Chapter 54

Chuck

What a bunch of bullshit. First thing this morning, there's Steve having to get wound up with someone breaking into his R&D building. They didn't hurt the guard, but tied and gagged him while they ransacked the building.

Because Steve, or at least, Sue and S&S, are government and military contractors, I was able to call Jan into the investigation right away. She had their CSI group on site in minutes and was able to glean a lot of evidence to work with quickly.

Nightfox had followed some footprints all the way to the highway and found a key and a few pieces of paper that had fallen from what had been taken from the research facility. I suppose having Nightfox around is a good thing. Maybe I should deputize him, so he could be with me and sometimes assist me.

Then there was the big catastrophe. A relocation, a person in the witness protection program, had somehow disappeared from the hotel. The individual was being relocated with a new identity because some organized crime figures had been implicated in a military contract problem. The contractor was pimping for extra money because they contend the government was asking for changes. The informer said there really weren't any changes requested, but the military purchasing agent had asked for a confirmation of the specifications. This really wasn't that big a deal, but the changes the vendor claimed were worth fifty million dollars, were not real. The whole thing sounded like it could be handled through channels instead of making it into a federal problem. But the end result was that the squealer was absent, and it was the Marshals Service's fault the guy ducked us.

Sarge was trying to tell me on my cell what he knew of the guy's disappearance, so I asked, "Have you reviewed the security video tapes yet? Check them out to see if you can see how he managed to get off the floor."

"I'm on it, Chuck, I'll get back with you."

I was sitting at the counter in my new house having a cup of coffee, when I looked up. Nightfox was sitting near me on another stool and Lisa was on the other side of the counter, dressed in her flying uniform, having a cup with me.

I said to Nightfox, "I may need you to help me with a couple of things, so I'm taking you to the office to get you sworn in. You may not want to be a deputy, but if you want to stay with me, you don't have a choice. I want you sworn in, then we'll get you all of the training videos. You're gonna be busy for a while if you're gonna hang with me."

Lisa was smiling at me, so I told her, "You know, I should probably deputize you too, so you could come with me and watch my back. You have a knack for being around when something is going down."

Lisa smiled, "I just like to be with you, Chuck. So far, wherever you are, good luck is not far behind."

Nightfox said slyly, "You noticed that, huh? He does lead a charmed life, doesn't he?"

Lisa said to me, "Well, you're too busy to help the charter service today. I was going to get you to fly right seat with me. We're short people for a G-5 flight up to Minnesota and back. DeDe said that she might have someone who needs hours, so I'll call her. Be careful, Chuck, sounds like you may be dealing with some people that could get desperate."

The rest of the women in my menagerie gave me kisses as they whisked by on their way to their cars. They all had something different to do after work today, so they were all driving separately. I looked up at Nightfox and asked, "You ready? We should get into the office so you can get sworn in and get put to work."'

"Are you serious, Chuck? Do you really want me to become a deputy?"

"You bet, Sam, if you are going to hang around, you need to be helpful. You and Maria will have plenty of time to compare chili recipes later. Right now, there's work to do and I may need your tracking expertise."

Instead of going to my office, I went into the station and found Sarah in the ACE's office, doing what she's supposed to. "Sarah, Honey, Baby, Sweetheart."

Sarah looked at me funny, "Uh oh, what do you want from me this time?"

"Meet Sam Nightfox, a really great guy and a man I've completed a couple of missions with. I need for him to be a deputy. Talk to him for a few minutes and see what you think. I'm going to run see Wanda and be right back. See what you think, Sarah."

I left the two of them together and went to my office. Wanda said, "Everything is under control, but you need to help Sarge with his absent relocation. Something's wrong with that whole picture, considering he disappeared from the hotel. That's hard if not impossible to do."

"Sarge is looking at the videos now to see where he might have taken off from." I thought for a moment, then said, "Have you run Sam Nightfox for me? I sort of figured you might as soon as you got a line on him."

