Manny’s Mission (Broken Wheel Ranch #7)

Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

When Manny and Ann made the return trip to Wyoming to get the rest of the horses, tack, and anything else they could bring, Denver and Opal rode with them. With the women in the back seat, Denver rode shotgun, and as the woman talked, catching up with one another, then telling the others their stories, the men remained silent. Several times they turned to one another with a raised brow and only nodded at the other when they heard a particularly offensive part in the tale.

In the men’s room at their first stop, Manny looked over at Denver as they washed their hands. “Holy fuck, and I thought as SEALs we had it hard.”

“Yeah, it amazes me every single day what these women went through in their lives before they joined Broken.” Denver shook his head then looked at Manny with a grin. “So, you and Ann? Are you a thing?”

Manny shrugged as he opened the door and walked out. “I won’t lie, I would like to see if there’s anything between us, but with this mission hanging over our heads, I don’t have time to think about my love life.”

“I hear you.” Denver nodded and looked up when he saw Perry, Adele, Lloyd and Marcia walk toward them. They only nodded to one another until they were out in the parking lot. They didn’t waste any time stretching, switching drivers, and heading out again. This time, Lloyd was behind the wheel of his truck and they followed the others. The entire trip back was uneventful, and because of the lateness of the hour, Ann, who had been driving, went directly to the barracks and parked. At Manny’s questioning look she shrugged.

“I figured we could get a bite to eat, settle in, and get an early start tomorrow. I don’t know if we want to turn right around and leave again, or load up what we can tomorrow and head out the next day.”

“I have a question,” Lloyd said as he joined them outside the truck.

“What’s that?”

“Is there any farm equipment that will have to be transported back to Colorado? What about any hay or feed?” His question brought deer-in-the-headlights looks from the others and he only nodded and he pulled out his phone and dialed. “Naomi, it’s Lloyd, question for you?” he asked, and remained silent, but continued to nod periodically. When he hung up, he grinned at the others. “She’ll get back to me. Based on that, I think we should load up what we can tomorrow, and save the horses until early the next day.” They all agreed and went into the bunkhouse. Manny showed the men where they would be sleeping, while Ann took the women to her side.

“Sorry about not sharing with your men, but this barracks or bunkhouse, whatever you want to call it, isn’t set up that way. All the beds are twins.”

“Ah, got it,” Opal laughed as she looked into one of the three rooms and saw six twin beds per room. “Reminds me of being back in the service.”

“Yeah, but it works.”

“Are there any other hands besides you?” Adele asked.

“Benson Alcott gave them the time off when he left for Miami with The Big Pig.” She grinned when the other women laughed. They quickly made their way out to the kitchen, and the men were already there going through the refrigerator to get dinner on the table. Ann continued to talk with them as they cooked.

“I was telling the ladies that Benson Alcott told the other hands they could have time off while he was gone to Miami with The Big Pig.”

“Who?”

“Percy Biggins. If you spend any time with him, he’s a pig toward women. He thinks he’s the best man out there on the face of the earth and that all women should drop to their knees and worship the ground he walks on.” She shuddered after giving her assessment of the man in question.

“What or rather, who, did Alcott think would take care of the horses while he was gone and gave the hands time off?”

“Cole Mercury. He’s the manager of The Double A, and according to Benson, there’s not enough work to keep everyone busy, so he could do it all himself.”

“Shit, how many horses are we talking about here?” Perry asked in shock.

“Twenty-seven, but since we already removed seven, there are only twenty we have to get to Colorado, along with all the tack, and now that Lloyd questioned about any farm equipment, I don’t know how many trips it should take.”

“I think…” Manny said, and everyone turned to look at him with questions in their expressions. He nodded, “I think we should get the horses and tack out of here first. If there’s room for Cole’s things, we can do like we did with the first load. We’ll have to talk to Cole to see if there’s a place in town that we might be able to rent something to load any equipment in.” He shook his head and shrugged in confusion as he looked at the others. “No clue what type of equipment you might be referring to.”

“Tractors, bailers, wagons, ATVs, golf carts, discs, plows, shit spreaders.”

“Ah, farm equipment.”

“Correct.” Everyone stayed silent and lost in their own thoughts as the men continued to throw a meal together for them, and after they ate, it wasn’t long before they called it a night, and all of them were up and in the kitchen before four the next morning. By five, they were all standing outside the barn when a truck pulled in and Ann said that it was Cole. After introductions were made, Lloyd was the first one to voice their concerns.

“Is there any farm equipment that needs to go to Colorado along with the horses?”

“Yes.” Cole sighed heavily. “I got to thinking about it when I was going through my home yesterday and called Naomi last night. She said you guys had questioned bringing the equipment, and she said she’d work on it. Late last night, I got a call from Carter Manning up in Yellowstone, who said he would have some of his men here before nine this morning with trucks and trailers to help.” He shook his head and turned in a circle before he turned back to them. “I know it’s imperative to get everything out of here before Benson returns, and that time is of the essence, however, I feel that the horses and their tack should be removed first. I wouldn’t put it past Benson to harm them if he found out what we were doing.”

