I woke with a start, hearing the TV announcer say "Good morning, it's a wonderful Wednesday morning."
The clock said five o'clock, so I had the choice of sleeping another hour or getting going. I got up and called the desk to see if I could get into the pool this early. The desk clerk said, "The gym is open and there are two lap pools in there. Would that do?"
I went to the gym and rode the bike, used the treadmill, then used the free weights for twenty minutes. When I was done with all that, I used a lap pool for the first time to swim as hard as I could for about fifteen minutes. I was even a little dizzy from the strain.
After doing my triple S, I had breakfast and showed up at the station at seven-thirty. The ACE was already there and welcomed me. He said, "Grab a warm donut and coffee and let me brief you on our problem."
"The Chief will be here any minute, but if you want, you can read these files for a few minutes to find out what we know to date."
I quickly read the files and found out that the trials the judge had been working on were all corruption cases. Contractors were giving kickbacks to inspectors and some of the people letting the contracts. The pattern was showing that the amounts of the kickbacks were enormous. The bigger problem was that the work being accepted was shoddy, and in some cases, unsafe. Several witnesses had turned up missing, never to be found again, but the remaining witnesses were all being protected. The prosecutor had not lost a case so far, but there were two convicted men who had disappeared. They had probably fled the country.
I asked the ACE to get me an appointment with the judge after I talked to the Chief.
The Chief came in with a hard hat in his hand and a little messy. "You weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow. Glad you're here, though. We found a witness. He was buried in six feet of concrete. It's amazing the way those dogs can sense human remains underground like that."
I told him I had read his office file and thought it might be good to talk to the judge. He made the call himself and turned to me, "Let's go. He's downstairs in his chambers. The Bureau is there sweeping the place. They do it every morning now.
In the judge's chambers, I was introduced to Judge Manny Mankowski. He was about a hundred and fifty years old, but looked fit. He had a strong grip and a ready smile. I asked him why the defendants were allowed time after conviction and sentencing before being jailed. He said, "A man has things he needs to do before he goes to jail, possibly for the rest of his life. I like to give a man that opportunity."
"Do you still give it to them if they are a flight risk?"
"That's your job then. Perhaps your men should accompany the convicted man until he reports for his term."
"Judge, we're seeing an epidemic nationwide, not just here, of felons fleeing while on bail awaiting sentencing or appeal. There is evidence that their efforts are receiving assistance from organized crime. I strongly recommend that for the time being, until we can get a handle on who's involved in this problem, you should withhold allowing these convicts time to settle their affairs. This is obviously true of those who are convicted of violent crimes, but as I said, it appears that a broad range of felons are flight risks right now. Please don't let these men out after they are convicted."
"I hate to do that to a man, but if you really think they are that bad, I'll keep them and accelerate their sentencing hearings."
The old judge continued, "I have a sentencing hearing at ten. Court convenes at nine, but I have several motions that I must discuss in court before the sentencing. If you wish to attend, I would be pleased to have you within my courtroom. Having been a Federal Judge now for almost forty years, I'm still excited every time I step into court. I'm charged to know the law and direct proceedings according to the law most every day. Sometimes I even get to decide a case using the law the way it was intended. What a wonderful, awe inspiring task I have. I do enjoy citizens witnessing the law in progress."
The Chief and I left and he said, "Let's go back to the office so I can clean up. Since the judge has seen us, we need to come down for his performance. The man really is proud and humbled to be a judge. Can you imagine, he has the same enthusiasm for the law forty years later?"
The Chief cleaned up and we went downstairs to the court room as the bailiff was announcing the judge with the traditional "Hear ye, hear ye."
The old jurist went right to work, calling on a congregation of attorneys, giving his decision with the laws and cases that were referenced for the decision. A couple of attorneys vigorously objected to the decision, but the judge just said with a straight face, "That is my decision based on the law. If you have objections, the court will allow motions or you are free to appeal to the EighthCircuit where they are a lot stricter. Meanwhile, I see that some of the defendants are not present this morning. As we have had some difficulty with keeping sentenced prisoners close at hand, I am issuing an order for all who have been convicted and sentenced waiting for motions or appeals to present themselves to the federal court clerk before close of business today. Any of these people not showing up will have their bail revoked and warrants issued. Please advise your clients to see the clerk by five."
You could see this order upset some of the attorneys who jumped up and almost ran from the courtroom. I whispered to the Chief, "Find out which cases have defendants out on bail, waiting for their appeal. We might be able to salvage some capture time if we get an early start tracking them down."
The sentencing hearing began with the defense attorney and a sneering, smug defendant standing.
The Judge was holding a paper in his hands and looked up, "Ronald Marchel Colon, you have been tried and convicted by a jury of your peers of witness tampering and intimidation, fraud in relation to federal building contracts, bribery of a federal employee and a contractor, money laundering, assault of a federal law enforcement officer, and attempted murder of a federal law enforcement officer. The probation office's report indicates no mitigating circumstances, and you have declined to cooperate with federal investigators or the US Attorney's office regarding these or any other matters. You are sentenced to an aggregate one hundred and twelve years, to be served consecutively. Your sentence will begin at the Florence, Colorado SuperMax facility, though you may perhaps earn a more lenient confinement after a few years of good behavior. Would the bailiffs please take Mr. Colon into custody?"
