind. Just over the hill out of sight of the pin Carter moved to his right and slowed down a bit looking toward the woods. She closed the ground on him. Poko was a good cutting horse but was not known for speed as she pulled up beside him in close she reached over and grabbed Carter's belt and dove over Poko pulling them both off. They hit the ground hard. knocking the wind out of him. She came down on top of him. She quickly put a knee in his back and started pulling his hands behind him and putting cuffs on him.

After securing the cuffs she took a moment to catch her breath. She stood up and pulled him up by his arms. She felt his gun under his left shoulder and removed it and placed it in her belt behind her back. She looked at him. "So Pops, Your kind old for a cattle rustler?" Carter just smiled at her as she walked him back to the pins as Poko and her horse followed.

When they got to a DPS van, they stopped. She turned and pulled a rights card out of her pocket. "Ok Pops, you are under arrest, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you. You have the right to an attorney, if you can't afford one there will be one appointed. Do you understand what I have just told you?" Carter nodded and said. "Yes." She then grabs him by the arm. "Ok load up. Watch your head." Carter ducks his head low but hits his cowboy hat and knocks it off. He gets in and sets down. She picks his hat up and puts it back on his head. He says. "Thank you." She smiles. "Your welcome Pops."

Inside the van, he looks over and Frank Garrison is sitting next to him. Garrison leans over in a low voice says. "What happened with Jim? I thought he was with you?" Carter turns his head towards him. "I sent him back to pick up some strays. They don't have him, at least not yet." Garrison nods. "Good," he says. Carter turns and looks out the window. Glad to see him show some concern for his son. Too bad he didn't do that before he involved him in this.

They were driven to the Hill County Sheriff Department. The door to the van slid open and they were taken out one by one and placed along the wall in the sally port. One of the Rangers hit a buzzer and a door opened and they were taken inside. There were two holding cells there and they were all placed in one. Their handcuffs were removed. Then one at a time they were taken out and processed, fingerprinted, photographed. Then they were placed in the other holding cell. When all were done, they were split up and Carter was taken down to an interrogation room.

He waited there for about 15 minutes and he heard the door buzz and In walked the redheaded Ranger that had arrested him. She sat down at the table across from him. She looked up from the papers she had brought with her. "I'm Texas Ranger Jessica James, I have some questions for you. How long have you worked for Frank Garrison?" Carter looked at her but didn't answer. "How long have you been in the cattle rustling business? Are you and Garrison partners?" Carter doesn't answer. She frowns. "So that's how it's going to be. Ya know things would go a lot easier on you if you cooperated." Carter looked at her and said. "I'm just exercising my right to remain silent." She closes the folder in front of her. Carter smiles and says. "Do they know you're in here?" She looks over at him. "What do you mean?" He smiles. "Your bosses, do they know you're here, talking to me?" She stands up. "Of Course they know, and you better wipe that smile off your face Pops. Because you're going down!

About that time the door buzzed and in walked Hill County Sheriff Chuck Nixon and Texas Ranger Capitan Bill Morris. Morris looks over at Jessica James. "Oh, Ranger James I see you have met Ranger Lieutenant John Carter." She had a surprised look on her face, she looked down at her folder and then back up at Carter. "Yes, sir. We were just chatting."

Sheriff Nixon walked over to Carter and offered his hand. "It's good to see you, John." Carter shakes his hand. "Good to see you too Chuck." Capitan Morris turns to James. "Why don't you and Sheriff Nixon start questioning some of Garrison's men and see what they have to say." "Yes, sir," James says as she moves to the door. As Sheriff Nixon turns to leave, he says. "You and Carolyn need to come over for dinner sometime John." Carter nods. "That sounds great Chuck."

Morris sets down at the table. "Have a seat John." Carter sits down across from Captain Morris. "You did a good job, John. We could not have broken this rustling ring up without your undercover work." Morris said. Carter looks across at him. "Thank you, Capitan. But I don't think I can do any more of this undercover work. It takes so much time away from my family. My kids are going to be juniors in high school this year. I want to have time with them before they leave home. I hope you understand." Morris nods. "I do understand John. When you started this 6 months ago I told you this was just temporary. That's one of the reasons I'm here. I need somebody to take over the Homicide Task Force for F Company. You will investigate Homicides both active and cold cases. You will have five Rangers that will report to you full time. You will be based in the Waco office. So what do you think John?"

Carter was silent for a moment. "Why me, Capitan? I don't have the best track record investigating murders." Morris smiles. "On the contrary John. I have looked at your record as Sheriff. That 20-year-old cold case that you solved a few years ago was some great work, and as far as the Slone murders, You did a good job with the limited resources you had. You were going against a professional killer with outside help. Now you should have brought us or the FBI in sooner. But that's the beauty of this. You can make sure that other local sheriffs don't make the same mistakes you did. I need you on this John."

Carter nods his head. "Ok, I won't let you down." Morris smiles. "Great" Thay stand up and shake hands. As they step outside the interrogation room Morris says. "I will send you over some files of Rangers you might want on your team. You can have anybody you want. But take some time off first, spend some time with your family."

"Thank you," Carter says. Then he looks around points. "What about her for the Task Force?" Pointing at Ranger James. Morris looks over at her. "Ranger James, She is green. We recruited her straight out of college. She was at the top of her class. She only has a few months on the job but she is eager and a hard worker." Carter smiles. "I think I can work with that. I want her on my team." Morris pats Carter on the back. "Ok, you want her, you got her." Morris walks away.

Carter walks down to booking and gets his gun and holster back, all the others have been processed and moved to lockup. He looks at the girl behind the counter. "What about my truck trailer and horse?" "They are still out at the crime scene. We still have deputies out there. I will get somebody to drive you out there." He looks at her. "Thank you."

He turns and walks out into the bullpen. He sees Ranger James and walks over to her. "Ranger James." He says smiling. She turns and looks at him with an embarrassed look on her face. "Lieutenant Carter." She forces a smile and then says. "Thank you for not calling me out in front of the Captain. I just got this assignment at the very last minute." Carter smiles and nods. "Oh I understand, no problem."

A Sheriff's Deputy walks up. "Ranger Carter if you're ready I will take you to get your things." Carter turns to him. "I'm ready." He turns back to James. She smiles. "Well guess I will see you around." He smiles at her. "I'm sure you will."

CHAPTER 2

Jake Slone rolled out of bed at 4:20 am he had an alarm set but it hadn't gone off yet. He didn't really need it. He had gotten up early for so long now it was just second nature to him. He walked to the bathroom and washed his face and brushed his teeth. He came out and put on a tee-shirt and a pair of shorts, socks, and sneakers.

Walking out of the bedroom into his living area, on one end he had a couch and coffee table and a small TV, on the other side he had set up like a work out area. He had a punching bag and a bench and a free weight stand. To warm up he started with 100 push-ups and then a 100 set-ups this got his muscles warmed up. He then walked over to the punching bag, putting on some gloves he started punching the bag. He wished he had a person to spare with, punching a bag was good to work with, but it didn't punch back and those reflexes needed work also. But he made do with what he had. He worked out, almost every day. Just as he had since joining the Navy. He had come to enjoy it. He finished his workout doing some reps on the free weights.

He jumped in the shower and got cleaned up and got dressed. Pulling on the dark gray pants and a light gray shirt that had on the left arm a patch that said. The National Park Service, with a picture of a tree and a mountain and a Buffalo on it. Butting up his shirt he reached down on his dresser and picked up a badge and pinned it to the left side of his chest. It was gold with the Department of the Interior across the top, With a buffalo in the middle and National Park Service, Park Ranger along the bottom. He reached down and picked up the name badge that had K. Allen on it. That was the name he was using now Ken Allen.

He looked in the mirror. He was clean-shaven with a short haircut. He walked over to a peg on the wall and got his gun belt that was hanging on it. Putting it on and pulling out his 38 and checking the load and then placing it back in the holster. He graben his mountie style hat with a flat straight brim and placed it on his head. He really didn't care for the look of the hat, but it was a tradition.

He got a cup of coffee and walked outside the cabin that he had lived in for the last 10 months. He pulled up a chair and sat down on the porch. He really loved it here at Yosemite National Park. Just working in the beauty of the park was a pleasure.

As he sipped his coffee he thought of his daughter Mitchelle she was doing really well with her heart transplant. He wanted desperately for her and his mother to come out here and live with him. But Mitchelle needed to stay close to her doctors in case of a complication and he was sure that the FBI was watching their house, hoping they would lead them to him.

He was so grateful to Nathan Hunter his handler for setting him up here. Nathan had been very good to him. He was sure he would be dead or in prison if it was not for him.

He took the last drink of coffee and got up and went back inside the cabin and put his cup in the sink. He walked back outside and locked the cabin door. Getting into his work truck that had Yosemite National Park logo on the door with Park Ranger underneath. The sun was just coming up and he needed to start his rounds. He loved working as a Park Ranger, Just driving around and looking at all the beauty took all his stress away. Buffalo soldiers were among the first Park Rangers just after the Civil War. They made the first trail to the top of Mount Whitney. It's the tallest mountain in the Continental United States. President Theodore Roosevelt rode horseback threw the park in 1903.

As Slone started driving across the O'Shaughnessy Dam, On December 19th,1913 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Raken Act with permitted San Francisco to develop the Hetch Hetchy project. Construction started in 1919 and the competition of Damming of the Tuolumne River was completed in 1923. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir was formed and provides water for over 2 million people in the San Francisco and the Bay area. A labor force of 500 worked on the Dam. 67 men and 1 woman lost their lives during construction.

Driving through the camping area there were several campers in tents and travel trailers. The main there he had to watch out for this time of year was campfires. Campfires had been banned because it was so dry, the slightest spark could set off a fire.

Pulling over a hill he saw a family camping with a small tent and it looked like that had built a campfire and were cooking breakfast. Pulling the truck over he stopped. He really hated this part of the job, but it had to be done. Looked like it was a man and woman and a boy about 8 years old.

He got out and walked toward them. "Good morning." He said as he walked up to them. The woman looked up at him and smiled. "Good morning." The man nodded. "I'm Park Ranger Allen. I'm afraid you can't have a campfire. We are on a burn ban. So I'm going to have to ask you to put it out." The man frowned and took a step toward Slone. "What do you mean we can't have a campfire? That's the whole point of camping to have a fire!" Slone nodded. "I understand, they should have told you about the burn ban when you bought your permit at the front gate. There are even large parts of the park that are closed because it is so dry." Slone then looked around at the truck that they came in here on and didn't see a permit. He turned to the man. "Can I see your permit?" The man got angry. " We didn't get any permit. There was nobody at the gate so we just came in."

Slone nodded. "Ok," Slone said. "Here is what we are going to do. I'm not going to kick you out or give you a ticket. But one of you is going to have to drive back to the front gate and buy a permit. I also see you have fishing gear. Do you have a fishing license?" The man shook his head no. "Ok, you will need to get one of those also." Slone walked over and kicked dirt on the fire and put it out. He turned back to the man. "I will be back in a little while to check on yall." The man was still angry. "Can we eat the food we already cooked or do we need a permit for that too?"

Slone who had started walking toward his truck turned around and walked back to the man. "Sir I have cut you a huge break by not ticketing you. If I were you, I wouldn't push my luck.

Slone turned and walked back to his truck and headed down the road. He understood the man's frustration. But rules were rules. They could not risk a fire getting started, with it being so dry a fire could get out of hand quickly, He had also said that there was nobody at the front gate. There was always somebody at the front gate. They most likely got in through one of the back roads in.

He drove around for a while and talked to a few more campers. Some movement caught his eye and he stopped his truck and looked. He saw a herd of about 20 Bighorn Sheep coming down the mountain. He got out of the truck and reached in the back and got some orange cones out and put two out on the road behind the truck and then walked up ahead and put two more out. He then stood and waited. Several cars came and stopped going both ways. Some of them confused as to why he had closed the road. Until they saw the beautiful Bighorn Sheep start crossing the road. Then they started pulling out their cameras and started taking pictures.

After they had all crossed the road he picked up his cones and moved the truck out of the way and parked alongside the road. Many of the cars that had stopped also pulled off to the side and got out and started walking toward the meadow where the sheep were grazing.

He walked down there with them. He didn't mind them taking pictures as long as they didn't get to close. He didn't want there feeding to be disturbed. The Sheep just grazed on, like they didn't even notice the people taking pictures. He watched for a while and answered a few questions from some of the park guests. This was the part of the job that he enjoyed the most, watching the wildlife.

When the Sheep were finished grazing they headed back up the mountain the same way they came. They would most likely be back in a few days. When they were all safely gone, Slone got back in his truck and drove to the fire watch station. Each Park Ranger spends a few hours watching from the tower for fires. As he made his way up the stairs, he heard fellow Park Ranger Curtis Harper yell, "Have you been Allen? (Slone) I have been stuck here all afternoon." Slone opened the door and walked in. "Well, I got held up by some Bighorn Sheep." Harper rolls his eyes. "Bighorn Sheep. Now I have heard everything."

Slone picks up the binoculars and looks around. "Well have you seen anything? Harper smiles. Well, actually the only thing I have seen is you watching that herd of Bighorn Sheep." Now Slone rolls his eyes. Harper then turns and heads for the door. "Well, I'm out of here. Keep your eyes open and try to stay awake." Slone nods. "Will do. Have a good night.

Harper leaves and Slone sets down in the chair and spends the next few hours looking through his binoculars until something catches his eye. He gets on his radio. "Tower 3 to Control." He waits for a response. "Control" Comes over the radio. "There is smoke coming from sector 3 down near the bank of the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir," Slone says. "Acknowledged." comes back over the radio."

The park had always had a let burn policy when it came to fires. It was believed that it cleaned up the underbrush and it acted like a natural fertilizer. But that big fire at Yellowstone years ago had brought that policy into question. Now they let burn when they could buy kept a close eye on it so that it doesn't get out of hand.

A few moments later he heard the door open and looked up to see Park Ranger Brian Benson come in. Slone looked over at him. "We have a fire in sector 3." Benson walks over to the window. "Ya, I heard on the radio. What's it doing?" Benson asked. "Slone hands the binoculars to him. " The wind is picking up so it's moving fast." Benson takes a long look through the binoculars. "That's one of the closed parts of the Park." Slone nods. "Ya I know, I think I'm going to go over and check it out." Benson pulls the binoculars down and looks at Slone. "Be damn careful, don't get yourself boxed in." Slone turns and heads to the door. "I will keep my radio on me."

Slone head down the stairs and to his truck. He made the drive over to the section 3 gate, he found that Park Ranger Harper was already there. They each got out of there trucks. "It's spreading fast!" Slone said as they walked up to the gate. Harper looked around. "This part of the park is closed. There should not be anybody in there. Slone turned to him. "Looks like somebody has cleared out some brush so they can drive around the gate. This fire had to start somehow!"

Slone and Harper walk back to their trucks and get their oxygen tanks they put them over there shoulders but don't put them on yet. Slone unlocks the gate and opens it up. They start walking up the road. They walk about a mile, the smoke is starting to get thick so they put on their oxygen and walk farther. Slone sees a pickup truck parked, as the two men walk up to it. "This is the same truck I saw this morning. A man, woman, and boy. They had a campfire going. I made them put it out. They didn't have a Park permit so I sent them back up to the gate." Slone said. Harper shakes his head. "Well looks like they just found another spot."

They walk farther and see the man and woman from this morning. He is on his knees coughing, She is trying to help him up. They hurry down to them. The woman looked up at them. "We can't find our son!" Slone pulls his oxygen mask off and puts it on the man. "Where was he?" Slone ask. The woman coughs and then says "He went down to the lake to fish. He must have gone further down the bank. We looked for him but couldn't find him. The smoke got so bad we had to come out. We got to go back and find him!" Slone looks at them. "You can't go back in there. You have breathed too much smoke. We need to get you both to a hospital." The man shakes his head and takes off the mask. "No! I got to go back and find my son."

Slone looks over at Harper. "Get them both out of here. I will go find the boy." Slone puts his mask back on and pushes past them. Harper puts his mask up to the man's face. "We gotta get out of here. Yall share the oxygen, let's go." He pulls the man to his feet and they start walking back the way they came.

Slone walked on looking for the boy. The farther he walked through the woods the bigger the fire got and the smoke was thick. He made his way down to the water and started up the bank. The smoke was so thick he could only see a few feet in front of him. He tripped over something. He looked down and saw a fishing reel, he picked it up and looked at it. It must be the boys, he had to be close. Taking a few more steps he heard coughing, looking around toward the sound he could make out a blue shirt.

Rushing toward the boy he found him at the edge of the water laying on the ground coughing badly. He took the boy up in his arms and put his oxygen mask over his face. Picking the boy up, he waded out in the water. When he got about waist deep the smoke began to clear.

The boy looked at him with fear in his eyes. "What's your name?" Slone ask. "Bob." The boy said. Slone smiled at him. "Hey, Bob. I'm Ranger Allen. Take some deep breaths. Slone said. We are going to get out of here." Slone looked around, not really sure how he was going to make that happen. The bank as far as he could see was engulfed in flames now.

Slone looked around some more. He looked down at the boy. "Hey, Bob this is what we are going to do. We are going to wade out farther in the water then we are going to swim down till there is a safe place for us to get out of the water." Bob looked up at him crying. I can't swim. We should say here." Slone shook his head. "We can't stay here. The smoke is blowing out across the water. We can swim out of it. Don't worry. I'm a good swimmer, I can carry us both. I just need you to relax and let me do the work."

Slone picked the boy up and carried him to deeper water. When they got about shoulder height on Slone. Letting Bob take a few more breathes from the oxygen tank before they discard it. He puts the boy in front of him and hooks his arm around his neck and pushes off and he starts swimming out deeper in the water. When they get out far enough to clear the smoke, he starts swimming parallel with the bank until he gets clear of the fire. He starts swimming toward the bank.

Coming up in shallow water Slone stands up and picks Bob up and carries him out of the water onto the bank. He puts the boy down and they rest for a moment. Slone picks the boy back up and walks to the road. Looking down the road he can see where his truck is parked. Park Ranger Curtis Harper is waiting with Bob's parents, as he walks toward them, the Mother and Father see them and start running toward them. When they reach them Slone puts the boys down. The mother grabs him in a big hug. "Oh, Baby are you ok?" She says sobbing. The boy coughs. "Yes, Momma." The mother looks up at Slone. "Thank you!" Slone smiles and nods.

Slone starts walking toward Harper who is on the radio. "We are going to need an ambulance." Harper puts the radio down. "It's on the way. Where did you find him?" Slone turns to him. "I got lucky and stumbled across him." Harper looks down and sees Slone's soaking wet clothes. "What happened you swim?" Slone shakes his head. "Yes, we were cut off. We had to swim for it."

They both looked up as the ambulance arrived. The paramedics jumped out and started treating the boy and his parents. Harper turns to Slone. "Well, you did good. You better get some dry clothes on." Slone moves toward his truck. "Ok. I will check back with you later." Slone said.

Slone gets in his truck and drives across the park to his cabin. Parking the truck he gets out and walks up the steps to the front porch. He sets down and pulls off his muddy wet boots and socks. He then opens the door and goes inside. He walks straight to the bathroom and takes off his wet clothes and turns on the shower.

After showering he puts on a shirt and some shorts, he picks up the gun belt that he had taken off and laid on the counter. He takes out his 38 pistol and unloads it. The gun had gotten wet and would need to be cleaned before it could be used again. He carried the gun with him to the kitchen area where he got his gun cleaning kit. He sat down at the table.

He started to get this uneasy feeling He had gotten these feelings before, he had learned not to ignore them. Getting up he walked to the kitchen and pulls out a drawer. He reaches in and pulls out his 9mm pistol and puts it in the pocket of his pants. A man with his background was never far from a gun. He kept several hidden around the cabin.

He walks back to the table with the gun and cleaning kit and sets down. That uneasy feeling comes back. He reaches in his pocket and pulls out the 9mm but keeps it under the table, He stands up and looks around. "I know you're here, show yourself!" He hears a sound and quickly turns and brings the gun to bear. He lowers the gun when he sees Nathan Hunter stepping into the light. "Hello, Jake," Hunter says. Slone puts the gun down on the table. "Nathan, haven't seen you in a while. What brings you here?" Hunter walks over and takes a seat at the table across from Slone. "Well Jake, I was on my way to see you, when I got here I heard about the fire and the boy that you saved. Well done. But you know you could have blown your cover." Slone picks up his 38 and takes it apart. "I was careful, I didn't go with the boy to the hospital. Few people knew it was me." "Good," Hunter said.

