War on the Home Front

Matt looked at her, in shock from her story, then asked, "Why does a judge need an enforcer?"

"Well," said Sarah, "it turns out that the Johnson family is not exactly on the up and up. Daddy, uncle, and brother have been taking bribes for years to look the other way for selected criminals. They also own an interest in the local brothel and a share of several local meth manufacturing operations. It's quite the family criminal enterprise. Sort of a hillbilly mafia operation."

"How do you know this? It certainly doesn't seem like something the family would discuss at the dinner table. Did Richard tell you about it?"

"Richard's not part of it. They recognize that he's a screwup and can't be trusted. I found out about their activities shortly after I was married when I was cleaning my father-in-law's office at the house one day. He'd gone out and left a ledger open on his desk, probably forgetting I was living in the house now. I went through it and saw that he'd recorded the cash flows in detail. He's so certain he's beyond the reach of anyone that the ledger wasn't even in any kind of code."

"So why haven't you told anyone?"

"Who'd believe me? The family rules Crockett County and has excellent political connections throughout the state. I'm just a nobody, married to the family wastrel."

"So, will Richard's family try to track you down and get you to come back?"

"Well, they're certainly going to be looking for me."

"Why are you so certain?"

"I took the ledger. It's up in the bedroom. I figured I could deposit it with someone trustworthy as an insurance policy. Then I'd tell Richard's family that if they leave the kids and me alone, the ledger never sees the light of day. If something happens to me or one of the children, it goes to the U.S. Attorney's office with a narrative I'm preparing describing what it is and how I came to get it."

"That was a mistake. They'll chase you until they find you and then threaten your kids if you don't give it back to them. I think you just signed your own death warrant. And with their law enforcement connections, you aren't going to be able to hide unless you go completely off the grid. As soon as your social security number or driver's license shows up in a database, they'll know where you are. How are you going to avoid that with three small children?"

"Shit! I never thought of that."

"And the problem is that you've had the ledger long enough to copy it. Even if you give them the original back, there's no way for them to confirm that you didn't make a copy while you were running. You really screwed the pooch when you stole that ledger."

Sarah began to cry. "What am I going to do?"

"You can hide out here for a while. Your truck is under cover in the barn. No one can see who's at the house from the road. The only person I'm in regular contact with, other than the people I buy food and construction materials from, is my mother and she can keep a secret. You might even like her. She's a retired school principal."

Sarah stopped crying, but continued sniffling a bit as she asked, "But I need all kinds of stuff for the kids; cribs, a playpen, diapers, baby food for Josiah, clothing for them and for me. How am I going to get all of that? I'll have to access my bank account. How can I do that from here?"

"Let me worry about getting the stuff you and the kids need. You can worry about repaying me later. I'm not worried about the money. If you make me a list, I'll make a run into the city. It's far enough away that no one there will connect what I'm buying with your being here. We'll have to let mom in on the secret. She comes here regularly. She'll need to know why you're here and that it must be a complete secret. She's good at keeping confidences. Plus, she makes regular donations of things like diapers and baby food to the local crisis pregnancy center, so no one will be surprised to see her buying that kind of stuff at Walmart or the grocery store. It's not a perfect solution, but it's the best one I can think of right now, unless you are prepared to go to either the FBI or the Kentucky Department of Criminal Investigations. And as you've already said, your husband's family is plugged in politically, so you might not get a fair hearing from either agency."

"Why would you do this for us?"

"Remember what I told you last night? I spent most of my military career protecting people who couldn't protect themselves and giving them the tools to deal with those who would otherwise try to take things from them or hurt them. Even though I'm retired from the Army, I haven't lost interest in helping others. And I hate bullies and people who use their power to abuse others. You certainly need the help and I'm able to give it. Now let's get that list together. We'll call my mom and get her out here to meet you. She can help with the kids while I'm out buying the things on the list."

Sarah began putting the list together while Matt dialed his mother's number.

