With a little hurrying around, Jack made it to Vixen’s in plenty of time. After Bob Hvalchek let him into the house, he found her at the kitchen table, wearing her normal bird watching gear of a rather tight camouflage camisole and very short black denim shorts. They weren’t particularly good for bird watching and not really very good camouflage, not that Jack minded one bit. He wasn’t about to say it aloud, especially with her father in hearing, but while Vixen didn’t have a chest like Summer, that top showed off her assets very nicely indeed. It was almost as good as seeing them as bare as they had been yesterday.

“You don’t need to rush real bad,” Jack told Vixen while trying to make it look like he wasn’t staring at her, which he was. “We’ve got a few minutes, and I thought we’d stop off and get some coffee and doughnuts before we head over to the store.”

“I could stand a doughnut,” Vixen said. “Cheerios just aren’t hitting the spot for me this morning.”

“Well, we’ll get one for you,” Jack said as Vixen dumped what was left of the bowl into the sink, rinsed it out and put it in the dishwasher.

“Before you kids go,” Vixen’s father spoke up, “I’ve got a question for you. Are the two of you planning anything for tonight?”

“Nothing in particular,” Vixen replied. “Unless Jack has come up with something I don’t know about yet.”

“I hadn’t really thought of anything,” Jack admitted. Actually he had, and it involved a little more of what had been going on at the pond the evening before, maybe even at the same place, except this time without Alan and Summer around. But that wasn’t something he wanted to tell her father.

“Well, I was kind of thinking about heading down to the track at Camden tonight,” Bob Hvalchek said. “They’re going to have the regular show, street stocks, mini-stocks, and modifieds, but they’re also going to have vintage racers. That’s modifieds done up the old fashioned way, fiberglass-bodied thirties cars with six-cylinder engines. They’re pretty fast and all of them look sharp as heck. Marilyn isn’t real sure she wants to go, and I hate to go by myself since it’s more fun to go with someone. I thought you kids might like to ride along, and it’ll be on me.”

“That might not be too bad,” Vixen said. “I haven’t been down there with you this year and the season will be over with before we know it. What do you think, Jack?”

Jack thought quickly. He wasn’t really a race car fan and didn’t think Vixen was all that much of one, either. The previous Sunday afternoon he and Vixen had fallen asleep together on the Hvalchek couch while watching a NASCAR race with her parents. An evening alone out at the pond frankly sounded more interesting. On the other hand, he liked Bob Hvalchek from what little he knew of him, and it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to be on better terms with him. That would be especially true if that deal they were talking about yesterday about getting an apartment or two while he and Vixen were in college somehow became reality. This was a good chance to develop a little friendlier relationship, and, face it, the price was right. “It’s all right with me if it’s all right with Vixen,” he said after only a brief moment of hesitation. There were going to be other chances to get out to the pond before the weather cooled down.

“Good enough,” Bob said. “We’ll have to plan on leaving here about six if we want to catch the whole show. That’ll mean track food for supper. They have great chili dogs down there, and their French fries are just about the best I’ve ever had anywhere.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jack said. “I don’t know what we’re going to be doing this afternoon but I’ll make sure that we’re back here in plenty of time to leave.”

“We’ll have fun, Jack,” Vixen said, heading for the stairs. “Let me just run up and grab my stuff. I’ll be ready to go in a minute or two.”

“Glad you’re coming with us,” Bob said. “I’m looking forward to the chance to get to know you a little better, and we usually have a pretty good time. So did you two see any interesting birds yesterday?”

Jack wasn’t surprised that Bob’s thoughts were doing a pretty good job of mirroring his, and also was aware that Bob was trying to get him to say that something a little less than above board had gone on yesterday. At least he realized it was happening. “Nothing out of the ordinary,” he admitted. “Yesterday was as much for hanging out with some friends as it was for anything else, although Vixen and I kept our eyes open in case something interesting might come by.”

“You better enjoy those days while you can, because they’re going to come to an end damn quick,” Bob smiled. “All too soon you’re out of school and working for a living, and when that happens you have to have your fun when you can. I’m glad you and Vixen got together. It’s good to see a happy kid who’s interested in something and getting out and doing it, rather than a kid just hanging out around the house reading the same old books.”

