Sandi Garrett stared back at Albert Calhoun in disbelief, the semen collection cone dangling from her hand by her side.
“I’ll send Benny in to do it,” the older man reached out, waiting for her to put the cone into his hands.
Instead, she gripped the cone tightly and held it behind her back, “Exactly what am I supposed do in the meantime? My job is in there, with those bulls.”
Albert grinned at her. A wet brown line of spittle trailed down from the left corner of his mouth and he licked his lips before he spat on the ground to one side of her boots. “Miss Garrett, I’m the foreman of this cattle ranch, and I say it isn’t seemly for you to be doing this kind of thing alone in a room with a bunch of young men. It might give them…ideas.”
“You’re joking.”
“Nope. Ain’t.”
“Albert, why do you think I spent years graduating from a top vet med college?” Sandi waited while his expression turned vapid, trying to determine if the gears were turning or if there were gears at all.
“Because it looks good on paper, so you can get yourself a good husband?” A drop of juice hung from his chin.
She swung the cone out, dropped it at his side and walked away.
He snapped his fingers and a ranch hand walked over to pick the cone up and clean it. Albert stared after her and spat again.
Sandi spent the rest of her workday taking the stats from the hands and entering the data into her laptop. In addition, she administered vaccinations, trimmed the hooves of a heifer and drained an abscess. With her day ended, she left the building and waited until sundown, when a notion simmering all day in the back of her mind ran to a full boil.
Instead of getting into her Subaru, she picked out a truck from the barn, removed the magnetic signs bearing the Ranch logo from the doors and hooked up to a livestock trailer. She backed it up to the stalls and loaded the trailer with not one, but two of the finest champion bulls that anyone had ever bred. She was the ranch veterinarian, so nobody questioned her actions. When asked, she turned down the offers of help to quietly manage by herself.
On the road, miles from the ranch she stiffened when she realized what she’d done. The product of Cheoni Franz and Cobb Hill Big Boy’s bloodlines were like little refrigerated vials of gold dust.
What was she thinking? She wasn’t, she told herself. Without doubt and without precedent, this had to be the craziest stunt—make that, the only crazy stunt she ever pulled. Always the submissive daughter, she grew up taking care of her younger siblings while both her parents worked outside of the home.
The oldest of eight siblings, Sandi knew the importance of her parents having to make a living, and she loved her family, but shouldering so much responsibility at such a young age could be stressful. She once confided to her younger sister that when surrounded by their family, she felt as though she were invisible. Without a social life, she merely wanted some time of her own. He sister replied, “Cry me a river,” called her a spoiled brat and walked away.
Good grades, a modest scholarship and a student loan propelled her from high school to college, and away from her family. Her newfound freedom may have been wasted on someone less disciplined, but Sandi made the best of it. She excelled in her studies, but her professor convinced her that the acceptance of her scholarship brought with it certain obligations. Her professor arranged for her to “give back” by running his class and mentoring a foreign exchange student while he took a working sabbatical in some Oingo Boingo far-flung place.
Despite the fact she worked a job off campus to close the wide financial gap necessary to fully fund her education, over time, she saw herself becoming an academic doormat.
The reward for her selflessness? Receiving her doctoral degree sixteen months later than she should have, and having to work her extracurricular job for the duration.
She’d watched herself getting passed up by the exchange student she’d mentored, and through all of it she never complained. Boat rocking simply wasn’t her thing.
Deciding a little instability could be productive, she would never again allow herself to be used and then ignored. She would change her role in this life of hers, but a voice deep from within her screamed that this was the wrong way to go about doing it. She simply reacted, wandering into this schizophrenic state, like Yosemite Sam with a little winged angel on one shoulder and a little red devil on the other.
She knew she was fortunate to have landed a full-time position out here. The numbers of farms and ranches slowly fell off throughout the great state along with the number of large animal vets in the field, but timing was on her side for once.
