Dragnet NM, (CC / Teen) (Complete)

[ken_r]

Chapter 12

February 28, Thursday 2008: The air is cool, normal for the desert. I am up by 6:30 AM. I look out across the city and I think this is a quiet place to live. Okay, so we have noisy Hispanic weddings, the families blow their car horns letting everyone know they have something to celebrate. Sometimes the kids play their car stereos too loud and they like to cruise the streets on warm summer evenings. There can be a clash between some of the new people and the older rural population, the new people wanting all the benefits of the city and the older established ones wanting the atmosphere of the country with chickens, horses and fresh fertilized farms. But, we have never had terrorists. Yeah, sometimes the gang bangers pop a cap at each other, stolen cars are funneled into chop shops and come out as reduced priced parts sold to the insurance companies. We don’t have guys who are better known by Interpol than by the local sheriff deputies.

Well, I guess that has changed along with the captain’s concept on non-fraternization and undercover officers falling in love with their snitches. The world, this morning just wasn’t the same as it was two weeks ago. Tomorrow, it will have been two weeks since Clancy was killed in the line of duty.

I go 10-8, in service, with the statement that I am going to stop by and pick up my partner, Parker. Of course, she is in the car within a couple minutes.

Now, in route to the office, the radio crackles, “ABQ to Evans. Stop by the captain’s office.”

When we get there, Kyle is already in the office with two suits. The characters in these suits are almost like store manikins. Some song ran through my head,
“A G-man’s hair cut,
A G-man’s suit,
A G-man’s briefcase,
A G-man’s loot.”

Well that last line wasn’t too cool, but it did rhyme. The loot these boys had was a stack of restraining orders. We were not to show any interest in the address or occupants at 2100 Wagon Wheel Circle.

Now that got my dander up. “What about Eloy Sandoval and Emilio O’Rourk?” I asked.

The “Bobsy Twins” looked at each other and, then, at me. I swear there was no emotion on their faces at all. “The restraining orders say that you are to show no interest in the address or occupants at 2100 Wagon Wheel Circle.”

I wondered if, maybe, the government had cracked the problems of humanoid-type robots. They left the captain’s desk covered with their court papers and both stood up to leave, saying nothing else.

She didn’t like it, but I left Parker at the station. I might get a few days off for what I was going to do. I wanted her to be able to continue our investigation. First rule in business partnerships: Don’t let both of you take a fall at the same time. Keep rule breaking to only one person at a time.

Benny Chavez had received a message to call me when he got up that morning. He called me on my private cell. The call didn’t go through the office and Parker had nothing to do with it. He was excited when he heard the city detective was looking for him. I met him at a small coffee shop.

“Benny, I need something. You have seen the pickup that was at 2100 Wagon Wheel Circle the other night. You, also, know the car that the owner of that house drives. No one else can know about this, especially any of the other security officers. I need pictures of any of the men, either in the pickup or in the Mercedes that are parked at that address.” I handed him a camera that Kyle had checked out in the name of an Officer Susan Greer. Susan was a meter maid. She collected the fare every day from the parking meters.

I hope that Benny was as good as I thought he was becoming. There was nothing to do, but to wait.

It was afternoon when I returned to the office. Captain Guerin was sitting at his desk just waiting for me. “Hey Evans, where have you been? You left your partner just sitting at her desk. I thought you two worked as a team?”

“Er…sorry captain, I had some personal business. It didn’t concern Parker, but it had to be taken care of immediately,” I stated. I thought I did rather well. I was thinking as I walked.

The captain growled, “That business wasn’t anywhere near the Four Hills was it? Damn it, Max, you heard those guys. They can have us all tied up in court and nothing gets done.”

“Don’t worry, captain. I was downtown and no where near the den of rich folks.” I sat down by Parker and after a while of glaring at me, the captain went into his inner-sanctum and slammed the door.

I decided to catch up on paper work. Catch up on paper work. That was what a good cop did when they needed to think. The paper work was eternal. It could never be caught up.


It was approximately 2:00 PM. The city was warmer. The smog hung across the valley like a curtain. My partner had been out all morning. He had business that had nothing to do with me. That was official. He was now shuffling papers, pretending to be busy. My name is Parker, Detective Elizabeth Parker. My partner is Sergeant Evans and the glaring man in the inner office is Captain Guerin. I work homicide.

The Officer Clancy murder was telling on everyone. Evans had barely said two words to me all morning. I knew he didn’t want me involved because if he got caught, it would be on his shoulders. I would still be free to work. Kyle called me. As soon as Evans was back, Kyle came by and we took off.

Captain Guerin just sat. First, Evans takes off without Parker, his partner. Guerin had been a little concerned that they were getting too close, but now, he feared he was seeing the start of a breakup. They had barely spoken to each other. Evans had run off. According to Parker, he was on personal business and she had no idea where he was going. Then, on returning, Evans was just sitting, pretending to shuffle papers. The Captain had learned to do this with finesse. He knew when it was just an act. Parker had gone off with Valenti. Now, that was something to think about. Evans and Parker the captain trusted. They were the best mixed team he had. Parker and Valenti, that was something to worry about. Valenti and anybody worried the captain.

Valenti was that cop. Every department had one or more, who looked disreputable and probably was disreputable. He was good at what he did. He mixed with the trash of the street because he appeared to be part of that trash. Valenti could tell you what was going down before anyone else. You never audited his expense account very closely, because he used that account to get you the best and fastest information better than anyone else on the force. Now was Valenti dragging Parker down to his level? The captain had made the rule of no fraternization. He believed Parker and Evans were following this to the letter. Maybe, that was too much strain on Parker and she was attracted to the bad boy image that she saw in Valenti.

While she was working and waiting for Max to return, Kyle had asked her to talk to someone. As soon as Max returned, Liz called Kyle and he picked her up. This someone must be important to Kyle, because he was almost pleading for her to come.

Parker only knew Kyle as that strange cop who drifted through the office with little or no direction. She did not know him socially at all. Liz was surprised when she saw that they were at the apartment where Kyle lived.

I had no idea what Kyle wanted. I saw the lettering on the door, Valenti. For a split second, I had the adolescent thought that Kyle had brought me here to, in someway seduce me. That was stupid. Kyle had never been other than business when he approached any of us.

Kyle opened the door and called softly, “Tess, I have someone I want you to meet.”

The room was darkened. All the blinds and shades were pulled. A figure came into the entrance hall. It was the diminutive blonde I had seen with Kyle at the funeral. Looking at the woman, I decided she was truly Kyle’s type. She was blonde. I couldn’t tell if that was natural or not. She had sparkling blue eyes, like two jewels. She wore makeup typical of blondes, the bright red lips and the tinted blush of her cheeks. Her hair was medium length and cascaded about her face in curls. Her approach to me was almost fearful. She crowded close to Kyle as if he offered her safety and I guess he did.

Kyle wanted me to meet her and listen to her story. As I was watching the pair I saw that it was more than listening that Kyle wanted. He wanted me to accept her. She was so much more than his snitch. She had become his girl. I sat down my clipboard. I could fill it in later but now she needed to feel at ease.

Tess told me her whole story from her one time jackrabbit love in high school to the moving to the city. She told me all about meeting the young man who led her into the paths and temptations of prostitution and, finally, the setting up with the senator, which ended in violence. She had been under the direction of Danny Desolvo at the end. He hid her in the bar where she met Kyle. She expressed her fear that someone wanted her for something and it involved Desolvo, but she did not believe the persons wanting her was Desolvo or any of his men. Tess knew that she was an embarrassment to the senator. That might have had something to do with the attempted arrangement to get her to that party in, now just a couple weeks.

Kyle looked at me. “If the feds get her, they will just look at her as an expendable whore. If they get their hands on Tess, I can’t protect her anymore. If the other party gets their hands on her, I am sure they want to use her in someway to get back at Desolvo and/or the senator. That is where Sandoval and O’Rourk come in. They make big things happen.”

I noticed that as Kyle was talking about her being just an expendable whore, Tess just sat her eyes cast down. She was both embarrassed and ashamed of the appellation that Kyle was using. I knew that Kyle had said it that way to attract my attention. As we were preparing to leave, they kissed. It was truly a Clark Gable moment. But, Kyle was not leaving her like Gable did in “Gone With the Wind.” Kyle, frankly, did give a damn, a big damn.

Kyle returned me to the office. I would talk this over with Evans later. My monthly reminder that I was still a fertile young woman being over, tonight, I would go to Max’s house. I had been with him every night and he had shown me so much consideration. Max was becoming more important to me, even more than my job.

Chapter 13

It was Friday, February 29, 2008. It was leap year. We got one extra day this year to work. The sky was overcast. There was no promise of snow or any other moisture, but the day would be gloomy. Two weeks ago, we arrived at the office to learn that Officer Robert Clancy had been killed while stopping what he assumed was a simple felon. The international terrorists had taken his life with no more care than they would have had at swatting a fly.

A little more than one week ago, we had attended the funeral of Clancy, forever placing him in the ground, taking him from sight of the community and his fellows. The community had already forgotten him, but his fellows still were in a form of shock.

Clancy’s family had had an obelisk erected in their lives. A monument, that forever, would be difficult to get around. The police department had had an aperture open to a world, that they were still shaken at seeing. They were introduced to international terrorism in our city. We were about to confront agencies that most of us did not know even existed.

Now, this story was about the murder of Bob Clancy. That is not as if we had no other cases on our desks. The city had, on average, three to five homicides every week and that didn’t include the attempted homicides where the victim was left with information and the pain brought on by bullet or knife. We would have to try to get the information from the victim before they were released or they expired to run the average for that week, up by one more.

As we sifted though the information of the CSI crime investigators, Kyle’s informants and other tidbits, Parker was preparing her file, which someday she hoped would be enough evidence to obtain an conviction. Parker was making numerable other folders and we were interviewing other subjects whose loss was every bit as important to them as the loss of Clancy was to us.

We were working on our many cases, while I was hoping that Benny, from the Four Hills security, could get something for us. I was, also, hoping that he didn’t get burned. If Benny succeeded I would personally help him get an application through any of the agencies. If he got burned or caught, we both might have our collective asses in several slings.

Now, I had the information from Kyle’s snitch turned girlfriend. Kyle was one of ours. If Tess was who he chose, until she showed reason not to be, she would be accepted as family.

Captain Guerin was sitting in his office. Maria had gone home after her shift today. She would be with him all weekend. She surely was a talented girl.

Now, the captain was back at real life. Concerns were encyclopedic. First, the feds were all shifting around like a pack of dogs sniffing each other’s butts trying to establish a pecking order. Dogs had it easy, because they could center their socialization about something like a fire hydrant. The homeland security commission was supposed to encourage cooperation, but most of the rank and file of the feds hadn’t attended that seminar. They were all over and he was having trouble keeping track of them.

Evans was up to something, as was Parker. They were both at their desks. To look at them they were the perfect team that they had always been.

Evans jumped every time he heard his cell phone ring. He was expecting something. Parker had still not explained what she had run off with Valenti about. The captain caught himself hoping that it was wild sex that the two of them sought. Deep down, he knew that there would be no such luck. Valenti and Parker had some scheme up their sleeve as did Evans. Assistant Chief Valenti, Kyle’s dad, had asked to see the official report folder that Liz had given the captain. That wasn’t that unusual. An officer had been murdered. But, he was Kyle’s dad and the captain had to be careful. Commissioner Whitman had called twice wanting to know if they needed anything to assist their investigation. What he really wanted to know was how far was the investigation going. The captain did not want to piss him off. First, he was the police commissioner. Second, the captain might want to feed him to the feds or, hopefully, better feed the feds to him if things got tight. Who knows, Alex might have the clout he claimed.

Michael had a few moments of nostalgia as he remembered, so long ago, a Detective Guerin and, later, Sergeant Guerin. The then Captain Martinez, God rest his soul, had called him into the private office more than once to ask just what the hell did a certain homicide Detective Guerin mean by his actions. There were many times when all that saved his badge was the faith Martinez placed in Michael. When Michael made Captain, it was a retired Martinez who shook his hand and said, “Michael, I always saw more in you than you realized. Now, it’s up to you to see this same thing, in others.” Then, Martinez had a devilish grin. “Call me, Michael, when things get really hectic. I can’t help you, but it will remind me that you are finding other detectives, ever as much a pain in the butt, as you were.”

I am Max Evans and I was thinking about what we had discovered. We had two international terrorists, men who liked to blow things up or create crowds to storm the Bastille. In this case, the Bastille was the well being of the city. We had a soldier of fortune who, so far, had only roughed up a bunch of gang bangers. We had a senator who liked to screw a lot and, on at least one occasion, had taken his temper out on the whore, instead of his passions. Then we had a two-bit hood, Desolvo, on the way up. We had no idea who was pissed at Desolvo. Finally, we had that mysterious man. Perhaps he was the over-all boss, that man protected by the witness protection program. He was the one I wanted to uncover so I could, maybe, see more of the picture.

The call came in at 3:00 PM. By 3:30 PM, I was waiting at the coffee shop. A grinning Benny was sitting opposite from me. He handed me the camera. There were over 100 pictures on the memory card. Benny was a little sheepish when he said, “There are a couple pictures you might not want to give to the department. Me and my girl were messing around at the end. I couldn’t figure out how to delete them.”

3:45 PM: I was with a graphics expert. He worked for the department a lot, but he also knew when to just do what was asked and take the hundred dollar bill without comment.

We put the pictures on his large screen monitor. I will say one thing for Benny, his girl had some really fine features, even though she was bereft of any clothes.

Benny did just what he was supposed to. He took as many pictures as he could. His first priority was to not get caught. He could only hope that some of the pictures would be usable. There were several. Carl Johnson was the graphic expert. He agreed to make a set of prints for Benny of a private nature of his girl. He would make prints for me showing the 4th man. He would blur out the background so the location would not be seen. Then, since none of the pictures were evidence he would delete the whole memory card. He would delete and hard format the card so no one would be able to bring out any of the images. I would pick up the pictures and camera Monday.

I hurried back to the office to pick up Parker. We went home to my house.

The captain was even more confused watching Evans and Parker. The feds were getting themselves sorted out. That was bad. Soon, someone would decide who was boss and they would start making demands. They were already talking about wiring the little whore. Michael hoped they didn’t use that term around Kyle. The captain didn’t really want to know what would happen if they did.

Evans was gone for the last part of the afternoon. At first, the captain thought Parker would go with Kyle, but Kyle didn’t show anywhere. Evans was back late and he picked up Parker. They headed home. unless there was something that would call them out later, the time was theirs. That is if they didn’t fraternize.

Kyle had stayed pretty close to home. Tess had thought she had seen someone near the apartment yesterday after Kyle took Parker back to the office. This morning, Kyle had been worried that about 200 yards down the street, there was a plain, gray sedan. Kyle donned a sweatshirt with a hood and taking a white cane and dark glasses he proceeded down he street. Kyle was extremely clumsy. He bumped into people and a couple of them had taken him by the arm and led him partly down the street. When he crossed the intersection, he had almost walked into traffic and two men restrained him, telling him they would help him across the street.

