The Ties That Bind r5-4

by Cliff Ryder

  * * *

  "You know," Jason said as Jesse stepped through the door into the shop, "I've thought about this moment many times in my life."

  Startled, Jesse jerked to a stop, dropping his keys onto the floor and spilling his coffee. "Ah, shit!" he said.

  Jason stood up from the chair he was lounging in and leaned forward on the counter. His gaze took in the coffee cup on the floor and he shook his head in mock sadness. "Look at that mess you've made. You should get someone to help you clean that up." He added a tsking sound with his tongue. "It's too bad you don't have any family that could help you out around here."

  Jesse kicked the cup out of the path of the door and snatched up his keys, slamming the door shut behind him.

  "I don't know what the hell you're talking about," he said. "Maybe I should just call the cops and have you arrested for breaking and entering."

  Jason chuckled softly. "Oh, I don't think that you're going to do that," he said. "I think that maybe the two of us should have a talk."

  "Look, I don't know you," Jesse said, "or anything about you, but I didn't exactly have a Norman Rockwell upbringing. I don't have any desire to go digging up the past. Maybe we're related, maybe not, but it doesn't matter to me either way. I don't have a family." There was a cold finality to his voice.

  "You're not even a little curious?" Jason asked, then continued without waiting for his answer. "Tell you what. Just indulge me a little and tell me a bit about yourself."

  "I told you, man, I don't want to get into all of this. I don't have a family and I'm fine with that."

  "Hmm…now that's interesting," Jason said. "We could probably pass for twins — a fact that would make most men stop and wonder for a minute. That you appear to be indifferent to that tells me that you either knew about me or…" His voice trailed off, then he laughed. "There is no 'either,' is there? You knew about me, didn't you?"

  Jesse dropped his keys on the counter and said, "Yeah, fine. I knew I had a brother out there somewhere. Big deal. And maybe it's you and maybe it's not. Lots of people look alike. What I know is this. My mother was some slut who dropped me off the first chance she could find — an orphanage in Anchorage, if it matters to you — and she split. I heard that she's dead. I did some digging when I was a teenager, asked around when I first got up here, so I knew a brother existed. But let me be clear — I don't care."

  "Sorry," Jason said. "But I'm not buying it." He stepped out from behind the counter and headed for the door. He decided to try a different approach. "Look, I don't know for sure who you are to me," he lied, "but I do intend to find out. Maybe, deep down, you'd like to know, too."

  Jason pulled on the door.

  "Jason." Jesse's voice was deep and quiet, barely above a whisper.

  "Yeah?"

  For a long minute, silence held them both, then he said, "My life is complicated. I don't know that you want to get too close. It might be better for both our sakes if you just left it alone."

  Jason watched him carefully, wondering if his words represented a threat, a warning or genuine concern. Maybe a little of all three.

  After another moment, he nodded, then said, "Everyone's life is complicated, but maybe helping with that is what families are for."

  9

  Jason left the shop and returned to his cabin to find Tina waiting for him.

  "What've you been up to?" she asked.

  "Oh, just wandering about, really," he said. "Come on. I've got something to show you."

  They started up the quads and Jason led the way back to the beach where he had seen the smugglers the night before. The tide had washed away most of the tracks, but not all of them.

  She knelt down to examine what was left. "There were quite a few people here," she said. "What was going on here?"

  "Another arms deal," he said. "I need to figure out where they're storing all this stuff and who is paying for it. I haven't seen this many illegal arms deals since I was in the Middle East. This is a real hot spot."

  "One of the advantages to living in the middle of nowhere," she said, looking around, "is that no one sees anything. From the tracks, it looks like two larger trucks and maybe a couple of smaller ones left from here. How many people were there?"

  "About a dozen," Jason said. "But some of them went back to the boats that were anchored out there. Three of them."

  Tina nodded, keeping her thoughts to herself.

  "Tina," he finally said, "where are they taking the weapons? What's the drop point?"

  She blushed slightly and had the grace to look at him sheepishly.

  "I know we've covered this," he said, keeping his voice gentle. "But if you're involved somehow, you need to tell me or this is going to get really ugly.

  You know my mission, and I've revealed far more to you than I should have. I'm not after you and even the smugglers are really a secondary consideration for me. But I do have a duty to fulfill, too."

  "I already told you," she said. "I'm not involved. I just can't help but feel that I'm betraying some of my people by helping you."

  "Tina, this can't just be about your loyalties or where people are getting the money to survive in hard times. These weapons aren't heading for soldiers or warriors. They're going to end up in the hands of criminals who will hurt people. Maybe a lot of people." He felt himself tensing up again and purposely took a deep breath. "These aren't small shipments. The whole situation is bordering on a major business. If someone is planning something big, do you really want your village to be seen as the staging area for whatever ends up happening?"

  She nodded her understanding. "I know you're right," she said. "But I don't want to see people prosecuted who don't deserve it. Most of them are just trying to get by."

