Mystery: Family Ties: Mystery and Suspense

by James Kipling

  Gabriel started talking again and finally, was able to calm the tension and convince his brother and sister-in-law to give up their guns. The two of them came from behind the stones with their guns down and a hand in the air, giving signs that they were surrendering. David was bleeding from his right arm, but his expression wasn’t showing fear or pain. Jane was half hiding behind him and Asa could see her eyes jumping from one person to the other in fear.

  “David Kimble,” Asa said. “You are under arrest under the suspicion of the murders of two FBI agents, that is the agents Smith and Holliday, for the bombing of the FBI field office in Kalispell, and for resisting arrest and shooting at FBI agents and police officers. You have the right to remain silent…”

  Asa continued the speech, while the other policemen took their guns way, searched them for more weapons and cuffed them securely. Neither of them resisted the arrest and only Gabriel protested against the cuffs. “My brother is injured,” he said pleadingly to Asa.

  “He will be taken care of as soon as we make sure that there is no danger of more shooters,” she assured him and instructed the police officers to canvas the area and to take care of the injured.

  Fortunately, the two police officers and David weren’t badly injured and they were able to care for their wounds until they could find some real medical care. Asa reported what was happening with them to the field office and asked for an ambulance to wait for them at the foot of the mountain.

  “Agent Clark,” one of the mounted police officers reported to her. “The area is secure and there aren’t any other people around here.”

  Gabriel, who was close to her, looked up surprised by the news. “What? No other people? But, what about Ezekiel, he was supposed to be with you as usual?” His questions were made to David and Jane, but neither of the two answered. Asa watched them stay there all tight-lipped and proud in their cuffs and started really believing that they weren’t as innocent as she wanted to believe for Gabriel’s sake.

  She sighed almost painfully and felt relief that at least they had managed to take them into custody pending official charges. “David,” she turned towards the man. “What do you know about the murders of agent Smith and agent Holliday?”

  “Nothing,” he answered.

  “Your grandfather told us that they came to your ranch around the time they were murdered,” Asa insisted and watched something like triumph shine in his eyes.

  “I have nothing else to say,” the man insisted and looked at his wife, who was silently crying beside him.

  “Jane,” Asa tried again. “Do you know something about this matter?”

  “No, I know only what my husband knows,” she muttered under her nose. “We want a lawyer.”

  “Oh, for God sake, tell them what they want to know. Tell them that you have nothing to do with all this,” Gabriel shouted out desperately. “Don’t you see how serious the situation is right now?”

  David Kimble just raised his shoulders at his brother’s outburst and said nothing, while Jane continued to cry. Asa had already realized that she wasn’t going to be able to make them talk, so she resolved on taking them down to Kalispell. She left on the premise of three police officers, who were from the area and knew how to handle themselves in the mountain would stay. Then let Gabriel arrange for someone to come up and take care of the cattle until the situation was resolved and only then they headed back.

  About half way down the hill, Agent Todd Gibson radio called Asa, sounding very worried. “Agent Clark, Asa,” he yelled into the receiver. “We have an active shooter situation at the courthouse in Kalispell.”

  “Do you know the identity of the shooter?” She asked, looking around and seeing how everyone was listening to her conversation.

  “Yes, according to the local police, the shooter is Ezekiel Warren. He is one of the neighbors of the Kimbles.” Gibson explained.

  “Okay, I know who he is,” Asa confirmed, looking directly at David, who didn’t even lower his eyes. “I will be back in Kalispell in less than two hours, wait for me before you engage in anything too drastic.”

  Gibson agreed to do just that and interrupted the conversation. For a while, the small group continued their way in silence, but Gabriel couldn’t take it anymore and spoke to his brother. “Did you know that Ezekiel was shooting at people in Kalispell?”

  David didn’t answer, but that didn’t stop Gabriel to ask again. “Was that why you shot at us, when you saw us coming? Please, David, tell me that you are not one of those terrorists?”

  Asa and the other police officers watched the interaction in silence, feeling sorry for the younger man, who had just found out that his brother was a cold blooded killer.

  Chapter 32

  Back in Kalispell, Ezekiel Warren had taken up a defensive position at the courthouse and was firing at the agents and at the police officers below. He had managed to injure one policeman and almost kill another, before everyone could find some cover. The shooting had been unexpected and at such a public place that it had been hard to cut off the area and to take all the civilians to a safer place.

  Agent Gibson was on the front line, trying hard to find a way to stop the shooting, without more casualties, but the man had chosen the perfect position and there was no way for the FBI or the police to reach him without putting more men in danger. Therefore, a standoff was ensued until Agent Asa Clark could make it back into town.

  Gibson thought that she must have been flying, because she arrived almost half an hour earlier than expected and immediately came to the place of shooting. Everybody made way for her, so the young agent was able to reach the front line in no time at all.

  “Todd,” she said to him, while crouching behind the car, he was hiding. “What is the situation?”

  “Not good, if you ask me,” the man shook his head. “The shooter has the highest position and is protected by all three sides, so that it is possible to be approached only from the front.”

  “When did this start?”

