“That is good enough for me
and I will report our meeting back in DC. I’m scheduled to fly out
tomorrow and let’s celebrate your successful operation in
China.”
Brad thought that last
statement was patronizing as hell, but let it go for now. He still
itched all over from the hot days dressed in a wool Buddhist cloak.
He yearned for the bath house to relax and cleanse the soul and
body. He loved the East and felt more than comfortable in Asia.
Sadly, he thought, we better go home and see if we can put this
killer behind bars or, better yet, in a cemetery. He felt a rage
brewing in his lower bowels that only a death would
satiate.
That night laying on a
futon with Sujin they talked about photography, her career in the
business, their child being born; and the need for Brad to continue
his quest for what is right in the world: freedom. Rocky lie next
to their snoring and at peace with the world; probably dreaming of
Sandy and their offspring. Brad reached out and rubbed Rocky making
the dog give off moaning sounds. Brad said to Sujin, “I know the
China operation was important, but I feel used and it gets my gall
thinking the political big wigs can play football with the little
people.”
“I don’t completely
understand your words, but I feel what you say. You always do what
is right and your team knows they come first in your world. I say
to you, my husband, take a fresh look at the serial killer and
chances are you will see something plain as day you missed before.”
Brad hugged her and lay in her arms falling asleep dreaming of
their baby to come. Like Rocky, he was at peace with the world, as
if only a few hours of sacred time were available.
The next day they all flew
back to the USA. A direct flight took them to Seattle and Nancy met
them at the airport. She’d asked Brad by phone if he would take the
time to meet with her before taking the NASA jet back to North
Bend. He agreed and now they sat upstairs in the airport having
something to drink in an airline lounge for first class passengers.
The door was locked with a sign that said “Fresh Paint, sorry
closed.”
Nancy gave them the details
of the Arden murders and Brad and the team listened carefully. Brad
was a little impressed by John and his disguise as a postman. At
the end of the meeting he invited Nancy to come to Oregon and she
agreed.
Chapter 17
November, a year to the
date when Steve stood standing on the shore waiting for Brad to
come down from Fish Rock where he first heard the news from his
boss wanting Brad and his team to take on the job of finding the
serial killer roaming around Southern California killing old
people. The rain was beginning to fall sideways as the wind from
the Pacific storms, once again made its presence known to the Batt
Team housed in the Round House on the coast of Oregon.
Brad was telling his team,
along with Nancy who represented the FBI as a special agent in
charge, that this would be their last chance of stopping the Senior
Killer. Nancy had brought a copy of John’s letter to the newspaper
and they were in the process of discussing it now with Nancy once
again is reading it while the rest of the team held copies follow
her reading:
“DEAR READERS, BY NOW YOU
HAVE THE NEWS OF ARDEN WHERE I GOT LUCKY AND HAD A TWO FOR ONE
SALE. THIS WAS SO EASY AND YOU THE FBI AND BRAD AND HIS TEAM OF
MISFITS KNEW I WOULD BE IN ARDEN. I HAVE CLOSED THE ‘C’ AND……
..WELL, OK READERS HERE IS A CLUE WHERE YOU MIGHT FIND ME WEARING A
TALL HAT AND RIDING A BROOM: HUGE PLANE MADE FOOLS.
SENIOR JOHN
Nancy laid the original
down and looked at the team. She could faintly hear the rain and
wind pounding the house. The storm was full force and the same
feeling were in Brad’s stomach. He sucked in his breath and looked
at his team one by one except Sujin who was resting in their
bedroom. Also it wasn’t the storm pounding on the house, it was
John pounding on his head that made Brad perk up and say rubbing
his temple with one hand and petting Sandy with the other, “Billy.
The clue. What do you think?”
“I think it is a simple one
anyone could figure out. A huge plane is Howard Hughes [huge] and
the ‘Spruce Goose’ is parked at the plane museum in McMinnville,
Oregon. If you take the first letter of McMinnville and the last
you have ‘ME.” His next stop is McMinnville, Oregon.”
