Intersecting Lines Book 3

56 Backtracking

Los Angeles LAPD Medical Examiner's office

Maura's viewpoint

"Mil-Spec Industries came back on our request about the RDX" Lieutenant Taylor was bringing the Forensics team up to date on his enquiries. "It was from a batch supplied about eleven months ago to the US Army. It was apparently delivered to the Army's Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey, that's a base specialising in ammunition research and development amongst other things" I nodded at his information and replied.

"Lieutenant Taylor, could I please ask you to make enquiries with the relevant Army authorities regarding the disposition of that explosive shipment" He grimaced slightly before replying.

"I already gave them a call, but they pretty much blew me off" Stella Bonasera spoke up to back up her former superior and obvious friend.

"The Army's not exactly known for responding all that well to out of the blue requests on missing ordinance" At our looks she shrugged expressively. "Just saying" I nodded, acknowledging her concern.

"Indeed, fortunately we have someone who they cannot all that easily ignore" I smiled and turned to Jordan Cavanagh who was standing there, listening raptly to the conversation; consulting my phone I copied a number down to a post-it note and passed the number to Jordan with a smile. "Doctor Cavanagh, could I ask you to please call Special Agent Romanov on that number and ask her to stop by at her earliest convenient opportunity" She smiled.

"At once Doctor" As she moved to a phone I smiled at the others.

"I am sure Agent Romanov will be able to chase down our lead promptly" Lieutenant Taylor frowned before speaking.

"Like Stella here said, the Army doesn't take to well to anyone, not even the Bureau, sniffing into their business" I nodded in acknowledgment of his concern.

"That may be so, however in addition to her current role with the Bureau Agent Romanov was formerly a senior investigator with the US Army Military Police, thus providing her with contacts otherwise unavailable" There were thoughtful expressions around the table as they considered my words before Doctor Langston smiled.

"A very useful person to know then" I smiled in return before replying.

"Indeed"

Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes

Brenda's viewpoint

"We got something" Hearing Calleigh Duquesne's words directed to Andy Flynn across their shared desk as I walked past on the way back to my office I diverted course, walking up behind her and speaking up.

"Then would you be kind enough to share your good news detective?" At my voice she turned quickly, blushing slightly.

"Oh sorry Chief" I nodded and made a coaxing motion. "Oh yeah, it turns out Chen Hui-Lee, the cleaner at the Sheraton, had a gambling problem, he was in deep to a bookie apparently" I nodded, that was certainly leverage right there. "The search of his apartment found a pile of horse racing form guides, tickets to the tracks and betting slips at his house so I had Khan go through his financials again and it turned out a fair amount of his pay had been vanishing out of his accounts, withdrawn from ATMs at the tracks on race days"

"Good work detective, you mentioned betting slips, do we have the name of the bookie in question?" She held up a post it note with a name.

"That we do, his name is Jeff Kennett" She waved towards Andy Flynn who took up the tale.

"We found he operates at a couple of the tracks but he has an office in Cypress Park" I nodded slowly as he continued. "As it isn't race day at any of those tracks, I figure he'll be at his office"

"Excellent, Detective Duquesne, if you would be so kind could I ask you to accompany Lieutenant Flynn here when he invites Mister Kennett to join us here in the Parker Centre, I would love to have a chat with him" I got a happy smile and a nod.

"On it Chief" Andy nodded as he rolled his chair back and stood.

"You got it Chief"

With that done I continued on back to my office, to find a peremptory summons up to Will Pope's office, apparently he wanted an update and I was to make myself available forthwith. Grimacing I tossed down my coffee and headed up, resigning myself to a wasted half hour or more.

So it was that 45 minutes later I arrived back, Pope's demands to 'make progress' still ringing in my ears. I understood the man was under pressure from the Mayor's office, bombings in hotels weren't good for LA tourism, but it was like he expected me to mystically conjure up leads out of thin air. The fact that he was facing election later this year just added more urgency to the situation in his eyes, leaving me snorting softly as I headed back into Major Crimes. The sheer number of people working in there still took me back just a little, the place was a hive of activity with people working phones, working on computers or standing around whiteboards making notes and comparing ideas. I did another round of the team, catching up and getting updates before heading back into my office, where a pile of reports and 'urgent' emails awaited me.

