Page 61 of Hard Knock Hero

Shonda winked and tapped her nose. “But our boy Jake thinks he’s the boss of everybody, doesn’t he?”

I cracked a smile.

Shonda slapped her leg. “Jake bet me I couldn’t get a grin out of you. Now he owes me twenty bucks and a case of Coors. I beat the over-under.”

“That was impressive,” Jessi said. “It took me a couple of hours to get Aiden to smile the first time. Please, teach me your ways. I can pay. I brought you some spiced chocolate tarts, but there’s more where that came from.”

“I’m always open to negotiation.”

Shonda ate half of the sandwich we’d brought her, followed by a sample of Jessi’s chocolate tart. Between bites, she showed us what she’d packed into the back of her Expedition. “Ever since I retired from the DEA, I’ve run my drones as a contractor for government agencies as well as private companies.” She took the lids off of two packing crates. “These are my babies. The little one, I use for law enforcement. It’s a precision instrument of aerial surveillance. I can follow all those legal limitations the police are required to observe. But when youreallywant to have some fun…”

She pointed at the second crate. The drone inside was sleek black plastic, with arms protruding from its body like a spider. “This handsome fella is Big Jim. Named after my late husband. Big Jim is a lot to handle, but he sure can get the job done and leave you satisfied.” She added a wink. “If you know what I mean.”

“I think I do.” Jessi glanced at me.

I lifted a brow while Owen pretended to study his fingernails.

“Now, I’ve loaded up Big Jim with all the fancy stuff. Infrared camera, the longest-range zoom, the latest in weapons recognition. With this guy, we’ll be able to read the logos on their underwear. If that’s the kind of thing you’re into. But your drone choice depends on how strictly you need to follow search-and-seizure rules.”

Jessi jumped in before Owen or me. “We’re definitely going with Big Jim. I want their underwear tags and anything else they might be hiding. I wantalltheir dirty secrets.” Her eyes were narrowed like a villain in an old TV show. If I’d been a Rigsby, I would’ve been worried.

Owen and I looked at each other.

“I’m not usually the one urging caution, but can we get away with that?” I asked.

He shrugged. “This is public land. The Rigsbys have no right to privacy here. We don’t need to worry about warrants or anything like that. Let’s give Jessi what she wants.”

Shonda rubbed her hands together with glee. “Then let’s get this rodeo riding, cowboys.”

She set up the drone and got it ready to fly. We stood behind her and watched, Jessi’s hand tucked into mine. Shonda put on an elaborate headset, which held the controls. She’d also set up a tablet for us to watch the camera feeds from the drone.

“I’ve got the coordinates that you sent me, Sheriff Douglas, along with the topography. We can take a look around. If they’re operating underground, like you think, I’ve got a few tricks to see what we might be dealing with. But first I need to get up there and see what’s what.”

The drone took off, propellers whirring.

Jessi let go of my hand and edged in right beside Shonda, watching the tablet. The two women chatted quietly as Shonda explained all the readouts. Owen and I stood behind, watching over their shoulders. “They don’t even need us here,” I said to him. “Jessi is more than happy to run this investigation herself.”

“If she wasn’t busy with the diner, maybe I would hire her. She’s got more backbone than most of my deputies. Except maybe Marsh.”

On the tablet screen, we watched the drone’s night vision camera feed. There were ATVs parked halfway up the mountainside. One drove along the snowbound trail, out on nighttime patrol. The driver had a rifle slung over his back. Just like Mitch.

Shonda moved the camera over the mountain in a grid. Searching for more clues. We spotted power generators with wires snaking around through the trees, and a large collection of metal canisters. When the camera zoomed in, it revealed the wordsCaution: Flammablealong with warning symbols. Then another stack of canisters labeledLiquid Nitrogen. But the most interesting thing? The large, round patches of snow-free ground all over that side of the mountain. As if someone had carefully cleared the snow away. Or it had melted.

“Let’s try the infrared,” Shonda said.

She switched the camera feed, and multiple blobs of red appeared. Heat. A lot of it. Which explained the melted snow. There was heat bleeding off into the air as well. Like it was being vented from an unseen source.

“Is that coming from underground?” Jessi asked.

Shonda nodded. “Must be. Fits with what you observed before.”

Owen shuffled forward for a better view. “Illegal mining?”

“But that wouldn’t generate this kind of heat.” Shonda pointed at the screen. “This looks more like industrial processing. They’re making something.”

“Meth?” I suggested. That could’ve explained the quake that shook the mountain. Meth labs exploded all the time.

“This would be an odd setup for a meth lab.” Shonda tapped at the screen. “And nobody uses liquid nitrogen for making meth, either.”

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