Chapter 6

The morning briefing was quick. 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 with the bureau 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 here in the office 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, 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 prisoner, 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 Deputy 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 magazine.

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 sometimes. 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 and asked me to show him 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 a couple of airport security people drove into the area pretty quick and were shot at by the shooter. That's when I had a chance to jump over behind this tow motor." I was leading Forest 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 afterwards, 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 with his gun following 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 and 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 and 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."