by S. J. Braden
Tommy hung up and looked at Court, Trent, Frankie and Pierce.
“If Smith and I go into the office to try to rattle some cages, can we trust you four to stay put? Or do I need to have agents come babysit?”
“Really? You just asked us that? You’re putting us on house arrest now?” Trent asked.
“Well, if I have to I will.”
Isabel stood by watching the interaction between brothers as well as friends. And she noted that male species worked so much differently in relationships than women do. She was just thrilled to get out of the testosterone filled house and have some alone time with Tommy. In her ten years with the bureau she never once was tempted to mix business with pleasure. Until she met Tommy Dumas. She was uncomfortable with the fact that she was struggling to keep her mind on the case and confused with how this man affected her by simply being in the same room. She hoped no one else in the room could tell that she was distracted, or that she was flushed and hot. Of course, they wouldn’t notice. This group of men had only one concern right now and that was Colleen McAllister. Isabel wondered if something happened to her if there would be a group of people this concerned about her well-being. Her dedication to the job, her career had taken its toll on her personal relationships and she wondered how Colleen was able to balance the two. What kind of woman she must be to inspire such loyalty and affection.
“Special Agent Dumas, may we leave to go out and get some food? The pantry is bare now.” Court asked his wife’s longtime friend with unmasked sarcasm.
“Stop it Court. Stop it all of you. You know Colleen is my first concern. I just don’t need to worry about you guys too, or any of you getting in the middle of the investigation and causing problems. You all know the rules and understand how counter-productive it will be. We are heading out to go see what these guys can tell us. Just don’t make me regret leaving you guys. I’ll call you as soon as we know anything.”
Across town, Bee Maden’s phone rang. As Rodney Maden’s soon to be ex-wife, Bee was exhibiting more spunk and energy than anyone every remembered. She overheard her daughter Valerie telling Xyloh that she’d never seen her mother with that much energy.
It was true, Bee found herself humming and she actually felt the lightness in her step. She never imagined how freeing it would be to have the suffocating Rodney gone from her life. She was too afraid all these years to leave him. Divorce was out of the question. She knew without a doubt, had she even mentioned such a thing it would be the end of her life. She was filing for divorce the end of the week. She already consulted an attorney, and the only person she worried about was her insufferable son. Now he was gone too. She felt a little guilty that his demise was also a relief, but not too guilty to still be humming through her day. She wondered what news this phone call would bring.
“Hello.”
“Miss Bee, the final delivery of your special products is complete. When can I expect my final payment?”
“You will get your payment when I know the plan was successful. I told you not to call this phone. If you can’t follow that simple instruction, I don’t have much faith you did the requested job as instructed either.”
“Just keep watching the news old lady. I say that with all due respect of course. The gangs will be dropping like flies soon.”
“I look forward to it, goodbye now.”
Chapter 43
Colleen slept soundly and watched the slide show in her mind of her recent trip to Ecuador.
She and Court, Frankie and Missy, Pierce and Trent all went to Ecuador to celebrate Trent and Abby’s anniversary. Colleen watched the trip play out in her mind as she seemed to hover overhead. The trip began with the group meeting at Trent’s in Miami.
Trent’s friends began getting acquainted with one another. Court discovered he had plenty in common with Pierce and Frankie. All three of the men were former military, now Court owned his own company as an explosives detection expert. With Pierce’s special ops training and Frankie’s law enforcement career, they had plenty to talk about while the three manned the grill, grilling steaks for the group. Missy helped Trent in the kitchen with the remaining dinner preparations while Colleen set the table and shuffled serving dishes one at a time to the table. There was a time when Colleen was self-conscious about her limited abilities to help in the kitchen, but being an accomplished attorney, and appointed as a U.S. Attorney had erased the self-consciousness she had after losing her arm.
Missy, who wasn’t the least bit shy, asked Colleen what happened to her arm. Colleen, quite used to the question, explained.
“I was two years out of law school and was working as an associate to the U.S. Attorney in Roanoke, Virginia.” Missy recognized Roanoke as Trent and Abby’s hometown.
“I was in Oklahoma City, conducting interviews at the DEA office on the top floor of the Murrah building when the bomb exploded. I was hurt, but not critically. I got out of the building and began helping to pull people out and uncover them from debris. I knew my arm was in bad shape, but I couldn’t walk away from all the shouts for help.” Colleen stopped as her heart skipped a beat and the memories flooded her mind like a choppy movie.
Missy gasped, “Colleen if this is too painful, please stop. I didn’t mean to open up such a painful wound. Sometimes my mouth engages before my brain kicks in.”
“Oh, it’s alright. That was a long time ago. I lost my arm, but I gained so much. Tommy, Trent’s brother, was an FBI agent stationed in Oklahoma City at the time. When the bomb exploded, the FBI office two miles away shook like an earthquake, they looked out the window and saw the smoke and rushed to the site. Tommy found me, trying to lift a piece of twisted metal and concrete off the legs of a lady and tried to get me to stop and get medical attention. But I couldn’t leave. I kept working for several more hours, Tommy by my side. A lifelong friendship was born that day,” she smiled though her eyes seemed haunted as the memory movie continued to play in her mind.
