by Ron Walden
“Easy, Dan; we’ll get him,” Sutter said, through clinched teeth.
Dave Vrobec spoke up, “John, I can get surveillance teams started at both Bergstrom’s offices and his desert ranch. What do you say, we take some time to evaluate the information we have and meet again this afternoon to formulate a plan?”
“Good idea, Dave. Can you two be back here at 1500 hours?”
They agreed to return at 3 PM and were just leaving the office when Miss Edwards entered with a pitcher of iced tea and several glasses. She placed the tray on the conference table and asked, “Will there be anything else?”
“That will be all, Judy. Hold all my calls and see that Dan and I are not disturbed, thank you.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Salt River, 35 miles east of Phoenix, on 25,000 acres was “The Home Place” of Nels Bergstrom. Downstream was Theodore Roosevelt Dam and just west, Tonto National Monument. Situated in high desert foothills, there was good surface water available for animal grazing. The main house, 11,000 square feet, more like a large resort than a home, stood on a small ridge overlooking Salt River Valley. Constructed of native rock and landscaped with native cactus and plants, it was a low single story ranch house. Bergstrom prided himself on authentic southwest decor furnishings; a large amount bought from people dealing in artifacts stolen from Indian burial grounds. The dignitaries, presidents, senators, congressmen, and business men, he entertained there were very impressed.
Bergstrom had constructed a 5,000 foot, lighted and paved, private airstrip. There were two nearby hangars. One housed his Cessna Citation II. The other protected his Bell Jet Longranger helicopter. The latter was used extensively to maintain ranch security, chores like herding sheep and cattle and patrolling fence lines. Bergstrom used it as personal transportation to and from the ranch. Although he had a large, 12 story, office building in downtown Phoenix, he preferred to manage his huge empire from the ranch. No one could blame him. Country around Apache Lake is what inspired the stories of Louis L’Amour.
At 7 AM, the story was on CNN News. Bergstrom was on the patio eating his breakfast. He’d expected the news, but was startled to hear the nuclear device exploded offshore and not at the Valdez Marine Terminal.
“Talbert, get out here,” Bergstrom slammed his coffee cup into its saucers, spilling coffee on the linen tablecloth.
Russ Talbert was a small man, with accountant-type, round, gold rimmed glasses; and loyal to the core. He’d been Bergstrom’s aide for over 15 years. Bergstrom yelled at him constantly, but both men knew it was Talbert’s ability to maintain an orderly business schedule that made him valuable. Before Russ Talbert came into the Bergstrom enterprise, Nels’ life was constant chaos.
“Yes sir?”
“Have you seen the news this morning? The news about Alaska?” Nels took a large bite of toast spread thick with Marmalade. He stared into the open space of the desert while he chewed noisily, paused a moment, then took a swallow of orange juice.
“No sir, I haven’t.”
“Damn it all to hell! They failed. The SOBs failed! The whole thing is up in smoke.” He flung his chair and began pacing. “Yamamata’s team failed. Even my back up failed.” Then he began to think aloud. “They never destroyed the control center for the pipeline. A worldwide plan in operation and people don’t do their job.” He threw his napkin down. “Have you heard from Al Bates this morning?”
“No sir.” Talbert let him have his tantrum
“He was my back up, Talbert. I want to know as soon as he calls. I want to know what went wrong. “We must press on with our plan although we didn’t shut down the pipeline. We set off a nuclear device there and that may be intimidation enough to accomplish our goal. Get Kisishkin on the secure line.”
“Right away sir,” Talbert said as he returned to the house.
Talbert returned with a telephone attached to a large brief case, identical ones had been supplied to each of the three conspirators by Mr. Yamamata. Talbert placed the case on the table and opened it. He dialed the long overseas number and the access codes for the security scrambler. A device identical to this one was now ringing in Dushanbe, Tajikhstan, a military base never on the regular Soviet military inventory, and built and maintained with equipment and funds skimmed from the regular military budget. The soviet government had unknowingly established a private military force under the authority of General Lianid Kisishkin. Now, with the demise of the Soviet government, the General was using the private army for personal gain, to control the flow of oil from the Russian and OPEC sources.
