Chapter 4

Bonita, Trixie, and Dixie were all bouncing on the bed trying to wake me up. I opened my eyes and saw Kathy standing in the doorway, smiling at me. "Aren't you the one? All the kids were asking about you as soon as they woke up this morning. Juanita says you and Steve are responsible for all the fish in the cooler this morning. How long did it take you to catch all those?"

"A lot less time than it did to clean them. There were hitting our lines as fast as we could put them in. That was the most unusual fishing I've ever done."

All three kids had piled on top of me to give me hugs for waking up nice in the morning. They were lying with their heads on my shoulders and chest when Kathy said, "Come on, kids, let's let Chuck get up and get dressed. Oh, Chuck, Beth took your dirty clothes and is washing them. You do get laundry service on board, among our other personal services." Kathy was laughing as she shooed the kids out and shut the door as they left.

I shaved and took a quick two-minute shower then dressed quickly. It was after nine, so I had been left to sleep late. Steve was just eating too, so I figured that he probably had just gotten up as well. Steve said, "We're going to try to tie up the three boats together so we can jump from boat to boat today. The bad winds are passing overhead; this little harbor is wonderfully protected. We'll tie the boats together like they do down off Key West. Folks down there are always getting a group of boats together for some great parties."

The kids wanted to begin their guitar lessons, so I asked Steve if he needed me to help tie up the boats. He told me to take care of the kids so they wouldn't be in the way.

We used the great lounge for all of us to get together. We practiced what we had done the day before, swapping the guitars to those that had to watch, then back. We began practicing the scales so they could get used to changing the fingering. I made up six quick sheets of music to "Mary had a little lamb." It was only the first verse and chorus, but it would give them something to play that they knew.

I laid it out for them and said, "You know the notes, so change your hand position with each note. Don't worry about the rhythm yet, just play each of the notes. As you keep playing them, I'll bet you'll recognize the tune. I have to use the computer for a few minutes, so get started playing each note, one at a time. All of you help each other if someone has trouble with their fingering."

I went to the computer and used my satellite phone at the same time. I called Wanda to see what was up.

"Hey, Wanda, how's it going?"

"Real good, Chuck. Dave is on his way to Alaska right now for some kind of problem they're having up in Juneau. I told him to take a sidekick, but he said he wouldn't need one. I'm not happy about that, but some of you guys are hard to talk to about stuff.""

I said, "I'll call John to see what's up and if I need to go help him. He can take the heat in the event something has to be done."

"Keep your phone nearby and I'll call if I hear you're needed."

She paused then, "Lisa went nuts last night buying a bunch of guitars and music to send up to you. You said a dozen and I think she bought two dozen. She bought close to four hundred dollars of music. She would only buy what she could get two dozen copies of. Isn't that strange?"

"Not really, Wanda. I am teaching kids, and she probably remembers when she was a kid in a guitar class. Everyone needed their own copy of the music. Sometimes you could share, but new players are too awkward to be sitting too close to another guitarist. But two dozen guitars, that might be overkill, considering there are quite a few around."

"Lisa told me to tell you to sell any extras that you had up there, as you'll get at least one and half times what you paid for them. She bought what she said were premium acoustic guitars and that you would love them. She even bought one for herself at the deal she got. I think they are Gibsons. I don't know whether that's a good name."

"Now I' m curious, Wanda. Gibson is a good guitar, but I'm not familiar with what they make now, especially in acoustics."

Wanda said, "Well, you'll see soon enough. She had them shipped out FedEx so they will probably be in Anchorage later today. Where are you now?"

"We're in a little protected cove south of Juneau. I have the coordinates and will send them to you in an e-mail, that is, if the weather lets me. The seas are rough enough that we came in instead of riding the waves. No sense in it if we don't have to."

"We all miss you, Chuck. Dennis had to get Lisa to show him how to form this morning, as he said he missed your dancing in the morning. You do keep all of us more fit as none of us want to exercise a lot without you around."

"Don't slack off, you all are in wonderful shape. It makes you look great and feel good too."