“I’ve heard that lasting relationships are formed during tragedies,” Missy acknowledged.
“They do, and when I returned to Roanoke, Tommy introduced Court and me to Trent. Court and Trent were friends almost as instantly as Tommy and I. Before we moved to Memphis, Trent and Court hosted a weekly poker night and have been best friends ever since. The OKC bombing and my injuries caused Court to abandon his career goals in business management and become an explosives expert. But now he owns his own company and is using his business training to do both.”
“Doesn’t he work in law enforcement as a bomb technician?” Missy asked.
“No, he did for a while, before forming his company. Now he subcontracts his services, trains detection dogs, and other bomb techs. His company has contracts with a couple of large overnight international shipping companies. They inspect packages to make sure nothing nefarious is shipped through the carriers.”
“I heard about a case recently where a bomb was found in another country by a shipping company. They said it was terrorist related. I wondered how they found it,” Missy said.
“Yes, that’s what Court does now. With Jake’s help of course.”
Dinner was served and the conversation never lagged through dinner, the cleaning up, and relaxing on Trent’s deck before they all retired early to prepare for the long day of travel and surprises the next day.
Colleen continued to sleep, unaware of the three people in the room with her. Had she awakened she would have seen Jay Leno, Marilyn Monroe, and Richard Nixon discussing what they were going to do with her.
Emergency rooms all over town were seeing an unusual influx of some sort of drug overdose. As discussions began between the E.R. doctors, suspicions grew about some sort of new designer drug. Lab tests so far had not determined the exact makeup of the drug, but the hospitals became concerned and called the police. Someone had to decide when to warn the public that a new drug was causing an inordinate number of deaths. Between the five hospitals in town, thirty-two deaths from the drug and sixty more pa
tients were in critical condition in the last seventy-two hours. The medical intervention had not reversed a single case so far, every case resulted in death, it was just a matter of how long it took for the patient to die. Lab technicians were working overtime to try to break down what exactly was killing these people.
The police department confirmed that all the victims were known gang members. But all four of the major local gangs had members in the hospital and the morgue. The MPD information officer didn’t want to create a panic scenario, but maybe it was time to spread the word. He hoped that the local media could reach these guys, but he also knew the targeted victims in this case weren’t usually news junkies. It was time to get the news out on the streets as well. He called a meeting of all undercover and street cops and issued the command to start spreading the word to all of the department's informants and to start asking the question: what was everyone taking and where was it coming from? Then he called a press conference.
Chapter 44
“Good Evening, I’m Ron Strong and welcome to Memphis’ leading evening news. Law enforcement officials are stretched thin across the city today. The kidnapping of U.S. Attorney Colleen McAllister is still an ongoing investigation, authorities are questioning two persons of interest, in that case, four bomb threats against strategic targets in the cities, the demise of Rodney Maden Jr. and a rash of drug overdoses are our headlines tonight. First, the four bomb threats against an orphanage, a retirement home, the animal shelter and the VA hospital. Sheffield Davis is at the VA Hospital, Sheffield what can you tell us?”
“Good evening Ron, bomb units from the MPD, Shelby county Sheriff’s office, the FBI, and ATF have worked hard today. The Phillip Lemons Children’s Home, the Shady Lawn Retirement Village and the Shelby County Animal Rescue Complex have been cleared and the residents can return to the facilities. However, the VA hospital is still not cleared. The patients and staff were all evacuated around noon and moved to other area hospitals and the bomb squad is currently using explosive robots to locate the bomb or bombs in the hospital.”
“How many bombs were located in the other facilities earlier today Sheffield?”
“Each of the three facilities cleared earlier today hosted one bomb each. They were all of the same construction as the bomb that went off at the International Music Festival three days ago. These bombs are harder to find because they are built into objects that look natural in their surroundings. The Music Festival bomb, as we have already reported was inside an amplifier used on stage for one of the music groups. We learned today that bomb expert Court McAllister, also the husband of Colleen McAllister has been diffusing bombs all over town in the last week since his wife’s kidnapping. Those bombs include one inside a duck decoy on the roof top Skyway at the Peabody hotel and one in a teddy bear at Graceland. Today’s bombs included one inside a toy dump truck at the Children’s home, inside a fifty-pound bag of dog food at the animal shelter, and inside an empty oxygen tank at the retirement home. As you can imagine, there are many things inside a hospital that could house an explosive device. This same bomber is credited for the bomb at the airport as well over the weekend.”
“Sheffield is there more information about the Wolf Chase Mall bomb?”
“Yes, Ron. The MPD has announced the arrest of Terry Miller for the bombs at the warehouse, the home of an alleged gang leader and the mall. Terry Miller is the brother of former Memphis City Councilman Quinn Miller and did a stint in prison for setting fire to his former boss’ car.”
“It’s been an interesting weekend in the city. Is there any estimate when the patients from the VA hospital will be able to return?”
