Ring! Ring!
Oh shit, the phone.
I came awake, picked up the phone and said: "Hello."
"Morning, Sunshine, or should I say almost morning and no sunshine since it's only three thirty. Homeland Security just called me to ask for some help. One of their stations was attacked last night in an attempt to free some illegal border crossers that were taken the night before. The big problem now is that whoever it was that attempted to free the illegals now knows they are being housed in the Bureau's lock up."
John laughed a little, "Just like Mission Impossible, your job whether you want it or not is to get your butt out to San Diego as fast as you can, find out why these illegals are so important, and to ensure the Bureau is set up to keep them."
"Ah, John, anything that may require my assistant for support?"
"Not really, this is sort of a search and keep alive mission. Go investigate and protect. Be careful though as the below the border cartels have been getting pretty nasty lately. Wear your armor and be watchful. Call me back when you're in the air, but no earlier than eight okay?"
Bobby and Wanda were awake, listening to my side of the conversation, knowing I was going to be on my way somewhere. Wanda asked a simple question, "Where, and how soon?"
"San Diego, as soon as possible."
Wanda smiled and said, "That's the only way you go anywhere, isn't it? I'll call out to the charter service first to find out if they can help."
Bobby said, "You take your shower and get dressed. I'll pack for you and make some coffee and sandwiches."
I was putting on khakis when Wanda came into the bedroom. "The charter service called back to say you can use the Lear but it has to be back by Wednesday morning. If you're longer than Tuesday night, you may have to take commercial to get back."
I put my vest and three extra loaded magazines into my gym bag. After giving my ladies kisses and telling them to go back to bed, I left, checking my watch to see it was five after four.
When I pulled up to the front of the charter office, someone was using the tow motor to pull the Lear from the hangar. I pulled my suitcase and gym bag from the car and headed toward the plane.
John got off the tow motor, disconnected the airplane, then said, "Get the preflight checklist out and start. Make sure you check the gear and engine ports just like it says. I'll put this away and close up."
The checklist described exactly what I was supposed to be looking for at each item. While I was checking the rear of the plane, the big hangar door began closing, followed by the lights in the charter office being shut off. John brought his travel bag to the airplane stairs and said, "Okay, let me finish while you load our luggage. Make sure the netting is secured over the bags so they don't fly around if we hit turbulence."
I stowed the bags and climbed into the right seat, pulling out the start checklist as John came into the plane, shut the door, got into the left seat, and buckled up. I began reading down the list as John performed each task, firing up each engine, and watching the gauges in preparation to taking off. At four fifty, we were hurtling down the runway, lifting off for the quick trip to San Diego.
"Got something hot, huh?" John asked, after calling in a flight plan and receiving confirmation.
"More shit with illegals and probably with drugs. It seems all of our big problems lately are from illegals. The new problem is they are becoming more daring and confrontational. I hate to think it's coming to a border war."
John said, "We have a full load of fuel with a range of over 2,400 miles. San Diego is right at 2,100 miles so if we don't hit any headwinds, we won't have to refuel. We should make it by just about nine. Go use the onboard communications links and advise someone to pick you up around nine, which would be six their time."
I was able to use the sat phone to contact the Marshal's Service office as I figured some backup would be appropriate. Since it was a government office that had been under attack, the problem was within our jurisdiction.
Back in the cockpit, John and I had some coffee and a sandwich as he subliminally began teaching me right out of the instrument flying handbook. When I told him, "You know, I found this really neat book that was about instrument flying. It is almost exactly word for word what you're saying."
"You already read the manual?"
"I found it out at the base while I was waiting to get my new boot made. It was so interesting I looked for it and found it at Borders. I read it completely through once and have almost finished it again. As a matter of fact, it's in my luggage right now."
"Son of a gun, that's great. Well, Chuck, I might as well begin your lessons. There is more ground school for instrument flying than your original ground school. You can take a crash course, but I don't think you're going to be able to take off for a couple of weeks to do it. You can learn at a regular pace and we'll get your hood time in as often as we can. You might as well begin learning this instrumentation too as this is similar to what the G5 has."
The rest of the flight was all instruction. I should have had a notebook, but the little pad we used for calculations was enough for this flight. Just before we set down, I told John, "Call Wanda at the office and find out where she has a room reserved for you. I'll call your cell later to let you know how this is going."
