Chapter 2
Los Angeles
Golden West Lounge
Spring Street, west of Broadway and 5th
1:58 a.m. Pacific/4:58 a.m. Eastern time
There wasn't a place to park for blocks, near the crime scene, between the multitude of LAPD cruisers and unmarked vehicles, plus those driven by agents from the FBI, Homeland Security and NSA. And the dozens of LAPD officers and federal agents, plus the team from the Los Angeles City Medical Examiner's office, around the Admiral's body.
Detective Sgt. David Gabriel would have to make himself a parking place.
He pressed on the horn of his car; each time, a few more people in the crowd gave way.
"Ooooohhh. Sgt. Gabriel, can't you make this thing go any faster?" complained his passenger, Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, head of the LAPD's Priority Homicide Division.
Gabriel had his right hand on the steering wheel. His left arm was stretched out the window, hand holding his badge.
"At this rate, Sgt. Gabriel, we'll get there right at dawn!" said Brenda, half-whining, half-fuming. "Of all the people to get killed, it had to be an Admiral of the Joint Chiefs...can't you blow your horn or something?"
Gabriel paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and exhaled.
"That's all I've been doing, Chief," he said, blowing the horn yet again. "To be honest, this may be as close as we get."
Brenda took her purse and checked to make sure her sneakers were there. Then - with Gabriel driving at five miles an hour - she opened her door and jumped out.
"Chief...Chief! CHIEF!" Gabriel shouted, bringing the car to a stop. Brenda kicked off her heels, and began to put her sneakers on. "Chief, wait. What are you doing?"
"Sgt. Gabriel," Brenda said, "it's two in the morning, our crime scene is just a couple of blocks away and I don't want to sit here all night trying to get past the FBI and who knows how many other people from all the federal agencies! I'm better off walking. And so are you."
Gabriel thought of talking her back into the car, then thought better of it. She'd do whatever she wanted.
"You should just park here too, Sgt. Gabriel. You aren't going to get any closer."
She's right about that, he admitted to himself. He put the car in park, walked over and closed the passenger door, locked it and jogged to catch up to Brenda, who was already in full stride.
They breezed past three rows of LAPD officers and, a half-block from the scene, saw the rest of the Priority Homicide team; they took a few more steps before two FBI agents stepped in their way.
Gabriel held up his badge and ID; Brenda stood there, impatiently.
"Hello, Brenda," said her ex-husband, FBI Special Agent Fritz Howard.
"Hello, Fritz," she said. "So nice to catch up, but I've got a crime scene-"
"ID and badge, please, ma'am," said the other agent, Ron Sacks.
She started to move past them; Gabriel gently put his hand on her arm, drawing himself a glare.
"Protocol, Brenda," Fritz said, politely and firmly. "Everyone has to abide by it, including LAPD, and including deputy chiefs. Even Chief Pope-"
"Acting Chief Pope," Brenda retorted.
"-'acting' Chief Pope had to show his badge, and yes, he's here," Fritz said to Brenda, before turning to Sacks. "They're good."
Sacks nodded, then took up his position, allowing Fritz to accompany Brenda and Gabriel to the crime scene.
They made their way to the scene, lit with temporary lights provided by the FBI.
The Priority Homicide division detectives were examining the scene or waiting for Brenda.
Kendall, the coroner's investigator from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's office, continued to examine the body.
The lead agents from the Los Angeles offices of Homeland Security, the NSA and the FBI were either watching Kendall or one of the detectives work while "Buzz" Watson, the division's civilian surveillance coordinator, filmed the crime scene.
Will Pope, the acting Chief of Police, stood next to Kendall, saw Brenda, and motioned for her to come over.
"Will, if there ever was a priority homicide or a major crime, this would have to be it, wouldn't it," Brenda said, as she looked at the body of a man, in full Naval dress uniform, lying in a pool of blood. "Someone tell me who this gentleman is and what happened to him, please."
Pope nodded to one of the detectives to speak, but it wasn't Lt. Louie Provenza, Brenda's third-in-command, behind herself and Gabriel.
This was Captain Sharon Raydor, head of the LAPD's newly-created Major Crimes division who, in Brenda's opinion, was a thorn in her side, her foot and her backside.
The ranking NSA, Homeland and FBI agents on the scene watched very closely as Raydor debriefed Brenda.
"This is William Horatio Nelson, four-star Admiral, United States Navy, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff," Raydor said. "The Admiral is an Oceanside native and had business-"
"Classified business," interjected Homeland agent Charles.
"—excuse me, was here on business of a classified nature. He stopped here at the Golden West Lounge for a late dinner. He was found by a passerby in this alley, approximately 1:05 a.m., an hour and a half ago."
