Loose Ends (The Hammer Commission Book 3) Read online

  Mark nodded, "There's two ways to Portland from there."

  "I'm looking at the map now," Denise told him. "Just outside of Bend, she either goes west or keeps going north to route twenty-six."

  "I'm betting on north," Mark said. "This time of year, snow is still a threat in the hills. Twenty-six gets a lot more traffic, so they keep it clear."

  "I'll get on the phone to state police," Michael said, looking at the map on his laptop as well. "We can have them set up a watch on both routes, and see which one she takes."

  "Just make sure they understand they're not to stop her, no matter what," Mark told him.

  "Got it," Michael said and picking up the phone in the jet, started to make some phone calls.

  "Okay, that's done," Michael said ten minutes later, after he'd hung up.

  "Good, now the next problem," Mark said.

  "Which is?"

  "How do we stop her, and where?"

  "Why not borrow a helicopter from the guard base and just light her up with a machine gun?" Dave said from his seat over by Denise.

  "Because it's an air rescue wing. They're unarmed," Mark said. "Besides I don't think they'd lend us one."

  "Oh, once Woods sees your report, they'll lend us one," Michael said. "What are they flying?"

  "Black hawks," Mark said.

  "I'll call Woods," Michael said, picking the phone back up.

  "Then what? So we have a helicopter?" Denise said. "Picking her car out of the others, at night, isn't going to be easy."

  "Yeah, but this opportunity to get her out in the middle of nowhere may be the last one we get," Michael said from the phone as he got Woods on the line.

  "Once she gets to Bend, it's a three to four hour drive to Portland," Mark said, thinking about the problem. "We land at midnight, so once she hits Bend, we have about two hours to get into position."

  "We could have the Portland office send out a couple of undercover cars, to watch for her. They could tail her at a distance, once she goes by," Denise said.

  "Yeah, but how do we spot them?" Mark asked.

  "Oh, that's easy, we have them spray-paint a white cross on the roof of their cars, we should be able to spot that easily enough, even at night," she said.

  Mark nodded, "That's a good idea," Mark turned to Michael who was still on the phone with Woods. It had to be at least two in the morning back in DC; Mark was beginning to wonder if Woods ever slept. "Michael?"

  Michael nodded, "I'll ask."

  They listened as Michael relayed the idea to Woods, who approved it and said he'd roust the Portland field office immediately.

  "Okay, so we have a helicopter and a way to find her in the mountains," Mark said. "What next?"

  "Get the police to block the traffic coming from the opposite direction," Michael said. "That'll cut down on civilians."

  Mark nodded, "And we can have the FBI guys turn on their lights and block traffic behind her, so at least no one is going by, once we light her up."

  "What do you want us to do?" Dave asked.

  "You and the girls are not coming with us."

  "What?" Dave said, looking a little surprised.

  "You're civilians, we'd have even less chance of explaining why you were there, plus you're not trained for this, Michael and Denise are."

  "But..."

  "No," Mark said staring at his son, who sighed and nodded after a moment.

  "And you two?" Mark asked, looking at the girls.

  "You won't get any argument from us, Dad," Jess said.

  "Good, because we may need someone to come and pick us up."

  They got the pilots to drop them by the flight line for the National Guard base. The rescue group was actually an Air Force reserve unit, and due to their mission, there was already a crew there ready to go by the time Mark, Michael, and Denise showed up. Mark told the pilots to taxi over to the general aviation area to drop off Dave, Jess, and Gail after dropping him off. Charity had said she'd send someone to pick them up.

  Mark was carrying a duffle bag he had taken from the supplies Woods had sent them back in Klamath Falls; it contained the weapons and ammo they were planning to use. He was also wearing his MAC-10 under his jacket, hanging on the strap around his neck.

  Agents Levin, Sykes, and O'Brien?" A Major in a flight suit asked, coming up to them.

  "Yes, that's us," Mark said showing his identification as the others did the rest.

  "Good, come with me please," he said and led them towards a building right off the flight line.