There was a moment of silence. Slone then said. "Can I get you something to drink." "Sure," Hunter said. Slone gets up and goes to the refrigerator and looks inside. "Looks like soda is it?" "That's fine," Hunter says. Slone takes out a bottle of soda and hands it to him. "Thank you," Hunter says. Hunter takes a drink and looks over at Slone. "So how do you like it here?" Slone puts the gun he is cleaning down. "I like it. I miss Mom and Mitchelle, I'm hoping they can join me someday." Hunter nods "We might could make that happen. I have heard the Mitchelle is doing really well." Slone smiles. "Yes, I don't get to talk to them much, but she is doing great." Hunter takes a drink of his soda. "Good," Hunter says.

There was another moment of silence, then Slone says. "Ok Nathen, what's the real reason you here?" Hunter smiles. "Not much gets past you dose it." Slone smiles. "I learned from the best." Hunter takes a drink of his soda and then looks at Slone and says. "About 6 months ago we started getting Info on terrorist activity in California. Little by little, we have put together evidence that there is going to be an attack on San Francisco. The person behind that attack is O'mar Alead." Slone's head jerks up with a surprised look on his face. "O'mar Alead! I thought that the son of a bitch was dead!" Slone said. "That's what we all thought. But it was never 100% confirmed." Hunter says. Slone stands up, noticeably upset. "That bastard killed my wife!" "I know," Hunter says. "We have found the warehouse that he is working out of. We are going to take him out. The only problem is, we don't know what he looks like. We just have drawings. Your the only person to come face to face with him and live to tell about it. We need your help?" Slone takes a hard look at Hunter with hate in his eyes. "Oh hell yes! I'm going to put that son of a bitch in the ground once and for all!"

CHAPTER 3

The Deputy pulled up at the Fred Freeman place, "Thank you." Carter says to the Deputy as he is getting out. There are several trucks and trailers still here and a few Deputy's working. He walked over to one of them. "I'm Texas Ranger John Carter, I was working undercover. I need to pick up my truck trailer and horse please." The Deputy turns and points. "The truck and trailer are where you left them and all the horses are over there in the pins." Carter smiled. "Thank you."

Carter walks over to the pin and finds Poko and pulls him out and walked him over to the trailer and walks him up inside. He takes his bridle off and pets him on the neck. "They treat you right Poko." Walking back to the truck he gets two buckets and fills one with water from his cooler and the other he puts horse feed in. He then walks back to the trailer and gives it to Poko.

While he waits for Poko to eat and drink he wonders what happened to young Jim Garrison. It didn't look like the boy had been picked up. He might still be in the woods hiding.

When Poko finished he went back in the trailer and got the buckets and put them back of the truck and got in and pulled out. As he passed through the small town of Hubbard he pulled into a Convenience store to get gas. Getting out he looked up to see Jim Garrison walking his horse up to the front door and tying him to the trash can by the front door. About that time a cute young girl with long blonde hair pulled back in a bun, walked out, she had on a red shirt and he assumed she was the manager. She flung her hands up in the air as she looked at the horse and Jim. "Seriously! Do you see a hitching post here? Do you see a water trough?" Jim looks at her. "No, ma'am." She throws her hands up again. "Then why do I see a horse in front of my store?" Jim grabs the rains. "I'm sorry, I'll move him," Jim says. "Thank you." She says turning around. She sees Carter walking up, she looks at him and shakes her head and rolls her blue eyes and goes back inside.

Carter walks up to Jim. "Put him in my trailer, I will give you a ride home. Jim starts leading his horse toward the trailer. "Thank you." He says walking away.

Inside the store, Carter waits for Jim, when he gets inside he walks up to Carter. "Did you get arrested?" Carter nods. "Yes," Carter says. "I saw them handcuff my Dad from the woods I was hiding in. Is he out too?" Carter shakes his head. "No, not yet. But he most likely will bond out sometime today." Jim looks down. "I'm sure he will be pissed." They start walking toward the soda fountain. Carter says. "He did ask about you. I told him I sent you to pick up some stragglers and I didn't think you had been picked up." Jim looked over with a surprised look on his face. "Well, that would be the first time he ever showed any concern for me."

They got there soda and Carter walked over to the counter and paid for the soda and 20 dollars in gas. As they walked out to the truck and trailer. There is a man standing with his back to them cleaning the gas pumps. He turns as Carter and Jim walk up. "You need gas?" He asked taking a hard look at Carter. "Sheriff Carter, I almost didn't recognize you with that beard. What are you doing over here in Hubbard?" Carter looks at him and recognizes him as a person from Groesbeck, but does not recall his name. Shaking the man's hand he says. "Just doing a little work." The man smiles, "Ya I know how that goes."

Carter quickly pumps his gas and hangs up the pump. The man looks at Carter and says. "Take care Sheriff. Be safe." Carter smiles. "Thank you." and gets in the truck, not knowing how much of that conversation Jim heard. Jim looks over at him as they start driving off. "You're a cop!" Carter turns to him. "Yes, I'm a Texas Ranger and I was working undercover." Jim frowns. "You set my Dad up!" Carter puts the truck in gear and pulls out. "No, I didn't set you Dad up. I didn't make him do anything he didn't want to do. He was stealing cattle all over the county. It was my job to try to stop him." There were several minutes of silence then Jim says. "Do you even know where I live?" "Yes Jim, I know where you live," Carter says. Jim looks over at him. "Ya, you probably have my house bugged." Carter smiles. "No, I don't have your house bugged. I understand your upset. I know you feel betrayed. But I was just doing my job. Most of the people that your Dad stole from were not rich people. They could not afford thousands of dollars worth of cattle to be taken from them."

The rest of the trip there make in silence. Pulling up into the driveway to the Garrison Ranch they both get out. Jim takes his horse out of the trailer, he starts to walk off. Then Carter says. "Jim, Don't let what your dad has done define you. Be your own man! Make your own way and you will be just fine." Jim stops his horse and turns around. "You knew what was fixing to happen didn't you? That's why you sent me to find some stragglers. You were trying to protect me." Carter takes a few steps toward Jim. "I didn't want you to get caught up in that." Jim nods. "Thank you. I'm going to live my life my way. If my Dad wants to be a thief. He can do it without me!" Carter smiles. "Good deal." Carter shakes Jim's hand and gets in the truck and leaves.

Carter makes the drive back over to Groesbeck he pulls into his Dad's place to finds the gate is open. Driving up to the barn he sees his Dad's truck. Getting out he walks back and takes Poko out of the trailer and walks him into the barn. He sees his Dad, Luke Carter working in the far stall. He was a big man several inches taller than himself dark hair that was starting to gray around the temple. He was a retired Marine Military Policeman so he also had a background in law enforcement. Now he owned a hardware store here in Groesbeck. He and his Mom had a house here but also spent a lot of time at his Papaw's place over in Kirvin.

"Hey, Dad," Carter said taking Poko into the stall. Luke looked over at him and said. "Hey, John. What are you doing over here this time of day?" Carter pulled the saddle off of Poke and hung it up. "Well just wrapped up what I was working on. Got some time off now." Luke walked out of the stall he was working in and into John's stall. "Poke work out ok?" Carter smiled. "Ok ya." He takes the brush and starts brushing her down. Luke walks over to John. "So how things been going John?" Carter nods. "Good Dad, I been offered the job to head up the F Company's Homicide task force." Luke pats John on the shoulder. "That sounds like a great opportunity. I know you're excited." Carter stops brushing and puts some feed in Poko's trough. "Yes, I think it will be interesting. No more undercover work."

They walk out of the stall into the barn area. Luke says. "How are things with Carolyn?" John turns back to his Dad, there was a long pause. John not knowing what to say. He then said. "Well no change, she and the kids are still living with her parents. Tom and Becky come over and stay with me most weekends and Tom sneaks over several times a week." Luke looks over at him. "Have you talked to her?" John shakes his head. "Not in a few days. She asks me to give her space and time to think. So I have respected her wishes. But I'm starting to lose hope. It's been months now. I think I have to start preparing myself for the possibility that she is not coming home." Luke walks over and puts his hand on John's shoulder. "I know its hard son. I know you want to respect your wishes, but you got to talk to her. Tell her how you feel. She may not tell you what you want to hear. But at least you will know where you stand." John shakes his head. "Ya, I know Dad."

Carter finishes brushing Poko and turns to his Dad. "I'm going to drop the trailer and go get a haircut." Luke smiles. "Ya, you could use one and a shave too!" Carter laughs as he walks out to the truck and drops the trailer and head into town. He stops at the local barbershop and goes in, there is nobody waiting so the man in their motions for him to set down.

Putting the apron around his neck. "How do you want it?" The man says. "Short," Carter says. "And take off the beard." "Got it." the man says. As he goes to work. He thinks. Dad was right. He needed to talk to Carolyn. He had avoided this mostly because he was afraid of what she was going to say. He didn't want to hear her say the words that she was happier without him. Most of all, he didn't want to lose his family.

He sat there deep into thought about what had brought them to this point. The man then said. "What do you think?" Carter looked up in the mirror. Wow, he looked like his old self again. "Looks good," Carter said. Getting up and paying the man. He took one more look in the mirror. It was amazing how much a haircut and shave could make you feel better about yourself.

Carter got in the truck and drove to the house, as he got out he noticed that the yard needed to be mowed. He needed to get on that or get Tom to do it. Walking inside, he hung his cowboy hat on the hat rack and sat down and took his boots off. It was early compared to when he normally got home. He walked into the bedroom and sat down on the bed and rubbed the back of his head. He loved how his hair felt after a haircut. He stood up and turned the light off and lays back down on the bed. He was going to take advantage of being home alone and take a nap.

About the time he had just dozed off, he heard the front door open and slam closed. He heard the familiar voice of Tom. "Hey, Dad." about that time the bedroom door opened and the light turned on. "There you are, Dad," Tom said. Looking down on his Dad shielding his eyes from the light. "What's the matter, Dad? You sick or something." Carter rolls over on his side and up on an elbow. "No, I'm fine." Tom give him a funny look. "So why you lying down? You never lay down Dad." Carter swings his legs over the side of the bed. "I was tired, ok. So what's going on son?" Tom gets a huge smile on his face. "I bought a truck Dad!" Carter looks at him surprised. "You bought a truck?" Tom shakes his head. "Yep. I have been saving my money from my job at Brookshires. This friend I work with was selling it. He only wanted a 1000 dollars for it. So I bought it." Carter stands up. "Why didn't you wait for me and we could have gone and looked at it together?" Tom turns to him. "Well, Dad. You have been working crazy hours lately. I knew I had to act fast or It would be gone."

They walk out of the bedroom. "Is it here?" Carter ask. "Yes," Tom says. "I drove it over. Come check it out, Dad." They walk down the hall to the front door and go outside. Parked right in front of the house, there was this red or what use to be red Chevy truck. Walking up to it Carter looked it over, the body looked in good shape except for the faded color and some rust spots. Looking at the tires they were bald. "Pop the hood," Carter said. Tom reached inside and pulled the lever. Opening the hood, Carter looked over the engine. Tom smiled. "She is a beauty, Dad." Carter looked over at Tom. the engine didn't look that bad for as old as it was. "Well, let's look at the oil." Carter pulls out the dipstick. The oil looked old but was showing on the stick. "You're going to need to get an oil change." Carter puts the hood down. "Start her up," Carter says. Tom gets in and starts the truck up. Carter listens to the engine. Sounds good. Carter walks around to the passenger side and gets in. It's now that he notices that its a standard transmission. He looks over at Tom. "Do you know how to drive a standard?" Tom looks over. "Well Dad, How hard can it be?" Carter can't help but laff. "You bought a truck that you can't drive?" Tom looks at him with a frown on his face. "I can drive it. I drove it over here!" Carter nods. "Well don't let me hold you up. Let's go!"

Tom lets out on the clutch the truck dies. He starts it back up and lets out again and again dies. Tom looks over at his Dad. "Maybe I need a little bit of practice." Carter smiles. "Maybe just a little. Let out on it slow and easy." Tom starts it back up and lets it out slow and the truck starts forward. Tom smiles big. "Oh ya here we go." The truck starts to strain. "2nd gear!" Carter says. Tom shifts it into 2nd and it leapfrogs forward till they come to a stop sign at hwy 14 the main road going threw Groesbeck. Tom tries to turn right but stalls the truck out. He starts it back up and stalls it out again, he tries a 3rd time and also stalls it out. There are now, cars behind him honking their horns. Carter says to Tom. "Let's switch." Carter gets out and runs around the truck and Tom slides over and Carter gets behind the wheel and puts the truck in gear and turns right onto hwy 14.

Carter drives through town. The truck seems to drive good. Just outside of town he pulls over and Tom gets back behind the wheel. He gets it going and he leapfrogs it down the road till they get to the small town of Thorton and turn around and head back to Groesbeck. When they start back in town Carter says. "Want me to drive it threw town?" Tom shakes his head. "No, I got it, Dad." When he gets to there street he makes the turn without having to stop. He pulls up in front of the house and stops.

They get out and both look the truck over. "So what do you think Dad?" Tom says. Carter looks over the truck. "Well, It seems to drive good. You will get the hang of driving a standard. It takes practice. Once you know how to drive one you can drive anything. It's going to need tires and an oil change. The first thing we gotta do is get insurance on it. That you're going to help pay for I might add." Tom fallows his Dad back into the house. "Sure Dad, how much is that going to be?" Carter sets down at his desk. "Well male driver under 24 years old. Let's just say you better hang onto that job."

Carter pulls up the insurance company upon his computer and adds the truck to his policy. He prints off the proof of inc form and hands it to Tom. "Put this in the glove box." He reaches and pulls out his wallet and takes out his credit card and give it to Tom. "Go down to that tire place by the railroad tracks and get 4 reasonably priced tires and put on it, and get the oil changed. Consider it an early birthday present." Tom smiles big. "Sure thing Dad. Thank you." Carter smiles. "You did understand reasonably priced right?" Tom nods. "Ya got it, Dad."

Tom turns to leave as he is walking toward the door he stops and turns back to his Dad. "You know Dad, Mom misses you. Have you talked to her? Carter takes a few steps toward him. "Not in a few days. She asked me to give her space. That's what I have been trying to do. I keep hoping she will call and say she is coming home. I have just been trying to do what she asks. It's not that I don't want her here. I hope she understands that." Tom looks down and back up at him. "I think she feels like you are mad at her and don't want her to come home." Carter shakes his head. "No. I'm not mad. I want my family back. That's all that matters to me."

Tom walks back to his Dad and gives him a big hug. "I love you Dad," Tom says. Carter pats his son on the back. "I love you too son, I will talk to her." Tom pulls back from the hug. "Thanks, Dad, for everything." He turns to leave, as he is walking through the door. Carter says. "I want that card back." Tom turns and smiles. "Will do Dad."

Carter watches as Tom leapfrogs the truck down the road. He turns and closes the door. He takes out his phone and pulls up contacts and looks up Carolyn and hits call. "Hey, how are ya? Good. Would you like to get some dinner tonight? Great, I will swing by about seven. Good, talk to you later. Love ya." He ended the call and put his phone away. That had gone well. He smiled, maybe there was hope.

CHAPTER 4

Jake Slone pulled up in front of the building several miles outside of San Francisco. He got out and grabbed his big bag and headed to the door, he lifted up what looked like a mailbox next to the door revealing a retina scanner. He lowered his eye to it and it scanned him. It turned green and the door buzzed open.

He walked down a long hall till he got to a door on the end. It had a number pad on it. He hit the six-digit code and that door buzzed open. Inside there were several other men also assigned to this mission. He nodded and greeted a few of them as he walked to his changing station. Some of them had been working on this operation for months. He had only been with them for the last few weeks. He had taken a leave from his job at Yosemite National Park. He hoped he could return there after this operation was over, he enjoyed his work there.

As he slowly got dressed he thought about what they had to do. It was believed that terrorist O'mar Alead was in San Francisco and was planning an attack that was going to take place in the next few days. They had intelligence on his location. It was their job to take him and his and his people out and eliminate the threat.

This was also personal for him, 10 years ago in Afghanistan, his Seal Team was set up and ambushed by Alead, his wife a helicopter pilot and 15 of his men died. So this was personal, real personal. This was probably the reason that Nathan Hunter had not brought me in on this from the beginning. But now he was one of the few people that could identify Alead, so they needed him.

Putting on his black pants and black shirt and pulling on the knit cap he walked back to the briefing room. Inside he found Nathan Hunter setting at the end of the table looking over some papers. He looked up. "Hey Jake, are you ready for this?" Slone set down next to Hunter. "I have been ready to get this son of a bitch for ten years!" Hunter looks back down at his papers. "Ya me too," Hunter says. "How did he manage to get into the United States?" Ask Slone. Hunter looks up. "I have no idea. We thought we had killed him in Afghanistan on that last op that we ran over there. But that was never confirmed. Then he goes dark for a few years. Then we get intelligence that he is here."

Slone sets back in his chair. "So why didn't you bring me in on this before now?" Hunter looks up and makes eye contact. "Because I'm well aware of your personal involvement with Alead, and the shit you got into down in Texas, I had to put you on the back burner for a while."

The other men started coming in and setting down at the table. Hunter stood up. "Ok let's get started." The men settled down and it got quiet and then Hunter started. "Ok, let's go over this one more time. We have intelligence that O'mar Alead is working out of this warehouse on the west end of San Francisco." Hunter points to a picture on the board of the warehouse. "We believe that he has material to build a bomb. We do not know what his target is. We believe he is close to being ready to strike. We also believe that he has 8 to 10 men working with him. We will assume that they will all be armed and dangerous. There may also be women and children in the warehouse. They are also to be considered dangerous. We will enter from the front and back simultaneously. We will kill any and all enemy combatants and secure all weapons and bombs and bomb-making material. Any questions?" Hunter looked around and nobody said anything. "Good. We leave out of here ASAP and we hit the warehouse at 0900 hours."

Slone got up and finished getting ready. Putting on his shoulder holster and placing his Sig Sauer P226 in it, them putting on his bulletproof vest. He picked up his M4A1 Assault Rifle and attached a full magazine, he put two extra magazines on his belt. They headed outside and got into two plain black vans, the Alpha team in one and the Bravo team in the other.

They made the ride almost in silence each man thinking about what they needed to do. Slone thinking that this was his chance to finally take out O'mar Alead. The man that had killed his wife and his Seal team.

The warehouse was outside of the city, it was about a quarter of a mile off the main road. They parked far enough away to not be heard and went the rest of the way on foot. Bravo team went around to the back and the Alfa team gathered at the front entrance. When everybody was in place, the team leader gave the order to go. Two men with a battering ram broke down the front door as the other team did the same to the back and they quickly entered.

Slone was the 2nd man threw the front door. He saw movement to his left and he turned he saw a man bringing around a gun the bear he fired several rounds at the target hitting the man in the upper torso. There was gunfire all around him. Looking around he saw a man with a gun shooting using a woman as a shield, Slone turned and fired at him, hitting him in the head as the man fell to the ground the woman tried to run and was grabbed by one of his team members.

The shooting stopped as quickly as it had started and then there was silence other than the woman sobbing. They quickly secured the rest of the warehouse and did not find any more combatants. Looking around there were 8 dead terrorists and 1 alive but dying, 1 woman alive and not injured. Slone went around and looked at all of them. The men gathered around. Slone looked over at them. "Alead is not here! And where is the bomb? Tear this place apart!" They all started looking threw every room in the warehouse. A few minutes later, one of the men comes up to Slone. "No sign of Alead or the bomb." "Damn it!" Slone says.

Slone then walks over to the dying terrorist and pull him up in a setting position. He grabs him by the hair of the head and makes him look at him. "Where is Alead and where is the bomb." The man cries in pain and speaks in Arabic. Slone gets a tighter grip on the man's hair. "Look fucker, I know you speak English. They would not have sent you here if you didn't. So start talking and I will help you get to those forty virgins that are waiting for you!" Slone pulls out his Sig Sauer 9mm handgun and puts it to the man's head. The man opens his mouth and then his eyes go blank and he is dead. Slone lets go of the man's hair and he falls to the ground. Slone looks down at the body. "Enjoy hell, you son of a bitch!"

Slone spends the next few minutes talking to the woman but she doesn't know anything. One of the men walks up to him and says. "We didn't find the bomb, but we found bomb-making materials and we found this." He hands Slone some blueprints, He opens them up to look at it. It was blueprints of the Federal Building in San Francisco.

He drops the plans and pulls out his cell phone and calls Nathan Hunter. On the 2nd ring, he answers. "Hunter." "Nathan we got a problem. Alead's not here and no bomb. We found where they had made a bomb and plans to the San Francisco Federal Building. Nathan the bomb is already in place!" There was a long silence. "See if you can find it and disarm it without blowing your cover." "Got it," Slone says hanging up the phone. He looks around. "I need three of you with me and the rest stay here and recover and Info you can."

Slone and three of the men ran back out to the van, Slone got into the passenger side and told the driver "Corner of Mission and 7th Street." They quickly drove across town to the Federal Building stopping about a block away and parking.

