Danger On Dakota Ridge

“So there’s a pattern of unlawful behavior,” she said. “It’s time to put a stop to it.”

“Except no one can ever identify the shooters,” Rob said.

“I could identify these men.” She bent to duck under a low-hanging branch, then glanced back once more. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “I doubt you just decided it was a nice day for a hike.”

“I’m staying in town for a few days—a little vacation time.” Long practice made him reluctant to share his plans with anyone, especially a woman he didn’t know that well, who had made no secret of her dislike of him. “I heard a new company had taken over this property and I wanted to check out what they were doing here.”

“You didn’t find anything illegal when you were there last month, did you?” she asked.

“No.” He had overseen an investigation into an underground laboratory that had been discovered on the property, but his team had found no signs of illegal activity.

“The new owners say they’re going to use the property to build a high-altitude research facility,” she said. “Did you know that?”

“I heard something to that effect,” he said. “What do you think of that idea?” Paige headed up the local environmental group that had gotten the injunction that stopped development at the resort years ago.

“It’s better than a resort that only gets used half the year,” she said. “Depending on what they research, that kind of facility might actually do some good, and I wouldn’t expect a lot of traffic or other stressors on the environment. We’ll wait and see what they plan to do, and we’ll definitely have some of our members at their permit hearings.”

“Do you ever worry you’ll get on the wrong side of the wrong person?” he asked.

She stopped so suddenly he almost collided with her. She turned to face him. “No, I’m not afraid,” she said. “The kinds of people we do battle with—people or companies who want to do harmful things for their own gain, without thought for others—they want us to be afraid. They count on it, even. I’m not going to give them that satisfaction.” She turned and started walking again.

“You don’t think that’s foolhardy sometimes?” he asked, picking up his pace and squeezing in beside her. “Not everyone plays by the rules. Some of them can be downright nasty.” He had met his share of the second type in his years in drug enforcement.

“I try to be smart and careful, but I’m not going to back down when I’m in the right.”

There was that passion again, practically sparking from her eyes. He couldn’t help but admire that about her, even when they had been sparring on opposite sides of a battle. “Tell the sheriff what you saw,” he said. “Then let him and his deputies handle this. Don’t go up there by yourself again.”

“I told you I try to be smart,” she said. “Next time I’ll go up there with other people. I might even have a reporter with me.” She smiled. “Yes, I think that would be a great idea. Companies like CNG hate bad publicity.”

They reached the trailhead, where his black pickup truck was parked beside her red Prius. She studied the truck. “Is that yours?” she asked.

“Yes. It’s my personal vehicle. I told you, I’m on vacation.”

She turned to him again. “I just realized I’ve never seen you when you weren’t wearing a suit.” Her gaze swept over his hiking boots and jeans, over the blue plaid flannel shirt, up to his hair, which he hadn’t found time to get cut lately. He felt self-conscious under that piercing gaze, wondering if he measured up. Did Paige like what she saw? Was he vain, hoping the answer was yes?

But her expression was impossible to decipher. He half expected her to say something derogatory, or at least mocking. Instead, she said, “I guess the truck suits you.”

What was that supposed to mean? But before he could ask her, she stashed the pack in the back seat of the Prius, climbed into the driver’s seat and sped away, leaving him standing beside his truck, feeling that, once again, Paige had gotten the upper hand.

* * *

OF THE PEOPLE she might have expected to encounter on the trail that morning, Paige had to admit that DEA agent Rob Allerton was probably five hundredth on the list of possibilities. Sure, he had ended up in Eagle Mountain a month ago, leading an investigation into that underground lab, but she had managed to avoid crossing paths with him. Once he had wrapped that up and gone back to live and work in Denver, she had comforted herself that she would never have to see the man again.

Now that she was alone, and the full impact of what had happened up on Dakota Ridge was making her break out in a cold sweat, she could admit that she had been relieved to see him, once she realized he wasn’t a friend of the shooters. Rob Allerton might be a coldhearted pain in the behind, but he had probably been armed, and he knew how to handle criminals. For all her talk of not letting fear make her back down, she had been relieved not to have to face those two men and their guns by herself.