As soon as we were parked, a ground truck was there to pick me up to take me to the private aircraft terminal to meet a deputy. While we were driving there, I called John Scott in D.C. "I'm here."
John asked, "Where's here?"
"San Diego."
"Fuck you, impossible, it's only nine fifteen. Where are you?"
"Honest, John, I'm in San Diego. The charter got off the ground fast and we didn't have to stop to refuel. It only takes four hours if the weather cooperates."
"I didn't think you would it make until late this afternoon. Good going. Figure out what's going on and make whatever adjustments to personnel you have to. Make sure all the buildings are secured and that they are on heightened security procedures. Call me this afternoon to let me know what's going on."
The deputy that met me was an old timer. He said, "About all they have me do anymore is air marshal stuff and some subpoenas. I've had some bailiff duty, but even the judges are apprehensive if they don't have some young deputies watching out for them."
While I was putting my vest on under my shirt, I asked, "You still use the range to qualify?"
"At least once a week. I like to shoot a couple of times a week for fun so I get plenty of range time in. Do you think you'll need that?" He indicated the vest. "Should I be wearing one?"
I stuck my hand out, "Chuck Johnson and you are Deputy,,,,, ?"
"Deputy Hal Hogan. Guys call me Hulk, but I ain't near big enough or ugly enough to be a Hulk Hogan."
"Okay, Hal, I'll get the Station Chief to assign you to me. I need someone to watch my back and would prefer to have experience over youth, especially experience that can shoot if necessary. About the vest, better to be safe than sorry, wear one."
"Thanks, Chuck, I'll be your shadow. I know the drill and know how to do sidekick. Your back will be safe."
Since the station wasn't really open on Sunday, only a duty guy was there, I got the chief's number and called him. He readily gave me Hal to use, saying to make sure he didn't fall asleep on me. I didn't think that was a very nice thing to say but would pay attention.
Our next stop was the office of Homeland Security. The Station Chief greeted me saying, "Thank you for coming so fast. I can't believe you're here from Florida so damned fast. I only pushed the panic button last night around midnight."
Realizing the time difference I said, "That was three o'clock east coast time. So this is really close to ten in the morning for me not seven in the morning here. You haven't been to bed yet, have you?"
He smiled, shaking his head no. "This is too important to not be alert and prepared. The Bureau Chief is at his station, as well. I called him last night."
"Okay, let's go over exactly what happened last night. Give me the details."
Hal and I got a cup of coffee then sat with the chief, "Last night, about eleven, there was a commotion in front of the building. One of the security people was about to go outside to find out what was going on when some shots were fired. One of our border guys was down and his partner was returning fire. They neutralized one and wounded another. Apparently, about four other men in the group attacking us jumped in some waiting vehicles and took off."
The Station Chief continued, "We were able to question the wounded man who told us they were trying to free some illegals that we caught trying to sneak in while riding in a room built behind some freight in a truck. All of the men we took into custody are cartel people that have been deported before. Two have federal murder warrants, so they are going to be going to a secure facility. The other four are known wheels from the Cuevo cartel. Because these guys are all high security risks, we put them into the federal lockup in the Bureau federal building."
With a better understanding now, I asked, "Do you feel your station is secure now?"
"I had all my men to get the word out on the street that the prisoners were in the main lockup at the federal building and not here. We've emptied our facility out, and sent the illegals from the truck to county for safekeeping until they can be taken back to the border. We only haul then down on weekdays, not on weekends. We have four or five busloads a day except for Monday when we usually have at least ten busloads of captives."
"Tell you what, go get some rest and get with me around seven this evening. I'll go check on the Bureau to find out what they've found out from the other prisoners, then I need to get Hal here some rest. If we have a problem at the federal facility, it's going to be at night. I don't think the bad guys are so brazen that they would try something during the day."
We left Homeland Security and Hal said, "Don't be so sure about when these guys will try to get to us. They don't have any restrictions, and they use our hesitancy to defend ourselves as a way to overpower us."
"You won't be hesitant will you, Hal?"
"Not a chance. I was in that heavy stuff with the Mafia back in the late seventies and eighties. Then we would say we "permanently disabled" an armed bad guy. Now we use the term 'neutralize.'"
