Legacy Reborn

Chapter One

Nothing ever happens in small towns.

The thought brought a wry twist of a smile to CJ O'Shea's mouth as he steered the truck around another pothole in the gravel road.

Most people considered him a big-city attorney who thrived on social causes. Yet today he was delivering food and supplies to his family hiding out in an underground cavern while what was left of Halo, Oregon sat boarded up like a ghost town.

CJ veered to the left, circling a lake that surrounded the ruins of a stone monastery guarding the caverns where his family was hidden. The road was nothing but a dirt track here. A dirt track showing signs of recent traffic.

With a frown, CJ downshifted. As the truck slowed, he rolled down the window and listened.

All was quiet. Too quiet.

The hairs on the back of his neck stiffened, an instinct honed growing up with a policeman father and brothers who followed in his long blue shadow. CJ slowed the truck to a crawl and opened the glove box, retrieving the pistol he had stashed there.

He rounded the far edge of the lake and stopped a short distance from the opening to the caverns. As he slipped out of the truck, the heat of midday settled around him.

A smattering of trees grew near the edge of the lake, but offered no protective cover. Near the tunnel opening, CJ dropped to his hands and knees in the tall grass-like reeds and moved slowly forward.

A gutteral moan froze him in place. A man's body lay near the tunnel, stirring as if from a long sleep.

Patrick. CJ's voice hissed through clenched teeth as he now crab-walked quickly toward his brother.

What the hell happened? CJ's fingers found the knot on the side of Patrick's head.

Armed men...took Tallie... Patrick pushed himself to sit, bracketing his head between his fists. Others...don't know...

The rumble of an approaching vehicle drew a curse from CJ. Let's get inside.

Stumbling and crawling, the two men lurched into the mouth of the cave.

Patrick! A woman's nearly hysterical voice broke the stillness of the day.

Claudia... Patrick's voice came out in a croak.

It may be a trap, CJ said. I'm going to circle behind them.

As CJ disappeared into the tall reeds once more, several women ran toward the tunnel, followed by a bow-legged older man. The cavalry had arrived--in the form of women, children, pets and a crusty old rancher.

~ * ~

The call Phoenix Ash had dreaded since the last building was boarded up in her hometown had come in. Randall Weston and his cronies were closing in on Halo.

Ironically, her life flashed before her eyes. A childhood with a timid mother and a father who mostly ignored her existence. Her teenaged years when she tried pretty much anything with anybody to gain attention. A desperate relationship with an abusive man who tried to control every detail of her life.

And the night Charlene was killed saving Phoenix's life.

Please give me one-tenth of your courage, Char, Phoenix whispered as she walked through the farmhouse she loved, spreading the word to the other residents.

They had practiced this moment for weeks. Dreaded yet anticipated its coming. One last, give-it-all attempt to save their town from the criminals who had wielded control several decades earlier. Taking over Halo once more would allow those crooks to reap the wealth in a vein of gold recently uncovered when most of the town was destroyed with dynamite.

We may not come back, Phoenix warned each person. You can stay here if you want.

No one even considered that option.

Phoenix was proud of her ragtag band as they clambered into the farm truck with their makeshift weapons. An older man beaten to the edge of simplicity by these same criminals many years before was armed with a pitchfork and a whip. A middle-aged woman who had appeared at the farm requesting sanctuary and quietly made herself indispensable tucked a handgun into the waistband of her jeans and carried a rope with a lasso. And a handful of abused women on the run were armed with iron frying pans and kitchen knives.

Let's roll! Phoenix shouted as she shoved the truck into gear.

On the road to Halo, they joined the caravan of their neighbors, armed with whatever weapons they had, shouting encouragement to each other as they sped toward the little town they had called home for so many years.

Those in the caravan grew somber as the jagged structures of the town came into view. Partially constructed shops had been boarded up and abandoned several weeks before in a last-ditch plan to salvage their small-town way of life.

In the hot, dry air of this summer day, they heard nothing but the rumble of their own vehicles. Were they too late?

Then came a thunderous ke-rash and the shouted order, Hands up where I can see them!

The caravan became vocal once more, moving rapidly toward the Victorian House on the west side of Celestial Creek. With turrets pointing proudly toward the clouds, the house stood as solid as it had been since being built by the town's founder a century and a half ago.

The curved driveway in front of Waring House soon became clogged with Halo citizens pouring out of their vehicles to surround a group of men standing in the splintered remains of the Victorian's front porch.

