Chapter 41

The weekend was a little strained without Bobby around and not knowing what was up. I did a few honey-do type repairs inside the house that needed to be done and laid out in the sun a lot. I was silly hanging around home thinking Bobby would come strolling in any second.

Monday morning, I woke at my usual time, completely rested. Wanda was wrapped around me, but the other side of the bed was still empty. I slid from bed, slipped on my peg and a pair of shorts and went out side for some stretching and a few forms.

While I was forming my mind kept wandering to Bobby and where she might be. I suppose I didn't have a chain on her, and she was a grown woman, free to do what she wanted. Still, it was unusual that she wouldn't call after our intense relationship for over a year. When I finished, I saw that I had been joined by Wanda, Marie, and Jan. Angie and Dennis were sitting by the pool watching. We all went in the pool, swimming for the exercise value, but not to wind ourselves. After the swim, Wanda and I showered outside, with me giving her long breasts some special attention. She loved the scalp massage I gave her as I washed her short hair.

The girls living in the house were unusual in that all of them had fairly short hair. Marie had the longest, cut in a short page boy while Jan had the shortest with almost a long man's cut. They all claimed it was easier for them to take care of and didn't require long bouts with the hair dryer.

We had a nice breakfast with all of us speculating on Bobby's adventures and return. Marie was quiet and didn't offer anything, and since she was with Dennis, I didn't think too much about it.

At work, I was immediately engulfed in having to complete my incident reports and my version of the capture report. I wrote up separate commendations for the C.I.D. unit as well as the special recon teams that assisted us. I sent the complete capture report to John's office so he could spread the news through the branches as to how well the Army had responded. I even included the Air Force recon photo assistance so an additional branch received some credit.

Bud called about ten to tell me he had several leads, but no real good theories of what this gathering of escapees really meant. I called D.C. to talk to one of the heads of the Bureau of Prisons. They had no idea what the two incidents meant, but listened to my suggestion of cutting off internet access and/or to be sure to monitor the net activity. I felt the only way they could be making contact would probably be through the net.

After that conversation, I went over to the station to see if Bobby was in. She wasn't and Marie said she had called in early this morning to advise Sarah she wouldn't be in today.

This was unusual. I wondered if there was a family illness. Back in my office, I called down to Bobby's parents' house. Maxine answered, so I asked how everyone was doing. Maxine seemed to be nervous about something, but answered that everyone was fine. When I asked if Bobby was there she paused a long time before answering me that no she wasn't there right then. She did say that she was sure Bobby would call me soon.

Lunch was a quick run down the street for some deli sandwiches for my office, followed by my finally catching up with the endless supply of paperwork that flowed through the office.

At two o'clock, I called out to the air park to find out if Lisa could accompany me for some hood time. Star said for me to come out and she would get Lisa or another instructor for me.

By two-thirty, I was doing a preflight inspection on a 172 when Lisa came driving up in her Mustang convertible. She hopped out, in a pair of shorts and skimpy tank top, and walked up to me saying, "How's my favorite student today? Are you ready for some blind flying?"

Lisa filed a VFR flight plan today and did the actual takeoff while I was behind the hood. As soon as we were up, and according to the instruments, heading west, Lisa gave me coordinates for the Davis Island airport and told me to land there first. The flight path to get to the approach was difficult as you had to avoid the Air Force Base and Tampa International. If you went too far west then you were into the pattern for the downtown St. Pete airport. I called TPA air traffic and requested permission to fly below their pattern at thirty-five hundred feet. I was able to skirt the outer edge of the McDill Air Force Base pattern then make a wide arc to line up for Davis Island. As we were just about to touch down, Lisa said to apply power and pull up.

She told me to fly up to Zephyrhills to use their new landing equipment. Since we were still VFR, I climbed to five thousand feet, homing in on their beacon. I entered the pattern and requested landing instructions and was told to please observe the skydivers south of the pattern. There were always NOTAMS, (notices to airmen) for skydivers in that area, so most everyone just stayed away from that air space. It wouldn't be fun to have someone with a parachute land on your airplane as you passed through.

