Chapter Twenty Six to Thirty

Chapter Twenty Six

Andrew Baker, is set up on a small peak looking towards the west towards a ridgeline, just about the same elevation, the sun is setting the weather is perfect with high clouds picking up the rose colors of the sunset. The sun has just disappeared over the far ridge, and he starts snapping, one of the these is going to be really good, one of them will catch the light just perfect. He adjust the settings on the shutter speed, manually and keeps taking pictures.

He packs up the tripod and the camera and hikes down toward the town below. He passes by the middle school, across to Walnut Street and down two blocks to Cups and Saucers, a nice little coffee and sandwich shop, with free Wi-Fi, they stay open till eight.

The waitresses, waiters and barista's have gotten to know his face, he always leaves a good tip. He orders apple turnovers and a cappuccino, gets his lap top out of his back pack. He gets the memory card from his camera and loads the pictures from this afternoon, loads them into the folder and backs them up to the cloud with all of his other shots from the summer. When he gets to Colorado he will select and edit, and send the top twenty to thirty on to the literary agent who will market them, to magazines and some studios. He goes onto his email and sends a message to his literary agent, done for the season just loaded up the last pictures heading to Colorado in a few days. Skipping fall this year, will do some winter shots in Tennessee and North Carolina.

He packs up his backpack, just as the pastries and cappuccino arrive, he relaxes and enjoys the small town caf only half full this evening. His mobile phone buzzes with a message, he looks at it, takes another drink, he types a response confirmed see you there. He finishes the coffee, leaves the tip and heads back up the trail to the campground. He turns on the headlamp as he gets to the trail, its less than an hour up the trail to the campground not far from the AT, there is a loop with RVs and another loop with only tent camping, it's a privately run campground with nice toilets and shower facilities. He heads past the tent camping area to his RV; he pumps the gas lantern and lights the mantle as it lights up the picnic table and his camp area.

He has some kindling and firewood from the small supply shack the campground runs, he starts a fire in the fire ring. He starts the camp stove, and puts on a small pot of coffee. He hears someone come up from behind, and he turns around. "Clay right on time, have a seat I just put the coffee on."

Clay Buck sits down at the picnic table, "how has the summer been, seems like things are on track from the messages."

Baker puts the two coffee cups on the picnic table, he pours from the small pot, "its scalding hot, let it cool, yeah things are on track. You set up with a tent here or somewhere else?"

"I'm here for now, I might move later on...." His voice trails off.

They both hear someone coming along the footpath that runs next to the campsite, they can see someone go past quietly and looks like a woman. They can't see for sure; she moves past. Baker goes into the camper; he comes out with a notebook. "You ready to get started?"

"Yes sir."

Baker takes out a large sheet of paper, a hand-drawn map of Cliffside, "okay, here we are on the north side, you already know the AT runs along just south of where we are along this ridge, this trail is the one that takes you into town, out near a small town park, picnic tables, shelters, swings and playgrounds for small kids, the shelters near the back are where some of the dealing goes on, especially in the early evenings."

Baker takes a drink of coffee, "still hot, okay just south for the park are ball fields, and a public swimming pool, just past there is a small walking trail that goes around the fields and the park, the far west side is another large shelter, again another dealing spot. I have marked out some of the spots in the small downtown for you, no dealing spots there except a few corners past the post office here on the south side and across from the shooting range and hunting supply shop on the east side. That is where our distributor works, but I will come back to that. I marked the cafe and restaurants, but I know you stay off the grid."

"Yeah, I will make my supply runs in the SUV over to Mechanicsburg, I will not be going into any of the shops here in Cliffside."

"Bad weather dealing is mostly two places on the south side of town, this old abandoned hospital on the southwest and on the southeast an abandoned ceramic plant, made tiles for homes and businesses. Ready to move on to the people?"

Buck takes a drink of coffee, "yeah, keep going."

