Megan Franchino knows her chance for escape is now or never. With school finally out for her son Antonio, and her abusive husband going out of town she just might get far enough away before he starts looking for them. If they fail to get away, Megan knows she will not live to regret trying. There is no choice though, their recent injuries prove that if they stay one or both of them will eventually die from the beatings.

There is only one place she might feel safe to go, but will she be welcome there? Can she even get there? How long can she stay? What then? And if her husband's family does catch up to them, is there any way to keep Tony safe?

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The Legal Stuff: Dollar Runaways © 2014 By Tiffany Shar
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2014 By Tiffany Shar. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Preface

Like the first four books I posted here on BigCloset, I will be posting a full copy here on BigCloset. I was planning to post it a chapter at a time, but due to some real life events that took place in the last week I am doing two per week instead so it’ll be completely posted before I get too busy with other things! The book has a total of 26 chapters and a short epilogue. The full version should be completely posted by early March. For those that cannot wait however, I have an e-book version of the full book available from Lulu.com as of today. You may find it at My Store. My assumption is that the majority of my readers would be more interested in this edition of the book rather than a hardback or paperback. There are two types of eBooks available depending on how you wish to read it. One is the ePub format that you should be able to load on any e-reader (you may need an additional app, but I believe all will read it), and the other is a standard PDF formatted file. I believe the PDF is the best way to read it on a computer screen personally. If you enjoy this work perhaps you will consider supporting me by purchasing it ($5.95 for the eBook formatted files).

Several readers have commented on the similarities of the story to Wanda Cunningham’s ‘Incognito Parallel.’ I would reference you all to the ‘Dedication’ in the first chapter where I recognize that her tale most definitely sparked my imagination, and this book! I believe you will find that in the end though this work is its own story.

One caution before continuing through this book; it is darker than my past novels have been. If it were a movie it would probably be rated R for Language and Violence. Much of this novel is just as light as you are used to seeing from me though!

Thanks again for reading, and I hope you enjoy reading Dollar Runaways!!

 
Chapter 25: Chaos
 
GLORIA HEARD THE sound of a gunshot down the hallway and reached into her dresser drawer for her pistol while also rolling onto the floor. A second later a figure she didn’t recognize entered and pointed a gun at the bed. She didn’t think about it, she just fired a shot into his head. He went down easier than a rattlesnake.

Simultaneously she could hear shouting down the hall and Hank’s angry voice “Damnit, son of a bitch!!!!” followed by a lot of rounds from different caliber of guns including an automatic it sounded like! She heard a couple grunts and then running down the hallway and the stairs.

After that, silence reigned for a moment before she heard a long string of shots from the automatic weapon again out back, behind the house. More shouting came after that.

AGENT KLINE AND Brian had just managed to get into position when the shots began. There was no way to tell what was going on, but they heard a number of different weapons fire inside the house before silence came. “They have automatic weapons,” He said quietly.

“Sounds like our MP5s” Stan said over the radio.

“Keep your eyes open, an idiot with an automatic weapon can get lucky,” Brian reminded them.

As if to say he couldn’t be more right Lance called, “The back door is opening,” over the radio.

“Freez...” He started to say before a hail of bullets came out of the suspect’s gun and they heard someone run into the forest.

“Lance!?!” Brian called.

There was no response, “I can go check on him,” Bob said.

“Be careful, and stay in constant radio contact.” Brian ordered. This was not good in the slightest and he didn’t like sending him over there uncovered. “Wait, I’m going with you.” he said to Bob. “Stan, can you get an angle to cover front and the side?”

“Be there in a moment,” he said. Almost literally a moment later he said, “There, go!”

The two of them covered each other and reached the back to find the worst had in fact happened. Lance had several shots that had impacted his vest, but two unlucky ones had hit him in the face.

“GLORIA, IT’S HANK don’t shoot,” she heard from the figure coming through the doorway. She kept her gun aimed carefully at the figure until she could fully see him.

“You’ve been shot!” She called out as she carefully moved over to him.

Blood was running from a wound in his arm, another his leg, and a stream of blood from his face as well. “Well yeah... I have been,” he answered with a smile that said he was in shock. “We got two others down the hallway dead like this one, and I think we hit one of the others before they ran with another.”

“Five guys?!?” Gloria said in disbelief.

“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure we aren’t alone outside, I’d guess the feds arrived late.”

“Let’s get you down somewhere we can treat your wounds. Is everyone else okay?”

Hank grimaced, “Mike’s dead... He was the first person they saw. The rest of us were a little bit out of view in our beds and had some time...” He frowned and she could see the tears streaming a bit out of his eyes, knowing her own would come in time too. “Everyone else is okay. Joe took a bullet graze to his ribs, but he claims it’s nothing he hasn’t had before.”

She grabbed the phone and dialed 9-1-1. “I’m calling to report an attack on my house. Shots have been fired and we have a few dead intruders and a couple got away...” she continued for a moment, “I have injured ranch hands that have been shot, please send ambulances.”

Once she’d finished there she helped Hank make it down to the hallway and found Joe and unfortunately saw Mike before Kyle pulled the sheet over him. “Bastards!!!!” She screamed. The three of them made their way over the two bodies outside the door of the room and she noted that while hers had just a single hole, these had multiple ones.

