Case of the Lost Drone Ch. 02

"Hell, we don't have departments like you do." said Sherif Gleason. "We got two Detectives and twelve Police Officers, and the Sheriff Department has four Deputies."

Chief Floyd said "I'll take you to our Detectives, and you can talk with them." With that, he took us to another office. Inside were Detective Josh Segers, a short, slender black man who looked competent; and Detective Chris Williams, who was blonde and acted like a good ole boy, but I was not fooled: he was a pretty good Detective under that veneer.

We left Mary and Christopher to talk to Josh and Chris, and after a short conversation in his office, the Police Chief came with me and Cindy in my SUV. "Wow, I'd heard you had a no-kidding vehicle." he said as he got into the shotgun seat. "Bulletproof, computer technology... good stuff."

"And we need it." I said. "So, where to?"

"Drive south on State 95, if you would." said the Chief. As we drove, we discussed the Eldon family case.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that they were on your side of the State Line." I said. "They were killed somewhere, then brought back into my County."

"There's only two bridges between our counties crossing the State Line." said Chief Floyd. "The one for the main highway, and the other that goes from your Farm Road 2 to our County Road 4. That's an old bridge, and there's signs on it that say it's shut down... but the truth is that people can cross over it, and sometimes do."

"That could be the way they got the Eldon's car back into our County." said Cindy. "My only question is why do that?"

"Putting a State Line between where they were found and where they were murdered adds layers of bureaucracy." I said. "I've also got a suspicion that they meant to dump the bodies in Coltrane County, and missed by a hundred yards to the north."

"That would make a little more sense." said Chief Floyd. After a drive of some miles, he directed me to turn left (east) on County Road 4, which was paved and in okay condition. After driving a few miles, he had me take a couple of dirt roads between farms, going south, leading to fence that went east-west. He had us stop and we got out.

"This is the county line." Chief Floyd said, leaning on a fencepost with one foot on the barbed wire fence. "Our lower border is further south than yours, so your Coltrane County is dead east of here. I think that 'Vision' compound is dead east of the line."

He continued: "South of here now is farmland. But at one time, this land was owned by the Federal Government. Back in the 1970s and '80s, there were bunkers and silos for nuclear-tipped ICBMs running along the State Line river, about twelve missiles right around here. We all knew it, though the Government wouldn't admit it."

I was a bit shocked at that. Nuclear missiles, some of the most powerful weapons on this earth, had been housed under these peaceful-looking farm fields. Such was the times of the Cold War decades ago...

Floyd went on: "About the time the Soviet Union fell, they took the missiles out of here. They sold some of the land to BigAgraFoods for farming purposes, and Burr County, which is the county directly south of us here, no longer has any land under Federal control. But Clinton County, further to the south, also had silos... and nobody will say for sure if the Feds sold all their land there."

"What is on the other side of the State Line from Clinton County?" I asked, though I knew from observing maps when I was investigating goings-on after shooting down the helicopters that had attacked Quint Daniels. (Author's note: 'Pink Panther', Ch. 04.)

"I'm not sure of the name," said Chief Floyd, "but it's the county that has that nuclear power plant."

"Ah, Farmdale County." I said. "That is very interesting news, wouldn't you say, Captain Ross?"

"Yes sir, it is." she replied.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We headed back to Hammondsville to collect our Detectives. After making our goodbyes with the Hammondsville LEOs, we drove back towards our own State and County, and home.

"So you don't want to take the long way around, and go south?" asked Cindy.

"No." I replied. "We've got something else to do. And also, this vehicle is a walking electronic signature beacon. We should do our sightseeing in something far less detectable, n'est pas?" Cindy nodded in understanding.

I asked Mary and Christopher how things went with them and the Hammondsville Detectives. "Good!" said Mary. "They're good people, but are a bit overwhelmed by being in a sparsely populated county with a lot of empty ground to cover, and far less money than we have. They're going to work with us on monitoring traffic into our County, though."

"Good." I said. "Making new LEO friends is always a good thing. Did you get any gossip, or was it too early for that?"

