Page 74 of Christmas with Three Cowboys

24

Mitch

We finally caught a line on Jake Miller.

I take Ethan with me, while Colton sticks around the ranch with the rest of our people—about a dozen extra pairs of eyes, to be specific. We’re on the southern edge of town, driving slowly in Sammy’s truck. It’s an older, dark brown model and has a better chance of not standing out while we follow this prick around.

“Someday, when all of this is over, we’re going to throw a big barbecue party at the ranch,” I tell Ethan. I’m driving while he keeps an eye on Jake’s car.

“He ditched his truck, I see,” he mutters, making a note of the license plates. “Arkansas plates. That’s interesting.”

“Why’s that interesting?”

“I’ve got a feeling he’s gonna skip there if things go south here. Otherwise, he’d have used a local car.” He pauses and gives me a long look. “I’m down with a barbecue, by the way. It sounds good. It’s a nice way to repay these people for their support.”

“I’m just glad to see everyone coming together like this. It gives me hope for the generations to come.”

“Look at you, sounding like you’re already in the sunset of your life,” Ethan scoffs. “You’re jumping over an important step here. Wife, kids to raise. We haven’t done that yet.”

I give him a surprised side-eye. “Of all the people in the world, I swear you’re the last one I ever imagined I’d hear talking like this.”

“Like what?”

“Getting married. Having children.”

Ahead, Jake turns left, driving past a sprawling trailer park. Above, the sky is a dull grey—a sign of more snow to come. We’ve yet to hear about another cold front, but it doesn’t mean the weather’s going to tone down anytime soon. It’s the first week of January.

On the right side, there’s not much to look at, except for a string of storage facilities. Half of them are empty. To my surprise, Jake takes a sharp right turn through the open gates of one such facility—the emptiest, saddest looking of them all.

“What’s he doing?” I mumble, keeping a safe distance as I pull over the side of the road.

“Not sure. This place is practically abandoned,” Ethan replies.

I nod slowly. “Yeah. He’s probably hiding something here.”

“Or meeting someone.”

“We should get closer,” I say, quickly texting Colton to let him know where we are. We always keep tabs on each other, particularly during troubled times like these. My brother and Iget out of the pickup truck and carefully approach the gate.

“Any sign of his car yet?” I ask Ethan as he takes the lead.

“No. He must’ve taken it all the way to the back of the building,” he says, pausing to look up.

Both gate pillars are fitted with surveillance cameras. But they’re not active, by the looks of it. In fact, I see the wires hanging out, cut off a while back.

“No CCTV,” I say.

“Not a bad thing. Not a good thing either,” he replies.

“We can go in,” I suggest. “Light feet, mouths shut, eyes wide open.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you carrying?” I ask.

He gives me a quick but easy-to-read look. “Damn right.”

“Good. Me, too.”

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