Chapter 3: Scare Tactics

Rachel finally got Elisabeth calmed down and into bed. The whole afternoon had been a disaster, it took the police all of 10 minutes to say it was some random thing some teenager probably did. Rachel didn’t buy that at all and demanded that something more be done. The officer in charge used his best small town Sheriff Taylor charm to try and calm Rachel. Rachel wasn’t buying the story the cop came up with. This was much more than a teenage prank. The dog had been sodomized and burned. She hoped the dog was dead before all this was done. Rachel could not figure out who would have done such a thing. She felt violated since she was sure the dog had been left inside when they left. That would have to mean that someone either broke in or had a key. The house had not been broken into, so someone she knew had gotten in and done this.

Nichole seemed like she was very shaken up as well. She said she needed time to calm down, so she was going to walk for a bit. She said to Rachel. I’m going to stay the night. I will need at least a night cap or two when I get back from my walk.” She turned and headed for the barn. Nichole opened the barn door and went inside. She knew that there were a few ranch hands still roaming around. She felt safe and ventured further into the barn. Nichole called out. “Buck, ARE YOU STILL HERE?” Deep from the back of the barn she heard Buck call her name. He called her back to where he stood, and they embraced. It was far from a passionate embrace but more a familiar one. Buck smiled at her and said, “Everyone okay at the house?”. Nichole responded saying. “Elisabeth is all sorts of messed up now. Why couldn’t you have waited until we were gone?” Buck’s response was a simple one. He stated that Thomas told him to scare her badly. He said that Michael had screwed up and now the whole operation was in jeopardy. Buck told Nichole about the DEA agent. Nichole said, “I didn’t know about the drugs. I only knew that you and Thomas and Michael were transporting unknown items. Thomas told Nichole to keep her mouth shut or they could make her disappear easily. This was unnerving to Nichole, what was she involved with? She was not privy to the whole process. Buck also told her that Thomas had to fly to Paraguay to “handle the situation.” After a while, Nichole got up to leave. Buck told her to sit back down and watched Buck clean up. Buck finished mucking the stalls he was working on and then went to the wash area to wash up. The wash area was a sink and some soap and towels. Nichole followed Buck; he took off his shirt and grabbed a washcloth and a towel. Nichole had never seen Buck shirtless before. She was impressed by the 6 pack abs and his pectoral muscles. He was a beautiful specimen. She couldn’t take her eyes off his body. She allowed her eyes to look lower and was stunned to see that he was actually, quite well built. He turned to say something and caught her looking at him and realized that he was being looked at as if he were a slab of hanging meat. Just to see what would happen he slipped his jeans off in front of her. He heard her sudden intake of air. She was stunned. His legs were strong as tree trunks. His buttocks were rock hard and then he turned to Nichole and said. “I am so glad that I can clean up properly before I head for home. Nichole could only nod in agreement as her mouth hung open. Buck said. “Earth to Nichole, are you there?” Nichole realized she had been caught lusting after Buck and a crimson color rose in her cheeks. She replied, “Yeah, I’m here. I was just enjoying the scenery.” Buck took Nichole into the hay loft and ravaged Nichole. Buck was far from gentle. He practically raped her. He was very forceful and at the first sign of Nicholes’ impending orgasm he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head until she was eye to eye with him. He then said, “Remember who is in charge here really.” She nodded and then orgasmed.

Two hours later Nichole entered the house. She had hay stuck in her hair and looked disheveled. Rachel asked what had happened and Nichole was not giving any real answers. Rachel wondered how she had gotten hay and straw in her hair. She also realized that Nichole’s shirt was buttoned crookedly. She decided not to point out the obvious fact that Nichole was doing things she only wished she could do. The only question now is who the latest notch in her bedpost was. With that she started up the stairs and asked Rachel if she could take a bath. Rachel of course agreed. She found her anger with Nichole seemed stupid compared to what had happened today. She sent a text to Michael hoping that she’d get a response. All she got was silence.

