Chapter 6 #3
good graces,” he told her. “The boss was really pleased. This could work out in a big way. But you have to keep in touch with
the Everett man while we work out the details.”
“No worries, I can do that,” she said, and thought what a stroke of luck it was for her as well. Not that she didn’t love
JJ already.
“Okay, then. You keep in touch with me. I’ll be near the phone anytime you need to update me.”
“I’ll keep you in the loop,” she promised. “But where will you be?”
“In Mexico, of course, lining up the shipment.”
“Shipment.”
“Don’t be dense,” he muttered. “You know what I mean.”
“Drugs, right?” she asked nonchalantly.
“Of course, drugs, you idiot woman. Fentanyl. In just a few weeks, we’ll all be rolling in money! Just make sure you do your
part. And remember, the boss will be watching.”
“I never thought he wouldn’t be,” she said easily.
“But why does he want such strange information, about places and security and storage, if we’re going to rustle culled cows?”
she wondered.
“He has big plans. You’re not going to know anything more until we get our ducks in a row,” he told her. “Just go see the kid and find out about that young, purebred bull auction.”
“Why would he have an auction now?” she asked. “They do those in the spring . . .”
“This one was advertised,” he said shortly. “The big boss knows everything.” He looked at her evenly as he stopped at her
motel. “Everything.”
He let her out of the truck and drove off.
She went into her motel, grateful that they hadn’t frisked her or checked that her phone wasn’t recording every word they
said. Was that trust or stupidity? she wondered, but then recalled that most of her adversaries in her job hadn’t been unsung
geniuses.
She downloaded her audio files and shot them off to her office, carefully wiping them from her phone immediately after. She
took out her scanning device and checked her purse for a homing device, which she found quite readily and left in place, and
the tap on her motel telephone, which she also left intact. She’d have to be very careful what she said.
She also checked for hidden cameras, but found none. So at least she retained a small bit of privacy.
She left her purse in the motel room and eased outside, ostensibly going for a walk, but using her phone to call her contact,
out of range of any listening devices.
The street was deserted, except for a lone cowboy staggering down the sidewalk out of earshot.
“It’s me,” she said when she heard the familiar voice.
“Damn! Still alive, huh?” came the amused reply.
“So far, so good. Listen, I’m not positive, but I think the big drug lord is Eduardo Velasquez.”
“Him!”
“Sounded like him to me, from what his El Paso manager said. And he’s got big ambitions.
I worked it out on the way back over here tonight, after meeting with the regional boss.
They had me foxed, but no more. I’m pretty sure he plans to move some of his shipments onto the Big Spur, the Everett place, for safekeeping.
The ranch is huge. They get shipments on semis all the time, so one more isn’t going to raise many suspicions.
And at least two of them are left at a silo near a line cabin, several miles from the ranch house, and there’s nobody in the line cabin at the moment. ”
“You got a lot of info in a little bit of time,” he said.
“I met a retired Texas Ranger who gave me some great information. I just put two and two together and got lucky.”
“No. It’s that intuition of yours. Whatever it is, it works for us. Keep close to Raines. As close as you can. And it would
help if you could get the Everetts’ assistance.”
“Unlikely. I’m an unknown quantity, and the youngest Everett son hates my guts.”
“Wow. Quick work. It usually takes you at least a few weeks to alienate men.”
“You stop that,” she muttered.
There was a brief laugh. “Okay. Noted. Listen, we’ve got people in place . . .”
“Not wearing new jeans and Stetsons and boots like last time . . .” she groaned.
“No. We learned our lessons. These will fit right in. They’re working in the local rodeo and at a local ranch as cowhands.
We tried to get one onto the Big Spur, but they weren’t hiring.”
“They rarely are, from what I hear,” she said. “They don’t have a large turnover.”
“You went home with them along with a young boy whose father died at the rodeo, didn’t you?” he added.
“I did. It gives me an excuse to call them and ask about JJ.”
“Yes. Take advantage of it. We have to do what we can to protect the family while we bring down Velasquez.”
“I’ll do my part,” she assured him.
“I know you will. Listen, keep your head down, okay? Don’t take unnecessary risks.”
“I won’t,” she promised. “It’s just . . . I keep remembering that family . . .”
“We all do. We’ll make Velasquez pay for it, I assure you.”
“I’m counting on that.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks. I can use some!”