“We agree,” Manny spoke for the group. “Right now, we have nine drivers, and that’s including you. Why don’t you give all of us a tour so we know what we’re dealing with? If your vehicles are in working order, then these guys can load up some horses and head out with them today.” Everyone agreed with Manny and followed Cole around as he talked and pointed things out. Two hours later they were back where they started and he looked at them with raised brows.

“We can work with this,” Denver said after they’d gathered together again. “I agree with Ann and Cole, we need to get the horses and tack out of here first. The rest we can do after they are gone.” He paused and looked up when ten pick-up trucks slowly made their way toward the barn. They all paused as they parked, and as the men emerged, they stretched and walked over to them. Again, introductions were made, and the rest of that day, things started getting packed. Five of the men from Yellowstone went into town to see about renting trailers to haul the farm equipment, and were successful They were even able to drop the trailers off in Denver when they were done with them. Everyone worked tirelessly and by eight o’clock the next morning, the men and women from Colorado pulled out of The Double A and headed south. They had the rest of the twenty horses, all the tack, all the barn equipment, and on one of the trailers that Perry hauled with his truck was all of Cole’s things from his foreman’s cabin. There was nothing left, since he had opted to stay in the bunkhouse until he left the next day.

A week later, Manny shook hands with everyone from Yellowstone as they climbed into the trucks and headed for home, with the plan on dropping the trailers off in Denver on the way. Once the last truck and trailer pulled out, he turned to the others with a grin.

“Now, what’s the plan?”

“Plan?” Ann asked in confusion. “We have the entire Double A ranch right here. What on earth do we need to plan?”

“We need to take Benson Alcott and Percy Biggins down.”

“Oh, sorry, I forgot about them.” Ann shook her head as she looked over at Naomi. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Now that I know all the horses are safe, I’m going to take a few days to go over all the original paperwork Cole had stored in his safe, with him and Duane from the FBI. We figure with the original paperwork, the first thing we’re going to do is contact the insurance company that paid him the money for the death of Princess. I know nothing can be done right away, but I would like to at least get the ball rolling in having the insurance company look into the matter. I know that I won’t scare him when he sees me up and about, but maybe the threat of the insurance company coming after him he’ll be running scared.”

“Got it.” Ann nodded and watched as Naomi turned and headed to the barn where the new horses were. She knew it was going to be chaos for some time, but she wanted to try to get the horses settled and put at ease in their new home. She had been offered one of the larger cabins over at The Broken Wheel, and took Erin up on the offer. Yes, the commute was longer than walking across the compound, but for the horses she’d do it. On their last trip here, she’d driven her own truck. It was small enough that it hadn’t been able to haul a trailer, but she’d had almost all of the last-minute items in her truck. Now that they were all there and starting to settle in, it was time for her to get to work. She looked up when someone joined her and smiled at Manny.

“What?”

“Teach me what to do. I don’t know if you’ve been over at Broken other than to sleep in one of the cabins, but it is such a well-oiled machine there’s nothing for me to do. I figured I’d help here, and since we are basically starting from the ground up, then I would like you to teach me.”

“Got it,” Ann laughed and didn’t see the look of longing come over Manny’s face when he watched her. They continued toward the barn, and since they had been able to bring feed with them from Wyoming, along with the feed buckets that had already been mounted in the stalls, Ann talked him through how much to feed each one. Once the horses had been fed, they waited to turn them out, and began putting the tack away. Two hours later, they let the horses out in the pasture that Reid said was finished, and then Manny and Ann mucked out the stalls.

That set the precedence for the next couple of weeks until one day, Manny walked out of the barn and saw all his former teammates standing there.

“What’s up?”

“LT wants a meeting,” Lloyd said, and Manny only nodded. “Where and when?”

“Now, Naomi’s office over at Broken.”

“I’ll be there. Let me tell Ann I’m leaving.”

“Where are you going?” Ann asked as she came out of the barn.

“LT wants a meeting.”

“Who is LT?”

“Clark, he was our Lieutenant while we were on Delta team.”

“Oh, I’m coming with you.” She looked up and didn’t see any resistance from any of the men. “What about Cole?” she asked Manny as they headed toward their trucks.

“He’s already there,” Denver called out as he hopped into Lloyd’s truck. They all caravaned over to Broken, and after they parked, they went into the office where everyone else had gathered.

“What’s up?” Manny asked after taking a bottle of water offered him.

“First,” Clark said from his standing position behind Naomi, who was sitting at her desk. “Have you heard from Gould yet?”

