by Kirk Russell
“She was pretty messed up when I saw her,” Jace said. “I ended up at her apartment around six last night, and guess who showed up in an Uber. Dr. Ralin. He got there a little after me, just long enough for her to tell me that she and Eckstrom had broken up the night before he disappeared. Eckstrom told her he’s never coming back to the apartment and never wants to see her again.”
“Never?”
“Her words. Eckstrom told her to donate his clothes and everything else of his. He’ll pay the rent for three months, then she’s on her own. I don’t know whether any of that is true, but I was there when Ralin arrived with a bouquet of flowers for her. He couldn’t see me when she opened the door. He handed the flowers to her, and she threw them down the hall. Ralin wasn’t happy about it or that I was there. He asked for ten minutes of private time with her. I said yes, and I know, it was a mistake. Wish I hadn’t, but I did. They sat in deck chairs in a first-floor rock garden at the apartment complex with me watching from a distance. I was close enough to see him holding and touching her like they’re very familiar with each other.”
“Did you ask her?”
“I tried to after he left, but she dodged it and I really didn’t get anything from her other than she’s in distress. I don’t know what all that means, but maybe you do.”
“I don’t.”
“Well, she didn’t have anything for us after Ralin left. She may have just wanted someone there. She’s got issues, but I doubt she’s got any information for us.”
“Okay, so let’s just keep it open with her. What else is on your mind?”
“Us.”
“I know, so let’s talk.”
“You took an unnecessary risk with this Bismarck creep and his stragglers. I don’t really understand that or that you didn’t want Bismarck to see me because he’d lock in on me. What does ‘lock in’ mean anyway, and how do you know how he thinks? Explain that to me.”
“He targets women.”
“Many killers do, so that doesn’t cut it.”
“There’s a darkness in him that I’ve only seen a few times in my career.”
“A darkness? Come on, you’re not one of those agents.”
“Okay, darkness might be the wrong word, but he’s unusual in a bad way that’s hard to name. He’s told us things he’ll claim to have learned from confessions made to him, things that are in effect leads about a missing person—people he shouldn’t even know about. He moves somewhere new and two or three years later there’s another big statistical bump in unexplained disappearances but no bodies found, no crime scenes. You’re a woman and connected to me—that will draw his attention. The people who go missing are always women.”
“So you were protecting me? You don’t think I can take care of myself. I need you?”
“Not at all, you’re probably better at taking care of yourself than I am. It’s not about you being a woman. I’m working from my gut and my experience with Bismarck.”
Jace sighed.
“I’m frustrated,” she said. “I’m frustrated by how we’re managing our time. I don’t think we’ve got our priorities straight.”
“Okay, what do you see?”
“I see us putting way too much energy into tracking down two computer scientists who quit. I see confronting a freak like Bismarck as a distraction. Our goal is to find Dalz and others who are gearing up to target people working at the project or will even go as far as to attack the base. I feel like we’re all over the place without a clear plan.”
“With Bismarck, I went out alone to deliver a message, nothing more.”
“You went out and we ended up needing to call for help. Yesterday, you made a long drive out to Panguitch Lake. If we’d sent the photo of the trailer to the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office, they would have found it. Am I wrong?”
“They may have.”
“May have? No, from what you described, they would have. They wouldn’t have been as thorough as us, but we would have followed through. Right now, I’m guessing Bismarck and his followers are making breakfast, frying up toads and rattlesnakes to eat with their eggs, and they’re fine with that. They’re one or two water bottles away from having to drink their own urine to survive. But that’s their problem, not ours. And it’s not ours if they trespass on a Department of Defense base. If DoD can’t stop those ragtags, what good are they anyway?”
“I disagree.”
“Fine. But don’t tell me we’re connecting. We’re not. We didn’t have any problems last time we worked together. I thought it was great, so what’s going on now? Is it that you’re so used to operating solo here that you can’t deal with a partner? Mara says you work alone a lot. Is that true?”
“That’s an accommodation the office has made for me due to my back.”
“So maybe that’s what it is?”
“I like working with you, Jace. My back is bad right now, as bad as it’s been since the first year after the bombing, so yes, it figures in, and I’m worried about other things. I’m pretty good at listening and picking up on vibes. I’m going to go out on a limb, and feel free to tell me how wrong I am. You and Mara are asking me the same questions about what painkillers I take, and you just got here. What should I make of that?”
Jace sighed yet again. She looked at me, and I could see she was debating.
“There’s a lot of worry you’re hiding pain and that you’re not physically up to active duty. I’m sorry, Paul, but that’s what I’m hearing and have been told since I got here. It isn’t just Mara.”
“Hiding pain? How does anyone hide pain?”
“By masking it.”
I knew what that meant, and it stung.
“Why don’t we go to Mara and say it would be better if you were teamed with somebody else?” I said.
