“Mike, I can’t believe this is happening.”
“Me either, partner, but it’s a damned good thing we’ve been training as hard as we have been, otherwise we’d be behind the eight ball.”
I took a breath and said, “We’re going to be okay and the B2’s not going anywhere.”
“You’re damn straight it’s not going anywhere, and you’re damned right we’re gonna be fine. We’re ready for this, Laura,” Mike said, evenly.
“Mike, I’m getting e-mail after e-mail from everyone, as in Kai, Cho, Viktor and now Jelly. I have never received one from her, what should I do?”
“First, read the e-mails to me. Slowly. Can you do it? Oh, I don’t need to hear the one from Kai—those are between you and him. It’s odd Jelly’s e-mailing you. It’s a first, so begin with hers.”
I did as Mike requested and opened Jelly’s first. She mocked all of us, she said our leader was incompetent and said it didn’t matter how many hours of training we’d put in, there was no way we were going to win this fight against her and her uncle’s handpicked, battle-hardened unit and we’d all die in our futile attempt.
“She called Greg incompetent!” Mike roared into the phone. “She claimed our attempt would be futile?”
“I’m paraphrasing, because if I read what was really written you’d blow your stack,” I said. “I’m forwarding it on to everyone except you, Mike, you can read it after you’ve calmed down a bit. Listen, I’m going to get dressed and leave in a few minutes but not before I check on Adelaide and let her in on what’s going on. She’s going to want to know why a few more officers are on their way over, or else she’s going to blow her stack. I have to answer Kai’s e-mail too.
“Mike? Mike, did you hear me?”
“I heard you, Laura, but I’m fuming mad! I don’t take insults to my commanding officer well at all, or to the rest of my team.”
“Mike, you have every right to be upset. I am too. Listen, I have to get moving or else Greg is going to be upset with me for being late. I have to feed the boys and at least get some coffee before I leave. I’ll see you in a bit, okay?”
“Okay partner, see you in a few.” Mike hung up.
I no sooner hung up with him then Kai called and sounded off, “I can’t believe Jelly, who the hell does she think she is going after us?”
“Right now she’s accomplishing her objective, Kai. Look how ticked off you are. I just hung up with Mike and the two of you sound exactly the same; equally angry so she’s got you both right where she wants you, off your game. We have to stay focused and it means no matter what she or anyone else in her group says, we can’t allow it to get to us; she’s counting on the mental game to win out because she knows our skills are better. Think about it, Kai, we’re more highly trained, at least you guys are.”
I could hear Kai take a deep breath prior to responding, “You’re absolutely right, Laura, most of our team is ex-military and her crew is a couple of guys who know how to set bombs. Jelly might very well know how to drive a plane, but those skills haven’t been tested on the real deal.”
“Exactly. There’s a world of difference between being in a simulator and an actual B2. Kai, I hate to cut this short, but I have to get moving if I’m going to make it to the meeting.”
“Okay, Laura. See you in a few.”
I ran out to the kitchen, opened the door to let the pups out and threw their breakfast together while I made coffee for myself. While pulling all of it together, I opted to text Adelaide to apprise her of the additional officers who would be arriving momentarily and received a lukewarm reply saying they’d already pulled into her driveway and I should have let her know earlier. She quickly apologized and said she understood it was for her protection, but she was annoyed because it interfered with her finding out how my date with Kai had gone. It was a story she would dearly love hearing but it called for more than a simple phone call, it was a tale which needed to be told over a leisurely lunch. I texted her back and said I was sorry it would have to be put on hold, but did say the outfit I had worn had worked its magic. Adelaide in turn texted me a smiley face. I needed something to smile about—this was going to be a tough day for all of us. Instead of having another day off to regroup we had to go forward and thwart this enemy once and for all.
While Adelaide and I had been texting, the boys had finished their breakfast and I had dressed. I grabbed my thermos of coffee on the way out the door and ran to the car with them running behind me, wondering what kind of day this was going to be. I jumped in the car and right before we took off, I dashed off a text to Kai to tell him what a fantastic evening we’d had and once this craziness had ended, we would celebrate. We arrived at headquarters simultaneously with Kai, Grady and Crosby.
