Chapter 22 -- NMGLMXMYKMWQOLNVB
They did not have long to wait. Within a few weeks all the preparations were
made and practice runs completed, and message codes arranged. All that
remained was, as Tommy said, pulling the trigger.
Carter had delivered the news to Kucinick, and set the date. Now it was time
to head back to Pittsburgh to wait. He and Tommy said goodbye and headed back.
A few hours later they were there, where Jessica had already reserved motel
rooms and was waiting. They drove out to Henderson's place for a brief visit.
He had two employees who would shadow them on their drive to Chillicothe, and
they were ready.
Henderson was a bit of an enigma, Carter found. He seemed to be one of the
people who seemed to choose to keep a wall between himself and the world, a
wall not immediately apparent but it would stop you if you pushed too hard.
Carter suspected that the source of his wealth might be legal
or not, or both - that he was a man who could make his own rules, and did.
Gordon had been confident he was trustworthy as long as one dealt straight
with him.
Back in Pittsburgh they had dinner and settled in to wait. They were in three
different motels, of the ubiquitous chains that populate stops along the
highways. But beginning in the morning they would gather in the small suite
where Jessica was staying. Carter left a small suitcase in his room and went
to join Jessica. Sleep came even later tonight, as they were charged with
excitement edged with slight apprehension. In discussing the significance of
what they were doing, Gordon had called it a 'shot across the bow'. But for
now, the enemy would have no idea where it came from.
When they awoke, there was no time for the usual morning lovemaking, and the
mood wasn't there. They went down to breakfast in the hotel restaurant, where
Tommy joined them. Afterward he and Carter took their luggage to Jessica's
suite, which was reserved for an additional night.
Early in the afternoon Carter called Kucinick on a burner phone they had given
him. He seemed calm and said he was ready.
"OK," Carter told him. "Bring a change of clothes, just one - jeans, casual
shirt, something like that. And your toothbrush, razor, whatever. We'll get
you outfitted later, everything you need."
The final call was at six, and Carter told him to call when he was at the park,
and again when he was in the car.
Leroy Thompson drove his eleven-year-old Lincoln Continental to a parking lot
near where Kucinick lived. His accomplice, who was also his cousin who was
just two months older, was approaching the park in an old pickup truck,
painted with looked like primer, only darker than usual. There was no license
plate. Kucinick had been given a description, and walked over to the truck as
it came to a stop, and got in.
"We're about five minutes from switching vehicles," the driver told him. "I'm
Mark, welcome aboard."
By the time Kucinick had called Carter to confirm the pickup, they Mark was
parking the truck. They got out and walked to the other side of the lot, got
in the Lincoln with Leroy, and were on their way.
"That old truck is not traceable to us," Mark told him. "We got it into town
for the few minutes we needed it, and now it'll eventually be towed
away. No connection."
Kucinick made his call and confirmed they were on their way.
"Excellent," said Jessica, relief evident in her voice. The possibility that
Kucinick might back out, or something might delay him, was now past. From
here on, everything was under their control.
"Let's see where Jerry is," she said, pressing a button on one of the phones.
"The chair is against the wall," she said when he answered.
"Roger," Yarbrough said. "Just turned on the burner, eggs will be ready in
about ten."
"OK," Jessica said. "He's got their starting time, he'll be taking off shortly,
landing just in time for the pickup. Which should be shortly. The next call
from Kucinick should come when the arrive at the airfield, in about an hour."
The three of them watched television for a while as they waited. A stock
picture of a handgun appeared in the upper part of the screen, by the news
person's head, indicating that a crime report was forthcoming. Jessica turned
up the volume.
Apparently there was a multiple shooting up in Kansas City. They waited to
see if police were involved - apparently not. Three dead and no suspects yet.
"If no cops were involved that's the end of it," said Carter. "No one seems
to care how many of each other they kill, if there's not a cop involved it's
gone by tomorrow."
"There seem to be fewer lately," Jessica said. "Maybe most of the cops have
gotten the word. Shoot anyone you'll probably end up in prison."
