The Alberta Connection Page 2

  Ryce loaded the location into the GPS in his cell phone. The pick-up point was less than a half mile from where he was camped. Ryce smiled. He still had thirty minutes to fish.

  Ryce arrived at the pick-up point with four good-sized fish. The Park Ranger truck slowed as it approached where Ryce was fishing, but did not stop. As it drove by, Ryce noticed several trash bags in the bed. It must be trash pick-up day.

  Ryce had only a few minutes to wait until the retrieval team arrived. When Ryce got into the van, he discovered it contained only the driver. Ryce scowled for a moment. Travel protocol required that agents travel in pairs, even if they were only going to get a Slurpee. This agent was going to learn the hard way that Matt, the Great Falls office chief, followed protocol.

  When Ryce and his driver arrived at the campground, everything was ready to load into the van. Ryce pulled a laptop out of a bag on the car seat and composed an email. The campground had Wi-Fi, giving Ryce access to the Internet.

  As soon as he clicked “send,” Ryce closed the laptop and looked over at Matt Yearly. Ryce was surprised to see Matt for two reasons. First, Matt did not usually go out on routine assignments. Second, the agent who had driven Ryce to the campground did not have any teeth marks. He had obviously not been chewed out to the extent Ryce expected Matt would chew, based on Matt’s reputation.

  “What’s next, Matt?”

  In addition to being the Great Falls office chief, Matt Yearly was the area supervisor of the Montana-Idaho-Washington region. He and Ryce had served together in Afghanistan for a little less than six months.

  Matt was Major Yearly then. He was riding in the last Hummer of a four-vehicle patrol hit by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). The second vehicle was destroyed and the first and third heavily damaged. The fourth vehicle, where Matt was riding, was shot up. Matt took three slugs in his right leg below his knee. The resulting surgery gave him a rather distinctive limp.

  Matt was still in the hospital when the Director of the Joint Border Task Force approached him. The Director asked one question. Would Matt like to join the task force? Matt accepted on the spot.

  Matt looked up. “We’re going back to Great Falls, and then you go back to Billings. The scuttlebutt says you are going to Idaho to hook up with the Pendergast group. You get to see O2 again.”

  Matt laughed. Matt had met O2 in Afghanistan and had great respect for him. In Matt’s book, O2 was either a really good SEAL or a moderately good Ranger, although often a little crazy. Matt turned to help load the van. Ryce put his backpack on the seat and then climbed into the back of the van. He was happy he was going back to Billings. He had not seen Tanya for more than two weeks.

  Chapter 3

  The drive back to Great Falls took less than three hours. The van was large enough that Ryce could nearly stretch out behind the second row of seats. Even after years of sleeping on the ground, Ryce had not developed the ability to sleep on hard surfaces. Nor could he sleep while being tossed around the cargo compartment. As he tried to recover some lost naptime, Ryce thought about the Joint Border Task Force.

  The Joint Border Task Force had sprung into existence shortly after an incident on the Trans-Canada Highway near Brandon, Manitoba. A Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer clocked a vehicle exceeding the speed limit by over 20 KPH. During the pursuit, the vehicle attempted to exit the highway. At the bottom of the off-ramp, the automobile blew through a red light, and impacted the side of a delivery van in the intersection. All four passengers were pronounced dead at the scene.

  Six laptops with tags indicating they were the property of The McDonnell-Douglas Corporation were recovered from the vehicle. A phone call revealed that the laptops were stolen eleven days earlier from the Skunk Works, near Los Angeles, California. The ramifications of equipment stolen from the top-secret design and construction facility for McDonnell–Douglas were enormous.

  The local RCMP officers informed their superiors, who contacted the FBI. After several telephone calls, a group of FBI agents and RCMP officers sat down to discuss what they should do.

  The McDonnell-Douglas laptop discovery created numerous questions. Who are the people involved? Why has no one known about this group before? Where are the laptops crossing the border? What is the destination? What are the participants planning? Are they affiliated with existing terrorist organizations? Is there a security crisis?

