The Alberta Connection Page 10
“Thanks for watching my back. And Kenny’s.”
Ryce just smiled. “I’d say you have a lovely back, but my wife is standing within flying pan range.”
Tanya, Sally, and several people who had heard the story of the flying pan began laughing hysterically. Ryce noticed that there were many within earshot with decidedly puzzled looks. He allowed himself to be cajoled into explaining what happened.
While Ryce was in the Philippines, one of the enlisted men in his G3 group had moved into his Philippine girlfriend’s thatched hut. One morning, they were awakened by something in the kitchen. The girlfriend had been seasoning a new cast iron frying pan over a small charcoal fire in the bedroom. She picked up the frying pan and hurled it at the noise. It was a tiger that had been terrorizing the village.
The frying pan handle impaled the side of the tiger’s head and instantly killed it. The village presented the girlfriend with a tanned tiger skin. And the joke of the month became watch where you stand; it might be within flying pan range.
The Pendergast Medical Center had been notified that several agents from Great Falls might need attention. Matt and the four men who had been caught in the crossfire at the cabin were delivered to Pen Wilson for a check out. Matt was not happy that his intended reunion with the Great Falls agents was to be delayed by over three hours. Ryce called Pen and asked her to have Matt escorted to the chow hall when she was finished.
Ramona instructed the group to go to the Ranch chow hall after they completed their shopping. Six hours of sitting on an airplane with only a bag of peanuts were not the best six hours they could experience.
Ryce had some small details to clean up and was not able to immediately accompany the Montana agents to the chow hall. When he finally arrived, Ryce saw the JBTF agents had positioned five tables in a U-shape. They were regaling O2, Ramona, and Marge with tales of the Wild West in Montana. The tales eventually included the story of Ryce and the bear.
During the training sessions in Great Falls, Ryce had taken several of the agents into the mountains for a tracking exercise. He found a set of tracks, and they began following them. At one point, they were in a very closely packed grove of trees. The tracks had suddenly disappeared. For some reason, Ryce looked up. He saw a bear cub directly above him that was having difficulty maintaining its grip on the tree.
Without warning, the cub let go. Ryce spun and tried to get out of the way, but the cub got a paw out to stabilize his landing. The claws ripped through the backpack that Ryce was carrying, leaving three 12” holes in it. If Ryce had moved one inch slower, the holes would have been down his back. The falling cub also punctured two water bottles while slashing the backpack.
When Ryce felt something trickling down his legs, he look at the group and announced, “I think it got me.”
The backpack and water bottles were placed in a trophy case in the reception area of the Great Falls office, with a sign: ‘Ryce: 0, Bear Cub: +3’.
When John arrived at the chow hall, he informed the JBTF agents that FBI scramble teams had been sent to Great Falls and Billings. They were collecting anything left in the offices that would be needed immediately in Idaho.
John chuckled. “If you have anything at home you want picked up, please let Ryce know. And don’t worry about how the FBI is obtaining entrance to homes and apartments. The FBI has some really good locksmiths.”
John also read off the sleeping arrangements. Half of the agents were going into the local motel while the rest would be staying at the Marina Apartments. John passed out a three-page information booklet with the instructions.
Matt got up and softly said, “Mr. Pendergast, on behalf of the State of Montana, I’d like to thank you for pulling our butts out of the fire. I know several families who are grieving right now, but there is a group at this table who will be eternally thankful to you.”
Marge chuckled. John did not like being called Mister.
As John walked out of the family dining center, he waved at Ryce and O2 to follow him.
“The FBI picked up the Lexus. Their forensic people are going over it with a fine-tooth comb. They have promised to give us a report when they complete the investigation.
“I got an email from David Bolt. He got Ryce’s email asking for some direction on taking a team to find out what happened to the Browning PD officers. David asked what I thought.”
John paused and then said, “I told Bolt if he wanted Ryce to do his job, he’d better let him do his job. David says you have permission to do whatever you want with the JBTF, within reason. And going in to find the Browning PD officers is certainly within reason.”
