GOTU - A Robin Marlette Novel

by Mike McNeff

  Jose Molina stood at Mary Tatum's desk. Mary, the narcotics division secretary, had just left for the day. Jose looked at the division roster, trying to memorize the addresses for Burke Jameson and Mike Collins. Mary's roster contained addresses and not just phone numbers, unlike the agents' version. The roster lay in Mary's top left desk drawer. Jose already found out Marlette's address for Juan, but as usual, he wanted more.

  “Hi, Jose.” Mary's voice startled him and his head jerked up. “I left my glasses and had to come back. What are you looking for?”

  “I was looking for…for a staple remover,” Jose stammered.

  Mary pointed to the top of her desk and said, “It's right there, silly. I thought cops were supposed to be trained observers,” she said with a smile.

  “Oh, I didn't see it. Sorry. I got so many things going, I'm a little scatterbrained lately. Thanks, Mary.” Jose's voice was barely audible. He picked up the staple remover and walked around the corner to his squad room.

  Mary stared at Molina as he walked away and thought about how strangely he acted. As she picked up her glasses, she thought if Molina had a lot of things going on, they did not have much to do with police work. Neither she nor the other two secretaries typed many reports for him. She saw the open top left drawer. As she closed it, she noticed the roster.

  Walking to her car, she couldn't forget how nervous and evasive Jose seemed to be. She also thought of the man who had been calling Jose lately. She did not like the sound of his voice. Mary looked at her watch and let out an involuntary “Oh, my,” realizing she was running late.

  The crisp mountain air felt good to Robin. Rays of the morning sun began to glow over the hilltops, nibbling at the night gloom blanketing the trees. A slight breeze rustled the forest. He knelt on one knee in a thicket, Burke ten feet away. They watched the suspect guarding the southern edge of the marijuana garden. Well, sort of. The guard was sleeping.

  Rick reported another guard on the eastern edge of the garden was causing him and Mike fits because he was constantly moving. Keeping him in sight while remaining concealed took every bit of their field craft abilities. Then, Mike whispered over the radio the suspect had stopped moving.

  Robin radioed Sheriff Davis, and they were set. Sheriff Davis asked the other teams if they were ready. He received affirmative replies. The sheriff's voice then came over the radio loud and clear. “EXECUTE, EXECUTE, EXECUTE! I REPEAT. EXECUTE, EXECUTE, EXECUTE!

  Burke moved as a shadowy whisper toward the suspect, who started to rise up. Robin fell in behind. A loud bang sounded to the north, and he figured Sergeant Sean Palmer's SOU team had thrown a flash bang into the camp trailer the dopers used at the northern edge of the garden. Robin heard a man yelp to the east. A coyote burst out the thicket in front of Robin, startling him.

  In one smooth move, Burke had the suspect face down in an arm lock. In a calm, sinister voice, Burke told the suspect they were the police and he was under arrest and not to move until told to do so. The suspect lay motionless. Robin keyed his radio: “Two Nora Six, one in custody.”

  Rick's laughing voice came over the radio. “Two Nora Six-Five, one in custody.”

  “West side clear,” Doug announced.

  “Trailer clear, two in custody,” Sergeant Palmer called.

  Sheriff Davis then said, “All take down teams are clear. All teams can stand down.”

  Robin and Burke handcuffed their suspect, and Burke started searching. He exclaimed, “Damn, man, you pissed your pants!” Robin looked—indeed, the man had lost control of his bladder.

  “What the hell do you expect!” the suspect exclaimed. “You scared me to death! Fuck, this is embarrassing!”

  Robin felt sorry for the suspect. If he heard Burke's sinister voice in his ear like that, he might have just done the same, he thought. They lifted the suspect to his feet and sized up a thin young man with black bushy hair, very tan with fearful blue eyes.

  “Please don't take me to jail like this,” the suspect pleaded.

  “There's not much we can do unless you have some extra pants around here,” Robin said.

  “I do, up in the trailer,” the man motioned north with his head. Robin looked at Burke, who shrugged his shoulders.

