Page 30 of Under Fire in Big Sky

“Guess it’s the hard way,” Trujillo said. “Call your boss and let him know you won’t make it in to work for the next couple of days.”

Olivia was done keeping quiet. She didn’t have days to waste playing Trujillo’s game. “Did you know about the black-footed ferrets?” she asked point-blank, and Trujillo gave her a narrowed-eye glance that could strip paint off a wall.

Maben stiffened. His gaze lowered.

Yeah, he knew. “They tried to kill me last night. Locked me in a room with Donald Dempsey and set the place on fire. If not for him,” she said, hiking a thumb at Eli, “I would be dead. If you don’t help us, sooner or later someone is going to die. In the name of New Dawn Revolution.”

“Dempsey died this morning,” Trujillo said.

The news sent a chill over Olivia. “I—I thought he was recovering.”

Eli put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

“Complications. He suffered a heart attack,” Trujillo said. “The terrorists you organized and trained, Maben, are wanted for murder.”

Gripping the counter, Maben bowed his head and hunched his shoulders.

“You knew they were planning something,” Olivia said, and Maben squeezed his eyes shut. “If we find footage of any NDR member entering the senior center while you were inside, or pumping gas while you were on shift, or eating at a nearby table in the diner, it won’t be hard to argue that you maintained ties with them, in violation of the terms of your parole. I don’t think you’d ever condone violence, or the methods they used last night, but if you don’t give us something to go on right now, you’ll end up back in prison.”

“When I was released from jail, I stayed away from them. I did. The controversy over the land deal and the endangered species happened while I was locked up. Eventually news spread about the grand opening of the Rising Rock Resort. I tried to ignore it. Then NDR sent that white box with the bloody handprint on it to the hotel.”

“It was paint,” Olivia clarified, “made to look like blood.”

“That’s when I started hearing talk that NDR was planning something. Possibly violent. Members were leaving the group because of it. But for every one person they lost, they gained two more.”

“Heard talk where?” Eli asked.

“At the gas station. The senior center. The diner. The post office. Whispers everywhere.”

Olivia stepped closer to him. “Why didn’t you do something to stop it?”

“I did.” Maben looked up at her, eyes wide with distress, face flush. “I passed word through one of the waitresses at the diner that I needed to talk to Audrey. Discreetly. Someplace public where I thought I could get away with a brief discussion.”

“Name of the waitress?” Trujillo asked and Maben told him.

“Audrey Carter, Dempsey’s assistant from the hotel?” Olivia asked, keeping her tone soft, and Maben nodded. “Why her?”

“She has a gift for getting close to those in power. I figured if anyone knew who was leading the group now, she would, and she’d probably be their right hand. The way she was with me. And I was right.”

Trujillo took notes. “When and where did you meet?”

“On Monday. At the Town Pump. We only talked for a minute. Maybe two at the most when she came to the register to pay for gas. I begged her to convince whoever was in charge to call it off. I didn’t want anyone in NDR to have blood on their hands. It went against what we believed in.”

“How did she respond?” Eli asked.

“She warned me to stay out of it. Called me an old man with antiquated, ineffective ideas. Told me Shepherd was calling the shots. He was finally going to get them results.”

“Do you know anything about Shepherd?” Trujillo turned the page in his pad. “Full name? What does he look like? Where can we find him?”

Maben shrugged. “Never met him, but Audrey mentioned he has serious training. From the military. She also said something that gave me chills. Told me what they were planning for the resort was the birth of a new dawn and all the things that were going to follow would change things for the better.”

“Sounds like they have big plans,” Olivia said. “Plans that are going to get a lot of people hurt or killed.”

Grimacing, Maben nodded. “I got the same notion. It scared me.”

“Heard any more whispers about what they might be planning next?” Eli asked.

“No.”