John paused again and then looked over at Ryce. “O2 forwarded the email to me that you sent him about taking a team to the lake. The Gulfstream G650 is ready when you want it. I don’t suppose you’ve told Tanya what you have in mind?”
Ryce shook his head, looked at O2, and then back at John. “Actually, no.”
Ryce turned back to O2 and said, “I’ll see you in my office at 7:00 in the morning. If you are going along, bring four men you trust to watch your back. If you are not going to be part of the festivities, bring five. And if you hear sirens tonight, you can be sure that Tanya had problems with my plans.”
Ryce and Tanya rode directly back to their apartment after the party broke up.
As they prepared for bed, Tanya wrapped her arms around Ryce and said, “Thanks for saving Sally. My two very best friends are you and her.”
Ryce watched Tanya bubble around the bedroom. She was so happy her friend was safe, Ryce did not have the courage to tell her what he was planning.
Chapter 18
There were few empty desks in the JBTF offices when Ryce and Tanya walked into the research center at 7:00 AM. The Great Falls JBTF office had added thirteen people to the center and the Billings office an additional twelve. Everyone had a desk, but there were only eighteen laptops spread among forty-three agents.
When Tanya saw O2 and four strangers walk into the conference room, she gave Ryce a very puzzled look. Ryce took her hand, motioned for O2 to follow them, and walked to his office.
When Ryce was comfortable in his office chair, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.
“Matt, this is Ryce. Could you please come to my office?”
As soon as Matt arrived, Ryce asked, “Where are the keys to the Great Falls Suburban and camping trailer?”
Matt reached into his pocket, pulled out a key ring, and dropped the keys on Ryce’s desk. “Is this where I am supposed to ask what you want the Suburban for?”
Tanya was sitting next to O2. She reached out and grabbed his arm.
“No, this is where I am supposed to ask what he wants the Suburban for.”
Tanya stood and walked from the office. O2 looked over at Ryce.
“That went a lot better than I expected. I haven’t told Ramona, yet, either.”
Eight minutes later, Tanya walked back into Ryce’s office followed by Sally and Ramona. Ramona walked over to O2, sat next to him, and grabbed his arm.
“You had a precinct meeting scheduled this morning at 7:00 AM. When you did not show, I got a call from your number two. I checked your online calendar. You cancelled the precinct meeting and substituted a meeting with Ryce.
“I saw you had a note on the calendar. I checked the note and found four names. Those four are sitting in this office. Then I got a call from Tanya. What the heck have you got planned?”
Ryce smiled at Ramona, looked at O2, and then said, “I think we have been caught.”
Ryce turned to Tanya. “I wanted to bring it up last night, but you were just so happy about Sally, I didn’t have the heart.
“A few days ago, the Browning PD had some laptops stolen. The two officers who were in pursuit have not reported in. Someone from Browning PD contacted Homeland Security, who suggested Matt could help. The crew cleaning the campground near the cabin found two burned vehicles. One of the vehicles was traced back to one of the missing officers
. The other vehicle was stolen in Atlanta, Georgia, three weeks ago. I know I might be grasping at straws, but I think I see the ghostly outlines of a pattern here.
“I sent an email to David Bolt yesterday afternoon, asking if I had the authority to send people to find out what happened to the Browning PD officers. He said yes.
“The plan is to go in with six people.”
Ryce paused, looked directly at Tanya, and smiled.
“I think you have a good idea of who the six are. We will use the Suburban and camp trailer as a base with two people. The rest will hike the trail until we get to the border fence, or find some bodies. If we find bodies, we will leave a GPS marker, and some park rangers will take horses in to pick up the bodies. Dexter says he can pick us up on the Canadian side of the border, if we get that far, and transport us back to Great Falls. I don’t expect to be gone more than a week.”
Tanya looked over at Ramona. “Remind me why I married a Ranger.”
Ramona laughed. “Because there were no spare, totally insane, SEALs available?”
