CHAPTER
11
JOHN PULLER HAD his marching orders. He had asked Daughtrey, Schindler, and Rinehart a few more questions and gotten a few more answers that might or might not lead to something. But at least he had the authority to operate out in the open. An email had come through from his CO empowering him to work on this investigation with the accompanying and necessary electronic trail of higher signatories. The suit and the stars definitely had the juice they claimed to have. He felt like he had just been rebadged.
He didn’t like slinking around trying not to be noticed. He wanted people to know he was on the case. He wanted to intimidate. Intimidated people with a guilty conscience often made mistakes. The only difference here was that the target of his investigation was his brother. Robert Puller was brilliant. Was he going to make mistakes? Didn’t he know John Puller Jr. better than anyone?
He knows how I think. How I tick.
But then I know the same about him.
However, these thoughts didn’t make him feel good. They made him feel sick.
He cleared security at the DB and walked up a flight of steps to the visitors’ room. He asked to see the officer in charge, displaying his credentials and relaying his purpose for being here.
The woman met Puller in her office. She was Captain Lenora H. Macri, in her thirties, short, trim, with salt-and-pepper hair worn in a bun. She looked wound as tight as a coil of wire and her expression did not appear cooperative in the least. This was not particularly good for him, because she was now the DB’s acting commander.
“What can I do for you, Chief Puller?” she began curtly.
“I’m investigating the escape of Robert Puller.”
“Right. Your brother.” She left the statement there, with all its inherent complications and insinuations. Then she added, “I find it extraordinary that you’re involved in this case in any way at all. I have duly noted my misgivings with the appropriate channels.”
“Which you have every right to do.”
“And which I don’t need you to tell me,” she retorted. “Blood is thicker than water, and what we need is objectivity. I fail to see how you can bring an unbiased perspective to this investigation.”
Puller shifted in his seat. “I’m a CID agent. My mission is clear, Captain Macri. Bring him back, brother or not. I’ve been authorized to do this. If you have a problem cooperating with me, I need to hear it now.”
She held his gaze. “I have no problems, Mr. Puller. I think any potential problems will rest largely with you. Now, how can I help?”
She had done that rather neatly, thought Puller. Not only covered her ass with the “appropriate channels” but also put the onus on him to disprove her opinion of his being involved at all while at the same time appearing cooperative. Only a captain now, but she must be bucking hard for her next promotion.
Aren’t they all?
Puller went over the facts as he understood them and asked for her confirmation of them.
“They’re accurate,” Macri said. “Except for the shots fired and the explosion.”
Puller blinked at her. “Shots and an explosion? No one mentioned that.”
“Well, maybe you didn’t ask the right questions. I’m volunteering that information in the interest of full disclosure. The shots and explosion prompted the calling in of reinforcements from the fort.”
“Did you determine the origins of the shots?”
“No.”
“And the explosion?”
Macri said, “I said explosion because that’s what it initially sounded like.”
“You were on duty?”
“Yes, I was. But many people heard the noises. They were quite distinct.”
“So it wasn’t really an explosion?”
“As I just said, it initially sounded like one. However, we found no evidence of one actually going off.”
“Then perhaps it was the same deal with the shots.”
“It probably was, because we also found no evidence of any shots fired.”
“So just sound effects, maybe?”
“Actually, that’s the only explanation that fits. As you probably know, guards do not carry weapons inside the prison. Thus no shots could have been fired by them. All prisoners were searched. No gun or contraband of any kind was found.”
“Except for the escapee. You couldn’t search him, because he was gone.”
“Correct,” conceded Macri.
“But then some device had to make those noises.”
“I agree with you. We just couldn’t find out what it was. But the investigation, as you know, is ongoing.”
“Were the guards searched?”
Macri looked blankly at him. “The guards?”
“If the prisoners didn’t cause it, maybe one of the guards?” Puller looked at her expectantly.
“Why would a guard do that?”
“Well, if they’d been searched and the device found, you could have asked that question directly.”
“I refuse to believe that one of my personnel was involved in this. It’s unthinkable.”
“Well, Captain Macri, if nothing was found on the prisoners and nothing was found in the prison and unless you’re randomly allowing folks in here to plant devices to cause a panic, it had to be one of the guards.”
She bristled at this, but said nothing.
“And the status of your CO?”
“Colonel Teague is on temporary leave.”
“Meaning he’s the fall guy for this?” said Puller.
“Meaning he’s on temporary leave.”
“Have you done an investigation of your own, Captain?”
