Chapter 11

Day 9 Part 2

May: (into phone as she drove she gave Eddie the complete rundown) So boss we are headed back home. All we got is stonewalled.

Eddie: Turn your ass around and get back there. From what you just told me you haven't exhausted all the possibilities. Move your headquarters to Williamston or somewhere else, but get back to that town.

May: What more can we do?

Eddie: What makes you think that waitress wanted to screw Mike. She may have wanted to talk to him outside the restaurant. Now have Mike call her and set up a meeting for tonight. Have him take her out and wine and dine her without you. He will figure out what he needs to do. Tell him that he has my permission to sleep with her if that's what it takes.

May: I think this is a mistake and that it is dangerous, but if Mike is willing I'll go along.

Eddie: Ask him if he wants to talk to Wes about it.

Obviously he didn't since May cut the connection. Eddie had been about to drive off from the Main Street of Mossberg. Wes obviously wanted to speak.

Eddie: What?

Wes: You are the boss, but you know if that Brit guy was an operative for the Swamp, he could be dangerous.

Eddie: He's a bar owner. He isn't looking for any trouble. He just wanted to scare those kids off, I hope.

Wes: Well it's done and we couldn't drive there in time to cover his ass anyway. God knows that May won't be any help if he gets in trouble. Let's hope if he does, it's just a beat down.

Eddie: Best case is they slip in and out unnoticed.

Wes: If he survives this, we are going to have to get him some training.

Eddie: If he survives this he won't need any more training. When this ends we all go our separate ways. Maybe Lucille will send us a card at Christmas.

Wes: Start this cramped up piece of shit car and let's go to work.

Fifteen minutes later they were at the gates to the catfish farm. Eddie blew his horn and waited.

Wes: You see those cameras and the dogs. If you wanted to go in that compound uninvited you would need an armored vehicle at least to crash the gates.

Eddie: If these two really were Swamp Dog alumni, there is a chance there is some heavy duty shit underground that would turn an armored car into an armored oven.

Wes: Yeah that's what I would do. Here they come.

What they thought were two men was actually a man and woman. Dressed as she was, and with her body type, it had been hard to tell. They stopped on their side of the fence. The man was carrying something that looked like an M-16 with a grenade launcher mounted under it. Most likely under the AR-15 semi automatic was a 12 gauge shotgun

Eddie: We are federal inspectors, we need to look over your operation.

Male farmer: (To his companion) Cover me.

He stepped into the space between the walk gates then emerged through the second gate. When he emerged on the outside the wire, the dogs started to bark again. The man said something to them in a foreign language.

Male farmer: Let's see your paperwork.

Eddie: Okay we are investigators for a Senate Committee checking on Swamp Dog. But we can have inspectors here in a couple of hours.

Male farmer: Then you need to do that, because you are not coming in and you are not talking to anyone here. Now you have yourself a good day, and you might, as long as you don't try crashing the gate behind me.

He turned his attention to Wes.

Male Farmer: What you doing traveling with the cop? You're that guy aren't you?

Wes: No I'm not that guy. But you should talk to us. It would make my life easier and in the long run yours as well. We can get a squad of ATF in here just by dropping a dime.

Male Farmer: Do you think they would be the first ones in here to inspect? We have the arms we need to protect our crops, but nothing illegal, so bring it on.

He turned and walked away. They were back in the car and headed back to the fish camp when the conversation continued.

Wes: That went well. You charmed them as usual.

Eddie: What is this 'are you the one" shit.

Wes: It means different things different times. In this case it meant the traitor to be killed on sight.

Eddie: I'm going to ask you again. Were you ever a part of the Swamp Rats.

Wes: No, but they were players in the same world as some of the CIA people. I recognize them when I see them, and they do as well. In some of the nastier places of the world, CIA operatives have told the bad guys where to find the contractors in order to save their asses. So the contractors are on the look out for those informants.

Eddie: How do they recognize you as CIA.

Wes: There are ways. That's all you need to know.

Eddie and Wes sat in the small almost warm room of the fish camp to discuss their next move.

Eddie: There were three mail boxes for the building where Rose/Iris lived. Do you reckon she keeps the condo in case she wants to come home?

Wes: Since we are talking millionaire here, she could afford it. Wish we had Mike here. We might could find if she had a contractor or cleaning service.

Eddie: Why would she need one? She has Bart living two doors down and the boys from the farm to do anything he can't. My guess is that if we went to the door they would know it before we could get through the triple lock door lock. I would guess that it would not be the Federal Rural Police Officers who would put a gun in our face,

Wes: I would agree. We could cut the power but then they probably have battery backups on the cameras. But I bet you they are monitored by a company not by Bart or the Farmers. The company monitors are never gone to dinner or to piss.

Eddie: So what we try to get a warrant then go search it?

Wes: I was thinking, have Mike find the monitoring company and cut their power.

Eddie: We don't have those kinds of resources. How about Mike sends them a phony message that says we have to shut them down for some kind of service and then we slip in.

Wes: We could just get him to loop the feeds so they look the same as they did the two hours before. Then we go up the back stairs and spend some quality time picking locks and looking around.

Eddie: For that to work he would have to be back in DC, and we would have to stay here.

Wes: So tomorrow night?

Eddie: Next week. We want time to do this right. Your plan is the one we will use only we won't be at the fish camp when we pull the pin on it.

Wes: Yeah, best to do a drop in raid. I expect I can get us a nice little black box to use.

Eddie: Good for you. Now let's find something to occupy us while we wait for Mike to talk to the waitress.

Wes: We could go to a movie.

Eddie: Even if I do sleep in the same room with you this is not a date.

Wes: Jesus you smiled, I don't believe it.

Eddie: Don't tell anyone, it might ruin my relationship with the others. (after a pause) How do you think she spent her time?

Wes: Nobody will talk to us so she could have been a stripper at night for all we know.

Eddie: Her finances don't show her ever having a real job. She could do anything she wanted. She sure as hell had the money. But what is there to do for entertainment in a town this size.

Wes: You know that's a harmless question. We might get an answer to that one.

They went back to the Dairy Queen drive in restaurant to have a burger for dinner. When they sat down next to an older couple Wes was the first to speak.

Wes: Excuse me folks we are kind of stuck in Mossberg for a couple of days. Our truck broke down. Is there anything to do here.

Old man in overalls: Not unless you like to watch a fire burn in the fireplace.

Wes: We are staying at the fish camp, there are no fireplaces and it ain't the season for fireflies.

The couple joined Wes and Eddie in the laugh.

Old woman: Well they are having a social at the Grange tomorrow night. They have coffee all day long for us old folks.