Once freed of his good Samaritans, Kyle continued down the street. He bumped into several cars and parking meters. As he approached the gray car he saw two clones from the FBI factory through the dark glass of their, windows. They were sitting, watching his apartment building or something in that direction, not noticing some blind fool who was running into everything on the block. Around the block and Kyle approached his apartment house the back way.

Tess was glad that Kyle brought that police detective by yesterday. She seemed smart and she seemed to be a nice person. Right now, Tess needed to meet nice people. Tess was getting scared.

Kyle had thought of stashing Tess somewhere else. If he moved her, he would bring danger to her from the terrorist. If he kept her with him, he brought danger from the feds. Kyle had talked to his dad. So far, he didn’t know what to do. Evans and Parker might help. They were not above breaking rules if they thought it was necessary. Come to think of it, they had been together for two years. Neither of them showed evidence of significant others in their lives. Kyle couldn’t help but wonder, were they breaking other rules, together?

That night, Liz was in bed with Max. She was lying on her side with her arm thrown across his chest. “Kyle is scared. He believes that whoever wants Tess, wants to use her to kill someone. Those terrorist are known for innovative ways to make suicide bombers. He is afraid that the feds want to wire her to get information and we both know those bastards don’t care about the person they wire as long as they get what they want.”

Chapter 14

March 1st was Saturday. March 2nd was Sunday and, now, Monday, March 3rd: We were back to work. Liz and I had enjoyed our weekend. The only thing wrong was we couldn’t go out and date openly. No dancing at some club, no candle light dinners and no walking down the street holding hands. Sure we spent time in bed, but you have to be a pretty young, horny stud to think that was enough. We wanted to go out like we had in Phoenix.

The saying about March was being tested. The point was that if, the first of March was windy, like a lion, then the last of March would be like a lamb. Sometimes it worked the other way. So far, there was just a breeze. March was coming in like a lamb. The breeze had cleared the smog so the sky was clear. All the insecurities of last week were still present. I had to get the pictures and then figure out how to use them. Liz spent the weekend talking about Kyle’s girl friend.

At approximately 7:15 AM we entered the office. The captain had a contented grin. It was probably too early for the feds to bring bad news down on him. DeLuca waved as she exited the captain’s office. She was on her way home. The drapes in his office had just been pulled back.

8:00 AM: Captain Guerin looked at his detectives working. Evans was gone again. Parker was filing her many folders. The captain knew that if he asked Parker, she would just say that it was, that certain personal matter that was plaguing Max and she hoped he could get it settled soon.

Max was on his way back to the office. He had two sealed folders and the camera with its cleared memory card. The folder marked “Benny” contained eight by ten blow ups of the delightful lady. The other folder was unmarked.

A call to Kyle and, shortly, the three of us were looking through the pictures. Kyle took one of them, but I had several. Parker, looking up to see if anyone was near, slid one picture into her desk.

The captain saw the interest we all had so he decided to have a look. Kyle just faded off taking the camera with him. He would check the camera back in. Susan Greer had now finished her investigation of damaged parking meters.

Kyle was on his way home.

The captain was standing holding the picture. “What the hell is this, Max?” he demanded.

I looked at him, “Pictures of the fourth man, captain.”

“Damn it, Max you were told to stay away from that address. The feds will have fits when they see these pictures,” he yelled.

“I didn’t take them, captain. They weren’t taken anywhere near 2100 Wagon Wheel Circle. Look, Captain, the times were all when I was here in the office.” Carl had left remnants of the time stamp. I had an alibi for every one of them. “Captain, these aren’t evidence. We just need to know his identity.” The captain went back to his office. I noticed he didn’t return the picture he had in his hand.

Kyle was at home. He showed Tess the picture. She had seen the man but she didn’t know his name.

I scanned and emailed a picture to Jimmy Weston in Phoenix and also to a Karl Gustov in the Midwest. They might close me down, but I would go down fighting. Now, they couldn’t make a cover up on the pictures. It was known that the unknown man was in Albuquerque, New Mexico and he was associating with known terrorists. The captain had chewed me a new one, but I saw that he kept a picture. What I didn’t know was that captains have networks just like common detectives. He sent out scans to many of the other departments where he knew the captains or other officers. The picture was out. Now someone, just give us a name.

The emails came back almost on top of each other. Vicenti Ornellos was the underlined name in each case. Jimmy had sent a whole list of internet links which gave a lot of information about Vicenti. Parker was immediately copying the information. The Clancy murder file was growing. It was up to us to not allow it to become just a folder in some bigger file where the memory of Officer Robert Clancy would just be a footnote.

Next question was what were the Feds going to do. I was in the clear about their restraining orders. There wasn’t even any way they could say the pictures were taken in the Four Hills area.

I thought that Kyle could dress badly. A man came into the office. He had been directed this way because every place he stopped, they wanted to see him quickly on his way. He walked up to my desk. The smell of his body was sickening. Except that Kyle was cleaner, this could almost be taken for his fashion idol.

“I need to see Kyle,” the prince of rags stated.

“Kyle isn’t here,” I informed him.

“Well, then, he told me to see someone called Evansparker,” the rags retorted.

“I am Max Evans. Maybe, I can help you,” I replied.

The man of rags exuded an even fouler stench. “Someone bought some really bad stuff.”

“Really bad stuff; you mean like narcotics?” I asked.

He vigorously shook his head. “Naw, Drugs ain’t bad. This is really bad. You know; stuff that makes you go bang.”

“Makes you go bang? You mean explosives?” I asked again. He was making me play 20 questions and I don’t like games or people who play them. Parker came up and, again, put her hand on my arm. I don’t see how she can do that. Just the feel of her near me, makes me think everything is going to be all right.

“What is your name?” she inquired.

If I had asked him, he would have just clammed up. When Parker speaks to you, you just want to do what she says.

“William Presoné,” the rags replied. Then seeing that there was no recognition he mumbled, “Willie the Dip.”

Parker pulled a chair for him and said, “Sit down, Mr. Presoné.”

Willie sat looking all around like he was a hunted animal. I guess he was hunted most of his life. Willie was so nervous that he made my skin crawl.

“I was wrapped up in some brown paper trying to keep warm in the alley over near the bus station. I heard these two guys talking. One said. If she is wrapped in it, how far will the blast be? I peeked out. They were strangers. Never saw them before. The one guy, had a funny accent like the governor of California. He was a big muther. He was making curvy motions with his hands. You know like the curves of a woman. Both men were dressed like they was military. I just wonder whose military,” Willie stated.

Well, we had met one of Kyle’s informants. What he told us just made things harder to understand. The captain had already signed off on Doctor Whitman. Now was the time to give her more information. Parker called her and made an appointment for tomorrow, Tuesday March 4th. It was probably time to come clean with all our information.

Parker was listing, Sandoval, O’Rourk, Schlinger and then Desolvo. She looked at me and I shrugged. Then, she wrote Senator John Bellwhether. She laid out the folders she had on each of these people. Parker wrote William Presoné, (Willie the Dip). She placed a clean folder with only the title, person of interest and inserted the picture we had of the mysterious man. She, also, placed a single sheet of paper with the name of Vicenti Ornellos in it. In Willie the Dip’s, folder which now was very thin she put a transcript of what he said. Parker underlined the parts about explosive and “wrapped her in it.”

The whole thing was put into a large expanding file and marked sensitive. We were going to have to trust both Doctor Whitman and her husband.

Kyle dropped by. We filled him in on the latest from Willie the Dip, along with the name of Vicenti Ornellos. Kyle left, feeling even more disturbed. He knew the feds would descend any day. He felt that then he would loose the ability to protect Tess any longer.

Just before leaving, we made a quick stop at the captain’s office. We filled him in on what we had and what we were giving the profiler. “Maybe that meddling husband of hers can help. He is always volunteering. Let her talk to him. Maybe he would have some contacts who would know something about what we are into. Right now, we are trying to find out as much as we can before the feds descend.” I don’t guess what we were saying was helping the captain, but he had a right to know how things were going.

As Captain Guerin watched Max and Liz leave, he was wondering why Max didn’t just grab that girl and sweep her off her feet, take her to the store room. They certainly work good together. But then, he would loose his best team. No fraternizing with officers of opposite sex. Evans and Parker would get to the bottom of this case if anyone could.

The captain felt like he was on a high wall. On one side, yipping to get a piece of him, were several federal guard dogs. In between, yipping at him, they were quarrelling with each other. If they ever stopped the infighting, they would gang up on him and get a piece of him for sure. On the other side was an abyss. The captain couldn’t see the bottom, but he felt that if he fell, it would be a long way down.

Kyle and Tess had spent most of the weekend talking. She couldn’t remember anything that might help him. Her story was simple to her. It wasn’t possible to find hidden facts, somewhere lurking, that might help him. She remembered that Senator Belweather started the evening as just a relatively nice, horny man. They had been kissing and making out. Tess hadn’t gotten to the point that most whores did where she refrained from any romance in her action. That was what the Senator liked about her. Desolvo had just told her to make him happy.

Tess had gone into her act where she slowly stripped for the man before her. Bellweather was lying in bed, dressed in just his shorts. Tess could see his arousal as she continued. Telling this to Kyle was difficult. Tess was seeing Kyle in a different way than she had seen others. As her panties came off and she proceeded to the bed, the senator suddenly got up and went into the bathroom. Tess had to laugh to herself, had she jacked the senator off without even touching him?

The senator came back in a few minutes. He slid off his shorts and took the woman in his arms. It was then that Tess saw a change in him. His eyes contracted to pin pointed pupils. They darted and his manner changed. Tess up to this time had never had a lover who became belligerent.

He grabbed her by her throat and squeezed. She was gasping. Tess did the only thing she knew and that was to scratch at his face and body. He screamed and fell back. Tess broke free and fled. In the hall, she found Desolvo. He held a robe for her and, then, he hurried her to a taxi. She was taken and transported to her apartment. Desolvo ordered her to collect what she most needed and, within the next two hours, she was on her way to Albuquerque, a new apartment and a letter to a nearby bar to employ her.

Tess was crying as she finished her story. She kept looking at Kyle. Would he change his feelings now that he knew the whole truth?

[ken_r]

Chapter 15

Tuesday March 4th 2008: The morning breeze was cold, but March was still being a lamb. I went 10-8, in service, at approximately 7:04 AM and reported that I would pick up Parker. By the time I was through, she was in the car. We drove to the office.

When we got there, we had to go outside twice and check if this was still the Albuquerque Police Department. The place was crawling with Feds. Granddaddy didn’t like Yankees; Mom wasn’t sure feds were not still Yankees so I guess my dislike for the Federal Bureau of Investigation was inherited. I like to think my dislike was because they never shared information with us, but always demanded we give them everything. I am not really tall, only about five, ten, but this little shrimp, who was at least half a foot shorter was demanding that I close out my files and give him all that we had. Just as I was about to commit some sort of an act of sedition I felt a hand on my arm. “Here they are, special agent,” Detective Parker said.

Parker handed him a folder. I scowled. The little shrimp grabbed the file. He scowled as he saw the file of Ornellos. We weren’t supposed to know that. He doubled scowled when he saw what we had on the senator. This poor guy was going to need “Botox “ before he was through. Parker steered me away and catching the captain’s eye, she led me into the captain’s private office.

The captain had pulled the curtains. I was so mad that I could spit and Parker was so calm. Captain Guerin stepped through the door shouting, “If you want me, you can damn well page me!” He shut the door.

Well, that means we are out, I guess,” I said. Parker reached into the bottom drawer of the captain’s desk. She took out two files. She smiled as she placed them on the desk. One was our original and the other was the file she made for Doctor Whitman.

“The captain was afraid that something would happen, so I made a separate file and hid the originals here,” Parker said.

The captain’s no fraternization rule be damned, I could kiss Parker. When she moved on, I wanted to be out of the field. There was a commotion out in the office. The captain went to his door. When he opened it, we could see all the federal clones standing as a blockade to a tall blonde women.

“I am sorry, ma’am. This office is closed to civilians,” one of the clones stated.

“Well, that is no problem.” Isabel took out her identification, “I am the Captain’s doctor. He has been under a lot of stress, lately.”

The clones gathered around the card Isabel presented. There was a lot of mumbling and shaking of heads. Finally, Isabel just walked by them and deftly picked the card from the hands of the FBI.

Her smile and the caress with her hand that she gave to the agent as she took her card back confused the agents. They just gave way. Isabel entered the office and taking off her suit coat, she said, “You boys and girl have surely stirred up a nest of federal hornets.” Then, she asked, “Are we still in business or have they closed us down?”

Captain Guerin handed her the folder Parker had prepared. She looked at the size of the folder, “Gentlemen, and lady, I take it that now we really mean business! What you gave me before was just an introduction.”

Isabel, sitting in the chair before the captain’s desk, whistled as she saw the names. We knew that Doctor Whitman maintained a data base of criminal activity. She was used by several agencies. She would never reveal what her work for others entailed, but the experience she gained made her very good when looking at any criminal activity.

Isabel took out a sticky label and wrote, “Personal Medical File of Captain Guerin.” Then below, she wrote, “Private.” Evidence tape was placed on the file so it couldn’t be opened without her knowledge. She placed the file in her brief case and, with a smile for all of us, she left. We watched as the feds examined her brief case. When one of them asked for permission to examine the folder, Doctor Whitman just smiled and shook her head, pointing to the label fixed on the cover.

Isabel was able to leave with the feds confused, as usual, and they turned their attention to us.

Parker was the first one they interviewed. They had gone over our dailies, the log of our activity. The first thing they found was notations by both Parker and me about the times I was gone for sometime without her. Parker, later, told us that she told them I had some personal problems. She thought it was some woman, but she hadn’t interfered because it was just that, personal. Her explanation of the time she was with Kyle that he wanted her to meet his girl friend. She thought he wanted a woman’s opinion on what he could buy her as a present. The rest of the daily was clearly police work and they had few questions. One did ask where we came up with the pictures of Ornellos. Parker shrugged. She said I brought them in. She had no idea of where I got them.

I was next. The interviewers were using good cop, bad cop on me. There was one agent who asked me if I would like some coffee and complemented me on how much we had done. The other one loudly demanded to know where I got the pictures of Ornellos. I explained that I had taken them when they were out of the Four Hills neighborhood, because we had been forbidden to continue our murder investigation in a timely manner. They reminded me that this was now a federal investigation. They were investigating terrorist activities. Later I was to learn that was just a sham. They had no interest in terrorists. They had their own agenda. I just shrugged and said I was just investigating the murder of a fellow officer.

They wanted to know what I knew about the woman living with Detective Valenti. I had never see her. Personally, I knew nothing about her. They asked me where I thought Valenti got his information. I mentioned Willie the Dip. And informed them that I did not travel in the same circles as Kyle did.

Except for the lie to keep Benny out of trouble, I told the truth, but only as little as I thought I could get by with.

