Page 24

24

Bobby ‘Bit’ Nowacki

June 2025

Wednesday — 3:09 pm

B it shifted his weight from one foot to the other, acutely aware of the small stones grinding beneath his running shoes. Unlike the others, who had come equipped with sturdy boots, he hadn’t anticipated finding himself in a place where traction would be essential. He was lucky to have grabbed his hoodie before leaving the hotel.

Nathaniel stood in front of Bit, the man’s features practically frozen in disbelief. His eyebrows had arched extremely high upon hearing what Sylvie and Theo had discovered at the cabin on the other side of the mountain. It was obviously taking him a while to comprehend the situation.

Bit tugged at his beanie, pulling it lower over his ears.

It wasn't the chill that bothered him, but rather his concern for Brook. The head of her best friend in high school had been transported through several states and kept in an ice cave for years. That was disturbing on an entirely different level.

A flurry of movement drew Bit’s attention skyward. Three ravens burst from a nearby spruce before spreading their wings wide and gliding on the wind that had picked up speed since earlier this morning. Higher up, a solitary hawk circled with predatory patience, riding the invisible currents.

“I need time to process this,” Nathaniel muttered before turning away. He rubbed his hands down his face, as if he wanted to erase everything that had happened since leaving D.C. “Shit.”

Bit glanced to his left, noticing that the Kalluk family had clustered together near the edge of the clearing. They were literally a tight knot of shared grief.

Former Governor Kalluk stood with his arm around his wife, while another family member consoled the grandmother. No one needed to reinforce home that one of their own was a murderer.

They no longer spoke amongst themselves.

Their attention had fixed on the pair of forensic technicians crouched over Kavik Aningan's body, their blue-gloved hands moving with clinical precision over what remained of the man who had once loved their daughter.

State troopers milled around the perimeter.

Their numbers had doubled in the past hour as more had arrived, eager to aid the federal agents in whatever capacity necessary. Meanwhile, the remaining forensic techs had departed for their hike to the coordinates Brook had provided—the suspected resting place of Lusa Kalluk's remains.

If Brook was right, and she usually was, this day would bring closure to a family but open wounds for an entire community.

“I’m going to need you to say that again.” Nathaniel's voice carried the strained quality of a man trying to sound reasonable while his worldview shifted. That was saying something, considering his occupation. “Because it sure as hell sounded like you said Jacob Walsh somehow transported a human head from Illinois to Alaska.”

“That about sums up the situation.” Bit turned slightly so that he could still keep an eye on the rental SUV. He had left his laptop open with programs running in the background. “I already spoke with the supervisory special agent at the Anchorage office. They're pulling agents from two satellite offices and sending another forensics team to Silverton.”

“Do you ever have good news?” Nathaniel muttered in agitation as he unclipped his satellite radio from his belt.

“Yes. The good news is the team processing the scene can reach the cabin by ATV. No hiking is required. Boss said she and the others are about to escort Jacob down the mountain. If all goes well with their descent, their ETA to return should be around five o'clock.”

“Not soon enough,” Nathaniel said more to himself than Bit. “I can't wait to get Walsh back to Maryland and in his cell where he belongs.”

“This plea deal was your idea, King P.”

Nathaniel shot him a sharp look.

“I'm well aware of what I negotiated, Mr. Nowacki. And yes, finding Lusa Kalluk's remains will bring closure to her family.” Nathaniel palmed the radio, not giving any specific directives just yet. “And not even your boss anticipated that Walsh would use this opportunity to reveal yet another crime scene that may implicate someone else entirely.”

“Well, technically…” Bit figured he had pushed the federal prosecutor far enough. “I’m going to go and check on those programs that I have running on Slick Mitch’s burner phone. There was a string of deleted texts that?—”

Bit’s explanation of what he had discovered before Sylvie and Theo had made contact was cut short. Their radios crackled to life. Justin Genedet's voice came through loud and clear.

“Base, we have a…situation.” Justin's tone contained an edge. He and another agent had been escorting Mitch down the mountain. Had he been foolish enough to try to make a run for it? “I have Nanuq Kalluk in custody.”

