Wildfire (17 page)

"Yes, ma'am."

"Tell me, Special Agent Lightstone, do you have any previous experience working as an undercover operator?"

"Yes, I do."

"And what would that be?"

"I have twelve years of experience as a police officer for the San Diego Police Department. During that time I spent a total of approximately four years in varying undercover assignments."

"Vice, narcotics, burglary, that sort of thing?"

"That's correct."

"And your last five years at the San Diego Police Department, just before you joined the Fish and Wildlife Service, how were they spent?"

"As a detective assigned to the Major Crimes Unit."

"Which, I take it, would be mostly homicide and robbery?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Your honor," Jason Bascomb III, the senior attorney in charge of the unified defense team, said, coming quickly to his feet before the African-American deputy U.S. attorney could begin her next question, "the defense will stipulate that Special Agent Lightstone is a fully trained and qualified federal law enforcement officer in all respects for purposes of this hearing."

The presiding federal judge looked over at Fletcher, who nodded agreeably.

"So stipulated," the judge said, making a note on his legal pad. "Please continue, Mrs. Fletcher."

"Special Agent Lightstone, are you familiar with an individual named Alex Chareaux?"

"Yes, I am."

"Do you see him in this courtroom today?"

"Yes, I do."

"Would you point him out, please?"

Henry Lightstone turned his head and for the second time that morning looked straight into the furiously angry eyes of Alex Chareaux. He noted that the Cajun guide remained handcuffed as a result of his outburst earlier that morning.

"He's the male subject, with dark hair tied back in a ponytail, who is sitting at the far right of the defense table."

"Is there any question in your mind as to Mr. Chareaux's identity?"

"No, ma'am."

"Did you take part in a federal undercover investigation against Mr. Alex Chareaux and his two brothers sometime during the dates I previously mentioned?"

"Yes, I did."

"For what purpose?"

"Mr. Chareaux and his brothers were suspected of conducting an illegal guiding business. We—that is, the special agents of Bravo Team, which included Special Agent in Charge Paul McNulty, ASAC Carl Scoby, and agents Larry Paxton, Dwight Stoner, Mike Takahara, and myself—were assigned to try to infiltrate their operation and obtain evidence that they were violating certain federal and state wildlife hunting laws."

"In such an operation is it typical that one or more law enforcement officers such as yourself might interact directly with the subjects under investigation, in what you might describe as a covert or undercover role?"

"Yes, ma'am, very common."

"And was there a primary covert officer who posed as an illegal hunter in this case?"

"Yes, there was."

"And who was that agent?"

"I was that agent."

"Did you use a false name and identity during the investigation?"

"Yes, I did."

"And what was the name you used?"

"Henry Allen Lightner."

"As Henry Allen Lightner, did you engage in illegal hunting activities with Mr. Chareaux and his brothers?"

"Yes, I did."

"And during the course of this covert investigation, Agent Lightstone, did you and your fellow agents come across what you believed to be a much larger criminal conspiracy to . . ."

"Your honor"—Jason Bascomb III rose again and spoke in a professionally calm and dignified voice—"the defense would object to the use of the word
conspiracy,
unless of course the prosecution is prepared to offer proof."

"Let me rephrase the question, your honor." Deputy U.S. Attorney Theresa Fletcher smiled pleasantly. "Special Agent Lightstone, during the course of your investigation into the suspected illegal activities of Alex Chareaux, did you find yourself involved with any other subjects whom you suspected of being involved in illegal activities . . . with respect to federal wildlife laws," Fletcher added as she saw Bascomb start to rise out of his chair again.

"Yes, ma'am."

"And who were they?"

"Lisa Abercombie, Dr. Morito Asai, and Dr. Reston Wolfe."

"At the time of your covert investigation into the activities of Mr. Chareaux, did you know those individuals by their true names?"

"No, ma'am, I did not."

"What names did you know them by?"

"The names they used at that time were Reston Waters, Lisa Allen, and Morrey Asato."

"Presumably keeping their real first names, essentially as you did, for purposes of easy recognition. Is that a common ploy for people trying to maintain a false identity?"

