Rough Terrain, page 28
Billy grinned. “When you left the ranch. Amanda called to say that you were on your way. She asked me not to shoot you.”
Jared chuckled at that.
It had been six months since he’d proposed to Amanda. Five months since they had been married. Even though he had given up his undercover work, he was still tracking the bad guys, but from the cyber unit.
Following the money and shipments of illegal animal parts was the only way to really find out who the money men were. They hid in the shadows of the dark web, letting others do their dirty work. It was poachers like Kyle, who took all the risks and paid the consequences when and if they were caught. Jared knew there would always be some impoverished hunter, struggling to survive in a third-world country, who would step forward. A tiger pelt alone was worth a five-year paycheck to someone desperate to feed his family. That’s what made poaching so hard to stop. Money meant more than any animal’s life. The more endangered the species, the higher the cost to the client, but also the greater thrill.
Jared’s current case focused on the illegal shark trade in China. Shark fins were in such high demand that in one area, poachers were catching up to twenty-three thousand sharks a day, cutting off their fins and then throwing the live sharks back into the ocean. Without their fins, the sharks would drift with the current until they starved to death. It sickened Jared to think that this was why the shark population was in danger of extinction.
“I talked to Jedi this morning. Kyle’s old gang is poaching again, somewhere out in Washington State.”
Billy looked out over the scenery. “They’ll make a mistake one of these days. They always do. We’ll get them.” He sounded sure of himself. “How is Amanda holding up?”
“What do you mean?” Jared hedged.
Billy gave him the look that said he didn’t deal with fools lightly. “She must be very busy these days, what with her being pregnant and running the ranch?”
“How did you know she was pregnant? We haven’t told anyone yet. Amanda wanted to wait until the first trimester was over before she told you, Mark and Peter.”
Billy looked down at the horse he was whittling. “Let’s just say that I heard it on the wind.”
“Oh, right,” Jared replied, “and I assume that the moon told you what sex the baby is and the sun told you the color of its hair?”
Billy kept moving his knife through the wood, expertly carving the face of the horse. “Your son will continue our mission of protecting the Earth’s creatures. I am hoping that he has his mother’s good looks and pleasant disposition.”
Somehow the way Billy said that the baby was going to be a boy felt like a prophecy.
Jared didn’t care if it was a boy or girl, as long as it was healthy, with ten fingers and ten toes. “A boy?” he mused out loud smiling. That had a certain appeal considering the thought of raising a girl who might be as strong-headed and as beautiful as Amanda was terrifying.
“Besides,” Billy continued, “since it’s such a secret, I’m sure that Jessie, Gertie and the whole town already know.”
Jared laughed.
Damn. It was good to be home.
THE END
Acknowledgements
I have been blessed to have so many creative people help me throughout the years. I wish I could acknowledge them all.
Thank you to Nicola Burnell and Joan Graham for their guidance and editing and to the amazing Kristen vonHentschel for the cover art and helping me format it all!
A huge thank you to Gail Nickerson, Nancy Nicol, Paul Fasano, Rick Paris and all the others that sat around Nicky’s table over the years and helped me with this story.
Special thanks to my numerous beta readers for their support and
invaluable feedback – Carol, Glenn, Kristen, Nancy, Pam, Maria and David.
Of course I need to thank my husband Steve, and my children, Brendon and Madison for giving me the peace and quiet to sit down and write.
Laura Eldridge, Rough Terrain