Again, Lisa had me pull up before we touched down. She told me that we should see if Brooksville was working right, so we flew toward the airport there. When you're behind the hood, the instructor has to be your eyes to watch for other aircraft at or around your flight level. When I entered the pattern and asked for instructions, the tower advised their instrument landing equipment was under repair. If we wished to land for fuel or business to please advise. Lisa radioed back that we were a training flight so we would bypass the hospitality today.

Lisa said, "Head to Clermont. I haven't been in there for a while. They have some newer equipment that's supposed to be nice. They also have a nice operations building with clean restrooms. I need a potty right now."

I entered the pattern and requested permission to land. They answered back, "Do not attempt to land on the runway. We have a sinkhole forming on the side of the main runway. If you have to come in, use the grass strip."

Lisa said, "Damn, I have to pee. Head to Zephyrhills again; they're closest and should give us a straight in if they answer. If not, just use the instruments and get us down and over by operations.

Since there was no answer, I declared my position and intention to land. Using the signals from their equipment, I brought the plane down to touch down the wheels and to drop the nose. Lisa said, "I got it" and taxied to the small operations building. I shut down and accompanied Lisa inside to use the facilities. There was no one at the operations counter, but that wasn't all that unusual as at a lot of small airfields, the operations desk person has many other jobs.

When we finished, no one was at the counter yet so Lisa hollered, "Sandy, are you here?"

There was some banging from the other side of the operations counter so I looked over the top to see a lady with short brown hair lying on the floor gagged and hog tied so she couldn't get up.

I went around the counter quickly and pulled off the scarf that had been over her mouth. While I was loosening the ropes holding her, she began telling us that someone she didn't know had just come into operations with a gun telling her he wanted an airplane. She said she told the guy she didn't have possession of any airplanes as they didn't have a local rental program. The guy was perturbed and tied her up and left her there. She didn't know where he was, but he had just left.

While I was still down behind the counter untying the operations attendant, I heard, "Hold it right there, lady, don't move. See this gun, I mean business. You behind the desk, stand up slowly and know I'll use this gun if you make a move."

I motioned for the attendant to remain on the floor as I pulled my Glock and moved to the edge of the counter. Luckily the swinging door to the counter area was propped open so I could get out from the counter without him seeing me. It's difficult to duck walk with a fake leg, but that had been one of the exercises the rehab people made me do, so I was able to move around the counter keeping low.

"I told you to stand up. I won't hurt you if you stand up now. Don't make me mad or I'll start shooting up the place. I want your airplane. Just throw me the keys and I'll be out of your hair."

I was now on the far side of him while Lisa was away from the center of the counter and completely out of the line of fire. I stood up and said, "If you put your gun down, you will not have to spend a long time in jail. If you use it, your jail time will be a lot longer. If you were to harm one of us, then it's needle time. How about putting your gun on the floor and sitting down. You really don't want to spend the rest of your life in jail."

"I ain't spending ten minutes in jail. I'm flying out of here right now in your airplane. I think I'm going to have me some pussy before I leave and you're going to refuel that airplane for me too. Now get out here so I can tie you up."

I said one more time, "Do yourself a favor. Put your gun on the floor and sit down. This is an important decision you're about to make. Do it now."

The man was getting mad and began raising his gun. I dropped down behind the counter as he fired a round that went high, shattering a window behind me. I shifted my Glock to my left hand and leaned out around the side of the counter. He saw me and was lowering his gun when two of my rounds went into his chest and the third hit his head. His gun went skittering across the floor as he fell.

"Lisa, turn around, don't look at him. Sandy, please call the police. Do you have a blanket or something I can cover him with? Sorry ladies, I didn't have a choice, he fired at me and was going to shoot again."

Lisa did turn away, but had a shocked look on her face. The attendant, Sandy, was on the phone trying to convince the 911 operator that there had just been a shooting at the airport and one man was probably dead. She finally convinced someone she was for real. She looked at the handset for about fifteen seconds before hanging up. She too turned away and said, "In the closet over between the bathrooms are some emergency weather blankets. You can use one of those."

