Bradley Parker lived in the near desert east of Carson City Nevada. He had no neighbors for several miles. His massive stone house had been built as a mine building during the mid-eighteen hundreds when the gold rush was in full bloom. The place was built as a strong defense against claim jumpers and robber gangs. Brad had bought the place in 96, he had become tired of being a big city cop and decided to become a Bounty Hunter. The money he made on his first few apprehensions of bail bond jumpers went toward improving his house. It was a thing of luxury when he was done. Brad paid to have a power line brought to his house. That let him have phone service.

The place had a well when Brad bought it, after several rains the water got muddy, Brad had a deep well drilled and had an unlimited source of clear cold water.

The building had been built near the edge of a canyon, the old mine tunnels were below it. The excavated rock had been dumped over into the canyon bottom three hundred feet below.

By 98 Brad had finished his house. He had never had a guest there, when the urge to enjoy a woman's company came upon him he would go to Reno and spend a few days with one of the thousands of prostitutes. He felt no desire for a permanent relationship.

Brad returned from a job in Los Angeles with a bond jumper, he turned him in to the Sheriff at Carson City and drove his weary butt home.

It was early in the afternoon when he drove up to his house. He had company. A new looking four wheel drive F250 four door pickup was parked in the shade in the front yard. A guy was in a folding recliner next to it. He was dressed in shorts and a tee shirt. He was camping and had been there several days.

The visitor grinned and said "You must be my uncle Bradley Parker, If you are I am your brother's son Hubs Parker."

Brad had attended his brother's funeral eleven years before, was this the skinny wimp of a kid he had met then? Hubs was as tall as Brad was and filled out and all muscle now. He was even better looking than his father had been.

Brad asked what Hubs was doing out this way. Hubs said he had just taken a discharge from the Marine Corps and was bumming around before finding some kind of job and settling down.

Brad invited Hubs into the house, he told Hubs he had been away on a job for six days.

Brad got out beers, Brad chugged his first one down. Brad asked Hubs what he had done in the Corps. Hubs replied he had been a hand to hand instructor and a M.P. his first enlistment. He had been sent to Bosnia first then to Afghanistan second during his next enlistment. He said he was burned out with the 'killing' and not able to understand saving Moslem asses in Slovenia and killing them in Afghanistan.

Brad told Hubs that those leaders of our nations had to be smarter than we common men because they all said they were. Both Brad and Hubs agreed that a lot of them were lying.

Brad brought in his things from his truck, he asked Hubs if he was staying and if so to pick anyone of the other bed rooms he liked and move in. Hubs thought he might like to stay a few days and moved his few belongings in. That few days stretched into a month.

Brad and Hubs became close, they liked each other.

Brad shot a few rounds once a week, he told Hubs he needed to stay in practice. Brad found that Hubs was just as good with firearms as he was.

Hubs fixed the lawn tractor and began to mow the lawn once a week. Afterward Brad would turn on the irrigation system and water the lush sod. Hubs began planting shrubbery and Brad's house yard took on the look of an oasis in that stark landscape.

Hubs had been living with Brad a month when a call came in on a special cell phone early one morning. Brad answered and walked out on the deck near the canyon rim. Hubs saw Brad take out a note pad and write details down. After several minutes he cut the phone off and gazed at the canyon bottom.

Brad came back in the house and asked Hubs to join him at the kitchen table.

Brad said "Hubs I am going to have to be away for a while, that call was business." He went on to say "I am a Bounty Hunter, I make my living by finding bail bond jumpers and bringing them in." Brad told Hubs that he had hundreds of 'Snitches' all over the country. Those people got a share of the bounty when they gave Brad enough information to find a wanted fugitive. Brad said he would pack now and leave. He invited Hubs to stay on at the house while he was gone. Hubs asked if Brad could use some help, he said he would be glad to go as 'backup'. Brad took him up on that.

The call was from a bar in Del Rio Texas. Brad said the guy in Texas thought he had a line on a James Barton. Barton had fled before trial on a charge of bank robbery. There was a half million dollar bond on him. Brad would have to make his deal with who ever wrote the bond.