  JBTF-Canada was formed to find answers on the Canadian side of the border. Their counterpart, JBTF-USA, focused on discovering how the items were transported from California to the border. That was the reason Ryce was sitting on a hill in Montana. Ryce smiled. He had found no answers to how the laptops were taken into Canada. He did, however, discover that the cabin occupants knew something about explosives and were competent short-range shooters from cover.

  During the first year of the task force, six groups were apprehended running the newly designated “Canadian Top Secret Corridor.” They carried everything from highly classified material and documents to complete circuit assemblies and computers. All were confirmed as Canadian citizens, but the task force was unable to establish a link to any U.S. participants.

  The first significant break came when an RCMP officer patrolling Highway 1 east of Banff, Alberta, noticed a vehicle slightly exceeding the speed limit. When the officer ran the plates, he discovered the vehicle had been stolen in British Columbia. JBTF-Canada requested that the officer tail the automobile, but not stop it.

  The vehicle was followed to a motel on the eastern outskirts of Calgary. As the car was unloaded, the officer watching the vehicle noticed one of the occupants carrying what appeared to be a gun case into the room. When a SWAT team was called in to assist in apprehending the occupants of the car, someone in the motel room opened fire with an automatic weapon. In the resulting firefight, all five occupants of the motel room and three police officers were killed. A close inspection of the room determined that all five were Americans, and all of them lived in Great Falls, Montana. An informational bulletin with the names of the five Americans was sent to all law enforcement departments in British Columbia.

  More than three hundred top-secret US Navy documents and three encrypted laptops were found when the motel room was examined. The FBI was contacted when the RCMP forensic technicians could not breach the laptop security walls.

  The FBI dispatched Special Agent Cameron Wilson to Calgary. When Cameron suggested the laptops be transferred to John Pendergast in Idaho, the RCMP district commander grinned.

  “I have actually had dinner with John Pendergast. I should have remembered him. Do you think John and O2 would like to live in beautiful, central Alberta? We have the Calgary Stampede every year. I am sure I could find a spot for them.”

  A faint question was heard from across the room. “Could he have your job, eh?”

  Five days after the motel shoot out, JBTF-Canada received a telephone call. A car registered in Montana had been ticketed at a park-and-ride lot in Burnaby, BC. When the vehicle was impounded, the local police department discovered the car belonged to one of the men killed at the motel in Calgary. Did JBTF-Canada want the contents of the car?

  Three days later, JBTF-Canada received a package. It contained a small bag of receipts, a prepaid cell phone, and an invoice for two tires purchased in Great Falls, Montana.

  The GPS location found in a text message on the cell phone was the reason Ryce had been observing the cabin. After nine visits in three years, Ryce had only confirmed that the occupants of the cabin were supremely talented sharpshooters. And, they liked living thirty miles from civilization.

  The three occupants had never changed. They had no visitors. They rarely left the cabin for more than three hours. When they did return from the longer trips, they always unloaded grocery bags. And, Ryce had never seen any of them with a fishing pole.

  The access road to the park was closed during the winter. Where did the occupants go when it was snowing? Was the cabin accessible using snowmobiles? This area
got more than six feet of snow each year. Maybe the cabin occupants simply hibernated for the winter. Ryce had only staffed the observation post after the winter snow melted. He had no idea what happened before he arrived on the mountain.

  Ryce awoke in Great Falls only long enough to walk across the tarmac to the JBTF-USA chartered Cessna that would fly him to Billings. He did much better sleeping on an aircraft. Two hours later, he walked off the Cessna and into the arms of Tanya.

  Chapter 4

  The alarm clock went off long before Ryce expected the noise. After he turned it off, Ryce looked at the woman who was sharing his bed and smiled. He checked the time. His scheduled meeting with the JBTF Director was in ninety minutes. He kissed Tanya, promised she would be able to take advantage of him later, and departed for the shower. With the water rushing over his head, he thought about what had happened during the past three years.

  Two days after he joined the Joint Border Task Force, Ryce had been sent to the FBI training facility. Several weeks of intensive training later, he had been placed in charge of the Billings, MT, office.

