Samantha Twist came in quietly to the Moon Lake Police station and found a waiting reception for her with both Chief O'Hara and a lone human male. By his scent, she could tell that he was a normal human, but with his present suit and pinned FBI badge, Samantha could also tell that he was relatively important, though this had some measure of trouble to it. Mostly with other things going around, and particularly the worries over the wedding for Jennifer Harper and Harry Jenkins on Halloween, but for the moment, she couldn't dwell on that for the moment. From the phone call that she'd received, it seemed like what was going on was also very serious.
"Mrs. Twist, this is Agent Baoman with the FBI," Chief O'Hara introduced the man standing next to him, "He's in charge of the team the FBI has tracking the Gambonis."
"The Gambonis," Samantha said slowly as she stood in the front desk area for the police station.
She knew of the situation that would make reference to the New York/New Jersey crime family, as she had been briefed that one of the Moon Lake officers had made the offer for his friend to come to Moon Lake. At that time the issues related to Yvette Smith clawing her professor and then a fellow student at the college wasn't an issue and of course the second victim's wedding wasn't an issue then as well. In this, Samantha could actually see Daniel Brook's desire to protect Moe Charleston being a big part of the officer's motivation, and she gained some measure of sympathy for the Charleston family's ordeal the more she heard about it. However, as far as she knew that much of that would remain solely within the Moon Lake PD and there had been the hope that the Gambonis wouldn't get any inkling as to where the Charleston family was. Still, she did reach forward and shook the agent's hand.
"Agent Baoman, this is Samantha Twist, our Town Chancellor, and the representative for the Mayor's office," Chief O'Hara continued the introduction.
"Hello," Agent Baoman spoke politely to the woman who stood their in her business suit and shook her hand.
"We'd best take this to the main conference room," Chief O'Hara spoke.
The other two nodded and soon followed O'Hara through a door that took them deeper into the station. They eventually settled into a long and narrow room where there were a couple of officers waiting as they stood behind the sets of office chairs on the other side of the long table in the middle of the room. Daniel Brooks was among them, and both officers came to attention as they entered the room. Chief O'Hara then moved to stand at one end of the table while Samantha went to the other end. Agent Baoman was left with a choice between the two chairs that were opposite Daniel Brooks and the other officer. As they moved to take their seats, the two officers that were waiting took their seats as well.
"Now, Mrs. Twist, Agent Baoman has made some progress and noted some developments in the case with the Gambonis which could affect our department's plans to protect the Charleston family," Chief O'Hara said slowly, "and that is why you, Officer Brooks, and Officer Rubble have been called in. As these develops could well mean things need to change."
Daniel didn't visibly react, but Samantha nodded as Chief O'Hara effectively turned the floor over to Agent Baoman to at least brief them in the developments on the situation. Agent Baoman nodded and gave a cough to clear his throat.
"Thank you, Chief O'Hara," Agent Baoman as he placed has hands in front of him on the desk so that they were crossed for the moment, "I'm sure you're all aware of the present manhunt for the Gamboni family, primarily Marcus Gamboni at the moment. This has been going on for the better part of the last few years when Marcus took a shine to a Karen Charleston. Now... we have no confirmation as to when Marcus first saw interest in her, and their difference in age isn't that great. At present at his youngest he's eighteen and at his oldest twenty..."
"Karen Charleston isn't that old though... she's about the same age as my son," Daniel Brooks spoke up.
"As I said... we don't know WHEN Marcus first took interest in Karen, and in the end that ISN'T the point in all of this," Agent Baoman spoke, "the fact has been more that the Gamboni crime family, which has normally confined its operations to New York City and New Jersey has proceeded to chase and harass the Charleston family across the country, which has lead to a series of robberies, acts of intimidation, and those in the FBI offices that deal with organized crime have also suspected as murders loosely connected to this chase."
"They've killed people?" Samantha asked, "as part of this pursuit?"
"Them personally... we don't know," Agent Baoman answered, "at least not that we could confirm until recently. We have knowledge that the Gambonis are here in Washington State. The father and head of the organization has a hotel room in Seattle. We've questioned him... but since most of the records on him have been so weak, we can't take the head of the family into custody, though we believe he's orchestrating the hunt from there, as we've had a tip or two of Marcus Gamboni and his brothers being in the same general area awhile back... though that's unconfirmed. However, that has also since changed."
