Chapter 13
Matt flew up the freeway with the lights and siren of the Bureau vehicle blazing. He and JJ made the trip in a little over 10 minutes. They blew into the conference room. "What have we got?" Matt said.
Reid and Morgan looked at them. "Garcia is still digging," Reid updated them.
"Mama will find something," Morgan added.
Matt pointed to him. "Let's hope." Just then their laptops pinged.
"Garcia, what do you have," Hotch asked.
"Blanche Crockett died in 2001 leaving the farm her and husband owned to John Crockett in her will. It's outside of La Valle. That's what took me so long. I've been tracking down John Crockett's background. Until 2000, he didn't exist."
"Which gave him a lot of time to plan his revenge," Rossi said.
"PG, you got a picture?"
"Of course Em; it's from his current DL." The picture popped up.
Tim Dancer took a look. "That's him; Johnny Hodges. Of course, he's aged some but haven't we all. And look at the mark of the top of his left ear. John Hodges got his left ear badly cut in a bar fight a number of years back. We had to back up the Dells PD on that one."
"Garcia…."
"GPS coordinates are flying to your phones, sir."
"Tim, call Mike Daniels. We'll need a search warrant ASAP."
"On it Cob." He left to call Sheriff Daniels.
"Need anything else?" Garcia asked.
"Yeah mama, can you get us a satellite view of the farm?" Matt pointed at Morgan.
"Give me a few." They could hear her fingers flying over her keyboards.
"Garcia, when you get that can you get it on the large monitor we used for the profile briefing?"
"You got it Cob."
"Thanks." The image came up on their laptops. Matt and Morgan took a look together.
Chief Dancer walked back in. "Mike said he can have a search warrant in hand with in an hour. He'll meet all of you at the Reedsburg PD building. He's got to come up from Baraboo, which is the county seat. That will take him about 20 minutes."
"How long does it take to get to Reedsburg from here," Morgan asked.
"About 25 minutes doing the speed limit," Dancer answered. Matt and Morgan looked at their watches.
"Should give you two time enough to do some planning," Hotch said. They went out to look at the satellite image on the large screen.
Matt's cell rang in his pocket. He answered it. "Matt, Mike Daniels here. How many of my deputies do you need?"
"As many as you can spare Sheriff with tactical training and all via cell phone. This guy could be listening to a police scanner. We don't want to tip him off. We'll discuss tactical when we meet in Reedsburg, if that's all right with you?"
"Sounds like a plan Cob."
"Give me or Hotch a call Mike when you've got the search warrant so we can set an actual meet time."
"Sure thing Matt; talk to you in a bit." Matt and Morgan went back to the satellite image. They spent the next twenty minutes pointing out different things to each other of potential danger zones.
Matt's cell rang again and pulling it out of his pocket, looked at the caller ID. "Mike, good news please."
"Judge Werner signed off on the search warrant. My head of SWAT and I are waiting on a third deputy to get here, and our fourth deputy trained in tactical will meet us in Reedsburg. You can't miss the PD Cob; it's right on Main Street. The parking lot is in back."
Matt looked at his watch. 1:30. "Mike can all of you be there by 2:15?"
"Shouldn't be a problem Cob. We'll be leaving in about fifteen minutes."
"See you then." Matt ended the call. He and Morgan walked into the conference room. "We're a go Hotch. We're meeting Sheriff Daniels and three of his tactical trained deputies at 2:15."
"Let's get ready," Hotch said to the team. They all headed out of the conference room door and took a bathroom break. As they returned, the three female agents with their hair pulled back in pony tails, the team pulled out their flashlights, handcuffs and Kevlar from their go bags. When they were in an office setting, most of them choose to put them in there rather than carrying around the extra stuff. Morgan, of course, was the exception.
As they all began to look ready, Matt checked them over. When it came to wearing Kevlar, he was by the book, which Agent Blake found out her first time with the team. She slightly smiled at the memory.
"Agent Blake, your Kevlar is not on correctly." She looked at him. "Your lower neck is exposed." He pointed underneath his own vest. "I get hit here, I'll live." He pointed to her exposed neck. "You get hit there, chances are you die."