Baker leaves the map open, he gets his camera, "okay starting with the LEOS." He opens his notebook so Buck and him can read along together. "Ray Jeffrey the sheriff, really solid law enforcement professional, been the sheriff for about eight years, two children his wife has a business a second hand shop on the west side, they have two kids. House is here, the sheriff's office is here."

Buck looks at the map, he looks at the pictures of Ray Jeffrey, the notebook has references to picture numbers. Baker goes through the rest of the department the three deputies and dispatcher Hazel Ledger. "Moving on to the dealers, we have a couple that live together, Nick Shirley Clyde is his handle and Anne Wray, of course Bonnie. They live in a trailer south west side of town."

Buck glances down at the map, then looks through some of the pictures, "this them shooting, they have a gun?"

"Yeah, these two give me a bad feeling, I got some background on him, he damn near killed another kid in high school beat with him with a tire iron, she dropped out and her mother filed complaints against her for violence, they both grew up in Mechanicsburg. I think Bonnie and Clyde are clever and probably dangerous.

"Chris Towers, Rocko is the follower, a bit dimwitted he lives alone in a trailer in the same area. Finally, we have the money man, Graham Moore owns the Minute Men Shooting and Archery range, sells hunting and camping gear as well. Their warehouse and paperwork for drugs is in a large building in the back. There is a back room that the others who work in the store cannot get into, he keeps ammunition for the shop in there. His wife is pretty much out of the picture, she spends most evenings in Mechanicsburg I gather at some bar."

Buck leans forward flipping through the notebook, he scans through the pages of surveillance entries since May that Andy Baker has logged, detailed and thorough like always. "You have the surveillance camera and USBs in the RV?"

"Yeah, you want them now?"

"Just the camera and the notebook, I will do a surveillance run tomorrow check out the map, make sure I am squared away and we do another debrief tomorrow here in your camp. Then you hand off everything else."

They finish their coffee, Buck heads back towards his tent.


Chapter Twenty Seven

Clay Buck is up before sunrise; ready to pick up on the surveillance work of his partner. He cooks some eggs and bacon on the camp stove and washes it down with coffee. He puts the binoculars, camera and map into the backpack and heads down the flank of the low mountain on the trail. He knows how to stay in the shadows, in the wilderness or in a city, in these small towns people are quick to spot a new face. He will stay on the fringes of town careful to avoid the sheriff and deputies. He has studied their pictures, he will recognize them out of uniform, he also knows the faces of the dealers and distributors.

Buck comes off the trail on the north edge of town, he heads west moving along the edge of town on the edge of the woods and fields. He turns east moving just south of the abandoned hospital. It's Tuesday morning, according to Baker's surveillance, Nick Shirley drives ten minutes over to the southeast side of town to the Hunting Shop most every Tuesday and Friday an hour before they open. Graham Moore will be there to meet him, Shirley will go to the back building with a duffle bag and come out with a different duffle bag, money coming in and more drugs going out. Buck has a perfect spot to do some surveillance, the top floor of the abandoned ceramic factory, south of the hunting shop.

He goes to the third floor, the northwest corner and takes off his backpack. He gets out the binoculars looking to the west, he can see Bonnie and Clyde's trailer also the one Rocko lives in. He looks out the window looking to the north, he can see the hunting shop and the storage building in the back. Right on schedule he sees Clyde come out, drives over to the shop duffle bag in and duffle bag out. Clyde drives back home. In a few more hours Bonnie, Clyde and Rocko will meet, they will get their packages to deal and they will head out to do business. Buck puts the binoculars back into the backpack he will alternate covering the three of them, confirming they are dealing.

Baker is sitting in a camp chair, he just got the campfire started, and the sun is falling below the horizon. He hears footsteps from behind, it must be Buck, "How about a steak dinner and baked potatoes?"

Buck comes around, from behind takes off his pack, and sits at the picnic table. "Sounds good, thanks I am guessing you have some beers in the cooler."

