Chapter 3

Andie had sold her calf crop that winter also and was busy planning for the new calves. Sammy was investing our calf money in some short-term investments. We were going to pay this year's expenses with some of the money from Kansas City.

Sammy was working every day and her company loved her productivity. One day a tractor/trailer pulled up at the ranch and said they had a delivery for Mrs. Wadsworth. Andie went outside and identified herself as Andie Wadsworth (I still smiled when I heard my wives say their names). They asked her to sign the receipt, and unloaded a new Massey Ferguson 80 horsepower tractor, a little larger than our old one.

"Sammy," Andie yelled, "Please come out here."

Sammy came to the door and said, "How do you like our new tractor?"

"It is beautiful, but can we afford it?" She asked.

"It was bought with my bonus from work and some of the profits from our investments," Sammy explained. "I am not going to have you and Mac freezing on our old one. This cab model will keep you warm."

Andie went up to her and hugged and kissed her. "Thank you so much, Sweetie. I trust you and Mac to see about the business, so all I do is worry about the cattle and loving you."

The cab tractor surely made feeding the cattle in the winter a much more pleasant task. On the way in from feeding, I had just pulled into the shed and heard a yelp from the house. I got my carbine and moved toward the house quietly. I went to the back door, and looked in.

I saw Sammy in a chair tied and beaten. There were two men in with her. I kicked the door and shot them both to pieces. I put my empty carbine down, and got out my pistol. I cut Sammy free. She was bruised but not broken. She got the shotgun from the back door and a revolver from one of the dead guys, and told me Andie was in the bedroom with two more.

I told her to stay behind me and not let one get behind us. I eased into the living room. One of the bad guys had taken a firing point watching the door we came in and fired at me when I came through the door. I heard the shot and fired three quick shots at him. He started coughing.

My face was burning. Sammy said, "Mac you are hit."

"How bad?" I asked.

"A crease on your right cheek," she answered.

"We only have one left, I got that one in the lungs," I said. We heard him cough out his last and moved up.

I yelled out, "Let Andie go and we will let you live."

"Get out of the house or I will kill him," he screamed.

"Go get your rifle and shoot him in the forehead as soon as you get a clear shot," I told Sammy. "He will kill Andie anyway."

When she got back I got her into a good firing position. I told him that we had moved and he had a clear path out the door. I said, "If Andie is hurt you will not see tomorrow."

He came out using Andie as a shield. He had seen too many movies, or dealt with police who did not mean to kill him. I meant to kill him.

He moved his head to yell something at me when I heard the carbine go off. He crumpled like a rag doll. That 30-30 had emptied his skull. I immediately went to Andie. The bastards had beat the shit out of her, but nothing was broken that I could tell. I hugged my girls and told them that I was sorry for this.

Sammy called the sheriff, and I called Agent Evans in Kansas City and told him there were four more dead hitmen in my house.

I cleaned up Andie and Sammy. They both had some loose teeth, and were 'beat up', but not wounded. They insisted on looking at my bullet wound. It was very minor, but had bled profusely. It could probably use a stitch or three, but Andie put some butterfly bandages on it and I called it okay.

The deputy sheriff had arrived by now, and was taking our statements. In about an hour, the sheriff's investigator was on the scene collecting evidence. He said, "You surely shot the hell out of those two." He indicated the two in the kitchen.

I said, "I had to make sure they were dead, it was two on one. I was also mad as hell. They had beaten the shit out of Sammy."

"The one in the hall was hit three times and I only found three empty 9mm's," he said.

"I must have hit him all three times I shot, then," I explained.

"He was hit in both lungs, and in the heart plumbing," he said.

"I didn't find an empty from the 30-30," he said.

"She probably didn't eject it," I offered.

He shucked the empty out and said, "Here it is all right."

"Can we start cleaning up," Sammy asked.

"Probably not until tomorrow afternoon," the investigator said.

I had to hand over my Bushmaster and Ruger to the investigator as well as Sammy's carbine. "It will probably be about 6 weeks for the guns," the investigator explained, "sorry, you know lawyers."

"Are we gong to have any problems from the law?" I asked.

"Most likely not. We have already heard from the FBI," he told me with a smile.

We got some things together and went to town. We rented a motel room with two beds, and went in to sleep.

The next morning, I checked my girls over closely. Their faces were turning beautiful colors. I made them go to the doctor. He checked them over, and gave them a clean bill of health and some medicine to inhibit blood clotting.

They made me let him look at my face. He said I needed some stitches, and gave me about 6 small ones. Sammy told him she did not want me scarred up. We all got a laugh out of that.

We did our shopping, and made arrangements to have a carpenter come and repair the back door and the holes caused by the gunfire.

We went to the gun shop and bought a replacement for Sammy's carbine, and had good sights installed. Sammy and Andie bought me a pair of Glock 26's with four spare model 17 magazines, in case I got into a fight. Those small guns were really well made. Sammy said, "I read about them on the Internet. They are a bit bulky, but totally reliable."

I bought a couple of Fobus holsters, and called it a good deal.

As I was walking out, I noticed a model 1100 small gauge. "Is that a .410?" I asked.

"Yes, they only make a run of them about every three years," the owner answered.

"I need another one of those," I said to the girls.

So I proceeded to become the proud owner of a Remington model 1100 Sporting in .410 bore, along with a case of target loads and a case of buckshot.

We went home after overspending our monthly budget in one day.

When we got home the sheriff's department was finished with our place. I had the girls go take care of the stock, while I worked on cleaning up the blood, and broken things.

When they got back I had the blood pretty much cleaned up, and was working on the things that had been broken. Andie cried when she saw that some of her mother's china had been broken.

We all worked hard on the clean up and then went to bed. We snuggled and kissed. I told Sammy how much I loved and appreciated her willingness to do what it took to protect our lover. They were both lying on me. I was happy, but I was also planning a way to end this problem.

The next day, we finished cleaning up the mess. I went and fed one herd of cattle. I got home and took apart all the new guns and cleaned them thoroughly, and lubricated them. I was very impressed with the Glocks.

Things went along, and we finally got back in one piece. The house was repaired, the girls' teeth had tightened back up and I had gotten my stitches out.

I had looked on E-Bay and found several place settings of Andie's china, and bought them to replace what was broken. I also bought several serving pieces. That old china was expensive.

Andie's birthday came up, and we had a small party. Sammy baked a cake. We had ice cream. We danced around to the stereo, and had a really good time. Andie was very pleased with the china we had bought her, and hugged and kissed both of us repeatedly.

I wanted to go on a trip to see what I could find out about my enemies, but my birthday was just around the corner and I wanted my girls happy. My birthday came around and we had another small party. I had a wonderful time. The girls had bought me a knife. It was a Colt M-16 K. It had a dagger point, and was "assisted opening". In other words it was a spring blade. It was really sharp and I cut myself 3 times playing with it. I carried it with me all the time in my hip pocket.