Getting out Slone looked over at the other men. "Leave all the equipment here no guns nothing. Four men walking in all dressed in black is going to stand out enough." They quickly walked to the building.

The San Francisco Federal Building was an 18 story high building. Built state of the art, to use little electricity with 80% of its light coming in naturally. No air condition, relying on natural ventilation. Its main elevators only stop on every third floor, so employees had to go up or down one flight of stairs.

Going threw the doors inside into the lobby, Slone and the other men looked around. The lobby was open to the public but to go any higher you had to go through a metal detector and security. If you were going to plant a bomb you would do it at the lowest point, so it would be the easiest and best to do it on the first floor.

The pred out and started looking around. Slone saw a sign that said. Russell's Snack Shop, He walked over and entered the shop. It was set up as a break room with tables and chairs and vending machines. There was also a roller grill and sandwiches and there was a man behind a counter at a cash register. A man turned away from the soda vending matching and yelled at the man behind the counter. "This matching took my money!" The man behind the counter came out and walked over to it. "The guy was just here servicing it." They both looked at the machine. "I will give you your money back." Both men walked back over to the register.

Slone then walked over to the machine and took a better look. He could hear a sound coming from inside the machine, It was not a sound that a vending machine made. He took out his cell phone and called Hunter. The phone rang. "Hunter," Hunter said. "I found the bomb inside a vending matching," Slone said. "Can you disarm it without drawing attention?" Ask Hunter. "Negative," Slone said. There was a moment of silence then Hunter said. "Abort. Get out of there and I will call in a bomb threat. They will evacuate the building." "Acknowledged," Slone said.

Walking back out into the lobby Slone reached up and turned on the earpiece that allowed him to talk to the rest of his team. "Abort, report back to the van." "Acknowledged." Each of the three men said.

As Slone walked back threw the lobby he looked up and saw a sign that said. Kids by the Bay Day Care. Damn, there were kids in the building. Slone turns and walks back into the Snack Shop, the man behind the register looks up at him. "Good morning." The man says. Slone walks up to him and looked him in the eye. "There is a bomb in that vending machine, I need the keys and I need you to call security and evacuate the building." The man looks at him with a scared look on his face. "Who are you?" Slone turns back to the man. "I don't have time for this shit. Give me the fucking keys!" The man picks up the phone and calls security.

Slone walks over to the vending machine and picks up a metal chair and uses the leg to pop the lock open. He then slides out the bomb. The man who is still on the phone yells. "There is a bomb in here!" the man then drops the phone and runs out the door.

Slone looks it over, there is a timer that says 4 minutes and 14 seconds. Shit, there is no way they can evacuate this building in that amount of time. He looks up threw a window into the lobby to see people moving toward the doors. He looked over the bomb and where the wires went. He had bomb training in the Navy, he was sure he could disarm it if he had enough time to study it.

About that time he heard a sound behind him. He turned to look at a San Francisco Policeman standing behind him with his gun pointed at him. "Stand up and get your hands where I can see them." The Policeman said. Slone stands up and turns to the man with his hands out. "Look, officer, this bomb is going to go off in less than 3 minutes, I need to disarm it." The cop looks back at him and says. "Who are you? I need to see some ID!" Slone frowns. "I don't have time for this shit. We can stand here and blow up or you can shoot me and then blow up or I can disarm this bomb." Slone then neals back down by the bomb and looks over the wires. He takes out his pocket knife. He looks over his shoulder at the Cop. "Ok, it looks like it's red or blue. We got a 50% chance of getting it right. He takes his knife and cuts the red wire, the timer stops with 36 seconds left.

Slone stands up and turns around, the cop still has his gun pointed at him. "Drop the knife." Slone drops the knife and slowly turns around and gets on his knees and puts his hands behind his head. The Cop moves up and pulls his hands down one at a time and handcuffs him and pulls him to his feet. The cop then pats him down and checks for weapons. Finding nothing he looks at Slone. "I don't know who you are or how you knew that bomb was there or how you knew how to disarm it. But we are going to find out!"

The Cop leads him back out in the lobby, there are still people trying to get out. A lot of people would have been killed it that bomb had gone off Cops dressed in bomb gear rush past them, they walk out the front door and down to a police squad car, The Cop opens the back door and places Slone inside and closes the door.

He sits there in the back seat for several minutes. He looks down the road and sees that the van they had come in is gone. That's good, the others had gotten away. They would get word back to Nathan Hunter what had happened. Hunter would not be happy. Not only had the raid to get O'mar Alead one of the most wanted terrorists failed, and now he had been captured.

A few minutes later the Cop that arrested him and another man got into the car. The Cop in the passenger seat turned and said. "What's your name?" Slone said nothing. The Cop then said. "You're under arrest, you have the right to remain silent, if you give up that right, anything you say can be used against you. You have the right to an attorney to be present during questioning if you cannot afford one will be appointed for you. Do you understand your rights?" "Yes," Slone said. They started driving, there was another squad car in front of them and one behind them. He assumed they were taking him to the Police Headquarter on 3rd street.

When they arrived pulling up to the side of the building entering a sally port, when the door closed behind them the Police officer got out and opened his door and took him out. Walking inside he was booked photographed and fingerprints were taken. It was just a matter of time now before they knew who he was.

He was then taken into an interrogation room and sat down his left hand was cuffed to the table. He sat there alone for about an hour when a man dressed in plain clothes came in and sat down across from him, he had a folder in his hand, he laid it down in front of him and opened it up and looked at it. He then looked up and made eye contact. " I am Lieutenant Conner." He looked down at his folder again. "And your Lieutenant Commander Jake Slone, United States Navy." They sat and looked at each other for a moment." Conner then continued. "You're a decorated war hero, won a bronze star. Then it says here you were wounded in a raid and died three days later. Then ten years later your turn up in Texas and go on a killing spree. Now you're here in California trying to blow up buildings. Care to add anything to that? Slone looked him in the eye. "No." He said. Conner closes his file and stands up. "Very well. I'm sure we will have more questions, but we will get you a lawyer first." He turns and takes a few steps toward the door and then stops and turns around. "I'm sure Texas will be glad to get you back."

CHAPTER 5

John Carter pulled his truck up in front of the sale barn in Groesbeck, it was a Thursday and the sale was going on so there were a lot of people there. But he was not there for the sale, there was also a cafe there that served very good food and he was meeting his friend and former Deputy Greg Roberts for lunch.

Walking inside the cafe he saw Roberts setting over in the corner and walked over to his table. Roberts looked up at him and smiled. "Hey, Boss," Roberts said. Carter pulled a chair out and set down. "You know I'm not your boss anymore." Roberts nods. "Ya I know, but old habits are hard to break." A waitress walks up and hands them a menu. "I'm Mary, What can I get you to drink?" Carter looks up at her. "Sweet Tea for me." She looks over at Roberts. "Sweet Tea for me too." She smiles. "I will get that right out for you."

Roberts looks over at Carter and says. "So the undercover work is done?" Carter nods. "Yes, and I am so glad. We made a big bust. But It was so much lying and being someone I'm not. I'm glad it's over." Roberts looks up from his menu. "I'm sure that was hard. Are you going to do more of that?" Carter shook his head. "No, I'm done with undercover work at least for now. I was offered a new assignment to head up the homicide task force for F Company." Roberts's eyes lit up and smiled. "Wow that's great John, When do you start that?" "In a week or so I will start putting my team together. They have given me some time off after the undercover assignment." Roberts smiles.

"That's great, so I guess that means you won't be coming back here and run for Sheriff in the special election?" Carter folds his menu up and puts it down. "No after everything that has happened, I think it's too soon for that. But I think you should run." Roberts folded up his menu and put it down. "Well, I have thought about it. But I wanted to make sure you were not going to run." Carter smiled. "Well, you have my blessing and full support anything I can do to help you." "Thank you, John, That means a lot to me."

The waitress walks up. "You guys ready to order?" Carter hands her both there menus and says. "I will have chicken fried steak with a loaded baked potato." She looks over at Roberts. "That will work for me too." She wrote it down on her pad and said. "Coming right up."

About 10 minutes later she brought them their meals, as they ate Roberts ask. "So how are things with Carolyn?" Carter swallows a bite of this steak and says. "A lot better. We went out to dinner a few nights ago and talked, She is going to move back home this weekend, it's all going to work out. I have missed her and the kids so much, It's been a blessing thank God." Roberts smiled. "That's great John, I have been praying for you. I'm so glad I worked out."

They enjoyed their meal for a few minutes when Roberts's phone rang. Roberts pulled out his phone and looked at it. "Excuse me, I need to take this." He hits the accept button and put the phone to his ear. "Roberts," he said. He listened for a few seconds then said. "Are they sure it's him?" there was silence for a few more seconds. "That's great. Let me know when you have more details. Thanks." Roberts puts his phone away and looks over at Carter. "That was Limestone County D.A. Tom Hill, They have captured Slone in California!" Carter swallows hard his last bite and puts his fork down, no longer interested in eating. "How? Were?" Carter said. Roberts looks at him. "He got caught trying to blow up a Federal Building in San Francisco." Carter gets a confused look on his face. "A Federal Building? That doesn't make any sense, I always thought that he worked for some kind of rogue form of the Government. Why would he try to blow up one of their buildings?" Roberts throws his hands up. "I don't know. That's just what they said. They are going to extradite him back here." Carter looks away and then back at Roberts. "Did he say when?" Roberts shakes his head. "No, he didn't say. But most likely in a week or so."

The waitress brought them there check and Carter takes it and stands up and walks to the cashier and pays. Roberts says. "Thank you for lunch." Carter puts his wallet back in his pocket and says. "Your welcome we need to do this more often."

As they walk outside, Carter turns to Roberts. "I'm going to California and bring him back." Roberts looks at him with a surprised look on his face. "Why John? That's the U.S. Marshals job!" Then Carter says. "I want to make sure he makes it back. If he does work for a rogue form of the government, he could have people in the Marshals office." Roberts frowns. "John after everything you have been through with this guy, do you really want to put yourself through this?" Carter takes a few steps toward his truck and turns back. "I have to see this through." As Carter turns to walk away. Roberts says. "Don't let this screw things up with you and Carolyn." Carter stops and turns around. "I won't, Not this time."

As Carter got in his truck and headed home, He kept thinking yes they had him and he was going to make sure he made it back to Texas. But somehow he was going to have to explain it to Carolyn, just when things were working out.

When he got to the house he was surprised to find Carolyn's car parked in the driveway. Getting out he walked up to the door and went inside. She came walking out of the bedroom and saw him and smiled. "Hey, there handsome." She walked over and gave him a kiss. "I just bought some of my stuff back over on my lunch break. How was your lunch with Greg?" He smiled. "It was good," he said.

She walks back toward the kitchen, as he follows her she stops by the trash car. "Is there a reason there are 14 empty pizza boxes stacked next to the trash can?" she points to the boxes and he looks at them, not knowing just what to say. "Did you have a party or something?" She says. Looking back up at her, He says. "Well, no party. I bought them one at a time." A concerned look comes over her face. "Ok, that's even scarier. Why didn't you throw them away? She asks. He looks over at the boxes and back at her. "Well, they took up so much space in the can, I just decided to stack them next to it. I intended to take them out with the bagged trash but I would forget to get them and then I would have another and so on." She looks at him deadpan. "Until you had 14 of them? My gosh, John how much pizza do you eat?" he looks at her and smiles. "It was a good deal and I could make two meals off of it." She shakes her head and laffs. "Ok, one last question. " 13 boxes are large and one is a medium box, did you decide to eat light that day or what?" John smiles and shakes his head. "No, "When you buy that much pizza over time you build up points, That was a free one I got on points." She laughs again. "Ok I can't take anymore, I gotta get back to work. I want the boxes gone. Figure out a way to make that happen." She walks over and kisses him and looked him in the eye and points to the boxes. "Some people would say that's crazy!" She kisses him again and starts walking toward the door. She looks back over her shoulder and says. "But you're my crazy guy!"

As she left, he thought to himself. He was going to have to tell her about Slone, but not right now. First, he needed to talk to Ranger Captain Morris.

The next morning Carter got up and drove into the F Company office in Waco. He had been on leave after the undercover case and they were not expecting him today.

The first person he saw was Ranger Jessica James, she looked over at him and smiled. "Hey Pops, what are you doing here today?" He walked over to her desk and set down. "Well, I was needing to talk to Captain Morris" She nods and says. "I understand you want me on the homicide task force?" He looks back at her. "Yes as a matter a fact I do." She smiles real big. "I'm honored. I'm going to do a good job. But I'm curious, Why me? There are a lot more experienced Rangers." She says. Carter takes a long pause. "Well, you have drive and ambition and a lot of raw talent. I can use that. You're going to make a great addition to the team." She smiles and nods. "Thank you. I won't let you down." "Good," Carter says. "Can a guy get a cup of coffee around here?" "Sure Pops. follow me." They stand up and start walking. She says. "We haven't got a coffee pot out here yet so we have been using the new one in the boss man's office.

They walked over to the office and she points to the name on the door, it says. Lieutenant John Carter and under that. Homicide Task Force. Carter looks around. "This is my office?" She turns to him and rolls her eyes. "Ya Pops, That's why we put your name on the door."

Carter laffs. He looks around it's a nice office, a big desk and a nice chair behind it, two chairs sitting in front of it. Over to the left, there is a couch and coffee table, to the right, there are filing cabinets and a table for coffee. He walks over and gets a cup. There is a door on the wall he looks inside to find a restroom. He comes out and nods his head. "Very nice." He says.

She turns to him. "Well I better get back to work," She says. She walks out and Carter takes a seat behind the desk. He hears a knock on the door. Looking up he sees Capitan Bill Morris walking in carrying a hand full of files. "I thought you were taking a few more days off John?" Carter stands up and shakes Capitan Morris's hand. "Well I was, but something came up." Carter sets back down and Morris sets down in the chair across the desk and lays the files down. He says. "So what's up John?" Carter pauses for a moment. "Well Capitan, you remember Jake Slone the man that killed all those people In my County and burned down Fort Parker?" Morris nods. "Yes I remember, He also killed Captain Briggs." "Yes, that's the one." Carter pauses. "Well, they have caught him in San Francisco attempting to bomb the Federal Building there." Morris nods. "I heard about that, but no details." He says. Carter looks across at Morris. "Well, it's him. I want to go to San Francisco and bring him back to Texas?" Morris looks back at him. "I'm sure they will extradite him back here. But that will be the Federal Marshals that will do that." Carter shakes his head. "I need to be there. I suspect Slone works for a rogue part of the Government. If so they may have people in the Marshal's office." Morris frowns. "Do you have any proof of that?" "No," Carter says. Morris looks away then back at Carter. "Well they are not going to let you just take over there transport without proof, and we have no federal jurisdiction, there is no way we can do that." Carter lowers his head, he knows he needs to be on that transport. "How about this Capitan, Well say we need to positively ID Him. We go there and come back with him and the Marshals just as extra security, he has already escaped once." Morris pauses. "We could try that. But the Marshals would be in charge, You would have no authority." "I know," Carter says. Morris stands up. "This goes against my better judgment. But I will make a call to see what I can do."

Morris picks up the files he brought in with him and hands them to Carter. "These are the files of some of the Rangers that you might want on your task force. Look them over and get back with me. Carter takes the files. "I will Capitan, and thank you." As Morris turns to leave, he says. "Don't thank me yet John."

Carter spent the next hour going back to his old desk and moving his files to his new office when he was finished. He pulled out copies of his old Limestone County files on Slone. He looked at the cover of the first file for a moment. Did he really want to do this? Should he just let the U.S. Marshals do their job and bring him back? Did he really want to get involved?

He then opened the file and started reading threw it, after about an hour of looking threw it he closed the file. He now had his answer to his questions. Did he really want to get involved? The answer was yes! If he didn't and more people got hurt or killed, It would be on him. Now that he had that settled in his mind. What was he going to tell Carolyn? That was going to take some more thought.

He got up and walked down to the Captain's office and knocked on the door. "Come in." He heard Capitan Morris say from the other side of the door. Opening the door and walking in he found Capitan Morris setting behind his desk. "Did you find out anything Capitan?" Morris motioned for Carter to set down. He did so and Captain Morris said. "I talked to the Deputy Director for Transports. I explained the situation to them. Slone's history of escape. All of which they already knew. They assured me they had it handled. I insisted and they reluctantly agreed to let two Rangers accompany them on the transport with the understanding the Marshals are in charge. The Rangers are there strictly as advisers, with no authority till they get back to Texas." Carter smiled. "That's great Captain. When is it going to happen?" "Next Thursday, so you will fly out sometime Wednesday." Carter stands up. "Good deal. Thank you, Capitan." Morris nods. "Just get him and get back and in the meantime, get your team set up." Carter turns and walks toward the door. "Will do Captain."

Carter spent the rest of the day trying to look over files of Ranger for his task force. But he kept coming back to the Slone file, he wanted to refresh himself on every detail. He heard a knock on the door. "Come in." He said. Ranger Jessica James came in. "Hey Pops, I was fixing to go. Can I get you anything? Carter looks up. "No, but set down for a minute." She walks over to the chair across from the desk and sets down. He hands her the Slone file. "Would you like to go with me to San Francisco next Wednesday and pick this guy up and bring him back to Texas? She glances threw the file. "Sure, But doesn't the U.S. Marshals normally do that?" "Yes," Carter says. "But this is not a normal case." She looks up from the file with a surprised look on her face. "This is the guy that killed all those people down in Limestone County while you were Sheriff!" "Yes," Carter says. "We are going to help the Marshalls bring him back here to stand trial for all of that." "Wow," James says. "I'm so excited." She tries to hand the file back to Carter. "Keep it and read up on every detail." She takes the file and stands up and takes a step toward the door and stops and turns back to him. "We are going to bring a serial killer to justice." He sets back in his chair and says. "We are just picking him up and bringing him home." She smiles as she goes out the door. He leans forward putting his elbows on the desk. He hoped it was that easy.

CHAPTER 6

Jake Slone put down the book he was reading and got up off his bunk and walked around his cell in San Francisco County Jail #4, their maximum security facility. The cell was small 12 foot by 8 foot with a bunk, toilet and small shower. He was taken out for one hour a day, where he was placed alone in a small gym with a skylight in it to let sunlight in. all his meals were served in his cell threw what was called a bean hole, which was a small trap door in the main door that was just big enough to place a food tray threw.

This was his 3rd day here. He was sure they were going to extradite him back to Texas as soon as they could. He had made his phone call to a burner phone that they had set up for this kind of thing. He had left coded messages for Nathan Hunter. But nothing had happened yet. He was sure that Hunter was setting something up.

As he picked his book back up he heard the bean hole open up. The guard on the other side of the door said. "Your lawyer is here to see you." Slone walks over to the door and turns his back to the bean hole and puts his hands behind his back, the guard reaches threw the hole and handcuffs him behind his back. Slone then steps away. The bean hole closes and the door buzzes and the guard pulls the door open. Slone turns around with his back to the guard. The guard checks the cuffs and locks them in place. He then takes Slone by the arm and led him out of the cell. They walked down the hall and threw two-doors till they come into a visitation room. There is nobody else in the room. There are six compartments with a chair with a window glass on the other side.

He sets down and a few moments later he here's the door open on the other side of the glass and he sees Nathan Hunter walk in and set down across from him. Slone reaches up and picks up the phone on his side of the glass and Hunter does the same on his side. They both wait for the guards to leave before saying anything. Then Hunter says. "Well, you really fucked things up. I brought you in on this because your the best. Now I got to clean your mess up." Slone looks across at him and frowns. "There were kids in that building. I just couldn't let them blow it up." There was a long silence, then Hunter says. "You compromised our whole operation. We exist to keep our country safe. To take out threats before they can strike. So there is never again an attack like 9/11. But we work outside the law. Doing the dirty work that needs to be done, but nobody needs to know about." Slone nods. "I know what has to be done. They have me on a 30-minute check. I will take care of it as soon as the lights are out tonight. I'm sorry I have let you down, Nathan. Will you make sure my Mom and Mitchelle are taken care of?" Hunter looked over at him. "We are not going to do that. We are going to try retrieval first." Slone got a surprised look on his face. "Why? That's even riskier." "Well, we are going to try it. Next week when they try to extradite you back to Texas, If it fails, I know you will do what you have to do.

Hunter hangs the phone back up and stands up and heads to the door. Slone sets there for a moment. He had not considered this. In a few days, he would be free or dead. I guess that's better than getting ready to die. This should be interesting.

*

(5 days later)

John Carter washed his face after shaving, grabbing a towel he dried his face. He picked up his brush and ran it threw his hair. He looked in the mirror. Well, it was as good as it was going to get.

