Chapter 4: On Campus

Cassie scanned the campus thoroughly as they drove down the street to the administration building. Charles Townsend was driving the Tahoe. In the middle seat behind him and Cassie were Grace Perkins and Beverly Schultz. Cassie noticed that all their heads were weaving like a bobble heads.

"This is the first time I have had any of you with me. This will be your normal station from now on. You are the campus detail. When I head for school you are the three that will be with me. You can blend in the best of any of my security."

"You will sign up to audit the classes in which I enroll which means you will attend to listen to the lectures while in reality you will be there to protect my back while I study. You should have been issued CCL for Virginia plus a Glock 27 and two magazines: one 9 round .40 caliber and one 17 round .40 caliber."

"All of us should have secured communications. We are hooked up through Security Headquarters so all we have to do is go to alert and they will know. Every so often they will give an alert test over the communication channel. They will specify who is to answer that alert. If that person cannot answer at that time someone else in the detail can answer the alert one time. That other person will be alerted again within five minutes and they must answer or they will go to a full alert and Tahoes will be headed our way."

"Remember everything on our circuit is being recorded so be careful what you mention."

"I expect that within a couple weeks Cassie and her posse will be well known on campus."

"One of the things we'll do is buy campus clothing. We need to buy a couple of school windbreakers and some sweaters. Right now we look like we are wearing uniforms. Sgt. Schultz, leave your jacket in the Tahoe. Slip your weapon to the small of your back and under your blouse; let your blouse hang out."

"What courses are you taking, Ma'am?" Charles asked.

"Math 1525 - Calculus II, Physic 2211, Chemistry 1511 and Psych 1516. That's a full load for this semester."

"Wow, not a basket weaving course in the whole deal!"

"No there is not. This is one of the foremost colleges in the nation specializing in nanotechnology. This is the future. This is what will be taking the place of buggy whips manufacturing."

"I expect that we will see some spies and some counterspies. Overall they are not our business, but note and inform HQ on any and all such that you see."

"You work for me. You do not work for the State of Virginia or for the United States of America."

"But Ms. Howard you are a Deputy US Marshal?"

"Yes, I am. More correctly I am a Special Deputy US Marshal, which means I do not work for the United States of America. I work for myself but have Federal Authority. If I see a crime being committed I can act. Keep in mind that anything that we see might already be known to agencies of the United State of America and any action on our part could interfere with their ongoing investigation."

Charles pulled the Tahoe into a parking space near the administration building. As the team vacated the Tahoe, Charles mounted a magnetic sign on the driver door. And Grace put one on the passenger's door. These signs were similar to the ones Cassie had used in Idaho to tell the world that Big Bertha belonged to Special Deputy US Marshal Cassandra Howard

The sign in front of the parking space they were using stated that parking was limited to 30 minutes without a parking permit. Hopefully the parking enforcement would understand that her authority overrode the local parking restriction.

It took her over four hours to get herself and her team fully enrolled and explain why she would not be living on campus.

It was obvious after the first hour that 'Red Tape' was alive and well in Virginia. Finally they were enrolled and had their schedule of classes and were headed for their vehicle.

They arrived just as a tow truck was about to load the Tahoe on to a flat bed. A campus police officer was standing by watching.

"Hold that right now." Cassie said loudly.

The tow truck operator ignored her. The campus policeman turned to look at her. When he spotted her companions spreading out he reached up to his shoulder and triggered a mike mounted there. He softly spoke into it.

"I said hold it, and if you don't you will spend a couple of nights in jail."

At that the tow truck operator turned to look at her. But he still did not stop.

"That's it, you are now under arrest for theft of a vehicle. Get your hands on your head and assume the position."

That got the operator's attention and he stopped the movement of the vehicle and slowly looked at the campus police officer.

"I take it this is your vehicle Miss?" the police officer asked.

"It is."

"Well then I am placing you under arrest for impersonation of a federal official."

Cassie pulled back her left side of her jacket showing her credentials; she then pulled back the right side showing her gun.

"I don't think so."

She had been doing her habitual scan and spotted two police cars rapidly approaching.

"You've got about five minutes before either of your two cars get here, so slowly turn put your hands up. Did you authorize this man to remove this vehicle from this parking space?"

"Do you have any idea how much federal funding this college gets? I think the Board of Trustees is going to be very upset with your department when those funds are put on hold."

