Chuck
Sam and I had just come up to our rooms and I had just entered mine. Something was spooking me and somehow, I felt as if I was not alone.
Standing motionless, I listened and looked around. This was the third floor, so the small balcony outside the window was not an exit. I concentrated on what I felt and quietly pulled my Glock, not making any fast movements. The only area of the room I couldn't see from where I stood was just on the other side of the bathroom, where the bed was, and inside the bathroom, where the stool was. Using the room mirror across from the bed, I could not see anything there. I leaned into the bathroom and saw that the shower curtain was pulled across the tub. Not wanting to deal with the possibility of someone hiding behind the curtain yet, I quietly shut the bathroom door.
Taking a couple steps across the room, I slowly pulled the curtain back to look out on the balcony. I tested the door and it was locked from the inside. I checked to see how much room there was under the bed and found it too small for anyone to hide there.
Going back to the bathroom, I slowly opened the door, and using a hanger from the closet area, I pushed the curtain back while pointing my Glock. No one was there.
Strange, I still felt like someone was there. Sam and I had gotten connecting rooms, so I knocked on the door on my side and opened it. Sam opened his side and said, "Man, it's weird, I felt like someone was in my room. I looked everywhere. Even the door to the balcony is locked from the inside."
I said, "How about us going back downstairs for a drink. We'll have a nightcap and come back to bed."
Sam caught on to what I wanted and we left the room. Outside in the hallway, we kept quiet until we were in the lobby. I said, "I'm calling the Bureau for a tracking team. There has to be something in the room to give us both the heebie jeebies. That's really strange, I would have sworn there was someone there. It was almost like I could smell him."
Sam and I looked at each other and we took off through the stairway door, running up the stairs. Sam was faster than I was, and was through the third floor door, heading toward our rooms with his Glock drawn, before I exited the staircase. Just as we near our rooms, my door opened and a guy peeked out the door. Sam hollered and the door slammed shut. Sam used his card on his door and I tried to open my door. As Sam rushed into his room, I heard a door slam shut then a loud crash as Sam obviously smashed the door down. My door opened again and two guys tried to run out. I was standing there with my Glock locked onto them. They looked around quickly trying to find a way out but Sam was behind them. I said, "Both of you, put your hands straight up over your head. Hold them high. If you know me, you know I'll shoot. Sam, get the set of shackles from the front pocket of my bag."
I kept my Glock on the two as they stood in the hallway. I moved from between them and the elevator and staircase, to the other side of them to give me a better view.
"Sam, watch them. I'll cuff them and shake them down. Watch close to make sure they don't try anything."
I chained up both men then pushed them into my room. I told Sam, "They may have someone watching for them, so chain up the two doors right now and let me get some Bureau people up here."
When I emptied the pockets of the first guy, I knew I was dealing with professionals. He didn't have anything but a driver's license and credit card. No other identifying cards. He didn't have a gun, but he did have a pocket full of bugs and cameras. His small tool kit contained the minimum of tools and several small pieces of double sided tape, along with a tube of Super Glue.
The second guy didn't have any bugs and cameras, but did have a toolkit and two guns, one on his ankle and one at his waist. I wonder why he didn't have one out when they were trying to get away. He also only had a driver's license and a credit card.
I asked Sam, "How about we take them out the back door and just dump them in the dumpster. If we don't do the whole thing right now, we won't get much sleep."
Sam nodded, "I'm with you, Boss, should we question them a little first?"
"Why bother, Sam, they're not gonna tell us anything. No one will really miss them and if we do it now, maybe their boss will come looking for them. If we have to miss some sleep, we should get something out of it."
The guy that didn't have a gun was acting nervous. I said to him, "If you have something you want to contribute to this conversation, speak up."
The other guy said, "Keep your mouth shut, don't say anything. It'll be a lot worse if you say something. You'll be next if you say anything."
"Next what?" I asked. "Next to go into the dumpster?
"Sam, get some of those rubber gloves from my suitcase. The same pocket the chains were in." When he was digging in the pocket, I said, "Bring that big Kbar with you. We'll need to cut them up a little for the rats to get at them."
Sam came back with the rubber gloves and the Kbar. This had both of the men staring with big eyes. The guy who had the guns tried to kick at Sam, but had forgotten he was shackled and fell on his face. This totally unhinged the other guy. He started sobbing, "I'm not a killer like he is, I'm not like that. They only hired me to bug the rooms, that's all."
