Chapter 11

By 0645 the jet was touching down at the airport with each of the men having taken the opportunity to sleep. As soon as Ram opened the hatch, we were ready to disembark, carrying the bags that contained the equipment that we needed. It was warm and bright stepping onto the tarmac and as I looked around, I couldn't help but smile when my eyes landed on two trucks that looked ready for the scrapyard. Mac, well I assume that it was him, was leant against the driver's door of one of them with his arms crossed over his chest. He'd aged, as we all probably had, but his aging looked good on him. The white hair pulled back into a ponytail and sunglasses over his eyes. He didn't seem to be carrying any excess fat which had me wondering if that was what I would look like in twenty years time.

He removed his glasses as we approached and gave me a look that fifteen years ago would have had me quaking in my boots. Not now.

"I don't intimidate you like I used to"

He extended his hand which I shook noting that maybe he'd lost some of the strength in his hands.

"You did good for yourself Manoso. Always knew I'd shape you and Santos up"

He was still the cocky arrogant ass that he'd been in training or was he just trying to wind me up? I watched as he opened the truck cargo bed for our bags and then pulled out a map that he laid on top of the hood.

"Lester gave me an idea of what you were here for. Your man's a clever one. Wheelchair users tend to be given priority, so he'd have left the airport quickly. Changing as he went would be easy so he could get off the subway anywhere he wanted. I reckon he'd have bought a truck or car for his next move"

Which if he paid cash for might be difficult to find and knowing him, he'd have a driving license with yet another alias along with the information needed. Unless he used a back street garage.

"If we assume that he used cash and would want to drive it away immediately then we need to check out those garages"

Which hopefully was where Mac's knowledge of the city would come in handy. I watched as Mac took out a pair of reading glasses from his shirt pocket and began to study the map. He used a pen to circle some places and then was using information on his phone to circle more.

"These are the places that would sell for cash, no questions asked. Those two I think would be a no go. Their motors are POS cars"

Which left us with over twenty places that we'd need to visit. I was thinking that I should have suggested three trucks because then we could have covered the places much faster.

"My truck's parked over in the parking lot by the outlet center, maybe we'd cover these a lot faster with three teams of two"

I nodded my head in agreement at Mac and then was deciding who would be with Mac when Santos and Brett started to make their way over to the second truck.

"We'll cover the garages north of the city"

Seeing Santos with his phone open had me assuming that he'd taken a photo of the map. The rest of us loaded up into the second truck with Mac driving and we were soon leaving the restricted area of the airport. Pulling up in the parking lot next to what looked like a beat up truck had me looking over to Mac.

"Looks can be deceiving. That beauty may look rough but she's solid underneath"

Mac passed the keys for the truck that we were in to Ram along with the map, so it looked like I was the one who was going to be riding with him. I'd handed the men rolls of cash to use if they felt that a bribe would get them an answer from any of the owners. I had the feeling that getting information about the man that they were showing a photo of wasn't going to be easy. We were all dressed in jeans and T-shirts hoping to blend in, but those clothes didn't cover up the type of men that we were.

"We'll cover the south of the city and then move across the city toward the west"

Which left Ram and Bones visiting the potential places in the east. I rode shotgun watching as Ram and Bones drove away from us and then heard the growl of the engine from Mac's truck as he started it up. Okay, this definitely had a modified engine along with an array of electronic equipment inside the cabin. The windows were tinted which would dissuade anyone from seeing inside. We were silent as Mac drove from the lot which gave me an opportunity to watch outside at the landscape around us. St Louis was like any other city with its tall modern buildings and highways.

"The Missouri and Mississippi rivers surround the city and kinda form a boundary around it. The poorest areas tend to be north of the city but I'm sure that Lester can cope with that. To be honest I can't see your man venturing into those areas"

We ended up driving south on Watson Road which seemed to be where a lot of the car sales places were. Any that seemed high end with expensive vehicles we passed by knowing that those type of places would require time to arrange paperwork. I knew our man wasn't going to be wanting to waste time by hanging around. It was the sixth stop that gave us the clue that we were looking for. A place called Rixman Dodge with a salesman that typified anyone's vision of what a used car salesman should look like. A wrinkled suit made from cheap material and sunglasses balanced on top of his head. As I showed the man a photo, I could instantly tell from the expression in his eyes that he recognized the face.