“I’ve discovered that, too,” Jack nodded. “I’m a little ashamed to say that I hadn’t noticed before that there’s a little bit more to Vixen than meets the eye, and I’m really liking what I’ve found.”

“She’s a good kid, and it’s a damn shame more people haven’t realized it before,” Bob shook his head as they heard the shuffle of Vixen’s feet coming back down the stairs.

Jack glanced up to see that she’d added a baseball cap and was carrying a small backpack that obviously contained a bird book and binoculars, and presumably also contained girl-type stuff that might go in a purse. “OK, I’m ready, let’s go,” she bubbled.

“You kids take care,” Bob said. “I’ll see you tonight.”

A minute or so later the two of them were in the Jeep, heading for the bakery counter at the Spearfish Lake Super Market. Both of them knew that there were other places around town where they could buy doughnuts, at convenience stores and the like, but those would be a day or two old, while at the Super Market they were baked fresh every morning. “I didn’t know what to say,” Vixen admitted from the right seat of the Jeep. “I sort of wanted to enjoy the Frostee Freeze without the football players around tonight since that doesn’t happen very often. But the races really are kind of fun and they’ll be more fun if you’re with me.”

“Actually, it’s fine with me,” Jack said. “We really need to do more date-type stuff than going bird watching and hanging out at the pond, and since your dad is buying it’s even more fine with me. I mean, we’ve gone to a movie exactly once, after all.”

“There’ll be plenty of time for that this winter, when it’s too cold to go out looking for birds for long,” she said. “We have to do this stuff while we can.”

It didn’t take them long to get over to the Super Market. The bakery was located near the door, to facilitate quick in and out stops like this, and they weren’t the only ones in line – Sheriff Stoneslinger was right in front of them, wearing his street clothes. “So what are you kids up to this morning?” the sheriff asked.

“We’re teaching a bird watching class over at Spearfish Lake Outfitters in a few minutes,” Jack explained. “How about you?”

“Oh, just the usual Saturday stuff,” Stoneslinger smiled. “So are things a little more peaceful around town with the LeDroit kid as one of my guests?”

“As far as we can tell,” Jack smiled, glad that he wasn’t going to have Frenchy to kick him around for a while. “We were out of town with friends last evening, so we didn’t hear much. I’ll bet it was the talk of the evening over at the Frostee Freeze, though.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Stoneslinger grinned as the person in front of him left the counter. “You kids take care, now.”

“Yeah, you have a good day yourself.”

“Well, I hope to,” he said, turning to the counter to place an order.

Even with the stop for doughnuts and foam cups of coffee, Jack and Vixen made it over to Spearfish Lake Outfitters with plenty of time to spare. Mrs. Archer was just opening the place as Jack parked the Jeep at the curb. “So,” she said, “are you kids ready to talk birds this morning?”

“I’m always ready to talk birds,” Jack laughed. “Look, I should have asked you the other day, but how many people are we expecting?”

“Oh, probably not more than six or eight,” she said. “We didn’t really have the time to get the word out that I would have liked to have had.”

“Well, good,” Jack said. “I was thinking about it this morning and I didn’t know how I’d be able to do this with a large group, but six or eight is fine.” He went on to explain his thoughts about taking a few minutes to explain a little about bird watching, then head on out to the spot along the river for a practical exercise. “I figure it would be best if we did it as a practical exercise, and then I can explain a little about bird habits and what’s happening. It’s a little early for the fall migration, but we ought to have plenty of summer birds available. If you want to keep doing this, in a month or so we ought to be really getting into migration season, and by then your people should know enough about it to be effective.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” she said. “I’m one of those people you’ll be teaching this morning, at least partly so I can see how it goes. Tiffany is going to come in and watch the place this morning.”

“Well, welcome aboard,” Jack told her. “Hey, before the other people get here, I need to ask. Cody and Jan are still around, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, they’re heading back to Hawthorne the first of the week,” she said. “They’ve got some work to do on the apartment house before school gets started. Besides, Jan will be going on rotation, filling in for someone on vacation, and Cody is going to be working a couple shifts later on in the week, plus some off-duty uniform work.”

“Do you think there’s any chance that Vixen and I could get together with them this afternoon, along with a couple friends of ours?”

