Patriots by Alex Parman

Author:Alex Parman [Parman, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-30T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

In no hurry to return to the hotel, Cyrus sat in his agency ride with his FBI phone resting on the console. Misty’s breath came through the speaker. He’d put her to work tracking down information on the occupants of the cabin during the sheriff’s meeting.

She was the analytical type. Details were her heroine, and quick jobs were against her nature. Maybe it had been instilled during her stint in the military, and her paranoia about law enforcement reinforced the behavior. Sometimes patience went a long way. He’d even stalled for time by calling Marsha first, just to touch base. When the first snowflake fell on his windshield fifteen minutes later, he’d run out of excuses—and the desire to make them. He needed an update. Though he hated coming off as a nagging pain in the ass, he placed the call.

Misty chimed in as if it’d been her cue. “Jim Walker was arrested for domestic abuse a few years ago. Charges were dropped. Divorced a year later. I drudged up some old posts from his ex-wife, but nothing on social media from him. He has littered the forums with enough rants to keep a conspiracy theorist’s wanker hard for weeks.”

“Pleasant.”

“Now he’s drumming shit up about the federal incursion on sovereign land.”

“Great. They’re secessionists.”

“That’s what it sounds like. But what else do you take away?”

Cyrus mulled that one over and realized it was Misty who was teaching now. “Think they’re trying to recruit?”

“Bingo. So glad they didn’t assign me to an idiot.”

“High praise.”

“Anyway, it’s a good reason to lure you in.”

“Us,” Cyrus corrected.

“What?”

“You said they lured ‘you’ in, like you aren’t Bureau. It’s us.”

“Semantics.” She pushed on. “These infrared aerial shots you sent prove they want to grow. About a quarter of those cabins registered cold, awaiting occupation. But they’ve got a bunch of people up there, and it’s like they carved those dirt roads to lock anyone who enters into a bottleneck. You’d have to wind through all those snakes just to circle back and climb to the main cabin. The only approach is down that hill in the front from the main road.”

“No offense, Misty, but I didn’t call for aerial recon.”

“Right. Sorry. I’m the analytical type. You know this.”

Like she’d read his mind. Nothing new.

Misty continued. “Jim Walker is a wife-beater and instigator on the forums, but there’s no social media. The older guy, Ernest Pollock, was a helicopter pilot in both Gulf Wars. National Guard after that. Ever since he retired eighteen months ago, he’s been a ghost. Never had a Facebook account. He’s early sixties, so that isn’t a huge surprise.”

Nothing was easy. Cyrus kept his sigh quiet lest Misty misinterpret it as disapproval. “What’d you get on the young couple?”

“Oh, they’re a treasure trove. Compared to the others, they could be mistaken for Instagram celebrities. Prolific posters. Selfies in front of the mountain landscape, pictures of each other swimming in pools at the bottoms of waterfalls. But very few captions. Not much text. Makes me think they do it to let friends or family know they’re okay.

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