“A good idea,” came the reply.
“Hopefully, she will have no clue about our true aspirations here.” He looked around with disgust. “This town is almost dead. The local law enforcement is a single man and a few deputies. They will be no threat at all.” He smiled. “We will have a good headquarters here, where we can distribute the product all over this area. It will also assist us in transporting more product into Dallas. And the Big Spur will be ours eventually. One way or the other.” He hesitated. “You need not share this with Velasquez,” he added with a cold smile.
The other man nodded. “Understood.”
Josie, blissfully unaware of being discussed, had gone to bed. She worried about JJ and hoped he was settling into his new home.
She had an unexpected call of her own when she’d just dozed off.
“Yes?” she drawled, half-asleep.
“Josie, is that you?”
It was her father. He never called her. She sat up. “Dad?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Listen, I just got a great offer for the ranch. You don’t want it and I’m too busy to keep up with it. I’m going to sell it.”
“With Mama’s grave in the backyard?” was her first thought.
“Oh, that. Well, we can have it moved to the Methodist graveyard. It won’t be a problem.”
“What about my palomino, and my appaloosa?”
“I’ll board them at the local stable for you.”
She was seeing a century of history go up in smoke, and therewasn’t a thing she could do about it. She hadn’t the money for even a down payment on it, and she couldn’t go up to Wyoming and run it herself.
“Who wants it?” she asked quietly.
“It’s some fancy Eastern outfit,” he said. “They’re going to put a retirement complex out here with its own shopping center and suchlike things.”
Her heart was breaking, but she kept her voice calm. “I see. Isn’t it a little far away from civilization for that sort of thing?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I’m tired of trying to run a ranch and live my life.”
“Yes, I know that.”
“You don’t have to sound like I’m selling parts of my body,” he muttered.
“Really? I’d be less unwilling if you were,” she returned.
There was a surprised gasp. “Well, I guess it’s just up to me, then.”
“I guess it is. I can’t buy it. Why should I care that a hundred years of tradition is being sold out from under me? What a silly idea, right?”
There was a very long pause.
“Just do what you please, Dad,” she said finally. “I don’t care anymore.”
She hung up, turned over and closed her eyes. If she cried, there was nobody to know, or care.
A little ways away, a man closed up his equipment and shook his head.Poor kid, he thought. Not much of a father. But then, it wasn’t his job to pass judgment on people, just to listen to private conversations and make sure they didn’t concern the boss.
Two mornings later, Raines came to pick Josie up. She hadn’t expected the call, but she was ready when he arrived.
“Where are we going?” Josie asked Raines as he pulled out of the motel parking lot.
“Boss wants us to go across the border and talk to a high-level contact about the shipment.”