“I tell you the truth, and your reaction is that you’ll just work alone from now on. That’s so male. I still want to work with you and learn from you, but I need to be able to question how we use our time, and I need you to be very up front about how you’re hurting and what you’re doing about it. It’s obvious that it’s worse than when I last saw you. Talk to me, what’s going on with your back?”
“It’s worsened. It’s in a bad cycle. I’m going to consult with a surgeon and see what can be done, if anything.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“How soon?”
“The surgeon is a friend of Jo’s. She recommended him, and his office is anticipating a cancellation this afternoon, but who knows where we’ll be when they call, if they call.”
“If the cancellation happens, you go. I’ll cover, and thank you for telling me.” She sighed again. “I’m sorry your back hurts as much as it does. I do want to work with you. You found the pickup and trailer because your instincts are that good. You were open-minded enough to listen to Ralin and look at that half-assed traffic cam photo and think, Well maybe, just maybe. I want some of that magic. I want to work together, but one question I ask myself is, Have you worked so long alone it’s got to be all your way?”
“If we’re talking about Bismarck and going alone to Panguitch, I’d do it the same way again. Bismarck needs to get told face to face, and Indonal and Eckstrom are being painted as possible traitors. It’s putting them at risk. A well-intentioned citizen might try to hold them at gunpoint, so I’m for finding them now. I see it as urgent. I talked with a woman at Stanford who called Indonal a once-in-a-generation mind. She worked with all three. It’s dangerous how their disappearance is getting framed. I feel as if we have to act.”
“I know you do, but I would have called the Garfield Sheriff’s Office and if they found something, then I’d go there. I still don’t think it was a good decision. Look at how you’re walking this morning after that long drive. I’ll probably kick myself later for saying this, but whatever you’re taking for pain may af
fect your judgment. Do you carry painkillers in your car?”
“I carry Aleve and Tylenol. The stronger stuff is at home for the nights when I really need it.”
“What’s the stronger stuff?”
“NORCO 5s, Percocet, and OxyContin I rarely use.”
“How can you use OxyContin and come to work?”
“I don’t.” I pulled out my car keys. “Check out my car,” I said.
“I don’t want to do that.”
“Do it anyway.”
“No, your word is enough.”
“No, I don’t think it is right now. Mara is worried about drug use, and so are you. It’s obvious in his questions to me, and it doesn’t bode well, but between us, you need to know I’m very careful. I don’t take anything during the day that could affect my job. Sometimes at night and only if it’s really bad, so I can sleep, I’ll take painkillers. I can’t use the OxyContin because it lasts twelve hours. I probably wouldn’t use it anyway. Everything else I’ve taken more of lately. If things get to where I can’t deal with the pain, you’ll be the one I tell first.”
“Thank you for saying that,” Jace said. “Thank you.”
She reached over and gripped my arm. For a moment we stood there then walked back to the office and ran into Mara as we came in.
“Indie just took out a jeep with four kids in it,” Mara said. “What kind of crap is that? They crossed some bullshit line, and it launched missiles and killed them. You two go find out what happened before they blame the kids instead of their murder machine. Go get the truth, and make sure they understand we’re opening an investigation.”
“When did this happen?” I asked.
“Less than an hour ago.”
“We’ll call from the base,” I said as we left.
19
Mara sent a long text that Jace summarized as we drove toward Independence Base.
“The boys would have started their senior year this fall,” she said. “The girl was sixteen and headed to her junior year. The driver, Justin Cousins, was seventeen. He used to go four-wheeling with his dad in the mountains behind the new base and told his friends he knew a secret route that would get them close to the AI. It sounds like a dare, a way to have fun on a hot summer day.”
“It does.”
“Mara sent the phone number of one of the officers who just interviewed the mother of Justin Cousins.”
“Let’s call her,” I said.
“Doing it right now. I’ll put her on speaker if she picks up.”
She did, and as I introduced myself to the Las Vegas police officer, we realized we already knew each other. Her name was Marla Sider. Like us, she knew the kids took a daredevil risk driving out there but was shocked they’d been killed.
“The mother thought the kids were off to a pool party and was worrying about drugs and drinking. It didn’t occur to her they were going four-wheeling. When we got to her house she kept repeating that.”
“Who told her?” I asked.
“She didn’t know. She couldn’t give us a name but said the call came from an officer at Independence Base. She believes he identified himself, but she couldn’t remember much of anything after confirming the vehicle license plate they gave her was for her husband’s jeep. She kept repeating, ‘Why would they kill children?’ How did it happen, or do you know yet? They’ve got cameras everywhere. They must have known what they were looking at.”
“We don’t know yet,” I said. “We’re on our way there.”
At the base we drove out to where it happened. We circled the blackened wreckage of the jeep and realized that not just one but two drone-launched missiles struck it after the driver violated an inviolable, invisible, half-mile defense perimeter around the Indie building. I saw multiple flags marking body parts.
