Fuller Part 1

[alangator]

Fuller
Part 1

Authors Notes-
Geography-
Tappin County Texas is fictional and is based roughly on some of the geographic and social/economic characteristics of Hudspeth County, Texas. With a population of around 3,500 residents Hudspeth County is similar to many of the lesser populated counties in Texas that are on or in close proximity to our shared border with Mexico. The real Hudspeth County sits directly east of El Paso County which includes the city of El Paso. Both counties sit at the far western edges of Texas and border New Mexico. They also rest directly north of the US/Mexico border. El Paso’s sister city in Mexico is Ciudad Juárez which has had a terrible problem with cartel violence and has been repeatedly dubbed “the most violent city in the world outside an active war zone”. I’ve never visited El Paso, Hudspeth County or Mexico so bear with me since I’ve taken some liberties to add to the story's plotline.

Mexican Politics and the US Border Crisis-
The US Department of Homeland Security and other US Agencies estimate that Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO) reap tens of billions of dollars every year off the smuggling of drugs and humans across our southern border. The scope of the problem in Mexico led Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón to crack down on the problem shortly after his election at the end of 2006, in an attempt to help bring the situation under control. Since that time over 35,000(estimates vary) men, woman and children have died in this brutal struggle between rival cartels and the Mexican Government. The pace of the murders is so frantic that it can often be hard to pin down the exact number of deaths that are cartel related in one form or another. Since there is no guarantee that the numbers from the Mexican Government are accurate, the numbers could be higher than generally thought.

Here’s some of what the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs had to say about the subject. I’ve picked only a few relevant paragraphs and if you’re interested you can go to www.travel.state.gov under International Travel for more information.

General Conditions
Since 2006, the Mexican government has engaged in an extensive effort to combat transnational criminal organizations (TCOs). The TCOs, meanwhile, have been engaged in a vicious struggle to control drug trafficking routes and other criminal activity. According to Government of Mexico figures, 34,612 people have been killed in narcotics-related violence in Mexico since December 2006. More than 15,000 narcotics-related homicides occurred in 2010, an increase of almost two-thirds compared to 2009. Most of those killed in narcotics-related violence since 2006 have been members of TCOs. However, innocent persons have also been killed as have Mexican law enforcement and military personnel.

The Mexican government has deployed federal police and military personnel throughout the country as part of its efforts to combat the TCOs. U.S. citizens traveling on Mexican roads and highways may encounter government checkpoints, which are often staffed by military personnel. You are advised to cooperate with personnel at government checkpoints and mobile military patrols. TCOs have erected their own unauthorized checkpoints, and killed or abducted motorists who have failed to stop at them.
Violence Along the U.S.-Mexico Border
Much of the country’s narcotics-related violence has occurred in the northern border region. For example, since 2006, three times as many people have been murdered in Ciudad Juarez, in the state of Chihuahua, across from El Paso, Texas, than in any other city in Mexico. More than half of all Americans killed in Mexico in FY 2009 whose deaths were reported to the U.S. Embassy were killed in the border cities of Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana.
The situation in the state of Chihuahua, specifically Ciudad Juarez, is of special concern. Mexican authorities report that more than 2,600 people were killed in Ciudad Juarez in 2009. Three persons associated with the Consulate General were murdered in March, 2010. U.S. citizens should defer unnecessary travel to Ciudad Juarez and to the Guadalupe Bravo area southeast of Ciudad Juarez. U.S. citizens should also defer travel to the northwest quarter of the state of Chihuahua. From the United States, these areas are often reached through the Columbus, NM and Fabens and Fort Hancock, TX ports-of-entry. In both areas, American citizens have been victims of drug related violence. There have been recent incidents of serious narcotics-related violence in the vicinity of the Copper Canyon in Chihuahua.
Source-www.travel.state.gov (Travel Warning)

Personal Viewpoint-
I empathize with the plight of all those that are adversely affected on both sides of the border by the ongoing Drug War in Mexico and other cartel violence. Many Mexicans and Central and South Americans believe that their path to a better life is through the US, accounting for the massive and uncontrollable influx of illegals that have or will seek opportunity in the US illegally regardless of penalty or hazard. I believe that the Drugs/Illegal Immigration problem has been mismanaged for years on both sides of the border and, like most problems, the longer it festers the worse it will become. Maybe now we are past the point that we should all say “enough”. Let’s curtail the drugs flowing into our country and address the millions of people that have gamed our immigration laws and safeguards by one method or another. If we, as a nation, don’t say enough, at some point it has the potential to negatively affect us even more than it already has.

And while currently the vast majority of the violence is centered over the border in Mexico, the sheer volume of money involved and the violence and corruption it has fostered in both countries staggers the mind. Unfortunately, the money involved has tempted a number of US officials to become part of the problem and accept payments for their cooperation in illegal activity. The US Department of Justice (www.justice.gov) recognizes the problem and is actively attempting to bring the corruption under control at the local, state and national levels. Part of me fears that if things went wrong, and I mean really, really wrong in the US we could see some similar types of rampant and uncontrolled violence within our borders.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the story.
alangator




Fuller
Part 1

The balmy September weather belied the thoughts rolling around in Tim Fields' head. Sitting in his family's kitchen Tim pondered the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 tragedy. His morning and early afternoon had been busy and he hadn’t had a chance to reflect on the importance of the day to his country or himself. But after an early dinner he flipped on the TV in the living room while his kids finished their homework at the kitchen table. He found numerous shows commemorating the anniversary and found one he became immersed in.

Watching the images again of that tragic day interspersed with the narrative reached into an emotional place inside of him. His eyes threatened to produce tears, so he quickly recorded the program on his DVR and went into the kitchen to see if anybody needed any help with anything. Of course the dishwasher had just quit running 20 minutes earlier and he was assigned the task of putting the dishes up while his wife Becky helped the kids finish up their homework. He tried unsuccessfully to put the thoughts and memories of that experience out of his head till the kids had gone to bed.


And while he was only partially successful in pushing those thoughts down, it was enough to keep from shedding any tears while the kids were up, therefore avoiding an uncomfortable explanation of why daddy was sad. Later his wife and he discussed the anniversary and both had shed a few tears at their memories of that fateful day that changed the way all Americans lived to some degree or another.


That night as Tim Fields climbed into bed with his wife Becky, he was still preoccupied with the 9-11 tragedy. He remembered that morning and the call that alerted him to what was happening in New York and Washington DC as if it had happened yesterday. Good information was hard to pin down that day and that added to the fear that infiltrated the minds of most, if not all, Americans as well as their friends and allies across the world. As he drifted off to sleep he hoped that the tragedies of that day wouldn’t infect his dreams in any way, shape, form or another. While he hadn’t been on the east coast at the time or lost anyone in the tragedy he had experienced a few nightmares over the years that seemed to be inspired by the events of 9-11.


The next day Tim Fields had just finished eating lunch as he looked over at the 16 inch flat screen video monitor sitting on the kitchen wall next to the phone as it started emitting a low pitched beep. Tim had seen a flicker of shadow cross the screen out of the corner of his eye and reacted faster than the high tech gadgetry had registered the event. The monitor was attached to the camera mounted beside the gate to the 30plus acre property and was equipped with a motion detector of sorts. The way it worked was that the Digital Video Recorder had software that activated when x amount of pixels were altered such as when a person or animal walked across the camera's viewing area or a vehicle pulled up to the family’s gate.

Only this time instead of a deer it was two newer looking black Chevrolet Suburbans outfitted with large brush guards and showing Texas license plates on their oversized front bumpers. As expected, the home phone rang since it was connected to the intercom that sat on a pedestal beside the entrance to the property.

As Tim watched the monitor to get additional clues about their visitor, his wife walked into the kitchen and stood beside him. “Who’s that? My mother is working today and isn’t supposed to be here till this afternoon.” Tim looked over from the monitor to his wife. “That’s a good question. Two newer Suburban’s just pulled up to the gate, maybe we should see who it is?” He reached for the phone before it had a chance to ring for a fourth time and picked it up. “Hello, can I help you with something?”

Over the other end of the phone from down at the gate a voice answered betraying a hint of a Texas accent. “I’m looking for Tim Fields; my name is Fuller R. Brown. I run a company called Brown Security Consulting in El Paso. Please feel free to look my company or myself up on the Internet. A Google search will also yield some stuff you can look at. I have a business proposition that I’d like to present to you and your wife. I’d be willing to provide a reference or two, if that helps you at all.”

Tim watched as the men at the gate sat without moving inside the trucks. He replied to the mysterious visitor to his property. “Mr. Brown, I need to check something out. Can you give me a minute?”

On the other end of the phone Tim could hear the smile on the man’s face.
“I understand, take your time.”

Tim hit the hold button of the business phone system that linked the gate and the house and turned to his wife shrugging his shoulders. “Ideas? What do you think?” He then turned back to watch the men at the gate on the monitor while he waited for his wife’s reply.

Becky, ever security conscious, looked at the monitor again and was trying to figure how many people you could hide inside the big SUVs. She turned to her husband standing beside her, “I think you should check his references. I’ll grab your pistol from the bedroom and go downstairs and bring your vest up. I’ll get my vest on and load the shotgun but I just don’t see being attacked in broad daylight. Those matching trucks look more like company or government vehicles than the ride of a home invasion crew.”

Tim smiled again, glad he had married a woman that got it. Becky had been taught that while you give people the benefit of the doubt there’s no use in acting stupid about it. In the ten years they had been together two things surprised and amazed him more than her other characteristics. The first was that his wife was aging like a supermodel. Every year as they grew older and even after giving birth to their two wonderful children she seemed to get more attractive than when they first met. In that way, being married and being a mother totally agreed with her. The second one is that in many ways she approached certain things in life like a man. Over their years together she had gained the ability to approach many problems or situations without the distraction of letting emotions dictate her reaction or viewpoint. As a rule, she was loving and supportive of her friends and family but could be shrewd and practical when the situation called for it.

Tim nodded his agreement with his wife’s plan of action and took the phone off hold. “Mr. Brown, I hope that you’re not offended but, I think if you don’t mind waiting, I’ll take you up on the search recommendation and I’d appreciate the references you offered. One in law enforcement would help.” Tim said as he turned back toward his wife and gauged her reaction to the exchange. She was nodding her head up and down slightly and gave him a thumbs up. Her face didn’t say everything was okay. It said this is strange and we need to be careful. She then turned and headed to the other side of the house to get the gear they’d need.

Over the speakerphone their mystery visitor replied. “Mr. Fields, I have no problem with that at all. The world isn’t the place it once was. If you have something to write with, we can get started.”


Tim rummaged around in the junk drawer under the gate video monitor for paper since he almost always had a pen on him. After 20 seconds he located a blank number 10 envelope that he thought should to the job. He spoke into the phone. “Sir, I’m ready when you are.”




“Of course, I’ll go slowly, and if I’m going too fast, let me know. My first name is spelled F U L L E R, middle initial is R and I spell Brown the same as the color. Sheriff Big Jim ‘Bear” Olsen in the Tappin County Texas Sheriff’s office will vouch for me.” He paused to make sure Tim was still keeping up. “Also talk to Head Judge Hiram R. Masters in Tappin County, Texas, he’s a close friend. If he’s out of his office somebody there can usually track him down for you. Also talk to Tusker, Texas Mayor Haney Todd, he’s also pastor of the Tusker Christian Church.” The references were dictated by the stranger in the cowboy hat sitting at their gate without the slightest hint of being offended or embarrassed by the process. In fact he seemed more at ease than when he had began the conversation over the intercom with Tim.


Tim walked across the kitchen and started feeding the information into his laptop. Becky returned from retrieving the equipment and handed Tim his 40 caliber Glock in an inside-the-waistband holster along with 2 loaded spare magazines and a sub-compact Glock without a spare magazine. She then swung his concealable vest off her shoulders and set it on their kitchen table. He’d need a plain white t-shirt to wear under his vest and she had remembered to bring one of those from the bedroom also. She had also brought him a denim work shirt to wear over his tee to conceal the Glock. Even with an untucked t-shirt the mid-size Glock had a tendency to print on him and if he wanted to be low-key he wore an unbuttoned shirt over everything.

Tim looked up and passed the envelope that he had written his notes on toward her.
“Can you look this stuff up while I get changed?”

Becky smiled and took the envelope from her husband, looking to be sure she’d be able to decipher Tim’s handwriting. “I think I can do that.”



She could type quicker than him and had the contact numbers written down by the time Tim had put on his outer t-shirt over the vest and put a denim work shirt over it. Tim also heard the printer whirl into action as he grabbed his cell phone from the charging cord it was attached to.

Becky started speaking to tell Tim of her progress as she walked into the pantry and grabbed the printed sheets the printer had just spit out. “OK, I got numbers for all these guys and some articles about Fuller R. Brown and his company. It looks like he runs a security company in and around El Paso that provides varied services including electronic security systems and monitoring, some investigation work and executive protection. Looks like their work is at the personal level and they aren’t listed as doing any event or site work. He grew up in a family with some cattle and maybe some oil in west Texas and entered the Marines after college at Texas Tech. He served 8 years as an enlisted soldier including two tours at the beginning of everything in Iraq. Made Master Sergeant and left the Marines Corps. I cannot find the reason why he left or what he did in the service. Few years later he starts his security company out of El Paso and is lured by the money to start finding guys to go work in the ‘War on Terror’ as security contractors. Local paper mentions charitable work and he has a training facility just east of El Paso in Tappin County. The website says that it offers a full range of training including everything from CCW courses to precision rifle and has some well-known guest instructors. One of the pictures of him on the internet shows him sitting at a desk and what looks like a pail of LTS food is barely visible in the background. Now the box could be empty but... This could be interesting.”

As she looked more carefully at the picture, she copied it and took it to the software she used to edit pictures. After playing with the pixel rate, resolution and image size for two minutes she smiled and looked up. “I enhanced the picture and it is LTS food and a company out of KC is listed on the pail. That picture might have been taken in a cave or underground storage facility. I noticed that the shadow is diffused and refracts off the back wall up top in a strange way. I messed around and I’m almost sure that the background up at the top is a cave or a mine.”

END
Part 1

[alangator]

Fuller
Part 2

Tim took the paper from his wife and dialed the first number. “Good catch; see if we can find out if the guy owns any underground space. He waited ten seconds till a dispatcher at the Tappin County Sheriff’s Office answered the phone. “Hello, maybe you can help me. I’m looking for Sheriff Popt.”


On the other end of his phone the dispatcher paused. “Big Jim is on the other line right now. If you tell me what this is concerning, I can see when he’ll be done, if you care to hold? Or I can take a message and he can get back to you?” The dispatcher paused to hear his reply to the choices she had given him.

Tim hesitated. “Sure, tell him it’s concerning Fuller R. Brown. I’d prefer to wait, if that’s possible.”

The dispatcher clicked over and the gentle sounds of new age world music drifted from the other side of the call. Tim was surprised; he was expecting one flavor of Country/Western music or another. He also realized that the music was at a reasonable level unlike many of the places he had been put on hold at. Nothing worse than being stuck on hold and have music blaring at you over the phone, especially if the music playing wasn’t to your liking.

Tim didn’t have long to wait because Sheriff Big Jim Popt was on the phone in a matter of seconds. “Sheriff Popt speaking, how can I help you?” The man on the other side of the connection had that voice Tim envisioned coming from a big man and again he thought he heard a watered down version of an accent. Tim was no expert but it might have been a Texas accent, he just wasn’t sure.