Los Angeles Cypress Park

Simmonds silently frowned, watching as Kennett got into that Suburban of his, it was obviously armoured, god knows he'd seen enough to know, back in the sandpit. They'd been something of a status symbol for some of the Iraqi Ministers, well armoured without the negative connotations of a Hummer, stupid given they were both made in the USA but he'd given up trying to understand the ins and outs of politics in that miserable hell-hole. Anyway the run flat tyres and the obviously refitted heavy glass windows were a dead giveaway.

The older guy and the attractive blonde women in suits who climbed into the equally obvious unmarked Crown Vic that then followed the Suburban as it pulled away just screamed cops; I mean who the hell else drove one of those old clunkers now?

It meant the cops had moved fast, a lot faster than he expected to be honest, plus given Kennett travelled everywhere accompanied by two guards and the driver, he'd have to change his initial plans. His initial thought had been to get under the car while it was parked and place a bomb with a radio detonator and boom, no more problem, Simmonds liked explosives, they tended to do the job and he was a big believer in the old saying; 'there's no kill like overkill'.

Unfortunately Kennett kept it garaged inside that fortress he called an office and the driver stayed with it whenever the car went anywhere. Simmonds sighed to himself as he drove off, already junking that idea and looking for an alternative. The issue with dealing with justifiably paranoid people was that it made getting to them that much harder. Not impossible, just difficult, a tougher nut just required a bigger hammer. With that in mind he turned his thoughts to procuring that hammer.

Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes

Brenda's viewpoint

The bookie, Stephen Kennett, was sitting across from me and, contrary to both my expectations and experience, was being very helpful.

"Yeah, I sold that mark a month or so back" I nodded as he continued. "Hui-Lee was into me for just over 20 thousand, I was pushing him to pay up but he was having trouble, I guess cleaning hotels doesn't pay too well. Anyway this guy, calls himself Dan Brown, calls my office and tells me he's a friend of Lee's and wants to pay off the debt" He shrugged. "I said sure, come on down and talk"

"Describe this man please" It was Caine, sitting next to me.

"Tall, fit-looking black guy, well dressed, slacks, blazer, polo, no real accent y'know" I nodded, seeing Caine do the same as he took notes. "He wanted to meet at a café but I insisted he come to my office, safer y'know"

"How so?" Kennett shrugged nonchalantly, obviously at ease here.

"I'm a bookie, there's lots of people out there who owe me money, a lot of money in some cases and some of them think killing me will make their problems go away, I've had a few close calls over the years so now I play it safe y'know, security guys, bulletproof car, decent security at the office and given I live above my business anyone who wants to take me out has to work hard to get to me" I nodded and spoke.

"I understand Mister Kennett, you were telling us about this man…" I coaxed.

"Yeah, he complained about it but he wanted something from me so he had to play by my rules" He shrugged. "Said he was a friend of Lee's, wanted to buy him out which I didn't believe for a minute…he wasn't paying off the debt y'know, he was buying it" Kennett pulled a face then continued. "He bought the debt for fifteen, I was happy to sell it for that, it got Lee off my books and I'd told him I wasn't taking anymore bets from him, he'd just rack up more debt he couldn't pay back" Caine and I exchanged a glance as he took up the questioning.

"If we ask you to sit down with a sketch artists do you think you could remember this man, the one who bought the debt" Kennett shook his head then smiled.

"I can do you one better, how would you like pictures?" I nodded carefully, keeping my hopes under control as I played it cool.

"That would of course be very helpful Mister Kennett" He nodded easily in return.

"Yeah, I have a lot of camera's around the outside of my office, easy to see they're there and that keeps the local gangs away, but there's also a lot of them inside watching my employees, some of them are visible, some not, y'know?" I nodded as he continued. "The ones in my office though are hidden, real well hidden" He smirked. "This Brown guy was looking for them, I could tell, but I paid good money to have them invisible, including the ones in the front of the desk so I can give you some nice shots of the guy's face"

"We'd appreciate that sir" Caine said as I backed him up.

"Mister Kennett, you have indeed been very helpful" He shrugged casually as he replied.

"You guys aren't giving me any grief, plus the local cops have always been good when I've had any issues at my office y'know, so yeah, not a problem" He leaned forward. "Besides, when a pretty blonde detective knocks on my door and asks me to come down town for a chat all polite like, why not" He suddenly grinned. "She even said please, and besides, I'm a total sucker for a southern accent" I saw Caine frown at Kennett's statement, making me wonder about his issues even as I smiled politely and amped my accent right up, laying it on thick as I could.

