Chapter Twenty-Four

As Marius got to the door, he saw Jet on the floor near the examining table and Jim was equally prone at his feet. Both were knocked out and both had blood coming from their head wounds. Tango was on his phone as Dallas and Marius looked over the men. Jet was coming too just as Tango began to talk. "This is Tango, and we need some people here, now. We're at the vet's cabin and office."

Dallas went to his friend and told him, "Don't move. You got hit on the head and by the blood, it was pretty hard."

"Concussion. How are the others?"

Dallas helped him to sit up, but asked Marius, "Where's Felix?"

Marius got up and went through the door to the house, looking around quickly from room to room, but Felix was nowhere to be found. When he got back to Dallas and the others, he said, "I don't see any signs of anyone else."

Jet groaned, "We were getting some bandages, Jim and me, from the storage in the back. I only had large ones in here. I also had antibiotics in the back refrigerator. We got them and were heading back in here, then bam, everything went black."

"Felix is the next one missing. Mother fucker."

"Well, we know who's doing it," Tango said. "But where is he? Where did he come from?"

Dallas went out to look around to see if he could find Felix, and he also called a few of his trusted hands to help in the search. Within the hour, he was back at the house, discouraged. Pulling Marius aside, he whispered, "Avery and the boys are going to stay out looking for Felix, but it's dark as fuck. We found some tracks heading east of here, but he had a four-wheeler in the trees. He must have taken Felix on it. Didn't see any sign of them besides that and a few footprints in the snow."

"They know to stay together?"

"They do. Yeah. This just made it more real for all of them. They're not scared, they're pissed."

Jet was able to care for Jim after his own wound was cared for by Tango. Tango called in the others, and soon, Marius was staring into the dark eyes of Dante Carrillo, and Dante was not happy. "Who is this man? I must know everything as soon as we can find out."

Dallas said to him, "We have his application at the office. I didn't see anything that was a red flag, but why would I? It's an application for a ranch hand. We don't exactly do background checks."

"We do," Dante said. To his bodyguard, Bruno, he said, "Get Neil on it. He collected the information on all the new guys."

"Right, boss."

As Bruno walked off while taking out his phone, Dante turned to them and asked, "Did anyone know him?"

Dallas shook his head. "No. He said he was from Texas and wanted a change of scenery. I interviewed him like three days ago."

"And what was he doing here, at the vet's office?"

Marius swallowed as he answered, "I…beat the fuck out of him."

"Did you know?"

"No, no, of course not. I'd have done more than beat him. He was abusing a horse. It… came at a bad time. Let's go into the house and talk if Jet's okay with that."

"Please," Jet said.

They all walked into the house and Jet showed them to the living room, stoking the fire as Marius sat close to Dallas. Dante stared at him, waiting, and he told Dante about the body they found. "We were going to tell you right away, and let you decide what we should do next, but right now, he's up there, no signs of us anywhere."

Dante's jaw was clenching, and Marius knew he was about to blow. "This man is seriously asking for the worst kind of death."

"I can't hear this," Jet said. "I am not opposed, especially hearing why he came to be beaten like he was. But, please, if you're going to discuss killing people, I need to go to another room and put on some very loud music."

"I'm sorry, Jet. We…we might be discussing things like that. I hate to chase you out of your own living room."

"Say no more," he said. "There's beer in the fridge, coffee ready to brew, just hit the button. I think I have some scotch in the cabinet if anyone wants something stronger."

As soon as he was gone, Tango said, "If the cops know he worked for us, they'll want to interview everyone we've hired. I know a few of them have sketchy pasts, but nothing like this. Still, we're likely to lose more people by quitting if they're under some kind of suspicion."

"We're not calling the police. Marius, this cannot look like it happened here. I know, with forensics, that will be difficult, but that is why I have smart people working for me. Then we begin to search for this…man."

"Alex Joseph, Dante," Marius told him. "I'm on all of it."

Dante took a call and when he saw it was from Neil, he answered, "What have you got?"

He placed the phone on speaker, and they all heard Neil's discoveries. "Dante, he is an enigma. Very basic past on paper, raised by a single mother, orphaned at a young age, but left an inheritance of some kind, enough to get him through school. His mother died when he was twelve, and he was sent to a boarding school where he lived until he graduated, second from the last of his class."

"Not very intelligent?"

