Stars & Stripes

The pump house was simply an old adobe and wood shack, patched and patched again over the years, there to mark the ancient spring well and to show tour groups that came through.



Harrison took them through the events of the morning he’d been shot. It had been just past dawn and he’d been riding, as he said, to check the problem area at the problem time.



He’d seen a vehicle parked beside the pump house and gone closer to investigate. They weren’t far from a main road, and since he suspected most of the trespassing was just kids messing around, he’d assumed someone had been off-roading and gotten stuck, broken down, or possibly even hit the old building and been hurt.



When he’d gotten closer, however, he’d seen that the truck was idling, a large tarp covering the back roll bars. And then the driver had fired at him.



He’d been lucky to get away with just the one bullet hole in him, and he’d lashed himself to his saddle before passing out from loss of blood. The horse had carried him home.



Ty was unspeakably impressed with Zane’s father. Now he knew where Zane got it from.



By the time anyone had come back out here, whoever had done it was long gone. The place had since been trampled with police vehicles, horses, and footprints. Ty surveyed the scene, shaking his head. It was daunting. Now he really wished Zane hadn’t bragged about his tracking skills.



“What do you think?” Zane asked, voice low. “Think you can unearth anything?”



“I don’t know, Zane. I mean . . . it’s been baking in the sun for two weeks. The scene’s been disturbed by all kinds of things. I’m not sure I could recreate what happened, even knowing how it went down from your dad’s statement.”



Zane caught his hand and ducked his head so Ty would meet his eyes. “Will you try? Please.”



Ty stared at him, held captive. Zane so rarely busted out the cartoon bunny eyes, it worked on Ty every time he did it. Damn him.



“Of course, Zane,” he whispered. He squeezed Zane’s hand. “Just . . . don’t get your hopes up, okay?”



Zane nodded, looking pleased as he let go of Ty’s hand.



Ty huffed at him. He headed for the pump house first, taking his time as the sun beat down on his shoulders and waves of heat shimmered in the distance. He shed his shirt, leaving the paper-thin Henley underneath to protect him from the sun.



It took him nearly half an hour to traverse the entire scene. He was aware of the others getting restless, spreading out, finding shade, grumbling, napping. He pushed all that away, trying to focus on the tidbits of evidence he could find in the sand and shrubs.



Finally, the others lost patience with him.



“What’s the news, Grady?” Joe called out.



Ty winced and wiped at the back of his neck with the buff he wore. “A car was parked here, by the pump house. It had been here for a few hours.” He bent with a plastic bag in his hand and picked up a husk of a cigarette with it. There were several nearby, telling the tale of someone waiting there. “It was a four-wheel drive vehicle, a truck or possibly an SUV.”



“Yeah, thanks Sherlock, we know that from what Harry said,” Ronnie grumbled.



Ty nodded, unperturbed. “There were three men, and after they parked, two headed that way, toward the perimeter fence.” He pointed toward the large, artfully camouflaged fence that abutted the Carter Garrett Ranch and the Roaring Springs Sanctuary.



Everyone in the group squinted off into the distance. The fence was about two miles away, across rolling hills and deceptive flats. No wonder the shooters had parked so far away if their goal was the sanctuary; the land wasn’t passable by vehicle from here.



“When they returned, there were five of them. That’s six perps total. They were carrying something heavy, and they made two trips.”



“How do you know that?” Annie asked, sounding impressed.



“Their footprints are deeper on the return,” Ty answered. He held up a different plastic bag that contained a shell he’d found in the rubble next to the adobe pump house. “They scrambled when they saw Harrison, fired from a .44. You’re lucky, sir, that they had rifles and not small arms.”



“Impressive,” Harrison said with a nod.



Ty turned where he stood and cocked his head at the fence in the distance. “That’s a long-ass way to drag a drugged tiger.”



Zane came up to stand beside him, placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. It was basically a “good boy” pat on the head. Ty bit his lip to keep from grinning like an idiot.



