Page 62 of Ultimate Justice

“Just about.” Evan pointed to an eighty-mile-per-hour speed limit sign, the first one they’d seen since leaving Colorado.

For the entire two-hour drive, Noah had been wide awake, using Evan’s tablet to read up on his favorite baseball teams and players. He’d slept well last night. So had Evan. After he’d fallen asleep, she’d slipped from the bed and gone downstairs to check on Noah. For the first time, he hadn’t been tossing or turning. He’d been sleeping soundly, with his arm draped over Blue, spooning the dog. When Noah had come upstairs, the dark circles that were typically under his eyes were gone.

“How do you know where to go?” she asked as Evan took the exit ramp.

He braked at the stop sign. “We’re about two hours north of the farmers market, and twenty miles or so north of Cheyenne. South of here, the speed limit is still sixty-five, so we had to head farther north.” He pulled up an address on the GPS app on his phone. “Sammy, the intel specialist you met at my office, did a geographical search based on the time to get here and Noah’s description of the camp. White houses, big metal buildings. There are some here fitting that general description.” He turned left onto a two-lane highway with no other vehicles as far as the eye could see. A few houses dotted the sides of the road, all with wood plank fencing surrounding the properties. “Noah, I need you to pay close attention from here on out.”

“Okay.” He rested his forearms on the edges of the front seats, peering through the windshield.

They drove for another few minutes before Evan pulled over and parked on the shoulder. He grabbed the phone from the console. “Brett,” he said a moment later. “It’s a dead-end road. Stay out here and let me know if anyone else turns in.”

He ended the call and turned onto Painted Sky Road, an unpaved road barely wide enough for two cars to pass without one of them going into a drainage ditch. “Does anything look familiar?” he asked over his shoulder.

“No.” Disappointment echoed in Noah’s voice. “Not yet.”

Dry, brown brush on either side of the road seemed to go on forever. The Explorer dipped and rolled on the uneven surface. A large ranch house came into view, surrounded by wood fencing and a few animal enclosures, one with sheep, one with cattle. Several outbuildings loomed in the distance behind the house.

“Anything?” Evan asked.

Noah shook his head. “No.”

They crawled for another minute until the road dead-ended at a large gate. More fencing, higher than the others they’d seen, extended in both directions east and west of the gate.

“There are buildings here?” she asked. Beyond the gate, the terrain dipped low. No buildings were in sight.

Evan nodded. “They show up on Google Earth but not on the county survey map. That’s common here. Wyoming doesn’t have as many laws on the books as most states, so there aren’t as many permit requirements and not as much government oversight. That’s exactly why some people move here.”

“So they can hide things. Like a camp that takes advantage of runaways.”

Noah scrunched his face, narrowing his eyes as he stared straight ahead.

“Are you remembering something?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Why don’t we get out?” she suggested to Evan. “Maybe something outside will jog his memory.”

With the engine still running, they got out and stood in front of the massive metal gate. There were no address signs or any indication of who lived here. The only sign someone did live here was the black call box on the gate. Blue trotted to the gate, sniffed, then lifted his leg.

“Take your time,” Evan said to Noah.

Noah stared past the gate, turning each way.

“Try closing your eyes,” Marlie suggested. “Listen to the sounds. Smell the air.”

The air was calm, with only a light breeze that brought with it the smells of animals. Judging by what they’d seen so far, probably cattle and sheep.

Noah did as she suggested, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply. “The sheep smell is like I remember, but…” He shrugged, looking dejected.

“But you can’t say for sure this is where Frank took you?” Evan asked. Noah shook his head. “Can you tell if this is the place you drove from when you were hiding in the back of the truck?”

Marlie realized Evan had just asked the same question two different ways. He was being patient with Noah, but she could see the lines of frustration on his face. This wasn’t enough to get the FBI a warrant to search the property.

“Can we go in and look for Caleb?” Noah asked.

“’Fraid not.” Evan shook his head. “To get in there, I need a search warrant. I can’t get one unless I have what’s called ‘probable cause.’”

“What’s that?” Noah asked.