Free Defiance: A House Divided (The Defending Home Series Book 2) by William H. Weber

refuel the generator out back and haven’t heard a thing.”
    “You’re sure about the two men?” Randy asked again, ignoring everything else Natalie had said.
    “Positive.”
    The problem, as far as Randy saw it, was that Betty didn’t have any family left. So who would have come for her? Randy wasn’t liking this one bit. “Where’s Betty’s office?”
    Natalie sighed. “I’m really rather busy.”
    “This is important,” he said, maybe a little too forcefully. Some of the other nurses around him stopped what they were doing and stared. “Go back to work, will you?” Reluctantly, they returned to their patients. “I need access to Dr. Peterson’s office as well.”
    He could tell Natalie was thinking about how many laws Randy was in the process of breaking, a relic of the old days where the rule of law still meant something. But this new world had rules too. Eat or be eaten. And Randy had no interest in being someone else’s lunch.
    He spent the next several minutes searching both offices and coming up empty. If Dr. Peterson’s medical reports on the men and women Randy had taken care of weren’t here, it meant Betty must have taken them with her. He remembered finding Sandy and Betty speaking over the shortwave. Could his former deputy have something to do with this? Maybe, maybe not. But one thing was certain: the old nurse had the goods on Randy and he’d failed to come down hard when he had the chance. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. He needed to find the identity of those two men and, more importantly, where they had taken her.

Chapter 13
    Sandy
    ––––––––
    S andy started the pickup and was about to leave the property when Dale stopped her.
    “Where are you going?” he asked.
    She threw him a sharp look which made it clear she wasn’t required to answer that question.
    “I’m not being like that,” he said defensively. “You know after what happened, the cartel will be looking for any chance to get even.”
    Sandy lifted the pistol off the seat next to her. “I’ve got backup. But if you must know, we need fertilizer. Back when I was running patrols, I remember finding the Keller farm abandoned. I figured they might have what we need.”
    “That’s ten to fifteen miles away,” Dale objected.
    “Fifteen miles north of Encendido, which means it’ll be safer. Listen, Dale, I got along just fine before I came to live here. You seem to forget I was once a sheriff’s deputy.”
    A faint smile formed on his lips.
    Brooke came through the garage toward them. “Hey, where you going?”
    Sandy laughed. “Not you too.”
    “Lemme come.”
    “It’s fine with me,” Sandy said, looking at Dale, who didn’t look happy.
    “Dad, I’ve been cooped up for weeks,” his daughter protested. She tapped the holster on her hip and the pistol inside it. “We’ll be fine.”
    “Take this with you,” Dale said, disappearing into the house and returning with Walter’s AR-15 and a walkie-talkie.
    Brooke rolled her eyes.
    Sandy was just as exasperated. Some things never changed. Six months ago, Dale was after his daughter about wearing her seatbelt. Now he was making sure they had adequate firepower.
    “Be back in an hour,” Sandy assured him.
    “If you see Zach while you’re out there, tell him to get his butt back here.”
    Brooke shook her head. “I don’t think that would go over very well with Uncle Zach.”
    Dale seemed to consider that before tapping the hood and wishing them a safe trip.
    During the drive, the two women spoke. Brooke wanted to know about Sandy’s time as a deputy and whether she missed it. The question wasn’t easy to answer. Of course Sandy missed doing what she could to help maintain order in the community, but after the death of Sheriff Wilcox, all that had changed. Little by little, the role of the deputies had become helping to further Randy and Hugh’s personal agendas. The loyalty she felt to the force and the folks she’d worked