Chapter 20

### DJ Unraveled

Buck motioned to the bound guard at the end of the room: “Just sit tight. I haven’t forgotten about you. I’ll make arrangements with the boss here to get you paid off and turned loose, but it will take a short while.” With that, Buck spun DJ around and pushed him through the door to the stairs. “Step lively, Donny. We’re going upstairs.”

“Gran, bring Bug and find a comfortable place for her, not too far from where you can keep an eye on her. We’re going to be busy in Donny’s office gettin’ things sorted out. I’ll need you here to make a few calls while I learn all I need to know from our host.”

Buck pushed DJ along while keeping a firm grip on his control cord as he’d come to regard his training bridle arrangement cinched around Brewster’s genitals.

“Lead me to your office, Donny. I’ll let you sit in your big boss chair behind your desk. We’ve got some business to tend to. And I’m going to say this extra bit just one time, and one time only. Not only can I rip your cock and balls out by the root and let you bleed out, but I’ve got a pistol. So if you give me cause, if you try something outrageous such as hopin’ to call in the troops to save your sorry ass, know this: I’ll shoot you twice low down in the back so the slugs will tear up your guts. You’ll die slow and in agony. Nothin’ will save you, Donny. Now be sensible and nod twice for me so I know you understand me. Nod yes, Donny.”

Yes ... Yes! Donny nodded twice, with large head movements.

“Ain’t it nice when two fellas can agree to agree?” Buck teased.

“First thing, before you sit down, I want you to show me your safes, and open ‘em. I figure you’ve got a public safe that folks visitin’ your office get to see, and I’m guessin’ you’ve got a secret safe. So be smart, Donny. The time for keepin’ secrets ended when you sent your goons after me, Ms. Happy, and threatened to kill the little girl. Let’s stroll over to the safes and open ‘em, now!” Buck reached down and cut Donny’s wrist binding.

Donny froze for a moment and then shook his head slightly in defeat and did as Buck asked. He moved aside a large painting of the ranch and revealed a wall safe. He spun the center dial and pulled it open with the side lever. He then pointed to an area in the corner behind his desk, and Buck followed close behind as DJ stepped there, knelt down, and opened a cabinet door. Lifting a small false cabinet bottom he revealed the dial and lever to a small floor safe. He spun the dial, tripped the lever, and lifted the safe lid to stand open against the back wall of the cabinet.

“Good job, Donny! Are there any other safes in the house we should know about?”

DJ nodded yes.

“Okay. For your honesty, I’ll give you a small reward. I’ll remove the gag and you can breathe and talk normally. But it carries a warning, Donny. You yell out or say the wrong word to anyone, and the game’s up. You’ll have ruined it for all of us, and you’ll be gut-shot for sure. So, if you behave then it’s all good for everybody. Seems sensible, right? That okay with you, Donny?”

Another ‘yes’ nod, twice for emphasis.

“Good. Relax. I’ll untie this gag. Catch your breath, and then tell me about that other safe. Oh ... go ahead and sit down. We’ll deal with the other safe in good time.”

DJ sat in his leather swivel chair behind his massive desk. Buck carefully followed his movement. No point jerkin’ his nuts needlessly, he thought.

“Now tell me about that other safe...”

DJ coughed a few times and cleared his throat. It felt swollen and sore from the strain of the last hour and the pressure of the gag. Soon he could form words without choking.

“It’s a gun safe, in my bedroom ... the master bedroom.”

“Got many guns in there, Donny?”

DJ grimaced. He surely did hate that name but he was in no position to protest.

“My rifle collection, a couple of match-grade skeet guns, and a few pistols.”

“Oh, no big deal then. So where do you keep your assault weapons that your hired guards use?”

“In the ranch manager’s office in the ranch office building.”

“All right, we’ll deal with that later. Now sit quiet for a minute.”