I pulled out a blanket and spread it over a bloody, obviously very dead guy. I would let the local cops do all the work as I was not on duty and was just defending myself. The airplane hijacker just made an unfortunate choice of locations to steal an airplane.

A single car came with a single policeman. He came into the operations building saying loudly, "Sandy, 911 isn't a joke. You can only use it for emergencies, what,,,, ?"

The policeman stopped dead when he saw the body covered with the blanket. He frantically looked around and spied my sidearm. He pulled his gun and said, "Lift your gun from your holster and put in down."

"Before I do that, let me show you my badge. I'm a deputy U.S. Marshal. I gave the man opportunity to give up and tried multiple times to discourage him. He fired at me once and was about to fire again when I returned fire."

"Show me your badge, but come a little closer. I'll probably have to have your weapon."

I handed him the badge wallet and he looked at it. He turned to Sandy and said, "You better call in again, I need a detective and I don't know who else."

Sandy said, "Use your radio or is that thing you're wearing for looks. No one believed me when I called in the first time."

The policeman realized he was wearing a portable. He called in to request assistance, automatically saying, "11-99 for a 10-55. 10-87 at the airport operations building."

His speaker came back with, "Repeat that."

The officer keyed his mike again and said loudly, "Christ, I need help. I have a dead guy out at the airport operations building. Send me help, now. That's an 11-99 for a 10-55. 10-87 at the airport operations building."

The speaker came back with, "Do you really have a shooting with a dead person?"

The officer just stood there grimacing. He keyed his mike and said, "Yes, that's what I said. Please get out here, this dead guy smells bad."

I told Sandy and Lisa, "Why don't you two go out and sit in the shade. I'll bring you both some water."

The two girls went outside, so I went to the vending machine and was going to put in money but the door was open. I pulled four bottles of water from the cabinet and closed the door. I handed the policeman a bottle and said, "The casings of my three rounds are over by the end of the counter. When you're ready, I'll give you a statement."

I had just handed the girls bottles of water when four cars, including two marked cars, came sliding to a stop in the gravel parking lot. Four plainclothes detectives and four uniforms with lots of rank showing came running into the building. We could hear another siren coming and it turned out to be a coroner's van.

A detective came out and went to the trunk of his car. He came back with a few pair of rubber gloves, a kit, and a camera. As soon as he went inside, another detective came out and asked for my weapon.

"My sidearm is registered with the U.S. Marshal's office. The ballistics characteristics are on file with the FBI, the Marshal's service, and the FDLE. A federal officer's sidearm is never to be given up. Please consult your district attorney or the FDLE."

The guy just looked at me and couldn't think of a response so went back into operations.

Sandy said, "Thank you, Chuck. Lisa said that was your name. Thank you for freeing me and thank you for defending us. That is horrible that a man had to die, but you gave him several warnings. I can't imagine where he thought he could go to. Even flying under a thousand feet, someone would pick him up, follow him, and capture him.

One of the uniforms with Captain's bars on his collar came out. "Can I check your ID again? The officer inside said you were Charles Johnson."

I handed the officer my ID and he looked at it. "Are you the senior deputy from Tampa?"

I nodded.

"I was with Tampa PD when you were having your war about a year ago. Your name is imprinted on my mind. This guy sure picked the wrong person to pick on. What did he want?"

Sandy began telling the story of how he had come in and had tied her up. Luckily Lisa and I needed to use the rest room and that's why we happened to be in the operations building.

The officer said, "I'll send a detective out to take both of your statements. If you would, Deputy Johnson, could you come in and show us what happened and we'll get a statement from you at the same time."

I went inside and showed them where I had been behind the counter and how I had gone to the outer edge so Lisa wouldn't be in the line of fire. The older cop asked, "You're right handed right?"

I nodded.

"You shot the man with your left hand?"

I nodded again.

"Are you that good with a gun?"

"That's not that good. I'm sure you qualify with both hands individually and together."

The older guy said, "I never could shoot worth a hoot with my left hand. Sure I can hit a target but I could never be that accurate with both hands."

"All it is, is practice. I haven't been practicing with my left hand lately, but you can bet I'll start again."