From this vantage point, the valley opened itself up to their view. Down below them was the lake. Further to the north and to the west was the city of Blue Creek, looking peaceful and calm. There were still cars out on the streets and the streetlights were blazing. It was a breathtaking view and the two men took it in, thinking about how such a beautiful place could have come to this.
“What we doin’ here Patton?”
Broken out of his reverie, Patton took a moment to respond. “When those people down there leave, we’re going to go down there and grab something,” he said, his gaze never leaving the panorama below him.
“Get what?” Frank said, his interest piqued by his friend’s curious mood.
Patton finally looked at him. He loved Frank’s innocence. He hated to spoil it, but he felt it the right time to tell him what he really did before coming to Blue Creek.
“On my property I have a trunk full of stuff that I need to get. It’s… well… tricks of my old trade, I guess you could say.”
With his eyes, Frank urged Patton to continue.
“Well, I did work in plastics. That much is true. The part I left out is what I did with plastics.”
Frank shrugged, gesturing for him to continue.
“I went into the Army right after I graduated from high school. While I was in basic training I was asked if I wanted to try out for the Rangers. I was told by my recruiter that if they ever asked me to try the Rangers I should. He said it was his best time in the Army.
“Then I was a Ranger for a while. We went on a deployment with some guys who weren’t like the rest of us. They wore the same uniform, but they had different gear, had long hair and they used to modify their own weapons. That kind of stuff was unheard of in my unit. Anyway, I got to talking to one of them and he said he was in Delta Force. I guess he knew he could trust me. He gave me the number to one of their recruiters back home and when we got back I called the number.”
Frank had heard of Delta Force, of course, but to think that this mild-mannered man who had become his best friend in the world was part of that… he couldn’t believe it.
“You don’t look—”
“—Like the type?” Patton interrupted, laughing. “I’ve heard that a lot, believe me. We’re not all big beefy guys running around with guns. Some of us were techies. I could shoot and do all the other stuff like the other guys—of course I wasn’t as good as a lot of them—but I grew up fixing stuff. I was always making stuff in my dad’s shop. Anyway, I did my time with Delta and then I got out to be with my family.”
Patton trailed off, looking down at his fingernails, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him. He’d lost his family, and to escape the pain he’d signed up for this experiment. Now he’d fallen in love again and gotten married. He had no idea where his wife was, but he was going to find out.
Patton’s appearance was his greatest asset as a Delta Force operator. He was of average height and average build, much different than the image that most people have of Special Forces operators. It allowed him to perform jobs that a lot of the others couldn’t, which made him a very valuable member of the unit.
“They’re leaving,” Frank said, sitting up in his seat to get a better view. “They’re headed back to town.”
Patton followed Frank’s gaze. When he saw the vehicles leave, he started the engine, but only turned on his fog lamps. He slowly backed away from the edge of the drop and took a few minutes to carefully get the truck turned around and back down the hill. Twenty harried minutes later, they were in Patton’s large, graveled parking area. He backed the truck up to what seemed an empty spot beside a large storage shed, but when they got to the back of the truck, Patton pulled a large rectangle of some type of fabric. It was partly covered in dirt and had grass and weeds woven into it. It turned out to be a camouflage cover for a secret storage bin. Patton pulled out his keys and opened a large metal container. Inside was a large plastic bin that looked like a large cargo carrier.
Patton started pumping a jack that was built into the metal container. After a few minutes, one end of the trunk was sticking up towards them. Patton grabbed the bin’s handle and pulled it up and out, then gestured for Frank to grab the other end. It was surprisingly light, but still the thing was too bulky for one person to get into the back of Patton’s truck. Patton slammed the tailgate closed and they both got back into the truck. Instead of turning right onto the highway, which would have taken them into town, he turned left to go the long way around the lake to their warehouse and offices. And that was where they remained the rest of the night. They would take the day to catch up on sleep and make a plan to find Jennifer.
Anton, the head security guard at City Hall, looked at the picture and nodded.
“Yeah, that’s him,” he said matter-of-factly. “My guy opened the door to ask him what he wanted and he just busted in right by him.”
Brian White dropped the picture back onto his desk and sat back. White wasn’t surprised at Larsen’s brazenness. He was upset that the man they’d been trying to find for nearly twenty-four hours had basically been in their clutches and had gotten away.
“Patton Larsen was here, in this building, and you didn’t think to call me?”
“Why would I have, Sir?” replied Anton, the no-nonsense former Marine. “I wasn’t informed that we were looking for him so how could I have known to detain him?”
White was annoyed with is subordinate, but he was right. It had been a quiet order that had been given only to a very few. It was an oversight on his part to not include City Hall security personnel, but there was nothing he could do about that now. Anton was one of his most trusted employees. He wasn’t going to fire him over something that wasn’t really his fault.
“Okay. Let me know if you hear or see anything,” White said.
“Will do, Mr. White,” he said, did an informal sort of about face and walked out of the room.
The security chief drummed his fingers on his desk in frustration. A plastics manufacturer and an accountant had outsmarted them. They had to find them before they could get away and start causing trouble.
The two troublemakers waited for the cover of darkness before they departed the warehouse. During the day, a couple of city vehicles pulled into the parking lot. They drove around, but no one made a serious attempt to enter the locked building. The warehouse had proven to be a perfect hideout—for now, anyway. When night finally came, they loaded up and headed into town. Patton figured that Asher’s security agents knew which vehicle they were in, so they switched from Patton’s truck to one of their unmarked work trucks.
Patton took side streets once they got into town and looked for tails. After a half hour of his cautious driving, Patton was satisfied that no one was following him. He continued to weave through residential streets.
Patton parked two blocks away from City Hall and handed Frank an iPad.
“What’s this for?” Frank asked. Patton loved Frank, but he realized his friend was out of his depth.
“I’m going to tap into their security system and relay it to this,” he said, pointing at the iPad. “I’m going to need you to stay here and watch my back. Also, one of us needs to stay with the truck in case we need to get out of here in a hurry.”