He heard a knock on the bedroom and Tom opened the door and came in. "Hey Dad, you have any cologne I can use?" Carter turns to his son and says. "Sure in the medicine cabinet." Tom walks past him into the bathroom and opens the medicine cabinet and grabs a bottle and smells it. He frowns and shakes his head. He picks up another bottle and smells it. He turns and to his Dad. "These smell like an old man!" Carter pulls his white shirt on and starts buttoning it up. "In case you haven't noticed. I am an old man." Tom throws his hands up. "Dad, I want something that smells like an available young stud."

About that time Carolyn walks in. She reaches down and picks up one of the bottles of cologne and says. "I think this one smells great." She sprays Tom three times in the neck area. He frowns. "Mom! Now I'm going to have all the old teachers chasing after me." He turns and walks out.

She sets the cologne down and Turns to Carter, who is opening the gun safe and takes out his 38 pistol that has his grandfather's J.D.C. on the butt and checks the load and puts it in his holster. He then takes out his smaller 9mm pistol and puts it in his ankle holster.

She sets down on the bed. "I still don't understand why you have to go bring this guy back. He almost killed you!" He turns and sets down on the bed next to her. "We talked about this. I'm not going alone. I'm taking Ranger James with me and there will be two U.S. Marshals, it's no more dangerous than any other day on the job." She turns to him. "Then why are you taking your backup gun?" He takes her hand. "It's just a precaution." She shakes her head. "When I left, I thought it would be better being away from all the stress and worry over you. But then I realized how much I love you and being away just made it worse." She reaches over and kisses him. "Be careful and come back to me." He smiles. "I will love you."

They both stand up and walk out of the bedroom as Tom is walking down the hall toward the door. He yells back. "Later, Have a good trip Dad." Becky comes around the corner and Hugs him. "Bye Daddy have a safe trip." She kisses him on the cheek. Tom sticks his head back in the door. "Come on dorkface, we don't have all day." as Becky heads toward the door she says. "I want to slap him." They look at each other and laff at the kids. Carolyn picks up her purse and says. "I got to go too." She kisses him. "Be safe, let me know when you get there." Carter shakes his head. "I will." he watches her walk out the door. He really hoped it was no more dangerous than any other day on the job.

Carter drove to the Rangers F Company office in Waco and picked up Ranger Jessica James. They loaded up the few things they were taking with them, just one bag each. They were only staying one night.

They were leaving from DFW airport in between Dallas and Fort Worth. It was a little over a two-hour drive to get there. They really didn't know each other that well so the ride started out in awkward silence. Then she turns to him and says. "I want to clear something up." He looks over at her. "Ok," he said. She pauses for a moment. "I know what you been thinking." He looks at the road and back at her. "Oh do you now." He says. She nods and says. "Woman working in a man's world, dressing in pants and wearing a gun. I just want to clear it up. I am not a lesbian! I like men, I like men a lot. Just don't want to own one." He turns to her with his eyes big. "Well, that had never crossed my mind. But thank you for clearing that up."

She looks over and says. "Ok, So you want to share anything Pops?" he looks at the road and back at her. "I'm not a lesbian either." They both burst out laughing. She settles down and says. "Now that we have cleared that up. Tell me about your family." He smiles. "Carolyn my wife and I have been married for 18 years, We have two kids, Tom and Becky. 17-year-old twins." He takes out his wallet and showed her some pictures. "She looks at them. "Your wife is gorgeous." He smiled. "Thank you." She looked threw the other pictures. "Oh, your daughter is so pretty, and is this your son?" Carter shook his head. "Yes, that's Tom." She looks over at him and smiles. "He is a cutie. Maybe I need to get a young one and train him the way I want him." He looks over at her and says. "Well, he thinks he is quite the ladies man." She hands him back his wallet. "I bet he does." He smiles. "So what made you want to be a Texas Ranger?" He asks. "Well." She says. "Growing up with a name like Jessica James, There was a lot of Jessie James jokes. When I was young it was fun, as I got older, not so much. So it was either embrace it and become an outlaw or go the other way and become a cop. I settled on a cop and the Rangers are the best." Carter smiled at her. "Good choice." She looks over at him. "Ok. So why did you become a Ranger?" He stares down the road and says. "Didn't have a whole lot of choices after I lost the Limestone County Sheriff election. I didn't want to move my family. Tom and Becky are juniors in High School. It allowed me to stay in the area and still do the same kind of work. Then after the undercover job, Captain Morris offered me the task force job. So it all worked out well." "I'm glad it all worked out for you." she said. He looked over at her. "You know I'm not the first Texas Ranger in my family." She got a surprised look on her face. "Oh ya. Who else was a Ranger?" He smiled. "My Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather Jeb Carter was a Ranger back in the 1850s." Her eyes got big. "Wow a Ranger back in the early days of the old west, that's so cool!" Carter looks over at her. "Ya, I thought so too. I grew up hearing stories about him. He raised and trained horses. Had some of the best in the state. He also liked to gamble and was good at it, or so I was told. Sometimes I would like to go to the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco and see if I can find any info on him. I would like to know more about him." She smiled. "Ya, we need to do that. Maybe he chased after the real Jessie James?" They both laffed.

They finish making the drive to the airport and got on their flight. It took them about 4 hours to touch down in San Francisco. They got their luggage and made their way through the San Francisco International Airport and found a cab and took it to there motel room. They checked in and went up to their rooms and put their stuff away.

They then called a cab to pick them up and take them to the San Francisco County Jail #4, their maximum security facility. Inside Carter ask to speak to Captain Prescott. They sat down and waited about 10 minutes a man walks up to them. Carter stands up. The man says. "I'm Captain Prescott it's nice to meet you, Ranger Carter." They shake hands and Carter turns to James. "This is Ranger James." Prescott shakes James's hand. "Nice to meet you, Ranger James."

Prescott then turns to Carter and says. "Everything is set, We turn him over to the U.S. Marshals at 9 am in the morning, I'm sorry you came down here we could have handled this over the phone. You could be seeing the sights of San Francisco this afternoon." Carter looks back at him. "We would like to see him today." Prescott gives Carter a startled look. "Today. You want to see him today?" "Yes," Carter says. "May I ask why? It was my understanding that you would just be advisers to the Marshals." "That's right," Carter says. "We Would still like to see him." Prescott nods. "Have a seat and let me see what I can do." "Thank you." Carter says.

They set down and James says. "Hey Pops, I thought you were going to throw down with him. Did we really need to see him today?" "Yes, we do." He says. "Ok Pops. Does this have anything to do with your history with this guy?" He turns and gives her a stern look. "Yes, it does." She sets back in her chair. "Ok Pops."

About an hour later Captain Prescott comes back over to them. "Ok, they are bringing him up to interrogation this way." "Thank you," Carter says as they stand up and follow him down a long hall to a door. Prescott pulls the door open and they enter. There are standing in a room looking threw a window into an interrogation room with a table and a chair on both sides. Prescott hits an intercom button and says. "Bring him in." a few minutes later a door buzzes in the interrogation room and the door opens and a jailer comes in leading a handcuffed Jake Slone into the room. The jailer removes the handcuff and Slone sets down and the jailer takes the cuffs and places them around one of his wrists the other to a ring on the table, With Slone now secure to the table, the jailer leaves.

Prescott looks over at them. "When you finished, hit this button and they will come to get him. Carter shakes Prescott's hand. "Thank you, Captain." Prescott leaves and Carter and James's stair threw the glass for a moment. Then James says. "So this is him. They guy I have read up on the last week. War hero turned killer." Carter shakes his head. "Ya, that's him." She turns to Carter. "So how are we going to do this?" Carter turns his head to her. "We are not going to do anything. I'm going in there to talk to him alone." She gets a confused look on her face. "Do you really think that's a good idea Pops. I mean the guy tried to kill you last time you met." Carter starts walking toward the door. "No, he didn't."

Carter enters the interrogation room and Slone slowly looks up and is startled to see John Carter standing across the table from him. They look at each other in silence, till Slone says. "Hello, John. Why are you here? I didn't expect to see you till I got back to Texas." Carter set down in the chair across from Slone. "I wanted to make sure you made it back to Texas." Slone nods. "Is that a Texas Ranger badge your waring John? "Yes, it is. I'm a Ranger now. In large part thanks to you!" Slone smiles and says. "And you're alive now. In very large part thanks to me!"

The two men looked at each other, then Carter says. "That's something I wanted to ask you about. Why didn't you kill me? I mean, It's like your going to get the death penalty anyway, what's one more murder. Slone sets back in his chair. "That's a good question, John. In truth, I should have. But believe it or not John, I have a code that I live by. I respect you, John, you were just doing your job. I don't kill people, to just kill people John." Carter nods. "Well thank you for answering that question. We will be headed back to Texas in the morning." Carter stands up. Slone looks up at him and says. "You're coming on the transport with the Marshals?" Carter takes a step toward the door. "Oh yes. I will be there every step of the way. After what happened last time. I'm not taking any chances."

CHAPTER 7

The next morning, John Carter walked out of the bathroom in his hotel room and picked up his white shirt and put it on. He always liked the look of a nice white shirt and starched jeans. Buttoning up his shirt, he tucked it in and picked up his badge of the dresser and put it on the left side of his shirt.

He walked over and poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table in the room. He thought about the things Slone had said to him yesterday. He had never thought about a killer having a code he lived by. I guess that's what separates hitmen like Slone from serial killers. Not that one was any better than the other, But serial killers most of the time have psychological problems. But Slone, he may have some problems. But he is intelligent and sane and that made him dangerous.

He heard a knock on the connecting door between his and Ranger James's room. He got up and unlocked it and opened the door. Ranger James smiled at him as she walked in. "You got the coffee going Pops?" "Yes, ma'am," Carter says. She pours herself a cup and they sit back down at the table. She takes a sip. "So You didn't say much about what you said to Slone or what he told you? The intercom was turned off so I didn't hear anything." Carter takes a sip of his coffee. "He didn't have much to say." She nods. "So do you really think we should be expecting trouble?" Carter takes a bigger sip of his coffee and stands up. "I think we need to expect that and hope we are wrong." She stands up and looks at the clock by the bed. "Guess we better get a move on." "Yep," Carter says as he puts on his Silverbelly cowboy hat. They both grab their bags.

They head down to the lobby and check out and catch a cab that takes them back down to the San Francisco County Jail #4. When they get there and go inside, they find Captain Prescott. Walking up to Prescott they shake hands. "Good morning Captain," Carter says. "Good morning," Prescott says in return. Carter looks at him. "Everything going according to plan?" Prescott looks at some papers he has in his hand. "Yes. The Marshals are already here getting him ready. I have the transfer papers here all in order." "Good," Carter says. "Did you check the Marshals credentials?" Prescott gives a surprised look. "Well yes. I saw there badges and ID." Carter frowns "No. I meant did you call somebody in the Marshals office and check them!" Prescott frowns back at Carter. "No, I didn't call anybody. I didn't feel the need to. Do you know how many transfers we do? We do hundreds. Never have we had a problem." Carter holds up his hands. "I meant no disrespect. But this prisoner is different. That's why we are here." Prescott turns to walk away and turn back to Carter. "The Marshals are up there with him now. Take up your concerns with them. Oh, and they are not real happy about your tag along." Prescott walks off. James turns to Carter and says. "That went well Pops." "Let's get up there and find out what's going on," Carter says.

They make their way up to the floor that Slone is being housed on. They walk down to holding and look threw the window to find two U.S. Marshals hooking up Slone with a belly chain and handcuffs and leg irons. They walked over to the door and hit the button. They both turned to the camera so the control operator can see their badges. The door buzzes open and they go inside. The Marshals are just finishing up and look over at Carter and James as they walk up. Carter says. "I'm Texas Ranger John Carter and this is Ranger Jessica James, We will be riding back to Texas with you." The two Marshalls look at each other then back at Carter. "I'm Marshall Atkins and this in Marshall Bailey, We don't know anything about any Texas Ranger ride along." Carter takes a step forward and shakes hands with Atkins. "Well, it was set up with the Marshalls office last week. I would have thought they would have told you." Both Atkins and Bailey shake their heads. Then Atkins says. "No, they didn't. So I'm sorry you came all this way for nothing. But we will go it alone." Carter pauses for a moment. "Look, call whoever you need to call. But we are going with you. We are booked on the same flight." They look at each other again and then back at Carter. "Ok, suit yourself. But we are in charge. Is that understood?" Carter nods his head. "Yes, we understand that."

Atkins and Bailey each get on one side of Slone and start leading him out the door and down the hall to the elevator. Carter and James walk behind them. Getting on the elevator they went down to the first floor and got off. Making one last paperwork check they entered the sally port were a white unmarked van waited for them. Marshall Atkins turned to Carter. "Bailey is driving, I will be in the back. One of you is upfront with Bailey and the other is in the back with me." Carter turned to James. "Your upfront. I will ride in the back." James nods and opens the passenger side door. Atkins looks at Carter. "Check your weapon upfront. Carter walks up to the passenger side door and hands his 38 revolver to James, who locks it up in the lockbox. Carter returns to the back and stays with Slone while Atkins secures his weapon.

They then place Slone in the back. The van has two bench seats running long ways on each side. Atkins places Slone on the bench on the left side and sets down next to him. Carter takes the bench seat on the other side setting across from them. Bailey gets behind the wheel and James gets into the passenger seat. There is a window, with sliding glass where you can look into the back from the front driving area.

Atkins pulls back the sliding glass and says. "Ok, let's get out of here." he closes the glass back. Bailey picks up the radio. "Transport to control." "Control." "Transport is secure and ready with a 1095 times one. 1076 to San Francisco International Airport." "Control clear."

The door to the sally port started opening and they headed out the door. Turning onto the road. Carter says. "We are not going to get an escort?" Atkins shook his head. "No need. One secured prisoner and four of us." There were a few moments of silence when Carter says. "You read his file?" "Yes, I have read his file," Atkins said. "Well you know then he is a very dangerous man. A decorated Army Ranger." Atkins frowns. "Ya, I read all about it. Not so dangerous now." Slone smiles as he looks over at Carter knowing what he is doing.

Carter sets there thinking. If this guy had really read Slone's file he would know he was a Navy Seal and not an Army Ranger. That was a big red flag. Carter looked over at Atkins. "So how long you been a Marshall?" Atkins gave him a cold look. "10 years," Atkins said. Carter nodded. "You married?" Atkins frowned. "No, enough with the questions." Carter smiled. "Just making conversation."

Carter was silent. If he had been a Marshall for 10 years he wouldn't still be on transport duty and he would never give out personal information in front of a prisoner.

They made eye contact for a long moment. He saw Atkins's eyes change to cold and calculating. Then he knew for sure. But Atkins also knew that he knew and made his move pulling his collapsible baton out of his pants and quickly extended it and lunged and swung it at him. Carter blocked the blow with his right arm but it still came across and hit him in the gaw. Knocking him down to the floor of the van. Atkins then hit him a 2nd and 3rd time to the body. Ranger James hearing the noise coming from the back looked threw the window and saw Atkins beating Carter with a baton. She knocks on the window and looks over at Bailey, she starts reaching for her gun. Bailey pulls out a stun gun and jabs her with it. She feels the electricity run through her and falls limp up against the door. In the back, Atkins is hitting Carter over and over with the baton. Carter kicks hard and takes out Atkins's legs and he falls to the floor of the van. Carter takes advantage and kicks Atkins in the face. Bleeding from his nose Atkins lunges forward on top of Carter hitting him in the face. Carter reaches for his pants leg and pull it up and grabs his 9mm from his ankle holster. As he pulls his gun up Atkins grabs his arm and pushes the gun away. As Carter struggles with bringing the gun back up, Atkins reaches his belt and pulls his stun gun and stuns Carter. He feels the pain of the electric shock and drops the gun and is unable to move.

Atkins kneels over Carter and picks up his 9mm and chambers a shell. When Slone says. "Don't, that's not necessary!" Atkins turns and says. "The boss made it very clear, this one dies!" He clicks the safety off and starts to point it at Carter's head. When Slone raises up his legs and hooks his leg iron chain around Atkins's neck. Slone slides off onto the floor and pulls Atkins off of Carter, he then twists around tightening the chain around his neck, putting his feet on his shoulders he pushes hard choking Atkins. He struggles for a few moments then goes limp dead. As Slone untwist the chain he feels the van come to a stop. He looks over to see Carter struggling to get up. "The other one is coming, John. Get your gun!" The door starts to open and Carter lunges forward pushes hard on the door knocking Bailey back. Carter jumps on top of him and the two men struggle on the ground.

Slone quickly feels threw Atkins's pocket and finds a handcuff key and starts freeing himself. Once he has the handcuffs off and the belly chain drops to the ground. He then takes the leg irons off and now free he picks up Carter's 9mm pistol and puts it in his pants behind his back. Heading out the back of the van he sees Carter and Bailey still struggling on the ground. Carter is now on top and seems to have the upper hand. He turns and starts toward the front of the van. "Hold it right there!" Slone turns to see Ranger James pointing a 38 revolver at him. She takes two steps toward him. He can see that she has not fully recovered from the effects of the stun gun. He takes a step toward her. "That's far enough. Put your hands on your head and kneels down now!" She says. He takes another step toward her. She cocks her weapon. He then swings his and grabs the gun out of her hand. She staggers and leans on the hood of the van. "Sorry Ranger James but I have to go. He steps around her to the other side of the van. When he hears the unmistakable sound of a click of a gun. He turns to look to see Carter pointing Bailey's Glock 22 pistol at him. They make eye contact. Carter says. "I have shot you before. Don't think I won't do it again. Now put your hands on your head and kneel down. Slone smiles. "You know John, I didn't just save your life again, so you can shoot me again."

He interlocks his fingers behind his head and kneels down on his knees. Ranger James comes around the van. Carter says to her. "Cuff him." She grabs him by the wrist and pulls one hand at a time down and handcuffs him. She then pulls him to his feet. She looks over at Carter. "Ok, we got him Pops. Now what?"

Carter lowers his gun and looks away and then back at her. "We got to call this in, get some help. But who do we trust? James shrugs, not knowing what to say. Carter looks at Slone then James. "Put him in the back of the van. We are getting out of here.

They turn and walk to the back of the van. James puts Slone in the back of the van. Carter walks over to a handcuffed Bailey who is coming around, and picks him up and puts him in the back as James is getting out. She says. "Atkins is dead!" Carter nods. "Ya I know, Its a fucking mess. You drive." "Were to?" She asks. Carter steps up in the back of the van and looks back. "The airport, We are getting on that plane and back to Texas. I will call Capitan Morris and explain everything to him. He can call the San Francisco Police and tell them."

James started the van and they headed out to the airport. In the back Slone says. "You know John, they will have a tracker on the van. When it shows up at the airport, they will know something went wrong. They will have a plan B." Carter looks over at Bailey. "Is that what's going to happen?" Bailey looks at him and says nothing. Carter looks back at Slone. "Well, that's the chance we will have to take. We are getting on that fucking plane!"

There is silence for a few moments, then Slone says. "This could go bad for a lot of people. You should just pull over and let Bailey or whatever his name is and I go." Carter looks at him in disbelief. "Now why would you think I would even consider that?" "Because you know what you are up against, and you know it could end badly," Slone says. Carter's face turns red with anger. "Well, your ass is going back to Texas! End of discussion." Slone nods. "Ok John, But don't say I didn't try to warn you."

CHAPTER 8

At San Francisco International Airport, workers are doing last-minute checks on the American Airlines 747. A taxi truck is hooking up to it, to take it to the terminal. It is set to leave for Dallas in about an hour.

Outside the plane, workers walk back and forth all wairing AA jumpsuits and hard hats. One of the worker's phone rings. "Yes." The man says answering his phone. "Understood." The worker says then puts his phone away. He walks back up the loading ramp, into the cargo bay of the plane. The last of the other workers are finishing up and leaving. He waits for all of them to leave. He walks over to an access compartment to the hydraulic system. He opens his bag and takes out some tools and opens up the compartment. He reaches in his bag and takes out a small pipe bomb and places it inside and sets the timer for 3 hours. He quickly closes up the compartment.

He then took a ladder to the main part of the plane. He walked up to the cockpit and found the black box flight recorder and disabled it. He found the flight beacon and changed the frequency of it. This way when the plane went down somewhere in the Colorado mountains they would find it first and clean up any mess.

He left out down the side door and down the steps. A man closed the door and they pulled the steps away. He stood and watched as the hanger doors opened and the taxi truck started slowly moving the plane out of the hanger. He took out his phone and made a call. "It's done." He said.

*

Ranger James pulled up to the security entrance of the San Francisco Airport. She rolls down the window and speaks to the security officer at the gate. "We are transporting a prisoner back to Texas." She hands him the transfer papers. He looks them over. "Where are the Marshalls?" he says. She takes the papers back and says. "Well, that's a long story. If we can get inside, where it's secure, we can explain."