"I know, but it's not the same when you're not around. John likes me soft, but he's not as regular as you are. He seems to need a day or two off after an energetic night. I'm trying to be gentle with him, but he gets carried away too."

"You're too much, Wanda. Hopefully, I can get through this evening and talk to Brandy. I hope she's fine."

"Brandy is fine. Her and Tiani stay over most nights, and Frieda also stayed last night. The girls are real beasts when it comes to devouring each other. Frieda is saying she feels pregnant, but I think it's too early. She says her test kit came out blue, so she thinks it's a done deal. I guess you better get home before you're a dad."

"I'll be there soon enough. Probably faster than some of the D.C. people would want."

"Oh, yes, the Marshal's office human resource manager called to find out how serious all of your injuries were. I had to total up your wounds and cracked ribs for him. He said he was surprised you weren't filing for retirement since you would probably qualify."

"Just keep those people away from me. Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. Tell them I'm on a trip with a qualified psychoanalyst. I'll even have her send in an evaluation. Sheena is a shrink. I remember Sheila mentioning it to me, but it didn't register till just now. That ought to satisfy the D.C. folks."

"Do that, Chuck, they will all feel better. Be honest with her though, as you don't want to carry around any bad feelings about your work or Bobby."

"I'll be honest; I don't have anything to hide. I don't feel guilty, I just feel bad that someone had to force me to use a gun. I feel bad over losing Bobby, but I don't think I had anything to do with it. I think she isn't over Danny, and she may not ever get over him. Hopefully this Rock guy will help her."

"Go back to having a good time, Chuck. Send me your coordinates real quick so I can send them to John."

We hung up and I went to get the coordinates and quickly sent them to Wanda, with a separate note to her thanking her for taking care of the office and the house.

Back in the main lounge, there was hope for the guitar players. The ones with the guitars knew what they were playing and were trying to put it together so it sounded right. Barb was concentrating with my Gibson as she changed fingering, going through the song with close to the right tempo.

I called for them to switch people so the other half could practice. While they were switching, I saw all of Dewey's kids come down the stairs and the kids from the Irish Bell with them. I waved them in and said, "Can you guys go get your guitars and I'll begin to teach you too."

There was a mad dash, as all of them took off to go get the guitars that Dewey and Michael had purchased. At least, all of those kids would already have a guitar. They soon would have two, as they would have one of the fancy guitars Lisa bought. I wondered what she could have bought, as from what I know; the cheapest Gibson acoustic is over five hundred bucks.

The kids were all having a great time, with the new ones learning to do the original three chord progression. They were learning the finger positions of the other chords when Kathy came in with my satellite phone. She said, "This thing has been going off in the office for a half hour. Answer it."

"Johnson."

"John here, and I need you. We need you. That is the Marshal Service needs you. Your man, Dave, went up to take care of what I thought was going to be a minor problem with a stubborn capture, and now he's been hit and the wanted guy is still on the run."

"Hey, hold a sec. Is Dave all right? What's his condition?"

"Yeah, he's going to be fine, but he has a new hole in his shoulder. I'm told he doesn't have any bone damage, but he's in the hospital. I forgot he's married to the ACE down in Tampa, and she's about to jump ship and fly up there."

"I'll call her. So what can I do?"

"You can get on the Coast Guard helicopter that's flying your way and go see Dave, then fucking do whatever is necessary to eliminate the problem. Hopefully, you can help the deputies out of Juneau get this guy. From what I understand, the guy has a small gang. That's why apprehending him is a problem."

I took a deep breath, "Okay, when will the helicopter get here and how do you know I'm where I can be picked up?"

"Wanda gave me the coordinates, and the Coast Guard has been doing pickups out in the water during the storm you're hiding from. They know the place where you are and should be there in about fifteen to twenty minutes."

"Geez, give a guy some warning. I'll try to get ready. I don't have a lot of clothes for up here."

"The Coast Guard will give you some insulated coveralls and boots. Make sure you put your vest on and be ready in the event you have to use your weapons."