“SIR I SEE movement on the stairs coming down,” Stan called over the radio.

“Friendlies or hostiles?” Brian asked.

“I think friendlies, they’re dressed for bed but are armed.”

“This is rural New Mexico, I’m sure they are armed! Some of those shots were probably them shooting back at the intruders.” Bob called over the radio and continually scanned for signs of the person or persons that escaped out the back. The only positive sign he noticed was a bunch of blood droplets had fallen not far from where they were watching and continued to make a trail away from the house.

GLORIA MADE IT downstairs with Hank and gently laid him on the floor in the dining room.

“Turn the lights on,” Joe said, “I’m pretty sure I spotted some guys in tactical gear outside.”

Gloria did as he said and waited to see if they would make an entrance or not. It was then that she noticed the open side door and wondered how they had bypassed the security system. “If I’d only activated the motion sensors...” she practically cried to herself then. Mike had worked for her for ten years. His wife would be devastated... They were just about to have their first baby!

MEGAN FOUND THAT she and Collin had both awakened from the light sleep that had finally come. The cool night air on her face, she was sure she had just heard a gun shot in the distance.

“That’s an automatic,” she heard herself quietly say a moment later.

“Yes it is,” Collin said.

Megan felt her stomach turn and slid out of the sleeping bag. Annie and Scott emerged from their tent as Collin revived the fire. As the four sat at the campfire they silently loaded their guns by flashlight. “Load Ashley’s too,” Collin said quietly.

The ranch lay at the mouth of a valley that narrowed as you moved upstream, basically ending at a dead end at a sheer rock face that leapt up to the peak of the mountain. They had ridden all the way up to the end the first day and then headed back a longer way. Gunshots traveled very well up the valley, and there were very few places they could have come from. The ranch was unfortunately the most likely place.

“Call them?” Annie suggested.

“I was just about to do that when I realized the battery drained on us yesterday. I forgot to turn it off after calling Gloria... We can get some juice in the morning from the solar charger, but I didn’t see spare batteries for it.”

“Shit, I knew there was something else I needed to pack,” Collin said sheepishly.

“What do we do in the morning?” Annie asked.

“Let’s get out of here by eight and make our way down the mountain carefully. We keep out eyes open at all times.”

“Do we tell the others?”

“Just Ashley,” Collin said.

“Why tell her?” Megan asked, alarmed.

“Because, it’s probably you two they’re here for... And if she knows she at least has the chance to fight back.”

Megan turned paler, but nodded.

She found her daughters rifle and loaded it with the six shot clip, chambered a bullet, and then refreshed the clip with a sixth bullet. Meant to bring down a deer she had no doubt it would kill a person. Megan also knew if her daughter aimed at something she would probably hit it. She didn’t want that though, and would do everything she could to keep her safe without that being necessary.

There was no sleep for the four of them that night. Even with a rotation established of people watching the others couldn’t go to sleep. All knew that something bad had happened and things could only get worse.

BOB LOOKED UP at the light that suddenly turned on to fill the darkness in the first floor and found himself instinctively sighting in. “Bob, I’m going to keep covering this area outside, do you feel comfortable entering and identifying them as friendlies for certain?”

“Will do,” he said. ‘I am way too old for this field work shit...’ he thought to himself as he made his way carefully out of the brush and to the back door. He entered and said, “FBI!!! Please lower your weapons!”

He came through the door and found all four of them armed but not pointing the weapons at him. Over the LASH set he called, “Friendlies secure, we need ambulances for two injured.”

“Where did you come from?” Gloria asked.

“We were worried Raimondo had found this location and were on our way but got delayed by car problems.”

“How many men do you have?” She asked.

“I had three others...” He said softly, “One of them was shot when they left. Do you know how many escaped?”

“Two, we think,” Hank grunted from his spot on the floor. Bob noticed he was beginning to get a bit pale. At that moment he heard a helicopter sound and saw lights from sheriff’s cars pulling up the driveway.

“Team two has arrived,” Bob heard over the radio.

“Copy,” he said. “I want the house swept just in case we missed someone. There are four bodies upstairs that will need to be processed, three hostiles and one friendly. We believe that there are still two suspects loose that fled into the woods. Stay sharp everyone.”

“Ten-four,” Bob heard Brian say.

A few moments later Ryan and a team of four others began sweeping the house one room at a time until they were certain both suspects had fled for certain. “Jesus Bob, did you see the one outside the master bedroom?” Ryan asked him off to the side a few minutes later.

He shook his head, “I haven’t been upstairs yet.”

“One bullet clean through the head. Half of the agency wouldn’t have shot that clean...”

Bob looked at him and gave a grim smile, “Half of the agents probably don’t have the hunting experience these guys have. Raimondo was an idiot to hit here! The owner had also done the unexpected and asked for a few of her ranch hands to stay overnight tonight... She had a bad feeling,” he said as he looked in the dining room. That feeling had certainly been justified. The paramedics had been allowed into the house to treat the victims as soon as the place was pronounced cleared.

Hank, if he remembered the name right, was looking a little pale but the EMTs seemed to be calmly going about their business. They had him on a stretcher and out the door in ten minutes and the other injured hand was out not long after. When they were gone Gloria approached him, “So what are you doing to catch those sons of bitches?”

