The doctor paused a moment and looked at notes. "Our killer is very intelligent and knows our procedures. He knows suicides are not logged on the NCIC, and he executes his victims and makes the murders appear to be suicides in the belief that their deaths will not be linked. It is obvious he believes this will give him time to finish off the whole team before a connection is made, if it ever would have been.
"Let me say also that the method of execution of the victims is purposeful. The use of the stun gun is most interesting. The killer immobilizes his victims, places them on their knees, and then lifts the victim's hand holding a pistol and helps the victim shoot himself. If my understanding of stun guns and tasers is correct, the victim is unable to move if the shock level is high enough. But the victim can see and he can hear. And that is exactly what the killer wants. I believe he wants the victim to know what is about to happen. At present the cross in the victim's mouth has me stumped. The religious aspect is of course obvious, but I don't believe our killer is a religious fanatic. I believe the cross has another meaning known to the killer and his victims."
Ashley lifted her head to speak, but Eli grabbed her leg under the table.
Ramona smiled at the SAC. "Don, I know you just mentioned Robert Anderson's being the primary suspect, and I hate to be a party pooper, but I would not get my hopes up. A retired colonel in his mid-fifties does not fit my profile. That does not mean to say my profile is infallible; it most certainly is not. But let me say I have serious reservations."
Farrel shook his head in frustration. "Ramona, are you saying we should look for another suspect?'
"Sorry, Don, but I'm afraid so. I believe you should proceed with your investigation of Anderson, of course, but I would also start from square one and begin looking into finding other possibles. George has his Team A and Team B, and I would be most happy to head a team of my own and begin looking into alternate theories of the killer's identity."
Polous's face tightened. "Sir, the doctor should work under my task force in Team B. An independent investigation will only cause communications problems."
Ramona canted her head and smiled. "No, George, I don't want to offend you, but you're too organized for me. I will report only to Don."
Don Farrel sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Okay, Ramona, you win this one, but I want you to attend the daily meetings and keep us all posted on what you come up with. It's settled. I suggest we take a coffee break then start work." He stood and nodded toward the seated agents, speaking in a solemn voice. "Folks, you're my first team and we're in the fourth quarter. We will score and break this case. . . . Two men's lives depend on it. Good hunting." He turned and walked out the door.
Polous gave the doctor a cold stare as the other agents began leaving. "You could have waited and voiced your concerns to me, Dr. Valez. This meeting was not the place to throw darts at me."
Valez stood and patted his shoulder. "You screwed up, George. You should have run the information about Anderson by me before telling the SAC you had your man. Think of it as a lesson. Go on, pout somewhere for a while, then come and apologize to me. I promise I'll accept."
Polous rose and hurried out the door, followed by his assistant. Ramona turned and looked at Eli, who still sat in his chair.
She stepped closer and spoke huskily. "Where have you been all my life, good-looking?" .
Eli shook his head and stood. "Don't start, Mona." His lips slowly crawled back in a smile as he stood and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. "I see you're still setting them up and knockin"em down. I don't think you'll get a Christmas card from the ASAC this year."
She shrugged. "He should have known better than try to keep secrets from me." Her eyes locked on Ashley. "And who is this?"
Eli motioned to his fellow agent, who was standing now, too. "Mona, meet Agent Ashley Sutton."
Ramona extended her hand with a pleasant smile. "Ashley, it is a real pleasure. After you interrupted Don during his opening remarks, I hoped we would meet. I am making a study of self-destructive behavior, and you seem to be the perfect candidate. Please don't worry, I'm kidding. But tell me, why did you feel compelled to correct Don?"
Ashley was still in shock that Eli had kissed the woman, and over the doctor's treatment of the ASAC. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Valez. I've heard quite a lot about you. To answer your question, I felt Agent Tanner deserved recognition for his efforts."
Ramona elbowed Eli in the ribs. "Eli, where did you find somebody willing to stand up for you? 1 thought I was the only one who still thought you were sane?"
"Come on, Mona, give her a break. She doesn't know you yet."
The doctor took Ashley by the arm. "Nonsense, Ashley and I are going to become close friends. So tell me, Eli, have you missed me?"
"Yeah, I miss getting humiliated on the tennis courts by you.
Agent Sutton, you are in the presence of the best tennis player, man or woman, in Virginia. Mona, here, played in the pros in her younger years. Now she beats up on men who are dumb enough to play her."
Ramona batted her eyes. "Flattery never was your high suit.
I've missed you, Eli. I still haven't found a doubles partner to take your place."
"I take it you two know each other from Quantico?"
Ramona nodded, keeping her eyes on Eli. "Eli and I are very old friends. I used tennis as an excuse to try and seduce him."
Embarrassed, Eli shook his head. "Mona, I told ya, don't start. Agent Sutton and I wanted to talk to you about the case."
