Wind River Undercover

by Lindsay McKenna

  Anna released his hand, missing nothing, automatically looking for weapons or a bulge in his hoodie jacket. Finding none, she took a step back from him.

  “Ace is my dog,” Gabe said, coming over and standing next to Elisha. He gave the dog a hand signal that meant the stranger was not a threat. Ace instantly sat down, but continued to watch him.

  “Hey, nice pooch,” Elisha said. “Really smart looking. You always had a dog growing up here, Gabe.”

  “Yes, we’re all dog people, for sure. Listen, Anna just made a fresh pot of coffee,” Gabe said, gesturing toward the kitchen table. “Come and sit down and let’s have a cup?”

  Anna watched the man who was a drug runner, waiting for any sign that he was dangerous to them. She knew the drill: Pretend nothing was wrong, act normal, and follow Gabe’s lead. After all, he’d survived many years undercover and lived to tell about it.

  “How do you like your coffee, Elisha?” she asked, pulling down three mugs from the cupboard.

  “Oh,” he said, “just black. Is it strong?”

  Gabe chuckled and walked to the table, pulling out some chairs. “Very strong.” He made sure to sit facing the door and windows, and across from Elson, whom he did not trust. Anna poured the coffee, served it, and sat in the chair at the end, closest to the kitchen and to that weapon if they needed it. “Not much has changed, has it? We were drinking black coffee together at twelve years old.”

  Pushing his long, large-knuckled fingers through his uncombed and unruly light brown hair that hung to his shoulders, Elisha chuckled. “No, not much has changed and that’s comforting to know.”

  “I’m sorry to hear your father is gone,” he said.

  There was pain and regret in Elisha’s eyes. His mouth twisted.

  “In a way, it was a blessing. He was beatin’ up on my ma more and more. We couldn’t be there to stop him. He had a pretty bad cocaine habit. Me and Kaen could leave when he was in one of those bad moods, but Ma didn’t. She always wanted to be near him to help him, always afraid he’d die of an overdose. No one could stop him from takin’ that stuff,” he said, and he shook his head, remorseful.

  “Your family has seen a lot of heartache,” Gabe agreed gently, watching as Elisha knit and unknit his long fingers. Was he still doing drugs or was he clean? There was no way to tell since his arms were covered by a jacket. Did he have twenty or thirty heroin tracks on each arm? Was he on opioids like so many in America were right now?

  “Yeah,” he grumbled, pushing his hand across his unshaven face, his beard scraggly. “Some families are born underneath a dark star. I told you that when we were friends in school.”

  Nodding, Gabe took a sip of his coffee. He flicked a glance at Anna, who came and sat down at his elbow with Ace lying on the floor between them. She was listening to every word and cataloging every facial and body expression that Elisha had.

  “Well, I hope things are better now than they were then.” Of course, he knew they weren’t. He didn’t want to discuss the death of Cree, either, the other brother. Or that his grandfather and brother Hiram were rotting in a federal prison for life. “Bad seed” is what kids at school had called each of the Elson boys. Some families just seemed to be passing on something genetically dysfunctional from one generation to the next. A part of him felt sorry for Elisha. He had been a struggling but decent kid in school, trying to do right, but going home to that snake den every night, he couldn’t escape it, so he finally succumbed to poison and toxicity doled out daily by his old man, who used to beat all four boys. Further he and Cree had been bullied by local groups of boys who taunted them, pushed them around, and demeaned them. They were abused children growing up, and sometimes Gabe wondered if all four boys didn’t suffer brain damage from those beatings, because they were never quite “right” when it came to living within society in a healthy or positive way. They were seen as problem children to be avoided by other children.

  “Tell me how you came to pick this place to live in?”

  Gabe nodded, hands around his cup, giving Elisha a highly edited version. When he finished, he saw Anna rise. She refilled their cups and sat back down. He could almost see her cataloging Elisha. There was nothing weak about this woman warrior. It was nice to have a full-fledged partner on this mission; something he wasn’t used to having. She had his back and he knew it.

  “What about you?” Gabe asked. “There’s been a lot of years that have washed past us.”

