The Alberta Connection (17 page)

Phil laughed, pulled off his headset, and
disappeared onto the flight deck.

Phil was only a few minutes off in his flight
predictions. Ryce intended to remind him that he said six hours,
but the flight took six hours and twenty minutes. As the G650
pulled up to the unloading tarmac, Ryce looked out the cabin window
to see if Tanya was waiting for him. To his amazement, he saw
hundreds of people held behind a police barrier. He looked over at
O2.

“Do we have some rock stars arriving at
Pendergast Field?”

O2 laughed. “They’re here for you.”

As Ryce walked down the aircraft stairs, he
saw Dave, Jeff, Tanya, Ramona, Marge, and John standing near a
podium placed near the hanger. John flipped a switch and then
tapped the microphone.

John thanked everyone for coming to the
welcome home and announced that two hundred seventy had been
counted entering the airport. Of course, that did not include those
who were simply catching a flight out of town.

When John cut everyone lose, Tanya threw her
arms around Ryce and held on for what seemed like forever. She
finally unwrapped herself and ran her fingers over every inch of
his face.

“I hope you don’t mind not attending the
family dinner tonight.”

Chapter 23

Ryce listened to
his cell phone chattering on the nightstand until Tanya poked him
in the ribs. He picked it up and looked at the caller ID. He did
not recognize the number. He looked at the time. For some reason,
everyone seemed to call at times that would irritate a rooster. The
time was 4:06 AM.

He flipped open the cell. “This is Ryce
Dalton.”

“Ryce, this is David Bolt. I have not
personally spoken to you, but I have gotten your emails. I am sorry
I am calling you so early.

“First, congratulations on saving Brenda
Delany and eliminating her attackers. You have been on the nightly
news here in D.C. for two days. We still have no information about
the three men who killed Francine, but I hope that will change
soon.

“Second, Samantha is in Canada. We got a
report an hour ago that she was confirmed going across the border
at Sumas, Washington. We didn’t put a stop on her passport. The
RCMP knows she has entered their jurisdiction. We are keeping a
close eye on any information that the Canadians can provide.

“Third, I had a long conversation with John
Pendergast. He has given his unrestricted recommendation for you to
take over the JBTF right now. After your incredible rescue of
Brenda, I totally agree. Therefore, you are officially the Director
of The Joint Border Task Force.

“John has offered one of his facilities to
use until you decide where you want your headquarters. I accepted
his offer. In two weeks, the new headquarters of the JBTF will be
The Pendergast Annex in Monroe, WA.

“Ryce, it will be good working with you. I
will be your liaison at Homeland Security. Again, I am sorry I woke
you up this early, although it is 7:00 AM where I am. Get some
sleep, if you can go back to sleep.”

The line went dead. Ryce flipped the cell
shut, and reached over to Tanya. He kissed her and told her he
would tell her all about the call in the shower, in about two
hours. He rolled over and snuggled under the covers. Tanya curled
up next to him.

At 5:30 AM, the alarm clock announced it was
time to get up. Ryce snuggled into the covers and contemplated
smashing the alarm clock so he could go back to sleep. However,
there was far too much to do, thanks to the call he’d gotten ninety
minutes earlier.

Ryce slid out of bed, undressed, and walked
into the shower. He had not even gotten the water adjusted before
Tanya was with him.

“OK, my great hunk of burning love, what the
heck was that 4:00 AM call about?”

Ryce explained what David had told him and
told her that they would be leaving in three days. With Samantha in
Canada, the Montana offices were safe. The Montana agents would
return to their offices at the end of the week. He made a mental
note to ask John if the BBJ was available.

As he stood in the shower, Ryce wondered how
he was going to get his and Tanya’s possessions moved from
Billings, MT, to Monroe, WA. Perhaps he could give Kenny his house
key and hire a moving company to come in and pack everything
up.

Ryce was even more concerned about getting
Tanya’s Dodge Charger out to Monroe. Even he was not allowed to
drive it. Would she consider letting a perfect stranger tow the
Dodge almost eight hundred miles? Ryce shook his head. That was not
going to happen anytime soon.

