Only Time Ch. 03

"Yes, I agree." said Laura. "I need it to spank this man----"

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* *KNOCK!*

We all looked at the door as it opened. A moment later an older man in a civilian suit and tie came in, followed by a lovely blonde woman. It was General Alexander McFarland and his daughter Alison McFarland.

"Hi, Don." General McFarland said to me, extending his hand. I shook it firmly as I greeted him. I then exchanged a hug with Alison.

"Hello, Admiral." the General said to Admiral Cordell as they shook hands. "Taking good care of Laura?"

"How are you, General?" replied Cordell. "Yes, I'm doing the best I can, but you know what they say about doctors being the worst patients."

"Yes, that's true." said General McFarland with his pursed smile. "Do you know my daughter Alison?" Cordell said he did (from where, I don't know), and they shook hands.

"Hey, Laura." McFarland said, coming up to the bedside. "How are you?"

"Not too bad, General." Laura said, a bit formally. "I always said I could whip our enemies with one hand tied behind my back, and now I'm demonstrating it." Everyone chuckled. Laura turned her head and said "Hello, Alison."

"Hello, ma'am." Alison said courteously. "I'm glad you're doing better."

"What brings you here, General?" I asked.

"To see Alison." said McFarland. "To see Laura. And to see what's going on around here. Federal Agents acting like spoiled teenage children..."

I grinned, then pointed at Alison. "All of this is off the record." I said to her.

"Darn, you remembered." said Alison humorously (I think). "Of course. Off the record."

"Ms. McFarland," said Admiral Cordell, "why don't you and I go to my office, and I'll give you an exclusive on my plans for the EMS Service."

"Oh, that'd be great!" Alison said. She and Cordell left. General McFarland looked at both of us. "This was not just any old terrorist attack, was it?"

I shook my head. "No sir. And Dr. Robin Isley is doing all she can to keep us from finding out the truth... or maybe I should say DNI Brendan Chapel is trying to keep us from finding out the truth."

McFarland nodded. "Not much gets past you, Don. I'll have some input about that in Washington. And I'll definitely be pushing back against what Isley's trying to do to Muscone and his team in this Region."

I nodded, then said "So what's the real reason you've come down here, General?"

McFarland gave a brief smile and said "Nothing really does get past you. No wonder the CIA laments not getting you straight out of college. Yes, I'm here for another reason."

He took out his laptop computer and opened it, then said "I normally should make you both sign paperwork about this, but I trust you. You know how the retired Deputy Director thinks you're under threat from the Cartel?"

We both nodded, and Laura said "They even wanted to put us in Witness Protection. Is it really that big a threat?"

"It may have been," said General McFarland, "but not any longer." He started a video on the laptop, and set it down on Laura's lap. I leaned over to watch.

The video was composed from the body-cams of U.S. military soldiers on a mission. They were wearing camo uniforms, but were masked. It was soon clear that they were attacking a building, and they were shooting to kill.

I realized what it was: our Government had sent a team of either Green Berets or Navy SEALs to Colombia, and they were laying waste to the Cartel. As Laura and I watched, we saw a lot of Enemy die, a lot of papers being accumulated, and finally a lot of drugs and property being destroyed in a massive fire.

"This was authorized by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff himself." said General Alexander. "After we heard what the Cartel did to that Colombian National Policeman and his family, and then put a bounty on your heads, we went down there and made sure they were aware that we would not tolerate threats against American Citizens."

I knew things like this had been done in the past, like when the bus of a church group of Americans in Central America were attacked, and the women dragged off the bus and gang-raped. A Green Beret team was sent down to that Central American nation, and they exterminated every one of those perps and their gang. This time, it was a much larger operation...

"I admit," said McFarland, "it gave the DEA the chance to do something they've wanted to do for a long time... put these fuckers out of commission, permanently. We blamed the Cartel for the terrorist attack on the Hospital, so that was our 'excuse'. The Colombians are turning a blind eye, as this was vengeance for their National Policeman and his family's torture and murder. As a result, what remained of the Cartel put out word that the bounty on you guys was off."

I nodded. "Thank you, General. And please thank for me whoever should be thanked, if you can."

"Our gift to you." McFarland said.

