Читать книгу Undercover In Conard County - Rachel Lee - Страница 11
ОглавлениеThree days later, just after dark, Desi returned to the station exhausted. She threw her paperwork and citation book on the desk in the office, locked up her pistol, then sagged in exhaustion. Paperwork could wait, she decided. There was enough in her summons book and other notes for now.
She climbed her outside stairs to her apartment over the station. Nothing grandiose about it. Once upon a time it had been a bunkhouse for wardens, but as wardens settled in this area and bought homes and raised families, it had become a leftover from another era. So part of it had been transformed into an efficiency apartment. The rest...well, it was still kind of a bunkhouse, but one with only two mattresses on cots. Once in a while, one of her fellow wardens would camp out there for a night. At least they’d given the apartment its own bathroom.
She hopped into the shower, cleaning the day off herself, then dressed in jeans and a green sweater. If she got called out for any reason, she was halfway ready to go.
There was no time of year when her life was totally quiet, but things heated up during hunting season. All kinds of people out there, even with licenses and permits, still shaded their way around the law. Easy enough, usually, when they were blending in with so many other hunters.
Three long days, she thought, but at least no blatant trophy kills. Hunting season seemed to bring the not-entirely-lawful out of the woodwork, apparently thinking they’d pass unnoticed when hunters were everywhere.
Uh, no, she thought as she toweled her hair a little more then headed for her kitchenette. It got to be ridiculous sometimes. She’d had to escort four hunters off posted property. She’d come up on more than one group where people were firing from the road. In those cases, when they killed game, she not only had to cite them for the infraction, she had to recover the carcass. Lots of heavy work, not always aided by hunters who were angry with her because they had to pay a fine and had lost the meat, license or no license.
A tip had kept her out later last night, and sure enough, after hunting hours closed for the night, two hunters were busy ignoring the time. At least they hadn’t gotten nasty about it.
On the other hand, she’d talked to a lot of nice folks, some of whom she knew. And Jos Webber, another warden assigned to this area, had agreed they ought to team up even if it expanded their usual patrol areas. Something about this hunting season seemed off and she and Jos agreed a little extra caution wouldn’t hurt.
The phone rang while she was reheating some leftover stew, and she answered it. “Game and Fish, Warden Jenks here.”
“Hey, Desi,” said the familiar voice of Craig Stone. He was a lawman and biologist for the US Forest Service, and sometimes their jobs overlapped. “I hear you lost a bighorn.”
“That’s putting it mildly, Craig. Have you been seeing any poaching?” His forest abutted her area, and reached further back into some of the mountains.
“Not yet. We decided to close ourselves to hunting this year, though. You must have gotten the memo.”
“Yeah. And all I could think was, great, it’s going to be my problem.”
Craig laughed. “Look at it this way. We find any hunters on our land, they’ll go immediately to jail. Maybe that’ll help you.”
“Jail for how long?” she snorted. “Trespass doesn’t put anyone away for long.”
He didn’t laugh this time. “I know. And I know how thinly spread you all are. So basically I’m saying, if you need help, call. I realize I can’t legally do much on your land, but I can help.”
“Thanks, Craig. It’s appreciated.” Then she thought of Kel. “I have someone I’d like you to meet.” As soon as she said it, she winced. She was supposed to be protecting the guy’s cover, not bandying it about.
“Sure. When?”
“I’ll let you know.” And maybe that would get her off the hook. She could just let it drop. She asked after his wife, Sky, and their toddler, then said good-night to Craig, realizing this day had managed to sap her. She’d barely eaten, she was tired and she probably wasn’t at her best mentally, to judge by her slipup just now.
“Food,” she said aloud. “Then rest.” With the phone right beside her head. Such a glamorous job.
A laugh escaped her as she began to scoop hot stew from the pot into a bowl. Really, all she had to do was remind herself of springtime, when she’d be out looking for newborns in the wild populations, when she’d be counting herds and checking to make sure nothing impeded their necessary migrations.
