Chapter Eight
T-Rex waited until Sierra was inside the community center before he left. He didn’t like leaving her with the possibility of Ellis showing up again and making a nuisance of himself. But he couldn’t be there all the time for her. He had a job to do.
Just to relieve some of his anxiety, he stopped at the sheriff’s office.
Sheriff Scott was standing at the front desk, talking to a deputy, when T-Rex entered. He finished what he was saying and turned with his hand outstretched and a smile on his face. “Mr. Trainor. Good morning. What can I do for you?”
T-Rex gripped the man’s hand. “I wanted to thank you for sending a unit by the bed-and-breakfast this morning.”
The sheriff’s smile faded, and he released T-Rex’s hand. “Clay Ellis needs a swift kick in the backside. The man can’t get it through his thick, mean head that things were over between him and Ms. Daniels the day the judge granted her divorce.”
T-Rex nodded. “That’s the reason I’m here. I’m worried he’ll try something.”
The sheriff chuckled. “I heard from my guys that she got him good with a stun gun last night at the tavern. When he came out of it, he was madder than a wet hen.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” T-Rex said. “He might see it as a challenge to catch her when her guard is down.”
“You’re right. I’ll have a unit swing by the community center every hour during the day to make sure she’s okay.”
“Thanks.”
“You and your team getting any closer to figuring out who’s responsible for all the troubles around here lately?”
“We have bits and pieces, but not the full picture.”
“That’s about where we are. We think we know some of the players in the Free America group, but we don’t have enough evidence to get the county judge to issue search warrants. Besides, we doubt they’d keep their weapons and plans in their houses. There are enough caves and old mines in those mountains to keep us looking for a very long time.”
“Agreed.”
“Well, keep us informed.” Sheriff Scott clapped a hand to T-Rex’s back. “We’re here to help each other.”
“You bet.” T-Rex left the sheriff’s office. He made his way to the Blue Moose Tavern and climbed the stairs on the outside to the temporary office of the Safe Haven operations center.
Ghost, Caveman and Hawkeye were at the conference table, staring at a map.
Garner stood behind Hack at the array of computer monitors. “Good, now that we’re all here, we can get to work.”
“What’s the plan for the day?” T-Rex asked.
Their temporary boss pointed to two of the men. “Ghost and Caveman will continue to interview neighbors and friends of Don Sweeney to see if anyone saw other people coming and going from the man’s apartment. Hopefully someone will come up with the name of the man who hired Sweeney to kill Olivia Dawson’s father.”
Sweeney had admitted he’d been paid to murder the rancher who owned the land bordering the pipeline. They still didn’t know who’d paid him or if he had connections to Free America.
“I’d like to check Wayne Batson’s place,” Hawkeye said. “I feel like the sheriff might have missed something. The man trained people for combat, for heaven’s sake. He’s bound to have a bunker of weapons hidden somewhere on his ranch.”
“I can help with the search,” T-Rex offered.
Garner shook his head. “I have other plans for you. And I need to coordinate the search of Batson’s ranch with the sheriff. They have the authority to search the ranch. No use getting hit with trespassing charges.”
“After Caveman and Ms. Saunders were hunted like animals on Batson’s ranch—” Hawkeye frowned “—I’d say we have a right to be there.”
Garner nodded. “Still, we need to coordinate with the sheriff. If he has people out there, you don’t want to surprise them. With everything that’s happened lately, they might shoot first and ask questions later. Not to mention the folks Batson trained on his ranch. They could still be using his facilities without our knowledge.”
Unfortunately, Batson’s computer information concerning people who’d been through his training camp had been programmed to self-destruct when tampered with. As soon as Hack had made his first attempt, the system shut him out and initiated a program to delete data files. Hack had turned off the server as soon as he’d realized what had happened. At that point the server had been sent to the state crime lab in the hope they could recover the data.
In the meantime, a shipment of approximately thirty AR-15, military-grade rifles had been sent to someone in the area. And they had yet to discover their whereabouts. Thirty semiautomatic rifles would do a lot of damage in a takeover.
Garner turned to T-Rex. “I have a special assignment for you. Today, I want you to tail Leo Fratiani. Our searches online haven’t turned up much of anything. Find out if he’s really on the up and up.”
“Will do,” T-Rex said.
Garner continued, “Then, this afternoon, I have a friend from the Wyoming Army National Guard flying in with a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. I need you to be available when he gets here. He’ll take you up to scout the hills and valleys along and around the pipeline. Perhaps what we can’t see from the ground, you can see from the air.”
