Manny’s Mission (Broken Wheel Ranch #7)

Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Manny slowed his truck down in order to pull into the driveway that allowed him onto The Double A Ranch. As he drove, he felt like his head was on a swivel as he looked around. He liked what he saw, however, in his opinion, the barns and fences looked sad. Almost like they had been neglected, but they didn’t show any signs of decay. If he had to put a word to what he saw, he would say that it needed a cosmetic facelift. The barns and white fence leading to the barn could use a couple coats of paint, but that was just his opinion, not knowing much about farming, or horse ranching, he figured the occupants of the ranch knew what was important and what wasn’t. A few coats of paint were probably the worst of their worries at this time. He parked his truck next to a row of about four other vehicles already there, and after shutting his rig down, he sighed heavily as he disembarked. After doing several stretches, once he disembarked from the truck, he winced a few times when the skin on his healing wounds pulled.

The directions had said it would take him ten hours, but he made it in two days. Even the short six-hour drive today was enough to make him stiff and sore. Maybe Erin knew what she had been talking about, having him heal before he did any strenuous work around the ranch. With a shrug, he headed toward what he assumed was the main barn. It took several minutes for his eyes to adjust once he entered the interior.

“Help you?” a voice called out. Manny turned and stopped in his tracks when he saw the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen standing about twenty feet from him.

“Um.” He tried to talk, but had to clear his throat several times before any sound would come out as his tongue seemed to be glued to the roof of his mouth. “Yes, I’m Manny Sanchez, I’m here to see Cole Mercury.” He studied the woman and frowned when her already guarded expression shut down. He knew he was probably talking with Ann. Seeing her expression made him want to know her story and take care of her. Every protective instinct in his body screamed for him to protect her.

“He’s in his office,” she said as she pointed down a walkway.

“And you are?”

“Annie Oakley, but you can call me Ann.” She scowled at his expression, and her face became darker. “It’s a family name.” She waved her hand at him in a dismissive gesture.

Manny took a chance and stepped closer. He lowered his voice so she had to lean in to hear him. “I’m here to help, I’m not the enemy. I left Patterson and Manning yesterday to come here.” He had watched her eyes the entire time he talked, and when he saw relief come into them, he stepped back.

“I’ll take you to Cole,” Ann said, a little more friendly than she had been earlier. As they walked, she looked at him with a confused look. “You okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You’re leaning as you walk.”

“Oh,” Manny said and quickly straightened up, but saw stars and had to reach out and put his hand on the wall.

“What in the world?” Ann asked as she rushed to his side, wrapped an arm around him and helped him go another twenty feet before she opened a door and helped him inside.

“What the hell?” A man sitting behind a desk jumped to his feet when they entered.

“I’m okay,” Manny said with a wave of his hand. “Just stiff from the drive.”

“Cole,” Ann said. “This is Manny Sanchez, he says Manning and Patterson sent him.”

“Are you from The Broken Wheel?” Cole asked him.

“I am.”

“Thank god, but what the hell is wrong with you? No offense, but are you always this white?” Cole looked at Ann, and when she saw the other man’s expression, she quickly got him into a seat and shoved his head between his legs. She ignored him when he said he was okay. Instead she watched the clock on the wall and when five minutes passed, she slowly eased up and allowed him to sit up. She went to squat down before him and watched as the color came back into his handsome face.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Before we go any further, what happened?” Cole asked as he stood behind Ann to look at him.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit,” Ann said with feeling. “No one almost passes out after getting out of their truck.”

“Fine, but it happened a few months ago. I’m still healing from the ordeal. Sometimes, when I sit for long periods of time, it takes me a while before I get my legs under me. I rushed it when I got out of my truck.” He looked directly at her when he continued, “I didn’t wait to walk until I could straighten fully. When you told me I was leaning, I saw stars when I straightened.” He turned his glare on the woman before him, then looked up at Cole. “I’ll be more careful in the future.”

“You’re sure that’s all it is?”

“I’m sure.” He shook his head and sighed heavily. “I don’t want to go into details, but I was in the service. A mission went FUBAR and I was captured along with others. We were held captive and I’m still recovering from the ordeal.”

As he talked, he looked directly at Ann and saw understanding, then her expression closed. Actually, it slammed shut and he couldn’t read her after that. She stood and stepped back, then went over and opened a small refrigerator. “Water?” she asked as she reached inside.