  “Okay, I will let you change your pants on one condition. We found a grenade booby trap on the south side of the garden during our surveillance. Are there more?”

  The suspect took a deep breath. “Yes. There are three more: one on the east side, one on the west side, and one in the middle of the garden.” The team hadn't found the trap in middle of the garden because they hadn't reached there yet.

  Robin keyed his radio. “All personnel stay out of the garden until further notice.” He looked at the suspect. “Okay, bud, now we know you are a straight shooter. What is your name?”

  “My name is Perry Don Jenkins.”

  “How are old are you?”

  “I'm nineteen years old.”

  “Okay, Perry Don, take us to the booby trap in the middle of the garden. After we disarm the trap, we'll take you up to the trailer and you can change clothes.”

  “Thank you,” Perry Don said.

  Perry Don led the way to the trap, winding through barely discernable paths lined with emerald green marijuana plants. He seemed to relax, and chatted with his captors. He stopped near the center of the garden and pointed out gnarled scrub oak.

  “The grenade is over there.” Robin disarmed the grenade while Burke watched the suspect. After Robin made the grenade safe, they hiked up towards the trailer.

  “Don't you want me to show you where the other grenades are?” Perry Don asked.

  “We already found them,” Robin replied.

  Perry Don became quiet. When the three men got close to the trailer, they could see all the officers standing around the west side of the vehicle.

  “Burke, take Perry Don around to the east side so the other guys don't seem him.”

  “I appreciate you letting me change pants, Sergeant.”

  “No problem, Perry Don. We're not here to hurt or embarrass you.” Burke started taking the suspect away and looked at Robin. Robin pointed to Perry Don's back and then made a rolling motion with his hand, telling Burke to “roll” Perry Don as an informant. Burke nodded and gave a lazy salute.

  As Robin approached the group of officers, Sheriff Davis walked up to him and held out his hand. Robin took it and the Sheriff gave Robin a warm handshake.

  “Sergeant Marlette, thanks for a great job.”

  “Our pleasure to assist CEU, Sheriff.”

  “I understand you are going to let CEU do the follow-up investigation.”

  “Well, sir, this is your county. I didn't “let” CEU do anything. I expected they would do the follow-up. We are just here to help with the tactical side.”

  The Sheriff laughed. “When are you going to run for office?”

  “Never, Sheriff. I'm not a politician.”

  “Could've have fooled me!”

  They joined the group. Robin saw Mike and asked him why he laughed when he reported they had their suspect in custody.

  “That guy gave us fits because he moved pretty damn fast. Then all of the sudden he stops and starts looking around and pulls some toilet paper out of his pack. To make a long story short, let's just say when we arrested him we caught him with his pants down,” Mike said with a grin.

  FIFTEEN

  The next morning, Robin worked at his desk at the DPS office when Emmett came in and sat down.

  “Hey, Sarge.”

  “Emmett, my good man,” Robin replied.

  “We're ready to go up on the Walton wire starting tomorrow at 0800. Doug and Mark have the surveillance up and running. The pens are active and we are getting good activity. Walton is calling Rodriquez. A lot of calls also to government offices and officials homes in at least four states and D.C. In fact, I calmed Norm Walls down. He's getting a little nervous about it.”

  “Is he going to be okay? You want me t
o talk to him?” Robin asked.

  “Awww, he'll be okay. He says it's just because he has never seen shit like this. I got him straightened out.”

  “You're a good man, Emmett Franks,” Robin said with a smile. Still, Robin wondered what Norm Walls told the big wigs at U.S. West.

  Emmett continued. “The FBI and Customs are bringing in additional people from all over the country to man the wire and help with surveillance. IRS is on board with three agents. MCSO is sending two guys over. Ernie's guys are good to go. That's the good news.”

  Robin's eyebrow went up. “What's the bad news?”

  “DEA is going bonkers because they're not included. Jim Adams is on the hot seat. The U.S. Attorney is not happy.”

  “I figured we couldn't avoid this. I'll deal with it, Emmett.”

  “Amen, brother. I do not want to be near that problem.”

