A Death in the Family

This story is part of an ongoing series.

The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and

constructive

criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

Part 15 - Coming Out

We were crowded around the monitors in the back of my Police SUV, trying to hear what was going on. The radios were jumble of people talking over each other.

Finally, we heard Lt. Hugh Hewitt call out "Cease fire! Cease fire!" A moment later, someone said "Scene is secure. All perps down." Then a call for ambulances and paramedics. As two University ambulances drove into the BOW Enterprises compound, we waited to hear the results. And then...

"Hewitt to Commander Troy. Hewitt to Commander Troy."

I grabbed my radio. "This is Troy. Go ahead, Hewitt."

"Sir... you need to come down here..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"This is Priya Ajmani, Fox Eight News!" said the lovely Indian reporterette from behind the KFXU mobile van. "We have unconfirmed reports that the Police have raided the warehouse where BOW Enterprises CEO Todd Burke was being held hostage, and that there has been a call for ambulances to the scene... and there goes an ambulance now. We don't know who is in it, nor how many casualties has resulted from the raid..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I came to the door of the warehouse and went inside. It seemed eerily silent as Lt. Hewitt came and got me and led me sideways along the pallets, then turned towards the back when the space opened up. I saw pools of blood on the floor between the pallets, then I saw the dead body next to an overturned videocamera tripod, and a .50-cal rifle and a handgun next to him. I observed that the dead man was Quint Starr; the SWAT Team had mercilessly perforated him as he was firing his .50-cal at Todd.

Then I turned and saw it. The bottomless chair was lying on its side, the ropes that had bound Todd to it lying on the floor. A body was lying next to it, covered by one of the kevlar blankets. The SWAT Team was ringing the scene in a wide circle, no one moving, no one speaking.

Hewitt stopped and let me proceed. Everyone watched silently as I walked up and knelt down by the body. I pulled back the blanket, and looked into the lifeless face... of TCPD Lieutenant Ivar Irwin.

"Oh, no." I whispered. I felt myself collapse to a sitting position, my head bowed, my hand on my forehead. I felt the trickle of tears running down my cheeks. "No no nooooo..." The emotional pain I was feeling was worse than any physical pain I'd ever endured.

I don't know how much time had passed, but I finally looked up. Lieutenant Micah Rudistan, his own eyes full of tears, was standing there up. "Todd Burke is alive, sir." he said. "They took him away in the ambulance. No other Officers were seriously injured. All the perps are dead."

I nodded, then fished out my Police iPhone and dialed Cindy. When she answered, I said "You're not on speaker, are you?"

"No." said Cindy. "What happened?"

"Take Teresa to the Hospital." I said. "Todd's alive, and they're taking him there."

"Roger." said Cindy. "What happ---" I stopped her from further conversation by disconnecting the call.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Press recorded Cindy's Police SUV barreling down the road at a high rate of speed, blue lights blazing. As Cindy was driving as if she was behind the wheel of the Black Beauty, the Press had not been fast enough to see that it was Teresa Croyle in the shotgun seat.

Someone came up to Priya and whispered something to her. "One minute, one minute!" she called, meaning they'd go on-air. Once she was ready, she said into the camera and into the homes of the County: "This is Priya Ajmani, Fox Eight News. We have learned that Todd Burke, CEO of BOW Enterprises and father of three boys, is alive and has been rescued by the Police raid that just happened moments ago. He is being transported to University Hospital, but his condition is unknown. Fox Eight News has also learned that there is one Police casualty, but we have no details at this time..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Chief Moynahan had actually followed right behind me. He came up past me and observed Irwin, then covered his face again with the blanket. Then he and Rudistan helped me up. I saw that Myron Milton was there, having taken every Officer cam into custody, and also Quint Starr's videocamera.

"Get Irwin's cam, too." I told Myron. Officers pulled the blanket aside, and Myron took the camera from Irwin's chest. It was then that I saw the extensive damage done to his armor and parts of his body by the powerful .50-cal bullets with cop-killer tips. It simply was Irwin's day to die, I thought miserably.

I felt numb, but I surveyed the scene, walking around the pallets where I could, seeing the bodies of the perps. They'd had no armor, and the Police gunfire had been accurate and well-placed. I listened to the reports of the SWAT Team, which were being recorded on the spot. The CSIs were here, and doing that as part of their duties.

