As Isabel was drifting into dreamland back at the hacienda, Tyler was sitting on his horse watching one of the true money makers of the ranch repetitiously perform its tireless duty. Lola was happily grazing on the acres of lush grass that surrounded the small fenced enclosure, as pump jack number nineteen slowly nodded up and down. Nineteen was one of twenty seven pump jacks that dotted the ranch. The jack completed three hundred cycles an hour, with the upstroke bringing two gallons of emulsion (a mixture of oil and water) out of the ground. The water was removed in underground settlement tanks and used for irrigation; the crude oil was piped to huge storage tanks located near the truck stop. The pump jacks ran one day a week and sat idle the other six days as emulsion seeped back into the pool at the bottom of the well shaft. Even though the jacks only ran one day a week, after the water was removed, each well netted about one hundred barrels of sweet Texas crude oil a week. The twenty-five hundred barrels of oil the ranch pumped each week brought in a pot full of money.
The jacks were electric powered. The power was generated by a wind farm and photovoltaic solar array. The two hundred wind turbines and acres of solar cells produced enough electricity to power one hundred thousand single family homes. It was Cora Leigh's perspicacity that made the wind and solar panel farm a shrewd investment. She took advantage of energy tax credits, alternative fuel grants, and incentives from Texas Power and Light Company to finance seventy percent of the project. In three more years, the power farm was slated to have paid for itself by selling excess capacity to the power company, while still providing all the electricity needed by the ranch and truck stop.
Quite literally, watching the 'donkey head' nod up and down was like watching money being printed. However that wasn't the reason he was smiling as he watched pump jack nineteen. No, he was smiling because nineteen was painted to resemble a pink flamingo, and when it was in operation, it appeared as if the flamingo was dipping his head in a pool of water. Cora Leigh had painted all of the pump jacks on the ranch to mimic some animal or bird. There were Toucans, Parrots, mules, and even one painted to resemble Lola. Cora Leigh had kept him busy for months helping her paint and cut plywood to camouflage the A-frames and counter weights of the jacks.
Tyler sighed and gently tugged Lola back on their lonely patrol. Tonight had been a good night so far, in that he hadn't seen a single person trying to cross his property. It was near one thirty in the morning when he reached the far eastern end of his route and turned back towards the hacienda. He'd ridden about three miles when he caught sight of the flash of a cigarette lighter in the direction of the small mesa where the old Mesquite tree stood. Clearly whoever was up there didn't understand the concept of light discipline, or they'd have known the flare of the cigarette lighter could be seen for miles. Tyler sighed and slipped on his night vision goggles as he clucked Lola into a trot. So much for his evening being a quiet one.
Tyler shifted the direction of his approach to the mesa so he wouldn't be silhouetted by the moon, and cautiously closed the distance. He was about a quarter of a mile away when he heard a woman scream. Tyler snatched his 30-30 lever action Winchester from its scabbard, jacked a round into the chamber and eased the hammer forward. With the Winchester across his lap, he spurred Lola forward at a fast canter. The time for stealth ended with the woman's scream. Amazingly, when Tyler galloped over the crest of the mesa, his sudden appearance caught the Coyotes completely by surprise, as they had been entirely focused on ripping the clothes off a struggling young woman. Tyler pulled back on Lola's reins and she slid to a halt. He pulled the hammer back on the Winchester and pointed it at the three startled men. The night vision goggles gave his face a frightening countenance that scared the Coyotes as thoroughly as the big Winchester. For a split second the men thought that El Diablo, the devil himself, had ridden up on them.
"Put your hands up and back away from the woman you bastards, or die where you stand!" he thundered angrily in Spanish.
The men took his threat to heart, raised their hands above their heads, and stepped backwards. Tyler slid out of the saddle, keeping his rifle pointed at the chest of the man in the center. Tyler scanned around him as he walked towards the trussed up, naked and sobbing young woman and noticed two other women tied to the Mesquite Tree. He walked to the tree, took his Buck folding knife out of its case one-handed, and flipped it open. He cut one of the women loose, never taking his attention from the three men, and handed her the knife.