"Look, what's it to you anyway. I aint sold anything to him"

A look at Mac and he nodded back toward our truck.

"Smarmy git. At least we know our man was here which means that he probably followed this road until he found what he was looking for"

Two dealers later we still hadn't found another lead, but it was at a place called New Legacy Autos that I nearly lost my temper with the salesman. Our man had been there alright, but it was after I'd handed over two hundred dollars and the salesman thought that he could shake me down for more. Let's just say Mac had to pull me off him as I held him by his neck against the wall of the building. At least he admitted that yes, the man we were looking for had been there but that he didn't like the price that he was expected to pay.

"I'll talk to the next one"

Was all that Mac had said to me once we were back inside the truck. I stayed quiet as we drove over the Mississippi and into the state of Illinois now intent on looking out for potential dealers. Seeing a couple of trucks parked alongside some station wagons outside a garage had me realizing what we had in fact learnt so far.

"Let's try that one there. You know the two that he called at both had trucks for sale, so maybe he's after a truck"

Mac nodded in agreement and pulled over and into the dusty frontage of the place. This time I hung back letting Mac take the lead, trying not to look intimidating. The man who came to greet him was wearing coveralls and cleaning his hands on a rag as he approached. I had the feeling that Mac would need a damn good story to get this one to talk.

"What can I help you with?"

Mac looked at the two trucks parked up and then over to the man as though trying to find the words to say. He removed the photo that Ajax had provided from his pocket and then hesitated before he began to talk.

"My son. He disappeared a few days ago. He was annoyed at me and his mother, but I just couldn't let him have the money that he wanted. His ma, she's sick and I need the money for doctors. He don't know that, and he needs to know"

I was close to smiling as I listened to the story that Mac was coming out with, but the dealer was getting antsy with having to listen.

"The thing is he wanted a truck, but he didn't have enough money for the model and age that he was after, girlfriend to impress. I'm looking for him, his ma, well she aint got long. Has he bought a truck from you?"

Whether the man was relieved that Mac had got to the end of his story or actually believed the shit that he was having to listen to I have no idea, but at least he took the photo from Mac and studied it. Mac, well his whole posture had changed. His shoulders were loose with his hands in his pockets, looking at the man.

"Yeah, yeah, he was here. Was wanting a truck to drive away in. Don't normally do that, but well, he seemed in a hurry and paid cash"

I almost stepped forward to join in with the conversation but held back. I suppose that Mac had acquired a different skill set through being a PI. His head came up with a big smile on his face as he stepped forward and grabbed the man in a hug. Shit, even I found his performance believable.

"What did he buy, did he say where he was heading?"

The man took Mac by the elbow and led him into the work area of the garage, hopefully to give Mac some information. I didn't think that Mac was in any danger so made my way back to the truck.

"Dark brown 2002 Ford F-150 XLT. High mileage but it had a hard cover for the cargo bed"

"Plate?"

I asked because that would give us a real lead in identifying where the man was. Mac handed over a piece of paper that someone had scribbled the details onto, so with the details of the truck I knew that I needed to talk with Ajax.

"Garth there reckons that he was headed south on route 30"

Mac was soon peeling onto the street into an area that had a parade of shops. I pointed to a diner, that I saw the sign over, making the decision that we would need to meet with the other men. I'd need to look at a map to see where that route led to but from memory, I wasn't aware of any large cities. I sent a message to the two teams telling them that we'd hit the jackpot and to meet us at the diner on Falling Springs Rd, Cahokia, and then made the call to Ajax.

"Ajax here"

I suppose that I'd assumed that Ajax would answer me, but it was good to know who it was that I was talking to.

