“Wow, I never thought I would hear you say something like that.”
I took a deep breath.
“Gary, once you go in, you can’t just quit. You can’t back out. Those people will hunt you down. If you do this, you’ll have to go all the way. You won’t be able to bail out, because you won’t have a parachute. You’ll have to stay in it till it gets all wrapped up. There is no guarantee the feds can pull this off. You can’t count on them to protect you, either. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Sure, I understand what you’re saying. ‘Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition’. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
I took a moment to reflect.
“Yes, I do. I’ve said it myself, and lived to regret it.”
Chapter 38.
“Si’ that is the…ummm, cómo se dice … cap, he always wore it. I cannot say for sure about the pantalones. The camisa? You say, Tee shirt? Si’ he wore it that day. ” Juan told me, as he and Julio examined the pictures.”
Julio was vigorously nodding his head in agreement.
“Does this mean Eduardo Ruiz is muerto?” Juan asked, as he made the sign of the cross.
I nodded solemnly, in response.
“I’m sorry.”
“It was the hombre malo, no?”
“Eso puede ser verdad. No se’.”
Both men hung their heads.
“It must be so. We saw Mr. Watkins drive away with Eduardo. No one has seen him since. These are his clothes. Where were they found?”
“Not far from where you were working on that day.”
“Ese monstruo merece morir.” Juan said, as he handed back the pictures.
“Will you say these things in court?”
They looked at each other.
“I will say it.” Julio replied. “Even if they send me back to Mexico, I will say it.”
“Sí, lo diré también.” Juan agreed.
“I’ve been promised they will not send you back to Mexico. You will be treated as if you were any other American. ¿Entiendes lo que estoy diciendo?”
“Sí, eso es muy bueno escuchar.” Juan replied, as Julio smiled and nodded in agreement.
“Do you remember the knife Eduardo had with him on the day he had the fight with Watkins?”
“Sure, it was the same one he always carried.”
“Can you describe it? Dime lo que parecía.”
“It was a knife about this long, one that could be closed up. Juan held his fingers about five inches apart. Tuvo el escudo mexicano en él.”
“The symbol of Mexico, was in the handle? Está usted seguro de?”
“Very certain, Señor Tucker. Do you know the story of how it became our national symbol?”
“Not really.”
“Do you know about my ancestors, the Aztec people?”
I shrugged. “I know a little.”
Julio wanted to tell me some of the story.
“For two hundred years, the Aztec people were searching for a sign from the gods to show them the place to build a city. When the Aztec king saw an eagle, perched on a nopal, with a snake in its beak, he knew it was the sign they had been seeking. The gods had spoken. The gods led the Aztec people to Tenochtitlan. Today that place is the capital of Mexico, Ciudad Mexico.”
“Wasn’t Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, one of the gods of the Aztecs?”
“Oh, si, señor and of the Mayas and the Toltecs, he was worshipped for thousands of years. He is still revered in many parts of Mexico, even now.
“Do you believe there are many gods?” I asked them.
“Me, I am a Catholic, pero quién puede decir?” he shrugged.
“Quién puede decir? Who can say?” Julio agreed.
“I know. I can say. There is one God and only one true God. There are many things that are called gods, but there is only one God.”
“It is the teaching of the Church, Senor, pero quién puede decir?” Juan repeated.
“It is not important.” Julio observed.
“It’s the single most important thing anyone can ever know. It is the first thing. Es la cosa más importante”
“As you say, Señor,” Juan said, philosophically.
Julio appeared uncomfortable with the discussion.
I let it go.
“Mr. Watkins will probably be arrested very soon, but he will not be in court for a very long time,” I observed.
“How long?”
“Quién puede decir?” I asked, with a shrug of my own. “Sólo Dios sabe.”
“That’s it then. If they’ll testify they recognize the knife and the clothing, the DA will authorize us to arrest Kevin Watkins, on a charge of murder in the first degree. We can probably add kidnapping and assault to the charges. We have witnesses who saw the fight, they saw the knife, they recognize the clothes the victim was wearing, and they saw Watkins drive away with the victim, who was never seen alive again. If the knife turns out to be the murder weapon, Watkins’ goose is cooked.”
“Since there were no witnesses to the actual killing, Watkins can try to claim it was self-defense, not murder.”
“How he tries to defend himself is not our concern. We can prove he had motive, means, and opportunity. The victim was stabbed multiple times and had obvious defensive wounds. There is no evidence Watkins was ever even in a fight, other than the one where he gave Ruiz a beating.”
“There’s no proof the remains are actually all that’s left of Eduardo Ruiz.”
“Stop trying to present the defense, J.W. There’s more than enough evidence to prove the remains are those of Ruiz, at least beyond a reasonable doubt. Watkins did it and we know it.”
I waited a moment.
“The question is, when do you arrest him?”
