Trace looked around and saw the mini-cams and floor lasers and knew this was a closely watch facility. “That’s a nice copter to be sitting out here in the desert,” Trace said. Cal replied, “I need to be away from the city lights, but close enough to be of help.” “Help? to who?” asked Trace. “To people like you” said Cal. “Never know who needs what.” Trace asked, “when did you see me coming?” Cal replied “Out on Hwy 56, we keep a close watch on everything. You up for a ride agent? I’ve got a couple of things to test.” Cal and Trace strapped into the helo.
Cal hit some buttons and the roof began to retract. A few more buttons and the craft started and slowly moved up and out of the building. As soon as they were clear Cal clicked a panel and the inside went dark, screens went flickering on and the windows frosted. Cal hit a touch screen and the ship went up and over the hills. It was going fast, almost as soon as they were going up. “Wow!” said Trace. Cal said, “Now listen to this.” He hit a screen and it all went silent. “Are we fully stealth?” asked Trace. “Sight and sound” said Cal.
They were moving along the coast at a really good clip. Faster than Trace had ever been in a copter. Cal quickly said over the radio, “This is ST 5, just doing some practice runs.” “Who is that?” asked Trace. “Just letting the locals know I’m around; otherwise they get calls of UFO’s and such.” Trace and Cal were moving along at jet speed and nobody could see them. Trace peered out of the window and mused at the clouds. It was entirely possible that the doctor had some of this.
Trace was staring out the plane’s window again musing at the clouds on his way to Miami. If the doctor was using stealth technology and case bombs, he could get them into places before we could intercept them. We need to know where these guys were. He quickly popped in the thumb drive that Jill had given him and brought up the area that they had last seen the copters. He pulled up a Google map and looked for possible targets. Good ol’ FBI work in progress. There was nothing but hills and coastline, but he was looking for nothing that would cover up something. He pulled up a link of power grids and found a source of high activity and thought he could look there first; now for some shut-eye.
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Chapter 11 Location, Location
Driving the coastline he found a place to walk the hills. He walked until the GPS he had put him in the right spot. He walked until he came across a group of fences that looked promising. He broke out his nocks and spied the coastline. There he saw two men walking the beach. Nothing odd about that, except they were in suits.
Sounds from the hills startled Trace. He whirled around to see a person making his way up the hill, gun drawn. The two on the beach were signaling. The person was between his car and where he was deep in the woods. Trace reached for his weapon and then he felt a small squeeze on his should. His head spun around and there was Jill. “This way,” said Jill. She grabbed his shirt and took him half way down the hill and away from the sounds and then up around some trees and then to the edge of a road. The SUV approached Jill shoved him in and then sped off. “We picked your car up down the road too,” Jill said.
Jill looked pissed. “What are you doing? Out here by yourself!” said Jill. Trace replied, “I thought that’s what you wanted. Get some intel and get back to you.” “How’d you know I’d be here?” Jill curtly answered, “Had you tracked.” Trace snapped back “Had me followed? What’s that about?” “No, no, had you tracked”, replied Jill. The thumb drive you have has a chip in it. I want to know where all my info is at all times. Cool Huh?” said Jill. “Yeah, really cool,” said Trace, a little pissed himself but grateful. “You’ve been busy the last two years” replied Trace. Jill quickly interrupted. “Yeah now let’s get back to work.”
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Chapter 12 Make a Plan
Jill and Trace cleared the conference table off. “You were right about the warehouse,” spoke Jill, “We have been watching it for sometime. Every time we get close, we are met by security or warehouse personnel and get stopped in our tracks. We did a couple of undercover stints, but nothing worked. You saw how quickly you were located. These guys are serious.”
