Chapter 15

Larabee 7 ~November 16th~ 1:00am

Rain Jackson had been in bed for hours, but Nathan was still awake and sitting at the kitchen table. He had been trying to make some sense out of Chris's refusal to listen to what he had to say. They had disagreed before, but Chris had never declined to hear him out. In fact all of his brothers had turned their backs when he began to talk about racial issues, the RMR, or the outrage that he had about Paul's fate. Why now? Why after all these years had their attitudes about color changed?

*Did they change Nathan? Or have you? Why are you so angry with the men that have stood beside you and watched your back time and time again? Prejudice is nothing new to you; it has been a part of your existence for your entire life? Every day since you saw Caleb sitting in that office though, and read the report that the director of that children's home wrote, you have been an angry man. You have ranted and railed about injustice, but why to those who have never been unjust to you? When did your life become so complicated, damnit?*

A loud noise coming from the front of the house drew his attention. Running out the door, Nathan was met with the sight of a cross burning on his front lawn and one side of his home was in flames. Grabbing the water hose he screamed for Rain, and as he began to spray water on the house he felt a burning pain in his side before a blow to his head caused him to black out, and hit the ground.

Buck was never quite sure what had awakened him, but when he looked out their bedroom window and saw fire he knew what he had to do. Throwing on his clothes as he ran outside to his truck, he yelled to Inez to call the fire department and the rest of the family. It only took a few minutes for him to reach Nathan's home, and he was out of his truck before it had even completely stopped.He saw an injured Nathan on the ground, but no sign of Rain or Terrell.

Making a split-second decision he ran into the house yelling for Rain as he entered. He saw her trying to make her way down the hall to the baby's room. Buck took a deep breath and rushed over to her grabbing Rain around the waist and then pushed her toward the front door.

"You get out, I'll get Terrell!" Wilmington did not wait to see if she was following his instructions.

Rain stumbled down the hallway, using the wall to guide her, coughing harshly as she fought to catch a breath. She made it as far as the living room and then collapsed onto the floor. The air was only slightly better at ground level, but it was enough to get her up on her hands and knees. She grasped out for something to help her raise herself up into a standing position once again, and felt a masculine arm slip around her waist as Buck had made it back into the living room carrying a crying Terrell.

He was met at the door by Larabee, who scooped Rain up into his arms and carried her out the door with Buck following closely behind with the baby. From her position on the ground, the distant sound of tires squealing to a stop, and the voices of other family members arriving on the scene to help, reached Rain's ears.

Kelli knelt down beside her with Terrell in her arms. Buck had handed the baby off to her; so that he could go help the others fight the fire that was trying to devour the Jackson home.

Josiah leaned over Nathan holding a towel to stop the flow of blood around the knife that was still imbedded in his side. Even as he checked his vitals, and tried to rouse him with his voice, sirens sounded in the near distance.

Nathan heard the deep baritone voice calling his name and tried to respond through the pain in his head and right side. "Rain… Terrell…inside…"

"They are both safe brother, you stay with me, help is on the way." Josiah said a silent prayer of thanks that his friend was still with them.

"I'll try," Nathan's voice was weak but his pulse was strong.

The EMT'S arrived first and one of them took Josiah's place to tend to Nathan while the other one checked on Rain and the baby.

Mallory arrived having left Adam and Joanne with Max at the Tanner's home, and to her it appeared that the men had the fire just about out before the fire truck came in behind her. Fireman took over the task of making certain that the Jackson home was checked out thoroughly. There was more damage done by smoke and water than fire, but it was necessary to confirm that there were no smoldering areas left undetected.

Chris stood back and looked over the scene. Somehow the security for the ranch had been breeched, and it had almost cost the lives of the entire Jackson family. He intended to know how, and by whom. "Walter, get me the video from the perimeter cameras and put together a patrol for the rest of the night. I don't think they'll be back, but you never know. We will set up at…" Chris knew that Linda would throw a fit if their house was used, "…at Vin's house. Buck, call forensics, Greg will have the lead on their investigation. Have him get a team out here, if there is any trace of useable evidence they'll find it. Also have Justin and Alex meet the ambulance at the hospital. They are to stay with Nathan and Rain until I can arrange for another security team to relieve them."

Josiah walked up beside him. "The paramedics are going to transport Nathan to the hospital, he's stable and they think he will be okay. They also want to take Rain in as a precaution; the baby seems to be fine. Mallory and I will follow them in and keep you posted, while you try to find out who the bastards are that did this."

