Chain Reaction

“Special Forces?” she asked.

Mack Bolan shook his head. “Not in the way you’re thinking. I don’t have affiliations to any agencies you can think of. But I’m on your side. My name’s Matt Cooper.”

“Matt Cooper? SAC Duncan mentioned your involvement in the smallpox investigation.”

“That’s why I’m here. Duncan asked me to run background interference because he has concerns about your safety. He has suspicions there might be a leak in your department.”

“Damn. This isn’t the first time.” Mitchell thrust out a hand. “Special Agent Sarah Mitchell.”

Bolan took her hand. As slim as it was against his own, he felt the firm grip.

Her handshake gave Bolan the opportunity to take a closer look at the woman. He noted she was tall, and had an athletic build. The eyes that studied him were bright, a shade of green and amber that instantly drew attention to her face, and alert. They were set in a face that could only be described as beautiful. She wore her dark hair cut chin-length. There was a determined air about her that told Bolan she was not a person likely to be intimidated. He gauged her age to be early thirties, and the way she had handled herself told him she was far from being a novice.

“Nice to meet you Agent Mitchell.” He handed her Glock back. “I suggest we get out of here so we can discuss things in more secure surroundings.”

They retreated, drawing away from the wall. Bolan led the way, Mitchell keeping up with his ground-eating stride.

“So how did you get here?” she asked. “Not by taxi seeing the way you’re dressed.”

“A private fast flight and rented wheels.”

He offered no more of an explanation and Mitchell didn’t query. This man plainly had good backup whoever he was.

Bolan guided her into the tree line to where his hired SUV was concealed in the thicket. She looked over the vehicle and the camouflage Bolan had constructed.

“And you?” Bolan asked as they settled inside the vehicle.

“My partner brought me as close as was safe, then we parted company. Right now I have no idea where he is. For all I know he’s somewhere putting his case to Duncan.”

“Is that the way the FBI is running surveillance now?”

“Agent Brewster doesn’t approve of my methods. Now I like him, but the guy is so anally retentive he lives and breathes the FBI manual. After a time it became a pain in the ass. SAC Duncan set us on the tracking of this group we believe is part of Hegre. We got his far but Brewster refused to carry out a close visual on them. Said he needed to get permission from Duncan before we did anything. We got to arguing in the car. I climbed out and told him to go get his permission and walked off into the forest.”

“He didn’t come after you? That doesn’t seem like the best behavior for a partner.”

There was a trace of suspicion in Bolan’s voice that Mitchell failed to pick up.

“I guess I can be difficult to work alongside, Cooper. Duncan is always telling me to cool it.” She waved her hand in a frustrated gesture. “What the hell, I’m supposed to be going after the bad guys, not checking the FBI workbook every five minutes.”

“So what brought you here?” Bolan asked.

“Two missing agents who were part of my team. Then the news that one of them, Ray Talbot, had turned up dead. And Duncan calling me with the news that a delayed email from Talbot had a location. This location.”

“Right now we backtrack to your vehicle. Go talk to your partner. Assess how things stand before we take any action. Agreed? Let’s add your partner to the mix. It gives us one more body.”

Mitchell hesitated but reluctantly nodded.

They retreated, Mitchell giving him directions to the Crown Victoria. Reaching it, they found the vehicle empty. There was no sign of Mitchell’s partner.

Bolan’s intuition was warning him of something not quite right in the situation. This whole setup with Mitchell and her reluctant partner did not gel. He decided to play along until he could work out just what was going on.

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_ff98d169-f1b2-52d0-b55f-eb5773581266)

“This whole thing was based on small leads,” Mitchell said. “Enough to have us make a move. Our analysts have been working their way through names and contacts that have any link to Hegre. Duncan gave me a small team to follow up any leads we got. Hegre is smart. They cover their tracks well, and use local assets to do their dirty work so they can stay out of the spotlight. We got lucky and picked up a couple of very thin leads and started to track the links. One of the cell phones we picked up from the smallpox episode had a list of numbers on it. There were tracked calls to this location. Our people have been watching those numbers, and one of them recently showed activity. We pulled a message that gave a location and it showed up as the being a remote address. The one we just left. Confirmation came when the same location was provided by Ray. I hadn’t had contact for a couple of days. That wasn’t like Ray. The guy always kept in contact.”

“So you decided there was a link.”

Mitchell nodded. “Duncan said that Ray had been found dead near the town of Treebone. Brewster and I had been on the lookout for him. That delayed email Ray sent had the GPS location for this place. Brewster figured it was tenuous at best but as I am higher up the pay grade he went along until I decided to go take a closer look. That was when he dug in his heels and started to quote protocols. Duncan gave me free rein, but Brewster wanted a directive. Now we have another missing agent.”

“You wanted to find out if your missing guy was around?”

“I couldn’t waste time. Ray was dead. Jake Bermann could be in danger. Waiting wasn’t an option.”

“I can’t fault that, Agent Mitchell.”

“Look, Cooper, I don’t have time to debate this. If Brewster has gone to call in the troops we could be waiting for a couple of hours.” She hesitated. “How long does it take to kill someone? For all I know Bermann could already be dead, but I’m damned if I can just wait around.” She took a breath to calm herself. “What I can’t figure is where Brewster is. The man is no Eagle Scout. Not the type to go wandering around in the woods.”

Bolan understood her reasoning. He could accept rules of engagement. But he could also see it from Mitchell’s viewpoint. If her teammate, Bermann, was in enemy hands his life expectancy could be counted in hours...maybe minutes. As she had also said the FBI agent might already be dead. It was an unenviable position to be in, and Bolan could sympathize with her predicament.

“What were you planning before I showed up?” he asked. “You looked about ready to go storming in on your own without any intel about how many you might be up against.”

“I was hoping my partner might join me...oh hell...I know I didn’t think it through. But I can’t simply do nothing. And now Brewster is missing.”

The haunted expression in her eyes made Bolan aware of the depth of her feeling. Sarah Mitchell was impulsive, but caring. Her need to locate one of her own had overridden her FBI protocols.

“We’ll do this,” he said, “but you follow my lead. No questions. Okay?”

Mitchell nodded.

“Where the hell is Brewster?” she asked again.

Bolan had been asking himself that question. There was still that faint but nagging suspicion tugging at him. The more he thought about it the stronger his suspicion became. Until he had proof one way or the other he would not voice his thoughts to Mitchell.

“We need to move back to the house. Check it out before we decide what to do.”

Mitchell nodded again, said, “It’s time I called in and found out what’s happening.” She searched in her jacket for her cell phone. “Damn, I left my cell in the car. I argued with Brewster and tossed it on the dash before I headed out. Losing my cool again...”

She got in the car and leaned forward to grab her cell phone, but it was not there.

“Let me do that,” Bolan said. “My cell is on a higher security setting than yours anyway.”

“You think mine could be compromised?”

“Think about it. If it’s missing, who has it?”

Bolan took out his cell phone and called Stony Man, getting Aaron Kurtzman on the line.

“What can I do for you, big guy?”