Consequences Ch. 05

"What does that tell us?" Lindsey asked.

Nash said "Take a look at this." He handed them a sheaf of documents, and said: "BOW Enterprises submitted a bid for what they described as a 'toy helicopter'. Bigger than a drone, but not as big as a full helicopter. And it could fire missiles."

"Wait, let me see that!" exclaimed Kevin Pitts. He went through the papers, then pulled one out, saying "Yeah, this is it. Those missiles were short-range, and burned alcohol fuel to accelerate to their target. And alcohol burns with a nearly invisible blue flame!

"Holy shit, we may have something!" Lindsey Black said, her hopes surging. "Let's review the explosion tapes again."

They watched the tapes, and Lindsey said "Now that we know what to look for, it gets easier to see. The four walls exploded outward, so nothing struck the walls from outside. The walls did give way, but that's why nobody outside was killed... you can clearly see that a lot of the force of the explosion goes upward, which is the path of least resistance. The roof had been blown open!"

"Wow." said Martin Nash. "But there's only this one blue smear, not two or more."

"That's a pretty long tail, there." said Kevin Pitts. "It could be two rockets close enough to each other to look like one."

"Let's get a warrant." said Nash. "In the meantime, Coleman, Pitts... sift through the physical evidence recovered at the scene, which is in the large back room of this building. See if you can find anything that could be a homing device for any missiles that were fired at the building..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"How can I help you, Agents Black and Nash?" said the CEO of BOW Enterprises, Todd Burke, who appeared at the front desk within seconds of Nash and Black entering the facility, accompanied by one of his legal eagles.

"We have a warrant to examine your TH-69 toy helicopters," said Martin Nash, "which were the demo models you used for the bid you submitted to the Military." He handed the lawyer the warrant, who examined it and nodded to Todd.

"Right this way, then." said Todd. "Let me call to have them brought to the warehouse." He called, then he, the lawyer, security officers, Nash, Black, and their escorting Marshals walked to the warehouse.

"Are you wearing armor under your suit, Mr. Burke?" asked Martin Nash.

"Absolutely." said Todd. "I have no desire to undergo the abduction and torture I went through before." (Author's note: 'A Death In The Family'.)

"Isn't that illegal?" asked Lindsey Black.

"No, I have all the permits to wear concealed armor, having shown the potential threats to my life and safety." Todd replied with a winning smile towards Lindsey.

They entered the warehouse, where six large crates were sitting. "These are the babies." Todd said. "My guys can have them assembled in ten minutes, which was one of the selling points in our bid."

"Go ahead and do that." said Nash. As they watched the workers enthusiastically put together the aircraft, racing each other to have theirs completed first, Nash said "When was the last time one of these was assembled?"

"Oh, I'm not sure." Todd said. "We'll have a team assembling one or another of them to try something new. They make records of what they do, which I can furnish you."

"Yes, if you would." said Martin Nash. Within minutes, six small helicopters were sitting in front of them.

Lindsey Black examined the three that had missile launchers attached, the other three having Gatling guns attached. "This isn't going to tell us much." she said. "Missiles have been fired out of all of these." She wiped all the tubes, putting each wipe in an evidence bag. "Nothing fresh, so far."

"Where do you keep the missiles?" asked Martin Nash, as Lindsey continued.

"In our bombproof bunker below the main building." said Todd. "Very secure, two man control at all times when we take them out. Again, we can provide the records for you."

"What high explosives are in the warheads?" Lindsey Black asked.

"C-4." said Todd. "Blasting cap in the tip of the nose cone, that goes off on contact with the target. Kind of like a firearm firing pin striking the primer of the bullet cartridge, that sets off the gunpowder. Those tips screw on and off, separating the blasting cap from the explosive when we're storing them."

"Any other high explosives that you've tried?" asked Lindsey Black.

"Not that I know of." Todd said. "The Army may have tried something when they were testing the devices."

"What propellant do the missiles use?" Lindsey Black asked.

"Don't answer that." said the lawyer, speaking for the first time. "Aspects of this developmental program are classified by the Military."

"We have Top Secret clearances." said Martin Nash.

"I don't know that, and I'm not taking your word for it." said the lawyer.

"I believe that information is in the specs of our bid to the Military." said Todd. "You can ask them for that information.