Tim made his request short and sweet. “Sheriff Popt, my name is Tim Fields and I’m calling from Kansas. Fuller R. Brown gave you as a reference and I was wondering if you’ll vouch for him?”

On the other end of the line the Sheriff from Texas snickered slightly before answering Tim’s question. “Mr. Fields, I’m up to my hindquarter in fires so I’ll just tell you that I sent my family north with Fuller and his guys. As you can imagine living this close to the border right now is not the safest thing for a lawman’s family. Them cartels have a problem with cops, lawyers, politicians, soldiers, journalists and, hell, they got a problem and are willing to kill everyone. Instead of telling you I’d trust my life to him, I’ll tell you I trust the lives of my family to him. He’s golden and one of the best men I’ve met in my life. He asked a handful of his unmarried hands to stay here and help anyway they can. I deputized them and they are protecting the citizens of Tappin County the same way I am. One of those guys told me they are getting a hazardous duty bonus out of Fuller’s own pocket for helping out.”

Tim made a few notes on the flip side of the envelope. “Sheriff, I appreciate your input. I’ll let you get back to it and good luck with those cartel bastards.”

The Sheriff hung up without a goodbye and Tim dialed the next number his wife had found. When the phone was answered at the Tappin County Courthouse, Tim asked for Head Judge Hiram R. Masters. The court clerk transferred him to the Judge’s office where a surly sounding older woman relentlessly harassed him till she was satisfied that the reason for the call was important enough to go find the Judge. Tim explained to her that he was chasing down a reference for a man that had said that the Judge would vouch for him.


Tim waited while the Judge was chased down and when an obviously slightly drunk man answered the phone he explained what he needed and proceeded to hear a glowing report of the character of Fuller R. Brown. It was given by a guy that wouldn’t pass a breathalyzer test given on the side of the highway before noon on a weekday. Tim Fields hoped the Judge wasn’t hearing any cases or rendering any decisions that impacted anybody's life today since he was obviously drunk as a skunk or off his meds.

Fuller decided that the judge was a maybe and called the Tusker, Texas City Hall attempting to reach the mayor of that city. Again he asked for the Mayor and was told if he could wait that they would try to chase him down. The receptionist mentioned that the Mayor was liaising with Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security to talk about the border crisis and address any glitches in their emergency plans. She went on to say that those federal agencies were helping allocate resources where they were needed. The Mayor had just finished listening to their presentation and the group was on a break. The receptionist then told Tim that she was about to go on break and if the Mayor didn’t pick up to wait 15 minutes and call back.



As Tim waited, he pulled a map on the internet and found Tusker, Texas. It was a very far suburb of El Paso and located right next to Tappin County. He glanced again at the big SUVs at his gate and decided that maybe he should skip talking to the mayor. Of course that was when the Mayor Haney Todd of Tusker, Texas located in El Paso County, Texas picked up the phone. “Mayor Haney Todd speaking, you the fella looking for information about Fuller?”

Tim jumped right in as he grabbed the pen rolling toward the edge of the counter. “Yes your honor, Mr. Brown gave you as a personal reference and I wanted to know if you feel comfortable vouching for him.”

Mayor Todd didn’t hesitate for a second. “Fuller is a good guy and a straight shooter. Before he left town a few days ago he assigned two of his guys to bunk at my house with my family and I to keep us safe. According to the Homeland Security’s Assessment from their ICE Investigations Office, mayors, judges, cops and politicians along the border are at a greater than normal risk for violence including kidnapping, torture and assassinations. One look at Big Tony and anybody with half a brain would find somebody else to try to kidnap, torture or assassinate. Those Feds need to get this thing cleared up quick. Big Tony is eating me out of house and home and my dog likes Big Tony better than he likes me.”

Tim smiled at the comment and replied to the report that the Mayor of Tusker Texas was another huge Fuller R. Brown fan. “Your honor, I appreciate you clearing that up for me. I wasn’t aware that towns other than Tucson and El Paso were at risk.”

Since Tim had shown some interest, Mayor Haney Todd expanded his statement further for Tim’s benefit. “Actually Texas and New Mexico communities near the border are being told to be wary of problems from the cartels that control that part of the border. We are close enough to the border that we’ve gotten a visit from Homeland Security and some other government types. They have performed risk assessments on our community’s vulnerability. They also reviewed our disaster plans and gave us a briefing based on the intelligence they have gathered on the crisis to date. Hopefully this hoopla will die down and we can get back to normal soon. The Feds are worried about a private lake surrounded by high end housing down the road. It is 220 navigable acres and fed by a few good sized creeks and a series of springs. It acts as our emergency water supply for the town’s water district and provides all our fire hydrant water. Local CBP, sorry that’s Customs and Border Protection, has promised to increase air patrols in that area since it’s on a known smuggling route and some of the coyotes stop there to top off their water supplies. Two of Fuller’s guys are laid up out there and that should hopefully do the trick to keep that water safe and accessible to the community, if we need it.”

Tim shook his head in frustration as he listened to the Mayor and was again underwhelmed by the efforts and candidness of the MSM. Again the MSM wanted the story to reflect their own liberal agenda and had left out crucial information that brought the story to life and gave much needed perspective.

The news wasn’t saying much on the crisis and the threat to the sovereignty of the United States of America. Basically they talked about some vague cartel threats or problems in El Paso and Tucson areas and glossed over or ignored what was apparently happening all across the New Mexico and Texas border areas. If the mayor was right, the economic impact to the region could be staggering and, as a tool, economic terrorism could be pretty effective. Since so many legitimate goods were shipped across the border from Mexico into the US, the crisis could hamper the ability of US businesses to keep product on their shelves causing even more problems. As a tool to control people, threats, intimidation and violence had always been effective through the ages. Not many people wanted any more trouble in their lives than they already had. Between the ongoing violence based in Mexico and the threats of violence on the US side of the border it could also hurt tourism which Mexico desperately needed. All said, the situation was difficult.

Tim thoughts drifted to a gap at the beginning of the conversation. “Mayor, I didn’t mention to your receptionist who I wanted information about. How did you know it was Fuller R. Brown?”

The Mayor replied to the question. “Fuller called and told me that he had given my name to you, of course. Didn’t mention what was going on, just that he needed to do some business with you.”

Tim had enough to feel comfortable inviting the men on up to the house despite the judge’s boozy input and wanted to talk it over quickly with his wife before making a final judgment. “Your Honor I think I’ve got everything that I need and thank you for taking the time to talk to me. My family and I wish you and your community good luck down there. Anything you want me to tell Fuller?”

Mayor Todd laughed. “You tell him he won the pool and it was $20.00. He’ll know what it means and sorry to say I’ve got another call and I need to get going.”

With that the line went dead and the mayor was presumably off to his next phone call.

Tim turned to his wife. “Well the judge was drunk as all get out, but he and the others all say they trust this man with their lives. I say we invite them up to the house. We can ask them to leave their long arms in the truck and cover the pistols. Does that sound okay with you?”

Becky smiled, trusting her husband to make good decisions. “Bring them on up, I can’t see three pillars of the community leading us astray. I’ll be in the shelter if you need me.”

Tim picked up the phone and took it off hold so that he could speak to Brown and invite him up to the house. “Mr. Brown, you can come on up. I would ask that you and your men leave any long arms in the vehicles and cover all sidearms.”

Over the other side of the phone the Texan replied to the invite. “Appreciate it, see you in a minute.”

Tim hit the button on the intercom to release the gate and allow it to slide open. He watched the monitor as the gate swung open and the big SUVs made their way up the gravel drive. After seeing the gate start to close, he walked out into the garage, hit the switch for the opener and watched as both of the large SUVs slowly made their way up their drive. They both turned around to face the road and some of the men began to exit the trucks. All the men wore their shirts outside their pants and Tim didn’t see any weapons. They all wore the same plain button-up shirts and a variety of similar colored khakis and wore one form of hiking type shoe or boot or another.

He then turned to the refrigerator in the garage and began pulling bottled water and a two liter bottle of generic root beer out for his guests. He placed the cold drinks into one of those cloth bags that they sell at the grocery store so that you don’t need to use their plastic or paper bags to store the supplies, then quickly added a sleeve of disposable plastic cups to the bag from atop the frig.

As he stepped out the garage door, the man he assumed was Fuller R. Brown was exiting the truck from the front in the passenger seat of the lead SUV parked nearest the garage door. He was a little slower getting out than the other men had been and was shoving a cell phone into his pants pocket. He walked over to Tim and stuck out his hand. “Fuller R. Brown, it’s nice to meet you. Sorry about not calling first, but I place a strong emphasize on security and the NSA has increased the monitoring of cells out of Texas, New Mexico and the border regions of Mexico. I was hoping that we could have a chat just between us without the NSA tagging the call and passing it along to whichever nosy ass agency handles this type of thing.”

Both men released their grips and Tim replied. “Tim Fields, I’d be pleased if you called me Tim. It’s nice to meet you after hearing such good things about you. I was told by Mayor Todd that you won the pool and the pot was $20.00. He said you know what he was talking about. It sounds like a crazy time down your way.”
Fuller nodded, taking an inventory of the man standing in front of him and replied to the query. “That about sums it up alright. The government should have dealt with that problem a long time ago and now it’s going to be very tough to root it out. If D.C. sat on the border with Mexico maybe they would have understood the impact illegal immigration and drug smuggling was having on both countries. But, as always, for the people in DC to react, something has to hit them between the eyes and now it’s a mess. The thought of these criminals threatening the US makes me nauseous. But enough about that right now. I wanted to talk to you partially because of the crisis and how we might help each other.”
“We can step inside and you can tell me what’s on your mind. Your men can come in, but I do ask that they take their shoes off. Or, I brought some water and a 2 liter of root beer outside with me.”

Fuller R. Brown accepted the offered bag by the straps and held it in his left hand. He then smiled at the offered and accepted hospitality. “Mr. Fields, we appreciate the offer, but these are men used to being close to the rifles and being inside puts them too far away from them. We all know that the chance of something happening here is very, and I mean very, remote but we stick to good habits in times of crisis regardless of where we are. We’ve made some enemies within the cartels so we keep a watch as if we’re over in the sandbox doing our nation’s bidding. I’d say they will be fine in the yard if that’s okay with you and your wife. I’m sure they’d love to get a hold of that root beer; we mostly drink water or sport drinks when we travel. I’d guess that root beer will be very well received and we thank you in advance for the hospitality.” Fuller turned and stepped over to one of the men watching the road out front and handed the bag to him and spoke to him in a low voice. He stepped back to Tim. “Lead the way.”

End
Part 2

[BigRuss]

nice start! Of course now I'm curious who Tim is and why a security contractor is interested in talking to him.

Looking forward to reading more of this
Russ

[ejagno]

Okay, so you baited us, got us hooked and now what? LOL Please keep writing. This is going to be a great read. Thank you!

[sssarawolf]

Good start, and hey wheres the next chapter?

[Deena in GA]

I'm ready for the next chapter or two whenever you get them written. Very nice start!

[Doc Savage]

Nice story. We own property down that way in Brewster County. Hope to setup a retirement house there at some point. Beautiful area.

[goinpostal]

Thank's!
Matt

[223shootersc]

thanks for the new chapter, been missing this one

[goinpostal]

Pretty good story going!
"MORE"Please!!
Matt

[sssarawolf]

Thank you for another chapter .

[223shootersc]

been missing this one, thanks for the new chapter

[Barb]

Thank you.

[Phantom]

What they Said and more ....

[alangator]

Fuller
Part 11

The Bell 430 helicopter that was working with Grimm and his team flared at just the correct time and performed a picture perfect landing 100 feet from the men on the road waiting for it to make contact with terra firma. The men had remotely activated the sprinkler system a few minutes earlier so the dust and dirt wasn’t too bad for a desert landing without a pad. All the men had suffered much worse at landing sites during their time in the military and as Private Military Contractors overseas.

The pilot didn’t power the engine down since the prisoner would be quickly loaded and then the pilot would take off having been on the ground for less than two or three minute. The prisoner’s future was not Grimm’s concern any longer and he was satisfied with the progress they had made while the man was in their care. The only thing Grimm and the team wanted to know about was any information that would help them complete this part of their mission. Most everything else including their prisoner’s ultimate fate was mentally catalogued to be dealt with later when they had the time or preferably not at all.

Grimm and one of his men walked their prisoner toward the helicopter and climbed up into the machine. Guzman wasn’t wearing handcuffs and tethered to them by just his ankle bracelet. He had the walk and attitude of a man whose fortune had recently changed for the better. Grimm let his man climb in first and then Guzman wiggled his way onto the machine through the vibrating doorway. Grimm climbed aboard and moved as if he was going to sit next to Guzman but instead twisted his body and placed an auto injector at Guzman’s neck and depressed the trigger.

Guzman turned his head and stared daggers at Grimm. Grimm saw his mouth move but didn’t hear what he was saying. The noise inside the helicopter was almost deafening but Grimm could read his lips. “What the hell.” was drowned out by the overpowering noise generated by the helicopter and its huge engines in the brief seconds it took for the drugs to take effect and for Guzman to slump down in his seat.

Grimm and his man zip tied and belted Guzman into the seat and double checked for the third time that he was out and that there was no danger of him being able to get out of the seat. Grimm checked Guzman’s pulse and reached into a first aid box and removed a brand new blood pressure cuff. He quickly and expertly rolled the man’s shirt sleeve up and wrapped the blood pressure cuff around his upper arm and checked his B.P. Satisfied with the numbers he was seeing and their handiwork in securing him both men hopped down and cleared the area around the helicopter. When they got outside the designated safety zone Grimm turned to the pilot and gave him the thumbs up.

The pilot returned the thumbs up and immediately applied the power to take back off and move Guzman to his next destination. And while the sprinkler had prevented the landing area from becoming a sandstorm it still stirred up enough dust, dirt and debris that both the men on the ground were glad they were wearing Mil-Spec goggles to protect their eyes.

Satisfied that the helicopter was safely on its way both man walked briskly to their Suburban and rapidly left the area to return to their base at the garage and get back to work. Guzman had been very helpful which meant they had a ton of information to sort through to see if Guzman had been forthright with them or if he had fed them disinformation. If Grimm had to guess he’d put money on the fact that the information they had received was valid up to the time Guzman was caught. Even stale information would help the team get closer to their objective.

---------

It was still a few hours till the end of the day but since Fuller was underground in his office/warehouse complex a watch was the only way to determine what part of the day it was. Sometimes the men and woman working underground in the complex would get hungry and look at their phones or a watch and realize more time had passed than they realized. That lack of noticing the time from minute to minute seemed for many to help the day go quicker and many found that they were far happier with their job than they had been working jobs up top. They also had a tendency to talk less about the weather since the weather was something that happened away from their work areas. Many an employee left work to find that it had been raining cats and dogs or snowing and they didn’t even know it.

Fuller R. Brown clicked his flashlight on as he entered the storage room. This area of his underground complex hadn’t been completed yet and didn’t have much light coming from the few temporary bulbs strung across the ceiling. In fact the few bulbs there were cast an eerie light that was a tad disorienting and Fuller never liked to enter the area without two tactical lights. If the power failed he wanted to make sure he could get back to the complexes main road without any problems. Fuller lived by the saying that two is one and one is none. With that in mind he and all his men carried two lights on them at all times and two lights in their vehicles wither they be trucks or the golf carts they often used.

