Page 25 of Flash and Bang
“What the hell?” Jarrett asked, surprised by the fact that a special agent hadn’t been assigned to review the investigator’s findings. He knew that ATF investigators, typically women like Ada Carrillo, did the majority of the agency’s grunt work, handling the licensing side of the ATF, doing spot checks, and carrying out routine inspections. They usually didn’t call in an agent unless they felt as though they had evidence of a crime or when an arrest was imminent.
“After reading our investigator’s report, I called the LAPD to get their take on it. I hit a brick wall, to be honest. I left a message for the officers that took the call and called the investigator who works out of our office but she’s been on maternity leave since March. She hasn’t gotten back to me yet,” Sarah said. “But I do think someone’s going to have to go and talk to all the parties involved if we want to rule out a connection to Miramar.”
“Chinese New Year was when?” Thayne asked.
“In February. The parade was in Chinatown and it gets huge spectator attendance with a massive LAPD presence. You should be able to find someone to talk to about the incident. A police report was filed but it was sorely lacking in details.”
“So there were injuries only? No deaths?” Jarrett asked.
“No deaths, but there were some minor burns,” Sarah replied.
“Okay,” Jarrett said, pulling into the hotel parking lot, “Did you find anything out about suspicious fireworks explosions in other regions? Militia involvement or anything like that?”
“Militia involvement?” Sarah’s voice sounded slightly surprised. “You think there’s some connection to militias that I should be following up on?”
“We’re not sure about anything, Sarah,” Thayne said. “Jarrett and I were talking to a couple of FBI agents down here that suggested there may be some illegal fireworks being smuggled into the country on non-DOT approved transports and without the proper HAZMAT certifications. They have some intelligence that suggests a possible domestic terrorism angle so we want to make sure we cover all bases. Homeland is involved in the FBI’s investigation and we’re going to call the ATF satellite office in Mexico to see what they know. The FBI said they’d follow up but if there are common chemicals used, we might just get lucky and match other incidents to whatever our lab comes back with once the trace analysis is completed on the remnants of the explosion out at Miramar.”
“Jesus. What did you guys step into down there?” Sarah asked.
Jarrett pulled into a parking space and switched off the Jeep. “More than sparklers,” he scoffed.
Thayne sent him a sideways glare and then turned back to the phone. “Keep your ears open for that while you make your calls. We’ll follow up with the Chinatown incident if you’ll send us the reports and then finish up down here and come home. We’re waiting for the autopsy report on the victim who died from his injuries this morning and then barring any unforeseen circumstances, we’ll probably be headed back up to LA tonight. You didn’t find out anything about incidents from the other divisions?”
“Not yet. Those calls are next and Stanger is gesturing for me to come into his office so I gotta go for now,” Sarah said.
“Hey, you can always send himmyfavorite gesture,” Jarrett deadpanned.
She laughed through the phone. “I’ll make sure to tell him it’s from you, Evans,” she said brightly. “Bye for now. I’ll send you that stuff and get you an update as soon as I have one. Do you want me to brief Stanger what you guys are up to?”
“If it saves me making the phone call to him,” Jarrett said. “Thanks, Sarah.”
“No problem. Bye, guys.”
The phone disconnected and Jarrett glanced over at his partner. He was grinning at him. “What?”
“Sparklers,” Thayne huffed. “You’re a clown, Evans.”
“That’s why you lurve me,” Jarrett replied with an exaggerated drawl.
“Come on. We have some reports to read and calls to make, Evans,” Thayne said. “Then, if you’re lucky, I might make you see some fireworks of your own.” He grinned.
Jarrett barked a laugh as he got out of the truck. “Nowthat’ssomething to look forward to.”
Chapter Six
Jarrett and Thayne stayed in their room for the rest of the day, going over the reports from the ATF investigator and the LAPD that Sarah emailed them regarding the Chinatown incident. Jarrett put a call into the LAPD officer, Ari Deukmejian, having to leave a message because he wasn’t at his desk. He wanted to be able to follow up with him in person after reading the cursory report the officer had written. As Sarah had told them, Deukmejian had not taken any witness reports of the fireworks explosion during the Chinese New Year celebration in February; that struck Jarrett as being strange since the streets must have been crowded with spectators who would have seen what happened. Even though several people were hurt, only two interviews with them were included in the police report and even those were sadly lacking in details.Weird. Thayne called the ATF investigator, Suki Chang, and set up an appointment to meet with her the next morning when they would be back in LA. They packed up their duffels, checked out of the hotel, and were headed out to dinner when Jarrett’s cell rang.
“Evans,” he answered.
“Special Agent Evans? This is FBI Special Agent Snow. Are you still in town?”
Jarrett cut a sideways glance to Thayne andhit the speaker button on the phone, setting it on the console as he drove. “Hey, Snow. Yes. Actually we were headed out to dinner before leaving to drive back to LA. You just caught us. You’re on speaker with Wolfe and me.”
“Hi, Special Agent Wolfe. Something’s come up since we saw you earlier today and I hope you don’t have to rush back tonight.”
“Okay. What’s going on, Snow?” Thayne asked, frowning a little as he met Jarrett’s gaze. He raised his own dark eyebrow in question as he glanced at Thayne.
“Remember us telling you that we have been watching the militia involved with smuggling? Well, we’ve learned that there’s going to be a border crossing tonight. The militia will be picking up a shipment of what Homeland believes are fireworks from an illegal transport and we’re going to intercept.”