Chapter 2

Carol went to the bank and transferred some funds into her checking account and spent a few minutes talking to the bank manager. She then went to the pharmacy and picked up her prescription for birth control pills. This always warranted a look from the pharmacist. She took the pills more out of habit than anything else, as she had not been with a man since her husband died. She didn't have anything against being with a man but there was no suitable man in this town for her. She decided to get a sandwich and a coffee at the diner. As she went into the diner she saw two of the ranchers that she had as clients and they asked her to check out some of their herd when she got a chance. A farmer asked her to stop and check his hogs when she was in the area. She assured each of them that she would and ate her sandwich and left. As she passed the newspaper box she put the coins in and bought a newspaper. She went to the supermarket and picked up enough groceries to last several weeks. Carol loaded the groceries, got into the pickup and started home.

When Carol walked into the kitchen "Cowboy" was still working in the barn. She put the groceries away that she had bought and put the paper on the kitchen counter. She fixed a sandwich and some instant iced tea and called "cowboy". As he ate his sandwich Carol sat at the table and started to read the paper. She was almost finished reading when she noticed a picture of a man she thought looked familiar. She started reading the newspaper article and she felt like she had been hit in the gut by a 2 by 4. She put the paper down and waited until he had finished his sandwich. Carol got up from the table and walked behind him. "John?" she said quietly. He turned around slowly, "That's my name," he said with a grin, "Why couldn't I remember that before?" Suddenly he looked at her and asked, "How do you know that my name was John?" Carol took the paper and showed him the article that had told her who he was.

"Wealthy developer John Fornos Dies In Plane Crash." the article's headlines stated. The article went on to state that the company plane that John Fornos was piloting had taken off in a little over 6 weeks ago and had been found in a remote valley in the Wasatch Mountains. Authorities were at a loss to explain why the plane was in the Wasatch Mountains as the flight plan was for a Denver to Dallas flight. The article went on the say that no body was found because animals had apparently carried away the bones but that John Fornos' blood was found in the cockpit. DNA tests had confirmed that it was John Fornos' blood. Authorities had concluded that no one could have lived through the plane crash as the airplane had nose-dived into the ground. John Fornos wife Susan was going to take over the company and Ted Ransom was to become president. Susan Fornos had announced that as John had wished she was going to take the company global. He put the paper down and stared at the wall. Carol broke the silence.

Well, I guess we know who you are now," she said. "This is opening some doors, but there is still a lot that I can't remember," He said. "Do you think that I came to this ranch from the plane crash?" he asked. "You're not thinking straight," she replied, "How did you tie yourself to the tree?" "John, somebody almost beat you to death, those injuries were not from a plane crash." "That valley is about 40 miles from here." "You would never had made it here in your condition." She then told him about the car and how she had thought that someone was throwing trash by the side of the road. She had never told him why she had gone to where he was tied to the tree. John put his head in his hands, "There is so much here that is not adding up." Carol started questioning him, "Think, John, did you get on that airplane?" "I don't think so," He answered. "Should I get in touch with my wife?" he asked Carol. Carol thought for a minute before replying, "John you said it yourself." "There is too much here that doesn't add up." "Let's wait a couple of days and trying to get you to remember more." Carol put her hand on his, "Let's let John Fornos stay dead for a few more days." John looked at her, "The article says that I am wealthy." "I don't even have any money to pay you for saving my life." "You don't owe me a thing," she said. "I just remembered something else," he said. "Ted Ransom isn't qualified to be president." Carol got a quizzical look on her face.

"John bare with me, I want to make a phone call," she said. Carol went into the computer and got on the Internet. She searched for the company phone number for John Fornos, Developers. She came back into the kitchen. "I'm going to call Ted Ransom, I hope he is unqualified as you think he is," she said. She dialed the number that she had pulled off of the Internet. She walked over and put her head next to John's so that he could hear the conversation too. Within seconds the receptionist answered. Carol asked for Ted Ransom. "Who shall I say is calling please?" the receptionist asked. "This is his sister," Carol replied. In a few seconds a voice said, "Pat, how are you?" Carol interrupted him, "Ted this is not Pat." "Does sleeping with the bosses wife get you promoted to president?" "Who is this?" Ted Ransom hollered into the phone. Carol continued, "Shut up and listen." "I have a few pictures of you and Mrs. Fornos that I think that you might like." "Oh, you might like the phone taps too," she said. "What do you mean?" Ted Ransom said quietly. Carol suppressed a giggle, "Unless you want your little scheme to backfire and put you both in jail for life, you'll get 5 million dollars together." Ted was obviously shaken, "Look can't we talk about this, and can I see the pictures?" "I'll call back with the time and the place for the money to be delivered," she said and then hung up. "Sorry that I had to do that to you," Carol said to John. "I figured that that is what is going on." John looked shaken. "It looks like my wife and Ted Ransom tried to have me killed so that they could take the company and be together," he said.

