by Mike Ryan
“She is.”
“Hey, maybe if you ever get married and need a photographer, I could do your photos.”
“Not a bad idea. Maybe I’ll take you up on that,” Cain said.
“Where do you live? Or can’t you tell me that? Is that top secret?”
“New York.”
“I’ve always wanted to go to New York. Is it just like everyone says it is?”
“I guess so,” he unenthusiastically stated.
“I’m sorry. I know you didn’t come here to listen to me babble on about anything and everything. Just been kind of lonely in here.”
“It’s all right.”
“So what brings you here? I’m sure you didn’t come just to bring me flowers and tell me to reconnect with my parents.”
“I was hoping you might be able to help me.”
“I doubt there’s anything I can help you with,” she said.
“You never know,” Cain told her. “I’m looking for someone.”
“I kind of figured you were. And you think I can somehow help you with that?”
“Maybe. Maybe you overheard something somewhere along the way or saw something that’ll come back to you.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Something that seemed out of place. A conversation you heard where the words didn’t make much sense,” Cain said. “A piece of paper that had something written you didn’t understand. We could be talking months.”
Bisset put her head down to think, replaying events in her mind to try and come up with something. After a few minutes, she shook her head. She couldn’t think of anything. Nothing that seemed out of the ordinary. Cain continued pressing her for a few minutes, though not hard, just trying subtle techniques to get her to remember something. A few more minutes of wracking her brain produced nothing of note. She was about to give up with the exercise when she suddenly remembered something. It was a conversation she overhead, and it was only the tail end of it, but she replayed it for Cain.
“I don’t really remember too much of what he said except for one part,” Bisset stated.
“What part was that?”
Bisset closed her eyes tightly as she tried to remember. “It was…blah blah blah…blah blah blah…you should be happy with Thor.”
“Thor?” Cain asked.
“Yeah.”
“You should be happy with Thor?”
Bisset nodded. “Yeah. That’s what he said.”
“Hmm.”
“Think it could be important? Maybe what you’re looking for?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“What do you think it could be?” she wondered.
“Well, I doubt he was going to the movies. I’ll have to do some checking on that.”
“I guess you’re going to be leaving soon?”
Cain nodded. “I have to get back to work. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”
“Well thanks for coming. Means a lot,” she smiled.
Cain got up and walked over to the bed and touched her hand. “You take care of yourself.”
“I don’t suppose I’ll ever see you again.”
“Not likely.”
“Hey, if you ever want those wedding pictures.”
“I’ll look you up.”
Chapter 9
Cain went back to the hotel and as soon as he walked inside the room wondered where everyone was. He expected them to be busy at work but their computers were at the desk, turned on. He didn’t get a text or call saying they were going anywhere. He heard a noise coming from the bathroom and a giggle that sounded like Lawson’s voice. She then emerged from the bathroom in only her bra and underwear, and holding a towel to dry out her wet hair.
“Matt,” she said, startled. “I didn’t know you were back.”
“Obviously.”
Raines came out a few seconds later with only shorts on, just as wet as Lawson was. He looked happy and was about to say something to Lawson when he noticed Cain standing there.
“Oh. Hey buddy. How long have you been here?”
“Not long,” Cain answered. “Luckily for you.”
“We didn’t think you were coming back so soon,” Lawson stated.
“Yeah, I came back a little too soon apparently.”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Oh no?”
“No,” Lawson stumbled. “I, uhh, had something in my hair and I couldn’t get it out so I had to wash it. Eric was just helping me.”
“And you both decided to take your clothes off for it?”
“Well, we didn’t want to get them…wet,” she replied, knowing just how ridiculous she sounded.
“Well I was hoping you guys would be productive while I was gone. I just didn’t realize…how…productive…you’d be,” Cain kidded.
Raines took a big sigh trying to think of something but quickly closed his mouth when he realized he had nothing and would only sound more foolish than they looked.
“So how’d things go with Bisset?” Lawson asked, trying to change the subject.
Cain smiled. “Productive. Thought I’m not quite sure as productive as here.”
Lawson looked at Raines. “Uhh…why don’t we get our clothes on and we can get back to business.”
“Good idea,” Raines replied.
They went back into the bathroom and put their clothes back on. Cain looked at them as they walked away and smiled, laughing to himself. Though he was kidding them, he was happy that they had seemed to get themselves back to a good place with each other, even if it was only for a few moments. He hopped on a computer and started searching Google. Lawson and Raines reappeared after a few minutes and joined him at the computer.
“Nice to see you guys again,” Cain teased. “Though not as much of you.”
“Sooo, what are you looking for?” Lawson asked.