The captain was with them for a real long time. I called Assistant Chief Valenti and told him that the FBI was interrogating the captain. Chief Valenti was of the old school. His face was cragged and weathered from years out in the field. He had also, picked up a mess of IOU’s from politicians and other departments including the FBI. He knocked on the door and engaged in a pissing contest with the FBI until he mentioned the correct name. Then they allowed him into the office. (Pissing contest is when two parties are arguing and the winner might appear ridiculous. Assistant Chief Valenti was telling them that he had as much political power as they thought they did.) It was only a little longer when we could hear the shouting. “I don’t give a damn about your terrorists. I lost a career officer. That is not going to take second place to your investigation. You help us get evidence and hand over Sandoval and O’Rourk, then we cooperate. You try to pull any deal with those bastards and I go to Washington. I didn’t work for 35 years for nothing.

They all came out of the captain’s office with frowns. The Feds packed up and left for the minute. After they exited, the captain turned to the assistant chief and shook hands. As Valenti left the office, he turned to Parker and me, “You detectives make a case and let me know if you want help. Talk to that damned husband of Doctor Whitman. He knows a lot and he does have pull. Stay out of the way of the feds, but when we have a case, we are going to put the grab on those two, Sandoval and O’Rourk. We are not going to leave Clancy to be lost in an ongoing federal boondoggle.”

We all knew the feds would be back as soon as they regrouped. The captain reminded both of us, “Help Kyle, he is going to be in a passel of trouble over that girl of his.”

Parker had an old boyfriend. She called him and when she saw my frown, she said, “Look, Max, it was over long before I met you. Officially, I am not with you, anyway. There is to be no fraternization between officers.”

That made my frown grow even deeper. There was no one around, so Liz just stood on tippy toes and kissed me on the cheek. “This guy works for some government spook types. He will know all about all types of explosives. I need you with me as my supervisor to make sure he doesn’t get any idea of starting anything up. This is strictly business.”

With all that Parker had done for me, I swallowed any thoughts in my mind and we both went to meet Master Sergeant Carlos C’ deBaca. Master Sergeant Carlos C’ deBaca would have been a master sergeant even if he had been in the boy scouts. He didn’t have the class nor the deceit of an officer but he was so much above other enlisted men that he just stood out.

Liz kissed him on the cheek and introduced him to me as her supervisor. We were in a very dark bar eating steak dinners. Carlos had chosen a secluded corner of the bar. He had tipped over the chairs of the other tables close by so the waitresses wouldn’t seat any one near him. He had also given every girl and man on the floor two twenty dollar bills to show his appreciation.

“Liz, honey, I shouldn’t have taken that assignment and left you. You are still a sight for tired eyes.”

Liz smiled, “Carlos, you couldn’t turn down that chance to start all those revolutions, even for me. That was the chance of your life.”

Carlos turned to me, “Sarge, don’t loose her, even if they give you a license to bump off a dictator and over turn a continent, don’t loose her.”

I started to say something about we just worked together, but as usual Parker put her hand on my arm and facing Carlos, “He won’t Carlos, but we really need your help. One of our own was killed and the feds are fixing to take over the investigation. You know what that means. We need a leg up to beat them at this game.”

Carlos was nodding so Parker went on. “We know the man was killed by two men named Eloy Sandoval and Emilio O’Rourk. Do you know them?”

Carlos would have spit if we had been in the outdoors. “Two pendejoes, is the best way to describe those two. (Literally this means pubic hair. Slang it means somewhat worse that stupid bastards.) They are dangerous and they do know their craft. They know explosives almost as well as I do. Neither of them are particularly smart, so who else is in this affair?”

Liz shrugged, “There is a Klaus Schlinger, a Danny Desolvo, a Vincenti Ornellos and, finally, a Senator John Bellweather.”

Carlos leaned back, “Desolvo, I know nothing about. He must be home grown. Schlinger is a bully and a braggart. If I meet him, you can cross him off your list. I will make sure the body is never found. He likes to beat up young people and women. His death would be no loss. Ornellos has disappeared. It is reported that he turned snitch for the feds. Now Senator Bellweather, I know well. He can’t keep his dick in his pants, but in foreign affairs, at least, those which do not have young women in them, he is very important. Right now, he is trying to bring two sides together which have been killing each other for generations. It is reported that he has a chance of doing it. What part did he play in the cop killing?”

Liz shrugged, “Nothing, we know of. He just is mixed in with the other names. Names is all we have right now. We have no idea of what is going on. We have a statement, ‘how far will the blast be if she is wrapped in it?’ We do not know what that means. It was over heard between Schlinger and some other military type.”

Carlos was frowning, “Is there a certain woman involved?”

Liz again nodded.

“Those bastards. They are going to go after Bellweather. The contract must have come from somewhere out of the States. I said that he has a fair chance of bringing those parties together. A dramatic assassination would bring the talks to a halt. Each side would blame the other for killing him. Desolvo, who ever he is, must be just an addition thrown in for some reason. Yes, Ornellos has the people to set this up. He could bring it off even if he is in the hands of the feds.” Carlos’s face took a hard set. “This is strictly classified. There is a nitro cellulose which has been developed into flexible strands. It can be woven and is inert until you subject it to a powerful primer. The research right now is for large nets. You spread the net over a field and set it off. Any land mines near the net are set off also. There were other experiments, but I do not remember them. I think it could be woven into a cloth. It is possible that you could make a garment out of that stuff. If the person wearing the garment is sucking face with the senator, good bye to both of them. I doubt you could find very many pieces. They could even wait until she took off the dress and was naked in bed and still set it off. It has a very large blast area. There wouldn’t be much left.”

We finished our dinner with a little small talk mainly between Carlos and Liz. When we got up, I picking up the tab, Carlos again, turned to me. “Take care of her sarge, she is the best. Don’t try to tell me there is nothing between you. You just don’t look that dumb.”

We left. Liz had told me that this was not information we paid for. Carlos had told us what he knew because of her. She warned me to in no way insult him. He could be a good friend and a terrible enemy.

Back in the car, I had to ask, “Liz, I just can’t see you the lover of that guy.”

Liz was looking out the window. “That was in my wild youth, Max. I do not pry into your life before we met, so please return the favor.”

As I drove back to the station, I was thinking, there was nothing in my past that could measure up to Carlos. Then, I thought of what he said to me twice. Liz was way too precious to ever lose.

Kyle was waiting for us. He was sporting a mouse under one eye. I saw the captain bandaging up the knuckles of Kyle’s right hand. “Which one did you lay it on?” I asked.

“That little shrimp with the big mouth. He called her a whore and I let loose. That other son-of-a-bitch clipped me. I did land a good one on ‘Mouth’. He has already filed an obstruction of justice charge on me. The old man is pulling in his favors to see what he can do.” Then, Kyle turned to Liz. “They took Tess. They had a warrant and just took her. They are going to get her killed.”

Liz put her hand on his arm as she did to me so many times when I was upset. That little lady should have been a psychiatrist. She sure knew how to make a man have hope.

The captain turned to me, “Did you get any information?”

I nodded to Liz. It was her story. She should tell it like she wanted to. Liz gave Kyle and the captain a summary of what we had learned. Kyle’s face looked like he would kill someone. Again, Liz put her hand on his arm, but he shrugged it off. “They are going to get her killed,” he repeated over and over.

The Captain said in a tone that I had never heard from him, “Kyle, we have already lost one of our own. We will try not to lose another.”

We had all about had it. The captain said he was going to call it a day. We didn’t know it, but he intended to dictate some serious dictation to his secretary to night. At least until just before midnight, when she had to go back on duty in the radio room.

Kyle returned to a cold empty room reminiscent of what things were like before he brought Tess home. Liz and I would go to my house. She had most of her things there and we needed to do a lot of thinking together. With things getting as complicated as they were, thinking was about all we got done. Well the kiss before we both turned over to go to sleep was the strongest I had ever had. I had just kissed the lover of a soldier of fortune. She wanted to make sure that I knew that we were together now. For the moment, nothing was going to get in the way.

[ken_r]

begonia 9508

Chapter 16

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008: The city had a bright crisp sky. There was some hint of bronze smog west around the volcanos. I guess the breeze at sunrise had blown it west. The mountains to the east were clear. You could almost reach out and touch them. At the highest point, the mountains were 5,000 feet above the city. They were rugged so you had streams of light that didn’t have to wait for the rest of the sunshine to illuminate the city. For us, it was a day to go forth and win. I am sure that for Kyle, it was a bleak day indeed.

The time was approximately 7:30 and I had just gone 10-8 in service. As usual I informed ABQ that I was going to pick up Parker and proceed to the office. When we arrived it was good to see that there was just one Fed working at a desk, which once had been mine. He had moved it off to one side, so he could better observe the whole office.

He had emptied the contents of the drawers onto the top of Parker’s desk, so now we’re even closer partners. I got an old printing paper case and scraped everything into the box. I was sitting at one end of Parker’s desk playing with my old Yoyo. The agent had uncovered it from the bottom of one of the drawers.

As I was playing and Parker was going over her files there was a ruckus in the outer hallway. I went over to see what the problem was and saw three of Albuquerque’s finest sitting on the floor. They obviously had tried to block “it,” but had not succeeded. The “it” that was causing the trouble was a man, I think. He wasn’t much taller than the FBI leader yesterday, the one who was now wearing the mark that Kyle had put on him. None of the uniformed officers seemed to be hurt. Their honor and pride had given way to the better man, if that is what it was. “It” had a shock of pepper corn hair, but definitely wasn’t African American. The skin was dark-complected and the eyes were black. The facial features on a lighter complected man would have been described as Nordic. His clothes made Kyle look like a fashion model.

I walked toward him. “Captain Guerin?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“I was told to present myself to Captain Guerin,” he said.

I motioned for him to follow me. The uniformed officers seemed to welcome the care of this man into my hands. I decided I really liked him when I saw the scowl on the face of the fed sitting at what, once had been my desk. If he pissed off the feds, then, we were bound to be buddies.

The captain stood as we approached. The man, I had decided that he was a gentleman when I saw the scowl at my former desk, handed the captain a letter. The captain caught the eye of Parker and motioned for her to come into his office. The FBI man immediately stood and came over to join us. He was stopped by the ball of rags. “Sorry junior, this is a personnel matter and the meeting is open only to those it concerns.”

The little man closed the blinds, and then, the curtains. Now that he was up close, his size seemed to be an illusion. He was about my size. He reminded me a bit of myself, but I didn’t know why. He was standing up straight and his language changed. Before, he been talking with a New York gutter accent. Now, he sounded just like the rest of us. He turned to Liz. “My name is Alexander. You can call me Zan. Carlos sent me to help you and your boyfriend over there. What you are into is really deep. Carlos was afraid you might need help.”

Liz just nodded. She should have expected as much from Carlos.

Zan handed his credentials to Liz. She was shocked. He was from an agency that she had only heard of by suggestion. He had clearance better than the president. Zan spoke again. “I need to talk to the officer who was close to the woman the feds hijacked. Valenti senior put in a request to someone he knew in the National Security service. They bumped the request up to me. Believe it or not, at our level, we do cooperate.” He pulled out a small box and handed it to the captain. “Tomorrow when you come in, be sure to run this and get rid of the bugs that will be installed in here tonight. “

Liz said, “I will get Kyle in here this afternoon.”

Zan replied, “All right, I will be back then,” He turned to Liz. “I need someone to smooth my way with the uniformed officers. These were a piece of cake, but sooner or later, I will meet one of them who is tough enough that I will have the hurt him.”

Liz stood up and escorted Zan out. “I will speak to the desk sergeant and get you a Identification badge.” They left.

It was just the captain and me. “So you and Parker is it?” he asked.

I nodded, “Captain, just do not break us up. We need each other to break this case. If we are broken up and given other partners, we won’t get anywhere.”

The captain looked at me. “You know that there are reasons for the rules, don’t you?”

I sighed, “I guess so, captain. I just know that Parker and I work best together.”

“Well, we will talk about it later. Right now you and Parker and your third partner have a case to solve. Get the evidence to assure conviction. If you can save Kyle’s girl, along the way, that would be nice. We will make a grab and break this terrorist ring up at the same time. Just do not let the feds get in the way.

Parker was able to get Kyle in that afternoon. As usual, he made an appointment for 1:30 and it was 2:45 when he arrived. When Kyle said approximately, he meant exactly that. Zan and Kyle left shortly. I do not know where they went. Maybe, they went to a fashion show for street people.

The captain called the assistant chief to let him know that his request had been answered. Valenti senior just nodded. He had a good department. He also had a good son. He just hoped the federal intrusion didn’t hurt either of them.

I got a call from Jimmy Weston in Phoenix. “Hey, buddy boy, I just got word that next week the senator is going to spend time in Vegas. I don’t know where else. The rumor is that he got an invitation to visit one of the big Indian Casino’s in New Mexico. I do not know when this will be, but he is heading for your area. I thanked him and, after some small talk, we parted with the request from both of us, “Call if anything new happens.”

Now, we had the senator in the southwest area. We needed better a location, but things were coming together. Tess called me. She really wanted Parker, but Liz was away from her desk. Since her desk was my desk, now, I was there. Tess only had a minute to talk, so she told me that the feds were going to make her wear the wire. They had already gotten her signed up for the private party. She didn’t know the exact date nor the location. Tess was scared. The senator had requested her by name.

Next, we were invited to attend a reception at the Whitman residence. The invitation included Parker and the captain along with myself. It was at 7:00 PM tomorrow night. Since a civilian made it, it was exact time and not approximate anything.

Our pet Fed was trying to watch everything I did. As long as he was so observant, I decided to work on other cases. Every time I got up to get a drink or hit the restroom, he would come over to our desk and look at what I was doing. I would have a different case out every time I left. I must have spent more time in the restroom than an elementary school girl. I know I was surly, confusing the poor guy.

When Parker came back, I yelled as loud as I could, “Damn it, Parker if that is the way you feel, I will see you in the captain’s office right now!” Once inside the office, I told them both about the call from Tess and, also, the invitation from Doctor Whitman.

I saw that the captain had Zan’s toy out and he had been using it. He had a collection of little wired devices that he had picked up all over the station, at the water cooler, the wardroom and even the restroom. He took them to the assistant chief’s office. Before talking, he swept that office also. He found two more devices. Those feds were determined to hear every thing we said.

Neither Kyle nor Zan returned that day. We worked on old cases and played games with the in-house FBI.

That night when we went home, we had the knowledge that our secret was out. Liz wanted to eat out. We went to an Italian restaurant and sat in the candlelight for everyone to see. How different things were now that we were out in the open. I told Liz that when the case was over, there probably would be some changes. She just shrugged and replied we would deal with it when it came.

“Max, we will have to make some decisions soon, though. My lease is up in a month. Do you want me to keep it up or should we make other arrangements?” Liz asked me.

I sat for some time. I am sure I caused her worry. “Liz, I would like you to move in with me, permanently, but what if we are broken up? Can we still keep going together? Will you want to be with your new partner, instead?” I asked. In my mind, I was thinking that Liz had left Carlos when he went off on some mission or the other. I did not know all of the details. Leave it to Liz to see through my uncertainties.