Raydor nodded towards a young man 20 yards away, with three FBI agents standing beside him.
"Our witness says he shined his smartphone on the victim, saw blood and the hole in his forehead, and ran into the restaurant to get help. The assistant manager called LAPD, and a friend of hers who worked for the NSA," Raydor said.
"That must be how our friends from every federal agency found out about the Admiral, and got here before we did," said Brenda.
"The NSA called me," Pope clarified. "I spoke with Agent Martinez, who heads the FBI here in Los Angeles, and convinced him we needed to be involved."
Brenda looked at the hole in the Admiral's forehead, then at the brain matter and blood on the ground. "This bullet wound looks familiar...Detective Sanchez...Detective Sanchez!"
"Here, ma'am," replied Detective Julio Sanchez. "Just like New Year's Day in East L.A."
Brenda groaned.
"A very enjoyable day," Provenza said, sarcastically. The case involving the so-called Raider and Ram gangs lasted nearly a month, and added to Brenda's troubles with both the LAPD - specifically Raydor - and the district attorney's office.
"One which none of us want to revisit unless absolutely necessary," Raydor said.
"Detective Sanchez, I hope this isn't the work of the Raider or Ram gangs," Brenda said.
Sanchez motioned for Kendall to step aside, and kneeled next to the victim's head.
"As you see, Chief," Sanchez said to Brenda, "there's a clean entry in the forehead. Now look here" - he motioned for her to look at the back of his head - "and you'll notice, without moving the skull, signs of a much larger exit out the back of the forehead."
"Detective Sanchez. You're saying the Admiral was killed the same way El Jefe was killed on New Year's," - said Fritz, referring to the leader of the Raiders.
"It's the same M.O.," Sanchez continued. "The entry and exit wounds in El Jefe's head were like you see here with the Admiral. I bet the bullet will be the same too."
Brenda looked down the alley, past Sanchez, and saw her newest, most loyal-after-Gabriel detective, Amy Sykes, approaching with a small bag in hand.
"Chief Johnson, I found Sanchez's bullet," she said, enthusiastically.
"You don't have to be so happy about it," shot Provenza.
"Enough," Pope snapped. "Detective Sykes. What do you have?"
"A .308 round, likely from a Remington M700," Sykes said. "Also known as a Bravo 51-"
"The same sniper rifle used to kill El Jefe," Sanchez said.
Brenda looked around, at the adjacent buildings, and at the alley, silent, gathering her thoughts - to the frustration of everyone else.
"Chief Johnson," said Raydor, "what are you doing?"
"Chief," said FBI agent Torres, second-in-command in the Los Angeles bureau, "we need to talk."
Brenda shooed them away, to Pope's exasperation.
"Do you see something, Deputy Chief Johnson?" Pope asked her.
Brenda turned around and pointed to Sanchez. "Detective Sanchez-"
"Excuse me," Torres said, pointedly. "We need to discuss a matter-"
"When I'm done," Brenda said, dismissively. Fritz rolled his eyes and went to his superior in an effort to calm her down, as Sanchez made his way next to Brenda and Gabriel, with Pope, Connelly and Charles following right behind, and Raydor observing from a short distance.
"The shooter would have had to been in that building" - Sanchez said, pointing to a 12-story building across the street, "shooting from a window on a floor with a clear line of sight. I'd say it was the fourth floor."
Sykes pushed past Gabriel - to his surprise - and put herself next to Brenda. "As you know, Chief Johnson, I served in the military, and had some sniper training," she said. "The angle of the shot would suggest the shooter was on the eighth floor, possibly the seventh."
"And you guessed this off the top of your head?" Gabriel asked her, annoyed over her persistent exuberance and ass-kissing.
"Detective Sykes, I'm inclined to agree with you," Brenda said, with Sykes smiling and Gabriel rolling his eyes in response. "Now, Agent Torres, you said you wanted to talk-where are Lieutenants Flynn and Tao?"
"Across the street," Provenza said. "A woman said she heard a shot across the street, and Flynn and Tao went with a couple of FBI agents to check it out."
"Thank you, Lieutenant Provenza, and Agent Torres, you said you wanted to talk?"
"Yes," she said, slowly growing pissed.
"Well, we can start by having your agents help Lieutenants Flynn and Tao and Provenza, and Captain Raydor if she's inclined, go check out every room in the building-"
Pope held his hand up to stop Brenda.
"-and see if we find any sign of this shooter-"
Pope moved his hand over Brenda's face.