His hand lowers to the butt of his gun. "I think you need to step out of the van. He opens the door and she gets out. They walk to the back. "Open it up." He says. She opens the back of the van. When he looks inside he sees a dead U.S. Marshal, a handcuffed U.S. Marshal, A handcuffed prisoner, and another Texas Ranger. He then steps back and pulls his weapon. "Ok nobody moves!" Carter raises his hands. "We can explain. I have already called the San Francisco Sheriff's Office and they are on there way here right now." The security guard gets on his radio. "I need backup at the gate." Carter gets out of the van and they all wait.

A few moments later backup security arrives and a few minutes later the Sheriff's Department gets there, a Deputy walks up to the security guard and says. "I'm Deputy Davis San Francisco Sheriff's Department, I got this." The security guard nods and walks off. Deputy Davis turns to Carter. "Ranger Carter, I'm Deputy Davis we spoke on the phone." "Yes," Carter says shaking the Deputy's hand. Carter looks at him. "We need to get Slone on that plane and back to Texas." Davis looks at him. "I understand Ranger Carter, but it's not that simple. We have a dead body here. I have talked to the Sheriff and he is getting in touch with your Ranger Captain Morris, we should know something soon."

They wait for another ten minutes. Davis's phone rings and he talks to somebody and then comes over to Carter. "That was the Sheriff. We found the real Atkins and Bailey tied up in their hotel room. So we don't have any idea who this dead guy or who the other guy is. He said after talking to Captain Morris, they decided to for you to get on the plane and get the hell out of here."

Carter and James then put Slone on a security golf cart and headed out to there terminal. When they got there they showed there papers to the girl at the counter. Normally they would have boarded before anybody else and be put in the back. But they were late arriving and had to board threw a side door. Once on the plane, they went to the very back. There were three-row seats. Carter placed Slone on the inside next to the window and Carter took the middle seat and James was on the outside.

On the row in front of them, there was a young blonde girl who looked to be about seventeen years old, she was buckling a boy of about eight in his seat. The boy turns around and says. "Hi my name is Tim, are you a real Texas Ranger?" "Yes," Carter says. "It's nice to meet you, Tim." Tim smiles. "This is my sister, Stacy." The young woman turned and said. "Hi." Turning back around she gave her little brother a stern look. Tim ignored her and focused his attention on Slone. "Are you his prisoner?" Slone smiled at him. "Yes, for now anyway," Slone said. Tim got excited. "You kill anybody?" Slone frowned. "Yes, unfortunately, I have." Tim's eyes got big. "How many did you kill?" He asks. Stacy jerks him around and finishes buckling him in. "Leave them alone Tim." Carter leans over to Slone and in a low voice says. "Shut the hell up!" "I just told the boy the truth." Carter frowned. "Any more of the truth comes out of your mouth, I'll gag you for the rest of the trip."

As they got buckled in, Carter felt relieved when the plane moved away from the terminal and started toward the runway. Slone looks over at him and says. "How long of a flight is it?" "About three and a half to four hours." Slone nodded. "It will give us a chance to get to know each other better," Slone said. Carter looked hard and long at Slone. "I know you about as well as I want to." "I see," Slone said. "You're still upset over everything that has happened." Carter's face gets red with anger. "Hell yes, I'm still upset! I lost my job, my family, life long friends. Not to mention the people you killed. So ya, I'm upset!" Slone looked out the window for a moment and then looked back over a Carter. "You're taking this way to personal John. I was doing my job. Just like you. You kill in your work. But you kill to protect the public and I kill for the greater good." Carter really feels his anger grow. He says. "Seriously! You gotta be kidding me! How about Pam Smith. Do you remember her? You should, you killed her. Single mom. Her son Steven Smith, Had to go live with his grandparents. I had to pull him off the Court House roof. He was going to jump! Because of you! So don't fucking tell me, you kill for the greater good!"

The plane took off and Carter was relieved. When they touched down in Dallas, there would be a team of Texas Rangers to make sure they made it to the Navy Air Station in Dallas.

For the next hour, it was quiet. Carter and James talked some, Slone was mostly quiet and didn't say much. James leaned over to Carter. "I'm headed to the restroom." Carter nodded and James unfastened her seat belt and got up and walked down the aisle. A few moments later they hear a loud explosion and the plane starts shaking. The oxygen mask, fall down from the roof. Carter unfastens his seat belt and stand up and put an oxygen mask on Stacy and Tim, who look like they are frozen with fear. Carter sets back down and tries to place a mask on Slone. Slone shouts. "It's a bomb! Take me down below and lets me see how bad it is?" Carter shakes his head. "No." He shouts. Slone looks back. "Unless we can figure out a way for the pilot to get control of this plane. We are going to slam into one of those mountains!" Slone holds his legs up for Carter to take the leg irons off. Carter hesitates for a moment and reaches for the key and takes them off. Carter pulls Slone out into the aisle. They are at the back of the plane so they walk forward. Slone looks down. "there, open up that hatch in the floor. That will get us below. Carter opens it up and Slone goes first down the ladder. He has problems getting down the latter with his handcuff and belly chain on so after a few steps he jumps. Carter follows him down the ladder. Cater helps Slone get up and they walk till they find the hole in the side of the plane. There are hot wires and sparks flying everywhere. Slone sees a breaker box. "Throw the breakers" Carter opens the box and looks back at Slone. "Which one?" He says. "Slone looks back. "Hell, I don't know. Throw them all!" Carter throws all the breaker and the wires go dead.

Slone raises his cuffs up as high as he can. "You gotta free my hands." Carter reaches in his pocket and gets the handcuff key and quickly takes his cuffs off. "Do you have a knife?" Slone says. Carter pulls out his knife. Slone points to some wire. "Cut three pieces about three feet long," Slone said. Carter Cuts the wire and hand one to Slone. He starts splicing the broken wires together and Carter did the same.

When they were finished, Slone says. "Now turn the breaker back on." Carter moves over to the panel and throws the breakers. The power comes back on. There are still some sparks from wires but the spliced ones, seem to be working. The plane is still shaking but levels off as the pilot get at least some control. "Is this going to work?" Carter shouts. Slone looks over at him. "Hell, I don't know! Let's get strapped in someplace." They find some chairs in the cargo bay. Slone quickly sets down and grabs a seat belt and fastens himself in. Carter sets down and grabs the belt but struggles with getting it fastened. About that time the plane hits the ground and Carter is thrown out of his seat and his body slams into the side of the plane.

The plane slides along the ground its left-wing hits a group of trees and is riffed off. Turning the plane sideways and slowing it down. After what seems like forever the plane comes to a stop. Slone raises his head and looks around. His body hurts from being tossed around so hard in his seat. He unfastened his seatbelt and falls to the floor. He lays there for a moment. He smells smoke. The plane must be on fire. He has to get up or he was going to die. He slowly made his way to his feet and looked around. There was cargo thrown all over the place. He takes a few steps and sees Carter laying on the floor not moving. He walks over and kneels down and puts two fingers to Carter's neck and feels for a pulse. He was alive. He reaches down and pulls Carter's 38 pistol from his holster and puts it in his belt. He then remembers the ankle holster Carter has and pulls up his pants leg and pulls out his 9mm pistol. He then turns and walks till he finds a door and turns on the handle until it opens. Pushing the door open he looks out and sees its just a small jump to the ground.

He starts to jump out but stops. He turns and looks back inside. The smoke is getting heavy and it coming out the open door. He thinks for a moment. "Oh Hell." He says as he turns and walks back inside. I know I'm going to regret this. He says to himself as he walks back up to Carter. He pulls him up in a sitting position and then pulls him up on his shoulder and starts walking toward the door. When he gets there, he sets Carter down and lowers himself out and then reaches back up and grabs Carter by the legs and pulls him out. He then puts Carter back on his shoulder and carries him a safe distance from the plane and sets him down. He checks his pulse again. He is not seriously hurt.

Slone stands up and looks down on Carter and says. "Your on your own now John." He starts walking away. He looks back at the plane. People coming down the inflatable ramp at the upper door. Some are hurt, some very badly hurt. He should just keep walking and put as much distance between him and this plane and Carter as he could. He looked to his right and saw a man gushing blood from right above the knee, a woman was trying to help him putting pressure on the wound. But he was losing blood fast and would bleed out in a few minutes. Slone knelt down beside him. He reached and pulled the man's belt off and wrapped it around his leg above the wound. He tightened the belt. He held it tight and slowed the bleeding. He turned to the woman. "Get me a stick or something!" The woman gets up and leaves and returns moments later with a small stick. Slone takes it and places it under the belt and twist it. Making it tighter and cutting off the flow of blood. He looks up at the woman. "Keep this tight and every 15 minutes loosen it up briefly and then tighten it back up." She nodded and he stood up. If they were anywhere near a hospital this man might make it and keep his leg. But looking at where they were, his chances were slim.

Slone walks around and helps a few more people. Kneeling beside a hurt man Slone stands up and turns around to come face to face with Texas Ranger John Carter, holding a pair of handcuffs. "Put these on!" Carter says. Slone smiles and shakes his head. "You got to be kidding John?" Carter shakes his head. "No, I'm not kidding. Put them on." Slone frowns. "Do you think you just walked off that plane, John? Maybe a thank you might be in order for saving your life, again." Carter held the cuff up. "Thank you. Now put the cuffs on." Slone looks away and then back at Carter. "Really John." Slone reaches behind his back and pulls out Carter's gun. "Do I have to remind you that I have the guns now! Don't make me kill you now." Carter stood there looking at Slone pointing his Papaw's gun at him. He looks Slone in the eye. "Not with that your not." Slone smiles. "Why not?" Carter takes a hard look at him and reaches into his pocket. "Because I have the bullets!" He pulls a hand full of 38 bullets out of his pocket and shows them to Slone. Slone's eyes get big. Carter smiles and reaches in the other pocket. "I also have the 9mm bullets. Slone frowns. "You were going to take me all the way back to Texas with unloaded guns?" "Well," Carter said. "I didn't want to take a chance of you getting ahold of them."

Slone smiled. "Ok, I got the guns and you got the bullets. But John, Do you really think you're a match for me in a fight? Come on now. We have been down this road before. I believe I broke your nose. Carter nodded. "Yes, you did." About that time they both here a click. Slone takes a peke over his shoulder. Carter then says. "That would be Ranger James and that's her gun pointed at your head and I can assure you that her gun has bullets." Carter looks at James. "You doing ok Jess?" She glances over at him. "Ya, I'm good Pops. Living threw a plane crash while in the restroom. I'm going to mark that right off the bucket list!"

Carter takes his 38 and 9mm from Slone's belt. He puts the 38 in his holster and the 9mm in his belt behind his back for now. He looks at Slone who now has a smirk on his face. Carter balled up his right fisk and hit Slone right in the jaw. Slone staggers back. Carter jerks him around and puts the cuffs on him. Slone spits blood out of his mouth. "What was that for John?" Carter pulls him around to face him. "That's for pointing my Papaw's gun at me!"

CHAPTER 9

Carter and James got on each Side of Slone and lead him through what looked like a war zone. There were hurt people everywhere. Those that were not hurt were trying to help the ones that were. They walked about a hundred yards away from the plane. They found a large tree that had been knocked over and was on the ground. They set Slone down with his back to the trunk of the fallen tree, next to him was a smaller limb coming off the trunk. Carter took off his handcuffs and hooked his arm around the limb and put the cuffs back on. Carter stood up. "That's should hold you for now." Slone looked up at him. "You're just going to cuff me to a tree and leave me?" Carter turns back to him. "Yes, there are people hurt. We need to help them. We can't do that if we are baby setting you."

Cater and James starts walking back toward the plane. "Are you ok?" Carter says to James. "Yes, but what are we going to do?" Carter looks over at her. "Well first we are going to see if we can help the hurt people," he says. She looks up at the wreckage of the plane. "Pops, Do you think this was an accident?" Carter paused for a moment. "I don't know. But for now, accident or no accident. We got to deal with it."

They walked up on one of the flight attendants trying to help an injured man. The man was crying out in pain. Carter knelt down beside her. She turns to him. "I think his leg is broken." Carter pulls out his knife. "Let's take a look." He starts cutting the man's pants off of his right leg. "What's your name?" Carter asks the flight attendant. "Jill Campbell." She said. He turns to her. "Are you ok, Jill?" "Yes." She said. "It's just they don't spend a lot of time training us to deal with this kind of stuff."

Carter pulls the pants leg back. He can see the man's leg is broken in several places. The bone is protruding threw the skin. Jill puts her hand over her mouth feeling sick at the sight of it. Carter looks at the man who is in agonizing pain. "Sir, what is your name." The man squints his eyes and looks up. "Stanley Johnson." "Ok Stanley, my name is John and I'm going to help you." Stanley shakes his head. "Please I need something for the pain!" Stanley said. Carter turns to Jill. "Do you have anything for pain back in the plane?" "I think we have some Tylenol," Jill said. Carter shook his head. "He is way past the Tylenol stage." He paused for a moment. "What about alcohol? Is there any alcohol onboard?" "Yes." She says. "I think there is some left. We use it to mix drinks for the passengers. "Good," Carter says. "Go see if you can find some. We won't need anything to mix it with. He will take it straight." Jill got up and left.

Carter looked around. James was helping a hurt woman. There were hurt people everywhere. He was afraid there were a lot of dead people still on the plane. A few minutes later, Jill returned with two bottles of bourbon. "Will this do?" She said. "Yes," Carter said taking one of the bottles from her. Holding it up to Stanley's mouth. "Drink this," Carter said. Stanley resisted. "I don't drink alcohol. Stanley replied. "Its against my religious beliefs to consume liquor." Carter looked hard at him. "It's against your religion to die too! So drink it!" Carter said. Another round of pain came over Stanley, he took the bottle from Carter and placed it to his lips and took a long drink. Carter stands up and takes a few steps away and turns to Jill. "Make sure he keeps drinking that." "Ok," Jill said. "Will it help with the pain?" "No," Carter replied. "But It will make him to drunk to care."

*

Limestone County Sheriff Greg Roberts pulled up in front of the Carter house in Groesbeck. He had just got off the phone with Texas Ranger Captain Bill Morris. Morris had called him to tell him that the plane carrying Texas Ranger John Carter and his prisoner Jake Slone along with Ranger Jessica James had gone down somewhere in the Colorado mountains.

How had this happened? Captain Morris had also said that there was an escape attempt on the way to the airport. Could this be an accident? He had a bad feeling about it. He and John had been friends for years. Captain Morris had already talked to John's wife Carolyn. But he wanted to see if there was anything he could do for her.

He got out of the car and walked to the door and knocked. A few moments later Brian Carter, John's brother opens the door. "Hey, Greg," Brian says shaking Roberts's hand. Brian forces a small smile then asks. "Have you heard anything?" Roberts shakes his head. "I talked to Captain Morris about the same time you did. I don't know any more than yall do." "Come in," Brian says.

As Roberts enters Brian says. "Carolyn is in the living room. She is very upset, the kids and my Dad Luke are with her. They walked into the living room, Carolyn was sitting on the couch, Tom, and Becky were sitting on each side of her. She looked up at him. He could tell she had been crying. She stands up and walks over and embraces him. "Greg have you heard anything?" "No.," he says. "I don't know any more than you do." She pulls back away from him and wipes her eyes. Luke Carter, John and Brian's father walks up to him and offers his hand. They shake hands and Luke says. "Hi Greg, good to see you. I just talked to Captain Morris again. He said. They are having problems finding to plane, they are not getting a signal from the location beacon. There is a flight to Denver, leaving at 11:10 pm tonight. He is sending a Ranger up there." Roberts looks Luke strait in the eye. "I'm going too," Roberts says. Brian walks up to them. "I'm going with you too." Luke nods his head. " All three of us will go."

Tom stands up and joins them. His eyes are red from crying. "I'm coming too!" Luke looks over at him. "No Tom, I need you to stay here and take care of your Mother." Tom frowns. " Grandma and Becky can do that! I'm coming with you and we are going to find my Dad and bring him home." Carolyn walks over to Tom and hugs him. "I need you here with me, son." He looks down on her as she lays her head on his chest. He puts his arms around her. "Mom, I'm not a child anymore, My place is with them!" She pulls back away from him and looks at him. "Tom I'm sorry, but I can't let you go with them." Tom looks over at his Granddad, who shakes his head no." Tom turns and leaves the room.

Roberts walks over to Luke and Brian. "If we are going to make that flight, we need to leave here in about an hour. So quickly get anything you need together. Meet back here."

*

(45 minutes later)

They all go and get their stuff together and come back and load up in Luke's car. They go into the house to say goodbye to Carolyn, Becky, and Tom. Carolyn walks over and gives Luke and Brian a hug. Call me as soon as you know anything. "We will," Luke says. Becky comes over and hugs Luke. "Be careful Granddaddy, I love you," she says. "We will. Love you too." Luke says. Becky turns to Brian and hugs him. "Love you, Uncle Brian." "Love you too, Becky," Brian says.

Luke turns and looks around. "Where is Tom?" Carolyn shakes her head. "I'm sure he is in his room. He is mad, but he will get over it." Roberts looks at his watch. "We have to go."

They get in the car and start the two-hour drive to D/FW airport. Between Dallas and Fort Worth. They make the drive in almost silence. None of them felt like talking. When they got to the airport they pulled into the overnight parking and found a parking spot. They got out and walked back to the trunk of the car. Luke took out his keys and opened the trunk. The three men looked at what was in the trunk with shock on there face as they saw Tom looking back up at them.

Luke frowned as he looked down on Tom. "Tom, What the hell are you doing in there?" Brian reached in and grabbed Tom's arm and helped him get out. Tom turns and looks at Luke. "Well Granddad, I wanted to go help find my Dad. You were all treating me like a child. I'm 17 and will be 18 in a few months." There was a long moment of silence then Luke says. "So you didn't like being treated like a child, so you stow away in the trunk of the car like a child!" Tom looks down not knowing what to say. Luke turns to Brian. "Go call his mother and let her know we have him." brian takes out his phone sand steps away. Luke then turns back to Tom. "I'm sure your mother is worried sick. On top of everything else, she is worried about! I should take you to the nearest bus stop and put your ass on a bus back home!" Tom looks up at him. "I'm sorry Granddad, But I had to go and this was the only way."

Brian walks back over. "She is upset but relieved to know where he is. We don't have time to take him back now or we will miss the flight." Luke walks over and looks Tom in the eye. "Ok, You're going with us. This is your chance to prove you're a man. I expect you to do everything you are told to do." Tom nods. "Yes, sir."

They walked into the airport and started the long prosses of getting threw security. About an hour later they walked up to the counter bought their tickets and found Texas Ranger Henry Ried waiting for them. He walked up and shook hands with all of them. "I'm Ranger Henry Ried." Roberts took the lead with introductions. "I'm Sheriff Greg Roberts and this is Luke Carter, Brian Carter, and Tom Carter.

They then heard the call for boarding of there flight. They got on the plane and settled in on their seats. Tom sat by the window and Brian sat next to him. Tom leaned over in a low voice said to Brian. "Uncle Brian are you mad at me?" Brain smiled and put his hand on Tom's. "No, I'm not mad. You did a very irresponsible thing. But we need to forgive and forget and move on, as God would want. We need to pray for God to look over your father and keep him safe and to lead us to him." Tom turned and looked at Brian. "Do you really think God will keep Dad safe?" Tom said. "Yes, I do Tom. God does amazing things. We just have to pray and have faith." Brian reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small pocket Bible and opened it up. "Proverbs 3:5,6 says. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight." Brian hands Tom the Bible. "You should read and pray and make good use of the flight time." Tom looks threw the Bible. "Thank you, Uncle Brian."

*

Carter and James had spent the last two hours helping hurt passengers. Things were starting to settle down now. Carter walked back and found James. "You doing ok?" Carter asks James. "Yes. Not much more we can do right now." Carter looks around, some of the other men are gathering wood for a fire. It's going to get cold and it looks like they are going to be spending the night on this mountain.

Carter turns back to James. "Why don't you go check on Slone." She nods. "Sure thing Pops." As James walks away, Carter sees flight attendant Jill Campbell and walks over to her. "Ms. Campbell anything I can help you with? She walks past him toward the plane. "I'm going back on the plane to see if I can find any more blankets. We are going to need them. Carter turns and walks with her.

