Edge of Battle

weapons, and tactics. “This visit should have been cleared last night or early this morning through the Justice Department. You received no word of our arrival?”

“I heard you were on your way to the West Coast to look into the incident here, but we received no requests for clearances and had no idea who was coming, or when.”

“Well, it was pretty short notice—there must’ve been some snafu in communications along the line,” Kelsey said, now sounding a little perplexed. “An assistant from the U.S. Attorney’s Office assured me that all of the notifications had been made, through the White House as well as directly with the CO here; we didn’t want to run into one of your monster blimps or get shot down by a ray gun or something. I should’ve checked myself.” She looked at Jason carefully. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, Jason, but I still recognize that ‘cat with the canary in its mouth’ look of yours. What happened?”

“Follow me.”

Kelsey muttered something that Jason couldn’t quite catch in the subsiding whine of the helicopters’ turbine engines. She scanned the little base as she followed him toward the detention area.

“Jason, I’m not going to like whatever you’ve got to show me, am I?” Kelsey asked.

“Probably not.”

“Uh, Miss Director…?” one of Kelsey’s bodyguards stammered. “Those persons in the small prisoner cells over there…is that who I think it is…?”

“Jee…sus,” Kelsey exclaimed when she saw Annette Cass kneeling on the plywood floor in the middle of one of the dog-pen detention cells, her hands secured behind her with plastic handcuffs. “Jason, what in hell is going on here? Do you know who that is?”

“Do you?”

“Of course I do! That’s Annette Cass, the U.S. Attorney for the southern district of California! What is she doing in that…that cage? Get her out of there immediately!”

Jason motioned to Gray, who unlocked the door to the chain-link cell and bent to help Cass up, but she pushed his hand away. “She and the others entered my base without permission and took away our weapons at gunpoint,” Jason said.

“Jason, are you crazy? Did they show ID?” Kelsey didn’t wait for a response, but hurried over to the detention cells, retrieving her ID and badge, showing it to Gray and his security guards, and then looping it atop her bulletproof vest so anyone could see it. “Open these cells immediately!” Gray looked over at Richter. “Don’t look at him, Captain! I gave you a direct order—open those cells!”

“I want him arrested!” Cass shouted as soon as she joined the others. “I want Richter and all of his personnel arrested right now, I want my people released, and I want this base shut down immediately! I am going to put you away for twenty years for unlawful detention, false imprisonment, and abuse of power, Richter! Director DeLaine, you saw what he did to us!” She pointed at one of the other cells. “He even locked up an official from the Mexican consulate! This is going to create an international incident! This is a complete violation of international law and treaties…”

“Annette, calm down…” Kelsey tried.

“‘Calm down’? This Army officer attacked and nearly killed three federal agents with one of his robots, then handcuffed us and locked us in those pens! He’s out of control, and I’m ordering you to arrest him!”

Kelsey’s mouth hardened into a line. “That’s enough, Annette,” she said testily. “You can’t order me to arrest anyone, let alone an Army officer on an Army installation, and you know it. I didn’t observe any laws being broken…”

“He put me and my agents in those cells for no reason…!”

“The commander of an Army installation is allowed to put anyone on his base in his brig for any reason he deems necessary”—she looked over at Jason suspiciously, then added—“as long as it was absolutely necessary. He’ll have to answer for his actions to his superior officer, which right now happens to be the President of the United States.” She looked over at the detention cells. “And you say that’s someone from the Mexican consulate? What’s he doing here? You never said anything about bringing someone from the consulate!”

“He heard that Mexican citizens were being detained out here, and he demanded to see them,” Cass said. “I agreed to allow him to accompany me.”

“You never told me this,” Kelsey said. “And what happened to getting us all clearances to come here? My two helicopters didn’t have clearance to land!”

“Is that what Richter said? I wouldn’t believe a word he says!”

“Annette, I didn’t ask the major for confirmation—I asked my office in San Diego to verify our clearances from Homeland Security and the Army, the people who should have received your request to visit the base,” Kelsey said. “They said the request was just received this morning and hadn’t been processed because it was incomplete. I only landed here because I contacted the Attorney General directly myself when I learned we didn’t have proper clearance. What’s going on here?”

“Homeland Security delayed my clearance and told me to resubmit my application to visit this base,” Cass argued. “I found that unacceptable. Any delay in getting here would’ve compromised evidence in our investigation and given Major Richter here time to coach or coerce witnesses…”

“‘Coerce witnesses?’” Jason retorted. “I’m not coercing anyone…”

“Now order Richter to release the consulate official and my men before there’s hell to pay, Director DeLaine,” Cass insisted, “or the next call I make will be to the Attorney General himself.”

Jason could see Kelsey’s jaw tighten. “Miss Cass, that’s the second time you’ve ordered me to do something,” Kelsey said, pulling out her cell phone. “I don’t know how you do things in your district, but in the FBI we have procedures, and I’m not going to violate them just because you order it.” Into her phone, she said, “John, this is Kelsey. I’m here at Rampart One…yes, the Army migrant reconnaissance base, in California…you’ve already received a call from the AG and from Homeland Security? I see. What’s the word?” She listened for a few moments, then said, “Understood. Later.”

“Well?”

“Major Richter, release all of Miss Cass’s personnel immediately…” Kelsey said stonily.

“About time!” Cass remarked.

“…and then escort her and her entourage off the base,” Kelsey added, impaling Cass with an angry glare. “Turns out Miss Cass did not receive proper clearance to enter the base unannounced, although the Army should have done more to verify her identity and official business and reasonably accommodate her requests. Turns out the holdup was your demand to bring someone from the Mexican consulate with you. That request was forwarded to the State Department, and…”

“Miss Director, a Mexican citizen was killed last night by one of Richter’s robots— the same one, I believe, operated by the officer, that attacked my marshals,” Cass said. “Someone from the consulate deserves to be present during this investigation…”

“The incident happened on U.S. soil, Annette,” Kelsey said. “The Mexican government does have a right to get involved—after our investigation has concluded, or at least after our investigation has begun. Whoever does the investigation has the duty to keep the Mexican government informed to the fullest extent of the law.”

“I wasn’t notified that my office was going to head the investigation, so I…”

“I’m not positive, Annette, but I don’t think this is your jurisdiction.”

“Not my jurisdiction? That’s crazy! I’m the U.S. Attorney for southern California! If it’s not me, who’s going to do it?”

“The Department of Homeland Security,” Kelsey said. “If they need any forensic help from the FBI or warrant authority from the U.S. Attorneys’ Office, they’ll ask; otherwise they handle it themselves.”

“But what if there are criminal charges…?”

“Those will be referred to your office if the suspects are not subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice,” Kelsey said. “Otherwise the Army handles it.” She looked at Cass carefully, then added, “The State Department says it received no request from the Mexican consulate or embassy for any consulate officials or staffers to accompany you to this base, Miss Cass.”

“I have the authority to bring along anyone I choose, including members of any foreign consulate in my district,” Cass argued, “and consular officers have the right to make requests to travel as observers and go