"Why thank you Mister Kennett, thank you very much indeed, the LAPD, and I personally, are very, very grateful for the help you've been kind enough to extend to us today" I got a chuckle followed by a shake of the head in return.

"Now you're just teasing me"

Los Angeles Malibu

"We have a problem" Simmonds stated down the phone, drawing a frown and a question from Wynter.

"What problem?"

"The cops grabbed the bookie, Kennett. He doesn't really know enough to say anything, all he's got is an alias and I tried to avoid any cameras but the fact the cops got so close so quick is…disturbing" Wynter nodded unconsciously before replying.

"Well, we did kick open a hornets nest, going after the cops here on LAPD turf; it's not like our usual"

"I did learn something fairly interesting though" At that Wynter sat back in his chair to listen, Simmonds had very good instincts; they'd kept him alive in a dangerously unforgiving profession for over two decades.

"Yeah?" Simmonds gave it to him straight.

"The cops aren't dicking around over this, they've assigned it to their Major Crimes team" Wynter frowned, that rang a bell, he thought it over for a few seconds before replying.

"Isn't that those lesbians who caught the bent cops working for a Mexican cartel last year?"

"That's them" Simmonds paused then continued. "Remember that street ambush and shoot out here about six, seven months back?" Wynter nodded, he remembered all too well, it had reminded him way too much of Iraq.

"Was that them?"

"Yeah it was" Simmonds confirmed. "They're apparently investigating this job" Wynter grimaced, he didn't want to get into a war with the LAPD, it was bad for business, something he conveyed to his friend.

"Make sure you bury all the loose ends as deep and as quick as you can, I don't want those cops, lesbian or not, sniffing anywhere around our operations"

"You got it" At Simmonds confident reply Wynter nodded to himself and changed the subject.

"What about the bookie?" Simmonds was cool.

"The cops will release him because he really doesn't know much to tell them, nothing they can hold him on or charge him with so when they do let him go we'll take care of it" He paused then continued. "I've tapped John Phillips, you remember him, we worked with him in Basra?"

"I remember him" Wynter replied. "You thinking of using him?"

"No, but he runs a plumbing business so I've paid him for his van, we're going to use it as an ambush vehicle, we're converting it tonight, Phillips will call it in tomorrow morning as stolen, that covers his ass, we use the van in an ambush on Kennett, Phillips gets the insurance money, the cops find another dead end and we're sweet" Wynter thought about it for a few seconds then responded.

"See to it my friend; we want the cops chasing dead ends, not us" Simmonds confidence was reassuring.

"I hear ya man, will do"

With that the call ended, leaving Danny Wynter feeling the first stirrings of real concern.

Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes

Brenda's viewpoint

"I got some info back on that explosive batch that was used in the hotel bombings" I nodded as did several others as Anastasia continued. "Apparently that batch was shipped to the Army's ordinance testing facility and then, according to their records was then transferred out of the unit, apparently for shipping to the Pakistan military as part of a weapons and equipment shipment" She pulled a face. "According to the Pentagon's records, that shipment was delivered" There was an outbreak of frowns at that, mine included at that little piece of news. Caine was the first to speak.

"It looks like at least some got lost on the way" Ana nodded and replied.

"Yeah, I've got calls in with some people I know in the Pentagon; they're going to look into it" She waved her cell phone. "I'll let you know as soon as I hear something"

"Do we know how much RDX was in that batch?" asked Kate Beckett, getting a shake of the head.

"Apparently some 25 kilos, but some of the paperwork's missing so I've asked my contact in the Pentagon to chase that up too" She pulled a face. "I'll let you know as soon as I have anything" I nodded.

"Do we have an idea of how much was used in the bombings?" I asked, getting interested looks at that rather pertinent question. Maura leaned forward and spoke.

"That is an excellent question, so I have asked Doctor Brennan to look into that very matter" She looked three places down the table and smiled. "Doctor…?" Brennan nodded and leaned forwards, her face lighting up as she opened a file, I'd tagged her as a lot like Maura, a genius who loved learning new things and sharing that knowledge, I'd thought Maura was unique but from what I'd seen Brennan wasn't far behind her.