Crosby grinned and said, “I see you brought the mutts, Laura.”
“Hey, one is pure bred,” I said giving him a hug.
“If you’d like, I can have one of the officers, who’s on his way up to Adelaide’s anyway, take them with him,” Grady suggested.
“Really?” I asked. “What a great idea, obviously I didn’t have the time to do it. It’s better than them being in the car.”
“No problem, one of the guys who’s already there is needed on patrol, and the guy who’s going up is filling in, so it’s a win win for everyone,” Grady said. “And here comes Tim right now. Tim, meet Laura, the owner of two young pups who are going to be staying with Adelaide for the morning and perhaps longer if things go the way I believe they will.”
“Not a problem—I can stay there as long as you need, LT. I’ll give my wife a call to let her know if it turns into a housesitting job,” Tim said.
I looked at Grady and asked, “Do you know something I need to be aware of?”
“Let’s just say the schedule’s being readjusted, slightly due to the e-mails you received this morning, and it’s why Greg called this meeting. Reminds me, when the meeting’s over you’re going to have to reach Annie pdq, but I’ll let Greg tell you about it. In the meantime, please give Tim the leashes and any pertinent pup instructions so we can get our collective tails inside.” Greg smiled and waited while I went through Kai and Koa’s itinerary and handed over both their leashes and my house key, in case he needed any extra food or treats. Then I followed Grady inside and upstairs to the familiar conference room where everyone else was already assembled around the table. Greg had thoughtfully provided ample coffee, and all were availing themselves of it while waiting for the meeting to begin. I slid into a seat next to Mike and Grady took the one beside me. Mike poured me a cup of coffee, added some milk, stirred it and handed it to me. I nodded, took a few sips and glanced toward the front of the room where Greg was seated, his head currently down reading some notes on a legal pad.
Greg looked up from his notepad and said in a somber voice, “From all our intel this is now a high alert situation and it’s forcing us to move our schedule up by two days and I have to say this does not make me happy. But, it’s what it is and we don’t always get to pick the day we fight our battles. I hadn’t planned to go to Bradley until Thursday and it was to do reconnaissance and then to return on Friday for the show. By now you’ve all read the e-mails Laura received this morning from Cho, Viktor and Jelly, the last one being odd to say the least, since this marks the first time she’s contacted Laura. It goes without saying I’ve considered this to be a high alert situation from day one, but I did not anticipate them reaching out and threatening us in such a manner several days in advance. It’s as if they know our every move.”
I raised my hand.
Greg glared and snapped, “Laura, raising your hand isn’t necessary, if you have something to say, say it!” He rubbed his temples and added, “I’m sorry, I’m on edge.” He motioned for me to go ahead.
I cleared my throat and said, “Greg, I believe there’s a good possibility Jelly had a camera in the trees at the gun range and it’s how she was aware of our training schedule. It stands to reason since Mike and I disc
overed one on Mouse Trap Trail when you had us search for the map legend.”
Reggie slapped the table and said, “Damn, how come I didn’t think of it!”
Crosby pursed his lips and replied, “Because, you’re not her.”
Greg inhaled deeply, and said in a calm voice, “Crosby, take Laura and Mike and find the damned camera or cameras right now. We’ll wait right here until you do so, and hurry up.”
The three of us jumped up and wordlessly ran out to the parking lot. We hopped into Crosby’s Ram truck and within fifteen minutes we were at the range. Crosby decided to drive through the trails, all the way back to the range and we scattered in three different directions, scanning upward toward the tree or trees that had the best vantage points of the range, including the tables where we congregated before and after practice.
