Chapter 7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 “You know, I was expecting you to look passable, but the resemblance is damn near spooky,” Trevor said, looking Snake up and down.

“I think it came out really well,” Caroline said. “I had to trim back his hair, change the color and shave back the hairline for a better match, but all in all…”

“Yep, looks damn good,” Wolf agreed.

“I have to admit… not bad,” Carpenter admitted.

Snake was dressed in Carpenter’s clothes and wearing his glasses. With the haircut and a little gray added to the sides Trevor thought that even Honor would do a double take from a distance.

“Whatever we do, we need to do it quickly,” Snake said. “This little ruse won’t last long if they start quizzing me about rocket fuel formula.”

“The tutoring didn’t help much?” Wolf asked.

Snake sighed loudly, shaking his head, “You try learning about ammonium perchlorate and atomized aluminum powder in one two-hour sitting.”

“Well, if we do our job right, we won’t let it get that far,” Wolf said.

“What’s the play?” Snake said.

“We don’t know where the exchange will take place, but it will undoubtedly be in a remote location,” Trevor began.

“Makes sense,” Snake said.

Trevor nodded, “When we get to the spot, Wolf will set up with the Colt M4A1 that Snake supplied through his local source at a vantage point where he can take out some bad guys.”

“What happens if the location is so flat and wide, Wolf can’t set up without being seen?” Snake said.

“We improvise,” Trevor said.

“Earlier, you said they expected you to call Wolf,” Snake said. “Won’t they be suspicious if he doesn’t show?”

“As far as we know, they do not know for sure I called Wolf in,” Trevor said. “If they ask, we’ll say he’s deployed. We will need to approach looking unarmed, which means one handgun and a knife in our belt.”

“Won’t we get searched?” Snake asked.

“It can never make it to a search,” Trevor said. “We’ll demand to see that Honor is okay to determine her location. When that happens, we make our move.”

“I’ll start shooting the bad guys on the perimeter. You guys hit the ones closest to you,” Wolf said. “I know this goes without saying, but shoot with extreme prejudice.”

“We’ll have to take out three to four men apiece even to have a fighting chance,” Snake said.

“Whoever is holding Honor, I will take them out first, with a headshot,” Trevor said.

“That’s risky Boot,” Snake said.

“In his career, Boot has taken out four bad guys holding hostages as a human shield,” Wolf said. “There’s nobody better.”

“Orfali will have his own men set up remote with high-powered rifles to take us out,” Trevor said.

Wolf nodded, “It will be my job to find them and take them out ahead of time.”

“As I recall, you’ve done that before,” Snake said.

Wolf winked, “Once or twice.”

“Still, the likelihood of casualties on our side is high,” Trevor said, glancing toward Snake, “especially for you and me on the ground.”

“I know what I’m signing up for,” he said. “Don’t worry. If we do this right they won’t perceive a threat coming from me until it’s too late. That will be my advantage. With any luck we’ll drop them all in seconds.”

“That’s the hope,” Trevor said.

“Bootstrap, when the deal begins to go down you will be perceived as the threat. They will think I am a humble scientist. All guns will be trained on you,” Snake said. “You know that, right?”

He nodded, “I do, but it’s the only way. The only thing that matters is protecting Honor and getting her home.”

“I have something for you two,” Wolf said.

“What is it?” Snake asked.

Wolf pulled what looked to be two brass buttons out of his pocket, “These are locator devices. They look just like ordinary buttons. They’ll clip over top of the buttons on your jeans, but they do have a GPS device built in. In case something goes wrong and we get separated. I uploaded the software into our burner phones. We can use them to track you via those buttons.”

“Good thinking,” Trevor said, taking one of them. He looked at the locator button. It sported a Levi Strauss logo. He clipped the tracking device to the top button of his jeans, wondering if he was ever captured, if anyone would notice he was actually wearing Naked and Famous jeans. He rather doubted that Orfali or any of his men were designer jeans connoisseurs.

When the burner phone provided to Trevor by kidnappers began to ring, he looked at the display for the caller ID number. “Unknown caller,” the display read.