Kelli heard what Sanchez had to say "I'll take Terrell to our house. Max said Adam and Joanne are back to sleep so they'll be fine."

"We're going to set up at your house Kel. Ask Max to put on some coffee, it is going to be a long night." Chris thought about Grace. He may not like the Nanny that Linda had hired, but he knew that the woman would at least take care of Grace if she woke up while he was gone. "JD is on his way over and will probably need access to Vin's office to get to CASSIE."

If Josiah had any doubts left about what Tanner was actually doing, the fact that CASSIE was still accessible from Vin's office erased them. Looking over to where Nathan was being loaded into the ambulance he shook his head. *Brother Nate, you had better be okay because you are going to have to eat crow and do some apologizing soon.*

"No problem Chris. Do you want me to call Ezra now or wait 'til morning? "Kelli asked.

"Better call him now, the sooner he knows what is going on the more information he will have for the insurance company." Chris was ready for some answers and began the first in a series of phone calls.

Tanner Home~7:00am

The report from the hospital was good. Josiah said that Rain was fine and that Nathan's rib had deflected the knife blade that was plunged into his side, allowing for only minor damage that was easily repaired with stitches. Katrina waited at the hospital to claim the knife as evidence and rushed it to the lab. Jackson did have a concussion, but the doctor's felt confident that he would be released within twenty-four hours. Their home was another matter; it would take a while for all the damage to be fixed enough to make it livable again. In the meantime Nathan, Rain, and Terrell would be staying with the Sanchez family.

It had been a long night. Once forensics had left the scene, Buck went home to check on Inez before joining the others at Vin's house. JD had been hard at work on CASSIE, and Casey brought over some diapers and essentials for Terrell. Ezra and Barbara arrived around two-thirty, and with Standish helping the others sort out details; Max and Barbara kept the coffee going and prepared a huge breakfast for everyone; while Kelli helped Jason and Joanne get ready for school.

Chris outlined their morning. "Gunny, Pam, and Mark will hold down the office. Justin and Alex are staying at the hospital with Nathan, while Josiah and Mal bring Rain home. Buck, you and Kel will meet with the principle at the kid's school to insure that she understands what we need. Travis has already talked to the school superintendent and received a verbal okay for Raphael to station himself there during regular hours. He will pick up a written consent on his way over to meet you at Mrs. Ross' office by eight. When you return .we will all go over these videos again and work out a defensive plan for the ranch with Walter."

"You think the children are at risk? JD questioned.

"I would rather play it safe JD. Right now we don't know how far these bastards will go to get to Nathan. Paul is out of reach to them, so all their efforts will be directed to Nate." Chris sighed. "I'm going to go check on Grace. We will all meet back here at…ten. That should allow everyone a chance to shower and change.

Buck nodded. "I'll run to the house and hustle Caleb and Sarah along. Tell Kelli that I'll pick her and the kid's up in thirty minutes or so." He also wanted to see how Inez was doing. She had less than a month to go before Tannis arrived and this pregnancy had been more exhausting for her than the previous two.

"I'll stay here Chris, and work from Vin's office…unless you want me to disconnect his CASSIE link. Do you?" JD was not sure why Chris had not thought about that, but he was not going to push him to do it.

Chris studied JD; his question was a good one and reasonable given the circumstances. "Leave it for now JD." He knew that Dunne would not ask for an explanation.

"Whatever you say, boss." JD grinned and took off toward Vin's home office.

"We brought a change of clothes. I will speak to the insurance adjuster and arrange a time to meet him at the Jackson home. Barbara called in to take a personal day off so she can help out with the children." Ezra elucidated.

"I'll be back." Chris headed over to his house. Wondering as he walked, what new revelation might be waiting for him there.

Larabee Home~7:30am

Chris had a dull headache and was hoping that for once he would be able to walk into his home without a confrontation with Linda. His hopes were dashed when he entered the kitchen to find not only their regular housekeeper Louisa, but another unidentified woman in his house.

"Good morning Mr. Larabee." Louisa greeted him. "This is my niece Mila; she is going to help me prepare your home for the Thanksgiving holidays. Ms. Linda said to expect company and we want everything to be perfect."

"Company? She didn't talk to me about inviting anyone over for Thanksgiving." Chris replied, feeling his anger start to stir. This was certainly the last thing he needed to hear right now. After some unknown number of racist assassins had breached the Larabee 7's security system and burned a flaming cross in the Jackson's front lawn, catching their house on fire and nearly killing all three family members. He and the others still had to gather at the Tanner's home to discuss what had happened, go over what evidence that Greg and the others on the Forensics team had managed to dig up to try and piece together who was responsible and what their next step was going to be, and Linda was planning holiday parties? He didn't think so.