And after that was summertime when the biggest problem she usually dealt with was fishermen who were either unlicensed or who took more than their catch limit. That was rare enough around here because there weren’t a lot of good fishing holes. But there were a few. Conard City hadn’t been built without an eye to a nearby water source. And of course, there was always some game poaching going on.
She sat with her feet up on a battered coffee table, trying to decide if she wanted to watch television or just enjoy the peace and quiet when there was a knock on her door.
Aw, man, she thought, putting her hot stew aside and going to answer it. There, in the dark of early autumn, stood Kel Westin.
She blinked at him as he said, “Hi.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “This is hardly undercover.”
“No one saw me. No one who matters anyway. I walked and you’re a little outside town.”
“A little.” Slowly she stepped back. “Well, I guess you’re more interesting than TV. Come in.”
He grinned. “Better than TV? I don’t know whether that’s a compliment or not.”
“Keep wondering,” she retorted as she closed the door behind him. “Want me to heat you some stew? I was just about to eat.”
“I ate at the diner. Go ahead and dig in.”
So she returned to the battered sofa and picked up her bowl and spoon. She watched as he wandered around familiarizing himself with the layout.
Something about the way he was looking, moving...she’d seen it before. “Military background?” she asked.
He faced her, hands in his pockets. “Yeah. Rangers.”
“It shows. When you’ve got the place memorized, have a seat.”
He looked almost rueful. “That obvious?”
“Only to someone who’s seen it other times. We have a lot of vets in this county, a lot of special-ops types. So yeah, I know how they get the lay of the land.”
So she waited while he finished scoping the place. He probably wouldn’t be comfortable until he knew the exits and windows, and whatever else might concern him. But eventually he sat in the armchair across from her.
“To what do I owe this honor?” she prodded.
“We really didn’t get a chance to talk before you got called out.”
She arched a brow, spoonful of stew halfway to her mouth. “There’s more?”
He half smiled. “Isn’t there always? You know the guys with the forest service?”
“Most of them.”
“They’re working with us.”
She nodded slowly. “So that’s why Craig Stone called to remind me they were closing to hunting.”
“The state public land abuts the forest. But you know that. Anyway, we’re hoping by closing that area, we can create a bit of a funnel effect. Nobody wants their hunt blown up on a trespassing charge.”
“Of course not.” She forgot her dinner. “Do you have any idea how much difficulty those rangers have patrolling the forest service land? Talk about porous. Barring hunting there is going to make about as much difference as no poaching is making.”
He shook his head a little. “You know you have to have road access on all public lands. No off-roading. Craig said they even shut down their ATV trails two years ago. Anyway, since you can’t drive willy-nilly over open ground and have to stick with the roads, then you’ve got to ask yourself how far a trek can you manage to get your trophy out of there. Craig’s got enough manpower to close the forestry roads over there. Anybody coming that way with hunting gear is heading for trouble. So they gotta stay on the state land and the public access roads.”
She thought it over as her stomach rumbled and reminded her that she needed to eat. She picked up her bowl again. “I could use a hundred more people at least.”
“Sorry, we don’t have them.”
“I know.” Far too few wardens for the land area they needed to cover. And when you got up into those mountains, it wasn’t like there were houses scattered around with people who were willing to call and complain about suspected poaching. There was nothing up there except a couple of park service shacks, and most of them would be closed for the winter.
She glanced at Kel again, liking the lean toughness of his face. Liking his lead-gray eyes. Ah well. Finally she acknowledged there was only one way to go at this, much as she didn’t like it. “Your idea is probably the best.”
“To get the outfitters ring? Yeah. Won’t stop any other poaching, though.”
“I know, but since we can’t staple a warden to every animal or herd, let’s get the most egregious offenders. I can’t tell you how angry it makes me, Kel. Furious to think that people are profiting this way off these animals. Poach to feed your family? I get that. But these guys, dangling bait in the water and charging lots of money for guiding someone who only wants a trophy and doesn’t care if it’s illegal? There’s something about that...”
