The Warren Files 04: Jim and Lisa

"Good," he said. "I'll confirm the date for you before you leave." We arrived at the main building, so John went to his office and I went into the conference room to collect my things and wake Cliff up. Cliff, however, was already awake and chatting with Loni. John handed me a card with the date for Jim's ceremony, so I grabbed my things and we went out to the car, which Cliff had already pulled out front. After I put my stuff inside, I went to Jim's barracks and dropped off the PI reports he gave me the previous day.

Cliff was pretty quiet on the drive back to the airport. I couldn't blame him. Last night was pretty hectic and I knew he didn't get much sleep. Neither one of us felt much like talking. We said our goodbyes at the airport and I headed to the company jet, which was preparing to leave.

I stashed my gear and sat down, waiting for the plane to take off. By the time the pilot came back to let me know he was ready to go, I was nearly asleep. I thanked him and waited until we were airborne before putting the seat all the way back. I slept the whole way to Denver.

After we landed, I wiped the sleep from my eyes and made my way to the lavatory, where I did my business. I looked at myself in the mirror and realized I needed to shave and clean up before visiting G&S Labs. Truth is, I looked like shit.

I shaved, brushed my teeth, and washed myself as best I could in the sink. I changed my clothes, putting on a clean shirt. I looked a little better -- at least I hadn't slept in this shirt. I gathered my stuff and exited the airplane, where I was met by an attractive brunette.

"Officer Warren?" she asked. I nodded my head.

"That's me," I said. "And you are?"

"Officer Bascomb," she said. "Julie Bascomb, Denver office. Bill asked me to pick you up. How was your flight?"

"Don't know," I said. "I was asleep." She laughed.

"You look it," she said. "I hear you had some fun last night."

"Yeah, big fun," I said sarcastically. She handed me a couple of folded envelopes.

"Here's the arrest warrants you asked for," she said. "Bill sent one to me late last night. The second one came in just as I was on my way here to get you." I nodded my head.

"Thanks," I said.

"I take it we're going to G&S first?" she asked. I nodded my head.

"Yes," I said. "Hopefully, Allison will be there and we can take her into custody without too much of a scene."

"I was informed there'll be a couple of FBI agents there who'll take her downtown," she said.

"Good," I said. We pulled into the parking lot for G&S Labs and made our way inside. Two FBI agents were at the front door when we got there. We made our introductions and walked inside, where we were escorted to the office of one Ellis Drummer, the head of Jim's section. He got up as we walked in and we all shook hands. I took in the certificates and massive diplomas on his wall.

"Thank you for meeting with us, Dr. Drummer," I said.

"Please call me Ellis," the balding man said. "I hate all that 'doctor' shit." I liked this man right off the bat.

"Jim has already briefed me on his work, Ellis," I said. "What's the status of that project now?"

"Given what's happened, I decided it would be best to shelve that particular project at this time," he said. "Everything related to it has been archived and I hope it never sees the light of day."

"Probably for the best," I said. "I am curious to know why you didn't take any stronger action when he first informed you of what was going on."

"I had hoped we could throw them off," he said. "I misread the situation, apparently."

"Apparently," I said, sarcastically. "Were you aware of an attempt to kidnap Mr. Adams from Camp Rollins?" I asked. His face turned white.

"Oh my God," he said. "No, I wasn't. Is he alright?"

"Yes," I said. "He's fine, but the men who tried to take him aren't. They're all dead." I let him absorb what I said before continuing.

"My concern, of course, is for Jim's safety," I said. "If they tried once, chances are they'll try again."

"I understand," Ellis said. "What do you have in mind?"

"I haven't talked to my boss yet, but I think he should stay with us," I said. "We have a research team and he can liaise with you as needed, online."

"I think we can arrange that," he said.

"What about Allison Gatsby?" I asked. "Is she here today?" He shook his head.

"No, she hasn't come to work yet and no one has heard from her," he said. "We've been trying to get in touch with her, but we haven't been successful." I stood and motioned for the others with me to leave. I handed Ellis my card.

"Please call me if you hear from her," I said. He nodded his head.

"I will," he said. "And thanks for looking after Jim. He's a good man. I'd hate to lose him, but I understand."

We left and drove to the address we had for Allison. There was a blue Toyota in the driveway, so we assumed she was home and knocked on the door. The door opened slightly when I knocked on it, so I announced our presence.

"Federal agents," I said loudly before pushing the door open farther. There was no answer, so we tiptoed inside, weapons drawn. We saw no evidence that anyone was there, and began looking around to see if we could determine where she might be. It looked as though she had packed and left in a hurry. We could see that she had taken some clothes and most of her toiletries were gone. We met back in the front room and was looking around, when I noticed her answering machine counting down.

"30... 29... 28..." the display read. Holy fuck, I thought to myself -- a bomb! I grabbed Julie and yelled at the others to leave.