  The Great Falls office, with twenty agents, was designated as a fast response unit. It was capable of putting agents almost anywhere west of North Dakota in a few hours. The Billings office was set up for support and planning. It had been tailored for the skills and experience that Ryce had developed as a G3 in the Rangers.

  Ryce heard the shower door open and then felt Tanya’s arms around him. He pulled her close. She was the best thing that had happened to him since he moved back to Montana.

  As he got dressed, Ryce told her what Matt had told him, pulled her close, and gave her a long kiss. “If I go to Idaho, will you go with me?”

  She reached up and hugged him tightly. “Of course, honey. When do we leave?”

  Ryce smiled. “I will know for sure when I get to the office this morning.”

  Ryce watched Tanya button her blouse and then pull on her Tony Lamas. He grinned as she stomped down in the boots to properly position her feet in them. As soon as she felt comfortable, she looked up, and mouthed the words “I Love you.” Ryce smiled. He would not be sad if he never laid eyes on that cabin again.

  Three days after Matt was given the GPS location from the burn phone, Ryce received an email asking him to meet with Matt in Great Falls. Matt wanted eyes on the cabin. It soon became clear to Ryce that his friend was planning to be those eyes.

  As they discussed what needed to be done, Ryce eventually looked over at Matt.

  “I know you want to go in, but it is totally unknown territory. Will you need to hike two miles to establish the observation post, or ten miles? You know I respect you, Matt, but my 65% good arm is better than your 50% good leg. Let me go in.”

  Ryce fervently hoped that he had not offended Matt with his remarks. The resulting silence was deafening.

  After several minutes, Matt smiled. “Ryce, I hate to have to admit it, but you are right. How soon can you pick up your equipment and get back here?”

  Ryce thought for a minute. “Give me a couple days. I should be back in thirty-six hours.”

  Ryce’s first insertion lasted sixteen days. After a ten-day recovery period in Billings, he was asked to return to Great Falls to set up some training sessions. Tanya was one of the first seven agents enrolled in the initial three-week Ranger-style course. At the end of the three weeks, Ryce and Tanya were inseparable.

  Ryce flew back to Billings for three days to handle some issues and then returned to Great Falls to start the second training session. Again, Tanya was a member of the training course, and it became apparent that Great Falls would soon lose an agent.

  When Tanya transferred to Billings, the office staff started a Ryce-Tanya wedding betting pool. The winner would get more than $300.00. Everyone in the office loved Tanya. Many were even envious of Ryce.

  Three months after the second training series ended, Matt received information that required the observation post be re-staffed. Ryce recognized that he could be on the mountain when the first frost changed the leaves to orange and red. Ryce said a silent prayer that he would not be on the mountain when the first snow began to fall. Did he need to order an arctic-rated sleeping bag?

  Tanya wanted to work out of the Great Falls office while Ryce was at the cabin. After several tearful conversations, Tanya agreed to stay in Billings and keep Ryce’s offices running smoothly. Besides, if she were too close, he would be distracted.

  Although Tanya was not expected to show up at the office on Saturday, she was ready to walk out the door with Ryce. She intended to be waiting when Ryce came out of his meeting with the Joint Border Task Force director.

  The task force office was less than ten minutes from Ryce’s house, so they arrived about fifteen minutes early. As Ryce walked in, the receptionist, actually a security guard on the weekends, pointed toward Ryce’s office, indicating he had a visitor. Ryce kissed Tanya and walked to his office.

  Tanya walked to the break room and turned on the cocoa machine. When Ryce returned from his second trip to the cabin, he had gotten on the Internet and found the best cocoa machine available. His first complaint when he returned was he could not get up on a cold morning without a cup of hot cocoa. However, making a cup of cocoa without a fire was not possible, and MRE hot cocoa did not qualify as drinkable. Tanya chuckled. When the carton with the cocoa maker arrived, Ryce opened it with an enormous smile on his face. As he sipped the first cup from the machine, his smile was even bigger.

