Maggie pulled her car into the parking lot of the supermarket, and turned in the seat to face him. Ridge had let her drive, figuring she needed the illusion of controlling the situation. She’d seemed a bit off-kilter the rest of the morning before they’d headed into town, and letting her appear in charge of her portion of the world was such a minor thing. Following her lead might prove interesting, though he wouldn’t hang onto her coattails. He had Rabbit for that.
He’d worked a couple jobs with Rabbit before and been impressed. The guy was sharp, blended into the background like a chameleon, and he was fast. Like supersonic fast on his feet. The members of his DEA team were already assembled and assimilated into town. They’d shown up over the past couple of days, scouted out the lay of the land in and around the outskirts, and set up a basic command center at the largest hotel. It wasn’t anything fancy, one of those chain places where you tended to blend into the background. Part of the team was staying there, while the rest picked an innocuous motel, splitting the team between the two locations. No sense alerting anybody that a bunch of out-of-towners had hunkered down in their burb. A quick text before he’d left Maggie’s house had Rabbit ready to follow her wherever she went. Ridge meant to keep tabs on her without being too close. It wouldn’t do to rouse her suspicious, not when he had basically gotten free rein of her place.
“What’s the plan?”
She picked up her phone from the middle console, and swiped her finger across the screen. “I need to hit up the grocery store for some supplies. Shouldn’t take long.”
He nodded, staring out the windshield. “Great. I’m meeting up with a client. Text me when you’re ready to head back.”
“Alright.” She drawled out the word, like she’d been expecting something different from him. Good. Keeping her on her toes, trying to figure him out, seemed a good play. If he wasn’t nipping at her heels, maybe she’d slip up and reveal her plans via Rabbit’s surveillance. When he’d checked out the Jeep earlier, there’d been fresh mud caked on the tires, so wherever she’d headed off to in such a hurry hadn’t been on paved roads. The fact that she was hiding something, while suspicious, mostly aroused his curiosity. Nothing Ridge liked more than a good puzzle, and in Maggie he’d found the perfect riddle.
Climbing from the car, he gave her a quick wave and strode away, deliberately not looking back, though he felt her eyes watching his retreating form. In his hand, he carried the box containing the ravaged drone. He planned on meeting up with Daniel, and having him ship it to Gizmo. Daniel was also bringing him a couple of GPS trackers to place on Maggie’s car and her Jeep. He felt a bit guilty planting the bugs, but regrets wouldn’t get the job done and find the pipeline and the smugglers.
Walking through the doors of the coffee shop, he spotted his boss sitting at a small round table at the back. After placing his order for a large black coffee, he headed over, easing onto a chair. Daniel had a cup sitting in front of him. Roland sipped on one of those frou-frou coffee drinks, the kind with all the whipped cream on top. Ridge barely refrained from rolling his eyes.
Roland had no business being out in the field. He was great with numbers and all the finite details of his team’s behind the scenes activities. In the real world, where DEA agents put their lives on the line every day, the citified accountant stood out like the proverbial sore thumb.
He laid the box on the table and pushed it toward Daniel. “Here’s the drone we talked about. Get it to Gizmo ASAP. Shouldn’t take him long to get answers on who’s spying on Maggie’s property.”
Roland perked up at the sight of the box. “A drone?”
“Not one of ours,” Ridge shot back.
When his name was called, Ridge stepped away long enough to grab his coffee, flashing a smile at the young girl behind the counter, who blushed, before he headed back to his seat.
“You have what I asked for?” His boss tossed him a small plastic bag, containing the GPS tracking devices. Ridge pocketed them, and then took a sip of his coffee.
Daniel shot a glare toward Roland, who kept picking at the tape on the package holding the drone, before turning his attention back to Ridge. “Anything new? Other than somebody flying drones over her place?”
“Maggie snuck out of the house this morning. Drove off before I could catch her. I’m pretty sure she didn’t leave the property. She wasn’t gone long enough. And her tires were caked with mud. If she’d stuck to the public roads, which are paved, she wouldn’t have picked up anything.”
“You think she was meeting somebody? Maybe about the shipment?” Excitement laced Daniel’s voice.
“Don’t know. I’m going to spend a couple of hours later tonight checking the lay of the land, after she’s gone to bed. Can’t do it before, or she’d be suspicious. There’s only so much tap dancing I can do without giving the game away. A security specialist works within the house and outlying structures, not gallivanting around the property. I might get away with suggesting perimeter fencing, but anything more and it’s gonna raise eyebrows.”
“Gallivanting?” Roland snickered and Ridge barely resisted another eye roll. Why had Daniel brought this guy along?