Brad got into his computer and found the proper program. He asked for information on James Barton. A mug shot came on the monitor and all the information on the bail jumper followed. Ace bonding of Sacramento California had written the bond.

Brad called Ace bonding. He talked to a Mr. Swartz, Brad told him he may have a lead on one of their 'jumpers'. Brad named James Barton. Swartz asked someone for a file. In a minute he was back on the line, he said his company had written a five hundred thousand dollar bond on the man. Brad told Swartz his fee would be two hundred, fifty thousand for bringing Barton in. Swartz agreed and Brad promised to be back in touch. Brad printed four 8 x10 color photos of James Barton before shutting down the computer.

Hubs asked Brad when he wanted to leave.

Brad told Hubs to get ready, he could be ready in ten minutes himself. Hubs packed two sets of jeans and shirts with clean shorts and sox. His small bag with a shaver and morning things went in the tote bag with his spare clothes. He was ready in five minutes with a small gun case.

Brad asked what was in the gun case. Hubs told him, a M16 with four thirty round clips and a short 12ga. Shot Gun with a box of buck shot.

Brad asked "No hand gun?"

Hubs held his thin denim jacket open and displayed a S&W 9mm semi in a quick draw shell holster.

Brad told Hubs he was fully dressed.

They loaded up in Brad's P. U. and left.

Brad drove until he was tired, Hubs finished the trip to Del Rio. Brad directed him to Stan's Saloon. There was only one bartender on duty and two near drunk cow hands at one end of the bar.

Brad asked "You Harvey?" The bartender admitted he was. Brad said "You gave me a call this morning, we came on down to see what you had for us." Harvey told of a young girl coming in each week, she would get there at eight on the dot and have a beer. She came on a Wednesday or Thursday evening each week. In a few minutes a guy would join her, finish her beer, and they would leave. Harvey said the girl looked out of place with a guy like that. The guy wore Mexican clothes and a sombrero. He looked like a Mexican range bum.

She looked like a Queen.

Harvey told of getting some new wanted posters and while putting them away taking a long look at the flier on Barton. It struck Harvey that with a thick handle bar on his lip he was the guy meeting the girl each week.

Brad took out a mug shot and altered it with a felt tipped pen, like this he asked Harvey. Harvey added curled up 'Rat's tails and widened it a bit and said "That's him." Brad said "If he is our man and we pull off a good snatch, our cut is a quarter of a million, you get ten per cent Harvey when we get the money. Harvey was all smiles.

Brad and Hubs left and had dinner. Brad thought they should return before seven thirty, they could look the place over after dark. Brad reasoned that it would be better to take James Barton outside before he joined his lady friend. It would be neater that way.

Just before eight an old VW bug drove in to the parking lot and parked near the street. A young lady got out and looked around. She went in the Bar. A block down the street a junk pickup started and then drove through the bar parking lot.

Both Brad and Hubs had been hidden behind Brad's PU. They saw enough of the driver to be sure he was their man. Brad said "It's Barton, I will distract him at the door if you will send him to the 'Land of Nod'.

Brad slipped into the covered recess at the door, he unzipped his fly and pulled out his prick.

Brad stepped out into the dim light and began to piss as Barton got near. Barton stopped, saw what he thought was a drunk cow hand taking a piss and started toward the bar again. His hand was on his gun under his jacket. Brad asked "You think I could bum a cigarette and a light mister?"

Barton wanted to get away from a crazy drunk cowboy. He took his hand off his gun, took out a pack of cigarettes and held them out for Brad. Hubs was behind Barton then, he swung a mighty blow with his hand gun into the top of Barton's head. It was all over then. They threw Barton into the bed of the truck and pulled out. Two blocks away Brad pulled in behind a empty building and they prepared Barton for a long ride. Brad put hand cuffs on his wrists and pulled his arms to a eye bolt under the tool box and at the front of the bed. Leg irons secured his feet to another eye bolt at the tail gate. Barton was secure for that long trip to Nevada. They hid him from sight by snapping a rubberized canvas cover over the bed.

