The CIA Doublecross Pt. 03

Even through the tan, she had a nice blush. "You Coopers are bold. What is your name?"

"I'm Scott and this is Marsha. We are from California but thinking of relocating if Kate and Joel will take us."

"Well, Joel has a reputation of not messing around. If he likes your work, you will fit in fine around here. The monthly square dance is this Friday at the community center. You better look better than that if you want to dance with me."

She wore a wide smile and I thought maybe we had a friend and a possible source of gossip.

On the way back, Marsha said, "No ring. You are not allowed to hit on her."

"But Carol, honey, she could be a goldmine of information."

"When I'm done mining, you won't be dancing with anyone. You want that picnic or not?"

Marsha did a marvelous workup as outraged girlfriend. I thought how far she had come from our session with Dolores a few weeks ago.

"I give. No more teasing." She snuggled under my free arm, the other keeping us on the road, more or less.

Licking my ear, she said, "I have an idea. We are not going to be chasing around on horses all the time with Margaret. What if we give her a leg up on fall courses? You could do an intro to computer science, and I could pull together some basics on corporate finance and accounting."

"What about her delectable bare body squirreling around in our bed at night?"

Marsha sat up, laughing hard. "Well, stud, aren't you the one who said she couldn't have any more?"

All I could think of was how not to get hard any time she was near us, much less naked in bed with me.

Grabbing my hair, she said, "Let's not worry about that angle. She's a woman now, responsible for her own sex life. Maybe a roll in the hay with you will lower the temperature with that football player. Which would be good. She needs more motivation for school than following a hot jock."

"Damn, you make sense. Guess we need to hurry up with the wedding."

We held hands the rest of the way back, being goofy in love.

Kate was at the edge of the porch when we approached from the truck. "Mark called. Said he needs to talk to you on one of your phones as soon as possible."

"I'll get one, we can walk out in the pasture and not bother Kate." Marsha disappeared inside while I tried to make light of the message.

"Your son is very dedicated. I thought he was going to relax for a few days with us."

"Scott, he has been like that since he was a kid. Intense about everything. I love him dearly but he tries a mother's soul." She smiled wanly as Marsha emerged and we walked away.

Marsha found a dry patch of grass and lay in it, using me for a pillow.

"Hello, Mark. Scott and Marsha here. We are in the pasture away from the house."

"Thanks, and sorry for the interruption. Two things. The people handling the indictments of the Chinese want depositions from both of you. I told them you were in witness protection and would not be available, but I am getting leaned on from above. May be able to hold them off, may not.

"Second thing. The Harrison business turns out to be on my agency's radar. Some sort of Mexican connection, and maybe further south as well. We may need to rethink the Youngblood girl idea. I may also need to have a full time agent there where you are. My higher ups aren't keen on amateur help, even if I think you are qualified."

Marsha grabbed the phone. "Mark, I'm lying here feeling bad for you. Some days are pretty shitty. Your mom would like to see more of you than a day at a time. Why don't you assign yourself to handle Harrison? Send one of your internal emails saying there may be a national security angle."

"Marsha, I love you to death. But I am already on a long leash with the powers that be. Can't afford to try stretching it further. Gotta go, but am sending care package with more phones and some other gear. Tell Joel we need to put 24 hr surveillance cameras on the whole place as soon as possible. Volunteer to help. I will send the server and database stuff and Scott will take care of it. Ok?"

I answered, "Yes. Somehow, it wouldn't be right if there wasn't something going down around you. Joel and I will go to Sandpoint tomorrow and have a sit down with Horace and Ben."

"Call me as soon as you finish."

The line went dead and Marsha seized me with a long, soft kiss that had a buried message. Several of them. Finally, she let up and asked, "Did you get all of that?"

"You're going along tomorrow so you can talk to Meg and Ellie. You like our being a team and working with Mark. You've decided the wedding thing is real."

"You know what this means, don't you?"

"Marsha, you are always ahead of me. Fill your dumb boyfriend in."

She looked around and rubbed herself on me. "We are communicating through a special channel."

I poked her and she rolled off, giggling hopelessly.

