Chris Larabee
could not remember the last time he felt this carefree or genuinely happy. He
and Vin had been pushing the horses hard and so the
older man realistically decided it was time to rein them in. Vin
followed suit, the pair slowing the panting animals.
"You feelin’ okay?"
"Yep."
For several
minutes they rode in silence. Without warning, Chris pulled his horse off to
the right. Vin emulated without question. The two
climbed the steep slope until they reached the top of Bently
Range. Larabee slid out of the saddle and loosely tied his horse to a bush. He
walked across to the edge of the mountain and settled on a fallen tree, just as
he had done so on a thousand other occasions. Today, however, he wasn’t alone -
but then, in his heart, he never had been.
Together Chris
and Vin sat staring over the countryside below them.
Other men may have found the silence uncomfortable but for these two, it was
relaxed and serene. They had never needed words to entertain them or enjoy one
another’s company. Silence was a pleasure all its own.
The minutes
rolled into hours, the only sound on the ridge, the welcome buzz of Mother
Nature with her insects, birds and rustling wind.
Chris enjoyed
the first two hours sitting in the utter stillness feeling Vin’s presence and
thanking all that was good in the world his best friend was indeed alive - just
as he had always known. However, during the third hour of sitting soaking up
the peacefulness of creation, Larabee’s mind had been
turning over the guilt he had bottled up inside. He had left Vin in Katinda -- there was no two ways of looking at it.
Sooner or later, Vin was going to start wondering
about it - about why his team hadn’t done something to find him.
"When you
disappeared..."
"Don’t,"
Vin cut his friend off. He knew what Chris was going
to say and there was no need. He could sense the unfounded guilt his friend was
harboring - knew it was eating away at him.
"Let me
finish. We didn’t just abandon you. We..."
"You don’t
have to tell me. You searched for as long as possible before your lives where
in danger. You ordered the search off to protect the team. Because you’re a damn fine leader."
Chris dropped
his face. "I..."
"Chris, if
it had been the other way round and you had gone missing, I would have done
exactly the same thing."
Larabee nodded.
"I know." Chris knew Vin would have been
strong enough to put his emotions aside to protect the boys.
"You must
have gone though hell," Vin whispered.
"Hell
doesn’t even begin to explain it." There had been a time when Chris had
honestly thought he was going out of his mind. The pain after the horrific
murder of his family had almost destroyed him. He had felt their loss to his
core and knew the agony could not be equaled. The wondering and burning guilt
that had consumed his every waking - and sleeping - moment after Vin had disappeared was a different type of anguish.
Frustration mixed with culpability, not the stress of bereavement. The loss of
his wife and child, while almost unbearable, had an element of closure. Sarah
and Adam were gone and as much as that tore him apart, there was a definite
finality connected to it. It was the lack of confirmation surrounding Vin’s disappearance that had come close to stealing Chris Larabee’s sanity. The strange sense of ‘knowing’ had given
him the strength to go on. He knew Vin was
alive.
"Reckon I
got the better end of the stick," the younger man grinned.
Chris glanced
across at his friend and smiled. "Reckon so."
Again silence
consumed them. The sun began its descent. "I come up and sit here every
night I’m out here.”
"It sure
is pretty."
Vin watched a flock of birds swoop and dive out of the treetops. The
young man swallowed. "Tell me how it happened."
Chris had been
waiting for Vin to ask. "When you were in the
hospital, someone - a major apparently - came and told you an Aussie platoon was in trouble and you were the only one they would trust
enough to take orders from."
Vin’s brow creased with concentration.
Chris realized
he had to make this as simple as possible - just the facts. "You ran the
message in, realized the orders were false and so you warned the platoon, but
you were sick with Jungle Fever. The Australians carried you out of there and
contacted General Gaston."
"Gaston?"
"Yeah. He realized you had been double-crossed and took it upon himself to protect you. Sent you home.
Set it up with the CIA to give you a new identity and a place in the witness
protection programme."
"But he
never told you?"
"No."
