Chapter 23

(March 10, 2005, Arctic Fox Lodge)

Surprisingly the Iditarod guests were reasonably civil as one might suspect. The one exception was the two men from Tacoma, Washington who brought an electronic tracking scanner supposedly to locate a homing beacon that was attached to his backpack that was abandoned when their cross-country hike was ended by the weather "somewhere northwest of Shaktoolik." Immediately Grif suspected they were plants from the AFF. Donna and Carol, who stayed out of sight, recognized them from one of the annual AFF Conventions as promoting the homing in on tracking collars of wolves, bears, moose and caribou, in order to harass the hunters that would shoot them, which technically was legal. The two girls retreated inside of the Jimmy waiting by the terminal.

Of course sometimes when the collars were sent in as requested, the hunters' names and addresses were released to the AFF and made public, where they were berated for shooting a tame animal. Officially, that didn't happen, but no employer knows everything about his employees. Janet Snow saw the device when they were getting off of the plane from Anchorage and asked to inspect it under her authority as a VPSO, since it "looked like a remote detonator." The men acted suspiciously and refused. Thus she confiscated the receiver, and handcuffed the young men, who immediately demanded a lawyer.

Janet transported the men to Galena to be detained until their lawyer could get to them and post their bail. That could take a couple of days. Meanwhile, Grif, Joey, Jesse, and Gus sprang into action and took off for the Ungalik River Wilderness Camp with the tracking receiver wrapped in a plastic bag so no one's finger prints would be found on it, and located Mama Bear's den. The two Maule M-7's landed and made a precise GPS reading of the snow-covered cave and then returned to give Janet the device back.

Jeff Owens, who was at the big lodge when they got back, put on some surgical gloves, and opened the case. Jeff attached a small micro transmitter attuned to the same frequency as Mama Bear's collar. It was soldered into the circuit board so that only a person familiar with the construction of the device would notice it. Thus if there were three receivers going, the altered one would always indicate the bear was due north of them although several miles away, and any others would home on the altered one. On the bottom of the case was a decal proclaiming that it was the "Property of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, unauthorized use prohibited." It was replaced back into the case and brought to Galena.

Two days later when the attorney came from San Francisco and argued their bail on the Domestic Terrorism charges, under the Patriot Act, he demanded that they return the equipment. Captain Brewer then demanded to see the authorization for the use of US F&WS equipment. They couldn't provide it, and were again arrested for Unauthorized Possession of Government Property. Again bail was posted, and the two were released to the lawyer, and told not to leave the state.

A Park Ranger from Gates of the Arctic showed up the next morning to claim the equipment and maintained that he didn't know that it was missing, or why the two would have it in their possession. It was assigned to the Bettles Ranger Headquarters, and had been assumed lost in the crash of the Park Service helicopter months before. Brewer insisted that the device was evidence on both charges and would be retained until after the trial in Nome in three weeks.

Ranger Timmons said that he would go to Bettles to see if there was any record of animals being relocated. The only possibility was if the three bears involved in the fatal double mauling of the previous August were relocated instead of being destroyed as he had directed.

"May I see the receiver a moment?" Ranger Timmons asked.

"It has already been dusted for fingerprints," Brewer answered. "Those two guys' prints were on it, along with residue from leather gloves and surgical gloves. There were also several unidentified sets of prints on the case that the FBI was interested in."

He handed the receiver to Timmons who turned it on and cycled through the wolf, and moose frequencies with no results. When he tuned to that used for "nuisance bears" he looked like someone punched him in the stomach. "You have got to be kidding," Said Timmons. "Three known man killers and they tag and release them."

"Don't they do that with bears that are just potential nuisances?" asked Brewer.

"Normally," Ranger Timmons answered. "Evidently they released them north of you somewhere. It's a really weak signal. I have another in my office that needs a battery. I will get it and track the bears down and destroy them. Darrell had a couple of whacked out animal lovers volunteering for him. One reportedly was involved in shooting someone at Walker Lake but died in the crash with Darrell and the VPSO from Bettles.

Brewer knew the details of the incident from having investigated the scene, and replied, "That was an Animals First lawyer they had come in from San Francisco."

Timmons suggested, "If these guys haven't left the state, they probably will. I'd round them up if I were you, and hold them without bail. I will let you know when I locate these bears and destroy them."

Capt Brewer tracked the suspects back to Fairbanks, and then to the hotel where they were waiting on the lawyer to get back from Nome with the chartered Gulfstream IV jet. Another part of the AFF team had been arrested for attempting to poison some of the sled dogs in White Mountain. The lawyer paid their fine and called the first two to be ready to leave as soon as they returned.

