Inside Out

44

A female FBI agent took Matt Barnwell to the ambulance under the pretext of a hearing examination. George Williams stood out beside the command tent gazing at the airplanes. Winter walked over to him. If they were going to find the bastards who were responsible for murdering Greg and the others, he had to make a start there and then.

“You like airplanes, George?”

The boy looked up at Winter. “Sure. I guess.”

“Which is your favorite?”

George shrugged. “Fighters.”

“You hungry?”

“I guess so.”

“Let's get a sandwich and I'll show you around the planes.”

George wolfed down the sandwich as though he'd been starved for days.

“Let's go look at those planes,” Winter said when he'd finished.

“You FBI?” George asked as they walked.

“U.S. marshal.”

“Are you a whipstick marshal?”

Winter felt his heartbeat quicken. “You mean WITSEC, George?”

“Yeah, what's that mean?”

“WITSEC stands for witness security. WITSEC deputies protect men who are testifying against bad men in court. They make sure the witnesses get safely to court. Where did you hear about WITSEC?” he asked.

George stopped and seemed to be studying a King Air. “TV, maybe.”

“Must have been some explosion,” Winter said easily. “I bet it was loud and bright. George, earlier you said that you have permission to be here.”

George stared at him silently.

“We're not here because of the explosion,” Winter continued. “That would require only the ATF bomb squad people out there and a few FBI agents. We're all here because some bad men hijacked an airplane with seven people in it, including a man WITSEC was protecting. Those men flew it here last night and they blew it up with you watching. The reason there are so many cops and FBI agents here is because those seven people were still inside that jet when it exploded.”

“For real?”

“Word of honor.”

George seemed to be thinking it over, so Winter gave him a nudge.

“I don't know who you guys saw, or what those people said to you, but they are murderers, and we need to find them and make sure they don't kill anybody else. And the truth is that you are the only one who can help us catch these people. I know it's hard for you to tell me about it, but it's really important that you do and I think you want to tell the truth. If anyone threatened to hurt you or your families, we'll make absolutely sure that nobody does.”

“He said it was just a war game,” George blurted out, his eyes alive with fear and excitement.

“Who said that?”

“I thought he was too old to be a real general.”

George sat silently until Winter started the recorder. Archer and Shapiro were nearby to monitor.

“First time me and Matt saw the men here was day before yesterday,” the boy started.

George told Winter how he and Matt were caught by the men and about their leader, who told them he was a general and that the boys had stumbled on a secret war game the general said the men were playing with the WITSEC marshals. He told Winter about the weapons and described the activity in the hangar. The general had promised the boys that if they didn't tell about the activity at the base, the pair could come anytime they liked. He even promised to give them a pass and keys to the gate, and he said a man named Ralph would give them helicopter rides anytime they wanted. George said he didn't like the general or his men-they scared him. The general had made wonderful promises, but he made threats, too, about what could happen if he and Matt betrayed his men, since the boys had been trespassing and would go to jail and their parents would lose their houses and possessions to the government.

He and Matt had come out again late the previous afternoon to see if the men were still there. He said the general seemed to have been there alone, moving in and out of the hangar. George said the runway lights came on, then a jet landed and taxied into the hangar. The general and some men left in an airplane. After they were sure the plane wasn't coming back, the boys had come onto the base to see if the general's men had left anything worth taking.

“How many people did you see leave here last night?” Winter asked.

“Four.”

“Three and the old general?”

“Yes.”

“Who were the others?”

“I think one was Ralph, the helicopter pilot. They had an army helicopter, the big plane with two propellers and a smaller one they left in.

“We were watching from outside the fence and it was dark then. We came in here after they were gone. The big explosion knocked us down. My ears didn't work. The fire went way up in the sky and it was so hot you couldn't believe it. I couldn't hear and Matt kept yelling and jumping up and down, then a police helicopter came and we hid up in the tower.”

“What does the general look like?”

“He's really old, and his hair is white and dandruff falls out of it on his clothes. He has about a million wrinkles. Oh, and big brown freckles on his hands. And he has a weird blue eye where the little black hole part of it goes down in the blue part so it's like those old door holes you can look in.”

“What about Ralph?”

George thought for a moment before replying. “He has muscles like a wrestler, and sunglasses that's got purple glass in them and stuck-up hair that's white and a tattoo of a barbed wire on his wrist. That's all I can think of.”

“The other men?”

The boy shrugged. “I didn't really look at them much.”

“How many were there? Beside Ralph and the general?”

“A whole lot. Maybe seven or eight. I'm not sure. I know they all had muscles and short hair, too. We didn't talk to them, just to Ralph and the general.” George placed his palms on the table. “I guess that's all I know.”

“George, could you help an artist draw some pictures of the general and Ralph?” Archer asked.

“Sure,” he said, then seemed to clam up again. “You don't think he meant what he said-about our parents' houses and jail. Do you?”

“No. You're safe. You won't be seeing him again, George,” Winter said, patting the boy's shoulder before he left the tent.

Archer joined him outside. This time his smile looked genuine. “Deputy, I owe you an apology. You read those kids right.”

“Agent Archer,” Winter said, “we're on the same side. Just find those bastards.”

“I intend to,” Archer said.

Winter was relieved that Archer sounded sincere.