They drove all night and were home soon after day break. Brad parked the truck in the garage. Hubs wanted to know if they should check on their prisoner before going in the house, Brad said "Fuck him I need to go to bed now." They went inside and fell on their beds. After noon Hubs found Brad in the kitchen talking to Ace Bonding, he asked "What do you mean your man Swartz did not have the authority to enter into an agreement with me to pay as much as half the bond amount." Brad said that amount was the standard fee.

Brad shouted "No, I will not take twenty five thousand for bringing Barton in, I will let him go before I would do that." Then "No I did not tell you I had already turned the bastard over to the law".

Brad said "Your company will have to spend the half million on the bond jumper now, I will call you back two days before you must pay the court to see if you have changed your mind".

Brad switched the phone off and asked Hubs if he could believe there were such dumb asses. Hubs said he could.

Three weeks later Brad contacted the people Ace Bonding was owned by. They were members of the Mafia. Brad made a deal with them.

James Barton was kept in a secure room in the basement.

Just before Ace was due to make their bond good, Brad, Hubs and Barton met a guy in the Sheriff's office in Carson City.

Brad got a certified check, The guy representing Ace got a receipt for James Barton from the Sheriff and Barton got a cell.

Brad and Hubs were involved with home projects, Hubs had started making an irrigated garden, Brad was plowing and leveling ten acres in front of the house. He intended it to be a feed plot for Antelope and deer.

Several weeks after Barton had been turned in to the Sheriff at Carson City the Sheriff called Brad on his special cell phone. It was around noon Brad was in the kitchen fixing something for lunch. The Sheriff told Brad there was a lady in his office, she wanted to see him. She said she was James Barton's wife and needed to talk to Brad about something important. Jess Stuart, the Sheriff, told Brad that there was a million dollars in loot from the bank heist that was still missing. He warned Brad that the money belonged to the Federal Reserve System and was still Government property. Jess said he guessed the woman knew where James Barton had hidden the money and needed help in getting it. Brad grinned and said "Now Jess you know me well enough to realize I would never steal from our government." Jess told Brad to keep that in mind.

Brad said that Hubs was in town buying plants for a garden and he would have him stop by and lead the woman to his home. Brad dialed Hubs on his cell phone, Hubs was nearly ready to come home. Brad explained what he wanted Hubs to do, Hubs would meet the woman and give her instructions as to how to find their home then block her F.B.I. Shadows down in an alley until she could get away.

Hubs was not sure she could find her way and had her wait for him in a shopping plaza. After he got clear of the confusion Hubs found her an led her to Brad's house.

Getting rid of her F.B.I. tail and then taking a long way home made Hubs and Mrs. Barton after four getting to the house. She parked her beat up car and Hubs led her inside.

Brad was at the computer surfing through mug shots and reward fliers.

Brad said "You lost the lady's tails or you would never have brought her here." Hubs said he would not have been able to pull it off if one of the cars had not screwed up and Mrs. Barton had not followed instructions. Brad told them that those guys would find them anyway someday but for now Mrs. Barton was loose.

Brad introduced himself and Hubs. The lady said she was Sherry Walters Barton, wife of James Barton. Brad asked Sherry where she was from. Sherry told them she was living in Del Rio now, but had been born and raised near Jackson Mississippi.

Brad asked what he could do for her.

Sherry said she was broke and desperate for enough money to move her two children and mother away from Rio. Sherry said the only reason she had gone there anyway was to meet her husband once a week and get just enough money to get by. She knew that Brad and Hubs must have taken James as he was about to meet her at that bar, she had found his old truck as she left the place later.

Brad asked how she thought he could help her. Sherry said James's share of the robbery was a little over a million dollars. She said she knew where he had hidden it in Mexico. She said that soon after she had moved to Rio, James had taken her to a shack he was living in. She had seen him get it out to give her money.

Brad told Sherry she was asking him to assist in a robbery of funds still belonging to the Federal Government.

Sherry asked "Then you will not help me?"

Brad said "I did not say that." Sherry asked what he had said then. Brad said there was a way they could get something out of getting that money out of Mexico.

Sherry wanted to hear more about that.

Brad told her he had a lot of planning to do before he wanted to talk to her about that money anymore.

Brad told Sherry and Hubs that he wanted to put a pork tenderloin roast in the oven, it would be for supper and then to slice for sandwiches for the next day. They went to the kitchen and started supper.