  Leaning back in the chair, pushing his palms down the thighs of his Levi’s, Elisha said, “I’m a part-time truck driver, long and short hauls. Whatever assignments I get out of Salt Lake City, is where I drive. Living out there”—he circled his hand in the air—“I can’t ask for more work, so all Kaen and I get is part-time routes to California and the region whenever possible.” Shrugging, he added, “It’s better than nothin’.”

  “Where all are you driving to and from?”

  “Well, like a few days ago, we got a long-haul assignment to San Francisco, California, out of a Salt Lake truck terminal. Me and Kaen took a load to the West Coast and then picked up another one in Southern California on the way back.”

  Gabe knew that drugs were funneled into large cities and then dispersed out to more rural areas and much smaller cities. Chances are they dropped one load of drugs in San Francisco and drove south to pick up another one. More than likely, with the way the drug lords had changed tactics, the drugs came in from a trawler that had originated out of Mexico, plied a hundred miles off the coast, handed the cargo off to a semi-submarine boat, and they would sneak into some small inlet where their truck loaded up the illegal drugs. All that was dangerous for Elisha and Kaen. If they got stopped by Border Patrol or the Coast Guard, they could have been discovered. These two brothers were rolling the dice in dangerous ways.

  “What about around here?” he prodded Elisha. “Are you doing deliveries here in the valley?”

  “Not so much,” Elisha said. “We roll through Jackson Hole, cross into Idaho, and deliver goods to large and small towns in the southern half of that state.”

  “So, your trucking company is somewhat regional then?”

  “Yeah, but the owner in Salt Lake City wants to expand. Right now, most of our work is to the West Coast or points in the Northwest.”

  “Does your boss want to expand to other places?”

  “Yeah,” Elisha said. “We heard on this last trip he’s wanting to move into Casper and Cheyenne, Wyoming. I guess his big prize is Minneapolis, Minnesota, and then he is always after having a truck terminal in Chicago, which he wants most of all.”

  Gabe kept his face carefully arranged. This was useful intel and Elisha was talking as if he could trust them. They understood only too well he was talking about a major regional drug contact under Gonzalez’s grip. Well, wasn’t that what they wanted? Although he was sure Anna and he never dreamed of the Elson boys coming over and having coffee with them. That blew Gabe away. “Sounds like a pretty goal-oriented dude,” Gabe said genially with a smile. “Is he a good boss to work for?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Elisha said. “He’s always giving us bonuses. Kaen and I like that a lot. Extra money is always welcome.” And then he lost some of his boastfulness. “Ma needs a surgery. She’s sixty and has five more years before Medicare kicks in.”

  “Oh? What’s wrong with her?” Anna asked, concerned.

  “It’s her eyes. She’s got really bad cataracts. She’s partly blind right now. It cost ten grand to get new lenses so she can see.”

  “That’s a lot of money,” Gabe agreed.

  “Kaen drives me nuts sometimes.”

  “Oh?”

  “We’re supposed to be saving for her operation, but he keeps blowin’ the money on broads and beer.” Elisha looked over at Anna. “Sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean to sound so rude.”

  “That’s okay,” Anna responded gently. “I was wondering when I saw her why your mother always had her hand out in front of her. Now I know why. That
must be awfully frustrating for her?”

  “Yes, ma’am, it is. I save my bonuses in a mason jar I hide from Kaen, but he spends his. I’m tryin’ to find a second job so I can save faster. So far”—he hitched one shoulder—“there’s no jobs here in the southern end of the valley.”

  There were, Gabe knew, but they required people who didn’t have a convict record a mile long like the Elsons did. That would stop Elisha from getting any job that paid well. “Keep trying,” he said.

  “Yeah, I’m gonna.” Elisha gave Gabe a fond look. “Hey, this was great getting to sit down and connect with you again, bro. Maybe, if you want? We can kind of be buddies again like we used to be?” He rose and pulled up the hood on his head. “I gotta go. Things to do for Ma.”

  Gabe rose and so did Anna. “Nice seeing you again, Elisha,” Gabe said, and shook his hand. “We’ll stay in touch with each other, for sure.”