"We'll do that." said Nash, failing to mention that he'd already done so. "Mr. Burke, can your wife fly one of these?"

"As I'm sure you know," said Todd, "she is licensed to fly helicopters, and the controls are simplified standard helicopter controls. So I'm sure she can."

"HAS your wife flown one of these?" Lindsey Black asked incisively.

"Don't answer that." said the lawyer, speaking for the first time.

"We're Federal Agents." snarled Lindsey Black. "He has to answer."

"Not only is that not true," replied the lawyer angrily, whose hackles were now fully up, "but Mr. Burke can invoke spousal privilege to not answer any of your questions about his wife, whom we all know you're investigating, here. So don't start playing 'Federal Agent' games with me nor my client, or I'll have a Restraining Order against you in ten minutes."

"And to that point," the lawyer continued, "I suggest you end this conversation, Mr. Burke, and ask these Federal Agents to leave your property. And without those bagged wipes that Agent Black is trying to sneak out of here without a warrant."

"We have a warrant." snarled Lindsey Black.

"To examine the helicopters, not to confiscate them, nor to obtain evidence from them under false pretenses." replied the lawyer. "I don't like the way you're trying to play this game, Agent Black."

"I have to agree with my lawyer." said Todd, not smiling anymore. "You don't play fair, Ms. Black. Hand over those wipes."

"But Mr. Burke did offer to send us records, and I hope he'll be as good as his word." said Martin Nash as Security Officers approached them...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"BOW Enterprises sent the records Mr. Burke promised." said Karl Coleman several hours later, as darkness fell across the land. "They don't prove a damn thing, except compliance with State and Federal ordnance laws. We'll never make a case from them, for damn sure."

"You know, Nash," said Lindsey Black, "we could have kept those wipes I made."

"Maybe, but it would've been a fight, and would have escalated." said Nash. "And I'm not sure what we would prove."

"That alcohol-fueled rockets were recently fired." said Lindsey Black. Nash was getting irritated at her.

"Agent Black," he said, "first of all, it is very unlikely the evidence would stand up in Court, especially after the way you took the samples. Second, you've dealt with the Iron Crowbar before, and I worked for him for several years, so we both know what we're up against, here. If we're going to show that he or the TCPD was behind the explosion, we're going to have to build a solid case with a good foundation."

"You're an idiot, Nash." said Black. She got up to leave, but stopped as Kevin Pitts rushed into the room.

"I might have something." Pitts said.

"A smoking gun?" Lindsey said.

"Could well be." said Pitts. "First: Karl, tell them about what we found among the evidence."

Karl Coleman: "Oh... we found nothing. There isn't much of anything left. The pool table was blown to splinters, and residues suggest it was lined with explosives, which would create projectiles. The main refrigerator in the kitchen was also blown to bits; there was probably C-4 being stored in it, and while it contained some of the explosion, it was still enough to destroy the entire kitchen."

Karl Coleman: "Also, I found out that Karina White's ATF people think there was C-4 in the walls, and that when it went off, it created a shockwave on the inside of the building, but not so much on the outside, and the blasts from the walls would actually prevent the C-4 inside the building from blowing the walls out more than they were."

"So that's why people outside didn't get blown away." said Martin Nash. "Is that the so-called 'ring of fire' effect Commander Troy used to talk about?"

"What's that?" asked Pitts.

Nash: "Commander Troy once told us that when he was in the Army, they trained on using napalm and detcord to create booby traps. One was a 55-gallon drum filled with napalm and half buried in the ground at a 45º angle. Set it off, and a huge shower of burning napalm blows out, which could wipe out troops marching nearby."

Nash: "He said another thing they did was have a huge circle of detcord, with gallon jugs of napalm every few feet, buried just below the surface of the ground or just lying on the ground, then set it off when enemy troops walk inside it. They were told to stay outside the circle while constructing it, because if the detcord went off by accident, people outside the circle would get knocked back and probably concussed, but anyone inside the ring would be obliterated."

"Yeah, I've heard about that." said Coleman. "And that probably was what happened with the Block House. Those people inside were pulverized."

"So you were saying, Kevin?" asked Nash.

"Yeah," said Pitts, "I was wondering how someone could've planted a homing device inside, even though the place was guarded. I reviewed some of the tape, and I found this."

