continued to scope out the backyard.
We next went back through the L-shaped area and through a door into a small foyer, off of which were three doors, the smaller leading to a bathroom. In the larger of the rooms, a bedroom, a man dressed in a suit sat at a computer station and monitored his radio and two cell phones, while he played with Mr. Wiggins' PC. The only light in the room came from the monitor screen, and all the blinds were shut.
Ms. Rhee made the introductions, and the guy, whose name was Tom Stockwell, and whose ethnicity was pale, said to us, 'I'm out of the L.A. office, and I'm the case agent for this detail.'
I guess that left me out. I decided to be nice and said to Tom, 'Ms. Mayfield and I are here to help, without being intrusive.' How's that?
He replied, 'How long you staying?'
'As long as it takes.'
Kate briefed Tom by saying, 'The suspect, as you should know, could be wearing body armor, and he has in his possession at least two weapons, forty caliber Glocks, which, like the body armor, he apparently took from the two agents on board the aircraft.' She gave Tom a verbal report, and he listened attentively. She concluded with, 'This man is extremely dangerous, and we don't expect taking him without a fight. But, of course, we need to take him alive.'
Tom replied, 'We have various non-lethal weapons and devices, such as the goo-gun and the projectile net, plus, of course, gas and-'
'Excuse me?' I said. 'What's a goo-gun?'
'It's a big handheld device that squirts this goo that hardens immediately and immobilizes a person.'
'Is this a California thing?'
'No, Mr. Corey. It's available nationwide.' Tom added, 'And we also have a net which we can fire and which ensnares the individual.'
'Really? Do you have real guns, too?'
Torn ignored me and continued his briefing.
I interrupted and asked, 'Have you evacuated the neighborhood?'
He replied, 'We went through a lot of debate about that, but Washington agrees that to try to evacuate the neighborhood could be a problem.'
'For whom?'
He explained, 'First of all, there's the obvious problem of agents being seen making the notifications. Some people aren't home, and may come home later, so this could take all night. And the residents would be inconvenienced if they had to leave their homes for an indefinite period.' He added, 'We did, however, evacuate the houses on both sides and the back of this one, and there are agents in place at those houses.'
The subtext here was that it was more important to capture Asad Khalil than it was to worry about taxpayers getting caught in a crossfire. I couldn't honestly say I disagreed with this.
Ms. Rhee added, 'The stakeout people are instructed not to try to apprehend the suspect on the street, unless he senses danger and attempts to flee. Most likely, the apprehension will take place in or near this house. The suspect is most probably alone, and most probably armed with only two handguns. So, we don't expect there to be a large exchange of gunfire-or any gunfire-if we play it right.' She looked at Kate and me and said, 'The block will be sealed off to traffic if we determine that the suspect is approaching.'
I personally thought the neighbors wouldn't even notice if there was a wild shoot-out on the front lawn if they had their TVs and stereos turned up loud enough. I said, 'I agree, for what it's worth.' But I had this mental image of a kid riding by on a bicycle at the worst possible moment. It happens. Boy, does it happen.
Kate said, 'I assume the stakeout people have night vision devices.'
'Of course.'
So, we chatted awhile, and Kate made sure to tell Tom and Kim that she was once a California girl herself, and everyone agreed that we all had our acts together, except perhaps me, who felt a bit like the odd man out here.
Tom mentioned that Wiggins' former house in Burbank was also occupied and staked out by the FBI, and he informed us that the local police here and in Burbank were alerted but not asked for direct assistance.
At some point, I got tired of hearing how everything was covered nine ways from Sunday, and I asked, 'Where's your sixth person?'
'In the garage. The garage is very cluttered, so Wiggins can't pull his car in there, but the door has an automatic opener, so Wiggins may enter that way on foot and come into the kitchen through the connecting door. That's probably what he'll do, since it's closest to where he'll pull his car into the driveway.'
I yawned. I was a little jet-lagged, I guess, and I hadn't had much sleep in the last few days. What time was it in New York? Later? Earlier?
Tom also assured us that every effort was being made to locate Elwood Wiggins before he headed back to this house. He said, 'For all we know, Khalil could try to take him while he's driving home. Wiggins drives a purple Jeep Grand Cherokee, which is not here, so we're alert for that vehicle.'
I asked, 'What does the girlfriend drive?'
Tom replied, 'A white Ford Windstar, which is still at the girlfriend's house in Oxnard, which is also under surveillance.'
Oxnard? Anyway, what could I say? These people had their act together, professionally speaking. Personally, I still thought they were dweebs.
I said, 'I'm sure you've been briefed about Khalil's prior visits to Wiggins' now-deceased squadron mates. This indicates to me that Khalil may have more information about Chip Wiggins than we do. He's been looking for Wiggins a lot longer than we have.' I added, for the record, 'There's a strong possibility that Mr. Wiggins and Mr. Khalil have already met.'
No one commented on that for a few seconds, then Tom said, 'That doesn't change our job here. We wait and see if anyone shows up.' He added, 'There's an area-wide alert for Khalil and for Wiggins, of course, so we may get a happy call from the police telling us that one or the other or both have been found. Wiggins alive, and Khalil in cuffs.'
I didn't want to be the bearer of further bad karma, but I couldn't picture Asad Khalil in cuffs.
Tom sat back at Wiggins' PC and said, 'I'm trying to get a clue as to where Wiggins might be from his computer. I've checked his e-mail to see if he corresponded with a state or national park, or reserved a camping space, something like that. We think he's camping…' he said, I guess to me, '… that's where you go out into the woods with a tent or a camper.'
I concluded that Ms. Lopez and Tom had spoken.
I asked Ron, 'Have you checked out Wiggins' underwear?'
He looked at me from his computer. 'Excuse me?'
'If he wears medium boxers, I'd like to borrow a pair.'
Tom thought about this a moment, then replied, 'We've all brought changes of clothing, Mr. Corey. Perhaps someone-one of the men, I mean-can loan you a pair of shorts.' He added, 'You can't use Mr. Wiggins' underwear.'
'Well, I'll ask him directly if he shows up.'
'Good idea.'
Kate, to her credit, wasn't trying to pretend she didn't know me. She said to Kim Rhee, 'We'd like to see the garage and the rest of the house.'
Ms. Rhee led us into the foyer and opened the door of a room that faced the backyard. The room, formerly a bedroom probably, was now an entertainment center that held a huge television, audio equipment, and enough speakers to start another earthquake. On the floor, I noticed six overnight bags. Ms. Rhee said, 'You can use this room later. The couch pulls out into a bed.' She added, 'We'll all take turns getting some sleep if this goes through the night.'
I used to think that my worst nightmare was Thanksgiving dinner with my family, but being trapped in a small house with FBI agents just took first place.
Ms. Rhee also showed us the small bathroom, leading me to wonder if she'd once been a Realtor. One thing I noticed that was missing from this house was any military memorabilia, which indicated to me that Elwood Wiggins did not want to be reminded of his service. Or maybe he just lost everything, which would be consistent
