Chapter 60

We all got loaded up in the Bradleys and left the truck at home. Jimmy was having a ball and he and Sandra were talking a mile a minute as we pulled out. We went down my drive and made the turn to go to Mark's house. The whole time I was thinking about what I was going to say to Tran and the girls. When we pulled into his drive the big gate was open. As I looked out the windshield I saw a man in the tree line. Now who the hell could that be I wondered and immediately the hair went up on the back of my neck.

"Butter, put your men on alert and have the second Bradley cover the back. I don't know what's going on but I just saw a man in the tree line that shouldn't be there. There is one Chinese woman and two small girls that belong here so anyone else is to be considered the enemy until I find out different."

He looked at me all of a half second then started giving orders through his ear bud. The second Bradley went around us and headed for the rear of the house. The men were taking down sixteens and putting on vests as we went up the driveway.

"Jimmy, you and Sandra stay inside the Bradley until I call you. There are strangers here and until we find out who they are, both of you stay put."

Butter gave me an extra ear bud and I got it clipped to my belt as we pulled up in front of the house. He gave me a quick tutorial on its workings as I climbed out the rear of the Bradley with him behind me. The others with us went behind it out of sight for right now. I walked up to the porch and knocked. There was no answer and I looked in the window and could see the girls and Tran sitting on the couch through the mirror in the hall. The girls looked scared and Tran just looked worn out. She had black circles under her eyes and really looked frail from what I could see.

"We have unfriendlies in the house and probably outside. Take them out quietly if possible but under no circumstances take any chances. They will be armed and ready so use your own discretion, men."

I watched through the mirror but could only see the three of them sitting on the couch. I knew there had to be one or more unfriendlies in the room with them or they would have come to the door. What the hell was going on here? With the death of the attorney and his client there should be no one looking for us and why would they hold Mark's family hostage? I turned to Butter and leaned over to him.

"This is now your operation Butter. Do what you need to but make sure neither the girls nor Tran is injured when you take these bastards out. I will go back to the Bradley until you give the all clear."

He just nodded his head in the affirmative and started giving orders to his men. I went back down the steps, sweating like it was a hundred degrees. I wanted so badly to break in and shoot these bastards but I knew Butter and his men were better trained than I was for this type of thing. Dammit anyhow, I thought, as I leaned against the side of the Bradley and listened to the men conversing back and forth. They had already taken down three outside guards and one was dead because he put up a fight. "Who the hell are these people and why were they here?" I was thinking as I heard a flash bang go off. It was all I could do to hold myself in place and not break through the front door. I waited for what seemed like an hour but it was only about ten minutes before I got the all clear from Butter. I saw the front door open and he was just standing there as I ran up the steps and into the front room. They were all still sitting on the couch. Tran was crying into her hands and the girls just looked scared to death. When they saw me, they came running to me and I went down to both knees pulling them to me. They were crying and telling me they had missed me and asking why I hadn't come to get them sooner.

"I'm here now girls and I am so sorry I was so late getting here. Sandra and Jimmy are out front in the truck. They are waiting to see you both."

I told the driver they were coming out and to let them in the truck with my granddaughter. They went running out with two of the team right behind them. I got off my knees and went to Tran and didn't say a word just took her in my arms.

"Are you ok Tran? You're not hurt are you?"

"Oh Harry, where have you been? We were scared to death when these punks showed up yesterday. They said you had sent them but I knew better than that because they all had foreign accents. Oh Harry, please don't cut me off from the girls, I beg you. I love them so much and I feel like they are my own."

"Calm down Tran, I will never cut you off from the girls. You are as much a part of their lives as I am. They love you too, almost as much as I love you."

She leaned back and looked at me in shock and just stared at me.

"If you ever slap me again, I will turn you over my knee and paddle your ass."

She smiled and hugged me tight, just holding me. I looked up and Butter had a big smile on his face. I finally got myself untangled from her and stood up.

"Butter, take the live ones into custody because they are foreign nationals. I want them taken to the nearest Armed Force's lockup until they can be interrogated by someone who knows what they are doing. With my temper running like it is right now, I don't think I better get near any of them. The State Police are on their way and I will run interference with them with my ID about you taking the prisoners. They can't overrule me as it is a matter of National Security now. Load the prisoners under guard in to the empty Bradley and don't let anybody but your people near them."

"Ok Harry, we have four that gave up and two that died when they tried to fight my team. "Who are these people Harry? They all have Russian accents and are refusing to speak any English. What the hell did we stumble into?"

"Tran, were they looking for Mark or me?"

"They wanted Mark and they wouldn't believe he was dead, Harry. They said he had something that belonged to them but wouldn't talk to me about it. Harry, can we please go to your place now? I want to get the girls out of here before State Police question them and they have to relive all of this again. Our suitcases are all packed and sitting over there."

I got on the radio and had the driver send Jimmy in to me so he could carry the stuff to the Bradley. He came in and one of the team was with him. When I told him what I needed, he grabbed a load of the suitcases for the first trip. He made three trips before he had all of them out of the house. Tran went out on the last trip following Jimmy. Butter told two of his men to take Tran, Jimmy and the girls to my house and stay with them until relieved. I got on the phone and called the Director, bringing him up to date and whom I thought we had in custody. He asked to speak to Butter and whatever he said brought a smile to his face. I heard the sirens long before they came into the driveway. The first one in the door was Butch wearing Captain's Bars on his shoulder tabs.

"Harry, damn it's good to see you. Where you been Commander? What have you got for me this time?"

