Page 111 of Critical Alliance (Rocky Mountain Courage 3)

THIRTY-ONE

Alex wished he could walk out of this ravine and get back to Mackenzie or even call in and check on her. But he’d asked to come along and here he was, the victim of his own bad decision.

The body had been recovered from the river and now lay on a tarp. Alex took one look at the man, then looked away. He didn’t need to see more before memories rushed through him of the three men who died in the attack on the armored SUVs.

Alex couldn’t hear much except the rushing river, but light, a reflection, caught his attention up near the top of the ravine.

A UAV.

A search drone sent out by the county? He glanced at Nathan’s vehicle, where he’d left the bag with his anti-drone tech. Now would be his chance to try it out. But first he needed information. He moved between the vehicles to Jack. Trevor was standing over the recovered body.

“There’s a drone hovering over us. Watching. Is it yours?”

“Not ours.” Jack angled his head up to the sky.

“Lots of people have drones, Alex. But you’re concerned that it has something to do with the attack on Mackenzie, since it involved a drone?” Jack adjusted his sunglasses. “And the drone Owen shot down.”

“I don’t know what to think anymore,” Alex said. “I’m getting paranoid in my old age.”

“Good old age of thirtysomething?” Jack grinned and slapped Alex’s back. “Come with me.” Jack hiked back to the vehicle and grabbed a rifle with a scope.

“Are you going to shoot it down? What are the laws on those things, anyway?”

“This is a crime scene, and I don’t appreciate the intrusion.” Jack aimed his rifle at the drone. It suddenly veered to the right, then disappeared out of sight.

“Well, I guess they showed you,” Alex said. He couldn’t help but smirk.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t even know. But I brought anti-drone tech. If you don’t mind, I’ll grab my backpack and see if I can detect it out there.”

Jack slowly looked at him. “You have anti-drone tech? Alex, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean? Someone followed Mackenzie and shot at her. You know this. You have yet to find the shooter. I secured protective measures.”

Alex made his way to Nathan’s vehicle, opened the door, and opened his bag.

Jack stood behind him. “I wondered what you were carrying in that bag. Seemed kind of big.”

“It’s a radio frequency analyzer.” He pulled out a large case and opened it. Popped up the antennas on each side. He turned it on, and the screen indicated the drone icon along with the distance from their location. “Looks like it’s hovering.”

“So this detects the radio comms between the drone and its controller? Can we find the controller?”

“That’s what I’m working on. At least we know this isn’t an autonomous drone.”

“Say what?”

“This is being controlled by a human rather than AI.”

“What else you got in this bag?” Jack held up what looked like a small rocket launcher. “Whoa, what’s this?”

“An RF jammer to take out the drone.”

Jack aimed it at the sky. “I can’t see it. Point me in the right direction.”

“Hold off,” Alex said. “I want to see if I can find the home base where the controller is operating from.” Alex pounded his fist against the seat back. “I lost the signal. The UAV could have gone out of range.”

He ground his molars.