All this put him in mind of another thing he had so willingly set aside, another thorny suspicion he had been shying away from. He brought out the letter he had been carrying around and handed it over to Banish. He waited until it was unfolded and recognized. “The letter to WAR from Ables,” Blood told him. “A man last night claiming to be Ables’s lawyer passed copies of this around, stirring up the crowd. Said ATF threatened to bring charges if Ables didn’t tattle for them, and said he could prove this in a court of law. You ignored that when I brought it to you before. Can you now?”
Banish looked at the letter. He folded it in half, running his fingers slowly along the crease. “If I told you it didn’t matter?” he said.
Blood said, “Can you now?”
Banish held the piece of paper. He didn’t say anything.
“What would you do,” Blood said, “if this whole mess turned out to be one big damn mistake?”
Banish was quiet for a while and seemingly heavy with thought. Then he folded the letter once again and slipped it into his shirt pocket. He nodded at Blood from where he was standing. “You’re a dangerous man yourself,” he said.
Dangerously inept, thought Blood. A mat for people to walk over, a statue that sometimes even talked. He had thought previously that strength and silence were enough. Chief Moody practically burgling his office. Cops parking in his space. Deke Belcher throwing up insults at him in his own car. All unanswered by him. The thought of them snickering made Blood furious. Why hadn’t he acted? Why did he keep so much in reserve? And what was the cost?
He pictured each of the Indian boys — young, drunk, and terrified — surrounded and set upon by a mob.
Banish moved to the door. “I want you up at the staging area from here on in,” he said.
“Why?” Blood said. He was mad and frustrated and trying to hide it.
“We’re getting into negotiations with Ables now. You know the character of the people, the way around here. I want you in the mix. You might pick up on something I would otherwise miss.”
“And?” Blood said.
Banish seemed to think about that. “There’s also a saying,” he said. “Keep all dangerous men closest to you.”
Blood felt much the same. For now, he was in that numb state that followed a thorough beating, the pain that falls over you heavy and starts to settling deep into your muscles and your soul. He went out behind Banish and set off across the clearing by himself.
Command Tent
[PARASIEGE, p. 66]
SA Banish returned to the command tent and instructed SA Coyle to contact the BATF office in Spokane, Washington, for the purpose of ordering the return of Agents Riga and Crimson for further questioning.
Sound Truck
Banish paced inside the cramped quarters, head bowed to avoid the van ceiling. He kept his hands busy, folding and unfolding them in front of him, wringing them, wiping them on the hips of his pants. Blood stood leaning against a wall in the corner near the closed door. The sound man sat monitoring.
The tape reels clicked and started another revolution. “He’s coming,” said the sound man, pulling on his headphones and flipping a switch. The sound of footsteps over a wooden floor came on inside the van. The footsteps approached the microphone source and stopped, and there were muffled noises, the sound of a man clearing his throat. Then a click.
“Watson.”
His voice filled the van. The sound man adjusted the broadcast volume as Banish climbed into his chair. He used the hand micro phone only, leaving Ables’s voice on the overhead speaker for Blood to hear.
“Yes, Mr. Ables.”
“You have a family, Watson?”
The very first question threw him. It would have been an easy lie, but since Banish’s aim here was to sympathize with the suspect and establish a rapport, it seemed to him that the best answer in this particular situation was, in fact, “Yes.”
“I want to talk about mine,” Ables said. “In case something happens to me.”
“What do you mean?”
“That was good,” Ables said. “That was convincing.”
Banish squinted, looking blankly at the console in front of him. “Mr. Ables, you’ve lost me here. Are you considering coming out?”
Banish would not say “surrender.” He would not say “give up.” He had to make it Ables’s choice. He waited through a short pause.
“Maybe you don’t know, then,” Ables said. “I figured you were all in this together, but misinformation is legion. Or maybe you’re just not high up enough to know.”
“Know what, Mr. Ables?”
“About the plans they have for me. How this is all going to end.”
Banish pressed him. “Who, Mr. Ables?”
“That I am going to be assassinated when I step outside my house and murdered in cold blood. I know that.”
“That is simply not true, Mr. Ables. No one here will take any hostile action, not unless you were to try something ill-advised again.”
Banish waited through another, longer pause.
“My wife,” Ables said. “If I did come out. She would go free.”
Banish paused, as though carefully considering it. “That is certainly something that could be arranged,” he said.
“Not so fast, Watson. Not so simple. I have other responsibilities. I know they want my house. They want me and they want my land. I built this house up with my own hands, me and my wife and daughters. Do you understand that, Watson?”
“I do understand, Mr. Ables.”
“You damn well should. And I paid for the land on this mountain and have worked it hard.”
“Mr. Ables — we are getting into an area here that I don’t have much control over. Legally, you forfeited your residence to the courts when you refused to appear for trial.”
“It was refused for me. Another slimy sabotage. That letter reached me two months too late.”
Again, Ables was way out ahead of him. “What letter?” Banish said.
“The letter from that courthouse. With the date for my appearance. Delivered by the federal mail, Watson. It’s all a game to you people out there, ain’t it? You sit and act like you don’t know that you’re all in on this together. You know that you have set me up and yet you will not admit it to my face. You will double-talk and triple-talk and try to fill my head with doubts.”
“Mr. Ables, all I am trying to do here is iron out some agreement between us whereby you can come out in cooperation with the proper authorities before it is too late to do so.”
“Who is Banish?” Ables said.
Banish started. His chest went cold. “What?”
“Banish. I hear his name on the radio, more than yours.”
Banish said, “There is no Banish on this mountain,” and immediately knew that it was a wild mistake.
“On the radio news they said he’s in charge.”
“He is not here now. Mr. Ables, we were talking about your home.”
“I want to talk to this Banish.”
“I told you, he is not here.”
“Where is he, then? I’m on the phone now. Who the hell’s in charge out there?”
“Mr. Ables, I think it would be best if we could work this out between the two of us rather than involving the confusion of a third party.”