President's assassin

I looked at General Tingle and commented, "This was an inside job."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because Fort Hood's the largest base in the country. Because it contains hundreds of miles of range roads and many dozens of ranges. Because your perps understand how range management works, they're familiar with the tank trails, and because it looks like they knew which units were firing on which ranges that day"

"All good points."

"Come on, General. Don't tell me you missed this."

General Tingle found it amusing that some outside dunce could figure this out. He gri

Ta

"Oh. You got a description?"

"Better. Early thirties, slender, medium height, long blond hair wrapped in a tight bun. A looker, too-the witnesses all agreed on that point. In fact, we obtained reliable composite sketches of both her and her male accomplice from the hijacked range control crew, and from the witnesses at the ranges." Eric allowed us a moment to absorb that, and then suggested, "Off the top of my head, I think this case, and I think this ring, fits the parameters you're looking for."

"Because of the woman?"

He hesitated, and then leaned toward me. "Well-what if this same group is working with this guy Barnes?"

Je

I said to Je

"Everything." She looked at the faces around the room. "Criminal Science 101-cases are co

From a technical and procedural standpoint, she was correct. Also, it was instructive to note from the expressions around the room that nobody really appreciated an outsider coming into the i

"Do you?"

"Yes. After five years of weapons and munitions thefts, all targeting the same base, all showing unusual creativity, all evidenced by a strong awareness of base procedures and vulnerabilities… I'm sure these cases are co

Je

When nobody else pitched in, I said, "What?"

"A city gets ten unsolved female murders in a year. The detectives come under intolerable pressure to achieve a few closures. Pretty soon, somebody cleverly rationalizes that because it's the same crime, because of the common sex of the victims, because of the common province of the murders, they're all related, and some horrifying serial killer is behind it. So they notify us, and we jump through our ass, and fly out a team, and we spend weeks poring over everything. They get the heat off themselves by shifting it to us. Problem is, it's not one killer, it's a bunch of killers. Also a waste of time."

Everybody grew quiet. Je

Being the diplomatic type, I turned to Eric. "Give us an example of another theft."

"All right. Winter, two years ago. A unit was sending a two-and-a-half-ton truck filled with Ml6s off post to a depot facility to have the weapons reblued-that is, to have the exterior metal parts recoated with an antirust compound. Now, here's the first interesting fact. It's routine to send broken weapons to depot level to be repaired-nonfunctioning weapons that won't work till they're fixed-but the thieves targeted a vehicle filled with working weapons."

I commented, "Which would seem to imply inside knowledge."

"Yeah, exactly. The truck got about thirty miles outside Killeen, when a car roared up from behind and nearly side-swiped it. The car had apparently been following and waited until the truck reached a lightly trafficked back road. Then the car got just ahead, and one of the thieves tossed out a bunch of oversized tiretacks. Our lab later determined that the tacks had been specially manufactured for this hit. The thieves wore balaclava hoods, and were armed. They made off with forty Ml6s"

Je

"Two."

"Was there a woman?"

"Maybe." But after a moment, he admitted, "Look, they were both built like men, and they moved like men. But as I said, they were masked, so the truck driver couldn't provide good descriptions. We know one man was extremely tall and lanky. Maybe six foot six or six foot seven."

Je

"No. But there were no reliable witnesses to the other thefts."

"No… witnesses." She asked, "What about the tall guy?"

"Just at the hijack."

Je

"I'm sure they're one team. And I'm sure she's part of the team. Sometimes she's involved, sometimes not."

"Did they kill anybody?"

"They pla

Je

"I'm sure it was."

"You're sure, Mr. Ta

"I-"

"Beyond the possibility of an inside source, I can't see any resemblance between the two thefts. You have witnesses to two of the crimes, yet none of the same perps were observed at both crime scenes. Correct?"

"Yes… but-"

"One crime was committed on base, employing masquerade, falsified documents, and a nonlethal weapon. The perps showed their faces and left witnesses. Have I described this accurately?"

"Yes, and I-"

"The earlier theft occurred off base. They used guns, they wore masks, and their technique was markedly less clever and less restrained. One theft showed complexity and finesse, the other was simple and coarse. One was a scam, the other your basic armed robbery." She leaned back into her chair and exhaled a long breath. "But maybe I'm just dense. Tell me again, what ties them together?"

Clearly, Eric had not been subjected to, nor had he anticipated, this kind of rigorous interrogation. He was becoming flustered, and it showed. He said, "Well, I see the differences, and… as I said, those differences are-"

"Those differences are enormous. How many weapons or munitions thefts and losses occurred at Fort Hood over the past five years?"

"Well… a lot."

"A lot?”

"It's our biggest base. Many dozens. Perhaps a hundred or so."

"Are they all interco

"Look… we all know you can't-"

"That's right, Mr. Ta

"I… I don't know."

"You don't seem to know much." The room was completely still. General Tingle, Colonel Johnson, and the two older agents were mesmerized, watching their prize peacock getting his plumage ripped off by a pit bull.