Vin shook his head. "Why? He knew I was a member of your squad. Why
didn’t he tell you?"
"He
thought it had been one of us who double crossed you."
"That’s
stupid. It doesn’t make sense."
Chris shrugged.
"He thought he was doing the right thing."
"THE RIGHT THING! BECAUSE OF HIM I..."
The anger turned to grief almost immediately. "Two years, Chris. It ain’t fair. You and the boys shouldn’t have had to..."
Vin paused and then grinned. "Only two years.
Hell, a whole two years when you didn’t have to put up with my
complaints."
"That’s
right." Chris watched as the smile left Vin’s
face.
"Two
years, Chris."
Larabee wrapped
his arm around Vin’s back. "Thank the Lord it was
only two years. If that contract hadn’t been taken out on your life it could
have been a lot longer."
"But who
would want me dead? Fifty million dollars worth of
dead?"
"The only
person I can think of is the one who double crossed you in Kat."
Vin’s eyes narrowed. He tried... forced himself to remember. "Dammit! I can’t remember anything. Can’t
even remember you fellas taking me to the
hospital!"
"Relax, it will come when it’s ready. We’ll get him. I
promise you that." Hell, if it was the last thing Chris ever did... if it
took him the rest of his life… he would find the man who had stolen Vin from him - would wrap his hands around his throat and
take great pleasure in slowly choking the life out of him.
"Reckon I
need to thank him for taking out the contract. Like you said, it could have
been a lot longer. Could have been never."
"I don’t
believe that," Chris disagreed surveying the countryside below.
"Somehow, someway, one of us would have realized."
Vin glanced at his older friend and nodded. "Reckon you could be
right."
"We better
head back. It’s getting dark," Chris climbed to his feet. Vin didn’t move. He couldn’t bring himself to break the
unreal spell. This was everything he could ever ask for in life -- Mother
Nature in her natural form and his best friend at his side. Larabee knelt down
beside Vin and placed his hand on his shoulder. For
several seconds neither moved and then Chris offered his hand and Vin allowed his older friend to pull him to his feet. They
stared at each other.
"Two
years, Chris."
"It’s
gone, Vin. Just think about now. There
are seven of us. J.D. and Ezra are an important part of the team. They grow on
you. You’ll learn to trust them."
"Already
do." Strangely enough, he did and Vin Tanner didn’t trust easily. Perhaps
it was because he trusted Josiah, Buck, Nathan and Chris completely and if they
saw fit to trust J.D. and Ezra then Vin was happy to
as well.
Vin sighed. He suddenly felt really tired.
"You
okay?"
"Yeah, just tired."
"We’ll
take it easy on the way back. You can sleep in the saddle."
**********
The sound of
Chris’ cell phone woke Vin with a start, his horse
startled by the sudden jerk in the saddle. "Woo, boy. Easy."
"Larabee? Yeah, we’re fine. Only about fifteen minutes
from home...what do you mean you let Nathan cook? What the hell were you thinkin’, Buck? Oh. Okay. Larabee
out."
"They let
Nathan cook?" Vin asked unhappily. Nathan’s
cooking was one thing he hadn’t forgotten.
"He
insisted. Reckons you and Ezra need some good wholesome
stew."
Vin screwed up his face. "His cookin’
improved much?"
"Nope."
"Damn."
**********
Colonel Doug
Kane slammed his fist through the wall as his anger released in its usual
violent fashion.
"How many
men did we lose?"
"Six dead,
two arrested, two haven’t contacted us, Sir."
"Damn,
Larabee!"
"Sir, will
we be pursing the fifty five million dollar contract?"
Kane turned and
stared at his second in command. "Yes."
Lieutenant
Miller swallowed. He had known Kane a long time, but he had never seen the
man’s face so lethal. This had been personal before, but now... now it had
moved into virulent for all concerned. "Immediately,
Sir?"
"No. First
we regroup. Let Larabee think he and his team are safe. Then, maybe in a month
or a year or three years... when they least expect it...."