“No, not yet. Area hospitals will no doubt be relieved as there is also an outbreak of overdose cases filling emergency rooms all over town. Doctors believe the outbreak may be due to a new designer drug of some sort. Police are warning against taking or using any new drugs. So far doctors have not been able to save a single victim of the drug.”
Isabel glanced at Tommy Dumas across the front seat of the FBI standard black suburban. Typically an overly forthright female, never hesitating to ask the questions burning in her mind, she wondered what kept her from asking the question burning there today. She felt herself physically brace in her seat before forcing the words out.
“Dumas? What are we doing? I thought we were going to the office to participate in the interrogation.”
Tommy checked his rearview mirror and side mirror, hoping to look occupied and busy while he decided how truthful he could or wanted to be with the lady sitting beside him. He pulled over to the side of the road, put the suburban into park, and looked into Isabel’s eyes. For Isabel it felt like he was peering all the way inside her brain, his glare was so intense, she decided she hoped he never had any reason to interrogate her. Tommy seemed to make some sort of decision and said, “We aren’t going to the office. I’m banned from the investigation as well. Someone told somebody that Colleen is a friend and now I can't work the case either. I can’t tell Court that. It’s hard enough keeping him contained without him knowing I’m not in the loop either so to speak.”
“So why did we leave the house?”
“I needed to get out of there and clear my head. There’s something we’re missing, I know it. I just can’t seem to think clearly. I’m realizing it’s not the house nor the guys that're the problem. I think it’s you. I can’t think clearly now driving around either and it’s pissing me off. My friend needs me. She needs me to be the best at what I do right now, and instead, I’m distracted by a red headed vixen with big green doe eyes. How in the hell can you still look so good after the last couple of days, hanging out in a house with five strung out, angry, frustrated men and no sleep?”
“Wow! I didn’t see that coming. I’m attracted to you too, and I would love to be able to have a conversation, talk to you. Not about the case but about you. But you’re right, now isn’t the time. Can we acknowledge there’s something worth discussing here at a later date, and maybe table this? We should get back to the case. I agree. There’s something we’re missing.”
“Yeah, maybe acknowledging there’s a mutual attraction will let me get back to work. Ready to go back to the house?”
“Yep, let’s go see what kind of trouble the boys have gotten themselves into while we were gone.”
“Oh lordy, please don’t let them hear you call them boys!”
“I wouldn’t dream of it. I also wouldn’t have called them boys if I hadn’t spent days cooped up with them in comparison to you.”
“Soon. Very soon, we are going to have a long conversation. But I have to find Colleen first.”
And then both phones rang.
Chapter 45
“This is Sheffield Davis reporting live from outside the VA hospital! There has just been an explosion inside the building. The building was evacuated and bomb techs were utilizing a robot to find the bomb, but it’s now exploded. There shouldn’t be any injuries and we don’t know yet how much damage occurred inside. We’ll have more on the ten o’clock news.”
“Holy shit! The bomb went off at the VA!” Court shouted to the others.
Trent, Frankie, and Pierce were in the kitchen, sitting around the table, drinking coffee and drawing charts and grids of the information they had about the case.
“At least it was evacuated. Any cops or agents hurt?” Frankie asked.
“I don’t think so. They said they were using a robot and the hospital was evacuated. At least there shouldn’t be a body count. I can’t take this anymore. I need to find my wife. I need Colleen. I don’t understand the purpose in all these freaking bombs. What the hell does it have to do with Colleen? He has to know I’m not working it anymore.”
Pierce pointed at the television set and said, “Wait. Listen,” as Tommy and Isabel came in the kitchen door and joined them in the living room, as they all stared at the screen.
“We now have a report that there was someone in the building. A Memphis police officer wa
s in the building and died during the explosion. The identity of the fallen officer isn’t being released pending notification of family. Sheffield Davis reporting live from the scene of the VA hospital explosion. We’ll report more details as they become available.”
“Gentlemen, and Lady, there is something not sitting right with me. There’s something niggling at the back of my mind about this case. Can we all sit down and let me run over everything we know. Something isn’t right.”
“Sure, Tommy. I agree. Let’s start from the beginning with the Mari and work our way through, right after I return calls to Colleen’s sisters and brothers. If I don’t call them back they will be on our doorstep by morning since the news has gone national.” replied Court.
Three Maden women sat around Valerie’s kitchen table, drinking champagne.
“I have to admit I didn’t think your plan would work Valerie. But you were absolutely right. I really can’t believe how chicken and shallow Vince and Bill were.”
“Yep, I figured if we killed my brother, the other two would high-tail it out of town faster than a bobcat can eat a rabbit.”
“Having Rodney dead is sure a whole lot easier than a divorce. He always said if I left him, I’d never see the kids again. I couldn’t take a chance on that happening. Not only would I die if I couldn’t see my kids, I couldn’t risk them growing up with only him to take care of them and being the only influence on their lives. Thank you, Valerie, you’re truly a sister.”
“Don’t you girls start feelin' your wheaties just yet. We got a funeral to get through, and when my other son and my son-in-law don’t show up for said funeral, you know there’s gonna be all kinds of questions.”