by Robert Boren
“Well, if we go to the spa and they show up, maybe we should leave.”
“You don’t want to play the game with her?” Scott asked.
“Oh, I’d love it, but there will be other chances, and it’d be better for us if we were further away.”
“All right,” Scott said. “I’ll try, but no guarantees. I know myself too well.”
Kerry came back in. “I set up all five of the chairs,” he said. “In case Cameron and Shannon come by.”
“They know which coach we’re in?” Scott asked.
“Yeah, they walked me home,” Kerry said.
Scott shot a wicked glance at Cindy.
***
“You just quit the FBI?” Ted asked, after Agent Williams tossed his badge in the trash.
“Not officially. I guess I shouldn’t be so rash,” he said, fishing the badge out and throwing it on the table. “I can’t trust them now. The brass is going along with what the UN is doing.”
“Shredding the Constitution doesn’t bother them?” Malcolm asked.
“They don’t look at it that way,” Agent Williams said. “More like the way we looked at Japanese interment during the war. It’ll just be temporary.”
Malcolm cracked up. “Yeah, whatever,” he said. “It’s been suggested to us that we resist.”
“Who made that suggestion?” Agent Williams said.
Ted held up his hand. “Don’t say anything. This room might be bugged.”
“Let’s go outside and chat,” Malcolm said.
They went out into the parking lot. Agent Weiss and Agent Simone had just pulled in, and were walking towards the door with bags of food.
“Everything okay?” Agent Weiss asked.
“Yeah,” Agent Williams said. “We’re just getting some air. Take the food inside. We’ll be there shortly.”
The two nodded and kept walking towards the door.
“Okay, who are you guys working with?” Agent Williams asked.
“General Hogan,” Malcolm said.
“I had a feeling,” Agent Williams said.
“You know him?” Ted asked.
“Not well, but I knew General Walker, and Hogan was his protégé. He been hiding out with you guys?”
“I didn’t think of it as hiding out originally,” Malcolm said. “Now I’m getting the idea that he’s part of the resistance.”
“He’s wanted,” Agent Williams said. “Hope he’s in a safe place.”
“Well, the enemy knows where he is,” Malcolm said. “At least the Islamist enemy. They blew up his chopper on our front lawn.”
“What do we do now?” Ted asked.
“I’m joining the resistance,” Agent Williams said.
“I’d advise you not to burn your bridges with the bureau until it’s absolutely necessary,” Ted said. “It’s still a good source of information.”
“Agreed,” Agent Williams said.
“You want to join us?” Malcolm asked.
“If you’re with General Hogan, yes,” Agent Williams said.
“What about those two?” Ted asked, nodding towards the police station.
“They’re young career-oriented agents,” Agent Williams said. “They’re good, but they aren’t ready for this. After we get finished with the task at hand, I’ll send them on their way and disappear for a while.”
Malcolm laughed out loud. “Yeah, I can see this. You disappear, and they’ll be folks in the bureau that think I took you out, along with Agent Keith.”
Agent Williams chuckled. “Nah, they aren’t going to think that. I already gave them the evidence on Agent Keith, and we’ve had a team of people going over the house in Columbus. They know you didn’t do it. Even the guys who used to believe Agent Keith.”
“What tipped the scale?” Malcolm asked.
“Same thing that tipped the scale with me,” Agent Williams said. “Agent Keith’s semen in the coed. There’s also the fact that you guys were nowhere near Columbus when the crime went down.”
A car pulled into the parking lot, and a short man, bald, with horn-rimmed glasses hurried out, looking at his watch.
“Hey, you the guy from Akron?” Agent Williams asked. “I’m Special Agent Williams.”
“Yes, yes, I’m Charles Delson,” he said, walking over, hand extended. “You have a badge, right?”
“It’s inside,” Agent Williams said. “C’mon.”
The men walked into station.
“Hey, Ted, you want to let Chief Hanson know that Mr. Delson is here?”
“Sure,” Ted said, walking towards the front desk.
