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trying to rebuild some semblance of order in his ranks. Wyatt grimaced at the sight of the Junior Dragon. The fact was, Wyatt thought Gary was a complete ass. The only reason it was worth putting up with him was the guarantee of overwhelming force in the upcoming battle with Bill Carter. Looking now, overwhelming force was not guaranteed. Hell, it wasn’t even likely.
    Then there were his morning conversations with the other heads of the families. George Talley had flatly refused to participate. Wyatt heard the story of what had happened and really couldn’t blame the man. Wyatt’s father had built a solid group of unscrupulous men to do the Jenkins’s dirty work and all of them, to a man, had been killed by Bill Carter’s raid. Wyatt had also lost his entire family, as far as he knew. Just days earlier, he had commanded enough force to compel the other families into line, but now he was like a beggar, pleading for the other families to follow his cause. It wasn’t a secure feeling.
    Garrett Cox had waffled as well. He did not refuse Wyatt. He had simply cut his force in half, giving forty men to the fight, and keeping forty at his farm, in case Bill Carter decided to make good on his promise to burn it to the ground. What Garrett did not know was that his farm was already forfeit. He had not been able to spot Bill’s watch and concluded that it was just a bluff. It was not. As soon as his forty man force left the farm, word had been sent to Bill.
    The Cantners and MacMillans had taken Cox as an example and had given half their fighting men to Wyatt. The end result was that he had an even hundred men working for him, but even that was a stretch. George Cox was on the premises and would likely take his men home if the battle turned against him. Meanwhile, the Dragons had lost almost two-thirds of their men in the disastrous crossing of Bedford County. Vehicles were a serious issue as well. It would be just on the edge of possibility to pile the remains of the army into the trucks on hand.
    Wyatt had led a big effort to prepare for an extended battle, and had used his family’s money to do it. He had collected bundles of food and ammunition that could simply be handed to each man as the army set out for the north end of the county, but all that was gone now. In a short time, Wyatt would pile into a truck with the guns and ammo he had, and not much else. He wasn’t any kind of strategist, but even he knew that they had one shot at taking the Carter place, and then it would be over.
    Speak of the devil, Garrett Cox approached from the bottom of the slope where spreading oak trees shaded his excuse for an army. “Hey, Wyatt. Thought I’d take my men to gather some intelligence while the Dragons are getting their shit together.”
    “Garrett, I can think of ten reasons why that’s a bad idea. The first one is, if you get spotted your farm is gone,” Wyatt said, thinking that Garrett Cox gathering intelligence was an absurd contradiction.
    “Aw, you don’t believe that horseshit, Wyatt.”
    “Look around, Garrett. Of course I believe it. I’m telling you right now, Bill Carter said it. If one of his people sees you, your farm is gone.”
    “Your daddy would be pretty sad if he heard you right now,” Garrett said with a sneer.
    “I’m sure you’re right, but then he underestimated Bill Carter too. He’s dead,” Wyatt said coldly.
    Garrett shook it off. “Well, I’m going. I’ll see you when you get there.”
    “I very much doubt it, Garrett, but good luck.”
    Garret stalked off, and began gesturing to his men. Three minutes later, they were crowded into six pickup trucks and heading out the gate. Wyatt shrugged as he watched them go.
    The Junior Dragon saw them depart. He ran across the field to where Wyatt was standing. “What the hell are you doing, Wyatt?”
    “Not me, Gary. Garrett Cox. I tried to talk him out if it,” Wyatt replied with another shrug.
    “I thought those were your men,” Gary