Page 25 of Ava
“Okay, first, let me introduce you to Ava Hanson. She’s my first recruit. Ava, this is Tom Erwin, local sheriff and my future cousin.”
“Yeah, how’s the wedding plans going?”
“Good. That week Mom was here helped me nail down a lot of things. Luckily, it’s going to be here at the ranch, with a huge BBQ as the reception, and a small ceremony.” She looked at Ava with a grin. “Ifyou count a hundred people small. I only have to go get the finishing touches done on my dress. The cake, flowers, and meat are all ordered.”
“You ordered meat? Won’t Wyatt grab a cow and shoot it?”
“Yes,” Morgan laughed. “Enough about the wedding. What brings you here?”
He walked over to the refrigerator and helped himself to a water and then leaned his hips against one of the two tables in the room, the one that Ava was going to set up shop on. The two women faced him with raised brows.
“When he came out three months ago, I talked to Chip, he told me that you’d need beat-up, but well-running vehicles to traverse the back roads with. I’ve been working with a guy, and I have six Jeeps and pickups that are ready. I just need a place to store them?”
“The garage is done, and only needs to have work benches installed. Ava and I walked the house earlier today, and it should be done in two weeks, that’s even with final inspection. Do you know who’s bringing the vehicles here?”
“I will be. I have an enclosed trailer and I can haul a Jeep and truck at the same time. It’ll take me three trips. Figured this way, no one would know about this place.”
“Thank you, you can coordinate with Chuck. He stays in the camper out behind here.” She pointed to the wall behind her, and Tom only nodded, then he reached down and picked up his briefcase he brought with him. “This next thing, I took it upon myself to get county maps. I figured if you have people working for you, they’d be better than the state map. Oh, before I forget, all the vehicles are equipped with GPS, so if you find anything, then you’ll be able to get a location, and mark it on the map.” He held up his hand when Ava went to say something. “As per Chip’s instructions, all the vehicles are registered to a dummy corporation. However, unless you’re the best there is in computers, on one will ever know who owns them. For your information, if someone digs deep enough, they’ll are registered to one of the bowls of alphabet soup.Idon’t even know which one. Chip set everything up.” “I know what you are about to say. These criminal activities are not in my county. I can’t speak for the other ones, especially closer to the border.” He walked over to the state map and waited for the women to join him. “From here, which is one county north of us, it’s a straight shot of around two hundred sixty miles to the border. There aren’t guard stations in a lot of locations, and if these guys have been doing this for some time, then they know just where to go to cross without having to show passports. Or when there might be border guards in the area. I’m sure they have everything mapped out. If I were going to do what they do, I’d have this all prepared.”
“Shit, do you trust the sheriff north of here?” Ava asked as she studied the map, then looked at him. She winced when he shook his head.
“No, but...” He looked at Morgan, who went back to her desk and brought back a light blue highlighter. Tom took it and began to trace the outline of several counties. Ava noted that they weren’t close together, more scattered. “These counties I trust the sheriff with my life. These others, I wouldn’t give you a plugged nickel for any of the locals. If you go to them to investigate, watch yourself. There’ve been stories that they’ll pull you over on trumped-up charges. Give me a few days, and I can get you a list of names and phone numbers of people to contact when you’re out and about if you run into any trouble. All you have to do is tell them that I told you to call them. And…” He sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, and stressed, “...if you have to spend the night in a hotel, do it in one of these counties I’ve highlighted. You’ll be safe there. I know you were an EWM, but it’s better to err on the side of caution. I don’t know your story, but if you can answer, what was your job with your team?”
“Sniper,” Ava said briskly, and left it at that.
“Okay, then. If you have your rifle with you, I’m going to want to see it. Have Morgan give you the address, or even bring you to the shooting range.”
“Sounds good, I can do that.” Ava nodded and took the card he held out to her.
“Commit my number to memory. The number on the back is my personal cell phone, try not to call the one on the front, it’s for the sheriff’s office. I don’t have to tell you not to program it into your own cell.”
“Correct, only one question.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you feel your job is threatened? Are you and your family safe?”
“We are, and no, I don’t feel threatened. I run a tight ship, and all my deputies toe the line. Some of the other deputies in the other counties like to take things upon themselves and keep their boss in the dark. I suspect, though there is no hard evidence, but I suspect that some of the locals north of us are preppers. They’re only with the sheriff’s office to gather information to take back to the other preppers.”
“And these people doing the running are definitely preppers?”
“They are, or at least that’s the word I’m getting. Legally, you don’t have to have a permit to carry any handgun in the state of North Dakota, so we can’t control how many firearms any one resident has. I’m sure these preppers are loaded for bear, and have the ammo to back them up. My biggest fear is that if anything goes down, it’ll be another Waco, or Ruby Ridge.”
“Wow, and you don’t have any idea who might be involved.”
“None, all I know is that I have a stack of missing persons on my desk about two inches thick. None of them are from my county, but we share information.” He reached up and tapped the end of the highlighter on the counties he’d indicated were safe.
“I’ll want a copy of those,” Ava nodded. At Tom’s frown, she admitted, “I’m pretty good with faces. If I see anyone out and about, I can always refer back to them, and let Morgan know. I don’t know what the protocol is for reporting to you.”
“At this time, we’re in a gathering Intel situation. Until we can get our hands on names and faces, we have nothing.” Tom sighed and scrubbed his face. Ava thought he looked tired, but didn’t know him enough to make that assumption. He nodded, and pointed to the maps he’d left on the table. “I’ll get out of your hair, and I’ll go coordinate with Chuck about bringing in those vehicles. I’d like to start tomorrow.”
“Get with Justin instead,” Morgan called out. “He knows what they’ll be for. I don’t think Chuck knows what’s what yet.”
“You ever going to read him in, or the A’s for that matter?”
“I don’t know, I’m going to play it by ear. As you just admitted, we can’t do a damn thing until we get names, faces, and locations. Until then…” Morgan lifted her hands and shrugged.
“Right,” Tom said, and nodded as he left the office, closing the door quietly behind him.