He brought up a video on the laptop. It showed Lester Holder coming out of the Block House and through the ring of protesters, and up to Commander Troy. Pitts paused the tape.

"As you can see here," Pitts said, "Commander Troy grabbed Holder by the back of Holder's jacket collar and pulled him back. They yell in each other's faces, then Troy pushes a piece of paper into Holder's chest. Holder takes it, then Troy shoves him towards the Block House, then comes up and kicks Holder in the ass, knocking him down. Holder gets up to charge Troy, but stops short, then goes back to the Block House. But note that the piece of paper is on the ground; Holder dropped it when he stumbled after being literally kicked in the ass."

"Okay." said Nash. "What does that mean for us?"

Pitts said "I was thinking that when Commander Troy grabbed Holder, he attached a homing device to Holder's collar! Holder's clothes are still at the Morgue, bagged as evidence."

"Head on over to the Morgue." said Nash. "Lindsey, want to go with him?"

"Sure." said Lindsey Black, eager to get away from Nash...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Morgue was in the TCPD Crime Lab Building, which was on the other side of the employees parking lot of Police Headquarters, on the street that led to the entrance to the Fairgrounds, and now across that same street from the new EMS Headquarters.

"Nash is such is a fucking Boy Scout." growled Lindsey Black as she and Pitts drove to the Morgue. The Federal Marshals were following in another car. "And naive as hell."

Pitts said "Well, that's why he's with the FBI's OPR Division; they usually get all the Boy Scouts in the FBI or other Federal Agencies."

"True," said Lindsey Black, "but he's playing this straight. Too straight." Then she said, "And for that matter, why is a DEA Agent part of the independent investigation?" Pitts himself was the DEA Agent to whom Black was referring.

"A whole bunch of reasons." said Pitts. "I'm familiar with this area. We were looking into Jacquez Wilson for drugs, and were asked if he might've picked up explosives along the way. But also... I was the DEA Agent in charge of a drug bust that was supposed to go down last January. I had it set up. Then it went to hell in a handbasket. The perps had cornstarch, sugar, and Monopoly money... real Monopoly money... but no drugs."

Pitts: "Commander Troy had fucked up that deal. And that was the night someone threw Curtis Halsey into that metal grinder, and what came out the bottom was less than what was left of the Block House." (Author's note: 'No Way Out', Ch. 04.)

"Oh yeah, that." said Lindsey Black, remembering Curtis Halsey. "So... the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Are you after Troy, too?"

"If we can fuck him up, and take him down legitimately, I'm all for it." replied Pitts. "And that's what I'm doing here, which I suspect is what you're doing here. But Nash is right about one thing... we have to play this one straight. Muscone and White, and my boss Dwight Stevens, are the real Boy Scouts, and worse... they're believed to be associated with the Guardians of Justice."

"Fucking white nationalists. Makes me hate 'em all the more." muttered Lindsey Black. "So... you're a black man. How do you feel about what Troy did to Holder and Wilson?"

"I would've been pissed," said Pitts, "but then Wilson and his gang abducted that girl and did what they did to her. There's no excuse for that. None."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Federal Agents went into the Morgue, and introduced themselves to Martha the M.E. "I've already filed my autopsy report." Martha said.

"Yes ma'am," said Pitts politely, "but we need your help with something. We'd like to see the body of Lester Holder, and also the clothes he was wearing."

"You mean what's left of them?" Martha said. "Sure, let's go over there." She led the way to the 'vault', where one wall was lined with metal doors. She opened one and pulled out the tray, upon which rested the mortal remains of Lester Holder.

"Geez." said Lindsey Black, who was feeling a bit sick, and her skin approaching the shade of the green crowbar in Cindy Ross's possession.

"As you can see," said Martha, "he was literally torn to pieces. I don't know how much you know about autopsies, but in all my years of doing them, I don't think I've ever seen this much damage to a human body. Even in explosions, bodies usually remain intact. Maybe they lose a limb or something, but this is exceptionally extensive."

"Any idea what caused it?" Pitts said, then made a face at his own words and said "Well, I mean.. we know what caused it, but..."

Martha saved him by saying "I know what you're saying. Dr. Cordell, who is the Chief of the EMS service now, was a doctor in combat theaters in Afghanistan and maybe Iraq. I asked him to take a look, and he did. He said that an artillery shell exploding right in front of someone would do this, and Claymore mines used in Viet Nam also would do this to someone if they were literally a foot or two away from it. He believes that Holder, and Jacquez Wilson, who was not left in much better shape, were right next to some of the explosives, no more than a foot away."

