Chapter 37

Chuck

I needed to get a move on this morning. I wanted to stop at my office for copies of the sheets on the other ex-agents we are looking for, and to see if Cap might have a decent 308 I could borrow.

I was downstairs in the range office by eight. I asked Cap about a 308 and he said, "We have a new one that no one has even looked at. Let me show you."

Cap pulled a case similar to what I had out west and opened it. There was the twin of the rifle I had used before, complete with the dual swing away scopes.

I said, "Now I have to go somewhere to sight it in."

Cap said, "I used the distance frames up to a thousand yards. If you've used one of those sighting frames, you know it's accurate."

"Show me those, Cap, let me see how you sight this in."

We went to the range and he turned on a rear video display. He told me to use the scope and try to sight in at that distance. I did, then checked with the spotting scope and it recorded the same distance. I said, "That's uncanny. Here, let me click this back to two hundred yards."

I checked the rifle and the scope and both were right there showing two hundred yards.

"Cap, order another one of these rifles. I'll sign this out as I need it."

He said, "Why don't you just leave with it. I don't think it was ever inventoried into stock. Here, have four boxes of match grade ammo that aren't here either. If you get tired of it, bring it back and we'll inventory it."

I planned on giving it back, if and when I was able to get out west for some more practice and could get a gun of my own.

Just for fun, I asked Cap, "Do you have a noise suppresser or silencer for the Glocks. I need to practice with one on my weapon."

Cap dug around in a bottom drawer and came out with two different styles. I pointed at the one that looked like mine and he handed it to me. Cap asked as I was screwing on the silencer, "How far do you want to be able to hit something?"

After thinking about it for a second, I said, "It would be nice if I could be accurate to at least seventy-five yards, but a hundred would be great."

Cap said, "I'll set you up with a fifty yard target first. Go ahead and use that, then we'll let you waste ammo at the ridiculous distances."

When I fired these target rounds, I was slow and deliberate, making sure I was steady and right on target before squeezing the trigger. When I finished with the fifty-yard target, Cap gave me one at seventy-five. The first ten round magazine was only good for six in the white, although I did hit that target all ten times. The second magazine was all in the paint, and all head shots.

On the hundred yard target, again I hit the target all ten times, but only got four of ten in the paint. The second magazine was seven of ten and the third magazine was ten of ten. Cap said, "That's awesome at that distance with a silencer."

"I just need to know if I can do it, Cap. With all the crazy stuff going on, I need to be able to standup to anyone. I should be able to avoid distances like that, but I need to know I can do it if I have to."

When I was all done, I was cleaning my weapon and asked Cap, "Do you have any extra barrels for my Glock? This one seems to be a little off."

Cap reached down and brought out a new barrel. I put that one in and suggested he just have the old barrel I exchanged evaluated instead of pitching it. I thanked him profusely before heading up to the office.

Wanda had a couple questions on operations that I answered before copying the information I needed. I studied the five remaining ex-CIA agents for a few minutes, to make sure I would recognize them, before advising Wanda that I was leaving to take John and the Marshal back to DC. I was to meet them at the airpark as my car would not carry us all. They had ordered a taxi for the family.

When I arrived downstairs, the Marshal was waiting for me. He said he wanted to ride out with me so we had a few minutes to talk.

The Marshal began, "Chuck, it's good that you went after the problem as fast as you have. If you're lucky, you might be able to quickly handle these men. If they had kept their activities out of the country, no one would have ever said anything, other than foreign entities would be here hunting them. Understand that what I've asked you to do is highly unethical, but is necessary as there are several government and military figures that have open prices on their heads."

The man continued, "No one but John and I know that you've been asked to do this. The people you call for disposal are the tightest lipped group within the Secret Service, so they will never divulge your activity. I'm telling you this so you know that there will be no one hunting you when this is done. Stay covert, stay out of sight, and stay lucky."

