Page 88 of Tempting Fate
“What was Lucky talking about when he said she offered to sell her land to him for a song?”
“First I heard of it.” Clay handed him a pair of binoculars. “Keep your eyes peeled.”
They flew over the tops of trees, giving Gabe a filtered view below. “What are those houses down there?” He thought he recognized the geography. It was somewhere between Grizzly Peak and Sierra Heights.
“We’re coming up on the stables. I wanted to start there and work our way out.”
“Good plan.” Gabe trained the binoculars on the ground. As they got farther away from Sierra Heights there were fewer homes to see and the land became more rugged. Nugget was surrounded by remote pockets of fields, forests, streams, and lakes. And nothingness for miles and miles. So many places to hide that it boggled the mind. And for all he knew they were holed up in town at the Lumber Baron.
“Rhys spotted them the first time not far from your area, up in the hills.”
Gabe drew a map in his head. If they were talking about the same people, which seemed all but certain, they’d lost their backpack on Drew Matthews’ property, had broken into Raylene’s truck at the farmhouse, and had been to her land at least twice. All three locations were just a few miles apart.
Gabe theorized that Raylene’s abductors must’ve been watching her to know she was at the Sierra Heights stables alone with Harper. There’d never been any evidence that they’d traveled in a vehicle—no tire tracks, no engine noise the night Raylene caught them at the farm, no sign of a deserted car at the barn—which meant they were on foot and had been camping out somewhere within a few miles’ radius of all three locations. With wheels they could’ve gone anywhere, but Gabe didn’t think they would. Roaches typically crawled back to their hidey-holes.
“You got a map?” Gabe asked Clay.
“In there.” Clay nudged his head at a flight bag. “There’s land and aerial, take your pick.”
Gabe found a pen, grabbed a land map, and spread it out on his lap. He immediately found Sierra Heights and used it as a reference to pinpoint Logan and Annie’s farm and Raylene’s two hundred acres, then drew a circle, representing three miles around all three locations.
“I think they’re somewhere in this vicinity.” He handed Clay the map with his scribbles. “Can you find it from the air?”
“Not a problem. But a good portion of what you’ve got there is Lake Davis.” Clay pointed to the blue on the map.
Good, less land to cover. “What’s out there besides the lake?” Gabe had gone fishing there a few times with Logan and a local arson investigator named Aidan McBride, but, being relatively new to Nugget, he didn’t know the area as well as Clay.
“Not much. There’s a trailer park where a few railroad workers used to live, but it’s vacant now, and in bad disrepair. Rhys has been all over the city to clean it up. Other than a couple of hunting and fishing cabins, I can’t think of anything else. You think they could be holding her in one of the trailers?”
“Yep. I’ll let Rhys know what I’m thinking; you circle.” Gabe shot off a text.
“What about spooking them if they hear the Cub? You heard what Rhys said.”
Gabe weighed the risk. To his mind, the bad guys had been spooked the minute Harper got away—she could identify them. Every second that ticked by was borrowed time for Raylene. They couldn’t afford to tiptoe.
“As soon as we think we’re close, I’m going in.” He tightened the straps on his parachute harness.
Clay shook his head. “This ain’t a free fall from a Blackhawk, buddy. You ever jump from a Cub before?”
Gabe grinned. “There’s a first time for everything.”
Clay didn’t try to dissuade him, though he shook his head again. Gabe went back to peering through the binocs.
“What’s that?” Gabe pointed at what appeared to be a wooden structure built into the side of a mountain.
“An old mineral mine.”
“A good place to hide?”
“I don’t think so. The front’s completely open, and it’s not far off the main drag to the lake.” Clay made a slow turn. “See that? That’s the trailer park.”
“Can you get a little lower without drawing too much attention?” Gabe wanted to see if he could find Raylene’s truck.
Clay slid him a get-real glance. They were already low enough to be loud. Besides, the tall pines made it dangerous.
“From up here the place looks like a ghost town,” Gabe said. “What’s that over there?” In the distance, the sun glinted off blacktop.
“The highway, and past that, the railroad. I’d say they’re less than a mile as the crow flies from the trailer park. The workers used to walk.”
