Free Abomination by E. E. Borton

director
to tell them when and where to go to murder the fugitive Marines.
    Ryan needed to create a plan that would expose the group
without their knowledge. He also couldn’t alert the deputy director of his
mistrust. Dallas was right. It was getting complicated fast.

7
Treasure Island
     
     
    Ryan woke early with renewed determination after some
much needed sleep. He hoped a morning run would set the tone for the day. An
hour later, he found himself pacing back and forth in the small windowless room
of the safe house. Dallas was the first to join him and handed him a cup of
coffee.
    “Thank you.”
    “Were you up all night?” asked Dallas.
    “No, I wanted to get a jump on the day. The problem is
the day jumped on me with more questions I can’t seem to answer.”
    “We’ll try to take care of some of that today, Boss. Now
that the cat’s out of the bag, you can utilize our world-class skills,” he said
with a smirk. “Well, at least Michelle and Tom’s skills. I’ll kick the shit out
of a door for you, though.”
    Ryan smiled at Dallas, knowing he was kidding about his
lack of investigative skills. Dallas was responsible on numerous occasions for
putting puzzles together and putting very bad people behind bars. But he hit
the bull’s-eye about his door kicking ability. Ryan couldn’t think of anyone
else he would want beside him in a fight. As tenacious as Ryan was about
finding fugitives, Dallas was equally tenacious when it came time to put hands
on them.
    In the freshman year of the IRAT team, the group was
hunting a militia leader in Utah. He was wanted for the murder of a U.S.
Marshal and the attempted murder of two others. The compound was located on the
edge of Wasatch Mountain State Park, which is one of the largest in the region.
The lifelong woodsman fugitive who grew up in the area slipped away from the
initial grasp of the assault team and disappeared into the Herber Valley. Dallas
didn’t hesitate to follow. For two days, he never stopped moving. Bad weather
grounded any air support, and no one was prepared with the gear normally carried
on a wilderness manhunt – no one except Dallas.
    Ryan remembered the looks and chuckles other agency
officers gave Dallas when he showed up at the Sunday morning briefing wearing
forty pounds of equipment, including a pouch containing NVGs. Dallas’s core
philosophy was to be better prepared and equipped than the guys he was going
after. Everyone stopped laughing after Utah.
    At the start of the pursuit into the woods, fourteen
agents went in with Dallas. It didn’t take long for the first officer to
collapse trying to keep up. One by one, he’d radio the position of another
exhausted officer that gave up the pursuit. A support group of marshals
carrying food, water, and medical supplies would scoop up the cold, dehydrated,
hungry, ankle sprained, and all around miserable professional man hunters. At
the end of the second day, the weather finally cleared. Thirty-two miles into
the dense heart of the state park, helicopters retrieved a smiling Dallas and
his not-so-happy prize from a river bank.
    “Do you really think the deputy director is feeding
information to another group?” asked Dallas.
    “I send all my reports as well as our movements only to
him,” said Ryan. “I know that doesn’t mean he’s intentionally leaking
information or even knows it’s happening. But until I know for sure it isn’t him,
I have to treat him like it is.”
    “Any idea how we can find out?”
    “I do, but before we set that plan in motion, you and I
have to go on a little trip.”
    “I love trips,” said Dallas. “Where to?”
    “Baltimore.”
    “What’s in Baltimore?” asked Tom, joining them in secure
room.
    “Kristina Anderson,” replied Ryan. “I need you and
Michelle to work up a quick and dirty background on her. According to Scott,
she’s on staff at Johns Hopkins University. I need as much information about
her daily routine as