by Rick Murcer
Gator.
The fourteen-footer was leisurely swimming so close to them that Benjamin probably could have reached out and touched the creature’s rough, brown hide.
But the reptile’s intimate proximity wasn’t what sent the two boys into a sudden, orchestrated screaming symphony. Benjamin and Thomas had seen gators close up and real before. But not like this.
Never like this.
It was the half-eaten head of the woman lodged in the corner of the gator’s jaws that did that.
CHAPTER-23
Josh Corner stood on the spotless wraparound porch of the Fed safe house, shaking his finger in the face of the agent in charge of perimeter security.
After another minute of animated gestures, he then tapped the thick-chested man to emphasize his last, but apparently not least, point of the one-sided conversation. Manny found himself feeling a little compassion for the agent, but then again, his lack of judgment and action had almost cost Sophie and him their lives. Almost.
“Now that’s what I call an ass-chewing,” said Sophie.
“Hard to argue with you on that one,” answered Manny.
“Yep, wouldn’t want to be on the end of that one,” said Alex.
“Yeah, but you might lose a couple of pounds,” said Sophie, shifting to look at Alex, who was on the other side of Manny.
“Maybe. Or I could just have surgery to take care of my physical deficiencies, like some wench I know.”
“Deficiencies? What? I just enhanced what was nearly perfect. And I notice you looking at the girls from time to time, for the record. And why would you want big tatas? Your man boobs are doing just fine.”
Manny put one hand on the arm of each of his friends. “As much as I’d like to hear this highly intellectual conversation play out, we’ll wait until later, got it?”
“Whatever,” said Sophie, crossing her arms, lifting her bosom higher.
“What she said,” said Alex, shrugging.
“Ha, he looked when I crossed my arms. Did you see that, Williams?”
“What? I did no such thing.”
“Agents. Are you deaf? Stop.”
Just then, Josh turned on his heel and made the thirty-foot trip over to where the three of them stood. Manny saw the stress on his face. Maybe even more than should be there.
“I’m sorry about that little greeting snafu. Are you sure you’re both all right?” Josh asked, hands on hips, breathing hard.
“We’re fine,” said Manny. “A better question is what happened? Who were those two?”
Exhaling, Josh motioned toward the agent he’d just verbally hammered. “The agents monitoring the exterior cameras apparently misread the situation. They thought those two were with you and set their attention to a sensor breech on the backside of the property. By the time anyone noticed the front monitors, you two were doing the mamba with those imposters. We’ll ID them shortly.
“Good thing most of the people who live on this end of the street were away from their houses, otherwise this would be a real snafu.”
Manny frowned. “A set up?”
“Looks like it. Combine that possibility with the fact that our people weren’t sure, in all of the confusion, which two of you were the real agents. This place is supposed to be a mile under the radar. Their decisions didn’t meet my expectations or agency protocol,” said Josh.
“The confusion with your agents is understandable, but obviously we need to get to the bottom of who these two are, and whether the distraction to your agents on the backside of the property was truly a set up.”
“We’ve locked those two in separate security cells on the lower level of the house. I figured you’d like to take a shot at them. Maybe we won’t have to bring in the testicle presses and the Judas Chair if you can get something from them,” said Josh.
“Oh man, I want to work those bad boys. I only saw them in a couple of those, like, thirteenth-century movies,” said Sophie.
“Actually, we have people skilled in the operation of those tools, so you’ll have to watch.”
Sophie wiped at her twitching nose and then tilted her head. “You’re not kidding, are you? You really would torture these people?”
“Let’s simply say there is nothing more important than the safety of Americans. We have to be prepared to do whatever it takes to protect the fine citizens of the good old USA,” said Josh, his gaze steady.
“Really? Torture?” asked Alex.
Leaning toward Alex, Josh put his hand on Alex’s new bionic arm, now free from the sling he’d worn for four weeks. “I’m tired of the bad guys living by any rule that fits them, and we, the good guys, the protectors of freedom and justice, have to play by rules that our enemies only laugh at. I hate it that they walk free out of courtrooms because of some dumbass technicality or because their lawyers were more persuasive than ours.”
He stepped back, taking off his jacket, sweat from his armpits seeping through his shirt. “No more. I took this job and formed this team to make sure we don’t become distracted from the objective. We’ll be nice first though.”
Manny hadn’t seen Josh this fired up about his vocation in sometime. His passion was obvious, but so was the almost-always hidden anger his boss kept under wraps. Maybe not anger so much. Frustration, for sure. Yet, if there was such a thing as righteous anger, maybe his boss’s was justified.
To serve and protect was every cop’s motto.
On top of what Josh was espousing, Manny understood how the confines of the American justice system could hinder the very thing it was designed to prevent: criminals getting away with unspeakable acts. But it was a slippery slope to fight evil with shades of evil.
He reached out and gently removed Josh’s hand from Alex’s arm, who remained staring at Josh.
“We get it, and we signed up for this gig knowing we could make a difference, remember?” said Manny. “But if you think borderline methods, especially torture, aren’t going to be questioned, then you don’t know all of us like I think you do. Besides, we all know there are a dozen ways to get the intel we need.”