She trailed off and tried to continue eating. She couldn’t really explain the difference in so many words.
“I get what you’re saying,” he said while she ate some more stew. “It’s in no way excusable. Charging thousands to bring in people from out of state and lead them illegally to an animal when all they want is a trophy? I can understand the hunters better than I can understand the outfitters.”
“I can’t,” she admitted after she swallowed. “I hate trophy hunting above all. The guys helping are after the money. Greed is a motivator for a lot of people. But the hunters? All they want is bragging rights hanging on their walls.”
He nodded. “And we’ve got a little quirk in Wyoming law that hinders us finding these guys.”
She swallowed some more stew and looked at him. “You mean that anyone can guide two other licensed people with him on a hunt as long as he doesn’t get paid? Yeah. Hard to prove the no pay part.”
“Regardless, the licensed professional outfitters are working with us. They’re no more happy about the poaching than we are.”
“Cuts into their business?”
He nodded. “When the illicit guys offer the hunts for a lower price because they’re not licensed and because their clients don’t have to get through a drawing to get one and pay for it...they have an advantage, moneywise. Plus, they’re reducing the number of trophy animals available. The pros are out there all year scouting.”
“No kidding.” She finished her stew and carried her bowl to the sink to rinse it out. Then she got them both some fresh coffee. “I run into some of the nearer outfitters when I’m out tracking the herds. I have to admit, they help by sharing information.”
He looked at her over his mug. “But you don’t like them.”
She flushed faintly. “I don’t dislike them, but I was raised to hunt for myself. My dad went out every year to bring home venison for the family larder, usually with a buddy or two because packing that animal out required more than one pair of shoulders. But it wasn’t the clambake method with a bunch of guides, cooks, tents, horses...”
“I get it,” he said when she trailed off. “You don’t like lazy hunting.”
“It’s not really sporting, to my way of thinking. What animal stands a chance when it’s been tracked by spotters for months, when there are people there to find it again, help the hunter aim his rifle and take his shot? And the outfitters aren’t supplying hunts to those who need the meat to eat. But...they exist, they’re legal, and my personal opinion can’t matter.”
“I hear you,” he said. “But the law allows it, so...”
“And as long as the hunters have the right permits and don’t break the law, I can’t really complain about their methods, can I? At least baiting big game is illegal.”
He rose from the chair and paced her small apartment slowly. “You’re interesting, Desi. I’m guessing you became a warden for the protection part.”
“Meaning?”
He halted and faced her. “You want to save the wildlife.”
“Absolutely. But I also understand the importance of harvesting. As long as we manage it so the populations don’t shrink, or don’t get so large they’re starving, I have no problems with the system.”
He laughed quietly. “Do you hunt yourself?”
“Only poachers.” But then she joined his laughter. “I don’t have time during hunting season, Kel. I’d need to take time off, and there just aren’t enough of us.”
The phone rang, and she gave thanks that she’d at least had time to eat. “Warden Jenks.”
“Jim Cashford,” said a voice she knew well. “Desi, there’s a fire and some lights up on the mountain near the old Cranbrook road.”
“I’ll look into it.”
When she hung up, she found Kel already pulling on his vest. “You think you’re going?”
“Hey, I’m your new best friend. What’s going on?”
“A fire, which is illegal, and lights bright enough to be seen from Jim Cashford’s ranch.”
Downstairs she got on the radio and raised another warden. “I need backup,” she told Jos Webber. “Fire and lights near old Cranbrook Road.”
“On my way,” came his crackling answer.
She picked up her satellite phone, slipped on an armored vest and donned her olive-green jacket over her sweater. No red shirt tonight. Just a lot of protection.
“You got any armor?” she asked Kel.
“Not with me.”
She hesitated, then went to a locker and tossed him a vest. “Mind yourself now,” she said. “Or stay here.”
He didn’t stay behind.
