one, but enough for me to send in part of my task force to check it out. Up in the Northwest. A couple of my people vanished. Now one of them has turned up dead, tortured before he was killed.”
“Sorry to hear that, Duncan.”
“The agent’s name was Ray Talbot. He was young and a real go-getter. His partner Jake Bermann has vanished. There are two other agents on the team, and they’re looking for him—my case agent Sarah Mitchell and the fourth member of the team, Joseph Brewster.”
“Lots of open country up there,” Bolan said. “It would be easy to get lost.”
“I received an email from Ray. It must have been caught up in some sort of server glitch because it was sent a couple of days ago, about when he vanished off the radar. So we lost any chance of getting to him before he died.”
“I’m guessing you haven’t told the rest of the team that he’s dead. There must be a reason.”
“You remember we had a leak during the smallpox operation?”
“And you identified him. Are you saying you might have another leak?”
“I’ll give you a clue, Cooper. This call is being made on my personal cell.”
“Understood.”
“You told me to contact you if there was a new lead. That’s what I’m doing. I need an outside source. Someone off the record and with the know-how to work on his own.”
“I’m listening.”
“I can send you the coordinates Ray Talbot attached to his email, a location in the area where he was investigating. I’ll pass it along to Mitchell, but give you the chance to reach the area first.” Duncan paused. “Cooper, I’m asking a lot for something that’s not strictly your responsibility, so if...”
“You lost people the first time round,” Bolan said. “Talbot now, and maybe your agent, Bermann. From what we understand about Hegre, those people have no respect for anyone in their way. They need to be stopped.”
“Use this number if you need to get through to me, Cooper.”
“I’ll let you know when I have something.”
FBI Agent Sarah Mitchell crossed the parking lot outside the diner, balancing two paper cups of coffee and a couple of sandwiches in her hands. Her partner, Agent Joseph Brewster, saw her and quickly climbed out of the Crown Victoria. He moved around the car to relieve her of the load.
“You always do things the hard way.”
“You noticed.”
“Funny lady.”
They climbed back inside the car, closing the doors against the rising chill.
“This is one cold place,” Brewster said. He glanced across at his partner. “You sure you didn’t specially ask for this assignment?”
Mitchell took her time drinking her coffee before she looked at him.
“Why would I do that, Joe?”
“I can think of one reason. You have a weird sense of humor, and landing me here in the back of beyond would fit that.”
“You think I’d put myself through all this just to get a laugh?”
Brewster placed his coffee in the cup holder and proceeded to unwrap his sandwich. He checked the filling, nodding when he found it was beef.
“If I was playing jokes,” Mitchell said, “would I have brought your favorite kind of sandwich?”
“I guess not.”
They had just completed their meal when Mitchell felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket. She took it out and checked the caller ID. She was disappointed it wasn’t from Ray Talbot, or his partner Jake Bermann. The call was from SAC Drake Duncan, her FBI superior.
“Sir?”
“You’re not going to like this, Mitchell.”
“Talbot?”
“He’s been found. It’s not good.”
Mitchell touched her partner on the arm.
“I’m putting you on speaker, sir.”
“Talbot has been found,” Duncan repeated for Brewster’s benefit.
“Not alive?”
“No. The body is about thirty miles from your current position in a place called Treebone. Some locals found the body, which had been dumped in a creek.”
“You want us to check it out?”
“Yes. I want an FBI presence in place. I want you to find out what happened. One more thing, Mitchell. Just remember Bermann is still missing too. I’ll get back to you with details.”
“Leaving now, sir,” Brewster said.
He gunned the Crown Victoria, tires skidding against the loose gravel as he swung back onto the highway.
Neither of them spoke for the first few miles. They had been expecting Duncan’s news. Agents Talbot and Bermann had been missing for a few days, and it hadn’t been looking good. Ray Talbot had always been an independent type of guy, liable to go off without keeping his teammates informed. It was the way he had operated, and he had always brought in good results. Even so, receiving the news of his death had been a shock.
It was Mitchell who broke the silence. She leaned forward and slammed her clenched first on the dash.
“Damn, damn, damn. What the hell is going on, Joe? This is crazy. When Ray stopped checking in, I should have figured something was wrong”
“There’s no logic to it. They vanish, disappear for a few days then Talbot shows up dead.”
“Now I know Hegre has to be responsible for this.”
Mitchell felt Brewster’s eyes flick her way for a few seconds.
“Not that again,” he said.
“Yes. That again. We were getting too close.”
“Sarah, we have no real proof. It’s all...”
Mitchell rounded on him, her hazel eyes flashing with barely concealed anger. Frustration.
“What were you going to say, Joe? It’s all in my head? I’m imagining it?”
“I understand how you feel, Sarah, but we have to go with real proof. We’re FBI. Not freelance cowboys with guns.”
“And a dead agent is proof we’ve
