***
BACK IN THE RANCH yard Joe heard a shout from a distance.
'Hey Joe!' It was Stewie. Joe turned toward the voice. It came from beyond the corrals, over the tops of milling cattle. 'I'm glad you're okay, buddy!'
Joe walked toward the voice. His vision was still blurry The cord bit into his wrists, but he didn't want to take the time to try and un knot it. As he climbed the first fence he saw Stewie standing in the pasture beyond the corrals. Stewie and a lone cow
'Don't come any closer, Joe!' Stewie cautioned.
Joe ignored him, and pushed his way through the cattle. When he climbed the back fence he stopped, focused, and felt his eyes widen and his jaw drop.
At first, he thought that Jim Finotta was slumped over the back of the cow in the pasture next to Stewie. Then he realized that Finotta was strapped on, his hands tied under the cow's belly, with another rope around the hips of his stretch Wranglers, securing him to the cow. Finotta's face was pressed against the shoulders of the animal, looking out at Joe. Blue nylon webbing, loaded -with full charges of C4 explosive from the toolbox in the black Ford, was lashed between Finotta and the cow. A single, spring-mounted antenna bobbed from one of the charges.
Stewie stood near the animal's haunches holding a remote-control transmitter in one hand and Joe's .357 Magnum in the other.
'Don't come any closer, or the lawyer gets it!' Stewie hollered cheerfully Then Stewie's voice took on a more determined tone. I'm serious, Joe. I'm sorry I sprayed you with pepper spray back there, but I knew you wouldn't help me do what I needed to do.'
'Oh, Stewie,' Joe croaked.
'We were just having a chat,' Stewie explained. 'Mister Jim was about to tell me the names of the executive board of the Stockman's Trust, and why they voted to wipe out me and so many of my colleagues.'
Joe swung his other leg over the fence and now sat on top of it. The scene in the pasture was beyond comprehension. Stewie had maced Joe, gathered up the nylon webbing and the explosives from the truck, selected a cow from the corral, charged the house, maced Buster, marched Finotta at gunpoint to the pasture, and tied him and the explosives to the cow
'Please help me,' Finotta called to Joe. 'You are an officer of the law. Despite our earlier disagreements, you have a duty to protect me. Please .. . I'm friends with the governor ... I can be of great influence on your behalf.
Stewie snorted. 'Up until that last bit, he was kind of convincing.' Stewie stepped forward so Finotta could see him, then raised the transmitter and took several steps backward. Finotta shrieked and buried his face in the hide of the cow The cow continued to graze, and Stewie lowered the remote control, and winked at Joe.
'You've given him a scare,' Joe said, his voice as steady and flat as he could make it, given the circumstances and his condition. 'You've scared the hell out of him. Now let's untie him and go have some lunch. Think about it, Stewie: Does Finotta seem like the kind of guy who wouldn't rat out his buddies in a plea bargain? We'll find out who the Stockman's Trust is and we'll put them all into prison. If Finotta ordered the killings, he may get the death sentence.'
Stewie listened, thought about it while he rubbed his chin and studied Finotta, then laughed.
'Like I believe that a great lawyer and butt-buddy with the governor will ever see the inside of a prison in this state,' Stewie said sarcastically
Then Stewie turned to Finotta, waving the remote control in front of him like a wand. 'Let me remind you, Jim Finotta, of some names,' he said. 'These names are only names on a list to you. But to me they are real people-- friends, lovers, colleagues.'
'Annabel Bellotti. Hayden Powell. Peter Sollito.' Stewie shouted each name. And with each, his face got redder, and he got angrier. 'Emily Betts. Tod Marchand. Britney Earthshare. Even John Coble and Charlie Tibbs!'
Stewie was so enraged that Joe, even from a distance, could see Stewie shaking.
'You started the first fucking range war of the twenty first century!' Stewie bellowed. 'You waged that war in a vicious, cowardly way! And now you're going to find out what it is like to be on the receiving end!'
Stewie backed away further from Finotta and the cow There was now about one hundred feet between them. He again raised the remote control.
'The headlines about the environmental activist getting blown up were good ones, Jim. I bet they made you chuckle. But the headlines about the president of the Stockman's Trust getting blown up by his own cow are even better!'
***
IN HIS PERIPHERAL VISION, Joe saw a stream of vehicles with flashing lights emerge from the cottonwoods on the ranch road from the highway Joe turned. Sheriff Barnum's Blazer was leading two other sheriffs trucks. Trey Crump's green Game and Fish pickup, lights flashing, followed. The vehicles drove straight across the ranch yard and braked at the first fence. Doors opened and officers poured out with rifles and shotguns. Joe saw Barnum, Trey Crump, Deputy McLanahan, and Robey Hersig. Marybeth jumped down from the passenger door of Trey Crump's pickup. Joe didn't recognize the armed deputies who spread out along the corral fence.
'Is that you, Mary?' Stewie called, working his way behind the cow in the distance so that Finotta and the cow were between him and the deputies. Joe heard the racketing pumps of the shotguns and the bolts being thrown on the rifles.
'It's me, Stewie,' Marybeth answered. Her voice was strong. 'Please don't hurt anyone, and don't hurt yourself.'
Joe felt a strange pang hearing the familiarity with which she addressed Stewie and he addressed her. For a moment he was buffeted with several emotions; jealousy confusion, anger, and deep sadness. Mary?
