building or a fruit cellar, maybe. So there’re at least two still at large. We’re getting a dog or two. Brings me to the next point. What’s with the van you were talking about?”
I explained about Hector’s call, and the four people supposed to be in the van.
“I’ll bet they walked in after you got stuck in the barn,” said Volont. “That’s why the originals hung in and shot it out. They were waiting for somebody who absolutely had to get in there.”
Well, it was a better explanation than I’d been able to come up with.
“I’ll bet it was Odeh himself,” he said. “I hope it was. If so, we should have him.”
“Why would Odeh come here? “I asked.
I don’t know how long Gwen had been standing behind me, but she piped up with, “They didn’t have the spray cans of ricin up north yet. We talked to one suspect earlier, and he said that for some reason, the delivery had been delayed.”
“At the farm? “I found that difficult to believe.
“Sure,” said Volont. “While you were stuck down here,” and he nodded, “at our request, good old Dirty Harriet got us a subpoena for some UPS records. Your girl Linda got eleven packages in two days. The individual weights are about what four cans of that stuff would weigh. That’s forty-four cans, Carl.”
“Shit.”
“You bet. We think Rudy and Hassan brought ‘em out to the farm and stashed ‘em someplace. We haven’t found ‘em yet, and we don’t want the hazmat people in until we can be positive that every last one of those bastards is in our custody.”
“Then,” I said, “it could have been Hassan in the van?”
“Well,” said Volont heartily, “it sure as hell could have. Let’s go ask the little shit tomorrow. He’s one of the two prisoners we grabbed.”
“What? You’re kidding?!” The size of the grin said he wasn’t. “Hassan’s the one who shot Rudy Cueva!”
“You bet,” he said. “He’s a little worse for wear, he shot at the HRT guys who approached him. Took six 9mm rounds in the legs. He’s been Air Care’d out to La Crosse Lutheran.”
“He’ll make it?”
“Oh, sure. He’s damned lucky we’re better trained than he is.”
Well, that made my whole day. Even if he wouldn’t talk, we had him in custody. That would mean prints, photos, a lineup… I felt that I was back on track with the murder. Finally.
“We need to talk to you about what happened in the barn,” said Volont. “We better do it now, while it’s fresh.”
I knew what he meant. I’d killed two men. It hadn’t sunk in yet, and I wondered when it would. But we were going to have to get my information down. A lawsuit was just about automatic for these things, and I had the good fortune to be working in one of about three states where, even if exonerated in a criminal court, an officer could still be successfully sued in a civil case. It was for my own good. But, my Lord, I was getting tired.
“First, though, let’s set up that van you found for us. You’ve been doin’ a great job. Hell, you people here got better ‘n half our evidence!” He actually reached out and punched me in the shoulder. I was astounded.
“We got six men from the HRT setting up around the van up the road,” he said. “Two of ‘em are snipers. They’ll stay by it until Odeh comes for it, or we get him somewhere else. He won’t get by them.”
I was certain of that. Day or night.
CHAPTER 25
Saturday, December 22, 2001 22:41
Volont and Gwen Thurgood, who were basically there for information purposes, attended my debriefing. An Iowa DCI agent named Phillips did the recorded interview itself. I didn’t know him.
It was pretty simple. Volont was particularly interested in the fact that, immediately before I opened fire at the group of men, there had been some sort of grenade thrown at the barn.
“What a screw-up,” he said.
“What? “I thought he was referring to us in the barn.
“What we have here is some recruits, trained by somebody who might have been trained in a terrorist camp. The routine is, throw the grenade, then run into the objective, and then fire your automatic weapons. You don’t fire first and then throw the damned grenade, because you get caught reloading. Good thing you knew what you were doing.” He was saying that for my benefit, and for the record. “You got ‘em just in time.”
He made me sound a little more “heads-up” than I’d been at the time. I hadn’t really known what to do. I’d simply made a pretty good decision. I kept that to myself.
Volont excused himself right after that, leaving Gwen to keep their notes.
As I emerged from the DCI van where the debriefing had taken place, Lamar spotted me. He’d obviously forgotten I was still there. I could forgive that, he was pretty busy tonight.
“Carl? You’re still here…look, you better get home. ATF is going to be here tomorrow, and you, you gotta be here with ‘em. The bomb in the ambulance is our baby, too.”
“Can’t we get somebody else?”
“I want my best officer on this one.”
That was that. “You got somebody who can give me a ride to my car? “It was still parked up at the Heinman farm, a good mile and a half from where we were, and it was starting to snow.
“Sure. Just a sec.”
“And who’s got my rifle?”
“That’s on its way to the lab in Des Moines. It’s evidence,” he said.
Of course. They needed to make sure that the rounds that had struck the first two dead terrorists had actually come from my weapon. And while they were at it, they’d check it to make sure it was functioning properly. God forbid that the sights were off, and I had hit terrorist three instead of terrorist two.
I made my way toward the northern edge of the cordoned-off area, where I was sure I’d find at least two or three cops securing the road. One of them should be able to break away for long enough to provide a ride to my car.
There was a little knot of media people clustered around a van. On top were three cameramen with impressively long lenses, attempting to get the best view of the action at the barn. As I passed, I saw movement in the east side ditch. I almost drew my gun before I realized the dimly lit figure was waving at me.
I walked over. “Jesus Christ, Hector,” I said, as I reached him, “how in the hell did you get over here?”
“My sister dropped me off,” he answered, climbing up onto the roadway. “Way over there, on the good road.”
He must have walked a quarter of a mile through a field.
“You weren’t stopped?”
“By who?”
“Cops.”
“No way, man,” he said. “I just walked over here. There ain’t no cops until you get here to the road.”
So much for our secure perimeter. I held up my hand, indicating that he should wait, and pulled out my walkie-talkie. “Three to the command post…”
“Three? “Sally answered almost instantly. I wondered how long she’d remain on duty.
“You might want to check with somebody, just to see if there’s any security on the paving. I’m talking with an individual who just walked across the field, and wasn’t even noticed.”
There was a pause, then an amused, “Ten-four, Three. I’ll relay that.”
“That’d be nice,” I answered. “Then you might think about going home.”
I shifted my attention back to Hector, as Sally acknowledged. “So, you just had to see the place?”
“No, I didn’t, man. But I got to talk to you. It’s real important.”
“Look, I’m on my way to my car. Come on. We can talk now.” The two of us headed north. “Your sister wait for you?”
“Yeah, over on the other road.”
