three-bedroom cabin is $750.00.”
After a long shower, Ryce and Tanya decided
that Sunday should be a day of rest. However, by noon, both had
become bored with sitting around the apartment. Ryce located a
tourist map that included ten pages of local attractions. They
decided to explore.
Dinner at the Pendergast table in the chow
hall was missed once more. Tanya and Ryce ate in the rotating
restaurant halfway up the main run at the ski resort.
Chapter 8
Ryce awoke more than
an hour before his alarm clock was scheduled to go off. He thought
about sleeping in, but today was just too important to chance
arriving late at the office. And he remembered John had promised to
send him into the cavern of lost hope. He just hoped he wasn’t
going to lose too much hope.
He looked across the bed. Tanya was looking
at him like an owl focused on a mouse. Ryce smiled. He might be
breakfast, but he was not going to surrender without a fight.
Mark was waiting in the conference room when
Ryce and Tanya arrived.
“Well, it looks like it will be just us three
spending some time together for a few days. Doug is doing some
crisis management. Three of his top customer service techs went on
maternity leave yesterday.”
Mark chuckled. “More than half of the people
who work for John do it from home, but not customer service. I have
seen some service calls with six people sitting around a monitor.
Doug’s customer service is the best in the industry.”
Mark turned to his computer, typed for a few
moments, and then turned to Ryce.
“Doug mentioned you witnessed the murder of
four men at a cabin in Montana. If you got a good look at all of
the killers, we have the best forensic artist in the state working
here. Do you think you could sit down with her and get a good
artist’s rendering of the men at the cabin?”
Ryce reached in his pocket and pulled out a
flash drive. “I can do better than that. My spotter scope had a
digital camera attached. You should be able to get some good
portrait shots from this.”
He passed the flash drive to Mark who slid it
into one of the USB ports on the laptop. A few moments later, Mark
chuckled.
“Great pictures. These will work wonderfully
with the search program I am going to show you next.”
During the following two days, Mark showed
Ryce and Tanya all of the things his search program could do. By
the end of day three, Ryce had compiled significant biographies on
the four men who had been killed at the cabin. However, the three
shooters remained a blank page.
As they walked to the elevator to leave the
building on Wednesday, Mark turned to Ryce.
“We will get in to some software tomorrow
that is a little more specific in its access, more along the lines
of law enforcement stuff.”
During the family dinner, Ryce was asked what
he planned to call the JBTF Internet research group he was forming
on Monday. He thought for a minute.
“Maybe we’ll have a contest to name the
group.”
Ramona started laughing. “I have always been
partial to Internet Insanity.”
John snorted. “That is not a good name to
print on a business card.”
Ryce and Tanya walked into the conference
room on Thursday to find both Doug and Mark waiting. Mark looked
up.
“Doug got his crisis solved, so I asked him
to come over and help with the three unknowns at the cabin. Even
with all his expertise, they are still unknowns.”
Doug finished typing on his laptop and looked
at Ryce.
“I have used every program at my disposal to
try to find the three in the cabin. They do not show up anywhere.
Mark and I developed a program to search driver’s license
databases, but those searches will take forever. Each individual
state is a separate protocol. And you have three pictures, so each
state must be searched three times.”
Doug turned back to his laptop, which had
alerted him a search had completed.
“Well, that was the third killer who doesn’t
have a driver’s license in Arizona.”
Mark looked over at
After a long shower, Ryce and Tanya decided
that Sunday should be a day of rest. However, by noon, both had
become bored with sitting around the apartment. Ryce located a
tourist map that included ten pages of local attractions. They
decided to explore.
Dinner at the Pendergast table in the chow
hall was missed once more. Tanya and Ryce ate in the rotating
restaurant halfway up the main run at the ski resort.
Chapter 8
Ryce awoke more than
an hour before his alarm clock was scheduled to go off. He thought
about sleeping in, but today was just too important to chance
arriving late at the office. And he remembered John had promised to
send him into the cavern of lost hope. He just hoped he wasn’t
going to lose too much hope.
He looked across the bed. Tanya was looking
at him like an owl focused on a mouse. Ryce smiled. He might be
breakfast, but he was not going to surrender without a fight.
Mark was waiting in the conference room when
Ryce and Tanya arrived.
“Well, it looks like it will be just us three
spending some time together for a few days. Doug is doing some
crisis management. Three of his top customer service techs went on
maternity leave yesterday.”
Mark chuckled. “More than half of the people
who work for John do it from home, but not customer service. I have
seen some service calls with six people sitting around a monitor.
Doug’s customer service is the best in the industry.”
Mark turned to his computer, typed for a few
moments, and then turned to Ryce.
“Doug mentioned you witnessed the murder of
four men at a cabin in Montana. If you got a good look at all of
the killers, we have the best forensic artist in the state working
here. Do you think you could sit down with her and get a good
artist’s rendering of the men at the cabin?”
Ryce reached in his pocket and pulled out a
flash drive. “I can do better than that. My spotter scope had a
digital camera attached. You should be able to get some good
portrait shots from this.”
He passed the flash drive to Mark who slid it
into one of the USB ports on the laptop. A few moments later, Mark
chuckled.
“Great pictures. These will work wonderfully
with the search program I am going to show you next.”
During the following two days, Mark showed
Ryce and Tanya all of the things his search program could do. By
the end of day three, Ryce had compiled significant biographies on
the four men who had been killed at the cabin. However, the three
shooters remained a blank page.
As they walked to the elevator to leave the
building on Wednesday, Mark turned to Ryce.
“We will get in to some software tomorrow
that is a little more specific in its access, more along the lines
of law enforcement stuff.”
During the family dinner, Ryce was asked what
he planned to call the JBTF Internet research group he was forming
on Monday. He thought for a minute.
“Maybe we’ll have a contest to name the
group.”
Ramona started laughing. “I have always been
partial to Internet Insanity.”
John snorted. “That is not a good name to
print on a business card.”
Ryce and Tanya walked into the conference
room on Thursday to find both Doug and Mark waiting. Mark looked
up.
“Doug got his crisis solved, so I asked him
to come over and help with the three unknowns at the cabin. Even
with all his expertise, they are still unknowns.”
Doug finished typing on his laptop and looked
at Ryce.
“I have used every program at my disposal to
try to find the three in the cabin. They do not show up anywhere.
Mark and I developed a program to search driver’s license
databases, but those searches will take forever. Each individual
state is a separate protocol. And you have three pictures, so each
state must be searched three times.”
Doug turned back to his laptop, which had
alerted him a search had completed.
“Well, that was the third killer who doesn’t
have a driver’s license in Arizona.”
Mark looked over at
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