Chapter 4

Felix and Carlos may have been able to stave off their hunger pangs with the canned vegetables and fruit but Holly McAdams was not so fortunate. The only edible thing in her car was the bag of dog food that she had purchased. She had already consumed all the fallen snow that she could reach, at least slightly satisfying her thirst, but she was getting hungry, and being trapped in a car under a bridge without food or water began to weigh heavily on her spirits. Only one vehicle had driven across the bridge all day, and the noise of the car on the bridge far overpowered her own voice calling for help. Holly was scared, more afraid then she had ever been in her life. As the day went on, and with nothing else to think about, she began to cry, eventually falling asleep curled up as best she could in the wrecked car. When she awoke, it was night once again, the wind was blowing much harder, and snow was beginning to build up inside the car. Out of frustration she tore open the bag of dog food, closed her eyes and put a few pieces in her mouth. Her hunger soon overcame her reluctance to eat dog food, and even though it was bland and dry, it was something, which was more than she had eaten in most of two days.

Eventually the citizens demanded that streets be plowed and the Marshalls released the road crews. Having blockaded every road leading from the crime scene, and then relocating and concentrating on the roads away from the convenience store, they were fairly certain that the two men were still in the area. Nearly eight hours of aerial surveillance further suggested that the men had found somewhere to hide, but with no sign of the girl's car, no one was willing to speculate on her fate. The only thing that could be said for certain, based on the reports of the pilots and observers, was that there were absolutely no signs of two people walking cross country through the snow. Wherever they were, they managed to get there before the snow stopped falling. With the resources of the F.B.I. added to the team, one group began to analyze how far the car could have been driven before the roads became impassible. Another team regrouped and considered how far the men could have gotten had they been on foot instead of in a car. A third group, borrowing from the findings of the others, plotted a different path assuming, correctly, that the men had driven part way and walked part way in their attempt to escape.

Every member of the third team had been in the vicinity since long before the snow began falling and each had a clear understanding of just how hard it had fallen and how quickly the weather and roads had deteriorated. They all agreed that it was unlikely that a car, either driven by a man unfamiliar with the area or by a young girl being held hostage, would have been unable to drive for much more than thirty minutes before the roads became impassable. The convenience store clerk had told them that the men were trying to get to Buffalo. That greatly reduced the number of routes the men may have taken. The lawmen narrowed their search to include only travel in that direction. How far could they drive in thirty minutes on each road? How far could they walk after that? Just how far can two men, trying to stay out of sight, walk through six, eight, ten, and finally sixteen inches of new snow, walking across sometimes plowed fields, stumbling across unseen fallen fences? How many houses are in that immediate area?

Forty nine houses were identified as potential locations and the owners of each quickly reviewed by local authorities. Each owner was then called by a local officer who was personally familiar with the home owner, and who could recognize and verify the owner's voice. The calls were made in the guise of "well person" checks, just as a courtesy by the sheriff's department to confirm that everything was okay at that home. Quickly the number of potential hideouts was reduced to less than ten, and then to five. Of the five, two were abandoned farmsteads, two were owned and occupied by young farming families and the last was owned by an elderly widow. All five had been without power for most of the day, but hers was the only one to which power had not yet been restored. Phone service had been lost to the others and no contact could be established with those houses.

A threat level review by the F.B.I. concluded that it was unlikely that either man was armed, unless they had come across weapons in the building in which they were hiding. The murdered deputy who had been driving the transport van was unarmed, as per protocol. With all the manpower available to them, it was decided to hit both of the abandoned farms simultaneously with numerous officers, hopefully overwhelming the escapees and minimizing the risk that they could escape. When those raids turned up nothing, the men were recalled to a warming shelter and an assault on the first of the occupied homes was planned. This assault was much riskier because of the presence of numerous people inside the home. A youthful appearing female agent wearing a jacket and cap borrowed from a local pizza shop, and carrying a lighted sign on the roof of her personal vehicle went to the front door of the house, ostensibly to deliver pizza to the wrong address. When the door was opened by the home owner, she was able to do a visual review of the surroundings and, seeing nothing amiss, asked the homeowner if everything was okay. Receiving confirmation that all was well, she thanked him for his time and left. The same ruse was used on the second occupied farmstead, with exactly the same result. Nothing was wrong, except the telephone lines were down. Of the five possible hideouts, four had been eliminated. The investigators stopped to consider the possibilities; either the men were in the house owned by the widow, with or without either the widow or the girl or both, or the men had managed to travel further than the analysis considered feasible. If that were the case, the likelihood was that the men would have escaped the traps completely.

The power company representative that had volunteered to assist the task force contacted the field crew working on restoring the power to the area and learned that one crew was about ready to restore power to the farmhouse that they were targeting. It was immediately requested that power not be restored until further notice. A specially equipped bus, similar to a small city bus, but without ordinary running lights and specially masked headlights picked up the raiding team from the warming shelter. Stopping just out of view of the farmhouse, the team disembarked and quickly moved into positions surrounding the house and machine shed. Snipers and sharpshooters covered every door and window. Once everyone was in place, the request was made to the power company to turn on the power. Immediately, the entire first floor of the old home was lighted. Fast asleep on the sofa lay Carlos. Startled by the sudden light and alerted to the breaking of glass at the front door, Felix saw the three agents as they burst into the room with automatic weapons in hand. He was awake enough to understand that he had been captured and resignedly settled back into the chair where he had been so soundly asleep just seconds before.