Roswell Fanatics

Title: Brothers

Genre: C/C - C/L, M/L

Rating: Mature

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the show Roswell or any of its’ constituents. I have borrowed the names of the people because I like them.

If there is any similarity to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Summary: Clark and Max Evans manage the family cattle ranch together, Clark having a degree in business and Max a degree in animal husbandry. Liz is a microbiologist at one of the more prestigious pharmaceutical research labs in Montana and her very good friend Lois is in research and development at one of the breeding grounds near Liz’s company and also has her doctorate in veterinary medicine; she specializes in animal husbandry and is a very “hands on” person.

Although the two women are the best of friends Liz is the demonstrative one of the two. Lois is a little, but not much, more reserved but loves just as deeply as her friend.

The Evans’ parents were killed in a mysterious accident when the bridge they were crossing on their ranch was “washed” away in a freak flood. Let’s hope I can give you some mystery along with my fluff.

And a cast of thousands…I’ve never worked so hard at keeping track of people in my life!
*~*~*

Chapter: 1

It had been a very long day for the Evan’s men, they had laid ten miles of fence and they were nothing short of exhausted; Max had been digging the post holes as Clark unwound and stretched the reels of barbed wire, not an easy job when done manually; the men on the other end of the ranch had the post hole diggers so Clark and Max were working it the old fashioned way, not that it was going to hurt them any in the long run.

“Hey, what’re the girls going to think of those crummy calloused hands of yours Clark? Don’t you think you might ruin some of that silk those women wear in that town?”

Max loved chiding his brother; they loaded the postholes and remaining barbed wire from the roll they were working with onto the big truck they were using for range work. They had done two miles more than they had planned today and their bodies were starting to protest no matter how good of a shape they were in.

“Just you never mind about the callouses Max, I don’t think they care…it’s just something for them to fret about; makes me more appealing.” Clark grinned.

“Yeah, callouses are so appealing. How’re those new gloves holding up anyway?”

Clark removed the gloves and frowned. Joe at the hardware store talked him into these new super strength work gloves, guaranteed to prevent blisters on the working man, and as Clark took one look at his hands he wondered what kind of “working man” Joe had been talking about. These sure weren’t for any working men he’s ever known; if anything his hands were in worse shape now than they were before.

“They don’t seem to be as good as the old ones I had Max…how’re yours holding up?”

“Oh hell, I took them off hours ago…they seemed to be slowing me down. Too much sweat and friction; it was easier to work without them. I hope Joe doesn’t ask for a written testimonial or something because I’d really like to tell him where they belong.”

Clark smiled at his younger brother by two years and nodded…

“I understand, I should have taken them off too but I guess I really would have some incapacitated hands then wouldn’t I? Torn and calloused.”

Both men laughed as Max jumped down from the back of the pickup and headed for the passenger side to hop in.

They took off for the main house to get cleaned up and to get ready for their visit to town; each packing a bag for the weekend. It was a family tradition, each third Thursday of the month the family would go into Missoula, spend three nights, do all of their shopping for the month and return home late Sunday. Now that the two young men were the only ones left to run the large cattle ranch they were ready to raise some hell so to speak, well Max would anyway; Clark had other plans of course.

*~*~*

A phone rang in a lab right on the outskirts of Missoula and a beautiful dark haired young woman answered….”Hello, Liz speaking” and then she smiled as she heard the voice of the caller.

“Hey Liz, it’s me; how about meeting up for some dinner and a couple of drinks after work today. It has been one hellacious bull after another and I think I’ll scream if I see another cow.”

Lois was all but yelling at Liz who was trying to stifle her laughter over her friend’s dilemma. Who wouldn’t want to scream after extracting semen from bulls and inseminating cows all day? That would drive anyone to drink, but the upside of Lois’ job was the baby calves she delivered. That part she didn’t mind at all.

*
“Hey Clark, have you ever thought about breeding some of the cattle by artificial insemination? You know we could probably improve our livestock by 50% with better breeding and we wouldn’t have to keep track of which bull shagged which cow last season.”

Clark laughed at his brother; always thinking…that damned animal husbandry was going to be the death of them if he didn’t quit worrying about how the animals were gettin’ it on…

“Max, how could it improve our livestock? We get top dollar for our cattle now and that artificial insemination crap just costs money. Let the damned bulls we have just do their jobs, they’re having fun and we’re making money.”

“What the hell do you mean ‘they’re having fun’…There’s no fun to it, they get a scent, they take a ride and then they’re done. What kind of fun is that?

“We keep the damned bulls penned up so to speak and turn them loose on the poor unsuspecting cows once a year. What the hell kind of fun is that?

“You know we’re running out of breeding stock Clark…we can’t be letting daddy’s breed their offspring. We either need to buy some new cows or a couple new bulls, bulls being the better way to go. We’ll be getting some pretty strange looking cattle if we don’t do something.”

Clark looked at his brother as if he’d grown a third eye…

“You’re serious aren’t you?”

“Damned straight…none of those animals are enjoying this Clark…if you don’t want to inseminate them then we need to buy some new bulls and sell off the one’s we have, then when it’s time to breed we just sort out some good breeding stock and sell off everything else. We’re really running out of breeding stock Clark, all of the new breed we kept are 95% offspring of the bulls we have, even the bulls we’ve saved will be impregnating their mothers or sisters if we’re not careful.”

Clark looked over at his brother with a semi frown, noticed he wasn’t kidding, and kept on driving while he was deep in thought. He was glad Max dealt with this part of the business…he really wasn’t that into keeping track of which bull sired which offspring.

His dad used to do that and mom kept the books. How they managed to keep track of all this shit was beyond him. Now he knew what all of those volumes and volumes of ledgers were in the office off the barn.

His job was to worry about the money and it wasn’t all that bad. Of course, if they started inbreeding the stock that could change rather quickly.

*

Sarah: Let's hope this keeps you reading...I had fun with it!
Alix: "Hellacious" bulls, yes. I think they catch up with each other this chapter, can't remember for sure...as for the "Outlander" I'm taking "Ring of Fire" with me these next 10 days while I'm gone and am going to give it a second read. I think I enjoy good books the second time around because i'm not so anxious to find out what's going to happen and I can just read, soak it up and enjoy. I haven't gone beyond book 5 though, not so sure I want to yet. I believe her next book comes out in Oct. Check her web page.
Cardinal: Don't think Clark Kent, think Clark Evans... You have to appreciate that when I grew up "Superboy" was actually ridiculed by Lana Lang and her friends and he had a terrible crush on the girl...they were never an item, that was Hollywood's take, (give them just enough sex to keep them watching...it's called money, you know that!) Anyway, Clark Evans and Lois Lindstrom, she really is a nice person. Thank you btw...
Carolyn: I think your brother-in-law would have gotten along just fine with my husband, he would have done the same thing... I hope this fic is a little different than my usual stuff...of course it has it's fluff too...
Saori_1902:Thank You!
Eve: There was a song when I was a teenager called "Turn Me Loose", maybe these guys heard it and took it literally...you think?
Spitfire: Thank you so much, I appreciate the sentiment.

*~*~*~*~*

Chapter: 2

“Hey Liz, right on time I see; how about the Joker’s Wild? We can eat and then hunker down in the lounge for a while and ‘people’ watch.”

Liz laughed…

“People watch Lois? What you really mean is that you’re in the mood to look at all those tight-ass cowboys that hang out there.”

“Well, what’s the difference if we watch tight-ass cowboys or people watch? I sure as hell don’t want to look at tight-ass cow girls now do I?”

And they both laughed as Liz climbed into her roommates tricked out Corvette Convertible. Lois may not like shoving her arm up those cow’s asses but the pay sure was good, and Liz laughed as Lois wondered what had her so tickled…probably the thought of tight-ass cowboys.

*

Clark and Max talked about breeding the entire drive into Missoula…not always about cows either. They had some “Pollinating” on their minds for themselves as well. Not that either of them were considered whore mongers but they did let their hair down once in a while; that’s why they always had connecting rooms instead of a double.

The two young men were all smiles as they walked into the Joker’s Wild that night for some dinner and all around relaxation, maybe some dancing later; not all together a bad idea.

*

Lois and Liz had just placed their orders when two of the best looking young men they had ever seen in their lives walked into the restaurant and waited for the hostess to seat them. One was about four inches taller than the other but it was perfectly obvious that they were brothers.

Liz and Lois had asked for a table next to a window, which was going to be totally wasted, because the view inside the dining room far surpassed anything they could see outside. Lois whispered to Liz, afraid any loud noise might break the spell and the vision would disappear…

“Liz, do you see them?”

“Jesus Lois, everyone in this place sees them. I’ll bet there isn't a woman in the place with a dry crotch.” Liz whispered back,

“Holy shit Liz; do you know what you just said? Good God girl!” Liz stifled a laugh…

“Since when did you get so damned virtuous?” Liz wanted to know.

“Virtue has nothing to do with it…half the women in here are twice their age.” Lois quipped…

“Well let me fill you in on something my friend, age has nothing to do with it. Those two have captured every female eye in this place and I’d like to place bets with anyone willing to take me up on it that they are all hot to trot.”

Lois’ eyes were damned near as big as Liz’s right now and Liz could hardly stifle a laugh.

“Well maybe, but damn they are hot…and look; they aren't even paying attention to anyone in here. Maybe they’re married or something?”

“Well, if my observations are correct I don’t think they are because they are definitely brothers and I checked; no rings!” Liz answered.

“No ring doesn’t mean anything…maybe they don’t wear them.” Lois countered…

“I don’t think so. Oh, here are our salads…let’s just eat and then we’ll go have a cocktail for a bit before heading home. I don’t want to sit here and salivate over a couple of hunks when I have to work in the morning.”

‘Always the killjoy’ Lois thought to herself…WOW… would she like to get a piece of that meat…yummy!

Liz knew exactly what Lois was thinking and was glad tomorrow was a work day for both of them or there was a good chance she wouldn't see Lois until Monday morning. At least she wouldn't have to take a cab home, it WAS Thursday after all.

*

“Hey Clark, did you see those visions over by the window?”

“Yep, first thing I noticed when we walked in. They look like a couple of professional women, not our type at all.”

“By professional do you mean hookers? Because they don’t look like hookers to me!” Max was practically struck dumb by his brother’s comment before Clark replied,

“NO, I don’t mean hookers, I mean women who have professions. Like doctors or lawyers or something. Say…maybe they’re gay?”

“Nah…I don’t think so. Working women yeah, but I don’t think they’re gay.” Max thought about that for a second. “They do look very serious though; although that little one seems to be somewhat more outgoing than the other one does... I think.”

“What do you mean by more outgoing?”

Max sort of glanced down at the menu he already knew by heart due to all the visits to this particular dining room and then he would look up at his brother while trying to steal a look across the restaurant.

