Justice Ch. 02: Ghost Riders

"You know anything 'bout computers?" Elijah asked.

"What the hell is a computer?" the man asked. The others laughed.

"My point exactly," Elijah said. "He's my grandson. He's also my deputy. He's going and that's that. He's protected and he can handle himself."

"Alright, Elijah," the man said. "It's your posse, you're the boss."

"That's right," Elijah said. He turned to Mike. "You ever ride a horse, boy?" Mike shook his head.

"No, sir," he said. Elijah extended his hand.

"Alright, come on up," Elijah said. "Jes' hang on tight, cause this'll get a bit rough." He turned back to me. "Kiss yer woman and lets ride, son."

"Yes, sir," I said. I hugged Danni close and our tongues wrestled as we kissed.

"Don't worry, little lady," one of the men said. "We'll have 'im home in time for supper." The others chuckled. Breaking the kiss, I got up on Ringo.

"I love you, Danni," I said.

"I love you, too," she said. She turned to Elijah as I sidled up to him and Mike.

"Elijah Jones, you'd best bring my man back to me in one piece if you know what's good for ya," she said loudly. "You hear me?" He looked at me, his brows raised as she spoke to him.

"You sure she ain't related to yer Grandma Lizzy?" he asked. "They sure do sound an awful lot alike." We all chucked at that. He turned back to her and smiled.

"Don't worry, Danni," he said. "Yer son ain't gonna grow up without his pa. I promise you that." I turned to her.

"Watch for my text," I said. "And get everything ready for later. I'll be alright."

"I'll be watching," she said. "I love you."

"I love you more," I said as I turned back to the front. Elijah looked at all of us before he gave the command.

"HIYAH!" he yelled as he spurred his horse forward. We all joined him and I held on tight as Ringo ran as hard as the other horses. I saw we were headed for the cliffs that marked the ravine and wondered if we were going to go over the edge. Suddenly, a large dark hole seemed to open just above the ground and just when I thought we would go over the cliff, we went through the hole and found ourselves someplace else.

I didn't know exactly where we were, but I assumed we were in Albania. It was still dark here and the moon shone bright overhead. We came to the top of a hill and stopped. Looking down, I saw a fenced-in compound with a large building placed near one corner. A large iron gate appeared to be the only way in.

"What the hell is that?" Wild Bill asked, pointing at the opposite end of the compound. I looked and saw a fairly new Learjet.

"That's a Learjet," I said. "An airplane." I realized these men probably had no idea what I was talking about. "It flies, kinda like a bird."

"You gotta be shittin' me," he said.

"I seen something kinda like that back before the Great War," Bill McDonald said, referring to World War 1. "'Cept what I saw was a lot smaller and had two wings."

"We've come a long way since then," I said.

"Reckon so," he said in response.

"That means Carson is here," Elijah said. "And he probably brought reinforcements."

"Ain't that the honcho of this outfit?" Doc Holliday asked.

"Yep," Elijah said.

"And I'm sure they all have automatic weapons," I said.

"What's an automatic weapon?" Wild Bill asked.

"Keeps firing as long as you hold the trigger down," I said. "A modern version of the old Gatling gun."

"I'm not sure I care too much for this century of yours, tenderfoot," Wild Bill said. "Flying machines, automatic weapons. Shit."

"At least we have electricity, hot and cold running water and indoor toilets," I said. The others laughed.

"How're we all gonna get through that gate?" Wyatt Earp asked. He had a point. Elijah and the others could probably go right through it as though it wasn't even there. Mike, Ringo and I, however, couldn't, and I didn't think Elijah's lasso was big enough to cover all of with our horses and equipment. Elijah pulled out a long Civil War-era rifle with a scope that ran the length of the barrel. Where he kept it hidden was beyond me.

"I'll take care of that," he said. "Once that gate opens, you boys go in there and draw 'em out. Raise as much hell as you want. Shoot to kill. Amos, Mike and I will go in the building as do what we need to do. Mike will take care of Carson and his ex while Amos gets the evidence we need against Acme. I'll come back out and help y'all finish the job. Any questions?"

"No prisoners?" Pat Garrett asked. Elijah shook his head.

"Nope," he said. "No prisoners." Everyone nodded their head in understanding. "All right," Elijah said. "Let's do it."