Wanda grinned, "I did. The man has no real history. He's an Indian, grew up on a reservation with his family. They all died in a flu epidemic when he was in high school. He joined the Marines and was selected by the Secret Service straight from there. He has been used for increasingly more dangerous missions, right through the Hawaiian thing you just did. You see what my clearance level can find out?"

I paused in front of her desk, "What do you think about me teaming with a guy like that. You know, team up with him as a deputy, as well as team up with him as part of the service?"

"Probably a good choice, Chuck. Perhaps he'll keep you from being the bulls-eye for bad guy's target practice. I'd say, bring him on. Where is he now?"

I said, "I left him with Sarah to see what she thinks. I want him, so we'll see what she says."

Wanda went with me to see what Sarah thought of our Indian. Sarah was smiling up at Nightfox, who was looking at an ID card, along with a badge in a special wallet. Nightfox looked at me and said, "This is pretty special. This lady just made me swear allegiance to the U.S.A. and then, in an aside, she made me promise to watch your ass. She said you had a habit of collecting metal in various parts of your unprotected anatomy."

Wanda laughed, "Most of the junk shot at him doesn't stick. It goes on through or just cuts him up. It's your job to pull him out of harm's way."

Nightfox said, "Thanks, Chuck, Sarah, ah, Wanda, this is special, isn't it? I'll do my best, I promise. Chuck said I needed to get a bunch of videos to begin my learning. Who gives me those?"

Sarah called Marie and said, "Get our new one hundred percent deputy a set of videos so he can learn how to tie his shoes. You might want to issue him a vest, and maybe a sidearm, if he doesn't have one."

Nightfox rolled his eyes and pulled his coat back to show his sidearm. He smiled and said, "I like the way there is so much camaraderie among everyone. I'll enjoy meeting all the rest of the men."

I grabbed Nightfox, who was now carrying an armload of videos and went downstairs to the range. I introduced him to Cap and said, "Give us five magazines each. We'll use two to warm up with, then we'll both do a combat set."

Cap smiled and handed us the magazines. I dropped my personal magazine and ejected the round from the chamber. Nightfox followed what I was doing and loaded up with me. We put on ear protection and stepped into the range positions. I quickly used up my two magazines, and pulled the target up to see that I had done my usual of equal rounds into the paint on top and center. Nightfox was still shooting, slowly, methodically, but when I checked his target he was right on with hits all in the paint.

Nightfox said, "I'm not that fast, but I know where my round is going to go. Tell me about the combat course. Is it something I should have been doing?"

Cap said, "All of the branches should have their men qualify on it, but as I've found out, few do. Watch Chuck go through the course, then you can try it. You won't win any prizes for speed, but you will for accuracy. Watch."

Just before I began, Jan came in and was grinning, "Stop, wait for me to shoot a couple of magazines and we'll compete. I've been waiting for you, Chuck. I'm going to beat you this time."

Cap was chuckling, "She's been down here almost everyday. She's so damn fast that no one will compete with her."

Jan quickly went through her two magazines, and nodded approval at her target. Cap set up the two combat courses, checked our magazines, and had us put our weapons and magazines on the stand.

He yelled, "Ready? Go!"

Jan and I slammed our magazines home and chambered a round to fire at the first target. I really pushed to get through the target series quickly. There were a few quick decisions that I had to hesitate for a split second on, and then there was quiet as both Jan and I ejected our last magazine."

Cap was checking his computer and the timer. He said, "Damn, you both hit that last target exactly at the same time. Your times are exactly the same. I'm looking at your decisions, and you both are perfect so far. Damn, I can't believe you two did the course perfectly in that short a time. It's just not possible."

Jan was grinning, "Change the course, Cap, and let us try again."

Cap said, "First, let's give Nightfox a chance to try his hand at the course. Just be accurate, don't rush, make good decisions, and keep looking for the next target."