Mike and I shouted at the same time we found the cameras and neither were very high up. Both were well hidden and one was aimed generally at the range area while the other was specifically zeroed in on the picnic tables. Crosby ran back to his truck, and with Mike’s help, they carried a ladder Crosby had wisely brought to each tree and successfully cut the lashings holding the cameras in place. Each camera went into a separately marked and dated evidence bag. Between our roundtrip drive and locating the cameras, we’d only spent forty-five minutes. We figured Greg would be thrilled with our results as we took the steps two at a time back upstairs, and breathlessly entered the conference to find everyone either on their cell phones or chatting with each other.
Crosby held up the two evidence bags, victoriously and said, “We found ‘em, LT!”
Greg leapt up, pulled on a pair of Latex gloves and said, “About time, give me the damned cameras. Wait, two of them? Bastards, one wasn’t enough.” Greg grinned, took the bags from Crosby and said, “Great job you three, and great thinking, Laura.”
Grady opened up his tackle box filled with fingerprinting equipment, and waited for Greg to give the word.
“Grady, what the hell are you waiting for, get busy with your fingerprinting mojo, we haven’t got all day.” Greg stood to the side while Grady pulled out his pipette and crystals and went to work making the fingerprints magically appear by blowing lightly through the straw-like pipette. The warmth from his breath turned the crystals into a fine powder, which once they were dusted away would make the fingerprints show up both on the cameras and the memory cards. He then methodically measured the fingerprint, photographed them and put them into the system to see if there were any matches. Since two of our known suspects had enrolled in a state school, they might show up, even though we hadn’t been able to find any proof of their existence, we still would be able to match their prints to items located at the school that were in the evidence room. Those prints were now in our database as well as the FBI’s.
“Grady, we’re dyin’ of suspense here,” Mike said.
Grady looked up and said, “More like you need to be fed, O’Malley, but since you asked, one print matches up to one we found on the envelope under Jelly’s bed and the other is the same as one we discovered on a bomb switch. The switch print could belong to any of the other three.”
“Good work, Grady. At least we have prints for Jelly, she’s the leader and as far as I’m concerned she’s the most important one,” Greg said. “Okay, now let’s load the memory card on a computer and see what the hell they would have had if they’d gotten the rest of the photos.”
Reggie plugged the card into a laptop waited and exclaimed, “Son of a bitch, it’s empty!”
Greg walked over, checked for himself, and asked, “I don’t get it.”
Reggie looked up at him and said, “They played us, Greg, they must have been watching it, sent the e-mails to Laura, knowing she’d circulate them and they went back and wiped the cards clean in case we figured it out, which Laura did. They had us waste valuable time.”
Crosby kicked the table leg and Mike kicked the wall. I kicked the chair.
Greg swore and was about to throw the laptop but Reggie snatched it from him.
Grady spoke up and suggested, “Why don’t we all get our stuff together and get ready to head on out to Bradley. Better yet, let’s get something to eat and go to our respective homes and pack for what’s going to be a couple days.”
All of us were anxious to get going and aimed for the doorway at the same time.
“Guys, one at a time please,” Greg pleaded. “I understand we’re all frustrated but a modicum of civility will go a long way. Go home, eat and pack and be back in two hours. Get out of here! Jensen, don’t forget to get hold of Annie, she’s coming and so is Adelaide. They’re both your responsibility.”
“On it, Greg,” I said as we all headed for our cars and went our separate ways.
Chapter 41
On the short drive home, I was stunned by the amount of thoughts that swirled through my head, the list of things necessary to pack not only for myself but for the pups and the reminders I would have to go over with Adelaide. With her it was undoubtedly going to be more about what not to bring than what must be left at home. I envisioned an argument regarding her Winchester—if all of us were armed then she would insist on it as well. I would employ the counter argument Annie was going unarmed, and both of them would be on a secured Air National Guard Base and pray it would suffice. My best bet was to be fortified with a satisfactory lunch, therefore the first thing I did when I arrived home was make myself a large chicken salad sandwich which I washed down with a large glass of milk. While the coffee brewed, I gathered the needed items for the pups. Once that task was accomplished, I moved onto my own things which was far less confusing since my Glock Nineteen was safely stored—pouches and magazines were easily accessible in my pack and ready to go. As to clothing, that was fairly simple too, I needed whatever would blend in with a crowd but would be warm and comfortable and shoes would be the same but would allow me to run after someone. I chose a pair of light-weight boots which zipped up on the inside that I’d kept from the days I’d volunteered as an EMT and they fit the bill perfectly. Opening my closet and dresser drawers, I chose jeans, light sweaters with T-shirts I could wear underneath so the bulletproof vest wouldn’t chafe and the sweaters would cover both my gun and my ammo pouches.
