The Alberta Connection (23 page)

Ryce suggested he and Tanya celebrate with a
soda in the cafeteria. He needed a Dr Pepper. As he walked down the
hallway with Tanya, Ryce noticed signs had been placed on the doors
to the work centers. Dylene’s request to transfer from the FBI to
the JBTF had been approved. The first work center door was labeled
“Dylene Operations Center.”

As he continued down the hall, Ryce noticed
the second door was labeled “Lynette Operations Center.” He
chuckled. He was glad Lynette had decided to put some miles between
her and Mark. The last door was labeled “Tanya Operations Center.”
Ryce looked to his left and asked Tanya why her name was on the
door.

She got a puzzled look on her face and
replied, “I don’t know. I didn’t do it.”

Ryce opened the door and asked the occupants
why Tanya’s name was on the door. Wasn’t this group going to be
Kenny’s when he returned from Billings? Several agents laughed.
Most had worked with Tanya in Idaho and wanted to continue the
relationship, even if she was not the team leader.

After lunch, Ryce asked the members of the
“Tanya Operations Center” to closely follow the Dodge Caravan. Ryce
had a good idea where the Silverado was going. He had the two
remaining pieces to place in the puzzle. Ryce promised to find a
map they could put on the wall in the conference room.

At 4:00 PM, the Dodge Caravan was confirmed
leaving I-90 at mile marker 276, near Spokane International
Airport. The vehicle soon stopped in the parking lot of a Denny’s
Restaurant. Before shutting down for the evening, Ryce asked a
volunteer to stick around until it was confirmed that the Dodge was
parked for the night. When he got a volunteer, Ryce, Tanya, and
Doug voted to eat dinner at the Saigon Kitchen on Main Street.

The first question at dinner was why Doug had
chosen the Saigon Kitchen. When the chef saw the group, he rushed
out of the kitchen, grabbed Doug and hugged him. Doug introduced
the owner of the Saigon Kitchen as his brother-in-law, Joe
French.

“About a hundred years ago, Joe’s family was
really from Saigon. When they moved to the U.S., Joe’s dad changed
the family name to French. He gave Joe a name that sounds like Joe,
but looks a lot like a tree on steroids. My sister met him when
they were both at UCLA.

“When I was eating at my sister’s home, I got
to know that Joe was a fantastic cook. When John built the Annex, I
convinced him to invite Joe to be one of the chefs. Joe does
French, Chinese, and Mongolian dishes. Ramona discovered that
people were talking about Joe’s food more than hers, so she helped
him buy this restaurant. She wants him to relocate to Idaho, but he
says he can live with three days of snow a year. In Idaho, they
have snow for five solid months.

“And, like all other coincidences around
here, Joe has a younger brother named Dallas, who just happens to
have been a Navy SEAL.”

Joe disappeared into the kitchen for twenty
minutes and returned with three waiters carrying large serving
trays. Doug grinned at Joe and then turned to Ryce and Tanya.

“He’s always like this. I am going home
tomorrow and can’t take food on the airplane. Your refrigerator is
going to be crammed full with small cardboard containers. If you
don’t have sufficient room in your refrigerator, Jeb loves the
Saigon Kitchen.”

Chapter 30

The smell of
Chinese food brought Ryce out of a deep sleep, but he did not
remember the house at the Annex being located near a Chinese
Restaurant. Tanya walked through the bedroom door carrying a bed
tray filled with wonderfully smelling food. Ryce stuffed some
pillows behind his back and sat up.

“What is the occasion?”

Tanya grinned. “I went looking for stuff to
make you an omelet. I actually do like cooking for the father of my
babies. I could not even find an egg among all the cardboard boxes.
So you get the stuff we ate last night.”

As he ate, Ryce wondered what was happening
in Montana. Had Dianne and Delbert arrived at the cabin? Where were
the two who were driving the Dodge Caravan? Just too many
questions. He finished breakfast, got up, and walked to the
shower.

The problem with a snail shower is that it
did not have a door. If it was a real shower with a door, and Ryce
had his eyes closed to keep out the shampoo, he could hear the door
click shut when Tanya entered the shower. He then could prepare for
the temperature to increase. Now, all he could hope for was that
she would not turn on the hot water before he could jump out of the
way.

