Metzger nodded and the Blackhawk swooped off on a southwesterly heading. He dialed up a map on his computer and within minutes settled on a flight plan. When he had the aircraft under control he reached back and shook hands with Desh and then Kira in turn.
“We appreciate the ride, major,” said Desh. “Do you think you got away cleanly?”
“I think so,” he answered. “I altered some computerized flight logs to disguise the theft. Hopefully this will buy us a day.” He shrugged. “I also disabled the transponder so they can’t locate us immediately when they do discover the unauthorized use.”
“Well done,” said Desh.
Metzger nodded to acknowledge the compliment. “We should be there in about thirty minutes,” he announced. “Where do we land?”
The four passengers eyed each other for inspiration, but no one offered any immediate thoughts. A Blackhawk wouldn’t be easy to hide.
“We need abandoned areas that don’t get any traffic,” said Metzger. “Think.”
Kira pursed her lips in concentration. She had been living in a trailer park just outside of Hagerstown for months. She should be able to come up with something. “There’s a community pool near the town’s northern border,” she said. “After summer it’s drained and the facility is chained up. It has a very large deep-end we could land in.”
Metzger shook his head. “Won’t be deep enough. This bird’s almost seventeen feet high.”
Damn, thought Kira in frustration. She turned back to sorting through additional possibilities. They had been picked up in a football field. While this was a nice wide-open space, it couldn’t conceal the chopper. She smiled. Perhaps she just had the wrong sport. “There’s a minor league baseball team in Haggerstown,” she said. “The Suns. They play in Municipal stadium. Seats over 4000. Enclosed by bleachers and a home-run fence.”
“How tall are the bleachers?” asked Metzger.
She had never been to a game but had driven by the stadium on many occasions. “At the entrance, behind home plate, taller than seventeen feet.”
“Is it locked up in the off-season?”
“Can’t imagine it’s not,” replied Kira.
“How close to residential areas?”
“Not,” she replied. “Fairly industrial. No bars or stores in the area open at night.”
“Sounds like we have a winner,” said Metzger. “Let’s give it a go.”
With this decided, Desh motioned to Connelly to join him in the back of the chopper. The two men knelt beside two large, green canvas bags that Connelly had loaded aboard that contained a wide assortment of weapons and other equipment. Desh unzipped the first bag and inspected the contents approvingly: four combat knives, plasticuffs, metal handcuffs, rope, tape, six flashlights, a first aid kit, a wire cutter, a bolt cutter, and six pairs of night vision goggles. Desh also found several assault vests sporting multiple pockets for weapons, spare clips and grenades.
The second bag contained a wide variety of electronic and communication equipment, four H&K .45s, four MP-5 machine pistols, and a dozen stun grenades. These grenades were also known as flashbangs. Like this name implied, they would create such an intensely bright flash and earsplitting bang that they would blind and deafen an enemy for about ten seconds. Several pairs of eye protectors and electronic earplugs were present as well to minimize the effects of the stun grenades on those who were using them. Finally, Desh located several empty rucksacks that could be filled for specific missions as needed.
Connelly had done well. He had loaded the chopper for bear as Desh had requested.
As Desh continued inspecting the equipment he removed his headphones and motioned for the colonel to do the same. He leaned in close to Connelly’s ear. “This Metzger really came through for you,” he shouted. “But it’s inner circle time. I’m going to lay out information so sensitive I don’t trust myself with it.” He looked at Connelly meaningfully.
“He’s solid,” bellowed Connelly, but even so Desh could barely hear him. “He was on my team back in the day. We’ve been on dozens of missions together, including some that went bad. Real bad. Clusterfucks. He’s as good as it gets.”
“Integrity?” asked Desh.
Connelly nodded. “We took out a Columbian drug lord once. Just the two of us. The guy had a silk drawstring bag in his safe filled with diamonds the size of marbles.” He raised his eyebrows. “Ninety-nine guys out of a hundred would have at least raised the philosophical question: who would know if some went missing? But Metzger pulled the bag from the safe, looked inside, and tossed it to me. Never mentioned it again.” Connelly locked his eyes firmly on Desh. “He’s one of us, David. He prides himself on doing what’s right.”
Desh nodded. “Thanks Colonel. Good enough for me. I assumed as much, but I had to ask.” He slid his headset back over his ears and Connelly did the same. The two men carried the heavy canvas bags to the front end of the helicopter.
When they were within twenty miles of Hagerstown, Desh passed out night vision goggles and Metzger killed the helicopter’s lights. They were now invisible from the ground. Piloting a helicopter blind using night-vision equipment wasn’t for the faint of heart, but Metzger had considerable experience doing so. Five minutes later they were over Hagerstown and Kira directed Metzger to the stadium. He circled it quickly and landed as close to the bleachers as he could, well behind home plate.
As expected, the gate entrance had a heavy chain around it and was padlocked. Desh pulled a pair of bolt-cutters from one of the canvas bags, and they were soon on their way.
They came upon some parked cars about three blocks from the stadium, and Desh expertly broke into one and hotwired it. They returned the night vision equipment to one of the canvas bags, threw both bags in the trunk, and climbed into the car. Kira drove, Connelly took the passenger seat to protect his injury, and Griffin, Desh and Metzger crammed themselves into the back.
Kira pulled away from the curb. “Next stop, my place,” she announced. “We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
PART SIX
Moriarty
They parked at the outskirts of Kira’s trailer park and made their way silently to her class A motor home. It was nearing three in the morning, and the other residents of the park were sound asleep and didn’t stir at their arrival. Kira had taken care to select a park at which there was ample spacing between RVs.
Kira’s RV was forty feet long and eight wide. The drapes were already closed and she kept the lighting low. Despite the limited space, Kira had decorated the dwelling tastefully with several well-placed knickknacks and plants that gave it a homey and unmistakably feminine feel. The RV was packed with cherry cabinetry and had a self-contained bathroom, kitchen, dining area, living room, and bedroom. Desh had never been inside an RV of any kind and marveled at how much could be fit inside, and how cleverly. The kitchen had an oven, a three-burner stove, and a microwave, along with a large stainless steel refrigerator-freezer. There were two tan leather couches along either wall, facing each other, with about four feet of space between them. A high-end computer rested underneath the small kitchen table with a full-sized keyboard and three monitors on its surface. Desh couldn’t imagine wanting or needing more than a single monitor, but after the last few days he was beginning to think this was a minority opinion.