  “I will call Jim in a little bit.”

  “Okee dokee, Sarge.” Emmett went back to his desk.

  Robin went down the hall to see Lieutenant Hammel. Mary told Robin Hammel was in Captain Pearle's office. Robin went to Pearle's office and stood in the door.

  “Look what the cat drug in,” Tom Pearle joked.

  Lieutenant Hammel turned around and waved Robin in. “We were just going to try to find you. Good hit on that garden yesterday.”

  “Thanks. It got even better. We rolled a young kid up there and turned him over to Ken Orloe and CEU. He gave them two more garden locations and all the names in the group. Ken says they are taking down people who have been on their list for a long time.”

  “Outstanding!” Hammel exclaimed.

  “What else do you have, Robin?” Pearle asked.

  “We are ready to go up on the Walton wire tomorrow at 0800. My team will not be available for anything other than maintaining our current informants and SOU calls, and we may not even be able to field a full team for those.”

  “We will do our best to pass on stuff, Robin, but you know how that goes,” Pearle warned. “We all do what we need to do.”

  “Tom, you guys have got to cut me slack. This case must have priority.” Robin went on to relate Emmett's report.

  “Wow!” Hammel exclaimed when Robin finished.

  Tom Pearle leaned forward in his chair and looked Robin directly in the eye. “Robin, we are well aware of the importance of the case. I have stuck out my professional neck a hundred miles for you and this case. But the world does not come to a standstill just because you are working a major case. Hell, part of your predicament is you! It's you who insisted on training up to be a SOU team on your team's OWN TIME! It's YOU who took on the marijuana eradication program coordination and the Customs Air Support assignment.” Pearle took a deep breath. “We will do our best for you. That's all we can do.”

  “I appreciate it,” Robin said as he got up and walked out. Though an old and good friend, Robin was seething with fury at Tom Pearle. Robin did insist his team train up to be a SOU team. This idea came to him three years prior when on two occasions he requested the SOU team for high-risk search warrants and they turned him down because they could not field enough officers in time. Robin asked Glendale PD SWAT team to do the first one and the Maricopa County Sheriff's office team to do the second one. He requested his team be allowed to go to the MCSO one-week eighty-hour SWAT course, but the department turned him down. So, his whole team signed up for vacation for the week of the training.

  The SWAT commander, Lieutenant Danny Wilson, came to Robin's office and told him his team could not go to the training. Robin looked directly at the lieutenant and said, “Danny, I am a rolling locomotive. You can either get on board or get out of the way.” Lieutenant Wilson looked at Robin for a minute and then left. He came back thirty minutes later and handed Robin written orders assigning his team as Team Six of the DPS Special Operations Unit. After reading the order, Robin looked up and Lieutenant Wilson had left.

  As for accepting the eradication coordination and Air Support assignments, Pearle specifically asked Robin to take them because the programs were in disarray. It seemed a tad bit unfair to Robin for Pearle to throw those in his face now.

  Robin went into his office and sat down. His irritation was still percolating when Rick Santos came in to his office.

  “Hey Sarge, I just got some hot intel from Jorge, that disabled Federale working for us out of Nogales.”

  “What's he got for us?” Robin quickly forgot about being angry with Pearle.

  “Like we asked him to do, he got hooked up with some boys working security for Rodriquez-Lara.” Robin perked up. “He hit pay dirt, Rob. He has been asked to join the security team at the ranch southeast of Nogales Chris told us about. It has tons of shit stacked up, ready to be smuggled into the U.S. He says he will be heading out there tomorrow, after his new buddies finish partying.”

  “Damn, Rick! That is hot intel. What else did he say about this ranch?”

  “That's all he knows right now.”

  Robin thought for a minute, mulling over what Rick had said. “Jorge is really sticking his neck out. Up his monthly pay another grand. Did you tell him to be very careful?”

  “Ooooh yeah, I did. He knows what he is getting into, but I told him if he gets the slightest hint they are on to him, he should beat feet for the border and get a hold of us and we will take care of him.”

