Chapter 10

Steve

Breakfast had the usual menagerie of people. I did miss Tiny and Henry, along with Ruth and Nancy. There's something about having your family and close friends around in the morning to get your day started off good. When I spied Wanda and John, I went over to them, "Hey, Wanda, have you heard from Chuck?"

Almost sadly, she said, "No, but I did hear that he had some kind of run in with some FBI guys but was instrumental in apprehending some homegrown U.S. terrorists and for discovering and confiscating a huge cache of weapons."

I asked, "Is he still in Seattle?"

Wanda said, "I don't think so. He left a voicemail on my cell phone that said he and Lisa went on to their next stop, and that he would call me from Portland. His next stop was supposed to be San Francisco, so he obviously was diverted."

"So you don't know where he's staying?"

Shaking her head no, Wanda said, "No, not a clue. I'm thinking they didn't get into Portland until late, so they are probably somewhere close to the airport. Do you know if Portland has a terminal hotel?"

I answered, "No, I don't. I suppose we could call, but they could be tired from yesterday and last night. Plus it's three hours earlier out there, so it's likely they will sleep a little longer. We could look it up on the internet."

Wanda said, "He'll call in this morning. When he does, I'll have him call you on your cell."

I saw Mark nearby and poured another mug of coffee and sat across from him and Caroline. "Mark, I would like you to stay over the weekend if you can. I'd like to get together with you and Chuck to talk over something Sue and I would like to do down in Costa Rica. I'd bet the two of you will have a lot of input for us. Can you do that?"

"No problem, Steve," Mark answered, with a smile. "I was thinking of staying around a little longer to make sure Gene and Sandy know what kind of a sweatshop we would be running down there for a while. Gene's a good judge of character and could be instrumental in finding some construction managers. We need some real dynamic superintendents that are willing to work with each other and coordinate."

I told Mark, "I knew you would have the right attitude about farming out the tough direct contact work that lies ahead. If Gene does go down, do you think he's going to stay down there?"

Mark was nodding, "Probably. He and Sandy are of the same nature. They are both laid back and enjoy just having a happy loving family. Gene's a little high energy and is constantly busy, but he's a real family man when it comes to his wife Sandy and the kids."

"Good deal; I'll try to go over a few things with you so you can begin getting some ideas about the project we're thinking about."

"I'll be around, Steve. I'll probably be either at the R&D building or here. Caroline is going to spend the day with Betty and Shirley, so I'll have to find something to occupy my brain. Gene wanted me to go out to the airpark with him to see what they've been working on, but I think I'll pass or I might get too interested in a project and want to stay to help out on it. Besides, I have a couple of ideas I want to run past Dennis and Gerry. Sandy is apparently helping out over there too, so he'll have an opinion."

I said, "Mark, have you met the new man that was hired for R&D?"

He shook his head, "I haven't yet, so that's another good reason to go over there. What does he bring to the table?"

"The big guy's name is Donny Wilson. The man is fresh out of the University of Arkansas where he was studying metallurgy and plastics and was close to finishing his PHD the same as Gerry is doing now at USF. Donny just ran out of money and didn't want to borrow any more."

Mark was grinning, "That Geraldine is a real corker. The girl will become so immersed in what she's doing that she continuously forgets to eat. Hope the new guy takes some of the stress off her plate."

I told Mark, "Dennis is looking for at least one more inside tech to help with all of the tests and inspections. He's thinking he can get a few undergrads in the sciences to work part time out here as paid interns. I hope he connects with a few."

Mark got excited, "You just expanded the R&D building, but with just two more people that place is going to be crowded again. We built more static test rooms than lab space and tables. You're going to have to build onto the joint to get that many new faces in there."

I laughed, "When you see the new guy, you'll know we already need the room just for him."

Mark waved his fork toward the other end of a few tables over, "Is that monster sitting next to Gerry who you're talking about?"

