“The horses are fine,” Gabe assured her, shucking out of his denim jacket and hanging it over a peg on the kitchen wall.
“Did you let them out for a while?”
“No. There’s a storm coming from the west,” he said, pointing in that general direction. Sitting down on a wooden bench, he took off his barn boots and set them in what they called their mudroom. “I don’t know if we’ll get snow or rain.”
“Or both,” she muttered, shaking her head. “It was sunny until an hour ago. Blue sky,” she added, and she looked out the kitchen window, frowning. “I really miss the sun.”
He smiled a little, pulling on a pair of cowboy boots and standing. “It’s coming. I promise.”
“Did you go to the second floor to make sure our booth wasn’t disturbed?”
He came over, standing near her. “Yes. Ace did a good job of taking care of the barn in our absence. The lock is on the booth on the second floor, untouched. In a little bit, I’ll go out there and retrieve the video and get it sent to the cloud.”
She washed her hands with soap and warm water, wanting to get back to the daily rhythm they’d established with each other. “Sounds good. I’ll go to my office and see if we have any encrypted emails from DEA.”
“How about we eat around noon?”
“Are you hungry again?” she teased, hanging up the towel, looking up at him. He hadn’t shaved yet today and she liked the way the darkness of his beard accentuated his high cheekbones.
“I guess so. I’m a growing boy.”
“Hardly, you’re a man.” She watched him give her a slight grin, his cheeks pinking up. Was he blushing? It was an endearing reaction. Timing was everything. Gabe wasn’t even going to realize she was stalking him. She was very good at it, being a sniper who hunted their enemy. Gabe wasn’t her enemy. He was someone she wanted to know on every possible level, and she was going to do just that: wage a stalk of attrition. Little by little, she was going to bring him into her arms. And not just for sex. Sure, that was a part of it, but there was so much more. She’d observed that in her parents as a child: the warmth of a look, an affectionate touch on the shoulder, sitting and listening to each other talk, laughing together, sharing tidbits of food, and so many other small but oh-so-important moments that said it was love, not just lust. However, Anna fully admitted that she lusted after Gabe, too. He was ruggedly handsome, in top shape, and there was nothing to dislike about him at all. She heard him give her a grunt, going to the sink to scrub his hands.
Soon, they were both busy with DEA information being sent to HQ. Outside the window of her office, she saw the pickup truck ease from behind the Elson house. It had an empty bed. Anna got up and went to the window. She stood to one side, watching as the two brothers drove out of the muddy driveway and make a left turn. Frowning, she called to Gabe to come into her office.
“What’s up?” he asked, halting behind her near the window.
“I don’t know. I just saw the Elson brothers make a left turn onto the road. It’s the only highway that goes up into the slopes of the Salt Mountains. Why are they going there today? It’s raining and cold.”
Rubbing his chin, he muttered, “A good question. We’re taking Ace. Let’s follow them at a safe distance.”
“That’s what I think. The hair stood up on my neck when I saw them driving out and turning left. This is a feeder road and it connects with Route 89, the main one that goes up through the valley.” She rubbed the back of it, limping toward the open door. “It’s always a sign of danger.”
“You know what? You should stay here, Anna. You’re crippled with that sprain. I can get in the truck, follow and see where they’re going.”
“Like hell,” she snapped. “If something happens, you may need me. There’s two of them and we know they’re armed and ready to shoot first and ask questions later.”
Halting outside in the hall, he shrugged. “Okay, no argument. I’ll get our weapons and gear. You get in the truck. I’ll get Ace’s leash and I’ll drive,” he said, and he gave her a look that didn’t ask her for permission. Anna nodded. “Done deal. I’ll go get our radios.”
In a matter of five minutes, they were in the truck, strapped in with Gabe driving out onto the rain-slick highway that was empty of all traffic. Ace rode in the back seat. This road ended at a trailhead parking lot at five thousand feet. Glancing up at the low hanging gunmetal gray clouds churning in slow motion above him, he said, “Looks like snow at six thousand feet.”
“Even more suspicious,” Anna growled, placing a bullet in the chamber of each Glock pistol, releasing the safety and placing them between them on the seat. She had already called in the activity to the DEA in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“Our satellite phone isn’t working and I sent it to be fixed down at Salt Lake HQ. We’ll be without it.”
Frowning, Gabe said, “They’ll get it fixed sooner, not later. Until then, we’re out of touch.”
With the low-hanging clouds, no satellites could pierce it except for one that had infrared. It was due to fly over in forty minutes, luckily, in their area. That might be helpful, but Anna didn’t count on the clouds miraculously parting so they could get photos of the area.
“We know the brothers aren’t out in this miserable weather to go hiking,” she said. The highway was straight and sloping into the mountains. Far ahead, a good four miles, she could barely see the truck. The rain was coming down more heavily, no longer a pitter-patter. It would soon make the truck disappear. Gabe had wisely left the headlights turned off, using the weather to hide while following the Elsons’ vehicle.
“For sure. I wonder if there’s been a drug drop?”
“I know druggies use bad weather to cover their drops and this is a perfect time for it.”
“I was thinking the same thing. How’s your ankle feeling?”
“Fine,” she answered. “Stop worrying about me.”
“Can’t help it. Let me be a mother hen, okay?”
Snorting, she said, “Not today. We don’t know what’s ahead for us, Cowboy.”
Chapter Nine
Gabe timed them arriving at the parking lot. He pulled off the road before entering the area. Instead, he found several smaller evergreens as cover, driving behind them and hiding their truck. Up ahead, he saw the Elson truck parked and neither brother in sight. Turning, he said to Anna, “I’m going to recon with Ace and try to locate those two.” He took the radio, clipping it on the inside of his coat collar, placing the earpiece into his ear.
“Okay, but give me updates or I’ll bail out of this truck to find you. I’m not sitting here long, Gabe.”
“Roger that,” he said, and he leaned over, kissing her temple quickly. “Later . . .”
Stunned, she sat there, staring at him. There was amusement in his eyes, that sensual mouth of his moving slightly upward at the corners. In moments, he was out of the truck and quietly closing the door. He had kissed her! She hadn’t expected it. But she didn’t dislike it, either.
Using the woods as cover, Gabe and Ace quickly moved through the squishy, slippery brown pine needles that covered the floor of the forest. He’d committed this area to memory and moved up a steeper slope, hunched over, staying low and using the massive tree trunks that rose fifty to eighty feet above him to hide his presence. His breath came out in wisps and jets. Ace was ahead of him on a six-foot leash, ears up, and Gabe knew the dog could hear the two men even if he couldn’t. The way his dog tugged against the leash, going up the slope like a rocket without hesitation, Ace was now in battle mode. The rain was pelting bits of ice and slowly turning to sleet. He pulled his black baseball cap a little lower to protect his eyes as he dug into the soft, wet floor with the toes of his boots, moving to the right, knowing that soon, the entire parking lot would be viewable.
Two minutes later, Gabe halted, hunkered down on one knee behind a large tree trunk, Ace coming to his side, panting, but all his attention farther up the heavily wooded slope.
&n
bsp; There, below, was the Elson truck. Where were they at? Swiftly scanning the area around the parking lot, he caught a flash of an Elson’s bright red coat far above him. Ace saw it too, a low growl in his throat. The slope was straight up and unforgiving, with black rocks poking out of the pine needle floor here and there. The mountainside went up to seven thousand feet and then dropped just as steeply back down into a large, oval valley below that was Rocking G property.
He quickly spoke to Anna, telling her that he and Ace were going to follow them. He gave his GPS coordinates, which she would convey to the DEA HQ. There was no way with her ankle in its present condition that she could do what he was now doing, and both of them knew it. He heard the frustration in her husky voice. He knew she wanted to be where the action was at.
“Stay safe, Cowboy.”