Baker smiles, "Help yourself, everything check out?" Baker puts the steel grate tosses two ribeye steaks on the hot grate over the campfire, they sizzle as they hit the hot metal. He rolls the potatoes over, wrapped in foil in the fire.

"Everything checks out, just like your surveillance logs, Clyde made a run early in the morning to meet Moore and the three of them were out around ten, I watched them around town dealing and made a swing by to see where Moore lives and the sheriff's home. A trip over to Philly to nail down that dealer and I will have all the pieces ready to start laying out a plan of attack. You say same one as Marsh Creek, right?"

Baker flips the steaks, "That's right, same guy. Yeah, we can come back to that after dinner, be ready in another ten minutes."

They finish the dinner and sit at the picnic table, the gas lantern lighting up the table. Baker holds a finger to his lips, he whispers, "thought I heard someone over there." He gestures to the left, they both look. "Squirrel, so let's talk about Marsh Creek. What do you think about finishing that business?"

Buck takes a drink of beer, "I guess I could try and to that this trip, same set up as we scouted out last summer, same dealer, same distributor. Right after I take care of business here, wait a week or two and move down there."

Baker sighs "No that's too close together at the same time, how about the beginning of next season. We do a quick check on Marsh Creek in early spring, if it's still the same people, then you take them down. Later in the summer you meet me further up north with some distance between the towns and more time."

Buck nods in agreement, "that will work."

Clay Buck finishes off a beer, and pops open another bottle, "good call last year, having me come in for counter-surveillance good thing you caught that agent watching you in Marsh Creek."

"Well, I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw someone twice on the edge of town, someone with a camera, who looked like the same backpack and cap. I am glad you were able to get eyes on her, from my contacts in law enforcement, she is good from the BAU Louise Spalding."

Buck stares into the fire, his eyes narrow, "So how do we deal with that? She must suspect what is going on, at least suspects you might be doing something, probably correlated your nature photography trips to the towns."

"Yeah, but she has never approached me or any of my contacts who are still in law enforcement. I am guessing there is no formal case or it's inactive without a named suspect. I don't have any contacts inside the BAU, but some contacts in the bureau that hear some scuttlebutt from Quantico."

Buck leans back, "could she be onto me?"

"That doesn't seem likely, I cannot see how she would have connected those dots without a formal case."

Buck looks at the ground, moving a stone with his boot, "She is out the country and out of the picture. We just let it lie?"

"INTERPOL consulting with western European countries, apparently she is working closely with undercover operators. I put out some feelers, rumor is she had a falling out with her section chief and may not come back, there is no chatter about these killings being looked at in the BAU. But we should shift things around a little bit on the MO, we have been sticking to the same script for a while now."

Buck nods, "Yeah okay, do we need the USBs delivered to the sheriffs?"

Andrew Baker sits back hands behind his head, "yeah I was thinking the same thing, when we got started, we thought they would be useful to the sheriffs. Professional surveillance useful if someone thought innocent people were being killed, but it has not really worked out. Seems to be one of the reasons the Virginia SBI started suspecting that the sheriffs, suspicious thinking they were connected to the USBs. Maybe thinking they had partners. How about we keep them and hold on to them. If questions come up about whether these people are really involved in drugs, we deliver them to state investigators. We stick with leaving them with drugs and drug money together, these sheriffs mostly always have a good idea who the dealers are anyway. We hold onto the USBs if we need them."

Clay Buck nods in agreement, "works for me, we do the same due diligence. What about Clear Creek, Flat Top Gap and Potters Peak, still no local dealing?"

"Still no local dealing, its working. We stay on mission."

"Okay, you heading back tomorrow? Only piece we have not talked about are the mobile phones."

"Yeah, I will head back tomorrow. Cloned phones for Nick Shirley, Chris Towers, Anne Wray and Graham Moore, I checked them today still working you can listen to their phone calls and see their text messages. You can turn the microphone or cameras on for live surveillance, same APP we always use. They are charged up, labeled and ready to go along with the primary and back up surveillance USB."

