Did You Hang Out With Osama Bin Laden During Your First Semester In College? I Didn't Think So. Gerry Tanner Did.

Morning - Somewhere On The Coast Of New England

My walks with Tango have become essential while sorting things out. No matter what is going on Tango expects me to be up for 0430 Reville so he can do his business and guard the borders of his home base which extends to the coffee shop and the beach. He sniffs everything and checks for any intruders during the last twenty-four hours. There is a short list of interlopers that includes trash-marauding raccoons, seagulls, rabbits, a woodchucks, and squirrels.  The biggest enemy is the neighbor's cat Mitzi who goes onto the deck and taunts Tango through the slider. While Tango sorts it all out, I sort my crap out. Who's walking who?

Have I mentioned that the dog is a knucklehead?

It's zero four thirty and we are on the usual route. We stopped for coffee and a treat and then I sat on the seawall while Tango did his physical training by chasing the gulls he will never catch.

I'm thinking about my own gulls. 

I'm glad Sophie is staying at Ron Strier's home.

Ron mentioned, "Sophie was sad about her parents being dead but that she was looking forward to returning to college the next semester."

Whoever destroyed every computer at Welch, Lemerise and Tanner did it easily, but from where and more importantly why?  The building in Chicago housed all the servers where the data for the company and thousands of other companies was professionally reduced to a pile of flame-distorted metal and plastic.  The Chicago Fire Department made a quick arson determination and turned the case over to the Chicago Police Department.  They no doubt will be knocking on Strier's door soon.

Gerry Tanner's computer is still at my house and here is why.  Most computers these days are easily tracked by an occasional signal that goes out once in a while and screams "Here I am" to anyone who is trying to find the computer. This has made computers, tablets and phones in first-world countries unattractive targets for theft. If you steal someone's tablet or computer the chances are very good that the rightful owner or the police will come knocking.  

Most likely this is why a now-dead, Russian Commando showed up at the Tanner house. They knew the computer was there.

Now they must know it's at my place. Isn't that a hoot?

New York, New York

Yeung Bao was scared but composed.  The talent he needed could be found close by but he could not afford a mistake. The countdown had begun. The phone calls he made were done with an unusual urgency that ignored the Ministry Of State Security's tradecraft practices. The orders he issued when met with protestation were then enforced hinting at the harsh urgency of the situation.  Events like this were unusual within an organization that was set to win at a slow steady pace. That is how China usually operated. 

The computer Yeung needed was traced by a shadowy army unit in China to a home on the coast north of Boston. This was the same unit that destroyed WLT's computers from afar.  Two men were pulled out of their normal corporate assignments in Boston, Massachusetts to surveil the location of the computer.  Yeung Bao had another unit doing a thorough background investigation of everyone who was associated with the property. 

Yeung thought that perhaps the girl was there and had not turned the computer over to authorities. This would be fortunate thought Yeung.

Evening - Somewhere On The Coast Of New England 

I spent the day close to home on the computer doing a background investigation of Gerry Tanner and the partners he worked with. Gerry in particular has a very interesting background that included growing up in Northern Virginia joining the Navy after high school, and then going to college at night at George Mason University while learning the construction trade. It all sounds straight-laced and good, right?

Mysteries are fun and this one is a real head-scratcher.

I'm trying to figure out how a photo of armed Gerry Tanner standing next to a young Osama Bin Laden happened during the mid-eighties when Gerry was in night school.   

Sometime during the day I also found time to put together a pot roast in the crock pot. I did this for two reasons. Number one I love pot roast and number two, I'm being all sweet because I want Eve to spend a few nights at her apartment above her bakery. I'll be setting the mood with pot roast and a few stultifying cocktails. She'll have to listen to my request which makes a ton of sense.   

Tango was nervous at home today. I didn't see anything from the porch but he and I know there is a storm coming.