“I would think you’d want to be in that chopper,” T-Rex noted.
“I do. Major Bailey and Lieutenant Strohm are on loan for the afternoon to get some flying time in. Unfortunately, I have an online meeting scheduled with my higher headquarters this afternoon that I can’t miss. My boss wants a status on what’s happening here in Grizzly Pass.” Garner’s lips thinned. “I’d like to tell him we’ve identified all of the members of Free America and found the person who funded the purchase of the AR-15s. As you all know, we’re not there.”
The men around the table were silent. If the others were like T-Rex, they took it personally that they hadn’t found the source of the problems.
“We don’t know if the troubles are directly related to the pipeline, or if someone is trying to throw us off.” Garner turned away from the team and paced the length of the room and back. “The heavily armed Free America faction could be the real issue here. We know about the AR-15s, but we don’t know what else they might have gotten their hands on. The sooner we locate the weapons cache and get a list of the people involved, the sooner we nail the ones responsible, and you can go back to your units.”
“We’re on it,” T-Rex said.
Ghost nodded. “We want this resolved as badly as you. I’m from this area. I hate seeing it threatened.”
“If Free America stages a takeover, anyone could be at risk. Look what happened to the local children. That was bad enough,” Caveman said. “A nice old man was murdered, and all of those children could have died in that abandoned mine.”
“Precisely why we can’t let this drag on any longer. And with the internet hopping with Free America activity and forewarnings, we need to make it happen soon.” Garner clapped his hands together. “Let’s get to it.”
Ghost, Caveman and Hawkeye left the office. Garner lagged behind. “Fratiani is staying at the Heartland Hotel. He likes to take his breakfast at the diner and eat lunch and dinner at the Blue Moose Tavern. What he does with the rest of his day, we don’t know. He drives out of town.”
“What’s he look like?” T-Rex asked.
Garner turned to the man in the corner. “Hack?”
The computer guru had been sitting quietly, tapping away at his keyboard. He tapped some more, and an image popped up on one of his monitors of a man with dark hair and dark eyes.
“This is from his driver’s license from the state of California.”
“He’s not even from Wyoming?” T-Rex stepped up behind Hack.
“No. He approached Olivia Dawson stating he was interested in purchasing her property, Stone Oak Ranch, for an investor. My inquiries indicate he works for a company called LF Enterprises. He’s listed as the owner.”
“Is he a broker?” T-Rex asked.
Hack nodded. “I looked up his license in the state of California. It’s current and relatively new. He’s also a licensed financial adviser. Also recent. Prior to those certifications, he worked for the pipeline industry.”
“Okay, he probably knows his stuff and might have an inside track on the pipeline dealings.” T-Rex faced Garner again. “Do you want me to interview him, or tail him and observe covertly?”
Garner had joined him behind Hack. “I’d rather he didn’t know you were on to him. If he’s up to something, you might have a better chance of discovering what it is, if he doesn’t know you’re following him.”
T-Rex nodded. “Will do.” As he left the office and descended the stairs, he checked his watch. It was still early. He might catch Fratiani at the diner.
T-Rex hopped into his truck and drove the few blocks to the diner, got out and went in. It didn’t take long to spot the man he was to follow that day.
Fratiani looked much like the picture on his driver’s license, with his dark hair and dark eyes. He sat alone at a table with a cup of coffee, an empty plate and his cell phone in his hand.
T-Rex ordered a cup of coffee to go and sat at the counter mixing a dash of sugar and cream in the cup, though he preferred it black. He sipped the steaming brew and glanced over the rim of the cup.
About that time, Fratiani threw a twenty on the table and got up.
T-Rex gave him enough time to exit the building before he capped his coffee and followed.
The broker climbed into a four-wheel-drive Jeep and backed out of his parking space, holding his cell phone to his ear. He headed south out of town.
T-Rex jumped into his truck, settled the coffee in a cup holder and followed, keeping his distance so as not to tip off Fratiani that he was being tailed.
Three miles out of Grizzly Pass, Fratiani turned onto a dirt road. T-Rex drove past the road and didn’t slow until he’d rounded a curve. As soon as he was reasonably out of sight, he turned around and headed the opposite direction, slowing as he rounded the curve.
As far as he could tell, Fratiani hadn’t come out of the dirt road. His Jeep was nowhere in sight.
T-Rex pulled off the road onto another dirt road on the opposite side and drove far enough down it to hide his truck. Then he shifted into Park, leaped out and ran back to the edge of the road, hiding behind the brush, careful not to expose himself.
Nothing moved. After several minutes of close study, T-Rex crossed the road and entered the undergrowth paralleling the dirt road.