I looked over to make sure, and could see Geraldine actually hugging the big man's arm. Wow, that is so unlike her. "That's the guy. He's probably six ten or more, and has to go three fifty and up. He is a big 'un."

Mark chuckled, "It kind of looks like Geraldine has taken a shine to that boy. She hasn't had her head turned since she's been here and there are a lot of nice looking single guys around."

I surmised, "It might be because the guy is from Arkansas, which isn't all that far removed from where she came from. They both have the same twang to their accent, so it may be that Gerry's getting homesick."

Caroline observed, "It looks more like lovesick to me. Betty said that he looked at one of her places, but it was too small. I think he rented the place that Maria and Sam were living in. DeDe and Star are handling it for them until they can sell it. Betty did rent her empty place to a young man who just moved here from California. I think he's the one that's sitting with Rags this morning. I heard his name is Elmer, but that could have been someone just making a joke."

I grinned, "There's nothing wrong with Elmer. It could be a family name and that could be important to the young man. Betty will know, as I'm sure the young man signed a lease and put a deposit down."

Caroline said, "I know this may be a little bit of a mistake, but I'm going to sell my old place to the Sandy and Sandy couple. Those two are so sweet. They've paid their rent before it's been due every month. I know they didn't have much money when they first came, since they both were out of work. They seem to be on their feet now. I'm going to offer it to them, along with carrying the note if they want, and see what they say. I'd really like a sweet couple like that get my place."

Mark added, "We should probably sell the big place and stay at yours when we come up."

Caroline answered that idea, "We'll need the space if Gene and Sandy sell theirs, Mark. The other three bedrooms will be full if we all come up at the same time, and you know that will likely happen."

That's when I thought to tell Mark, "You know that you don't have to buy a King Air. You had that King Air ferried down there, so if you want, you, or rather you and Gene, should use it. No sense in it sitting there rusting when you guys will want to fly up on weekends sometimes ... That salt air environment will turn the skin and spars into cottage cheese if you don't climb it up into dry air on a regular basis. As soon as you get those job supervisors I'm talking about, you'll be able to do that without worrying."

Mark nodded, "First things first, though. Our house is just about done, and if Gene, Sandy, and the kids are coming, we need to build him a house near mine. Not real close, but within sight and walking distance so the kids can come visit when they want."

I moved over to where Sue was sitting, "I asked Mark to hang around this weekend so we can talk about the Quality Wear plant in Costa Rica. I think we need to do a different label, but still keep Quality Wear in it. Perhaps something in Spanish like 'The Latin division of Quality Wear' or something like that would work."

Sue thought about it a little and said, "We could do that, but I don't want to dilute the label. People know us by Quality Wear, in English not in Spanish; I want to keep it that way."

I told Sue, "I'm going to run out to the airpark this morning and give a hand with a couple of lessons. Star told me they were short today and asked if I could help."

Sue enthusiastically thought out loud, "I wonder if she needs another instructor. I can't teach instruments very well, but I'm good with new pilots. I don't care for the twenty hour LSA guys, as they think they can fly fine with just a couple lessons and want you to sign them off early. I make them land and take off so many times that they think they are yoyos. At least I'll know they know the rules and can land and take off at unattended air ports and grass strips. That's where most of these guys end up, so I make sure they know what to watch for."

"You're right, Sue. The twenty hour sport pilots don't get enough training for us all to feel safe out there. They are flying aircraft that are very near a standard four place single engine. A lot of four place aircraft could qualify for LSA status if they were to take out the back seats. They are light enough, slow enough, and they don't carry a lot of fuel."

Sue said, "Let me go ask Star what she thinks."

I watched my lady walk away as Mercy slid into Sue's abandoned seat. "You're watching her walk away as if you didn't get your fill last night. Maybe you might be interested in a little morning fun. What do you say; can Kathy and I interest you in a little playtime?"

"Sounds good, but it wouldn't be just you two. Juanita, Gio, and Sue would catch on that we were playing and want to join in. Mickey would find out and say it wasn't fair that you guys get nooners while she has to work."