I asked, "How do you know he's a killer?"
"I saw him do a guy that was one of the whistleblowers. The others think he was guilty of something and ran. I know where he's buried."
"Shut the fuck up, you dumb wimp. If I don't kill you, someone else will, now shut up."
Sam put his foot on the guy's back and asked him, "And how are you planning on killing this guy." Sam looked down at the guy and said, "You are dead meat, Buddy. I'd say your own will do you in anyway, so we could be doing you and them a favor."
Using my cell, I called the local Bureau office. I told them that I had one prisoner and one dead guy. They needed to send a cleanup crew to my room.
The guy on the floor squirmed under the weight Sam was applying to his back, "You can't just kill me. Henry will tell them you did me."
Sam asked, "Who's Henry. This other guy could expire waiting for the cleanup crew."
The other chained man said, "Please, don't kill me, I'll tell you what you need to know. I know all of the people that are involved in this. Please don't kill me."
Every time the guy on the floor began to say something, Sam pushed hard on his back to keep him quiet.
When there was a knock on the door, Sam and I both stiffened. I motioned for him to stand behind the wall of the bathroom and watch the door through the mirror. I moved to the side of the door and yelled, "Who is it?"
Thump, thump, thump, thump. Four silenced rounds came through the door with one of them catching the still standing electronics tech in the arm. He yelled and fell to the floor. The door then burst open, and two men holding short combat rifles with noise suppressors on them, began coming in. I didn't hesitate and began firing at the two men's heads.
Sam came around the wall, but the two men were already falling by then. I motioned Sam back and peeked around the doorway from a low angle looking in both directions. No one else was there.
At that moment, the door to the stairwell burst open and two deputies came through with their guns drawn. When they saw me holding my Glock on them, they stopped and put their hands up yelling, "We're Deputy Marshals, don't shoot."
Four more men came through the stairwell door with guns drawn and stopped when they saw the first two with their hands up. The first through the door this time yelled, "FBI, put your weapon down."
I ducked back into the door and yelled back, "Prove it, all of you haul your badges and ID out and stand where I can see you."
The man said, "Who the fuck are you? I told you we're the FBI and you better throw your weapon out and or you'll find out who we are."
Bud Anderson came running from down the hall where another stairway was. He yelled, "Stop, don't start shooting. That's Chuck Johnson's room. He'll take you all on if try something."
I could hear the noise of Bud's running stop and he said as if he were breathing hard, "Chuck, hold your fire, I think I know all these guys. Okay, all of you pull your IDs for me to check. You two deputies, help me out. Check these guys for me."
That's when things went sour. There was the sound of a handgun going off, then several more shots. I looked around and saw Bud on the floor firing from on his back. Both of the other two deputies were down, but all but one of the supposed FBI men were down. Just as the man was bringing his pistol to bear on Bud, I shot him twice in the body, then remembering, put one in the head as he was slammed into the wall from the first two rounds.
Bud rolled off the floor, clutching his chest, and crawled to one of the deputies. I ran out into the hall and kicked the guns away from the downed supposed FBI men, seeing that all had head wounds, then knelt beside the other deputy. He was groaning, but alive. He had taken a round in his thigh that was bleeding pretty well. I ripped open his pants to see a long rip across the outer skin. I finished ripping his pants up and used it to wrap the wound until he could get medical treatment.
I asked Bud, "You okay? Where's Jim?"
Bud looked at me and said, "I'm okay. Being hit in the chest at that range hurts like hell. This guy is just knocked out. He'll be okay. It doesn't look like he has any more wounds."
I asked again, "Where's Jim?"
"Oh yeah, he's downstairs holding a couple of guys that said they were FBI, but no one knew them, so we got the drop on them and he's holding them, along with a couple of real agents. This place is crawling with all kinds of law, along with some that are trying to act like they are too."
Bud produced a tactical radio and called, "Jim, when the cleanup crew gets here, have them come to the third floor. You might want to turn those guys over to whoever you have there and come up. Chuck has a mess up here."
I heard the radio crackle, "I'll be right up. We have a dozen agents and deputies here right now."
Nightfox stuck his head out of the door and said, "I got a guy with an arm wound in here. Make sure someone calls for a medic."
