Page 86 of Battle Mountain

“Where?” Nate asked.

“Down south, almost to Colorado. He’s somewhere around Battle Mountain.”

Nate and Geronimo looked at each other without speaking. Nate shook his head and said, “Sheridan, can you or your mom get in touch with him?”

“Mom can,” she said. “I don’t know his satellite phone number.”

“Then please ask her to call him. We’re in the same vicinity. Have Joe call Geronimo’s cell phone so we can coordinate.”

“I can do that. Is he in any danger?”

Nate hesitated a moment, then said, “He might be, but we won’t know until we know where he is.”

“Don’t let him get hurt, Nate,” Sheridan pleaded.

“I’ll do my best, but now we have to go. Good work today. I owe you everything for what you did.”

“Just come back soon with my dad,” Sheridan said. “I’m serious.”

“I hope to,” Nate said. “But there’s something we need to do first.”

—

Geronimo disconnected thecall and both quickly geared up. Geronimo carried his combat shotgun and Nate slung the rifle over his shoulder. Geronimo shouldered the motel room door open and Nate followed. They weren’t worried about being seen because it wasn’t unusual for people to openly display firearms on the streets of Warm Springs, especially on the cusp of elk-hunting season.

Leaning against Geronimo’s Suburban was an older, silver-headed man wearing rimless glasses and a beige trench coat. To Nate, he looked like a college professor.

“I’m Special Agent Rick Orr of the FBI,” the man said. “And you two must be Nate Romanowski and Geronimo Jones.”

Both men froze.

“I’ve been looking for you for a long time,” Orr said.

Chapter Twenty-One

It was almostnoon on the two-track trail through the timber when Joe heard the sat phone burr in his saddlebag. The day had turned out to be still and sunny, although the coolness of the encroaching fall seemed to emanate from low on the ground. He was riding Henry through a dense, ancient copse of lodgepole pine and he peered straight up to see if there was an opening to the sky in order to get the best reception possible.

Seeing there wasn’t, he nudged Henry to pick up his pace into an opening to the side where there was a small mountain meadow. Henry wasn’t one for picking up the pace, especially on the slow uphill grade, and he ambled off the trail in what seemed like slow motion.

When he was in the center of the meadow, Joe drew the phone out and activated it. As he raised the device to his mouth, he noted the dull blinking red light on its face, which indicated that the phone needed to be placed on a charger right away.

It was Marybeth.

“Joe, where are you?”

“Still on the mountain.”

Her words came tumbling out. “Sheriff Bishop pulled me over this morning and he wanted to abduct Kestrel. Sheridan saved the day, but there was no doubt what it was he wanted to do.”

Joe was stunned for a moment, and he reined Henry to a complete stop so he could concentrate. That was fine with Henry, who immediately dipped his head and munched meadow grass.

“Say that again.”

She did, and Joe asked, “Is Kestrel okay now? Are you?”

“She’s better than I am, that’s for sure. I’m not sure she was even aware of what was going on.”

“Where are you now?”