Page 54 of Hard Knock Hero

“You were plenty concerned about Jessi this morning.”

“She’s a constituent. And a friend. Are you trying to give me a hint that you’ve staked a claim where she’s concerned? There’s no need.”

“Then I’ll stop hinting.”

“Keep in mind. I’ve never claimed to be her brother or any other relation to her. But if you don’t do right by her, I’ll be more than happy to kick your ass. And I’ll follow you back to California to do it.”

“Noted. Though it seems like Jessi would do the same to me on her own.”

Owen smiled. “You’re right. She would.”

Finally, we’d skirted around Refuge Mountain and had entered the national forest. “This road just follows the edge of the forest. The turnoff for the unpaved access roads is up ahead. What exactly am I supposed to be watching for?”

“I’m not sure. Unusual activity, I guess. Anything that strikes you as out of place. Like you said, this is your county, not mine.”

Owen drove slowly past the turnoff and kept going. “There are a lot of tire tracks. Way more than I would expect considering the storm we just had, and how quiet this area is even in the summer. This is off the beaten path. We haven’t had any federal forest rangers come through in ages.”

“Which would make it a great place to use if you needed room to spread out and a lot of privacy.”

“But for what?”

Owen parked in a secluded spot, his truck sheltered from view by a stand of trees. We got out and walked to the turnoff for the unpaved national forest roads. We weren’t going to get very far without snowshoes or better equipment if we left the path, but it seemed like Owen just wanted a better look at things and to do it more discreetly than his large truck would allow.

As we got further into the national forest land, the powder from the last storm had been tamped down by vehicles coming through. Owen’s first impression had been right. There were numerous tire tracks. Not just ATVs, but larger vehicles as well. Jeeps. But unlike what Jessi and I had witnessed up at the top yesterday, it was deathly quiet over here. We were at least a mile from the base of the mountain. Maybe we were too far from the action.

We went ahead and hiked along the forest access road for a while, watching the tire tracks. Then we came to a metal gate that crossed the path. It had a padlock on it. “This is new,” Owen said. “There were no barriers here before. The forest service didn’t put this in.”

He tugged a pair of binoculars out of his uniform coat and held them up to his eyes, clamoring onto the gate to get a better view. “I see a camera further along the trail, in a tree like the other you described. Good thing we aren’t going any further or they might spot us. The tire tracks keep going all the way toward the mountain. The tracks are definitely fresh.”

“The Rigsbys might have been moving vehicles in and out at night. Less likely to be seen that way.”

“That would be the way to do it. Assuming they’re transporting something to or from Refuge Mountain.”

We went back instead of pressing our luck. Once we were in the front seat of Owen’s truck, he turned on the heat and drummed his fingers anxiously on the dashboard. “My first thought is illegal mining,” Owen said. “Wouldn’t be unusual on federal land, especially in an area like this that isn’t being patrolled by law enforcement. My uncles have invested in some mining operations around Hartley over the years. But I’d have to get closer to find out for sure, and I would need backup for that since they have people tooling around on ATVs with rifles.” He pointed a finger at me. “And do not say you. We might have some decent military training between us, but two guys don’t make an army. If they caught us, Chester would probably shoot you on sight. Maybe even me.”

I had no doubt about that. “I have another idea. My older brother is a federal agent.”

His face twisted like he’d tasted something moldy. “No thanks. I don’t need any feds barging in here, telling me what to do, and wrapping everything up in so much red tape that we don’t get a thing done anyway. Dale and my cousins would probably sweep away all the evidence and move on to some other scheme. Meanwhile, it seems like they’re treating Hartley like their own personal playground to exploit with no consequences. That’s not okay with me.”

“And that’s not what I had in mind. I’m not a fan of bureaucracy either. Neither is my brother Jake. I mean unofficial help.” I was thinking of methods Jake had used to investigate sophisticated illegal operations. Technology we might be able to apply here.Withoutbureaucracy getting in the way.

Jake’s nonstop heroism annoyed me at times. It was a cry for attention.Look at me, look how awesome I am.Look at my two cute kids and wife and golden retriever.But when a situation warranted discretion, Jake knew what he was doing.

“All right,” Owen said. “I’m listening.”

CHAPTERSEVENTEEN

Jessi

I escorteda family of three to a booth and grabbed some glasses and the water pitcher. “Today our special is a burger with sauteed mushrooms and bacon-onion jam.” I’d been inspired by Aiden’s creation yesterday. I took their drink orders and went to the kitchen, where Scarlett was finishing a last bit of prep. But we’d done what we needed to open up for lunch.

With the bridge now open, word had gotten around that bulk deliveries would be coming through later this afternoon. I sorely needed more supplies. I needed to hire some new servers, too. Chester and Mitch had scared away my previous ones, and I’d been doing more business at the diner in the last couple days than in the last month, thanks to Aiden. It was locals too, not just the stranded tourists who were heading out of town.

I hoped that whatever Aiden was doing with Owen, it was going well. And that Owen wouldn’t react too badly to hearing that I’d lied to him. I owed him an apology for that. But he was practical. Owen might not like it, but I had to believe he would understand my reasoning.

Luckily, Aiden had a way of convincing people. Some of his methods involved brute force, and I assumed he wasn’t goingthatroute with Owen. I did not want to see Aiden in a jail cell. But he could be convincing with his words, too. When he chose to use them. That intense look he got in his eye, the growly quality to his voice. His very presence, so commanding and soothing at the same time…

Or maybe he just had a unique effect on me. Some kind of pheromone-related magic.

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