Fire in the Hole

  “I think the feeling’s mutual.”

  “I really like her, too. I hope they end up getting married.” Mark swung back up into the saddle and took the lead again, Hera placidly following along behind him.

  “When are the guys coming back?”

  “Tomorrow afternoon. So we’ll need to take care of the stock in the morning.”

  “Am I going to have to help you get the cow? Because you realize I don’t know what to do, right?”

  Mark looked back at him with a smile. “I can get her. Just stay off to the side out of the way. Hera’s not a cutting horse.” He patted the neck of the gelding he rode. “Chap, here, he’s trained. He’s a working horse. He’s used to cutting and roping.”

  Mark wouldn’t deny he would enjoy showing off a little for Jacob.

  “That was kind of neat yesterday,” Jacob said. “Seeing them get married.”

  Mark swallowed hard. “Yeah.”

  Jacob’s gaze met his. “College first.”

  Mark nodded, his face heating. “Yeah. College first.”

  “You’re going to make a kick-ass lawyer.”

  His face felt even hotter now. “You’re not exactly stupid.”

  “Didn’t say I was. And that’s cool that Eve’s friend will let you clerk for her.”

  “Yeah.” He couldn’t stop thinking about that. He’d worried that maybe he’d have to settle in Tampa or Orlando or Miami to do the kind of work he’d wanted to do, and it was like the answer to a question he hadn’t even finished formulating.

  In Sarasota.

  Like it was meant to be.

  They tied the horses to the hitching post outside Wylie’s barn. Jacob helped him get the chicken tractor moved from the garden and back to the coop, and the chickens shooed inside and secured for the night. The goats were eager to see them, and Jacob almost got mobbed by the three growing kids.

  “What’s Wylie going to do with the baby goats?”

  “I don’t know. He’s been going through Mr. M’s notes. I think he wants to try milking them and making cheese and stuff. He’s really starting to get the hang of everything.”

  Once they’d finished all of that, and after Mark had checked the drip watering system for the garden, they returned to their horses. Mark helped Jacob mount first. Hera had tried to blow out her cinch again when Mark had saddled her, and he’d had to adjust it the first time Jacob mounted her at his house. So he checked it again now, just to be sure.

  After he was satisfied Jacob sat secure in the saddle, Mark collected Chap’s reins, mounted, and had started leading the way east to the side gate into the pasture when Jacob spoke.

  “Mark?”

  It was Jacob’s tone of voice that caught Mark’s attention.

  Mark swung Chap around and saw Jacob staring at the men’s house.

  From the way the late afternoon light shone through the living room windows from the west, they could clearly see someone moving around inside.

  “Call 911,” Mark ordered. “And stay here.” Before Jacob could stop him, Mark headed for the house, urging Chap into a full gallop. Apparently the intruder realized they’d been spotted and had started out the front door.

  Mark didn’t even think before acting. He’d already grabbed the lasso and ran up on the guy, dropping it right over him as he passed, dallying it around the saddle horn and pulling it taut, yanking the man’s feet out from under him.

  The guy hit the ground with a thud and screamed bloody murder. Having perfectly snagged the intruder around both ankles, Mark dragged the guy through the grass while the man screamed.

  With the lasso secured around the saddle horn, Mark urged Chap to keep moving forward at a trot, instead of turning to back up and keep the rope taut like he’d been trained. The poor horse was likely confused as to why, if they had the critter roped, Mark hadn’t jumped down to secure him with the tie-down rope.

  The guy didn’t stop screaming, either. Now that Mark had him, he didn’t want to stop moving for fear the guy might have a gun.

  Yeeeaaah, didn’t quite think this through.

  He dug his phone out of his shirt pocket and called his Dad. “Hey, um, Dad? I need some help.”

  “Help?”

  “Yeah. Bring a gun.”

  “What?”

  “Hurry.”

  “Wh—”

  “You’ll see. We’re in the yard by the guys’ house.” He hung up and glanced back, the guy still unable to get free. Mark stayed on the grass, avoiding the gravel driveway.

