An idea came to Max while the superintendent moved closer to their car. “Why don’t you roll up those maps we have to look like building plans? We can act like we’re construction inspectors for the U.S. You take the lead. You probably know more about construction than I do. I’ll be looking at the buildings for sniper angles.”
The two men walked over to the superintendent with plans under their arms like old construction hands.
“Good day, sir, I’m Bill Morris from Collins Construction. The Embassy asked me to come by and take a look at your progress. How far are these stands going to extend?”
Pointing with both hands, the superintendent showed Wade where the stands ended on both sides. “They’ll go another fifty-five feet in that direction.”
“Have you calculated your weight loads yet?”
“Yes, sir. The metal scaffolding and stands will hold over 140 pounds per square inch. A lot more than the required minimum.”
“We always want to be sure. What did you use for the attendance figures?”
“Just under 1,200 people. I don’t have the exact number.”
“I see you’re going five high. Did you use five high to compute your weight loads?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll recheck the numbers when I get back to the office. I may be low on the attendance.”
“Where will you locate the stage? And how many dignitaries did you calculate for that load?”
Pointing, the superintendent explained, “The stage is going right over there. Including the Prime Minister and his Cabinet members - there will be about forty people on that raised section.”
“That looks about right. How are you handling the electrical?”
As Wade continued his conversation with the superintendent, Max checked for trajectory angles from the high surrounding buildings and landscape toward the stage. He identified at least five positions within 300 yards that would make ideal sniper hides.
Max wanted to check out each space for possible ingress and escape routes. He envisioned the viewing area packed with visitors and the enormous confusion a shooting sniper would create.
After the discussion, the superintendent gave Wade his card, and then watched as Wade and Max moved over to the side stairs for a discussion. It looked like they were checking plans against what the superintendent had just told him.
Wade rolled out his papers and pointed. “Pretend we’re talking about the plans. I can’t believe how much information I just got from the superintendent. I have the whole layout, number of attendees in the stands and on the stage, even where the lighting cables are going to be run. What were you able to discover?”
“I have a pretty good idea of possible firing positions I would take if I were going to sniper this target. We’ll have to check out each position, but there are several good options. Now I just need to figure out which ones have the best extraction routes.”
“Why don’t you mark them on the map and number the buildings from left to right? We’ll check each one and the extraction points after the superintendent is gone.”
“Give me a minute to code the positions. I need to get the binoculars and a camera.”
“Go for it. Remember to look like a construction guy, not a tourist taking pictures.”
Max was not a big talker. On the way back from Belmopan, though, he did tell Wade that he’d graduated from the Army explosive school and that explosives had been his back-up specialty in Vietnam. Their conversation continued about shooting positions and escape scenarios from the layout they had seen that day. For them, the concrete, steel, and glass layout was like a living, breathing organism, which they dissected as snipers, much like a surgeon getting ready to operate.
After grabbing a quick meal, the two men headed back to the safe house for their stakeout. This time there was a car in the driveway and a light on in the living room.
“Where has this rabbit been hiding? I just want to see the guy’s face.”
“We may be here for a while. Looks like he just pulled up. ”
“I’m pretty sure this is no longer his main operating house. We’re going to have to follow him to find his other hole.”
Much to the men’s surprise, Stephan was soon on the move, rushing to jump into his car. The men followed his blue sedan to the car rental agency, where the attendant and Stephan conversed for a bit before coming out to the yard to look at vehicles in the lot.
After walking past a number of vehicles, Stephan pointed to a roomy utility-type vehicle. While speaking with the rental agent, he conveniently stood under the light in the parking lot where Wade and Max got a clear look at his face.
He had typical Germanic features and a well-defined lean body type. Definitely fit. This operative was in good shape, with close-cropped dark curly hair and dark eyebrows that seemed too close together for the size of his head.
The car he pointed to was pulled to the front office door, where the agent handed Stephan the keys and Wade turned to Max.
“You follow Stephan in this car, while I stay behind to rent a second car. I’ll take one of the radios.” Wade reached into the backseat to get a radio transmitter and his weapon. He tucked both under his loose-fitting overshirt. “I’m going to go back and check the house again. Stay with him. I think he may be headed to his second hole.”
“I’ve got him.”
Max pulled out of the car lot, following Stephan at a safe distance. Wade entered the front door looking for the gentleman who had helped Stephan. Stephan’s car rental paperwork was still on the clipboard sitting on the desk
The sales attendant returned to the small office approaching from Wade’s left side. “Good evening, sir, what can I do for you?”
“I’m looking to rent a second car for my associate.”
“Listen, would you excuse me for a second? I need to attend to something real quick, but I’ll be back momentarily.”
“That’s fine. I’m in no rush.”
