Jackie raised her hand. “I say we try, convict, and shoot her. We can’t turn her loose, and we can’t put her in prison. Traitors and spies get the death penalty.”
Granny B looked at her grandson. “Son, you’re the judge and jury. What do you say?”
Tom reflected upon the words just spoken, and his head raised. “We’re going to take her to Ashland and return her to Carlos. She was his spy, and I think he’d like to see her again.”
Kate was confused. “Alive?”
“No!”
Tom calmed down the next day, shot Betty in the back of her head, and buried her in the same hole as the thug who was her contact. Kate had convinced Tom that pouring gas on the situation might make Carlos look for them that much harder. Tom thanked Kate for being the guardian of reason when he lost his temper. He told her, “Stay strong, and don’t be afraid to speak up for the right thing to do. I’m worried we have many bad days to go, and I might lose my temper a few times.”
*
Chapter 11
The Clark Ranch – The Old Cabin
Tom woke up the next morning with Kate’s head on his chest. He could feel the heat of her breath on his skin and thought, How the hell did I get such a beautiful, witty, and smart-assed woman? He kissed the top of her head. “Waking up with you next to me is like Christmas every day.”
“I know the feeling. My love for you grows every day. My fear that something bad will happen also grows stronger. That'll probably be a touchy subject, but have you ever thought about moving to a safer location?”
Tom rolled over and drew her naked body to him. “Now might not be a good time to discuss danger and moving.”
He gave her a passionate kiss and lost his train of thought. His eyes opened, and he knew his wife well enough to know that he might distract her for a short time. Still, like a dog with a bone, she wouldn’t stop worrying about the topic up until she was through with her bone, which this time was moving. He gave it about a half-second thought and began kissing her neck.
The distraction worked until they both were taking a shower together. “Hon, about finding a safer place …”
Tom chuckled. “I must not be much of a lover. I have a naked woman in my shower with me, and she’s talking about moving.”
Kate reached up and patted Tom’s head. “Good boy! You’re the best lover in the world, but if you want to keep loving this girl, you’ll give the subject some serious thought.”
Tom kissed the top of her head and popped her on the butt. “Darling, I promise that after lunch, I’ll conduct a meeting with Granny B, Jackie, and Rick on the topic. I share your concerns … but leaving an underground bunker for an unknown location is a scary proposition.”
Kate hugged him, and they lost another fifteen minutes.
Tom started the meeting. “I think you all know we have a huge security issue. We have to assume Carlos knows we’re somewhere close to the Oak Hurst Inn on 66. That’s only four miles as the crow flies from here.”
Rick listened as Jackie expressed her concern for the gang finding them. Then like a light switch turning on a light, it came to him. “Hey, the Inn is four miles down the mountain in a straight line. How did Brenda travel four miles downhill and, more importantly, four miles up the hillside with what time she had?”
Kate wiggled in her seat with her hand raised like a first grader begging the teacher to go to the restroom. “We didn’t search the area around where Bill and Betty were found. I’ll bet the contact drove an ATV back up the hillside.”
Granny B replied. “It had to be some kind of vehicle. We’ll look for it after the meeting.”
Tom agreed and went on with the meeting. “What happens if the gang shows up and figures out we’re hidden under the ranch house in a bunker? Grandpa never mentioned a backup plan or a place to bugout to if the shit hit the fan at the ranch.”
Granny B was silent as the discussion became livelier. Tom wrote all the concerns in his logbook, but took notice of how quiet his grandma was while the others expressed their concerns about staying and leaving.
Tom’s curiosity got the better of him. “Granny B, you’re being very quiet. I know the thought of leaving the ranch is heartbreaking, but we have to consider it as a possibility.”
Granny B’s lips thinned out, and her hands were balled into fists. Tom saw her cheeks flush while he waited for an answer. Then the dam burst. “I fussed at Jonas for twenty years about a backup plan in case we couldn’t stay here. He wouldn’t think of it year after year and wouldn’t even discuss it. In over forty years of marriage, it was the only thing that came between us for more than twenty-four hours. When he found out I’d bought nineteen hundred acres of land about eight miles west of here several years after we were married, he was pissed. He wouldn’t listen, so I bought some land that we could escape to if it got hot here at the ranch. I bought the whole danged valley for a song and didn’t tell him until much later. Boy, was he pissed. He wouldn’t go there for three years. The lumber companies had clear-cut the area back in the 1950s and didn’t replant the trees. There
