Chapter 103

Hanes got the call on his phone after we had been sitting in the DQ for almost an hour. "I got good news and bad news." He didn't give me any options, he just started. "The good news is there are no microphones in your house. The bad news is your video feed and cell phone have been hacked."

"Well it's about as bad as I expected. The video and phone could be hacked from anywhere in the world. The bugs would have required someone to come to this small town. They would have stood out. So now let me make a call," I suggested.

"Miss Sadie, this is Iris," I said.

"Hello Iris, I have the information you wanted. There seems to be a couple of men staying at the fish camp, but they aren't fishing. They told my niece they were here doing a survey of some kind. She said they have a lot of large black cases."

"I see well I appreciate the information. By the way Steve says your nephew is doing great at the farm," I said.

"Good I do hope that makes up for Hannah," she said.

"I'm sure that unpleasantness is past," I said. Then I broke the connection.

"You need to check out some guys at the fish camp. Send someone who looks like a fisherman. That is if you want to put these guy away for a while."

"You bet that's what we want," he replied.

"Then you take care of them. I'm going back to my house," I said.

I was back in the condo a half hour before I got the call from Wilson. "Okay the pilot told me his ETA in Williamston was 3 PM more or less."

"Got it," I said. I broke the connection before he heard me say, "Nice job."

I called Hanes on the burner, "So where are we on your end?" I asked.

"I'm sorry that's confidential," he said. "You have to trust me."

"No I don't," I replied and hung up the phone. My next call was to Steve. Head over to Williamston. You have about an hour and a half to get to the strip. If you want to buy anything while you are there do it first. Get back here as soon as you can with the package."

"Right, but Sterlin already did our shopping," he said.

"Good, just bring the package here then you can get back to the farm. We are going to make plans by burner cells. I am going to run the operation from right here, but you guys are going to have to do the work," I said. "I'll be by after breakfast to help you set things up in the morning."

"Not a problem. I'm sure I have done worse for a lot worse reasons," Steve said.

"Ain't we all? Let's just hope the Feds can be trusted," I said.

I tried to remain calm but it was hard. I poured myself a drink then poured it down the sink. I decided stay sober since I had no idea when the moves would begin.

It was after 8 PM when the phone rang. Steve had made the delivery hours before and I still had half a chicken pot pie on the table growing cold.

"They haven't been back to the fisherman's cabin," Agent Hanes said.

"Well that puts them on the loose somewhere around here. Did they pay by credit card?" I asked. I knew that with that number Hanes could run them to ground, if they checked into a motel or bought food in a restaurant with the same card.

"They paid in cash," he said. "So I guess we try to figure out what they were planning to do next."

"Well good luck," I agreed. After I hung up I decided that they had to be staying somewhere that night. Unless they had already done their damage. They surely didn't think anyone was onto them. We hadn't done anything too obviously out of the ordinary.

I mean they had access to our cameras, but not the whole state's network of cameras. They knew Steve left the compound, but he did that everyday. Someone out there was always going somewhere. So where had they gone?

The two who were obviously not fishermen had to be connected to this event. Hell it was all connected. So where had they spent the night? I wish I had cameras on them. You know I had stayed in that fisherman's Guest House and it sucked. There was no heat in there. There had been a chill in the air the night before they packed up and checked out. My guess was that they went to Williamston last night. I would bet the farm they weren't trained soldiers. They would have gone for the comfort. Hell if I was right, they weren't even killers they were paid nerds.

My guess those two had flown drones over the compound to take a look see. They had gone to Williamston for a night of comfort before the big strike. The Catfish Farm was too great a distance from the boat landing to be used as a base for the short ranged drones.

There were several old farms in the area for possible use. The men would need very little space, since they could even be using the VTO drones. Those could be purchased in any hobby shop.

I went to sleep thinking about those two and woke up thinking about them. The best case was to catch them before they launched the drones. There wasn't much chance of that, I thought. It wasn't exactly the needle in the haystack scenario. It's more the needle in the silver carpet scenario. Not finding it could prove very harmful indeed.

At 5 AM I was still thinking about it when I put Lady and Tramp outside to do their thing. The two girls were half asleep so there wasn't much play. They came right back in and checked out the house before crawling back into the bed they shared.

