Chapter 21 -- SUTLBIKWAUQBHHYW
Back at the farm, having debriefed Donald and Tommy and having a wait of some
time before a clearer picture of the operation emerged, they stayed busy with
the usual chores. Occasionally Tommy and a girlfriend accompanied Carter and
Jessica over to St. Joseph for a dinner with a more varied choice of
restaurants than was available locally. Carter learned that Donald had
a relationship with a partner on another farm in the area. Apparently they
had been together for a couple of years, but Donald had not as yet revealed
the existence of the freehold.
"They seem pretty serious," Jessica told him, "and Dad believes she will be a
good recruit when the time comes. But for now he prefers to leave it alone.
By the time something has to be done, it won't be a difficult choice for her.
And there are others in the freeholds with family and friends they're close to
but they aren't part of it."
Before long they got the news of a trial date for the subject of their project.
It would be at least six months, and the initial dates usually got pushed out,
sometimes more than once, but they had something to plan for.
Their preparations would include trips to Little Rock, most likely several of
them. They would also have to practice the run from Pittsburgh several times,
to insure it was trouble-free. They decided to gamble on waiting until the
trial was closer before approaching the subject. If he was going to go along,
he would be more receptive once the prospect of going to prison was so close.
But they needed to be sure they could get to him easily, and that meant casing
the neighborhood a few times.
The three of them drove down, Tommy on his bike and Jessica and Carter in one
of the Tauruses. It was a good setup for surveillance, Tommy dressed like the
numerous motorcyclists seen around any given city. Riding a Harley, dressed
in jeans and a work shirt, he was as good as invisible. The old Taurus
likewise blended in, and they were able to locate their target fairly easily.
All they had to do was ask a few people, and soon they had his address.
He lived in a rented house, and being suspended without pay he was probably
not having an easy time of it. In the current economic climate he was most
likely like most people - not much savings and with the loss of income in a
bad situation.
"Wonder if we should snatch him sooner rather than later," Tommy suggested.
"If we got him in say a couple of months, assuming we could set it up that fast.
And there's always a chance he might do something - unfortunate - if he was
desperate. I don't know what that does to a man's mental state."
"It's not good," Carter said. "I thought about nothing else the whole time. And
I thought I would get off."
"It's probably different for everyone," Jessica said, "but I'm fairly sure it's
not good for anyone. The big thing is depression - even if he isn't the type
to be driven to suicide, and that's a possibility, given that the last guy
this happened too essentially got a life sentence. A forty-something guy
going away for forty years - some might consider it."
"If he's in a bad mental state," Carter said, "he might not be able to work with
us. We need a way to assess that - I'm thinking we give him a month or two,
maybe get close to him before that."
"Who does that?" Jessica asked, the three of them already knowing.
Carter and Jessica looked at each other silently for a few moments.
"We've no choice if we're going to do it," he replied.
"So what's the plan?" she asked.
"A lot of driving for all of us," he said. "I wish there were a half dozen of us,
but more people is more potential leaks and screwups. So I guess we look at
an earlier extraction. I get a place here, make contact, start the process.
Evaluate, the see if he's willing. I know cop culture, can get close to him.
If he's convinced, it should be fairly easy for him to stay calm while we're
waiting to go."
"So we go back and wait, a month or two," Jessica said. "Then we move in, you
make contact, how?"
"Tommy, what are your chances of making some contacts here, with people in
that zone, familiar with both sides of the law?" Carter asked.
"You mean ride around on my bike, blend in, talk to whomever? Yeah, I could
probably pick up a good bit of info that way, street gossip and all."
"You might be a good way to get an intro," said Carter. "If you can connect
with him, eventually suggest meeting me, someone who might know a way out."
"You'll have to be careful," Jessica said. "Some of the people you meet might
be undercover cops. Especially asking about our subject. And speaking of that,
we need to get to know him some before we meet him. What all do we know?"
Jessica was looking at her phone.
"First, I guess, his name." Carter said. "What was it? Michael Kucinick, not
sure how that's spelled"
"K-U-C-I-N-I-C," said Jessica. "Let me see, nine years on the force. Age...
here it is, I think. Age thirty-three. I'm not finding any family, no wife
at least."
"Lot of cops aren't married," Carter said, "and for those who are the divorce rate is pretty high. So it's
likely he's not. Anything else interesting?"
"Not much. We know who he is and that's about it. That's where we'll have to
do some discreet detective work."
