The Hill - BLACKBIRD book 5

19. missing corpse

"Here's your dinner, or you're going to bed with an empty stomach."

"Thanks."

Brock sat to eat as they commented on the other agents' reports. Soon they took turns for a quick hot shower and went to sleep, tired to the bone.

Not for long.

The satellite phone ringing startled them up. Brock sat up, hearing Russell pick up at the other room.

"We're on the way."

Those words pushed Brock out of bed.

Russell showed at the door, still pulling up his jeans. "The body's been stolen from Ashland hospital."

A minute later, lights were on at the other two cabins. There was an agent behind the wheel of every SUV, warming up the engines. Brock and Russell instructed the rest of the group to establish roadblocks at every access to the Woods from the south.

Soon Brock hit the gas, while Russell called Ashland police to ask for checkpoints in and out of town. When he disconnected, they already had regular phone coverage, so he texted Tanya and called the Tac teams.

"They reacted on Saturday," he said, disconnecting. "Meaning they only got the news today. So they're deep into the Woods."

Brock grimaced, not so sure anymore. "Or they're cunning enough to deduce this was a good moment to do it."

"Or both."

Tanya called him back when they were halfway between Portage Lake and Ashland.

"T, we need satellite stream in real time. Can you do that?"

"Sure, but it's gonna take a while."

"How long?" asked Brock.

"Five minutes to an hour, sir. It depends on how much they've improved their firewalls. What're we looking for?"

"Any civilian vehicle driving into the Woods from the south."

"Got it. Can you fill me in a little?"

Brock let Russell explain the situation to the girl. She sounded wide awake despite the hour, and he heard her type as they talked. He refused to acknowledge what she was about to do. They needed eyes in the sky. She could deliver. End of the story. He tried in vain to ignore the little voice inside his head—look at you, Brockner. Hacking into a military satellite? Haven't you gone punk!

* * *

Agent Coltrane was at the brink of a breakdown, stuttering and mumbling, eyes full of tears, shaky hands. Brock knew she'd been only a couple of years in the Bureau, and this was her first important case. Just like he knew it made perfect sense she'd trusted the hospital's only security guard and went to sleep for a few hours on a Saturday night. Nobody expected the subjects to break in and steal the body. But he didn't have the patience to deal with her feminine, frail nerves at that moment. So he left Russell to the task of calming her down and he questioned the guard and the medical staff.

Tanya texted Gillian and set to work. She was reaching Warp 3 when her phone rang. It was Gillian, who's sleepy tone vanished after the girl filled her in.

"Did you call Kurt?"

"He's not good at this. Shit, Reg! I so need Connor!"

"Join the club. Brandon can do?"

"Yeah, but—"

"I'll get'im. Keep me up."

Brandon was online with Tanya soon. Not only was he afraid of Gillian's possible retaliation if he didn't. He also knew helping Tanya in this situation would work for him, when circumstances allowed him to ask her out on a date again--since the Ghost had trashed what would've been their first.

Ashland hospital was but a primary health center, with only two security cameras: one at the main entrance, the other at the ambulance access. So there was no record of whoever sneaked in all the way to the small morgue, and came back out carrying a dead body.

However, Brandon checked both feeds and he soon spotted a four-by-four truck parked almost out of the camera field, near the ambulance access. It stayed there only a few minutes, a man behind the wheel and the engine running, and all of a sudden it pulled from the curb and skidded away.

Brock could hardly believe it when Tanya called him, only twenty minutes after they arrived at the hospital.

"I got'em on sat, sir. If you can keep your men at their posts, and let the subjects through, I can follow them and find out their cave."

"Do it, I'll call my men. Let me know when you have their location."

"Yessir. Brandon is sending you now a picture of their vehicle and another of their plate. We're running them as we speak."

They had a picture of the car and the plate? This girl was even able to turn Brandon into an efficient tech! Why was he wasting his time with Janowsky's people? "Good job. Keep me up."

While he called the locals and the State Police, Russell stayed in touch with their group over the satellite phone.