The Ranch

"It's all going to become clear in a bit, Uncle," he answered as he pulled on a pair of boots and tucked the bottom of the pants inside them. He then tightened the laces and tucked them inside the boots as well. "Or, maybe I shouldn't call you 'uncle' since you aren't really my uncle. Then again, 'step uncle' is a bit of a mouthful."

A knock came at the door and Jake opened it. A woman stood there that Roy had seen around the ranch and more often in the kitchen helping Sarah with the cooking for the strange men that had showed up at the place within the week following the arrival of the man he thought was John Turlow. She carried a tray and was followed by a couple of the men that had been around also laden with trays.

"Ah," Jeremiah exclaimed. "Lunch is here. Thank you, Specialist Cross."

"You're welcome, Sargent." She took little time to set the meals before the four men and pushed the other two out the door in front of her.

"Let me guess," Roy started. "You're all some kind of paramilitary group thinking that the government is corrupt and needs to be taken out."

"No. We work for the government in the real military. U.S. Army, to be exact," Jeremiah answered pointing to the band above his left pocket where it read U.S. Army before taking a bite of the food.

"U.S. Army?" The incredulity was evident in Roy's voice.

Jeremiah nodded as chewed his food.

"We're part of CID," Jake inserted.

"CID?" This time, the voice was inquisitive.

"It stands for Criminal Investigation Division," Jake added.

"You're investigating someone in Mt. Ayr?"

"Not one," Jeremiah jumped back in. "A gang."

"That motorcycle freak, right? He's the leader of some gang that he's bringing in to the area? What's the army want with a guy like that? Is he a deserter?"

"No," Jeremiah gave a small laugh. That's Johnson. He's with the gang right now, but we'll pull him out tonight before the real action begins."

"He's one of you?"

"Yes. He went in undercover so we could get all the evidence we needed."

"The warehouse?"

"Britney and Julien Evans plus others."

"I don't understand," the sheriff said. "Those two may not be exactly my favorite people, but I never thought they were up to that level of no good."

"There is a lot that is going to have to be discussed here, Roy. Including the secrets you've been keeping."

"Secrets?"

"We'll get back to that," Jeremiah declared. "First, I need to let you in on what's been going on and why my team and I are here."

"Your team. In otherwards, you're all Army?"

"Well, not Halsey here. He's FBI."

"FBI?! It's really that bad?"

"Very bad," Jake addressed the sheriff.

"A certain soldier was caught doing some rather bad things. In return for leniency in the sentencing, he divulged the fact that weapons meant for the Army were being rerouted from the supplier. He gave us a few names, and an investigation was started.

"Part of that investigation led us to a unit in Afghanistan. There, I learned about a Supply Sargent that was part of the operation, though only on a very small scale. He was able to give us the higher ups involved, though, including the name of the town through which the weapons were funneling and the warehouse that was being used.

"It seems that the owner of the warehouse had the help of some local law enforcement. You can imagine my surprise when MT. Ayr was mentioned.

"It was not a big leap to know where to go from there. The fact that Mom was selling the ranch made things easy. We moved Johnson into a place where he could make contact with Julien and perhaps get an in with the gang while the rest of us came here to investigate the fringes of the town and the people here.

"I was happy to learn that none of my immediate family was actually involved directly, especially you, as that was one of the things that was heavily suspected. During the course of the investigation, there were some other things that came to light. I had no idea that Sean Evans was my biological father. And I hadn't heard a thing about his body being in the fire. That was something else that your name had to be cleared of. The fact that you were at the country club preparing for the fundraiser that night took care of that. As for your character, you might want to send your ex-wife a thank you note. She made sure that we knew that you would step down as sheriff before you let anything compromise your position.

"It all comes down to this. The Evans' are involved in illegally running firearms through their warehouse, intent on selling those weapons to persons that have no business having them. To protect that operation, they have killed two men and attempted to frame others for one of those murders through arson. Tonight, we are going to close down that operation and gather all the participants in the net. And you get to put the cuffs on the person who killed your brother."

Roy sat there with his mouth hanging open. He was having a bit of a hard time processing what he had just heard. There had been two cases that he couldn't have anything to do with investigating: the arson of the stable, and the death of Mark Nelson. Both were off limits to him because he was too close to those involved. He had had to hand both over to his second, Deputy Skinner.

