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Sundance2: That makes all four. I heard about your sister. I’m so sorry. Can we help?
FeedTheFire: Thanks. I’ve got a big ask, and any and all of you should feel free to say no.
Porn Writer: I’m in.
FeedTheFire: You don’t even know what it is.
Porn Writer: No need. If it’s a big ask, it’s illegal, which will piss off Nate royally, and I’m in the mood to remind him that I am not inclined to be the good wife of the ever-popular sheriff.
Reining4Oly: You’re terrible Morgan. Harper, what do you need?
FeedTheFire: There’s a herd of mustangs being held at an old, abandoned stockyard. A syndicate out of Dubai plans to move them north and use them in an illegal horse breeding scheme. I know that doesn’t sound like life or death, but they murdered Dulcie to keep it quiet.
PornWriter: Motherfuckers.
FeedTheFire: So, I am asking you to come help me steal them and get them to protected land.
Sundance2: Point of order. If they were just rounded up, they can’t be “stolen.” There’s a legal loophole that says until they are sold, and someone has paid for them, they have no discernable or intrinsic value. Therefore, trying to prosecute someone for “stealing” them before they have been sold is not a sustainable prosecution. So far as I know, no jurisdiction has even attempted it – local, state or federal.
PornWriter: LOL! Trust Etta to know the legal loopholes.
FeedTheFire: Spence doesn’t think they are important to the prosecution of Dulcie’s murder, but they might end up as “evidence.” My gut tells me when they are no longer needed, they will be culled. These are young, healthy mares. No way the BLM is going to let them go. Spence says they’ll be fine. I’m not so sure. I want to take them to safety.
Reiner4Oly: Spence? As in Colton Spencer?
PornWriter: Who the fuck is Colton Spencer and why do we care?
Sundance2: He was looking for Harper at the World Show. I take it he found you? Is he connected to your sister’s murder?
FeedTheFire: He’s been the lead investigator, since it happened at Yellowstone. He recognized me last year when I moved a herd of mares into the park. He wanted me to know he knew, but then he got a call and had to leave his horse, so I brought him home with me and then Dulcie was murdered, and he had to tell me. It’s been awful and wonderful at the same time. I’m sure when I slow down, I’m going to fall apart over her death, but right now, I don’t have time and Dulcie would have been the last person to say grieving her was more important. She’d rather have had me do what I need to do, then take a breath and celebrate her life.
PornWriter: Wait a minute—that Colton Spencer as in the 6’4” chiseled in stone, ex-rodeo cowboy, numerous times World Roping Champion Colton Spencer?
FeedTheFire: That would be the one.
Sundance2: I think Harper’s been holding out on us, but to get back to the point, I’m in.
Reiner4Oly: Me too. It’s a long drive, but I can have the truck and trailer ready to go in less than an hour.
FeedTheFire: I don’t think we have time. I think the feds will move in tomorrow at the latest. I thought I’d buy everyone airline tickets and then supply the horses. I’ve got four that can do the job, including Spence’s horse, Tank.
Sundance2: Don’t know any of your horses but Mattie, but from what I’ve seen of Tank, I think he’d be a good one to have along. That horse could pull down a brick house. That might come in handy. The other thing we need to know is where the hell are we going?
FeedTheFire: There are some places in Yellowstone itself that are pretty inaccessible, and the grasslands along the fringe have several herds, some with lieutenant stallions and a bunch of bachelors. I think the mares will find themselves a new home band in nothing flat. Start heading for your respective airports. I’ll have your tickets on the first flight out waiting. I’ll see you all. I’ll meet you at the West Yellowstone airport. I’ll be hard to miss. I’ll be driving my rig and will have horses and saddles on board. Thank you all.
With that, Harper had set her path and would liberate the mares in Dulcie’s honor. Harper smiled. It was the kind of thing Dulcie would have loved. She made reservations for the girls, then prepared lunch and called the deputies and Dusty up to eat. Excusing herself to go take a nap, she slipped out, hooked up her rig and then loaded it from the back of the barn, and headed out. If they heard anything at all, the barn itself would hide her from their sight.
Ensuring everything and everyone was locked down and ready to roll, she climbed into the cab of her dually, started the engine and then headed out the access road through the pastures and up onto the highway.
CHAPTER13
It had taken more than six hours to pull the whole apprehension plan together. Luckily the plane wasn’t scheduled to take-off for another hour after that. Heading to the private airstrip where they meant to detain Noori al-Rauf, Spence couldn’t help but think of Harper. She was the most amazing woman he’d ever met. Images of her filled his mind and blurred away everything else. They were roughly an hour from their destination, and the plan was to get there in plenty of time to conceal their whereabouts and wait for their prey. That meant he had time for a little cat nap and to think about the woman he loved. He couldn’t believe he’d fallen as hard or as fast as he had for her. He was as sure about their ability to build a successful, happy life together as he’d ever been about anything.
The one thing that kept niggling at his brain was how al-Rauf’s people had known where to set up, how to find the mustangs with draft horse blood in them, the location, or even existence, of the abandoned stockyard. There were so many little threads that, when woven together, might prove significant.
Spence shook his head to clear his musings—not only about Harper and how he planned to spend the next several days in bed with her and the rest of their life together, but of anything they might have missed. Step one was to catch the bad guys and keep them from escaping the country. The rest would have to wait.
They arrived early enough at the airport and were able, with the help of several law enforcement agencies in the area, to remove the airport personnel to a secure location, locate the private jet, remove its pilot and let their own people step into place.