Moving in the shadows, he followed the road to a small clearing where Fratiani’s Jeep was parked. Another vehicle was backed into the brush. All he could make out of it was the front grille of what appeared to be a pickup.
Fratiani stood beside his Jeep talking to a man who wore a jacket with a hood pulled up around his face.
From where T-Rex stood twenty yards away, he couldn’t see the face of the man talking with Fratiani. Nor could he hear what they were saying.
Then Fratiani passed the man an envelope, said something in more strident tones and climbed back in his Jeep.
To avoid being spotted, T-Rex dropped low behind a tree and waited for the Jeep to pass before he dared glance around the tree. The man Fratiani had been talking with had disappeared, but the vehicle in the trees pulled out. It had a smashed right fender.
T-Rex recognized the truck as the one Clay Ellis had driven the previous day when he’d accosted Sierra at the community center.
What was Ellis doing talking to a land broker on a deserted road in the hills of Wyoming?
Ellis drove away, bumping past him on the rutted road.
As soon as Ellis was out of sight, T-Rex hurried back the way he’d come, using the road. Once he reached the highway, he paused long enough for Ellis’s vehicle to disappear out of sight. Then he hurried across the highway, climbed into his truck and followed Ellis into Grizzly Pass.
When he came within cell tower range, he placed a call to Hack. “Check out Clay Ellis’s bank accounts. I just saw him have a secret rendezvous with Leo Fratiani on a deserted road three miles outside of Grizzly Pass.”
“On it,” Hack said. “Where are you now?”
“Back in Grizzly Pass.”
“Got word from Major Bailey he’ll land in twenty minutes at the fairgrounds.”
“That’s sooner than expected,” T-Rex said. “Did you notify Garner?”
“Couldn’t get him. He’s probably out of cell phone range by now. Garner didn’t expect the pilot to get here at this time. He got away earlier than he thought he would. Will you be able to meet him at the fairgrounds when he lands?”
“I will,” T-Rex affirmed. “In the meantime, I’m following Ellis.”
“Right. I’ll notify Garner when he gets back in cell phone range of the change of plans with Bailey.”
“Until I hear differently, I’ll go up with Bailey,” T-Rex said. He caught sight of Ellis’s truck at the far end of Main Street.
Ellis turned at the road leading to the community center.
Great.
Sierra didn’t need Ellis disturbing her when she was around the children. Hell, she didn’t need the man disturbing her at all.
T-Rex couldn’t leave with the helicopter pilot when Sierra might be in danger, especially when her ex-husband could be up to his earlobes in nefarious dealings with a broker from California. Hurrying toward the community center, T-Rex formed a plan. He placed a call to the Mother’s Day Out office.
Brenda Larson answered. “Grizzly Pass Mother’s Day Out, how may I help you?”
“Miss Larson, this is Rex Trainor. We met yesterday evening.”
“I remember. You’re the big, tough-looking guy who scared off Sierra’s low-life ex.”
“Right. I need your assistance.”
* * *
ONCE AGAIN, SIERRA was outside on the playground with the toddlers when Clay pulled into the parking lot. As quickly as she could, she gathered the children and herded them toward the community center before they saw Clay with all of his bad attitude and demands. She didn’t need to traumatize the little ones two days straight. If Clay continued to harass her, she’d have to quit her job with the children. She couldn’t risk one of them getting hurt physically or emotionally by Clay’s bad temper.
Sierra had begun to wonder if she’d have to move out of Grizzly Pass to get away from Clay. She had friends here, but no family left. She had more reason to leave than stay. She didn’t know what was keeping her in the small town where job opportunities were almost nonexistent.
She almost had the children to the door when Clay stepped out of his truck and shouted, “We’re not through, you know.”
Sierra didn’t respond. Instead, she placed a hand on the child at the rear of the line and urged him forward. “Everyone inside for snack time.”
“You shouldn’t have hit me with the stun gun,” Clay called out. He pulled a metal bar out of the back of his truck and slapped it into his palm.
Sierra’s pulse raced. She could visualize it now. Having protected herself using the stun gun had done like she’d said it would. It had only made him madder and more determined to have his way. To top that off, he’d want retribution for the pain and humiliation. He’d take it out on her. If he got close enough to hit her with that bar.
Sierra had no intention of letting him ever lay another finger or anything else on her. But her stun gun was in her purse, hanging on a hook out of reach of little hands, inside the office. And she’d have to get up close to him in order to use it on him. “Get inside, now,” she said to the children, her voice brooking no argument.
