[Lady Justice 08] - Lady Justice and the Watchers

by Robert Thornhill

  “Who’s countin’?” he said with a grin.

  I called the task force guys and told them to stop by and clean up the mess.

  After an hour of debriefing, one of the guys from the van tapped me on the shoulder, “Batter dip the old corn dog? Really?”

  I just looked at the young kid and smiled, “When you’re my age, maybe you’ll know lots of cool stuff too.”

  CHAPTER 13

  It had been a night to remember.

  It was past midnight before the drug guys let us go.

  Dad and Willie had returned to the building and, of course, they had to spread the word about how they had miraculously saved my butt --- again.

  Naturally, everyone wanted to hear all the gory details, so an impromptu party had convened in our apartment.

  Like the fisherman whose catch gets bigger with every telling, Dad’s heroics became more dramatic as the evening went on.

  Bernice was thoroughly impressed with his daring-do, and I’m sure he cashed in on her infatuation later.

  Jerry was quick to point out that if I, like a cat, had nine lives, I probably only had about three left.

  Maggie had been subdued throughout the evening and when everyone finally left, she broke down and cried.

  “Hey, hey, hey,” I said. “What’s wrong? I’m here and I’m okay.”

  She wiped away her tears, “Yes, but like so many times before, just by the skin of your teeth.

  “I’ve seen all the cop shows on TV and I’ve seen the wives’ inner conflicts wondering if their guy would be coming home or if this was the day they would get the dreaded visit from the Chaplain.

  “I used to think that was all just part of the drama, but not so much lately.

  “I’m scared to death every time they send you out on one of these undercover things.”

  I didn’t know what to say. I had seen the TV shows too, and I could see her point.

  “Why do you keep volunteering for these things? Surely out of that whole department there’s someone else that could do what you do.”

  I thought a long time before I spoke.

  “Maggie, I love you more than anything else in this whole world and if making you happy means giving up what I do, just say the word.”

  I could see that she was touched.

  “You’d really do that for me?”

  “In a heartbeat.”

  “But being a cop means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”

  “I’m sixty-eight years old and a couple of years ago, I thought my contributing days were over. I figured all that was left was social security and maybe three days a week as a greeter at BuyMart.

  “Then this came along.

  “We did something good tonight. We took two dangerous drug dealers off the street and just a few days ago, we saved a baby’s life and delivered him back to his family.

  “How many guys my age get to do something like that?”

  She smiled through her tears, “Just my luck to fall in love with a geriatric super hero. If my choices are super cop or BuyMart greeter, I guess I’ll just have to tough it out.”

  That night as Maggie lay in my arms, I thought about Wally Crumpet’s words, “Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

  I guess that sometimes life puts you in a spot where there’s just no easy way out.

  Knowing that I would be working late on the Plaza, the captain had given me the day off.

  I vaguely remembered Maggie crawling out of bed, but I just rolled over and went right back to sleep.

  I was awakened by a loud pounding on our apartment door.

  I looked at the digital clock through bleary eyes. It was nine o’clock.

  “Hold your horses!” I yelled. “I’ll be right there!”

  I slipped on a robe and padded barefoot to the living room.

  I opened the door and was face-to-face with an obviously distraught Professor Skinner.

  “They’re gone, Walt --- both of them!”

  “Who’s gone? Come inside and tell me what’s going on”

  “Professor Rhinehart and Amir. They just came and took them in the early hours this morning. A neighbor called and told me.”

  “Who took them?”

  “Soldiers --- six of them --- they were in Humvees. They cuffed them both and took them away.”

  “Soldiers? Where did they come from?”

  “I have no idea. Oh, yes, there was a man in a suit with them. I think that the neighbor said the man’s name was Davidson --- no wait --- Davenport. Yes, that was it.”

  Suddenly everything began to make sense --- everything but the soldiers.

  “I’ll look into this, Professor. Try not to be upset. We’ll get this all straightened out.”

  I had said the words, but I didn’t really believe them.

  I hurriedly threw on my clothes and went directly to the station.

  The Captain was surprised to see me.

  “Walt, good job last night. We confiscated enough drugs from the guy’s apartment to open a pharmacy.

  “What are you doing here? I thought I gave you the day off.”

  “I need to see Mark Davenport. Can you get in touch with him?”

  “I haven’t seen Davenport since the day you waltzed in here with Arnie and Nick. What’s going on?”

  I told him about my surprise visit from the Professor.

  “Something’s terribly wrong here. I can’t imagine any reason why Dr. Rhinehart and Amir would be arrested --- and certainly not by the U.S. Army.”

  “Let me make a call,” he said, picking up the phone.

  “Mark Davenport, please.”

  A long silence.

  “Hello, Mark. Captain Short here. Walt Williams is in my office. Says he’d like to talk to you.”

  I watched the expression on the Captain’s face as he listened to my half-brother.

  “Sure, Mark. I understand. Let me tell him.”