Agent Baoman then paused to look to the eyes of both patrol officers and to the town's Town Chancellor before he continued. This was one of those situations where things had to be done carefully, for otherwise, the threat to the town's police could grow and the threat to the Charleston family would get even worse. He knew there were options available. The Charlestons could go into witness protection, where the FBI would essentially craft new identities and new identification cards and then inform other agencies like the IRS not to open up tax fraud cases against the Charleston's new identities, though that was rejected. They could up the direct security around the Charlestons, but given that the Gambonis likely knew about Moon Lake, that could lead to a firefight when they learned of the increased security, particularly given Marcus's recent actions. They could move the Charlestons to a new town and at least get them to where the Gambonis wouldn't know where to look, but so far that method hadn't worked well for long. The last would be to set up a sting operation with the Charlestons safely secured somewhere in Moon Lake where the Gambonis wouldn't likely go to first. That was the most reasonable, and might be the best to work out, given how the town was laid out, and Agent Baoman figured he could work out a deal in that regard, but he would need full coordination on it.
"In their pursuit of the Charlestons, the Gambonis have made a couple of slip ups," Agent Baoman spoke, "Albert was caught at Fort Wolfe attempting to go door to door there, and either not knowing that the base is a REGULAR army base and not a Washington State National Guard Base or not knowing how the US Army recruits its soldiers. He was recognized by one of the houses he went to by someone who had used to live on the east coast. This arrest finally got us access to the Gamboni family's computers and specifically the ones they use for their criminal work. In previous attempts to get them... they'd managed to fight the warrants in court to allow them to determine what they handed over... I can't explain why, particularly when our offices and the various DAs that have tried this have warned that the Gambonis have tended to use multiple computers and don't use the same computers for all of their work, legal or illegal. But in the end, that doesn't matter as in theory we have had the warrants for them and now we finally have it."
"And that's how you learned about the sort of tracer signal they planted in Moe Charleston's phone?" the second officer asked.
"Yes," Agent Baoman nodded, "I trust that was either removed or taken care of?"
"The phone was cleaned and the virus that was sent in to send that signal was removed," Chief O'Hara nodded, "though... from what I've been told is that the model of the phone and the plan it's likely on wouldn't get a good signal here around Moon Lake."
"Still good that the signal was removed, that will help us with what will have to come next," Agent Baoman said slowly, "because in going through the evidence Albert had on his computer of his various computer crimes... we've also found that the Gambonis have hacked just about every major bank in the US, particularly the ones that do business over large sections of the country. Among them was Wells Fargo which has on their records that Moe Charleston took out a business loan."
"They know?!" Daniel gasped, nearly jumping out of his chair.
"They likely know that Mr. Charleston took out the loan and as such know where he lives based on the information the bank required he enter," Agent Baoman nodded, "which the hack enabled the Gambonis to do as they were essentially using the login for the bank's owners. We're presently going through the process of getting the banks to change their logins and so on... but the big thing that likely know the Charleston's home address and that could make any action that Marcus or his other brother, Vito, may take more dangerous."
"More dangerous?" Samantha asked, leaning forward slightly, and a part of her rather anxious.
She understood the overall danger that groups like the Gamboni crime family posed and how things could go wrong if they were ignored, but at the same time, she knew that Moon Lake had dealt with criminals that were physically more powerful than any human and for the most part had the ability to use and manipulate tools as well. In that the Mandatory Were Law was more than just protection of Moon Lake's secrets from the outside world but as an added security measure to make sure that no rogue were ever got to the point where they became a threat to the world at large. As while the family members who didn't become weres wouldn't want to betray their family the family members that did become weres would also fight to protect their family members should someone, like Yvette Smith go rogue. This knowledge combined with the ruthlessness that the Gamboni crime family had some reputation for was enough to make her wonder as to whether or not they might just shoot up the town just to get to Karen, regardless of who lived there and made stopping the Gambonis even more important than just Moon Lake's secrets. She watched as Agent Baoman slowly nodded.
"We know that the Gambonis are in the state, and we have manage to keep tabs on the father's movements, but we can't be fully certain as to where Marcus and Vito are," Agent Baoman answered, "Our last clue was some security images from Mount St. Helens, where we're pretty sure he killed a Park Ranger and we know he stole one of their jeeps. But from there, he didn't necessarily get very far. We found the jeep abandoned... in this, Vito probably saved his brother..."