The Bureau Chief greeted us warmly and took us on a tour of his and the federal facilities. He had extra men at the front and back, plus men in the hallways fitted out with combat gear. He said, "I have us at a stage one security level right now until we get rid of these guys or we hear street talk that no one else cares about them. We have an official from the Mexican police coming to help identify the people we have in custody. I'm thinking they are important enough that they will be known."
"When is the Mexican rep going to be here?"
"Any minute, he called from the border about twenty minutes ago."
I asked, "What are the procedures when you have foreign policemen come into your facility? Do you know the guy that's coming?"
He looked at me a little funny and said, "We extend them every courtesy we can, and no, I don't know this officer. He said he has a detachment with him."
"If we go there, are we armed, do they let us carry when we're there?"
"Oh, I see what you mean. We can travel armed, but we have to give up our sidearms when we enter their facilities."
"Make sure you do the same today. We don't need anyone armed in the building that we don't know. I wonder why he needs to travel with what you call a detachment? How many men is that?"
"I don't know, I'll call the border guys, they will have a count."
The chief made a call then looked up at me, "He's bringing eight men with him."
"That's too many men. Put four men outside, two on each side of the building in defensive positions. Make sure the inner doors are secure. This puts the security guards at the detectors in a poor defensive position. Go have them put on vests right now before the group gets here."
The chief began moving quickly. Hal and I went out to the lobby where the detectors were. We stood off to the side near a couple of marble looking columns. The chief had two of the heavily armed men in combat gear come to the lobby to stand inside by the doors.
Hal said, "Thanks for telling me to put on my vest. This could get dicey real quick."
I looked at him and asked, "You have a round in the chamber right?"
"A gun's no good unless you're ready to fire it."
I nodded and watched as two SUVs pulled up to the front and nine men got out, leaving the doors open as they approached the front door.
"See that, they left the doors open so they could get back in quickly. The border guys forgot about the two drivers, so the detachment has ten people in it besides this officer."
The nine men entered the lobby and were walking toward the exit doors beside the detectors.
One of the security personnel said in English, "Please, gentlemen, remove all weapons and check them here before entering the detectors. The entry doors are on the other side over here. Once through the detectors, you will be buzzed in by the guard on the other side."
The lead guy kept right on walking so the other security guard gave the same instructions but this time loudly, in Spanish.
The man in front turned to the security guard and said, "I will not be humiliated like this. Open your doors this instant or I will have you fired."
"It's my job, Sir, please remove all weapons and enter through the detectors."
"I demand to see whoever is in charge right this instant. Let me in right now, I demand it."
I walked out from behind the pillar and said, "I am in charge of this facility at this minute. We extend the same courtesies to you as you do us when in your country. Please remove your weapons and enter through the detectors."
I pointed to the two guards at the doors and said, "Please observe our guests to make sure all weapons are removed before entering the detectors. You may shoot them if they do not comply."
I turned to the guy supposedly in charge, "Do you have any identification? I wish to see what agency within your government you are from."
Pulling my Glock and holding it on him, I could see him flinch and some of the men behind him begin to get uneasy. "Please, your identification, now."
The two security guards at the detectors now had their sidearms aimed at the large group.
"Since none of you have any official identification, all of you lay on the floor with your arms out over your head. Someone tell them this in Spanish. Tell them I'm getting nervous."
One of the security guards at the detector rattled off the instructions in Spanish. This made all of them become even more nervous, so I moved closer to the guy acting like the leader and put the muzzle to his head. "Turn around slowly, now back up one step at a time. Keep moving, keep backing up, right there. Hal, shake him down. Shoot him if he does anything funny."
Just as I turned back to the group, I could see one of the men pulling a gun. He was on the outside, screened from the security guards and the two men at the door. Before his gun was brought completely out of his coat, I snapped a shot at him.
Shit, I shot him in the head, so blood went everywhere. Damn, I should have shot him in the leg or something. The roar of the Glock in the marble entryway was so loud the other men there were temporarily in shock. Four more combat dressed men came in the front door to join the two already there with their MP5s at the ready.
I hollered for the security guard to tell them to again get on the floor with their hands over their heads.
