Chapter 15

Thursday Morning

Nexus Ranch

Near Harborton Washington

Ben was just getting ready to take his second cup of coffee out onto the porch when he heard a couple of terrified screeches.

He ran out the door and down the steps frantically trying to pinpoint where the murder was about to occur. Instead of an imminent homicide though, he was confronted with the strange sight of two grown men frantically scrambling up the two hundred foot tall fir tree that grew next to the dirt driveway. They had made it over half way up the tree when Ben spotted the gray striped terror at the bottom of the tree pacing around the huge trunk.

“Ahh c’mon doon yah wee numpties! I waz jus havin’ soom fun wit yah!” yowled Tom up at them.

Ben’s mind was trying to grasp the scene in front of him when he heard Mei’s tinkling laughter behind him. She went to Ben and wrapped him in her strong tanned arms while she continued to laugh.

“Uhh, Mei. What’s going on?” said a puzzled Ben.

“One second dear, and I’ll explain.” said Mei as she strode toward the site of the perceived soon to be massacre.

“Tom, will you please stop bullying our newest employees? I’m going to have to notify HR” said Mei sternly.

“Sorry Mei. I was jest havin a good craic with ‘em. Asides doon the idjits ken that cat’s can climb trees? They cannae be the sharpest crayons in the box.” said Tom.

“John, Carl. It’s safe to come down now. The kitty won’t hurt you.” Mei called up into the tree.

“You sure miss Mei? That’s not a cat, it’s a demon!” said John.

“Yeah my nut sack still hurts from the last time we saw that thing!” said Carl.

Just then two of the younger girls that they had rescued approached Mei and Tom. They were about 10 years old, tiny, and as cute as could be with pink and white ribbons in their dark hair and wide white smiles on their pretty faces.

“Time for play Mr. Tom” said one trying out her new English.

“Please play dressup. Mr. Joe play too.” said the other as she scooped the thirty pound cat up arm up in her arms.

“Oomph!” said Tom as the girl squeezed him.

“Be careful with him girls, he’s a vicious killer!” Said Mei.

“We will!” said the girls giggling at Ms. Mei as they ran away.

“I think the threat has been neutralized. You two tough guys have been saved by some little girls so come on down.” said Mei.

Reluctantly the two retreated down the tree nearly falling from the last branch. The two were covered in pine sap and needles and looked like they had been dragged backwards through a hedge. Trying to recoup a little dignity they came to a sort of attention in front of Ben.

“Ben, meet the newest members of your security team. This is Carl Johansen late of the 10th Mountain Division,” she gestured to the blond haired tall one, “and this is John Bonavetti recently from the 101st airborne.” she said, waving toward the short, stocky dark haired man next to Carl.

“Please to meet you sir!’ said Carl

“Yes sir. Sorry about the earlier mixups sir” said John.

“Please gents, I’m not a sir any longer. Just call me Ben.” Ben stepped forward and shook their hands. “Mei has explained the circumstances you were working under previously and that she trusts you. That’s good enough for me. We can really use the help. As you can see from your rescuers we have some precious charges we need to protect until we can get them safely home and we don’t yet know what the threats might be. Your work will be greatly appreciated.” said Ben.

“Yes s ... Ben. We were working up north in the tulip fields and it was good work but we jumped when Ms. Mei asked if we could help.” said Carl

John leaned forward conspiratorially and whispered to Ben, “She’s a little scary, but she’s always been fair to us and we owe her big time for getting us out of the last mess.”

Mei scary? Well this is interesting, Ben thought as he glanced sideways at her. Ben had never seen that part of her before. She was so loving and giving to him and to her sisters. Everyone that spent a minute with her fell in love. Ben was going to have to get to know Mei better. He wanted to understand all of her story. He felt she might be a little like her sponsoring goddess, Nyx. She was bright and sunny, but there were dark mysterious places as well.

