by Cara Lynn
It was a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning. She needed to get her passport out of her safety deposit box. It would take only a minute, and then she could finish her shopping. She was in luck; there was even a parking place.
"Yes, I have identification and my key," she said to the bank clerk. She followed the clerk, got her safety deposit box and went into the little room to open the box.
Oh my God, what was going on? Were those bullets? She had to hide. Why did she have to peek out and see him shoot those people? He saw her! Just when she thought she was dead, the police crashed into the bank.
There was a lot of chaos and suddenly everything went black. She fell to the floor. The next thing she remembered was someone saying, "The paramedics are coming. Try not to move. You'll be okay." She couldn't stop shaking. Why had she gone to the bank? Then she closed her eyes.
Where was she? Who were these men? She had to get out of there. Her mind raced. She was terrified.
"Settle down. You're safe. You're in the hospital and no one's going to hurt you," said the police officer. "The FBI and marshals will be here within the hour. They're in command of the situation. Now just lay back and rest. What's your name?"
She whispered, "Emma Green, my name's Emma Green."
"Miss Green, this is Travis Grant, the marshal from Witness Protection. We're working with him and the FBI to catch Manuel Mercado. He was the man who shot the people in the bank," said the police officer.
Emma looked up into beautiful, brown eyes. They belonged to an enormous man.
"Miss Green, I'm Travis Grant, and I'm here to keep you safe," he said.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Emma Green, and I want to get out of here and go home. Where is the doctor? I want to be discharged now!"
Just then, the doctor came in. "Miss Green," he said, "you're okay. You were in shock, but everything looks okay now. You'll need to rest for the next few days, but then you can resume your normal activities."
"Great, thank you, doctor. Now will you all get out of here so I can get dressed? I need to go home and take a long, hot bubble bath."
"Miss Green," Travis spoke up.
"Please call me Emma."
"Okay. Emma, you can get dressed, but you can't go home," Travis said as he stared at her.
"Of course I can go home," she snapped.
"No, you can't! You're going into Witness Protection immediately. We'll be leaving here and going to a safe house. You're in grave danger. Mercado's men are looking for you. You witnessed him shoot two people. He's one of the biggest crime bosses in Boston. We've been trying to arrest him for years, but could never get anything on him that would stand up in court. Now we have something that will send him to prison for the rest of his life," he told her grimly.
"I don't want to go into Witness Protection, and you can't make me," she yelled.
"That's where you're mistaken," he said. "Now get dressed or I'll dress you."
"Okay, but you get out of here," she snapped. Slowly she got out of bed, still a little shaky. As she got into her clothes, all she could think about was how she had to get away from them as soon as possible. "Okay, Mister FBI man," she said loudly, so he'd know she was ready to go.
"My name's Travis and I am the marshal who's going to keep you alive and well." He firmly took hold of her arm.
"Don't touch me," she said as she stubbornly pulled away. He grabbed her again and gave her two hard swats to her bottom. "You can't do that. It's assault!" Emma cried, not believing that he spanked her in public where anyone could hear or see what he had just done. What was happening to her?
"No, it's called a spanking, and if you don't settle down and come with me right now, I'll put you over my knee, take your pants down and give you a real spanking. Do I make myself clear?" he said.
She was furious as they quickly walked out of the back door of the hospital towards a dark car in the parking lot.
"Get in the car, fasten your seat belt, and keep quiet. I don't want to hear one word out of you," he told her firmly.
Since she was told not to speak, she decided to go to sleep. She slept for a long time and when she woke up, asked, "Where are we going?"
"I told you to be quiet," he barked as he suddenly pulled into a small airfield. Quickly, she jerked the car door open, got out, and started running toward the woods.
She wasn't getting into any plane.
Travis slammed his fist on the steering wheel. His mind was spinning. “Damn, she's quicker than I thought. I'm really not in the mood to be chasing her. I should have cuffed her to the door, “ he muttered. "Emma, you have exactly one minute to get back here!" he yelled. "If I have to chase you, I guarantee you'll not like the consequences."
Still running, but out of breath, she didn't know which way to turn. She saw some large rocks ahead and knew she was small enough to hide there. Once behind the rocks, she started to calm down and smiled smugly. He thought I couldn't get away; well, I've shown him.
Just when she relaxed against the rock, she was suddenly pulled up and thrown over his knee.
"No, no you can't do this!"
"Just watch me, young lady," Travis said.
She started to scream as she felt her pants being pulled down to her knees. Her bottom was quickly bared to his eyes. He can't do this! She was struggling for all she was worth and he just pulled her tighter and put one of his legs over both of hers. Suddenly, he started to smack first one cheek and then the other, faster and faster. She felt as if her butt was on fire.
She began sobbing, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I promise I won't ever run away again, just please stop. Please stop, I can't take any more."
Finally the spanking stopped and Emma lay sobbing and exhausted. Travis was now slowly rubbing her poor butt. He continued to rub her bottom and her back until she quietened down. He lifted her on his lap and hugged her.
"It'll be all right. I'm guessing this was your first spanking. Calm down, I'll keep you safe, but you've got to listen to me. You need to know that I won't hesitate to put you over my knee. You need to obey me."
He stood her up and gently pulled up her pants. Slowly they walked toward the airfield. The airplane was a small one and she had no idea where they were going. She just knew she had left the only life she had ever known and that it would never come back. She might not have any family or close friends, but it was frightening to leave everything she'd known. The tears started to roll down her cheeks and then she was sobbing. Strong arms slowly picked her up. Emma was now sitting on Travis' lap. He held and rocked her like a small child. She cried for a while and then closed her eyes and fell asleep.
