The older trooper sneered. “Bullshit. They’re a nuisance. I have to spend just as much time keeping an eye on them as I do on my regular duties.”

The cameraman leaned over the counter and propped herself with one elbow. “Oh?” she mused innocently. “I’m surprised to hear that they’re slacking off and not pulling their weight. I’d have thought they’d be all charged up and anxious to do their part.”

“Well, my bud does have a point. They just might be doing too much.”

Picking up that point, the older trooper explained. “Slowly but surely we’re being replaced by them. While we’re being sent to man road blocks along the border, they’re being left here to safeguard the governor. The way I see it,” he stated as he straightened up and reached into his pocket to fish out some coins to pay for his coffee, “this is a case of calling on the wolf to guard the hen house.”

“The governor doesn’t seem to have a problem with it,” the young trooper countered as he grabbed a sweet roll from a rack and threw it on the counter.

The older trooper shook his head. “The governor doesn’t seem to have a choice.”

Annoyed, the younger trooper threw down some change to pay for his sweet roll and chased after his partner. “Now there you go again, getting on GO Thomas’s case. What is it with you? You think after standing up the whole United States Army he’s going to roll over and play dead for some half ass militia types?” the young man asked as the pair disappeared through the door.

Later that night as Jan and the cameraman sat in their van matching the recording the cameraman had made with the tape Jan had managed to shoot, she realized that she was on to something. Though she suspected that she already knew what that was, it was far too early to go public. She’d need more time and a hell of a lot more evidence to support her theory before she came out with the story. Besides, a little voice in the back of her head told her that she’d have but one chance to get this right. While the National Guard and the State police had rules of engagement that they were required to abide by, Jan knew that the people she was preparing to go against didn’t.

THE IDAHO-UTAH BORDER, SOUTH OF STONE, IDAHO • EVENING, NOVEMBER 7