Jessica and Gordon were watching television when Luke returned. CNN.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Shooting in Little Rock," Jessica replied. "Police."

"Fatal I'd guess," Luke said, "judging from the riot."

The scene was a city street that could be in any big city. Not that Little Rock was a big city - it was home to one of the smaller urban cesspools. Which why it rarely made the national news, even when an incident of violent crime - or rather the response to it - offered an opportunity for the professional agitators.

A line of police officers and patrol cars was blocking the street, facing a large mob. It could be any city these days, he thought.

"Looks that way," Jessica said. "They haven't given the name yet, or a picture. Apparently it just happened in the last hour or so."

"And the mob's already here."

"Yep," Gordon said. "They work fast. They have people placed in every city of over a hundred thousand. And some smaller ones. Any police incident involving a certain demographic and they're on it immediately. Unload the equipment and disperse the agents into the crowd."

A window opened in a corner of the screen, occupied by a young blonde woman.

Diana Copeland. Thirtyish probably, hard to tell.

Bubble headed bleached blonde, comes on at five...

He always thought of that song when he watched the news.

This bubble headed blonde, bleached or not, had the usual 'BREAKING NEWS' banner under her picture Gordon turned the sound up.

"...apparently a routine traffic stop. Witnesses say a passenger exited the vehicle with a gun and fired at one of the officers who returned fire. We're expecting our on scene reporter to be checking in shortly."

Gordon turned the volume back down.

"Might as well wait until they have an official story," he said. "How about a nip and a smoke?"

"Sounds good to me."

Outside Gordon's study was a small patio with a couple of tables and a small bar.

"Grab a seat, Jess," Gordon said. "The usual OK?"

"Sure, thanks."

Jessica was his only remaining grandchild after her brother Jerry had died in Afghanistan. That had been before Luke met Jessica.

Gordon wasn't given to emotional displays, but Jessica said he had become more immersed than ever before in his work with the League. Jerrys' death had been a result of the corrupt regime he was working against, so it made sense.

Gordon poured a glass of Mina Mesa Rosé for Jessica and set it on the table. He poured a couple of glasses of Hennessy for himself and Luke and they joined Jessica at the table.

Luke and Gordon took cigars from a box on the table and lit up. Jessica produced a package of slim cigarettes and lit one.

Both the cigars and Jessica's cigarettes came in through the League pipeline. Not only did they produce no revenue for any government - state of federal - but the cigarettes at least were free from the chemical cocktail in legal cigarettes. And the additives that were in Jessica's sticks made them more enjoyable. Luke had one occasionally.

"With a deader they'll be on this one hard and heavy," Gordon said. "I'd hate to be the cop that shot him."

"Or anyone else within a hundred yards," said Jessica.

"Yeah. That's how it works these days."

"Another cop going to prison," Luke said. "For doing his job, protecting and serving."

"You can count on it," Gordon said.

"We're assuming, of course..." said Jessica.

"Yeah. It's rarely any other way though. I'm guessing from the immediate appearance of the burn, loot and murder crowd the perp was one of them and the cop is white."

"It would seem so," Luke said. "Are they going to get away with it again?"

"What do you mean?"

"Is anyone going to save this guy?"

"Not legally," Gordon replied. "What are you thinking?

"We're getting close to the breaking point," Luke said. "What happens if someone busts up this party and disappears into the night? And snatches the prey from their jaws?"

"I know," Gordon said. "We've talked about it enough. We'd have to get buy-in from the League. And support."

"Think they'll go for it?"

"If we can come up with a plan that doesn't risk premature exposure, maybe."

"We'll have to see how the prosecution goes," Luke said. "There's always a chance they don't, especially if it was clearly justified. But there's zero chance they don't have riots."

"Agreed. The extraction operation we have time to plan for. A trial is would be months away at least."

"Why not concentrate on the first part then? Giv'em a bloody nose."

He clicked open a map of the central part of the country, highlighted Missouri and Arkansas.

"What do we have in Arkansas?" asked Luke.

They had returned to Gordon's study and were looking over a map.

"The two groups in the Ozarks," Jessica said. "Cripple Creek and Emerald Grove. And two further south, on the Arkansas side."

"Yeah," Gordon said. "I know Jerry and some of the guys at Brass Bull. Brave Shield is northeast of there."

"What do you have in mind," Jessica asked. "For the first part?"

"As I said, a bloody nose. Literally. We know they import operatives to control the operation - hand out instructions, form teams, there may be a big mob standing around holding signs and yelling, but the pros are mixed in there to manage it."