**********
General Travis
indicated for Agent Joe, the CIA liaison officer, to take a seat. "I hope
you have been able to explain everything to the CIA."
"I have
smoothed out most of the wrinkles, but the FBI aren’t
impressed and neither are Special Forces. General, you really are going to have
to speak to E.M.6."
Travis nodded.
"Unfortunately, Agent Joe, they are soldiers first and social skills
really don’t tend to be a prerequisite. They had a job to do and they did it.
They don’t allow anything or anyone to get in their way."
"I
understand that, Sir, and so do my superiors. We know E.M.6 is very good at
what they do, but they need to do it with a little more social tact."
"I’ll see
what I can do."
"The
missing witness from the witness protection programme
was in fact Lieutenant Tanner, I hear."
Travis nodded.
He wasn’t surprised the CIA had worked it out. "That’s right."
"And he
has a severe case of amnesia as a result of the Jungle Fever and Post Traumatic
Stress."
"You are
very well informed."
Agent Joe smiled.
"We also have it on very good authority Lieutenant Tanner is struggling to
regain his memories and, in fact, is not likely to recollect the Katinda conflict."
Travis nodded
thoughtfully. "Apparently not. You were there.
You know the sort of atrocities the S.T.F.1 had to deal with. I am sure the
fact Vin has been spared the memory of those horrors
is a great relief to his team, Eli."
"I’m sure
it is a great relief to a lot of people, General," Agent Eli Joe agreed
smiling.
**********
Dinner was a
noisy affair as the men competed around the large oval table to find an
appropriate description to characterize the slop Nathan had the audacity to
call stew.
Chris watched Vin carefully. The young man grinned, even chuckled a couple
of times, but otherwise, he was quiet. That wasn’t completely out of the
ordinary. Vin was usually quiet. He only spoke when he
had something to say. Tonight, he appeared content to watch and listen to his
friends.
"So what
do you say, Ezra?" J.D. asked.
Ezra Standish
was scrutinizing the bowl of steaming stew with all the intensity of a doctor
examining his patient. Finally, he pushed the unappetizing meal away and
snorted. "I would not eat that abhorrent abomination if it was the last
edible thing on this planet... and I would like to debate whether or not that
is edible. How on earth did you achieve smells that are so obscene and
nauseating, Sergeant Jackson?"
"Eat it.
It’s full of protein, minerals and vitamins. Exactly what you and Vin need
after what you’ve been through."
"Then why
do we have to eat it?" Josiah muttered.
"You know,
Nathan is right," Buck stated seriously. "As a matter of fact, I
think the way all of you are acting is quite unforgivable. Nathan went to a lot
of trouble to prepare this highly nutritious and healing meal to assist Ezra
and Vin get better." Brows furrowed and eyes
narrowed with suspicion. They all knew Buck far too well to accept any of that.
"For that reason," Buck continued lifting up his bowl of stew.
"I am going to forgo my helping and give it to Vin.
If one bowl is going to help him recover, then two bowls will make his recovery
twice as fast."
Vin grinned. "The sacrifices you make for me, Buck. I don’t know
what to say." Buck started to tip the stew from his plate into Vin’s. "’Course if you tip that crap onto my plate I’ll
shoot you." Buck paused and turned to Ezra who immediately covered his own
bowl with his hands.
J.D. was
laughing so hard he was actually holding his stomach. "So you want some of
this, boy?"
"No!"
the youth cried grabbing his bowl and shifting it out of Buck’s reach.
"No one is
having anything until we’ve said Grace," Josiah stated calmly. Vin flicked his eyes to Chris and then back to Josiah. They
had seen the most depraved and Godless things on Earth and yet, Josiah’s faith
still held. Vin had rediscovered his faith because of
his older friend.
"Well,
we’re back, Lord, but tonight we’re not here to ask for anything - which
surprises you, I know. We’re here to thank you. We thank you for this interesting
meal Nathan has prepared; we thank you for assisting Ezra and Vin’s healing; and we thank you for bringing Vin back to us.