“And of course Halloween is
the day he will seek his next victim,” agent Jones said as he
petted one of Sandy’s pups that was lying on his lap. “What kind of
a plan can we put together on Halloween when people are having
parties, kids are roaming the streets. Any kind of a costume would
not be suspicious; we will be looking for a ghost that
kills.”
Brad, who was now up walking
around scratching his short haircut he needed for playing a monk’s
role, said, “Guys I’m open for anything to talk about here. I think
we need a run on the beach to clear our minds and open our blood
channels for fresh oxygen to address this complicated case.” Sandy
heard beach and stood at attention as her pups scrabbled to join
her. About the same time, Sujin came out of her bedroom dressed in
sweats, which had become her usual dress as of late.
“Let’s go everyone,” Sujin
said with a smile on her face while she zipped up her dark green
rain coat with an attached hood.
Nancy told her she would
walk on the beach and talk about kids, while the joggers pounded
the sand with their running shoes. Billy took the opportunity to
dash upstairs and out next to the door for a smoke or three. Brad
noticed Billy didn’t have his usual jovial attitude and inwardly
smiled knowing Billy and his friends had been working on the clues
and were close to some new information. Only Brad knew why Billy
smoked so much. He did his best thinking drawing great gobs of
smoke sending nicotine coursing through his veins. He wouldn’t be
surprised to find out when they returned some new developments in
the case.
Rocky was not a happy
German Shepherd when they all took off down the trail to the beach
with the pups barking up a storm carrying their barks away on gale
force winds. Salt air greeted the runners and walkers as they
hurried down the trail in the late afternoon. The rain stung their
eyes as once on the beach they headed south this time to feel the
sting of the needle like rain on their faces. Sujin and Nancy
walked north for protection from the rain coming from the
southwest. The storm was too severe to talk so the girls, after a
short walk up the beach found some shelter behind a large rock that
was only the top of a much larger rock under the beach. Nancy said
to Sujin, “How are you and the baby doing?”
“Much better than I thought
I would be doing. Mother was a big help and of course I do my yoga
exercises twice a day. My balance of Yin and Yang is good. I’m
fine, but I’m worried about Brad and the team. This by far is the
most difficult case to date and it is taking its toll on my
husband. His having to appease the political side of things while
doing what he thinks is necessary to catch the guy, even though
this guy seems to come and go at will has put a real strain on my
husband.”
“Yes,” Nancy said while
drawing lines in the sand with a walking stick she had picked up
off the beach, “I feel a hundred year old these days. My boss is
not helping matters yelling at me from Washington telling me how
many phone calls come in wondering what the FBI is doing about the
Senior Killer. That is one reason I readily agreed to come down
here to get away from his phone calls.” To accentuate the point she
was making, a powerful gust of wind whipped around the rock bring
with it mixed with the rain sea water that both tasted on their
lips as they dropped their heads down to their chests. Both decided
it was time for some hot tea sitting on the floor next to the wood
stove where the elements were not so bad; only the gloom of the
case hung over like the dark clouds racing across the
sky.
The team jogged along
together feeling the salt spray of the wind whipped sea mix with
the sweat of running. It salt water burned their eyes, but all
endured while driving their bodies to the limit. Brad and Mike were
in a race to see who gave up first with agent Jones and Wendy not
far behind. They were running as close to the surf as possible
because that is where the sand was the hardest. Not always did they
time it right with the ebb and flow by the sea. Wet feet and sand
laden shoes rubbed like sandpaper against the skin of their feet.
All felt the pain and none cared. It was like they were on a
mission and come hell or high tide they were going to take Senior
John to the sand.