While the Marshal had been talking, I was listening to his inner thoughts. What he was telling me was what he felt. The man actually felt fear of these men. I mentally nudged him to relax and he said, "John tells me all the time about how he feels so safe with you. I feel the same way. I just know you are protecting me and mine. Thank you, Chuck."

I smiled at the Marshal as what do you say in response to something like that.

DeDe had promised me the bigger Learjet so I could haul everyone back to DC. I asked the Marshal if he had cleared me into Andrews and he said yes. I also asked him if he would help me get services there so I could leave the aircraft for a few hours. He pulled his cell phone and immediately made arrangements. He turned back to me and said, "Got you a car to use too. Hope you like Mustangs."

At Andrews AFB, after putting the Lear in a parking position, I took my gym bag and the new rifle case in the transport vehicle to a small office at the edge of the security area. There a man said that I had been assigned the dark blue Mustang and added that if I was going to be gone overnight, I should call to advise them.

The first thing I wanted to do was to get an appropriate case for the 308 as the case it was in just looked like it might be a rifle case. I didn't need the advertisement.

I stopped at a large gun shop in Baltimore and asked to see some travel luggage for hunting rifles. The first thing he showed me was the common aluminum case. I asked, "I'd love to have something that looked like nice luggage. Something I could buy additional pieces that would look like it."

The salesman showed me a couple of nice leather cases then said, "How about a Samsonite case." He brought me a nice case that looked like a small thin suitcase or an oversized briefcase.

"That will be good, I'll take it."

When I left, I drove to a nearby park to take care of few things. After parking in the middle of a bunch of cars, I opened my gym bag and got out my vest and put it on under my shirt. Next, I got out my GPS and put in the address I was looking for. To make sure I was ready, I brought out my binoculars and opened the rifle case and a box of ammunition. I filled the magazine and screwed the silencer on. I also screwed the silencer onto my Glock and felt as if I was ready. Hopefully, this person was going to be around his residence today.

Getting to the condominium complex where he lived wasn't a problem, but entering it would be. There was a security gate complete with an older man dressed as a guard. Across the street was a Hyatt hotel with parking almost to the street. I parked there and used my field glasses to see if I could see door addresses.

Each unit had a doorway and a garage door. After studying the layout, I was able to define what door would go with what garage door. The door for the man I was looking for was actually the second from the high security fence and was partially obstructed from my view. I needed to be higher in order to see the door and windows easier.

The hotel had a parking garage but I figured they would have a room card security system for access. They would also have security cameras. I was about to rent a room when the garage door to the condo rose and a BMW 700 something, backed out. Instead of pulling away, the car pulled out, then backed into the short driveway.

My target got out of the car and went inside the house to haul some luggage to the car. The last case he brought out was a case that looked like the one I had just bought. Too bad I couldn't do the deed in the open, as it would have been an easy four hundred yard shot from where I was.

The target closed his condo door, appeared to be locking it, and then went to his car. To be ready, I pulled the Mustang out to the exit, and when the Beamer headed away from the condo, I followed at a long distance. The car headed north. I followed him up I-95 until we exited way up by Philadelphia. It wasn't too difficult to keep the pure white BMW in sight, but when he turned into a small subdivision in a suburb called 'Landsdown, ' I had to pass by the street he had turned into.

I pulled into a park and ride parking area and pulled out my notes. Using my GPS for a map I found that one of the ex-CIA agents I was looking for had his residence in that subdivision. This was strange. I had to see if I could locate where the guy I had followed was parked and then decide how to proceed.

The first thing I noticed as I drove through the subdivision, was all the for sale signs. It appeared more than half the homes were for sale. When I drove past the house the local man lived in, I noticed the BMW in the driveway of a house across the street with a for sale sign in front of it. I also noticed something strange; an upstairs window was open about six inches.

