“Dude, that is seriously crazy!” Oak said as we drove back to Cresel. “I can’t believe you did that!”

Oak was staring at me as I drove, her eyes wide. “You drove two hours north, went to a refugee camp, posed as a nomad and got hired by a potential drug dealer?”

I had left out the little spar I had taken part in, feeling that this piece of information wasn’t necessary. But I had told her everything besides.

“Look the important part is that those guys had a truck with the same logo.”

“And one of them was Ulug?”

“I don’t know, their faces were masked. But the seemed familiar with the name at least.”

“Holy shit Senel! Does Meryl know about this?”

“Ah, not yet,” giving her a wry smile. “I was thinking I’d fill him in after we found some very convincing evidence that my actions were necessary.”

“I don’t know if the same emblem appearing two places is going to cut it,” Oak said dryly. She shook her head, turning to look straight out at the pavement stretching before us. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you? I just did tell you.”

“No I mean, last night. I could have backed you up or something, had a scope on you during your meeting. Or at the very least I would have known you were out there incase you were MIA this morning and no one had a fucking clue where you went.”

It was my turn to look at her. She was staring back at me, eyebrows raised.

“I guess I didn’t want to get you tangled up in my mess,” I said, shrugging. “Meryl didn’t authorize that little jaunt and it could have gone sideways for all I knew.”

“Dude, we’re partners. We’re supposed to have each other’s backs. I don’t know how y’all run things down at the capital, but around here, we look out for each other.”

I swallowed, surprisingly touched. Apart from the title of partner, I supposed I hadn’t really thought much of Oak, apart from being my slightly annoying sidekick. But I was realizing I had probably misjudged her. If she was willing to entertain the idea of putting her career, and more importantly her job at risk to have my back, she was made of tougher stuff than I realized.

“I mean, I know I sort of hazed you a bit that first couple of weeks,” Oak admitted, smirking at me. “But come on, it gets a little drab around here when all we’re doing is tracking down barking dogs and parking violations. It was just a little harmless fun.”

“I knew it,” I mutter, halfway smiling.

Oak smirked as we pulled into the station. “Well, let’s hope Ashley’s got something, it’s almost lunchtime.”

Ashley waved us over the moment we entered the office. “I think I’ve got something. I couldn’t find any other local HIB’s or HJB’s. But I starting looking into HIB Pharma more. Most pharmaceutical companies need a drug manufacturing license and a few other certifications to operate. But they aren’t on any of the registries. I talked to the Burkus PD, they’ve been renting that building for about two years now. And I looked up their business. They’re listed as a sole proprietorship.”

“Owned and run by a single person?” I said eagerly. “Who is it?”

“I couldn’t find a name. I called someone at the Revenue Service to see if we can get an emergency audit. They said if we get a warrant, they’ll be able to get us the information within a day.”

“Shit,” I said, glancing at Meryl’s door. He was the only one who could obtain a search warrant.

“There’s one more thing. I looked up that guy, Limuel Kasorsh. There’s not much record of him apart from the fact that he was a farmer. But I guess he owned a junkyard back in the day.”

“A junkyard?”

“Yeah, you know, where they take old cars and stuff that don’t run anymore. It’s out of business now, but I dug up the old address if you want to check in out.”

I clenched my fist. An old junkyard out of business. That sounded like the perfect provision if one was fixing up old trucks and trailers to trade to a bunch of nomads for their services.

“Thanks Ash, that’s great stuff,” I said and the girl beamed.

Then I squared my shoulders. It was time to come clean to Meryl and see if he would let me continue to work the case.

Meryl wasn’t what I would call overwhelming pleased to hear what I had been up to the previous evening. But he listened, none the less as he ate his lunch. I tried to draw the connections to HIB Pharma and to Limuel Kasorsh’s junk yard as logically as possible. If this wasn’t good enough, I didn’t know what was likely to happen. At long last I fell silent.

Meryl took a last swig of his soda and then crushed the can and tossed it into the recycle bin behind his desk.

“Well, you sure don’t give much quarter, do ya son?”

I tried not to squirm where I sat.

“I figured you were up to something last night, although I admit my imagination hadn’t gone that far.” He fixed me with a stern glare. “That was straight reckless Senel, especially without even letting Oak or myself know where you’d gone. I don’t fancy starting a second missing person’s case up at the moment.”

“I’m sorry sir.”

Meryl grunted. “Melvin said I wouldn’t be able to hardly keep up with you if you got your mind on something.” He cleared his desk of lunch items. “Ok look, you’ve got a shaky story here at best. It’s subtle. The pieces are pretty rough. I’ll take this to the judge, see if we can’t get that warrant. You and Oak go take a look at this junkyard situation that Ash found.”

“And about tonight sir? The job?”

Meryl rolled his head on his shoulders. “Look, this department isn’t exactly equipped to run undercover operations Senel. We only just got imaging software for christ sake. This is not a high-tech scene. If you got into a squirrely situation on this little job, we’d be fucked to help you.”