Perhaps there were others in Billings with
cars to transfer? They could share the cost of an automobile
cartage company and move several vehicles at once. When he had all
the kinks out of getting Tanya’s Charger to Seattle, Ryce still had
his Ram 1500 to work on. Should he fly out to Monroe to meet David
and then return to the Ranch? Perhaps he could have everything
ready to drive to Monroe in two days.

As Tanya was getting dressed, she looked
across the bedroom at Ryce.

“Would it be OK to ask Sally to move to
Monroe? I would like to have her closer than Montana.”

Ryce considered the question. Perhaps others
would prefer to live in Washington. Since he was the planning
officer, and would be in Monroe, did he really need a logistics
office in Billings?

When Ryce and Tanya walked into Suite 425
they discovered John, Marge, O2, Ramona, Doug, and Mark were
waiting. John started a brief round of applause.

“Congratulations, Director Dalton. I got a
call about twenty minutes ago confirming the call you got when it
was still dark. We will miss you and your team here at the Ranch.
What are your plans?”

Ryce looked around the room. There were
streamers hanging from everywhere and some helium-filled balloons
were attempting to lift the desks. A cake with “Congratulations,
Ryce” had been placed on the conference table.

As the cake was being served, Ryce explained
that he had decided he would like to be in Monroe in three days
with as many of his people as he could take with him. They could
fly to Seattle, set up everything, and then return to the Ranch to
pack all of their belongings.

John and Marge exchanged a look, and then
laughed.

Marge shook her head. “I think we can do a
little better than that. This is not our first rodeo. We have
access to some really good packing and transit companies. How do
you think we moved over one hundred people from Seattle to Idaho?
If we get started now, you and your staff may arrive in Monroe
after your stuff has been delivered. I think John was given a blank
check to make the move happen.”

John smiled. “All of this moving is being
paid for by Homeland Security. You get all of your requests
together and give them to Karen. She will coordinate moving
everyone. Well, maybe not her, but I know she has someone in her
office that scares the heck out of Consolidated Moving and
Storage.”

John laughed as he walked out of Suite 425.
Ryce walked into Suite 424 and looked around.

“OK, I have been gone for five days. What is
the Renault Gang doing?”

From a far corner of the room, Ryce heard a
voice. “Geeze, he gets crowned king, and he still wants us to
work.”

Ryce pulled an SD card out of his pocket.
“Here are some pictures of the three men who kidnapped the Browning
PD officers and killed Francine. I even took close-ups of the
fingers. I hope that we can translate my pictures into
fingerprints. I would like a full court press to see if we can get
some information on the three. We don’t have much time before
people start disappearing around here.”

During the next hour, Ryce talked to everyone
individually about the new move to Seattle. Did they want to
transfer? The Great Falls agents who wanted to remain in Montana
would be moving back to their offices by the end of the week. Those
who wished to transfer to Monroe would leave in two days. The
Billings office would be closed, and the agents could transfer to
Great Falls or move to Monroe.

By noon, six agents were returning to Great
Falls and four were transferring to Great Falls from Billings. The
remaining JBTF agents wanted to move to Monroe.

At 1:00 PM, Tanya walked into Ryce’s office
and sat down. “You asked a question a couple hours ago about what
the Renault Gang was doing while you were in Montana. I was not
keeping a close eye on them, but one of my team was.

“The Renaults played tourist for three days
in Kansas City, MO, and then they played tourist for two days in
Omaha. Doug kept an eye on Diane’s debit card. She spent over five
grand on clothes and jewelry. Sort of like she knew she wasn’t
going to have the time to be a tourist later.”

Tanya shook her head in disbelief as she
walked from Ryce’s office.

At 2:00 PM, Tanya walked back into Ryce’s
office with two pizza boxes and a large bag. Ryce smiled. How long
had it been since he had eaten a pizza? Ryce thought for a moment.
At least three years ago.

Ryce was on his fifth hot wing and third
slice of pizza when Vince Wilson walked into his office. Ryce
pointed at the remaining pizza and hot wings sitting on the desk.
Vince laughed.

“I’ll eat your hot wings, but the pizza will
stay in the box.”

Vince picked two wings off the plate, sat,
and began eating one of them. When he finished the first wing, he
looked over at Ryce.