Talbert handed the receiver to his boss. “The General is on, sir.”
Bergstrom took the phone and waited.
“General. Nels Bergstrom. Have you heard the news this morning?”
“Yes. It is not good. You know what happened?” Kisishkin asked in broken English.
“Won’t know ‘til later this morning. I’ll give you a report as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I think we should move ahead as planned. We haven’t destroyed the ability of the pipeline, but we’ve set off a nuclear device close enough to the Marine Terminal to cause a panic in the government. We’ve demonstrated we have the capability to do great damage. We should move to step three of Operation Cinch Knot as scheduled. Your opinion, please”
The General was silent for a moment,
“You are right. Ve must go on as planned, quickly, not to lose advantage. Ve cannot sit on the OPEC officials and their families forever. Yah, step three’ good. You, spoken with Yamamata?”
“No. I wanted your opinion first. I’ll call him immediately. If he agrees, I’ll notify you and we’ll begin the next phase. I’ll call you back.”
Bergstrom handed the receiver to Talbert. “Get me Yamamata.” He straightened the chair and buttered more toast. He always ate heavily when under great pressure.
Yamamata’s aide answered the phone.
“Mr. Yamamata, please. Mr. Bergstrom calling,” Talbert announced—then handed the phone to Bergstrom.
Yamamata, educated at UCLA, spoke perfect English. He was a brilliant man, ambitious and resourceful, but ruthless and greedy. He had financial holdings in electronics, manufacturing, construction, ship building, oil tanker transportation, and other companies. He had connections with Japanese politics as well as with mobsters in the Yakuza.
“Mr. Bergstrom, it is a pleasure to hear from you. I was expecting your call. You have heard that my men were arrested?”
“No. Will they talk? Will they jeopardize our plan?”
“Relax Mr. Bergstrom. My men will not talk. I have lawyers on the way to Anchorage from Los Angeles. They will confer and decide what to do with them. They have been instructed in what to say if they were caught. The important thing is that our mission is not yet finished. I see there was an explosion, but out at sea?” Yamamata inquired
“The reason for this call. I talked with the General, and we agree that we should go ahead as planned. If you agree with us, I will call my friends in Mexico and South America to initiate plan three. If American oil companies do not capitulate as planned, then we have an alternate plan to eliminate production from the Alaska north slope.”
“I am in agreement,” Yamamata said. “No plan is 100 percent perfect. We must step over our errors and take new advantages. I will notify each of my tanker companies to proceed with their loading schedule in all ports. They will load and sail for their destination but will anchor offshore when they arrive. They will be instructed to wait at anchor until further notification from me. Is there anything else you need from me at this time?”
“I don’t think so. I’ll get back to Kisishkin, and we will initiate our parts of the plan. I’ll call if there are any changes. Good Bye.” Bergstrom hung up the phone.
“Get the other phone.” Nels instructed Talbert. “I want to talk to Edwardo Martinez. He’ll be in Merida, Yucatan, and Donald Piersol in Caracas. They’ll probably be sleeping but I don’t care. Get them up.”
Talbert r
eturned with the other telephone and a red file folder. He found the directory in the file and dialed the number. “Mr. Martinez, please, Mr. Bergstrom calling.”
The fat man took the phone, “Edwardo. I don’t care if I did take you away from a very important lady. We have to talk!”
“Ah, Nels. Edwardo hissed sarcastically. “You sound, ah, very well today. The news is not too bad?”
“Everything is fine, Edwardo. Are you ready to launch Operation Cinch Knot from there?”
“Yes, I can begin the shutdown immediately. When do you want to start?”
“It’s 8 AM here now; it must be 9 there. You have 7 hours. We’ll have the plan in full effect by 3 this afternoon, our time. Satisfactory?”
“Yes. I will instruct my people to begin at once. Friends in the government will be contacted. We will proceed as planned, and I expect their cooperation.”
Nels handed the phone to his aide. “Get me Piersol.”