Mercy said, "Kathy and Juanita have to be at school this morning, and Gio is going to be visiting with her dad. Kathy is doing geography and Juanita is teaching Spanish. I think most of the kids can read, write, and speak Spanish better than a lot of the transplants at the factory. I wish those folks would take advantage of the English classes."

I hugged Mercy, "Save it for tonight, or after our lunch, gym, and swim time. That way I can take a nap and get my strength back for tonight when everyone always wants to play."

"Spoil sport," Mercy said, with a grin.

Sue came back and said, "Star said we would be very welcome and a great help so that she doesn't have to enlist Jimmy to give a couple of lessons. She said she was just overbooked this morning. Let's go on out there and see what kind of students we're flying with and what they have done so far."

We left for the airpark, following Star and DeDe who were riding in Wes' pickup.

Chuck

I lifted my head so I could see the guest alarm clock on the nightstand. Five o'clock was on the display. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that it was eight back home and we had already slept late. I suppose we should get up and get going so we could be at the station first thing. We'll have enough time for breakfast if we don't dawdle.

I kissed Lisa who instantly wrapped herself around me, "Don't go away, I don't want to get up yet, can't we cuddle a little while longer?"

When I said, "It's already after eight." Lisa sat up in bed to look at the alarm. She frowned at me, and said "You liar, it's only a little after five." Recognition came over her and she said, "It is after eight at home. We really did sleep late. We went to bed around midnight our time so we've had enough sleep. Now that you've got me awake, I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat."

We were up, dressed, and in the restaurant in the hotel by quarter to six. As we were enjoying bacon, eggs, fried potatoes, and toast, a man came in and was looking around. He kept referring to a picture he held. When he looked at us and compared it to what he had in his hand, he came over to us.

"Deputy Johnson?"

"That's us," I said, "Sit and have some breakfast and coffee."

Extending his hand, the guy said, "I'm Deputy Frank Casalus and have been sent to take you to the station. I've had breakfast, but I'll have coffee with you while you finish eating."

I asked the deputy what was up here in Portland, but he said it was best discussed at the station. Just what Lisa and I needed, more intrigue and adrenaline pumping stuff. Hopefully, it won't be real bad.

We had brought our suitcase down with us, so we went out to the Citation and put the bag in the luggage area. While we were doing this, the deputy was all gaga over our neat ride. I asked him, "Do you think we'll need armament? You know, heavy rifles and such?"

He thought a second and said, "You shouldn't. This should not be violent."

I told Lisa, "Just to be safe, let's take the armor we borrowed. If we need it, we'll have it and won't have to beg for more."

Downtown Portland was bustling with activity as we entered the station. The chief saw us come in and came out to greet us. He said, "Hi, I know you're Chuck Johnson, and you're Lisa Johnson, from the file photos. I'm George Milan, just call me Good Ole' George like everyone else. Come have a fresh donut and a cup of coffee."

Lisa and I smiled at each other as we selected a couple of prime law enforcement donuts. This was a nice way to finish breakfast.

We followed George into his conference room where there were three other deputies, in addition to Frank, our driver. George passed out copies of a file and began. "The FBI and Secret Service have a suspect we need to find. We have some tracking information, but we're out of ideas on how to find this guy. He's wanted for bank robbery and has passed several quality counterfeit hundred dollar bills. He's robbed three banks so far, and we have him passing bills on the stores' surveillance systems. Help us figure out an approach to find and catch this guy. We've published his photo in the newspapers, even offered a reward for information, but still have nothing."

Lisa and I began to review the file. George got up and turned a big easel to show us a large map of the city with seven large pins with two different colored flags. He said, "The green flags are bank robberies and the blue flags are where we confirmed that he passed bills. There are probably a couple hundred of those bills that we've found in the area. They are very good and pass the ink test. They don't have the hologram, but cashiers depend on their little pen to swipe the bill before honoring it."

I said, "Everything is in a pretty tight group, so the guy must live around there, or he might live on the other side of town and concentrates his activities in the area."