Bud used his radio and contacted someone downstairs and asked them to call for paramedics and to have them come to the third floor. While he was doing that, the deputy that had been knocked unconscious was waking up. He looked around and said, "Who do I have to thank for keeping me alive?"
Bud and I pointed at each other, making the guy smile. "Who cares, thank you both? I thought those guys were the real deal when they followed us up from the lobby. What the fuck is going on here anyway? What's the big deal about a couple of companies fighting over a government bid?"
Bud said, "The bids in question are probably worth several billion dollars. There are people who will kill for a lot less than that."
When the bell from the elevator dinged, I was kneeling, pointing my Glock at the opening door. Two paramedics, four guys in white coveralls with FBI CSI logos, and two guys in suits, came out of the doors but stopped as they saw me holding my weapon on them. One guy in a suit said while pulling his badge case, "FBI, CSI guys, and a couple of paramedics you ordered."
I waved them to come and said, "Two wounded, one here and the other in my room. You CSI guys need to call for help. I need an electronics guy to checkout every room we're occupying right now. That needs to be done right now. You agents, get help and close this hotel down. No one leaves, no one else comes in unless they are already registered. You can make a decision on every person that comes in that says they have reservations. Any you let in need to be told that once inside, no one leaves until we're done clearing this place."
Jim Blake came through the stairwell door. He looked around and pointed to the front of Bud's sport coat, "Hey Dude, you have moths working on your jacket."
"Forty-five caliber moths," Bud answered. "Had to use some heavy duty bug spray to get rid of them too."
"You alright, Bro?" Jim asked looking concerned.
"I'll have to see if I have any cracked ribs, but I'm okay."
I looked into the room to see that Sam had the electronics guy sitting on the bed and the guy who had the guns was sitting in a chair. I said to the electronics guy, "Henry, a paramedic will look at your arm in a couple of minutes. There will be an FBI agent here soon to take you to a lock up. I suggest you make a statement about everything you know as soon as you're downtown. That means everything, Henry. The agents will mark your statements that you were trying to help the investigation. It should go easier on you."
The other guy was slumped in the seat. I said, "You were right. Someone was going to take care of you. They almost made it too. Want to tell me how many guys there are for us to catch or kill? You might live a few minutes longer that way."
The man looked up at me and just shook his head. I could see he was ready to crack. If we were to get him in an interrogation room quick, he would be telling a good story.
I stepped out the door and motioned to Jim. When he came to me, I asked, "Do you know these guys well enough to get this guy into an interrogation room real quick? He's ready to talk and I think a new face asking him will push him over."
"No problem, Boss. We're down with the Bureau and the Marshal Service here. They don't have a huge office, but they do have some decent facilities. I'll get it started and be right back."
I had to ask to find out, so I asked Henry, the electronics tech, "Where were you hiding when I came in before? I felt you in here, but didn't see you. Where were you?"
The man looked up at me, then back at the chair the other man was sitting in. The chair was sitting in the corner of the room with very little space behind it. He said, "I used that, and he probably used the same place in the other room."
I would never let a chair hide a space in a hotel room again. Thinking I could make some of our work easier, "How many bugs and cameras did you put in here?"
The man looked up at me and said, "There are four bugs and three cameras in each room."
"Where do you receive the transmission?"
The man colored, not blushing, but you could tell he was really uncomfortable. He was looking away from me so I grabbed his face, "Where, where do you send the transmissions?"
In a voice that I almost missed, he said, "Four twenty-two."
I said to Nightfox, "Stay here and watch them."
Moving out of the room, I saw that two deputies were helping the CSI men and said, "Come with me, hurry."
I went through the stairwell door and quickly went up the two short flights of stairs. Thinking of where room four twenty-two would be, I knew to turn right out of the door as it would be one door farther down the hall than my door had been. As we came out of the stairwell door, the door to room four twenty-two was opening. I had my Glock out and was plastered against the wall. The two deputies saw me, pulled their weapons, and snuggled against the other wall.
A head poked out and looked around but didn't see us against the wall. Two guys came out of the room, each carrying a couple of cases. I yelled, "Stop right where you are. You are under arrest."
The two men stopped, but didn't drop the cases. One of the deputies asked, "Can I shoot them now?"
The cases dropped and both men put their hands up. One yelled, "Don't shoot, we're not armed. Stop, don't shoot."