“What he said,” chimed in Alex.
“Bet your ass,” echoed Sophie.
Josh opened his mouth to speak, then caught Manny’s expression. He exhaled, looked down to his wingtips, then back to them.
“Yeah, I get that part too. I do know you, and you all know me. We go back to that godforsaken cruise years ago. We’ve gone through a bunch of shit and a lot of sunshine. I just want this job, this responsibility, to be the best thing we’ve ever done. No delays. No obstacles, no distractions. I―”
“Wait. What did you say? Never mind, I heard you. Shit, that’s it. That’s what’s going on here. Damn it,” interrupted Manny.
The whirlwind of the last hour, combined with the attack on Detective Brooks and the breach of security at the safe house, came roaring home when Josh uttered his last statement. It was like the last piece of a complex puzzle had been found on the floor and was inserted to complete the picture.
“What’s it?” asked Sophie, tilting her head to get a better look at Manny’s face.
“This is all orchestrated,” said Manny, standing taller.
“All of what?” asked Josh.
“The attack on us. Brooks’s shooting, the house breach, the holdup with getting you over here, and leaving your half of this team to follow you here. Hell, even the protocol snafus were part of this thing.”
“What in the name of God are you talking about?” said Alex, frowning. “Shit happens in this business.”
“Think about it. Whoever sent these people after us, and I suspect I’m right on this, went after Brooks too, knew exactly what would happen here. That we would react the way we did. That it takes time to organize a proper investigation. And forget implementing agency conventions, etc. I’m betting these people weren’t even here to actually kill us, only cause another delay.”
“Delay in what? We’re going full bore in every . . . oh shit,” said S
ophie. “You’re talking about staying on task.”
“I think I’m right, there. We’re being pulled away from what we should be truly concentrating on to get to where we need to go.”
“That means whoever was involved in the warehouse incident thinks there might be something out there that could expose them? Is that what you’re thinking?” asked Sophie.
“I am. We have to go back to basics, at least for us.”
Manny turned back to Josh. “I think you need to bring everyone here. Forget that other intel or whatever the hell you’re doing. What we need to find isn’t in those databases and websites, looking for people who hate the government or whatever.”
“Great, what then? I’ve spent time on this stuff, and so have the rest of us,” said Alex.
After running his hand through his hair a few times and measuring his words, Manny made eye contact with the group. “Josh, like I said. I think we have to discuss a different approach to a couple of things.”
“Like what?”
“Like all hands on deck. Complete focus. We need all of the help we can get in a concentrated time frame. And we need to ID that woman who died at the warehouse. ASAP. There’s something fishy with that.”
“Okay, we can do that. But you didn’t answer Alex’s question. Where does he start?” asked Josh.
“That’s easy. He needs to do what he does. We all do.”
Just then, the rest of the ACTU arrived in another white SUV. After greeting them, Manny looked around his circle of agents and sighed.
“We have to narrow the search down to a few possibilities of attack. That means we all have to use the gifts God gave us.”
“We’ve been busting ass to that end,” said Josh.
“We have. But we’re all experts in different fields than the one area we need to be. We need someone who is.”
“Wit what? Spit it out, mon,” said Braxton.
“Have you ever heard of the Darknet?”
CHAPTER-24
Thirty minutes later, the mess outside the Victorian was a distant blot on the radar screen. The seven members of the ACTU were gathered around a wooden table in a large room on the south side of the house, set aside for just this type of meeting.
Manny noticed no direct sunlight reached the cool, dim room through any of the windows. The skylight directly above the entrance was unlike any he’d ever seen, consisting of thick glass—bulletproof, he guessed—and a smoky tint that diminished the effect of the Louisiana sun, yet added another level of light.
The room smelled almost like a sterile examination room in one of a million doctor’s offices with the exception of the faint coffee aroma. He suspected there would be more of that java odor before this situation reached its pinnacle.
“Did you all ever think there was this many conference rooms on the planet? I feel like we’ve met in most of them,” said Sophie.
“Yeah well, that’s what cops do. We meet and discuss cases,” said Josh, a tinge of irritation in his voice. He looked at Manny. “We’re here and we’re ready. This better be good. I feel like we wasted a day on research you say doesn’t matter, so what’s next?” asked Josh.
“I think we’ve been going about this the wrong way.”
“As you said. But─”
“Let me finish, okay?”
Josh threw up his hands. “Fine.”
“What if we did our searches on the Internet a different way? What if we take what we know and expand the search based on that, instead of trying to guess what might be going on?”
“I hear you, but the problem has to do with what we know,” said Sophie. “It doesn’t appear to be a whole hell of a lot.”
Manny shook his head. “No. I don’t think that’s true. The reason Josh brought us all together was that we each have knowledge in different areas, right?”
“Go on, mon,” said Braxton.
“I read people’s tendencies and actions. Alex is a forensic scientist. Sophie uses her intuition and understands the physical art of confrontation. Chloe is a profiler with experience in terrorist motivations and plots.
