He leaned back into the truck. “Promise me you’ll stay here. I swear to you I will bring them all out. I want you out here when I get close to the house. I want you to take my cell and call 911. Tell them to come, sirens silent. Tell them what’s going on and that I am in the house. Okay, Skye, you got all that?” he confirmed as he grabbed the AR-15, then he ran toward the house.
She watched as he slowly approached the house like someone that had done it a thousand times. It made her wonder what he had been doing the past ten years that made him so confident; she couldn’t remember Cody being that way when they were younger. He was cockier than he was confident, she thought. As she watched him near the back door, she dialed 911 and explained the situation and that Cody was making his way inside the house. When she heard the reaction from the Crawford Police, she was confused.
“Oh, if Cody Wilson is there, then just call us when he comes out with the perps,” the dispatcher said.
“Cody said to come now so that you can assist him,” she begged.
“Ma’am, Cody Wilson don’t need no help. He could take out twenty guys and not break a sweat,” the dispatcher replied.
“Uh, are we talking about the same Cody Wilson from the Bent Arrow Ranch, captain of the football team and class president? That Cody Wilson?” she asked.
“Yep, that be the same Cody,” Cassie said.
“Okay, so how did Cody Wilson get to be such a bad ass?” she asked.
“Girl, you been livin’ under a rock?” she asked.
“No, I’ve just been living in another city,” Skye replied. She didn’t want the dispatcher to know exactly who she was yet.
“Well, Cody Wilson just got back home not too long ago. He been gone for, oh, I say about ten years. He went and joined the Army after some girl broke his heart. Up and left the poor boy the night he was gonna ask her to marry him. She up and left—just left a note that said go to hell. ’Bout broke the poor boy’s heart. The story I heard was he was taking old Dee Dee Freeman home cuz she got drunk at the graduation party and tried to get fresh with Cody, and Cody told her hell no, but Cody being Cody, he drove her home to her daddy and made sure she was safe.
“He’s a good man, that Cody Wilson, so he got home after getting hurt real bad in Afghanistan, so the army medically retired him. I hear told he was one of them Special Forces guys like Rambo or Chuck Norris. Cody is a badass. I seen him kick guys’ asses bigger than him over at the Bent Nickle. He has been working there as a bouncer at night, then during the day he helps around his daddy’s ranch since his daddy is a quad in a wheelchair, and then he goes over to the Triple H Ranch and helps out ol’ Ross Howard, but looks like Ross got himself some trouble. And who are you, little lady?” the dispatcher asked.
“I would be the girl that left Cody the note. I’m Skye Howard, Ross Howard’s little girl. And well, Cody needs y’all to come now. He said sirens silent.”
“All right, I’ll send out a couple of cars ASAP.”
Cody approached the house from the back and peeked through the window and saw Jasmine at the table with his son. That’s my son. I gotta lot of catching up to do with you, boy, he thought. But first I gotta get y’all outta here without a scratch or old Ross will have my hide.
Circling around the other side of the house so he could get a clear view of the living room, he looked through the window in the office that was right off the living room. As he looked through, he saw Parker lying on the couch, his eyes closed. Perfect timing, he thought. I can bust in the door and surprise him before he even has a chance to get his gun, which it looks like he put on the table behind him. What a dumbass! Guess I will take a frontal assault. He moved toward the front porch and slowly walked up to the door. Checking his weapon, he took the safety off, then kicked open the door, yelled for Tyler to drop to the floor, and before Parker could even move a muscle, Cody was on top of him, pointing the gun to his forehead.
“Jasmine, is that your name? I’m told you got nothing to do with this, so take Tyler outside to his momma, please. Me and this piece of shit scumbag are gonna have a little talk.” Cody held his weapon, the barrel touching Parker’s forehead as he watched Jasmine run out the door with Tyler in tow.
“So, Parker, is it?” Cody asked.
“Yeah, and who the fuck are you?” Parker snapped back.
“Me? I’m the son of a bitch that’s gonna make you pay for holding my son hostage and shooting at the woman I love.”
“You can have the little skank. She’s nothing to me, she was nothing when I found her, and she’s nothing now,” he yelled. As the last word left his lips, the butt of Cody’s AR-15 found Parker’s head, and he screamed in pain.
“You can’t do that to me!” Parker cried out.
“And why the hell not?” Cody said as he stood over Parker.
“Because I have rights,” Parker cried.
“Go ahead and scream rights. I ain’t no cop. I’m just a private citizen protecting the ones I love and their property. I could kill you right now and get off scot-free. But instead, I’ll just let the police drag your piece of shit ass off to jail and back to New York City where you belong.”
Cody heard the Crawford police come up the stairs. “Come on in, guys. Take this piece of shit outta my sight,” he said as he grabbed one of the officers. “Hey, Jasper, you got a cuff key? Ol’ Ross is upstairs handcuffed to his bed, but before we uncuff him, we gotta get a picture. You got your cell phone with ya?” Cody said.
“Cody, man, as a matter of fact I do. My cell phone is right here in this pocket. I think I’ll go up and snap me a few pictures, then we can uncuff him,” Jasper said as he and Cody ran up the stairs.
“Ross, old man, where are ya?” Cody yelled.
Ross quickly answered, “Cody, get your ass in here and uncuff me. Where is that son of a bitch that pointed a gun at my grandson? I’m gonna kick his ass all the way back to his momma’s pussy. Come into my house, pull a gun on me, and expect me to put up with that—where is the little weasel fucker?” Ross screamed while Cody and Jasper snapped pictures of Ross cuffed to the bed.
“Ross, we didn’t know you was into that kinda stuff,” the men teased.
“I swear, Cody Wilson, if you don’t uncuff me right now, I swear I won’t let ya come over and watch wrestling with me no more,” he scolded.
“All right, Jasper take the cuffs off the old guy. He’s gonna end up having a heart attack if we don’t.” Cody laughed as Jasper uncuffed Ross and Jasper got the lickin’; all the while Jasper told Ross it was all Cody’s idea.
When Cody got down the stairs, Skye jumped into his arms. “Whoa, and what’s this?” he said, trying to keep his balance.
“It’s for saving my daddy and our son,” she said as she pulled him toward her and kissed him.
“And that?” he said.
“That was from me to you,” she replied.
“Okay, and that’s it?”
“No, we should probably sit down and talk,” Skye replied as she turned and gave her dad a hug as he came down the stairs. “Daddy, are you okay?” she asked.