“That, my friend, is the sixty four thousand dollar question. The feds will make the big decision. Has Gary contacted you about his attempt to make the RAGs connection?”
“No, I haven’t heard from him for a couple of days.”
“It’s too soon to worry.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I heard Diondro was a very good witness, in his testimony at the trial of Hector Lopez.”
“Huh, Hector Lopez, I thought his name was ‘La Vibora’, the viper.”
“Tony laughed.
“Yeah, that’s his street name, but Lopez won’t be back on the streets for at least twenty five years. He isn’t eligible for parole until then and there is no possibility of time off for good behavior, as if he were capable of good behavior.”
“There is hope for him Tony. Many people have become Christians during their incarceration. For some, it’s the first time and place that they have ever heard the gospel. They come out of prison as better people than they were when they went in.
“Yeah, and for others, they come out worse people than they were when they went in.
“You are such a pessimist. Have you seen Diondro, since the trial?”
“Yeah, he stopped by here yesterday afternoon.”
“Did he tell you we got him registered and he’ll be starting at TJC in the fall semester?”
“He sure did, and that he’s really looking forward to it.”
Chapter 39.
I found Jack in the makeshift office that had been temporarily provided for him, in the Federal building. I think it had been a storage room. Jack was seated behind a desk that was too small to be efficient. I was standing on the cracked and scuffed linoleum, in front of his desk, like a bad boy reporting to the principles’ office. The difference was that I was the one who intended to call him on the carpet.
“Jack, I don’t understand why you’re here. You’ve done a pretty good job of trying to make us focus on the FBI, but you are here, in Tyler. Exactly why are you here?”
“I told you, the DHS is concerned about the situation here.”
“This thing with the RAGS? That dog won’t hunt.”
He regarded me quietly for a moment.
“Privat
e life hasn’t dulled your wits much has it?”
“Not that much. A local matter like this, with the FBI on top of it, no way DHS sends a Regional Director to handle it. You’ve got whole sub departments and a host of field agents to do that.”
Jack shrugged.
“So what’s up? You might as well tell me the truth.”
“Truth, what is truth?”
“You’ve been in government service too long.”
“Sometimes I think so.”
“So…” I made a rolling gesture with my hands.
“What if I told you I know that you were involved in a shootout at a pot farm in Arkansas, a few weeks ago?”
“I’d say you were mistaken.”
“Truth, what is truth?”
“What happened in Arkansas is not relevant to my question.”
“Don’t you want to know how we found out?”
I shook my head.
“It doesn’t matter. You’re just trying to distract me from the subject at hand.”
“There you go again.”
“I worked with you too long, for you to get away with your old tricks.”
“…Clearly.”
I waited him out.
“OK, this thing with the RAGs is big, bigger than you realize. If they pull off some sort of terrorist act, it will have huge implications in our society.”
“Duh, and….?”
He almost squirmed under my scrutiny.
“Alright, there is more. As big as the RAGs thing is, this is even bigger. We believe that concurrent with the threat from the RAGs, but not related in any way, is an additional threat from some local jihadists.”
“Local jihadists?”
“Does that surprise you? Did you think radicalized Islamists were only to be found in the big cities?”
“Well, no not exactly, but not really here in East Texas…”
“That’s what I’m trying to get across to you, John. Pretty much every state has some of them. There are hundreds of them, scattered all over the country. Maybe only a couple of them here or there, mostly in large metropolitan areas, but in some more rural areas, there are individuals and loosely organized cells. These cells are small groups of radicalized Muslims preparing to unleash a series of attacks against the general population. In the name of Islam, they’ll target shopping malls, theaters, restaurants, sporting events, pretty much anywhere where people congregate.”
“Churches, are you saying they’re planning to attack churches?”
“No, at least we don’t think so. They aren’t out to get religious people specifically. If they attacked churches, it would open up a whole new world of ugly. No, they hate America, so they will attack those places that represent ordinary, everyday American life.”
“Are you thinking maybe suicide bombers, like in the Middle East or Europe?”
“No, John. These cells will sometimes use improvised explosive devices, but they won’t be suicidal. They plan to hit and run. They’ll set off some bombs in a theater, and the next day, they’ll whip through a shopping mall, shooting everyone in sight. A week later, they’ll hit a baseball complex, then a crowded restaurant somewhere.”
“It’s madness.”
“It’s genius. They don’t need to try and pull off some huge and highly complex event like they did on 9/11. Doing this, they can completely terrorize the population of the United States from coast to coast, and shut down our economy, with multiple attacks, at seemingly random places and times. They know they are less likely to be filmed by security cameras in more rural areas. They can hide out in the countryside without the neighbors being suspicious.”
“Are you saying you think this could happen here in Tyler?”
“I’m saying this is the place we believe it will all start. Tyler and this area, within one hundred miles of here, will be ground zero for a whole new kind of terrorism in America”
My mind reeled.