Brad asked questions of Sherry, she described a nice childhood in Jackson, of being an honor roll student, of marrying her first and only date a week after their graduation. Sherry said she had gotten a good job before she and James had married. The best thing James had found was clerking in a Hardware store. Sherry said she wanted children while she was young, she was 'Expecting' before she was nineteen. It had been a boy. James looked for a better job. Sherry became 'With Child' five months after little Eric was born. James began spending a lot of time in a bar that was a hang out for ex cons and criminals. Before little Linda was born James had been implicated in a bank robbery in Memphis. The Feds did not have enough to make a case, and Sherry could breathe again.

James denied having any knowledge of a bank robbery. Sherry said James was driving a near new truck two weeks later. About once a month James began being away for several days. Each time a bank was robbed in nearby states. Sherry said that Linda was only six months old when James was arrested for having taken part in a armored car robbery in which five million dollars had been taken.

The F.B.I. arrested James at home and took him to the federal lock up there in Jackson. Two days later James called Sherry at work and told her he had gotten a bond and would be home the next day. James got a taxi home, Sherry was at work then. When she came home James was drinking. Eve, Sherry's mother was feeding the children in the kitchen, she had an evening job as hostess in a fine steak house in town.

When Eve left for work James had taken her to bed. After that he had told Sherry that the case against him was good enough to warrant twenty years in prison if he stayed around for trial. He said he was going to run. He said she and the kids were to follow when he found a place to hide.

Sherry said she had not really wanted to leave her job in Jackson, she and her mother were doing fine by pooling their salaries, but she had agreed. James slipped away after mid-night and had escaped his watchers. Ten days later Sherry found a letter on the seat of her car. She was instructed to move to Del Rio Texas, get an apartment and meet James at Stan's Saloon on Wednesday evening at eight. In the letter was three thousand dollars.

Sherry said she knew now that she would have been smart to have ignored the letter and spent the three thousand.

Sherry had followed her instructions and met James at the bar the following Wednesday night.

Sherry found a crummy job waiting tables in a truck stop, Eve got on at a freight line at night. The apartment they rented was in a slum. It was a piece of crap. The rental rate was more than the nice place they had been renting in Jackson.

Sherry had lived that way for five months, if James had not met her every week and given her five hundred dollars, she and Eve could not have gotten by on their wages.

Sherry told them she was at the end of her rope now, the phone was cut off, she and Eve had been notified that the power and water would be cut off at the end of the month. The apartment manager had given them notice to move before the end of the month and Sherry's job at the truck stop was terminated.

Sherry told them that she did not even have enough money to buy gas to get back to Del Rio. Sherry said she knew that the best thing she could do right now was to get her mother and kids out of Rio if she could find a way. There were no good jobs there.

Brad and Hubs finished fixing supper. Sherry set the table.

Sherry ate like a pig, she had been without real food for two days.

After cleaning up the kitchen Brad and Hubs led Sherry to the living room. Brad pulled up a city map of Del Rio Texas. He had Sherry show him where she and her mother lived. Brad located the bar where they had taken James Barton. There were a number of back roads between the border and Stan's Saloon on that side of town. Brad said he figured Barton had found a way to cross the border and drive on back roads until he was close to the saloon.

Brad asked how Sherry had been able to slip away from her watchers to meet her husband. Sherry said James had bought the V.W bug from an add in the paper. The title was still in the name of Robert Grant, the original owner. James had rented a garage and parked it a half block away. Sherry and Eve shared a worn out four door sedan. Both used public transportation to and from work. The F.B.I, did not know about the V.W.

Soon after she and Eve and the kids had moved James had taken her bus at the next stop down and sat behind her.

James had given Sherry instructions as to finding the car and meeting him at the saloon. She was to slip out of the back door of the apartment and go down the alley, get the car out and drive it to Stan's Saloon. Later she would bring it back and hide it. After dark her 'stake out' could not see her in the alley.

Brad asked if a trailer could be backed into the back yard of the apartment from the alley. Sherry said that her next door neighbor often parked a live stock trailer partly in her backyard.

