"Uh, Jos, I think they are trying to follow us."

"Let them."

My eyebrows shot up as I turned to look at him. "You want them to follow us?"

"No, but if they do, they do. I'd like to see them start shit at the Walker place. Ethan is a very famous lawyer from back East. He'd throw them into so much litigation, they'd need aletter from the State Department in order for them to go back to Japan."

"I'd prefer that they go back to Japan."

I really didn't want them sticking around here.

Chapter Seventeen

~ Jos ~

I could still see the two fancy sedans following us as we drove through the countryside toward town. The Eagle Creek Ranch was on the opposite side of the small town from our ranch. We had a ways to go before we got there.

"Miko, get my cell phone out and call Sheriff Madras."

"Do you think there's a problem?" Miko asked even as he did what I asked.

"I'm not sure yet. I just want to give Ken a head's up just in case."

A moment later, the call connected and I heard, "This is Sheriff Madras."

"Hey, Ken, this is Jos Cross."

"Jos, what can I do for you today?"

"I'm currently headed toward the Walker place with Miko. Seems they have a mare having trouble and the vet requested Miko's help."

"And you're calling because of this?" Ken asked.

"No, I just wanted to give you a little head's up. Miko's estranged family from Japan showed up at the ranch today trying to start shit. When we left the ranch to head to the Walker place, they followed us."

"Trouble?"

"Not sure yet," I admitted. "I don't think so, but I wanted you to be aware of the situation just in case. These might have been the foreigners that were staying in town."

I know it had been a couple of months since Ken mentioned them to me, but it was the only connection I had. As far as I knew, Miko had been secreted out of Japan and brought here to the United States without his uncle's knowledge. He wasn't evensupposed to know where Miko was, unless someone was keeping tabs on him.

"I'll swing by out that way and have a look around," Ken stated. "If there's trouble brewing, I'd like to stay on top of it."

"It could be nothing, Ken."

"What's your gut saying?"

"They aim to make trouble."

Ken snorted. "I'll see you out there."

I nodded to Miko to hang up and then glanced in the rear view mirror. The two cars were still following us. "Look through my contacts for Jake Cooper and call him."

Miko did as I said and then held the phone out near me. When the line connected, I quickly said, "Cooper, this is Jos. Miko and I are headed your way, but we might have some out of town trouble following us in two black sedans. I've already alerted the sheriff, but you might want to put your guys on standby."

"What kind of trouble?" Cooper asked.

"Fox in the henhouse kind of trouble."