The Alberta Connection (22 page)

Ryce thanked Doug, and then he and David
walked into the conference room.

David pulled several folders from a leather
day planner he had been carrying. He pulled papers from the
folders, spread them out on the table, pulled a pen out of his
pocket, and handed the pen to Ryce.

“We have a bunch of papers to sign.”

For the next twenty minutes, Ryce signed the
papers that David passed across the table to him. As Ryce signed
the last paper in the folder, David reached into his day planner,
pulled out an envelope, and spread several cards out on the table.
He picked two cards from the table.

“These are ID cards for both you and Tanya.
They are about three layers above top secret. Do not let them out
of your possession. If they do leave your possession, I need a
telephone call within a few minutes.”

David slid the remaining cards across the
table. “These are credit cards. I have ten with me. You and Tanya
each get one. Carefully choose who gets the other eight. They have
an unlimited purchase capability.”

David checked his day planner, flipping
through several pages. He closed the planner and then looked over
at Ryce.

“We are done. The JBTF is now yours.”

When Ryce and David walked into the
cafeteria, Jeb was standing at a mobile whiteboard that had been
placed near two cafeteria tables. Jeb saw Ryce enter the room,
picked up a card laying on the table, walked over, and handed Ryce
the card.

“If you are hungry, the cafeteria is open.
The card in your hand gets you through the front and side doors,
into your office, and pays for meals in the cafeteria.”

Jeb smiled. “You have been oriented.”

Jeb finished the orientation for the agents
sitting at the tables and then suggested that Ryce, Tanya, and Doug
take a tour of the main house. On the way across the parking lot,
Doug explained the history of the house.

Shortly after Jill and John were married,
John had decided that ten programmers working out of a one bedroom
apartment was not suitable for a new wife. John approached AP, his
older brother, for a loan. AP informed John that he owned about
twenty percent of Pendergast Holdings, which at that point was
worth in excess of twenty-two billion dollars. How much did John
want to spend on his new house?

Using Pendergast Holdings architects and
Pendergast Construction builders, John built what soon became known
as “The Big Garage.” It was a two-story home with a five-car
garage. The ground floor had a large living room, a kitchen, a
dining room, two bedrooms with attached bathrooms, and a third full
bath, Access to the second floor was provided with an interior
stairway, a single-passenger elevator, and two exterior stairways.
The master bedroom was on the second floor, along with a
one-bedroom “mother-in-law” apartment. The apartment had a complete
kitchen, a combination living and dining room, and a full bathroom
with hot tub.

When John decided to move to Idaho, he sold
the house to Doug for $1.00. Doug was required to promise to sell
the house back to John for the same $1.00 if John returned to
Monroe. When John discovered Pendergast Holdings in Idaho could not
operate without Doug, Jeb was given the opportunity to buy the
home. Still only $1.00.

After Jeb unlocked the side door that led
into the dining room, Doug gave the dining room and kitchen a long
look.

“I see you have been keeping my house in
shape.”

Jeb laughed. “Of course, for when either you
or John come back.”

Jeb showed Tanya and Ryce the interior
stairway, the elevator, the door to the exterior stairway that led
to the apartment, and handed Ryce a key.

“You’ll have to get a key made if you get too
far away from Tanya.”

Jeb pointed at one of the ground floor
bedrooms and informed Doug he would be sleeping there. Doug carried
his luggage into the bedroom while Jeb led Ryce and Tanya up the
stairs. The apartment was at the end of a short hallway.

Ryce and Tanya’s luggage had been carried to
the apartment during the orientation. Their bags were now neatly
stacked in the middle of the living room, and their laptops had
been placed on computer workstations along one wall. Ryce needed to
catch up on three hours without email contact with the Idaho branch
of the JBTF. As he started to plug in the laptop power supply,
Tanya came into the room and motioned for him to follow her.

The focus of Tanya’s interest was an
unusually large snail shower with showerheads on three walls.
Adjacent to the snail shower was a six-person in-floor hot tub.
Tanya slid out of her clothing and helped Ryce remove his. After
twenty minutes in the shower, they moved to the hot tub. Ryce felt
he could become accustomed to both the snail-shower and the hot
tub.

