Page 50 of Rescued Faith

Prescot didn’t seem amused. He simply marched out the door, leaving it open for them to follow. They walked out back to the shooting range.

Still no sign of Emma Kemper or the men she’d been with the night of the warehouse fire.

After inspecting the shelves of ammunition in one of the sheds, Conway faced Jude and planted his feet. “There. I’ve complied. You’re welcome to go now and let me get back to work.”

“What about the barn?” Jude didn’t back down at all.

“What about it?”

“I need to see it.”

Prescot’s eyes narrowed. “There’s nothing there but animals and old tractors.”

“Still, I have to be thorough if you want to keep your permits.”

The crusty rancher’s mustache drooped as he frowned. “I think you’ve seen all you’re legally required to see.”

“You don’t want me coming back here and shutting this whole operation down for not complying with a federal agency.”

It was all Penny could do to keep her mouth shut. She hated bullies like Prescot. But she and Jude were severely outnumbered if it came down to it. A muscle in Prescot’s jaw twitched. He looked over at the stocky guy leaning on the barn door.

“Tray, our nosy ATF agent here wants to see the barn. Give him a tour and then escort him to the gate.”

“Yes, sir.”

He opened the large barn doors. The space had completely transformed since last night. Huge straw bales created a wall around the shelves of boxes of weapons Penny had seen last night. Two rusty red tractors were in the back, and a couple stalls held horses. The skid loader was nowhere to be seen, but she’d give her last dollar to bet that they’d used it to quickly move the huge bales and hide all the illegal guns and ammo.

There was nothing she could do about it without revealing that she’d been there. Penny seethed. Tray made a point of letting them see everything, even the hay loft above. They climbed down.

“I’ll take you to the gate now.”

Penny went over to the wall of straw bales. She wanted to punch it, tear it all down and show Jude what they were hiding. She gave the bale a small kick. Of course it didn’t budge, but something black glinted in the sunlight streaming in from the open door.

“What’s this?” she asked as she bent down and picked it up.

Jude looked at what rested in her palm. “That looks like a Glock clip.”

Tray shrugged. “Looks like tractor parts to me.”

“Do you know where this came from?” Jude asked.

“Never seen it before.”

Obviously they would get nowhere now. But this might be the evidence Jude needed for a full-blown raid. Better not tip their hand yet.

They left and went back to the conference room at city hall, where the rest of the task force was already assembled, since Penny had texted them as soon as she and Jude left the compound.

“We got them.” Penny set the small clip on the table.

“You found a Glock clip?” Olivia asked.

“It looks exactly like the one we found in her car. That means there’s a good chance Emma Kemper is tied to this militia, which means they are part of our investigation with the explosives and fires.”

“Glad someone made some progress. We wasted a night at the Riviera Club trying to track down a dead man,” Bryce said.

The Riviera Club? How did Bryce wind up there? Not that Penny had a right to even care, but the thought of him at a dance club, surrounded by music and probably beautiful women, dancing the night away, left a horrible taste in her mouth. She forced herself to relax her jaw, not even aware of when she’d clenched it.

“Who’s ‘we?’ And what dead man?” she asked.

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