"I guess most of our time here," Carter said, "once we make contact, will be
working out flight plan, so to speak. When it's time, we want to be away fast and clean.
If we have to dispose of a monitor, ditch it while he's moving and pretty
close to the freeway. And we'll need someone to drive him - I'm thinking
someone from Brave Shield. They should have someone familiar with the area,
and some inconspicuous vehicles."
"So we're going to be here a lot, quite a few long drives," said Jessica. "At
some point you and Tommy will have to be here full-time, rent a couple of
places in the area."
"Are you going to be at home?" Carter asked.
"I should be," Jessica said. "I know it's not optimal, but it's doable."
"That's a long drive, alone. Even a few times."
"I have long drives sometimes," Jessica said. "It's lonely and boring, but
not that bad. I know you worry, I'd worry about you, and I do about Tommy.
But we have something of an advantage. None of us are totally helpless, as so
many people are, and I can take care of myself. I haven't been carrying a
weapon when you're with me because I don't want to risk any problems if we
were to get involved with cops. But when I'm alone I'm always armed."
"I know," said Carter with a grin, "and I'm still going to worry."
Jessica smiled.
"I know," she said, "but kidding aside, I'm at worst four hours from either
endpoint, and I've got triple-A. The only real danger is a breakdown, and we
keep our vehicles in shape."
"Well, it looks like we're going into the waiting phase," Carter said.
Back home, there were a few days of discussions with Donald, along with
preparations for setting the operation in motion. Once they were ready, they
set out for Little Rock, this time in an three-vehicle convoy. An additional
Taurus, identical to the one Jessica used, was driven by Carter. Upon arriving,
they set about renting accommodations for Carter and Tommy, each of the modest
houses a few minutes from where Kucinick lived. There were always landlords
willing to rent a property for a few months, payable in cash and no questions
asked. Once they were settled in Jessica headed back home.
Within a week Tommy had made the acquaintance of the hapless cop, and gave
Carter an assessment of his condition.
"For starters," Tommy said, "as you know he's thirty-three years old, nine
years on the force. Divorced, no kids. Don't know about any girlfriends, or
his other friends. I would guess they'll be hard to find about now.
"He's obviously depressed, and would have to be scared. I didn't do more than
have a couple of beers with him at a bar near where he lives. He seems not to
be having much contact with anyone except his lawyer. Other than letting him
know I recognized him, I didn't pry. I'll try to catch him again in a day or
two - I know he has been going there, shadowed him on a couple of previous
visits before I went in and started a conversation. Seems like a nice guy,
nothing like an unpleasant personality, not obvious anyway. That's about it."
"That seems about right," said Carter. "I know I was depressed and scared,
couldn't get away from it. And it got worse each day, even when I wasn't
expecting to be convicted. As for friends, yeah, they get scarce quick.
There were two or three guys who weren't afraid to be seen with me, the whole
time, but that was about it. I'd guess you see if you can run into him a few
more times, work up to discussing the case. See how realistic he is about the
likely outcome. Then we can see how receptive he is to escaping his fate. I
believe the best way to introduce me is, once he is ready, introduce me as the
guy to see about it."
Carter had a few dull weeks, as Tommy was only seeing Kucinick a couple of
time a week, and was just beginning to plant the idea of flight. Assuming
that they would be under surveillance, Tommy had arranged to meet in an open
space outdoors before he broached the subject. After a couple of times,
Kucinick admitted that he had considered it, but could not see any way to
succeed.
"It's about time to bring you in," he told them. "He doesn't really believe
it at this point, but he's willing to grasp any straw."
"Let's do it soon then," Carter said. "We're a couple of months in already,
and even though they'll most likely get some postponements we need to be ready. How soon can you set
up a meeting?"
"He's ready now, just need to get it set up. What's the best meeting place?"
"I'd like to assume my car isn't bugged - there's no reason to believe anyone
is on to us. But probably we should have Jessica come down, in a car we know
is clean. If we get a commitment from him, we won't need any more meetings.
We set it up and execute when the time is right. All he has to do is follows
our instructions."
"OK then," said Tommy. "Let me know when we're ready."
Jessica arrived in the early afternoon of the next day, and Tommy called
Kucinick to see when he could meet. There was a small park near the bar where
Tommy had been meeting him, and Tommy told him to go there at seven and sit at
one of several picnic tables. The area was mostly deserted in the early
evening, and it would be easy to spot him. They arrived a little early and
saw him as he entered the park, and Jessica drove toward the table he was
headed for. As they came close enough Tommy lowered the window and called to
him. Kucinick came over to the car.