"Yes, it is."

"Tell me, Agent Lightstone, do you see any of these people you described in this courtroom this morning?"

"No, I don't."

"Do you know, of your own personal knowledge, what happened to them?"

"Dr. Wolfe was shot and killed near the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C.," Lightstone replied. "The incident occurred while we were attempting to track him back to his associates. I was present when he was shot and when he died."

"And the other two?"

"At the conclusion of our investigation of Mr. Chareaux and other related subjects, I took part in a raid on underground facilities at Whitehorse Cabin in Yellowstone National Park. In the aftermath of that raid, I also assisted in a detailed search of the underground facilities. In a room identified by a sign on the door as the Command and Control Room, I personally observed the bodies of two individuals whom I then knew as Lisa Allen and Morrey Asato. Both of them appeared to have been shot in the chest with a large-caliber firearm."

"What was it that made you suspect the weapon was a large-caliber firearm?"

"I observed a relatively small hole in the chest of each subject, which appeared to be an entry wound, and extremely large holes out the back, which were clearly exit wounds."

"Special Agent Lightstone, in the course of your duties as a homicide investigator with the San Diego Police Department, have you had the occasion to observe entry and exit wounds in human bodies caused by a .44 Magnum pistol?"

"Yes, I have."

"When was that?"

"During approximately fifty of the approximately three hundred autopsies I observed during my police law enforcement career."

"And based upon this experience, and in your opinion, were these wounds on the individuals known to you as Lisa Allen and Morrey Asato consistent with having come from a .44 Magnum handgun?"

Lightstone hesitated, waiting for the expected objection that didn't come, and then said: "Yes, ma'am, they were."

"Were you armed with a .44 Magnum during that raid?

"No, I was not."

"To your knowledge were any of the other federal agents or military instructors who took part in that raid armed with a .44 Magnum pistol?"

"No, ma'am, they were not."

"To your knowledge, was one of the suspects armed with such a weapon?"

"Yes, one subject
was
armed with such a weapon."

"Is this the suspect whom you observed to shoot at one or more of his fellow suspects, in addition to you and other members of your raid team?"

"Yes, it was."

"In your opinion, was that being done in order to silence them as possible witnesses—"

"Objection, your honor," lead defense attorney Jason Bascomb III responded immediately. "Calls for speculation on the part of the witness."

"Sustained."

"Special Agent Lightstone," the prosecuting attorney went on, "when you took part in this raid at Whitehorse Cabin in Yellowstone National Park how were you armed?"

"With a .223 military M-16 assault rifle, and a Model 1076 10mm Smith & Wesson semiautomatic pistol."

"Would either of those weapons be likely to produce a chest wound in a human male or female similar to that typically caused by a .44 Magnum round, or similar to the wounds you observed in Lisa Allen and Morrey Asato?"

Out of reflex, Henry Lightstone hesitated again, having no expectation that Bascomb would allow him to answer such a question, and then said: "No, they would not."

"Why not?"

"All members of the raid team carried the same ammunition for our assault rifles: .223 military ball—that is, solid-jacketed bullets that are about twenty-two-hundredths-of-an-inch in diameter. Unlike the .44 pistol round, which creates a relatively big and slow projectile, the .223 rifle round sends out a relatively small, light, high velocity bullet which is capable of penetrating the standard military issue soft body armor that we had reason to believe the suspects might be wearing. Such bullets typically create what is called a through-and-through wound. And unless the bullet tumbles—which can easily happen if it's deflected in flight or hits bone at an angle—the exit wound tends to be relatively small."

"And what if the bullet does tumble?"

"Based solely upon my observations at autopsies," Lightstone said, continuing to be amazed at the latitude Bascomb was giving him as an expert witness, "the bullet either tends to stay inside the body or tear through in a ripping manner."

"Do those tear-through wounds look similar to a typical .44 Magnum wound?"

"No, ma'am, not at all."

"And what about the 10mm pistol ammunition you carried?"

