Track Down Alaska (A Brad Jacobs Thriller Book 2)

by Scott Conrad

  “Whoever or whatever they’re fighting over obviously wasn’t alive when they found it, or we’d have heard the screams. Being eaten alive by wolves would be painful as hell,” Tom remarked.

  “Good!” Jessica said, staring into the coals. Tom began to feel a lot less smug for having shared a sleeping bag with her the night before. He was suddenly very glad that he had rolled over that morning before he’d been able to offend her.

  “Now you’ve got my curiosity up,” Brad said, “but I believe I’ll wait for daybreak to go look.”

  An hour later the wolves had gone silent and the team began to quickly and efficiently break camp. When the first rays of sun peeked above the horizon, Brad led the group to the area where the sounds had come from the night before.

  Perhaps forty yards from where their tent had been set up they found a small clearing with clotted blood and bits of flesh and fur scattered around it. In the center lay the tattered remains of a large grizzly bear, which Ving estimated to be eight feet tall and around seven hundred and fifty pounds. All of them were awestruck by the size of the beast.

  “The wolves killed that thing?” Jessica whispered in astonishment.

  “No,” Ving said, kneeling beside the carcass and turning the massive head to one side. The back of the creature’s skull was cracked open and the empty cranial cavity was exposed for all to see. “This bear was dead before the wolves found him. My guess is he was killed by another grizzly… probably a much larger and younger one.”

  “Larger than this?” Jessica gasped.

  “Oh yeah. There’s reports from up here of a grizzly that was ten feet tall and weighed around a thousand pounds. That’s one reason Pete loves to hunt up here. There’s a record number of grizzlies in Alaska right now, and there’s been a lot of trophy records set in the last three or four years.”

  Jessica shivered. “No thank you,” she said. She turned and quietly walked back to the ahkio, and Tom stared after her, confused.

  ***

  "Today is the day we catch them," Brad said boldly as they began to move down the trail again. He waved Jessica up to his side. "I want you to hang towards the back of the team today."

  "That's not my style," Jessica retorted.

  "I know. That's why we’re having this conversation. When I agreed to bring you on this mission I was planning a search and rescue operation. This has developed into something entirely different. I know you can take care of yourself, but you’re more than just a cousin to me. You’re more like my little sister, and I’d never be able to forgive myself if something happened to you. These guys we’re chasing are dangerous and unpredictable."

  Jessica smiled. "I’m used to dealing with men who are dangerous and unpredictable."

  "I know, but my men are better trained for it. I’m not asking you this time Jess… I’m telling you. Just let them take the front."

  "Sure cuz," she replied, wearing a big smile and checking her weapon.

  Brad didn't return her smile.

  He made his way over to Ving. "Any luck with communications?"

  "Still jammed," Ving replied. "These guys must have some serious resources. I’m certain they’re jamming all the signals."

  "I think we are about to find out buddy."

  "Let's move out," Brad shouted. "We're burning daylight."

  They continued following the trail along the banks of Fog Creek.

  Brad took point, some inner instinct prompting him, telling him that contact was imminent. Ving followed close behind him, trying to keep up with Brad's blistering pace.

  Brad caught a flash of movement under the trees to their right flank. It was the black wolf again, leading his pack and stalking the team. Unwilling to give away their position, he refrained from firing his weapon to scare them off… the wolves had eaten their fill of bear meat the night before. They weren’t about to tackle the team in broad daylight. They were just curious.

  It was then he realized he’d ordered Jessica to stay at the rear of the team. Wolves were cowards; they preyed on stragglers at the back of a group as a weak target and a prime opportunity. Brad stopped to let the team close up.