When we returned to the Indie building, we were led to a room with a map and screen. We watched video of the jeep as it neared the base, climbed a steep slope alongside the fencing, and then followed a narrow track down and through a dry wash. I turned to the officer.
“Did you know they were kids?” I asked.
“Inside the half-mile-perimeter red zone, the AI makes the kill decision. We’re as sorry as anyone, but they could have been terrorists impersonating high school kids.”
“Wouldn’t Indie have zoomed in on the driver’s face and matched the face to a driver’s license?”
“I don’t know the answer to that, but there are multiple signs warning trespassers. There are warning signs posted all along the fencing and the access road outside the fence. We’ve known there were risks; we’ve worked hard to avoid accidents.”
“Does anything say explicitly that if you get within a half mile of the building, you’re dead?” I asked and followed with, “I’m not putting it on you personally.”
“This is what they are calling an “inviolable line.” We don’t know yet that all procedures were followed, but it appears they were. No one is saying this isn’t a tragedy, but they ignored explicit warning signs. Decisions have consequences.”
Four kids trespassed, and they were dead as a consequence. I stared at him a moment and tried to choose my words. Jace and I weren’t here to judge the ethics of the decision-making. We were here to gather facts. This officer took the defense of failed procedures personally, so I slowed down. We weren’t going to get anywhere with him.
“Agent Blujace and I are unlikely to be part of the FBI investigation into how four high school kids were attacked and killed with American missiles on American soil. But what we gather from our interviews today will become part of the final report. Can you tell us or can Dr. Ralin—”
“Dr. Ralin has no role whatsoever in the defenses of Independence Base.”
“We’d like to talk with him next.”
“I don’t know if that will be possible.”
“We’re not asking for permission to talk with him. We will talk with him whether it’s here or at our office. The FBI requests—and you’ll get this in writing today—that we be copied all photos, video, and reports that come from the internal investigation into the missile launches resulting in these deaths.”
“That’s not a decision I can make.”
“Who should we contact?”
“I can’t give you a contact name yet.”
DoD wanted a full review of the facts before releasing anything. That was understandable, but we’d muscle our way in. That would occur way above Jace and I or anyone we worked with daily. The best we could do today was record what we saw and what was said to us. The agitated officer who briefed us was no doubt disturbed but also more able to rationalize it than us.
I could have said teenagers often make bad decisions and asked if they’d planned for that. They would after the next event, I thought, and adjust again and again. What seemed apparent here was what Ralin had alluded to with the killing of the military observers: that Indie made a knowing decision.
The AI had likely identified the military observers for what they were as well as the teenage driver of the jeep today and who the vehicle was registered to and where the owner lived. If it has the capabilities Ralin claims it has, it put it together and made a decision to protect the inviolable line. That said, it wasn’t sophisticated enough and might never be for the freedom of decision they were giving it.
Before we left, we did talk with Ralin in his small glass office. He was shaken yet somehow worked the conversation around to himself. He has a gift for that.
Before we left the base, we drove out to the burned wreckage of the jeep. The bodies and the DoD team were gone. A hot wind had come up, and a lone guard was sitting in a vehicle. Nothing else was within miles, so who knows what he was guarding?
20
Jace
Jace found Mara in the small room that was his office. He took one look at her and asked, “How are you holding up
?”
“Investigating Grale sucks. He ended up at that lake alone because I was talking with Wycher and checking out Potello’s drug ATM. When do you see this getting resolved?”
“Soon.”
“It needs to. He knows he’s being looked at, and he’s upset.”
“How do you know he’s aware?”
“He told me you and I are asking him the same questions about prescriptions. He didn’t ask me why but was making a point. He offered me his keys so I could search his car if I wanted to. He’s put it together.
“Look, I get the feeling he’s unsure what to do with the pain he’s been in. He also said he’s rethinking the delivery pharmacist. He’s going to make an appointment with a doctor and may give up on Potello. He said it hasn’t worked that well. He volunteered that.”
“I wish he’d never gone near that asshole,” Mara said with more emotion than she’d heard yet from him. “Metro is very close to busting Potello. Did Wycher tell you they have search warrants for Potello’s car and office? It’s about to go down.”
“He said it was close.”
Half an hour later she and Mara were on the phone with Wycher. Wycher was vocal and went after Grale for street buys from a “dirtbag pill pusher.”
“I have him on video three different times buying from Poco,” Wycher said. “We’re working on the possibility it’s Chinese counterfeit fentanyl coming in through Mexico. But we’ve also used up our budget for this one, and my captain is ready to roll. You didn’t hear it from me but Potello is about to go down. It doesn’t have to be the biggest bust in the world to strip him of his peddling license, but he’s looking at much bigger charges.”
“When is the bust?” Mara asked.
“Can’t tell you. I don’t even know yet, but I guarantee you when it does, he’ll be looking at some serious charges. He’s going to want to trade. That’s when your agent Grale makes local headlines. Of course, Grale will get a different ride. You know better than me how that will go.”