“A preliminary one has been conducted. As you well know, there are others here currently doing their own: MI, CID other than you. Some folks from Washington. Lots of cooks in the kitchen.”
“And what did your ‘preliminary’ investigation reveal?”
Macri said, “That Robert Puller escaped in a manner as yet undetermined.”
“And the dead man?”
“What about him?”
“Has he been identified?”
“Not yet,” replied Macri.
“Anyone missing from the prison? Guards, support staff, civilians? And how about Fort Leavenworth? Everyone accounted for there?”
“A thorough accounting has been done. There are no missing personnel at either place.”
“But there’s a federal pen here as well. And the Midwest Joint Regional Correctional Facility. All folks accounted for at those locations?”
She seemed taken aback by this query. “I don’t see how personnel at those facilities are relevant. If a prisoner had escaped from there we’d know about it. And it’s not like guards at those institutions could just walk into the DB.”
He stared at her pointedly. “You’re with the 15th MP Brigade.”
“I know I am.”
“Composed of the 40th and 705th MP Battalions.”
She said impatiently, “And your point?”
“The 15th MPs are responsible for the operation of DB and the Midwest Regional. Colonel Teague was the commandant at DB and also the commander of the 15th. MPs from the 15th responded to the situation at DB and restored order. In addition, the 40th Battalion was largely created because the 705th was deployed to the Middle East to run the prisons over there. So the prison is guarded by the 15th and both its battalions. So are you telling me that they don’t overlap in guard rotations? That no guard at DB ever works at the regional prison? Or vice versa?”
She seemed flustered now. “No, I’m not saying that or implying it.”
“Then the personnel at those facilities are relevant to my investigation, correct?”
She finally nodded. “I guess that’s correct. I’m sorry if I misinterpreted your request.”
“How do you explain the dead man in my brother’s cell?”
“I can’t explain it. That’s why investigations are ongoing.”
He decided to change direction. “I’ll need to see the body.”
She pursed her lips. Puller knew that despite any animosity she might have toward him, Macri could not refuse this request. A murder always carried with it a body. And for him as a CID agent authorized to investigate this murder, an examination of the body was always required and access never denied.
“I’ll make arrangements. They have him at Fort Leavenworth.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said curtly.
“I’ll also need to check with the crews who restored the electrical power and repaired the backup generator.”
“I can also arrange that.”
“I’ll also need to look at surveillance footage from the night in question.”
“We lost power.”
“But the cameras have battery backups.”
“The ones in hallways and general areas do. The ones in the prisoners’ cells don’t.”
“Why not?”
“It was not designed that way. I can only imagine that if the main and backup power went out, the only problem would be prisoners attempting to flee from where the cameras could monitor them. They weren’t concerned that they remain in their cells in such a scenario. As you probably know, at DB it’s one prisoner to a cell.”
“I know that. But still quite the blind eye when you think about it.”
“No design is perfect. And I would imagine from this point on, cameras in the cells will also have battery backups.”
“I thought the system was set up so that if the power failed the cell doors automatically locked. And yet you had to call in the MPs. Why?”
Macri’s features were suddenly pained. “It seemed we were hacked.”
“Hacked? How?”
“As you said, our system is set up such that cell doors automatically lock when the power fails. That didn’t happen. The cell doors unlocked instead.”
“And a hacker caused this? How could that have happened?”
“Unfortunately, some of our personnel bring in their personal devices, phones, iPads, and on their computers here there is occasional breach of protocol as people log on to outside networks. It’s not supposed to happen, but people are people.”
“Leaving a way for a hacker to get in and rewrite your code so the cell doors opened when the power failed.”
“Yes.”
“Any leads there?”
“No.”
“But you’ve confirmed the hack occurred?”
“Technically, that is still speculation, but I see no other way for it to have happened.”
Puller thought, Oh, I see at least one other way it could have gone down. “I’ll need to see all the footage you have,” he said.
Her lips pursed once more. “I can arrange that as well.”
“And the MP reinforcements from Leavenworth? I’ll need to talk to the people involved in that.”
She gave a curt nod.
“Just to be clear, are you sure you haven’t formed any theories, Captain, as to what happened?”
“No, I have not.”
“Not even any hunches?”
“I don’t like hunches, Mr. Puller. They often lead to mistakes. And mistakes often lead to the end of military careers.”
“Well, I’ll let you get on with your career, then, as soon as you make the arrangements we just discussed.”
Macri gazed at him intently and then picked up her desk phone.