“If we don’t have any issues getting over the border back to Montana, I think we will be in Great Falls in a couple days. Ryce, O2, Nick, and Michael are out.”
O2 laughed at John’s parting words. “And the short trail is where Francine’s killers are likely headed? How convenient.”
After dividing the MREs and completing a quick sweep of the area, Ryce sent Nick out on point and started the team up the trail. Ryce checked the time on his cell phone. It read 1:34 PM.
At 4:45 PM, Nick signaled the team to stop. When O2, Ryce, and Michael worked up the trail to Nick’s location, he pointed at an angle across the stream.
“It looks like there is a camping area in that clearing on the other side of the stream behind the cabin. I saw a flash of something, but the trees are too dense to see much.”
Ryce pulled his spotting scope from his pack, began to cross-cross the area, and then stopped to adjust the magnification.
“It looks like there are three or four tents set up in the clearing. I can see several people sitting in front of one of the tents. They are looking at something or someone I cannot see.”
He pulled four walkie-talkies from his pack. “Use the earphone so you won’t make any noise. O2, take Nick or Michael cross the stream and work your way in from the southeast. I will go in from here.”
O2 pointed at Nick, who followed him to the stream. As Ryce watched them wade through the frigid water, he looked at Michael.
“Keep on your toes. That campsite looked like a tornado just blew through it.”
Ryce stood and started walking up the trail, stopping every twenty feet to scan the area with his scope. He and Michael were halfway to the camping area when O2’s voice scratched over the walkie-talkie.
“Heads up. I see two men with handguns. One has a rag tied to his arm. There are five or six people sitting on the ground. It looks like they are tied together. I cannot see if there are people in the tents. I hear a baby crying.”
As Ryce listened to O2, he carefully opened his pack, pulled out a scope, positioned it on his M4, and pressed the transmit key on the walkie-talkie.
“O2, do you have a solution on either of the men?”
“Not where I am located. And the two men are moving toward the stream with a civilian. You might have a solution.”
Ryce scoped the area once more, pointed at Michael, and then pointed up the trail. They began to leapfrog up the trail, using every available bush or tree for cover. When Ryce had a clear view of the campsite, he found a tree to hide behind, and keyed his walkie-talkie.
“I can see one of the men and hear a crying baby. The man I see has a rag on his right arm. He might be one of the men who shot up Francine.”
Ryce did not get an immediate reply. After a minute, an extremely angry O2 was heard on the walkie-talkie.
“The second man just pulled a young lady into one of the tents. I heard some struggling, and then perhaps the sound of something hard hitting something soft. We need to go in.”
Ryce pulled a silencer out of his pack, and screwed it onto his M4. Ryce was not worried about making a lot of noise. The silencer added eight inches to the M4, and gave him better control when he took the shot.
Ryce pressed the transmit key on his radio.
“I agree completely. I don’t have a shot on the man holding the baby, but maybe we can see what is going on in the tent.”
Ryce pointed at Michael, at the campground, and then handed him the spotting scope. “O2, what color is the tent the girl was dragged in to?”
Ryce checked the area with the scope on his M4.
“This is O2. It is the red and grey one on the north end of the clearing, away from the other tents. The door is on your side.”
When Ryce pointed at the tent, Michael swung the scope up to his eye, frowned, and then looked at Ryce.
“She’s missing her shirt and bra, and he looks like he is taking off the rest of her clothing. It doesn’t look like she is moving.”
Ryce keyed his walkie-talkie. “O2, can you and Nick work your way in my direction? There are too many civilians in the crossfire if we shoot from where we are. At least find a spot where you can get a clear shot at the guy with the baby. I have a solution for the guy in the tent. When you are in position, give me a click.”
Ryce scoped the area and then looked over at Michael. “If the guy in the tent doesn’t change his position before O2 gets his solution, I am going to take him out.”
Ryce scanned the area once more and then said, “Damn, he’s stripped the girl in the tent down to nothing.”
