Most people would have run screaming just at the reality of what I was, what I wanted, but you didn't. You hung in there, all of you hung in there for...me, and I love you for it." She let go of my hand and stepped back, "In fact, now that Amber is out of the way, I'd like to express my thanks on a more personal level. Who wants to be first?"Shannon immediately volunteered - big surprise. I quickly checked that Lizzy was still in session with her current patient so Allison and I went to the glade. There was a nagging red flag in my brain that cautioned me against trusting anyone in this neck of the woods because we were the outsiders and the "good old boys" with the long guns were the guys who paid the sheriff's salaries.We came up on a long low building that was crammed full of weed drying out for manufacture into dope for the city market. It certainly didn't look like there was a whole of law enforcement going on in this town and we looked at each other with that sinking feeling that. What you have to understand is the bosses of the Cartels didn’t get to be rich by being stupid… just by being immoral. They have access to mega bucks probably comparable to the economies of some Third World countries. They started hiring mercenaries. Guys with the same sort of training as me and my guys. We used to have a huge advantage in the fact that we had the skills the opposition didn’t have. That was wiped out almost overnight. Now the only advantage we had was the surprise factor and. I knew ye wanted tae kill me, many men do. That’s the second warning tae listen tae someone when they tell ye something. The next time we meet and ye want tae try and kill me, I’ll put this blade where I crossed ye and gut ye where ye stand. Are ye listening tae me now, Kirklan?’ James asked him calmly, holding him up as he spoke to him. Kirklan was gasping for breath once again, the shock and excruciating pain encompassing him completely. MacKenzie took hold of him and led him away to get.