========================================================================= Date: Fri, 29 Mar 1996 23:12:25 -0500 Reply-To: LNagy10434@AOL.COM Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: "Lawrence E. Nagy" Subject: THE JOURNEY OF JEREMY KELLER Part 8 Following is part 8 of a my story THE JOURNEY OF JEREMY KELLER. It is a work in progress, so any and all comments are welcome and apprciated. If you are missing any previoys installments, just drop me a line and Ill get them out to you. Enjoy Larry THE JOURNEY OF JEREMY KELLER "The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday" Part 8 It had been a full day since Mindy Bigalow had led them to the Edwin cabin, in that time the agency forensics team had arrived and completed a sweep of the residence. The team found very little, a partial finger print and some fresh hair samples in the bathroom. Another breakthrough was a very good artist's sketch of their man "Jeremy". Copies of the sketch were going to be circulated back along the road from the east. The hope was that some store clerk would remember him or they might find some tape of him on a surveillance camera. It was a long shot, but she needed to build a profile on this man and some film of him would help a lot. What also would help would be if someone were able to catch him. Sheriff Bigalow's men couldn't find any trace of him after he left the cabin and were convinced that he was still hiding in the area. Agent Ropper had her doubts, he had already driven by them once, then spent the night just two miles down stream from where they were looking for him. The man knew when to hang tight and when to move on. He had obviously moved on. Agent Ropper was packing her small bag to return to Virginia when a call came in on the cellular. "Agent Ropper?" a voice crackled as the static cleared. "Yes." "This is Agent Kent with lab, it looks like we have a match on the prints and sketch you sent us." "Great, what do you have." "I'm sorry, ma'am, but the information is classified. You will have to come to the office to see the file." "You've got to be kidding, can you even give me a name?" "Sorry, this is an unsecured line." Anita shrugged. She was on her way to the office anyhow. At least now she had reason for going back. If this man really was classified, no wonder why her people had her on the case. Of course if that were it, they would have just told her who he was and send her off to do her thing. The odds are, he was a renegade from another department who had disowned him. If that were the case, she would be getting zero help from the other agency. They would be off trying to deal with him on their own terms. "I should be there by three o'clock." "I'll see you then." Anita disconnected and put the phone back in her bag. Anita arrived back in Virginia on schedule and promptly looked up Agent Kent. Chris Kent was medium height in his mid-thirties and slightly balding with a bit of a gut from spending too many consecutive weeks at his computer. On his wall was a two year old car calendar frozen at December where it had run out of months. Pasted to his monitor and other places around the desk where choice cartoons from a desktop "Far Side" calendar that was sitting on a near by filing cabinet. The Far Side Calendar was only several days behind. A thin folder of recent computer print outs was all Kent had to offer. The man profiled was named Jeremy Keller. His past was sketchy to say the least, a street kid from Chicago, worked his way through a community college then into the Navy and Officer Candidate School. The next part confirmed her suspicions, Jeremy Keller had been a Navy Seal. As a member of Seal Team Three, Keller served in the Persian Gulf during the war and resigned his commission as soon as the war was over. His next endeavor was what made his dossier confidential, Keller was recruited by a branch of the CIA for covert operations. His team's major theater of operations was the former Soviet block. Their main mission was finding and destroying sensitive stolen Soviet munitions to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. On his last mission, his helicopter crashed in Northern Chechnia, Keller was the only survivor and had to walk out on his own. When Keller was finally recovered, he was in perfect condition showing no signs of the ordeal he had just endured. Some in the Agency accused him of being not completely candid during his debriefing. Others went so far as to blame him for the crash of the Blackhawk and the loss of his team. How else could he explain coming out totally unscathed by such a high intensity crash. Keller told the investigating panel to "Go to hell." then walked out the front door and disappeared. "Has anybody been in contacted with you since you pulled this information?" Ropper asked Agent Kent. "No Ma'am, but I could tell that my search files had been accessed." "What would they have gotten from that." "With the information from my files, they would be able to pull all of our records on the Keller case and any related material." "Well, I guess they don't mind we know about Keller, they're just going to try to find him first." "They must know something about him we don't" Anita tapped the file "You've got a three page outline of a very dangerous field agent, there's a LOT they know about him that we don't." she looked at the file again "But I intend to find out as much as I can." "So where do you go from here?" Ropper opened the file and pointed to the names of ex-commanding officers "Get to know the man through the people who knew him. Perhaps someone can give me a clue to where he's going." "That seems like a long shot, now that we know who he is, won't it be easier to find him?" "Nobody's going to find this man unless by accident or until he wants to be found." Anita said as she reached for her jacket. "And even when found, catching him will be another story." "Where are you going first?" Anita flipped the folder open and pointed at a name. "I'll start with the person who would know him best." The next day Anita tracked down the man she was looking for. Luckily, he had retired from the Navy and now taught at Annapolis. He was a hard man to find, but finally surfaced on a local firing range. He had just finished a round with .357 magnum revolver. "Commander Parker?" Anita inquired as she approached. The man was the only person on the range and smiled when he turned and saw her. "Yes ma'am" he said as he pulled the shooting muffs off his ears and around his neck. "How can I help you?" Anita introduced herself and showed her picture of Jeremy Keller. "Do you know this man?" "Lieutenant Keller? Yes I know him, he served with me in the Navy, a good man, one of the best." Parker looked puzzled "May I ask why you looking for Lieutenant Keller?" "Mr. Keller is wanted for questioning in the death of a man in Virginia Beach." "Well, Agent Ropper, the Jeremy Keller I knew wouldn't hurt anyone except in self defense. Besides that, there really isn't much I can tell you about him. He resigned as soon as we got back from the Gulf, and I haven't seen him since." "I see, so you wouldn't happen to know where out west he may be headed?" "Couldn't tell you, like I said I haven't seen him since he quit and I never really knew him personally." Ropper looked at the pistol the man had dropped the shells out of and laid on the shooting bench. "That's a very interesting weapon, may I?" Anita said and held out her hand. "Of course." Anita looked at the bright metal gun. "What is this, it's not chrome?" "No, its stainless steel SEALs carry them because they are simple and don't rust. The last thing we needed was a rusted weapon when we got in a jam." Feeling its weight, Anita looked down range at the target Parker had been shooting at. In the center was a tight cluster of six holes. "Do you mind if I give it a try?" "Not at all." Parker handed Ropper a speed loader with six rounds ready to go. After removing her long coat and dropping it near Parker's, Anita took a casual stance and fired six quick shots at a fresh target. All shots landed in a pattern similar to Parker's. "Nice gun, thanks." Anita said as she dropped the empty shells into the same bag Parker had dropped his into. "Good shooting" Parked said as he looked down range at the Agent Ropper's target. "Thank you, now if you can think of anything that will help me find Lieutenant Keller, I'd appreciate a call." Anita handed Parker one of her business cards. "The number is my cell phone so you call me any time." She then reached down and picked up her jacket knocking Parker's stuff to the ground. Amongst the scattered belongings was an old, short sword. Commander Parker was on the stuff immediately. "Commander, exactly what do you teach?" Parker smiled as he re-packed his gear "History, why?" "Just curious about the sword?" "Oh that, I collect them. I guess it's just something I fell into a long time ago." Anita smiled and shook Parker's hand one last time. "Interesting hobby. Well don't forget to give me a call if you can think of anything. Even the smallest thing may help us find him." With that Agent Ropper was gone. Tim Parker continued to look at the target she had left behind. Then finally brought both targets forward for better look. After staring at both for several minutes he finally laid one over the other. Ropper's pattern was a perfect match for his. to be continued..............................