Page 12 of Caleb’s Cause (Broken Wheel Ranch #12)

Erin led the way into her house, and as soon as they entered the kitchen, she turned to Caleb.

“Please see that Katherine has something to eat. I’ll be right back.

” She turned on her heel and left the kitchen, assuming Caleb would do as instructed.

The first thing she did was stop by her office to speak with Julie.

“Hey,” she said, and waited for her assistant to look up from her work.

“Where did you go?” Julie asked in confusion. “Not that I question you, but I turned around and you were gone.”

“Yeah, something came up,” Erin said as she walked into the office and laid a piece of paper in the center of Julie’s desk.

“I’ll explain later, but could you give Jake a call?

I need him to start researching these names.

Tell him Duane will be getting to him later about this same thing, but I want to get a jump on it.

I know I don’t have control over Jake, but could you please tell him that I said it was urgent? ”

Julie picked up the paper and shook her head as she looked at her boss. “Any clue as to where I should have him start looking? Like a general area?”

“Los Angeles, California.”

“Oh, okay, that’s specific, and I’m assuming you want the normal check?”

“No, tell him to go as deep as he can, and as fast as he can. Also tell him that he might even want to bring Hank Patterson in on this. Maybe even Carter Manning over in Yellowstone. My gut is screaming that this is going to be big, and will probably go to hell in a handbasket before it’s over.”

“I understand,” Julie said, but on the inside she was freaking out by Erin dropping all these names. She drew in a deep breath, held it for at least fifteen seconds before she let it out in a rush.

“Good, oh, and don’t be freaked, Katherine Miller is sitting in the kitchen with Caleb getting something to eat.

I need to run up to the attic, but I’ll be right back down.

I promise. You can join them, make sure Katherine eats something, but contact Jake first.” Knowing her instructions would be carried out, Erin turned and walked away.

Twenty minutes later, she joined the three people in the kitchen when the older men she’d grown up with walked in.

“How’s everything going?” Erin asked, expecting a particular answer, which she wasn’t disappointed when Wendell spoke.

“They turned military, we left. Had no clue what they were talking about.”

“Why?” Katherine and Caleb asked as the same time. They looked at the men, then at Erin.

“Because,” Julie spoke after getting the rough, bare-bones story as to why Katherine was there. “They are former military, I know Duane isn’t, but if all the men from Broken are present, then they will treat this as a military mission.”

“That’s what I don’t understand,” Katherine said with an extremely confused look on her face. “ What would be a military mission?”

“Keeping you safe,” Julie said, and Erin agreed.

“One thing you need to know about my boyfriend, brother, and all the men they served with,” Erin began.

“Don’t forget the women,” Julie told her.

“Yes, I was getting to them.” She turned to Katherine.

“Along with the men you saw in the barn?” At her nod, she continued, “Every single one of them is engaged or dating a woman that works over at Broken. Julie here included, except she works here with me, but except for Naomi Alcott and myself, everyone is former military.” She saw that Katherine was still confused and shook her head.

“Trust me on this. I had some trouble in the past, and the men weren’t here.

The women were, though and we were able to handle our own.

It was bad enough that the people that tried to take me out, and crumple my empire are now sitting in jail, without the possibility of bail, with at least eight felony charges, apiece, against them, until they get a court date.

It’s been almost six months, and it looks like it might be another year or two before they go to trial.

Everyone wants all their ducks in a row, and it’s just not the people after me here in Colorado.

There are people over in Wyoming that were after Naomi, and they are in the same boat as the assholes that came after me.

Sitting in jail with several felonies against them, awaiting trial.

If I know the men, then they will be making plans on how to lock this place down.

Oh, and Katherine,” Erin said sternly, and didn’t continue until she had all of the other woman’s attention.

“Yes?” No one said a word when she swallowed so hard that they all heard it.

“You will not be leaving this ranch until we know you are safe. There’s no way to get to The Broken Wheel Ranch unless you drive by here.” She turned to Caleb and smiled. “How hard is it to get to Broken from your office.”

“Hell,” Caleb sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I have found that it’s easier to go out to the road, and come down here to get to Broken.