"Team fade back, security, Deputy Cassie, go to full alert and get me overheads. Move two more Tahoes into position."

"Roger security HQ! Roger Drone control! Roger Highway 1! Roger Highway 2!"

"Miss, let's stop this impersonation now. You are under arrest! I tell you." His hand moved in the direction of his gun.

"Listen carefully! You are a simple campus cop. The very idea that you can overrule a federal agent is stupid. If you touch any part of your gun I will draw mine and shoot you as a possible terrorist."

"Team spread, go heavy! Possible terrorist in police uniform! Security, alert the local FBI! Get me more coverage and bring in the heavy drones. Man, I hope you are campus police. Then you are just going to get fired."

"Drone control, I scrambled a heavy when you called for overhead. It's coming in now."

Cassie heard the sound coming in fast. With a roar over the roof of a nearby building a remote control gunship appeared, hovered, and then rotated to face the oncoming police cars. Cassie had pulled her gun and it was aimed directly at the man in front of her.

The two police cars came to a halt and two cops got out of each. She noted they had pulled their guns, but they were definitely not sure of what was happening. Twisting one way, then the other, the remote helicopter drone had the majority of their attention.

"What the hell is going on here?" Cassie recognized that the person asking that question had sergeant stripes on his sleeves.

"Sarge, this person is imitating a federal official and when I was having her vehicle towed she showed up and tried to stop us. I tried to place her under arrest but it got out of hand."

"Oh, you are the reason the FBI is about to hit this place with their HRT team in response to a federal agent being threatened by possible terrorist attackers in police uniform? Gary, not even your father the Police Chief is going to be able to save your ass! Everybody stand down! Guys it is just another Gary blooper."

Cassie could see the police all relaxing. Guns were being put away. "You know this idiot Sergeant?"

"Yes I do. Who are you miss"

"Charles, cover me."

"You are covered Deputy!"

Cassie stepped back and holstered her gun. Then she turned to face the Sergeant holding her jacket away from her credentials. "I am Special Deputy US Marshal Cassandra Howly Howard, a newly registered student here as of today."

"Well I see Gary's first problem. There is no way he would be able to accept you as a federal law enforcement agent; you are young, female and pretty all in one package. Those are the three things that he cannot stand."

"Well then, why did he start to tow my vehicle before he ever saw me?"

The Sergeant looked at the signs on her doors and started to shake his head. "Your name, it's female, that all he needed to see."

"Sergeant, would it have helped your department if I had just shot him?"

"Maybe, but his father is the Chief of Police on campus."

"Oh, I will apologize to him for not following up on the opportunity to rid him of this piece of worthless dung."

"Wait a moment! You're that Marshal that took out those seven bank robbers; in Locust Grove last week!"

Cassie turned to the tow truck driver, "Get my vehicle back on the ground. See those signs on the side, well I've got four to seven more vehicles just like this plus I've got a truck that will eat yours for breakfast, so if you see one of them you just keep going. Do I make myself clear? For your information the possession of any of my vehicles with what they carry puts you in violation of more than five separate federal laws, conviction of any of which will give you five to ten in a federal prison."

"Team, check the vehicle for contents."

There was a pause then, "Will do Boss," Charles answered her command.

Cassie turned back to the Sergeant. "One moment, Sergeant, I need to break security down."

"Security break it down! Go to medium alert. Advise the FBI a misunderstanding took place with the campus police. Hold the other Tahoes. Call back all overhead except a normal surveillance."

"Roger Highway 1! Roger Highway 2! Roger Drone Control! Roger Security HQ!"

"Okay Sergeant I am all ears for a bit."

"Sergeant you can't do this! It was my arrest!"

"Excuse me, who was arresting who here?"

Cassie had watched the man asking the question slowly approach. He never once got between an armed officer and the point of interest of everybody on the scene. Her scans were constant now. She noted a hundred or more students standing around the scene all at a distance.

He was somebody important. Cassie had learned over the last year or so how to recognize such people by the way they walked, stood, talked and the way they actually looked at things. Without noticing it she had acquired those same attitudes. When she turned to face the questioner he recognized them in her. He stood straighter and the slight hunch in his shoulder disappeared.

"Miss, I am George Madison, Chancellor of this College and Head of the Board of Trustee.