Prince Kuespert Ranch was a large spread even for Texas, and her predecessor, Doctor Everett Collins, desperately needed help. He hired her sight unseen to work alongside him.
Dr. Collins told her up front that he wanted a recent grad. A person he could mold into a fine vet. Smart, but who didn’t have the “college bighead.” “Malleable,” was the word he used.
Sandi snorted into the phone when she accepted the offer, knowing she was exactly the person Dr. Collins was searching for.
Unfortunately, tragedy befell the old doctor the day before Sandi arrived. Dr. Collins took a nasty fall while working, sustaining a terrible blow to the head. He bled out and died on the spot.
When she’d stepped onto Prince Kuespert soil and was told that the doctor was dead, she felt like someone dropped her into a Cuisinart. The foreman, Albert, practically behaved as though Dr. Collin’s death was business as usual. No one even bothered to clean up the dark lines of blood that trickled across the concrete into the drainage trough in the barn where the old man died.
No one expected Sandi to stay on at the ranch, least of all Albert Calhoun.
Sandi knew her animals though, and she summoned the confidence to convince Corporate to take her on untried. In a short time she proved her worth, exceeding everyone’s expectations—even her own.
Ranch staff didn’t call anyone else in the middle of the night when an emergency bovine C-section became necessary. They called her, and she was thrilled about that.
She absolutely loved what she did, and for months she’d finally received a taste of living life on her own terms. She acclimated to her new situation quickly, but having Albert “Spittoon” Calhoun suddenly start lording himself over her proved too much for her to take, and she over-reacted.
Or had she?
Her resolve began to harden. She popped the hood, jumped out of the Dodge and slammed the door. Having pulled around a bend next to a shallow arroyo, she wanted to check on the boys. They were fine, but when she settled back into the truck again, it wouldn’t start.
If the truck had to die, it couldn’t have picked a lousier spot to do it, a hundred miles from the Ranch on the loneliest stretch of Highway 87 in the State of Texas. At least the shoulders were wide.
She pushed the hood up and climbed up onto the bumper. It only took her a couple of minutes to find a shorted out distributor wire, burned in two right next to the cap. Great.
A search through the truck and trailer proved fruitless. Didn’t the maintenance guys on this ranch ever think ahead? A fleet of more than sixty trucks, check. A set of extra distributor cables? Of course not.
She forced out a sigh and slapped the side of the truck. The little red devil spoke to her in a stream that crescendoed until she voiced it, screaming, Denting metal and gouging paint off with the toes of her Shitkickers, she worked her way down the driver’s side of the pickup until she heard the rush of tires on the quiet roadway, slowing.
The truck made a U-turn, pulling over to a stop fifteen yards behind the trailer. She moved to the Dodge and opened the rear door. Fumbling around behind the seat for any object she might be able to use as a weapon, her hand closed around the familiar shape of a hot shot. The boys used it for prodding cattle. If the driver tried any funny business, he’d get a good shock.
The truck’s engine stopped but the headlights remained on as a person stepped out of the vehicle. Silhouetted, the figure disolved in the glare of the lamps, becoming visible as it emerged from between them.
“Great,” she thought, “this is all I need right now.” So tired of cowboys, she wondered if the man bought swagger by the pound as he sauntered over to her. No, not to her, but to the truck. He stopped, clicking on a penlight.
“Nice work,” he fanned the light along each fresh dent until he settled the beam on her boot, “How’s the foot?”
Sandi stood with a hand on one hip, clutching the hot shot behind her back, “Can I help you with something?”
“Thought maybe I could help you.” The man tilted his head toward her truck, “Your rig okay?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Alright then,” his drawl was so real it sounded phony, “You’re okay here?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” He held up his phone, “Can I call anyone for you?”
Her mind raced. Sixty miles from the nearest town, his was the first vehicle she’d seen in three hours. She already checked her cell phone. She pulled it from her pocket, “No service. Yours?”
