T-Rex found himself wanting to make her smile again.
“Speak of the devil.” Sierra nodded toward the entrance and ducked her head.
T-Rex glanced in the direction indicated.
Clay Ellis strutted into the tavern, cocky as hell, sneering at anyone who dared to give a friendly greeting.
“Don’t worry. He can’t hurt you here,” T-Rex said, clenching his fists beneath the table.
“I know. But he can make a fuss.” She set down her wineglass. “We can leave now, if you want.”
“I’d rather you finished your wine and I finished my beer and neither one of us lets him get to us.”
She laughed, though it sounded less than convincing. “You’re right.” She lifted her glass and sipped. “I shouldn’t let him get to me. I’m done with him.” As she spoke, she lifted her glass. Her hand shook so much, the wine spilled onto her chest. “Darn. This was my favorite sweater.” She dabbed at the stain with her napkin. When that didn’t help, she looked up. “I’d better go to the ladies’ room and see if I can get this out before it sets.”
T-Rex watched as she left their table. His gaze switched from her to where Ellis leaned against the bar, flirting with one of the waitresses trying to fill a drink order.
As far as T-Rex could tell, Ellis hadn’t seen Sierra.
“T-Rex, glad we found you.” Caveman slipped into the chair Sierra had vacated a minute before. “We’ve been looking for you.”
Kevin Garner, Ghost, Caveman and Hawkeye pulled up chairs around the little table.
“Uh, guys, I’m here with someone.”
“Yeah?” Hawkeye, the army ranger of the group of military men, glanced around. “I don’t see anyone else.”
As one, all four men craned their necks, searching the room.
“Who is she?” Ghost asked. The Navy SEAL smiled, refusing to let T-Rex off the hook.
“Who said it was a she?” T-Rex drummed his fingers on the table, willing the men to leave before Sierra returned.
Caveman laughed. “You, by the way you’re avoiding the question.” The Delta-Force soldier crossed his arms. These men weren’t going to give up until they got an answer.
“It doesn’t matter.” The only way T-Rex would get rid of them was to find out what they wanted. “What’s up?”
“Charlie found the social media site the Free America group moved to,” Ghost said. Charlie McClain was an old flame of Ghost’s who moonlighted as a cybersnoop for the Department of Homeland Security.
“And?” T-Rex prompted to move the conversation along.
Ghost leaned closer, lowering his voice so that others couldn’t hear. “There’s been more noise about a potential takeover in the very near future.”
“Any dates given?” T-Rex asked.
“No, just a general call to arms to stand ready.”
“Great. And we’re no closer to figuring out who’s involved with the Free America group?”
“Our computer gurus, Hack and Charlie, said that anyone could have set up that group from a public library,” Garner said. “The members of the group are using aliases, probably set up on public Wi-Fi systems.”
T-Rex’s fingers clenched into fists. “How much time do you think we have until they make their move?”
“We’ve known something was coming for the past couple weeks we’ve been here,” Caveman said.
Garner, the team’s leader, shrugged. “It could be a couple more weeks from now, or it could be any day. What did you find at the county records office?”
T-Rex pulled his wallet from his pocket and removed the notepad he’d used to record his notes. Then he brought up the photos of the maps on his cell phone. “Not much more than we already know. Olivia Dawson—” he glanced toward Hawkeye, who’d established a relationship with the woman “—owns this portion of land bordering the current pipeline easement.” He pointed to the middle of the map on his phone. “On the north side of the easement is the national park all the way through the mountainous area. East of the Dawson spread, the land was recently sold to Pinnacle Enterprises.”
“West of Dawson’s ranch is owned by BRE Inc.”
“Any idea who BRE Inc. is?” Caveman asked.
Garner’s lips thinned. “Bryson Rausch Enterprises.”
“The big shot in town?” Ghost asked.
Hawkeye’s brows descended. “Liv says Rausch owns half the town. He offered to buy her ranch before her father’s casket settled in his grave.”