“Well, she sort of looks like she’s holding back a laugh that might be directed at the taller one.” Clark answered.

“Well, you could be right. If I wanted to get a better look I would have to make it obvious that I was watching them and I don’t want to look obvious.”

“Oh, well then take my word for it…the little one is trying to stifle laughter. It looks like their salads have arrived and the conversation has sort of stopped. Do you think we should introduce ourselves before they leave?”

Clark was thinking out loud…usually they didn’t find anything interesting in a restaurant; it was always in the cocktail lounge where the band was located.

“No, I don’t think it would be the most polite thing to do; especially since all we want to do is get laid…right?” Max asked.

Clark looked at his brother for a minute, sorting out what to say in his mind before speaking.

“Hmmm. I’m not so sure.” And Max smiled. It had been a long time since Clark had shown any real interest in any one. Not since Lana left and married the football coach and even then Max wasn't real sure that it was more than just Clark’s first crush holding him back…He had never taken the time to step away from the ranch to find someone else since he graduated from college; and he was just too damned shy, that was his problem. As long as he didn't have to see the broad again he was all right with it all. Max knew if the right woman came along that it would be the end of Clark,

And so the evening progressed with all of the diners enjoying their meals and the eye candy, male and female alike.

*~*~*

Eve: Hope you're on the mend and I agree, well I do like steak but for the purpose of this conversation I think women might be better, mayber?
Carolyn:b] Yep, that's some eye candy, I agree. I hope you enjoy this, it's a little different than I usually write, I hope. I don't know a whole lot about cattle, just a little, since my husband's grandparents were dairy farmers and he, my husband, thought cattle were pretty dumb but he insisted that nothing was dumber than chickens. I just looked at him and grinned...told him he should know and then he asked me if I was insulting him, I said "NEVER" and laughed. He was eye candy too...honest.
Alix: I hope you continue to enjoy this and I managed to get through book 5 a whole lost faster the second time but I'm still not ready for the war of independence or an aging Jamie just yet. By the dates listed in the book and the historical background the author lays it it's getting really close to that time and I'm a great big coward...just call me fluffy!!!

*~*~*~*~*
Chapter: 3

“Well, what do you think, set a drink limit or a time to leave?” Lois wanted to know.

“You know damned well we aren’t going to drink too much so, it’s what?” And Liz looked at her watch… “7:00 right now, we leave at 9:00. The band starts up at 8:00 and we are gone by 9:00 Lois; not one minute longer…don’t give me any arguments on this. You know those damned bulls will be waiting with baited breath for you to get started “milking” them dry tomorrow.” And Liz had to laugh as they paid their check…Lois was turning green.

“Max, check it out…they really are lookers; notice I didn’t say hookers. WOW!” Was all that Clark could say about the tall reddish blond gal at the cash register…Max was too busy checking out the ass on the brunette to really notice the other one…

“Yeah, lookers!” He mumbled around a piece of steak.

“They must have ordered a salad for dinner, they can’t possibly be ready to leave already…hell they just got salads right before we placed our order. Or are we just that slow?”

“Nah, I don’t think they had the 16 oz. filet Clark; it does take time to put one of these away. You’d think we never got steak the way we keep ordering the same thing all of the time.” Max pondered…

“Well hell, I really was looking forward to enjoying the view a little longer.”

“What in the hell has gotten into you Clark…you never act that way about a piece.”

“Max, please don’t refer to her as a piece.”

Max looked at his brother in utter confusion…what in the hell is wrong with him?

“Whatever you say Clark…a young lady then.”

“Hmmm, I don’t know honestly…I just want to meet her and I don’t want anyone to say anything derogatory about her. It’s the strangest thing.”

“I can tell,” and then Max started to get a lump in his throat. The brunette turned and looked up at the maître d’ and gave him a smile; Max Evans actually moaned out loud. His brother saw what he was looking at and chuckled out loud as he commented…

“Looks like I’m not the only one.” And he kept on eating.

*

Liz and Lois found their way into the bar, said hello to a couple of people they knew and made their way to a little table situated over in the corner where it wasn’t too bright and far enough from the band stand that they could hear each other talk and then ordered one Manhattan and one Fuzzy Navel.

Liz felt as if she had orange juice with her booze she was drinking healthy and Lois was just going for the kick and the taste. Whatever worked…

The two young women sat, relaxed, talked about their workday and watched as people slowly made their way to the dance floor. Some couples they saw in there regularly and some were newbies that could be just passing through on business and stopped in for some relaxation. They didn’t pay too much attention to the people coming into the bar since they were sort of hidden from the door slightly and were too busy in their own conversations.

Clark and Max made their way in and took a seat at the bar just around 8:30 and both men ordered JB on the rocks and started up a conversation with the bartender who had been there since they were old enough to go into bars and the order of business was cattle of course.

At 9:00 on the nose Liz told Lois to drink up…

“Come on, we can finish this conversation on the way home Lois. It’s been very relaxing, I’ve enjoyed myself now let’s call it a night. Lots of Petrie dishes waiting for me back at the lab in the morning. That new strain of cattle-fever is really starting to take hold and we have to lick it quickly or our ranchers are in deep shit.”

“Really Liz…I knew we had some outbreaks, but I didn’t know it was getting to be that serious.”

“Oh it’s getting serious alright. The FDA may quarantine the entire state if we don’t find something and quick.”

“Well shit, that’s not good.”

“No it isn’t; now let’s go.”

“I’m right behind you kiddo, lead the way.”

And as they exited the lounge Clark happened to turn just in time to see their backs and Max saw them in the bar’s mirror.

“Shit, I didn’t see them in here.”

“Me either…hey Joe; do you know who those two women are; the really tall one and the short brunette.”

“Oh, you mean Doctor Parker and Doctor Lindstrom? Yeah, they come in once or twice a week; sometime on Saturday night for a couple of hours; really nice young women.” Joe got a strange look as he watched the exit.

“Are they attached?” Max wanted to know.

“Not that I’m aware of. They’ll come in; have a couple of drinks, dance with some of the locals and head out about eleven or so. Always quiet and friendly; everyone seems to like them. Doctor Parker, she’ll let you call her Liz when she gets to know you, works over at Missoula labs. She’s a microbiologist; I guess she’s pretty well known in her field.

“Doctor Lindstrom is a doctor of animal husbandry and works over at the Missoula animal research center. You should hear Liz razz her about her extraction of semen from those big bulls. Doctor Lindstrom is also protective of her name and if you’re a good guy you can call her Lois.

“My brother went through medical school with both of them and he says they are real characters…he’s really surprised at what they do for a living. Said they were real hell raisers as teen-agers from the stories that were going around. Both barrel raced and are excellent horsewomen…I guess they still have their horses boarded somewhere and on nice week-ends you can find them out riding in the mountains. Josh says he’s seen them quite a few times when he’s out checking the herd.

Yep, they are really nice ladies.”

Clark and Max both listened to Joe wide eyed. They figured they were professionals of some kind but this was something quite surprising to both of them. It gave them something to talk about if they ever ran into them again and they were both hoping for that.

*

The next morning was a little misty when Liz and Lois left for work; thank God Lois had put her top up when she got home last night. She didn’t feel like driving around to the parking garage at the apartment complex where she and Liz shared a nice two-bedroom apartment so she just parked out front and locked everything up. It was her week to drive anyway.

“Well, it’s Friday, what do you want to do tonight? We can’t head out to the ranch, the forecast says rain…I checked it this morning while I was waiting for the coffee pot to finish up.” Lois announced as she buckled herself in.

“How about the Jokers Wild? Maybe we’ll run into handsome and his brother.” Liz answered through a giggle.

“Hey, I can handle that. Let’s call Burt and tell him we won’t be out and that we’ll give him extra if he curries the horses for us. They’re due for a little TLC don’t you think?”

“Sounds good, and if the weather changes directions we can drive out tomorrow and take a nice ride.”

“Okay, but I’m not going to forego a good time tonight Liz.”

“I don’t expect you to.” And about that time Lois pulled up to Missoula labs and let her roommate out and headed on down the road to the ‘stockyards’ which is what she called the Missoula animal husbandry research center. She giggled as she made her way through town and then stared as she passed those two gorgeous hunks she had seen last night. ‘God, what a sight they make’; she could hardly keep her eyes on the road; loose fitting jeans that did nothing to hide those asses, t-shirts and Stetsons, DAMN!!!

*

Clark and Max were just leaving I-Hop when they saw this gorgeous red Corvette roll by and Max jabbed Clark and pointed…

“Clark, I think that’s the tall one behind that wheel. Damn, what a car!”

“Yeah, it’s nice; I probably wouldn’t fit in the damned thing.” And Max laughed as they headed to the great big Range Rover parked at the end of the parking lot well away from other vehicles…‘so as not to get it scratched up’; according to Clark.

“You’re probably right. Hey what do you want to do after we get all of our errands finished for today? We can drop the trailer off at the feed store, order the feed for the horses and the rest of the supplies and have it ready for pick up Sunday morning. They can load the trailer for us and we’ll just hitch it to the truck; they don’t even have to be around.

We can hit the market for all of the staples we need Sunday morning. As for fresh produce…well, we have Maggie’s list, we can check out the market tomorrow but I doubt they’ll have anything we really want that we can store for any length of time besides potatoes and apples. Maggie prefers frozen mostly.

I think we need to come to town more than once a month. You know mom did all of that hothouse stuff and I really don’t want to be bothered with it and I don’t think that anyone else does either. Maggie and Jose’ have more than enough to do without tending a garden…not even the others working for us want to be bothered.” Max pondered…

“Yeah, you’re probably right…let’s ask the produce manager tomorrow and see what he thinks about storing this stuff, we’ve been throwing out more than we eat; even with the walk in refrigerator the food isn’t lasting as long as we need it to. Damn, I really miss them Max.”

“Hey, maybe if one of us just took a Friday and a Saturday every two weeks we could stock up on the fresh stuff. Eat the most perishable first and save the longer lasting food for later, let’s discuss it with Maggie.”

“Well, let’s talk to the guy and see what he suggests and yeah, I miss them too. Every time we have to cross that bridge I get a creepy feeling. You know Clark, I’m not so sure…”

“Max, don’t even think it. It’s bad enough that they’re gone without us thinking sinister thoughts. The bridge collapsed, bottom line. We rebuilt down farther to a safer place, according to the engineer, and it’s over now let’s move on. We’re not doing so badly and we’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah, I know…but still…” And Clark held up a hand…”No! Don’t go there.” And Max changed the subject, but he knew in his heart that the bridge collapsing like that was not a freak accident…but who could he see to prove it, he also knew Clark believed it deep down as well.