"Mom," he said when she answered, "I need help. I found a young woman and three young children on the road near the farm last night. Their truck broke down and they were stranded. They stayed with me last night."

"The woman is on the run from an abusive husband. The situation is muddled because her husband's family that she's fleeing controls Crockett County. Can you come out and meet her? And stay with her while I go get some things she and the kids need? And please don't tell a soul about this until we figure out what's going on. This woman is terrified that she'll be found and dragged back to where she ran from or even killed."

Thirty plus years of dealing with rural Kentucky and its vagaries had educated Sally in the almost infinite number of cultural pathologies that grew like weeds in the hills of her home state. She told Matt she'd be there in an hour. With that, Matt told Sarah to watch out for his mom's Subaru and went up to shower and shave.

CHAPTER THREE

When Sarah heard Sally's car approaching, she began to panic. After checking out the front window, Matt assured her that it was only his mother. Matt further assured her that Sally understood the need for secrecy and would keep silent about Matt's four guests until Sarah agreed to a course of action.

In her career as an educator, Sally had seen more abuse than she cared to think about. Beatings, generally by parents suffering drug or alcohol addictions or mental illness, sexual abuse, and a host of other social pathologies had been regular experiences. Sally had known the entire county youth services staff on a first name basis. Matt's description of the beatings Sarah displayed were not completely beyond anything she'd seen before, but they were far worse than the day to day abuse she'd encountered while teaching. Sally understood why Sarah was so insistent on not being found or returned and why her silence, regardless of who was asking, was paramount.

Matt had no children's toys and he'd not thought to have Sally purchase any on her way out to the farm. He asked Sarah to add them to the list. While he and Sarah had been discussing what to do, Faith and Hope were entertained by Rollo, tugging on him and climbing all over him. Rollo had accommodated the children, lying there as they pulled on his ears or tail or wrapped their little hands in his coat. When he'd had enough, Rollo had wandered into the kitchen, pursued by both children, who then began to open cabinet doors and pull the contents out onto the kitchen floor. Matt asked Sarah to add cabinet locks to the list.

Sally looked at Matt and Sarah and asked the obvious question. "How are you going to hide a young woman and three children out here? Anybody who sees them here will recognize that they are strangers and people around here have turned gossip into an art form. They all know neither you nor I have any family living besides each other. If anyone sees them here, word will spread like a wildfire."

Matt replied. "This farm is pretty isolated. You can't see the house from the road. The nearest neighbor is more than half a mile away. I don't socialize much. I never get visitors. If neither Sarah nor the kids go into town or show themselves along the road when someone is passing, no one will know they are here. From the locals' perspective, I've been pretty much a hermit since I moved back here, working on the house and outbuildings. You, mom, are the only person from around here I see regularly and most of the time I drive to town to see you, not the other way around."

Sally pondered that for a few moments, then turned to Sarah and said, "Are you willing to live like that for some indefinite period? My son is not the most social person and he's never been married or had children. He's never even had a live-in girlfriend. It's going to be awkward for both of you. You're going to have to live with his quirks. And believe me, after some forty-four years of bachelor living, he's got enough quirks to stock a big box store and a warehouse."

Sarah chuckled at Sally's last remark. Then she looked at Matt. "I can't begin to thank you for what you're doing for me and the kids. I don't know what else to do. Effectively, I don't have a dime. And even if I can access the bank account in the future, there's nowhere near enough money in it to repay you what you're going to spend just getting the stuff on the list and feeding and housing us for a while. If I had a better way to disappear, I'd be wherever that took me, not sitting here. I can offer you this: I can do the housekeeping and the cooking. You could use someone who's better at it than you." Sally chuckled at that observation. Sarah went on. "I won't sleep with you. I'm still married, and I take those vows seriously, even if my husband is an abuser, a drunk and probably a drug user. I'm not going to sleep with a man ever again, unless he loves and respects me and my children and I love and respect him. I've haven't felt truly loved or respected since my parents died. I won't allow anyone to treat me like my husband treated me ever again. I'll kill any man who tries to mistreat me or my children or die trying. If you can live with those terms, I'll stay a while. If you can't, then I'll ask you to take me to the nearest big city so I can try to disappear."

