“Calm down, Hank,” said Carter. “You don’t have to prove to everyone that you’re big enough to wrestle a bull. We get it. The two of us are making shit for money. We can’t retire any time soon because we have nothing to retire on. Mr. Santori offered us a way out. A retirement plan, shall we say. We took it and we did our best to give him what he wants. But he won’t stop. Even with your stupid legal documents, he won’t stop. He’s got people way bigger than all of you on his payroll.”
“Tell us more,” said Brix.
“Fuck you,” smirked Carter. “You’re going to throw us in jail until you can get federal or state authorities here. It will be our word against yours.”
“Not really,” smiled Brix. “You’ve been recorded this entire time. It’s a little something we do to ensure that nothing is ever miscommunicated. State authorities will be here shortly.”
“I can’t believe you were willing to sell out your own people,” said Ernie staring at the two men. “You were working with Grant and Morgan and you acted like nothing was wrong. You destroyed part of my crops and others too. We thought of you as friends.”
“Guess there’s a lesson in there somewhere,” said Jerry.
The door to the hall opened and Grant and Morgan stepped in, shocked at seeing the community and the anger on their faces. When they realized that Carter and Jerry were not there willingly, they tried to leave.
“You started this!” yelled Carter. “You two said you’d protect us.”
“Wh-what are you talking about?” asked Morgan, stammering.
“You asshole!”
“Don’t worry, Carter. Those two will get what they deserve as well,” said Major. Before anyone could get near them, the two left the room, two farmers attempting to follow.
“No. Just wait,” said Brix. “We’ve got this covered. One step at a time.”
“What do we do about a mayor and a sheriff?” asked one of the men.
“I vote for Ernie as mayor and Pat as sheriff,” said another.
“Sounds like a good pick to me,” smirked Chief. “What do you think gentlemen?”
“I don’t know anything about being mayor,” said Ernie.
“You got a college degree,” said another man. “That’s more than most of us. We’ll help you. Maybe it’s a community mayor-ship.”
“You can do this, Ernie,” said Pat. “I can manage the duties of sheriff if you can manage the office of the mayor.”
“All those in favor?” grinned Chief. The cries of ‘ayes’ was loud and clear. “Congratulations, Mayor Ernie and Sheriff Pat.”
“You’re an asshole,” smirked Ernie. “But thanks. I guess we need to figure out what’s been left undone. What about those two that ran out of here?” Chief nodded to the two men.
“Leave them to us.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“We can hold them until we know what the charges will be,” said the State Trooper. “Forty-eight hours is all I can give you.”
“That’ll be enough,” said Chief. “Our legal team is on their way and will be handling the charges for us.”
“Does this all have something to do with that gas explosion in Iowa?” he asked.
“It does. We’re trying to fix that as we speak,” said Christian.
“I sure hope you boys fix it soon,” said the trooper. “My folks owned a dairy farm in Minnesota. Fifth generation.”
“You didn’t follow in their footsteps, I see,” smirked Christian.
“Couldn’t. They lost the farm my junior year of high school. Crooked land agents, banks that didn’t give a fuck, and no one like y’all to come to their rescue. I’m not sure dairy farming would have been my passion. But that land? That land was everything to me as a kid.
“I had my first kiss in the barn. Lost my virginity to Sara Mae Craig in the hay loft,” he grinned. “She was older and damn sure wiser. I’d take it back just for those memories alone.”
