The morning briefing was brief. Most of the guys were out on air marshal work, covering for Orlando, and two guys were out chasing down an escapee that's been seen all over the place.
Forest did his damndest to get me to tell him what my mission was and was a little pissed when I wrote up my assignment report. All it said was, "Task completed as directed by John." No last name, no details, nothing.
Forest called John and told him about my report. The speakerphone was on when John said, "Sounds like a damned good report from two deputies to me."
When Forest bitched some more, John said, "I have to be down your way for that Orlando flap tomorrow, so I'll stop in this evening. Chuck said there is a nice Italian place we'll like. I'll let you know when."
When Forest hung up he said, "He's going to tell me, so why don't you tell me?"
"I can't, Sir, it was an order."
Forest was saying, "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." As we left.
Sarah had a prisoner transport for me that would get me back in around six. I said bye to Bobby, grabbed a set of waist and ankle chains and headed downstairs. The deal was to sign him out, catch a ride to the airport, sit with him to Pensacola, and sign him in there, after that a ride home and I was done.
Before I left, Sarah went with me into the break room and said, "Besides the job you just did for John, what's with Forest? He's been on the phone to foreign sounding people and arguing with them. He's been really testy, and as friendly as he seems to you, he's been down right scary. He's lost his temper twice right in the office here and he's had run in after run in with the Bureau. Is that why John's going to be here in the morning?"
"One of the guys had to return fire while he was transporting a relocation and Forest went up in smoke, yelling that there is never a good reason to fire a weapon from a moving vehicle. Watch him closely if you have a run in with him, I don't think he is put together right now. He's letting me do all his office and personnel decisions; he just seems preoccupied with something."
I told Sarah, "Okay, I'll talk to John tomorrow and have him take you to lunch or something. John trusts your judgment."
When I checked this guy out of the jail downstairs, I recognized him from the war we had when I first came to work. He was the first bellhop that I met at the hotel. He was pretty surly and even more so that I was his chosen babysitter. He bitched about the ankle chains and he bitched about the waist chains. I told him the next thing he got was the Chinese handcuffs on the fingers.
A duty guy took us to the airport where we walked through to operations so they could put me on the plane early. I told the guy, "If you think you need to go, go now or pee on yourself later. We do not move on the airplane. He did go to pee and discovered he could do it himself with the waist chain. I made sure he washed his hands, then washed mine and ushered him down the gangway toward the airplane. Usually there are Customs or Homeland Security guys all over, but none were around today. When we reached the door to go out, I pushed the bar and moved the prisoner out toward the steps.
"Crackitycrackitycrackity"
"Shit, that was an AK on full auto." The prisoner was down but too far out for me to reach. I used my cell phone to call the base. It took three rings for them to answer. I told them I was under attack at the airport at the lower Customs door. I needed back up and help out on the tarmac.
I took my coat off and used a broom handle to stick it out the door.
"Crack, Crack, Crack."
Fuck, that's someone who knows to use single rounds for accuracy.
A Homeland Security guy came running down the ramp. I had to grab him to keep him from going out the door. I grabbed his cap and stuck it just a little past the door with the broom handle.
"Crack." The hat flew out onto the tarmac.
The Homeland guy got on his radio, calling for help. I told him to get the ramp security people to close in from outside.
There was a tow motor about fifteen feet from the door. If the guy was distracted, I could make it there and have a better chance of seeing the shooter.
There was gun fire toward the building from the tarmac. I jumped the fifteen feet to the tow motor and watched a guy rise from behind some barrels and fire out toward the security guys coming from that way. If I shot it was going to be almost a hundred yards. That's a long way for a handgun, but I was going to have to try. I peeked around to see the guy rising to shoot out toward the security truck again. I leveled the gun and used two hands, bringing the sighting up until it was at the top of his head and squeezed. The whole side of his face flew off. Oh shit, I must have hollow points in this weapon and not know it.
I stayed down to see if there was another shooter, but nothing moved and no one shot any more. I waved the Homeland guy at the door to go check the shooter, but he just shook his head.
Rising slowly, with my gun in front of me at the ready, I slowly went toward the shooter. Nothing happened all the way there. When I saw he was done in, I waved at the security truck guys to come ahead.
At that moment here comes a bunch of Marshals, the Bureau, probably all of Tampa's finest, and of course, more Homeland security guys that don't want to look at blood.
Going back to check the prisoner was useless. The prisoner took three in the chest. I went back to the shooter and told everyone to keep away until a cleanup crew could get there. The Bureau idiots all wanted climb around on the crime scene. I finally had to declare my rank. I held up my badge and declared this a crime scene of the U.S. Marshal's office and for all other personnel to stand back and stand by for direction. Funny, just like the videos.
