Charles spotted his sister-in-law, a little girl and the man he saw at the hotel, pull out of the long driveway where his sister-in-law lives. He follows them for a while and after a few minutes he knows what he is going to do. He calls some guys he knows that live in the area and told them he had a job for which he needed their help and for them to bring some heavy firepower. He keeps track of his ex-family as they do some shopping. Most of the places where they stopped were to get things for the young girl, he couldn’t believe how much of a girl his sissy son really looked, dressed the way his sister-in-law had him dressed.

Charles tracks them most of the morning until he gets a call from the people he called, to meet up with them.

As Charles pulls up at the meeting, place he sees them waiting for him.

“Who’s the target?” This was coming from a guy who had a scar running from his forehead down over his right eye and down his cheek. He was older and Charles knew he was the perfect guy for the job along with two of his buddies.

“My sister-in-law. She needs to be eliminated along with her children.”

“Dam! You’re one cold hearted bastard.”

“Trust me, she deserves this. She gave information about our club and our operations to the FBI.”

“Dam, you’re right. Do you know where she is right now?”

“They’re in town doing some shopping right now. I know where she lives and the perfect spot to ambush her.”

“Lead on then.”

One of the other bald-headed guys looks towards Charles.

Charles starts his motorcycle and leads them to the place he had picked for a good ambush. He knew his sister-in-law was going to have to
come back this way. They went about setting the various explosions they brought with them and once they were done. They waited for Mary to show up.

Mary’s SUV:
Mary had fun shopping with Jessie and Maggie. She knew Charlie wished he was doing other things, instead of shopping with them. Still, she noticed that Charlie had enjoyed carrying Maggie with him, she knew at one time he had a daughter of his own, who he didn’t know anything about till she died with her mother in a car accident.

“You didn’t have to go overboard buying everything you did Mary.”

Charlie glances towards his friend, while he drove.

“Yes, I did. A girl has to have nice things.”

She was smiling because she had fun spending money on Jessie and Maggie. They would be able to properly outfit the bedrooms for each girl, not that Maggie needed her own bedroom right now, but she did need a changing table and a few other things that they didn’t have or bought for her when they were in West Virginia.

Mary was going to have to contact Jessie’s old school and get his school records sent to her. That was one thing she should have done when
they were still up in West Virginia.

A song comes over the radio that Jessie likes and she starts singing to it. It is Shake it Off by Taylor Smith.

“I stay out too late, got nothing in my brain
That's what people say, that's what people say
I go on too many dates, but I can't make them stay
At least that's what people say, that's what people say
But I keep cruising
Can't stop, won't stop moving
It's like I got this music in my mind
Saying it's gonna be alright
Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off
Heartbreakers gonna break, break, break, break, break
And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off”

Jessie was getting into the song and her voice was matching Taylor Swifts pitch.

The next thing they know, there is an explosion and the SUV flips over and slides along the road upside down. Jessie was using her body to protect her sister Maggie, while Mary and Charlie were trying to figure out what had happened. The SUV comes to a stop as gunfire erupts from the side of the road. Charlie gets hit several times as does Mary, the explosion that flipped them over had caused shrapnel to fly into
Mary’s leg.

Jessie’s body jerks as several bullets hit her back and legs as she protects Maggie with her body.

Jessie could hear sirens getting closer to their location and more gun fire eruption. She finally blacks out.

Officer Arnold Everton was on his way to work when he hears an explosion and gunfire directly ahead of him. He requests back-up to be sent to his location right away. As he gets closer to the scene he sees a black Ford SUV upside down in the middle of the road with smoke coming from the engine. It was being riddled with gunfire from the side of the road by four individuals. One of them turns his gun towards his car and riddles the front of it, blowing the engine and flattening the tires.

He turns the car sideways blocking the road and ducks as the shooter riddles the side of his car. He manages to get out of the car and uses it as a barrier fire to block the gunfire. He manages to fire off several shots at the shooter, who he kills the shooter and aims for the other shooter. Sirens could be heard coming towards his location from the other side of the upside-down SUV.

Two more police cruisers show up and they block the other side of the road as they get riddled by bullets. One of the officers gets hit in the side, while the other managed to get down in time. Officer Everton fires at the second shooter and he drops, Charles is shot by Officer Conrad, who makes his way to check on the other officer and finds him unconscious, officer Everton calls for a medical helicopter. Officer Conrad and he check the people inside the SUV. They couldn’t find a pulse on Charlie. When he checked Mary’s pulse it was barely there and she was unconscious. He could barely pick- up a pulse on the girl, she had used her body to protect the little girl who was crying.

The paramedics showed up and went to work to trying to stabilize the girl. Charlie was pronounced dead along with the men that shot them. Mary had taken a few bullets to her chest that had gone straight through Charlie’s Body, the paramedics try to stabilize her. Officer Knight, Mary, Jessie and Maggie are rushed to the hospital right away. They were in critical condition and it wasn’t known if they would make it through the night.

Joe’s and Mary’s Ranch:
Joe was out with his cousins and brothers herding cattle when his cellphone ring. He checks the number which he didn’t recognize.

“Hello?”

“Mr. Harthworth, this is Detective Booth with the Texas Highway Patrol. Your wife and children have been in a fire fight and have been taken to
Big Bend Regional Medical Center. they are in critical condition.”

Joe was already heading back towards the house while on the cellphone, he was pushing his horse hard as he raced back to the house. When he gets there, he doesn’t bother with unsaddling his horse as he hops off and races towards his truck.

“Thank you, Detective. I’m on my way right now.”

Joe hangs up as he races to the hospital, thirty minutes later, he pulls up at the hospital, hops out and runs inside. He stops at the reception desk, tells them who he is and asks where his wife and children are. He is taken to the emergency room and is told that the doctors were trying to save his wife and daughter. He is told that the gentleman who had been with them was DOA and his baby girl is fine. He is told by a nurse that his older daughter had used her body as a shield to protect her little sister. They weren’t sure if his teenage daughter was going to make it, she had already died four times, twice on the way to the hospital and twice on the operating table. His baby girl was with a nurse right now in pediatrics being looked after and that she was fine, her big sister had protected her. Hours go by as Joe paces back and forth waiting to hear from the head doctor working on his wife and Jessie, he comes out after four hours.

“Mr. Harthworth, you have one stubborn wife, she is a fighter and refuses to die. We’ve managed to stabilize her condition and repair some of the damage caused during the fire fight. There was some shrapnel from the engine in her left leg we had to remove. She is going to need physical therapy, but overall, she should make a complete recovery. We’re going to have to keep her in ICU for a few days before we can move her to her own room.

As for your daughter, they are still operating on her, she took several bullets to her back and legs. There are two bullets lodged in her spine, we might be able to remove the first one, but the second one is a little more difficult. We’ve sent for a specialist to see if they can remove it, but first we need to stabilize her. As it is, your daughter is going to be paralyzed from the waist down. We might be able to restore some use of her legs, but she’ll still need to use a wheel chair some of time. The second bullet is the one we are really worried about, it might cause her to lose control of her bowels and bladder, if we can get the bullet out in time, we might be able to stop the damage.”

“Do what you can for her Doctor. I have faith in you.”

Joe couldn’t believe that after all the good Jessie has done for her sister, that she might lose control of her bowels and bladder. He watches as
the doctor leaves and heads back in to see what he could do for Jessie.

Edited By: Dave