The attorney almost yelled, "Your honor, aren't you going to give him a chance to put his house in order? I've appealed every count. Can't you allow my client bail while waiting for the appeal?"
"Mr. Colon has been convicted of some very serious crimes against the government, as well as individuals. Unless and until his conviction is set aside, he is no longer entitled to the presumption that he is innocent, because he has been proved and found guilty. This is not the type of person that should be with the citizenry of our country. I've already denied your motions for new trial in his case, and he's had time prior to today to take care of personal business. The sentencing guidelines are no secret, and it is a mystery to me how you could have thought that Mr. Colon might merit bail pending appeal. You know where to file your appeal and how to get the fastest possible hearing. " The judge thumped his gavel and said, "Court will reconvene at one o'clock. Um, Mr. Johnson, would you see me in my chambers?"
The exit was as formal as the entrance. You have a feeling of awe and respect the way the man spoke and conducted himself.
The Chief and I went to the judge's chambers and were immediately ushered in. He smiled and said, "Was that the approach you wanted me to take?"
"Perfect, Judge. I appreciate that you are giving us a quick look at who might be running out before it's discovered that no bail will be given and the prisoner is long gone. If some have bugged out, we'll have an earlier trail."
The older man said, "I'm not comfortable with some of the reactions of the attorneys during the motion hearings. I would like to request two items, please have your office get with the court clerk to inventory all who are awaiting sentencing, for delay or appeal. I will be able to evaluate the seriousness of the situation. This is your department and considering your past record, you'll have them back in house quickly. Second, I want to have some protection for a while. If these men or the men scheduled to be tried, feel I am going to be too strict, they may want to find a way to delay a trial until another judge can be brought in. The other judges that sit in this division handle routine criminal matters like all federal judges, but pass all the serious cases on to me. Can you help me on this?"
The Chief said, "Judge, from this point forward, until you say stop, you'll have protection as good as the President gets. We have been keeping an eye on you and your home; this will just make it easier. If we are obviously watching you, that will keep the casual revenge seeker away. Let me organize the process. If you wouldn't mind, we will provide a car and driver for you and your wife."
"My wife has a driver, but will lavish in the attention. My sweet Wilma doesn't get out much any more, but will now want to go to all of the fancy stores to show off her bodyguard. I hope your man can keep his hands from my ravishing beauty." The judge began laughing loudly, enjoying his own humor. On his desk was a smiling picture of Wilma. She was as wrinkled as the judge, but with the same soft loving appearance.
As we went up to the station, the Chief said, "I just love that old man. He has a smile every day he enters his court. He truly believes in blind justice and will admonish us for our slightest infringements. Since we know we have to have our shit together when we bring him a case, he knows that when we bring a case to him, it's a good one."
"Take care of him. I wish we had the entire Justice department full of jurists with his dedication. I'm going to the Bureau lab to see what they have found out about the devices you've found. I'll be back up in a few minutes."
The Bureau lab wasn't all that big, but had a trio of geeks, two females and one guy, that were all busy doing something. My intrusion was initially frowned upon, but when they found I was truly interested in their work and what they had found out, it was like a bunch of kindergarten kids trying to tell the teacher something.
They had me sit at a desk as they showed me photographs of each of the
items, with a corresponding photo of the location and a diagram of the room.
They then began showing me the manufacturer, the distributors, and the dealers. Since each item had a serial number, they were able to track the devices to two different dealers, one in Chicago and one in Cleveland. In Chicago, the dealer had good records with sales receipts, as well as a credit card receipt. Agents were tracking the cardholder at that moment.
The other devices from Cleveland were bought by what was discovered to be a dummy dealer that was housed at a national construction company out of New York City. Further, Venice Construction Company was known to be owned by organized crime members.
One of the three techs said, "We tracked the items to people. Agents then had to find the people and question them. When agents entered the company in Cleveland, they were met with a lot of hostility and were told to leave unless they had a search warrant. A judge has issued the warrant and agents are serving it now. We kept agents on site so nothing could be removed."
Another added, "The cardholder who bought the device in Chicago is from St. Paul. He's a private investigator with some underworld dealings. Agents have been trying to find him for a few days. His family is reporting him missing."
"Good job. You've done a lot. Do you have any information about the guy they found this morning out at the construction site?"
The lady who appeared to be the leader said, "Not yet, but the forensics guy and his assistant are working on it. We're not a big office here, so they may have to send some of the material to Chicago or D.C., depending on who has the time to work on it."
I nodded and said, "Tell you what, I'll call Chicago and have them put anything you send over there on their front burner. They have a big enough lab to get some quick answers. Tell your forensics man so he won't spend too much time trying to do something he's not equipped to do."
We both made our calls. The Bureau Chief in Chicago had been one of the men down in the Branson, Missouri meeting. He immediately asked, "When are you going to have another of those meetings. My wife said that was the best she had ever attended. I can tell you she was happy. I'm still getting bennies from it."