Cassie could see the campus police hurriedly moving away and getting busy clearing the scene; one was actually helping the tow driver remove her Tahoe.

The Sergeant looked up to the sky and shook his head then brought his full attention back to what was unfolding before him.

"I am pleased to meet you Chancellor Madison. I am Special Deputy US Marshal out of the Northern District of Texas, Sonora to be exact."

"Oh my, you are George Howard's daughter! I did not know that you had arrived."

Unnoticed by Cassie of course, the Sergeant had turned pale. This Deputy Marshal was not just a Fed but a person of interest to the Chancellor.

The Chancellor turn to face the Sergeant, "Sergeant, I witnessed this whole mess. I've got standing order on this campus to let me know whenever Officer Gary there gets out of his patrol car. I told his father that he was not to interact with any person on this campus. He completely ignored the signs on the side of that Tahoe. He should have waited for the driver to return, checked registration or called for supervisory backup. He did none of these things."

"Ms. Howard, are you going to press charges against him? If not I would suggest that you turn him over to his Sergeant here. Sergeant you tell the Chief to be in my office at 8 o'clock in the morning."

Cassie scanned the Sergeant who she knew by now was between the rock and a hard space. "Sergeant, will you be able to take care of this? Oh, you can tell that Police Chief I am filing a report with the Department of Justice."

Cassie watched as the Sergeant removed the gun from Officer Gary's holster and directed two of his men to escort Gary out of there.

Corporal Charles Townsend holstered his gun and headed to the Tahoe to check it out. Noting that the scene was being cleaned up and the crowds scattered Cassie turned to the Chancellor.

"Sir, you know my father?"

"Well slightly, he contacted me about a month ago and asked me where I needed money the most. He is going to help us expand our library by a great deal. He told me a lot about his daughter who would be enrolling in my University. So we have talked about every two or three days since that first call. So I guess it's better to say I am getting to know your father. He told me that you are a very remarkable woman."

"Fathers always think their daughters are remarkable. I don't think that I am all that remarkable."

The chancellor stood there thinking, "Special Deputy US Marshal! You are the woman Marshal that took those robbers down in Locust Grove a week or so ago!"

"Ms. Howard, are you here to take our Criminal Justice Program?"

"No Chancellor Madison, it's your science departments that I will be hitting hard. I am interested in Nanotechnology, Electrical Engineering and Quantum Physics."

"That is some heavy study you are planning on doing."

The Chancellor pulled a card out of his inside coat pocket and handed it to her. "This is my personal card. If you need any help with courses or campus policies you call me. Also, thanks for taking that idiot down. I will now have adequate reason to clean house over there at the police department."

With that he turned and walked toward the administration building. Cassie watched as he got further away. She wondered where the Police Chief was, even a half way decent one should have shown up. There was no way someone had not told him his son was in trouble, or that there was a major disturbance on campus, or that the FBI was enroute. The sergeant had known about that.

Cassie shook her head. It was obvious that the police department on campus needed some shaking up. She might just drop in on them tomorrow herself. She had a week until her courses started.

Arriving back on the estate her scan picked up a truck at the security residence. It was the truck from the firearms store in Charlottesville. Charles pulled up at the back door of the main house.

Cassie exited the Tahoe and stood facing the truck being unloaded. Captain Gifford Gifford was standing to the side and turned to glance at her as she stood by the Tahoe. He turned and closely observed as crate after crate was unloaded from the truck.

While Cassie could not read the labeling on the side of the crates she could actually do one better, she could scan the inside and directly observe what was in the crates. There was one hell of a lot of ammo for one thing, most of which was in magazines. There were straight(20 rd) .223 caliber and 7.62mm, banana clip magazines(35 rd) .223 caliber and (10 rd) 12 gauge and drum magazines(32 rd) 12 Gauge. Those drums were monsters holding 32 rounds of 12 gauge shotgun shells. Then she found the weapons those drums were for, automatic shotguns, completely built of stainless steel. They were fashioned like no other shotguns she had ever examined.

She walked over to where they were being stacked. She had counted ten of them in two very large crates. Cassie found the Sergeant working with the Captain. "Sergeant let's open up one of these crates." He glanced to the Captain.

Cassie realized that she had violated the chain of command."Excuse me Terry, my apologies, but I think these will be very interesting."