by Harper W.
I asked my question now. “Why did you launch a missile towards a playground?”
“Oh, did I forget to mention that some of the missiles that fell into our enemy’s hands were launched at civilian targets, like schools? I felt the American public would better understand the enormity of the crimes of this motley group if they saw their own children put into danger. It was purely psychological.”
Kaie was grinding her teeth … I swear I could hear them. I spoke up again. “What if a child had been killed?”
“Collateral damage,” was his reply. Now I was getting angry.
“Why did you launch the third missile at a bus?” Kaie asked,
“Again, that was another example of a civilian target hit as a result our little group of betraying thieves. And again, it was purely psychological. I wanted the American public to feel the horror of being on public transportation, feeling safe and secure, when suddenly your world is shaken.”
“I noticed that the missiles didn’t detonate – just … uh … land,” I commented.
“Indeed. I did make some changes to the missiles after I had them in my possession. I didn’t want my victims to be blow into so many pieces it would take forever to identify them, not that they didn’t deserve that.”
Well, we had the motive pretty well established. It seems that a weapons engineer lost his mind – because surely that had to be the case – after seeing footage of weapons that he had designed being used against American soldiers and civilians. He wanted to play vigilante and draw the public’s attention to their crimes.
Now we needed to fill in some more blanks.
“Where did you get the weapons and the truck?” I asked.
“I posed as a foreign buyer, and made all the financial exchanges via electronic means. The truck was delivered as one of four, and the delivery man was none other than Mr. Donnie Beams. He the first truck to the abandoned warehouse I was at today in Mesquite. The CEO of this disreputable enterprise was Morrison. The middle-man, or middle-woman as it were, was the lovely and charming Ms. Hancock. She was the one who handled all communication, and facilitated the electronic exchange of funds. Mr. Black worked with a man out of San Diego named Dwight to have the missiles transported to me.” He paused to take a sip of water.
“I was about to dispatch Mr. Smith when you stopped me. He was an unscrupulous young man who I hired to take possession of the first group missiles for me, and he was going to help me steal the remaining ones I needed – they are tucked away in San Diego. I hadn’t originally included him on my target list, but I realized that he was willing to work for the highest bidder. I found that disgusting.”
“And the other five you said were still on your list?” Kaie asked.
“They were the ones ‘on the take,’ as you so colloquially put it, work at the defense contractor. I planned to take them out next week,’ was his reply.
“Where did you get the money?” was my next question.
“I made a considerable amount of money in my line of work, and spent very little at it. I have, among other talents, one for investing. It was my own money. It served an appropriate purpose in the end.”
Chapter 9
CSI found the laptop that contained the evidence, just as Dr. Williams had described. The whole missile theft case was taken out of our hands by the feds, but following the news afterwards we knew they were pursuing it. They took Ms. Hancock’s laptop and flash drives, too, saying that they contained information that compromised national security. We had Dr. William’s confession, though, and really didn’t need those items as evidence any more.
The CEOs that had been ‘on the take’ went to trial and are now serving very long prison sentences. Mr. Smith, the last man to be strapped to a missile, did have less than stellar criminal record and was both charged and convicted for his role in taking possession of the stolen missiles.
Dr. Darren Williams did go on trial for murder before a jury of his peers. He continued to insist on representing himself. He didn’t try at all to save himself, but rather took the trial as an opportunity to express his viewpoint of the guilt of the people he killed. He never seemed to realize how wrong he was to put innocent people in danger, much less cause the death of two people totally unrelated to the missile sales. I think that’s the main reason the jury found him guilty by reason of insanity. Only an insane man would kill innocent people and risk the lives of innocent children to make a point. Something in him must have snapped.
They sentenced him to a mental hospital, but about a year later he was released because the shrinks didn’t think he was a threat to anyone anymore. Kaie and I couldn’t disagree more. That man was crazy, but he was also intelligent. Anyone who could pull off even a part of that complicated scheme he did had to be smart … smart enough to play the games, play naïve as he said during interrogation … in order to get released. We hope the docs are still keeping a eye on him. He is not a man to be underestimated or taken lightly.
Oh, and one more thing. Kaie did end up on the news, and the captain made her cooperate with a local news station that wanted to interview her. All of Dallas knows who Kaie is, and they know her by that nickname. I’m proud to say that I’m her partner.
The End
