The Alberta Connection (21 page)

“You have reached the cell phone of Ryce
Dalton. This is a recording.”

Matt began to laugh. “If my memory is
correct, getting this particular recording on your cell phone means
you are having dinner with Tanya, in the Biblical sense. I hate to
interrupt, but we got the Caravan entering I-15 North at Country
Club Boulevard. Two of my people and two Great Falls PD are
following it. So I don’t incur the wrath of Tanya, I will send you
text messages from now on.”

Tanya stomped out of the bathroom, pushed
Ryce onto the bed, and jumped on his stomach.

“So he knows about having dinner with your
wife in the Biblical sense?”

Ryce started to laugh and then stopped. “The
first night we were together, you walked into the Great Falls
office with a grin that would make a great white shark blush.”

Tanya laughed. “That was different. I had to
prove to the Great Falls office that I wasn’t leaving town for a
nunnery.”

Ryce pulled her close. “You look a lot better
than any nun I have ever seen.”

As Tanya got off the bed and walked to the
bathroom, her parting comment was, “How many of these nuns have you
seen in the Biblical sense?”

Ryce walked to his cell phone to check his
latest text message. Would he ever win? For that matter, did he
even want to win?

“
Ryce, the Dodge got off at Exit 286. It
drove to The Cattleman’s Cut Supper Club, where a man in a black
Silverado Quad-cab met them. We ran the plates, and it is
registered to a Delbert Grant
.”

Ryce chuckled. That must be the “Grant” that
Dianne had said they needed to meet.

Matt continued.

“
Dianne removed a large diamond-plate case
and a wheeled travel-bag from the Caravan and placed them in the
pickup. Grant passed out thick envelopes to the two men with
Dianne, and then they got back into the Caravan and drove off. I
have a couple people tailing the Caravan.

“
I was parked in a position which gave me
a full view of the front window. When Dianne got into the truck,
she and Grant wrapped up for several minutes. Sort of looked like
you and Tanya. Lol
”

Matt had typed “lol” so many times, it had
filled two lines on the message.

“
Dianne and Delbert left here a couple
minutes ago, heading north on I-15. Where are they going? I-15 will
take them to the Sweet Grass border crossing, or if they follow
your route, I-15 will also take them up to the cabin you were
observing. I have two agents tailing the pickup and have informed
Russ and Damien what to look for.”

Ryce sent a short “
Thank you
” text to
Matt and then walked into the bathroom. They now had no way to
track either the laptops or Dianne electronically. And, since the
single transmission after ordering pizza, the LoJack on the
Pentagon laptop had been silent. Matt did not have sufficient
people to run a rolling tail. If he had four additional vehicles,
it might be possible.

Ryce grimaced. Four more agents would not
help. All of the vehicles available to the Great Falls office were
standard black Government Issue sedans. They stood out in a
crowd.

Russ and Damien were the last hope at the
cabin. They were camped close to the road and would have no trouble
verifying the arrival of the Silverado. Ryce did not want them to
get any closer to the cabin.

The JBTF still had the capability to track
the Dodge Caravan, so not all was lost. They could continue to
follow two thirds of the Renault Gang. Unfortunately, the most
important pieces of the puzzle were now driving north at 75 mph,
destination unknown.

Ryce watched Tanya in the shower for a few
moments and then slipped off his clothing and joined her. After she
wrapped her arms around him, she asked how things were going with
Dianne and her crew.

Ryce explained that they still had two people
they could track electronically, but Dianne needed eyes. If they
somehow lost visual contact, Dianne would be lost.

When he completed his shower and got dressed,
Ryce booted-up his laptop. He wanted to look at the online maps
again to compare them with maps he remembered taking to the cabin.
Unfortunately, those maps and his notes were still in the JBTF
office in Billings.

Google Maps had provided no details about
where the cabin was. In fact, Google Maps did not know that the
cabin or the road leading to it existed. Ryce only knew he was on
the eastern edge of Glacier National Park, within twenty miles of
the border with Canada. And, MapQuest had provided less
information. The campground that Matt had used as his support base
was shown on Google Maps but not on MapQuest.

