Cornered in Conard County

by Rachel Lee

  If there’s anything at all we can do, just ask. Nobody’s happy about this.

  Thanks, she typed again. I really appreciate it.

  Now about that new project...

  She was glad to think about the project. Work had been her salvation for a long time, and it was again that morning. The less room she made in her thoughts for her brother, the better she felt.

  Heck, she hadn’t even had a nightmare last night. That made her smile even though she felt as if a dark cloud were steadily moving her way.

  But then it occurred to her that she needed to let Cadell know about this. It might be nothing. Or it might be George.

  * * *

  DORY’S PHONE CALL blew up Cadell’s plan for the day. Or at least delayed things a bit. He called Mike Windwalker and asked him to postpone bringing the family and the dog to his place for a couple of hours. Mike thought he could manage that, but if not what about tomorrow?

  “Tomorrow would be fine, too, but I’m pretty sure I can look over the situation this afternoon. I’m just sorry about the holdup.”

  “I know all about that,” Mike responded drily. “I’m a veterinarian, remember?”

  A vet with a wife and a daughter in a wheelchair. He probably hated it when he couldn’t get home on time.

  Then he headed for Gage’s office. The sheriff looked up expectantly.

  “I’m not sure this means anything,” Cadell began, “but I think we need to check it out. Dory’s coworker told her that someone attempted to hack the company’s personnel files from a library in Nebraska.”

  “Maybe nothing,” Gage said, but as he straightened, it was clear he didn’t believe it. “Can we find out which library?”

  “I’ll call Dory right now.”

  * * *

  IT TOOK DORY a few minutes to realize how many times her cell phone rang. Persistent, whoever it was. She surfaced from her study of the new program specs and reached for it. Cadell? And for once she felt as if her heart smiled.

  “Hey,” he said warmly. “Got a question for you.”

  “Sure.”

  “Is there any way to find out which library that hack attempt came from?”

  “Hang on while I message Reggie. It might take a few if he’s busy. Would it be better if I called you back?”

  “I’ll wait.” There was no mistaking the resolve in Cadell’s voice. The hack attempt, which she had been trying so hard to forget, surged back to the foreground, and with it her level of anxiety. Clearly Cadell didn’t think it was innocent.

  “God, what next,” she muttered as she typed rapidly to Reggie.

  Cadell answered her. “Next I’m going to come over and get you, and we’re going to meet a family with an autistic child and try to make him happy. In the meantime...”

  In the meantime. Yeah. She drummed her fingers impatiently, waiting for Reggie. When nearly five minutes had passed, she got his familiar Yo.

  I need to know which library that hack attempt came from.

  What I got is an IP.

  Give it to me, I’ll look it up.

  K.

  Another pause, then a string of numbers, three at a time with a decimal between them.

  Thanks, she typed. I’m liking the project, btw.

  Great!

  Then she picked up her cell. “I’ve got the IP address. For nongeeks, that means it can lead you right to the computer that was used, as long as he didn’t use an anonymous server.”

  “I’ll take it.”

  “I can also look it up for you.”

  He gave a quiet laugh. “Maybe you should do that. We could use a more advanced IT department here, but who has the funds?”

  “I hear a lot of police departments have that problem and hence still use fax machines.”

  “You’d be right.”

  “So last century,” she remarked, trying to sound light when she didn’t feel good about this at all. It could be a random hacker, though. It always amazed her how many brains wasted themselves on trying to disrupt other people’s computers just for kicks.

  It didn’t take long to trace the IP. The internet was decent about keeping track of itself, or it would have blown up and become useless from the start. “Okay,” she said to Cadell. “It’s one of four computers assigned to a library in Landoun, Nebraska. Small, like Conard City.”

  “So maybe the librarian will remember someone. Okay, thanks. I’ll get back to you shortly.”

  She wondered if she would survive waiting even a few minutes. Then, with determination, she pushed all thoughts of George aside. Focus on her job. She was good at burying everything else.

  Soon she was lost in a world of storyboards the team had begun to build, offering a few opinions, making some changes that would be a little less difficult to carry out.

  But then her phone rang, and all hope of distraction fled. It was Cadell.

  “Okay,” he said. “The librarian didn’t recognize George’s inmate photo when we emailed it to her. But she did say a few days ago a man she didn’t know used the computer for several hours. He had a thick beard, though. So I’m sending George’s inmate photo to the state to have them put a beard on it. Just in case. I’ll pass it by the librarian and see if we come up with someone who resembles her unknown man.”

  Dory sagged in her chair. “Thank you,” she answered. “I have the software to put a beard on him, too, if it would save time.” She needed to know. Even as she sagged, a vise had gripped her heart. She was sure it was George. Who else would be trying to penetrate Animation’s personnel files?

  “Dory? You know this is slim.”

  “Then why am I having so much trouble believing it?” she snapped.

  He paused. “So you’ve got software that can do this? I’ll be right over with his faxed photo.”

  She disconnected, staring at her screen, knowing full well that she wasn’t going to be able to focus until she’d dealt with the photograph. It was as if everything had moved out of the realm of possibility and into the realm of reality.

