Authors: Mack Maloney

Strike Force Charlie (37 page)

BOOK: Strike Force Charlie

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But there was one last puzzling piece. Something that didn't quite fit in, at least not yet.

Shortly before the body was discovered in the whorehouse, a butcher shop nearby had reported a break-in with some of its goods stolen. That might have solved the how but not the why, for the guy was found dead with an animal in the bed with him.

A tiny pig.

Chapter 25

Las Vegas One week later

Ryder had actually enjoyed his time in the holding cell at Nellis.

He'd spent most of the time playing cards, enjoying the food, and watching TV with the rest of the ghosts.

And he slept, for the first time in what seemed like years. He didn't dream, though. Not about his wife. Not about Li. He just slept, soundly, deeply.

They were incarcerated in name only. Actually, it was more like a stay at a hotel. The bed was soft; the service was great. They were treated like celebrities by the Air Police who were supposed to be guarding them.

And celebrities they were. By now everyone in the country knew who they were, knew what they had done. A large cavalcade of media had descended on Vegas in the last few days reporting on the thwarted attack at the base and hoping to get a shot of the ghosts. Many of these media types were camped right outside the main gate at Nellis, causing many more headaches for Captain Mark Audette than he'd ever dreamed were possible.

Many things had happened in the week they'd been locked up. General Rushton was dead, found in a whorehouse in Baltimore, a needle sticking out of his arm, a pig sitting on his lap. That certainly had Hunn and Ozzi written
all over it. The three dozen terrorists who'd been set loose in the United States had all been accounted for and were all dead as well. Good riddance on that note. There was still a smoldering hole next to the flight line at Nellis, but that would soon be repaired as well.

Of course most of the story was still under wraps. Rushton's coup plans, the French government's involvementâall of it was unknown to the public, and to everyone except a handful of power people in D.C. whose business it was to keep such things secret forever, if possible. Rushton had died in a crackhouse brothel. He'd had problems. Pressure of work, and so on. Not the first Washington player to die a strange death and certainly not the last.

The country itself was breathing a little easier. The terrorist threat seemed to pass away with the Fourth of July fireworks. Not gone forever, but at least for a little while. The traffic around Washington returned to its usual slow pace, no more gridlock. No more troops in the streets. No more jets constantly flying overhead. Massive, if secret, court martials were already in the works though.

So it did seem the world was back on-track, again at least for a little while.

But the ghosts couldn't stay at Nellis forever, as much as they would have liked to. They weren't military personnel, not technically anyway, and as their incarceration was being played out and discussed and debated endlessly on the 24-hour news stations, it was becoming quite clear that they probably shouldn't have been in military custody in the first place. And while the four of them appreciated what the Air Force, especially Audette, had done for them, they also knew there were pressures inside and out to have some resolution to their case. Despite their heroics, they were guilty of many, many federal crimes. And while they were the darlings of what people were beginning to call the New Patriotism, even they knew they had to be held accountable for what they'd done. Besides, there were people in Washington who still wanted to exact some revenge on them.

Finally, on their sixth day at Nellis, they were told that
they had to go. But the military was doing them one last favor: Instead of turning them over to the Feds, they were actually handing them off to the city of Las Vegas, where they would be charged with one count each of illegally operating an aircraft, a civil offense. This would give them another breather, at least until reality set in and they were remanded to a federal court in D.C.

That's when the real trouble might begin.

Because of the media swarm encamped around the main gate at Nellis, it was agreed that the ghosts would be transported to the Las Vegas courthouse in a military vehicle, this as opposed to a car from the sheriff's department. A military vehicle would not have to stop to get out of the base, and this would leave the media types waiting there high and dry.

Ryder, Bates, Puglisi, and Fox, now wearing plain, unmarked flight suits, were picked up at their holding cell at 9:00 A.M. They thanked their jailers, up to and including the base commander, profusely apologizing again for tearing up his base. It was clear many people in the military supported them, though; many had already thanked the ghosts for what they had done. Just like those two A-10s they'd encountered over Milwaukee that day, so long ago. The pilots could have easily shot them down and ended all thisâbut they didn't, because they believed in what the ghosts were doing. It was good to know that many of the people in uniform were behind them all the way.

Leaving Nellis by the main gate went just as they had hoped. The base admin car simply drove off the base, not stopping, leaving the media in the dust.

The problem was, there was another army of reporters waiting at the courthouse, with a forest of satellite dishes accompanying them. Protocol said the military car would have to leave the ghosts at the rear of the courthouse, where they would be turned over to local law enforcement. Six sheriff's deputies were waiting for them hereâbut they would still have to walk about fifty feet to the rear door of the courthouse itself, and waiting there for them was a gauntlet of
media. The four ghosts had agreed beforehand that the less they said publicly the better. But when they drove up and saw the crowd of press, they knew staying by that agreement would almost be impossible.

The deputies took custody of them, and after one last handshake with their military handlers the four of them began their weird perp walk across the parking lot to the back door of the courthouse. They were surrounded immediately by microphones and video cameras, wielded by beautiful newswomen mostly, with a few
GQ
-looking male reporters thrown in. The questions were all stupid and senseless and obvious. “Do you consider yourselves criminals?” “Do you consider yourselves heroes?” “Have you been offered any book deals?” “Movie deals?” “Endorsement deals?”