"So the Cartel was behind the bombing?" Laura asked. "They killed all those people just to get at me?"

"No." I said. "I suspect what's left of the Cartel is licking their wounds and saying 'What did we do?', wondering what got them wiped out. The threat on us and the torture of a Colombian National Policeman is plenty reason to send in that Spec-Ops team... but the Cartel was not behind the truck bombing! Blaming the Cartel... is a red herring."

General McFarland nodded. "That's exactly right. If anyone in the Mainstream Media has the brains to get past the 'American Jihadi Front' story, we'll leak the Cartel story if we absolutely have to."

"Well, sir," I said, "except for your daughter, I don't think the Press is smart enough to figure this one out. They're just putting out what they're told."

"So, Don," said General McFarland, "in exchange for this information... what can you tell us about the attack on the Hospital?"

I said "You may not be aware, General, of the attempt on Laura's life last night. I had her moved to another room, and had more security on it. Her original room was left with two Officers outside, and me inside. Someone dressed in scrubs brought the Officers coffee, which knocked them out. Then another person, named Jack Logan, also dressed in scrubs, came into Laura's goon with a silenced auto pistol. I jumped him and took him down, and we took him to County Jail."

"Are you kidding?" the General asked, totally stunned.

"No sir." I said. "And except for the log of Logan's arrest, we haven't said anything to anyone. But when Logan was arraigned this morning, a U.S. Attorney was already there, trying to get him out of our custody."

I continued: "Logan was a Navy SEAL, and I believe he has ties to the SEAL unit containing Trent Ridge and Quint Starr, who were involved in the EMPTY QUIVER incident. I'm seeing these names way too many times to believe this is all a coincidence."

"Well I'll be damned." said McFarland, his mind racing at the news. "Does the FBI and ATF know this? Homeland Security?"

"If they do," I said, "it wasn't me that told them."

"So... what now?" asked the General.

"Not sure yet, sir." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "I'm not sure why they bombed the Hospital, of all places. Police Headquarters, for example, is pathetically poorly protected from a truck bomb attack; they could've wiped half our building off the map. It doesn't make sense why they'd attack the Hospital... and especially the Maternity Ward."

"For the publicity of it?" Laura suggested. "That's what terrorists do. They want to create as much chaos and horror as they can."

"If this were a real terrorist attack, yes." I replied. "But no one's claimed responsibility for it, not even the copycats that try to take credit for others's work."

"He's right." said General McFarland, to Laura. "None of the Islamist terrorist groups, or any foreign group for that matter, are claiming responsibility for it. The Cartel didn't claim responsibility for it. And no domestic groups we know of have claimed responsibility. No one's touching this one."

After a moment of contemplation, General McFarland said "I'm going down to the Fed tent and see what's going on, if they'll talk to me at all."

"Man with four stars on his collars?" I asked. "They damn well better talk to you!"

"Having one star on your shoulders didn't help." the General said. Then he gave a slight grin as he said "Congratulations on getting that Charter passed. Ain't politics wonderful?" I grinned in acceptance of the joke, and the General left the room.

"Do you think that's for real?" Laura said. "Is the Cartel threat really over?"

"I'll do you one better." I said. "There never was a Cartel threat. Like I said before... it was a red herring. Part of it may have been so that we, meaning the United States, could send some Special Operations guys to wipe out the Cartel. But that was just them taking advantage of the opportunity. The real reason is that someone ginned it up to try to force you and me and our children into Witness Protection, and get us out of here."

"Why?!" Laura gasped, unable to comprehend.

"That's the question." I said. "That's the $64,000 question. And I wonder if McFarland caught on to my little hint in his general direction, pun fully intended."

"What hint is that?" Laura asked.

"The man is a no-shit four-star general." I said. "Yet he's here without his aide nor any entourage at all. First time in my life I've ever seen that..."

"Yeah." Laura said contemplatively. "I've never seen that, either..."

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

11:30am, Thursday, October 17th. I went out the front door of the Hospital towards the Police tent in the front yard. Things were calming down. There was only one fire engine present. Cranes had been brought in, and the damaged wing of the Hospital was being made sturdy. I'd heard that engineers believed the Hospital could be repaired without that wing being demolished, and I hoped that would be the case.