"The cross, right? Don't look surprised. I saw Ashley wanted to speak up. What do you know?"
Eli motioned her to take a seat. "Mona, it bothered me the first time I saw the chain in the victim's mouth. It reminded me of Vietnam, when I had a Cambodian scout . . ."
Ramona listened without moving a muscle. When Eli finished, she looked at the far wall with a vacant stare and slowly nodded. "Yes, it makes sense now. The killer wants his victims to suffer, knowing they are going to die, yet respects them enough to want them to have a second chance M a better world.
Interesting, very interesting."
Ashley took photocopies of the letters she'd read from her briefcase. "Dr. Valez, these are copies of letters the victims sent to their wives while in Vietnam. I read them and think they'll help you understand what the men were doing there.
But it will also help you understand how close the team was and the incredible guilt they felt when their operation turned bad."
Ramona remained motionless a moment, and finally spoke.
"Guilt? You say they felt guilt?"
"Yes, Doctor. You'll see when you read the letters."
Ramona stood. "Ashley, I see you need me. You have a bad case of formality. I'm Mona, not 'Dr. Valez.' I can see that you two will be perfect for my team. Wait here. I am going to tell Don to assign you both to me."
Eli quickly stood up and stuck his hand out, blocking her way. "Take Agent Sutton, Mona, but not me. I'm not what you call a very well-liked guy around here. It would only cause you grief."
"Eli, my dear, you were the only one in this room who served in Vietnam. You have the experience nobody else has, and I need you. The chain and cross are a perfect example. I would have wasted days and probably not found the missing piece."
"Mona, the SAC will never approve it. He doesn't trust me."
"He doesn't have to," Ramona said, pushing his arm down.
"I trust you and that is what counts." She walked out and closed the briefing room door behind her.
Ashley looked at Eli with a glare. "You bruised my leg when you grabbed me. And what was that about 'take Agent Sutton but not me'?"
Eli sank into a chair and lowered his head. "Don't start on me too, okay? Mona was a great tennis partner, but working with her on this case is an entirely different matter. I would rather go back to Columbus and forget the whole thing."
Ashley raised an eyebrow. "You two had a thing going, didn't you? Don't deny it, I saw how she looked at
you."
Eli slowly raised his chin, pinning her with a stare. "Mona is a good friend. She was one of very few who stood by me when things got rough over the Ruby Ridge report." His stare softened. "Thank you for standing up for me in the meeting. It was dumb, but I still appreciate it."
Ashley covered her embarrassment with a shrug. "You're right it was dumb. So, do you think the SAC will let us work for her?"
Eli allowed himself a smile. "Do you think you could tell Ramona Valez no?"
Charleston, South Carolina Wearing blue jeans, cowboy boots, and black T-shirt, Kenny Chun leaned against the rental Mazda van, listening to Reba McEntire singing "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter." He hummed along with the song and tapped his right boot to the beat of the music. His right hand held a Kool menthol cigarette, and he took a drag without missing a beat, then blew a small cloud of smoke toward the blazing sun.
Five hundred yards away, a sleek Learjet touched down smoothly and raced down the runway. A minute later the small white jet rolled down the tarmac past Charleston's international passenger terminal and continued on toward the cargo and private aircraft hangars.
Kenny flicked away his cigarette and pushed off the van.
Time to go to work again. He opened the van's passenger door then walked toward the plane to meet his superior.
The aircraft's hinged steps were lowered to the ground as Kenny approached, and a solitary passenger walked down the steps. Kenny took his superior's athletic bag, motioned to the Mazda, and said in Cambodian, "Sir, Khek Penn is watching the target, and Hu Nim has everything prepared for you. His plan is a good one."
The passenger nodded. "Have our friends been supportive?"
Kenny smiled. "The contact has been very helpful but, like the others, he is worried."
"Nice boots," the passenger said. "Are they lizard skin?'
Kenny glanced down at them as he walked. "No, Texas rattlesnake. The famous bootmaker's store was in San Antonio. They are Tony Llama boots. These are just like a pair special made for Kenny Rogers."
The passenger glanced at his escort's brown, pox-scarred face and noticed the wisps of whiskers being cultivated below his lip. "So you are disguising yourself as the famous western singer?'
Kenny Chun grinned. "I have a cowboy hat in the van-it makes me seem taller."
The passenger nodded as he stepped up into the van. He sat in the front passenger seat and waited until Kenny had closed all the doors and slid in behind the wheel before saying, "I do see a certain resemblance. Take me to Hu Nim. It is time."
Chapter 12.
10:36 A. M. Atlanta.
Ramona Valez held Eli's arm as she walked with him down the hallway. Slowing her steps, she motioned toward an office door. "Here we are; this is where we'll be working."
