Searching Beyond the Horizon

He ate breakfast and decided to go take a look at Willowcreek Farms in the daylight.  This time, he passed New Holland Drive to get a look at the other side of the property.  This is when he spotted the big house he hadn’t seen the night before.  The driveway didn’t have a security gate as the entrance to the horse barn did.  This seemed strange that someone would take more precaution in the security of a horse barn than they did with their residence.  The entire property was lined with perfect white fencing that was used for pastures containing the horses.  The fencing was plastic and required no maintenance but was extremely expensive.  It was strange that a wire mesh was placed around the bottom of the fence and razor wire at the top.  This was what he would expect a government facility to have, not a horse facility.

He traveled about half a mile coming to an intersection with the cross road going in both directions.  He turned left, and the white fencing continued for about a quarter of a mile.  There, a housing development started ending the pastures with the white fencing.

He continued to the next street and turned left.  After another quarter of a mile, the housing development ended and the white fencing picked up again.  He recognized that the next intersection was where he had stopped last night.  If he went straight it would take him up the hill to where the car with the two men was waiting.  He turned left, and that brought him to where he had spotted the car back in the trees last night.  Again there was a car parked in the same place with the motor running.  He didn’t look towards the car but out of the corner of his eye he could see two people in the front seat.

Tonight, he was going to take a look inside the horse barn.  He would also see if there was a way he could get to it from the backside.  The housing development had a concrete block wall between it and the horse pasture.  He guessed it was about nine feet tall.  He noticed where the trash dumpsters were and thought it would be easy to hop onto the dumpster then jump over the wall into the pasture.

He had never seen a fence around a livestock pasture that was set up like this.  The bottom had a fine wire pattern that looked like it would prevent even small animals from entering or exiting the pasture.  At the top was razor wire that was in the form of a ‘V’, it tipped inward towards the inside of the pasture and away from the pasture.  This would be impossible to get through.  He wondered what was on top of the block wall.  It would surely, like the rest of the fence, have something to make impossible to get through.  Tonight he would bring a pair of wire cutters, some tape, and a few feet of rope.

He returned to the motel to wait for darkness to fall.  He watched some college football on the old TV and thought how nice it would be if he were back in California.  One game being televised was UCLA at Arizona State, and the weather there was really nice.  It was sunny and 85 degrees in Tempe where the game was being played.  He didn’t know what the temperature was here but guessed it was in the low 20’s.  Definitely nothing frozen had melted today.  As it was becoming dusk, he went to eat.  After a good meal, he returned to the motel and prepared for the night.  He had bought bottled water and some snickers in case it turned out to be a long night.  He checked his bag and found the rope and wire cutters he had brought also.

After unpacking the guns, he checked them to make sure the clips were full and that each chamber had a shell in it.  He hadn’t shot either for months and wished he had practiced a little at an indoor range before he had left California.  He didn’t want to get into a situation where he needed to use them, but he did want them for security just in case.