Copyright© 2023

Absence of Living Book #1 (2)

Calico Dawn Carter Davis Book Two

by Rottweiler

Description: 35-year-old ex-Con Carter Davis has friends. A secret hacker with a genius IQ and an axe to grind, an old hermit with a secret past, a giant mastiff with a nose for trouble, and a teenage ward to test his unique sense of right and wrong. With friends like that--who needs enemies? Oh, he has those too.

Tags: Much Sex, Ma/Fa, Ma/ft, Mult, Blackmail, Coercion, Consensual, Drunk/Drugged, NonConsensual, Rape, Reluctant, Gay, Lesbian, Fiction, Crime, Rags To Riches, Cheating, Sharing, MaleDom, Polygamy/Polyamory, Oral Sex, Pregnancy, Voyeurism, Nudism, Revenge, Violence

Published: 2024-03-28

Size: 50,244 Words

Chapter 1: Trinity

After four long days on the road, plus one demolishing a crime syndicate (literally) I knew two things for certain — my truck needed an oil change, bad and I was tired as hell! Oh, and I needed to pick up a safe. And my dog. Oh yeah, and ... her. Home was closer so I opted to run Gil there and then catch a nap before tackling the rest.

My dwelling was cold and empty. I could feel Bianca’s absence like a chill on my neck. Not having Travis around only made it worse. Despite being exhausted to the core, I tossed fitfully for over an hour before giving up, starting a pot of coffee, and hitting the shower. 20 minutes later I was climbing back out of the canyon, heading for town. It was only noon so I called ahead for a drive-in appointment at the dealership service center. I stayed in the truck while they lubed me up.

40 minutes later I pulled up to Kevin and Rachel’s and parked in their driveway. Trinity and Travis (my 230-pound long-haired mastiff) were in the front yard playing in the snow. She had a length of woven rope and tried futilely to battle him at tug-of-war. He dragged her all over the yard. I was surprised and pleased at the changes I saw in her. No make-up, thin skirt, hooker boots, or worn coat. She was dressed in a pair of tight-fitting jeans with a thick knitted sweater, white fleece beany, and soft leather, fur-lined Sorel boots. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, and she was smiling happily as the big dope utterly dominated her. Then he saw me.

The rope was forgotten as he barked excitedly and bounced in circles several times, nearly clubbing her to death with his lethal tail. Then he bolted for the truck, racing around to my door where he stood on his hind legs and smashed his huge front paws against my window. The F 350 King Ranch Custom rocked as he barked and shook his head at me.

“Let me out. You big idiot!” I laughed as he held the door closed against me, “Down!”

He dropped down and gave me just enough time to open the door before pouncing up and knocking me back against the console. His tongue was the size of an oven mitt, only covered with slobber, His curtain-sized jowls did little to hold back all the dog spit.

“Oh God!” I gasped as he knocked the wind out of me, “Get off you fool! Ugh! Gross!” He slipped back and let me climb out. “You slobbered all over me!” I growled, “Who does that? Do I slobber on you?” But with the attention span of a dung beetle, he turned and bolted around the truck, almost taking the girl out before launching himself onto the porch. He stood against the front door and barked his head off, to make sure the occupants knew that he had urgent news.

I shook my head and reached into the console for the black duffle bag, that I brought back from New York. Turning, I found Trinity standing a short distance away, looking suddenly uncertain and shy.

“Hello Trinity,” I said warmly.

“Hello Mr. Davis,” she replied demurely.

I snorted as I led her back to the porch. “Oh please!” I begged, “I am Carter. I will always be just Carter.”

Travis gave up on the front door and leaped back down into the snow to run a zoomie around the yard. I stepped onto the porch just as the front door opened. Kevin stood behind it shaking his head at me.

“Finally!” he said exasperated, “we’ll get some peace around here.” He stepped out and hugged me before leading us back inside. “Rach is upstairs taking her 3^rd bath of the day,” he mused.

“Well,” I shrugged, “I guess when you’re pregnant...”

“Very pregnant...” Trinity added with emphasis.

“And she still has 3 months to go,” Kevin grinned.

“I hear y’all talking about me!” Rachel yelled from upstairs, in her twangy Texas drawl. “Carter, you’d better have brought me something nice!”

I turned and watched as her feet appeared through the banister rails, then her legs, then ... holy crap! She was waddling! At 5’ tall she was a tiny little Vietnamese-American woman, and she was beautiful beyond words, even 15 months pregnant.

“Good God Rachel!” I exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed my cheek, “how many babies are you carrying in there?”

She rolled her eyes, “Don’t even talk like that. If I had two of these little monster’s kung fu fighting inside me, I’d do my own C-section.” I helped her to the love seat where she sat beside me while Kevin took the recliner to my other side. She looked at me expectantly, “so...”

I turned to their house guest. “Trinity, could you give us a few moments?”

She nodded and turned for the stairs. “I have to pack up my things anyway.”

‘Things?’ I mouthed to the preggo beside me.

“She’s a young lady,” Rachel shrugged, “we shopped. What’s in the bag?” She poked it with her delicate little fingers.

“Y’all have a safe right?” I asked.

Kevin raised his eyebrows at me, “Yes. What do you have Carter?” His tone was suspicious.

I unzipped it and held it open for both of them to see. Their eyes about fell out. Rachel got to her feet with an amazing show of dexterity and bent over the bag with her mouth open. “Are those diamonds?” she gaped at me and clutched the bag. “Carter-San!” she adopted a sing-song Asian accent, “you brought me diamonds?” She became comical as she fell into my lap and hugged my neck. “Oh Sailor-boy, you come! We fucky-fucky long time!”

Kevin snorted loudly and I bellowed an unflattering guffaw.

“Jesus Rachel!” I cried with laughter, “What the hell...”

Her laughter was like bells from Heaven. “But seriously,” she asked, not leaving my lap, “what is this?”

