But as I double-tap my brakes, and pull into the boat landing, I can’t help but send up a little prayer that Dakota and I get out of this safely.
Dakota and I park over to the side of the boat landing, and get out. He comes around the side of his SUV and meets me in the middle.
“Do you have any idea how to get there from here?” he asks, pulling his phone out of his pocket and checking the time.
“Yeah, I’ve been out here a few times with my dad and grandfather. When I was a teenager I’d roam all around these fields. Its been a while, but I can remember how to get there from here. It’s going to be a bit of a walk, like I told Director Drake, but we should be able to get there and have plenty of time to walk around.”
Dakota looks around. “We just need to make sure we have nothing reflective on.”
Both of us take a second looking at each other, making sure we won’t be able to be seen in the dark. “We shouldn’t wear jackets, could be cold, but that’s a bit more noise that we won’t be able to control.”
When we’re ready, we turn our radios down and take off at a brisk walk toward the property. For a while, neither one of us say anything, but then the silence gets to be too much for what appears to be both of us. We start talking at the same time, but I stop, and indicate that Dakota can continue.
“So tell me, where exactly were you last night? I did run that plate.”
Son of a bitch, then he knows exactly who I was with. “Why are you even asking me if you know who owns the car?”
“I guess I’m just wondering why you were with Magnolia, and you’re kind of keeping it a secret.”
There are a bunch of things I wish I could say to him. The number one thing telling him that Magnolia spent the night at my house, but I’m willing to keep her secret as much as I can. “She’s got a lot going on right now,” I try and play it off.
“The entire world has a lot going on right now,” he laughs.
The flippant way he says those words pisses me off. “There’s a lot more going on in our little town than you know. Magnolia did stay at my house last night, but it wasn’t what you’re making it out to be.”
He holds up his hands. “I’m not accusing you of anything. I was just asking. The person you’re going to have to look out for is your sister.”
Don’t I fucking know it? Molly will have my head on a platter, serving it to my mother before I can even say hello to her. “Trust me, I’m aware, but I saw Magnolia last night, and I’m willing to believe what she said to me.”
“I believe you, you don’t have to prove it to me.”
I’m wondering why he’s so interested in what I’m doing with Magnolia, but I don’t ask because we’re getting closer to the property. “I’m not trying to prove anything, but we’ll talk about this later. Right up there is where we can cross over onto the property.” Together we walk to the fence, and carefully go over it. “Once we get up here, we’ll make a left, and then we’ll need to walk about a mile. At that point, we should be where we need to in order to get the pictures and videos.”
Dakota whispers as we make our way through the field. “You know I’m not big on hunting, I can do it, but I’ve never paid attention to it unless I absolutely had to. Why would someone be breeding deer?”
“Because they want their property to be one that hunters want to come to. They’re probably selling packages, and those packages are worth a lot of money. If there isn’t a chance for that hunter to get a buck, which white tail deer will all but guarantee, then they won’t come back. Which means there won’t be a reason for people to spend money. The people who own the property want it to be a premiere destination with plenty of opportunities for just that,” I explain as we pick through the undergrowth. “They’re hoping that hunters will post to social media and tell their friends. The problem is those deer carry Chronic Wasting Disease which is very dangerous. More likely than not, they’re breeding not just for their own herd, but for others. They’ll want to take those deer and sell them to other hunting properties. It’s prion based, so it’s very dangerous.”
“I think I heard about this before. It can decimate a herd.”
“It can, and it will disrupt the entire ecosystem. So we’ve got to figure out what the fuck they’re doing. These are federal laws they’re going to break, along with state ones. Chances are they’ve put a ton of money into this and they’re not willing to just let it go. We’re going to have a fight on our hands.”
We’re quiet again when we see the barns in the distance. They’re not too far from the main house, so the owners are definitely keeping an eye on everything. Once we get close enough to the barn, I motion for Dakota to watch for cameras.
There’s one in the corner of the building that turns to gather video of the entire expanse of space. Once we see that it’s turned into the other direction, we hurry past and I text the electricity company, who has agreed to cut the power for thirty minutes.
When I get the affirmative that they’ve done what they said they’re going to do. We’re plunged into darkness. Dakota and I immediately start to search around the property. In the corner, I think I can see what appears to be a stall with hay, which is not unusual in a barn. What is unusual is there looks to be more than one animal in the stall. “I’m going over here,” I whisper to Dakota, and then sprint across the floor.
Once I get there, I peek over into the stall, and that’s when I see around five baby white tail deer. “Fucking gotcha,” I grab my phone out of my pocket and take some pictures, and some video.
Checking my watch, I see that we have around five minutes before the lights come back. So I quickly walk around, taking more pictures and videos. When it shows that we have about another minute left, I motion for Dakota that we need to go.
He nods, and together we run out of the barn, toward the cover of the tree line, until we can make it back into the woods.
When we’ve gotten far enough away that we feel as if we can talk normally, I turn to him. “Did you get anything?”
“Yeah, there were three stalls full of baby deer. What did you see?”
“Same thing, but there was only one stall on my side. They’re definitely doing some shit they shouldn’t be. We’ll need to go back to the station and dock our body cams, along with our phones.”