  He put his hand over the receiver, “Sorry, Walt. Mark says that something important has come up. He just can’t get away.”

  I hate being put off.

  “Tell him two things, Captain. First tell him that he’s made a huge mistake and then tell him that he owes me one. He’ll know what I mean.”

  I hated playing the Dr. Death card, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

  I listened as the Captain relayed my message.

  The Captain hung up. “He said to give him twenty minutes. Why don’t you get a cup of coffee while you wait? You look like hell.”

  “Thanks, I will. I appreciate the call.”

  Exactly twenty-two minutes later, Mark walked in the door.

  He motioned for me to follow him and we went to the Captain’s office.

  As soon as the door was closed, I jumped right in.

  “Mark, what’s going on with Dr. Rhinehart and Amir Akhtar? There must be some mistake.”

  “Walt, this is a matter of national security. I really can’t discuss it with you.”

  “Then why are you here?”

  “As a matter of courtesy. You did assist us in an operation.”

  “Since you’re Homeland Security, am I to assume that this has something to do with a terrorist threat?”

  “Like I said, I can’t discuss that with you.”

  “Well then let me discuss something with you.

  “Dr. Rhinehart is a close personal friend of my tenant, Professor Leopold Skinner. They’ve been colleagues for years. Amir Akhtar is a foreign exchange student attending classes at UMKC. I’ve been to a Royals ballgame with both of them.”

  “Yes, I know that you have and if anyone other than myself had been running this case, you’d be in lockup right now right along with them.”

  I’m sure that my mouth must have dropped open.

  “You’re kidding!”

  “We don’t kid around with national security.”

  “Where are you holding them?”

  “I can’t tell you that?”

  �
�When can I see them?”

  “You can’t.”

  “Wel, what can I do?”

  “You can go home and forget about this whole affair. This conversation is over.”

  With that, he rose from his chair. “Thank you Captain for the use of your office.”

  After he was gone, the Captain spoke for the first time. “That’s probably good advice, Walt. You’re poking around in some pretty serious stuff here. I’ve heard that people who get crossways with Homeland Security sometimes disappear.”

  “Yeah, just like Dr. Rhinehart and Amir, I’ll bet.

  “I may regret it, but I’m not through yet.”

  “Walt, be careful,” the Captain said as I walked out the door. “These guys play for keeps!”

  My next move was a no-brainer.

  I had to talk to Suzanne Romero.

  For many in the police department, defense attorney Suzanne Romero was a pariah.

  More than one offender had walked out of the courtroom because of her.

  She was a stickler for detail and a champion of the individual’s constitutional rights.

  Every officer and every prosecutor knew that if they didn’t have their ducks in a row or had cut corners, the perp that she was defending would walk.

  I had held a similar opinion until my old friend Mary had gunned down a home invader and was being prosecuted by an over-zealous District Attorney.

  Suzanne had come to the rescue and pulled her fat out of the fire.

  I had tremendous respect for the woman.

  Luckily, she was in her office and agreed to see me.

  “Walt, so good to see you again. Please don’t tell me that Mary has whacked another scumbag.”

  “Thank you for seeing me, Suzanne. I wish it were that simple.”

  “Wow, sounds serious. Fill me in.”

  I told her everything from the investigation of Arnie and Nick to the arrest of the Professor and Amir, right up to my meeting with Mark Davenport.

  She listened and made notes as I rambled on.

  When I was finished, I saw her bite her lower lip. “I may not be able to help you this time, Walt.”

  “Why not?”

  “The Patriot Act --- when it was signed on October 6th, 2001, everything changed.”

  “But what about our protections under the Constitution?” I protested.

  “Most are gone,” she replied. “Take Amendment #4 which protects U.S. citizens from unreasonable search and seizures. Under the Patriot Act, the government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist in terror investigations.

  “Amendment #6 is supposed to give us the right to a speedy trial, have counsel for our defense and be able to confront the witnesses against us.

  “Under the Patriot Act, the government may jail Americans indefinitely without a trial and they may be held without being charged or being able to confront witnesses against them. They are labeled ‘unlawful combatants’ and can be held incommunicado and refused attorneys.”

  I was stunned.

  “So you’re telling me that American citizens can just be taken in the middle of the night, held indefinitely and can’t have legal representation?”

  “That’s what I’m saying.”

  The Captain knew what he was talking about when he said “people who get crossways with Homeland Security sometimes disappear.”

  “So what was with the soldiers that picked them up? How did the U.S. Army get into the act?”

  “Walt, have you ever heard of the National Defense Authorization Act?”

  “Can’t say that I have.”

  “Then you’re right there with ninety-nine percent of American citizens.

  “On December 31st, 2011, President Obama signed the bill into law. It grants the president the authority to detain via the armed forces, any person who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaida, the Taliban, or anyone else that is engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners, and anyone who commits a ‘belligerent act’ against the U.S. or its coalition allies in aid of such enemy forces, under the law of war, without trial, until the end of the hostilities.

