Manny’s Mission (Broken Wheel Ranch #7)

Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

“Naomi,” Clark whispered through the dried blood on his cracked lips. “Talk to me, Naomi, tell me you’re alive.”

“I’m alive. Roughed up pretty bad, but I’m alive.”

“Thank god, how is the hip?”

“Screaming in pain, but I can still feel my foot, so they didn’t do too much damage. I don’t know if I’ll have to go back to PT, but it’s letting me know it’s there. What about you? How is your head?”

“Bad, I can feel the blood trickling through the wound after they hit me. I’m just kicking myself in the ass right now.”

“Why?”

“Because I didn’t plan properly. Once Manchester took your father and Biggins away, I thought the threat was gone and I sent my men away.”

Clark paused and shushed Naomi when she started to say something. He would have gone to her, except he was strapped to a chair and couldn’t move, plus he could barely see through his swollen eyes, since their captors had beaten him. What little he did see was that Naomi was in the same position as him, but her face wasn’t as bruised as his.

“What is it?” Naomi asked after several moments of silence. They both seemed to hold their breath before Clark breathed out.

“Thank god.”

The bruised and battered couple looked up when they saw several men come into the basement dressed all in black. They even had their faces painted, and Naomi saw they carried several weapons. Before she could draw in a breath to scream, she caught sight of one of them and froze.

“Reid?”

“Sh,” Reid said as he rushed over and untied her hands. He set his gun down and quickly ran his hands over her to check for broken bones. “Can you walk?”

“I think so.”

Reid looked over his shoulder and made some hand movements, and Naomi burst into tears when Adele, Pru, and Opal rushed forward. The three of them helped Naomi to her feet, then out of the basement. When she was upstairs, she winced as the bright sun blinded her. No one said a word as she was taken outside to a truck, and then was whisked away. She did see the men bring Clark out, and they too got into a truck. No one said a word until they went to the bunkhouse. Once inside, she frowned when they took her to the basement of that building. Ten minutes later, Clark had her in his arms and he looked at the people facing them.

“Thank fucking god you came back.”

“Don’t thank us, it was Ann who said her gut was screaming,” Reid said. “We just answered the screams. What the fuck happened?”

Clark took the bottle of water someone handed him and drank the entire thing down before he made sure Naomi was taken care of. He shook his head and settled into a chair brought to him and allowed Denver to work on his injuries. He only winced twice when the wound on his head was stitched.

“Manchester and the FBI left here with Benson, Biggins, and Wyonna. I have no clue what that bitch’s last name is. This…” he said as he waved his hand over his head, to indicate the injury Denver was seeing to on his face, and he lifted his shirt to show the bruises on his stomach and ribs, then pointed over to where the women were working on Naomi and her injuries. “This is a result of Wyonna. Apparently, she was granted bail, but Biggins and Benson weren’t. She broke into the main house in the middle of the night and had men take Naomi and me out. I believe, but don’t quote me, but I believe they used chloroform on us. As you can see, we’re still wearing the clothes we were sleeping in. Anyway, when we came to, we were strapped to the chairs you found us in, and after being beaten the third time by her men, she arrived.”

“What did she want?” Ann asked as she placed a butterfly bandage on the cut on Naomi’s cheek. “When I saw her the couple of times she showed up here with Biggins, I got the impression she was an airhead, with no brains upstairs.”

“It was all a lie,” Naomi said with a wince when her shirt was lifted and her bruised ribs inspected. “She seemed to act like that around Biggins, but to hear her talk, she’d been playing him all this time.”

“Why? For what?” Opal asked.

“She wanted this ranch. Benson took out a ten-million-dollar life insurance policy on me, but Wyonna took an additional forty-million out, and had Benson sign it.”

“Shit, that means there’s fifty million on your head?” Denver looked over his shoulder at her in shock.

“Yeah, she’s been planning on getting the house from me ever since she injected Princess at the rodeo that took me out all those years ago. She had to bide her time until the time was right. When we showed up here, and they were arrested, I don’t know how she did it, but she was released on bail. Twelve hours after they left here, she was back with her goons. They took us out and we woke tied to those chairs in the basement.”

No one said anything for quite some time as Clark and Naomi’s injuries were assessed and bandaged up. When Denver closed the first aid kit and stood, he looked around the room.

