Chapter  reversed knight of swords

Seven of swords - reversed knight of swords – the fool

~~~~

Jay frowned at the suddenly disconnected call. He still was not able to track where she was. She did everything through a VPN logged through an internet bank in Colorado. The dog whined and he remembered what the dog trainer at the doggy daycare said about the animal requiring physical contact and affection.

"Come here, Nero." The dog meekly obeyed. Rubbing Nero's ears, he wondered what he said that made her hang up so rudely. She had always been very polite before.

His reminder beeped. It was time to go to work. He had read a dozen books on law enforcement and taken all of the notes and books from Jay and June's house from Jay's schooling. His ability to remember everything he ever read and watching virtual lessons from the academy meant he was able to pass easily as a newly graduated recruit. He wondered if all law enforcement was this easy. Clicking his pen, he considered things. Credentials he could acquire easily enough and finding someone who resembled him would be a little more difficult, but he would be able to use the ruse to find out if the late Detective Stonewall had passed on the information of Cassandra King's location to anyone else. She wasn't under Witness Protection with the U.S. Marshals, perhaps claiming the Marshal Service had changed its mind would garner the information or an FBI agent investigating some of his previous conquests. With a final click, he tucked the pen in the holder.

While he prepared for working another shift as a rookie highway patrol officer. He remembered how he found it odd than none of her former schoolmates knew where she went as he remembered one particularly expensive call to Denmark. Hjalm Jorngensen had worked closely with Cassandra for years and yet claimed he did not know where she moved after graduating remotely before he returned home to get married. Jay sighed as he dressed. He did not want to go to Denmark, travelling internationally was difficult because it was so closely monitored even if he had multiple passports. It was far easier to slip into and out of Mexico and Canada.

"Nero, outside." The dog obediently went to the back yard and into the tall wire kennel. Jay poured food and water into the bowls then left, still thoughtfully considering if he should become an FBI agent or US Marshal.

~~~~

As she relived the memories in her panicked state, Cassie heard Miss Priss yowling and felt her cat headbutting her. A painful bite to her fingertips made her sit up. Sobbing, she wiped her face. Looking around, she realized she was sitting on the floor of her recording room. Her laptop was closed beside her. Miss Priss rubbed her fluffy face against Cassie's chin, mewling plaintively. Clutching her giant gray tabby to her chest, Cassie wondered fearfully if she would have to move again.

"No, he doesn't know where I am. That is why he keeps doing this. He can't find me if I stay here. I'm safe." Cassie sobbed aloud as she talked to herself, "I'm safe here."

She trusted that the VPN and anonymous nature of using an internet connection that showed as being hundreds of miles away would keep her safe. Putting the laptop back on the high desk, she unplugged it from the ethernet cable just in case.

Going into the kitchen, Miss Priss almost tripped her as the cat walked back and forth rubbing on her legs. "Please, Priss, let me walk."

Her hands trembled as she made a cup of chamomile and valerian root tea with honey. She went to sit in her sunroom and sipped her tea, trying to calm her nerves. She had quit her therapy because she couldn't afford the insurance and copays without pulling from her trust fund account.

Now she wished she had someone, anyone to talk to besides her cat. She looked around the yard and was not surprised to see a cat almost the size of Miss Priss sitting by the pet door of the garage.

"Hey, look, Miss Priss, Niko is back. It's getting bigger. It looks like a tawny version of you. Soon it won't be a kitten at all." Cassie rubbed her cat's back as she watched the smaller stray. "I feel so bad about its tail freezing off in the winter. Do you think it likes the new kibble?"

She gulped her strong valerian tea then went to sweep the snow off her porch and the path to the garage. Miss Priss went a head of her and when Cassie opened the door carefully, Niko, as she called the stray cat stayed laying on the large pet bed with Miss Priss grooming it like it was her kitten. She grinned and backed out, going to get her laundry. She came back and started the clothes. She didn't mind that it took extra propane to keep the garage a comfortable sixty Fahrenheit for Niko. In the first weeks of its appearance, she discovered that if the garage was seventy or higher the stray would sleep outside. She used her elliptical while the first load washed. While the second washed and the first dried, she felt calmly brave thanks to her tea. Creeping over she sat by the pet bed where Niko slept with Miss Priss and gently stroked the stray in short strokes like Miss Priss' licks. Niko opened one eye, growled a tiny bit then went back to sleep.

"You're such a pretty kitty. I need to make certain that you are tame enough for Erin to give you your shots." She rubbed Miss Priss' chin, drawing a purr. "I can't believe I have two Maine Coon cats now."

