by JJ Aughe
At the dog park, they sat at a table to discuss their situation. The topic went from finding somewhere in the area they could stay to trying to think of some strategy that would take the fight to Almed or make him come to them when and where they wanted him to. Finally deciding the three men, two being ex-military and the third being a police detective, were better suited to handle that subject, the three women took Kerry for a jog around the track bordering the park. Half way through the third lap around the track a pain shot up Jessie’s right leg and she suddenly stopped, bent over and put her hands on her knees. Carol and Melissa were immediately beside her.
“Are you all right, Jessie,” they worriedly asked in unison.
“I’m OK,” Jessie tried to smile. “I just had one of those warning pains I sometimes get in my legs that tell me I am overdoing it again.” She giggled at herself before finishing. “For the past two weeks I’ve been too busy to work out in the gym at home. I haven’t even been taking my daily runs like I should. I know better too. With the regimen I keep I know from experience that if I don’t keep up my running and workout schedule in the gym I’m going to be in trouble.”
“Oh my stars,” she suddenly exclaimed as her best friend’s name crossed her mind. She quickly glanced at her companions, shook her head and started toward the table where the three men sat as she called over her shoulder, “Come on! I think I may know somewhere we can go that no one would ever think to look for us!”
Bailey, who had seen Jessie suddenly stop, bend over in obvious pain, was already sprinting her way. Jessie waved him back as she yelled, “Stay there, Bailey. I’m all right.”
Bailey ignored her and anxiously met her half way across the field, matching her hobbled stride back to the table. “What happened?”
“Nothing serious,” Jessie answered. “I just had a leg pain because I haven’t been working out. But that’s not important. What is important is that I think I have thought of a safe place for us to go.”
After a few steps, she explained. “I’ll have to call her, but my best and oldest friend, Monica Radcliff, lives out in North Bend, she is a Vice-President at an environmental resource company and travels to their offices all over the world,. So she may not be home right now. Because its area code is out of the area she might not answer, so I don’t want to use the track phone. If I can use Eddie’s cell phone I’ll call her home number in hopes she will answer a call from a local number she doesn’t recognize. If she is home I am positively certain we will be welcome to stay there until we decide what we are going to do. If she doesn’t answer her home phone I’ll try calling her personal cell number and leave the number for her to return my call. As soon as she knows it’s me that called I know that, no matter where she is in the world, she will call me back.” When they reached the picnic table Jessie told Eddie what she needed to do and he immediately gave her his phone.
Her friend answered on the second ring. Jessie briefly explained that, for reasons she would explain later, she could not go home but was in dire need of somewhere her five friends and her could rest for awhile. Though surprised at Jessie’s vague reason, Ms. Monica Radcliff was pleased to hear from Jessie and simply asked when they would arrive. Jessie told her they would be there as soon as possible, said good-bye and hung up. The crew didn’t waste any time. In less than a minute they were on the road.
Eddie suggested using the lesser traveled streets and back roads to get to Interstate 90 to just above Issaquah and everyone agreed. They were headed east to North Bend, a small, cozy bedroom community nestled in the Cascade Mountains twenty miles east of Bellevue. A few minutes after Eddie, who was driving, pulled onto Interstate 90, Carol, who was sitting on the passenger side in back, reached forward and tapped Bailey on the shoulder, interrupting his conversation with Jessie. She had been going through the activity logs of the GPS, the cell phone and the laptop she had taken from the terrorist’s car when she realized the ominous meaning of the pattern she was seeing.
“Bailey, I know I’m interrupting, but I think I have found some bad news.” As Bailey half turned in the seat to ask what she was talking about, she corrected herself. “In fact I know I have bad news.”
As one, Bailey and Jessie turned their heads so they could see her in the back seat as Bailey gave her a nod, saying, “Okay. Let’s hear it. Maybe we can figure out what to do about it.”
