“Maybe that was the original plan and something led him to change his mind,” she said. “Or maybe that was only a distraction.”
“You saw all the partying going on at the ranch tonight,” George said. “Shane provided all the booze and urged everyone to have a good time at his expense.”
“I think it was so people would be slower to react tomorrow,” Stacy said. “A lot of them will probably still be sleeping off the night’s excess when the bombs explode.”
“We don’t know that Greer was headed to the resort,” Anthony said.
“We will if we go to the resort and check,” Stacy said.
“As agent in charge, I could overrule you,” he said.
“You could.” Connor was driving and couldn’t see Stacy’s face, but he heard the steel in her voice. “But do you really want to risk hundreds of lives just so you can throw your weight around?”
Anthony said nothing, which was an answer in itself.
Stacy faced forward again.
Connor rested one hand on her thigh. “Where should we head first?” he asked.
“The plan I saw had Lifts One and Four marked.”
“Both are four-passenger lifts that take people from the base area up the mountain,” Connor said. “Lifts that are almost always busy. Lift Four is where the lift tech found the fake bomb yesterday.”
“The resort is private property,” Anthony said. “We should have a warrant. And a team assembled. It doesn’t make sense for the four of us to rush in to confront these people. Especially since two of you are civilians and one of you is injured.”
“I know how to handle myself,” George said. “And Connor was an Army Ranger.”
“And I know the resort better than any of you,” Connor added.
“You’re welcome to get a warrant and assemble a team,” Stacy said. “But we can’t afford to wait around.”
“We could go in after Shane leaves,” Anthony said. “Bring in a crew to disarm the bombs.”
“We may have to do that,” she said. “But what if we’re wrong about the bombs being on a time delay? What if Shane decided to aim for maximum property destruction instead of killing a lot of people? He blows up everything tonight.”
“I don’t think Greer is a career criminal,” George said. “He’s a rancher who wants his family property back and thinks this is the way to get it.”
“I was told you were sent here to track down terrorists associated with the Freedom Fighters,” Anthony said.
“I thought so, too,” Stacy said. “But I haven’t been able to find any connection. None of the people we’ve met match any of the Freedom Fighters we’ve been able to identify. Shane Greer seems to be in charge of everything, and like Dad says, it’s not a professional organization. It’s more…more what someone thinks this kind of operation should be like—holding a big campout for a bunch of strangers and holding bomb practice in a gravel pit. He even put ads in area papers to recruit people. A real terrorist organization would do a better job of covering its tracks.”
“If the Freedom Fighters aren’t responsible for this, the FBI should never have been involved,” Anthony said.
“What about the stolen cast boosters?” Connor asked. “They were stolen from Forest Service property leased by the resort. Doesn’t that warrant federal law enforcement involvement?”
“Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms could have handled it,” Anthony said. “We don’t need to be out here freezing to death.”
“I don’t care about jurisdiction,” Stacy said. “We’re aware of a crime, and we need to stop the criminals.”
Connor turned in to the resort’s main entrance. The sign of SkyCrest Resort still glowed with garlands of white twinkle lights, but the parking lots and roads were empty and silent. “We’re here now,” Connor said. “The rest of you can do what you want, but I’m going to try to stop Shane and his buddies.” Bypassing the main parking lot, he drove onto the cobbles of the plaza, ordinarily closed to traffic.
“Where are you going?” Anthony asked.
“Lift One. And we’re not the first. There are tire tracks in the snow ahead of us.” His headlights swept across the tread pattern. This vehicle, too, was headed for the ski lift.
Stacy scooted forward to peer out the windshield as they approached the silent ski lift. “I don’t see Shane’s truck.”
Connor parked in front of ski patrol headquarters. “Tire tracks lead around back, where the snowmobiles are parked,” he said.