She stayed by Priss and Niko until the machine buzzed. Taking the dry laundry, she went back inside to start dinner and make tuna omelets for the cats. They were the only company she had so she wanted to make them something special.

~~~~

February...

After staying up all night working with Hjalm, Cassie slept in. Since the calls and emails from Mayibe Chained, Cassie had begun working through a stage name with Hjalm screening her contacts. Waking up to the sound of howling wind, Cassie hurried to dress so she could go outside to turn up the heat in the garage.

"Omigawd, Miss Priss, the storm wasn't supposed to come until tomorrow! I gotta go check Niko!" She unclipped the cat door lock then rushed outside.

She was shocked to see a large bull and three fat cows standing against the shelter of her garage. They lowed miserably. The cows seemed skittish, but the bull let her pet him and even rubbed his cheek against her gloved hand. She went inside the garage and looked around. There wasn't room for the cattle and her jeep. Quickly, she dragged her elliptical and treadmill to the side and stacked the summer patio furniture on top of them. She filled her only two five-gallon buckets with water then she spread every extra blanket and towel she owned on the floor, before she opened the garage door and backed her jeep out into the blinding snow. She was grateful the snow was blowing across the door and not into it.

"Come on, bully! Come inside and bring your ladies."

She herded the miserable beasts into the barn and then closed the door. Going over to her freezer, she realized she didn't know what cattle ate beyond grass and maybe corn. She pulled out every package of frozen corn she had and poured it into four piles on the floor before she ran to the house to get the lettuce and cabbage from this week's fresh grocery delivery. She was shocked to see Niko in the sunroom with Miss Priss.

Back out in the garage, she pulled the leafy vegetables apart and put them on the piles of frozen corn. The cows huddled together against the wall. The snow melting and dripping off them. The bull however walked over to her with a towel in its mouth. Hesitantly, she began drying the giant animal and was shocked at how well behaved it was.

"Were you someone's pet?" she asked him as she threw the wet towel in the washer and began rubbing him with a second then third towel. She carefully picked up a towel from the floor but only one of the cows would let her rub the ice and snow off of them. She didn't want to stress them out or get trampled. She turned off all the lights so only the light from the skylight came in, then carried Niko's bed and bowls back to the house. She set it all down in the sunroom because she knew Niko like cooler temperatures. Leaving her coat and snowboots, she held out her hand.

"Here you go, Niko. It's the coolest place in the house." It let her rub its head for a moment. "Such a good kitten."

Sighing, Cassie went to make some coffee then check the weather. She decided that she needed to start watching the local news despite her anxiety more than once a week for the forecast. The weather yesterday was perfect and today was supposed to be nice too but here was the storm a day early. She logged in with her VPN, she googled what cattle ate and how much, before she logged into Amazon to order the livestock feed and hay. She hoped the driver would be able to make it to her gate tomorrow. She hated the idea of anyone coming to her home, but she couldn't let the poor frozen cattle starve. She also ordered a children's sled so she could move the bags and bales easier if she couldn't get her jeep out.

~~~~

The false spring was ending with a roaring blizzard according to the weather channel and the change mirrored his mood. Tim Ballard had come home ten weeks later than he wanted to because of project delays. He wanted to be here for Christmas with his daughter, not Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day reminded him of every time he had betrayed Lloyd with Tonia while they were in high school. Shaking his head to dispel the memories and guilt coming home always brought, Tim went into the kitchen to get more coffee after lunch. The storm was coming in hard and fast, and a day early. He was glad they listened to his Grandma Fern's arthritis and intuition and got the pregnant cows brought to the closer pasture this morning. Besides the steers, bulls, and unbred cows, there were still a dozen pregnant cows out in the pastures with the herd, but it was too dangerous to look for the beasts who were probably sheltered down in the trees somewhere.

"Don't be restless, Tim," she chided him. "You're home at last and we had a good weekend with Tatiana."

"Yes, Grandma Fern." He poured himself a mugful of coffee as he answered.

The phone rang in his grandfather's office while Tim took a swallow of the bitter, brown liquid before he began to stir in three spoons of sugar.

"Tim, get your winter gear on and bring the horse trailer around." Cordell sounded more worried than he had in years.

"Grandpa?"

"Fern, call Molly and Garrett and have them meet us at the Ridgeline Ranch."

"Grandpa, what's going on?" Tim suddenly felt afraid for his former best friend and schoolmate. Another friendship, he ruined because he listened to Tonia, instead of Selene, and behaved deplorably.