This storage room was 30 feet long and 20 feet wide with 12 foot ceilings and it was where Fuller stored an assortment of items that he didn’t want anyone to see or think about stealing. Fuller had just spent the last 30 minutes putting air in a tire of a small forklift and installing a battery in the forklift that blocked the door. A series of simple inexpensive tricks gave the storage room another layer of physical security that would slow thieves down till someone figured out that someone was somewhere they weren’t supposed to be. A small hidden camera monitored the entrance to the room 24/7 and that video feed went to his personal DVR well as the monitoring station he owned. If something happened in the storage area that DVR would notify him within seconds. As an additional precaution the small but heavy forklift had a kill switch that rendered the machine inoperable unless it was activated.
Between having spent time in the military and owning numerous small businesses’ Fuller understood that it was a bad idea to allow anyone to steal from him. No matter what else happened he always took the time to make it hard if not impossible to steal from him and it was a point of pride that it had been 4 months since anyone had taken anything that he owned.

Everything Fuller did to prevent waste and theft was tempered by the reality that some people felt that it was their right to steal money or equipment from others and Fuller always made it as unlikely to happen as he could. The other personality trait that drove him crazy was people that wasted supplies or didn’t take care of stuff. Many an employee had been broken of that habit or had been shown the door for that reason. The forklift he had just moved also had a flash/bang placed so that someone accessing the battery area to get it running was likely to get a surprise in the form of a brilliant display of light and sound. He also found that having ex-military bad-asses that he trusted working for him acted as a very good theft deterrent. Not many people looked at his men and thought it was a good idea to piss them off and everyone understood how loyal those men were to Fuller and his company. A heavy equipment operator had been foolish enough to throw a punch at Fuller over a paycheck dispute and one of Fuller’s men had smacked the guy and broken his jaw. The resulting lawsuit was still making its way through the legal system and Fuller was worried that the insurance company was going to settle the lawsuit

The tactical flashlight lit even the largish room up like it was daytime and Fuller moved over to the shelving on the far wall. A single clipboard hung on a screw sticking out from the shelf. Fuller pulled the clipboard down and began to scan down the list to see where his supplies were at. After entering some notes into his cell phone he returned the clipboard to its screw and walked the room looking for signs of bugs, mice or rats. As usual the room was bug and rodent free so he reversed the process to close it back up.

As he sat in his gold cart driving back to his office Fuller smiled thinking that he hadn’t performed a decent equipment inventory in almost 6 months and he was in better shape than he had realized. Fuller lived by the philosophy that when you eyes are open you see what you need to see. For Fuller that meant that recently when he wasn’t looking for it supplies and equipment they he wanted or needed had been available at a good price. Being a man that valued a dollar he quickly snatched up any bargains he found on things that fit that bill and moved those items into one of his storage rooms to be dealt with later.

Fuller was a small businessman with quite a few irons in the fire. That meant that many of his prep supplies could be written off as normal business expenses or sometimes depreciated and then many much of the equipment and supplies would be tracked for accounting purposes as used, destroyed, stolen or broken. Occasionally it disappeared and miraculously re-appeared in a room like this one without anyone knowing or caring. The prepper lifestyle could be a very expensive interest.

When he pulled back into the space reserved for his golf cart he immediately called over to the maintenance tunnel to get his mechanic Eddie Robinson’s opinion on some things. Fuller had hired Robinson to work overseas. Like so many of the PMCs Robinson had done 1 deployment in Iraq and 1 deployment in Afghanistan and then transitioned to civilian life only to find he missed the action. So after serving his Country and prior to working for Fuller Edgar “Eddie” Robinson had taken his motor pool experience and used it to get into a Toyota/Lexus certified mechanic program in Texas. Then Eddie spent over a year as a certified Toyota/Lexus mechanic at a Dallas/Fort Worth dealership where he was bored to tears and jumped at the chance to go overseas make good money and inject some excitement back into his life. When Fuller quit the soldiers for money game Robinson went back to dealership work and jumped at the chance to come work for Fuller on the mine project. Eddie Robinson had extensive experience working on military vehicles and the Toyota/Lexus line of vehicles but didn’t know anything about servicing and repairing construction equipment so he was tasked under an experienced diesel mechanic as an apprentice.

Robinson watched and learned and was now a fair diesel and heavy machinery mechanic for someone that hadn’t gone to school for it yet. He found after hearing what Fuller was doing and why that he was more interested in the heavy stuff than working on someone’s everyday ride. He invested his time working at night and on weekend to complete an on-line program that would help him get into a diesel or heavy equipment program.

Fuller gave Eddie Robinson a list of repairs and other work he wanted done for the equipment he wanted in the shelter and it was up to Robinson make it happen. The man that had originally taken Eddie under his wing and had been his mentor was hurt in a motorcycle accident and was still only able to work part-time 3 months after the incident. Eddie promised Fuller a plan on how he’d get all the work done in addition to his other responsibilities and the call ended. One thing Fuller did exceedingly well was convey what his expectations were.

Fuller then rode over in his golf cart to the long term storage food plant that was down the road and checked to see how they were doing for inventory. He planned to ship a truckload of food to the Field site within a few weeks and part of the plan was to delay outgoing shipment to his regular sales outlets. That meant that if he needed product that it would be on-site and he could take it. It also meant that he would need to explain to his supervisor why he wanted the shipments dates quoted to be 1 week longer than it really was. By the time production ramped up in the next few days the company could crank out his personal order and be back on schedule.

The production manager was confused but had been unemployed long enough that what Fuller wanted Fuller got. Fuller’s job had saved the supervisor’s house by putting him to work and the supervisor was thankful for the faith Fuller had put it him. The employee discount on bulk food had also come in handy so the man readily agreed to what Fuller suggested.

Fuller traveled back to his office and turned his phone off. The dispatch center at the monitoring center had his private number to contact him if there was an emergency or something he needed to deal with personally. As he sometimes did he turned the light down and stretched out on his couch and drifted off to sleep. Funny thing how refreshing a catnap could be. He wouldn’t remember the dream when he woke up but he dreamed of an idyllic border protected by a fence that spanned the border’s length. The fence in his dream kept the American people safe from the influx of drugs and violence that made their way from Mexico, kept terrorist outside the borders of the US, forced those people that wanted to immigrate to obey the process set-up for that reason and respected the rights of landowners along the Border.

[alangator]

Fuller
Part 12

Tim hadn’t seen or talked to Mongo since yesterday when he was setting up the travel trailer in the cave. Around noon Mongo had dropped by and introduced Tim to his co-worker, a man named Quinn. Quinn was part of the team that would help get the underground space up to the standards that Fuller had promised. Tim thought Quinn wasn’t likely an ex-military or PMC type at all. He was short, maybe 5 feet 6 inch and at least 50 pounds over his ideal weight. Even the few minutes that Tim had spent with him gave him the impression that he wasn’t very organized and his personal appearance wasn’t one that Tim associated with somebody that had been in the military. His shoulders had flakes of dandruff on them. He was shaved but had missed some spots like he had done it without the use of a mirror. His work boots looked like he had rescued them from a dumpster and had been patched with duct tape. But the thing that Tim noticed the most is that in the few minutes he had met him Quinn was looking for a pen he had misplaced and never looked him in the eye. It was a minor social gaffe that even small children are taught to do by their parents. After Tim had been introduced to Quinn he seemed to want to get someplace else and very quickly. Their introduction took less than 30 seconds before Quinn almost ran to the backhoe and started it up and checked the oil and lubed the piece of machinery with a hand held grease gun.

Mongo and Quinn had moved the equipment to the cave last night and both men hadn’t been seen since. Tim did hear the echo of their work truck as it left the cave going someplace to do something but other than that with the equipment all in the cave it was almost like they weren’t even there. Tim put the thoughts of the cave out of his mind and again focused on the work he was doing. Becky was at work and the kids where gone so he had the house to himself.

Yesterday Fuller had e-mailed over a work schedule and according to it the men were again transferring equipment from Fuller’s cave complex to Tim’s property. The schedule indicated that in the afternoon the men were going to begin to prep for some light demolition to increase the size of the vertical airshaft that would eventually have a steel ladder going up to the surface. To keep the user’s of the ladder as safe of possible the ladder would be surrounded by a steel safety cage which was becoming standard for this type of application. The airshaft ladder would provide an emergency exit as well as access to a small vertical tunnel that would allow them to get in and out of an observation/listening post located almost directly above the cave’s entrance.

The observation/listening post was to be a safe place to observe trespassers and defend the property against aggressive or dangerous intruders. Directly above the cave entrance a rough 6 by 12 foot area would be dug out till they hit solid rock. Then a concrete foundation would be poured to that height plus another few feet. Then the whole thing would be covered over with dirt and they would form and pour the pieces that would fit over the post and store them in a pile if they ever needed them. While Fuller would have preferred to have a full height post the limitations of keeping it undetectable were his main concern. He was also going to pour a full height post 50 feet away and the two observation positions would be linked with 36 inch metal culvert treated with waterproofing material and equipped with a trolley to move personnel and materials from one to the other.

The plan was that the shaft would be the main entrance and exit for the personnel that were on sentry duty if they needed it. The vertical shaft was wide enough to move injured people in baskets down to the main cave using a pulley installed at the top of the shaft.

Tim’s concentration was broken by the ring of his cell phone. He looked at the caller ID and saw it was Fuller. He set his pen down and answered the phone. “Fuller, how are you doing today?”

Over the other end of the line Fuller replied. As he sometimes did when he was excited his accent was a tad more pronounced. “Tim I just saw Mongo and he told me that the cameras picked up a good sized buck across the road on your neighbors property near the cave. I remember you told me that you don’t hunt and I was hoping you would give me a shot at that animal next Monday when archery season starts.”

Tim thought for a moment and then remembered that he had told a friend that he could hunt his acreage again this season. “Fuller I have a friend that hunts the property but I think I can ask Cole if he can hunt his property instead. I just tell my buddy that the deer are thin this year and that I asked Cole if he could hunt there so he was sure to get something. He wants the meat and could care less about rack and body size.”

Fuller listened and then replied. “Excellent I cannot wait to drop that animal. Mongo’s call gave me an idea and I made some calls. I don’t know if you know this but in your county you can erect permanent hunting blinds made out of any material without the need to pull a permit and the site doesn’t need to be inspected except for safety compliance. The woman at the county courthouse told me for projects that small they rarely have the bodies to sent someone out. That means we can pour the op/lp’s in the open and call them permanent hunting blinds and as far as the county is concerned that’s what they are. There are size restrictions and we need to keep them down to no bigger than 150 square feet and a width no greater than 9 feet. The bonus is that hunting blinds need gun ports so that solves another problem of trying to disguise it true purpose.”

Tim smiled at Fuller’s inventiveness. “Fuller that sounds perfect and I have no problem with you hunting here this season. Let me ask you this. Do you think we are going to need to move any of the op/lps?”

Fuller smiled even if Tim couldn’t see it. “I have a copy of the map here and it looks like we will need to move one bunker 50 feet or so and shift it a few degrees. While I was on the phone with Marge from the county I also checked and the road by the cave is actually not county maintained and belongs to your neighbor across the way. That’s why it doesn’t show up on the GPS and is such bad shape, and that means that we can also put a bunker right next to the cliff face and it’s legal as a hunting stand. If you go through the paperwork from your title company I think you’ll find that you have legal access to that road. Of course we need to change our plans around and get the door done before we let a county safety inspector on the property. I talked to Mongo and he and Quinn have changed the priorities from air, waste, water, door, bunkers and interior modifications. The new list reads door, bunkers, air, waste, water and interior modifications. I’m modifying the work plan as we speak and by building the door we can let an inspector onto the property without fear of him realizing that the mine has been re-opened.”

Tim paused as he was considering what he had just been told by Fuller. “What does that mean to our schedule? Is it going to cost us much time?”

Fuller replied to Tim’s valid question. “Well things down south have entered a slight lull and no new violence has been reported in the last 24 hours. Still no chatter about any major attack on US soil by terrorist yet. So we’re not in bad shape but just to be sure I’m assigning another guy to the site that should be free and out there by tomorrow. He’s the best welder I have and will help knock the door project out. In fact he saw my plans and made some changes I think are very good. His design is a very heavy base that can be added on to like building with an erector set. The main door frame is heavier but after he builds the frame and sets it we can face it and move to the next phase of the plan. That means instead of building the whole door we can erect the frame and face it and then move on. The materials for the door will be stocked in the cave and after they have made good headway on the other projects he can go back and finish up the door which makes our planning more flexible. His idea is that the frame will support 25 percent more ballistic protection than what I had original designed and yet go together in pieces instead of one piece. So if a piece is damaged they can replace it with one of the spares he pre-cut and pre-fit. He also thinks we should think about placing another door on the inside of the opening. It would cover the primary door and give us almost twice the ballistic and blast protection.”

Tim let that sink in. “So you’re saying we have two doors against each other that swing to opposite sides of the inside of the opening? Could we design one door to have firing ports and let in light and air and the other door that buttoned the place up? ”

Fuller answered immediately. “That’s what I’m looking at right now. In a non-NBC environment having the extra shooters is a huge benefit and obviously the added light and air is the bonus. If the dimensions worked out you could button up till it was safe and then open the outer door and move it out of the way and use the other door to gain the additional benefits of extra shooters and the light and air. The main door could still be almost closed behind the secondary door. I have an engineer looking at the rough dimensions right now and should know something tomorrow. The other option is to off-set the door more so that they can be independently of each other. Two doors cost quite a bit more money but the added benefit outweighs the cost and this system is much more flexible. I’ve integrated the idea into the defensive plans and it’s a winner. The second door would be at the bottom of the priority list but it is a very solid idea. Do you have any objections to changing the plans around to do it this way instead of the way we talked about?”

Tim answered almost immediately now that he saw the wisdom in the idea. “Not at all. I’d much rather build the op/lps in the open it is one of the places we were vulnerable to detection and now we’re going to built them with the full blessing of the powers that be. And, I like the double door idea with a scalable level of protection. That idea makes really good sense to me. I’d rather not alter the priority list but I get that we are short on time and need to get the bunkers done before the weather changes. I do have a question about Quinn. He seems unlike the other people that I’ve seen that work for you and I’m wondering why that is?”

Fuller chuckled. “Quinn is my powder monkey and he is very good. In fact he might be one of the top 25 best powder monkeys in the country. About 15 years ago he was working for a strip mining operation in Kentucky. A husband and wife team was making a documentary about the evils of strip mining that they thought would turn the world on its head and snuck onto the property to record a mountain being reduced to piles of overburden to get at the coal inside it. The husband was seriously injured while filming. During the shoot he turned from the blast area and a rock hit his camera and the camera hit him in the head and he suffered a traumatic brain injury. The mining operation blamed Quinn and settled out of court and the State of Kentucky banned Quinn from working there ever again. So he packed up his family and knocked around the country and has worked everyplace from the salt mines in Kansas to a gravel mine in Maine. The story on him was that he’s talented worker with a sorted past. I snatched him up last year and he’s been with me since then. I was told that he feels responsibly for the accident and hasn’t been the same since. He had a reputation as a safe explosives man but the taint of what happened has followed him around like a tail on a dog. By all accounts the accident was something he couldn’t have prevented. He did extensive safety training with the mine’s crew on-site and they all did area checks to make sure that the area was clear. I can tell you he is an artist with explosives and his safety record at my site is perfect. His wife told me the pain from that experience has caused a kind of social anxiety and he is funny that way. Just know that he is a top notch demo guy and give him some space.”