  “Good.”

  “There is one thing though, Rob.”

  “What's that?”

  “It's his wife and kids. They are in Hermosillo and his new buddies don't know about them. He's worried about getting them here, in case he has to make a run for it.”

  “Hmm, that's a more complicated problem. I'll talk to Bill Grassley and Chris Fleming and see what contingency we can set up.”

  Rick laughed.

  “What's so funny?” Robin asked.

  “I am sure those poor fuckers regret the day they laid eyes on you, Sarge.”

  “Maybe, but Bill and Chris are good guys and they get things done. Now you get some things done, Santos. We're burning daylight.”

  “You got it, Sarge.”

  As Rick walked out of his office, Robin picked up the phone and dialed Jim Adams's number.

  “Jim Adams.”

  “Hey, Jim. It's Robin. How ya doin'?”

  “Rob! Boy, I'm glad you called. I'm in a pickle.”

  “DEA?”

  “You got it. They're driving my boss crazy. I'm afraid I am going to have to ask a big favor from you, but before you balk, hear me out.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “We met with them yesterday. I reminded them of the problems we've had with them on those two previous OCDETF operations. They agreed there were some problems, but they said you were part of the problem because you were, and I quote, ‘undiplomatic.’ I agreed you were undiplomatic”

  “You did what?! Why did you do that?”

  “Because you are, Rob. You are a straightforward, no nonsense, no bullshit guy. You have all the tact of a nuclear device. Exactly the kind of person I want running a task force I'm responsible for. That's what I told them. I didn't agree that you were part of the problem.”

  “Jesus, Jim, I don't think I'm that bad.”

  “You are, but I consider it a virtue, not a flaw. I know very few people who approach the world like you do, Rob. Hell, even the guys in your own squad say they just follow behind you and pick up the pieces.”

  “Aw, what do they know?”

  “Since they practically live with you, they know you better than anyone else. But, enough about you. Here's the deal. I need you to happily accept one DEA agent into this task force as a favor to me, so I can calm things down for my boss.”

  Robin did not answer right away. “All right, Jim, you and your boss have been great to us. I'll take one agent.”

  “I would like to emphasize the word ‘happily.’”

  Robin let out a slow breath. “For you, just for you.”

  “Thanks. I knew I could count o
n you. I have to get going. Got a hearing to get to.”

  “Take it easy, Jim.”

  “You too, Rob.”

  Robin made it a point to get home a little early that evening. The wire going online meant lots of overtime and less time with his family--the one aspect of his job he hated.

  He took some time to sit down with Laurie, who was sixteen and the most serious child in the family. She had already mapped out her career goals. While serious most of time, she went into fits of crazy humor on occasion. Robin figured she maintained a satirical view of life. He gave thanks both of his daughters drew most of their physical qualities from Karen. Laurie looked very much like her mother.

  Robin worked the conversation around to Chad Wilson.

  “So, who is this Chad person?”

  “Just a friend, Dad.”

  “How much of a friend?”

  “Now don't start interrogating me, Sergeant.”

  “I'm not interrogating you, Laurie. You are my daughter and I love you. It wouldn't be fatherly to ignore a possible boyfriend. It just comes naturally to most fathers, I suppose.”

  Laurie looked at her father for a moment. “Okay, Dad. We're dating.”

  “Is he nice to you?”

  “Of course he is.”

  “Well, what I really mean is, does he treat you like a princess?”

  “Like a typical Marlette. If he doesn't, I'll punch his lights out.”

  Robin involuntarily laughed from the bottom of his belly.

  Laurie got up and hugged her dad. She looked at him with a warm smile and said, “I love you, Dad.”

  “I love you, too, honey.”

  “Don't worry. It's not like I'm looking for the one and only. I have a lot of things I want to do in life before I have a family. Chad is a good friend and fun to be with.”

  “That's great, Laurie. He sounds like a good guy.”

  “He is.”

  Laurie went to wash up for dinner. Robin walked into the kitchen, where Karen was working on dinner. Robin gave her a kiss.

  “How long before we eat?”