Chapter 01

The Trip

I’ve kept the number of people travelling to as few as I thought I could get away with, but it still looks like we’ve all but taken over the Truth or Consequences Municipal Airport. Since I’m in New Mexico to look at puppies I’d no chance of getting away to do this without taking along my three girlfriends nor my six adopted daughters, along with the three young women involved in their care. I think myself lucky to keep the security team to look after us down to twenty-one guards.

The airport is a good sized one, but it’s not a regional hub. Thus it’s not large enough to have much in the way of the permanent facilities and services you get used to seeing at larger airports. The few locals here are watching us with care. But the bulk of people at the airport are over having a look at Ryū while it’s being serviced. It’s not often they get to see such a large plane come in here, or one that looks so nice.

The flight down was faster than I expected, so we’re early. We’ve come from Maryland and we beat the local transport to the airport. Andre is on his mobile phone to check up on the bus and cars organised as our local transport. While waiting we’ve spread out a bit with the security staff further out. I smile at how appropriate the transport is. Sharon had organised what she could, and I now see she’s organised a school bus for us with two cars: one to ride in front and one behind. Andre starts to speak into the phone. I wave at him while pointing at the approach road. He turns, and smiles at the fast approaching bus with two cars. He hangs up after telling them they’ve just arrived at the airport.

Once the vehicles are on hand it takes only a few minutes for the team bomb expert and mechanic to inspect and pass them as safe for us to use. The girls are first to load while three guards get in each of the cars. The local drivers have been checked out and approved through John, so we’re letting them drive. Everyone is soon loaded up, except Lia, Brian, and me.

We’re waiting for the Meadows Mountain Kennels representative to arrive. We’ll ride with him while he shows us the way to the kennels. It’s another few minutes before an old four door pickup with the MMK logo on it arrives. It stops near us and a man gets out. He matches the photo I was sent of the man to expect.

I’m smiling when I walk over, hold out my hand, and ask, “Frank Phillips?” He nods yes. “I’m Al Adams, come to look over the dogs.”

He smiles as he shakes my hand while saying, “Morning, Mister Adams. We expected someone a bit older looking.” We’ve a short chat then he leads us to the vehicle. A Border Collie is sitting on the front passenger seat. Frank reaches in to scratch the dog’s ears as he says, “Meet Pick Up.”

I smile while I hold my hand out for the dog to sniff it. He gives my hand a good sniff and a lick as a greeting, then I reach further to scratch him behind the ears before letting Lia and Brian do the same.

When Frank walks around to get behind the wheel I open the back door for Lia to get in while Brian walks around to get in behind the driver. I smile when Pick Up moves from the front seat to the back when I close the door behind Lia. He sits between the two in the back while watching us all. I get in the front passenger seat and belt up, so do Lia and Brian. Frank has a cheeky grin when he starts the engine. No sooner does the engine start than Pick Up barks, sits up, and places a paw on Frank’s shoulder. He turns and smiles at the dog, “OK, Pick Up, I’ll put my belt on.” When he does the dog settles back down on the seat. “Miss, there’s a couple of straps back there, will you please clip them to Pick Up’s harness?” Lia does, and the dog rests his head on her thigh. It appears he’s happy to relax with everyone now belted up properly.

After putting the truck into gear Frank heads out, followed by one of the cars, the bus, and the other car, with a safe travel distance between the vehicles. Frank watches the mirror while they fall in line, and smiles.

I grin at him, “I tried to get away by myself, but too many people found out why I was coming down here. So I had no choice. My six adopted daughters and three girlfriends just had to come to see the puppies, and that meant suitable security staff.” He glances at me. “Hey, I had to fight like hell to keep the numbers this low. Look to your right.” He does, and I can tell when he sees Ryū because his head jerks back around to look at me. I nod, “Yes, that big blue plane is my private jet we flew down in.”

I let him stew on that for a moment. I half turn in the seat to look at the dog on the back seat while saying, “That was a nice demonstration of the dog’s intelligence.” Frank gives me a quick glance while Pick Up looks up at me with a smile. “I saw you grin when you started the car without putting a belt on. Also, since you knew Pick Up had to be belted up and you hadn’t said anything it was very obvious.” Frank nods yes, and Pick Up nods as well. Lia reaches down to scratch him behind the ears. This causes him to lean sideways to lie more on her leg. He seems happy with the situation.

