Endangered

8

The next day, as they drove north on I-25, near the gnomish dryland formation known as the Teapot Dome, Nate pressed the send button on the BlackBerry that Dudley had given him. His call went straight through.

A woman answered.

“This is Nate Romanowski,” he said.

“I know who you are.”

“Okay, well who is this?”

“That’s not important.”

“How about I call you Olga, then? That’s a good Soviet name.”

“Hmph.”

Her voice was calm and businesslike, and she clipped off her words. There were no background conversations going on or ambient noises. She sounded to be in her mid-fifties, he thought, but it was only a guess. He imagined a hatchet-faced woman with short hair wearing a headset with a computer monitor in front of her. She was divorced but had two adult children who never called her. She’d worked for the federal government all of her life and she knew how many days she had left until retirement. She vacationed in Florida for three weeks every year, but never got tan.

Of course the conversation was being recorded, he thought. Probably by multiple agencies.

“I’m going north for a job,” Nate said.

“I see that. What kind of vehicle are you in?”

“We’ve got the Yarak, Inc. van. I’m not driving.”

“Who is with you?”

Nate hesitated. He was sure Olga knew the answer to her question, and he didn’t want to bring Liv into the conversation.

“My partner,” he said.

“Olivia Brannan?” the woman said.

Nate sighed. He noticed that Liv was looking over at him, curious about the conversation.

“What is the location of the job?” Olga asked.

Nate covered the mouthpiece on the BlackBerry and asked Liv. She told him what she knew.

“It’s a ranch outside of Saddlestring,” Nate said. “The HF Bar Ranch. It’s been there for generations and I know where it is, but I’ve never been on it before. It’s a working ranch, but also a dude ranch. From what we know, the wranglers want starlings chased out of the barn before the guests start to arrive this summer so the backs of the horses and the saddles aren’t covered with bird poop. I’m telling you this so you don’t think we’re being lured up there by the bad guys.”

He could hear her tapping keys on a keyboard.

She said, “Saddlestring. Isn’t that where Mr. Pickett lives?”

“It is.”

“Do we have a problem?”

“No, Olga. We don’t have a problem. The county itself is nine thousand, three hundred and fifty square miles. That’s as big as New Hampshire. It’s not likely I’ll just run into Joe.” Nate felt his face flush hot.

“I see,” Olga said. “Special Agent Dudley will be interested in this information.”

“Tell Mr. Dudley to piss up a rope, Olga,” Nate said. “I signed the agreement. I’ll abide by it.”

“Noted.”

“Until tomorrow, Olga,” he said, and punched off.

Nate dropped the phone on the seat between them and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.

“I’m not going to be able to do this,” he said.

“It’ll be a process,” Liv said, but she looked worried.

—

DESPITE BEING WITH LIV AGAIN, despite the champagne she’d arranged for and the honeymoon suite she’d reserved, Nate had not been able to perform the night before. She’d been patient, alluring, and enthusiastic, but he couldn’t get aroused. He loved her, but something was wrong. He drank too much Wyoming Whiskey and fell asleep, and when he woke up in the middle of the night, he didn’t know where he was. He thought he was back in his cell.

Liv had held him tight the rest of the night, skin to skin.

She’d awakened him gently that morning.

He’d said, “What’s wrong with me?”

“You’re not yourself,” she assured him. “You’ve been through a lot and your feet aren’t on the ground yet.”

He told her how he’d thought of her constantly, how he’d fantasized about being with her again. In none of his dreams had it gone like it had in real life the night before.

He’d said, “I feel like I’ve been emasculated.”

“Is it because they took away your gun?” she asked.

“No. It’s because they took away my honor,” he responded. “That’s all I’ve ever had.”

—

THE SPRING SKY ROILED with thunderheads, and Nate could see downspouts miles away that looked like Greek columns connecting the high plains to the sky. Small herds of pronghorn antelope grazed on the fresh carpet of green grass, their burnished-copper and white color scheme making them stand out like highway cones. The smell of moist sage was thick in the air, as was ozone.

