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“No, sir. I’m just about through here. I’m going to Fort Bragg. As I said before, Secretary Hall wants me to be in on the planning to neutralize the airplane.”
“Miller, where are you going to connect with Secretary Hall?”
“I don’t know, sir,” Miller said and looked at Castillo for guidance.
“I think you should meet him at the airport,” Castillo said. “Even better would be you and Sergeant Schneider.”
“Nobody’s had much sleep. Will you be okay with that, Schneider?” Kellogg asked.
“Yes, sir. I’ll be all right.”
“Okay, then, that’s done,” Commissioner Kellogg said. “Miller and Schneider can bring him up to speed on the way in from the airport. You’re going to the airport right now, Castillo?”
“Just as soon as my sergeant gets here from the arsenal. He may already be here.”
“Okay, let’s get started on hauling in these lunatics and putting in the taps. We may get lucky, despite what Britton thinks. I sure as hell hope so.”
[SIX]
In the unmarked car on the way to the airport, Castillo called Secretary Hall again.
“Sir, I regret the hour but you said I should keep you in the loop.”
“What’s going on, Charley?”
“The commo gear here has been set up and linked with the one in your office and Bragg, so you’ll have it when you get here. Dick Miller and Sergeant Schneider, who know what’s going on here, will meet your plane and be available while you’re here. There’s nothing else I can do here, so I’m headed back for Bragg to meet General McNab. I’m on my way to the airport now.”
“How are you doing with the FBI?”
“The FBI here has sent the photographs and the names of the two Somalians who were here over their net to the FBI office in Tulsa. The SAC tells me they will run them past the people at Spartan right away. They—Tulsa—told him they know the Spartan director of security; he’s retired FBI. So it shouldn’t take much time to confirm these are the guys we’re looking for. It may already have been done. I’ll bet my last two bucks that it’s our guys.”
“We’re betting a lot more than your last two bucks,” Hall said.
“The commissioner decided to bring in the mullahs from the temple to see if we can learn something,” Charley said to change the subject. “He also wanted to tap their phones and was going to start getting the necessary warrants from a judge. I told him we had blanket authority to tap without a warrant. Do we?”
“Christ, you told him that and didn’t know?”
“Joel told me the Secret Service did. Or I got that impression. I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have been.
I’ll take the heat, sir. I thought the taps—as soon as they can be installed—were important.”
“We have a ten-day authority, starting when we tell a federal judge. But we’re required to tell a federal judge first. If we can justify the tap—reasonable cause to believe—to the judge within the ten days, we can keep the tap. Otherwise, we can’t use anything we intercept. You might want to write that down, Charley.”
“Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir.”
“Joel’s on his way over here now. I’ll have him call a judge.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you.”
“What the hell were you thinking, Charley?”
“That we’re running out of time, sir.”
“Well, I can’t argue with that. Call me as soon as you’ve talked with General McNab.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Betty drove the unmarked Crown Victoria up to the Lear, Castillo said, “You guys get on the plane.” He looked at Miller. “And you take a walk, Dick. I need a private word with Sergeant Schneider.”
