by S. J. Braden
Billings had nothing new to report. There was no new information, no bomb threats, or explosions. The case was going cold.
At precisely four o’clock p.m. Court received a text message.
By the river there is a song
And it happens all day long
Singing and ringing and jogging flings
All will be gone when the band sings
So be quick and don’t go slow
Because the Flaming Lips’ Moth in the incubator ends the show.
“Shit! The Music Fest. How in the hell is this going to work? It will take us at least an hour to get there and park. The gates just opened and over 100,000 people will be trying to get in, pets are not allowed in the park during the festival and we don’t have tickets. We can’t alert police and there are too many lives at stake. I think we have to alert the police. Oh my Colleen, please forgive me.”
“Hold on, now,” said Harley.
“I think we can make this work,” Pierce said.
“You have orange vests here for the dogs right? Get two of them! Support dogs are allowed into the park. I have a cane in my truck, you got some dark sunglasses? Even blind people like music, just ask Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles.”
“Pierce has this routine down already. Who’s going to be the second blind man?” Trent said.
“I’ll do it,” Harley said.
Harley put the orange support vests on Dasher and Jake. Court was putting together small tool pouches that would fit in a pocket for each of them. The smaller tools weren’t always ideal, but any type of bag or pack would cause a delay getting into the park while it was searched. Fifteen minutes after the text message came in, the group was on the way to what was sure to be a wet and muddy Tom Lee Park following yesterday’s storm.
While Court drove downtown, the guys formulated a plan over the speaker phones. There were two entrances open into the park, a North and South. Harley and Trent would go in the South entrance, Court, Pierce and Frankie would go to the North entrance. Based on the clue, Court figured the bomb would most likely be near one of the stages. That's where the greatest concentration of people would be at any particular time. But it could be in a trash can, under a bench, under the stage or in anything on a stage. Frankie had the most experience and training reading people and body language. The group all suspected their bomber would be there to watch. Court and Pierce would take stages one and two. Harley and Trent would take stages three and four. Frankie would observe people. Pierce pulled up the schedule of performers for the evening and announced there wasn’t an act named the Flaming Lips scheduled.
“Of course not, that would be too easy,” Court sighed. Court was driving his truck because they all knew he needed to feel in control with Jake, Frankie and Pierce. Trent was driving the rental with Harley and Dasher. They only had to pray now that the event wasn’t sold out and they could purchase tickets at the gate. If there weren’t any tickets available, they would have to do something drastic.
Chapter 27
Inside Tom Lee Park on a warm humid spring night, the atmosphere hummed with energy, excitement and anticipation. The crowd was neither young nor old. Every generation attended the Music Fest. The only common trait among the crowd of 200,000 was they all loved music. The evening would present artists spanning Rock, Blues, Country, and Rap. Besides the four main stages, there were five tents set up along the river with smaller up and coming acts performing in each one. Frankie decided to begin walking among the crowd and checking the tents for anyone looking suspicious. Within moments, Frankie realized suspicious, odd, unusual, weird, people were all around him. He shook his head and laughed.
I would never have thought any city could outdo the crazy crowds of Mardi Gras, but I suppose weirdness is everywhere. New Orleans doesn’t have the monopoly after all.
It was nearly six o’clock by the time the guys were all in the park and began searching. With The Artist’s history, they weren’t looking for a pipe bomb or an abandoned backpack. The bomb could be packed into a soda can, a guitar, a musical instrument, a soccer ball, a purse. The enormity of the problem multiplied exponentially with the congestion of the crowd. The park was only a mile long, thirty total acres and with almost a quarter million people, stages, vendors, food stands, and port-a-potties it was quite crowded and nothing moved fast. The team felt their only chance of finding the bomb was the dogs, Jake and Dasher. They had to hope it was somewhere the dogs could get close enough to smell it. If it was in equipment on a stage, they probably wouldn’t find it and the destruction and loss of life would be devastating.
Pierce and Harley disguised as blind men with their seeing eye dogs, with Court and Trent walked all the areas around the four stages. The dogs checked garbage cans, sniffed around food vending booths and carts, walked around the perimeters of the tents covering the sound equipment for each stage, they sniffed people, and turned up nothing in two and half hours. They took a break and met up between stages two and three and Frankie met them too. They all had a bottle of water and made sure the dogs had plenty of water. Both dogs drank from the water bottles as Dasher learned from Jake. To give the dogs a fresh perspective, Court and Harley switched areas.
At ten o’clock the park was crowded, it was loud, and a gentle mist began to fall. For most people, it was a cooling and welcome mist. For another hour and a half, the dogs searched. Trent, Frankie, and Pierce continued to watch people. Then Trent noticed something odd. A new band was getting ready to perform, and there was a crew swapping out sound equipment. One of the men carrying an amplifier seemed more interested in Harley and Dasher than usual. He was walking between a tour bus and the sound stage. Trent quickly grabbed Dasher’s leash from Harley, told him he would be right back and walked as fast as the crowd would allow back to the man. Dasher got close and started to alert. He stood still, stiffened and a low growl emanated from his throat. Trent slowed his walking pace and allowed Dasher to lead him to the amplifier, sitting on the front edge of the stage. Trent removed his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Court.
