Minot/Bismarck, North Dakota
Colonel Robert Schmidt was waiting in the parking lot above the university football field. The sun had yet to come up. The temperature was just above zero. Washington Stewart pulled into the lot from the far end and parked alongside the colonel. The two men walked to the edge of the gate overlooking the football stadium. Schmidt was carrying the FedEx box. He tapped it a few times before handing it off to Stewart.
Stewart said, “Light by how much?”
“Fifty thousand. Either they shorted him or he shorted us, but he’s the one who stopped at a FedEx office in Devil’s Lake, so my guess is it was Mr. Ahearn.”
“Or it was you,” Stewart said.
Schmidt smiled. “Or it was me, right.”
Stewart said, “I don’t suppose you’d want to drive over to Velva and whack Mr. Ahearn, would you?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” Schmidt said. “And the truth of the matter is we probably don’t have time for it anyway. We still have product and a lot of money. We’re too close to go settling scores now.”
“Man robbed us,” Stewart said.
“Put it in perspective. So what? We’re almost out of here.”
Stewart said, “I have to drive back to Sakakawea after this. My FBI pals were out of town last night, but they’ll be back this morning.” He stopped to glance at his watch.
Schmidt said, “Will I be cued on the diversions?”
“No need,” Stewart said, “although there’s one about to happen in Bismarck, it didn’t happen already.”
“I suppose I’ll hear about it sooner or later.”
Stewart cupped his hands as he turned his back to the wind to light a cigarette.
“The cold is finally breaking,” Schmidt said. “It’s supposed to stay above freezing the next few days.”
“Figures, last day it gets warm again.”
“It’ll be a lot warmer in Mexico.”
“Life’s a trip sometimes. Spend the morning in Antarctic weather and the evening wearing shorts.”
“If we make it out of here,” Schmidt said.
“No reason we shouldn’t.”
“The best laid plans of mice and men.”
“Who that, Shakespeare?”
“Close enough.”
Stewart held up a finger. “I’ve been thinking about one more diversion,” he said. “A safety valve, more or less.”
“What’s that?”
“A hostage.”
“Not to take with us, I hope.”
Stewart shook his head. “For my woman, Lynette.”
Schmidt smirked. “Are you serious?”
“In case I need to draw people away after I handle Ahearn.”
“Or you could forget Ahearn and not need a hostage or Lynette.”
Stewart said, “I’ll take care of it.”
“With the FBI around?”
“I’ll take care of them, too.”
“How?”
“Chloroform,” Stewart said. “Why I’m lucky you a doctor.”
* * * * * * *
After picking up any equipment they might need, Heinrich and Jan Müller had been rushed to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas where a Lear 25 jet was waiting for them. They were given phony passports and driver’s licenses for the ground transportation they would need when they arrived in Bismarck. Fifteen minutes later, they were airborne.
They had been sent by the boss of the Las Vegas mob after he received a tip about a pair of investment bankers that had been arrested in a federal sting operation. They were told the investment bankers had already made a deal with the government and had entered the witness protection program.
The German-born brothers had spent most of the night in the van that awaited them at the Bismarck airport. The investment bankers were being guarded in a motel just north of Interstate 94 at exit 159.
This morning they planned to strike as soon as the marshal guarding the motel room stepped away from his car. If he didn’t do it before sunrise, Heinrich would kill the marshal while Jan took care of the investment bankers. They would kill as many marshals as they needed to get the job done.
The brothers wore black clothes and black ski masks. They each worked with Uzi submachine guns equipped with sound suppressors. As they approached the hotel parking lot, it was a pleasant surprise when Heinrich noticed only one marshal sitting in the car.
“Nur ein,” he whispered to his brother.
“Wo ist das andere?” Jan asked.
Heinrich motioned at the hotel with his weapon and joked in broken English, “Take a shit.”
They crouched down low behind a pickup and waited.
At 5:10, the marshal left the car and crossed the parking lot. At 5:13 he stepped inside a Denny’s restaurant. At 5:15 Jan Müller kicked his way inside the motel room. Heinrich double-checked the parking lot and followed his brother inside.
They both fired at the bodies covered with blankets on twin beds. Blood spotted the sheets as the government witnesses rolled off the bed onto the floor.
At 5:17 they were back inside the van and on their way out of the parking lot. It was 5:22 before the marshal left Denny’s. The brothers drove west on the avenue to a minivan that was waiting for them. The van made a quick turn and headed south. It was 5:40 before the first police sirens could be heard in the distance.
* * * * * * *
Emily was uneasy when Dale sat up at five-thirty.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t run out of here today,” she said.
“I wanted to drive up to the hospital at the base,” Dale said, “but I’m not sure if Don is still there. I still need to talk to Kathy Ljunndgren and that guy I think is calling here.”
“They might’ve moved him already,” Emily said. “You should check before you go.”
“I will, but I doubt they moved him already. He was pretty tore up.”
“Call and see how he’s doing first. Maybe you don’t have to leave so early.”
Dale held her hands. “I know what you’re trying to do, Em. There’s no need. I’m not that fragile. I had a rough couple of days. I’m not going to fall apart.”
“You almost did yesterday.”
“If that’s what you want to call it.”
“That’s exactly what I call it. You need to let go, Dale. You probably need a good cry, but you won’t let yourself do it. It’s about time.”
“I don’t have time to cry,” he told her. “I’ll be fine, but I need to get on the road. There are a few people I need to check on today, especially if this New York guy is right about what’s going on. One of them, I’m pretty sure, is the asshole calling here.”
“I’d feel a lot better if you stayed home. At least through the morning.”
Dale kissed her on the forehead and hopped out of bed.
“What if I put on my garters?” Emily said.
“Trust me, I’ll keep that image in my head,” Dale said before he stepped inside the bathroom.