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NOSES AND BONESES
By Jess the Dog Lady

DO NOT REPRODUCE THIS BEFORE ASKING ME!!!

CHAPTER THREE


0415 hours, Baltimore, MD 13 December

Gina and I slept fitfully though the night after a gourmet meal of delivered crabs, heavy on the Old Bay spice, from a Fell’s Point bar that we knew. Many hours had passed, filled with much laughter about the old days and the neighborhood as we knew it then. My concerns about tomorrow’s mission had been addressed earlier, so the evening was spent relaxing and avoiding tomorrow’s reality.

Tony had spent the evening filling out paperwork in his adjoining room. He needed to switch over to the U.S. Marshal’s Service the following day, after a long hiatus from the Secret Service. I figured that if he wanted to talk, he’d walk through the room’s adjoining door and tell me what was on his mind.

Since we had to work the following day, we held off on the wine consumption although we reveled in the memories of days gone by from our youth. When we awoke the next morning, Freddie and Colonel were between us on the king sized bed, snoring as only Bloodhounds can snore. Within an hour, both of us were showered and had walked the dogs to their satisfaction. I called the cell phone number I’d been given and was told to head down to the lobby. I opted to ride with Gina in her awesome Expedition and follow Hahn and Ruslan in their Chevy Celebrity to the airport.

We both drank from huge 20 oz. coffee mugs as we headed South down I-95 to National Airport, just outside of Washington, D.C. The sun was slowly appearing to my left, but it was only 28 degrees outside as Gina fought the urge to step on the gas pedal and show me what her vehicle could do. We pulled into the airport’s private hangar area and I was reminded of days past— when I was not getting a police escort to the terminal, rather was racing them to a plane to take off before they caught me.

"I’ve got your back and you don’t need a cigarette," Gina voiced to me, although I hadn't said a word.

"I know, Girlfriend... I know..." I muttered as I looked out the window worriedly.

We followed the Cavalier onto the tarmac and Gina and Freddie hopped down out of the truck. I took a deep breath, then followed suit with Colonel, catching him in mid-air and slowly lowering him to the ground. Tony stood outside by a waiting vehicle and extended a shy wave in my direction. I couldn’t see inside of the vehicle, but knew who was in there. I ignored Tony’s wave.

A tall man with a wan complexion approached me and spoke, "The bomb guys have your gear ready. You want to get started now?"

"Has the hangar been secured all night long?" I questioned him back.

"Yeah, and no one knew about this plane and the airport’s location before midnight last night, " he replied.

That didn’t mean a thing to me as far as I was concerned. I knew that Doyle had enough connections to make anything happen. I walked over to the explosive guys and got a bomb suit to wear from them. It was foolish to own my own, as advancements in materials changed weekly it seemed. The only thing that didn’t seem to improve was the vest that Colonel would wear. After helping me suit up in a Kevlar suit and helmet, I directed the nearest man to help me fit Colonel into his own vest. I nodded to Gina and we were ready to begin.

All extraneous personnel were ordered out of the area, the remaining bomb technicians were instructed to remain completely still as Gina released Freddie to go to work. He was sent out to clear the hangar building.

After fifteen of the longest minutes of my life, Freddie bounded out through the hangar doors towards Gina, letting her know that it was now safe for me to enter the building. I took a deep breath, then reached down to rub Colonel’s chest. "You ready to go to work, honey?" I asked him. He jumped and strained on his lead, eager to earn his keep for the day. I took another deep breath, then finally turned to Tony and waved a small wave with my Kevlar gloved right hand.

Into the darkened hangar we walked and headed for the aircraft. It took some minutes for my eyes to adjust to the dimness of the building's interior while I eyed the aircraft. It was a simple white Lear jet, designed to hold about 15 passengers in comfort. I started working Colonel on the baggage that was lined up about 25 yards from the aircraft.

"Sparky!" I whispered to Colonel through the face mask of my helmet. After twenty minutes, the outside of the plane and the baggage were secured. While this meant that there were probably no explosive devices on the plane as the scent should have trickled down, I took no chances and headed back to the door to enter the jet.

I took a brief glance inside the plane in both directions of the fuselage. Colonel was asked to work the doorway before I allowed him to climb aboard. After a tedious search of the interior of the plane, Colonel deemed it free of explosive devices and we exited it to head for the now bright sunlight reflecting off of the tarmac.

Tony reached us at the door and I told him the news as well as speaking over his shoulder to the ATF guys.

"Colonel says the plane is clean. Freddie said the hangar is clear. I say load the bastard up and get him to Florida. We’re done," I informed them as I began to peel my helmet and outer garments off. The ATF guys walked hurriedly back to their waiting vehicles to do whatever it is that the government boys do to look busy.

I walked over to Gina and loaded Colonel into her truck silently. I kept my eyes on her truck’s interior as I loaded Colonel in with Freddie, not wanting to see the face of the man who’d once ordered me killed.

"Hey! I just wanted to say, ‘Thanks!’ " a man’s voice called out to me.

I knew that voice anywhere, although I wanted to pretend that it belonged to one of the ATF guys. I took a deep breath and closed the Expedition’s door with a resounding thud.

Turning to look the bastard in the eye one last time, I said loudly enough to ensure that he’d hear me from where I stood, "It’s over, Doyle. We’re done. This ends it all for good, understood?" I added, before climbing up into the cab of Gina’s truck. Doyle displayed his index and middle finger extended in a gesture of peace. He had gotten it- this was the last favor that we would ever owe each other. Gina climbed in beside me into the driver's seat as I got the satisfaction of seeing Doyle’s body in an orange jump-suit one last time; his shackled ankles and wrists chained together.

After Gina started the truck, I lowered the powered windows to grab a breath of jet-fueled scented air. Doyle shuffled his way across the tarmac for the hangar, head held high as if he'd done nothing wrong. Typical, I thought to myself.

I yelled out one last comment, "Tony, good luck to you always," before Gina threw the truck into reverse to screech out of the parking lot. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a forlorn wave from Tony.

We drove in silence to the departure gate where I would leave her to take my flight to Colorado.

"You look happy. For the first time in seven years, you look really happy," she commented.

"I’m finally free for good. It’s over, Gina" I replied as I unloaded Colonel and my bags from the rear of her truck. "I'll call you from Nebraska and let you know if I need you. Should be within two days, ok?"

"You've got it! What else would I be doing?" She laughed. "That damned Abaraz can't figure out when he's coming back to DC for the NATO talks. I have all the time in the world since he's paying me to be on standby."

"I'll catch you later then, Girlfriend." Without any further sissy gestures such as hugging, Colonel and I flew back home and managed to switch out dogs with little to slow us down. With Scout riding in the back of my Hummer, we headed over to my parents' house to see my daughter briefly before going back to the airport. I got my share of hugs and kisses in before we headed back down the mountain to the airport. There was a small charter plane waiting for us at the airport’s commuter gate which we boarded. After a short hour flight, we landed in Nebraska at a private airstrip.

Two agents met us there and grabbed our two carry on bags. With a short drive under our belts, we ended up back at the local police department for a briefing of the current case. To date, there had already been two murders, so I hoped that this would be the last one. Scout and I had been out here twice in the last month to work this case, but the last two times she’d only gotten us some evidence, no bodies. The way the evidence was leading us was spooking me more than any other serial killer case that we'd worked in the past.

This time, the FBI Agent In Charge had some new information for us, plus a better area to search for the missing girls. I could feel the tension in the air as Scout and I entered the local Police Department to get the updates on the case.

— Jess Sokoloff



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