"But he can't be too far from the area, right?" Daniel asked, his fists clinched at the moment.
"He might still be in the area near Mount St. Helens, but it's been long enough now... particularly with the state wide arrest alert out for both Marcus and Vito... Marcus for the murder of the ranger and Vito as an accomplice in his escape," Agent Baoman said slowly, "that if they're smart, they'd move to a different part of the state and wait for the heat to die down... assuming they keep chasing the Charleston family at all. The only thing that we can determine is that Marcus has taken his attraction to the point of obsession and isn't thinking clearly. Thus when the ranger approached him... he panicked and shot the ranger and then fled. All of this is out of the normal modes of behavior for the Gambonis, as they generally TRY to maintain some degree of control and secrecy, so that any evidence we find is at best circumstantial. In this case... and for as long as their chase of the Charleston family has gone... there is the potential that he could flip and do something that would normally be considered outright stupid... but then... chasing one family for years and leaving their home turf on the east coast..."
"His actions have already gone beyond what one would expect for an organized crime group," Chief O'Hara said slowly.
To that Agent Baoman nodded, "Which leaves us with few real options... We can either put the Charlestons in true protective custody and move them to another location... but the Charlestons have shot that down..."
"Not to mention that given how long they've been running and how often they've had to flee... I'm not sure they'd be able to afford another move right now," Daniel spoke.
"We could try to put a larger guard around the Charlestons," the other officer suggested, "put one car out in front of their house 24/7 and another officer behind it."
O'Hara inwardly cringed at that. Agent Baoman hadn't given any indication as to WHEN the Gambonis would actually make their planned move, and with other headaches related to the Harper/Jenkins wedding coming, he knew he'd likely need all his available officers to provide at least some measure of protection for the two young werefoxes if this Dieter Wilhelm had as many supposed "dark connections" of his own as Tachibana's security services seemed to indicate. A 24 hour watch for the Charlestons would hurt that.
"No... that sort of thing could lead to an open gun battle," Agent Baoman shook his head, "and while I'm sure you have plenty of officers who'd want to shoot a known mobster, it would be better that we not do something that would provoke Marcus or Vito the point of doing something truly dangerous to both them and the people of your town here. And since we haven't gotten tips on a precise location, I don't have the Agents to cover the entire state... that is where I will need YOUR help."
"What did you have in mind?" O'Hara asked.
"A sting," Agent Baoman said slowly, "We know the Gambonis will come here at some point and we know they'll likely have the exact home address for the Charlestons. In this, the best thing would be to make the home look at best lightly guarded and lure Marcus and Vito into a situation where we don't have to exchange gunfire. I have the agents needed for that take down, but it will mean that until either Marcus and Vito are captured or until the sting is conducted, the Charlestons will need to stay somewhere ELSE in Moon Lake, somewhere where they may not be noticed and where they can be kept secure. My agents and perhaps one or two of your officers could then make use of the Charleston home... and wait. They likely won't come into town guns blazing and anything of that nature would only be after they feel they've escaped prying eyes. That will give the agents and your officer the chance to make the arrest without any fatalities."
"And what else would you need from my officers?" O'Hara asked.
"Some understanding of the Charleston's routine here... are they in school? A work schedule?" Agent Baoman asked, "as well as understanding some of the nature of your town's layout and any possible spots that might give us a shot at a warning as to when they're coming in."
"The only entrances in and out of Moon Lake come in through the road going east and west and north and south," Samantha answered, "all the rest lead in dead ends or onto private property that is outside the city's official city limits. As for the town's layout... you could say that was just the town's founders wanting to preserve some connection with nature, rather than building up the town that would let what is wild be forced away. Thus the wagon wheel shape and allowing nature to be between each "spoke." If that helps."
Agent Baoman raised a finger to scratch his chin for a moment, but he eventually shrugged and accepted it. Some parts of it didn't sound quite normal, but then many people often had odd eccentricities. In this, he figured Moon Lake's founders were probably just some sort of enthusiastic naturalists. Though with entrances to the town at only its eastern and western, as well as its northern and southern ends, that would actually aide in some of the monitoring things for when the Gambonis were likely to arrive.