The attendant disappeared through a gray swinging door behind the counter, leaving Wade to peruse Stephan’s paperwork. He spun the clipboard around to make it easier to read. Stephan’s signature was scribbled at the bottom of the page. The last name he’d signed was “Woretz.”
He’d just replaced the clipboard to its original position when the swinging door opened and the agent smiled at Wade. “It’s been a busy evening. How may I help you? ”
“I’d like to rent a mid-size sedan for a week. What are your rates?”
They settled on the rate and a vehicle. After making a right turn out of the car agency, Wade pulled over to the side of a quiet street to hook up his radio transmitter. The two men had already established code names and protocol for the mission, knowing their radio frequency was not totally secure
“Base to Sky, how do you read?”
“Sky here, reading you loud and clear.”
“Are you still with the rabbit?”
“You bet. We’re seven clicks out of town heading east on Northern Highway toward Belmopan. I’m five cars back.”
“Stay on target. I’ll check out the rabbit hole and make a few calls home. I’ll relieve your watch in the early morning, around 5:00 a.m.”
“Copy. Awaiting your next call.”
“Over.”
Wade cautiously drove by the house before going in. He performed his normal check around the doorjambs for wires. The house remained untouched except for one slip of paper that had fallen to the kitchen floor below the counter, a receipt for hardware parts. The same scribbled handwriting on the bottom of the page confirmed it was Stephan’s signature. Wade thought about leaving the paper on the floor, but ultimately decided to keep it for potential handwriting analysis. He found nothing new in the house, and only a single unmade bed. There was nothing more he could do at this safe house so he headed for the library.
The library was closed but the dimly lit lobby remained open. Sitting on the small built-in seat beside the payphone, Wade took a moment to write down a detailed physical descripti
on of Stephan before making his first call: approximately six feet tall, slender, with a neatly-trimmed beard; a small scar under his left eye; a small tattoo on his right forearm. He seemed to be in excellent shape, and handled himself like a cat ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. By the way Stephan carried himself, Wade got the sense he was well trained as a covert operative.
The call to Yari brought surprisingly little new information. “There were no calls recorded.”
“How about credit card transactions?”
“I can’t trace them with only a first name.”
“That’s one of the reasons I’m calling. Our target is using the name Stephan Woretz. His handwriting is terrible, so I may have the last name misspelled. I have a credit card receipt with his signature. I can send that to you for handwriting analysis. He just rented another vehicle from the Island Rental Car Agency. He also used his credit card to buy something from a local hardware store. I’d like any background you can dig up on this guy.”
“I’ll get to work on it right away. I have a source who can track credit card transactions from that country.”
“We may soon have another safe house location for you to trace as well.”
Yari tried filling in more gaps. “That’s good news, because he’s not making calls from the Adam Roy house. I haven’t found any calls coming in from Condor’s side either. I’m thinking he may be using another line.”
“It’s possible, but I get the sense this guy runs his own jobs. He may not be communicating with Condor at all. Let’s see if we can get another location fix. I’ll call as soon as I know something. By the way, I need you to set up one of those secure double encryption patches from this phone so I can call the Agency.”
“You got it. Give me five minutes after you hang up.”
Wade was hoping Megan’s research might have paid off when he dialed her number.
“This is Megan.”
“Hi. It’s me.”
“Let me go to one of the spare offices to use a secure line.”
Wade didn’t mention that he already had a secure, encrypted patch on their line.
Megan continued from the new secure location. “I think I’ve discovered which of our Agency’s guys was involved with Daniel Spencer in Vietnam. Unfortunately, it goes right to the top. The files are locked down tight as a drum, including related older files at the Pentagon. I have my friend who works there checking. I got one document that shows two people at the Agency signed off on the drug investigation results. I have those names when you need them.”
“Did you learn anything about the Belize situation?”
“Yes. Both publically and privately, we support Belize as an independent democratic government. We run everything through the British Embassy, and let them take the lead on most matters. Our interests stem from the fact that their country is near our shores, not Britain’s. We monitor everything closely, including their elections and many of their government communications. We have people who also monitor trading partners in the country for commercial ventures to make sure no one with conflicting interests gets too big. We’re not going to let them become a pawn of some other country who might not be one of our friends. We especially watch for growing interests from Panama, Cuba, Columbia, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. We’re also monitoring Russian influence in the area.”
“What did you find out about the politics of the current war games?”
“They seem to be all show with a few political agendas. It’s a ‘Mine’s bigger than yours’ parade, from what I can tell. More fanfare than substance. I haven’t been able to discover any specific threat.”
Wade rubbed his weary eyes and sighed aloud. “My question is who would benefit from a disruption of the war games?”
“Is that what we’re talking about here?”
“It’s purely a hypothetical question. I’m not sure. I just wanted your thoughts on who might have that kind of motive.”
There was a pause before Megan responded. “I’d like to think about that for a while. Other than the countries you mentioned, I can’t think of any.”