“All right,” Carol replied, shaking her head. “But, you are not going to like it. I have been going over the activity logs of the terrorist’s laptop and GPS. From what I have seen of these logs, Almed has been able to track us everywhere we have been. I hesitate to say this but, the only way he could do that is if, somehow, someone at the safe house, most probably Cal Bealour, was able to plant a tracking device on one or more of us. I accuse Bealour because of his actions in the escape tunnel and the fact that he had been briefed along with the rest of the security crew about you and Jessie and why you were being sequestered there.”
Carol had barely finished before Bailey uttered, “Oh my god! If what you suspect is a fact, Carol, we have to find that tracking device immediately!” He turned forward to scan the highway ahead. They passed a sign for an exit a quarter mile ahead and he told Eddie to pull off the freeway when he came to it.
Bailey’s mind went into the past to his covert activities training in Northern Africa before he went back to Afghanistan as Eddie drove onto the off ramp. When the car came to a stop at the stop sign Bailey explained what he was thinking. “Now, this is important. I don’t want to go on to Jessie’s friend’s place until we have hashed this completely out and, if there is one, we have found that bug.”
“I want each of us who were at the safe house to think back to our time there. Try to remember if Bealour or any of the other guards were ever near enough to you to have planted a bug or something on you. In other words, did any of them touch you or seem to accidentally brush by you?”
The silence was deafening following Bailey’s directive as each of them, Bailey included, went over their time at the safe house. Seconds passed that seemed an eternity to Bailey before he got a response.
Jessie responded first. “I remember that Bealour was in the kitchen while I was fixing our sandwiches Saturday morning. He brushed by me once while I was getting something from the fridge then again later at the sink while I washed our dishes. But I don’t see how he could have planted anything on me. Even if he had, it would have been left in my room. I took a shower and changed clothes right after lunch.”
Melissa spoke up then. “Right after Sean and I arrived at the safe house I went to the kitchen for a bottle of water. Bealour was getting something from the fridge and as I reached into the lower shelf for the bottles he bumped into my injured arm. It hurt and I almost fell. He had to grab me to keep me from falling and apologized. But, just as Jessie said, I changed clothes after that too. In fact, I have changed twice since then. I even took a quick cold shower at the cabin when I changed out of the blood soaked clothes I had on when I got there.”
There was silence for a space while Bailey mulled over what the two women had said. That leaves Sean and me. I know that except for Strickland, none of the guards were around me and I am pretty certain the same goes for Sean. I can’t ask him anyway. He has been out every since Eddie gave him those pain pills after we left the dog park. As for Carol, I can see no reason a bug would be planted on her. Then again, I had better ask her. I don’t want to overlook any possibility.
He half turned in the seat again to look back at Carol. “How about you Carol? Were any of the guards near you at any time?”
Shaking her head, Carol replied, “Not that I can recall. I know though that Bealour was never near me. Except for on the monitors I hadn’t seen him all day and he wasn’t due to start his four hour shift in the Com. Room until after the attack.”
“Okay. Let’s go over this again.”
“Jessie, you and Melissa have both showered and changed clothes since we left the safe house. Sean h
as had a thorough bathing with a washcloth and has changed. I’ve showered and changed. Now, we know that Sean and I were never close to Bealour, but both Jessie and Melissa had momentary contact with him. I’m thinking he intentionally made contact with one of you so as to place a tracking device somewhere on you.”
Bailey took a moment to reflect on the events of that day, turned back to Carol. “Something just occurred to me, Carol. I have two questions that you may be able to answer. First, and I think most important is; How did you come to the conclusion we were being tracked by a GPS system?”
Carol gave him a questioning look before explaining. “As I said before I noticed the activity logs of the cell phone and the GPS were just minutes and sometimes seconds apart. When I rechecked the logs I realized that about the same time we left Jessie’s the GPS log showed it was activated, a call was made from the cell phone and the laptop was woke up from sleep mode. That pattern indicated the user was monitoring a GPS personnel tracking device, or, as they are referred to in government circles, a PTD, that must have been planted on one of us. It was obvious to me then that the terrorist we left in the trunk of Jessie’s Lincoln for Dennis to find had to have been the one monitoring the PTD/GPS system. It was also obvious,” she finished, “that he had been immediately reporting our movements to Almed via his laptop or cell phone or both.”