"-and Sergeant Gabriel, we'll need to pull security camera footage-"
Pope moved his hand - and put his face - in front of Brenda's.
"DEPUTY CHIEF JOHNSON," he shouted. "Before you delegate responsibilities to your team - and superiors - you, Agents Torres, Connelly, Charles and I will confer about this case. There are facts you need to be aware of which we need to discuss in private."
Brenda paused, looked at Gabriel and Provenza, then Sykes and Sanchez, and Buzz, then at Raydor. "Y'all wait here, while I meet with Chief Pope and our friends from the federal agencies, to see what's so important. Thank you."
They walked towards a secure tent. Torres ordered Fritz to follow her in.
"What is he doing here?" Brenda asked Torres and Pope.
"Agent Howard is here due to your actions in your last joint case with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service," Pope said to her.
"NCIS? The Special Ops agents? What do they have to do with this?" Brenda said.
"The victim is an Admiral in the United States Navy, and NCIS investigates crimes involving members of the Navy," Torres shot back. "You mean you don't understand why NCIS would be here?"
"Agent Torres, we'll get to NCIS's specific involvement in a second," Agent Connelly said, to keep the discussion on topic and Torres and Brenda out of an argument. "Deputy Chief Johnson. The parallels with the beginning of the Raider/Ram gang war are interesting, and in the opinion of the NSA, not a coincidence. Agent Torres, please."
She took a moment to collect her thoughts.
"The M.O. with the Admiral and El Jefe is the same as in the deaths of a group of NCIS agents seven years ago," Torres said. "All shot in the head, by a sniper, .308 casing from a Remington M70. We think the person, or persons, involved in their murders were involved not just in El Jefe's killing but in several drug-related deaths stretching from Los Angeles to the Florida Keys. And that this person or persons have strong ties to terrorist organizations in the Middle East."
"Homeland agrees, and so does the Agency," Charles said. "We think this is bigger than the remnants of two local gangs."
"There's a terrorist involved," Brenda said. "Alright, but this is still our crime scene."
"No it's not, at least entirely," Pope said.
"Yes it is," Brenda retorted. "At worst this is a joint case but we still have jurisdiction since it happened here in our backyard-"
"I spoke with the director of NCIS a short time ago," Pope said. "He's sending his elite team from Washington here to investigate. Those men and women replaced the people Agent Torres just referred to."
"This isn't the team you, ah, worked with earlier-" Fritz said before Brenda cut him off.
"And what is that 'ah' supposed to mean, Agent Howard?" Brenda replied.
"It means this is personal to these people," Fritz said. "Not because of the Admiral. If his death is connected to theirs, then the Admiral's death definitely is intentional."
"Again, the Bureau and other intelligence agencies believe this may be the work of the person or persons who killed the NCIS agents," Torres added.
"And these agents from Washington are going to want justice, especially if the Admiral's killer did in fact murder their own," Fritz said.
"NCIS is willing to work with Priority Homicide - and Captain Raydor's Major Crimes division - to investigate the crime, and for now the other agencies including the Bureau are willing to let us and NCIS run point," Pope said. "But...if you pull rank, or do anything like you did in the Griffin Park case, they have authority to commandeer the case and take over the investigation completely."
Brenda mused on that for a moment.
"They've been debriefed Brenda," said Fritz, calmly. "Rodeo Drive, Griffin Park. No one here, or there, thinks your actions were intended to harm them but-"
"Not here, Fritz!" Brenda shouted at him. "I didn't kill her, try to kill her-"
"Not intentionally, Chief Johnson," Pope interjected. "Your actions in capturing the killer put that agent and one of our undercover cops at great risk-"
"Will, they knew the risks, and they're the ones who acted without telling me-"
"Chief Johnson, given the profound disagreement over who was to blame during the last fiasco, I want to make sure we're all on the same page," Pope shot back, loudly and pointedly. "You and NCIS will work jointly. If you go off on your own, you and your division will be taken off the case."
"And NCIS will have the full backing of all other agencies in this case regarding any decision it makes, whether to work jointly or unilaterally," Torres added. "This isn't some movie star or billionaire. This is a decorated Admiral, a member of the Joint Chiefs. A high-ranking officer. Understand that though you and NCIS will do the footwork, we and the other agencies will be watching closely and ready to step in."
Brenda looked at Torres, then stared at Fritz, then glared at Pope.
"If y'all are through talking to me like a child," she said, "when are these NCIS agents from Washington getting here?"
"They're in the air," Torres said. "They should be here no later than 6:30, four and a half hours from now."
"Well, that's nice, so let's make sure we throw them a wonderful welcome basket," Brenda said sarcastically.