Page 21 of Caleb’s Cause (Broken Wheel Ranch #12)

Sunday afternoon found Katherine and Laurie laughing as they walked the halls in the mall with their bags of new clothes for Katherine. It felt like it had been years since she’d been so carefree, and as they saw Duane and Caleb in the distance, both women sighed at the sight of them.

“Did you find what you needed?” Duane asked as both he and Caleb reached for the bags.

“Yes,” both women answered at the same time, and shared a laugh. “Sorry,” Katherine said. “It’s just that it’s been so long since I’ve done something like this. I mean no offense, but Laurie reminds me of Mom when she was carefree.” She shook her head sadly. “Back before Larry came into our lives.”

“Got it,” Duane didn’t know what else to say, so he kept quiet. When they reached the SUV the four of them had arrived in, Katherine laughed.

“When are you meeting your friend? I’m starving.”

“Yeah, I’m getting hungry too. We just have to drive over to the restaurant.”

The settled into the vehicle, and Duane was behind the wheel, with Laurie in the passenger seat.

Katherine sat behind Duane, and Caleb was behind Laurie.

For an early Sunday afternoon, the streets were crowded, so it took a few extra minutes to arrive at their destination.

Duane had parked so they faced the restaurant, and as Katherine unbuckled her seat belt, she looked out the front windshield, and screamed, “Are you fucking kidding me!” Then, she dropped down so she was crouched behind the seat.

“What the hell?” Both Duane and Caleb looked at her. Laurie looked back and took Katherine’s face in her hand and stared at her.

“Breathe!” she yelled, and looked at Caleb.

“Hold her head down!” She nodded when Caleb did, but when either Laurie or Duane tried to get out of the SUV, Katherine told them not to.

It took roughly two minutes to get herself under control.

When she felt like she could breathe easier, she looked at Caleb with a nod.

She slowly sat up and sat in the center of the back seat.

Duane stared at her in shock when he saw nothing but fear in her expression.

It was worse than when he had first met her.

“What it is?”

“George Babcock is here.”

“Where?” Duane demanded as he looked all around, and nodded in relief. “I see Director Grayson.”

“Where?”

“There,” Duane pointed straight ahead to a man standing on the sidewalk.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Katherine looked at him in terror. “Are you saying that man in the black pants, white dress shirt, and jacket is with the FBI?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, shit, we are so fucked. I hate to swear, but we need to get the hell out of here.”

“What? Why?”

“Because that man I just described is George Babcock. See that man in the khakis, and light blue polo shirt that just joined him?”

“Yes, that’s a man I did undercover work with when I was in the FBI. I forget his name.”

“That’s Larry Mason.” She looked at Laurie.

“Take their pictures. Trust me, I need a secure laptop and I can prove it. The man dressed all in black is one of the police officers from the local police station back home. The one that admitted in open court that he was going to pin Stephanie’s alcohol levels on me.

Those three were the ones that showed up at my mother’s house the night I was told I had to disappear. ”

“Are you shitting me?” Duane asked in shocked anger.

“No, get me a secure laptop, and I can prove it.”

“Wait,” Caleb said as he lowered his phone from taking pictures. “I don’t know much about cop stuff, but let’s believe Katherine here for a minute. Say what she is saying is true, what would that mean then?”

“It would mean there are dirty agents in the Bureau. If the information Grayson gave me about drugs, money laundering, and organized crime is true, then if they are who Katherine says they are, they are leading a double life and using their power in the Bureau to do these crimes. This would be a gigantic case.” He shook his head and looked at all of them.

“It could also mean that either Grayson or Mason is, or might be, the head of the snake we talked about earlier.”

“Okay, what if we do this?”

“What?”

“What if you call your Grayson. Laurie and I can record them. If the guy in front of us answers, then we’ll have it on video.” He looked at Katherine. “Will you able to recognize Babcock and Mason’s voices?”

“Yes. But, what does that have to do with anything?”

“Have Duane call them, and I’ll record the conversation once Duane has his phone on speaker. If they are the bad guys, then Duane can make up an excuse that we can’t make it, we go home, regroup and go from there.”

“If what Katherine says is true, and I’m not doubting her, based on her reaction. Then I don’t know who to contact.”

“First, we have to find out if it’s true,” Laurie said.