But most of all, Lord, we thank you for this time of fun, peace and play and
for the fact we are here together enjoying the mateship
we know is a gift from you. We pray in Jesus’ name... oh, and just a word of
advice. If you happen to be hungry, I suggest you go to someone else’s table to
feast, because this slop we’ve got looks like shit, smells like shit and will
probably taste like shit too. Amen."
Nathan took the
jibes good naturally.
After all of
the men finished their ‘stew’, Buck passed out the beer. Ezra collected a glass
of wine for himself and the group settled in the huge open lounge room in front
of the fire. An hour later found J.D. and Josiah lazing on beanbags, Nathan, Chris
and Buck on chairs, Ezra lying on the three-seater
couch and Vin seated cross-legged in front of the
fire.
"Yeah,
which is why Chris always wears black," Buck laughed.
"What?"
"Well,
Chris don’t have much of an eye for color."
Larabee winked at Buck. There was a story behind the story. When Chris had met
Sarah, he had been someone who put on whatever clothes came out of the cupboard
first. He had never cared about his appearance. Sarah had been appalled,
explaining that if a person was going to the trouble of dressing then things
had to ‘match’. Unfortunately, Chris soon discovered there were a number of
colors and a number of styles that didn’t go together, which meant they didn’t
‘match’ and according to Larabee’s wife, that was a
sin. To solve the problem, Chris had begun to buy black clothing. Black always
went with black. A man couldn’t go wrong if he wore black shoes, black socks,
black pants, a black belt and a black shirt.
"I have
always been partial to red," Ezra mused.
"But not
khaki?" J.D. teased. "Buck likes Barbie pink."
Between them, Josiah,
Nathan and Chris monitored Vin’s reactions. Tanner, it seemed was happy, listening
quietly and sipping his beer. Larabee noted the slight pinching at the side of
the young man’s right eye every now and again -- an indication a memory was
being viewed and re-categorized for later recollection.
"How you doin’, Vin?" Josiah asked
quietly as Buck tackled J.D., knocking the coffee table flying.
"I’m
tired." Emotionally and mentally, more than physically.
The process of regaining his memory was draining. "Reckon I might head to
bed." Instantly there was silence - Buck releasing J.D. from the headlock
he had him in.
"I’ll show
you to your room," Chris stated, climbing to his feet.
I got a room?
"This
place has eight bedrooms each with its own bathroom."
Vin nodded and rose to his feet. He glanced around at the other men
who were studying him with a mixture of sympathy and welcome. "I wanna thank you... all of you," he stated glancing
toward J.D. and Ezra. "... for everything."
"You don’t
need to thank us, Vin," Nathan stated.
"You’re
one of us. You always have been," Buck added earnestly.
The
sharpshooter tipped his hat and then followed Chris up the internal stairs that
started off to the right of the lounge room and lead to a second floor landing
that ran the entire length of the house. Off the landing were all of the
bedrooms. The men downstairs tried to appear as though they had gone back to
talking, but all were watching and listening to the conversation they could see
and almost hear.
"Nathan’s
room is the third door on the right, if you need him. Mine’s at the end of the
hallway."
"I’m fine,
Chris."
"You know
that..."
"I know my
memories are likely to come back when I’m sleepin’
and some of the things I’m gonna remember ain’t gonna be cheerful. I don’t
remember much, but I do know Katinda was a bastard of
a place to be."
"It was.
If you want to talk, just come and get me. Don’t worry about waking me."
"Chris,
I’ll be fine. Stop worrying."
"I had
J.D. contact the Tascosa Ranch. All of your
belongings are on their way here."
"Thanks."
"Buck’s
left a pair of pajamas on your bed. If you need anything else..."
"For
Christ’s sake, Chris, stop worrying. I’m okay. Go back downstairs and join the
others. I don’t need you up here holdin’ my hand.
I’ve been tuckin’ myself in at night since I was
five."
The stared at each other. Vin smirked. Chris
grinned, turned and returned to the others who all gazed at him expectantly as
he descended the stairs.
"He’s
okay, just tired."