"At St. Louis we counted over forty that we were certain of," said Gordon. "And we probably missed some. That was for a few hundred people at any given time. They recruit enough for a crowd to fill out the picture - the organic response doesn't provide enough. And in any case they don't want spontaneous response, so they hand out cigarettes and liquor and cash. And they dole it out each day so the ones that don't follow orders don't get to play any more."

"That's a good setup for us," said Luke. "There's the mob, a police line holding them back, and the TV people filming them. We get some ninja types in close enough, at the right time throw some flash-bangs in among them. And let them know - in case they don't get it right away - that they could have been the real thing."

"Ninja types?" Jessica asked. "Good idea, if they're in an area we don't control. Who's good for that?"

"Fortunately someone close," Luke replied. "The folks at Cripple Creek were pretty impressive, you remember? And they'll know the area."

"I need to get Don on the horn," Gordon said. "He's at the Council until Friday. If you can come up with a plan we'll see what they say."

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After breakfast Jessica and Luke were having another cup of coffee on the back deck or her house. He'd finally moved in a few weeks earlier as the inevitable course of their relationship became apparent.

"I'm not the boss's daughter," she had told him. "We're comrades-in-arms, part of the Sierra Verde freehold."

So he moved from the cabin they'd put him up in when he arrived into Jessica's house, just a few hundred yards from her father's house. Gordon's house was about the same distance up the road.

"Little early to see how the conversation went," Luke said. "Your dad was still in meetings when we left."

"It was probably late when granddad called," Jessica replied. "They talk every night when Dad is at council meetings."

Until a few years ago Gordon had attended the meetings as well - as the founder of one of the first freeholds he was a well respected. His son had gradually assumed his place there.

She lit a cigarette and took a drag followed by a sip of coffee. It was one of the white ones, without the touch of cannabis the light brown ones had.

Luke rarely smoked those, and didn't smoke the regular ones often. He liked them well enough, but preferred cigars. He was aware of the effect of a small amount of cannabis, putting a sharp edge on his perceptions. It could be useful, he supposed, in some situations.

He took a sip of coffee and lit a cherry vanilla flavored cigar. Like much of the tobacco product in the Republic it was from a Mexican shop on the east coast of Mexico, where some cigar makers were enjoying a small business boom as the free states, having removed most anti- tobacco laws and taxes, were importing their product.

After they finished their coffee and smokes they got into Jessica's 1992 Ford Taurus and drove the quarter mile to Gordon's house. The Freehold owned a half dozen of the cars, identical except for color. Luke's was dark green, Jessica's a slate blue. All had been restored to new condition in the shops at a freehold in Arizona, with a few modifications. Modifications for operating in a hostile environment.

Gordon was in a conference when they arrived and they sat down to listen in. A window on the large screen in the center of the table showed Jessica's father Donald, and Luke recognized William Garrison from the Silver Lake freehold in Colorado. He and Gordon were about the same age and had been friends for many years.

"Don, Jessica and Luke are here with me," said Gordon. "Do you want to update them?"

"Sure," Donald replied. "We talked about your idea last night, and I'll see if we can get it on the agenda, we should know something later in the day. Go ahead and develop it and let me know what you come up with."

"We'll do that," Gordon said. "You're still leaving tomorrow?"

"We'll do that," Gordon said. "You're still leaving tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Bill is on his way to Florida and he'll drop me off at St. Joe. I'll let you know when we leave. It's about an hour flight."

"Got it," Gordon said. "We'll work on it and and discuss it when you get home."

═══════════════════════════════════ ● ═══════════════════════════════════
"Our immediate problem is the riots," Gordon said as he selected a channel on the television display. "The extraction - if it happens - is weeks or months away. So what's the all plan, just a quick sketch?"

Jessica looked at Luke.

Well, it was my idea."

"Essentially, as I said, hurt them and let them know this won't be tolerated. If we hit a good-sized mob, all the cameras on them, not only will the organizers have second thoughts but their local recruits will as well."

"How do we inflict the hurt?" asked Gordon.

"I'm thinking of hitting them with some powerful home-rolled flash-bangs, probably with gas or pepper spray grenades. Or both. Maybe put some in the hospital. The way these things usually go, there's an area contained by the police where they congregate and hold signs and yell. From what we've seen the agitators are mixed in there, giving directions.

"That's about it - and then the message to the news media afterwards putting them on notice."