“Bisset mentioned that she overhead Proulx on the phone once, though she didn’t know who he was talking to.”
“What’d he say?”
“Something about you’ll be happy with Thor”.
“Thor?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s that mean?” Lawson wondered.
“Well I’m pretty sure he wasn’t calling for The Avengers,” Cain sarcastically remarked. “Though they definitely could be of assistance right about now.”
He turned back to his search on the computer. He had typed in Thor just to see what popped up. The first two pages had nothing but references to the superhero. The third page had some other interesting possibilities though. There was a manufacturer and distributor of biocides and chemicals, a manufacturer of recreational vehicles, and some kind of computer toolkit command. Cain’s eyes immediately went to the RV’s.
“This is interesting,” he stated.
“What?”
“Thor Industries. The world’s largest manufacturer of recreational vehicles,” Cain said, reading off their website.
“You think he’s living in an RV?” Lawson asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, it would make sense, wouldn’t it? They’re not hiding in normal places. Proulx was on a train, Booth was in a church, why couldn’t he be on an RV? Makes him mobile, hard to spot, never stays in the same spot, seems like a pretty good cover to me,” Cain reasoned.
Cain continued pouring over their website, looking at all the vehicles they sold. Most didn’t seem like they’d be a fit for Collins. At least not until he saw the motor homes.
“I can’t see him hooking up a trailer or hitching something on to the back of a truck,” Cain stated.
“Doesn’t really seem like his style, does it?” Raines confirmed.
“But a Thor Motor Coach?” Cain asked, clicking on some of the images and floor plans. “Yeah, I could see him in one of these.”
“Those have got to be three or four hundred thousand dollars,” Raines said.
“How bout if we dig on Thor motor home sales to anybody in Germany, or even the surrounding count
ries if he decided to get cute.”
“I’m on it,” Lawson replied.
“That can’t be that big of a list,” Raines noted.
“Motorized RV sales from their last quarter was over 250 million,” Lawson informed him.
“OK. So maybe it’ll take a little longer than I thought.”
It actually turned out to not be as long a list as they thought it might be. Cain also turned up a few interesting things that would help in their search.
“Looks like you can’t register a vehicle in Germany unless you’re a resident and have a bank account,” Cain said. “Without registration, it can’t be insured or taxed, so it wouldn’t be legal to drive.”
“OK. Here’s a list of German names registered as buying a Thor RV,” Lawson stated.
Lawson wrote down a list of names on pieces of paper and handed a few to each of Cain and Raines. All three of them started doing background checks on all the names to see if they were legit or possibly aliases. If there were no aliases, then they’d have to check to see if any of them had a possible connection to Collins. After a couple hours of actively searching, none of the names appeared to be aliases. They started checking the other names to find a connection. Lawson appeared to have found one.
“Wait, I think I got something,” she told them.
“What do you have?” Cain asked.
“Markos Hochberg. Bought a five hundred thousand dollar Thor Challenger Class A motor home, approximately two weeks after Collins went missing.”
“That must be it,” Raines said. “For five hundred thousand he must’ve ordered it custom made.”
“Or just had some modifications done to his specs. Maybe an intricate alarm system or bullet proof glass or something,” Cain added.
“Paid with a certified check. Let me check his background info,” Lawson stated. “Last known occupation was a security guard.”
“He ain’t buying a Thor on that salary,” Cain observed.
“Collins must’ve hired him as some muscle and had Hochberg put everything in his name,” Raines said.
“That should make it pretty easy to find,” Lawson noted. “You’re not going to be able to park something that big just anywhere. You’re going to have to use a campsite.”
“That should narrow it down pretty quick. Find the Thor. Find the campsite. Find Hochberg or any combination of the three. Then they’ll all lead us to Collins,” Cain said.
Lawson was the best out of the three at running down that type of information and took the lead. If she needed anything, she’d direct the other two to get it for her. It took her about an hour but she finally got the break she thought she needed.
“Got him,” she excitedly said.
“Collins?” Cain asked.
“No. Hochberg. But it’s basically the same thing, isn’t it?”
“Well…hopefully.”
“Well I tried to track him through the check they gave for the RV. But they tried to cover their tracks cause that account closed right after the sale,” Lawson explained.
“Probably knew we’d find them someday.”
“Most likely. Anyway, I was basically just trying to get a beat on Hochberg. I got a hit from the registration number and traced it back to a house. Then I used that address and was able to use it to find a bank account number, which I then was able to link to a bank card.”
“I’m presuming you’re going a step further with this,” Raines mentioned.
“And that bank card was used at a grocery store about two hours ago.”
“Which tells us what?”
“Nothing in itself,” Lawson told him. “But when you combine it with the fact it was also used at a gas station a half hour after that…gives us a good indication of where he’s going.”