Following that comment Frank starts to talk about the dogs, how intelligent they are and how useful they are in many tasks after they’re trained for the task. As we drive south we chat about the dogs for quite a while, and I learn a lot about Border Collies.

The airport is some miles north of the town on Interstate 25 and where we’re going is in the mountains off to the west, so we’ll turn off the I-25 a few miles south of Williamsburg. It’s not that long a drive but it’s not a quick dash to the local shops, either.

Interruption

We’re some miles south of Williamsburg while travelling along at the posted speed limit when the car in front of us, a much older pickup with a large load of gear in the back, makes a sudden pull to the right. As it does I see a long black strip fly off to the right. The truck in front hits the dirt shoulder. The front wheel digs in. It starts to spin on that corner. The back chases around to pass the front while it angles right a lot more. Frank is busy braking hard and keeping his truck on the road.

The couple of cars that had gotten between us and our main group pass us while I pull out my radio to call the security detail. I click the radio to transmit just when the driver of the truck in front loses his fight to control the pickup. It goes into a roll over the front corner. Holding the transmit button down I say, “All, Prime. Emergency stop. Medical check all passengers in the wreck. Spread out, check for people thrown out.” I get three confirmations while all of the drivers start to brake.

All four of our vehicles stop at the same time, but at different points along the road. We’re just a bit in front of where the wreck has come to a halt. It’s back upright, but it’s very battered. I can see blood on the windscreen. The two front passengers are moving a little. I pull out my phone to hit a speed dial national number, they answer, so I say, “Area Prime, declaring Valkyrie! I two five just south of Williamsburg, New Mexico. Car wreck, injuries unknown. More will follow.” Frank gives me an odd look while I talk. I don’t blame him as it must sound odd to him.

“Area Prime, Vampire Base, acknowledge Valkyrie. I two five just south of Williamsburg, New Mexico, injuries unknown at this time. Launching. Smoke, please.”

“Vampire Base, Area Prime. Will smoke on sight.”

I smile at the benefits of proper planning. When I made the decision to make this trip I let Vampire know and they deployed a bird to the local hospital. It arrived yesterday. It’s now heading this way at top speed.

We all get out and head for the wreck. While most of my people get out of the bus and cars to spread out and start to walking along the path the pickup took when it left the road some of them stay at the bus to keep the youngest girls safe and away from the wreck.

We’re almost to the wreck when one of the guards calls Victor over, he’s our travelling medic for today. He races over to where the guard is standing, I can just make out it’s Nadia. She doesn’t look happy or well. Victor drops to his knees beside her, does something, gets something out of his pack, and does something more. My radio comes alive on the second frequency it’s set to monitor; “Hawk Four, Area Ground, burn a hole, burn a hole. Baby with serious injuries after being ejected from the vehicle. Over.”

“Area Ground, Hawk Four, prepare a hot drop L Z by you and a proper one nearby. Over.”

“Hawk Four, Area Ground. Affirmative, on the spot hot drop L Z; proper L Z as close as possible. Out.” He continues to work on the child while he speaks to Nadia. She leaves him and goes to speak to four other guards, then three guards move back to the vehicles. They’ve the bus and cars move to block out an area on the flat road shoulder. Nadia and the other guard set up near Victor where both release smoke canisters, one red and one green. Another releases yellow smoke over near the vehicles.

We reach the wreck and start to check the people. Brian and Frank are first aid trained so they start doing what they can for the driver and front passenger while Lia and I check the two kids in the back seat. All are injured to some extent, but none seem life threatening to us, despite the blood. When I hear the chopper approaching I look up.

On seeing the manoeuvre being done I think, My God, they can’t be serious. But they are, and they do it. I watch when the helicopter comes in at high speed with his nose down at a sharp angle while aiming for the red smoke. At what I think is the last possible split second the pilot pulls up to a horizontal position just a foot off the ground as he spins the bird to be side on. When the helicopter comes to a halt the two people standing on the skids while holding onto something inside the cabin let go of what they’re holding and are propelled from the skid in a dive. After going into a shoulder roll on the ground the two pop up to race the last few feet to Victor while three more jump out with bags of gear.