"Cut your friend free and tend to the girl on the ground while I take care of these gusanos, (worms)" he instructed the freed woman, again in flawless Spanish.
When the frightened woman scurried to do his bidding, Tyler walked over to the Coyotes. When he was standing in front of the man he judged to be the leader of the group, he uncocked his rifle, changed his grip on the stock, and delivered a vicious horizontal butt stroke right between the man's eyes. The man dropped like a rock, clutching his broken nose. Ty backed up a step and loudly cocked the rifle one more time.
"Take out any weapons you have and strip. Make it fast," he ordered.
The men threw down a couple of dangerous looking hunting knives and a small automatic pistol, before they started shucking their clothes. Tyler backed them up, then went through their clothing. He kept their wallets and kicked their clothes over towards the tree.
"Get off my property now; go back the way you came. If I ever catch you here again, I will personally castrate each of you, comprende?"
The men nodded vigorously and took off at a brisk pace, naked as jaybirds. Ty watched them walk down the hill and start across the desert towards the south. When he was sure they were gone, he turned to the cowering women. Now that the Coyotes had been dispatched, he looked at the women closely for the first time. They were all beautiful and clearly related to one another. In fact, two of them appeared to be identical twins. He guessed they were in there late teens to early twenties. He asked them their names. The twins were Tina and Gina, the other woman was their cousin Doria.
Tyler pulled his Nextel off his hip, and using the two-way radio feature, called the two wranglers who had night duty. At night, his men were 'windshield cowboys' as they patrolled the ranch in a big four-wheel drive Ford F-350 pickup. A brawny all terrain vehicle (ATV) sat in the cargo bed of the pickup so the cowboys could navigate the draws, dried stream beds and gulches that crisscrossed the ranch. The night wranglers kept tabs on the three separate herds of cattle and guarded them from predators, both two and four legged. The cowboys also corralled any illegals that they came upon. The drovers acknowledged that they would pick up a horse trailer for Lola while on the way to his location. Ty helped the women gather up their meager possessions and walked them out to the road that ran around the perimeter of the ranch.
Tyler was in a quandary about what to do with the women. He couldn't in good conscience dump them at the edge of his property, not after what they'd been through tonight. He couldn't help them smuggle themselves into the country illegally either, doing that would be counter to the whole purpose of guarding his ranch. As he mulled over the problem, he surreptitiously studied the three women. He was surprised at the attraction he felt for them, especially Doria. Ty decided the attraction was based on the fact that the women, especially Doria, bore an uncanny resemblance to Lupe when he first met her. As the thought of Lupe flitted across his mind, he smiled in relief. Of course! Lupe and his Abuela would know exactly what to do with the young women.
It took a while for his night wranglers to make an appearance, so Tyler talked to the young women as they waited. He was impressed with them, in spite if their inauspicious first meeting. Even though they were scared and traumatized by the events of the evening, he could tell they were smart and sweet natured. He couldn't help but ask them what they thought they would accomplish entering the country illegally. They were quick to reply that they had all been promised jobs at a hotel in Chicago. Based on the research he'd done, Tyler was fairly certain that the promised jobs would have ended up with the women becoming unwilling prostitutes.
It was almost four in the morning by the time the truck pulled up in front of the house. Tyler instructed the wranglers to unsaddle Lola and put her in the barn then see if they could find the rest of the illegals that had been with the women. The coyotes had sent the rest of the party on towards the highway while they perpetrated the rapes. The twenty-five Mexicans were probably wandering around aimlessly somewhere near the Interstate.
The big beautiful Spanish Revival house impressed the women. They were big eyed in wonder at its size and splendor. The rambling hacienda was large, but it was comfortable rather than pretentious. McGuinns did not flaunt their wealth. Tyler led them into the kitchen, pulled a soda out of the fridge for each of them, and showed them the powder room. When he had them comfortable, he headed off towards his grandmothers wing of the house. He hated to do it, but he woke up Lupe. He didn't have a clue as to getting the women situated for the night, and Senora Peron, the housekeeper and cook, wouldn't be in until nine.
