Embrace the Fog

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2

It wasn't until the next weekend that Travis had time to think about their trip again. He decided to examine the Jaguar with an electronic radar detector that he had adapted himself to find signals well beyond the normal frequencies the police used. Within two minutes he received the beeping signal to show something was there.

He grimaced after he traced it to the front wheel and pulled out a magnetic object from the caked mud under the fender. He cleaned the object and sighed. This was a tracer transmitter used by police or military to follow a vehicle under surveillance.

"What is it, Travis?"

He jumped in fright and swung around to see Jacey standing there.

"Somebody has stuck this tracer on our car. It's very ordinary but also adds to the mystery."

Jacey raised her eyebrows. "Why?"

"Why would anybody be interested in following our Jag?"

Jacey shrugged. "Competitors maybe. You know how fanatical they can be about these rallies. Old Leon looked so grim when you took out the speed section I was sure he was going to file an official complaint."

"He did," Travis replied. "Reckoned he was ahead of us on the Ridge Road section of the course and there was no way we could have beaten him along the valley."

"So we have to give the cup back?"

"No, the committee agreed that we had had the demerit points taken into account for not having Checkpoint 8 sticker but we still won." He grinned. "Someone on that point backed us up by saying we stopped at the point but forgot to get a checkpoint sticker."

"But we didn't?"

"No but I seem to remember glancing at a check point just after we returned through the fog. We had so much on our mind that I really forgot about the race. Old Leon is not very popular and I'm sure many club members were glad we beat him. Anyway, his appeal was turned down."

Travis grinned and slipped the tracer onto the Subaru Forester across their garage. "Now if he or whoever it is will have fun tracing you to school and around the supermarkets all next week."

Jacey grinned. "Only for a week, though."

"Sure!"

"But there's nothing else?"

Travis shrugged. "Don't think so but I'll finish my check. I've covered the outside and engine compartment. I'll run it over the interior."

With Jacey helping he ran his detector over the interior. Most of this was new so he didn't expect to find anything. However, when he ran it under the driver's seat that Jacey happened to be sitting on, the detector gave off a high-pitched screech signifying a powerful electronic signal. She gave a gasped and jumped out of the car. When she did the screeching stopped.

She stared at him with wide eyes. "Did I cause that scream?"

"Seems like it. Sit back on the seat."

"And if it blows up?"

Travis laughed. "If it was going to do that it would have happened the other day, wouldn't it?"

"I guess," Jacey muttered and sat back in the driver's seat.

Immediately, the detector began screeching again. Obviously the weight of somebody sitting on the driver's seat activated it. He turned the screeching off and bent down to examine the seat. The covers had been completely redone in authentic leather copied from original plans but beneath were the original framework and springs. He would have to take the seat apart.

Half an hour later with the seat removed, the leather cover unstitched and the interior padding that was also new, removed he came to the frame. He remembered that the old springs had also been replaced so there was little of the original seat left. Even the lower part of the round tubing framework had been replaced where it had rusted out. Only the top section and the part of the frame where the springs were attached were original. He switched on his detector with the volume turned down so it would only work when close to a source. Nothing!

"Sit on the driver's seat, Jacey," he said.

She did and immediately gasped for the detector began that screech again when he passed it over the rear frame right beneath where her bottom pushed down on the springs. But there was nothing there!

"It must be inside the steel tube those springs are joined to" Jacey said.

Travis examined the frame and nodded. The welding at the corner had a bubbly part that had not been smoothed off. These old cars were assembled manually and the craftsmen took pride in their expertise. There was no way that this welding was original.

With excitement rising, he took a power saw and gently cut around through the welded section. It gave a faint pop after he cut through and pried the tube apart. It was about two centimetres in diameter and was hollow. He brought his electric spotlight up and squinted inside. About ten centimetres in was the silver top of an object.

"Something's there," he gasped. "But how will we get it out?"

"Try this," Jacey said and handed him one of his long screwdrivers.

This was a high quality one with a magnetic end to help grip steel screws. He lowered it down the tube and gave a gasp of satisfaction as he felt it clunk onto metal. It took several attempts to wiggle it out but finally a long object about the size of a ballpoint pen was extracted. It had a tiny object that looked like a band-aid wrapped around the top end.

"A pressure pad," he said as he held it out for Jacey to see, "When you sat on the seat your weight would have pushed it down."

"Inside a steel frame?" Jacey queried.

She was right. How could it work inside steel tubing? He looked back in the tube and found a rubbery coating around the inside that certainly wasn't original. "I think it was activated by air pressure. That pop we heard must have been the gas inside escaping. Somehow your weight increased the pressure inside and this pressure pad turned it on. When he pushed the pad with his fingers his detector began screeching.

"Put it back," Jacey whispered.

"Why?"

"Without it we'll never be able to find that fog again."

"No. I'll take the whole section of tube out and replace it with a new bit. I want to examine this thing." He was curious about the electronics involved, especially since it had probably been placed there years before modern devices had even been invented. He held it in his closed fist and squeezed. Again his detector screeched but stopped when he released the pressure.

Jacey stared at him. "If you try to open it, our access to that valley could be lost. Leave it intact, Travis, Promise!"

She was right. It would be foolish to tamper with it. "Agreed," He glanced around at the disassembled seat. "I'd better get this all put together, too."

Jacey grinned. "Afterwards," she said. "I came out to tell you that lunch was ready. The soup will be cold by now."

*

At seven on Sunday morning there was knock on the door. They both walked to the door that Jacey opened. Outside were two police officers and a man in a dark suit who held out an official looking badge. He muttered his name and began talking.

"This is the residence of Mr Travis Crichton and you are Ms Jacey Roden?" he asked.

"We are," Travis replied. "What's wrong?"

"You are joint owners of a 1948 Jaguar motor vehicle?"

Travis nodded.

"We are confiscating the vehicle for examination as we believe it is illegally modified and contains classified equipment. Please hand over the keys so one of the constables here can drive it away." He smiled but there was no warmth in the movement. "Alternatively, we can bring in a tow truck."

"And your court order?" Jacey snapped in a stern school principal voice that made Travis stare at her.

"I am Major Hilton McBride from the UNSC," the man replied with his own voice like ice and held out his badge again.

Jacey took the badge and examined it. There was an official crest on it and the man's photo, rank and name. Around the edge were the words United Nations Security Council while on the back was a serial number. She handed it back.

"You have no jurisdiction in this country, Major McBride," she replied. "Bring us a court order and you can examine our Jaguar. Please leave."

Travis would have probably gone along with them but knew that one did not cross Jacey when she was annoyed. He also noticed one of the constables behind the major grin while the man scowled.

"We will have it in the morning," he hissed.

"You do that," Jacey retorted. "Tomorrow, I shall be making an official complaint through my lawyer on our rights being infringed at this ungodly hour on a Sunday morning." She glanced at the two constables. "I bid good morning to you all," she added and closed the door with a clunk.

"You told them," Travis said.

"Yeah. Pompous bastard," she replied as they glanced through the kitchen window and saw a silver BMW and police car drive away. No doubt he's the one who had the tracer put on the Jag." She turned to face him. "But where's the other one we found?"

"In my desk. I thought it was too important to leave in the garage."

"Good," Jacey replied. "I'll take it to school later and place it in the school safe. If they arrive back tomorrow and I've no doubt that they will, their surveillance equipment may find it."

"So the plot thickens," Travis replied.

"Yes and I trust nobody, least of all that major from that command I've never heard of before."

Travis nodded. "It's genuine, I can vouch for that. I'll check it out on the internet if you like."

Jacey shook her head. "Don't bother. We just have to be very careful, that's all. "

*