The toddlers all looked toward the man advancing on them. Some of them cried out, others dashed for the door and tried without any luck to pull on the handle.
Sierra pushed her way through them and grabbed the door handle.
Clay was halfway across the yard before another truck pulled into the parking lot, hopped over the curb and came to a skidding halt in front of Clay, almost hitting the man.
Her heart pounding, Sierra could have cheered when T-Rex dropped down out of the truck.
“Ellis, you’re breaking the law,” T-Rex said in a cool, even tone.
“The only thing I’ll be breaking is you.” Clay spun and went after T-Rex.
“Watch out!” Sierra yelled. “He has a steel pipe.”
“Get the kids inside.” T-Rex waved her toward the building. “I’ve got this.”
Torn between helping T-Rex, who was no match against Clay armed with the pipe, Sierra had no choice but to get the children inside. She jerked open the door and ordered, “Go!”
Most of the toddlers ran inside, but a few clustered around her legs and kept her from moving forward. Eloisa sobbed, her arms wrapped tightly around Sierra’s right leg. Marcus, a two-year-old boy, had a hold of the other leg, and a third child stood in front of her, blocking her path, bawling at the top of his lungs.
“Sweet heaven!” Sierra lifted Eloisa into her arms and grabbed Marcus’s hand.
Brenda appeared just in time and snatched up the little one blocking the door. “Bring them into the gym.”
Sierra followed Brenda inside. Once she had the toddlers in the gymnasium, she let go of Marcus’s hand and peeled Eloisa’s arms from around her neck.
“I’ll take her.” Brenda snatched the redheaded child from Sierra.
“I have to go back out and see what I can do to help.”
“I called the sheriff. They are sending a unit.”
Sierra didn’t wait to respond to her coworker. She ran back out into the yard.
Clay and T-Rex were circling each other.
As soon as Sierra stepped through the door, Clay lunged for T-Rex.
Sierra smothered a scream and stood transfixed as T-Rex caught Clay’s wrist and directed it downward, away from his body. The pipe hit the ground hard without harming T-Rex.
T-Rex gave the man a shove from behind, sending him stumbling forward. He righted himself, spun and swung again.
Ducking, T-Rex barely missed being hit in the head.
Clay had swung with so much force, when he whiffed air, he turned all the way around.
T-Rex planted a boot in the man’s backside and shoved hard.
Clay went down, thrust the steel pipe out of his way as he fell and landed on his hands and knees. He scrambled to his feet and would have grabbed the pipe, but T-Rex beat him to it, kicking it well out of Clay’s reach.
“You need to leave,” T-Rex said.
Clay snarled and brushed the dirt from his hands. “I’ll leave when Sierra comes with me.”
“She’s not going anywhere with you,” T-Rex said. “She’s with me now.”
Sierra shook her head. “I don’t want anyone hurt. Maybe I should go with him.” She crossed the yard to where the two men stood.
“Now you’re thinking,” Clay said. “Come with me and no one else will get hurt.”
“You mean, you won’t get hurt.” T-Rex slipped an arm around Sierra’s waist. “She’s not with you anymore. Leave her alone.”
“She’s mine until I tell her she’s not anymore.”
“Get over yourself, Ellis,” T-Rex said, his voice low and threatening. “She doesn’t love you.”
“Sierra?” Clay stared at her through narrowed eyes.
“I don’t think I ever loved you.” Sierra swallowed hard and squared her shoulders, remembering every bit of the abuse she’d taken from the man who’d promised to love, honor and cherish her. The man had killed all of her illusions about what a marriage should be. “The first time you hit me, I knew I could never love you, Clay. Leave me alone.”
Clay turned his glare on T-Rex. “You did this. She wouldn’t have turned against me if you hadn’t gotten in the way.”
“I divorced you months ago,” Sierra said. “Before Mr. Trainor was even in the picture.”
T-Rex nodded. “Face it, Ellis, it’s over. Learn to live with it.”
A sheriff’s vehicle pulled into the drive.
Clay shot one last, piercing glare at T-Rex. “It’s not over until I say it’s over.” Then he climbed into his truck and drove past the sheriff’s SUV without stopping or slowing down.
One of the sheriff’s deputies got out. “Everything all right here?”
“It is now,” Sierra said, leaning into the warmth and strength of T-Rex.
“Want me to go after Ellis?” the deputy asked.
T-Rex glanced down at Sierra, his brow raised.
Sierra nodded. “He needs to learn he can’t treat me this way.”
