The Promise

By Tall Paul

The saga of Delayed Departure continues with this book, The Promise. The Promise begins where Delayed Departure ended. Backed into a corner to not leave the ranch but wanting to find her father, Addi Drury sets off on a life-or-death adventure. As in Delayed Departure, the handmade knife, the queen of diamonds, and in this book, a pewter unicorn figurine play significant roles in Addi's quest to find her father and bring him back home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665528528

Tall Paul

Paul Drury, also known as Tall Paul, is a mountain man and author who lives off grid in the mountains of Northwest Colorado. He is author of the book, Nothin' but Try, The Shane Drury story, as well as The Promise, which is the sequel to Delayed Departure.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

BAD NEWS

As C. Wyatt is out doing his morning chores, he hears a helicopter in the distance. The sound gets closer and closer until finally he sees it. The helicopter circles and then lands in the pasture. As C. Wyatt approaches the helicopter, a three star general gets out and greets him by simply saying, Your country needs you.

What can I do for you, General? C. Wyatt asks, horse in tow as he walks closer to the stopped helicopter.

Mr. Drury, the General begins, we need to talk and this may take a while. Is there somewhere that we can sit and have a discussion?

Certainly, C. Wyatt responds, I’m a bit puzzled as to why you are here. We can go to the house, I’m sure Jenny has a pot of coffee on the stove, but I’ll need to put my horse up before I can go in.

The General simply nods, reaches in the helicopter for his briefcase and follows C. Wyatt to the barn. In the barn, C. Wyatt remarks, This must be pretty important stuff for the government to send a General here to talk to me. Does this have something to do with the assassination of the President?

We will talk in the house, the General replies, there is only so much that I am at liberty to disclose, but everything will be explained to you eventually.

Have it your way, General, C. Wyatt shrugs, so, let’s go to the house then. C. Wyatt leads the way to the house and not another word is spoken. Jenny has been watching out the window, wondering what all of this was about and amazed that a helicopter has landed in their pasture. Addi was tending cattle in the mountain pasture, and although she heard the sound of the helicopter, she otherwise ignored it.

Jenny pretends to be busy in the kitchen as if she didn’t notice the men coming to the house, and appears surprised when C. Wyatt begins to introduce the General.

Jenny, C. Wyatt says, this is General, a, I don’t believe I got your name General. C. Wyatt says turning to the General.

Dochler, the General replies, General Robert Dochler.

General Dochler, C. Wyatt continues, he is here to talk to us. I guess it’s pretty important if the government sends a General to talk to you. We haven’t had this much excitement since the late president was here. C. Wyatt turns back to the General and says, Have a seat General and Jenny will bring us some coffee. How do you take your coffee?

Straight out of the pot, the General responds as he takes a seat at the table and places his brief case on the floor, and the fact that you were friends with our late president is exactly the reason I am here.

Jenny places to cups on the table and fills them for the General and C. Wyatt. There you go General, Jenny says sliding his cup of coffee over to him.

Now General, I never said I was friends with the president, C. Wyatt counters.

The General reaches down, picks up his brief case, places it on the table and opens it. He reaches in and pulls out a file. Closing the brief case, setting it back on the floor and placing the file on the table, he taps it with his hand and says, I have all of your information right here in front of me Mr. Drury.

I don’t know what you have in that file, General, C. Wyatt states, but all of the information about me and my family was to be destroyed so that we could start a new life free of interference from outside sources.

Nothing the government does is ever completely erased, Mr. Drury, the General quips with a smile.

So, C. Wyatt states with a puzzled tone, you know all my information, that’s fine. What I don’t understand is what you want from me. It’s been a long time since I was in the military. I really don’t know what I can do for you.

It’s not for me, Mr. Drury, the General begins, it’s for your country.

I think I’ve done more than enough for my country, don’t you agree General? C. Wyatt asks.

Let me explain everything to you that I can, the General responds. You were an excellent sniper, not only that, but you had evasive skills that were second to no one. Reading your file, I truly can’t understand how you were able to do what you did, yet you were able to stay hidden from the Japanese while you were on Borneo. You were left behind and thought to be dead, which turned out to be false, yet no one can figure out how you were able to survive. Never the less, you did and that’s what brings me here today. We would like, we need for you to instruct an outfit on how to survive in an occupied situation. This country is on the verge of entering another war, it will require knowledge of jungle warfare and you, Mr. Drury, are needed to train these men.