When they got to the door of the plane Carter pulls himself up threw the door and then reaches down and helps pull her up. The smoke has cleared out. Jill is startled to at the sight of several dead bodies. She puts her hand over her mouth. Carter puts his arm around her and she puts her head into his shoulder. "Oh my gosh." She says sobbing. "It's ok," Carter says. He then asks Jill. "Have you seen the pilots?" "No." She says. "But I have been to busy to look for them." He leads her down the ale, past the bodies to the cockpit. The door is locked. They look at each other. "It opens from the inside. They never came out." They look at each other knowing what that meant. "Is there any way to open the door from the outside? Carter ask. Jill reaches into her pocket. I have a key, If they don't have it bolted from the inside we can get in. She puts her key in and turns it and to lock opens. She moves back and Carter enters the cockpit first. Both pilots are still strapped in the chairs dead. Jill comes in behind him. She sobs. Carter turns to her. "Is there some kind of locator beacon?" She points to it. Carter looks at is. It seemed to be working sending out a signal. He turns back to her. "It runs off a battery?" "Yes." She says. "Good," he says. "Let's get out of here." She looks over at the two dead pilots. "Should we take them off the plane?" He takes her hand. "We will take the dead passengers off. But we are going to have to leave the pilots the way they are. The investigators are going to want to see it just like we found it. I know it seems harsh. But it's important. They back out of the cockpit and she locks the door back.

They go back down to the other end of the plane and find more blankets and take them outside. Were the men have a fire going. They are moving the injured closer to the fire to stay warm. Jill starts passing out blankets.

Carter walks back to were James and Slone are. As he walks up Slone says. "This is very uncomfortable John can you please get me loose from this tree?" Carter takes the handcuff key out of his pocket and uncuffs him from the tree. Slone stands up and rubs his wrist. James is watching him like a hawk, as her hand rest on the but of her gun. Slone looks at her. "Don't get all jumpy Ranger James." Her eyes narrow. "Don't you do anything stupid!" Slone smiles as he sets down on the trunk of the big tree. Carter picks up the leg irons. "For now we will just use these on a limb of the tree and keep your hands free for now. But like she said. Don't try anything stupid."

Carter moved over and sat down next to James. She says to him. "I thought they would have found us by now." Carter turns to her. "I got into the cockpit and the location beacon is working. Surely they will be here soon." Slone then spoke up. "The beacon may be working but who is it sending the signal to?" Carter and James both look at him. "What do you mean by that?" Carter ask. Slone smiles. "If somebody could get on the plane and plant a bomb and getaway. What makes you think that they could not change the signal and have it go to them and not the FAA." Carter frowns. "What are you saying?" Slone looks back at them. "I'm saying that my people tried and failed to recover me on the way to the airport. They would have had a plan B and it looks like that was to take down the plane. They will send a mop-up team to make sure we are dead. And if not to make sure we are!

CHAPTER 10

Carter threw back his blanket and stood up and picked up a stick and stoked the fire, he then placed more wood on it. He looked over at James who was sleeping under her blanket but he could tell she was still cold because she was shivering. He picked up his blanket and placed it over her.

He looked over at Slone, he was awake setting up wrapped up in his blanket. The fire was blazing up now and he could feel the heat coming off of it. "That feels better," Slone says. Carter walks over and sits down across from Slone. "So you think they will be coming after us?" Carter ask. "Yes, I do. I think they will be headed hear, first thing in the morning. When they get here, they will kill you and most likely all of the other survivors and maybe even me." Slone said. Carter is silent for a moment, then says. "They are so afraid of what you might say that they would crash a plane with a hundred people on it to keep you quiet," Carter said. "Yes, that's what I am saying," Slone says. Carter stairs into the fire. "So If I had just let you escape from the van, all of these people would be alive?" Slone turns and looks at him. "Yes. But you had no way of knowing that."

Carter stairs back into the fire. He then jerks his head around to face Slone. "Ok! There are at least 30 dead people and that many, hurt. I need to know just what the fuck is going on? I need to know, how a decorated war hero turns into a cold-blooded killer? And what could you possibly know that is so important that It's worth killing 30 people over? Slone smiles. "John, You have to know that all of that is classified." Carter frowns. "I don't give a fuck! What's going on?" Slone shakes his head and smiles. "Well, you're most likely going to get killed anyway. So I guess I can at least tell you what you're dying for."

Slone sat up straight and gathered his thoughts. "I joined the Navy and later became part of the Navy Seals. I did several tours in Afganistan. We were hunting a high-value target. His name was O'mar Alead, we had been tracking him for months, he was always one step ahead. We get good intel about where he is. We go on a raid. Its an ambush. They know we are coming. Everybody is killed except me. I jump threw a window. I'm hurt but alive. I see Alead fleeing. My wife is a helicopter pilot, she is shot down and killed. I wake up in a hospital. I find out that Alead has set me up to take that fall. Planted money in my bank account. So the Navy is going to charge me with selling out my men and probably treason. So when a man comes to see me. CIA I'm not going to tell you his name. He recruits me. It's work for him or, go to jail for the rest of my life. So he fakes my death and I spend the next 10 years taking out terrorists. Then my little girl gets sick. I come home, I need money for her treatment. I take the Limestone contract. I didn't know that McKenney had gone rogue. Ok, so now you know."

Carter set there for a moment take all that he has just heard in, then he says. "It's illegal for the CIA to run operations inside the United States." Slone nods. "Yes, it is. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Why do you think that there has not been a major terrorist attack since 911? Carter looks over at him. "Because we have been taking it to them. Made it harder for them to move around." Slone laffs, "Well that stuff helped. But no, that's not why. There hasn't been another attack because people like me have been finding them and killing them before they attack, and nobody ever knows." Carter sets silent for a few minutes. "So that's why they are so desperate to get you back. They don't want the people to find out what you been doing" Slone nods. "Exactly. If it got out. Well the CIA would be broke apart. Lots of people, including some very high people would go to jail, and the country would be less safe."

They sat and stared into the fire. Then Slone said. "We have to move at first light. Put as much distance between us and that plane as we can. They will be coming. If they get here and we are not here. They most likely won't hurt anybody here. Carter turns and looks at him. "Ok, we leave first thing in the morning."

A few hours later Carter throws his blanket back. There was a light dusting of snow on top. He picked up his stick and stoked the fire and put another log on it. He looked over at Slone who was awake. Slone says to him. "It's going to start getting light in about an hour. We need to be moving by then." Carter nodded. "I need to go back to the plane to get some supplies." Slone stands up and shakes the snow off his blanket. "Wire, rope, knives. Flashlights, Oh and any kind of food and water you might find." Slone says.

Carter walks over to where James has been sleeping. She sets up and looks at Carter. "Well Pops, we made it threw the night without freezing to death. Carter looks down on her. "Let's head back to the plane and get some stuff." She stands up and shakes the snow off.

They start walking toward the plane. Carter turns to her and says. "We have got to move away from the plane and the survivors." She gives him a surprised look. "Shouldn't we, stay with the plane? That's where the signal is coming from and where they will look for us." "Under normal circumstances yes," Carter says. "But I think the people that crashed the plane will be coming to make sure we are dead. When they find us alive. They will kill us and everybody that survived. So we got to get as far away as we can." She stops in her tracks and looks at him. "Are you fucking kidding me?" she says. Carter shakes his head. "No, I'm not." He says. She throws her hands in the air in frustration and turns back to him. "How do you know this?" She asks. "I had a long talk with Slone last night," said Carter. She looks at him and frowns. "How do you know you can believe anything he says?" She asks. He looks away and then back to her. "I don't. I just got a gut feeling that he is telling the truth. He could have killed me several times if he had wanted to, I don't want to take any chance of getting any more innocent people killed because of me." They started back walking. "So Pops." She says. "What are we going to go?" He turns his head to her. "Up, We find a trail and go up. That will give us the high ground. We will work our way around then down. And it's not we. You're not going." She stops in her tracks again. "What do you mean, I'm not going. You're going to need all the help you can get!" Carter turns to face her. "They will be Profesional killers and I'm not going to get you killed. Plus, when the real rescue gets here. I need somebody there to tell them what's going on and get us some help. I'm sure Captain Morris will send somebody, Plus I don't think Limestone County Sheriff Greg Roberts will be able to stay away, and you can bet if he comes, my little brother Brian and my Dad will come. I need you here to let them know what happened." She looks over at him. "So that's your plan? Stay alive till help comes?" He shakes his head. "Ya, that would be the plan," he says.

They reach the plane and pull themselves up inside. "You know all the people you mentioned are in Texas and we are some fucking ware in Colorado!" James says. Carter smiles. "Well if I know my Dad and brother they are on the way. That's how my family rolls."

They look around inside the plane and find two backpacks and start filling them with things they will need water, cookies, crackers and anything else they could eat. Carter found a roll of wire and put it in the bag. He threw in a lighter but didn't know if they would be building many fires. He finds and grabs several pepper shakers. "What's that for? James ask. "Well," Carter says. "Just in case they have dogs with them." They find two heavy coats that they would need. He finds a small hatchet. "This might come in handy," Carter says as he puts it in his bag. James walks over to the overhead compartment just above the seat she had been in. She opened it up and took out her bag, she reached in and pulled out a small pair of binoculars and hands them to Carter. "I brought these to watch out the window of the plane. But you're going to need them. She says. Carter takes them. "Thank you," She frowns. "Don't thank me. Just don't get killed Pops."

As they were headed back to the door they ran into the flight attendant Jill Campbell. "Ms. Campbell," Carter said. "Good morning Ranger Carter." Carter smiled at her. "My prisoner and I will be leaving you this morning. We have reason to believe that some of my prisoner's associates will be coming to look for us. So we need to put space between us and the people here." She looks at him with a confused look. "Were will you go?" Carter put his hand on her shoulder. "If some people come looking for us. Just tell them anything they want to know and everything will be alright." She looks him in the eye. "Oh my gosh. You're scaring me." She starts sobbing. Carter puts his arm around her. "It's going to be alright. Ranger James is going to stay here. She will take care of all of you." She sakes her head. "Ok. I just want all this to be over." Jill says. "I do too," Carter said as he pulls away and starts toward the door.

When they get back to ware Slone is, Carter hands him one of the coats. "Put that on. Slone puts the coat on and then Carter hands him a backpack that he puts on. Carter stands in front of Slone. "I'm going to cuff your hands in front," Carter says, placing the cuff on him. "Slone looks down at the cuffs. "This is going to be restricting, We could move faster if I was completely free." Carter smiles. "I'm sure we could. But then I would have to trust you, and I don't!

Carter puts his coat and backpack on. He turns back to James. "When help gets here, tell them whats going on," Carter says. "I will. Be careful Pops." Slone starts walking. Carter turns back to James. "Take Care Jess." "I will Pops." Carter and Slone started walking to higher ground. With any luck, they would have a few hour's head start.

*

Nathan Hunter opened the door to the hanger and walked in. The three men standing at the radio table turned and looked at him, as he walks up one of the men takes off a headset. "So have you got the signal yet?" Hunter ask. "The man with the headset says. "Yes, we think we have it." Hunter frowns. "What the fuck do you mean. You think you have it! Do you or don't you?" the man nods. "Yes, we have it." "Good," Hunter says. He turns to the other men. "I want that helicopter in the air in ten minutes. We have to get there before anybody else.

About 12 minutes later they loaded up on the helicopter. He was taking a team of five men with him. It was just starting to get light. He asks the pilot. "How long will it take to reach that signal?" the pilot looked over his shoulder. "Gussing I would say about an hour." Hunter took his seat. "Ok let's get the fuck out of here!"

As the helicopter took off, Hunter thought to himself. This was a fucking mess. If Slone had just followed orders they would not have to do all this shit. This was time wasted that they could be looking for Omar A'lead. Slone was normally one of his best men. But lately, he had been one big pain in his ass. Now he was most likely dead. They just had to confirm that and get the hell out of there.

They flew in silence for the next hour. Hunter unfastened his seat belt and walked up to the cockpit. "How much longer?" He asks. The pilot said. "It should be close." the co-pilot was looking around with binoculars. "There it is." The co-pilot said pointing in a direction. "Got it." the pilot said. Hunter turned to the pilot. "Find a place to land about 100 meters away." "Yes sir." the pilot said as Hunter returned to his seat and buckled in.

The pilot set the helicopter down and Hunter stood up and faced his men. "OK," Hunter said holding up a picture of Slone. "This should be simple. This man, Jake Slone. Find him and make sure he is dead!"

They get off the helicopter and start toward the plane. They see several survivors heading toward them. Damn Hunter thought that's all he needed was to have to deal with survivors. A man and a woman walked up to him. "We are glad to see you." The man said. "We have several people hurt." Hunter stopped and pulled out a badge. "I'm FBI agent Green, We are looking for this man." Hunter holds up a picture of Slone. He is a prisoner in the Custody of a Texas Ranger John Carter. "Ya, I have seen them. Don't know where they are now." Hunter turns the picture to the woman. "Yes I saw them head towards the woods several hours ago."

Hunter turns toward his men. "Spread out and find them!" The five men check the loads on their rifles and start looking. The man turns to Hunter and says. "Should we start moving the hurt to your helicopter? Is there more coming?" "No," Hunter says. "A rescue copter is on the way to handle that. For now, hang tight." The man looks confused. "Do you have any medical supplies? Pain meds." Hunter tries to control his anger. "No. That's not what we are here for. Help is on the way." The man gets angry. "That's fucked up man! We need help." As Hunter walks off he says. "I'm sorry. Life is not fair."

Ranger Jessica James sees the helicopter land. When she six men get off and five of the heavily armed with rifles, she knows they are not a rescue team. They are the men that are here to find Carter and Slone. Jill Campbell walks up. "That's not the rescue team is it?" "No," James says. Jill gets a panic look on her face. "What do we do?" James looks at her. "Stay calm, play dumb tell them nothing. They will start looking for Ranger Carter and Slone. We just got to slow them down."

James takes her Ranger badge off her shirt and puts it in her pocket. She takes her gun belt off and removes her Sig Sauer P320 standard Ranger handgun and puts it behind her back in her belt and pulls her coat over it.

James walk upon the man that looked to be in charge, she stops in front of him. "We have injured people inside the plane." He looks past her as his men scatter out looking around. He holds up a picture of Slone. "We are looking for this man. Do you know if he survived the crash?" She looks at the picture. "No, I have not seen him." He puts the picture away. He says. "If you see him, get with me or one of my men." James nods. "We need some help with the injured." He looks at her. "I'm sorry, we are not here for that. There is help on the way."

One of his men walks up and says. "Slone and Carter were seen walking away from the plane a few hours ago. We found their trail in the snow." "Good," Hunter says. "Let's find them."

James watches as they walk away toward the trail that Carter had taken. So much for slowing them down.

CHAPTER 11

Tom opened his eyes and was momentarily confused. Where was he, this was not his room. Then he remembered. He was in a hotel room somewhere in Colorado. They had gotten here really late. He was so tired he had just passed out. But how could he sleep knowing that his Dad was out there someplace needing him? He sat up. He felt scared, nervous and sick all at the same time. He looked at the clock. 6:23 am. He hadn't slept that long. He looked over at the other bed. His Uncle Brian was setting up reading his Bible. He looked over at Tom. "Go back to sleep. Your granddad and Greg and Ranger Ried are making calls in the other room, as soon as we know something we will let you know. Get as much rest as you can. You're going to need it."

Tom sat there for a moment. "Uncle Brian, Do you think Dad is ok?" Brian closed his Bible and turned and put his feet on the floor and faced Tom. "Tom I have been doing a lot of praying and talking to God. It's my feeling that God is watching over your Dad and keeping him safe." Tom nods and says. "I just got this nervose and sick feeling! Is that a bad thing?" Brian reaches over and puts his hand on Tom's shoulder. "No, you just need to pray and put it in God's hands and let him, guide you."

Brian sets back. "Let me tell you a story, When your Dad and I were in High School, I was in the 10th grade and he was in the 12th. It was spring break and our Papaw took us camping over in the East Texas woods around Crockett Texas. We got up one morning and Papaw cooked us breakfast over and open fire. Something about cooking out like that, it was so good. We needed something from town, I forget what it was, but John and Papaw were going into town to pick it up. I wanted to stay and fish. Papaw said ok but say close and fish in the river. I told them ok. They left and I got my stuff and went down to the river. After a while, the fish were not biting. I decided to cut threw the woods and find the lake. I wanted to have a big string of fish by the time John and Papaw got back. I headed out threw the woods in the direction I thought the lake was. Well before long I was lost in the woods. All those pine trees look alike. The more I wondered around the more lost I got.

Then I remembered something Papaw had taught us. Always mark your trail. So I took out my knife and carved Papaw's brand on the tree's a Rafter C. I would tilt it a little to show the direction I was going. When John and Papaw got back and started looking for me. They found the marked trees and it leads them right to me. I was never scared because I knew your Dad would come and find me. Just like he knows now that I will come and find him. We just have to trust in God to show us the way."

About that time the connecting door between the two rooms opens up and Luke, Greg Roberts, and Ranger Ried came in. Roberts says to them. "Ok, they have found a signal that they think must be them. They got helicopters ready to go. I told them there is a dangerous prisoner on that flight and they agreed to let us go with them. They don't know that yall are family, so let keep that between us." Luke looks over at Brian and Tom. "Tom are you sure you want to go with us?" "Yes!" Tom says. "Ok. Grab your stuff and let get back to the airport," Luke says.

*

Carter and Slone had been moving as quickly as they could up the mountain away from the plane. After about 3 hours they stopped to rest. The constant climbing up was taxing, along with the cold and wind.

Carter took a water bottle out of his bag and handed it to Slone who opened it and took a long drink. Carter took out the binoculars and looked around. He could still see the plane down in the valley. They had heard a helicopter, He could see it now on the ground not far from the plane.

Slone put his water down. "Just one helicopter. That's the ones that will be coming after us. How many men do you see?" Carter lowered the binoculars. "There are six men, looks like five of them are heavily armed with rifles." "Can I look?" Slone ask. Carter hesitates for a moment. Slone says. "What am I going to do. Use the binoculars as a weapon? John, you have a gun!" Carter hands Slone the binoculars and he looks threw them.

Slone lowers the binoculars and looks over at Carter. "The man without a rifle is Nathan Hunter. I think you have met him before. He is my boss or handler. The five men with him are the best-trained killers he could find. It won't take them long to figure out where we have headed. With the snow, we have left a trail a blind man could follow. They will move faster than us so they will close the gap quickly."

Carter takes the binoculars and puts them back in his bag. "I guess we need to keep moving to make that gap as big as possible," Carter says. Slone smiles. "The smart thing for you to do John is to just let me go. They will just take me and go. Nobody else has to get hurt." Carter turns to him. "I have a duty to the State of Texas and to the families of the people you killed to return you to Texas and answer for what you have done!" Slone smiles and shakes his head. "Your a dumb noble son of a bitch! This ends two ways. They kill you and take me or they kill you and me. Either way, your fucking dead John!" Carter nods. "I know, so let's get moving.

They take a few steps and Slone stops and says. "Ok John, Then take your gun and shoot me in the head. They will find the body and leave. Like you said. I need to answer for what I have done. I started off thinking what I was doing was for the greater good. But somewhere along the way, the lines got blurred between right and wrong." Slone turns his back to Carter and gets down on his knees. "Do what needs to be done John and go home to your family." Carter walks up behind Slone and looks down at him. "If I kill you, that would make me Judge, Jury, and executioner and it would make me no better than you." Carter reaches down and grabs Slone's arm and pulls him to his feet. "So let's get moving.," Carter says. They take a few steps and Slone says. "Ok, John have it your way. But don't say I didn't try to warn you."

They make there way up the mountain for about another 30 minutes when Slone stops and turns to Carter. "There will be six of them heavily armed coming after us. We need to cut those odds." Slone said. Carter looks at him. "So what do you have in mind?" Carter ask. Slone points to a small tree. "Take your hatchet and cut down that tree." Carter nodded in agreement and they went to work.

They worked quickly and Carter took the wire out of his bag and cut a long piece and ran it along the ground and pulled it tight. He looked over at what they had made. "Is this going to work?" Carter ask. Slone turned and looked at him with an annoyed look on his face. "I wish to hell you would quit asking me that!" Carter stepped back. "This is not going to kill anybody is it?" Carter ask. Slone gave him another annoyed look. "I hope not. If we just hurt one. Then another one has to take care of him. That eliminates two." Slone says. Carter nods. "Let's cover as much ground as we can before dark," Carter said.

*

Tom felt a hand on him waking him up. He had fallen to sleep on the helicopter. He looked up to see his Uncle Brian looking at him. "They have found the crash site. There are survivors on the ground." Tom quickly become alert. "How long till we land?" Tom Ask. "A few minutes," Brian said. Tom sat and waited for what seemed like a long time for the Helicopter to come to rest.

As soon as it stopped Tom took off his seat belt and got up. Luke turned to his Grandson. Tom set down. It's going to be a few minutes before we can get off."