"You know there's always the possibility of fatalities," Gordon said. "Unlikely but a possibility."

"That's a risk," Luke replied. "I don't have a problem with it - all the people there are guilty, including the local dupes. It's up to the Council to decide."

"How many innocent people have been killed by the rioters?" Jessica asked.

"Quite a few," Gordon replied. "I find the risk acceptable as well, but approval depends on the Council's assessment. Assuming they approve, how do we proceed?"

"Depends on the setup of course," replied Luke. "If we get a good one have a small team - half dozen at most - get into position to launch the grenades and vanish into the darkness before anyone realizes what happened."

"I can see that working," Gordon said. "Minimal resources and few people exposed. A hit-and-run, unexpected. We need to decide on the team quickly, this may only go on for a few days."

"The funeral's Thursday," Jessica said. "That gives us three. What happens after that is anyone's guess."

"Thursday's out then," said Gordon. "Even if we could move by then. We'll have to see how they play it."

He selected the television display and clicked on CNN.

Not a blonde this time, but a brunette named Hailey. And still 'BREAKING NEWS'.

"...DA Lavaugn Williams intends to empanel a grand jury to..."

Gordon muted the sound.

"Well," he said, "there you are."

"Indeed," Luke said. "Usually when they announce the indictment they have demonstrations again, so if we miss this one we'll have another chance."

"That might be better," Jessica said. "Plenty of time to be sure we get it right."

Hailey was in a box in the corner of the screen now, most of the screen occupied by the mob. They were relatively quiet, the only movement was the signs held by some of them.

"JUSTICE FOR DEANDRE" was visible on several.

One demanded that someone "STOP KILLING OUR CHILDREN".

"Their children kill each other quite regularly," said Luke. "I'm guessing the dead perp was a youngster."

"Seventeen," Jessica said. "DeAndre Jackson."

"Children, huh?" Luke said.

"Busy if short life," replied Jessica. "Seven arrests - including assault with a deadly weapon. Three weeks ago, out on bail."

"We probably should plan on doing this at the indictment announcement," Gordon said. "Once the date is announced we'll know to expect them, watch them coming in and preparing."

"Good idea," said Luke.

"We'll wait until Don is back then. Meanwhile we can look at what our friends in Arkansas may be able to do."

═══════════════════════════════════ ● ═══════════════════════════════════
"Emerald Grove is here," Jessica said, indicating a place on the map with a laser pointer. "And Cripple Creek is here.

"They're both in the Ozarks, near the state line. We visited both of them back in July."

"Yeah," said Luke. "We could use some help from locals, know their way around the place. Do they ever get down to Little Rock?"

"Not if they can avoid it," Jessica laughed. "They go over to some of the places in the north part of the state - Fayetteville, Springdale, that area if they need to go to the city. They should know someone who knows the area."

"We'll need someone with knowledge of Little Rock," said Gordon. "If our operatives are from out of state they'll need help with that."

"I suspect they'll know someone. There are quite a few city people in the freeholds. Little Rock is one of the places no one wants to be in when things blow up."

"How do Brass Bull and Brave Shield figure in?" Luke asked.

"Brass Bull is a freehold near Hot Springs," replied Gordon. "Some retired military guys, lot of Air Force, they have quite a few aircraft that might come in handy.

"Brave Shield is a small private airfield in the middle of an agricultural area, the nearest city of any size is forty miles away. I'm thinking when we snatch the prey we have to hide him well, and the best way to do that is to get him far away fast.

"If we pick him up in Little Rock and get him out of town fast, over to Brave Shield, a plane from Brass Bull can pick him up and fly him to, let's see, somewhere in southern Missouri. They drive him up here."

"Southern Missouri?" Jessica asked. "Springfield?"

"No, not there. Something small and out of the way, a setup like Brave Shield."

He looked at the map, picked up the laser pointer and pointed at the southeast corner of Missouri.

"Actually, Kansas. Just across the state line. A guy there, in Pittsburgh. We've worked with him a few times. He has a private runway, I'll have to check but he flies a late model Beechcraft Baron so it should work for us."

"So we pick up our man in Little Rock," Luke said, "and get him out of town. We'll need someone local for that, if possible."

"I believe so," Gordon said. "In fact is's very important. Once we have him out of town we're in control, if we get him to the pickup point."

"We need a reliable contact in Little Rock," said Jessica. "If someone at Cripple Creek or Emerald Grove has a connection that would be our best bet."

