it.
34.344 N 118.511W at 7:17 P.M . on September 2. Look in the sub.
No guns. No cell phones.
The Rubaco Pentad
“So I am going to drop the full three million?” Vail asked.
“Again, the director doesn’t want to take any chances, so yes. Make the drop, and the agents covering you will take care of grabbing Bertok.”
Vail looked at the headquarters tech agent and pointed to his bag. “Is there something in there for me?”
“Because of what happened in the past, we want to be overly cautious. That transmitter you’ve got on has a GPS capability, but I’ve brought two other items for you to carry in case they try to render the primary transmitter inoperable. The first time a river was used to neutralize it. Who knows what it’ll be this time.” From his case, he took out what looked like a wallet. “This is also a GPS transmitter, very new, very micro. If you’re patted down, it looks and feels just like a wallet. It’ll tell us exactly where you are at all times. And it’s waterproof.” Vail took out his own wallet and handed it to Kate, and then put the transmitter in the same back pocket. “Also, we used canvas to fabricate the moneybag because of its thickness. There’s an overlapping seam at the bottom that’s hiding another GPS, which has the same microtechnology as the wallet. It’s even thinner because it doesn’t need the leather to disguise it. The hope is that because this bag weighs almost seventy pounds, the bad guys won’t be picking it up over their heads to check the bottom. Even if they do, it’s extremely difficult to detect.” He reached into the side pockets of the bag and took out three items: anunderwater flashlight, a knife with a regular blade and an equally long saw blade, and a low-light monocular.
“What’s with the knife?” Vail asked.
“If nothing else, it’s a backup weapon. The letter said no guns. We thought we’d include one with the saw blade because who knows what you’re going to run into. It was developed for clandestine military units.”
Vail snapped the flashlight on and off and opened both knife blades. He took his own lock-back knife out of his pocket and handed it to Kate. Opening the mason’s knife and seeing its honed sharpness, she said, “I’m surprised you thought you needed a gun.”
Vail was reading the demand note and didn’t appear to hear her. “Is that ‘sub’ as in submarine?” he asked.
Tom Demick pulled out a map and laid it on a desk as everyone gathered around. “We’ve reconned the area only by satellite and map. Didn’t want to go stumbling around there with GPSs. It’s in West Hollywood. As close as we can figure, it’s this clear area right here between Lucas Avenue, South Toluca Street, and Beverly Boulevard. There’s no water or submarines around there, but I’ll keeping working on it.”
Kate said, “Seven seventeen is the exact minute of sunset, so you will be working in the dark.”
“I’ll hope that’s not a metaphor.”
“This is the FBI—everything’s a metaphor.”
VAIL LAY HIDDEN in the tall grass between two overgrown shrubs that were against a ten-foot-high chain-link fence. It surrounded a huge vacant lot. According to his wallet GPS, he was still about a hundred yards short of the exact West Hollywood coordinates given in the demand note. He had crawled as far forward as he could. Using the low-light monocular, he searched the area in front of him. When he radioed the information to the major-case room and the covering surveillance cars, he heard Kaulcrick’s voice. “What’s inside the fence?”
“Nothing I can see worth protecting. It looks like a giant vacant lot, maybe the size of one and a half football fields but shaped like a triangle.”
“Do you see anything inside?”
“Nothing.”
“Can you get in?”
“There’s barbed wire coiled all along the top as far as I can see. But the ground inside is not overgrown, so the kids around here probably have a way in
34.344 N 118.511W at 7:17 P.M . on September 2. Look in the sub.
No guns. No cell phones.
The Rubaco Pentad
“So I am going to drop the full three million?” Vail asked.
“Again, the director doesn’t want to take any chances, so yes. Make the drop, and the agents covering you will take care of grabbing Bertok.”
Vail looked at the headquarters tech agent and pointed to his bag. “Is there something in there for me?”
“Because of what happened in the past, we want to be overly cautious. That transmitter you’ve got on has a GPS capability, but I’ve brought two other items for you to carry in case they try to render the primary transmitter inoperable. The first time a river was used to neutralize it. Who knows what it’ll be this time.” From his case, he took out what looked like a wallet. “This is also a GPS transmitter, very new, very micro. If you’re patted down, it looks and feels just like a wallet. It’ll tell us exactly where you are at all times. And it’s waterproof.” Vail took out his own wallet and handed it to Kate, and then put the transmitter in the same back pocket. “Also, we used canvas to fabricate the moneybag because of its thickness. There’s an overlapping seam at the bottom that’s hiding another GPS, which has the same microtechnology as the wallet. It’s even thinner because it doesn’t need the leather to disguise it. The hope is that because this bag weighs almost seventy pounds, the bad guys won’t be picking it up over their heads to check the bottom. Even if they do, it’s extremely difficult to detect.” He reached into the side pockets of the bag and took out three items: anunderwater flashlight, a knife with a regular blade and an equally long saw blade, and a low-light monocular.
“What’s with the knife?” Vail asked.
“If nothing else, it’s a backup weapon. The letter said no guns. We thought we’d include one with the saw blade because who knows what you’re going to run into. It was developed for clandestine military units.”
Vail snapped the flashlight on and off and opened both knife blades. He took his own lock-back knife out of his pocket and handed it to Kate. Opening the mason’s knife and seeing its honed sharpness, she said, “I’m surprised you thought you needed a gun.”
Vail was reading the demand note and didn’t appear to hear her. “Is that ‘sub’ as in submarine?” he asked.
Tom Demick pulled out a map and laid it on a desk as everyone gathered around. “We’ve reconned the area only by satellite and map. Didn’t want to go stumbling around there with GPSs. It’s in West Hollywood. As close as we can figure, it’s this clear area right here between Lucas Avenue, South Toluca Street, and Beverly Boulevard. There’s no water or submarines around there, but I’ll keeping working on it.”
Kate said, “Seven seventeen is the exact minute of sunset, so you will be working in the dark.”
“I’ll hope that’s not a metaphor.”
“This is the FBI—everything’s a metaphor.”
VAIL LAY HIDDEN in the tall grass between two overgrown shrubs that were against a ten-foot-high chain-link fence. It surrounded a huge vacant lot. According to his wallet GPS, he was still about a hundred yards short of the exact West Hollywood coordinates given in the demand note. He had crawled as far forward as he could. Using the low-light monocular, he searched the area in front of him. When he radioed the information to the major-case room and the covering surveillance cars, he heard Kaulcrick’s voice. “What’s inside the fence?”
“Nothing I can see worth protecting. It looks like a giant vacant lot, maybe the size of one and a half football fields but shaped like a triangle.”
“Do you see anything inside?”
“Nothing.”
“Can you get in?”
“There’s barbed wire coiled all along the top as far as I can see. But the ground inside is not overgrown, so the kids around here probably have a way in
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