Tim understood that sometimes things happen to people that aren’t their fault and those experiences can follow them around for the rest of their lives. He’d make a point of remembering that the next time he saw Quinn. “I’ll try to remember that about Quinn. And thanks for the heads up about the change in plans. I’ll call Cole Smith and see about getting my buddy moved over there to hunt and let you know. We don’t want him on the property with everything going on anyway.”

Fuller thanked Tim and ended the call promising to send a copy of the revised work schedule. Tim hung up the phone and immediately called Cole Smith and explained the problem with his buddy and asked if the guy could hunt his property instead of the Field’s property. Cole readily agreed saying that another hunter on the property shouldn’t cause any problem. His neighbors had very little hunting activity on their land and the deer numbers were greater than optimal. Tim also told Cole about the revised work schedule and after hearing the good news about the OP/LPs and promised that Tim’s friend would have no problem getting a decent buck to fill his tag.

A few hours later Becky and the kids came home and Tim told her what was happening while the kids were watching TV. She was happy to hear that the bunkers that were going to be used as observation and listening posts could be built without trying to hide the work. She felt that the more you tried or had to hide the more likely it was that someone would take notice. In her mind they were already hiding enough from prying eyes.


Grimm hated being in these places. One of the things he noticed about these drug cartel types other than their propensity for violence and the way they devalued human life was that many of them seemed to spend a lot of time and money visiting prostitutes. This brothel was called the White Rose and was located just outside Juarez. As brothels went it seemed classy if you didn’t mind spelling classy with a K. Outside it looked like a sprawling ranch house with 10 or 15 thousand square feet of space. But inside you were instantly transported back to a New Orleans brothel circa 1900. The red flocked wallpaper and leather settee’s gave the impression of another place and another time. Grimm hated the place but noticed that all the workers seemed well fed and didn’t look like they were sick or drug addicts as was common in the US. If he had to guess he’s put money on the fact that these women were trying to cross the border into the US and were threatened or coerced into become prostitutes by someone in the network of coyotes that worked this area.

As was customary the madam of the house who was all of 30 laid out the ground rules and told Grimm and his man that any rough stuff would be paid for with cash or blood. One look at the two oversized ex-luchadore looking bouncers would convince most patrons to take it easy for fear of having a very bad experience at the hands of the two bruisers.

Out in the parking lot before they had made their way inside Grimm had managed to get clear pictures of the two bouncers without their knowing it. Sparks had run their picture through a facial recognition program and Grimm and his man knew both men’s stories. Their records in the US were mostly bar fights and drunk and disorderly charges that they beat in court, plead out or paid fines for before being returned to Mexico and told not to come back. However in Mexico they were suspected of murder in 3 unrelated cases. Grimm’s experience had been that if a criminal is suspected in Mexico of being bad it most likely means he is really bad.

The brothel catered to middle to lower upper class clients and came complete with a menu. Grimm could pass for Hispanic without much problem but his partner was clearly Caucasian so they were casually dressed businessman from El Paso there to have a good time and celebrate a deal. They sat in the bar and smoked decent yet overpriced cigars and pretended to drink top shelf bourbon while regaling each other about this story or that. But there main goal was to find a guy that Guzman had mentioned that ran this place and was in the know. They had a name and nothing else and according to Guzman he ran the joint for the cartels. While not their most profitable enterprise they had access to scores of easily frightened woman trying to carve out a better life. No cartel employee ever stepped thru the door to be entertained here, this place was strictly for the tourists and the Cartel didn’t want the Gringos scared away by their men and woman.

A man entered the area from the back hallway that led to the restrooms. He quickly fished money from the till at the bar and headed back toward the hallway. As he turned to leave one of the bouncers called out to him in Spanish and received no reply to his question about lunch. The name was the one they had been given so Grimm stood and followed the man into the hallway. Grimm’s partner watched the two suspected killers while they watched a telenovela on a small TV in an office that faced out into the bar area. The office had a large one way glass mirror so the men could watch TV and keep an eye on what was happening in the bar.

Since the man looked like he was in charge of the operation and was addressed by the bouncer by the correct name Grimm was hoping that security was so bad that the man would enter his office and he could simply follow him in and ask him a few questions before deciding if they would snatch him.

Grimm followed the man down the hall and got his wish when the man opened an unlocked door at the end of the hallway. But before the man had a chance to close the door Grimm pushed his way in and turned him around and gave him a shot to the solar plexus. The man doubled over and tried to catch his breath while Grimm swung his weapon over and shot the fat idiot at the table eating fish tacos in the head. The suppressed 22 semi-automatic pistol barely made any noise other than the cycling of the weapon.

Grimm hammed up his best I’m from Texas accent. “Mex, I’m here to rob you so you better have some money lying around or I’m going to kill you slow. While the accent was unlikely to fool an American Grimm was hoping that the fake accent just might fool the man that trafficked in human misery and that man would led him to the infamous Rojo.

[nancy98]

Good to see you back with this story Alan. Thanks

[223shootersc]

good chapter, been missing your work

[alangator]

Fuller
Part 18


STAG-
Grimm watched Close leave the coffee shop after having received a file detailing the target and the mission she was to carry out. Now all that information was inside her tablet sitting behind multiple layers of NSA encryption. Now she could review the specifics of the job at her leisure. With her gone Grimm headed back to the idled manufacturing plant his team was using as a base of operations in Juarez. The derelict building had sat empty for a year which in the factory town of Juarez wasn¡¯t very common. It was a textile manufacturing facility and small by Juarez standards with maybe 25 employees at peak production preparing for the Holidays. Prior to last year when the owner had been killed by Cartel protection enforcers it had been in continuous operation for 15 years turning out private label intimate apparel for plus sized woman. The plant sat outside the city alone without any neighbors and provided a great place for their covert needs. One young soldier with perfect Spanish and a Juarez accent had been brought in to act as a go-between the factory and the local Police looking for bribes. He was teamed with a member of the group that Grimm was part of to provide a tactical option if it was called for. The men lived at the factory 24/7 and never left the building for any reason.

Grimm drove into the building just as the overhead door had moved enough to accommodate the non-descript work truck he was driving. As soon as the truck cleared the door he hit the button to stop to upward progress of the door and then hit the button again to lower the door. He quickly parked the truck and swung out of it and headed inside. Grimm walked through the entry door and gave the password to a semi-dark and seemingly empty room. A man drifted from the shadows and walked toward him carrying a well worn looking AK-47. While the firearm appeared to be past its prime the internal components were less than a month old and had been installed and tested for reliability by a highly competent Military armorer. ¡°Grimm, bad news the cops want to meet with someone in charge to work out an increase in the fees we¡¯re paying. I told them that I¡¯d have someone call them today. I told them we aren¡¯t doing anything other than watching the building for the owner but they didn¡¯t believe us and implied they needed more money.¡±

Grimm growled out his reply. ¡°Down here the cops and the criminals are the basically the same. Can¡¯t trust any of them. Give me the number and I¡¯ll call the guy.¡±

The Marine handed the number to Grimm and returned to the room where they had set up the cameras that continuously monitored the entrances to their base of operations as well as the road that led to their location.

Grimm angrily dialed the number and was told by a surly cop that the protection fees had increased and that as of next week they would expect the additional payment in their weekly envelope. Grimm agreed and told the corrupt cop that he¡¯d make the arrangements and that the money would be in the bag. One thing that being in the military had caused him a great deal of aggravation was that it seemed like in his world everyone had their hand out wanting more and more money. He had read a book about one of the Mexican Cartel bosses and thought that he might enjoy certain aspects of the way he did business. When he wanted something he was known for giving people the choice between sliver or lead. The smart ones he paid off, the not so smart ones were given the lead they had been promised. Grimm decided while he was on the phone that the surly cop would have a very unpleasant meeting with Grimm as soon as their overall mission was completed. While the cop was one of thousands corrupting the system in Mexico he was the one that had been foolish enough to annoy Grimm on the day that he was working out his unresolved feeling about Amanda Close. Now that he had determined that the corrupt cop was going experience some pain he felt slightly better knowing that in his own small way he was making a difference. Grimm was very cognizant of his fighting and self defense skills and very seldom allowed himself to act in any manner that would force him to hurt someone but this was slightly different. If the Cartels and the corrupt cops feared the citizenry this problem might resolve itself. Or maybe not, who knows?

With his weekly bribes negotiated Grimm turned to the work at hand. He started by re-checking the address and delivery information that ¡®Closer¡¯ had given him again. He then resumed his work on the plan to snatch the next person on their list based on the latest intelligence from the interrogation facility off Belize. While the Sergeant whose code name was ¡°Deuce¡± was important at this particular time the teams and Grimm in particular were always updating their files and operation plans to reflect the very latest information that they had gathered. The information gathered and analyzed originated from their efforts, properly motivated detainees as well as other collection methods that utilized both electronic and human based resources. He then switched gears back to the task at hand and since he was a proficient at multi tasking he invested 2 continuous hours of going thru the information they had based on what could be called loose surveillance of the girlfriend of the man referred to as the ¡°Sergeant¡± or Deuce. The Sergeant¡¯s girlfriend/model had some potential to be used to betray her boyfriend and feed them his location as well as location layouts and such. As he reviewed the video and surveillance photos a modification to the plan began to formulate itself in his head. He was curious to see what Close had to think when she arrived from wherever she was. But until she arrived he was stuck so he turned his attention to another smaller project on his plate. Amanda was out roaming the streets of Juarez getting a sense of the city and its inhabitants. She really immersed herself in her job, it was one of the reasons she was so dam good at what she did.

After the 2 hours he pushed the work away and turned his attention back to making sure the .50 caliber BMG rifle and ammunition that was part of Close¡¯s payment had been arranged to make their way to their final destination. The accurate and highly destructive .50 caliber sniper rifles were a specialty item and wouldn¡¯t be available for a few days so he called support and confirmed that the .50 caliber match ammo had been ordered and see when they expected it to be delivered to the cut out address that ¡®Closer¡¯ had given him. Needless to say she had given a place to send the equipment that was not her real address. He had sent her items before and they often were delivered to Utah or northern Nevada. He didn¡¯t think she would want to lug a package this large across the Country so if he was a betting man he¡¯d guess that she was based out of (bug-out-location) or had a cache somewhere in Central or Northern Idaho.

Close¡¯s ex-husband had retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff¡¯s Department (LASD) and Grimm knew that a lot of officers from the LAPD and the Los Angele¡¯s Sheriff¡¯s Office had grown tired of the chaos, Political Correctness and high taxes in California and had relocated to Idaho. The trend had extended to ex-firefighters from Southern California¡¯s that had done their time and retired or been granted disability. From what Grimm had heard many areas in Northern Idaho now had more than their fair share of ex-first responders looking for second careers or enjoying the abundance of activities the State offered. The area was well known to be a Sportsman¡¯s Paradise (non PC terminology) complete with mountains and plenty of lakes and streams. So it had a reputation for good hunting & fishing, good skiing regardless of style and awesome snowboarding. Between that and a cornucopia of other sporting opportunities it attracted outdoor enthusiasts from around the Country.

For a while Idaho had been wrongly characterized in the Media as a haven for hard core survivalists, militias and radical racist organizations including a Church or two that espoused racism as part of their core beliefs. In the last 10 or 15 years the State had welcomed many ex-Law Enforcement members and ex-Firefighters to their fair State and many of the racists had been effectively marginalized, displaced by Law Enforcement activities and criticized by an outraged press and a fearful public.

But where ¡°Closer¡± hung her personal Kevlar Body Armor and collection of firearms wasn¡¯t his concern. He needed her help so to make sure that the deal that he agreed to stuck he re-checked to insure that the weapons/ammo and other gear she had requested was available and ready for her teams use.


For Grimm being face to face with her seemed almost surreal. They had been very close before the faulty analysis that led to an ill-advised raid on the suspected home of a high value target (HVT) in Iraq. That bad intelligence had led Grimm and his team into a seemingly quiet neighborhood that was on the edge of Sadr City in Baghdad. The Branches of the US Military took pride in their night fighting capabilities so when they drove up to the possible HVT¡¯s house it was almost pitch dark. They arrived in the huge 8 wheeled Striker vehicles and quickly retrieved their target from his home without incident. They had even taken the time to defer to local custom and had brought along female soldiers to watch over the woman and children to insure their safety.

The impressive Striker vehicles tipped the scales at almost 40,000 pounds and driving the oversized Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) was a skill that would determine the final outcome of the ill-fated mission. The raid went perfect but by the time they had piled back into the protective vehicles an innocent man was in flex cuffs and sobbing in the back of their Striker. Another Striker on the mission took a corner too wide a block from the raid¡¯s location and rolled off into a drainage canal. The Striker vehicle sat almost on its side and was impossibly stuck so the crewmembers piled out and made their way to the other two vehicles. Everyone escaped the water without drowning despite the weight of the gear they were wearing. However while the other team was exiting the water a group of locals aligned with Radical cleric Muqtad¨¡ al-Ṣadr engaged them and sent some fire their way. That¡¯s when the mission got dicey.

While losing men was part and parcel of War it was the fact that bad driving caused the injuries(2) and KIA¡¯s(2) that pained Grimm the most. He had a well deserved reputation for strenuously supporting and protecting the men and woman that worked with or for him and losing people just conflicted with his self-image of a warrior. Leaders lost men but to be truthful anyone that had ever worked with Grimm felt that he was above the inconvenience of that basic tenet of leadership during wartime.

In his mind Grimm¡¯s intimate relationship with Amanda Close ended that morning as Grimm received updates on his wounded Brothers and paid tribute to the men he had lost for lack of an effective and well trained driver. One of the men wounded in that raid outside Sadr City recovered within a few months as was returned to active duty. The other was sent to Germany and eventually ended up getting discharged from the Service for Medical reasons.

Now each and every time he thought of the time they had spent together he remembered that he called her ¡®Dam Close¡¯ for a reason. Shortly after the failed mission and before he had adapted to the loss of his men he generally referred to her was much crasser manner. It was no way to refer to a female under any circumstance let alone one that was also serving her Country to the best of her ability so he had modified it to ¡®Dam Close¡¯. But seeing or even talking to her stirred up the memories of that time in an active Combat Zone. Right here right now an unpleasant attraction conflicted with resentment that she had been part of the faulty intelligence that had led to his men¡¯s deaths. The sensation confused him and reminded him that he had truly loved her. Grimm was not a man prone to or comfortable with the dark specter of love in his life. On a certain level he assumed that love made you weak and vulnerable and Grimm wasn¡¯t weak or vulnerable. He never had been weak by anyone¡¯s standards and never would be. As he pondered his feeling he realized that he had been daydreaming for 10 minutes just wondering what Amanda would look like dressed in the battle attire she was always wearing when they had been on friendlier terms. For some strange reason he had thought at the time that the thick and uncomfortable IBA vests looked hot on her. The gear she wore covered enough of her body that her figure was all but unrecognizable and except for her face she might have been confused for a man. He also wondered if she had re-married since then. Did she have a boyfriend? Did she still care about him? Had she ever loved him like he had loved her?

¡°Dam, dam, dam.¡± Grimm uttered aloud into the empty room he was using in the heat and grime of Juarez. He turned back to the work he had been doing and added another 1000 rounds of the match grade .50 Caliber BMG ammo to his order and confirmed the modification to the order and went about his business. The rifles, optics and ammo were going to cost the Government just south of $50,000 US. He pushed the problems that he was going to have from the numbers guys out of his mind and watched the clock with enthusiasm. The sooner he could get to the gym and get a workout in the better.