She gripped the steering wheel more tightly and glanced in the rearview mirror, to see Rob’s Ford pickup behind her. She might have known he would drive a truck. He had always had a bit of a cowboy swagger—something she might have admired if they hadn’t been adversaries.

And they were adversaries, she reminded herself. Rob Allerton was the reason her brother, Parker, had ended up in jail, instead of in a rehab program where he belonged. She had fought like a mama bear—and spent most of her savings—to get her little brother into a program that would help him, and to get the sentence deferred if he completed all the requirements of his parole. Allerton hadn’t lifted a finger to help her, and had in fact spoken out against any leniency for Parker. She was never going to forgive him for that.

Remembering how she had won that battle, and that Parker was all right now and well on his way to putting his life back together, calmed her. She rubbed her shoulder, where it ached from carrying the pack and tools, and slid her hand around to massage the back of her neck, then froze. Her fingers groped around her collar, then back to the front of her throat, under her T-shirt. Her necklace was gone—the thin gold chain from which hung the gold charm of a bird in flight. She had purchased the necklace shortly after her divorce, as a symbol that she was free as a bird. She never took it off—but it was gone now. She swore to herself. The chain must have caught in the bushes when she pushed through them to get a better look at those two men. Or maybe when she had retreated.

She would have to go back up there later and look for it. But she wouldn’t go alone. She would take plenty of friends with her, and she would make sure they were armed with more than bolt cutters and saws.

By the time she parked the Prius in front of the Rayford County Sheriff’s Department, she felt ready to relate her story calmly. She headed up the walkway, only to meet Rob Allerton at the front door.

He held the door open for her. “After you.”

“Are you following me?” she asked.

“I needed to check in with the sheriff anyway,” he said.

“Why? I thought you said you were here on vacation.”

“Just professional courtesy, to let him know I’m in town.” He followed her into the reception area. “Besides, I can add my account of the shooting to yours.”

“Agent Allerton! What a nice surprise!” Adelaide Kinkaid, the sixtysomething administrator for the sheriff’s department, greeted Rob with a wide smile. She didn’t exactly flutter her eyelashes at him, but the implication was there.

“Ms. Kinkaid. Nice to see you again.” Rob clasped her hand and flashed a smile of his own, and Adelaide looked as if she might swoon. Paige crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. Honestly! It wasn’t as if Rob Allerton was the only good-looking man on the planet. Yes, he had that young Jake Gyllenhaal charm going on that probably appealed to Adelaide’s generation, but Paige had always liked men who were a little rougher around the edges. Less glib. Less deceptive.

“I just stopped by to say hello to the sheriff,” Rob said. “Ms. Riddell needs to make a report of an incident up on Dakota Ridge, though.”

“Oh, hello, Paige,” Adelaide said. “I didn’t see you standing there.”

“No, I don’t imagine you did,” Paige muttered.

“Did you say an incident? On Dakota Ridge?” Sheriff Travis Walker, Gage’s brother, joined them in the reception area. Clean-shaven and spit polished, Travis could have been a law enforcement poster boy. The fact that he was smarter than most and full of grit had made him a local hero, and at twenty-nine, the youngest sheriff in Rayford County history.

“It’s Paige’s story to tell,” Rob said. “I only happened upon the tail end of things.”

“Come into my office.” Travis led them down the hall to his office and shut the door behind them. Paige sat in the chair in front of the battered wooden desk, while Travis took the black leather chair behind it. Rob stationed himself by the door. “Tell me what happened,” Travis said.

“I hiked up the Dakota Ridge Trail this morning,” Paige said. “I wanted to see if CNG Development had complied with the court order to remove the gate over the trail. They hadn’t.”

She glanced at Rob, daring him to reveal her plans to remove the lock, but he said nothing. “While I was up there, I saw two men on the other side of the gate, on the old Eagle Mountain Resort property. They didn’t see me. They were carrying a large wooden crate between them—about the size of a coffin, though I don’t think it was a coffin. It looked heavy. I thought it was really odd that they would be carrying something like that through the woods, instead of driving up to wherever they needed to be. The second thing that was odd was that both of the men had semiautomatic rifles slung over their backs. I’m no expert, but I think they were AR-15s.”