“Um. Payment? I guess?” I said awkwardly, “I didn’t ask for it. And that’s only half of it. Gil took his share earlier. At least I think he did. I never counted it.”

Suddenly she was back on her feet and grabbing the bag from me. “Ooh lemme count it! I love counting money!” And with that, she waddled quickly into Kevin’s Office and closed the door.

“You don’t let her out much anymore, do you?” I asked sternly causing him to snort again.

“Like I could ever stop her!” He retorted.

“Well, if that’s all it takes to make a woman happy...” I chuckled and shook my head.

Trinity came back downstairs carrying a backpack and athletic bag. “You want me to go wait in the truck Mr ... uh, Carter?” she asked.

I shook my head and got up. “Nah, let’s go.” I turned to Kevin and shook his hand, “Keep an eye on that woman of yours. I’ve never seen her like that before.”

He grinned and walked us to the door. Travis was waiting outside. I heard Rachel coming up behind us so I took the girl’s bags and went to the truck. The two females hugged tightly for a full minute before parting. I held the passenger door for Trinity and closed it after she climbed in. Travis was already hogging most of the seat so she had to squeeze in beside him.

“I figure we should hit the grocery store to stock up,” I said as I pulled away from the Sinclair residence, “you can pick out the stuff you like. Are you hungry now?” I felt awkward trying to make conversation. Especially when I couldn’t see her through the big furry beast taking up most of her seat.

“I’m good,” she said quietly.

We fell silent for a while as I drove through town.

“So how was your stay with Kevin and Rachel?” I asked.

She perked up a little. “They are so nice. I wish I had a mother like Rachel,” she replied, “she has been so good to me. She took me to the women’s clinic and I got treated for...” she hesitated, “I had VD and they gave me pills to take care of. And Dr. Fortune put me on birth control pills to control my periods ... I bleed a lot I guess...”

I cleared my throat uncomfortably. “You don’t have to tell me all your secrets and stuff, Trin,” I said as we pulled into Mavericks. I parked and shut the truck down. “While I was gone Rach, Kev and I kept in touch and we chatted about you.”

“I know,” she replied, “Rachel is working with HHS to arrange for me to become a Ward of the State or something and put me up for,” she paused, “she said you wanted to foster me.” Her tone was quiet but I could feel the hopefulness in her tone.

“What do you want Trinity?” I asked, “What about your family? Parents? School?”

“I can’t go back to that!” she said bluntly, “My mom threw me out when Dad...” She got quiet and I didn’t push it.

“You don’t have to go back,” I assured her, “what about school?”

“I was never very good at school,” she mumbled, “I dropped out in 9^th grade.”

“We can work on your GED then,” I said as I opened my door. She opened hers as well and barely got out before Travis jumped down. I walked around to her side while the mutt walked over to a red Subaru Forester and peed on the rear tire. I held the crew cab door open for him to jump back in and closed it, turning to face the girl once more. She stood uncertainly before me and I stepped forward, pulling her into a hug. She surrendered meekly by burying her face in my chest.

“Hey,” I said softly, “it’s gonna be alright now. I promise I will take care of you until you are ready to strike out on your own. Rach is gonna help us from her end and you are gonna get everything you need to succeed. Okay?”

She nodded her head against me and sniffed. Then she reached her arms into my open jacket and hugged me back. “Thank you,” she murmured.

Her demeanor became more animated as we wandered through the aisles of the supermarket. I let her push the buggy alongside me and we chatted easily as we filled it with essentials.

“I still would like to know what you want,” I continued as we raided the freezer section, “what are your hopes and dreams? What do you want out of life?”

“While you were away, they told me how you saved that other girl from those sex traffickers,” she replied. “I saw that video where you kicked the shit out of that biker dude!” Her eyes were bright. “Rachel says you’re a total badass and I want you to teach me how to be like that!”

I snorted, “Rachel talks a lot.”

“But she’s right. And she is absolutely in love with you! I swear she gets wet every time your name comes up,” Wow, she’s getting bold! “I wish my parents were like you and her.”

I felt my face turn red. “Rachel is very happily married to the greatest guy on the planet.”

“So,” she retorted, “you think happily married women don’t fantasize?”

“Okay ... this just got weird,” I muttered.

She bounced around until she walked backward in front of me, pulling the buggy with her. “Please help me, Carter,” she pleaded, “I want you to teach me your Kung Fu ... you can be my Mr. Miyagi and I can be ... well, me.”

I looked down at her pretty face dubiously. “Kung Fu?”

“Whatever,” she reached over to grab a bunch of bananas, “I have lived my whole life feeling like a total loser. I want to be better than that. I don’t want to be weak, dumb ... and scared all the time. Riley, my ex-whatever, got me messed up on drugs and I don’t even remember half the shit he made me do for him.” She returned to pushing the cart beside me. “I want to be strong, like you.”

I stopped and turned to her. “I will teach you what I can,” I said softly, “but you had better understand that this will not be easy—or fun.” She looked back at me with big innocent eyes. “I am going to hurt you, a lot. Part of immersing yourself into Being is training your body to ignore pain and discomfort. To shut out fear and distraction, and to be mindful of anything and everything that is happening around you,” I tapped her on the forehead with my finger, “and it all starts right here.”

She nodded thoughtfully and continued following beside me. “So, what will you do to me?”

“I will be testing you always,” I replied, “and the tests will become harder and harder.”

“Like what?”

“What was the price of those bananas you just grabbed?”

She frowned and started to turn back towards the produce stand. I stopped her with a gesture. I could see the uncertainty on her face before she shrugged guiltily and said, “I don’t know.”

“Good. You passed a very simple example.”

“But,” she looked at me oddly, “I didn’t know.”

