President Barker was under enormous pressure to cancel Texas secession plans, at least for the time being. The military build-up along the Texas border continued.
The investor group Marty met with turned out to be a bunch of Yankee lawyers he was sure didn’t know anything at all about the involvement of the former U.S. president or the Chinese. They were simply paid shills. Nevertheless, he proceeded to tell them exactly what he thought they wanted to know, that they were free to conduct business with any of the leaseholders in Texas that cared to do business with them. After that came more waiting.
Late the following afternoon, he got a phone call that sent shivers down his spine. Raymond’s sister called. She said Raymond and Sheila never came home the night before and she couldn’t reach either of them on their cellphones.
Marty contacted Pat and Rick just to keep them informed, and to warn them to be careful. After all, they had a brand-new baby to worry about. He then called Sammy and De and asked them to come to Austin right away.
Knowing what he did about the Chinese they were dealing with, Marty knew his two friends didn’t have much chance if the foreigners had them. He also knew that, in the case of a kidnapping, Sheila and Raymond had to be found quickly if they were to have any chance at all.
After talking it over with Sammy and De, Marty instructed his secretary to call Raymond and Sheila’s cellphones every fifteen minutes until they were found. His thinking was that if the capitol switchboard phone number showed up on caller ID, one of the captors might get cold feet. They had nothing to lose with this strategy.
* * *
“So, you’ve decided to go ahead with the plan to take the tall Texan, Mr. President?” asked AG Smart.
“Yes, I have,” Jackson said. “Do you know people who can capture him without getting caught?”
“We have people on their way to the Ramos ranch now, sir.” Smart sat on the corner of Jackson’s desk. “There’s an abandoned mine office building south of the small town of Sanderson. We have access to it, and we can keep him there as long as needed. We can dispose of him any way you want to without anyone ever knowing a thing.”
“Yeah, ‘best laid plans’ and all that,” Jackson sneered. “You just hold him until we find out what Texas government and law enforcement knows. See that nothing happens to him until I tell you different, do you understand, Smart?”
“Yes, sir.” The AG flashed a smirk that belied his words. “I understand. I’ll let my guys know that.”
“Nothing better happen to Ramos without my knowledge and approval,” the former president stated. “And I do mean nothing!”