  Once inside he turned to them, "I understand we're supposed to be flying you someplace, for some urgent mission?"

  Mark nodded, "That's correct, Major?"

  "Nelson, Jim Nelson."

  Mark nodded and had already noted the pilot's wings on his flight suit.

  "Will you be our pilot?"

  "Yes, I will. Where exactly are we going?"

  "We're not sure yet, we need a place to sit down and access our laptops and find out the current location of our target."

  "I see, well come to my office and you can set up there. I was told this is a classified mission?"

  Mark nodded, "Yes. Lead on please, Major."

  "Call me Jim, you're not soldiers."

  "Eh, old habits," Mark said as they followed him into the building and down the hall.

  "Air Force?" Major Nelson asked.

  "Army, infantry," Mark admitted.

  "And you two?"

  "Army, Military Police," Denise said, which earned her a bit of a surprised look.

  "Just a civilian," Michael said.

  They went inside and Michael and Denise immediately pulled out their laptops and powered them up as Major Nelson closed the door and went to sit behind his desk.

  Mark set the duffel bag he was carrying down with a clank and then took off his jacket and tossed it on one of the chairs. Major Nelson's eyes widened just a bit as he noticed the machine pistol hanging around Mark's neck.

  "So just what is this mission, anyway?"

  "Seek and destroy," Mark said. "Beyond that, there isn't much I can tell you."

  Mark turned to Denise, "Any report on her last location?"

  "She left Bend heading north about fifteen minutes ago. Weather in the mountains is good, so she'll be starting up into the mountains in about two hours."

  Michael picked it up then, "The guys from the Portland office are already on their way up the western side of the pass, they should be in position to watch for her in about an hour. I got their numbers and radio frequencies. They say they have the ability to talk to the rescue helicopters here, they've done it before."

  Mark nodded and turned back to the Major. "Got a map of the area just east of Government Camp on route twenty-six?"

  "Sure, I'm familiar with the area too; we occasionally have to do med-evacs from the mountain."

  "How long will it take us to fly there?"

  "From here? Thirty minutes, once we're in the air. The airport is closed to airlines this time of night, so there's little to no traffic in the area."

  "Great, go get a map and I'll show you were we want to go," Mark paused a moment, "oh, you got any bungee cords?"

  "Yeah, we got lots, why?"

  "Grab me a bunch please? Ones you could wrap around your body without too much discomfort."

  The Major gave him a look, but shrugged and left the office. Mark looked at other two, "Have either of you ever practiced fast-roping out of a helicopter?"

  They both shook their heads.

  "Me neither," Mark sighed. "Guess we'll be doing it the hard way."

  "What's the 'hard way'?" Denise asked.

  "We jump."

  "Won't that kill us?" She asked, looking at him.

  "Anything less than fifty feet will just hurt, more than that, you may break some bones. I wouldn't recommend anything over a hundred and twenty or so, personally."

  "How are we supposed to do anything, if we break our bones?" she asked looking at him.

&n
bsp; "We'll heal in moments," Michael said to her, "remember when he used that gun on himself?"

  Denise paled a little.

  Mark chuckled, "Yes, it hurts, but I'd think you'd have the least problem with that of all of us, Denise."

  "I'm used to hurting people," she admitted, "not getting hurt myself."

  Michael rolled his eyes and shut down his laptop. "They'll call us when they pick her up. They figure they'll be able to set up about forty-five miles east of where we want to take her down."

  Mark nodded and Major Nelson came back with a topographical map.

  "I have a soldier rounding up a bag of bungees for you to choose from," he said laying the map down on his desk.

  "Now, what is it you want me and mine to do?"

  Mark found the spot on the map he was looking for; there was a large gravel pit off to the south of the road.

  "Okay, this is going to be where we will ambush our target. We'll pick them up about fifteen miles east of this point. We should have at least one car trailing them. Once we find that car, we'll just work our way forward."

  "How are you going to find that car?"

  "We had them paint a white cross on the roof," Denise supplied.

