Page 71 of Battle Mountain

Henry was picketed in a small meadow on the left side of his one-man tent, and Joe could hear the mule munching grass and occasionally letting loose with bouts of loud, percussive flatulence.

Joe let his small campfire burn down to coals before getting to his feet. He could feel his thigh muscles burn from the ride up, and his back was stiff. He stretched and moaned and he pulled on a thick wool Filson vest against the evening cold. He fitted the headlamp over the crown of his hat and twisted it on a quarter turn, which provided a soft yellow glow. It was enough light that he could gather up his shotgun, binoculars, and the satellite phone.

Then he tossed several gnarled lengths of pitchwood on the fire to build it up again so he could locate his camp when he returned.

—

After a fifteen-minutehike farther up the mountain, Joe found the granite promontory he’d seen earlier that towered above the tops of the trees. It had a graduated slope on its left side allthe way to the top. He left the shotgun at the base and climbed it hand over hand, careful not to grasp or step on loose rocks that might result in a tumble back down.

He was breathing hard when he ascended to a lichen-covered table-like flat on the summit. Then he turned off the headlamp and sat cross-legged on the cool rock, letting his eyes gradually adjust to the near-total darkness. A gentle cold breeze wafted through the treetops below him from the east. It smelled sharply of pine.

When his breathing calmed, the starlight slowly revealed the terrain around him. Joe surveyed the undulations and folds in the mountainside on either side of him through the binoculars. He was looking for signs of a camp, if not a campfire. He saw neither. And he heard nothing, not even squirrels.

It took a while to notice, but he became aware of a slight glow over the mountains to the southwest. The glow, he surmised, was likely from the lights of the dude ranch Kany had told him about. It was so faint that even if there were a sliver of a moon in the sky it would have likely drowned it out. What was the name of that place? he asked himself.

The B-Lazy-U.

Then he had a thought. What if Rankin and Eisele had stumbled across the ranch boundary while scouting for elk? Given the high security and secrecy of the Centurion gathering, was it possible the two men were being detained there?

Joe’s speculation seemed implausible to him. If Rankin and Eisele had been caught on the ranch, wouldn’t they have the ability—and the facts—to talk themselves out of it? Especially when Eisele revealed his connection to the governor of Wyoming?

Still, stranger things had happened. Gung ho security personnel could overdo their assignment. Perhaps Joe could ask the sheriff or members of the search and rescue team to ask some questions of the ranch management the next day. Who knows, he thought, maybe someone had seen the two elk-hunting guides.

—

The satellite phonegrabbed a strong signal very quickly, probably owing to the fact that there were no obstructions above him and a perfectly clear sky. He called Ann Byrnes on her cell phone and gave her the bad news.

“Oh, the governor isn’t going to like this,” she said softly. “Telling the sheriff was one thing, but this…”

“I realize that,” Joe said. “But it is what it is. This whole county will be mobilized tomorrow to help search for them. Wordwillget out.”

“I’ll let him know tonight so he can prepare for it.”

“You mean so he can let the First Lady and his daughter know,” Joe said.

“Yes. I wish you had better news.”

“So do I.”

“Where are you now? Warm Springs?”

He smiled to himself. “I’m in the dark on the side of a mountain with a flatulent mule.”

“What on earth?”

“I was hoping I could see a sign of Mark and Spike—maybe a tent or a campfire. But no such luck.”

“When the governor hears this, he might order you to stay there for the rest of your life,” she said.

He looked out over the dark timber sea and up at the brilliant, piercing stars. “I’ve been in worse places,” he said.

—

Then he calledMarybeth. Before he could outline his location, she said, “Susan Kany just told me.” She didn’t sound pleased at all.

“Joe, I thought we talked about this. You assured me you wouldn’t do crazy things like this anymore—that you were older and wiser than you used to be.”

“I am, I think,” Joe said. “But this is an emergency, and I’m completely prepared. I was hoping I’d see or hear something that would help me find them. It was a shot in the dark.”

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