I went towards the back. The tunnel lid was open, aluminum cans scattered about. Sergeant DeLong was there. "I pushed him up, sir, then followed as fast as I could. He lunged in front of Mr. Burke just as the perp started shooting. He took the bullets..." DeLong stopped, unable to continue.

Knowing what he had just witnessed with his own eyes, I put my arm around DeLong and said "Thank you." DeLong nodded, his head bowed as tears flowed from his eyes.

A moment later the Chief came up. "Go to the Hospital, Don. We've got this covered."

"In one minute, Chief." I said. "After this. One last duty to do."

'This' was the CSIs from the Coroner's Office transferring Lt. Irwin's body to a body bag and placing him on a gurney to roll him out. Two Officers came up and put an American flag over him.

"PRE-SENT!" I shouted loudly, "ARMS!" Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and saluted as Irwin was rolled out of this room of Death.

"ORTER!... ARMS!" I shouted once he was out of the building. Activity resumed. Officers outside were saluting as the body was rolled to the waiting ambulance, and then driven away. My duty for the moment done, I followed.

The Chief went to do his duty: collect the appropriate minister and go notify Irwin's family. I did not envy the Chief that task as I drove to the Hospital, misery remaining in my soul.

Part 16 - All Through The Night

10:00pm, Friday, June 7th. The waiting room for the Emergency Room wing was on the northeast side of the north wing. Surgery rooms and other trauma centers were on the floors above.

When I got there, numerous Police Officers were in the hallway, but the only persons in the waiting room itself were Cindy Ross, Teresa Croyle, and Father Romano.

Lt. Hugh Hewitt was in the hallway. "Daniel Patrick and Robert Kalsu were wounded, but not seriously. Patrick got some shrapnel in the neck, and Kalsu was grazed on the forearm. They're being treated and are expected to be released."

"Glad they're not more seriously hurt." I said. "Get the applications for Purple Orders to me as fast as you can."

"What about... Irwin's?" Hewitt asked, meaning the posthumous Purple Order for Irwin.

I nodded. "Yeah, go ahead and write it up, too. Thanks." Hewitt nodded and moved out smartly.

I went into the waiting room. Everyone looked up at me. "How's Todd?" I asked.

Cindy got up. "Let's take a walk." she said. I followed her down the long hall of the main wing of the Hospital, where fewer people were. Cindy turned to face me.

"He hasn't been taken into surgery, which is good." Cindy said. "I do know an oral surgeon was brought in, and that Todd swallowed a lot of blood. Laura was called in to check on the damage to his... sex organs. He's got some cracked ribs and soft tissue damage, and a slightly cracked bone just below his left eye. As of the last report, nothing is immediately life-threatening."

"Damn." I said. "Tough kid."

"Don," Cindy said, a little more severely, "no one will tell us what happened. Who died?"

Just then, Lt. Myron Milton came up to us. "Sir, ma'am, sorry to disturb you, but I have the video feeds."

"The answer to your question, Commander Ross." I said. To Myron I said "Let's see them." We watched on Myron's iPad as the Officer-cam of Irwin showed him coming out of the tunnel. He was running at the top of his speed with the blanket, and I saw Todd in the chair from his (Todd's) right side. Then the cam swung and showed Quint Starr firing right at the cam, and I saw some blood spurt before the cam fell to the floor.

"And this is Quint Starr's camera, on its side after it fell." The video feed showed Irwin coming out of shadows and putting himself in front of Todd as Quint began firing. It was almost surrealistic watching spots on his armor and body 'exploding' as he took the incoming fire.

"Oh my God." said Cindy. "That's Irwin." I just nodded, unable to speak, and it was Cindy that said "Make sure that gets into evidence for the LOI investigation."

Myron nodded, then said to me "I'm sorry, sir."

"Thank you." I whispered. "Yes, get all the video into evidence." Myron nodded and excused himself and left. Cindy patted me on the shoulder.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I went into the waiting room and sat down in the space beside Teresa, which had been cleared by Lt. Mary Milton as soon as she saw me.

"Who died?" Teresa asked. "Nobody will tell me. They said you would."

"And they were right." I said, having given that instruction out previously.

I remembered how hard it had been to tell Teresa that Amy's transplant organ had been stolen. (

Author's note: 'Hampered In His Plans', Ch. 04.