“Max, you are thinking of Carlos, aren’t you?” she asked.

I nodded.

“Max, I was a child when I met Carlos. We had outgrown each other when he left. I don’t think he was aware of it. To Carlos, everything is a revolution or an assassination. To him, it is a game. I can’t live that way. I think he likes to pretend that he gave me up because he was away on assignment. We would have broken up shortly, even if he hadn’t gone away. He is thinking that he lost me because of his work and that lets us remain friends.” Liz was explaining her life before we met. She had been a patrolwoman at the time. She took off two years and attended a criminal justice program at Northwestern University. When she returned to the force, she became a detective. That is when they paired us up.

Liz began again, “Max, I probably will take the sergeant’s exam next time around. You have been a detective for a longer time than I have. You ought to think about going for a Lieutenant position. Max, we worked well together because we think a lot alike and our strengths complement each other. We started sleeping together for similar reasons. Unless you do not want me, anymore, Max, I hope we might even make our relationship more permanent.”

I looked at Parker, I only saw Liz, the girl who I had grown to love. “Parker did you just propose to me?”

She looked down at the table. “Well, it sounded sort of like I did.”

“Well, that makes my manhood suffer a bit.” Then, I reached across the table taking her hand, “Detective Elizabeth Parker, the best partner I have ever had, I accept your offer and make a counter offer. Marry me as soon as this case is finished. We will let our careers fall where they may.”

Accepted offer and counter offer. Elizabeth Parker had agreed to become my permanent partner.

Kyle had had a long talk with that Zan friend of Parkers. He felt that they needed more knowledge of what was going on in the inside. Kyle had squeezed every one he knew. He, now, knew all the players, but he still didn’t know the game. Zan told Kyle to meet him back at the bar tomorrow night. Kyle returned to his, already frigid, home. Since the fed had grabbed Tess, his home was empty.

[ken_r]

natalie36
begonia9508

Chapter 17

It is March 6th, Thursday 2008. The weather is windy and the air is cold. Parker and I went 10-8, in-service together. It was a 12 minute drive to the station. I even nodded to the pet “Fed” in my desk. The captain had covered the room early. He had a whole box of devices. He swept his own office and found five devices. It was approximately 10:30 AM when we got the call. There was a body in the alley behind the bus station. When we arrived, there were already two blue and whites. They directed us to the pile of brown paper. The uniformed officer carefully pulled back the paper and there was a street person. It was obvious that he had been beaten to death. Parker drew in a sharp breath. The street person was William Presoné, Willie the Dip. There was little evidence, but Parker insisted we call out CSI, crime scene Investigation.

“Max, it looks like they saw him this time. Why did they beat him so badly? He was just a harmless old street person.” Parker didn’t get shaken very often, but something about this murder bothered her.

“Who do we know who likes to beat people?” I asked.

Parker looked at me. We both mouthed, Klaus Schlinger, the so called soldier of fortune. Carlos was right, killing him would be a service to humanity.

We put in a call for Kyle. He was busy and couldn’t see us until very late that afternoon.

“I just wonder what he saw?” Parker asked.

‘Seeing those two military types would be enough. He could have seen them completing a deal. Someone was supplying the material for the explosive,” I answered.

We returned to the office and reported to the captain. The pet Fed had just looked at our report and showed no more interest. I walked over to him, “What do you know about explosives?” I asked.

He looked at me sort of blankly, “Nothing, I am an accountant,” he answered.

“Do you have anyone on your team who is an explosive expert?” I asked.

He thought a minute. “No, this is not that sort of investigation. We are trying to get evidence on the senator for conspiracy. That talk we made about terrorism was just talk. Everyone in the agency uses it. We all pretend we see terrorists. It is just the buzz word. We know nothing about explosives,” he answered.

It dawned on me. They were working this as a white color crime. They didn’t know squat about terrorists, explosives or a planned demonstration. “The girl wearing the wire, what kind of security have you prepared for her?” I asked.

He looked at me, “We just want information. We do not feel that she is in danger. Maybe, she gets roughed up a bit, but nothing else should happen.”

“What about our patrolman who was killed?” I asked.

He thought a minute, “We are sure that was just a fluke, a mistake,” he said.

“What are you going to do when the entire building that she and the senator are in explodes?” I asked.

“Oh, that won’t happen. Our team leader assures that this will just be a information gathering exercise,” he stated in his so superior manner.

“Here is a list of the men involved. You will find a soldier of fortune, two known terrorists and two mobsters. This information was in the records you stole. When it goes up, some of your men are going to die, also.” I don’t know what, finally, got through to him but he did take the list of names and, going to my former computer, he started studying up on what I gave him.

it was after lunch when the pet Fed, his name was Samuel Crocker, I guess I should start thinking of him as more than just “Fed,” came over to talk to me.

“Are you sure about this list? This Ornellos has been off the radar for over a year. These other three, I am not familiar with. They look like some sort of foreign organization, if so they wouldn’t be involved with what we are doing.” The man wasn’t stupid despite the fact that he had FBI training.

I took the list. “Ornellos is stashed away by the Witness Protection Agency at 2100 Wagon Wheel Circle in a community we call the Four Hills. Sandoval and O’Rourk are the men we are pretty sure stole a car and also killed officer Robert Clancy. In the last week, Klaus Schlinger has beat up a man on the west side and we now think he killed a man last night. That is the report you ignored. We think the dead man witnessed the transfer of the explosive. We are making tests now on some evidence.” As I said, Samuel wasn’t stupid, just brain washed. Thinking back, I am sure there are some very bright people in the Federal Service. Unfortunately, officers in the field, too many times, run into men like the team leader here. Come to think of it, Samuel was the only one of the FBI I knew by name.

I continued, “When you give this information to your boss, please inform him that some of this information has been vetted through the National Security Service, the NSS,” I assumed that Kyle’s dad had told them something, “and the newly formed intelligence service of Homeland Security.” That is who Zan had been working for.

Samuel was gone for the rest of the day. Just before leaving, I received a short call from Tess. “Is Detective Parker there?” she asked.

“No, this is detective Evans. Can I help you?” I was sure it was Tess, but I didn’t want to make the first move.

“Max, is it you? Something has stirred the feds up. They are yelling at each other. I hear your name a lot. The team leader is very angry. I am scared.” She abruptly hung up. I couldn’t tell if she had been caught or it was just too dangerous to keep talking. We had no idea of where she was being held and, we had no idea what the Feds were intending to do.

The captain came up to our desk, “I will pick both of you up tonight, I just need to know at which house?”

I looked at Parker. She had returned shortly after Tess called. She nodded at me. “Captain, you can drop by my place about 7:00 PM. We will be ready,” I told him.

“Remember, Max, Liz, the cover for this is a party. Dress accordingly,” the captain reminded us.

On the way home, Liz told me, “Max, stop by my place. I need to get some clothes. I think if we are going to give up this lease, I should give notice. We should move my things to your house as soon as possible.

Getting me in a suit was as far as they were going to get. I was not wearing any thing formal. Liz and I were ready when the captain came by driving a civilian sedan. When we came out, we found that the captain had another guest. Ms. DeLuca was already in the front seat.

When we arrived, all four of us entered the large room at the Whitman residence. We were all offered drinks. Parker and I refused and were offered juice. I noticed the captain took a cocktail and so did Ms. DeLuca. The guest were the who’s who in Albuquerque. It took a while, but I learned that the party might be in the Whitman home, but it was being directed by another woman all together. I tried to get her name, but the noise and my own disinterest prevented me from hearing the name or remembering what I did hear.

It was over an hour when a man in a caterer’s uniform came up to the captain, “Your party is wanted in the library.” Captain motioned to me and, of course, Parker was with me. We were ushered into a room. It was furnished with two desks. On one desk, there was a computer system. I say system because there were several screens on the desk and all of them were lit up. The walls were lined with bookcases. I couldn’t see the titles from where I was, but there appeared to be several sets of Law books, medical books and, of course, there were numerous volumes of different size and binding of literature in general. There were two plush office chairs, one at each desk and two easy chairs of an expensive make, covered in leather. There were, also, two other chairs brought in the room just for the occasion. Doctor Whitman was seated at one desk and Commissioner Whitman was sitting at the other desk.

Everyone except for DeLuca was known. The captain started to make introductions when Maria stepped forward. “Special Agent DeLuca, at your service,” she stated.

Maria turned to Liz, “I am sorry, Chica, I wanted to tell you, but I have been working undercover ever since I got out of the academy. I was two classes behind you.”

Captain Guerin looked a little sheepish, “Deluca and I have know each other since she was in my class at the academy. I requested her because the state wanted someone to be an ear on the radio in the swing shift and I wanted someone I could trust.”

I was thinking, that I bet there were other reasons the captain wanted his choice of special agents spying on the system.

Captain Guerin went on, “The graveyard shift is, usually, manned by only a few operators, so there is a bit of chatter between departments. The state wanted someone to monitor this. DeLuca is as caught up in this investigation as any of us.”

Before she started, I handed Isabel the envelops of information we had, first on William Presoné, also, known as Willie the Dip and then, what I had found out about the FBI.

Isabel glanced at the contents of the envelops and then started. “Ornellos is up to his scrawny neck in this. He has many ties to concerns outside the States. I am sure he hired Sandoval and O’Rourk. Someone stole a truck in Colorado. They needed another one. Sandoval and O’Rourk both consider themselves real studs. The stole the truck in Four Hills and I am sure when Ornellos, saw it he had a fit. The truck they stole was a playboy’s truck. It was tricked out, but it also, was very visible. I am sure they went back to Colorado to rural country and stoled another truck. Probably it was one of the ones on the list that the sheriff of Animas County gave Max.”

Commissioner Whitman was just nodding his head, as his wife explained everything.

Isabel went on, “Klaus Schlinger was hired to keep everyone in line and he, also, had contacts for things like the explosives. I am sure he was with Sandoval and O’Rourk, as was Ornellos, the night they abandoned the Tahoe. Those kids at the picnic grounds do not know how lucky they were. If Ornellos hadn’t been with them, I am sure Schlinger would have killed the kids to prevent any witnesses.”

That gave me pause. Schinger would have made this investigation even more messy. Then, I thought of Willie the Dip. I was sure that Isabel was right.

“Now, I do not know how much you know about explosives, but there is a fiber explosive that is highly experimental. It can be woven into cloth. I think that is what Mr. Presoné saw being transferred. Senator Bellweather is a paradox. Maybe, because of his conflicting personality and behavior, or maybe not, but he is an important individual in diplomacy. He has a real chance of settling a generational feud between two international parties. Make no mistake about it. Bellweather is a woman’s man. A man he didn’t know, would have a hard time getting close to him. But a woman, any woman, and especially one he knew, would be in bed within a few minutes. That is where Tess, the girl Detective Valenti is concerned about, fits in. She was known by Bellweather. In fact, Desolvo has been blackmailing Bellweather since she was with him last. If it is female, Bellweather holds no grudge. When he heard he was to be in the same town as she, he wanted her set up to be with him. If Tess was dressed in the explosive cloth and a cell phone detonator was placed in the dress, even if she was disrobed and the dress thrown on a chair somewhere in the room, she and the senator would both be killed. If this was done in a high class room at one of the Indian casinos, so much the better.” Isabel concluded her report.

Parker and I had been thinking along those lines. We just hadn’t connected all the dots, yet. There were more surprises, though.

Alex, Mr. Whitman said, “I sent Isabel’s report to high levels of the FBI, of course, with Assistant Chief Valenti’s blessing. The Fed heading the local investigation is starting to piss off everyone. Chief Valenti still asked us to save Kyle’s girl, if possible.

Hearing the report, the discussion afterwards, the small talk wrapping up our meeting and the revelations between Liz and Maria, all made it midnight when we left. The party in the other room was long over. I saw the clean up crew already attacking the Whitman house, assuring Alex and Isabel that they would not wake up to a dirty house.
------------------------------------
Stories by Ken

Second Crash the way the third season could have gone.

[ken_r]

natalie36
begonia9508

Chapter 18

This is the city, home to almost a million people of every race, nationality and religion. The work place of over a million. The winds were still calm. The lamb of March still reigned. The calm gave truth to the myth that the city was a safe secure place to live, bring up children and finally, if life is good, a place to retire. This was all a lie. As a policeman I saw that the city was suffering from a terrible cancer. A international cancer that most of the people had no knowledge of. If the tendrils of terrorism could reach into an area such as we had, there would be no place safe from these people. I am sure there are those in both society and government who would say we should just give up, accept the new order we were to live in and be thankful for life, no matter what the cost.

I am a cop. The love of my life is a cop. Most of our friends and associates are cops. If someone wants to invade our peace, we fight back. Yes, freedom has a price and Officer Clancy had already made a down payment on that freedom. We just had to make sure the other payments do not have to be met.

The time was approximately 6:45 AM. The date is Friday, March 7th, 2008. We were 10-8, in service, early even though we were up late last night.

Friday is the day that most working people face with a sigh of relief. Friday is the start of the holy Sabbath for those of the Jewish faith at sundown. Friday is the day to plan how to blow your mind during the weekend for the rest of the population. Friday is almost the day when many people could get killed unless we figure everything out.

The captain had beaten us in. Maria had called in sick since she was to go on shift just as we were getting ready for bed. Kyle was also there, he looked like shit. I am sure he and Zan had been up late last night working because even if he want home, he probably wasn’t sleeping. No one knew what motivated Zan. He was a strange one, like Carlos. I didn’t say anything to Liz because I didn’t understand her feelings toward Carlos. After all, they had been lovers for several years. Thinking, I feared maybe, I was just a rebound after they split up.

It was still early when I heard from Jimmy Weston in Phoenix. “Hey, Evans, the word is out, the senator is in Vegas, now. He is supposed to be in your area, something about an announcement made from one of your Indian casinos. It is supposed to be a pretty big thing. I understand the casino is hosting a lot of dignitaries to attend this shindig. If you are looking for a target of terrorism, this is looking better all the time.”

I thanked Jimmy and made notations, for the Captain and Parker. I was already seeing problems. The casino was on Indian Land and they were touchy about outside forces invading what they considered sovereign land. Zan could and would go whereever he pleased. The FBI could run over and step on the toes of the Tribal government all it wanted, which is probably why the rest of us would have trouble. I didn’t trust the FBI and there wasn’t time to bring the tribal police up to speed. We needed help.

When I told the captain my problem, he took his phone and called a number. I wondered if he had enough clout to make requests like we needed. He didn’t. Guerin was, after all, just the captain of a homicide squad with a secretary who was a secret agent for the state police. But, … “Whitman, we are facing a problem. Can you see what you can to do make it go away? No, nothing as simple as throwing the FBI out. We need our officers to be assigned with tribal officers to talk about a raid.” The captain hung up, “Now, we shall see what happens.” Max, go think of a plan ‘B’ if Alex is not as good as he says he is.”