He keyed the walkie-talkie. “O2, we are on the edge of some really bad things here. If that SOB pulls down his pants, I am pulling his plug even if you aren’t ready.”
Michael poked Ryce. “The guy with the baby just gave it to someone, and is walking toward the red tent.”
Ryce squinted through the scope and then pressed the transmit key. “OK, Michael will count to three and then we take them down.”
When he heard “Three” on the walkie-talkie, Ryce caressed the trigger of his M4. A large explosion echoed through the canyon. Ryce chuckled. O2 did not have time to screw his silencer on his M4, but he did not need extra accuracy. O2 was less than one hundred feet from the man with the rag. Ryce quickly scoped the area and saw the man in the tent was partially lying on the girl. Neither occupant of the tent was moving.
Ryce picked up his walkie-talkie. “Nick, take a first aid kit to the red tent and see what you can do about the girl. While you are there, pull the guy off her. O2, can you check the man with the rag on his arm?”
Michael and Ryce picked up their packs and weapons and started toward the campsite. When Ryce arrived, O2 was untying campers and answering questions. He looked up at Ryce.
“Good shooting. You got the guy in the tent at the base of the skull. His brains are all over the tent.”
One of the women started toward the red tent, but O2 stopped her.
“Let my medic check things out before you go over there.”
The woman stopped and slowly returned to O2. “That’s my daughter, Sonya, he dragged into that tent. I hope you killed him. He raped her last night, too.”
Over the next thirty minutes, Ryce and O2 listened to the horrors that had descended upon the campground. Four families had hiked in for a week of camping and fishing the stream and a nearby lake.
At dusk the previous evening, two men had arrived at the campground. They began terrorizing the campers. Two of the husbands had attempted to overpower one of the men, but were shot. The families were forced to drag the bodies to the lake and dump them into the water. At midnight, the two men had invaded one of the tents and had taken the sixteen-year-old girl from it. The mother heard screaming for several minutes and then just soft moaning.
Nick walked up and motioned to Ryce.
“She’s got three or four big gashes in her head, what looks like a knife wound in her shoulder, and has lost a lot of blood. Her breathing is really shallow. I don’t think she is going to make it unless she gets treatment in the next couple hours.”
Ryce looked around and then walked back to the group huddled near O2.
“Is there anywhere close that we can bring in a helicopter?”
One of the boys in the group pointed toward a gap in the mountains. “There’s a pretty good sized beach at the lake. The lake got dammed up by a rockslide. The dam is pretty wide, and it’s flat, too.”
Ryce turned to the mother. “Your daughter is in really bad shape. I don’t know if there is anything we can do, but you can go be with her.”
As he watched the woman rush to the red tent, Ryce pulled his combat radio out of his pack. “Dexter, this is Ryce. Does that Mountie you got working with you know about a lake that is about halfway from where we rescued Brenda to the border? And does he think a Chinook trauma helo can land there? We have a pistol whipped casualty here, and my medic has run out of options.”
Ryce looked around the clearing.
O2 and Michael were dragging the bodies of the two men they had just killed away from the tents. Ryce pulled his cell phone out of his pack and followed O2 and Michael. Pictures of the two dead men would be beneficial. Perhaps he could even take some photos of the fingers of the dead men.
Nick again walked over to Ryce, stopped, turned, and quietly said, “Tell whoever is coming in that she needs plasma. But, if they can’t get here for a couple hours, she won’t need anything.”
Ryce’s radio began to crackle. “Captain Dalton, this is Mitch again. We dropped Brenda off at the trauma center in Browning, and have not left the area yet. We are not that far away from you. Throw out a homing beacon. We still have a full trauma crew onboard. And if we have to do the sky hook again, the other docs don’t mind sliding down trees. Except for me. I hate heights. Mitch out.”
Ryce heard Dexter’s voice. “The Mountie says the lake will take a Chinook if the driver is really good. Come in low over the dam from the lake. It will cut down on the swirling winds the Chinook will kick up. Dexter out.”
Ryce pressed his transmit button. “OK, we are transporting the victim to the lake. We’ll set up a locator beacon when we get there. Ryce out.”