Lisa said, "He's robbed a bank just after noon on the last three Fridays. Do you have a list of other bank branches in the area? He might want to go for four in a row."

George was nodding and used his laptop to pull up a list. He said to Frank, "Go out to the printer and bring the list I just sent out. We'll pin those up and see what to look for."

Two deputies began putting red pins on the map of all of the branches in the city. When the men were done, there were only two more branches in the area where the robber had previously hit. I offered, "If it was me, I would put both banks in that area under surveillance and apprehend the guy on his way in or out of the bank. You could even station a deputy inside the branches for some extra protection. I note here in the file the man has displayed a gun during his robberies. Let's not take a chance the guy might begin shooting bank customers."

George said, "Do you have any suggestions on how to do the inside the bank surveillance?"

"Put a female deputy behind the counter and another deputy in one of the empty offices you always see in branches. They always seem to have at least one empty office. It would be reasonable to have the offices full on Friday." I looked around, "Do you guys have any female deputies?"

George said, "Just one. We have a few apps right now, but no one else on duty or in training."

I looked at Lisa, "Want to be a teller for the day?"

Lisa gave me a crooked mouth look, "Sure, Boss, let me get my specs on and put the hair I don't have up in a bun."

That got a laugh from the men in the room. Lisa added, "I hope they don't make me do any deposits or handle customers. I know nothing about banking other than I put money in and they dish it out as I need it."

George said, "I'd bet the branches would be happy to have us." He pointed at two of his deputies and said, "You, go call these two banks and make sure it will be good to go out there. When you have their permission, call in eight guys. I want two surveillance teams at each bank." He pointed to the other deputy, "You call Jeanie and tell her we need her out of her bottle to do her magic and be a teller for the day. Let's roll, Guys."

I told Lisa, "Go put your armor on and I'll do the same, as I'm going to be the guy in the empty office where you are. I hate the idea of you being a potential target, but you know what to do."

I asked George, "Do you have any bugs and listening ear buds so I can hear what is being said around Lisa?"

"Good idea. We'll set Jeanie and a deputy up with another set of intercoms. We have the low voltage self-contained units that will work within a hundred feet or so. The volume isn't very loud, but I'm sure you'll be able to hear her and the nearby cashier."

The required deputies were all at the station and given instructions as to how to watch the branches. The two man surveillance teams were given ear buds as well, but their reception could be diminished. The two sets of deputies per branch were given non-descript cars and we all headed out to the branches.

At the bank, Lisa was given a quick course of how to make a regular deposit. The head teller told her that if she was asked to do something other than a straight deposit or cash withdrawal, to have the adjoining teller assist her. She would be a teller in training. I was shown to the first office, just to the right of the nearest teller counter. These tellers were out in the open. There was no thick glass panel between them and the lobbies like so many banks now have.

The first thing Lisa did was begin talking to the tellers on each side of her. She looked at me questioningly, and I gave her thumbs up. I could clearly hear her and the adjoining tellers. Now for the wait that always seems interminable. It was only ten-thirty in the morning, so the Friday rush had not yet begun. I heard one teller tell Lisa, "The rush starts just before noon and doesn't let up until we close. You'll take a lot off us if you can do some simple deposits. I counted your drawer for you and will count it back out. Always make sure of your numbers before stamping the deposit slip, make sure a check is endorsed, and just make sure you count any cash at least twice before handing it to the customer. Oh, always get a picture ID when you give cash to a customer."

About fifteen minutes later, three people came into the bank together. The thing that told me everything wasn't kosher was that they were all wearing long raincoats and wide brimmed hats pulled down over their faces. I looked at Lisa and could tell she saw what I saw. This wasn't our friendly counterfeiter and robber, these people looked more serious. Hopefully, the surveillance guys got a look at the three guys.

The three stood in line in the roped queue up area for the tellers. As the customer before them left the bank, the first guy next to the tellers pulled out what looked like a sawed off shotgun from beneath his raincoat and yelled, "This is a holdup, do as we tell you and no one gets hurt. Make any strange moves and you'll all be dead."