Chris made a fast exit and went in search of his wife, expecting her to be in bed. He came to a sudden stop though when he found her in the living room directing two men to remove all of the furniture.

"Linda! We need to talk…NOW!"

"Do you have to bellow at the top of your lungs like an enraged bull, Chris!" Linda snapped back, annoyed that he had interrupted her as she was directing the furniture movers.

"What in the hell do you think you are doing?"

Linda glared at her husband before taking him by the arm practically dragging him into the bedroom. As soon as the door was closed she lit into him. "I am running my household! My family will be here for the holidays and we need new furniture."

"And just when did you make this decision?" Chris snapped back.

"You promised that since we did not have a big wedding that I could invite my family to come to the ranch for a get-together. Well they are coming over the holidays and I expect you to at least pretend to enjoy it!"

"Don't tell me what I'm going to do, Linda! If it was any other time then I would be more than willing to entertain your family since I really haven't met any of them except for Matt, but having them here right now is out of the question!" Larabee exploded. "Furthermore, we are not getting rid of any of my furniture! I like it and so do the boys!"

"With you there is never a right time Larabee! Besides, in case you haven't noticed the boys don't live with us! They have their own damn homes and it's about time they started using them!"

"Linda, while you slept peaceably through the night, the Jackson home almost burned to the ground taking Nathan, Rain, and Terrell with it! Until we find out who started that fire there will be NO extra bodies allowed on the ranch! That includes your family!"

"I don't know what the hell has come over you Chris Larabee, but you certainly aren't the man I fell in love with and married! That man would have never taken his work and family over me! He wouldn't consistently knock down any of my attempts of making this house more my own, or balk at trying to incorporate more of what's important to me into our relationship!"

"You are unbelievable! I just told you that Nathan, Rain, and Terrell barely escaped death last night, and you want to make this argument about our relationship." Chris said incredulously.

"I'm sorry about what happened, but I don't see why it is our problem. My family is coming and you will just have to fix it where it's safe for them to be here!" Linda started to leave and then turned around. "We are getting new furniture, too!"

Larabee reached out and grabbed her by the arm to halt her progress from the room. "You are not getting rid of the furniture, and your family is not coming to the ranch until this all blows over and that's final Linda!"

Linda recoiled from his touch, "Fine Chris. You can forget Thanksgiving, my family can stay at the Southern Breeze, at least there they are welcomed, and that is where I will be spending the holiday. Don't you dare invite one member of that Wild Bunch into my home until my kin are welcome here, too"

"The Wild Bunch also happens to be part of MCAT, and there may be times in the weeks to come, that one or more of them will be in this house Linda. You need to get it through your head once and for all that you are not going to dictate to me who I can and cannot associate with, what is going to happen in my house or on my ranch, and that includes getting rid of all the extra help that you hired ."

Bristling with anger Linda retorted. "Don't take that attitude with me Larabee. You want to see your precious agents, go to the office, or go to that secret place you built, but do not bring them here! As long as I am pregnant, I am not getting rid of the extra help either. You do remember that I am pregnant don't you, or has that slipped your mind along with everything else I have said?"

"Damn straight I remember! You just make sure you remember that that is my child too, and regardless of how you feel about me, you will not use this pregnancy as an excuse to do everything you want to!

Linda refused to respond to him and slammed the door as she left the room.

Chris sat on the bed after she stormed out and ran his hands through his hair, exclaiming aloud. "Damnit! Why does every thing always have to turn into an argument with her? Why can't she just support me for once and not make it seem like I'm ignoring her?"

Wearily he stood up, he still had to take a shower, change clothes, and try to put his house back in order, before he had to meet the others at ten.

Rocky Meadows, Colorado

RMR Training Grounds

Vin knew that something had happened last night, and that Karl was not happy about it. Several of the men had been dressed down, and he was giving Anson hell. He was only half way paying attention to the conversation until he picked up on the words, ranch, failure, and Jackson. Tanner stealthily moved closer to the arguing men to find out more.

"Damnit Anson, you should never have sent inexperienced men to do a job that important!" Chambers yelled.

Ricter argued, "They did a helluva job sending our message, Karl. Jackson may still be alive, but that is one nigger that is shaking in his boots right now. In fact everyone on that ranch now knows that we can get to them anytime we want to. Their damn cameras, alarms, and fences are not a problem for my men. Fear and intimidation are stronger weapons than death sometimes. Isn't that what you have always said?"

