Chapter 6

Mike would check the records of the general aviation services at Nome's two airports for the days before and after the abductions. Then he would forward that information to Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Seward Trooper Posts so they could compare what they had on the same time periods as the kidnappings.

It would turn out there was a black and red Piper Cherokee, an older low-wing model, that had been in on both days and the day before. There was also a Piper Chieftain twin engine, but he had also come in three other weekends. The manager at the general aviation service said that belonged to a missionary group out of Wasilla, north of Anchorage. As far as he knew they were like Jehovah's Witnesses or something.

"They just want to convert heathens it looks like," the manager told him. "There's a group of four or five, and they seem nice enough. I'm happy staying a heathen."

Other planes had come in one weekend but not the next, and some visited sporadically, and nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Mike discussed his theory with Lt. Randall who still felt it was someone in town, but had not ruled out the possibility the kidnapper was mobile.

In mid April when Mary's mother came for the bear hunt, she arranged the money for them to buy a red and white Cessna 180 on tundra wheels. It also came with the wheel-skis for winter use, and could land almost anywhere except on water. With this new tool, they were able to visit the various airports where the abductions took place, and other remote airstrips in between. Over the next two months, no progress was made on the abductions, and it seemed whoever it had been had moved on.

By an agreement with the Aurora View Lodge, the state had a cabin built on the lodge site to use as a sub-station, since it was almost equidistant to Kaltag, Unalakleet, or Shaktoolik. It was also just fifteen minutes by air to where her sister Carol now lived. The sub-station consisted of the front desk and radio room, a small kitchen and dining area, bedroom, bath, a small den, and a utility room where they could lock someone up temporarily.

They had met the Lieutenant there to be shown all of the operating procedures, and Mike asked, "Have they worked out our regular duty station yet?"

"You will be in Galena part-time, sometimes in Nome, and right where you stand the rest of the time." Lt Randall answered. "With your plane, you will be given a fuel allowance when it is used in the line of duty, and you will be expected to help anywhere within two hours air time from you on little notice in the event of an emergency. If you need me, you will know where I am at."

He then advised the two that they would be traveling about as typical civilians, and trying to find the plane, and subsequently its owner. They would be using the Aurora View as a "cover" and base of operations, and work out in a 200-mile radius. Two officers from Fairbanks and two from Anchorage would also be hunting the plane. If anyone were to spot it, they were to call for backup, and wait until all six plainclothes Troopers had arrived in their civilian marked planes so not to arouse suspicion, and moved into position.

At 7 p.m. Mike and Mary started making a circuit of the Airports in Northwest Alaska looking for a black Piper Cherokee with red trim. It was obvious the plane was not going to be based near a Trooper Post, and after over flying two small strips and seeing no planes anywhere, Mike decided to return to Galena for the night, and refuel. The next day he would fly a set heading and course, and work his way back to the lodge.

What if indeed he had been wrong, and the twin-engine plane belonged to a "religious commune" instead of missionaries. They may have scouted "recruits" and the black plane would pick them up when they had one. That plane always seemed to be there on weeks that the black one wasn't. The next day he would check the records of the visits by both.

If that was so, then chances were good that the commune had their own airstrip, and it would not be on any general aviation maps.

Mike eliminated several of the small airstrips nearby as a home for the abductor of the women from around the state. One afternoon as the lodge was closing down for the year, he saw what looked like a dirt strip near an abandoned Air Force Communications station, and had seen people running inside of the large building that was once part of the White Alice System. He thought hard about it then looked around for a place to land within walking distance where they wouldn't hear the plane. He spotted a tundra pond, but would need to borrow one of the small floatplanes from the lodge to land there.

He had heard Rudy Smith talking about a Super Cub being the "next best thing to a helicopter" and thought to ask to borrow it instead. He needed an experienced pilot to land it nearby, but also needed backup. For now he was just going in for a closer look.

Mike asked Rudy to fly him over near the Big Monolith looking concrete "dishes" (that actually looked more like a wrap around drive-in movie screen.)

With a rifle stock mounted telescope that one of the lodge guests had custom made for Rudy, Mike looked all around from his place of concealment, when he noticed a painted structure back in the trees not a hundred yards from him. It had been painted into a picture type setting with trees; bushes and the tundra detailed down to the leaves, branches and tundra grasses. Evidently it was a concrete bunker left from when the Military had occupied the site in the 1950's. The concrete and the door looked to have been hand painted by artists.

Mike heard an electric motor start and watched as the door began to slide open and revealed three aircraft inside. The shock was what they were. First was the black and red Cherokee, then a red and white Super Cub almost hidden by a white and blue Piper Navajo Chieftain; the "Jehovah's Witness" plane. These people were definitely not Jehovah's Witnesses.

