Oh, he had work, all right. He had spent the last year following his recovery searching for the cartel gang who’d captured him and Toni Gutierrez on the wrong side of the border during the cartel eradication push, Operation Diego.
The operation had been a failure from the get-go, leading Zach to believe they had a mole inside the FBI. No matter who he asked or where he dug, he couldn’t get to the answer. His obsession with the truth had ultimately cost him his job. When his supervisor had given him an ultimatum to pull his head out of his search and get on with his duties as a special agent or look for alternative employment, Zach had walked.
Out of leads, his bank account dwindling and at the mercy of this crackpot vigilante, Hank Derringer, Zach was running out of options.
Zach sighed and stared down the shadowy road leading through a stand of scrub trees toward the highway a mile away. What choice did he have? Crawl into a bottle and forget everything? Even that required money.
“If I take this job—not saying that I’ve agreed—what did you have in mind for my first assignment?”
JACIE KOSART AND her twin, Tracie, rode toward the ridgeline overlooking Wild Horse Canyon. The landmark delineated the southern edge of the three-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-acre Big Elk Ranch, where Jacie worked as a trail guide for big-game hunting expeditions.
Tracie, on leave from her job with the FBI, had insisted on coming along as one of the guides, even though she wasn’t officially working for Big Elk Ranch. “Don’t let on that I’m an agent. I just want to blend in and be like you, one of the guides, for today.”
Jacie had cleared it with Richard Giddings, her boss. Then Tracie had insisted on taking on these two guys with short haircuts and poker faces instead of the rednecks from Houston.
Happy to have her sister with her for the day, Jacie didn’t argue, just went with the flow. Her job was to lead the hunting party to the best hunting location where they stood a chance of bagging trophy elk.
Instead of following behind, the two men rode ahead with Jacie and Tracie trailing a couple of horse lengths to their rear.
“I was surprised to see you,” Jacie stated. Her sister rarely visited, and her sudden appearance had Jacie wondering if something was wrong.
“I needed some downtime from stress,” Tracie responded, her words clipped. She flicked the strands of her long, straight brown hair that had come loose from her ponytail back behind her ears.
Not to be deterred by Tracie’s cryptic reply, Jacie dug deeper. “What did Bruce have to say about you coming out here without him?” Jacie had to admit to a little envy that Tracie had a boyfriend and she did not. Living on the Big Elk, surrounded by men, she’d have thought she’d have a bit of a love life. But she didn’t.
“I told him I needed time with my only sibling.” Tracie gave her a tight smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
Jacie gave an unladylike snort. “As thick as you two have become, I’m surprised he didn’t come with you.”
Tracie glanced ahead to the two men. “I wanted to come alone.”
Tracie might be telling the truth about wanting to come alone, but her answer wasn’t satisfying Jacie. Her twin connection refused to believe it was just a case of missing family. “Everything okay?”
“Sure.” She glanced at Jacie. “So, how many guides are there on the Big Elk Ranch?”
The change in direction of the conversation wasn’t lost on Jacie, but she let it slide. “There are six, plus Richard. Some of them are part-time. Richard, Humberto and I are the full-timers. Why?”
“Just wondered. What kind of process does Richard use to screen his guides?”
Jacie shot a look at her sister. “What do you mean?”
Tracie looked away. “I was just curious if you and the other guides had to go through a background check.”
“I don’t know about any background check. Richard offered me the job during my one and only interview. I can’t vouch for the rest.” Jacie frowned at Tracie. “Thinking about giving up the FBI to come guide on the Big Elk?” She laughed, the sound trailing off.
Her sister shrugged. “Maybe.”
“No way. You love the FBI. You’ve wanted to join since you were eight.”
“Sometimes you get tired of all the games.” Tracie’s lips tightened. “We should catch up with them.” She nudged her horse, ending the conversation and leaving Jacie even more convinced her sister wasn’t telling her everything.
Tracie rode up alongside the men.
Jacie caught up and put on her trail-guide smile as they pulled to a halt at the rim of the canyon. “This is the southern edge of the ranch. The other hunting party is to the west, the Big Elk Ranch house and barn is to the north where we came from, and to the east is the Raging Bull Ranch.” Jacie smiled at the two men who’d paid a hefty sum to go hunting that day on the ranch. Richard, her boss, had taken the guys from Houston west; these two had insisted on going south, stating they preferred a lot of distance between them and the other hunting parties.
Jacie and Tracie knew the trophy bucks preferred the western and northern edge of the spread, but the two men would not be deterred.
Supposedly they’d come to hunt, based on the hardware they’d packed in their scabbards. Each carried a rifle equipped with a high-powered scope and a handgun in case they were surprised by javelinas, the vicious wild hogs running wild in the bush.
Jacie cleared her throat, breaking the silence. “Now that you’ve seen quite a bit of the layout, where would you like to set up? It’s getting late and we won’t have much time to hunt before sunset.”
Jim Smith glanced across at his buddy Mike Jones.
Mr. Jones slipped a GPS device from his pocket and studied the map on it for a long moment. Then he glanced at Jacie. “Where does that canyon lead?”
“Off the Big Elk Ranch into the Big Bend National Park. There’s no hunting allowed in the park. The rangers are pretty strict about it. Not to mention, the border patrol has reported recent drug trafficking activity in this canyon. It’s not safe to go in there.” And Jacie discouraged their clientele from crossing over the boundaries with firearms, even if their clients were licensed to carry firearms as these two were. All the hunters had been briefed on the rules should they stray into the park.
Jacie’s gelding, D’Artagnan, shifted to the left, pawing at the dirt, ready to move on.
“We’ll ride farther into the canyon.” Mr. Jones nudged his horse’s flanks, sending him over the edge of the ridge and down the steep slope toward the canyon.
“Mr. Jones,” Tracie called after him. “The horses are property of the Big Elk Ranch. We aren’t allowed to take them off the ranch without permission from the boss. Given the dangers that could be encountered, I can’t allow you—”
Mr. Smith’s horse brushed past Jacie’s, following Mr. Jones down the slope. Not a word from either gentleman.
Jacie glanced across at her twin. “What the heck?” She pulled the two-way radio from her belt and hit the talk switch. “Richard, do you copy?”
The crackle of static had D’Artagnan dancing in place, his head tossing in the air. He liked being in the lead. The two horses descending the slope in front of him made him anxious. He whinnied, calling out to the other horses as the distance between them increased.
The answering whinny from one of the mares below sent the gelding over the edge.
Tracie’s mare pranced along the ridge above, her nostrils flared, also disturbed by the departure of the other two horses.
“I’ll follow and keep an eye on the two,” Tracie suggested.
“Richard,