Trouble in Mind: The Collected Stories, Volume 3 Page 5

  “You’re wrong, Wayne. Look at all the innovations corporations have created: the lifesaving drugs, the medical supplies, the computers…that’s what companies have done.”

  “Sure, and iPhones and BlackBerrys and laptops have replaced parents, and kids learn their family values at porn sites.”

  “What about government providing education?”

  “Ha! That’s another racket. Professors making a few hundred thousand dollars a year for working eight months, and not working very hard at that. Teachers who can hardly put a sentence together themselves. Tell me, Kathryn, are you happy handing over your youngsters to somebody you see at one or two PTA meetings a year? Who knows what the hell they’re poisoning their minds with.”

  She said nothing, but hoped her face wasn’t revealing that from time to time she did indeed have those thoughts.

  Keplar continued, “No, I got two words for you there. ‘Home schooling.’”

  “You don’t like the police, you claim. But we’re here to make sure you and your family’re safe. We’ll even make sure the Brothers of Liberty’re free to go about their business and won’t be discriminated against and won’t be the victim of hate crimes.”

  “Police state…Think on this, Ms. Firecracker. I don’t know what you do exactly here in this fancy building, but tell me true. You put your life on the line every day and for what? Oh, maybe you stop some crazy serial killer from time to time or save somebody in a kidnapping. But mostly cops just put on their fancy cop outfits and go bust some poor kids with drugs but never get to the why of it. What’s the reason they were scoring pot or coke in the first place? Because the government and the institutions of this country failed them.”

  3:26.

  “So you don’t like the federal government. But it’s all relative, isn’t it? Go back to the eighteenth century. We weren’t just a mass of individuals. There was state government and they were powerful. People had to pay taxes, they were subject to laws, they couldn’t take their neighbors’ property, they couldn’t commit incest, they couldn’t steal. Everybody accepted that. The federal government today is just a bigger version of the state governments in the 1700s.”

  “Ah, good, Kathryn. I’ll give you that.” He nodded agreeably. “But we think state and even local laws are too much.”

  “So you’re in favor of no laws?”

  “Let’s just say a lot, lot less.”

  Dance leaned forward, with her hands together. “Then let’s talk about your one belief that’s the most critical now: violence to achieve your ends. I’ll grant you that you have the right to hold whatever beliefs you want—and not get arrested for it. Which, by the way, isn’t true in a lot of countries.”

  “We’re the best,” Keplar agreed. “But that’s still not good enough for us.”

  “But violence is hypocritical.”

  He frowned at this. “How so?”

  “Because you take away the most important right of an individual—his life—when you kill him in the name of your views. How can you be an advocate of individuals and yet be willing to destroy them at the same time?”

  His head bobbed up and down. A tongue poke again. “That’s good, Kathryn. Yes.”

  She lifted her eyebrows.

  Keplar added, “And there’s something to it…Except you’re missing one thing. Those people we’re targeting? They’re not individuals. They’re part of the system, just like you.”

  “So you’re saying it’s okay to kill them because they’re, what? Not even human?”

  “Couldn’t have said it better myself, Ms. Firecracker.” His eyes strayed to the wall. 3:34.

  * * *

  THE HELICOPTER SET DOWN in a parking lot of the outlet mall in Seaside and Michael O’Neil and a handcuffed suspect—no ID on him—climbed out.

  O’Neil was bleeding from a minor cut on the head incurred when he scrabbled into a cluster of scrub oaks escaping the satchel bomb.

  Which turned out to be merely a distraction.

  No IEDs, no anthrax.

  The satchel was filled with sand.

  The perp had apparently disposed of whatever noxious substance it contained on one of his crosscut turns and weaves, and the evidence or bomb or other clue was lost in the sand.

  The chopper’s downdraft hadn’t helped either.

  What was most disappointing, though, was that the man had clammed up completely.

  O’Neil was wondering if he was actually mute. He hadn’t said a word during the chase or after the detective had tackled and cuffed him and dragged him to the helicopter. Nothing O’Neil could say—promises or threats—could get the man to talk.