Gee thanks, plan ‘A’ wasn’t even my idea. How could I think of plan ‘B’.

About that time Crocker came in. He didn’t go to my desk, leaving me still with the hope I could reclaim it about noon. “Evans, Barnes, the leader, is going on with his plan. The girl was wired and inserted last night. The Senator will be in sometime today and he is going to give a speech tomorrow night. We feel that pillow talk will produce what we want before that time,” he said.

“What happens then? You arrest the Senator?” I ask.

“Naw, it is more complicated than that. The senator would have to go before congress and be impeached before we could arrest him. Look Evans, this detail stinks. The information will be held until the Senator runs for office next time. We will milk him all we can for more information, but it mainly is for a political use,” Crocker really did now feel bad about Barnes’s plan. For me, it was the first time I had heard that little prick’s name, at least where I might remember it.

“Look, Evans, I am not suppose to be here. Barnes would have fits if he knew. I just wanted to give you heads up,” Samuel Crocker concluded.

“Yeah, thanks, Crocker. Look, don’t be on the surveillance team if you can help it. There is a good chance they are going to be killed,” I warned.

I was sure that the FBI investigation would be called off. I was, also, sure that Barnes would arrange to not get the order until after tomorrow night. He was staking his reputation on this one big move. It was a win or die proposition for him.

The captain stuck his head out of his office. “Hey, Evans, the tribal people will be here at 1:00 pm. You and Parker make a good pitch to them.” It looked like Alex was as good as his brag. Parker was already preparing what she was to present. Again, this was definitely her part of our partnership.

Just before noon, we received a visitor. “Stanley Kramer, FBI terrorist squad,” he said. “Look, that little prick Barnes, already has someone inserted into the operation. It will get messy if we try to extract her. Tell me what you have. I have seen reports already, but I want to talk to the officers who are gathering the information.”

I just looked at him. “That makes you the red apple in a green apple salad doesn’t it?” I was thinking about the normal actions of the FBI where they couldn’t care less about the local authorities or what they had learned.

He laughed and replied, “Yes, and I know the ripe fruit gets sauced first. Let’s just see if we can work around this thing and stop the terrorists if possible. I have authority to close the whole shindig down if necessary.”

Parker handed him one of the folders she had prepared. Then she began to tell him all we knew. Leave it to Parker. Kramer listened to every word she said. I know some of the other officers do not like women partners but I loved Parker. Now that everyone knew this, they would break us up for sure. I could understand. In an incident, my attention would be on Parker, not the subject we were after. That could get me, Parker, or someone else, killed. In situations, you had to be focused.

Kramer was nodding. Parker had told him most of what he needed to know. Of course, she didn’t mention Carlos C’ deBaca. Kramer knew all about Zan. He also knew that people like Zan, were untouchable. They answered to some authority, just below God.

1:00 PM came. Kramer wanted to be in on the talks we had with the tribal police. I hoped he didn’t queer the deal. Kramer did seem to be smarter than the average fed.

Tribal police just answer to the tribal counsel. They are not restricted to members of any specific reservation or even to being Native American. Captain Eddie Martinez was definitely a member of some pueblo. He was a stocky man with flashing black eyes. He definitely was in command. He would be the main one we would have to sell. Joe Yellowhorse, (the name yellowhorse,) was not pueblo, was Native American but at least some of his linage was from the plains tribes. Zack Johnson was not Native American. He was military and older than the other men. He probably was a training officer and had some experience in terrorism. That was probably why they included him. His accent was southern, but I wasn’t that good at placing it.

Introductions were made all around. I was afraid of it, but Martinez when introduced to Kramer said, “Don’t we have enough FBI running around the casino now? They are taking up four rooms that could be let out at twice the amount the government is willing to pay.”

Kramer shrugged. “Captain, it is worse than that. I just hope that asshole Barnes, doesn’t get us all killed.”

Now, that got the attention of everyone. Parker, as she did with Kramer, started explaining. Later Kramer drew me aside. “Is there anything going on between you and Parker? I would surely like to hire that little girl away from you.”

I don’t do well in situations like that so I mumbled, “Parker is my partner,” and left it like that.

When Parker was through, each of the tribal police had a folder she had prepared. They were all silent for a few minutes. Then, they all started talking at once. Like all police situations we had two factors fighting with each other. First, a policeman’s duty is to protect, but second, the policemen must not completely upset the political realities. If possible, I wanted to stop this action and arrest everyone still standing when we were through. Kramer could, if he decided, just close the casino for a couple of days. So could Martinez.

Zack Johnson looked at Liz, “You used to be Carlos C’ deBaca’s girl, didn’t you?”

Liz sent me a look and I saw she was as white as a sheet. Johnson had seen the look. “Did I say something out of turn?”

“No,” I stated, “we met with Carlos a couple days ago.”

Johnson nodded, “I agree that the easiest thing would just be to close the casino for a few days. But, I would really like to take these people down. If we close the casino down, they will just plan again. Next time, we might not be as lucky as we are now. They might be completely under the radar until we all go bang.”

I saw Martinez frown. He was the man who must shoulder the responsibility. If this went south, then the blood and blame would all be on his hands. If we shut the casino down, someone else, somewhere else, might go bang. Putting problems off on others wasn’t that pleasant of an idea either. If he shut the operation down and we had no evidence, his bosses would be livid at the thought of the loss of revenue.

We had to gamble that killing the Senator was not enough. Someone wanted to take out Desolvo and do it in a dramatic way. Everything that Doctor Whitman had said about them led us to believe that the most dramatic moment would be what they would use. The FBI under Barnes was trying to get evidence and they would be rushing to do so. The terrorists would be trying to kill as many important people as dramatically as possible so would Barnes cross with Ornelles? We knew that if she wasn’t killed, Tess would be with Bellweather tonight. Martinez would return to the council. He would decide what to tell them. Johnson, Yellowhorse, Kramer and, just as we closed the meeting, Zan appeared. He made up the fourth for the reconnaissance team. He had told Kyle to go home and get drunk. Tomorrow, they would do everything they could to get his girl out and capture the terrorists.

When we were home, Liz turned to me, “Max, is Carlos going to turn up between us every time we do anything?”

I held Liz close. “I don’t know. Kramer was trying to see if it was safe to hit on you tonight. I told him we were partners.”

Liz was so worried, “Max, that was a world a long time ago. I wish it had never happened.”

“Liz, I don’t hate your time with Carlos. He is just part of what makes you, you. Knowing Carlos when you were young made the Liz Parker I know today. I would prefer you didn’t decide to go to Kramer. That might strain our relationship.” I was hoping that, from now on, I would be enough for Liz Parker. I wasn’t an fancy FBI man nor was I a celebrated soldier of fortune. I was Sergeant Max Evans and her partner. We were hoping that this partnership would become permanent, or as permanent as anything was these days. We ate light that night and went to bed to make slow, passionate love.

[ken_r]

Begonia9508 Max does have a slight complex when compared to Liz's former lover. He is working very hard to get over it.
Natalie36 Yes Max does make a mistake as far as the department is concerned.

Chapter 19

It was Saturday, March 8, 2008. The breeze had cleared the smog. The sky was the crystal blue that they saved for the tourist. The weather, for winter was mild. Looking out across the valley, I could see forever. The volcanoes were like golden cones. There were three major cones and two smaller ones. They dominated the entire western sky. For years, they had limited growth to the west. The infrastructure to have a subdivision of homes was just too difficult to build. They would have to blast through the lava that existed just a few feet below the surface. The mountains were still in their own shadow, but their tops were silver-gold as the sunlight spilled over. In minutes, the sun would rise above their tops and the day would begin.

To most of the citizens of this area, as it should, the weekend was starting off as a beautiful time. I just hoped the morrow would not be a replay of September 12, 2001, forever known as the “mourning” after.

I felt like shit. That was so unfair. I had a girlfriend to die for and if things went wrong, there was a good chance one or both of us might. I am sure that no matter how badly I felt, Kyle felt worse. The love of his life had spent the night wired by some junior G-men and screwing a self-centered senator. The senator might be a great diplomat and his actions might save the world, but, right now, Kyle would like nothing better than to castrate him with a very dull knife. While he was at it, he wouldn’t mind a go at that little bastard, Barnes.

Zan had told Kyle to go home and get drunk. He knew that there was nothing worse than for Kyle to know what was going on and not be able to do anything about it. I, also, believed that Kyle was essentially a good cop. He would be in by noon with a clear head, maybe, a little vengeful.

About 9:00 AM the captain called Parker and myself in his office. DeLuca was already there. Captain Martinez arrived shortly. He looked grim. “The shit stops here. There ain’t no room for race. There ain’t no room for skin color. We are all Americans and this is an attack just like 9-11.” He was referring to the infamous attack on New York. “The dame is going to be with the Senator at the head table. They will either hit every one then, or wait as a back up until she gets him in bed.”

Captain Guerin said, “Captain, there is one problem. The lady in question is the girl friend of one of our detectives.”

Martinez made a terrible face, “Damn it. They never should have made us quit scalping. If ever there were some that deserve it, these people fit the bill.” He wiped his eyes. I could swear that he had misted up over the thought that Tess was the girlfriend of a fellow cop. Martinez cleared his throat and went on. “Let’s figure the dinner and the speech. Let’s try to hit them hard and be looking for the trigger-man. Do you know who he will be?”

I looked at captain Mike, “The four men, Sandoval, O’Rourk, Schlinger and Ornellos will be some place where they can hear the speech, but be safe from the blast.”

There are two ways to trigger such a device. Neither of them was very complicated. One, just like a garage door opener or a radio control model air plane you could use a radio. This was more complicated. The other was a cell phone.

The radio control would have to be near and the signal would be complex to prevent false triggering. The cell phone was simpler, but there was always the chance of some drunk calling home and dialing the wrong number. If they used a cell phone number from out of state it might be more secure. You still would have to code the signal to keep chance triggering down.

Now the radio or local cell phone could be turned off, except for just before it was to be used. The cell phone with an out of state number would have to be on roaming where the computers would know how to reach it. The trigger-men would be listening to portable TV or radio to know what was happening and when to trigger the bomb.

About 10:00 AM, Kyle wandered in. True, he did look like shit warmed over. Parker went over to talk to him. She sent him to a near by gym to soak in a hot tub until he got some of his color and alertness back.

The captain called Commissioner Whitman and he came in. For a Saturday, the station looked like it was balloon fiesta. Balloon fiesta was a time when people came to our town from all over the world. Albuquerque was an ideal location for hot air balloons. For us, that time was hell. There were complaints of cars parking in people’s front yards while watching the balloons, to thieves who tried to steal the balloons at night. Needless to say, none of us got vacations that time of the year.

When the commissioner arrived, they then waited for Zan.

The Captain turned away the butcher boy. He broke the piggy bank containing the emergency fund. He sent out for pizzas, Chinese noodles and several prepared salads. The captain announced, “Sorry guys, you have to have clear heads for this operation, but if we are successful, the Whitman’s home will be open with beer and liquors until 2:00 AM.

(The Butcher boy is an old term for a man who brings sandwiches and junk food by work places. They used to walk the aisles of trains selling snacks and quick lunches. The food was usually dry and not too tasty.)

Everyone cheered. This left a somber note to those who thought about it. If the mission failed, we would either be dead or burying our friends who were. Most of the surviving would be testifying as to what happened and most of the survivors would be out of jobs.

Like most of his type Zan arrived at the same time as the pizzas. The captain snagged a slice of pizza and, also, Zan. The commissioner, the captain and Zan went into his private office. This time, without DeLuca.

DeLuca came over to where Parker and I were eating. I swear there were tears in her eyes as she reached out to Parker, “Chica, be careful. I have had to lie to you for so many years. Now that we can finally talk openly about our lives, don’t you go getting hurt or anything.”

Liz answered, “Don’t worry, Maria. All those years I lived with Carlos taught me something.” Liz did a double take with what she said and looked up at me.

I answered, “That is okay, honey. If Carlos keeps you safe, we will both say a rosary for him tomorrow. We might even go to mass. It will be Sunday.

I would be told all of this later, but Zan, the commissioner and the Captain were planning. “Zan, we need surveillance planes. Starting now. We need coverage of anyone who looks out of place within a 20 mile circle around the casino. Anything within a 10 mile circle has to be double checked. Tonight, we need the state police chopper and the city chopper. Get the helicopters on stand-by. Zan, we need equipment and someone who knows how to use it in the choppers. We are looking for radio signatures where there shouldn’t be any and any roaming cell phones from out of state. Alex here will help you expedite anything you need with any political pressure you need,” the captain stated.

Then taking another bite of pizza, Captain Guerin continued, “Martinez is going to have his cowboys out in all the open lands. They will be moving cows, looking for anyone hiding out. By the way, Alex, I told Martinez we would try to get extra feed for the cowmen who lend us their cows to fatten the weight back on that we wear off of them.”

Alex stated, “Isabel said they would probably want to get out of town quickly if they manage to set off the bomb. You might get some of the out lying towns to be prepared to set up road blocks if hell breaks loose.” Alex, then, looked at Zan. We might get the cival air patrol to come out on this, if you can get some experts to fly with them. Then, we wouldn’t have the same plane continuing to fly over the land.” Zan nodded. This had to all be set up quickly. There was another part of the master plan that Zan had to put into place.

Now there was one thing about Albuquerque, the citizens loved to volunteer. There were the auxiliaries of all the law enforcement branches. Many of them had training equivalent to many regular paid officers. There were also many other groups who were always ready to lend a hand. Let a child get lost and there were dog teams who would be at the site when ever called. Let hikers get on the wrong trail and mountaineers will be swarming the area. The captain called one of the off road, four wheel drive groups. He requested the help of trucks that could carry three passengers along with the driver. He told the official, of the group who had responded, that he wanted experienced drivers. He would put three swat officers in each vehicle. He made a special request. He wanted the most daring and experienced driver to stand by for Parker and me. We knew more about the four terrorists than anyone.

For the moment, the captain told us to all go somewhere and relax. “Keep your phones, radios and pagers on, but try to relax for a couple hours.” Those were his exact words. I asked Parker if she wanted to go back to my house. She shook her head. She was just too nervous.

[ken_r]

keepsmiling7
begonia9508

Chapter 20

For a while, I just closed my eyes. I had no sooner done this, than Liz was shaking me. “It’s been over two hours Max,” she said. “The captain let all of us sleep a little extra.”

It still was March 8, 2008. The wind had completely died down. That would make it better for flying. I had found a place in the wardroom where it was quiet. I don’t know where Parker had been. I stretched and went to the rest room. I took off my shirt and, with wet towels, I wiped myself down. I wet my face and combed my hair. I, almost, felt ready for whatever came. I thought for a moment. I should have gone back to the house and retrieved my big Glock. I wasn’t going into battle. I was with the intelligence part of this operation. I wasn’t even going to carry my shotgun. Those prepared for battle would have much heavier weapons than we did. The baby Glock would do, if I needed it. Parker and I both had body armor with plates that gave a bit of extra protection. I snagged my regular body armor to give to our driver.