  After thirty minutes and two cups of cocoa, Tanya looked up and smiled as Ryce walked into the break room with the director. When Ryce completed introducing Tanya, the director smiled.

  “It’s good to meet you, Tanya. I have heard wonderful things about you.”

  The director turned to Ryce. “Let me know about your decision. You can have until noon tomorrow to think it over.”

  The director then turned and walked out of the break room.

  Ryce walked to the cooler, pulled out a Dr Pepper, sat down at the table next to Tanya, and popped the tab on the can. He took a long swallow to drag out the moment.

  Tanya smiled. “OK, you jackass, when are you going to let the cat out of the bag?”

  Ryce chuckled. “If I accept the assignment, we leave Monday for the Pendergast Ranch in Idaho to meet a man named John Pendergast. I served with his brother in Afghanistan. If only half of what the director told me is true, the Pendergast group is doing some unbelievable things.

  “We will be at the Ranch for no less than four months. It will depend on how fast I can learn the computer details and construct a cyber group for the Joint Border Task Force.

  “The JBTF is about thirty years behind the world in our incorporation of computers. I saw one computer in Great Falls that still used a blanket and a fire with green wood to communicate.”

  Ryce walked to the door of the break room and asked the receptionist to bring the Ryce-Tanya wedding pool envelope into the break room. Tanya jumped up and threw her arms around Ryce’s neck.

  When he was handed the envelope, Ryce turned to Tanya and pulled a small box from his pocket.

  “We can answer the question of when I proposed now, but who wins the bet on when you got married will be answered later.”

  Ryce and Tanya spent the weekend packing enough for several weeks away from home. Ryce had called his replacement on Saturday to ask if he could come into the office on Sunday for the transfer of responsibilities.

  Ryce and Tanya were almost overwhelmed when they walked into the office on Sunday. All of the agents and office staff were waiting in the break room. Streamers were hanging from the ceiling. Balloons were tethered to the tables. A cake reading “Congratulations Ryce and Tanya” was on one of the tables. Several wrapped gifts were on the table next to the cake. Ryce thanked everyone and then disappeared into his office with his successor.

  Ryce and Tanya were on the road to the Pendergast Ranch at 7:00 AM on Monday. The onboard GPS listed the drive time to
be a little over eight hours, but Ryce had a few stops planned for the trip. He was confident they would not arrive at the Ranch in one day.

  Ryce and Tanya arrived in Bozeman, MT, a little after 9:00 AM. They had departed Billings late and without breakfast. Ryce checked the GPS on his Dakota and found a restaurant near the freeway. He had been dreaming about hotcakes with maple syrup for more than three weeks.

  When Ryce ordered a second short stack, Tanya was beginning to get the idea that Ryce genuinely missed hotcakes when he was stuck on the mountain in northern Montana.

  She smiled and said, “You could have asked.”

  Ryce chuckled. “I could have made my own, if I thought I could light a fire without alerting the cabin. I was a thousand feet up the side of a ridge, no lights, no fire, and no hotcakes. I had some very interesting dreams in which you were the star. You looked really good wrapped in a hotcake.”

  He laughed, and then continued, “However, the hotcake didn’t cover everything.”

  Tanya began to turn red, and then reached over, took Ryce’s hand and kissed it. “I am glad you are rescuing me from the hotcakes.”

  She smiled, and then burst out laughing. “Do I want to ask if maple syrup was involved?”

  At 10:00 AM, Ryce and Tanya were back on the freeway. Ryce set the cruise control for 3 mph over the posted speed limit, and the miles passed without any problems. Ryce and Tanya reached the outskirts of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, at 5:15 PM. At 5:45 PM, Ryce exited I-90 at mile marker 12, drove to Lincoln Way, and pulled into a Best Western motel.

  After they checked in and carried their luggage to their room, Ryce carried his cell phone into the bathroom. Tanya heard the toilet flush, and then heard water running for a lot longer than needed to wash even the dirtiest hands. Ryce was still looking at his cell phone when he walked out of the bathroom.

  When Tanya smiled, he closed his cell phone, and then asked, “You hungry? Let me see if there is something close.”