*~*~*

Carolyn: Hey, have you ever tried a "Golden Cow", that's pretty healthy too...lot's of cream...are we dating oursevles? That bridge disaster was declared an accident by the investigating officer, we'll see.
Natalie: They'll meet up shortly, honest and I think you'll like it!!!
Alix: Before I forget, I think book 8 is scheduled for Oct. Truov's book is May 21st and my latest marathon, Linda Lael Miller, Harlequin Romance, dumb little books but fun, is July. As for this one, I hope I've managed to take care of everyone and everything. If I haven't my nemises and good friend Michelle will straighten me out, count on it.
Sarah: Uh, not wild beyond good sense, welllll, maybe. Just "hellraisers", fun people. Shit, I don't know, let's just say they were characters...
Cardinal: Very true about Lois being a real snip to Clark in the odler versions of Superman, she was kind of a one woman man... As for the fic...I'm not sure if they meet this chapter or the next but they do meet. Hope you stick around for the introductions...I think they're fun but I wrote the thing. Let's hope I convey what I had in mind.
Eve: Hey there, I don't think it's courage their lacking so much as they just haven't had the opportunity as yet, but it's coming.

*~*~*~*
Chapter: 4

Soon Clark and Max met up with their banker, had the payroll sorted out for the month and would pick it up later in the day then the feed store was next on the list. They had antibiotics to order, special feed for the horses besides the grazing they did and various other items that most ranches needed to run efficiently along with the medicine order Jose’ asked for that they kept on hand for emergencies.

Max picked up a flyer that was lying on the counter next to the register and was reading while the clerk checked Clark out and presented him with a bill…

“Hey Clark, look at this…it tells all about the insemination services over at Missoula Animal Research Center. Are you sure you don’t want to run over there and talk to someone in charge; just hear what they have to offer. Hell, maybe we could put our bulls out to stud in exchange for some new stock.”

Clark rolled his eyes as the sales clerk laughed and put his two cents in…

“You know Clark, Max is right. We’re involved with some of this as well and Andrews is really happy with the results.”

“I didn’t know Andrews was interested in the cattle business that deeply Riley. When did he decide to get into cattle breeding?”

“Oh, he’s in business with some company out of Billings. They came in about six months ago or so and wanted to talk some business. I don’t know exactly what they had to offer but Andrews seemed to be interested and now they are regular visitors over here.

They fly in on their own little super jet and fly out the same day. There’s a lot of discussions go on in the back office. I don’t care too much for those guys though, too smooth to suit me, if you know what I mean?”

Clark looked over at Max and then nodded to Riley…”Yeah I think I do Riley, do you happen to know what these guys names are.”

Riley reached under the counter and came up with a phone book and opened the front of it where he stored business cards, not in any particular order, but he had them. He found the one he was looking for and handed it to Clark.

“Here, they left this the first time they came in and I just tossed it in the front of the book after I showed it to Andrews. He looked at it and threw it back at me but the next time they came in Andrews was here and they all went into the back office.”

“Thanks Riley, I appreciate it. We’ll be by tomorrow morning to pick up the stuff, or would you rather we wait until Sunday?”

“Either way, tomorrow’s good Clark, I don’t have a lot of orders to finish up. Just pull around to the loading docks and it will be loaded on your trailer for you.”

“Thanks.” Clark and Max both headed out to the Range Rover and hopped in, Clark pulled around back, unhitched the trailer after pulling it up to the far loading dock for Riley and they took off.

Max reached in the back of his seat and pulled his laptop out of the holder in the backseat and booted it up. He took the business card and Googled “Cattle Unlimited” and chose Billings, Montana. A nice website appeared and Max began to catch up as Clark made his way to the motel for a shower and a change of clothes. It had been a very long morning, almost three in the afternoon as a matter of fact and Max continued to read.

“Clark, we need to make a stop at this breeding place. It seems that these two are somewhat associated with this company as well…it’s sort of a shoestring association by the looks of this web site, but doing business with them just the same.”

Clark grinned at Max…

“You aren’t trying to pull a fast one here are you Max? You know I’m still not sold on the idea of this artificial insemination business…we have too damned many cows that need serviced for that…and if you’re trying to fix me up forget it.”

Max laughed…

“It has nothing to do with setting you up big guy, you can take care of that yourself. We need to do something about our bulls and soon. It’s roundup time so we can start sorting out the prime for castration and get ready for market. Maybe we should have brought two rigs and two trailers; let’s stop and see what services they offer.”

Clark had to laugh at his younger brother, the cattle were a commodity to be dealt with just as any other product but his brother seemed to have an “in” on how to deal with them.

*

Clark pulled up to the front of the Missoula Animal Center right around 4:30 and when he walked into the main office the far door at the other end was open to a holding area of sorts and there, through the window, he could see the reddish blond beauty with a rubber sock covering the upper half of her body and her arm was stuck right up the back end of what looked to be the ass of one very pregnant cow. Clark muttered…‘What the hell’ and then Max got a good look at what was going on and muttered…

“Fascinating!”

“What the hell do you mean ‘fascinating’? That sure as hell doesn’t look fascinating to me. What in the hell is she doing?”

“That cow is pregnant, or at least I think she’s hoping it is…I’m going out there. You find out who we need to talk to about the bulls.” And Max was gone.

Clark just stood there watching his brother in utter shock. ‘The things that excite that man are damned scary!’ Clark thought to himself while waiting for someone to come to the front desk so he could ask some questions about their services.

Max made his way out to the holding pen where Lois was currently working with a very serious expression on her face…suddenly she heard a noise behind her and made no motion to stop what she was doing as she measured Constance…she named all of her cows, and said…

“If there’s something you need you’ll have to wait. I’m the only one here I’m afraid and I’m not going to start this procedure over again just to accommodate some inquisitive being who’s not sure what he wants in the first place.”

Max had to chuckle…

“Well, I wouldn’t want to start over either; especially since it looks like she’s about to relieve herself, so if I was you I think I’d get a hurry on.”

Lois pulled out just in time to get out of Constance’s line of fire and pulled off the protective rubber garment she had on. Max smiled and held out his hand…

“You seem to know your cattle Mr…?”

“Evans, Max Evans. Yeah, I know a little about them. My brother and I stopped in to see what kind of services you provide for open range breeding. We have some pretty prime stock of our own but I think we need to invest in some new bulls. We would be willing to trade services or purchase new stock; we just need to know what you have to offer. And you are?”

“Lindstrom, Doctor Lois Lindstrom. I’m one of the chief researchers here." Lois said in way of an introduction and sported a huge smile, recognizing the young man from the restaurant. "We offer several services to our customers and if you want to make an appointment and come back, say Monday, I’ll be more than glad to talk to you about it Mr. Evans.”

“Oh, please call me Max, there are two of us and it would be very confusing if you called me Mr. Evans and my brother Mr. Evans also. We wouldn’t know which one of us you were talking to. My brother is in the main lobby waiting for someone to show up.”

“Well, they’ve all gone home since it’s Friday. I’m the last one here, so if you give me a minute Max I’ll just put my things away and turn Connie loose in the holding pens outside. You just go join your brother and I’ll be there shortly.”

“Thanks Doctor Lindstrom, it will be my pleasure.”

“No Max, call me Lois; just go wait.”

And that quickly Lois had Constance, who had finished her job by the way, by the collar and led her out of the special pen and into a larger holding area with all the other pregnant cows.

Max made his way back into the main lobby where Clark was busying himself reading literature which was strewn across a back table while flyers were posted above the table displaying the various types of breeding services offered.

“Well?” Was his only comment when Max came back into the lobby.

“She’ll be here as soon as she cleans up her area. She’s the only one here being it’s Friday afternoon, she was checking out the cow’s term so to speak.”

“The cow’s term?” Clark questioned…”And she told you this.”

“No, she didn’t tell me; she didn’t have to. I’ve done it many times myself.”

“You mean to tell me you’ve had that arm up a cow’s ass to see how far along she was?” Clark couldn’t believe his brother would do such a thing.

“Hell yeah, what did you think I was doing while I was studying these creatures?”

“Well, I sure as hell didn’t think you’d be doing that for God’s sake.”

“Ah hell Clark, get real, how do you think you find out what’s wrong with these animals…they’re no different than humans.”

“The hell they aren’t and they’re a damned sight bigger too.”

Lois walked into the lobby about that time and had to laugh at the two hunks she and Liz had been eyeing last night in the restaurant of the Joker… She thought to herself, ’wow, even better up close and personal’ as she walked toward the two young men and held out her hand which was now scrubbed clean and she was dressed in her jeans and tank top carrying her purse and jacket. Clark gulped and Max smiled.

“Clark, meet Doctor Lois Lindstrom, Lois, my brother Clark.” And Max stood back and watched, 'this is going to be good' he thought to himself.

*~*~*

Carolyn: Yep, the line of fire, I won't repeat what my cousin Chuck used to call it! A golden cow tastes like a chocolate milk shake, that's about what I remember of it...I know it has cream, vodka and either Khalua or Bailey's...I think Bailey's was the liquer but damn was it good,,,i'm sure it still is but alas my meds do not allow such nice things anymore. DAMN!!!
Sarah: aka HynotiqBlueEyes... I hope I spelled your "handle" correctly. I'm really pleased that you are enjoying this and I hope the meeting between Liz and the young men entertain you...it was fun writing these characters for some reason.
Eve: Well, since the young ladies are doctors of different occupations so to speak and Max pretty much knows what Lois does I think it might just change a little.

*~*~*~*


Chapter: 5

Lois gave Clark a beautiful smile as she took his hand in hers for a firm shake…”It’s very nice to meet you Mr. Clark Evans, it seems you have no appreciation for my work.” And she almost laughed at Clark’s expression. It looked like he was about to hurl…”Do you have a weak stomach? Your brother doesn’t seem to be put off by my job description.”

“Well, my brother never was known for his…” and Clark caught himself just before he said ‘good sense’…and Lois did laugh.

“As I told Max, we are closed as of right now and I would be glad to have someone talk to you on Monday between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m. There are several people who would be more than glad to schedule you for something that would suit your needs.” Clark just stood there gawking like a damned fool according to his brother’s observations and he decided he’d better take over.

“It’s like this Lois. We traveled over 250 miles to get here and we only come to town for supplies once a month due to the distance. We will be headed back to the E~N~S Sunday afternoon so it looks like we’ve lost out here. Thank you for your time.” And Max held out his hand as Lois and Clark both got these horrified looks on their faces. It seemed that they had both been caught in a trap and couldn’t find their way out when suddenly Clark spoke up…

“Lois, how about a dinner meeting tonight; we could talk over what we need and you could point us in the right direction so to speak…as far as our needs are concerned that is.” Lois’ smile returned and Max just stood back and watched…’now that’s how to deal with things Clark!’ Max thought to himself and he smiled too.

“Well, look you two, I have to pick up my roommate and we both need showers after the jobs we’ve done today. Do you know where “The Jokers’ Wild” is located? We can meet you there at 7:00 if that’s alright? Oh, and I will be bringing my roommate. She may be able to answer some questions you didn’t even know you had.” And Lois left them hanging for a second….

