Page 20 of Battle Mountain

“If Haswell knew about Mark, he’d make a huge issue of it and embarrass the hell out of me if he could,” Rulon said. “And if I asked him, he sure as hell wouldn’t go out there and discreetly find Mark and Rankin. That’s for sure.”

“What about highway patrol or DCI? Are they involved at all at this point?”

Both agencies, like the Game and Fish Department, were within the executive branch and therefore answered to the governor.

“No,” Rulon said. “Why would I send DCI cops or troopersinto the mountains looking for elk hunters? Does that make sense to you?”

“Probably not,” Joe conceded.

“The fewer people know about this, the better.”

Joe was puzzled for a moment, then he got it. “Megan and your wife don’t know Mark is missing yet, do they?”

Rulon shook his head.

“They don’t know that Rankin had agreed to check in with you every day?”

“That’s correct,” Rulon said.

“And you’re worried that all hell will break loose in your immediate family if something has happened to Mark, since you pressured him to go with Rankin. It’s all your doing.”

“That about sums it up,” Rulon said.

“This isn’t a good situation for you,” Joe said.

“You think?” Rulon emphasized the importance of that by widening his eyes and thrusting his chin toward Joe.

“Governor,” Byrnes interrupted. “We really need to go.”

Joe felt the aircraft hum and shake as the pilots fired up the jets. The copilot removed his headphones and started the procedure to unlock the door and extend the steps back to the tarmac so Joe could leave.

“Can you go south to that Battle Mountain country and see if you can find him?” Rulon asked Joe. “Like I said, this is personal. It might be nothing at all—Rankin and Mark might be high in the mountains setting up their elk camp out of cell signal range. Or Rankin might be preoccupied and he’s forgotten to text. Or something unfortunate happened to the both of them. Either way, I’d owe you a big one if you could find out.”

Joe didn’t respond. Governor Rulon had rescued him from trouble countless times, and he’d used his influence to free Nate Romanowski from the grip of rogue federal agents. More than once.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Joe said.

He was surprised when Rulon leapt from his seat and grasped Joe by the sides of his head and kissed him on the top of the crown of his hat. “Thank you, Joe. Thank you.”

Byrnes stood in the aisle, glaring down at Joe to move.Rulon Onebegan to tremble as the jet engines powered up.

“Call or text me your progress,” Rulon called out to Joe as he straightened his just-jostled hat and moved toward the open door. “Bless you, son! Bless you! Go find Mark and bring him back to me in one piece.”

—

As the easternmountains turned electric pink with the last gasp of dusk, Joe packed clean clothing into a duffel bag in his bedroom. Downstairs, he heard Marybeth enter the house and call out to him. Joe had called Marybeth after his meeting with the governor and gotten her out of her board meeting to brief her. Even though the governor didn’t want anyone but Joe and Ann Byrnes to know about the pickle he was in, Joe told his wife everything, like he always did.

He found her in the kitchen holding a take-out box of pizza in her right hand while balancing Kestrel Romanowski on her left hip. Marybeth was still dressed in a dark suit and white blouse from her library board meeting that day. For the past year, Marybeth had taken the child to work with her. Kestrel spent her time in a library-sponsored day care for part of the day and the rest inMarybeth’s office playing with toys and reading children’s books in a kid’s corner Marybeth had set up.

Their three dogs—Bisquit, Tube, and Bert’s Dog—converged on Marybeth and the pizza smells from various places in the house.

“Here, I’ll take her,” Joe said.

Marybeth swung her hips and Joe plucked the toddler out of Marybeth’s grip.

—

“Unka Joe,” Kestrelsaid as she beamed. “Throw me, Unka Joe.” Her eyes sparkled with devilry.

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