"Okay good I need to get on top of their movements, and get the details of a run to Philly. How about one more beer, then I am going to hit the sack. No reason to see each other tomorrow."

Baker gets up, grabs two more beers from the cooler, puts them on the table and walks towards the RV. "Let me get the USBs and mobile phones."

The finish the beers, Buck gets up, "have a safe trip back to Colorado."

Baker nods, "let me know how things progress and let me know if something goes sideways."


Chapter Twenty Eight

Nick Shirley parks the beat-up old car outside the trailer, he grabs the large bag with hoagies and strombolis. He opens the door to the trailer, "got dinner, hoagie shop."

Anne smiles, getting up off the sofa, "good, didn't feel like cookin, are they still warm?"

"Should be, just picked them up, grab me a beer."

Nick turns the TV channel to sports, "can't believe you watch that stupid housewives crap, like that is reality."

He sits down at the small table, so he can watch the game while they eat. "Talked to Curly today, just to kind of feel him out."

Anne talks with a mouth full of French fries, "you were careful right, didn't tell him too much."

"Just enough, would he and his younger brother ever be interested in working with us, selling round town if an opportunity were to come up."

"Okay, what did he say?"

"He was interested, very interested. Said Barry was working part time as a bouncer in Harrisburg, that's a long drive he hates it. That would be a good team, Carl is smart and Barry is no fool and he would make a good enforcer."

Anne nods in agreement, the Dent brothers would be good for the team, Curly and Bear. "What would we tell Rocko? We would have to put Carl in charge, Rocko is just too stupid, I hate to say it, but he is."

Nick winces, "Yeah I know but he is loyal, we know we can trust him, we have been working together for a while now. We tell him that Carl is really good at math, so he will run the bagging, counting and inventory. Tell Rocko that he in charge of enforcement, we act like he is kind of the boss of Bear, but tell him not to push Bear around. We have Curly tell Bear not to do anything that Rocko says unless he checks with Curly."

Anne gets up and gets two more beers, "okay, so what about getting the business set up, we need a plan?"

Nick picks up the beer gesturing towards Anne, "I have been thinking about that, Hunter's wife Caroline hates the range." He chuckles, "I think she hates Hunter. The business does okay, I order the gear and supplies and do inventory. Last year I told him I could put the receipts and expenses all one the computer for him."

Anne smiles, "clever, so you can see how much money he is making."

"That's right, he is probably personally making thirty thousand a year from the shop and range. From the drugs I am guessing, he is making close to a hundred thousand a year. I know his wife doesn't know about the drug business or the money. He is afraid to launder the money through the business, stupid of him it would not be hard. He has a personal safe in the warehouse, he must have the combination written down somewhere in the shop."

"I know he has a bank in Harrisburg she doesn't know about where he squirrels some of that money away. For the drug business, there is another safe there is usually fifty thousand in cash, up to a hundred before a run over to Philly. Anyway, his wife knows I help him with the accounting and inventory for the range and shop and she has seen me several times. After Hunter is dead, we wait a few weeks and I offer to manage the place for her and she gets the profits, just pay me a small salary. A good deal for her, she doesn't have to work and she gets money to live."

"I get it, we can give her thirty grand a year or so for a few years, while we bank the big money from the drug business. We get into that safe he has; you need to find the combination. We have some serious money in two or three years."

"That's what I'm thinking."

Anne giggles, "smart babe, smart. Let's talk through it again taking Hunter down, him and deputy Martin. He is always parkin down the road from the range when he has morning patrol. You said you have to slide in the back way so he does not see when you make a morning run to Hunter's."

"We have a big run to Philly coming up, the boss and his people know me, let's do this after that run, so we have a full inventory. They will still do business with me when we take down Hunter. We wait a few days and next time Martin is on morning rotation, we put the plan in motion, he parks in that big gravel area where the farmers market used to be. We work our plan around Martin being there and Hunter waiting for me in the shop."