He tried his, “Nope.”
“Do you think you can jerry-rig a distributor cable?”
“Let’s take a look,” he walked toward the front of her truck.
She slipped the hot shot onto the ground, under the end of the trailer as she walked behind him. They climbed up on the bumper together, and he shined the beam onto the distributor. In the light, she tried to sneak a look at his face, but the brim of his hat got in her way.
“What do you think?”
“I could make a jumper. Do you have any electrical wire?”
“I might,” she hopped down and climbed up into the bed of her truck to open the lid of the toolbox. It was crazy full of every kind of hoarded rusty used nonsense, except wire. “Nope,” she yelled, “I guess I don’t.” She heard the crunch of his footsteps on the gravel as he walked past.
“I’ll see what I’ve got in my rig.”
She followed him to the back of his truck. He opened the canopy, lowered the tailgate and began pulling his belongings out. He set a suitcase, two duffels and assorted boxes on the ground before hopping up into the bed to make his way through other belongings.
“Are you moving?”
“Kind of,” he slid a small ice chest out of his way.
He climbed inside and touched a switch, bathing the remaining contents of the camper shell with the soft glow from a ceiling lamp. Crouching, he took his hat off and set it aside for a moment, and she could see his face clearly for the first time.
She took a half-step back, not knowing why. Something about him seemed vaguely familiar to her, but she dismissed the notion.
“Thank you for stopping. I’m Sandi Garrett.” She stuck out a hand.
He reached out and shook it, “Jin.”
“Jim?”
“Jin,” he shook his head, “J-I-N. Jin Lee.”
“Sorry.”
“No need to be,” he smiled at her, “it’s not a common name around here.”
“You’re not originally from Texas then?”
“Not from this part of it, but yeah, West Texas, born and raised.”
“Whereabouts?”
“Town of Anthony, El Paso County. About as West Texas as you can get.”
“Small town?”
“About five-thousand, when I left.”
She rested both hands on the tailgate, “I like small towns.”
“You could miss it on a map easily enough, but there’s a nice bunch of people there.”
“That’s why I like smaller towns. They’re usually filled with nice people. So why did you leave it?”
“My folks worked hard to put me through school.” Jin continued searching, “I guess it felt natural to make sure their sacrifice wasn’t in vain.” He duck-walked out from under the canopy and sat on the tailgate, “I guess I don’t have any wire, either. I’d tow your trailer in for you, but I don’t have a hitch.”
Sandi clapped her hands on her hips, “It’s okay. I’ll manage.”
“We’re not whipped yet.” Jin pointed to the two trucks, “I’m sure we can find some sort of non-essential wiring in one of our rigs. We can use that.”
“Okay, but isn’t it pretty dark to try that right now?”
He held up his penlight, “Yeah. I guess the day’s going to break in a few hours anyway. Might be easier with the light. I can wait if you can.”
“That’s nice of you Jin, thanks.”
“Sounds like the natives are restless.”
A low rumble from the trailer, followed by a couple of loud thumps caught their ears as they watched the chassis rock from side to side.
“Bulls?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
He hopped from the tailgate, “We need to take care of this. You don’t want to leave them in there all night.”
“It’ll be a job to bring them out, out here.”
“I’d be glad to help you.”
“You know about cattle, Jin?”
“A bit. Do you have a portable stored in there?”
The pieces of the small corral were strapped along one wall inside the trailer, and they carried the ten-foot pipe railing sections out one at a time and fastened them together. There were light weight panels too, which they attached with large plastic zip ties. After thirty-five minutes, when all the sections were connected and in place, Sandi stepped up into the trailer.
Jin watched her approach the animals, “Beautiful Charolais. They’re huge.”
“I guess you do know your cattle.”
“Do you usually pack them this loose when you travel?”