) This was just about as bad: Irwin had been as loyal to Teresa as she was to me, and she had been extremely supportive of him and his career, even going against me, and standing up to me, at times.

But I had my duty to do, and I sucked it up and forced myself to say the words: "It was Irwin."

"Nooooo." Teresa said, her voice a whisper. "Noooooo..." I put my arm around her and held her to me as she broke down crying...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1:00am, Saturday, June 8th. Laura finally made an appearance in the waiting room.

"Todd's in ICU," she said, "where he will be under observation for the next 24 to 48 hours. Except for the one tooth that the thug pulled out, the damage to Todd's teeth and jaw are not as bad as we'd expected. He does have hairline fractures in his jaw and other facial blows from being beaten by the thugs, and he will have more dental work done once he heals up some." Teresa and I nodded.

"The damage to his skin from the whip was a lot more considerable." Laura said. "He has severe lacerations on his neck, back, the backs of his thighs, his rear end, and that's going to take time to heal, and a good bit of pain. It's not unlike being severely burned in those areas. Infection is a risk, so he's on antibiotics."

"Third," Laura said, "there was a lot of damage to his testicles. The left testicle wasn't hit very often, and it appears it will be okay. But his right testicle was badly damaged, almost exploded by the repeated lashes. That's what we're having to monitor now... if the tissue begins to die or becomes infected, we'll have to take him into surgery and remove it. If it starts healing back up, we may not have to operate."

"Can I see him?" Teresa asked.

"You can look into ICU and see him." Laura said. "But he's sedated, and will be kept sedated for at least 24 hours. He needs rest, and time, to begin healing."

"Thank you, Doctor." Teresa said, then realized that Laura was more than just a doctor to us. "I mean... well, thank all the doctors for me."

Laura patted Teresa on the thigh. "I will. The good news is, he'll live... barring unforeseen circumstances."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Here it is, sir." said Connie the CSI Tech. "It's considered evidence, though."

"No doubt." I said. "You have any latex gloves? Give them to Captain Croyle." I pulled latex gloves out of my pocket.

Teresa and I put on the gloves and I opened the evidence bag and removed Todd's cellphone, which had been found with his clothes in the warehouse. Teresa unlocked it and handed it to me, and I looked at the texts.

"Connie, videotape this." I said, holding up the phone. As she did, I said "This is a text message at 2:55pm, purporting to be from Todd Burke's assistant Mariko to him. Mariko is in Japan, by the way. The message asks Todd to come to the warehouse behind the BOW Enterprises building, alone. It is very unlikely that Mariko sent this message; it was a trap by the perps to lure Todd into the warehouse."

After that, I said "Connie, have Myron Milton and his people inspect this phone for potential viruses that caused other messages to be blocked." Connie took the evidence and left with another Officer.

"You were right." Teresa said. "Todd didn't get the Valkyrie protocol in time, and they lured him out there."

"I might suggest that it was the message to Todd that caused Misaki and his people to issue the Valkyrie protocol." I said. "The Enemy had one shot, and they made it count. Almost." A few seconds later I whispered again: "Almost..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

3:00am, Saturday, June 8th. Teresa could not be convinced to leave, so she was sleeping on the sofa in Laura's small hospital office. Meanwhile, I had typed up my after-action report on my laptop and sent it in, omitting only the part about confronting the KXTC vans. I still didn't understand why Melina had shot the tires out of it, nor why Bettina and her crews had tried to come through our cordon in the first place.

I got word from Headquarters that Judge Harry 'Spud' Nance had opened Night Court just to have a preliminary hearing for the propagandists... er, journalists. Nance had immediately dismissed all charges against Bettina and her crew. Paulina Patterson was going to appeal that, but it would have to wait until morning, if not Monday morning.

Laura came to the waiting room. "Darling, let's go home. I just checked on Todd, and there's nothing we can do for a few hours."

"Okay." I said. There were a couple of Police Officers guarding ICU, just in case, but everyone else had left. Laura and I went down the hall of the ER areas to the back doors where the ambulances came to deliver patients. Beyond that was the 'Authorized Only' parking lot where I'd parked my Police SUV. We went through the doors, and outside.

"Don," Laura suddenly said, "there's someone by your SUV." She reached into her purse and took out the revolver she always kept in it.