Senora Peron was the only person working at the hacienda full time. However, Ty had a professional cleaning service in once a week. He tried to hire more staff and a nurse for Isabel, but his Abuela was adamant that Lupe and Senora Peron were all the help they needed. "I am just old, Tyler McGuinn," she'd admonished him, "not dead. I am still capable of taking care of myself."
Lupe woke up quickly, slipped on a robe, and took charge as soon as Ty told her what happened. The three young women were much relieved to be dealing with another woman. Lupe had a way about her that put everyone she met at ease. Tyler gladly left the women in Lupe's care as he headed for bed. He was heartened to hear them all giggling as Lupe made them comfortable in two of the guest rooms. Sleep alluded Ty at first as his thoughts were on the three young women and the events of the night. What was keeping Ty awake was the sense that he knew the women somehow, even though he'd never met them before. He also had the distinct impression that he'd been in similar confrontations with armed outlaws before.
He'd been having little snippets of deja-vu all his life, but they were coming more and more often over the last year and all of the incidents had the feel of an old John Wayne cowboy movie. Tonight, he'd known exactly how to handle the situation as if he'd done it before. Hell, even the things he'd said came out of his mouth as if it was scripted. Tyler's mind dredged up similar incidents from his past and tried to find a pattern to them. As he thought back it struck him that his near refusal to leave the ranch was more because he wanted nothing to do with the modern world than it was to Cora Leigh's death. Ty didn't know it but the same sense of being a misfit in time that plagued his first twentieth century self was now affecting him.
Ty was up the next morning at ten as was his habit. Six hours of sleep was all he ever needed. As soon as he was showered and dressed, he wandered into the kitchen to cadge a cup of java from Senora Peron. Gloria Peron was a matronly looking, heavy set woman in her late fifties. Her husband was the ranch's maintenance foreman and the couple had been working for his grandmother even longer than Lupe. She kissed him on the cheek and told him to sit while she poured him a mug of coffee. Gloria doted on Ty as much as his grandmother and Lupe. She had been a fixture in his life since he was nine years old.
Ty picked up the newspaper off the table and was scanning the front page. He was goggle-eyed as he read an article that reported the US Supreme Court took for consideration the appeal of a convicted murderer sitting on death row. The man was an illegal from Mexico convicted of raping, torturing and murdering two teenage girls. His argument for appeal was that, as a citizen of Mexico, he should be tried under Mexican law since Mexico didn't have a death penalty. Tyler understood why the man wanted to try to save his neck and he could even see the Mexican government weighing in on the matter. What boggled his mind, though, was that the US Justice Department was weighing in on the side of the convict. As he sat there stewing, Isabel walked into the kitchen. Ty jumped up to hold her chair for her as she sat down across the table from him.
"Good morning, Abuela," he greeted her.
"Good morning, Corazon," she responded. Then with a grin she continued, "You had a busy night. All this time we thought you were protecting the rancho, now we find out that you were really out picking up women."
Tyler laughed and related the story of how he'd met the girls and his reasoning for bringing them home with him. Isabel nodded her understanding and said she'd talk with them when they were up and about. Ty thanked her and dug into the heaping plate of chilies rellenos that Gloria slid in front of him. He stayed for a few minutes after he finished his breakfast yakking with his grandmother, then he excused himself and went looking for his foreman. The quarterly auction was only a couple of weeks away and Ty wanted to make sure the five hundred head of cattle were moved into the feed lots to fatten them up. Buyers for the big meat packing companies paid top dollar for McGuinn beef because the cattle were fed a natural diet and weren't pumped full of growth hormones.
While Ty was busy being a rancher, Isabel was sitting in her parlor with the three women Ty rescued. Lupe and Gloria Peron were with her also. Isabel was pleasantly surprised that the three young women were distantly related to her. Of course, her family had been in this part of the country for over three hundred years, so it was hard to sling a dead cat and not hit a relation or two, regardless of which side of the border you stood when you started flinging. It took Isabel only a few minutes and even fewer questions to establish where they shared common ancestry. All three girls were descended from a first cousin of her great aunt, Maria Lopez.