Bob looked at her, “I’m open to ideas, right now I’m not sure I want to send off men into unknown woods in the dark to capture two armed suspects. I need to see if the chopper the second team flew in on has infrared capabilities... We might be able to find them then.

“You want me to call a friend down the road? He has dogs, they can track them down.”

Bob realized in an instant that this lady wasn’t going to sit idly by and let things take their slow pace. He thought for a moment... “Call him, but we decide when to use them.”

“Fair enough.”

He thought better of it for half a second, but decided that they needed to get moving on the search for the two suspects. First thing would be to triple check that the getaway vehicle was secured.

RAIMONDO AND BILL ran for a long ways along a trail they’d happened upon. “I need to stop,” Ray finally said while feeling like his lungs were going to give out.

“Sounds... Good...” Bill said.

They stood there silently for a long time before Bill finally asked, “What the fuck happened back there?!?”

Ray shrugged, “It was just supposed to be Megan, Tony, and this old lady there... The ranch hands don’t stay at night is what I was told.”

“They sure as hell did tonight!”

Once they had found their way upstairs they saw there were nameplates on rooms and quickly eliminated the little girl’s room and a teenage girl’s rooms based on the signs. Another girl’s room he thought might have been Megan’s, it had said Amber, but no one was there. They’d continued down the hall and found the only boys sign and again found no one in there. They’d finally had two doors and they decided to hit the unmarked one at the same time as the old ladies. Figuring she wouldn’t be much trouble they’d only had Randy go for her while the others converged on the other door figuring Megan and Tony were both in there.

They thought maybe they’d hit the jackpot for a half a second until all hell had broken loose. Danny and Bill opened fire on one of the men in there when he shouted. A second later though Nicholas went down from a bullet that came from the other side of the room. Bill and Ray made a quick retreat since they were the farthest back and then Danny got hit. ‘I probably still have brains on me...’ Ray thought shakily.

“Yeah... They definitely were not our average targets,” Ray allowed.

“So what the fuck do we do now?” Bill asked, “The stores have been raided and we’re out here in the middle of fucking nowhere!!!! AND I’VE BEEN FUCKING SHOT!”

“Keep your damn voice down.” Ray said. “It’s not that bad of a wound.” It didn’t look bad at least. It was a single through and through in the muscle of his left arm. He was sure it hurt like hell though.

Bill got quiet.

“Well, for starters let’s move up this trail a bit more. We’ve gotten lucky that there’s enough light by moonlight to see some... We’ll find a place in an hour or so to get off the trail and hole up. We’ve got guns and ammo still, we can either hold them off or be able to hunt for some food and move farther in.” Ray said with more confidence than he felt.

Bill just nodded.

Without saying anything more they began moving up the trail and Ray continued to brood on what he had seen at the house. ‘Clearly Megan and Tony either were never there, or had already left...’

‘How could our intel be so wrong...?’ he thought to himself. ‘Could that Agent have known that he was being tracked in our guy’s car and just came here to throw us off...? That might explain how fast the agents moved in...’ He was still shaking as he thought about how lucky he had gotten that either Bill or him had hit that agent in the head. It had cost a magazine of ammo, but that was well worth it! He still had four magazines left for the MP5 and two clips plus one in the pistol. He had thought at the time that it was overkill, but now he wasn’t sure it was enough.

‘Why were there only girls names and one teenage boys room...?’ he continued to wonder to himself as they made their way up the trail.

GLORIA LOOKED AT the agents and knew that they didn’t have the slightest clue on hunting up in the mountains. Once they had moved the dead agent’s body she had used a flashlight with Agent Kline and walked a ways from the house to see which direction the men had fled. She was very unnerved that it looked they had run into the trail that Megan and the rest would be coming back on that morning.

“Look, Megan, Ashley, Collin Reeves, Annie and Scott Schultz, and a family of five they rescued yesterday are going to be coming back on this trail in a few hours...” Gloria said to her audience of Bob, Brian, Ryan, and the Sheriff who had finally made it there.

“Do you think these boys would be stupid enough to attack that large a group?” the Sheriff asked.

“They attacked here, didn’t they?” Gloria asked.

“Well, yeah they are pretty stupid then,” he replied.

“How far does this trail go?” Brian asked.

“Well, it’s about a sixty mile loop round trip if they make the turn. If they follow the trail at the split towards the group it’s about ten miles I’m guessing to their camp,” Gloria answered.

“I assume it’s not a straight trail either?” Ryan asked.

“You can get a four-wheeler up the first five to six miles, after that you have to move by foot or horseback.”

“Well shit...” Brian said.

“Yeah, that’s the word of the day gentlemen,” Bob said. “And unfortunately the closest chopper with infrared abilities is an hour away and grounded because of an engine issue. We’re trying to see if we can get a military chopper, but that’s going to probably take a day of red tape.”

“Can we follow them on in and try and reach the group before him?” Ryan suggested.

“At daylight,” the sheriff suggested. “I wouldn’t go in there right now, they’ll be able to see us too easily and we won’t be able to see them.”

“If we can find Megan’s group could we helicopter them out?” Brian asked.

Gloria shook her head, “They’ll have to either go back ten miles to get to a clear area or move closer four miles. With the condition the boy is in I doubt they’ll be able to go farther out. It doesn’t help that I haven’t been able to reach them on the satellite phone... The battery probably ran out though, they didn’t plan on a third night out there originally.”