Tanya stood and motioned for Ramona and Sally to follow her. Ryce looked over at O2 and then pointed at the door the three women had walked through.
“That conference is not going to bode well for us.”
Tanya, Ramona, and Sally were out of the office for at least ten minutes. When they returned, Tanya pulled a chair close to Ryce’s desk.
“OK, we don’t like it, but we are not going to run off a cliff screaming bloody murder. If we can set up a radio monitor center in Suite 424, Ramona and I can listen to what is going on. Ramona says two of the four you are dragging along on this trip have wives. Plan this well enough for everyone to return in one piece.”
Tanya stood and walked from the room with Ramona and Sally. O2 looked over at Ryce.
“When were you planning to leave?”
Ryce studied the wall for a moment. “I think I can bring the additional JBTF personnel up to speed between now and lunch. I would guess we could be wheels up by 1:00 PM and sitting in lawn chairs on the lake by 7:00 PM.”
Ryce looked over at Matt. “Are those two-man tents still in the hanger with the sleeping bags?”
Matt shook his head “yes.”
Ryce continued. “Great. I want the camp site to look like it is being used by half of Patton’s Seventh Army.”
He looked around the room. “Go home and get everything together. We won’t be carrying any heavy artillery. Let’s make this a quick and easy run to the border.”
As Matt was walking out, Ryce called to him to remain in the office.
“Is the utility van that was used to pick me up on my last day still in the hanger?”
When Matt shook his head “yes,” Ryce smiled. “I guess I need the keys to the hanger and the van. And, I still have some things in the gun locker in the hanger office.”
Matt and Ryce walked to Suite 424 where Tanya was huddled with Sally and Ramona. Ryce began writing personnel assignments on the whiteboard. By 10:30 AM, he was satisfied with where everyone was working and for whom he or she was working.
At 10:45 AM, three technicians pushed a mobile command center on wheels into the conference room, found Tanya, and asked where she wanted the monitoring center set up. After twenty minutes of cell phone conversations, the group established the antenna feed from the roof, and Tanya was on the air.
As the technicians walked out, one of them glanced over and saw the confused look on Ryce’s face.
The technician laughed. “John has this place set up like an old-time telephone switchboard. We just pull a plug out of one hole and stick it in another.”
When Tanya was comfortable with the radio console, Ryce took her hand, and they walked to the elevators.
Chapter 19
When Ryce and Tanya arrived at the apartment, Ryce walked into the spare bedroom, opened his footlocker, and pulled out his daypack. He had two packs to choose from. The largest, his jump pack, could hold over 50 kilos of gear and was good if he was planning to spend a month in Glacier National Park. For a week, the daypack would suffice; it could easily hold thirty pounds of gear. When Ryce followed tradition and placed the pack on the bathroom scale, it topped out at 15.5 kilos. Ryce chuckled. He still had several items to retrieve from the Great Falls gun locker, but he might stay under 18 kilos, if he was lucky.
At 12:25 PM, Ryce and his team walked up the stairs into the G650. He expected John would see them off, plus Ramona, Tanya, and the wives of the two married team members. He was amazed to see all of the JBTF agents, plus Marge, Pen, Doug, Karen, AP, and Danielle clustered around the aircraft. Someone had even created a banner that read “Happy Hunting.”
As they buckled into their seats, O2 looked over. “John has one rule that he asks everyone to follow. It is ‘Support the Troops.’ Any time a group goes into harm’s way, he wants everyone showing them they are appreciated.”
The flight to Great Falls was uneventful. As soon as the G650 landed, it was directed into the JBTF hanger and the hanger doors were rolled closed before the stairs were lowered. Ryce tossed the keys for the Suburban to O2 and then walked to the hanger office.
The gun closet had been converted from the lady’s washroom after the men’s washroom had been designated a uni-sex bathroom. The cement floor was jackhammered out, a deeper footing was dug, and a new three-foot thick slab was poured, with enough rebar to build a freeway overpass. The walls were cast in place, also with enough rebar for a freeway overpass. When the ceiling was curing, Ryce had joked there was an overpass missing half its rebar.