That announcement had been out of left field, but they would gladly take a win at this point.

“Something is going our way for once,” Nathaniel muttered before lifting the radio and pressing the PTT button. “Genedet, make sure you read the man his rights. I don’t want anything slipping through the cracks.”

“That has already been accomplished. Nanuq clammed up, and it’s doubtful that he’ll say another word. We spotted him carrying a shovel before he attempted to dispose of it and flee. He—” The transmission cut out, but only for a brief moment. “He’s looking pretty pleased with himself. You might want to check if we’ve missed something.”

“Continue down the mountain,” Nathaniel instructed grimly, his previous satisfaction having been wiped away. “Maintain separation between Norona and Kalluk. We'll sort this out when you reach base.”

“Copy that,” Justin confirmed. “Our position is approximately eighty minutes from your location.”

The radio went silent. It didn’t take long for Nathaniel to retrieve his cell phone from his pocket. Bit left him to take care of business. As far as Bit was concerned, Sylvie and Theo had the crime scene in Silverton locked down. All that was needed to happen was for Brook to return to base so that they could escort Jacob back to federal prison.

Bit retraced the path back to the rental. The laptop he had left running on the passenger seat had hopefully spit out some results while he had been gone. In contrast to smartphones, which utilize advanced encryption and remote wipe features, basic burner models kept their data in a more straightforward, accessible format.

He didn’t bother to settle into the driver’s seat.

Instead, he opened the door and reached for his laptop. Pulling it close so he could remain standing, he reviewed the results of his custom recovery program. The screen currently displayed a grid of hexadecimal characters, which was basically the phone's raw memory laid bare.

Deletion was rarely as permanent as people believed.

When a text message was deleted, the phone typically just marked that space as available for new data rather than overwriting it immediately. Until new information replaced it, the ghost of that message lingered in the device's memory. The software was designed to recognize those digital specters, piecing them together like a puzzle.

The progress bar had filled completely.

His program had found something, and he confirmed that the hotspot connection was stable before he opened the data. A string of recovered text messages populated the screen, arranged in chronological order. Most were fragments, incomplete sentences, and half-words where parts of the data had already been overwritten.

But some remained intact, preserved in the phone's memory.

The messages dated back approximately three months. The other participant wasn't identified by name—only the same phone number with an Alaska area code that Bit had identified before.

The first coherent message from the unknown number read: Need access to site before feds. Too much evidence.

Mitch had responded: Willing to give location. Need proof and guarantee of distraction.

Bit didn’t like the direction of the discussion, but he kept reading while trying to piece together what the other individual meant by distraction . The topic couldn’t have been about Kate, because those messages had already been discovered.

Had Kavik’s death been the distraction?

Again, there wouldn’t have been proof of that back then. Bit was also certain that murdering Kavik hadn’t been a planned event.

The messages became more specific as the plan took shape, although there were still some messages missing that Bit tried to fill in. These texts served merely as additional confirmation that Mitch had definitely been the middleman between Walsh and Nanuq.

The reply from the other individual came two days later: How?

Mitch’s response sent a jolt of panic through Bit’s body— all attention must be focused elsewhere. Win-win situation.

If their theory was right, Nanuq had killed Lusa.

But Jacob had been the one to bury the young woman’s remains without Nanuq present. Jacob had kept that ace in his back pocket all these years, and he had blackmailed Nanuq through Mitch for…

What?

Mitch had sent another message three days later— schedule distraction for 6/12. Approx 3:30 pm.

There were coordinates included that Bit identified.

Today's date.

And the time in the right-hand corner of Bit’s laptop showed 3:29 pm.

Nanuq was in custody, but it sounded as if a diversion had been set well in advance. What form would that distraction take?

“Shit,” Bit muttered, his fingers fumbling for the radio clipped to his belt. “Boss? Boss, you have to get out of there.”

Bit waited for confirmation, but Brook didn’t respond.

“Boss?” Bit released the button as he turned to search for Nathaniel. “Boss, do you copy? Something bad is going to happen, and you?—”

A distant, low rumble gradually turned into a thunderous blast, followed by a very sharp crack that traveled down the mountain.

Bit’s warning had come too late.