say was 'Hi.'
'Toni!? Don't move, I'll be right there!'
And despite whatever she had felt, it warmed her to hear the joy in his
voice.
Gakona, Alaska
Ventura made the rounds of his surveillance stations. He was running a
basic six-person team, not counting himself, and that was not really
enough, considering what his client was into, but as much as he was
likely to get away with up here in the middle of nowhere. Disguised as
a birdwatching club out looking for owls, it gave his people a reason
to be out with binoculars and starlight scopes and cameras, but it was
still something of a stretch to have them wandering around in the
woods. The locals would surely notice his people, and while they had
all the proper gear and had done enough quick research to fake it, they
wouldn't fool any real birders they might run into.
Fortunately, there wasn't much in the way of law enforcement up here,
so even if somebody thought the birders were a bit odd, they weren't
likely to call the cops, and even if they did, it probably wouldn't be
the top priority for an overextended Alaskan police force.
Weird-looking birdwatchers? Isn't that redundant? What are they
doing? Walking around in the woods looking through their binoculars?
Oh, wow. How sinister! What, you think they've come to steal the
trees? Smuggle Kodiak bears down into the lower forty-eight? C'mon!
Ventura had installed them at the Two Moose Lodge, a relatively new
fifteen-unit motel a few miles from the HAARP site, a place that looked
like a bunch of log cabin condominiums. Aside from five ops tromping
around outside where they could watch the comings and goings around the
last room on the west end of the building where Ventura had put the
client, there was an op in the room, a young woman. Armed with a
short-barreled shotgun, a snub-nosed revolver, and a couple of knives,
Mis-sey White would surely be a big surprise for an unsuspecting
assassin who assumed from her bubble butt and perky breasts, all of
which were barely hidden under a miniskirt and halter top, that she was
a piece of fluff and harmless. If the locals knew Morrison was
married, they'd likely assume Missey was a girlfriend he'd brought up
here into the woods for fun, where his wife wouldn't be the wiser.
And the wife wasn't apt to drop by unannounced, because a pair of
Ventura'sops were parked in a rented house in Port Townsend on the
Morrisons' street, keeping an eye on Mrs. Morrison. You had to assume
that if some114 NET FORCE
body came after the client, they'd probably consider a pass at his wife
worthwhile, and while she wasn't the primary client, it was just good
business to watch her when she and the client were apart.
It hadn't taken the ops--another male and female team--but a few hours
to figure out that Shannon Morrison, nee Shannon Bell, wasn't the
world's most faithful spouse. Since they'd begun the surveillance on
Monday, Mrs. Morrison had visited a young and well-built leather
worker one Ray Duncan, and stayed in his shop behind a locked door
three times, for more than an hour each visit. It was the opinion of