I did get their attention and they all stood back. Two crime scene trucks showed up, ours and the Bureau's. I held the Bureau group back until our guys said it was clear to let them in. They knew better than me.
I called into Forest and said that I had just had an incident. He asked, "Did you shoot anyone? Yes sir, I was the only one with a clear shot. No one else could get to the shooter."
"You're at the airport right?"
"Yes Sir."
"Stay there, I'm on the way with Sarah. We have to do in person interviews with everyone involved. Gather all actual witnesses together in one place and keep them there.
I went out to get the two security guys and brought them to where the Homeland guy was still shaking in his boots. He had recovered his hat and had his finger through the hole. He kept saying, "That boy, that boy he saved me, that boy kept me inside."
I told them to all go into the marshal's office and sit. I got one of the air marshals and asked him to watch them. Then I went for the Bureau guys and asked, "Go upstairs and see if you can get some witnesses. I'm going to have to justify the shooting." Jan, the female FBI chick, that was the crack shot, said, "That was a good one, a hundred yards with a hollow point. Good shooting."
All I could say was, "I didn't know I had hollow point loads. It was luck."
She said, "My ass, that was good shooting. Let me get some civilian witnesses. They had to have seen the shooter from above. The glass is sound proof, but they should have seen something."
She took off, grabbing a couple other agents to help. A couple of Tampa guys said they had two ramp people that saw the shooter. I asked them to get them and take them to the marshal's office for me. The one guy said, "Just like bureaucrats, a guy saves the day, then has to save his ass."
The ex-bellhop was still face down, bleeding out with my chains on him. Some medics had checked him and waved everyone away. I asked the paramedics to go check on the Homeland guy that I kept from running out the door. He might need a sedative.
Shit, I needed a sedative. I was trying to figure out when I put hollow points in a clip.
My cell phone rang. It was Bobby. I assured her I was alright, but was waiting so I could be cleared on the shooting. She cursed at the situation. I asked, "Bobby, did you put hollow points in my magazines?"
"I did that before we left for D.C. I thought if we were in the shit, they would be better. Shouldn't I do that?"
"You have to tell me when you do that. Hollow points don't shoot straight. When there is a long shot, they go however the round flattens out."
"I didn't know that, Honey. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I knew John would only send you on something that was not only tough, but probably dangerous as hell. I wanted you to have all the advantage."
"That's okay. I don't think there is any rule broken. It's just not usual for a marshal to use them."
"Danny always used them. That's all he would carry."
"They are good close up, Bobby, but suck when you have a long shot."
"How far was it?"
"Probably right at a hundred yards."
"No way, Honey, no way you hit something at a hundred yards with a handgun."
"Okay, you come down and tell them it wasn't me."
"Do you want me to?"
"No, I'm kidding. The little girl, Jan, from the FBI is trying to round up civilian witnesses for me."
"The little lezzy probably is creaming in her jeans over your hundred yard shot. She probably wants in your pants. Bring her home and I'll set her straight."
"Not a problem. Hey, here comes Forest. I need to go over the shooting with him. Talk to you later."
Forest came up to me and there was no "hi, how are you, are you okay," he just asked for my weapon. I pulled the Glock, dropped the magazine, and jacked the shell from the chamber. I handed Forest the gun butt first, put the round into the magazine then handed it to Forest as well.
He pocketed the handgun then asked me to him show exactly how the incident happened. I went into the hallway and said, "My prisoner was ahead of me as is procedure when we were exiting the building. I heard AK fire on full auto and watched the prisoner go down. I showed him where I was standing and the position of the downed prisoner who was still face first on the tarmac. I told Forest I put my jacket on a broom handle and stuck it out the door and three rounds quickly hit my jacket on single fire, which told me the shooter was experienced and knew what he was doing.
"At that instant a Homeland security guy came running down the hallway and was going to run out, so I grabbed him holding him back. The man didn't understand English well, so I grabbed his hat and stuck it just barely out of the door so only a couple of inches showed, and the shooter shot once, knocking the hat off the stick."
"I called for help and pretty quick a couple of airport security people drove into the area and were shot at by the shooter. That's when I had a chance to jump over behind this tow motor." I was leading him outside and crouched down beside it.
"The shooter kept firing at the two security men who were trapped on the other side of their disabled vehicle and only had handguns. I steadied myself on the frame of the tow motor and fired once, hitting the shooter, and as I found out, killing him."
