C. Box - Breaking Point

Joe ignored him.

“These fancy federal boys want to use my ranch to set up some kind of camp,” Zeller said. “They want to track up my meadows with their vehicles, and open up my place to all their friends to come in. They don’t want to talk terms, or deals. They just want me to unlock this gate and stand aside while they roll through like Patton’s army.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Batista whispered.

Zeller said, “When I want to lease forest for my cattle or cut wood to build a new corral, I’ve got to pay these boys a fee. But when they want to charge through my ranch and use it like it was a playground, they don’t want to pay me anything.”

“He’s got a point,” Joe said to Batista.

The administrator’s eyes flashed, and he whispered to Joe, “We don’t have time to negotiate an agreement. It takes months to get this kind of thing through-you know that.”

“You were quick enough with that reward last night,” Joe said.

“That has nothing to do with this,” Batista said, his voice rising again. “I thought you were here to help us.”

Joe shrugged.

Frank said to Batista, “This guy you’re after is on the National Forest, right? The forest is federal. So you can just turn your monkeys around and go into those mountains from the other side and I can’t stop you.”

“I told you,” Batista said sarcastically, “he was last seen on this side of the mountains. We’d waste more than a day going around to the other side and working our way back.”

“First time I ever heard of the government being worried about wasting time,” Frank said. “I could tell you some good stories.”

“We don’t have time for your stories.”

Joe watched the two as if viewing a tennis match, following each as they spoke.

Joe turned to Batista, and said, “You might try working with Frank here, instead of bullying him.”

“You’re useless,” Batista said, waving his hand at Joe and turning away, “just like the rest of these people up here.”

He strode back toward the SUV, but not without a go-ahead nod to Heinz Underwood. Joe saw Underwood acknowledge the signal, which had no doubt been prearranged.

Underwood stepped toward Joe, his expression hard but slightly bemused. “Walk with me,” he said.

Joe cautiously fell in beside him as Underwood walked down the length of the barbed-wire fence far enough that neither Frank Zeller not the occupants of the convoy could overhear.

“You’re friends with this rancher?”

“We’re acquainted.”

“I’d suggest you give him a little advice.”

“Depends on what the advice is,” Joe said.

Underwood said, “You might want to suggest to him that whatever payment he might want right now will be zilch compared to what could happen if the full attention of the EPA Region Eight office turned on him all of the sudden, is all.”

Joe didn’t respond.

“Just looking from here,” Underwood said, gazing out at the huge ranch spread out through the valley, “I think I see cows crapping in the streams, which might violate the Clean Water Act. I think I see clouds of methane rising from hundreds of flatulent cattle, which might violate the 199 °Clean Air Act. I think I see ranch buildings that might not be up to code, and old shingles on that big ranch house that are probably made of asbestos. An army of inspectors might just find all sorts of things that would shut down this operation or fine him boatloads of money for years to come.

“There’s a lot of wildlife habitat down there in that valley,” he said. “One kind of wonders if there are any protected or endangered species. It looks like good forage for the Preble’s jumping mouse, or sage grouse, or maybe even some aquatic species that might be threatened by all this agricultural activity.

“Not only that,” Underwood said softly. “Mr. Zeller seems to have way too many cows down there to run an environmentally sustainable operation. Look at them all.”

Joe saw small knots of registered Herefords grazing far below on natural meadows.

“That’s not so many,” he said.

“Boy, I’m just not as certain as you are,” Underwood said. “I think there might be more cows than there is grass. They might chew that grass down to nothing and leave a wasteland.”

“Frank’s been operating his place for forty years,” Joe said. “And before that it was his grandfather and his father. Look at it. It’s in great shape.”

“Maybe to your eyes,” Underwood said, “but when we count the cattle and measure the forage it might be a different story.”

Joe looked over with a pained expression on his face.

“It can be done very quickly,” Underwood said. “Using drones.”

“Drones? Like in the military?”

“We’ve got a few in service right now. In fact, there may even be one or two entering the airspace of these mountains as we speak.”

“Are you threatening Zeller?”

“That’s not a threat,” Underwood said softly. “That’s just offering him some good friendly advice.”

Joe said, “Why don’t you tell him?”

“Naw,” Underwood said. “It would be best coming from his old pal Joe.”

Joe shut his eyes for a moment, the ball of rage he’d felt earlier in the day forming again in his chest. He said, “What is it with you guys?”

Underwood shrugged and gestured toward Batista. “Comes from the top.”

Through clenched teeth, Joe said, “This is the kind of scheme you ran on Butch Roberson, isn’t it? You make up charges and accusations and then your target spends the rest of his life trying to prove you wrong.”

Underwood shook his head and said, “We didn’t write the laws. We just enforce them.”

“These aren’t laws,” Joe said. “They’re regulations you hide behind.”

“We didn’t write the regulations,” Underwood said in a tired, singsong cadence. “We just enforce them. From what I understand, your director has ordered you to help us do that. So I’d suggest you offer some friendly advice to the rancher so we can do our job.”

“Or you’ll ruin him ,” Joe said.

“I never said that.” Underwood smiled.

Joe stood shoulder to shoulder with Frank Zeller as the convoy of vehicles rumbled through the open gate. Frank was furious.

“Maybe you can sue them after the fact,” Joe said.

“Or maybe,” Zeller said, “I can call a meeting of the Cattlemen’s Association and raise an army of ranchers and wranglers and take my ranch back. They might not do it for me, but they’ll do it in memory of Butch Roberson.”

“He’s not dead yet,” Joe said.

“Matter of time,” Frank said flatly, nodding at an SUV filled with black-clad special agents that passed through the gate.

Joe looked over. “So you’ve seen him.”

“Maybe. Won’t say yes, won’t say no.”

“You’re helping him out?”

Zeller shrugged.

“About the army-you’re kidding, right?”

Frank Zeller wouldn’t meet his eyes.

Joe looked to the horizon over the peaks of the mountains, expecting to note thunderheads gathering and a summer storm building, but the sky was blue and clear as far as he could see.

“There he is, the son of a bitch,” Jimmy Sollis said quietly with a sense of awe as he leaned forward into his rifle scope.

Dave Farkus snapped his head up from where he’d been trying to steal a few moments for a nap. His body ached. Kyle McLanahan scrambled up from where he sat and joined Sollis with his binoculars.

No one expected Butch Roberson to enter the camp so soon after they’d set up.

“Damn,” McLanahan said, drawing the word out. “Looks like we guessed right. He must have been on the move all night.”