“Please.” Manny took it, mentally calling himself all kinds of a fool and idiot for almost fucking passing out in front of her. He took the water and downed half the bottle before he came up for air. When he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, he looked at Ann with a nod. “Thanks.” Then, he turned his attention to Cole who had gotten himself a cup of coffee and settled behind his desk. “What’s on the agenda?”

“First, tell me Noomi is okay.” Cole seemed almost scared when he made his statement.

Manny scowled at him and demanded, “I thought her name was Naomi.”

“It is, except that Clem and I started calling her Noomi when she would zoom around this ranch on a horse or small motorbike at the age of four. It seemed like she zoomed everywhere, so she started calling her Noomi, you know, like Zoomie, but with an ‘N’ It’s a pet name Clem and I call her”.

Manny grinned as he pulled his phone from his back pocket, accessed something, and passed the phone to him. He listened to Naomi telling Cole that she was fine, and to trust Manny. When Cole jerked, and tears started to stream down his face, Manny knew that was the part of the video where Clark had backed up and filmed Naomi walking around with a cane. He looked at Ann and saw her scowl.

“Naomi Alcott is now walking,” he explained to her gently.

“Got it.”

“How can that be?” Cole asked as he handed the phone back to Manny. “Thank you for that, but how can she be walking? We were told she’d be in that wheelchair for the rest of her life.”

“Who told you that?” Manny asked.

“Benson. He said that’s what the doctors said.”

“He lied. Did you talk with the doctors?”

“No, I was here, and Benson wouldn’t let Clem go to the hospital. Clem had to clean up the mess of Princess and get Naomi’s things packed up and brought back here.”

“Well, I won’t get into all the details, only because I don’t have all of them, and you can learn everything when you get over to Colorado. However, what I do know is that when some bad men arrived at The Broken Wheel to steal some horses, a fight broke out. There were five women and four former Navy SEALs present, who all work at Broken. That’s what we call the ranch, Broken. Anyway, before all the bad guys were apprehended, one of them tackled Naomi from her chair. She wasn’t hurt, but a few days later, she started getting feelings in her legs. Long story short, she contacted a doctor, who ran tests and got her records from Las Vegas.”

“Okay, I followed all that, but what about the lies?”

“If Naomi had had an operation when she’d been brought in, she would have walked out of that hospital under her own steam. Sure, she might have had crutches or a cane, but she wouldn’t have been confined to that chair. When her doctor confronted the doctor in Vegas, it was learnt that the doctor had since retired. With some digging, it turned out that Benson threatened the doctor with his life, and his practice, if he fixed Naomi.”

“Son of a bitch. I knew Benson was a bastard, but that’s low.”

“Yeah, well, I’m here to start a mission that will blow up a lot of people’s lives when everything is said and done.” Manny turned to Ann with raised brows. “I heard that you are former military. Are you in this for the long haul?”

“Yes. Hank said he didn’t really have anything for me to do, no missions, so I volunteered to come here. I know we have to take these horses out of here, but I don’t know where to yet. We were waiting for you to arrive before we did anything.” Ann spoke quietly, and as she did, she rose to her feet, and went to the other side of the office. She opened a drawer in the filing cabinet and pulled out a jammer. Manny slowly rose to his feet and held out his arms as she scanned him. When it was all clear, he got out his own equipment and scanned both of them, as well as the office.

“Now, we can get down to business.”

“How many horses do you have here?”

“Twenty-seven.”

“Okay,” Manny said as he nodded, then shook his head. “I hope I’m right on this, but how often, and when does Benson come here to the barn?”

“Only when he wants money. His pay is on the fifteenth of the month. This was set up by his father years ago. He’s been known to start pestering me starting around the tenth of the month. I only tell him that I have nothing to do with it, that it’s all done through the bank. No, his name isn’t on anything, just Naomi’s. Hell, I even have to keep the checkbook locked up in the safe, and if he’s around and I need to pay the bills, I go into town to the police station in order for it to get done.” Cole looked at Manny with a shake of his head and a look of sadness. “Thankfully, the local law enforcement know how Benson is.” Cole sighed heavily as he leaned back in his chair to sip his coffee. “I do know that once we complete what we’re about to do, all hell is going to break loose, and it’s not going to be pretty.” At Manny’s quirked brow, Cole shook his head. “Written in Noomi’s grandfather’s will is a stipulation that if Noomi ever decides to sell the ranch, then all of Benson’s funds are cut off. However, it’s not at the sale of the ranch, it’s when it is listed with a real estate agent. You’re talking here that Benson will lose five grand a month of income he doesn’t have to lift a finger to earn.”

