Theoretically, Vincenti had time to work on the videotape, doctor it, and duplicate it before someone finally ordered him to surrender it to the judge advocate. Gaspar didn't think he really did all those things--Vincenti had always been a team player--but there was no doubt that Vincenti was pissed enough to do anything right about now.
"I'm sorry about Linda's death," Gaspar said softly.
Vincenti swallowed hard, nodded, and let his anger wash away, to be replaced by an empty numbness. Linda McKenzie never got full man-seat separation after ejecting from her Falcon on the runway at Mcclellan.
She was still in the ejection seat, with only a partial parachute, when it hit the ground at over one hundred miles an hour. She mercifully died of her horrible injuries after several hours of emergency surgery.
"That's not your fault, and I understand the pain you're feeling, and the pain you felt last night," Gaspar went on. "But now you're breaking with the program, Rattler. You're abandoning the Force, abandoning your uniform, abandoning your responsibilities." "Don't give me that crap, Chuck," Vincenti retorted. "All I see around here is brass rushing to cover their butts. Linda and I did the shitty job we were assigned the best we could. They should have never tried to capture that motherfucking terrorist, especially knowing he had all those explosives on board. And sure as hell they should have never herded him over Sacramento or allowed him to get anywhere near San Francisco. We should've either blown his ass away or let him go." "I'm not arguing with you, Also, and I'm not going to second guess the brass," Gaspar said. "All I'm trying to do is get the facts." "This is not a debriefing, Chuck. This is not a 'lessons learned" session. This is not even an accident investigation. You don't want my observations or opinions, and you don't care about the facts because everyone's already made up their minds about who's to blame. This is a fucking inquisition.
Everyone's looking at me and Linda as to why we allowed it to happen, why we let Cazaux fly over Mather and S.f.o and drop those explosives, why we let Cazaux kill so many persons on the ground. I will tell you right now, hub, I'm not going to allow it. If I'm still getting the third degree, I'll clam up, get an attorney, refuse to talk, take the Fifth, get immunity from prosecution, and screw you and screw the Air Force and the entire federal government. I owe my wingman my full support, even if she's not here, and goddammit, I'm going to give it. Now, how do you want to play it from here on out, Chuck?" "Okay, Also, I'll add my endorsement over your signature, recommending no disciplinary action and immediate return to flight status--for all right, chum --the feds want heads to roll because Cazaux got away--and you've been elected. The new director of the FBI herself, Lam "Trigger' Wilkes, is coming here in a few hours to begin the investigation and to do the press conference at the airport." "Great," Vincenti muttered. Lam Wilkes, the new director of the FBI, had been given the nickname "Trigger" for two reasons-her stand on strict gun control, favoring not just an all-out ban on private purchases of handguns but complete nationwide confiscation of all guns with more than five rounds in them, and because of her hair-trigger temper, first seen during her Senate confirmation hearings and in many courtrooms, press conferences, and congressional hearings since.
"Chuck, you might as well just pass my report along to the FBI without your signature. Wilkes is a tough liberal bitch. She'll accuse everyone involved in this thing as being a bunch of screw-ups, tell the press how evil and out of control the military is, then talk about how society, or guns, or the military, has messed up the youth of the country, or some such horseshit. There's no use fighting her." "Hey, I don't report to Wilkes, Also," said Gaspar.
"I know, but the press and the White House love her, and if she makes you an enemy, she'll bury you alive," Vincenti said. "The further you steer clear of her, the better." "Well, the wing king wants us to go with him to her press conference at the airport, so I'm going," Gaspar said resignedly.
"The press is having a field day with the air traffic controller tapes of you threatening Cazaux and chasing him through the San Francisco Class B airspace. The press thinks you goaded Cazaux into blowing up his plane over S.f.o." "That's horseshit, Chuck," Vincenti interjected. "Cazaux had no intention of surrendering or safely jettisoning any of those explosives--he jettisoned a palletful of military gear and kept the pallet of explosives on board. His target was either to ram an airliner in midair or bomb S.f.o, whichever he could do before getting shot down." "The press and the government don't see it that way, Also," Gaspar said.