"Thanks loads for the vacation, Boss. Did you tell the Coast Guard that I have to be brought back to the boat, regardless of where it is?"

"I did, and they said they could do it," John said. "I told the Station Chief that the man I'm sending does not do incident reports, so they have to claim all the activity and glory for themselves. They don't know it's you. They just know it's a D.C. troubleshooter. Just go fix the problem."

"Bye, John, and a, oh yeah, thanks."

I hung up and went to find an adult. The first person I could find was Beth. I asked Beth to watch the kids for me, and to encourage the kids from this boat to help the kids from the other boats, as I had to leave.

Missy was walking by and I asked her, "Can you find Steve and have him come to my room, I have to leave for a bit and I need to tell him."

I put on what heavy clothes I had, along with putting on my extra holster with the small Glock on my leg. I put on my regular holster and slid a magazine into my regular Glock and chambered a round. I checked the case with the AR15 to make sure the extra magazines were loaded, and that I had a total of five magazines for my sidearm. I put my vest on over my shirt and put one of my Deputy Marshal caps on. I put my satellite phone in my gun case, thinking I might need it to call to get back to the boat.

Steve came in just as I was getting ready to walk out the door. "What's up, Bro? What's happening?"

"The Service called me and there is a serious problem in Juneau. One of my men who came up from Tampa has been wounded and the subjects are still loose. D.C. asked me to help as the locals are not a large force. They already have a Coast Guard helicopter dispatched to pick me up and should be about here now. I'm coming back if you don't mind, as I do want to be a part of this trip. Can I, Steve?"

"You better come back. I'm having a lot of fun with you being along. From what I hear, you've become popular with the ladies and I know the kids are having a ball with the guitars."

"Thanks, Steve. Let's get topside so I can be in the open for the chopper to pick me up."

On the way up to the lounge, I received a kiss from Kathy who whispered, "Be careful." Beth, Missy, and Juanita all gave me a hug and kiss. In the upper lounge, Mercy hugged me tight and said, "Be safe." Sue hugged me and said, "Hurry back."

I explained to Steve that if the weather broke and they could proceed, to do so, as the Coast Guard had already been told they have to bring me back. I told him I would either call him or the Coast Guard would radio him.

We heard the thump, thump, thump of the big helicopter as it came toward us. I went out onto the bow and waved my aluminum case to get their attention.

The helicopter hovered about thirty feet above the boat and dropped a rescue sling. I stepped through it and wrapped an arm around it and waved. The hoist quickly brought me up to the doorway of the helicopter and a crewman pulled me inside. When I was out of the sling and the apparatus was brought back into the helicopter, I leaned out and waved at everyone on the three boats.

The helicopter dipped and turned north picking up speed as the crewman slid the door closed to keep out the cold Alaskan air. As soon as we cleared the tops of the surrounding hills, we were buffeted by the heavy winds of the storm that was still coming in.

A Coast Guard crewman asked what was up and I tried to explain what was going on, but I ended up having to show him my badge to get across to him that I was involved in law enforcement. He had a set of quilted, insulated coveralls in a very light colored camouflage, a pair of heavy insulated boots, and a hat. He said, "This is June, but with the weather coming in, the wind chill is going to be about ten and there's a good chance we'll get some snow out of this storm.

I put the coveralls on over my clothes, then put the boots on. The guy had a fit when I put the boot on my prosthesis. He couldn't understand how the service could have a guy with a fake leg doing what I did. I just said, "They're hard up for crazy people."

The big chopper landed in the parking lot of the Federal offices. The whole place was just a little larger than my house, but accommodated, the FBI, the Marshal Service, the ATF, and the DEA. They didn't have a regular Homeland Security office, but had the ATF and DEA answer for them. When I went into the office, I introduced myself and asked to be taken to see Dave.