Sherry asked if Brad and Hubs were going to help her. Brad said they would try. Sherry hugged both of them.

Brad said "It is bed time, we will be on the road all day tomorrow, we are all going to take a tablet to make us sleep. Brad asked Hubs to show Sherry an empty room and he would find the pills.

Sherry looked at the bed room Hubs told her was to be her's and said "I want to go to my car and bring in my things, I want to soak in that tub and shampoo my hair, it has been four days since I have used anything except a service station wash room".

Hubs helped her bring in two more bags.

Brad was in the living room, he gave Sherry a pill wrapped in a Kleenex and told her to take it before going to bed.

Hubs came back from delivering Sherry's luggage and had a beer with Brad. He asked Brad what he was planning. Brad said "I think we can earn a reward from the Feds by returning the money Barton had stolen." He said the bastard had gotten his wife, mother in law and his kids into a bad situation. He wanted to get them out of Del Rio and get them back on their feet.

Brad said they could move them to here for long enough for them to find jobs and get a place to live.

Brad said "If for some reason we can't recover the money the trip will be worth while".

Brad told Hubs that they were going to tow his livestock trailer to Del Rio and back it as close to the back door of Sherry's apartment as possible. They would tell Sherry's mother to pack every thing to be moved into the trailer. Brad said they would attempt to get the money from Mexico and if they did he would try to make a deal with the Feds for a reward of some amount.

Hubs went to bed, he could hear Sherry's hair dryer from the room next to his.

The next morning they let Sherry sleep late, Brad and Hubs hooked up a small cattle trailer to Brad's truck. When they were ready to go they woke Sherry. Hubs told her to get dressed, they would eat later.

Brad and Hubs were amazed when Sherry was climbing in to the back seat in five minutes.

The trip to Rio was made in quick time, by four thirty Brad was backing the trailer up to the back door of a shabby apartment. Eve came out and was told to pack everything in the apartment in the cardboard boxes they had loaded in the trailer. She was to stack them ready to load when they got back. Eve was reminded that the apartment was surely 'Bugged' and she was to be careful that she did nothing to tip off what she was doing.

She was instructed to be ready to leave after dark. Brad and Hubs unhooked the trailer.

The border crossing was easy, Sherry directed them out of the city and through a irrigated farming area. The land became desolate and rocky desert. No one lived there. Sherry told Brad where to turn, she said that just over the next hill was the shack James Barton had used.

Brad stopped the truck and selected the AR16 from his gun case Hubs chose that weapon as well. They spread out and climbed the hill. After watching the place for a few minutes Hubs made a rambling run for the mud brick house. He looked inside and into the two abandoned cars in the yard. Hubs gave the 'all clear' sign to Brad. Brad ran back to the truck and drove it to near the house.

Sherry headed straight to a mud and stone shed built on to the side of the house. Inside she pulled a hay rack and feed trough away from the wall. Inside a recess behind it was five aluminum boxes. Each box had a handle on top, four were still locked and sealed, one had been opened. They looked inside the one that had been opened, it was half full of money.

Brad said "This is what we came for, let's get the hell out of Mexico now." Brad carried two, Hubs two and Sherry got the last one. At the truck Brad unlatched a catch and what looked like a forty gallon fuel tank hinged down. The top had been cut out and there was enough room for the boxes. Brad packed the money inside and Hubs helped him to raise it to lock it back in place.

Crossing back over the border was no problem.

It was after dark when Brad and Hubs hooked to the trailer at Sherry and Eve's apartment. Eve had boxes stacked near the back door. Every thing was ready to load. While Eve and Sherry looked over the rest of the furnishings Brad and Hubs loaded all of the boxes. Eve and Sherry chose to take only the chests the children used, their beds and a play pen. The playpen had all of their toys in side it.

Sherry installed two children's car seats in the center if the back seat and placed two sleeping children in them. Brad asked them to take a quick look around inside to be sure they were leaving nothing of value to them. When they were back and buckled in Brad started the engine and drove down the alley with the lights out.

They left Del Rio and drove until they pulled up in front of Brad's home before dawn.

Four tired people dragged them selves inside with two sleeping children.

