Free Brown, Dale - Independent 04 by Storming Heaven (v1.1) Page B

in and was ready
with the information Berrell wanted: “Sir, I recommend we put Fresno in battle stations,” he said. “I’m betting
he’ll make a run for Mexico , but we’ll have to wait and see. A cargo
plane like an L-600 has plenty of legs—he can go either to Canada or Mexico . But I’ll put my money on Mexico .”
                 Sergeant
Bidwell was seldom wrong—in fact, Berrell couldn’t recall when one of his
predictions was off the mark. Bidwell was always tuned toward economizing their
forces—predicting the flight path of the target and putting the closest
interceptors on the target. But Berrell had a feeling that the Treasury
Department and ATF weren’t going to care about economy on this one. They wanted
every throttle jockey in the Air Force ready to jump the bastard that killed
their agents. Cazaux was supposed to be as wily as he was psychotic, and
Berrell didn’t want anyone in his sector to drop the ball if they had a chance
to catch him. “All the same, get Kingsley and March suited up, too,” Berrell
said. “I got a feeling Treasury or the ATF won’t want to let this guy go as
long as he’s within radar range of the States. Let’s get Northwest sector
geared up in case this turns out to be a relay marathon, too.” The Oakland Center phone rang again. “Senior Director
Berrell.”
                 “We
just got word from the Treasury Department,” Leahy said. “They want you to
intercept the target, accomplish a covert shadow, and stand by for further
instructions. It sounds like Treasury is leaning toward an intercept and
force-down. Treasury would like to try to force him away from populated areas
if possible, and then attempt to force him down at a less populated airport or
over water.”
                 “Mike,
I have Captain Tellman, the deputy sector commander, on the line. Repeat what
you just said.” The FAA Center deputy repeated his message. “Mike, we need
to talk to Justice and Treasury right away and straighten those boys out,”
Tellman said, “because you know we don’t have any procedures for trying to
force an aircraft down.”
                 “You
can’t fire some shots across his bow, crowd him a little on one side to make
him turn?”
                 “You
been watching too much TV. We have no procedures for anything like that, and I wouldn’t
want to freelance something like that at night over populated areas with a
terrorist like Cazaux at the controls of a plane full of explosives. The
potential for disaster is too high, especially compared with the option of just
letting him go and shadowing him. But even if Air Combat Command approved a
maneuver like that, I don’t think it would work. If the target doesn’t comply
with visual, light, or radio signals to follow or turn, we either shadow him or
shoot him down. Period. Our procedures say we can’t get any closer than
searchlight range of a known armed aircraft, and I’m sure as hell not going to
have them try to turn a plane loaded with explosives—especially one piloted by
an operator like Cazaux.” “All right, Captain, I hear you,” Leahy said. “I’m
just passing on this ATF agent’s requests. Obviously he doesn’t know your
procedures, and he thinks you’ll do whatever he asks because of his dead
agents. We’ll have to conference- call this one with Justice. What’s your
recommendation?” “I’d gladly give the order to blow this scumbag out of the
sky,” Berrell said, “but your best option is to have us do a covert shadow on
the target, find out where he goes. Does ATF know his destination?”
                “I don’t think so,” Leahy replied.
“He’s filed a VFR flight plan to Mesa , Arizona , but I don’t think anyone expects him to land there.”
                 “If
he goes away from the mainland, then we can talk about trying some heroics, if
you want to catch him so bad—and I think we’d all