JT [02] Horns of the Devil

by Marc Rainer

  Incident Three

  Early Morning Hours of Thursday, August 11

  Convenience Store (Managed by MS-13)

  Langley Park, Maryland

  Store burns down. Fire investigators say arson.

  MS-13 (Esteban Ortega) uses insurance $ to buy car wash QUESTIONS:

  Barrio 18 again? Why?

  Who else swould have a motive?

  Related to #1 or #2?

  “I’ll take both questions on that last one,” Lynn said. “Ortega loses troops in front of a business that’s indefensible if he’s in a street war. He’s got cover for an inside arson because somebody’s already killed two of his guys. He points the finger at his 18th Street bogeymen, cashes the insurance fraud check—which he already admitted on our short-lived bug—and buys the car wash—”

  “Which is more defensible—if you’re not asleep or high—and is suitable for use and an ideal cover for that marijuana grow,” Carter chimed in. “I agree with our analyst on all of that.”

  “Me too,” said Crawford. “And if I’m one of the outnumbered 18ers, I’m not going to see much point in revisiting the scene of my successful raid the night before just to chase my arch-rivals out of a bad location. Too much risk versus too little reward. The 18ers are not the ones who torched the store.”

  “Bear?” Trask asked.

  “Sounds like we’ve got Incident Three pegged,” Doroz said. “I haven’t heard a word about Incident Two yet.” He looked around the table and got only shrugs and shaking heads.

  Trask grabbed some more pushpins. “Incident Four may definitely be related to Incident One, if…” he paused, “if we are correct in our deduction that Diego Morales bears some responsibility for the murder of the ambassador’s kid.”

  “Do you think we’re wrong on that?” Lynn asked. There was a slight edge in her voice. “I don’t know,” Trask said. “Everything you’ve suggested on it makes sense that Morales was involved. The timing certainly fits, and that’s why I have him listed as a suspect in #1, but that’s all we have right now. Can’t afford to assume we’ve got it right, though.” He put the next paper on the wall.

  Incident Four

  Thursday, August 11, about 0300

  3100 Block of Georgia Avenue, NW

  Three MS-13 killed; one is Diego Morales (suspect in #1)

  No suspects

  Sniper rifle and NATO rounds; MO consistent with #2, but not same weapon QUESTIONS:

  Barrio 18?

  Who else has motive? Ambassador and staff?

  Does Salvadoran Embassy staff have sniper rifles?

  Probably related to #1 and #2

  “Discussion?” Trask asked.

  “I don’t think the 18th Street boys are riding around with sniper weapons and ammo,” Carter volunteered. “But I also don’t think the ambassador is the shooter, even with his son being the first victim in this little war, if that’s what it is. He doesn’t strike me as the type. And for what it’s worth, I did some checking of my own with a contact I have at ATF. The Salvadoran bodyguards for the ambassador are allowed their sidearms. They’re required to register them when they enter the country, and they’ve registered handguns only. They don’t have a true stand-alone building, so it’s not like they’re guarding an enclosed compound.”

  “That hospital must have had a nice big laptop beside the bed,” Doroz quipped.

  “I had a nice big Polish gopher who knew how to smuggle one in,” Carter shot back.

  “One of the time-honored traditions of the Polish people,” Wisniewski said as he stood and bowed. “A natural hobby of a nation without natural borders.”

  “What about our pirate friend?” Lynn asked. “Old Eye Patch?”

  “He does feel wrong to me,” Trask replied. “That, unfortunately, is not my standard of proof in court. He stays on our list of suspects until we can either prove he’s wrong, or we can eliminate him as a doer with other proof. If he or any other embassy staff member is involved, we have another problem because we’ll have to deal with the diplomatic immunity issues. At any rate, there may be more than one crew shooting up our MS-13 bangers.”

  “If it’s someone from the embassy, what exactly are the diplomatic immunity issues?” Carter asked.