"You would think so," said Carter. "The only cops they're going to have left
now will be the worthless ones, the incompetents, the corrupt.
"We can only wonder how it's going to go, places like that. We know the enemy
element in the government wants this, so they can get law enforcement federalized.
But I don't know if they'll be able to control it, once they take over."
"It won't be their first miscalculation," said Carter. "With most of the big
cities full of problematical inhabitants, the resources needed to control them
would be massive. If you take the riots like they just had in Little Rock,
multiply that by, whatever you like, but at least a few dozen. Of course,
they wouldn't have much time to bother us."
"Which would be convenient," Jessica said, "but if they ever get complete and
irreversible control of the government, they're likely to move fast against
any potential resistance. I could see them going ahead and trying to
confiscate private weapons, even seizing the assets of citizens who oppose them.
Even if they are having to deal with bloodbaths in dozens of cities."
"Yeah, you're likely right," said Carter. "But at that point, at least we know
where we stand, in terms of a political solution. There won't be one."
The Comanche taxied toward the runway, Jerry's son in the left seat. He had a
few days off and decided to go along, so Jerry had him fly so he could log a
few hours. Dale was excited, as he was for the first time in his life on a
clandestine mission. The prospect of flying out to a remote airfield, picking
up a passenger, and dropping him on another remote runway, was like something
from a spy novel. Of which he had read a few.
Jerry sensed his son's mood. Once they were up he looked over and as their
eyes met they both grinned.
"Butterflies?" Jerry asked.
"This is something we've talked about and planned for a lot," Dale said. "But
actually doing it for the first time, yeah. It's a new feeling."
"The way things are looking," Jerry said, "we may find ourselves doing some the
things we've been preparing for. And most of them won't be as easy as this."
The time for their passenger to reach the pickup point was about an hour. The
Comanche could cover that distance in something less, so Dale kept their speed
to about 140 miles per hour. Jerry looked out at the darkening land below them.
The sun had just set - it would be dark when they landed. Becoming accustomed
to night operations would be important in the future.
Before long they were approaching the target, and as they lined up with the
runway they could see the landing lights that had been deployed. If the field
eventually became essential, a permanent installation would be needed.
Jerry's phone rang, and pressed the answer button.
"John has a long mustache," came Jessica's voice.
That meant their passenger was ready, and would be waiting just off the runway.
Dale set them down and rolled along the surprisingly long and well-maintained
runway, considering it was mostly used by crop dusters. He saw a vehicle
approaching the runway from the left side. Good, the door was on that side.
He brought the Piper to a stop even with the car. Jerry moved back to open
the door and waited as a man jogged across the grass to the runway, reached
down to help him aboard.
"Grab a seat and buckle up," Jerry said, closing the door and returning to his
seat. Dale taxied on to the end of the runway and turned around. He didn't
look at their passenger as he throttled up the engine and began the takeoff
roll. They climbed into the now-dark sky, turning to head for the southern
Kansas border.
Jerry turned to their passenger.
"Michael Kucinick, I presume? Did I pronounce it right?"
"You got it," said Michael.
"Welcome aboard," Jerry said. "I don't know how much you've been told about
your future, but for now we're just getting you safely from one place to another.
Safely and secretly. I'll call and let them you know you're en route."
Jessica answered the call.
"That was Colonel Strelnikov," she said. "At a little under three hundred miles,
we're looking at about two and a half hours. And now, we wait. How about pizza?"
They had a leisurely meal at a Pizza Hut and returned to the hotel. The evening
news had another homicide in Kansas City.
"Is that the one from earlier?" asked Jessica.
"No," said Tommy. "That one had three dead. Only one this time."
"It is Friday," Carter observed. "We're counting on the police being busy with
other business, and it looks like they are."
"At this rate," said Jessica, "I don't know if driving through there, even on
the interstate, is a great idea.
"We'll be all right," said Tommy. "There's at least six lanes through the
worst part of town. The good part is some of the highway patrol may be off
the interstate as a result. And we'll actually hit I-35 to the south, in
Overland Park, so we should miss all the bad stuff. There may be a tollbooth
or two, I don't remember if they're on our path. The only thing is we'll
probably be on surveillance video, but no reason that should concern us."