Maria was prominently mentioned in Grandfather Ty Ringo's El Paso journal. Maria had married Diego Acevedo, the son of a wealthy Mexican family who once owned part of the Ranch of the Angels. Maria and Diego had five children. One of their three sons moved to the Mexican State of Chihuahua and started a family there. Each succeeding generation of that family fell on harder times until in desperation the three women talking to her had signed on with an 'employment agency' that promised jobs in the United States.
Isabel knew immediately that she'd help the young women, they were family, after all. She had another reason that also had to do with family and that was her grandson. Isabel thought that having these three lovely and lively young women around might just be the medicine Tyler needed. She had Lupe take the girls to town to pick them up some clothes, then lifted the phone off its cradle and placed a call.
Across town, at the law offices of Owens, Trevino and Sizemore, the private line of the firm's senior partner emitted its distinctive warble. Nicholas Owens smiled when he saw the name on the screen of his Caller ID and snatched up the instrument.
"Good afternoon, Isabel, this is a pleasant surprise," he said cheerfully.
"Hi Nicky, How is your family?"
Owens grin grew bigger; she was the only person in the world who would even presume to call him Nicky and get away with it. She started calling him Nicky forty years ago when he was a callow youth just starting his career. One of his first assignments with his Father's law firm was to deliver some journals and a letter to her. A week later she invited him to dinner. Nick could not believe how beautiful she looked that evening. He knew she was almost fifty-years-old; yet, her long glossy black hair, slender body and pretty face would have been the envy of a woman in her thirties.
The dinner was excellent but it paled in comparison to the pleasure of Isabel's company. She was very intelligent and a marvelous conversationalist. She had a sharp wit and a wicked sense of humor; by the time desert was served, Nick was thoroughly and completely seduced. After the meal, she took him by the hand and led him to her bedroom. Nick staggered out of the house at two in the morning with a completely different attitude about sex than when he arrived. Nick was good looking and charming so he'd had his fair share of lovers. He thought he knew something about sex, but Isabel disabused him of that notion in her big canopied bed over the course of one memorable evening. He had never been more satisfied in his life.
Two days later, Nick's grandfather called him into his office and informed him that, at the request of Mrs. McGuinn, he was now her personal attorney. Isabel as his patron, combined with his own abilities, led Nicholas Owens to a full partner based on billable hours, in fewer than five years. He and Isabel continued an infrequent but still torrid physical relationship for two years, until Nick met and fell in love with his wife, Charlotte. Ironically, Isabel had introduced him to Charlotte at a charity dance. Isabel was still a close and valued friend of the Owens and the godmother of their youngest daughter. He filled her in on the latest family events.
"Mostly fine, although Amanda is suffering the blues from the breakup of her marriage. She moved back home with us until the divorce is final," he answered.
Amanda was Nick's youngest daughter and Isabel's godchild. Isabel had a flash of inspiration and passed it on to Nick.
"Maybe Mandy needs to visit us at the ranch for a few days; she and Ty could console each other."
Nick laughed and teasingly said, "Don't you ever tire of playing matchmaker?"
Isabel returned his laugh, "Hey, it worked with you and Charlotte, didn't it?"
After sharing a few more minutes of pleasant conversation, Isabel laid out the problem of the three girls staying at her house. She told Nick her idea of hiring all three to work at the hacienda and asked about bringing them into the country legally. Owens, Trevino, and Sizemore didn't have an immigration attorney on staff, but Nick knew who the best in town was. In the end, Nick agreed that his firm would spearhead the effort to lend the venture more clout. He would personally oversee the case to insure it was treated with the proper urgency.
True to his word, Nick had an immigration attorney at the hacienda by four that afternoon. An hour later, the attorney departed with everything he needed to process their applications. Once the papers were filed, Nick would use his considerable influence to expedite the process of obtaining the women work visas.
Ty arrived back at the hacienda soon after the attorney departed and listened as his grandmother filled him in on what she'd done. Ty wasn't that surprised at his grandmother's actions; he knew her well enough to take on faith that she was doing the right thing. He felt even surer of that during dinner as he talked with the women. They were even sharper than his first impression and they were funny as hell to boot. It had been years since he had laughed as much as he had that evening. Ty could also tell that the young women felt an attraction towards him similar to what he felt for them. The feelings were somewhat surprising to all of the young people but Lupe and Isabel knew it was Lopez-McGuinn magic and they exchanged knowing looks. He enjoyed the evening enough that he delayed his night patrol until the women headed to bed.