Sally looked at Matt, then asked Sarah to excuse them for a few moments so they could talk. Sally led Matt outside. Sally asked, "Are you sure you can do this?"

"What choice do I have. The woman is in danger and has nowhere else to turn. This is what I did for a living for twenty-five years. I've stood up to groups far more powerful than this woman's in-laws. I'll make it work, at least for a while."

Matt continued, "If you'll stay with Sarah and the kids today, I'll drive into the city and get everything. That way, there's no likelihood of anyone seeing the stuff and wondering what a forty-four-year-old confirmed bachelor is doing with a bunch of kids' equipment and toys. And I'll get enough fencing materials to fence the back yard so the kids have a place to play outdoors. Plus, I'll dig out my Nighthawk.45 and start carrying again. I can also dig out the M1A and the Remington 1100 grandpop left me. And I'll start training Sarah to use them, so she can protect herself if someone comes when I'm not here."

With that, the two of them reentered the house and told Sarah they'd agreed to her terms. They confirmed the plans to acquire the necessary furniture, equipment, and toys for the children. Once Sarah handed Matt the completed list the list, Matt kissed his mother on the cheek, said goodbye to Sarah and the children, and drove off.

By the time Matt returned and completed setting up the cribs in the master bedroom and the playpen in the back room of the house, Sarah and Sally had bathed and fed the children. They put them to bed and put supper on the table for the three adults. During their dinner conversation, Matt told Sarah he would move his things out of the master bedroom into the second bedroom in the morning. This would allow her to use the dresser and closet for her and the children's clothes. The master was the largest room on the second floor and the only bedroom with enough space for three cribs as well as a bed. In addition, it had its own bathroom, providing Sarah with maximum privacy. He'd begin fencing the back yard tomorrow as well.

CHAPTER FOUR

Matt, Sarah, and the children settled into a rhythm. Sally visited almost every other day. Ever the educator, Sally and Sarah spent hours talking about what Sarah would need to do to get reestablished as a teacher once she was able to reenter the job market. Sally assured Sarah that the local district would almost certainly hire her, given the opportunity. Sarah and Matt seemed to adjust to each other without serious conflict. Sarah proved to be a voracious reader, so she and Matt often ended the evening in the living room with noses buried in books. Matt had much of his grandfather's library, which included numerous histories and biographies and those books provided the subject matter for their evening discussions. Sarah and Matt planted a large garden just outside the fenced area where the children played. Together they finished painting the barn and outbuildings. Matt spent hours teaching Sarah how to shoot, starting with a handgun, then moving on to a shotgun. Once he was satisfied with her skills, he bought her a Sig P365, which she carried constantly at his insistence, and a Remington 1100 20-gauge shotgun. He loaded the pistol with hollow point ammunition; the shotgun with No. 3 buckshot.

Matt's last weekend with Monique before Sarah's and the children's arrival had turned out to be their last together. When he called her to schedule their next time together, Monique informed him that she'd met someone who she thought was "Mr. Right". He was an African American lawyer in one of the city's largest firms and a confirmed urban dweller. Matt acknowledged that they had never been more than "Mr. and Ms. Right Now" and wished Monique joy in her new relationship. "Be sure to invite me to the wedding," he joked.

"Only if you invite me to yours when it happens," Monique had replied. And with that, they promised to stay in touch, preserve their friendship, and moved on with their lives.

Sarah, Matt, and Sally had discussed what to do about Richard's family's criminal operations on numerous occasions. Despite their hatred of the criminal culture generally and the drug culture in particular because of Matt's father's death, the three of them concluded that the safest approach to protecting Sarah and the children was to leave sleeping dogs lie. As Matt would tell a Kentucky DCI detective some months later, "If they'd just left us the Hell alone, we'd have left them alone. We had no intention of ratting out their operation because we thought it would endanger Sarah and the children. We hoped that if she stayed off their radar long enough, they'd accept that she was no danger to them and forget about her. Anything that happened to that group of thugs is the direct result of their not letting Sarah and the children go."

