Foxtrot
“Ithink we have a tail,” Burke said to Tessman and broadcasting it to Wilson and Rogers in the other SUV.
“The silver Trailblazer.” The traffic had thinned out after the last exit.
He’d been watching the Trailblazer as it had been hovering behind them since they got back on the interstate after their bathroom break. It had matched their speed.
“Only one way to be sure,” Wilson replied. “Let’s reduce our speed and let it pass us.”
Burke kept his eye on the rearview. After they’d dropped their speed by ten miles per hour, it took the Trailblazer a moment to react. It closed the distance before backing off. “I think we have our answer,” Burke transmitted.
“We’re coming up on a cross lane. Let’s pull U-ies and see what the Trailblazer does,” Wilson broadcast. “Let’s see if this guy moves it from passive to active pursuit. If he follows, I’d expect an attack.”
Wilson immediately pulled into the left lane.
Burke followed. “We’ll soon see if there’s a second vehicle.
If they only have one vehicle, they’re either amateurs or short-staffed.
” Both situations were good for them. Snagging one of these guys to interrogate was the best-case scenario for them.
His eyes went to his rearview, making eye contact with Ellison.
“If your dad knows you're alive and thinks you’ll flip, will he move to eliminate you?”
The brake lights on the white SUV in front of them, just feet before the ‘Authorized Vehicles Only’ lane, happened as Ellison answered. “I truly have no idea what he’ll do.”
Burke braked hard. He took the U-turn at a high speed, spilling out onto the highway going in the opposite direction with squealing tires.
Thankfully, there was no oncoming traffic.
Tessman turned in his seat and watched the cross lane.
The silver Trailblazer flew by it, but the blue minivan behind it turned onto the cross lane and then pulled out behind them.
“Gentlemen, we have a new tail, a blue Toyota Sienna,” Tessman broadcast.
Brandon Ellison turned in his seat to look back at the minivan.
“Do you recognize it?” Tessman asked.
“No, but I don’t know all the vehicles associated with the members of the local groups,” Ellison said.
Tessman’s eyes settled on Stacy questioningly.
“I don’t either,” Stacy insisted.
Burke wasn’t so sure. He believed that she was in deeper than she’d admitted to.
The blue minivan sped up. Within minutes, it was tailgating the agency SUV. Burke wished that Brandon and Stacy were in the other vehicle. If they had been, he and Tessman could have forced the minivan off the road and they would have confronted the occupants, which looked to be just two men.
Burke executed blocking maneuvers when the minivan tried to pass him.
He swung hard to cut the driver off as he hit the gas to stay in front of him.
He rode the center line, swerving to whichever side the minivan tried to accelerate past him on.
There was little shoulder on this stretch of road, and the ditches that ran along both sides were steep.
The white SUV got a good lead.
“What do you want us to do with these assholes, Taco?” Burke broadcast as he cut the wheel to the left. “They don’t seem too interested in us, want to get around us.”
“That tells me they don’t know who’s in your vehicle,” Wilson said. “Interesting.”
“Well, they can’t see inside our SUV. It looks like there’s only two of them in the minivan. Should we let them pass and then, when they’re in between the two vehicles, force them off the road?” Tessman said. He and Burke momentarily exchanged a knowing glance.
“No, Moe, can you shoot its tires? Let’s slow them down or stop them, get them out of our way,” Wilson said.
Tessman removed his seatbelt and swiveled in his seat to be in the correct position to fire. Then he drew his Sig P229 from the small of his back and took the safety off, gripping it with both hands, ready to fire, below window level. “Let the minivan ease up on my side.”
Burke pulled into the left lane. The minivan accelerated.
Burke lowered Tessman’s window. The cold winter air invaded the inside of the SUV, howling through the open window.
As the minivan accelerated to come alongside them, Tessman took aim out of the window.
One shot. The front driver’s side tire blew, and the minivan violently pulled left.
Burke swerved to avoid the impact. The driver of the minivan over-corrected, and it careened right.
It left the road and hit the deep culvert beside the road at too high a speed, which made it flip.
The vehicle rolled twice, coming to rest on its roof in the field beside the road.
Tessman calmly pulled himself back into the SUV and settled into his seat, re-closing his window, as Burke called the mile marker into Ops with a request to have the local LEOs dispatched to the accident scene.
