28
Ballard sat in the second row of folding chairs, behind Gordon Olmstead and another agent, Spencer, who was wearing an Amazon delivery uniform as cover because he was the driver of the command-post van. The van was parked on Ocean Boulevard, a block away from the parking lot displayed on the four screens attached to the inside wall.
Olmstead sat in front of a stick microphone and was in constant contact with all agents involved in the operation. Speakers mounted below the screens allowed Ballard to hear the play-by-play on the comms. The only one of the team not transmitting was Bosch. He had previously declined to wear an earpiece. His car was wired for sound but he didn’t want to speak; if he was being watched by a Dehaven confederate, it might tip him off.
At 7:25 the agents watching the caravan on the PCH where Dehaven parked his van overnight reported that Dehaven and another man were in the van and pulling into traffic. They were on their way.
Olmstead shook his head and keyed his mic. “They’re already breaking the rules,” he said. “Subject was to arrive solo. Everybody stay sharp. We are off script.”
Tension in the van ratcheted up a notch. Ballard watched the screens and saw Bosch open the door of his Cherokee.
“He’s getting out,” Ballard said. “Why’s he getting out?”
“It’s part of the plan, Renée,” Olmstead said. “Cool your jets.”
Ballard was annoyed by his tone and by the fact that she had been left out of the planning, but she knew this wasn’t the time to go to war over it. She watched as Bosch went to the back of the Cherokee and lifted the rear hatch. He was wearing an old army camo jacket that looked bulky.
“Is he wearing plates?” she asked.
“No,” Spencer said. “He refused a vest, plates, anything that would look like he might be law enforcement.”
Bosch sat on the back bumper and folded his arms across his chest. Next to him in the rear cargo space of the Cherokee were two beach bags with straps. They looked like they were filled with striped beach towels, but Olmstead explained that the towels concealed the mini machine guns, two in each bag, with ineffective firing pins.
“We wanted two bags so Dehaven would have to carry them with two hands,” he said.
Ballard nodded, knowing that the two-handed carry would hinder an effort to draw a weapon.
Minute-by-minute updates on Dehaven’s progress on the coast highway were radioed to the command post.
“He’s going to be early, people,” Olmstead said. “Be ready.”
“Is there any way to get that message to Bosch?” Ballard asked.
“Not unless we break position,” Olmstead said. “We don’t want to do that and Bosch knows to be ready for anything. Early arrival, late arrival — doesn’t matter.”
Ballard nodded. She knew that Bosch was ready. She had checked with him earlier that morning and given him every opportunity to back out of the operation, but he refused. He told her that the situation went beyond recovering her badge. He wanted to be part of the team that took Dehaven down.
At 7:46 the follow team reported that Dehaven’s van was on the California Incline and three to five minutes from the beach parking lot. The tension in Ballard’s chest tightened and she pushed her chair back and stood. It was the only way to deal with the adrenaline hit. She started shifting her weight from one foot to another, her eyes intent on the screens.
“Renée, you’re jumpy,” Olmstead said. “You need to relax. Everything is in hand.”
“I can’t relax,” Ballard said. “Not till this thing is over and he’s safe. I pulled him into this.”
She studied the screens that showed four images of Bosch from four different camera angles. He was still sitting, arms crossed, on the back bumper. He certainly seemed calm even if she wasn’t.
“I need to be down there with him,” she said.
“Too dangerous,” Olmstead said. “You can’t even get out of the van at this point. We don’t know what other eyes are out there.”
“I know, I know. Are all of these frames fixed? They’re too tight. You can’t see what’s happening in the lot.”
“Hold on.”
Olmstead made a radio call to one of the lot surveillance teams and told them to widen their camera’s angle. It was the camera on the southwest corner of the lot that offered a view over the right side of the Cherokee and Bosch’s left shoulder. The angle widened and Ballard could see the entire lot, including the roller-hockey game being played on the north end.
“That better for you?” Olmstead asked.
“Better,” Ballard said. “But you let them play hockey with this going down?”
“They play every Saturday morning. We don’t know if Dehaven knows that. We cancel it and it could be a tell. It could blow the whole operation. Nothing is going to happen here. We’re going to follow them back to the nest, remember?”
“I remember. It’s just that plans don’t always go as intended.”
Almost as soon as she said it, she saw the van she recognized as Dehaven’s drive down the ramp off Ocean and into the parking lot. Because it was so early and the lot was largely empty, the van cut across the painted lines of the parking rows, heading directly toward Bosch.
Ballard watched Harry push off the bumper and stand up to meet it.
“Here we go,” Olmstead said.
29
The van pulled up at an angle to the left rear side of the Cherokee. On one of the screens, Ballard could see that Dehaven was in the passenger seat. The camera positions and a light reflection off the windshield did not allow a clear view of the driver. Bosch walked directly to the passenger window to confront Dehaven. His back was to the open hatch of the Cherokee, and his words were partially muffled by his body and the limited reach of the bug. Ballard leaned over Olmstead’s shoulder to get closer to the speaker.
“You... alone,” Bosch said.
“Relax,” Dehaven said. “He’s...”
Bosch pointed into the van at the driver.
“He... the van,” he said.
“Okay, not a...” Dehaven said. “Just take... cool.”
Bosch turned back to the Cherokee, his voice now directed at the bug.
“I’ll be cool as long as he stays in the fucking van,” he said.
Dehaven opened his door and got out behind him. Bosch walked to a position under the hatch where he knew his words would be clear and recorded.
Ballard checked all corners of the screens for a red dot or other indicator. “You are recording this, right?” she asked.
Olmstead said nothing. Spencer said nothing.
“What the fuck?” Ballard said. “You’re not recording this?”
Her voice obscured something Bosch said.
“Ballard, be quiet,” Olmstead barked. “We need to hear. Yes, it’s recorded.”
Ballard didn’t believe him. And she knew there was only one reason not to record the takedown.
“If Bosch gets hurt, I won’t keep my mouth shut about this,” she said.
Olmstead held his hand up for silence.
On the screen, the deal was about to go down. Dehaven was at the back of the Cherokee next to Bosch and was pulling towels out of one of the beach bags. He held the towels under one arm while looking into the bag. He reached down to inspect the weapons without lifting them out of the bag. Seemingly satisfied, Dehaven stuffed the towels back in that bag and moved on to the second one. This time when he removed the towels, he dropped them next to the bag, leaving both hands free.
“No slings?” he said. “Dude, I ordered slings.”
“You gave me short notice on that,” Bosch said. “I can get ’em Tuesday or Wednesday for you.”
“That’ll be too late.”