One of the deputies was clearing the room while the other one put the two men against the wall and began shaking them down. The two deputies cuffed the two before having them sit down with their backs against the wall.
I asked the two, "When you saw everything happening in my room, why didn't you leave then? Why did you wait?"
One of the men said, "We called in and they said to stay as we wouldn't get caught. When we thought Henry told you, we decided to leave anyway."
"How many rooms are you monitoring?" I asked this, thinking they wouldn't tell me.
The other guy said, "Every room the law is staying in."
One of my deputies asked, "How did you know who was law enforcement?"
The two men looked at each other and the one shrugged his shoulders. The other said, "There are a couple of desk guys that are in on it. They are paid to tell us. When we have out of town visitors, people from other companies, or from DC and the Pentagon, we do their rooms too. It's our job."
I asked, "What do you do with the video and voice recordings?"
"We give them to our boss. He's in charge of security for Martinson. The other guy who used to be in charge is in trouble down in Tampa right now. They hired a couple of toughs to do some work down there and all of them got caught."
"How many people are in the security department for Martinson?" One of the deputies asked.
"A couple of hundred. The division we call "close security" is only about fifty. We do the secret stuff."
The man's partner elbowed the other. The man who had been speaking said, "What's the diff. They got us cold, Man. I'm not taking any heat for those idiots; you know how I feel about some of the shit they do."
The other man just looked at him then us and hung his head. One of the deputies said, "You'll both get a chance to talk all you want in just a few minutes. What's the name of your current boss out at Martinson?"
The talkative man said, "Kurt North. His telephone number is on my cell if you need it."
I asked, "Where would this Kurt North be right now?"
"He might be home, but he's probably in the office as we have so many men out here tonight. He's probably waiting by his phone for an update."
I asked the deputies, "Use your radio and get either Bureau people or deputies out to Martinson to arrest Kurt North. Don't let him get away and don't let him destroy any evidence in his office."
"Watch these guys and I'll have a couple of men come up to help you get these guys downstairs. Keep a lookout; I don't know how many more bad guys are around right now. Stay in the hall though, so you're not surprised."
I used the stairs to go to the third floor. An older, heavier set man was directing traffic while another guy who looked to also be in charge was by the elevator. As soon as I stepped out of the stairwell, the older, heavier set guy said, "Chuck Johnson. I should have known you were involved with bodies all over the place."
"Hey, Ned, how are you. I didn't know you were in Omaha."
The big man said, "The Bureau got tired of me under the Director's foot and gave me this place to retire. The Director didn't tell me you were coming, but I should have figured on it." He turned toward the elevators and hollered, "Hey, Frank, come here and meet your boss, or at least one of them." Ned turned back to me and said, "This is Frank Sterling, the Marshal Service Station Chief."
Frank said, "We know each other. We met in Salt Lake City when he was working on a case up there. How're you doing, Chuck?"
I said, "We have a couple of electronics guys upstairs with a couple of deputies. I had them call into the station to have some of Ned's guys go out to Martinson and apprehend a guy called Kurt North, the current head of security."
Ned said, "Yeah, North is the new guy out there. The other guy got into some kind of problem down south. I don't know exactly what, but it was in Tampa. You know anything about that, Chuck?"
"We have a lot to discuss, Ned. Looks like none of us are going to get a lot of sleep tonight so we'll probably have time to tell it. Ned, check on your men to make sure they are on their way to Martinson."
Ned used his cell phone and was talking into it as he was using his Blackberry, writing a note to someone. Frank talked to a couple of deputies and told them to go help the deputies on the fourth floor to get the prisoners down town to be interrogated.
It was after one in the morning before most of mess was cleaned up. Deputies and agents had gone from the top floor working their way down to clear floors of anyone not in a room. The orders were to check and search everyone before they left the hotel in the morning. The local and state police had been called to help secure the hotel.
I had alerted the special prosecutor's staff about what had happened and what was being done to keep the investigation secure. Brad Henry, their leader, woke up his people and had them go to the federal building to witness interrogations. The man was doing a good job of keeping everything right.
Nightfox came up to me and said, "You know, this has been a long day already. Why do I have the feeling it's going to be a lot longer?"
I said, "Crash if you want, but I should go downtown for the questioning. We'll both have a shitload of reports to file. Did you even fire your weapon?"