With the medical team unloaded the helicopter rises up and moves over to where there’s yellow smoke near the vehicles. The helicopter takes care when it settles to the ground. The pilot sits there with blades idling, ready for a quick exit if it’s needed.

The combat medical team doctor takes over from Victor as the rest set out their field theatre. Victor gets up and comes to the vehicle. Sirens of emergency vehicles arrive, and some of the sirens turn off. I look up to see two state police cars and a local sheriff’s deputy car stop on the shoulder above us. With them are two ambulances. One of the ambulance drivers gets out to check the ground. He hops back in and drives down to the wreck before turning his siren off. The professionals are here so I head up to the road.

There’s nothing I can do to help the injured now so I leave them to the care of the trained medical helpers while I see what else I can do to help out. Approaching the law enforcement trio I call out, “OK, who has to know what happened here?” I grin when all three put their hands up. “What is this, a race to see who can get back to the station to do the paperwork first?” They all grin. After a few minutes talk I learn this section of the road has a confusing jurisdictional history which no one seems to be able to sort out, nor are they interested in sorting it out due to the trouble involved in doing so.

Shrugging, I tell them, “The pickup I rode in was behind the truck. We’d been slowly creeping up on it for about fifteen minutes. We were doing the posted limit so the difference in speed couldn’t have been more than a couple of miles per hour. Anyway, back there, just back from where the bus is stopped, the pickup’s front right went down and it jerked to the right. A long strip of something black went off into the grass on the right. I suspect the tyre blew out. The driver fought for control but lost it when the back caught up with the front just after the rim went into the softer shoulder. The car went into a roll and ended up where it is. We stopped to help and I called in my emergency medical team. They’re the ones at work on the injured right now.”

The sheriff’s deputy looks up at my mention of the medical team. I wonder why that’s important to him. They take down what I say and add my identification details. One trooper and the deputy go to speak with Frank. The other trooper goes to the road to wave the traffic on.

A little later the local Sheriff and a State Police van pull up together, the drivers get out and they have a talk while they approach the two taking statements. After another talk the Sheriff waves at the scene while the trooper from the van starts taking photos. The Sheriff walks up to me, “Well, son, I gather you saw it all!” I nod yes. “Care to show me where you think the tyre ended up? No one else saw it fly off.” I nod again and we head back down the road. While we walk along the shoulder I keep an eye on the brush for the odd looking tree I saw just before the tyre blew and a part of it flew off.

A few minutes later, and about half a mile back, we’re level with the tree, “Sheriff, the pickup was about level with this tree when what I think is the tyre tread took off at a sharp angle.”

He slowly nods, “OK, let’s check to see if there’s anything around here that may have been involved.” We check the road for a hundred yards or so back, but we can’t see anything beyond a gouge in the road just near where I said the trouble started, then another gouge where I think the rim first hit the road a few yards further along. We back up from the rim gouge and look out at the grass on the side of the road. This stretch of road has a nice wide stretch of wild grass beside it with the grassed area angling down toward where the trees and bushes are.

We stand and take our time to look over the area. After a moment I spot what looks like a section of grass not upright. I point it out to the Sheriff, he nods again, and we back up along the shoulder until we’ve a line up with it at about the angle I said I saw it take off at. Now we can see another patch like it a bit further out. We move until they’re lined up. He says, “Stand here for a moment, please, son!” I nod yes then he walks back to the road as he keeps looking over his shoulder to make sure he’s lined up with me and the patches. He looks at the road and slowly nods. Pulling out the microphone to his personal radio he speaks into it. A moment later one of the several state troopers down at the wreck hops into a car and comes up to us. He parks on the road just back from where the Sheriff is standing and puts on his car’s flashing emergency lights.

The Sheriff comes back to me, “That funny gouge in the road’s about two feet before where those two patches line up. If something tore up the tyre that would be about where it did it.” I nod my agreement with him.