If I were to drive past too many times, I would be noticed, so I drove to the next block behind where the BMW was parked and found an empty house with a sign in front and parked as if I was supposed to be there. All of the adjoining yards were open so there must be deed restrictions on fences. It was strange as there were so many houses that were empty. I put my Glock with the silencer into my waistband and took my field glasses.

The weather wasn't going to help, as it had become darker and felt like rain. I didn't have a raincoat and it was chilly so this could be a wasted trip, but I wanted to see what was going on.

The street where the original target was at and the second guy with the BMW curved to the left fairly sharply, so I checked a house two doors from where the BMW was and found it empty. I had put on a set of rubber gloves and tried the back door. It was locked but felt loose. Using a credit card, I easily opened the rear kitchen door and went in.

I checked from the downstairs window to see if I had a view of the house where the BMW was and discovered I could look right at the partially opened window, as well as see the secondary target's house.

Upstairs, there was a window where I could use my field glasses and stay back in the shadows. The first window I looked at was the partially open window across the street from the secondary target. I could clearly see my original target at the window, with a barrel sticking up over the window sill.

Looking back over toward the residence where the other ex-agent lived, I could see various lights, but no movement. This could be a long wait.

For comfort, I checked the bathroom to see if there was running water. There was, so I took a leak and flushed. I also took a drink using the gloved hands to cup the water.

As I came back to the window, I noticed a van backing into a driveway two doors down from the local ex-agent's house. The van had "City Heating and Cooling" written on the side, so I was going to dismiss its presence.

Because I had nothing better to do, I watched as the driver got out of the van on the far side, instead of the driver's side. That's strange. When the man went to the back door of the van, he opened the doors and took a large tool box out and went to the front door of the house. This house didn't have a for sale sign, but the man didn't ring the doorbell. I saw him messing with the lock and then push the door open. He did a double check around him and went inside. I had not gotten a clear look at the guy's face as he had a cap on.

About that time, I wish I had the rifle with me.

There was movement in an upstairs window where the van was parked. I watched as a window pane first had a hole cut into it and then it was completely removed. Unless you were looking at the window closely you couldn't tell the little pane was gone. That's when I could see a man kneeling with a rifle at his shoulder. It looked like the rifle had a silencer. He didn't fire but was scanning all across the street at all of the houses. I made sure I was completely out of sight and stayed that way for a while. When I looked again, the man was standing back in the shadows but he had the same problem the man up in the woods had. I could see the lit end of a cigarette.

Around six in the evening, lights in the local resident's house were going out. When the garage door began rising, I was afraid I might lose the men who were here with me now.

Luck was with me, the local resident agent, walked to the garage door and looked out at the now steady rainfall.

"Crack," a single shot sounded, as I saw the man in the open garage door fall. When I pulled my glasses up to the window where the BMW was parked, I saw that man pitch back. Quickly changing directions I looked at the upstairs window where the van was parked and saw that man still holding his silenced rifle to his shoulder. This time he didn't have his cap on and he was close enough to the window that I could see his face. Another ex-CIA agent. Holy shit, this is really getting strange. The agent who had just taken out the original guy I had been after was from Chicago. He was definitely here specifically to hit one of the men, but I guess he decided to let the BMW guy do the first one and he would do the shooter.

The next thing I saw surprised me. The van guy came out of the house, pulled his van near the garage door where the guy was and put the body in the back of the van. The guy even cleaned up a little blood spill. He did something and the door to the garage closed.

He then pulled the van across the street and backed up in the yard near the front door. That's when I decided to get in on the fun. I went downstairs and outside, moving in the shadows until I had a clear view of the back of the van from the side of the house.

Soon the van guy carried the body of the BMW guy out to the van and dumped it in next to the other one. He didn't shut the van door, but went back inside the house and was inside for at least ten minutes. He came back out with some cleaning stuff and the BMW guy's rifle, putting it all into the back of the van. He was fishing in the BMW guy's pants when I eliminated the fifth ex-CIA agent.

