Horns of the Devil - Jeff Trask [02] (22 page)

Thursday, August 11, about 0300

3100 Block of Georgia Avenue, NW

Three MS-13 killed; one is Diego Morales (suspect in #1)

Sniper rifle and NATO rounds; MO consistent with #2, but not same weapon
QUESTIONS:

1. Barrio 18?
   
2. Who else has motive? Ambassador and staff?
   
3. Does Salvadoran Embassy staff have sniper rifles?
   
4. Probably related to #1 and #2
   

“Discussion?” Trask asked.

“I don’t think the 18th Street boys are riding around with sniper weapons and ammo,” Carter volunteered. “But I also don’t think the ambassador is the shooter, even with his son being the first victim in this little war, if that’s what it is. He doesn’t strike me as the type. And for what it’s worth, I did some checking of my own with a contact I have at ATF. The Salvadoran bodyguards for the ambassador are allowed their sidearms. They’re required to register them when they enter the country, and they’ve registered handguns only. They don’t have a true stand-alone building, so it’s not like they’re guarding an enclosed compound.”

“That hospital must have had a nice big laptop beside the bed,” Doroz quipped.

“I had a nice big Polish gopher who knew how to smuggle one in,” Carter shot back.

“One of the time-honored traditions of the Polish people,” Wisniewski said as he stood and bowed. “A natural hobby of a nation without natural borders.”

“What about our pirate friend?” Lynn asked. “Old Eye Patch?”

“He
does
feel wrong to me,” Trask replied. “That, unfortunately, is not my standard of proof in court. He stays on our list of suspects until we can either
prove
he’s wrong, or we can eliminate him as a doer with other proof. If he or any other embassy staff member is involved, we have another problem because we’ll have to deal with the diplomatic immunity issues. At any rate, there may be more than one crew shooting up our MS-13 bangers.”

“If it’s someone from the embassy, what exactly are the diplomatic immunity issues?” Carter asked.

“Depends on the individual,” Trask replied. “As the number two at the embassy, our friend Rios-Garcia would enjoy absolute diplomatic immunity for anything, even including murder. Our only recourse would be to ask El Salvador to revoke and waive his status so that we could prosecute him; otherwise we’d be reduced to asking State to declare him
persona non grata
and send him home.”

“And State means Murphy,” Doroz added. “He’s sitting on the Central American desk.”

“Exactly,” Trask nodded. “I’m not sure we actually have a friend in court with Mr. Murphy.” He grabbed another sheet of paper and more pushpins.

Wednesday, August 17, 0216

Two MS-13 dead in drive-by shooting at Car Wash, 2110 Bladensburg Rd,

SKS Norinco AK knock-offs, 7.62x39 steel core ammo

1. Barrio 18?
   
2. How did shooters know of MS-13’s new location so fast?
   
3. Related to #1 thru #4? How?
   
4. Different Mos to #2 and #4—no sniper rifles used.
   
5. Evening of same date—MS-13 bangers arrested in attempted retaliation
   raid.
   

“Thanks for not putting me asleep at the scene on that one,” Carter said.

There were a few chuckles.

“No problem, Dix. Thoughts?” Trask asked.

“Round ’em all up and deport ’em,” Crawford quipped.

“Really Puddin’? All of them?” asked Doroz. “I was certain you might want to make at least
one
exception to that rule, assuming you could get those clowns at ICE or DHS or whatever immigration calls themselves today to actually deport
somebody
. Maybe a certain pretty secretary?”

“I wasn’t talking about embassy personnel,” Crawford said, blushing.

“Wow, there’s something I just thought of,” Lynn said. “Woodin’ Puddin.’ How much wood could a wood-pud wood, if a wood-pud could pud wood?”

“God, Lynn, that’s not fair,” Crawford whined while the others snickered.

Trask waited for the laughter to die down. “Anything constructive, to get back on track?”

“Only because I always start with the obvious, since there are
reasons
for things being obvious, we have to consider that there really is some involvement in this by the 18th Street gang,” Carter offered, “with the caveat that it just doesn’t feel right. Lynn was correct in saying earlier that there’s no reason for the mice to tug on the cat’s tail. They’re so outnumbered here, they’d have to be suicidal to keep doing it.”

