Storm Watch (joe Pickett, #23)

This C. J. Box novel is set over six days in late March and early April in fictional Twelve Sleep County in northern Wyoming. The story follows game warden Joe Pickett as he stumbles onto a murder that entangles him in overlapping conspiracies involving Chinese espionage, a manufactured domestic terrorism plot, and a corrupt governor.

During a late-March blizzard, fifty-one-year-old Joe sets out to euthanize a cow elk injured in a car collision near the town of Saddlestring. After obtaining permission to cross the twenty-thousand-acre Double Diamond Ranch from its foreman, Clay Hutmacher Sr., Joe tracks the elk through deep snow. Near an aspen grove, he discovers an unoccupied vehicle with University of Wyoming parking stickers. Following boot tracks over a ridge, he finds a small metal building where industrial fans cool powerful computers inside. A man's body protrudes from the middle fan opening, his skull sheared off by the blades. Joe photographs the scene. As he turns to leave, two rifle shots strike the building above his head. Hutmacher, reached by satellite phone, reveals the building is a secret project of the ranch's owner, Michael Thompson, an Atlanta telecom billionaire. Joe identifies the victim as Zhang Wei, a professor at the University of Wyoming's College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Joe reports the death to Sheriff Scott Tibbs, who is weeks from retirement and dismissive. Rick Ewig, director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, relays that Governor Colter Allen demands Joe come to Cheyenne. At home, Joe discusses the discovery with his wife, Marybeth, the director of the Twelve Sleep County Library. Their daughter Sheridan, twenty-four, works for Joe's close friend Nate Romanowski's bird abatement company, Yarak, Inc., which uses trained falcons to drive pest birds from commercial sites.

The next morning, Nate, a former special operator turned master falconer, receives an uninvited visitor. Jason Demo, a former Army Ranger, delivers a pitch about a "war on the West" waged by coastal elites, mentioning the Keystoners, a group of displaced pipeline workers led by Cade Molvar, and hinting at secession. Nate remains noncommittal. Demo then reports to a man he knows only as "the Big Fish," who runs recruitment for a shadowy group called the Sovereign Nation from a motor home at a Forest Service campground.

Joe drives to Cheyenne and learns en route that Wei's body has vanished. Deputy Buck Holmes, the sheriff's newest hire, reports that the building is now silent, the computers removed. Governor Allen, whose first term has been plagued by scandals, orders Joe to delete all crime scene photos and cease involvement, citing national security. Joe complies on screen but first forwards copies to Marybeth. In Laramie, Joe visits his daughter Lucy and meets her roommate, Fong Chan, a Hong Kong exchange student. When Joe mentions Wei, Fong reacts with visible distress. Lucy later reports that Fong's parents, pro-democracy activists, believe Wei was a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy.

Back in Saddlestring, Joe learns from Geronimo Jones, a fellow master falconer visiting Nate's compound, that the building on the Double D was a Bitcoin minipod: a container packed with supercomputers powered by natural gas, used to mine cryptocurrency. Joe realizes Thompson has been running a secret operation. Following a tip, Joe discovers riders conducting an illegal shed-hunting operation, driving elk into timber to knock their loosened antlers free before the legal collection season. He identifies vehicles belonging to Ogden Driskill, a local drug dealer, and Molvar.

Thursday night, the Big Fish convenes his group: Demo, Driskill, Driskill's associate Leland Christensen, Molvar, and Holmes, who arrives in his deputy's uniform as the Sovereign Nation's law enforcement insider. Over a Saturday dinner, Joe assigns his own team: Sheridan will search social media, Marybeth will research records, and Nate will infiltrate the Sovereign Nation. That evening, Sheridan spots two strangers meeting with Molvar at a local bar and identifies one as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent Thomas J. Scott.

Sunday morning, Joe stakes out the Marmot House, a duplex where Driskill and Christensen live. He finds poached elk antlers cached in a shed and discovers Christensen dead inside, his throat cut. FBI Agents Scott and Fetterman arrive and order Joe to leave; when he asks about Wei, they appear baffled, indicating a separate investigation. That afternoon, Nate meets Demo at a remote campsite and catches him activating a hidden recorder. Demo confesses under duress: The Big Fish coerced him by threatening to expose his former unit's heroin-smuggling operation. The entire Sovereign Nation is manufactured to entrap Nate. Nate recognizes the Big Fish as Jeremiah Sandburg, a former FBI agent wounded in Saddlestring years earlier who blamed Nate for the incident. The planned attack: The group will storm the library during Allen's reelection announcement the next morning. Nate tells Demo to report that he is joining and creates staged recordings to deceive Sandburg.

That evening, Nate briefs Joe. Molvar is an FBI informant, many Keystoners are on the federal payroll, and Holmes is a true believer unaware the operation is fabricated. The team divides responsibilities: Joe will handle the crime scenes and recruit deputies; Marybeth and Sheridan will block Sandburg's escape; Nate and Geronimo will neutralize the conspirators.

Monday morning at the Marmot House, Joe discovers Wei's frozen body hidden beneath the antlers. Holmes arrives, Tasers and handcuffs Joe, then confesses. He, Driskill, Christensen, and Molvar were hunting sheds on the Double D when they encountered Wei near the minipod. They chased him; he fell near the fan, and they pushed him in. Holmes also murdered Christensen because the man could not stay silent. As Holmes forces Joe to his knees, a shot from Nate's .454 Casull revolver punches through Holmes's body armor, killing him.

The team splits up. Joe recruits Deputies Steck and Bass and captures Agents Scott and Fetterman at their hotel. At Molvar's house, Nate finds armed Keystoners, Demo, Driskill, and, to his surprise, Clay Hutmacher Jr.—Clay Senior's son and Sheridan's romantic partner—carrying an AR-15. Nate orders Clay Junior to leave, invoking Sheridan's name. When Nate demands the group disarm, gunfire erupts; Nate and Geronimo kill several conspirators and incapacitate Molvar. At the campground, Marybeth and Sheridan block Sandburg's fleeing motor home with their minivan, and Sheridan orders him out at gunpoint.

At the airport, Joe boards the state plane, where Allen sits with Joe's mother-in-law, Missy. When Allen orders the pilot to take off, Joe shoots out the left engine. Former governor Spencer Rulon boards and reveals that Wei approached him years earlier on behalf of the CCP, offering to finance energy projects in exchange for influence. Rulon reported Wei, but nothing happened. The CCP waited for a more compliant governor, and Allen, desperate for campaign funding, accepted Chinese money, becoming a puppet in a state with nuclear missile silos and vast mineral wealth. Rulon further reveals Allen was complicit: Rogue FBI operatives pitched a staged takedown in which the Keystoners would storm the library and Allen would theatrically force their surrender on camera.

Nate and Geronimo deliver the wounded Molvar; Marybeth and Sheridan bring Sandburg. All conspirators converge on the plane. Rulon tells Allen to announce his withdrawal from the governor's race or face public exposure. Sandburg will be prosecuted in Wyoming on charges including entrapment and conspiracy. Joe links arms with Marybeth, invites everyone to the Stockman's Bar, and offers to buy drinks.