About an hour before he had seen the people run inside the previous day, there came a single-file procession out of the "monolith" dressed in gray robes, and carrying garden tools and began to appear to be digging in a certain area. Mike noticed they were all women doing the work, but all had short-cropped hair. Standing nearby were four men with white robes that seemed to oversee the work. From the belt of these men hung cattle prods and all wore hoods. Five men dressed in dark suits and one woman came out from inside the bunker that was used to conceal the airplanes.

They pushed the twin engine Piper out and all climbed aboard to fly somewhere to the north. Then the doors slid closed again with a bang, and once more blended into the hill without the telescope! The plane took off and then banked to the north. Two armed guards came from a door within the "monolith" and behind them, eight more figures dressed in dark brown robes carried something wrapped in white linen that could have been a person, but didn't seem to have a head. "Maybe an animal or something," Mike though.

Behind the linen draped form were two women in gold colored robes followed by a tall man in a dark green gold-trimmed robe. After a few moments that Mike couldn't tell anything, they began a chant of some kind, and lowered the wrapped form into the ground. Then the green robed man was given a round container that resembled a can like one buys the gift popcorn in. The man obviously the leader, opened the container, and then displayed for all to see, the severed head of a woman. The head resembled the photo of the earlier kidnap victim from Seward.

The leader replaced the head into the container, and dropped it into what Mike now knew was a grave. Then he returned with the two gold-robed women, and the bodyguards back into the monolith. It was some sort of cult, but Mike didn't know what kind. He now had to check if people had records of the red and white Super Cub with the numbers he copied off the fuselage. He also had the numbers from the Navajo Chieftain, and would alert the authorities to watch for that one as well.

That was it. Mike had found the hiding place of these kidnappers, and had to report back to Lt Randall. He crawled back down the hill to make his way back to Rudy and the Super Cub. He was obviously in a hurry, and Rudy saw him coming and started the little plane. Mike was barely in his seat when Rudy lifted off and headed back to the Aurora View sub-station.

When they landed, they were in for a shock. There on the Aurora View Lodge airstrip was the blue and white twin-engine Chieftain! Mike got an instant lesson in doing a "wing over" and in less than a minute the Cub was on the ground right in front of the Chieftain. They couldn't let on that they knew the plane was involved. One man stood by the plane as though guarding it.

Rudy said, "There is a rifle between the seats and the left door. We will act like we have been hunting."

Mike went to the State Trooper sub-station to see if Mary was there. She was talking to two of the men from the plane. She was in uniform and Mike was not. Mike entered and said, "I need to report some hunters with a medical emergency fourteen miles southeast of here."

Immediately Mary knew he was not reporting that and that something else was wrong. "You'll have to excuse us," She told the gentlemen in the dark Navy blue suits. "I need to get this man's report. I would be glad to discuss the Lord some other time."

They left to join the man by the plane. Rudy found the other two men and the woman in the main lodge/residence talking to Gary and Gina Owens, and their daughter Danielle. As he walked in the leader of that group said, "I am Elder Lawrence, this is Brother Timothy, and Sister Tamara. We are from the Ministry of the Living God on Earth, and have come to speak with you about the serving of Our Lord."

"I already do serve God on Earth," Grif Replied, "or didn't my wife tell you, I am an Ordained Minister?"

"Anyone can get those, Mister Owens is it?" the Elder said. "They mean nothing unless they come from the one true Lord."

"Well Elder Lawrence," Gary retorted, "Anyone can get the paper. I wasn't aware God had a printing press set up on Earth to determine who was to spread His Word. I believe He used more natural medium, like stone and fire, and burning bushes to communicate."

"You are wrong, Mr. Owens." Elder Lawrence said, "I don't know which so-called god you believe in, but I am here to tell you, 'OUR Lord' walks and lives among us in the flesh."

"MINE," Gary replied, "is the One who gave the tablets to Moses on the Mountain that He burned into stone. I believe the first one said' Thou Shalt have no other gods before me'! Therefore MY God is the one I speak to and who answers my prayers. Therefore I will ask that you and your companions depart our presence forthwith, lest I request that you be arrested for trespassing on private property."

"Your rudeness will not go unpunished, Mr. Owens," Brother Timothy said on the way out the door. "Our Lord will see to it that you regret that!"

"If you want to get into a 'whose God is the toughest' contest," Gary retorted, "My God will mop up the Bering Sea with your 'so-called Lord'! He'll send his lying carcass back to Uranus or wherever you guys come from!"

"I don't think you established much good will, Gary." Gina teased. "Such harsh language for a 'minister'!"

Gary Owens watched them leave and saw his Lab Shadow approach to escort them off, when two of them pulled out small canisters that looked like Mace, and pointed them at the dog. Gary grabbed the shotgun and pointed it at them and said, "You spray, I spray!"