Forensics Camp

by Kate Banco

  “Because we don’t know where we are going, hijo. We can buy you new toys. I bet they are bigger and better in California,” Papá says.

  He puts his head down and says, “But I want this one, Mamá bought it for me before she left on her trip.” He says as he holds up a figure of Spiderman.

  “Okay, bring Spiderman, but leave the rest,” I say.

  We get out of the car and see a white passenger van parked on the other side of the gas pumps. It starts up and moves toward us.

  “This must be our ride,” I say.

  A slender man wearing a Califas t-shirt and a Yankees baseball cap on backwards steps out of the van.

  “Are you waiting for a ride? Did you call earlier?” he asks.

  “Sí, yes we are. We want to go to California,” Papá says.

  “Okay, get in the van. Who is signing the papers?”

  I answer, “My father and I. We are signing.”

  “Okay, you are signing for the full total of forty-four thousand dollars. You realize if you don’t pay it someone will find you. El jefe doesn’t like people who don’t pay. Here is the phone number you need to keep. Remember if you don’t call to make payments, we will find you, or the little one or your Abuelita. We always get our money,” he smiles showing a gap where his front teeth should be.

  “Yes, we will pay. Don’t worry. Give us the papers to sign,” I say.

  He hands the papers first to me and then to my Papá. Papá signs with a simple X since he never learned to read or write.

  “Okay, let’s get going. You will want to get across as soon as you can,” he says.

  He starts the van and we exit the gasolinera. He merges into traffic but doesn’t take the turn for the border, he turns in the opposite direction.

  “Where are we going? The border crossing is that way. We are very close, can’t we just go that way?” I ask.

  “You aren’t very smart, are you? Do you think we are going to drive across like you have a visa? Or like you are returning from Spring Break like those yanquis?”

  “How are we going to cross?” I ask.

  At this point, I see my Papá and Abuelita have leaned back in their seats and closed their eyes. They think we have made it. We signed some papers and this guy will get us safely across the border. I have a feeling that is the farthest thing from the truth. We may have signed our lives away.

  Chapter 13

  Oswego, New York

  Marcos and I are walking to school and Joy’s Challenger pulls up next to us and screeches to a halt.

  “You two need to both get in the car, I’ll tell you why in a minute.” Marcos and I want to run away, but what if she knows something we don’t know. What if Tío Enrique is looking for us? She can’t know anything about that.

  “Get in, I’m not kidnapping you. Margarita, we wanted to wait a week but it looks like Marcos will have to know now. Get in and I’ll take you both to Sam,” Joy explains.

  I look at Marcos with an apology written all over my face. “Marcos, I’m sorry.”

  “Wait, who is Sam? Margarita, what do you know about this?” Marcos asks.

  “I have to tell you something I found out yesterday, I was sworn to secrecy but I guess now you can know,” I explain.

  “What is going on? Tell me now!” Marcos demands.

  “I’ve been hired to work for Sam Mason, he is training me to work with Joy. He also wants to hire you and Dana but he said I couldn’t tell you for at least a week. Marilyn already works for him, he is helping to rescue her from New York City.”

  “What? Who is he? When did you start working for him?” Marcos asks.

  “Yesterday, when I went on the ride along with Joy. She recruited me and said you would be recruited next week or the week after. Dana too. I didn’t want to lie to you, I told them that. I said I’m very close with my family and with you and couldn’t lie to any of you. They told me it would be for a short time, so I agreed,” I say.

  “Get in the car, I’ll explain more in the car. We can’t be talking about this on the street, Marcos, you get in the front,” Joy directs.

  We both get in the car and Joy revs the engine and pulls away from the curb. She races through a yellow light and turns in the direction of the lake. She pulls in the same restaurant parking lot as yesterday. She pulls out the same paperwork she gave me.

  “Here, this is a non-disclosure agreement. Read it over and sign it please,” she says.

  “Wait, what am I signing?” Marcos asks.

  “It says you won’t disclose who you meet with today or the location. You will be given a job offer today as a trainee. Your wife is already in training, you might as well join up too. You won’t regret it, it’s an excellent opportunity,” Joy says.

  Marcos looks at me with questioning eyes, “Did you sign this?”

  “Yes, I did. I also accepted the job offer,” I admit.

  “I wish we could have talked about it more before you signed it,” he says.

  “I know, it wasn’t presented to me with time for discussion. It was sign up yesterday or turn it down. What was I to do? I worried if I didn’t it would be something I regretted later.”

  Joy looks at us and says, “You both will end up with very good training and excellent jobs, believe me.”

  “You mean like medical examiner like you?” Marcos asks.

  “No, it will be more important than that. How do you know if that is the only job I have?” she asks.

  “Is it?” I ask.

  “You won’t know until you are trained and given a security clearance. You will need to learn to trust us. I understand that is difficult for some,” Joy says.

  Marcos signs the papers and hands them to Joy, “Okay, I’m in and we’ll trust you until the first time you give us a reason not to, understand? We may be young but we aren’t naive.”

  “We know that or we wouldn’t be recruiting the two of you. We know more about you than you think,” she says with a smile.