“And that is okay,” I told her, “Knowing what you don’t know is what people often call wisdom.” I turned towards the produce stand, “Now if you had balked and guessed, or lied—I would have rung your bell for it.” I paused and regarded her thoughtful expression. “Don’t ever lie to me. I promise you I will do everything I can to help you fulfill those desires and dreams you shared—but we have to develop a deep sense of trust in each other. And that requires complete honesty.”

“That sounds kind of hard,” she said after a minute.

I smiled happily. “It is hard, damn hard.”

---

We got back to the Canyon and unloaded the truck before I took her to meet Gil. I brought him several bags of groceries and she helped me carry them over to his place. I hadn’t plowed for over a week and the snow had built up. I was glad to see that Gil took it upon himself to take the side-by-side out and clear a good section of the clearing between our places.

Trinity was very shy and bashful around the strange hermit but he put her at ease quickly as he eagerly took the bags from her and set them on his table. I could see the sense of newness and curiosity in her eyes as I showed her around the area. I gave her a brief tour of my shop and machines before we headed inside to put away the groceries and feed Travis. She removed her coat and sweater and I became acutely aware of her small breasts and pert nipples that protruded from her undershirt. Not a bra girl. I let her wander about the ISO shelter to familiarize herself with everything.

I was adamant that I would not be giving up my bed again but she showed no misgivings when I assigned her the couch. Travis demanded to be let out and left us in another period of awkward quiet.

I made a pot of coffee while she sat at the table and fidgeted with a napkin.

“So, what now?” she asked hesitantly.

“I dunno,” I replied. There was still plenty of daylight and it had begun snowing again. Glancing outside I decided to put her to work. “Can you drive?”

She shook her head, “Failed Driver’s Ed.”

“We’ll start with the ATV then,” I said filling my cup, “get your coat and gloves.”

Since there was room for two in the enclosed cab, I let her take the driver’s seat and showed her how to turn it on. While it warmed up, I taught her about the basic controls and how to maneuver it around, raise and lower the plow, and operate the dumping feature for the back bed. I showed her where the barrels holding gas and diesel were kept on their racks and showed her the process for refueling it once she was finished using it. (No girl in my house was going to leave me with an empty fuel tank!). She took to it quickly and was clearly enjoying herself as I sat back and drank my coffee. Travis loved barking and playing chicken with us as she made pass after pass, removing the accumulated snow and expanding the cleared area. After a couple of passes, I had her drop me off back at the house and told her dinner would be ready in an hour.

It was dark by the time she came back In but she was alive with energy and grinning ear-to-ear. “God that was fun!” she exclaimed, pulling off her gloves and hat.

“It is for the first couple weeks,” I replied with a smile, “then it gets tedious.”

“I will never get bored doing that!” she stated firmly as she hung up her coat and wandered into the kitchen sniffing the meatloaf appreciatively.

“Wait till you start taking the Yanmar out,” I chuckled, handing her a plate and indicating she could serve herself, “now that is fun!”

She loaded her plate with two slices of meatloaf, a pile of mashed potatoes, and several scoops of corn and green beans. She began eating before she even sat down. I gave her the gravy pan and several hot rolls which she grabbed eagerly. I watched her tuck in with gusto and moan with her mouth full, “Oh this is so good!”

“Would you like a cup of coffee to wash that down?” I asked as I served myself.

“You got any milk?” she mumbled as she chewed.

I shook my head, secretly pleased, and handed her the jug from the fridge and a glass. I was surprised that there was enough left to make meatloaf sandwiches the next day.

---

I jerked awake and Travis yelped when we heard the scream from the living room. He jumped down from the bed and I followed to find Trinity sitting up on the couch rocking herself and sobbing.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” she cried. Her blankets were piled on the floor where she had tossed them off. Travis shoved his nose into her face and she grabbed him, burying her face in his fur.

I sat beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder causing her to jerk back. “Hey,” I said softly, “It’s okay. You are safe and nobody is going to hurt you here.”

“I’m sorry!” she blurted again wiping her nose against the furry neck she clung to, “It was a bad dream. I have them now and then. I’m sorry.”

I sighed and squeezed her shoulder again. “It’s alright,” I said, “come on.” I rose and lifted her with me. She wore a thin tank top and shorts. She sniffed again and followed as I led her back to the bedroom. Travis jumped up and took his usual side. I made her lay down next to him and covered her with her blanket before crawling in beside her. “There,” I grunted as I lay on my back, “Nothing is gonna get to you now.”

She turned against Travis and spooned him with her arm around his neck. I felt her warm bottom press against my thigh.

With a sigh, I closed my eyes and resigned myself to the new reality.

We needed a bigger place.

Chapter 2: The Devil You Know

Reflections

A week after my release, Kevin shared a video clip with me that was smuggled out of the women’s prison and leaked to the internet. It was dark and grainy and clearly recorded from an unauthorized cell phone. The frame jerked around showing a group of surly women in gray jumpsuits, crowded within a confined, poorly lit room.

“Hi, Carter!” a female narrator called out, “say hi to the bitches of cell block B!” There was a chorus of laughs and greetings from the waving inmates, and then the frame jerked around until he saw the face of the recorder. She didn’t say her name but she looked to be in her 40’s or fifties and was salty as hell from her demeanor. “We wanted to show you what we like to call a Salem Witch trial!”

The camera jerked around once more and showed a curious scene. Two metal bed frames side by side were placed in the center of the room. Blankets covered the springs in place of actual mattresses. Bent over the iron foot rail of each was a naked female, with their hands tied behind their backs. Their feet were bound to either bed rail leg by their ankles and their faces were held down by several strong hands.

The camera moved again and approached their downward faces. “Do you recognize these two depraved little cunts?” One of the women’s hair was pulled, lifting her face up to face the camera. “Say hello to Debby Costas,” her tear-stained dirty face was shoved back into the bed, “and Taylor!” the younger girl was treated with equal disdain as her head was lifted and then shoved back into the blanket. The camera moved back quickly until both beds were in view with both women splayed before him.

