Wade lets out a short breath. “That’s a hell of a risk for someone to take just to mess with rides.”
“Unless the rides aren’t the point,” Brooks replies.
That lands heavier than anything else he’s said.
I glance at him. “Say it.”
He meets my eyes. “If you wanted to hurt someone out here without drawing attention, this is how you’d do it. You don’t create a failure big enough to stop the event. You create one small enough to blend in.”
Wade’s expression hardens. “You’re saying someone’s got a target on their back?”
“I’m saying the setup allows for it,” Brooks answers carefully. “And the pattern suggests it’s not random who gets caught in it.”
Luke’s gaze shifts to me, just for a second.
He doesn’t have to say anything.
The implication is already there.
I let out a slow breath, my focus narrowing again as I look back at the chute. “Then the question isn’t if it’s happening,” I say. “It’s who it’s meant for.”
Brooks nods once. “And when.”
Wade pushes off the rail again, restless energy building. “We don’t wait around for that answer.”
“No,” Brooks agrees. “We don’t. But we also don’t guess and tip our hand.”
Luke gives a slight nod. “Chutes are cycling clean now. If it happens again, we’ll see it before it runs.”
That’s enough.
It has to be.
Because dragging this out any longer only gives whoever set this up more time to adjust, and I’m not interested in playing that game on their terms.
I push off the rail and step back, letting my attention shift with the flow of the arena again as the announcer’s voice picks up, smoothing over the delay like it never meant anything in the first place.
The crowd settles, riders move back into position, and the rodeo rolls forward the way it always does, fast and loud and unforgiving.
But I’m not watching it the same way anymore.
Now I’m watching the edges.
The spaces between movements.
The people who aren’t where they’re supposed to be.
“Temps,” Brooks says quietly, stepping back in with his phone lowered again. “I’ve got something.”
Wade turns toward him. “Yeah?”
“They didn’t just check in late,” Brooks says. “They were added through a list. Overflow crew.”
Luke frowns slightly. “That’s not unusual.”
“No,” Brooks agrees. “What is unusual is where that list came from.”
Something in his tone shifts just enough that it pulls all of us in tighter.