“Nice shooting, Moe,” came Wilson’s voice through comms. “How’d we pick up the tail?”
“Either a tracker on the white SUV, on someone, or someone’s phone is being tracked,” Burke said. His gaze flickered to the two passengers in the back seat. “Hand your phones over.”
“I don’t have mine,” Ellison said. “I don’t have my wallet or any of my things. I assume the coroner’s office does.”
“I’m only going to ask you this once, Ellison,” Burke said. “Does your father have anyway to track you?”
“Just through my phone, which clearly is not on me,” he answered.
Tessman swiveled in his seat, his hand reaching back towards Stacy. “Your phone.”
“You have it. You took it before I went into the bathroom,” she said.
Burke had forgotten he’d taken it and dropped it into his coat pocket. He retrieved it. He handed it to Tessman. “What’s your password, Stacy?”
Stacy Ramsey tripped over her words. “I don’t understand. I haven’t texted or called anyone.”
“Password,” Burke repeated.
She recited a six-digit code. Tessman plugged it in. He scrolled through her last calls and text messages. “Nothing,” he said as he held Stacy’s phone up to Burke.
“Toss it,” Burke said. His eyes went to Stacy’s in the rearview mirror. “Sorry about this.”
Tessman rolled the window down and tossed her phone out.
“What the hell?” Stacy screamed. “My phone!”
“The only way to be sure we’re not being tracked through it,” Burke said.
“You could have just turned it off,” Stacy argued.
“Most phones can be tracked for several hours or days even after they’re powered down,” Burke said.
Stacy said nothing in reply.
Through comms, Burke and Tessman could hear something similar was taking place in the white SUV too, as Rogers collected Tom and Valerie Butler’s phones. They were also thrown out of the window.
“Okay,” Wilson’s voice came. “We pull another U-ie at the next opportunity and get back on track for Milwaukee even though I’m sure both of these vehicles have been identified by the Tangos.”
“But since they weren’t looking to take us out, it’s unlikely they know who’s in our SUV,” Burke said.
They executed another U-turn and were once again heading south, towards Milwaukee on I-43.
All four of the men from Shepherd Security watched the traffic, scrutinizing the vehicles that passed.
These guys weren’t amateurs. They had to have more vehicles out there, and they were all sure the silver Trailblazer was up ahead, waiting for them.
After thirty minutes of quiet, Wilson’s voice came through comms. “Several miles ahead at exit 15-A is State Highway 310. It leads to Manitowoc Municipal Airport. I just spoke to Big Bear. The Lear will meet us there. We’ll hand off our passengers and confront anyone tailing us.
If there’s no one, we have been ordered to go back to that warehouse in Shawano to conduct a more thorough search and to secure it until federal authorities arrive to take custody of it and the stockpile of weapons.
We’re also to confront and detain anyone who may show up there. ”
“Fuck,” both Burke and Tessman grunted in unison. “Roger that,” Burke acknowledged. Even though the warehouse and the weapons needed to be secured, that was the last place he wanted to be heading.
“What?” Brandon Ellison asked.
“Given our recent tail, we’re diverting to an airfield where you’ll be flown out.
It’s safer for all of you,” Burke answered.
“Stacy, after that, we’re heading back up to the warehouse in Shawano to secure those rifles.
Is there anything else there we should be taking a look at?
” His eyes flickered to his rearview mirror and Stacy’s nervous gaze.
“Yeah, there are records in a file on the computer that’ll be valuable and back up Valerie and Tom’s claims. I’m sure they’ll tell the federal authorities about them, but it wouldn’t hurt for you to get them turned over to the authorities sooner.”
Burke was surprised that she was being so forthcoming. “Good. Tessman, note the file location, login, and password info. Anything else?”
“Not that I can think of, but can I ask a favor of you when you go back?”
Burke’s gaze again went to hers in the rearview. “What?”
“My husband will be home around five this afternoon. If I’m not allowed to contact him by then, can you go see him and let him know what happened?
He’ll cooperate with the authorities, I’m sure.
And he may have additional information on the group, maybe someone who he knows is a member of both the prepper group and the militia. ”
Burke nodded. “That we can,” he promised.
Further up the road, the two vehicles came to the exit and took it with no further signs that they were being followed.
Within a few minutes they pulled up to the seven-hundred-acre municipal airport.
Thirty cream-colored hangars were situated behind security fencing, which gave cars access through a security gate.