  “Depends on the individual,” Trask replied. “As the number two at the embassy, our friend Rios-Garcia would enjoy absolute diplomatic immunity for anything, even including murder. Our only recourse would be to ask El Salvador to revoke and waive his status so that we could prosecute him; otherwise we’d be reduced to asking State to declare him persona non grata and send him home.”

  “And State means Murphy,” Doroz added. “He’s sitting on the Central American desk.”

  “Exactly,” Trask nodded. “I’m not sure we actually have a friend in court with Mr. Murphy.” He grabbed another sheet of paper and more pushpins.

  Incident Five

  Wednesday, August 17, 0216

  Two MS-13 dead in drive-by shooting at Car Wash, 2110 Bladensburg Rd,

  NE

  SKS Norinco AK knock-offs, 7.62x39 steel core ammo

  No suspects

  QUESTIONS:

  Barrio 18?

  How did shooters know of MS-13’s new location so fast?

  Related to #1 thru #4? How?

  Different Mos to #2 and #4—no sniper rifles used.

  Evening of same date—MS-13 bangers arrested in attempted retaliation raid.

  “Thanks for not putting me asleep at the scene on that one,” Carter said.

  There were a few chuckles.

  “No problem, Dix. Thoughts?” Trask asked.

  “Round ’em all up and deport ’em,” Crawford quipped.

  “Really Puddin’? All of them?” asked Doroz. “I was certain you might want to make at least one exception to that rule, assuming you could get those clowns at ICE or DHS or whatever immigration calls themselves today to actually deport somebody. Maybe a certain pretty secretary?”

  “I wasn’t talking about embassy personnel,” Crawford said, blushing.

  “Wow, there’s something I just thought of,” Lynn said. “Woodin’ Puddin.’ How much wood could a wood-pud wood, if a wood-pud could pud wood?”

  “God, Lynn, that’s not fair,” Crawford whined while the others snickered.

  Trask waited for the laughter to die down. “Anything constructive, to get back on track?”

  “Only because I always start with the obvious, since there are reasons for things being obvious, we have to consider that there really is some involvement in this by the 18th Street gang,” Carter offered, “with the caveat that it just doesn’t feel right. Lynn was correct in saying earlier that there’s no reason for the mice to tug on the cat’s tail. They’re so outnumbered here, they’d have to be suicidal to keep doing it.”

  “If it is the 18ers, they could have known about the new place a number of ways,” Wisniewski said. “Loose lips in a restaurant, somebody’s old Salvadoran girlfriend switches sides, a floater between the groups who isn’t tied to either but speaks the lingo. Hell, it could even be a weed customer like Peewee who brags to one group about the smoke he got from the other one.”

  “Good points,” Trask said. “But if it’s not the 18ers, Dix, then who?’

  “I don’t know,” Carter said. “I’ve been sick.”

  He ducked as a few loose wads of paper and empty cups flew across the table.

  “At least our MS-13 friends thought it was the 18ers,” Wisniewski noted. “That’s why some of Ortega’s boys are in jail.”

  “Yeah,” Trask said, “with dead lawyers. Which makes me glad the next one didn’t go as somebody had planned it.” He put another sheet of paper on the wall.

  Incident Six

  Friday, August 19, about 0230

  Machete-Wielding Thugs Assault AUSA and FBI Analyst, then Die QUESTIONS:

  What the hell were they thinking?

  Hadn’t they read our press clippings?

  Who were those guys?
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  Seriously, connections???

  After the chuckling subsided, Trask looked around the room. “Like it says there for question four, seriously, anyone have any idea just how this is related to all this other stuff? For now I don’t know, but until someone proves otherwise, I know in my gut that it is. It might ultimately get me kicked off the case.”

  Doroz thought for a moment, and then spoke up. “Jeff, all that we know as far as a connection goes is that somehow, some way, they all have to do with El Salvador and with MS-13. That’s where we have to start for now.”

  “Agreed,” Trask nodded. “We have to start with what we know, put those puzzle pieces together, and work outward from there. Now here’s the rest of it.” He started putting the rest of the puzzle on the wall.