  "No worries there. I'm just a surveyor, remember?" he said, grinning. "Whoever is helping them on this side is not who really needs to be stopped. Most likely, they are just a pawn in a much bigger game. The person I need to find is the one setting up the deals and supplying the contacts and help. A couple of dock lackeys — for want of a better expression — aren't that interesting to the government. Most of the people involved or helping are probably already flagged and their activities are being monitored to see if they become a bigger threat."

  "If federal law enforcement — like the FBI — knows that some of them have been doing illegal things, why not shut them down?" she asked.

  "For a couple of reasons, really," he explained. "First, why settle for the little fish when, with a little patience, you can catch the big one? As of right now, what they probably know amounts to a few misfits in the far frozen north smuggling a handful of Russian rifles into the country for small-time profit. In other words, why bother?"

  Tina glared at Jason, her dark-brown eyes flashing.

  "What?" he asked. "Now what's got you riled up?"

  She held up a finger in accusation. "In the last few sentences, you've equated everyone in the village to misfits, lackeys and pawns. Do you really think that everyone here is that ignorant?" she asked, then continued before he could get a word in edgewise. "I'll have you know that there are a lot of sophisticated, intelligent people here. They might not know how to build a computer or a space shuttle or do neurosurgery, but what they do know has kept our culture going for as long or longer than almost any other on the planet."

  She paused for a breath and Jason took the opportunity to break in. "Whoa! Whoa! Hold on a minute. That is not what I think. What I was trying to illustrate is how this is going to be seen by the law-enforcement community in the continental United States. If you'll recall, you were the one who pointed out to me that it's my heritage, too, so I don't have any reason to start slamming the people in the village. What I do know, however, is how perceptions work and when they can be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending entirely on how they're utilized."

  "I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at," she admitted.

  He took a seat on a dry log and gestured for her to sit down. When she did,
he continued. "Think of it like this. The village is small and — by population — is largely uneducated in the same sense as most communities down south. The government isn't going to see this place as either a threat or a significant asset. It's a place — a dot that's not even visible on most maps. Can you agree with me on that?"

  "Sure," she said. "It's not a really accurate perception of the place, but I can see how people might view it that way."

  "Okay," he said. "The danger happens when people assume those views or perceptions are accurate. In general, I don't think that the people in the village are dangerous, but I do know that it would be really easy for a dangerous person to hide up here among the people and never get picked up. The reverse is also true. I wouldn't think to ask most of the people here for help with advanced calculus, but I'd trust almost anything they had to tell me about the environment in this part of the world, the waterways or really anything having to do with the area itself. To me, this is a huge asset. A resource that many people would overlook, based on those inaccurate perceptions we've already established."

  "I see what you're saying," she said. "In other words, you aren't going to take a resource for granted any more than you're going to utilize that resource for something that it isn't suited for."

  "Exactly," he said. He got to his feet and motioned for her to follow him. They moved back up the hill, following the tracks made by the smugglers the night before. At the top, the tracks split, with one set heading in the direction of the village and the others heading northeast.

  "Where would that set be going?" Jason asked, pointing to the second set. "They'll get stuck in those trucks."

  "If they were regular trucks I would agree, but you aren't the only one with cool technology," Tina said. She knelt down and examined the tracks again. "I've seen these trucks. They're built with a track system that can be fitted over the wheels. They'll drive through or over just about anything, kind of like a tank or a snowmobile. I bet if we followed the tracks they would go pretty quickly from wheel marks to the track ribbing they use over the wheels themselves."

  "So where would they go?" he asked.

  Tina shrugged. "I don't know the answer to that one, but we could go find out. How much gas do you have?"

  "I've got plenty. You go back to town, I'll go check it out and meet you back in an hour or two."

  "And what happens when you get lost?" she asked. "Should I just leave you out there to die or would you like me to send out a set of sled dogs?"

  "I don't get lost," he said, chuckling and tapping his temple. "I'm one of those people with a built-in compass."

  "Maybe so," she said, "but you don't even know what you're up against at this point. I'll tag along and if something starts going down, I'll get out of your way. I'm a guide, but you aren't paying me enough to take a bullet for you. Either way, I can't let you wander off into the middle of nowhere without your guide. If you died, it would play hell on my business."

  "Tina, I'm not going to argue," he said, his voice firm.

  "Good," she said. "That will save us a lot of time because I'm following the tracks whether you are or not. Curiosity and all. You coming?"

  She didn't wait for his reply, but jumped on her quad and took off without him.

  Jason had difficulty catching up at first. The ground was boggy in places, rocky in others, and Tina knew how to avoid the obstacles easily. Once Jason fell in behind her, he made a point to stay directly in her tracks to avoid any problems.

  They traveled for the better part of an hour before they crested a ridge and Tina rolled to a stop. Jason pulled up next to her.

  "That was a dirty trick, driving through that boggy area," he said.

  "It wasn't a trick," she replied. "Just a friendly reminder that you may not be able to instantly recognize when and where the dangers are. That's part of the reason you hired a guide, remember?"

  "Vaguely," he said, smiling. "My reasons for doing that come and go from my mind, depending on your behavior."

  She laughed and then pointed down into the shallow valley below them. "What do you make of that?"