  The detective handed him over to fellow Monterey County Sheriff’s Office deputies. A fast search revealed no ID. They took his prints, which came back negative from the field scanner, and the man was processed under a John Doe as “UNSUB A.”

  The blond woman with the big soda cup—now mostly empty—who’d spotted him in the crowd now identified him formally and she left.

  The Crime Scene boss strode up to O’Neil. “Don’t have much but I’ll say that the Taurus had recently spent some time on or near the beach along a stretch five miles south of Moss Landing.” Calderman explained that because of the unique nature of cooling water from the power plant at Moss Landing, and the prevailing currents and fertilizer from some of the local farms, he could pinpoint that part of the county.

  If five miles could be called pinpointing.

  “Anything else?”

  “Nope. That’s it. Might get more in the lab.” Calderman nodded to his watch. “But there’s no time left.”

  O’Neil called Kathryn, whose cell phone went right to voice mail. He texted her the information. He then looked over at the smashed Taurus, the emergency vehicles, the yellow tape stark in the gray foggy afternoon. He was thinking: It wasn’t unheard of for crime scenes to raise more questions than answers.

  But why the hell did it have to be this one, when so little time remained to save the two hundred victims?

  * * *

  HANDS STEADY AS A ROCK, Harriet Keplar was driving the car she’d stolen from the parking lot at the outlet mall.

  But even as her grip was firm, her heart was in turmoil. Her beloved brother, Wayne, and her sometime lover, Gabe Paulson, were in custody. After the bomb detonated shortly, she’d never see them again, except at trial—given Wayne’s courage, she suspected he’d plead not guilty simply so he could get up on the stand and give the judge, jury and press an earful, rather than work a deal with the prosecutor.

  She pulled her glasses out of her hair and regarded her watch. Not long now. It was ten minutes to the Dunes Inn, which had been their staging area. And would have been where they’d wait out the next few days, watching the news. But now, sadly, Plan B was in effect. She’d go back to collect all the documents, maps, extra equipment and remaining explosives and get the hell back to Oakland. She bet there was a goddamn snitch within the Brothers of Liberty up there—how else would the police have known as much as they did?—and Harriet was going to find him.

  It was a good thing they’d decided to split up behind the outlet mall. As the Taurus had temporarily evaded the Highway Patrol trooper and skidded to a stop, Harriet in the backseat, Wayne decided they had to make sure somebody got back to the motel and ditched the evidence—which implicated some very senior people at the BOL.

  She jumped out with the backpack containing extra detonators and wires and tools and phony IDs that let them get into the banquet hall where the CCCBA was having their party. Harriet had been going to hijack a car and head back to the Dunes Inn, but the asshole of a trooper had rammed Gabe and Wayne. And police had descended.

  She’d slipped into a Burger King, to let the dust settle. She’d ditched the contents of the satchel, but, to her dismay, the police were spreading out and talking to everybody at the mall. Harriet decided she had to find a fall guy to take attention away from her. She’d spotted a solo shopper, a man about her height
with light hair—in case the trooper had seen her in the backseat. She stuck her Glock in his ribs, pulling him behind the BK, then grabbed his wallet. She found a picture of three spectacularly plain children and made a fake call on her cell phone to an imaginary assistant, telling him to get to the poor guy’s house and round up the kidlings.

  If he didn’t do exactly as she said, they’d be shot, oldest to youngest. His wife would be the last to go.

  She got his car keys and told him to stand in the crowd. If any cops came to talk to him he was to run and if he was caught he should throw the pack at them and keep running. If he got stopped he should say nothing. She, of course, was going to dime him out—and when the police went after him she would have a chance to take his car and leave. It would have worked fine, except that goddamn detective—O’Neil was his name—had her stay put so she could formally ID the sandy-haired guy. Oh, how she wanted to get the hell out of there. But she couldn’t arouse suspicion, so Harriet had cooled her heels, sucking down Diet Coke, and tried to wrestle with the anger and sorrow about her brother and Gabe.

