an hour and was now miserable. His partner, Jason Stroudt, was equally so. Neither man properly planned for the rain. Sure they had on raincoats, but no rain pants or hats, and without those, the chilling rain water easily found its way to their bodies. The two were going to be cold, but they hoped it would be worth it.
They’d managed to arrive ahead of the motorcade and were well positioned to the south of the Hitch cottage, kneeling behind a fallen tree, ten feet into dense woods. They were looking out over a large open yard that led to the cabin. Of course, the cabin wasn’t really a cabin, it was a small estate. The home was well over seven thousand square feet and a look inside revealed the finest of cottage furnishings and the layout was perfect, especially if you were looking in from the outside. The main level was large and open, with high ceilings and three different distinct seating areas. The seating area drawing their particular attention was in front of the massive stone fireplace. Over the fireplace was a sixty-inch flat-screen television which was currently rerunning that evening’s The O’Reilly Factor. The seating area directly in front of the massive stone fireplace contained comfortable dark plaid couches which were situated around a massive handmade coffee table on three sides. A fire was roaring, with plenty of extra logs to keep it going for hours. Best of all for Montgomery and Stroudt, the front and front sides of the cabin were all tall windows. While the windows undoubtedly provided a wonderful view out to Lake Barkley during the day, they allowed for Montgomery and Stroudt to easily see inside.
“It sure would be nice to be in there,” Montgomery whispered while he quietly fiddled with the lens on his camera, sliding on a telephoto one. They were two hundred feet away from the cabin but there were at least four people patrolling the grounds that they’d seen and they didn’t dare move any closer.
“I would agree,” Stroudt replied softly, wiping the rain drops off the front of his binoculars for what seemed like the tenth time. “There must be someone important coming to meet Checketts,” he added confidently.
“Why do you say that?”
“The Johnny Walker Blue. You don’t break out the Blue for just anybody.”
Montgomery looked inside and his partner was right. On the massive coffee table were a dozen glasses, two buckets of ice and four bottles of Johnny Walker Blue. “What’s the Blue go for these days?”
“My dad bought a bottle last Christmas. He said it ran just north of $200 a bottle.”
“Who are these other two guys?” There was another short, stout, older-looking man pacing around the room in a black suit and shirt, and with a black fedora pulled down tight on his head. He had said perhaps three words to Checketts and spent the remainder of his time either on or reading his smart phone. The third man sitting at the table was thin with blond hair and high cheekbones. He spent his time alternately on his laptop and looking at his phone. It did not appear that the three men necessarily knew one another.
“I don’t know, never seen them before. Checketts carried in a briefcase and the other two look empty handed.”
Just then lights appeared to their left. “Let’s see who else is coming to dinner,” Montgomery said quietly. The blogger put his camera up and zoomed in.
“So who do we have?” Stroudt asked, letting the binoculars hang around his shoulders, his vision partially blocked by trees.
“Looks like,” Montgomery moved slightly left and looked through the camera into the cabin and started snapping and then stopped, quietly uttering, “Oh my God!”
“What?” Stroudt asked urgently.
“You’re not going to believe this.”
“What? Tell me,” Stroudt answered, sliding left as well, the binoculars coming to his eyes.
“Checketts and these other two guys are meeting with Connolly? Five days before the election? Out here in backwater Kentucky?”
“What have we stumbled onto here?” Stroudt whispered excitedly.
Montgomery didn’t respond, he simply snapped photos.
* * *
Connolly was inside now, Wire thought as she settled into position behind the base of a massive fallen trunk of a large tree. The tree was one of four or five on the ground in her immediate vicinity. All appeared to have recently fallen, probably the result of a strong storm from the summer now long since passed. The position provided her a clear view of the