Matt and Sally continued to care for Sarah and the children. Sarah had continued the cooking and cleaning duties in the household. She was an attractive woman. As she relaxed and became more comfortable with Matt and Sally, her naturally vivacious personality began to show through. Matt discovered that Sarah was as attractive on the inside as she was on the outside. He occasionally found himself embarrassed by his physical reaction to how well she filled out the jeans and t-shirts that she generally wore. The children were thriving as well. In both Matt's and Sally's minds, Sarah and the children were now family. As time passed, Matt found himself increasingly thinking of the children as his own and they were clearly bonding with him. The girls followed him around the farm whenever possible and Josiah would crawl over to him and fuss to be picked up and held. And despite the efforts Sarah made to dress modestly and behave chastely, Matt found his attraction to her growing. He resisted the impulses resulting from that attraction because of their age difference and her clearly verbalized intent to honor her marriage vows and never to engage in a relationship with anyone she didn't love and respect and who didn't love and respect her.

The routine continued for almost a year. In the end, it was probably Josiah who revealed the presence of Sarah and the children to the Johnsons. He'd been fussy the entire day, running a slight fever. The fever spiked that evening, reaching 104 degrees. From his training, Matt knew that Josiah needed more than just over the counter treatments. Against his better judgment, he and Sarah took the child to the local urgent care clinic. As far as they could later determine, one of the clinic staff recognized Sarah from a "missing persons" poster and reached out to the number on the poster. Less than a week later, the Johnsons' thugs came in force to retrieve Sarah and the children.

Matt had just gone to bed when the security system alerted him of intruders on the property. He had immediately put on shoes and his body armor, then grabbed the belt containing the Nighthawk pistol and extra magazines. He locked Rollo in his bedroom and went to Sarah's room. Waking her, he told her to barricade herself in the bedroom and admit no one unless he gave her the password they'd agreed upon. She locked her bedroom door, pushed a chair under the knob, put all three sleeping children in the cast iron bathtub to protect them, then laid her pistol on the bed and pointed her shotgun at the door.

Matt crept down the stairs to the first floor. According to the system, there were three intruders coming up the lane, all wearing some sort of night vision device and armed with some sort of shotgun or rifle. They approached the front door of the farmhouse in a group, suggesting to Matt that they had no real tactical training. Matt took a position behind a sofa and focused on the sight picture created by the tritium sights on the Nighthawk and waited, watching the security footage on his phone.

Matt could see the three men approach the front door. When they discovered it was locked, one of the men pointed a shotgun at the doorframe over the latch mechanism and fired, blasting the lock, then flinging open the door. As the three men poured into the room, Matt flipped on a light, blinding the intruders. Then he began firing. Within seconds, all three men were down. Kicking their weapons away, he quickly searched them for handguns or knives, finding none. All three appeared to be dead. Matt then checked the security system carefully to be certain the three were the only intruders on the property. Finding no others, he went up the stairs, gave Sarah the password, dialed 911, and reported the break-in and gunfight. Sarah put the shotgun away and put the pistol in a pocket of her pajamas. She then removed the now-crying children from the bathtub and, after settling them, returned them to their cribs. She remained behind the locked and barricaded bedroom door awaiting further instructions from Matt.

When the sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene, Matt was sitting on the sofa. The Nighthawk was on an end table next to him, but his hands were clasped in his lap. The first deputies on the scene covered Matt with their pistols. One quickly checked the three men in the entranceway, confirming all were dead. Then the deputies began questioning Matt. "What happened here?"

Matt replied, "My security system reported intruders on the property. When it confirmed they were armed and approaching the house, I armed myself and took cover. They blasted the lock with a shotgun then kicked the door open. I guess they didn't expect resistance. I shot them as they came through the door."