Stars & Stripes (Cut & Run 6)

Ty rolled his eyes. “No pressure.”

They gathered in the drawing room to brainstorm and fill Ty in on the details. Ty and Zane sat on the edge of Beverly’s desk, their shoulders brushing.

“Have you had any land grabs in the area? Redistricting? Minerals, oil? Any reason to try to run you off your ranch?”

“No, nothing like that,” Harrison answered.

“The land is the only thing I can think of that makes sense,” Ty said, casting a troubled look at Zane.

“You want to take a look at it?” Zane asked.

Ty nodded, so Zane retrieved a map of the area from a bookcase along the wall and laid it out on the desk, smoothing it as they all gathered around it. The family knew it by heart, but Ty bent over the map and studied it closely. He pointed at a square in the middle. “This is the big house, right?”

“We don’t call it that,” Beverly snapped. She’d made it abundantly clear that she thought this was all a waste of time.

“The large structure in which you live, then?” Ty said, one eyebrow raised. Zane had to look away so Beverly wouldn’t see him smile, and Annie and Mark both coughed as they examined the carpet.

Zane cleared his throat and picked up a pen. He drew a circle around the house, then several other spots on the map. “This is the main house. The guesthouse where we’re staying is here, and this is the entrance off the main road.”

“Okay. Where did your dad get shot?”

“It was out near the old pump house,” Harrison answered.

Zane traced his finger along the line of the map and found the general area where the old shed was that housed the ancient spring and pump. He marked it with an X. What was Ty seeing, looking at it from a fresh angle? Zane could trace the lines and ridges of the property with his eyes closed, but that wasn’t always the best way to find something you were missing.

“Pump house? Is there still water there?”

“No,” Mark said. “The underwater river that fed it has moved on.”

“Did it leave behind caverns? Pockets of open space or caves?”

Mark and Annie shared a glance. “Something like Hamilton Pool?” Annie asked.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a swimming hole,” Zane said. “Huge collapsed cavern from an old underground river. Dripping Springs, the town I told you about? There are water features all over the place.”

“So it’s possible there’s something out there under the map, somewhere dark and cold.”

Zane met Ty’s eyes with a hint of pride and nodded. “Perfect for temporary storage in the Texas heat.”

Ty nodded. “Do you have a bigger map? One that shows the surrounding areas and the water?”

“I’ll get it,” Mark offered. He went to the bookshelves and came back with a topo map that he laid on top of the first one.

Ty bent over it, staring at it long enough for the group to grow restless.

“What is this green area here, on the edge of the map?” Ty finally asked, brushing his finger over the spot. “It passes within a few miles of where he was shot. Is it state land? A national park or something?”

Zane sucked air through his teeth and clucked his tongue. “You’re not going to like it.”

Ty eyeballed him, then the others. “Why, what is it?”

“That’s the animal sanctuary,” Beverly said with a sniff. She’d never been a fan of the place.

“It’s the what?” Ty asked.

“It’s a big cat sanctuary,” Annie said. She edged closer and looked at the map. “It’s been there for about fifteen years.”

“Big cat?” Ty repeated, his voice going flat.

Zane was torn between wanting to laugh and wrap Ty up in a hug.

“Yeah. They take in exotic animals that have been abused or abandoned or rescued. Most of them are big cats, though I think they take in other types when they can.”

Ty stared at her, his jaw tightening. “Why?”

“The big cat population in the states almost outnumbers those in the wild. They need somewhere to go. There are dozens of sanctuaries all across the country, a lot of them right here in Texas.”

“Why so many here?”

“Well, because Texas laws about exotic animals are very loose. For the most part, they’re awful, but it means the sanctuaries can move freely where they can’t in other states. The cats need all the help they can get.”

Ty glared at Annie for a minute, then looked back at the map. “I hate Texas.”

Annie leaned toward Ty. “Sorry?”

“Nothing. So, all this green on the map here is the second circle of hell?”

“What?”

“Fur and . . . stripes and . . . teeth.”

“Yes,” Zane managed to answer without laughing.

Ty frowned hard. “Doesn’t make any sense.”

“What doesn’t?”

“Well, I was assuming your land was being used either as a storage dump or a delivery highway, and if someone found a cavern down there, it’s perfect. But it’s so damn out of the way, it reads more like a point of origin than anything. If this section that abutted it was park land or some other sort of protected area, that’s where I’d think the factory would be.”

“Factory?” Beverly asked, mouth twisted as if she hated to be curious but was anyway.

“He means if it was drugs,” Zane said. “A protected place like a national park would be a good place to manufacture them.”

“Yes,” Ty said, eyes still glued to the map. “The same goes for human trafficking.”

“We’re a bit far from the border for that,” Zane said.

“It doesn’t work, either. There’s no reason to use your ranch to make anything, and certainly not to stash live bodies en route. It’s too remote, too far from the trade routes, and too well-utilized.”

“Trade routes. You’re talking like this is some sort of seafaring business.”

“It pretty much is,” Ty said to Beverly. “Trucks are like ships, taking cargo all over the country. Very profitable. But they take the same routes because they know the ins and outs. They don’t stray to new territory often. It’s too risky.”

“That’s horrid.”

“That’s what Zane deals with, Mother,” Annie said, her voice cold.

Beverly cast a glance at her daughter before brushing off the admonition. “If it is neither drugs nor this . . . human trafficking, as you call it, and you believe it wasn’t a mere case of trespassing, then what do you propose it is?”