"The others in the building weren't torn apart like this?" asked Pitts.

"Nowhere near." Martha said. She showed them a couple of the other bodies, and Lindsey Black said she got the idea.

"As to Holder's clothes," said Martha, "they are in as many pieces as he is, and some of them burned." She took a box out of the locked evidence container and opened it, noting the date and time. Pitts looked through the clothing.

"Oh wait." he said. "This looks like a scrap of his jacket collar."

"Collars are folded over, so the inner side may have survived." said Martha.

"What is this?" Pitts asked, showing Martha a black smear on the cloth.

"I didn't see that." Martha said. She examined it closely, then touched it with her latex-gloved finger. "It looks and feels like a small piece of melted plastic."

"Do you have a magnifying glass we can look at this with?" Pitts asked.

"Yes." Martha said. She led them over to the large magnifying glass mounted on a swivel over a table. Pitts slipped the piece of cloth onto the table under the magnifier, and examined it.

"It looks like a couple of tiny metal pieces, almost like wires, are in that plastic." he said. Black and Martha also looked at it. "Any idea what that is?" Pitts asked.

Martha said "My only suggestion is that a flying droplet of melted plastic fused with a piece of metal and happened to land right on that piece of cloth."

"It's not a button?" Lindsey Black asked.

"There usually aren't buttons on the back of the collar of a jacket." said Martha.

"Can we take this to the Crime Lab to be analyzed? We've got two man control, here." said Pitts."

"No you cannot!"

They whirled around, to see FBI ASAC Karina White standing there. Behind her was FBI Special Agent Julius Jefferson. "I am in charge of the main investigation, and all evidence belongs to me. We can jointly take that over to the State Crime Lab, but I am not letting you take it by yourselves..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Julius Jefferson took custody of the evidence with Kevin Pitts, and they rode in Jefferson's vehicle, with Karina White and Lindsey Black following in Lindsey's car. The Federal Marshals brought up the rear of the three-vehicle convoy.

"How did you know we were there?" Lindsey Black asked, and not exactly respectfully of the Agent that outranked her by a good bit.

Karina's eyes cut over to her, then back forward as she said "You walked into a building that shares a parking lot with Town & County Police Headquarters. The former head of the TCPD's Crime Lab is now their Captain of Detectives. She's also married to my direct boss. Q.E.D."

At the Crime Lab, Dr. Christina Cho met the Federal Agents in the lobby and brought them up to the Crime Lab. Kevin Pitts explained what he'd found, and wanted to know what it had originally been.

"We can x-ray it." said Christina. She did so as they watched, and everyone looked at the developed x-ray. Christina said "There's a little clump of metal inside the plastic, but it's too badly damaged to determine what it used to be. The exposed bits of metal you can see outside the plastic may have been wires of some kind."

Pitts thanked Christina, who added the evidence to the other evidence at the State Crime Lab, and the Federal Agents went their own separate ways.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When Black and Pitts and the Marshals got back to the Old Post Office Building, they found that Martin Nash had ordered in a barbeque dinner. Hungry Federal Agents consumed it all quickly.

As they ate, Kevin Pitts said "The reason I got interested in that piece of plastic is because we've used something like that in the DEA before. A button, like a coat button, that has a little metal wafer in it that's a tiny fractal transmitter/receiver. There's no external power source, and it's not strong enough to be an active transmitter, but it can reflect an active signal... take it in and put it back out, so to speak."

"So maybe the toy chopper was putting out an active signal?" asked Lindsey Black.

"That'd be dumb." said Karl Coleman. "It'd be like using active sonar to track Russian subs... the perps would figure it out."

Martin Nash said "And to that point... while y'all were at the Morgue, I was in contact with County Airport and also the Communications Center on top of the Federal Building. The toy choppers are stealth technology, so I wasn't surprised the Airport didn't detect one of them. But the commo center said they received no active transmissions other than the Media transmissions to their satellites."

"That's it!" said Pitts. When they all looked at him, he said "If that was some kind of tracking device Troy put on Holder's collar, it would need an active transmitter signal to relay or reflect. And Lester Holder had a KXTC videocamera in the building!"