Nichole was still in the tub when Rachel knocked on the door. Nichole told her to come in and Rachel entered. Rachel asked if she could just sit and chat with her while she finished bathing. Nichole said. “Sure sis, if you scrub my back for me.” Rachel grabbed the washcloth and lathered it up and as she mindlessly scrubbed her sister’s back. She said, “I am so confused and so afraid. Michael left for his convention and then I got that crazy text message. Then the thing with poor Sam, what was that all about?” Rachel expressed, as best as she could, the feeling that her world was spinning out of control. She was afraid for her future. Nichole reassured her that everything would be alright. She stood and asked Rachel for a towel. After drying off she stepped out of the tub and Rachel handed her the best fluffiest bathrobe she had. Nichole smiled and told Rachel it reminded her of when they were kids. How they would always wash each other’s backs when they bathed as 5- and 6-years old girls. Rachel smiled and said, “That is a nice memory.” The two sisters went into the bedroom down the hall where Elisabeth was sleeping. Nichole told Rachel she was concerned that Elisabeth would have nightmares. She had been badly traumatized by what had transpired earlier.

The two sisters went to the kitchen where they opened a bottle of a nice chardonnay. The Chardonnay helped the two to relax. They were both stressed but for very different reasons. Nichole was stressed because of what damage may have been done to Elisabeth, and for fear that Rachel would find out she knew much more than she was letting on. Rachel simply was stressed due to the terror and victimization of her home and the murder of her dog Sam. She also was worried about Michael. It was very unlike him to drop off the grid like he had done. The wine was almost like a lubricant and they both talked with little concern for past issues. It was almost like when they were younger, and they shared a bedroom. The two would talk until sleep would overcome them. After the second bottle of wine, Rachel suggested that they turn in for the night. Nichole headed for the couch. Rachel said. “Why don’t you come in and we can talk until we fall asleep?” Nichole gladly accepted and the two plodded off to bed after checking on Elisabeth.

After Rachel dozed off to sleep, Nichole texted Thomas to see what was happening. Thomas told her about the events of the day, leaving out many of the details. Thomas texted in graphic detail what he wanted to do to her when he got back from his trip. She responded that she couldn’t wait. She relayed the day’s events and told Thomas about almost everything that had happened. She omitted the encounter in the hay loft, and then Thomas told her to keep an eye on Rachel. He wanted her to be afraid. He said if things went bad in South America, he would do whatever was needed to secure the ranch in his name if things went south. Thomas was not going to allow Michael’s stupidity to cost him almost 6 years work. Nichole responded with a simple okay.

“MAMA, MAMA!” Elisabeth yelled. “MAMA, MAMA!”

Nichole sat straight up in bed and called out. “Baby, are you alright? Mama’s here baby.” Elisabeth jumped from her bed and ran for the door of her room. She almost had escaped when the butt of the pistol came crashing down on Elisabeth’s head.

Just after Nichole called out Rachel sat up, looked at the clock and saw the time was 4:30 am. She asked if everything was alright. The tremendous crash she heard made her aware that something serious was happening. Rachel jumped up and was already running before her feet hit the ground. Nichole called out again and got no response. Franticly Nichole called and ran to see what had happened. The scene was surreal. Elisabeth was lying in a pool of her own blood and standing over her was a masked intruder with a gun. The intruder looked at the two women and in his gravelly voice said. “Get out or I will kill all of you and burn the place to the ground.” With that he fled into the night. Elisabeth had been knocked unconscious with the butt of the intruder’s gun after she caught him in the house. She woke up to the sound of her window being opened and when the stranger entered the house, she called out for her mother. Rachel dialed 911 and the police and ambulance arrived simultaneously. Elisabeth still had not moved and Nichole was beside herself. The amount of blood loss looked bad. Upon review of the injury the medics quickly realized that there was an apparent skull fracture. Nichole rode to the hospital with Elisabeth and Rachel stayed home to try to tell the police what little she knew about the whole sordid incident.

Rachel was inconsolable when she found that Elisabeth was in a coma. The hospital staff was sure they would have to sedate both sisters. Both women were upset so badly that they were taken into a private recovery room to settle down. After the initial upset started to pass, the long recovery process and wait began. The minutes ticked away like hours, the hours like weeks. It was a waiting game.