“Seven will be great Lois, and yes we know where the joker is and your friend is most welcome. See you then.” Clark smiled, shook Lois’ hand and now Max was the one left tongue-tied.

Lois grinned as she climbed into her Corvette and took off with a wave.

Both men stood there watching and smiling like two damned fools and they couldn’t wait until seven o’clock got there. They decided that they needed to change clothes again. It was, after all, a business meeting and they headed back to the motel to lose the jeans and to put on suit pants, a white shirt, no tie, shirts tucked in and their good black Justins; they would be just the ticket.

They would throw their suit jackets in the backseat just in case they needed them. They were so damned excited they didn’t know where the hell to put themselves and then Max had an epiphany…’We don’t make plans with broads, we pick broads up.’ And then he smiled…’yeah but these two aren’t broads!’

*

Lois arrived at Missoula Labs just as Liz was walking out the front door and then Liz noticed the big smile waiting for her in the front seat of that fancy sport car…’Damn, what did she do now?’ Liz wondered: that smile usually meant trouble and she had to shake her head and grin.

“What have you done that’s got you so damned tickled Lois?”

“What makes you think I’ve done something?”

“I know that grin; it would take a nuclear blast to wipe that off your face which means we’re in trouble.”

“No we aren’t. I have a dinner/business meeting at the Joker tonight and you’re invited to come along.”

“Just what in the hell makes you think I want to eat while discussing the mating habits of cattle Lois? Sheese, get real here for a minute. No Thanks!”

“It’s with the two hunks we saw last night; looking for some information on their bulls…it shouldn’t be too bad. The shorter one, though only short because the taller one is really tall, wants to find more information on buying new bulls, trading up or selling his bulls. I guess it’s time to change daddies for the herd, if you know what I mean?”

“I know exactly what you mean. We are going to be discussing the sex lives of cattle.”

“Ah, dammit Liz, quit saying it like that. There’s no such thing.”

“Like hell Lois, what else would you call turning bulls loose in a herd of cattle and letting them impregnate every female in heat, if that’s not sex what the hell is it?”

“Breeding!”

“Uh huh, and that’s different than what I said?”

“Damned straight.”

About that time they pulled into their apartment complex and Lois had to pull in back this time due to unavailable parking spaces in the front.

“Just what do I wear to this dinner slash business meeting of yours Lois?”

“Hell, I don’t know. They had on jeans and tee shirts the last time I saw them. They were clean though, very clean.”

“Uh huh, clean it is. They weren’t in jeans last night.”

“No, maybe they’ll put suits on…hell Liz we didn’t discuss wardrobe here. We’ve all been to the Joker…dressy casual works for me. How about dressy jeans, boots, blouses and jackets in case it decides to rain again.”

“Whatever Lois, dressy jeans it is. What time is this dinner slash business meeting anyway?”

“Seven…you have plenty of time.”

“Thanks, and tonight I drive just in case.”

“Liz, do you really want to show up in a truck?”

“And just what’s wrong with my truck?” Liz was almost put out by the remark, though it usually wouldn't have bothered that much except for the blind date set up and the subject on the agenda.

“Nothing…” The statement seemed to drift up into the night air…Lois pretty much knew when to shut up.

And the two young women headed for their apartment to get ready for their dinner slash business meeting while two young men were busy trying to decide just how dressy they should be for the same meeting.

*

It was just about 6:30 when Clark and Max made their way out of the hotel and headed for the Range Rover one more time. This time they wore their suits; pants with white shirts while they carried their suit jackets with a tie in the pocket just in case and off they went.

Across town two young women were climbing into a big Chevy pick up four wheel drive crew cab and Lois was ready to smack Liz upside the head just as it started to rain; she tabled that thought with a “Thank God” and settled herself for the short drive to the Joker’s Wild restaurant.

Clark and Liz pulled into the parking lot at just about the same time and although the men were not looking for a truck they did manage to run into the girls before entering the restaurant. Clark had made reservations and it was a good thing as Friday night was one of the busiest nights of the week for one of the most popular restaurant and lounges in the town.

Lois smiled at the two young men and Liz sort of hung back while Lois made small talk for a second, just a second, and then she introduced her best friend and roommate.

“Liz Parker meet Clark and Max Evans of E~ N~ S Cattle Ranch. Gentlemen, this is my best friend and roommate Doctor Elizabeth Parker but you can call her Liz. She’s not really all that formal unless she doesn’t like you and that has yet to be determined. She’s not really into “breeding” meetings so to speak nor is that her term for it either; I cleaned it up just a little, so if she’s quiet it’s because she’s ignoring us.”

“It’s very nice to meet you and I’ll ‘kick’ Lois later.” Liz smiled and held out her hand to the young men.

As Liz smiled at the two young men Max Evans suddenly got very quiet…she is gorgeous, more so than when I saw her last night…Clark and Lois picked up on Max’s instant infatuation immediately and Liz remained totally unaware, she was just hoping that this ‘meeting’ didn’t get too technical while she was eating. The specimens she dealt with were microscopic and that was fine with her, they didn’t have long dangling penises cropping out of their bodies looking like garden hoses.

Clark and Max stood aside as the two young women made their way into the lobby of the restaurant and stopped to check their leather jackets at the coat check …they had put them on before exiting the truck due to the rain…

Clark and Max decided to wear their suit jackets into the restaurant since the girls were dressed very nicely even with their bootlegged jeans and boots on. Their tops were quite classy and very expensive looking and both men smiled as they entered the dining room behind the two lovely young women.

Heads turned in all directions, men and women alike and Jim Andrews, of the Andrews feed store, couldn’t help but notice his two customers with the two doctors that he was so diligently trying to avoid.

*

Carolyn: Please, have one for me!!! As for Andrews, I hope I make it all clear eventually and the distance isn't going to hurt these relationships at all...it's me remember!
Sarah:Here you go, right on time I hope...next week I'll be away again but I'll try my best to make my son's computer behave itself.
Natalie36:
Eve: Yes, there are some serious miles here but I think they manage quite nicely...

*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter: 5-A

The evening went very smoothly and Max managed to get some information from Lois on the services offered over at Missoula Animal Research Center and all in all the evening was quite productive in many ways, to say the least. Their meals were wonderful, which was to be expected, and the company far surpassed anything any of them were expecting.

Although Clark wasn’t too sure about the fees the research center charged Lois assured him that they could possibly cut a deal for his existing stock.

Of course they would have to wait for the roundup to be absolutely sure how many bulls they were talking about and Lois was only too happy to let Clark and Max know that she would be willing to come out to the ranch and have a look at the stock and run some tests. Naturally Liz would have to join her since it was her job to check for diseases…and then the subject of the virus came up.

“Lois, this is neither the time nor the place to be bringing up that subject. Right now the state is trying to keep it low key…will you please shut your mouth?”

Liz didn’t pull any punches when it came to the subject of the virus that was threatening the entire state of Montana and suddenly it got very quiet around the table… Max and Clark were very surprised at the seemingly quiet young lady who just spoke with a mountain of authority in her voice and Lois shut up immediately. ‘Wow, this must be awfully important’ Max thought to himself, ‘I wonder what the hell is going on here.’ and Clark’s thoughts were running along the same lines.

Just as quickly as Liz almost lost it with Lois their waiter came over with a dessert cart and all four of our young adults sat wide eyed…just like a bunch of kids in a candy store and things got a little raucous.

“Okay, why not get four different choices and split them?” Lois suggested, and then came the hard part; which four, they all looked marvelous… But choices were made and it wasn’t too long before everyone had eaten just about as much as they could put away then the decision to go into the lounge for some dancing seemed to suit all of them. So they made their way into the bar area, which is where Lois and Liz would have gone anyway, and proceeded to leave the ‘breeding’ talks for later.

*
The four young adults made their way into the lounge area after Max and Clark had deposited their jackets in the coat check area and they were able to find a table in the far corner of the room where they could hear each other talk and they started to get to know each other better while Jim Andrews made a phone call out in a quiet corner of the lobby.

“So Liz, you’re a microbiologist for Missoula Labs…I can only assume that it is a state owned operation, right?” Max smiled at the gorgeous young doctor sitting next to him.

“Well, no not really; the state contracts us to do studies for them but we are a privately owned corporation. We hire out to many industries, a lot of pharmaceuticals and we do an awfully lot of disease research. Let’s just say that I never get bored.”

Lois laughed…

“As long as Liz is looking through a microscope at ‘animals’ she’s okay, it’s the live ones that turn her off.” Everyone laughed except Liz…

“Lois, you know that’s not true. Besides, the animals that I look at are alive, very alive. I’m okay with cats and dogs, the domestic type; the neutered type actually. It’s those big animals that give me the creeps, I don’t know how you can do the things you do to those poor unsuspecting animals Lois; besides, it’s disgusting!” And Liz shivered at the thought.

This brought tears to Max and Lois’ eyes as they laughed at the remark…Clark just sat there and silently agreed with Liz, but damn, that Lois was one fine looking woman and he shook it off.

“Liz, would you like to dance…maybe take your mind off all of those disgusting things Lois does to those animals?” And Max smiled as he stood and held out his hand. Liz looked up into those eyes and thought, ‘OH MY!’ and stood to follow Max out onto the dance floor.

“Lois, would you like to join them?” Clark asked as he pushed his chair away from the table to join his brother and Lois’ roommate.

“I certainly would, thank you Clark.” And Lois’s thoughts were very similar to Liz’s. ‘God, it’s very seldom, if ever, that I get the chance to look up into someone’s eyes and oh what nice eyes too.’

By the time our two young couples made it to the dance floor the band decided to take a break but a great ‘oldie’, yet not so old, country western song came on and neither Clark nor Max let go of their partners as Josh Turner’s great bass came vibrating through the speakers. The dance floor suddenly filled with just about everybody in the bar as the favorite played on. Not too slow but not too fast either; they started the Texas two-step and both couples looked as though they had been made for each other as they glided across the floor moving as one.

(You can google this if you’ve never heard it, lots of fun really...”Your Man”)


Baby lock the door and turn the lights down low
Put some music on that's soft and slow
Baby we ain't got no place to go
I hope you understand

I’ve been thinking 'bout this all day long
Never felt a feeling quite this strong
I can't believe how much it turns me on
Just to be your man

There's no hurry
Don't you worry
We can take OUR time
Come a little closer
Lets go over
What I had in mind

Baby lock the door and turn the lights down low
Put some music on that's soft and slow
Baby we ain't got no place to go
I hope you understand

I’ve been thinking 'bout this all day long
Never felt a feeling quite this strong
I can't believe how much it turns me on
Just to be your man

Ain't nobody ever loved nobody
The way that I love you
We're alone now
You don't know how
Long I’ve wanted to

Lock the door and turn the lights down low
Put some music on that's soft and slow
Baby we ain't got no place to go
I hope you understand

I’ve been thinking bout this all day long
never felt a feeling that was quite this strong
I can't believe how much it turns me on
Just to be your man
I Can't believe how much it turns me on
Just to be your man

(“Your Man” By: Josh Turner)

When the music stopped Max and Clark led their partners back to their table where a fresh set of drinks were waiting and Clark looked at Max and asked with a raised eyebrow…

“Did you order these Max?”