The explosion was deafening.
The music from all the stages dimmed in comparison. There were screams and chaos. People were running in every direction, tripping over the fallen bodies lying on the ground. Harley and Pierce ditched the blind man gig and ran toward the stage where the explosion originated. Masses of people running from the area made it hard for Court, Harley, Pierce and Frankie to get there. Court answered the call from Trent just as the explosion went off and the call dropped. He knew Trent was close and was terrified how close he was.
“Find Trent!” Court yelled.
“Dasher’s with Trent!” Harley yelled.
The group split up around stage three. Anyone who could walk was gone from the area, except the police starting to move in. Some people on the ground were injured but conscious, there were moans and screams. Many people on the ground were not making any sounds. Finally, Court and Jake found Trent and Dasher. Court began yelling for cops and paramedics even before checking his friend and Dasher for pulses.
Trent was alive but unconscious. His body was laying in an odd position as if he had been thrown a great distance. Dasher's leash was still wrapped around Trent’s hand, and Dasher lay a few feet away. They were both covered in blood. EMTs put Trent on a backboard with a collar and carried him out to an ambulance. Harley picked up Dasher and ran with him to the nearest police officer.
“This is a bomb dog, injured in the blast, we need assistance immediately!”
“Right this way!” Harley loaded Dasher onto an atv used by police through the park and they rushed out of the park to where a line of ambulances were waiting.
The man who had carried that amplifier to the stage, sat calmly in the band’s bus, waiting to be evacuated from the park.
Chapter 28
Court rode in the ambulance with Trent. He remembered just in time to throw the keys to Harley’s SUV to Pierce. Frankie asked the EMT which hospital and they said they w
ere going to the Med Trauma Center. The Med was only two miles away but with the chaos, it took ten minutes for the ambulance to get there and thirty for the rest of the group to get to the emergency room and find Court.
Pierce spoke first, “How is he? Do you know anything?”
“He’s unconscious. The bleeding wounds don’t seem like anything more than flesh wounds caused by debris. But his reflexes are not responding, they fear a spinal injury. They’re running tests now.”
“Have you called anyone yet?” Pierce asked.
“Oh, crap. I’ve got to call Tommy. He’s going to kill me that I manage to get his little brother hurt.”
“I’ll call Abby. This is going to be hard, she’s so far away.” Pierce walked away, searching his phone for Abby’s phone number and trying to figure out how to tell her something happened to Trent.
Court called Tommy Dumas, Trent’s older brother and the FBI agent who helped Colleen through her ordeal at the Oklahoma City bombing.
“Dumas!”
“Tommy, this is Court. Something has happened in Memphis.”
“No shit!, I’m on my way. I should be landing in Memphis in about an hour, we’re coming on an agency chopper. Were you there? What the hell happened?”
“Yeah, I was there. It’s bad and it’s a long story. But that’s not why I called. Tommy, it’s Trent.”
“What? What about Trent?”
“He was there. He was close to the explosion. I’m at the hospital with him now.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Why is Trent in Memphis? How bad is it?”
“He was here helping me. I don’t know yet how bad it is, he was unconscious when we got here. They’re running tests now. I’m so sorry, Tommy. It’s my fault he’s here.”
“What do you mean he was helping you? Helping you with what?”
“Colleen was kidnapped Tuesday. Proof of Life was a photo of Colleen with a necklace bomb around her neck. They said if I called the cops they would kill her. Yeah, I know how this is supposed to work, but when it’s your wife — rules go out the window and you do whatever they want you to do.”
“Well now the dumb shit went and blew up an international event. Every law enforcement agency in the country is raining down on Memphis. It’s out of your control now. Have you called anyone else?”
“Just you, Pierce is calling Abby.”
“Pierce is there? Who else is there? Is anyone else hurt?”
“Pierce, Frankie, and Trent came to help me. My right-hand guy and his dog were with us. Harley is okay, but Dasher's hurt, I don’t know how bad yet. Trent was the only one of us hurt, he was standing right next to it when it blew.”
“I’m now about thirty-five minutes away. What hospital? I’ll call Mom. Hang in there, we are going to get this sorted out.”
“Hello, Pierce. Have you found Colleen?”
“No, not yet Abby. Abby, I’ve got news. Is Sarah Frances or your mom there with you?”
“Oh God, what kind of news? Yes, we are all here. What’s happening?”
“It’s Trent.”
“No! No! No!” Abby dropped the headset and Sarah Frances rushed to pick it up.
“Pierce is that you? What’s wrong?
“Sarah Frances. Hold on to Abby. There was an explosion. Trent is hurt. We're at the hospital now waiting for test results.”
Sarah Frances held Abby and said, “Abby, hold on. He’s at the hospital, they're running test.”
Abby looked up, tears still streaming down her cheeks, “He’s still alive?”
“Yes, let me see what else Pierce knows.”
“Pierce tell me everything you know right now!”