"This isn't Vegas and we don't play the odds on this team," Hotch added.
Starting to head for the door, Chief Dancer and the few officers in the office wished them well. "Be careful out there," he smiled.
Rossi smiled. "I loved Hill Street Blues too."
Hotch shook his hand. "Thanks Tim; we'll keep you in the loop."
"Appreciate it Hotch," he smiled. "Clark is on his way here as well." Hotch nodded at him. Matt and Morgan were both carrying their laptops as well.
The drive to Reedsburg in the two Bureau SUVs was quiet until Hotch got a call from Garcia. "Sir am I in time?" she said with a panicked voice.
"Go ahead Garcia," Hotch said, "I'm putting you on speaker. Let me get Emily in the loop." He connected with Emily to get the other vehicle in as well. "Go Garcia."
"Sir and Sir Cob, I've been doing some checking, and some of it under the table I might add."
Morgan in the next vehicle said, "Spit it out mama."
"John Crockett, aka Johnny Hodges has made copious amounts of gun purchases over the last five years."
"How big Garcia," Matt asked.
"Too many sir."
"Any assault rifles," Matt asked, shaking his head.
"None sir; all handguns, shotguns and hunting rifles."
"Shit," Matt said. "Thanks Garcia." He looked at Hotch.
Everyone was heads down on the task that was waiting for them. Morgan chimed in. "Two Sauk county deputy vehicles made a left onto the highway we're on from US 12. They're right behind us."
"Thanks Morgan," Hotch said. They all pulled into the back parking lot of the Reedsburg PD within seconds of each other. A third Sheriff's vehicle pulled in a few seconds later.
As Morgan got out, he said to no one in particular, "The temp and humidity is getting brutal."
Matt looked at him. "Welcome to summer in Wisconsin." He laughed at bit. "I'd love to see some of you here in winter."
Morgan, the Chicago kid smiled as well. "Starting with the Vegas Wonder," he beamed. Matt pointed at him. Reid looked at both of them with his "huh" look. They both just shook their heads as Rossi slightly laughed.
The deputies joined them as Matt and Morgan set up their laptops in the open back hatch of the SUV Matt was driving. Sheriff Daniels made the introductions. "This is Deputy Mark Garnier; he's our trained sniper, compliments of the Marines."
"Semper Fi," Matt and Rossi said together.
"Hoo-rah," he smiled his answer, shaking their hands.
"This is Deputy Adam Pulk," he added. "And this is Deputy Carrie Standingbear; she's my SWAT leader."
Even at a mere five foot six inches, Matt immediately recognized a person that knew her job.
"Can't go wrong with a full-blood Sioux on the job," she smiled.
Hotch quickly made the team introductions. "Agent Taylor is charge of tactical."
Matt shook Deputy Standingbear's hand. "Pleasure to meet you; Matt or Cob works in a pinch," he said with a smile. He noticed all the locals were wearing ear pieces as well. "We need to get on the same frequency as you."
"We've got only the one Cob; through our dispatch system, but it's all ours for this type of operation," Standingbear said.
"We need the frequency," Morgan said. Deputy Garnier gave it to them and Emily and Rossi went to the vehicles to get it dialed in on the FBI radios. Once the two agents did, they all did a comm check. Matt nodded, satisfied.
Matt and Morgan pointed to all of the out buildings on the property that was on the satellite view from their laptops. Matt looked at Deputy Standingbear. "How do you want to play it?" The deputies all shook their head at the technology the Bureau agents had at their disposal.
She smiled. "I've read your resume online and you have more people here to take care of then me. And I know you'll take care of us as well. You call it; I'll back you."
"Team assignments: Hotch, in lead with Prentiss; Morgan in lead with Jayje; Rossi in lead with Reid; Alex, you're with me."
"Cob and me think we should hit the house first, and the garage at the same time," Morgan said.
