The presence of half a dozen black Suburban’s almost encircling my home told me that it was not going to be a red-carpet welcome.

Danny SWA also saw the reception committee and wisely stopped on the road outside.
“Good luck with the goon squad Boss. Tell Ma that there is a bed at my place should she need it. She should give me a squawk on the CB and I’ll come and get her.”

"Thanks, Danny. You’d best go home and get some sleep. If you can lose this thing at the back of the impound lot… then so much the better for all of us.”

He knew that I was referring to the not-so-inconspicuous former school bus that we were in. At least it wasn’t painted yellow.
He just grinned at me and gave me a ‘good luck’ sign.

I watched him drive away into the afternoon gloom. It would be dark very soon. I hoped that the legion of DHS agents hadn't pissed Ma off too much. She didn't suffer fools gladly and after the stress that she'd been under with our guests, her fuse would be very, very short. I did wonder if her buckshot loaded shotgun had been used. If it had then Ma would probably not be alive any more given the trigger-happy reputation that the Homeland goons have in these parts. I-25 over to the west, is a favoured corridor for illegals. Gangs would get them over the border and then transport them to Denver before being secreted to other parts of the country. The last lot that they had busted had not gone down without a fight.

---

I didn’t get to within 10 yards of my home when three agents appeared from the Barn. I could see that the semi-trailer was gone. If the FBI had spirited it away then kudos to them.

“Stop right there. Up against the wall and assume the position!” shouted one agent.

As he was carrying a semi-automatic rifle, I didn't argue. His tone told me that he was very pissed off.

“I’m not armed. My guns are locked away in the firearms cabinet which you have no doubt emptied by now.”

“Shut the fuck up mister. You are in deep shit,” said the man who slapped handcuffs on me.

“On what charge? And what is your name?”

“Shut up. I don’t have to tell you diddly squat.”

“Oh; but you do. Federal law requires that you identify yourself. I hope that you have a valid search warrant or you will be held personally liable for all damages as your presence inside my home is clearly an illegal search under the terms laid out in the 4th Amendment and upheld in at least a dozen judgements laid down by SCOTUS.”

“Are you a fucking lawyer or something?”

“No but I was formerly the Sheriff of this County. I know the law about stop and search and illegal home searches like the back of my hand. Now, what am I being charged with?”

“Interfering with an official proceeding… as in our investigation.”

“Sorry, whoever you are. I have been working under the supervision of a Federal Judge. If you have a beef, then please feel free to go to Denver and argue the fact in front of Judge Tomlinson.”

“Get inside the house.”

“That I will do and willingly. It is only going to get colder out here.”

Inside the house, I saw Ma. She was zip-tied to a chair. She looked pleased to see me. The look that she gave the agents would have killed normal people but this lot of thugs think that they rule the world.

“Are you ok Ma?”

“I am now that you are here. Mission successful?”

“100%. Which of these numbskulls is in charge?”

“That one.”
She nodded towards an agent who was on the phone.

I sat down as best I could on a vacant chair.

“Are you responsible for this train-wreck?” I asked while he was still talking on the phone.

His eyes responded. They were like daggers.

“Unless you have a valid search warrant then I demand that you leave. If you leave now then I will only file suit for one million dollars. You and your men have clearly violated our 4th amendment rights. Every minute you delay leaving, I will add one hundred thousand dollars to the lawsuit that I will file in Federal Court in Denver tomorrow.”

He cupped his hand over the microphone.
“Shut the fuck up. I will deal with you in a minute. You are in deep trouble.”

“I will not shut up. This is my home and you are not invited. Oh, and you will pay for the damage your goons have done to my gun cabinet. If there is anything missing, even one shotgun shell, then I will press criminal charges against each of you personally. Do you understand what I am saying?”

He just turned his back on me and continued to talk into his phone in hushed tones. From his body language, the call was not going well.

I looked at Ma. Why would anyone consider an eighty-plus-year-old woman a danger and needed to put her in restraints is beyond me. I mentally added a million dollars to my lawsuit. These goons had trampled the constitution into the mud several times over.

Finally, ‘he’ finished his call and turned to me.

“You think that you are so smart, don’t you? Trying to make us look like fools?”