“Probably,” the good-looking long-haired middle-aged woman smiled. “They’re not really doing all that much around here but lying out on the beach and wishing they had something to do. I’m surprised I’ve been able to keep them around this long. I know you kids don’t realize it yet and your parents may not have accepted the reality, but it gets awful quiet around the house when you kids leave and go do your own thing.”

“I’ve heard it said,” Jack replied, “and I guess it might be hard to accept. But that’s sort of what we wanted to talk to them about. I don’t remember where it is they’re going to college, but I’ve heard it’s a pretty different place. We’ve had several people suggest that we might like to go where they are.”

“Southern Michigan University, down in Hawthorne,” Mrs. Archer told them, “and yes, for a college, it’s a pretty interesting and unique place. From what they tell me you need a little more maturity and direction than the normal college freshman to be a success there, but from what I know of you kids, I think you two qualify.”

“Well, we’d like to hear a little more about it,” Vixen said. “That’s something we have to make our minds up about in the next few months.”

“I’m sure they’ll be glad to tell you all about it,” Mrs. Archer said. “Why don’t you shoot for about one? I’ll give a call over to the house to let them know you’re coming.”

“That’ll be fine,” Jack said. “Maybe I’d better give our friends a call to tell them we have it set up.”

The coffee pot in the Spearfish Lake Police Station was just finishing up when Sheriff Stoneslinger came through the front door, carrying a bag with a half dozen doughnuts in it. That was probably more than would be needed, but at least there would be some selection. “Morning, Steve,” he heard Charlie Wexler say. “It’s beginning to look like the real deal. I just had another call tipping me off.”

“Yeah, I had another one too, this time from a parent,” Steve shook his head. “Boy, whoever is setting this up doesn’t know shit about operational security, do they?”

“Sounds that way to me, unless someone is dropping a false lead on us,” Charlie said. “I don’t want to say that’s what’s coming down, as I have trouble believing it. That many kids just can’t coordinate a bullshit story that well.”

“That’s how I figure it,” Steve replied. “I mean, I know the place, although it’s been a while since I’ve been out there, and it strikes me as a good place to hold the beer bust if no one knows where it’s going to be. My one concern is that it still is kind of a fake, and that they’ll have someone waiting out by the road to direct the kids they want to the real party and send the ones they don’t – and us – out to someplace forty miles from Fortymile.”

“That’s definitely a possibility,” Charlie nodded. “In fact, it might even be a good idea. We’d come out looking like shit if we wound up raiding an empty spot.”

“I’d be the one looking like shit,” Steve said. “It is my jurisdiction, after all.”

“Yeah, but I’d be right there with you, at least if we’re involved.”

“I about have to have you involved. I just don’t have the bodies to raid a party that size, and you don’t either. I can call in some off-duty deputies, but you have more part-timers you can call on. I realize it’s going to hit your budget pretty hard, but if we even stand a chance of bringing this off we’re going to need extra hands.”

“If we can bring this off I can handle the budget,” Charlie said. “I for one am just a little bit tired of having these kids think that they can get away with something as blatant as that, and year after year.”

“Me, too, and that’s why I’m willing to risk it. We can’t have them thinking we’re not going to try to stop something like that if we have good information on it. We have to try. If we come up looking like shit, then we come up looking like shit, but at least we’ll get the message out that we’re not ignoring it. That’s worth something.”

“I can’t agree more. Let’s have some coffee and doughnuts and figure out how to make it a success for us this time.”

A couple of minutes later the two were in the police department break room; Steve was munching on a long john while Charlie had an old-fashioned cake doughnut. “The first thing I can see,” Charlie said, “is that we probably ought to have physical confirmation of where the party is before we raid it. We know where it’s supposed to be, but it would be good to have an eyes-on report that it’s actually going down before we bust in there.”

“Good point,” Steve agreed, “and that ought to be fairly easy. We just stick somebody out in the woods across the river with a pair of binoculars and a radio. We should know early on if it’s happening that way. It’s not going to just last a short time. We might have three or four hours to get our acts together.”

“Right. One of the people I talked to said they had about six hundred cans of beer, and it’ll take them a while to get through that, so once we know it’s happening we ought to have enough time to get ready to hit the site. I figure thirty kids minimum, the maximum not much more than twice that. Even high school kids, it’s going to take a while to get through that much beer.”

