Chapter 7


The uniformed officer at the perimeter did not seem to be of the opinion that they should be allowed on the crime scene. Norm even pulled out his badge and showed it to the guy. The officer was not very impressed. He simply said, "I got orders not to let anybody in." Norm pulled his badge back in the car and dipped his head as he mumbled something. Jake thought that it sounded like the man was angry at summer. It made no sense so Jake let it pass.

What Jake did in response was to get out of the passenger side and then he walked around the car. He squared off with the officer that proved to be every bit Jake's size. Norm watched as Jake whispered something to the man. When Jake got back in the car he said, "drive on Agent Scoggins." Sure enough, the officer got out of the way.

When Norm parked the car just beyond the host of fire trucks, he had to ask the American, "what did you just tell that guy?"

"You don't want to know," Jake said with a straight face. He got out of the car after that and Norm decided he had better do it too. When both men walked past the fire trucks they surveyed the burned out vehicles, the damaged building, and the marks on the pavement where bodies had been laying. Ambulances were still treating casualties and firemen were still poking around looking for whatever. When Jake commented he said it all, "I've seen some war zones that look better than this."

Norm just nodded and looked for the main man he figured he would need to talk with. Instead, he found the chief of the local police. Norm would have avoided the guy completely but, he came to Norm and said, "I heard Nguyen got shot last night."

Norm nodded in the affirmative and replied, "yeah Hal, and I heard you didn't go see her."

If the man took offense he didn't show it. He just replied, "word is that she was with you when it happened."

Norm just responded by asking, "is there something you want Hal?"

The Chief of Police pointed to Jake, "who's your friend here Norm?"

"I can introduce myself," Jake let everybody know before he told the man who he was. Jake did not bother to shake hands.

Then Norm came back with, "um, this here is the local chief of police, Hal Summers." Norm had to add, "and he's the wrong Chief. I need to talk with Tippet."

"Wasting your time here Norm," Hal replied. He turned and walked off. As he did he called back, "nothing here to see."

Now Jake full well understood what Norm was talking about back in the car. He let it go and asked, "who's Tippet?"

"Fire chief," Norm replied just as he spotted the man. As they walked to him, Norm explained, "you haven't met Tony yet. This guy is his uncle." Norm stopped just short of the fireman and let the guy finish talking with some of his captains. When Tippet finished he walked over and shook hands with Norm. Jake noticed that the Fireman's smile looked genuine enough which, had most definitely not been the case with the cop. Norm finally got around to asking, "so what happened here Blake?"

"Near as we can tell," Blake pointed one of his burly fingers at what was now little more than a charred frame. Jake could guess that it had been some sort of automobile. The fireman went on, "that's where the explosion was centered."

Jake introduced himself and then asked, "hydrogen cell?"

That took the fireman by surprise. He shook it off and then answered with a simple and confused, "um, no."

Norm cut in with, "you'll have to forgive Deputy Barton here. He just made planet fall a few hours ago."

The fireman almost laughed and then told Jake, "well I guess they popped your cherry real quick, didn't they pal. No we don't use hydrogen here."

Norm pointed across the L-5 at a fueling station and in particular at it's sign. Jake almost chuckled, "Benthic Petrolium? I didn't even know those guys were still in business."

"They are out here in the colonies," Norm told him. "This planet has a pretty good sized crude reserve so it's cheaper just to burn gas."

Blake Tippet crossed his arms and added, "yeah well that was no gas tank that went up. Hell I'm not even sure what it was. I just know that there isn't anything on a vehicle that could cause this. My guys have found debris over a mile from here."

Jake asked, "so what you're saying here is this was a deliberate explosion. Some kind of car bombing?" Jake looked up at the sign for the restaurant and then said, "so who would want to blow up the Foo King Dinner?" He suddenly realized what he said, "well that guy had a sense of humor."

Norm replied, "no that's his real name."

Jake nodded and came back with, "ok so his parents had a sense of humor. So who'd want to blow this place up?"

"Nobody," Norm replied off the cuff before asking the Chief, "is it safe to go over there now?"

Blake laughed before getting back to work, "safer than it was just before the explosion."