“That wasn’t difficult. Your reputation precedes you…”

“Shut the hell up. I should by rights arrest you for trafficking minors across a state line but my orders are to not do that. Care to tell me why my bosses have suddenly gone cold on this case?”

“I’m saying nothing. I want you to get the hell out of my home… unless you can produce a valid search warrant right here and now? In case you don’t know it, I was the Sheriff for this county until last November. I know the laws regarding searches and my rights. You have broken so many that if you were one of my deputies, I’d fire you on the spot. Well? Are you going to leave? Oh, and by the way, my lawsuit has just gone up to fifteen million because you saw fit to restrain a woman who is well into her ninth decade on this planet. In one minute, it will be sixteen. Do I make myself clear?”

He looked at me once more with daggers in his eyes.

“I have been told to leave. I don’t want to. I know that there is more to this story than you or that evil tongued bitch over there is saying…”

“Don’t you dare call my grandmother that. You are the invader here so why don’t you for once follow orders and get the hell out of here? If your boss has told you leave then that is even more money for my lawsuit. At the moment, I think a cool twenty-five million after you clearly defamed Ma when you called get the ‘B’ word, with you specifically named will do wonders for your career… I would expect you to be sent to Prudhoe Bay or Greenland after this.”

“Don’t you dare sue us. We’ll tie you up in legal knots for years.”

“Oh, I think not but my reasons for that will remain secret until we get to discovery. Right now, you are to remove our handcuffs and get the hell out of here. Either that or arrest me and at least have the decency to tell me what I’m being charged with. As you are only too well aware, there are no illegal immigrants here.”

“They were here. That is clear and you removed them to somewhere, probably in Colorado before we got here. I will find them and when I do, they will be sent back to where they came from before you can blink an eye.”

“Are you going?”

His body language told me that he had finally accepted that he was going to have to follow orders.

Instead of releasing Ma and me from our handcuffs, he marched out of the house leaving all the doors wide open. I could hear him barking orders to his men.

Then he returned with one of his men. They tramped snow all over the floor. I could sense Ma getting angry. The people from the FBI had been far more careful to keep the house clean and warm.

The other officer removed the zip ties from Ma and the handcuffs from me before they left. Once again, they left the door wide open. I wasted no time and closed it after me as I went outside just to make sure that they had finally gone.

I almost doubled up with laughter. None of their stupidly large and cumbersome vehicles was all-wheel-drive. Watching them trying to get up the hill where we had discovered the semi-trailer just a few days ago was a little bit of light relief. The only way they were going to get up that hill was in reverse but these idiots were very much city boys and didn't know these little tricks. Driving rear wheel drive SUV’s in this part of the world after a heavy snowfall is just asking for trouble if you are not used to it and by the look of things, they weren’t.

I went back inside the house. Ma had already got the mop out and was cleaning the floor. Her expression told me that she didn’t want to talk.

“I’ll make some tea then?”

She managed a small smile.

---

The house was strangely quiet now that our uninvited guests had gone. Ma finished cleaning the floor and disappeared into her den to watch her soap operas. It fell to me to prepare dinner.

I called Kelly just to ask if she was coming home for dinner. Right away, I knew that something was up as soon as she answered the call.

“Slow down darling. What happened?”

“They did? That’s brilliant. And?”

“And did you say yes and when do you start?”

“Of course, I’m happy. No, make that overjoyed. After the last few days, we have had, why shouldn’t I be?”

“Ma and I had a visit from the Homeland ‘Stasi’. I have it on tape their clear violations of our rights on illegal searches. They are done for but that can wait until we get moved.”

“Ma? She’s probably fast asleep in front of her TV. I don’t want to disturb her until there is food on the table.”

“Right. Seven it is. I’ll rustle up something… I don’t know what yet as our other guests have probably eaten us out of house and home.”

“I’ll see you later darling… and well done.”

I hung up feeling a lot better about things. With Kelly becoming Chief of Police, our future looked a lot clearer.

---

Kelly arrived home just before 7 pm that evening. She looked exhausted. We all were. The past week had been a trying time for all of us.

I gave her a big hug and a glass of her favourite tipple, a single malt Scotch called Talisker with equal an equal amount of water. I’m more of a Bourbon sort of person, we didn’t have any. I had a small glass of it ready for me. No one likes to drink alone and especially at times like this.