“Do they have enough supplies to get by?” Ryan asked.

Gloria smiled, “We raised Collin here after his parents died... My husband taught him everything he knew about the backcountry; I know they probably had at least two extra days of food per person on them. That would mean they have through dinner tomorrow probably with the extra people. Longer than that they can hunt and fish for plenty of food. It’s hard to starve up here if you know the land.”

“Well, I guess at daybreak we take men up. Do you have any horses that we could borrow?” Bob asked.

Gloria gave him a look and said, “Only if I go with you. I have seven more horses in the barn that I trust for this. If you haven’t ridden before though you’re going to find these trails rough to learn on. I’d recommend getting some four-wheelers up here and using them to get yourselves as close as you can.”

“I guess we’d better get moving on that then. Brian, keep up the perimeter and we’ll see what we can get hold of as far as choppers. We have two hours left that we can use infrared today if we can get the equipment...”

‘At least they managed to make the bust... How Ryan guessed on the hidden spot he’d never know... A teargas canister down the air vent had apparently been enough to convince them to open the door though!’

‘Now if we can just take down these bastards...’

I WOKE UP when Mom nudged me in the morning and I slipped out of the bag with Bella. I stood there while everyone was woken up and watched Scott and Collin get the fire going again to make breakfast. Apparently we still had enough pancake mix that, after Scott purified some water, we’d be able to have pancakes again. I watched for a few moments before I heard.

“Ashley, come here please,” Mom said and after a moment, “Heather and James... Can you come too please?”

They moved a distance away from the campfire where breakfast was cooking and away from the kids. “What’s going on?”

She sighed and looked at the two parents and me. Heather was obviously still in pain, but she at least seemed to be a little cleaner than yesterday. “Last night we’re pretty sure we heard a lot of gun shots... We think it came from the ranch.”

I looked at her and felt my brain process that, “You think Dad found the ranch?”

“Well, the FBI wouldn’t have done it... So yeah.”

“Wait a minute, what’s going on?” James asked.

“James, it’s a long story that maybe I’ll get a chance to tell you later, but for now the short of it is that Ashley and I are really mother and daughter and my husband is trying to find us. We ran away a month ago and came here...”

“And he’s the kind of guy that would attack a ranch to get you?” Heather asked, looking paler.

Mom nodded, “Mafia,” she paused, “the whole family on his side is the top part of the organization. They don’t take kindly to people leaving. I didn’t have a choice though, he was beating Ashley and I to within an inch of our lives... He was eventually going to snap and kill one or both of us.”

“Shit,” James said, and then added, “Sorry,” when he looked at me.

“So what are we doing Mom?” I asked, glad to be able to call her that.

“Well... I think we have to go down no matter what. Edward and Heather need medical attention today. Hopefully the fight is over and they got everyone... And hopefully no one was hurt there,” she said, feeling the tears in her eyes.

“But...?” I asked.

“Well, it’s possible we may run into someone today, so we need to be prepared.”

I nodded.

“So...?” I asked.

Collin, Annie, and Scott took turns contributing ideas on what we should do. At the end, we agreed that Scott’s plan was the best we could do. “Look, I think we need to split up a little bit here. Let’s have Ashley, Collin, and Annie hang farther back. That keeps the kids safer...”

I grumbled a bit at that, but he said, “Not too much farther back, just about three hundred yards. Enough that if someone pops up you all can get the hell out of there.”

After a moment’s hesitation he added, “Look, there’s another thing. If we do that, and there’s trouble, then Ashley could get into position to take a shot.”

Mom glared at him and I felt my stomach turn. Mom turned to me though and grabbed onto my hands, saying “Ashley, I don’t want you to have to do that. If it means you let one of us die... Well, I don’t know what to tell you honey... I hope nothing happens. At the same time sweetie, if you decide to take a shot remember what you’ve been taught, aim to kill, compensate for distance and... well, all of that...”

I looked at her and could have wet my panties at that moment easily. Instead I hugged her as fiercely as I could and felt the tears streaming down my face. “I love you Mommy, and I don’t want anything to happen.”

“I love you too baby, and I hope nothing does happen. But if it does remember that I love you,” she said.

After a short while we ate breakfast and prepared to leave. Mom and I made sure my rifle was loaded and she handed me a spare clip that I didn’t even know I had for the gun. She had her own handgun on her, and everyone except the kids and Heather and James were soon armed too. We tried to not make too big of a deal about it though, because the last thing we wanted to do was scare the other kids.

About nine-thirty we were mounted up and moving down the trail.

RAIMONDO AND BILL had finally found shelter in a clump of bushes that hid them but also allowed them to see the trail easily for about fifty yards in either direction. They hadn’t stopped moving through the woods yet, until now. It was as good of a spot to hide or ambush people as they had seen and both were exhausted.

“I’ll take the first watch, you get some sleep,” Raimondo told Bill at about seven-thirty when the light was growing.

“Sounds good.” Bill said before doing his best to get comfortable up against a tree. His wound had started to really bother him and Ray hoped it stopped bleeding soon... Or he might have to leave him.

