The poor maple that had saved my life was but a dried out dead thing. I wished that they'd at least buried it upright for a foot or two in hopes that ...t would re-root. No hope, though. It forced its sap, its life, into me. In a way I lived because of its sacrifice. It sobered me.I had my work cut out for me getting the tractor running. I had to have professional help as the hydraulic hoses were rotted, the fuel was garbage and the oil was sludge. The tractor had been left outside. The farm. .”“Deniability.” Like with the long-ago raid on the Gunther compound. No provable link back to Senator Wainwright nor to the FBI.The mayor of Kansas City — Tom Lynch — was running for governor. He’d win the Democratic primary easily. He’d been a pretty popular mayor and there was no serious opposition. A couple of perennial candidates and one half-hearted write-in. None had a chance.The general election would be a completely different matter. Tom was running in an increasingly red state. Not so. He was busy enough thanking me for the new Susan not to detain me anyway. As with Amy and Valerie, it seemed that my initial commands had allowed a new avenue of behaviour to come about. Their romance had blossomed ferociously. It was certainly a powerful love and none of it false. Susan and Jon both recognised that I had some major influence on their getting together but both admitted they were more than glad I had forced it upon them. Jon made a joking attempt to look jealous as Susan gave my. "That sounds like dynamite! Come on, pardner, we better take a look!" Ezra jumped to his feet and shouted to the alarmed passengers, "Calm down, folks. We're Rangers. Let us look into it."Ezra and Sean rushed toward the head of the train where the noise had originated. They went out on the platform and Ezra looked around the car ahead and jerked back as a bullet whizzed passed his head. "Some yahoos are robbin' the express car. They got guards out. Let's get 'em from the roof!"Helping each.