The Alberta Connection

by R. Clint Peters

  “John has offered one of his facilities to use until you decide where you want your headquarters. I accepted his offer. In two weeks, the new headquarters of the JBTF will be The Pendergast Annex in Monroe, WA.

  “Ryce, it will be good working with you. I will be your liaison at Homeland Security. Again, I am sorry I woke you up this early, although it is 7:00 AM where I am. Get some sleep, if you can go back to sleep.”

  The line went dead. Ryce flipped the cell shut, and reached over to Tanya. He kissed her and told her he would tell her all about the call in the shower, in about two hours. He rolled over and snuggled under the covers. Tanya curled up next to him.

  At 5:30 AM, the alarm clock announced it was time to get up. Ryce snuggled into the covers and contemplated smashing the alarm clock so he could go back to sleep. However, there was far too much to do, thanks to the call he’d gotten ninety minutes earlier.

  Ryce slid out of bed, undressed, and walked into the shower. He had not even gotten the water adjusted before Tanya was with him.

  “OK, my great hunk of burning love, what the heck was that 4:00 AM call about?”

  Ryce explained what David had told him and told her that they would be leaving in three days. With Samantha in Canada, the Montana offices were safe. The Montana agents would return to their offices at the end of the week. He made a mental note to ask John if the BBJ was available.

  As he stood in the shower, Ryce wondered how he was going to get his and Tanya’s possessions moved from Billings, MT, to Monroe, WA. Perhaps he could give Kenny his house key and hire a moving company to come in and pack everything up.

  Ryce was even more concerned about getting Tanya’s Dodge Charger out to Monroe. Even he was not allowed to drive it. Would she consider letting a perfect stranger tow the Dodge almost eight hundred miles? Ryce shook his head. That was not going to happen anytime soon.

  Perhaps there were others in Billings with cars to transfer? They could share the cost of an automobile cartage company and move several vehicles at once. When he had all the kinks out of getting Tanya’s Charger to Seattle, Ryce still had his Ram 1500 to work on. Should he fly out to Monroe to meet David and then return to the Ranch? Perhaps he could have everything ready to drive to Monroe in two days.

  As Tanya was getting dressed, she looked across the bedroom at Ryce.

  “Would it be OK to ask Sally to move to Monroe? I would like to have her closer than Montana.”

  Ryce considered the question. Perhaps others would prefer to live in Washington. Since he was the planning officer, and would be in Monroe, did he really need a logistics office in Billings?

  When Ryce and Tanya walked into Suite 425 they discovered John, Marge, O2, Ramona, Doug, and Mark were waiting. John started a brief round of applause.

  “Congratulations, Director Dalton. I got a call about twenty minutes ago confirming the call you got when it was still dark. We will miss you and your team here at the Ranch. What are your plans?”

  Ryce looked around the room. There were streamers hanging from everywhere and some helium-filled balloons were attempting to lift the desks. A cake with “Congratulations, Ryce” had been placed on the conference table.

  As the cake was being served, Ryce explained that he had decided he would like to be in Monroe in three days with as many of his people as he could take with him. They could fly to Seattle, set up everything, and then return to the Ranch to pack all of their belongings.

  John and Marge exchanged a look, and then laughed.

  Marge shook her head. “I think we can do a little better than that. This is not our first rodeo. We have access to some really good packing and transit companies. How do you think we moved over one hundred people from Seattle to Idaho? If we get started now, you and your staff may arrive in Monroe after your stuff has been delivered. I think John was given a blank check to make the move happen.”

  John smiled. “All of this moving is being paid for by Homeland Security. You get all of your requests together and give them to Karen. She will coordinate moving everyone. Well, maybe not her, but I know she has someone in her office that scares the heck out of Consolidated Moving and Storage.”

  John laughed as he walked out of Suite 425. Ryce walked into Suite 424 and looked around.

  “OK, I have been gone for five days. What is the Renault Gang doing?”

  From a far corner of the room, Ryce heard a voice. “Geeze, he gets crowned king, and he still wants us to work.”

