Out of the Shadow and Across Strange Lines

By Richard B. Christie

The early morning opening procedures at a New England ski area become very unusual when a ski patroller finds a dead body of an obviously murdered man lying frozen on the trail. As the state police begins their investigation, they find that the dead man was a United Nations security investigator following the trail of a missing representative.

As the report of the murder finds its way through the various local state and federal channels, it coincidently turns out that the lead ski patroller at the scene was a US Navy Reserve SEAL. When he was on active duty, he had been attached to a navy security team, and the investigation experience he had is going to be needed again.

After being reactivated into the regular navy, he joins forces with a local state trooper and his previous SEAL team members in Washington DC to follow and find where the murdered man’s investigation had been compromised.

The trail turned quickly from a local murder case into an international chase to rescue and save a kidnapped woman. The action goes from South America to Europe and finally back to Vermont.

The twists and turns that involve murder, kidnapping, international energy sources, illegal finances, international transfer of money, and political entrapments make this a case of intrigue and corruption at the highest levels of education and government.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 20, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984564580

Richard B. Christie

For almost fifty years, Richard B. Christie owned and operated a technical engineering company. He performed specialized environmental testing and adjustments to both industrial-grade air conditioning and high-performance sterile air filtration systems used in hospitals, pharmaceutical facilities, and research laboratories; that included special areas where high-class clean rooms were required, such as surgeries, sterile manufacturing suites, and testing facilities. At home, most Winter weekends, he was an active volunteer member of the National Ski Patrol and a Certified Ski Patroller at a major Vermont Ski area. He was trained in remote mountain rescue procedures and advanced first aid.

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1

7:10 a.m. Saturday, February 17, 2018,

Mount Emond, Vermont

As dawn was breaking over the surrounding mountain range, the very cold air surrounded and penetrated everything it touched. So much so, it was even hard to breathe. There was very little wind, and all was quiet on the top of the mountain. It created the condition where your steps across the snow would give off a sound as if someone was treading on breaking glass. Somehow, although you always dressed for such cold, it just never seemed to be enough.

The two ski patrollers parked and carefully got off the snowmobile that they rode up on from the base area to the summit. The trip up had been a little slower and more challenging than usual, for although the groomers had been out late last night and many of the trails had been groomed smooth, that had been last night. The freshly groomed surface had then lain untouched, in the plummeting temperatures, and hardened up quite a bit in the subzero cold.

One of the patrollers walked over to the top of the chair lift and let himself into the top operator’s control station. He picked up the phone and rang the lift base terminal.

After checking and giving a brief assurance that all the safety checkpoints were in place and functional, he told the bottom operator that all was clear and to go ahead and start the lift.

As it began to move, a lift attendant for the upper station boarded at the bottom and began the long cold ride up to the summit. In a few minutes, eight additional ski patrollers would also board the lift and ride it on up to the top. They would then ski down the various slopes and do the necessary trail checks to assure everything was in a safe condition, ready to open for the skiing public.

The other patroller, who had opened the summit ski patrol station, turned on the heat and began the paperwork necessary to record the day’s checklist and assure that all was in order. The first patroller, back from the lift station, stepped in and said, All set, they are on their way. Are you OK? After a quick radio check and a nod, he left to take the snowmobile back down to the base area.

Paul DeNice, the summit patrol captain, continued checking and going through all the rescue and evacuation equipment that was always stored in the summit station. He was still busy at it when the first few patrollers got off the lift and came on in.

There are twenty-seven different trails down the mountain from the summit, and each needed to be skied and checked. Paul assigned them out to each patroller as they came in. He knew each of their different abilities and chose trails for them accordingly. Over the next half hour, the normal radio calls, with information to and from the trail checkers and the summit, were recorded and updated.

The schedule had the mountain being open to the public at 8:00 a.m., and it looked as if it was going to be on time today.

Two other patrollers came in and took off their coats, as they would be staying there until relieved. Standard procedure was to always have two patrollers at the upper summit patrol station whenever public was on the mountain.

Mountain 18 to Summit Patrol, the radio blared out.

Paul answered, Summit patrol, go ahead, Mountain 18.

A brief silence, and an unusually very nervous voice came back: On scene 10-50 Irish Spring, two-thirds the way down, left-hand side, 10-78 a sled, pack, additional patrollers, and … and … Oh hell, call the cops! It’s a problem, and I don’t know what to do. He’s dead and frozen.

Paul grabbed the radio and spoke quickly and with a firm voice: Mountain 2 to Mountain 18, stay in place, I’m on my way. With a quick glance over at the two other patrollers, he keyed his radio and said, Mountain 2 to all available patrollers, report to Summit Patrol and hold at station.

As he grabbed his coat and skis, he turned to the two sitters and said, Hold everyone here till I find out what David has found. Then thoughtfully, he added, Since the public is already starting up the mountain, send someone down to close the Irish Spring trail and post someone there at the top entrance. Also, call dispatch on the telephone, and inform her that we have a situation. Keep all radio chatter at a minimum. With those quick decisions and instructions, Paul was gone.

David Dawn had been a part-time patroller for two years after graduating from college with a degree in fine arts and political science. At twenty-three years old, he had decided to be a bit of a ski bum for a while, and since he wasn’t really trained for anything useful anyway, he found and took a wintertime job as a ski patroller.

Although the patrol had trained him very well in emergency care first aid and ski patrol rescue procedures, he was assuredly not prepared for what he found this morning. He could see, from ten feet away, a spot of red snow about twelve inches in diameter behind the head of a man lying near the edge of the trail. The obvious small dark circle in the middle of his forehead made any further study seem unnecessary.