  “About three hours ago,” Gibson counted. “According to the witnesses, he just showed up, climbed up there on the tower and started firing on anyone in a uniform. Two officers are injured, one of them very badly.”

  “God, when this is over we will have the hospital filled with agents and policemen.” Asa commented. “I can see that you have the snipers ready?” She added, while looking at the three snipers strategically positioned on the roofs of the nearby buildings.

  “Yeah, we were waiting for you to start the communication with him. I already tried to talk to him, but the man answered with more shots.”

  “Let’s try that again,” Asa decided. She took the megaphone from one of the agents standing nearby and looked up at the man, hiding in the tower. “Mr. Warren,” she called him. “My name is Asa Clark, we have met before. I need you to come down and surrender your weapon.”

  Everyone on the square fell silent and Asa waited for the man to answer. Two minutes passed, then five, but Ezekiel didn’t answer and didn’t move. “Mr. Warren,” agent Clark started again. “We have your partners, David Kimble and Jane Kimble, everything is over now, you should surrender.”

  A movement on her right side attracted Asa’s attention and she saw one of the FBI agents run from one car to another. At the same moment, three shots came from the tower, aimed at the agent. “Shit,” Gibson cursed beside her. “This is not going to work.”

  “Maybe I can help,” Gibson and Clark turned around to see Gabriel Kimble standing behind them. “I should talk to him. He knows me and I think he even likes me. Let me try.”

  “Okay, but you should realize the danger you are facing?” Asa warned him. “What can you tell us about him?”

  “I don’t know if I know something useful, but I will tell you everything I know,” Gabriel agreed. “He is an orphan, raised by the community. He has always lived here, in rural Montana. His whole life is his ranch. Ezekiel Warren is a cattle rancher and lifelong friend to my family. He was practic
ally raised by our father and Grandpa Joe. He’s a mysterious, quiet character, but that doesn’t seem out of place to me in this part of north western Montana. For all the years I have known him, Ezekiel had never shown interest in anything else. Until recently. He started talking all around about overthrowing the government. I always thought of it as a way to show off, but now I realize that he had been deadly serious.”

  “Yeah, sometimes we are blind when it comes to those closest to us,” Gibson commented and everyone around them agreed.

  “Okay then, if you are sure that you want to do this, let’s try it,” Asa said to him, secretly touching his hand, as a way to show him that she cared about him. “You will keep at all times, behind the line of fire and you will wear a vest.”

  Gabriel agreed and once he was dressed and prepared for the conversation, he stepped a bit from behind the car and spoke on the megaphone. “Ezekiel, this is Gabriel, Gabriel Kimble,” he spoke calmly. “Can I talk to you?”

  “What do you want?” Ezekiel answered him.

  “Be ready,” Asa said to the snipers on the roofs. “The moment you have an opening, you shoot.”

  “I wanted to ask you, why are you doing this? David and Jane are already arrested, and I and Grandpa Joe are also being interrogated…”

  “Don’t you see? We are fighting against that, against the government and its cronies. We want to be free to live our lives the way we want and we don’t need the government to tell us what is right and what isn’t.”

  “Ezekiel, you killed people…”

  Asa could see the man move on the tower and she whispered to Gabriel, “Keep talking.”

  “Listen, Ezekiel,” Gabriel continued. “You should…”

  A loud shot was heard from behind them and they all watched the man on the tower fall backwards. “We got him,” Gibson shouted and ran towards the building. Every single FBI agent and police officer was pointing a gun at the tower, while a number of special force agents climbed the stairs. Their plan to distract Ezekiel long enough for the snipers to have a clear shot had worked and the terrorist was neutralized.

  Chapter 33

  Ezekiel’s body was carried away from the courthouse square under the watchful eyes of multiple local and national news agencies. The news about the new terrorist attendant had already circled the entire nation and journalists from everywhere were coming to film the place and to interview the witnesses. Agent Asa Clark had already given an official statement, naming Ezekiel Warren as the ring leader of the terrorist group.

  The man was described as a narrow-minded, violent and prejudiced person, whose only dream was to overpower the government. His primal role in the terrorist organization had been to recruit more followers and keep the plans secret. The few people, who claimed to know him, described Ezekiel as a leader, dominant and wise, when it came to his passion.

  Asa had formed her own opinion and if someone asked her, she would say that Ezekiel wasn’t as outspoken as Daniel and Grandpa Joe, but he was more willing to act on his urges. His quiet and humble demeanor masked a sinister commitment to an extreme ideology. Ezekiel Warren was the ring leader of the radical group and preferred to make plans in the shadows while Grandpa Joe and David Kimble acted as the mouthpieces for his own views.

  Grandpa Joe had finally broken down and admitted that he was of the same opinion as Ezekiel and David. After hours of interrogation, the old man had admitted that he had seen how the two FBI agents were killed and carried away, but he didn’t show any remorse about it. On the contrary, the man continued to shout that the government had destroyed his family and that he would make them all pay for it.