Rachel and Nichole took turns waiting for Elisabeth to regain consciousness. The Doctor told them she had a fractured skull and a subdural hematoma, brain edema and severe loss of blood. He explained that the injury could leave long term brain injury and even cause death. The two sisters had a real health emergency on their hands.

On the third day of waiting, Elisabeth’s eyes opened, and she seemed to be through the worst of it all. During the whole celebration two men showed up asking to see Rachel. It was obvious that they were police of some kind; Rachel assumed it had to do with the attack on Elisabeth. Rachel was stunned to hear them announce themselves as U.S. DEA agents. “What could the DEA want with me?” Rachel responded by saying. “How can I help you officers?”

The taller and more senior agent spoke and said, “My name is Special Agent Ott, and this is Special agent Toomey. We are here because we are investigating the murder of one of our agents.” Rachel’s face revealed complete innocence. She queried. What does that have to do with the intruder in my home?” Agent Ott answered “As far as we know, ma’am, this has nothing to do with the intruder that attacked the little girl. We are sorry to hear that she was injured. The reason we are here is because the agent that was murdered was known to be in very close proximity to Michael, your husband. Can you tell, Mrs. Tobias, where is Michael today?” Rachel looked at Agent Ott and asked. “Why would the DEA have anything to do with my husband? Michael is in Houston at a horse breeder’s convention.” Agent Toomey spoke, saying, “Mrs. Tobias, when was the last time you heard from your husband?” The first thing that ran through Rachel’s mind was the text. She told Agent Toomey that she had received a text from him, and it was a little cryptic. She showed him the text. He pulled out his cell phone and snapped a picture of the text on her phone, handed the phone back and slid his phone back into his pocket. Agent Ott asked her to keep them informed if Michael should contact her again, handed her his card, and tipped his hat and the two were gone. Rachel turned to return to Elisabeth’s bedside and halfway down the hall she felt suddenly sick to her stomach. She found the nearest restroom and her stomach contents spilled out until she had nothing left in her except questions. She washed her face and looked into the mirror and saw a stranger. She had gone through so much that she had lost several pounds. Her hair was not as nicely combed and styled as she usually had it, and she wore no make-up. Without the makeup and styled hair, she resembled a designer dressed beggar.

Rachel got herself put back together and headed for Elisabeth’s room. When she got there Elisabeth was much more alert. She would be in the hospital for a few more days but her prognosis was excellent. There were no signs of permanent injury. She likely would make a full recovery. Nichole was singing to her and rubbing her soft, grade school feet. She turned to look at Rachel and saw immediately that something serious had happened. Rachel was as white as a ghost and looked frail. The youthful Rachel was being replaced with the worried weather worn Rachel. Nichole asked what was wrong and who those two guys were. Rachel told her that they were DEA agents. She relayed what the whole exchange between the agents and her consisted of. Rachel asked Nichole if she had any idea why Michael would be involved with the DEA. Nichole paled, swallowed hard and said she had no idea. Rachel then opened her phone and tried to call Michael only to get his voicemail. She left a message that he needed to call her immediately and then hung up. Over the course of the past 8 days the only contact she had from Michael was a single text.

Rachel kissed Elisabeth’s cheek and said, “I’ll be back in a while.” She then left the hospital and climbed into her Land Rover banging her head on the car frame. She got in and closed the door clutching her aching head and looked into the mirror to see if she was bleeding when she realized that there was someone watching her. It was the quiet Agent, what was his name, Toomey. He was sitting behind the wheel of a non-descript dodge sedan. She did not see the other agent who was with Toomey. He was watching her from a different vehicle two rows behind and to the left. Rachel felt not only anger but also fear. She dropped the Land Rover into reverse and backed up, pulled away and drove into the Aiken, SC traffic. As she pulled away, she saw the sedan pull out. She thought to herself, “This guy’s a moron.” And she decided to lead him on a wild goose chase across Aiken and Richland County. Rachel stopped at several different businesses and almost every time she saw the same moron trying to keep tabs on her.