“Now first we have to see how these bitches ... I mean ‘witches’, mount their broomsticks,” my eyes bulged as two thick mop handles appeared. One was shoved into each of their gaping pussies causing a chorus of painful screams. The women holding the mops began shoving them in and out of each woman while two others stripped out of their jumpsuits and climbed onto a bed each. Both Costas women’s faces were lifted once more while the naked inmates positioned themselves with their pussies directly beneath them. They each then grabbed handfuls of blonde hair and pulled their faces down until their mouths were pressed tightly into a crotch.

“Then we begin the fun,” I watched with open amazement as several hands began smacking each ass, repeatedly. Each of the inmates took their turns delivering the mother of all ass beatings to the two bound women. Their screams were muffled by the moans and jeers of the other women gathered around.

Then the camera spun back to the narrator’s grinning face. “I’d show you more but I’m up next,” she laughed, “and since I’m looking at a month of PSEG when this video gets out, well I’m gonna get me my due if you know what I mean.” She winked and turned the camera back to the spanking/gang bang/orgy and yelled, “Say bye girls!”

“Bye girls!” I heard and then the video went dark.

“Holy shit!” I breathed as Kevin chuckled.

“Want a copy?” he asked

I just gaped at him and nodded.

---

Present

When I woke up after my usual 5-6 hours of sleep, Trinity had rolled over and was now burrowed into me. Her small nose was pressed into my jaw and I felt her soft lips twitching slightly as if she were whispering or kissing someone in her sleep. Feeling them touch the skin of my neck sent shivers down my back. She had kicked her left leg over my waist and I felt the warmth of her groin against my thigh. Against my wishes, my dick began to swell and straighten.

Fuck! I had to get out of here quickly. I gently rolled away from her and sat up on the side of the bed. This alerted Travis that I was ready and able to let him outside, so he effected his exit by simply rolling off the bed onto his feet. Trinity remained sound asleep so I led us out, closing the bedroom door behind me.

It had snowed all night apparently because there was another 5-6” accumulated. I started a pot of coffee while the dog went about his business. Spring was only 2 months away but Winter didn’t seem to want to go away gently.

Once Travis came back in and attacked his breakfast I went to the office and began googling larger homes. I didn’t know how much money I had left, but I figured it was at least a couple hundred thousand. Especially with that unexpected ‘gift’ from Bianca. So, I surfed casually for a while until I found myself returning to several different manufactured homes websites. They were like mobile homes but classier. Prebuilt and delivered in two or three sections to your site. They were put together and hooked up to your utilities and ... presto! Instant home. I also wanted to have a wood-burning stove to help extend my supply of natural gas.

Just for fun I composed an email to Kevin and asked him about my current financial situation. I also included several pictures of a triple-wide unit that was listed for $389K, asking him, ‘Can I afford this?’ I refilled my coffee and decided to clear some of the snow with the truck. By the time I had plowed up to the county road, it was light out so I returned home to start breakfast.

Trinity was still asleep so I started with the batter for the waffles I had become addicted to. Never having real waffles in prison made me especially hungry for them when I spent my first night at the Westin as a free man. I remember the free continental breakfast and was awestruck by all the food there. And they had this do-it-yourself waffle machine that I figured out by watching a 10-year-old make his. I made and ate 4 of them that morning, with all the fixings there—strawberries, chocolate chips, bananas, whipped cream, and syrup. I was so amazed you could have locked me up in that room for life and I’d have been happy.

It was probably the sizzling bacon that woke her up and brought her out sniffing and yawning. She mumbled good morning and then apologized again for the previous evening. I pulled her into my arms and hugged her tightly. “Hey,” I said, “the most important part of my job description as your Guardian is to protect you.” She hugged me back and then rested her chin on my chest so she could look up at my face dreamily. “And I take the responsibility quite seriously.”

“Mmm,” she mumbled half asleep, and kissed my chest before pulling away to sit at the table, “will we always get to eat this good?” she asked.

“That depends on how well you cook,” I replied with a grin.

“I hope you are a patient teacher then.”

---

With your current finances, you could probably afford this. Kevin replied and included a picture of some old-world castle perched on a cliff and surrounded by scenic gardens. I picked up my phone and called him.

Trinity asked if she could go out and plow the rest of the clearing with the ATV so I returned to the office to research some more.

“Hey Carter, how did your first night as a dad go?” he asked.

I told him about her dreams and how we wound up sleeping together. He badgered me good-naturedly about it before getting to the point.

“Your investments are going quite well,” he claimed, “if I pulled everything but your original money down ... you’d have about four and a half mil ... after taxes.”

My jaw hit the floor. “Whoa!”

“Yeah, and that’s not including that little ‘gift’ that you brought from, wherever it was that I don’t want to know about,” he continued, “my hormonally driven spouse about creamed herself sorting and counting all of it. There were 8 bundles of hundred-dollar bills. That’s 1000 notes in 10 separate bands, for a total of $800,000 cash alone. There were 142 one-ounce gold coins worth about another $200 grand. There were 20 Bearer Bonds worth a cool Mil and we haven’t even figured out what the 113 diamonds are worth. Rach says most of them are 2-3 carats each. And she probably will fuck your brains out for the one that is over twice that size.”

I planted my hand on my face. “Tell her to keep the damn rock ... no fucky-fucky!” I exclaimed to his laughter, “In fact, I don’t care what y’all do with them. Just make sure you pay yourselves very well for this, okay?”

“Copy that,” he replied, “So you looking for a bigger place?”

“I can’t be sleeping with a seventeen-year-old Kev,” I retorted.

“You know, Carter, most guys would kill for your girl troubles,” he laughed and hung up before I could snap.

Just as I started to calm down ‘the window’ popped up on my computer screen. It was Sam, my secretive and overly intrusive hacker partner.