Malcolm, Agent Williams, and Delson went into the office. Agent Simone and Agent Weiss were in the corner wolfing down burgers.
Chief Hanson rushed in with Ted.
“Took you long enough,” Chief Hanson said.
“I know, sorry,” Delson said. “Big roadblock on I-70. Damn UN.”
Agent Williams glanced at Malcolm and Ted. Chief Hanson had a quizzical look on his face.
“What’s the frigging UN doing here?” Chief Hanson asked.
“Helping with small pox vaccinations,” Delson said, “but they were throwing their weight around way too much. A bunch of folks revolted and smashed through their barricades. They were trying to search everybody’s cars. I’d be later if it wasn’t for the folks who fought back.”
Agents Weiss and Simone looked up from their burgers, trying to hear the conversation.
“Those creeps better not try that crap here,” Chief Hanson said. “I’ll call out the frigging riot squad.”
“Exactly the right attitude to have, Chief,” Malcolm said, smiling.
“You making fun of me?” he asked.
“No, I’m deadly serious,” Malcolm said. “Really.”
“Let’s get finished up with Mr. Delson and be on our way,” Ted said.
“I’m probably not going to be much help,” Delson said. “Just bought this business a few years ago. Have a whole string of places. They all had different computer systems. We’re trying to get them all up on a new system, but we haven’t gotten to this place yet.”
“Shall we go over there?” Chief Hanson asked.
“Might as well,” Delson said. “I can at least get us into the office. Maybe there’ll be some notes that’ll tell us where the cop killer’s unit is.”
“That would be nice,” Malcolm said.
“What are you expecting to find, anyway?” Delson asked as they headed for the door.
“Clues to his whereabouts and identity,” Agent Williams said.
“How’s my guy?” Delson asked.
“Drew,” Chief Hanson said. “Still in a coma.”
“Oh, that’s so horrible,” Delson said as they got to the parking lot.
Chapter 12 – Punch It!
Four vehicles pulled into the parking lot at the storage yard. The men met at the office door as Delson fumbled with a large key ring. He got the right key after several tries and opened the door.
“Sorry, folks, haven’t been here since the sale went through,” Delson said. He found the light switch and flipped it on. Malcolm, Chief Hanson, Ted, and Agent Williams followed him inside. Agents Simone and Weiss stayed outside.
“Is that blood on the floor by the back door?” Malcolm asked, pointing.
“That’s where we found Drew,” Chief Hanson said, grim look on his face. “Poor kid never hurt anyone.”
Delson went behind the front counter, looking around the PC monitor and keyboard. “I don’t see any notes lying around,” he said.
“That’s the station wagon from the house, right?” Ted asked, pointing out the window into the yard.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Agent Williams said.
“Wonder if that’s the same space that the Class C was sitting on?” Malcolm asked.
“Looks like it to me,” Chief Hanson said. “We were here a few months ago, due to an altercation over it.”
“Altercation?” Malcolm asked.
“Yeah,” C
hief Hanson said. “Cindy took that Class C away from her ex in the divorce. It was his pride and joy. He was here trying to hot wire it. Drew called us.”
“Might have something to do with the beating,” Ted said.
“Wouldn’t surprise me,” Chief Hanson said “This guy was a real hot head. His friends on the force tried to get him hired more than once, but I vetoed it. I was getting ready to revoke his certification for reserve officer. Wish I wouldn’t have dragged my feet on that.”
“Why did you?” Agent William asked.
“The war,” Chief Hanson said. “We didn’t know how bad it would get. I figured we should keep all the resources we could. The jerk could shoot pretty well.”
“Understandable,” Malcolm said. “Think there’s a cross reference between RV spaces and units?”
“Yes, because it drives a discount,” Delson said. “The problem will be logging onto the system.” He hit the spacebar.
“Shit,” Agent Williams said, looking at the screen lock. “Look in the drawers. Maybe the password is written down somewhere.”
“On it,” Delson said, opening drawers and picking through them.