When Ryce and Tanya arrived at their offices,
they noticed someone installing a whiteboard in the conference
room. When the JBTF was in Idaho, Ryce enjoyed having the team
leaders in the conference room. Making assignments was easier and
information flowed much better. And, if they needed a conference
room for a conference, one was located across the hall.

As soon as the whiteboard was mounted on the
wall, Dylene and Lynette began filling it with information. The
occupants of the Dodge Caravan had spent the night at the Best
Western next to Denny’s. Dianne and Delbert had stopped at the
Glacier Gateway Inn in Cut Bank. Neither group had departed.

Ryce walked to his office. He was amazed that
someone had installed a three-tier inbox on his desk. He had never
used an inbox. He was surprised to find that he had several typed
pages in one of the tiers of the inbox. He sat for a few moments
and contemplated the value of an inbox on his desk. It might be
valuable, but he needed to explore the situation a little more. He
reached out and pulled the pages from the inbox.

The task of monitoring the audio bugs had
been given to Lynette’s group. She had filled the inbox with the
audio transcripts. Dianne and Delbert had argued for an hour about
visiting someone in Cut Bank. Delbert thought it was OK to stop,
while Dianne wanted to complete the journey to the cabin. They
eventually compromised on stopping, but Delbert could only visit
for an hour. Dianne stopped arguing when Delbert reminded her that
he needed fuel, and the person he wanted to see owned the fuel
stop. The occupants of the Dodge were also having a bad hair day.
Their argument began in Missoula and was still going on when they
stepped out of the Caravan in Spokane.

Lynette walked into Ryce’s office at 10:00 AM
and slid more transcripts into the inbox. As he pulled the pages
from the inbox, Ryce smiled. He could actually get used to having
an inbox on his desk.

Sometime during the night, the Dodge
occupants had settled on a destination. They were driving to meet
someone named Barney near Colville, Washington. Ryce quickly
checked his notes. Someone with the initial of “B” had been
mentioned when they were in Great Falls. Barney started with a
“B.”

When Ryce walked into the conference room
before lunch to check the status board, he saw that Delbert and
Dianne were driving west on US-2. If they continued on US-2, they
would soon arrive in Browning. Ryce grimaced when he thought of
Browning. He had run over something on his drive from the cabin and
was losing air in one tire. That was not a big problem, until he
discovered his spare tire had gone flat. Ryce chose to drive on the
spare tire for almost five miles, effectively destroying it. The
tire shop he stopped at to get the tires fixed could repair neither
tire. They were just too damaged.

Ryce knew he had some very exotic tires on
his Dodge Ram, but didn’t think that a replacement was unavailable
in Browning. He was delayed for over four hours and was forced to
settle for a tire that fit the rim, but was not the right size. At
the high speeds Ryce was driving to get back to Tanya, the truck
pulled severely to the right. He could no longer drive with his
knee and use both hands to eat tacos.

Ryce stopped to check the cafeteria menu
before they left the office for lunch. Tanya interrupted him and
asked if he would like to eat out of the apartment refrigerator, go
to the Annex cafeteria, or practice making their next baby. When
Ryce asked if he could have two out of three, Tanya’s grin told him
she liked his choices.

Ryce glanced at the status board before he
and Tanya left the Annex. Dianne and Delbert were slowly inching
toward the cabin. They were approximately halfway between Browning
and Babb. They should arrive at the cabin in less than three hours,
even under the worst travel conditions.

As soon as Ryce entered the apartment, he
walked to his personal laptop, sat down, and watched Tanya open the
refrigerator and start to warm up lunch. He watched her for several
minutes and then began typing furiously.

Ryce knew that when he finished the email he
was writing, his upcoming conversation with Tanya would not go
well. The JBTF needed to obtain accurate information on Dianne,
Delbert, and the three at the cabin. They needed to know what she
was doing and where she was doing it. Someone was required to put
eyes on the cabin and Dianne. Moreover, when Dianne was ready to
depart the cabin, someone must follow her across the border.

Ryce had no one in the Joint Border Task
Force capable of doing what needed to be done. His Ranger training
would put him on a more even playing field with the men in the
cabin, but he did not want to go in by himself. However, he did
know someone he hoped would be willing to support the project.