Gordon opened a window and made some notes.

"OK, that's the first thing to nail down. Now what does he do?"

"Next thing," Luke said, "would be to contact our target - the cop. Assuming he does get indicted. It could be a slow process, getting his confidence."

"I can see that," Gordon said.

He made some notes.

"That's about it for now," said Luke. "We have to see what the locals do. When we do grab him, how does that go?"

"We should be able to get our friends at Brass Bull to help," Gordon replied. "They have a pretty good collection of planes. If we get our man out of Little Rock and on the way to Brave Shield they can launch a flight to rendezvous there."

Luke was drawing on a blotter pad on the table.

"OK," he said, "I've got Brave Shield here, about sixty miles from Little Rock. That about right?"

"I'd say so," Jessica replied. "A little over an hour, allowing for traffic from inside the city."

Luke made a note.

"OK, how far to Brass Bull?"

"A hundred, hundred ten," Gordon replied. "As the crow files, or a Piper Comanche. I've made the trip a couple of times with Jerry Yarbrough. He's a retired Air Force type, flew A-10s. He's got a nice old Comanche, flies it regularly. That's about a half hour trip for it."

"Brave Shield is way out in the sticks," Luke said. "In the middle of miles of mostly rice fields. There shouldn't be anyone watching it. So as long as our passenger isn't tracked, a pickup should be safe even if the aircraft has to wait on the ground a while."

"Shouldn't be," Gordon said. "The dozen or so farmers that own and farm most of the land comprise the freehold. With the extended families and some friends they number about two hundred and something. Anyone snooping around would be noticed."

"Sounds good," said Luke. "I'm thinking a night operation. Less traffic, harder to see and photograph. The ones who know what's going on have the advantage."

"We free the bird in the dead of night," Jessica said, "and he's out of town before anyone notices."

"Whenever the dead of night is," said Luke. "Midnight midnight might not be the best, less traffic to get lost in."

"Knowing when the local PD shift changes are would be handy," Jessica said. "We can find that out easily enough."

"And," Luke said, "a diversion would come in handy as well. We hope to get him out without being noticed, but the fewer cops there are to look for him the better."

"He'll probably have a monitor if he's out on bail," Gordon said. "He'd have to get that off and some of them send an alarm as soon as it's removed."

"Right," said Jessica. "That will be important. Putting distance between it and him before the alarm is sent."

"That gives some things to work on," Gordon said. "Call it Phase I - getting the bird out of the cage. What's Phase II?"

"Once the aircraft leaves Brave Shield, where does it go?" asked Jessica.

"Depends on the aircraft," Gordon replied. "What's the distance from Brave Shield to here?"

Jessica entered the locations in Mapquest.

"Over four hundred fifty miles," she replied.

"Within range for Jerry's plane," Gordon said. "Of course he can't land here, and I'm not sure about landing at Brave Shield, it takes a quarter mile to land and a bit more for takeoff. I'll see what else they have."

"Where does he land? asked Jessica.

"Somewhere in between," Gordon replied, "and not at any airport."

He looked at his map, mirrored it on the large screen on the wall.

"Jim Henderson," he said after a moment. "He'd like this."

"Who's he? asked Luke.

"Someone like us, I suspect. I met him some years ago at an event I and some other freeholders attended, looking to make connections. I never did get to the point of bringing up the League, didn't know enough about him.

"I stayed in touch though, and we talk occasionally, he's looked into some things for me. I don't suspect he's into anything seriously criminal but he knows some interesting things, and can find out more. I suspect he's in our camp but prefers being on his own. Or with a fairly small group."

"He has a private airport?" Jessica asked.

"Pretty much. He and several people - mostly family - have a lot of land in southeast Kansas. They have a runway that will handle Jerry's plane or whatever we end up using. It's about two hundred miles from here, but we could drive him up Highway 69. The only possible trouble spot would be Kansas City. Aside from that it's a lonely highway, especially that time of night. If it's an aircraft without the range for a round trip they can top off at Jim's place."

"You said he'd like the operation," said Luke.

"Yeah. He's definitely in our camp. The whole bunch of them are preppers from way back, and they're preparing for what they know is coming."

"Will he know what the cargo is?" Jessica asked.

"He'd probably do it blind for me," replied Gordon. "But it wouldn't be a good idea to ask. Besides, knowing will make him like it more."

"The two hundred mile drive is the only part the worries me," Luke said.

"Probably worth it, being able to use Jim's place," replied Gordon. "And he may have some tricks to make it safer."

