Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay. Here is what you're wanting! Remember to share the love and leave a little review for me.
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"Not a surprise that an ex-military guy would find work as a security consultant or go into law enforcement." Warrick looked at the notebook that he had written the information he had gleaned from co-workers in. "What does surprise me is that he didn't try for something better than working as a security guard.
"It did give him access to several of the casino hotels." Greg had spoken with the owner who supplied the locations of several of Doug's last assignments. He and Warrick had spent over an hour individually speaking with people at Doug Carter's place of employment. Most of his co-workers at the security company knew nothing about the man. They describe Carter as stand-offish and arrogant.
"Lets run down that last name. The manager said that Carter seemed to get along with this guy. Maybe he knows a little more than the others did. He's over at the Flamingo and due to get off in one hour."
"Sounds good. On the way lets swing through someplace to grab some food, I'm starving." Greg opened the passenger door and climbed in.
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"Eppes. Hey Megan, what do you have for me."
"Not as much as I would like." Back in California, Megan had been pouring over files and interviews from the Dwayne Carter case. It was standard procedure for the families and friends to be questioned and Megan had the connections to get a look into the files.
"Something is better than nothing. Hold on a minute, I'll put you on speaker phone, Charlie and David are here, plus the CSI's working the case locally."
"The Carter family lived in Northern California. The mother was an at home daycare provider and the father worked for the National Park Service as a ranger at Yosemite. Three children, oldest Dwayne, Doug was five years younger and then a sister who is two years behind Doug. From the looks of it normal family home and upbringing. The father died six years ago, the result of a car accident. Both Dwayne and Doug joined the military. When Dwayne was arrested for spying, Doug was stationed in Germany. During his questioning he was very upset at the idea of big brother spying and claimed that it must be a mistake or a set-up. No indication that Doug was in anyway aware of Dwayne's activities. Doug was honorably discharged two years ago, looks like about six months after Dwayne's arrest."
"Ok, so he had a wonderful childhood." David snapped. "What do you make of him?"
"He will be meticulous in his planning, he likes control, and he feels at home in the mountains. So I would suggest that those would be his refuge. As far as a location, I really don't have anything to give you." The disappointment was evident in her voice.
"Thanks Megan, let us know if anything else comes up." Don disconnected and turned to the others. "So it looks like the mountains are our best bet. Nick, can you get people on looking for Carter's car. Maybe he parked somewhere that others can see it."
"That's a lot of spots, but I'll get on the horn and make sure that law enforcement in those areas start looking for it." Nick turned and picked up the phone.
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Pulling into the front of the Flamingo, Warrick and Greg walked into the casino. "You know the difference between the older casinos and the new mega-hotels is like day and night."
Warrick agreed, "Wynn and those other guys think bigger is better, but I'm old school. I like the idea that I'm playing the same table that Sinatra did."
"They should put up signs, you know like Washington slept here, only it would be "Sammy Davis won here."
"Hey, he was allowed to be on the stage but soon as the show was done he was out the door."
"A person has to wonder how long the Strip might have stayed segregated if it wasn't for the opening of the Moulin Rouge?" Greg reflected, "A lot of people think that the other casino owners worked together to put them out of business. Ironic considering most of the owners of Moulin Rouge were white. They opened it purely as a way to tap into a huge pool of black gamblers who weren't welcomed anywhere else."
"Yeah, but after the strip was desegregated in 1960, everyone wanted to be treated like the white high-rollers."
The two stopped in front of the security office. Greg smiled and bowed, "After you sir."
"See, that's what I'm talking about. Respect and butt-kissing." Warrick laughed and pushed the door open. There was a younger woman sitting at a desk and several closed doors leading to other rooms. "Hello, I'm Warrick Brown," he pulled out his badge. "We need to speak to Frank Meyerholtz."
"Is Mr. Meyerholtz expecting you?"
"I don't think so, but we need to see him immediately."
"Not a problem. His shift should be ending soon. Let me radio for him to come in."
"Thanks." Warrick smiled.
Within five minutes they were sitting in one of the office's interrogation rooms speaking with Frank Meyerholtz.
"I really don't know what I can tell you about Doug. We've had a few beers and hung out a couple of times, but we never really talked about much."
The younger man had a receding hairline and while athletically fit, Greg had decided that in a few years there would be a paunch hanging over the wide belt. "Did he ever talk about his family?"
"He did mention that he had a young nephew. Talked about wanting to bring him out here and teach him to hike. It kind of sounded like it must have been a messy divorce or something because he said his ex-sister-in-law wouldn't let him see the kid."
"Did he mention any place in particular that wanted to hike with him?"
"I remember him talking about growing up around Yosemite. Said that none of the mountains around here compared."
"Think, was there anything else?"
"Trees." Meyerholtz snapped his fingers. "Trees. He talked about that the only good mountains around here were the ones at Charleston because they had the best trees. He said you needed trees when you hiked."
The two CSI's looked at each other and smiled, this was a start.
