Some not-so-random-thoughts...
Tag finds out his trust conservatively is worth somewhere north of 60 million...From Ch 13, Black Hats, Taggert indicates that the Yoders, if they want to bid on the Flemming Ranch, can come up with roughly 85 million: 45 million cash and available credit of 40 million.
If Taggert's portion is north of 60 million, I would hazard that he controls more than 50% of the Yoder Ranch.
If Zane Yoder used assets he did not control to raise funds from banking institutions, now and in the past, those banks are in a world of hurt from fraudulent lending; the legal implications are staggering...Taggert just might own a few banks as a result.
Looking forward to Zane trying to use the local courts; those courts' decisions can easily be overridden. At the end of the day, the trusts are ironclad, and it would not surprise me if the trusts have a poison pill if any related party to the trusts tries to challenge the validity.
Both Rebecca and Tag could be in danger from Zane; would Zane try to harm them?
I keep coming back to this: who was the third black hat at the auction?
Lastly...who branded Tag, who ordered the branding...and can it be proven?