Page 76 of Refuge for Flora

“No. Please. This is too dangerous. I think you know everybody here except ConorPaxton. He’s Texas Parks & Wildlife. This is FrankieElliott. He’s a McCrackenCounty deputy sheriff.”

Conor rose and extended a hand. “Good to meet you.”

“Okay, guys. Let’s get down to business.” Barrett told Conor to start, and he told the group about the seizure in Texas and how he’d called Barrett. From there, Barrett began the story of Flora?how she’d come to be there, the things she’d seen, what she knew about the men, and the fact that they’d managed to track her to the area but no farther. “So Conor asked his superiors if he could come here as part of a joint task force, and they jumped at it. Now comes the hard part?how we’re going to find these guys. And I think Conor will be instrumental in that. You’re the wild card, the one person they couldn’t possibly have seen before. Everybody else is local. Are you up for doing a little undercover work as a prospective reptile buyer?”

The Lone Star state officer nodded. “Sounds good to me. But how do we find them?”

“Good question. Anybody got any ideas?” From Barrett’s question, the ideas took off. Where would people like that go? What would they be looking for?

“If I were raising meat-eating reptiles, I’d go to packing plants and go through their garbage. I’d steal chickens too,” Jonas pointed out.

Barrett nodded. “That’s true. There’s that packing plant out in Hendron. Is there another one?”

“There’s a butcher shop over in Ledbetter. Might check there.” Kirby stroked his chin as he thought. “Restaurants by the mall, although that would be small potatoes compared to something large. They’d probably kill deer nearby and feed the gators those.”

“Oh. Yeah. I hadn’t thought about that. If they’re doing that, we’ll never find them.” Barrett was feeling a little helpless. Everything seemed to be a dead end.

“I think I’m going to check with AdamHoward out at Howard’s Meat Market. That’s out in that end of the county, and kinda rural. Somebody could go there and raid the dumpster without anyone seeing them.” Evan glanced around the table. “Probably won’t help, but it’s something.”

Frankie sighed loudly. “Okay, so let’s think about this. Where would guys like this hang out? And where would they go to try to find other people to buy their reptiles?”

No one said a word. Everyone was thinking. Finally, Barrett said, “They approached Floyd and Geraldine out there at the vegetable stand.”

“Okay. That’s a start,” Frankie announced. “A couple. Older. Alone. Selling low-cost items. A quick way to make some money.”

Conor rolled his eyes. “Reeks of desperation.”

“Or this is what they’re used to, working in a rural setting with very few people. Whatever we do, we’ve got to not only engage them, but also find out where their base is. Conor will pose as a guy wanting to buy reptiles as pets, but he’s going to ask all the right questions about raising them and breeding them. They might take him into their fold that way, and that’s what we want.” Barrett sat back in his chair. “The problem is, how do we get him there? How do we get them to notice him and ask him to come along for the ride?”

Kirby looked around the table and settled his gaze on Frankie. “Do you know if there are any reptile shows around here in the next few weeks?”

“There’s one that comes around every three or four months. Let me check.” Frankie whipped out his phone and started scrolling.

Conor was drumming his fingers on the table. “We just need to find a place for me to mingle, or to make a connection that’ll take me where I need to go.”

“Bingo.” Frankie looked around the table. “The reptile show is coming around in three weeks.”

“Okay. That gives us time to plan how we’re going to do this. We need attention to clothing, gait, speech, anything that will attract these guys,” Jonas said. “Want me to take point on that?”

“Sure. Works for me.” Barrett turned to his superior. “Cap?”

“No?Evan. Everybody in this operation needs to use first names. If we’re seen with each other, we have to look like good ol’ boys having a good time. We’ve got a location, a date and time, someone to set up the details,” he said, nodding toward Jonas, who nodded back, “and now we need to write a script. Cover all the details. Where he’s from, what he’s doing at the show, what he wants, what he’ll be excited about, how much money he’s got to spend. He’ll need a local car to drive, not that rental. And a low profile unless he’s working.” Conor nodded his understanding. “Ideas?”

Conor scratched one temple before he spoke. “Okay. I go to the show. I talk to the vendors. Ask about the animals. How hard are they to take care of? How much do they cost? How much do their supplies cost? And then I hit it harder?what about breeding them? Selling them? Is there money in it? I’m looking for a new business opportunity. What’s my old one?”

Frankie shot up in his chair. “Pot. It’s not going for what it used to because so many places are legalizing it. Hell, we can drive across the bridge into Metropolis, Illinois, and buy and smoke all we want. We just can’t bring it across the bridge, but nobody gives a shit about that. Any money anybody was making on it over here on this side of the river is drying up. There’s your lost revenue angle.”

“We need to find a person who died recently, someone who had a little money. Maybe from a farm, or some kind of small business. He inherited money from them, and he wants to use that to seed the business,” Kirby offered.

“This is perfect.” Barrett turned to Conor. “You’ll be staying with me, so we can practice this often. In the meantime, it’s got to be business as usual for me.”

“I guess we could use the woman as bait too,” Frankie offered.

Everyone at the table jumped as Barrett’s hands slammed down on its gleaming surface. “Absolutely not! I don’t want her involved in this inany way. I’ve already told her she’s to gonowherewithout me or somebody else with her, but preferably me or Kirby. Maybe Zyan. She’s got to stay under the radar. If they find her before we find them, she’ll be dead and I’ll be forced to murder somebody when I find them, and Iwillfind them. You can take that as my pre-murder confession right now.”

“I’m with Barrett on this. We’re not doing that. Absolutely not. From what I’ve heard, she’s been through enough.” Evan’s tone left no room for negotiation. “If we can’t do this unless we use her as bait, then we can’t do this. Period.”

Barrett tried to calm himself. “Thanks.” He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned.

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