I told myself I didn’t want to be distracted right now, but I couldn’t help feeling what I felt. As the day went on, I found I enjoyed thinking about her, as the miles melted away. I sensed there was something there that she felt, too, even though we’d only just met — and under bizarre circumstances, to be sure. But I realized I had to compartmentalize my feelings, whatever they were, to be revisited later, if time and conditions permitted. Still, I enjoyed the rush and the slight tightening in my chest that I felt as I raced northward toward whatever awaited me.
CHAPTER 30
I pulled up to the safe house in the woods, as a soft light filtered through the trees. There was the ubiquitous hot tub out back, but I knew I wouldn’t be spending any time in it. My Wa ended when I went inside and saw Pete had the inside of the cabin looking like a war-room, with his gear spread out on the kitchen table, and maps and other documents laid out on one of the beds. On the floor next to the table was a cooler with bottles of beer inside. We could only work for so long without having a beer.
“Hey, man,” said Pete as he tossed me a much-appreciated beer.
“Thanks,” I said, and then drained half the bottle. “Damn that tastes good! Any problems with the locals? Anybody looking for us out here?”
While drinking beer is not unusual, I could tell Pete took notice of the way I’d done it. He was a good friend and though he chose to say nothing about it at the moment, he looked at the bottle of beer instead of at me as if it presented a danger to me. Maybe it did but I appreciated that he didn’t say anything about it just then. Instead, he looked back at his computer.
“Locals? No problems. Nothing I’ve noticed, anyway. I scout the area occasionally, just to see if we’re missing something. It’s a quiet area. I think we’re secure here.”
“Good. We got any food around this place? I’m hungry. Let me get something to eat and I’ll brief you on my visit with the Old Man.”
“Sounds good. There’s some chow in the cabinet to the right of the fridge. While you’re doing that, I got some stuff for you, too. I got some intel on Jansen.”
As I took another long draw on my beer and start rooting around for something to eat, Pete filled me in.
“I was able to find a file on him — the kind of stuff that would make some people take notice, know what I mean? It says he left the military a while ago, under a cloud of suspicion. Says he was asked to retire or face a dishonorable discharge. He opted for the former. He got crosswise of some of the higher-ups when he started questioning their decisions. According to his file, it wasn’t the first time it had happened. Apparently he’d been a troublemaker for quite some time. But you know the Army. So long as you’re aggressive, keep your hair high and tight, and your weapon clean, they look the other way. I guess he finally pushed them over the edge though. They gave him a general discharge. Not quite honorable, but not dishonorable either.”
“Good work,” I said. “So that file is out there for others to find?”
“Actually, it wasn’t easy to find. But if you know where to look, as I do, you can find it. It’s not a very flattering picture of the guy.”
“Yeah. Isn’t that something? Do we have intel on his team or his employer?”
Pete replied, “That’s where it gets a bit tougher. I was able to put a trace on his file and found some inquiries that were made about him. This stuff is buried pretty deep. Someone hacked the military databases to get to it, and that’s not easy to do. I wasn’t able to trace it back completely, but I did find some cyber traffic that points to Atlanta.”
“Atlanta, huh? What else you got?” I asked as I drained my beer and reached for another. I noticed that Pete looked at me out of the corner of his eye.
“I got a line on the two lame-ass incompetents who jumped you in the bar. Hospital records are significantly easier to hack into. Seems you really did a number on the one guy you hit in the face. He needed some major facial reconstruction, so they sent him to San Francisco for a specialist. He’s likely to be eating out of a straw for quite awhile. The other asshole has several broken bones but also some internal organ damage. They’re both down for the count.”
I just nodded as I looked for some food in the kitchen cabinets with one hand, holding on to my beer with the other.
“Because they were admitted to a hospital, they left a paper trail that a blind man could follow.”
“That was a bit careless, don’t you think?”
“Absolutely,” Pete said with a grin. “They’re both ‘consultants’ working for a company called Waxman Industries.”
“I guess their consulting days are over. And where would this Waxman Industries be located?”
“Rolling in the high cotton in Georgia.”
“Atlanta? Why am I not surprised by any of this?”
“Yeah, I know. The chickens have come back to roost, it seems. And it appears Waxman Industries has ties to China.”
I drained my second beer quickly, and opened a third.
“You okay, boss?” Pete asked. “You seem a bit distracted.”
“Not now, okay? What else we got?”
Pete let my brusque response go. “I was able to hack the local FBI’s server. I figured I couldn’t get into the national one, so I used the regional office as a back door.”
“And…?”
“As you might suspect, it looks like they’re planning a full-scale intervention. They’re mobilizing people and gear and heading out this way. Should be arriving in San Francisco Saturday. Some advance work is going on between the local fibbies and the sheriff. And they’re sending some folks up from LA. Should be here tomorrow.”
“Okay. When you get a chance, see if you can get into the sheriff’s knickers and see what their take-back strategy looks like. That could be useful to us.”
“Wouldn’t it just be easier to ask the plant for that?” Pete asked, as I washed down a forkful of leftover mac and cheese with a long draw on my third beer.
“We have to assume site security has been compromised, so anything we ask for would likely be compromised as well. At this point, I have no reason to believe the sheriff or anyone on his staff has been turned. But again, I don’t want to tip our hand just yet.”
“Got it. I should have something later today.”
“What about our team?” I asked. “You got the boys holed up somewhere nearby?”
“I moved them to Ukiah, ‘bout 20 miles from here. Close enough to get over here quickly, but I didn’t want ‘em in Willits drawing attention to themselves or us. Mendocino — same thing.”
“Good.”
Pete looked up. “So what do you make of all this? Is it what we think it is?”
“My read is that it’s someone who might benefit from a US nuclear meltdown. Someone looking to buy parts on the cheap. China perhaps.”
“Copy that. So what’s the plan?”
I threw the now empty mac and cheese container in the wastebasket, my fork in the sink, took my beer and sat down next to Pete. I went over the discussions I’d had with the Old Man. Pete sat stone-faced and just listened as I laid out the plan to get into the plant.
“You are one crazy sonofabitch — you know that, right?” he said after hearing the plan.
I looked at him and smiled slightly. “And your point is…?”
Pete smiled too. “When do we go?”
“Tomorrow night. We’ll use the midnight shift change to cover our approach. You and I’ll head onto the site from the access road. I got a spot picked out just before the fence where you can let me out unobserved. Get the team in place and we should be good to go,” I said. “Meantime, I’m going to get some shut-eye. It’s going to be a long night.”