Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Cain skirted the parking lot in front of Joanie’s before walking to the overflow lot across the street. A cold chill crossed his shoulders, and it wasn’t the winter wind or the snow in the air causing the sensation.
Gut reaction? Well-honed instincts said he was being watched. From off to his left he heard movement, the kind made deliberately to grab his attention.
“Step from between those cars. And keep your hands where I can see them,” Cain said, keeping his eyes trained on the point of sound, he eased toward the gun holstered on his inner calf.
A double knock, then pause, then knock echoed forth. “Wouldn’t reach for that hideaway if I were you, Doc. I’d hate to have to shoot you.”
Might have been four years, but Cain still recognized the voice of the man he’d named Shadow a few jobs back. Also, recognized the code they’d used back then.
“I doubt you can hit the side of a billboard,” Cain said.
“Could if it was shooting at me.” The man stepped forward into the edge of the streetlight’s glow. “I heard you were in the area but didn’t believe it till I saw you tonight.”
“Last time I saw you was in Texas. Looks like you got a new hat.” Cain tossed the Stetson to him.
“Yeah. Somebody shot a hole in the other one.”
Cain swept his gaze from one end of the lot to the other. For the most part, he trusted Shadow, but Cain was still a careful man. “Enough of the friendly bullshit. You alone?”
“Yep. At the moment.” Shadow took a couple steps forward, then jerked back as headlights from a car leaving Joanie’s glared in his direction.
Cain ducked behind the hood of the closest truck and pulled his gun. In silhouette, Shadow did the same. The two men stayed still as concrete. Watching each other. Evaluating. Deciding.
Content that the lights had come from a customer’s car, Cain holstered his weapon and stepped forward, holding out his hand. Sometimes a man had to take a chance.
Shadow did the same. “So, tell me, Connery. Which side of the law are you working this time?”
“Neither. I’m just here remodeling my dad’s house. Need to sell it. What about you? You on assignment?”
“Yeah, trying to get a handle on what and who’s making a move here in the Midwest.”
Cain couldn’t help but notice the man looked tired. Cases could do that to an agent. Working deep cover, like Shadow usually did, could not only grind you down physically, but pushed your emotions to the break point. Especially if you were married.
“How’s your wife?” Cain asked.
Shadow sighed long and hard as he centered his Stetson on his head. “Me and her parted ways. Got a divorce a little over a year ago.” He walked deeper into the shadows and leaned against the brick building. “She just couldn’t take my undercover life anymore.”
“Sorry, man.”
“Tell you the truth, there’s days I can barely stand this way of living anymore myself.”
Cain leaned back beside his DEA friend. There weren’t a lot of people an agent could talk to personally without wondering if it meant risking his job or his life.
“Besides taking a leave of absence to work on my dad’s house, I’ve kind of been thinking about quitting the DEA, too,” Cain said.
“What would you do?”
He shrugged. “Start a security business. Maybe a self-defense or survival school.”
“Sounds interesting…or a quick way to lose your shirt if things don’t pan out.”
“Yeah, that’s my thoughts, too.” Some days, Cain had the whole setup figured out in his mind. Others day, he wondered if there was even enough call for that kind of training in this area of the country. Deciding always seemed just out of reach.
Shadow stood away from the wall. “I know this was your hometown, but not lately. You haven’t been here but a couple of months, but you must have picked up on what makes this place tick over a decade since you left.”
“You’re the second person tonight to remind me I’ve only been here a couple months. As for what’s happening, you probably know a lot more than I do.” Cain grinned. “What kind of case are you working?”
“Drugs. Guns. Captains. Lieutenants. Distribution networks already in place. Routes etched in miles of interstates.” Shadow glanced around the area. “Usual stuff.”
Cain had always known drug courier routes ran south to north through Missouri. In addition, his last couple of jobs on the East Coast had opened his eyes to some gun running through the Midwest.
“How? Who?” Cain asked.
“That’s what the DEA sent me here to find out.
So far, I’d say there’s the usual drug chains…
but…there’s something else going on in town.
