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Gabe and Dan were busy tracking down drug dealers. Gramps was teaching Hector the ropes with the cattle. Soon the trees would have to be inspected for disease, pruned and sprayed, ready for the next crop. Summer was around the corner. It
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was always a slow time in the groves, and Nora was bored.
Putting down the book she was reading, she stroked the cat, lying comfortably in her lap. It was getting late, and she should get to bed. Maybe she could do some deep cleaning around the house tomorrow. Stuff she never got a chance to do during the time the crop was coming in. Yuck, she didn't want to do that either.
A ride on Jasper sounded better. She could ride out on the back road for a couple of miles, pack a little lunch and stop by the Myakka River. That settled, she turned off her reading lamp, pushed Hobo to the floor and stood looking out over the grove.
A noise in the distance caught her attention. It was the same plane, the one with the misfire in the engine. She tried to locate the direction it was coming in. Picking up the binoculars that were always on the porch for bird watching, she scanned the night sky for the plane.
Following the sound of the engine, she spotted the small plane coming from the south. It came in right over the house, shaking the windowpanes. Swooping low over the packing plant, she could easily make out the identification number on the tail section. She wrote it down quickly, N6109N. "Gotcha," she exclaimed softly, not wanting to wake Gramps. "Now where did you come from, and where are you going?” she asked herself. Putting her lamp back on, she dragged out an old county map. "You have to land somewhere."
Scanning the map, she remembered the old airport to the south east of Arcadia. It was a small field used by some of the local farmers that didn't have their own private fields to land on. It was always busy with supplies on their way in or out of there. If she remembered right, there was also a flight school there. It was publicly owned. A private airport would not work if you were trying not to be noticed.
It was too late to call Gabe. She could check out the airport and call him if she found something. No need to bother him if it was a dead end and she didn't find the plane. That settled her plan for tomorrow.
In a rancher’s field, not far from where Nora stood watching, the sound of the plane's engine cut through the night silence. Gabe smiled as he thought of Nora. He could pick out the skip in the engine as it approached.
The field was lit by a full moon. Gabe and his men watched from a distance. Tito and the black van were parked on the edge of the field waiting for the plane to drop the cocaine. Dan spoke quietly with the other agents, while Gabe paced in the shadow of the trees.
The van flashed its headlights. The plane banked left and swooped down low over the field—touching down for only a minute as packages of drugs were hastily tossed out the door. The engine roared as the plane
rose and skimmed the trees, rising higher in the sky and heading east.
The agents and police looked on as Tito and Santos gathered the packages and quickly placed them in the back of the van. Gabe could only hope that Tito had been able to place the tracking device in one of the packages.
The plan was to follow the van at a safe distance. The tracker was in case they lost it on the dark rural roads. Loading the agents and officers, the small caravan made its way to the main road and headed in the direction the van had taken, east towards Arcadia.
Dan kept his eyes on the direction finder, listening to the pings it made. "It's working. They're a mile or so ahead of us."
Baker and Esposito oversaw the technology used in following the signal the tracker sent out.
They followed State Road 70 East to where it turned into West Oak Street out past the Oak Street Cemetery. The van turned off a side road ahead. The tracker pinged along and then suddenly stopped moving.
"The van’s stopped," Agent O'Donnell said.
"That's strange. There's not much out there," Gabe said. "Not until you come to the small airport. How could I have been so stupid? Of course, the airport. I found it on the map back in my office right before we left. It just didn't register. I'm still learning my way around here. It's the only public one around here. There are a couple of private ones, but strangers would be found out right away at one of those."
"Let's go on and see where the tracker stopped. Maybe they're at a house or building down that road," Agent Montrose said.
With Dan and his DEA agents in the lead, they followed the signal down a deeply rutted road. "This car was not designed for this," O'Donnell said as another bone-rattling hole rocked the vehicle.
"I can't take this down any farther. I'll break an axle or something. Last thing I need is for the drug runners to find a DEA car broken down out here," Dan said.
Stopping, he got out and walked back to Gabe's car. "My car won't make it on this road. It's too low. At least we have a good idea where they're heading."
"Let's go back to my office. I'll send someone out tomorrow in a truck that can handle the road," Gabe said. He was upset with himself and disappointed that they couldn't continue the surveillance and follow the van to see where it was off-loading the drugs.
Turning the vehicles around in the dark was a struggle. One almost lost it and would have ended up in a water-filled ditch on the edge of the narrow dirt road. Riding back in silence, they were all thinking the same thing. The Arcadia Airport was the key. Tomorrow, they would put something together to catch whoever was the head of this operation.
A couple of questions roamed in Gabe's mind. How would they know which plane had carried the drugs? Why drop the drugs in the orange groves? Seemed he had more questions than answers.
The smell of coffee woke Nora in the morning. She had tossed and turned most of the night. "Hi Gramps," Nora said, drowsily stifling a yawn.
"Well, you look like you had a bad night," the old man said, pouring coffee for himself and Nora.
"I had a lot on my mind. I saw that plane again last night. Maybe Gabe and Dan saw it, too," she said.
"I sure would like to get this drug business over with. I can't figure why people have to get mixed up with that stuff."
"It's the money, Gramps. There's a lot of money in the drugs." Nora sat at the table with her hands around the warm cup.
"You want any breakfast this morning, sweetheart?" Gramps threw some bacon in an old cast iron pan. "I can fix you up some eggs. Rosita is having a hard time with that nephew of hers. She will be here a bit late today."
"No on the eggs, but thanks. I've got a couple of errands to run this morning. I should be back in time for lunch. Are you working with Hector this morning?" She hoped to distract him about where exactly she was going.
"I thought we would go look at the bull you found over in Sarasota. I'll call the guy after I eat and clean up
here. I hope it's still for sale." Gramps tipped his eggs onto a couple of pieces of buttered toast on his plate. He sat down and started to cut into his breakfast. "We haven't heard from your two suitors lately. I'm wondering how they're doing?"
"Gramps, they are not my suitors!" Nora exclaimed as Rosita came in the kitchen door.
"Suitors, Madre Dios, finally my little dove has suitors?" Rosita questioned from the kitchen doorway. She came in and grabbed a kitchen towel.
"I don't have suitors. I have male friends," Nora said a little too strongly and stormed out of the room calling back, "Quit trying to marry me off."
"I've got my money on Gabe," Gramps laughed.
"I think so, too," Rosita said with a smile as she helped to clear up the breakfast things. "Mr. Frank, my nephew is visiting from Columbia. He is the son of my sister. He is so lazy that no woman in her right mind will have him. I want him to meet you and Miss Nora sometime, but he is always too busy doing nothing.”
"Not a problem, Rosita. Maybe I can make some calls and find him a bit of work while he is here," Gramps offered.
"Thank you, but I do not want him to be a bad worker and make it look bad for you," Rosita said.
"I understand. The offer is there if you need it." Gramps patted Rex on the head and proceeded to feed the old mutt his breakfast while Rosita finished cleaning up the kitchen.
Nora went upstairs to get dressed and was ready to head out. Rex had finished his breakfast, and she found him sleeping on the back seat of the jeep. Not wanting to disturb him, she took the battered Ford truck they used around the grove and headed out to Arcadia.