"Look for a dark brown 2002 Ford F-150 XLT, plate 2931803B. Drove out of St Louis south east, we think on route 30"

"On it boss"

The phone went dead before I realized, which felt strange because I would have thought that Ajax might have had some more news for me. Next time I spoke to him then I'd ask for an update on what they'd found, though I wasn't sure what directions their investigating was taking them.

Our truck was parked in front of the diner, and we were soon both sat in a booth at the back. It was relatively quiet but then again it was gone 1700 hours so was probably close to closing. A look at the menu had me deciding on a chicken and salad wrap with water with Mac going for pizza and coffee. When the young waitress arrived to take our order, I asked her their closing time pleased that it wasn't until 1900 hours. That would give the men a chance to eat and have a break before we decided our next plan of action.

"I changed a lot after leaving the army. Not a lot of choice when it's just you and a wife for company. Then after she passed, I was bored stupid. Realized that I was more patient with people and had learnt new ways of talking to people without confrontation. Doctors and nurses respond better"

I was surprised when Mac just started to talk, as though he needed to explain to me the change in his character. As I sat back and finished my water it made me realize that the move from the type of men we employed had been a good one. There were probably a lot of men like Mac, those who had retired after a lifetime in the services who still had a lot to give. I allowed Mac the time to settle his thoughts probably encouraging him to continue.

"Being a PI, well it only came about because a friend of my wife's asked me to look for her daughter. The daughter had run off years before, so I knew it wasn't going to be easy. Ended up in some shady parts of Kansas and then St Louis talking to some darn right scary people. I found her though and that was when I decided that I'd got a kick out of doing it"

And there it was. The need for the chase and probably adrenaline rush that men like Mac, and probably me, craved for.

"We take on jobs from various agencies to look for people, which is what we're doing now"

Trying to explain to Mac a bit more about what we were doing.

"I guessed this fella weren't no runaway. I thought that your business was security?"

Which if Mac had been to the Atlanta office would be what he would have assumed. One of the reasons that I'd sold out was because of the predictability of their business, in other words just security.

"It is but we also take on high level FTAs along with jobs that come our way. The men are all ex service, around my age or younger, who need the employment where they can utilize their skills"

"You still doing missions. Hell, that should be enough for you"

I shook my head as I considered what he would think would be enough. My mind immediately went to Steph and some of the situations that she'd got involved with and how that could be more demanding than being on any government mission.

"Finished. There's always plenty of excitement to keep me occupied"

Thankfully before Mac could delve any more Santos and Brett walked in through the door. Seeing us straight away they were soon sat opposite us reading through the menu.

"I'm sure glad that you got a lead because I for one was ready to beat up a few shitheads. Not as bad as Stark, but not far off it. Nearly got us a couple of ladies along the way though"

I saw how Santos wiggled his eyebrows and how Brett closed his eyes as though he wished Santos would shut up. I could empathize with Brett because knowing Santos he was probably telling us the truth.

"Two street girls Santos, who looked like they were underage. I told you that we were in the right area, but no, you just had to stop for directions"

Santos just shrugged his shoulders and fortunately let the subject die. It did have me thinking about Lula though and how she'd ended up back in her old profession. Ram and Bones soon made an entrance so while the four men ate their food, I decided to look at a map and try to hazard a guess as to where our man could be going.

"Aint a lot south of here. Kansas is west, then Springfield south west. Memphis directly south"

Even I had to concede that he could have driven onto any road once he had that truck. We needed something else that would give us a definitive location instead of splitting up to search for a single truck that could be anywhere in the state of Missouri.

"Let's call it a night. Mac any place close by that we could stay?"

"Let's head onto route 44. There are a lot of motels on that road, in fact I've stayed a time or two at the Fairfield Inn"

That agreed I paid the bill by leaving cash on the table along with a tip and headed out to the trucks. I have to say that the appearance of the motel was a step up from what I expected but I wasn't complaining because it was cheap. Inside was clean with a receptionist all too happy to accommodate us for the night. In the end we accepted six single rooms with the hope that everyone would get a good night's sleep, who knew where we would be tomorrow.

