Relentless

4

The yard filled with cars and trucks-police, FBI, horse trailers, Dodge power wagons, Vickers’ jeep.

A big red-faced man drove a poorly stuck-together convertible into the yard. There was no wind. The dust settled just where it had been kicked up. The big man exploded out of the car. “What the hell is all this?”

Vickers stepped forward. “You’re Lansford?”

“You’re God damn right I am. What’s everybody standing around for?”

Vickers was flashing his identification. “We’re busier than we look, Mr. Lansford.”

The rancher whipped his hat off. It had indented a red weal across his forehead; he rubbed it with the side of his index finger. “They took my wife, is that right?”

“I’m afraid it is.”

“And you’re standing around.” Lansford’s eyes narrowed into a fighter’s squint. “Okay. Help yourselves. Stand around all night if you want.” He turned with a quick snap of beefy shoulders and began to tramp toward the three horses tied up by the barn.

Watchman blocked his path. “Take it easy, Mr. Lansford.”

“Take it easy!” The man had a good loud bellow. It rang around the yard.

Vickers said, “Try to calm down. Let us handle this, Mr. Lansford-we don’t need amateur help.”

“You’ve got it whether you want it or not.”

“Do you want me to place you under arrest?”

“On what God damn charge?”

“Protective custody if you like.”

“Piss on that. Those are my horses. You don’t go an inch on those horses without my permission.”

“All right,” Vickers said. “I hadn’t planned to use them anyway.”

Watchman turned; stared at him.

Vickers took two paces forward so that his face picked up the lamplight that splashed off the porch. “These five men have attempted a wave of terror. They’ve killed two men, one of them an officer of the law. They’ve abducted a woman. They’ve stolen almost a million dollars. Washington and Phoenix have agreed we can’t tolerate terrorism on this scale. We’ve traced the background of one of these men and it looks like we’re dealing with a well-organized group of former United States Army officers who were recently cashiered for acts of extreme brutality and savagery in Vietnam. The government regards this as a critical situation because we don’t know how much organized paramilitary support these men have and we don’t know how many more acts of violence they’re planning to execute. For that reason the federal government and the Governor of Arizona have agreed to mobilize the National Guard.”