“That’s FFOC territory, isn’t it?” Banner said.
“Not just FFOC. Every guerrilla and paramilitary group in Colombia keeps a satellite force here. It’s one of the most dangerous areas in Colombia, if not the world.”
“Why there?” Stromeyer said.
“The Oriental gas pipeline is there. The pipeline pumps fifty thousand tons of oil a day. The groups bomb it regularly and then extort protection money from Oriental and the nearby municipal authorities.”
Banner snorted. “I hope Oriental’s executives aren’t stupid enough to pay. They’ll never make a penny.”
“They did pay, until six months ago, when the United States sent a special operations force of five hundred men to protect the pipeline.”
Banner sat up straighter. “Why is the United States Army protecting a private corporation’s pipeline? Shouldn’t the corporation hire its own force to guard its property?”
“You mean like your guys?” Whitter’s disdain for Banner’s men rang in the room.
Banner stared Whitter down. He allowed no one to disrespect his men, especially a career politico in his college colors who had never fired a gun in his life.
“I mean exactly that,” Banner said. “Deploying regular army to protect a corporation, even an oil corporation, is a waste of the taxpayers’ dollars.”
“Mr. Banner, since 9/11 our new mission is to eradicate terrorism wherever it may exist in the world. If that means we send the military to protect an American corporation, then that’s what we’ll do,” Whitter said. Banner and Whitter glared at each other. Several people shifted uncomfortably in their seats as they watched the two men square off. The undersecretary of the army broke the stalemate.
“We’re there for training purposes only,” he said. He raised an eyebrow at Banner.
Miguel cleared his throat. “That mission, however, actually increased terrorism.”
Whitter shot a look at Miguel. “Explain that statement.”
“The special forces have been in a pitched battle with the FFOC and the cartels since they landed. We’ve been dropping tons of herbicide on their coca fields and intercepting their saboteurs on the pipeline almost nightly.”
“Who’s winning?” Whitter said.
“It was a stalemate. While the attacks on the pipeline diminished and some coca fields decreased, the cartels adjusted quickly. They’ve ordered the farmers to begin moving their crop to the base of the mountains, where the planes can’t spray, and this hijacking could be payback.” Miguel turned to Stromeyer. “Major Stromeyer, do you have any information on Emma Caldridge? Is she on your manifest?”
Stromeyer riffled through her many sheets of paper. She pulled one out with a passport picture at the top. A pretty young woman with brown hair and vivid green eyes gazed at the camera with a hint of a smile.
“Here she is!” Stromeyer waved the page at the others. “Emma Caldridge. Thirty years old. She’s a chemist working for Pure Chemistry, a laboratory specializing in formulating products for some of the top cosmetic companies in the world. Her supervisors say she’s one of the best chemists they’ve ever hired. She has an expertise in plants and herbs. She studies them for any special properties they may have in a cosmetic application.”
“You’ve spoken to her supervisors?” Whitter looked impressed.
Banner could have told Whitter that speaking to a key target’s supervisor would be the minimum Stromeyer would do. She had been working so long at her manifest lists that he suspected she had each person’s shoe size and preference in wine cataloged as well.
“A good dossier requires contact with someone with personal knowledge of the target,” Stromeyer said, sounding every bit the bureaucrat.
“All right,” Banner said. “What about boyfriends, husbands, lovers? Anyone she could have teamed up with to assist in this hijacking?”
Stromeyer looked startled. “You think she’s a player?”
Banner shrugged. “She survived and sent a text message, didn’t she? I wouldn’t rule anything out.”
Stromeyer nodded. “I see your point. She’s single, lives in Miami Beach, and travels for business. She was going to Bogotá to meet with a local scientist, and then was headed to Patagonia for an endurance race. No current boyfriend, although a secretary at the lab had heard a rumor that she’d previously been engaged to marry a man who died suddenly. I’m still working on that, as well as her family connections.”
“What does she do with her time? Does she belong to any questionable activist groups or have political affiliations?”
“Not at all. She works. And when she isn’t working, she runs ultramarathons.”
“What the hell is an ultramarathon?” Banner said.
“A marathon of thirty-five miles up to over one hundred.”
Banner couldn’t quite believe his ears. “Are we talking one hundred miles or one hundred kilometers?”
“Miles. I know it sounds crazy, but she literally runs one hundred miles at a time.”
Banner ran five miles every other day at five in the morning. He used a treadmill and watched the Early, Early show. It took him an hour and he was always happy to be finished.
“Hell of a way to spend your time,” Banner said.
“It is. And Ms. Caldridge ran the Badwater 135, one of the most grueling runs in the world.”
Miguel looked intrigued. “Why so?”
“It’s also known as the Death Valley run. The competitors run one hundred thirty-five miles through Death Valley. When Ms. Caldridge ran it last year, it was so hot that the rubber on the bottom of the competitors’ shoes melted to the pavement.”
Banner whistled. “Tough lady.”
“She had better be,” Miguel said, “because she’s going to have to outrun this man.” The photo behind him shifted again and a picture of a ferret-faced man in faded army fatigues filled the screen.
Miguel placed a laser dot on the man’s forehead. “This is Luis Rodrigo, head of a small band of paramilitary losers whose home base is in the mountains near where the mushroom cloud occurred.”
“What’s their role in all of this?” Banner could see from the picture that Rodrigo looked like a rodent and had the brains of a single-celled creature.
“We’re not sure, but his group camps in the vicinity of the mushroom cloud, and the location alone suggests he’s a player in the hijacking. If he is, we are dealing with a very bad guy.”
“Worse than your average guerrilla leader?”
Miguel nodded. “Much worse. Rodrigo is insane. He makes the leaders of the drug cartels look respectable by comparison. He governs a band of outcasts that have all been ousted from the more established organizations. Rodrigo, though, is able to control them. When one messes up he simply maims or kills the offender. He cuts off ears, tongues, and plucks out eyes. The really incompetent assholes he shoots. Lately he’s been said to have taken a page from the Afghan playbook and beheaded two particularly stupid soldiers.”
“If they’re so stupid, how did they plan and execute this hijacking?”
Miguel shook his head. “There is no way he did it alone. He must have had help. Either from the cartels or the FFOC, or both.”
“Do you think this man has control of the passengers?” Whitter said. He looked appalled.
“Anybody wandering around that location will have to deal with him eventually, so we need to extract any survivors quickly. This man is volatile and could kill them all in a fit of rage.”
“Suggestions?” Banner said.
Miguel nodded. “Wait until they make contact and then send them whatever ransom they demand. It’s the best plan for getting those people out alive, and the price demanded will pale in comparison to the cost of a rescue mission.”