Untraceable

Survival Skill #44

When in a survival situation, sometimes it’s better to listen.

~

Mo sits down across from me on a rotted log. “My dad was a special agent with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. He was investigating a major poaching ring that was sweeping across Tennessee. He was tracking these guys. They found out and killed him.”

I eye him suspiciously. “How do you know this?”

Mo’s eyes flash something I can’t decipher. “My dad told me everything before he died. Told me where his files were. All his notes on the case.”

I think about what he’s saying, trying to make some sense out of it. The image of him trying to revive his father sticks in my brain. He looks sincere, but how do I know he’s not snowing me all over again? “This sounds crazy. Why would he tell you that?”

“My dad said some of the locals were corrupt. Before he died, he told me to take all the information we’d gathered to the head of his squad. His leader would know what to do.”

“Who was that?”

He pauses for a minute and sucks in enough air to state his answer. “I didn’t know at the time, but now I know it was your dad.”

His answer slices through me. I shake his words out of my head. “No, that’s impossible. My dad wasn’t a special agent. He was a game warden.” Actually, this crazy scheme is probably something Dad would get involved in, especially if it meant protecting or saving bears.

Mo remains still, no movement, and answers very simply. “Obviously not.”

“What did you do with the files?” I rub my temples, desperate to relieve the pressure that’s built up inside.

Mo fiddles with his shirt. “I took my dad’s case file and started hanging out at the local gun show in my town, chatting it up with a few guys in the group. By the time I’d gotten in with them and we relocated here, your dad had already been taken. So I hid them.”

“How do I know you are not lying to me again?”

He strokes my fingers with his warm hands. “Because you know me.”

I glare at him. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”

Mo shrugs. “I didn’t want you involved.”

“Is that why you packed up and left?”

He nods as he talks. “I didn’t really think about you being connected to all this until you mentioned your dad missing. But by then, I was already smitten. I thought I could keep it all separate until you mentioned his name that night at my camp. That’s when I knew I needed to stay away from you. It was the only way to keep you safe.”

I poke him in the chest. “Yeah? Well, you were wrong. I saw footprints and gun shells at your site so I got more worried. Found out Al was involved and assumed he found you and did who knows what.”

“Al’s involved, but he’s not in charge. Fields is the leader of this one group, but he’s in contact with someone on the outside.”

I skim through more questions backing up in my brain. “I think it’s my dad’s old partner, Les.”

Mo shakes his head. “I don’t know a Les. But I don’t know a lot of the guys’ names here. Most of them use an alias for obvious reasons.”

“Are there more camps like this?”

“Yes. There are a more in different parts of the States. It’s part of a larger operation. All mostly run by locals to avoid suspicion.”

“All for money?”