Special Agent Wayne Norton stepped back from the microscopic comparator.
"Ma'am, here's what I wanted to show you," he said to his boss, Carla Simons, head of the Denver branch of the FBI Domestic Terrorism Unit.
Carla looked into the eyepieces and rocked the view selector switch.
"Fine, Agent Norton. A nice match. What's special about these two bullets?"
"One is from the body of that guy the cops found in the car near Coors Field after that shootout Saturday. The other is from one of the bodies at the Fusion Technologies site two weeks ago. They're from the same .357 Magnum."
"Great. You think we've got a group of operators here?"
"I'd bet a paycheck on it. We shouldn't be surprised. There've been a lot of cities showing signs of regular 'private security firm' operations. It was only a matter of time before Denver had one, too."
"Dammit, Wayne, we've got enough problems with gangs running amok and these lunatic patriot groups to have to start worrying about vigilantes who outgun us. I've had a pretty lucky run in this region up until this month."
"It may not be all that bad. Look at this," Special Agent Norton said as he walked over to a video display in the lab. He pressed "Play" on the VCR sitting on top of the monitor.
After some initial static, the monitor showed an aerial view of Coors Field.
"This is footage from the TV helicopter that got shot down Saturday," Norton said
The display whirled as the helicopter suddenly turned north. Traffic on 22nd Street and 23rd Street rushed by underneath as the helicopter's powerful spotlight turned on. Norton stopped the footage as the roof of a building came into view.
"See this? There's someone on the roof by the access. Whoever it is has a lot of crap. See that bag? This person was smart enough to crouch down and hold still. I don't think the chopper crew saw him."
"Is there enough there for enhancement?"
"We already thought of that. It's in the digital lab right now, but I don't think there's enough to go on. Keep watching, though."
The video started playing again. The view started shifting again as the helicopter started circling the area. A business van started driving out of the area, and the spotlight centered on it. The camera started centering on the truck. Again Norton paused the playback.
"See this?" he asked as he pointed to the corner of the display.
Carla saw a bright spot. "Is that a muzzle flash?"
"Yes. That's an automatic weapon firing at the helicopter, we believe. Digital's trying to take that section and enhance it. It looks like a car with an open sunroof, and someone standing in it shooting at the chopper. I think that's the person who took down the helicopter."
"What about the strip club that took a blast in their rear door?"
"We think that the shooter gave up on the machine gun, fired some sort of military rocket at the chopper, blew it out of the air, and took another shot at it from the ground, trying to make sure no one walked out of it. They missed on that second shot and hit the strip club instead."
"Good work. When will the labs have results?"
"They put aside their other work. I hope to have this video footage enhanced by tonight."
"Keep me updated."
"We can always look at it like this. This time, those were bad guys that got axed. This Montbello Snow Crew gang has ties with some ugly people in Chicago who are running some industrial-strength crank factories. The FBI office up there got firebombed last month."
"Tell the families of that chopper crew that it was okay. They weren't bad guys. How long do you think it'll take these mercs to decide that the police are just getting in their way?"
Carla Simons looked at her team in the morning briefing once more before finishing.
"Okay, people. Last thing for today's brief. We have a group of mercs running around Denver shooting people and blowing up helicopters. The ballistics lab has matched some .357 slugs between the shootout Saturday and the mess in Longmont. I want to keep this under wraps for a while. Don't even tell the local police about this one yet. Maybe these jerks will screw up and let us catch them.
"Now, one of them was nice enough to pose for a camera long enough to get a picture. The digital lab did some good work burning the midnight oil to get this footage cleaned up, but it's not enough to give us a good ID. However, we did get some useful info," she paused as Special Agent Norton started running the enhanced footage.
The picture was somewhat grainy, but it clearly showed a fairly tall person wearing a helmet standing in the sunroof of a Ford Taurus. The person was holding a machine gun and fired a short burst at the helicopter before turning to talk to the driver inside. The picture did not give enough detail to make a good sketch of the face, however.
"Digital managed to pull a partial plate off of that car. We're running it right now."
"Okay, Norton, what do you have?" Carla asked as she walked into Special Agent Norton's office.
"We ran the plate, got some matches, and narrowed them down a bit. Here's the funny one. One of the plates is for a rental that a Martina Bond had out for the day. It was a business rental. Guy at the Enterprise office doesn't think he's ever seen this Miss Bond."
"Did you get the car and dust for prints?"
"No. It was already out again. By the time it comes back, we're not gonna be able to lift a good print from this Bond gal."
"Damn. Okay, Norton. Looks like you own this case and the Fusion Technologies job. I think you're right. Someone was involved with both."
"Thanks, boss. One other thing. I want to talk to those dirtbags the DPD picked up. The two corporate drug dealers. One's in their downtown lockup, the other is in the hospital."
"Okay. I'll get the paperwork done. First thing in the morning, you go see if either this Trenton or Prescott knows our Miss Bond."
After Carla left the office, Norton turned back to a monitor. On the screen, the enhanced, frozen image of a person with a machine gun standing in a sunroof stared at him.
"Okay, Miss Bond. Which one were you. Is that you shooting up here, or are you at the wheel?"
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Last Updated 24 Jan 2000
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