"Anyway, you're in the hot seat now. If you have any friends in very, very high places, I suggest you call them in." "Fuck it," Vincenti said bitterly. "If they want my wings, they can have "em. But I'll tell you something, Chuck--Henri Cazaux is not going to dive underground now. He blew up Mather Jetport on purpose, not by accident, and I think the motherfucker enjoyed watching the fireworks. When he found out I was on his tail, he went right for the next big airfield he could find--San Francisco International. The bastard's going to go after more big airfields, Chuck.
I know it. If you have a chance to tell Lam Wilkes that, tell her." "Forget about Cazaux and Wilkes now, Also," Gaspar said. "Let's deal with your problems. My group commander hat is off now, the recorder is off, my fellow fighter pilot hat is on, and it's just you and me. I'm not trying to coach you here--you had better tell the truth during the accident investigation board or your ass is grass--but I want to go over your statement and the sortie chronology minute by minute. Don't leave out a thing." But as Vincenti started talking, the onus of what he had said started to make an impression on Charles Gaspar--and he realized that Vincenti was right. He too had a feeling that Henri Cazaux would be back, and that no airport in the United States was safe any longer.
The phone in Gaspar's office rang, and he snatched it up irritably: "I thought I told you no calls, Sergeant." "Sorry, sir, but I just got a call from base operations," the group commander's clerk said.
"V.i.p aircraft inbound, and they just released the plane's passenger list." The clerk told him the plane's lone passenger, and Vincenti saw Gaspar's mouth drop open in surprise.
"He wants to meet with you and Colonel Vincenti right away at base ops." "No shit," Gaspar exclaimed, looking with total amusement at Vincenti's puzzled expression. "We'll be right over." He replaced the phone and smiled broadly at Vincenti.
"Well, cowboy, looks like you do have a powerful friend, and he's decided to crash Lam Wilkes" press conference. Let's go." "The terrorist bombing incidents over Sacramento and San Francisco last night are terrible and tragic ones for all concerned," Lam Helena Wilkes, FBI Director, said to the members of the press from the podium erected on the aircraft parking ramp just outside the base operations building at Beale Air Force Base.
This was where the bulk of the FBI'S field investigative work for the Cazaux attack was going to be conducted. "Because this is an investigation in progress, I cannot talk about our investigation itself, except to say this: one of the largest manhunts in U.s. history is under way right now in California for Henri Cazaux, who bailed out of the cargo plane seconds before it crashed into San Francisco International. Over three thousand federal agents are on his trail, and I'm confident--no, I'm positive--that he'll be captured soon." Wilkes was a powerful and dynamic presence, and the press corps treated her with great respect. An accomplished trial lawyer, state and federal district court justice from Alabama, ordained Baptist minister, and political campaign consultant, Lam Wilkes was one of the preeminent personalities in American politics. Rising from a life in the Montgomery slums to leading the number-one criminal investigative force in the world, Wilkes was undoubtedly one of the most notable and most respected figures of either sex in the world.
Once mentioned as a vice-presidential candidate, there was no question that the forty-eight-year-old African-American woman, tall and statuesque and beautiful, would be one of the nation's top leaders of the twenty-first century.
"Director Wilkes, do you have any leads yet on the case?" one reporter asked.
"I can't go into details, but we believe we've tracked down the origin of the explosives and other weapons used in the attacks, and the registration of the aircraft used. It was a U.s.-registered aircraft, belonging to a small cargo firm in Redmond, Oregon--obviously a front for Henri Cazaux's operation." "Henri Cazaux was operating here in California? Why wasn't this discovered earlier?" "As you all know, Cazaux is extremely intelligent and resourceful," Wilkes responded. "And if I may give the Devil his due, it seems that in this case he played by the rules, which of course in a free society such as ours means that he's relatively free of intrusive government scrutiny. So far we find only legitimate businesses doing legitimate business transactions here in California and much of the western United States and Canada for many years.