Forest asked, "Did the shooter shoot at you over here while you were out of the door?"
"No, he was distracted by the security guards."
"So, you were not in any danger when you actually shot the suspect."
"If he looked over here I would have been. The man was a crack shot with his rifle."
Forest was shaking his head, "Did you holler a warning or yell for him to give up?"
I was getting angry, "The man was shooting at people. He had already shot my prisoner. This was a dangerous situation that I had to stop any way possible."
Forest shook his head, "You don't get it do you. This isn't Iraq. This is the United States of America where that man was innocent until proven guilty. Consider yourself under arrest until I interview these other people."
I was in a state of shock. One of the older air marshals had heard the conversation and was standing there with his mouth open. He whispered, "Holy shit, this can't be happening."
I called Bobby quickly. "Bobby, Forest just placed me under arrest for not warning the shooter before firing. John's on his way here, so try to get him on the plane and explain what's going on. If they lock me up, I'm done for in the service. Try hard for me, please."
She said quickly, "I'll do it right now. Don't worry."
I followed Forest in to listen to his interviews. Sarah handed Forest a stack of papers, "These are statements from witnesses and the Homeland guy Chuck kept from getting shot."
Forest yanked the papers from Sarah's hand and ripped them in two, throwing them to the floor. "Who the fuck told you to take statements? I'm in charge of this office and no one farts until I say so."
He stomped toward the marshal's office. The Bureau chief saw what happened and tried to talk to Forest. "Who the fuck are you to tell me my job. This is my jurisdiction and I'm in charge. Get your candy ass agents out of my crime scene and away from my witnesses."
The Bureau chief stepped away and pulled his cell phone. Sarah had picked up the papers, and was putting them into a folder, then she handed them to one of the air marshals, telling him to do something.
We could hear Forest yelling at the witnesses inside the office. "So you were too candy ass to shoot back at an assassin. It doesn't make any difference that you only had pistols, you should have been shooting. Did you holler a warning and tell the man to give up. Who cares whether he was shooting at you. Did you warn him and offer him a chance to give up?
Jan from the Bureau spoke up and said, "I yelled at the shooter to distract him so your man could get into a better firing position. The shot was impossible, but he took it anyway. Luckily, he neutralized the shooter. That's one hell of shot for a hundred yards."
Forest actually swung at the female agent. She ducked pulling her weapon and putting it against his chin. "Put your hands over your head right now, do it. Put them over your head. Some one get the cuffs from my pocket and cuff this guy. He's unstable and not fit to be here."
A Tampa cop grabbed one of Forest's hands, and pulled it behind his back. The cop got one cuff on, and as he was pulling the other hand back to put the cuff on, Forest spun away from him and punched the policeman. The FBI agent was aghast that a station chief was going mad.
Forest reached into his pocket for my weapon. It wasn't loaded as I saw that he had put the magazine in his other pocket. The girl was frozen, Jan didn't know what to do. Forest brought my Glock out and pointed it at the girl.
Bang, bang, bang.
Forest went down and sideways. Jan, the FBI girl, was still frozen. The white haired air marshal who had heard Forest place me under arrest was standing in a shooting stance having followed the Forest to the floor.
He took a deep breath and looked for the paramedic. "I think I'm going to need something for my nerves."
I ushered all of the witnesses out of the room and asked them to gather in the center. Our crime scene guy came running in, looked down at Forest and said, "Oh shit." He looked at me and asked, "Did you do it?"
I shook my head no. He looked at the little girl who was still terrified, and Jan shook her head no. The old guy said, "I did it. Do you need my weapon?"
The crime scene guy said, "No, holster your weapon and we'll get some rank out here to take charge. Let's get the Bureau chief to take charge."
The Bureau chief was sitting in a swivel chair holding his chest. I went to him and asked, "Did you get hit?" He shook his head and said, "Help me get a nitro pill under my tongue; they're in my pants pocket."
I got the bottle out, took one of the tiny pills, and put it under his tongue. I grabbed Jan, the FBI chick, and yanked her around, taking her gun from her. Get hold of yourself. Holster this thing and tend to your chief.
I said out loud, "I'm the senior man here right now, so please, do as I ask and let's get this place calmed down. Where's Sarah?"
Sarah came out from another room and said, "What do you want me to do, Sir?"
"Since this is a Class one incident, begin taking witness statements. You air marshals help with the statements, you know how to do it. You, Sir," I said as I took hold of the guy who had shot Forest, "Are to sit down and remain quiet until I can get a paramedic to check you out."
"I'm alright, Chuck, I'm feeling fine."
I took a deep breath then said, "Please relax a minute. This is going to be a mess."