“Looks like it’s show time,” he said before answering. His tone changed as he answered the call.

“If you’ve harmed one hair on her head, I will hunt you down and gut you like a pig, you worthless piece of slime!” Trevor began.

“Trevor, it’s Honor!” came the sound of a familiar voice.

“Honor!” Trevor bellowed. “Are you alright?”

“I’m alive,” she said. “They have me tied up. They…”

Honor’s sentence was cut short as Orfali grabbed the phone from her.

“Shut up and listen, Mr. SEAL man,” Orfali said. “This call will last only 30 seconds. There will be no discussion. You will follow the instructions I give you or your woman will be dead. My resources have told me you have not gone to the CIA or FBI, so you have passed part one of our test. Your little flower will remain alive for now. We move on to part two. You will put Chris Carpenter in your vehicle and you will drive to the Prairie Hotel in Yelm, Washington. And listen to this carefully. Mr. Carpenter maintains a ledger with all his propulsion technology notes. Make sure he brings the ledger with him. Without the ledger, there will be no exchange and your woman will be killed immediately. You will drive to the hotel, the Prairie Hotel in Yelm, tonight. You will rent a single room with two beds. Tomorrow evening I will phone you with further instructions. If both of you are not in your hotel room by 6:00 p.m. tonight, your woman dies. Remember, we will be watching.”

“Why not just do the exchange tonight?” Trevor replied.

“Don’t ask questions,” Orfali demanded. The connection went dead. Trevor picked up a pencil and scratch pad and wrote “Prairie Hotel Yelm” on it. He told Wolf, Chris Carpenter and Snake what had been said.

“He wants us to go to a hotel in Yelm, Washington?” Carpenter asked. “That’s an hour and a half south of here. Why, Yelm?”

“I never head of Yelm,” Wolf said.

“It a small town of about 7,000 people,” Snake said. “I know it well. I’ve done some work there with the local authorities. The local law is small-time, undermanned and inexperienced. It may say something about why the location was chosen.”

“That’s where they’re holding Honor?” Trevor asked.

Wolf nodded, “You did say it would be a remote location. Is Yelm remote enough for you? They may string you along. They might call you tomorrow night and tell you to drive to Portland.”

“Why are they doing this?” Carpenter said.

“I can think of two reasons,” Wolf replied. “First they want to show us they are in control. They want to bark orders and have you follow them.”

“And second?” Carpenter asked.

“They are going to be watching for signs that the FBI or CIA are involved, if their spy technology missed it,” Trevor said. “Our own intel indicated ISIS acquired the ability to detect CIA mobilization. It’s obvious Orfali has acquired that technology from them. Even if we were able to bring the FBI or CIA in without their knowledge, they could still detect their activity while they followed us from place to place as they moved us around. In a small town like Yelm, it would be hard to hide the flurry of activity created by CIA or FBI teams moving in.”

“Plus, the case would cross over,” Snake said. “Both the FBI and CIA would try to take control. Homeland Security would want to join in the party. It would be a circus. I agree. Honor wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“That’s very true,” Trevor said. “We need to prepare ourselves to be quick and nimble. It is very likely they will move us from place to place and change locations again.”

Wolf looked up Yelm on his phone’s navigation app.

“The town is small and remote, but with good access to freeways and private airports and within driving distance of the Puget Sound,” he said. “They could be planning an escape in any one of a dozen directions. Moving Honor to Yelm was probably a smart idea from their perspective.”

“Maybe not as smart as he thinks,” Snake chimed in.

“How so?” Trevor asked.

“I told you that I had been doing some consulting and clandestine contract work for the FBI and local law enforcement here in Washington State,” Snake said.

“You did,” Trevor replied. “You have an idea?”

“About four years ago I was helping the FBI on a local missing persons case,” he said. “The investigation took us to Yelm. During the course of the investigation, I met a local CI.”

“I don’t know what a CI is?” Carpenter said.

“Confidential Informant,” Trevor replied, turning back to Snake. “The best ones are well connected in the underground community and know all the street criminals. Go on.”

