Page 18 of Disciplining Dana

“Which they’ve salted each bucket with.”

“Yep. Every customer comes away happy with a pretty little stone they can have cut and set into a ring or bracelet or necklace.”

“Seems innocent enough.”

“Oh, it’s completely touristy and kitschy and fun, and the thing is, they’re not making a helluva a lot of bank off it. But it’s cute, and it fits with the theme of the place, so it serves its purpose.”

“From what I can tell off previous surveys and historical data, the mine continues back quite a ways into the mountain.”

“Pretty sure it does. They built the whole Exploration Zone around where the original mine entrance was. The actual shaft extends beyond the entrance and is totally sealed off to the public. They left a small portion of it visible with a purely decorative façade around it. Like an old-time mine you’d see in a Western or at Knott’s Berry Farm.”

“I don’t remember there being any recent activity in the mine.”

“As far as the info we got, there hasn’t, or if there has, the owners have kept a tight lip about it. The original mine was pretty much a horizontal tunnel with a lot of laterals. I couldn’t find any indication of vertical boring having taken place, new or old.”

“Well, that’s convenient,” Dana murmured.

“What we don’t have is any recent data on how far the main lateral still goes back. Like we discussed, the mine hasn’t been operational in over a hundred years, and for all we know, the main could be collapsed twenty feet back from the entrance.”

“And Gary couldn’t get any details about the current condition beyond those pics?”

“Not without drawing attention, and remember, they don’t want any?—”

“Anyone knowing why we’re there. Yeah, I remember. We’re spies.”

Kurt grimaced. “We’re not spies. We’re just doing what we’ve always done.”

Which was something she already knew, because they’d handled assignments like this in a similar fashion on plenty of occasions before. She was just being salty this time because there was something about Rawhide Ranch that had her on edge. And if it wasn’t Rawhide specifically, then it was something else. Something he couldn’t put a finger on at the moment, but he knew would come out eventually.

Just give her time…

“Yeah, sure, like we’ve always done.” Dana glanced out of the airplane window. “Have you or Gary spoken to this guy Roman?”

“Not me, and Gary didn’t mention anything about talking to him either.”

“Hmm.” She studied the back of the seat in front of her, lips pursed. “The mine hasn’t been in operation for over a hundred years, so where are they getting their sapphires? Bringing them in from overseas?”

“No.” Kurt shook his head. “They have an inventory of chips from when the mine was last in production they pull from. The sapphires they salt with are small, not commercial jewelry grade. Given the tourist attraction nature of how the business is run, it’s more than enough.”

“That makes sense,” she said, pausing to think. “So, there’s our angle.”

Kurt cocked his head. “Our angle?”

“On how to get in. We talk to this guy Roman, tell him we’re speculators researching potential gem sources. We’ll say we’re with McKerr-Dennison acting on behalf of De Beers or… Zales or something.” She waved her hand. “We’ll tell him we’re doing a feasibility study to rework the mine for sapphires.”

“Ugh,” Kurt grunted. “That seems risky.”

“How so?” she shot back.

“Well, isn’t that just a variation on what Gary already said he didn’t want us doing? Drawing the owner’s attention to the mine as a revenue source?”

“Kurt, I need to get in there. Now, I’m pretty sure if we walk up and announce, ‘Hey, we need to tromp around in your hundred-year-old mine, no questions asked please, m’kay?’ they’re gonna tell us to pound sand. They know sapphires were once mined there. From the description they gave, Rawhide Ranch was built off them. They know the value the gems have. But these people aren’t miners, or geologists, so they have no idea whether the potential of reopening the mine is realistic or not. All we need is for them to let us in for a bit. A day or two at most. You keep reminding me we’ve done this before, so I’ll remind you when we have it’s been something along these lines. Like Bogotá.” She stared at him pointedly.

“We paid those people off to get in there.”

“Yeah? You wanna try that first? Slip this dude Roman a bribe?”

Kurt narrowed his eyes. “Don’t be an ass.” Glancing away for a moment, he considered what Dana had just proposed. Like always, she was pushing hard to do things her way. The thing that concerned him most—as it had for some time now—was that her way wasn’t always the safest way. The fact was, especially in light of what had happened in Argentina, lately it hadn’t been safe at all. She took risks, and as Gary had warned, those risks were starting to catch up with her.

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