"No, the teachers all thought he was terribly bright, bordering on genius, but he had other issues that kept him from advancing to where he might have."

Dante was becoming impatient. "And what were those issues?"

"Seems he was quite the bully, and twice they found him…well, hurting animals."

"Don't say another word," Dante said, fuming. "He's a goddamn serial killer?"

"Now, Dante, that is suspicious, I'll give you that," Tango said, "But lots of kids do stupid shit. They don't turn out to be serial killers. What other issues, Neil, does it say?"

"Yeah. He was teased a lot when he first got there for…bedwetting."

Marius watched Dante and Bruno exchange worried glances. "What? What does that mean?"

Bruno and Tango both said, "Trifecta." Bruno went on alone. "The trifecta, as told by the feds, is that a future serial had three marks to hit for there to be a really strong warning. Bedwetting, animal cruelty and arson."

"Well, is two of the trifecta enough?" Marius asked.

Neil said, "It couldn't be proven, but the school records show he was suspected in two fires that occurred in the dorms."

The room went silent, and Dante sighed heavily to break it. "I cannot fucking believe this. Is someone trying to tell me something? I should give this place up?"

Tango shook his head. "I don't know about you all, but I don't give up without a fight."

Marius smiled at him. "We don't either."

"No, we certainly won't," Dante agreed. "It would break Blaine's heart. Joel too, he was excited for this place, and that alone would make Burke want to fight all the harder."

"Damn right," Burke said as he came in. "I knocked, but no one heard me."

"Come, sit, Burke," Dante told him.

"Sorry, I'm late. I got stuck in the damn snow. I'm still not used to country living."

They filled him in on the conversation so far, and he grew angry too. "Dante, you're right. We're too far in now to just quit, and I'm no quitter anyway. I do need to get back to my men, though. While this Cowpokes is being built, there's another that is still opening. It's still summer there."

"Of course, it is," Tango said. "We understand."

Dante nodded and said, "Burke, if you need to leave, we understand completely. Just know, we'll keep you informed of things, but we can't simply call. You understand."

"Sure, I do. Tango's got my encrypted email, one that we use when we're dealing with celebrities. I'll go in two days, as long as the weather holds and a plane can take off. I'll work from there to help. I'm afraid Hunter Westmore is coming with me on the way out of here. And he doesn't know all this yet."

"He's got a husband and child to think of, and Roland's told me he's finished with the plans for the things Hunter was helping with. If he needs more assistance, there are phones and computers."

Dallas looked to Marius as he asked, "Does it feel like to the rest of you that the people are abandoning ship?"

Marius grabbed his hand and held it, then Ruben came over to sit on his lap. "We're not."

"No," Marius agreed. "We're not."

Dante added to the chorus, "All this is doing is bringing up that stubborn streak Blaine calls me on, on the daily. We're not going anywhere. What we are going to do is catch a fucking serial killer."

"This still doesn't clear up the problem with the cops," Neil said. "We could hand it over, but the entire property could be considered a crime scene at this point. At the very least, the woods where the man was killed, the area where that woman, what was her name…Sondra Brooks, was found."

"Not to mention Jet's home, and we're already low on housing," Tango mentioned.

"Are there any connections to the missing people and those we've found dead?" Ruben asked, staring at the phone.

"Not so far as we know, but I'll keep searching. I have programs that the feds would salivate for, of course, but there is only so much to learn from computers. This may take boots on the ground, finding, I don't know, clues?"

"We've got plenty of boots to be on the damn ground," Dallas declared.

Dante lowered his voice and his temper, the caring Marius admired coming through. "How many of the ranch hands and the other construction workers will want to stay, having a man hunting them?"

"We could keep it from them," Ruben suggested.

"Only if we want them all to walk out once they learn of it," Dante explained gently.

The temperament in the room turned gloomier than it had been. Marius felt the resignation from those around him, and he'd never felt that from any of the men there.

"I'll have to tell my sister. I refuse to leave her in the dark. If that gets me fired, so be it."

"Of course, you'll tell your sister, and we'll tell everyone. And, like it or not, we'll have to tell Vic. I'm already making arrangements for her to have all the money she needs at her disposal for campaigning, though I must tell you, all of you are contributing a thousand dollars each, at least on paper."

Dallas said, "I don't think we'll need it. People love her in town. She takes no shit from anyone, owns guns, and walks around with one on her hip unless she's here or home. Believe me, that goes a long way with folks."