Slowly, the seven remaining men began getting onto their knees then lying down, face first, with their arms stretched out over their heads. I motioned for the combat dressed guys, "Cuff these guys and make sure they are completely stripped of weapons. When you have them cuffed, swap them around and have your partner shake him down again to make sure.
Agents began coming out of the exit doors carrying their guns and more handcuffs. I looked outside to see the drivers of the SUVs being cuffed by more of the combat ready men.
The Bureau Station Chief came out and confronted the guy who was supposed to be the leader. "Who are you? Why don't you have any identification? Did you really think we would just let you in without some kind of identification?"
The man Hal had cuffed and shaken down didn't say a word. He stood without talking while his men were all found to not have any identification either. I asked him, "You came in loud and obnoxious, what happened to your boisterous attitude?"
The Bureau Chief asked, "Didn't these guys have to have some kind of identification at the border? Did the Homeland guys let them in on the word of the Mexican side?"
I dialed the number the Homeland Security Station Chief had given me. He answered sleepily, and I told him about the confrontation we just had. He said, "I'll get my Assistant out to the border right away to investigate how the group got through without any identification. You say none of them had anything? Not even the drivers?"
"So far we've found nothing, Chief, find out for me. I need to know and so do you. Let's put off a nap for right now and get some information."
The eight prisoners were stripped, put in coveralls, and put in individual enclosed soundproof cells. These cells were designed so prisoners couldn't talk to each other.
I told the Bureau guys, "You saw how that was handled. If something comes up like that again, do the same thing. Your men outside did great coming in to back up the inside guys. Hal and I are going to the station. We need a nap in the ready room. I recommend that any men who were up all night be given the same opportunity, but remain on alert."
Hal and I drove to the station where the Station Chief was in on this strange Sunday. He was going over duty rosters when I came in. Hal went to the ready room to lie down for a while and I went in to bring the Chief up to date. After telling him about the incident, he handed me an incident report form and said, "Please do it right so it doesn't get kicked back. My clerk has a cow if all the Is aren't dotted and the Ts aren't crossed."
I wrote up the report with the supporting deputies and agencies so the big bosses in D.C. wouldn't question it. I went into the ready room to find it nearly full of men who had been on call all night. I lay down with my wrist watch alarm set for two hours. I should be alert by two.
At two in the afternoon I sat up to see several other men waking. Hal was sitting up and said, "These cots are pretty comfortable when you're really tired, aren't they? That was perfect. I feel refreshed."
We went into the latrine and washed up then checked the duty man to hear there was nothing new in the prisoner war. The Station Chief was still there, so I asked him if the local law enforcement people had an intelligence division. "They have a good intelligence group and they will share with us when we need it. They've been instrumental with several escapee captures. Our problem here is that we are so close to the border that if an escapee wants to get out of the country, he usually can do it. It's not that hard to get into Mexico. As a matter of fact, it isn't that hard to get into the U.S. either."
"Call over to your contacts in the intelligence group and see if they have anything on this bullshit that's going on. I think I would like some men to roam the streets around here to make sure there aren't any strange cars with men in them lurking around the corners."
"Good idea, Chuck, I'll get a couple of men in civilian chase vehicles to make a continuous tour. That will give us some advance warning anyway."
Hal and I went across the street to "Mom's" diner for a very decent meal at a decent price for California. Back at the station the Chief said, "The city guys have heard that some Cuevo guys are soliciting gangbangers for a job that's supposed to be dangerous. Intelligence has the number of takers up near a hundred. Do you think they would really try a frontal assault on the Bureau and federal building?"
"Who knows, you better call over there to make sure they're prepared," I said to the Station Chief. "You should get your men outfitted and ready as well. I'm going to do some recruiting of my own."
I called my D.C. boss, John, on his cell. After I gave him a synopsis of everything that had happened and what we knew, I asked him for the favor I had in mind. "John, do you know who's in charge out at Camp Pendleton now? Since they have the Mountain Warfare Training Center out there, I thought we might be able to garner a group of trained scouts to help out here. We could use this as an opportunity for an urban warfare training mission. Apparently the prisoners we have are too important to leave in jail and a major taskforce is being put together to spring them. I think if I had an extra hundred troops, I could not only repel any attempt to take the building, but we could capture all of the crazies who are attempting it. Done right, we shouldn't have to fire a shot."
You know you can't use the armed forces for domestic law enforcement. You've seen the training video on the Posse Comitatus act."
I'm not going to use them for law enforcement. I'm going to give some men a chance to have a life like training mission. If their C.O. goes for it, they will have a great adventure and will save my but.
"Sure, Chuck, like you're going to let a skirmish like this go by without firing a round. Sure you are.
"Look, John, I wouldn't have shot that guy earlier if he didn't pull his gun. It was a fluke that I hit him in the head. He was short so I shot without even thinking about it. It was defensive."
"That's okay, you did the right thing. I like your idea, Chuck. I'll call out there to find out what they might have and give them your cell. Don't get any of those kids hurt, okay? If you have a plan, then go get the bad guys and put them all in jail."
Ten minutes later, a Major Selby called. "So you're a Marine Special Operations scout working for the Marshal's office now. John says you lost a leg, sorry to hear that. What kind of plan do you have?"
"What I'd like, Major, is to have men already trained for urban combat to do some live training. I think with a small company of teams, we could convince a larger group to want to put down their arms and surrender. I would prefer seasoned men, but trained men are most important."
The Major said, "I have a company that rotated back about two months ago. They are all experienced. Do you want me to lead them or do you want the job?"
"You're their leader, if you were to be with them, they would know the seriousness of the situation even though this has to be coordinated as a training mission. Please stress to them that this is a potential combat situation, so they need to wear all of their protective gear. If you don't mind, I would like to come out and go over my plan with you so you can help modify it where needed. Can you get your men mission ready and on standby? They will need live ammunition, but shouldn't need any explosives. You might put a couple of RPGs in the mix and perhaps each of the teams could have a couple of M67 grenades. Hopefully we won't need them, but better be safe."
"Come on out, I'll get the men up to standby. Since these are all Special Operation troops, we can pull ordnance. I'll notify the Commander and the front gate that you're on the way."
I asked the Station Chief if he had one of the aerial photos of the building and the surrounding area. He did, so I borrowed it, and with Hal, headed out to Camp Pendleton.
We were escorted to Major Selby at a command building. I almost saluted when I got in front of the Major, but resisted and stuck out my hand. He saw my hesitancy and smiled. The Major said, "This is different than a war zone, isn't it? There, you don't go through a lot of saluting and genuflecting. My guys have all had to relearn protocol back here. Show me what you have in mind, Deputy Johnson."
I used the aerial photograph to show how the station perimeter defenses would be set up and how I thought we could set up hidden teams to close in after any combatants advanced toward the building. Just before the combatants were to attack, I wanted all of the teams, as well as the perimeter defenses to begin using bullhorns to offer them a chance to surrender. They would be advised to lay down their arms and proceed to the middle of the street with their hands behind their head.
The Major said, "Regular urban stuff, huh? My guys are used to that except for the bullhorn thing."
"You should have Spanish speaking men using bullhorns announcing in Spanish the same thing as is being announced in English. What do you think?"
"If this were Iraq, I would say you were a little nuts, but since we're dealing with an untrained force that should run at the first sign of organized opposition, I think you have a good plan. What are our firing orders?"
"Same as anywhere, any armed resistance should be instantly quelled. We call it neutralized."
The Major laughed, "I heard, it's still return fire in any language."
"Don't wait to return fire, Major, these are not honorable men, these are criminals given a chance to make a lot of money if they succeed."
"I'll get that across. The men aren't far enough removed from the field to make that mistake."
I turned to Hal, "Can you call back to the station and have at least a hundred pair of cuffs brought out to be distributed among the men here?"
"I'll get right on it," Hal said, and pulled out his cell phone.
"Major, from the intelligence we've received, this event is supposed to take place about eight this evening. My thinking is that these people think our guard will be down at eight o'clock on a Sunday evening. We should have our men in place by six to six thirty. Can we do it?"
"I have the men preparing right now. We can move out within fifteen minutes."
Hal said, "How about some deputies meet your men to distribute the handcuffs. It's about time to get moving soon."
The Major slipped on his vest, followed by his combat vest, complete with more than enough magazines for his sidearm and rifle. A Marine officer carries a rifle just like one of the men. Marines are soldiers, fighters, right up to the highest officer in the field.