"He knows
he’s likely to suffer nightmares?"
"He
knows."
"And he
knows he can wake any one of us up if..."
"He
knows."
"Well, my
friends, I do believe I too shall retire," Ezra stated standing. "I
wish you all good night and pray you are able to keep your stew down."
As Ezra walked
passed his leader, Chris stopped him. "I haven’t had a chance to thank
you."
Standish
grinned. "My dear Colonel Larabee. I did no more
or less than you expected of me."
"Exactly. And I thank you for it."
Ezra’s grin
split into a satisfied smile. It was strange how the pain of a bullet wound
dulled when taken in order to protect a mate... and in the presence of praise
from another mate. "Good night."
Before Ezra
could move, Vin appeared on the landing and rushed to
the top of the stairs. "Colonel! I’ve just
remembered something!" All of the men rose to their feet. The use of the
word Colonel put them on alert. It moved the men’s relationship from personal
to official.
Chris crossed
to the bottom of the stairs. The name... all Chris wanted was the name of the
vile traitor who had made a huge mistake when he had double-crossed one of Larabee’s men.
Vin’s face was intense, but there was the slightest twinkle in his sky
blue eyes. "I remember you were sweet on that pretty little
reporter."
A growl started somewhere in the back of Larabee’s
throat. Buck and Josiah burst out laughing. Talk about a blast from the
past. During Katinda, Vin Tanner had reveled in
teasing Chris about Mary.
"Go to
bed, Vin," Chris ordered sternly, stepping up
onto the bottom step, his eyes narrowing.
"Now what
was her name?" Vin asked, a grin settling on his
face.
"Vin,"
Chris rumbled.
"Mary,
wasn’t it?" Mischief echoed from each syllable.
"GO!"
Larabee roared, climbing another two steps.
"Yeah, General Travis’ daughter-in-law. She was cute.
So what happened, Chris? You and her ever..."
"LIEUTENANT!" Chris’ eyes slit into
what was fondly... or not so fondly... known as the Larabee glare. Thankfully,
Vin Tanner was immune to it.
"Now, if I
remember correctly, Cowboy, you said..."
"Retire to
your room, soldier, that’s an order."
"Stuff
your order! You said..."
Chris took off
up the stairs. Vin darted for his room and shut the
door before Larabee arrived.
"What did
Bareback Larabee say about Mrs. Travis?" Ezra asked eagerly. Why had no
one informed him of this juicy piece of information?
"Bareback?"
Chris thundered, staring first at Ezra before shooting an accusing scowl at
Buck.
"Well,"
Vin yelled through the door. "He said..."
"One day,
Tanner!" Chris roared. "One day you’re gonna
push me too far!"
"Definitely
sounds like I struck a nerve," Vin chuckled.
"What do you reckon, boys?"
Chris’s head
snapped around. The Larabee glare rained down on his men.
‘I have no idea
of what he’s talking about, Colonel," Buck stated innocently. "J.D.?"
"No, Sir. " J.D. agreed, his large
eyes serious and guileless. "Nathan?"
"Being a
doctor, I can’t say that I’ve seen any sign of the Colonel suffering from nerve
problems. Josiah?"
"The
Colonel has always presented himself as nerveless - that’s my professional
opinion, by the way. Ezra?"
"What is
there to say? It is clear to me that Lieutenant Tanner has..."
"Hit the
nail on the head, Bareback!" Buck thundered as
the laughter he had been trying to contain, exploded out of him with force.
This set the rest of the group off.
Vin opened the door, his grinning face sending a smile onto Larabee’s.
"You still
pleased I’m back?"
"I’m
having second thoughts." The two men stared at each other, the passage of
two years dissolving into the ether.
It’s great to
have you home, Vin.
Vin flicked his eyes to the upturned faces of his mates below. His
team - a group of men who had been prepared to take on twenty-two armed mercenaries
for him. Em7, that was what he was a part of. Vin returned his attention to Chris. The pair’s arms snapped
together in a full forearm shake.
It’s good to BE
home, Cowboy.