I did a final review of what I had laid out on my bed and nodded with satisfaction. Pleased with what was there, I folded everything and placed it in a small carry-on piece of luggage I used now and then, and once I’d finished tossed in a couple of extra things both to sleep and relax in. I went over it to double-check myself, and decided I had plenty of underwear and shampoo and other necessities such as deodorant, toothbrush, and tooth paste. I was sure I hadn’t forgotten anything, so it was okay to leave. I took a deep breath, rolled the carry-on along, tossed my gun bag over my shoulder and looked around my house for a moment, then put everything including the puppy items in the car, locked up and drove off to Adelaide’s knowing full well all of us would safely return. Of course, we had to get there and going through a similar process with Adelaide was not going to be as simple, I thought as I drove into her driveway.
“Took you long enough,” Adelaide said as I hopped out of the car.
Annie rolled her eyes and said, “Happy to see you Laura!”
Kai and Koa trotted over and jumped all over me as if it had been years since they’d seen me.
Once the greetings were completed, I said, “It takes some time to get organized for me and them. Now I’ll help you, Adelaide.”
“I have most of her things already out, but at the moment we’re arguing about her Winchester and I’m doing my best trying to explain why she can’t take it. How about you give it a try,” Annie suggested.
Adelaide sat on the porch, staring at me, her hands resting on her cane and her jaw firmly set. Chloe rested at her feet and Tim sat on the bench next to her. I looked at him and he shook his head.
I opened with, “Tim, are you okay with both house-sitting and dog-sitting?”
Tim smiled and replied, “Absolutely, and Adelaide’s been kind enough to say my wife can join me, so she’s on her way—it will be like a mini vacation.” He nodded again.
Great, I was stuck with this one. I stared at the ground for a few seconds and decided to lay the blame on the colonel.
I looked at Adelaide, squarely and said, “Greg submitted a list several weeks ago of who’s on the team and who’s cleared to have weapons. This was done so even though everyone, with the exception of Mike and me is affiliated with an agency could be cleared to have a weapon on a military installation. You and Annie were added to the list at the last minute and the colonel is making an extraordinary exception as is. He’s taking Greg at his word, but there is no way he will allow either of you to bring a weapon on his base without a full background check and that takes time. In other words, it’s out of the question, Adelaide. So if you want to see the B2, you’ll have to leave the Winchester at home and trust Tim and his wife will safeguard it and Chloe.”
Annie, Tim and I watched Adelaide while she poked the porch floorboards with the tip of her cane for what felt like forever waiting for her to compose a response.
Adelaide picked up her head and mumbled, “Would you please help me pack, Laura?”
“Only if you’re leaving you know what home,” I replied.
Adelaide pointed her cane at me and said, “Mark your calendar because this is the only time you’re going to win.” She got up and strolled inside.
I looked at Annie and asked, “Did she just laugh?”
Tim shook his head and said, “She’s a real pistol. I heard her giggling.”
Annie slapped her thighs and said, “She was playing us. She enjoys it, Laura. I’m not going in there.”
I laughed and said, “Right, but you’re going to be in the car with us and you’re babysitting her while we’re there.” I went inside to get Adelaide organized, praying I’d survive the ordeal.
Fortunately, it didn’t take nearly as long as I’d anticipated and as luck would have it, Adelaide had thought of something I’d forgotten—binoculars! Luckily, she had a second pair she happily loaned me.
Case of the Mouse Trap Legend Page 22