“Yes, well we have a couple of temporary trailers being set up now for your quarters and two other former military that we’ve bought on. A good friend of mine, Mr. Ferguson, will be in charge of getting you settled and trained up on what we are doing. We also have a former Marine Gunnery Sergeant, Jean Goldsmith, who will be running the detail day-to-day. If you have any questions that she can’t answer you can ask me if I’m here or Sarah who runs close in security.” said Ben.

Just then Kelly appeared on the porch and waved. Ben gestured her over. Kelly ambled over and gave Ben a smoldering kiss that made his toes curl up in his boots. The smouldering woman with the chestnut hair, made it perfectly clear that their new boss was her man, Carl and John’s mouths dropped open and their eyebrows shot up into their foreheads.

“Ummm Kelly. These two are our new employees. John and Carl.” said Ben with a gesture.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to embarrass you two fellows. Nice to meet you.” said Kelly in a lilting voice that made it perfectly clear that she wasn’t sorry at all.

John knew exactly who Kelly was as he had made a point of getting coffee where she worked at every possible opportunity. He was devastated as his infatuation with Kelly came crashing down.

Carl just grinned at his friend’s discomfiture as he knew that the cocky Italian had a huge crush on the slim but curvy woman and that she had never even known John existed.

“And of course you can always talk to your old boss Mei, although it loooks she’s going to be working offsite for awhile. “ Ben said gesturing towards Mei.

Just then Siofra walked out onto the front porch and down to where they were standing. She was wearing beautifully crafted green leather leggings with a gold embroidered pale green tunic. Her waist length light blond hair was piled atop her head in elaborate swirls highlighting her delicate features and slightly pointed ears. She sketched an elegant bow.

“Lord Ben, pardon, but time is for you meeting,” said Siofra in a beautifully melodic voice

“Siofra, please it’s just Ben. Thank you, we’ll be right in. Your English is amazing by the way!” said Ben.

“Thank you L ... Ben. Queen Rhiannon said I need learn quickly to be your ambassador.” Siofra said with a pretty rose colored blush on her pale cheeks.

Kelly and Mei exchanged looks. Ben was clueless as usual, but they could see the extra effort that Siofra had put into her appearance. She had it bad for their man.

“Okay girls. Carl, John- I see Ferg coming up the driveway now. Just see him, he’ll get you started.”

John and Carl stared at each other as Ben and the girls plus one headed back into the house.

“Was that...” started John.

“Yeah, pretty sure, that was an elf.” replied Carl.

‘She’s pretty hot. I wonder if she’d be interested in drinks with me?” said John.

Carl just rolled his eyes and slapped his ever-hopeful partner on the back.

“You never know John, stranger things have happened.”

Thursday Afternoon

The Infirmary

Harborton, Washington

Trooper Raymond Johnson (Ray Jay to his friends) was intrigued. The request from Ben Clarkson for a few minutes of his time before he went on shift had been relayed through dispatch the evening before and Ray Jay’s curiosity would not let him pass up a chance to learn more about what he had seen. In spite of the “ignore the weird” vibe he had drilled into the rookie that had been his partner that strange evening, Ray Jay had always been fascinated by the things he had come across in his more than 2 decades of night patrol.

“Thanks for meeting me here trooper Johnson” said Ben reaching out to shake the lanky trooper’s large hand as the trooper spotted Ben.

“No problem Mr. Clarkson, Hopefully, I can be of some service,” replied Ray as he removed his slate blue Smokey Bear hat.

“Please, it’s just Ben. I know you are about to go on duty but can I get you a coffee?” asked Ben.

“Then you can call me Ray Jay, and thanks for the offer but I’ll probably be coffee’d out soon, my wife always packs me a thermos of the fancy stuff and she’d get pretty ornery if I didn’t drink it before the end of my shift,” said Ray Jay.

“Hah, that I can understand!” said Ben as he gestured Ray Jay into a seat opposite him next to the windows looking out onto Harbortons Main street.

“So you’re married too?” asked Ray Jay

“Um, not exactly, let’s just say I’m very, very, very engaged,” replied Ben.

