Elle James - Hot Zone

Garner’s eyes widened. “Is that why you rode an off-road vehicle on a state highway?”

Hawkeye dipped his head in a brief nod. “I didn’t have much of a choice. My truck’s back where I parked it at the gravel road leading up to the national forest. While I was following through on the path that pipeline inspector was traveling before he was shot, I ran across a guy planting explosives at the exact location where Khalig was shot and killed.”

“What about explosives?” A tall, red-haired man joined Hawkeye and held out his hand to Liv. “Jon Casper. But you can call me Ghost.”

She shook his hand, her fingers nearly crushed in his strong grip.

A broad-shouldered man with brown hair and green eyes nudged Ghost aside and held out his hand. “Max Decker. You can call me Caveman.”

Yet another man with a high and tight haircut held out his hand. “Rex Trainor. US Marine Corps. Most people call me T-Rex.”

Liv laughed. “Do any of you go by your given names?”

As one, everyone but Garner replied, “No.”

“Guess that answers my question.” She shook T-Rex’s hand. “Are you all like Hawkeye—military on loan to the DHS?”

T-Rex, Ghost and Caveman nodded.

Ghost held up his hand. “Navy.”

Caveman nodded. “Delta Force.”

Liv frowned. “Are things that bad around here?”

The three men shrugged.

“Better than being in the sandbox of the Middle East,” Ghost said.

“Some of the natives are friendly,” Caveman said. “And some...not so much.”

Liv leaned around the three big military men. “Anyone else I should be aware of?”

“Yo!” A thin, younger man sat with his back to the others, his hands on a computer keyboard in the corner of the room. He raised his hand without turning away from the array of monitors he faced.

“That’s Hack,” Hawkeye said. “He’s our tech support guy.”

“While you get to know each other, I’ll call in the sheriff and the state bomb squad.” Garner pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

“I don’t think the bomb squad will be necessary,” Hawkeye said. “I interrupted him before he could connect the detonator. I didn’t see anything but the explosive and the fuse.”

Ghost grabbed a jacket. “I’ll check it out. At the very least we need to retrieve the explosives to keep him from blowing the pipeline.”

Caveman slung his own jacket over his shoulder. “The sooner the better.”

“The trailer’s back where I parked the truck at the base of the mountain,” Hawkeye reminded them. “If you’re going, you’ll have to risk driving the ATVs on public roads. I didn’t run into the county cops. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be so lucky.”

“We’ll take that risk,” Ghost said. “We can cut through some of the less traveled streets.”

“Be careful,” Hawkeye warned. “He might have circled back to finish the job.”

Once the other two men had left the room, Liv cornered Garner. “What the hell is going on here?”

Garner motioned toward the table with the maps. “You got a few minutes?”

She glanced at her watch. “I have about ten before my ride gets here.”

“I can get you where you want to go,” Garner offered.

She shook her head. “This is all too much. I don’t know you, and I don’t know what to think about all of this.” She waved at the map with the red stars marking locations like a military operation. “First my father, then my foreman. And now you say there was a man with explosives trying to blow up the pipeline? Has the entire county gone crazy? This is Grizzly Pass, not some war-torn country on the other side of the world.”

Garner’s lips thinned, his face grim. “I’ve been monitoring this area for the past three months. A lot of internet activity indicated something big was brewing.”

Liv nodded. “You’re right. I’d say an attempt to blow up the pipeline is pretty big.”

He shook his head. “Even bigger. I think there is the potential for some kind of takeover, but we’ve only scratched the surface.”

“Takeover?” Liv’s heart thundered in her chest. “Are you kidding me? This is America. Land of the free, home of democracy. We change things by electing new representatives.”

“Some people don’t like what we’re getting.” Kevin touched the map. “We’ve already had flare-ups.”

Liv sank into a chair. “Flare-ups? Incidents? Takeovers?” She pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache forming. “This can’t be. Not in Grizzly Pass. What do we have here to take over?”

“This is the perfect location to build the equivalent of a small army. There’s lots of space to hide nefarious activities. Mountains with caves to store a weapons buildup. People who know how to use guns can train in the backwoods where no one knows what they are doing.”

“Sweet heaven, and I thought the worst thing about coming home was burying my father,” Liv said. “I can’t take in any more of this. I have to go through my father’s effects, make arrangements with the lawyer and the bank, not to mention the animals to tend and a fence to mend.”

Garner’s gaze shot to Hawkeye. “Accidental or cut?”

“From what I could tell, cut,” Hawkeye answered for her. “My bet is that the man setting the charges cut the fence to give him access to government land without going the usual route.”

“How many acres is the Stone Oak Ranch?” Garner asked.

“Over five thousand.”

He stared down at the contour map. “Lots of hills and valleys.”

“There are. We’re in the foothills of the Beartooth Mountains,” Liv said.

Garner glanced up at Hawkeye. “It bears watching.”

Liv’s belly knotted. She wasn’t at all sure she liked the intent look on the DHS man’s face. “What do you mean?”

“Your ranch is in a prime location for trouble. Who do you have working there? Do they know how to use a gun? Do you trust them?” Garner asked.

Hawkeye snorted. “You’re looking at ‘them.’ Miss Dawson is the only person left to run the ranch.”

“I don’t need anyone’s help. If I need additional assistance, I’ll hire someone.” Liv stood. “All this conspiracy-theory talk is just that—talk. I have work to do. If you’ll excuse me, I have a ride to catch.”

Garner stepped in front of her. “You don’t understand. You could be in grave danger.”

“I can handle it.” She tilted her head. “I really need to go.” She stepped around the man and ran into Hawkeye.

“Garner’s right. You can’t run a ranch and watch your back at the same time.”

“Let me assign one of my men to the ranch. Then you’ll get some help and we can take our time making certain the group responsible for the recent troubles isn’t conducting their business on your property or the neighboring federal land.”

Liv shook her head. “I can hire my own help.”

“The men on my team are trained combatants. We think the group planning the takeover are training like soldiers. One of their men had a shooting range and training facility on his ranch.”

Liv tilted her head and stared at Garner through narrowed eyes. “Sounds to me like you already know who is involved in this coup or whatever it is.”

“We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface. Someone is supplying weapons on a large scale.” Garner took her hand. “Someone with money.”

Liv’s blood chilled. “You’re not kidding, are you?”

Garner’s lips firmed. “I wish I was.”

She pulled her hand from his and pushed her hair back from her face, wishing she had a rubber band to secure it. “Why do you need my ranch?”

“Stone Oak Ranch is right in the middle of everything.” Garner pointed to the map. “You said yourself you didn’t think your father could have fallen off his horse. He was too good of a rider. What if he didn’t fall off his horse?”