Chapter Six
Grady thanked Marsha, the postmaster, gathered up his stack of mail, and carried it to the counter that dominated the wall across from the postal boxes. Most of the mail went into the round file, but there were three envelopes he stacked together, folded in thirds, and crammed in the back pocket of his jeans.
He then headed back the way he’d come. As he neared the diner, he thought about the new deputy. Damn if she wasn’t a looker. Probably around five foot ten barefoot, and he’d guess by the way she filled out her jeans she’d weigh in easily at one fifty or better. She’d be fun to have a wrestle with. That thought inspired others and after a moment, he had to remind himself that he’d vowed not to get involved with any more women in Cotton Creek.
All that did was bring trouble into his life. No matter that he made it clear he wasn’t looking for a relationship, they always wanted to latch on and pretend that what was going on was something more. But it wasn’t.
Grady loved women. Loved the look, the smell, the feel, and the taste of them, but he wanted a wife about as much as he wanted having his teeth yanked out with a pair of pliers. In other words, not at all. He just wanted someone to have some fun with. To ride, or dance, or watch a movie, and to enjoy sex with. No inhibitions, let the adventures begin, get all the goody you can out of it, mind-blowing sex.
So far he was batting zero at finding a woman who wanted that and honest to God, there were times he wondered if there would ever come a time that he wanted more.
What would it take to turn back on his ability to love? Or had he lost that capacity for good? He had to acknowledge that it was a possibility, but had decided that rather than lose sleep over it, he’d enjoy every moment he could of his life and let fate take him where he was supposed to go.
Which, at the moment, was right back to his truck. He had an appointment in an hour with JD Weathers about some bull semen. He passed the diner and took a look inside. Cody, Hannah, and Deputy Charli were still there, along with more than a dozen others.
He didn’t bother to wave or tip his hat, but did catch Charli’s eye. It came as no surprise at all that he knew, without question, he was going to wind up in her bed, or she in his. What did surprise him was that for the first in a very long time, he wondered if he’d measure up in her book.
Now wasn’t that something? With a grin, he headed across the street, climbed in his truck, and headed for the Weathers ranch.
*****
The meeting was just drawing to a close when Charli’s phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at it. “Sorry, gotta take this.” She quickly rose and walked out of the diner, answering on the way. “Sampson.”
Sheriff Tom Greene’s voice came on the line. “There’s a situation at the oil field. Couple of roughnecks took the drill boss by force and are locked in one of the office trailers. They said they’ll kill him if Legacy doesn’t agree to keep the field open and operating.”
Charli frowned and headed for her vehicle. Legacy was one of the biggest energy companies in the world and they’d bought the Cotton Creek Oil Company eight months ago. She’d only been in Cotton Creek for a month when there was a fracking incident. Two months later Legacy announced they were closing down the entire operation.
People in Cotton Creek, the county where it was located, and three counties that bordered it went ballistic. Most of the landowners had sold their mineral rights to the Cotton Creek Company, and when it sold out to Legacy their rights went with it.
They calmed right down when they realized they made more oil royalties from Legacy than they had previously, but as seems to be human nature, a lot of people had started upped their style of living and gotten to the point they depended on those royalties to pay the bills.
That’s why it caused such a fuss when Legacy announced the bad news. The operation was closing.
Charli remembered thinking that things were going to get really nasty, and a few times it did. They even had a couple of shootings, one in which a man died. But now people had started to calm. Legacy had not only returned their rights, but had also paid out millions in cash to satisfy the debts of the rights holders to prevent them from going under when the operation finally shut down.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked.
“Take charge at the site. Try to talk them down, but if you can’t, we’ll go in. I’m sending backup and will get in touch with Legacy to see if they’ll call and try to talk to the men holding the hostages.”
“Okay, I’m headed there now.”
Charli didn’t bother to turn on the sirens, but did turn on the lights. She was about so break every speed limit between town and the oil site and wanted everyone to see her coming.
As she drove, she set her mind to the job at hand. Despite her past experiences and her position in law enforcement, she wasn’t keen on violence and tried to avoid it. But if pushed into a corner, or faced with a matter of life or death, she’d fight and she’d use every weapon at her disposal.
She just hoped it didn’t come to that, but only time would tell. What she had to do now was get into the calmest state of mind she could achieve so that hopefully she could talk the men down and get the hostages set free.
There was a crowd gathered in front of one in a line of small trailers at the site. The moment she got out of her vehicle, she was approached by a tall, heavyset man she recognized from seeing around town, Art Miller.
“Art.” She greeted him with a handshake. “Tell me what we have.”
“Two roughnecks, Tad Clemings and Bobby Williams. They showed up drunk and got in a hollering match with the foreman, Declan Evans and the next thing we know they got guns and are shoving Declan and my secretary Darleen in the trailer and shouting that they’d kill ’em if we didn’t get a signed paper from Legacy guaranteeing that the site would stay up and running.’
“Okay, thanks, Art. Now, if you could get all these people moved back, I’d consider it a favor. Backup will be rolling in soon along with the Chief and we need to make sure no civilians are in the line of fire should things turn nasty.”
She’d no more gotten the words out of her mouth when a yell from the trailer had her whirling around. The door was cracked and a man had his head stuck out. She could see that someone had hold of his shirt at the back of his neck.
“You gotta get Legacy to do what they say,” the man yelled.
“Mr. Evans?” She walked a little closer, holding her hands out to her sides.
“Yes.”