“I almost forgot what it smelled like when it’s about to rain,” he said to Liv.

“Maybe it’ll help bring you back,” she said. “And once you get your birds in the air and you have a job to do, I think it’ll get better. Work is good for the soul. Every man needs work.”

He nodded, and said, “I knew you were beautiful and smart, but I didn’t realize until recently that you are also very wise.”

She laughed. She had a great laugh, he thought, an all-out Louisiana low country belly laugh.

“No one’s ever called me wise before,” she said.

—

AS THEY PASSED the town of Kaycee, Nate lifted an imaginary glass and said, “Here’s to Chris LeDoux.”

“Who?” Liv asked.

“He used to live here,” Nate said. “Chris LeDoux was a championship professional rodeo cowboy and a country singer. He’s a Wyoming icon. Garth Brooks sang a song that mentions him called ‘Much Too Young to Feel This Damn Old.’ Joe and I always salute his memory whenever we pass by.”

Liv took a deep breath. She said, “Speaking of Joe, there’s some bad news.”

Nate looked over, concerned.

“His daughter April was found beaten and left for dead outside of Saddlestring,” Liv said.

Nate sat up immediately. His first thought was to remove the Governor out of the console and strap it on, agreement or no agreement.

“They caught the guy who did it,” Liv said.

“Who was he?”

“Some local weirdo,” she said. “From what I read about it, the case is pretty much open-and-shut.”

Nate said, “I can only imagine what Joe and Marybeth are going through. They dote on their daughters. I never knew April that well, but Sheridan is my falconry apprentice.”

Liv told him the few facts of the case she’d read in that morning’s Casper Star-Tribune.

Nate said, “I’d like five minutes in a room with that guy. I’d guess Joe would say the same thing.”

“Except Joe’s on the right side of the law,” Liv said.

“He is. Man, I’d like to be able to see him and Marybeth,” Nate said. “I’d like to tell them I’m thinking about them.”

“We’ll be in the general area,” Liv said, nodding toward the Bighorn Mountains that had risen on the horizon to the west. “I know you’re not supposed to make contact with him. But what if he makes it with you? Like if some little bird let him know you’re working on the HF Bar Ranch for a few days?”

Nate smiled. “And who would that little bird be?”

“Gee, I have no idea,” she said with a wink.

—

IT WAS AN HOUR before dusk when Nate and Liv drove the van under the ancient pole archway decorated with whitened antlers and a hanging wrought iron sign that indicated they’d arrived at the historic HF Bar Ranch in the Bighorn Mountains. Gates made of weathered pine poles had been swung open, and the chain that had locked them together hung from the top rail of the left-side gate.

The van left the pavement and climbed through dark pine forests and open alpine meadows bursting with wildflowers on a gravel corduroy road. Rain had swept through the foothills in the previous hour, freshening the air and darkening the roadbed. Moisture glistened on the tips of pine needles like tears.

From the looks of the sky to the north, another thunderhead was on its way.

For the first time since he’d walked out of the Federal Building the day before, Nate began to feel good. Whether it was the smell of the pine-rich mountain air or simply being in Liv’s company, he felt his equilibrium start to level out.

The ranch road wound through groves of pine and aspen. Deep in the shadows of the trees, there were still crusty log-shaped snowdrifts from the winter. Mule deer grazed on spring grass that had grown from the benefit of sunlight shafts through the canopy. At least one set of tire tracks glistened in the muddy road on the way to the ranch. No doubt the tracks had been made by whoever had unlocked the gate for them, Nate thought.

The trees opened onto a sprawling ranch headquarters: a main lodge, wings of guest cabins, a network of roads and trails that spun off from the center like spokes on a wagon wheel. Liv parked in front of the lodge near a sign that said LOBBY.

There were no cars, trucks, or ranch vehicles to be seen, and the lower-floor windows of the lodge building were covered by weathered plywood.

“It doesn’t look like there’s anyone here,” Liv said, leaning forward so she could see the top-floor windows of the lodge. “Why would they board it up like that?”