  Ryce pulled an SD card out of his pocket. “Here are some pictures of the three men who kidnapped the Browning PD officers and killed Francine. I even took close-ups of the fingers. I hope that we can translate my pictures into fingerprints. I would like a full court press to see if we can get some information on the three. We don’t have much time before people start disappearing around here.”

  During the next hour, Ryce talked to everyone individually about the new move to Seattle. Did they want to transfer? The Great Falls agents who wanted to remain in Montana would be moving back to their offices by the end of the week. Those who wished to transfer to Monroe would leave in two days. The Billings office would be closed, and the agents could transfer to Great Falls or move to Monroe.

  By noon, six agents were returning to Great Falls and four were transferring to Great Falls from Billings. The remaining JBTF agents wanted to move to Monroe.

  At 1:00 PM, Tanya walked into Ryce’s office and sat down. “You asked a question a couple hours ago about what the Renault Gang was doing while you were in Montana. I was not keeping a close eye on them, but one of my team was.

  “The Renaults played tourist for three days in Kansas City, MO, and then they played tourist for two days in Omaha. Doug kept an eye on Diane’s debit card. She spent over five grand on clothes and jewelry. Sort of like she knew she wasn’t going to have the time to be a tourist later.”

  Tanya shook her head in disbelief as she walked from Ryce’s office.

  At 2:00 PM, Tanya walked back into Ryce’s office with two pizza boxes and a large bag. Ryce smiled. How long had it been since he had eaten a pizza? Ryce thought for a moment. At least three years ago.

  Ryce was on his fifth hot wing and third slice of pizza when Vince Wilson walked into his office. Ryce pointed at the remaining pizza and hot wings sitting on the desk. Vince laughed.

  “I’ll eat your hot wings, but the pizza will stay in the box.”

  Vince picked two wings off the plate, sat, and began eating one of them. When he finished the first wing, he looked over at Ryce.

  “I just talked to Cameron. He sends his congrats on becoming the Director of the Joint Border Task Force. You have mine, too.

  “The agent-in-charge of the Fargo FBI office was scanning the GPS systems in the area and saw that one was activated on Diane’s Mercedes. He knows me from way back. He gave me a call to ask me if he could use the Mercedes as a test vehicle to keep his agents on top of their game in follow and surveillance. He promised he would not spook the targets. I gave him an OK.”

  Vince pulled several 3x5 cards from his pocket.

  “He just sent me the report. The suspects were observed driving north on I-29. At the intersection of I-29 and I-94, the suspects turned onto I-94 west. The suspects encountered difficulty in merging onto I-94 and were required to brake sharply to prevent hitting an adjacent vehicle. The suspects exited the freeway at mile marker 348 and proceeded to a Best Western motel on 44th Ave SW. After checking into the Best Western, they drove to the Space Aliens Grill and Bar on 45th Ave SW.”

  Vince chuckled and then started his second wing.

  “This report sounds like the agent has been in the field for less than six months.”

  Ryce laughed. It did sound a little familiar. Almost exactly like his first report from the cabin.

  Vince’s cell phone began vibrating in his shirt pocket. He flipped it open.

  “This is Vince.”

  For the next three minutes, Vince only grunted in reply to somethin
g the caller was saying. After the concluding grunt, he flipped his cell phone closed and finished his second hot wing. As he picked up his third wing, Vince looked across the desk at Ryce.

  “That was the Fargo FBI agent. He says thanks for letting him pursue the subject. I was correct. That was the first actual suspect his agent had tailed. The agent is back in the barn, and the head man doesn’t think anyone was alerted.”

  Vince completed chewing on his third hot wing, tossed the bones in the circular file next to Ryce’s desk, and picked up his fourth hot wing.

  “I must have been hungrier than I thought.”

  As Vince was finishing his fourth wing, his cell phone announced a call. He checked the caller ID, pressed the button to switch the cell phone to the speaker, and laid the cell on Ryce’s desk.

  “This is Vince. Ryce is sitting next to me, John.”

