Garrett didn’t want to believe that his son was in any real danger, but the lack of response at such a late hour was one for the books. It wasn’t unheard-of for Asadi to go out and check on the horses in the middle of the night, particularly with a storm coming in. But that would only take a few minutes. The fact that the boy wasn’t answering meant that something could be wrong.
Garrett hated waking Lacey, but the good news was that she understood. It was a lot to ask if she could go to the house and check on him, but she loved Asadi just like he was her own. The mother hen in her would also want to make sure he was safe.
Meanwhile, Butch and Grace were busy blabbing in the back, and Kai seemed generally distracted in the passenger seat. He was probably trying to figure out how to explain to his cohorts that he had willingly left with the people who had torn down their tent and started banging away with a .357 Magnum before tearing out of their camp like a bat out of hell.
As Garrett pulled up to what was left of the pipeline, he wondered if they’d find any clues at all. There wasn’t much left by the fire trucks but a smoldering crater. He parked the truck about thirty yards out, keeping the beams aimed at the twisted mass of iron jutting from the trench.
Garrett turned to face Butch and Grace. “Kai and I will run out and take a look.”
Buch gazed out at the muddy disaster scene. “Take a look at what? It’s a total mess.”
“Truth be told, I don’t think we’ll find a damn thing now. But since we’re here, might as well try.”
Butch turned to his daughter. “Anything you want to see?”
Grace rose a little, looked out at the mud and the sloshy snow, and then scrunched her nose. “Christian Louboutin would literally kill me if I went out in that.”
Garrett had no idea who Kristen Looney Tune was or why she’d care if his sister inspected the pipeline, but it was good news to him. He hopped out and slammed the door before anyone changed their minds. It was a lot better option than having Joseph McCarthy and Margaret Thatcher along for the hike, nonstop grilling Kai over why he’d joined the Red Menace.
As they marched in near lockstep to ground zero, Garrett turned to Kai. “Thanks for coming along. Appreciate any help I can get.”
Despite his supposed willingness to assist, Garrett had to wonder if his old friend was there in order to keep an eye on him. Even worse, he wondered if Kai had only come along to lead him down a cold trail. He wouldn’t be the first criminal in history to offer up his services with the intention of throwing off the investigation with false theories or by destroying evidence.
Kai lowered his voice. “Didn’t seem like your dad or sister were too eager to join us.”
“It’s a long story with those two.”
Kai gave a nod. “Had a falling-out, I take it.”
Garrett wondered how Kai had nailed it on the first try. “How’d you know?”
“Oh, I just recognized the signs. It’s clear they’d gone separate ways. Drifted apart. And now they’re trying to find each other again. Me and my parents had issues when I got back.”
Garrett didn’t have to ask where he’d come back from because he already knew it was Afghanistan. And Kai wasn’t the only one who was still struggling. “What was the problem?”
“Nothing I can put my finger on, really. It was just like . . . when I got out of the Army everything was different. My time downrange was somewhere between the worst experience of my life and the only place I felt normal. Hard to explain.”
Garrett couldn’t help but smile. They were finding their common ground. “No explanation needed. Had the same situation at first. That’s why I had to throw myself into something else. I went to college and started a new career. Stayed on the move for years and did everything I could to not look back.”
“Lucky for you, there was something to take its place. Life in war zones is toxic but addictive. As much as I dreaded returning, I was just as antsy to leave the second I got home.”
“I hear you,” Garrett agreed. “Had to keep myself busy during the downtime. I was always hunting and fishing, riding horses. Idle hands and all that, you know.”
“Yeah, well, I found a few less healthy hobbies.”
Garrett needed no further explanation on that either. Kai wasn’t his only old friend to turn to drugs, alcohol, or both. “What’d you do to turn it around?”
“Started doing exactly what you saw me doing earlier.”
Garrett thought he’d take a stab at a joke. “What? Rioting?”
Kai coughed out what seemed to be a genuine laugh. “Environmental causes.”
“Doesn’t seem like a bad way to spend your time. Assuming everything’s on the up-and-up.”
Garrett felt like he was making progress with Kai and didn’t want to kill the momentum, but if Cosmic Order was into some bad things, then he needed to know. Members of the group had damaged his pickup, attacked him outside of their encampment, and held him at gunpoint.
It didn’t mean they were saboteurs, but they weren’t sitting around making daisy chains and knitting chullo beanies either. They were dangerous. The question was how dangerous.
Garrett continued, “I guess what I’m getting at is that even if your organization wasn’t responsible for these explosions, it condones violence.”
“Resistance,” Kai corrected. “Not violence. There’s a big difference in seeking to hurt others and standing up for what you believe in. Laying your life on the line.”
“So, it’s a one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter kind of deal. Is that it?”
