It was her turn to shrug. “I’ve always lived on my feelings and gut. My father said he’d never seen anyone with the honed instincts that I was born with. I take that skill of mine for granted, but I realize many people don’t trust their own inner judgment enough to work off it.”
“No,” he agreed, “they don’t. In my business it was all instinct and gut calls.”
“We’re alike in that way,” she murmured. She lifted one hand from the steering wheel toward a pair of golden arches to her left. “There’s a McDonald’s a few blocks off the freeway,” she said. “Egg McMuffins! We’ll go there to grab you a breakfast.”
Ace whined, sat up, and thumped his tail, sticking his head between their seats, giving each of them an interested look. They laughed.
“Does he understand English?” Anna hooted.
“Egg McMuffin, McDonald’s . . . yeah, he’s got them memorized and the connection to it. He’s a junk food dog.”
Laughing heartily, Anna said, “Not a junkyard dog, but a junk food dog. That’s good, Gabe.”
“Oh, Ace IS a junkyard dog. You haven’t seen him in guard mode yet. Right now, he’s acting like a family dog out for a fun drive with the two people he loves most in the world.” He held up the coffee cup. “When we get the food? I’ll go in and order two McMuffins for Ace and then I want you to feed them to him. He’ll connect that if you feed him, you’re his family and to be trusted just as much as he trusts me.”
“Interesting. Okay, I can do that.” She started slowing down to take the off-ramp.
“You’re a lifesaver, Anna, for both of us.” He held up his empty coffee cup. “Thanks for being so thoughtful.”
“You had some shadows under your eyes the afternoon we met. I knew you were probably tired and stressed out.”
“I was,” he admitted. “To my soul. I was glad my undercover with that cartel was finished. I was running on fumes, missing my family, missing a life I had growing up instead of lying all the time.”
“Then,” she said softly, making a turn to the off-ramp, “this is going to be a good assignment for you. You’ll have your family nearby and you won’t have to lie that much unless we come face-to-face with one of the Elsons, which probably won’t be that often.”
He sat up, constantly looking around. It wasn’t anything obvious, but too many years of being hunted had taught him that hyper-alertness could save his life. “Yeah,” he sighed, giving her a quick glance, “there’s no place like home.”
“I couldn’t do what you did,” she admitted. “I operate better alone and being my own boss. I don’t have to argue with anyone or try to change their mind. I get along well with myself,” she said, and grinned, turning into a large mall parking lot and parking near the fast-food establishment.
“Opposite of what I had to deal with,” Gabe agreed, climbing out. “Can I get you anything? Another cup of coffee? Any other food?”
“Coffee sounds good. El grande, por favor. Large, please.”
“Bueno, señorita, good,” he acknowledged, nodding and shutting the door.
“I’m going to make a call to my mother while you’re inside.” The cab grew quiet. She liked speaking Spanish with Gabe, his accent real. She was sure no one would ever mistake him for being born in the USA. She wondered about his parents because in the briefing bio, it said he was adopted by the Whitcombs. Were they Latinos? The name Whitcomb wasn’t a Spanish surname, that was for sure. Anna noticed immediately the cab didn’t feel as warm and as inviting as before. Gabe had that kind of magical, unexpected effect upon her. She liked his easygoing ways, his sensitivity. Dios, God, how did he survive the brutality of undercover work with a cartel and still be sensitive like that? Cartels were a bloody business and she knew it. Maybe he was hiding that side of himself from her. People who went undercover were called chameleons for a good reason.
* * *
The traffic of El Cajon was mostly left behind after leaving McDonald’s. Ace slurped up his two Egg McMuffins from her, licking her palms in thanks. She fell in love with the warmth she saw in the dog’s large, intelligent eyes. And then, he licked her cheek, as if it were a doggy kiss from him to her. She got very quickly that Ace was super intelligent—just like his master.
