Page 21 of Twilight Tactics

How much should she tell him? Whatcouldshe tell him? All she had were suspicions. Nothing confirmed. Which was what she’d been trying to do with her little ride out to the edge of the property. “I recognized the hat you found.”

This time it was his turn to raise a brow at her. “Really? Whose is it?”

“I don’t know thepersonit belongs to, but a group of preppersI’m familiar with wear them. They never put a logo on the front. Just leave the big Velcro square blank to symbolize their beliefs.”

“Which are?”

“It’s an antiestablishment statement. They reject the idea of mainstream society’s need to label and categorize everything. They don’t want to be a part of that. Think about it. Everyone has a logo. Corporations, military, everyone on social media. Deliberately wearing nothing is their way of saying ‘We refuse to be labeled, categorized, or tracked.’”

“Ah, a form of passive resistance?”

“Of course. Only they’re willing to use force to make sure no one uninvited infiltrates their little club. And they despise law enforcement.”

He nodded, frowning. “So, it’s an in-your-face to government authority, consumer culture, digital tracking, and so on.”

“Exactly.” She smirked. “But the irony is the blank patchistheir identifier.” She shrugged. “At least to those of us who know what it means.”

“Okay, makes sense.”

“And they’ll do anything to protect that,” she said. “And I do mean anything. Including murder.”

His eyes narrowed. “Do you know where they’re staying?”

“Yes. I was only there for a few months before I left. The exact location is a bit fuzzy, but I can probably make an educated guess.” She sighed. “So on the west side of the ranch, the part that Maya sold to fund Broken Chains, there’s the wildlife preserve. There are two huge fences surrounding it and there’s no way anyone’s coming from that side. The land on the south side belongs to the Reeves family. Maya said Tobias Reeves and her grandfather were big buddies. The Reeves family has owned that land as long as the ranch has been in the Sullivan family. It’s possible someone could come onto Broken Chains land from that direction, but I highly doubt it. They have fencestoo.” She brushed her jeans off. “The north side borders federal land—where we are now. Which brings me to what I’m thinking.” She nodded to the other side of the highway where more trees and land spread for acres. “There’s an abandoned mine on private property up there right next to the federal land. Jeremy LaRoche owns it—or he did. And in my experience with him, he’s one mean man. Maybe even a psychopath. Once we check out the locale and I get some answers to my questions, then I may ask Gideon—or you—to do a deep dive into the man’s background, see if he has any outstanding charges or warrants or, you know ... law enforcement stuff. Assuming you have reason to do so, of course. But preppers live on that land. The two trespassers may belong to that group.”

“Okay.” Sully tilted his head and studied her. She wanted to squirm under the laser intensity of his gaze. “All of that makes sense. You said you were there a few months—you mean with the preppers? And what do you mean by your experience with this LaRoche dude? How do you know him?”

She pulled in a deep breath.Just tell him.“My father is one of the preppers. He’s been involved in the group for ages. They started in Virginia—making their homes on private land with an abandoned coal mine as their storehouse. Some of them relocated down here when Jeremy LaRoche inherited the land and invited them to be a part of his group. We didn’t come immediately, but Dad got passed over for some promotion and was bitter about it. When LaRoche reached out again, Dad decided to pack us up and bring us here.” She shrugged. “I have no proof the two trespassers are from that group, of course, just a hat and a hunch.”

“One you want to act on.”

“Yep. The land is about five miles away and partway up the side of the mountain. If it’s the same place I lived for a few months, then it’s definitely prepper land, and if LaRoche is still alive, he’s most likely their leader.”

“I see.”

“When I came back after being away for so long, I scoured the area, relearning it, noting what was new, what was gone, reacquainting myself with the locals and so on.” She paused. “I never had the nerve to return to the compound. It just held too many bad memories, and one of the main reasons I came back was related to it. I just ... couldn’t.”

“But you can now?”

“We’ll see.” Before he could send the questions forming in his eyes to his lips, she hurried to say, “I’m wondering if the guy who tried to snatch me belongs to that group.” She shrugged and frowned. “Although, snatching people is not what they do, so that’s confusing. They try to stay anonymous more than anything. At least the group my family was with did. I don’t know. It was just a thought. Honestly, the hat could belong to anyone. But seeing it triggered memories and—”

“—sent you searching.”

“Yes.”

Hooves scraped against the dirt and she turned to Harley and Belle standing next to the fence. “We need to let Maya and Gideon know about the second intruder—”

“And his attack.”

“And that, I guess.”

“I’ll call Maya.” After he finished talking to Maya and checked in with Piper, he looked at her. “She’s letting the sheriff know. He’ll want to talk to you, no doubt. You sure we don’t want backup? Maya said Gideon and a couple of others could join us.”

She shook her head. “No, not if I want to go where I need to. Having too many people wouldn’t be good.”

“So, what next?”

“You head back to the ranch and I continue doing what I came out here to do. I’m heading up to the compound to do a little surveillance.”