"We got a bit, sir." said Purvis. "One of their U.S. Senators is named Roy Lester. He's a Republican, and a close associate of Samuel Russell, and he takes a lot of donations from BigAgraFoods and from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Segers said that illegal immigration used to be a huge problem in Hammonds County, until you, the Iron Crowbar, became Police Commander in our County and started arresting the Illegals that crossed the State Line. So they moved further west."

"Glad to know I'm winning friends and influencing people." I said...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Getting back to Town & County Police Headquarters at about 2:00pm, I told Cindy to assemble the MCD Detectives and Officers in Classroom 'E' for a meeting, preceded by sweeping the room for bugs. The official sweep yielded nothing. Cindy's sweep yielded nothing. Your Iron Crowbar's sweep yielded a live spider in the corner sitting on its web; I left that bug alone and in place.

"Okay, guys," I said, starting the meeting after we'd sat down, "it's time for me to give you some information that may be related to this case. If I've said nothing before, it's because there was no connection to any crime in our County, and there was really nothing concrete to discuss. It may be classified, but I don't know for sure, and at this point I'm not caring too much."

I continued: "Some of you know that when we got Quint Danielson out of prison after he was falsely accused of rape by Kendra Luskin, we flew him to Coltrane County... and we came under attack. I am most very pleased to report that the attack was interdicted and the perps totally annihilated. But what also came out of that, but was kept more quiet, was that subsequent Press investigations near the State Line river were interdicted by the U.S. military."

"Today," I said, "we learned that the Federal Government once had secret installations on the other side of the State Line from Farmdale County. It is possible that the Eldons went to that area and did not return alive. At this point, you will continue to work on the case, and Detective Warner has the clearance to do so, but it's going to take some extra work to find out the answers to some of the questions that I am forming in my fertile little mind."

"So," I said, "I said earlier that Bettina Wurtzburg just might find herself a wanted person of interest in this case. Let us make that happen now."

With that, I took out my Police cellphone and called Bettina. "Hello, Ms. Wurtzburg," I said. "Feeling okay, today?"

"Thanks to your wife's medical skills, yes." Bettina said.

"I need to let you know you are on speaker," I said, "with a room full of Detectives listening in. I need you to come in to the Station. It's not an invitation you can refuse."

"Uh, I don't think it's a good idea that I be seen coming to the Police Station." said Bettina. "And do I need a lawyer?"

"You have the right to have an attorney, if you wish." I said. "But as a compromise, why don't you meet me at my wife's office? It's either that, voluntarily, or the Police Station... under arrest due to a warrant as a material witness..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The infamous 'two sofas' were once again in use. On one of them was reporterette and KXTC managing editor Bettina Wurtzburg, with Dr. Laura Fredricson sitting next to her. Facing her was Captain Cindy Ross and myself.

"So, Bettina," I said, "you got pretty ripped last night."

"Is that a crime?" Bettina asked.

"No." I said with a half-smile, "but you are not known to drink a lot, and certainly not to excess as quickly as you did. So it's not a crime... but it suggests to me a guilty conscience." I peered hard at Bettina, who was now very unsettled.

"Was it about the Eldons's deaths?" asked Cindy (right on cue, I might add).

"Yes." said Bettina. "I knew Roger and Carla pretty well, and their kid was a smart little boy. A lot of us went out for a drink. I got carried away."

"Why?" asked Cindy.

"I can't discuss that. Journalistic privilege, protecting sources." Bettina said. It was not a good try.

"Then I will tell you what it was that made you want to drink so heavily," I said, "and you can fill in the gaps where I go astray, okay?" Cindy's eyes sparkled, though she tried to hide it. She loved it when I did this.

I began: "Some weeks ago, you investigated the area where I shot down two criminals using helicopters for indecent purposes, such as attempted murder. You the Media then investigated that area yourself, and found yourselves interdicted by the military. You then asked me to look into it."

I continued: "I did look into it a little bit, and found that the Google Maps were significantly altered for that area. I also was subjected to an attempted hacking attempt on my computer as I looked into it. Unfortunately, other things came up, so I haven't had a chance to continue investigating that area."

"So I am surmising," I said, "that you asked Roger Eldon to fly a drone with a camera over the area. You thought, and rightly so, that even if his drone was taken down, no one would do anything seriously bad to him. Unfortunately... he tried to fly that drone while with his son. And someone did do bad things to them... they murdered the father and son. And then they went to the Eldon home and annihilated Carla and the family dog."

