First Episode

The Cost of Power is set in an alternative universe from the main Martiniere Legacy series. In this book, I take a closer look at the mind control technology and…the relationship between Gabe and his father Philip ends up being different.

Additionally, Gabe tells Ruby who he really is much, much earlier than in the main Martiniere Legacy series.

Most of all, I’m freeforming this story. I somewhat know where it’s going to go, but how it unfolds depend on what happens with Gabe, Philip, Ruby, and Justine once they get on a roll in this particular setting.

Enjoy! This is part one of Chapter Two. There will be three parts to this chapter.

July, 2033

RUBY

Ruby Barkley looked around surreptitiously before contemplating the limited selection of pregnancy tests in the Lakeside Food Stretcher pharmacy section.

No one familiar around. Good.

She brushed a strand of her shoulder-length red hair out of her face before concentrating on the tests. Damn fine hair, always working free even if she pinned it up on a hot day like today.

Gossip got around the small town of Lakeside pretty darn fast. Ruby hadn’t ordered the test online because she didn’t want Gabe or Gramps finding the test in the mail. But even though it was prime tourist season and mid-afternoon, there were still enough Thunder County locals in the Food Stretcher who might run gossiping to those who would eventually pass the exciting news to Gabe. Or Gramps.

Oh, she could have driven the seventy miles to Grande City for anonymity. Perhaps used the excuse of buying a special supplement for her palomino mare Sunshine, to calm her before the Thunder County Days Rodeo coming up in a couple of weeks. Sunshine often bucked her way through barrel racing patterns, but settled in breakaway roping and team roping. The chain feed store in Grande City carried that supplement while the local co-op didn’t.

All the same, Gabe would wonder why she wanted to make a special trip—alone. Normally they used trips to Grande City as an excuse for an impromptu date, even if it was just phô at the Happy Flower Asian fusion restaurant near the University campus. He would fret that something major was wrong with her. Ruby had noticed the worried looks he had been giving her the past few weeks. But she hadn’t wanted to say anything, because God only knew, she’d probably start her period in the next week or so.

Yeah.

She had been telling herself that for weeks. Possibly just her endometriosis raising its ugly head. Now she had missed a second period, and there was no sign of it happening anytime soon. Ten weeks since her last period. And she usually didn’t go through nausea when she skipped a period or two. Not like she was experiencing now.

Plus something was eating at Gabe. Restlessness after being rooted down for four years, or something else? He got occasional infusions of money from somewhere, usually after a solitary trip to Pendleton for ranch supplies, or to help their friend Craig Yellowhawk on his Moondance Ranch. Gabe talked about finally starting a biobot lab so they could develop their own line of nanobiobots to monitor field conditions. However, he was edgier and more paranoid than ever about Martiniere indenture bounty hunters. She would much rather Gabe pay off his indenture obligation, however much that would cost—but no, he kept putting money into the Double R. Whatever its source was.

Absolute worst time for a pregnancy.

Ruby picked up the test with the best online reviews from those available and dropped it into her shopping cart. She moved down the aisle and covered it with a box of panty liners.

Just in time, because her neighbor and former rodeo queen advisor, Vickie Chandler, turned down the aisle. Ruby glanced down quickly to ensure the test was still obscured by the panty liner box.

“Hey, Ruby, how’s your summer going?”

Running into friends and neighbors at the Food Stretcher always required taking the time to visit.

Ruby swallowed hard. “We’re gearing up for the Rodeo. Gabe and I have been practicing roping, and I’m hoping this new supplement will keep Sunshine from bucking her way through the barrels.”

Vickie shook her head, smiling. “I tell you, that mare may be fast, but she doesn’t like the barrels. I had one just like her when I was your age. That’s what caught Mike’s eye. Young women and bucking barrel horses.” She chuckled, and Ruby joined her.

After all, she and Gabe had gotten together under similar circumstances.

“If I had money, I’d try breeding Sunshine,” Ruby said. “A foal might settle her, and she’s sufficiently well-bred, and won enough that her baby would carry value.”

“Probably. And maybe just a couple more years riding her will make a difference. She’s what—eight? Nine?”

“Ten.”

Vickie rolled her eyes. “How could I forget? Oh well. Hey.” She glanced around and lowered her voice. “Some of us are getting pretty fed up with the lack of law enforcement from Jesse Rivers outside of the towns. We’re talking about forming a neighborhood watch—call it the Home Guard or something like that since Rivers has a major bee in his bonnet about neighborhood watches. You and Gabe interested?”

“Probably just me. Gabe’s still trying to lay low.” Ruby grimaced. Jesse Rivers had been the Thunder County sheriff for most of her life. He dispensed law enforcement with a weighted hand, and was more friendly to her Barkley relatives than to the Ryders.

Vickie knew that Gabe was hiding out from indenture bounty hunters so Ruby didn’t need to say more. He had already skittered off to the Chandler Ranch on horseback a couple of times when spooked by unfamiliar vehicles on the ranch road.

“You gonna get him to make an honest woman out of you one of these days?” Vickie’s grin lightened her words. It was almost a joke between her and Ruby anymore. Gabe had lingered in the shadows during Ruby’s reign as Miss Rodeo Oregon, staying out of sight when she tried out for Miss Rodeo America, despite Vickie’s encouragement that he make an appearance. That was when Ruby quietly told Vickie about Gabe’s status.

All the same, given current circumstances—

Ruby shrugged. “There’s issues.”

“Eh, he’s a good man. He’s proven it over the last four years. Well, tell Gabe that he’s welcome to be a silent participant. We can use him. He’s handy with fists and weapons, and there may come a time when we need him.”

“I’ll let him know.”

Vickie glanced down, and Ruby realized that the panty liner box had shifted slightly so that the pregnancy test was visible. She rested a hand on Ruby’s arm. “However things turn out, Ruby, keep us in mind, okay?”

“I will.”

Previous episode

Share

Leave a comment