“Barb and Braxton have done the double-life, undercover thing and understand what that takes to be successful. No one organizes and recognizes the need for a quick decision like Josh. Belle, when she gets here, brings that profiler gift with a police expert twist. She’s seen more of the different genres of crime fighting because of where she has done her investigations.”
Josh tilted his neck, his vertebrae cracking. “All true, but what does any of that have to do with what you said a few minutes ago? I’m a little confused by us being distracted from this case and then you throw in the reference to the Darknet.”
“I get that. Listen, our sense of urgency has been continually interrupted, like I explained before. The best way―”
“―to alleviate that pattern is to get us back to basics, to what each of us do better than the rest.”
The large oak door had opened, and Belle Simmons, framed by the elaborate woodwork, stood with hands on her hips, her ebony countenance bright and alive.
Leading the way, Manny and the others moved to her, arms open and smiles on their faces. After the greetings were completed, Braxton and Belle seemed to enjoy a longer-than-the-rest hug. He wasn’t sure anyone else noticed, but Manny filed that one away for future reference.
“Well, young lady, you’re right as usual. It’s hard to distract single-minded purpose, especially for the type of personalities in this room.”
“So what are you suggesting? That we don’t have the right chemistry here?” asked Josh.
Manny shook his head. “Not at all. I’m saying we don’t have the total package. We need to add one more element to this team, in my opinion.”
“What would that be?” asked Alex.
Opening his mouth to answer, Manny felt Sophie’s hand on his arm. “Hold on, cowboy. Let us figure this out.”
“All right. You tell me.”
The room grew quiet, yet Manny swore he could hear the wheels turning as what he had said filtered through the team.
It didn’t take long.
“Damn it, mon, I should have taut of dat. We don’t have one of dem hacker types, now do we?”
Josh frowned. “The hell we don’t. We have five or six of the best hackers and IT specialists that money and training can buy. Some of these people were, how shall we say, on the other side of the law and have very unusual skills. Damn. We can and do dig into everything. There’s nowhere on the Internet these people can’t go. Who do you think put together these databases that we’re sifting through?”
“Josh―”
Josh raised his hand while his voice became more animated, his blue eyes on fire displaying more of that frustration. “Wait, Manny. You’re wrong here. These people are at our beck and call. Even though they aren’t on this team, per se, they . . . and I’m missing something, aren’t I?” He sighed.
“Ahh, I’d say so, by the look on Williams’s puss. But I’m not sure any of the rest of us are where he is either,” said Sophie.
“I’m not,” said Alex. “Sounds like we have top-of-the-line geeks working this thing. And I can tell you, the databases are well done.”
“I agree with that, Alex. And I’ve seen the stats on what the information has done in terms of crime prevention and arrests, great stuff. But I also noticed that there were two categories of criminals we aren’t doing so well locating and prosecuting,” said Manny.
Josh folded his arms, his expression one of pure fascination. “Really, Manny? You broke down our data and linked it to our arrest records in separate criminal categories?”
“Yes, I did it the night I said I’d join this unit. I wanted to see how well we Feds were doing. I was looking for two things. And we’ve not done well with either, despite special units dedicated to them. Our very own BAU, over the last seven years, has captured less than forty percent of serial killers, by strict definition, that is.”
“And the other,�
�� asked Barb.
“Domestic terrorists, as explained according to Chapter 113B US Code. If you take the three-part delineation literally, we’ve only managed to stop about thirty-nine percent of the homegrown type of attacks that fall in that category.”
“Hell, I didn’t think it was that good,” said Belle.
The urgency bell rang loud in Manny’s mind as he realized he’d gotten off track. Knowledge is good, but not always practical.
He turned back to Josh. “The Darknet is a creepy haven for anyone seeking help—from contract killers to pedophile requests to slavery auctions to terrorist networks, including hidden cell communication, which I expect your people know well. But I want someone who thinks like these people do, even darker. Your people are good, but I’d guess they haven’t reached a couple of places that maybe someone with almost-evil experience could, agreed?”
“Okay, maybe,” said Josh.
“The bottom line is that we need a hacker or computer expert who understands the people we are looking for better than we do. Someone who knows the Darknet and the next step into the deep web and can see the subtle communication tendencies between some of this slime that we don’t.”
“So you want a serial-killer/terrorist who can hack and wants to help the ACTU bring down the people responsible for what happened in the warehouse and expose what they are planning? Does that cover it?” asked Josh.
“It does. And I know―”
Josh raised his hand and pulled out his phone. After a few seconds, he responded with a curt “Got it.”
“What now?” asked Sophie, rolling her eyes.
“Apparently the APB we put out, based on the description Detective Brooks gave, may have a hit.”
“What does that mean?” asked Manny.
“It means the NOPD located a body, what’s left of it at least, near the north end of Lake Pontchartrain. It could fit Brooks’s attacker. They’re waiting for us.”
“Let’s go,” said Sophie.
“Wait,” said Manny.
Sophie was right, but it was time to change what and how they did what they were doing. Another distraction wasn’t what this team needed; a concentrated, coordinated effort attacking all sides of the investigation was in order.
