The Killing Ground by Larry Lauritzen 
Series: Lance Tallbear #2
Published by Self Published on August 6th 2024
Genres: Crime Drama
Pages: 574
Format: eBook
Source: Author
I received this book for free from Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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The Sonoran Desert of Arizona becomes the resting place for the rotting body of an undercover FBI agent. Smuggling drugs and illegals across the border has become a game with no rules. It’s a treacherous place where fools and losers often pay with their lives. It’s a play board filled with ruthless players whose hearts are as cold as the gold they pursue.
Brad Hanley, FBI Director of Border control, fears there is a traitor in his task force and turns to his friend Lance Tallbear to consult on the crime. With his help, he wants to find the agent's killer and reveal the traitor in his midst. It means going undercover, to infiltrate the deadly Sinaloa Cartel. Accepting an assignment that is off the books, hidden even from others in Hanley's service. He'll be without the protection of his badge or office, and all alone. An impossible task? Tallbear feels the pull of a debt of honor he owes Hanley from their prior case together. But is doing a favor for his friend, worth losing both the life he has with Sally Yazzie, the woman he loves, and likely his life?
There’s a new Sheriff in Town and his name is Lance Tallbear.
Sheriff Lance Tallbear is surprised to see his friend, FBI Special Agent Brad Hanley at his door. Hanley is hoping to use Lance’s tracking skills to look at a crime scene pertaining to Hanley’s undercover agent–actually now dead undercover agent, who was buried holding his FBI credentials which should have been safely tucked away in another state. Someone wanted to send a message but the one that Hanley received was that he has a mole in his organization who gave up his undercover agent. Not only does Hanley want Tallbear’s tracking skills, taught to him by his Apache grandfather but he is also hoping to talk Tallbear into being his new inside man in the Mexican Drug Cartel in a completely off the books investigation.
Drug and sex trafficking is a huge problem along the border of Arizona to the point that the cartels are pretty brazen getting their goods across the border and many times, then double-crossing and trafficking the poor women they convinced to be their drug mules. While Lance really doesn’t want to risk his life again, especially so soon after his last investigation, he can’t bring himself to turn away on this very important problem. The cartel is responsible for too many deaths.
Tallbear makes himself known in a big way by the local boss, immediately earning some friends and enemies in the cartel. He is then taken across the border to meet Marla Satillo, the female head of the Sinaloa Cartel. Marla knows a female head of the family is a tenuous position but with men like Tallbear on her side, she hopes to hold onto that control and show the cartel that she is worthy of her position. Tallbear also meets her lover and head of her security team, a former U.S. military and his team of elite soldiers. But not everyone supports Marla.
Tallbear is playing a very dangerous game and if anyone uncovers the fact that he isn’t who he pretends, Tallbear will be the next victim to show up in the killing ground.
THOUGHTS:
I really liked Lance Tallbear and his team and definitely would be interested in reading more stories. Of course, when you are dealing with this kind of story, featuring drug smugglers and cartels, there is definitely a higher level of violence and no one is safe, especially not Tallbear or his team, not even the rival gangs and dealers. Human life has no value compared to being on top of the drug trade and the obscene amount of money to be made. I liked that although we don’t like the cartel as a whole, the secondary characters on that side were nicely fleshed out. They had backstories and we understood why they were doing what they were doing. Certainly enough that we feel a little sad losing some of the bad guys as well.
I was only disappointed in this story as I wanted to see how Tallbear worked investigating on the right side of the law. In Killing Ground, he is undercover and obviously pretending to be a bad dude. When he is confronted by the law, he can’t say “we’re on the same team” as he doesn’t know who the mole is or if he/she is FBI, sheriff’s department or on the local reservation. He has to keep pretending to be a killer and a drug lord.
Additionally, Tallbear is Native American but that was really not an important facet of his character in this story. Yeah, he was a big, darker-skinned man, but his Native background really didn’t come as much help for the majority of the story. He was just a Native American bad guy working for the Mexican cartel.
I picked up book 1 of the series which fulfilled my desire of watching Sheriff Tallbear do his investigating with the full authority of the law behind him, and we also get a bigger introduction into Tallbear’s Apache upbringing. We will get to that review shortly.
This is definitely a series I am going to be watching out for future stories.
Favorite Scene:
Hanley stepped out, his arm sweeping to show the area in front of them. “This is the crime scene.”
Tallbear nodded. The area was still damp and muddy from the recent storm. Puddles of water, still present, spread across many places of the plateau in his view He put on his hat, wondering how much he could help his friend. “There’ll be few tracks if the rain showers passed through during or after the time of the crime.”
Hanley pointed at the agent waiting by the other vehicle. “This is agent Raul Ortega.”
