The Alberta Connection (3 page)

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.”

Ryce pulled his laptop from his suitcase, and
plugged it in. Tanya heard him mumble, “I hope this place has free
Wi-Fi.”

As the laptop booted up, Tanya heard a knock
on the motel room door. When she opened the door, she saw two male
and one female uniformed Idaho State Police officers, and the motel
manager. Tanya noticed that none of the officers had nametags. One
of the officers turned to the manager, thanked him, and asked him
to return to the motel office.

Tanya turned to Ryce. “Honey, I think we have
a slight problem.”

When Ryce walked to the door, the female
officer glanced at a page she was holding in her hand.

“There is an alert on the Dodge Dakota you
included on your room registration at this motel. Please ensure you
have your driver’s licenses and come with us.”

As Tanya walked through the door, she noticed
that two cruisers were blocking the motel entrance, and two were
idling at the opposite end of the parking lot. The female officer
motioned for Tanya to follow her to the cruisers near the street.
Ryce followed the two male officers toward the other end of the
parking lot.

A woman in civilian clothes was standing near
the cruisers parked next to the street. Tanya was asked to provide
her driver’s license, which was keyed into the computer in one of
the vehicles. The officer using the computer frowned and waved the
female uniformed officer over. They discussed something for several
moments, while pointing frequently to the computer screen. Finally,
the male officer got out of the vehicle, opened the rear door of
the cruiser, and asked Tanya to please get into the vehicle. He
then flipped open his cell phone and dialed a number.

“The female suspect does not check out. What
would you like me to do with her?’

Tanya began to panic. How could she not check
out?

The driver was speaking once more. “Ten-four,
we will transport the female subject.”

The driver pointed at the woman in civilian
clothes, and then at the back seat of the cruiser where Tanya was
sitting. As soon as the door clicked shut, the cruiser was in
motion.

When Tanya began to feel she was
hyperventilating, she started some breathing techniques. After a
few moments, she felt that she could form words.

“What seems to be the problem? Where am I
going? What doesn’t check out?”

Neither the driver nor the woman sitting
beside Tanya said a word. When Tanya began to tear up, the woman
next to her pulled a handkerchief from her handbag, and passed it
to Tanya. As Tanya cleaned up her tears, she thought that the
handkerchief smelled nice. Do people with nice smelling
handkerchiefs harm other people? Tanya certainly hoped not.

Chapter 5

The drive took
almost a half hour. Tanya heard the cruiser computer announce a
message had been received three or four times. Or perhaps she just
concluded the ‘ding dong’ was a message. She forced a weak smile
after the first ‘ding dong.’ The computer operator could certainly
find better system sounds.

Tanya tried to keep track of where she was
being taken, but she had never been to Coeur D’Alene. She had no
idea where she was. What was Ryce going through? For that matter,
where was Ryce? Tanya began to formulate some plans to escape. She
was not handcuffed. Her Glock was in her handbag. She checked the
front seat. Her handbag was in plain sight where it had been placed
after she had replaced her ID. The only problem was the Plexiglas
screen between the rear and front seats.

As she was devising a back-up plan, Tanya saw
two police vehicles directly ahead. They were parked on the side of
the street, with a stretch Hummer limo positioned behind them.
Through a rush of tears, she saw that Ryce was standing with three
uniformed ISP officers. And, he looked like he was laughing.