  “Basically, it gives the government the right to use our armed forces against its own citizens.”

  “But isn’t there a law called the --- uhhh --- posse something or other?”

  “Very good, Walt. You’re talking about the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 that forbade the use of the military in domestic law enforcement.

  “Unfortunately, this new act places the American military at the disposal of the President for the apprehension, arrest, and detention of those suspected of posing a danger to the homeland regardless of whether they are inside or outside the borders of the United States or whether the suspect is a citizen or foreigner.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  “You said this could be used against people ‘supporting’ terrorist organizations. What’s the definition of ‘supporting’ and don’t they have to have some proof?”

  “That’s one of the gravest dangers of this new law. The wording is alarmingly vague and the criterion for who can be indefinitely detained by the U.S. government without trial is undefined.

  “The wording in the act absolves the President of the requirement of gathering and presenting to an impartial judge evidence probative of such evil associations. The mere suspicion of some such support is enough justification for the indefinite imprisonment of those they suspect.”

  I remembered Mark Davenport questioning Arnie and Nick about ‘chatter’ that they had picked up from emails and faxes to Pakistan.

  “So Homeland Security, through their Echelon program ---.”

  Suzanne cut me off, “You know about Echelon?”

  “Well sure, I’m not just a pretty face.”

  “I’m surprised. That’s supposed to be a closely guarded secret. How did you stumble onto it?”

  “It was Arnie and Nick, the guys I mentioned earlier. They broadcasted a bunch of words like ‘bomb’ in non-threatening emails and the Echelon thing zeroed in on them.”

  “And they’re still walking the streets?”

  “I convinced Mark Davenport that they were harmless and he gave them a pass.”

  “Then they were lucky you were around. People have disappeared for a lot less than that.”

  That was the second time today that I’d heard that statement.

  “So back to my question. Homeland Security picks up suspicious ‘chatter’ from Pakistan, and Amir, because he has recently arrived from that country, comes under suspicion.

  “Professor Rhinehart becomes one of the bad guys because Amir is staying with him and Homeland Security sees that as ‘supporting’ the enemy.

  “The Army picks them up and whisks them off to God knows where, and they can do all that without any concrete evidence?”

  “You’re a quick study, Walt.”

  “And to make matters worse, they can keep them as long as they want and they can’t even talk to a lawyer?”

  She nodded her head.

  “Isn’t there ANYTHING you can do?”

  “Let me make a call,” she said, picking up the phone. “I have a friend in the Department of Justice.”

  I listened as she quizzed her contact. I could tell by her expression that the news was not good.

  “All I could get,” she said, shaking her head, “was a confirmation of what we already knew. He did tell me that everyone was being held on the Army base in Leavenworth, Kansas.”

  “Everyone?”

  “It sounds like they picked up all six of the Pakistani foreign exchange students and their hosts. I’m sorry, Walt.”

  As I drove home, I couldn’t decide if what I was feeling was rage, disappointment or fear.

  Maybe it was a combination of the three.

  I was mad as hell that I couldn’t help the people I cared about.

  All of this, on top of what I had learned from Arnie and Ni
ck made me afraid of the government that was supposed to be protecting me.

  But most of all, I was disappointed that somehow, the scales that Lady Justice tries so hard to balance had suddenly gone askew.

  Lady Justice needed my help and it seemed that there was nothing I could do.

  CHAPTER 14

  Zareef was surprised to see Mustafa Wasim at the house when he returned from the ballpark.

  The look on his face told Zareef that this wasn’t a social visit.

  Mustafa gathered the six Pakistani men together.

  “There has been an unfortunate development. Homeland Security has arrested the foreign exchange students that entered the country with Zareef.

  “Their intelligence must have intercepted some of our communications when we were arranging for Zareef’s passage.

  “Fortunately for us, the student’s whereabouts was known and they zeroed in on them.

  “The bad news is that once their interrogation begins, some of them may remember the seventh man who joined them at the airport.

  “Because of this turn of events, we will need to relocate all of you. We are so close to our goal we cannot take any chances, so we must split you up. In the event that one or more of you are found and arrested, we will still have the remainder to carry out our mission.

  “With that in mind, I must give you these,” he said, handing each man a white capsule.

  “This is cyanide. Should you be arrested, you must swallow it immediately.

  “The Americans have ways to make even the strongest talk.

  “Even though you would not be present when we ignite our explosives, the sacrifice of your life would insure the success of our mission and your reward in the afterlife would be secure.”

  Zareef looked at the capsule that could end his life within minutes and the finality of his decision suddenly hit home.

  In the days following the drone attack on his village, his rage had driven him forward and the attack on the Americans, even at the expense of his own life, seemed worth the sacrifice.

  With the actual event months away, he had pushed aside thoughts of the actual moment when his life would be snuffed out along with thousands of others.

  Now that he held in his hand the instrument that would end his life should he be found, he felt his resolve wavering.