I looked out the back door and saw the prisoner was now covered. A crime scene guy photographed Forest then he spread a sheet over him. The place was getting some order. Sarah was quietly taking statements again, doing her job. The other air marshals were taking interviews too. At least nine people had seen Forest go nuts. I didn't want to tell the FBI girl or the older air marshal that Forest was not pulling a loaded weapon.
"What the fuck are you into this time?"
I turned to see John with a serious look on his face. I pointed down at the sheet and said, "That's Forest, our station chief. He was pulling a weapon from his pocket after striking a Tampa policeman and an air marshal shot him. John picked the sheet up to see Forest's hand still on my Glock.
"Whose gun is that, Forest carries a 38 special snub nose?"
"Mine, Sir, he asked for it before he placed me under arrest."
"He really did that? He placed you under arrest, on what grounds?"
The white haired air marshal said, "For not giving the shooter a chance to give up, for not warning him that he was going to shoot."
John closed his eyes then opened them again. "I should have known something was going to happen that pushed him over. Christ, come on Chuck, show me what happened."
I turned to Sarah and said, "I have to leave the premises, you are in charge."
As we walked outside John asked, "If you were under arrest how were you in charge."
"I really wasn't in hard custody and the place was a madhouse. The Bureau chief was having a heart attack and I'm the senior guy."
"Okay, so show and tell me, from the beginning."
I went over every movement exactly how it happened, right down to getting the hat shot off the broomstick. When I showed John the shot that I had to take, he whistled and said, "That's a long fucking way."
The little FBI chick, Jan, had come out and said, "And he hit that guy with a hollow point. That's one hell of a shot?"
"When did you start using hollow points?"
"When you requested Bobby and me for the special mission, she figured we were going to be under fire and wanted me to have an advantage. You know I don't usually use them as they don't shoot straight."
"Well, you hit the target and then what?"
"Sarah and Forest got here and Sarah began taking statements while I showed Forest exactly what I just showed you." I was about to add to that when Jan said, "Your chief began yelling at Chuck asking him if we yelled a warning or yelled for the shooter to give up. When Chuck said he didn't have the opportunity, your chief placed him under arrest."
The white haired air marshal said, "That's exactly how it happened, John."
"Sarg, I didn't even notice it was you. How are you doing, Sarg?"
"It was me that shot your man, John. He was pulling a gun and the little girl from the FBI was frozen. Jan was so scared that she couldn't shoot. When Forest spun away from the Tampa cop and hit him, the girl couldn't pull the trigger. I was right here and when the gun came out, I shot him. I didn't yell to stop or ask him to give up, I just shot him. Just like the book says, three rounds in the body."
John was shaking his head. "Christ almighty this is a mess. First, Chuck, you are no longer under arrest or under suspicion of improper action. You probably saved those security guys."
He looked at the old guy and said, "Have Sarah help you with your incident report and make it two days off not one. And go get yourself checked out."
The crime scene tech came up to John and asked, "Can I talk in front of Chuck?"
"You'd better, he's in charge of the station until I can find a sucker to come run the joint."
"Good going, Sir. The shooter is a foreigner. I think he's Russian or Czech. I'm not sure. We'll have to have his dental work analyzed. The guy has three passports, so pick one and pick a name. He had a hotel pass card, so I sent some Bureau guys to take a look. It's going to be difficult to match the pictures to the face as Chuck's round tore him up bad. The rifle he has is a trophy. It is a perfect AK sniper rifle. I'll bet you can hit a fly at a thousand yards with that thing. There are thirty six casings and one empty magazine. He had four more thirty round magazines on him besides what was left in the one he had.
He has rental car keys in his pocket so we'll have to try and track it down. It could be anywhere. He has some credit cards, so we may be able to track it that way. The Bureau guys and I have done all the outside work. Do you want us to do the inside?"
John said, "Have the Bureau do it. You're too close to the problem."
The tech hurried out to get the Bureau tech so he could take care of the inside mess.
A cleanup truck was parked outside. Our tech came in, carrying the ankle and waist chains and cuffs. He looked around and gave them to me.
John had lifted the sheet again so the tech could take pictures. When he was done, John picked up my Glock and noted there was no magazine in it. He pulled back the slide then looked at me.
"The magazine is in the other pocket."
John pulled the magazine from his pocket and almost handed me the weapon. I said, "I'll check out another. That one's done. No one wants that one."