“He was unconscious. There are lots of wounds from flying debris and maybe shrapnel too. They don’t think any of those wounds are too serious. But he may have a broken back. Court said he was lying at an unnatural angle. We have to wait to see what’s going on.”
“So it doesn’t look life-threatening?”
“Baby, I just don’t know. I don’t want to speculate.”
“Was anyone else hurt?”
“Yes, Courts partner’s dog, I don’t know anything about how bad. There were hundreds of people injured or worse, I just don’t know. But Trent and Dasher were the only ones in our group injured. Hold on a minute…”
While Court told Pierce that Tommy was on the way and calling their mother, Sarah Frances told Abby what Pierce told her. Abby regained her composure and took the headset back from Sarah Frances.
When Pierce came back on the line and said, “Court just talked to Tommy. He’s on his way here and will be here in half an hour. Tommy’s calling their mother.”
“I’m on my way too. I can’t fly out until in the morning, but I’ll be there as fast as I can!”
“Abby! I didn’t know you were back on the line.”
“Listen you keep Sarah Frances updated with any information you get about Trent. She can contact me by cell phone as long as I’m in Ecuador. As soon as I land in the states, I’ll get a new phone and call you. I mean it, you let her know everything the minute you know!”
“I will Abby, please be careful. I’ll see you when you get here.”
Chapter 29
Colleen sat in her chair. The same chair she’d been strapped to for days. She was positioned to look out over the river again. Ever since the first night when she saw the explosion at the marina, she was nervous when they changed her direction. Over the last four days she had been turned in all different directions, but she had not seen any more explosions.
She was so far above the city that she didn’t hear sounds at all. The only sounds she ever heard were her captor’s footsteps coming to bring her food or let her have a bathroom break. She knew something big was going on tonight. She saw the traffic and realized it was the first weekend of May and time for the music festival. She watched the park from her area, she could see flashing lights, colors dancing on the skyline from the spotlights on the various stages and the search lights that circled from the park to let the world know there was a big party happening on the Mississippi river tonight.
As she was drifting off to sleep, something startled Colleen awake. She saw a momentary flash and then it was gone. She wasn’t sure if she actually saw something or if it was a spotlight or something she imagined. Then it seemed the park went dark. Colleen sat and watched for hours as red and blue flashing lights traveled from all over the city to the park, and red flashing lights came and went from the park area. For hours. Colleen knew something bad had happened and a lot of people were hurt. She didn’t need sounds to see the flashing lights and she worried about Court. For the hours that ambulances rushed to and from the park, Colleen sat and watched and cried. She cried tears for everyone hurt below, for every mother, father, wife, husband, child, sister, and brother who would be affected in the next hours and days, and she cried for every law enforcement officer down there and the visions that would haunt them forever. Colleen remembered it all too well. And she prayed.
Tommy Dumas was a presence in the waiting room of the Regional Trauma Center in Memphis. Still wearing his FBI jacket, everyone steered clear of him. Or maybe it was the commands he was barking into his phone.
Court couldn’t decide if Tommy was more upset about Trent or Colleen. Catching him up to speed had been one hell of a conversation. While Tommy barked orders, Court reflected on the information exchange that occurred when Tommy arrived at the hospital.
“Court! What the hell?”
“I know Tommy. But you know I couldn’t call you!”
“I don’t know any such bullshit. First, how is Trent? What do we know?”
“He is still unconscious. They are running test. There don’t seem to be any internal bleeding injuries, but his reflexes are not responding properly. The doctors are concerned about a spinal injury.”
“Oh jeez, that’s not good. Mom’s going to have a coronary. What about Abby? Does she know?”
“Pierce called
her, she’s flying back to the states in the morning.”
“Good. Now tell me what’s going on with Colleen and why you didn’t call me immediately!”
“I was assisting the MPD on a case. They discovered an explosives lab in a room at the Crowne Plaza hotel. I had been working day and night for a couple of days, and finally was going to go home for some rest. When I left there was a message on my car. It looked like a poem or clue— but it was a message. I drove to the marina in time to see The Mari explode. I, of course, called 911. Then a steward from The Yacht Club brought me a message that he received from a courier. It said don’t contact the police and included a picture of Colleen. I had already contacted the police, so I told them I knew nothing and tried to misdirect them.”
“And that’s when you called Trent, who is not a cop, and Pierce who is not a cop. But Frankie is a cop and he’s here. So why didn’t you call me?”
“Actually I called Trent when The Mari exploded, and was on the phone with him when I got the warning message. Trent called Pierce and Frankie.”
“Yeah, well when my brother wakes up, I guess I’ll have to ask him why he didn’t think to call his brother. In any case, what do you know? Who is behind this and where is Colleen?”
“I don’t know anything. I just get clues to locations for bombs and try to disarm them before they blow. Supposedly, at some point, this exercise will lead me to Colleen. We have been going through Colleen’s case files trying to figure out who it might be, but we don’t have any solid clues. Just guesses and speculation. We don’t even know for sure that it’s someone from Colleen’s background. With the focus on explosives, it could just as likely be someone I know.”