"OK," said Luke, "we pick up our man somewhere in the middle of nowhere, fly him to somewhere else nearly as remote and drop him off, then drive him a couple hundred miles across the prairie. Seems too good to be true."

"There is Kansas City," Jessica said.

"Yeah, that and getting out of Little Rock would seem to be the only real exposure on the ground."

"Jim would likely be our best bet on how to navigate KC," said Gordon. "He knows the area, and there may be an alternate route. The risk of going through heavy traffic in KC or being the only vehicle around on a country highway - each has its own set or risks."

"If we can cover that part," said Jessica, "it looks like a good plan."

"Let me talk to Jim," Gordon said. "And I'll talk to Jerry about their end. Jess, you and Luke know the folks at Cripple Creek and Emerald Grove - why don't you see what they can do for us on the Little Rock end. Especially any resources in the city."

═══════════════════════════════════ ● ═══════════════════════════════════
"If we can put together a plan it's a go on the first part," Donald said.

Jessica and Luke had driven to St. Joseph to pick him up and were having a late lunch with Gordon.

"It has to be worked out so there's no connection to the League though," he continued."

"How do we do that?" asked Jessica.

"Farm it out," Donald replied, "to someone who can't be connected to us if they get caught. We have connections to a number of organizations around the country, they don't know who we are but we stay in touch for things like this."

"Like Jim Henderson?" asked Luke.

"Right. What I'm thinking of is some small group of dissidents that would like a chance to hit these people but don't have the resources or the encouragement they need.

"At any given time we're engaged in communications with some of them, in much the same way the feds use when they set up these false flag operations. They insert agents and use informants to provoke some action so they can arrest them when they do it. And they alert the news media so they can cover the arrests."

"Agents provocateur," said Jessica.

"Exactly," Donald replied. "Of course we won't be deceiving them, only offering support if they want to do it."

"Any candidates in the Little Rock area?" asked Luke.

"Possibly. Bill and I talked about it on the way back. The south is full of dissident groups of all types and sizes. We should probably talk with the folks at Cripple Creek - there are quite a few in the hills and throughout the rural areas. I'll get a list of candidates and we'll see if they're familiar with any of them."

"All right," said Jessica, "it looks like it may be some time before we can do it. The mobs will be gone in a day or two. So when is the next opportunity?"

"Probably when the indictment is announced," Donald replied. "Maybe in a day or two when the grand jury is announced, but probably still too soon. But it will be a couple of weeks before they hand down the indictment. People on grand juries like to milk it for the time off and eating on the taxpayers' dime. But when the announcement is made there should be more demonstrations."

"That might work," said Luke. "How soon do we have our prospects?"

"I'll have some to look at by the end of the day. You might want to look at the two other members in the Ozarks. I don't know much about them - do you?"

"We've never been there," replied Jessica. "Let me check with Tracy at Cripple Creek. They probably know them."

"Do that. Someone on the Arkansas side could be a big help."

═══════════════════════════════════ ● ═══════════════════════════════════
"Tracy tells me the two members on the Arkansas side are both small prepper camps," Jessica reported as they reconvened in the evening. "Both are small prepper groups, most of the members live outside and have regular jobs in the community, which might be helpful."

"That could be," said Donald. "Knowledge of the local area and people, what the gossip is. We'll have to bring them in on the operation - Cripple Creek anyway - so they know what we're looking for. We'll need someone familiar with Little Rock.

"Coordination is going to be tricky," Gordon said, "with so little time. We need someone down in Arkansas, to minimize communications that can be intercepted. We can set up a secure link to say, Cripple Creek. Decrypting it in time for the feds to know what's going on would take quite a while, and it would be a fairly low priority. Don, if Jess and Luke are down there they could handle that end."

"Good idea," Donald replied. "If we have the plan set they can go down and brief them, and work on getting inside the scene in Little Rock. You two ready to go?"

"Say when," replied Jessica.

"OK, let's get to it."

Jessica and Luke left at sunset, driving her Taurus. Both were as armed as usual, matching Glock 27s in crossdraw holsters. There was more weaponry in the trunk in case of unplanned encounters, but nothing illegal. Both had carry permits even though neither Missouri or Arkansas required them.

"We'll be in Springfield before ten," Jessica told him. "I booked rooms at the Holiday Inn we stayed at last time."

Cripple Creek was about an hour past Springfield, so they would be there early.

