Me and My Wild Boy -A Yellowstone Story

Dutiful Daughter, All My Plans Were Laid

Athena was at her office, typing up some paperwork for her bosses to review dealing with the progress of the new office. She was interrupted by a call on her cellphone. She didn't look at her phone, just pressed the side of her earpiece that was in her ear and answered, "Yeah,"

"Athena, I need you to come back to the ranch." Her father's voice came through.

She finally stopped typing and focused on the phone call. "Why? What's going on?"

"I have a bunch of dead cattle, and I think it was done on purpose."

"Have you called the sheriff?"

Her father sighed, "Yeah. He's on his way, but I want to make sure this is handled correctly. I'm sure it's Dan Jenkins who did this."

Athena rubbed her forehead, "You need evidence that it is Dan Jenkins, Dad. This is out of FBI jurisdiction-"

"Damn it, Athena Jade! I know you're pissed at me but that is no reason to be petty and not help out the ranch!" Her father interrupted angrily.

Her jaw clenched in fury. "...The fact that you think that just because I am pissed at you that I would put the ranch in jeopardy, is insulting beyond belief. What I was going to say was that this matter is out of FBI jurisdiction, but I can still come down there as a member of the Dutton family who owns the cattle, and if the sheriff seems to be pullin' another back stabbin' maneuver like he did with Rip, then I can step in as an FBI agent. Does that work for you, Father?"

John took a deep breath, cursing himself for jumping down his daughter's throat. He also winced as he heard her call him 'father', knowing she did it on purpose since he hated his children calling him that. "Yes, that works fine. Athena, I'm-"

"Great. I'm heading out now." She interrupted his attempt at an apology and hung up on him. She took a deep breath, feeling the anger and hurt rolling within her before she shut everything down, grabbed her things before heading out of the building.

Thirty minutes later she arrived at the field where all the dead cattle were. She stepped out of her jeep, walking forward until she was near Kayce. "Jesus Christ." She muttered as she looked out at all of the dead cattle.

Kayce glanced at her, not saying anything as she continued to walk toward where Jamie, John and Donnie the sheriff were. Donnie was crouched down and looking at the ground holding clover. Donnie looked up at John, "So you think this was intentional? I don't see tire tracks anywhere, John. The fence is way over there-no one threw it over. And it didn't fall out of the fucking sky-"

"And you know that how?" Athena asked once she was close enough to them.

Donnie looked over to her before glancing at John, "You know, calling your FBI daughter looks like your trying to hide something or bully someone to do your biding."

John opened his mouth to comment, Jamie glancing away to hide his smirk, but Athena answered instead. "I'm not here as an FBI agent, I'm here as one of the family who's had a huge attack on their livestock. These fields are cleared prior to moving the cattle, there were no clover prior to that and you have expertly ruled out someone driving it in or throwing it over the fence."

Donnie scoffed, "So you think someone flew a plane over here and dropped clover on your cattle in the middle of the night, John? Think about that."

John huffed in anger and Jamie took over, "We have. A King Air designed for skydiving so it has a side door large enough and could hold the weight."

"Why would anyone do that, though?" Donnie asked, reluctantly admitting that was possible. "Who would do that?"

"There are a few reasons and a couple suspects-"