He lifted the rifle to his shoulder and took careful aim. When he fired, I could see sparks fly at the junction between the gate and the fence. As the gate slid open, the other men raced toward it, their guns blazing. Alarms sounded and bright light flooded the compound as men armed with AK-style weapons ran out to meet the threat.

Elijah and I hung back until we were fairly certain everyone was out of the building. We moved forward and entered the building through the large double door the men inside opened as they came outside.

Looking to my left, I saw what looked like an office and headed in that direction as Elijah and Mike went to the center of the building, where a woman was laying on a bed, hooked up to wires and tubes.

I tied Ringo to a post in the floor, grabbed my rifle and my saddlebags and headed inside. There was a laptop sitting on a desk next to a filing cabinet, so I set my rifle and saddlebags down and brought up the screen. Damn, I thought. It was locked. I looked around to see if I could spot anything that might give me a clue for the password but found nothing. In desperation, I picked the laptop up and looked on the bottom. Sure enough, there was a piece of paper taped underneath with a set of letters and numbers. I typed it in and was surprised to find I was in their system.

I quickly looked and saw a number of file folders with documents, video and pictures. I figured I didn't have much time, so I brought up a browser window, logged into my secure online FTP site and began transferring files.

As that worked, I looked through the file cabinet and found numerous folders marked "Acme." They contained a slew of documents, DVDs and thumb drives, so I crammed everything I could into my saddle bags.

I waited and watched as the file transfer took place. I could hear the sound of gunfire outside and hoped I could get this done before they came back. I looked out the side window and saw Mike standing next to the bed. Elijah had already left to join his posse outside. I could only wonder what was taking place.

...

Mike:

As we got close to the bed in the middle of the building, I looked at the woman and knew it was her - my cheating ex-wife, Gloria. She looked like hell. She had lost a lot of weight and her face was thin. There were several tubes attached to her and I could only imagine what they were pumping into her. I hated what she did, but I hated seeing this even more.

The big man stopped his horse and helped me down. He looked at me with intense anger in his face.

"You have two jobs, pardner," he said. "First, you need to help your ex-wife transition. What she did to you was wrong, and she knows it. She's paying the price for that now and she won't last much longer. She's already made her peace with God, and now she needs to make her peace with you. I know this is gonna be hard, but you need to let her do that. If you don't, this'll stick in yer craw for the rest of yer life. Remember, this is for your benefit. Understand me?" I nodded my head.

"Yes, sir," I said. He nodded his head and handed me the largest knife I had ever seen in my life.

"The next thing you need to do is kill the sorry sonofabitch who did this," he told me. "Think you can do that?"

"Absolutely," I said.

"Good," he said. "My posse and I will give you all the time you need. Don't lose that knife, either. I promised the fella who lent it to me that I'd get it back to him."

"I won't," I said. He got back on his horse and went back the way we came. I turned to face Gloria. Her eyes lit up as she saw me.

"Mike?" she asked weakly. "Is that really you?" I nodded my head.

"Yeah, it's me," I said. "What the hell happened to you?"

"They're killing me, Mike," she said. "After I signed the divorce papers you filed, Doug said we were coming to Europe to celebrate a major business deal. It was only later that I learned he was really going to sell me off into slavery. They brought me here and used me horribly for weeks on end. Then they hooked me up to all this. Doug was really pissed at you and he took it out on me. He told me you were dead. Said you attacked him and security had to take you out."

"Looks like we were both tricked," I said.

"That's right, cuck," I heard Doug say. I looked up and saw him standing at the foot of Gloria's bed, smirking. "How'd you get here so fast? You were just released a bit ago. I'll have to visit Judge Stone and thank him for that personally."

"You fucking bastard," I growled. "You remember what I told you the last time I saw you?"

"Yeah," Doug said. "Something about killing me. How's that working out for you? My boys are taking care of those cowboys out there, and then they'll be back. I guess you and Gloria will get to die together."

I moved forward and grabbed Doug by the throat, surprising him. He reached up and tried to pull my hand off but was unsuccessful. My rage took over as I looked him square in the eye. He didn't see the huge knife I held in my other hand until after I had thrust it as hard as I could into his abdomen. I made sure to thrust the long blade up so it would enter his chest cavity. The motion nearly lifted him off his feet.