Nightfox was a little nervous and laid his handgun and magazines on the shelf in readiness for the course. When Cap rang the bell, Nightfox loaded his weapon and fired quickly at the first target. He was slow and very methodical. Cap had several no fire targets pop up at him, trying to trick him, but Nightfox kept right on moving from target to target firing and searching, searching and firing, until his slide locked back on the last round. He nodded to himself and dropped his empty magazine.

Cap was smiling, "You did great. I didn't give you a beginner's course, but an intermediate. You scored perfectly and actually under the norm for time. You're proof, that slow and methodical is a great way to fire. These two hot shots just do what they do for show."

Nightfox said, "I like Chuck's show off shots. They've made a difference for us already."

Jan and Cap looked at us and let it go. I told Jan, "We need to clean up and get. We have a few things to work on today, and need to get with them."

Jan said, "I do too, actually. I'm on the break-in out at the R&D shop. It looks like this could be bigger than we thought. A couple of prints are from some international weapons spies and/or thieves. I'm surprised they weren't wearing gloves, but we have their prints all over the file cabinets. We have men at the airports all over Florida watching for them, so if they travel, it'll be by car."

"Keep me advised, Jan. We're working on a protective custody person that has disappeared while in the hotel."

We three cleaned and loaded our weapons with our duty rounds and left together. Sam and I dropped his videos into the car, went across the street to the hotel, and were allowed to go up to the top floor to see what we could see.

Sarge was at the video panel, watching the video while there were CSI people going over every square inch of the room. I could see the sliding door to the patio area had dust on it, so I pulled on a set of rubber gloves and opened the door. The first thing I noticed was that there was no dust on the outside of the door. I went back in and asked the duty deputy; "Was the door locked this morning after you discovered your man gone?"

"No, it's never locked anymore. Especially since the roof is off limits to everyone except the four units up here. It's got to be safe up here."

I called the CSI guys and said, "Go over the patio the same way you have everything else. Do that and I'll be right back."

I took Nightfox and went to the duty deputy, "Do you have the pass key so I can look at the suite below?"

He said, "I've already checked. There was no one in there last night. Actually, there was no one in any of the rooms on the floor below."

"Give me your pass card. I want to look for myself."

He gave me the pass card and Nightfox and I went down the stairs and into the room directly below. It had a small balcony, and if you looked up, you could see the outer rail of the balcony above. Looking down was the same. You could see the outer rail. I was looking at the railing when Nightfox pointed to some scratches on the rail. "Look at these; it looks like there was something like a grapple hook that caught here. We need to check the room below."

We were quickly out the door and down the steps. I slid the key card into the door and quickly opened it, with Nightfox leading the way into the room with his gun at the ready. We smelled it before we saw it. The body was lying on the floor by the bed. There was blood all over the bed and on the wall next to bed and body.

I used my cell phone and called Sarge. I told him, "Get your CSI guys two floors down. I think I've found our man. We're backing out to give your men the chance to collect the evidence."

We were standing outside the door when Sarge came running down the stairs and was going to bust the door in. I pointed to my gloves and he stopped to put on his gloves. I took him inside to show him the corpse, then brought him back outside the room about the time the CSI guys got downstairs.

Sarge said, "Damn, damn, damn. How did we let this happen? We've been over every bit of this before and no one has come from below. They've tried from above like they did with you, Chuck, and they've tried using a helicopter like they did you, but never from below and from two floors below. Shit, we missed something that we should have been prepared for."

"Let's let the forensic guys do their thing, then we'll look over the evidence. Let's get the file out to see who was trying to get this guy and we'll work from there. Come on, this is our baby and we need to investigate it."

Sarge was still shaking his head, "Investigate, hell, we have to catch the guy. Let's start with the surveillance camera at the front desk."

Sarge, Nightfox, and I went downstairs and began looking through the computer records to find out when the room had been rented. It had been rented about seven PM the night before, by a John Adams, from an address in Philadelphia. The room had been paid for with a credit card, so Sarge called the information in to the duty man at the station to begin checking from there.

