Free Gone to Ground by Cheryl Taylor

the government get away with this? You can’t be serious.” Yet still the warning bells rang in the back of her mind.
    The pressure was finally too much for O’Reilly. “Who do you think has been running this country for the past couple of decades, lady? Politicians and lawyers, that’s who. People have been giving up their responsibility for a long time now, and if you think that those politicians and lawyers wouldn’t make this type of decision, will give up the control they have now, think again. They’ve been making these type of decisions on smaller scale for a long time now.” O’Reilly spun on his heel and stalked away toward the creek.
    Maggie was left sanding there, stunned, with no company but a half trimmed horse that was beginning to look impatient, a small black and white calf, and two sleeping dogs. Her mind was a whirl of ideas. Part of her kept denying O’Reilly’s statement, but there was a small niggling part of her that said there was truth in his words.
    She stood on the bare, dusty ground, looking at the stream where O’Reilly stood facing the running water, head bowed. After a few minutes of hesitation Maggie began to walk over toward him, wondering what she would say when she got there. As she approached him, he turned and the torment in his eyes was as obvious as a slap in the face. She faltered and stopped.
    He looked at her, his face and body under iron control, even if his eyes betrayed him.
    “There are a lot of things we are going to have to discuss, though not now. Needless to say, as an Enforcer, I was introduced to a number of things that I didn’t want to see, and that I’m not proud of participating in. I know you have questions, and you’ll get the answers, though you may not like them. The only thing I can assure you now, though, is that I’m no danger to you and your boy. I may be the one thing that will keep you from dying in the next few months. And, the secrets I hold do not require immediate attention. Our first goal should be to get this place set for survival. I can tell you that it will probably be a very long time, if ever, before you get the chance to go home again.”
    Nodding her head slowly, and ruthlessly squashing all the questions that her journalistic instincts threw up in her mind, Maggie turned back toward the barn and the waiting horse, then turning her head, looked at O’Reilly and simply said, “Okay, come on. I’ve got two more feet to finish.”

8
    There was a sharp rap on the outside of the office door, followed by an equally sharp “enter” from the dark haired man sitting behind the large wooden desk covered with papers and maps.
    The door swung open with a bang, admitting a sandy haired young deputy. He came to a stop in front of the desk, snapping the large, barrel chested man sitting there a salute.
    Great, thought Captain Seth Rickards, it’s one of the military ones , his expression sour. With the recent devastation of the country’s population, the government had been forced to cobble together a new type of law enforcement agency from the remnants of the many different military and law enforcement agencies in place before everything went to hell. Because the members of this new agency came from so many diverse backgrounds, the ranks had become intermingled, as had the rituals and procedures.
    Rickards had served the Laughlin Police Department for the past thirty years, since joining the force at twenty-five upon his graduation from the academy. Now he found himself in the position of having to integrate and streamline this branch of the newly formed, quasi military group aptly named the Enforcers. He took his job seriously, and worked hard to bring his team together, but he still hated dealing with the salutes and sirs that the military group brought to the table.
    Fixing the deputy with an intense stare, designed to turn a subordinate’s bowels to water, Rickards snapped, “What’s the report?”
    Deputy Knox seemed oblivious to