Kai seemed to ponder a moment on his response. If he agreed, then he was essentially admitting that his group was capable of taking their actions to the next level. Which wouldn’t necessarily help in making the case that they were innocent.
“Look, Garrett, these people found me when I was at my worst and gave me a purpose. You remember my love of the mountains. The outdoors. They helped me find that passion again.”
“Nothing wrong with a passion for the outdoors. Guilty of that myself. Becomes another matter when innocent people start getting hurt.”
“We never hurt anyone.” Kai seemed to get lost in his thoughts for a moment before adding softly, “And who’s really innocent anymore?”
Garrett empathized with his old friend, but he couldn’t allow that last remark to go unchecked. “Well, you may not believe it but I’m glad you found meaning in your life. Just so long as your purpose doesn’t conflict with mine. The whole ends justify the means thing goes only so far in my book.”
Kai stopped a few feet ahead of the crater and turned to Garrett, looking exasperated. “Told you we didn’t do it. Believe me or not, I don’t care.”
Garrett thought about pushing it further, but opted against it, lest he push Kai away and get no more intel at all. There was a temptation to ask how Cosmic Order had made it up there so fast. It seemed like somebody knew something in advance. Of course, groups like these were connected to environmental organizations with powerful lobbyists, who could’ve gotten wind of the pipeline expansion project through a sympathetic politician or environmental agency staffer.
For now, though, he needed evidence. But any that might have ever existed was buried under six inches of sludge. Garrett took out a flashlight, clicked it on, and aimed the beams out into the darkness. “Let’s get a look at the perimeter. Maybe we can see some tracks coming in.” He marched out ahead, hearing the quick squish of Kai’s hiking boots in the mud behind him.
A rattle from ahead stopped Garrett in his tracks. He threw up his hand. “You hear that?”
Kai, who had immediately halted at the nonverbal command, didn’t answer, just pointed in the direction of a second sound that was more of a metal clank. “Over there,” he whispered.
Garrett turned right and shined his beams across a swath of dark pasture, resting momentarily on clumps of mesquite and then moving on until spotting a shimmer. A closer look revealed a white Dodge Ram, nestled to the side of a dirt pile that was nearly as big as the truck.
Garrett turned to Kai. “See anyone inside it?”
Kai shook his head. “Maybe it was just the wind rattling a can in the back bed or something.”
Garrett stared a moment longer, focusing on the cab. It was difficult to make out anything in the dark, given the distance, which looked to be about thirty yards out. On any other occasion, he wouldn’t have given the abandoned truck a second thought. It wouldn’t be the first to break down in a pasture. But with everything going on, he figured that this one was worth a look.
They kept on the march, albeit more cautiously, taking softer steps and keeping their eyes locked on the truck. About fifteen yards from the pickup, Kai stopped abruptly.
“Hold up.” He put his index finger to his lips. “Think I hear it running.”
Garrett strained to hear it too, but between the howl of the wind and the ringing of his ears from years behind a gun, his hearing wasn’t as keen as it used to be. “What you got, man?”
“It is.” Kai leaned his right ear toward the Ram. “Engine’s running, I think.”
Again, Garrett didn’t want to jump to any conclusions. Maybe someone from the emergency fire crew had volunteered to camp out to keep an eye out for reignition of the flames. With that reasoning playing out in his mind, he handed the flashlight to Kai, and then pulled the Nighthawk from its holster. “Wasn’t it Ronald Reagan who said, trust but verify?”
He had just let the pistol dangle by his side when the diesel engine snarled and the truck lurched forward. Kai bolted right, just as the Ram sped up. With its massive grille guard dead ahead, Garrett set his stance, raised the pistol, and cracked three rounds into the windshield.
Despite the counteroffensive, the engine block still loomed larger and closer, and when the truck swerved right, Garrett dove left. The Ram raced by, narrowly missing him. He scrambled to his feet, took aim, but held his fire. The Dodge was already on the county road and tearing ass out of there. All that remained was the red glow of dust in the taillights.
Kai dashed up and ran the flashlight beams over Garrett. “You okay? You hit?”
Garrett looked down at himself. “Thank God, no. Missed me by an inch.” He batted the powder from his coat and blue jeans and looked up at Kai. “How about you?”
Kai patted himself down too. “Nah, I’m good.”
“Doesn’t give me much.” Garrett kept his eyes trained on the road. “But it at least confirms my hunch that something’s going on.”
Kai smiled. “And it should confirm something else.”
“Confirms that it’s not you, I guess.”
“Also confirms that you need me around.”
“Need you?” Garrett shot Kai a curious glare. “Why do you say that?”
A cocky smile rose on Kai’s face. “Because I bet you didn’t get that license plate.”