“How could you possibly know this?”
“Between the NSA, CIA, DHS, FBI and a host of other agencies, both here and abroad, we’ve pieced it together. We’ve monitored certain people as they traveled overseas, we’ve intercepted communications, we’ve researched activities and interests, we’ve had tips from informants and other interested parties, we’ve followed money trails, and we have certain other resources I can’t even tell you about.”
“All that data and analysis has led you here, to Tyler?”
“Yes, John, it has.”
I grabbed a folding chair from over in a corner, and sat down.
“So you’re here to what…try to prevent it from happening.”
He nodded.
“Yes, as part of a multiagency anti-terrorism task force. DHS has the point on this, John. I’ve been given this assignment.”
I was stunned.
“I’m sorry I asked.”
“If you and I didn’t go way back, if I didn’t know you had once held a top secret clearance, I wouldn’t have told you. Now that I have told you…I have to kill you.”
The old joke wasn’t funny today.
“What does any of this have to do with me?”
“Probably nothing, at least nothing I’m aware of, but I’ve known you a long time, John. You’re like a lightning rod. When the worst storms hit, you’re usually right in the middle of it. I wasn’t particularly surprised to find you here, and already on the trail of domestic terrorists. Of course, this could all just be a coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidence.” I reminded him.
He shrugged.
“Does FBI Special Agent Doug Booker know about this?”
“Not in any detail. The Director and I think Doug should stay focused on eliminating the threat posed by the RAGs.”
“I thought Mansfield was in charge of the RAGs investigation.”
“He’s been re-assigned. Mansfield has turned the ball over to Doug. He is now the man in charge.”
This was more information than I had been prepared for. It was not easy to process.
“Do you really believe these local jihadists are capable of doing something like you’ve described?
He nodded.
“They are fully capable and they intend to do it soon. We believe they need a little more training, but they have the will and determination, right now.”
“This is horrible. I don’t want to believe it could happen here.”
“It is what it is.”
“Please, God, not this” I prayed.
Chapter 40.
“I can’t do it, John.” Gary said. “I told Watkins I would be seriously interested in joining a group that was committed to seeing changes made in America. I told him I wasn’t interested in the RAGs, because it seemed to me it is mostly just a bunch of immature belly-achers and posers. Young wanna be Nazis, covered in tattoos. I told him, that sort of thing, just didn’t interest me.
He said he knew what I meant and agreed the image of the group was pretty pathetic. He told me there’s actually a group within the group, real men who share my point of view. He told me these men are dedicated to action, not just demonstration, but violent action.
I told him I could join a group like that.”
“How did he respond?”
“A couple of days later he told me they had checked me out. They have some pretty good sources. They knew my step father had been in the KKK. They knew I had been in the fire department. There are some pretty racist people in the department, just like any other group of people in the south, so I guess it wasn’t a problem. They knew I worked part time as a private detective. They even knew I worked for you, specifically.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, he seemed to think it was interesting. You are sort of famous around here. He asked what I did for you. I told him I just did surveillance of people suspected of cheating on their spouses.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“He said there’s an initiation or a bone fide that’s requ
ired from anyone who wants to join up.”
I closed my eyes for a moment. I knew what was coming.
“What is it?”
“Watkins said I would have to kill one of the ‘mud people’. …So, that’s the end of it. I’m out of this thing, John.”
“Did you tell him that?”
“No, I said I figured I could do it. He went on to tell me, I would have to prove I had done it.”
“How? There might be some way we could fake it.”
“I don’t see how. I asked him if he had done it himself, and he kind of puffed up, real proud like, and told me he had killed a ‘wet back’, and showed the body to some of the members of the group.”
“That, my friend, was a murder confession.”
“I know, but there’s more. He pulled out the pocket knife he carries and showed it to me. He told me it was the same knife he had used to ‘stick that Mexican pig.’ He was real proud of the fact he had killed the man with his own knife.”
I took a deep breath.
“I need to talk this over with Doug and Tony. Don’t do or say anything else about this, until Doug or I get back to you.”
“There isn’t anything I can do. I just want out.”
“I understand, Gary, but they’re not going to let you just walk away. You know too much.”
“You’ve got to help me, man.”
“Calm down. They don’t expect you to just go out and kill someone today. I’ll get with Doug, and we’ll figure out what to do. You’ll hear from one of us, shortly. In the meantime, just go on about your job, as usual. Act like you don’t have a care in the world, and believe God will make a way.”
“That’s easy for you to say…”
I called Doug and arranged to have him meet me at Tony’s office.
“It shouldn’t be a problem. All he needs is a dead body,” Doug observed.
“No. We’ll go ahead and arrest Watkins on the homicide charge. Gary can testify against him and you federal boys can arrange to get Gary into the witness protection program.” Tony said it, like there was no other option.
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