Back in the building, Kyle and Zan came in along with Kramer. They were all wearing the suit of the security guards. They each had the word inspector above their pocket. They were going to be at the casino. Captain Martinez and Yellowhorse would be with them. Martinez just said with fatalism, “Hell, if everything goes up bang, then, at least I won’t have to face that damned council.”

No one knew where Zack Johnson was. Martinez just said, “He knows what he is doing.”

I, almost, didn’t recognize Kyle with his hair cut and a shave. Parker went over to him and kissed him on the cheek. That is something other officers surely wouldn’t do. Assistant Chief Valenti came in. He was dressed in his best uniform. He had more braid than did the president of the United States. Captain Guerin called him into the office and we could see them arguing through he windows. The captain hadn’t pulled the blinds. Finally, the chief came out and at the door he turned, “Captain, my safety be damned, my son is going in there, his girl is already in harm’s way. If I can in any way ease what they need to be safer, I am going to do it. It is not for a father to bury his son, if he can help it.”

I noticed that the Captain had taken off his coat and was just wearing his shirt with his uniform pants. DeLuca was with him and they had set up a command center.

There was a commotion out back. I heard the rough coughing of a truck. Maybe, that was our ride. I looked out and I saw a Ford four wheel drive pickup. It had a crew cab and big fat tires. It wasn’t a “Big Wheels” truck, you know those huge trucks that run over wreck cars on TV, but it was tricked out to go over everything else. I opened the cab and that was my surprise.

Carley Sue O’Brian was a cute girl. That is until she started cussing. That woman could teach a submariner a thing or two. The officer of the four wheel drive club told the captain she was the best driver they had. Parker just started laughing and took my extra body armor. She went back to our car and exchanged it for her extra set.

Carley Sue got out of the truck. She was only slightly bigger than Parker. She was dressed in Levies wearing cowboy boots that had seen better days when she was back in high school. She was wearing a man’s shirt with the sleeves cut off.

Parker helped her get into the body armor. It fit with adjustments pretty well. She frowned, “Hey, look guys, I don’t aim to get Becky plugged or anything.” She patted the hood of her truck.

Parker smiled, “Your job is just to get us there and drop us off. Then, you can take off. We will just be there after the swat team secures the area. This is just a precaution.

Everyone started to move out to their assigned positions. The FAA, (Federal Aircraft Administration,) had noticed an increase of small craft all flying visual, that is, without instruments, out on the west mesa and north beyond the casino. There was an extreme increase in landings and take offs from the Double Eagle Airport west of the city. Both the city and the state helicopters would be out tonight. They had blacked off the area north of the city from news choppers. The news agencies were howling until they were told they could have three camera-reporter teams, but no wireless or cell communication until the operation was over. They were told that failure to obey would not only result in the offending station being banned from the news conference tomorrow, but they also would risk the suspension of their license. The order was signed by no less than Homeland Security.

This was all told to me later. At the time, I was sitting in the backseat of a crew cab truck, driven by a cute little woman who had the worst potty mouth I had ever heard. Parker was sitting up front with the driver. I felt that would be safer.

Kyle, his father, Jim, Zan and the FBI representative, Kramer, all presented themselves to the security chief at he casino. He started to assign them to locations when Zan brought out his credentials. As said, Zan answered to someone, just below God.

Kyle kept out of sight of Tess. She was dressed in a beautiful yellow dress. It was flowing with netting. Kyle grimaced. That netting was deadly. Tess was seated right beside the Senator. Kyle guessed she was still bugged. Kramer told him that he had a talk with Crocker. Evans told Kramer that he thought Crocker was half intelligent. Kramer laughed, from a person who hated the agency as much as Evans did, that was real praise.

Kramer said, “Crocker, Evans thinks you can be trusted. Keep your eye on Barnes. If he seems about to do anything that will cause trouble, please don’t kill him, but stop him.”

From where Kyle was standing, he could see that Tess was scared. She knew nothing about the explosive dress, but she was sure something was going to happen. Jim Valenti worked his way down to be near one of the three video cameras. Zan wanted to stay with Kyle, so it would be up to Jim and Kramer to stop the cameras on cue. If anything, that is, anything went wrong they would all be killed, along with many other people.

Carley Sue had her radio turned very low. As a country-western singer crooned, we were sitting in the cab waiting. “I have seven brothers. They all drive stock cars. I am the only girl. I wanted to drive with them, but I think they are scared of being beaten by a girl. I attended an off road race once and was hooked. I drove the Baja California race last year. I go on as many rallies as I can. I now have several trucks. The boys help me work on them, but they want to keep me out of their sport. Now, that is okay. Trucks is all I love, anymore.”

Carley Sue turned to Liz, “How about you, honey? Do you and the big fellow,” she pointed to me, “have any thing going?”

Liz laughed, “We have been partners and we may get married when this is all over.”

Carley Sue turned to me, “You do not have anything to say ‘bout taking your lady into danger?”

I shrugged, “Parker is a cop and she is a good one. We both know the risk. We both are careful.”

Carley Sue laughed, “Like me and Pa. We both know that racing can be dangerous, but we are careful and you know you can get hurt just crossing the road.”

The talking went on like that when finally we heard, “ABQ to Evans, swat is moving in on the motel just west of the casino. They have a positive signal.”

Parker went a shade whiter. “Max, they have a signal. That means the detonation was set off.”

I will say this for Carley Sue, she took off right smartly. We were driving toward the casino as fast as she could. We passed the casino, but I couldn’t see if there had been a blast. There was activity all right. It seemed the entire tribal police force were converging on the place. The parking lot was one massive tomato field. There were red lights everywhere you looked.

We had the red light that Carley Sue had on her truck on. I was sure it was illegal. I couldn’t see any justification for her having a permit. We arrived at the motel. It was about a mile down from the casino. There were spot lights on every where. Carley, to be in the spirit turned on her light bar and it was as if it was day in front of her truck. There was a lot of firing going on. I could see that two men appeared to be getting away through the sage. I prepared to get out.

“Just you hold on, professor, I can take this thing through any off-road country,” she yelled.

I mumbled something like, “I thought you didn’t want to get any holes in Becky?”

There were two men. Carley was right behind one when he turned to fire at her. She spun the truck and, then, she did something under the dash The front wheels stopped and the rear wheels spun, kicking up a horrible dust cloud.

“Go get them, professor,” Carley called.

Parker and I jumped out and, as the dust settled, we saw Sandoval coughing as he tried to raise his pistol. I yelled, “Stop, police! Drop your weapon!” He just continued to raise his gun.

I fired. I didn’t have any choice but I also was thinking of Clancy. Then, I was thinking of so many other people who had died at their hands. I did just as the training had taught me, two to the chest and one right between his eyes.

Carley spun her truck again and pointed the lights at the other man. Parker was running at him. I, quickly, caught up to her and just as he turned and pulled the trigger on Parker, I stepped in front of her. I took two rounds to the chest. Of course, I was wearing my vest, but they hurt like hell. I dropped and he was fixing to fire again. I figured he would aim for the head. I probably was going to die. Parker had fired twice, but he was wearing armor also.

Just then, out of the dark, a figure loomed. He jerked the man by the arm. The second man didn’t appear to be armed. He was hitting the first man on the side, the part not covered by armor. We could see that the second man was Carlos. He was beating the terrorist without any mercy. I was close enough to see that the other man was Klaus Schlinger. Now, Carlos was landing blows at his face and neck. Schlinger was not even a close match for Carlos. There was a brutal crack and Klaus dropped, with a broken neck. Carlos came over and lifted me to my feet.

“You are a good man, Evans. She shouldn’t have to feel pain even under the armor. You know you are going to catch hell later for this deed, don’t you?” he said.

I looked a little blank. I was hurting so much I couldn’t think or understand much of what he was trying to say to me. Liz came up and Carlos handed her my arm. “Take care of him little one and if he wants to wander, even if it is to overthrow a country, call me. I will send him home,” with that Carlos disappeared. True to his statement, he had no intention of letting Klaus Schlinger live.

Carley Sue and Parker got me back in the truck someway. The pain was lessening and, now, I was worried. How many people had we lost? Carley drove us back to the motel where swat was cleaning up. They had the trigger to the explosives and it had been set off. They knew no more than we about what had happened. One of them said he thought he heard an explosion from where they were waiting for orders. They saw the activity around the casino, but they had no knowledge of what had happened.

I was asked if I wanted an ambulance. I did, but not until I saw how many of our friends we had lost.

[ken_r]

keepsmiling7
begonia9508

Chapter 20

For a while, I just closed my eyes. I had no sooner done this, than Liz was shaking me. “It’s been over two hours Max,” she said. “The captain let all of us sleep a little extra.”

It still was March 8, 2008. The wind had completely died down. That would make it better for flying. I had found a place in the wardroom where it was quiet. I don’t know where Parker had been. I stretched and went to the rest room. I took off my shirt and, with wet towels, I wiped myself down. I wet my face and combed my hair. I, almost, felt ready for whatever came. I thought for a moment. I should have gone back to the house and retrieved my big Glock. I wasn’t going into battle. I was with the intelligence part of this operation. I wasn’t even going to carry my shotgun. Those prepared for battle would have much heavier weapons than we did. The baby Glock would do, if I needed it. Parker and I both had body armor with plates that gave a bit of extra protection. I snagged my regular body armor to give to our driver.

Back in the building, Kyle and Zan came in along with Kramer. They were all wearing the suit of the security guards. They each had the word inspector above their pocket. They were going to be at the casino. Captain Martinez and Yellowhorse would be with them. Martinez just said with fatalism, “Hell, if everything goes up bang, then, at least I won’t have to face that damned council.”

No one knew where Zack Johnson was. Martinez just said, “He knows what he is doing.”

I, almost, didn’t recognize Kyle with his hair cut and a shave. Parker went over to him and kissed him on the cheek. That is something other officers surely wouldn’t do. Assistant Chief Valenti came in. He was dressed in his best uniform. He had more braid than did the president of the United States. Captain Guerin called him into the office and we could see them arguing through he windows. The captain hadn’t pulled the blinds. Finally, the chief came out and at the door he turned, “Captain, my safety be damned, my son is going in there, his girl is already in harm’s way. If I can in any way ease what they need to be safer, I am going to do it. It is not for a father to bury his son, if he can help it.”

I noticed that the Captain had taken off his coat and was just wearing his shirt with his uniform pants. DeLuca was with him and they had set up a command center.

There was a commotion out back. I heard the rough coughing of a truck. Maybe, that was our ride. I looked out and I saw a Ford four wheel drive pickup. It had a crew cab and big fat tires. It wasn’t a “Big Wheels” truck, you know those huge trucks that run over wreck cars on TV, but it was tricked out to go over everything else. I opened the cab and that was my surprise.

Carley Sue O’Brian was a cute girl. That is until she started cussing. That woman could teach a submariner a thing or two. The officer of the four wheel drive club told the captain she was the best driver they had. Parker just started laughing and took my extra body armor. She went back to our car and exchanged it for her extra set.

Carley Sue got out of the truck. She was only slightly bigger than Parker. She was dressed in Levies wearing cowboy boots that had seen better days when she was back in high school. She was wearing a man’s shirt with the sleeves cut off.

Parker helped her get into the body armor. It fit with adjustments pretty well. She frowned, “Hey, look guys, I don’t aim to get Becky plugged or anything.” She patted the hood of her truck.

Parker smiled, “Your job is just to get us there and drop us off. Then, you can take off. We will just be there after the swat team secures the area. This is just a precaution.

Everyone started to move out to their assigned positions. The FAA, (Federal Aircraft Administration,) had noticed an increase of small craft all flying visual, that is, without instruments, out on the west mesa and north beyond the casino. There was an extreme increase in landings and take offs from the Double Eagle Airport west of the city. Both the city and the state helicopters would be out tonight. They had blacked off the area north of the city from news choppers. The news agencies were howling until they were told they could have three camera-reporter teams, but no wireless or cell communication until the operation was over. They were told that failure to obey would not only result in the offending station being banned from the news conference tomorrow, but they also would risk the suspension of their license. The order was signed by no less than Homeland Security.

This was all told to me later. At the time, I was sitting in the backseat of a crew cab truck, driven by a cute little woman who had the worst potty mouth I had ever heard. Parker was sitting up front with the driver. I felt that would be safer.

Kyle, his father, Jim, Zan and the FBI representative, Kramer, all presented themselves to the security chief at he casino. He started to assign them to locations when Zan brought out his credentials. As said, Zan answered to someone, just below God.

Kyle kept out of sight of Tess. She was dressed in a beautiful yellow dress. It was flowing with netting. Kyle grimaced. That netting was deadly. Tess was seated right beside the Senator. Kyle guessed she was still bugged. Kramer told him that he had a talk with Crocker. Evans told Kramer that he thought Crocker was half intelligent. Kramer laughed, from a person who hated the agency as much as Evans did, that was real praise.

Kramer said, “Crocker, Evans thinks you can be trusted. Keep your eye on Barnes. If he seems about to do anything that will cause trouble, please don’t kill him, but stop him.”

From where Kyle was standing, he could see that Tess was scared. She knew nothing about the explosive dress, but she was sure something was going to happen. Jim Valenti worked his way down to be near one of the three video cameras. Zan wanted to stay with Kyle, so it would be up to Jim and Kramer to stop the cameras on cue. If anything, that is, anything went wrong they would all be killed, along with many other people.

Carley Sue had her radio turned very low. As a country-western singer crooned, we were sitting in the cab waiting. “I have seven brothers. They all drive stock cars. I am the only girl. I wanted to drive with them, but I think they are scared of being beaten by a girl. I attended an off road race once and was hooked. I drove the Baja California race last year. I go on as many rallies as I can. I now have several trucks. The boys help me work on them, but they want to keep me out of their sport. Now, that is okay. Trucks is all I love, anymore.”

Carley Sue turned to Liz, “How about you, honey? Do you and the big fellow,” she pointed to me, “have any thing going?”

Liz laughed, “We have been partners and we may get married when this is all over.”

Carley Sue turned to me, “You do not have anything to say ‘bout taking your lady into danger?”

I shrugged, “Parker is a cop and she is a good one. We both know the risk. We both are careful.”

Carley Sue laughed, “Like me and Pa. We both know that racing can be dangerous, but we are careful and you know you can get hurt just crossing the road.”

The talking went on like that when finally we heard, “ABQ to Evans, swat is moving in on the motel just west of the casino. They have a positive signal.”

Parker went a shade whiter. “Max, they have a signal. That means the detonation was set off.”

I will say this for Carley Sue, she took off right smartly. We were driving toward the casino as fast as she could. We passed the casino, but I couldn’t see if there had been a blast. There was activity all right. It seemed the entire tribal police force were converging on the place. The parking lot was one massive tomato field. There were red lights everywhere you looked.

We had the red light that Carley Sue had on her truck on. I was sure it was illegal. I couldn’t see any justification for her having a permit. We arrived at the motel. It was about a mile down from the casino. There were spot lights on every where. Carley, to be in the spirit turned on her light bar and it was as if it was day in front of her truck. There was a lot of firing going on. I could see that two men appeared to be getting away through the sage. I prepared to get out.