Trace shot back, “OK what’s the plan now?” “Well,” Jill said as she pushed a file towards Trace, “we have some satellite shots that reveal a disposal area at the rear of the warehouse next to the ocean. We were thinking that if someone had amphibious training they could slip in at night from the ocean, check out the disposal, get in and get some hard evidence.” Trace looking directly at Jill said, “Oh, and who around here has amphibious training?” Trace knew he could drop from a copter out at sea, snorkel up and do the job easy. He needed a backup though. With his eyebrows raised he said, “You going with me?” Jill replied, “No, it’s not my thing, but I’ve got a back-up in mind.”
Jill punched a number in her phone and said, “Preston, can you come to the conference room? We’ve got a plan.” Preston Abbott was a 6 year vet of the FBI. He was in Navy Seal training, but was quickly found out he could be more valuable in FBI operations. He knew multiple languages; computer programming, and top of his class at Michigan. He had worked on the Flame malware back in 2010 and traced it back into communist China to some secret servers designed to do high level espionage. So Jill pulled his file and a few strings, talked him into a tour with the FBI with the promise of returning to active duty after 2 years. The two years came and went and Agent Abbott was still here, dedicated more than ever.
“Agent Preston Abbott, this is Trace Nickels,” Jill began the introductions. Agent Abbott stuck out his hand and said, “Glad I can be of help, Agent Nickels, I’ve been looking forward to working with you.” Trace stuck out his hand. “Can you take care of yourself at sea Abbott? “Trace quizzed. Abbott replied, “Well, I will try to keep up. I hear your pretty demanding.” “Demanding saves lives, especially ours,” Trace replied.
Trace saw the mushroom cloud in his mind. He knew something happened that they didn’t plan on was why he was not there to back Bullet up. Jill interrupted his thoughts, “Preston can handle his own and you just keep him in the loop at all times.” Jill knew Trace was a loner at times and was just so focused that he forgets who’s around.
Agent Abbott and Trace walked off to the planning rooms on the next floor. They began checking out the weapons they needed. Agent Abbott hit the touchscreen and began to look through the inventory. He began selecting the items they were going to need and then showed Trace a final list. Abbott spoke up, “Think we need more than this?” “Works for me” says Trace. The FBI’s touchscreen table showed the details of the equipment Abbott had picked out.
Agent Abbott spoke up. “You worked for FBI Black way back, right?” Trace replied, “They still doing Black over here?” Abbott replied, “Yeah, we do a few projects now and then when called upon. How’d you like your time?” “Great,” said Trace, not wanting to get into much detail. Abbott pried; “you worked the Katrina recovery right? “ “Sure did,” replied Trace. “Did you ever find out the contents of the briefcase you guys carried out?” “Never really needed to know, just got in and recovered and then got out,” Trace replied.
Abbott knew the file and could tell Trace wasn’t in the mood to reminisce. Abbott knew that a team of four had been ferried into Lake Ponchatrain and then used jet skies to find their way into downtown in the middle of the first night after Hurricane Katrina hit. All the power was out and there was some information someone needed to get out. Since there was no electricity and no police in the downtown area, there was no security, and someone didn’t want a certain briefcase left unprotected.
The four men had edged up to the federal building and gained entrance to a preselected room on the third floor. They had gained access with card readers. They were still active on a backup power source. They were told if the cards didn’t work to expect some explosives if the wrong cards went through. They got past the alarms and got into the room and analyzed the location of the safe. They had the safe’s code and brought out
the briefcase and jetted out of the downtown area without anyone having a clue.
“You guys could’ve robbed the First State Bank of New Orleans that night and no one would’ve noticed.” Abbott guessed. Trace replied, “Not really. We had satellite protections up immediately after the storm went through. We knew all the valuable stuff and had it protected. Some stuff not a lot of people know about and that’s where Black comes in.”
“Ever wonder what was in the case? Missile codes, bio formulas, could have been anything. Abbott mused. “Coulda been, “Trace replied, “probably something we would be scared to know even existed. We just got the thing and delivered it and went on. There we’re people in trouble all over that city those first few days. We just tried to help. Now let’s help Jill.”
