Sitting on the back of an ATV, I gripped the handholds and gritted my teeth. A redheaded FBI agent by the name of Madigan Armstrong drove the vehicle, our roles as passenger versus driver determined by a quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors conducted out of view from the males in the group.
The four ATVs were at full capacity. Walker’s brother Emerson had paired up with Gamble. Siobhan rode behind Walker. Sutton rode alone with my evidence kit, his drone, and extra batteries for the device.
I wasn’t sure how the former soldier was driving his vehicle with such ease. A wide padded belt circled his hips and lower back. Running down his right leg, metal braces framed the interior and exterior sides, some kind of spring above the knee assisting every step he took so that a cane wasn’t necessary.
Siobhan had pulled me aside before Sutton’s arrival at the sheriff’s department, briefly detailing how enemy forces shot him down in a drop zone, the mortar round missing him but shredding his parachute. The impact on landing broke the right leg at several points. In the first week, he’d undergone two surgeries to pin everything back together. Revealing the motive behind the otherwise gossipy revelations, Siobhan emphasized that the doctors at the Veterans Administration had recently voiced their hope that Sutton wouldn’t need any more surgeries—provided he didn’t overdo things at this stage.
Not wanting to be the cause of Sutton overdoing things, I winced every time we reached a particularly rough section of the trip.
Coming to the top of a ridge, Walker signaled a halt. Removing his helmet, he pointed at a sign maybe thirty yards down. I couldn’t see the words, but recognized the colors and shape. It was a park boundary sign. With me and two other federal law enforcement officers in tow, the group could proceed past the signs, but we were at the edge of the private property the vandals were trying to get Walker to abandon. And, under current circumstances, the four-wheelers weren’t authorized past the signs.
“Good spot,” Sutton said and swung his left leg over the ATV’s seat.
Twisting at the waist, he unstrapped his drone and swapped batteries. Walker took the small aircraft from him and placed it on the ground a few feet in front of the vehicle. Siobhan pulled a tablet out of her backpack and stood in front of the ATV with the device’s display facing Sutton.
He tapped a few buttons and the drone’s camera view appeared on the tablet.
“Want me to start south or north?” he asked.
We were at our third location for the day. With the sun starting to dip in the sky, it would also be our last.
“South,” Emerson voted.
Maddy nodded agreement with her boss. Gamble and Siobhan shrugged. Sutton looked at Walker.
“North,” he said.
“Two to one,” Sutton noted then looked at me. “You going to tie the score or do I start south.”
As close as it was getting to sunset, we would probably be able to try just one of the directions before heading back.
“Why north?” I asked Walker.
“That’s the direction of where they took the cattle guards out. Maybe they plan on putting them back in or cutting the fence. There’s also an unmarked access road to the north that locals would know about.”
“It better not be anyone local,” Gamble grumbled.
“I vote north,” I said, chest constricting when Walker smiled at me for taking his side.
“So my vote breaks the tie,” Sutton said, his fingers caressing the controls.
Up the drone rose—and headed north.
Everyone but Siobhan gathered around Sutton to watch the display.
“Who’s keeping an eye on the battery level for me?” he asked.
Siobhan piped up when no one answered right away.
“Agent Armstrong, you can probably get in closest to see the display.”
Siobhan’s delivery sounded purely professional, but I couldn’t forget all the talk around the table that morning with Siobhan seemingly, and inexplicably, eager to get all of her cousins married off. Suspecting that the nomination of Madigan served Siobhan’s personal goal, I made note of the tactics the young deputy trainee might use against me. Because it didn’t matter how tight or warm my chest got when Walker smiled in my direction—or how slick I got elsewhere, I hadn’t moved to Montana to get married.
“Of course,” Siobhan tacked on as Madigan moved into position, “you should probably review the video again since we need all eyes and your attention is split with checking the battery. Sutton will be able to replay the feed for you.”
I glanced at Walker. He pulled a face like he knew what his cousin was doing. A glance at Madigan revealed nothing more than a focused young agent eager to prove her worth.
Leaning in, Gamble squinted at the camera feed. “Still not sure what we’re looking for.”
Emerson chuckled. “It’s kind of like that famous Supreme Court case that set out to define pornography. One of the judges said he would know it when he saw it. Apparently he had to look through a lot of pictures before—”
“Go back,” Walker interrupted. “Yeah, right around there. Can you get closer, zoom in with the camera?”
“I can decrease altitude,” Sutton answered and lowered the drone.
“Not seeing it,” Emerson said.
“Maybe here?” Madigan suggested, her body sliding against Sutton’s as she extended an arm and pointed at a gap between the heavy cover of pine trees. “Looks like something manmade in there, almost box shaped.”
Sutton’s fingers whispered over the controls. “Let me see if I can get another angle on it.”
The gap receded for a while as the drone lifted higher, circled around and dropped lower in a tight opening that let them see the trunks of the pines at the level of their lowest branches.