Ryce turned, pointed at Nick and Michael, and then at the tent. “Did anyone pack a cot in with them we can use as a stretcher?”
One of the campers ran to a tent, and appeared a few seconds later with a camp cot. O2 grabbed the cot, and ran to the red tent. Within minutes, Nick and O2 were carrying the cot toward the lake.
Ryce looked around at the campers. “Please stay here. The helo that is coming in is really big. I would hate for one of you to get hurt.”
He turned and followed O2.
The Chinook touched down forty-two minutes after Ryce had radioed his call for help. Within ten minutes, Sonya had tubes emerging from both arms, was on oxygen, and had the undivided attention of two trauma surgeons. When the helicopter lifted off, Ryce saw Sonya’s mother wave. Sonya’s mother and six-month old brother had been added to the Chinook’s passenger list. Mitch gave Ryce a thumbs up.
When Ryce returned to the campsite, the remaining campers surrounded him. The first question one of the boys asked was if he could take a good look at the gun Ryce used to kill the bad guy that had hurt his sister.
Ryce carefully unloaded the M4, passed it to Michael, and said, “He will show you everything you want to know.”
Ryce motioned for O2 to follow him. When they were far enough away from the campers to not be overheard, Ryce stopped.
“We have four dead people and a really traumatized group of campers. I will get on the radio and see if Dexter can send a retrieval crew in to snag the campers and the dead bodies. Personally, I would just pour gasoline on the red tent and burn it.”
Chapter 22
After a twenty-minute conversation with Dexter, Ryce assembled the campers and his team near the campfire.
“Who has been doing the cooking around here? What are we eating for supper?”
One of the boys laughed. “We have been eating MREs. It is a four-mile hike to the trailhead. We never bring real bacon on these campouts. And you’d better like fish.”
Ryce laughed. “OK, MREs it is. As soon as we finish supper, I would like to clean up the mess the bad guys made, so we can get ready to leave in the morning. I have some people coming in early with horses to take all of us out of here.”
A woman that Ryce guessed was in her late thirties walked up, and asked, “What are we going to do about Randy and Henry? Those bastards made us drag them to the lake after they killed them.”
Ryce wanted to say something, but “I’m sorry for your loss” just didn’t seem the right thing to say.
“We will check tonight and again tomorrow before we leave to see if they have popped up to the surface. The men bringing in the horses are bringing two extra pack animals.”
Although it was not likely needed, Ryce set a night watch for the campground. He could sense the campers felt reassured. At 6:00 AM, the radio crackled. It was Dexter, who announced the retrieval crew was unloading the horses at the trailhead and would arrive at the campground in less than three hours.
After everyone was awakened, Ryce and O2 hiked to the lake. Randy and Henry had both surfaced during the night. Ryce was amazed when O2 pulled two body bags out of his pack.
“I carry a couple body bags with me in the event I need to bring a friend back.”
When the pickup team arrived at 9:00 AM, Ryce and O2 led two wranglers and two horses to the lake. As they loaded the body bags onto the horses, one of the wranglers looked at O2 for several moments.
“I know it’s been a long time, but I don’t know anyone else who brings body bags to a bar-b-que. How are you, O2?”
Ryce started laughing so hard he almost dropped his end of the body bag they were loading. When he could finally speak, he looked over at O2.
“OK, so where do you know O2 from?”
The wrangler laughed. “Not me. My little brother. I have heard stories about Commander Pendergast that I would not have believed if I had not seen the pictures. My name is Dewayne Phelps. You served with my little brother Nicky.”
O2 started laughing so hard he actually dropped his end of the second body bag.
“Then you will have a lot to catch up on during the ride out of here. He’s down at the campground, helping to pack up the tents.”
The caravan arrived at the trailhead a little after noon, and was met by several RCMP cruisers, two ambulances, a coroner’s van, and Dexter with two Suburbans. All of the campers were checked out, statements were taken, and then they were released.