The plan was to brief Tracy and Chris, the siblings who managed the private resort that was a cover for the Charlie Niner freehold, and see if any of their contacts in either of the two smaller groups would be helpful in the project.

Upon arriving they checked in and went out to dinner. Returning to the hotel they watched television in Jessica's room.

The Little Rock incident was still in the news, now mostly brief talking head segments with various officials, pundits and activists. It seemed that the the unrest would continue until someone was charged with a crime or a grand jury seated to do job.

"Usually how it's done," said Jessica. "The local government puts it in the hands of some people who'll deliver an indictment. Not difficult to do in those places, and it has the appearance of legitimacy. To some people."

"Too many people," Alex replied. "Well, we'll see if we can wake some of them up."

The next morning they drove to Green Springs and Jessica parked at a small building in the old downtown section. One of the vehicles in the parking lot was a fairly new Jeep Wrangler, the other was a 90s TrailBlazer. Luke recognized both from an earlier visit.

Before they reached the door, bearing a "J. Cooper Associates" sign it was opened and Tracy welcomed them.

"Come in," she said. "Chris is in the conference room."

Chris was pouring coffee into two cups as they entered.

"Black, right?" he asked.

"Got it," Luke replied. "How you guys doing?"

"Pretty good. How's things up north?"

"About the same. Watching and waiting."

"You mentioned an operation in Little Rock," said Tracy. "Something to do with the shooting."

"Yeah," Luke said. "We discussed doing something to save that cop, they'll be wanting to lock him up, and they'll get what they want."

"The idea is to get him out," said Jessica. "But we want to do something else as well."

"You have buy-in from the League?" Chris asked after Jessica described the plan.

"If we can get the plan together in time. The second part is firm, the first part depends on whether we can get it organized in time."

"That's the trick," said Chris. "The operators we need in Arkansas are at Turkey Bend and Red Sparrow. Both are small groups, fifty to sixty members. Most of them spend a good bit of time outside the camp, mostly working at their businesses. They're mainly a bug-out site with supply stashes, and places that are hard to find if you don't know where they are."

"What we're looking for is someone that knows the state well, especially Little Rock," Luke said. "Probably a half dozen - if that many - to hit the demonstrators with some home-rolled flash-bangs we can provide and probably some gas or pepper spray grenades mixed in. And get out fast."

"And don't get caught," Chris said.

"Especially that. That's where knowing the area and having some contacts is important."

"I know some of the folks at Turkey Bend," Chris said, "and a couple at Red Sparrow. We might see what they think."

"How long would it take?" asked Luke.

"I can probably raise someone there now. Let's get back to base and I'll try."

The freehold was ten or so miles from town, about a quarter mile from highway 138. At least the entrance was - the installation covered over four hundred acres of mostly forested hills.

The road from the highway to the main gate was crushed rock and wide enough for two-way traffic. A sign over the gates welcomed visitors to "Cripple Creek Hunting Club".

Luke and Jessica knew that there was indeed such a club, a privately held corporation. It just happened that all the stockholders were members of the freehold.

They followed Chris and Tracy through and the gates closed behind them. Dense forest lined both sides of the road until they crossed a creek and entered a large clearing.

Luke and Jessica knew the bridge was built to be quickly collapsed by a few small explosive charges. The creek was twenty feet deep and was impassable with the bridge out.

A small village covered the central part of the clearing, apparently a hunting lodge and numerous other buildings. Chris and Tracy parked in front of the lodge and Jessica parked the Taurus beside them.

Tracy and Chris were the on-site managers of the the freehold property. Their father was one of the Nine, the leaders of the freehold. Their extended families comprised nearly two hundred persons, and several dozen more were not related to them.

All of the Nine had business obligations that kept them absent much of the time but always two or three were present.

"Dad isn't here just now," Tracy told them, "but he'll be in day after tomorrow. Bill Clayton and Charles Stanley are here, they're two of the Nine. They're here to meet with you."

Both men looked to be in their fifties, and both were dressed in the khakis favored by many freeholders. And like Chris and Tracy they wore holstered pistols. Jessica knew them from previous visits, and introduced Luke.

"Chris and Tracy told us a little," Bill said. "It seems there's not a lot of time to plan for the first part."

"We may be able to find some help at Red Sparrow and Turkey Bend," said Chris.

"They'll know the area and the people," Bill said. "Which I guess is the main thing you need."

"I told Jess and Luke I'd try to raise someone down there," Chris said.

"Good idea," said Bill. "Go ahead, see what they come up with."