Tom set down and waited for the back end of the helicopter to open up and the rescue working to get off. Sheriff Roberts and Ranger Ried lead the way followed by his Granddad and Uncle Brian. Suddenly Tom felt sick and was scared of what he was going to find when he got off. Brian turned around and saw Tom lagging back. "You ok Tom," Brian said. "Yes, I'm coming," Tom said. Brian stepped back to meet him. "If you want to wait here, you can," Brian said. "No, I'm coming," Tom said.

Tom forced himself to be strong as they got off the helicopter. As they walked toward the crashed plane. Tom looked as saw hurt people everywhere. Rescue workers that had come with them were now helping with the injured. There were two more helicopters were landing now.

Brian saw Tom's face turning white and he started gaging, he grabbed Tom by the arm and pulled him over to the side out of the way. Tom bent over and threw up everything in his stomach. When he was done and stood up and looked at his Uncle. "I'm sorry Uncle Brian." Brian patted him on the back. "Nothing to be sorry for."

As they walked back to where Luke, Roberts, and Ried were They saw a Red-headed woman run up to them. She said. "Ranger Ried I'm so glad to see you." Ried looked at her and recognized her. "Ranger James, I'm glad, your ok." Tom hears her name and recognized her as the Ranger who worked with his Dad. He runs up to her. "My Dad is he with you?" She turns and looks at him. "You must be Tom?" "Ya," Tom says. "Where is my Dad." She turns to face them all. "That what I was coming to tell you." She takes a moment not knowing where to start.

"The people our prisoner Jake Slone works for crashed our plane to make sure he does not tell what he knows. They came to find us to make sure he was dead. Slone warned Ranger Carter that they would be coming after them. So they took off up the mountain. A few hours later a helicopter with six heavily armed gunmen got here looking for them and they followed them up the mountain. Carter ordered me to say here and tell you what was going on." Tom them jump in. "My Dad is alive?" She turns to him. "Yes," she says. Tom puts both hands on the side of his head and looks up to the heavens. "Thank you, Lord," Tom says. She turns back to the other men. "They had about a 3-hour head start. But the others are following them. They have been gone about 2-hours."

"Ok," Tom says. "We have to go after them!" Ranger Ried looks over at them and says. "We should contact the F.B.I., get them up here. None of us have any jurisdiction in Colorado." Roberts then says. "For all, we know the F.B.I. could be apart of all this. We always suspected Slone worked for a rouge part of the Government. Who do we trust?" Tom frowns and throws his hands in the air. "We have to go after them. Now!" Luke stepped over to Tom. "Ok Tom, Calm down." Luke turns back to the others. "Tom is right, We can't wait. We have to fallow them."

Brian looks over at the mountain, "With the snow, they should have left a clear trail to follow. I'm with Dad and Tom, We need to go." The rest nod in agreement. Ranger Ried says. "I'm going to find a radio and let somebody know what we are doing then well go."

*

Hunter and his men had pushed hard to close the gap between them and Carter and Slone. But they had stopped to rest for a few minutes. One of the men walks up to Hunter and says. "We have made good time." The man says. "I think we need to spread out some. So we will be ready when we catch up." Hunter looks up the path. "Ya, that's a good idea. Five more minutes and we move out." The man nods and starts to walk away and stops and turns back to Hunter. "Hey, Boss. Slone is a highly trained asset. Why doesn't he just dislocate his thumb and slip out of the cuffs he most likely has on and just take out Carter?" Hunter takes a drink of water and then says. "You're doing too much thinking! You don't get paid to think. You get paid to do a job. I expect you to find Carter and Slone, kill Carter and recover Slone. If you can't do that we will kill them both. Leave the thinking to me! Am I clear?" The man backs up. "Ya Boss. Understood. We will stay on mission."

Hunter stands up and says in a loud voice. "Let's move out! I want this over." The men spread out and started up the trail. Hunter was still angry. But the truth, he had asked himself the same questions. Why had Slone not just taken out Carter?

Slone had been his best man in Afganistan for over 10 years. Then his daughter got sick and Hunter told him and let him come home. That was a huge mistake. When Slone got home he regained his humanity. He desperately wanted to help his daughter. I was out of the country at the time. So he took that off the books job in Groesbeck. That's how this whole mess got started. Now he had developed some kind of soft spot for this fucking Sheriff or Ranger or whatever he was now. He would hate to have to kill and asset with Slone's skill. But if that's what he had to do to end this. So be it.

As they were making there way up the trail. He heard one of his men cry out in pain. He turned and started moving in that direction. He found one of his men with two wooden stakes driven into his thighs. He was screaming in pain. He looked down to see the tripwire that he had hit. Damn it he didn't need this!

Two of his other men sat him down and removed the stakes from his thighs. They started applying pressure to the wounds. The man was in a lot of pain. There was no way he could continue. Hunter walks over to the man. "We have to keep moving," Hunter said. The two men working on him looked up at him and one said. "He can't travel. We need to get him to the nearest clearing and call for a helicopter. We just can't leave him here." Anger grew in hunter. "Your right we can't leave him here like that." Hunter walks over to the man and takes out his gun and shoots him in the head. The mans crying stops and there is silence as the men are in shock at what just happened. "Hunter looks over at them still holding his gun. "Now can we fucking go!"

CHAPTER 12

Carter and Slone were on the move when they heard the man cry out in pain. They both stopped and looked at each other. Slone looks down the trail behind them and says. "Looks like they found our trap. But if they are close enough that we can hear that, they are not far behind." Carter turns to him. "We got to hope that slows them down, or we are fucked."

They start moving quickly and a few minutes later they hear a gunshot. They stop again and look at each other. "So much for slowing them down," Slone says. Carter gives him a confused look. "What do you mean?" Slone starts down the trail and looks back at Carter. "They shot him! They didn't want him to slow them down." Carter frowns. "They shot one of there own?" Carter ask. "Yes!" Slone says. "This is the kind of men we are dealing with. We got to move."

They pick up the pace and move as quickly as they can, till it gets too dark for them to see. They find a place to make camp. "How far behind them do you think they are?" Carter ask. Slone starts picking up firewood. "Maybe an hour. They will stop too. They won't risk losing any more men trying to move in the dark." Carter nods. "Do you think it's a good idea to start a fire. It might let them know where we are?" Slone turns to him with an annoyed look. "They know where we are. A fire will not make any difference." Slone says.

They get a fire going and take out the blankets they had in the bags they wrap up and try to stay warm. Carter looks over at Slone. "Does it ever bother you?" Slone looks at Carter. "Does what bother me?" Carter turns to him. "The people you killed?" There was a long moment of silence. "Some of them do. Some of them bother me a lot. Like Pam Smith, Ya I remember her. She is one, that haunts me. Telling me about her son didn't help. But most of them. I'm glad I killed them. Killing them saved a lot of lives. I don't expect you to understand."

They tried to get some sleep, but neither one of them could do more than dose a few minutes at a time. When it started to get light. Carter got up and put the fire out and they got ready. They had to be on the move before Hunter and his men. They moved out quickly at first. Then they started to try to cover there trail. Carter took his hatchet and made a mark on a tree. "What's that for?" Slone ask. Carter put the hatchet away and said. "Probably nothing."

They moved as quickly as they could for about an hour. They heard something. They stopped and listened and Carter took out his binoculars and looked around. When he found what he was looking for he could not believe what he was seeing. "What is it?" Slone ask. Carter handed him the binoculars and Slone looked threw them. He brought them down and looked over as Carter "You got to be fucking kidding me. Its a fucking steam engine train." Carter looked at Slone and smiled. "Looks like it's coming toward us. We need to cut across and find the track." Slone looked toward the train and back at Carter. "Let's do it." Carter marks another tree and they start heading to find the track.

About 45 minutes later they came up to a cliff and looked over about 20 feet down was the track. It ran right threw the mountain with a cliff on both sides. Looks like it only had about a foot clearance on both sides. They looked at each other. Carter says. "It would be an easy jump down on top of it as it comes by. But if we wait. They might catch up." Slone looks down at the track and back at Carter. "I think that's a chance we will have to take."

*

Jessica James opened her eyes. She hadn't slept much but had dozed off an hour or so ago. As she lay there facing the fire, she felt a body spooning her from behind. She looked over her shoulder to see Tom shivering cold. She nudged him. He opened his eyes. "What do you think you're doing?" His teeth were chattering. "I'm trying to stay warm. I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything." She smiled and turned to face him and put her arms around him. "It's ok. The warmth feels good. But watch-ware you put your hand's buddy."

They laid there another 15 minutes when they heard Sheriff Roberts get up and say. "We need to get moving, it's starting to get light. They all threw there covers back and started packing up. Luke pulled on his boots and started kicking dirt on the fire.

They were quickly ready and started moving with Roberts and Ried leading the way, followed by Luke and Brian with Tom and James in the back. James turns to Tom. "Your father talks about you a lot." "Oh really," Tom says. "Yes," James says. "He is really proud of you." He smiles. "I hope so. How long have you worked with my Dad?" Tom says. She looks over at him. "Not very long. He asks me to be on his task force. We are going to get that going when we get back."

They all walk along the trail in silence for the next 20 minutes. When Ranger Ried says. "Hey over here." They all turn and walk toward were Ried was a few feet off the trail. They are all shocked to see a dead body. Reid and Roberts start looking the body over. "Gunshot wound to the head," Roberts says. Ried looks down at him. "Looks like he had injured his thighs. Looking along the ground Brian picks up what looks like spikes. "Looks like this is what he got into." then he points to the ground. "Tripwire, he walked into a trap," Brian says.

They all stand there and stare at the body. James looks over at them and says. "So the guy wanders into a trap and gets hurt and instead of helping him. They kill him! What kind of sick bastard does that?"

Roberts reaches over and takes the radio off his belt. "Well maybe with this we can listen in on what they are saying. Ried picks up his rifle and handgun. "This might come in handy too," he says. Brian pulls out his bible and kneels beside him. He looks up at the others. "I need a few minutes to pray for this man." They all nod and move a few steps away

*

Carter and Slone stood looking over the cliff where the train track was. They could see the train coming. They also keep an eye on the clearing behind them expecting Hunter and his men to come out any minute.

Just as the old steam engine passed they got ready to jump, they heard a shot and a bullet hit the ground beside them. Carter looked over his shoulder to see Hunters men coming toward them. They just looked at each other and jumped. They landed squarely on the passenger car. Slone lost his balance and fell to a knee. Carter reached over and grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to his feet. They walked on top of the car to the end and climbed down. They were met by a man wairing and old Conductors uniform. He looked at them with shock. "What the hell!" The Conductor said. Carter looks at him and says. "I'm Texas Ranger, John Carter. This is my prisoner. We were on the plane that crashed a few days ago. There are men after us. Where is this train headed?" the man just stared at Carter, then said. We are headed back to Durango. Did you say you're a Texas Ranger?" Carter pulled back his coat and showed him his badge. "Yes, I'm a Texas Ranger." The man looked back at him. "You know you're in Colorado don't you?" Carter nodded. "Yes, I know. I was taking my prisoner back to Texas." Carter says. "I see. Who is after you?" The man asks. Carter looks and him and says. "That's a very long story. We just need to ride your train and put some distance between us and them. The man opens the door to the car. "Well, let's get inside and warm up a bit.

They go inside the car and take a seat. The people in the car give them some strange looks. The Conductor says. "Everything is ok folks." He then turns to Carter and says. "I'm going to go tell the Engineer what's going on.

They set there and enjoy the warmth of the car. Slone turns to Carter and says. "We can't stay on this train for long.? Carter frowns and says. "Why not, we just ride it to Drango call for help." Slone shakes his head. "They know we are on here! They crashed a plane to kill us. Do you think they won't take out this train?" Slone says. Carter looks out the window and then back to Slone. "How are they going to do that?" Carter ask. "They will call for a helicopter get ahead of us and take out the track and kill us and everybody on this train." Carter looked down at the floor and shook his head. "That's just fucking great." He said.

*

Nathan Hunter and his men ran up to the cliff to were Carter and Slone had jumped. Hunter looked down to see the train track. He looked and saw the train in the distance heading away from them. "You got to be fucking kidding me!" His men came and looked. "What now boss?" one of them says. Hunter's face is red with anger. "Get on the radio and find out were this fucking train is going and get us a helicopter up here!" one of the men pulls out the radio. "I'm on it boss," he says.

Hunter takes off his backpack and throws it down. This just could not get any worse. If Carter and Slone get back in town. Stopping them will be so much harder. He had to stop that train. He didn't want to have to explain to his bosses how he let them get away and compromise the whole operation.

*

Sheriff Roberts and Ranger Ried lead the way down the trail that Carter and Slone had taken and followed by the men looking for them. The trail was easy to follow. After finding the dead man. They were being more careful. They had heard some shots in the distance earlier. They had all wondered if the men following them had caught up to them.

Brian who was walking in the middle looked to his left and saw something. "Hey stop for a minute," Brian said. They all stopped and looked over at Brian who had walked over to a tree. "What is it?" Luke said. Brian turned to him with a smile on his face. "This tree is marked with a Rafter C, Papaw's old cattle brand. John left it here. He is leaving us breadcrumbs to follow." Luke and Tom walk over and take a closer look. It was not made to be clearly obvious, but if you looked it was clearly there. Luke turned to Brian. "You think John left this for us?" Brian nodded. "Yes, I'm sure of it."

Luke turns to the others. "Keep an eye out for this symbol." Tom walks over to Brian. "This is like what you left for him when you were lost in the woods?" Tom says. Brian smiles. "Yes, exactly the same." Tom turns and heads down the trail. "Let's get moving," Tom says.

They walk for the next hour and they find another tree marked with the Rafter C. They start moving again. James stops. "What's that sound?" they all stop and listen. "That's a helicopter." She says. They walk to the edge of the woods out to and opening. They see five men heavily armed standing at an edge of a cliff. "This must be the men that are following them," Roberts said. They say hidden in the woods and watch. Ranger Ried pulls out his binoculars and looks. "Ya, that would be them," Ried says. "But no sine of Ranger Carter and Slone."

The helicopter comes into view and circles and lands. They watch as the men board the helicopter and take off. When it was out of sight they came out of the woods into the opening and walked over to the cliff were the men had been standing. They looked down and it was then that they saw the train tracks. They all looked at each other. Luke looks up and down the track and says. "This is not an old abandoned track. It's been kept up and worked on. Trains are coming threw here." Brian and Tom walked over to him. Brian says. "With them calling for a helicopter and moving in that direction. It makes me think that John and Slone jumped on a train." Luke looks back down the track. "I think your right," Luke says. James walks over to them and says. "So what do we do now?" Tom turns to her. "We jump on the next train!" She looks at him. "I knew you were going to say that."

CHAPTER 13

Carter and Slone had been riding on the train for a little over an hour when the Conductor cam back into there car. Carter flagged him down. He walked over to them, Carter looked up at him and said. "When we get to a suitable place, we need to get off. Can you stop, for us?" The Conductor paused for a moment. "No, we would lose to much power to make it up the next incline. There is a spot about a mile up that's open. You could get off there." "Ok," Carter said. "We will get off there." He hands the Conductor a piece of paper. "This is the number for Texas Ranger Captain Bill Morris. As soon as you get to Durango I need you to call and tell him whats going on and where we got off at. Can you do that for me?" The Conductor looks at the paper. "Yes, I can do that." Carter smiles. "Thank you."

After the Conductor walks away they get up and move out of the car to the platform at the very end of the train. They wait for the opening that he had told them about. When they got to a good spot. Carter said. "This is it. Let's go. Slone moved down the steps first and jumped, Carter quickly followed him. They hit the ground and rolled. Carter jumped up and grabbed Slone by the arm and pulled him up.

They walked threw the clearing to the woods. Carter marked another tree. Slone watched him. "I wish I knew what good you think that's going to do?" Carter put his hatchet back in his backpack and said. "Probably nothing, but just in case." Slone rolled his eyes. "Let's get moving." He said.

They walked about an hour when Slone said. "Hold up. You hear that?" Carter stopped and listened. It was the sound of running water. "This way," Slone said and they started moving toward the sound. About 15 minutes later they come upon a large river. They look up and down for a moment. Slone bends down and sticks his hand in the water. It was ice cold. "Let's follow it downstream. Carter puts a mark on a dead tree stump and they start moving downstream.

They walked down the river bank for about an hour when they came to a cliff and a waterfall. Looking over the edge it was about a 75-foot drop into a large pool of water then the water got ruff as it headed downriver. It was really quite beautiful.

As Carter looked around something caught his eye. He looked back at it. "Is that what I think it is?" Carter said. Slone turned and looked. "Well, I will be damn." There about 50 yards away from the river was a cabin. They quickly made there way up to it. There didn't seem to be any signs of life around it. Walking upon the small porch there were two chairs. Going over to the door Carter tried the door. It was locked. Carter then walked over to the side and looked around.

Slone looked at Carter. "For God's sake John!" Slone then walked up to the door and kicked it open. Carter looked at him with an annoyed look on his face. "I was trying to avoid doing that!" Slone frowned and shot back. "You want to stand out here and freeze or get warm?"

Slone walked inside and Carter followed him. It was a one-room cabin with a fireplace on one end there was a table and two chairs and on the other wall, there were two cots for beds. There was some wood stacked by the fireplace. There was a shelf that had some canned food on it. "This looks like somebody's hunting cabin.

Slone started putting wood in the fireplace. He struggled doing it with his handcuff on. He dropped a piece of wood. He turned to Carter and held up his hands. "John, don't you think we can do away with these?" Carter shook his head. "No, I don't. You could try to jump me and take my gun," he said. Slone rolled his eyes. "John, do you really think being cuffed in the front is stopping me! I'm a trained killer John!" Slone said. Carter picked up the wood Slone had dropped and threw it in the fireplace. "Maybe so," Carter said. "But I'm trained too. Prisoners stay cuffed!"

They got a fire going and it felt go to finally be warm. They opened up some of the canned food and ate. As Slone took a spoon full of his canned spaghetti he said. "So did you always want to be in law enforcement?" Carter ate a spoon full. "Yes." He said. "I guess it started in High School. My Papaw was Sheriff of Freestone County, I interned with him the summer after my junior year and after I graduated before collage. I guess that's when I knew for sure."

Slone nodded and they finished eating. Carter then asks. "So what made you want to be a killer?" Slone took his last bite and put his bowl down. "It didn't start out that way at all. I was going to make a career out of the Navy. My friend and I Jim Dorsey joined together we were going to put our 20 years in and then come home to Tulsa. Well, I already told you what happened, so it didn't work out that well for me. But It did for Jim. I think you met him, didn't you?" Carter put his bowl down. "Yes, I met Sheriff Dorsey. He thinks a lot of you." Slone smiles. "I'm glad somebody does."

They get up and Slone walks over to one of the beds and sets down. Carter follows him and takes his cuffs off and then cuffs one hand to the bed. Slone lays down. "This is going to make it hard to turn over," Slone says. Carter smiles. "Ya, I know, that's the point." Carter turns down the kerosene lamp and lays down on the other bed.

*

Nathan Hunter looked out the window as the helicopter followed the train track down the mountain. He could not imagine Slone and Carter making it this far. First the men he sent posing as U.S. Marshals had failed and they had made it to the plane. Then they survived the plane crash and escape into the mountains. They close in on them, only to have them escape on a fucking train! Could it get any worse?

He had called ahead, he had men waiting for them at the train station if they made it that far. Staring out the window something catches his eye. He turns to the pilot, "Turn around." he said. The pilot turns the helicopter around and they pass back over a flat piece of ground. Huter points. "There, footprints in the snow moving away from the track. They got off the train here! Find a place to land." The helicopter circled around and landed.

Hunter and his men got off. Hunter faces his men. "They got off the train here and headed towards the woods. Find them and end this! Recover the asset if we can, But at this point, I don't really give a shit. I just want this over!" His men all nodded in agreement and started heading across the clearing.

As soon as they got to the woods they lost there trail. They spread out covered as much ground as they could for about an hour till they heard the sound of running water. They moved toward the sound until they came to the river. Hunter looked around. He pointed to the ground close to the bank. "There footprints, they came this way. Most likely fallowed the river bank." Hunter looked up in the sky. It would be dark soon. This would be a good spot for them to bed down. They were close. He turned to his men. "Well make camp here tonight. Get a fire started. First thing in the morning we find them and kill that damn Sheriff or Ranger or whatever he is, once and for all.

*

Tom Carter sat on a rock overlooking the cliff leading down to the railroad track. Texas Ranger Jessica James came and set next to him. "You know watching the track does not make it come any faster." She said. He turned to her and smiled. "I know, but I feel helpless. These men would crash a plane and kill innocent people and kill one of there own men because he got hurt. These men are after my Dad and all I can do is sit here and look at this track and hope a train comes by before its too late." She pauses for a moment gathering her thoughts, then says. "You know, I haven't known your father for very long. But I have read up on what all went on with this guy Slone. I have to admit, I admire your Dad's dedication. He has come too far and been threw to much with this guy. He is going to find away. You can bet on that!"