Carol sat back down. "John, let's try to remember whatever you can," she said. "What you don't know can get you killed," she added. "Why would you be going to Dallas?" Carol asked. John thought for a minute. "I don't think there was a trip to Dallas that week," he said. Carol brightened, "Then we will have to prove that you never got on that plane and find out who did." "Carol looked at John and knew that another piece of the puzzle had become clear to him. What is it John?" she asked. "I just saw the faces of the two men who beat me up, but I don't know who they are," he said. "Try to cement their faces into your memory," she said. "Now, how did your blood get in the cockpit of the plane if you were never in it?" she asked. John sat and thought for several minutes. Memories were coming hard to him. Every new memory raised several new questions that John could not answer. Every bit of his past had to be pulled from deep within his mind and brought to the forefront. His face brightened, "We had a blood drive a couple of days before you found me tied to the tree." Carol and John questioned each other until midnight. Both of them were emotionally drained. Carol got up from her chair, "I think we ought to stop and get some rest." "We can continue this tomorrow." John looked down at his feet, "I thought that my marriage was solid." "The sex had tapered off in the past few months, but Susan said that she was just tired from trying to prove herself in the company." "We had set up a division to build new towns, what we call "Planned Urban Developments", and Susan was running it." "She wasn't having much such success and Ted Ransom was the major problem." Carol put a hand on his shoulder, "Let's call it a day, you need some rest."

Carol took a fast shower, put on her nightgown and went to bed. She laid in bed thinking about the new memories that she and John had pulled out of his consciousness today. She agreed with John there were many holes in what little John could remember. Several times she could hear John say something downstairs as if he was talking out loud to himself. Carol closed her eyes and tried to sleep. After what seemed like hours she went down stairs to get a drink. As she passed through the living room she saw that John was laying on his back with his arms folded across his chest. He was staring at the ceiling. Carol went over to the cot and sat down next to John. "What's wrong Cowboy?" she asked. It suddenly dawned on her she liked calling him cowboy and that it had deeper meanings than a casual listener would understand. John looked defeated, "I have just been lying here and remembering some more of my past." "I've read that's how amnesia works," she said. "Every piece of information that you can pull out of the deep recesses of your mind pulls 10 more with it," she said. John's face clouded over. He thought to himself that he would just like to vanish off the face of the earth. "I can't imagine what I did so wrong that my wife would want to kill me," he said.

He sat up and put his feet on the floor. Carol moved forward between his knees and pulled his head to her. "Don't go beating yourself to death," she said, "It probably has nothing to with anything you did, and it was probably the money." He put his arms around her and pulled her to him. Carol let him hold her close for a while and then pulled away. She took his hand and pulled him to the large braided rug in front of the wood stove. Carol sat on the rug and pulled him down with her. Their lips met and their tongues were dueling. John started caressing her and her gown started to be in the way. She pushed him gently away and stood up. Carol had forgotten to put on her robe when she came down stairs. The gown, although it was not see-through, was made of silk and was very clingy. It left little to the imagination. Carol grabbed the hem of her gown and pulled it over her head. She stood for a few seconds allowing John to gaze at her body. John reached out to her and pulled her down to him. He laid her down and kissed her gently. The kiss grew in intensity until their tongues were dueling again. After a while, John pulled away and started kissing her neck and working down to her breasts. As he sucked Carol's nipple into his mouth Carol gasped. He alternated between her breasts and caressed her mound with his hand. Carol's hips were moving up to meet his caresses. John's lips started moving down to her mound trailing kisses across her stomach until his lips found her cunt. Carol moaned deep in her throat when his lips gently pulled at her bud. John licked her cunt and started dueling her bud with his tongue. Carol raised her hips to meet his mouth and the first wave of her orgasm swept over her. She cried out and pulled his tongue closer to her pleasure. Wave after wave of her orgasm swept over her. Carol grabbed his head and pulled him up to her. She held him away gently with her hands and they looked into each other's eyes. Carol pushed him away and onto his back. "Your turn Cowboy," she said softly as she put her leg over him and positioned herself above him. Carol grabbed him and guided him to the entrance of her shaft. She lowered herself slowly as he started to enter her. She took him slowly allowing her shaft to get accustomed to his size. She had never had a man as large as him before. When she had taken his entire length into her she started rising up and down on his cock. A second orgasm hit her larger than the first. Her thrusts started increasing in intensity and he started rising to meet her thrusts. "I'm cumming," he said, as his thrusts got stronger. Carol increased her thrusts to match his. As he released his balls into her a third orgasm hit her and she fell onto his chest.