"Thank you Doctor" She looked around the table then down at the paperwork. "We have conducted extensive analysis of the damage done to each of the rooms and cross referenced that with the literature from the manufacturer regarding the efficacy of RDX. Initially we believed we were looking at approximately 1000 grams of RDX per bomb, however following a discussion with a specialist with the Bureau that Agent Romanov was able to put us in contact with, it would seem the directed nature of the explosion would, if done right, require less explosives" I frowned even as Taylor leaned forward.

"How much less?" Brennan acknowledged his question and looked down, obviously confirming the figures before speaking, another person for whom being accurate was a defining trait.

"Our estimation is somewhere between 500 and 600 grams, perhaps slightly less given the directed nature of the blast" She looked around the table. "That is still some three times the amount of explosive contained within the US Army's standard anti-personnel hand grenade, the M67" There were widened eyes around the table before Bonasera spoke.

"And there's 25 kilos of this stuff missing, Jesus" I nodded slowly, equally appalled, just hiding it better as Brennan nodded.

"I agree, it is concerning. I have spoken to the bomb squad officers who are attempting to defuse the device that was recovered from the Sheraton, they agree that the quantity of RDX contained within the device is in that range" She grimaced. "They have identified three separate anti-tamper devices of the bomb, and believe they have deactivated two of them, they will be attempting to render it safe in the next few hours" I nodded.

"Please keep us informed Doctor" I got a nod in return as I looked to Mendoza.

"Detective, how is the missing persons matching going?" I got a small frown.

"Khan's confident he can pull it together, it's just refining the search to exclude stuff that's not relevant, plus avoid what he's calling false repeat positives" She got several frowns before Jane asked the question.

"What's a false repeat positive?" I held a smile in at that, glad someone else had asked, saving me from having to. Mikki nodded and launched into an explanation.

"The system tripping over a missing person in New York, then also assigning another case to New Jersey when they provided assistance on the New York case, then again when the Feds got involved, if were not careful the same person might turn up four or five times, overstating the numbers and making a big job much worse" I nodded, her explanation made sense as she gestured towards Taylor. "Like that woman Connolly you mentioned yesterday, she turns up in Atlanta where she vanished, then again in New York when you were looking for her there and finally in Bureau records when they opened the case because it was transport across state lines, so three hits on the same case"

"Ah got you" Jane said as a few others nodded while I got us back on course.

"How long do you think before you start getting leads detective?" Mikki looked to me.

"Khan said by tomorrow morning, given how good he is at this stuff I expect we'll be seeing matches before lunch" I smiled, both at the news and her obvious support for her partner.

"That would be excellent, please convey my thanks to Detective Khan" I got a nod as I continued. "Depending how many matches you get, you may need more people, so please keep me informed of how you're going"

"Will do"

Los Angeles LAPD Explosives Test Range

"That should do it" stated Sergeant Brett Grimmond. A big bear of a man, he could be surprisingly dextrous for someone so large, in fact one of his hobbies was miniatures gaming, intricately painting armies of tiny figures and vehicles and achieving amazing results, fortunately he brought the same dexterity to the job here, carefully guiding the bomb disposal robot via remote control as its pincers, now replaced with wire-cutters, moved agonisingly slowly towards the wire they had identified as connecting to the last of the anti-tampering devices. They'd made safe two others and hopefully this was the last.

"I don't know who this bastard is, but he knows his stuff" Sergeant Gerry Lopez noted, for about the fifth time. "Gotta be either an EOD like us or military demolitions" Lieutenant Chandler nodded then decided to exert a little order in his team.

"Give Grimmo some quiet guys" The group clustered around the monitor subsided as Grimmond manoeuvred the cutters around the wire via joystick, careful not to touch any other wires with the cutters, finally he was satisfied.

"Here we go…" His thumb pressed the joystick trigger and the blades snipped shut inhumanly quickly as everyone unconsciously winced, but the image remained stable. Grimmond let out a satisfied sigh.

"That ought to do it" There was a restrained round of 'well done's' and 'congrats' before Chandler got them back to business.

Okay, let's get this damned thing inside and on a bench where we can tear it apart" There were nods at that and the group exited the control van and gathered up their gear. They had just turned back when, without warning, the bomb and the robot still perched over it vanished in an explosion. Chandler and his people instinctively ducked but they were, by design, far enough away that no shrapnel reached them. Turning back they could see the robot was a wreck, good for scrap and not much more, while of the bomb there was nothing. Lopez summed it all up.