The Nome Troopers barely missed stopping the lawyer and had nothing to hold him on, but that was about to change. The State Troopers were now watching the airport where the flight plan was filed to, and the two suspects about to flee. When the suspects hired a cab and headed not to Fairbanks, but to Nenana Municipal Airport (where an imaginary" emergency was to be declared to change the flight plan), a trooper helicopter and airplane were dispatched to Nenana. There were only so many places to land a Gulfstream that was accessible by road, and that was the nearest, west of Fairbanks International.

The airborne troopers arrived several minutes ahead of both the cab and the Gulfstream. The unmarked SUV followed behind the cab. If the Gulfstream pilot filed an out of state flight plan, then the suspects and the lawyer could be arrested for attempting to flee the jurisdiction. If they even filed to Ketchikan, Alaska they were technically within the state. If there was no emergency aboard, then the pilots could face prosecution for falsely declaring one. The next several minutes would tell.

The cab went to the GA terminal in Nenana, and the two men went inside where one of the troopers read the latest edition of one of the aviation magazines. When the Gulfstream landed, a Nenana Police unit, and an ambulance met it. The pilots explained that one of the passengers fainted, and the lawyer thought he had collapsed from something more serious. The paramedics checked him out, and he appeared to be fine.

They called the fuel truck for a FULL load of jet fuel. In the office there was another undercover trooper waiting to see where the flight plan destination was.

As soon as the pilot filed the Nenana to Bellingham, Washington plan, the trooper identified himself, and arrested the pilot for aiding in a flight to avoid prosecution. Two ASP cruisers pulled up to the Gulfstream, and four officers stepped out. The two men inside the terminal reached for their bags and started for the door.

Officer King identified himself as a State Trooper, and arrested the two for attempting to flee prosecution. The attorney was taken into custody, along with the copilot, and the third suspect for conspiracy to aid in the flight. Since they had already tried to leave the state, they were denied bail, despite five lawyers from California sent to free them and liberate Langford's private jet.

(March 12, Ungalik River Valley, 50 miles upstream from the Arctic Fox)

Jeff Owens, who had Jesse drop he, Joey and Grif off and fly the Maule well out of range, had used a device that would fry the transmitter microchip. Grif covered the entrance with the tranquilizer gun, while Joey held a bead on the bear with a .358 Weatherby Magnum rifle. When the chip fried, it emitted a loud "chirp", and a lot of smoke, which disturbed the bear, bringing her out of the den, and into Grif's tranquilizer dart gun range. Quickly he put two of the big cartridges in her and as groggy as she was, she never oriented herself before collapsing in a big ugly ball of fur.

When she was down and out, Grif used a long hook to pull the collar over her head. At that point, he used an aluminum reach extender with rubber suction cups to remove the darts. Jesse returned to extract the "un-tag team" and return to the Wilderness Lodge. Janet would return the tranquilizer gun to her State Trooper brother from Nome, and when Tracy came, her hunt would be "fair chase" all around.

(March 21, Fairbanks, Federal Court building.)

Langford had hidden the jet from the Feds investigating the AFF up until the time that it was traced to a phony corporation being used to hide money from the investigation. Yet, his "soldiers" continued to wreak eco-terror across the country. The DHS Anti-Terrorism Task Force seized the jet.

In the Lower 48, the net was widening, as the extent of the corruption became known. Several politicians involved in the influence peddling claimed it was purely political, even though members of both parties were charged. Several of the Organized Crime families had taken extended vacations out of the country, and some prominent Hollywood stars and an animal trainer, quickly put together a "Movie Festival" in Paris.

There was more money being wired to overseas bank accounts than at any time since 9-11. Sheila and Tracy's information had caused more havoc than almost anyone since Jimmy "the Weasel" or Joe Valachi. Being officially deceased, Death Certificates and all, their testimony could be read at the trial and not be impeached by the defense attorneys. In fact the investigation showed an explosive device destroyed the plane. The suggestion was that more than one of the parties under investigation had motive to insure that the sisters never reached the trial to testify.

(Thursday evening, March 31, Arctic Fox Lodge)

They made enough from the Iditarod, mostly on flight seeing tours, to justify the venture, and the two men were the only disruption in the plan. Race guests were also treated to Aurora displays, cross-country skiing, the little downhill skiing slope on 2200-foot Christmas Mountain, and the excellent lodging and table fare. Three of the Iditarod guests booked for the upcoming fishing season, along with their son, an Iditarod musher.

Tara and the baby were doing well, and she had finally forgiven Grif for going on the "Pre Bear Hunt". The lodge staff was lined up and although the lodge was only booking an average of 6-8 guests per week, many of those signed up for more than one day of flyout fishing. The tackle was received and all of the Lake Trout lures originally ordered for Walker Lake would be used at Trout Lake, along with the graph recorders and the two downriggers.