Texas Ranger Inspiration

BULLETPROOF BADGE

Texas Rangers: Elite Troop

Book 1 of the White Hat Heroes

THE OLDEST Law Enforcement Agency on record in North America:

"In May, while Austin was in Mexico City, his lieutenant, Moses Morrison, used this authority to assemble a company of men to protect the Texas coast from the Tonkawa and Karankawa Indians. After returning to Texas in August of 1823, Austin asked for additional ten men to supplement Morrison's company. He called for "ten men...to act as rangers for the common defense...The wages I will give said ten men is fifteen dollars a month payable in property." These two companies are regarded as the first ancestors of the modern Texas Rangers.

The term "Texas Ranger" did not appear officially in a piece of legislation until 1874. During Austin's day, companies of men volunteered and disbanded as needed." Mike Cox, Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum.

Now an investigative division of the Texas Department of Public Safety, six companies of Rangers totaling no more than 150 officers cover 268,820 square miles with administrative headquarters in Austin. "The Rangers have been called one of the most effective investigative law enforcement agencies in the world."

Frontier Battalion Co. "F" in 1882 ©2009 TRHFM

ONE OF MY favorite parts of the opening in BULLETPROOF BADGE:

Garrison Travis Inspiration

The image of the dead women fixed on the back of her eyelids. Every time she blinked she saw the blood and gore. He pulled her hair to get her to move, but she was about to be terribly sick.

With blurred vision, she leaned forward and lost what little was in her stomach. The man hopped out of her way. Hearing more fighting above her head, she continued to wretch.  Someone pulled back her hair, put an arm around her waist and helped her stand. He led her off the white gravel drive. Past the man who had yanked her hair, now unconscious on the green grass. Its cool shaded lushness registered under her bare feet.

“Water?” she squeaked out. 

“Can’t help you with that,” a deep Texas twang answered. “But if you get on the back of my bike, I can keep you alive.”

As weary as she was, that popped her head up. Petrified, she connected with a pair of jade-green eyes, sandy short brown hair, and a casual self-confident smile that didn't belong in her surreal afternoon.

Gorgeous. Absolutely the type of man she wanted to be with any other time. He dangled her shoes in front of her, and she slipped them on.

The stranger held out his hand. “We really need to go now, sweetheart. You coming?”

Yes. But she didn’t think she said it out loud. She straddled the back of the motorcycle in her short skirt and heels. Two large, strong hands grabbed her thighs, pulled her closer and placed her feet on two metal rods. Her sequined skirt was up as high as it could be without revealing anything, but now wasn’t the time to care.

The motorcycle sprang to life, and her arms shot around him. There wasn’t any give to his body when her fingers locked together across his hard abs. She closed her eyes and buried her face against his black jacket. She wanted to see nothing, especially the gruesome picture the shooting had left in her mind.

The motorcycle screeched to a halt, sliding sideways in the gravel. Her rescuer slowly took off across the field, avoiding the closed front gate.

“Hold on tight.”

She didn’t think she could hold tighter until her bottom was airborne over the first incline. Had she left the safety of the house for a dangerous daredevil? Had it been safe at the house? Absolutely not. And how did she know for certain this man wasn’t a part of the…the…

Go ahead and say it. Murders! The man dressed in black had murdered two people right in front of her, then stared open-mouthed as she’d screamed. This wasn’t the killer. His dark green eyes proved that. The man she’d fought with was just as tall, but his eyes were black with hatred.

She’d never forget those eyes.

They flew over the next small hill, landing hard on both tires.

“Slow down before your kill us!” she shouted in his ear.

“Can’t. They’re following. May start shooting.”

She turned behind them, her hair whipped across her face. Sure enough, a black SUV bounced over the rolling hills of the Texas lake country. The motorcycle skidded, and she held tighter. If the men shot at them, she’d be dead. Period.

Her rescuer turned sharply, heading toward a tree line. “Where are you going?”

“Where they can’t.”

A little more about Angi.


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