Bailey thought about her answer for a few seconds then asked her if she could be mistaken. “There is always a possibility I could be wrong,” she replied. “But my experience and training in communications tell me I’m right.”
Bailey agreed and then asked his second question. “How sophisticated are these tracking devices and just how small can one be manufactured?” She answered that with recent technological advances some of the PTDs Homeland Security used were a spherical ball a little larger than the head of a straight pin.
Bailey thought over her answer then asked if she would recognize one if she saw it. When she answered that she was sure she would Bailey told Eddie to take a right onto the side road and find a place to park off the roadway. “I want us to go over every inch of everything we still have with us that was also at the safe house.”
Kerry, Melissa’s dog, wanted out as soon as the car stopped and a door opened. Jessie had noticed he had been acting anxious and nervous every since they had been on I-90. Thinking it might help ease his anxiety she told Melissa to go ahead and take him for a short walk so he could relieve himself. When Melissa returned with Kerry still acting fidgety Jessie suggested they stop at a store to purchase a box of Chamomile tea for him. She told Melissa that according to a book she had read by an authority on canine and feline behavior, Chamomile tea mixed with a few cups of purified hot water and let to cool was one of the less costly remedies for anxiety or stress in canines. Melissa was appreciative of that tip because she had always had a bit a trouble with Kerry when she took him on any trip longer than just to the dog park. She immediately told Bailey that they needed to stop at the nearest store so she could buy some Chamomile tea.
Bailey told her that it would be their first stop in North Bend then instructed everyone to go through everything in the car for the bug if there was one.
After carefully searching the few items they still had that had been at the safe house and then the whole vehicle they still had not found anything that remotely resembled a tracking devise the crew stood outside the SUV stymied as where to look next. Melissa finally broke the silence. “Maybe it fell off. Except for Sean, we all took showers at the cabin. Maybe it was washed off then.”
“That could be true, Melissa,” Bailey returned, “But that doesn’t explain how that guy knew we were at Jessie’s and what car we left in.”
“No, it don’t,” Jessie blurted. “It has to be here in this SUV!”
“What are you thinking, Jessie?”
Smiling, she turned to answer Bailey. “Everything we had in the Lincoln we transferred to this car. So that means it has to be here somewhere. And, if it is still with us, I may know where it is!” She grabbed a small overnight case from between the seats that held the personal items of the three women, unzipped it and took out the only hairbrush they had to use while at the cabin.
Looking back at Melissa she asked, “When you showered, did you wash your hair, then brush it out?” Melissa nodded and Jessie smiled knowingly before she continued. “I just remembered when Bealour made contact with you, Melissa. It was when you bent over to get those bottles of water from one of the lower shelves. He brushed by your head as he reached into the fridge for the ketchup bottle then bumped into you. Isn’t that about what happened?”
“Yes, it is. He almost knocked me down and was all apologetic and everything. He had mussed my hair a little too ‘cause one of, , , of, Oh my God! One of his fingers got tangled in my hair! He planted one of those devices in my hair!”
“Yes,” Jessie answered. “I’ll bet that when you brushed your hair it came out in the bristles of the brush and, because Carol and I have both only been using a course comb and a pick when doing our hair, I’ll bet that the device is still in this brush!”
“Here, Carol,” Jessie said, handing the brush to her. “You know what to look for.”
Minutes later Carol held up a single strand of red hair with a tiny silver bead adhered to it that, though smaller, resembled a seed case you might find stuck to your socks after walking through a patch of weeds. Melissa was shocked. “That tiny thing is a, a. What did you call it, Carol?”
“In the service it is commonly known as a PTD or Personnel Tracking Device. This one is quite sophisticated in that it will adhere to almost any surface and it only generates a signal when it or the object it is adhered to is in motion.”