Rachel knew that she was about to the end of her southern belle rope and her redneck side was itching to come out. She eventually made her way to the Sandhill shopping complex near Columbia South Carolina and found that the agent had a terrible time keeping up with her in the massive crowd. Rachel made a quick escape into the crowd and soon found a store that sold knives and various other protective items. She asked the owner if she knew where she could get her hands on a semi-automatic Sig Sauer P365 Rose XL. The owner knew who Rachel was because of the news report about that attack that had happened 3 days earlier in her home. She told Rachel she was sorry about that intruder. Rachel was completely unaware that the story was that widely covered, and she said thank you. The woman at the stand told her she could help her and pulled out a case from under the counter. She opened it up and showed Rachel several pistols she had for sale. Rachel was impressed with the selection she showed her and settled on a Sig Sauer P365 Rose XL. “Normally I sell this for around $1000, but because of what you have been through, I will take $850.00 and, I will throw in a box of ammo. Rachel took the pistol and put it into her purse. The pistol added so much weight to the purse that she could have swung the purse and clubbed someone. Rachel asked the lady where she could get another clip for the pistol because she wanted to make sure she had enough to protect herself. The woman charged her $100 for two additional clips and Rachel disappeared into the crowd. Rachel vowed that she would not be caught unaware ever again. Rachel got back to her car and realized that the agent had waited for her to return. Apparently when she lost him, he simply chose to return to his car and wait. Rachel decided she was not going to be taunted or intimidated. She decided that she would be the intimidator and walked up to the car where the agent sat. She could see the look on his face reflecting curiosity when she got to the car. She stood and looked in the window until the agent put the window down and then said “Agent Toomey, If, you think you are good at trailing people without being seen you’re not. You might want to go back to your little agent school to relearn how to track someone without being so obvious.” Rachel was proud of the backbone she had shown until the agent said “Mrs. Tobias, Did you ever consider that I wanted you to see me? Perhaps I am doing exactly what I want to be doing!” Rachel was rocked back on her heels. She had never considered that perhaps the agent wanted to be seen. She turned without another word spoken, got back in her car and drove away. When she turned into her long driveway, she saw the agent stop. He did not turn into the driveway, and he disappeared. Rachel saw that most of the staff had left the barn, and she was pretty secluded so she could relax.

Once Rachel reached the house, she took her newly purchased pistol and all the accessories and put it all together, so the holster fit her perfectly. She loaded all 3 magazines and was ready for whatever would come her way. By the time Rachel had all the stuff set up it was almost 4pm and she was feeling exhausted. She always used to go to the loft to get away when they first bought the ranch. She decided to head out to the barn and climbed up into the loft and soon found herself drifting into a fitful sleep. The dreams were soon replaced by a nightmare replaying the attack. She was woken when in the dream she heard the attacker say, “Get out or I will kill all of you and burn the place to the ground.” The gravelly voice triggered a memory and she realized that it was the same person that had called to threaten Michael several days earlier. Rachel replayed what she saw that night over and over in her head. She tried to recall every detail but all she could focus on was his voice and his boots. She thought to herself “Big help I am in solving this.” Rachel got up and headed for the wooden ladder and stopped when she heard voices below. She knew one of the voices. It was Nichole’s. Whoever the man’s voice was, it was muffled, and she had trouble hearing him. Nichole was saying how angry she was, that Elisabeth had been injured. Rachel tripped as she tried to get closer to the edge so she could hear well. She came very close to falling out of the loft. The talking below ended immediately and Rachel feared that she had given away her location.

Rachel remained in the loft until she knew she was alone and then climbed down. She wanted to know who Nichole was speaking to and what the conversation was really about. She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and realized it was almost 8:30. She had been in the loft for three and a half hours. Her stomach grumbled because she hadn’t eaten since the night before and she realized that she was famished. She walked to the house and let herself in and decided she would order a pizza, watch TV and have a Son of a Peach Beer, a Southern delicacy. Rachel was watching a movie on Netflix about a girl that was kidnapped while in a foreign country, and her father who goes on a killing spree trying to get her back. She did not feel like watching any romance, that was for sure. She was pissed and confused. Somewhere during the movie her eyes got heavy, and she dozed off.