CHAPTER 6
"He's who?" Blake Montgomery looked at the three men in dismay. Matt started to explain again. "Yeah I heard you, but how in the hell..." He leaned against the sink. "No wonder you wanted to meet me in the john. Damn."
"Look -who appointed Marquette/Walderson as the bag man?" Houston looked at the other three.
Montgomery spoke up. "I'm not sure. Olivera was the one who put most of the case together from this office but I would think that Harkleroad recommended him."
"Well, did she happen to look into these guys?" Someone tried to open the door and Matt pushed it closed, turning the deadbolt, a curse coming from the other side of the heavy door.
"Good question." The supervisory agent started toward the door.
"Hang on a minute...if we go after her we may not take down the whole operation – especially if she isn't actually involved."
"He's got a point." Gunterson leaned against one of the stalls.
"Maybe we oughta just let this thing play out." The PI looked at the group and then back at Montgomery. "I know any of y'all would hate to think you had a bad apple in the barrel...we need to give her a chance to prove she isn't." There was a general agreement. "And I think I've got a way to make sure that we can pull it off – but I'm gonna need some help."
Back upstairs, Montgomery called Olivera into his office while Mitchell and Chris took Marquette to another office and were giving him instructions on exactly what he should do when he delivered the money that had been secured in a drawer in Olivera's office. While both were gone, Houston picked the lock on the office door as well as the drawer and planted one of the BugBytes tracking devices and left before the agent returned. When Mitchell saw him getting coffee he knew that the job had been completed and returned Marquette to Olivera's office just as she entered it herself. It wasn't long before a courier arrived with more instructions that had been sent to the Kansas City office of XPRS and everyone gathered back in the conference room.
Montgomery read the instructions out loud. "The money will be placed in a backpack and dropped from the right hand side of the third hill of "The Panther" roller coaster at Fantasy World Theme Park. If anyone approaches or interferes with the pickup in any way, the bomb will be detonated over a major US city within one hour." Houston was watching the expression on both Olivera and Marquette's faces: he was the only one who looked worried. The supervisory special agent looked around the room. "Agent Olivera – a backpack is being brought up now. We'll need Mr. Marquette to transfer the money."
She nodded. "What about the tracking device?"
"Mr. Houston will take care of that before the money is loaded." Looking around the room he spoke again. "I don't need to tell you how sensitive this situation is...keep a sharp eye out there." Everyone left the room except for Montgomery, Houston, Marquette, and Olivera. Chris came back a minute later carrying the backpack. "Mr. Houston, if you'll take care of the tracking device."
"Sure." Matt picked it up and looked it over, finally deciding on an interior pocket where he cut a small hole and worked a tracking device inside. "That oughta do it." Sliding the bag across to Marquette, they watched as he nervously moved the money from the boat bag and stuffed the backpack. "Mr. Marquette, I don't believe you'll be in any danger at all; all you have to do is get on the ride and drop it over the side – no problem."
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Unless you don't like roller coasters." He gave the man a smile.
"No, no...love them."
"Good thing."
After the transfer was complete they went down to the parking lot and loaded up, Houston retrieving a baseball cap from his gear bag and changing into a t-shirt with the logo of the Honolulu Manos baseball team on the front and a picture of the team's mascot – a shark – on the back. After donning a pair of sunglasses he joined another agent in a car and they headed out to the park to become "customers" on the ride.
The short trip across town took only fifteen minutes and as soon as he entered the park, the PI and another of the agents who was in civilian clothes as well made their way to a concession stand and eased their way over to the roller coaster. It wasn't long before they spotted Marquette in his suit and tie lining up for the ride and they got in line as well. As they took their seats on the coaster they saw him looking around, a panicked look on his face. Agent Otis Farmer was sitting next to Matt in the train car both men talking about other coasters they had been on. When the ride was started Farmer nodded at the PI as he indicated the earwig that he was wearing. "They just found Harkleroad at home...you were right."
"So now we just get to enjoy the ride, huh?" Houston gave a chuckle as the train lurched. The slow ascent to the top of the first hill lasted about a minute and from there the coaster reached a speed of near sixty miles per hour as it approached the third hill. Marquette dropped the backpack over the side and began craning his neck unsuccessfully trying to keep an eye on it; the gravitational forces of the ride prevented it and by the time the train stopped back in the station a couple of minutes later he was the first one off and dashing down the exit ramp, Houston and Fisher in pursuit of him. Reaching the line of hedges that concealed the backside of the ride he started over the fence and the two men hauled him back down.
"What're you doin'?" Houston had Marquette by the left arm and Fisher by the right. "You heard the instructions – you mess with 'em and they'll blow up another XPRS jet."
"But we've got to get the money back."
"Don't worry – we've got somebody on it." Farmer pulled him toward the exit and both of them began escorting him toward the front gate.
Sweating profusely, Marquette loosened his tie. "I've gotta make a stop." He entered a nearby restroom and while Fisher took up a post out front, Matt quickly circled around to the back catching the man climbing through a window.
"Goin' somewhere?"
"I've got to get the money back!" Jumping from the window sill he tried to make a run for it but was tackled by Matt who pulled out a pair of handcuffs and hooked him up.
"You can't do this!"