John nodded and put them in his pocket. He went over to Sarah to see how she was doing. She smiled and said, "I think that's all of them. They are all good interviews. I have the original interviews from the shooting outside. Ah, John, you need to give Forest a tox screen. He's been rocketing up and down lately. One second he's an ace, the next he's Darth Vader. I saw him with vials twice, but he could have had sinus trouble."
John asked a tech for rubber gloves and after putting them on, he began pulling stuff from Forest's pockets. Two small narrow pill bottles were among the stuff. John looked at it, opened the bottle and tasted what his finger found when he rubbed the top. You could see his face fall.
The tech held up another bottle of pills, "Would you look at this, a bottle of a hundred high dose tranquilizers. That shit will make you crazy. If that's coke and he's taking both, the man was schizoid."
John said, "Let's get the heck out of here. Sarah, can we take you back to the office?"
"Not on your life. I'm done today. I'll write everything up tomorrow. Besides, I'm going to an Italian restaurant tonight with my date, my boss, his boss, and a big lady."
John looked at me, "Should we still do that?"
"Sure, why not? The only difference is we're taking a limo if you don't mind. I'll pay for it. Just bring your bags with you now and stay at the safe house. There's plenty of room and the duty guys need to be awake tonight anyway."
I called Bobby and told her everything was worked out for right now. John was coming home with me and we were leaving from our house to go out to Park Place. "Call a limo service and have them pick up Sarah and Dave, then come get us."
"That's good news, consider it done. Who shot Forest anyway?"
"Old Sarg. He was the only one to react fast enough."
"Hurry home so I know you're okay."
When we pulled into the garage, John noted the car under a tarp next to the garage. I told him it was a project of mine. He nodded and we all went in. Bobby gave him a big hug, then gave me an even bigger one.
"I'm so glad you're alright. The office is going to be a mess."
John said, "If the place is a mess, then it's Chuck's fault. He's senior man right now so I'm making him an acting Lieutenant until the service either promotes him or finds us a new man. I would prefer a new man, as I need someone like Chuck for special ops."
Bobby said, "Yeah right, special ops, thanks for the vacation."
I handed John the original stack of credit cards and said, "You can use one of these for our dinner."
He said, "I tracked your personal cards, and all of these and there was nothing. How much did you get for the pickup?"
"What pickup?"
"The one I have a video of you driving out of the garage. Give me a hint. That thing is worth about twenty-five grand."
"I'll come clean for you and give you a map. It's probably still sitting where I left it with the keys still in it. I thought someone would steal it and you would catch them with your truck."
"At least you didn't drown it. That would have been bad. I thought you would go out on the street and steal a car or ride a bus. Who would have thought you would take a truck that nobody uses. The maintenance guy was looking for it, so that's when we dug up the video. Where did you pick the other two up?"
Bobby grinned as she said, "I give good head."
John busted up. "Oh shit. You are too brazen. You did good. We haven't been able to get even a whiff of the guy. I have two guys trying to track you down. If they can find the mark, the other guys can too. Whatever you did, you did it good. Forest couldn't understand a covert relo. He was dying to find out, and was even angry about it. That's probably another reason he went nuts."
The limo came for us and we went to the Park Place to enjoy a hell of a nice Italian dinner. John was impressed with the service and the food. He said, "No wonder the place is packed. I'll come out here whenever I'm in Tampa. This is really good."
At home, we relaxed with a drink, then we all went to bed. Bobby and I were too worn out to even do much more than some loving kisses. During the night, I felt her lips on me. She continued until I gave her my all. She came up and kissed me, saying, "I love you, Baby, I really do."
I woke to kisses. My magnificent Bobby was loving on me. She pulled me on top of her and said, "Put that thing in me and make me yours this morning."
Oh boy, when you climb on Bobby, it's "Hi Ho Silver." Or maybe it's all Zorro with a thrust and parry. Whatever it is, it's great. Bobby will love you to within an inch of your collapsing. Then love you some more. Mornings are wonderful in her arms.
We were holding each other close, softly kissing, enjoying the afterglow of our combustion. She said, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you have to get up. We have company and you have to give the briefing this morning."
"Ohhh Nooo."
"Yep, I heard last night that you're acting station chief."
"Okay, okay, I'm getting up. Come on, I'll race you to the pool and beat your butt."
I was on the way through the door when Bobby caught me, "Suits with company here."
"Ahh shoot."
I put on my suit and we raced up and down the pool for over twenty minutes. I finally went to the side and was gasping for air. Bobby came up beside me and said, "You damn near made me say uncle. Shit, I didn't think you'd ever quit."
As we got out of the pool, John was standing in his shorts smiling. "That was one hell of a work out. I'm surprised one of you didn't pass out and drown."