Brad said "Catch up on your sleep folks, we will meet in the kitchen at noon." Eve and Sherry went to bed in the bed Sherry had used. They had Linda and Eric between them.

Around nine am Hubs could remain in bed no longer, he had a shower and slipped on fresh clothes. Coffee was made in the kitchen, someone was up. Hubs was sitting at the counter when Sherry came in, she got a clean cup out of a cabinet and poured herself a cup. Sherry said she had started the coffee and gone back to her room. Hubs asked if she had slept well. Sherry said she enjoyed the best nights sleep she had since leaving Jacksonville. Hubs asked if she wanted to move back there.

Sherry said she had no family there now, her mother was about all the family she had left. Sherry said back in Jackson she would always be Sherry Barton, the wife of that bank robber.

Sherry said "I want to find a new place and start my life over again, I am only twenty one years old, I can do it".

Hubs asked if she planned to divorce James Barton. Sherry said she planned to as soon as his trial was over. Sherry felt she should stand by him until he was sentenced.

Hubs told Sherry that there was a lot beside the Casinos going on in Carson City and Reno. He said "There are help wanted signs in front of a lot of businesses and the want adds were full of job openings.

Brad came in and told Sherry that she and her children and mother could stay as long as was needed to get on their feet.

Eve came in with Eric holding her hand and Linda in her arms. Eve said "I have just had the best sleep I have had since leaving Jackson".

Brad and Hubs finished their coffee and moved all of the ladies things from the trailer to a room with two double beds. Through a door was another bed room that Brad said would make a fine play room and room to set up the children's beds. Brad and Hubs moved the furniture out and set up Linda's baby bed and Eric's youth bed.

Part of the rest of the day was spent buying food at a supermarket.

In less than a week Eve, Sherry and the children felt at home in Brad's house. Sherry and Eve were cooking all of the meals and doing all of the house keeping.

Hubs had worked on Sherry's car and had it running like new. He had it painted and it looked like new.

Brad had called the F.B.I. and told them he knew where the money James Barton had hidden in Mexico was. He offered to cross the border, get it and turn it in if there was a reward. He was told there would be a twenty per cent reward for what he could return.

Brad told the agent he would be in touch. During the second week Sherry and her family were in Brad's house, Brad had a call from a 'Snitch' in Denver. He had a positive on a guy wanted for murder in Washington D.C., there was a hundred thousand reward. He had killed a Cop.

Brad and Hubs left a few hours later, Hubs gave Sherry two hundred dollars in case they needed something. He told them both to use his truck if they needed it.

Brad told them to feel at home while they were gone.

Nabbing the 'Cop Killer' was easy, he was passed out drunk on his bed when they went in his room. The 'snitch' owned the sleazy hotel and had given them a key.

Brad and Hubs loaded the drunk 'Cop killer' and started the long trip back to Carson City. After dark they stopped and filled with gas and checked their prisoner. He was still passed out drunk.

Later Brad pulled off the Interstate and drove them to the ranch house of an old friend for a break. Brad's friend invited them in to spend the rest of the night.

They were about half way home.

Brad and Hubs took him up on the offer for a bed

'Cop killer was stretched out in the bed of the truck and had a small twelve volt heater keeping him warm. The guy pleaded for them to give him a chance to go to a toilet and have a drink of water. Brad told 'Cop Killer' he would ask his friend if he would let him in the house for that. Brad's friend told them to bring the garbage in.

'Cop killer' got his trip to the toilet, a bottle of cold water and a bowl of cold beef stew. He even got to sleep shackled to a bed.

After a snack they lounged before a fire and Hubs napped, Brad and their host talked of their days serving as police. They went to bed and slept the remainder of the night. The next morning Brad said "We got to hit the road old friend, it has been pleasant".

Brad's friend asked that they wait, he wanted to show them something. He opened the door to the patio and let two huge Rottwiller females in, behind them two litters of pups scrambled through the doors. Brad's friend said both litters were by the same father, the national champion of last year. He said he would give Brad and Hubs each a male if they wanted. Brad said they could use a watch dog at home and asked advice on picking out one. Their host advised him to take the one sleeping in his lap. Hubs chose the one in his lap.