“What now?”

“Now we plan on taking these fuckers out,” Clark said with passion and conviction, but it was Ann who stepped up and held her hand up to stop him and the others from going anywhere.

“No offense to anyone here, we are all military, and I trust each and every one of you. However, we need backup, I’m talking legal backup. I know you want to take them out permanently, I do too, and I don’t blame you. I can’t speak for everyone here, but I have killed while in the military. As much as I want this to be a military mission and we can treat it as such, we can’t actually do any killing. If you really think about it, do you all want to go to jail for murder?”

“Fuck,” all the men said as one, and the women looked at her with a nod of understanding.

Ann turned to look at Manny. “Do you have Manchester’s phone number?”

“What are you thinking?” Manny asked as he pulled his phone from his pocket and accessed his contact list.

“I don’t know if Benson knows about this basement here beneath the bunkhouse. I didn’t know about it until Cole sent me the text on the way here from the rest stop.” She turned to Naomi. “Did you know about it?”

“I know Grandpa told me once that there was an underground bunker on the ranch, but I had no clue where it was.” She looked around and shook her head in awe. “I wonder how fresh this food is?”

“According to Cole, he said he had restocked it just three months ago.”

“It’s fresh,” Lloyd said as he held up a few cans. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but there’s coffee here, and water. We also have a coffee pot, and a microwave if you want instant. I wouldn’t try to use the camping stove because we don’t know how well this place is vented, or where the vents are on the outside. I know I don’t want to run the risk of one of these fuckers walking around and smelling what we’re cooking. There are plenty of MREs here.”

They all agreed to coffee, then turned to Ann as it was brewing.

“What do you have in mind?”

“What if Manny contacts Manchester, and I will go meet him at that rest stop?”

“Not alone,” several of the others said as one.

“I’ll go,” Opal said with her one good hand raised.

“Me too,” Pru said.

When the men didn’t try and stop them, Ann continued, “Just inform Manchester that if he is still in the area to meet us at that rest stop and then I can tell them what’s happening. Are there any names or information you can give me to give to him?” She swiveled her head between Naomi and Clark.

“Just Wyonna’s name, and only her first name.” Clark shook his head sadly. “I hate to do this, but take photos of Naomi and me so he can see the severity of what she and her goons did to us. As you do that, I’m sure Naomi and I can give you descriptions of the men as much as we remember.”

They agreed that would work, and they decided to wait to contact Manchester until everyone had at least one cup of coffee in their systems. As he called, another list was started for things to purchase at a fast-food restaurant on their way back.

“Is that him?” Opal asked Ann three hours later as they sat at a picnic table at the rest stop they’d stopped at earlier.

“Yes.”

The three women didn’t say a word as the man got out of his car, stretched, looked around, then frowned when he saw the three of them sitting there. He cautiously approached them.

“Ann Oakley?”

“Yes, I’m not being difficult, but do you need to use the restroom before we talk?”

“Give me five minutes. Would you ladies like anything to drink?”

They declined, and when he returned in the time he stated, he only carried one bottle of water. He settled in and held his hand out to them. “Duane Manchester.”

“Ann Oakley, Opal Morris, and Prudora Tibbs.”

“May I ask why I was summoned here under all this cloak and dagger stuff?”

Ann drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “As you know, I wasn’t there, but I heard that Wyonna, don’t know her last name, was released on bail?”

“Yes, and it’s Coulter. Wyonna Coulter. What’s going on?”

Ann had her phone ready and just handed it to him. “There are twenty photos total.”

The three women watched and after he only saw the first three, he whipped his head up, and demanded, “What the fuck?”

“That’s Clark Riceman and Naomi Alcott. They are now safe, I won’t get into it, but after I got to Colorado, I was out of commission for a couple of days. When I woke, my gut was screaming. The guys listened to me, and we drove all night to get here.”

Pru pulled her phone and passed it over to Manchester. “This was how we found Clark and Naomi. They are safe, just like Ann said, but from what they said, Wyonna had some men that she’d hired and went after Clark and Naomi.”

“Why?”

“According to what she said to Naomi when she finally arrived was that she wanted The Double A for herself. She was under the impression that after you arrested Benson and Biggins, then she could step in and take it over. When Naomi produced the correct paperwork upon their arrests to let you know she was the rightful owner, Wyonna wanted to take Naomi out because she was standing in her way of getting The Double A.”