“What campsites would be in his line of travel?” Cain asked.
Lawson turned around and hit a few more buttons on the keyboard of her laptop before spinning back around with a smile on her face, knowing she seemed to have all the answers.
“Camping Park Bielefeld,” she revealed.
“How far is that from here?” Cain wondered.
“By car…about five hours. Plane…nine hours…with two stops.”
“What about train?”
“A little over three hours. And that’s from Paris to Cologne, which after the travel to and from the train stations, will probably be close to five hours anyway.”
“Might as well take the car ride.”
“It’s cool. We can bond,” she said.
“I think you two already did that,” Cain replied.
“Ha ha.”
They wasted no time starting on their journey. Cain and Raines packed up all their stuff while Lawson called in to Specter to inform them of their findings. Analysts back at Specter would continue to monitor Hochberg while the agents were driving. If his information popped up anywhere else besides Bielefeld, the agents could alter their direction of travel without delaying them. While they drove, they tried to formulate a plan of attack.
“It’s possible he could see us coming if we go right up to the RV,” Cain said.
“Other people might spot us too,” Lawson responded.
“Have to do it from a distance,” Raines said from the back seat.
“What if the windows are tinted and we can’t see inside?” Cain asked.
“That does pose a challenge.”
“What if we break in overnight while he’s sleeping?” Lawson suggested.
“How do you know when he sleeps?” Cain asked her. “Plus, it’s an RV, very compact. He’s gotta hear us. It’s not like a house where you can break in at the far end where nobody is.”
“Hochberg,” Raines stated.
“What about him?” Cain asked.
“We use him to get Collins. He can set him up for us.”
“Why would he do that?” Lawson asked.
“Money of course. And our promise that he won’t die or go to prison.”
“Might work,” Cain said. “We’ll have to get him alone first.”
They continued finalizing their plan, believing that it would work and they could turn Hochberg against his employer. They arrived at the campsite a little close to nine o’clock. If they’d had all the information they needed, the time would’ve worked out perfectly. They decided that the kill would be better to do at night when there was less activity. But first they had to find the Thor that Collins was in, plus determine if anyone else was in there with him, and figure out if Hochberg could be of any use to them. The three of them walked around the park to find the RV they were looking for. Most of the bigger ones were parked near each other and it didn’t take nearly as long as they assumed it would. Once they found the one that looked like Collins’, Lawson walked closer to it as Cain and Raines stayed behind in the distance. Lawson put a hat on to disguise her appearance a little. Though Collins was familiar with each of them, they thought that he’d be less likely to notice Lawson. They didn’t think Cain or Raines would have a chance of getting close to the RV without Collins spotting them, figuring he’d recognize them no matter if they were disguised or not. Lawson went around the back of the motor home and verified the tag number as the one they were looking for. She didn’t linger and chance being spotted herself and immediately went back to her partners as they huddled amongst each other.
“That’s it,” she told them.
“Well I can see a light on,” Cain noted.
“Damn tinted windows,” Raines said.
“What if we wait until he steps outside? Get him on the way out,” Lawson stated.
“What makes you think he’ll step outside?” Cain asked.
“Well he has to sometime. Doesn’t he?”
“He has someone get groceries for him. There’s a bathroom and shower in there. All the comforts of home. Somehow I don’t think he has to ever step foot outside if he doesn’t want to.”
“And we can’t rush in there,” Raines said. “He might blow us up as we get
in the door.”
“And who knows if he’s even got some type of booby trap. Unauthorized access to the door and it blows up or something,” Cain replied, getting a look from Lawson. “Can’t count it out. He’s got the money, and had the time, to rig something like that up.”
“He’s right,” Raines confirmed. “Can’t take the chance of rushing in there. It’s a cinch he’s taken some kind of precaution.”
“So what do we do then?” Lawson wondered.
“Stick to our original plan,” Cain answered. “Wait for Hochberg. He’ll tell us what we can do.”
Raines nodded in agreement.
“Who knows how long that’ll be?” Lawson sighed.
“Patience,” Cain responded. “He’s in our sights. Everything’s going our way. No need to rush and make a mistake.”
“Wait,” Raines said, putting his hand up. “Looks like the door’s opening.”
The door to the RV opened and Hochberg came walking out.
“Ask and you shall receive,” Raines stated.
“Maybe I should try that more often,” Lawson said.
Hochberg walked around the Challenger and toward the woods.
“Where’s he going?” Lawson wondered.
“Looks like he’s taking a walk,” Cain answered.
“This is our chance,” Raines told them.
“You guys go for him,” Lawson said. “I’ll keep eyes on Collins.”