C. Wyatt replies, Surely, General, there are men other than myself that can train these men that you are referring too.

I wish I had your confidence, Mr. Drury, but I was sent here to recruit you for the job. They say there is no one more qualified, the General counters. Let me explain the entire operation to you, or at least as much as I am authorized. Your mission, I assure you will not involve you in any combat, it is totally a training mission. I doubt you would be away for more than 3 or 4 months.

Well, C. Wyatt ponders, let’s say I go along with this training mission. Who is going to take care of my ranch while I am away? I have my wife and one daughter. They both help out as much as they can, but they can’t run this ranch alone. My daughter is a good a hand as you will find anywhere, but it takes more than one person to run a ranch this size.

The General nods and states, yes, Mr. Drury, and we at the Pentagon have already discussed what issues you might have regarding leaving your ranch and family. There are a few soldiers that would rather be cowboys than soldiers and we are prepared to send them here to work the ranch for you for the short time that you will be gone. Now before you say anything, we are also aware of your daughter’s age and for her safety and your comfort, I am willing to make your daughter totally off limits to these soldiers.

C. Wyatt nearly spits out his coffee and replies, Off limits for her safety you say? Well General, I better let you know, that my Addi can out wit, out ride, out rope, out work and out shoot anyone in the territory. You had better tell them she is off limits for their safety.

The General nods, I see.

C. Wyatt continues, Now before I make any decisions, I am going to need some time to discuss this with my family, and should I decide to help you out, I will need a little bit of time to get everything in order.

Take whatever time you need Mr. Drury, the General replies, but let me add this. I am under direct orders from the President, and authorized to use whatever means necessary to assure your compliance. I will be sending men here in one week. There will be the men to work the ranch and the other men will be accompanying you to the training base. I would have preferred that you would come along voluntarily, but should you decide not too, I must tell you that you have never been discharged from the military and one way or another we will ascertain your cooperation. I hope I have made myself clear on this matter. The General stands up and says, I’ll see myself out. Taking his brief case, the General leaves the house, walks to the helicopter and departs.

C. Wyatt and Jenny take a long look at each other, C. Wyatt turns, walks out the door and stands on the porch to watch the helicopter depart. Jenny follows him out and rests her head on his shoulder. We’ll discuss all this tonight at supper after Addi gets home, C. Wyatt says sternly, she needs to know what’s going on here too.

The helicopter takes the General to Cheyenne, where he catches a plane back to Washington, D. C. When the General arrives in Washington, his car and driver are waiting there for him. As the General enters the car he says to the driver, Take me home, it’s been a long day.

Before moving the car, the driver turns to the General and states, My orders are to deliver you to the Whitehouse, sir. The President wants to speak with you immediately.

Damn, the General replies, very well.

The driver pulls up in front of the Whitehouse and stops to let the General out. The General steps out of the car, reaches back inside for his briefcase and then turns to go into the Whitehouse. The Whitehouse is pretty quiet at this time of night and the General’s footsteps can be heard for quite a way down the corridor. The President is in his office with the door open and he hears the General approach, so he waits by the open door for him to arrive.

Looking down the corridor, the President sees the General and says to him, Bob, glad you came right over. I know it’s late but I needed to know how everything went. Please come in and have a seat.

It didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked for it to go, Mr. President, the General begins. He was quite hesitant about taking on the assignment. As a matter of fact I had to put pressure on him and I’m still not sure. I told him that I would have men come for him in a week.

The President listens intently, without saying a word.

The General continues, I will need to assign two men to help on the ranch while he is away, so I told him I would be sending for men, two to stay on the ranch and two to escort him to the training base. I assured him that his daughter is off limits to the soldiers, his answer was quite comical. He indicated that they should be off limits for their protection, not hers.

Very good, the President replies smiling, I want you to send the two who will be staying on at the ranch here to meet with me. I will want to make sure they understand their assignment. You may want to consider sending two women soldiers considering he has a daughter.

Very well, Mr. President, the General states as he stands up from his chair. Is there anything else, sir?

Nothing more at this time, Bob, the President responds, I will send for you as I need you.

The General salutes and leaves.

Addi has returned from the mountain pastures and can tell there is something going on when she walks into the kitchen and sees her parents there waiting for her. Without hesitation she states, whatever it is, I’m not going to like it, am I? Just give it to me straight out.

C. Wyatt states, Well Addi, I got a visit from a General today and it seems they need me to assist in some top secret training mission. The way he laid it out, it doesn’t seem like I have any choice in the matter.

How can they do that after all that you have been through? Addi questions in protest. "There must be something you