  “It's bad enough we’re chasing these crazy psychos through the wilderness, but now we’re being stalked by a pack of predatory wolves!” Disgusted, Brad signaled for the team to move out.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  GOLD CAMP STRONGHOLD

  Day 4 1300 hours AKDT

  As they reached the lower section of Fog Creek it continued to widen. According to the topographical map they were now four miles East of Fog Lakes. Pete and Charlie’s captors had been in a hurry, wasting no time trying to cover or hide their tracks. Brad suspected that they were in a rush to reach their base of operations, and that was why he kept been pushing his team so hard.

  The weather was warming up, and the forest appeared thicker as the canyon widened into a broad valley. Along the creek bank there remained quite a bit of open ground and visibility looked pretty good. He kept checking the tree line on both sides of the creek bed, expecting a possible ambush from either side. It's what he would have done in their situation.

  As they came around a bend in the creek, they found themselves at the top of a waterfall fifty feet above the valley floor, and Brad was shocked at what he saw down below.

  He took cover behind a large group of boulders and grabbed his binoculars for a closer look. The team clustered around him, staring in wonder at the scene beneath them.

  There in a huge clearing appeared to be some type of crude mining operation. There was a piece of heavy equipment, a big excavator, sitting beside the creek where the water spilled out of the pool below the waterfall, headed for Fog Lakes.

  Tom whispered, "I recognize the excavator, but what the hell is that?"

  "That's a trommel," Jessica whispered in reply. "It’s used to separate gold from all the other rock in the creek bed. The excavator is used to feed it. It's a gold mining operation."

  "Jessica’s been hunting treasure since she was a teenager and she's somewhat of an expert on anything to do with finding it," Brad added dryly.

  "They're placer mining for alluvial deposits'" Jessica continued, ignoring Brad’s comment. "There are hundreds of small placer mining operations in Alaska, but this is a designated wilderness area, the state would never issue permits for this area."

  "So this is what they have been trying to hide," Brad says. "An illegal gold mining operation, probably used to fund whatever crazy plans Hostback and his Order of Phineas have up their sleeve."

  The mining operation was surprising enough, but it was what lay just beyond it that fascinated Brad and Ving. A regular frontier fortress made of massive log walls, an inner and an outer one. The entrances were staggered to make entry akin to entering a maze and keeping a heavy vehicle from crashing the gate. There were a lot of rustic cabins inside, all made from sawn planks from a sawmill located further down the creek towards Fog Lakes.

  "This is undoubtedly where they were heading. I’m betting they have a welcome party waiting for us." Brad shook his head.

  “Yep, this feels like a trap for sure. They’re probably holding Pete and Charlie in one of those cabins.” Ving scratched his noggin. “What the hell are we going to do now?”

  UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS

  Day 4 2100 hours AKDT

  "OK here’s the plan," Brad said. They spent the early evening concealed in a cave not far from the waterfall waiting for dark and developing a plan of attack. He’d had plenty of time to study the drawing he’d made of the Fortress from his vantage point at the falls. He spent a little time wondering why a group that was paranoid enough to build such a massive fortress in the wilds of Alaska wouldn’t expend the effort and manpower to keep a watch at the waterfall. Especially when it held such a fantastic strategic view of the place. He’d been unable to figure it out, and he had found no indications that they mounted any kind of outpost around the falls. It seemed curious.

  “Jared, you setup here
with your sniper rifle at the falls to provide cover. Your night vision scope should make everything stand out clearly at this range. We’ll stop and raise our left hands every twenty meters or so and wave them back and forth so you’ll recognize who the friendlies are. Any chance your suppressor will permit the kind of accuracy you need at this range?” The distance to the fortress looked about two hundred and fifty meters, and the Order had cleared the ground of trees and brush for nearly a hundred more meters in every direction.

  “The suppressor affects my accuracy too much, if I have to shoot, there’s going to be some sound, but it can’t be helped. The rocks up here should give me enough cover, and if the dummies come after me I can pick off quite a few of them in the open before they get up here. By the time they do I’ll be long gone.”