“Mind if we walk around?” Malcolm asked. “Maybe he left a hand truck lying around or something.”
“Go ahead,” Delson said, “but I’ll need more than just proximity to cut off any padlocks. I could get sued big time. Not going there.”
“Okay,” Agent Williams said. “Let’s go.” He followed Malcolm and Ted into the yard, as Chief Hanson and Delson searched the office.
“Let’s take a look at the wagon,” Malcolm said. “Maybe he left something behind.”
They walked over to it. “This thing is in pretty good shape for a mid-80s station wagon,” Ted said.
“Scott got it with the house,” Agent Williams said. “Belonged to the old lady who died there. Probably sat in the garage for years.”
Malcolm tried the tailgate. “Locked.”
“Go in through the windshield,” Ted said.
“You mean break it?” Malcolm asked.
“Oh, it’s already broken,” Agent Williams said. “We think the ex-husband broke it when he went to Cindy’s house.”
Ted knocked glass away from the driver’s side edge and reached in to pull on the door handle. He got to it, barely. The door opened, the dome light coming on.
“Got it,” he said. “Have to crawl around to get the other doors. This thing doesn’t have power locks.”
“Wait!” Malcolm said. “We need to shine some good light in here before we crawl around.”
“Yeah, Malcolm, you’re right,” Agent Williams said. “I’ll go see if they have a decent flashlight in the office.”
“We can get started with our cell phone lights,” Malcolm said, pulling his out and switching it on. He peered into the driver’s side window as he shined it inside. “Look, slip of paper next to the driver’s seat.” He reached in for it. “Address.”
Agent Williams ran back out with two large flashlights. “Find something?”
“Slip of paper,” Malcolm said. He handed it to Agent Williams.
“That’s Cindy’s address,” he said.
“Oh,” Malcolm said. He looked back in. “Nothing else in the front.” He reached for the rear door’s lock and pulled it up, then backed out of the driver’s seat.
Ted opened the door and pointed a flashlight in. “Looks clean. I’ll get the passenger side door unlocked.” He shimmied in and pulled up the door lock. Agent Williams rushed over and opened the door. Something fell out onto the ground.
“What’s that?” Malcolm asked.
“Pop-tart wrapper,” Agent Williams said. He smelled it. “Recent.”
“Back seat looks pretty clean,” Malcolm said. He got on the seat and looked in the back. “Hold it!”
“See something?”
“That looks like blood, see? In the shape of a crate, perhaps?”
“Son of a bitch,” Agent Williams said. “Yeah, close this up. We’ll get the lab guys out here.”
“What are you thinking?” Ted asked. “Another victim?”
“Nah,” Malcolm said. “It’ll be blood from Agent Keith and that parolee who got cut up back at Scott’s house.”
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Agent Williams said. “Easy to check out.” They walked towards the three-story building.
“If they stopped the crate in front of a storage door, we might have something,” Malcolm said.
“Yeah,” Agent Williams said. “If the blood matches. I texted Simone and Weiss. They’re lining up the lab guys now.”
“Good,” Malcolm said. “We should be careful how we walk in there. Don’t want to disturb any evidence.”
“Right,” Ted said.
They went into the double doors. There were stairs on the right. They walked past those, to an intersection with the main hallway. Metal rollup doors populated both walls, to the right and left of the entry hallway.
“Look, there’s a hand truck,” Agent Williams said, pointing to the right. They walked over slowly, looking at the floor in front of them and the hand truck.
“Don’t see traces on this,” Malcolm said.
“Elevator,” Ted said. “Shall we?”
Malcolm nodded and pushed the button. The whir of the elevator motor started as the cab approached. The doors slid open. Malcolm stuck his foot in front of the door, and they shined all of their lights in.
“Looks like more residue,” Ted said, squatting in front of the door.
“Don’t go in,” Malcolm said. “Let the lab guys check it first. Let’s go up the stairs and check at the elevator doors on the next two floors.”
“Yeah, if that’s what we think it is, we just eliminated the first floor,” Agent Williams said.
