Chapter 24
“Thoughts, Brian?” the director asked when they had settled into his office.
“I think the president is intrigued. Oh, and did you see the general’s face when the president said to put her to work. He’s worried we’re going to get her. But either way, let’s put her to work. I suggest Dr. Chen, Red, and she’s clearly attached to Carmine.”
“Alright, I agree. Open the floodgates and see what else she can do. Any ideas of how?”
“We get requests from all over the country for aid in profiling or analysis. Let’s turn her loose on those cases. Missing persons, murders, big-dollar crime, cold cases, what have you.”
“Okay. Write up a protocol and let’s put her to use.”
Brian did just that, then went to find Red and Chen. They happened to be together.
“Carmine tells us we get to put Cassie to work,” Red said.
“Exactly why I’m here. Here is the outline of my protocol for this experiment. We can modify as we go, but these are my thoughts.”
They both read it through and looked up. “Makes perfect sense. She’s extraordinary, but she’s not a trained investigator, profiler, or forensic expert,” Chen said with a nod.
“Therefore, we’ll let her read through each case and get her impressions,” Red said. “Then we can talk through the case like we do with all cases and find new avenues for the originating office to run down. Hopefully.”
“Perfect. Where is she now?”
“Carmine took her to the range, but they should be back any minute.”
The elevator doors opened almost at that moment and the two people in question stepped off.
Steele explained the idea. Cassie looked at him with a poker face, but nodded. “I’ll do my best. I don’t know all the psychology stuff or criminal law,” she said. “I’ll have to study some criminal investigation textbooks.”
“That’s why you will work with this crew,” Brian said. “As you develop ideas or observations, we will connect with the field office or law enforcement organization that is requesting aid.”
“Okay, what’s first?” Cassie asked.
“Oh, this is highest priority. Missing child alert from Mesa County sheriff’s department, Colorado,” Red said.
“Child missing since approximately 7 PM last night. His house is at the end of a cul-de-sac in Palisade. Backs up to open wilderness. No sign of forced entry. Jason Lockwalter, age five, white, forty-three inches tall, forty pounds, brown hair, brown eyes.”
She handed everyone a tablet and they all scrolled through. “This was an informational alert. They aren’t actively seeking FBI help,” Red added.
“The dads were fighting and then noticed the kid missing?” Cassie asked, backing up a video of a walkthrough of the house on her tablet.
“Yes.”
“Where’s the dog?” Cassie asked.
“What?” Chen asked.
“The wall in the hallway has seventeen pictures of Jason. Thirteen of them have a black lab mix with him. Where’s the dog now?”
“What are you thinking?”
“If my parents were fighting and I was scared, I would seek out my very best friend and protector in the world,” Cassie said. “If they crate the dog, they should check inside it.”
Rose Carmine picked up a phone and dialed a number. “Agent Carmine, FBI. Connect me to Deputy Fraser please.” She glanced at the others and rolled her eyes at the hold music they could hear on the other end. The music stopped and a deep voice came on.
“Deputy Fraser? Hi, this is Special Agent Carmine, FBI. Got your alert on Jason Lockwalter. Question, where is the boy’s dog? Crated in the family room? Anyone look inside the crate… in the back? No? Maybe do that in case Jason is hiding from his parents with his dog? Yeah, I‘ll wait.
“What’s that? Can’t hear over the cheering? Oh, you found him? Excellent. No, anyone could have missed it.” She hung up. “Dumbasses. One down. What’s next?”
Red brought up a homicide case from South Dakota. A body found in a cornfield when the farmer went to till the soil.
Steele pulled Carmine to the side as Cassie and Chen started to talk about the pictures on their tablets.
“How was the shooting?”
“No real surprises. She was raised by Rangers. Agent Dessent loves her.”
“Dessent? He doesn’t like anyone. I’ve never even seen him smile.”
“Well, he did today—twice. Quick, though; you had to be watching close or you would miss it. She shot ten different pistols. Did fine with all of them but had some favorites. He brought out an MP5 and she was clearly an expert with it. Then he got out one in 10mm, and she loved it. She ignored the HK416s because, as she said, she’s shot dozens of them.
She expressed a strong like for the Sig Rattler Sbr that the spec ops people like for concealment.
She handled all the shotguns fine, but unsurprisingly, she likes guns that fit her stature and hand size.
She also didn’t try to impress him at all.
And she shot expert with almost everything. So, of course, he ate it up.”
“Almost everything?” Steele asked.
“She could qualify with everything, but the bigger grips and guns—like the full-size Glocks, Sigs and Springfield Armory pistols—were a bad fit. She did ask to try a Springfield Hellcat, and she did great with it,” Agent Carmine said with a smirk.
“So if she had had to use a borrowed Glock 17, she would be okay?”
“Oh, more than okay. We did a timed course, and the best I could do was tie her. She memorizes the course on the walkthrough. Like perfectly.”
“Impressive and good to know.”
“Yeah, very slick gun handling skills. Nothing unsafe and very, very assured. Her first gun was a standard issue Glock 15 Gen 5,” Carmine said, tapping the same model gun on her hip.
“I had her do the standard qualification drill and you should have seen Dessent’s face when she cleared it with a hundred. ”
“Excellent, Rose. Why don’t you rejoin them.”
Steele stepped away and called the range.
“Dessent,” a gruff voice answered.
“It’s Brian Steele. I was wondering what you thought of Cassie Blake?”
“I’d issue her a pistol right now. Better than most of Hawke’s guys. Very safe too. Get me twenty more just like her.”
“Yeah, I agree,” Steele said. “If I had to arm her under extreme conditions…?”
“I’d probably arm her under most conditions, Agent,” Dessent said. “Now, I’ve got a pile of guns to clean,” he said and hung up.
Steele looked up as he put away his phone, his face thoughtful.