  “This is just a recon guys, and hopefully there’ll be no shooting. Jessica, you’ll be coming with me. We’ll move up the tree line to the right of the creek. Ving, you and Tom move up the tree line on the left. Don't get too far ahead of us. We meet back at the base of the waterfall at…” he glanced down at his chronometer. “0300 hours. Let's move out."

  Jared set up his Barrett at the top of the falls and monitored the two teams scurrying through the darkness. There appeared no sign of movement inside the compound or out. The only people moving around were the four other members of the team… and there was something unsettling about that.

  Ving and Tom did a little boulder hopping to get across the creek and reach the tree line on the left bank. Brad and Jessica reached their tree line first and waited, listening for any sounds that might be out of place." Are you ready for this Jess?" Brad asked.

  "You know I am. I was born ready. Let's kick some ass."

  “We aren’t here to kick ass yet. Remember, this is a reconnaissance, we’re probing for a weak spot, some way to get in and get Pete and Charlie.” He didn’t have the heart to point out that as far as he could tell, the task looked impossible. The Fortress appeared too solid and well designed. It would take a miracle to breach those thick walls… or an Army.

  He possessed a few toys that would make it almost possible, but they were back in a warehouse in Texas. This was supposed to have been a simple rescue mission. As they moved up the valley, Brad’s combat senses began screaming… something wasn’t right. He spotted the tripwire just as he was about to step on it and he froze. “Freeze!” he whispered hoarsely to Jessica.

  "This looks like a primitive form of booby trap," Brad whispered as he bent down to take a closer look. "Jessica retrace your exact steps back twenty meters and wait for me. Don’t forget to wave your left arm!" After careful examination Brad decided to leave it untouched. These guys play dirty!

  Grimly, he realized that he had no choice. He would have to retrace his steps and take Jessica back to safety. Brad hoped against hope that he wouldn’t hear a muffled explosion from the other side of the river. He would have to come up with another plan. Saving Pete and Charlie had become only half the battle. There was no way he could live with himself if he left these terrorists, and that’s what they were no matter what they called themselves, still operating on American soil. They not only needed to rescue their friends, but they also had to find a way to destroy the Order of Phineas.

  ***

  Across the creek, Ving discovered a tripwire of his own, and he had come to the same conclusion as Brad. “This fucking’ place is saturated with booby traps,” he whispered. “We gotta go back and figure something else out. Jesus, I hope Brad doesn’t trip one of these fuckin’ things!” He had just managed to get Tom turned around and started to retrace their tracks back to the waterfall when he heard the voices ahead of him. He raised his left hand and waved it back and forth hoping Jared could see him, though he doubted it. Then he and Tom knelt down. The voice was coming directly towards him and getting louder.

  SIMON KILLIAN

  Pastor Lewis Hostback had called everyone in the Order into the huge meeting room in the center of the vast compound and they’d been there for hours.

  The Fortress design had been taken from a drawing that had been posted on an internet website operated by one of the brothers from Alabama. Political in-fighting among the various groups of Aryan Nation made the brother a non-entity for the time being, but Lewis glommed onto the Citadel design and the man’s dream and had made it become reality.

  The major differences were the materials used for construction and Hostback’s idea of locating the business part of the Fortress outside the gates. Since they were mining the creek for gold, putting the business inside the walls would have been impossible. Simon Killian had been opposed to the idea of wasting all that time and energy on the walls anyway. Who the hell was going to bother them up here in this god forsaken wilderness?

  He shuffled his feet, uncomfortable with all the rhetoric and the discussions. Pastor Hostback was talking like a damned coward, worried about a handful of people coming after those two spies from the plane crash. The bastards killed several good men, friends of Simon’s, and he knew in his heart that they should have been executed and left for the wolves. If the Pastor had done it his way, there wouldn’t be a threat right now. He knew he was right, it said right there in the Good Book, “An eye for an eye.” Furious, Killian crept unnoticed from the meeting hall.