"Before the weather started moving in, Ben and Beau went out to hunt an early riser that's been killing their cows."

The false spring roused a bear and now it was stuck looking for food in the snow with none of its usual forage. Tim knew that meant it would be hungry, and a hungry bear was a dangerous bear.

"Their horses came back without them." Tim found himself praying the Wallaces were safe as his grandpa revealed, "Lloyd said Camille and Dorine went to look for them, but Cajun showed up at the house after they left."

"Ohgawd," Tim groaned out as Fern hissed, "Go, saddle the horses. Tim, get the trailer. I'll call Molly."

They all knew the old cattle pony would never leave Ben unless there was a problem. They needed to start a manhunt before the weather got worse and someone died. Tim had never hooked up the horse trailer or backed it up faster than he did this time. He practically sprinted into the barn to help his grandfather with the horses.

"Grandpa, shouldn't we take Thor?"

"Chester is faster," the old veterinarian said but he hesitated, holding Chester's saddle. "What are you thinking?"

"In this weather and, just in case one of the Wallaces' is injured, Thor would be better if we have to ride someone double? Thor's stronger and taller if the snow's drifting on the Ridgeline... They always get the worse weather first," Tim felt like he was second guessing his grandfather, but his gut told him they would need the bigger horse.

"Saddle him while I get these three in the trailer." Cordell began to lead the saddled horses out.