One of the deputies drove me to the small hospital where I was ushered in to see my man without any hassles. Dave was sitting up in bed and immediately put his hand over his face when he saw me. "Damn, how did they find you?" He stuck his hand out to shake mine and said, "I'm embarrassed, I dropped my guard, I didn't do what I knew to do, and I let some idiot get the drop on me. I should have brought a sidekick, but didn't. I should have had a partner and didn't. I made everyone else have a partner, but I was too cocky. Now I'll have to listen to Sarah about this forever. Sorry, Chuck, I know you need to be out of the limelight."

"As long as you're all right, I'll be fine. Sarah will get over it, she's been shot before. She knows it's part of the job. Just tell her you'll be more careful from now on. I'm telling you though, from this point forward, find a guy you're comfortable with and always drag him along as a sidekick. You know the rules; you know how to do this stuff."

We chatted a few minutes, then I asked, "What do I need to know about this group and the subject. How many are there? Do we know where they still are? Do you have any suggestions?"

Dave said, "I think there are nine total. They are well armed with rifles and shotguns. I think they have sporterized AKs, as they sounded like it. They all have 45 automatics for sidearms. As you can see, they can and will shoot. Some of them may have had military training, as they were good at hiding and keeping out of the line of fire. We terminated three of them, as there was an even dozen when we went after them. I think you need to locate them again, and assign sharpshooters around them to pick targets and when you decide to go in for the capture to take out as many as possible, using the snipers before closing in. They are smart as they had a place we couldn't walk up on. They had a clear view in all directions and were prepared."

"Okay, that tells me we have to go in like an assault. We may have to soften them up a little after taking out some obvious ones, then go in under a cloud of gas. I hate gas, but if it has to be it has to be."

It was time to get going, so I said, "I'm gonna get them, Dave. You should be able to travel today so go home and recoup. You've got light duty for a while. You'll hear about what's happened here, but my name won't be on anything. I'm not here, if you know what I mean."

Back at the station the Chief told me they had located the suspects again. I asked the Chief if he would mind inviting the Bureau in on this one and he said, "If you can get them to come in, I'm for it."

I went into the Bureau office and was greeted coldly. I asked for the resident Agent and had to wait about ten minutes for him to come to his door and wave me in. I decided I didn't like messing with this so I asked, "What took you so long to see me. I didn't see anyone coming out of your office."

The man made the mistake, "I was busy reading the paper. What could some puke Deputy Marshal do for me anyway?"

I stepped up to his phone and called John. "John, I'm in the Bureau office talking to the slime ball resident Agent. Can you conference the Director in with us?"

"Sure, hang on, he loves this stuff. Put us on speakerphone."

When the Director's voice answered, identifying himself, the resident agent looked sick.

"What's up, John?"

John explained where I was and that I had a slime ball Resident Agent in Charge in front of me.

"Well if Chuck says he has a slime ball in front of him why doesn't he shoot the s.o.b. and be rid of the problem. Don't tell me about it, fire the slime ball and call the regional to bring a new man. Christ, why are we having this conversation."

John said, "I'll take care of it, Director, thank you."

We heard the phone disconnect, then John said, "The Director is not in a good mood today, so just can the guy and I'll call his regional. Were you going to do a joint adventure to clean this problem up?"

"I was, but they only have three men here, the Resident Agent and two other agents. Two more men will help, but I think we will need to do an assault. The other two branches may be able to help, but we may need even more."

"Chuck, get everyone you can and perhaps include the locals as well. Do what you can, and if you can't take them easily, call me, I'll send the strike force. Now get rid of your slime ball and get this job done."

I was sticking my hand out in a "gimme" fashion as I hung up the phone. The Agent said, "I'm not surrendering my ID and weapon to you. Who are you anyway?"

"I'm your worse nightmare. I'm here at the direction of the two men you just heard on the phone. I will ask you once more to give me your ID and weapon, and then I will place you under arrest."

My hand was on my Glock inside the coveralls as the man was looking at me confused. When I brought out the Glock and pointed it at him I thought he would pee in his pants. "Give me your ID and your service weapon. You can call your regional from home, not from here. As of this minute, you are no longer an agent, no more hesitation, give them to me."