“Uh Huh. I think I get it.” said a slightly skeptical Ray Jay. He had done a little digging and made a few calls and discovered that Ben was in the system as a bachelor currently. He also discovered that Ben was a highly decorated former Marine which was another reason why he agreed to a meet. “So what can I do for you Ben?” asked Ray Jay.

“Well. I just wanted to give you a heads up, explain a few things and express the thanks of some of the people that you met on the bus for your discretion.

Ray Jay cocked a slightly suspicious eyebrow.

“There’s no need to thank me for doing my job and as for discretion no one would have believed me anyway.” said Ray Jay with a wry smile.

“Please just let me explain. The people on the bus are in fact very vulnerable refugees and me and my friends and family are trying to protect them from others who are trying to destroy them.These folk are also incredibly sensitive to intent. They in fact, had a very strong intuition about you and all agreed that you can be trusted with their secret. They or me would never ask, or expect or want you to do anything to compromise your integrity in the slightest. Honor and duty are taken very seriously among them. I happen to feel the same way,” finished Ben.

“Ah, I see. So can you tell me a little more about what I saw?” asked Ray Jay.

“Okay, well, here’s the short version: You probably remember some of the stories from your childhood or maybe from popular fiction like Lord of the Rings, etc. The beings in those stories are generally thought to either be imaginary or to have died out long before America was even a country. But they are quite real and didn’t just fade away. Instead, many of them moved here to hide out in the most remote mountains they could find. These people call themselves the Fae. Other very small populations still remain in other wild places but the ones here began having a serious issue that threatens their survival a few years ago.” said Ben.

“What kind of issue?” asked Ray Jay.

“They are being hunted by what I can only describe as Hell Hounds. I know it sounds...”

“No, wait I think I believe you. I may have even seen some of these ‘hounds’ crossing the bridge over the river a couple of days ago and we’ve been getting really odd reports of huge black wolves being sighted. I thought it was my eyes playing tricks on me, or hysterical farmers, but what you are saying describes them perfectly.” said Ray Jay.

Ray Jay could see Ben visibly relaxing as he realized that he wasn’t going to have to struggle to make a believer out of him. Ray Jay was a thinking skeptic, but he couldn’t deny what he saw with his own eyes. He had learned that just because a thing didn’t fit with what you thought of as reality, didn’t mean that it didn’t exist.

“Yes, that timing is about right. We don’t know how they ended up here, but they showed up shortly after we began sheltering the Fae on our property. I think they may have tracked a young woman and her child who was running from them over the bridge and onto our ranch. Luckily, we’ve since been able to put protection in place to prevent these beasts from attacking the Fae refugees on my property.” said Ben.

“I see, then what else can I do to help?” said Ray Jay.

“Well for one, we don’t know what harm these beasts are to the community and we just want someone to be aware of the threat and let us know of any suspicious sightings so we can help counter it if necessary. These hounds are supernatural and are particularly drawn to the Fae, but it’s also possible they could attack livestock or even people.

“Damn, If what I saw is any indication, these things are a serious threat.” said Ray Jay recalling the sheer size of the creatures he thought he saw that night.

“Exactly, and that brings me to the other problem. How did they get here? The Fae are very concerned that even darker unseen forces of some type are at play. Someone, or something is controlling these beasts and we don’t have a clue who or what that might be.” said Ben. “It’s likely that there are others, human or demon involved,” finished Ben.

“Alright I’m in. If I can help I will. My wife is always telling me I’m not really going to retire. Maybe she’s right.” said Ray Jay.

“Thank you Ray Jay, we have other contacts in law enforcement but no one is on the ground in this area like you are, especially late at night when these things are likely to be around,” said Ben.

“Yeah, I’ve always preferred the night shift and nowadays I’m so senior they just automatically give it to me,” said Ray Jay.

Truthfully, he had turned down promotions just so he could stay on patrol. He loved the mystery of the road at night. He had always felt the night was magical. Now he knew beyond any doubt that this was true.

“Along those lines, the Fae asked me to ask you to accept this as a token of their appreciation,” Ben said as he slid a small beautifully carved wooden box across the table to Ray Jay.