  Incident Seven

  August 21

  Defense Attorney Darren Regan Murdered;

  Represented MS-13 Van Driver Santos

  MO Consistent with Salvadoran Death Squads

  QUESTIONS:

  Who is/are killers?

  Who had motive?

  Embassy personnel involved? Why?

  Connections?

  “Here we go with the embassy thing again,” Doroz mused. “Couldn’t it just be the gangs?”

  “You were there for our meeting with CIA and DEA, Bear,” Trask replied. “There’s no history of the gangs using these methods—the thumb tying and the back-of-the-head shots—and they’ve never whacked their own attorneys before.”

  “But those were ARENA government, or ARENA-allied death squad tactics, not FMLN government methods,” Lynn said. “That’s what doesn’t make any sense here.”

  “Unless the MS-13 was worried that some of these attorneys were urging cooperation, and they just adopted tactics from old adversaries,” Carter added. He shook his head. “Forget I said that. Too much of a stretch.”

  “All food for thought,” Trask said. “Let’s look at the next two.”

  Incident Eight

  August 23

  Murder of 18er by MS-13, Body Dumped at FBI WFO

  MO consistent with known MS-13 homicides

  QUESTIONS:

  Retaliation for Incident 5?

  Why the body dump at the FBI field office?

  “No doubt in my mind that it was retaliation for the car wash raid.” Carter led off on the discussion. “It’s another case of accepting the obvious when there’s no reason to reject it. The method of the murder is textbook MS-13 gang torture. I think it would have happened earlier if we hadn’t intercepted the Maras’ raid team on their way to Bladensburg. We just delayed the inevitable for a few days.”

  “Why dump the body out front on the sidewalk, Dix?” Trask asked. “Why not in front of Main Justice or FBI headquarters? Why not your police department’s HQ, for that matter? Why not the Triple-nickle? We were all involved in stopping the Bladensburg raid.”

  “Maybe somebody was tailing us back here after a court hearing,” Carter answered. “Beats me. At any rate, they’re telling us they’re not afraid to respond, not afraid of any of our esteemed and storied agencies.”

  “And they may be watching us, collectively or individually, so let’s be careful out there.” Doroz looked pointedly at Carter.

  “Got it,” the detective responded. “I’ve already been tagged as a maverick, had a GPS slapped on my wheels, and have a Polish ninja watching my back. Like I said, got it.”

  “See what you—or anyone else—has on this one, then,” Trask said, reaching for another sheet of paper. The entire eastern side of the squad conference room was beginning to look like a badly papered tenement wall.

  Incident Nine

  August 23

  18er Shot to Death in Apartment near RI Ave

  Single Bullet Wound to Center of Head

  Questions:

  NOT MS-13 MO, so who killed him and why?

  Status of crime scene investigation

  Connected?

  “Ballistics aren’t back yet on the round Kathy pulled out of his head at the autopsy,” Wisniewski volunteered. “There’s some DNA that Frank Wilkes is waiting on as well.”

  “DNA?” Trask asked. “Do we have evidence of more than one victim?”

  “Dunno yet,” Wisniewski said. “Frank told me there was some dried blood around the joints of a chair in the room. He swabbed it, because Frank is Frank. He wasn’t real happy with the area canvass the uniforms did on the scene either. Said they were lazy. Apparently there were some other Hispanics living in the building, and the guys who rolled on the call couldn’t speak the language.”

  “I know someone who can—” Trask began.

  “And that someone has already been assigned that lead by his venerable senior partner,” Wisniewski said. “I’m on it.”

  “Ride with him, Dix. You’re out of the hospital now. Nobody rolls alone.” Doroz was looking at Carter again.

  “Like I said before, got it.” Carter nodded deferentially. He looked at Trask. “You see any connections on this, Jeff? Might just be a dope rip, or maybe the vic had been sleeping with somebody else’s baby-momma. We haven’t seen this MO anywhere else in this case.” He paused. “Or in these cases, whichever it is.”