Travis’s brow wrinkled, and he pulled a pad of paper toward him and began making notes. “Can you describe these men?”

“Muscular—big shoulders. They were wearing forest camo parkas and black knit watch caps. I didn’t get a really good look at their faces through the trees, but I didn’t recognize them.”

“What happened next?” Travis asked.

“They continued through the woods, on the other side of the fence. I went back down the trail, but I was curious to know what they were up to, so I followed them. They stopped and one of them bent down and I heard the scrape of metal on metal. I think they opened a trapdoor or something. Then one of them climbed down into the ground. The other one pushed the box in and climbed down after it.”

“So they went underground?” Travis asked. “Out of sight?”

She nodded. “I wondered if they were going into that same chamber where Gage and Maya were trapped this summer. But then I wondered again why they hadn’t just driven up to it. Isn’t it connected to that underground lab you found?” She looked to Rob for confirmation. “That’s what Maya told me.”

“It is,” Rob said. “But we didn’t find any sign that that chamber had been used for anything in a long time.”

“That chamber is farther from the fence line,” Travis said. “I don’t think you could see the opening at the top from the fence.”

“I don’t think so, either,” Rob said.

“Maybe it’s just underground storage of some kind,” Travis said.

“Fine, but why sneak through the woods, especially carrying something heavy?” she asked. “And why were those guys armed? And why did they shoot at me when they saw me watching them?”

“Did they say anything?” Travis asked.

“No. They just yelled ‘Hey!’ or something like that, and started firing. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”

“Did they try to follow you?” Travis asked.

“I don’t know. I just ran.” Her heart raced, remembering. “I knew they were on the other side of the fence and they’d have a hard time catching up to me. I figured I could make it to my car before they did. Then I ran into Agent Allerton.” No sense elaborating on how he had pinned her to the ground. Though she had to admit that was after she did her best to knee him in the crotch.

“I heard the gunshots and came running up the trail,” Rob said. “I met Paige coming down.”

“What were you doing up there?” Travis asked.

Paige watched his face, not hiding her curiosity. Would he give the sheriff his story about a vacation? He shifted his weight. “I took some personal time to do a favor for my aunt.”

“What kind of favor?” Travis asked.

Rob glanced at Paige. Was he going to ask her to leave the room, or suggest that he and Travis talk later? “I didn’t ask you to leave while I told my story,” she said. “I think I can hear yours.”

“It’s not exactly a secret,” he said. “My aunt by marriage is Henry Hake’s older sister. She asked me to look into his death a little more, see what I could find out.”

“We’re still investigating Henry Hake’s death,” Travis said. The man behind the Eagle Mountain Resort development had disappeared earlier in the summer. His body had been discovered on the property last month, but so far no one had been able to determine either how he had died or why.

“I’m not trying to step on any toes,” Rob said. “But she’s been worried sick since Hake disappeared early this summer. When he was found dead in that bunker on what had been his own property, it left her with more questions than answers. I told her I didn’t expect to find anything you hadn’t already learned, but she begged me to try.” He shrugged. “I had some time off coming, and it’s not exactly a hardship to spend a few days hanging around Eagle Mountain.”

“Does your aunt have any ideas about what might have happened to her brother?” Travis asked.

“He had heart trouble, but she doesn’t think he died of a heart attack,” Rob said. “She’s sure he was murdered. He was definitely afraid of someone in the weeks before he died. I’d like to find out who.”

Chapter Three

Rob gave Travis credit—the sheriff didn’t even blink when he learned Rob’s reason for a return to Eagle Mountain. Paige, however, was gaping at him as if he had revealed a secret identity as a circus clown. “You’re related to Henry Hake?” she asked.

“Not exactly,” he said. “My uncle’s second wife is Hake’s sister. I never met the man.” He turned to Travis. “And it’s not my intention to interfere with your investigation. I just promised my aunt I would see what I could find out. I hiked up that trail this morning thinking I would start by getting another look at the place where his body was found—or as close as I could get, since the gates to the compound were locked up.”

