“A vicious tactic. Protesters would nail large spikes into trees. His stated reason for spiking trees was to make them worthless if cut. And when loggers did cut the trees, running a saw through a spiked tree became deadly. The saw blade would explode, and anyone nearby could be seriously hurt. A logger in California was almost killed. Beck was unrepentant. You can probably find videos on the Internet of him instructing people on how to spike trees.”

“Charming. He’s obviously graduated to more heinous crimes if he’s involved in human trafficking.”

“Jethro used to talk about the guy a lot. He knew the elder Beck and Cyrus, when he was a kid. Cyrus was spoiled, given anything and everything he ever wanted. He’s never been held accountable for anything. . . . This is absolutely amazing if he’s really going to finally be charged with a crime.”

“A big-league crime at that,” Tess added.

She had to pull over for a fire truck to pass on the narrow road they traveled. She nodded to the driver.

“When I first started at the church, in the children’s ministry, Jethro often warned parents about indulging kids. In his mind that was what ruined Cyrus.”

“Really? Sounds as if Jethro was really close to the Beck family.”

“He was. He and the elder Beck served in the Army together. He always said Cyrus was Senior’s blind spot. If you get him going, he’ll tell you story after story about what a great man Senior was.”

“I’d like to hear those stories.”

“It’s been at least ten years since Beck or his protesters have been in Oregon. I imagine Jethro will have a lot to say about Cyrus being arrested. He’ll probably say it’s poetic justice that we might keep a witness safe who could possibly serve up justice to him.”

Tess shrugged. Though she firmly believed in the justice system, she couldn’t deny that sometimes, people were able to buy justice. But human trafficking was a lot more serious and heinous than political agitating. Could this really be Beck’s undoing?