“Maybe they thought there was security?” Zane suggested. “They parked next to the only structure in the area, on the side that would hide them from the preserve.”



“Everything points to an inside job, so they wouldn’t be worried about security. They parked here because they couldn’t get their truck any closer.”



“And they returned with more men than they went in with? You’re sure?”



“I’m betting someone went in through the front, bypassed the security, nabbed a key since none of them were missing, and just waltzed on out.”



“I’d hate to carry a tiger in a cage over two miles across this terrain,” Zane said.



“I’d hate to carry a tiger at all.”



Zane hummed and narrowed his eyes, then glanced around at the others. Harrison was scratching his head. “Dad, is it possible what you saw under those tarps was animal cages?”



“They could have been alien spaceships for all the look I got at them.” Harrison rubbed at his arm, obviously sore.



Ty glanced up at the sky. They had many hours of daylight left. “You should send your dad home,” he whispered to Zane.



“Good luck with that,” Zane said, then turned away and headed back to the group.



Ty watched him walk away, then returned his attention to the ground. He continued to look around the old pump house, scanning the area for anything he might have missed. The boot treads were all worn to nothing, no way to tell shoe sizes or height and weight, nothing but their numbers.



He stepped up to the crumbling doorway of the pump house and peered in, not sure if the structure was sound. Shafts of light filtered through the broken roof. The walls were so thin in places that he could see shadows moving through them. The interior was empty, save for a few faded beer cans and trapped tumbleweeds. He shook his head. This was no drug runners’ stronghold.



He knelt and plucked a stone from the ground, and was arrested by how cool it was. He placed his palm on the ground in the shadow of the building.



“What are you doing?” someone asked from behind him.



Ty looked over his shoulder to find Mark standing there. He hesitated, paying more attention to the feeling of unease settling in his gut. Something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t decide why.



Jamie and Zane joined them, both frowning down at Ty.



“What is it?” Zane asked.



Ty looked from Zane to the others and stood, holding up the rock and trying to put a smirk on his face. “Souvenir,” he said as he slid the rock into his pocket and stepped away.



Jamie and Mark shared a glance, then both shrugged. Zane, however, hadn’t been fooled. His eyes followed Ty.



Annie’s cell phone began to ring as they returned to their horses, the sound out of place in the middle of nowhere. She fumbled in her saddlebag for it, finding it and answering with a professional greeting.



Her face immediately lost its composure. “What?” she exclaimed, looking at Mark and then Zane with wide eyes. “When? Okay, we’re out in the hills right now. No, I promise you, my brother will do everything he can. Hello? You there?” She pulled the phone away and looked at it.



They were all waiting as she put the phone away.



“My stupid battery died!”



“Who was it?” Zane asked in exasperation.



“It was Tish. From the preserve. She said two more of their tigers are missing.”



“What?” Ty asked, his heart sinking. “Is it Barnum and Bailey?”



“Yeah, how’d you know?”



Ty swallowed hard. “Their enclosure was the next closest to the perimeter. Easiest targets.”



Zane looked from Annie to Ty. “Means someone’s got your tiger, Ty.”



“Goddammit!” Ty spat.



Harrison turned his horse. “Okay,” he said. He looked at Zane’s uncle, who Ty had decided must have been Beverly’s brother and not Harrison’s, since everyone talked about Zane being the last Garrett around. “Stan, you go with a few of them and head back for the house. I want you to stay there until you hear from us.” He glanced at Joe and Cody. “Got it? These people find out we’re after them, I want the house covered.”



“Yes, sir,” the men said in unison.



Stan was nodding, gathering the reins to his horse. “We’ll lock her up tight. Alert the authorities.”



“Annie, you go with them,” Harrison added.



Annie put her hand on the black bag that was strapped behind her on the saddle. “No, I’m coming with you.”



“Annie,” Mark started, but she cut him off.



“I’m the only one with medical training here. And you might need me if the tigers are out there and you’re able to retrieve them.”