"Get out!" I yelled "Now." We all ran out of the house and took cover just as the entire house erupted in flame, sending debris over several houses in the neighborhood. We called 911 and heard the sirens as fire trucks and police cars made their way to the neighborhood minutes later. The officers took our statements and I spoke to the fireman in charge, handing him a card with instructions to forward his report to me. He promised he would and the FBI agents said they had requested an APB -- All Points Bulletin -- be put out for Allison, but I suspected she was already long gone by now.

"What now?" Julie asked when we got back in the car.

"To the Adams residence," I said. "Hopefully, it's not too late." She headed out, the FBI agents following us in their SUV. We arrived at Jim's house about a half hour later. The FBI agents joined us at the front door. I rang the doorbell, but got no answer. The agents went to their vehicle and came back with a battering ram, which they would use to smash in the door.

A man in a white van pulled up in front of the house and introduced himself as Greg Hollister, a private investigator working for Rollins Enterprises.

"Someone was here about a couple hours ago," he told us. "He went in, then came out about ten minutes later. I got photos."

"Let's see them," I said. He pulled up the stored photos on his camera and I saw a man, dressed in black, enter the house after ringing the bell. Sure enough, he was out five minutes later. "You have video of what took place inside?" I asked.

"Not yet," he said. "The system is designed to upload videos to a cloud service at a set time each day. But if there are videos, they'll still be on the device we have set up in the attic."

"Can you get them?" I asked.

"Yes," he said. "But I have to access the storage device directly."

"Okay," I said. "Once we have the place secure, I want you to get whatever video you can and give me a copy." He agreed, and sat in his van as we went to the door.

After a second attempt at ringing the doorbell, the agents smashed the door in. We announced our presence, but got no response. After what happened at Allison's place, we were very careful as we moved inside. We saw nothing to indicate a booby trap had been set, and finally made our way to the bedroom. Julie nearly threw up when she walked in.

There, lying on the bed, naked, was Lisa. Her arms and legs were stretched out, and her throat had been slashed from ear to ear. The bed was soaked in blood and the room reeked of urine and feces. We called 911 and reported a homicide. I gave Greg a set of latex gloves and followed him into the attic, where he retrieved the storage device.

We looked at the day's videos and saw a man dressed in black walk into the house. He said very little to Lisa, who embraced him as a lover. They walked silently into the bedroom, where he watched her strip. As she turned to get on the bed, he pulled out a knife and slit her throat. She didn't have a chance. He arranged her body on the bed, then left. We searched the video, but couldn't get a good look at his face. I thought this was one of the men I had seen in other surveillance videos, but wasn't certain.

"You've seen this man here before?" I asked Greg.

"Yeah, he comes here frequently," Greg said. "I still haven't been able to positively identify him." I gave him my card.

"I want all videos, audio and photos you have forwarded to me. Understand?" He nodded his head. "I do not want Jim to see this video. I'll take care of notifying him."

"What do I tell my people?" he asked.

"You tell them I said it's in the interest of national security. Got it?" I asked. "If they have a problem, they can take it up with me."

"I got it," he said. The senior FBI agent with us told me he would also put out an APB on the man in the video. I thanked him and pulled out my phone to brief Bill. I knew he wouldn't be happy, but there wasn't anything more I could do at the moment.

"So, Allison and what we can presume is her accomplice, got away?" he asked.

"It seems that way, boss," I said. "The FBI is putting out an APB on both of them, but I doubt we'll see them any time soon."

"Does Mr. Adams know about his wife?" Bill asked.

"Not yet," I said. "I'll call the camp commandant and let him know."

"Okay," he said. "Have them search the place and tell Julie to confiscate everything and forward it here. You may as well come on back home."

"Will do," I said, ending the call. I gave Julie instructions to have everything cataloged and forwarded to Fort Apache for analysis. She agreed and I made one more call.

"Oh my God," John said when I told him what happened. "I'll notify Jim. Are you still coming to his ceremony?"

"I'll be there," I said before ending the call. I gave my contact information to Julie and managed to hitch a ride with one of the police officers back to the airport. There wasn't much I could do here, and I still had a lot of information to sort through.

Exhausted, I slept the whole way back to Fort Apache. Bill met me when the plane landed and drove me back to my apartment. I spoke to him about bringing Jim on board to work with the analysts and he agreed it would be good to have someone with his background on board. He also agreed with my assessment that if MMAS wanted him so bad they would risk attacking Camp Rollins, they might try again.

After greeting the children, I took a much-needed shower and went to bed where I slept until the next day.

When I got to work, I found that Ron had emailed me particulars on Allison Gatsby. It turned out that was her real name and she had graduated with a degree in biochemistry. And, Ron told me in his report, she was also a known MMAS operative with suspected ties to Mona Larsen. The techs analyzing Pat's files had found a few references in her notes to someone identified as "AG." According to what they found, Allison was directly tasked by Mona to secure something that would "ensure the compliance of the overall male population." No other specifics were provided.