"There is more, Roy," Jeremiah continued. "You have a leak in your department. You will have to take care of that a little later. But for now, you will have to let him seem to be unknown."

"Who?" Roy finally found his voice.

"Skinner," came the simple answer. "First, we need to go over what we're going to do tonight. Agent Halsey. Have you got people ready to raid the dock in Louisiana where Akbar took the weapons?"

"Yes. We have everyone we need in place for that. Just give us the go and it's done. They're not happy about having to wait, either. They want to be sure those things don't get out of the country."

"They will be able to move in once tonight's operation is started. I suppose you have other agents that you can use here?"

"Affirmative."

"I want you and your team to take the meeting site. Johnson has determined that they use the same place every time. It belongs to the senator."

"Senator?" asked Roy.

"Senator Myers is deeply involved," Jeremiah answered. "That's why Mark was killed."

"I don't understand."

"Mark was blackmailing a lot of people. That's how he was able to hold onto the ranch after he sent me away. One of the people he was blackmailing was Senator Myers. He didn't know about her relationship to the Evans', but she used them to get rid of the threat."

"He what?!"

"I know it's not what you wanted to hear, but it's true. He had a lot of DVDs of the people he was blackmailing doing things they wouldn't want people to know about, and a ledger where he kept up with their payments. We have all that evidence and it will be processed properly. For now, forget about it and let's focus on our mission tonight.

"You, my team and I are going to be taking the convoy as they cross the field on the way out. I'll have some of my people set up the ambush site this afternoon." Jeremiah then went on to explain his plan to the three others in the room. Once everything was thought out and agreed upon, he had Jake go to set up the ambush and let Agent Halsey leave to take care of his part, suggesting that his men should be in place and well-hidden long before the senator and Akbar showed up. Roy wasn't to leave the ranch until it was time to go.

"Roy, this family is full of secrets," Jeremiah said as the other two left. "That needs to end today."

"You mean you want me to tell Sarah about Sean and Mark?"

"Not just Mom," he answered. "Lisa needs to know, too. And I mean everything. All of it."

"You want her to know that you are her half-brother?"

"I mean all of it, Roy. Including how she was conceived."

Roy paled. "How did you learn about that?"

"I'm glad you aren't trying to deny it."

"She doesn't need to know," Roy declared in a voice that harbored no negotiation."

"I disagree. And you will tell her. I'm going to have to go in there and spill all the secrets I've been keeping for the last few weeks, too. But it all needs to come out. And there's no time like the present to get on it. Let's go to the main house and face the music."

Roy wanted to put up a fight, but saw that the Army man had a determined eye and wasn't going to be denied. He led the way to the house.

As the two entered the house, Specialist Megan Cross looked up from the vegetables she was chopping. "Specialist Cross, go ahead and change into BDUs and help Specialist Shelby put up the two five four."

"Yes, Sargent," the woman replied and set the knife down to exit the house.

"Sarah?" Roy yelled.

"In here," came a voice from the great room.

"Come to the dining room, please."

Sarah made her way to the dining room where the two men waited. "What's --"

The moment she saw Jeremiah in uniform, she stopped mid-sentence. "Jeremiah?" She ran to the man she recognized as her son and grabbed him in a hug. "How did you find him, Roy?"

"He found us," Roy amended.

"It's so good to see you. What are you wearing?"

"I enlisted in the Army, Mom," Jeremiah said.

"Oh my. Are you able to stay for a while?"

"I'm not going much of anywhere."

"Welcome home, baby. I'm sorry to say that we lost the ranch. I had to sell it to a man named John Turlow. He's around here somewhere. He's not a bad guy. He even gave me a job as cook and housekeeper."

"You better sit down, Sarah," Roy interrupted. "There's a lot to talk about. Where's Lisa?"

"In her room getting ready for work. It's her first day back after taking that vacation time."

"She'll have to call in and tell them that a family matter came up," Jeremiah suggested.

"What? Why? What's going on?"

"Lisa?" Roy yelled down the hall.

Lisa came out wearing the diner's uniform. She saw the three of them standing in the dining room and looked from one to the other. Then she looked closer at Jeremiah, tilting her head to one side. "I gotta say, bro. You look a lot better without the beard, although it was growing on me. Are you going to keep it off?"