“Just you hold on, professor, I can take this thing through any off-road country,” she yelled.

I mumbled something like, “I thought you didn’t want to get any holes in Becky?”

There were two men. Carley was right behind one when he turned to fire at her. She spun the truck and, then, she did something under the dash The front wheels stopped and the rear wheels spun, kicking up a horrible dust cloud.

“Go get them, professor,” Carley called.

Parker and I jumped out and, as the dust settled, we saw Sandoval coughing as he tried to raise his pistol. I yelled, “Stop, police! Drop your weapon!” He just continued to raise his gun.

I fired. I didn’t have any choice but I also was thinking of Clancy. Then, I was thinking of so many other people who had died at their hands. I did just as the training had taught me, two to the chest and one right between his eyes.

Carley spun her truck again and pointed the lights at the other man. Parker was running at him. I, quickly, caught up to her and just as he turned and pulled the trigger on Parker, I stepped in front of her. I took two rounds to the chest. Of course, I was wearing my vest, but they hurt like hell. I dropped and he was fixing to fire again. I figured he would aim for the head. I probably was going to die. Parker had fired twice, but he was wearing armor also.

Just then, out of the dark, a figure loomed. He jerked the man by the arm. The second man didn’t appear to be armed. He was hitting the first man on the side, the part not covered by armor. We could see that the second man was Carlos. He was beating the terrorist without any mercy. I was close enough to see that the other man was Klaus Schlinger. Now, Carlos was landing blows at his face and neck. Schlinger was not even a close match for Carlos. There was a brutal crack and Klaus dropped, with a broken neck. Carlos came over and lifted me to my feet.

“You are a good man, Evans. She shouldn’t have to feel pain even under the armor. You know you are going to catch hell later for this deed, don’t you?” he said.

I looked a little blank. I was hurting so much I couldn’t think or understand much of what he was trying to say to me. Liz came up and Carlos handed her my arm. “Take care of him little one and if he wants to wander, even if it is to overthrow a country, call me. I will send him home,” with that Carlos disappeared. True to his statement, he had no intention of letting Klaus Schlinger live.

Carley Sue and Parker got me back in the truck someway. The pain was lessening and, now, I was worried. How many people had we lost? Carley drove us back to the motel where swat was cleaning up. They had the trigger to the explosives and it had been set off. They knew no more than we about what had happened. One of them said he thought he heard an explosion from where they were waiting for orders. They saw the activity around the casino, but they had no knowledge of what had happened.

I was asked if I wanted an ambulance. I did, but not until I saw how many of our friends we had lost.

[ken_r]

begonia9508
keepsmiling7

Chapter 21

It was still March 8, 2008, a couple hours until midnight. It seemed as if a century had passed. The lights of the city were shinning. The million or so souls were safe in their homes. A few might get into an accident on the Saturday night and a few of them would end up in jail. Most, until they turned on the news Sunday morning, would have no idea of what happened at the casino. Come to think of it, we were now less than a half mile from the casino and we had no idea ourselves. Carley Sue drove us up to the police line. We both thanked her and invited her to stop by for coffee on Monday and we would fill her in on the night’s happenings. Neither Parker nor I wanted Carley or anyone else, to see us grieve over our friends. The police line stopped us for a minute, then, when the men on radio from somewhere, cleared us we proceeded into the building.

A few hours earlier:

Everyone was in place. The introductions of the speakers were being made. Kyle only had to think, “What if they were wrong in their calculations? What if the terrorist decided to take out what they could and trigger the bomb earlier?” Kyle could only follow the plan and hope the experts were right. He knew that Evans and Parker were out there and they would do their part. Kyle had great faith in the swat teams. Now Kyle had to have faith in himself and the men who had volunteered to work with him. That, now, included his father.

Now, there were celebrities from Washington. They were touting the future, if the negotiations were successful. There were representatives from both sides of the conflict. Their comments were guarded. They tried to be hopeful, but still guarded.

They were getting ready to introduce the senator. He leaned over to kiss Tess. That really bit Kyle. Kramer quickly looked to see if Kyle had lost his focus. Kyle was angry, but still hanging in there. They would all see in a minute what would happen.

The greater Rio Grande Valley, and the over a million people were at peace this evening. They trusted in their police force to protect them. People like the Alrich’s, living in the Four Hills, felt that their wealth would give them security. They relied on their private security guards and then, crippled said guards by their personal selfishness. Objecting to the very actions the guards took because these actions interfered with the comforts they demanded. They wanted the guards to keep them secure, but not to bother them with their spotlights.

The rest of the population was, in theory, no better. They wanted the safety of police protection, but they objected when this protection interfered with what they considered their rights. They wanted a good clean city, but they also wanted their undergarment of sleaze. Their porn shops where they could feel naughty and their prostitution. But, do not let these people be too obvious. The casinos, which catered to what had been forbidden for so long, the casinos had come through the back door of state legislation by being situated on Indian Land. The states quickly negotiated financial deals to justify their inability to completely control what was done on land that was part of the state, but wasn’t controlled by the state. The conundrum of the reservations being sovereign was faced, but not solved.

The casinos were always filled. No longer was it necessary to take a trip to Vegas. You could just drive 15 miles north of the city and have all the benefits of the so-called, “Sin City.” If the bomb went off, it would kill the dignitaries at the table. The world situation would be a mess that would take months to sort out. The local situation would be one of abject sorrow. There would be so many dying who had no idea of the important world shaking events that were unfolding in the room at the back of the casino.

At the kiss, which Bellweather bestowed upon his consort, Assistant Chief Jim Valenti leaned over and flipped off the switch on the ABC network camera. He saw the picture die in the camera view screen. He immediately, went to the center camera which represented the NBC network. Kramer had already turned off the CBS camera on the far side of the line. He arrived at the NBC camera the same time as Jim. The camera man bristled as he prepared to defend his camera. Kramer whispered to him, “Get in our way and you will be dead within five minutes.” The cameras were off and directors were streaming out of the back rooms where they were forming their program. They could scream all they wanted, both Kramer and Valenti stood firm.

Even on live feed, there is a lag between actual happening and broadcast, especially, when the feed had to undergo censorship because the participants were not under control of the directors. They had the privilege of beeping any statements they found offensive, often times, bringing more attention to the faux pas, than would have been noticed normally.

This lag was what Kramer was counting on. Kyle stepped up to Tess and taking her arm he raised her from the chair. Desolvo saw someone interfering with what he considered his property and reached for his hidden automatic. Zan leaned behind him and shot him in the back of the head with a silenced shot. The Senator, his testosterone on high from his night with Tess, rose and Kyle hit him with a haymaker blow that knocked him over the table. Kyle spun Tess around so her back was to him. Taking a switch blade Kyle slit the dress up the back. He knew that there was a chance here that there was a back up switch that would set the dress off when removed. He was hoping that Doctor Whitman was correct when she said they would want to use the time after the speech, when Bell weather had Tess in bed, as a back up time for killing the senator.

The dress off and Tess, half naked, was standing in her hose, heels and dark bronze panties. Kyle pushed her into Zan’s arms. Zan frowned at this. Kyle had just changed the plans. Kyle was to take care of Tess while it was to be Zan who made his way out with the dress.

Zan, with his arms full of a scared and embarrassed Tess, reached for a table cloth and yanking it free, wrapped it around her shoulders. Zan was not a magician, who could yank a table cloth from the table and not move the service. He sent dinnerware scattered to the floor and the drinks already poured, splashed upon the nearby guests.

Kyle was running as fast as he could. He knew that any minute the bomb could be set off. He and Zan had practiced the path several times that afternoon. Across the room ,out the back door, through the store room and through the door opening to the outside. Parked right beside the door was a bomb removal truck with its reinforced steel cage into which he threw the dress. Kyle turned and ran, almost making it through the back door when he was hit by a blast. No one had had any idea of how powerful the blast was to be. Kyle went spinning and, then, darkness as he hit the far wall.

Two four wheel drive pickups went by the casino. Followed, immediately, by the truck of Carly Sue, carrying Parker and Evans. Other swat units closed off the parking lot of the casino. Tribal police were already entering the place in riot gear. At the sound of the blast, the word went out. Roads out of the Rio Grande Valley area were all blocked by local law enforcement. Inside the casino was panic. The fact that all exits were blocked and there was no place to go, finally, caused the patrons to mill around like a herd of stampeding cattle. Reason, given a chance, crawled out of the recesses it had hidden itself and calm was restored. This was the scene when Evans and Parker appeared. It took considerable time convincing everyone that they belonged within the building.

No one noticed a beatup pickup driving by the casino, headed toward the city. Zack Johnson looked at Carlos, “Did you do it?”

“Yes, that bastard won’t try to match coins pretending to be “real,” special forces again. Carlos was referring to the game of matching coins dedicated to the different special forces world wide. He won’t touch my little girl ever either,” Carlos said.

Johnson chuckled, “Saving her for the other fellow aren’t you?”

Carlos shrugged, “He is a good man. He took two in the chest for her. She stood right by him firing at Kraus. They will make a good pair. There will be hell to pay when the department learns they are a couple. Evans violated, I don’t know how many, rules. Police are not supposed to let their partners distract their focus.”

Then, Carlos said, “Men like me can’t have lasting relationships. There will always be that impossible revolution or that touchy assassination to remove one scumbag to replace with another.” Looking at Johnson, “Wanna come with me Zack? We can use your experience.”

Johnson was looking down the road, “That is all I can offer Carlos, experience. I am tired. I have my ‘Indians.’ The look on the faces of those Native American kids, when they see they can be every bit as good as the state or city police, makes it all worth while. Their enthusiasm rubs off on the non Native American kids we pick up. They know that, someday, they can face even the FBI as equals.”

Carlos laughed, “Shit, Zack, you are slipping. That is not very high to aim at, being as good as the Feds.”

Zack smiled and then,` said, “Well as good as Evans and that Parker girl. I hear the feds want to recruit her.”

Carlos looked straight ahead, “I didn’t train her for them to ruin. I hope Evans keeps a close tie on her, holds her tight and runs them Feds off.” Johnson and Carlos were now back in the city. They shook hands and Carlos slipped back into the shadows. Johnson went back to the casino. He, also, had many friends who he was worried about. Some of them were his kids. That made him feel like a daddy. He was, getting old.

Kyle had that bastard, Senator Bellweather and he was beating him to death. He looked over and saw Barnes. When Kyle, finally, finished with the senator, he was going to start on that FBI guy. There was someone calling him. He couldn’t see. His mind felt that it was in a fog. The room had gotten so dark. Both objects of his manual destruction had disappeared. Kyle had no idea of where they went. He felt cool soft hands on his face. On the back of his neck, he could feel the soft flesh of some woman. He was smelling her perfume. There was something tickling his face. He swiped at it with one hand. It moved, but didn’t go away. Now, he saw the light as if at the end of a tunnel. He didn’t want to go to the light. He must be dead. He just hadn’t had enough time with Tess. He wanted to kiss away the taste of that senator. He wanted to love away the touches the senator made on her body. His knuckles hurt. Did dead people still hurt?

Yes, Kyle hurt. The top of his head had been struck by something.
He felt something wet running down his face. He must have sustained a wound of some kind. Kyle tried to open his eyes. Why wouldn’t they cooperate. If they would just do what they were told, Kyle would walk to the light. Just let him have control of something.

Finally, Kyle’s eyes obeyed. Everything was a blur. He saw a face. The face was framed in spun gold and in the middle of it, two blue eyes were weeping. It was tears, not blood, that were running down his face. She was loosely wrapped in some sort of white material. It was loosely fastened and it fell open to show her beauty. He was lying in her naked lap. Now, he could feel the satin feel of her panties against his cheek where she cuddled his head close to her. The noise was growing into a roar. Kyle saw two familiar faces. Evans and Parker were leaning over him. They were so careful not to displace Tess. Now, he saw the grizzled, cragged face of his father. Kyle was coming back to reality.

Kyle looked down at his hands and his knuckles were bleeding. Kyle was trying to remember how that happened. He, mentally thought, he was bleeding everywhere else. There was something he should remember about the knuckles.

In the background, Kyle heard a voice he should know, “I want my girl back. I won’t leave until I have her.”

Another voice, that he didn’t have the slightest idea of who it was, said, “Senator, she isn’t your girl. Go back to Washington. Be the great politician everyone thinks you are. Finalize your negotiations. Stay there! Senator, Atlantic City is every bit as good as Las Vegas.”

Liz bent over to take Kyle’s hand, “Welcome back, Kyle. You made it. Everyone is saved.”

Someone went to the Senator’s room to remove Tess’s clothes. They brought them to her and Liz led her away to find a room in which to clean up and dress.

None of the terrorists made it. They were all dead. It would take a while to sort out how they each died. They found Ornellos behind the motel with his throat cut. It was a very professional job.

Max and Liz were, finally, released. The sun was trying to get over the mountains. The shadows, at this end, of the valley, were different. Next week would be a living hell. Max didn’t go to the freeway. He drove to the bottom of the valley and through the sleepy town of Bernalillo. This was where the Spanish had first settled when they came to this land. There was a small church in the middle of the town. Without saying anything to Liz, Max just pulled into the church parking lot. Max and Liz were both, nominally, Catholic. Neither of them was really sure of their catechism any more. The early mass was just letting out.

The priest greeted them. “Bless you, my children, the next mass will start in an hour.”

Max said, “We just came from a very bad place, father, I do ask for blessings for two people and I feel in need of confession.”

The priest looked at both of them. That fact that they were both armed was not missed on him. “My children, do you have need of your weapons in the house of God?”

Max answered, “Yes, father, our weapons are part of who we are. I have killed to protect the woman I love. We have both participated in death to preserve the world as we know it. We ask a blessing on a man who died bringing us the knowledge of this great danger. We ask another blessing on a man who gave us release and, also, protection when we might have failed.”

The priest might have laughed if the demeanor and plight of the two before him wasn’t so serious. Doing good and saving the world. That almost sounded like a comic book. The priest looked closely. The clothes of the two were dusty. Max and Liz had removed their body armor, but Max was having trouble breathing. He could have a broken rib. The priest remembered the huge explosion he had heard last night. He had heard a little of something about the casino just north of his town on the radio while he was getting ready this morning. He would have to listen more carefully when he had a chance.

Not knowing exactly what to say, the priest stated, “God guides each of us in the ways that serve his purpose. It is not for me to say yea or nay at what you did. As for the blessings, it is enough that you feel that they are in need of such. I will say the blessings with you. My children, may you find peace.”

When the priest was finished, Max and Liz left. Max didn’t know if he felt better or not. Parker hadn’t said anything. When they arrived at his house, Max and Liz just passed out. They would rest the whole day. Monday would be a gauntlet for them. The whole week, in fact, would be.

