Chapter Eight
A blacked out van drove around back and picked up Marshall. We all drove back to our office. It was a bit of a drive considering Marshall’s condition, but the van was like an operating room.
Turns out the girl's name was Sherry. She was on the phone with her parents on the drive back in the back seat of Mac’s truck. She was doing a good job of emptying the tears bucket.
I’m not sure having all those cars outside our office was any better, but there they were. I was just glad it was late in the evening. There were not that many cars in the parking lot. But most people knew what we did, and all the government cars probably would not shock most of the other tenants in the complex.
I was guessing Sherry’s parents were pulling in the lot, since the Lexus came into the lot screeching its tires. I stuck my head in the door and described the car to her to make sure it was theirs. She nodded, and her eyes got wide. She jumped up and started to run outside. I stopped her. “Let’s make sure it’s them, please. Just please stay with me another minute until we’re sure.”
She looked up at me with sad eyes. “Okay.”
“What is your last name honey?”
“Chafin.”
The car screeched to a halt next to mine. The doors flung open and a man and a woman got out. I looked at Sherry. She never took her eyes off them. “That’s them.” I made her wait another second; I was looking for a second car, but thought I would have enough time to react if I needed to. She ran to them and they held each other for some time. Mac walked up behind me. I’m not sure how our minds work, but he knew it would be better for both of us to watch over her than just one of us. After about five minutes, I thought it might be better if they brought their reunion inside. I walked down to them and asked them to go inside. We set them up in my office. Everyone else was in the conference room, except for the crew working on Marshall. They were still in the van. There were probably ten FBI agents in the room. My confidence had not gotten any better since their arrival.
Finally, after about an hour or so, James had checked on Marshall and he was doing better, but still had some work to be done. He asked Mac and me to join him in the conference room, it felt like being called to the principal’s office. We knew we were not going to be favored, but not by how much.
You could tell who was in charge in the room. It was a rather tall Hispanic looking person. I say that because we both fit the description. Tan, brown eyes, mostly black hair with some gray here and there. Lean build, but it didn’t look like he worked out. It was more like a runners lean. I ran, but more because it was a job requirement. Mac and I spent time in the gym or practicing martial arts.
He broke whatever meeting he was in as Mac and I sat. I sat at the other end of the table and Mac was to my left. He looked at me first and then over at Mac. It was a hard stare at each of us. After he looked at Mac, he looked back at me, never saying anything. I was tired but couldn’t resist. I pointed my finger at Mac and looked back at him, and then Mac did the same. He shook his head, “You guys think this is funny?”
It wasn’t really a question, but I answered anyway. “We pretty much find humor in every situation.” I looked at Mac, he was nodding quickly.
“I don’t think there is anything funny about what has happened tonight,” he said.
“Then don’t just stand there waiting for us to say something. In case you are not sure this is our house,” I said rather sternly.
“My name is Agent Michael Munoz; I am the S.A.C.” He paused, but once he realized we were not going to stand, he pushed forward. “I am not someone with a great sense of humor.” I wanted to agree with him, but thought better of it. “And the only reason you are not under arrest right now is because Special Agent Steel says you might be able to put this case to a close after a long time.” He paused for a time again. I looked over at Mac hoping he might know what was going on. He just shrugged and shook his head. We turned back to Agent Munoz and waited. He would get to it. He was starting to get frustrated with us. “Are you guys with me?” His tone was a little harsh.
“We can multi-task. You have a question for us? Or are you waiting for us to read your mind?” I asked.
“Yeah, what the hell were you thinking? You put three bullets in that guy without even thinking. I should send you both to jail for the rest of your lives,” Agent Munoz said.
Mac usually stayed quite for stuff like this, but for some reason this case was getting to him. “How long does it take? How many girls have to go missing for it to be important? Or are you waiting for them to take someone more important than these girls?” Mac said quietly.
“Are you implying we don’t take these cases seriously? Because I assure you we take all of our cases seriously.”
Still rather quietly, Mac said. “Well, sir, we have been working for two days and have caught up with what has taken you six years to do.”