"You knew?" he asked.

"You had a bad dream one night out there when we were riding the line. I'd recognize those eyes anywhere. Are you going to tell us what's going on?"

"First, you need to call your boss and tell him that something has come up and you won't be able to come in. Then we'll sit down and discuss everything. And, by the way. The beard was actually growing on me."

"What beard?" Sarah asked. Then she looked hard at Jeremiah. "You had a beard. You are John Turlow!" She was angry now instead of deliriously happy as she was when she first recognized her son.

The family were finally seated around the table in the dining room. Jeremiah knew this wasn't going to be a marvelous time, but it had to be done. Roy explained that Jeremiah had declared that the secrets that had been going on had to be revealed, and that meant all of them. Sarah paled when she heard that, but she knew that it was the right thing to do.

"I think you should start off, Mom," Jeremiah said. "You can more clearly tell us what went on when you were seventeen."

Sarah nodded. "You know," she started. "So, I suppose you want this for Lisa's sake?"

"Yes. She deserves to know the truth, too."

She lowered her head before she began. "I don't like talking about this, but I suppose it would be better." She gave a sigh and thought about how she wanted to begin

"When I was seventeen, Britney Evans asked me to babysit for her. Julien was less than two years old and slept the whole night, so I was doing my homework. She had to go do something at the warehouse that now belongs to her. At the time, it belonged to her in-laws. Sean, her husband, was out drinking. He got home about an hour after I was left alone. When he found that I was the only one there, he-" She paused again. "He forced himself on me. I was a virgin and he ripped that away from me and im-" Another pause. "He got me pregnant."

"I am the product of that pregnancy, Lis," Jeremiah added. He could see the effect the story was having on her. She sat there with her mouth agape and tears on her cheeks.

"Mark and I were already planning on marrying, so we moved things up and when Jeremiah was born, we gave him our last name. At that time, Mark was into ranching. It was only after Jeremiah was born that he started drinking. I think it was the only way he could deal with knowing that the boy we had wasn't his. At least he waited until he was old enough to withstand it to start really beating on you. I didn't know what to do."

"And two years later?" Jeremiah reminded her.

"What about two years later?"

"No more secrets, Mom. Everything comes out."

Sarah looked at him her face again going pale, then lowered her head.

"Almost every night, Roy was bringing Mark home. He would be so drunk there was no way he could drive himself. One night, we got him tucked into bed and left him passed out. I had been holding on to my emotions over the last two years, but just barely. That night, they finally burst to the surface. Roy was still here and he let me cry on his shoulder. One thing led to another, and we ended up having sex on the couch in the living room. You are the result of that union, Lisa. He is your real father. How did you know about that?" she asked Jeremiah."

"Sylvia saw you. She reported it to Marie and tried to use her to force you out of the family. Marie wouldn't have it and told her to keep it to herself. I don't think she ever told anyone else."

"She did," Roy declared. "Or at least I think she did. A few months before he died, Mark and I got into a big argument and he said if I had been taking care of my own family instead of trying to look to the needs of someone that I wasn't married to, Marie probably wouldn't have left me. He then told me to leave and stay away from him and his family. I don't think he had put it together that you were mine, though, Lisa."

"I think he had," Lisa interjected. There were so many times that he said that I wasn't his daughter. I thought it was just him being mad at me that made him say it."

Sarah started crying. "He wasn't a bad man, you know. Even knowing that both my children weren't his, he still made sure that they were cared for. Even if it did mean sending you away, Jeremiah."

"He wasn't an angel, Mom."

"I know, sweetie. But he wasn't evil, either."

"There were things that you didn't know about that were going on," Jeremiah announced. "As I said, the secrets all stop today, and all must be revealed. I told Roy about this earlier, but you're going to need to know as well. Mark was blackmailing people. He was using that money to keep the ranch."

"Surely you're not serious?" Sarah wondered.

"I'm afraid he is, Sarah," Roy answered. "It seems that he had been doing it for quite a while, according to what he says.

"There's more," Jeremiah added.

"I'm not sure that I can take anymore," Sarah shook her head.