It was after I'd showered and changed and was catching up with emails that my phone went off. I hadn't expected to hear from Ajax so soon, but I still had a feeling of anticipation as I answered it.

"Yo"

"Err, hi boss. We took the time scale into consideration. You know, the time and date that Mat Duncan left the airport and then the day that he bought that truck"

I knew that they'd have to do that and knew that we were days behind him so was about to say that when Ajax continued with what he was telling me.

"Springfield, Missouri. He arrived there four days ago in that truck that you mentioned, caught him on the street cameras. Drove in on the 44 and stopped at a grocery store. The last we saw he was heading south east out of Springfield. No cameras on those roads and there are a lot of minor roads and tracks where he could have gone"

"Good work Ajax. What else do you have?"

"Got a partial face and he's changed his hair color to a light brown, still long. In fact, he still looks similar to the image that we picked up here in Trenton. I'll send the photo to your phone. I was hesitant to run his face through the recognition program in case it sent up an alert"

I knew that Ajax was asking me whether to do that, but I had to admit that it could be a bad idea. I had alerts set up for anyone looking for me so knew that it had the potential for us to lose him again.

"You're right. We're not that far behind him so once we have him then we can find out exactly who he is"

"Flynn, well for some reason he's gone back to the paperwork that we got from the FBI"

I remembered Tank saying that Steph saw some potential in him for seeing things that others didn't. I suppose something akin to Steph's intuition.

"Leave him to it. The more information that we have, the better. Keep me updated if you find another sighting"

Finishing the call had me thinking about Steph and where she might be. I could only hope that she was safe and if not that she'd try and contact me. Idiot, I said to myself, because I had left her phone secured in the safe in my apartment. If she used that method to communicate with me then I'd miss her. Shit, I felt as though I was constantly trying to catch up with where people were, always behind with information.

I sighed as I realized that we'd need to move out very early in the morning if we were to have any chance of catching our man. A sound from my phone told me that I had an incoming email, the one from Ajax, so I opened it to look at the face of the man that we were hunting. Ajax had been right about how he hadn't changed his looks very much because at first glance there was very little difference. At least now we had an image for the man that we were after.

"Springfield. Makes sense from the direction that he took, but what the hell's in Springfield?"

I gave a look to Mac as I got into his truck the following morning. I had no idea why Springfield was a destination. As he said there wasn't a great deal there. It was a tourist spot because of the national parks surrounding the area but that only emphasized just how easily he could get lost. As Mac drove down the highway, I had no option but to listen to him as he gave me his impression of the area. Not that I wasn't interested because we were headed into an area that I knew very little about.

"If he's deep into the Ozarks then we could never find him. All the stories that you hear about, well some of them are true. The population is white and poor and there are still meth labs hidden away. It's rugged and beautiful and people live on small farms or on heavily wooded rural blocks. They are isolated and people tend to mind their own business. The people here are just as smart as anywhere else, but they're laid back, speak slow and don't trust the government. A remote cabin or trailer home is the perfect place to cook up a chemical stink of meth. And some of those shacks have produced generations of meth addicts.

People are comfortable in these woods. They hunt and they fish. And they cook meth. The drug cartels still shift high-quality meth up from Mexico, but the reality of the Ozarks is that there are no Mr Bigs working in super labs, as portrayed in the Breaking Bad series. Well not that I know of or have heard"

I listened as Mac told me about the area that we were heading into. I knew of the poverty and crime that plagued the area but was it any worse than in the cities? Probably not but it still didn't make it right. I remembered my sister, Anna, raving about a film, Winter's Bone, and how sad it made her to realize that there were people who lived as the main character had. She said that the women had little choice. Marry and have children or join the army. I was never sure just how reliable her ideas were, but it seemed I might be finding out.