Eli opened the door and held it open for the doctor and Ashley. Ramona set her briefcase on the table, opened it and pulled out an IBM laptop. She motioned her new team members toward chairs and leaned back in her chair. "All right, let's do some brainstorming. I'm going to tell you up front there are a lot of things bothering me about this case, but I want to hear your impressions first. Are you comfortable with the assumptions George and Don have made so far?"
Shaking his head, Eli sank into his chair. "Mona, I hardly slept last night thinking through the unanswered questions that were running through my mind. My biggest problem is I don't see how the killer could be so lucky. There's been no witnesses, no evidence left behind, no reports of strange cars parked in the victims' neighborhoods. No one heard the pistol shots or any conversations. Luck only goes so far. This killer is very lucky or very, very good. The problem I have is, I don't think he's that lucky, and nobody is that good."
"So what are you saying?" Ramona asked.
"I don't think one man could pull this off . . . but two or more could. That would make more sense to me. Example: how does our killer know so much about the victims? You mentioned in the meeting that it was obvious he had been watching them. I agree, but he had to watch each of them for an awfully long time to establish their schedules. The victim, Hoffman, playing cards on Monday nights, yes, that fits, but what about Rhodes meeting his honey? Was our killer so lucky that he just found Rhodes that night or did he know exactly where to find him? Has someone else been watching the victims and updating their whereabouts for the killer?"
Ashley rolled her eyes. "That's a little far out, isn't it, Tanner? If it's not Robert Anderson, what two people or group would have a motive for killing members of his Special Forces team? We're talking about cold-blooded executions here."
Ramona lifted her hand. "No, I like it. I agree that having more than one person involved would answer your questions and some of mine. But you are right, too, Ashley. Two or more people reaching a decision to execute human beings in this manner requires very -strong motivation. Why would one or more assassins execute these men? It doesn't appear to be a routine hit; a paid killer would not have taken the pains our killer or killers have to make these murders appear to be suicides. And a professional would never take on so many in such a short time. Much too dangerous. Greed? No evidence to support it. Power? Who benefits if the team is dead? Love is out.
And so is hate; if the motive was pure hate, the killer would have done more damage . . . made them linger in agony before killing them. Which leaves us with revenge. But revenge for what? What did these men do while in Vietnam that would cause others to go after them twenty-some years later?"
"Could be what the team knew," Ashley said. "In the letters the victims say that their mission was secret. It turned out to be a bust, and many innocent people paid with their lives. Maybe it's not revenge but rather a cover-up of some kind."
Ramona smiled as she reached in her blazer inside pocket. "I like it." She pulled out a thin flip phone and began pushing numbers. "You two have given me something to work on. . . ."
She broke her gaze from Ashley and spoke into the phone. "Hi, Simon, it's Mona . . . Yes, it's a difficult one. I need you and Mac to come to Atlanta and work with me . . . Simon, don't worry, I will clear it with Bryan later. Just bring your equipment and catch the first flight you can . . . The Atlanta office, that's correct. I'm staying in the downtown Marriott, so have Glenda book you rooms. And book two extra rooms for two others who will be helping me. My room number is 326, please try and get the rooms adjoining and close by . . . I said I would clear it, did I not? Now, please, no more questions and just do what I said. Good-bye."
Ramona folded the phone. "The two extra rooms will be for you two, but right now I would like both of you to fly to Washington on the first flight available. I want you to talk to Mrs.
Robert Anderson. Find out everything you can about her husband. Had he visited any of the victims' cities prior to his disappearance? Did he have contact with team members? Did he withdraw money from the bank, cash in bonds, before he disappeared? You can think of many more questions, but those are starters."
Eli shook his head. "Come on, Mona. We can call the Washington office and get that information in ten minutes. You know they've already asked her those questions and checked out her and her husband. Why are you really sending us there?"
Ramona smiled as she reached over and patted Eli's shoulder. "Eli, dear, of course I have an ulterior motive. It's obvious Don and George believe Anderson is the number one suspect. We must therefore torpedo their theory before we can move ahead on our theory. Once we eliminate Anderson as a possible suspect, the SAC will have to listen to what we say with an open mind. Just now he and George wouldn't even consider the possibility of having more than one person involved in the murders. Please go and see Mrs. Anderson. Eli, talk to her as a veteran to a veteran's wife. And you Ashley, talk woman to-woman with her. I trust your impressions and judgments about what she tells you. Go on, I am going to sit here, read the victims' letters, then start work on the new theory. Simon and Mac should be here by this afternoon to help me. Here is my cell phone number. Call me as soon as you have something."
<
br /> Eli took her card and stuffed it in his shirt pocket "Better call the travel office and tell 'em we're on the way to pick up tickets. I suspect we'll make it to Washington before nightfall.
Solemn Duty (1997) Page 16