Someone completely different.” Shadow grimaced.
“In fact, if you ask me, the cartel is just watching and letting the other group weasel in. But mark my words, one of these days the weasel will get too brave and step on the cartel’s underbelly.
That’s the day they’ll get squashed like a bug on a windshield. ”
Cain considered the conversation he’d had with Acting Sheriff JB Bradley earlier.
Looked like today’s meeting at the St. Louis bureau location meant more than just a routine briefing for local law enforcement.
Maybe Cain should keep his eyes and ears open a little bit more, but he’d been trying to do the exact opposite ever since he hit town.
He was tired of seeing nice places used for bad people to make a whole lot of money.
“Well, for what it’s worth, this is where I grew up. Friendly people. Close to the Lake of the Ozarks.” Cain smiled. “Only a two-to-three-hour drive to St. Louis, Kansas City or Springfield. It’s just a nice little town in the middle of Missouri.”
“Then? Or now?”
First, Betsy had told him things had changed in Crayton. Now Shadow questioned the status of the town. Maybe he had been out of touch longer than he thought.
“I better head on down the road.” Shadow walked over to his black truck and held out his hand. “Good seeing you again.”
“Let me know if you’re ever in the Jefferson City area. I’ll take a run up there and we can find an out-of-the-way place to sit and talk old times.” Cain reciprocated the handshake. “Take care of yourself out there.”
Shadow nodded and opened his truck door. Paused. Then let the door loosely close, as he stepped closer. “You’re the one who needs to watch their back.”
Cain laughed. “You always were trying to throw me off my game.”
“Not this time.” The agent shook his head as a serious expression settled on his face.
Cain tensed as another cold chill crossed his shoulders. “What are you trying to tell me without telling me?”
“For close to two years, I’ve been ingratiating myself into one of the Midwest cartels.
They seem to be using me as a spotter. I get a call to be at a certain place at a certain time and let them know if a certain person is there.
” Shadow sucked in a deep breath. “No kind of schedule or routine. Just whatever they’ve got going on.
Could be around Crayton, or within fifty to a hundred miles of here.
But it always rotates within a few specific places. A few specific people.”
What did that have to do with Cain? This was the first time he’d seen his former partner in almost four years. As for himself, he hadn’t been around town long enough to have a target on his back. “Why should I be worried?”
Shadow glanced across the street. “When the man on the phone tells me Crayton, I call ahead and order a pizza to go from Joanie’s.”
Cain’s insides tensed.
“In Crayton,” Shadow continued, “my job is to make sure a certain person is on the premises. If she’s there, I call my contact and say so.
If she’s not, I pay for the pizza, take it to my truck and watch for an hour.
See if she shows up. If the boss don’t hear from me within an hour, then the cartel halts whatever was in the works.
” Shadow shrugged. “Either way I get my pizza.”
This wasn’t something to make light of in Cain’s opinion. “Joanie’s a nice lady. I can’t believe she’d be involved in anything illegal.”
“Not her.” Shadow pulled out his phone. Pushed a few buttons. Swiped a few items to the side. Held the phone up to face his friend. “This woman.”
Cain couldn’t pull his eyes away from the photo. Goosebumps made the hairs on his arms stand on end. His insides jerked as he fought the gag reflex.
“Betsy? Betsy Peyton?” Swiping the back of his hand across his mouth, he didn’t even recognize his own voice. “No. No! You’re wrong.”
A touch of compassion crossed the other agent’s eyes, then quickly disappeared. “I saw you and her in the parking lot. For a second, even thought you might be working a DEA assignment that had led you to her also. Your reaction tells me that’s not the case.”
“Not hardly.”
Raking his hand across his head, Cain stared into the shadows of pickups and cars and old brick buildings.
This town had had its secrets even when he lived here.
Families had had secrets. Probably still did.
But the idea of Betsy having a secret was more than he could fathom.
And the depth of the secret might be more than he wanted to imagine.