"No need, you cleaned up the doorway, and you were the only one able to help with the hall stuff. I'm just along to watch your back and duck. I'll stay with you, though. That way I can sleep when you do."
We had a deputy take us to the combined federal offices downtown. The building housed all of the branches, including the federal courts. Inside the FBI offices, we were shown where the interrogation rooms were. The electronics tech was in one, the armed guy was in another, and the two electronic techs that had come from the fourth floor room were together in a third. While we were listening to the two guys talking rapidly of what they knew, a man was brought into the fourth interrogation room and shackled to the table. An FBI agent came up to us and said, "That's Kurt North. We caught him as he was getting into his car out at Martinson. We have a whole box of CDs the guy was trying to take from there."
I smiled and said, "Let me speak to the guy for a few minutes. He may talk real fast if I do. I'll Mirandize him again before I start, that way it will be on tape."
Sam came with me when we went into the room. I pulled my card from my badge wallet and told Mr. North that he was under arrest then read him his rights. After asking him and him confirming he understood his rights, I said, "I was the man who captured your former boss and the two goons down in Tampa. I have hours and hours of video confessions from them including some that included your name. Would you like to start at the beginning and tell me your side of this? They seem to think a lot of the activities are your idea."
"No way, I'm not the one who set all this up. I'm not the one who's hired all these guys and dressed them up like FBI. No way. I'm not going down for that. I'll tell you. Get someone to record this and I'll tell you."
I smiled and stepped out of the room and asked if they had a portable recording unit. They did and handed me a large briefcase. Back in the room I opened the briefcase and assembled the camera and plugged in the recording unit. When the setup was complete, I said, "I've read you your rights and you understand that what you will tell me can and will be used against you?"
"I understand my rights. I'm not the person that set all this up. Carter Martinson, the grandson of the company's founder, started all this stuff. He wasn't content to get his share of business. He wanted it all and wanted to buy out our competitors. He figured he could steal technology from whomever he wanted. When he couldn't get any of us regular guys to do it, he began hiring some rough guys to do the dirty work. I think he even hired a guy to off the man who tried to tell the FBI what was going on. Get me some paper and I'll list the names of all the out of town men Carter calls his specialists."
The man talked constantly for nearly two hours while filling out page after page of names of men and what they were hired to do. He finished up saying, "I didn't authorize one person being hurt or tell anyone to steal anything from anyone. I was running with those video and voice recordings because they were in my office. I think those will even tell you I'm not guilty of anything."
I told Kurt, "For right now, you will be held in the federal lockup. You should be in court tomorrow and the judge may allow you out on bail. Do yourself a favor and keep a low profile. I'm not saying to quit your job at Martinson, but don't let this Carter guy know where you are."
I was listening to what Kurt had been thinking and knew he was telling the truth. The man was terrified and ashamed to have been involved in the recent dealings.
Ned came into the room with an agent. The agent led Kurt out and Ned said, "Good job, Chuck. That is enough information for me to have agents out at Carter Martinson's place to arrest him right now. I'm sure he won't be as cooperative, but we have him named by every one of the men we've captured. The man won't see freedom ever again unless he skips bail or escapes."
I said, "Make sure the prosecutors ask to keep the guy in jail as he definitely would be a flight risk. His company does export to a lot of foreign governments."
"That's being done. Brad has his people making out briefs right now to get ready for court. He's got a good crew for this. I'm surprised Justice has sent us four competent people at the same time. They are all pretty good people."
I looked at my watch and said, "Nightfox and I are going back to the hotel for a couple of hours sleep. You should do the same. Tell your people to call me if something comes up that I need to know about."
Sam and I were taken back to the hotel. The CSI team leader said our rooms had been cleared, so we wouldn't be bothered. He said, "These guys had a couple million in gadgets installed. Some of the units installed out here are foreign. We'll have to take them apart to see if we can find out where they're from."
Another CSI agent said, "The recording equipment is all German and Russian. The stuff has been modified to receive from the bugs. The unique part is that each recording device can receive from sixty-four devices at once. Very unique equipment."
I told Sam, "It's four thirty right now. Let's sleep till seven then go back downtown to do our reports. We can use their equipment to get it done right away. We'll also be able to use some of the other reports for reference."
I dropped my pants and took off my shirt and lay on the bed.
Editing: Primary Pepere'
Continuity Sagacious
Helicopter and Legal "Rotorhead"
Special last time through: Deenara2000