  Although the burglar would deserve being dragged through that, for sure.

  During one pass, he spotted Jacob on his phone, struggling to keep Hera in place with his other hand on the reins.

  “Cops are on the way,” Jacob yelled.

  “Go let my dad in at the gate!”

  Jacob finally got Hera moving down the driveway, urging her into a bouncy trot, a gait Mark was afraid Jacob might not be able to sit.

  “Let me go!” the guy screamed.

  “I don’t think so, asshole.”

  When Mark spotted his dad’s truck racing down their driveway toward the gate, that’s when he spun Chap around and started backing him up a step at a time, keeping tension on the rope.

  “Keep your damn hands up,” he yelled at the guy. “You fucking move, I’ll take off with you again.”

  Jacob had got the gate open and waved Mark’s dad through, mounting and racing back up the driveway after him even as Mark heard sirens approaching in the distance.

  When his dad rolled up in the driveway, he and Lara jumped out of the cab.

  And his dad was armed, the twelve-gauge Mossberg pump shotgun in his hands.

  Mark sat back in the saddle. “Whoa, boy.” He grabbed his tie-down rope and jumped down from the horse, rolling the guy onto his stomach and dropping hard onto his back with his knees, tying his hands behind him.

  “You’re going to be fucking sorry, kid.”

  “Shut up or I’ll tell my horse to run with you.”

  His dad moved in. “Mark, did you seriously just rope someone?”

  “Kind of.” Mark got up and returned to Chap, climbing back into the saddle.

  The guy still had some fight in him. “I’m going to fucking sue—”

  His dad loudly racked a shell into the chamber. “I’ve got a shotgun, asshole. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll lay there and shut up.”

  The man fell silent.

  “What the hell’s going on?” Lara asked.

  Jacob was still on the phone. Mark got his attention. “Go back down to the gate and wave the cops in.”

  Jacob gave him a thumbs up and headed for the driveway again, this time looking a little steadier in the saddle.

  His dad walked over to Mark and looked up. “Okay. What’s going on, Mark? Now.”

  “We caught him coming out of the guys’ house.”

  “And you honestly thought the best option was roping him?”

  “I really didn’t think that part through, Dad. Sorry. Just kind of reacted. Instinct.”

  His dad laughed as he slowly shook his head. When two marked deputy cruisers roared around the curve before their driveway and slowed, Brad carried the shotgun back to the truck and closed it in there.

  The guy started to struggle and Mark backed Chap up a couple of steps, dragging the guy, now facedown, with him. “I warned you.”

  The guy fell still.

  The two cruisers rolled into the yard, both deputies getting out, hands on their sidearms while Mark’s dad explained what happened.

  When the deputies stopped laughing, they handcuffed the guy and only then did Mark finally get down again and coil his lasso and tie-down ropes.

  The man was a mess, grass stains all over his shirt, a scrape on his cheek. “I’m going to fucking sue you, kid.”

  “Good luck. You’re lucky I didn’t have a gun on me, asshole.”

  “Mark,” his dad said. “Language.”

  “Sorry, s
ir.”

  The deputies bent the guy over the hood of one of the cruisers and searched him as they read him his rights.

  His dad approached, leaning in to get a look at the guy. “Hey, wait a minute. I’ve seen him before. His name’s Ralph.”

  One of the deputies found a wallet on him. “Yeah, Ralph Carter. California. You know him?”

  “He’s the ex of the property’s owner. I was here the last time he showed up, and they ordered him off the property then. They warned him if he came back they’d get a trespass warrant against him.”

  “I want my goddamned attorney,” the guy said. “Right now.”

  “You’ll get one,” the second deputy assured him. He turned to Mark. “This isn’t your property?”

  “Our friends’ property, sir. We’re watching it for them. They’re on their honeymoon. I work for them doing chores and taking care of the animals. Dad rents pasture space from them for our cattle.”