"So does Daily," Ruben pointed out.

"He's paid to. Big difference."

Dante said, "Give her a call, Dallas. Put her on speaker. We'll get this done now, and if she insists we tell Daily, then we will call him next, though he won't know about the dead body. That…well, we'll make other plans for him."

Dallas called Vic and asked her if it was okay to place her on speaker after letting her know who all would be speaking to her. She agreed and he set his phone on the table as they heard a gust of wind rattle the windows.

"What you all gathered for? More missin' people?"

"In a way, Vic," Dallas said.

"Vic, my dear, this is Dante Carrillo. We've found out who is kidnapping and killing people."

"Oh, goody. This should be fun," she said sarcastically. "Who is it?"

"One of the new hands," Dallas said. "You met him, I'm sure. Alex Joseph."

"The guy with the two first names, yeah, I met him. Didn't care much for him. He's doing all this?"

"Yes, Vic," Dante confirmed.

"Well, shit. How do you know that?"

As they told her about the debacle at Jet's, she growled a little. "And, Vic, there's more, but better not told on the phone," Marius said.

"Right. Well, if we don't tell Daily anything, and all of a sudden, this stuff comes up if and when I'm elected, people are gonna talk. They're gonna worry. That being said, I think we keep a lot of this off the books. We tell Daily about the row you all had tonight and tell him we suspect Alex Joseph. He'll come and investigate, sure, but it'll be assaults and kidnappings. It won't be more deaths."

Marius looked around the room to see some of the men wincing and others looking to one another as they all thought of the man that lay dead in the woods. He decided to break that silence before Vic grew suspicious. "Got it, Vic, and thank you for all this. We'll let Daily know about the suspect in the morning. We'll make sure they know we suspect Alex of kidnapping too, being we think he took Felix as well. Kidnappings, though, if Daily suspects they've gone out of state, he can call the feds."

Vic snorted. "Daily? Not a chance. We don't like the federal government up here, haven't you heard? If he did that, he'd lose the election so fast, his head would spin."

Dante smiled for the first time that night. "Excellent. I have people in the government, surely, but I like to save my favors, if I can. We'll find him, Vic. We will or we won't have this place any longer. I can't place people in danger."

"I like to hear that, but as far as taking your business elsewhere, this town needs it, this place needs it. Keep doing what you're doing, Mr. Carrillo."

After they joined the search, they combed the land east, finding more tire tracks from the four-wheeler, but they were heading nowhere in particular. "We need a layout of every single cave, old shed, hunting cabins too. You said there were some of those up here, but they didn't get much use anymore."

Dallas nodded to him and said, "They don't, but I know where one is, at least. Sheds? We have a few, yeah, but nothing big enough to hold up in, well, not more than one person, and it would still be tight."

By the time the sun was rising, they were beat. Dallas gave the hands the orders of the day, for those that had gotten sleep, anyway. Marius called Dante, and found out that Daily was again on the warpath.

"He thinks it's very convenient that we"ve lost another man and suddenly came up with a suspect."

"Figures. He wants to pin this on you, Dante, on us. We have to watch that fucker."

"We are. He's being watched closely."

Marius knew what that meant. "Just be careful, Dante. We're still the outsiders here."

"I'm aware, Marius. Take some time with your men this morning, then get some rest. Bruno, Tango and Burke are setting up the search parties. You can go back out with them after you get some sleep."

"Thanks, Dante."

Too wired to sleep, they got to Dallas's house and went straight to the bedroom, but instead of resting, Marius paced, Dallas brooded and Ruben tried hard to be there for them.

He brought them food that was left untouched and beer that was barely sipped. The tension in the room was thick enough to choke them. Ruben took their hands and led them both to the bed, then managed to get them undressed, riding each of them until their minds were finally free of their worries. While he did that, Dallas kissed him with such intensity, his lips would be swollen for days.

After, they lay in the dark, all holding onto one another like they'd fall off the world if their arms loosened. Marius woke early in the morning when the sun was barely cracking through the dark. He managed to get out of bed without waking the others and walked to the window.

The peaks in the distance were white, clean-looking, and beautiful. The land was so big, it didn't seem real.

City blocks that went on for miles didn't prepare him for the hugeness of Montana. The trees were taller, the rocks bigger than semi-trucks that parked in narrow alleys back home to deliver their goods.

