He clicked into the message, his eyes narrowing as he read:
We’re gifting the offender in the Shane Walsh murder case to you. You can find him inside hangar #33 at the northwest corner of Teterboro Airport. You already have the 9mm Glock that was the murder weapon. Now you have the killer to go with it.
You’re welcome.
Lips pursed, Hutch reread the text, understanding the meaning behind it. The Bureau hadn’t released any information on the murder weapon. Yet this sender knew what it was and was verifying their legitimacy by supplying it.
Which was proof that this text wasn’t one to ignore.
Teterboro Airport
111 Industrial Avenue
Teterboro, New Jersey
Wednesday, March 22, 10:15 p.m.
Everything was in place.
Hutch had gone through proper channels to make this happen. He’d made his case to his assistant director in charge, claiming that, while he didn’t have probable cause, there were exigent circumstances to explore the contents of the text. Technically, the guy inside that hangar could be injured or dying.
He’d gotten the okay. The ADIC would allow Hutch to bring SA Barkley and a two-man SWAT team when they closed in. The field office’s SWAT coordinator was brought on board, organizing the raid. In-house research was expediently done on the location in question, only to find that it was indeed a seldom-used maintenance facility.
Now, Hutch’s team waited a few blocks away as the drones they’d flown over the hangar did their job before the team approached. A good visual was obtained, confirming that there was no ambush in the vicinity. Also confirmed was that the hangar had two doors—a wide entry/exit door and an emergency door.
That was all the information they needed to move in.
The agents left their black SUV and made their way slowly and carefully down the far side of the runways. Their bulletproof vests were in place and their weapons were loaded, gripped, and ready.
Hangar #33 was a large single-story corrugated metal building in the corner of the airport, its wide, tall doors there to provide easy entry and exit for heavy snow removal equipment.
The team of agents crept forward and surrounded the door.
Hutch signaled Barkley that the two of them should hold back and let the SWAT guys take the lead. Barkley nodded.
SWAT moved forward. One of them removed the hinges, then stepped back to blast the top and bottom of the door.
The door teetered, then crashed to the ground.
“FBI,” one SWAT guy shouted as they both barreled inside, sweeping every section of the room.
It didn’t take long before Hutch heard them call out: “All clear!”
That was Hutch’s cue to act.
He led Barkley inside, pistol raised, and was greeted by concrete floors, equipment from snow plows, dump trucks, and bulldozers, all parked and ready to go.
And in the center of the hangar, sitting atop a pallet containing bags of ice melt was a man—a struggling man whose eyes were wild with fear. His hands and legs were immobilized with black zip ties, and his mouth was sealed with a piece of duct tape. He was secured to the pallet with additional zip ties, clearly to prevent him from taking off.
Around his neck was a clear document pouch with papers inside and a Post-it slapped on top of it.
Hutch was there in a heartbeat. He snatched both the Post-it and the pouch, simultaneously glancing over the guy before announcing, “He seems intact, but summon the paramedics.”
With that, he turned his full attention on the Post-it, which read:
Name: Owen Willard. Former employee of Scott Security, assigned by Charles Scott to kill Shane and Caitlin Walsh. Given the full assignment was never completed, Willard is now on Scott’s hit list. With minor persuasion on your part, he’ll tell all. Re: the attached papers: a composite of all Scott’s illegal alliances and activities.
Act quickly. Make arrests. Get Caitlin Walsh home.