  “Same here.” He turned and nodded to Anna. “Nice meetin’ you, too, ma’am. Again, thanks for those great-tastin’ cookies. That meant the world to Ma and us,” Elisha said, and he pressed his hand against his chest where his heart lay. His expression lightened and he reached out, patting Ace on the head. “Beautiful dog. Really a looker. Nice meeting you, Ace.”

  Anna sucked in a quick breath, not sure what Ace would do when Elisha unexpectedly reached out and gently patted the dog. Would he bite him? Ace wagged his tail in a friendly fashion afterward, so the dog must know something about him that was trustworthy? Anna would ask Gabe later after he was gone.

  “Glad I could make Roberta’s day with the cookies. Now that I know she has sight issues, if you and your brother are gone for days at a time, call me,” and she jotted down a phone number and handed it to him. “That’s my cell number. If Roberta needs ANY kind of help? I’m always here at the ranch only a quarter of a mile away. I can even take her shopping or anything like that, or if she needs to see her doctor, because I’m going to be driving back and forth for my boss, here, to get supplies from Wind River. Okay?” She pressed it into his extended hand.

  Elisha stared at it, gulped, and then studied Anna. “That’s right nice of you, ma’am. I think you’re a mind reader or somethin’.”

  Anna smiled a little. “Why do you say that?”

  “There’s times when we’re on a long haul and she’s left all alone. I worry about her. Kaen says she’ll be fine, but I’m never sure. She’s older now, and since my father got killed, it’s like she’s moping around. I want to help her, but maybe she needs a good woman friend just to talk with. You know how women like to talk to one another,” he said, and he gave her a loose grin along with an apologetic look in case she took his comment the wrong way. “My ma doesn’t have any friends down here. She used to when we lived in Wind River, but that was a long time ago and it’s eighty miles for her friends to drive out here. So, she lost them and I know she’s terribly lonely.”

  “Well,” Anna said, “she has me and you tell her that. I don’t want her over there by herself, alone for days, if she needs help.”

  “We’re close,” Gabe said, walking him to the door. “We can help her if you want?”

  “Oh, sure, sure, that would take a HUGE load off me, bro. Thanks so much!”

  Ace came over and licked Elisha’s work-worn hand. Delighted by the dog’s affection, he rubbed Ace’s head gently, smiling down at him. “You are truly a handsome dog,” he told Ace.

  Gabe opened the door as Elisha straightened and turned, letting him out. He clapped Elisha on the back. “See you later. I’m glad you dropped over.”

  * * *

  Anna watched Elisha drive away. Gabe stood close to her left shoulder, behind her after the door closed. “What a surprise,” she said throatily, twisting a look up at him. She saw pain in his eyes. Why?

  “Damn, this is going to be harder than I thought,” he muttered.

  Anna swore she could almost feel the heat radiating off his tall, strong, capable body a bare foot between them. Tucking away her desire for him that was growing daily, she turned and rested her hips against the counter, palms resting on either side of the sink. “You look torn about something. What’s wrong, Gabe?”

  He moved beside her, leaning against the sink, his arms crossed, frowning. “Elisha caught me off guard. When I went undercover, I never knew the people I’d be in contact with. This is different,” he said, and he rested his chin against his chest, frowning, his gaze on the floor between his feet.

  “Because you knew him,” she offered softly.

  “Yes,” he said, and he raised his chin, meeting her sympathetic gaze. “He was a vulnerable kid in school, Anna. Like a turtle without a shell. I was always protecting him. His other brothers, Hiram and Kaen, wouldn’t or couldn’t. Elisha was the kind of boy who cried if a butterfly’s wing was tattered or torn off. Or if he found a baby bird that was knocked out of its nest, he’d put it in his pocket, climb the tree, and put him back in the nest if he could. Otherwise, he’d take it home and feed and raise it and then release it when it could fly. He was always trying to save others, even if they weren’t human. Kids made fun of him. They bullied the hell out of him and Cree.” He held Anna’s softened gaze. “I always liked him. As I got older and more mature, I realized he was just one of these guys with a soft heart for underdogs.”

  “Even though he was an underdog.”