“Already done, sir.”
“Hello, Donald. How are things in Caracas?”
“Fine, Nels. I have been watching CNN; problem in Alaska, huh?”
Nels wadded up his napkin. “Everything is under control. We are initiating the plan. Are you ready.”
“I am ready. In fact I had a meeting this morning with the President and the oil company officials. They are ready. Say when.”
“Mexico will be down by 3 PM, Arizona time, just under 7 hours, can you be down by that time?”
“Communication to one or two of the four sites will be slow, and there will be four sites that will have to be notified in person. We can have all but those four sites down by your deadline. Those four will take a few hours longer. But, they will all be down by 6 PM your time, I assure you. We will shut down all the north coast, Guyana, Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. Will that be satisfactory, does that meet your needs?” Piersol was Regional Director of Operations for Bergstrom Enterprises in South America.
“Sounds good, Donald. You have handled this well. Keep me posted. I don’t want any surprises. Let’s get started.” Nels hung up the phone and waited as Talbert dialed the secure phone again.
“It’s ringing, sir,” Talbert said.
The General answered the phone personally. “Kisishkin here. Nels, Vhat did you learn.”
“Everything’s a go. There’ll be total shutdown by this afternoon. Yamamata will keep loading tankers as long as possible. There will be no deliveries made after this time. What about you?”
“I vill give orders as soon as I am off the phone. I vill check again with you in the morning. If all is vell, I vill contact the OPEC principal and the oil companies to call them to meet in Brussels on Saturday. Ve should review plan and confirm ve have met all crises. If you feel confident about the plan in the morning, ve will proceed to part four. I look forward to seeing you in Brussels.” Kisishkin was more than confident, he was cocky and arrogant.
“By morning,” Bergstrom warned, “the world will be aware there is something wrong. The U.N. will still be hunting the two royal families. We have to keep the upper hand until after Saturday, a very long time. Make ready that airborne delivery to Alaska. If we are ignored in this country, we must be ready to strike. I have a lot of influence bought and paid for in Washington, but we need to be ready in case something goes wrong,”
“You are right my friend. I vill be ready. I vill talk mit you tomorrow,” and he was gone.
Bergstrom went inside and was snacking on a bowl of fruit when Al Bates called. Bergstrom’s hit man had just arrived in Phoenix. He had booked through several airports in Canada. He had changed airlines and his name twice during the trip.
“Hello Al. Good to hear from you. Nice to have you back in town. Take a cab to the office. I’ll have the helicopter pick you up. We’ll talk soon.” Bergstrom was anxious to hear what had taken place in Alaska.
He was just finishing lunch when Bates arrived at the Apache Lake Ranch. He had spent the night memorizing faces of passengers on the several flights to be sure he was not followed from Anchorage.
Talbert showed Bates into the office. “Al! Good to see you; how about lunch?” Nels greeted him.
“I just want to give you my report and get some sleep.” Al shook his head. “It was a long night.”
“Talbert, bring Al some iced tea.”
As soon as the door closed, Bergstrom turned to Bates. “What the hell happened up there, Al? I put almost seven million bucks in a bomb that wasn’t delivered to the target. I can’t afford those kind of mistakes.”
“I don’t know what happened. I used those credentials you gave me to get an identification badge from TAPS and got inside Pump Station Ten. Everything was okay there. There was no indication that anyone was aware of the plan. The technicians handled their job as instructed. Everything was perfect. So, I went to Valdez and waited. About the time the pig was scheduled to arrive at the Marine Terminal, there was a leak. The FBI was at the pig receiving station. They arrested the technicians that drove the truck. Then they waited and arrested the technicians when they came in on the helicopter.”
“It’s a good thing I hand carried the arming device,” Bates continued. “The FBI searched everything on the truck and in the pig. They knew what they were looking for. They questioned the Japanese technicians, but I don’t think they got anything from them.
