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Along the Appalachian Trail
The President wanted results. That meant the Secretary really wanted results. And so, both group leaders became obsessed with apprehending Todd Adams and Achmed Al Hami. Unfortunately, the Georgia strategy failed miserably. There had been no sightings.
The Monday morning quarterback squad in Washington, DC, was making headway in challenging Linda’s—now the CIA’s—theory. There was no evidence to support the notion that the two were avoiding apprehension together. Nor was there any physical evidence that one or both were hiding along the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail.
The FBI redoubled its efforts in looking for evidence of the Adams’ escape from Chicago and Al Hami’s disappearance on the bus route between Nevada and Denver.
The Secretary of Homeland Security reluctantly agreed to one more shot at drone surveillance along the Appalachian Trail. The two joint task force groups relocated to the southern and northern borders of the segment of the trail in North Carolina. 96 miles separated the two groups as they converged on the midpoint.
Alice Linda and Joe McRory had no cell signal as they made their way north. So, they were unaware the joint task force efforts within North Carolina would be the last. Either Adams and Al Hami would fall into the dragnet, or assets would be assigned elsewhere.
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The PL drafted behind Linda and McRory for the next two days. They maintained a steady, yet impressive, pace, but nothing too extreme for a lifelong walker of the Cotswalds. Clearly, they were on the hunt for someone or something, but what?
Ten miles north of Linda and McRory, Adams and Al Hami had their first North Carolina encounter with the drones. They had no way to know there were two task forces—one working north, another working south. They were at the highest elevation along this segment of the trail. Looking ahead, and below, they could see the slow-moving drone against the backdrop of a meadow under snow cover.
It was time to switch from daylight to night travel. They stopped for a brief rest and to cloak their heat signatures. In Georgia, Adams had cut one of the aluminum covered tarps in half. In the center of each, he fashioned an opening large enough to fit over a head. Their ad-hoc ponchos also repelled moisture and added to their warmth.
Linda and McRory discussed strategy along the way. Linda proposed, and McRory begrudgingly agreed, to extend the day’s hike through the evening and into the next morning. If their quarry had a head start, hiking overnight might be the edge they required.
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The drone operator at Creech Air Force Base saw the two heat signatures on the trail below and then a third. By now the operators learned to recognize the difference between the signature of a forest animal and humans. And these were most definitely human. All three.
While he hadn’t participated in one for many years, the PL was familiar with night operations. He was willing to wager the two would not hear him approaching from the rear. Even if they did, they lacked the infantry training to determine whether the sounds they heard came from the south or the north. He was prepared to use his SIG-Sauer P226 and that noise be damned in the middle of nowhere.
The FBI helicopter was rigged with the same technology the military used for low noise night operations. Finding a clearing less than a mile from the drone sightings, the specially trained agents rappelled to the ground, assembled, and moved north at a run. Each agent wore camouflaged fatigues with a winter mountain pattern. Each was equipped with night vision goggles.
They caught up to the PL first. He never heard them approach and one of the group literally ran up his spine forcing him to the ground and rendered unconscious. In moments, he was bound, gagged, and disarmed. He was marked with a large “X” on his back sprayed with glow-in-the-dark paint.
The team resumed its forward pursuit. In less than five minutes, McRory and Linda fell to a similar fate.
The PL appeared to be an innocent civilian, although the holstered side arm made him a person of interest. When the team finally apprehended Linda and McRory, they realized their error. In the confusion that followed, Adams and Al Hami increased their lead by several more miles. Worse yet, the drone operator resumed his southerly search from the point of interception. Unbeknownst to Adams and Al Hami, they managed to slip through the dragnet. They had clear sailing to Maine and all points beyond.
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McRory managed to regain his composure following the helicopter lift back to the joint task force base camp. The same could not be said of Linda who was compensating by taking an inordinate interest in the third person apprehended by the FBI.
It didn’t take her long to realize the distinguished British gentleman had been in pursuit. Once he spoke, his accent confirmed his nationality. Linda, having survived two efforts to end her life, immediately suspected he was part of a third.
The task force received a report of a missing trail guide back at the Georgia-North Carolina border. His family reported him missing when he hadn’t returned as expected. The store owner who’d arranged for the guide recalled the client was from the UK.
The North Carolina state police reported an abandoned rental car in a parking area near state route 441. The rental contract was not among the effects remaining in the car. However, the rental company provided what information they had. In a matter of hours, with a video surveillance clip from the airport rental counter, the FBI developed an appropriate working theory. The PL was taken into custody before Linda had the opportunity to take any action she would later regret.