10 miles away in a posh shopping district outside Ju¨¢rez the Closer relaxed as a middle aged Mexican woman washed her hair. As the stylist massaged the shampoo thru her hair she gossiped about many things in decent English. Finally the woman rinsed the shampoo from her hair and applied the conditioner and turned the water off while the salon product did its job for a few minutes. The whole time she had been in the chair the Closer had very gently directed the conservation toward letting the woman impress her with some of the shop¡¯s more interesting and well known clientele. They were at the wash station that was separated from the rest of the establishment and were completely alone. As the Closer had hoped the woman briefly spoke about the stunning model that they took care of every other Tuesday morning. The pride in having such and beautiful and connected client overrode her discretion and she gave up the information without a seconds thought. It was just too juicy for the stylist to resist talking about. Since the stylist was older she didn¡¯t seem to be intimated by talking freely about a woman with ties to the Cartel. If she was intimidated or fearful of reprisal for gossiping a little about things that didn¡¯t concern her she didn¡¯t let it show one bit. That gossip let Closer know that Marina the girlfriend/model of the Sergeant was scheduled for an appointment in 3 days with the stylist right next to Closer¡¯s stylist. It wasn¡¯t as good as she had hoped but it would have to do. As the stylist turned the water back on and adjusted the temperature the Closer considered what she would ¡®accidently¡¯ spill on the beautiful woman to get her to the bathroom where they could have a private chat. She would wait to see what Marina wore to her appointment and go from there. Closer really didn¡¯t like model types and the whole mononymous name thing struck her as overly pretentious so she was looking forward to their meeting.

Fuller-

Fuller stood in the Field¡¯s kitchen drinking coffee with Tim and eating cake that Becky had offered him as soon as he and Mongo had cleared the doorway. Mongo sat at the table eyeing his piece of chocolate cake while he drank his coffee from his Aunt in Hawaii. Fuller¡¯s phone rang and after looking at the screen he answered the phone and stepped away from the others.

After a few minutes Tim glanced over at Fuller and saw that his face had noticeably paled and then a look of frustration passed quickly across his face. He closed the phone at his ear and set it down on the counter. He seemed to be holding something big back and ready to explode.

Tim stared back over at Fuller. ¡°You look like a man that isn¡¯t amused. Is everything OK?¡±

Fuller almost looked ready to spit. ¡°Can we turn the TV on?

Tim had an ominous feeling about what he was about to see. ¡°Sure.¡±

The other three adults followed Tim into the living room while he grabbed the remote and switched the flat screen on. After the unit powered up Tim flipped to his favorite news channel knowing that what he was about to see would upset him.
The TV showed live coverage of a massive fire in a parking lot then panned out to reveal the men and women that were attempting to control the inferno. The TV had been on less than 15 seconds and the talking heads were spewing and speculating just as two vehicles exploded and sent a fire ball into the sky. The explosion also forced firefighters to back up farther from the fire to insure their safety.

Fuller began talking over the commentators. ¡°An hour ago the fire you are watching broke out in the parking lot of the Texas Pinnacle Mall outside El Paso. 8 people have been transported to the hospital so far and over one hundred cars have been destroyed with at least another 100 severly damaged. One of my security guys in Texas knows a guy that is an ATF investigator in Dallas/Fort Worth and has been scrambled as part of the investigation response team. He is telling my guy that they are already telling him that the fire was deliberately set. He was told 20 gallons of fuel in four 5 gallon jerry cans were dumped around the parking lot. The first vehicle that transported the fuel was a newer pick-up and they think that it contained additional fuel to fuel the blaze. After the fuel was dumped they moved into a stolen minivan and tossed road flares from it till they hit a pool of fuel and then zoomed off. Mall security has video of them but they appear to be wearing face altering masks, sunglasses and had their hats pulled over their face. What very little they can make out indicates that the perpetrators might be Hispanic or Black. Now whether they were Cartel affiliated or not remains uncertain at this point. I¡¯d bet money that this was another retaliatory Cartel operation designed to instill fear into Americans and damage the El Paso economy. People that live or work near the Border in and around El Paso will be screaming for blood.¡±

Tim nodded at Fuller¡¯s outrage because each and every time the Cartel successfully pulled something like this it took money out the Border regions economy. El Paso was now especially vulnerable after all the recent incidents there. The loss of residents, jobs and tourism dollars was just the tip of the iceberg. It could easily influence some people to re-locate from the El Paso area or other Border areas fearing Cartel violence just like the Cartel violence that has plagued Border towns in Mexico like Juarez. Border towns like Juarez have clearly been taken over by the Cartels and the local Police and the governments have clearly lost control. As a result the residents live in fear and thousands of regular citizens have been murdered. Authorities there often attribute a murder or murders to having some sort of connection with the Cartel and drugs. Regardless many people viewed the carnage taking place as tragic regardless if the victim had Cartel connections or not. Living anywhere that type of chaos isn¡¯t for most people and if they can they moved someplace else to keep themselves and their families safe. ¡°Fuller are you thinking of loading your people up into the buses up again and moving some people around?¡± Tim asked Fuller.¡±


Fuller pondered the question for a minute before replying. ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so. All the other indicators are pointing toward this being another blip on the radar that will not affect our people. If there is any good news it is that the US Government will allocate additional resources as the chaos continues. Now if another incident happens then I¡¯ll re-evaluate that statement and most likely recommend transfer. I¡¯m also worried about the in incident we had Tuesday night.¡±

Tim stared at Fuller waiting for a more detailed explanation if fuller was willing or able to share.

Fuller realized Tim had no idea what he was talking about. ¡°Sorry, Tuesday night a group of 3 men were on my property in Texas. With the internal checkpoints located not far from my place we get people passing through hoping to slide past Border Patrol on a regular basis. But my guys followed the tracks with the dogs and either they were scouting a route around the internal checkpoint or they were up to no good. I firmly believe in controlling the Border and that we as a Country we deserve to know who is entering our Country. So we notify Border Patrol when we get someone on the property that shouldn¡¯t be there. For the illegal¡¯s that transverse the property we have water stations to insure they have water and don¡¯t die from dehydration. We also have 3 call stations that can be used to summon help for someone that is sick or injured.¡± Fuller paused as his phone rang again. ¡°Excuse me a second.¡± He stepped away and answered his phone.

Mongo was watching the TV now and attacking his cake like he hadn¡¯t seen cake for a year. As Mongo gathered up the last of the crumbs he looked up at Becky pleadingly.

Becky smiled and reached for his plate. ¡°Mongo you need another piece?¡±

Mongo smiled and held his plate up to her. He then turned around and resumed watching the coverage of events in El Paso.

Fuller had heard the codeword and moved outside through the garage to talk. ¡°Go on.¡±

Grimm waited as he heard the man he had called move through a few areas till he was someplace that he could talk freely. ¡°Fuller my name isn¡¯t important and I cannot say it over the phone. But your friend Mongo lost a molar to me sparring in the sandbox a few years back. I¡¯d like to meet with you briefly to discuss a favor I need. If you want to get my name from Mongo and clear me through Sparrow on a landline then I¡¯d appreciate it. After you get me vouched for if you could call me back I¡¯d appreciate it.¡±

Fuller replying instantly. ¡°I¡¯ll do that. Is this a good number for you later today?¡±

Grimm was happy to hear that the ex-Marine was taking him seriously despite not giving him his name. ¡°This phone will be with me till we meet.¡±

Fuller nodded. ¡°Good enough.¡± Fuller then ended the call without saying goodbye. He scratched his head curious to know who the stranger was and what he wanted. He immediately summoned Mongo outside and got the name of the man that had knocked out one of his teeth. With the name now known to him he then dialed a number he knew by heart and waited for Sparrow to answer. Sparrow might know what the man they called Grimm wanted. From what Mongo had said this Grimm was a serious as they came.

Fuller¡¯s attention returned to his call as the phone was answered. ¡°This is Sparrow, this line is not secure. Please enter your code into your keypad.¡±

Fuller entered the 10 digit number than hit the pound key. A series of clicks and then another person came onto the line. ¡°This line is now secure. Information, request or authorization?¡±

Fuller swallowed quickly. ¡°Request information for code named Grimm. I was contacted by subject Grimm 15 minutes ago at this number.¡±

¡°Wait one.¡±

Fuller was shifted into a hold queue and a string orchestral version of the Rolling Stone¡¯s classic ¡®Paint it Black¡¯ came over the line. The version was richly infused with Cellos and started out with an undertone of foreboding and progressed to an almost downright giddy conclusion. All and all a nice break from anything Fuller had listened to in quite some time. He pulled his secondary smart phone and quickly hit the app to indentify the group. 30 seconds later the song was over, his app had done its job and indentified the performer and he had book marked the band.

Suddenly the line came alive again. ¡°Authorized at 33, confirmation D3. I repeat, authorized at 33 and the conformation is D3.¡± Then just as quick as the woman had gotten on the line she was gone. The Sparrow Authorization Protocol (SAP) was affiliated with or ran by the NSA, they had used the caller¡¯s digital voice print to ID the caller and access if he was currently on a mission for the Armed Forces or US intelligence.

Level 33 meant that they requested that he give all the assistance he could. And from time to time in the past he had assisted various US Agencies or the Military and had never ever gotten a clearance this high. In fact most active and past service members and Intel geeks didn¡¯t even know about the protocol and 33 was even higher than authorization he had gotten while acting as the head of a PMC supplying them with information from Iraq. There was no doubt that Grimm had some serious pull. A mental chill instantly struck Fuller and he quickly brought it under control.

Fuller waited 5 minutes and called the number on his caller ID. Grimm answered one the first ring and gave Fuller a time and place to meet. The GPS coordinates for the met were on his Texas property and the time was in 12 hours.

Fuller closed his phone and went back inside. He explained to the Fields that he needed to return immediately to Texas. Outside in the truck he explained to Mongo that he had an important meeting in Texas and asked him to tag along. He also mentioned that the meeting required back-up and asked Mongo to provide him with over watch.


Mongo just smiled. He was always was up for a little fun.

[sssarawolf]

I just saw you posted a new chapter, things are heating up. Thank you.

[223shootersc]

thanks for coming back, been missing this one, as it is a good one

[alangator]

Fuller Part 22

STAG-

After Close placed the handbag orders with Victor and confirmed the two men’s shipping addresses the thankful driver of the truck gave Close the instructions she needed to get to Grimm’s quarters. She headed down the hallway to give Grimm an update on her team’s progress. The good news was that they were making good progress in locating their target’s base of operations. The not quite as good news was they still didn’t have an exact locations to give to him but she felt that they were almost there. She moved quietly as she got to the edge of the room and glanced around the corner to see Grimm unaware. While common courtesy dictated that she knock on the side of the door she wanted a watch him without his knowledge. She watched as Grimm meticulously did push-ups. The movements seemed perfectly timed and he came within 10 millimeters of the floor each time not likely varying the height by more than a millimeter or 2. His movements were so precise they resembled a robot in a manufacturing plant more than a human taking care of his body.

Grimm knew that Close was on her way from down the street and had heard the garage doors go up less a few minutes ago. But he knew she was in the hallway outside his room from a slight shuffle he had heard down the hallway seconds earlier. Grimm glanced to the side to see Close watching him do his push-ups from the room’s doorway. “Spy much?”

“It’s kind of what I do for living. I like to stay in practice. Keep the skills sharp and all that.” Close stood 10 feet away at the room’s doorway. She was wearing an expensive looking blouse that was cut to reveal the very top of her tan breasts. She was wearing trendy which translated to expensive denim blue jeans and from his angle Grimm even doing push-ups he could see that the shoes she was wearing had 3 inch heels. Her hair had been dyed a dark black and styled to more closely resemble a cut that might be found on a Juarez woman with some financial means. Her nails had also been painted the most common color of the demographic that were trying to mimic. And even pushing out his push-ups at a good clip Grimm was very aware that Close was dressed to the nines and she was making it work without much trouble. “I love what you’ve done with the place. If it were me I’d hang some Thomas Kincaid prints just to help make it feel like home. I love the way he depicts the light, it seems so real.”

Grimm smirked and almost laughed aloud while he was finishing up his push-ups. “He was French but I still prefer the stark black and white photography of Henri Cartier-Bresson. He was originally trained as a painter by Cubist André Lhote and a few other notable French painters of the time and came to photography in the early 30s. If you’re not familiar with him I can loan you a book. Now that we’ve discussed art, photography and room design you have some information for me?”

Close turned slightly away from him and Grimm was aware that her posterior looked very good.

“I met with your girl today. She is scared, didn’t realize that she was on our radar and very much wants to get the opportunity to work in the US. We chatted in the women’s rest room at an upscale clothing store for 15 minutes. She understands what she needs to do and gave up everything she knows. She also agreed to provide information and any help we need moving forward. She is super motivated to make sure we’re happy if it insures that she will be granted entry into the US for work. It turns out she was as vacuous as I had hoped. She is scared to death of her boyfriend but is more concerned about her career. I don’t think that she realizes that this isn’t a game and she could end up dead very easily if something goes wrong or if he suspects anything. Guys like that don’t make it this far up the food chain without an unhealthy dose of paranoia.”

Grimm pushed out the last push-up and propelled himself to his feet without any effort. Instead of a push-up he just pushed off and kicked with his legs and was standing in front of Close. “Well her ignorance works in our favor. So do you have the place he sleeps at night and what his security arrangements look like?”

Close moved toward the mini-fridge that Grimm kept stocked with bottled water and yogurt the warehouse preparation contractor brought in weekly from over the border. He was again drawn to the view of that denim and the way it outlined and accented her butt. He was stuck momentarily when he realized that Close was talking and he was busying enjoying her bending over instead of listening to what she was saying.

“Actually she is telling me that he uses 3 different rentals to sleep in at night. It seems that they are all upper end homes that have walls and video surveillance. She sketched me some rough drawing and gave me the approximate addresses. She doesn’t have the exact addresses but her rough directions and the descriptions should help us figure out which homes he’s using. We’re also monitoring a micro GPS unit I hid in her handbag. She’s a clothes horse so it might be static by the end of the day but it might give us one confirmed address to work with. I’ve got people heading to each possible location now and we should have hard addresses within a few hours. She also told me that his security detail never numbers less than 10 and all the vehicles are armored.”

Grimm thought about what she had said. “Any weakness that we might exploit? The thought of spoofing decent video equipment and then trying to get past 10 security guys isn’t doing much for me. We could get him but I’d lose men and he’d end up deader than hell. Him dead would defeat the whole purpose of this little operation and piss my bosses off.”

Close took another quick swallow of water from the bottle. “Well, now that you mention it seems our man has a thing for Tiger Woods and has recently been learning to play golf. He plays twice a week at a Club and is also taking lessons. It’s supposed to be a nice Country Club that allows Cartel members and other less than legitimate businessman to join assuming that they have the initiation fee and pre-pay a year’s dues and service minimum. The only thing that is risky for these ‘businessman’ is that they don’t allow security in the locker room or weapons in plain view. I drove by the place and it’s nice, even has its own security force on premise. And security isn’t rent-a-cops with Tasers. Their security contingent is ex-military or Police looking thugs wearing tactical gear, vests and toting M-4s of 5s. They all look fit and not very friendly. Maybe your technical people can hack the Country Club’s computers and see if there is anyone that we can get to so that we can get access to the place.”

Grimm nodded as he wiped his sweaty body of with a white towel. Give me ten minutes to get a shower and we can work thru the directions that she gave you for the safe houses and get solid addresses. Then we can take a look and see if the Country Club is a better place to do the snatch than the rentals.” He turned to go to the hallway.