  “No evident connections other than the victim’s status as an 18er, Dix,” Trask said. “One dead 18er in return for the MS-13’s losses at the car wash probably doesn’t balance the scales the way Ortega’s boys see it. Maybe it just wasn’t the right time or place to carve him like a turkey. Too much noise and too many people around in the other apartments. Could be that they couldn’t manage a snatch on the guy so they just put him down with a quick one to the head. One shot. May have used a silencer, may not have needed to depending on the noise level in the building. We just can’t afford not to check.” He smiled. “Wilkes might think we’re getting lazy, too.”

  “Can’t have that.” Carter nodded in agreement. “We’ll finish questioning the neighbors and check on the ballistics and DNA.” He flipped through a copy of the incident reports. “I just noticed one thing. The round from the Regan shooting was a .22. This one was, too. So is the one for the Boydston shootings. Like I said, we’ll check the ballistics. The 18er’s autopsy was done later, so the lab just got that slug.”

  “Speaking of Boydston,” Trask said, “he’s next.”

  Another summary went up on the wall.

  Incident Ten

  August 23

  William Boydston and Lynette Morris murdered

  MO matches Regan murder, ARENA death squad methods

  Bank’s ATM camera across street blocked to conceal crime scene QUESTIONS:

  Motives?

  Ballistics match with Regan shooting, so same MO and weapon means same shooter, but who?

  Any ARENA government operatives in country?

  “We may need to talk to our CIA friend again to answer question three,” Doroz noted. “Other than that, I’ve got zilch. Why would our Mara defendants start whacking their own attorneys? Makes no sense. From what we’ve heard, this is an ARENA-era stunt, and one they’d probably deny, too.”

  “Somebody is just doing anything and everything they can to hit the MS-13 goons and anyone associated with them,” Lynn volunteered. “We identify that somebody, and the picture gets clearer.”

  “Any ideas on that, babe?” Trask asked.

  “Babe? Babe?” Wisniewski parroted.

  “Jealous, Tim?” Lynn shot back. “Maybe you need to go home and spend some time with your Tootsie Pops and Trojans.”

  “With his what?” Doroz almost screamed.

  Wisniewski shook his head at Carter. “There’s been a major breach of partner confidentiality here,” he said.

  “An admission if I ever heard one,” Trask added. “You can explain yourself later, Tim.” He tacked one more sheet to the wall.

  Incident Eleven

  September 11

  MS-13 car wash attacked, four killed

  AK/SKS ammo and weapons

  ??????

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p; “I’ve got nothing but questions on this one,” Trask said. “The arms and ammo used don’t match the prior attacks on the Ortega crew. If I thought our friend with the eye patch was involved, I’d have to disqualify myself from this case because Lynn and I saw him while we were walking our dogs southeast of Waldorf. In other words, Rios-Garcia was thirty miles away when the car wash got hit, and we’d be his alibi witnesses. We’ve all seemed to agree that this was too big an operation for the Barrio 18 boys to take on at this point. Any ideas?”

  “You’ve just given me one, BABE,” Lynn said, shooting Wisniewski a warning look that caused him to hold both hands up in mock surrender. “What if that’s exactly what Rios wanted? To DQ you and establish an alibi? It’s all that does make sense.”

  “Your question is its own answer. I agree.” Carter was nodding.

  Before Trask could comment, he felt a double vibration on the cell phone holstered on his belt. He pulled the device out and switched on the screen to see a Google alert for MS-13. After reading the news bulletin, he glanced around the table. “MS-13 and Barrio 18 have declared a worldwide truce,” he said. “The gang leaders are being transferred from Zacatraz to medium security facilities like the one at Quezaltepeque, wherever that is. They get conjugal and family visits in return for dropping the murder rate in El Salvador. It looks like the FMLN government is finally following through on its election promises.”

  “If it’s worldwide, we may get some time to connect the dots on your wallpaper before the DOJ and Bureau know-it-alls descend upon us,” Carter offered.

  “Let’s hope so,” Trask said. “Let’s get to work.”