Gamble whistled. “See it now?”
A soft chorus of “yes” circled Sutton’s ATV as everyone spotted half a dozen or more canvas bundles secured to the trees. Sutton snapped some screenshots and marked the GPS location.
“That’s as close as I can get without risking the drone.”
“Getting close to fifty percent on the battery,” Madigan warned.
I placed my hand on Sutton’s shoulder and offered a grateful squeeze. “Bring it back in. That’s enough for me to get a few more officers out, as well as support from the park’s rangers. We’ll retrieve the packs tomorrow and process them for prints and other trace evidence. Depending on what they contain, we’ll have a good idea of what’s being planned.”
“So we head back?” Walker asked, scanning the group’s faces before landing on mine.
Joining the others, I nodded my agreement.
“My butt’s vibrating,” Siobhan announced.
Walker spit out a cough while Gamble buried his face in his hands.
“I think she means her phone—but I’m not going in after it,” Emerson chuckled.
“You want me—” Walker’s question was cut off when his own phone rang. He turned it on. “Hey Mama, were you just calling Siobhan?”
His head bobbed in his cousin’s direction. “About ninety minutes. Yep, I’ll ask.”
Tilting the phone away from his mouth, he nodded at everyone. “It was a good day fishing with Honey Bee. Mama’s got twenty or more trout prepped to freeze or cook. Raise your hand if you want to finish the day with something hot, fresh from the lake, and home cooked.”
“Me,” Siobhan announced, her hands remaining wrapped around the tablet as Sutton piloted the drone.
“Yep,” Sutton answered, lifting just a finger.
Madigan and Emerson exchanged looks. When he nodded, they both raised their hands.
“Any day Lindy Turk invites me to her table is a good day,” Gamble laughed.
Walker’s gaze landed on me. Before I could frame my excuse for heading back to Billings as soon as possible, he lifted the phone and answered for all of us.
“Seven hungry souls, Mama. Need me to pick up anything? Okay, let me know if you change your mind. Love you, too.”
I forced my gaze to the camera display, uncertain how I felt about Walker deciding for me. Not like his decision was binding. I could still head back to my mostly unfurnished apartment and eat a bowl of cereal while standing over the sink.
“Alright,” Sutton said, his gaze leaving the tablet as the drone came into view over the treetops and he could pilot without the camera. “Just need to get this landed and packed up.”
“Can I power this down?” Siobhan asked, jiggling the tablet at him.
Sutton nodded. She returned the device to her backpack.
“That’s a pretty cool toy,” she said.
“Don’t need a certification from the Federal Aviation Administration to pilot toys,” Sutton scowled. “You could have walked around for a week and never spotted those packs. Toys don’t keep you from wasting time.”
Siobhan blew a raspberry at her cousin then climbed onto the back of Walker’s ATV.
“It’ll be even handier when my thermal camera comes in.”
“Good for search and rescue,” Madigan agreed, returning to her ATV. “Too loud for surveillance.”
Catching my gaze, she nodded at the driver seat.
“Trade positions?”
“Sounds good.” I swung my left leg over the seat and pulled the helmet on just as the drone landed.
Walker carried the craft to Sutton. Once Sutton had it strapped in, all the drivers started their engines and rode back to the trailer and vehicles. After Madigan jumped off the back of the ATV, Walker guided me into driving it up the ramp. Together, we lashed the four-wheeler in place and put the trailer’s gate up.
“I figured you would want to get the image downloads from Sutton before you contacted your boss…might as well get some food in you at the same time.”
Vibrating right along with the low rumble of his voice, I wondered if that really was the sum total of Walker’s reasoning. Was I projecting feelings I would rather not have onto him?
My body certainly responded every time we were close. Nipples peaked beneath my bra. My thighs warmed, a persistent throb building between them.
“Don’t know if you planned on heading back to Billings,” he continued, his voice dropping low enough to circle my hips. “But Mama said you’re welcome to stay. There’s a washing machine and dryer right off the kitchen. Plenty of toiletries.”
I didn’t answer right away even though staying would shave off three hours of driving between returning to Billings for the night and returning to the park in the morning. Not to mention, once I was home, I would have to stay up to deal with my uniform.
“Plenty of ice packs, too,” he added with a discreet glance at my leg.
I pulled out the keys to the Jeep and gave them a twirl. The last thing my career needed was romantic gossip swirling around me. I had grown up in a big city, but I knew well enough how small towns worked. A guy like Walker would be one of Willow Gap’s most eligible bachelors. Until he married some lucky woman, rumors would spring up whenever he seemed too friendly with a female, especially a chunky federal agent.
“No need to decide out here,” he said, waving goodbye to Emerson and Madigan as they headed toward the main house in their government sedan.
“Right,” I agreed with a grateful smile. “I can’t promise anything until I talk with Moske.”