“Sir, ask your captors if I could have permission to enter. I just need to make sure you and Miss Hastings have not been harmed.”
Evans was jerked back inside and the door slammed. A minute passed before the door opened again and Evans looked out. “They said to leave your weapons and you can come in, but try anything funny and they’ll blow my brains out.”
Charli didn’t relish the idea of giving up her weapons and considered that perhaps she’d acted too quickly and should have waited for the Chief and backup. But what was done was done. “Okay, I hear you.”
She made a show of taking her service weapon from the holster clipped to the back of her jeans, and placed it on the ground. She then lifted both arms and turned a complete circle.
“Okay, come on.” Evan yelled.
Charli hoped this wasn’t a huge mistake. In a slow and even stride, she walked to the trailer and stopped at the bottom of the two wooden steps that led up to the door. The door swung out and Evans was jerked back deeper into the trailer.
She climbed the two steps and walked inside. The moment she was in, someone grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to one side. At the same time, the door closed behind her.
Charli looked around. A woman sat on a metal foldout chair placed in front of a desk. Her hands were lashed together with what looked like an electrical cord. A quick scan of the room told Charli the cord had come from a lamp that was now lying on the floor across the room.
She looked at the two men holding guns pointed at her. “Who’s in charge here?”
The men looked at one another and one of them shrugged. “Not me.”
“Then I guess that means you’re in charge,” she addressed the other man. “Mr.…”
“Clemings.”
“Right. Mr. Clemings. Now, why don’t we all sit down and have a conversation to see how we can make this situation work for everyone?”
“We can make it fucking work by you getting a fucking Legacy out here to guarantee that this place ain’t gonna close and we ain’t gonna lose our fuckin’ jobs.”
“Well, we’re trying to do that very thing, Mr. Clemings. When I left Cotton Creek, my Chief was on the phone trying to locate someone from Legacy. But, and this is real important, sir, if you keep these folks hostage, no one and I mean no one at all will negotiate with you about anything.”
“Bullshit. They don’t wanna see these people get their fucking brains blown out.”
“No, they don’t. But you holding them hostage eliminates the chance for possible negotiation. If it’s your job you want to keep, then let these folks leave and when a representative from Legacy shows up, you can sit down and talk.”
“Fuck you. Ain’t nobody gonna come here just for us. If’n we let these people go, we got nothing to bargain with.”
“Well, sure you do, Mr. Clemings.” She walked a couple of steps closer, almost close enough to reach out and touch the man. “You’ve got me. And you know that no law enforcement officer in the county is going to take a chance on one of their own getting hurt so I’m way more valuable to you than a couple of people who are losing their jobs when this place closes.”
“You stay where you are, and shut your fucking piehole. We ain’t—“
At that moment an amplified voice boomed out. “This is Tom Greene, Chief of Police. I’m ordering you to surrender.”
Clemings looked at Williams and when he did, Charli saw her opportunity. As was often the case in combat situations, at least for her, time seemed to slow. She grabbed Clemings’ outstretched hand and wrenched it to one side. The motion made him stumble, but also clench tighter, and the gun went off.
The woman sitting in the chair screamed and threw herself into the floor. Bobby Williams looked around wildly and made a grab for Evans, who was hunkered down on the floor. Williams stumbled and lurched forward just as Charli jerked Clemings around by the arm.
The gun went off again. Bobby screamed. Blood spurted from his shoulder and his gun clattered to the floor. Clemings punched at Charli and caught her in the temple. She staggered, but held onto him and they wrestled for control of the weapon.
She was starting to fear she wouldn’t be able to subdue him when he made the mistake of yanking her in close. That was the chance she needed. She head-butted him and caught him square in the nose.
Blood flew and he howled as she jerked her right knee up as hard as she could and caught him solidly between the legs. His howl turned into a choked gurgle and all the color drained from his face. She snatched the gun from his hand and quickly kicked Williams’ gun across the room.
“We’re clear!” she yelled as she stepped back, keeping the weapon at ready.
Two seconds later, the door opened and SWAT rushed in. They took one look and their leader spoke. “Stand down. We’re secured.”
He turned to Charli. “Nice work, Deputy.”
She gave him a nod. “You got this?”
“We do.”
She surrendered the weapon and headed outside.
Chief Greene was waiting beside his car. “So much for waiting on backup, Sampson.” He held out her service weapon to her.
Charli took her weapon, clipped it on her belt, and then reached up to rub at her temple. She’d probably have a nice bruise tomorrow if the throbbing was any indication. She wished she could rub her stomach where nausea was starting to bubble. Violence always left her with the need to vomit.
“Take disciplinary action if you feel it’s warranted, Chief. I apologize for any lapse in judgement. I should have waited.”
“Well, it all worked out, didn’t it, Deputy.”
“Yes, sir, it did.”
“Then head back, write up your report, and take the next two days off.”
“I don’t need time off, sir.”
“No, but it’s policy, so that’s what you’ll do.”
“Yes, sir.” She started to turn away, but he touched her arm and stopped her.
“Good work, Charli.”
Charli smiled in gratitude. “Thanks, Chief.”
With that, she got in her vehicle and headed home. Ten minutes into the drive, her nausea mercifully started to subside, and she realized with surprise that rather than being all wired from the fight, or having a case of after-fight shakes, the thing uppermost on her mind was to wonder if Grady Judd stopped by the station to talk to her about their possible date and whether he’d try again if she wasn’t there.
She hoped so because she damn sure wanted that date.