* * *
Kel was amused. Desi was quite an interesting character. She didn’t approve of sport hunting, but accepted that some of it was allowed by law, and could even summon a good reason or two, like the herds needed to be harvested to a reasonable extent, and the outfitters offered her information from their scouting trips. She liked eating game but didn’t have time to hunt.
And she told him to mind himself. As if he wouldn’t know how. He’d been an army Ranger before he’d come to this job, and had walked into a lot more dangerous situations than this. Which was not to say a warden couldn’t get shot, but it didn’t happen that often. Though people might cuss them when they got a citation or lost their hunting privileges, they weren’t inclined to murder. But it was still dangerous. Careless hunters were always dangerous.
They drove through the night toward the mountain. He already knew Cranbrook Road. It was hardly more than a cart track that was occasionally graded mainly because it provided access to the state lands hunters and fishermen wanted to get to. By keeping Cranbrook basically functional, it reduced the likelihood that hunters would travel over posted private property to go hunting.
He watched her drive with calm competence over back roads she probably knew as well as her own hand and sensed the distance in her. He wondered if he had put her that much on guard, or if the job had. She could laugh and smile, but she avoided getting personal about anything except being a warden. And she hadn’t even questioned him about his background. Pure business.
He wondered if those walls ever fell. She was appealing, and he’d really like to get to know what lay behind the warden’s facade. She couldn’t possibly be nothing but a warden. People had lives, had problems, had hopes and dreams. But Desi...always back to business.
He admitted he’d been guilty of some of that himself for a long time. When you lost buddies, you stopped making close friends. War had carved something out of him.
But what had carved Desi? Something sure had.
He forced his attention back to the job at hand. The darkness of the night was consuming. No stars, no moon. No wonder that rancher had seen the lights and fire on the side of the mountain. There was no light anywhere else.
He caught a glimpse of it as they climbed in the truck, but only a glimpse. It was a camp, not a city, and vanished in the trees almost as soon as he saw it.
“Any idea where it is?” he asked.
“Some, but I hope you’re ready to hike. You can stay with the vehicle if you want. Jos is coming to back me up.”
“I’m not staying with the car,” he said firmly. No way was he going to stand back when there might be danger.
“What do you want me to tell Jos about you?”
“That I insisted on coming, that I just got out of the Rangers.”
“I don’t like lying to my fellow wardens.”
No real surprise there. Not only did they have to work together, but they had to trust each other. He sighed. “Can they keep secrets?”
“As far as I know.”
“Then I guess I can let them all know what I’m here for. Might as well. There’s just so far undercover I can go, I guess.”
“You might need backup,” she pointed out. “You can’t run a one-man operation. If these guys come after you...” She paused. “You know, interfering with one of their hunts might be the most dangerous thing you can do. If you come across one, you’re going to need backup.”
“Maybe so. But if coming across one of their hunts were likely, you and your wardens would have already done it. No, I need to draw them out. So I ask again, do you trust all your wardens?”
This time she didn’t answer as they jolted their way up the track. When she finally pulled over onto a small patch of flat, open ground and turned off her engine, she finally spoke. “You’re a friend of mine, you just got out of the army and came to visit. End of story.”
“Fair enough.”
“And I guess that means you ought to move into the bunkhouse.” Then she slipped out of the truck and opened the crew door to pull out her rifle. Because tonight was potentially dangerous. He didn’t need a map to know that.
“How are we going to put out the fire?” he asked.
She passed him a shovel and a jerry can full of water from the bed of the truck. “The usual way.”
He could have laughed. He put the can down beside his feet and leaned on the shovel. Before long he heard another truck approaching. It turned off its headlights before it reached them.
Soon a young game warden joined them and was introduced to him as Jos Webber. He almost looked wet behind the ears, but his bearing pegged him as confident and experienced.
“Kel Westin,” Desi said as she introduced him. “Old friend. He just got out of the army rangers.”
Jos stuck out his hand. “We can probably use you, sir.”
“Well, I don’t intend to get in the way.”