  Then O’Neil and the poor bastard had returned. She’d IDed him with a fierce glance of warning and given them some fake information on how to reach her.

  And now she was in his car, heading back to the Dunes Inn.

  Oh, Wayne, I’ll miss you! Gabe, too.

  The motel loomed. She sped into the parking lot and braked to a stop.

  She was then aware of an odd vibration under her hands. The steering column. What was it?

  An earthquake?

  A problem with the car?

  She shut the engine off but the vibration grew louder.

  Leaves began to move and the dust swirled like a tornado in the parking lot.

  And Harriet understood. “Oh, shit.”

  She pulled her Glock from her bag and sprinted toward the motel door, firing blindly at the helicopter as it landed in the parking lot. Several officers and, damn it, that detective, O’Neil, charged toward her. “Drop the weapon, drop the weapon!”

  She hesitated and laid the gun and her keychain on the ground. Then she dropped facedown beside them.

  Harriet was cuffed and pulled to her feet.

  O’Neil was approaching, his weapon drawn and looking for accomplices. A cluster of cops dressed like soldiers was slowly moving toward the motel room.

  “Anyone in there?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “It was just the three of you?”

  “Yes.”

  The detective called, “Treat it dynamic in any case.”

  “How’d you know?” she snapped.

  He looked her over neutrally. “The cargo pants.”

  “What?”

  “You described the man in the car and said one was wearing cargo pants. You couldn’t see the pants of somebody inside a car from sixty feet away. The angle was wrong.”

  Hell, Harriet thought. Never even occurred to her.

  O’Neil added that the man they’d believed was one of the conspirators was acting too nervous. “It occurred to me that he might’ve been set up. He told me what you’d done. We tracked his car here with his GPS.” O’Neil was going through her purse. “You’re his sister, Wayne’s.”

  “I’m not saying anything else.” Harriet was distracted, her eyes taking in the motel room.

  O’Neil caught it and frowned. He glanced down at her keychain, which held both a fob for her car and the second one.

  She caught his eye and smiled.

  “IED in the room!” he called. “Everybody back! Now.”

  It wasn’t an explosive device, just a gas bomb Gabe had rigged in the event something like this happened. It had been burning for three minutes or so—she’d pushed the remote control the second she’d seen the chopper—but the smoke and flames weren’t yet visible.

  Then a bubble of fire burst through two of the windows.

  Armed with extinguishers, the tactical team hurried inside to salvage what they could, then retreated as the flames swelled. One officer called, “Michael! We spotted a box of plastic explosive detonators, some timers.”

  Another officer ran up to O’Neil and showed him what was left of a dozen scorched documents. They were the floor plan for the site of the attack at the CCCBA party. He studied it. “A room with a stage. Could be anywhere. A corporation, school, hotel, restaurant.” He sighed.

  Harriet panicked, then relaxed, as she snuck a glimpse and noted that the name of the motel was on a part of the sheet that had burned to ash.

  “Where is this?” O’Neil asked her bluntly.

  Harriet studied it for a moment and shook her head. “I’ve never seen that before. You planted it to incriminate me. The government does that all the time.”

  * * *

  AT THE BANKERS’ PARTY the high school students arrived, looking scrubbed and festive, all in uniforms, which Carol approved of. Tan slacks and blazers for the boys, plaid skirts and white blouses for the girls.

  They were checking out the treats—and the boys were probably wondering if they could cop a spiked punch—but would refrain from anything until after the twenty-minute concert. The kids took their music seriously and sweets tended to clog the throat, her grandson had explained.

  She hugged the blond, good-looking boy and shook the hand of the chorus director.

  “Everyone, everyone!” she called. “Take your seats.”

  And the children climbed up onstage, taking their positions.

  * * *

  THE CLOCK IN THE INTERROGATION ROOM registered 3:51.

  Dance broke off the debate for a moment and read and sent several text messages, as Wayne Keplar watched with interest.

  3:52.