Out there in that vastness was the man who was bent on killing others. He'd killed a waitress, one that hadn't done a thing to him, as far as Marius knew. What could a woman like that have done so horribly to deserve the death she received.

That's when it occurred to him. The first death. He left the room and hurried down the steps in bare feet, feeling the bite of cold in the house. He took out his phone and called his cousin, Dex.

"Dimples? What's up? It's fucking early, bud."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I want something checked and I'm hoping you can help. I don't want to give Dante false hope."

"That's a good way to live a little longer. Sure, what do you need?"

"Find out everything you can about Sondra Brooks. She was, as far as we know, anyway, the first death. Maybe there were more, who knows? But that was the first one we found."

"Right! That movie we watched that one rainy weekend in Atlanta. Fuck, we were drunk as hell, but I know what part of the movie you're talking about. The first victim is usually someone close to the killer."

"Right. Exactly, and the exact movie I thought of," he laughed, but even the laughter was tense. "Like I said, the fucker might have killed more before her, but why her, you know? I mean, she's a waitress in a tiny town."

"Could be a kill of opportunity, cuz. Still, we'll look into her. What all do you know about her?"

"Not much, but if you need more, I'll ask Vic, the den mother or whatever she's called. She knew her. And look up Alex Joseph, his family, who they were, all that shit. I know his mother died, but other than that, I don't know much."

"Not much to go on, but I happen to know a computer genius. I'll get on this and let you know what we find."

"Thanks, cousin. I know…I know it's a long shot. Just see what you can find."

Ruben touched his arm, making him jump. "Damn. Sorry, baby."

"Are you okay?"

Taking Ruben in his arms, he held him closely as he whispered, "As long as I'm with the two of you, I'm okay. I'm scared, Ruben, and I'm not trying to be a prick, but I won't let you two out of my sight until this is done, finished."

"How is that being a prick?"

"Didn't figure you'd want me hovering."

Ruben backed off him, laughing. "I wouldn't want one of my hulking, hot boyfriends with me? Why the hell wouldn't I?"

Boyfriend…he'd said it and Marius wouldn't deny it. Ever. "I won't be in the way?"

"Not a chance. In fact, we might put you to work."

"The guy who barely rode a horse for a few hours? Right!"

Dallas came down the stairs looking like he'd been up drinking whiskey all night. "Hey," he grunted at them. "Coffee."

Ruben jumped and ran past Dallas into the kitchen. Marius followed him, Dallas by his side. "You okay?" Marius asked him.

"I'm pissed, tired and I need to go round up the cattle into smaller fields. If he can't get at the people with the GPS trackers and the buddy systems, he might go after the cattle and the horses."

They sat at the island while they watched Ruben start the coffee with the camp percolator on the gas stove. "That's perfect," Ruben said to Dallas. "I worried about them too. We could get one of Marius's mob guys to watch the stables, more to watch over the bunkhouse. Vic is there alone a lot."

"Correction, two mob guys," Dallas said. "Buddy system, even for the mob."

"Okay, you two, can we call them something else?"

Ruben giggled sweetly. "Sorry, mob guy."

"Wiseguy. Call ‘em wiseguys."

"Everyone knows that a wiseguy is a mobster, baby," Dallas said, taking the coffee gratefully from Ruben once he'd poured him a cup.

Marius took his cup and felt the warmth that finally let him feel his fingers. "True. How about guys?"

"Sexist," Ruben warned.

"There are no women with us right now! I think we're safe."

Dallas chuckled and slurped the coffee. "Fuck, that's good. We'll need more, but we'll head into the bunkhouse. I need to talk to the hands."

"Those GPS trackers should be in today. I'm hoping Dante decides to have the helicopter stay here when they bring them."

"They're coming by helicopter?" Ruben asked in awe.

"Had to. It would have been another week by mail, even FedEx. We're…out in the sticks."

Dallas slapped the counter and said, "That's great! Will they keep it here? Search parties are fine, but they can only cover so much ground. A helicopter would cover more. Save us some time."

"I'll call Dante about it. So, what else is on the agenda for you two? I wasn't kidding. I'm not letting you out of my sight."

He was slapped on the back as Dallas said, with humor dripping, "Cowboyin', Dimples. We're getting you back in the saddle."