Bobby said, "We do that every morning and usually after our workouts. It's great cardio. Do some laps while we shower and get dressed. We'll have breakfast in twenty to thirty minutes."
We left John trying to keep his shorts on as he swam laps.
We were in and out of the shower fast and dressed just as fast. We started the bacon and the biscuits, then called the duty guys to come in. I made some gravy, and when John came in, we slid a plate under his nose with fried potatoes, bacon, eggs, biscuits, and gravy.
"No wonder you guys work out so hard, with food like this, you need to."
One of the duty guys said, "This is the perk for having to pull duty out here. We love breakfast out here. Of course, when they're home, the other meals aren't bad either."
"Nice to have happy deputies," John said. "We better hustle so you can make up a schedule for today."
"Already done. I linked to the server and set up the schedule from the requests we have. I have all the air marshal jobs taken care of, the safe house duty, the court house duty, and of course, we're doing a turn at the hospital for some dignitaries that are there. We have one investigation in progress that's stagnant. I'll look into it, and a billion reports to get in. I saw that our D.C. chief is in town for some kind of flap created by none other than our ex-station chief. Perhaps it will be swept under the rug if I talk nice."
"Nope, you have to find his file and show up for the meeting with me. If we're wrong, we say so and offer to kiss their ass. If we're right, we get them to do it for us. Couldn't you pull that up on the station server?"
"It's under "classified" so I don't know what it's about."
John went to his room and came back with a fat file. "Read it and weep."
I jammed through the fifty pages of bullshit that was mostly bitching by our deceased station chief. I said, "Why don't I go downstairs and just tell them that we were wrong. After yesterday, they should know our true attitude. I made them into the lead investigators because it was their jurisdiction. I handled the confusion and gave it back to them. When the shit hit the fan, I took over then gave it back to them again. I'll bet the Bureau chief will shake our hands and say thanks."
John smiled and said, "If he does, I'm buyin' early."
We went into the office in the armored car. At least that's what I called the Suburban. John thought it funny that I let Bobby drive. I told him that we started out this way so I could shoot our way out of the subdivision. He didn't think that was funny.
We stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a couple of boxes of mixed donuts then hit the garage. At the secure entrance, we showed our badges and swiped our IDs, then rode the elevator to our penthouse. Surprisingly, the mood in the office was pretty good. Every one was a little apprehensive with John there, but they settled down quickly. I hollered that we were holding our briefing in the office as it would be faster and people could make notes at their desks. Sarah brought her chair in, so we were cooking.
I went through the duty stuff and said that we had a stagnant investigation. Did anyone have any ideas on it? Joe Moran, spoke up. He never talks, but he stood up and said, "I've been trying to tell the chief that the legal secretary for the Sturgeon group, stole the file. Since they are entitled to know the evidence and what she swiped was a copy anyway, who cares. We'll just check whether they request the info again when it's time. We have the lady cold on tape, so if we want to arrest her, do so, but like I said." He shrugged his shoulders with his hands up. "We have to provide the evidence and the same information that's in the file.
I looked at Sarah, then back at Joe. If you will write that all down and reference the videotape we have on the theft, Sarah will file it and we will close this one out. Good summary, Joe, good work.
"There was a twx on Sarah's desk. Tell us about it, Sarah."
"We have a pair of long term escapees from Leavenworth heading our way. So far they haven't caused a lot of damage, but we need to get the info out to the agencies."
I asked, "Anyone want to bloodhound on this one?"
Sarg answered, "I know I'm needed on air marshal duty, but I know these two. Let me lead this one and see if I can bring them in."
"Okay, it's a deal, Sarg. You know we're still going to owe you a couple of incident days. Glad you can work with us. Any volunteers for air marshal? Sarah, do we have any more retirees that need the money?"
Everyone just sat there hoping they wouldn't get chosen.
"Sarah, who is up next?" She showed me the list and I smiled. "Bobby, you get to pull Sarg's route today. Enjoy your trip to Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and back home, keep those folks safe."
Bobby rolled her eyes and mouthed, "I'll get you later."
I looked over the group and said, "I'm in charge because of a regrettable incident. All of our people are exonerated. I'm sorry if any of you had to be involved. We're men, let's act like men. Be careful and let's keep the public safe."
Everyone went about their business and John went in the chief's office and sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. I went and got two coffees, two donuts, and went in and sat next to John. I gave him his coffee and his donut and we enjoyed both. When it was time I said, "If you want, I'll take care of the problem downstairs by myself."
John said, "Thank you, but I was specifically requested to be here for this one. Let's go."