I nodded. There was no point pushing the matter. Though I wasn’t going to give up just yet. I exited the office and told Oak where we were going. I gathered my things and then, as an afterthought, I jotted a few things down on a scrap of paper. I paused by Ashley’s desk on the way out of town. We were never going to get the proper answers without sticking our necks out a little bit.

“Hey Ash, do you think you can find some of these items in town?” I asked, handing her the list I had just come up with.

Ashley gazed down it. “Maybe in Burkus,” she suggested, shrugging.

“Great, whatever you can find is perfect. Take my credit card.” I handed her the plastic.

“What’s this stuff for?” she asked and I turned to leave.

“Oh nothing, just a little covert ops.”

Back in the car, Oak and I headed towards the junkyard. It was well out in the boonies in between Burkus and Cresel. It took us a while to locate on back roads that looked like they hadn’t been used in some time. When we finally located the junkyard, it appeared as if out of an old story. One minute we were cresting a rise in the road, the next we had dipped down into what appeared more a graveyard for old cars that a once operational junkyard. What must have been over a thousand ancient vehicles stood in the little valley below us, some in neat rows, but many placed willy nilly across the landscape. A couple had been there so long that trees were growing right out the sides of them, and many more were covered in vines and dirt.

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“I’m guessing Limuel hasn’t been keeping up with the business,” I said as Oak and I parked and surveyed the scene. We stepped over the remains of what had once been a barbed wire fence and strolled amongst the ancient vehicles. Oak snapped pictures while I examined the area for signs of recent activity.

We headed towards what looked like it had once been the shop, where business might have been done once upon a time. Oak frowned at the dilapidated little garage, the metal roof of which looked like it would soon cave in.

“I remember coming here when I was really young.”

I looked at her in surprise. “Here?”

“Yeah. It’s coming back to me now. My dad was looking for a bearing for his truck. He never ordered parts new if he could. We came here and he searched out the one he needed. I remember me and my brother played amongst all the cars while we waited. It wasn’t so overgrown back then. I must have been 7 or 8 at most.”

“Do you remember the proprietor?”

Oak squinted for a moment. “Not really. My brother might though, he’s three years older than me. I can give him a call.”

She did so, wandering away down a lane of old trucks and tractors, while I circled around the shop. It looked like a place of business, but with a second story. I couldn’t tell from the outside if Limuel and family had lived here or elsewhere, but I wasn’t about to go inside and find out, having the roof collapse on me in the process. I made a note in my pad to search out other addresses under the Kasorsh name. I then wandered through more rows of cars, which continued down past the old shop. Here at last, there was a sign. Tire tracks that might have been made during a rainy day. They weren’t exactly fresh, but they were new enough that the bristle of weeds and grass that carpeted every other part of the shop hadn’t had time to completely regrow. I followed the track for a way until I heard Oak running to catch up with me.

“Ok, I spoke to my brother. He says he doesn’t remember much, just that the guy was big, beefy and he wasn’t very nice, or at least he never smiled. White guy, he thought, or not very dark.”

“Hmm.” It did little enough good, as we didn’t even have a description of Limuel to compare it to.

“Where does this lead?” Oak asked, indicating the track.

“Not sure yet.”

We hiked long the trail for nearly twenty minutes until it exited back onto the highway. Where it rejoined, an old farm house was visible. It at least appeared to still be active, with a few cows in a nearby pasture and a horse or two far out in a large field.

“Let’s see if anyone’s home,” I said and we headed up the drive to the front door.

I knocked and after a long pause, a clunking came to our ears and a man opened the door. He was quite old, a thin fellow leaning on a cane.

“Hello,” he said, gazing at us in polite surprise. “Can I help ye with something?”

“Hello sir. We’re…trying to find a Mr. Limuel Karorsh. Do you know of him?”

“Limuel? Owner of Limuel’s Car Yard? I’m afraid you’re about ten years too late my friend. Limuel retired just about a decade ago.”

“Yes, the yard didn’t look very active. But does he still live around here perhaps?”

“No, he moved after his wife passed about eight years ago. They used to live above the shop but after the building started to fail, he moved away. I believe he inherited some land from one of his relatives, but he never said where it was he was going.”

“I see,” I said, taking out my notepad and jotting this down.

“Are you a reporter?” the man asked curiously.

“We’re detectives, actually,” Oak said. “I’m Inspector Oak and this is DI Senel. We’re researching Limuel and his car yard for a case.”

“Oh, I see,” the man looked uncertain. “Well I don’t think that Limuel was involved in anything shady, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Not at all,” I said. “Sir, what was your name?”

“Rye, Sebastian Rye.”

“Mr. Rye. Did you know Limuel well?”

“Well I don’t know if I’d say well. We were of an age, but Limuel wasn’t every very friendly. I offered to have him and his family over for dinner one time, but he flat out refused the offer. After that, I didn’t bother much. But I spoke to him occasionally when I came by the shop to find tractor parts.”

“Would you describe him as a large man? White?”

“Yes, he was a bit of a beast. White, I thought, but very dark hair and dark eyes.”

“What about his wife and child, did you know them at all?”

“Not well either I’m afraid. His wife rarely left the house I thought. And his son was home schooled I think, because he wasn’t at the same school with my children. We rarely saw that boy, except when I went to the yard for the parts.”

“Do you remember the son’s name?”

“Ah, it’s been a very long time since I heard it last I’m afraid. But I do know this, the boy never took over the business. In fact there was a rumor gone around back then that he left home young, only 14 or so. Never returned, as far as anyone knew. But no one was about to ask after him. Limuel wasn’t the sort of man you wanted to have a heart to heart with.”

“I see.” I glanced back over my shoulder. “Anyone still work in that yard? Did Limuel sell the business?”

“He never did, as far as I know. Kept it, but never worked it. The yard just fell into disrepair. Now, there used to be quite a lot of robbery, after if first close. Folks would come by and take what they pleased. I tried to call the cops a few times, when I saw people going in there, but it was a losing battle. These days, I don’t know, maybe people come scavenge some parts from time to time. But mostly it’s quiet in that valley. To be honest, I don’t even know if Limuel is still alive. But I suspected he is or else the bank would have seized the property by now.”

“I suppose so. Well Mr. Rye, thank you for your time. If you remember anything else interesting about Limuel or his family, please don’t hesitate to give us a call.”

I handed him a card and we took our leave, retracing our steps through the junkyard. We were nearly at the shop again when I caught a sudden movement out of the corner of my eye. I grasped Oak’s arm and pulled her to a halt. Across the valley at the other end, closest to where we had parked, I could just make out a human form flitting through the cars.

“Let’s go,” I said, bending and crouch running up the nearest lane, Oak on my heels. I saw the figure emerge from a line of tractors almost on top of the ridge and pause. He was wearing unremarkable clothing, tan pants and a dark jacket, a hat atop his head. From this distance I couldn’t tell if he had spotted us but I pulled up behind the nearest car just in case. Oak did the same. I peeked out around the side in order to keep him in sight and saw his head cock slightly. Then he was abruptly darting away though the cars.

“Shit,” I muttered. “They saw us.” We both leapt up, running at the retreating form as directly as we could through the jumble. But the runner was nimbly outmatching us, flitting through the cars as though he was a rabbit hopping amongst bushes. I considered pulling my weapon but before I could make up my mind, the guy disappeared into a patch of trees at the edge of the junkyard. By the time we made it to the spot, we heard the roar of an engine from further in and the sound of a car or truck driving away through the trees. Panting, I came to the road where a vehicle must have been parked and saw fresh tracks leading away into the woods.

“Damn it.”

“We need to get the car,” Oak said.

“No point, he’ll be long gone.” I sighed, bent over to regain my breath. I stared at the road the car had taken. It looked well-travelled. Perhaps there were lots of hunters on these paths at the moment. Of perhaps whoever that runner had been came here often.

We traipsed back to the car and headed back to Cresel. Oak drove while I examined a Forest Service map on the area. I traced the road behind the junkyard to where it joined the highway running between Burkus and Cresel. Even if we had efficiently navigated the dirt tracks back to the highway ourselves, the route the runner had gone was more direct. We would have never caught up to him.

At the station, I headed over to Ashley immediately. “Did you find that stuff?”

“Everything except for the night vision goggles. I tried, but no one in Burkus had them.”

“No worries, the rest of this stuff will work.”

I toted the grocery bag of goodies into Meryl’s office and deposited them on his desk.

He looked up from his computer. “What did the junkyard yield?”

I told him about what we had seen, what Rye had said, and about the runner.

“So this Rye fellow recons looters might still show up at the yard from time to time,” Meryl said. “You think that was a looter?”

“Maybe. He seemed pretty flighty. And the way he was running, it seemed like he knew the yard well.”

“Hmm.” Meryl turned to survey the bag of items in front of him. “What’s all this?”

“A little tech, for an under cover operation.”

I pulled out a thermal camera, a wireless two way radio set complete with earbuds, two mini gps trackers and a box of fireworks. Meryl picked up the fireworks with a perplexed look on his face.

“Cherry bombs?”

“Good for creating a distraction if you’re in a tight spot,” I explained.

“I think I can guess what the rest of this is for,” Meryl said coolly.

“At least we’ll be trackable this way,” I said hopefully.

Meryl glared at me. “First of all, you’re putting a lot of faith in roofmart technology here. And second of all, I can’t authorize your friend to go with you. That would mean putting an innocent bystander in peril.”

“He volunteered.”

Meryl sighed. “This whole thing is a pile of problems Senel. You know that right? What if they make you for a cop? What if they shoot you at the end of this little job? What if they shoot your nomad friend.”

“I’m willing to take the risk. So is Bract. Please, sir, we’re so close to putting this all together.”

He stared at me for a long moment. “Fine. We’ll do this. But I’m getting the sheriff’s boys involved. You’re to follow whatever plan we come up with to a T. You’re to make sure your nomad guy knows all possible risks. And you’re to abort if things look even a little shifty. Understood?”

“Yessir.”

“God help me,” Merly said, running a hand over his face. “And here I thought I had an easy job.”