Anne nods, "I come out of the woods, just in front of Martin's car, I turn and look at him, I yell out stop him!"

Nick smiles, "I come out of the woods behind you with a metal pipe, you are screaming Nick don't do it! Martin jumps out draws his gun down on me, no time to call it in on the radio."

Anne chuckles, "I am moving away his eyes are focused on you, then I pop him right in chest with the 9 mil."

"Yeah, but before you shoot, glance down the road the direction out of town, I will be watching to make sure no one is coming the other way. Martin goes down, we put the body in his car, and park it back behind the range on the east side out of view. Hunter will not see us coming, he will be inside the warehouse waiting for me to give him our cash count and pick up some more bags. I pop Hunter with the deputies gun, we get Martins body inside. We have to make it look real, they can tell if someone shot a gun, from the gunpowder."

Anne grins her eyes wide open, "we wipe the prints from both guns. We put the 9 mil in Hunters hand, squeeze his finger on the trigger shooting against the wall, like he missed the deputy once. Put the deputies gun back in his hand and shoot it again, shooting Hunter with it again, just for good measure."

Nick nods, "make sure we have the bodies laid out in the right, spots. Looks like Martin came into the warehouse, maybe thinking there was a break in. Looks like Martin surprises Hunter, and Martin sees the drugs and money out on the table. Hunter shoots and misses, Martin returns fire and hits Hunter. Hunter shoots again hitting the deputy, the deputy shoots Hunter one more time. When the cops get there, they find the money, drugs and the bodies, but we take the big money with us and stash it somewhere."

Anne smiles with a wild look of excitement. "My mom's house in Mechanicsburg, she is drunk out of her mind most of the time, I can put it up in attic, she is talking to me again. It's all coming together babe, Bonnie and Clyde, born again."


Chapter Twenty Nine

Nick Shirley hates these drives over to Philadelphia; he likes meeting the distributor and doing business with them. Two hours each way in the car with Graham is miserable, the guy only talks about two things, what a bitch his wife is and his latest hunting kill. The guy loves to hunt. They are about halfway there on interstate seventy-six, Nick is driving Graham's SUV.

Graham starts in, "Let me tell you, boy you haven't hunted till you take a deer down with a bow, yes sir."

Nick reaches down and slides the volume up on the music, the wireless ear plugs were a good investment. Graham's voice is just a dull chatter in the background.

Less than two miles back Clay Buck is following, he does not need to see them. He is tracking both of them from software Baker loaded onto their mobile phones. He also knows the distributors building is in a warehouse district north of the Schuykill River, not far from where 276 crosses the river. There is a big train yard for commercial freight, he scouted the place before for Marsh Creek. He needs to confirm it is the same place he tracked down last year and he needs to get additional surveillance pictures. He also decided he will finish business here in Morristown if things checkout, changed circumstances have altered his schedule a bit. Improvise, adapt and overcome; that is part of field work, he learned that long ago in the military.

                   *******


Randy Cavallo is looking out the window onto the river, somebody should clean these windows, he chuckles. Who is going to do that? The rent on this place was reasonable, the old brick warehouse, has electricity and water, it wasn't fancy but it was functional. He sits back down at the small desk in the office he has on the second floor, his guys call it the penthouse.

The door opens, "boss, the two from Cliffside, near Harrisburg are here. You want to meet us in the counting room?"

Cavallo looks at his watch, "those two are always on time, yeah I will be right there, thanks Herbie."

Cavallo walks down the hall to a large room with a reinforced door, two large safes and a big table. His main enforcer, sitting in a chair just outside, "Gaspipe, how they hanging this morning?"

"Good boss, hanging good."

Cavallo walks in, "Hunter and Clyde, right on time gentlemen, no change in prices did you give Herbie your shopping list today same as what we agreed to last week?"

Graham Moore nods, "yes sir, he has the list, same as agreed to last week."

