Peril in the Pines Ch. 02

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"You're right about that. Look all around, then advance a little. Then look again and advance again. That's how we did it in the Marine Corps. You'll have radio contact with the men on the ground with you, and with the truck, so you can abort the mission if it looks too dangerous."

"What about aerial photographs? Did you get any?"

"This afternoon. We take off at two and fly for an hour. The state boys tell me they can have prints back to me by four or five. You can go home and I'll call you when I have the prints in my hands. When you come in I'll have Tim and Vince here to meet you and we'll all go over them together. I'll order pizza."

"Okay. One more detail. Can you deputize me for this mission? I'd hate to get killed and not have any death benefit, or be hospitalized and not have any insurance to pay the bills. It could wipe out my whole nest egg."

"I've already been working on that. Becky, can you come in here with that paperwork for Jack?"

"Here you are. And here's the oath. I'll witness."

"John Olson, do you solemnly . . ." and so on for about a hundred words.

"I do."

"Sign here and here. And then over here. On this line, name your beneficiary. Then sign here. Becky, you sign there. All right, that's all there is to it. Congratulations, Chief Deputy Olson. Welcome aboard!"

"What? Chief Deputy? I thought you were trying to hire a Senior Deputy. Fill me in."

"Here's how it was. All this had to be authorized by the county supervisors. They're a good bunch of guys, but they don't simply rubber stamp everything I want to do. I thought about getting their approval for a Senior and then going back to get authorization for a Chief later, and I decided it was easier to go over that hurdle once than twice. They don't care what the title is, they care about law and order and safety for our citizens. So I just changed my mind, that's all. Another thing, while I was thinking all this out, I called Marilyn Miller and we talked about you. You owe her a big kiss. Now you go home and I'll call you when I've got the photos."

I left with my feet barely touching the ground. I stopped at the flower shop and bought two bouquets and headed for Jan's house. She was just pulling into the driveway when I arrived. She greeted me with a kiss, and then I reached into the Jeep and pulled out the flowers. "What's the big occasion?"

"Wait till we get in the house and get your mother."

"All right. Come on in. Mom?"

"Right here, honey. Oh hello, Jack. What's all this?"

"Here are some flowers for you, Mrs. Miller. And here's a big kiss. Thank you for clinching my new job for me."

"Oh, I just had a little talk with an old friend. I understand he's a friend of yours now, too."

"He sure is! Jan, these are for you. I told you our engagement depended on my getting a job. Now that I've got one, it's official. These flowers are to celebrate our engagement, and a ring will follow in good time. You don't need to genuflect or curtsy. You can just admire the flowers and say, 'Thank you, Chief Deputy.'"

Both of the ladies screamed in unison, "Chief Deputy!" Jan came over and hugged me, and her mother hugged us both at once. I felt that my prayers had indeed been answered, and the only other thing I could have wanted was a photographer to record the happiness on our faces.

SYNCHRONIZING OUR WATCHES

I caught a quick nap before getting dressed for the mission. Then with my clothes and combat boots on, I lay down again on top of the covers and drifted in that beautiful world between asleep and awake. It was strange: One part of my mind could hear sounds from outside, yet I was dreaming a very pleasant dream at the same time. Jan was looking at me through the bouquet of flowers that I'd brought her. At first she looked very serious, almost stern, but then she gradually smiled, not just with her mouth or eyes but with her whole face. She was just about to tell me something when the phone rang. The Sheriff had the aerial photos.

I timed the trip from my house to the Sheriff's station: seven minutes. Add a minute to park and walk to the interview room. I walked in to find the Sheriff looking at photographs with the deputy who'd come out after the shooting, and another one who looked like a heavyweight wrestler. I mean he was big! His hair was dark with a little gray, his face intelligent, and he was sort of graceful when he moved. Think of Brad Garrett without the one liners and you'll be close.

"Hi, Jack," the Sheriff said. "You already met Tim, and this is Vince.