"Sheriff, you and Pulk along with Rossi and Reid; the house is yours." The four of them nodded. He looked at Standingbear and Garnier. "I want the two of you out here," he said pointing to the laptop, "to be available to come running if we need you." They both smiled. "Blake and I will take the garage. The next biggest worry is the barn. There are too many places to hide in there, trust me. Hotch, Morgan, you and your partners check the parameter for how many doors we have to cover. You do that one as one force. Once we've cleared those three, we'll work from there and pray like hell Hodges is around there. And please be aware, he has an arsenal of firearms. And because of that, this will be a silent entry. No radios, no sirens, no announcements."
"And if he's not," Deputy Pulk asked.
"Then Deputy, he's already out hunting his next victim and we're still behind him," Rossi said.
Sheriff Daniels looked up to see the Reedsburg Police Chief coming at them. "Hey Mike," he smiled. "Tim Dancer gave me a heads up. I just wanted to come out and wish you all the best."
"Thanks, Tony; we appreciate it and the use of your PD." Daniels quickly made the introductions.
Tony Mathias smiled at the group. "Be safe; all of you. Good luck."
"Thanks Chief," Hotch, Matt and Morgan said together. He moved back into the building. Every LEO in the area was itching to catch this guy. But it was Sauk County jurisdiction; and it had to be done by the book.
Matt looked around. "Any questions; please now is the time." The whole group shook their heads. "Let's get this done." They all got in their vehicles and started the drive. Each of the leads of the FBI team was in the front seat of the two vehicles. Their partner was sitting behind them.
-00CM00-
Johnny Hodges fired up the engine to his pickup with the two foot high cover over the back bed. He looked through the window of the cab, almost lovingly back at it. It was where he had killed all of his victims. He pushed the button to open the garage door. He would go to a car wash to get rid of any clue of the last victim, take the time like always to dry the bed out and then go hunting again. This time, its big game he wickedly thought.
When the door rose to the top, he eased the truck out of its stall, having backed it in the night before. While the driveway was long, with the garage on a little knoll of the property, he took a quick peek at the county highway he would pull on to. It was then he noticed the one, and then two, then three sheriff's vehicles cresting the hill to the southeast. He stopped and looked. They were followed by two black SUV's.
Shit he thought. How in the hell did they find me? He threw the truck in reverse, quickly putting it back in while hitting the button to drop the door. He shut the engine off, leaving the keys in the ignition and bolted out the side door he had close, running to his safety zone. Where he would make his last stand. Maybe I can take a few of them with me he thought with a smile. He ran into the old milk house of the barn, pulling out his arsenal.
Sheriff Daniels in the lead vehicle with Deputy Standingbear in the passenger seat slowly pulled up the driveway. Deputy Pulk followed, then Deputy Garnier. They pulled into the driveway area with Garnier keeping his vehicle back a bit. Yet, it gave the two FBI vehicles enough room to get around the deputies vehicles. As Matt pulled towards the milk house, taking a quick look at the barn with Standingbear getting out, a bullet winged by her head. Hearing the rapport of the shot, she dove to the ground. Matt pulled his vehicle up next to her, cut the engine and bolted out, pulling her up off the ground to the safety of the left side of the vehicle. "You OK," he asked. She nodded her head.
Hotch crawled over the console in between the two front seats to get out the left side as well. "The right side is hot," he radioed. "Repeat, the right side is hot." The rest of the team followed his lead.
Matt looked at Standingbear. "So much for fuckin' strategic planning."
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A/N: Hill Street Blues was one of the most astounding cop shows that graced US television IMHO. It ran from 1981-1987. Steven Bocho, the producer was a visionary. I'd like to think he lead the way for shows like Criminal Minds. Anyway, most times, the hour started out with Sgt. Phil Esterhaus doing the morning roll call of assignments. His last sentence to them all: "Let's be careful out there".
My rant on wearing Kevlar is one that I've had ongoing with CM. I know it's a TV show, but really? You wear it that low on your neck? Where is the technical advisor on this? *climbs down off of soap box*
Out buildings on a farm are the garage, barn, storage sheds for tractors and equipment and maybe a chicken coop.
The area is each state in the US is divided up by counties. Each county has a "seat". Each county has one city that has the county sheriff's department headquarters, country jail, courthouse and other official agencies.
A little help for the metric folks; five foot six is 168 cm. Of course, depending on which conversion comes up on Google.