The road was straight and flat as we sped down the road toward Springfield with fields and homesteads scattered along the route. Certainly, more of an idyllic area than Mac had described. Entering into Springfield gave the view of a city that was spread out with a good road system that had low buildings on either side of it. I was surprised when Mac pulled off the main highway and started to make his way toward the center of Springfield.

"We need supplies. Aint a lot of grocery stores once we leave the townships and we don't know where we'll end up"

Okay, I had to agree that he was thinking forward and I suppose having our own supplies would give us the advantage of being self sufficient. It wasn't long before we were pulling into the parking lot of a Walmart store with the other two trucks pulling in alongside us. Not wanting to be obvious I decided that it would be better if only two of us went inside. Opening the truck door, I walked over to where Bones was sat in his truck.

"Bones, you and Brett hit the store and buy supplies that will last us a few days"

After the two men had gone into the store I watched as Santos went over to the entrance and the vending machines. No doubt he'd buy his choice of soda which could well be coca cola.

"You gonna tell me why this man that we're after is so important?"

I looked over to Mac debating the wisdom of telling him. I suppose if we did come across him then Mac needed to know what we could find and if he knew how dangerous the man could be then he'd be better prepared. Hell, he might even decide that he didn't want to continue with us.

"FBI think that he manufactures explosives for a price"

A long low whistle came from Mac which told me that he'd had other ideas of what the man had done and hadn't considered what I'd just said.

"As far we know he hasn't any explosives on him and to be honest I have no ideas on what he's doing in this part of the country"

Which I hadn't really. Surely if he was meeting with a buyer, it wouldn't be in the middle of nowhere and I couldn't see this area being able to provide him with the equipment that he would normally use.

"Is he American?"

Good question because so far, we had no evidence to suggest what nationality he was.

"We don't know. The FBI and Interpol screwed up trying to identify him, so we are the only people who know what he even looks like. He travels a lot under various aliases all from different countries but as to his actual identity that's still a mystery"

"Okay"

Was all that Mac said as he continued to look ahead of him out of the window. No doubt he was thinking through what I'd said, so I was expecting some more questions or even for him to say that we were on our own now. After a few minutes I watched as he turned on his phone and began to read it, maybe checking with his business emails.

"The local news is always so full of useless information unless it's what you're looking for"

I had no idea what he was talking about but wasn't going to piss him off by ignoring him.

"You said that he likes to blow things up"

A question that surprised me. Mac never lifted his eyes from his phone, but I gave him the answer, based on what we knew.

"Not personally but he provides the device that explodes"

Wondering where Mac was taking this conversation.

"Says here that the fire department are fed up with being called to fires when the cause is the fault of the property owners. Three explosions in three days. The police are putting it down to someone using shitty materials in their meth labs that caused an explosion. What if these folk were trying to push into the market, you know undercut the cartels down in Mexico?"

My mind was working to keep up, but I was quick to see where Mac was going. Could the cartels have paid for someone to get rid of their competition by having the meth labs destroyed?

"Good theory Mac, but surely, they'd just move their operations somewhere else. Hell in the cities they're using mobile labs to create the stuff"

All I got was a shrug of his shoulders, but I wasn't stupid enough to ignore his initial suggestion and it was certainly a place to follow up on.

"Do we know where these explosions happened?"

Mac smiled as though he knew that he'd piqued my interest.

"Need to call a friend. He should know, or at least be able to find out"

Knowing that Mac would have to use a made up story to justify why he was asking for that information I left the truck to give him some privacy and leant against the back watching the happenings in the parking lot. A lot of new cars and a lot of full trolleys being wheeled ready to be unloaded. Regardless of how impoverished this area was supposed to be, there were still folks with money who obviously enjoyed living here. Hearing a noise behind me I watched as Bones and Brett started to unload their own trolley, noting bottles of water and canned food along with some fresh produce. The fruit would have to be eaten quickly before the heat made it inedible, so just before they closed the cover down, I quickly grabbed an apple from the nearest bag.

"Where now?"

Asked Santos as he crushed a can in his hand and then tossed it into the back of the truck.