Travis nodded and turned back to Paige. “I’ll go up to the resort property and take a look around. Do you think you could identify either of the men who shot at you if you saw them again?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Good. I’ll be in touch.” He stood, and Paige rose also.

“While you’re up there, would you look for my necklace?” she asked. “It’s a gold chain, with a charm of a bird in flight. I was wearing it this morning and I don’t have it now. I think it must have snagged on the bushes near where I was watching those two men.”

“Sure, we can look for it,” Travis said.

“Thank you, Sheriff,” she said, and turned toward the door.

“Paige?”

“Yes, Sheriff?”

“Don’t go up there by yourself anymore,” Travis said. “At least until we get this settled. And tell the other hikers you know the same.”

“All right.” She turned toward Rob and acted as if she wanted to say something, then closed her mouth and left the room.

“Stay a minute,” Travis said to Rob.

He nodded, and waited until they heard the front door close behind Paige before he took the seat she had vacated.

“Did you see either of the men she described?” Travis asked.

“No. I wasn’t that far up the trail before she came barreling down.” He chuckled. “I didn’t recognize her at first, and I’m sure she didn’t recognize me. When I took hold of her to try to calm her down, she fought like a tiger.” He rubbed the side of his face, where she had scratched him.

“You knew each other before?” Travis asked.

Rob nodded. “Yes. And it’s safe to say I am not one of her favorite people.”

Travis waited, silent. He was probably a good interrogator, using silence to his benefit. “I’m the one who arrested her brother,” Rob said.

“For possession of meth?” Travis asked.

“Yes. And for trying to sell stolen property. He was part of a group of addicts who were robbing apartment complexes in Denver. I was part of a joint drug task force working that case. We had already determined the thefts were linked to drugs.”

“There was no doubt of his guilt?”

“None.” He sighed, all the frustration of those days coming back to him. “Paige wanted an adjudicated sentence, with her brother, Parker, allowed to go to rehab instead of prison. I didn’t agree.”

“From what I’ve seen, she can be a little protective of Parker,” Travis said.

“I get it. As far as I know, he’s the only family she has. But the fact that part of my job was to help see that he was punished for his crimes made me the enemy. Her opinions about right and wrong tend to be very black-and-white.”

“She went up there today to cut off that lock, didn’t she?” Travis asked.

Rob grinned. “I didn’t see a thing. Though she was carrying a hacksaw and a pair of bolt cutters with her.”

Travis shook his head. “When Paige believes she’s in the right, there’s no changing her mind.”

“I certainly learned that.” Though he would have preferred she didn’t see him as the bad guy. Still, she wasn’t his chief concern at the moment. “As long as I’m here, maybe I could help you out with Henry Hake’s case,” he said. “Is there anything you’d like me to look into? Unofficially, of course.”

“Did your aunt say who her brother was afraid of?”

“No. Except she thinks it had something to do with his business.”

“So not necessarily Eagle Mountain Resort. He had other real-estate holdings, didn’t he?”

“A few apartment complexes and some office buildings,” Rob said. “Eagle Mountain Resort was definitely his most ambitious project. When the court ordered him to stop development, I gather it put him in a financial bind.”

Travis nodded. “That’s what I’ve learned, also.”

“What can you tell me about the property’s new owners—CNG Development?” Rob asked.

“They’re another real-estate development company, out of Utah. They’re much larger than Hake Development, with projects all over the United States. I wondered why they even bothered with Hake—he was pretty small potatoes, compared to them.”

“Maybe they’re one of these companies that specializes in finding small firms in financial straits and buying them for bargain prices,” Rob said.

“Maybe so.”

“Paige says they want to build a research facility up there.”

“So they’ve said. They haven’t presented anything concrete to the town for approval. The couple of times I’ve been up there since Hake’s body was found, the place has been deserted.”

“It wasn’t deserted today,” Rob said. “I’d sure like to know why those two were going around armed—and what was in that box. And why they reacted the way they did when they caught Paige watching them.”

