The Hunt begins.

The next morning after breakfast Linc drove on over to an area south
of the Tru Blu mine to check it out. As he drove, he looked back a
couple of times and saw a blue van that seemed to follow, instead of
passing when he slowed down for him to, since he was going slow to
spot the road he wanted to turn off on. He came almost to a stop
before the jerk finally went past. Down the road a bit, he saw the
same van pass him going back the other way, then it came back up
behind him just as he turned off on a dirt road. That's strange he
thought. Why follow him?
The dirt road was quit rough, but his truck had pretty high clearance
so he continued on, to a place where he could get off and still be
able to turn around, and parked. He got out and got his gear.
He put on his geologist pack and carried his pick in his hand. It
was cool enough up at this altitude to wear gloves and a heavy hooded
sweatshirt since it was party overcast.
He went into every small wash and gulley, picking up rocks and looking
at them with a loupe. Most of them he tossed back down but once in a
while he put one in a bag he had across his shoulder. He went down
over a small hill, and slipped into a deeper wash. There were quite a
few squaw bushes and a Juniper tree now and then He saw a couple of
rocks that looked like the clay material, but were discolored, maybe
by rust. He put them in his bag and took a stake out of his pack,
pounded it in and attached a orange and white stripe piece of flagging
to it. He marked the co-ords on his GPS, the continued on up the
wash. He found a small out cropping that was like the other rocks he
found below, and took a stake from his pack and after pounding it in,
he attached some blue flagging and recorded it in his GPS. On up the
wash farther he found another piece of the same kind of rock, and was
about to stake it when the sun came out from behind a cloud and he saw
a shadow cross the wash just ahead of him. He thought maybe a crow or
hawk flew overhead. Then the shadow just stayed in front of him and
didn't move. Wait a minute, he thought. Birds may hover for a tiny
bit, but not this long. He bent over a bit so he could sneak a look
up in the sky, and sure enough there was a drone up there watching
every move he made. He picked up his pack, put the stake back in it,
and went on back down the wash, pulling up the other stakes he had
placed. He went on back to the truck, and drove back to the main
highway , then on up the road to the mine.


At the mine, he went to Gus's office and told him what had happened.
Told him that he was being followed and probably had a tracking device
on his truck. Maybe Gus may have one on his truck too. He gave the
co-ords of the places he wanted to stake and was forced to pull the
stakes up so the party who was after him couldn't find them. He told
Gus he was going to wait till he got back from Provo to do anything
else about locating any new material, meantime while he was in Provo
he would have any tracking devices removed from the truck. Gus said,
"Thanks Linc. Good job. I'll give the time keeper your time, and
give a couple of the miners the co-ord's, give them the rocks you
found, and tell them what number road you took, have them get out
there as soon as they can and get the area staked and claimed".
Linc said, " looks like those Chinese want that material real bad, but
they need the other rocks from Colorado to make it do what they want,
and they can't find them here in Nevada. They think the stuff is up
at Gramp's old mine, but the rusty stuff is only a catalyst. Not that
important, as any iron oxide will do the same thing".

Gus had called in a miner to have him hear about the area Linc had
located, when he came in, he told Gus there was a blue van hanging
around the main gate, did he know about it? Gus told him the van was
following Linc. Gus introduced him to Linc and told him all about
what had happened and what he wanted him and a couple other miners to
do, and make sure they were not followed either by humans or drones.
He and Gus talked about the Chinese and other things for a bit then
Linc got up to leave. Gus said, " Contact me when you get back from
Provo".

They shook hands all around then Linc left the mine. Sure enough, the
blue van was still there and after a while Linc looked back and it was
on his tail. Just for the heck of it, Linc pulled off on the first
side road he came to and waited to see what the van would do. It
slowed down as it passed him, and Linc pulled out after they went past
and followed them. They speeded up but Linc followed them all the
way into town.
In town he went to the sheriff's office and told him what had
happened. Sheriff said, "I thought those darn fools had left town
but I guess they haven't ". He called in his dispatcher and asked her
to call all the hotels and motels and find out where they were
staying. In a few minutes she came back in and handed a slip of paper
to the sheriff, who looked it then called to one of his deputies,
gave him the slip of paper and told him to check it out. See if they
are there. Use a complaint about speeding or something to find out
about them. Get plate numbers and all info he could from them, ASAP.
Sheriff told Linc he had a number of complains about them from people
there in town. " Darn them, why didn't the stay away when they left a
few days ago". he grumbled. He and the sheriff talked a bit longer
then he left the office.

Linc figured as long as he was in town, he would go over to the
Tractor Supply Store and take another look at a wagon he saw when he
was last in there. The wagon wasn't a small one like you usually see,
but a nice large one of heavy metal with stake sides on it. He wanted
it for when the kids went to the retreat at Christmas time. He took
it out and put it into the truck. He wanted to take it to the retreat
before he went to Provo.
As he sat there in the parking lot, he decided to call his mom and
find out what the kids might like for Christmas. He already knew Todd
wanted a better camera than he had now, but he didn't have a clue what
the girls might want. He could always stop in Salt Lake on the way to
Provo and get what he needed. Lot bigger stores there and a better
chance finding what he wanted. His Mom told him that Leslie was really
into art. She watched all of Jerry Yarnell and Bob Ross's shows on
TV. Linc told her he did remember that when he was back home, but
had forgotten about it. Told his mom, he would get her an easel,
paints, and canvas's for Christmas, and that he was getting Todd a new
camera, now he had to figure on something for Amy. His Mom told him
she had some good color books and pens she liked but she was really
into baking right now. Watched the cooking shows that she could and
wanted to make all kinds of things. Since Todd did make a lot of the
evening meals, just like he used to do, Amy was right there to help
him out. Linc told his Mom, "I wonder if she would like an I-Pad to
record her recipes on". His Mom thought that was a good Idea, since
she liked using the computer, and it always seemed to be in use. This
way she had one all to her self. He talked a while longer to his Mom
and as he sat there, he saw the blue van go past the parking lot and
park a ways down the street. He had to smile to himself. He just
thought of something he could do to give them something to think
about. He told his Mom good-by and pulled out of the parking lot.
Going down the highway a few miles, he could see the van was still
following him. He pulled off at a wide pull-off. He waited until
the van was almost up to him, and then he touched the broach, and
said, "retreat", and laughed out loud. He knew this would get to
them.
To be continued.