“Damn. Do you know where he is now?”

“Mr. Big came and yelled at him about something, then a couple days later, Mr. Big came back and picked Benson up. He, Benson, only told me that he was going to Miami.”

“Do you know where Clem is?”

“No, we kept his whereabouts secret from me. We didn’t think it would be good for me to know his location. Not saying it will happen, but we don’t trust Benson.”

“Good, then I won’t tell you where he is. However, I can tell you that he is safe, and my best friend, as well as a former SEAL teammate is headed his way to bring him back to Broken. As we speak, there are people converting several barns into horse stalls.” He went on to explain what Ducky had discussed and what Erin was doing.

“How many acres will the horses have?”

“I believe a little over thirteen hundred. The property borders Riceman land. Did Carter tell you anything about Mr. Big?”

“Not really. Whenever he came here I avoided him. He never bothered to come to the barn, he always went to the main house to see Benson.”

“He told me a little,” Ann spoke up for the first time since after they made sure there were no bugs in the office. She looked at Manny, then at his nod, she turned toward Cole. “It’s my understanding that Biggins,” she paused to look over at Manny with a tilt of her head and a curled lip. “I refuse to call him Mr. Big. He’s nothing but a big pain in the ass. Anyway, it’s my understanding that Biggins, and two other men grew up in the foster care system together. They became best friends. One friend went to jail, along with his wife, for some nefarious business dealings that I’m unsure of everything that happened. Am I correct?” She turned back to Manny for approval.

“Yes.”

“What happened to the other friend?” Cole asked as he settled back in his chair.

“Again, this is what Carter Manning from Brotherhood Protectors Yellowstone came up with. But the other guy, his name was Rudolph Royal, harassed Erin Riceman. I don’t know about what, but he hooked up with the men who wanted to steal the horses from Riceman, and they were taken out. Last I heard, they were all sitting in jail.”

“They are,” Manny said as he finished his water. “I was on that mission. Anyway, all the times these men were arrested, they were let out on bail. We have someone inside the FBI looking into why. See, the charges against them are felonies.”

“Like what?”

“Cattle rustling, criminal trespassing, attempted horse theft. Possessing a firearm while on parole.”

“Oh, shit. That’s big-time charges.”

“Correct. Now, as of right this minute, Benson Alcott and we believe Mr. Big are facing insurance fraud charges, and I don’t know what it’s all called, but with that life insurance Benson took out on Naomi, it’s probably going to be attempted murder, or intent. I’m not sure, I’m not a lawyer and I don’t want to speculate, all I know is that the charges will be huge. The most important thing right now is to get these twenty-seven horses over to what we are calling The New Double A. However, we don’t want to raise suspicions. Duane Manchester with the FBI, he’s set up shop over at Brotherhood Yellowstone, will be working with Erin Riceman to get the paperwork together that they were sold to her.” He held up his hand. “No address in Colorado will be mentioned or listed. Because technically, Naomi owns these horses and you’re just taking them to her. Once all the horses are moved, along with the tack, and all of your possession, Cole, Naomi will come here with her fiancé, who is also a former SEAL, and probably Duane, since he’s FBI, and walk the ranch. She will then put it up for sale.”

“Wow, that’s a lot to take in.”

“Question,” Ann said as she turned her gaze between the two of them. She went on before either of them could say anything. “Cole, do you have access to the house?”

“I do, why?”

“What about paperwork that Naomi might need?”

“I have it in a safe place.” He saw their looks, then laughed as he wheeled his chair back and pointed to the floor. The two stood and looked over the desk and only saw a rug. “There’s a safe in the floor.”

“Ah, got it. What about any of her clothes?”

“She took almost everything with her when she left, and Benson got rid of anything she left behind. She also took the photo albums and trophies. I paid for a storage locker in town for some things that didn’t fit in her truck. Everything of importance is taken care of, so the only issue now are the horses.”

“Do you have trailers to haul them in?”

“I do. I have three trailers, and each one will hold eight horses. The next question is, do we get them all out of here at once? Or do we take them out in batches?”

“That, I don’t know. Would you mind if I make a phone call?”

“Not at all,” Cole said as he stood. “Feel free to use my phone.”

“No offense, but I don’t want a record of the call. I’m calling Erin. My phone is secure.”

“Got it,” Cole said as he started toward the door. “I’ll leave you to it, then.”

“I’m coming,” Ann said as she stood and hurried from the room to leave Manny in private. He sighed heavily as he picked up his phone and quickly dialed.