Together we start to walk along what I think is the line the tyre took. We find the first patch and it looks like something came through here fast, hit the ground, and took off again. The distance to the next patch is less. Again with the third. By the time we reach the fifth patch they’re a lot closer together and the fifth has almost a full tyre re-tread lying in it. The Sheriff squats down to have a long look at it.

“Son, give me your thoughts on how long this has been here!”

I look around, the grass is still very damp yet the face up side of the rubber is bone dry. “Sheriff, by the look of the wet grass and the dry rubber I’d say it can’t have been here too long since the dew hasn’t settled on it. When did it last rain around here?”

He grins, “A drizzle, an hour ago.” We both stand and walk around the tyre as we don’t want to disturb it before the crime scene people have a look and get their photos. As I near the far end I spot something glinting in the sun. I lean closer then I point it out to the Sheriff. He has a close look, and swears. “Someone’s going to be in big trouble. That’s a caltrop made to disable large animals. There’s no way it should be lying around here. Thanks, son. No one else saw this go flying so we were about ready to write this off as driver error, but this is now a felony assault of some sort: either criminal negligence or an attempted murder.”

“I don’t envy you trying to find who did it, Sheriff. Just before the car went sideways we’d all been passed by another car. It was a grey sedan of some sort, but I can’t tell you anything more than that. Nor do I know if they dropped it or were just lucky to miss it.”

He nods, “This makes three things I have to thank you for.” I give him a sharp look. “First, seeing the tyre going. Second, having that hot bird handy. The baby would’ve been dead before they got to hospital, but the doctor’s field operation saved her life. I absolutely hate the reports on deaths, especially those of small kids. Third, yesterday I was near the hospital when I got a call to go meet someone. Your doctor, Captain Porter, is known to one of my deputies. The deputy was there when the Captain dropped in during the middle of a fire-fight to do field surgery to save my son’s life. I finally got a chance to thank him.”

Not much I can say to any of that. So I simply shrug and give him a wry smile. He continues, “My deputy and I are trying to work out why someone so young pays for such top level medical support!” This is more a question than statement.

“Sheriff, how do you feel when you have to go to a house to tell a person their husband, wife, daughter, or son who works for you just died in the line of duty?”

He goes a bit pale, “Like shit, son! Like shit!”

“I’ve a lot of security staff who’re ready to put their bodies between me and attackers. If they get hurt doing so our having top medical help quick to hand may save them and it may keep me from having to make a visit like that. I’m thankful I’ve not yet had to make a visit like that, and I’m prepared to do what I can so I don’t have to make such a visit. I’m rich enough to afford it, so I have it. This is the second time I’ve used the helicopter medical service, and it’s also the second time it’s made the difference between life and death. To my mind, the first time repaid my costs and efforts for a lifetime of fees for the service.”

He nods, “Yeah, I see what you mean.”

“Sheriff, that pickup’s a wreck now. Who’s the best local mob to get a suitable replacement pickup for the family from?”

He gives me a long stare, smiles, pulls out his mobile phone, and he punches numbers. It rings, they answer, “Hey, Hank, remember Julio Hernandez?” He waits, “Yeah, him! Know that fancy new economical to run pickup truck you got in that he was looking at?” A reply, “Yeah, that one! How long for you to do it up with every safety device known to man, put in top car seats for each of his kids, and a quality canopy on it?” Another pause. “Then get it done, get it registered to Julio with a year’s full insurance.” A long pause while listening. “No, he didn’t win the lottery or rob a bank. He and his family are on their way to hospital. Their truck’s a write off. But I’m standing beside the Fairy Godmother who’s going to buy that off you for him. So make sure it’s tricked out and at the discounted price you’ve had on it of late.”

He hangs up and I raise my eyebrows at him. “You’re obviously very rich, you care about people, and you ask about a new pickup for him. I can add things up, son.”

I grin, “Yes, you can. The only thing I’d have done different was to check if they had a colour Julio liked.” He smiles.

The Sheriff looks around and finds a big stick nearby while he says, “He liked the colour of the truck, that’s why he was looking at it.” He puts the stick in the ground near the tyre to make a good marker for it. We walk back to the state trooper. The Sheriff tells him about the caltrop in the tyre and to keep an eye on it. He nods yes and heads toward the tyre. We chat while we make our way to the wreck. The Sheriff tells the officers conducting the investigation what we found, neither likes what we tell them.

