Chapter 38

"Well?" I asked Liam after I came back in the room. "The Geek is checking the stored drone film. I still don't believe he left the compound by boat. The dock camera showed nothing."

"He was counting on that to get more time. He is out of here and on the run." I said.

"Well we need to find out how he did it, so we know where to look," Liam said.

"He had an accomplice, that's the only way he could do it. Someone got him in a boat and they sailed off into the Sunset. I'm going to question Ginger," I said.

"Not till Colonel Martin Gets here tonight," Liam said.

"Fuck you Liam, this is what I do. We get ten hours closer to him if she gives it up now." I said.

I left the office while he was trying to connect to Colonel Martin. I returned to Fred and Ginger's cabin. "Well Ginger is official," I said through the translator. "Your husband Fred is in the wind."

Please rephrase came the translator's request. "Your husband Fred is on the run."

"I do not believe it. The rebels have him captive." She said through the machine. I had to believe that she might at least believe it, but I wasn't about to give her that easy a time.

"No Ginger he walked away from you. He is on the run without you. Now you either helped him, or he has deserted you. If you helped him, you know something that will help me. If not, you are a victim as much as any of those people he killed. So take a minute and think about it."

I sat there very quietly, while she thought about it. She had to know it made sense. "I do not know anything," she said again through the machine. Do you know anyone that he knows in this country? Anyone who would help him?"

"No," she replied.

"I want to take your husbands computer," I said.

"I have my personal information on that computer as well as his," she said.

"Alright can you access your bank records?" I asked.

"Yes," she said and began to tough keys.

"Son of a dog," she said. "All the money is gone from our account."

"He is on the run, and he planned it." I said. Then I placed a call to the swamp. I gave him all I had, and promised to have the computer sent down immediately. Then I went to the office again carrying the laptop. "Liam, send someone to where ever the geek is located."

"Can do," I got in touch with Martin. He said to give you whatever you wanted. It's a three hour drive to the geeks office in Metropolis." We had code names for everything like it made a difference. Metropolis was the largest city in the state, Duh. Never mind I thought. I carried one of my burners computers from my cabin to Ginger's.

I set the translator back on the table. "Send the email I have written to your husband." The Email read, 'no matter how far or fast you run, I'm coming for you. When I find you, I'm going to bring you back or kill you. Porter.'

She had no idea what she sent him, but she sent it anyway. She was either genuinely pissed, or she was a hell of an actor. "Think Ginger what did he say to you that could help me. Did he give you any instructions just in case something happened to him?" I asked.

"He said it was all taken care of not to worry," Ginger said. "I guess what he meant is, I'm not worried, because when I'm gone, I won't give a crap."

"Seems so, check all the bank accounts with this computer and any he missed close and put the money somewhere else. If you don't have an account of your own, open a pay pal account and transfer the money there. It's as good a place as any to hold your funds." I suggested.

She went right to work trying to find accounts to close. That also helped to convince me she had nothing to do with Fred being on the run. I gave her some space to do her think, while I went to search the shoreline. I expected to find nothing so I wasn't disappointed. I saw Liam come down the trail at a fast walk.

"What's the word," I asked.

"You need to see this," he said. "The geek sent it up."

The image came on the big screen TV. The picture was from a lazy drone circling overhead. It shot the area around the compound. There was an image of a white pick up in a clearing near the lake. The pickup had just pulled into that spot. It had what could be two small craft in the bed of the pickup. The tailgate was up so they are less than six feet long.

"Kayaks," I said to those assembled. "Get the geek on the line." While I waited for him to come on line, the drone moved on. The next time it came back around and the tail gate was open. The drone came around every ten minutes. We didn't have boats in the truck but we had the empty truck and the boats on the lake. There was a white man in the front boat with a second boat in tow. Kayaks were notoriously unstable so he had it on a very short rope.

The drone showed him sitting off the shoreline with a fishing rod. How he would explain the second boat lashed to his I had no idea, but he had a fishing rod for cover. He was in that position through three rounds of the drone, then he was loading another man on the next sweep.

"He waited off the shore for well over twenty minutes. He didn't call up Fred till he was in position. When he was, Fred went down to meet him as soon as I was gone." I informed the others. The next drone sweep showed them rowing back to the white pickup truck. They left the boats to drift and just took off in a rush. A controlled rush so as not to bring attention down on themselves.