“Want to go up there with me to check it out?” Travis asked.

“You know I’m not officially on duty,” Rob said. “My boss doesn’t even know where I am.”

“You wouldn’t be participating in any official capacity,” Travis said. “I just want someone to watch my back.”

“I can do that.” And maybe he would get lucky and discover something he could tell his aunt. He couldn’t bring her brother back to her, but finding out what had really happened to him might ease her suffering a little bit.

* * *

THOUGH PAIGE VOWED to put Rob Allerton firmly out of her mind and focus on work at the bed-and-breakfast where she both lived and worked, she couldn’t stop thinking about the man. He was always so aggravatingly calm and sure of himself. Having him here in town annoyed her, like walking around with a pebble in her shoe. Those days following Parker’s arrest had been among the worst in recent memory. Her brother had needed help and men like Rob were preventing her from helping him. Yes, Parker had broken the law, but he wasn’t a bad person. His addiction had led him to do things he never would have done otherwise. Instead of punishing him, why not treat his addiction and give him another chance?

Rob Allerton had made it clear he didn’t believe in second chances. No thanks to him, Parker had at least gotten a chance to get clean, though he had had to serve time, too. But he was clean now, going to school and staying out of trouble. Another year and the charges would be wiped from his record.

But he was in that position only because Paige had fought for him. Other people weren’t so lucky. They had to deal with the Rob Allertons of the world without anyone on their side.

She sat down at her desk off the kitchen and tried to put Rob out of her mind. His vacation wouldn’t last forever, and she had more than enough to keep her occupied in the meantime. She was working there a little later when the back door opened and Parker entered. He dropped his backpack on the bench by the door and pushed his sunglasses on top of his head. To some of the more conservative people here in Eagle Mountain, he probably looked like trouble, with his full-sleeve tattoos and often sullen expression. But Paige saw past all that to the little boy she had read stories to and made macaroni and cheese for more times than she could remember. “How was class?” she asked.

“Okay.” He opened the refrigerator. “What did you do today?”

Attempted vandalism and ended up getting shot at by two thugs, she thought. “I was up on the Dakota Ridge Trail and you’ll never guess who I ran into.”

He took out a block of cheese and a plate of leftover ham. “I don’t have to guess,” he said. “You always tell me anyway.”

“Rob Allerton is in town.”

“Who?” He took a loaf of bread from the box on the counter and began making a sandwich.

“Rob Allerton. Agent Allerton? The DEA guy who arrested you?”

“What’s he doing here?”

“He says he’s on vacation.” He hadn’t told the sheriff about her attempt to cut the lock from the gate up on the trail, so she figured she could keep quiet about Rob’s aunt and Henry Hake. Parker wouldn’t care about any of that anyway.

“Maybe he wanted to see you,” Parker said.

“Me?” She blew out a breath. “I’m sure I’m the last person he would ever want to see. Don’t you remember how we clashed at your trial?”

“I remember sparks.” He shot her a sideways look. “He thought you were hot.”

“He did not!”

“You thought he was hot, too.”

“You’re delusional.”

He turned back to his sandwich. “I’m not the one blushing.”

“I’m not blushing. This room is too warm.” She opened the refrigerator and began putting away the items he had removed. “Are you volunteering at the museum this afternoon?” she asked. She had talked Parker into volunteering at the local history museum. Her friend Brenda Stenson, who ran the museum, needed the help, and it was a good way for Parker to keep busy. Everything she had read had said that having too much free time could be a problem for a recovering addict.

“No.” He took a bite of the sandwich.

Paige tore off a paper towel and handed it to him. “What time does your shift at Peggy’s start?” She had found him the job as a delivery driver at Peggy’s Pizza as another way to keep him out of trouble.

“I’m off tonight,” he said, then took another bite of sandwich.

“Oh. Well, I guess you can use the time to study.” He was enrolled in classes at a nearby community college. Another condition of his parole.

“I’m going out,” he said.

“With who?”

“A friend.”

“Do I know this friend?”

“I doubt it.”

“Parker, we are not going to do this.”