I explained what I needed and what it was for, he said, "Still working the interagency thing I see. I'm happy to work with you and your guys. I guess you're one of my people now too, aren't you? Tell them to send what they need worked on and we'll have our best people working on it as soon as it's in our hands."
The lady who seemed to be the leader was hesitant when I asked her to have her Agency Chief come in. When I queried her, she said, "He doesn't like to work with other agencies. He's not open like you are. Don't tell him I said that, I'm just trying to warn you."
"I'll go talk to him. We need to work together on this."
In the Bureau station I was kept waiting a very long time before a tall, crew cut man in shirtsleeves sporting a shoulder holster came to a door. "I see you waited. Whddaya want. This is the FBI, Deputy Marshals are upstairs."
I approached him and said, "Please, may we go into your office? We need to talk privately."
With a loud antagonistic voice he said, "Anything you have to say may be said right here. You and me, we don't have any business together."
I handed him my card, it read: Charles M. Johnson, Senior U.S. Deputy Marshal, Senior Supervisor, U.S. Law Enforcement.
He looked at the card then back at me and dropped the card on the floor. "What the fuck is a Senior Supervisor of U.S. Law Enforcement? The only guy between me and the director is some faceless D.C. bureaucrat, John Scott. The only time I hear from him is when I have a problem, or if my budget is fucked up."
"You have a problem. His private number is on the reverse side of my card. I would suggest you call him right now."
The man's eyes began flickering with recognition that he might have made a mistake. He looked at me, down at the card under his foot and back up. I was still standing in the same spot, looking at him. It took him a billion mental calculations and a couple of seconds to swallow his pride before he knelt down to pick up the card. He glanced at my legs to see the pant leg against my stalk and looked at me as he stood. "Are you from Florida? Tampa?"
I nodded.
He rushed into his office slamming his door making the blinds on the door rattle. A couple of minutes later my cell phone rang. I answered, "Johnson."
"Hey, the idiot Chief where you are just called me. I'm his regional supervisor, I should have warned you and him. Sorry. He hates anyone not in the Bureau, I don't know why, but it hasn't served him well. Does this mean I should get another man in there?"
"Not yet, let me work him a little and we'll see whether he needs to go to another station as an agent. I'll also look up his record. If he's been a good troop, it would serve us well to keep him."
"Thanks, Chuck, that's fair, this is why you were promoted to what you do. That and parties down in Branson." He was laughing when he got off the phone.
The door opened and the Chief said, "Please come in." When I entered, he shut the door and stood beside his desk. He pointed to his service weapon, his ID, and his badge case. "I guess you want these."
"Not yet. First, you and I have to work out why you have the attitude you do. You wouldn't be the Bureau Station Chief if you were not qualified."
"What if I can't work with you?"
I looked at the man and said, "I can't imagine why we can't work together. I'm going to make a few calls from upstairs where I have my briefcase. While I'm gone, please write down the major cases you are working on, which agencies referred them to you, and what interaction you're having with those agencies now as a result of those referrals. I'll be back in less than thirty minutes."
Upstairs, in the Marshal's station, I was able to get a desk and get my laptop up on their network. I called Wanda, "Minneapolis is a problem. There are several problems here, but I'll work them out quickly. I'm going to call John but while I do that, pull the file for the Bureau Chief here. Post it on my PC so I can read it and print it out. That will help a lot."
Wanda said, "I've been waiting to talk to you and didn't want to call you on your cell. A few other hot spots have popped up and will probably need your attention. Call me when you have a chance."
I called John, when he answered I said, "Have you been poking pins in my doll or what? I'm running all over the place and found a real mess in Minneapolis, not only the original problem, but also the Bureau Chief. I'm getting the information to see if I can work out his feelings about the other agencies. And now Wanda says the problems are stacking up?"
"They are and I may have to come out to help. Must be a full moon or something. Your judge's case up there seems to be showing up all over the country. It's going to come back here to D.C., but between now and then, we have a bunch of federal judges that have been threatened and even one who had a brick thrown through his window with a warning. Can you believe this? This is 2009, not the forties or fifties."
"Let me handle one at a time. What do you know about or how do you feel about the Bureau guy up here."
"Don't know him. I don't remember any complaints about him, but you know my office manager is going to blow a lot of that stuff off."
"I'm pulling his file and will read it quickly. I have him giving me some information about major cases and how he's working with other agencies. It should open his eyes, I hope, and I'll take him out in the field real quick so he can see that deputies work too."
"Hope it works. If you need more help, call Chicago, the Region chooses the successors. He has to come up for station changes so you don't have to worry about it. Don't waste a lot of your time today, we have other problems."
I asked the Marshal Station Chief if they had any potential captures this afternoon. He said they were setting one up for two of the convicted men awaiting sentencing. We had found out they were making arrangements to fly to Canada in a private plane, followed by flights to South America. I asked him for a radio and said I might want to join the capture. He told me he would make sure his deputies knew.
Downstairs, the Chief was finishing his list. I told him that I wanted him to take part in a U.S. Marshal's exercise so he could see how another branch did investigative work and serious apprehensions.
I radioed the team setting up for the capture to find out where to meet them. I said to the Bureau Chief, "Let's go, you drive, you know where this place is."
We drove to the airport and to an area near where my plane was parked. Was it only this morning that I flew in? The plane in front of a hangar that the sentenced men were going to fly out on was a B200 like the one I had, but didn't look in that good of a condition. The team leader there said he had men inside the hangar, posing as inspectors for an aircraft. There were also men by the front office, as well as by the side of the hangar nearest the plane. I asked if the plane had been disabled yet. I received blank looks.
A maintenance guy was driving by with a tow vehicle. I stopped him, showed him my badge and got him to take off his coveralls. He had on casual shorts and a "What me Worry" T-shirt underneath. I put on the coveralls and drove the tow vehicle right up to the plane. Inside the well worn cockpit, I found what I was looking for, a set of keys. Amazing, an expensive airplane like this left with the keys inside. When I got out of the airplane, I shut the stairs which was the door and used the keys to lock the plane.
Back with the group, I took off the coveralls and told the ramp attendant, "Don't go to that hangar and keep your mouth shut. Don't talk about this to anyone. If you don't think you can do that, radio your boss and tell him your truck is broke and where you are."
The man looked confused, so after he put his coveralls back on, he radioed his supervisor and said he was working on his truck and he would call back.
I told the guy, "Good decision, now we don't have to worry about you."
"I'm curious, I want to watch."
The team leader said, "Please stay behind cover, who knows what's going to happen."
I had an idea, "Do you mind if I borrow your coveralls again? It shouldn't be for too long."
I put the coveralls on then advised the Station Chief of my intentions. "The tow vehicle will be a perfect cover. I'll take it to just the front of the hangar and when they come out, I can be a distraction while your men make the capture."
The leader asked, "You have your vest on?"
I patted my chest and said, "It's in my bag in your office."
"Come here." We went to a car where he pulled a bulky vest from the trunk. "Sorry about the old style but it is what it is. You don't go out on my field without your gear."
He was the team leader here and in control, so I put it on under the coveralls. I made sure the sides of coveralls were unzipped so I could reach in for my weapon. Hope this was quick and short, because I had left my other three magazines with the vest. I did have one spare, so I had thirty rounds. That's a lot of rounds, but you never know.
I pulled up in front of the hangar door and left the motor running. There was a clipboard that I picked up to at least make it look like I was doing something. My radio was in the wire radio carrier with the volume on low.
The radio crackled, "They're in the office, they just pulled up. Six men got out of the car and the car left. Repeat, there are six men, two subjects, four others plus the pilot."
The awareness meter just went up. The danger meter did too, but this was so open, you wouldn't think there would be a problem. Instead of waiting to pull my piece, I pulled it out and set it beside me on the seat. It couldn't be seen by anyone unless they were next to me.
Seven men walked out of the hangar. The lead guy was obviously the pilot, complete with sunglasses, while four of the trailing men were doing the neck swivel thing, bodyguards.
As soon as they cleared the door, I revved the tow vehicle acting like I was going to move while still holding the clipboard. The four trailing men all looked my way with the trailing two nearest me reaching for their coats.
Three deputies with vests and caps came from the side of the building and hollered for them to stop, lie on the ground, and put their hands over their heads.
Everything always happens so fast that it's hard to comprehend sometimes.
The pilot took off running for his plane with the two men we wanted were directly behind, running with him. One was reaching for his coat. Two men that had been in the process of looking at me while pulling guns, swiveled the other way and saw the three deputies. One of the men turned back to me, brought his gun out and fired a shot at me so fast I didn't get a chance to shoot or even pick up my gun.
I was knocked off the tow vehicle. Thank goodness it had a dead man pedal and didn't move. I had to reach up on the seat to get my gun. I saw the two bodyguards begin to fire while the deputies were yelling their stupid warnings. I shot both of the bad guys with four shots. Two rounds at each and finished both as they were falling.
The second pair of bodyguards had not been that fast in reacting, but were now pulling handguns from shoulder holsters. I didn't wait, I put four alternating rounds into each of them, one each in the body and one each in the head.
I swiveled to see one of the men following the pilot was on one knee aiming at the deputies. I fired hitting the man in the body. He rolled over but was getting back to his knees. This time, at only about fifteen meters, I put one between his eyes. I brought my weapon up on the pilot who was hidden from me as he was trying to get into his airplane. The other guy looked around the aircraft and raised his hands.
The whole thing took maybe fifteen seconds, maybe not that long. I felt something wet on my sleeve and looked to see red on the sleeve of the coveralls. Now I felt hurt. Shit, another good shirt. I pulled the coveralls down to see how bad it was. I had to rip my shirt sleeve from the cuff up and saw a wound on both sides just above the elbow in the fatty tissue. I ripped the sleeve off my shirt and wrapped it around the wound in a tourniquet compress to stop the bleeding.
The Bureau Station Chief came running up with another deputy asking about my condition. I showed them my shirt, but my lower chest hurt. I looked down to see that the bullet had deflected off my vest tearing the outer fabric and ricocheted into my arm. The deputy was calling for an ambulance.
The Bureau Chief said, "Holy shit, do you guys do this often? That was very professional. Those guys were pulling guns so fast they didn't even give you time to warn them."
I looked up at the deputy and the Chief, "If you see guns, there is no warning. If a suspect shows a weapon, you must consider that they are going to shoot to kill you. Defend yourself and ask if they were going to shoot later. Read your SOPs. I've sent out multiple memos on how to conduct yourself if you are confronted with weapons."
Both men just looked at me as if I was from Mars. I was sure they were thinking, "What SOP?"
The cleanup trucks were already on site, so they began immediately. The team leader came up to me and said, "Well, we did get to capture both of the men we were after, but will only be able to hold one of them. Ah, have you ever considered not shooting men in the head? That's just too fuckin' messy."
"The first two were finishing shots, but the other guy showed armor because he didn't stay down from the first round, and I know it was a good hit. Head targets are called for. That's why the range targets are made that way. That's why the decision course is set up that way."
The team leader said, "Glad you have to write up your own incident reports. My guys didn't even fire, they were all a day late."
The ambulance came and insisted I had to go to the emergency room. The Bureau chief said he would come down to rescue me and bring me back to the office.
At the hospital, my badge helped get people moving. An older doctor came in, with an older nurse who took off the wrap. "Good job wrapping it, young man. What do you think, Jenny, is this just a flesh wound, can we send him back out in the field?"
The nurse said, "It's been a thousand years since then, Doc. Was that the last time we worked on a bullet wound together?"
The two cleaned me up inside and out and did something only military field people do. One stitched one side while the other stitched the other. They finished and bandaged me. The nurse asked the doctor, "One heart or two. He did get two wounds."
"Ah, just one. See his leg; what do you want to bet he already has at least one?"
They asked and I told them about the lucky RPG three days after getting a scratch that had to be stitched. They both nodded saying they had patched some guys almost on consecutive days.
The doctor gave me some pain pills and a bottle of antibiotic pills. "Take these for pain if you need them, and take those until you've taken them all. Keep your arm in a sling at least for tonight, and don't sleep on it. You didn't lose a lot of blood, but maybe enough to make you lightheaded. Have a big steak and a glass of wine."
He put his stuff away then said, "Now you have to go down to X-ray to see if you broke a rib. That tear in your vest tells the story. You were a lucky man today."
The nurse said, "I'll take him down, they won't give me any shit about doing it right away. I'll be right back up, Doc."
The nurse wheeled me through the hall and in and out of an elevator. The radiation guys weren't that belligerent and had me standing for a chest picture quickly. It took only a few minutes for them to hand the nurse the picture. She pushed me back upstairs and we were met by the doctor as we entered the area. He had me sit in a chair while he looked at the picture. "I have good news and bad news. The good news is you don't have a broken rib. The bad news is you have two cracked ribs, so no heavy anything for three weeks. You can do leg exercises but no arms, chest, or stomach. I can see you're in shape, so I know you work out. You'll just have to catch up later. Have a doc look at your arm and have another X-ray to make sure you're mended."
He shook my hand and said smiling, "Nurse, get this guy back out in the field. What are we paying him for anyway?"
The nurse handed me a packet of bandages and some topical dressing and wheeled me out through the waiting room where the Bureau Chief was waiting. She told him, "If you are this guy's boss, he's done for the day and no heavy stuff for three weeks. He has some stitches plus a couple of cracked ribs. Get him out of here, but don't let him slack off." The nurse leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. "Thank you for serving, be careful out there. Now go make nice, nice with the administrators and get."
The office people were the usual pains in the ass. I had already filled out all the forms, but they wanted to futz around. I told them they did not have to wait for authorization as I as a deputy marshal hurt in the line of duty. Take the information down and submit their reasonable bill. She finally gave me an itemized bill and we left for the emergency room door.
As we were going out the door, a candy striper caught up with us and said, "I have to bring the chair back inside. Can you go get your car and pick him up at the curb?"
We soon were back at the station, and I wanted to finish this thing with the Bureau Chief. I put my jacket on with the sling over that. We went into his office and I began reading over his list of cases. "Why haven't you worked with any of the agencies who turned the cases in to you? You could have saved a lot of time if you had. Those people were closer to the subject than your men and could have assisted them."
The man answered a little more humbly, "Do those other agencies have activities like that?"
"Think about it. What kind of characters do the DEA deal with? How about the ATF? You're familiar with the ferocity the border people are encountering. Homeland Security is experiencing at least two shootings a day, just in border patrol. Your men are investigators and only seldom have to pull their weapons. The wimpy deputies are capturing escapees and protecting witnesses and judges daily. Deputies don't just take rides on airplanes. All of the branches have good investigators, use them and have a higher and faster case resolution."
"I've been a little blind. The school teaches us we are the magnificent, the supreme law enforcement branch. I took that too much to heart. I'll figure out how to work with the other agencies."
"Want to be a hero, get some recognition?"
"How?"
"Organize a meeting with the Station Chiefs of all of the law enforcement groups. Make a pact among yourselves to work together, to investigate together, and to share resources. How valuable would it be to have a couple deputies helping with a stakeout? They are good at it. Same with the DEA and the ATF is covered up in arms sales verification problems lately. All of you can put a dent in your caseloads. First thing though, is to teach your men to work with the other agencies."
The man asked, "So I still have my job?"
"Make these changes and you won't have to be an agent up in Alaska."
He smiled real big, "I gotcha." He stuck his hand out to shake. Thank goodness the wound was to the left arm. "I never did introduce myself. I'm Robert Fisher, just call me Rob."
"I'll call you. You do the same."
Upstairs in the Marshal's Station, the team leader was still briefing the Station Chief. When they saw me, they both came out to get me. The Chief said, "You need to write your incident report. Remember that you neutralized a person when you were returning fire. We have videos from three angles that show you did the right thing. I'm going to work on my men to make sure they don't wait for an invitation to shoot."
He had paused, "You going to be alright? How bad are you hurt?"
"A couple of cracked ribs and a patched hole, I'll be fine."
The Chief asked, "I hope you didn't have to lick the boots of the Bureau asshole? He's a superior pain."
I smiled, "Tell you what, let him make the offer, but try to work with him if he throws out the olive branch. I think your men taught him something today. I took him so he could see us in action. I didn't think I would get so involved."
The team leader said, "You didn't take over the capture, but you did offer a good vantage point for the takedown. Too bad you caught a round though."
"Oh yeah," I said taking off the sling and my sport coat. "Here's your vest. Thanks for making me put it on. I won't leave mine next time."
The Station Chief took the vest and poked his finger through the torn fabric. He handed it back to the team leader and said, "You guys have a stack of people you need to begin looking for. The court clerk just sent up a big list. Work out some rosters and I'll borrow some men from around the region to help out."
I suggested, "Let me call downstairs to see if the Bureau has some men to help you. I think you'll be surprised at the attitude."
When I called downstairs and talked to the Chief Agent, he said, "I'll be right up so we can review how we can help. My men aren't that busy right now, so we can definitely be an asset. I like it, a joint effort."
I smiled, "The man is on his way to offer some men and his help. You just make sure each team leader acts like a team leader and works the agents into the group."
"I can do that," the Chief said. "We can all do that. This is good."
When the Bureau agent showed up, they all shook hands and I excused myself as there was a lot of shit going on.
Looking at my watch, I saw it was six, so I called Wanda's cell phone. She answered, "Johnson."
"Are you home or still at the shop."
"Neither, I'm having a beer at The Office. Call me in about an hour, we'll be home."
I called John's cell to have him pick up saying, "Why didn't you call me on the land line?"
"After six, thought you would be gone."
"Not after the flash report we got from Minneapolis. All it says was there was a shooting, five down, including one capture. plus another capture and a wounded deputy."
"That says it all. There was some resistance that was handled and the deputy is fine."
John asked, "I get the feeling you were there?"
"I was."
"How many of the downed men are you responsible for?"
When I didn't answer real quick, because I was trying to think of a way to tell him, he said "All of them, huh? Can't you let someone else do the dirty work?"
"It happened, when no one else took the initiative, I protected the other deputies."
"I'm sure you did. There is a mention of videos. I'll be interested in seeing them."
"John, I didn't call to talk about that, but to find out about the other problems."
"I've sent your file all the details. Have a drink, a good supper, and review them. Call me in the morning and well make a plan. The Bureau Director already called me to congratulate me for hiring you. He said you have started some kind of new interagency process in Minneapolis and he would know more later. What's that about?"
"The local Bureau Chief had been listening to the Quantico guys too much and thought he was in charge of Gods instead of men. I took him on the capture and he was able to see there are good men elsewhere."
"The same guy who called here today to ask about you being authentic? I told him his career depended on how deep his lips were in your ass. He didn't even reply, he just hung up. The regional guy called me to ask if you were a hardass, even though he knows you from the meeting. I told him you were a Marine ex-special operations troop. He groaned and thanked me."
"Well, Sir," I said, taking a deep breath, "it has been a busy day."
"Call me in the morning." John hung up.
I packed up my shit and walked into the office. "I'm going to need a hotel with food, any suggestions?" The Bureau guy said, "Use the Hilton out by the airport. They have a great restaurant and a very good bar. Say hi to the cute barmaid, but don't try to keep her, that's my wife. Here, let me call, we have an account out there at the hotel. Just use your card."
My Station Chief said, "Let me get a duty guy to take you out there. You have my number, so call me tonight if you need me. I think you have set the stage to take care of the judge and to take care of us here. Get some rest and go home."
"I'll call you and the judge in the morning to make sure everyone's okay, then I'll leave. Thank you both for working with me. It's been a good day."
It really had been a good day. We watched a great old judge hand down justice and we made him feel good about his and Wilma's safety. That put a smile on my face. We had made a tough takedown with only minor casualties to the good guys and I had a new convert that understood that if we work together, we all can have some success and some fun.
The new Hilton was really classy. I was taken up to a very nice room, left my stuff and searched for food.