He looked down in shock and saw the wide blade, his blood flowing over my hand and onto the floor. I gripped his throat tighter and forced him to look at me.

"Look at me, you motherfucker," I said. "I want my face to be the last thing you ever see on this earth." I remembered my training at Camp Rollins and twisted the knife as hard as I could. His eyes opened even wider and a gasp escaped his throat. I saw his eyes begin to dilate and I knew it was only a matter of time before he died. I yanked the blade out and tossed his body to the floor, where he writhed in pain.

"Burn in Hell, asshole," I yelled. As I watched, a strange red glow emanated from his eyes and open mouth. It looked as if he was being consumed from the inside out. It only took a few seconds for his body to disappear completely. Shaking, I turned back to Gloria and sat next to her on the bed.

"Oh Mike," she groaned. "I'm so sorry about all this. I got stupid and selfish and greedy and thought I could have it all. Don't grieve over me. I deserve this. I deserved the divorce. I deserve to die. All I ask is that you forgive me, please."

I thought about what she said and what that other man told me. I realized he was right - if I didn't accept her attempt to make peace with me, this would eat at me for the rest of my life. It was the hardest thing I would ever have to do. I looked back at her before speaking.

"No, Gloria," I said. "If I wasn't such a coward, none of this would've happened. That's why I went to Idaho. I couldn't stand being a coward anymore. If I was able to stand up to Doug and put a stop to this, things would have been different."

"No, Mike," she said. "That's not true. Nothing you could've done would have stopped him, or me. It would have happened one way or another. This is all on me. I could've said no at the beginning but I chose not to. Besides, you're the bravest man I've ever known. No one has ever stood up to Doug the way you just did." I let her words sink in for a moment and realized she was probably right. I looked back at her and screwed up my courage. After all, I had loved her more than anything else at one time in my life.

"Alright, Gloria," I said. "I forgive you." Her face lit up for a second as she attempted to smile.

"Thank you," she said, tears flowing down her face. "And thank you for avenging me. I can die in peace now. Could you please hold me for a bit? I'm so cold." I laid on the bed next to her and put an arm around her, drawing her close to me. She felt so small, so cold in my arms. "I love you, Mike. I've always loved you. This feels so good."

It didn't take very long, less than a minute, actually, before I felt her stiffen up. I looked at her face and saw her eyes were wide open, staring at something I couldn't see.

"Oh wow," she said. A strange light surrounded her for just a second, and when it was gone, I could tell it was over. Her body was there, but she was gone. Her eyes were still wide, but they were fully dilated and I saw a slight smile on her face. I laid her body down on the bed, closed her eyelids with two fingers and covered her up completely.

"Goodbye, Gloria," I whispered, hoping she had found her peace. Just then, I heard Amos calling me from the other end of the building.

...

Amos:

I watched as the file transfer took place. I thought it was going to take forever. I glanced out the office window and saw Mike facing off against someone. I couldn't see everything as his back blocked my view. A bit later, I saw him sit in the bed next to his ex-wife.

Finally, the transfer finished. I sent a text message to Danni, giving her the address where the files had been saved. I also sent her the password and hoped this was everything she would need. I shut down the laptop and put it, along with the AC adapter, in a saddlebag.

I could tell things were wrapping up outside as the gunfire slowly dissipated. I grabbed everything and ran out to Ringo. Once I had secured the saddlebags, I turned and called out to Mike.

"Mike," I yelled. "Let's go. Come on!" He turned and started sprinting toward me. He was abut halfway to me when I saw a door open at the other end of the building. Four of Carson's men, armed with AK-style automatic rifles, entered the building. I yelled at Mike.

"Hit the deck!" I yelled. Mike's eyes widened but he got my message and fell flat to the floor. I engaged the trigger pin on my rifle and cycled it several times, firing maybe seven or eight bullets at the surprised men. As I watched, they fell to the floor, dead. A couple of them managed to get a few wild shots off but didn't hit either Mike or myself. I disengaged the pin and cycled the rifle with my right hand, causing it to do a full 360-degree spin.

"C'mon," I shouted to Mike. "Move it!" I turned toward Ringo and saw Wild Bill staring at me with a surprised look on his face.

"Damn," he said. "I ain't never seen a man do that with a rifle. Yer grandpa teach you how to shoot that thing?"

"Yes sir, Mr. Hickok, he did," I said. He smiled and extended a hand.