  Jason could see the outline of several trucks and a small building. He grabbed his binoculars and took a harder look. The building looked like a large tin structure. Four men milled around outside, heavily armed. The trucks that had been on the beach were sitting outside and appeared to be heavily loaded.

  "You had to know about this place. It's not that far from the village," he said.

  "Far enough," she said. "No one comes out this way, Jason."

  "Well, there sure is someone here now. Have a look," he said, handing over the binoculars.

  She peered through them. "Oh, my God. Those guys have guns." She paused. "A lot of guns."

  "Do you recognize any of them?" Jason asked.

  "Yeah, that's Chris coming out of the building now. I'm not sure who the thugs with the guns standing around outside are. The other guy coming out of the building is…holy shit! That snake, that dirty rotten snake!"

  "What?"

  "His old boss is there. Boris Ambros — the one that I told you left town. He's there. Chris must have been working for them the whole time. What the hell do they want?"

  "I don't know," he said, filing the name away. "You didn't mention before that the oil company was Russian."

  "No, I didn't," she said. "I guess…I didn't think it was important. Every other company that tries to break in up here is Russian." She peered through the binoculars again, then added, "He had lots of different people working for him — locals, whites, Chinese, Russian. It was a pretty mixed crew."

  Jason took the binoculars back and watched as the men climbed into vehicles and left, while Chris and the older man Tina said was his boss walked behind the building. A moment later, it was Jason's turn for a surprise. "Holy shit!" he said, echoing her comment. "I don't believe it."

  "What?" Tina asked.

  "Do you know what that is?" he asked, watching in stunned amazement as it lifted up beyond the building.

  "That?" she asked. "Unless they've invented a new type of flying can opener, that's called a helicopter."

  "That, my dear, is not just any helicopter. That thing makes my underwater craft look like a bath toy. It's not even supposed to exist yet!"

  "What do you mean, it's not supposed to exist?"

  Still stunned, Jason explained. "That helicopter is an XJ6, developed under the prototype name Asp. It's the most advanced combat helicopter in the world. It has rotor dampeners that adjust as it flies to make it virtually silent and an advanced weapons system that is pinpoint accurate. It doesn't show up on most forms of radar, because it uses light-and signal-bending technology that the rest of the world doesn't even know exists."

  "Is it too much to hope that his boss is some eccentric rich guy who likes to collect odd military equipment?" Tina asked.

  "You don't understand," he said. "The Asp doesn't exist. The only reason that I know about it is…" His voice trailed off, suddenly aware that he had already said too much. If she ever decided to get out of the guide business, she'd make a hell of an interrogator. People would just talk to her and not even know it.

  "Long story short, I was asked in an advisory capacity to look at some of the designs and give input on what would work tactically in the field."

  "Well, just because you didn't see it built doesn't mean that it didn't happen. How long ago were you asked?" she asked.

  "Three weeks," he said. "They told me it was a prototype." His mind was working quickly. Someone inside Room 59 had either sold or leaked the plans even before he'd seen them. Or they'd been stolen. In either case, Denny had to be notified immediately of a possible security breach.

  The helicopter took off and, as Jason promised, it was virtually silent. It flew off into what Jason knew from his premission review was a military-only fly zone.

  With the compound below deserted, Jason knew he had to see what else was there. These had to be the guys. There was a very good chance
they were involved with more than just weapons smuggling. If they had the helicopter, it wasn't a huge leap to imagine that they also knew about the sub. He needed to know where they were getting their technology and more importantly still, where they were getting their intelligence.

  "Tina," he said. "I need you to go back. I have to see what else is down there and now is the perfect time to do it. The place is practically deserted."

  "If it's deserted, then I should be able to come along."

  "Practically doesn't mean entirely," he said. "They won't leave it unguarded." He held up a hand as she started to object. "Please," he added. "I can't do my job if I'm worrying about you, too."

  She looked as if she wanted to argue some more, but said, "All right, but if you aren't back in town in two hours, then I'm calling in the cavalry and we're coming out to find you."

  He chuckled. "There isn't a cavalry within two hundred miles of here, but…if I'm not back in two hours, a cavalry will come whether we want it to or not, because I'll be dead. I can promise you that wouldn't go unnoticed."

  "Good to know," she said. "Stay safe." Then, without another word, she turned her quad around and headed back in the direction of the village. He waited until Tina was out of sight and then planned his approach to the compound, looking for the best way in.

  His plan crystallized in his mind, and he said, "Bingo," then headed for his destination.

  10

  Rather than risk being spotted, Jason left his quad where it was and set out on foot. There were enough trees, shrubs and grasses to give him adequate cover, especially if his approach was at more of an angle rather than straight ahead on the rough track the trucks had followed. He low-crawled the last fifty yards until he made his way to the back of the first truck and took a moment to look at the building close up.

  It was a large metal Quonset hut painted over with a sand-and-white camouflage pattern to help it blend in with either snow or the sparse earth that surrounded it. A tower on the back side of the building held some kind of electronic equipment; he could hear the faint hum of it, even from his position. Based on the fact that none of this had been picked up on any of the satellite imaging they'd done prior to the mission, he assumed that it was some sort of radar-jamming device.