Butter gave me an odd look and then smiled when I caught him. I went on to tell Butch what had happened and how his men were to handle it. I told him we had two dead and to call for his Coroner to handle the bodies. He asked about prisoners and I told him they were to be in Federal custody. He started to object until I handed him my ID. He looked at it with surprise and didn't ask again about the prisoners. I told him to have his people keep any news hounds at the end of the driveway and if they snuck in to arrest them immediately. He busted up laughing saying that this was just like old times. He got on the horn and made his calls, and then got his men spread out over the grounds to make sure nothing was touched until his lab people could get there. Butter was leaning against the wall smiling at me giving orders. I walked over next to him and leaned on the wall.

"Ok Butter, what's so damned funny?"

"I was just thinking about what you said earlier about officers. You know for someone who hates them so bad seems to me that's what you are here. I have heard you called sheriff and commander. Just how damn many commissions do you have anyway?"

"Butter, just do me a favor and shut up, will you?"

He and the other team member standing next to him lost it. They evidently thought the whole thing was funny. I heard a chopper coming in and it landed in the big meadow in the front of the house. A Colonel came in asking for me. Butter just pointed his finger at me. I noticed it was his middle finger and I gave him a dirty look. He just laughed at me as I became the center of attention again.

"I'm Colonel Phillips, head of Military Police at Nellis. The Director of Homeland Security called me to pick up some foreign nationals you are holding under the Patriot act. I'm supposed to transport them to Nellis until someone from your Department comes in to interrogate them. I was told to clear it with you and a Lt. Spears of SEAL Team Three. The team is to provide security to Nellis. I was ordered to tell you this by the Director. He said if you wanted to double check you could call him as he is en route to Nellis as we speak. Would you mind telling me what's going on?"

"I will let Lt. Spears fill you in Colonel as you fly back. His men have the prisoners in the Bradley at the rear of the house. As of right now I am out of this. LT, it's all yours now. Do your thing. I will let your men at my place know what's going on."

"Harry, tell them to load up and go back to Reno and wait on me there. I shouldn't be too long. We will all be seeing you in a week or so and I will fill you in on what happened. Come on Colonel, let's get them loaded and get out of this madhouse."

He got on his radio and had the Bradley pull to the front and assigned several of his team to load the prisoners on the helicopter. He gave orders that they were to have their feet tied after they got them aboard. I watched as he and the Colonel left. Within a few minutes I heard the chopper lift off and fade into the distance. The Bradley driver came back in and reported to me saying he was to stick with me until he got me home with my family.

"Harry, those men were all ex-spetsnaz troops. Every one of them had their unit tattoo on their arms. What's surprising to me is none of our team was injured taking them out. If it hadn't been for your warning it might have turned out different. How did you know they were there?"

"I saw one in the tree line briefly and I knew there were no men supposed to be here, just Tran and the girls. Then the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I knew something wasn't right. They weren't looking for me but for Mark and he has been dead for almost a week. That tells me they been out of touch with their contact for a while. A couple of months ago we confiscated enough foreign weapons to supply a small army. Mark was the sheriff at the time so I figure they thought he had the weapons stored somewhere locally. BATF took them out of the area they same day they were found to I don't know where. They probably figured if they held his family hostage he would give them back. Now you know as much as I do about the whole thing."

"I heard about that Harry. If I remember correctly, they were part of a shipment stolen from Customs in Miami several months ago."

"Yep, the very same ones. We never did figure out how they got clear out here. There was no paperwork on who owned or transported them. The old sheriff here was running some kind of clearing house for people and guns."

Butch came in saying they were done here and both bodies and three cars had been towed to the impound yard. He said they put Tran's VW in the barn and locked it up. I told him to go ahead and clear his men but leave one on the gate for now until after I left and could set the alarms and close the gate behind me. He smiled and went out saying it was good to see me again and he looked forward to working with me. I got on the phone and called my house and got the alarm codes from Tran for the house and how to close the main gate. I got the house alarm set and we climbed into the Bradley and went down the driveway to the front gate where I punched the numbers into the pad to close it and set that alarm. I dismissed the Trooper after the gate closed and we headed back to my cabin. This had been a hell of a first day home was all I could think as we went up the drive to my place. When we pulled up in front of the house, everyone was sitting on the porch eating from paper plates. The rest of the team was spread out eating but had all corners covered. We got out and I was mobbed by the girls with them sobbing on my shoulders. I had no idea what to say to them so I just let them cry. I figured this would do them more good than my talking. They finally quieted down and went back to their food, not letting me out of their sight. I noticed that Tran was as bad as they were as she watched every move I was making. I knew I was going to have to sit down with her and have a serious talk but I had no idea what I was going to say to her. I finally got all them settled in and dismissed the SEAL team to go back to Reno. I made all the girls go in the house and I set the perimeter alarms and cameras to audible. We all sat down in the front room and let the girls just talk. I answered all their questions as well as I could. Within a short time they were yawning so I sent them to brush their teeth saying I would be up in a few minutes to tuck them in. Sandra smiled at me and said Jimmy could sleep in one of the spare rooms. She told him to come with her and she would show him where he was to sleep. I waited a few minutes and went up and tucked the girls in and gave them hugs and kisses goodnight. I went to Sandra and she was already in bed waiting on me.

"Grandpa, I am so happy they are all ok. When you said there were strange men there I thought something had happened to them. Starting tomorrow Jimmy and I will help them to feel at home here. We will help them unpack and make sure they are all ok. I love you grandpa. 'Night."

I just smiled at her with tears in my eyes and gave her a big hug and kiss and went back downstairs for a talk I knew I wasn't going to like. I had surprised myself when I told Tran I loved her but even with my hard headedness I knew inside it was true. She had never been far from my thoughts the whole time we had been gone. I didn't understand it but I knew I felt this way for some strange reason.