Raimondo sat there trying to decide what the next move would be. If they could find a road they could catch a ride into town and get out of there from there. Montana... That would be his destination so that he could get across the Canadian border. Once there he would probably be able to avoid extradition... He was pretty sure the death penalty was on the list for him. New Mexico was definitely not a friendly state on that score, and the Feds would be going for it too since he’d killed several of their own. He had no doubt that if caught at this point he would be doing life in prison at minimum. He truly had nothing to lose anymore.

‘If only I can at least take that damn bitch with me... He still hadn’t figured out what had happened with Tony. He guessed that he had been staying in that other room though as his son would have pitched a fit for sure about being in a girl’s room. Tony’s at least enough of a Franchino there to not put up with that bullshit.’

He thought about using his cell phone to call Greg and get some help, but it would only let the feds find them easier. Instead he had removed the battery from the phone and had it in his pocket on the off chance he could get out of the woods here.

All in all this had turned into the ultimate cluster-fuck and he didn’t know what the hell to do.

GLORIA LED THE group of five HRT Team Members, five sheriff’s officers, and three medics up the trail on the horses and four-wheelers. She was leading against Brian’s objections, but it meant they would move faster. In the meantime they had managed to get a Blackhawk on loan from Kirtland Airforce Base for the remaining HRT Team members. She thought Megan’s parents might have been silently helping the team out there. Megan hadn’t told her much, but she knew they were probably ready to help push things like that through. All of the HRT members were trained to deploy off of lines and they hoped they could at least locate Megan’s party and add support to them to get them safely down the trail.

They also had her friend Paul and his dogs with them on foot. The dogs had easily found the scent of the two men and were following it up the trail. The unfortunate thing though was that they didn’t take the left hand trail that would have led them away from Megan. Instead they seemed to have taken the one towards Megan.

Really she was pretty impressed that they’d made it in this far last night. As far as she could tell they were a bunch of city-boys without a clue about how to survive in the wilderness. They’d just happened to luck onto the one trail that was pretty easy to follow... for a ways anyway. Soon they would reach the high meadow, and then from there it would go on up the mountain.

She silently prayed, ‘Dear Jesus, please keep Megan, Annie, Scott, Collin, Ashley, and the others safe. Please watch over them and all of our search party and let us all make it home soon peacefully.’
It wasn’t much, but she felt slightly better. As far as she was concerned she’d lived a long full life. Her husband awaited her in Heaven and she didn’t really have anything to lose. The same wasn’t true of the others, and she desperately wanted them all to be able to continue to live.

“Got a blood trail here!” Paul said.

They paused for a moment and looked at the blood drops. “Not too bad,” one of the medics said, “but it is enough to slow down whoever is bleeding.”

RAIMONDO HAD WAITED for two and a half hours to pass before going to wake Bill up to take his turn to watch. “Bill, your turn man, I need some sleep!” He said.

Bill didn’t respond.

“Hey Bill, wake the fuck up!” He said.

Still nothing, he finally slapped his face, but nothing happened.

“God Damn It!!!!!!!” He screamed.

He was on his own and that changed the rules of this game even more. “Sorry Bill, but I’m going to need these,” he said and grabbed his weapons.

Raimondo was just about to move farther up the trail to keep awake when he saw two horses and four people on them coming down. One looked familiar and after a moment he figured out what it was - Megan with her hair dyed.

‘Finally something goes fucking right!!!!’ he screamed to himself. He remembered though how wrong everything had gone last night. ‘I’ll let them go right past me first... Then I’ll stand up and tell them to get off the horses... That’ll give me a way out of this area too!’ he thought. ‘Too bad I never let Megan teach me how to ride... Oh well, can’t be that hard if she can do it.’

Raimondo watched the horses pass and then stepped out.

“STOP RIGHT THERE!!!” Megan heard as her neck prickled. She pulled the reins to a halt on her horse and tried to figure out what to do. “Now get off those horses slowly, I want to see your hands!” Ray shouted at them.

Scott had to help Heather off, and she had to hold her horse steady as James climbed off. Finally she climbed off herself and kept her hands high to keep from spooking Ray.

“So is this the fucker you left me for Bitch?” Ray asked.

Megan stared at him, “I didn’t leave you for anyone Ray, I left you because I was tired of being a punching bag and I didn’t want to let A... Antonio get beaten anymore by you either.”

“Bullshit!” He said while she noticed his arm shake slightly with the weight of the gun. It was a fully automatic weapon she noticed which meant it didn’t take much to kill all four of them.

“It’s true Ray, and in all honesty if you were willing to leave us alone I was willing to move on with life and just forget about everything.”

“Yeah... After you stole everything from me?!?” He asked with a snort. “How the fuck did you even know about all of those bank accounts?”

She smiled, “Ray you left your computer open all of the time... It’s not that hard to crack your passwords, but when it’s unlocked it only makes it easier.”

He nodded, pissed off.

“Where is Tony?” He asked.

She had to think for a moment, “He left with a friend of mine last week...”

WHEN I SAW Mom and the others stop I felt my neck prickle. Without saying anything to the others I jumped down off of Beauty, handed the reins over to my passenger, grabbed my rifle, and found a safe spot to look down on them. I felt my blood freeze as I looked through the scope of my rifle and saw a man step from the bushes holding a weapon on Mom and the others. I could just make out my dad’s angry voice and knew instantly that it was Dad. He wasn’t all that far away and I had an easy shot to his head from there. There was no one directly behind him either in my line of sight. I triple checked the range and adjusted for it, but I knew it wouldn’t be hard shot...