O2, Ryce, Michael, and Nick loaded their equipment into one Suburban and then climbed into the second.
Dexter chuckled when all four were buckled in. “To save a bunch of paperwork, we will do a hand-off at the Chief Mountain border crossing. I will stop on my side of the border; you will get out of this vehicle and walk to the other vehicle. Your equipment is being placed in tagged containers. You will wheel those tagged containers across the border to the U.S. side, where you will cut the tags. You will remove your equipment and return the containers to the Canadian side of the fence.”
Dexter laughed. “Or you can just grab you stuff and hike back from here.”
A Chinook helicopter with Army National Guard markings was idling on the U.S. side of the fence at the Chief Mountain crossing. Dexter stopped the vehicle two feet from the fence, got out, shook everyone’s hands, and thanked Ryce and O2. The second Suburban parked next to Dexter’s vehicle and two medium-sized containers were unloaded. Ryce noticed they were on wheels. After they thanked Dexter, Ryce and O2 walked to their containers and started pushing them toward the fence.
Traffic was halted as the containers were pushed to the U.S. side of the border and halted again when they were pushed back to Canada. Ryce, O2, Michael, and Nick buckled in, and the Chinook lifted off.
As the helicopter gained height, Ryce wondered who had arranged for the Chinook. O2 poked him and indicated he was to put on the intercom headset. When Ryce had the earpieces in place, he pressed the transmit button.
“This is Ryce.”
Ryce heard chuckling and then recognized Phil’s voice on the headset.
“I have the G650 waiting for us in Great Falls. We should be back home in about six hours.
“Congratulations on getting Brenda rescued. You have been on the nightly news of all the networks. The dead guy at the cabin was retrieved by a team of Park Rangers riding in from the Chief Mountain trailhead. John says your map skills need some help. Take a nap if you can in this egg beater.”
Phil laughed, pulled off his headset, and disappeared onto the flight deck.
Phil was only a few minutes off in his flight predictions. Ryce intended to remind him that he said six hours, but the flight took six hours and twenty minutes. As the G650 pulled up to the unloading tarmac, Ryce looked out the cabin window to see if Tanya was waiting for him. To his amazem
ent, he saw hundreds of people held behind a police barrier. He looked over at O2.
“Do we have some rock stars arriving at Pendergast Field?”
O2 laughed. “They’re here for you.”
As Ryce walked down the aircraft stairs, he saw Dave, Jeff, Tanya, Ramona, Marge, and John standing near a podium placed near the hanger. John flipped a switch and then tapped the microphone.
John thanked everyone for coming to the welcome home and announced that two hundred seventy had been counted entering the airport. Of course, that did not include those who were simply catching a flight out of town.
When John cut everyone lose, Tanya threw her arms around Ryce and held on for what seemed like forever. She finally unwrapped herself and ran her fingers over every inch of his face.
“I hope you don’t mind not attending the family dinner tonight.”
Chapter 23
Ryce listened to his cell phone chattering on the nightstand until Tanya poked him in the ribs. He picked it up and looked at the caller ID. He did not recognize the number. He looked at the time. For some reason, everyone seemed to call at times that would irritate a rooster. The time was 4:06 AM.
He flipped open the cell. “This is Ryce Dalton.”
“Ryce, this is David Bolt. I have not personally spoken to you, but I have gotten your emails. I am sorry I am calling you so early.
“First, congratulations on saving Brenda Delany and eliminating her attackers. You have been on the nightly news here in D.C. for two days. We still have no information about the three men who killed Francine, but I hope that will change soon.
“Second, Samantha is in Canada. We got a report an hour ago that she was confirmed going across the border at Sumas, Washington. We didn’t put a stop on her passport. The RCMP knows she has entered their jurisdiction. We are keeping a close eye on any information that the Canadians can provide.
“Third, I had a long conversation with John Pendergast. He has given his unrestricted recommendation for you to take over the JBTF right now. After your incredible rescue of Brenda, I totally agree. Therefore, you are officially the Director of The Joint Border Task Force.
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