Page 66 of Dairy and Deadly

“Hmm.”

“What’s going on?” Johnny asked.

“There’s a cattle transport barreling my way from the right. He’s not slowing down.”

“His brakes might be out.” Johnny sounded worried.

“Could be. I’ll give him the road, just in case.” As a precaution, she shifted into reverse and backed up a few feet.

The truck laid on its horn as it drew nearer, blasting through the stop sign without slowing its speed even a hair. It abruptly veered in her direction.

“Johnny!” Ashley’s cry of alarm filled the car right before the bumper of the truck smashed into her right taillight. She was pulled far enough back from the intersection that it wasn’t a full t-bone collision. However, the impact was powerful enough to send her car into a spin.

“Ash! Are you okay?” Johnny’s frantic voice filled her ears.

“I’ve been hit!” The car spun around and around before skidding into the ditch. Then it flipped to its side.

For a split second, she teetered between consciousness and unconsciousness. Then everything went black.

Chapter 12: Big Question

“Please take me home,” Ashley begged. She couldn’t believe the attending physician had insisted she spend the rest of the night in the medical center for observation. She was sick and tired of being rushed to the emergency room. She was fine — a little sore — but fine.

“That’s the plan, babe.” Johnny stood and rolled his shoulders. He’d pushed the boundaries on visiting hours by claiming he was pulling security. It wasn’t a complete fabrication. She’d overheard him on the phone with his supervisor, devising a plan for keeping her safe in the coming days.

So far, nothing had come from the sheriff’s APB for the hit-and-run driver. Though her Camaro was insured, it was going to take time to file a claim and deal with all the repairs.

A nurse bustled into the room to remove her I.V. and have her sign the discharge paperwork. “You need to rest and rest some more when you get home.” Her tone was firm. “Doctor’s orders.”

Ashley’s neck was too sore to nod, so she gave the woman a thumbs up. Though she was still very capable of walking on her own, the nurse insisted on rolling her in a wheelchair to the front entrance.

Johnny was waiting there with his Jeep. He hurried her way to lift her from the wheelchair to the passenger seat.

She grumbled the entire time. “Whenever y’all are done treating me like an invalid…” She fumbled with the seatbelt, feeling utterly defeated when Johnny had to assist her with such a simple task.

“I almost lost you,” he reminded thickly. “Just humor me, will you?”

“As long as you don’t try to sideline me from the case.” There were so many leads she needed to follow up on that she hardly knew where to jump back in. However, Monica Poet was counting on her to get her father the justice he deserved.

Johnny ran a finger down her cheek. “Nobody’s gonna sideline you, but you’re gonna have to let the rest of us do the heavy lifting for a few days.” He shut the door behind her and jogged to his side of the vehicle. “The file you brought back with you from Dallas is in Caro’s hands, as requested.”

“Any new developments yet?”

“As a matter of fact,” he drawled as he started the motor.

“Johnny,” she pleaded, “if you’ve been holding out on me while I was in the hospital…”

He filled her in as he drove. “The Feds have done some deep diving on the dark web and determined XAX is operating as a domestic terror group.”

She bit her lower lip. “Meaning this isn’t simply about some mega corporation cutting corners to make a quick buck?”

“Nope. These bozos are members of a hate group with a beef against the government. From the chatter the Feds have tracked online, they’re gearing up for something big. It took them a while — more than a year — to successfully replicate your mother’s findings. Apparently, it’s harder than it sounds to piggyback a genetically modified strain of bacteria to a perfectly healthy molecule of raw milk. It’s even harder to do it in a way that’ll go undetected by standard quality control measures.”

The idea of contaminating milk in a way that defied detection was terrifying. “I guess that explains why they’ve been targeting smaller dairy farms.” First, on the outskirts of Dallas, followed by pockets all over Texas.

“They’ve been testing the waters,” he agreed. “Or milk, in this case.”

Just thinking about it made her sick to her stomach. “With the hopes of doing something on a much larger scale, I imagine?”

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