  Marcos and I look at each other. How much can she know? She can’t know we are part of the WITSEC program and that we helped convict my Tío Enrique. Or could she? Now we wonder if we have compromised any information and our whole family will have to be relocated again. Both Marcos and I are worried.

  Joy follows the same road along the lake until we get to the entrance of Fair Haven State Park. She turns in to the park but then hangs a quick left to follow the dirt road we took yesterday. Soon we see the pavement and the manicured lawn and white fences along the highway. I can see Marcos is wondering where we are going.

  Joy pulls up to the guard booth takes out her badge and asks me to hand her mine. I give her my badge and the guard looks at Marcos.

  “He is on the list, his name is Marcos,” she says.

  “Okay, it’ll just be a minute while I call up to the house,” the guard says.

  He comes back and hands us our badges, “Will he be getting a badge today?’ He asks.

  “Yes, he is. Next time he’ll have a badge too,” Joy answers.

  Joy puts the car in gear and drives up to the house. Marcos is in awe when he sees the house.

  “What is this place? Why so much security?” Marcos asks.

  “You’ll find out soon enough. Keep your questions for when you talk with Sam. He will answer all of your questions or at least the ones you think of today,” She says.

  We all get out of the Challenger and walk to the front door. Juan, the same young man as yesterday greets us at the door.

  “Good morning, Joy. How are you Margarita? Nice to meet you, Marcos. ” he says.

  “How does he know who I am?” Marcos asks.

  “We know all about you. You are a recruit so all of the staff knows about you,” Joy says with a smirk.

  “What? Margarita, do you feel comfortable here?” He asks.r />
  I smile and say, “It gets easier once you meet Sam, believe me.”

  “I hope so,” he says.

  Joy leads us in to Sam’s office. Mary Ellen, Sam and Marilyn are all seated waiting for us. Marilyn smiles at Marcos.

  “Marcos, it’s nice to meet you,” Sam says as he reaches out to shake his hand.

  “And nice to see you again Margarita. Marcos, this is my assistant, Mary Ellen, she will be doing a quick physical check and take some blood, and you already know Marilyn. She arrived late last night from New York City.”

  Marilyn comes over to Marcos and me and gives us both a hug, “I’m so glad to see you two. I was scared. I’m so glad to be back in Oswego.” She says with tears in her eyes.

  “Dana is so worried, we were worried sick Marilyn. We are so glad you are safe,” I say.

  Sam interrupts with a cough, “You’ll be able to catch up later. Let’s use this time to get Marcos started on his training.”

  “Sam, aren’t you going to give him the option to not participate? Like you did with me?” I ask.

  “Well, Margarita to tell you the truth once you agreed, Marcos became a recruit as well. We need both of you or it won’t work. He doesn’t really have a choice. You made that choice for him,” Sam said.

  I look over at my husband with a sad look. “I didn’t know that Sam. I didn’t realize I agreed for both of us.”

  “Don’t worry Margarita, neither one of you will regret this. It should work out well for both of you,” Mary Ellen says.

  “For sure, don’t worry so much,” Sam says.

  “Marcos, come with me. We can get started on your physical and blood tests. We’ll make your ID too. Joy and Margarita need to start part of the training today. You’ll catch up with them later,” she says.

  Marcos follows Mary Ellen out of the office. Marilyn asks if Marcos would like her to go with him. He looks at me, pauses and then turns to Marilyn and says yes.

  Sam gets out a packet of materials and hands them to me.

  “This is something you will need to read through tonight. It tells you the different training modes you’ll be going through once you start your training. Some of the training is physical, but a lot of it is mental preparation. Don’t worry or think you can’t do it, it will get easier as time goes on. There is also a class list we would like you to look over. We have some suggested classes we would like you to look at for next semester.”

  I glance at the list and see language courses at the top of the list. Arabic, Mandarin, Thai, Russian, Ukranian, Spanish, Japanese, and Portuguese.

  “I don’t think all of these classes are taught at SUNY Oswego. Maybe Spanish, Arabic and Japanese I’m not sure about the rest. Why do you want us to take languages? I already speak Spanish and English.”

  “We want a variety of languages represented on our staff. You already speak Spanish but we would like you to choose another language, perhaps Russian or Arabic for next semester. Get started on the basics. How does that sound?” Sam asks.

  “Would Marcos and I learn the same language?” I ask.

  “That’s up to you, but we prefer to cover as many languages as we can,” Sam answers. “Talk it over with him to see if any specific language interests you. Maybe he’d like to study Russian or Japanese and you’d like to study Arabic and Thai.”

  I never thought about learning another language and wonder why Sam is so interested in that. Marcos and I are both already bilingual. Joy tells me to follow her upstairs. She takes me in to one of the bedrooms that looks unoccupied. She opens a big closet and asks me what size I wear.

  “Umm, I think a size ten pants, small t-shirt and medium jacket. I like my jacket to be a little bigger.”

  “No, we want all of your clothes to fit perfectly and snug. When we are out on a case we don’t want your jacket dragging in the evidence.

  She hands me a pair of black cargo pants with velcro on the pockets and a black polo shirt with Trainee written across the pocket. She then hands me a black one-piece swimsuit, black running shorts and another t-shirt, this one is white but has trainee written across it.

