The Vanishing Gary Brown (booksvooks TXT) 📖

group. “By now everyone should know the severity of the situation. Anything less than a one-hundred percent commitment to this operation is unacceptable. Got that?”

Dedicated faces stared back, silent and attentive.

“Good,” Mark said. He concluded the meeting. “Let’s go find Amanda Prescott.”

49

BY EARLY AFTERNOON operations were in high gear. Every station in the computer lab was manned, every phone line in use. The operatives spoke with their contacts in local, state, and federal police agencies and the media, cross-referenced their findings, and plotted prospective geographic locations on a plexiglass grid map of the state positioned outside Justin’s office. While Justin coordinated their efforts, the field teams prepared to leave for the university.

Martin tapped on the glass door to Justin’s office. “Got a minute?”

“Sure, Martin. What’s up?”

“I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier about Krebeck and the information you obtained from the CIA.”

“Not from the CIA,” Justin clarified. “From a website that follows de-classified intelligence operations of the government, everything from the Department of Naval Intelligence to Foreign Affairs. Eventually those reports become a matter of public record.” Justin removed the CIA report on Operation Deliverance from his dossier. “Or at least as much as they’ll allow us to read.”

Heavy black lines had been struck through much of the report. Of the eighteen pages, the amount of readable text accounted for twelve pages of the document.

“It’s their way of appeasing our curiosity,” Justin continued, referring to the redacted portions of the report. “We get to take a peek at the official records, and they get to share as little of it as possible.”

Martin examined the report. “Just how reliable is this document?”

“Very. We’re not talking downed spacecraft or little green men here. This is different. At the time, CNN was covering the difficulties with the relief effort in Uganda daily. Hell, they practically created a mini-series from it, so the events can’t be denied. The juice in this report however is the information on Krebeck himself, not just Operation Deliverance. They left a lot of detail in, including mentioning Krebeck by name. I guess they figured with the world watching they wouldn’t be able to hide the truth even if they tried. In my opinion, someone screwed up. Good for us, bad for them.”

“Doesn’t that strike you as strange?” Martin asked. “I mean, we’re talking about the CIA here. You’re sure this report wasn’t created to misinform?”

Justin nodded. “The thought crossed my mind. But I’ve reviewed a lot of these types of reports over the years. Honestly, I think we just got lucky.”

Martin’s face tightened. “You’re aware of the history behind my wife and daughter’s disappearance?”

“Yes, Martin. I am.”

“The Ugandan authorities never confirmed or denied who was responsible for Anne’s death. They just knew it was cult related. When you mentioned the fire and the church burning to the ground, I couldn’t help but think…”

“That Krebeck was responsible?” Justin finished. “I don’t know if that’s true or not, Martin. There’s no mention in the report about the name of the group Krebeck was involved with. It could just be a coincidence. Unfortunately, a lot of this type of activity was going on in Uganda at the time.”

“You’ll let me know if you turn up any more on this?”

Justin nodded. “You’ll be the first to know.”

50

KAREN PLACED TWO overnight bags and a utility case in the back seat of the Suburban and closed the door. Mark unfolded a map on the hood of the truck and drew a tight circle around the vicinity of Rohnert Park.

“Sonoma State University is about one-hundred miles from here,” he stated. “Should take about ninety minutes to get there.”

“What’s our plan of attack?” Dan asked.

“Like I said, start poking around. Turn over a few rocks, see what crawls out. You and Cynthia take the east campus. Karen and I will take the west.” Mark turned to Martin. “There’s a small town just north of the university named Kettawash. It’s a popular hangout with the university crowd. Might be worth a shot. You and Claire check it out. Let me know if you come up with anything worthwhile.”

“You got it,” Martin replied.

“And remember, no heroics. If you pick up a lead, you let me know. We still don’t know what we’re up against here. Understood?”

Martin smiled. “Yes, Dad.”

“I’m serious, Martin,” Mark said firmly. “You call me on my cell and wait for backup. You do nothing until we arrive.”

“It’s your operation, Mark,” Martin said. “You’re the one calling the shots. Don’t worry, we’ll wait.”

“All right.” Mark said. He folded the map and tossed it onto the front seat. “Let’s saddle up and roll out.”

51

MAGGY STRETCHED OUT on the back seat of the Navigator. In less than an hour they would arrive in Kettawash, yet in the thirty minutes that had passed since they had left the estate Claire had hardly uttered a single word.

“What’s wrong?” Martin asked, attempting to break the barrier of silence between them.

Claire simply stared out the window.

“I don’t know about you,” Martin continued, “but I find conversations much more interesting when two people are talking. Then again, I could just sit here and chat away, but I’d probably end up in an argument with myself and spend the next ten minutes trying to figure out just how the hell that happened. If maybe you were to contribute a sentence or two…”

Claire interrupted. “They’re going to kill her, you know.”

Stunned by the blunt finality in Claire’s tone, Martin struggled with his reply.

“You can’t allow yourself to think that, Claire. If Amanda’s there, we’ll find her and bring her home. No one’s going to kill her. I promise you that.”

“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, Martin.”

“That’s a promise I intend to keep.”

“Justin said Krebeck is ex-CIA, right?” Claire asked.

“So?”

“So that means he’s trained to kill and knows how to cover his tracks as if he wasn’t even there. He won’t hesitate to kill Amanda when he realizes we’ve come for her. And then he’ll kill us, because he knows the first