They flew for hours before he gave her a little shake. "Time to wake up."
They landed at a small airstrip. As she looked out, all she saw were rolling hills, mountains and trees. There were no skyscrapers nor any high-rise buildings. Not one Starbucks in sight. She guessed she was in God's Country. For a city girl, this was a nightmare. They were loaded into a van and started the long ride to the place she would soon be calling home.
"Okay, Travis, just where are you taking me?" she demanded as the van started moving.
"Well, Emma, we're headed to my ranch. It's several thousand acres and you'll be safe."
"I don't want to go to a ranch," she whined. "I want to live in a high rise, with shopping and a Starbucks within walking distance."
"You'll learn to love the ranch. I have cattle and quite a few horses."
"I don't know how to ride and I've never even seen a cow."
"No problem, I'll teach you everything you need to know."
He led her to the small cottage that she would now call home.
She had to admit, the little cottage was very nice. The country here was beautiful. Ranching was truly interesting and very complex.
Travis had a lot of patience and he was a great teacher. She became quite relaxed on her horse, Honey. She had been over Travis' knee several times, and had learned that he didn't put up with any sass or temper tantrums.
It was early morning and a beautiful day, but she was really bored and in a terrible mood.
"I said saddle my horse! I don't care what Travis said. I'm a guest here and I want to go riding now. I want to pick some raspberries for dinner and I'm not afraid of bears. He just said that to scare me and I'm not scared. Saddle my horse now!" she demanded of the stable boy.
Although he was not happy, one of the stable boys got Honey ready for her. She had only been riding about 30 minutes when she saw the luscious raspberry bushes. She quickly jumped down and started picking the beautiful berries. Her basket was nearly full, in spite of all the berries she had eaten, when suddenly she was grabbed from behind and all her berries fell to the ground.
"What the hell are you doing?" she screamed at Travis. "I just picked all of those berries for dinner."
"I told you not to go riding without me. The other ranchers have reported problems with bears recently. Why can't you ever listen?" Travis yelled.
She stomped her foot and yelled back at him. "I'm not afraid of bears and I don't have to listen to you. You're not my father or my husband and I'll do whatever I want."
"We'll see what you say after I cut a switch and wear it out on you," Travis barked at her.
"You wouldn't dare." Then she turned to get on Honey and the horse was gone.
"Looking for Honey? Guess you forgot to put the reins down," he said as he peeled the switch. She started to run, but quickly found herself over his knee. Even over her jeans each stripe of the switch felt like fire on her poor bottom. She howled after two stripes and she knew he was far from done. By the tenth stripe, she just lay limp and sobbed.
"If I have to do this again, it'll be on your bare butt," he snapped. "Now get on my horse, we have to get out of here." He whistled and Colonel walked over to them. "I just heard something and it could be the bear," he said.
The last thing she wanted to do was sit on anything, especially a horse, but she wasn't about to argue either. Travis got mounted and pulled her up behind him and told her to hold on and not to let go, no matter what happened.
Just then she heard a loud growl and when she turned to look, there was the biggest bear she had ever seen, standing on its back legs. It was at least ten feet tall and very angry. It lunged at them and caught part of her leg and part of Colonel's leg. Travis kicked Colonel harder and yelled to hold on. They raced toward the ranch and the safety of the corral. When she turned to look, the bear was still running after them.
The corral was right in front of them. They flew through the open gate and Travis jumped down and pushed the gate closed and locked it. He ran to the electric panel and turned on the lights, the fence and the alarm.
The bear touched the fence and jumped back when the electricity hit. It stood on its hind legs, growled and then ran off.
Emma got off Colonel and slowly limped back to her cottage. She knew she was hurt, but didn't know how badly.
Travis walked Colonel to the barn calling to his foreman, Tom. "Call the vet and get him out here as fast as possible. I'm not sure how badly Colonel's hurt. Remember to tell him about the bear and remind him he'll have to use his remote to get in the gate," he told Tom. "We need all the men on patrol tonight. They all need to be armed and not take any chances. Be sure that one of them is stationed at the front gate. Tell the men they'll need to get all the cattle and horses inside the barn and lock the doors. I'm not sure what to expect from that bear. We'll definitely have to hunt it down. Leave the floodlights on all night and keep the electric fence hot. Everyone will have to be alert and careful," he said to no one in particular. "Tom, you better call Doc Jones too. I think Emma was hurt. I just don't know how badly. I'm sure she'll probably need a tetanus shot. Remind Doc to bring his remote and to be on the lookout for the bear. I'm going to check on Emma now."
"Emma, Emma," he called. "Are you all right?" There was no answer. He knocked louder. "Honey, please open the door." There was still no answer. "I'm coming in," he said as he used his key to enter Emma's cottage.
The first thing he saw were her boots and jeans in a small pool of blood. Oh crap, she was bleeding.
"Where are you?" he called as he raced toward the bedroom. He pushed the door open and saw the rest of her clothes and more blood. "Emma, where are you?" he yelled.
There was still no answer. He pushed the bathroom door open and saw her lying in a pool of blood, unconscious. He scooped her up and gently laid her on the bed and tried not to notice how beautiful she was, even unconscious.
He grabbed a towel and put pressure on the gaping wound on her thigh. God, how did she walk with this injury? Why didn't she say anything to me, he wondered?
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