"Tremblay." Marie-Claire had already been at her desk in Ottawa for an hour, but it was still early out west.
"Hey, boss. It's Marc."
"What do you got for me?" Marie-Claire straightened at her desk and pulled a file towards her.
"Well, we know the guy can drink."
"You guys need some more training in that? I can come out there and show you how to do it." She laughed.
"No, that's okay." He replied quickly. He'd seen her in action and was under no illusions about who would win that contest. "We held our own." Marc looked over at his smaller partner, who gave him the finger as he reached for the bottle of Tylenol.
"Okay. I made some enquiries, and the Americans aren't going to admit they have an operative up here." Marie-Claire tapped her pencil the way she always did when she was annoyed. "Are you sure he is who you think he is?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. He was part of the security detail on the G-8 summit in Montréal two years ago with the CIA. That didn't show up in the initial search because it's a higher clearance. Steph and I were on the turbot thing at the time and weren't involved, so he won't recognize us. He recently got on with a branch of the CIA called the Counter Terrorist Unit."
"Okay, good work." She was satisfied. "What's your plan?"
"His cover is he's looking for work on the rigs, but that's no good for us. We don't want him out where we can't see him. I thought we could set him up with Dave's crew inspecting the lines. It will give him more mobility so we can keep in touch, and Dave can keep an eye on him."
"Do it. He'll probably get word that we think there's an operative up here, so watch your back. What about Denis?"
"Yeah, we don't want Denis to know this guy is an operative. We're a bit worried about Denis. The wire didn't work right yesterday, and Jim swears he set it properly."
"Pay him a visit and remind him who he's working for, yes?"
"Already done, boss."
"Okay, good. Let's let this play out for a bit longer and see where it leads. And Marc?" Marie-Claire paused, making sure Marc was listening to what she was saying.
"Yeah?"
"I'm not comfortable with this guy's explosives training. If it looks like he's willing to leave a little 'collateral damage,' you bring him in. Understood?"
"Bien oui."
"If he hits a sour gas well, we're all screwed."
"Oui, oui, I get it." Marc rolled his eyes at Stephane. "We'll keep you posted." He snapped his cell phone shut and tossed his partner his coat. "We'd better get going."
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Jack was catching up on his written logs, balancing his laptop on knees when there was a knock at the door. He looked up and reached for his weapon on the bed beside him. "Yeah?"
"Jack! Open the door, man." Jack recognized Stephane's voice. "Just a minute." He closed his file and powered down, stashing the computer under the mattress again and tucking his gun into the jean jacket on the chair before tousling his hair and moving to the door.
"What time is it?" He opened the door and blearily rubbed his hands over his eyes just as the other man was about to knock again.
"Jeez, Jack. How you going to get a job sleeping in all day? It's 7:30, f-ck." Stephane moved past him into the room, subtly checking around for evidence that Jack had been doing anything other than sleeping. Nothing. "Get dressed. Marc's waiting for us downstairs."
"Why?"
"We ran into one of the foreman at breakfast this morning. He's got an opening on an inspection crew. You interested? It's way better than the rigs," he explained. "Pays the same, but you get to live here instead of in a crappy trailer on site."
Jack was suspicious. This was easier than it should be. But if he turned it down that would look odd, and whatever was going on, this would bring him closer to the action. "Yeah, that sounds good. I'll take whatever. Just give me a sec."
He grabbed his jeans from the floor and pulled them on over his boxers, then took a clean shirt from his duffle bag, buttoning it over his bare chest as he headed for the bathroom. He quickly brushed his teeth and combed his hair, then slipped on his jacket and leant over carefully as he did the laces on his runners, so as not to expose his gun. He'd rather have it in his leg holster, but there'd be time to move it later. Luckily he'd put the holster in the jacket pocket earlier. "Let's go."
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A few hours later Jack was in the passenger seat of yet another pickup truck, properly kitted out in new steel-toed boot and safety vest. A hard hat and respirator sat on the console beside him next to the GPS and map marked with the locations of all the well heads in the area. There was also a warm parka with the company logo stuffed behind the seat.
Dave was driving. He was stocky, in his early 30s with a mousy-brown mullet. After he'd given Jack the basic run-down of the job and equipment, all he wanted to talk about was hockey. Jack didn't mind so much. He'd grown to love the game since the first time he'd seen Gretzky play in L.A. He'd been at the game as part of a surveillance mission, but had found himself distracted by the action on the ice.
