Page 17 of Kyle

“See anything?” I ask.

“There’s an airstrip and a metal shed. Looks like an old gravel pit, but nobody’s working it.”

“You see any vehicles?”

“Nope. Not a soul.”

We stare at each other.

“So, they’ve got all this security,” I muse. “But no one’s out here.”

“Maybe they only care about it when that plane comes in.”

“What are you thinking?” I ask.

“I’m thinking they’re smuggling drugs and distributing them by hiding the shipments under the gravel they haul out. Who’s gonna dig through it if they get pulled over?”

“So, you think Harry stumbled across this?”

“I think Harry contacted the owner. Since he’s not on the property, maybe he found his contact information listed with the county property records. He sent them a letter. Maybe he even met with this guy. He probably just wanted some basic information since his property borders on the other side of the contaminated creek. Maybe he was thinking a class action lawsuit against the EPA or something. Who knows?”

“If this guy’s doing illegal shit, that wouldn’t make him too happy,” I add.

“Exactly. I’m thinking Harry knew nothing of what was going on in the middle of the night, but the last thing this guy wants is a government agency snooping around.”

“So, he had Harry taken out?”

Cole shrugs. “It’s just a theory, but it makes sense.”

“And Harry’s trip to Vegas?”

“Maybe that leads to Warren Drake, the guy listed on the deed.”

“Now what?”

Cole studies the land. “I’m gonna leave TJ and Billy out here tonight. See if they get lucky.”

“Then?”

“Then hopefully we’ll know what we’re dealing with.”

“If a plane flies in, you want them to follow the truck when it leaves?”

He shakes his head. “I’m not getting my guys killed over this, but I want to know what’s happening in our own fucking backyard.”

“Maybe we take a load,” I suggest with a grin. “Steal the product out from under them.”

“It may come to that. I just want to know how big a fish we’re dealing with first.”

The four of us head into Santa Nella and grab some lunch at a diner. Over cheeseburgers, Cole tells TJ and Billy everything we discussed.

“Man, I never expected this when we headed out here,” TJ says, dragging a fry through a puddle of ketchup.

Cole pulls up the map app on his phone.

“You realize that almond farm is seventeen minutes from where they found Harry Silver’s body?”

“Really?”

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