“Snow,” Nate said. “It gets deep up here. It doesn’t look like anyone has been here to open it up yet. So who are we meeting?”

“I guess he’s the caretaker,” Liv said. “John Wells. I didn’t get a lot of detail from him.”

“Where’s this horse barn?” Nate asked, looking around. It made sense that the barn wouldn’t be too far away from the lodge and cabins, since guests needed easy access to it for daily trail rides.

“Is that it?” Liv asked, pointing out her driver’s-side window.

A weathered roof peeked over the tops of the trees to the west. Nate noted that the tire tracks they’d followed went in that direction.

“I think so,” he said.

Liv backed up and took the road.

The massive old log horse barn was actually closer than it had seemed—less than a hundred yards from the lodge, but the timber was too thick in between for them to have seen the structure in full from the ranch yard. The barn was dark and weathered and the rain had temporarily stained the logs a deep brown. Hitching posts that looked a hundred years old stretched across the front of the building. A huge sliding barn door was partially open.

On the left side of the structure was a rusting GMC Suburban with Twelve Sleep County plates.

“There’s his car,” Nate said.

“There’s someone in it,” Liv said as they got closer to the Suburban. “It looks like a woman. Probably his wife.”

Liv parked on the right side of the barn and waved toward the woman in the SUV. The woman, who looked stout and immobile, waved back.

“So do we get the birds out?” Liv asked Nate.

“Not yet,” he said. “First I need to scout out the place. I need to see how many problem birds there are inside and where they’re nesting. I probably won’t put the falcons up tonight as it is. I don’t want them flying around in the dark in unfamiliar terrain. I’d rather release them in the morning when we know what we’ve got here.”

“You’re the falconer,” she said cheerfully. “I’m the businessperson. While you’re looking things over inside, I’ll go talk to our client over there and ask her to sign a contract. We agreed to seven hundred and fifty dollars per day with a maximum of three days, unless there are still starlings around. If that’s the case, they’ll only pay us two hundred and fifty dollars for two more days until all the problem birds are gone. If it goes beyond five days, it’s gratis.”

“Oh, they’ll be gone,” Nate said with a cruel smile.

He turned in his seat and found a long Maglite flashlight to take into the barn with him.

“Meet you back here in a minute,” he said to Liv.

—

LIV SHOULDERED on a light rain jacket, looped her violet scarf around her neck, and, grabbing her clipboard, approached the old Suburban. The bulky woman in the passenger seat watched her with hooded eyes. She looked like a tough old ranch wife, Liv thought.

The woman rolled down her rain-beaded window and arched her eyebrows as if to say, What?

“Hello. I’m Liv from Yarak, Inc. Are you Mrs. Wells? The one who sent me the email that you needed some falconry services done?”

The woman nodded. She seemed placid and stoic. There was no smile. Her eyes seemed intelligent, though.

“I didn’t realize there would be two of you,” the woman said.

“We cover our own expenses and accommodations and such,” Liv told her. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

The woman tipped her head back slightly in a way that indicated Liv’s answer hadn’t addressed her statement. She said, “My husband is in the barn. That’s where the birds are.”

Liv looked over her shoulder to see Nate pause at the open barn door, test the flashlight, and walk inside.

“Well,” Liv said. “Do you want to look over the agreement before you sign it?”

“We always do that,” the woman said. “But this is my husband’s deal. He’s the one with the key to the gate. He watches over the place in the winter when the owners are away. I’m just along for the ride.”

Liv said, “So should I go inside and find him?”

“In a minute,” the woman said. “Let’s let your guy talk with him first. Let them get their business out of the way.”

Liv was slightly puzzled. The woman wore a plastic rain bonnet to cover her hair and an old dark green coat. Liv knew style, and guessed the coat may have been fashionable in the mid-sixties.

Liv said uncomfortably, “Well, we’ll have to get these contracts signed before any work can be done.”

“You’ll have to take that up with John,” the woman said. “Like I told you, I’m just along for the ride.”