There was even less traffic on Interstate 8 as they passed Alpine, a small town in the foothills of the Cuyamaca Mountains. They would continue a slow, curving, and winding climb through the hills and begin heading over the mountain range that was roughly five thousand feet in elevation at its highest point. Anna was touched when Gabe brought back cinnamon rolls as a dessert they shared between them. As she drove, he would fork a small, gooey one and hand it to her while she kept her eyes on the road. At one point, there was a massive Border Patrol stop halfway into the mountains, something she had passed every day when working in the Descanso area. She knew all the men and women and they waved her through without searching her trailer.
“What is the weather like in Wyoming right now?” she asked.
Sipping his large coffee, he said, “Three months of summer and nine months of snow.” He gestured to the Rocky Mountains, which showed off multicolored boulders beneath the rising sun. “From I-8, we’ll get to the Arizona border. After crossing into Yuma, we go about fifty miles farther and then take I-10 out of Gila River, Arizona,” he said. “We’ll continue to stay on what is known as the ‘the non-snow route,’ because right now, there’s snow blanketing Wyoming. And it will stay there until early June. We’ll continue to take the southern route and then turn north to get to the eastern side of Wyoming via Colorado. We’re lucky because we’re between storm fronts right now and that means no snow falling, but the roads will probably be wet the farther north we go, and more potential for ice even when the sun is shining.”
Wrinkling her nose, she muttered, “Snow? Ice?”
Laughing, he liked her sense of humor. “Yeah, lots of it.”
“My blood is thin. I get cold easily.”
“You were born in a jungle environment, near the equator. It’s going to be quite a change for you.”
“Will you drive when we hit snow or ice conditions?”
“Sure. I was raised in it.”
“And I wasn’t. I have no wish to slide off the road with a trailer behind us.”
“I’ll drive whenever you want to be spelled,” he assured her.
“It’s so sunny and beautiful up here at the summit,” she said, gesturing around rocks and yellow boulder–strewn mountains for as far as the eye could see.
“Just wait,” he promised.
“I’m really looking forward to meeting your family. We’ll be staying there for a week or so before we drive down to the Rocking G?”
Nodding, Gabe said, “Yes, we need to get acclimated in a lot of different ways. Sometimes that area is hit with heavy snowstorms in April. We need to make sure that when we go down to our ranch, it’s passable on that eighty-mile stretch of highway. According to my father when I talked to him yesterday, the Rocking G is in sorry shape. He has keys for the house and said the roof is leaking in several places, but that two of the four bedrooms are dry, so it looks like we’ll have a place to sleep without getting wet.”
Mouth turning down, Anna said, “What about heat and electricity?”
“My dad has got the electricity turned on, but heating is another problem. There’s a potbellied stove in the kitchen, a huge fireplace in the living room, and plenty of chopped wood in a nearby shed. We’re going to have to buy a lot of supplies from the Wind River hardware store like electric heaters to warm those bedrooms at night because the temperature will fall well below freezing.”
“I think we should stock up on some electric blankets, too.”
“Agreed. We can stop at any mall in Phoenix, Arizona, if you want, and get those kinds of supplies.”
“I’m not freezing my tail off, Whitcomb.”
Chuckling, he said, “I got it. By the time we arrive home, we’ll make sure you have everything you need to
stay toasty warm like a bug in a rug.”
She gave him a jaded glance. “Is that some more Western slang? Or a biologist’s saying?”
He grinned. “It’s a Western saying.”
“When we reach your ranch, I’ll be all ears for how others use slang, too.” She was curious about Western people, having grown up on cowboy stories of the Wild West. Was it really still wild? She was about to find out.
April 6
“Welcome to our home, Anna!”
“Thank you, Mrs. Whitcomb,” she said, entering the foyer with Gabe and Ace. She liked the tall, thin woman’s warm, sincere smile, watching as she leaned down and ruffled Ace’s head while the dog wagged his tail in hello. She heartily hugged her son and they traded kisses on each other’s cheeks. Standing off to one side, Maud shut the door so the cold midafternoon air didn’t steal the warmth from within the amazing two-story log cabin. There was a storm blowing in tonight and they had made it to the Wind River Ranch just in the nick of time.
“Anna, we are all on a first-name basis around here,” Maud said, releasing Gabe and stepping forward, giving her a quick hug of hello. “Please, make yourself at home. Mi casa es su casa, our home is your home. We treat everyone as if they are family. Please relax and know you’re welcomed.”
