Chapter 29

My morning began the way I liked it by waking up early and running. Janet wanted to run with me and was with me the entire time. She was talking a lot, asking about how Chuck handled his women’s parents, how they handled the babies’ names, and on and on. I told her, “Go see them. Either that or talk to them when you’re all at the patio. You know how sweet they all are and will gladly talk to you. I’ll bet they’ll tell you some good stories.”

That seemed to satisfy her, and we continued to run the rest of the way back to the patio. We were still early, and had a mug of coffee with Steve before he turned the lights on. Steve said, “Your prisoner transport was a really good icebreaker with the new Transportation Administration people. They won’t use their own aircraft when there’s possible damage to a plane, and then hire folks like us because they think we’re unsuspecting. Well, we aren’t and we protect our property. All prisoners will be chained like those yesterday when we transport them. I think that’s a perfect method to get the job done.”

Steve told me, “Chuck is planning to have you in his office today. I don’t think you’re going anywhere, but be ready. Chuck isn’t all that readable sometimes.”

I smiled as I thought toward Chuck. He was busy with his women and children. I could feel how happy he was helping with diapers and clothing as he handled each of his kids. Back there in the corner of his thinking was what we needed to do today. This was a capture that the men from St. Pete had flubbed twice. Chuck was determined to get the men to complete this open warrant today.

I was wearing a suit hoping to complement Chuck in looking good. He came to the patio driving his Impala, and had filled the front seat with Lisa and four babies, and the back seat with Taiying and Sing, two boy toddlers, and two babies.

I ran out to assist the women to get the little ones into the patio and on into the house when he pulled up. The two toddlers ran for the patio door and had it open and were inside before I could take two babies from Lisa.

Chuck laughed and said, “I know that was very unsafe, but I figured it wouldn’t be a big deal for a half a mile. We need to use this car, so I thought it would save a trip.

The other ladies drove up in long carts, and told the toddlers that they could get out. There was complete bedlam as the rest of the toddlers streamed into the patio and ran from adult to adult to say good morning. Chuck was standing by me when he had drawn a mug of coffee, and said, “Go change into something close to what I’m wearing. There’s no sense in ruining good clothes on a bunch of dirt bags like we’re going after. Change and we’ll head straight to the rendezvous in St. Pete. There are people from the FBI, Pinellas County, and St. Petersburg involved. These guys are ghosts if they get away this time.”

We grabbed some sandwiches and left. Chuck began explaining what had been planned, and what he was going to do to change the plan to foil any planned escape from our net. Chuck said the Pinellas County detectives found the men and have the location staked out to keep them there. It was reported that the wanted men had planted cars in the neighborhood to use as a backup escape route as soon as our plan was announced. Deputy U.S. Marshals went to each car and disabled them so that was one less escape path.

Our plan was to have Deputy Marshals and the FBI close in and be obvious about their locations. The men we were after weren’t known to be shooters, but you never know when you have someone cornered. Chuck made sure that I had my armor on, and then said, “We’re going to screw all the plans up by driving a prisoner van right up to the house. You and I are going to go up to the house, rattling chains and hollering for the men inside to come out and save us all a lot of time.”

“That’s a little risky, isn’t it, Chuck?”

The boss man said, “It is, but we’re going to have snipers all over to make sure none of them start shooting. I think this will work with men who don’t want the needle.”

We met with the Feds’ team leader, and had his people start bringing the other law enforcement people in about ten feet at a time to be sure that they didn’t miss someone already out of the house and trying to get away.

Chuck had me drive the van up to the house and open the back doors wide. I grabbed at least six sets of chains and started walking toward the house. Chuck was walking that way, holding his badge so that anyone could see that he was a law enforcement officer.

A voice from the house hollered, “We’re not letting you just walk in here to get us. You know that we’re armed and we don’t want to go to jail.”

Chuck looked at me as we stood about ten feet from the front door. He asked me, “What should I tell them? Should we remind them that they will get the Federal or the State needle if they shoot at us? They’re dead either way. They probably only have ten years or so against them right now. They’re dead meat if a gun goes off.”

I hollered, “In case you didn’t hear us, we’re offering you a choice between ten years or being dead. Please note that we haven’t shown a weapon yet, so we really don’t want to kill you. Come on, make up your minds. You can’t get out and run. All your backup cars are disabled and all your exits are covered by people with guns. Be smart and come on out.”

The front door of the house opened and while my heart was dancing in my chest, a face appeared with one hand holding the door and one hand up in the air. He half turned and said, “Don’t be stupid. We can all do the time and be out in ten. Come with me. I have the door, come on out.”

An amazing thing happened. Six men came from the house followed by two women. We didn’t expect this. The boss and I quickly chained the six men, and had waved some of our men forward to cuff the women.

We searched the men and had one of Jan’s female Agents search the women. One of our men was confirming we had the original four we had been after. We loaded the prisoner van and secured the prisoners when that was complete.

The van was going down the street and I was trying to turn the house search over to St. Pete or Pinellas County. Those two groups said that they had completed what was asked of them and all left the scene. All the supposed weapons were still inside the house, along with any possible contraband. Chuck waved his hand in a circle and hollered, “Gather around, Agents and Deputies.”