Herbie hands the list to Cavallo to review, Cavallo looks down the list of opioids and various meth formulations, and the quantities. "Okay this is what we agreed to, Clyde you must be carrying the money in that bag, let Herbie run it through the machines."

Clyde brings the bag and puts it on the large table, opens it and puts the bundles of money on the table. Herbie takes the wrappers off and runs the money through a counting machine, bundle after bundle.

Less than fifty yards away someone is on a cell tower, on the small maintenance platform, clicking away with a high-powered zoom lens. Clay Buck sighs, wishing they would clean those windows. He has an earpiece listening to the discussion in the counting room, turning on the microphone on Graham Moore's mobile phone.

Herbie finishes, "every dollar is there boss."

"Okay, get the merchandise bagged for our friends."

Clyde looks at Cavallo, "would it be okay if I helped?"

Cavallo nods, "sure thing, Herbie show Clyde here what he can do, Hunter you and me can wait in the office."

                   *******

Cavallo is ready to call it a day, he stops by the counting room. "Herbie, everybody gone from downstairs?"

"Yeah, boss we are done with collections and distribution, everyone is gone for the day, just me and Gaspipe."

"Good, I am headed home, you secure everything right."

"You got it boss."

Herbie double checks both vaults are locked, "head on home Gaspipe, I will secure the counting room door."

Herbie heads down the stairs, gets out his keys, and locks the front door. He does not see Randy Cavallo's car is in the dark alley next door. Cavallo parks in the warehouse lot right next to where Herbie parks. Herbie gets in his car and drives away.

Cavallo is sitting in the driver's seat, a gun the back of his head and duct tape across his mouth. Clay Buck pushes the gun into the back of his head, "get out, don't try and run, I just want some of your money and your stash, not all of it I promise."

Clay Buck uses Cavallo's keys to open the front door, they step inside the door he takes the duct tape off of his mouth. Cavallo isn't going to come after him and if he does Buck will crack a couple of his ribs. "Okay second floor, the room with the tables and vaults."

Cavallo punches the code into the counting room door lock, then then opens the two vaults. Buck looks into the vaults, "how much cash on hand?"

"Probably two hundred and seventy five thousand, plus or minus a thousand."

Buck nods, "okay count out a hundred thousand in cash on the table there for me and about a third of your inventory on the table, that's all I need. I told you I wasn't going to take everything."

Cavallo finishes laying the drugs and money on the table, Buck comes closer, "okay hands together behind your back, I am going to bag my stuff up and I do not want you chasing me."

Buck puts the flex cuffs around Cavallo's wrists, "okay on your knees over there facing the wall while I bag up my take."

Cavallo gets on his knees he can here the guy bagging the money from the table into the duffle bag. Buck looks around the room, both vaults are open, money and drugs inside and Cavallo's fingerprints all over the drugs on the table.

"Okay man, I'm out of here." Buck moves quietly taking the small twenty-two out of the backpack, single gunshot to the back of Cavallo's' head. Buck turns off the light, "told you I wasn't going to take it all."


Chapter Thirty

Janet is working late, she goes to the internal VICAP website and clicks on Pennsylvania, then goes to Philadelphia metro. She sees the header, homicide narcotics distributor. She clicks on the link and reads the summary, major distributor Randy Cavallo's execution-style in his warehouse, street name Chopper. He started in motorcycle gangs years ago. She scans through the crime scene description. She clicks on initial assessment, professional style execution, drugs and cash left behind to generate media interest. FBI narcotics is tracking as suspected supplier or competitor trafficking murder.

Janet knows Louise's theory, stopping rural drug distribution, she clicks on the map looking at the spot Andrew Baker has taken pictures this summer, ridges, forest and low mountains west of Mechanicsburg Pennsylvania. She has geotagged several of Bakers pictures, Cliffside is where they would hit, someone bringing drugs over from Cavallo in Philadelphia. The town matches the profile, six thousand people, rural and overdose deaths of young people the last several years. Maybe the narcotics people have it wrong, maybe Louise was right. They still haven't found any supplier doing this. She sighs, but Louise left. She turns off her computer and heads home.