"Well shit"

Los Angeles Wellington Heights

Simmonds grinned to himself behind the wheel of his rental. The fourth and last fail safe for his bombs was a text message from the inbuilt cell chip, notifying him that someone had cut the last of his anti-tamper devices. The drop in voltage triggered a text to his cell, a string of sad face emoji's. He gave it 30 seconds to try and catch some of the bomb techs in the blast and sent a text back to the bomb and grinned, knowing it had just gone off, hopefully taking a cop or two with it.

He'd learnt demolitions in the Army, seen all the various ways the insurgents had set up bombs and learnt from them, if there was one thing he was a little petty about, it was his bombs, he'd back his skill against any EOD tech anywhere.

Hopefully a couple of dead or maimed bomb techs would teach the rest to not mess with his stuff.

With that he removed the battery from the burner phone and dumped it out the window, then drove off, he'd crush the phone and dump it at his next stop, leaving the cops with one more in a series of dead ends.

Once he took care of the bookie that should leave the local cops grasping at straws, he'd be in the wind and the cops left floundering in the dark, like always.

Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes

Jane's viewpoint

"So this Brown guy…" I began, only to be interrupted by Liv.

"Definitely an alias…"

"Thank you Sergeant Obvious…" I trailed off but she just gave me a grin so I ploughed on. "How did he know someone at that particular hotel owed a bookie and was having trouble paying?" I got thoughtful expressions from Ana, Kate and Liv at that. A few seconds later Kate spoke.

"Looks like we need to talk to his co-workers, see if any of them knew" I nodded and shortly thereafter Liv and Kate headed out as Ana and I turned our attention back to the timeline Kate had put up on the centre whiteboard, noting the last sighting of our suspect at work not long before 9am the morning after the bombing

"So Hui-Lee turns up for work first thing in the morning, long enough to be seen, then vanishes. Why?" I asked, getting a thoughtful pause from Ana before she replied.

"Couple of possibilities, could be he came in to establish an alibi before running, but I doubt it" I nodded.

"Yeah, I don't think so, why come in when he could have bolted long before the bombs went off, given himself an additional 12 hours head start" I shook my head. "No, not likely" Ana nodded and tapped her chin.

"Agreed, so we assume then that wasn't the reason, why would he come in?"

"He maybe didn't know?" We turned to see the New Orleans detective, Stella Bonasera standing behind us with a coffee from the café downstairs in her hand. She looked from Ana to me and continued. "I mean like you said, why give up a much larger head start to come in to work?"

"So he didn't know and came in to work as normal?" I said as I thought it through while Bonasera came round to stand on the other side of me from Ana. "When he gets in he discovers which rooms blew and puts two and two together…"

"And realises someone's played him" Ana interrupted. "He organised the access cards to those rooms, not realising what his friend Mister Brown was going to do" I nodded.

"He was being blackmailed into helping this guy Brown or whatever his name is…" Bonasera nodded.

"Hand over the key cards to clear the debt, which he did, not knowing he was setting himself up as an accessory to murder" I nodded.

"Not until he got in, then realised he was screwed" Bonasera nodded.

"So figure he ran" At her comment Ana thought about it then countered.

"Ran where though?" She looked from me to Bonasera and back. "We've confirmed that he came in to work by bus, we've confirmed his car's still parked at home, how far could he get?" I pulled a face as she continued. "We'll need to talk to friends, family, known associates plus start a TSA check for airports"

"Maybe, maybe not" I broke in; they both looked to me as I explained what I was thinking. "From what we've seen of his financials, he was living pretty much hand to mouth, what he wasn't gambling away he was paying back to his bookie, so it's not like he's flush with cash, plus there's been no activity on his credit cards since before the explosions, and they were pretty much maxed out anyway"

"So he's gone to ground somewhere here in LA?" Ana asked, looking to me.

"Like you said, friends, family maybe" Bonasera added. I nodded then had a grim thought come to me, one I shared.

"There is another possibility" Ana looked to me and spoke up.

"Well don't just sit on it Jane, what?"

"Given the ruthless bastards we seem to be up against, you have to assume he was a loose end and we know what they do to loose ends" Both of them grimaced in unison then nodded as Ana put it into words.

"Shit"