"Mac has a theory. He's calling for more information. Seems there has been three explosions in the last three days"

The more that I thought about it the more that I liked Mac's theory. Was it coincidence that our man had arrived in the area in that time frame? Maybe not, no such thing as coincidence went through my mind, so it was definitely worth following up on.

I was becoming impatient waiting for Mac but knew not to interrupt him. He seemed to have been talking on his phone for an age, long enough for me to finish the apple, walk across to a bin and deposit the core inside. When I came back Mac was stood by his door drinking from a bottle of water. I couldn't tell from his expression whether or not he had managed to source out any information.

"Friend with the police department assures me that the explosions were stupid mistakes. They make three kinds of meth around here: "Red Black", which uses phosphorous, iodine and lye, drain cleaner. "Annie", a white meth that uses anhydrous ammonium; and Shake and Bake. Shake and Bake, is a relatively new method, it's simple and dangerous. It is low yield but keeps a meth addict going. All that's needed is a two-liter soft drink bottle and the key ingredients. The clear bottle is imperative. The liquid mix is so volatile it actually flames and needs to be "burped" by opening the lid now and then to ease the pressure"

I could understand the police thinking that there'd been an accident but from the look on Mac's face I knew he had more to say.

"Two men died and three were badly injured. They were airlifted to St Louis for treatment but aren't in a good way. Strange that four of the five weren't white. There were others who were probably injured but by the time anyone got there they'd disappeared, and the locals aren't talking. He's gonna try and talk to those men at the hospital if they recover but he aint optimistic"

"Do they know who they were?"

The look that I got, and the shrug of his shoulders told me that they didn't. Would there be people who lived around here who would be living off the grid? Probably. I remembered Mac telling me that there were groups out here that hated anything to do with the government and their bureaucracy, plus the Ozarks were renowned for attracting groups trying to live in secrecy. Was that why there had been foreigners injured or killed? Mac was once more pulling out a map and spreading it over the hood of the truck. We collected around him as he first pointed to where our current location was.

"This is where I suggest that we head to. It's pretty remote but we can walk to the three sites and sleep in the trucks"

Mac drew three X marks on the map which I presumed was where the incidents had happened and the place where he was suggesting we make camp was pretty central. As no one had any questions we were soon back in the trucks and headed out of Springfield. The road was fast until we reached the city of Ozark from there it was important for me to keep an eye on the map and give directions to Mac. The further we travelled the narrower the roads became, and we were driving on winding roads that were no more than a track. It was impossible to see beyond the trees that were crowded up to the roadside, making the geography of where we were difficult to assess. There may have been blue skies above us but within the trees it was dark and uninviting. I could imagine that it would be very easy to get lost in those woods with no landmarks apparent to see.

"This is the place that you suggested"

Mac nodded his head in acknowledgement and then as a very narrow track appeared drove down it. It was a good job that we were in four wheel trucks because a normal car would never have navigated over the tree roots and fallen branches. As it became apparent that we wouldn't be moving any further forward Mac swung the truck over to the side before coming to a stop. The other two trucks did the same, but kept some distance between us all. That would allow us to camouflage the trucks from anyone walking the track. I felt stiff from the journey so was stretching out my muscles once out of the truck watching as the other men did the same.

We worked in silence each knowing what we had to do so it wasn't long before we had moved branches between the track and the trucks. Santos was checking through our equipment while Bones was sorting through his medical kit. Ram was methodically checking over the trucks and emptying gasoline from the gasoline cannisters into the fuel tanks. Brett was scouting out the area, so I was studying the map that Mac had been using. Mobile service was surprising good, as was the GPS so I was able to plot out a route to take us to the first site.

"We'll eat first and set off just before sunset. Mac, are you okay coming or would you rather stay with the trucks?"

His answer was the face that he gave me, and I was immediately regretting my question. As the other men finished their tasks, I gave them the outline of my plan for the evening. Two groups of three would approach the site of the first explosion from two different directions.