Going for fresher meat Lover boy?

Fuck you!

LOL, just kidding. We all know what a Boy Scout you are. That’s why I love you.

I found the entire thing less than amusing so I didn’t respond.

So, what’s the story with this 17 y/o you’re not sleeping with?

I filled her in with a brief history of how I found her and what the plan was.

I’m being serious here sweet man—you are going to do right by her and I am proud of you.

Well, thank you.

If you foster me, can I call you Daddy?

One day Sam, we are going to meet up and I promise I am going to spank you!

Really? Pinky swears? An icon of a feminine eye appeared and winked at me.

I was losing my patience quickly. Was there a reason you popped up?

Actually, yes. I think you have made an enemy or three in the Sheriff’s department. In fact, I know you have.

They are a corrupt bunch anyway. What did I do to piss them off?

Well, one of those sex trafficker fuckers we nailed is a close cousin to one of the deputies. The crook’s name was Reynaldo Alverez, and the cousin was Deputy Marco Benevidez. He was the gunman Gil popped with that delightful bang stick of his.

I grunted. So, Deputy Marco has it out for me because we killed his cousin...

That and the overall impression that we made them look bad by cleaning up their mess for them. The city cops ain’t too happy either. I’ve been hearing chatter and intercepting messages, like the description of your truck and your usual routes in and out of town. Just watch your back, okay?

I always do, I replied, that being said we should probably discuss contingency plans.

Like what?

If they decide to act against me, they will want to be circumspect about it. So, I will likely ‘disappear’. They won’t take me anywhere public and chances are they will do something rash like try to plant ‘evidence’ or trash my property.

I don’t like where this is going...

Neither do I but that doesn’t matter at the moment. What matters is trying to mitigate the damage before they get carried away. Can you hack into my truck’s dash cams and Lojack transponder?

Easily.

Good. If I have a second, I will try to alert you with some kind of panic button. What do you recommend?

On your phone just all 3 buttons on the side twice. I will be able to remotely activate it or the opposite. And I can listen in on background conversations and track it like a GPS. If things go south, I can wipe it clean and even burn it, literally.

I grinned. That could prove handy.

Same with your computer. It’s time for an upgrade anyway.

Cool, and you know who to contact if I should suddenly disappear.

I’ll call your fucking President if I have to.

Mine? The most important thing is to make sure Trinity and Travis are kept safe and taken care of. I will make sure they don’t ride with me anymore unless it is urgent. I should probably give Kevin a call now and fill him in.

Sounds good, eh? The pop-up window disappeared.

Eh?

My left hand was sore from all the typing so I fetched a couple of Tylenol and washed them down with my cold coffee. I had lost my ring finger on that hand when a sniper tried to blow my head off with a high-powered rifle. When the .270 hollow point grazed my finger (at 3000 feet per second) it vaporized the digit and left me with a bloody stump. The surgeon had to remove the small piece of remaining bone and patch it over. We joked that I was doomed to remain a bachelor for life.

After speaking with Kevin, I went back to the kitchen to make another pot of coffee. He assured me that he would be on high alert for any signs of shenanigans from the local law enforcement.

Boom!

I looked out the kitchen window to see the familiar cloud of smoke over Gil’s cabin. I also noticed the ATV parked next to his porch. Curious, I grabbed my coat, gloves, and hat and went to investigate. It was especially cold this morning and my coffee was cooling fast.

A second loud report sounded with the usual cloud of white smoke. I could see Trinity holding the muzzleloader while Gil stood to the side.

“Fuck yeah!” I heard her shout gleefully as she handed it back to him. She saw me and waved excitedly, “Did you see that, Carter?” she yelled, “This is so awesome!”

I stepped up to Gil’s porch and sat in his lawn chair while he reloaded his bazooka from the powder horn slung over his shoulder. He was chuckling and grinning at her antics.

She squinted her eyes as she peered across the creek bed to the line of plywood targets, he had arranged at various ranges. I noticed her rubbing her shoulder from the kickback. Gil subtly pointed to his eyes and tilted his head towards her.

I nodded and went to stand next to her. “Which one did you aim at?”

“That one I think,” she replied, shading her eyes from the sun. She pointed at the closest one.

“Nope,” I said causing her to stomp her foot in disappointment, “have you ever worn glasses before?”

“I had a pair when I was in middle school,” she turned back to me, “is it that obvious?”

I nodded. “We should get you in for an exam. I think they have an eye doctor at Walmart.”

“Can I get contacts please?”

“I think we can swing both,” I sat back down while Gil packed each barrel with the ramrod, “I need to talk to both of you for a minute.” I went on to relate Sam’s concerns and the plans we came up with.

Gil nodded casually and handed the muzzleloader back to her. “Pull it agains yer shulda more,” He instructed.

She could barely hold the monster gun up, much less aim it. I watched her sight down the barrel with her tongue sticking out like Charlie Brown.

BOOM!

I had to reach over and catch her from falling backward from the recoil.

“Woohoo!” she cried, then winced, “Oww!” Gil reached over and took the rifle from her as she rubbed her shoulder again. The cloud dissipated and I watched her grin. “I want one!”

Chapter 3: Unwanted Guests

They showed up the following day. I received a perimeter alert and had time to send Trinity and Travis over to Gil’s and alert Sam and Kevin; before the three Sheriffs SUVs appeared and drove up to my dwelling. I was standing on the front porch drinking a cup of coffee as they parked. Seven men got out of the vehicles, some in uniform and others in plain clothes. I could sense the nervous tension among them as they all turned to an older guy for guidance. He was on the shorter side and significantly overweight, reminding me of Detective Sipowicz from NYPD Blue. He stepped over to my porch as he pulled up his breeches.

“You Carter Davis?” he asked in a raspy voice.

“Who wants to know?” I replied diffidently, setting my phone on the rail.