~ * ~

A modern warrior woman, CJ thought as the farm truck rumbled by. The woman's blonde hair streamed out the open driver's window as she shouted encouragement to the assorted vehicles crowded with Halo citizens speeding along the road toward their hometown.

After a moment, CJ realized the blonde was Phoenix Ash, the usually buttoned-down director of the local domestic violence center. Today, she displayed a core of passion beneath the common sense country exterior of jeans, boots and hair swept back in a ponytail.

His attention was jolted back to the business of rounding up criminals as the old rancher shouted, There's another one.

A disheveled commando stepped hesitantly onto the edge of the road with his hands in the air. CJ's brother, Patrick, jumped down from the truck, stripped him of his weapons and tied his hands together. A sharp nudge herded him into the stock trailer with several of his compadres who had been gathered as the informal posse made their way toward Halo.

They arrived in the little town shortly after the other O'Shea brothers had rammed the porch of the Victorian house with an armored vehicle. Armed men who thought they could walk in and take over the town had been trapped in the splintered structure.

Halo's citizens grinned broadly, hugging each other and slapping high-fives, as the mayor's husband helped her onto the bumper of the armored vehicle. I'm proud of all of you! The courage and determination of Halo citizens is unmatched. Today is a new beginning for our town. And I say we are going to have the biggest celebration this part of the country has ever known!

The crowd cheered long and loud and when the applause died down, the house's owner added, After you O'Shea boys rebuild my porch.

While the citizens laughed, the oldest O'Shea brother and county sheriff, Collin, confronted CJ and Patrick. What the hell took you so long to get here?

Picked up some hitchhikers along the way. Patrick indicated the commandos tied up in the stock trailer.

Thank God you're alive. Thank God. Collin slung an arm around CJ and Patrick and hung on for a few moments. Then he said gruffly, We'd better get Charlie's porch rebuilt.

While the O'Shea siblings were rebuilding the porch, an informal construction crew removed the boards from the windows at Waring House. Inside, another crew scrubbed down the Blue Moon Café so the cooks among the crowd could fix a feast.

Everyone pitched in to set up a family-style buffet, which turned into an all-night celebration. When anyone grew sleepy, they curled up in a blanket or homemade quilt, surrounded by the non-stop conversations of family and neighbors.

After gathering a plate of food, CJ made sure he sat next to the woman warrior, Phoenix, who intrigued him as no woman ever had.

~ * ~

Phoenix shifted in the straight-backed wooden chair as CJ sat next to her. She had never fallen in instant lust with a man--before now. This was most inconvenient, seeing as how she had vowed not to become involved with any man for the rest of this lifetime. Her relationships with men had caused enough sorrow to last a couple centuries.

She was not going to make an exception for CJ O'Shea.

As discussion turned to those who had been arrested in this attempt to take over Halo, Phoenix found herself drawn to CJ's impassioned advocacy for those who had been victims of these criminals. The original crimes centered around a baby-selling ring, and later expanded to include black market prescription drugs and other crimes.

The baby-selling ring generated the most discussion as it had operated out of Halo for quite a number of years. CJ's adoptive father had been framed for murdering a woman in an effort to blackmail him into becoming part of the ring. Instead, the Irish temper that earned Bernie so much trouble gave him the backbone to stand up to the ringleaders and clean most of them out of Halo.

Until Bernie was killed on the job.

However, Bernie's legacy did not die with him. It lived on in his widow and eight adopted children.

Phoenix could certainly see Bernie's fire in CJ's compassion for the victims of the baby-selling ring. Some of the women, like Patrick's birth mother, had sold their children for profit. But most of the mothers had been duped or forced to give up their children. Some even brutally left to die after their baby was taken from them.

These men profited from the suffering of many innocent women and children, CJ said. Some of these criminals may only spend a short time in jail and then go on to enjoy their ill-gotten wealth. I want to explore what legal action could freeze the assets of these perpetrators and provide some monetary compensation to those who suffered.

A way to even the playing field so the bullies didn't have an advantage, Phoenix thought. So many times she had been frustrated at the unfairness of a life that favored those who used their physical strength to intimidate and control others. In fact, Phoenix had spent a number of her younger years in such a situation.

In spite of her admiration for CJ, she was determined to keep him at a distance. However, with CJ in Halo instead of miles away at his law office in Seattle, keeping him at