The Alberta Connection (9 page)

He turned his focus to the Suburban that the
four men had arrived in. It had been stolen in Seattle four days
before it arrived on the road below Ryce’s position on the
mountain. It was not going to provide any new data, either.

Tanya walked into Ryce’s office a little
after 11:00 AM. When she sat down, Ryce wondered if there was a
lock on the door. He immediately rejected that thought. Doug likely
had the key.

Ryce noticed that Tanya had a slight smirk on
her face.

She looked at him, and then said, “The three
teams are working wonderfully. They are all going to lunch at 11:30
AM. I just checked the thermometer. If you are serious about
getting me pregnant, right now would be an excellent time.”

By the time she finished expressing her
thoughts, Tanya was a brilliant beet-colored red. Ryce got up from
his desk, walked to where she was sitting, pulled her out of her
seat, and gave her a long wet kiss. After the kiss, he took her
hand, and they walked out of the office.

Chapter 12

Doug and Mark were
waiting in Ryce’s office when he and Tanya returned from lunch. As
Tanya walked to her office suite, Ryce thought she had a slightly
smug look on her face.

Doug was studying a laptop positioned in
front of Mark.

Ryce sat down at his desk and turned to them.
“What can I do for you?”

Doug looked up. “John just got a report from
Homeland Security. The Pentagon has reported seven unauthorized
entries within the past 36 hours. The entries are not being called
break-ins until an audit is completed.”

The laptop in front of Mark announced an
email had been received. Mark slid the laptop over to Doug, who
checked his email inbox. After reading the email, Doug looked over
at Ryce.

“Pentagon security just confirmed four
laptops went missing from the building about twenty-eight hours
ago. They do not have an exact timeline, but twenty-eight hours ago
was the last time two of the laptops were actually seen. Only one
of the laptops has tracking software installed on it. It is a
version of LoJack. Unfortunately, the laptop has to be logged onto
the Internet, but the program has been activated.

“Two of the laptops could have been missing
for as long as 48 hours.”

Doug paused, typed for a minute on his
laptop, and then turned to Ryce.

“I guess you have your first enormous
challenge. Welcome to the big leagues.”

Mark laughed.

“I wouldn’t change jobs with you right now,
even if I could have Lynette back.”

Ryce walked into Suite 424, Tanya’s new
research center. Tanya was huddled over a laptop with three of her
group. Ryce chuckled. Did it take four people to look at one
laptop?

As Ryce turned to walk back to his office,
his cell phone began to vibrate. He had a text from Doug. When Ryce
read the text, he burst out laughing. The Pentagon laptop with
LoJack had accessed the Internet to order pizza in Richmond, VA.
The laptop was located at the Double Tree Inn near the Richmond
International Airport.

Also, according to Doug, John had sent an
email to someone he knew at the FBI asking that they contact the
pizza restaurant. Perhaps the FBI could obtain the room number
where the pizza was delivered and even the credit card that had
been used. The LoJack program was a wonderful breakthrough in
tracking a laptop, but it did not provide an answer to every
possible question.

Ryce was sitting at his desk composing an
email to Doug when Tanya walked in. She leaned over his desk and
asked, “What were you just cackling about?”

Ryce was still laughing so hard, he could
barely tell her about the pizza order. She walked around the desk
and sat in his lap.

“They had pizza in the cafeteria for lunch,
but I didn’t see you eat any.”

Tanya laughed, gave him a long kiss, stood,
and walked from the office.

Ryce completed the email to Doug and then
loaded Google Maps on his laptop. They now had a location, although
twenty-four hours old, that they could use to start tracking the
laptops. How far could someone drive in twenty-four hours?

Ryce started a quick mental calculation, but
stopped. Higher mathematics was just far too difficult for someone
who had seen what he had just seen when Tanya leaned over his desk.
Ryce smiled. Something had changed when Tanya said “I do.” She was
more open and certainly more forward. He definitely liked the
changes.