We walked into the Bureau to receive a round of applause. The little girl agent, Jan, was whistling and cheering. John asked, "What's this about?"
An agent said, "Your man hit a shooter a hundred yards away with handgun. Not only that, but he was using hollow points. One round, one hit, that's worth some applause," and he started clapping again.
I held up my hands, and when the noise died down, I said, "It was a totally lucky shot." John and I were hooted and hollered out of the room into the conference room.
The Bureau station chief was there, along with the Bureau's lead attorney and an agent.
We sat down and asked them to proceed.
The Bureau chief described the incident where the agent was confronted with an armed bank robber coming out of the bank with a hostage. The agent was acting as the sniper and took an available shot. The robber perished and the hostage lived without injury, but our former station chief cited the agent for not warning him first or offering an opportunity to surrender.
The attorney cited FBI statute after statute that essentially said "When necessary, an agent should use deadly force to protect innocent civilians." It was assumed that's what he did.
The attorney said, "It is regrettable your former station chief is not here to defend your position. Do you wish to comment on these proceedings?"
I held my hand up so John wouldn't have to say anything. I asked the agent's name. Before he answered I said, I know you, you're agent Parmour. In my opinion, Agent Parmour, I believe you should be commended for first complying with your directives, and second, most importantly, that you hit your target without any collateral damage. I have no idea why we're here, but it's nice to see you all. If you're a mind too, I'll stand for coffee and a snack across the street. I stood up and shook the agent's hand and motioned for all of them to follow me.
We walked over to the hotel restaurant and had coffee and a Danish. Nothing more was mentioned about the incident. After the meeting, John and I did our incident reports. We had all of the statements attached. I made up a commendation for Sarg for him to be recognized for his bravery and response in the face of imminent danger. John signed the commendation and I gave it to Sarah so she could have it framed.
I called Sarah in so she could give me her key to Forest's desk and his PC password. Sarah said, "Forest had all the keys and did not give me his password."
"Can you call Jenkins in the Bureau and ask him to come bust a password. Let me get the keys from his pocket stuff from yesterday. I'm sure it's on his key chain. The crime scene tech gave me the keys and one was for the desk. When I opened the desk, the second one was right there, so I gave it to Sarah as was procedure.
Jenkins came up and punched in a bunch of keystrokes then said, "What kind of password do you want. I said dryly, password in lower case would be fine. The tech smiled and put in the info and left. We inventoried enough drugs in Forest's desk to keep him high for weeks. His PC files were near blank. There was only the mandatory reports, no logs, no diary, no personnel notes, nothing.
John said, "Have you checked out a new piece yet?"
"Not yet, I guess I should get one. We walked over to the storeroom where I put the code in for the cabinet. I pulled a box out and scanned the number into the computer, then read the number again to confirm it. I picked up a box of shells and four magazines. We went back to the office where I said, "Let's go downstairs to make sure this thing shoots straight. The last new one had to have a new barrel before it worked properly.
Downstairs, I loaded four magazines with range reloads, put on the earmuffs, and fired a full magazine. Everything was going where it should.
I called for a two magazine decision, and went through both magazines with only a single miss, and all good decisions. The range guy wanted me to do a combat decision series. John said he had never watched a combat demo. I loaded three more magazines, laid all four of them out with the unloaded weapon. The range officer yelled "Time," and I went through the four magazines, rapidly moving around in the different positions, then yelled "Done." The officer said, "You beat the babe's time today. You scored pretty damned good too, with only a single miss. That was a ninety-six in sixty-four seconds flat. I watched as you pulled from target to target. That was a really good round. You really have to come down and shoot with Jan. She'll love ya for it, even if she doesn't like guys."
"We'll see" I said as I tore the weapon down and cleaned it, then loaded the magazines with regular rounds, not hollow points. I slid a magazine home, chambered a round, and holstered the gun.
John said, "When I'm with you, I know I'm safe. That was some good shooting. Do you practice a lot?"
"I try to do the three times a week thing like it's called for. I don't usually miss practice unless I'm out on a job. I make Bobby do hers now too. She's pretty good."
"So you feel it's important for a marshal to be a good shot? Good with his weapon?"
"Oh yes, John, especially with the decision course. That's how we keep from having collateral damage. An agent good with his weapon won't use it when he doesn't need to. When he needs to, he will make it count."
"Those are all good answers, Chuck. I have to think about this a little, Chuck. I'm conflicted. I want you as station chief, but I need you in the field for shit like you just did. There are not many guys I can give jobs like that to." "I'll let you know."
"I'll do whatever job you want, John. I'll do both if that's what it takes."