I went into the bar so see if I could see the Bureau Chief's wife. There was only one lady behind the bar and she was a knockout. She was built almost as long as Wanda, but real full. Her top showed so much cleavage I could have used it to toss quarters into. The rest of her was just as nice looking.
I sat at the bar while her head was turned away and said softly, "Mrs. Fisher? How about a very tall glass of Beefeaters on the rocks with a few olives?"
The bartender looked around at me quickly, making her long silky blond hair swirl around her face, with a smile she said, "Right away, Sir."
When she brought a doubles glass to me, she said, "Are you the man that took my husband out in the field today?"
I nodded.
"I should be mad at you for taking him out into danger, but from what he just told me, I'm proud to know you. You might have saved his job from what he told me and he seems softened toward the other branches. He even sounded a little less superior just then. I hope so; he's been getting pretty unbearable to be around."
The lady had to serve some other drinks then came back to me, "Sit down by the service bar so I can talk to you. I'll bring your drink."
I moved to where a tall redhead was filling a tray. The bartender filled the glasses with booze while the waitress was doing the sodas and add-ons. I had never noticed how bartenders and waitresses built their drinks before.
The redhead smiled at me and left.
The bartender stuck her hand across the bar and said, "I'm Kathy, and you are?"
"Chuck, Chuck Johnson."
"Okay, Chuck Johnson, According to Rob, you're shot, broken, and hungry. I'll get you a good steak out here while we talk. Want anything else?"
"How about a Caesar salad? It goes real good with the Beefeaters."
Kathy left for second and was back to fill a big order for a cute oriental. The tray had about a dozen and half beers and I swear the little girl wouldn't be able to carry it, but she smiled at me, lifted the tray and swished her cute butt across the floor toward her customers.
For the next hour, while I was eating, Kathy bent my ear about Rob and the way he had been acting. She was giving out all of the signals of a woman about ready to say goodbye. I wasn't much of a counselor, but I did offer her a suggestion. "Kathy, you're a gorgeous woman and I know Rob is proud of you, as he told me to look you up. When you get home tonight, no matter how late it is; get him up, get his attention, and talk to him about how you have been feeling. Don't criticize him; just tell him how you've been feeling. You can criticize his superiority attitude, but not him personally, or physically. Make sure you put him to sleep with a smile. I'm sure you know what I mean."
Kathy smiled at me, "I know what you mean and I'm good at it. I wish I was closer to saying goodbye or I would demonstrate. You're already a good guy in my opinion. You don't have a ring, you don't act like you're married, and you keep pushing me toward my old man. I'd do ya."
The redhead was back and smiled, "I'd do ya too, but I have a man. Susie isn't taken, hang around and she'll take you home."
Kathy said, "Susie is the one that gave you the nice hip swivel demonstration carrying all that beer."
"I do have sort of a commitment right now, so I probably shouldn't be chasing while I'm out of town. I love all the offers but it would be a tough choice between you girls. How about I take you Kathy, and you Red, and do you both? I can't make up my mind, so I'd have to have both of you."
The redhead said, "Be still my heart. Now I'll have to change panties."
Kathy was smiling, "Now I'll smell really good for the rest of the night."
"You girls, you make me blush."
"He is, he's blushing, Kathy," the redhead exclaimed.
The little oriental gal came up and asked, "If this is a sexy discussion with this guy, I want in. I could have my way with him with his arm in a sling. Can I take him home and keep him?"
"Thanks for the sweet talk, Susie, you would be a treat, but I am in a relationship."
"I want you even more now. I'm just going to borrow you for a little bit and send you home with a smile on your face, but I promise I'll send you home."
Susie and the redhead filled their orders, did the register things and headed toward their customers. Susie had a better backside and movement than the redhead. Kathy said, "Interesting aren't they, but Susie definitely wins."
I laughed, "You have been fun, Kathy, thanks for keeping me company."
"Thank you, I'll make him listen to me. We've only been married two years and we're still supposed to be in the hot and heavy stage. He's been so wrapped up in himself that I'm only getting some about once a week. We'll work it out or I'll get your number and come join you and your girl. You can have a harem."
"Good night, I need to do a report yet and get some sleep. What do I owe you?"
"Get out of here, you don't owe me or this place anything. We are all indebted to you for visiting with us. Goodnight, Chuck. If you get lonely about one thirty, all three of us will still be here."
It was almost ten by the time I had finished my reports and read the list of problem locations. There was no way two of us could take care of everything. There was no way four of us could do it. We needed to work this out using other agencies. Hopefully John would go along with that and we could go to wherever he thought the two hottest spots were. We could do a quick shift of deputies if we needed to as well. We had some older, near retired men who would probably love to work on a case.
I called Wanda to find her just in from the hot tub with the family. She said Dennis had become a regular, as had Jan's guy. She said that even Angie had a guy bring her home from the Community College tonight. They had Cokes and sat in the living room for an hour or so.
I told Wanda that I had a list of problems from John and would be talking to him about a plan in the morning. She said she would keep the e-mails caught up at the office, but to try to stay in touch with the office more often.
"Today was intense, Wanda, too much, too fast, all day. I promise to call you first thing in the morning, right after I talk to John."