We were still laughing when Kate appeared to offer glasses of lemonade, and took a seat in the grass herself.

Marsha said, "Mom, I did my best. Told him he was ordered back here. That his trainees needed hands on instruction."

"That's very nice of you. Can you tell me what he is up to?"

"The part we can talk about is that the Harrison business is more complicated than he thought, and some additional security measures need to be taken here. Joel and Scott will work on them. The people involved with the Harrisons need to keep a very low profile, so they are not likely to make trouble. At least not right now."

"Thank you. Joel and I appreciate the help. You already feel like family."

We sipped the fresh juice and looked out across the valley, which was having another fine summer day. A day in which it seemed only humans were up to no good.

The next morning was clear as a bell and Marsha got to sit in the front passenger seat of Joel's twin engine Cessna. I was suitably impressed when he gunned it down the grass runway and we lifted off quickly.

"In case you are wondering how ranching supports this, my brother floated most of it. Says it is necessary for ranch business. Did you know he is a qualified pilot? He keeps that under his hat."

Marsha squeezed Joel's shoulder. "Mark has a streak of deviousness a mile wide. He had us wrapped around his fingers the whole time in our Chinese escapade."

I poked her from the back and she said, "Oops, you didn't hear me say Chinese."

He laughed and said, "I figured it had to be something like that. CIA isn't supposed to have domestic operations."

Ninety minutes later, we had a fast landing at Sandpoint and a reception committee of three Youngbloods. Margaret was hopping up and down and dashed into my arms.

"Scott, it is so exciting to see you again," and turned to hug Marsha.

I gave a quick hug and kiss to Ellie and shook Horace's hand. "You're kind to come for us. I'd like you to meet Joel Cooper. He is Mark's brother and runs the family ranch near Cascade."

Marsha disappeared with Ellie and Meg. Horace, who said we should call him Ace, since everybody else did, took us in a police SUV. "Chief asked to sit in this morning, if you don't mind."

Ben shook my hand and was introduced to Joel. "Thought I had seen the last of you the other day, Scott. Now you are back with more trouble." His smile was warm. It faded as Joel and I described events down south and the potential for trouble in the 95 corridor.

"Damn, I'm sure you are right. Mob money sitting right on the main north-south highway in Idaho. And into Canada."

"Funny thing, Ben, and I'm sure this is classified and you didn't hear me say it, but Mark suddenly has an agency interest."

Ben and Ace traded looks and the Sheriff said, "Double damn. Cross border interest."

He took another bite of donut and looked at Joel and me. "So Joel outed these folks and Mark thought he was stashing Scott and Marsha before he discovered you could be visiting cousins and forgiven for poking around?"

I took my own bite of donut and replied, with my imitation ranch drawl, "Ben, I guess that's why you get the big paycheck around here. You have a nose for smelling out trouble."

"Ha! These druggies Ace throws in the cell every Friday night make more than Ace and me put together!"

I moved on to the next topic. "Sheriff, I called your Deputy Youngblood to inquire about borrowing his very capable daughter as a guide for some back country travel. Help us blend in, and besides, going somewhere on Joel's horses beats backpacking, and Meg knows all that stuff."

I continued, "But that was before I heard from Mark about the agency angle. I promised Ace no rough stuff, and I'm not sure I can keep that promise now."

Before they could say anything, I pushed ahead. "But there is another possibility you might consider. If Eleanor Youngblood came along with her daughter, she could be a quiet liaison to the Valley County Sheriff, who sooner or later is going to be involved, I'm sure."

Ben leaned back and looked over at his Deputy. "I'll be damned. What do you think of that, Ace?"

"Sheriff, I've discovered recently that I am the hind tit on these schemes Scott and his girlfriend and my women cook up. Both have been after me for a back country trip, and now they can have one without me around to hassle them."

"Well, Marsha doesn't know about the Ellie idea, so I suppose Ace and Joel and I ought to head over for a little lunch conversation?"

"Yep. BTW, maybe this conversation ought to be off the record, including Mark. You know from last week how bad things can get when too many levels of law enforcement jump on a situation. Let's develop some facts and evidence and see where things go in the next few weeks. If we need fast action, I'll send Horace to lend a hand with local authorities."