  “Your expression tells me the news isn’t good. Not making much headway elsewhere?”

  Kathryn Dance didn’t respond. She slipped her phone away. “I’m not finished with our discussion, Wayne. Now, I pointed out you were hypocritical to kill the very people you purport to represent.”

  “And I pointed out a hole a mile wide with that argument.”

  “Killing also goes against another tenet of yours.”

  Wayne Keplar said calmly, “How so?”

  “You want religion taught in school. So you must be devout. Well, killing the innocent is a sin.”

  He snickered. “Oh, please, Ms. Firecracker. Read the Bible sometime: God smites people for next to nothing. Because somebody crosses Him or to get your attention. Or because it’s Tuesday, I don’t know. You think everybody drowned in Noah’s flood was guilty of something?”

  “So al-Qaeda’s terrorist tactics are okay?”

  “Well, al-Qaeda itself—’cause they want the strongest government of all. It’s called a theocracy. No respect for individuals. But their tactics? Hell, yes. I admire the suicide bombers. If I was in charge, though, I’d reduce all Islamic countries to smoking nuclear craters.”

  Kathryn Dance looked desperately at the clock, which showed nearly 3:57.

  She rubbed her face as her shoulders slumped. Her weary eyes pleaded. “Is there anything I can say to talk you into stopping this?”

  3:58.

  “No, you can’t. Sometimes the truth is more important than the individuals. But,” he added with a sincere look. “Kathryn, I want to say that I appreciate one thing.”

  No more Ms. Firecracker.

  “What’s that?” she said in a whisper, eyes on the clock.

  “You took me seriously. That talk we just had. You disagree, but you treated me with respect.”

  4 p.m.

  Both law officer and suspect remained motionless, staring at the clock.

  A phone in the room rang. She leaned over and hit the speaker button fast. “Yes?”

  The staticky voice, a man’s. “Kathryn, it’s Albert. I’m sorry to have to tell you…”

  She sighed. “Go on.”

  “It was an IED, plastic of some sort…We don’t have the count yet. Wasn’t as bad as it could be. Seems the device was u
nder a stage and that absorbed some of the blast. But we’re still looking at fifteen or so dead, maybe fifty injured…Hold on. CHP’s calling. I’ll get back to you.”

  Dance disconnected, closed her eyes briefly then glared at Keplar. “How could you?”

  Wayne frowned; he wasn’t particularly triumphant. “I’m sorry, Kathryn. This is the way it had to be. It’s a war out there. Besides, score one for your side—only fifteen dead. We screwed up.”

  Dance shivered in anger. But she calmly said, “Let’s go.”

  She rose and knocked on the door. It opened immediately and two large CBI agents came in, also glaring. One reshackled Keplar’s hands behind him, hoping, it seemed, for an excuse to Taser the prisoner. But the man was the epitome of decorum.

  One agent muttered to Dance, “Just heard, the death count’s up to—”

  She waved him silent, as if denying Keplar the satisfaction of knowing the extent of his victory.

  * * *

  SHE LED THE PRISONER OUT the back of CBI, toward a van that would ultimately transport him to the Salinas lockup.

  “We’ll have to move fast,” she told the other agents. “There’re going to be a lot of people who’d like to take things into their own hands.”

  The area was largely deserted. But just then Dan Simmons, the blogger who’d pestered Dance earlier, the Jude Law lookalike, peered around the edge of the building as if he’d been checking every few minutes to see if they’d make a run for it this way. Simmons hurried toward them, along with his unwashed cameraman.

  Dance ignored him.

  Simmons asked, “Agent Dance, could you comment on the failure of law enforcement to stop the bombing in time?”

  She said nothing and kept ushering Keplar toward the van.

  “Do you think this will be the end of your career?”

  Silence.

  “Wayne, do you have anything to say?” the blog reporter asked.

  Eyes on the camera lens, Keplar called, “It’s about time the government started listening to people like Osmond Carter. This never would have happened if he hadn’t been illegally arrested!”

  “Wayne, what do you have to say about killing innocent victims?”