“Where are Clark and Naomi now?”

“Safe, and being protected. The entire Delta team of SEALs are with them and have their six. I don’t think I have to tell you that they are heavily armed.”

“I figured as much.” Duane shook his head and scrubbed his face in frustration. He looked at Ann sadly. “Is Patterson involved in any of this?”

“No, nor are any of his men. It’s all Clark’s former team members and the women that work at The Broken Wheel. Don’t worry, they are all former military.” They sat there in silence for a good fifteen minutes before Duane looked at them with raised brows.

“Anything else?”

Pru pulled a list from her pocket and handed it to him. “These are the descriptions of the men who did that to Clark and Naomi. According to our guys, no names were ever used.”

Duane took the paper, unfolded it, read it, then scowled. “Is this a fucking joke?” He waved the paper in the air.

“What?” Pru asked in shock at his reaction.

“This a list of food items.”

“Shit,” Pru said as she patted her pockets and withdrew another piece of paper, she handed that over, and explained, “I have a little bit of TBI and forget things. I’m sorry for the mess-up.” She took the food list back and ended up handing it over to Opal, who silently slipped it in her pocket. They watched as Duane opened that paper and read.

“Six perps?”

“According to Clark and Naomi, yes. All men, and they all did what you saw in the photos to both of them.”

“Did they damage her hip?”

“Not that we can tell. She’s standing and walking.”

“Good.” Again they waited until he got his thoughts together and it wasn’t long before he shook his head with a heavy sigh. “I’m not telling you that I won’t do anything, but I need to go back to headquarters. I’m going to need backup, and tell my superiors what’s going on. Do you know if Wyonna or any of her men have taken possession of the house? Where were Clark and Naomi found?”

“They were found in the basement of the house, and because we saw some outside doors open, that’s where the guys went first to look. We never made it upstairs. As soon as we untied them, we got them the hell out of there,” Ann explained, then nodded only once. “As I mentioned earlier, they are safe, however, we are holed up on The Double A property. We figured with Naomi with us, and being the rightful owner, we have every right to do so.”

“You do. I only have Manny’s phone number. Is there anyone else I could call when I get the help I need after reporting to my superiors?”

“Here’s Clark’s number,” Opal said as she read it from her phone, then gave him Reid’s.

“Who is that?”

“He was Clark’s number two when they were on the SEAL team together.”

“Got it.” Duane resaid the numbers to make sure he had them, then looked at the women. “Unfortunately, I don’t think anything can be done today. Will you guys be safe until I can get back to you?”

“Yes, we are literally underground. Naomi didn’t know the actual location of the bunker we are in, she only knew of one on the property. Between you and me, I think her grandfather set it up to be like a place to seek refuge if there was a tornado, or an EMP, or some such attack. In my personal opinion, as clueless as Benson is and has been about the operations of the ranch, I’m about fifty percent sure that he doesn’t know where this bunker is.”

“Oh,” Pru said as she sat up quickly. “I don’t know if you need to know this, but Wyonna told Naomi she had Benson sign papers and the life insurance policy is now for fifty million on Naomi.”

“Fuck.” Duane sighed out heavily and hung his head. He looked up. “Okay, I have your number if I need anything. Again, it won’t be today, and it might not even be tomorrow, but we will get to you.”

“Okay, just don’t leave us hanging,” Ann said as she held out her hand to shake and they continued to sit there as he left. Ten minutes after he’d gone, she looked at the others. “What do you think?”

“I think we need to go to that fast-food restaurant and order as much food as we can. I’m with Lloyd, I don’t really want to use a stove if it will give our position away.”

“Was there a microwave there?” Pru asked as they rose and started toward their vehicle.

“I believe so, why?”

“As much as I hate processed food, why not get the fast food for today, but go to a store and get things we can cook in the microwave?”

“We can do that.” They agreed and climbed into the truck. As Ann drove, because she knew the area, Opal sent a quick message to Denver to tell them of their plans and by the time they were at the grocery store, she had a gigantic list of items to purchase. She only shook her head as she showed it to the others. They were all laughing as they exited the truck and headed into the store.