They walked back towards the incoming hallway and took the stairs.
“Hey, look!” Ted said, pointing at the landing floor for the 2nd story. “Is that a pop-tart wrapper?”
“Holy shit,” Agent Williams said, walking slowly over and squatting. “Sure is.”
“Let’s be careful when we’re walking the halls up here,” Malcolm said.
They went through the door into the access hallway, then onto the main hallway, turning right. They slowed down as they got to the elevator.
“Stop!” Malcolm said.
“What?” Ted asked.
“Look,” he said, pointing at the floor. “Along the wall, there.”
“I see it,” Agent Williams said.
“Doesn’t look like a long stream,” Ted said, creeping towards the elevator. “Oh, wait, there’s another bit of it.”
Malcolm and Agent Williams approached, looking down.
“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Malcolm said, squatting to get a closer look.
“More here by the elevator,” Agent Williams said. “Looks like he used a dolly instead of that big hand truck.”
“The dolly’s probably in his unit,” Malcolm said. “The traces are intermittent. Hard to tell which unit it is from these.”
“Luminol,” Ted said. “We can use that. It’ll detect traces we can’t see.”
“The lab guys will have some,” Agent Williams said. “Let’s try to follow it down the hall, but go slowly. Tread lightly.”
They turned and walked back towards where they found the spot against the wall.
“Wonder how many residents have been here since the event?” Malcolm asked.
“Could they get in without an attendant?” Ted asked.
“Yeah,” Malcolm said. “The sign said 24 hour access. I’ll bet they can get in with a card or a code through that gate up front.”
“Oh,” Ted said. “Yeah, makes sense.”
“I’m not seeing any more traces,” Agent Williams said.
Ted went backwards, to the spot. “Closest unit is 210.”
“Noted,” Malcolm said, punching it into the notes app on his phone.
“We might as well go back to the office,” Agent
Williams said.
“How long until the lab guys get here?” Ted asked.
“Not long,” he replied.
They went slowly back to the stairs, speeding up after they got outside. When they got back to the office, Delson and Chief Hanson were leaning against the front counter.
“Any luck?” Agent Williams asked.
“No,” Delson said. “You?”
“Yeah, we found traces of blood in the back of that station wagon and in the building,” Agent Williams said.
“Where in the building?” Chief Hanson asked.
“In the elevator and on the second floor,” Agent Williams said.
“Well, at least we have it narrowed down to the floor,” Chief Hanson said. “How many units on the second floor?”
“Hundred and sixty,” Delson said.
“Shit,” Ted said. “That’s a lot.”
Headlights shined into the office as a black SUV parked in the lot.
“Who’s that?” Delson asked.
“FBI lab boys,” Agent Williams said. “I want them to check out the blood spots in the station wagon and in the building, to make sure they match.”
“We suspect that it’ll match blood at Scott’s house,” Ted said. “Be nice to know.”
“They can use luminol to pinpoint our unit,” Chief Hanson said.
“Hopefully,” Agent Williams said.
The door opened, and two men in white lab coats walked in with plastic equipment boxes. “Agent Williams?” the first one asked.
“Right here, gentlemen,” Agent Williams said. “Thanks for making the trip so late. Follow me.” He led them out to the station wagon. Ted and Malcolm followed.
***
It was dark, the Colorado night air settling over the park like a cool sheet. Frank and Jane were both sitting at the dinette, laptops open, on either side of the table. Mr. Wonderful sauntered over and sat on the bench next to Frank, purring and rubbing against him. Lucy noticed and pranced over, getting on her hind legs and looking at Jane.
“All right, girl, come on up,” Jane said, sliding further toward the wall to make room. Lucy jumped up and put her head on Jane’s leg as she continued to focus on the screen.
“Seeing anything?” Frank asked.
“I haven’t gotten past the conspiracy pages yet,” Jane said. “Looks to me like somebody is censoring this. There’s nothing from the mainstream sources, and we know a lot of people have witnessed the UN by now.”