Gretzky was like poetry, seemingly effortless in his ability to be exactly where he was needed to put the puck in. And a real team player, who didn't mind if he wasn't the one who netted the goal. Jack admired his tactical skill, and thought he would have made a great agent if he weren't a hockey player. Josh had grown up in Edmonton cheering for the Oilers, so they shared their Gretzky memories and did the whole male bonding thing. It was a conversation Jack could keep going while thinking about his next move. The phone on his belt rang.
"Excuse me, Dave." He flipped it open. He was using an older model to match his cover, and the thing was a brick. On the plus side, it got great reception, even out here. "Yeah."
"Jack, it's Nina. Can you talk?" Nina sat at her station in CTU looking at the report on her screen. She had started there a few months before Jack, and it irked her somewhat that he was advancing faster than her. Helps to be a guy. She had decided if she couldn't beat him, she would ride his coattails as far as she could. The quality of the view from back there didn't hurt.
"No, I won't be able to make that today. I'll have to reschedule for next week. What do you have available?" He let her know it was okay to have a one-sided conversation.
"Okay. Division just posted to the case file. The RCMP has been raising a stink with CSIS. They think there's one of our operators up there. You may have been compromised."
Dammit.
"Do you have anything earlier in the day? I'd like to come in before work." He motioned to Dave for a pen and something to write on. Dave pointed to the glove box. Jack opened it and pulled out a small notebook with a pen stuck in the spiral binding.
"Henderson says you can proceed as planned, but watch out. They won't like what you want to do." Nina added to the logs that Jack had found a job. She'd fill in the details when he reported later. "They may not have figured out it's you, so don't identify yourself unless you have to."
"Thursday at 7:00 am. Okay. See you then." He shut the phone, ripped out the piece of paper from the notebook and put it in his pocket. "Dentist. I lost a crown yesterday." He explained to Dave.
"Bummer, dude. Your dental plan won't kick in for three months."
Jack shrugged. "What are you going to do?" He looked out the window at the fields dotted with groves of aspen, their leaves a brilliant yellow. The weather had warmed up again, and the round bales of golden hay contrasted beautifully with the clear blue sky. Far to the west he could just see the tops of the Rockies, already capped with snow.
Dave glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. That phone call was not good news. He'd have to let the other officers know they needed to back off for a while. He turned the truck off the gravel road and pulled up next to a large white pipe coming out of the ground in an inverted 'U' shape. A small metal shed stood in one corner of the yard around the pipe, surrounded by a chain-link fence.
He showed Jack how to check the pressure and do a general safety inspection, recording the visit on the log. He made sure Jack understood exactly what could go wrong, and what to do if it did. He figured that phone call meant Jack would make his move fairly soon or not at all, and he wanted to make sure there were no stupid mistakes just in case he gave them the slip. If he's going to do something, no sense anyone getting killed.
They finished up and pulled back onto the road. They could see the dust from another vehicle approaching to the west. As they got closer, they could see a white pick-up with police lights on top. "Fish and Wildlife." Dave said. "They're the bush cops." Jack grunted.
The two trucks slowed and pulled up alongside each other. They were the only vehicles for miles so there was no harm in chatting.
"Dave." The Conservation Officer let his arm rest on the open window.
"Dave." The inspector nodded a greeting.
"Who's that you got with you?"
"This is Jack. Just started today. I'm showing him around. Jack, Dave." Jack leaned forward and nodded. "Hi."
"Oh, yeah? Nice to meet ya." He looked back at Dave. "How's Jen?"
"Sh-t, man, she's as big as a house. She's hoping she'll pop before the cold weather hits. She doesn't think she'd be able to bend over to get her boots on."
"No doubt, eh. Jessica getting excited about meeting her little sister?"
"Yeah."
"I bet. Well, tell her I said hi." He smiled, then grew serious. "You guys make sure to wear your vests, eh? There's lots of hunters up from the States, you don't want to be mistaken for a whitetail."
"Absolutely."
"I guess I'd better get going. It's our busy season. We've got everyone in the field right now. We're keeping an eye on your equipment too while we're out here. We'll catch those bastards one of these days."
"Hope so."
"Okay then, catch you later."
"Later." They both drove on. Jack started to formulate a new plan. Hunting season could be an advantage. "Hey, I've always wanted to bag a deer. Where can I get a rifle around here?" He asked casually.
"Canadian Tire in Red Deer is probably closest. You won't be able to use it now, though." Dave answered.
"Why not?"
"It's bow hunting only this early in the season. You need to get yourself a bow and some arrows, buddy. And don't forget to get your license, or Dave there will be on your ass." He took his eyes off the road to look at Jack. "No offense, but a guide might not be a bad idea."
"Huh." He grunted thoughtfully. Bow and arrows? Is this guy serious? Canada was turning out to be a lot more fun than he'd imagined.