Bailey perked up when she made that statement. “That gives me an idea! Everyone back in the car! Carol put that device someplace it won’t get lost. I’ll need it later.”
“Eddie. You know this area. Is there a truck stop, food mart or a restaurant near here that truckers frequent?” Bailey’s lips turned up in a wide smile as Eddie told him there was a service station/truck stop and fast food place just off the freeway at North Bend. The place sounded perfect for what Bailey had in mind.
Ten minutes later Eddie made the turn into the autos-only self-serve section of the station and parked in an out of the way spot. As the SUV came to a stop Jessie voiced something that had been bothering her since discovering the bug in Melissa’s brush. “Has anyone besides me thought about there could have been two bugs? Suppose Bealour not only planted a bug in Melissa’s hair, but one on me somewhere as well?”
“I had thought about that, Jessie,” Bailey answered. “It would seem logical that Ahmed would want to know where both of you would be at all times. But we checked everything and after we found the one in Melissa’s brush I just sort of let that thought go from my mind.”
“Besides,” Melissa put in. “You said yourself that you had combed your hair out twice since then. Where else could Bealour have put one that it would have stayed?”
“That,” Jessie returned, “is one of the things that has been troubling me. Where could he have put it that I wouldn’t have discovered it?”
Everyone looked at her expectantly and waited for her to continue. For a full minute she just sat staring back at first one then another. “I have no idea,” she finally replied. “I think we have thoroughly checked everything. The only thing we missed was that brush.”
From the back seat, Sean, who had been asleep since a few minutes after they left the dog park, had awakened from his drug induced sleep just minutes after leaving the side road, now spoke into the silence. “I know I’ve been out of it for awhile and may not know everything that you guys have talked about, but I have a question for you, Jessie.”
“Okay, ask away. You may have a fresh perspective on this that we have all missed.”
Sean nodded his appreciation then began. “What type of shoes are you wearing right now?”
She looked at him with a
puzzled expression but answered, “Only a simple pair of my favorite flats. Why?”
“Just this,” Sean returned. “Back at the safe house I noticed you were wearing calf length leather boots with zippers on each side and Velcro straps at the ankles and very tops. I noticed them because I had never seen a pair like that. Where are those boots now?”
“In the back with the rest of our gear,” Jessie replied. “What is your thought?”
“Well, Melissa has explained to me about that bug. She said it would stick to almost anything. Anything? As in, maybe Velcro?”
Jessie gave Sean a mile wide grin and replied, “If there is a second bug, Sean, I think you just solved where it would be hidden.”
Chapter Sixteen: Monica
On arriving at Jessie’s friend Monica’s home Jessie told everyone to wait in the car while she informed her friend of the truth of their circumstances and ask if they were still welcome. Everyone agreed Jessie’s friend should be told the truth and would understand if she turned them away.
They needn’t have worried. When Jessie finished briefly filling Monica in on everything that had happened in the last few days, that woman didn’t hesitate. She rushed out to their car and insisted they get Sean into the house and into a decent bed before the man died of exposure or something.
As they got out of the car Melissa, reluctant to leave Kerry in the car but not wanting to impose on Jessie’s friend, told Kerry he would have to stay in the car. But Monica wasn’t having any of that! She reached in and scratched the Irish Setter behind the ears, then under the chin. “You don’t want to stay in the car, do ya buddy?” Turning to Melissa she urged, “Bring him in! He is just as welcome in my home as the rest of you. I love animals and especially dogs. They are such a comfort to have around. If I didn’t have to travel so much I would have at least two, maybe more. But my work requires that I travel a lot and, like this last time, sometimes I’m away for two, three months at a time. I feel that putting an animal in a kennel for that length of time would be cruel and especially to a dog. The poor things would feel abandoned. I just couldn’t do that.” Satisfied her dog was welcome Melissa grabbed Kerry’s small bag of kibble and his small food dish then followed as Monica led Kerry into the house.
