Page 18 of Steers and Stowaways
Tucker knew she was referring to the stolen steer. It was the sixth of her herd she’d lost. He imagined she was doing the math inside her head and choking over the mounting losses. Knowing her, she was also mourning the loss of the steer. He found himself foolishly hoping it wasn’t one that she’d named and gotten too attached to. Then he felt foolish for even thinking such thoughts. The steer was purebred Angus beef, for crying out loud! Most of the livestock she raised ended up in the freezer.
“One of the rustlers?” Cruz demanded bluntly.
“No, the steer,” she snapped.
He grunted. “You do realize every moo-moo back there is about to become hamburger?” His words were a reminder that he didn’t know that the cows were, in fact, not bound for the slaughterhouse.
“I know, but this was different.” She didn’t say how.
Tucker whipped out his cell phone. “Tell it to the police,” he advised gruffly, dialing 9-1-1. In minutes, a policeman arrived in a cruiser with blaring sirens and flashing lights to file a report about the holdup. He spoke into his walkie-talkie to send an all-points bulletin for the rogue ATV drivers. As it turned out, the detour androadblock were completely bogus. The policeman promised to have them removed shortly.
Tucker swung his head around to meet Cruz’s gaze in the backseat. “Thought you said you knew someone who’d taken this detour before.”
Cruz shrugged, not quite meeting his eye. “Maybe I misunderstood. Maybe it was a different detour.”
Tucker’s gut said he was lying, but he let it go. Under the guise of reporting the incident to his higher-ups at the “transportation company,” he called in an update to Lonestar Security.
“Everyone okay?” Gage Hefner asked quickly. A former Army Ranger, he was now heading up the P.I. side of the business for them. Tucker respected him enormously.
“A little shaken up,” he admitted. “Chip is still plastered to the floor in the back.”
“Am not!” At the sound of his name, Chip’s head popped up from behind the headrest.
Tucker returned his attention to the call. “What’s the company protocol for holdups?” He was careful to employ an uncertain voice to make it sound like he’d never dealt with anything like this before. He needed one of two things before hanging up—either an order to abort the mission or assurance that backup was on the way if he continued the journey to El Paso.
Gage paused for a moment of contemplative silence. “How does Mallory Evans wish to proceed?”
“Haven’t asked yet.” Surely, his boss had seen the selfie Tucker had sent him earlier—the one showing that the ranch owner in question was currently seated beside him.
“Call the ranch and make it sound real,” Gage advised in a low voice. “Then keep moving. We’ll have help in the air pronto.”
In the air, eh? I can live with that.“Aye, aye, captain.” It was all Tucker needed to know before disconnecting the call. He knew Gage was referring to the new chopper Lonestar Security’s four business partners had recently purchased. They’d done it right after their newest partner, Attorney Dave Phillips, had gotten his pilot’s license.
He wasn’t sure what size of team they were sending on the chopper, only that it would likely arrive within the hour. To give them as much time as possible to get airborne and zero in on his cell phone tracker, he dawdled behind the roadblock instead of moving the sawhorses out of the way himself.
Before dialing Evans Ranch, he sent Chip, Cruz, and Mallory into the cattle trailer to fill the hay feeders. Normally, he wouldn’t have bothered feeding the steers during a three-hundred-mile trip, but the delays they’d experienced were starting to add up.
The soft-spoken Martina Silva picked up on the second ring. “Evans Ranch. How may I help you?”
He quickly filled her in on the unfortunate details and received the expected gasps and exclamations of alarm, after which he assured her that her son was unharmed.
“He played it safe and dove for the floorboard. Smart kid!” Tucker worked his way up to the main purpose of his call. “I’m assuming Miss Evans wants us to continue on with the shipment?” He hoped she said yes. Now that he had backup on the way, he was eager to continue his investigation.
“Absolutely!” Martina Silva sounded taken aback by the question. “Losing one steer is bad enough, sir. Cancelling the rest of the shipment would only put us deeper in the hole. We’ll offer them a discount or something for the missing steer.”
We, notshe. Tucker found Martina’s choice of words odd, since she was paid hourly and didn’t have a personal stake in Evans Ranch. Then again, she might not be referring to the profit from the sale of the cattle at all. She might be referring to an entirely different income stream she and her husband were earning from a business they were running on the side.
“Understood, ma’am.” He also found it odd that she’d taken the call for her boss instead of making any attempt to reroute the call to Mallory.
“I’ll fill Mallory in on what’s going on the next time she calls,” Martina offered. Her statement was uncanny in its timing. It was almost as if she’d read his thoughts. “She’s out of town, which is why you’re stuck talking to me.”
“All sounds good,” he drawled. “Sorry again for being the bearer of bad news.”
“It’s not your fault,” she said quickly. Too quickly, in his opinion.
“Thank you, ma’am. I’ll let y’all know when we reach El Paso.”
“I’d appreciate that.” Martina seemed to be in a hurry to end their call, which she did with no additional small talk.