The Army MASH Hospital tent was being broken down, as the Hospital was able to handle any medical issues. I went over there and thanked all the Army National Guardsmen (and -women) for their help. They knew who I was, and I submitted to a large number of requests for selfies with them.

Then I went to the Police tent. Police Sergeant Carter was manning the radio, relaying Lt. Commander Croyle's instructions as she perused the maps and papers in front of her. I could see that she was becoming exhausted, the kind of exhausted that causes persons to make mistakes.

"How's Laura?" Teresa asked when she looked up and saw me looking at her.

"Better." I said. "She's grouchy. Physicians make terrible patients, dontcha know." Teresa smiled at that as I sat down next to her. "Whassup?" I asked.

"Things are settling down." Teresa said. "We've got the perimeter pretty well set, changing shifts normally on it. The Press is bitching about not having a Press tent. I told Bettina and Meredith to talk to the FBI about that, since it was their investigation and we weren't being invited to the party. When they talked to the FBI about it, the FBI told them that we would provide a Press tent."

"Heh." I said. "Are you getting any flak from the Feds? They giving you any trouble?"

"No sir, not directly." Teresa said. "And there aren't as many of them around now. General McFarland went into the Feds tent, then half an hour later he left. ATF SAC Halsey has not been here all day. EAD Isley was here earlier, but when General McFarland was spotted going into the Hospital with his daughter, Isley said she was going to the Federal Building and she beat feet out of here. I think ATF Special Agent Lindsey Black is in charge."

Teresa then said "Sir, Martha the M.E. has the autopsy report. She has to send it to the Feds, but she wants to brief you on it first."

"Okay, good." I said, then continued: "Commander Croyle, you have done an excellent job since this started yesterday, and under some incredibly difficult conditions... not to mention that awesome helicopter flight you piloted last night. But you need at least four hours of continuous sleep. Who can relieve you?"

Teresa said "Captain Abram was on duty all last night, and will be back at 6:00pm for the night shift. Captain Hewitt is at County Jail, coordinating our defense there, and I'd like for him to stay there. Captain Perlman is at Headquarters, by order of the County Sheriff, who won't admit it but is concerned for Tanya's safety while out here. Chief Moynahan and the Sheriff are also at Police Headquarters, though the Sheriff will likely be back here by noon. I have no idea where Commander Ross is."

"She's at Headquarters, working her ass off on the Budget." I said. "Where's Rudistan?"

"He was night shift, too." Teresa said. "And don't even think about tying yourself down here while your wife is in the Hospital."

"Stop reading my mind." I said. I fished out my Police iPhone and called Lt. DeLong, and told him to report to the Police tent at the Hospital, where he would be in charge while Lt. Commander Croyle got some sleep upon my direct orders...

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

I returned to Police Headquarters and called Martha the M.E. She was already at Police Headquarters, and came into my office. The look on her face was grim, which is bad when it's an M.E.

She declined my offer to sit down, and handed me the file folder. "Most of the deaths are either a direct result of the explosion or indirect things, such as Rhonda Hooper hemorrhaging and bleeding out after the delivery of her baby. But there was one odd situation. Nurse ('Ratchett') was found in the hallway, not far from the intersection with the rest of the Hospital, and it looked like she bore the brunt of the explosion. Her body took multiple fragments, which act like razor-sharp bullets when tearing through tissues." I nodded.

Martha continued: "The anomaly is that there was no bleeding into the wound channels like there should have been. It was as if someone shot a dead body with a gun. In other words, she was already dead when the explosion occurred."

"Ho-leee cow!" I gasped. "How does that happen?"

Martha said "I normally would say that's your job to find out. But in this case, I have a theory. Her dead body was seated in a chair in the hallway just before the explosion, which blew her body out of the chair and rubble kept anyone from immediately realizing it."

"I'll buy that for a dollar." I said. "Could you tell how she did die?"

Martha said "Blood and tissue tests are inconclusive. I did look for poisons along the lines of those that killed Louella Hopper, but didn't find anything conclusive. And puncture marks on her body? With all the projectiles from the explosion hitting her, it's just hard to tell. What I'm wondering... is how someone could administer anything to her in a way she'd not know it. It would have to have occurred at least several minutes before the explosion to account for the nature of the injuries on an already-dead body."