As we walked out to Ace's police vehicle, Joel fisted me, "Scott, you have some fine friends in the right places."

Ace added, "You should have seen all the important folks who wanted to be Scott's instant friend last week. I've got a handful of business cards that have everybody up to White House level on them."

I added, "Joel, I can't say anymore, but it was a technology theft that got a lot of high level attention. One of these days, maybe we can give you a few laughs describing a chase through the desert."

As we got out of the car, I said, "Ace, I'm thinking this should be your show. Put on a few bells and whistles. Surprise your wife."

"Thank you, Scott. Maybe we can have a little fun."

The lunch spread was on the back porch in the shade of tall pine trees. Warm, but not hot. The women were looking anxious to know what happened at the meeting with the Sheriff. Horace fixed a deli sandwich, took a glass of ice tea and made himself comfortable while everyone got food.

"Ladies, it seems Scott and Marsha can't stay out of trouble. It's hardly been a week since you helped them clear out, and now they are back."

He paused, smiling at Meg, who was fidgeting and wanting to get to the point. "Daaad, please?"

"Looks as though some bad actors have infiltrated the Payette Valley, not too far from the Cooper spread. Seems they didn't reckon on a rancher like Joel, who would wonder what their big horse trailer was doing out on the highway at night."

"So, the Scott and Marsha team are back on duty and they could use a little help. A little Indian help with some back country travel and other chores."

"But the Sheriff is not happy putting his Deputy's daughter in harm's way."

Ace was still smiling but Meg's look was total disappointment.

"Ellie come over and sit on my lap for a minute."

A smile crossed Ellie's face as she realized what the new plan was. She literally flounced into his lap and applied a hot, wet kiss. Meg was not amused. "Mom, not in front of company."

Ace's arms were around the very squeezable Ellie as he said, "Actually, the Sheriff and I want to lend both of you to this little adventure."

Meg jumped a couple of feet in the air, and flew into Marsha's arms. "OMG, I can't believe it. I get to go!"

Joel went over and shook Ellie's hand. "I can't thank you enough for considering this. We have plenty of room and I think you will find our stock in good shape for a trip."

Ellie stood and spoke up. "Now that I have been given away by my good for nothing husband, I guess we are just going to have a party and enjoy ourselves."

In the middle of more hugging and kissing, Marsha whispered to me that she was going to stay with Ellie and Meg and come down in the SUV in a couple of days. "I need to coach them some, and they need to coach me some. You don't need to be involved." She tried to punch my arm, but I twisted her hand behind her and threatened violence. "You behave, fiancee, hear."

Meg pounded on my back and I twirled her around. "Going to teach me about riding and camping, are you?"

"Yes, I certainly am. If you mistreat us, you will get the latrine digging chore every night!"

With gracious thanks all around, Joel and I extricated ourselves and accepted a ride to the airport from Horace, who needed to get back to work.

He said, "We're all smiles today, guys, but be on your guard. If those mob people get a whiff of what you are doing, they can stuff you in a trailer and make sure you aren't seen again."

Standing by his vehicle, I shook hands and responded, "Thanks for the warning. In its own way, the New Jersey crowd is as bad as the Chinese. We will be careful."

It was a quick flight back to Cascade, with the afternoon sun slanting across mountainous country. I had headphones on, but we didn't talk much. I suspected Joel was thinking about next steps the same way I was. We had several advantages. We knew the country and the people. We weren't in a hurry. We had lots of law enforcement in the background for use when needed.

They had money, and connections. And lots of tough guys with weapons and no worries about taking someone out. And plans for criminal activity that could include a whole range of bad things.

As we were tying down the plane, Joel said, "Maybe we should leave the scarier parts of today out of the conversation over dinner?"

"Right you are. I could ask her about good places to go on a trail ride?"

"Great idea. She knows every lake and pond back there. She'd love to go along, but has a bad hip and can't sit a saddle anymore."

(cont'd in Part 4 - A Dangerous Trail Ride)