That was when the hair stood up on the back of my neck as the other two pulled out what looked to be Uzis. All I could think of was, just what we needed, a couple of hard cases with full auto weapons. I guess our bloodless run was over.

As soon as I had seen the three come in, I had pulled my Glock from my shoulder holster and had it behind the computer screen in front of me. My open door gave me a perfect line of sight at the three. One of the people waved at me with his Uzi, "Stay still, don't more, no funny business."

The voice gave me chills as it was a female. Another problem, as women tend to fire more easily while men may hesitate. Lisa had big eyes hearing the woman and glanced at me. I could see she had a hand to the side of her window where I hoped she had her sidearm in hand.

The guy with the shotgun handed a reusable grocery bag and told the teller to the left to fill it up. "If you put in any exploding money in that bag, I'm going to come back here and kill you. Trust me when I tell you I'll do it. Now fill it up."

To the teller's credit for having a cool head, she stuffed money into the bag and nodded toward Lisa as she handed the grocery bag back to the robber. "She's a trainee and doesn't have any money." The robber just glanced at Lisa and handed the bag to the teller on the right.

I was waiting for an opportunity to get the drop on the three, but was afraid of those Uzis. Those things can dump a thousand nine millimeter rounds out, in and around you, in seconds. Both of the robbers watching the lobby had the extended hundred round magazines so it was scary.

The robber with the shotgun grabbed the bag and turned around. He said, "Thank you all for being good. Thanks for your money."

The three were heading toward the door when Lisa pulled her Glock from beside her window and said, "Halt, federal agents, you are under arrest."

The person who I heard with the woman's voice began firing as she was turning toward Lisa. Lisa and I both put rounds into her face as she turned, spraying rounds everywhere. The other two guys were in shock seeing the woman's head explode, but recovered to begin bringing up the other Uzi and shotgun. Lisa downed the guy with the shotgun while I put the other guy down. I ran out to ask everyone if they were alright. One lady got up from behind her desk and smiled. The other lady that was out in the bank area was white faced in shock, but said, "I'm okay I think. None of those bullets hit me. My computer screen is ruined, but I'm okay."

The two tellers had had enough sense to duck behind the counter. The head teller had been working the drive through and had ducked as well.

Three of the four deputies came charging into the bank with the lead guy yelling, "Put your guns down, federal agents."

I said dryly, "You're about ten seconds late. You need to call in your cleanup guys." I turned to the head teller, "Can you put a sign on the door that says the lobby is temporarily closed?"

One of the deputies told everyone, "We have the getaway car driver in custody outside."

The only thing I could think to say was, "Good deal."

The bank manager had come from the vault area and said, "I'll get the sign right now. Thank God you two were here. These three are not that robber that has been hitting banks around here."

About that time, police cars were sliding to a halt outside the bank with their sirens still blaring. Nothing like announcing your presence. As four policemen came in, they all stopped in their tracks gaping at the bloody bodies on the floor. One of the cops said, "Jesus, doesn't anyone know how to shoot at the body mass?"

Lisa came out from behind the teller counter and commented, "No armor on the head."

The policeman gave Lisa a sideways glance and you could tell he was uncomfortable with a lady still holding a Glock in her hand.

Lisa turned to me and said, "Now that this is over, let's get out of here. We can be home for supper."

In less than fifteen minutes, the Station Chief, their CSI guy, and a cleanup crew were on site, photographing and cleaning up the mess. It was good the lobby had tile or marble floors so the blood was easily cleaned up. Most of the employees had hidden away in the break room at the side of the teller's area so they wouldn't be confronted with the three dead bodies.

When one of the CSI guys pulled the hat off the person I heard a woman's voice from, a lot of beautiful hair fell out. You couldn't tell whether she had been pretty or not, as two forty caliber rounds to the face has a tendency to mess with makeup. You could see that she wore lipstick and eyeliner.