No one seemed to like it, but they couldn’t argue with that logic. Ty chuckled. “Next thing you know, you women folk will be wanting to vote and everything,” he joked as he pulled himself into his saddle.



Annie tossed a bandana at him, which he caught and waved like a prize. He winked at her as the others parted from them, heading back to the ranch as they’d been ordered.



“Did the woman from the cat place say when Barnum and Bailey went missing?” Ty asked as her horse drifted closer to his. He handed her the bandana.



Annie shook her head, grunting a thank-you as she stuffed the bandana into her pocket. “She said they found them gone when they went to feed them.”



Zane exhaled noisily. “If we assume they did it the same time as the last job, that means we’re as much as six hours behind them.”



“Let’s see if we can find where they entered. It’s got to be close,” Mark said.



They headed off toward the fence, weaving through narrow gullies and over odd-shaped hills. Ty was surprised at how distracted he was at the thought of Barnum and Bailey in danger.



“What do they do with these tigers, do you think?”



“They won’t hurt them, not on purpose,” Annie assured him. “They’re either breeding them or selling them as commodities. A live and healthy tiger is far more valuable than a dead or injured one.”



Ty let out a relieved breath. He’d grown attached to Barnum. Something about the way the tiger looked at him with those golden eyes, one ear flopped to the side. He’d felt an instant connection to the animal. When he’d gone back to visit, he’d seen more of the tiger’s personality and he’d been hooked. Now that Barnum might be in danger, it felt personal.



“You lurve the tiger,” Zane crooned.



“Shut up, Zane.”



“Oh come on, admit it. You’re a big bad tough guy who fell in love with an itty bitty kitty.”



Ty barked a laugh, then tried to glare at Zane and failed. “Are you done?”



“Not nearly,” Zane practically giggled. “You just like things that can maul and maim you.”



“Explains my affinity for you, Hoss.”



“Meow Mix.”



Ty rolled his eyes.



“Why do you call him that?” Harrison asked.



“When we went hiking last October, he was attacked by a mountain lion.”



“Seriously?” Jamie asked, voice going higher.



Ty raised his left hand to show the scars.



“He has a paw print on each shoulder too,” Zane told them, sounding almost proud of the fact.



“You’re both wrong in the head.”



Ty remained quiet as they came upon the fence that ran along the perimeter of the sanctuary. Zane could tell his partner was pissed off and worried, and it struck him as sweet that a man like Ty was concerned over the welfare of a pair of tigers. He also knew whatever Ty had found at the pump house, he’d kept to himself. It worried him—not that Ty was keeping secrets, but why. He knew better than to ask about it now. It would have to wait until they were alone.



They dismounted, leaving the horses with Annie a few dozen yards away, and spread out, trying to find a sign on the ground or a path through the fence. Zane wasn’t exactly a master tracker, but he could find footprints in sand, and that was what they were seeing.



It took them roughly ten minutes, but Harrison stumbled over the entrance, links of the chain fence and the shrubbery that grew along it all cut by a bolt cutter so it would open and close like a door. When they’d visited the sanctuary the day before, Tish had told them that no one had checked the perimeter fences from inside yet. But Zane wasn’t sure they would have seen the opening even if they had. It was only obvious because of the tracks leading to it.



They gathered around Harrison as Annie kept the horses back, trying to preserve the tracks on the ground. The fence had been cut almost seven feet off the ground, and when Ty sliced off a piece of cactus and tossed it at the fence, no current was running through it.



“Means an inside job again, don’t you think?” Zane whispered.



Ty was nodding. “Someone killed the security measures to make it safe to cut the fence.”



“If it’s someone working at the preserve, why not just open the front door and cart the tigers out that way?” Mark asked.



Zane shrugged. That was a good question. “Could be someone with limited access. Could be a convoluted way to cover their tracks. Hell, it might even have been easier to go this way. All those hills and trails inside? We need to look closer at their security to know for sure.”