“Nope, it wasn’t me.” And they both looked at their dinner guests.

“Don’t touch them.” Liz said quietly as she removed a clean capped bottle from her purse and carefully took a straw, dunked, pinched, and carefully removed a little of the liquid into the bottle to take with her.

Lois flagged down their waitress and asked who ordered the drinks and the waitress just shook her head in denial…

“I didn’t serve them Lois. I’ll find out who did for you though.”

“Please.” Liz answered and Clark and Max both looked at the young woman with interest.

“What’s wrong Liz?” Clark asked.

“First thing every woman in this place with any sense knows…if you didn’t order it and you don’t know who did then don’t drink it. Call it insight, no such thing as hindsight Clark. We just don’t do it and another thing, if it’s going to make us sick I want to know who’s trying to do it. Someone in here knows who ordered these and someone knows who put them here. I don’t suppose it’s a big deal but I still don’t like it.”

Liz had been on too many cases with just this same M.O. and they weren’t fun when the person involved wound up raped or worse, sometimes dead.

Soon Jody came back with a blank…

“Liz, none of the waitresses put those on your table. Let me get rid of them for you.”

Liz shook her head…

“No Jody, no such luck. Call detective Barnaby for me. Tell him to prepare for liquid and finger print evidence. This has gone on long enough without any leads, I think this time we just might be able to find out what is happening in our town.” Liz was adamant …

“Liz, would you like something fresh from the bar?” Max asked.

“No Max, actually I think I’d like a cup of coffee and a glass of water but you guys get what you want. I might want something later but right now I’m just too wound up.”

Max smiled as he placed an order with Jody and Clark and Lois both joined him.

Detective Jonas Barnaby showed up with a little carrying case and made his way over to where Liz, Lois and their companions were sitting having a nice conversation when Jonas made his presence known.

“Hey Liz, long time no see…like this afternoon maybe.”

Liz giggled at the graying middle-aged detective and held out her hand.

“Jonas, you know Lois of course and these two are Clark and Max Evans of the E~ N ~S Ranch.”

“Hey guys…how are you doing?”

“Not bad Jonas, you really are a busy one aren’t you?” Max asked as Clark frowned at the man.

Jonas was the one who investigated their parent’s death and called it a freak accident. Liz noticed Clark’s displeasure and while the men were talking and Jonas was offering his condolences once again to the Evans men Liz switched one of the drinks for Max’s since he was the closest to her and she pulled the suspect drink over in front of her so Max wouldn’t mistakenly drink it.

“Jonas, do you have the tray with you?” Liz asked with a smile on her face…only Lois recognized the plastered on phony look Liz was so practiced with and wondered what the hell she was doing now. The woman suspected everyone since that mysterious virus showed up.

Jonas smiled and handed Liz the case containing the forensic supplies needed to pick up the suspect liquids and glasses for fingerprints as another person watched from the darker corner of the room. This wasn’t going to be as easy as he had hoped and he made his way out the rear entrance of the lounge to make a phone call as someone much closer to the action watched on.

Liz took a rubber glove and put it on, picked up the drinks and poured them into four separate containers and then placed each glass into an evidence bag and placed all of the items back into the case Jonas had provided.

After some more pleasantries were exchanged Jonas Barnaby left with his black carrying case and Max reached for a drink that wasn’t there and frowned.

“It’s okay Max, I’ll flag Jody down and get you a fresh one…” and she waved to Jody who came over immediately…

“Jody, Max’s drink seems to have melted down some, can you freshen it up for him?”

“Of course Liz, I’m so sorry for the trouble. Do you think those drinks were spiked?”

“I don’t know but we’ll find out. It’s not your fault, honest, it’s just better to be safe than sorry.”

“Liz, my drink didn’t have a chance to melt.” Max remarked after Jody left.

“I know that Max, but Jody doesn’t. Your drink is on its way to the forensic lab; right now I don’t trust anyone, not even old acquaintances. I just need to drink this water so I can pour the remains of that drink into this glass and take that glass away with me. I’ll run my own tests on Monday, that is if I don’t do it in the morning,”

“Damn woman, remind me never to get on your bad side.” Max said with a grin.

And they all sort of chuckled at Max’s comment, although Clark and Max did understand where the young doctor was coming from. They were both a little shocked that Liz was on a first name basis with Jonas Barnaby and with the slip shod way he investigated their parents death they weren’t that impressed with the man at all, now they realized they weren’t alone.

Soon the band started up again, Max had a fresh drink and four young people were back on the dance floor once again but this time not so involved with thinking about each other…

Finally Clark came up with a suggestion before they even left the dance floor…

“Let’s go someplace and have some coffee and talk, I’m really not in a dancing mood all of a sudden.”

They all agreed and headed out to the hatcheck station to get their jackets and promptly left the Joker for the evening.

“Where would you like to go?” Max asked and Liz suggested I-Hop since it wasn’t that far away and they all agreed to meet up there.

Clark expected to see Lois drive out in her Corvette but when he saw Liz hauling ass in a Chevy four wheel drive he had to laugh…

“You know Max, those two are just full of surprises.”

“They surely are Clark.” And both men chuckled as they made their way down the major highway behind the women in the big truck with ‘dual tires’ on the back end.

*

Carolyn: I'll be leaving on the 21st for the wedding, I'll have time to hit Barnes and Noble before I leave... As for the story, I hope you continue to enjoy it, I think it has some mystery to it...at least it had enough to keep me on my toes trying to keep track of it. My notes were longer than the fic, I think!
Eve: I don't think you've missed anything so far, this chapter just made you aware of the danger they are in and someone is trying to hurt them...I hope it becomes clearer as the story goes on but if it doesn't I'll try to explain what's happening without revealing anything....
Alix: I understand about RL, it's like my husband used to say, we could sit aroung here for months without a plan in the world and then in the course of one week we would be overwhelmed and expected to be in 5 places at once So I understand. It's good to hear from you though, that way I know you're still with us.
*~*~*~*~*

Chapter: 6

It was just about 11:30 when the two vehicles pulled into the I-Hop parking lot with both vehicles pulling into the farthest parking spaces and Max had to laugh…

“Apparently Liz feels as protective of her truck as you do about the Range Rover.” And Clark gave his brother a knowing grin…

“I don’t blame her, that’s a sweet ride; I wonder what she hauls with it.”

“Probably those horses we were told about Thursday night. I wouldn’t put it past her. Did you see her pick up that glass with that napkin and pour the contents into that empty glass she had her water in? I wonder what she’s planning on doing with it.” Max asked…

“Well, if she has as much faith in Barnaby as we do you can bet she didn’t steal it because they needed glassware.” Clark answered with a knowing look on his face…

“Yeah, I thought the same thing.”

About that time the girls were out of the truck and waiting for the two young men to finish their conversation before heading into the all night restaurant, it was just a light sprinkle now and neither worried about hair at this time of the night…they just reached into their jeans and grabbed a hair tie; the lifesaver of every woman’s hair dilemma.

The locals usually went to Sophie’s down the road and that’s why Liz suggested I-Hop. It would be less noisy here and if they decided to stay very long most people who were on the road would have already settled in for the night and wouldn’t interrupt them.

When they found a booth the girls slid in next to each other, across from the fellows, and Max and Clark gave a slight nod to each other as they realized they weren’t getting any tonight and they slid in across from the two beauties, but they didn’t seem to mind for some reason.

“So Liz, we got a pretty good insight as to what Lois does and a somewhat vague idea as to what you do, so besides looking into a microscope all day, what else do you do?”

Clark really did want to ask Liz what she intended to do with the glass she so carefully removed from their table at the lounge but didn’t want to appear too pushy. He was hoping she would slip up some way but got the impression that he was not dealing with an airhead so he waited so to speak.

Liz grinned before she answered the tall drink of water sitting across from her, she knew they saw her take the glass; hell anyone with half a brain sitting there couldn’t have missed it; ‘but not just yet Clark, I don’t know you well enough’ she thought to herself.

“Well, that’s about it Clark. Right now I’m studying diseases and their possible cures. Other than that Lois and I still take long week-ends in the mountains with our best buds” And at this point Liz grinned as did Lois. If that little bit of information didn’t change the subject she didn’t know what would.

“With your best buds? Who might they be?” Max wanted to know.

Lois giggled…

“Well, Chief and Banner as a matter of fact.” Liz answered.

“Chief and Banner…are your best buds? Indians?” Clark asked; this caused Liz and Lois to giggle out loud this time…

“Actually they’re our horses…our best buds are our horses.” Lois answered for both girls.

“AH! So you don’t have any human best buddies then?” Max wondered out loud.

“Well yeah we do; each other actually.” Liz replied with a crooked little grin, ‘figure that one out cowboy’. Lois actually laughed out loud.

“Uh huh; well, maybe we can fix that.” Clark replied to Liz’s insinuation, ‘now’s the time to find out’ he thought.

“Well just what did you have in mind Clark?” Lois asked and Liz kicked her under the table…’this flirting is not a good idea’.

This was supposed to be a dinner meeting that turned out to be an entire evening, they didn’t even know these guys and with what was going on out there they really did need to be careful.

Lois replied to the kick with a snarky stare…there weren’t too many men out there tall enough for Lois to rest her head on their shoulders comfortably and by God she was going to find out more about this man.

Both Max and Clark caught the action going on across the table from them and pretty soon Max couldn’t hold it any longer.

“Liz, we’re pretty upstanding men actually. We live in the middle of thousands of acres, surrounded by cattle, and we get to town once a month.

We really are in need of some new stock…our breeding stock is getting used up so to speak and we don’t want to be interbreeding if you know what I mean. We are looking for some new bulls, since we do free range breeding, there are just too many cows out there to service one by one the way Lois does. The bulls we have still have many good years in them, they are of good breeding but the cows…” And Liz interrupted…

“I get the picture Max. Jonas mentioned your parents, what happened that put the scowl on your face when the man joined us at the table?”

“Oh, was it that obvious?” Clark wondered out loud…

“Yes, as a matter of fact it was.” About that time a waitress came by with a coffee pot and interrupted Liz in the middle of her thought.

“Would you like anything besides coffee?”

Max looked up and gave the woman a killer smile and said “Maybe later.” And Liz damned near dropped her drawers right there….’DAMN, THAT IS ONE FINE MAN!’ She thought to herself then she continued…

“Yes Clark it was, do you have something against Jonas personally?” Liz was questioning for many reasons, she didn’t totally trust Jonas Barnaby…he was too...too slimy and she controlled the shiver wanting to take over her body.

