Page 62 of Hard Knock Hero

“Another kind of drug?” Jessi asked. “It has to be something that makes money. The Rigsbys wouldn’t bother with it otherwise.”

“I have some suspicions, but I can’t answer with any certainty from what we’ve got here. You’ll need more on-site surveillance. Probably on the ground.”

Shonda continued surveying the mountainside and the forest access roads.

Then, movement.

Three jeeps had just pulled onto the unpaved road. Passengers jumped out to open the padlocked gate, and they continued onward. Through the drone’s camera, we watched as the jeeps climbed partway up the mountain, and more people suddenly appeared, loading up the jeeps with boxes. The drone’s weapons detector pinged again and again.

Lots of firepower was present on that mountainside. Heat and energy and a sense of singular purpose. This was a serious operation. It had seemed that way from the moment I’d spotted that camera on Refuge Mountain. The drone’s surveillance only confirmed it.

Finally, the jeeps started heading back down the access paths and toward the main road.

“Can Big Jim follow them?” Jessi asked. “See where they go?”

“His battery is getting low. I need to bring him in. Afraid you’ll have to switch to old-fashioned methods.”

Jessi moved first, already heading to Owen’s truck. “Then let’s go!” she shouted at us. “Before they can get too far ahead and we lose them.”

“Thoughts?” I asked Owen.

The sheriff shrugged. “I feel like I’m just a chauffeur at this point. But we’re staying back. Observing only. Once we see where they’re heading, we’re turning around. Got that?”

“I’vegot it.”

But I suspected Jessi might have other ideas.

CHAPTERTWENTY

Aiden

We saida quick goodbye to Shonda while she set up Big Jim’s landing. Owen pulled out onto the road.

We kept the headlights off. It was dim, but our eyes had adjusted, and all the snow helped amplify the little light coming from the sky.

The brake lights of the jeeps winked in the distance. They were headed back toward Hartley’s commercial district. Owen was careful to hang back, but Jessi had her hands on the dashboard, as if she could urge the truck forward. The jeeps turned before they reached Main Street, taking a road that branched northwest.

“They’re not going to the freeway,” I said. “What’s out this way?”

“Not much,” Owen replied.

“Except for…” Jessi trailed off as we saw the jeeps pull off the road in front of some kind of warehouse. The sign was too far away for me to read in the dark. “The Hart-Made Candy Co.’s shipping center,” she finished. “Where they package up candy for big orders and ship it out.”

“Sawyer sells that much candy?” I asked. “I didn’t think the brown sugar brittle wasthatgood.”

Owen frowned at me. The man insulted his own family members constantly, but apparently, shit-talking Hartley’s local delicacy was a step too far.

Jessi turned in her seat. “The sweet shop in town is just the local flagship. Scarlett said they fulfill orders for stores all over the western United States.”

I smoothed a hand over my beard. “But what would those jeeps be doing at a candy shipping warehouse? I doubt they’re cooking up caramels on Refuge Mountain.”

“Clearly not,” Owen said. “But if they need to ship out what they’re processing, this place could be their cover.”

Jessi bit her lip, her expression devious. It was a good look on her. “Then we have to get closer. Whatever it was they were offloading from Refuge Mountain, they’re probably using Hart-Made’s shipping trucks to take it out of Hartley. Now is our chance to find out what it is before it leaves the warehouse.”

The sheriff held up his hand like he was saying,Hold on. “I can’t just go barging in there. I’ve got no probable cause. Certainly nothing to excuse the lack of a warrant. And I guarantee the judge would kick me in the ass if I got her out of bed on so little evidence. No way would she sign a warrant based on this.”

Jessi and Owen continued to argue. Meanwhile, I debated within myself. Finally, I spoke up from the back. “But I’m not a cop.”

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