The young Mexican leaned against the car, his arms crossed. Most people would describe Ortega as being medium built and wiry. The man had deep brown eyes, a neat thin trimmed mustache, and struck Tallbear as someone serious about his work. He liked him without ever hearing the man speak a word.
“Ortega, this is Sheriff Lance Tallbear. Or should it be Detective Tallbear?” Hanley said, walking deeper onto the plateau.
The two men glance at each other and followed Hanley.
They ducked under a Palo Verde tree to enter a small clearing. The area opened, and Tallbear faced an astonishing scene. In front of him, the muddied outstretched arm of a man extended skyward. A couple of his fingers pointing toward the heavens, like a kid in a classroom begging for attention. Something black and shiny dangled from the lanyard in his hand, rustling in the morning breeze.
Tallbear approached the body, and the object it held. He leaned closer, able to make out the features of a face staring upward, its mouth jammed open, frozen in a scream. The nostrils and mouth choked with mud. The man’s eyes, long since glazed over and clouded in death.
“I brought you here for a couple of reasons, Lance,” Hanley said. “I wanted to get your impression of what you see.”
Tallbear strolled the area, observing the remaining tracks. He paused beside a creosote bush to inspect some broken limbs and followed several dual tire marks around the site. He tipped his Stetson back, waving Hanley over. “Not much is going to be learned form the tire tracks. Most of the tread marks washed away after the first storm rolled through or before the second set of showers arrived.”
He held out the piece of creosote bush, holding it for Hanley to smell. “These stems still have a strong smell of anise, showing they’re fresh, broken inside the last twelve hours.”
Hanley’s brow wrinkled. “What can you tell me about my agent?”
“From the body’s condition and smell, I’d say he’s been dead only a day or two. But I’ll bet his body didn’t end up here until last night at the earliest. Out here, predation by insects and animals starts almost immediately.” Tallbear knelt, using a pencil to poke the item hanging on the lanyard held by the dead man. “I’d also say your man died hard–very hard,” he continued. “How come you haven’t had the forensics boys up here yet?”
“What makes you think we haven’t?” Ortega chimed in.
“Simple observation,” Tallbear said. “There are no tracks other than the people who are present now.” He pointed to the surrounding area. “No tape, signs of digging, or prints of any kind. Except for a deer that passed by early this morning,” he said, pointing to the deer’s track.
“Of course, there are yours and Hanley’s shoe prints in the area. Only one other distinct boot tracks are present. He wore a set of work-boots with a bad left heel. I’m going to assume those belong to the hunter who found the body. From other tracks, a coyote came by for a snack but left when the hunter appeared. The light scuff marks are your killers and mean he left before the last storm passed through.”
“I told you he was good,” Hanley said.
Ortega brushed off the comment. “I could have told you that much, Agent Hanley.”
Tallbear pulled his Bowie knife from his boot as he walked to a nearby clump of mesquite. He spread the branches, using the knife tip to point out a fresh cut deep inside the bush. “Your killer cut a branch from here to wipe and smudge most of his personal tracks and blur his identity. But using the length of stride between his visible steps, the man must be around six feet tall.”
Ortega huffed sarcastically. “You’re telling us he’s the same height as half the men in Arizona?”
“No, just an observation based on science.” He pointed around the area. “The important thing is that he even took the branch he used with him when he left to avoid giving us his DNA. I’ll also bet he wore gloves and made sure not to leave any trace evidence on the body.”
Hanley scratched his temple. “You’re saying he knows our procedures and forensics.”
Tallbear leaned against the Ford Explorer. Brushing back his Stetson, he looked into Ortega’s eyes. “Tell me what else you see, Agent Ortega?”
“I see one of our men tortured and buried alive,” Ortega spat out, his face turning crimson with rage.
Tallbear stared hard at him. “maybe you could tell me why your dead agent is standing straight up in a circular hole.”
Hanley stepped forward, observing the hole’s outline. “He’s right.”
The group could all make out a concave roundness, three feet across, its outline surrounding the body. Ortiz appeared to have popped out of the ground, like a jack-in-the-box or a curious gopher. Several other circles of water were present in the surrounding area.
“I hadn’t noticed the roundness,” Hanley said, removing his glasses. “Or that there are several others present.”
“Don’t you remember digging a hole as a kid?” Tallbear said. “It always took more dirt to refill it than you took out, especially if you wanted to level it smooth. Otherwise, it always left a depression, one you rarely noticed until the next rain.”
Ortega straightened. “Yeah, so what are you saying?”
“Look around you, Agent Ortega,” Tallbear said, pointing to other circular spots between the plateau’s creosote brush and shrubs. Several round, shallow puddles were visible. “I don’t think you found a crime scene. You’ve discovered a killing ground.”
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