He pays taxes, sends in his reports, keeps his nose clean. Even a merchant of death can roam free in our society if he doesn't call attention to himself." "Director Wilkes, can you please go over again the path that Henri Cazaux took after departing Chico Airport last night?" another reported asked. "As I understand it, Marshals Service, a.t.f agents, and even the U.s. Air Force had a chance to apprehend or shoot him down." "Unfortunately, I haven't had time to fully study the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms' operation, so I can't really comment on it," Wilkes responded, smiling tightly. "I haven't been briefed by the Treasury Department yet, but I understand they were the ones that requested support from the Air Force. As far as the Marshals Service, their role in this incident was to try to apprehend Cazaux as part of his numerous outstanding warrants. Unfortunately, their efforts, as far as I can ascertain, were not coordinated." "Not coordinated?" A general hubbub followed.
Just then an Air Force blue sedan pulled up beside the group of photographers, and several Air Force officers and a civilian got out. Wilkes recognized the civilian who got out of the sedan, one of her assistants, and motioned him to bring the Air Force officers over to the podium.
Being invited to stand on Wilkes' podium didn't mean he had to wait for her expected barrage, so Gaspar took the initiative, stepped right up to the microphone, and without waiting for Wilkes to introduce him, said, "Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Colonel Charles Gaspar, and I'm the operations group commander for the 144th Fighter Wing, California Air National Guard, based at Fresno Air Terminal. With me is Lieutenant Colonel Also Vincenti, the lead pilot involved in last night's incident." Gaspar did not introduce the third officer with them, a young female Air Force captain who stayed away from the podium but within earshot: she was the area defense counsel, the military defense attorney assigned to Also Vincenti, and like any defense attorney her job was to be sure Vincenti was not forced or tricked into answering questions that might harm his defense, should he be brought in front of a court-martial.
"We are here at the request of FBI Director Wilkes to make some general statements about last night's incident," Gaspar continued. "As Colonel Vincenti's superior officer, and as the representative of the 144th Wing, I would like to speak for the Wing and Colonel--" But the members of the press didn't allow him to finish.
One reporter shouted out, "Colonel Vincenti, why did you chase Henri Cazaux over San Francisco? Tell us why you wanted him dead.
Is it because of what he allegedly did to your partner, Linda McKenzie?" "Why is it," Vincenti blurted out, "that you call what Henri Cazaux did "alleged," and what I did you think is a certainty?
Cazaux bombed Mather and San Francisco International, for God's sake!" The press corps' photographers snapped away at the pilot's angry face, and within seconds the reporters were inching back in to hear every word. "And I didn't "chase" him over San Francisco," Vincenti continued. "He flew over the city and into the traffic pattern to try to get away from me." "But who gave you the order to pursue him into San Francisco?
Who gave you the order to attack him?" This time the area defense counsel pushed her body in front of the microphone. "Ladies and gentlemen, Colonel Vincenti will be appearing in front of an Air Force flight review board and accident investigation board, and he will certainly be part of the FBI'S investigation.
Please don't try to convict him in the media as well." "I think the Captain is right," Wilkes said, holding up her hands protectively in front of the area defense counsel. "Colonel Vincenti is not on trial here, and we don't expect him to be responsible for what someone like Henri Cazaux does." Those remarks made Vincenti and his defense counsel relax--and that's when Wilkes continued: "But I think this incident points out the enormous hazards involved with asking the military to participate in any way other than in an indirect supporting role in law enforcement operations. The military's primary function is to destroy and kill, and that's what Colonel Vincenti was trying to do last night when he drove Cazaux's plane over San Francisco." "I did not drive Cazaux over San Francisco, he flew there all by himself," Vincenti snapped. He stepped over toward the microphone, and Wilkes had no choice but to give ground. "And the military's primary job national security by protecting this country from all enemies, domestic as well as foreign. A terrorist in the sky is a threat to our national security, and it calls for a military response. Just because we operate over American soil rather than foreign soil doesn't mean the military can't or shouldn't do the job. The cops and the federal authorities-even the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms--are all outgunned.
