by Dan Arnold
“Was Gary involved?” I asked.
“We don’t know any details at this point, but we’re pretty damned sure the RAGs did this.” Doug said.
I looked at Jack.
“This is what we know so far,” he started. “This is a court hearing day in Gregg County and the courthouse was crowded. The Gregg County Sheriff and the District Attorney were standing on the lawn outside the Gregg County courthouse, when a silver SUV stopped in the street. Four armed gunmen got out and opened fire on them. Both men were cut down immediately. Fortunately, the Sheriff was wearing a vest. He was able to return fire, and at least one of the gunmen was hit. The four gunmen retreated to the SUV and escaped. Meanwhile, inside the courthouse when the gunfire started, a sheriff’s deputy had just found a backpack containing several pipe bombs. We don’t know why none of them were detonated.”
“Did the Sheriff or witnesses to the shooting get a good look at the gunmen or the car?”
“Obviously we’re working all of that right now, John,” Doug said. “We are also examining video from all of the outdoor security cameras in the city of Longview.”
“The gunmen were wearing ski masks, John.” Jack added.
I considered several different aspects of the information that I had just been given.
“Do we know where Gary or Watkins is, right now?” I asked.
Jack and Doug shot each other a look.
“No, we’ve been busy with other things. That’s why we asked you to come down here. Don’t you know where Gary or Watkins is supposed to be working today?”
I nodded in response.
“Gary told me that he would be overseeing a work crew doing demolition of a building in Bullard, south of Tyler. That’s in Cherokee County. Watkins was supposed to be managing a bigger crew, building an apartment building outside Chandler. That’s in Henderson County. I don’t know if that’s where they are though.”
Doug hit a button on his desk phone.
“Green, get in here,” he snapped.
My phone rang. I saw that the call was from Christine, so I answered it.
“Hey, Christine,” I said, by way of greeting.
“John, have you seen the news?”
“No, I’m a little busy right now. I’m in the Federal building, downtown.”
“Oh, OK… OH! So you know what’s happening…”
“A little bit, yeah. Listen, I need you to try to get Gary on the phone. He’s supposed to be on that job site down in Bullard. If you can’t get him on the phone, go down there and find him. Pretend to be his girlfriend or something. I need to talk to him right away. Have him call me.”
“Have you tried to call him?”
“No, I want him to call me. I’ll explain later.”
“Ok, I’m on it. Be careful,” she added before she broke the connection.
A man came rushing into the room.
“Agent Green, we need to know if a man by the name of Kevin Watkins is presently working on an apartment building construction location outside the city of Chandler. I mean, is he there now, and has he been there all day? I need you to get me that answer, immediately. One other thing, listen now, do not, I repeat, DO NOT attract any attention while you are getting those answers. It is imperative that no one knows that the FBI is trying to locate that man. Got it?” Doug asked.
“Yes sir, I’ve got it. Kevin…?”
“Watkins. Now get out of here and get me my answers.”
Two more men walked into Doug’s office. I recognized one of them immediately. He wore a starched and creased white shirt; open at the neck, with no tie, over dark brown pants. He was also wearing a straw cowboy hat. There was a gold star pinned to the shirt. He was Charles Parker, the Sheriff of Smith County.
The other man was similarly dressed, but he wore creased khaki pants, a dark green tie, and his silver badge was smaller. It was just a small star inside a circle that bore a simple message; “Department of Public Safety” scrolled at the top, and “Texas Ranger”, at the bottom. There was a single word on the star; Captain.
Both men glanced at me.’
“Sheriff Parker, Captain O’Brian, this is John Wesley Tucker. He is assisting us in our investigation.” Doug said, by way of introduction.
“Yeah, I thought I recognized you. I saw you on a crime scene. That child abduction case, and there was all that TV coverage around the trial, last year.” The Sheriff said.
“Yes sir. I remember seeing you at that trailer in the woods, while every law enforcement officer in two counties was trying to figure out who had jurisdiction.”
He nodded, shaking my hand.
“You can call me Chuck,” he said, as he turned to address Doug.
“Agent Booker, we know that this building and the Smith County courthouse are clear. I intend to remove the barricades around the courthouse and the square. What’s the progress on the general threat assessment?”
“We are still attempting to gather data. We are analyzing and processing that data as rapidly as we acquire it.”
“Yeah, but do you think that there is any kind of imminent danger?”
“We are unable to give you a quantified answer at this time.”
“Bullshit. Yes or no, are we expecting to be attacked today, here in Tyler, or not?”
“Sheriff Parker, we just don’t know.” Doug explained.
“Terrific.” Sheriff Parker said, with a frown.
He turned to leave Doug’s office, opening the door again.
“We’ll alert you the minute we know something, one way or the other.” Doug called out to him, as he left the room.
Sheriff Parker did not respond. He walked out of the room leaving the door wide open.
I went over and closed it.
Forty-Five
Ranger Captain O’Brian, hadn’t left with the Sheriff, and I was wondering why he had stayed in the room.