After shrugging out of her jacket, Anna placed it on one of the many hooks. She deeply appreciated Maud’s using Spanish. “Thank you.”
“You both look tired,” Maud observed. “Except for Ace, who looks like he could use a good run out back.”
Gabe nodded. “That’s what I need to do. I have his ball in my luggage. I’ll get it out as soon as I can and get some of that energy released in the backyard.”
Maud gestured to them. “Come on, I’ve got coffee and pastries waiting for you in the kitchen. I made some of my world-famous chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Gabe’s favorite, by the way.”
Ace whined, looking expectantly up at Maud, trotting next to her down the hall.
Everyone laughed.
“He knows what ‘cookie’ means?” Anna asked him.
“Yeah, he’s a foodie. Got ’em all memorized.”
Ace whined again, looking up at Maud.
She leaned down, petting the dog. “Now, now, since we knew you were coming, Ace, we made you some doggy biscuits.”
Ace barked, dancing around in front of them, more puppy than the serious war dog that he was. His claws clacked loudly as they made their way toward the kitchen.
Anna couldn’t stop laughing. “I swear, this dog understands EVERYTHING we’re saying!”
Gabe made a happy sound of agreement and continued to walk with Anna. He leaned over and whispered, “Old habit of Ace because he came home here shortly after I got him and Maud fed him her cookies and he NEVER forgot it,” he whispered. “And the human cookies are gonna be good, too. We’ll take a lot of them with us for later munching.”
Anna chuckled and they trooped down the long hall, the cedar floor an artist’s mix of gold and coppery reddish colors swirling beneath their feet. With her sniper’s attention to detail, she glanced around the fabulous-looking home. The cabin, if it could be called that, was at least four thousand square feet and two stories high. It was a lavish home, the kind that would be premiered in high-end socialite magazines. There was cedar paneling on some of the walls, but not all of them. Drywall had been strategically placed in between to break up the all-wood visual. The walls had been painted a cream color and gave the space a sense of subtle change without it being jarring. There was a lot of thought put into the building of this house. Just the placement of drywall with the paneling told her that. She spied the living room off to her right and the soaring, impressive two-story river stone fireplace roared with a welcoming fire. The river rock was rounded from hen-size eggs to grapefruit size, the colors dazzling white, black, tan, cream, brown, red, and gray. There was a huge butterscotch leather U-shaped couch system facing the fireplace. A long, L-shaped piece of etched glass topped the gorgeous cedar coffee table. She was too far away to see what the etching was, however.
There were Navajo rugs of varying colors and sizes placed around the huge living room, lending soft shades in earth tones to complement the cedar flooring. What a beautiful place! Gabe was lucky that he grew up in this Wyoming palace, she thought, smiling to herself. Anna reminded herself that her own family was very, very rich and she, too, lived on an estancia, unlike most people in Guatemala.
Maud Whitcomb wore Levi’s and a pink fishhook cable knit sweater with a deerskin rust-colored vest, a silver concha pulling it partly closed. Her short black hair was peppered with silver strands and fell just below her ears. She wore no makeup nor fingernail polish, either. Anna was just like her. This was a woman who clearly was comfortable in her own skin and as an individual. Anna had never liked makeup because, as her mother said, it hid the real person beneath. And wasn’t it more important for the real person to be seen and not hidden? Besides, in her business, she had to use scentless soap, no makeup or perfume. Someone with a keen nose would smell it and find her hide. Not good.
Slowing, they came into an L-shaped kitchen with a bank of windows framed by white, frilly curtains that paralleled the counter, making it look feminine and inviting. The entire counter consisted of swirls of cream-, caramel-, and sienna-colored granite. There was a huge aluminum double sink, and she saw a high-end and very expensive Wolf gas stove with several pots cooking on it opposite the counter. The scents of vegetables intermingled with a rich use of spices and meat made her mouth water. Maud pointed to the long rectangular kitchen table made of cedar inlaid with turquoise here and there. It was at least seven feet long, able to seat a lot of people at once. Above her were wagon wheels hanging from the ceiling with glass hurricane lamps around each of them, the LED lights lending plenty of brightness to the area, yet, their design and craftsmanship harkened back to a long-ago era.
