Today’s
excerpt is from How ‘bout Both, Book #3 of the Bader Trilogy. Now knowing who the terrorist is, the
decision of to broadcast that information or not is put to the LAPD Chief of
Police. Enjoy and have a wonderful day.
m.j.
Homer arrived
before Gordon and the Chief. He was
shown the full information on Simmons.
Everyone there talked over the pros and cons of the matter of releasing
the information until those two did arrive.
When they came into the conference room, the Chief gave Helen a
questioning look, which could be interrupted as disapproval. But due to her heroic efforts in helping to
pull Elmer from his situation the previous day, he kept his peace on the
subject. Without showing it, he was less
than pleased to find Homer Spradling there, even though he and Homer had gotten
on well during an FBI investigation of his department the previous year, on
into the current year. He had found
everything the FBI came up with to be valid, so had personally thanked Homer
for his efforts—including the professional manner in which the investigation
had been conducted. He was also aware
Elmer had a habit of working closely with Homer—and, for that matter, with NCIS
Special Agent Gregory Noonan. The thing
concerning him about the FBI being involved in the current situation was he
wanted the LAPD to be responsible, with the public being fully aware of it, for
capturing the man wanted for the horrors of seeing not only two of his officers
killed, but now fourteen civilians.
At Elmer’s
invitation, the Chief and Gordon sat down.
The Chief looked at Elmer and glanced again at Helen. “What do you have, Elmer?”
Before Elmer
could answer, Helen, who had noticed the two glances in her direction, stood
up. “Maybe everyone would be more comfortable
if I left the room.”
Elmer looked at
her. “Sit. Don’t be dramatic. Save it for television. What we have, sir, is probably what Reggie
told you on the phone. We know who’s
responsible for the murders yesterday, but have no idea where he is. More to the point, where he’s likely to be if
we put it out about us knowing. Helen
pointed out she feels this guy is after attention for whatever reason…the call
to her station seems to back that up. If
this is the case, putting his name out will only give us the public to help
spot him, and he’s not gonna hide out.
If wrong, we might lose him.
“On top of all
this, my dear partner, the black-headed vixen over there, pointed out what
better place to make good on his threat to take out still more police officers
than at the funerals for the two already lost.
Reggie and I agree that once the cemetery, or cemeteries, are selected,
we best get some plainclothes types out, combing the area in workers’ clothing,
looking for anyone trying to plant bombs there prior to the funerals. Also, we better have heavy security during
the funerals.”
The Chief
nodded, “I’m in complete agreement on the last.
As to making this suspect’s identity known publicly, I’m not too
sure. But the more I think about it, the
matter of the phone call to Miss Bledsoe’s television station would seem to
indicate this terrorist does seek
notoriety. Do it. I’ll hold a press conference to announce the
particulars on him.”
Elmer
grinned. “Everyone in here, except the
Chief—fingers in ears for a bit.”
With several
chuckles, smiles, and grins, fingers were soon placed in ears…with Maine
needing to bend down a bit to get the finger of her left hand in her left
ear. Then Elmer looked at the Chief. “Sir, we…I…owe Helen. I’d like to give her what we have. Let her break the news about half an hour
before your news conference.”
The Chief curled
up the corners of his mouth, thought a second, then nodded. “Okay—as long as I don’t know about it. Oh, if you can make one of your famous deals
with her to feed her what we want to put out on the funerals…maybe we can get
lucky enough to catch this guy trying for the bunch of us there.”
Helen still had
her fingers in her ears. “Deal.”
Everyone
laughed, most with their fingers still in their ears. The Chief nodded, “Come on, Gordon—let’s let
these people get back to work.”
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