Freedom Ranch

Chapter 29

Dakota's eyes shot open as she heard the sound of banging on the front door. She jumped up out of bed and looked at the time to see it was a few minutes past eleven at night.

"I've got it. Just stay here," said Colt behind her.

She turned to see he was already putting on his jeans.

"Where's my shirt?" he muttered as he stared at the dark floor.

She picked up her clothes off the ground and put them on as Colt left the room, shirtless, to answer the front door. Just as she finished dressing, a scuffle could be heard in the other room. She grabbed her pistol and ran out the door.

"Colt?"

Men in uniform were scattered across her living room with guns in hand. Colt was on the ground with two men holding him down.

"DROP THE WEAPON," yelled one man a few feet from her.

She dropped her pistol immediately as the officer ran up to retrieve it.

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked as she held her hands up.

Before anyone could answer, she looked at the uniforms to see it was ICE. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"You have the wrong house. We are all citizens here."

She watched two men pull up Colt from the ground and force him outside to an SUV parked by the door.

"Did you not see his ID? He's a U.S. Citizen."

"There was no ID on him, ma'am."

"It's probably in my room. Let me get it and you can release him."

"All documentation can be sent here for review. He has to be detained at this point from the tip we received," said one agent as he handed her a card.

"What tip? How the hell can the man be a cop for 16 years and be an illegal?"

The agent paused for a moment. Clearly not expecting that information.

"Let me take down your name and number," he said as he pulled out a pad and pen.

Dakota rattled off her number, wanting to hurry and gather all the information needed to prove Colt's innocence.

"I'll be in touch if we have any other questions," he said as he shoved the pen and paper in his vest pocket.

"You don't want to see my ID?"

The agent shook his head.

"Am I too white for you? Is that it? How do you know I'm not an illegal too?"

"The tip was only for him," said the agent gruffly.

Dakota watched as the agents filed out of the house. She followed them to the front door and stared at the dark tinted SUV closest to the door, knowing Colt was in it.

"I'll call and get you an attorney, Colt," she yelled, hoping he would hear her through the closed doors.

She grabbed her cell phone as the cars filed out of her property. She was cursing under her breath that she forgot to lock the main gate the one time tonight when they came through. Maybe a locked gate would have slowed them down.

"Yes?" said Ben on the other line.

"It's Dakota. I need a favor. An attorney. A good one. Colt just was detained by ICE."

"What? How?"

"All I was told was they received a tip."

"I'm going to text you the attorney's number. And I'm going to make a few calls to get to the bottom of this. If Colt's not there, who is going to look after you?"

Dakota rolled her eyes. "I don't need anyone to look after me. How irate I am right now, I wish someone would try me."

"If you change your mind, you know where I live."

Ignoring the last comment, Dakota ended the call. She ran back to the room and picked up Colt's wallet on the floor. She flipped through it, finding he had more than one ID that would have proved his innocence. Her phone vibrated in her hand. It was the attorney's number, as Ben had promised. She sat on the bed as she dialed the number with a shaky hand.

"Ms. Taylor?" said a deep voice on the other line.

"How did you know it would be me?"

"Ben told me to expect you to call about an urgent situation. I need you to tell me everything that happened and everything that was said to you."

"What about payment? I'm not even sure I can afford your services, especially after hours?"

The man chuckled on the other line. "I'm not in it for the money. You're the owner of Freedom Ranch, right? We may be able to work out a deal with just a nice saddled horse."

Dakota sighed in relief. "That I can do."

***

Dakota watched the Palomino trot around her in a circle in the round pen. Its nose flared with each breath. Its brown eyes were now soft, a far cry from the wide fear it was a few short weeks ago. She motioned for the horse to turn to her which it did with grace, calmly waiting for her next command. She smiled in approval before brushing her hand on its sweaty neck.

She had been training horses all morning to keep her mind off of Colt. It was all in the attorney's hands and she trusted he would do everything he could. But waiting was the hard part. She pulled out her phone for the hundredth time to see she hadn't missed any calls or text messages. She sighed, shoving the phone back in her pocket before she grabbed the lead rope hanging by the gate. She turned back to the horse to latch the lead rope on when she saw its calm eyes grow wider, his ears perked up as his neck stretched higher.

"Golden Boy, I don't know why you are –"

She stopped in mid-sentence realizing he wasn't acting that way over the lead rope. Something must have caught his eye behind her. She turned to look behind her when something sharp hit her across the face. Just as her vision grew dark and she felt her body collapse, she heard the horse neigh in fright. Blackness consumed her.