  John laughed. “I was hoping to catch both of you. I just got a call from the Director of the FBI. Vince, how would you like to be the FBI-JBTF liaison? You pick your office, although I see no reason you should leave Pendergast City. All Ryce needs is your contact list. Cameron will remain the FBI liaison to JBTF-Canada, and he is willing to work for his father. And Ryce, I got permission from the Air Force to look at their service records. An email with the passwords will be on its way to you shortly.”

  Vince began to laugh as soon as the call went dead. When he eventually caught his breath, Vince looked at Ryce.

  “Do you think it is possible that boy of mine knew about the FBI offer when he called a few minutes ago?”

  He paused and wrote on the legal pad.

  “My office is on the 3rd floor of this building. It will remain on the 3rd floor of this building. I have no need to visit Seattle, especially since Pen will not consent to leave this place.

  “You have my cell number. Here is an additional cell number and two landlines. I also included Pen’s cell phone. If the other four numbers don’t answer, she should know how to contact me. And once again, congratulations.”

  Vince stood and looked into the bag of hot wings. “Are you going to eat the rest of these wings?”

  Ryce looked over at Tanya. She shook her head no.

  Chapter 24

  Three additional tables had been added to the Pendergast family table in the Ranch chow hall and were almost full when Ryce and Tanya arrived. The occupants were predominately JBTF agents from Billings and Great Falls. Doug stood and began to applaud. Some of the adjacent diners had interesting looks on their faces. Doug explained that Ryce had been officially named Director of the Joint Border Task Force and would be leaving the Ranch soon. For the next thirty minutes, Ryce was forced to answer questions between bites.

  As a last resort, he stood and said, “OK, Tanya and I are leaving the day after tomorrow for Monroe, WA. I have decided I am closing down the Billings office. Some of the agents are moving to Great Falls. The rest will be going to Monroe with most of you. I think some of you are actually going back home, since you moved here from the Seattle area.

  “The agents from Billings and Great Falls who are going to Monroe will be let loose tomorrow. They will be going back to Montana to pack all their stuff. The agents who are staying in Great Falls will go back with them, and just stay.

  “And that is all I know at this moment, except that dessert is on the way over.”

  He pointed at a cart which one of the servers was pushing and got another round of applause.

  As they walked into their temporary apartment, Ryce looked at Tanya and softly said. “I think I will miss this place.”

  Tanya took his hand and led him into the bedroom.

  5:30 AM arrived exceptionally early. Ryce had forgotten to set the alarm, but woke up anyway. He climbed out of bed and walked into the bathroom. Tanya was standing at the sink, looking at a small white object in her right hand. She started jumping around, while chanting “Yes, yes, yes.” Ryce just stared at her and thought “she looks lovely in a bathrobe.”

  Tanya spun and threw her arms around Ryce. “You did it. I think I am pregnant. However, it’s really iffy this early. I am not sure how much I trust these early detectors.”

  She gave him a long wet kiss, dropped her bathrobe on the floor, and stepped into the shower. Ryce followed her through the shower door and wrapped his arms around her.

  When they walked back into the bedroom, Tanya pushed Ryce onto the bed and crawled next to him.

  “Honey, this is one of the four best days of my life. The other three will be the next three babies we have. Right after the top four, number five was when we got married. That’s pretty good. You are part of the top five days of my life.”

  John was waiting with Phil when Ryce and Tanya arrived in Suite 425. He pulled some papers out of a manila folder and slid them across the desk to Ryce.

  “That’s a list of the people you have here. Phil is flying the Montana people back home today. He needs to know who is staying in Montana and who is just going back to get ready to move to Washington.

  “I can give them four days to get ready, then Phil will go back, pick them up, and deliver them to you in Monroe. I have already alerted the movers that we have a large group to move.

  “Go over the lists and make some notes. The more you can plan now, the fewer bumps we will have when we start the move.”

  Phil got in the last words. “Have everyone going to Montana at the airport by 11:30 AM. We go wheels up in the BBJ at 12:00.”

