Quantico by Greg Bear Read Free Book Online

the Aryan Church of Christ Militant. White supremacists.’
    ‘I am aware of that,’ Benson said.
    ‘In 1992, his conviction got thrown out on appeal. Turned out an FBI technician didn’t conduct the tests he said he did. Chambers was released in 1993. After that, from 1995 to 1999, he robbed banks from Oklahoma to Alabama. They called him the Proud Poppa because he was assisted by two pre-adolescent males whom he referred to as “my strong and righteous sons.” He then organized the bombing of three Planned Parenthood Clinics in Boston and Baltimore in 1999, resulting in two deaths and six injuries. He’s been on the Post Office hit parade for the last twenty years.’
    ‘All because of an FBI screw-up?’ Benson asked.
    ‘Uh-huh,’ Griff said.
    ‘If that really is his family down there,’ Levine said, ‘and he thinks we’re on to him, he’s going to fight like a cornered bobcat. He will not go back to prison. How are you going to handle this?’
    ‘We’re still working on that,’ Griff said.
    Levine looked doubtful and took his turn peeking through the big binoculars. ‘Well, looky here. Ants.’
    The day after the Snohomish County sheriff’s department had passed the deputy’s information along to the FBI, Griff had driven from the Seattle Field Office and taken over a seldom-used Forest Service fire tower with a pretty good view of the farm. Without asking permission, he had instructed two agents to chainsaw the single obstructing tree. He had then set up his surveillance. Seattle Field Office Special Agent in Charge John Keller had put Griff in command of the operation, but provisionally, in case it threatened to turn into another Waco.
    FBI headquarters wanted to be very sure of their footing before they made a move.
    Other agents had worked their way into Prince, the nearest town: a gas station, hardware/feed store, three churches, and a diner. They had learned that three women and at least seven children picked up groceries and sometimes their mail in Prince. Less frequently, the citizens saw four men ranging in age from seventeen to thirty-five. The family or families also drove into Prince for church services. Chambers himself never ventured into town. The best guess was that Chambers had about twenty men, women, and children living on his farm.
    Their church was a thorny cane of the original Seventh Day Adventist bush known as The Empty Tomb of God Risen. Tombers, FBI files said, showed strong anti-Semitic tendencies, often associated with Christian Identity types, and were allied in some northwestern states with Aryan Nations. Their ministers were banned from visiting federal prisons.
    Upon learning this, Griff had contacted Jacob Levine.
    They took turns looking through the binoculars while thecomputer used a satellite link to try to make facial comparisons with National Security Service records in Virginia.
    ‘What are all those posts and clothes lines for?’ Rebecca asked.
    Griff shrugged. ‘You tell me.’
    ‘Looks like an antenna. TV, maybe?’
    ‘Even Jed Clampett has a dish out here,’ Benson said.
    Two women stood on the porch. One was knitting and the other just stared out over the long span of weedy lawn in front of the main house. They were talking but there was no way of knowing what they were saying. At this angle and that distance, the lip-reading software on the computer wasn’t much good.
    ‘They look nervous,’ Benson observed.
    ‘Chambers starts out charming but in the end he rules by force,’ Levine said. ‘He picks women who want nothing but guidance and routine, but that doesn’t mean he makes them happy. Though he does provide, in his way, and he loves his kids. In his way.’
    ‘They’re all his?’ Rebecca asked.
    ‘Chambers has never shared his harem,’ Levine said. ‘He teaches his sons to be crack shots but forbids his wives or daughters to use guns, ever. When are you planning to make a raid?’
    Griff winced at the word ‘raid’ but he did not