“These are the most common, but there’s others, too.”
A movement at the edge of the golf course caught her attention as another quadcopter flew across the fairways and flew through the course as the three boys and Hunter watched. Looking around for the flier, she spotted a man wearing dark sunglasses and a black ball cap in the parking lot, leaning against a Hummer 2 as he used a laptop to control the drone.
He was exceptional. His drone whipped through the course with a ferocity that made the motors howl, and when he finished, the man landed the small flier at his feet, light as a feather. He picked it up, put it in the vehicle, and gave Hunter and the boys a two-fingered salute before driving off in the Hummer. He was gone before Hunter could get a license plate number.
David asked the others, “Who is that guy?”
Lonny and Carlos shrugged their shoulders. Lonny said, “Somebody showing off.”
David said, “He’s really good, so I’m not sure he was showing off.”
Hunter asked, “Do you recognize his Hummer?”
Carlos said, “I’ve seen him flying his drone around Ojinaga and Presidio, down by the river mostly.”
Hunter asked them, “So how good is he?”
The three boys looked at each other before David said, “He’s pro good. But he’s not somebody I’ve read about or seen on YouTube flying in the nationals. I don’t know his name.”
Hunter told the boys to meet her at the Dairy Queen, where she treated them to hamburgers, fries and soft drinks.
Carlos said as he chewed, “He lives in Mexico, I think.”
“The guy in the Hummer?” Hunter asked.
“Uh-huh. Saw him with a different flier. I was about ten miles downriver from Ojinaga visiting my tia, my aunt, and took mine out to fly a little. I put it up high so I could view things from above and as I flew over the draws back from the river, I saw a guy flying a big one, six-engines and large rotors on each, with what looked like metal pipes running across the center from front to back.”
Hunter thought of Cory Jones, “You sure they were pipes?”
“Pretty sure. Looked like he was checking how much it would lift, had a dozen pipes on it, like drill stem stuff cut to the length of the drone.”
“And it was the guy at the golf course?”
“Not a hundred percent sure, but the black ball cap looked the same, and his build did, too. I couldn’t stay up long because I was running low on the charge and had to bring mine back to land or I would have looked closer, because that was some odd stuff to be doing.”
David asked, “Did you see his Hummer?”
“No, and that was funny, too. I didn’t see a vehicle anywhere around. No houses in that area, either.”
Hunter thought about that, but drew no real info from it. The border area, on both sides, is a haven for odd events and people, like some strange magnet that brings those things to it. She thought it was probably time to go down there and look around from this side before she crossed and scouted out things in Mexico.
The boys left as soon as they finished eating, thanking Hunter for the food. “You fellas stay in touch, and let me know if you see anything else like that, okay?”
They nodded and shook her hand before leaving the Dairy Queen. Hunter watched them leave before driving to her house on Plateau Street.
Her cell phone rang as she stepped inside. She recognized the number as Sheriff Gonzalez. She said, “Hello?”
“Hey, Hunter.”
“What’s up?”
“I need you to come by the office in the morning. Your Chief already knows.”
“Knows what?”
“I’ll tell you when you get here. See you then.” He didn’t give her time to ask more questions.
She frowned, but shook it off and worked on cleaning the big two-story home. She knew that tomorrow would take care of itself. The home phone rang as she finished and Hunter read the Caller ID: Belinda Kincaid. Mother.