Jos looked him over in the dim glow of his flashlight. “Somehow I don’t think you’re the type. Interested in what it takes to be a warden?”
“Very,” he answered. But he was wondering why Desi had decided to use a cover story for him after saying she didn’t like lying to her fellow wardens. Did something not feel right to her? Or did she think they’d tell someone outside the service, like a family member? Or maybe this whole idea of illegal outfitters had her wondering just how far this stuff went?
He hoped after this she’d talk to him some more. He kinda felt like he was dangling by a thin rope here. He might have learned the terrain over the summer, but he hadn’t learned any of the people. He was going to need to rely on Desi for that.
Jos got his long gun and soon the three of them were heading into the forest where it impossibly grew even darker. As his eyes adapted more, however, the single red-lensed flashlight in Jos’s hand gave him ample light to avoid obstacles. After a half mile or so they didn’t really even need that as the flickering of firelight began to reach them through the scattered trees. A soft bed of pine needles silenced their feet.
“Spread out,” Desi said quietly. “I’ll approach.”
“Got you covered,” Jos answered. “Kel?”
“I can bash heads. Should’ve brought my pistol.”
“Stay behind one of us,” Desi said. “And put that water where you can find it again. I hope we won’t need it.”
Much as he hated it, Kel hung back just beyond the light cast by the campfire. He narrowed his eyes to prevent eyeshine from showing, set the heavy can down and waited half behind a tree. Easy from here to make out three tents and six men sitting around a fire. A fire in the tinder-dry autumn woods. Idiots. One spark on some dead pine needles and this place would go up fast.
Desi approached them, no longer moving quietly, with her rifle slung casually over her arm and pointing to the ground.
“Evening, gentlemen,” she called out. “Game warden.”
The men who’d already turned their heads her way and started to rise immediately sat back down on their folding camp chairs. “Howdy, Warden,” one of them answered.
“You guys out here hunting?” she asked pleasantly.
“In the morning,” the same man answered. “Half hour before dawn, right?”
“Right. Appreciate you paying attention to that.” She switched on her own flashlight. “Mind if I see your licenses?”
This caused all the men to stand to pull wallets out of their pockets. Kel felt uneasy as six men nearly surrounded Desi, but so far nobody was acting hostile. As each handed over his license, she studied it. “A moose permit?” she asked one of them. “You’re lucky.”
The guy laughed. “Been trying for ten years.”
“I hope you bag a nice one. And if you do, I guess you’ll be glad your buddies can help you carry it out.”
“You bet. That’s one of the reasons they’re here.”
“Just remember, gut it where you kill it, and tag it for transport. Wouldn’t want you to lose it.”
“Me neither,” the guy answered.
“Well,” said Desi, “you’re all square. Just a couple of things.”
“Yeah?”
Her voice tightened a shade. “Bright lights were seen here from below. You aren’t hunting with them, are you?”
“Hell no,” came a chorus of answers.
“Then don’t turn them on again tonight or I’ll have to come back and cite you. And I am going to have to cite you for that fire. You know you’re not allowed to have one out here. But first let’s put it out.”
“Just trying to stay warm,” someone grumbled.
“I understand that, sir, but it’s against the law. You wanna put it out right now, I could let you off with a warning. If you do it right.”
Still grumbling, but quietly, the men doused the fire with water.
“Guess we’ll have to go get more water tomorrow,” one said. “Dang.”
Desi squatted and felt the wet fire pit. “Turn it over, would you?”
One of the men got a small shovel and turned the ground over. Desi felt again. “A little more water to be safe. It’s still warm.”
A few minutes later, she stood, brushing her hand on her jeans. “Okay. No fire, no bright lights. What were you using them for anyway?”
“Setting up camp.”
Her voice turned a little sarcastic. “Really? I’m not saying you’re lying, but we both know you were probably doing more than that. Too bright and on too long. Don’t let me see them again. And if I get another call from down below about them, you won’t be hunting here for a while, okay?”