"But most of the houses we have in Moon Lake are pretty standard," Samantha then spoke, "I don't think anyone would have a quote unquote safe room."
"It wouldn't have to be that secure," Agent Baoman spoke, "just away enough that they won't be noticed going in and out... they'd be out of sight and thus the Gambonis wouldn't be diverted to go somewhere else."
"My family can look after them," Daniel volunteered, "Moe's my friend and I am the one that urged him to come here in the hopes of protecting him. I'd suppose it'd mean bearing some responsibility for their safety. Besides, Moe and Nichole are more likely to trust me than anyone else."
"And you live far enough away that the Gambonis won't be able to meet them on their way to the house?" Agent Baoman asked.
"No..." Daniel said slowly.
"Then that won't be safe enough," Agent Baoman answered, "as we have no certain idea on how they will manage to navigate. Good eyes and ears and a neighborhood watch tactics can help us track them once they enter the city limits, but it would be best that the Charlestons are somewhere other than their home or the street its on in order to essentially be "somewhere else" when and if they arrive."
"But they only just came here a few days ago... my wife and I are the only ones they'll know and trust," Daniel spoke, "and the hotel might not be safe if they decide to set up some kind of base here."
"Did he meet any of your other officers?" Agent Baoman asked to O'Hara turning his head.
"Just my tech officer, Tara Strange," O'Hara answered.
"Does she live on the same street?" Agent Baoman asked.
"No," O'Hara said slowly.
"Then talk with her... she may be the best person to have the Charlestons with until we can get this done," Agent Baoman instructed.
"But surely... something that could ambush the Gambonis before they get into Moon Lake," the other patrol officer commented, "We could help, and if you have the agents available, we could surely catch the two of them at a point where they wouldn't have a threat of hostages or anything like that..."
"We have the agents to mount the sting or a potential ambush... the problem is that we do not know precisely where Marcus and Vito Gamboni are, and as such we can not be sure from which direction they will enter Moon Lake from," Agent Baoman gave a sigh, which showed some frustration in the lengthy and troublesome hunt for the Gambonis that he'd had, "in this... the Charleston home is the only bait we have to catch them and arrest them without doing harm to them or the people here. But we must take the precaution that the Charlestons NOT be anywhere near the area when things go down."
"And you don't see any other option?" O'Hara asked. He honestly did think that Baoman's plan was sound in what it could do, and from some of the news reports that he'd seen on Albert Gamboni's arrest and the shooting at Mount St. Helens, he could understand the reasoning the FBI agent had, but he wanted to make sure all the bases were covered.
"Unless we get some sort of miracle somewhere else... I don't see any other option that would keep the Charlestons safe in the long term," Agent Baoman answered, "I have no certainty on how long it'll take... but given things... it'll likely only be sooner rather than later."
"Okay," O'Hara said slowly, "Brooks will ultimately be assigned to the team to watch the house. Though, since you know him best... I'll trust you to also explain the situation as it is. I don't think Strange is too far from her parents, so if need be even she will have back up."
Samantha said nothing on that. She didn't know Tara Strange personally, but she did know that the woman was to young to become a were when her parents moved to Moon Lake when her father joined the local county sheriff's office and handled most of the crimes on the roads and more rural areas in the county outside of Moon Lake. As such, Officer Tara Strange was still a normal human woman, though she did have at least two werebears as potential backup if the Gambonis somehow found their way to them, as her parents did join were society and had a young werebear cub together after their conversion. Samantha was tempted to say, "woe to those that poke the bear," but that might betray some of Moon Lake's secrets to the FBI agent who was really only in Moon Lake because of the threat of the Gambonis, and likely knew little of Moon Lake's secrets. And if the threat the Gambonis posed was to be short lived, it was better that the secret stayed secret for the moment.
"Then... we're set..." Samantha said slowly.
"For the moment," Chief O'Hara nodded, "Agent Baoman... you and I may have some more things to discuss on the exact tactics and strategy for the sting operation with the Gambonis, but I assure you that the Moon Lake police will cooperate in anyway we can."
Agent Baoman nodded and gave a semi nervous smile. He was confident in his plan's ultimate success, but he also knew there were a lot of unknowns and that until they were solved, he couldn't be sure as to how long the present game of cat and mouse with the Gambonis would work.