  Heavily, he exhaled and growled, “Yeah, him and Cree. Both beaten weekly by their father. They were both softhearted underdogs. When Cree kidnapped Tara Dalton at sixteen, carrying her off into the Salt Mountains, the whole valley was shocked by the event. But I heard my parents talking late one night in low tones. I stood outside my bedroom and listened. I heard them saying that it was a wonder any of the four Elson boys were even alive at that age because they didn’t know what a parent’s love was. They’d never been held, protected, or cared for like a child should be. Roberta tried to protect her sons as young children, but Brian wanted them toughened up so they could make it in this world of ours.”

  “So, Brian saw weekly beatings as the way to toughen them up,” she concluded sadly, shaking her head. “How horrible for all of them.”

  “My mother said Cree was so starved for love that he’d fallen in love with Tara, who was his age. It was an obsessive love and I was too young to realize any of his focus on her. But looking back on her kidnapping, all he wanted was for someone to love him. It was a really traumatic time for everyone concerned.”

  “Did Tara get freed by law enforcement?”

  “Yes, eventually. Cree went to federal prison for it. They tried him as an adult.”

  “Dios,” Anna murmured. “I saw pain in your eyes, Gabe. What was that about?”

  He dropped his hands to his side, giving her a long look. “That I’m going to use my friendship with Elisha, our past history with each other, to try and get info out of him that will benefit our side.”

  “That has to be hard,” she agreed. “He seemed . . . well, he’s rough looking, but he’s actually quite sensitive and aware of others as well as what they may think of him. Even Ace liked him and that surprised me a lot. I was worried he would attack or bite Elisha.”

  “Yeah, I was surprised that Ace warmed up to him. The dog obviously senses that he’s a decent person, deep down inside. Elisha’s a nice guy caught in the vise of a drug family, and now he’s thrown in with Gonzalez. Damn.” Pushing away from the counter, he walked slowly up and down the length of the kitchen, in thought.

  Anna remained where she was, feeling the depth and storm of his emotions regarding Elisha. “I hope I wasn’t out of line offering to take care of Roberta if she needs something.”

  “No,” he murmured, halting, giving her a pleased look. “I thought it was a masterful stroke of genius. What better way to get over there and see what you can find, and she’s partially blind? I mean, I know that sounds harsh. I also sensed you did it out of human compassion, not the other.”

  “You’re right, I did. She’
s not the center of this investigation. I have no doubt that under the circumstances she fights just to survive daily, and is not a part of the drug trade.”

  “I’m inclined to go there, too, but you’ll still have to keep your eyes open and we’ll need to verify her status.”

  “I will. Still, she’s someone to be pitied, Gabe. She never told me she was going blind.”

  “Even abused people have their pride,” he muttered, scowling. “I think in time, she’d have told you as you continued to forge a friendship with her.”

  “I agree.” Anna wrinkled her nose. “Their house smells awful. There’s rotting food everywhere. There’s laundry stacked up that desperately needs to be washed. She spends most of her time in her bedroom watching soap operas, from what she told me. I can see why because that house is an unmitigated disaster of dirt, filth, lack of care and tending.”

  “Roberta might know her two sons’ schedules, though, give you tidbits of info. Things that might help us piece together if they’re making drug drops here in the valley or not. It doesn’t look like it, but we need to verify it.”

  “I call them puzzle pieces.” She inhaled deeply and released it. “I’m going to sit down and record everything. You should do the same, and then we’ll compare notes. I’m interested in that terminal they named in Southern California.”

  “We’re thinking along the same lines,” he said. “We need to cross-check with DEA Salt Lake City about known routes that are on the cloud and see if these are new or not. If they are, it’s one more inch forward in this case.”

  * * *

  Gabe read Anna’s thorough, detailed notes, not surprised by her precision. Snipers lived and died by subtle details. They sat at the kitchen table, several cups of coffee consumed between them as they studied and made notes on one another’s eyewitness reports.

  “We were caught flat-footed,” Anna said, lifting her chin, meeting his gaze that always sent a frisson of quiet joy through her heart. “We need to have prearranged recorders that can easily be turned on without anyone knowing it. I want to work on that today. I’ve got plenty of electronics and gear with me in my bedroom. I’m going to bring them all out to the dining room table, lay down an oilcloth, and get to work.”