Tuck's Revenge by Rory Flannigan Read Free Book Online

like
he’d imagined an organization being headquartered. "This is either
a setup or maybe a hell of a good cover.”
    A little further down the road, just outside
the city limits, they turned off the main road and traveled a few
miles until they came to a gate. Bill told Tuck to get out and
unlock the gate, then close it behind him. As they drove on a
little way, a small cinder block house came into view, with several
trucks sitting around but nobody was in sight.
    As they pulled up to the house, a young man
stepped out and met them. Bill got out of the pickup, smiled, and
shook the young man’s hand then started speaking to him in Spanish.
Bill looked around and said, "Come and meet a good friend.”
    Tuck walked up to the young man, and as they
shook hands the young man said, "Glad to meet you, Seńor Tuck.”
    Tuck looked at Bill, smiled, and said, "You
speak Spanish huh?”
    Bill smiled and walked toward the house
saying, "Time to rest for a while. We'll meet everybody after we
catch a few hours of sleep.”
    They went inside to a table set with enough
food to feed at least four or five people. They sat down and began
eating, when Bill said, "Is anybody else here yet?”
    The young man said, "Si, Seńor Bill, three of
them got here a couple of hours ago, but no more yet.”
    Bill smiled and said, "Fine, they'll get here
eventually.” After they ate, Bill told Tuck to grab a room and get
some shuteye, and he'd wake him up in a few hours.
    It was a strange place, so Tuck didn't go
right off to sleep. He was listening and watching. He was still
wondering what it was Bill had to tell him and show him.
    The next morning, about an hour before
daylight, Tuck smelled coffee brewing, so he got up out of bed and
went into the front room searching where the smell was coming from.
It didn't take long to find Bill in a room off to the back of the
house.
    When he walked through the door, Bill said,
"Morning, did you get any sleep?”
    "Yeah, I slept pretty good actually, all
considering.”
    Bill looked at Tuck and said, "Quit worrying,
man, you're among friends here.” Then he said, "Want some
coffee?”
    Tuck accepted, so Bill reached up in the
cabinet, pulled him out a cup, handed it to him, and said, "Help
yourself.” Bill poured another cup for himself and they walked
through a door out to a back porch. Sitting at the table, they
drank their coffee and watched the sun come up.
    "This is a great place here. I relax better
here than in most places.”
    "You spend a lot of time here, don't
you?”
    Bill said, "What makes you think that?”
    Tuck said, "Well I noticed when we were in
the kitchen, you seemed at home. You knew right where the coffee
cups were, and didn't have to search for them.”
    Bill laughed and said, "You are
observant.”
    "Like I said, that's how I stay alive.”
    "Yeah, I used to live out here. I call this
my ranchette, and I hope to live out here again someday if I can. I
have one hundred and eighty acres here with goats, sheep, and
horses, even a few cows out here on the place. It's quiet nearly
all the time, so it's where I go when I need to relax. Right out
there under that tree is where I hope to be buried when I die.
Although I hope I can put that particular plan off for a while
longer."
    As Bill and Tuck was sitting there, Bills
radio keyed up, and a voice on the other end said, "We're at the
gate.”
    Bill answered back and said, "Coffee is
ready, come on in.”
    Then in a minute or so, they heard several
trucks coming up the drive, and that's when Bill and Tuck walked
around the house to meet them. Several men and a couple of women
crawled out of the trucks, walked toward Bill all smiles and happy,
like it was a big reunion. A couple of minutes later three men with
scoped rifles walked out of the brush on the hillside. Tuck was
eyeing them and on alert, they shouldered their rifles then walked
up to Bill, shook his hand, and let him know that no one followed
them in.
    Bill introduced him to