“No,” Sandi dipped her chin, embarrassed. As with every other decision she’d made today, she didn’t think it through. “I left in kind of a hurry when I loaded them, but I drive like a grandmother. I wasn’t worried about them going down.” She would make sure she packed them tighter when the time came to load them up again.
Sandi swung the interior gate over and latched it, blocking herself off from the immense animals. She never used a hot shot, and never used a paddle. Instead, she reached through the bars, stroking their heads and tapping them under the jaw.
“C’mon now,” she patted them firmly, “C’mon, let’s go.”
One at a time, they backed up and turned, hopping down from the end of the trailer to lumber into the temporary enclosure.
Jin brushed his hands together, “That was pretty painless.”
When he turned to face her, she reached up to press her lips against his. She stood on tiptoe, pulling herself higher with her hands on the back of his neck. She tilted her head back and opened her eyes.
“Wow,” his eyes searched hers.
She backed away, “I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I did that.”
“It’s okay.” He took a half-step back, “Maybe we’d better say goodnight.”
She shook her the hair back from her forehead, crossing her arms, “Maybe we should. Thanks for the help. It’s been nice meeting you, Jin.” She extended her hand.
He shook it, “Nice meeting you too. You always shake hands just to say goodnight?”
“I thought you meant…I thought you were leaving.”
“Nope. I meant goodnight, as in I figure it’s really late…and I’m going to go sleep in my rig.” She put her palms on her face and rubbed her eyes slowly. “Are you alright?”
“No, I’m not. I think I’ve figured out today that I haven’t been alright for a long time.”
Jin didn’t know what to say, so he slid his hands into his pockets and waited, listening.
“You really don’t need to stay out here,” she waved a hand in a circle, “I’ll figure out what to do in the morning.”
“It’s none of my business what you do,” he cast a look around them, “but I wouldn’t feel right about leaving you alone on this stretch of road at night. You might not see anybody else until tomorrow or the next day, and your rig isn’t going anywhere.”
She could feel the irritation rising again, “Yeah, I suppose a helpless little woman out here all alone couldn’t possibly take care of herself.”
“Man or beast.”
“Excuse me?”
“If you were a man or a beast it wouldn’t matter. I wouldn’t feel decent about leaving anyone out here alone.”
Where did this guy come from? She stared back at him. Why was he standing there with his hands in his pockets, looking back at her?
“Goodnight,” she turned to walk to her truck.
“Shame though,” she heard him say, and stopped to look back as he walked away.
“What did you say?”
“I think it’s a shame you don’t know why you kissed me,” he called over his shoulder. “I think it might be better if you did.”
She stood still for a moment and then started running. He turned to face her as she thumped into him, reaching up to kiss him again. When his hands found her sides, she jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist.
He responded in kind this time, his lips warm, inviting hers, and then…he fell away. She fell with him, but landed upright, stumbling as his body hit the ground between her feet. She stood straddling his chest, and for the tiniest instant she wondered what happened—until she saw Albert Calhoon standing in front of her with a large pipe wrench dangling from one hand.
“Evening, Sandi.” He nodded curtly and she was grabbed from behind. With her arms pinned, she kicked out and screamed for Jin, but he was still unconscious.
“What do you think you’re doing, Albert?”
“You know, I wasn’t sure about that until I got here,” he rubbed across the bottom of his nose and sniffed, “but now I think I know exactly what to do.” Two other men appeared from behind Jin’s truck. Albert waved to them, “Pick this one up and bring him along.”
She kicked and screamed as the men grabbed Jin by the arms. He began to regain consciousness, his head bobbing up and down as he felt his body dragging across the asphalt. Still groggy from the blow to his head, he tried to stand up, but the men who held him pulled more forcefully and he ended up scraping his knees across the pavement.
Albert stopped ahead of them by the back of the trailer. He turned to face her with his creepy grin. Moonlight turned the omnipresent chin spittle into a silvery trail which dripped to the ground.