“Get those trackers on her vehicles ASAP.” Daniel slammed his fist on the tabletop. “I want her every movement monitored. She’s our number one suspect. We have to shut off the route. Allowing the drivers to get off the interstate where we’ve got a higher saturation of agents, they’ve doubled what’s gotten through over the past six months.”
“How sure are we they’re using Maggie’s land to move the drugs? I mean, there are other good-sized pieces of unincorporated, undeveloped properties in the area. Not nearly as big as hers, but cutting a swath across unoccupied land? Could be happening someplace else, right?”
Something still didn’t sit right in Ridge’s gut about this whole situation. After having met Maggie, spent a little time with her, he couldn’t picture the dark-haired beauty consorting with smugglers.
“Ridge, we’ve been over this before. Ms. White’s property is the perfect place for larger vehicles to drive across without being spotted. It’s far enough off the interstate to not arouse suspicion, and has huge areas of acreage with large native foliage which provides natural camouflage. There is access to paved roads bordering it on both the north and the south. Our biggest problem has been gaining access without going through official channels, because then the property owner is informed. If they are involved in the smuggling, it blows our chance at catching the smugglers red-handed. And two, finding a drivable path through such densely forested land is a daunting task, because the foliage from above makes it nearly impossible to survey by satellite. I’ll be honest, until you brought this,” he motioned toward Gizmo’s package, “I never considered using drones again. We have satellite images, but they’re practically useless because of the dense forestation. Our sources are credible, and they point at Ms. White not only being involved, but culpable in providing access to her land, and right-of-passage to the drug smugglers.”
Ridge shook his head, refusing to believe Maggie was involved. He’d be the first to admit he didn’t know her well enough to be one hundred percent positive, but after spending time with the woman, he’d willingly risk his reputation with the DEA that she was innocent.
“I’ll try and get the trackers on her vehicles today or tomorrow, depending on when she’s around. I’ll tag the ones she uses the most, though she’s got several really nice cars and trucks in her garage.”
“I don’t care how you get them on, just get it done.” Daniel ran a hand through his hair, a gesture Ridge was all too familiar with. His boss did it whenever he got frustrated, or thought a case was turning sideways.
“I’m sorry you’re spending so much time away from your family, boss. How’re June and Sammy?”
“Not happy that I haven’t been home in months. Sam’s started playing Little League, and I’ve missed every stinking practice. June says he’s being a good sport about it, understands that Daddy’s working. But I hate it. I want to be there to see his first at-bat. I should be in the stands, cheering him on, watching him play second base. Instead, I’m sitting here in a coffee shop in Texas Hill Country, trying to take down a Mexican drug cartel.”
“Hopefully, it’ll all be over soon, and we’ll have thrown a huge monkey wrench into Escondido’s pipeline. You’ll get a break, and be sitting on the sidelines at your son’s games before you know it. All I ask is you send me pictures.”
Daniel pulled out his phone, tapped a couple of buttons, and turned the phone toward Ridge. “June took this one last week.”
Ridge whistled low. “I almost don’t recognize the kid. Man, he’s growing so fast.”
“Yeah, and I’ve missed too much of it.” Daniel tucked his phone into his jacket pocket, and placed his hands on the table. “Everybody knows what their assignments are. The teams are in place. I’ll get the drone to your buddy Gizmo. Keep looking for where the trucks are cutting through. I’ve got a couple of guys patrolling the roads to the north and south of Ms. White’s property, doing surveillance for anybody looking suspicious.”
Ridge stood when Daniel did, while Roland gathered up the various pads, papers and pens he’d spread over the tabletop. “I’ll check in tonight after I’ve searched, either by text or e-mail.”
“My gut tells me we’re close. We can’t afford to make any mistakes.” Daniel’s expression hardened. “I got word this morning that the heroin confiscated from the last Escondido bust was laced with fentanyl. He’s getting dangerous and careless. Who knows how many people died from that poisonous combination?”
Shock coursed through Ridge at his boss’ words. If Escondido’s crew was lacing their product with fentanyl, that ramped up the urgency tenfold. Fentanyl had become the latest rage for users, because the high and the rush it gave magnified anything heroin alone produced. But it was also deadly.
“I’ve got to get back, Maggie’s gonna be waiting for me.” He gave Daniel a brisk nod. “We’ll get them.”
Without another word, Ridge walked out into the sunshine, and headed back toward the grocery store parking lot. He couldn’t screw this up. As much as he trusted Maggie, there was too much at stake.
Escondido and his army of drug runners were going down.