The Station Chief said to me, "This was just chance luck you two were in here. These three are the ones who have robbed a couple of banks in California and Idaho. The Idaho robbery had a couple of deaths, so no one is going to make a big deal of you two acting the way you did. Man, would you look at the damage that Uzi did in just about a second or two. Thank goodness you got her while it looks like she was spraying her way around toward the tellers."

A local police detective came in and announced he was in charge and this was his crime scene. He yelled, "Everyone in here get your IDs out and line up over here so we can take your statements. You, young lady, give me that gun."

Before the Station Chief could say anything, Lisa whipped out her badge and ID, and said, "This is a personal weapon. You can have the barrel if you give me one to replace this one."

The guy was turning red, "You don't tell me what do. I'm in charge here, now give me that weapon before I put you in cuffs."

The Station Chief went to rescue Lisa, showed his ID and badge, and then said, "Look, we have our men on site already. This was a stake out and it proved successful, so cool it. You can't take weapons from us anyway. Now, go call your Sergeant, Chief, mother, or someone who knows how to get you out of our hair."

The man was sputtering as he reached for one of the uniformed police radio microphones clipped onto one of uniformed officer's shoulder. Just about that time, a call came over all of the local policemen's radio, "459 SAM (silent burglary in progress alarm) at First State Bank, Main and Park St."

The detective looked around and hollered, "Go, get there while it's still in progress, it's just a few blocks away. I'm right behind you."

The blustery detective was really going to be pissed, as that had to be the location of the robber and counterfeiter we were originally after and where we had surveillance teams.

The station chief said, "That took the heat off of us here. I'll have the cleanup guys swap out your barrels for the file, but this is a clean shooting. We'll write our reports, but we're going to need one from you. Be sure to send me a copy for the file when you send it in. I better get over to the other bank to hurt that detective's feelings again. If you want to leave when our CSI guys are done, get out of here. I'll have one of the deputies take you to the airport."

Lisa and I were done with statements in about thirty minutes. While we dictated our statements, a CSI guy swapped out our barrels for us. We would still need to clean our weapons, but the new barrel would be nice except we would have to test them to make sure they fired straight.

We said goodbye to everyone and had one of the teams take us out to the airport. Lisa and I went into the civil terminal, used the head, and bought a bunch of sandwiches and drinks. Within thirty minutes, we had checked out of operations, filed our flight plan, completed our inspection, and were lifting off in front of a couple of 757s. Lisa was completing reading the checklist as I set up the navigation system.

When Lisa got up to make us some coffee, she said, "How come we go out to visit a couple of stations and get into two messes in two days? Is this going to be how all of our visits are?"

I told her, "Probably not. The problem is that every station has a tough case. It could be a federal arrest warrant that has become hard to serve, a fugitive, an escapee, or just about anything that has become a local problem. You know, a clear head can give the hunt new life and possibly solve the mystery, make the capture."

She said, "Yeah, but we started out so good not shooting our way through those people up in Seattle, then we come here and get tied up with that mess."

"Hey, Lisa, better us than a couple of deputies who don't have a lot of experience. We both trusted each other and anticipated what the other was going to do. Were you really in any danger?"

Lisa nodded, "I guess not. The shotgun was pointed to the floor, and the other Uzi didn't have a round in the chamber. When that woman pulled hers, she jacked a round into the chamber right away, so I knew she could be a problem. That's why we both put a round in her before we paid attention to the other two."

"See what I mean, you have the training from the Secret Service and the military, and since getting together with me, the experience of handling problems that make you want to pee real bad."

Lisa laughed and said, "Check out the GPS. We're in a strong jetstream and with the wind, while we are still doing our six hundred MPH airspeed, we're doing almost 675 MPH groundspeed all the way home."

When Lisa got up for coffee, I said, "Check out the onboard communication setup and see if you can file our two reports from yesterday and today. That way we won't get chewed out by Wanda." Lisa laughed and sat down at the communications station.