Stephen Cannell - Final Victim

"Okay," Heath finally said, "this is a Justice Department internal review. Your agency, John, gives you the benefit of this preliminary hearing before any charges are brought against you. It's your chance to give your side of it with the U. S. Prosecutor present. In the event that the A. G.'s office, after this hearing, decides to pursue an indictment, then the rest of your IA hearing will be suspended and the tape of this meeting sealed and held as confidential agency material. It can't be subpoenaed. The criminal proceeding then takes precedence. The reason we do it this way is so that the results of this hearing, which are not conducted in accordance with your Constitutional rights, cannot be used against you in court." He finished, took a deep breath. "You all know this, but I'm required to say it for the record."

"Fine with me," Lockwood said.

Kulack leaned forward in his chair. "The list of charges against you is extensive," he said. "I'm going to take them chronologically and not in order of their magnitude: First, it is our contention that you and Harvey Knox in the Los Angeles DOJ office conspired to go outside Federal guidelines to write a fraudulent Special Circumstances Release for the purpose of getting Malavida Chacone out of the Federal penitentiary in Lompoc."

They all turned from Kulack to Lockwood.

"Harvey Knox was not in any way involved. I dropped by his office on Saturday afternoon, April thirteenth. I went through his desk while he was downstairs. I got one of those SCR forms out and forged his name to it. So I don't want him taking the heat for it. That was me."

"So you're admitting you're guilty of illegally releasing a prner without proper authorization?" Heath said, his eyebrows climbing his forehead.

"Yes, sir. I thought he could help me with a case. I crossed the line. I'm sorry."

"May I ask, why the fuck…?" Heath growled, his disappointment filling the room.

"Because, sir, I was trying to penetrate a remailer computer in Oslo, Norway, which I believed was a chat line for sexual psychopaths."

Kulack cut in, "Okay, so we've established that you illegally released Chacone from prn and took him to Florida, where he became critically injured due to your actions." The IA silk was grinning slightly.

"Actually, Vic old buddy, I took him to my wife's house in Studio City, California. He used her phone, at my direction, to penetrate the Pennet computer in Oslo. I fucked up because the UnSub back-tracked the line, and my wife, Claire, was murdered as a result." The bitterness in Lockwood's voice was tangible. The room grew still.

"Go on," Heath said. "Take us through it chronologically."

And Lockwood did. He told it all, not leaving out any detail: He told them about the chat room, Candice Wilcox's murder and mutilation in Atlanta, The Rat's clever use of the computer to change the timetable of the murder, Malavida's escape, Lockwood's return to Washington and handing his badge in, Karen Dawson's discovery of Leslie Bowers's murder and mutilation, finding Leonard Land's house, the explosion and the cybernetic attack on Malavida in the hospital, Lockwood's assault on the Miami cop so Karen could pull the tubes out of Malavida's arm, and the shootout with Dade County SWAT at the Ramada Inn. Each incident by itself was arguably defensible. But when they were all strung together in one telling, even Lockwood had to concede, it seemed like reckless behavior at best. In his memory, he heard DOJ psychiatrist Dr. Smythe: "John, are you acting in this destructive manner because you want to punish yourself for your thoughtless actions against your loved ones?" It was hard to believe that he had to come this far to finally begin to buy into that idea.

"I think we should suspend this hearing," Kulack said, the grin growing. "I think Mr. Van Lendt will want to ask the Federal Grand Jury for an indictment."

Van Lendt closed his notebook. "Seal the recording and save it until I see if the A. G. wants to seek an indictment for Felonious Malfeasance of Duty."

"You guys don't have all that much, the way I see it," Alex Hixon finally said. He had said nothing till now, but he had been making notes through the entire meeting. Now he looked at them. "According to everybody, John gave Director Heath his badge back in the hall at Customs a week ago, making the charge of Malfeasance of Duty a complete 'so what.' "

"He was suspended, not fired," Kulack said, "then he went all over the place saying he was on the job… calling himself a Customs agent…"

"We can all go get depositions from the people you say he said that to, and argue semantics forever. Way I see it, he canceled his employment with U. S. Customs by verbal agreement when he handed back his badge, making all of the Customs Service rule-book violations beyond the scope. As a private citizen he doesn't have to report to his supervr, doesn't have to take orders from Director Heath regarding what to do. As an American citizen, he could certainly ask a few questions after his wife was murdered. I believe there were four other agents standing at the elevator when Lockwood resigned and handed back his badge." He turned to Heath. "Is that right, Larry?"

Heath nodded his head.

"So I'd urge you guys to leave that one in your briefcase," Hixon said. "As far as getting Malavida out of jail is concerned, it is, at worst, a Class B felony. The way I see it, we cop to that and get some kind of suspended sentence. The other stuff is just ratshit, and you all know it. This looks to me like a personal vendetta by an IA investigator who's made more bogus charges than a credit card thief, and I intend to put that fact in evidence."

There was a deafening silence which lasted for almost thirty seconds. Kulack finally broke it. "I'm not withdrawing the complaint. In the meantime, he spends the night in jail."

The meeting ended and they all stood.

On his way out, Laurence Heath approached Lockwood. "If it means anything, John, I'm sorry. You were one of the best. You had good stuff."

They all left the room together and moved to the elevators. Bob Tilly went up the hall to the bathroom while Kulack pushed the Down button and they waited.

The Rat had shut off the five other elevators in the DOJ Administration Building. Once he had figured out the system, it had been amazingly simple. Under "Emergency Services," he had accessed "Public Safety." Contained in its sub-menu was a seismic activity sensor which shut down the elevators during any seismic event. Once the main computer received a seismic alarm, it automatically told the elevators to perform their pre-set emergency duties, which were to return to the lobby, their "Emergency Home Floor," and shut down.

The Rat had first put the sixth elevator on "Maintenance Setting." This effectively cut elevator six out of the system so it would continue to operate, but strictly by its own call buttons, at least for the time being. Then he had sent the system a phony seismic alarm which had deactivated five of the six elevators. The sixth elevator opened on nine and took in Lockwood, Laurence Heath, Vic Kulak, Carter Van Lendt, and Alex Hixon.

The Rat watched on his high-resolution monitor as elevator six passed the lobby level. Heath started to pound on the lobby button, but The Rat had reset the elevator's "Emergency Home Floor" from "Lobby Level" to "Sub-basement," then brought it back on-line. The seismic alarm, overriding the button system, caused it to go directly to the sub-basement. As soon as the door opened, The Rat shut the elevator off, leaving it stuck there and locked open. Then he shut down the ventilation system in the sub-basement. The five men walked into the file room that The Rat had selected the day before.

"The Wind Minstrel is coming," The Rat whispered in awe.

In the file room, Laurence Heath moved around looking for a fire door. He found one, but it had an electric lock and wouldn't open. He looked for a phone. There wasn't one.