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Authors: Rachel Lee
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wires wound around the entire perimeter, and if so, what they were attached to.
Seemed like a stupid thing to do for an alarm. In these woods those wires were apt to be bumped by a lot of things that weren’t human, not exactly what he figured Buddy was worrying about.
Damn trip wires seemed extreme any way he looked at it. Hikers and hunters could read Buddy’s signs and wouldn’t misinterpret the barbed wire fencing.
Giving a mental shrug, he kept Dusty heading slowly up the rugged slope beside the brook, although at this point he could fairly well say this brook wasn’t dammed. But it kept him riding within sight of Buddy’s property. Between the trees he glimpsed the fence and the trip wires when the sun reflected from them.
A long time ago, the property had been cleared of trees right along the boundary on both sides. At least Buddy had let some of the brush grow back to stabilize the soil, but not so much that Craig couldn’t catch sight of the wires.
He was just ambling along, checking his watch from time to time, thinking that soon he’d head on back and see if Sky had come out to paint and if she wanted to stay at the cabin again. He kind of hoped she would. She’d been easy, undemanding company, and it had been nice to share the place with her. A change.
A snort from Dusty brought him out of his woolgathering and he looked around immediately. Some animal? Dusty rarely reacted to anything except wolves or bears, but he saw none.
However, as he glanced toward Buddy’s place he saw two things that troubled him. That movement among the trees on Buddy’s property appeared to be a man in a camouflage. Maybe that Cap guy. Buddy ought to tell him that camouflage worked better when you held still.
But then he saw something else, and drew rein. Dusty halted, shaking his head and pawing once.
“Sh, sh...” He patted Dusty’s neck and slid back on the saddle just a bit, a cue to hold still.
Something was being built just inside the fence. All the way out here, two-by-fours were rising in a skeletal shape.
Damned if it didn’t look like a watchtower.
His neck prickling with the awareness of being watched, Craig turned his attention away from the watchtower as if it didn’t interest him at all. He dismounted, holding Dusty’s reins, and walked away from Buddy’s property toward the gorge, pretending to look down into it for obstructions. Cover. Act like it didn’t matter what the hell Buddy was doing on his own property.
But as he pretended to scan the gorge up and down and the tumbling stream below, his mind was totally focused on that structure behind him.
It would have to grow a lot taller to see over the old-growth trees, but as that wouldn’t have done a lot of good anyway, unless you were expecting trouble from above, its only purpose could be to post a guard on the fence line.
He’d known Buddy for three years now, and never before had the man gone to anything like this extreme. Something had changed, and Cap’s arrival seemed to be part of it. He had to find out who that guy was. Or Gage did. The balance had been changed somehow.
What the hell were these guys up to? Why in the world would they think they might need an armed perimeter? The possible answers to that question didn’t settle Craig’s mind at all. Nothing was going on around here or anywhere nearby that constituted that kind of threat.
Unless someone on Buddy’s side of the fence was doing something illegal or, worse, planning something illegal. It sure wouldn’t be the first time such things had happened.
He remounted and rode farther up along the gorge, acting as if it were all he was interested in. He found a place to cross it, then came back down the other side, taking his time, acting as if he hadn’t a thought in the world except to check the water flow.
But all the while he was turning possibilities around in his mind, none of them good.
* * *
Sky carefully placed her canvas in its carrying box as the
Seemed like a stupid thing to do for an alarm. In these woods those wires were apt to be bumped by a lot of things that weren’t human, not exactly what he figured Buddy was worrying about.
Damn trip wires seemed extreme any way he looked at it. Hikers and hunters could read Buddy’s signs and wouldn’t misinterpret the barbed wire fencing.
Giving a mental shrug, he kept Dusty heading slowly up the rugged slope beside the brook, although at this point he could fairly well say this brook wasn’t dammed. But it kept him riding within sight of Buddy’s property. Between the trees he glimpsed the fence and the trip wires when the sun reflected from them.
A long time ago, the property had been cleared of trees right along the boundary on both sides. At least Buddy had let some of the brush grow back to stabilize the soil, but not so much that Craig couldn’t catch sight of the wires.
He was just ambling along, checking his watch from time to time, thinking that soon he’d head on back and see if Sky had come out to paint and if she wanted to stay at the cabin again. He kind of hoped she would. She’d been easy, undemanding company, and it had been nice to share the place with her. A change.
A snort from Dusty brought him out of his woolgathering and he looked around immediately. Some animal? Dusty rarely reacted to anything except wolves or bears, but he saw none.
However, as he glanced toward Buddy’s place he saw two things that troubled him. That movement among the trees on Buddy’s property appeared to be a man in a camouflage. Maybe that Cap guy. Buddy ought to tell him that camouflage worked better when you held still.
But then he saw something else, and drew rein. Dusty halted, shaking his head and pawing once.
“Sh, sh...” He patted Dusty’s neck and slid back on the saddle just a bit, a cue to hold still.
Something was being built just inside the fence. All the way out here, two-by-fours were rising in a skeletal shape.
Damned if it didn’t look like a watchtower.
His neck prickling with the awareness of being watched, Craig turned his attention away from the watchtower as if it didn’t interest him at all. He dismounted, holding Dusty’s reins, and walked away from Buddy’s property toward the gorge, pretending to look down into it for obstructions. Cover. Act like it didn’t matter what the hell Buddy was doing on his own property.
But as he pretended to scan the gorge up and down and the tumbling stream below, his mind was totally focused on that structure behind him.
It would have to grow a lot taller to see over the old-growth trees, but as that wouldn’t have done a lot of good anyway, unless you were expecting trouble from above, its only purpose could be to post a guard on the fence line.
He’d known Buddy for three years now, and never before had the man gone to anything like this extreme. Something had changed, and Cap’s arrival seemed to be part of it. He had to find out who that guy was. Or Gage did. The balance had been changed somehow.
What the hell were these guys up to? Why in the world would they think they might need an armed perimeter? The possible answers to that question didn’t settle Craig’s mind at all. Nothing was going on around here or anywhere nearby that constituted that kind of threat.
Unless someone on Buddy’s side of the fence was doing something illegal or, worse, planning something illegal. It sure wouldn’t be the first time such things had happened.
He remounted and rode farther up along the gorge, acting as if it were all he was interested in. He found a place to cross it, then came back down the other side, taking his time, acting as if he hadn’t a thought in the world except to check the water flow.
But all the while he was turning possibilities around in his mind, none of them good.
* * *
Sky carefully placed her canvas in its carrying box as the
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