He seemed to sense my thought.
“The Sheriff was pretty upset to learn his department is being investigated by the Rangers because at least one of his deputies is a white supremacist. He would like to personally pistol whip that guy. Now this thing in Longview… He’s mad as hell.” He said.
Doug nodded his understanding.
“Doug, I have my associate trying to get in touch with Gary. I don’t want to call him, in case someone else answers his phone…” I started.
Gary called me as I was in mid-explanation.
“Hello, this is John. How may I direct your call?” I answered.
“Hey, John, it’s me, Gary. Christine said I should call you. What’s up?”
“Where are you, right now?”
“I’m here in Bullard, on the demo job.”
“Gary, there’s been an attack on the Gregg County courthouse in Longview. The District Attorney was killed and the Sheriff is badly wounded.”
“No shit? Oh man, that’s awful.”
“I just wanted to make sure you weren’t involved.”
“What, why would I… Oh, you think the RAGs did it?”
“Seems likely, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know anything about it. This is the first I’ve heard.”
“Good, I just wanted to make sure you’re OK.”
“Yeah, about that… Watkins told me I’m supposed to meet with the other members and leaders this evening.”
“When and where?”
“I don’t know where. I’m supposed to meet somebody at the place where I buried the body of that black guy, at six o’clock this evening. You know what a remote spot that is. I guess they’ll take me to the meeting from there.”
“How long have you known about the meeting?”
“… Maybe ten minutes, I’d just gotten off the phone with Watkins, when Christine called me.”
“Gary, call me back in a few minutes. I need to discuss this with someone.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty worried about it now.”
“Don’t worry; we’ve got your back.”
“OK, bye,” He said, and hung up.
The three men were waiting to hear what I had to say.
“Gary is at the job site in Bullard. He hadn’t even heard about the attack in Longview.”
“Well, that’s a relief. Now we need to know if Watkins had anything to do with it,” Doug observed.
“We may be in luck on that score.”
“… How?” Jack asked.
“Gary is supposed to be taken to a meeting of the RAGs radicals, tonight.”
“When and where?” Doug asked, picking up his phone.
“Hold on, this is an opportunity for him to get further inside the group.” Jack said.
“No, we can’t afford to wait and see. We’ll raid the event and grab up everybody. I need to make an arrest in this attack.” Doug responded.
I looked at Jack, who seemed to be thinking the same thing I was.
“Doug, we’ve just been cleared to have phone taps and surveillance on those guys Gary met out on that logging site. I’m pretty confident we’ll gather some useful intel from the intercepted communications, but having Gary inside a meeting could be vital. I think we can tell the press that we are pursuing a number of leads at this point.” Jack said.
“I don’t care about the press. We’ve got to stop these guys before they do more harm.”
“I think the best way to do that, and be able to make the charges stick, is to gather more intel. We don’t have any real evidence that the RAGs even did this. We have to find out who was involved. Gary is in the best position to do that,” Jack prompted.
Doug put down the phone.
“Right, I see that. I guess I just got a little bit wound up.”
“This is enough to get anybody wound up. I can tell you Gary is plenty wound up himself.” I said. “We’ve got to figure out the best way to manage this situation.”
“Well then, I repeat, when and where is Gary supposed to meet these people?”
“This evening, someone is going to meet him in the same place where he buried that body. He thinks they’ll take him to the meeting from there.”
I was thinking Gary had to be wondering if he might be the next body to be left in a shallow grave out in the sticks.
“OK, we’ll set up surveillance just like we did the first time. We’ll put a wire on him this time though…” Doug started.
“No, no wire, it’s too dangerous” I said.
“You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do. This is a Federal operation and a matter of national security. I would remind you that you have no official standing, and you’re involvement can be terminated at any time.” Doug snarled.
“Fine, I’ll give Gary a call and tell him to bail out. Good luck with your investigation.”
Just then, an agent knocked on the door and stepped in.
“Sir, we think we’ve figured out why the pipe bombs failed.”
Doug took a deep breath.
“Well spit it out, man.” He snapped.
“Yes sir, it was the phones.”
“What phones? Doug asked.
“It was the cell phones sir; they were using cell phones as the detonators.”
Doug made a gesture with both hands.
“And…?”
“… And, this is weird… but it looks like they dialed the wrong number.”
“How did you come to that conclusion?” Jack asked.
“The phone records, sir. I’ll tell you this, it’s a damn good thing that the deputy who found the bombs, pulled the wires away from those phones when he did.”
“Slow down, Agent Rogers…” Jack said. “Tell us how you figured this out.”
“Yes sir, when we learned that the detonator was a cell phone, we had all the cell towers in and around Gregg County shut down. It was too late of course. It was more than twenty minutes after the bombs were found before we got all the cell service shut down, but then we accessed all of the carrier’s call records, from five minutes before, and about five minutes after the shooting, sent to us. We found that there were three calls at about the same time as the shooting, to one specific number that didn’t get answered. That would have been at the time that the deputy found the bombs. Those three calls were followed by a fourth call, all four from the same number. That fourth call only had one digit different from the first three calls. It was the number for the detonator phone. If the deputy hadn’t pulled those wires when he did, those bombs would have detonated.” The agent concluded.