He stared at the road map surrounding
Richmond, VA, and then began doodling on a legal pad. What did they
know? Not much. Four laptops were missing from the Pentagon. How
many were involved in the theft? No idea. Where could the laptops
be heading? Again, no idea. There were simply too many freeways to
make an educated guess. Ryce hoped the laptop thieves had a desire
for pizza again soon. From Richmond, two main freeways led south,
one freeway led to Virginia Beach, and a fourth freeway headed
west.

Ryce walked to Suite 424, found Tanya, took
her hand, and walked to his office. After closing the door, he gave
her a long kiss, pointed to one of the office chairs and then
walked to his chair. He stared at her for several minutes, smiling
from time to time.

“The present situation is what the JBTF was
created for. Are we ready? I don’t know. I think several members of
the team have the skills to make our efforts a success. You are a
fantastic manager.”

He stopped to consider his next words. “And
you have the best hooters on the team.”

Tanya was so shocked with Ryce’s comment, she
didn’t move for a full minute. Suddenly, she squealed, stood up,
and then leaped into his lap.

After an extraordinarily long and sensuous
kiss, she looked at him. “When you were staring down my blouse, I
was getting very aroused. The feelings that start to consume me
when you look at me have never happened to me before. Something
happened to me when we got married.”

Ryce smiled. “Yeh, and I like it, too. Do you
think Doug would mind if we moved a bed into your office? I can’t
turn my office into a sex den.”

Tanya laughed so hard she began to cry. “You,
my love, have turned me into a wanton hussy.”

The kissing was interrupted by a knock on the
door. Tanya got up from Ryce’s lap and opened the door. As Doug
walked into the office, Ryce quickly sized up Tanya. All of the
buttons on her blouse were in their proper places.

Doug looked over at Ryce.

“I got your email, but we are still waiting
for the FBI to fill in the blanks. As soon as I get the credit card
number, we can track the group by the hits on the card. We will get
more clues when we know where the pizza was delivered. A motel room
would be nice.”

Doug turned and exited Ryce’s office. Tanya
walked over and sat back down on Ryce’s lap. After a kiss, Tanya
walked from Ryce’s office. Ryce chuckled. The thieves had been
caught by a need for pizza. He hoped that it was good pizza.

The day ended without any additional reports
from the laptop LoJack program and still no information on the
three executioners at the cabin. Would the FBI need a subpoena to
get the pizza information? And how long would that take? Ryce was
getting antsy.

As Ryce and Tanya walked into the family
dining room, John looked over at Ryce.

“The FBI sent two agents to the pizza joint.
It is called Wally’s Pies and Wings, and it is a suspected gang
hangout. The FBI has interrupted several attempted robberies, so
they think Wally will cooperate. Hopefully, we will get something
soon.”

Ryce considered going back to the office to
check on the status of the laptops when they finished supper. The
office was a mile in the opposite direction of the apartment, but
Tanya was showing signs of wanting to go home. Ryce wisely chose
home as their destination.

Ryce and Tanya stayed up late talking about
having a baby. Tanya was concerned that Ryce didn’t share her
enthusiasm for having four children. She also made it clear that
she did not want to leave the JBTF after the baby arrived. When
Ryce said he would think about it, Tanya coyly began to unbutton
her blouse.

Ryce shook his head. “You can’t use sex to
bribe me this late at night. I will, however, be open to bribery at
6:00 tomorrow morning.”

Chapter 13

Ryce rolled over
and tapped the snooze button. The baby conversation, although
extremely important, had not ended until after 2:00 AM. Perhaps an
additional ten minutes of sleep would make up for four hours of
lost sleep. Ryce smiled and then slid out of bed. He would let
Tanya catch up on her sleep while he was in the shower.

When they arrived at the office, Ryce checked
his email. Doug had forwarded a new report from the LoJack system
with a new GPS location. Doug added that he was trying to get Ryce
included on the Pentagon access list for LoJack. Ryce did not seem
to be far enough up the food chain.

Ryce plugged the GPS location into Google
Maps. The laptop was at a motel in Lexington, KY, just off mile
marker 108 on I-75. Ryce smiled. Kentucky had some interesting
memories.