He picked up a phone and dialed a number and said, "Load 'em up, Gunny, I'll be right out."
"Major Selby took me aside and said, 'I want to you to know JAG tells me what you are asking for could violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits armed forces involvement in domestic law enforcement.'
I responded, 'It so happens I saw a training video on that recently. This a "training exercise" for your Marines? Like they really need a refresher on
urban combat, but this will satisfy the brass all the way to the top."
Major Selby grinned and said, "Not many opportunities for live fire training. The men will enjoy this."
Hal and I took off for the Bureau station building to get ready for what we felt could be a long wait, or possibly a quick overpowering defeat of some bad guy types.
One of the Bureau techs had gathered some radios that were on the same band as the Marine field units. He passed them out after completing some radio checks. Inside the Bureau offices were some sandwiches, and of course, a continuous pot of coffee. Hal was beginning to look fatigued, so I suggested that he lie down in their ready room for a little while to rest. I promised that at the first sign of people coming our way, I would wake him.
It was almost eleven o'clock when one of the observation posts radioed in and advised that a group of about ten men were walking toward us. A few minutes later, another post, opposite the first post, gave a similar report of about ten men on foot.
The third report came in startling us a little. Two school buses with a couple of SUVs in front were slowly rolling our way.
We advised our men that we were being approached and had the Major begin to close in behind the groups coming up. The Major asked if they could quickly take out the two groups on foot so they wouldn't have to worry about them. I told him to take them as quietly as possible.
As a closer observation post radioed the large contingent was about to turn the corner toward our building, the Major radioed that both flanking groups were in captivity.
Now for the real fun.
We watched the two SUVs turn onto our street followed by the two school buses. The way we were set up, it didn't look as if we had anyone outside guarding the building. But behind barriers on each side of the main doors were concrete walls where our men were patiently waiting to be called into action. That was also where two men with bullhorns were waiting.
From the third floor inside the building, I could see detachments of Marines begin forming on the side of buildings ready for a flanking counterattack if it were needed.
The SUVs and buses stopped with the doors of the SUVs opening and men, armed with rifles, came out and stood in front of the vehicles. Men began pouring out of the front and back doors of the school buses. They all appeared to be armed with standard rifles, but the light was not good enough to tell at that distance.
I gave the order to begin announcing that they were surrounded and to close up behind the buses so none of the attacking force could get away.
In both English and Spanish, bullhorns from the front of the building and from both sides and behind the attackers began a repetitious chatter telling the men to lay down their weapons. Law enforcement and U.S. Marines surrounded them.
You could see the immediate uneasiness of all the men congregated together. They tightened up together until they were masses trying to hide behind each other.
The Major had a surprise. A rubber-tired armored personnel carrier with a fifty caliber mounted on top drove from a side street to the attackers' right. A Humvee with a fifty cal mounted on top rolled out from their left. Meanwhile, the bullhorns were continuously telling the men to lay their weapons down, and give up before they died.
Over a hundred men were crowded together looking for a way to escape, looking at two military vehicles with scary guns on top. Then the topping to our defense showed up. Teams began coming from both sides of the building with their guns at their shoulders in firing position. The men behind the concrete wall all stood up at once, also aiming at the group. Five teams came up behind the group and were still yelling at the men with the bullhorn. Slowly, almost too slowly, the men in the group began laying their weapons down and standing with their hands behind their heads.
The bullhorn announcers began telling the men with their hands behind their heads to move to a team that held a large red flag. As the men who were giving up reached this team, they were cuffed and searched. A second team joined the team cuffing and searching while two of the approaching teams still at a ready firing position were almost on top of the last of the group that still held weapons.
I walked out of the building, and went in front of the group still holding out. At a distance of only ten feet, I said, "You are defeated, put down your weapons and live. Keep them in your hands and I will give the order to fire."
I pulled my Glock and aimed it at a guy in a fancy sport coat, "You will be the first to die. Tell your men to put down their weapons. They do not have a chance to survive. Do it now, or die as the man did in our lobby earlier today."