"Let me get out and you ride in the front" Tommy said.
Kucinick complied and Jessica drove over to a parking area with a few cars in
it. The night was warm, and she left the engine running to keep the air
conditioner on. Tommy made the introductions.
"Mike, this is Jessica and Darrell. Jessica's driving, obviously."
The light humor drew a smile from Kucinkck, but not much more.
"This car was driven down from several hundred miles up north, today, to it's
about as safe as anywhere for talking. I'm going to let Darrell brief you."
"Does my name mean anything to you?" Carter asked. "Darrell Carter?"
"I'm not sure. Wait, you were a cop up in, St. Louis I think."
"Right," said Carter. "I guess I was lucky, relatively speaking. In my case,
nobody died. The best they could do was throw a bunch of civil rights charges
at me. Which was enough. Like most of these things now, it was a setup from
the start. Local politics was going to pacify the mob at any cost, aside from
the fact they don't like cops anyway. So it was off to the joint with me,
seven years. It's only gotten worse. There's a couple of guys I know of
doing more than twenty years for doing absolutely nothing wrong. Witnesses
for the accused are intimidated and threatened, evidence suppressed, and
always the knowledge in the minds of the jury of what will happen if they don't
convict. But you must know that."
"Yeah," Kucinick said. "I'd been trying to get a job in a department out in
one of the smaller cities, but there are a lot of other guys doing the same
thing. Funny thing is, I had been talking to a guy over in Conway, as soon as
they had an opening I was hoping for an interview. Too late."
"The best thing is not to be a cop these days," Carter said. "I don't like
to think about it, but we're getting to the point where no no one with a brain
will do it. Especially in the cities, the only cops they'll have will be the
rejects that would never have gotten hired in a sane world. But that doesn't
help you now.
"Without telling you more that this - we are members of a large organization
with considerable resources. We were able to put this team together on short
notice, not just the three of us, but dozens of other operatives around the
country. And at this point, we're completely invisible. But, we have the
ability to get you out of here, to a safe place far away, before anyone knows
you're gone. You'll have a new identity, and they'll never find you. You'll
have to take a lot of this on trust, I know. But we're determined not go let
another cop be sacrificed to a mob of what are little more than animals, if that."
"I believe you're right about what will happen. And I'm scared, I'll admit it.
So if you fail and I get caught..."
"You go to jail and stay there until the trial. That's a chance you'll be
taking. But if you stay, you have only a few months of freedom remaining.
Believe me, you won't get off. You know who the mayor is, the police chief -
he's already thrown you over the side - and the DA is just looking for a scalp.
He'd like to be governor, or be elected to Congress. To these people you're
nothing more than something to be used for their career advancement."
"You say you can't tell me how, can you give me an idea of what I'll be doing?"
"The only thing you'll have to do," Carter said, "is wait for Tommy to contact
you with the go signal. You'll be picked up here, so you should make a habit
of coming here in the evenings every couple of days - not so it looks like you're
waiting for something - just walk around a little and go home.
"When it's time, Tommy will give you the signal. A car will pick you up here,
there'll be a code word so you know. It's not likely to be any surveillance,
but we leave nothing to chance. We'll decide later, but it's likely that when
you will leave your monitor there when we remove it - unless you're under
visual surveillance, they'll assume you're here for a while, and you'll be far
away before anyone notices. You'll be driven to an area outside the city, at
a private runway where an aircraft will land about the time you arrive. Once
on board the plane, you're gone. You can't be touched."
"I'd say there's no choice," Kucinick said. "The worst that can happen is
that I begin doing time a few months early."
"Sounds good," said Carter. "We'll leave you in Tommy's hands for now, he'll
keep you updated.
Carter and Jessica drove out to Brave Shield the next day to organize the exit
plan. Their host of the previous visit, Leroy Thompson, and a few other
members met with them. Leroy selected himself to make the run, accompanied by
another of the group. They would make a few dry runs beforehand, so there was
no reason the pickup should not be smooth. With that settled, they went back
to Little Rock, where Jessica would spend the night before returning home.
After dinner with Tommy, they went to Carter's rental to spend the night.
Sleep didn't come quickly. They were, for the first time, mounting an actual
operation against the enemy. That their enemy was completely unaware would
make it easier, but the war was actually underway. What form it would take
they could not know.
The final part of the operation was arranging the turnaround at Pittsburgh.
Jessica would coordinate that part. Once all was in readiness they would be
waiting at the starting line.