On the third night of his last insertion at
the cabin, long after the lights had been turned off at the cabin,
Ryce had hiked to the lake. He then hiked over the hog’s back and
followed the trail to a three-strand barbed wire fence. When he
compared his GPS location with the paper map in his pocket, he
confirmed he was at the Canada-US border.

The trail followed a stream that had been
infrequently fished, if at all. The fish in the stream loved the
strips of Ryce’s salt pork. After breakfasting on fish cooked over
an open fire, Ryce had retraced his steps back to the hog’s back.
He had then taken a long circuitous route back to his observation
post.

Ryce’s biggest concern was he did not know
where the trail came out into civilization on the Canadian side of
the barbed wire fence. Without the ability to track anyone past the
cabin or the lake, who ever went up that trail could disappear.

A little after 5:00 PM Idaho time, Matt
interrupted Ryce’s dinner in the Pendergast Ranch chow hall. Matt’s
text message reported that Dianne and Delbert had stopped at
Ringside Ribs in Shelby, MT. A little over an hour later, he sent
Ryce a second text stating that they had settled down for the night
at Crossroads Inn. Ryce looked at Tanya and ordered dessert.

As he dug into his apple pie alamode, Ryce
did a quick mental game and lost. Question: Where was the Silverado
headed? Answer: To the cabin. Question: Where was the Dodge Caravan
going? Answer: Not to the cabin.

If the Dodge Caravan was going to the Seattle
area, the most likely route that it would take would be back down
I-15 to I-90 and then I-90 west. If Ryce used the average miles
driven while Frank was a passenger, the Dodge would stop in
Spokane, less than 375 miles from Great Falls. Ryce was extremely
disappointed to discover there were no Waffle Houses in
Spokane.

But, the average number of miles driven after
Frank had been dropped off in Grand Forks was closer to 600 miles.
Ryce studied the map. The next major town west of Spokane on I-90
was Ellensburg, 560 miles from Great Falls. Ryce made a mental note
to see if Vince had some friends who lived in Ellensburg.

As Ryce walked into the apartment after
dinner, he stopped Tanya and pulled her close. This was the last
night they would be in Pendergast City, unless Tanya returned to
have her baby. Pen was particularly insistent that her girls return
no matter where they were when the baby was ready to join the
Pendergast family. Ryce did not intend to determine how much pull
Pen actually possessed. She knew someone who owned a Gulfstream
G650.

In some ways, Ryce was ready to leave. In
others, he would be happy to stay forever.

During dinner, Doug informed the table that
he was accompanying the JBTF agents to the Annex in the
morning.

John laughed. “Did you leave something in
Seattle, Doug?”

When the laughter died down, John looked
around the table and said, “Wheels up tomorrow at 10:00 AM.”

Chapter 28

The turn-around
time for the BBJ, normally four hours, was completed in two. Phil
had returned to Pendergast Field from Billings at 7:00 AM, and the
service personnel came out of the woodwork. Phil rounded up a
qualified alternate flight crew, who arrived at 9:45 AM. Phil had
already gone through the pre-flight checklist. Phil climbed out of
the left-hand seat, walked back to the cabin, found an empty seat,
sat down, and buckled up. He told the passengers that they would be
arriving at Paine Field in Everett, WA, in about 90 minutes. And,
would they please wake him up when the wheels touched down?

As they taxied to the unloading ramp, Phil
passed out some maps with an insert and did his best imitation of a
travel guide.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Everett,
Washington. Everett is thirty miles from Monroe, Washington, the
home of the Pendergast Annex, built many years ago by John
Pendergast. The Annex was the headquarters of John’s software
empire until the Seattle Campus was built. The Seattle Campus was
later leveled by a bomb.

“As soon as this aircraft stops, and you all
retrieve your luggage, you will all be taken by bus to the rental
car counters. John has helpfully arranged for each of you to be
provided with a rental. He only forces his chief pilot to
walk.”

Doug began laughing so hard Ryce made a
mental note to ask him what Phil was talking about.