The man standing in front of me had become so angry that I expected something from him, but not what he did. He turned from me looking at what must have been another leader of some kind, brought up his weapon and fired at the man two feet in front of him. Shots rang out all around me as about six of the remaining attackers were cut down. I didn't fire a shot, but held my position covering the remaining men.
The bullhorn repeated the offer of survival if the remaining men put down their weapons and put their hands behind their heads.
All of the remaining men didn't hesitate and immediately lay their rifles down and stood, putting their hands behind their heads. They were ushered toward the group cuffing and searching them.
Major Selby walked up, leading one of the groups, "That was a good idea. It worked almost completely. I just heard from an observation post that an SUV had approached and was turning to leave but was stopped by a reserve team we had stay back. They are bringing the prisoners this way."
The Bureau's clean up crew came rolling up to handle the six men on the ground. Some deputies were checking on the school buses to find out where they had been stolen from as they were marked with the local county school board name.
Another group of deputies and Bureau agents were gathering the weapons lying in the street, putting them into a van for transport.
The Bureau Station Chief came up to me and said, "I don't have the room for all these prisoners. We need to keep them together somewhere. The county said they could take about half, but we need to house them all."
I called John on my cell, "John, I'll call you back with what all has happened but I need you to call a federal pen out here to see if they can handle a few more than a hundred prisoners. I think we need to keep this group together. Can you help me with this?"
John didn't flinch he just said, "Let me make a few calls and I'll call you right back."
The Marines had all the prisoners sitting on the street in neat rows with a couple of feet between each one. The Major walked through the rows of prisoners and came back to me. "I wish we had room out on the base to house these guys for you, but we don't. You're working on it right now correct?"
I nodded, "It's in DC's court right now. I guess the coroner could have handled the hundred or so easier than finding jail cells. Do you have a count yet of the exact quantity?"
"You have a hundred sixteen sitting right here, six that we caught in the rear SUV that we're keeping separate, and then the six dead."
Shaking my head, "Jesus, they were able to get together a hundred and twenty-eight men. That's scary."
The Major smiled, "I guess we have as much to protect here as we did in the sand."
My cell rang. "Johnson."
"The closest location that can take them is Florence, Colorado. You'll need prison buses to get them there along with some cover. That's Marshal work, so organize it and get it done. How many do you have?"
I had to think a second, "I'll be sending a hundred sixteen to Florence. We're keeping six here to interrogate and we have six for the coroner."
"You do any of the neutralizing?"
"No Sir, the Marines took care of it. I'll write my report and I'll call you when we get this sorted out."
"If our locations are safe, get some sleep and call me in the morning. Make sure the buildings stay on alert though. Whoever those guys are that everyone was trying to get must be important. If you want, send them out to Florence too. No one gets in or out of there."
"We'll discuss it, John. Thanks, I'll get these guys going."
Major Selby was still standing next to me and offered, "I may have a transport solution for you. I can get troop buses out here, plus accompany them to Colorado. We'll bring our transportation team with fuel trucks, a food prep team, and portable latrines. We should be able to get them there in a day and a half moving straight through. I'll classify this as a mobile troop movement training mission. Will that work?"
"That would be perfect, Major. Can a few deputies ride along or trail your people? I will need them to supervise the transfer of custody. I'll have some men in each bus to begin cataloguing the prisoners so we have transfer papers ready by the time we arrive."
I called the deputy chief for some men to do the work while the prisoners were being transported. He said, "You don't have to call me on the phone, I'm right over here in the lobby. This has been our jurisdiction, so I'm here. I'll come out and you can brief me."
The Major and I described how we were going to get the prisoners to Florence. The Chief wanted to know how the men were going to be prosecuted. "Easy, Chief, since their crimes are federal, they can be tried anywhere. We have all the evidence necessary from the video cameras outside the building. None of these guys will be getting off and since it was an armed attack, they'll all get at least twenty years. Most of these guys are low level punks and won't last long with the big boys."
The Chief said, "The six men that were captured separately, are in interrogation right now. Hopefully, we'll be able to get some answers from those guys."
Three big Marine troop transport buses began arriving, lining up on the side street. Since it was now about four o'clock on a Monday morning, we weren't obstructing a great deal of traffic. More trucks pulled in behind the buses and a couple of Humvees parked in front of them. Deputies began leading the men to the buses, locking them into their seats. Everyone was warned that any crazy use of their feet would be answered with leg chains.
