CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

 

 

May 16, 2015

6:45 P.M.

McCall, Idaho

 

Lott, gun in hand, moved as silently as he could along the trail through the tall pine trees. The night was pitch black and the air had a cold, crisp bite to it.

He had a small flashlight that gave off just enough light so that he could see the ground in front of him. Someone had kept this part of the forest cleared of any deep underbrush, but everything was covered with pine needles and small branches that seemed to crack or rustle with every step.

A trial led from the porch into the trees and toward the small ridge that ran down the center of the property down to the lake. Agent Munn was on that trail, moving slowly.

All of them were moving slowly, checking for any kind of alarm or trap that might have been set.

Julia was to his left, Agent Munn on the trail to his right, and Annie on the other side of Agent Munn.

“In place,” the two agents up on the road said.

Otherwise all the chatter was coming from agents in different areas around the lake, at roadblocks, and so on. Fleet had taken Lott and Julia and Annie off just the private links with him and hooked them back into the major FBI link system.

Lot had to admit, the FBI were doing an amazing job of locking down the small town in a very short time, from what he heard.

As they crested the small ridge, Lott could see the faint glimmering of the black surface of the lake down a gentle slope through the trees. The night was unbelievably still and he wanted to hold his breath to try not to make any sounds.

And could swear his old heart was going to beat right out of his chest with every step.

“In place,” a different agent said. Lott figured that was from the boats on the lake.

If they were wrong about Williams being in this building, then they had wasted a lot of critical time.

All four of them moved down closer to the dark building, mostly dug into the side of the hillside between two large trees. It was amazing Annie had seen anything at all here, and brush had been allowed to grow up between the building and the lake edge, so it couldn’t be seen from the lake at all.

As Lott got closer, he could tell the building was made of cement blocks and painted brown to match the surrounding forest. And it was much larger than it seemed from the glimpse in the picture.

Since the back of the building was dug into the hillside, there was no back entrance at all, or side entrances.

Agent Munn moved along the edge of the building and looked around front. No front windows, just one metal door that looked more like it belonged on a utility shed or pump house than anything else.

Could they have been wrong? Was this a well house or something else like that?

Annie and Julia and Lott fanned out around the front of the building entrance, guns drawn and covering it. Lott took a position just to a side of a large pine tree so he could duck for cover if he needed.

Agent Munn glanced around, nodded, then went up from the side, turned the handle and pushed the door open.

Nothing.

She eased forward, without poking her head around the corner and shone her light into the room.

Pumps and other machines sat in there from what Lott could see.

But that didn’t mean that Williams wasn’t still hiding in there.

Lott came up to the door quickly, followed by Julia and Annie.

Without a word, Agent Munn went inside, going one way, gun drawn, Lott went in going the other, Annie and Julia followed.

It took them only a few seconds to clear the large pump house.

Williams was not here.