“Ms. Happy? Now’s a good time for you to call Reese and the crew, and set their minds to ease if they’ve started to worry. Ask him to come here with Sheriff Nelson and — this is real important, to do it quietly without any fuss or tellin’ anybody. No flashin’ lights or sirens. This whole deal’s got to stay hushed up until we’re ready to deal with the blow-back. Ask ‘em to come as soon as they possibly can. Donny here will make sure they’re able to drive in the main gate and right up to the main house here, right, Donny?”

“Yeah, sure. No problem,” DJ croaked.

“Good, good ... we’re gettin’ on better ‘n’ better every minute, ain’t we, Donny? Okay, now I want you to start callin’ in your guards from around the place, one at a time. However you do it, by radio? You call ‘em, maybe the lead guard, first. Tell me, Donny, do you let ‘em come into the main house here with their weapons?”

“No, never. They know to leave their weapons in the ranch office cabinet before coming to the main house. They never enter the house armed.”

“Good. Let’s be sure about that, Donny, and I think you can guess what happens if one of ‘em points a gun in my direction, right?”

DJ flinched and shook his head no, then answered, “It won’t happen. The one time it did, I had the guy whipped and fired, with everybody watching. It’s never happened since.”

“Oh, Donny, I get the feelin’ that you’re one of them bosses who tells his crew that the whippin’ will continue until morale improves, right? Okay, I believe you. Start callin’ em in. You’re going to sit here at the desk with a pile of cash and you’ll tell each one what a good job they’ve done and how you’re so sorry but you’re not needin’ a guard force anymore, and you’re payin’ what they’re owed with a double bonus cash payout, and please leave the property right now, like immediately. And they’re not to say anything ... just leave quietly. Got that, Donny? Any questions?”

“No, no questions. I’ll need cash from the wall safe, and the ranch ledger. It’s on the shelf above the cash.”

It went smoother than Buck hoped. Thirteen men came in, were paid off, were visibly delighted to get twice their owed pay as a cash bonus, and a few were upset they had to leave the ranch right now, as they had living quarters in the ranch office bunk rooms.

“Get a motel, or hit the road and find lodging elsewhere,” DJ ordered. “We’re closing the ranch and you can’t stay here.” A few stared at Buck who stood close behind their employer with his hand on his shoulder. Buck stared back, wordlessly. Brewster did not acknowledge or explain his unknown guest so the hired men pocketed their cash and left.

Buck called Gran to come watch over DJ: “Use your pistol to cover Donny who’ll sit quietly in his chair, while I hustle downstairs and let our prisoner go,” he said. Gran planted herself in a guest chair in front of the desk and watched. Buck scooped up a handful of cash and jogged down the stairs. In moments he’d clipped the guard’s bindings and gag, handed him the generous wad of bills, and explained the rules: “Grab yer stuff outside, and git! The others have been paid off and they’re all leavin’ for other parts. You do the same. Say nothin’ to nobody and get gone. Understand?”

The freed guard nodded, nervously moving his cramped arms and coughing to free his voice. “Yeah, sure, you got it! Man, I’m never comin’ near this place again! Hell, I’m never coming to the county or even this god-forsaken state again. Thanks for bein’ decent, man! Good luck dealin’ with that asshole upstairs. He’s a snake and a monster. Do you know about the women he’s got caged in the back bunkhouse? The one’s he and the ranch manager keep for themselves? The one’s they keep for rapin’?

Buck froze in disbelief.

“Say, what? What women ... caged prisoners?”

“Yeah, man. Nobody’s s’posed to talk or to even know about it, but that damned pervert ranch manager, he likes ‘em real young, too young, you know? And he got drunk with us one time and he bragged about it and he had one of the youngest ones brought to the office and he ... oh, shit, man, I don’t want to talk about it. You just go take care of it, right? Be careful cuz there might be a guard or two hidin’ in that back bunkhouse with them girls. I’m gettin’ the hell out of here but you can maybe go do ‘em some good. Turn ‘em loose and help ‘em, okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll do that. Thanks for the tip. That’s a decent thing to do. Now get the hell out of my sight!”