After lifting the last man into the van, on top of his ex-cohorts, I used my cell phone immediately to call the special number for help cleaning something up. The person on the other end only said, "Address, please." I had to walk around to the front of the house to get the correct address. When I gave the address, the female voice asked, "Single?" I answered "No, three."

The voice said, "Busy today. Are there any vehicles?"

I said, "Two, a BMW and a commercial van."

The voice, "Where are the items?"

"In the back of the van."

The voice asked, "Will you still be there?"

"Not unless I need to be."

"You might want to remain near to secure the scene. A crew should arrive within forty-five minutes."

She asked, "Is there any special cleaning to be done?"

I said, "I don't think so. It appears the last one down did all the work."

The female voice cheerfully asked, "Do you want confirmation?"

Responding, I said, "That would be good."

She ended the call with a, "Thank you for calling," and hung up.

These covert people were strange.

To keep from getting totally soaked, I walked back to my car and drove it to where I could see the BMW and the van. True to the girl's word, another van pulled up and four men got out. They checked the back of the van and one went to the BMW and opened it. One of the men disappeared into the house and was in there for a while. I saw a strobe of a flashlight through the windows a couple of times. There was a light at the window that had been open for longer than the others, so I guess that guy discovered where that individual had departed this world.

The men were quick and efficient. Ten minutes after arriving, the two vans and the BMW left the scene. I sat in the car slouched down in the seat just watching the scene. There had been too much going on to just leave without observing the area for a while. I sat for an hour and almost fell asleep. That wouldn't do.

When I felt everything had happened that was going to happen, I waited another fifteen minutes, and pulled out and drove back down I-95 to Andrews Air Force Base. Back out at my aircraft, I put the rifle case, the new suitcase, and my gym bag into the Lear. It was after eleven, so I called home to tell the ladies that I wouldn't get in until after two. Tiani asked innocently, "Whatcha doin?"

With a smile in my voice, I said. "Oh, acting like a deputy today."

Tiani said, "Be careful, we'll warm up a spot for you."

As I was doing my preflight, my cell phone rang. The same female voice from before said, "All three are confirmed," and hung up.

While I was still looking at the outside of the aircraft in a slow drizzle, my cell phone rang again. It was the Marshal. "I guess I'll have to come see you again so I can find out how you were able to meet three of them. Good work. Hope the last two are equally as easy."

"I do too, Sir."

The Marshal said, "Be careful, and even though this is a priority, you don't have to be in a rush. Haste can hurt."

"Thank you, Sir, I'll be careful."

The man hung up as there wasn't too much he could say over unsecured phones.

I was getting damned tired of being wet. I took off my vest and put it into the gym bag, along with the silencer that I had taken off my Glock. The last thing I did before beginning the startup procedure was to set up the coffeepot.

Climbing out of Andrews was a little bumpy, but as soon as I cleared about twenty-five thousand, the sky cleared, and the winds calmed somewhat. I pushed the button on the coffee maker and enjoyed smelling the brewing coffee.

With the instruments set up to get me home, I was able to reach around and get the coffee pot, pour a cup and put the pot back without spilling anything. I pulled the two remaining ex-agents sheets out to look where I needed to go next once again. One was in Reno, and the other was in San Diego. I wonder if they were going to be on the hunt for each other, or the others, as well.

When I approached the airpark, I keyed in the signal for the runway lights and set the aircraft down gently. When I parked in front of the jet hangar, two things happened. The doors began opening and a fuel truck pulled up.

Eddie, one of the night mechanics said, "This bird has an early morning appointment. DeDe left a message that if you needed an aircraft tomorrow to take the Phenom."

I transferred my stuff to my car's trunk, thanked Eddie and the night girl for taking care of the aircraft for me, and headed home. There, I just left everything in the car and went into bed. I was still damp and chilled, so I took a quick warm shower and slid into bed outside of Lisa. She snuggled into me and pulled the covers over us.