“We’re gonna need you to come with us,” he spoke with an arrogant tone.

“That so?” I looked about at the gathered goon squad, “And why is that?’

“We need to question you regarding the recent incident involving the alleged trafficking ring.”

“Alleged?” I snickered, “Last I heard that was a federal matter and is closed.”

“Regardless, we need you to come back with us,” he growled.

“I don’t think that will be happening,” I replied easily, “I notice that none of you appear to be wearing name tags or badges, much less body cams. Is that standard procedure for the Sheriff’s Department these days?”

“You’re either going to come with us willingly or we will take you in. What’s it gonna be champ?”

“I dunno,” I snickered and casually turned to look at the small camera mounted by my front door. Sipowicz followed my eyes and frowned. “What do you think Kevin? Does this seem like legal due process or some kind of shady vendetta to you?”

“Oh, these guys are a Defense Attorney’s wet dream!” came a voice over the speaker of my phone on the deck rail, “this is my bread and butter,” he added, “but I think I should probably dial up Assistant District Attorney Delila Ferguson, just to make sure she is looped in.”

There were a lot of uncertain expressions among the group.

My phone chirped and I was surprised to see it was my reticent hacker. “Sam?”

“Hya Carter!” said a young bubbly voice (clearly female), “I see that you have met Undersheriff Dennis Palmer, deputy Marco Benevidez—so sorry to hear about your cousin Renaldo, deputy,” she added brightly. The stocky Hispanic guy became angry and distressed as he was called out. “That taller blonde fellow there would be deputy Herman Stanza, beside him are deputies, Chris Henning and Eddy Johnson,” she continued, causing even more chagrined expressions, “and those two despondent-looking fellows to the right are detectives Harold Masters and William Parker.”

I had to struggle to keep a straight face and I could hear Kevin chuckling in the background. “Thanks, Sam,” I said, “I must say you sound even more beautiful than I imagined.”

“Flatterer,” she snorted, “ciao.”

I regarded my unofficial posse with raised eyebrows. “Where was it you wanted to take me, Undersheriff Palmer?”

He chose to glare at me with impotent rage rather than indict himself further.

“For some reason, I can’t get through to the ADA,” Kevin said over the speaker, “should I keep trying?”

I stared evenly back at the fat balding sheriff. “What do you think Undersheriff Palmer?” I asked curiously, “Should we go ahead and make this official, or are we done here?”

I could see the muscles in his jaw twitch as he ground his teeth. Then he turned away and gestured to the rest of his group. “Let’s go!” he growled.

They reluctantly returned to their vehicles and drove away.

---

“You haven’t seen the last of them yet,” Kevin stated flatly after they had departed.

“I know,” I replied, “I expect they will be waiting for me to leave the canyon and try to take me on the road.”

“You are living dangerously buddy. What are you going to do?”

“This needs to be headed off now.” I replied, “One thing I learned in prison was to take the fight to the bullies before they got a chance to get the jump on you.”

“Need I remind you that this isn’t prison and they aren’t convicts,” he said, “they have guns and resources...”

“I didn’t say it was optimal,” I saw Gil and Trinity heading back over with Travis wandering around them, “but I can’t live the rest of my life looking over my back.”

“Just let me know when you are going to make a move,” he warned.

“Count on it.”

Two days later I drove up out of the canyon and headed down the county road towards the Interstate—when they made their move. I could see the dust plume behind me as they raced up. There were two SUVs and they drove side by side as they approached. I pressed the three buttons on the side of my phone twice and then sent a text to Kevin with one word: Bingo.

They waited until they were dangerously close before turning on their flashing lights. I signaled and pulled over and they moved to block me in. I turned off the ignition and sat back waiting. The digital mini-cam Sam had me install beneath my rearview, featured two cameras facing fore and aft.

“Driver!” a voice commanded over a PA system, “Roll down your window and toss your keys out of the vehicle. Place both of your hands where we can see them! Do it now!”

I complied, unbuckled my seat belt, and placed both my hands out the window.

“Open your door from the outside and step out of the vehicle!”

I did as I was told and found myself facing two serious-looking deputies with their guns drawn and pointed at me. I could hear footsteps approaching from behind as well. “What now hot shots?” I asked grinning at the two before me.

“Shut your fucking mouth convict! Place your hands on your head and back up two steps!”

“Ex-convict, thank you,” I replied stepping back with my fingers interlocked behind my head.

“I said shut-the-fuck-up!” he yelled from right behind me.

I sensed the blow coming and shifted my position just slightly to mitigate serious injury to my kidneys. Still, it was a vicious sucker punch that sent me sprawling on my face with a grunt of pain.

“Stop resisting!” he screamed angrily and kicked me in the side. I felt at least one rib crack and saw stars as I fought to catch my breath. Suddenly a heavy weight crushed down on my back between my shoulders and my face was slammed into the hard ground by a stomping boot. “I said STOP RESISTING!”

All I could do was groan in pain and try to expand my lungs under the oppressive weight. My hands were wrenched painfully behind me and I felt the cuffs click as they were squeezed onto my wrists.

“You don’t listen very good do ya boy!” another voice chimed menacingly. The weight was lifted from me and I was grabbed by several hands and dragged to my feet. They shoved me backwards against my truck causing me to strike my head against the cab. The stars were so pretty!

I didn’t have much chance to admire them before I felt a heavy fist land solidly in my gut just below the solar plexus. Any fragment of breath whooshed from me as I doubled over and began gagging and coughing loudly. I saw the knee rising but was unable to do more than turn my face slightly before it impacted my jaw, knocking me sideways and down to the ground once more. I was lying on my back retching and gasping desperately for breath when they began landing blow after blow to my face, chest, and abdomen.

I could feel my consciousness wavering and I recognized the befuddled sinking sensation as I became closed off and distant to the abuse. As far as ass-beatings go, I had to give them a solid 8 of 10. I had experienced worse at the hands of far more vindictive animals. Not that I was enjoying myself at the moment. Then I was introduced to an entirely new form of unpleasantness.