  "Okay, we have IR gear on the helo, that should make picking it out fairly easy. Then what?"

  "We find the car we're looking for, get ahead of it, and when it gets to this point, you come down as low as you can. We'll shoot it up with the rifles we brought, disabling it, then go get our target."

  Major Nelson nodded, "I think we can do that, those gravel pits are big enough to land in, and close enough to run over there quickly. What about other cars?"

  "We'll have the police close the highway to all east bound traffic once we head out. By the time we get there, it should only be the cars around her, which hopefully won't be that many this time of night."

  "Okay, we should probably prep the aircraft in about an hour. Once that's done we can mount up and orbit just east of the airport, while we wait for you to get the call."

  "Sounds good to me, how many people do you need to fly that thing?"

  "Well, me, my co-pilot, and the crew chief. Though we usually bring a couple of corpsmen along, we have some highly trained medics."

  "No, just the three of you will be fine," Mark said. "The less people that know about this the better."

  Ninety minutes later they were sitting in the helicopter as the crew started it up. Beth probably wouldn't be at the ambush site for another ninety minutes, but Mark would rather be there early than have an unexpected problem and show up late. Taking off his jacket again, he put the MAC-10 behind his back, with the sling still around his neck, and then used a bungee cord to secure it, with the clips hooked together on his chest. Then he stuck his machete under the cord and added a second one lower down to help secure it as well.

  "What's that for?" Michael asked him.

  Mark leaned in close and lowered his voice, so the other crewmembers wouldn't hear him, though with the noise in here, that probably wasn't much of a problem.

  "So when I shift, I won't lose them."

  "What about your shirt?"

  "I don't care about my shirt," Mark laughed.

  Michael looked at him, then looked at the Uzi he had brought along and did the same as well with that and the machete he was carrying. Denise quickly got the idea and followed suit.

  "What is that for?" Tech Sergeant Hernandez, the crew chief asked as Mark re-donned his headset and jacket.

  "So we don't drop them," Mark told him, then opening up the duffel bag he pulled out the three rifles they'd brought along. He passed an AR-10 to Denise, along with a bandolier full of magazines, and a second AR-10 to Michael with another bandolier. Then pulled out an M249 light machine gun.

  "What the hell is that for?" The crew chief said and Mark noticed Major Nelson looking up into a mirror to see what was going on in the back.

  "From this point forward, everything you see or hear on this mission is classified, top secret, national security," Mark said as he pulled out a two hundred round box of ammo, and hooking the box up to the bottom of the M249, he pulled the belt out and loaded it. Then checked to make sure he had the belt locked in correctly.

  "If you talk to anyone, about anything you are about to see or hear, I can guarantee you that you'll be on the next flight to whatever place the Air Force sends people for their careers to die, got that?"

  "Understood, Agent Levin," the major said.

  "Got it," said Captain Towns, who was the Major's co-pilot.

  "God, I hate Greenland," Sergeant Hernandez said. "My lips are sealed."

  "Great," Mark said as Mark and Denise taped a pair of thirty round magazines together, reversed, and then loaded their weapons.

  As soon as the black hawk climbed to fifteen hundred feet, Captain Towns did a communications check with the FBI agents on the ground waiting for Beth to show up.

  "What kind of car will we be looking for, Mark?" Major Nelson asked him.

  "A light blue two-thousand and twelve super snake mustang with white racing stripes."

  "Wow, nice taste in cars," Sergeant Hernandez said.

  "Yeah, the guy she murdered really had some taste," Denise replied rather snarkily.

  "I think I'll just shut up now."

  "Yes, that sounds like a good idea Rick," Major Nelson grunted as they started to head out towards Mount Hood, gaining altitude rather quickly.

  "How about we make a pass or two over the area, so you can get familiar with it while we wait?" Major Nelson suggested.

  "Sounds good to me," Mark agreed.

  An hour later after checking out their target site several times the FBI agents called and said she'd just gone by them, and that they were pulling out to follow. Major Nelson took them up a bit higher, and then shut off all navigation lights as they just hovered there, waiting.