Of course, Lupe helped him make his decision to wait to ride the fence line when she let him know she would enjoy his company later that night. The byplay at the dinner table had Lupe as excited as Tyler was so their lovemaking was incendiary. Afterward, they were both lying on their backs, her head nestled in his shoulder as they regained their breath. Lupe broke their contented silence.
"You probably could have talked Doria into spending the evening with you like this had you tried," she said.
Ty shrugged and pulled her closer. "I felt the attraction but I picked the prettiest girl instead," he replied.
Lupe snorted and punched him in the arm. "Get out of here, you sweet liar, I'm old, fat and unattractive compared to them," she said derisively.
Ty laughed and swatted her on her ass. Lupe Lopez Martinez was only about five foot two and weighed maybe one twenty. Her figure was plushly feminine, yet toned and fit.
"You are curvy and experienced, and you know exactly how good you look and how sexy you are, so quit fishing for compliments."
Lupe was not only sexy looking; she was also an imaginative and passionate lover. After they had worn each other out, they lay cuddled up in her queen-sized four poster bed and talked about the women he'd rescued. Lupe agreed with Ty that the girls would be great company for all of them and would liven up the rancho. Ty stayed with her for another twenty minutes and then went back to his own wing of the hacienda. As he prepared for bed, he once again marveled that Lupe had never married. She was one hell of a fine woman and she never lacked for suitors. He'd asked her about it a few times in the past and her stock answer was that she had never met a man she wanted more than she did her independence.
The following morning, Isabel asked Ty to show the girls around the ranch, especially the stables and horse operation. Ty was pleasantly surprised that all three women were experienced riders and trainers. Doria explained that they had all learned on the rancho where her father had been the chief vaquero. The rancho Doria's father worked on had been sold to a group of investors who closed the livestock operation and subdivided the land into smaller parcels. Since most of the family worked on the rancho, it put them all in a bind financially. Doria's brother was already in the states working construction in Florida and sending money home. The three of them decided that they needed to do the same thing.
It was another enjoyable day and evening for all of them as the women were even better company as they felt more comfortable with Ty, Isabel and Lupe. Their irrepressible presence seemed to put some pep in everyone. Ty shook his head in wonder that even his Abuela joined in their giggling gabfests. Ty did leave them at ten that night to make his rounds, but he only stayed out until two in the morning so he'd be awake to see them off when they left the next day.
Ty stood on the wide front porch of the hacienda as the women drove away the next morning and admitted to himself that he was looking forward to their return. Lupe drove the girls back across the border and took them home. The process for crossing the border into Juarez was much easier than crossing in the other direction. Lupe flashed her ID, surreptitiously handed the border guard a c-note, and drove on through. Doria and the twins' families both lived in a small five room apartment in a town about fifty miles southwest of Juarez. Lupe sat down with their mothers and explained the family connection and what Isabel was offering. To the two older women it was as if their daughters had hit the lottery. Lupe left the mothers with some money she explained as an advance on their salary while the paperwork processed and she gave the girls a cell phone so they could keep in touch.
Life settled back to normal but the girls were a topic of conversation at the dinner table that evening as everyone admitted they missed their infectious laughter. Tyler hung out with his grandmother and Lupe until eleven then headed out.
As he rode away from the hacienda, Tyler thought about the fence he had contracted to be built across the southern edge of his property. The fence, if it ever received approval from the county building department, would make his night patrols unnecessary. The fence would cost a quarter of a million dollars a mile but it would turn away even the most determined illegals.
Tyler had designed the fence and incorporated some unusual features that were giving the building department fits. The new fence was ten feet tall chain link with three strands of barbed wire at the top. It would be built fifteen feet inside of the existing four strand barbed wire cattle fence. The area in between the two fences was where the building department balked at the design because it would be covered with tangle-foot (crisscrossed barbed wire strung low to the ground that made it virtually impossible to walk through or crawl under).