  “Go try these on, there’s a bathroom right there. If they don’t fit, give me a yell and we’ll try another size. What size shoe do you where?”

  “Usually, a seven and a half, but depends on the shoe.”

  “Here try these boots on, if they fit I’ll get you a pair of running shoes too.”

  I take the clothing and enter the bathroom. It looks like they are dressing me just like Joy dresses when she is working here. Am I already considered more than a trainee? It seems unusual I would be dressed like an investigator if I haven’t completed my training yet. The pants fit perfectly, the shirt too. I have to give the boots back to get a bigger size. Joy gives me a size eight boot. I sit on the bed and lace up my boots. They fit like a glove. She hands me a pair of Adidas running shoes size eight. Then a black messenger bag to put all of my new items of clothing inside. I look at the pants as I fold the extra pair to put in my messenger bag. There is an interior pocket in the back waistband and also an interior pocket in the jacket. I wonder what they are for?

  “Now, let’s get a head start on Marcos’s clothing. What size does he wear? Thirty-four waist?”

  “No, thirty-two waist and thirty-six inseam. His shirts are size medium to large, he will have to try it on. His shoes are a size ten.”

  Joy grabs the items and lays them on the bed. “This will save time when I bring him up to get his stuff. Now, let’s you and I go outside, I want to show you around.”

  I hesitate and Joy says, “Okay, what’s your question? I see you with that look.”

  “The pocket in my waistband and jacket? And the side pocket in Marco’s t-shirt. Are they for what I think they are for?”

  Joy smiles and asks, “What do you think they are for?”

  “Guns, they are for concealed weapons, right?” I answer.

  “Yes, Margarita they are. You will be able to carry two guns, one in your waistband and another in the inside pocket of you jacket. Marcos will also have pockets in the same places. You didn’t mention the interior leg pocket. In the lower calf of your cargo pants there is room for another small pistol. We will discuss this further when you’ve reached that point in the training. Let’s go, we need to keep on schedule,” she says as she hurries me out of the room.

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to show both of us at the same time?” I ask.

  “No, we do it individually, we do the exact same training with everyone. We don’t want one person to rely on the other to listen. You both need to listen and do your own training.”

  We walk down the stairs and walk out through a large set of patio doors that face the lake. What a view! Lake Ontario right in front of the house, it’s an ideal location for someone who loves the lake. I see a boathouse down on the lake. From under the sides of the boathouse I see two large boats floating. I know nothing about boats but these look like some serious money was spent on them. I can’t see the whole boat but just from what I can see I can tell they are impressive.

  We walk along the side of the house to an outdoor building, as we enter I smell chlorine. Could they have an indoor pool in here? In summer they wouldn’t need it, but in winter there is no way anyone would swim in the lake. Inside the door there is a gym and I see a couple of people lifting weights. Both are dressed in the uniform of black shorts, black t-shirt and trainee written across the back. They wave and say hello to Joy. She shouts out a hello to them but keeps walking. They both acknowledge me by a head nod I’ve seen guys usually give each other, like a hello you must be one of us.

  We go in to the locker room and Joy shows me a locker and hands me a combination lock, “Here you can lock your stuff up here while you are here. You won’t be in the house much once we get started. You can come directly here, get changed and lock up your stuff.
No one will bother your stuff but we still lock it up. You can leave your new gear here now. Go ahead and leave your purse and the rest of your clothes,” Joy says.

  “Joy, do you really work for the county? Or do you just work for Sam? How do you have time to do both?” I ask.

  Joy smiles and says, “You don’t wait to ask questions do you? You just jump right in and ask what you want to know.”

  “Is that bad?” I ask.

  “No, not in this business. Look, I work solely for Sam and one of his agencies. I don’t work for the county, but never let that be known to outsiders. Only a few people know who I really work for. Most people don’t ask and I can avoid questions when others ask. There are county medical examiners but we offer a different kind of service,” She says as she walks away.

  “Who are outsiders? What kind of service?” I ask.

  “You only get one honest answer a day. No more questions until tomorrow, okay? Outsiders are anyone who doesn’t work for Sam and who don’t have security clearance.”

  “But…” I say with hesitation.

  “What?”

  “Who was the woman’s house we went to on my first day on the ride-along? You told them you were a deputy medical examiner. Was that real?”

  Joy lets out a long sigh and says, “Nothing gets by you, does it? I had to pretend I was a medical examiner to get you on board. It was a coincidence that one of Sam’s employees lost his mother. It was all a set up. He had already called the funeral home and a doctor was present when she died. You’d be surprised how many fake deaths I’ve attended where I kept the recruit in the hallway. People don’t always die when we are recruiting. You were lucky, you got to see a real dead body. Marcos and Dana won’t even get to ride along for an unattended death.

  “Joy, when should I believe you? Now I feel like a fool,” I say.

  “Don’t worry, nothing to hide now. Marcos is in and Dana will be soon. Only a few more days until Dana comes on board and then everything we tell you is true. Like I said I only will answer one question honestly per day until we are finished with training. If I don’t answer it’s because you’ve already asked one question.”