“If it is the 18ers, they could have known about the new place a number of ways,” Wisniewski said. “Loose lips in a restaurant, somebody’s old Salvadoran girlfriend switches sides, a floater between the groups who isn’t tied to either but speaks the lingo. Hell, it could even be a weed customer like Peewee who brags to one group about the smoke he got from the other one.”

“Good points,” Trask said. “But if it’s not the 18ers, Dix, then who?’

“I don’t know,” Carter said. “I’ve been sick.”

He ducked as a few loose wads of paper and empty cups flew across the table.

“At least our MS-13 friends thought it was the 18ers,” Wisniewski noted. “That’s why some of Ortega’s boys are in jail.”

“Yeah,” Trask said, “with dead lawyers. Which makes me glad the next one didn’t go as somebody had planned it.” He put another sheet of paper on the wall.

Friday, August 19, about 0230

Machete-Wielding Thugs Assault AUSA and FBI Analyst, then Die
QUESTIONS:

1. What the hell were they thinking?
   
2. Hadn’t they read our press clippings?
   
3. Who were those guys?
   
4. Seriously, connections???
   

After the chuckling subsided, Trask looked around the room. “Like it says there for question four, seriously, anyone have any idea just
how
this is related to all this other stuff? For now I don’t know, but until someone proves otherwise, I know in my gut that it is. It might ultimately get me kicked off the case.”

Doroz thought for a moment, and then spoke up. “Jeff, all that we know as far as a connection goes is that somehow, some way, they all have to do with El Salvador and with MS-13. That’s where we have to start for now.”

“Agreed,” Trask nodded. “We have to start with what we know, put those puzzle pieces together, and work outward from there. Now here’s the rest of it.” He started putting the rest of the puzzle on the wall.

August 21

Defense Attorney Darren Regan Murdered;

Represented MS-13 Van Driver Santos

MO Consistent with Salvadoran Death Squads

QUESTIONS:

1. Who is/are killers?
   
2. Who had motive?
   
3. Embassy personnel involved? Why?
   
4. Connections?
   

“Here we go with the embassy thing again,” Doroz mused. “Couldn’t it just be the gangs?”

“You were there for our meeting with CIA and DEA, Bear,” Trask replied. “There’s no history of the gangs using these methods—the thumb tying and the back-of-the-head shots—and they’ve never whacked their own attorneys before.”

“But those were ARENA government, or ARENA-allied death squad tactics, not FMLN government methods,” Lynn said. “That’s what doesn’t make any sense here.”

“Unless the MS-13 was worried that some of these attorneys were urging cooperation, and they just adopted tactics from old adversaries,” Carter added. He shook his head. “Forget I said that. Too much of a stretch.”

“All food for thought,” Trask said. “Let’s look at the next two.”

August 23

Murder of 18er by MS-13, Body Dumped at FBI WFO

MO consistent with known MS-13 homicides

QUESTIONS:

1. Retaliation for Incident 5?
   
2. Why the body dump at the FBI field office?
   

“No doubt in my mind that it
was
retaliation for the car wash raid.” Carter led off on the discussion. “It’s another case of accepting the obvious when there’s no reason to reject it. The method of the murder is textbook MS-13 gang torture. I think it would have happened earlier if we hadn’t intercepted the
Maras’
raid team on their way to Bladensburg. We just delayed the inevitable for a few days.”

“Why dump the body out front on the sidewalk, Dix?” Trask asked. “Why not in front of Main Justice or FBI headquarters? Why not your police department’s HQ, for that matter? Why not the Triple-nickle? We were all involved in stopping the Bladensburg raid.”

“Maybe somebody was tailing us back here after a court hearing,” Carter answered. “Beats me. At any rate, they’re telling us they’re not afraid to respond, not afraid of any of our esteemed and storied agencies.”

“And they may be watching us, collectively or individually, so let’s be careful out there.” Doroz looked pointedly at Carter.

“Got it,” the detective responded. “I’ve already been tagged as a maverick, had a GPS slapped on my wheels, and have a Polish ninja watching my back. Like I said, got it.”

“See what you—or anyone else—has on this one, then,” Trask said, reaching for another sheet of paper. The entire eastern side of the squad conference room was beginning to look like a badly papered tenement wall.