  She felt a poke on her leg and saw Flash nudging her and looking up at her. Almost automatically she reached out to pet him. “Can you hold it until Cadell gets here?”

  Because all of sudden she didn’t even want to walk into her backyard alone.

  * * *

  GEORGE HEISTED A pickup and switched the plates with a similar vehicle before pulling it out of the dirt parking lot from among a great many others. Rodeo Days must be a big thing around here. Once he was safely out of town, he hit the state highway, and at the first opportunity in the middle of nowhere, he pulled onto the shoulder and began to check what was in the truck. Registration and insurance. Good, but he still had no license. He’d better not get stopped.

  And a gun? That might be useful. Although guns made a mess, and he wanted Dory’s death to look accidental. In the back of the truck, which was dirty enough to convince him it was used for some serious work, he found other items that could be useful, from rope to barbed wire, regular tools and then something he couldn’t at first identify.

  Curious, he pulled out the three-foot-long rod by its handle, then noticed the two tines on the end. It looked like a Taser. An awfully big Taser. He pressed the button and saw the spark with satisfaction. A cattle prod. He smiled. That could be useful. He just wished it were smaller in size so it could be more easily hidden.

  He climbed back into the cab and drove toward Conard City. Not much longer now. He had plenty of tools in this truck that could be useful. Now all he had to do was find his sister without being seen himself.

  There was a battered, misshapen cowboy hat on the seat beside him, looking like someone’s castoff. He put it on, pulling it low over his brow. Beard or no beard, the less anyone could see of his face, the better. He whistled tunel
essly, thinking that it was a beautiful day. The wide-open spaces didn’t even bother him as much anymore.

  Life was finally going his way.

  Chapter Twelve

  The photo Cadell brought Dory was from a fax machine. Not the highest resolution, but she put it through her scanner and some software to enhance the clarity. Then she plugged it into the software that would add a beard.

  “Did the librarian say what kind of beard?”

  “Full. Not terribly long.”

  “Okay. This is going to take a while, though.”

  “How long do you think?”

  “A few hours.”

  “Then let’s go see an autistic child about a dog.”

  “Sounds good to me.” The last thing she wanted to do was hang around here wondering and worrying. Keeping busy had always been her salvation. But then she found she couldn’t stand up.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered.

  “What?”

  “I just looked at my brother for the first time in a quarter century. He could be a stranger, Cadell. I barely recognize him.”

  “Let’s hope he has the same problem with you.” He squatted. “You going to be all right?”

  “I always am,” she said irritably. But her legs still felt like noodles, and she reached for the fax again, staring at a face that had changed an awful lot but still belonged to the brother she had once loved.

  “It’s a shame,” she said presently.

  “What is?”

  “That he was never the person I thought he was. That person could have done wonderful things with his life. Instead...” She didn’t finish. She tossed the photo to one side.

  He straightened and touched her shoulder. “Put George on the back burner while your software works. And remember, if he really is looking for you, he has to find you first.”

  “Maybe I need a wig and some big sunglasses.”

  He looked at her, then his eyes twinkled.

  On the ride out to Cadell’s place, she once again drank in the countryside. At first it had been so different from anything she’d known before that it had looked dry and scrubby to her, not especially attractive except for the mountains.

  But time had taught her to see differently. All that space, dotted occasionally with copses of trees, a lot of scrub and the tumbleweeds, fascinated her. She loved to see the wind catch a tumbleweed and carry it along.

  “Every place has its charms,” she remarked. “It took me a while to see them here.”

  Cadell tossed her a grin before returning his attention to the roads. “I was overwhelmed when I first moved to Seattle. All the green seemed suffocating—there were no long lines of sight. Kinda claustrophobic at first. But it didn’t take long before I began to see it differently. Anyway, when I came home here to visit, this place looked bad to me. I used to run up into the mountains just to see the forest. So yeah, I get what you mean.”

  “Well, I’m beginning to appreciate it. Mostly I love the mountains, though.”

  “One of these days soon I’ll take you up there. Some great vistas overlooking the valley. And lots of trees.”

  She laughed, feeling the last remnants of her concern about George slip away. He could wait, at least for a few hours. Being with Cadell was more important.

  And certainly a whole lot more pleasant.

  * * *

  CADELL HAD JUST enough time to make some coffee to offer to Mike when the vet arrived in his fully equipped van. The man had to be ready at a moment’s notice to provide care to livestock almost anywhere around here, and he had half a clinic in the back of his vehicle.

  A tall Cheyenne with black hair he refused to cut short, Mike was a great guy. Over the last couple of years his practice had grown by leaps and bounds. So had his kennels and the number of dogs and cats he had for adoption.

  He greeted Cadell warmly, asking after the ostriches.

  “Itsy and Bitsy are doing fine, as far as I can tell.”

  “Itsy and Bitsy?” Mike’s eyes widened.

  “Blame her,” Cadell said with a grin, indicating Dory with his thumb. Then he introduced the two of them. “So now, what kind of dog did you bring me?”

  “A good one, I think,” Mike said, walking around to the back of the van. “He’s a mutt, already neutered. Near as I can tell he’s got some golden Lab in him and something much smaller. Regardless, he’s just about two, so he’s lost some of the puppy energy, he’s smart and he listens. So we’ll see.”