"Do we have to do all of this right now, Jeremiah?" Lisa queried.

"I'm sorry, but yes. We don't have a lot of time."

"Go on, then," Sarah sighed.

"The fire was meant to cover up a murder. The man that was killed was Sean Evans."

"No!" Sarah reacted almost immediately. "There's no way that you'll get me to believe that Mark was a killer!"

"No. He wasn't the killer. He was supposed to be the patsy."

"What do you mean?" Lisa asked.

"The killer thought that if the body was discovered in the fire at our ranch, it would put him clearly in the spotlight as the number one suspect."

"It did," Roy revealed. "Sorry, Sarah. But I didn't think you needed to know that there was a body found at all, let alone that Mark was being investigated for it."

"That part doesn't really matter at the moment," Jeremiah went on. "His innocence was as easy to prove as mine and Roy's was. And when the killer couldn't get Mark arrested for the murder, the case had to come to an end without it being solved. A certain deputy made sure that that happened."

"Is there anything to tell who it might have been?" asked Sarah.

"I have all the evidence we need to bring the culprit to justice. That will happen a little later tonight. But I have to tell you the rest."

"There's more to this horrible story?"

"Mark's accident wasn't an accident."

"What? That can't be right. He was always drinking. He barely drove because of that."

"That's exactly right," Jeremiah agreed. "He didn't drive much because of his drinking. He never once got any drunk driving violations, and it wasn't because they were kept off the record by Roy. If was because he didn't drive if he was drinking."

"How did he die, then?"

"He was killed by the same weapon that killed Sean Evans. A weapon that isn't legal for private citizens to own. The same person who killed Sean, also killed Mark. And the case was once again not investigated because it had to be swept under the rug to protect another illegal operation."

"What operation?" Sarah asked.

"The Evans' are running weapons through their warehouse illegally and selling them to persons that are considered enemies of the U.S."

"Are you saying that one of them killed Sean and Mark?" she asked unbelievingly. "They would kill one of their own family members?"

"Remember Britney divorced the man after the trial ended," Roy reminded her.

"Britney kept the name because she was tight with his parents who also didn't want anything to do with him. They left her with the warehouse and scooted off somewhere to retire. She didn't want him involved in her operation, so she killed him and had Julien put him in the stable and set fire to it."

"That little creep!" Lisa declared. "Can we charge him with arson for it?"

"No." Roy informed her. "The statute of limitations is only three years on arson."

"But we can get him on conspiracy to commit murder, being an accomplice after the fact, as well as taking part in the gun running and treason. That last bit is thanks to a small stint that he did in the ROTC program at high school. We'll be able to put him and his mother behind bars for a long time, if not for the rest of their lives. However, I'm sorry to tell you that one of the gang members is Lamar Westfall. He, too, will be seeing jail time."

"Lamar? But he was always so loyal."

"Well, he's changed those loyalties to his new friends. He helped set up a path through our ranch to move the guns through to get them to the meeting site where they are sold. Senator Myers is also in on the deal. She was one of the people that Mark was blackmailing and the one who called for help from Britney."

"Senator Myers? Really?"

"Yes."

"What did she do?"

"She would hire young women, those about sixteen or seventeen, as pages. But that wasn't all they did. She was having sex with them."

"Is this for real?" Sarah asked. "Are you certain?"

"Yes. Why?"

Sarah looked at Lisa. "Lisa?"

The young girl looked down but answered. "Yes, mom," she said.

"I want her charged with Statutory rape!" Sarah yelled. "I want her hung by her fingernails and flogged!"

Jeremiah paused as he realized what his siter was saying. "I understand how you feel, mom. Unfortunately, Iowa law allows for consensual sex as long as both parties are at least sixteen years of age. We can't get her on that. But we can get her on illegal sale of weapons, conspiracy to commit murder, and since she is a senator, treason. She will never get out of prison."

Roy sighed. "Can I go with Agent Halsey?" he asked.

"No," Jeremy answered. "If either you or I were to take that group, we would be too tempted to make sure that she didn't survive the take down."

"You're right about that," he said as he pulled the Glock 22 he carried from its holster and rubbed it a bit. "Alright. I guess it's a good thing that you got us where you do. But if she escapes, I'll hunt her down with extreme prejudice!"