A Time for Patriots

“This is Adams, Salt Lake Center. Lost radar contact with a Cessna 182, five-five miles north-northwest of Battle Mountain, Nevada, in an area of heavy thunderstorms. Airliner at flight level three-five-zero reports picking up a VHF ELT overhead that vicinity.”

“We’re on it, Salt Lake,” the voice on the other end of the line said. The controller could hear an alarm sounding in the background. “Colors, fuel on board, pilot’s name, and souls on board?”

The controller picked up the flight-plan strip from its holder. “White with blue stripes, five hours, three… three souls on board,” he read, his voice catching when he read the grim number off the flight’s data strip.

“Roger, Salt Lake,” the voice said. “When do you estimate the weather will move out of the area?”

“It’s moving pretty fast and it’s not very big, just long,” the controller said. “About an hour.”

“Thanks, Mr. Adams,” the voice said. “I’m sorry. Tyndall is clear.”

Warehouse Complex Outside Lincoln Municipal Airport, California

That same time

“Okay, guys, this is it,” the Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent in charge, Gary Hardison, said. He was surrounded by two plainclothes agents, a team of four FBI Special Weapons and Tactics officers, and a squad of eight federal Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents, all in full body armor and tactical helmets and carrying submachine guns. “It’s the culmination of eighteen months of undercover work to get close to this gang. It all happens in about an hour.”

Hardison stepped over to a large presentation board with overhead satellite photographs of the objective and a hand-drawn diagram of their ingress plan. “Here’s the hangar where they want to make the exchange, in the middle of the first row nearest to the taxiway. Be on the lookout for planes and pilots on the airport, but the weather has been stormy, so the airport manager believes there won’t be any pilots on the airport. To be sure, he’s deactivated everyone’s gate access cards except ours so they won’t be able to get onto the airport until we’re done. We’ve verified that the other hangars are occupied, the identities of the owners have been checked, and the airport manager has deactivated their gate cards so they won’t be able to get in.

“The objective hangar has a single plane, a King Air 350 twin-engine plane that the suspects want to use to transport the materials. We’ve had a Predator unmanned aircraft overhead all evening, watching for any signs that the gang tries to put anyone up on the roof — if they do, we’ll be alerted, and we’ll call it off if we can’t take the shooter down. I’ll be watching the UAV’s video feed from here.

“Riley will go through the electric gate, which will be under observation by the gang,” Hardison continued. “Stricker will follow in the sedan. They’ll drive through, let the guards check them, the sedan, and the truck, then drive up to the hangar — I expect they’ll have at least one perp with you in the truck and sedan and at least one perp staying back at the gate. Once they’re cleared in and drive to the hangar, they’ll go in first with the cash, and then they’ll lead the smugglers out to the truck to let them test the materials. Once they approve the materials and we don’t get any warning beeps, you’ll take down the guys outside the hangar, and then we’ll signal the SWAT and ATF teams to fly in to clear the hangar.”

Hardison motioned to a lone uniformed officer. “Captain Derek Coulter from the Yuba County Sheriff’s Department is in charge of the SWAT team,” the FBI special agent went on. “After we take down the guys outside the hangar and the choppers are en route, he and his men will move in to close the airport and block the runway, taxiways, and exits. They’ll be out of sight here in the warehouse complex until the takedown. Captain?”

“We have six vehicles involved in blocking the runways and taxiways, with two deputies in each vehicle,” Coulter said. “Two will be near the hangar where the operation will take place, blocking the north end of the runway and the main taxiway. We’ll be monitoring the tactical freq, so if you need any help or if the situation changes, we’ll be standing by. We also have a chopper standing by at the fire department helipad, just a couple minutes away. My guys have worked with the FBI on numerous occasions. Good luck.”

“Thanks, Derek,” Hardison said. “To continue: The SWAT helicopters will touch down on the taxiway outside the hangar, which hopefully will be the first indication to those inside the hangar that something’s up. The hangar door should be closed; there’s a single walk-through door on the left side of the hangar door. The hangar has a twenty-foot-high roof with a lot of beams overhead, so, everyone, be sure to clear upward as well as around. It’s fairly cluttered in there with rolling tool chests, lights, jacks, and the like, so Hess, Scott, Edwards, and Caffery, be extra careful.