Ryce was using the gun closet to store what he called his “back up” boomers. Although he was issued a perfectly good Berretta 9mm, he liked the additional knockdown capability of his .357 Magnum Rossi with combat grips and sights. He also had a Henry .357 Magnum lever action rifle. Not quite the knock down power of the M4, but he only had to carry one caliber of ammunition. Of course, he did not have the capability of selecting full auto in a firefight. Ryce carefully stored the Rossi in his daypack with four boxes of ammunition.
The hanger storage room contained several sleeping bags and tents used by the Great Falls JBTF agents. Ryce planned to erect extra tents at the campsite and unroll two sleeping bags in each tent. If anyone came by to check out the campsite, he wanted it to appear like there were more than two people watching things.
When the Suburban, camp trailer, and utility van were loaded, the hanger doors were rolled open and the G650 was towed to the staging area. Ryce and O2 said good-bye to Phil and his crew and drove slowly out of the airport.
The first stop was a local super market to purchase food for the two who were staying at the campsite. Ryce took the opportunity to perform a radio check.
When he asked how he was being received, he heard Tanya’s voice say, “I can hear you OK, but you are too damned far away.”
O2 started laughing, and said, “I am glad we don’t have a radio protocol officer.”
The convoy pulled into the campground at the lake at 6:45 PM. There were no other campers in the area. After setting up three tents, Ryce rolled out the sleeping bags and started a large fire in the fire ring. He then pulled the propane three-burner stove from the van and started dinner. As dinner was cooking, Ryce sent two of the team out into the forest with axes and instructions to make a lot of noise. When Ryce was trying to sleep on his ridge, he discovered that most campers were loud, noisy, and just plain obnoxious.
After dinner, Ryce pulled his campaign hat out of his pack. He tore four pieces of toilet paper off the roll, wrote “fish” on two pieces, “trail” on the other two, and dropped them in the campaign hat. Nick Phelps and Michael Granger were hiking with Ryce and O2, while Jeff Phelps and Dave Greggs were fishing. O2 confirmed Jeff and Nick were brothers.
At 2:00 AM, Ryce woke up O2, Nick, and Michael, and then informed Tanya that the four were on the way up the trail. John replied that they had better all return safely. He hated filling out casualty reports.
At 6:00 AM, Ryce estimated the team was more than three miles from the campsite, but less than five. They had been following the stream for about thirty minutes. It was time for a radio check and an MRE.
Marge answered when O2 reported that the team had stopped for breakfast. “Tanya and Ramona are camped out on sofas in the offices. They have been monitoring the radio all night. Hold on, I am sure they want to say something.”
Tanya was the first to get to the microphone. “You’ve been gone for less than twenty-four hours, and I am missing the heck out of you. O2, you keep him safe.”
Ryce could hear Tanya’s voice break for the slightest moment and then Ramona was on the radio. “Everyone be safe. This is not a stroll in the park.”
O2 chuckled and spoke into the microphone, “It sure looks like a park.”
At noon, Ryce estimated they had traveled fifteen to seventeen miles from the campsite at the lake. They were making really good time. The trail was sometimes a little hard to follow, but did not have many steep inclines.
As they dug into their noon MREs, Ryce heard a new voice.
“Ryce, this is Dexter Reynolds. We have established an observation post two miles on our side of the border. It has easy vehicle access, but there is no way anyone can skirt the place to evade being noticed. It is in what you call a gorge. The canyon narrows down to less than one hundred feet wide. Very much like that place in your state of Utah called the Virgin River.
“When we dropped the three men off at the observation post yesterday afternoon, they found a vehicle at the trailhead. There is no way to know if it belongs to the ones you are chasing. Dexter out.”
At 2:00 PM, Nick, who was running point, raised his clenched fist to indicate the team needed to stop in a hurry. Ryce and O2 carefully worked their way up the trail to where he was crouched.