During Ryce’s last year in the Army, his
roommate, Scott, had suggested they go to the Kentucky Derby. Scott
had a cousin who lived in Louisville and would be happy to provide
somewhere to sleep for three or four days. However, family ties
were trumped by financial ties. A week after the Derby, Scott
received a bill for $1000.00 for the three days he and Ryce had
stayed with Scott’s cousin. The going rate for a room in a private
home for the Derby was $175.00 per person per night.

Scott had chuckled when he got the bill. “I’d
rather owe it to him than cheat him out of it. He’s a lawyer. I
wonder how long it will take him to actually file a claim?”

Ryce wandered around the research centers for
most of the morning, but did not feel he accomplished anything with
his efforts. His primary focus was on the men at the cabin, but he
was no closer to identifying any of them. What was John doing about
the military databases? Ryce frowned. John was likely doing more
than anyone knew. After sixteen years in the Army, Ryce knew how
slowly things moved. At the end of his third twenty-minute nap,
Ryce stood, walked from his office to Tanya’s desk, took her hand,
and walked toward the elevators.

Doug was exiting the elevator just as Tanya
and Ryce were walking into the alcove. Doug turned and followed
Ryce and Tanya back into the elevator.

“I hope you two are going to the cafeteria. I
am starving.”

As soon as he completed filling his tray,
Doug found the nearest table and pulled a flash drive from his
pocket.

“Here is the program that will get you into
the military databases. John got permission from the SecDef. I
don’t know which services he has gotten onboard. You’ll have to get
the access codes directly from John, when he finally receives
them.”

Doug turned his attention to his lunch.

Ryce strode directly to his office after
lunch. As he waited for the laptop on his desk to boot-up, he
pulled Doug’s flash drive out of his pocket. Perhaps now they could
find out who the men at the cabin were.

Ryce checked his emails first. John sent the
log-in codes for the US Navy database and a reassurance that he was
working to get the other passwords. John also forwarded an email
from the local FBI special agent in Richmond, VA. The Internet
order had been for three large pizzas, a double order of hot wings,
and three salads.

The FBI agent had obtained the room number of
the motel the pizzas were delivered to and the credit card number
used to purchase the pizzas. The agent said that the pizza parlor
had cooperated nicely in providing the information. However, a
court order would be required if they wanted any information from
the motel. John replied that he was happy with the cooperation of
the FBI. Doug could take it from here.

Ryce plugged the flash drive into his laptop.
When the service record search program finished loading, he
selected a photo of one of the cabin occupants and pressed
start.

Ryce was anticipating a long search. Perhaps
a hug would fill the time? Ryce had a personal relationship with
the best hugger in Idaho. Maybe the whole USA. As he walked through
the door to his office, his laptop began to gurgle at him. He
smiled, spun, and returned to his desk. Tanya wanted to remind him
that she planned to have a baby. She had discovered a gurgling baby
audio file on some Internet site and replaced one of his system
sounds. He hoped no one had heard the laptop gurgling.

The search of the Navy database had found a
hit in less than three minutes. One of the men at the cabin was
named Andrew Lyste. Ryce accessed his service records. Andrew Lyste
had died in March 1975 in Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. That was thirty
days before the fall of Saigon.

Ryce carefully studied the photos. Fifty
parameters were used in the comparison. The search program had
rated the two pictures to be a 97% match. If that was not an exact
match, it was certainly close. Ryce could see no differences
between the two photos. How did a dead man travel to a remote cabin
in Montana and help kill four men?

Over the next three hours, Ryce continued his
search for the two additional unknowns at the cabin. The picture of
killer #2 churned for more than two hours without success. Ryce was
beginning to wonder if he would have any more luck. Forty-five
minutes into the search for the third executioner, Ryce got a
hit.

Killer #3 was Gregory Lyste. He soon turned
into another dead end. His service records indicated he had also
died in March 1975 in the Republic of South Vietnam. Gregory was
the twin brother of Andrew Lyste. They had enlisted in the US Navy
in 1973 and had served together on a PBR (Patrol Boat, River) on
the Mekong Delta.