“I just talked to Cameron. He sends his
congrats on becoming the Director of the Joint Border Task Force.
You have mine, too.

“The agent-in-charge of the Fargo FBI office
was scanning the GPS systems in the area and saw that one was
activated on Diane’s Mercedes. He knows me from way back. He gave
me a call to ask me if he could use the Mercedes as a test vehicle
to keep his agents on top of their game in follow and surveillance.
He promised he would not spook the targets. I gave him an OK.”

Vince pulled several 3x5 cards from his
pocket.

“He just sent me the report. The suspects
were observed driving north on I-29. At the intersection of I-29
and I-94, the suspects turned onto I-94 west. The suspects
encountered difficulty in merging onto I-94 and were required to
brake sharply to prevent hitting an adjacent vehicle. The suspects
exited the freeway at mile marker 348 and proceeded to a Best
Western motel on 44th Ave SW. After checking into the Best Western,
they drove to the Space Aliens Grill and Bar on 45th Ave SW.”

Vince chuckled and then started his second
wing.

“This report sounds like the agent has been
in the field for less than six months.”

Ryce laughed. It did sound a little familiar.
Almost exactly like his first report from the cabin.

Vince’s cell phone began vibrating in his
shirt pocket. He flipped it open.

“This is Vince.”

For the next three minutes, Vince only
grunted in reply to something the caller was saying. After the
concluding grunt, he flipped his cell phone closed and finished his
second hot wing. As he picked up his third wing, Vince looked
across the desk at Ryce.

“That was the Fargo FBI agent. He says thanks
for letting him pursue the subject. I was correct. That was the
first actual suspect his agent had tailed. The agent is back in the
barn, and the head man doesn’t think anyone was alerted.”

Vince completed chewing on his third hot
wing, tossed the bones in the circular file next to Ryce’s desk,
and picked up his fourth hot wing.

“I must have been hungrier than I
thought.”

As Vince was finishing his fourth wing, his
cell phone announced a call. He checked the caller ID, pressed the
button to switch the cell phone to the speaker, and laid the cell
on Ryce’s desk.

“This is Vince. Ryce is sitting next to me,
John.”

John laughed. “I was hoping to catch both of
you. I just got a call from the Director of the FBI. Vince, how
would you like to be the FBI-JBTF liaison? You pick your office,
although I see no reason you should leave Pendergast City. All Ryce
needs is your contact list. Cameron will remain the FBI liaison to
JBTF-Canada, and he is willing to work for his father. And Ryce, I
got permission from the Air Force to look at their service records.
An email with the passwords will be on its way to you shortly.”

Vince began to laugh as soon as the call went
dead. When he eventually caught his breath, Vince looked at
Ryce.

“Do you think it is possible that boy of mine
knew about the FBI offer when he called a few minutes ago?”

He paused and wrote on the legal pad.

“My office is on the 3rd floor of this
building. It will remain on the 3rd floor of this building. I have
no need to visit Seattle, especially since Pen will not consent to
leave this place.

“You have my cell number. Here is an
additional cell number and two landlines. I also included Pen’s
cell phone. If the other four numbers don’t answer, she should know
how to contact me. And once again, congratulations.”

Vince stood and looked into the bag of hot
wings. “Are you going to eat the rest of these wings?”

Ryce looked over at Tanya. She shook her head
no.

Chapter 24

Three additional
tables had been added to the Pendergast family table in the Ranch
chow hall and were almost full when Ryce and Tanya arrived. The
occupants were predominately JBTF agents from Billings and Great
Falls. Doug stood and began to applaud. Some of the adjacent diners
had interesting looks on their faces. Doug explained that Ryce had
been officially named Director of the Joint Border Task Force and
would be leaving the Ranch soon. For the next thirty minutes, Ryce
was forced to answer questions between bites.

As a last resort, he stood and said, “OK,
Tanya and I are leaving the day after tomorrow for Monroe, WA. I
have decided I am closing down the Billings office. Some of the
agents are moving to Great Falls. The rest will be going to Monroe
with most of you. I think some of you are actually going back home,
since you moved here from the Seattle area.