Page 74 of Iron Willed Warrior

A mile out from the solar plant, the terrain got more variable, and we had to pick our way through hills and narrow canyons. Animals skittered away. Others watched us with glowing eyes from their hiding places.

“There are scorpions and rattlesnakes out here,” I said, my upper lip curling. “Better be careful.”

“Bringing back memories of the sandbox,” Cole muttered.

“No kidding.”

Once we found a high vantage point and checked for creepy-crawlies, we lay side by side. Cole’s body was solidand warm against mine. I lifted a monocular for a closer view.

The solar farm lay below us. A seemingly endless sea of panels beyond a high, chain-linked fence. Bright lights marked the main gate to the facility. Just inside, there was a parking lot with a smattering of cars.

“There’s one guard at the gatehouse,” I said.

Cole held up his own monocular. “I’ve got eyes on a vehicle. A jeep patrolling the dirt road that borders the perimeter fence. Driver is alone.”

I checked my watch, marking the time. The patrol drove along the west side of the facility. I switched my view to the other areas of the plant, but not much was visible from here. We would need to get closer.

At least the fence didn’t look electrified. No signs of cameras on the fence line either. Once we had the patrols timed out, we’d be able to go over.

“What do you think they’re really doing in there?” Cole asked.

I lowered my monocular. “From the info River sent, it seems like the solar panels are real. They’re generating a lot of energy. Sending it on to the local utility.”

“Sure, but all of it? I’ve been thinking. They could be using some of the energy for something else.” Cole shifted, his hip bumping mine. “We know Stillwater has storage locations scattered around the Southwest. The Protectors and I struck one in Hart County. Loads of cash, documents. Plus those gold medallions Stillwater likes to hand out to its members like calling cards.”

I huffed a laugh. “Stillwater gave up on those medallions last year after they realized what a liability the coins were. Wouldn’t be surprised if they dumped the rest of them into the ocean somewhere.”

He hummed. “Maybe. But I don’t think this place is forstorage, anyway. The storage facility I saw before was nothing like this. It was hidden in the mountains. Manned by a single guard. Guaranteed, Garon Westwick would never have stepped foot near it. But today, he brought a potential senator here. So this is something far more significant.”

“True. Even if they tried to keep the visit quiet, having either of their names tied in any way to this location means potential exposure. This is a risk. Something bigger than we’ve seen from Westwick before. But the reward must be worth it. Whatever he’s got going here, it’s valuable enough to justify the potential downsides.”

Nobody outside Stillwater’s ruling circle, not even the FBI’s double agents, knew exactly what Garon Westwick was planning for the future of Stillwater.

Were we looking at it right now?

“If this is something bigger than we’ve seen from Stillwater before,” Cole said, “then it’s fucking frightening.”

“Do you know much about their activities outside the United States? That’s something else that our double agents don’t know, since they’re all people working for state and federal authorities domestically.”

“Some,” he grunted. His lips pushed into a thin line.

I lifted my eyebrows at his vague, clipped answer. Like we were back to the first couple of days of trying to navigate this partnership, instead of…whatever we were now.

Cole turned his head toward me. I couldn’t see him well in the dimness, but what I did see was conflicted. “There’s something I haven’t told you,” he said.

My mind went to places I didn’t want to go. Revelations I hadn’t seen coming because I had been so eager to trust. “What’s that?” I prompted.

You’re keeping things too, I reminded myself.

I saw his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed. “After I hit that Stillwater storage facility with the Protectors last year, Istarted looking for signs of them on my turf. It wasn’t easy at first. You know how Stillwater works. Pulling strings from the shadows.”

“Right.” The anxiety burning through my stomach made me want to hurry him along. But Cole didn’t seem to be in a rush.

He faced forward again to resume watching the dirt road that bordered the fence. Then he continued. “Given Stillwater’s ties to human trafficking groups, I paid attention whenever word about traffickers crossed my radar. Somebody passed on my name to a mother, Luciana Rojas, who was searching for her teenage daughter Daniela. The girl had gone missing several months before. Luciana was desperate. Willing to do anything, seek help from anywhere, to find her kid.”

Cole’s voice was a monotone, a quiet drone in the desert bleakness. He paused briefly, and I thought of the similar stories I’d heard myself. “Awful,” I murmured.

“Luciana suspected that Daniela had been taken by traffickers when the girl went to apply for a job. A common ruse to lure people in, and then they’re spirited away, never to be seen again. I tracked Luciana’s daughter to a warehouse on the coast, a way station for young trafficking victims on their way to being smuggled into the United States.”

---