” He shook his head and looked at Katherine.

“I have a car, not a truck, and the road isn’t put in yet, I’ve been driving a cow path.

Trust me, you’ll be safe over at Broken. ”

She looked up when several people entered the back door of the main house, and Erin nodded as she pointed to the kitchen, and all the sandwich fixings still on the counter.

“Help yourself, then we’ll sit down and talk.

” It didn’t take long, roughly fifteen minutes before they were all sitting around the table.

“Thank you for coming,” Erin began. “I’m going to apologize here and throw Duane under the bus.”

“Why?” Laurie asked in confusion.

“Because I’m the boss and can,” she laughed. “No, sorry we had a situation earlier, and he had all the men come to assess it. He never gave a thought to contacting you women. In my humble opinion, the women would be more suited to be in the day-to-day, than the overall big picture.”

“What are we looking at?” Marcia asked before she took a bite of her sandwich. That was when she noticed a new person sitting beside Caleb. “Hello.”

“Hi,” Katherine said in a small voice, then sat up straighter, cleared her throat, and nodded once. “Hello, I’m Katherine Miller, and I was told to come here to look for a woman named Emily Riceman. I’ve been traveling for the last two or three weeks, I’m not sure, I lost track of time.”

“I do that sometimes,” Pru said, and just tapped the side of her head.

“Well, I don’t know about that, but I lost track of time because I didn’t know if I was being followed.

I took a bus from Los Angeles to Denver.

We were about six hours outside of LA when the bus broke down, and it took three days to get a new one.

When we got to Denver, I still didn’t know if I was being followed, so I bought a paper map, made sure I had camping supplies, and walked the back roads to here.

I stayed in Fool’s Gold last night, did my laundry this morning, then walked here.

” She shrugged, then sighed heavily. “I told my story to the guys out in the barn, now I’m here, and I’m assuming I’m about to tell you ladies my story.

” She looked around the table and when her eyes landed on Erin, she only nodded.

Katherine took the next thirty minutes to tell them what she had told the others earlier, and when she was done, she sat back with a heavy sigh, and waited for the questions.

The first one she never expected, and ended up laughing when she answered.

“Do you ever go by Kate or Katie?” one of the women asked. She didn’t know who it was.

“No, I prefer Katherine.”

“Thank god,” everyone said, and again, explained about the horse named Katie. It actually shocked her that the women hadn’t asked as many questions as the men did, and she looked at Caleb in confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

“The ladies didn’t ask as many questions as the men.”

“That because we can put ourselves in your shoes at every part of your story. I’m Naomi, by the way.

Besides Erin, Laurie, Lorissa, and Lois, I’m the only one not military, however, I grew up on a ranch over in Wyoming, and I was a barrel racer in the rodeo.

There was an accident, I got hurt, and then was lied to by a man.

My father. I was in a wheelchair for the last six years, but now I’m not.

So, everyone here can put themselves in your shoes, and I’m not dissing the men, but they can’t.

And these men are more particular than most.”

“Why? What makes them different?”

“Because,” came a male voice from behind them, and everyone turned to see all the men standing there, wearing some sort of amused expression by Naomi’s comment.

“We are Navy SEALs and we want to know everything we can before we go on a mission. With what you’ve told us, we believe we have a cause for a mission here. ”

“But?” Erin asked with a raised brow. “I feel there’s a but there.”

“There is, if you agree, I think Katherine needs to go to one of the cabins over on Broken Two.” Clark shook his head and held up his hand as he looked between Caleb and Katherine. “Would you feel comfortable having her near you? And are you weapons trained?”

“I am.”

“Why?” Ryan blurted out. “I know for a fact that Karen would have flipped the fuck out on that.”

“That’s why Dad taught me,” he said with a smirk, then turned to Katherine.

“I’m his nephew. My mother, his sister’s name really is Karen, and she is an entitled bitch.

I won’t get into it all, but that entitlement caused her to be sentenced to eighteen to twenty years in prison.

She was only sentenced a few months ago.

My father is a police officer, and he thought that I needed to protect myself.

Not that Karen would have harmed me, but he didn’t want to take any chances. ”