“I can’t imagine the man risking a connection to the Free America group,” Ghost said. “Why would he? He has plenty of money.”
“I can’t help but think what’s happening with the pipeline is somehow connected with Free America.” Garner stared into the distance.
“Wayne Batson admitted he was paid to kill the pipeline inspector,” Caveman said.
“But he didn’t share the name of the guy who funded him,” Ghost reminded them.
“Hack hasn’t found the money Batson claims he was paid.”
“Unless he was paid in kind.” T-Rex’s eyes narrowed. “Do you suppose he was paid in weapons?”
“The weapons we can’t find?” Caveman asked.
“Yes, those.” T-Rex drummed his fingers on the table. “The ones that arrived in the boxes discovered in the Lucky Lou Mine.”
Garner nodded, his own eyes narrowing. “Could be.”
“We know Batson had a tactical training facility on his property and that he was training individuals there,” T-Rex reminded them.
Leaning forward, Garner’s eyes narrowed. “We can only assume they were members of the Free America group and Batson was one of them. But we have no evidence, and Batson didn’t keep written or video records of those who came for the training.”
“We all surveyed the site,” Ghost said. “Watson had mock-ups of several buildings in a group, but we still don’t know if they were generic buildings or in the configuration of the planned takeover target.”
“We don’t have much more than we had when we started.” T-Rex slid the notepad over to Garner.
“I’ll have Hack check into Pinnacle and continue digging into Rausch’s business. He’s in the process of reviewing Batson’s computer. We hope to glean something from his contacts list.”
T-Rex nodded. “What’s the plan for tomorrow?”
“We could use some help in the office going through any names Hack comes up with on the contacts list,” Garner said.
Ghost raised a hand. “Charlie and I can help.”
“I need someone to go interview a man called Leo Fratiani.” Garner glanced at T-Rex.
“The other man who offered to purchase Liv’s ranch?” T-Rex asked.
“Yes. We need to know his angle,” Garner said. “Hack ran a background check on him. He didn’t show up on any criminal, military or government databases, but he wants the Dawson place. That makes him a potential for funding Batson’s murder of the pipeline inspector.”
“Got anything on a Clay Ellis?” T-Rex asked. His attention spun to the bar where Sierra’s ex-husband had been standing. He wasn’t there. T-Rex sat up straighter, scanning the interior of the tavern.
“I don’t have anything on Clay Ellis. Is he a person of interest?” Garner asked.
T-Rex pushed back from the table and stood so fast, his chair fell over backward. “Sorry. I have to go check on someone.” He set the chair up straight and hurried toward the restrooms at the back of the tavern.
* * *
SIERRA HAD HURRIED to the ladies’ room, angry with herself for spilling the wine on her favorite white sweater. She barely made enough money to pay rent, and she hadn’t brought all of her clothes from the home she’d shared with Clay. Shortly after she’d left him, he’d told her he’d torched her things in the burning barrel. What she’d packed into the two suitcases was all she had left, all she owned.
Once in the ladies’ restroom, she stripped out of her sweater, stuck the wine-stained portion under the faucet and rubbed to get the stain out. Perhaps the spilled wine had been a chance for her to get her act together. Her hands were still shaking uncontrollably. She rubbed the stain harder. She shouldn’t let Clay get to her. They were divorced, and she had a restraining order. All she had to do was call the sheriff and tell him Clay was causing trouble.
The only problem with that scenario was that calling the sheriff had never really helped her situation. Any time she’d fought back against Clay’s abuse, it had only made things worse. When she was still married to the man, she had gotten to the point she’d kept her mouth shut and faded into the woodwork.
Well, she’d be darned if she did it anymore. Leaving him had taken all of her willpower at the time. Since she’d been out of his house and on her own, she’d found her own self-worth. She refused to go back to being that coward she’d been for far too long.
She had her back to the door when it swung open.
Embarrassed at being caught standing in her bra, she clutched her sweater to her chest and spun toward the door, an apology on her lips.
Her words froze and her heart ground to a stop. “Clay, what are you doing in here?”