I put my hand in Vince's and it disappeared from sight. His deep voice said, "I'm real proud to meet you, Chief. That was one hell of a job you did out there in the woods."

"Thanks, Vince. It was just survival. If those bozos had hurt a hair of Jan's head I'd have never forgiven myself." I glanced at the photos and asked, "Do we know how to get in there with a truck, Tim?"

"Piece of cake, really," said Tim. The dirt track isn't even a mile long. But they've been clever. The entrance isn't straight in. See how it angles off the road here and then turns way around to the right, so from the road it just looks like trees and more trees. I've driven right past there and never even spotted it."

The Sheriff explained, "Timmy knows these roads better than anybody around here. With him at the wheel we don't need a GPS. Whenever my sciatica acts up and it hurts too much to drive, he's my driver. I have to treat him to a cup of coffee or he takes me over all the potholes and big bumps and tells me I need to get the roads fixed."

"Can you show me how these photos fit into the map, Tim, so I can get a feel for what we'll be doing?"

"Sure can. We ought to mark it out on his map, anyway. This road is Main Street here in town. It becomes Myers Road. Then here we turn left onto Racebrook Road, and it twists and turns, and here's that funny little jog in the road. See, it shows up on the photo there. From there it's about half a mile to where this dirt driveway goes off to the left."

"Okay, wait a bit. From right here in our parking lot to that point is how far?"

"Well, it's about eight miles out to Racebrook. Then to the jog is another five and a half. So to the start of the track it's fourteen miles."

"So at thirty miles an hour it would take roughly a half hour. But how fast can you run it going out?"

"Fifty on Myers, forty on Racebrook."

"Roughly forty five average for fourteen miles. Call it twenty minutes, give or take. Now here's what I'm trying to get at. I'll have two deputies with me. We'll go in on foot, and we're not running in. We'll take every bit of a half hour to get to the brickyard, as you named it, Sheriff. We don't know what to expect there, so we want to look around before you enter that driveway. Once you're on that, you're not only committed, you're a sitting duck. So give us five minutes on site before we radio you to come on in. If we meet resistance that five minutes gives us time to neutralize it or retreat and abort the mission.

"Now back to the arithmetic. How long to get from here to where my Jeep was parked the other day, Tim?"

"What are you driving?"

"Sheriff, what do you want us to take?"

"Use the big SUV."

"That'll take about thirty minutes."

"All right, now I'll throw in a wrinkle. Does the railroad track show up in the photos?"

"Yeah, in these two over here."

"Where I parked the Jeep was on the south side of the railroad, where we could walk straight in. Tomorrow I'd like to park across the track from there. First question, how do I get over there? Second question, how do I know when I'm in the right spot?"

"Look at the map. I'll put a dot where your trail into the woods starts. Now look back at Miller Road. This is where you drove off to go along the railroad right of way to the dot. But instead you'll go over the tracks and follow around this curve, and get off here. Let me mark it. Then over here to the railroad and along to the east like this. About half a mile. Now back to the photo. See this funny little thing? I doesn't look like much in an overhead shot, but it's a whistle post, about six feet high, white on the top half with a black W on the east side of it. Park there. That's right across from your trail with the yellow tape on it. In fact, you can see some of the tape in the photo."

"Okay, so let's allow forty minutes from here to where we'll park. Sheriff, do we know who's going to be with me?"

"Hard to tell. But most of the boys know that area pretty well. They've all parked out there with their girlfriends. You'll see so many tire tracks that you'll think it's a parking lot."

"Yeah," said Vince, "Every unwed mother in town got pregnant where you're going to turn to run along the track."

"Okay. So we'll take forty minutes to drive and park, thirty minutes to walk and sniff, and five minutes to sterilize the brickyard area. We'll be ready for you to turn in at the driveway seventy-five minutes after we leave here. And Tim, you'll take twenty minutes to get to the start of the driveway. So you'll need to leave the parking lot here fifty-five minutes after I do. Everybody agree?" Affirmative nods and grunts everywhere.