“You were using our information. Of course you were caught up.”
“And how much farther had we gotten?” Mac asked.
“You shot him!”
“Nothing you were doing was working, so it was time to do something different.”
“Shooting him was all you could come up with?”
“It was in the moment. And it produced results. In two days. Give us more time and we can put this whole thing to bed for you,” Mac said.
“Are you going to work all the sex trafficking cases for us?”
“Not our problem. We are not working a sex trafficking case. We are looking for a missing girl. Sex trafficking is the byproduct,” Mac said a little more sternly.
“So you’re saying you only care about what you are paid to care about?”
James scoffed in the background.
Agent Munoz turned to him, “If you have something to add, Special Agent, now is not the time.”
James took a step forward, “Actually, sir, it is.” Agent Munoz’s face went blank. Probably not used to people standing up to him. “You see, I know Mac. I’ve known him for a while now and I can tell you he does nothing he does not want to do. Yes, he is paid for what he does, but shouldn’t anyone be paid for doing their job well? As a matter of fact, I would bet my next year’s pay they are doing this job for no money.” Everyone in the room turned to us. I didn’t think it was any of their business, but I didn’t want to be responsible for James losing his pay for a year for that thought.
Agent Munoz looked at Mac, “Is that true?” Mac just sat there expressionless. Realizing he was getting nothing from Mac, he turned to me. “Well?”
I leaned over to Mac, “Did you tell him that part?” He just shook his head. I looked in his eyes for a moment. I sat back for a second to think. Looked back at Agent Munoz. “James is right, Sam and I fought about it yesterday morning. We don’t work for our friends, we help them.”
James sat down, he looked tired all of the sudden. “So you are not crazy, you really just don’t care what it takes to get her home.” He smiled a little.
“Very freeing,” I said to James as Agent Munoz looked at me again.
“I’m sure it is. Let me think for a little.”
I got up to make some coffee. Two black with half a teaspoon of sugar. I sat one in front of Mac and sat back down.
“So you didn’t say anything to him?” I asked Mac silently.
“Not about this case, at least nothing you didn’t witness. But we do know each other, so I guess he knows how we work.”
“Maybe soon you could fill me in on how you two know each other.” He grunted. “I worry about you sometimes,” I said.
Even more quietly, Mac said, “As I do about you, brother.”
Agent Munoz stood again. Guess he was done thinking. “If we can get an agent to work with Marshall, we might be able to get to the next level and possibly find out who the next and hopefully the last group are.”
“Can you find someone who looks like Sherry? I mean these guys are real specific in their choices,” I reminded him.
“I’m sure we can at least get close, after all we have a whole academy to choose from,” Agent Munoz smiled.
“You are going to send in someone with no experience to do this. Isn’t that a little risky?” I asked.
“Don’t you worry, we use cadets all the time. We choose some that are almost done so they already have most of their training complete and they are eager to show us how good they are.”
“How will you know how far they are willing to go and how will you get them out in a hurry if need be?”
“We’ll take care of it,” Agent Munoz told me.
“I want to talk to her before she goes in.” Mac surprised everyone with his statement.
Agent Munoz took in a breath. “You don’t think we can our jobs?”
“No, I’m pretty sure you all can do your jobs. I just don’t trust you to care,” Mac replied.
“What do you mean you don’t trust us? We’re the FBI, coming in to save your rear end.”
“There are only two men in this room I trust.” Mac pointed to James and myself. He put some emphasis on trust. We never batted an eye.
Agent Munoz turned to James, “Someday soon you will have to tell me how you know this guy.”
The expression on James’ face never changed. “No, sir, I don’t think I will.” The room went silent. The only noise I could hear was Mac and myself breathing. I was sure everyone else was holding theirs.
“Give me the room,” Agent Munoz said while still staring at James. All the other agents walked out almost joyfully, glad to not have to hear the rest. Mac and I never moved. Agent Munoz turned to us again. “Everyone!” We were still not moving. “I want you guys to leave while I talk to my agent.”