Close smiled at Grimm’s back. “Need someone to wash your back for you?” Her smile actually got bigger as she watched Grimm pause to frame his reply to her possible flirtation.

He quickly went through possible responses finally settling on one without turning around to address her. “If you wash my back it’s going to take much longer than 10 minutes and I’m on a deadline. Unless you want to explain to my boss why we are behind schedule I suggest we keep our sights on the X ring.” With that Grimm quickly headed out of the room amazed that he might have just been flirted with by Close and damming those jeans and her sensual curves.

Before he had taken 3 steps Close replied. “I remember you as being more fun.”

From the edge of the room next to the door Grimm retorted. “And I don’t remember ever seeing you in any shoes that had heels. And you in heels and those jeans I will remember because you are definitely rocking that outfit Close.” With her flirtatious comment addressed and the compliment given Grimm faded into the hallway to get a shower. What the hell had he gotten himself into?

Close enjoyed watching Grimm leave the room and found the scent of his sweat familiar as he walked past her. Like they said she didn’t want him to leave but she sure enjoyed the view. She was surprised that she had found a way to integrate a mild degree of flirting into her interaction with Grimm. She was not a flirty person by nature and in fact nobody that knew her very well would say that she even had the ability to flirt unless it was for work and then it was insincere and designed to manipulate someone into doing something they weren’t willing to do without some gentle prodding. She found the thoughts she was having disconcerting and realized that she might be at that very moment blushing. It was an emotional response that wasn’t something she did very often and told her a lot.

Grimm carried his towel to the makeshift shower they had rigged in the old employee restroom and pondered what seemed to have just happened. Internally he might have just forgiven Close for her part of that terrible night years before. Maybe a few minutes under a hot shower would bring things back into perspective. It wasn’t like Grimm to second guess himself but he considered that maybe the reason he had called Close and not brought in another team that could get the job done was that on a certain level he was finally ready to forgive her. She had contributed to a mistake that had killed and seriously wounded men he cared about and that he was responsible for leading into harm’s way. Maybe by blaming her he absolved himself for any mistakes he had made during the botched mission.

Today Close had finally found an opportunity to have a chat with the Cartel girlfriend and during the time she was watching and waiting with her people to get the job done she found herself reminiscing about the time she and Grimm had spent together. Now that he had mentioned it she realized that she had never been around Grimm in anything but military uniforms and sweats. In fact in the sandbox other than her issue Desert Tan boots she had just one pair of running shoes and a pair of hiking shoes. She had carted around a comfortable pair of jeans and one pair of non-issue undergarments. Grimm had seen the frilly bra and panties but the jeans never left her bag. The jeans she was now wearing were $225.00 but Close knew they made her butt look almost perfect and she could feel Grimm staring at it when she had reached for the bottle of water. She wasn’t really thirsty she just wanted to see where the man’s head was at. Luckily when she stood back up his eyes had told her everything she had needed to know.

Close made her way around his work area and waited for Grimm to return. She was a natural snoop but resisted the temptation. She knew that he would be back any moment and didn’t have any desire to get caught violating his fragile trust. Because Grimm was the quietest moving person she had ever met if she simply moved two papers on a desk he would materialize from the darkness. She wanted to make a slight adjustment to her jeans but knew that he could be watching her at this very second and that might be embarrassing. While the jeans might look really good they were at times less than 100% comfortable. For hundreds of years woman had accepted discomfort as the price they paid to look desirable to the male species. Hell of a trend.

Grimm walked into the room wearing faded jeans and flip flops. He had a white towel around his well developed shoulders and his forehead was shiny with moisture from his 3 minute shower. Close made the mistake of looking lower and saw that his stomach had the casual six pack of an exceptionally fit man. It wasn’t the type of six pack you saw on fitness models in magazines it was the type of six pack that men that worked their bodies in a variety of methods and not just weights and sit-ups. Grimm had always been a hell of a physical specimen. But Close felt the most alluring aspect of Grimm was his devotion and utter faith in what he believed in. That uncompromising belief was one of the things that made him a great soldier and a first class operator. Even in the rarified world of the Spec. Ops. Community Grimm was rated in the top 10% of men and woman that had served since the tragedy of 9-11. Close was quiet and watched as Grimm walked over and pulled a blue tie-dye shirt from a duffle and pulled it over his head after spraying deodorant under his arms. The familiar smell of the deodorant triggered a tidal wave of memories she tried hard to ignore.

Grimm stared at Close trying to figure out what she was thinking. She seemed distracted and then realized that the reason might be the casualness that he’d shown by entering his room without a shirt. But after all it was his room, if she had a problem that was on her. “Ready to get to work?”

Close wanted to sit down but the jeans she was wearing were meant to show off her butt. They were designed for social situations were standing was the norm and the thought of sitting just made her remember that the jeans were a half size smaller than she should have bought. Hell they were more likely a full size smaller than she actually could comfortably fit into. While the outfit looked really good today a few things had happened that made her think she should have elected to purchase the next size larger. She stood there dreading sitting in the slightly too tight jeans without her vanity exposing itself and Grimm noticing. “Listen Grimm I’m really, really sorry about the men you lost. I know I’ve said it before but I really mean it. Part of the intelligence we used was sourced from outside. Some S-2 was given a tip by a pissed off neighbor and didn’t do anything other than rate the source as ‘moderately dependable’ and pass it on. By the time the information came to us two others REMF had OK’d the intelligence and we just went thru the motions like we had been told to do. That was wrong and for the rest of my time there I worked my ass off to make sure something like that never happened on one of my ops again.”

Grimm plopped down on the chair in front of the battered metal desk he was using to hold all his electronic gear and his laptop. He was very disappointed that the mighty intelligence behemoth inside the United States Military had signed the death warrant of good warriors because of laziness or stupidity. “The tipster, what happened to him?”

Close looked directly into Grimm’s eyes. “I leaked the source of the tip and he was beheaded 2 weeks later by the Mahdi Army after being tortured. Not really my style but I thought we needed to send a message that turning in your neighbor over some B.S. grudge was a risky game to play and could get you killed. I heard his son was furious and blamed the US for his death. But hey you play with fire, you just might get burned. Well beheaded in this case.” Close showed no outward emotions about what she had caused to the misguided tipster justifying his death against the death and serious injury of good men sworn to protect and serve their country.

“Any fallout from anyone over his death?”

Close swallowed so hard that Grimm could see it and as he waited understood that what she was about to say was difficult for her to share with him.

“I loved you and you hated me because of what happened. Whatever the fallout was I was prepared to suffer the consequences of my actions. When I talked to the guys that originally sourced the tip they seemed blasé. Men die and are seriously injured and their response is. So what, it’s not my problem. My time was up a year later and by then I know I was leaving regardless of what they offered.” She still stood waiting while Grimm did the math and framed his response to her admission about her feelings.

Grimm looked up and now he felt that for sure that she was asking him to bury the hatchet and forgive her for what had happened. The cool room felt warm as he instantly turned the corner that would allow him to believe in and care for Close again. “And how do you feel about me now?”

“That’s difficult to put into words. Can you give me a minute to slip into the head real quick?

“Sure it’s 36 feet down the hallway on the right. It’s clearly marked in Spanish.”

Close grabbed her backpack off the floor near the doorway where she had set it when she had walked into the room and made the short walk down the hall. By the time she got to the restroom she was convinced that telling Grimm how she felt was going to be hugely uncomfortable for her so she quickly pondered her choices and came up with something she saw on TV. ‘The Naked Man’ was on a show she had seen on TV and involves someone just getting naked when things look dicey to encourage the target to take pity on you and have sex with you through humor, pity or sheer spontaneity. Close stripped off the expensive jeans she was wearing and decided that she would keep both her shirt and her wispy panties on should the gambit fail to adequately sway Grimm. As a precaution to the lack of cleanliness of the warehouse’s floor she slipped back into the 3 inch heels she had been wearing. In her mind wearing the heels was a win/win. She rumpled the expensive jeans up and stuffed them into the backpack she had brought to the bathroom with her. Then she got in the backpack and retrieved her toothbrush and a micro bottle of perfume. She slowly brushed her teeth and applied one drop of the perfume she had been wearing earlier. She was confident as she peed and washed up. As she exited the bathroom she reached into her inner predator and brought her confidence to the forefront of her mind ready for whatever happened. She had left the backpack in the restroom because she understood that backpacks were not and might never ever be sexy. Carrying a backpack said I might leave at any second and I can take everything I need with me. It might also distract Grimm from the fact that she was in the process of getting naked. She had all the props she needed to get the job done now it was down to emotions and luck.

Close thought the silence from Grimm’s work area was an indication that he was working at his laptop and was 10 feet into the room before she realized that Grimm wasn’t alone. She stopped suddenly confused about what she should do.

Grimm and the other man crowded around the laptop turned to look at her at the same time.

Close was pretty good at her job and didn’t freeze up or look embarrassed at all. “Sorry I must have spilled red wine on my pants earlier and I was hoping that I could borrow something from the clothes you’re men picked up for me if it’s not too much trouble. Those are the only decent looking jeans I brought with me. Your driver said they picked up some stuff for me?”

The men had been distracted because while the front of the blouse plunged slightly the side was cut higher in the leg and the piece of fabric that joined the two sections of the panties was half as thick as a piece of 550 cord. Being men they were distracted by what they know was located under the shiny fabric of the blouse Close was wearing. Even from 10 feet away the heels were just a bonus and further distracted both men as they stared openly at the unexpected encounter.

Grimm recovered first. “I’ll have Lep bring some jeans down for you.” Grimm picked up his radio from the desk and called the security guy they called Lep. “Lep, you have the jeans for our female visitor?”

“”Yes I do. Is there a problem?”

Grimm looked over and smiled at Close. She stood there as if not wearing pants around a stranger was a common occurrence for her. “Lep just bring the pants.”

Close smiled. “That would be great. It’s a little chilly in here.” Already goose bumps were rising on her arms and she was thankful that she still had the blouse on and a $100.00 push-up bra to protect her modesty.

[alangator]

Fuller
Part 23

STAG

Grimm’s hasty introductions were fairly typical of a situation like this involving two people that were professional intelligence operatives. In this line of work anonymity was important so not only did Grimm skip real names assuming that he would ever know Kitty’s real name he changed what he called Close to help insure her safety should Kitty be captured and tortured at some point in the future on either this operation or any other assuming he survived this assignment. Lions, tigers and a half crazy murderous Cartel boss meant that the possibility of Kitty being dead within the next 72 was 50/50 or better.

Grimm pointed to Close. Cat this is Call.” He then pivoted slightly and addressed Kitty. “Call this is Cat. I think we’ll skip the fake first names today, it’ll confuse everyone including me.” A mischievous grin crossed Grimm’s face at the understanding that both people understood that the names he used for the introduction were not the names they had been born with. Grimm like everyone in his operations unit didn’t use his real name and the only person that actually knew his real name was Close. So reciprocating the favor seemed only natural.

Close was the first to acknowledge the less than truthful introduction. “Cat nice to meet you. Sorry about the casual attire. I’ve been a little busy the last few days at work.”

Close in just a shirt, panties and heels had been the highlight of Kitty’s week. “Listen it’s no problem. I understand how when a job is up and running sometimes modesty suffers. Plus, I’m totally loving the heels with that blouse. The combination is definitely working.”

Grimm chimed in. “Cat we get it. You saw a pretty woman without pants on. Call can you give us 15 minutes to get through this and I’ll be with you? This man needs to get to work, someone’s expecting him. A very suspicious and cranky someone that is prone to violence for the sake of violence. The sooner he gets going the safer he’ll be.”

Close looked casual as she answered. “As soon as I have pants I’ll do whatever you want.”

Grimm heard movement down the hallway so he moved toward the doorway. Before Lep had gotten within sight of the inside of the room Grimm had taken the jeans and sent Lep back to his security perch. He handed Close the jeans as he walked by. “Hope these fit. I think maybe you’ve lost a few pounds since we worked together last time.”

Close felt satisfied that Grimm had noticed that she had lost some weight and was appreciative of the compliment. “I’m sure they’ll be fine. Gentleman do you mind turning around for a second? This might be a tad unladylike.”

Both men complied with her request and turned around to face the room’s far wall. They listened as Close took off her shoes and quickly wrestled the jeans over her hips and pulled them up. For the men standing mere feet away the sound of the jeans being zipped up was as if they were getting dressed themselves. Grimm listened and remembered a time that he had un-dressed Close and it distracted him for a moment before Close said they could turn back around.

Close nodded that she understood. “Is there someplace I can hang out while you guys finish up?”

Grimm replied. “Down the same hall as the bathroom and up the first set of stairs there’s a make shift gym. Should be easy to find”

“I’m on it. Just come get me when you’re done here. Cat good to meet you and good luck.”

Kitty replied. He made sure to keep steady eye contact with Close so that she wouldn’t get freaked out or think he was unprofessional. “It’s nice to meet you to and thanks. Good luck to you to.”

Grimm nodded and watched as Close turned and left the room. He liked the first pair of jeans much better than the jeans he had the guys pick up for her. The first pair was form fitting and had been cut to compensate for the heels Close was still wearing. The pair of jeans that Grimm and Kitty had just listened to her put on was typical boot cut jeans available at any store in the US. That meant that the length didn’t work as well with the heels Close was wearing. Grimm understood the second Close had walked into the room that Close was in a randy mood and that pivotal moment in their relationship had been denied due to bad timing and his commitment to his work. He wondered if a moment like the one that had just passed would present itself again. He was old enough and experienced enough to understand that sometimes a split second is all you have to influence events. Strange as it seemed the two places he identified the most with that philosophy was shooting bad guys and chasing woman. As different as the two activities were his thinking had always allowed him to seize those precious seconds and turn them to his advantage. Make that moment work for you or an opportunity can evaporate forever. Just now that moment had slipped past and Grimm didn’t even get to influence anything at all. Well maybe another time. The other part of his thinking was sometimes when you did miss that moment you were granted another opportunity. Again his experience with chasing bad guys and trying to expand his social circle had taught him that.

Grimm turned to Kitty and the men continued talking about Kitty’s mission and how he and his team could and would support it. Grimm was a tad confused at why Kitty would be sent to him for help. While his team was working outside the standard channels Kitty was likely working closely with someone like the CIA or maybe the DEA. That meant Kitty was being continuously monitored and he had a better chance of getting help from any US Embassy or Consular Office in Mexico if a problem arose. Chances were that by the time a handler figured out something had gone wrong Kitty would be dead. That also meant that he might be recognized by the State Department depending on his status and his employer. That was an advantage that Grimm and his men didn’t have.

He didn’t share too much information with Kitty just gave him a look into what he might be able to do if he ran into trouble. He did manage to keep the anger at his presence and his manners in check. Using this operation for other intelligence gathering mission seemed the height of irresponsibility. If Kitty was captured and tortured he would likely gave Grimm and his team up and burn their safe house. For a team working outside standard US Government channels finding, securing and equipping a base of operations was expensive and time consuming. The fact that it could be compromised by an outsider was offensive to him.

The meeting broke up and Kitty headed to his new job as a glorified circus performer. He had a distracted look in his eyes that meant he understood the enormity of the mission he had been assigned. But by the time he walked out the door to the warehouse escorted by Grimm he looked like he had put his game face on.


The next item on the agenda was to go get Close and try to get a better idea of where her head was at. The whole I don’t have pants on was a little over the top. He wasn’t buying that whole wine on my jeans things and pondered the ramifications of her actions while he moved toward the gym. It was only just as he was almost to the gym that he realized that he had heard something that made a small scraping sound as if Close was putting her shoes back on. Grimm fully expected that Close would be partially undressed again.