  As soon as John and Phil walked through the door, Tanya got up and closed it. She walked back to Ryce, took his hand, and placed it on her tummy.

  “We’re going to have a bump here soon.”

  After Ryce kissed her, they walked to Suite 424, where Ryce announced he would like everyone to meet in the conference room. He only hoped there was enough room.

  As he waited for stragglers, he looked around.

  “I need three volunteers that are going to Monroe who would like to stay here at the Ranch for about two weeks. You will be the eyes and ears of the JBTF until we get set up at the Annex. You will be cut loose in about an hour to go to your apartments or homes to meet with the movers. You can choose to have your vehicles trucked out to the Annex, or you can drive them out later.

  “We should have everything in place when we get to our new digs. Doug is supplementing the existing technical crew with a few people from here. They should be able to set up all the workstations. There is an apartment building on the Annex grounds with enough empty apartments to house everyone.

  “The group going back to Montana must be at the airport no later than 11:30 AM. There are a ton of things happening there. Get your itinerary from Tanya.

  “You all have my cell phone number. Just call if you have questions. If you were assigned a laptop, take it with you. OK, all Ranch staff get the heck out of here. And Montana staff, do what you want until 11:30.”

  Ryce looked out over his group and started applauding. The group soon joined in. He was genuinely pleased with the people he had working for him. He took Tanya’s hand and walked to his office.

  If the Renault Gang continued driving west on I-94, they could be in his hometown of Billings, MT, in two days at their normal travel speed. What was their destination? Ryce dearly needed someone watching the cabin when the Renault group got close. Just in case the cabin was where the Renaults were going.

  Ryce flipped open his cell phone and dialed Matt. “Hey, Matt, where are you located?”

  Ryce laughed and then replied, “So it won’t take you any time to get to my office.”

  Matt walked through the door as Ryce flipped his cell phone closed.

  “Matt, can you send a team up to the cabin as soon as you land in Great Falls? I know you are only going to Great Falls to train your replacement, and then you will fly out to the Annex. When we get done with all the transfers, you will have nine agents in the Great Falls office.”

  Matt thought for a moment. “Sure, I can assign someone now, and when we touch do
wn in Great Falls, they can be on the way to the cabin.”

  Ryce smiled and then said, “I don’t know that the Renault Gang is even going to the cabin. I just want to cover all the bases. I do not know how, when, or where they will try to cross the border. I think Russ Long and Terry Maywood would be acceptable.”

  Matt thought for a couple minutes. “I’ll agree with Russ, but I think Damien Phillips would be better than Terry.”

  Ryce chuckled. “Good call. Observation only. They can park on the access road and fish for a few days. All they will do is watch who drives down the road in the direction of the cabin. Right now, the Renault group is still in the Mercedes. If they change vehicles, I will let you know as soon as I know. Be safe.”

  Matt walked out of the office.

  Tanya stood up, closed the door, walked over, and sat in Ryce’s lap.

  “Have you ever been to Seattle? I have always wanted to see the Space Needle. My dad was there during World War II. He used to talk about a seafood restaurant called Ivar’s Acres of Clams. I want to ride the Monorail. I want to walk through Pike Place Market. Then I want to pick an apple right off a tree in Wenatchee.”

  She pulled Ryce’s head to hers and gave him a long kiss. About halfway through a tremendously exciting kiss, someone knocked on the office door.

  “The Renault Gang is moving.”

  When Ryce and Tanya walked into the conference room, one of the remaining agents looked up and waved them over. The GPS transmitter was reporting that Diane was driving north on I-29. Ryce spun and quickly returned to his office. What was going on?

  Ryce checked Google Maps. Grand Forks was about an hour’s drive from Fargo, and the border was an hour’s drive past Grand Forks. Something was going to happen in the next two hours. Ryce checked the time on his cell phone, set the alarm, and stretched out on his office sofa.

  Chapter 25

  Ryce was awakened by a kiss. He wrapped his arms around the owner of the lips and held tight.