Phil continued. “Each of your rentals will
have the GPS of the Annex loaded into it. This is a rural area, and
some of the roads here are only about a half a lane wide. Doug will
clarify that issue later. For those of you who left everything in
Billings or Great Falls, there is a large strip mall about a mile
from the Annex. You will be given a card when you get to the Annex
that is good almost everywhere. On behalf of Pendergast Airlines,
please have a wonderful time in Seattle.”

Phil’s ending comment was, “If you are still
on this aircraft when I back away from the terminal, you will have
to hitch-hike back to Seattle from Idaho.”

As the JBTF agents departed the BBJ, Ryce
reminded them that they were expected at the Annex for orientation
as soon as they could get there.

Ryce glanced at the map insert as he rode to
the rental counters. Each of the JBTF agents would be assigned a
free apartment for six months, after which they could pay the rent
on the apartment or find new living arrangements. Phil had included
a handwritten note. He suggested they keep the apartments, which
were half of the going rent and twice as nice as most homes in the
area.

When they arrived at the rental counters,
each agent signed the rental agreements and was given keys for a
vehicle. Ryce noticed that his rental had a sixty-day, prepaid,
unlimited mileage contract. He didn’t need sixty days. He planned
to drive his Ram to Seattle long before the rental contract
expired.

Ryce chuckled when he saw that all of the
rental cars were Chrysler products. Had someone been monitoring his
personal preferences? Ryce’s rental vehicle was a Dodge crew-cab
pick-up, while Tanya’s was a Charger. Tanya verified that the
Charger had a Hemi.

Ryce was grateful that his rental had GPS.
Without it, he realized he might have never arrived at the Annex.
The area didn’t have many straight roads. He had waited several
times for Tanya to catch up; he wasn’t comfortable with losing
her.

When they pulled into the Annex parking lot,
Ryce noticed that several of his agents were waiting outside the
entrance. He also noticed two strangers standing close to the
group. His first thought was that the agents had a better GPS
system than he did. Then he realized that they were agents from
Seattle who had joined the JBTF in Idaho and were returning to
their homes. They knew where they were going.

As Ryce and Tanya were walking toward the
Annex entrance, Doug arrived, stepped out of his car, and caught up
to Ryce. One of the strangers separated from the group and walked
across the parking lot toward Ryce.

After Doug introduced Jeb Sanders to Ryce and
Tanya, the four walked to the JBTF agents, where Jeb introduced
Ryce to David Bolt.

David shook Ryce’s hand, and then said, “I
had to fly out to Seattle for a non-related appointment. I thought
I would take care of the transfer before I have to fly to San
Francisco.”

Ryce looked around the group.

“It looks like we have about a third of the
agents who have arrived. Let’s get this group through orientation.
We can run the rest through when they get here. Jeb, do you have an
office that David and I can use?”

Jeb laughed. “Three quarters of this complex
is yours.”

Jeb turned to Doug. “I’ll take the new group
through orientation, and you can show David and Ryce to the
conference room in C Wing. Do you still remember how to get
there?”

Jeb was still laughing as he escorted the
agents to the side entrance of the Annex. Ryce and David followed
Doug through the double entrance doors, turned right at the
receptionist’s desk, and walked down the corridor. As they walked
to the conference room, Doug explained that the Annex could hold
over three hundred people. The JBTF agents would bring the
occupancy up to less than one hundred people. The Cyber Crime group
occupied half of the offices of A Wing. The local JMJ Software
on-site representative, Kelly Price, was now occupying Marge’s old
office in B Wing. Kelly was at the Annex primarily to coordinate
over fifty programmers who were working from home.

Doug laughed. “JMJ has hundreds of irons in
the fire. There are people that work for John almost everywhere. He
has people in Seattle, and in Portland, Phoenix, Idaho, Spokane,
Virginia, and San Diego. John is a big believer in emails and text
messages.”

As they turned into C Wing, Doug pointed down
the main corridor. “D Wing is down there and is empty.”

Doug opened the door to the conference room.
“I’ll let you two talk over what you need to talk about. If you go
back in the direction of the receptionist, the corridor just before
you get to her desk will take you to the cafeteria. That’s where
Jeb is holding the orientation.”