I was asleep quickly.

The girls were trying to be quiet, but I woke up anyway. I sat up, stretched, and surprised them when I said, "Boy, a guy would think he would at least get a good morning kiss."

Seven women gave me a hug and kiss as they said, "We all want to get in early today. We're trying to make up to Metarie for all the time we've been taking off. We thought that if we went in an hour early and left an hour late every day for a week, we would have everything in the building caught up. Metarie has lost a couple of secretaries and has had a difficult time getting new help. We're going to take care of her."

I said, "That's sweet of you girls. I wish I had more time or I would come in and help you."

Frieda said, "That would be a twist. You could be my secretary for a day. My girl is out on maternity leave and I've been trying to do everything myself. I'm behind too."

I slid my peg and pair of shorts on to go into the kitchen and make coffee real quick. The non-pregnant girls had some coffee and the pregnant ones had juice. I was getting used to their wants and could anticipate them now.

When they were getting ready to leave, Brandy asked, "Are you going to be home today?"

"Probably not, I have to go to both Reno and San Diego. I might just try to do both and stay overnight. That would be the smart thing to do. Anyway, all of you give me a hug, and I'll see you tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

The girls left, so I showered again, dressed, and put some clothes into a suitcase. I went out to the car and brought in the new rifle, as well as the new Samsonite case. This rifle was a precision piece and was easy to break down. It came apart in three pieces, the rear stock, the main mechanism with the scopes, and the barrel.

Since I had cleaned the gun at the range, I fit the pieces into places in the big briefcase. I put the silencer in and filled the four magazines with rounds and put them in the case as well. If I ever needed four magazines at one time, I would be in some kind of bad trouble. Hopefully, that would never happen.

I used the shredder in my office to shred the copies of the five sheets of the ex-CIA agents and put the remaining two in my pocket. That should be all I would need. I took the time to clean my Glock thoroughly, as well as the silencer.

Wanda came into the kitchen just before I was going to leave and said, "I have a telephone number that was left for you. The man said he was your range officer out west and you would know who he was."

I said, "Oh good. I have been waiting for his call. I have to go that way, perhaps I can see him on the way. Ah, Wanda, I'm heading out to Reno, and then to San Diego. I will stop in the San Diego office to say hi, but I'm not sure when. You can tell them I'm coming or just let me show up, your choice. They're pretty laid back, so they won't mind if I drop in."

Wanda agreed, "You're right. They are laid back out there. Since you helped clean up out there, they've had no big problems, but the DEA and FBI are as busy as ever, helping Homeland Security figure out who they are."

I waited to call the range contact number as there was a two-hour time difference there, so it is now only five o'clock.

I had a late breakfast at Park Place and went to the airpark. The Phenom was waiting for me on the tarmac, so I loaded my stuff and did a preflight. I thought I would stop for fuel in Houston and call the range officer from there.

Once I arrived in Houston, I called the range officer. He said, "How are you doing, Johnson. I hear you want to use our range to practice."

"I do, but I don't know how to make arrangements to visit."

"When do you want to come?"

"I'm going to be going near where you are today. If I could get some practice today, that would be great."

The man said, "Tell you what, I'm going to send you to our welcoming committee so you can get in. They'll make arrangements for you. When you get here, they'll tell me and bring you to me or tell me and I'll come get you. I hear you want to steal a rifle too. Is that right?"

"That would be good," I said. "The one I used before was a good weapon."

The range officer said, "Both of those were good. You show up and I'll see what I can do."

The next person I spoke to asked me, "Where are you coming from?"

"I'm in Houston and would be traveling toward you."

The voice said, "How about filing for Reno. As soon as you're in the air, use this frequency and call for directions. You won't get air cover today but you don't need it for a visit. Oh, we're still Mother, and you're still Eyes."

Before starting up, I filed a flight plan for Reno. When I was in the air, I selected the given frequency and said, "Mother, Eyes."