Bettina's face was ghostly white, and she was barely keeping from crying. "Bettina," I said, "you should not blame yourself for what happened. But you need to understand that you might very well become these perps' next target if they ever come to learn that you're the one that asked Roger Eldon to fly that drone. So... where did he fly it?"

Bettina shook her head, then said "You're right. Completely right. About all of it. I asked him to fly the drone into that area where we were stymied. He told me he was going to go out on Saturday, which is this past Saturday, and he'd fly the drone near the area I wanted him to survey. I didn't hear from him on Saturday or Sunday, and we were working on another news piece that weekend so I never tried to call him. So the first thing I heard was from the Police logs on Monday, and I knew they were dead... because I asked him to..."

Bettina did not finish, she began sobbing. Laura took the redheaded woman into her arms and comforted her.

Part 10 - Hornets And Cobras

"And now, to protect the rights and lives of decent citizens, the Green Hornet rides again!" --- Green Hornet TV show, circa 1966.

It was getting very cold, the temperatures dropping into the low 20s, as the sun was setting over the western horizon. The Black Beauty was riding south into Coltrane County. Cindy had Al Hirt playing on the CD player... trumpeting the 'Green Hornet' theme.

"County Road 94 goes east and west along the southern border of your father's property." I told Cindy, who was driving. "We'll take that road and cross the State Line there, then head south along the various dirt farm roads."

We were both wearing all black, and in layers to keep warm. I was wearing a black trenchcoat/raincoat, while Cindy chose to remain loose and flexible in order to be able to engage in weaponless combat more easily. We could not run the heater of the car, as that generated an infrared signature. The engine was shielded, and we hoped adequately so.

"What are we looking for?" Cindy asked as we drove past the road to 'The Vision' World Headquarters.

"I'm not really sure." I said. "Just proof of an active site would be enough for right now."

"They've gotta know that after killing the Eldons, they need to lay low." Cindy replied. "If it were me, I'd turn out all the lights and hunker down for a month or two."

"And they may do just that." I said. "But I don't think they're as smart as you are."

Cindy turned onto the County Road 94, going west. The night was overcast; a front was moving in, I observed. We crossed the bridge out of our State, and continued down the paved road for a ways. Cindy cut the CD player off.

"No ELINT for them to pick up." said Cindy. Our cellphones were turned off and shielded in the glove compartment, all transmitting radios were off. Even our headlights were barely visible... they were sunken in like pot lights, and they were emitting a purple light that had UV in it, which the windshield converted into a visible picture. This was no-shit technology, courtesy of Dr. P. Harvey Eckhart and his acolytes.

The taillights were also sunken in, so that one had to be directly behind us to see them. That was an idea from me to Dr. Eckhart, based upon how Pathfinders set up Airborne drop zones... they bury lights so that they cannot be seen from the ground to the side, but can be seen by aircraft flying overhead.

We turned south onto a road that was paved but very old. We drove south in Burr County without incident. Nothing but farm fields. Then we came up to the Clinton County line. Almost immediately, a double row of chain link fence appeared. There were signs that were common with many U.S. Government installations, showing a red, white, and blue US highway shield with warnings about trespassing.

I was using my night vision binoculars to peer into the distance, and saw nothing. No lights showing any aboveground installation. Then Cindy said "There are radio signals coming from over there." Then she said "Oh shit... Look."

I looked. The dashboard monitor showing where we were showed little dots lighting up right where we were, then fading as we drove on. "Monitors in the road." Cindy said. "We're setting them off as we drive over them. Betcha they know we're here."

"Yep." I said. "And those little dots on the left are drones... coming this way." I got the little device we called the 'Playstation'. "Let's see if my aim is good... or if I need 'range time'." Cindy laughed.

The dots came closer and closer, and soon were veering to come up to us. As soon as I saw that, I armed two small missiles. The trunk of the car opened, and the first missile was fired. One of the dots disappeared. I fired another missile. The second dot disappeared.

"All right, let's get the hell out of here." I said. "Floor it." Cindy floored it, and soon we were flying down the road at over 160 miles per hour. I said "We'll be at the road that goes to Benning County in our State in a second. Take that."