“Taser! Taser! Taser!”

My brain exploded as if I was hit by lightning, causing every muscle fiber in my body to depolarize and seize uncontrollably for 5 seconds. When it stopped, I felt a wave of nausea and disorientation sweep through me. My moans seemed distant to my ears as I struggled to regain some control over myself.

There are two settings on a taser, the first and most common—known as pulse mode—was what just rendered me completely catatonic. The second—called drive-stun—creates an intense debilitating pain to subdue an individual. Obviously, they were more interested in the pain, and I quickly changed my score to a solid 10.

I felt my arms and legs twist and bend uncontrollably as I groaned helplessly. I was oblivious to everything but the pain. It was constant and unwavering. I felt myself wondering how much my body could take before it failed.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

The pain stopped and I felt air rush into my lungs as I tried to blink away the tears and dirt from my eyes.

“Don’t worry about it smokey. We got this.”

“I don’t think so. I see excessive force and police brutality all over this. Step away from that man now!”

“I said to butt the hell out! Get back in your shop and move on back to your jurisdiction.”

“Two papa 30 requesting back-up to my 20. Send EMS.”

I turned my head slowly and saw sparks as I tried to look around me. Hey, that was Trooper March! Why was I lying on the ground?

“Hey fuck nut! You hard of hearing?” snarled Deputy Benevidez.

“I said stepping away from him. Right now!” Jeff March stood four paces away and was resting his left hand upon his holstered sidearm.

“Fuck you!” Eddy Johnson snapped, “This puke is coming with us!”

Suddenly I felt myself being pulled to my feet and dragged towards one of the SUVs. I was dumped unceremoniously into the back and heard the door slam shut. The voices became muffled. Two more doors opened and closed and the vehicle started. I could feel the motion beneath me as we sped away.

---

I became aware of my surroundings once again as I was pulled from the car, taken into a dark room, and dropped into a chair. I could feel that something was acutely wrong with my body but I couldn’t tell what.

At some point, they got around to patting me down and took my cell phone. I began taking slow breaths and centered myself, increasing my level of presence, and trying to ascertain my surroundings and situation. At the moment I was alone, but I could hear voices arguing not far away, in another room.

“Where the fuck is Palmer?” I was certain the voice belonged to Benevidez. “If that piece of shit turned tail, I’ll fucking end the pendejo.”

“Just calm down,” a new voice spoke angrily, “he’s probably with Eddy and Parker tossing his place.”

A door slammed further away. “Where is he?” I couldn’t place the voice.

“In there.”

A door opened and the room suddenly lit up brightly as the taller blonde detective ... Masters(?) strode over to me. “Alright hotshot,” he held up my phone, “unlock this. We will crack it one way or another but you might as well save yourself more pain and suffering.”

“Say ‘Please’,” I replied harshly.

He slapped me across the face. It was hardly a Hondo special but it still brought tears to my eyes.

“You hit like a pussy,” I coughed. I felt pain in my lower back with every spasm.

“What’s the code fucker? I won’t ask again.”

“There is no code, dumb-ass. Just turn it on and open it.” I wheezed.

He stared at me in disbelief before glancing at the black phone. He pressed each of the buttons until the screen lit up and then snorted in disbelief as he turned and left the room.

Benevidez came in as he left and stood over me arrogantly. “I’m gonna enjoy fucking you up real bad ese,” he snarled.

“Not as bad as I fucked up your cuz ... pendejo!” I replied with a laugh. It was cut off by another painful fit of coughing. My broken ribs protested every hack as I gasped for breath. I spat blood onto the floor at his feet.

His face clouded with rage and he reached down to jerk me to my feet. I stood several inches over him until I began wavering and collapsed to the floor. Imagine my surprise, when I was suddenly too weak to stand on my own feet.

Marco cared little however and began kicking me brutally. I doubled over in a fetal position and grunted in pain as each blow landed. Something struck my head sending white hot spears of pain through my skull before everything went dark.

Chapter 4: Of Pain and Suffering

Rhabdomyolysis is a condition caused by damage to the skeletal muscles in the body after significant injury—in my case, prolonged exposure to an electrical current which caused the rapid degradation and breakdown of muscle fibers into toxic components such as excess potassium, phosphate, myoglobin, lactic and uric acids. When the kidneys cannot clear the toxins from your blood, they can build up and lead to even greater complications such as renal failure and sepsis.

I awoke lying in a hospital bed under subdued lighting. Simply put—I felt like double hammered dog-shit! My entire body hurt and I had a hard time clearing my mind to take stock of my situation. I was alive, however. I may have been wishing that weren’t the case at the moment, but I figured that was a mark in the ‘plus’ column.

I moved my head slightly to the left and right and was able to focus on my surroundings a bit. There was a big machine parked beside my bed, connected to several large tubes going into the right side of my neck. It had large clear bags of fluid hanging from it and made a constant whirring noise. Several IVs were hanging on a pole full of smaller boxes, each of them feeding into another IV in my left arm.

There was a small woman seated next to the whirring machine, typing into a tablet as she reviewed the dials and numbers displayed across it. She turned and smiled at me when she sensed my movement. “Well hello stranger,” she greeted pleasantly, “welcome back to the land of the living.”

What do you say to that? ‘Gee thanks, glad to be back.’ ‘Ugh please just put me in the ground and cover me back up.’ No profound words came to mind so instead, I went total Forest Gump.

“I really gotta pee!” My voice was harsh and my jaw hurt when I spoke.

“I’m sure dear heart,” she replied with a southern accent, “you have a catheter going into your bladder right now and all your urine is draining into a bag on the side of your bed.”

“What happened?” I tried to touch my face but she gently reached over and pulled my arm back down, “how long...”