Tom stood up and looked down the track. "There it is! It's coming." All the others turned to look and they saw an old steam engine with several cars behind it coming toward them. "Wow," James said. "It's like something out of an old western movie."

They all moved to the edge of the cliff. "Ok," Luke said. "It's moving slow and it's only about a 10-foot drop. We go two at a time. Be careful." As soon as the engine passed Sheriff Roberts and Ranger Ried jumped, followed by Luke and Brian and then Ranger James and Tom. They all landed on their feet and made their way to the back of the car and climbed down.

When Roberts and Ried entered the car they saw the Conductor with a surprised look on his face. They walked up to him. He looked at them and said. "Texas Ranger's right?" "Yes," Ried said. He pulls back his coat and shows him his badge. "I'm guessing others jumped on before us?" Ried said. The Conductor nodded. "Well not this train but the one before us. It came into the station just as we were leaving. They said a Texas Ranger and a man in cuffs jumped on and rode a while and then jumped back off." Roberts turns to the man. "Do you know where they got off at?" Roberts asks. "Yes, Its a little over and an hour from here. The Conductor said. "Good," Roberts said. "Can you let us know when we get close." "Sure make your self comfortable." Conductor says.

They rode the train for the next hour. Looking out the window it was just beautiful, with all the mountains and snow it was breathtaking. The Conductor opened the door and walked back to were they were. "We are coming up on the opening that we were told they got off at. We are going to slow down, but we can't completely stop." They all stood up. "That's great, we will jump off just like they did. Thank you." Roberts said.

They all moved to the back of the last car and opened the door and went out on the platform. Tom pointed. "Look there, you can see where they jumped off into the snow," Tom said. The train slowed down and one by one they jumped off. Getting up and dusting off the snow they watched the train move away. They started walking across the opening towards the woods. When Brian noticed something. "Look over there." Brian and the rest of them walked over toward what Brian had sean. When they got closer Luke looked at it and said. "A Helicopter landed here, looks like five men got off and walked towards the woods," Luke said. Roberts looked around. Then said. "This is the same helicopter that we saw take off. The five men are close behind John." Tom then jumped in. "Ok, so we need to get moving!" Luke looked up at the setting sun and said. "It's going to be dark soon. We need to settle in for the night and start real early in the morning." Tom turned angrily. Granddad, we can't stop now! We have to catch up with Dad!" Luke walked over and put his hand on Tom's shoulder. "Son we cant move is we cant see. Your Dad and Slone are going to stop for the night. The men following them are going to stop." Tom shook his head.

Tom and James started gathering wood for a fire. At least they would be warm Tom thought. He hoped were ever Dad was, he was staying warm.

CHAPTER 14

Nathan Hunter threw his blanket back and set up. He couldn't sleep, it was too cold and the ground was too hard. He stood up and walked around and nudged his men with his foot. "Get up." He said. "Let move out. I want to close some ground on them." The men started getting up. One of the men turned to Hunter and said. "But sir, It still won't be daylight for another hour." Hunter's eyes filled with anger and said. "I know that. But we will fallow the river and there is a full moon and we have flashlights. We need to catch up to them and finish this!" The man turned and started getting his things. A few minutes later they moved out.

Making there way down the riverbank for the next hour, as the sun came up they came to a waterfall, looking over the cliff it was about a 75-foot drop. Hunter looked over the edge. Then he turned back to his men. "I guess we won't be following the riverbank anymore." Then something gets his attention. "You smell that?" Hunter says. He turns and looks back into the woods. Then he sees it. "There a cabin. That's smoke coming from the chimney. We found them. Let's get that cabin surrounded!"

They moved quietly and quickly up to the cabin and took positions around it. Hunter took the spot about 50 feet from the front door, behind a tree.

*

Carter and Slone were up just before sun up. They took time to eat some more of the canned good that they had found. Who knows when they would get another chance to eat a hot meal. While Carter was eating he found a piece of paper and started writing. Slone took a bite spoon full and swallowed and then said. "What are you doing?" carter looked up at him. "I'm leaving a note for the owners. Explaining what we were doing here and leaving my email address so I can send them a check for the damaged door and the food we ate." Slone rolled his eyes. "John, do I have to tell you how dumb that is. First what makes you think you're going to live to write that check?" Carter looks over at him. "I'm also leaving Captain Morris email if they cant get ahold of me." Slone's eyes got big and says. "Oh ok, You got it all figured out. My bad."

Carter gets up and puts the fire out and finishes getting ready and opens the front door and quickly closes it and looks out the window. "What's wrong?" Slone ask. Carter keeps staring out the window says. "We have company." Slone walks to the back window and looks out. "Yep, that's them. We are surrounded."

Carter pulls out his 38 pistol and reaches down and pulls his 9mm out of his ankle holster. He now has a gun in each hand. Slone walks over to him. "You're not thinking about fighting them are you?" Carter looks away from the window for a moment. "Well, I'm sure not going to just let them take you." Slone stares at Carter for a moment. "Have you lost your fucking mind! They have you surrounded, you are outmanned 5 to 1 and outgunned. They have you in check! It's over! Your only play now is to turn me over and hope they let you live." Carter turns to him and frowns. Well, that's not the play I'm going to make! I took an oath to uphold the law. To do that I have to take you back to Texas." Slone looks at him in disbelieve. "I admire your dedication, but your one dumb son of a bitch!" Slone says. Carter turns to him and smiles. "Well at this point, they are most likely going to kill me anyway. So I'm going to take as many of them with me as I can!"

About that time they heard a voice from outside. "Ranger Carter, we have you surrounded. Nobody else has to die. Send Slone out and we will let you walk away. You have an hour." Carter turns to Slone. "So why is he giving us an hour? Why not just come on with it?" Slone pauses for a moment. "Because if we shoot it out. There is a good chance I get shot too. He is trying to recover his asset." Carter shakes his head. "Ya that makes sense.

Carter breaks the window glass with his gun and aims and fires. His bullet hit the tree Hunter is standing behind and tree bark hits him in the face. His men ready their weapons. Hunter pulls up his radio. "Hold your fire." He's said to his men. Hunter then shouts "Ok Carter! Make it 30 minutes.

*

Sheriff Roberts, Ranger Ried, Ranger James and Brian, Luke and Tom had gotten an early start. They were moving before daylight, quickly covering as much ground as there could through the woods. When they heard a gunshot. They all stopped and looked at each other. Tom said. "What was that?" Luke turned to him. "Gunshot." Roberts points. "It came from this direction."

They all start moving in that direction up a steep incline threw the woods. They traveled for about 25 minutes till they got to the top of the hill they had been climbing. Looking down into the valley they saw a cabin. They stopped and got out of sight. They could see that there were men surrounding the cabin. They took turns looking threw a pair of binoculars. "I count 5 men," Luke said. "That's what I count too," Roberts says. "But for us to get down there, we are going to be in the open. They will see us coming." Tom looks around at them and says. "So what are we going to do?" he asks. Luke gets up and moves back and gets the rifle they took off the dead man and comes back and kneels down. When they are distracted, we take them out one at a time!"

Hunter shouts. Times up! What's it going to be. Carter takes careful aim and fires and hits one of the men in the shoulder. He yells in pain and falls back. Hunter then yells fire! The other men open up fire on the cabin. Hitting the windows and doors with bullets. Carter and Slone duck down. Carter raises up and fires two shots out the window and then ducks back down as the bullets fly into the cabin. He crawls across the floor to the other side of the cabin and fires out the other window. His 38 pistol is now empty. He fires three shots with the 9mm. The bullets are still coming threw the walls and windows. Carter raises up and fires 5 rounds toward the tree that Hunter is behind. He then slides across the floor again to ware Slone is ducked down. Slone looks up. "I don't guess you brought any extra rounds for those?" Carter shakes his head. "No, didn't think about getting into a firefight. I should have known better with you involved." Carter raises up and fires 4 for shots out the window. His 9mm then clicks. He is out! There is another round of shots flying thew the windows and walls.

When the firing started Luke looked threw the scope and found one of the snipers and fired taking him out. He moved to find a 2nd shooter and fired also hitting him. The shooters were so distracted with the cabin they didn't notice shots coming from behind, He found the 3rd shooter and shot hitting him in the upper shoulder.

Hunter noticed that no shots were coming from inside the cabin. "They're out! Let's move in." He shouts. He comes around from behind the tree and runs toward the door. Expecting his men to be behind him. He raises his foot to kick the door in. Hi kicks it hard. Not knowing that it had already been kicked in. It opened easy and Hunter stumbled inside. Carter hits him hard across the cheek with the butt of his 9mm. Knocking the gun out of Hunter's hand as he goes to the floor. Hunter quickly tries to get up but is met with Carter"s knee to his face. Hunter goes back to the floor. He quickly swings his leg and catches Carter's ankle and takes Carter to the floor. Both men scramble to there knee's and Hunter takes a swing and hits Carter in the jaw and he falls back. Hunter pulls a knife and lunges on top of Carter who grabs the hand with the knife and holds on with both hands. Then kicking as hard as he can he knocks Hunter off of him to his left. But Carter loses his hold on the arm that has the knife and Hunter plunges it into Carter's side. Carter falls back clucking his side. Hunter stands up and takes a step toward Carter still holding the knife. "You have been a thorn in my side for the last time! I'm going to finish you myself!."

Hunter takes another step toward Carter. When he is hit over the head with a wooden chair. Hunter falls to the floor. Jake Slone throws what's left of the chair down and looks down at Hunter. "Sorry Nathan, I can't let you do that," Slone says. He then walks over to Carter and bends over and pulls the handcuff key off of his belt and removed his handcuffs. He then walked over to Hunter and turned him over and cuffed him behind his back and rolled him over on his side.

Slone then walked over to the table and grabbed a roll of paper towels and pulled off a hand full. Walking over to Carter he bent down and pulled his shirt up to see the knife wound. He places the paper towels over it and says to Carter. "Keep pressure on this. Carter places his hand over the wound and pressed down.

Slone stands up and walks over picks up his coat and puts it on, and then walks back over to Carter. "Well John, This is where we part company. Use Hunter's radio to call for help. I don't know what happened to the rest of his men. But I'm going to make sure they leave you alone. Just trade him back to them. I'm truly sorry for all the trouble I have caused you." He turns and walks to the back door and stops and looks back. "Take care, John." He then heads out the back door.

Carter struggles to his feet, he sees Hunter gun on the floor and picks it up and fallows Slone out the door. He stumbles, threw the woods toward the river. He comes out of the woods at the waterfall where they first saw the cabin. He looks and sees Slone standing near the edge of the falls, looking down. He turns and looks at Carter. "What are you doing here John?" Carter reaches and pulls out Hunter's gun and points it at him. "I'm taking you back!" Slone smiles. "John we both know you're not going to use that, you know the eye thing." Carter takes a step closer. "I have shot you before." Slone nods. "Yes, I remember. But you can hardly stand now." Carter struggles to stand up straight and says. "Why didn't you just let him kill me and then leave with him?" Slone pauses for a moment. "Because believe it or not, that's not how I work. You were just doing your job. I kill people for the greater good, to save in innocent lives. Not people doing their job. Somehow Nathan forgot that."

Slone looks over the edge again. Carter takes a step closer and says. "If by some chance you survive that dive, and make it threw the rough water to the bank. That water is ice cold. You will die of exposure!" Slone turns back to Carter. "Seal training, we made jumps like this. We were trained to deal with cold water." Carter frowns. "Don't be a fool! That was training." Slone smiles. "Take care, John."

Slone turns and takes a three-step running jump off the cliff. Carter lowers his gun and walks over to the edge and looks. He sees no sign of him anywhere. Damn it he says to himself as he walks back from the edge. He backs up to a tree and slides down, setting up against the tree. He lays Hunter's gun to his side.

He sat there for a moment. Looks like now he had three choices, set here and bleed out or die of exposure or wait for Hunter"s men to find and kill him. He pulled out his 38 pistol and looked at it, the J.D.C. on the butt of it. It had been his Papaw's gun. It was his most prized possession, he really wanted Tom to have it. He put it back in his holster and laid his head back against the tree and closed his eyes.

Then he heard a familiar voice. "I didn't raise you to just give up." He opens his eyes to see his Papaw kneeling in front of him. His silverbelly cowboy hat on, covering his gray hair and mustache with his thick black glasses on and starched white shirt with his Freestone County Sheriff's badge hanging over his heart. "Papaw is that you? Am I dead?" His Papaw turns his head and spits a stream of tobacco juice. "No, you're not dead. But you need to keep the pressure on that wound and get you ass back to that cabin and get warm and make sure Tom gets that gun someday." Carter smiles. "I wish you had gotten to meet him." His Papaw stands up and looks down at John. "I will someday, now get back to that cabin." He takes a few steps and turns back to John and says, "I'm proud of you son."

Carter opens his eyes, was that real! Did he hallucinate that? It was so real to him. He put his hand over the knife wound and picked up Hunter's gun and put it in his belt. He struggled to get up. Real or hallucination he was right. He didn't raise me to give up.

He started walking toward the cabin. He took about 10 steps when he stumbled and fell to one knee. He tried to get up but fell back down on his side. He layed there for a moment when he heard a sound and then a voice. "Dad, Dad," He looked up to see a blurry figure running toward him. He heard the voice again. "Dad, Dad" This time he recognized the voice, it was Tom's voice. He fell back down face down. About that time he felt somebody grab him and roll him over. He looked up to see Tom's smiling face. "Dad are you ok?" Carter didn't say anything he just held up a bloody hand. Tom turns away from him and shouts. "I found him over here. He is hurt!"

Carter looks at Tom. "What are you doing here?" Tom smiles. "Well, Dad that's a long story. But let's just say I'm going to be grounded for the foreseeable future. But I would do it again." Tom helps Carter to his feet as the other arrive. Luke stops and pulls Carter's shirt up to look at his wound. "You been shot?" Carter shakes his head. "No Dad stabbed." Luke frowns. "This doesn't look good." He puts the shirt down and Carter puts his hand back over it. Brian comes around and puts Carter's arm around his shoulder and reaches around his back and grabs his belt. "Let's get him back to the cabin." Brian, Carter, Luke, and Tom start moving toward the cabin.

Roberts, Ried, and James are looking around with there guns drawn. James turns to the others. "Pops, Were is Slone?" Brian and Carter stop and turn back to James. "He jumped over the falls." Roberts, Ried, and James walk over to the edge and look. Roberts says. "If he survived that, he won't for long." Carter looks over at them. "There are three of the men that were after us and still around someplace. Luke shakes his head. "No, we took them out from above while they were shooting at the cabin. But they are gone now. We did find one dead one that you must have shot." Luke said. Carter was silent a moment and then said. "There is one more, The leader, man called Nathan Hunter. He is handcuffed inside the cabin." Luke and Brian both look at him. Luke says. "We came threw the cabin. There was nobody there."

They made their way to the cabin and went inside. They sat Carter down on the cot. Carter looked around to the place Hunter had been on the floor handcuffed. Nothing he was gone. Then he saw the handcuffs laying on the floor.

Roberts, Ried, and James came back into the cabin threw the front door. James walks over to Carter. "We checked all around the cabin, they are gone." Ranger Ried walks up and says, "I was able to talk to the local sheriff's department on the radio. They are going to send somebody to get us. I told them where we got off the train and they were able to find the cabin. So hopefully it won't belong." Roberts then walks up to Carter and says. "There is no way that Slone survived that dive into that ice-cold water, this is over John."

Carter sat there in silence for a long while thinking. This all started with the murder of James Johnson and all the others, the fire at Fort Parker and Doyle McKinney murder and Slone's escape. The murder of Capitan Briggs and Slone's escape. Now it ends with Slone jumping off a cliff into an ice-cold river.

Well if there was ever anything for sure with Jake Slone, its nothing is for sure!

CHAPTER 15

(2 weeks later)

Texas Ranger John Carter had spent the day in Hillsboro Texas, at the Court House of Hill County. He was there for a hearing for Frank Garrison. Garrison had pleaded guilty to several counts of cattle rustling. As part of his plea deal, he was going to testify against several of the suppliers he was stealing cattle for.

As his truck headed down Hwy 171 he stopped at the convenience store in Hubbard Texas. Getting out of the truck he felt some pain in his side. He was healing up good but still felt some discomfort in his side. He was lucky that nothing vital was hit.

Walking inside the store he looked over at the girl working the register. "Is the manager in?" He asks. She looked up and pointed to the office at the end of the counter. "She is in the office." Carter walked around and knocked on the door. "Come in." a voice from the other side said. He opened the door and stepped inside to find the manager sitting at her desk doing paperwork. She was dressed in her red work shirt and had her long blonde hair put up in a bun. "Hi." He said. "I'm Ranger Carter, we spoke on the phone a few weeks ago. She looks up at him with her blue eyes and smiles. "Yes, I'm Jena." He then asks. "Hows Jim working out for you?" She smiles. "He is doing really well. If he just won't tie his horse to my trash can at my front door, we will be good." "That's great." Carter says "I was just checking on him." She looks up from her paperwork. "If you have any more like him, send them to me. I'm always needing help. He is stocking in the back room if you want to talk to him." Carter turns to leave. "Thank you." He said.

Walking threw the store to the back he looks in the storeroom and finds Jim Garrison stacking cup boxes. "Hi, Jim," Carter says. Jim turns and looks at Carter and smiles. "Hey. What are you doing here?" Jim looks over Carter with his starched white shirt on with his Ranger badge and Siverbelly cowboy hat on. "Guess your not working undercover today?" Carter smiles and nods. "I think my undercover days are over. I just came from your Dad's hearing. He pleaded guilty and is going to testify against the people he was stealing the cattle for." Jim took a step closer. "Yes, he told me that was what he was going to do. Things are better between us." "Good," Carter said. "He is still going to have to do some time. But most likely a lot less." Jim Smiles. "I hope so. I'm going to try to take care of things while he is gone." "I hear you're doing a good job here at the store," Carter said. "Yes, it's going well. Thank you for your help," Jim says.

Carter holds out his right and Jim takes it and they shake. Carter says. "Your welcome, If you need anything give me a call." "I will," Jim says. Carter walks back threw the store. He looks over at Jena, who is now working at the register. "Thank you." He says. She smiles at him as he leaves the store.

He got back in his truck and headed home. As he drove down the road he did a lot of thinking. They had not found Slone's body. That didn't mean he had survived, but it did put some doubt in his mind

He drove past the Fort Parker sign. It had a banner across it that said opening soon. That brought a big smile to his face. He knew they were trying to raise money to rebuild the Fort for a while. He was glad to know that they were almost done.

As he pulled into the driveway he saw Tom coming out of the house with a load of trash, he dumped it into the can and took it out to the road. Carter got out of the truck and Tom walked up. "Hey, Dad, So how much longer am I going to be grounded? Mom is killing me," Carter looks at him. "I thought you said for the foreseeable future?" Tom's eyes get big. "I really didn't mean that!" Carter smiles. "Ok, we will talk about it later." Carter starts to walk away when Tom says. "So Dad, Did you work with Jessica today?" Carter turns back to him. "Ya I saw her this morning." Tom smiles big. "You know she is smoking hot Dad! I think she likes me." Carter rolls his eyes and says. "Oh is that right?" Tom shakes his head and smiles. "Oh ya, Dad!"

Carter turns and walks into the house and meets Becky. "Hey Daddy," she says as she kisses him on the cheek. "I got a speaking part in the spring play. Its a good part and I have several lines. I'm so excited." Carter hugs her. "I'm so happy for you baby."

He walks into the kitchen and finds Carolyn cooking over the stove. She turns her head toward him and he kisses her. She says. "Taco night be ready in about 30 minutes. How was your day?" "It was good," he says. "How was yours?" He asks. She looks at him. "Great, I had a big sale today." Carter smiles big and hugs her. "That's great." "Thank you." She says. "Now go get cleaned up for dinner."

He kisses her on the cheek and turns and walks to there bedroom. He is so glad that things are finally getting back to normal. He hangs his cowboy hat on the rack, he opens the gun safe and puts his 38 pistol in it and then takes off his gunbelt and hangs it up. He takes his badge off his shirt and puts it in his badge wallet. He takes his shirt off and puts it in the dirty closes basket. He lays down his cell phone on the nightstand and goes into the bathroom and closes the door and turns the shower on.

He does not hear the text message sound go off on his phone. A text message from unknown. It reads. If you ever need me, shadowman@gmail.com.

Author's note

I hope you enjoyed

Murder and Redemption

And the

Carter / Slone trilogy

Look for the stand-alone story

Murder in the Old West

John Carter's Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather

Texas Ranger Jeb Carter

In 1858 Texas