I look around. All of the medical people except Victor have left, so have the injured and the ambulances. I’m told they’re on their way to the Sierra Vista Hospital in Truth or Consequences. The scene of crime fellow is just finishing up at the truck when the Sheriff tells him about what we found. He heads up there to document and collect the evidence there.

When we walk back to the road the Sheriff’s phone rings, he listens, and says, “Put temporary tags on it and bring it to where I am on I two five. Julio’s truck’s here, so you can grab the plates and papers while we transfer his gear. Bring the invoice with you so I can check it out.”

Andre, Lia, and Frank join us while the Sheriff is talking. Andre looks at me and says, “I’ll bet you just bought the guy a new pickup! Right?” I nod yes. He shakes his head real slow, turns around, and yells. “Don’t bother getting back on the bus. Go back to where the truck lost control, form a line, and start searching. We’ve got to collect everything that got tossed out of the truck, a replacement’s on its way out to collect it.” We all laugh when my group of bodyguards shake fists at me while they smile when they head back to the start of the search area.

The Sheriff grins, “I see they all know you well and aren’t surprised by this.” I grin when I nod yes in reply.

It takes about twenty minutes to check the area to make sure we get everything. It takes fifteen minutes for the new pickup to arrive. So by the time the Sheriff and two state troopers have moved everything still in the old truck to the new truck all of the thrown gear has been loaded as well and Lia has arranged a wireless electronic payment of the invoice to make the salesman happy.

One funny thing about the clean-up is the tow truck operators. Three turn up and start to discuss who gets the job. This is about five minutes before the new pickup arrives. The Sheriff walks over to tell them who was involved and the whole family has been taken to hospital. Two of them swear about wasting fuel coming out to it. The other just shrugs as he says, “Well, Sheriff, it looks like I got another job on the hopeful cuff.” The Sheriff nods his agreement.

After the other two are out of sight the Sheriff calls me over, “Son, part of the clean-up is to have that old wreck taken out of here. The cost to haul it from here to town is about a hundred bucks. Bob White here is the only tow truck operator who’ll do jobs for the Mexicans without making them pay up front. I know he has about twenty jobs he’s done he’s still waiting on payment for, but that doesn’t stop him doing the right thing by them and the county.”

I smile when I get the message: the Sheriff likes this guy and the way he operates. I do, too. I hold my hand out and say, “Hi, Bob, I’m Al. Got a business card with you?” He shakes hands and hands me a card from his shirt pocket. I pull out my wallet to slip the card in then I pull out five one hundred dollar notes and hand them over, “I think this job’s worth five hundred today. So write up the job as being five hundred bucks to take this out of here and get rid of it. Maybe one of the schools would like it as a shop project.” I hand Bob and the Sheriff a REBS card each, “These people will help out with materials costs if it’s a school shop job to end up as a community help project.”

A very stunned Bob looks at the Sheriff who says, “I think you’ve got a work sheet and receipt to make out, Bob. Don’t be holding the man up. He’s got business to get on with.” A few minutes later the new pickup is on hand, I’ve got the receipt, and Bob is moving his truck over to where the wreck is. He waits until it’s cleared out before he loads it up. He even helps to clear it out by hooking up a spare battery to turn the CD player on to get the loaded CD’s out of the wreck to put in the new pickup. Bob is very happy as he waves to us when he drives off, so does Hank.

My people are loading up the bus and cars while the Sheriff and I walk back to Frank’s pickup. The Sheriff says, “I thought I’d get to you by ordering the extras for the pickup, but you really floored me by paying Bob five hundred bucks.”

I smile, “I can easily afford it and that may make the difference of a meal for him. Since he helps others I’ll help him. That card I gave you, it’s for REBS, the Robyn Evans Benevolent Society. If you know of anyone who needs help of any sort call REBS. They’ll look into it and help out if it’s not a scam.” He smiles while I get in the MMK car. After a few more minutes we’re on our way again.

About forty minutes later we’re pulling up at our destination. I want to look at some dogs for the new estate, and elsewhere.

