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A listener note, this episode contains references to adult content and language, and contains material that some might find offensive.

It's 10pm on February 28th, 1993, at a small air strip outside Waco, Texas, a prop plane comes in for a landing.

On board the plane, Gary Nessner leans back in his seat, he feels relieved, because finally his long day of travel has come to an end.

Nessner is an FBI hostage negotiator, and earlier today, while he was at home in Virginia, he got a call from the Bureau.

He learned that a disastrous raid had just taken place in Texas, one that had turned into a bloody shootout.

Federal forces had gone head to head with a religious group called the Branch Dividians, and in the end, four agents were left dead, with nearly 30 wounded.

As the plane touches down, Nessner files away a stack of folders and snaps his briefcase shut.

He spent the entire flight reading up on the incident, and he's quickly becoming an expert on the Dividian leader, a man named David Kuresh.

Kuresh and more than a hundred of his followers are still holed up in the compound. They're heavily armed, and six of their members were killed in the shootout.

Ending this standoff is now a top priority for President Clinton's Justice Department, and now that Nessner is finally on the ground, it's time to get to work.

Nessner steps out of the plane and into the cold February night. He's in his early 40s with a round face and hazel eyes.

He's been with the FBI for about 20 years, and as a hostage negotiator, he has a reputation for diffusing, volatile situations.

But from what he's read, talking down David Kuresh will be no easy task.

A young man and an FBI windbreaker greets Nessner, the two of them head from the tarmac and into a large building near the runway.

Inside, technicians are rushing about. They're installing computer stations and setting up phone lines. A bank of monitors plays the ongoing national news coverage.

Nessner is shown into a small office where a hulking man with a mustache hunches over a table.

Man greets Nessner with a firm handshake. Jeff Jamar, Special Agent and Charge. Gary Nessner, sir, Chief Negotiator.

Well, Nessner, we got quite a mess. And it'll be the FBI's to clean up. We're just waiting for official work from Washington and then we're taking over.

I'm sure the ATF has thrilled with that. Nessner grins at Jamar, because he knows the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is not happy to lose control of the operation.

Oh, they're furious. They want to finish what they started, but I have word from the acting attorney general. The case will be ours before the end of the day.

Sir, I'd like to make contact with Corression immediately if I can. He's angry at the ATF. Let's use that to our advantage. Make the ATF the bad cop. We'll play good cop.

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