He rounded the corner and apparently Close had spilled something on her blouse. She stood there wearing just a small piece a high tech fabric around her waist. Her hip bones were visible and he was excited that he had gotten that moment from earlier back. The blouse and bra he assumed she had been wearing were laying over the controls of the treadmill.

“They call it the ‘naked man’. I saw it on TV and it’s supposed to break the ice for those awkward moments when things are dicey. I got diverted from priority one the first time so I’m almost all in. I thought the panties and heels were the ticket. Was I right or wrong on that one?” Close then turned slowly around in a circle giving him the full 360 perspective.

Grimm stood taking it all in. Close carried a few extra pounds when they had known each other from before. While it wasn’t many extra pounds the weight gave her a more approachable vibe but this trimmed down version of Close showed Grimm that she had been eating better and making more time to get to the gym. From 12 feet away she looked really good and he actually searched for his words. “Yeah, the naked man. I’m not a big fan of the name because a naked man standing in our gym would just be creepy. From this point forward we will refer to this obvious attempt to distract me as ‘Showtime’. Whenever I see you doing Showtime I think we should just decide now that whatever points your trying to make have been made.”

Close smiled. “I forgot to mention that our guy considers himself a bon vivant and is a wine collector. The model told me that each rental house has a below grade specifically designed wine cellar. Our girl told me he spends an hour or so down there every single day fondling his collection. Also he visits the café we have footage of twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.”

Grimm looked at her as she shifted her body slightly and her hips canted away from him and the opposite side was outlined. “I guess my question to you is. Are you looking for a real relationship or are you thinking vacationship?”

Close answered without hesitation. “I’m thinking long term but we can start with a vacationship and go from there. I feel the same way about you today as I did then and if it works out we can spend time together after this assignment is over. I got the perfect place. You’ll like it, there are lots of weapons and it’s rustic. I should clarify that statement by saying it has indoor plumbing but it has exposed timber and leather couches. It looks more like a guy’s place than a woman’s but I bought it furnished. The leather couches are really comfy for lying on and reading a book and drinking a cup of tea.”

Grimm smiled and stepped closer to Close. He put his hands on her hips and seconds before they kissed she jumped up and put her legs around his waist and hooked her arms around his neck. Grimm carried Close back to his room that way and before they dived in Grimm told the security guys that his area of the warehouse was being locked down. He turned on the sensors that would alert him to anyone in his section of the building and laid back to enjoy their reunion.

Fuller-

Fuller and Mongo watched the video for the third time from Fuller’s laptop. There on the screen a man they had followed back to his food processing warehouse was breaking into a co-workers truck and riffling thru it. They had watched as he expertly worked with a handful of break-in tools to have the truck open within 15 seconds. On Fuller’s desk in front of him stood the man’s employment file.

Mongo broke the silence. “He’s good boss. I know you need to fire him but we might want to keep his contact information handy. We might want him doing a class in Texas or might need him to walk us thru something up here.”

Fuller agreed with Mongo. For decades the Law Enforcement Community and the military had been using criminals and the criminally minded to educate their people about various illegal activities. These same criminals also taught hands on classes designed to teach these ‘good guys’ how to do things that were illegal. ”Well lets go talk to this guy and see if he’s working alone or has partners. Grab a few guys and have them up the road blocking it. Make sure they are wearing vests and that they take the old dump truck to block the road. I don’t want to risk one of the newer trucks and this guy might try to flee when he figures out what’s going on.”

Mongo picked up the phone and called the security room. He waited 3 rings and someone was on the phone. “David who’s on standby?” Mongo waited for the reply. “Good, have them put on vests and take the old dump truck to the corner up from the food plant and wait for us on channel 2.” Mongo listened again as his orders were confirmed and he received an ETA. “15 minutes works for me.” He hung up the phone and turned to Fuller.

Fuller looked at his most valuable employee. “15 minutes works for me. You have a vest on?”

Mongo shook his head no. “It’s in my locker; I’ll go grab it and met you at the truck.”

Fuller nodded. “See you there. You might want to grab a stun gun while you’re there. I’d rather taze the guy than have to fight him if there’s a problem.”

15 minutes later the men both sat in one of the mines pick-ups while Mongo drove them toward the food processing plant. Both men were silent and while Mongo understood why they wouldn’t be calling the Police and letting them handle this he sometimes liked the instant gratification that letting the Police deal with criminals brought. Mongo pulled the truck in beside the thief’s little car. It was one of the hybrids that sipped fuel and it was the first time that Mongo had seen a criminal driving one of the environmentally responsible vehicles.

As they got out of the truck Mongo slipped over to the Hybrid and jotted down the VIN. He re-checked the VIN and moved toward the rear and wrote down the plate number. Mongo then placed a quick call to a friend in the Police Department. “Gomez this is Mongo can you run a VIN and a plate for me?”

The person of the other end of the call agreed and minutes later Mongo was walking toward Fuller. “Bad news. The car was stolen at gunpoint in Columbia Missouri 2 weeks ago and the plate is stolen. Nobody was hurt but apparently our guy is a man of many talents.”

Fuller was slightly pissed. He thought he might have found an asset out of this whole pain in the ass thing and now it turns out that he had solved a carjacking. “How long till the patrol car gets here?”

Mongo looked sheepishly. “He said that if we’re lucky it will only be 15 minutes but he was guessing 30 minutes. Do we want to bring him out and take control of him or let them do it?”

Fuller considered the question for a minute. “Tell the guys to block off the road and let’s grab him.”

Mongo contacted the other security people to let them know what was going on. Then the two of them walked thru the door to Fuller’s business. Within 3 minutes a cussing and spitting ex-employee bound by flex cuffs was being led out the door with Taser barbs still in his shirt. In the brief struggle the carjacker had kicked Mongo in the shin and Mongo looked like he wasn’t happy. Mongo had been a professional ass kicker all his life and didn’t feel that it would be a bad idea to remind their wayward now ex-employee that it might have been a better idea to pick on someone his own size. Mongo was significantly bigger than the carjacker slash warehouseman but one look from Fuller quelled the urge he had been feeling almost instantly.

The moment passed and Mongo smiled at the man. “That carjacking at gunpoint is going to get you some good time Bra. Have fun at State. Oh, and if we ever see your face here again it will be a big problem for you.”

The Police cruiser showed up within 15 minutes and 2 Patrol Officers took custody of their detainee. Fuller explained that they were investigating some vehicle break-ins and that he would be filing charges on them also.

The Police understood that Fuller had made friends in their Department and treated Fuller as if he was a VIP citizen. Some of the local Patrol Officers and their superiors were allowed to use the facilities indoor range occasionally. That meant that Fuller had the names and phone numbers of a dozen cops he could call to get help or a favor if he needed it. Their prisoner didn’t fare as well with the two Patrol Officers and quickly earned the royal treatment. They quickly bound him hand and foot in addition to the transport mask that put over his head to reduce his opportunity to spit on anyone.

Mongo and Fuller watched as the man was man handled into the back of a late arriving paddy wagon. He was still squirming and they watched as the man tried to kick out and injury one of the officers despite the leg restraints. The three Patrolmen must have gotten tired of the hassle because the female Paddy Wagon driver screamed. “Taser, Taser, Taser.” A second later the sound of the Taser deploying could be heard and the Officers’ quickly stepped in to catch the man before he fell to the ground. After he was on the ground they all hefted him up and placed him gently into the vehicle as if he was made of glass. After he was buckled in the three Officers climbed out of the back and the driver of the Paddy Wagon waved before heading off.

The original responding Officers moved toward Fuller & Mongo to talk to them. The Sergeant smiled when he reached them. “I’d say there is a fair probability that we’re all going to get sued by that idiot.”

Fuller nodded at the Patrolman’s observation. “Well he was breaking into employees’ vehicles so he can sue all he likes but regardless of what he says we have video of us detaining him and of the arrest. It looked like you guys did a professional job so I guess it is what it is. I’ll e-mail the footage to Lt. Colven later today. That should keep you three from getting in any trouble.”

The Patrolman smiled at the offer. He had heard that Fuller had contacts in the department. “We’d appreciate that Mr. Brown. Feel free to contact us whenever you need something.”

Fuller replied. “We’ll do that. And officers everyone calls me Fuller and this giant of a man beside me is Mongo. If you give me your cards I’ll make sure you get put on the list for the next range day if you’re interested. Once a month we invite some of our local Law Enforcement friends in to shoot and serve lunch afterwards. Mongo makes this thing called Huli Huli chicken that is very popular. It’s also a good opportunity to mix with some of your superiors in an informal setting.”

As soon as Fuller finished talking the radio on the Patrolman’s shoulders squawked. They listened carefully to what was being said. One of the men jotted something on a small notebook that had been in his shirt pocket and replied to dispatch.

“Well Fuller we’d both enjoy that. Here are our cards, I hate to rush but we need to respond to a call down the street.”

Fuller nodded that he understood and took the offered cards. “Be careful guys and thanks for the assistance. See you next month”

With that the men jogged toward their patrol car and zoomed away.

[alangator]

Fuller
Part 24

Shelter

Tim Fields stood at the entrance to their property and shook his head. Dead in the ditch next to the entrance to the property was a decent sized whitetail. Tim thought maybe it had been shot too far back and the hunter that had shot it was unable or unwilling to track it. The hole in the whitetail’s side didn’t look very big but there should have been enough blood that it could have been tracked. Tim knew many avid hunters that were responsible but he understood that some hunters just liked the thrill of the hunt and didn’t concern themselves with the pain or suffering of the animal or the inconvenience to property owners when a wounded animal finally succumbed to its injuries. His temper was slowly getting back to normal when he heard the unmistakable rustle of brush 50 feet down the road. He turned around and two camo clad younger men stepped onto the road. They carried rifles and looked him in the eye as if they owned the very road they were walking on. Tim stood and watched as the men approached.

The younger one glanced at the ground a few time and Tim thought that maybe the men were tracking the deer he had been staring at for 5 minutes. Tim got an impression that these men were dangerous or unpredictable and waited to see where the situation would lead. He slowly moved his right hip away from the men. His firearm was in a holster there under his oversized sweatshirt and he thought it best to not telegraph that he was armed. He’d never pulled his weapon on anyone and statistical he wasn’t likely to have to but just the same no use in showing a weapon. He stood on his own property but showing a weapon could cause problems he didn’t want or need. He had a carry permit and had met the Sherriff but the key to keeping the shelter a secret was keeping an extremely low profile so he just watched as the men moved toward him.

“You guys looking for a gut shot deer by any chance?”

The men were now close enough that they could see the deer in the ditch. The older of the two youngsters nodded. Tim guessed he was maybe 20 or so and both men had that look that they hadn’t shaved in a week or two. Scruffy beard covered their face and gave them a somewhat rough looking appearance that made Tim think of ill groomed prisoners. “Looks like we were looking for a deer and that we finally found him. We got a partner up the road and we’ll be out of your hair in 10 minutes.” He turned to what Tim assumed was his younger brother. “Bo, call Jimmy and tell him to head this way.” He paused from his orders to take quick drink from the hydration pack on his back. He bit the nipple and slurped like using it was still awkward for him. Clamping down on the nipple and sucking at the same time seemed to be causing him a problem.

His partner Bo whipped a cell phone out and dialed a number and mumbled something into it. He hung up the phone and replaced it in a pocket of his hunting vest.

Tim looked and noticed that the bolt action and scoped rifles they had on their backs looked small. As Bo leaned over to wipe something off his boots Tim began to wonder if the rifles were actually 22s. Tim was thinking that the State had a minimum caliber that they required to hunt deer to insure a humane kill and these guys looked at tad short in that department. He also saw red so that meant the guns weren’t on safe and one thing that he abhorred was improper gun safety. “Hey guys what caliber are those rifles?”
The younger one looked at Tim. “Hey buddy he said we’d call somebody and we’ll be out of here in a few minutes.”

Tim just watched the guy. “I was just thinking that those rifles look like they are 22s and I thought the State required something a little bigger for whitetails. I mean it none of my business how you hunt or what you use to hunt but it just seems small to me.”

The man that had spoken replied. “They’re 22s, but hey it got the job done right?”

Tim nodded at the answer to his question and he decided that he didn’t like these two idiots at all. “Hey you’re right; it looks like it did get the job done. I mean it was a poor shot from an underpowered gun. But the deer is dead and you only had to track it for a mile or so right?”

Now the other man stepped into the conversation. “Look buddy we just want to get our deer and get home. Shouldn’t be too long our guy is just down the road.”

Tim nodded and while his instincts were telling him to back off something about these two idiots was just pissing him off. “Hey no problem. I assume you have a current tag for this animal.”

The older one squinted at Tim and he knew he had hit a sore spot. “We can’t get a tag. State won’t issue one. We have some back child support issues we’re trying to resolve. So how about you mosey back inside that house of yours and leave us to our business?”

Tim nodded again becoming more annoyed with each passing remark from these guys. “Well guys I’d love to do just that but the problem for me is that that deer is sitting on my property. And as you can see from the no trespassing sign posted on that gate behind me I’m afraid I’ll have to ask that you respect that sign and respect my right to deny entry onto our property by the two of you unless you can produce a valid State deer tag.”

The other one looked even more pissed than before. “It’s in the ditch so your sign doesn’t matter to us. We’re taking that deer. You have problem with that then you better go call the Sheriff but by the time he gets here we’ll be long gone.”

Tim smiled. “Technically the ditch while being maintained by the County is part of my property. If you research it you’ll find that the portion of the property does have deeded access to various entities like the water and phone people but a have the legal right to ask that you not violate the property line which starts at the edge of the road. Of course legally you can stand on the road as long as you want since that is county property. But as I mentioned you’ll not be crossing into that ditch to retrieve that animal.”

Just then Tim heard the sound of a car or truck heading their way. He turned to see an older pick-up with a flatbed on the back. Before any of the men could continue the disagreement the truck pulled into the Fields driveway and stopped just short of the gate. An older man dressed in overalls and a denim work shirt stepped out of the truck and Tim could hear an aluminum can hit the gravel drive. Tim watched but the man didn’t reach down to pick the can up and toss it back into the truck’s cab he simply moseyed over toward them. Tim lived outside the suburbs and one thing that had always upset him was that people dumped trash and unwanted pets on or near his property like it was a dump and not the area surrounding his home.

Tim took the offensive in dealing with the older man. “Sir I’ll ask that you pick up that can and move your truck off my driveway.”

The man was staring at the deer and didn’t introduce himself or the other men to Tim. “Just going to load up that deer and be out of your hair in a minute. Boys load it up let’s get going.”

The older of the two hunters looked at the back of the older man. “Dad, man says that we can’t take the deer because we don’t have a tag and it’s on his property.”

This stopped the older man from his task and he looked at the older of the two young men. “Dam it boys what have I told you two about getting tags? If the Game Warden catches you taking deer without those tags and not wearing orange he’ll have you in front of a judge before you can say boo.” He stopped the turned back toward Tim. “My boy shot that deer and we intent to take it with us. I’ll talk to him about not having gotten tags but we keep the deer under control for a retired farmer that owns some farmland up the road. Now if we can quit yakking we can get it loaded and be on our way.”

Tim looked at the man in the eyes. “My name is Tim Fields and this is my property. I’ll tell you what I told these two. Without a deer tag the deer lies where it is. I’ll have the County come pick it up and they can worry about it. If you have a problem with that you can talk to them. Now for the second time I said pick up that can and move that truck off my property. If I have to ask again I’m calling the Sherriff.”