Jack nodded. “Amateurs,” he said.
“Yes sir. The deputy told us that immediately after he pulled the wires from that phone, the phone vibrated in his hand.”
“I’ll bet that they had punched the wrong number into the speed dial. When they finally figured it out, they dialed it one number at a time, but by then it was too late.” Jack speculated.
“Thank God,” I said.
“Humph! There was no “god” involved. It was just blind luck and their stupidity.” Doug responded.
“That was a mighty brave deputy. For all he knew, pulling those wires could have triggered the explosion. Unfortunately he also contaminated the evidence.” Jack observed.
“Yes sir, but apparently he has some experience with electronics and explosives. He recognized the threat and was pretty confident when he pulled those wires. I figure he saved a bunch of lives in the process. He didn’t handle the pipe bombs, so we may be able to lift some prints.” The agent observed.
“Thank you Agent Rogers. Now try to determine who owns the phone that made those outgoing calls” Jack directed the agent.
“We’re already on that sir. That number was a prepaid throwaway we believe was sold for cash at a truck stop near Dallas, same as the detonator phone.”
When the agent had closed the door, Jack spoke to Doug.
“These guys may be rank amateurs, but we can’t hope to get “lucky” again. I also say no to a wire being put on Gary. He’s still brand new to the group and they won’t take chances with him. They were pretty thorough when they searched him the first time. The important thing is that we follow them to the meeting. That means setting up a perimeter and staging our tracking vehicles.”
Doug shrugged, conceding the point.
“We can track his truck, using his transponder for the GPS and emergency services that come standard with the vehicle.” He said.
“Sure, if his truck goes to the meeting. Otherwise, we’ll have to do it the old fashioned way, with surveillance vehicles. Weather permitting, we’ll arrange for a chopper to maintain visual contact as well.” Jack said.
His statement gave me an idea.
“That clear cut area is nearly a mile down a logging road from the nearest county road. We won’t be able to stage many vehicles anywhere near that area, without them being spotted.” I observed.
“Leave it to us, John. We know what we’re doing.” Doug said.
“I know you do, but you’re used to operating in more urban environments. Around here, any time someone sees a helicopter, they check it out. About the only helicopters we see are air ambulances.”
“Good point,” Jack observed. “We’ll use one of those.”
“Ok, I’ll get the ball rolling,” Doug stated.
My phone rang.
It was Gary.
Forty-Six
I put Gary on speaker mode.
“Gary, I’m here with Doug and a couple of other guys. I have you on speaker so everyone can participate in the call. We want you to go ahead with the meeting this evening.”
“I don’t know… this just keeps getting worse.”
“Gary, Doug here. We’ll have you covered just like we did when you had that first meeting. You go on with them, and we’ll have you under surveillance at all times. What we need you to do is try to remember everyone you meet. Learn as much as you can about recent events, and who might have been involved. Don’t ask any questions that don’t feel right to you, under the circumstances. Do what they tell you to do, and we�
��ll get with you later, to de-brief you. OK?”
“I don’t like the idea that they are going to meet me out in the middle of nowhere, and are supposed to carry me to some other location. What if they just kill me instead?”
Everyone in the room exchanged glances.
“Why would they do that, Gary?” I asked.
“I don’t know… but what if they do?”
“Gary, listen to me. You are afraid of something that there is no evidence for. It isn’t a real threat; it’s just your imagination running away with you. We’ll all be there to cover you, just like before. If they had some reason to kill you, you would already be dead. Wouldn’t you?” I asked him.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“That’s right! And we’ll follow you to wherever they take you. We won’t take our eyes off of you.” Doug promised.
“Well, how are you going to do that?”
“We are preparing the plan right now. We’ll have surveillance vehicles staged on every road and highway. No matter what direction they take, we’ll be right there with you.” Doug replied.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Don’t even worry about it. We’ll have you covered.” Doug assured him.
We heard Gary take a deep breath.
“Yeah, OK. Please don’t screw this up.”
“Just handle it the way you handled that first meeting, and you’ll be fine.” I added.
When Gary hung up, I turned to Doug.
“He’s really scared.”
“Yes, I heard that. Like I told you, we know what we’re doing. Now, there is something that we need you to do.”
“Ok, what’s that?”
“Get the hell out of the way.” He said, through clenched teeth. “Like I said before, this is a federal investigation and you are not… It’s time for you to stand down. From now on, Gary will communicate directly with me and me only. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
I waited a moment to compose myself.
“Yes, Agent Booker, I understand what you’re saying. Gary would not be in this position if it weren’t for me. You asked me to come down here. So, like I said before, if I’m out, he’s out. If he’s in, I’m in. I will not stand down and leave his life in your hands. Do you understand what I’m saying?”