“Ben, you know I can’t accept this!” said Ray Jay.

“No Ray Jay, this gift has no monetary value, please just open it and you’ll see.” said Ben with a small knowing smile.

Ray Jay shrugged and then opened the lid of the box. Inside was a small St Michaels medallion. St, Michael was known as the protector of policemen because of his role as a protector and a fighter of evil. This looked much like the typical medallion you might find in any store or online catalog selling police gear. Certainly, it was worth nothing as a bribe.

Ray Jay couldn’t resist picking it up to look closer and to determine what all the fuss was about. As he did he let out a gasp as a spark shot up his arm followed by a warm glow that was gone as quickly as it happened.

“What the...” exclaimed Ray Jay.

Ben chuckled. “I thought that might get your attention. It goes against human tradition, but according to the Fae themselves St. Michael was actually an ancient Fae king. The authors of the Christian bible included him as an archangel in their beliefs. He was a great killer of demons in his time and our Fae thought it would be an appropriate talisman for you. Also, that charge you felt was a ‘ward’ that was created to protect the wearer from any supernatural harm. It will warn you if anyone or thing evil or intending you hurt approaches you. Hopefully it will stand you in good stead on your long night patrols,” said Ben.

Ray Jay was rendered speechless at the gift. At last he had something he could touch that confirmed his years of late night thoughts. His wife was going to be really tickled, but he wasn’t sure if his mother-in law would be included in the ‘anyone evil’ or not.

As if reading his mind, Ben chuckled and then spoke, “Also please accept our invitation for you and your wife to come visit us at the ranch anytime you’d like. You may have heard that we have started a women’s shelter and an animal rescue. My family would love to meet you both and show you around.”

With that, Ray Jay and Ben, stood, shook hands again and said their goodbyes. Ray Jay walked out to his patrol car still in a slight daze, bemused by all he had just learned. He placed the medal around his neck just before getting into his patrol car and was rewarded with another light tingle. As he prepared to drive off and start his shift he smiled in wonder. Just when you thought you were on a comfortable slide into a quiet retirement, life comes up behind you and gives you a big ‘ole kick in the pants.

Nexus Ranch

Thursday Early Evening.

Ben knew instantly that Lizzy was troubled. He hadn’t managed to talk to her last night as he had gotten in so late and she had been up early and worked all through breakfast. Kelly had told Ben that Lizzy had been heads down on something since he had left for the mountains, but it was really unlike her to completely shut herself off.

“Okay let’s get started. Lizzy has uncovered some urgent information about the trafficking ring we interrupted so she’ll kick it off.” said Kelly from the head of the table.

“Uhem. Okay, well I had several of my bots digging around the clock through Law Enforcement databases, but strangely there was very little info on the companies mentioned in the documents we recovered from the Outlaw Demons property. It seems they’ve been flying under the radar or that the fix was in and a great deal of influence and/or money was spent on keeping the records clean.” said Lizzy.

“That’s something to think about. The DEA agent at the bar said something about how they were never able to prosecute. I wonder if there’s a connection.” said Sarah.

“Yeah, that’s starting to look likely, especially when I started following the money. After not turning up much in law enforcement I had a hunch about that dive bar where you took down the bikers Sarah. It seemed they were just a little too chummy with that pond scum ‘Outlaw Demons’ gang. Allowing them to use it as their unofficial gang bar should have been hurting their revenues and yet they were turning record profits.”

“Ah so the bar’s a cover for money laundering?” said Ben.

“Quite possibly. Anyway I started pulling threads and after running through several front corporations they all led back to one man. This guy’s a real piece of work. He’s a trust fund kid whose been accused and charged but never convicted of just about every kind of sex crime you can name. He always seems to get off scot free though.” said Lizzy.

“Hmmm I wonder why that is? I’m sensing some common elements here.” said Ben.

“I can guess how he gets out of everything. His name is Dell Campbell, his dad is Senator James Campbell.” said Lizzy

Kelly let out a gasp and turned white as a sheet. She slumped forward, her arms wrapped around her torso and it looked like she was about to faint.