Cazaux realizes this now--" "Excuse me, Colonel, but this is not the time for a sermon or a call to arms," Wilkes said, smiling benignly as if Vincenti had cracked a joke or was a street corner preacher. "The FBI can handle Henri Cazaux--that I promise.
"I think that concludes this press conference," Wilkes said into the microphone. "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming." Wilkes' security team appeared in front of the podium as if by magic, and except for a few questions shouted out by reporters, the briefing was over. But Wilkes was not through. She stepped away from the microphone, turned her back on the cameras and reporters, and seethed at Vincenti, "I strongly advise you, Colonel, to keep your mouth shut and to cooperate in every way possible with this investigation.
This is not the time to be mouthing off about things you know nothing about.
Do you understand me, Colonel?" Vincenti was going to reply, but a sudden motion got his attention. He saw an Air Force C-20But, a military version of the Gulfstream III business jet, roll up to the parking ramp, aiming directly at the podium--and it kept on coming. Just as it appeared as if it was going to hit the red rope at the edge of the ramp, and just as the FBI security agents started to reach for their concealed weapons, the jet turned away, came to a stop, and shut down engines.
As it was obviously intended, the members of the press stopped and turned their full attention to the jet as the airstair opened up and the C's passengers emerged.
Vincenti was surprised--no, shocked--not by the look of the man who came down out of the C-20, but by Lam Wilkes' reaction to seeing him.
The tall, wiry, gray-haired man that stepped out of the Air Force V.i.p jet commanded instant attention.
The other men and women that followed the first man were well-known national figures as well--including the former Vice President of the United States, Kevin Martindale; the junior U.s. senator from Texas, Georgette Heyerdahl; the U.s.
House of Representatives' Minority Leader from Georgia, Paul Wescott; and a congressman from the San Martindale who took the lead and headed toward Director Wilkes and the podium, but the press was riveted on the tall, imposing man beside him.
"I sincerely apologize for this late arrival and our intrusion," Kevin Martindale said into the microphone as the members of the press hurriedly assembled back at the podium. "We were watching Judge Wilkes' press conference on the TV, and when we saw it was over I didn't think anyone would mind if we parked here. Sorry for the lousy parking job, but it was my first time at the controls of one of these babies. It's hard to drive and read the instruction booklet at the same time." He waited for the laughter to die down, then continued: "I'm
sure you all know my colleagues here. Mr. Wescott is of course the House Minority Leader, and our gracious host for this fact-finding trip.
Senator Heyerdahl is the new cochairman of the Senate Subcommittee on the Future of the Military and National Defense, part of the Senate Military Affairs Committee, the group which is trying to design a framework for the U.s. military in the next fifteen to fifty years.
And I believe you all know retired Coast Guard Rear Admiral Ian Hardcastle, former commander of the U.s. Border Security Force, the antismuggling and border security group, also known as the Hammerheads.
Paul Wescott was kind enough to notify me that Congressman Leyland from San Jose was heading a congressional investigation on the incident last night, and he invited myself, Senator Heyerdahl, and Admiral Hardcastle to come along as his guests and advisers." Wilkes tried hard not to show it, but the appearance of these four persons, and especially Ian Hardcastle, was precisely the last thing she needed right now, and her stomach was doing exasperated backflips.
Since the Cabinet-level Department of Border Security was disbanded in 1993 after the new Administration took office, Ian Hardcastle, who Security Force back around 1990, was regularly on every TV and radio talk show in the country, talking about the decay of the U.s.
Dale Brown - Storming Heaven Page 14