“The CI was a local guy, into lots of bad stuff: drugs, prostitution and fighting,” Snake said.

“Fighting?” Carpenter repeated, confused.

“Yeah,” Snake said. “He runs a fight club.”

“A fight club? You mean like the movie with Edward Norton and Brad Pitt?” Carpenter asked.

“Yep, kinda like that,” Snake said. “It’s the biggest action in the state of Washington and one of the biggest in the nation. Men from all over the U.S. come to test their 1-on-1 combat skills.”

“What does this have to do with Honor?” Carpenter asked.

“Bear with me. The CI goes by the name of Baby Barkley,” Snake said. “He’s been running most of the illegal activity in Yelm for a long time. There is nothing going on in that town that he doesn’t know about. If a group of Middle Eastern men rolled into town, I’ll wager Baby Barkley knows about it… and knows where they are.”

Trevor nodded, “Will he help us?”

Snake nodded, “I don’t know, but I think it’s worth a call.”

“It is,” Wolf said. “Do you know this CI well?”

“Well enough,” Snake said. “Barkley became a CI to keep the rest of the riff raff out of Yelm. The fight club became so popular that he’s pretty much closed shop on his drug business. This is his passion, really. Barkley gives the local law intel on all the action moving into the area from Olympia to Tacoma. He gives intel and stopped selling drugs and running prostitutes. In exchange, the local authorities turn a blind eye to the fight club.”

“Do you trust this guy?” Trevor said.

“No, not as far as I can throw him,” Snake replied. “He’d sell his mother for a profit, but he owes me, and it’s our best chance for intel.”

“And you think there’s a fair chance this guy will know where they’re holding Honor?” Trevor asked.

Snake nodded, “I do.”

Wolf looked at Trevor; he nodded.

“Make the call,” Wolf said.

Snake pulled out his cell and began to dial.

“In the meantime, I’ll pull the truck around,” Trevor said. “Snake, you’re with me in the cab. Wolf, you’ll take Mr. Carpenter’s car and follow 15 minutes behind me. If they have eyes on the road they won’t see you with us. We need them to have at least some doubt you are with us when Snake and I show up without you at the exchange.”

“Got it,” Wolf said.

“I’m coming, too,” Caroline said.

“No, you’re not,” Wolf insisted.

“Honor is my friend,” she said. “I want to help.”

He pointed at Snake, “When you made Snake look like Carpenter, you helped more than you know.”

“I’m coming with you,” she said. “I’ll stay in the shadows. You won’t have to worry about me.”

He touched her face, “But I always worry about you.”

“I’m coming,” she said.

Wolf sighed, but nodded.

“I want to go with you, too,” Carpenter said. “I’ll ride with Wolf and Caroline.”

“No sir,” Trevor said firmly. “You stay here, and out of sight. If Orfali has someone watching your house, they will realize we sent an imposter if they see you.  Stay low. You need to be here, but not be seen. I need you to trust us, Mr. Carpenter. Let us do our jobs.”

Carpenter looked to floor, sighed and nodded.

“Snake,” Wolf asked. “Did you reach this Baby Barkley character?”

“He didn’t answer,” Snake said. “I just sent him a text and asked him to call me. We’ll find him when we get there if he doesn’t call back.”

“There’s one more thing, Mr. Carpenter,” Trevor said. “Orfali wants us to bring your ledger. He said if we show up without the ledger Honor will die regardless.”

Carpenter’s face went pale. He took in a deep breath and began to stagger, struggling to find a place to sit.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” he said. “Oh, god, no. This just a whole lot worse.”

“I’ll get a glass of water,” Caroline said.

Wolf and Trevor stole a glance at each other. Trevor turned to Carpenter, “What is it?” he asked.

“The ledger…” he stammered. “It cannot fall into Orfali’s hands at any cost, not even to save Honor. I don’t get it. This can’t be happening. No one knows about the ledger. How did he find out?”

“Mr. Carpenter, what’s in the ledger?” Wolf asked.

He opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out. His face formed an expression of sheer horror.

“Mr. Carpenter?” Trevor said. “What’s in the ledger?”

“Everything,” he said.