“Yeah, and probably cheap beer, too,” Charlie smiled. “Shit, there’s going to be kids puking it up all over the place if they manage to get through all of it. That might make things a little easier if some of the people are too drunk and puke-sick to run.”

“No shit,” Stoneslinger shook his head. “Serve the little shits right, too. Actually, right now, my main concern is that we don’t show our hands on this too soon. For the next few hours, this has to be between just you and me, all right?”

“You’re concerned about the leak, right?”

“No shit. Twice in the last five years we’ve had good word on this party, but the party got moved all of a sudden before we could do anything about it. That tells me there’s a leak somewhere in my department or yours. However we wind up doing it, I don’t want our blabbermouth to screw us up this time.”

“Sounds fair to me. If the kids are going to give us enough time to get our acts together we might as well be ready for them.”

“Right, I’m thinking that we don’t get our people together until we know the party is going on where we think it’s going to be, and then we still don’t let anyone know what’s happening until it’s too late to spread the word.”

“It might not be bad if we set up a little deception of our own,” Charlie pointed out. “I mean, maybe get everybody together in two or three groups and tell them that we’re setting up a meth lab bust or something.”

“That might work,” the sheriff replied. “I’m pretty damn sure the Wagner brothers are running something like that in a hunting cabin or something out in the north part of the county, but we’ve never been able to figure out where. At least they have an idea of what operational security is supposed to be. If we did it like that and the word got to them, it might give them a little dose of salts, too.”

“Who knows, you might kill two birds with one stone too,” Charlie smiled as he finished his doughnut. “OK, I’m just a little concerned about the number of people involved. You say thirty to sixty kids, so splitting the difference that’s forty-five. That’s a hell of a mob when you stop and think about it. We’ll have to have just about everybody we know who wears a uniform to help out.”

“Don’t I know it,” Stoneslinger shook his head. “I thought for a moment about calling on the national guard unit for a little extra manpower, but hell, that’s a real good way to blow up operational security. And that doesn’t get into some of the other problems involved, both in the legality of calling them and the fact that they’re not police officers. I don’t think we’d get much help out of the state officers, either.”

“Right,” Charlie said, “and you have to add to that that they’d want to take over everything, re-do whatever plan we’ve set up since we’re not staties and therefore don’t know what we’re doing, then take the credit if it’s a success and blame us if it isn’t.”

“Boy, that’s it in a nutshell, isn’t it?” Stoneslinger agreed. “So it comes back down to what we can put together. I can probably pull in a dozen deputies, along with myself, assuming we just shut down road patrol for a couple hours. I’m not sure I want to do that. It is a summer Saturday night, after all, and sure as hell if I shut down road patrol I’m going to have some damn tourist wrapping his car around a tree. So that’s one car and really two deputies that I can’t include. How much help can I expect from you guys?”

“It’s a question of how much lead time I have,” Charlie shrugged. “Fred and Leo and me, for sure. They’re both off tonight, and I’ve got a real young stud part-timer from down in Camden who likes to make traffic busts on patrol, and it might not be a bad idea to leave him on the streets, just in case. Beyond that, I’ve got about fourteen other part-timers. Half of them live more or less around here and ought to be able to respond pretty quick if they’re around home. The other half, well, they’re mostly from down in Camden, and it’ll take two or three hours lead time. Assuming I can get hold of everyone, I ought to be able to come up with fifteen people, counting myself.”

“So that’s twenty-five, up against maybe twice that,” Steve shook his head. “Not the kind of odds I like, but I guess we’ll have to make do.”

“Long odds, however you cut it,” Charlie sighed. “You realize that as soon as we show up we’re going to have kids scattering every which way.”

“Oh, I’m sure of it,” Stoneslinger smiled, “but maybe that’s not all bad. I’ve been thinking about that site, and maybe, just maybe, we get a few advantages to take them in smaller groups if they do scatter.”

“You sound like you have something up your sleeve.”

“Well, maybe,” the sheriff grinned. “Find me a sheet of paper and let me show you what I have in mind, and maybe you can help me tweak it up a bit.”

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