Chuck counted the remaining men and women, and said, “There are sixteen agents and Deputies, so we’ll go after this in teams of four. We don’t know what’s in that house, but we will when we finish. All you men with explosive and booby trap experience divide up with at least one on each team. Unload and break down any weapons you find. Find a pillow case or something to put them in. Any major contraband find should be tagged and left where it is to be photographed. I’m apprehensive there may be more men or women, possibly more dangerous than the ones we’ve just hauled off still there. I think this is a distinct possibility with the locals running away. Let’s take this place apart and clean it out.”

I mentioned to Chuck, “Something puzzles me. We didn’t find any cell phones on the men we took into custody. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

Chuck nodded and said, “Very strange. Let’s you and I work together and see if we sense any danger as we move around.”

The first thing we encountered was a trip wire. The man leading the team followed the wire to a pipe bomb inside the door. I told the men, “Let’s get ATF out here to clear the explosives. They are on standby and should be here within a half hour. Surround the house and watch for anyone wanting to leave while we wait.”

I had walked around the house noting the all frame construction probably from the fifties. The house was built up on blocks to be higher than any flooding. The area between the bottom of the house and the ground was covered with woven plastic lattice panels. One panel toward the back of the house was loose, with the grass leading to it pushed down with a lot of scuff marks around the area.

I walked past this panel and found the team assigned for this side. I showed them where the loose panel was and told them to find a hiding place and capture whoever comes out of there. They needed to wait for all the rats to be out before they made their move. One of the Agents said, “It’s just like in the sand. I know what to do.”

I told the others, “Listen to this man’s directives. He’s in charge.”

It took a few minutes to look over the rest of the lattice work to make sure there wasn’t another place that showed any use.

The Bomb Disposal Unit from the ATF showed up and we explained what we had found. The leader said, “We’re going to neutralize any cell activity around here in case they have something wired to a cell-activated detonator. Use your radios if you need to communicate.”

The ATF guys took almost two hours to find three more pipe bombs, and two of them were wired to cell phone detonators. I went into the house and kept checking for a hatch that would get us underneath the house. The food pantry held the answer, as it had a row of shelving that moved when I pulled on it.

Someone fired four rounds through the wall when I moved the shelves. We looked for a broom or mop with a long handle. I made everyone else move away and then pushed the shelving unit out of the way, exposing a small room with a big opening toward the back of the floor. A hand with an automatic weapon came out of the hole and fired four more rounds. I had held up my hand to keep us from returning fire so that they wouldn’t know where we were.

I hollered, “You’re still safe down there until I decide to spray that entire area under there with some automatic rifle fire. Do you want to test me?”

“Fuck you, you want us, come get us. I’m sure you’ll look good on the Coroner’s table.”

I pulled my Glock and lined up to shoot the hand that came out of the hole. The hand and gun came out several times, but didn’t shoot. It was as if he wanted someone to fire so he’d know where to shoot.

The hand came up again, and I shot the gun and hand. My round took the gun from the man’s hand, and it looked like it took a couple of fingers off with it. The screaming was enough to make the three other men under the house make a break for it through the lattice panel opening. The three men threw their weapons down and held their hands up as soon as the four lawmen showed themselves.

Chuck Johnson was standing behind me, and asked, “Are you through playing now? You’re a lot nicer than I am. I would have sprayed under there as soon as that guy shot the first time. I’m not saying that what you did was wrong, but you have a lot more patience than I do.”

I told boss Chuck, “I’ll give the other guy a break when I know that it’s a no-win situation for him. It’s his life if he screws it up.”

Chuck smiled at me, and said, “I think the men have found everything they wanted, including the money from that last bank robbery. We have a pile of cell phones that were taken apart to find the ones they could use for detonators. We can’t torch the place because it’s too close to other houses, and we don’t have any local law enforcement on site. Let me call the Sheriff to see if he wants the place. We’ll decorate it with Fed crime tape and confiscate it if not.”

The man who had been shot was a big heavy man and couldn’t, or wouldn’t, help anyone pull him out. We stripped him of his other toys and cuff keys he had hidden all over him when he was finally out from under the house. The paramedics understood that the subject must be guarded twenty-four/seven until we could get him to our Federal jail. A Deputy left with the prisoner. Our team leader called into the office to set up a guard rotation at the St. Petersburg hospital.

One of our men identified the guy from under the house as being part of a group who had been robbing small branch banks. There were no shooting injuries so far, but the group had shot up the ceilings in several of the banks they held up.

Our men were putting crime scene tape up all around the house and sealing the doors and windows. Someone would come over, appraise the house, and put it up for sale. The best offer within so many days and someone has a new home.

Chuck told me on the way back to Tampa, “Now we’re going to have to run an investigation on the Sheriff’s Department and the St. Pete city PD. I wonder why they didn’t want to stay and help the investigation, unless they suspected bombs, and why didn’t they tell us if they did. We then offered them a free house to sell, and they both turned it down as if it were about to collapse from termites. I’ll bet they find out when a Federal prosecutor brings a double handful of investigators in.”