Just like target practice.

Dad’s... No, the targets face was away from me so I couldn’t see it. I could just about pretend it was a paper target on the range. ‘I know he’s going to kill them...’ I thought to myself. ‘I have to save Mom, Dad made his choice to become a monster.’

I breathed out... Then breathed in...

Chapter 26: Pieces

MEGAN HEARD THE crack of the gun and watched her husband’s head disintegrate in front her. She felt her heart shatter, as she knew that while her daughter’s childhood had been on shaky grounds before, her innocence was truly over now.

She could see her on the hillside just getting up from her position behind a log, and with tears streaming down her face, ran to her as quickly as she could to wrap her in her arms and say everything was okay... It was then that she noticed the military helicopter hovering a hundred yards up and away.

I WATCHED AS Mom ran towards me and safed my rifle quickly before using the strap and throwing it on my shoulder to go meet her. She grabbed me in her arms and said, “Ashley I love you, I love you so much... No matter what you had to do...”

After a while I was finally able to get a word in, “Mommy, I didn’t shoot.”

“But?”

“No, the sniper in the helicopter beat me by a breath.”

She hugged me even tighter then and I wished it would help take the image of dad’s head out of my eyes. I did take some solace in that I hadn’t had to take the shot. His blood wasn’t on my hands, and I didn’t want it to be either. I hated his guts, but I didn’t want to be the one to kill him. Within a moment we watched six men jump down ropes and land next to us.

“FBI!” They shouted, introducing themselves. “Would you please lower your weapons?”

It was then that I realized I still had my rifle on my shoulder and slowly put it down on the ground. The sniper came and collected it then. He hefted it for a moment and looked into the scope, “Nice rifle,” he said.

I just cried and hugged him... Something I’m sure that he wasn’t expecting. To his credit he hugged me back for a moment before I found my voice.

“Thank you for doing that,” I told him.

He looked at me with eyes that looked like they understood, “I probably shouldn’t have young lady... It wasn’t a sure shot. But I saw you getting ready and didn’t want you to have to shoot someone, let alone your own Dad.”

I shrugged, “I didn’t want to do it, but I would have done it. He was going to shoot Mom.”

“I know, your Aunt told us about you. I also know you were about to... Maybe some day you’ll have to do something like that, but I don’t ever want to see an eleven year old kid have that on their conscience,” he said.

I just hugged him again and said, “Thank you.”

The FBI Agents who introduced themselves to us as members of the Hostage Rescue Team filled us in on what happened with the ranch. “The only problem is there were two men that got away,” one of them said. That explained why most of them still seemed ready for action.

I saw the bush next to the trail that Dad had jumped out from and some blood leading into it. “Sir, there’s a blood trail here, if you follow it you may find the other one.”

There were some words said that I would have had my mouth washed out with soap for using and the five of them converged through the bushes. “Found him!” I heard.

“He’s still alive... Barely!” another called.

As if to make everything perfect timing I heard hoofs and saw Gloria emerge with six other people on horseback and others on foot immediately behind them. One man jumped off the horse and ran towards Mom and I. He was beaten to the punch by Gloria though who practically tackled Mom and I with a hug.

“I’m so glad you two are okay!!!!” She said.

I lost track of time after that through the sobs, tears, and confusion over all that had happened. After awhile though the oldest man in the FBI vest came over to Mom and I. “Megan Franchino, Ashley Franchino?” He asked.

I felt my eyes open wide at being called Ashley still.

“Yes?” I said timidly.

“My name is Agent Bob Kline, I’m with the FBI.”

Mom glared at him, “I guess you found us,” she sighed. “Did you have to lead my husband here too?”

“Well... I didn’t mean to, but unfortunately there was a leak that finally caught on that you were out here. I got played by someone else and they tracked me here Friday night I think,” he told us.

“So what’s going to happen to us now?” I asked him.

“We haven’t done anything illegal,” Mom reminded him.

“Oh really? Falsifying an identity?” He asked.

“Legally done through a judge,” Mom said.

He smiled at that, “I know... And one of the biggest regrets I’ve had is that I didn’t see it right away when that request happened!” He shook his head, “Look, I’m not necessarily certain we need to have you testify at this point. I am worried about your safety though. I think Raimondo probably called your whereabouts in to your father-in-law and his cousin Greg before all was said and done.”

“Were our new identities passed along?” Megan asked.

“I don’t know...” He admitted.

“I don’t think so Mom,” I told her.

“What?”

“Think back to what he asked... He didn’t know about me, he would have been asking different questions,” I told her.

“Agent Kline...” Mom started to say.

“Ma’am, I’ve chased you across the country and spent too much time looking for you... Please call me Bob. I wish you had come straight to us... But I think you knew there was a leak, didn’t you?” He asked.

Mom nodded, “It sounded like it, Ray told me the witness protection program would never be enough to keep anyone safe from them.”

“I figured as much. I can’t tell you how amazed I am that you managed to make that break away from him. Anyway, I just want to see you two made as safe as possible now. If you think these identities are secure we probably can make that work a little easier for you... And maybe age you a bit my dear, but anything you might have to help us out...?”

