computers were to be properly shut down and secured, and all employees below management level – except for a select few – were to be escorted out of the building after being cautioned not to communicate with anyone about what was happening; there were a number of junior agents that would be assigned to that task. With only management personnel left, they would be isolated from each other, and read their rights before questioning. Any that seemed unduly nervous or otherwise apprehensive were to be brought to the attention of Agent Hernandez. When the building was secured, there were a number of accountant and other special agents that would begin the process of going through the files and records of the company. As this was happening, a number of bank accounts would be seized throughout the country, and records would be analyzed to identify all transfers involving the suspect accounts; then THOSE accounts would be analyzed, and so on, to a level of 5 removes from the TechnoDynamics accounts.
At that point, one of the FBI computer people got up, and explained to the rest of them just exactly how and why the computers were to be secured. He also told them that I was the one that figured out what was going on, and that I'd had to walk the rest of them through it before they saw what was happening. He also added that his group had requested my presence to help with any problems they might run into.
Another agent told us that the local police had been notified, and were ready to provide additional personnel, if needed.
When the briefing was done, all of us were thoroughly familiar with what was going to be happening, and when. Agent Hernandez and I had a brief conversation in Spanish after he asked me a question.
When we were done, he laughed and said 'Mr. Andrews, I'm impressed with your fluency in Spanish; but that accent is something else!'
Clara told him that it might be Russian or German – that I was also fluent in both of those. He got a dumbfounded look on his face before Clara led us back to her office. There, she asked me if there was anything I needed, and I told her 'Only a cup of coffee, and to see your gunsmith, Mike.' She nodded, and excused herself with Lucy before leading me to a coffeepot, then the gunsmith, a slender black man.
'Mike? This is Dan Andrews.'
'Mr. Andrews? A pleasure to meet you. I hear you've got a little something for me to do.'
'Call me Dan, Mike. Yeah, I do' I told him, before reaching under my shirt to pull out the pistol – carefully, then getting the weapon safe to show them that it wasn't loaded. I added 'The trigger on this thing feels kinda gritty, so if you could smooth it out some, I'd appreciate it.'
He nodded, and asked 'Jones told me you said something about it being mushy when it trips?'
'Yeah. Seems like there's a little too much play in where the hammer is released.'
Again, he nodded, and told me 'Easy enough. I can have the trigger polished up for you in about ten minutes, or so. If you've got another hour or thereabouts, I can take care of the rest of it.'
'If you need some ammo, I've got a box out in the car', I told him.
'No, I've got plenty here, but thanks for offering. Don't see much in this caliber, these days.'
He promised me the weapon would be ready by twelve o'clock, and I told him I'd see him then.
When we got back to Clara's office, I mentioned to her that I had noticed most of the agents were looking at me strangely. She looked confused for a moment, and then laughed, explaining 'It's several things. First, you're the first person in a LONG time to come in and just hand us a case like this. Then there's the fact that word of your military record has gotten out. Finally, the agents that saw you shoot last night have been talking about it – a LOT.'
Seeing the mildly confused look on Lucy's face, Clara told her 'Short form – they're impressed. Shucks,*I'm* impressed.'
Lucy looked at her, then me, then back to Clara before asking 'You mean he's even impressing the FBI?'
Clara laughed, and answered 'Yeah, even us. And believe me, Lucy, we don't impress easily. I personally have busted bank robbers, kidnappers, con men, drug dealers, and all kinds of people. I've been shot at, several times, and even hit once. I was in on it when we busted a spy ring. But this man sitting next to you? He's *something*.'
'He sure is. I think I'm going to find out what, after last night – he asked me to marry him, and I accepted' Lucy told her.
Clara got a delighted look on her face, then spotted the ring on Lucy's finger. In moments, the two of them were like long-lost friends, talking about marriage and all the rest of it. I just sat back and drank my coffee.
A while later, they finally ran down a little bit, and Clara told us 'If you'd like, we can go see what O'Malley has been up to with them.'
Both of us nodded at the suggestion, and Clara got on the phone to ask the receptionist to have O'Malley call her. A few seconds after she hung up the phone, it rang. When she answered, she nodded to us that it was O'Malley, and asked where they were. She nodded at the answer, telling her we'd be there in a few moments. When she'd hung up the phone, she told us 'O'Malley's going to be one of the good ones, I think. She's shown them our fingerprint facility, and has them in the lab now, showing them how we can collect evidence from damn near anything. I think the two of you might like to see it, too.'
We stood up, and she led us through a few twists and turns before we went through the door into what could only have been a lab. Around the middle of it, we spotted O'Malley, with Robyn and Sandra flanking her as she talked to them about some object she was holding. We managed to get about halfway to them before the girls spotted us, and came rushing up to start telling us about all they'd been doing, and how much fun they'd been having, and how interesting all of it was. I looked around, and saw that a couple of the lab people were watching all this with amusement; I figured if they could laugh about having Robyn and Sandra in the middle of their work area, things couldn't have been
When Robyn and Sandra had caught us up on what they'd seen so far, O'Malley stepped up and asked us to follow her. She led us over to a corner where one of the technicians was positioning a sheet of paper on a small platform inside a small booth, underneath a couple of strange-looking lights. O'Malley told us that he was getting ready to check the paper – a note from a kidnapper – for fingerprints and other evidence. We watched as he dimmed the lights in the booth, and hit another switch. Immediately, the paper began to glow strangely, and we could see several dark smudges on it. O'Malley told us that he was looking at it with a special light that brought out the oils left behind that made fingerprints. As we watched him, the man carefully applied a liquid to the paper, and let it dry before he turned the light off – revealing that whatever he'd done, it had made the fingerprints visible in normal light, too. Then he switched on another light, and we saw some spots glowing in an arc at the bottom of the sheet. O'Malley let us know that he'd turned on a special laser that showed them where there were body fluids – in this case, apparently saliva, since the arc resembled what happened when someone licked the flap on an envelope too much, and left saliva on the paper inside. The man carefully took several photographs of the paper before using a scalpel to cut out one of the spots. O'Malley let us know that the sample he'd just collected was enough to run a DNA test that would be compared to their suspect's. She went on to tell us that they were confident of a match, since they'd captured him after he collected the marked money they'd left for the ransom; but that they were going through the entire process to make sure that they didn't leave anything to chance – the man had kidnapped a couple's 3year-old daughter, and they wanted to be certain they put him away for as long as possible. When Lucy asked, O'Malley told us that the child had been returned unharmed, and was attending pre-school.
I eased my way back a little bit, and got Clara's attention.
Together, we walked a few feet away before I told her 'Thanks. That little demonstration is going to do wonders to put to rest any fears they may still have.'
She grinned at me, and said 'You can point to damn near anything in here, and we can give you a similar story. I told you, O'Malley's good – she knows why you're all here, and she understands what those folks are probably going through. She's determined to let them know that
'I know that. It's just getting those three to see it, too, and know that your good people are watching out for them.'
'And that you're watching out for them, too. From the way they all look at you, I know that's more important to them than anything else, right now.'
'Well, Lucy and I had a talk about it last night' – 'I'll bet!' she interjected – 'and she understands why it's so important. Not just to you, but to me, and even herself. She's not happy about it, but she can live with it.'
