Read Under Suspicion - The Legend of D.B. Cooper Page 54

“Rodriguez, find Mineral Lake on that map,” O’Leary ordered as the broadcast came to an end. “Then call the garage and tell them to have five vehicles waiting.” Angela stood and looked at the wall map. “Anderson, you and Peterson get the gear together.”

  “Hold it!” Cranston ordered. Everyone in the room stopped and looked at him. “Did Bradley say anything to anyone about this?” Everyone looked at each other.

  “Yesterday, he asked me to run a plate for him,” Angela spoke up. “The owner of the vehicle lives right here in Morton.” She found it on the map. “That’s real close to Mineral Lake.”

  “So that’s his growling investigation,” Cranston said with a smirk. “Everyone resume your normal duties.” All of the agents hesitated, looked at each other, then back to Cranston questioningly.

  “You heard the Director!” O’Leary barked, taking charge. “Now move!” All of the agents filed out of the conference room leaving O’Leary and Cranston alone.

  “What gives, sir?” O’Leary finally asked. “Aren’t we going down there to help him?”

  “He went down there alone. He can stay there alone,” Cranston replied. “We’ll help him as much as possible, but only if he asks for it.”

  “What’s your plan?”

  “D.B. Cooper my butt!” Cranston chuckled. “I’m going to give him all the rope he wants on this one. When he hangs himself with it, not even the Governor will be able to save him.” They stood and began to walk towards the door. “Why not let him be someone else’s problem for awhile.” Both men got a laugh out of that.

  Before they could get to the door, Agent Rodriguez met them with a report in her hand. “You’d better look at this, sir.” As Cranston looked over the report, Agent Rodriguez explained. “I ran this profile yesterday for Bradley. Henderson, the man in question, is retired military. His last assignment was as head of Special Operations in Vietnam.”

  “Bradley did say opium, didn’t he?” Cranston asked as the connection clicked in both his and O’Leary’s mind.

  “Do you think Bradley is on to Phantom?” O’Leary asked. They all exchanged excited glances.

  This could change everything, Cranston thought. Or did it? His training and years of experience instantly took hold and made him consider the hard facts. The few items in Bradley’s case certainly resembled the Phantom file, but the Phantom file was filled with speculations and guesswork. It couldn’t even be called a theory because there were absolutely no facts to support it.

  Throughout the history of the Phantom file, some of the finest investigative minds had worked on it and failed to turn up anything. Was he now to believe that Bradley, with his mediocre and rushed methods, had found Phantom? Not likely. Was he to pull resources off Kingpin to chase a ghost?

  The Kingpin case, on the other hand, was solid, and the last two busts hurt the operation severely. The street price of cocaine had more than doubled because of the short supply. Kingpin had to bring in a large shipment soon, and in order to do that he would have to take some risks.

  Cranston had every available agent out on the street trying to find out when and where that would be. Was he to turn his attention away from Kingpin when they were so close to shutting him down for good? All because of a hunch?

  Nobody wanted to nail Phantom more than he did, but he had to go with the hard facts and the odds of success. If Bradley had stumbled onto Phantom, then Phantom would be long gone by now. Cranston was sure of it. To go down there now would be useless. The few clues they could get would still be there in a week or so. Bradley was on the case and, for now, that was plenty.

  Because of Bradley, he reminded himself, the fate of his hard earned career was teetering on the edge. He needed to solve a big, high visibility case. Without Bradley around to screw it up, Kingpin looked like a sure thing. He couldn’t allow emotion to overrule what his experience was telling him.

  “No,” Cranston answered the unasked question in O’Leary and Rodriguez’s eyes. “All our agents are to stay on Kingpin. Now let’s get back to work.” As the three of them started out of the room, O’Leary’s experience made him decide that it couldn’t hurt to be prepared. When he got to his desk, he made some phone calls to make sure he’d have equipment and other resources ready to move at a moments notice. Just in case Bradley did turn something up…