  The interrogation of David and Jane Kimble had been another hard moment from that day. Asa and Gibson had seated them together in the same room, deciding that David would be more talkative if his wife was near him. “Tell us about the murders of the FBI agents?” Asa started, as soon as she was seated down. “And don’t try lying to us, because we already know the truth, and just need to compare a few facts.”

  “We are not going to lie,” David said stubbornly. “We are not ashamed of our acts. We did what had to be done.”

  “So, you admit that you killed the FBI agents?” Gibson joined the conversation. “Or should I phrase it better, you were one of the many killers of the two agents.”

  “Yes, we were, we killed those bastards, who dared to show up at our homes and ask us questions. We waited for them to walk to the porch and start talking to Grandpa Joe. We already knew that they were coming to our ranch that day, as they were working methodically, following a certain order, while visiting the farms. And we were there, waiting for them.”

  “Should I ask, why did you kill them?”

  “They were representatives of the very government we have sworn to bring down. Just like you,” David added as an afterthought, looking directly at Asa.

  “What about you, Jane, do you have the same reasons?” Asa gave the woman a way out, but Jane Kimble wasn’t someone to run from responsibility. She had been looking at a point on the wall behind Asa and Gibson and not giving any sign that she was listening to their conversation. Asa thought that she had seen a tear fall down at one point, but she couldn’t be sure, because of her stone like expression.

  “Jane, you have to answer me,” Asa insisted.

  “I don’t have to do anything you say,” the other woman almost spit at her. “You are the one responsible for everything. You came into our lives and ruined them. Before the FBI came into our country, we were happy and carefree, but then you had to come and…”

  “Okay, okay,” Gibson interrupted her. “You blame the FBI and Agent Clark for all the problems in your life. We got that. Now, tell us about the murders?”

  “We killed them all. I was there, when we killed them. It was liberating.” Jane sounded like someone, who was drugged.

  “And the bombing?” Gibson continued.

  “We did that too,” Jane laughed almost as a mad woman. “You are so stupid. You left us to go inside the building and put the bomb under the fuel tank, without even searching us. And then, it was like a game.”

  “Jane, that is enough,” David turned towards his wife and looked at her as if he didn’t know her at all. Asa could understand how he was feeling. The woman acted as if she had lost her mind and her eyes were wide open, as if afraid that she might lose something.

  At hearing his voice, Jane trembled almost visibly, showing how shaken the woman was. Asa saw the battle going on inside of her and almost felt sorry for her. Jane didn’t speak after that, but David gave them all the information they needed. Asa thought that the man had already realized that it was all gone and wanted just to get it over with.

  The next day, all the news agencies were showing how David and Jane Kimble were hauled away in handcuffs, on their way to the federal prison. They were going to be tried as terrorists and that for sure was going to put them in prison for the rest of their lives. They had confessed to the murders of the two field agents and aiding in the bombing of the FBI field office.

  Grandpa Joe was going to be left to return home, although, he was going to be also tried for being part of the terrorist organization, witnessing the murders and lying to the FBI agents when interrogated.

  The cameras were also there, when Gabriel Kimble and Grandpa Joe were taken to a more secure location. Asa watched Gabriel hide his face and that reminded her that it was his whole family, she had arrested. During the last twenty four hours, agent Clark had had no time to talk to Gabriel, but she could imagine how the man was feeling. Now he was taken away and she had to finish a lot of reports and conduct hundreds of investigations. Just the part of the FBI agent’s life she liked the best.

  Chapter 34

  Gabriel had been kept in local custody for a few days, until the investigation was complete. Asa had visited him a few times during that period, but her visits were kept short and professional. Gabriel had shown signs that he was ready to forgive her, but this time it was Asa, w
ho wasn’t sure about her feelings about the situation.

  When Gabriel Kimble was free to go home, Asa wasn’t there to greet him and for a few days made sure to stay out of his way. That was also one of the reasons, why she traveled to the lake for a break from all the paper work she was dealing with at the moment.

  She hadn’t been around here for a long time, so Asa had a lot to see and explore. With a tourist book in hand, she explored some of the nearby sites and two hours before sundown went to the lake shore. She had heard wonderful things about the beauty of the lake here and wanted to enjoy it when there were fewer people on the beach.

  That was when her phone vibrated and she almost dropped it on the ground in shock, before picking it up and reading the message. “How are you doing?” Gabriel had written.

  “I’m good,” she typed back, feeling a bit self-conscious.

  “What r u doing?” Came the almost immediate question.

  Asa didn’t answer for a few moments. She waited and waited, and then Gabriel resent the message. “What r u doing?”

  The simple letters on the screen made her feel excited again. The young woman had thought that she would be able to forget about him for at least a few hours, but here she was once again entangled in his web. In the early days of their relationship she had allowed herself to be hopeful, but then he had shown her what he thought of her and Asa had stopped dreaming.

  Nodding to herself, Asa was about to put the phone away, when another text from Gabriel made her eyes widen despite herself. She opened the phone and almost burst out laughing when she saw that he had sent a sad emoji.

  “I’m watching the lake.”

  “U r by the lake????”

  “Yeah!!!!” Asa answered with the same amount of heat.

  “Stop rolling your eyes, I can see you through the phone.” Came the unexpected answer.