The Major introduced me to a Captain Harris who looked at me for a long time. "I know you. You were hurt about two years ago. I was in the unit that came in to get your team out. You did a good job keeping them together even when you were hurt. Did you lose that leg?"
I nodded.
"I'm in charge of the road group. My new job is transportation. It's a long way from an ops scout unit, but a decent job. I have some good men that can move a division overnight if necessary. We have land, sea, and air at our beck and call."
"Sorry I don't remember you, Captain. That period of time was a little hectic. Before it happened, my team was in the field almost all the time. Afterward, you know what happens. You're whisked off to emergency treatment and on to Germany. They took care of me very well."
"Let's get this exercise going. Who's in charge of the deputies?"
The Station Chief looked at me, but I said to him, "They are your men, you make the assignment."
Everyone was sorted out and the convoy of vehicles took off. The cleanup crews were done and the school buses had been returned to their parking lots. Inside the federal building, men were being assigned positions for observation and guard duties.
Upstairs, the interrogations were temporarily on hold as all of the men being held were requesting lawyers. All of them were aliens, mostly Mexican citizens, but we did have two Venezuelans, and two Colombians. I suggested that if they refused to talk, we should have all of them join their friends out in Florence, Colorado. I'm sure their attorneys would get tired of making that trip, especially if they were tried out there as well.
The Bureau Station Chief said to me, "Did you get a load of the Mercedes SUVs we've been confiscating? These are some class vehicles. I think my guys are going to have some nice duty vehicles when this is done."
"Share them with the Marshals," I directed. "They deserve some of the booty too."
I added, "Too bad we have to give up all the weapons. There were some really nice SKs in the lot, plus a couple MP5s and a bunch of decent handguns. Your guys will be a couple of weeks checking serial numbers for stolen weapons."
Looking around, "I need to get my guy, Hal, home for some rest. I need to get me to my hotel for some rest, as well. You probably need some down time too. Make sure the place is under guard and go home. I'll have my cell on so you guys can get in touch with me, but I need some sleep."
As we were leaving, Hal said to me, "Thanks for keeping me around. I've had more fun this past however many hours than I've had in the past five years. This operation today was slick. That you were able to get the Marines to back you up was a real stroke of genius."
When Hal dropped me and my luggage at the hotel, I told him I was worried about him being tired. He told me, "I have a condo about two minutes from here so I can be close to the station. I'll be fine. What time should I pick you up?"
I looked at my watch, subtracted three hours and realized it was right at five in the morning here. "If you want, I'll be ready to go by noon. Park, come in, and we'll have lunch then go in to see what the situation is."
"Got it, Chuck, and thanks again for keeping me with you."
The desk people were a little miffed that I didn't call, but when I flashed my badge saying we had a problem operation, they relaxed a little. I asked what the problem was as the reservation was guaranteed.
The clerk said, "We're sold out right now and could have rented your room."
"Not really, I'm going to bed now and will sleep till noon. I'm keeping the room at least through today, so don't move me or kill my reservation."
I let a bellhop take my bags for me. As we were going up in the elevator, I asked him, "Can you get me a tall Beefeaters on the rocks. I could really use a drink. Some kind of sandwich would be great too."
"Right away, Sir, it'll take about ten minutes."
I had taken a quick shower and was in my pants and T-shirt when the knock on the door came. The bellhop had a huge tray with a bowl of soup, a large roast beef sandwich, a tall glass of what was probably Beefeaters, and two bottles of beer. "This should help relax you, Sir."
I signed the bill and gave the wonderful man a twenty, thanking him for his quick response.
After taking a big drink of the booze, I called the office. Angie answered and quickly transferred me to Wanda. I gave her a quick rundown of what had been going on so far. I also asked her why she didn't send my briefcase and laptop with me.
"You were going into a combative situation and didn't need to be worrying about e-mails. I'll take care of them until you return and you can review everything then."
I explained that I was going to bed after eating and had her transfer me to Bobby. I repeated about the same things to Bobby, but couldn't answer the question, "When are you going to be able to come home?"
I drank, I ate, and finished with a cold beer. After setting my cell phone alarm, I lay down in the bed and turned on the TV.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious