“Copy that.”

“Confess?” whispered Laura.

“I told her to demand a lawyer immediately,” replied Jack. “No worries.”

Silence descended upon the area until quarter to three when the sound of a gunshot was heard in the distance, coming from the U.S. side of the border.

“What did they do, shoot him?” asked Laura.

Before Jack could respond, a crashing through the bush across the road and slightly down from them caught their attention.

“Oh man, a bear …” said Laura.

“Isn’t a bear,” said Jack, lowering the binoculars. “It’s a man and he’s hotfooting it down the road away from us. Come on, let’s get ’em!”

Jack and Laura scrambled out onto the road and chased after the man, who had about a thirty-second lead on them. The distance was narrowing until the man looked back and realized he was being pursued.

Jack and Laura turned on their flashlights and continued the chase. Jack’s phone vibrated as he ran and he took the call. It was from the DEA who told him Peltier, along with an American, were both in custody. The American had reached for a handgun in his belt, but changed his mind when one of the agents fired a warning shot.

“Great, no time to talk further,” panted Jack. “Got a runner we’re chasing on foot.”

“Coming our way?” asked the DEA agent.

“Not yet. He’s on the road parallel to the border … no, he just veered off northbound into the trees. Gotta go!”

Jack and Laura were only about fifteen seconds behind the man from where he took off into the forest, but fifteen seconds can be a long time when it’s dark and you’re amongst a mixture of heavy bush and trees.

They followed the noise the man was making for a few seconds, but then it got quiet.

“He’s laid down someplace,” whispered Jack.

“What about back-up or canine?” suggested Laura.

“Will take too long. He has to be close. I have an idea.”

The man crouched behind a tree, desperately trying to control his panting. He watched as the two flashlight beams cut through the darkness and could hear a woman’s voice talking to her partner. He waited until they were a good thirty seconds past him before standing up and quietly making his way back toward the road. He had only taken a few steps when a man loomed up in front of him and stuck a Smith & Wesson 9mm semi-automatic pistol in his face.

Chapter Five

Laura, who was simulating two people walking by holding her arms outstretched from her sides with a flashlight in each hand, heard Jack yell for her to return. She stopped the one-sided conversation she had been having and headed back. When she arrived, she saw Jack standing over a man who was lying on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Laura watched as Jack got the man to his feet. He had a shaved head with a large diamond stud in one ear. She guessed him to be in his early thirties. They marched him back out to the road and Jack then took the man’s wallet and checked his driver’s licence.

“Virgil Cruickshank,” said Jack, smiling at Laura.

Laura smiled back. Virgil was in all probability the Big V who was Peltier’s boss.

“What’s more,” said Jack, hauling a set of car keys out of Virgil’s pocket, “is we have keys to a BMW. A silver BMW I bet,” he added, while staring at Virgil.

“Big deal, I like to go for a walk at night in the forest,” said Virgil. “Brings me back to nature. You don’t have any grounds to arrest me for anything.”

“Where’s your car, Virgil?” asked Jack.

“Hidden in some bushes about a ten-minute walk down the road.”

“Hidden?” replied Laura.

“Can’t be too careful when you go for a walk,” sneered Virgil. “Could be criminals out this time of night. Which is why I ran from you guys.”

Twenty minutes later, Virgil sat handcuffed in the back of the SUV. He was being guarded by Laura while Jack searched the BMW.

Jack found a booklet in the glove box that contained maps of the lower mainland. He checked it to see if there were any marks to indicate areas of interest along the border. There weren’t, including the area they were in. He did notice one oddity: five of the pages in the booklet had the page number crossed off, not in sequence, but between four and five pages apart. He made a notation in his notebook of the general locations on the map of each page that had been crossed off. He then put the booklet back and searched the trunk. Under the spare tire he found a scabbard that held a large jungle knife with a serrated back.

Jack returned to the SUV. “Hey, Virgil, mind telling me what you use this for?” he asked, sliding the knife out of the scabbard.

“Yeah, no problem. I like to go camping. Like I said, I enjoy nature. Now, if you are going to arrest me, then do so and let me call my lawyer. Otherwise, let me go.”

“Laura, step out for a minute, there’s something we need to discuss,” said Jack, shoving the knife back into its sheath and sticking it into his belt.

“What now?” asked Laura quietly, when she got out of the SUV and closed the door. “Is the knife all you found?”

“He did have a map booklet with a few page numbers crossed off, but nothing to do with the border areas.”

“We’ll never get a conviction without something more than him being in the area. Even if we get phone records … it won’t be enough.”

“I know,” replied Jack.

“Peltier was careful enough not to store any dope at his house,” noted Laura. She gestured with her thumb toward Virgil. “He’s even farther up the chain than Peltier. You can bet we won’t get much from searching his place, either.”

“I agree, but he doesn’t know how much we know.” Jack eyed Virgil, who was sneering at them from the SUV. “He’s putting on a tough act, but you can bet his ass is puckered. Let’s try and turn him.”

“Pull a bluff?” asked Laura

“You got it.”

Jack opened the door to the back of the SUV and grabbed Virgil by the arm and hauled him out.

“You letting me go?” said Virgil, optimistically.

“No, you’re going down for drug trafficking,” said Jack.

“Drug trafficking? That’s bullshit!” said Virgil, giving a fake laugh. “You got nothing on me. Go ahead, throw me in the slammer for the night. I’ll be out by morning.”

“Boy, do you have that wrong,” said Jack. “Any idea how much time you’re going to get for masterminding shipments of meth into the U.S.? Your buddy Peltier is looking at a minimum of ten years if he cooperates, which of course he will. But he was only a courier. You’re looking at double what he will get.”

“There’s no way,” replied Virgil, not sounding as confident as he did earlier. “Am I supposed to know Peltier?”

“You would be surprised at what we have,” said Jack. “And the judges in the U.S. aren’t quite as gullible or lenient as the ones up here.”

“The U.S.?” Virgil asked.

“Guess you’re not familiar with how much time you serve in the U.S. when you co-operate versus when you don’t. Your contacts down there will be fighting with each other to be the first to rat. You being caught watching the deal go down is icing on the cake.”

“Watching what?” Virgil protested. “Like I said, I was out for a walk. I like owls and try to see them at night. If you’re saying some criminals got caught in the States, well, they’re criminals. Who would believe what they say? Like I said, you don’t have the grounds to arrest me, let alone get me deported.”

“Yeah, yeah,” replied Jack. “Come on, we need to walk down the road.”

“Where ya taking me?”

“Someone else will be taking you to jail,” replied Jack.

Minutes later, Virgil looked more apprehensive when they turned off the road and crossed the ditch toward the U.S. border.

“Now what are you doing?” Virgil demanded.