"Roger that." said Cindy. "Uh oh, we've got bogeys at seven o'clock. Two choppers... no, four choppers. Two more coming behind them."

Then we saw flashes of light to our rear, and two of the dots disappeared. I was grinning huge. "Oh yeah... I'll bet those motherfuckers never saw our guys coming up behind them!"

"We've got choppers flying behind us?" Cindy asked, astonished.

"And you won't believe who they are." I said. "Let's get on our side of the State Line before I explain, if you don't mind..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We crossed the State Line into Benning County just north of the town of Columbus. The road was familiar; it was the road where we chased down four tanker trucks in the 'Environmental Hazards' case. As we got to the eastern end of the county, there was a treeline that would give us some protection.

The two choppers that had been our friends landed in the open field just north of us. Cindy was shocked to see that one of the choppers was my Cobra, rented to the TCPD for $1/yr. It had been flown by Sgt. Andrew Prince of the TCPD. Cindy was even more shocked to see who was flying the other, unmarked Cobra... it was none other than former Air Cavalry Officer and now Police Chief Sean Moynahan!

"I haven't had that much fun since I retired from the Army." said the Chief as he and Prince huddled with us in the trees.

"We're about to have more fun, Chief." I said. "Four bogeys, coming out of the northwest. Hewitt! Are you ready!"

"Yes sir!" came a voice from the woods to our left (west). Hugh Hewitt had four of his SWAT Team members with prior military experience ready.

"Chow?" I called out.

"Here, Commander." said SBI-SIS Lieutenant Norm Chow, a former Green Beret. He came over to me. He was wearing camouflage, and the clothing was designed to help shield his heat signature. He also had night-vision goggles.

The four choppers were closing in slowly. I could not tell if they were searching for us, or if they had a bead on us but were approaching with caution. For several minutes we watched as they flew inexorably towards us... then they began speeding up.

"Lock on!" I yelled out. "If they don't turn around, fire!"

The Enemy choppers began veering to our west. The radars for Hugh's team's missile launchers were a distance from them. Sure enough, the enemy got a bead and fired a missile.

*BOOM!*

"Fire at will!" I called out. Two missiles streaked towards the bogey choppers. Unfortunately, they missed. But that was because the bogeys took evasive maneuvers, then turned tail and ran back northwest as fast as they could go.

"Let's get out of here!" I yelled. Hugh and his team collected their gear and got into their waiting TCPD SWAT SUVs, Prince and Moynahan got their choppers started and took off, and Cindy and I got the Black Beauty running. Chow rode with us. Soon, we were on the University Highway, headed home.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Coltrane County Deputy Sheriff Strait was watching the traffic go by, all of it within the speed limit. People were aware that Coltrane County was something of a speed trap county, so they were cautious.

Then Strait saw the blue lights flashing, and knew that it was likely Captain Ross in that old green car she was always driving. He got on the radio and said "Come on through, Green Hornet!" Normally Cindy would reply, but this time there was no answer... except what happened next.

The Black Beauty indeed whizzed by Strait. The blue lights were pot lights on the front grille, not the big one that normally was on top. Then the roar of two helicopters flying low over his head caught him by surprise. Then came the two TCPD SUVs, not burning their blue lightbars.

Deputy Strait just shook his head, wondering what trouble the Iron Crowbar and Friends had gotten themselves into this time...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We gathered at Headquarters. We had eight large pizzas waiting for us in the Main Conference Room.

"Dayum, Chief!" Cindy exclaimed when Moynahan came in. "I've got enough problems keeping the Commander out of trouble, and now you go flying choppers and downing bogey aircraft!"

"Heh heh heh heh." said the Chief. "That was a lot of fun. And Commander, that was an excellent job of leading that little excurrrrrsion."

"And you and Sergeant Prince flying that chopper was totally unexpected by the Enemy." I said as I ate a slice of pizza. "I'm pretty sure that I was observed in the car, so they're really wondering who blew two of their choppers out of the sky."

"I was surprised those last four bogeys turned and ran." said Lt. Hewitt. "I was loading up for another round, expecting a firefight."