“Are we being arrested?” I asked.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Well, unless you are going to arrest us, we are not walking out of OUR conference room so you can chastise a friend.”
“Now he’s your friend too?” Agent Munoz asked while he pointed to James.
“Mac says he trusts him, that’s good enough for me,” I said. James never took his eyes off Agent Munoz.
Agent Munoz sighed. “James, will you sit with me please?” James had no reaction. Agent Munoz sat, he looked up at James. “Please sit.” He pointed to a chair close to him. James glanced at us and then sat. “Listen guys, I’m not a heartless person. Nevertheless, I am a company man. Which means I prefer to go by the rules rather than not. However, it doesn’t mean I can't overlook some. I realize Marshall is a bad person, but you shot him three times. Even he has rights.”
Mac chimed in, “Tell that to all the other girls. Or to Sam, who is still missing his sister or Sherry for that matter.”
“Mac, can we focus on moving forward from here. I get you are not a big fan of our policies. But I think if we can work together, we can finish this to everyone’s benefit,” Agent Munoz said.
“We can try,” Mac said, spreading his hands.
“Good. James, can you ask Sherry and her family to join us? And ask one of the other agents to check on Marshall’s status,” Agent Munoz asked.
“Yes, sir.”
As James left the room, Agent Munoz turned to us again. “He’s a great agent. I hope he respects me soon as much as he does you guys.”
“It’s not hard to earn, just keep your word and be honest with him,” Mac said.
“Sometimes that’s hard. There are things they don’t always need to know.”
“So tell them that. He is also a company man, he gets that,” Mac said.
“You’re right. I will do better. What about loyalty? How long does that take?” Agent Munoz asked.
“Much longer, but he is loyal to his country. So you do right by it and that should help.”
“Okay.” Agent Munoz took in a breath. “So what about you guys, what’s your story?” The door opened again, it was James with the Chafin’s. They all still had tracks on their faces from crying, especially Sherry. James turned to us again. “We’ll catch up later.” He turned to them. “Please sit everyone.” They did.
The other agent came in and whispered in Agent Munoz’s ear. Agent Munoz nodded, “Thanks, please stay. I have something else you can do for me.” The agent nodded. “Marshall should be fine. They are finishing up with him now,” Agent Munoz said to us.
Patrick Chafin spoke up. “Where is he? I would like some words with him.”
“Mr. Chafin, I realize you might have feelings of revenge, but please be assured he is not going anywhere. And these gentlemen have inflicted much pain on him.” Agent Munoz pointed to us.
“Well, then it’s my turn.”
“Folks, I realize you have been through a lot. However, I don’t want you to try to make thing worse. I want you all together long after this is over. I wanted to tell you myself that we are going to put you in a hotel for some time while we finish up things with this problem,” Agent Munoz said.
“We have a home we can go to. We don’t need your help,” Patrick said.
“Sir, this would be best for now. Think of it as a mini vacation. We want you safe and this is the best way. So Special Agent Brown will be in charge of your safety. He and a small team will get you settled into the Hyatt Place just down the street. Please give him all your phones or any other devices you might have. He will make sure you have anything you need,” Agent Munoz said.
Agent Brown looked a little surprised, but I don’t think the family noticed. “So we don’t have a choice?” Patrick asked.
“Don’t think of it as a choice, just the ability to spend quality time with your family without interruption. Please, Mr. Chafin, go with him. We will have someone take a statement from all of you in a day or so.”
Patrick looked like he was going to put up another fight, but his daughter took his arm as he stood up. “Daddy, please I just want to be with you guys for a while. This sounds good to me.” Patrick was fighting with himself, but looked like he was losing. He looked at his wife. She nodded.
“Okay, but I want updates, please.” Agent Munoz nodded. “Let’s go then.”
The rest of his family stood and walked toward the door. Sherry stopped at the door, turned, and looked at Mac and me. “I just wanted to thank you both for getting me out of there. I hope to be able to talk to you both soon.” We nodded. She turned and walked out with her family.