"Just did. C'mon – bend your knee...up ya go." Dragging him back around to the front they met back up with Fisher who was now waiting along with park security in a golf cart.
"Thought we might take a nice little ride out to the parking lot. Just remember to keep your hands inside the ride at all times." The agent almost made the comment without cracking up but wasn't quite able.
Back at the ATF office they gathered in the conference room again where SSA Montgomery reminded Marquette/Walderson of his rights amid his loud protests. "Mr. Walderson..." The man froze. "Yes, we know who you really are. We also have Mr. Harkleroad in custody and the device has been secured."
"I don't know what you're talking about. My name is Marquette."
"Your assumed name is Marquette...your real name is Gerald Walderson, Jr. Your dad is the former CEO of Walderson Worldwide." The PI watched as he continued to shake his head. "Harkleroad already told us what happened, Gerald – and we've found his kids. It's all over."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"Kinda put you in a bad spot when someone was giving the wrong instructions for the drop didn't it?" Houston grinned over his coffee cup. "Your real instructions were intercepted earlier before they made it upstairs here. We already suspected Harkleroad was part of it – just didn't know why until a couple of agents picked him up and he spilled the beans. He was supposed to be the one to pick up the money on the drop. If he got caught it would all fall on him, one of the jets would explode, and his kids would be killed when you got back to where you had them stashed. And just so you know...not that you'll ever be using it again – but your FleaBay account was really easy to get into – we found your watch purchases...you bought four of them: one was used on the El Paso package, one on St. Louis, and one on the jet that crashed outside of Marina del Rey. Not that you care of course, but I thought you might like to know that the co-pilot that was rescued died from his injuries a few hours ago."
"This is all wrong."
"Nope." Gunterson spoke up. "We just got your prints from where you broke into the warehouse of Locks of Color...that's where you stole the benzoyl peroxide. Do you have any idea how volatile that stuff is? You're lucky you didn't blow yourself up putting those bombs together. It's tricky to handle with training and in a lab."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Guess you can tell a lawyer all about it." Montgomery nodded to two of the agents who took Walderson out to be booked. "Houston, Gunterson told me you were good. So have you figured out why he did it?"
"Not really. I guess he just wanted to get back at his dad's former competition. Going from a private school in Miami to public school evidently didn't set too well with him."
"If his dad hadn't been more interested in clubbing and cocaine he wouldn't have had that problem." Oakley shook his head. "So if we already knew Walderson was guilty why did you put the tracking device in the money before he put it in the backpack?"
"Extra security. And I placed this one..." The PI pulled out one of the button-sized BugBytes devices from the hole in the backpack. "So if by chance he did manage to get to the money before we did he would remove it...and think that was the only one." After looking through the stacks of cash he finally found the one containing the BB-sized tracker that he had hidden while in Olivera's office.
The female agent had a strange look on her face. "When did that one get placed?"
"While you were in my office." Montgomery spoke up, holding up a hand to as she tried to speak again. "Your attitude toward Mr. Houston and the rest of us made us suspicious, Agent Olivera. Even though you were rude to him, Houston was willing to give you a chance to prove your innocence. You might want to thank him."
"Suspicious?!" She looked at her boss. "How...?"
"You were informed that Houston and Gunterson were on the way here...weren't you the least bit curious why a PI was being pulled into the investigation?"
"I..." She shook her head. "I just thought he was a nosy civilian who wormed his way into this. I've worked hard on this case, sir...having some civilian swooping in trying to take credit for it..."
"This civilian here was asked by Gunterson for help – and it isn't the first time he's helped ATF out. I'm sure it won't be the last either."
Standing and stretching, Matt reached his hand across the table to Olivera. "No hard feelings, Olivera; you're not the first to assume that I was being nosy." He gave her a big grin. "Now if y'all are done here, I really need to get back home. Don't like being too far away right now with twins on the way."
As he and Mitchell started down the hall and were waiting for the elevator with Chris Oakley, Olivera spoke to her boss. "When I was objecting to Houston looking at the bag he said that $500,000 wasn't a lot to him."
"It isn't."
"How?"
"He's worth about $6 billion now." Montgomery laughed as he walked out of the conference room and on down the hall to his office, leaving Olivera to stand with a shocked look on her face.
By the time Houston and Mitchell landed back in LA, it was nearly 9:00 PM and both were ready to call it a day. After saying their goodbyes, the PI drove to the ranch looking forward to a good night's sleep. As he came into the kitchen and reset the alarm he was met by Tilly. "How's it goin', girl?" Petting on the dog for a minute he got a drink and then wandered into the den where CJ was curled up in their recliner asleep as Sheila had her nose stuck in a book.
"I heard you went for a roller coaster ride." The nanny spoke quietly.
"I did. Wasn't very scary though." He walked over and picked up the notebook that CJ had on her lap and glanced down at it smiling. "She's already making plans."
"That's all she's talked about today." She watched as Matt sat down next to his wife and looked at what had been written down.
"You know...Marty was right. She could have done this when she was twelve years old...but Errol was too damn lazy and mean to do it at forty." Tapping his finger on the notebook he spoke quietly again. "A lot of what's here is exactly what she said back then. She knows what she's doing."
"You've sure made her happy."
"She's made me happier than she'll ever know - and more than I can ever tell her."