Norm wandered over to the edge of the black marks nearest to the vehicle that had been at the epicenter. He just stood there silently and looked. Without even noticing if the new boss was following him, Norm asked, "you're supposed to be some kind of super soldier. What do you make of this?"

Jake crossed his arms and said, "I can't say for sure what did make it but I can tell you what didn't."

Norm looked back at the guy and said, "I'm listening."

Jake squatted down and pinched some of the scarred asphalt. He rubbed it between his fingers and then made a little circle, with a single finger, in the ash. When the Deputy Marshal stood back up he pointed to the frame of the truck and said, "what's missing?"

Norm also had his arms crossed but struck a more thoughtful pose as he asked, "that was all just bullshit you were doing down there in the dirt, right?"

"The crater," Jake told him. "An explosion this big should have left a crater. They should have had to dig that frame up out of the mud about twenty feet down."

"So what's that supposed to mean exactly," Norm asked.

"What it means, Agent," Jake replied as he rolled up his sleeves, "is that whatever did this wasn't a conventional explosive. Any chemical explosives that could throw debris over a mile away would have put a fair sized hole this parking lot. You got a knife?"

Norm was a little surprised by the question and he replied with, "I'm surprised you don't have a big one with a compass in the hilt."

"Cut me some slack," Jake told him, "I just got out of airport security. You think they're going to let me pass with a blade?"

Norm reached into his pocket and tossed the man a pocket knife even if he was not entirely sure what the guy wanted to do with it. As Jake unfolded it he then began looking around. As for exactly what he was looking for, well, Norm had no clue. As Jake looked some more he explained, "that was a high energy burst, whatever it was. It was enough to melt the asphalt under the ash. All the way out to here too."

Jake's eyes locked in on a man who was standing over by the diner's service window. The guy was passionately talking to a couple of firemen. Norm followed the marshal over and listened to him ask for some vinegar. The guy seemed more than happy to provide some so, while Jake was on a role, he also asked for some wax paper and a writing instrument. The man had both and produced them in short order.

Norm commented as he watched the goods change hands, "good thing somebody didn't try and blow up an accounting office or you'd have never found a pencil."

Jake just gave the man a sly look and walked on out to the frame where he proceeded to get his clothing completely dirty as he got down and started looking around the frame. Norm watched from a safe distance and asked the guy that had gathered the supplies, "you work here I take it?"

"Yeah I run this window right here," Mel told the guy. Then he looked over the scrubs the man was wearing and asked, "are you a paramedic or something?"

"Colonial Ranger," Norm replied as he closely watched Jake doing whatever he was doing. Norm did ask the cook, "were you here when it went off?"

"Yeah," Mel thumbed to the window, "was right in there. I tell you I done me two wars and I would have swore that blast was a nuke."

Norm crossed his arms again and was still intently watching Jake. The guy had poured the bottle of vinegar on a part of the frame and was now scratching at it with the pocket knife. Norm still managed to ask Mel, "why do you say that?"

"The heat, the light, then the blast itself," Mel told the guy. Then he pointed at the wall behind them, "hell look at what it did to my wall. This used to be light blue." Mel was getting the impression he was only being half listened too so now he asked a question of his own, "what's your buddy doing out there?"

"I think I just figured it out," Norm said as he walked off. He stopped over Jake and asked, "so did you find the VIN number?"

Jake stood up with the wax paper in his hand and pointed to the rubbing he had just made, "not all of it but it's enough I hope."

After being handed the paper, Norm looked at what they had and said, "eight characters. They're usually fourteen. It should narrow it down and then all we have to do is cross reference that with any missing persons that show up in the next couple of days."

As the two men walked back to Norm's car, they ran into a very impatient looking Calvin who promptly tossed Norm his phone. Cal added, "Darcy has called three times already. Where the hell were you?"

Norm answered by pointing to Jake, "this is the new boss. New boss, this here is Cal Brandt." Then Norm had his own question, "since you found us I'm guessing you already talked to Amy?"

"Yeah I did," Cal replied. "Speaking of finding things. You didn't have your phone Norm. How did you find this place? Amy never told you where it was."

Norm walked on past the man as he replied, "I looked for the fire trucks. How else do you find a fire?"