Wanda said goodnight and to take care of myself. She told me to hang up as Brandy wanted to call me on the house phone.
My phone rang almost immediately, "Hi Baby."
"Hi Brandy, are you doing all right? You know your roommates are going to wonder what's happened to you."
"They know, they know I'm crazy about you and I miss you. At least here I can smell your pillow and I'm even wearing one of your T-shirts to sleep in. It's one you wore so I can smell you. I'm bonding with your smell."
"You're nuts and moving way too fast, Sweet thing. We've just sort of met and you're just getting to know me. Slow down, smell the roses, do a thorough check on me."
"I did that when you worked at the employment office. I was interested the first time I met you in the lunchroom. Remember, I asked you to go out with us. Tiani was ready to attack you already then too, but I was the one to ask you. You're not afraid of daddy's money are you?"
"No, no. I just want you to get to know me, my personality, my ways, and my faults before you try leaping into something."
"I promise, Chuck, I promise not to ask you to marry me for a least a month. I promise to not have Daddy bribe you into marrying me for at least three months."
"So what happens after two months?"
"My mom will be over here trying to get you in bed so you'll marry me. She just loves you."
"We met one time and she just loves me?"
"When women meet someone and find out all about them, they fall in love. What can I say?"
"She can't know that much about me."
"Did you forget my dad is a very rich guy from selling the government secret stuff? He knows all the people who can find out everything about anybody. You were easy. He had your high school, military, and Marshal files on his desk Tuesday. You're an open book. You've been involved in a lot of confrontations, but Dad says they are all good shootings. He likes you and will do anything his sweet little Brandy wants. He doesn't have to give me a house, I already have one. You already have one. He doesn't have to give me a car, I already have one, and according to Wanda, you have a classic Mustang somewhere. See, you're a catch and I'm a good catch too. I'm impressed you got your degree the hard way, by correspondence and in the military. I've graduated from Florida, so we're both educated, both good looking, both have substantial balance sheets, and are both single. I want you, Chuck, and I'm going to be all over you, convincing you that I'm good for you."
I was quiet a few seconds after listening to her.
"You're not mad that daddy looked you up are you? You don't think I pry too much do you?"
"No, Brandy, I don't need to hide anything, especially with someone I think a great deal of."
Brandy gushed, "I know, neither one of us can say the "L" word yet, but I know I'm close and I know I really want to get a lot closer to you."
"Good, glad you understand. Are you going to be okay if I can't get home real quick? It looks like a couple of more days before I can get out of the field."
Brandy said, "I don't like it, but it's your job. Daddy says you're really a big shot, second only to some D.C. guy."
"His name is John Scott, and he is a jewel. I do whatever he directs. The real Marshals are mostly figure heads, administrators, and politicians. It's the field deputies that are the law enforcement side."
"I really miss you and do love you, Chuck. I know you're tired from a big day. I'll say goodnight and put Wanda to bed. She is fun to put to bed, if you know what I mean. I think I'm going to have Freida come over and help me tomorrow night."
"Poor Wanda, perhaps she might go wild and eat you both."
"I sure hope so."
Laughing I said, "I miss you too, Brandy, talk to you tomorrow."
"Oh, Chuck, you can call me during the day on my cell anytime. I'm taking off to help my mom at home, but will be back over here to help your housekeeper. I met her this evening and she is so sweet. I'm going to get my mom to use her."
"Okay, Babe, have a good day tomorrow."
I called room service for a glass of wine, a beer, and a piece of cake. I needed something sweet. I had stripped off my shirt when the knock came. I opened the door to find a female bellhop with a tray. She had a piece of cake, a piece of pie, a glass of milk, a tall glass of something brown with ice, a large glass of what looked like red wine, and a beer. She smiled, came in and set the tray on my table and stood up.
I fumbled for a tip and she said, "Oh no, Chuck, the girls in the bar said this was on them, they were right, do you need some help getting tucked in later?"
"Thank you for the compliment, Ma'am, but I think I have all I need. Thank you."
"They said you would turn me down, but I had to try. Change your mind and call for Mindy. I'll be right here until two about the same time as the girls get out of the bar. They'll come too if you ask."
She smiled and left. I wondered when I had suddenly become good looking or had developed some new kind of animal magnetism. My body was in good shape, I even had a six pack, but nothing special. My arms weren't all bulgy with muscles, but they were muscular. Nothing special but it was nice to get the attention.
The brown liquid was good scotch over ice. I sipped that and turned on the TV. The local news channel had a report on the airport fiasco telling the viewer how the U.S. Deputy Marshal's men had a gunfight while capturing men fleeing the country. The pilot was also a fugitive and he was taken into custody and his plane confiscated.
Wow, I wonder if I might make a deal on a B200. It was ratty, but airplane fitters can turn a ratty airplane into showroom new with seemingly little effort. I'd have to keep watch on the airplane.
The Dutch apple pie was great, with chocolate cake as a chaser, and milk to wash it all down. I sucked down the wine then found the beer was still frosty, so I opened it and stretched out on the bed after taking a healthy slug.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious
Jacques Noir (Old Rotor Head) legal & court terminology