“Roger that. Anyway, I have to know what you thought of my kiss,” he said, and he grinned, signing off, springing upward, swiftly moving up the slope parallel to the Elson brothers, Ace lunging all the way ahead of him, on target. He would shadow them, keeping out of sight, but catching glimpses of them here and there as they struggled, slipped, and sometimes fell by stumbling over a hidden root beneath the pine needles. Ace was absolutely silent, unlike him.
It took twenty minutes to reach the seven-thousand-foot level where the snow was falling in big, fat, wet flakes. Gabe saw the Elsons halt at the top, a pair of binoculars in Kaen’s hands as he looked at something below where they were standing. Hiding behind a large boulder, Gabe went to his belly and Ace mimicked, lying alongside him. The snow was not falling thickly, and he could see a bare white layer on the yellowed grass. His heart beat once, heavily. Watching where the Elsons stood, and where he was hidden, he craned his neck and saw bales wrapped in green plastic scattered throughout the meadow. Counting them quickly, he pulled out his cell phone, taking photos. And then, he rolled on his side, sticking his cell phone out from behind the rock, getting several more photos of the Elsons, who stood talking loudly, gesticulating several times at the bales below.
Hiding behind the boulder, Gabe told Anna what he’d seen and gave her the count on the bales.
“Are they different-size bales?” Anna demanded.
“Yes. If I had to guess, it’s a mixed drug drop from a plane. There’s three sizes and I would hazard that they are marijuana, heroin or cocaine, and the smallest bales are most likely fentanyl.”
“Roger that. What are the Elsons doing?”
“Talking between themselves. My guess is they knew this drop was coming. Kaen has a notebook out and he’s writing down how many bales are down there.”
“It’s starting to snow here, Gabe.”
“Yeah, it’s picking up here, too. I’m coming back with Ace. I’d like to get us out of here before we leave snow tracks on the highway to our ranch. I don’t want them having a clue that we were following them.”
“Get down here, Cowboy. We need to cover our tracks.”
He grinned, slipping the cell phone into his coat pocket and zipping it shut. “Roger that. It will take me about twenty minutes to reach you. I’ll check in halfway down.”
“You’d better.”
Swallowing a chuckle, he made sure the Elsons, whose backs were turned toward him, were still looking down at the meadow and not in his direction. They were. Gabe pushed slowly to his knees and then crouched, giving Ace the order to get to his feet. They eased silently farther away so that even as they paralleled their trail, they would not see him in his dark brown jacket or a brown dog with a black face mask. It was always smart to wear colors that faded into the surroundings, not stand out like that red coat that Kaen was wearing. Ace blended in perfectly, looking like a shadow between the trees.
The ground was slippery, a mix of water with sleet, and now a few snowflakes. Weaving in and out, Gabe cautiously took the downward slope, causing him to slip more than ever. Halting every minute or so, he wanted to make sure that the Elsons were not nearby. Ace was his first warning system, and he wasn’t giving any, so they must be putting distance between them. At the halfway mark, he called Anna and checked in. He heard a bit of relief in her voice. The snow had suddenly stopped and he was glad, turning back to sleet and rain. There was a crack in the clouds, a sliver of sunlight stabbing through the gray day for a bit, before the beam was blocked once more.
He was concerned about the highway. If there was a layer of snow on it, even a quarter of an inch on the black road surface, the Elsons would see their tire tracks. As he approached the pickup, he saw Anna wave in greeting. He lifted his glove, made his way around to the driver’s side, and opened the rear door. Ace leaped in and he unsnapped the leash from the dog’s collar. Then, he climbed in.
“Wicked weather,” he grumbled, taking off his cap and slapping it against his knee, and then resettling it on his head.
“Ugly. Makes me pine for the jungle. You okay?” Ace stuck his head between the seats, panting, but licking her hand as she brought it up to pet him on his wet shoulder.
