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EIGHT

Spending hours in Rocky Roads Internet Café in Big Rapids hadn’t been on Alex’s to-do list, not even at the bottom. But one couldn’t easily escape the digital age, even in Big Sky Country, where lofty mountains, thick green forests, and clear streams called his name, daring him to forget his troubles. The faster he resolved the memorial vandalism, the sooner he could get back into the fresh air.

But honestly? The vandalism wasn’t at the forefront of his thoughts.

Not after Mackenzie walked back into his world and their lives were thrown together—although briefly—once again. But he had no intention of walking away from her this time. Especially since she was so obviously in danger after yesterday’s shooting incident in the woods.

Unlike a lot of guys he knew, he could multitask just fine. He was supposed to be decompressing. But couldn’t he go somewhere without finding trouble? Apparently not. Maybe next time he would try a Caribbean island. Or Alaska. A lot of people went there to live off-grid or hide, and some went missing. He had a feeling trouble would find him there too.

He thought back to the drone following Mackenzie and then the shooter who tried to take them out. By comparison, the figure in the grainy image at the memorial didn’t seem as important. But he’d asked for this video, and he would review it. The smallish woman dressed in black dashed in and out of the camera’s view, hacking away with a sledgehammer.

Such violence and ... what? Contempt? Could he read all that into her actions?

He needed Erin to take a look at this too. She and her mother remained at Stone Wolf Ranch, where they went after their home was destroyed. Terra had offered for him to stay there too—they’d added a couple of cabins to the property—but if he was going to stay with anyone as a guest, it should be with Mom. If only he and his stepfather got along.

So instead, Alex rented a cabin a few miles outside of Big Rapids. At least there he had his own space. Peace and quiet. But he could always hang out with the gang at the ranch and spend time with Mom when she got off work from her job as a nurse at the small hospital in town. As for his stepfather, Ron, who was glad when Alex finally left home, they could at least be cordial to each other for the short time Alex was around.

And he needed to figure out the vandalism—for his father’s memory as well as for the others. And for Mom’s sake, he hoped to stop the vandal in their tracks. He would do what he could to assist while not stepping on the toes of local law enforcement, even though Jack had asked for Alex’s help.

He reviewed the video until it replayed in his head. He wanted to make sense of it, but he couldn’t. Especially with thoughts of Mackenzie taking up too much space in his head. Maybe he couldn’t multitask, after all.

The county sheriff’s department was handling the investigation into the shooting. But did Mackenzie need protection? He might not want to walk away from her this time, like he had three years ago, but what about her? Did she want him to insert himself into her life?

She’d been right in her assessment that seeing a drone wasn’t unusual. In fact, far too many of the intrusive flying vehicles were encroaching into places they shouldn’t go. He especially didn’t appreciate seeing the drone out in nature.

Throw in a shooter, and everything was bumped to the next level. He hadn’t caught a picture of the shooter, but he had pictures of the drone, and he would work with what he had. He’d given that image to the county sheriff’s offices too. But that didn’t preclude him from doing his own research.

He’d forwarded the drone image to his friend and tech guru Keenan Walker, who also worked for the DSS. Knowing Keenan’s thoughts on the drone was imperative. Alex gave him another call and prepared himself to learn everything about drones and probably more than he wanted to know. Then he would fill Keenan in on what he had learned about Hanstech—just the basic information he could gather from their website and company brochure, and only because Mackenzie had mentioned the company’s connection to drones.

“Walker here.”

“You got the image?”

“Got it, but I was in the middle of a project”—he cleared his throat—“for work.”

Alex heard the amusement in Keenan’s voice. “You’re the best, man. I wouldn’t trust anyone else with this.”

“You don’t need to butter me up, as the saying goes.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure you owe me more than a compliment.”

Alex laughed. “What have you got for me?”

“Just pulling it up here...”

Alex waited patiently, listening to Keenan typing on his keyboard for a few long seconds, then finally . . .

“The technical name for what we typically refer to as drones is UAS or unmanned aerial systems. This drone is the DJI Mavic2 Zoom and is not something that would raise eyebrows. It’s a hobbyist drone.”

Alex released a slow exhale. “Then it could just be somebody invading privacy.” Except the active shooter incident could be related. Regardless, aerial surveillance was ridiculously invasive anymore.

“I didn’t say that.”

The problem with tech gurus was they wanted to make sure everyone knew how smart they were. “I’m listening.”

“In this case, it’s more about the camera. Law enforcement typically uses this kind of camera to spy on individuals over distances. Let’s say, over six miles for this drone, never mind US laws prohibit flying drones out of line of sight.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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