“We don’t really have anything against him Liz, nothing we can pinpoint anyway.”

“He was the investigator who worked on our parent’s death and it just seemed as if he went through the motions before declaring it an accident. The bridge that collapsed when they were driving across it was as safe as the Golden Gate if you ask me and I’ve been across the Golden Gate many times. This bridge did not collapse due to a sudden rise in the river…I just don’t believe it.” Max stated and Clark agreed.

“Just what did he do as far as ‘investigating’?” And Liz held up the universal sign for quotation marks.

“Well, I don’t think he did anything but show up at the sight and take a look.” Max replied.

“Hmmm…he didn’t even take wood samples or anything like that?”

“Nope, he flew up there in a helicopter after we got the bodies from the truck and took a look around and said the river forced the collapse. The added weight of the truck was just too much and the thing collapsed.

“We knew it was a bunch of bullshit then and it sounds even more so now. At the time I think Max and I were in too much shock to be contradictive and we’ve never bothered going back up there to have a look. I believe the truck is still there if the river hasn’t washed it away.

“We had another bridge built farther downstream from the original site so we wouldn’t have to look at it.” Clark finished his diatribe…

“Wow,” Lois said as she shook her head in disbelief and Liz just sat there pondering.

“You know what; your cattle will have to be tested before we can do anything about this bull business so why don’t we, Lois and I, take a trip to your place, say next week-end, and have a look around while we’re there. I’ll bring some lab equipment with me; is there anywhere I can set up a portable laboratory?” Liz asked…Max smiled and Clark shifted his weight in his seat before answering…’DAMN STRAIGHT! YOU CAN COME ANY TIME YOU WANT TO!’ Max almost said aloud…

“Of course there’s a place you can set up. We’ll have one of the guys clean out dad’s old office. What do you need?”

“Just a place to work Clark, honest; I’ll bring everything I need with me.”

“She carries all of this shi.., stuff, with her everywhere. Don’t worry; she won’t contaminate anything I promise.” Lois replied and the men chuckled as Liz kicked Lois again.

“Liz, I swear if you kick me one more time I’m going to take you down right here.”

And Liz started to laugh hysterically…both women were very versed in the subject of self-defense and although Lois had the height Liz had the slight build and agility going for her. Max and Clark just sat there and watched the two friends carry on as if the remark had never been made, then Liz looked at her watch.

“Lois, it’s 1:00 a.m. and I’m tired. If you don’t mind I think we should get their address and head on home.”

“Wait, how about breakfast?” Max asked, “We can talk about it then.”

“Max, it’s almost breakfast right now…how about lunch?”

“That’ll work. How would you like to work this, we pick you up or we meet you somewhere?”

“Let’s meet at Sophie’s…I’ll draw...” and Clark interrupted Lois as she got a notepad out of her purse.

“We know where Sophie’s is Lois. We only come to town once a month because it’s a three-hour drive, four with the trailer, and we really don’t need to come any more often than that. We’ve been coming here since we were born. So what time?”

The two young women looked at each other and nodded…

“Noon?” Liz answered with a big question hanging there and they all agreed and called it a night. All in all it had been a very fruitful evening for everyone concerned, especially Liz with her confiscated glassware in her purse.

*

Natalie36: I think I explain what Liz found in the glasses in this chapter...
Carolyn: I hope I bring everything around eventually...
Eve: I don't know what the Bristish "Barnaby" is about but here in the states we had a "Barnaby Jones" popular mys ter years ago and that's where I got my Jonas Barnaby character...I'm not so sure I should have done that but it's done now and much too late to change it now...I just hope I keep the characters straight.
Alix:It will all become clear eventually, I hope!

Chapter: 7

The next morning, about 9:00 a.m., Liz made a nonscheduled visit to her lab and carefully removed the vial she had used to collect a sample of the drink on her table along with the glass she had confiscated. Although she did not have access to the files the FBI had at their disposal she did have contacts and the first order of business was to contact Alex on his cell phone and ask for his help in identifying any finger prints she sent him via e-mail.

Alex smiled when he received the message from his old school chum and immediately called her back and told her he would be back with her as soon as he had any results, he had week-end duty so it would work out just fine.

After some niceties Liz extracted the prints she found on the glass and sent the e-mail then got busy with her testing…Lo and behold, the liquid contained Rohypnol. Not enough to knock anybody out but enough to impair any motor skills after a certain length of time. Someone wanted them gone she was sure…Liz was still working on the substance, trying to decide just how bad it would have been when her cell phone rang…

“Hello Alex, any luck?”

“Yes and no, not one single print Liz. What’s going on?”

“Alex, someone is seriously trying to hurt me and some friends of mine. Our drinks were laced with Rohypnol last night; thank God I had the presence of mind to recognize fresh drinks on our table, drinks that we didn’t order.

I don’t know what’s going on here Alex but something isn’t right. Is there anyone you work with that you would trust with your life because right now I don’t feel like I can honestly trust anyone that I know besides Lois?”

“Liz, I’ll see what I can find out for you...are you working on anything right now that could be considered illegal?”

“Only the virus that is infiltrating the cattle in our state and I have discovered that it is manmade…so far I haven’t been able to identify all of the properties and create an antidote but I’m working on it. I’ve got some cultures growing and I’ve used up most of the resources available to me but I will lick this thing.”

“I see…Liz be careful. How are you and Lois anyway…I haven’t heard from you in a couple of weeks.”

“We’re fine Alex, and you? How’s Isabelle? Has she gotten over the morning sickness blahs yet?”

“Yes and no, it all depends on what she eats and she’s learning very quickly what to stay away from.”

“I don’t envy her this part of it Alex but I’m so happy for you two. Alex, I hate to do this to you but I really have to go. I’ll call you soon, and let me know if you find out anything else okay?”

“I certainly will Liz, and be careful.”

“You bet.” And they rang off.

Liz made it home just in time to pick Lois up and head on out to Sophie’s…she still wasn’t too sure what to do about the information she got but she would share the Rohypnol news, it affected all of them; she decided that they were all in danger.

When Lois and Liz entered Sophie’s Clark and Max were both seated at a table in the back of the room which Lois spotted immediately and waved as Liz told Becky, the hostess/waitress, that they found their party…

“Hey, nice party.” Becky said and Liz laughed. She and Becky had known each other for quite some time now and Lois grinned at the two women and nodded her assent before making her way back to the table.

“Good afternoon ladies.” Clark smiled and held Lois’ chair as Max took hold of the other one for Liz when she joined them; soon their waitress showed up with two more menus and two glasses of water.

“Would you like something to drink?” She asked. Lois and Liz both smiled and answered hot tea. The waitress nodded and left the table to allow the newcomers time to read the menu and make a decision.

“Well, did you ladies have a good morning?” Clark wanted to know and Liz smiled as Lois pointed to her friend…

“She went to work this morning. Nothing unusual for her though, she does that all of the time.”

“Lois, that is not true and you know it. Besides, it was very rewarding and I will bring all of you up to speed as soon as I know we are not going to be overheard.”

That got everyone’s attention and Liz just concentrated on her menu. As soon as she had decided on a salad with breast of chicken and Lois went with the southwestern salad the men waved their waitress over and Max ordered for all of them. Clark and he would have the chicken fried steak with country gravy, mashed potatoes and a side of corn on the cob. Liz and Lois both laughed and their lunch companions were very puzzled…

“What?” Max asked.

“If you’re having all of that for lunch what will you be having for dinner?” Liz wanted to know.

“Well, that depends on what you two want but I think steak and lobster sounds absolutely delicious.” Clark answered.

“Well, it does sound delicious but my God, where are you going to put all of that heavy food. That’s a killer you know.”

“Oh but what a way to go.” Max answered with a crooked little grin and soon the waitress was back with their orders and left them to enjoy their meal.

“Okay Liz, what’s the big news?” Lois asked as she cut into her lettuce with a knife; this ripping lettuce just didn’t sit well with her.

“Well, I took a sample of the drink that was on the table last night before Jonas showed up and went in this morning and analyzed it. The drink was laced with Rohypnol. Not enough to knock us out immediately but it definitely would have worked on us about the time we decided to drive home. Someone doesn’t want us around and I’m not sure just which one of us it is. Maybe all of us after listening to Max and Clark tell us about their parents last night.”

Max and Clark sat and looked at the young scientist as Lois chewed her lettuce thoughtfully…

“Liz, how close are you to finding answers to that big project you’ve got going at work?” Lois asked.

“I won’t look at the cultures until Monday morning, they need time to grow. Also, I know you saw me take that glass last night and there weren’t any fingerprints on it at all. I had a friend at the FBI in Bethesda check it out for me…as you can tell I’m not the most trusting person on earth but since we were all at that table last night I have a sneaking suspicion that all of those drinks were spiked.”

“I agree. When do you two think you’ll be arriving at our place?” Max wanted to know, he was getting very anxious about what the hell was happening and he wanted some answers.

“Well, we probably won’t be able to get out of town much before 5:00 on Friday by the time we do all of the things we’ll have to do to get ready. I figure if it takes you three hours it will take us four if we haul a trailer.”

“We haul a trailer too but why would you haul a trailer?” Clark wanted to know.

“Well, we’ll be bringing our own ‘transportation’ so to speak.” And Liz laughed…

“We’ll bring our horses. It will give us a chance to check things out as well as exercise the animals at the same time. They’ll love it.” And both girls laughed…they treated these animals like lap dogs and if they weren’t so big they would probably keep them in their apartment.

And so, as they continued to have their lunch and discuss the coming weekend, Jonas Barnaby walked into the restaurant and noticed the four companions in the back of the restaurant…he ambled back to join them all, not so much for lunch but for a discussion. He knew there was no sense in trying to hide anything from young doctor Parker, she would find out the truth anyway, if she didn’t already know it.

“Hi everyone, I hope I’m not intruding…I was just going to have some lunch and when I saw the four of you I thought I might share what our labs found out about your drink; you were right in not drinking the drinks Liz and I’m glad you called us…they all contained benzodiazepine or better known as Rohypnol. The unfortunate news is there were no fingerprints at all on the glasses except for one of them. It had the bartenders’, the waitress’s and yours Liz. That’s all, so I can only assume that your sources discovered no prints either.” And Jonas Barnaby smiled at the occupants of the table, finally settling on Liz.

“Well, that’s what I discovered as well Barnaby. I just wanted to make sure that we got our information in a timely manner I meant no offense to the county forensic team, just double checking.” And Liz stared the man down with that smile Lois knew so well; the ‘kiss my ass’ one she could pull off so easily.

“Well, since the news I had to share was already known I guess I’ll go find me a table and have some lunch. I’ll see all of you later.” And Jonas Barnaby made his way off to find a table of his own which suited the four young people just fine.