“That’s good right there,” Albert waved the wrench. The men deposited Jin on the gravel shoulder at the end of the trailer. He rose slightly, sprawling on his hands and knees in front of Sandi. Albert spat out juice and chew, “Now Sandi, I’m going to ask you a question, and I want a straight answer. You understand me, young lady?”
She pursed her lips and tilted her head back. Her defiance caused Albert to raise the big wrench again and thump Jin across the middle of his back. He collapsed on the ground again, rolling slowly up onto his knees. Another man slapped the back of Jin’s head.
“Okay,” she yelled, “ask your question.”
“You see?” Albert looked at his friends, “There. That’s more like it. Now why did you take the bulls?”
She couldn’t give him an answer. She was barely able to explain it to herself, let alone to Albert. He raised the wrench again.
“Alright,” she jerked her arms free from the man behind her, “I guess I took them because I’m angry.”
“Angry.” Albert was genuinely puzzled, “Angry ‘bout what?”
“About what?” Sandi laughed and Albert smiled back, still bewildered. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“I ain’t.”
“I’ve worked on staff for a year now since Dr. Collins passed away, and you’ve been kicking me around for three months now. What’s your problem?” She threw her hands up, “I’ve worked my butt off and put myself through years of school to earn my degree, and for what? So that you could tell me to wait outside so Bob Booky and his cousin Weenie here, could do the job I was hired for? That’s what I’m angry about.”
Albert’s smile faded as he looked from her to his companions and then back to her again. He broke into a laughing fit and slapped his knee several times. Sandi stared back at him, wondering if the older man lost what little sense she’d given him credit for.
“Oh man,” he wiped the tears from his eyes, “Bob Booky and his cousin Weenie. That’s a good’n. See, that’s what I like about you, Sandi,” he jabbed the air with the wrench, “I never know what’ll come out of that mouth of yours. You took the bulls to get even with me, teach me a little lesson, did you?”
“I guess so, yeah.”
He raised his eyebrows, “There ain’t no other reason?” He raised the wrench again, this time above Jin’s head.
“No,” she screamed. “I lost my cool, that’s all. I wasn’t thinking. I was pissed.”
“And our operation has nothing to do with this?”
“Your operation?” Sandi’s face went blank. “What operation?”
“Told you she didn’t know nothin’.”
“Guess you were right about that, Benny.” Albert rested a hand on one hip, “Had to be sure though. Too bad.”
“Why are you guys out here?” Sandi’s eyes narrowed, “You didn’t bring any cops with you. What have you been up to, Albert?”
“You’re wrong if you think I don’t like you, Sandi.” He spat again, “You’re a smart young woman, but too smart for your own good. A few months back, you found a discrepancy in my record-keeping. Last week you found another one. Had to fast shuffle all my cards because of that one. Cost me some serious cabbage, too.”
“The semen.”
“That’s right.” Albert took his hat off and smoothed the hair combed over his bald spot, “I can’t have you there, paying such close attention to my methods all the time. That’s why I made you wait outside today.”
“You’re stealing semen. You’re stealing it and selling it.”
“Like I said, you’re a smart young woman.”
“Dr. Collins didn’t fall and hit his head, did he?” Sandi looked at the different men, one by one, “He found out what you all were doing, and you killed him for it.”
“And that’s also what I don’t like about you, Sandi,” Albert shoved his hat back on and pulled it low. “Like I said, I never know what will come out of that mouth of yours.”
“No one can prove it though,” Sandi tried to appear confident. “I wasn’t even there when it happened. It wouldn’t be any use for me to talk about this. Take the bulls. You go your way Albert, and we’ll go ours.”
“Nice try girlie. I almost believe you, but it’s too late for that. I wish you’d just collected the product for me and kept your nose out of my business. Now I’m going to have to deal with you.” He jerked his head at the man guarding her. The man shoved Sandi over to Albert and then trotted over to the corral to manage the gate.