“Then we have an hour’s drive to get home.

What if we call in reinforcements? You know, the men and women with the military experience to meet us.

We tell them what happened, we get that laptop for Katherine to show us the proof.

If she’s right, then we would have made the right choice.

If she’s wrong, then you could always apologize and set up a meeting for later.

” She turned to look at Katherine who nodded.

“You said it yourself that we need to keep Katherine safe. If we don’t do this, what’s to say that she won’t be dead within the hour? ”

“One thing,” Katherine said.

“What’s that?”

“You’re going to want to remove the battery from your phone. If he has your number, then you’re going to want to make sure he can’t trace you back to Erin’s Way.”

“Shit, you’re right.” Duane sat there for several seconds, then gave a decisive nod.

“Okay, let’s get voice recognition first then we can head home.

I have a couple ideas we can discuss on the way.

” They all nodded, and Duane made sure the rearview mirror was adjusted to watch Katherine’s face as he dialed the phone.

He knew by the second ring that Katherine had been right when the man he knew as Director Grayson pulled a phone from his pocket, answered it, and Katherine began to shake.

“Manchester? You on your way?”

“Sorry, I’m calling to say something came up. I won’t be able to make it today.”

“I came all this way, you better get your ass here to meet me, and make sure you have that fucking little bitch with you. I mean it, Manchester. You don’t want to mess with me!”

Duane immediately hung up the phone, then removed the battery.

He knew without a shadow of a doubt that Katherine was telling the truth, because not once had he ever mentioned his witness was a female.

He saw Caleb lower his phone and wrap his arms around Katherine.

They stayed there until the three men stormed away, got into a vehicle, and Laurie made sure to get the license plate, and they peeled out of the parking lot.

They almost hit several pedestrians, but the reckless driver behind the wheel only blew his horn at them.

They sat there for another ten minutes before Duane started the vehicle, but stopped before putting it in gear when he felt a small hand on his upper arm.

“I’m sorry,” Katherine said.

He reached up and put a hand over hers. “No, I’m sorry.

I know this won’t make any sense to you, but it’s all becoming clearer to me.

Let me get it all sorted out in my head on the drive home, then I’ll explain it to everyone.

Caleb, could you call Ryan and tell him that we need everyone at my office at Erin’s Way in an hour? ”

“I can. Anything, or anyone else?”

“Yes, call Erin, and tell her that we will explain everything, but could she contact Jake from Brotherhood Protectors and have him and six men meet us with the others? Tell him that we need a secure phone and laptop.”

“On it.” With an arm still around Katherine, who had her head burrowed in his chest, he called his uncle first, then Erin.

When he hung up, he saw Duane’s eyes in the mirror and only gave a brief nod.

The only thing you could hear on the drive home was the hum of the tires.

When Caleb felt his shirt stick to his chest, he saw that Katherine had silent tears running down her cheeks.

He only reached for the box of tissues in the seat ahead of him, and pulled several of them out to stuff in her hands.

It seemed like the entire vehicle breathed a sigh of relief when Duane slowed down to pull into the driveway to Erin’s Way.

As he rounded the bend, he had to slam on his brakes when there was a wall of people, all standing there with their legs spread, guns in their hands, and when Clark came to the front window and saw them, he only asked, “Did you invite Jake here?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, they just arrived. Do we need to have a guard?”

“I don’t think at this time, but after you hear what happened, we can discuss it.”

“Understood.” Clark stood back and allowed Duane to park. As they exited, Caleb had his arm around Katherine, and Erin broke away from the pack.

“Are you okay?”

“No, but I will be. We’ll explain.”

“Okay, before we go into the office I have one question.”

“What’s that?”

“Whiskey? Wine? Tea? Water? Coffee?”

Katherine laughed and shook her head. “That was more than one question, but I would love a cup of hot tea.”

“Coming right up,” Erin turned on her heel, but whipped back around to point her stump at Duane. “Do not start without me.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” He helped Laurie from the vehicle, and they all allowed the four of them to enter the office first. Duane liked that there were chairs, several pads of paper, and even a portable whiteboard off to the side.

Everyone settled, without saying a word, and when Erin returned she had an electric tea kettle full of water and plugged it in.

As she did, she turned to Duane and the others.