Just the thought of it all made him wish he hadn’t come back to Crayton for even a little while. Like he’d reminded himself through the years, even earlier tonight, in his mind Betsy was always his friend.
“You saved my life back in Texas years ago. As far as I’m concerned, I trust you. But I also know people change sometimes.” Shadow jumped in his truck, started the engine, and powered down the window. “If you’ve changed, I doubt there’s a chance of me leaving town alive.”
Cain figured his counterpart had already pulled his own gun and had it pointed at him from the other side of the door. Probably even had a bullet-size hole drilled in the door panel. One unseen from the outside. One that would easily pop with one shot.
Understanding the trust it had taken on Shadow’s part to give him the info, Cain showed his friend that he was still a man to be trusted. He turned his back and walked away. “You got nothing to worry about from me.”
With his brain and his heart and his gut fighting amongst themselves, he slowly stopped and continued to stare at the entrance to Joanie’s. He needed more info. “Does the cartel send you to other towns to spot different people, also?”
“Yeah. Targets are as different as night and day. Some young. Some old. Some barely able to walk and others running track at the local gym. For the most part, I get the impression they’re just normal people going about their lives with no idea anything illegal might be going on.
” Shadow shook his head. “But there’s a few I’m not too sure of. ”
Cain felt the press of a frown on his forehead. “Occupations? Do they all own a business?”
Shadow didn’t answer right away. “Hard to say. Like I said, I’ve been working on this case for almost two years.
Still can’t tie a string around anything.
” The agent’s tone had edged a bit higher, a bit tenser.
He cleared his throat. “There’re times I wonder if the cartel knows I’m DEA and they’re just keeping me busy to muddy the waters. If so, one day I’ll wake up dead.”
That feeling was one all too familiar from the undercover work Cain had done over his career. One hard to explain to people who didn’t walk that fine line going to work every day. One an agent didn’t talk about often.
“My guess” —Shadow was back to his normal investigative voice— “is that you’re going try to find out what’s going on here in your hometown.
Now you’re going to try to see where Betsy fits in to everything.
Can’t say I blame you. Just don’t get yourself killed, Doc.
I may need someone to save my life again. ”
“Yeah. You still haven’t got me that Stetson you promised in payment.
” Cain laughed as he turned toward his truck, feeling himself fall back into the way he’d felt for the past ten years.
There were assignments. There were bullets.
And best of all, there were friends who always knew what to say to make a situation better. “Stay safe, Shadow. Stay safe.”
As Cain walked on toward his silver extended pickup, he heard the black truck pull out of the overflow lot and head down the street. Nice and slow and easy.
He felt like he’d been gut-punched. Hard. Gut-punched and left on the street to find his way home. Pressing the button on his key fob, the lights on his truck flashed once before he reached the door, yanked it open and jumped inside.
Earlier tonight, what had Betsy said about Crayton changing?
Nothing specific, just that things were different.
But he hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary since he’d been back in town.
Or had he been so busy trying to push thoughts of DEA business out of his mind that he’d overlooked his natural instincts shouting beware right in front of him?
Doubting Betsy was not on his radar. There could be a dozen reasons why someone would be watching her…
well, at least a few. Yet he had no reason to doubt anything Shadow had told him either.
Somewhere in all that was a clue. And he didn’t plan to leave town without answers.
For now, doubting Betsy was still not on his radar.
Without another thought he pulled out his phone and tapped the number two call button. JB picked up on the first ring.
Cain didn’t wait for him to say anything. “We need to talk.”
“Where and when?”
Cain raked his hand across his head. He needed some sleep. He needed to think. He needed to decide. “My lake lot, the one where my dad’s cabin used to be. Five in the morning.”
“Got it.”
He checked his gun and laid it on the passenger seat. His friendly hometown trust had been dented tonight. Until he had some answers, the only person he’d trust was JB. “Don’t tell anyone I called..”
“Okay, but—”
“No buts, JB.” Cain’s gut feeling made him wish he hadn’t come back to Crayton. “Friendship only goes so far when we’re talking drugs and crime and your sister-in-law Betsy.”