Tom kicked the knife from the man’s hand. “Never bring a knife to a gunfight. Too bad you screwed with the wrong people, you piece of crap. Now die.”
Tom’s stomach felt queasy, but his fear for his family and the others kept him from puking his guts out onto the ground. He picked up the knife and his pistol before charging after Granny B and Bill. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as he saw the men holding Jackie and Lucy at gunpoint. Tom slid back into the bushes and weeds. Granny B had her pistol aimed at the men but was in a standoff with the three men. Tom worked his way around to the other side of the men and looked for an opportunity to pick them off without hurting the girls. He held the knife and tested its weight and balance before sneaking to within a dozen feet of the men’s backside.
One of the men did all of the talking. Tom felt the guy was their leader and formed a plan. It was a crappy plan, but still, a plan he had to try because he knew he had to stop the men from taking the girls. He tried not to think about what the men would do to them. Tom held the blade by the tip and had the knife back by his ear with his 9-mm pointed at one of the other men. He took a deep breath and threw the dagger as he had thousands of times at the ranch. The blade made a thunking sound when it sunk deep into the man’s back, just about where Tom thought his heart would be.
Both men’s heads snapped around to see Tom bracing them with the 9-mm in one hand and the Judge in the other. Tom shot first and hit the closest man in the stomach. The man still pulled the trigger on the snub nose .38 but missed Tom. Granny B’s .45 barked about the same time as Tom’s first shot and blew a hole in her target’s side. The large-caliber bullet sent blood, bone, and gore exploding onto Tom and the other dying thug. There was another shot, and one of the men cried out in pain.
Tom stood frozen in place while he watched the last man fall to the ground. A piece of the man’s rib bone stuck into Tom’s neck, and he was covered with bits and pieces of blood and flesh. Sam ran to her daughter, who had fallen when the man turned around to face Tom. Jackie ran to Tom.
“Are you wounded?” Tom was still staring at the man with the knife in his back. “Tom! Tom! Are you wounded?”
“Yes, but it’s only a scratch. I think I need to get all this blood off me. The man might have had AIDs or something.”
Granny B kicked the men on the side to make sure they were dead and then went to Tom’s side. “Check these men for any weapons, cigarette lighters, and anything else that we could use.”
The men only had the snub-nosed .38 and two old .38 revolvers between them and a couple of cigarette lighters. The old .38s were in fair shape and would shoot, but looked like crap. Tom gave the newer .38 snub nose to Bill and one of the .38s to Betty and Sam. Now, Tom understood how the police in Dixon had so easily run them out of town. They showed Granny B the paltry pickings from the evil men, and she only shook her head. They left the men to rot just as the men would have left them.
Tom saw Sam hold the big framed .38. “Sam, have you had any gun safety courses or formal courses in shooting?”
“Yes, my boyfriend had one of his security guards give me training. I can hit what I aim at and won’t shoot you or my foot.”
Granny B said, “Everyone, follow me back to the construction site. One of the almost finished homes had a hot water tank, and I’ll bet it’s full. We’ll spend the night there.”
*
Chapter 8
The Hills subdivision north of Dixon, California.
Tom had never killed anyone before that day, and it hit him like a punch in the gut. He was silent while Jackie helped wipe away the blood and flesh from his face and arms. She tried to get him talking but knew he was sick from having to kill the men. Tom grunted at her and then puked into the bathtub twice before letting her finish washing his arms.
“I ain’t cleaning up that mess,” she joked and laughed before realizing Tom didn’t find the joke funny.
Suddenly, Tom spoke. “It was easy to kill those jerks when I thought about what they would do to you and the other women. I don’t want to do that again, but I’m afraid we’ll both get a lot of practice killing in the future.”
“Are you …?”
“I’ll live, but bear with me. I want to leave this behind me in the morning and not think about it ever again.”
“Tom, you saved us from a terrible fate. They’d caught me by surprise and took my gun and were about to get away with Lucy and me when Granny B confronted them. She could have maybe killed two of the bastards but not three. You are my hero. Those guys found us because Jim told them about us and was trading us for his freedom. They killed him anyway.”
Tom shrugged. “The man was a worthless asshat and won’t be missed. How are Brenda and Greta doing?”
“Okay. Let’s go join them and have some supper.”
“I don’t feel much like eating, but let’s go join them.”
“He could have gotten Lucy, and the rest of us killed.”
“Sam, shut that crap