The deputies did their best, but they were vastly outnumbered. Before they made it halfway across the parking lot, the crush of media just collapsed in on them. More deputies arrived. Pushing and shoving ensued. But it was no use. They were trapped.

This is how the Beatles must have felt,
Ryder thought, betraying his age.

Finally he just stopped. And everyone else stopped with him.

All cameras turned to him. The others were whispering to him, “If you're going to say something to get us out of here, make it quick.”

That's exactly what Ryder intended to do.

Silence came over the courtyard. He looked out on at least a hundred cameras, twice as many microphones, the faces of the media types smiling and accommodating, expecting him to say something great but ready to pounce on him if he didn't.

Finally, he began to speak:

“We did what we did for all the people who died on 9/11,” he began. “We did what we did for the families of those who lost loved ones that day. But we're not heroesânot in the way you people in the media might want us to be. We're just
Americans, trying to do what's right. Trying to protect our country.”

A short pause. His audience was rapt.

“September Eleventh was an awful day,” he began again. “No matter what's happened before or since, it's true, we will never be the sameânot until we find every last person who was connected with those attacks and put them in the ground where they belong.

“But something very special also happened on 9/11âor at least I think it did. I heard someone say this once, and so I want to pass it on to you. We know the terrorists spent several years planning the attacks of September Eleventh. We know they got it down to the last-minute detail. The time and effort they put in, the sneaking around, the deceit, all to kill three thousand of our countrymen. Three years, twenty-four hours a day, planning to commit mass murder.

“But what
really
happened? Yes, those three thousand people died, especially in the towersâbut
twenty thousand
people were
saved
that day. Twenty thousand people who
didn't
lose their lives â¦ because of the bravery of the cops and the firemen and just ordinary people. Like you and me.

“And here's the thing: how much planning went into that? These murderers took three years to plan how to kill three thousand peopleâbut we, we Americans, we saved twenty thousand of our countrymen, and it didn't take any planning at all. The people there just did it. It just happened. Because that's how we are in America.

“And that's why we're different from them.”

Five minutes later, the four ghosts were led into the courtroom. It was packed, but not with media typesâhardly. Ryder scanned the crowd and was surprised to see some very familiar faces, as well as some not so familiar. Some he would only learn later who they were.

Master Chief Finch and the Doughnut Boys were there. So were Bo Tuttle, his brother Zoomer and cousin Hep, from Campo, Kentucky. And Detective Mike Robinson from the
Chicago Police Department was there. And Donny Eliot, the park ranger from Nebraska. And Dave Hunn's uncle, the priest from Queens, and the NYC firemen Sean O'Flaherty, Mike Santoro and Mark Kelly.

The Ruckers were there, right in the front row. And the truckers who transported the team into the Rockies. And the guys from the company that owned the CL-215 firefighting plane. And the people who owned the seaplane refueling island in Minnesota. Even Captain Audette was in attendance.

They were all here because they
believed.
They had helped the ghosts along the way and now they had made their own way here to show their support, to watch over the ghosts, just as they felt the ghosts had been watching over them for the past few crazy weeks.

But most surprising of all, sitting in the back row was Hunn. And Ozzi.

And Li.

And when she saw Ryder, she blew him a kiss.

The show of support was heartwarming, but it didn't take away the fact that the four rogues were potentially in a lot of trouble.

The infractions that were to be discussed here today were petty compared to what they might be charged with once they were extradited to D.C. If they were found guilty back there, especially on national security violations, they could be locked up forever, in conditions not so different from what they had left back in Gitmo, public opinion be damned.

At that moment, as they were being seated at the defendants' table, Ryder could not shake the feeling that this was the end of the road for them. Their future was very much uncertain.

They all looked at one another, as much to say,
How are we going to get out this?

Li was thinking the same thing.

They'd been able to slip out of D.C. cleanly to get out hereâand even better, no one seemed to know who they were. But she knew that it could very well be her name on
the docket next, along with Hunn and Ozzi. Murder? Conspiracy? Numerous violations of the National Secrets Act? They would have been better off leaving the country. But there was no way they were just going to let their comrades hang. Still, their future was uncertain, too.

Finally the court officer came out and asked everyone to rise. A side door opened and the judge walked in. And this was where Li got the biggest surprise of her life.

She recognized him. This day judge from Las Vegas, a place she'd never been beforeâshe took one look at his face and realized that he looked very familiar.

He was a small man, about sixty-three or so. An unimpressive face, with a red nose and huge ears. He seemed almost unsure of himself, his judge's robes appearing to be too big for him by a factor of two.

But that faceâit was unforgettable.

He was the little man who'd walked out onto the court of the Wizards basketball game that night so long ago to help the two kids revive their singing of “America the Beautiful.” The man who had brought the entire arena to the brink of tears.

But what was he doing here?

The little man took his seat up on the bench and fiddled with his glasses. Meanwhile the court officer called the proceedings to order by saying that the regular day judge, the Honorable J. C. Hood, was on vacation this week and that a substitute jurist would be handling the cases today.

This substitute judge was the Honorable Bobby Murphy.

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