  "Target in sight," Captain Towns said about twenty minutes later. "Yup, I can see your guy's car about a quarter mile behind.

  "How can you see anything this far out?" Denise asked.

  "We have an enhanced infrared camera with a special imaging system attached. We use it for search and rescue in the mountains. Plus it's three am, how many cars do you think are on the road tonight, much less mustangs?"

  "Good point," Mark said. "Well, let's practice it like we rehearsed it."

  Michael laughed, "We didn't rehearse a damn thing, Mark."

  "Well, how about we all pretend?" Mark grinned back. "Tell the guys following to back off out of sight and to shut down any traffic."

  "Roger that," Captain Towns replied.

  "Okay, here we go," Major Nelson said and banking around he started a fast descent.

  Mark charged his machine gun as the Sergeant opened the door on the left side and then got out of the way. Shouldering the weapon Mark aimed out the side as he looked down the road, there was only one car, and it quickly passed under them as Major Nelson got them down to thirty feet above the road.

  "The second we depart the aircraft," Mark said, "beat feet out of here and don't come back. We'll stop by tomorrow to pick up our stuff, got it?"

  "Wait, what?" Major Nelson exclaimed. "I thought we were landing!"

  "And remember, anything you see, especially from this point on, isn't anything you ever want to talk about."

  Just then a car came around the bend in the road. They were high enough that the headlights weren't blinding them, and Mark could see it was Beth's Mustang. Just then the crew chief turned on a spotlight, lighting up the car as if it were daytime. Mark could even see the surprised expression on Beth's face from here. Pulling the trigger he opened up on the car, aiming not for the engine, but for the driver.

  18: Route Twenty-six, Government Camp, Oregon

  Beth glanced at the corpse in the seat next to her. She really wanted to dump him out of the car, but since she had started up into the mountains, there'd been way too much traffic. Though it had been starting to thin out for the last few m
iles now. She'd picked him up when she'd stopped to use the bathroom. He'd asked for a ride back to Portland, and she'd figured he was just another guy looking for an easy score like the previous two men had been.

  Well, maybe not this last one, he hadn't talked much and never once made a move on her, but she was curious as to how much power she could hold, and well, he made his contribution to the cause, good guy or bad. She was still sure that she wasn't full, and wondered once again what it would feel like once she was. The power was just rolling through her body now, it felt amazing and it felt soooo good. Oh the things she was going to do once she got to Portland. There were lots of people who would never be missed, and she was going to start with them until she really was a goddess.

  Then she'd start recruiting her followers of course, with the power she had, there would be more than a few 'miracles' that she'd be able to show them! She finally had the power she'd always wanted, and soon she'd have the adoration that was her due.

  There really wasn't going to be any stopping her!

  She came around the corner then, and looked up above the road in surprise, something dark was above the road, it took a moment for her eyes to adjust, she simply had to think about it, and the power made what she was looking at, clearly visible in the darkness.

  It was one of those large army helicopters she saw at the airport all the time.

  Suddenly she was looking at the sun! Closing her eyes didn't seem to help, she hesitated a moment between hitting the gas or hitting the brakes as the windshield suddenly exploded in front of her and she screamed as every part of her body from her chest up felt like someone had dipped her in molten metal.

  * * *

  Mark watched as the car went out of control, turned sideways suddenly and started to tilt up on to the two left side wheels as it slid. It suddenly flipped over and rolled once, ending back on its wheels, and then spun around twice more before coming to a stop. Hitting the release on his seatbelts Mark moved towards the door. There were a couple of cars that had seen what had happened and all had wisely stopped and started turning around on the shoulder.

  "Kill that spot light and once we're out, leave. That's an order!" Mark said and jumped out of the open door, the headset being ripped off his head as the cord went taut. Landing heavily on the hood of the car he pointed the machine gun at the body slumped over the steering wheel's deflated airbag and pulled the trigger, unloading the remaining hundred or so rounds into Beth's body.