David was sick to his stomach; he had seen bad injuries before, but this was different. Something in his training, or maybe it was just a deep understanding that this was way over his head, made him stop ten feet away and not go any closer. He had called Summit Patrol on his radio to tell them and then just continued to stand there; he didn’t know what else to do.

He had been standing there for about eight minutes when Paul arrived. There was no need to say anything; Paul saw what David had seen and tried to understand the implications as they rushed through his mind.

He asked, Did you touch anything or check to verify that he is dead? David just shook his head; he couldn’t speak.

Do you have your cell phone with you? Paul asked. As David nodded, Paul said, Please take it out and video what we must do now. I must verify he is dead, and you need to video me doing it.

David nodded again, took out his cell phone, and began to video Paul’s movements.

Paul removed his skis and went around as far away from the body as he could so as not to mark up the scene. Moving slowly, he circled toward the man’s head until he could reach down to feel for a carotid pulse. He removed his glove and reached down to touch the man’s exposed neck. Although the skin was cold, it was so cold out that he needed to be sure, so he pressed deep to feel if a pulse existed; it didn’t.

He knew he should not contaminate the scene, so he followed his own steps back out to David’s position. Obviously, this was going to be a real problem. Paul had to make sure it was not going to be a mountain disaster as well.

David really looked sick, so Paul told him to take off his skis and cross over to the other side of the trail and sit down.

He pulled out his radio and keyed it: Mountain 2 to Summit Patrol.

Summit immediately answered. Summit Patrol, go ahead.

Paul took a deep breath, keyed his radio, and said, "Send a second patroller to the top of Irish Spring and rope it off as fully closed. Make sure all access is contained and keep two patrollers there until further notice. Please have Mountain 6 sweep the Irish Spring trail from top to bottom, keeping to the right-hand side to assure he doesn’t leave any marks in the center left.

Call dispatch on the landline and have her call my cell phone and to be sure not use the radio for contact. Advise Mountain 5 to assume position as the Summit Patrol captain.

Summit responded, 10-4 understood. Mountain 1 has asked what is going on, I will tell him to contact dispatch after they call you.

Paul responded, 10-4, you can resume all other mountain operations.

About three minutes later, Paul’s cell phone rang. It was a very nervous dispatch calling, on a speaker phone, with Mountain 1 (the Mount Emond owner, John Collins) standing by her side. He was not happy with what he heard, but smart enough not to allow his emotions get in the way.

2

12:15 a.m. Saturday, February 17, 2018,

Burlington, Vermont

Howard Bean was tired, uncomfortable, and frightened.

He had been working on a potential kidnap case for New York State Police (NYSP) as a senior detective for nearly two months. The missing girl was attached to the United Nations Action Group (UNAG) and had been possibly taken by some foreign group.

Since he was assigned to the UN as a special agent, it fell upon him to determine if it was truly a kidnap case or if she simply disappeared of her own volition.

UNAG had been working on several potential projects that would be of interest to the Security Council, and the missing girl was chairman of the team working with the international shipping needs for liquid natural gas (LNG).

The trail had been cold for a while, then part of a stray e-mail was intercepted. It was from a little-known source, located in Montreal, with a strange mention of the missing girl: She has been moved to a secure location in Caracas, Venezuela, without any knowledge of UNAG. Notify Burlington Ops that we may need to move her again.

The Burlington Ops that had been mentioned in the e-mail had been on the NYSP and Vermont State Police (VTSP) radar for some time. It was a socialist type of organization that was connected to a few different Central and South American countries as well as several in eastern Europe and the Middle East.

It used social telecommunications as a means for the primary promotion of their ideals. Those ideals could ultimately lead some very Far Left-leaning corporate leaders into high-level political positions worldwide. Howard had picked up on this communication trail and was looking into the Burlington Ops operation.

The action was, however, taking place in neighboring Vermont, and that required him to establish a connection with VTSP. With their cooperation, he would then be able to move around and see if he could insert himself into the Burlington Ops operation. He had been more successful than he had planned.

VTSP, did indeed, know about Burlington Ops and were not very happy that they operated within their area of concern. They were glad to have Howard involved, but warned him that they were constrained by some very powerful left-leaning socialist politicians. There was a strong following of ultraliberal constituents, and those constituents closely followed every move that was made by law enforcement.

Howard had been able to contact a couple of local businessmen who lived in the town of Shelburne, but had their business locations in Burlington. He met one of these people at his art studio just a short distance from the Lake Champlain ferry dock.

Howard showed interest in the modern art pieces that the man had on display. They got into a conversation about the various artists who were local and active in area activities. He was a past master at pulling information from self-centered individuals who were unaware that they were being worked on for information.

It didn’t take very long before the studio art dealer had been able to give him the necessary introduction into much of the local art and small business community, some of whom were likely involved with the Burlington Ops organization.

Howard had learned from VTSP that showing a socialist interest was easily the key into many people in the arts community of Burlington. He also learned that the fine arts department at the Burlington University and the fine arts departments of several other colleges had a sizeable number of professors and faculty members that were very left leaning and well into the socialist movement.

Over the next few weeks, Howard became more and more welcomed into the Burlington business community. He was using a wish to move his food network business there as his dodge, one that would specialize in coffee and beer distribution.

His newfound associates guided him by offering to help him find a location where he could set up his business. They soon