"That's some mighty fine shootin' there, pardner," he said. I smiled and accepted his handshake, realizing that I had just earned the respect of one of the old west's most famous lawmen. He turned to walk out the door, giving Grandpa Elijah a friendly slap on the shoulder as he did so. Elijah looked at me with a smile.

"Good job, son," he said. "I take it you got everything you need?"

"I did, Grandpa," I said.

"You know, I taught you how to shoot that rifle, but I never taught you that spinning thing you jes' did," he said. "Where'd you get that from, anyway?"

"Saw it on a TV show once a long time ago," I said. "Always wanted to try it out myself." He nodded his head.

"TV, huh? Well, jes' don't let it go to yer head, son," he said. "Ya do that, and then ya start gettin' cocky and careless. Then ya come up against someone a bit faster or a bit better and ya end up dead."

"I understand," I said.

"Still, ya done good, son," he said. "I'm proud of ya. Damn proud."

"Thanks, Grandpa," I said.

"Ya ready to head out?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. "I've already texted Danni with everything she needs."

"Good," he said, nodding his head. He turned to the others, who were now gathered at the end of the building. "We'd better saddle up and get back home, boys." We got back on our horses and headed out the way we came. As before, a large hole seemed to open up in front of us and we went through, finding ourselves back on familiar territory.

I rode at the head of the group with Elijah as we made our way down the hill toward my house. Danni saw us coming down and ran out of the house, jumping in my arms as I climbed down off Ringo.

"Thank God you're safe," she cried, holding me tight while smothering me with kisses.

"Yer fella did a damn good job," Wild Bill said as he walked by. I gave Danni a big kiss and stepped back, handing her the saddlebags containing the files and a laptop.

"I hope this will get you what you need," I said. Her eyes widened as she looked in the bags. "Did you get that stuff off to your friend?"

"I did," she said. "It's going to take a few days for them to sort through it all, but she said it's enough to bury Acme."

"I hope they move soon," I said. "Look, sweetie, why don't you look after the fellas while I tend to Ringo?"

"Okay," she said. "I'm so proud of you," she added, giving me another kiss. They went into the house, tying their horses to a hitching post in the front, as I walked Ringo to his corral. I got him settled down and went inside, gun in hand.

"Well, fellas, we got one more thing to do today," Elijah said. "Y'all ready to go?" They all nodded their heads. Elijah addressed Mike, who was still wearing the coveralls he had when we first picked him up. "How're you holding up?" he asked. Mike nodded his head.

"I'll be okay," he said. "It's just going to take a while for me to process all this."

"You want to clean up and put on some other clothes before we meet the board?" I asked. He looked at me before nodding his head.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble," he said.

"Alright," I said. "Go on upstairs. I think I have some things that'll fit you." I headed up after him and looked through my closet. I found an old pair of jeans and a shirt I thought would fit and let him try them on. They fit okay, even though they weren't his style, and they were clean. I let him take a shower and get changed. He met us when he came back down. By then, Danni had her paperwork ready to go.

Elijah motioned for all of us to huddle close in the front room. He pulled out his lariat and twirled it over our heads. The next thing I knew, we were inside a stately conference room in front of a table filled with nicely-dressed executives. As we appeared, the man in the middle looked up at us, surprised.

"What the hell is this?" he asked angrily as the other executives looked at us. "Who are you people? How did you get in here? What's with the wild west show?" Mike stepped forward and addressed the man.

"Mr. Greene," he said. "My name is Michael Bradley, and I'm here to tender my resignation."

"Well, take it to HR," he said. "And hurry up before I call security." He picked up his phone, but I stopped him by putting the barrel of my rifle on the telephone. He looked up at me, shocked.

"I don't think so," I said.

"You can't get away with this," he said. "You're all on video and I'll have you all behind bars."

"Not so fast," I said. "Take a look at your clock over there." He looked and saw the same thing we all did - it had stopped. "You see, time has stopped, at least in this room. So has your video surveillance. You see, we were never here and you have no proof otherwise."

"You're crazy," he said. "We all see you."

"And how is that going to work for you, Mr. Greene?" Danni asked, stepping forward. "What are you going to tell the police? That a group of famous western lawmen just appeared in your office out of thin air and threatened you? You'll all be in a rubber room before you get the words out of your mouth."