Chapter One
"LIKE A POLE THROUGH MY GUT"
The Cessna 172 seaplane had run into a sudden, dangerous summer storm. Flying
low above the lake country in northern Minnesota, the light craft, with the
pilot and one passenger aboard, was being buffeted by strong winds and
torrential rain.
The pilot called the tower in Hibbing. He said he had to make an emergency
landing. In the brief, terse conversation, he indicated he would try to set the
plane down in Sturgeon Lake, northwest of Chisholm. But at the last moment,
tossed about in the howling wind and rain, the pilot apparently changed his mind
and attempted to land in Dewey Lake, which was much smaller but nearer to his
position. The Cessna approached the north end of the lake, close to the
shoreline. It was 5PM, Thursday, August 25, 1977.
Certain officials of the United States government were keenly aware of the
flight and its secret purpose. The two men aboard were not vacationers looking
for a fishing camp, nor were they businessmen returning home. The pilot,
Trenwith S. Basford, and his younger passenger, Mark A. Kirkland, were both
special agents of the FBI.
Only two weeks earlier, Mark Kirkland had t ... read full excerpt from Cassidy's Run ebook
