Page 90 of Montana Mystery

Three large white vans were parked behind a shed, people moving things in and out of it. We were outnumbered. By a lot. I didn’t need the binoculars to tell me that.

“I’d like to get a closer look if we can,” I said. “Knowing what’s on the outside doesn’t help much.”

“Agreed,” Liam said. “Meet back here, thirty minutes.”

We split and went in opposite directions. This part was easy. This part, we were good at. The cameras had blind spots, and it wasn’t too hard to get pressed up against one of the smaller sheds near the vans and listen.

“Seriously. Can’t we just do this later?”

A laugh. “Don’t let Simon hear you say that.”

“He’s busy. He’s not going to hear me.”

The man who laughed sounded serious now. “The man has ears in the walls, I swear to fuck. Stop complaining and get the next crate shut or we’ll be here all night.”

I peeked around the corner. The vans held familiar stacks of wooden crates. Just before the top came down on the one they were closing, I saw the guns.

One van was already half full, and the shed behind it was packed with more crates. So they were running guns. I’d thought that might be the case, but I’d hoped not. It made everything more dangerous for us, knowing that they likely had more than just pistols. They could run inside and grab whatever was available, whether that was a grenade launcher or an AK-47.

I moved back into cover and closer to the main house. The camera set on the corner of the house moved back and forth. I waited until it was pointed in the opposite direction before I ducked underneath it. From here, I could see both into the third truck and into the big door open to the main house.

The third truck was animals. Cages that were being brought out one at a time and stacked. Dogs, mostly. No surprise there. I forced myself to stay blank and focused. There wasn’t room for anger right now.

Through the door into the house, there was more light, and tables with people packaging cocaine. They were stacking it into bins that were going into the second van. Everything we’d feared and every proof that we’d needed was here, and we were totally alone.

One breath in, one breath out. It was the full-on nightmare that we’d envisioned whenever we talked about these guys. As long as I got Kate out of here, I would be fine. They could keep the rest of it.

Stealth took time. I’d already used up half of my thirty minutes. I returned the way I’d come, avoiding the cameras and even crawling until I was back at the top of the hill with Liam.

“What did you see?”

“Not much,” he said. “The front part of the house seems to be empty. Boarded windows. Moving cameras, but no other visible security measures.”

I snorted. “Which means there definitely are some.”

“Right. A few trucks on the other side. Other than that? Nothing.”

I told him what I’d seen. “It’s a piece of work. And it’s a little strange they have so much in one place.”

Liam agreed. “Probably brought it all here for streamlined transport to wherever they’re moving it?”

“That’s what I’m thinking.”

I grabbed the binoculars and took another look at all the guys down the hill. I’d seen two with the guns. At least three with the animals. I hadn’t gotten a count of the ones packaging drugs, but it looked busy. And there was this Simon person. Plus whoever was in the house that we couldn’t see.

Those weren’t great odds.

There was a good chance going down there right now would get me killed, but the thought didn’t bother me. I would rather die than let Kate sit in that hellhole.

“What’s the plan?”

Liam looked at me. “What?”

I reached down into the side pocket of my pants and found the silencer I’d placed there. “I’m going to get her.”

“Noah, not yet.”

“If you don’t want to come—”

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