I already knew about multiple identities and credit cards. If this guy was as clever as the ex-CIA guys, we were going to be in for a long search. We had our internal resources working for us to quickly begin tracking someone down.

Nightfox and I went through the desk surveillance videos until we captured the man who had checked in. He had asked for that room specifically, as he said he had stayed there once before and thought it had a great view. We copied the tape onto a DVD a couple of times then took them to the Bureau lab so they could get an enhanced still of the guy's face.

One good thing was the man wasn't trying to hide his face. He was bold enough that the Bureau technician kept enhancing and enlarging to make sure the guy didn't have a mask on or was made up. When he had a good face picture, he uploaded it into the homeland security and FBI face recognition program to look him up now, and for future comparisons.

The Marshal Service station duty man called back that the car the man had rented was still out, so he had put an APB (All Points Bulletin) out for the car and whoever was driving it. A few minutes later, the deputy called again telling us that the address in Philadelphia was occupied by an older couple that rented through a real estate broker. They were sent the photo from the surveillance tape to show to the renters and to the real estate broker.

Our guy in Philly had obtained a court order to search the checking account of our suspect, as well as get his bank records. Within that information we found a payment for a cell phone, so Washington had contacted the cell company to get an up to date log of cell activity.

We were back in the station, when DC called telling us they were transmitting a file to us with the current cell activity. They said there was activity on the cell phone today in Tampa, so we had the second confirmation the suspect was still in town.

Nightfox said, "This guy isn't covering his tracks very well. If he's a pro, he would have skipped town by now and buried himself so deep, we would never find him."

I had to agree, but since this was our only lead, we needed to keep tracking. I called the Bureau lab and gave them the link for the cell phone company so they could hook up to the GPS signal. I told them that we were heading for our vehicle and they were to report where the phone was at that moment.

We were getting out on the street when my cell rang. The technician at the lab told me the cell phone was moving north out of downtown on North Florida Avenue. I called for any deputies or Bureau people in the area to begin converging on that area.

I used my lights and siren, heading north on I-275, until I reached Bearrs and turned off to get onto Florida. According to the Bureau tech, I was almost on our man, when I saw the car I was looking for turn off into the Holiday Inn next to Steve's business park.

With the radio, I directed for all our resources to surround the hotel while we entered from the front and back at the same time. I was walking through the hall toward the front desk, when a guy resembling the photo was walking from the front desk to the elevators carrying a garment bag and a large funny looking briefcase.

When my gun was pointing at him along with Nightfox and a deputy that had come in the front, the man looked around, frantically trying to figure out where to go.

"Stop where you are. Drop everything from your hands and put your hands on top of your head. Do it now."

The deputy that had come in the front door walked up behind him and took the guy down until he was face down on the tile floor with his hands behind his back being cuffed. When we began shaking him down, we found he had a full shoulder holster and two ankle guns. We unloaded all his pockets and removed a handcuff key that was on a necklace around his neck. According to the standard search video, we removed his wristwatch, belt, and shoes, and put a waist chain on him with ankle cuffs.

So far, the guy had not said a word, but was constantly looking around for what I figured to be an escape route. Nightfox said, "The guy's looking around for someone to rescue him. We need to look around so someone doesn't shoot him."

I turned to a deputy, "Get your spare vest and put it on the guy. Let's get him in a protected vehicle and get him out of sight. One of you other men, check with the front desk to see if another single man has checked in this morning. I want them investigated while we have people here. If you need back up, call it in. Let's move."

We discovered my car was the only protected vehicle present, so we took the prisoner outside and stuffed him in the back seat. Once that was done, I told Nightfox to watch the car while I checked on the guys inside.

While I was walking to the car, a guy came running out the rear door making for the cars in the back lot. When I yelled for him to halt, he whirled around with a handgun, trying to see where I was.