The old man turned to stare at Tim. He looked annoyed and was about to say something. Before he could the younger of the two hunters moved his hand to shift his rifle off his shoulder. By the time the rifle had moved off the man’s shoulder and while it was still pointed at the ground Tim had his pistol out and was aiming it at the three men. Their eyes registered the surprise they were feeling along with the contempt they had for Tim. The boy that had almost unslung his rifle stopped his movements as soon as he saw the pistol pointed in his direction. The hunters had held numerical superiority mere seconds ago but where now the prey. And Tim who had been the prey had in an instant morphed into the hunter.

“Not smart. Now here’s what’s going to happen. One at a time you are going to set your weapons down on the ground. After that you need to lie down on the road and put your hands on your head. If that goes smoothly then nobody gets shot today. If there is a problem then someone gets shot in the head a few times. Are we clear?”

The older man was clearly past being mad. His forehead was a very bright shade of red and as he spoke fought the urge to stutter trying to contain his rage. “Son, you just bought yourself a heap of trouble. Last chance to make this right. After that I can’t guarantee your safety.”

Tim smiled at the men he had under his gun. “I’ll take my chances. And don’t call me son; I’m not your son. FYI, anything and I mean anything happens to me, my family or the property I’ll assume you’re responsible and you and your boys will be held accountable.”

It took 5 minutes to get the men to the ground and three times Tim thought that he might have to shoot one of them but it worked itself out. They took turns and explained why Tim should let them take their deer and leave. After they were on the ground they realized that talking wasn’t going to work so they quickly switched gears and started with the threats. In graphic detail they described how they were going to kill Tim and anyone else he cared after making him watch as they set fire to his home.

While the older man threatened Tim and his Smartphone took pictures of the truck’s license plate as well the VIN while the phone remained connected to Tim’s voice mail meaning that every second of their conversation was being recorded in a manner that might skirt the laws regarding taping a conversation without both parties knowledge.

Tim still held his weapon toward the ground with his finger outside the trigger guard. If there was a problem in the worst case scenario he could have it up and on target in a fraction of a second.

The trio of obnoxious locals ran out the steam and accepted that they weren’t going to sway Tim’s actions so they piped down and waited.
Tim walked toward Jimmy the dad. “I need you each to slowly roll over one at a time and pull out your wallets and threw them away from you and toward me.”

Jimmy groaned as he turned to face Tim. His face was still red and the hate in eyes told Tim that this was a man that might actually try to fulfill the threats he had made against Tim and his family. “What the hell you playing at boy. We aren’t handing our IDs over to you. Now are you going to call the Sherriff or what?”

Tim reached into the watch pocket on his jeans and quickly inserted the foam ear plugs into his ears. He waited while they expanded and after feeling to make sure they were properly seated pointed his gun toward the ditch that fronted his property and fired a round into the ground 10 feet from the group. “I said I want to see wallets and IDs right now.”

Jimmy clam replied understanding they were out in the country and Tim could easily kill them and claim self defense. With no witnesses it would not be hard to claim the pulled one of the rifles on him and he defended himself while standing on his property. “I’m rolling over to get my wallet out of my back pocket. The only weapon I have on me is a knife in my front right pocket. I’ll keep my hands away from it. Let’s just calm down here. Nobody needs to get hurt.”

Tim spoke in a serious tone. “Roll over slowly and pull that wallet out. You’ve told me that you are in procession of a weapon so no tricks or I’ll be forced to defend myself. OK get to it.”

The getting of IDs took another 5 minutes of careful movements and the demeanor of the trio of poachers was significantly more respectful.

After Tim took photos of the ID he took advantage of the lull in the insults, threats and posturing and called the number of Fuller’s burner phone.

Fuller answered on the second ring. “Tim, how you doing today?”

Tim steeled himself unsure that he had done the right thing in causing an issue with Jimmy and his sons. “Not great, we have a slight problem and I’m going to send you a few pictures of the info on a truck of a few guys I’m holding at gunpoint on my driveway. I also am sending pictures of their IDs to make sure you get them before I call the Sherriff. That way if I cannot get back to you soon enough you can be looking into these guys and see if we’re going to have a problem.”

Fuller paused this was something he didn’t want to hear. “Tell me what happened. Let’s figure out the best way to deal with these guys.”

Over the next 10 minutes Tim explained what had happened and what he had done while keeping an eye on Jimmy and his 2 sons. Fuller listened and asked a few questions. A few times he asked Tim to repeat something and Tim thought maybe he was taking notes. Finally Fuller was satisfied that he understood what had happened.

“OK, let me talk to the dad let’s see where his head is at and see if we can work something out so that we can all get along and nobody dies.”

Tim moved over to the men on the ground and spoke to Jimmy. “It’s for you. You can turn over and take the phone slowly.”

Jimmy took the phone and spoke into it. “Yea, it’s Jimmy.”

Jimmy laid and listened and after a few minutes replied. “I think I’d appreciate a meeting. Try to get this resolved peaceful like.”

Jimmy listened. “We’re in no hurry, I can live with that.”

He handed the phone back up toward Tim. “He needs to talk to you.” Jimmy then slowly rolled back onto his stomach without being told or threatened.

Tim carefully took the phone and watched as Jimmy rolled back onto his stomach. “What’s the plan?”

Fuller paused. “Some of our friends and I are heading your way. We’ll be there in 25 minutes or so. Jimmy agreed to talk to me and is hoping we set him and the boys loose with just a warning. I think an object lesson in fear might sway his thinking about the threats they’ve made. Is that plan OK with you?

“If you think we can make these guys think that giving me some space and not hurting anyone I care about is in their best interest. Otherwise it might get a little too interesting.”

Fuller nodded to himself since obviously Tim couldn’t see him do it. “Tim I get it completely. I’m bring three guys to make Jimmy understands that you don’t stand alone. I think we will make an impression on him concerning your vulnerability or lack of said vulnerability. We have some experience with this type of thing and the non-verbal cues are very important. Right now the guys a bully and isn’t very well liked. He’s crazier than most the people he deals with and has less to lose so he always has less to lose than the people he intimidates. We’re going to make him reconsider that equation and when he does I think he’ll give you a wide berth moving forward. Just make sure you don’t talk to him unless you have to. He needs to think that you’re trouble for him and if he sees or senses and type of weakness it makes my job harder.”

Tim replied. “I can live with that. See you soon.”

[alangator]

Fuller
Part 25

Tim moved the men onto his property and behind the sole overgrown area near the front gate. That way if a vehicles passed by nobody would see Tim holding the three men at gunpoint. He would have moved the truck in his driveway but didn’t want Jimmy and the boys rabbiting so he just sat and waited hoping that the plan that Fuller had would work.

30 minutes later two of Fuller’s trademark black Suburban drove around the truck in the driveway and came through the gate onto the Fields property. Two men filed out of each vehicle at the same time as Jimmy and his boys took an audible breath in unison. Fuller, Mongo and the other two men wore tan form fitting long sleeve shirts under body armor and had on khaki pants. They also wore tan colored ski masks so that their faces were covered and had pistol on their sides in drop leg tactical holsters. Each man was armed with the new brand of M-4s that Fuller’s team had adopted. They looked like the pictures the media had been showing a few years ago of the Private Military Contractors working in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mostly because all the men Fuller had brought to the meeting had been Private Military Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As the men made their way toward Tim and the men on the ground with their hands on their head Fuller began giving orders. “Flex cuff those guys. If they give you problems just give them a whack with your collapsible batons.”

The three other moved toward the men and while one man completed the task the other two covered them. After the task was completed the men were searched and a growing pile of items was thrown onto the ground next to them. The pile was close enough to see yet far enough away to prevent them from grabbing anything from the pile.

Jimmy and his boys were absolutely silent for the first time since they had walked over to Tim an hour earlier. After the search was completed the three men including an obvious Mongo helped the men to their feet.

While they had been searched Fuller was looking at the contents of the pile of stuff they had in their pockets. “I’m X. James Xavier Mackman it looks like you should be glad Tim called me instead of the Sherriff. I see twp problems right of the bat. That bag appears to contain a small amount of marihuana and the two knives are an illegal length. While carrying those knives on your own property isn’t a problem, ridiculous as it seems the State limits the length of knives that can be carried in public. Also the State’s laws about marihuana seem old-fashioned but I can assure you they take procession very seriously. Give me your full names and let’s make sure I had the right background checks run. Dad you’re first.”

“My name is James Xavier Mackmann. 223 Euclid St. these are my boys Richard Austin Mackmann and Hunter Tyler Mackmann.”

Fuller looked at the man standing in front of him. “Good. Let’s get down to it. Tim told me there was a dispute over a deer and one of the boys went to unsling his rifle which I might add is another violation of State law. Hunting without a tag and not using the State minimum caliber which is greater than .23 inches in diameter and a cartridge case greater than 1.280 inches in length. Now if it was me and this was my property we might go a different route but here’s the dealio. Tim is a good enough friend of ours that if he said let’s just shoot them and plant them we’d be fine with that. So here are your options.” Fuller paused and pulled a map from his pocket. He set it the hood of the nearest Suburban and gestured for the men to walk over to where he stood. He waited while they moved toward the truck. Then he placed magnets on the corners to keep the wind from blowing it away. He pulled a compass from his pocket and began getting their exact location. “Jimmy I know you were a Marine so I trust you’ll follow this.” Fuller pointed at a spot on the map. “So here’s where we’re at and here is your place. I make that distance almost a mile. Let me be very clear, if you come within a half mile of this place or threaten or mess with Tim or anyone from this property then we’ll be back. The next time we come back there will be blood and pain for you.”

Jimmy stood chaffing at the flex cuffs binding his wrists. “Can you point how far this way we are allowed to come?”

Fuller studied the map and pointed to a spot almost exactly between the two properties. “Right there. That’s how far you can come. If it was me I’d stay well on the other side of that line so that there isn’t any confusion in the future. Jimmy I’d ask that you make sure the boys understand that this is no joke and respect that boundary as if their life depended on it. I’m leaving a guy here for a while and if there’s a problem that would be bad. Are we clear?”

Jimmy looked at Fuller. “Mr. X we understand. Boys apologize to Mr. Fields and we can be our way.”

Both young men looked at the ground and repeated at almost the same time. “Sorry Mr. Fields we were out of line.” It was clear that they had some experience with apologizing for something they had done.

Tim looked at the two young men now that their heads were lifted and looking at him. “Forgiven, but never forgotten. You boys need to be more careful about who you threaten in the future.”

Fuller looked at the boys and determined that they might have learned a lesson but doubted it. Their dad’s influence would determine how this played out. “Cut them loose. Boys get that deer in the truck I need to speak to your dad a minute. I’m keeping the rifles for now. Next week I’ll call your dad and if he thinks you boys understand the seriousness of this situation they’ll be returned clean and checked out by a qualified gunsmith.”

Mongo cut the men loose and the boys went to grab their deer and load it in their truck. Tim and the three men Fuller had brought with him drifted off to let Fuller and Jimmy have a private word.

After Fuller determined that he and Jimmy were out of earshot of the others he leaned toward Jimmy. “Jimmy I sorry to hear that you’re a widower. Must be hard trying to raise two boys that age. I checked and your boys are in excellent health and haven’t had any run-ins with the law that would prevent them from serving in the military. Ever thought of encouraging them to enlist and spent some time serving their Country like you and I did? A few years in the Marines might do them a world of good.”

Jimmy rubbed at his wrist as he answered Fuller’s question. “Every since they were little I taught them that serving in the military is a good thing. But I know people whose kids have kids that have had to do multiple deployments and it was really tough on the families. I was waiting for thing to even out and the number of deployments to decrease. Between the PTSD and the brutal IED injuries at seemed better to wait than to go in too early.”

Fuller nodded agreeing with what Jimmy was saying. He had seen enough broken bodies and messed up lives to last a lifetime. While fighting overseas the thing Fuller did worry about wasn’t being shot it was the effectiveness of the IEDs that had injured 1000’s of US military personnel. ”Listen Jimmy I spent a few years over there in the Marines and another 2 years working for a PMC doing convey escort & security work and you’re right it was dangerous but it seems the boys are in need of some direction. I’ll give you a number for a friend that can help them get in and get a real chance at a MOS that will be useful after they’ve served. The right training can make a big difference for them after they get out and shape their lives. From what I was told it seems that they are both a little hot tempered and have poor manners. I wasn’t kidding when I said that some guys would have shot you dead instead of looking over their shoulder for the rest of their life. If it was my ranch I would have had to think about what to do and most likely I would have beaten my point into you and took my chances. Back home I have a relationship with the Sherriff and the Head Judge that is over our County so I wouldn’t be worried much about getting in trouble. But no one appreciates being threatened and I know that includes you so let me say that I’m sorry that I disrespected you in front of your boys and hope we don’t have any further problems.”

Jimmy looked up at Fuller again. Jimmy was confused that the man that had showed up with three other men dressed for war had not only offered to help him and his sons. To make matters more confusing Fuller had apologized for disrespecting him in front of his sons. It almost looked like Jimmy had a tear in the corner of his eye as he replied. “Those boys miss their mother something fierce and I can barely keep them in check. Every single day I worry that I’m not doing right by them and keep hoping that a solution will present itself. I hadn’t thought about the military for them in a while. Maybe it’s time for them to grow up a little and let them take their chances. Teenagers what can you do? Every time I think I’ve figured something out something else comes up to knock us down. Not to mention the drama that’s going on with my grandchildren’s mothers. Both those girls are bad for the boys but they keep breaking up and getting back together.”

Fuller nodded at Jimmy’s comment. He didn’t have kids but while serving in the Marines he had been responsible for countless young men and woman trying to find their way in the world and they could often be challenging. “Jimmy, you just do the best you can and hope what you taught them takes hold before they do something that cannot be un-done. I was a Sergeant when I was in so I have some experience with very young men and they can be a handful at times. But, if you want my hand in friendship then I’m willing to invest some of my time to see that they have a few extra opportunities. Tim told me the boys couldn’t get tags because they have past due child support. Maybe the military can give them some maturity and help them get that issue taken care of?”

Jimmy stared at the ex- Marine. “Thanks for the break and the help. I’ll take that contact information and gave that guy a call.”

Fuller almost smiled. “Semper Fi Marine. Oh, and that guy is a woman.”

Jimmy did smile. “Semper Fi.”

The deer had been loaded and the three piled into the truck and were gone. After the truck pulled out Tim noticed that the aluminum can had been picked up and they had taken it with them. All that remained as a reminder of the incident was a small blood stain on the side of the ditch.

Fuller moved toward Tim. “Well let’s hope that is the last of that. You did the right thing by calling me. Overseas we had times that we needed to convince the locals that working with the enemy would result in their death. I’m pretty good at it. Because of the language barrier over there we relied heavily on non-verbal communications to let them know we were serious. If being held at gunpoint by one man was intimating at all imagine having the 4 of us hop out of the trucks dressed the way we were. I think Jimmy will talk to the boys and make my point. You might want to keep an eye out for awhile just in case.”

Tim nodded glad that his weapon was back in its holster where it belonged. “Fuller I’ll be keeping an eye out for the rest of my life. Better safe than sorry. I hope they got the point. Now I have to explain to my wife what happened and hope she understands.”

Fuller nodded at the man standing beside him. “She’s smart she’ll understand. Tell her if she ever gets worried about something that we are a team and if we can help we will.”

Tim shook the hands of each man that had come to help him and walked toward the house.