Note: The caltrop proves untraceable as it’s just too common and no one saw how it came to be on the road. Thus the true cause of the crash by Julio Hernandez remains unsolved and unsolvable.

The Kennels

The owner, Maggie Meadows, greets us when we pull up in front of the main house. She has a wry smile while she glances at the bus and two cars. The cars spread out then the guards get out while the bus pulls up behind the pickup. Only one guard manages to get off the bus before the six girls are off and racing up to us. When they get out of the bus the guards spread out around us while the young women I brought to ride herd on the girls walk fast to catch up with their charges. I smile when I notice a lot of adult dogs spread around the yard keeping an eye on us.

Frank grins while he watches me looking at the dogs and he says, “We had a talk on the way here. He wants people dogs to protect people, not territory. Smart ones that can be trained to do guard work as well as animal herding, watchdogs, and rescue work in the forest. It’s not necessary for all of the dogs to be trained in all of those skills.” She smiles as she raises an eyebrow at him in a silent question. “There was an accident just in front of us on the I twenty-five. Truck went off the road. We stopped to help out. The pickup looked familiar but I didn’t catch whose it was.” She slowly nods at his telling her why the delay in arrival.

I add, “The Sheriff said it was Julio Hernandez and his family.”

Maggie is a bit shocked, then she turns to one of her staff, “Steve, go tell Diego his brother’s in the hospital. Car accident. Tell him to take the field pickup if his car’s not working yet.” The man nods yes and races off. She turns back, “Nothing serious, I hope!”

“I don’t know, but the Sheriff said the baby was the only serious injury, so I don’t think so. All were stable when they left the site for the hospital.” Both Maggie and Frank smile at the news.

“OK, how many dogs are you interested in, Al?”

I glance around the girls standing around me, “A lot more than when I first started looking.” All smile. “Look, before we get to the nuts and bolts I’ve no choice now, I have to get this lot a bunch of puppies. So let’s go get that organised. I hope you’ve enough that are old enough to leave their dams.” I get a nod yes with big smile in reply. “OK, this is how I want it done. I want us all to gather in a circle sitting on the ground with the puppies in a large cage in the middle of the circle. Each puppy is to be lifted out, one by one, and introduced to all in the circle for a quick pet then back to the cage after being introduced to us all. While this goes on we’ll chat. After all of the puppies are introduced to everyone I want them released from the cage. I want to see who they make their own way to.” They all give me odd looks, except Maggie who just smiles wider.

Five minutes later we’re all in a large yard area sitting in a huge half circle: my girls, those looking after them, my girlfriends, and a few of the guards who said they’d like a puppy when I asked them if any of them wanted one. I’m in the middle of the half circle and the other guards are all well back. The flat side of the ’D’ we make is made up of some large kennels and yards with six bitches and their puppies in them. Maggie first introduces the bitches to those in the circle then she does the same with the puppies. Each dog is given a short petting by all of us. With the introductions over Maggie and five staff open the gates to the yards to let the puppies out.

I find it very interesting to watch what happens next. I tell everyone to sit absolutely still unless Maggie or I tell them to do otherwise. The puppies surge out of their smaller yards into the bigger one. Some of them start to explore the bigger yard. A few look about them while several run straight to someone. One small pup heads my way, only to be bowled over by two larger pups from another bitch when they all head for me at a run. Each of the pups that goes straight for people reaches them and licks them. At a nod from Maggie, or I, they pick the pups up to cuddle them in their laps.

Each is happy with the pup which selects them. When the girls end up with a pup I direct them to move back outside the yard. When they go one of the staff takes the girls to the other end of the little yards the bitches are in and explains to the bitch the girls like their pups and want to keep them, then asks if they may. The bitches eye the girls and nod. I think it’s a nice touch, however it’s organised. Some of the pups that did a little exploring are soon seeking out people too. It’s not long before all thirty one of us in the circle have a pup in our laps. Lia and a couple of my staff have two, so do two of the guards, and I’ve three: that’s thirty-eight pups in all. That leaves only the seven who chose to inspect the yard as not ending up with one of my group. Maggie lets them run around in the yard while the rest of us get approval from the mothers.