It was March 9, 2008. The sun was rising over the city. Many souls were getting up to go to church and many were getting up to play golf. Some were just arguing with themselves about getting up at all. It was a surprisingly warm day for March. The weather in New Mexico was impossible to predict. The city was all in one piece. There was no aftermath like there had been after September 11, 2001. Only the news ways were a buzz about the attempted assassination of the Senator and other dignitaries. Barnes was on the news saying that it was the work of his team who thwarted the happening. Martinez was now going to prepare what he would say to the tribal council. He hoped they agreed with his logic in his part of what was done. Captain Guerin took DeLuca to bed with the knowledge that she had helped tremendously in his guidance of this mission. He was hoping she would move to Albuquerque, at least for a few years. Michael had only a few years until retirement.

Evans and Parker didn’t wake up until the alarm announced that it was March 10, 2008, a bright Monday morning.

[ken_r]

begonia9508
paper
natalie 36

Chapter 22

Again, the sky was clear and the day bore promise of being a warm pleasant day. Almost everyone they cared about was alive. The fears of last Saturday were now gone. The heroes on the prancing white horses of good had prevailed. Some of the self-proclaimed heroes were becoming tarnished as it was revealed how little they knew of what went down.

Barnes was commanded to report to his headquarters. He had been given orders to shut down and it was apparent that he disregarded those orders. There were so many political implications concerning this event, that the FBI wanted to disavow anything except for an advisory position.

The casino owners were up in arms that this had been allowed to occur in their casino. They would have preferred that the tribal police had just closed the casino down. Of course, if Martinez had done this, they would still be screaming about their loss of profits. They were mollified when Martinez convinced them that the situation was completely under control. The results testified to that.

The press conference prepared by Captain Guerin and Sergeant DeLuca had pacified the news bureaus. Parker’s files, no longer needed to expedite a conviction, were used to present the whole episode from the untimely death of Officer Robert Clancy and the resulting discovery of the plot, to the final chapter orchestrated by homeland security, which saved the day. Tess’s name was completely kept out of the release. The greatness of the Senator was praised. His loose zipper was ignored.

Max was at the office only a short while. The act of moving about made his chest pain difficult to ignore. “Parker, take him to emergency. Make him stay there until they say he is ready to go home. Then, take him home and stay with him. You both get a day off. When Internal Affairs is through with him, he probably will get several more days off.

That afternoon, Detective Elizabeth Parker called her home in Roswell. “Mom, I am getting married. No, the date isn’t set yet. Max has to get out of the hospital and be well enough to walk down the aisle. Of course, I want you and Dad to be here. I don’t know what this will do to our partnership. It is just that, now, there seems to be more important things, than being a cop.”

Tess had spent the weekend with Kyle. He had talked about marriage. Tess was so unsure. Kyle, now, knew all about her. She had nothing left to hide. Kyle had the insecurities of his mother. Jim stopped by to privately talk to Kyle. He tried to explain that the mistakes he made and the mistakes made by his wife must not influence Kyle too much. “You have a lifetime ahead to make and correct your own mistakes,” Jim stated.

It wasn’t that Tess didn’t want to marry Kyle. She was willing to live with him for as long as he wanted her. Being used by the Feds and the caviler treatment given her by the senator had damaged her self-esteem. She could understand a man wanting her body and she could understand being used as a snitch. Tess just couldn’t wrap her mind around Kyle wanting the white dress, cake and friends. Marriage had long been lost in her life plans. The white picket fence, home and children had just been forgotten. It would take a while for Tess to believe Kyle was serious.

It was late in the afternoon when Detective Sergeant Evans got out of the emergency room. He was surprised that Liz had stayed with him. The captain had ordered her to take him to the hospital, but Max assumed she would return to the station to resume her duties. He hadn’t heard all of the captain’s orders. Internal Affairs had been looking for her everywhere. The captain only shrugged and said she was out with her partner and they had been outside of radio contact for some time. No, he didn’t want to initiate a search. They were both experienced detectives and he had no idea if they might be onto something sensitive. He certainly didn’t want to jeopardize their mission or safety by being a “Nervous Nelly” commander.

Of course, being who they were, Internal Affairs didn’t think to check the hospitals. They left word for the two of them to make themselves available tomorrow morning.

The rest of the afternoon and evening, Max and Liz enjoyed only conversation. Max was enduring a forced celibacy. Not only could he not stand any pressure on his chest, but any excitement where his body tensed up, caused pain. This was a good time to discuss their future.

“Max, I intend to take the sergeant’s exam. The only thing keeping me from this was I didn’t want to end our partnership. That is over now. You should consider going for Lieutenant. You might position yourself for captain when Guerin retires. I hear that will be in a couple of years. We might want to discuss children in the future.” Liz was taking advantage of romantic down time to cover many things they needed to settle.

“Won’t children slow down your professional progress?” he inquired.

“Yes, but suddenly being a cop isn’t the end of the world anymore. Hell Max, we just saved the world. I hope we will never be called on to attempt to top that,” Liz replied. “There are several sergeant positions that are not in the field. They would be perfect for an expectant and actual mother.”

Max leaned back, Captain Max Evans. Sitting in the enclosed office overseeing a bunch of detectives and constantly monitoring their progress, bringing encouragement and warning about overstepping lines. True, Max had dreamed about that, but the dreams were somewhere between daydreams and nightmares.

Then, there would be times when he had important duties to undertake, when he could close the blinds and pull the curtains so he could play on the floor with a couple of truly junior G-boys or girls. Playing with his own children would appeal to Max. There would be ‘take your son to office day’ or ‘take your daughter to office day.’ Those would be good.

Liz had said the captain would retire in a few years. Max would be ready for something like that by then.

Chapter 23

It was Tuesday, March 11, 2008. The day was cooler, but it was March still. The time was 8:00 AM and Detective Parker and I were probably preparing to go to work as partners for the last time. No, this wouldn’t be the last time we rode together to work, but the partnership now was completely in the open and was going to be dissected by Internal Affairs. It would be over. Liz had already told me that she had requested to be relieved from field duty if our partnership was to be dissolved. Our partnership had just been so even, she didn’t want to break in a male chauvinist and go through what so many women went through when they were in mixed partnerships.

I would just be assigned a new man probably just off uniform duty. Would he be a “Dirty Harry,” the Clint Eastwood type? Would he be a “Sherlock Holms,” an intellectual type? I had told them I didn’t want a mixed partnership. I was going to get married and that might create problems.

First, we both had to face Internal Affairs and thinking about that, was not making it any easier. The drive to the office was pleasant, maybe, because we felt this would be the last pleasant time we would have today. Spring was here, this time for sure. Yes, we could still have a surprise storm, but in all probability, the flowers could now bloom without fear. There would be winds, but the winds would be just to spread the seeds, the pollen and a fresh attack of my asthma.

Arriving, we were separated. They wanted to interview Parker first. I knew the drill. Interviewing her first, I would be less likely to lie. They knew of our relationship and they knew me. I would take any fall to keep her safe. I was placed in a room where no one could talk to me or communicate with me in any way. Parker, not knowing what I would say could only say the truth. I didn’t know that Parker could cloud even the truth.

My turn. Liz squeezed my hand as she passed me, heading to take my place in the lonesome, eventless, silent room.

The two men introduced themselves. They were both lieutenants and that was as far as I could remember. “Evans, you are familiar with the non fraternization rules of the department, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” that is all I could think to say.

“You and Parker have been partners for two years. How long has this relationship been going on?”

“Quite a bit of the two years, I think.”

“Why didn’t you break it off? You knew it was against department rules.”

I just wondered if this twit had ever been in love. “I guess I didn’t want to.”

“Then, why didn’t you split the partnership?”

“I guess, I didn’t want to.”

One of the lieutenants, I hadn’t named him yet, leaned into my face and said, “You wanted to play hanky panky on department time instead of doing your job, didn’t you?”

The vision of Carlos flashed through my mind. As he was killing Schlinger, he was smiling. He was doing the world a favor. That same smile came to my lips, but I didn’t hit the little bastard in front of me. “No one can say that our work performance isn’t top grade. We have exemplary reviews for every action we have been on for the last two years. There is no one with an arrest record that can beat ours.” I knew what the little slimy character was doing. Get me mad and, maybe, I would slip up. I just hope he had sense enough not to say anything against Parker. I might forget my manners and, instead, remember what I had seen with Carlos. It was something. Liz’s ex lover was getting me through this interview. His partner took over. There must have been something in my face that said, “Me and Mr. One were through.”

“Tell us about the night of March 8, 2008.” He was a fresh interrogator and hoped I would forget the temper I was brewing toward his partner.

“We answered the call to where they found the trigger man setting off the explosives,” I started.

“You were supposed to be just intelligence advisors, weren’t you?”

“Yes, but when we arrived we saw two of the most dangerous terrorist getting away,” I said.

“Shouldn’t you have called for the swat to take them?” I was asked by the Internal Affairs inquisitor.

I was wondering if he would bring out the racks, thumb screws or maybe, some of the other tools of the great inquisition. I continued, “We were with a civilian driver. She took off after the two men across country. In hindsight, she was the best able to chase them. When Sandoval turned to shoot at our driver, I shot him strictly by departmental guide lines, two to the chest and one to the head.”

That even brought out a chuckle from the inquisitor, “Not exactly departmental guidelines, but acceptable.” He, then, went back to his dead pan expression. “Tell us what happened next.”

“Parker was giving chase to the other subject. I overtook her. He turned to fire and I fired at the same time, I think. I got hit. Everything is fuzzy after that,” I stated.

“Isn’t it true that you stepped in front of your partner to take the bullets intended for her?” That is what they were getting at the whole time. The rest of this nonsense was just filler to make the report look good.

“I don’t know. Yes I stepped in front to take the bullets intended for her. I stepped forward to get a clearer shot at the subject. I was clumsy and fell into the line of fire and was lucky that Parker didn’t shoot me in the back, herself. Those vests are good, but using one hurts like hell.” I was a little angry. Now, I wasn’t even sure myself what I had done.

“The terrorist was wearing armor. Several of Parker’s bullets are in his vest. There might be one of yours there, also. Now, tell us what happened next.”

“I don’t know. I think I was screaming in pain. I couldn’t breath very well. There were tears streaming down my face. Maybe, but I can’t be sure, someone cleaned up the situation. They sanitized what the swat didn’t finish. There was another man, probably. One of the more important terrorist had his throat cut. It wasn’t by any of us.”

One of the inquisitors looked at the other and, then, back at me, “Sanitized isn’t that a word used by clandestine forces,” he asked.

I was holding my head in my hands, “Oh shit, Internal affairs, the witness protection people, the god damned FBI and, now, you want to bring spooks into this. Look, a uniformed officer was killed. I shot and killed one of those who, we believe, murdered him. End of story.” I had about had it.

The two men left me alone and went into the hall. They were gone for several minutes. When they returned, they released me. “You can go Sergeant Evans. You are cleared except for breaking the rules about fraternization. Your story checked with your driver and your partner.”

I was out of there. I picked up Parker and went into Captain Guerin’s office. We all watched as the Internal Affairs team left.

The captain looked at me, “Did you tell the truth, Evans?”

“Captain, I don’t have the slightest idea of what the truth really is, anymore. We are all alive, Kyle has his girl, I am getting married and there are no more terrorist kicking butt with the East LA gang on the west mesa.

Chapter 24

It was March 29, 2008. It was a Saturday and Parker and I were off for a whole week. Detective Parker wouldn’t be with me any more. In just a few hours, her name would, officially, be Detective Elizabeth Evans.

The air had warmed up. The breeze was strong but not really windy yet. The greater Rio Grande valley was safe now from everything except itself. Captain Martinez of the tribal police, had arranged for our wedding and reception to be at the casino. Another cake and refreshments would be at the station house was for those who couldn’t get off duty. We probably wouldn’t make an appearance there. We asked the priest we had met at the small church in Bernalillo to marry us. He was surprised, but consented. He had, finally, found time to read the papers and watch the news announcements. He now understood our need when we came to him that early Sunday morning.

I had met my new partner and even I couldn’t find anything wrong with him, even though I tried. He would be a good detective. Parker, soon to be Evans, had been assigned to a desk. She said she would miss the field, but changes happened and it was, now, time for another one.

For me, it was simple. The captain would be my best man. Kyle and Alex Whitman would be groomsmen and that was that. I understand that it was more difficult for Liz. Maria DeLuca would be maid of honor. Mrs. Whitman and Tess would be the bride’s matron and maid. Liz’s father and mother had come up from Roswell. Jeff, her father would give her away. Since we had been so involved in solving the last case dealing with terrorism, there would be several political dignitaries. Fame, I did not want. When it was all over and the report was read, most of the investigation had been by Evans and Parker. We had stopped our own small version of 911. The cost was our partnership, but the new partnership we were entering was so much better.

Kyle walked up. He still had his haircut and had not changed into his street uniform. “Hell, Evans, you would have soon been caught! I saw her give you a kiss the other day when you got out of your car. This way, they can kick your butt, but not too hard. You are a celebrity.”

I was standing up in front of the auditorium. The wait, from now on, was completely up to the bride. What if she changed her mind?

Max would have been even less sure had he seen the room where the bride was getting ready. There was a soft knock. When answered, Carlos stepped into the room. With a gesture the girls helping Liz, fled. Carlos was a scary person when he wanted to be. He motioned for Liz to sit. Carlos took her right leg and sensuously ran his hand up it. Liz squinted her eyes closed. The feeling brought back the good days they had together, but she did not want that. She was trying to make herself, to will herself to forbid him from what he was doing. Liz was going to marry Max in a few minutes for God’s sakes. She felt a tug at her garter belt. She opened her eyes, the words rising in her throat. Then, she looked. Carlos had fastened a silk binding containing a holster on the outside of her right thigh. Carlos grinned. He knew what she was about to say. From his pocket he withdrew an engraved PPK Walther with real ivory grips; Liz had seen one like it once in a police museum. Liz hoped that the one she saw, now, was a look alike and that Carlos hadn’t stolen the original, to give to her. “Just a bit of James Bond in case you ever need it.” Granted most brides wouldn’t understand a gift like this, but Liz knew he was releasing her from anything she might have felt toward him. The beautiful little gun was just his gift of her independence. Its beauty was overshadowed by its deadliness and its presumed history. This was something she would share with Max, but probably no one else.

Liz stood up and hugged Carlos, “You are coming to my wedding aren’t you?” Now that she understood his actions, her feelings toward him returned to their proper place.

“No, the groom has just faced the inquisition! Let’s not face him with an ex-lover. He is a good man.” With that, Carlos kissed her and jerked open the door which spilled several of her friends, into the room. They had been trying to listen at the door. Carlos left.

Liz came out of the room. Her father was standing in the hall waiting for her. “Have you rid your mind of all past things, Lizzy?” he asked.

Liz looked at him, “No, daddy, but I have, now, seen them all in their proper place. I am ready.”

With that, Elizabeth Parker walked down the hall with her father. Not as the lover of a soldier of fortune, not as a distinguished dective, but as young woman who was in love with a young man. They both had very bright futures.

The end