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Chapter 13 In the Water
Trace slowly rose to water level. His goggles peered through the dark night sea air. Agent Abbott tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the disposal unit on the bank. They swam closer looking for signs of security devices or personnel. As they quietly exited the water and sunk their feet into the sand they heard the rumble of trucks. Going prone and waiting for the rumble to stop, they signaled the direction they would take to get to the disposal.
Approaching the disposal and looking for an entry point, the sound of voices caused tension in Trace and Abbott’s neck. They sunk down and blended in until they could figure out the direction of the voices and whether they would have to go into attack mode. The voices began to muffle and they went back to work. Abbott found a panel that could be dislodged and entry gained. Silently they pried off the panel and got the first look at the warehouse.
Trace pointed at Abbott and five fingers. They would search for five minutes and then return. Each was equipped with cameras for intel and radio for communication if things got hairy. Trace slid around a large shelving unit and got his first glimpse of two helos. He looked around for anyone keeping an eye on them. After taking some clean pictures he whispered in the radio to Abbott. “One minute.”
Immediately the sirens blared and lights flashed. Something set off alarms. Trace was already at the panel and ready to exit. He was just looking for Abbott to get close. A touch to Abbott’s arm caused him to whirl around to see Trace holding his finger in front of his lips. They both crept out with the noise and colors still in the air. A quick tightening of the panel and down to the ocean’s edge. Slipping into the water the flicker of searchlight’s allowed for a quick swim to the darkness edge. Buoys with underwater jets were waiting to take them out and onto a waiting boat.
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Chapter 14 Analyze the Intel
Jill spread the photos as if she was a Las Vegas card shark. She then picked out the four aces. One was a pic of the helos; two were of computer banks, and one of a small tank being filled with a green liquid. Abbott reached for the one with the helos and said, “This is where I stuck a node on,” pointing to the rear back. Trace looked up and said. “Think that tank is of concern?” Jill replied “Well I know these are some radical looking helicopters and our air division say’s they are definitely stealth. They also said they thought the tank with the green color looks as if it could be mounted under the belly. “
Trace grumbled, “not one speck of evidence of the silver briefcases, Shit!” Jill looked at Abbott and then spoke carefully. “I know Trace, but this is getting real close to something and these guys are into some sophisticated technology. Maybe they are waiting for the cases and then will fly them somewhere.” Trace replied, “maybe, or maybe this whole thing is just drug running.” Trace turned away and looked out the third floor and could see a mushroom cloud in his mind. He turned around and said “we need something else, where are the emails we collected?”
Jill reached into her bag and produces a file and handed them to Trace. He flipped through them until he found the one’s originating in Miami and took a deep breath. “This is where we need to look. Let’s get everything we can on this.” Abbott quickly took the file and headed for the door. He shouted back as he left the room. “I’ll get this to communications, be back with something in the morning.” Since it was after midnight this gave Trace some time to decompress. He waved at Jill as he left the conference room. Jill returned the wave and said, “Let’s hope for good luck.” “Let’s hope” replied Trace.
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Chapter 15 Lunch Date
Abbott finished his drink of coffee and then interrupts the conversation with Trace and Jill. “This is what they bug boys found out.” Bug boys were the electronic and computer people within the FBI to dig into surveillance and see behind the words. They said they tracked all of this to a café on the beach called the Pink Flamingo. The have wireless and someone was trying to swatch and they found the signature there.”