Wade’s next question summoned Megan to the dark side. “Can you think about anyone from the U.S. who might have a reason to disrupt the games?”
Megan sounded annoyed when she replied, “I don’t suppose you want to tell what you’re basing that question on, or what you’re up to now.”
Wade sensed that Megan felt he was off base and had little to add to support his suspicions regarding a possible U.S. plot. He redirected his thinking to the more obvious Russian, Cuban, and South American countries.
“I don’t really know how to answer that question. Just considering all the possible candidates and speculating on who would benefit from disrupting things here.”
Megan paused, as if referring to her latest research notes. “That’s really heavy stuff. I just don’t see evidence that points in that direction.”
Wade agreed. “Just me speculating out loud.”
Megan said nothing for a long moment. “You don’t normally speculate like that. But you’re not going to tell me more, are you?”
“Not at the moment.”
“You keep your secrets well.”
“I learned from the best.”
She could see the call was ending. “We’ll have to discuss that at another time. I miss you.”
“Miss you, too.”
Chapter 24
A mango farm, Belize
Before dawn the next morning, Wade followed Max’s directions to a location two miles east of Belmopan. Max spent the night staking out Stephan’s movements and had swollen red eyes to prove it. Wade got into Max’s car and studied the layout. He liked what he saw.
“This is a great observation point. When did he finally come home to roost?”
“About eleven o’clock. He was very wary, closely checking at every turn. He also had binoculars out that second window from the left.”
“Does he sense anything, do you think, or is he just cautious?”
“I think mainly cautious, but he may also have a sixth sense. He’s not totally comfortable yet.”
The two-story house was located at the back of a five-acre parcel. Anyone approaching the house could be seen all along a stretch of gravel driveway leading to the front door. The back of the house was set fifty feet in front of what looked like dense jungle.
Max’s observation post couldn’t have been better. His car stood at an angle to the driveway off the main road that wasn’t visible from the house, and was nestled tightly between two rows of shrubbery, which obscured most of the vehicle. The position provided a direct line of sight to the house through a dense hedge that lined the road behind a row of tall banana plants.
There was little activity to report from Max’s night watch except that Stephan had gone to bed early and engaged in a hard work-out early that morning.
Wade commented on Stephan’s selection of the second site: “This is a good location for them. They’re closer to Belmopan, and he has a clear line of sight in every direction.”
Max nodded. “There’s even a possible jungle extraction point at the rear. I want to check that out by approaching from the jungle side at the back of the house. I think there may be trails leading into the jungle.”
Wade replied, “And this location is far enough away from the ceremonies not to draw attention. In the confusion after an attack, they could easily extract to this location before splitting up. If they had to use it, the jungle would provide both cover and a secondary extraction route.”
Max could see why Stephan had chosen this location for a safe house. “I see your point. They might also use the Belize City house as part of their initial extraction plan. My guess is the police would immediately close all routes in and out of Belmopan, and the area will be crawling with police and military after the incident. The key will be the timing.”
Wade was curious. “Was there any movement last night?”
“No. Everything was quiet. H
e came straight here from the rental agency and hasn’t left. He’s only used two rooms of the house the entire night.”
Wade was already thinking about calls Stephan might be making to the other operatives. “We have to let Yari know about this location. Does this place have a street address?”
“I think there may be a road sign back where it turns off the main road, but I don’t see any street numbers.”
“I tell you what. You look exhausted. I’ll take over your watch. You go get some shut-eye. On your way back, look for any address, street signs, or mailbox numbers that would give Yari a general location so he can monitor calls. If you can’t find street numbers, borrow the neighbor’s mail from one of those boxes so we can at least get an address code. After you get some rest, call Yari from the library with the location information.”
Max’s all night stake-out had given him time to think. As he departed he tossed out an idea that surprised Wade. “Listen, I’ve been thinking about something else I want to discuss.”
Wade smiled. “Stakeouts do strange things to people’s minds. Let’s hear what you’ve got.”
“You know the black cases at the cemetery? I think I have a pretty good idea what’s in them. I’d like to try to get into those cases to deactivate the mechanism.”
Wade wasn’t keen on the idea. “You’re not only tired – you’ve gone mad.”
Max was persistent but careful. “Before we do anything I need to confirm my ideas with one of my explosives instructors at the base. He’s been a real friend, and I trust him. I’ll also need some tools.”
Reluctantly, Wade agreed to let him at least investigate the idea. “When you talk to Yari, ask him to set up a secure patch for a call to your friend at the base.” He made a face and shook his head before adding, “This is crazy—I can’t believe I’m even considering this plan. But we need to discuss your intentions before you do anything rash, okay? I wasn’t going to mention it, but I was just thinking about renting a boat, weighting the cases down, and dropping them overboard.”
Lethal Authority (Wade Hanna Series Book 2) Page 21