The deputy nodded. “I’ll let the sheriff know. And let me know if I can help. I’m only a 911 call away.” With that parting comment, he turned his vehicle around and left.
Sierra looked up into T-Rex’s eyes. “Thank you for being here.”
“My pleasure,” he said, without removing his arm from around her.
She didn’t want to move out of his embrace, but she had a job to do. “I guess I’d better get back to the children.”
“I have an alternative proposal,” T-Rex said.
Sierra’s heart leaped. “A what?”
“An alternative to going back to work. I need someone to help me with a project I’m working on, but it requires that you come with me right now.” He stared at her, his gaze unblinking, almost as if he were willing her to say yes.
When T-Rex looked at her with that level of intensity in his eyes, Sierra found him very hard to resist. “I can’t leave,” she said. “I’m working.”
“No worries,” Brenda called out from the doorway, still carrying Eloisa. “Take the rest of the day off. The babies are all down for a nap, and the toddlers are happy playing. I can handle them. Besides, there aren’t that many of them, it being Friday and all.”
“Are you sure?” Sierra frowned. “I can’t leave you to handle all of them.”
“I did it before we hired you. I can do it again.” Brenda winked. “How many chances do you get to have a hunky man ask you to help him?” Brenda leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “If you don’t take him up on it, I’ll take your place.”
A little stab of jealousy hit Sierra in the gut. She glanced toward T-Rex, a thrill of anticipation making her shiver from top to toe.
“You know you want to,” Brenda whispered. “Besides, if you stay here, Clay may come back.” She glanced at the children, just beginning to calm down after the second confrontation in as many days they’d had to witness.
A heavy weight of guilt settled in the pit of Sierra’s gut. “I can’t let this happen to the kids.”
Brenda bit her bottom lip. “You didn’t let it happen. Clay is responsible.”
“Yes, but if I wasn’t his ex, he wouldn’t be coming to the community center, frightening the babies.” Sierra shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to quit until he settles down.”
Brenda grabbed her arm. “No. You can’t quit on me. The children love you.”
“Yes, but I can’t risk it. Clay might get more violent and hurt one of them. It’s bad enough he’s scaring them. The parents aren’t going to put up with it for long. Heck, they’re already telling me their children are having nightmares.” Sierra straightened her shoulders. “No. I have to do this. I thought I could stay in Grizzly Pass, but I’m beginning to see it’s just not going to work. Clay will never leave me alone.”
Brenda frowned. “Why is he bothering you now? It’s been months since your divorce. You’d think he would be over it and moving on.”
“Sierra.” T-Rex stepped up to the two women. “I have to go. Will you come with me? Or are you staying here?” He held out his hand.
Sierra stared at his hand as if it would lead her into an alternate universe, a place she’d never considered. Despite the fear of the unknown, she reached out her hand and took his. “I guess I’m going with you.”
Brenda tightened her hold on her arm. “Just remember, you’re loved and wanted back here. But if you find something better, I’ll understand. Oh, and you can’t get out of our tour tomorrow. I need you when we take the moms and kiddos to Yellowstone for our ranger-led activity.”
Sierra hugged her friend. “Don’t worry. I’ll be here, bright and early.”
Brenda’s gaze shifted to T-Rex, and she smiled. “Take care of my friend.”
T-Rex nodded. “I will.” He tightened his hold on her hand and led her out of the community center. “What was that all about?”
Sierra sighed. “I can’t work there anymore.”
“Did she fire you?”
“No. I quit. As long as Clay continues to harass me, I can’t be around the children.” She glanced back at the community center. “I’ll miss them.”
“You should have had the deputy take him in.”
“He’d just be out in a few days and even more annoying. He might harm one of those babies. I know if they were my children I wouldn’t want me to be their caregiver. Not as long as Clay keeps coming around.”
T-Rex nodded. “I get it.”
“Even though we’re divorced, he’s still managing to run my life.”
As the handsome marine held the door for her, Sierra climbed into his truck.
He rounded the vehicle and slid in behind the steering wheel.
“Enough of my troubles.” Sierra forced a smile to her face. “What is it I’m going to help you with?”
“I need another pair of eyes.”
“Another pair of eyes?”
“I’m going up in a helicopter looking for anything out of the ordinary in the hills.”
She leaned forward, her heartbeat skittering against her ribs. “We’re going up in a helicopter? I’ve never been in a helicopter.”
“Then this will be a first for you. Are you up for the task?” He started the engine but waited for her response.
“Yes!” She laughed out loud, her entire body shaking with excitement. “When?”
He glanced at his watch. “In five minutes, if I can get to the fairgrounds by then.”