Chapter 14

Meanwhile, over in the east and out of our control and sight, the other team was working.

Frank's intercept worked perfect. Frank answered the phone with "Cab Company." Snelling said he needed a cab at his address and was going to Dulles. Frank told him it would be about 20 minutes. With both of them in disguise, Bob and Frank waited up the street for the time to pass before picking him up. Also, Frank wanted to see if he called anyone else before he was picked up.

There were no other calls and they pulled up at the address and honked. Bob sat in the backseat and acted like another passenger. Frank helped him with his luggage and got it loaded in the trunk and explained to him that he would be sharing a ride to Dulles since they were short handed today. That didn't pose a problem.

After they were about a block away, Bob pulled a.38 cal. snubnose on Snelling and Frank pulled in to a secluded parking lot. There was a bit of a scuffle, but Bob prevailed and got him lying on the seat while he handcuffed him. When Bob gave him a shot of Valium, he started struggling again and Bob just sat on him. He was very vocal, but it was a deserted area, so no one was able to hear him.

After about 10 minutes, the Valium started taking affect and he calmed down quite a bit. Bob put a blood pressure cuff on one arm and a tourniquet and injected the Nembutal directly into his vein. Bob slowly released the tourniquet and let the drug enter his system. He monitored his vitals and injected additional medication until he was unconscious. Then they headed for the parked ambulance.

Once they were at the ambulance site, Bob removed the handcuffs and the blood pressure cuff and they stripped him down to his briefs. They placed him on a gurney and started oxygen flowing through a mask for him to breathe. Then Bob put a catheter in him and attached him to a drainage bag on the side of the gurney. Bob then hooked up a monitor to him for his heart rate and respirations.

Frank got out his scanning equipment and began a scan of all of Snelling's possessions for any tracking devices. None was found and they left his current clothes and cell phone with the cab, temporarily but would dispose of them later. His laptop was put in a lead lined case and included with his belongings to be transferred with him.

Once that was accomplished, they changed clothes and headed for the airport. It took them about 45 minutes to get to the airport and they found Gary's disguised plane waiting. They loaded him and his gear into the plane and Bob hooked up the monitors on the plane and stayed with him. Butch, dressed in the same garb as Bob, departed with Frank.

Gary got his plane cranked up and after instructions from the tower, took of in a southerly direction. Butch and Frank drove the ambulance back to the garage where the cab was and Butch followed in the cab as Frank drove to return the ambulance.

After that, they drove the cab to where Frank's car was and then returned the borrowed cab. Once those chores were taken care of, Frank changed clothes and got into a truck that looked very much like a telephone truck and headed to Snelling's neighborhood. He climbed the pole and removed all traces of his intercept device and then they drove back to Frank's car and then to his apartment to change clothes.

They cut up Snelling's clothes and took them to a dumpster away from the area and deposited them in that. After making sure that Snelling's cell phone was turned off and wiping all traces of any fingerprints off, he placed it in a lead lined box and would dispose of it later.

With all of that done, they headed for Frank's plane at an airport located north of the city. On the way, Frank pulled in at a junkyard and talked to the operator of the crusher for a bit. After an exchange of some words and a payment of $20, Frank put the cell phone in a car and watched it being crushed and put on a pile as part of a square block of iron to be melted down for recycling.

They continued on to the airport and parked the car in the guest lot and headed for the airplane. Once Frank got fueled, they took off in a northerly direction without filing a flight plan. They veered west around Philadelphia and then proceeded north until they were in middle Pennsylvania and turned west. Once they had cleared Pennsylvania, Frank punched in the coordinates for Terra Haute where he would refuel.

Farther south, Gary flew down to New Bern, North Carolina to refuel. Once he took off, he punched in the coordinates for my place. Bob was keeping close track of Snelling's vitals and administered more of the drug over Tennessee to keep him under.

My scrambled cell phone rang about 5:30; it was Frank and he was about 100 miles out and would be landing in about 45 minutes. I told him we'd be at the strip to help him put the plane away and secure everything.

Bubba, Earl and I cleaned things up and headed to the landing strip. We opened one of the hanger doors to make room for Frank's plane and made sure there was plenty of clearance so we could push the plane in. It wouldn't be dark for about 2 _ hours, which was when Gary was due in.

We waited for Frank to buzz the field and then make his approach. We had waited about 20 minutes after we had everything completed and we heard Frank's plane. He flew over to check the windsock and then came in for his landing. The wind was slight, so there wasn't a problem and he taxied up to the hanger and cut the engines.

Butch and Frank got out after his post flight check and we put the plane in the hanger and secured everything. Once that was done, we all headed back to the house and had a beer while Frank related all the details of the capture.

It had been pretty straightforward without much of a hitch. He had been sleeping peacefully when they transferred him to Gary's plane. Frank had refueled at Terre Haute, IN and at Batesville in Arkansas so he would have enough fuel to get out of the area before he needed more.

Nobody had eaten yet. Frank and Butch because they were in the air and us because we were on pins and needles waiting to hear what had happened. I fired up the grill and grabbed some burgers to cook. I waited for the charcoal to burn down and then slapped them on.

In the meantime, Frank inspected our setup in the basement and approved of everything. He liked the entrance we made through the cave and how we had made it look like hospital hallway. Once the inspection was done, the charcoal was ready and I cooked the burgers for everyone.

We finished eating about 7:30 and then had to wait to hear from Gary. My phone rang about 8:15 and Gary said he had just left Tupelo, Mississippi after refueling and should be here in about 45 minutes. I told him we had a gentle westerly breeze of about 5 knots and that we'd have the lights on. He hung up and we cleaned up the mess from dinner and headed to the landing strip.

I drove the Hummer over and Earl took my pickup. It was just starting to get dark and we turned on the lights. We could see a couple places of less than desirable coverage, so we adjusted the lights and then waited, not so patiently.

It was real close to 9 when we hear the drone of Gary's engines. It wasn't long until we saw his landing lights and he came in for his landing. He bounced a couple of times, which would cost him some good-natured teasing, but it was a successful landing.

He taxied up to the hanger and Bob and Dave opened the door and hopped out. I backed the Hummer up to the plane and we transferred the gurney Snelling was on to the back and us three took him to the cave entrance. He was pretty much out of it. We pulled the gurney out of the Hummer and dropped the legs so we could roll him in. Bob and Dave took care of the transfer and I carried in the various pieces medical equipment.

Once we had everything inside, I returned through the cave entrance and pushed the close button for the big door and put the camo back in front of it. I drove to the house and closed the gate and turned on the monitors, alarm and the mines. We wouldn't be going anywhere for sometime and we sure didn't want any visitors.

The coals were still hot and I slapped on some burgers for Gary, Dave and Bob while they situated our "guest." By the time I had the cooking done, they were all upstairs except Bubba who was monitoring Snelling from the outside of his room. We got a run down on how the trip went which was pretty smooth, except they had to put more dope in him than they expected to keep him under. But Bob had a good supply so there was no real worry.