"Sometimes Anson, but make certain that you know the enemy you are dealing with. Failing to kill the man is one thing, but that woman and whelp of his made it out too. You need to teach Johnson, Stevens, andBellows the right way to kill rats if you want men to fear your power. Now that you have started, do not let up on any of them; let the residents of the Larabee 7 know that there is no place safe for them to hide, and that we can always reach them…or their families. We may not be able to touch that black buck in the hospital, but men do seem to pay attention when you rattle their cages with threats to their offspring."

"Even the white ones?"

"If they are willing to live on the same property with a black man, then they are to be treated no differently than him."

A cold chill ran down Vin's spine when Chambers told Anson to threaten the children. Those were his kid's they were talking about, along with his nieces and nephews. A silent rage was beginning to build inside him. It was bad enough that they were teaching the children that lived on the compound that only the white race counted, and that killing any non-white was acceptable, but they had just made one helluva mistake to target his family. Vin knew that Larabee would not be intimidated, but he planned to make a phone call as soon as he was away from here to warn him anyway. Tanner's grip on the gun he was holding tightened as his resolve to see this through, and to bring these bastards down strengthened. *Whatever it takes Chambers…you are going down.*

Larabee 7 ~Tanner Home

Chris, along with his brothers, daughter, and Walter had gone over several plans to strengthen the ranch's defenses. They had been watching the videos from every camera stationed around the Larabee 7 for over an hour. One thing was becoming very clear; there were only a small number of places on acres of ranchland that anyone could breech without being detected, and one of their most vulnerable areas was on the side that bordered the Southern Breeze, and it appeared that was where three men crossed onto the Larabee7 property

"Damn they're good. They found our weakest point and took advantage of it. Almost like special ops." Buck observed.

"That is how they train Buck. The same way we were trained in the Seals. To them this is a war, and nothing is spared in preparing them to fight. As far as the paramilitary are concerned, we, meaning the government, are the enemy. For the supremacy members, anyone that is not white, straight, and anti-government, or those that sympathize with inferior races are their enemy. Put the two together and you have a dangerous group with a lethal attitude, and that pretty well sums up the RMR." Chris explained." We will have to be better, stronger, and smarter than they are to beat them."

"Clearly we will need to speak to Matt about supplementary security from the direction of the Southern Breeze." Ezra stated "Perhaps that is where we should concentrate our efforts, and money."

"I will be talking to Dubois, but we also need to look at the Well's property. We are secure enough between us and them, but they have an exposed area on the side of Nettie's property that does not border the Larabee 7." Chris pulled out a map of both properties and pointed to three areas. "These are the places we should be looking at."

JD saw the weaknesses. "Chris, do you think that they will try to get through our land to get to Nathan?"

"I think they will try to get to any of us they can reach, JD. We have to be ready for anything."

"For now Raphael is at the school, but…should we pull the kids out?" Kelli asked. "I mean, surely they would not go after our children, would they?"

Josiah had joined them after he dropped Rain and Mallory off at his house. "Hate knows no boundaries Kel. Age, color, or status will not stop men that exist to spread hatred, and they are not afraid to use violence to do so. Although we may be acting prematurely if we pull the children out of school at this point"

"We are going to spend the next twenty-four hours fortifying our defenses here. While we do that, we will continue our protection detail on Paul, Nathan, our families, and at the school until we are certain that a threat no longer exists. We won't have any lab results for a while so we will have to wait on that, but I want to know what we have scheduled for any family member over the next week."

"Tomorrow morning at nine, Inez and I are scheduled to be in court for the final adoption hearing on Caleb." Buck reminded everyone.

JD listed some of the upcoming events. "Saturday, we planned a joint birthday party at our place for Lilah, Daisy, and Terrell. Nettie and Casey already have most of the arrangements made. We were going to do it on Sunday, but Buck said he was taking Caleb and Jason to the Bronco game."

"Right, I'm supposed to go with them, Okay, what else?" Chris answered.

Kelli spoke up," Max and Nettie have helped me plan a Thanksgivin' dinner here. It will be an open house, Gunny, Pam, Mark, and Katrina already said that they were comin', and I extended the invitation to any of the agents that had no family here to celebrate with. Raphael said he and Selina would be here because Alicia is going to her in-law's house that day with her husband, and Greg said he would let me know. I even asked Bones if he wanted to come."