“What are you doing, Albert?”
“You see,” Albert smiled mirthlessly, “you’re a big city college vet. You and your boyfriend here aren’t as smart about cattle as you think you are. Seems as though you were both stupid enough to get inside of the corral there with a couple of two-and-a-half ton bulls. Got yourselves stomped to death.” He pointed to Jin, “Get him up.”
Two men bent over to grab Jin, but one grimaced, backed up and tripped, banging his head on the asphalt. The other one looked down in time to see Jin shoving the hot shot into his groin. The man dropped to his knees and Sandi kicked him in the face, sending him to the ground, unconscious. Albert dropped the wrench, grabbed Sandi in a bear hug from behind and backed toward the corral.
Grabbing the wrench, Jin stood and walked toward Albert and Sandi. The man by the corral charged him, but Jin didn’t move. He waited until the man reached him and sidestepped, sticking him with the prod and then tripping him as he passed by. The man’s face smacked the pavement, breaking his nose. Jin turned him over, smashing him across the jaw with the wrench.
Jin walked past Sandi and Albert, who took another step back, dragging Sandi with him.
“What are you doing, boy?” Albert demanded. He and Sandi watched as Jin dropped the hot shot, stepped up into the trailer and disappeared for a moment. He reappeared soon, with a thick handful of the plastic zip ties and walked to each of the men, binding their hands and ankles before they could move away.
He turned back to Albert, “It’s your turn now, sir.”
Jin’s politeness threw Albert off for a moment, “No, boy. I’ll snap her neck.”
Jin held the shiny wrench up, “Do think you’ll get a day older if you do, sir?”
Albert slowly lowered his hands to his sides. Sandi turned and thought about slapping the old man but didn’t think it worth getting the yucky brown spittle on her hand. Instead, she picked up the hot shot and stuck him in the ribs several times, causing him to grimace and drop to his knees.
Jin waited for a pause, “You done?”
“For now.” Sandi stepped back.
After fastening the old man’s arms and legs behind him, Sandi and Jin walked around to the other men, adding more restraints. Albert yelled to them, offering them money to let him leave.
Jin shook his head, “That’ll hold them good enough. We can take them to the County Sherriff’s office in the morning. I’ll go find their truck. It must be parked around the bend somewhere.”
“Tell me, Chuck Norris…after getting knocked cold and beat up, you took all of those guys out. How did you do that?”
“Seems to me you helped, Sandi. We did it together.”
“Who are you, Jin, really?”
“You called it. I’m a Texas Ranger,” he said. “I came here to break up a ring of bull semen thieves.”
She stared back at him, stunned, “Really?”
“No,” he laughed, “not really. Are you normally this gullible?”
Her eyes widened, “You—you’re messing with me?”
“Actually,” he said, “I’m a vet.”
She didn’t know what to say, except, “Um…thank you for your service.”
“No, not a veteran. I’m a veterinarian.” He pointed to the corral, “Bovine veterinary practice happens to be my area of expertise.”
They were standing at the center of a road in the middle of nowhere. The sensation she had when she’d first seen his face began to make sense to her now, even though it made no sense at all. She reached up and put her hands on the back of his neck and stared up into his eyes, “It is much better.”
“What’s better?”
“Knowing why I’m going to do this.”
She pulled him to her, and they shared a kiss for a long time before parting.
Jin stared into her eyes, “You’re something. You know that?”
“Yup, and I kind of it that way.”
BIO
D.V. Bennett lives in southern Washington State, where he has trained in martial arts for over thirty-five years. He enjoys spending time with his wife, their family and their crazy Jack Russell terrier, the Boo. He has a day job, but his love of science fiction, crime and mystery writing is what keeps him up nights. His fiction stories can be found in numerous online and print venues, including the anthology; BETRAYED, dedicated to help victims of domestic abuse and other violent crime.
REPRINT NOTICE
This story previously appeared in Romance Magazine