The email Ryce composed to O2 eventually
filled three pages. O2 was familiar with the situation. O2 had been
a team commander in the SEALs. And O2 had many friends who were
former SEALs.

As soon as Ryce completed the email, he asked
Tanya to take a look at it. As she read what he had written, Ryce
noticed a change in her demeanor. He was asking O2 for a team of at
least six SEALs to accompany Ryce to the cabin. They would
determine if it was still occupied and then follow Dianne across
the border.

Ryce estimated that, without any problems,
the project could take up to two weeks. After the rescue of Brenda,
Ryce was familiar with the trail leading from the lake to the
border. Dexter was a telephone call away and could insert an
observation team on the Canadian side of the border in a day or
two.

Ryce wanted to get a team to the cabin before
Dianne could leave. He could then follow her across the border, and
determine to whom she was passing the laptops. If this was the
concluding activity of Dianne’s group, Ryce was confident that the
whole place would be booby-trapped. He had seen what the group
could and would do. The possibility of casualties was going to be
high.

As Tanya read the email, tears began to form
and cascade down her cheeks. When she completed reading the email,
she turned to Ryce, and kissed him.

“I know it’s what you have to do, honey. Just
come back to me and your new baby.”

Ryce turned back to his laptop, and pressed
“send,” then turned to Tanya, pulled her into his lap, and gave her
a long kiss. “I don’t expect a response for a while, if you have
any ideas.”

Tanya smiled, stood up, pulled Ryce out of
his office chair, and turned in the direction of the bedroom.
Before they had walked more than five steps, Ryce’s laptop
announced he had an incoming email. He frowned, and turned back to
his computer station.

The email was from O2, who reported that he
had been expecting Ryce’s email, and had already compiled a
contingency plan. He suggested that the team include himself, Ryce,
and eight other SEALs, for a total of ten. The group would include
four snipers.

O2 added that John had instructed the
Pendergast G650 to return to Paine Field to pick up Ryce and
whomever he was bringing to the party. For less than a minute, Ryce
considered asking Tanya to remain in Monroe. He was not looking
forward to that conversation. She had friends in Great Falls and
would likely not even consider staying behind.

O2’s team would be leaving the Ranch in a
six-vehicle convoy very early the next morning. Ryce would fly
directly to Great Falls, where he would be met by O2 at the Hampton
Inn.

When Ryce pointed out where the team was
staying, Tanya chuckled. During the second week of the first
three-week training program, Tanya had decided that she was in love
with Ryce. She had made special plans for their first full night
together. It was to be at the Hampton Inn. Tanya had walked out of
the bathroom in her sexiest nightgown to find a deeply snoring
Ryce.

Ryce looked over at Tanya. “As soon as Phil
is close to landing at Paine Field, he will call on the skyphone.
Are you packed and ready to go?”

Tanya silently shook her head “yes.”

Ryce thought for a moment. “Bring your
sidearm. I have an idea for a retrieval group at the campground. We
can use a couple families in a bus, with enough room to bring
everyone back in one vehicle, if we need to.”

Tanya walked into the bedroom, and returned
with her jump harness in one hand, and her shoulder holster in the
other. “Which would you like me to take?”

Ryce chuckled. “Take both of the Glocks, all
of your clips, and three or four boxes of ammo.”

He paused for a moment and then chuckled. “I
hope the Great Falls office gassed up the Suburban after we used it
last week. The fuel gauge doesn’t work.”

Tanya asked why he wanted it. He smiled and
told her it would be a good base for the project, similar to what
he had used the Suburban for when they rescued Brenda. The Suburban
and the trailer could be parked near the cabin, in one of two
excellent camping spots. Both were within sight of where he had
caught his two biggest fish. Would she like to camp in the improved
campground or out where she might need to hide behind a tree?

If the cabin team ran into trouble, Ryce
wanted as much support in the area as close as possible. He wanted
someone who could charge over the hill in three minutes, not
someone coming in the morning. Both the Suburban and the camping
trailer had armor-plated panels that could deflect small arms fire.
He just hoped that he wasn’t going against RPGs.