"Back me up." I said. I went forward towards the vehicle, my gun out of its holster and pointed at the ground. A man came from around the side of it, his hands in the air.

"Don't shoot, Commander." the man said. "I'm Keith Madden, KXTC. I need to talk to you."

"Hell of a way to try to get an interview with me." I said, irritated, but holstering my weapon.

"Completely off the record, if you agree." said Madden. That was a 'strangeness'.

"Okay." I said. "What's it about?"

"Commander," said Madden, "I don't have to tell you that we journalists hate you as much as you hate us. But a lot of us are not John Hardwood nor Amber Harris. We're honest people---"

"Then why don't you expose what the Media is doing, their propagandism?" I shot back. "Or resign and find work in another field?"

"If you'll give me a minute, you'll see that what I'm about to tell you is doing just that." said Madden. That was 'more strange'.

"All right." I said.

"Who's that behind you?" Madden asked.

"My backup." I said.

"I can understand that." said Madden. "Look, I don't want to hash out what you think the Press is versus what we think we are. The vast majority of us think we're doing right, and doing good. But I also know that there are some bad apples... and I saw that yesterday."

With that, Madden told me about Bettina and Amber seeming to know something was going to happen, of their having a mobile van prepped well before the BOW Enterprises lockdown started. Needless to say, I was shocked... partially by Bettina and Amber's actions, but partially because Madden was telling me now.

"Look, I appreciate you telling me this." I said. "But why

are

you telling me this?"

"Like I said, Commander," said Madden, "not all of us are bad. The vast majority of KXTC had no knowledge beforehand of what Wurtzburg and Harris were doing. We just followed orders, so to speak."

"All right." I said. "Thanks for telling me. And maybe I'll give you a scoop or an exclusive interview one day... after you've left KXTC for another news network."

Part 17 - Aftermath

8:30am, Saturday, June 8th. I went into the Main Conference Room, having been called to do so just a moment before. Chief Moynahan was in the room, along with Sheriff Griswold. We had black tape over our badges, along with the rest of the Police Force.

"Commander Ross will be here momentarily." said Chief Moynahan. "I reached her at the Hospital. Father Romano is staying with Teresa." I nodded.

"I had the duty to tell Irwin's parents of his death." said Moynahan. "They were devastated, of course, but his mother took it particularly hard. I'd like to get Dr. Fredricson or Dr. Yates to see her and talk to her when they get a chance."

"I'll let Laura know." I said. I texted her, and she replied that she'd call Dr. Yates.

I looked over at Sheriff Griswold. He had been at the Hospital until 11:00pm, and then he was ordered home... by me. Well, he wasn't 'ordered', but he knew he could do nothing else to help, and he needed rest. So I 'persuaded' him to go, perhaps in a Crowbar Clan kind of way. He looked exhausted, and it wasn't just from lack of sleep.

A moment later, Lieutenant Jerome Davis came in with a full pot of coffee. "I'm making more in MCD, gentlemen." he said.

"Davis," I said, "who are you putting in charge of the investigation?"

"Uhh..." said Jerome, a bit shocked. "I'm sorry sir, I haven't assigned anyone. I guess I need to."

"Normally, no." I said. "Normally the Precinct Leadership, Captain Croyle, and I would be doing it for this type of thing. But since Irwin was a Precinct Lieutenant, his death has affected the Precinct Captains and especially Lt. Rudistan. And of course Todd Burke is Captain Croyle's husband and my nephew. So I've put out out word that you and MCD will handle it. Make it so, Number One."

"Yes sir." said Davis. "I'll handle it myself."

"Noooo." said the Chief. "You're a leader of others, now. Assign a couple of Detectives. Of course, you can work with them as closely as you like."

"Yes sir." said Jerome. He was excused and he left the room.

"That kid's got a good head on his shoulders." said Sheriff Griswold. Then he said sadly: "So did Irwin. Hurts losing a good man like him."

"That's what happens." mused Chief Moynahan. "In war, it seemed we always lost our best people. That's because our best people were doing the jobs that needed them."

Then he looked at me and said "And that's one reason I grounded you and Captain Croyle, Commander. Not only for the family situation, but you guys would've tried to do it all yourselves. And that's just not your job at your level, Commander."

"Yes sir, I understand." I said. "But don't tell Captain Croyle that, at least not right now. She's going to be getting that advice from my favorite psychiatrist."