Mom looked at him and nodded. “I have several copies of some files that will help you,” she told him, “But I want final say on what happens to Ashley and I. As far as I’m concerned those documents should be enough to help you at trial. Really I can’t help you with anything because all of my testimony would be ruled hearsay.”

He looked at her with appraising eyes and said, “Fair enough.”

Gloria came over there right then, “We need to get everyone down to the high meadow so we can fly the little boy, the mother, and the one bastard to the hospital. I hope it takes two trips – the bastard can wait for the second one.”

“Okay,” I said. I went back over to the sniper and asked, “May I please have my gun back now?”

“On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You don’t use it today!”

I laughed and gave him another hug before taking the rifle. It went back into the saddle holster and Gloria picked me up to put me back on Beauty. With the others on foot the adults were now walking. Bella on the other hand climbed on behind me.

“Was that your Daddy?” She asked.

I immediately felt bad that she’d seen the body at all. Collin had found a jacket to put over the head when he realized that the kids were going to be coming, but it was too late.

I shook my head, “That was my father, he was never much of a Daddy,” I told her.

She asked me more questions that I didn’t really want to answer all the way to the meadow, and I was really grateful when we arrived and they left on the Blackhawk. I said goodbye to Bella and then added, “Here, Kari said she wants to live with you now. Take good care of her!” She hugged me and cried before her Dad picked her up and got on the helicopter.

The rest of us took the old fashioned way to get home and finally reached the ranch house after one o’clock finding the whole place crawling with police officers and reporters being visible on the roadway beyond.

I was truly overwhelmed, but I carefully slid off the saddle and led Beauty back to her stall like the others were doing as well. “Ashley, just leave her there, you don’t need to worry about brushing her right now.” Gloria tried to tell me.

I shook my head, “I can’t do that; Beauty needs to be taken care of first.”

She looked at me and seemed to understand, “Alright, but I help you with her and we get her done first so you can take a shower upstairs here in the barn.”

“Why not in my room?” I asked her.

“Umm... Ashley it’s going to be a week or so before I’m going to let you go up there.”

I looked at her for a moment and realized what she had said, “Who died?”

She began crying then, “Mike...”

At that point I didn’t care about Beauty. I hugged her and she ended up picking me up and holding me. The dam broke for her emotionally and for a long while we cried together. Eventually we heard a sound behind us and she turned sideways to where I could look.

“Grandma!!!!!” I said and ran up to Grandma Stella.

“Hi Ashley,” she said to me with a big hug. Grandpa appeared with Mom beside him and joined in with the two of us. At some point time just seemed meaningless, I had all of the people in the world who mattered to me right there. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

LATER THAT DAY Gloria, Mom, and Grandpa cleared out all of my things from my room that I would want to take with me. Heather, James, and the kids had all made it to the hospital fine. The one suspect apparently was supposed to live too... I hoped it was only for a short while though. The sheriff’s officers had talked quietly around us about the death penalty.

The five of us, and Collin, ended up driving down to Albuquerque and moving into hotel rooms. Grandma and Grandpa had shown their unconditional love of me during that time, and to be honest, Mom and I cried away most of the day. Agent Kline made an appearance long enough for Mom to hand over the evidence she had and then disappeared, leaving us alone then.

“Let’s go get some dinner,” Grandma Stella finally told us about seven that night. She’d been pushing for us to keep moving most of the afternoon. Mom and I were both in such a state that she ended up bathing me and nearly had to do so with Mom. That night she helped me dress in the pretty dress Madison had made for me, and forced Mom to dress up nicer too. I took Kaitlyn along with me, as I wasn’t about to leave her behind anywhere again. She had to have been frightened being alone when everything happened!

That evening I wasn’t quite sure who I was then. I knew I wasn’t Tony, but I wasn’t sure if I was still the younger Ashley anymore... Everything I had seen that day had turned my world upside down once again. We ate that night at Bucca di Beppo I think in an attempt to bring me out of my shock. As I ate the spaghetti that had been ordered especially for me I began to feel a little more myself, but knew more than anything it was going to take a long time to heal.

When we returned to the hotel Mom’s cell phone rang, and I nearly went deaf with Madison talking to me!

Epilogue:

ONE MONTH LATER I rode Beauty forward along the trail. “Wait up Ashley!” Mom called up from a distance still.

I sighed and pulled her to a stop and turned Beauty to face back down the trail. Mom and Collin seemed to be taking their sweet time and I just wanted to ride! When they finally caught up I asked, “Are you going slow enough?”

Mom gave me the look and said, “If you want we can ground you from riding for a month...?”

I looked at her and said, “That’s okay... I’m sorry.”

She smiled, “I wouldn’t do that... Probably.”

“No, she’d make you muck stalls for a month!” Collin said with a laugh.

I grimaced, but thought it was probably true.

The last month had been just as surreal as the month before. We had spent the week immediately after everything in the hotel in Albuquerque. During the week we had gone on some day trips to the museums, the tramway, and even the small amusement park. We had met Heather and James’ family one night and I had accepted a bear just like Kari that they gave me in thanks for our help. (I named her Kiry after doing a search online for another ‘K’ name... I was quickly running out of them!) Edward was hobbling around on crutches with his leg in a walking cast. The rest of their family seemed to be healing quickly from their ordeal though. All of us had cried a bit at that meeting.