For the next two weeks, we pored over all the evidence that had been provided to us. Julie said a vial of colorless liquid was found in Lisa's medicine cabinet. Initial analysis indicated it was a drug very similar to one Renee tried to use on me.

I went through the DVDs Jim had given me, along with the video I got from Greg. It seemed that Lisa had been recruited by Allison to get whatever she could from Jim, while setting him up for a fall. In return, Lisa was given all the sexual stimulation she could ever ask for, from Allison, the man in black and a few others.

According to the report I got from Ron, Henderson's real name was Gabe Washburn, and he was a contract driver for Acme who was recruited by Allison to keep an eye on Jim. From the discussions I heard between Allison and Lisa, she surmised Jim was going to Camp Rollins and arranged for Gabe to attend as well, in order to confirm his presence. She even arranged for Mona to pay for Gabe's tuition.

Bill took all this in as I briefed him on what I had found out so far. He closed the folder and stamped it as a "cold" case.

"You know you'll probably never see either Allison or this 'man in black' ever again, don't you?" he asked. I nodded my head.

"Yeah, probably," I said. "Mona's not one to accept failure."

"No, she's not," he said. "You still going to Camp Rollins this weekend?"

"I am," I said. "I made a promise plus I need to get Jim back here."

"Alright," he said. "I'll make a company jet available for your use. Have a good trip."

I flew back into Coeur d'Alene, but this time, John met me at the airport. We made small talk on the way back to camp. Dale was still out recovering from his wound, but, John told me, he would be back for the ceremony, set to take place that evening.

That night, I stood in the background with John and Dale and watched the strangest ceremony I had ever seen. The men were gathered around a wooden stake with wood piled at the base. On an instructor's command, a straw effigy was tied to the pole and the men attached pictures of their spouses to it.

Once they were finished, the instructor called Jim to the front. He stood to attention in front of the instructor.

"Burn the bitch!" the instructor commanded, handing him a lit torch.

"Sir! Burn the bitch! Aye, aye, sir!" Jim said in response. He lit the pile of wood, and the fire quickly engulfed the straw figure. The students began chanting, "burn, burn, burn!" As the figure burned, the students went wild, pumping their fists into the air, howling and chanting. When the figure fell on the ground, the students danced and chanted and some, including Jim, urinated on the figure. This went on for some time until it was reduced to ashes.

When the fire was completely extinguished, the men were formed back up and marched back to their barracks. I looked at John and saw he had a slight smile on his face. It seemed that he enjoyed this as much as the men did, if not more so.

"What now?" I asked.

"They graduate tomorrow," John said. "Then we regroup and bring in a whole new class." I looked at Dale, who still had a bandage on his arm.

"How are you doing?" I asked. He smiled before speaking.

"I'm doing okay," he said. "Wife's bugging me to retire, but I got some time left." Something told me he wouldn't complain even if he had cause to.

The next day, I stood in the background as John addressed the students. He wished them well and the instructor dismissed them. Once the graduation was finished, I walked to Jim.

"You ready to go?" I asked. He nodded his head as he picked up his bag.

"I'm ready," he said.

"I'm sorry about your wife," I said. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't be," he said. "Whoever killed the bitch saved me the expense of divorcing her. Her parents had her cremated. I told them they could do whatever they wanted with her ashes."

"What about your house?" I asked. "All your stuff?" He shrugged his shoulders.

"We were renting it from Lisa's parents," he said. "Most everything was hers. There's a few things I might want, but that's it. I'll have her folks ship it all out."

"You're okay with all this, then?" I asked. He looked at me with determination on his face.

"I'm ready to do anything I can to put this bunch out of business for good," he said. I smiled and shook his hand.

"Welcome to the Task Force," I said.

...

Epilogue:

The case technically remained open for over two decades before it was finally closed. Several months after this incident, Mona was shot and killed by federal agents after she foolishly pulled a gun on them. Her twin sister, Elizabeth Skaggs, committed suicide after an aborted attempt on her husband, the President of the United States.

Allison's male partner, the "man in black," was never seen nor heard from again. Allison, however, managed to remain out of sight for over twenty years, having changed her appearance and her identity after leaving the country. She never gave up on her dream of a female-dominant society.

Dale retired about a year after this incident and was replaced by a retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant, Alan Roberts. John continued to run Camp Rollins until he retired at age 70. A number of changes were put in place, thanks to John's leadership, and the company worked closely with the Task Force, vetting potential students and working with those victimized by MMAS. The camp remains in operation to this day.

Jim joined the task force and later became the head of the biochemical research department, where he worked until he retired just a couple years ago. He never remarried.