"Did I miss this somehow?" Chris asked

"I reckon you must have. Mallory, Casey, Inez, Rain, and Barbara agreed it was logical to have it here. Inez needs to take it easy, Casey is handlin' the birthday party, Rain said it was fine for them, and the rest of us will be off work, so it only seemed fair that we all pitch in. I also thought it might be easier for Jason and Andi to have family here since…well... I'm sorry I thought you knew." She did not state the obvious reasons for not asking Linda to host the dinner.

"Did you tell Linda about your plans?"

"I haven't talked to Linda in weeks, but Inez told her, so I'm sure she knew."

Chris nodded thoughtfully; he knew Linda would not have offered to have the Wild Bunch in their home. "We'll be here." He cleared his throat. "If that's it then we make certain that we have everyone covered"

"Barbara and I will be at the courthouse with the Wilmington's in the morning, and I am assuming that we will all be at the birthday party on Saturday." Ezra looked around at the nodding heads. "Then we need to examine your agenda for Sunday and the holiday festivities for Thursday."

"The kids are out of school from next Wednesday to the followin' Monday." Kelli added. "I'm sure that if goin' to the game is a problem, Caleb and Jason would be happy to watch it on TV."

"We'll see…" Chris was interrupted by Kelli's ringing cell phone. She knew that it was Vin and her heart raced as she grabbed it, and immediately moved out of earshot of the others in the room.

"Hey."

"I heard about what happened, is everyone alright?"

"Basically, Nathan will be in the hospital another twenty-four hours, Rain is with Mallory and Terrell is here. Their house was damaged by the fire, but it could have been much worse. How did you know?"

"The bastards were talkin' about it this mornin'. Kel, I need to talk to Chris.'

"Everyone is here. We were just finishin' a meetin about what happened. I'll get him for you."

"Wait a minute. It's not safe for y'all baby. I want you to be extra careful, and keep the kids with you as much as possible. Do not drop your guard for any reason until I tell you too, understand?"

"Yes I understand. Vin I…" She wanted to share their miraculous news with him, but stopped herself. He had enough to be concerned about right now without her adding more, and she could not tell him on the phone. "I love you Tanner, and when you do get home 'm not lettin' you out of my sight for at least the next fifty years or so."

The Texan smiled and she could feel it over the phone. "I'll hold you to that, baby. I love you." He sighed." I'm short on time, go ahead and put Chris on."

Kelli motioned for Chris and handed the phone to him when he walked over. After Larabee took the cell from her, she rushed off to the bathroom to have a good cry.

"Vin you okay?"

"For now I am. Listen Chris, the three men that hit you last night are Robert Johnson, Charles "Chip' Bellows, and Michael Stevens. Ricter sent them, and Chambers gave him the go ahead to continue their campaign of intimidation against y'all. The sonsofbitches are plannin' to use the kids to get their message across if necessary. They know that Paul is unreachable so expect them to come at you with every dirty tactic they know, and trust me they know most of 'em. Just …keep my family safe for me please."

"You know I will Vin. Kel and…all your children are under my protection, and I promise you I will not let anything happen to them. I do need you to figure out a way to get me a map of the compound though; in case I have to come after your ornery Texas ass."

"I know, but right now I can't get anythin' out…I'll work on it though and see what I can come up with."

"Tanner if you need to haul your butt out of there we'll manage to get them another way."

"Are you orderin' me out, Chris?"

"Larabee hesitated before he answered. "No, your cover is good, but if I say the word I expect you to move your ass and come home, but you can abort anytime you want to."

"Not yet Chris, they have somethin' bigger planned and until I know what it is 'm stayin'. I need another week, maybe two, but definitely by the first of December I should know what it is. I gotta go before someone sees me usin' this phone…Keep Kel safe, and watch your back."

"You too, Vin, and if you need me, I'm listening for you."

"That's good to hear…brother, 'm open on this end too. Take care."

Chris held onto the phone, even after Tanner hung up, *"m open on this end, too.* Only a few words, but to Larabee it was the final piece he needed to reclaim all that he thought he had lost forever with Vin. Closing his eyes and concentrating; he could almost feel that invisible door in his mind swing open, allowing him to reestablish that unexplainable connection that had always flowed effortlessly between them, …a friendship older than this lifetime, …brothers by choice.

Tbc in Reconciliations ~ Part II ~Revelations

*Information on chapter 12 'review notes', was compiled from numerous news articles found on the Internet.

*Chapter 13- Quotation from Connections, MCAT #2 written by Tonny.