                   *******

Dan looks up Janet is at his door, "you are the early bird these days Janet, what do you need?"

"I want to go to Cliffside Pennsylvania."

Dan has a puzzled look, "Okay, well talk to Stan, you know to go through the chain of command, he manages the priorities of your teams cases."

"There is no case, Louise closed it, there was a drug distributor just killed in Philadelphia. I am sure Andy Baker was in Cliffside earlier this summer, I want to find him and his partner. At least see if Louise was right."

Dan's expression hardens, "No absolutely not, that's the same damn thing Louise tried last summer, she took all of that leave and went to Potter's Peak. She never told me, but I am sure that is what she did and what did she get out of it! Nothing but frustration from an obsession. No Janet, work your cases through Stan."

Janet frowns shaking her head, "What happened to you and Louise? You used to always support her. You know I have some leave saved, and I can go where the hell I want on my time off if you are not going to support us."

Dan watches as Janet walks away, he thinks of Louise wondering if Janet is going to go down the same path.


                   *******

Chris Tower is sitting at a picnic table in the back corner of the park, he waits for deputy Martin and Glover to drive away, "idiots they don't think I can see them with them cheap binoculars." He puts his red ball cap back on the signal that he is open for business, he sees two college kids jump up and head his way. "Good spot, this is a good spot."

Tower wraps up for the day, walking through town. He stops in the convenience store and grabs a big bottle of beer, keeps it in the bag and drinks as he walks. He is worried something is going on with Bonnie and Clyde, he has seen Nick talking to Carl Dent a few times. They better not try and get rid of me, that bitch Anne she is probably whispering in Nick's ear, always calling me a dimwit. He gets close to the trailer park; hmm they are shooting again. He finishes his beer and tosses the bottle to the ground. "Hey you two are getting serious about this shootin."

Nick turns around looking at Chris sits on the big log behind them, "never know when the skill might become important Rocko."

Nick finishes loading bullets into another magazine and hands it to Anne, "okay do it again."

Anne drops the empty magazine out, pops in the new magazine and she racks the slide. She puts the gun in the holster in the pit of her back and pulls her shirt down over the gun. "How does it look?"

Nick nods, "can't see anything."

Rocko watches, Anne quickly pulls the gun from behind her back and fires two round, dead center on the target they have set up. "That is wicked good."

Anne turns around with a smile, "a few more times before dinner."

None of them see Clay Buck in the corner of the abandoned Ceramic Factory watching them through binoculars.

                   *******

Nick and Anne are in the trailer; he turns off the television and they sit at the kitchen table. "I checked the weather, no rain so we don't need to worry about that, Martin is on morning patrols, he has been down the street from the range every morning. I have a pickup and cash drop with Hunter in the morning. Your shooting is good, we have the combinations to both safes. I think tomorrow is the day, you ready?"

Anne smiles, "oh yeah, I am ready, no drinking tonight tomorrow is all business. What do we tell Rocko after everything goes down?"

"Once we are done at the shop, it will be a little more than an hour when Russ comes in to open the range with Candy. They will see the back door to the warehouse open not long after they get there, so within an hour or two all hell is going to break loose. We need to play it with Rocko like a regular day but tell him we want to get an early start. We take the spot by the post office; we will be able to see the cops when they come to the range. When we see them, we send a text to Rocko the cops are at the range, stop doing business, hide the product and hang out. If the cops talk to us about the killing, we say we know the dude, we deny selling and when they ask us where we were today, we woke up and have been hanging out."

She nods, "and if the police keep asking us about Hunter and drugs, we deny knowing anything about it."

"That's right, deny it, we don't know anything about Hunter's drug business. We wait for things to die down in a few weeks, we tell Rocko to just hang loose. Then we pick up with setting up our business with Hunters wife and bring Curly and Bear on board ."

"Yeah, okay we need a good night's sleep, we are gettin up early."