While Agent Schuster made enquiries at the Medical Examiner's Office, Special Agent Muller arranged for McKerath's computer to be examined by an expert supplied by the Atlanta PD: Sgt Duc Tran. Sgt Tran was completely confident in his ability to access the computer: the few security measures McKerath employed were not implemented properly, and it was easy to recover passwords. He set up in a conference room opening off the main incident room (this room had already been set up for use by the Federal Agents). The computer was still configured with the Windows default settings, and so Tran was able to summarise its contents in only a few minutes: McKerath had compiled a huge folder of e-mail, and a vast collection of files downloaded from the internet. These were bundled into half-a-dozen chaotic files:

• Farm: Documents and e-mail focussing on basic, self-sufficient agriculture.
• Freedom: A comprehensive survey of "survivalist" literature, coupled with more mundane information for outdoorsmen.
• Friends: A large collection of mail, news and site references for far right groups and individuals, especially the GCM and other militia organisations. Detailed were sources of arms and materiel, sites of "encampments", financial dealings and sources of revenue. Special Agent Muller arranged to have this copied:Tran began immediately.
• Government: References (including staff lists) for over a doxen State and Federal bodies, from the ATF and FBI through to Georgia State Fisheries and the local Sheriff's Dept. There were also extracts from anti-government sites and news posts. There was a relatively small collection of mail to and from office holders.
• Gothic: The smallest folder, containing only a few files; all refer to a large leather-bound book referred to as The Gothic. The files indicate that The Gothic was auctioned in Paris, in 1992, and sold to an American. There was a blurry jpeg from the auction catelogue. Email in the folder showed that McKerath was trying to find this book as "a favour to our longtime friends". By far the largest file in the folder was a complete list of clinical staff employed in Atlanta's public hospitals. The smallest file was a Word document containing less than a line: NASA guy? The dotcer? Skinning? hors possible. Speak with traditionalists: Ring
• History: Correspondence, saved articles and web references for history of the Americas (both North and South), with emphasis on United States history (especially the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement).
• Patriot: Mostly saved news files, but with a small amount of e-mail, this folder is collected information concerning criminal prosecutions of modern American freedom fighters, such as David Koresh and the Unabomber.
• Southern: The second smallest folder, this was concerned with south and central American history, especially the struggle between the far right and far left.

Agent Schuster re-examined the photographs taken inside and around the car, and together with Assistant ME John McAvoy came to the rather uncomfortable conclusion that McKerath almost certainly drove himself to the place where he was found dead, after he had been skinned. The team studied the pictures again, and also reached the conclusion that it was probable that another vehicle had driven in behind McKerath, and then driven away. Lt Astrand sent a forensic team to search the site again for any evidence of a second vehicle. Given the highly precarious load in the car's trunk (100mm mortar bombs, fused and lying loose) Agent Davis suggested that perhaps these might have been placed in the car at the same time. No one could decide on a plausible reason for this, although Agent Schuster suggested that they might be intended as a booby trap.

Little more being found on the computer or in the crime scene photos, the team decided to return to their hotel for a strategy meeting and for lunch. Sgt Tran stayed behind with e delivery pizza, copying McKerath's files to Special Agent Muller's laptop.
As they were leaving Sgt Heineman caught them in the hallway and advised them that a press conference had been scheduled for 4pm: Special Agent Muller, as the senior agent, should be prepared to take questions. Muller pointed out (rather heatedly) that it is Sgt Heineman's job to deal with the press, and that the team have better things to do with their time.
Agents Muller, Schuster and Davis caught the lift down to the lobby where they were assailed by a phalanx of media. The police were of little assistance, and tempers were frayed by the time they pushed their way through the crowd to the desk. They decided to take the stairs to the basement, and managed to evade the media that way. As they walked into the carpark, two things happened: Special Agent Muller's cellphone rang, and with chirping tyres and roaring engine a white van sped through the gateway. It had gone from sight by the time they reached their car. The call on Special Agent Muller's cellphone was from Special Agent in Charge Nathan Mitchell, who tore a strip off Muller for failure to deal with the media. Special Agent Muller started to object but was overridden. Agent Davis agreed to write a statement Muller could present, and remembering the crowd of reporters in the lobby, he started up the stairs to the sixth floor, ringing for a pizza as he went. Agents Muller and Schuster looked around for Capt.Kerr, who had disappeared around the time Sgt Heineman appeared upstairs, then drove back to the hotel for lunch.
Capt.Kerr had no desire to appear on TV, so he slipped into the stairwell as soon as he saw Sgt Heineman. He walked the six flights down to the lobby, meeting no-one en-route, although he was delayed for a minute by a wave of dizziness. He went to the evidence locker where he checked the disposition of the mortar, shells and the sniper-rifle. The property officer seemed disinclined to help him, and suspicious of his Army ID: distracted by an argument with the policeman Kerr was smacked in the face when an evidence locker stuck, then jerked open.
Capt.Kerr left, slipping through the crowd in the foyer, downstairs to the garage. While in the stairwell his nose started bleeding heavily, no doubt due to the bump it received earlier. When he reached the carpark he had to step smartly to avoid being clipped by a fast moving white van that sped through the garage to park near the elevator.
Thinking nothing of the incident, he drove to the hotel. Even so, he arrived some time after Agents Muller and Schuster had ordered and received their lunch. Agent Schuster was concerned that Capt.Kerr seemed confused, and had spots of blood on his shirt. He explained how he hit his nose, but could not explain why he was a full half-hour behind them.
They did not complete their lunch. A minute after Capt.Kerr arrived Special Agent Muller received another call on his cellphone: this time it was Lt.Astrand, advising that Agent Davis had been found having some kind of seizure in the stairwell.
They rushed back to Police Headquarters. Agent Davis was conscious but groggy, lying on a couch in Lt.Astrand's office. A paramedic pronounced him healthy, except for a bump on the head where he had fallen on the stairs. He had collapsed on the sixth floor landing, almost adjacent to the room where Sgt Tran was working on the computer.
Suspecting the worst, all four ran to the incident room: all seemed as before, although the venetian blinds on the conference room windows were closed, as was the door. When they burst in, Sgt Tran was collapsed over the computer keyboard, which was saturated with his blood: copious amounts had bled from his nose and ears. He was not breathing, but retained a slight pulse. While Lt.Astrand called for an ambulance and Capt.Kerr looked at the computer, Agents Schuster and Muller began rescuscitation: they were able to resore Tran's brathing with little difficulty, but he was deeply comatose.
Capt.Kerr found that both McKerath's PC and Muller's laptop had been opened and their hard-drives removed (Muller's laptop was broken open with a screwdriver). Printouts of files were also missing. The police working in the adjacent room, which is the only way to access the conference room, are mystified as to how anyone passed them without notice.
Agent Schuster travelled in the ambulance with Tran: he arrived at hospital within 10 minutes of being found, but there was zero activity on his EEG. He is currently attached to life support.

This ends the second Field Report. Please feel free to send any comments about the story so far, or about this site.