The woman had penetrating eyes, Liv thought. They were the same eyes she saw when she took the hoods off Nate’s falcons to feed them.

“We don’t see a lot of Negroes around here,” the woman said.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re very pretty. I can see why he took up with you.”

“Do you know Nate?” Liv asked, confused.

“I just know of him,” the woman said.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name,” Liv said, trying not to sound as offended as she felt.

“Kitty,” the woman said. “Kitty Wells.”

Liv cocked her head, thinking. The name was familiar, but she couldn’t place it.

—

INSIDE, Nate swept the beam of his flashlight across the high rafters. He saw old splashes of white excrement from birds who’d inhabited the building years before, but no starlings.

The barn smelled pleasantly of decades of horses. Hay and manure lingered in the air. The dirt floor was packed down to the consistency of cement. A series of empty stalls lined both walls of the barn. Obviously, the owners hadn’t brought the guest horses to the ranch yet for the season. In the rear of the barn was a closed-up tack room.

“Are you Nate Romanowski, the falcon guy?” a harsh male voice asked from inside one of the closest stalls.

“I am,” Nate said. “Where are your problem birds?”

“Oh, they’re here,” the voice said.

“Where?”

“Keep lookin’.”

Nate lowered the flashlight until the beam illuminated the lantern-jawed face of an old man wearing bib overalls and a crumpled straw hat. Nate could see only his face and the top of his shoulders above the uppermost rail of the stall.

“Who are you?” Nate asked.

“John Wells. I’m the caretaker.” He paused. “I’m the man who gets you out of our way.”

Then, raising his voice, the man said, “Now, son.”

The muzzle of a shotgun suddenly poked out from between two planks of the stall. Nate heard the unique snick sound of two safeties being thumbed off simultaneously.

He thought: Ambush.

Nate instinctively crouched and reached under his left arm for the handgrip of the weapon that wasn’t there.

With a heavy boom, an orange fireball erupted from the hayloft over the old man’s head, followed closely by the discharge of Wells’s shotgun.

Nate staggered back. The flashlight dropped from his hand. He’d been hit. It was as if he’d been whacked in the chest several times with a baseball bat by someone swinging for the fences. There was a hot stinging sensation in his cheek and on the right side of his neck.

Wells fired again.

Nate went down. His mind was sharp and he knew what had happened. Two men had fired on him with shotguns likely loaded with double-ought buckshot. Each shell contained at least eight pellets that were the equivalent of .33-caliber bullets. Most of the pellets had ripped into his flesh.

He thought that, in the past, he would have drawn his weapon and taken out Wells before the first shot, and then put down the other man above him in the hayloft.

But now, he was flat on his back. His arms and legs were dancing to their own rhythm. He could smell gunpowder in the still barn and his own hot blood coursing through hay on the floor.

Outside, Liv screamed.

He thought: I tried to tell you.

Through what seemed like a tunnel, he heard the old man say, “Get down out of there, boy. We got to get the hell out of Dodge.”

“That wasn’t so hard,” the son said with a surprised laugh. “I thought the guy was supposed to be tough.”

“He don’t have that gun of his,” the old man said.

A moment later, heavy footfalls thundered by Nate toward the open door.

—

LIV HAD FROZEN momentarily at the sound of the first shot. It seemed so loud and harsh in the quiet mountain air. She was too stunned to react when the woman reached out of the Suburban and grabbed a handful of her scarf and pulled her close. Kitty was remarkably strong, given her appearance.

There were two more heavy booms from inside the barn, but Kitty had cinched the scarf tight and pulled most of it inside the vehicle. She rolled up the window to secure the scarf—and Liv—in place.

Liv screamed, but she couldn’t twist away. Kitty had hardly moved, but she’d taken action. Now her hawklike eyes raked Liv’s face with smug triumph through the dirty passenger-side window.

In Liv’s peripheral vision, she saw two big and rough men run toward the Suburban from the barn door. They each carried a long gun.

Nate wasn’t with them.