  Mike opened the carrier in the back of his van, grabbed a lead already attached to the dog’s collar, then let the animal jump down.

  Cadell thought he looked like a somewhat miniaturized golden Lab, good-looking but probably not big enough to intimidate a child of about six. “Great choice,” he said. “Listen, you know where the coffee is. Go on in and help yourself. I want to run him around the corral and get to know him. Does he have a name?”

  “I’ve been trying to avoid that.”

  Cadell arched a brow. “So what have you been calling him?”

  “Dog.”

  “Ha!” Cadell laughed, and Dory joined in.

  “But why avoid a name?” she asked Mike.

  “Because I’ll get attached. Because whoever adopts my animals is going to want to name them. I realize that’s ridiculous, because I’ve found you can change a dog’s name a dozen times and he’ll still answer. But...” He shrugged. “Okay, I don’t want to get attached. Sooner or later I’ve got to let them go.”

  At that moment, Flash, who’d been allowed his freedom in the kennels and fenced yard, came dashing up to sit beside Dory. He regarded the new dog inquisitively, tilting his head a little to one side, his tail sweeping the ground in a friendly manner.

  “Test one,” remarked Cadell. The small golden came trotting over and began to sniff Flash from top to bottom. Flash lay down as if to make it easier, and soon the golden was lying right beside him. Friends, it seemed.

  “Okay, no dog aggression,” remarked Cadell. “Dory, keep Flash beside you while I take Dog into the corral.”

  * * *

  DORY NOTICED AS she and Mike walked to the back of the house that the ostriches leaned over their pen’s fence as if they wanted a better look.

  “I don’t think they’ve forgotten me,” Mike remarked. “Or the injections I gave them. I’m not a popular person with them.”

  “Is anyone?” Dory asked.

  Mike chuckled. “They’re really not so bad, usually. They’d rather run than fight. But getting into a fight with one...well, I wouldn’t recommend it. They may not have teeth, but they can peck with a lot of force. Then, while the nail on their single clawed toe on each foot isn’t the sharpest, they pack a hell of a kick. Bones could break. If they’re trapped and feel threatened, a human might not survive it.”

  Good to know, Dory thought. Not that she ever intended to get into the pen with them.

  Cadell was already at work with Dog, and from his face and posture, Dory thought he was pleased. In almost no time at all, the dog was following commands to sit and stay. When Cadell saw Mike and Dory approach the corral fence, he called out, “Good one. Smart and eager to please. That’s what we want, right? A companion.”

  “As far as I know, they don’t have any other needs for their son. Just that he be perfectly safe with the animal because...well, I guess the child can get rough and loud sometimes.”

  “What child can’t?” Cadell asked rhetorically. Then he turned his head. “I guess that’s them.”

  Dory peered in the direction he was looking and saw a dust cloud just beginning to come up the long drive.

  Soon a family of three, one of whom was a thin boy of about six, were coming around the house to the back. The boy was incredibly silent, Dory thought. Sadly so. He walk
ed past the kennels of dogs, looking at them but not making a sound.

  His parents were young, dressed like a hardworking ranch couple, in jeans and somewhat faded shirts. Neither of them held the boy’s hand.

  “Brad doesn’t like to be touched,” the woman said. “I’m Letty Embrow, and this is my husband, Jase.” She looked at Mike. “What do you think?”

  “I picked the one I think is best. Cadell’s pleased with him.”

  Her eyes trailed to Cadell. She seemed like a pleasant woman, but right now there was a deep tension riding her. Because she didn’t know how her son was going to react? Or was she afraid the dog might do something?

  They walked together, with the Embrows in the rear, until they reached the gate into the training yard. Cadell looked at the parents. “Can I talk to him, or do you need to do that?”

  “Let’s see what happens,” Letty answered.

  So Cadell squatted and looked at the child from about five feet away. “I hear you want a dog.”

  Dory thought the boy’s gaze fixated for the first time since he’d arrived. His attention was fastened to Cadell.

  “I have one I think you’ll like, Brad. But you and I have to go inside the fence to meet him. If you like him, I’ll get him ready to go home with you.”

  Cadell glanced up. “I may need a couple of days to be sure he’s well trained, but I’d like you to bring Brad every afternoon to work with him. Doable?”

  Both parents nodded, and Cadell returned his attention to the boy. “Want to come through the fence and meet the dog, Brad?”

  For the first time, the boy became animated. He bobbed his head in the affirmative. Dog was waiting on the other side of the fence a few feet away. The instant Cadell opened it wide enough, the little boy slipped through and ran right up to the dog.

  Dory heard everyone’s breath catch. Then Brad threw his arms around Dog’s neck and crowed, “Doggy! Doggy!”

  And Dog didn’t seem to mind it one bit.

  Magic, thought Dory. There was still magic in the world.

  * * *

  THE LONG SUMMER twilight covered the world when Cadell and Dory got back to her house. They’d taken time to care for the animals, cleaning kennels, letting the ostriches into the larger corral so they could clean up their small pen, then putting them back in the pen and feeding them again.