Free Fall

Seventy-Three

Weld County, Colorado

High above the vast reaches of the empty prairie, an FBI drone scoured the ground below.

It flew at a height that kept it invisible and silent from detection.

Equipped with high-powered video cameras and sensors, the small surveillance aircraft gave agents at the command post in Galeton a critical aerial view of the area where the GPS trail of their subjects had stopped.

The agent piloting the drone at a control console exercised the precision of a surgeon, carefully watching the video screen as she stabilized its position.

The camera panned, captured objects, then zoomed in.

The clear image of a lone vehicle emerged on the screen. Near the vehicle two people came into view, one male and one female, sitting on a blanket with laptop computers.

The camera pulled in closer.

“Is that the grip of a handgun by the male’s leg?” asked Nick Varner, who huddled with other agents and SWAT team leaders near the monitor.

“We can’t confirm,” the drone pilot said. “But that’s as close as we’re going to get, sir.”

“All right, let’s go,” Burt Young, the FBI SWAT commander, said. Then he instructed the drone pilot, “Keep us updated on movements because they’re going to see us coming.” Young confirmed coordinates with the other teams, who would each take a compass point for their approach, boxing in their subjects. Then he turned from the group and signaled to his team. They shrugged into their gear and climbed into the vehicles parked outside.

Varner strapped on a vest and helmet, checked his weapon and found a seat next to Mitch Butler, who had been on the phone.

“So what about those missile launch sites?” Varner asked.

“Just had it confirmed-they’re empty and inactive.”

Varner nodded. “Good. We can rule that out.”

Engines revved and seconds later FBI, city and state SWAT teams moved out in a convoy of armored police trucks, along with two ambulances from Weld and Morgan counties, and two NTSB experts in an SUV taking up the rear.

They were braced for all eventualities.