“Thank you, Darling. This is just what I needed. Some of the townsfolk are ornery beyond belief.”

“That my dear, is something that you will have to get used to in your new job…”

Kelly sighed.
“True. I called the people in Sacramento and said ‘yes’ and that I would be able to take up my post on the 10th. They did remind me that it was just for one year and that I’d have to stand for re-election next November. I said that I was fine with that.”

I looked at my wife and the weariness that her whole being was emitting to the world.

“No, my darling. You finish your notice period with the PD here in two days. On day three, I will take you to Denver for a flight to the Bay area. Buy yourself some wheels in Frisco and head north. There is a bed waiting for you with Nancy as you well know.. Take two days to introduce yourself to the temporary officers and get your feet under the table. Ease yourself into the role then you will be up to speed by the 7th at the latest.”

“Why the rush?”

“Firstly, it shows everyone that you are serious about it being your show. Secondly, my guess is that you are going to need those temporary officers longer than you think. Showing them that you have their back is a great start to your reign as Chief. This is all new to you. It isn’t to me.”

Kelly sagged.
“Yeah… I guess so.”

“Good, because I’ve already booked you a flight to San Francisco.”

Kelly was too tired to argue.

“Sit yourself down and I’ll rouse Ma. She was snoring like a train half an hour ago.”

---

[Three days later]

“Did she get off ok? I heard on the news that there are still delays out of Denver,” asked Ma when I arrived home. We’d had a couple of inches of snow the previous night.

“She did and she texted me to say that she had landed in Denver half an hour ago. Apparently, all the delays are to outbound flight due to problems with their de-icing equipment or something like that.”

“What about us?”

“Ma, I explained to you that we will get packed up over the next two weeks. Then Danny will drive you and most of our things to the coast. I’ll drive my truck with the horses in the trailer. The weather forecast for a week today should be warm enough for them. If it stays cold then I’ll have to find a proper horse transport that has a heated stables area. At the moment, the nearest one I can find for rent is in Cheyanne. It belongs to a Rodeo Rider who is naturally not competing at the moment.”

She smiled back at me.
“Just checking.”

“I know that you don’t like surprises especially after the last week.”

She just grunted back at me while she dished up my evening meal.

As Ma sat down, she said,
“I can be ready to go in five days.”

“Eh?”

“I am… what you call downsizing. I’m going to leave most of this behind. The stove is older than you are. The washer is on its last legs and… You and Kelly deserve to be able to start again with a clean slate. She is starting over as Chief; you are going into business. It is time for me to take a back seat. Besides, until you two find a place of your own, everything will be in storage and that costs money. What we don’t take, we don’t need to pay storage on and pay for gas to get it to California only to send it to landfill or recycling a month or so down the line. We could let it be known to a couple of the young couples in town that there is stuff going free. It won’t be here that long if I know the leeches in this county.”

“What are you saying Ma?”

“Once you two get a place of your own and get settled, then we can look for a retirement apartment for me. I understand from Nancy that there is a development just off the town square that will be ready in a couple of months and that comes fully furnished.”

Her words literally bowled me over but she wasn’t finished yet. I had no idea that she had been in communication with Kelly’s aunt Nancy who lived in the town where Kelly was the new Chief of Police.

Ma wasn’t finished yet. I knew from past experiences not to object or interrupt her when she when she was in full flow.

“Tomorrow, you must call that friend of yours at the VA as well as the FBI. That youngster with the Navy guy for a father may not want his new daughter in his life. If that is the case then you should adopt her. I’m being serious here. It would make your marriage even better and more complete than it is right now.”

To be honest, I tried to answer her a few times but words… the right words would not come out so I shut the hell up. This was the first time that I wished that Kelly was right here at my side. It had only been a few hours and I missed her dearly. While we had been apart before, this time, I knew that it would be at least 10 days before I saw her again.

It was down to me to make the period that we are apart as short as possible. Ma had certainly thrown a few huge spanners into the works. My problem was that I could not find fault with what she had proposed.

I knew just one thing and that was I was not going to talk to Kelly about a possible adoption on the phone. The very delicate subject was far too important for that.

[to be continued]