"To my personal knowledge, all the federal wildlife agents on that raid carried 200-grain, jacketed hollow-point rounds for our 10mm semi-auto pistols. That ammunition was designed and manufactured for law enforcement officers, for the specific purpose of incapacitating or killing a human being without creating a through-and-through wound."

"And is that primarily to prevent injury to other people in the immediate area?"

"Yes, exactly."

"Special Agent Lightstone, did you use either of these weapons you possessed during this raid to fire a shot at either of the two individuals known to you as Lisa Allen and Morrey Asato?"

"No, ma'am, I did not."

"What about Dr. Reston Wolfe? Did you shoot him?"

"No, I did not."

"To your personal knowledge, did either you or one of your fellow agents at the scene at the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., discharge a firearm in the direction of Dr. Wolfe?"

"To my personal knowledge, I am absolutely certain that none of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agents at the Tidal Basin that evening discharged a firearm."

"Do you know who did discharge a firearm in the direction of Dr. Wolfe?"

Lightstone and Fletcher and nearly everyone else in the courtroom waited expectantly for the defense to rise up and object, but lead defense attorney Jason Bascomb III continued to remain seated in his chair with a pleasantly attentive smile on his face.

"Apparently you may answer the question," the judge finally said.

Lightstone nodded, and then turned his attention back to the deputy U.S. attorney. "No, ma'am, I do not."

"Your honor, if I may," Jason Bascomb III said politely as he rose partway out of his chair, "the defense has offered to stipulate—"

"Yes, I'm coming to that," Theresa Fletcher said.

The defense attorney shrugged as if to say "What can I do? I'm not the one trying to delay things here," and then sat back down. The judge motioned for the prosecutor to continue.

"Special Agent Lightstone, in the course of this extended investigation that you and your fellow agents conducted, and the raid that followed, did you ever come into contact with an individual identified to you as Gerd Maas?"

"Yes, ma'am, I did."

"And do you see him in the courtroom?"

"Yes, I do."

Henry Lightstone looked over in the direction of the defense table again and focused his attention on the man in the wheelchair. Unlike Chareaux, whose eyes were still visibly filled with undiminished hatred over his incarceration and the loss of his brothers, Gerd Maas was staring back at Lightstone with an expression that Lightstone could only describe as curious amusement.

"Would you point him out for the court, please?"

"He's the male subject with the short white hair, sitting in the wheelchair between the two defense counsels."

Lightstone found it interesting to observe that all three of the defendants, Alex Chareaux, Gerd Maas, and Roy Parker, were being kept separate from one another by representatives of the defense legal team. It occurred to him to wonder if Chareaux had any idea that Maas had almost certainly been involved in the death of his youngest brother. Probably not, Lightstone decided; otherwise the intervening presence of a single, overweight, and under-exercised defense attorney wouldn't have kept Chareaux away from the German hunter's throat for more than a second or two, handcuffs or not.

The idea of two lethal adversaries like Maas and Chareaux going at each other in the middle of a federal courtroom intrigued Lightstone. He assumed that was why there were six armed bailiffs assigned to this hearing, three of whom were now sitting directly behind the three defendants.

Bad mistake, judge. You should have kept them all in custody so you could keep Maas handcuffed to that wheelchair,
Lightstone thought, shaking his head. He still couldn't understand how Bascomb had convinced an experienced federal judge to set bail for men like Maas and Parker
...
or, for that matter, why. According to Theresa Fletcher, the defense team had paid the entire bail—totaling one point seven five million —in cash.

Incredible,
Lightstone thought uneasily.
Absolutely incredible.

"Thank you. Now, then, Special Agent Lightstone—"

"Your honor—" Jason Bascomb III came up to his feet again with an exasperated sigh.

"I only have two more questions of this witness, leading up to the stipulation," Deputy U.S. Attorney Theresa Fletcher said hastily.

The judge looked over at the defense attorney, who shrugged in agreement.

"Continue."

"Special Agent Lightstone, did you prepare an official report that detailed all the events that you were personally involved in with respect to this entire investigation?"