I nodded. "Well, the ol' CIA heart attack gun is not just a figment of our imaginations. And I'm only half-kidding there. Okay, Martha, thanks for coming by with this. You'll have to release it to the Feds?"

"Yes sir." said Martha. "There's one more thing, Commander. Those four babies in the neonatal unit?"

I instinctively knew what she was going to say, but I still said "Please tell me they died in the explosion."

"No sir." Martha said. "They burned alive."

I just nodded, and Martha left. Pain and anger overwhelmed me to my very soul. Four little babies, premature or with other issues, and fighting for their lives, only to die in that horrible way. I channeled the pain into a fierce resolve to find out who was responsible for this... and make them pay...

Part 17 - Leads, Real and Imagined

1:30pm, Thursday, October 17. FBI SAC Jack Muscone appeared at my office door. "Late lunch at the Cop Bar?"

"Sorry, Dog," I said, "but the optics would be bad. Bettina and the Press would be whining that we were twiddling our thumbs at the Cop Bar instead of working on solving the bombing. But we can order take-out, if you like. And in the meantime, have a seat."

"Thanks." said Muscone, who poured himself some coffee and refilled my mug before sitting down. "Anything new?"

I said "I've had a couple of contacts from the military that I can't really discuss."

"Yeah, General McFarland's in Town." Jack said. "Whose side is he on, anyway?"

"Depends on which way the wind is blowing." I replied. "He's Establishment, but not really one of the Swamp Frogs."

"So why did they send him down here?" asked Muscone.

"I'm not convinced that he was sent by someone else." I said. "But if he was, it was probably to sort out the mess that's developed. General McFarland came through the Army ranks in Intelligence. I believe he headed the Defense Intelligence Agency a while back, and at one time was a candidate for CIA Director. And you didn't hear this from me, but it was Laura that squelched that appointment."

"Well, he definitely has a mess on his hands." said Jack. "Halsey has been sent to Washington, and it's very unlikely he'll be back. They'll be pressuring D.A. Walters to not refile the charges. And Judge Nance really worked over Savannah Fineman, didn't he?"

"Yeah." I said dully. "And I'm not sure exactly how hard she really tried. Anyhoo, I dunno if McFarland is here to help cover up what's really going on, or to discover the real truth of it."

"Which brings us to the real question." Jack Muscone said. "Look, I'm no Iron Crowbar, but I didn't get to where I am by being dumb. Something is going on, here. That was not a normal terrorist attack, at least by what I call 'normal', and it wasn't the Cartel. So what was it? And more importantly... why?"

"As Sherlock Holmes says," I replied, "when we have eliminated the impossible, what remains, however improbable, must be the truth... or something like that. As to the 'why', we go back to the first verse of The Policeman's Bible: motive, means, opportunity."

"The opportunity was self-inherent." said Muscone. "The perps obviously had financing, and a lot of it, to give them the means. Motive is the key."

I said "I'm not that far along. What exactly was the opportunity they were taking? Why the Hospital? Why that wing instead of the front doors... which would've been far more devastating to the Hospital structure. And yes, they had the means. Are you able to get the forensics data reports?"

"So far." said Muscone. "And Lindy Linares in Cardigan's group is freely sharing information with us. The truck appears to be specially built to concentrate the blast in a certain direction---

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

It was Muscone's phone, and he answered it. "Yeah... okay, I'll be right there." After disconnecting, he said "All hands on deck meeting at the Fed tent. Maybe they found something."

"They got the autopsy reports from Martha." I said. "And they're doing exactly what I thought they would... they're going to be all over the Hospital, annoying the Staff and employees. Tell you what, I'll follow you down there..."

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

It was difficult getting into the side parking lot. TCPD Officers had no problem letting me in, but the Federal Marshals tried to prevent my Police SUV from coming in. I drove right through their barrier, almost hitting and taking out two Federal Marshals. They were screaming obscenities to my taillights as I went further up and parked.

I went to the TCPD tent just in time to hear more furious haranguing, this time by a female voice. It was BATFE Special Agent Lindsey Black yelling at Lt. DeLong. To his credit, he was silently absorbing the verbal punishment, but you know that Your Iron Crowbar was not going to let that go.