Ryce did not want to get out of the hot tub,
but he had scheduled an agents meeting at 3:00 PM in the cafeteria.
Tanya found extra large and extra soft towels in one of the linen
closets, and they dried off. Ryce gave the hot tub one last look
and then walked into the bedroom and pulled on jeans and a sport
shirt. Still plagued by no email contact, he walked to his laptop
and pressed the power button. He had received no emails.

Tanya and Ryce were the last JBTF agents to
arrive in the cafeteria. Doug had positioned a mobile white board
near the tables where the agents were sitting. He was outlining the
office arrangements. When he completed his presentation, he walked
over to Ryce.

“Each wing has a conference room with an
office on either side, or a conference room connected to an office
that is connected to an office. John and Marge liked the second set
up, while Jill liked the first. Jill said that if she was upset
with John, walking through the conference room cooled her off so
she didn’t kill him.

“I assigned the offices alphabetically, per
your request. All systems are up and running. There are six agents
per office and two printer caves. John called them caves, and the
name stuck.

“You are ready to hit the ground running
tomorrow morning. Pick what offices you want and move in. Someone
will set up the phones later. Welcome to the Annex.”

After Ryce and Tanya selected their offices,
Ryce gave his pep-talk. When he asked if anyone had questions, a
voice in the back asked if they could get to work now. They had
lots to do.

Ryce now had two reasons to like the Annex.
He had a twenty-four hour subsidized cafeteria and a hot tub. He
and Tanya ate dinner and then returned to their temporary
apartment.

The first thing on the agenda when he walked
into the apartment was to boot up his laptop. He noticed he had an
email from Matt. Matt repeated his earlier report that Dianne and
Delbert drove north on I-15 to Shelby, MT. They had lunch at
Ringside Ribs and then drove to a residence. Matt included the
address. Ryce made a mental note to have someone in the JBTF do
some research on the address in the morning.

Dianne and Delbert had stayed at the
residence until late afternoon and then returned to I-15 and
continued north. Their next destination was the border-crossing
town of Sweet Grass. They checked into a motel that one of the
agents described as a dive. Matt closed the email with a promise
that he would report again as soon Dianne and Delbert moved.

Ryce powered down and closed his laptop,
stood, and walked into the bathroom. He removed his clothing and
walked into the hot tub.

Chapter 29

When Ryce
commented that the Annex cafeteria was almost as enjoyable as the
Ranch chow hall, Doug laughed.

“It better be. Ramona trained the staff.”

The phone techs were finishing the telephone
installation as Ryce and Tanya walked into their offices. One of
the techs asked if Ryce wanted the receptionist to answer all calls
or have the calls come directly to his telephone. He thought for a
moment and replied that the receptionist could answer them. Tanya
began to laugh.

“You have gotten lazy in your old age. You
never let the receptionist answer your calls in Billings.”

Ryce blew her a kiss.

“Perhaps since I am married, I am turning
over a new leaf.”

Tanya was still laughing when she walked into
her office.

Both offices were configured the same, with
an office desk, a table with four chairs, a sofa, and a full-sized
refrigerator next to a microwave. Ryce checked the contents of the
refrigerator. Inside were three six-packs of Dr Pepper. Ryce
smiled. John didn’t miss a thing.

The morning passed swiftly. At 9:00 AM, Matt
reported in an email that Dianne and Delbert had checked out of the
motel in Sweet Grass. This time, they had driven to a fuel stop and
had stayed for more than two hours. Matt included the name and
address of the fuel stop.

At 12:00 AM, Ryce received a text that Dianne
and Delbert were again on the move. They were now travelling west
on State Highway 214. Ryce quickly accessed Google Maps. State
Highway 214 was a rural road. Tailing Dianne and Delbert had gotten
significantly more difficult.

Ryce sent Matt a text, asking how many tail
cars he was using. When Matt replied he had only one car tailing
Dianne and Delbert, Ryce told him to shut down the tail. The roads
were too flat and too straight. Delbert would quickly spot a car
that never left his rear view mirror.