“Fine. When I left, the Elsons were still up at the top, counting the bales down in the valley. They also had a radio. It looked like a satellite radio. They were talking to someone but I don’t know who. I wasn’t that close to them. I’m sure Ace heard it, but he doesn’t understand English.” And then he grinned off-handedly. “Except Egg McMuffins.”
Ace whined, thumping his tail with excitement.
“No,” Gabe told him. “Not today, big boy.”
Anna laughed and she said, “Let’s get out of here. The snow stopped. I’m worried that if we leave tracks on the highway, we’re busted.”
“Already with you,” he said, putting the truck into reverse. In no time, they were gone. The light snow on the highway had already melted, much to their relief. That meant that unless the Elsons already came down from the top of the slope, they wouldn’t be aware of them at all. Relief tunneled through Gabe as he pressed down on the accelerator, wanting to put as much distance between them and the Elsons as they could.
“I’ve been in touch with DEA in Salt Lake. They’re on this. Do you have photos I could send them?”
“Yeah, got ’em on my phone. There’s no cell towers out here, so we’ll have to wait until we get home to send them over your laptop.”
“Let me call them and tell them they’re coming,” she said, and she was on her radio.
* * *
By the time they arrived home, it started snowing again, this time in earnest. He dropped Anna and Ace off at the house, then drove to the barn. He opened the doors, drove the pickup into the lower part of the barn.
When he entered the house, he knew she’d be in her office, sending the photos he’d taken on his cell phone to the Salt Lake task force office. Ace was licking his fur dry in her office.
Shedding his coat and hat, he changed out of his winter boots for a pair of sneakers. Walking to her office, he automatically glanced out the window near where she sat at her desk.
“They’re back,” he warned Anna in a low tone, standing to one side of the window so he couldn’t be spotted. “Nothing in the back of their truck.”
“Phew,” Anna said, finishing off the sending of the photos, “that was close.”
“They must have turned and left maybe five or ten minutes after we left,” he said, watching the brothers drive around to the back of the house, their truck now hidden from prying eyes.
“Not much else they could do. DEA says there’s going to be weather clearing around 0300 tomorrow morning. They are sending a predator drone to that valley to take a good, close look and get photographs.”
Gabe nodded. The brothers must have gone in the rear door of the house as there was no more activity around it or the barn. He roused himself and moved over to her desk, sitting down on a chair off to one side of it. “What else has Salt Lake said? Anything?”
“Yes.” She leaned back in her chair, studying him. “They want a count on these bales, which they’ll get from the Pred. And then they wan
t to keep it on station at about ten thousand feet and see if the Elsons go back to pick up the bales tomorrow. If they do, they’re going to have the Pred follow them. Right now, I’ll bet the Elsons are contacting regional buyers of these drugs in other states. HQ wants us to continue to watch and keep them apprised. We’re not to do more than that.”
“Do they know about your sprain?” he asked.
“What do you think?”
Chuckling, he said, “No, I don’t think they know.”
“Only you, Ace, and your mother know, Cowboy.”
“I guess I wouldn’t admit it, either,” he drawled, giving her a look of praise.
“I’ve been in the field too long. I’ve pulled muscles and had strains out in the jungle, with no help at all. You just do what you have to do and keep going.”
Gabe frowned, his voice lowering. “You deserve a helluva lot more care than that, Anna. You’ve put yourself on the line for too long, without a partner or any help.”
She reached over, briefly touching his hand. “Well, now I have you and Ace. Don’t I?”
“Are you happy about that?”
“More than you know.”
Gabe studied the Elson home. “That’s good to hear.” He watched the house for a bit. “I have a lot of questions. How are they going to get those drugs out of that meadow?”
“You do realize that meadow is on OUR ranchland? We own it.”
“I had taken a look earlier at our property lines. That particular meadow is deeded to this ranch. It’s not on forest service land.”
“Another criminal act by the Elsons,” Anna gritted. “They’re using this ranch’s property to drop illegal drugs on. I wonder how many times in the past they did it?”
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