Randall chuckled. “Right. Once I—Simon Patton that is—started shooting off my mouth about corruption in the Marshals Service, whoever was leading the illegal gun smuggling operation would have to do something. He—or she—couldn’t take the chance of being exposed.”
Devlin looked away, nodding. “They would be forced to silence you.”
“That’s right. And, when they tried...to silence me...our people would capture the perpetrator, and we’d have our first lead on uncovering the man—or woman—in charge of the whole thing.”
Devlin faced him, gritting her teeth. “My partner and I...and two other deputy marshals...were unwitting pawns in this ruse of yours.”
Randall lowered his gaze. “I realize that.”
“My partner and those two other agents are dead right now.”
“Again, I’m sorry for your loss. My bosses honestly didn’t think a move would be made on me until after I was stateside.”
“So that’s it? You throw out a ‘sorry for your loss’ and,” she snapped fingers, “all is better...all is forgiven? We just move on like nothing happened?”
“I’m not trying to trivialize the situation. What happened to those good people was a tragedy. I get that. I really do. But you know as well as I do...that they died for their country. They died upholding the law.”
“They died,” Devlin fast walked around the table and confronted Randall, her voice rising two notches in volume, “picking up a man who, from what you’re telling me, wasn’t even a criminal. Tell me how that...constitutes upholding the law?”
“Okay,” he lifted a hand, “I can see where you might have a problem with that...bad choice of words. But you need to see the bigger picture here, Marsh—” he shook his head, “Deputy Marshal Devlin. When we end up taking down this corrupt official, your partner and those other agents will have given their lives for a greater cause, for justice.”
Devlin ambled to the window behind him. She huffed. “Justice.” Her mind envisioned Hawkins and her late husband. Good men are dead while the criminals go free. “What does that even look like these days?” Seeing a branch move, she touched her sidearm.
“You have to believe me. I’m telling you the truth.”
She drew the Colt. “Shut up.”
“Oh,” his voice grew louder, “so now you’re done listening to me?”
“No. I mean,” she darted to the other windows and peeked outside, “keep quiet. I saw movement in the woods.”
∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞=∞
.
Chapter 13
Green Light
6:01 p.m. (local time)
alexandria, virginia
Alone in her office, door closed, blinds shut, lights dimmed, Marshal Thorn opened a laptop. The screen’s glow lit up her face. Sitting at her desk, she put elbows on the furniture’s laminated surface, clutched her balled fist, and rested her chin on the back of the top hand.
The computer screen was divided in half, vertically. Each partition showed the video feed from a helmet-mounted camera. In both halves, the sun was shining in the background while the foreground was dark. The outside edges displayed nature: leaves, branches, twigs, dirt.
Thorn concentrated on the left half of the split monitor which had a broken down building in the center; the bottommost portion had ‘Tolliver’ in white letters. She donned a headset, positioned the attached microphone in front of her mouth, and tapped the ‘space’ bar. “This is Thorn...report.”
In her ear, a male voice: “This is Agent Tolliver. Teams are in position and ready to breach on your command, ma’am.”
“What’s the situation?”
“No signs of activity—outside or inside the structure. There’s only one way in and one way out. Nobody is getting by my men.”
“Good.”
“Ma’am, if I may...are you sure about this course of action?”
“You have your orders, Agent Tolliver. I expect you to carry them out.”
“Copy that, ma’am.”
Thorn squeezed the knuckles of her bottom hand. “I’m giving you the green light to proceed. I repeat...you have a green light.”
“Copy that. Alpha team, on me. Bravo, cover the dark side. Everyone, stay low and double-time it. Go, go, go.”
Thorn watched the image bounce around, as the rundown building became bigger, closer. She saw a gloved hand enter and leave the picture several times, chopping the air. A moment later, a second agent came into view. Taking a position near the door, he looked back at the camera.
The camera moved down and up, as the wearer nodded one time.
The agent pivoted and kicked in the door.
A third operative rushed into the dwelling, followed by the second man.
Thorn watched the flurry of activity unfold, as Tolliver charged forward, the forend of his Colt 9mm SMG rifle and his left forearm and hand visible.
Tolliver: “Report.”
“No hostiles. Three subjects down...two males, one female.”
“Status?”
Her heart pounding in her chest, Thorn stuck out her chin at the screen, waiting to hear the status report.
“All dead, sir. No signs of life. Structure is secure.”
Tolliver: “Copy that.”
Thorn saw the bodies of the two downed men come into view. A beam of light on each face revealed their identities. She recognized neither man.
The camera approached a slender female figure, face down on the floor. The woman’s body zoomed in, as Tolliver’s forward knee and left hand entered the picture. He rolled the corpse onto its backside.
Thorn held her breath, as three fingers pinched a photograph of Jessica Devlin near the lower portion of the split screen. The marshal squinted at the dead female on the floor, but the S.O.G. team leader’s hand obscured the face.
Tolliver: “Negative ID on Deputy Marshal Devlin, ma’am. I repeat...Devlin is not among the dead—over.”
Thorn exhaled. “Make a sweep of the area, Agent Tolliver, and get your men out of there. I don’t want the Mexican Government finding out we’re running unsanctioned ops on their soil.”
“Copy that—over and out.”
*******
51 minutes earlier...
4:10 p.m. (Local time)
san fernando, mexico
“As far as I can tell,” Devlin bobbed her head and peeked out the window, “they’re coming in from three sides.”
“Your people?”
“I can’t tell.” A beat. “But I don’t think so.”
“What makes you say that?”
“My people have no desire to eat a bullet by mistake. They would’ve somehow tried to establish communications before advancing on this position.”
Randall stood and extended his hands toward her. The cuffs and chains rattled.