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He stood there, panting for a moment, trying to catch his breath. The attack had been quick; unexpected. The two men had rolled back and forth on the ground, vying for control of the semi-automatic. The sound of it firing still caused his ears to ring.
"So, what now." The injured man looked up at him, a flicker of pain crossed his features and was quickly replaced by a stony gaze.
"I'm thinking."
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Nick closed his phone. "That was Warrick. They spoke with some co-workers. According to one of them, Carter spoke about the mountains at Humbolt-Toiyabi National Forrest."
"Great, lets head out." Don was eager to move; inactivity was wearing on him.
"That area is close to 60,000 acres." Nick's voice expressed the immensity of the situation.
"Do you have topographical maps of the whole area?" Charlie ask, a slightly distant look in his eyes.
"Yes, we can down load from the US Geographical Survey sight."
"What are you thinking Charlie?"
"A variant on some of the search grids we've used before. I could possibly look at a pursuit curve, but I'm thinking that using a metaheuristic search method" He looked at Nick. "Do you have a chalkboard or something?"
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"How bad are you hit."
"Why don't you come over and take a look for yourself." He winced as he moved slightly.
"Forgive me if I don't think I can trust you."
He lifted his shirt to appraise the damage done. Blood had already soaked through and he hissed slightly as he wiped at the blood with the lower portion of his shirt. The bullet had taken a deep bite along his side as it had passed between the two men. It was bleeding freely, but as his grandmother had told him, "it's a long ways from your heart."
"Looks like a flesh wound."
"Yeah, ain't I lucky. I suppose you want me back over to the tree."
"This time I'd recommend that you don't try anything Granger."
Colby rolled to his knees and stood up, his hand pressed painfully to his side trying to slow the blood flow. "Why? You going to shoot me? Oh wait, you've done that already."
"It was accidental. I'm not planning on killing you quickly."
"I was wondering when you were going to tell me your plans." Colby sat down and put his arms behind him.
"When Dwayne came back from Afghanistan it was like they sent back a different guy. I was home on leave and came out to Los Angles to visit him and Jennifer. We went out one night to party and he got pretty trashed. Told me of some of the things you guys did over there. I can see why he was messed up." Doug had sat down facing Colby, his face lost in the memories. "Within six months Jennifer filed for divorce and Dwayne could only see Mikey every other weekend. She told the courts that she was afraid that Dwayne would do something to hurt them. He wouldn't have hurt them, he loved them. He starts working for the government and I think everything is back on track. Suddenly, out of the blue he's arrested and they tell us that he's a traitor."
"Doug, I know what it's like to be an older brother. When you fuck up you don't want your siblings to make the same mistakes you did. Think about it Doug. Would Dwayne want you doing this. Hasn't your mother suffered enough with this."
His face darkened, "Leave my mother out of this. It broke her heart. Watching her cry and knowing there was nothing you could do. When I heard that you and him had escaped and were on the run I thought, "good, he's with a friend". He trusted you and you got him killed."
"He was killed by the Chinese after he killed Mason Lancer, a Chinese spy. Lancer was trying to kill me. That was the second time Dwayne saved my life." Colby shifted slightly, feeling the blood still trickling from the wound although he could tell that it had slowed down.
"So my brother traded his life for yours. A "friend" that turned him in."
"That's my job Doug." Colby leaned his head back slightly and closed his eyes. The loss of blood wasn't enough to kill him, but he was feeling a little light-headed. He could hear movement and opened his eyes. Doug had moved next to him and was now kneeling next to him.
"I told you that I was planning on killing you, I lied."
"Does that mean now that we've had our heart to heart you're letting me go?" Colby wasn't holding out much hope for that possibility.
"I'm not killing you, far as I'm concerned it will be nature just taking its course." He pulled out a bandana and wrapped it around Colby's eyes. "Any last words?"
"You're a coward Doug. Leaving me like this. Not enough balls to do it your self. Were you planning on Michelle killing me in the hotel room? How did she figure into your little revenge plan?"
"When I found out you were coming to Vegas I started to plan a surprise for you. Michelle was just to get you into the room. She wasn't supposed to sleep with you. I come in and find the whore naked. She didn't even try to hide the fact, said that she couldn't go through with anything and we needed to leave. Next thing I know she's dead and I decide to change my plans, after all, the idea of you in prison was enough to make me feel like justice would be served. I should have taken care of you then. My mistake was to trust the system, I should have known they would manage to take care of their own."
"So you kill your girlfriend and try to pin it on me. How about the bartender?"
"Friend of Michelle's, he got nervous." Doug pulled out another bandana and forced open Colby's lips. After tying it behind his head he stood up and looked at the agent. "Sorry, but I don't have time for any more questions. Long hike back don't you know. I'd like to say I'll be seeing you again, but I don't think that's going to happen. Good-bye Granger. I hope you have plenty of time to sit here and think about your sins."
Grabbing the backpack Doug shouldered it and checking his gps unit he started back in the direction he came.
Once Colby could no longer hear any sign of the other man he started to work on the gag. After fifteen minutes he had it loosened enough to let is slip from his mouth. Taking a deep breath, he set to work on the blindfold.