The man cautiously slid his gun from his shoulder holster and put it on the desk. He pulled his badge and ID case and laid them next to the gun.

"Come around here and stand back from your desk and put your hands on the desk." He did that. "Step back, farther, farther, stay still, I'm going to frisk you."

I patted him down and found a backup in an ankle holster. I wouldn't have thought a law enforcement officer would have something like that until it was suggested to me.

"Hey, that's my personal weapon."

"You don't have the right to carry a weapon right now. You may have this back when you show this office a receipt for the purchase of the gun. Now stand and leave. You are not wanted here right now."

I walked the man to the door with the other two agents watching. When he was out the door, I turned to the agents, "Do either of you have a problem working with deputies from the Marshal's office?"

Both men shook their heads indicating no. "Good, now as a group, let's go see if the two guys from the ATF and the DEA will help with a bust.

Before we could leave, the phone rang. One of the agents answered it, then looked at the phone, "Are you Chuck Johnson?"

I nodded and he handed me the phone. "Johnson."

"Did you can my guy?" It was the Regional from Chicago that I had dealt with before.

"I did, but if you think he's salvageable, he will be calling you from home. You can bring him back, but you had best teach him to respect people from all branches of government law enforcement."

"Some of the guys do get cocky. I'll see what I have to do. You know I don't want to have to come all the way from Chicago to take care of this problem. I hate Alaska. I can't understand why it's mine instead of the Western region. I'll talk to the guy and let John know. I understand you're sort of incognito up there. I'm sorry about another situation with an agent. They just don't learn."

"See what you can do with the guy. I'm taking his two agents with me right now. My guys will help with their caseload when this is done if they have a caseload. There is nothing on their pending board, so they may not have anything to do."

"Take 'em, they could use the work."

The three of us locked the office and went to the other two offices. Both of the men there locked their offices and joined me in the Marshal's station where the Chief and five deputies were.

"Okay, we know where they are right now, do you have any pictures? Can you describe the lay of the land?"

The deputy that had tracked the men down showed some pictures of the building they suspects were in. It had a sign of the former tenant, "Jake's Auto Repair." The building was concrete block in the middle of a large parking lot. There used to be a fence on two sides of the building, but it had been torn down so the building was accessible from all four sides.

The deputy said, "The closest we can get is about fifty yards. There is good cover on three sides, but the back is over two hundred yards to the tree line. They appear to have men at four windows watching for movement, so if we were to do an assault, we could take out four then go in after those remaining. If we are correct, there would only be five left."

I said, "I'm not for anyone getting hurt on this gig, but after they give up, we'll need everyone to cuff and frisk whoever we have left. Say, you FBI guys, do you have any of those smoke rounds for a shotgun?"

One of agents said, "Yeah, we have smoke and tear gas in 12 gauge. The rounds are explosive so they go off when they hit. If they hit someone, that person is a goner."

"Okay, who is the best shot? I need four of you."

The Station Chief said, "I've got two guys that are good and I know Jim here from the ATF is a good shot."

When no one else stepped up, I said, "I'll do one. Which of you guys can do a long range shot?"

The ATF guy said, "I was a sniper in Special Forces. I can do it."

"Good, you'll be in the back. Let's everyone get our watches set together. We can still use our tactical radios to say go, but we need to know about when that's going to happen. Remember, we have to get into position without being seen, call in to a central command post, and then shoot on command."

I asked the Station Chief, "Do you have a protected vehicle?"

"We have a Suburban that's protected."

"Good, you will use that to get us in close or to ram the garage door. That ought to do it. We'll shoot the watchdogs, fire in at least six rounds of smoke, and take them as they come out. Remember, if they still have guns in their hands, they may shoot you. If they move that hand, shoot them, we will be yelling for them to lay down their arms."

Jim from ATF said, "We confiscated a couple of Russian RPG's a few weeks ago and haven't disposed of them, could we use those?"

"Super," I said, thinking big bang, "just what we need to blow out the doorway in front and at least one of the bay doors. Do you know how to fire them?"