One of the men raised his arm. Kel acted instinctively and in a few strides was standing next to Desi. Jos had the same reaction, and he was on her other side just as fast.
“What?” said the guy who’d raised his arm. “I was just frustrated.”
“No reason to get frustrated,” Desi said mildly. “If you took your hunting classes, you don’t need me to explain the law. What’s more, we fly a plane over here at night sometimes, so you could get caught again. Since you already have a warning, nobody’s going to give you a second chance. Clear?”
Desi pulled out her book, and taking each hunter’s license and ID, wrote him a warning, then passed him a copy. When she was done, she wished the man well with his moose hunt, reminding the group that the national forest was closed to hunting this year.
A half hour later, they were hiking back through the woods to the road, this time with the aid of two flashlights.
“I’m thinking,” said Jos, “that they were pushing the law.”
“It occurred to me,” Desi said drily. “I hope they got the message. But when you wait ten years for a moose permit, maybe it’s a little harder to follow the rules.”
Kel thought that was pretty generous considering the men had been committing two serious violations. If he had the time and opportunity, he hoped he could figure this woman out a little better. In some ways she appeared to be a bundle of contradictions.
Lugging the big can of water and the shovel, he studied what he could see of the back of her head, and decided this was a good view, too.
Back at the trucks, they all shook hands, then Jos took off into the night. Kel helped Desi load the water can and shovel into the bed of her truck, and stood by while she removed the ammo from her gun and put it in the rack in the back.
“This place will be crowded before dawn tomorrow,” she remarked as they jolted down the road. “Well, as crowded as can be in the middle of nowhere.”
“Will you come back then?”
“Depends on how the rest of this night goes.”
He waited a moment, then asked, “What did you mean about me staying in the bunkhouse?”
“I’ve got a couple of cots upstairs off my apartment. They mostly get used by wardens staying overnight, but you’re welcome to one if you want it. Didn’t I just announce you were visiting me? Like that won’t get around.” She laughed quietly. “I don’t date. Everyone’s going to hear. Anyway, if it won’t interfere with your plans, help yourself.”
“But won’t I get in your way?”
“Not likely. This is the time of year when having a flexible schedule often means I have trouble finding time to put my head on a pillow.”
In his end of the business, as an investigator, he never really got into the ins and outs of a warden’s life. He supposed with so many people hunting in the fall, she probably had a full plate between patrolling for violations and the calls she received from people reporting them. He wondered about other times of the year, but didn’t ask.
He did know how much the wardens relied on people to inform them of possible violations. Some ninety wardens couldn’t be everywhere in a state this size. For every square mile of public land, there must be a helluva lot more private lands where game caused problems, where hunters went even when they shouldn’t. Impossible to keep an eye on everything.
“I’m going to introduce you to some people,” she said unexpectedly. “Some of the ranchers who border the public lands. They can be eyes and ears, if you want.”
“You trust them?”
“Most of them are cops, special-forces types or married to them.”
He smiled into the dark. A fascinating list.
“Like you,” she added, surprising him by teasing. “Do you trust yourself?”
“Of course. But this undercover op may be getting awfully big.”
“Well, I can talk to them myself, but you’d be safer out there if they knew what you were doing.”
He should probably think about it. “Let’s not tell anyone just yet. I’ll give it some thought, but for now I’m just an old friend visiting. Anyone who would doubt that?”
“Not really. I know people around here, but I’ve only been in this area for five years. There’s a lot about my past no one would know in any detail.”
That was an advantage he supposed. “Regardless, I need to know some of that past and how I fit in because somebody’s going to ask questions.”
She hesitated. “You going to take up the offer of the bunkhouse?”
“Now that you’ve announced me, I suppose I should.” He’d come out here with one plan only, to keep his eyes peeled for questionable activity and to try to draw a threat his way. Somehow, everything was changing. His plan about appearing to be trying to get close to her hadn’t involved sharing quarters. He’d better get on it before it all went sideways.