“Well Liz, what do you think?” Max asked.

“I have no thoughts on the subject just yet, although I know he knew I had run my own tests or intended to so he could be giving it to us straight or he could be covering his ass…so much for no thoughts.” Liz answered and they all nodded in agreement. It could go either way.

Later that evening Liz and Lois met Max and Clark at the Steak and Seafood restaurant just off the main drag of town and had a very enjoyable meal; Max and Clark stayed true to their word. They ate steak and lobster as if they hadn’t eaten in a month as Lois and Liz sat there and watched in amazement.

The only things left for Clark and Max to do before heading back to the ranch was to stop at the Super Market and pick up their order and then go over to the feed store and hitch the trailer with all the feed and supplies for the animals, then they were off.

Liz and Lois awoke on Sunday morning and had a breakfast of cereal, toast and juice and headed on out to the ranch where they boarded their horses and went for a little ride before calling it a day. If they were going to go out to Clark and Max’s in a few days they needed to get the fifth wheel out of storage and cleaned up then Liz would equip it with the supplies she needed to run her tests on the animals as well as look at the remains of the bridge for any clues as to why the thing collapsed. They had a busy week ahead of them and they were actually looking forward to it. They hadn’t had a weekend away from Missoula in a very long time.

*

In the meantime Jonas Barnaby reported to his captain that he had seen the foursome from the Joker and told them what the forensic lab had found and the man got a very strange look on his face.

“You told them everything?”

“Yes…there is no sense trying to dodge Doctor Parker, you know that Cap.; we’ve used her office too many times on tough cases. She took one of the glasses from the table and replaced it with a regular glass from the bar; do you think she’s a fool?” And Jonas Barnaby walked out of the office wondering just what in the hell was really going on here.

When Barnaby left the captain’s office the captain took his cell phone from his pocket and made a call…when the receptionist answered he said…

“Charles Shuman please.”

“Of course captain.” Damned girl had a mind like an elephant, never forgets a voice and the name that goes with it…

“Shuman here.”

“Hey, I think we’ve got a problem, we need to meet.”

Eve: In this case the problem is cattle/cows, steer, bulls and the like...No petrol here. Just cattle, corruption and corrupt politicians as usual.
Natalie36: If you think this has a lot of twists you should have seen the pages and pages of notes I had trying to keep this stuff straight in my own head...I hope it all makes sense.
Carolyn: I think all of these questions will be answered eventually but so far you've got a good handle on it... It's only about 56 chapters or so long so you know I don't get into long drawn out fuzzy descriptions of anything...
Alix: Everyone gets a shot at it in this one, some more than others, but it kind of lays the ground work for the story and I didn't have to think that hard about making up names for the good guys.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Chapter: 8

Lois was very busy that week not only extracting “juice” from prized bulls but inseminating some very unsuspecting cows as well, poor things had no idea what the hell was going on back there.

Liz on the other hand didn’t seem all that busy, just frustrated. The samples in the Petrie dishes weren’t giving her any positive results on her tests and she was ready to scream. She didn’t want to see the ranchers lose their businesses for some unknown disease that may or may not attack their herd. So far only a few cattlemen were affected and as far as she was concerned she didn’t think enough investigation was being done by the state and federal agents in charge, they were willing to simply quarantine the entire state and slaughter the beef. There had to be a common denominator somewhere.

In the meantime Clark and Max were busy with their roundup; Clark had put their housekeeper in charge of cleaning up his father’s office in preparation of Liz’s visit this week-end and asked Jose’ to help her in any way he could.

Of course Clark was just as excited about seeing Lois, if not more so, and that wasn’t just hearsay but for entirely different reasons than that of breeding of course. He knew very little about the problems that Max was talking about as far as the inbreeding was concerned and he also knew a little about what Liz was working on but not much.

He knew that it did make sense as far as the cattle and breeding were concerned he just didn’t see why they couldn’t sort out some new stock with what they already had before the branding; then the castration and fattening up prior to the final sales could begin.

He understood the importance of keeping the herd pure but damn, it couldn’t be that hard could it? He knew his dad and mom worked feverishly over their log books, entering all the numbers of the herd as they pierced ears with the tags but he figured that those were just like brands only less painful. He really didn’t put the importance of all the numbers together until Max sat him down and pointed out just how the numbering system worked and why.

Clark could tell you right down to the penny what it cost the ranch per head but as far as telling you how to keep that herd pure was a totally different story.

All that week the young men worked feverishly, along with the hands, putting up temporary corrals and herding the new stock in for ‘branding’ and then working to keep them in some semblance of order until the decision was made as to which ones would be kept and which would be sold. Some were just too young to bring in any real money and some were getting borderline too old which meant too tough for market so decisions were being made as two young women got themselves and their animals ready for a long week-end.

*

Lois called Liz late Thursday morning…

“Hey, what do you think about leaving today? I’m all caught up here, I have all the data I can gather that I think the E~N~S needs and I’d really like to get this show on the road.”

“Well, I’ve had one hellacious disappointment after the other this week and I think I might like that as well but don’t you think we should call them. We can’t just show up.” Liz didn’t like surprise visits from anybody and she was pretty sure other people felt the same way, it just wasn’t polite but Lois had a point…

“Why not? We have our own living quarters, our own feed and our own transportation. What’s the difference if we show up today or tomorrow?”

“None I guess…pick me up at lunch and we’ll drive home and get the truck; do you need to pack anything?”

“Nope, I put everything back into the trailer after the last time we used it; I can’t think of a thing I need at the apartment. Maybe we should pack some groceries though…we really can’t show up and expect them to feed us the whole time we’re there.” Lois did have some manners…

“No, I guess not. Just pick me up at noon. I’ll have everything locked down by then; I don’t think I can stand one more disappointment.” Liz was very frustrated with the results of the tests she had been working on, maybe a long week-end was just what the doctor ordered.

“Alrighty then…see you in a few.” And Lois hung up right after Liz.

*

In the meantime a black SUV was parked outside of the Missoula Labs with a certain clean cut looking character watching a certain young female doctor.

He had no idea why he was watching; just that he had his lieutenant’s private phone number to report her whereabouts and nothing else. So far the only reports he gave were from her home to her job, a trip to the ranch where she had a horse and a fifth wheel, and back again; nothing really exciting going on there…there was a similar vehicle parked outside the animal research center also with the same results; nothing unusual.

Both undercover cops wondered what in the hell these two were up to that had the lieutenant all in a tizzy.

*
Lois picked Liz up right at 11:45 and the two headed on home, changed into jeans, tees and boots, took some food from the fridge, freezer and cupboards and headed on out to Liz’s four wheel drive which she promptly drove to the ranch about 30 minutes from town and backed up to one of the fanciest fifth wheels you could imagine. This thing had anything and everything the girls would need as far as living quarters were concerned and the rear end was a full-fledged live-stock trailer with overhead tack storage and Liz handled it like it was the finest little sports vehicle on earth.

She pulled in just at the right angle and Lois was in the bed of the truck lining up the hook-ups as Liz cranked the trailer down to fit snug as a bug. It took the girls all of 20 minutes to have the thing road ready and then they went to gather their animals.

You would have thought the two horses were going to dance right out of their stalls when they saw the two young women. Don’t ever think those overgrown animals don’t know who loves them because they definitely do. Both young women grabbed their halters and nuzzled the horses noses as they fit the bit into the horses mouths and hooked the bridal over their ears…they hooked up the reins and lead the animals out to the waiting trailer then took them in one by one and secured them to the hooks, threw some hay on the floor and followed the horses backs with their hands as they left the stalls and then closed the trailer doors behind them.

“Do you have the knife Liz?”

“Yep, it’s right where it always is, right under the front seat. Let’s fill ‘er up with water and we’re ready to take off. I filled both tanks with gas on Monday while you were still working on your ‘extractions?’.” And Liz laughed.

(You carry something sharp to cut the tethers or reins in case the horse goes down in the trailer for those of you who are unaware.)

“Okay smart ass, let’s get the water and haul out.”

“Right on…Lois, call Clark. I know you have his number.”

“All right, if you insist you old grouch.” And Lois made her call.

“Hey, Lois…is everything still a go?”

“Yeah Clark…about that, we’re on our way now. I figure around five or thereabout, we still have to load up on water and that should take about 20 to 30 minutes then we are on the road.”

“Well okay then. Hey, Max and I are out on the range but Maggie the housekeeper will be there to take care of you. We’ll see you tomorrow sometime. Okay?”

“Sure Clark…tell you what, if you give us your GPS we’ll meet up with you this evening and tomorrow, before you head in, we can ride out and look at the accident area. How would that be?”

“That’s fine if that’s what you want to do. Just follow the signal on my phone, can you do that?”

“I can’t but the girl wonder can. Don’t worry we’ll find you. Don’t work too hard and we’ll see you tonight. Can we bring anything to you?”

“No, we’re good, we’ve done this before.” And they both laughed as they hung up.

“Well, is it okay?”

“Yeah, they’re out on the range…we’ll just follow Clark’s signal on my phone and it should lead us right to him.”

“Damn Lois, we could have waited until they got home tomorrow…Boy are you that hot to trot or what?”

“Liz Parker, wash your mouth out with soap.” And Liz started to giggle as she raised one eyebrow at Lois…

“Yeah, you are.” Liz said as she looked at her friend; they both laughed as Liz shut the water valve off to the trailer and locked the panel…then she checked the propane levels for the stove and furnace…all things were a go.

Liz patted the side of the trailer and got a loud whinny from Banner and she laughed as she got into the truck, started it up and smiled as she listened to the purr of the big engine. God, she loved this truck almost as much as the horse in the trailer. Lois just shook her head at her friend and grinned…she felt the same way about her Corvette.

The occupant of the black SUV was on the phone with his lieutenant and reported that the women had just loaded up a fifth wheel and put some horses in the trailer…he was told to let them go. This was S O P for them; they usually took their horses out for a long week-end when things were slow at work. That was a good sign for them and the S U V took off for the rest of the day.

The lieutenant reported to the Captain who called Charles Shuman as soon as the lieutenant left and reported the young women’s activities and Shuman wasn’t as convinced as the lieutenant that this was an innocent week-end getaway and felt he should make a call of his own.

“Hi, Riley is it? This is Charles Shuman from Billings, is Joe in?”

“Yeah Mr. Shuman, hold on.” It wasn’t but a minute later that Joe Andrews was on the phone.

“Hey Joe, did the Evans men come in and get supplies recently?”

“Yeah, they were in last week-end why?”

“Did you by any chance load them up with our special mix?”

“Not that I’m aware of; Riley filled their order. Why?”

“Well Parker and Lindstrom just headed out with a couple of horses in a trailer and I don’t think I like it.”

“Oh hell Charles, relax. Those two are both champion barrel racers and they take those horses on long week-end trips all the time.”