Chuck said, “We make a pretty good team. I think we’ll double up on some of the older cases and see if the two of us can clean them up. You’re going out West next week, possibly for two weeks, but probably only one. The training you’ll receive is all action training. They already know your field skills and will use them as necessary. They may introduce you to several possible sidekicks who you will work with. Never make your mind up until you’ve seen that person under fire. I know it’s too late to discover they aren’t worth a shit then, but it’s important to not throw someone back who is tough enough to do the job. You’ll need a backup when you pull some of the jobs you’ll get. The southern border is heating up again from what I hear, and that’s always a problem. You have some hotbeds that always have someone who needs to be brought in from Michigan or in upstate New York. The Marshal Service works some of these, but your other new employer is very involved in those who might want to become terrorists. Use our gift to search them out and never leave one of them breathing our precious air here in the U.S.A. You’ll see. These people are very dangerous to everyone.”

Sarah cornered me as soon as I went into the Marshal’s office, and told me, “Write a detailed report of why you didn’t kill that bastard that fired on my people. I hope you had a good reason.”

I was stunned. I thought I had done what was right, but was really hearing it from someone who was very important. I truthfully wrote the report, including my thought process. I felt that I could bring the leader of the group hiding from us into custody by firing at his hand when it extended out of the hole. The idea was to scare him and the other men into attempting an escape via an area that we knew was setup as an escape route. My actions were successful, so we were able to capture the men trying to escape and ensure there were no injuries suffered on our side.

Sarah sat reading my report over and over. She said, “Chuck, that crazy boss of ours, had you confronting those people without a drawn weapon and just rattling chains. All the people you’ve brought in have been a wealth of information about other wanted men in the area so far. You know, you’ve done well and proven yourself to the other Deputies. They’ll follow someone with the size of your balls if you have any action. Now go down to see Cap at the firing range. I’m calling Jan to shoot with you. This should be interesting.”

I made a pass by the coffee pot and found that it was fresh, so I poured myself a Styrofoam cup. I was supposed to tell Chuck if I was going to the range, so I poured another cup and put a lid on it and went down the hall to his office.

His two watchdogs cornered me as soon as I entered, and asked me if I had an appointment. Wanda heard them and hollered, “Let the kid in and I’ll get Chuck off the phone. Meet Chuck Miller, he’s Chuck’s field replacement.”

I could see Chuck on the phone in his office. He waved me in and held his hand out for the cup of coffee. He sipped while he argued, and finally said, “Fine, I’ll bring my man up there and we’ll show you it can be done. Now quit whimpering around like a bunch of kindergarten girls and get ready to finish this.”

Chuck was going to slam the receiver, but slid it into place without banging it. He let out a sigh, and said, “Well damn, there goes everything through Saturday unless we get lucky. Why are you here unless it’s to make me feel good?”

I laughed and said, “I was on my way to the firing range, and Sarah said that you were to be told.”

“Yep, I did say that. Let’s go do some shooting.” He half turned and yelled, “Come on, Wanda; I’m sure that you’re lagging behind your required range time.”

There was laughter from Wanda’s office.

Cap was stuffing rounds in magazines down in the range area. He already had about twenty magazines stacked up when the girl known as ‘Jan’ came running in. “Damn, Chuck, you give us a pile of people with a ton of knowledge, and think that we can interrogate them in a couple of hours? This group is good because they know shit from Atlanta to Miami.”

Chuck said, “I’m here to watch my new man shoot. He just got out of the Deputy Academy so he may be good. Why don’t you two do some warm up, then go head to head.”

Jan said, “I still want to shoot you. I think I’m close to beating your ass on the course. We’ll find out.”

Cap gave me two magazines, and said, “These are for warm up so use them to see how the range feels.”

He had the target out to the full twenty-five meters and blacked out a body mass and head target. This was just another round of shooting at stationary targets for accuracy.

After we finished warming up, Cap asked, “Who wants to go first? How about you, Jan, so that you can set a standard for a new man on the range? We’re doing the random decision course, so let’s see how you both do on decisions, accuracy, and speed.”

Jan was very good, but I didn’t think she was exceptional. My buddies in school could have beaten her. Knowing this was a girl and I didn’t want to show her up terribly, I ran the course with a hundred percent decision, one hundred percent accuracy, and about ten seconds faster than she was.

“Holy shit, you can’t be a new shooter. You’re faster than me by ten seconds and scored higher on decision than me. Let’s do it again, but you go first.”

Knowing that Jan would double down to beat me this next round, I put my three magazines on the shelf with my weapon and stood. The bell rang and I was going through the targets as fast as possible and finished by slamming the timer button with a really good time.

Jan was standing there with her hands on her hips. She said, “You do one, Chuck, and see how you compare to your man. That’s some incredible shooting.”

Chuck said, “I’m a little rusty, but I’ll give it try. Let me use a couple of magazines to warm up.”

I watched Chuck as he went through two magazines as fluidly as any shooter could. Chuck was someone you wanted behind you if the shooting became critical.