  The deputy turned back to Mark’s dad. “You’re the dad?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’m assuming from what you said this guy isn’t supposed to be here?”

  “No, he’s not. I can get the owner on the phone for you right now.”

  Jacob had dismounted Hera and walked over to Mark. “That was cool.” He lightly punched Mark’s arm. “Stupid, but cool.” He smiled.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.” Jacob hugged him. “I was scared that guy was going to pull a gun or something.”

  “I didn’t think it all the way through.”

  Then again, he’d heard his dad telling Lara about the day the jerk had shown up. Had he known this was the guy, he would have run Chap right over him after roping him.

  Whoopsies.

  Or, at the very least, dragged him through the gravel a few passes.

  After the deputies finished talking to Wylie on the phone and locked the guy into the back of the cruiser, they focused on getting statements from Mark, Jacob, Brad, and Lara.

  “The guy’s saying you boys attacked him,” the first deputy said. “Not that we believe him.”

  “No, sir,” Mark said. “He ran when he realized we saw him in the house. I roped him just a few feet from the front porch.”

  “I got some of it on video before I called 911,” Jacob said. Mark looked at him, Jacob’s smile playful. “Sorry. I know I should have called 911 first.”

  “Let’s see it,” the deputy said.

  Jacob queued it up and everyone watched, the deputies laughing again. Jacob had stopped filming once Mark was halfway around the yard the first time dragging the guy.

  But it clearly showed the guy had emerged from the house and tried to run.

  “Well, that’s pretty conclusive,” the second deputy said as he gave Mark a high-five. “He was trying to say he hadn’t been inside the house at all.”

  “Then he’s a liar as well as a burglar,” Mark said.

  The deputies had Wylie’s permission to go look around the house while Wylie and Everett were on their way over from their hotel. Brad and Lara accompanied one of them to see if they could tell if anything had been disturbed, while the other stayed back to keep an eye on the prisoner, who was now ranting and raving from where he sat in the backseat of the cruiser.

  He’d apparently broken a window on the back kitchen door and let himself in that way.

  A third cruiser arrived, pulling into the yard and parking behind the first two.

  Jacob leaned in close. “That was sooo cool.” He felt for Mark’s hand, his fingers squeezing Mark’s.

  Mark grinned. “Thanks.”

  * * * *

  Ev tried to gauge Wylie’s emotions. From the sound of the call from Wylie’s end, something had happened at the house, but Ev wasn’t quite sure what yet. Once Wy ended the call, Ev pounced.

  “What happened? Are Mark and Jacob okay?”

  “Um…yeah.” Wylie looked…stunned.

  “What? Tell me.”

  Wylie finally focused on him. “Ralph was just taken into custody. He broke into our house.”

  “What? Ralph Carter, your ex?”

  “Yeah. That’s not even the weird part.”

  “How is that not the weird part?”

  “If I heard the deputy correctly, Mark roped Ralph from a horse and dragged him around the yard before the cops got there.”

  Ev stared at him, certain he’d misheard him. “Say whut?”

  “Just what I said. You heard my end of the conversation. They’re going to call us back in a few minutes once they finish going through the house. I told them we’d head over.”

  Ev looked around the hotel room. “So much for our honeymoon.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Why are you apologizing?”

  “Ralph,” Wylie darkly muttered. “My ex. That kind of makes him my fault.”

  “And time for us to get the security system installed. Sorry I put that off.”

  “I was the one who didn’t think we’d need it here of all places.”

  Ev hated how sad he looked. Their refuge violated. Invaded.

  “Did he take anything?” Everett asked.

  “They found thumb drives on him, but don’t know if he stole stuff or had them with him.”

  “You brought your laptop with us, didn’t you?”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  “Well, let’s drive home and see what’s going on.”

  Wylie let out a sigh as he stared at the room. “It was fun while it lasted. I’ll start packing.”

  “No, that’s not what I meant. We’ll come back later. I can’t believe this will take that long.”

  They got dressed and headed downstairs to Wylie’s truck, Everett driving. It took them thirty minutes to make it home.

  Three marked county sheriff’s cruisers sat parked in their yard, and it took Everett grabbing Wylie’s arm and physically pulling him back to keep him from going over to the cruiser and taking a swing at Ralph.

  Ralph currently glared at Wylie from where he sat handcuffed in the back seat.

  Brad walked over. “Sorry about this, guys.”

  “You didn’t do anything wrong,” Everett said. “Did I hear Wylie say Mark lassoed him?”

  Brad started laughing. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself. When Lar and I got here, Mark was dragging him in circles around the yard, afraid to stop in case he had a gun.”

  “Why didn’t he just call the cops?” Wylie asked.

  “That’s what I asked him. He said he reacted instead of thinking.”

  Everett looked around. “Where are they?”

  “I sent them on to go check the fence and get one of the pregnant heifers and bring her home. That’s what they were supposed to be doing when they realized he was inside the house. He must have broken in, seen them, and waited to see what happened. They’d taken care of the chickens and goats and were on their way to the gate when Jacob looked back and saw him in the house.”

  “Where is Lara?” Everett asked.

  “She’s back at our house. I wanted to wait to see what you wanted to do.” He leaned in and dropped his voice. “Plus, Mark called me and told me to bring a gun. I had my shotgun. I wanted her to take it home so it didn’t make the deputies nervous.”

  “Ah, gotcha.”

  Wylie flipped Ralph off from where he stood. “How bad’s the damage?”

  “Just one pane out of the kitchen door. I already nailed a piece of plywood over it until you can get someone out here to fix it. Hope you don’t mind I rummaged through the workshop.”

  Everett shook with him. “Of course we don’t mind. We appreciate it.”

  Brad walked them over to the deputies, one of whom then escorted the men through the house to see if anything was missing.

  Wylie felt rage sweep through him. At least Ralph hadn’t destroyed the place. Or had time to do much, whichever the case was. It looked like the desk he used in the living room had been rifled, and their bedroom closet door stood
open when he distinctly remembered closing it. Ralph must have just broken in not long before the kids showed up.

  “I’m glad he didn’t hurt them,” Wylie said as they stood in the living room.

  The other deputy walked in, holding a plastic evidence bag containing several flash drives. “Are these yours, sir? We found them on him.”

  Wylie took the bag and stared at them. “No, those aren’t mine.” He had a thought. “But have a computer forensics expert look at them. I have a feeling he was looking for my laptop and was going to drop a software payload into it.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because Ralph is my ex, and also my former business partner. Software developer. A friend of mine who does business with him told me Ralph had a run in with a hacker a few months back. That wasn’t long after I’d been brought in by that same friend to consult with them on a licensing deal with Ralph.

  “They told me Ralph accused them—and me, by default—of being behind the hack. But my friend was able to prove the attack came from overseas. Wouldn’t shock me, though, if Ralph was going to try some sort of revenge. Or industrial espionage, at the very least.”

  The deputy took the bag back. “I’ll note that and log them in as evidence. Glad you said something. We would have given them back to him as personal property when he makes bail.”

  “We were partners for years. I never knew him to randomly carry around flash drives in his pockets.”

  “Gotcha.”

  They walked outside again, locking the house up. “We’ll get an alarm installed this week,” Everett told Wylie.

  Now having spoken to the men, the deputies were able to finish their paperwork and take Ralph away. A wrecker was already en route to get his car, which was apparently parked down the road past the house.

  “Remind me to clean out the fridge when we get home,” Wylie groused once they were in the truck and heading for the hotel.

  “Why?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past him to have done some bullshit to our food.”

  “I don’t think he was in the house long enough to do anything. Lucky timing on the boys’ parts.”

  “I know exactly what he was going to do,” Wylie said. “He was either going to drop a payload into my laptop to implicate me in what happened, or he was going to put a virus in my laptop to destroy it, or he was going to look for info on Landry’s company.”