Chasing a Blond Moon(155)
Dort was Mecosta’s wife. “Copy.” Service understood.
“Anonymous caller, male or female?”
“Female, no name, and I didn’t recognize the voice. You know how it goes.”
He did. Most Yoopers didn’t abide law-breaking, but also didn’t want to get involved because they feared testifying or getting crossways with neighbors. It had always been so above the bridge.
Mecosta was being extremely circumspect in telling him what was going on, but it boiled down to the fact that an anonymous tip had pointed him at a cabin where they had seen five men and a lot of gear, five men east of west, meaning across the Pacific—Asians. An anonymous call could mean somebody had a beef with them, or was worked up over what appeared to be so many foreigners in one place, one of the legacies of September 11.
“How’s your guide holding up?”
Mecosta said. “Ought better ask how I’m doing. I’ve never seen a walker like him, uphill, downhill, same pace, hours on end.”
“I’m going to alert backup in case we need them. See any weapons in the group?”
“Long guns in cases.”
“Got a meet-site in mind?” Service asked.
“You know the next little burg west of where our guide has his lady friend?”
“I remember.” Mecosta meant a place called Rumely.
“There’s a road runs north out of there, same name as the place. It T’s three miles north.”
Rumely Road, Service thought. “Hides?”
“Some fields with some hardwoods right before the T. Right or left is fine, rocky ground.”
“Okay, I’ll make calls. Let me know what you find out about ownership.”
“TX or 800?”
“800 is best, but either will work.”
“You coming back?”
“Let’s see what we have in the morning.”
“Thirty-One Eighteen clear.”
Maybe this was something, Service thought, then decided it rated a probably. Five Asian men in the same area. A definite probably.
He called Captain Grant at home. “Service.” He laid out the situation and what he needed.
“The T north of Rumely on Rumely Road?”
“Right.” The captain sounded wide awake.
“Four more people do it?”
“Should.”
“Count me in. I’ll be there. Any feel for what’s in the offing?”
“Nossir, just something.”
“Soong’s copilot?”
“That’s what I was told.”
“This would be Pung?”
“I don’t know,” he said. He had seen the man, but had no photo.
“But you don’t know.”
“It’s gut and circumstance at this point, Cap’n.”
“Keep me informed.”
He locked the truck and went up to the room. Nantz had dumped her gown on the carpet and was asleep, breathing steadily.
He put his handheld and cell phone on the nightstand, undressed and eased in beside her, not wanting to wake her, but suddenly he heard a buzz and groped for his cell phone.
“Service?”
“Yeah.” He glanced at his watch: 4:30 a.m.
“The driver dropped the couple at a house near White Lake, spent fifteen minutes inside, brought out some boxes and drove the limo over to Oakland County International where he met four Asian males at the Horizon Lounge. They had several drinks, he dropped them at a Holiday Inn Express, and drove out to the airfield to the transient parking area. He moved the boxes from the limo into an aircraft, a Cessna Citation Ten. Got something to write with?”
Service reached down to the floor, fumbled for a pen from his pants.
“Okay.”
Sterling gave him the tail number.
“Where’s the guy now?”
“He went to operations, was in there twenty minutes. I watched him back to the bird, went into ops and flashed my shield. He filed a flight plan for Sawyer International, open departure for tomorrow morning.”
Sawyer was the old air force base twenty miles south of Marquette and about the same distance west of Mecosta and Santinaw. This couldn’t be coincidence. “How big is this bird?”
“Twin-engine jet, looks to me like it can handle six to eight pax, and crew.”
“Where’s your man now?”
“On the bird, lights out, either napping or choking the chicken,” Sterling said. “You want me to stick here?”
“Call me as soon as he moves.”
“You got it.”
Nantz was awake when he closed the cell phone. “What’s going on?” she asked sleepily.
“Jake got an anonymous tip. He and Santinaw are sitting on a camp right now.”
“Will this happen today?” Nantz asked as she got out of bed and went into the bathroom.