When he began turning quickly, I ducked down behind one of the service's cars that was sitting with the doors open. The guy figured the call to stop came from it and rapidly fired four rounds at the car. All hit the outside and none hit the open doors. I leveled across the trunk and put a round between the guy's shoulder blades. He went down like a rock, but kept rolling until he was behind another car.

He rose up trying to see where the shot had come from, and that was when I put a round between his eyes. Damn, I didn't want to kill the guy, I wanted him for questioning. Shit, shit, shit! I sprinted to the guy to see if he could be salvaged, but he was done. The back of his head wasn't there any longer. I pushed his handgun away from the body and checked his ankles to find only one backup. I went through his pockets and noted he had one of the new lightweight body armor vests that we were due to get soon.

Two deputies burst out of the rear door and came running toward me saying, "There's another one but we can't find him. He must still be in the hotel or you would have seen him come out."

I said, "Scatter, go completely around the hotel and try to keep each other in sight while you to it. I'll go the other way and circle from that point. Tell the guy by my car to get in and lock the doors as you go by."

As fast as was prudent, I began circling the hotel, going farther around in the back. There was a bread truck backed up to the kitchen loading dock, so I cautiously went up to it and pulled the keys from the ignition. Being even more careful, I walked to the back and eased the rear truck door open until I could see that the back was full of racks with no place for a man to hide.

Looking around, the only thing I saw was a dumpster in a gated enclosure. The odd thing was the enclosure gates were wide open. I grabbed a mop that was leaning against the building and walked up to the dumpster. Kneeling to the side, I used the mop handle to push the lid open.

As soon as the lid was just barely open, there was the loud buzz rattle of a mini, full-auto, some kind of gun. It sounded like an Uzi, but who knows when you're scared. I let the lid drop and stepped away, keeping the lids in sight.

The three deputies that had been circling the building came running up after hearing the automatic rifle fire. I pointed to the dumpster and said, "He fired when I pushed the lid up, thinking I would be looking in. I'm not sure how to get him out, but if you have any ideas, make a suggestion. I want this guy alive."

One of the deputies said, "I was going to suggest a flash bang, but that would probably kill him."

Another deputy said, "We could call the trash company and have them dump him into a compacting truck. That might be just as dangerous for us though, as he could keep his footing."

One of the cooks came out of the kitchen and asked if he could help. A deputy told him we had a guy cornered in the dumpster and needed a way to make him give up.

The cook said, "Easy, see that little hole at the top, use the hose over there that we use to wash out garbage cans, and fill the dumpster up with hot water. That water is scalding hot. I'll bet he tries to get out."

A deputy ran for the hose and was ready to stuff it in the hole while another turned on the faucet. I was up close to the dumpster and yelled, "We're going to scald you like a chicken, then pluck your feathers. What's it going to be, die trying to shoot your way out or give up now and not be scalded alive."

"Alright, Alright, turn it off, I'll come out."

With a smile, I said, "First, push your guns out of the dumpster, all of them. I figure you for the auto rifle and two handguns at least. Do it now, and I'll shut off the water."

"Alright, I'm doin' it. Stop that damned hot water. It's burning."

When four guns came out of the lid of the dumpster, I signaled the deputy to turn off the water. I used the mop handle and pushed the lid up again, while all of the deputies had their guns trained on the opening lid.

The man stuck his head up and looked around quickly. He saw that he had no chance and slumped a little, but was moving his feet around in the garbage slush that was burning his feet and ankles.

I waved for two deputies to get him out and stood with my gun trained on the guy to make sure he didn't make a crazy move. As soon as he was out and flat on the ground, the deputies cuffed him while another began fitting a waist and ankle chain on him.

We shook him down and found that he too had a vest on along with a handcuff key on a necklace around his neck. When we had taken everything from his pockets, his car keys reminded me that I had the bread truck keys, so I handed them to the chef. He laughed and said, "The bread driver was afraid to go out after that crazy guy ran through the kitchen waving a gun. He'll be glad to get back on his route."