* * *
Senior Killer John was just
coming through the small town of Roy, Washington just a few miles
north of Yelm and the turn off to the Bald Hill Road. He was going
home to visit his brothers. Now was the time to throw a real monkey
wrench into the case by having two kills at the same time. He
turned left on Vail Road to Four Corners where the Bald Hills Road
went east to his pig farm. He was driving his SUV and would park in
a different location than before. From there he would walk through
the woods just as it was getting dark to the barn. Just as darkness
was the feeding time for the pigs and he knew one brother would be
working in the barn at that time. Thirty minutes later after
parking on an old logging road, with his boots on looking like a
pig farmer he made his way to the barn knowing the FBI still had a
stakeout on the farm. His rage was building again inside him and by
the time he sneaked into the barn he was about to tell his brothers
the plan to rock the country with a double killing on Halloween
night.
His brother never batted an
eye when he saw John in the barn. The pigs were squealing and the
smell not so bad as the rain kept the strong smell of pig waste and
rotten food to a minimum. His brother told him the stake out car
was just down the way a little bit and that it was no problem to
sneak into the kitchen and down the stairs to the safety of the
room that was more home to them than the upstairs. The brothers
enlarged the room and it was complete now with power. Nobody knew
they were triplets and not twins. Their mother had a midwife
deliver the babies and after she had left, mother had another
smaller one pop out. Birth certificates for two not three were made
out. Why, nobody knew but the father and mother and neither one
were alive to tell the tale. The last one was a little retarded,
but capable of taking care of the pigs and self if left alone. He
lived under the kitchen and took his food when there was a knock on
the floor.
John was the oldest and the
one his brothers followed as to what he said. The three of them sat
under the kitchen listening to John’s plan for his brother to make
a kill on his own. They talked for a few hours and John left the
way he came to head to the coast of Oregon where he knew the Batt
Team were planning making a plan for McMinnville.
Back at the Round House
that was exactly what the team was doing. An idea that Billy had
was being discussed around the floor table while they ate dinner.
By now the team was used to the pungent smell of Kimchee. At first
Wendy, Nancy and agent Jones thought the smell of fermented cabbage
revolting, but now it blended nicely with the spicy smells that
went with the traditional side dish. Tonight the air was filled
with garlic and onions cooking on a gas BBQ while tender beef
strips that had been marinated in the saga that was similar with a
Teriyaki cooked while they talked about Billy’s idea of holding a
Senior Halloween party where John just might show up thinking it
was easy pickings on Halloween night.
Mike said, “We could have
two of us at the door taking tickets and,” while he thought about
it rubbing his hair that was similar to Brads cut, “how do we know
when someone leaves with him that they aren’t leaving with a friend
or wife or whatever?”
“Darn good question,” Brad
said while rubbing Rockies belly. Sandy had the night shift with
her pups and Rocky was in heaven now that all the team was in one
place so he could relax while they ate. “We need to figure out some
kind of system for checking ID leaving. What could we come up with
that wouldn’t scare our John off?”
Agent Jones said with a
mouthful of beef, “I’m not liking this idea very much. I think we
have too many loose ends and not enough control over the
situation.”
“Do you have any other ideas
agent Jones,” Brad said trying to keep his tone of voice soft and
inviting.
Agent Jones squirmed a
little and took a sip of tea and said, “Well, it is kind of a far
out idea and I haven’t thought it all the way through, but what do
you think of this idea,” and he told them about having a special
showing of the Spruce Goose with a special person who knows the
complete and step by step of the conception of the idea to its
first flight.” He looked around the table at each of them to see
what or how his idea was being accepted.
“Agent Jones,” Mike said
excitedly, “I think you are on to something here. I like it. We
could control the incoming and outgoing. We need covert cameras
along with stills to see who is what car and when that car is
leaving if it has more than when it came in, maybe we have our
man.”
“Hey we can have the FBI
trailer set up for receiving the video along with a digital hand
held camera with a direct feed to a computer. License plates and
what else,” Billy asked while reaching for a cigarette forgetting
he was in a non-smoking house.