Tim patted the flank of the large, half-draft horse. "Please behave today, Thor. Lloyd's gonna need you." The giant roan horse perked his ears at the mention of his trainer's name. He took the bit and saddle without any resistance, and even got in the horse trailer without any fuss. Neither Tim nor Doc McConnell commented on the oddity as they drove to the Ridgeline as quickly as they could in the rapidly worsening weather. The last bit of sun had vanished in a silvery haze of horizontal snow. His sister's truck turned onto the drive to the homestead ahead of them. The ridge protected the valley around the homestead but the weather would soon be here too.

~~~~~

(Red Velvet and Anemones crossover)

Standing on the porch in the old man in a Stetson hat wearing a heavy leather shearling coat knocked as the three younger people in identical Carhart's overalls and coats waited with him. A short, young woman with the most adorable freckles and jade green-gray eyes answered the door.

His grandfather introduced himself like he knew who she was. "Miss Haywood, I'm Dr. McConnell. My grandson called and said the Wallace's were missing." They stepped in, just onto the welcome rug. As his grandfather took his hat off, Tim remembered his grandmother talking about Miss Elizabeth's niece.

Tim held out his hand, introducing himself and family, "I'm Tim Ballard, this is my sister Molly, and her fiancé Garrett Durham."

Ms. Haywood shook each of their hands. "Lloyd said to tell you he went to the back way up the Ridge, that Mrs. Wallace and Camille went up past the Ridgeline Falls. He said to check the southern slope, the switchbacks leading off the notch, and the trail down to the bottom of the falls." Milli offered them the two walkie talkies, "He said he would be on three."

They nodded as a buzzer hummed in the kitchen. "Sorry, I got cakes in, when I get worried, I bake." She hurried into the kitchen.

"Let's get the horses unloaded," Cordell ordered, so Tim and Garrett obeyed as Cordell turned to his great-granddaughter. "Molly, check the girls and tell them to stay here. It won't do us any good if they try to join the search and get lost in this storm too." Then he followed the men out.

Tim and his grandfather headed in one direction as Molly and Garrett rode another. They pushed their horses faster than they should. The walkie talkie buzzed then Milli spoke through it. "Lloyd, Doc, Molly? Does anyone hear me?"

There was some crackling then Lloyd's deep voice came over the speaker, "I read you, Milli."

"Camille called in and said the Notch and Falls are clear and that the weather is getting bad. Did you find them?" Milli asked at the end.

"No, but I keep hearing a whistle, so I think I'm close, if the others are there, send them west." Lloyd answered as Tim leaned closer to his grandfather to hear in the howling wind.

"Deputy Lloyd, That's them. Grampa Ben always makes us carry whistles. You found them." One of Camille's girls revealed.

"Okay, girls, just send the other's this way. Give the radio back to Milli." Lloyd scolded.

"I'm here, Lloyd. What do you need?"

"Milli you said your godfather is a cop. Do you know the codes?"

Tim glanced at his grandfather at the odd question, wondering how well his cousin knew the adorable baker.

"Of course, I do. What girl from the hood doesn't?"

"My next call will be 10-36, possible 11-41. Do you understand?"

Tim didn't know what the first police code meant but he knew the second meant his cousin wanted her to have an ambulance come.

She answered. "Lloyd quit flirting with me and get your job done or I won't make you any more cake."

"Roger that. Grandpa, Molly? You hear?"

"Roger, heading to the western pass. On the tree line." Molly answered from the static.

"Tim and I are on the way." Cordell announced gruffly. He tucked the radio back in his breast pocket and turned his horse, pushing it to a canter into the increasing wind. Tim could feel the temperature dropping by the minute and a few crystalline flakes were flying horizontally past him. Above his head, the gray haze would soon obscure the sun completely. If they didn't find Ben and Beau soon, it would be a recovery search instead of a rescue.

The wind raged through the trees above them. Cordell stopped and holding his Stetson raised his head to look around. Around them the evergreen trees bent and moaned as the snow painted them white. Lloyd and Cajun's tracks had vanished.

"Lloyd!" Tim shouted then whistled shrilly. He was grateful for the bushy beard he had now to keep much of the cold off his face and neck.

"Lloyd, we lost your track in the storm." Cordell almost bellowed into the walkie talkie.

His walkie talkie crackled as Lloyd said, "Stay straight toward the northeast. I found them. I'm going to pop a flare. Milli, are you there?"

In the distance, the flare crackled and blinked in the blowing snow as Lloyd waved it over his head. Tim kicked Thor hard sending the giant horse into a gallop. Over the thudding of the horses' hooves, he couldn't here Milli's response.

Sitting up, Tim lost sight of the flare as they dodged the trees, "Oy, Lloyd!" He whistled again.

Lloyd shouted to his cousin, "Oy, over here."

Over the radio, Lloyd announced, "Beau's 11-41 and Ben is 11-44. Tell Tanner, we're coming back hot."

Tim wanted to weep as they continued toward the burning light among the trees because his grandfather's friend was dead. As they rode into the area, Lloyd tossed the flare down in the snow and headed back into the trees.

Tim dismounted first, "Where are they? And how bad is Beau that he needs an ambulance waiting?" He was shocked to notice two dead bears.

Their Grandpa's face was grave as he dismounted. Weathered lines couldn't hide the pain. Ben Wallace was one of his childhood friends, something men their age didn't have many of left alive. They followed Lloyd to the tree. Lloyd pushed away the overgrowth and fallen branches, Beau was leaning against the trunk. He seemed asleep, he inhaled slowly. Ben was lying next to him, dead. Tim looked away as Lloyd spoke.

"I've seen less wounded men die. There were two bears. They killed one and the other tried to kill them. It looks like Beau got his leg half chewed off, Ben dragged him under the tree, put a tourniquet on him, then covered the wound in his coat. I don't know how he did it before he bled out."

Lloyd's tone held a strange detachment and Tim wondered if he learned it in the military as he and Grandpa Cordell both nodded. Together they got Beau from under the tree. While Grandpa McConnell tended Beau, Lloyd and Tim rolled Ben up in a sleeping bag and laid him on the spare horse's back.

"Beau can't ride back, and a travois would take too long." Lloyd scowled.

