Fear No Evil

Chapter 45

Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam

Matthew Butler sat in the KLM/Delta lounge, forced another espresso shot down his throat, and picked up his cell phone. He had not slept in nearly thirty hours but could not afford the luxury of closing his eyes and resting when there were so many tasks at hand.

He called a number in Luxembourg that transferred him through towers and stations around the world before he got an answer.

“Mmm?”

“Sorry not to have called earlier, M,” Butler said. “I thought it wise to wait until we’d left France. The cartel’s international financier is no more. Francois sends his regards and deepest thanks.”

“I’m glad we could kill two birds with one stone. Cross’s wife?”

“We didn’t touch her. Though she almost got Cortland.”

“We can expect a retaliation of some sort from the cartel. What is your ETA at the ranch?”

“Fifteen hours?”

There was a long pause. “Once you get there, lie low for a month. You’re getting too hot.”

The line went dead. Butler immediately punched in a second number.

“Circle M Ranch,” a man said. “Dexter Mann speaking.”

“It’s Matt, Dex,” Butler said. “How’s the weather?”

“Gonna rain but we got in that first cut on the alfalfa yesterday, so we won’t lose a thing there.”

“You moving the herd up onto Forest Service?”

“I’m taking Wheeler and Sandy up in the morning to start.”

“Sounds like we’ll be around the ranch for a while. The next month, anyway.”

“Well, we’ve a couple miles of fence down on the upper pasture.”

“Fence work never ends.”

“Never does,” Mann said. “Safe travels, boss.”