  It wasn’t conscious thought that guided Killian’s feet to the guardhouse, but it would be a lie to say he hadn’t been focused on the prisoners… he was, and he was furious. Pastor Hostback was selling out… worrying about the agents of the ZOG instead of defying them the way he ought to have done. The agents of the ZOG were traitors to their race, and they deserved to die. Killian had been forced to leave the two alive, against every principle he clung to. It was wrong, and it was Pastor Hostback’s doing. The next thought that crossed Killian’s mind was that it was a pure sin to have led these devils to the Fortress, and he had helped make that happen. He wondered if God would forgive him.

  By the time Killian looked up and found himself in front of the cell housing the two ZOG agents, his somewhat addled mind seized on the idea of atonement. He could pay for his sin, he could make it right.

  “What are you doing down here?” The question was asked by a stocky young man sitting at a rough desk reading one of the Order’s pamphlets explaining why miscegenation was an abomination before God. “Everyone’s supposed to be in the meeting hall.”

  “I came down here to relieve you so you could go hear what the Pastor is sharing.” The answer had come off the top of his head, and even in his mental state it sounded lame to Killian.

  Fortunately, the young man bought it. He had been down here for hours and he had been bored to death. He stood up, tossed his keys on the desk, and hurried towards the meeting hall. There were girls there. Good, decent white girls.

  Killian’s eyes rose in his head and he gave thanks aloud. It was a sign that the act of atonement he had been subconsciously planning for the last half hour was the right thing, the proper thing to do. He lifted the keys to the cell and walked to the steel door to unlock it.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  DEATH WALK

  DAY 5

  “My fuckin’ hands are numb!” Pete complained.

  Killian poked him in the back, almost missing him in the darkness.

  Charlie walked ahead of Pete on the narrow path. Killian warned them not to run, telling them that the woods were overloaded with trip wires and hidden traps. They believed him.

  For his part, Killian didn’t want one of them to set off a booby trap so close to the Citadel for two reasons. The first was that it might alert the Order and bring them outside. The second was that he made a pledge to the Lord to kill these sinners himself to atone for his sin in not killing them before Pastor Hostback had brought them to the sanctuary of the Fortress.

  Pete couldn’t see Charlie’s hands very well in the darkness, but he could tell the man’s shoulders were moving like two puppies inside a croaker sack. The bonds finally parted with an audible
snap and Charlie shouted “NOW!” Pete couldn’t go forward or backward, so he went the only direction he could, intuiting what Charlie wanted. Pete went limp and fell to the ground as Charlie spun around and caught Killian by the throat with both hands. The two of them fell backwards, Charlie sitting astride Killian.

  Killian was snarling and biting like a madman, and Charlie’s hands were weak and numb from being tied for so long.

  “Help, Pete… I can’t hold him much longer!” Charlie gasped and dropped his forearm across Killian’s throat, but the smaller man tucked his chin in, partially blocking the blow.

  Pete scrabbled his way to his knees, helpless, his hands still firmly behind his back. Grunting and straining, he made it to his feet and shook his head. Just at that moment the moon poked its face out from behind the overcast and Pete caught a momentary glimpse of Charlie sitting astride the lunatic, who had moments before been preaching at them about ‘atonement’ and ‘obeying God’s will.’ Seeing his opening, Pete lifted his booted foot and stomped down with all his might, the hard heel of his boot finding its target. Killian screamed as his testicles exploded… literally.

  Charlie silenced the screaming man by rendering him unconscious and Pete heard the sound of footsteps running down the path… behind him.

  “Pete!” a familiar voice called out. “Is that you?”

  It was Ving.

  LIFE WALK

  Jessica was clinging to his neck and Ving and Tom were clapping him and Pete on the back. Brad was the only one who remained silent and Charlie knew he was waiting for an explanation he really didn’t want to give in front of Jessica… but he knew he had no choice. He had a job to do, and he needed Brad and his team to help him complete it.