“After they took the technicians away and everyone left, I went back to the pig receiving station. Two guards were on the door. I had to kill both to get inside. I loaded the pig on the truck and installed the arming device. Then I took it over to the OCC building and parked it. I figured if they found it and figured out what was inside, they would just try to disconnect the arming device and our objective would be met. Then I got the hell out of Dodge. I rented a private plane and flew it to Anchorage. I don’t know how they knew the bomb was in the pig, and I don’t know how they knew not to disconnect the arming device.”
Bergstrom rang for Talbert who returned with a pitcher of iced tea and crystal glasses. “I don’t know how they found out. Maybe we should’ve had more people involved with the pig. I thought it best to have as few as possible. We’ll look into it later. Right now, we’ve done all we can. Get some rest and we’ll discuss it again later. I believe we have demonstrated we are serious. If they don’t take this as a warning and submit to our demands, we try the secondary plan. Show Mr. Bates to one of the guest rooms and get him whatever he needs.”
Alone in his office, Bergstrom sipped the iced tea and thought about details. Everything seemed to be in place. He could find no flaw. He looked to the TV monitor which displayed the stock market report continually all day long. He noted the price of Texas crude was now $14.57 per barrel. On Monday, next week, after the weekend meetings in Brussels, the price of oil would be any price Bergstrom wished it to be. Monday it would be $50 per barrel, worldwide.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Hours passed as John Sutter and Dan Webster studied reports and documents piled on the conference table. They worked through lunch and into the late afternoon. The intercom buzzed and John answered.
“Yes, Judy?”
“Mr. Vrobec and Mr. Felson are here to see you, sir.”
“Show them in.”
Dave Vrobec waited for the door to close behind him.
“I think we got lucky, Dan. You know that photo you gave me—the one from the TAPS ID badge?”
“Yes,” Dan lifted a sheet of paper from the table, “This one?”
“That’s the one. Our surveillance turned up something. A couple of hours ago a guy matching this description went to the Bergstrom Enterprises building. The company helicopter landed on the roof, and picked this guy up. Then it flew to the ranch. My man says he is Al Bates, a hit man for Bergstrom.”
Larry clapped his hands.
“Oh man! If we could tie Bergstrom to Bates and place Bates at the scene of the killings in Valdez, we’d have enough to arrest them both. Call Roger in Anchorage and tell him about this guy, a
nd see if there’s any hard evidence Bates is the murderer. Dan said the troopers took fingerprints from a forklift. Roger can check them out.”
Dan turned to Larry, “Do you think they’ll make another try at disabling the pipeline?”
“A possibility for sure. If their plan is to demonstrate their power to destroy the pipeline, then the answer is no. They’ve made that point. But, if they really want the pipeline out of commission, then, yes, they’ll try again.”
“I know Bergstrom, Dan worried. “He always has a back up plan. His motivation has always been money and power. Let’s assume you’re right about him, the Russians, and the Japanese. What do all three have in common, besides their investments in oil?”
“All three are heavy into production and transportation.”
“Right. Larry and I figure the plan is worldwide, and will cost millions of dollars to complete. That brings up the next question; if they invest a billion dollars and a year in planning, how’ll they profit?”
“Good question, Dan, have you got any ideas?” Dave asked.
“Maybe. If I owned oil tankers and storage tanks all over the world, and I controlled the major pipelines of the world, and I filled my tankers and storage tanks with oil costing $15.00 a barrel and then shut down all my oil pipelines and tankers, what would happen?” Dan posed.
“I see what you’re getting at. If they could hold, say, a billion barrels of oil, from getting to market, and the price went up to say, $50.00 a barrel, they’d realize an instant profit of $35 billion dollars. You may have just hit the jackpot. Let me run this scenario past my office. Good work Dan.” Larry was impressed.
“Okay, you two work on that and I’ll take Dan to see the ranch,” Dave said. “Tomorrow is Wednesday and if Dan is right, by the first of the week the world economy is going to take a terrible blow.”
The two men departed, and Larry said to Dan, “If we don’t take our wives to dinner, we won’t live until tomorrow. Let’s call it a day. In the morning, I’ll have one of the DEA pilots fly us out to the ranch for a look see.”