Patriot Play

Gantz would have built his bombs somewhere else, at a spot where regular traffic would be expected. Maybe some kind of industrial site. A place where there would have to be the kind of equipment the panel trucks could be adapted for their intended use. It wouldn’t be an easy place to find, considering the number of such sites there were across the country.

Bolan took out his cell phone and contacted the Farm, asking for Kurtzman.

“What’s the miracle I’m expected to perform tonight?”

“We’re at Gantz’s house outside Tyler Bay. He already had visitors, but not the kind who bring a bottle of wine to accompany a meal.”

“Understood. Gantz?”

“He’d been tortured when we arrived. We mixed it with the visitors. The upshot is they hit the house with a .50-caliber mounted on that boat you spotted in the bay. They used it to get to Gantz’s house. Must have been waiting for dark and the fog to cover their approach. Gantz took a couple of shells. He’s still alive but critical.”

“Where do I come in?”

“Gantz couldn’t have made his bombs here. There has to be a manufacturing site somewhere.”

Bolan heard the big man’s deep sigh.

“Haystacks and needles just registered,” Kurtzman said. “That’s a hell of a request.”

“I realize that. I’ll go through the place here to see if I can turn anything up that might help.”

“How about a confession written down and personally signed by Gantz?”

“If I find it, you’ll be the first to know. Aaron, patch me through to Hal. And thanks.”

“For what? I haven’t done anything yet.”

“I have faith in you, buddy.”

Brognola came on the line. “Is Massachusetts in flames yet?”

“A small part of it is smoking.”

“I knew it. Tell me the worst.”

Bolan gave a detailed report of the Tyler Bay episode. He made it clear to Brognola that they were attempting to gain further information so he and Lyons could make their next move against the Brethren.

“Gantz name them?”

“He named them. I got the feeling the affair between them is over.”

“A .50-caliber round or two is a hell of a way to end a romance.”

“Hal, these people weren’t about to do it easy.”

“So why were they working the guy over if he was with them?” Brognola’s tone became irritable.

“A fallout? Maybe he had a change of heart after the bombings. The number of dead and injured might have hit home. He could have been attempting a shakedown. Asking for more money. Threatening the Brethren with exposure if they didn’t pay up. We need to ID these people. Hal, we’re all making guesses right now.”

“Yeah, I know. I wish we could make the right one.”

“Early in the game. I understand why you’re touchy. We all know the Brethren could stage more bombings before we get to them.”

“Yeah, sorry, Striker.”

“No apologies needed. I’ll touch base later. Right now we have the local law to keep on our team.”

“You need any backup just yell.”

“Will do.”

LYONS CAME FROM OUTSIDE, with a pair of hand cutters Harper had supplied from his vehicle’s tool kit. He handed them to Bolan, who severed the wire around Gantz’s limbs, freeing him from the chair. He covered the unconscious man with a blanket. Lyons went back outside as a precaution, prowling the area with the restless energy that never seemed to leave him.

Chief Harper joined Bolan inside the house. “I have my people on the way. They’ll seal off the area. And I radioed for an ambulance. It has to come some distance. I called the Coast Guard to check the area. The trouble is, by the time they reach the bay that boat will be long gone. Coast Guard is busy tonight with all this fog.”

“Best guess is they’ll find that boat empty and drifting.”

“My thoughts, too.”

“Best we can do is try, Chief.”

“How’s Gantz doing?”

“Touch and go. Those .50-calibers didn’t do him any favors.”

Harper eyed the big man, sensing there was a reason he wasn’t showing much feeling over Gantz’s condition. “Something I should know, Agent Cooper?”

“Tell me about Gantz.”

“Not much to tell. He turned up a few months back. This place had been rented out to him for twelve months. He only showed his face in town a few times. All we got from him was he was here to rest after an illness. The man wasn’t what you’d call talkative.”

“He have any visitors? Did he make trips away from the area?”

“Only a few visitors, but he did make a fair number of trips away from town in that SUV parked out front. You ask a lot of questions, Agent Cooper.”

Bolan smiled. “I suppose I do. It’s necessary, Chief. We need to get a line on the people Gantz was involved with.”

“And who are these people? Not the friendly kind, from what’s happened here tonight. Or is this a need-to-know operation?”

“We believe Gantz may have been involved in the recent mass bombings.”

“The Federal Reserve banks and the department stores? And those National Guard units?”

“The intel we have is moving more and more toward Gantz being involved.”

Harper took a slow look around the room. “Son of a bitch wasn’t making the bombs here?”

“Most likely he worked out his details here, then took trips to wherever they actually constructed the packages.”