All that week Grandma and Grandpa had spoiled me as their only granddaughter, and Mom began to have a clue on what she wanted to do.

“So, are we going to stand here looking at each other or keep moving?” Mom asked me.

“Oh, that’s right, the old people caught up...” I said with a grin.

“Old people?” Mom asked.

Before any retaliatory sentences could be pronounced I got Beauty moving at a nice trot down up the trail towards our destination for the day. I watched as the trail passed by and was secretly glad we were taking the left fork and not going right just yet. I really wasn’t ready to come to terms with the spot my father had been shot.

WHEN OUR WEEK at the hotel was over Mom had talked to me,

“Ashley, we can do a few things... And I want you to help me decide what you want to do...”

“Okay...” I had said.

“Well, since the whole family has been arrested... We could go live back in our old house...”

“No!” I said, “Not an option, I couldn’t do that...”

Mom smiled at me, “Neither could I...” she had shuddered and then said, “Grandma and Grandpa have offered to let us come live with them for a while...”

I didn’t feel that strongly against that one, but it didn’t feel right... “What else could we do?”

“Well, Agent Kline is certain our cover is still intact, so we could find a house in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Juneau, Alaska, wherever you want and move away.”

I made a face at that, “Any other options?”

“The other option is to do what we originally planned, stay with Gloria for a while... Probably a year or two and then get our own place somewhere.”

“Do you have to keep pretending to be my big sister?” I asked.

She shook her head, “Agent Kline adjusted my age on my documents up to 30, and so you can be my daughter.”

“Do I have to be eleven?”

She laughed, “Do you want to be eight?”

I thought for a moment, “It might be easier for me to adjust with friends.”

“Then you can be eight still, but be warned, you’ll probably be stuck with this birth year for the rest of your life.”

I laughed, “At least we have the rest of our lives...”

From that point on we had waited for the hands and Gloria to finish the remodel and clean up from the attack. I had wondered if Gloria would ever want to return, but she’d bounced back the next day and stated, “I’m not going to let no city boy ‘eyetalians’ run me out of my home!!!” We returned on a Wednesday, almost two weeks since we’d left on the camping trip. The entire second floor had been remodeled and my room had swapped to Madison’s. The hands room had been redone and a picture of Mike was placed on the wall.

I LOOKED UP the trail and realized that we were almost there... I reached the beginning of the meadow and followed it all the way to the big tree and slid off of Beauty. I looked around and watched the signs of fall already beginning to arrive, and wondered how long it would be before this field was covered in white. I watched as Mom and Collin rode forward, followed by Gloria, Hank, Annie, all of the hands, Consetta, Kaitlyn, Madison, Mark, and finally Mike’s wife, Eveline on a four wheeler with their new baby boy, Hank. Everyone all converged on the big tree that stood sentinel over the field.

Today wasn’t a day for a simple trip, today we were saying goodbye to Mike. I wished that I had known him better, but he was always quiet and sat away from me during meals. I still remembered his smile when he gave me my gift on my birthday though and wished he hadn’t died because of us. It was so unfair that the beautiful baby boy would grow up without his daddy.

Gloria began the memorial by saying a prayer, “Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you today to say goodbye to our dear friend and brother Mike. He was taken from us - his family and friends - long before he should have. The truth is Mike was a hero the day you took him, saving the lives of the rest of us by sounding an alarm. We pray that you will watch over him in Heaven, and that you will be with those of us that are left behind in sorrow. Lord we ask that you please watch over, guide and protect his beloved wife and newborn son as they move onward on their journey without him. Please be with them always. In your precious name we pray, Amen.”

Around the circle we had gathered hands and all squeezed hands and said Amen too.

I took Baby Hank carefully from Eveline so she could open the box that contained Mike’s ashes. There had been no possibility of a quick funeral for him due to his death by homicide, so it had been decided to have the private family affair in the meadow. I watched as Eveline took a handful of her husband’s ashes and spread it in the wind by the tree. Several others joined in and finally she poured the last of his ashes from the plastic bag and returned the empty bag to the inside of the urn.

All were sad and teary eyed as we each took turns hugging Eveline. She eventually hugged me and took Baby Hank from me.

That afternoon we made a fire and heated up the stew Consetta had made the night before. We talked and grieved as a family, and I watched my Mom and Collin seem to grow in their affection for each other. No one had said anything yet, but I suspected in a year or so Mom would probably say yes to a question from Collin, and I would have a new dad. I went up to them and wormed my way in between them to get a hug.

Life was going to be hard for a while yet, I was sure of that. Dr. Reynolds was definitely earning her money with me... But I knew that I would be okay, and we would be safe. Grandpa Jo had apparently suffered from a heart attack the day Agent Kline went to arrest him. About a dozen of my uncles and aunts were all taken to prison and would never see the light of day. I think Agent Kline regretted that my father never made it to prison – but I didn’t. I knew he was in a place that was perfect for him, especially as we said goodbye today to a much better man.

With bigger fish to fry Agent Kline thought we should be okay, but that didn’t stop us from being aware and having better security on the premises. I sighed as my mom hugged me, kissed me, and said, “Go play!” to get rid of me.

Madison was helping with the baby, so I walked over to watch some butterflies in the field, and thought about the butterflies flying in my stomach about starting third grade on Monday!

Finis

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