I rode the trike to the DQ. From the mess on the table it looked as though Steve and Sterlin had been there a while. So guys you ready for this?" I asked.

"Bet your ass," Steve said. "You forgot to come by for your spare shotgun, so I have it in the truck."

Head on over to Walmart and get a couple of boxes of bird shot before you go home. Did you buy shotguns when you were there," I asked.

"Yes we got a couple," Sterlin said.

"Load them with bird shot and keep them handy," I suggested. Then I explained about the drones.

"You have to be kidding, toy airplanes?" Sterlin said.

"Yeah that is your problem. Don't get caught on camera with the shotguns," I suggested. "Let's keep that a secret. Make that duck shot not game birds. The duck shot will work on people, if it comes to that."

"So what is the plan?" Steve asked.

I looked up to see Bart approaching the table. "If we wind up on our own, and they try to raid the place, then the drill will be for you to engage the attackers and call for me and Bart. We will come in from behind which should leave them nowhere to hide."

"I think I will put Sheba and Rex in the fence this morning. They have a real dislike of strangers," Sterlin said.

"I am really not expecting an assault. I'm sure they have flown over to take pictures and know there are dogs and lots of sharp wire. The drone is my weapon of choice, if I'm them. Even so when they get the money, kill the power on the circuit to the CCTV feed. We want them blind when we go looking for them. And for gods sake turn that generator on when the call comes in. They might be circling even then.

I took Steve's Phone and returned to the condo. Wilson better be by the phone, I thought. I fed the girls then went to the shower while they were outside. I had a cup of coffee by the dressing table as I applied the small amount of make up I wore ordinarily. I planned for the day to look normal in every way. The call came in at noon exactly. I pushed the FBI panic button to alert them and I also sent the message on the burner phone to Wilson. Then I counted four more rings then answered.

"What can I do for you," I said into the phone.

"Are you Rose Seabold?" the heavily accented voice said.

"That would be me," I agreed. "An what should I call you?"

"You may call me Roman. So Miss Rose are you tracing this call?" Roman asked.

"Of course I am," I said.

"Good, you are being honest. Do you have my money?" he said.

"I have my money," I replied.

"You will transfer $100.000 to this account. I will send the account number to your email account. No tricks or you will lose much more than the $100,000. I will expect the money within the next fifteen minutes."

"I'm not great with the computer so give me a few minutes grace while I get the bank on line. You want to hold?" I asked.

"I think not. We will not be in touch again either way," he said.

Right I thought. I switched from the phone to the computer. I went to my bank with the alert going to Wilson who surely was standing by. I made the transfer of exactly $10 just so that Wilson could follow the trail. I put the zeros in front of the $10 just in case they would show up in the transfer. It would be nice if there was the correct number bits of information, even if they meant nothing.

As the money winged its way to where ever it's final destination might be. I rushed down to meet Bart. He drove his truck toward the farm. We rode up and down the roads around Catfish Farm looking for cars that were too fancy, too clean, or rentals. I had no idea what the FBI was doing, but I knew we were doing all we could. By that time I was sure that Roman knew the transfer was for ten bucks.

The burner phone rang. It was Wilson. "I followed the trail all the way to Kiev."

"Russia," I asked.

"Actually the Ukraine. Also one of the Mecca's for hackers. They are going to need some new equipment. I do hope they backed up their files. Actually I hope they didn't," Wilson said.

"You should be paying me. You love this shit," I said.

"It was a bitter pill you swallowed somewhere in your life," he said.

"Wilson just for your information, torture either breaks you, or it twists you. It didn't break me," I said.

"Gotcha," he said. "I'm going to send you the information just in case the Feds didn't get there before they broke the connection."

"Send me a bill," I said.

"Okay, but like you said, I should be paying you. Later," he said before the connection went dead.

We were driving down a dirt rode inside the drone's range when I spotted the Mercedes sedan parked by an abandoned barn. I expected the two operators were around somewhere. I had to trust that the generator or the two retired mercenaries were capable of taking the drone out.

"So what do you want to do about them?" Bart asked.

"Hell, let's stroll over there and offer them a job," I said.

"Hell no let's drive over," he said making a high speed turn and then went roaring up the dirt farm road. We bounced all over the place but finally did a broadside slide into the rear of the car.