Now we had to clean up. First, I went to my car so Nightfox could get out into the cooler air. He didn't have the keys to start the car to cool it down. I handed him the keys and suggested we make the prisoner a little more comfortable. I also said that if he wanted, he could question the guy, but not to kill him. The prisoner looked at us warily and slouched farther down in the back seat.

One of the deputies had called our clean up crew so they could take the dead guy away. Another deputy went into the hotel and copied the check in videos of the two other men, as well as the guy we captured by the elevators.

A prisoner van came out and we loaded the two prisoners in to be taken downtown. One of the ride-along deputies in the team went with the van to make sure everything went safely.

Nightfox joined me and said, "The man said he was just a contractor. He had performed his job and was here to pick up payment and possibly another job. I asked him if he was involved in the break-in and he said no, but the people who had been involved in the break-in were not pros or contract people. They were from some big company trying to get information about a big bid that was coming up. He thinks they are still in town and have a private aircraft at Tampa International."

"He didn't know what company they were from?"

Nightfox said, "He said he didn't, but it's unusual the guy would know as much as does without knowing more."

"I wish I didn't have to shoot that other one. If we had all three, we could work it out better. Come on, let's get over to General Aviation at Tampa International and find out what jets on are the ground."

I radioed Sarge, "Call over to TPA General Aviation and have them shut down all departures. Get some guys on the way over there to keep anyone there now on the premises. There are two prisoners coming your way that have to be questioned, so keep them isolated from each other and everyone else. This is getting pretty crazy. The one guy you're getting is probably the shooter for the hotel victim. He seems to be ready to talk, so work him hard."

Sarge said he would get on everything and was calling in men to help cover the activity. He also said he was sending some Bureau people to help at the airport.

I used lights and the siren all the way down the highway to the airport, then back around to the General Aviation area. There were already some deputies, along with a bunch of Sheriff's cars out front keeping anyone at the terminal there.

Inside, one of the deputies and a Bureau agent were checking what corporate aircraft were on the ground. They had narrowed it down to three aircraft that could be who we were looking for. One aircraft had the pilot and co-pilot already prepping the aircraft, but were standing by as had been directed.

I said to Nightfox, "Let's call for a search warrant for the aircraft to check on luggage. I'll have some deputies go through briefcases in the lounge where the passengers and corporate personnel are being kept."

After giving directions on what to look for, Nightfox and I went out to the aircraft. The co-pilot was helpful and opened the luggage hatch. We went through each bag, not really disturbing anything, but making sure there were no papers or documents in the luggage from the break-in. When we were through, we looked through the very nice 737 to see if there was anywhere to hide anything.

The pilot and co-pilot were very friendly. We learned they had both been military before leaving the service to fly commercially. The pilot offered, "You know, I saw one of the department heads that are with us, pack up a large FedEx envelope and check it in at the operations desk. You might want to look at that. These guys are really nervous about something, and were waiting to hear from someone before they left. If you ask me, they are up to something that may not be good for everyone."

Nightfox and I went to the operations desk where I asked the clerk for the FedEx envelop that had been checked in by the corporate people. He said, "You can't have that. That's protected. It's like the mail. No one gets it but who it's addressed to."

A Bureau guy was standing there and told all of us, "We have a judge standing by. I'll get the search warrant to include the FedEx package and this whole damn building. I think we'll just lock the place down for forty-eight hours while we take it apart."

An ashen faced guy came running out of an office and said, "You can't do that. We have several aircraft due in this evening and some departures that are very important. We have to remain open. You can't do that to us."

The Bureau guy smiled and said, "Watch me. Now, I want everyone except this counter guy to go to the employee lounge and stay there. I'll have someone watch you and there will be no cell phone calls and no discussion until you are each questioned individually."