“Just the same, find out if Riley gave the Evanses any specially marked merchandise. I don’t want them hit just yet.”

“If he did there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

“Yeah, there is…get it back.”

“And just how in the hell do you propose that I do that?”

“You figure it out but get it back. There’s too much tied up in this to mess up now.”

“Fine, I’ll see what I can do.”

“No…you will take care of this Joe, and take care of it immediately.”

And Charles Shuman hung up as Lois and Liz headed on down the highway to E-N-S Ranch; alone.

*

Carolyn: [quoteDown the highway to the ranch......this is going to be an interesting visit!
Carolyn][/quote] Damn, I hope so!!!
Eve: I just wrote that from the cow's point of view...can you imagine being "used" like that for the purpose of making another species "Happy!" God, think about it, I guess if sex didn't feel so good there wouldn't be anything known as over-population would there? And then think about those cows! They don't even get to enjoy it! Damn, how terrible for them.
Alix: Hey there, I'm not sure about what other's do in regards to moving large livestock but my friend always had a large sharp knife under the car seat for just such a purpose. I'm sure other ranchers did the same. She and I used to transport our horses in the same trailer and, she being the horse person and me just a week-end rider, she always had that knife. I once told her it was also great protection as well since she was only 5' tall and I was 5'2"....I'm half an inch shorter now although I did wear platform shoes for the wedding and I was 5'6" tall for that...My daughter is now in possession of two very new, very fashionable pairs of shoes. We wear the same size and she went nuts over my new shoes so I gave them to her when the parties were all over. As I told her, I'll never wear them again and she told all of her friends..."I be stylin' now!" and laughed. They were pretty shoes but they're gone now. Oh, and the disease will be explained soon.

*~*~*~*~*
Chapter: 9

Joe Andrews left his office in search of Riley and found him just returning from lunch…

“Hey Riley, when the Evans men picked up their order was there any of that special mix that some of the other ranchers ordered given to them?”

“Not that I’m aware of boss…I filled the biggest part of it and Sammy helped out a little but I don’t recall any special products listed on the order. We gave them what they wanted and that was it.”

“Thanks Riley, you don’t think Sammy could have mixed up their order do you?”

“I doubt it. They left their trailer pulled up to the loading dock and we just walked the stuff in as we checked it off. I’m assuming they came in Sunday morning and hitched up because it was gone when we got here on Monday.”

“Thanks Riley, can I see the shipping receipt?”

“Sure boss…” and Riley walked over to Joe’s desk and started flipping through receipts until he found the right one and handed it over.

“Is something wrong boss?”

“Not a thing Riley, I just wanted to verify that they got the right merchandise.”

“Okay then…it’s pretty busy out there and it’s not good to leave Sammy alone too long, especially when things pick up.”

“Go ahead Riley, I have everything I need.” And Joe dismissed the young man and got busy reading the shipping manifest. There it was, in black and white, the wrong feed…SHIT!!! And Joe Andrews turned ash white. How was he going to get that back?

*

It was right at 5:15 when Liz pulled into the gates of the E~N~S Ranch and she had to stop the truck to have a look around.

“Good God Lois, have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” Lois was close to speechless as she sat and checked her surroundings along with Liz.

“I don’t think the word beautiful even comes close Liz. To answer your question…no I haven’t” The girls were both awestruck…this place was amazing. You couldn’t see anything but mountains, green pastures and several streams scattered here and there from mountain run off. It was truly God’s country.

Just as Liz was getting ready to start rolling again they spotted a rider off in the distance and from the size of the horse and the tall drink of water riding it Lois was almost certain it was Clark…she pointed and Liz followed in the direction and smiled. Apparently they didn’t trust her to find them.

“It looks like Clark didn’t believe I’d find them Lois…shall we wait?”

“No. Keep on going; he’s far enough away to get the drift of what’s going on.” So Liz released the break, banged on the side of the truck to get the horses attention and started off at a slow pace until she saw the trailer settle down behind her. Both animals were smart enough to know when they came to an open range and always got antsy when they thought it was time to get out of the trailer…Lois giggled.

“It’s like having two 2000 pound pets.” And Liz laughed, “only one 2000 the other is only 1500.” but she was right; only one thing was for sure, they certainly loved their pets.

Liz drove for about another three miles and if she thought the mountains and open range were beautiful it was nothing compared to the sight before her eyes and Lois gasped.

“God Liz, we’ve just driven into the gates of heaven.”

“Damn, just how rich are these guys.”

There before them stood one of the biggest houses either of the girls had ever seen in their young lives and not far away, about ¼ mile was the out buildings. There were barns, corrals, what appeared to be bunk houses, a series of smaller home like structures with fenced yards and miles and miles of fenced pastures.

The house before them had to be at least fifteen thousand square feet and Liz was sure that wasn’t nearly correct because they were only looking at the front of the building. Lord knew how far back it went.

It was just about three minutes from Liz stopping that Clark rode up on a beautiful stallion and dismounted…

“Hello ladies, I see you made it alright. Max sent me to get you and to pick up a special dinner he thought you should have before we take off.”

“Clark, we brought our own food and accommodations. We don’t expect you guys to cater to us while we’re here. This is a working arrangement after all.” Lois looked totally shocked that they would go to all of this trouble.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You are doing this for us the least we can do is put you up and take care of you. Now Liz, just drive down that road to the big white barn; Dad’s office is in there and you can corral your horses in the adjoining pen. I’ve had Jose’ move our regular stock to the corral on the North side of the building, you can park off to the side there; everything will be safe. Would you like me to ride down with you?”

“Clark, we’ve been handling these particular horses alone since we were sixteen, I think we’ll be able to find our way. Just give us 20 minutes to get them unloaded and watered. We’ll be leveled and ready to go by that time and Lois can take care of the saddling while I do the rest. It’s no big deal. Honest.” And Liz gave him a killer smile, this one wasn’t the ‘kiss my ass’ smile that he saw her pull on Barnaby the other night and he returned it just as warmly.

‘Max is going to cream his jeans when he gets a load of this. DAMN…we’re both going to have a rough night.’

Just as Liz predicted…the horses were out of the trailer in nothing flat, Clark didn’t think he’d ever seen a horse unload as easily as those two. Lois made a clicking sound with her tongue and the 17 hand appaloosa just backed right out and stood at the ready, reins dragging the ground, as Lois made her way back into the trailer and grabbed the reins of the 15 hand quarter horse and did the same.

When both horses were out Lois hoisted a huge tub from the bed of the truck, propped against the rear window, and stuck it on the floor of the trailer, pulled a length of garden hose from the back of the horse trailer and turned on the faucet. The water immediately started flowing and the two horses just stood there watching as the tub filled; they stood there as if they were mesmerized. It didn’t take long and Lois gave a little slap on the rumps of each animal and they moved forward and had a nice long drink before backing off.

While the horses drank their fill Lois hauled the saddles out of the trailer and before long both animals were saddled up, saddle bags attached and bed rolls tied down. Liz came around with two carrots in her hand and nuzzled the little mare while Lois took one of the carrots and smiled at the big appaloosa and held her open hand out for the animal to eat. Clark just smiled. They definitely knew what they were doing.

“Well, we’re ready Clark…how about you?”

Clark smiled as he led the women the quarter mile up the road, leading their animals to the main house and Clark tied his animal to the hitching post as Liz and Lois followed suit and then Clark led them into the front door of the mansion. Both women stood in the entry and gasped…no ranch should look like this, you just didn’t raise cattle and live in a place like this and Clark laughed.

“My grandmother was a New York debutante and the only way she would agree to living here was to live like this. Grandfather didn’t care what it cost as long as she agreed to marry him and move here so they had this built. We actually live in the back part of the house but it is impressive isn’t it?”

“That’s an understatement Clark Evans and you know it.” And they all laughed.

“Come on, I want you to have something to eat before we head on out. It will be dark by the time we get to the roundup so let’s get busy.”

“Clark, we brought sandwiches, they’re in our saddle bags. Let’s just go alright. We really are used to this. We have extra in case you’re hungry too.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Come on, let me grab something from the kitchen and we’ll be gone. Do you need a bathroom before we leave?”

Liz looked at Lois and shook her head no and Lois answered for both of them.

“We’re good for now Clark. Get your sandwich and let’s go. Banner and Chief are probably wondering what in the hell we dressed them up for if we aren’t going anywhere.” And Clark laughed. After seeing the way those animals were with the young women he didn’t doubt one little bit that the horses felt that way.

*
In the meantime Joe Andrews was on the phone with a couple of, not so nice, men he knew and was trying to explain what he wanted them to do.

They would have to travel to the Evans’ ranch and switch feed. The men thought Andrews was nuts for even suggesting such a thing.

Finally Andrews convinced the two that he was serious as hell and to stop by the farm supply after 7:00. They would have to drive out to the ranch, locate the supplies with the special markings, which he pointed out to them, and just switch the stuff. It wasn’t that hard of a job.

The men looked at Andrews like he’d lost his mind.

“You’re talking about the biggest ranch in the state and probably the best guarded. This is going to cost you big time Andrews.”

“Whatever it takes, just make the switch and don’t get caught.”

“Why can’t you just go out there during the day and tell them you made a mistake on their order and let them do the switching?”

“That wouldn’t be a good idea right now.” Although it did make a whole lot more sense than what he was suggesting they do. But Andrews would not be deterred and loaded the unmarked bales and supplies onto the pickup truck and the men drove off just before midnight.

They had absolutely no idea what the Evans spread looked like or where the hell they were going to find these supplies but they were getting paid to do a switch and they’d give it their best shot. This was insane…and Joe Andrews was as uncomfortable as they were about the entire adventure.

*
In the meantime our three riders took off at a nice jog trot and headed out toward the area where the men would be setting up camp for the evening.

The chuck wagon had been relocated earlier that day after breakfast was served and all the men were provided with a hardy snack to put into their saddle bags since they wouldn’t be eating again until late that evening. They were all ready for a huge dinner of beef stew and homemade biscuits by the time our three riders settled for sandwiches and bottled water while they rode along enjoying each other’s company and the scenery until it got too dark for much sightseeing, they had settled down to a comfortable walk long ago.

Clark pulled out his cell phone and set the GPS coordinates and they just kept on riding. Modern technology was great!

*

Joe Andrews’ two hired extras drove their truck off the highway when they came to the E~N~S ranch and sat and looked the situation over…

“You know what? I think this idea is about the dumbest damned idea I have ever heard of in my life. Why in the hell would we sneak onto a place, not knowing where in the hell we are or what we’re looking for to switch something when we don’t even know where it is? Let’s just catch some shut-eye, get up early and drive on in there, find someone, tell them we have replacements for some stuff the men picked up during the week and call it good.”

“Makes a whole lot more sense to me than this plan does.” So the two men pulled their jackets in closer around their bellies, dropped their hats over their eyes and settled in for the night. Andrews would never know the difference. Right?