"You're stronger than me. You can ride back double on Thor," Tim insisted.

"He might not make it back." Lloyd said.

Tim swallowed, catching Lloyd's concern. "I promise I won't blame you, but we have to try. Please, Lloyd. You're a better rider than me and it's his only chance."

Lloyd gave him a curt nod. It was very risky, but they had no other choice. With the weather coming in, there was no way they could get a rescue helicopter to come to the Ridgeline for their wounded friend. Beau didn't wake up as they laid him across the saddle in front of Lloyd's lap. Lloyd hated sitting behind the saddle, but this was the only way as they tightened a strap across Beau's legs. Lloyd made sure his embrace was firm. He would have to push his big roan hard and run the giant horse to ​get his childhood friend back to the ambulance and hopefully to the hospital before he succumbed.

"Thanks for bringing Thor, Grandpa," Lloyd said before turning his half-draft horse into the wind.

His grandfather shook his head, "Don't thank me. I was going to bring Chester cause he's faster, but Tim felt that if we needed to ride someone double and fast, Thor would be the better choice. He didn't even give us trouble getting in the trailer and you know how he hates it."

Lloyd's voice revealed how much he hated to say the words, "Thanks, Tim."

Tim was already swinging his leg over Cajun's saddle. He looked at Lloyd with tears running down his face. In his hand, he clutched the lead for the horse carrying Ben's body. "Don't thank me, just ride hard. If we can't keep up, don't wait. We gotta save Beau."

Lloyd gave him a curt nod and put the heel of his boot in the giant horse's side. Thor galloped across the snowy terrain; his nineteen hands tall easily giving his gait clearance over the new drifts. Lloyd checked over his shoulder once, but their grandpa and Tim were falling behind on their normal sized horses. Lloyd didn't slow and Tim was grateful as he prayed for Beau. Almost lost from sight in the storm and far ahead of them, Tim saw Lloyd rode Thor straight around the house to the flashing lights of the ambulance.

Lloyd, Garrett, and Tank finished loading Beau into the ambulance as Cordell and Tim arrived. Garrett went to help them put Ben in the coroner's van. Tim saw Tank put his hand on Lloyd's shoulder after they closed the ambulance doors and it pulled away. Lloyd had reached up to touch his face but then stopped, staring at the blood on his gloved hand as he made a fist. While they spoke, Tim walked toward them offering to help in the only way he knew for this situation.

"I'll stay and help with the animals," Tim volunteered from behind them.

"She's not my girlfriend, Tim. Milli is just a friend, and she lost her ex-husband a week after burying her son last month. She's not the person Tonia says she is. Leave her alone," Lloyd snarled.

"Lloyd, I just want to help..." Tim started defensively, stepping back from his cousin.

"Yeah, help yourself into her pants before you have to fly out and abandon your daughter again," Lloyd interrupted angrily, and Tim saw the accusation in Lloyd's dark eyes.

His cousin's rage and his guilt were like a gut-punch, but he would not meekly accept being accused of abandoning Tiana, because everything he did was for his daughter. Tim stepped forward to be chest to chest with Lloyd. "Gawddammit, I'm not the kind of guy that chases taken women. I don't care what Tonia told you."

Sheriff Tank stepped between them. "Enough, both of you. Tim, maybe it would be best if you let Garrett and Molly handle things here if Milli's stays to take care of the girls. Or Lloyd, if Milli doesn't want to stay, then you drive her and the girls to the Anemone before you go to the station, that way she can check on her aunt. Either way, you two need to work things out without getting in each other's faces over the lies of your ex-wife."

Milli came down the steps and put her hand over Lloyd's heart. "Please, take me home. Your cousin can stay or go, but we both have work to do in town."

"I wouldn't hit on you," Tim grumbled, as he realized what Lloyd told her about him.

Milli turned square to him, looking up at his face over a foot above hers. "Wouldn't matter if you did? You're not my type, your hair is too blond to be trusted. Besides if you were with Tonia for eight years, then you probably have cooties. I don't want cooties, especially her cooties."

Tim's jaw fell open as the petite baker turned and went inside. He had no idea how to respond to that. Literally no words came to him. A glance showed him Lloyd was just as surprised.

"I'm taking the horses home, Grandpa," Tim announced, unwilling to go inside again or face Lloyd's new love interest because it was as obvious as a shooting star that they cared for one another. He went to load the horses in the horse trailer. There was no point trying to defend himself, he had wronged his cousin and everyone in Pagosa County knew it. He was never going to be able to get past his shame. Grandpa Cordell spoke to the Wallaces then Molly and Garrett before coming to get in the truck. Lloyd didn't even look in their direction after hugging his grandfather. Tim drove in silence wondering if his cousin would ever forgive him.

"He still loves you," Grandpa Cordell said as Tim stopped by the barn.

"I think you're confused. Lloyd doesn't love me, not anymore, not for a decade and a half."

His grandfather's hand rested on his arm before he could get out. "Tim, I know Lloyd still loves you because if he didn't, he wouldn't be so hurt and angry every time you come home. You're his brother and someday his wounded pride and bitterness will heal, and he'll forgive you for what Tonia tricked you into doing to break you apart."

"It wasn't only Tonia... And I ain't certain I'll ever deserve his forgiveness."

Feeling completely like a looser as he unloaded, unsaddled, and put blankets on the horses so they wouldn't catch a chill, while he thought about how what happened with Selene Rose had broken his and Beau's friendship. The only grandson of the Wallace family tolerated him because of the friendship between their grandfathers, but Tim still cared about him more than any of his old high school friends. He had been a fool; Tonia had led him off a cliff and he fell to his destruction.

He wished he enjoyed online gambling like some of his coworkers, but he didn't. He wanted to see his opponents. Read them like a topographic map. Tim wondered where he could find a high stakes poker game without driving to Black Bear or Cripple Creek or Vegas. Since Selene Rose cursed him his junior year of high school, he was unlucky at love, but damned lucky at cards, and winning was the only thing besides his daughter that made him feel good.