She hung up and went back inside. It was chilly in the yard. A little distance out of her sight, a truck cranked up and pulled
into the highway.
“Who did she call?” the manager asked his man.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “But it wasn’t long distance, and it sounded as if she was speaking to a friend.”
The El Paso manager’s eyes narrowed. “Someone trying to butt in on our operation, unless I miss my guess. Keep a close eye
on her.” He glared at the man. “She never should have been allowed to bring a firearm into the meeting. That could have been
a costly mistake.”
“It could, and I’ve gotten onto Raines about it. He was careless.”
“He grows more careless as he grows greedier. He bears watching,” he told the other man.
“I’ll make sure he’s kept under better surveillance. A shame about his partner, but the man was about to sell us out to the
authorities for the reward.”
“It will be no loss. I won’t have men around me that I can’t trust.”
“Yes. I agree.”
“Meanwhile, keep an eye on the woman. If she makes any more unexpected calls, make sure you use the device I just gave you.
It allows you to hear conversations many yards away.”
“I will use it,” he was assured.
“She must have no suspicions about what we want with the culled cattle. You understand? If she questions you, tell her we have a customer with a small ranch that I want to gift them to, as an incentive to buy more of our product.”
“A good idea,” came the reply.
“Hopefully, she will have no clue about our true aspirations here.” He looked around with disgust. “This town is almost dead.
The local law enforcement is a single man and a few deputies. They will be no threat at all.” He smiled. “We will have a good
headquarters here, where we can distribute the product all over this area. It will also assist us in transporting more product
into Dallas. And the Big Spur will be ours eventually. One way or the other.” He hesitated. “You need not share this with
Velasquez,” he added with a cold smile.
The other man nodded. “Understood.”
Josie, blissfully unaware of being discussed, had gone to bed. She worried about JJ and hoped he was settling into his new
home.
She had an unexpected call of her own when she’d just dozed off.
“Yes?” she drawled, half-asleep.
“Josie, is that you?”
It was her father. He never called her. She sat up. “Dad?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Listen, I just got a great offer for the ranch. You don’t want it and I’m too busy to keep up with it. I’m
going to sell it.”
“With Mama’s grave in the backyard?” was her first thought.
“Oh, that. Well, we can have it moved to the Methodist graveyard. It won’t be a problem.”
“What about my palomino, and my appaloosa?”
“I’ll board them at the local stable for you.”
She was seeing a century of history go up in smoke, and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. She hadn’t the money for even a down payment on it, and she couldn’t go up to Wyoming and run it herself.
“Who wants it?” she asked quietly.
“It’s some fancy Eastern outfit,” he said. “They’re going to put a retirement complex out here with its own shopping center
and suchlike things.”
Her heart was breaking, but she kept her voice calm. “I see. Isn’t it a little far away from civilization for that sort of
thing?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’m tired of trying to run a ranch and live my life.”
“Yes, I know that.”
“You don’t have to sound like I’m selling parts of my body,” he muttered.
“Really? I’d be less unwilling if you were,” she returned.
There was a surprised gasp. “Well, I guess it’s just up to me, then.”
“I guess it is. I can’t buy it. Why should I care that a hundred years of tradition is being sold out from under me? What
a silly idea, right?”
There was a very long pause.
“Just do what you please, Dad,” she said finally. “I don’t care anymore.”
She hung up, turned over and closed her eyes. If she cried, there was nobody to know, or care.
A little ways away, a man closed up his equipment and shook his head. Poor kid, he thought. Not much of a father. But then, it wasn’t his job to pass judgment on people, just to listen to private conversations
and make sure they didn’t concern the boss.
Two mornings later, Raines came to pick Josie up. She hadn’t expected the call, but she was ready when he arrived.
“Where are we going?” Josie asked Raines as he pulled out of the motel parking lot.
“Boss wants us to go across the border and talk to a high-level contact about the shipment.”
“Across the border!” she exclaimed. “But that’s hundreds of miles from here!”
“Which is why we have private planes,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “They’ll have a car for us at the landing strip. We
do the job and fly right back.”
“Oh.”
“You really are dense, aren’t you?” he chided. “This place, Percell, is close enough to Dallas to make a perfect hub for placing
our product where it isn’t likely to be discovered. I mean, the Everetts are very respected in the area. Nobody’s going on
their land to look for drugs.”
She began to see the light, in a big way. “I get it,” she replied, trying to sound nonchalant, while inside she was slowly