“Sit down, both of you,” Maud invited, pulling out one of the comfy chairs. “Coffee?”
“Absolutely,” Anna said. “Are you sure I can’t help you, Maud?”
“Nah, you two have to be tired from traveling for two days. Rest. I’ll take care of us,” Maud said, and she scooped up a plate of just-baked cookies, three saucers, and as many spoons. She also already had a doggy bowl filled with Ace’s idea of biscuit cookies and placed them in the corner. He promptly trotted over and started downing them with gusto.
Gabe warned in a low tone, “Maud is a one-person band,” and sat down, watching his mother fondly.
Anna sat opposite him. “Is the whole family like her?”
Gabe rubbed his jaw. He hadn’t shaved this morning when they left Colorado after an overnight stay at a motel. “I think all the kids are driven in one way or another. All type A’s, like my mother. My father is a very laid-back type B, by the way.”
“I think it’s a family thing,” she agreed, taking the platter of cookies Maud handed to her.
“You got in before the weather closed us down,” Maud told them.
“I told Anna about our snow and cold,” Gabe told his mother. “She’s from Guatemala and has thin jungle blood.”
Pouring the coffee, Maud gave Anna a sympathetic look. “Well, the good news is, Anna, that we’ll have two more months of winter, but the worst of it is over. Come early June, it starts with spring for about three weeks and then dives right into summer until mid-September.” She placed two mugs of steaming coffee in front of them, then left to go back for her coffee.
“I see Gabe only wears a thin jacket,” Anna said as Maud returned with a mug of coffee for herself and a small silver platter of sugar and cream, setting it down near them.
“We consider thirty-two Fahrenheit, which is freezing, very warm in Wyoming,” Maud chuckled, sitting at the end of the table. “I’m sure it won’t be warm to you.”
“No, for sure.”
Maud fixed her coffee and gave Anna a long look. “When we talked with Mr. Hardiman about this secret mission,
he didn’t mention who Gabe’s partner would be.”
“I’m it,” Anna said, taking an oatmeal and chocolate chip cookie from the plate. “I think you and your family are very brave to even become a part of this mission.”
“Steve, my husband, who, by the way, is in Australia on business, said we didn’t have a choice. We either all work together to eradicate this cartel’s encroachment into our valley like a deadly infection, or we’ll pay for it in horrid ways later.” Maud sighed. “I’m happy to have Gabe here, but it’s a little unsettling to know you are both in danger down at the other end of the valley for God knows how long.”
“I’ll be there,” Anna assured her gently. “I’ll make sure he’s kept safe.”
“Gabe said on the phone before you left La Mesa that you’re a Marine sniper.”
“I am,” she said, appreciating the brown sugar taste to the warm, soft, and gooey cookie.
“Many years in her skill slot, Maud,” Gabe added. “Anna is the best. And this isn’t going to be that dangerous, so stop worrying. This is a surveillance mission. Anna will be setting up twenty-four-hour video, taking camera shots when she wants, and we report it back to the DEA in La Mesa. For the most part, I’ll be outdoors being a wrangler, and so will she. It’s going to look like people bought and moved into the Rocking G and nothing more to the Elsons next door.”
She gave her son a look of relief. “Hardiman didn’t give us the smaller details.”
Anna reached out, briefly touching Maud’s hand. “All we’re doing is trying to identify and name the men who are taking part in this ring here in the valley. I’ll be making a list and sending it to the DEA cloud, and their experts on facial recognition in Washington, DC, will do the rest. It’s a very low-key mission.” Anna saw Maud’s face lose tightness that she interpreted as stress and worry for her son. She didn’t blame the woman at all, but in this case, more information would help Maud relax and not let her wild imagination take over as she lay sleepless at night. “And”—she picked up some strands of her hair—“I’ll be dyeing my hair red to cover my normal black color. My last name has been changed as well, and so has my birth country.”
Wind River Undercover Page 6