Vagabonds by Nick Brokhausen

Author:Nick Brokhausen
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781612009964
Publisher: Casemate
Published: 2021-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

It is getting near dusk and the operation is about to begin. We transfer the money into the stripped-down pickup and give our guy a burn phone so he can have it on his lap and the police can listen in on the device the kidnappers will give him. He doesn’t look all that chipper but girds his loins and mounts up. He puts on a brave face, but I can see that I am not his favorite person at this moment despite assurances that the police will have surveillance on him the whole time. The police have air assets on hand; I am hoping that they have a handle on the over watch.

We mount up and follow the police in the van with the detector. We are about 10 minutes behind the truck with the ransom money. The radio reports that he has picked up the cell phone and they are following him in discreet formation alternating between the air asset and the ground force. We wind our way through the city in what is an obvious counter surveillance route where the gang can watch traffic behind the truck and report in. There are multiple left turns then right turns in sequence, all designed to pick up on any vehicular surveillance. The commander calls and explains that they know who this gang is and that they have used the same route and technique before so they had a good idea where the drop point will be. They are setting up an area surveillance and will tell us when to come in and start tracking.

We soon move out into the countryside, and we are listening to the surveillance units giving their reports to the command element. They have our guy drive nearly 30 kilometers from the outskirts and have him take an exit ramp that has a street light at the end of the ramp. They have him get out and turn around, lifting his shirt and pulling up his pants legs to show he isn’t armed, then instruct him to take the bags with the cash and walk down the arroyo to his left. Once he moves out of the light, we all hold our breath: this is the most dangerous part of the operation. After about 15 minutes he comes back to the truck and gets in. The lights come on and he turns back onto the toll road going back towards the city.

We are set up overlooking one of three roads that connect to the highway. We have been there for about two hours when the commander tells us to move up to where the cash had been dropped. We move up using the detector to zero in on the sight. We are getting real strong signatures on the device and finally locate the drop site. The two black bags that contained the cash are lying on the ground. We get out and I notice the discarded packaging of three or four space blankets. These are lightweight sheets with a metallic material that traps heat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.