“What’s a swatch?” asked Trace. Jill chimed in. “a swatch is where you take a message and cut it into pieces and send it to someone’s email account. It then piggybacks onto the next emails and stays hidden until all the swatches arrive and then reassembles into the original method.” Abbott added, “I think we might have been the ones to come up with it or some coder from one of the high tech firms. Anyway if you know what to look for, you can see a swatch signature and we put our own swatch ID on it and it calls us when it all arrives. Anyway, it gives us today at high noon.” Trace looked up and said, “Well then, let’s go get lunch. “
Trace, Jill and Abbott shared a table and looked like three people on a business lunch. Jill had her laptop opened and Trace had a file and Abbott had a tablet. They were acting nonchalantly but were really doing surveillance around the whole café. Abbotts tablet had been prepped by the bug guys and was searching for any electronic movement. Several lines popped up but nothing other than routine wi-fi communication until Abbott casually said, “Here we go. That’s what you look like.” He had locked into an email account and saw some phrases that looked suspicious.
Abbott asked Jill, “Get a check on the table to the left corner.” Jill slightly tilted the laptop and began a streaming video. “Got it”, Jill replied. “I’ll send it in and get it checked out.” Abbott had filtered out a medical reference: PRESCRIPTION READY. SAME PHARMACY. They knew this could be the connection they needed.
Jill gets up and moves toward the restroom. As she was nearing the South American man, Abbott jumps up and pretends his drink just spilled in his lap. As the man glances about Jill walks by with her phone and clones his laptop, a present from the bug boys.
Trace closed his file and got ready. He said. “I’ll follow to see if I can get a location.” Jill handed him a new cell phone. “Here, this is clean,” she said,” It’s got Abbott and I in it. Let us know.” The South American man got up quickly and threw his tablet in a bag and took off. Trace smoothly slid out of his chair and followed.
The man traveled a couple of blocks and then into the lobby of the Belvedere Miami. Trace followed towards the elevator and watched as the man went up to the 7th floor. Trace sent a message to Jill. 7TH Floor, Belvedere, can u get me a rm #. Jill gained access into the Hotel’s registry. The text came back. 2 possible. 734 and 712.
Trace moved onto the 7th floor and left towards 712. Trace thought too small. He reversed direction to 732. 732 was a large suite. He thought this could be a good location for a meeting. Moving back down to the lobby he found a house phone. “I need to check some plans for tomorrow night,” He said to the hotel operator.” She replied “one moment I’ll get concierge” Trace waited anxiously.
“Concierge” replied the phone. “Yes”, said Trace. “For room 732 did the extra food and drinks get ordered yesterday for tomorrow night?” “No sir” was the reply. “Just the normal buffet.” “OK” replied Trace. He now knew that something was up for tomorrow. Then the voice added. “Also the extra decks of cards and chips will be delivered as well in the morning.” “chips?” quizzed Trace. “Yes sir” said the voice. “The poker chips.” “Yes, certainly” replied Trace.
“Very well, and food for how many?” Trace coyly responded. “Food for 15” was the reply. Trace thought this is a party he needed to be at.
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Chapter 16 Dress to kill
Jill look great in a low cut backless purple dress. Trace looked sporting in a jacket, open collared dress- shirt. He had on shined shoes for the first time in two years. Abbott was stationed in the kitchen in a bell hops uniform.
“Everything ready,” asked Jill. Trace replied “yeah, good to go.” The two exited the black SUV and headed into the lobby. Eying the elevator the radio in their ears said, “Food on the way up.” Abbott was back-up for the festivities planned. Trace and Jill were crashing the party where the South American man was holding a card game of influential people. They had hoped to gather evidence on the doctor or at least info on his followers.
Trace knocked on room 732. A lovely young Asian woman greeted them and Trace gave her a card. The bug boys had copped a card off of the South American mans computer and duplicated a copy. The young women smiled, looked quickly at the card and ushered the two into the room.
A large man in a suit, probably security, approached Trace and Jill. “Fifty grand to enter; payable over at the table.” Trace nodded and motioned for Jill to take care of it. Jill walked over to the table where a thin Latin man held out his hand. Jill passed along a black card and said run it for seventy-five. The man slipped the card into the computer hit a few buttons and put the card on the table. Jill carefully placed it back into her purse. This was a special card with a special purpose.