Paying the Piper

(Source)

Chapman turned right, she was meeting with Captain Choe and someone else whom the Captain had not wanted to mention, that much was obvious. She was sure it had something to do with the ambush and the alleged anti-Second Amendment conspiracy. Just the thought of that made her sick.

She arrived at the Navy Yard and went on the Yard via the Water Street SE gate. From there she made her way through the rabbit warren of buildings to the parking lot across from the National Museum of the United States Navy.

She got out and buttoned up her coat, there was a stiff breeze coming off of the Anacostia River and it wasn't a warm day to begin with. She made her way over to the big railroad gun on display by the parking lot. She saw Captain Choe talking to another man whose back was to her.

Choe waved and the man turned around, damn, it was Johansen.

"Morning Captain, morning Ephraim. I didn't expect to see you out here."

"Sorry for all the mystery, Beth," he paused then handed her an identification wallet, "you now, officially, have a need to know."

Chapman took the wallet and opened it. she gasped.

"Really Ephraim, the CIA? Isn't it illegal for ..."

Choe interrupted, "As long as he is seconded to Homeland, it shouldn't be a problem. I asked around," glancing at Johansen, he quickly added, "covertly of course. I didn't get selected for Rear Admiral by being stupid, you know."

Johansen grinned, "I don't know, Captain, these days ..."

Choe smiled, "Nah, I'm not the token Korean at the Pentagon. Dad retired from the Marine Corps as a Colonel. We Choe's have been in the U.S. long enough to blend in, so to speak."

"Okay, enough with the introductions. Beth, you know John Morgan, known as Jack, right? No need to go into detail on that, I know."

Chapman blushed, "I was young, but yes, I know, well, knew, Jack Morgan well. We partied in a lot of ports when we were deployed to the Gulf. Separate ships ..."

Choe interrupted again, "Morgan was my VBSS OIC¹ on McFaul. We were part of the Ike's carrier strike group."

"And I flew helos off the Ike, landed on McFaul many times." Chapman added.

Johansen nodded. "Have you see Morgan recently?"

Chapman blushed again, "Yeah, couple of weeks ago. We met for lunch in Alexandria. He's been involved with an investigation into illegal arms dealing in ..."

Johansen cut her, looking at Choe he said, "He's been playing all of us."

Chapman leaned in, "What are you talking about?" Her tone was slightly heated.

"Second Amendment shit, right? Someone's planning to ambush Federal agents, a lot of Federal agents, up in western Maryland. Morgan's not only involved, he's one of the leads on this thing. Problem is, I think he's gone rogue."

Johansen said nothing of the Park Police SWAT team ambush, he'd been deeply involved in that. But he'd been surprised when Morgan had started gunning men down. The guys he'd got for the machine gun, he had known they were druggies and drunks. Though they knew how to operate the gun, he doubted they'd hit anything. He'd been right too.

Morgan's long rifle had killed those four agents and wounded two others, one seriously. This thing was out of control, the guys up on the Eastern Shore thought so as well.

"Have you heard anything about the shootings out in western Maryland. A state trooper and two campers were gunned down in cold blood. We think it was Morgan."

He turned to Choe, "You had a Chief Machinists Mate on McFaul on the VBSS ..."

"Rossi, Al Rossi. Last I heard he'd retired as a Senior Chief. What about him?"

"He's with Morgan, at least we think he is."

"We?" Chapman asked.

"Officially Homeland, unofficially, the Agency. The Bureau has been paying Morgan, off the books, as a contractor. We think the FBI is behind this. It's a false flag operation."

"Rossi and Morgan despised each other." Choe offered.

"We think it was an act, or maybe after they were both out of the Navy, they made common cause. A lot of gun enthusiasts are worried shitless that Congress is going to make a move to make gun ownership almost impossible. The FBI likes the idea, some of us at CIA do not. And yes, we're kind of a minority over there."

Chapman wondered, as Johansen kept talking, 'What the hell have I gotten myself involved with."

Morgan was in a lot of pain, he suspected that he still had a couple of #12 shot in his body. He needed some alcohol, a sharp knife, bandages, and some pain killers. Looking at his map, he had Rossi turn off National Pike NE onto Orleans Road NE, there was an Exxon station just off that road.

They pulled in, Rossi parked the truck around the back of the little gas station store, hoping no one recognized it. Morgan told him what to buy. He nodded and went around the front of the building. He winced when he saw a Maryland State Police vehicle pull in. There were two troopers in the car.

Trying to act nonchalant he went in, found the items he was looking for, then went to the counter to pay. One of the troopers was there, talking to the older guy behind the register.

"They're driving Mike Taliaferro's truck. Bastards killed him and Benji Lee last night. So if you see anything ..."

"Damn, I saw Taliaferro's truck just now, drove around back."

Rossi was sweating profusely, he muttered, "Forgot something ..." then headed back towards the coolers. He needed water, lots of water, suddenly he had a powerful thirst.

As he grabbed a couple of liter bottles he felt someone come up behind him.

"Where are you from, Sir? Not from around here, counterman said so."

It was one of the troopers, he could see him in the reflection from the cooler door.

"No Sir, we, I mean I, am up from DC, heading out to Cumberland. Business trip."

Rossi heard the man draw his service weapon. He was too far away to jump, and there were too many people around anyway.

"Don't move a muscle, Sir." The trooper's tone was as cold as the grave.

"The guy you want is around back, red pickup truck ..."

"We know what you boys are driving. F**king cop-killers."

"What the ..." Morgan watched as a state trooper rolled past him and stopped his vehicle well away from the red Dodge. Watching in the rear view mirror, he knew the game was up. Now if he could convince them that he worked for Homeland, maybe ...

"Guy in the red Dodge pickup, show me your hands!!"

Morgan thought for a minute about drawing his Sig Sauer, but he stood no chance. Better to rely on his ability to bullshit people and the very real DHS ID he had in his wallet. He opened the door and began to climb out, hands first.

A gust of wind blew the door open abruptly.

"Shi ..."

Jack Morgan died instantly when the trooper opened up with his M-16. Three rounds, abdomen, chest, the third through his forehead.

The door swinging open quickly had startled the trooper, so he fired, his weapon was set to three round burst, he'd hit with all three. Afterwards he noticed that each succeeding round had gone higher.

He told his partner later, "They teach us the barrel's gonna climb, but damn, when you're shooting at a real person, ya kinda forget the training, well some of it, and you fire until the target is down."

In the meantime, Rossi had found himself face down on the floor of the store. A boot in his back and a very angry trooper saying, "Go ahead, give me a reason you f**king cop-killer."

Al Rossi made sure he gave the trooper no reason. He still counted himself lucky to be thrown into the back of a cruiser with only a couple of broken ribs. From where he sat, he could see that his days with Morgan were over. Morgan was in a pool of blood next to the red Dodge.

Stealing that had been a very dumb idea.

¹ OIC = Officer In Charge