Ryce received an email from Vince at 11:00
AM, informing him that the FBI agents in Sweet Grass had been able
to plant a tracker bug on Delbert Grant’s Silverado. They had also
been able to plant an audio bug under the front seat. Ryce stared
at the email for several minutes. He hadn’t requested a
tracker.

After a few minutes, he started laughing.
Just before he dozed off in the hot tub, he had mentioned to Tanya
that he wished he had the ability to get a bug in the Silverado.
When he got out of the hot tub, he went straight to bed. Did Tanya
call Vince and request a tracker be placed on the Silverado?

Ryce pressed the intercom button on his
phone.

“Would Mrs. Dalton please come to the office
of Mr. Dalton?”

Tanya walked in and sat on the sofa. Ryce
smiled at her for several moments and then thanked her for asking
Vince to put a tracker on the Silverado. Tanya looked at him as if
she had no idea what he was talking about.

“I didn’t talk to Vince.”

Now Ryce was confused.

“You didn’t ask Vince to send the FBI agents
in Sweet Grass to put a tracker on Dianne and Delbert? They also
put an audio bug under the front seat.”

Tanya shook her head “no.”

Ryce grimaced. “So who told Vince to send the
FBI in Sweet Grass to stick a tracker on Dianne?”

Doug entered the room. “I think I can answer
that question. When Vince and I were talking last night, he asked
about Dianne and Delbert. You mentioned they were in Sweet Grass
for the night and I repeated the location. He chuckled and said it
was a good opportunity. I didn’t ask what the opportunity was. He
must have made a call.”

Ryce chuckled. “It is sure good to have Vince
on our side. Doug, I have a very important question to ask you.
What was Phil talking about when he said John made him walk; I
thought you were going to pull the seatbelt out of the floor of the
airplane, you were laughing so hard.”

Doug started laughing uncontrollably once
more and collapsed on the sofa. He finally regained his
composure.

“When we had the poison scare a couple years
ago in Moses Lake, WA, Phil was asked to transport several agents
out to the local FBI office. He flew into Grant County
International Airport, which is a little deceptive as an airport
designation, although it used to be an Air Force base.

“Someone met him at the airport, took him
across town to a motel to stay, and left him an FBI car to drive
back to the airport. The next morning, Phil tried to find the
airport, got lost, and ended up at the Ephrata Municipal Airport.
He drove up and down the flight line for twenty minutes looking for
his G650. And then, he ran out of gas. He had forgotten his cell
phone in the G650, so he couldn’t call Vince to tell him where he
was. He finally walked to the first 7-Eleven he could find and
called the police. According to Phil, he had to walk twenty-five
miles. I looked on Google Maps, and he maybe walked two miles.”

Ryce chuckled. He was definitely going to
miss being around this group. Ryce stood and looked over at
Tanya.

“We have some tracking data to look at and
some audio to listen to. What office is being used by the audio
group?”

The audio group had set up three laptops in
the conference room. Only one was being used as a transcript
station. Ryce found an empty laptop and accessed the tracking
program. The Silverado tracker confirmed that Dianne and Delbert
were west of Sweet Grass, following Highway 214. They had passed
the Loop Road. If they did not turn off Highway 214 on one of the
smaller roads, their next exit was Highway 213, followed by Highway
215.

As Ryce was contemplating the many places
Dianne could go, a tech transcribing the audio handed him a sheet
of paper. Ryce read the transcript and returned to his office to
send an email.

“
Matt,

“
Vince got a tracker and audio bug onto
the Silverado. Dianne is heading to the cabin. Let Russ and Damien
know they will have company soon.

“
Ryce”

Tanya walked into Ryce’s office with an
extremely questioning look. “You sure left the audio room in a
hurry.”

Ryce grinned. “Dianne is heading to the
cabin.”

Ryce’s most pressing concern was to keep Russ
and Damien safe from the occupants of the cabin. Neither of the
agents had stealth training, so the observation post that Ryce had
occupied on the hillside had not been re-manned. Until the
Silverado drove past the two agents, they would be fishing as close
to the road as possible. Ryce wanted an accurate visual
confirmation.