"Now Sheriff, I'm worried about the length of time we'll have to be on site. Did you get the lawn cart?"

"Yes. It's in the truck already."

"Does it leave room for two men to sit with their backs to the cab?"

"Yes, plenty of room for them to stretch their legs."

"Can you get another cart like that one?"

Vince spoke up. "Yes. The guys who take care of the courthouse have two of them, and the guys at the high school have two more."

"Could we fit three of them in there and still have room to sit?"

Vince answered again. "We ought to put 'em upside down, going across the truck bed. Can we go out there right now and see if it'll fit? If so, we can put three in there easily."

We walked out the back door into the parking lot, which was brightly lit by a farm style floodlight way up on a pole. Vince popped the tailgate and sort of leaped up into the truck. I'd never seen anybody get into a pickup like that. He picked up the cart with one hand, flipped it upside down, and set it down crosswise. It just made it with an inch or two to spare. "Look here: this is about where it'll go with two more behind it. I might have to bend my knees, but other than that we'll make it just fine."

"Good. Then let's call somebody away from their supper to get us two more carts. Who can do that?"

Tim said, "I know one of the guys from the courthouse real well. I'll go and take care of it right now."

"One last item. We'll need two shotguns with buckshot. Do we have them handy, Sheriff?"

Under his breath Vince muttered, "Now you're talkin' my language."

"Sure, Jack. I've got the armory key in my desk. Is that all of it?"

"I think that'll do it. All agreed?" Nods all around.

The Sheriff left to get the key. Tim was already out in the main office on the phone. Vince turned and put his hand on my shoulder. "I've been in this outfit for ten years and I've never seen a meeting like that. Is that how you did it in Afghanistan?"

"Just exactly like that. Anything less and the whole mission's a crapshoot. Let's make a pact right now: I won't gamble with your life and you won't gamble with mine. Ever. Agreed?"

"You bet!" He paused. "Oh, that's an unfortunate choice of words. But you know what I mean."

"Now look, Vince, are you comfortable with riding in the truck bed as a tail gunner?"

"I think it's brilliant. How'd you like to be trapped in the cab, not knowing what's coming at your back? Up in back I can see what's coming and do something about it."

"Okay. Now make sure you pick a good gunfighter to partner with you there. And take both of the shotguns and lay 'em down one on each side, where each of you can grab one in a second. You have to hope there's no traffic on the road if the shooting starts. Shooting from truck to truck is tricky, and you'll want full auto or the shotgun. We had a 50 cal machine gun on top of our Humvee, and even with that it wasn't easy."

"That gives me an idea. If they're in a sedan or a half ton, I can stand up with my feet apart, leaning back onto the roof of the cab, and shoot down into their windshield with the shotgun. Or with the AR on full auto. Give 'em something to think about."

"Another tip. Tell Tim to hold his speed down to thirty. If he's tearing along you'll bounce around so bad that you'll have a tough time getting off a straight shot. Thirty is plenty fast enough. They'll have a speed advantage over a loaded truck anyway, so count on firepower, not horsepower."

"Good advice. I never thought about that. Thanks."

"I'll see you here at six. We'll have our full crew assembled by seven ten. I'll leave at seven twenty. You'll leave fifty-five minutes later, at eight fifteen. If you start getting shot at while you can still back out of that driveway, back out and radio me so we can pull out as well. If you get a quarter mile in and start getting shot at, either run over 'em or hunker down and use the truck as a shield and shoot it out with 'em. Hand out the shotguns to a couple of good shooters. They're great in a close ambush. Tear a guy's head right off. Keep me advised on the radio so we can give you whatever support you need. We can run down the road and hit 'em from behind, but if we do I'll tell you so you don't shoot us by mistake. Agreed?"

"Yes sir. Now look, while it's just us here, I'm very glad you came aboard, Jack. I mean Chief. I think we're going to have a good time working together. I'll see you at six."

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