Yet again, I find myself researching topics for a novel under construction that may attract the attention of federally employed investigative friends. For Burnaby Burning, I had spent considerable time looking into how to make a homemade car bomb. I kept peeking outside to see if any Chevy Suburbans with blacked-out windows were parked outside.

Of course, in recent days there has been a lot of news coverage here in the US about the federal government having almost unfettered access to the internet. Whether this is true or not (I suspect it is not true, but I don’t really know), it has raised the hackles of a great number of people. Google is one of the companies suspected of being complicit in the government snooping in everything.

So yesterday, while working on Assassin Rebuild, I had to solve a problem. The FBI were in Sturgis and the bad guy was a day ahead of them on a motorbike probably headed west. So they decided to use a chopper. And thus I found myself googling “Where are FBI field offices in South Dakota.” “What types of helicopters do FBI fly?” “Range of Eurocopter AS 350.”  I kept a close eye out for FBI agents checking my house, and every time I used my mobile phone, I listened very carefully for that tel-tale chirp that indicates I was being bugged…..

Oh, and for the record, I had to put the agents in a Bell 427. It has the range to get from Omaha, Nebraska to Rapid City, South Dakota. But as far as I can figure, the FBI doesn’t fly this plane.  So, see?  It’s all fiction.