Jessica looked at her phone.
"It's about an hour to landing time at Henderson's," she said. "We'd best go.
It'll take a few minutes for me to check out, and we're about twenty minutes
away."
Carter and Tommy carried the luggage down to the cars while Jessica checked out,
and they departed. Henderson's estate was just a few miles outside of town,
and within a few minutes they were waved through the gate and out to the
aircraft parking area. Whatever aircraft Henderson had, they were out of sight.
The two hangars looked as if they might more than one small aircraft, or a
large one each. A couple of trucks were parked there, near a couple of fuel
pumps. There were also a couple of Corvettes, relatively new, both red. Two
men stood between them, talking and paying no attention to their arrival.
Henderson looked at his watch - a Rolex, Carter noticed - and over at the two
Corvettes.
"Those are your chase cars," he said. "They'll be close to you at all times,
usually one in front and one behind. Those 'vettes naturally draw attention,
so any cops you encounter will be looking at them.
Jessica's phone rang, and she had a brief exchange consisting of nothing more
than acknowledgements on her end.
"OK", she said, "they're about ten to twelve minutes out. We'll put Michael in
my car, with Tommy and Darrell following. Are we in good position?"
"Everything looks good," Henderson replied. "When he's on the ground, just have
him taxi up to the pumps. He can refuel and be out of here in under half an
hour."
"Sounds good," Jessica said.
Before long they spotted the lights of an aircraft beyond the end of the runway,
and then the landing lights came on. A few seconds later it was down, and
Jessica called Jerry again, directing him to the fuel pumps. He and Dale gave
the group a quick greeting, with a brief introduction to Henderson, and then
turned to the business of refueling. The two Corvette drivers started their
cars and drove over to where the group was getting into their cars. Nothing
was said - the plans were made and it was time to execute them. They followed
one of the Corvettes and the other fell in behind them.
The convoy took Route 69 at Pittsburgh and headed for Kansas City. Carter and
Tommy were behind Jessica's car, and they remained sandwiched between the two
Corvettes all the way to Kansas City. As Tommy was somewhat more familiar
with the area, Carter called Jessica to suggest switching positions, with they
did. The Friday evening traffic in the area was fairly heavy and staying
together required careful focus on their driving until they emerged from the
city's north side.
Carter had seen only a couple of police cars by then, and as they exited the
city on I-35 he felt some relief. From here it was a straightforward cruise
to the turn east to Chillicothe. The traffic was at its usual density for a
Friday night, and the drive was uneventful. Before long they made the right
turn onto US 36 for the final forty or so miles.
In Chillicothe Jessica contacted their escorts and had them let her take the
lead, and stopped in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Advising them they were
minutes from home, they watched the pair of cars reenter the highway and
disappear. They were almost home.
A few minutes later they were at Jessica's house. It was past midnight but
none of them, tired as they were, were ready to sleep. Jessica had called her
father several times along the way, and now told him they were home.
"The eagle has landed," she told him. "See you tomorrow."
"And that's the last cliche of the mission," she said, smiling at them.
"Michael, you must be at least as hungry as we are. Let's see if we can get a
pizza or something. By the way, for your soon-to-be former name, did you go
by Michael or Mike?"
Michael laughed, as the realization of the changes he was about to experience
sank in.
"Mike's good for now."
"All right, Tommy, can you make Mike at home in the dining room, get some
beers or something? Darrell can help me with the pizza."
The pizzas cooked and on the table, they ate silently for the first couple of
slices. None of them had eaten all day, and as the adrenalin subsided they
wanted nothing more than to eat and go to bed. A couple of beers each
finished them off. After Tommy left Jessica showed Michael to an unused
bedroom, and she and Carter went to her room.
Tired as they were, Carter and Jessica took a quick shower and brushed their
teeth before retiring. The last thing he remembered was lying down on the big
bed, arranging a pillow, and Jessica lying down beside him, her head next to
his shoulder and an arm across his chest.