“Try not to move this arm too much,” she said gently, “you are getting a lot of medications right now.” She patted my hand and then placed a moist washcloth over my face to gently rub my eyes and cheeks. God, that felt so good! “As for what happened, I don’t know the full story, but it’s a small hospital and people talk. I was in the ER when you were brought in by a small army of cops and firefighters.” She rinsed the washcloth then folded it and placed it across my brow. “You were in pretty bad shape. That was two days ago.”

Two days?

“Are you in pain hon?” she asked reaching for my call light to press the button. Moments later another cheery fresh nurse in dark red scrubs came into the room. She wore her hair up in a tight ponytail and stood over my bed like an angel.

“Well, hi there,” she said brightly, “I’m Janice your nurse. How are you feeling Mr. Davis?” Her voice was almost musical and belied her age.

“Just Carter,” I said swallowing painfully, “I can’t think of anything that doesn’t hurt.”

She reached up to one of the pumps below my IVs and pressed a few buttons before handing me a button. “This is your pain button,” she informed me as she pushed it. I could hear a quiet beep nearby. “When you are hurting, all you have to do is push it once and you will receive a dose of Dilaudid. It will only let you receive the drug every so often so mashing on it repeatedly won’t help any.”

I tried to concentrate on what she was saying but I was suddenly swept up in a warm fuzzy sense of ... oh this is good! Real good.

She must have recognized my blissful expression because she gave me a knowing grin and disappeared from my life before I could propose to her. I looked instead to the other lady who was monitoring the big whirring machine.

She glanced up at me and smiled, “Better now?”

“Mmmhmm.”

“Good. We are almost done here,” she added, “the doctors will be rounding soon and they can fill you in better on how you are doing.”

“Mmmhmm.” I agreed and faded back into oblivion.

---

When I awoke again, I found myself looking at the decidedly unpleasant expression on Kevin’s face as he glowered at me.

“Hey there Kev...”

“You stupid, dumb-ass, brain-dead, mother fucking idiot!” he snarled at me under his breath.

Well, that was rather harsh!

“Could you have tried any fucking harder to get yourself killed?”

I shrugged, at a loss for words under his verbal assault. “Well ... in retrospect...”

“I used to think you were one of the smartest people on the planet!” he snapped and began pacing beside my bed.

Wow, where did all those flowers come from? There were tables all about my room covered with vases, cards, and balloons.

“How could you be so goddamn stupid?” he continued, “Do you have any idea how close you came to fucking dying?”

“It was admittedly not one of my better plans,” I mumbled looking about for my little button of awesomeness.

Kevin snatched it out of my hand. “Uh huh!” he growled, “you can lay there and suffer. I’m not done telling you what a stupid ignorant, and complete Fuck-wit you are!” he waved it around menacingly. “And then I’m gonna let Rachel have at you! Do you have any idea how upset she is?”

I felt a chill at that. Was it too late to just die right here? “She, okay?”

“No, she’s not okay! She’s fucking pissed. You almost cost our baby its Godfather!” He suddenly deflated and collapsed into a chair beside my bed. He tossed the pain button onto my lap. “Jesus Carter! You have no idea how much your stupid little stunt fucked her up. I thought she might miscarry for a while.”

I swallowed and closed my eyes to hide the guilt that suddenly crept up to my face. ‘Way to go fool. You really fucked this one up. And you were warned.’

I heard him sigh quietly and I felt even worse when I saw the pain in his face. “I’m sorry.”

He met my gaze for a second and then just looked down resigned. “You got a couple packages from Sam,” he said quietly pointing to a bedside table on the left side of my bed. I saw a brand-new laptop computer and a slim cellphone, both plugged into chargers.

“They raided your place and took your old computer and several files. We recovered most of it but the computer mysteriously caught fire when they tried to force their way into it.” He snorted, “That is how we found you. It caused the building they were holding you in to go up, and they had police and fire units surrounding them before they knew it.”

“What happened to them?”

“Oh, we got every one of them,” he gloated, “even the undersheriff. He tried to bluster his way out of it saying he was investigating your involvement with the traffickers. When that failed, he started throwing his cohorts under the bus, suggesting he never authorized your arrest or the use of excessive force.” He had that gleam in his eye that I recognized whenever he had an open and shut case. “They have been moved to Halsy County detention since their arraignment,” the next county over, “and they are all being held without bail.”

We were interrupted by a commotion outside my room as my teenage ward burst through my door and flew across the room and onto my bed. I tried not to groan as various parts of my body protested from her sudden impact.

“Carter!” she cried into my chest, “Oh God I was so scared! I thought you were ... you were...” She broke down and sobbed against me for a few minutes, causing an awkward silence in the room.

I looked up and saw Gil standing in the doorway looking at me evenly. He was dressed in his typical coveralls with a lumber shirt and ragged hat. He shook his head and grunted, “Boy, sumtimes I wunner if yer elevater makes it to the top floor!”

With a sniff Trinity wiped her nose on my shoulder and sat up, dangling her feet over the edge of my bed. She adjusted a pair of pale lime green framed glasses on her face and looked at me with swollen eyes.

“I like the glasses,” I said with my harsh voice, “they give you a sophisticated look. Kind of like Hillary Duff with shorter hair.”

“Thanks, Rachel took me for my eye exam yesterday and they made my glasses the same day.”

As if summoned, the petite yet very pregnant Asian woman appeared in the doorway and entered the room quietly. A chill followed her in and I felt it take hold in my very bones. You could have heard a pin drop as she calmly stepped up to my bed and kissed me delicately on the cheek.

“Would you all be so kind as to give us a few moments?” she asked with that sweet-as-honey West Texas drawl, never taking her cold eyes from mine. Fear crept up my spine as the three others filed out in a less-than-orderly fashion. “Get the door behind ya.”

That was a preview of Calico Dawn. To read the rest purchase the book.

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