“No,” Manny said in shock when he realized it had been a little over a month since he’d headed to Arizona to look for Partick Clemmons. “Do you want me to give him a call?”

“Could you?” Clark asked, and they all paused as he pulled out his phone and dialed. Manny looked at Clark with a nod.

“It’s ringing. Scott, it’s Manny, how are you?” He paused and nodded, then nodded some more. “Okay, we’ll see you soon.” He hung up and sighed in relief as he looked at everyone, then directly at Clark. “They’re on their way. According to Scott, they’re an hour north of Phoenix. They ran into some trouble, he said he handled it, but it’s all good now and they’re heading home.”

“Good, now let’s get down to business.” Clark nodded and stepped back to reveal a map on the wall behind him. Except it wasn’t any map, it was pictures of the inside of a house. “This is what the inside of the main ranch house at The Double A in Wyoming looks like.”

“How fresh are these photos?” Someone asked.

“Cole took them after you guys came here with the horses. Well, Carter Manning and a couple of his men took them.” Clark admitted with a grin. “We are going to be using these photos for when we go there with Duane and a real estate agent. Cole is in contact with someone in Cody, and it is rumored that Benson, and as Ann refers to him, the Big Pig will be returning in three days’ time.”

“When will you be walking the house with Duane?” Manny asked as he settled his hips on the table beside where Ann stood. He found himself being able to do more things every day, but he still wasn’t up to one hundred percent, and it was nice to rest every once in a while.

“Duane says that if they are due home in three days, then he wants to get in there in five days. It will give them time to settle after returning home. It is our understanding through some scuttlebutt that the Big Pig is going to be living at The Double A when they return. Like take over the entire house like he owns it. Naomi and I will be going in with Duane, who will be posing as a real estate agent. If you guys want to come with us, then I would like to station you outside the house at different locations locked and loaded.” Clark shook his head and held up his hand. “We have absolutely no idea what we will be walking into. It is also going to be a setup for Benson.”

“What type of setup?” Ann asked.

“Because Benson falsified records when Princess was killed, Duane has other FBI agents working with the insurance company, and they plan on arriving when we are there to question Benson on the legality of his claim against Princess. He had already given the insurance company a heads up, but the ball really got rolling once Naomi sent in the original papers where Princess was in her name. Don’t quote me on this, but I believe Naomi’s insurance company is talking with the one that paid Benson, and their lawyers are starting to become involved. I’m only projecting here, but it’s going to be a mess real soon.” He looked around at all the people there and only shook his head once. “This has the potential to go FUBAR in a heartbeat.”

“Wow, so you’re going to hit him with both barrels.”

“We are. Naomi and I will be there because Naomi is the rightful owner of The Double A, she has the paperwork to prove it, and I will be there as her boyfriend, backing her up on her decision to sell.”

“So to someone like the Big Pig and Benson, it would look legit, but you’re actually sizing up the competition, and he’ll be hit with the falsification of the insurance papers, and anything else he tries to tell the real estate agent about him owning everything.”

“Correct. It will also include what Big Pig might claim, especially if he’s planning on moving into the main house like he owns it. I’m interested to see what legal papers he can produce. Also on how he may claim all the horses are his also. As much as I’d like to wait until Naomi was solid on her feet, I think we should strike while the iron is hot, so to speak.”

Everyone agreed, and it was Ann that asked, “Does the Big Pig have anything to do with The Double A?”

“Not that we know of. At least not legally, since Naomi has all the papers from her grandfather’s will, and proof she’s the rightful owner. When Manning and his guys went through the house, Cole went through the papers in the office there. We’ve spent the last week comparing the originals to what was taken, and we believe that Percy Biggins and Benson Alcott are, or have already produced fake documentation trying to prove that everything is in their names. Duane Manchester has a team of agents working with the original people who filled out the documents so many years ago.” At everyone’s confused looks, he nodded. “The lawyer with her grandfather’s will. The bank and the notarized documents.”

“Got it, so we will have all our ducks in a row when we go there.”

“Correct. This is strictly volunteer, and don’t think I’m being an asshole here, but we all can’t go.” At their looks, he grinned. “Someone has to run Broken while we are away.”

“No offense,” Ann said. “But I’d like to stay at The New Double A and get those horses into a routine.”

“I agree,” Naomi said. “Cole, what about you?”

“As much as I want to see the look on Benson’s face when he sees you there, walking, and putting the ranch on the market, I think it would be best for me to stay here along with Ann and not muck up what you have planned. No offense to anyone here, but I’m not used to this military shit, and I have a feeling this is what it will be turned into. I also feel that if he sees me, it’s going to put him over the edge, and there’s no telling what he might do.”

“None taken,” Clark said. He looked at the others, and all the men agreed that they would accompany him and Naomi to Wyoming to try and take down Benson Alcott and Percy Biggins for all the evil they had done in the past, and what they had planned for the future.