John smiled and said, "I can't send a station chief out on a mission that he may not come back on."
"You knew that if you sent me out with Bobby, no one would get within a mile of the guest. I know how sneaky you are."
"Hey, I gave you plenty of money to have a good time with."
"You gave me exactly what the service estimates it takes to relocate a witness. They are right, that's about how much it costs. I had to give the guy a stake. But he's taken care of, John. Your best won't find him."
I drew a map of a building and put an X on it. I wrote the address down from memory and handed it to John.
"We've searched that building. The truck's not there."
"Fly there right now, take a taxi and look behind those giant furnaces. The truck will be right there. A little dusty but the keys are in the ignition, ready to go. I even left gas in it."
"I'll fax this to that office and let them get it. I'll call you. Can you get me a ride to the airport?"
"I'll take you, the office is running straight out, Sarah is in position, we're under control."
"You take this station chief job too lightly. You're supposed to be worried, scared, mad."
"Naw, I'll just let the guys do what they do best. That's protecting government property and citizens."
I put John on a plane, hoping he would find someone to take over for me. This station chief stuff could become work.
Back at the office, I sat at Sarah's desk and asked if there was a manual for the Station Chief's responsibilities. She pulled a binder from her cabinet and pulled out a video. "These two will cover it. Remember to take the quizzes."
I studied the manual for the rest of the afternoon, making notes as I went. I needed to set up a daily schedule with the different items to be done each day. If I followed the book and used common sense, I should be able to handle the job,
It took me till six to make up the daily schedules. I was going to work on some other stuff when Sarah came in and said, "Will you leave already? I want to go home. I can't leave till you leave. It's a rule."
"I didn't see it anywhere?"
"It's my rule. Your lady is already home and has called. Hit the bricks, Bud."
I went out to the garage to get the truck, but remembered that Bobby had it. I was going to walk back over to the office for a car when I saw Hank. "Hey Hank, you have something you want me to test drive?"
"What's the matter you forget to check out a car?"
"Something like that."
"Drive this Dodge. It's supposed to be fixed to run good. Make it do cartwheels and let me know."
I did burn some rubber on the way home, even putting the car through some four wheel skids and powered out of them. The car ran pretty well. The only problem was that it was trying to overheat by the time I got home. I called Hank and told him about the car and he said, "Great, now I know what the problem is. Thanks, Chief." He hung up.
Bobby came and gave a me hug that I needed after the day we just had. She told me how she was seated with a very wide woman in the back of the plane. "I don't fit in those coach class seats well anyway, and if you put a four foot plus wide babe next to me, it's a mess. I sat on the jump seat back by the restroom all day. That's a board, with some vinyl covering, that's not very comfortable. I know you had to give me the route, but I hope my name doesn't come too quickly again.
"What we need are more senior guys that don't mind air marshal duty, I said, in response the problem. "Let's put an ad in the U.S. Marshal News. Since it's online, we might get a response right away. Let's check to see how to do it.
We pulled up the site and clicked on advertising. There was a tab for offices looking for people. We made a decent looking ad in seconds.
Enjoy Air Marshal Duty?
Enjoy warm winters?
Transfer to Tampa, Fl
No State Income Tax
A great place to live
Five lines were free, so that should be a start. There was a tab for retirement planning. It had all kinds of ads for the usual stuff like we'll take your hundred dollars of savings and turn it into a ten dollar a week paycheck for life. We put in:
Florida Retirement - Earn while you enjoy warm winters; golf and fish all year. Low priced housing — No state income tax — Plenty of part time air marshal work. Transfer to the Tampa office to find your place in the sun while positions last.
We typed it in, refreshed the page and our ad was in there. We went back to the regular classifieds and our ad was there. Bobby and I looked at each other and did a high five. This might work. We checked through the site and found four more areas where we could promote our office. Bobby wanted to put in "Under New Management" but I didn't think it would be appropriate, considering what had happened.
We called the teams to see if they had eaten already and they had. None were staying the night, so we ate leftover pot roast, with carrots and potatoes, filling it in with a can of string beans. It was quick and good. Then we did the unthinkable by spending an hour in the gym. I even did thirty minutes on the dreaded treadmill.
Instead of the pool, we stripped down and sat in the hot tub a while. Just long enough to get the kinks out and enjoy each other's company.
Drying off, and following a delicious ass to bed, put naughty ideas in my head and Bobby was easy to convince that we needed a little more exercise. I spent a long time enjoying her, trying to kiss every square inch of her magnificence. That sort of treatment usually results in an energetic romp that puts us right to sleep.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious