Breaking Free: A Colorado High Country Crossover Novel, Pamela Clare [i can read book club .TXT] 📗

“Yeah.” Jason was definitely the latter. “He was out in the open. The area there is pretty flat, so he had nowhere to hide. He turned and raised his rifle. I fired before he did and killed him. I didn’t know there was a group of Mexican agents nearby.”

“Oh, shit. That’s when the real fun began.”

Jason nodded. “They came in hot, weapons out. They frisked me, cuffed me, took my firearms, my badge, my personal ID. I thought they might be working for the cartel and have instructions to blow my head off right there. I was lying face down in the dirt with a pistol to my head when the rest of the Wolves showed up.”

“The pack had your six.”

“They were careful to stay on the other side, but there was a lot of shouting. The Mexican agents finally released me. They escorted me back to the border and filed a complaint with DC the next morning.”

“I heard that part of it—the complaint, the unpaid leave—but I didn’t know what had happened. I feel for you, man.”

“I’ve got a hearing next month. The board will expect me to grovel, but I don’t regret it. The bastard was still on TO land, man, our land. He’d just shot one of my brothers.”

“How is Ren?”

“He’s going to be okay, but he won’t be back on the job for a while.”

For a moment, neither of them spoke. McBride didn’t bring up Elena, which was a relief. All Jason had told him in his email was that he’d broken off their engagement. He hadn’t told him why.

He changed the subject. “Tell me about this camp.”

“Naomi Belcourt, a Lakota friend, bought it and opened it last summer. She named it Camp Mato Sapa—Camp Black Bear. The idea was to bring in Lakota kids who live in poverty on reservations here and give them a space where they can build their confidence and feel pride in their heritage. They do fun things like art classes, jewelry-making, a ropes course, Lakota language classes, story-telling—stuff like that.”

“That sounds fun.” Jason could see the value of that—provided the experience didn’t encourage children to leave the reservation when they grew up.

The Nations needed young people to stick around to help build a better future.

McBride told him how a wildfire had threatened to burn the camp and Scarlet Springs to the ground just two months ago. The phone lines to the camp had been brought down by a fallen tree branch, and there was no cell service in the canyon. “No one at the camp had any idea that a fire was heading toward them until a sheriff’s deputy drove up to make sure they had evacuated. By then, it was almost too late.”

“Good God.”

“There were more than forty people still there, most of them children. They didn’t have enough room in the available vehicles to evacuate everyone. Volunteers stayed behind knowing they would probably die—some of the camp counselors, a kid who’d hidden in a tipi, Naomi’s husband, Chaska, Chaska’s grandfather, and Gabe Rossiter.”

“Kat James’ husband?” Jason knew him.

The man had lost a leg saving Kat’s life, but it hadn’t slowed him down.

“Yeah.” McBride took a swig of his coffee. “I was in Scarlet that day, helping to evacuate people. Members of the Rocky Mountain Search and Rescue Team tried to get to the camp but came close to being entrapped themselves. Rossiter and Belcourt are both Team members, so it was personal for them. Then we got word via radio that the rescue attempt had failed and the camp had burned over. There were a few awful hours when we believed they had all burned to death.”

That wasn’t how Jason would choose to die. “That must have been hell.”

“Naomi and Winona, Chaska’s younger sister, were in shock. The whole town was grieving. When the fire was under control, members of the Team went out with a search dog to recover their friends’ remains and found them alive. I almost couldn’t believe it when I got the message.”

“Thank God.” Jason had been raised with a mix of O’odham beliefs and Catholicism and was tempted to cross himself. “How did they escape?”

“They spotted a cave in a cliff wall above the camp. Rossiter free soloed up to it, ropes on his shoulder, then pulled the rest of them to safety.”

“I should have known.” Jason chuckled, but his relief was genuine. “That guy has a gift, some kind of superpower.”

“Tell me about it.” McBride grinned. “The camp itself was obliterated. We’ll be camping on-site and helping to build new cabins. They hope to have the place up and running again by next summer.”

Jason was more than happy to help with this cause. “Let’s do it.”

Chapter 2

Winona poured two cups of coffee grounds into steaming water and set the big, old enamel coffee pot on top of the grate above the cookfire to boil. Breakfast was over, but she wanted to make sure there was plenty of caffeine to keep everyone going. She glanced around to see what else they might need.

Cups. Creamer.

Around the nearest picnic table, Naomi and Chaska handed out hard hats to those who didn’t own one and went over the day’s strategy with the volunteers. Fortunately, some of them had construction experience.

“The floor systems are finished, and the utility runs are in place.” Naomi spread out the architectural plans for the cabins so everyone could see them. “The goal this weekend is to complete the rough-framing on all ten cabins.”

Heads nodded.

“We can do that.”

“No problem.”

Well, that was a relief.

This camp had been Naomi’s dream, her way of giving Lakota kids a positive outlook about their heritage and reinforcing their sense of self-worth. In the aftermath of the fire, Naomi had just been grateful that no lives had been lost. Now, she wanted to rebuild the camp better than it had been so it could reopen next June. Winona would do all she could to support that goal.

She walked back to