Through the headset, the man gave me coordinates of where to shut down my transponder, and the new heading to take when it was off. He said, "Call me back on this channel at that time."

Just like before, as soon as I called in, he said, "You're black, descend to five thousand feet, and lock on to this approach control frequency. When you are on a five mile final, we'll contact you."

As I was on the last couple of miles descending to the runway, the radio said, "You're cleared to land, runway 09, clear and fifteen, from the east at fifteen."

I did the follow me truck thing into a low hangar, and shut down where directed. A little cart came for me and I rode down into a tunnel then back up where the range was. The range officer said, "You know, this is lunch time. I'm hungry, want some lunch?"

I smiled and nodded. We rode to the supply room in his cart. The officer asked, "Can you give this man a set of clothes real quick. If you still have the pack he used, he'll have a set of fatigues in there that fit." The man brought me a set of clothes and a pair of boots. He handed me a gym bag and said, "Put your civvies in this. If you come back, wear the fatigues and boots. Everyone dresses the same here. That's how we know who we are." He laughed. There is no modesty among most military groups so I changed quickly. Both men exclaimed over my special leg and the toy strapped on the prosthesis.

We rode to the big mess hall I had eaten in before. We went through the line and had a nice lunch. There were no cash registers, just everyone dressed alike, with very few markings on the fatigues. As we left, I saw the leader who had previously briefed John and me. He nodded at me, but said nothing. I guess once something was completed, it was never to be mentioned again.

Back at the range, the officer handed me a case that was a little scratched up. He said, "Here's the rifle you used before. The only thing different is the barrel. We usually change them out after a mission. He handed me a box and said, "Here are four more barrels. If you have to use this rifle, change the barrel and send the used one to the address inside the box. The recipients will take care of it for you. Now, let's do some shooting. What and where do you want to start?"

I said, "How about I start at a hundred yards using the silencer and go up in hundred yard increments to a thousand. After that, try to confuse me on distances so I can get used to the built in range finder."

I set up at the table using it as a brace. The first five rounds were as perfect as you could want. The next few rounds were a half-inch or so off, and I was a full inch off at eight hundred yards. I waved at the range officer to stop and checked to make sure the scope fit tight and checked the silencer.

I unscrewed the silencer and shot at the target. Dead center this time, so I said, "Do you have another silencer. As you see, I'm about an inch off at eight hundred yards."

The man handed me another silencer and I screwed it on. This time my round showed up almost dead in the hole of the round I had fired without the silencer. I said, "Better, let's go to a thousand and then let me use the range finder."

At a thousand yards with the silencer, I was able to hit the target as close to dead center as I could have wanted. The officer said, "I'll give you some movement and change the distances. I will only change the distances after you shoot."

The first target said five fifty so I clicked the scope to five and gave a fraction of elevation. The round hit above the ear. The next was eight hundred and was easy. Then the target was up close at two hundred yards. The movement was rapid and took me a second to get the rhythm. The hit was good and then the next surprised me. I laughed and pulled my Glock and nailed the target. It was only about fifty yards out. I said, "If I had my silencer I could have tested that too."

The range officer said, "I forgot you had your sidearm. I suppose you would be prepared for something of that nature in the field. Nice hit with a sidearm."

He asked, "Want some available light practice?"

"Sure, give me movement, and wind at five hundred."

The target lit up as I clicked the scope to five hundred yards. The target wasn't at five hundred; it was out to seven hundred. I smiled to myself as I clicked the scope and made a slight adjustment for the wind. The movement was erratic, but I nailed the target.

The range officer said, "You sure have a penchant for head shots. Don't you ever fire at the torso?"

I said, "I do, but it seems every time I do, they are wearing armor. I end up wasting ammo having to shoot them a couple of times to spin them around so I can head shoot them. Why not just shoot them that way first?"

"You have a point. So you do know how to stand a target up?"

"Yes Sir, we learned that early in operations."