Page 37 of High Density

She turns to me with a smug little smile on her lips as she pulls a plastic baggie with vials from the side pocket of her cargo pants. “I still have the samples I took.”

She walks over to the back of her truck and grabs what looks like a small lunch bag and places the samples inside. Then she pulls out an instant cold pack, activates it by scrunching it between her hands, and slips that in the lunch bag as well.

“Does that have to go to a lab?” I ask, when we get back in the truck.

“I can do some testing back at the clinic, but I have two more truckloads of cattle to check before I can get to it. It’s getting warm, I want the samples to stay fresh.”

I would offer to run them to the clinic to refrigerate them, but I don’t want to leave her alone with this Mackey guy and that slime bucket, Jericho. Janey doesn’t seem in the least intimidated, but I didn’t like the way Phil Jericho tried to run me off when I came looking for her, so for that alone I’m going to be sticking around.

Neither man is anywhere in sight when we return to the stockyard, it’s only Janey’s assistant, Logan, sitting on the fence of the cattle chute, chatting with a couple of guys who look like they work here.

“Where is your boss?” Janey asks the two guys.

“Left. Him and Jericho both. Some lunch meeting in town,” the younger of the two volunteers. “Said he’d be back this afternoon.”

“Call him,” she orders the guy.

He does what she asks, but it’s clear he’s not having any luck getting a hold of Mackey.

“Fine. All right,” Doc finally says, throwing her hands up in defeat. “Let’s get this show on the road, with or without him. Any change in these cows?”

The question is directed at Logan, who shakes his head. “No. They seem fine.”

“Good. Let’s hope it was an isolated incident. We’ll need to clear the animals that came off the second trailer, so we can get the third transport unloaded as soon as possible,” she outlines. “It’s already getting steamy out here.”

She’s right. It’s almost midday and the sun is high in a cloudless sky. The weather forecast promised sunny and warm conditions heading into the weekend and, so far, that seems to be accurate. Those cows will be overheating quickly in that trailer.

“If I can make a suggestion,” I start, looking at the two holding pens that are only separated by a walkway. “Those cows are gonna get hot in the trailer, offload those guys with the unchecked herd and then set the chute up between the two pens. Unless you still want to keep that first group separate.”

She shakes her head. “No. I think you’re right. It’s probably fastest that way.”

Logan and the two hands jump into action, tasked with moving the chute into the pathway between the two pens, while I follow Janey to where the driver of the third transport is sitting in his rig.

“Hey, we’re getting ready to unload,” she informs him. “Is it possible to back up to the other side of that pen?”

“No can do,” the guy responds with a shrug. “I was told by the boss to sit tight right here. So that’s what I’m doing.”

“You’re talking about Mackey?”

“That’s right.”

I can feel the irritation come off Janey in waves.

“Well, I’m the vet who’s responsible for the well-being of these animals, and keeping them in a trailer that must feel like a sauna by now is not in their best interest. Besides, I need to clear them.”

The driver looks her up and down and shrugs again. “Be my guest, check them out, but they ain’t coming off the truck unless the boss says so.”

I swallow a grin when I hear her mumble,“Motherfucker,”as she marches back to where Logan and the others are moving the metal fencing. I hustle to keep up.

“Change of plans,” she announces when she reaches them. “Logan, once you have the chute up, start moving the cows through. You know the drill. Don’t forget to mark tag numbers and note any observations on the log. Anything out of the ordinary, pull the animal aside until I can have a look.”

“Where are you gonna be?” the kid asks her.

“On the trailer.” She cocks a thumb over her shoulder. “Driver won’t release the load so I’m going in there.”

“I can do it,” Logan offers.

“That’s okay. You keep going here. I’ll jump in when I’m done.”

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