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Ghost

“We need to head out to Bryan’s ranch,”

Brick announced at the breakfast table the next morning.

“We looking for anything specific?”

Ray asked.

“Spencer and Harris were able to narrow down a group who’s been busy buying up land around Marshall, and I want to look at the patch of Bryan’s property that fell within the yellow-shaded area of Cross’s map.”

“It wasn’t easy,”

Spencer said. “They had the information buried so deep we had to create a virus to bring down a few security walls so we could get a peek inside. The group is named Ever Clear Investments and is out of Dallas. Before that, Riverside Developments was originally incorporated as Cross and Berry Inc., but names were quickly changed. The original company came into existence back in the forties. The principles were Ronald Cross and Prosper Berry.”

“The former mayor who was the vet’s father, Ronald?”

Ghost asked.

“One and the same. Along with the former patriarch of the Berry family, Joe Berry’s father, Prosper,”

Harris answered without taking his eyes off his computer screen.

“Okay, now that we know that the Crosses and Berrys have been buying up land in Marshall for over two generations, the question is why?”

Stryker asked.

“That’s what we need to find out,”

Brick said.

“Wait,”

Ray said. “Jake mentioned that some of the land wasn’t willingly sold and that, in those cases, things happened. Can we look into each specific land deal? Get a better picture of what exactly went down.”

“Yes. We can search out the how now we have the who,”

Spencer said. “It’ll be much easier now that the groundwork is done.”

“Good. You two carry on with that while we go have a look around the ranch,”

Brick said. “Bryan and his grandfather are expecting us.”

“Before you guys go, I have something interesting we found in one of the boxes yesterday,”

Julia said as she pulled out a faded file. “It’s Jericho Miles’s will.”

“Why would Sophia have Jericho’s will?”

Ray asked.

Brick opened the file and scanned the pages while the team waited.

“It appears to be dated before Jericho shipped out to Korea. It names Sophia as his sole beneficiary.”

“He was trying to make sure she was cared for if he didn’t make it back,”

Julia said with a slight hitch in her voice.

“They were in love. It makes it even more confusing that they didn’t end up together after his return. What happened?”

Ghost asked.

“War affects people. You see and do things that you never thought possible. It’s ugly and violent, leaving its mark on the people involved,”

Brick explained. “If Jericho returned a different man, then all bets are off, and Sophia might not’ve been prepared to handle that.”

Ghost wanted more than ever to know the full story, and he hoped if there was an afterlife, Sophia and Jericho would find each other there.

***

Ray

“This is the area they’d marked off on that map you showed me,”

Bryan said as he drove Brick, Ray, Ghost, Shaw, and Isaiah, Bryan’s grandfather, across the ranch.

“What’s special out here?”

Brick asked.

“This is the back forty, as we like to call it. There’s not much here. It’s rocky and has a few sharp elevations. Not good for pasture lands or buildings,”

Isaiah said. “We don’t come out here too often.”

“Have you ever had any incidents out here?”

Ray asked.

“No,”

Bryan said.

“Wait,”

Shaw said. “Remember when we first started dating? You had some action back here. At the time, we thought it had something to do with Kyle and the traffickers he’d help stop wanting revenge.”

“Right. Yeah,”

Bryan said. “I found tracks back here, and then there was that day when Kyle and I were out for a ride, and we came across some men with binoculars. They took off before we could identify them.”

“Can you take me to where you found the tracks?”

Brick asked.

“Sure.”

Bryan changed directions and headed toward a much hillier area covered in rocks and a large grouping of trees that stood out among the more barren grasslands.

“Why are there so many trees in this one area?”

Ray asked. He’d grown up in Marshall but wasn’t a farmer or rancher.

“There’s a natural spring that begins over there and feeds a couple of ranches in the area,”

Isaiah said. “It’s a major source of water in these parts.”

Bells began sounding in Ray’s mind as his instincts kicked in.

“How far does this spring run?” he asked.

“It’s never been fully mapped, but I’m guessing thousands of acres of land are fed by it,”

Bryan answered.

“What are you thinking?”

Ghost asked Ray.

“It’s only a thought, but what’s more important than crude oil in Texas?”

“Water,”

Brick answered. “Shit.”

“We need to have Spencer dig into the records on these freshwater springs because whoever controls the water controls the county. Has anyone ever come round wanting to buy this parcel of land?”

Ray asked.

“Yeah, a few over the years,”

Isaish said. “But we sent them packing. Our land’s not for sale.”

“Do you have any records of those offers?”

Brick asked.

“Well, Bryan’s grandmother kept pretty strict ranch records over the years. God rest her soul. Especially after Bryan’s dad and mom passed.”

“I’m sorry about their passing,”

Ghost said.

“It was a long time ago, but thank you. Bryan was nine years old at the time, and thankfully, he and his grandmother stayed home from the auction that one time or the whole family would have been wiped out. As it was, they passed, and I was left in my wheelchair.”

Brick turned to look at Ray. They were on the same page.

“I’m sorry to bring up bad memories, but may I ask what happened?”

Ray asked.

“We were on our way back from the livestock auction, and I was asleep in the backseat of the truck, so I can only tell you what the authorities told us after I woke up in the hospital. They said it was a drunk driver. He crossed the line and hit our truck and trailer head-on.”

“Did they identify the other driver?”

Brick asked.

“I don’t remember. At the time, we had other priorities.”

“Of course,” Ray said.

“Here we are,”

Bryan said as he pulled the truck to a stop. “Tell me straight, what are you thinking?”

“It’s conjecture at the moment, but we’re starting to realize that those buying up all the land in certain areas of Marshall have a master plan, and those who didn’t sell willingly—”

Ray stopped short of making the full accusation, not wanting to hurt Bryan and his grandfather.

Bryan took over. “Were eliminated.”

“Shit,”

Isaiah growled. “You think the accident wasn’t an accident?’

“Let’s go have a look around the spring,”

Brick said, his voice solemn. “When we return to the ranch house, we’d appreciate seeing those records.”

“I’ll call Kyle and have him start digging them out of the office,”

Bryan said while picking up his phone. “Wait, do you think my family is still in danger?”

“It’d be the last mistake they ever made,”

Shaw growled.

They searched around the entrance to the spring and found new tracks made within the last two weeks.

“What’s that?”

Isaiah said from his wheelchair.

“Where?”

Ray asked.

Isaiah pointed. “There.”

Ray caught the glint of something shiny in the sunlight and went to investigate.

“Well, what do we have here?”

Shaw said as he came to stand beside Ray.

“Looks like one of those GPS/GNSS handheld portable land meters. It sends out a signal to a receiver so that an area can be mapped,”

Bryan said from Ray’s other side. “We use it for projects around the ranch.”

“I don’t suppose that one belongs to you?”

Ray asked.

“Nope.”

“Yep, didn’t think so.”

“We need to get Spencer and Harris on this,”

Shaw said. “Leave it where it is, and they’ll be able to track the signal to the receiver. Then we go hunting.”

Ray could tell Shaw wasn’t messing around. He would hunt those responsible down along with the rest of the team. Whoever was messing with this town and these families was about to get a rude awakening about true power and fear.