Balance of Power

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 1 - Prologue: Decision Points

(

Author's note: This is another of those 'bridge' stories that takes care of groundwork and sets up for more stories in the future. Some may find it dry and tedious, and your patience with it is appreciated.

)

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette from the roof of the building at the corner of College and Riverside, with City Hall in the background, at 7:00am, Wednesday, September 11th. "Protests erupt at the Town & County Council meeting over the new Charter and a proposed new Police structure!"

Bettina began: "The Council meeting was in front of a packed house, as TCFD Firefighters were joined by teachers as well as residents of the northern County suburbs to protest the proposed changes. When illegitimate Mayor Daniel Allgood, who many believe stole the Mayoral election from Eldrick X. Weaver last November, attempted to suppress the protesters's voices by preventing them from speaking, many of them began shouting and screaming to disrupt the Council proceedings."

Bettina: "Order was restored when a large number of Police Officers and Sheriff Deputies, under the command of Captain Teresa Croyle, violently acted against their Fire Department colleagues and forcibly removed them from the scene. Fourteen arrests were made. Commander Donald Troy was not at the scene taking responsibility for his Police Department's brutally violent methods on behalf of Mayor Daniel Allgood in suppressing the rights of our Citizens. Once again ducking and shirking his responsibilities, Commander Troy has refused to respond to repeated requests for comment by KXTC."

Bettina: "And we have with us Karl Frazier of Public Policy Polling, with some new polling numbers. Karl, how is the Charter polling?"

"Not very well, Bettina." said Karl Frazier, appearing on a split-screen with Bettina. "Voters from the suburban County areas to the north are strongly opposed to the Charter, as only 15% approve of it, while 75% say they will vote against it. And in the southern areas of the County dominated by minority voters, the numbers are also dismal, as only 40% plan to vote for it, while 50% are against it, and 10% undecided. Right now, Bettina, the new Charter looks headed for a huge defeat."

"Thank you, Karl!" Bettina said happily. As the screen came to her fully, she went on: "And in State news, former State Senator Maxine Watts issued a statement that she will not be running for Lieutenant Governor next year, but will run for her old State Senate seat. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing Maxine Watts saying "Part of my campaign will be gathering support to impeach the racist Val Jared and remove him from office for his persecution of hardworking undocumented workers!"

Back to Bettina live: "

Deeply unpopular

Governor Jared's spokeswoman Sarah Honeysuckle issued a statement saying that Maxine Watts was 'unimportant' and her words of 'no value'. Black civic leaders were infuriated, calling the statements 'typically racist hate speech from Jared and Honeysuckle'. They are demanding that Jared resign..."

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

"If you had been there, Don," Cindy Ross said as we drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room, "Bettina would've blamed you for the NEA's paid agitators getting out of control. But since you weren't there, she blames you for... wait for it... not being there to suppress the agitators."

I chuckled. "That's about right." I said.

"Bettina is unimportant." growled Sheriff Griswold. "And her words are of no value." We all chuckled at that.

"Maxine Watts running for State Senate." I quipped. "Commander Troy refuses to respond to repeated requests for comment." More laughter. We were having too much fun with this.

"Bettina was lying about who was arrested, too." said Teresa Croyle, getting serious. "We arrested only two Fire Department employees; the rest either have or have had membership in the NEA. And six of the twelve we arrested were not residents of this County. They're being held for 72 hours, and then we'll see about denying them bail as flight risks."

"Good." I said. "I want to personally introduce myself to them, and have a pleasant few minutes of conversation with them."

"As opposed to a few minutes of pleasant conversation with them." the Sheriff said astutely, realizing the purposeful form of my sentence.

"Why weren't you there, Don?" Cindy asked. "Not that you needed to be, but you usually are."

"I took a night off from it all." I said. "Those demonstrations... and you are right, Cindy, that they were paid NEA agitators... were meant for me. But I was not there, so they were yelling at the wind."

"By the way, Commander," said Teresa Croyle, "do you believe those poll numbers?"

"Not at all." I said. "Notice that Frazier didn't give the percentage margin of error, and that's because it's six or seven percent, not the normal three percent. I do believe the County High School districts are opposed to it in large numbers, but if he's saying minority districts are against it in those numbers, I'd suggest adding that 6% margin, and you get 46-44% for it. And it may be better than that, since I don't think 10% are really undecided."

"Good points, Crowbar." growled Sheriff Griswold. "I happen to have some polling data, which shows that Frazier's numbers are nothing short of 'fake news'. Except for the high-priced housing districts, the Charter is looking pretty good."

"It's still not a done deal, though, Sheriff." I said. "The ads are going to start coming out against it. The Fire Department Captain's Union is sponsoring a media blitz, as is the very wealthy NEA."

"Sheriff," said Chief Moynahan, "the Media is making a very big dealllll about Police Officers arresting Firefighters. What do we need to do about that?"

"I was proud of Captain Croyle last night; she did exactly the right things." said the Sheriff. Teresa looked like the Sheriff had bestowed a medal upon her.

Griswold continued: "I've put out word that Firefighters have the right of free speech, but not to the point of violently disrupting Council meetings, and that arrests could lead to their termination. And Commander Ross, make no statements to the Press about arresting any Firefighters, just refer all inquiries to the Sheriff's Department. Don't fuel the corrupt Media's agenda and their hatred."

"Yes sir." Cindy said.

"And one more thing." Chief Moynahan said. "Not one word about this being the anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 attacks. Have people forgotten so soon?"

I replied: "No sir. But I'm not surprised the America-haters of KXTC didn't say anything. Let's see what Fox Eight says. And I have one question: what happened with the Police structure proposals at the Council meeting?"

Chief Moynahan said "During the public meeting, an amendment to strip out the Fire Department structure issues was approved 7-3, with Colby, Schoen, and J.P. Goldman dissenting. Then they took the Police part into Executive Session, and my presence as well as the Sheriff's was 'requested'.

The Chief continued: "It was pretty heated, and the Mayor really bore down with the protocols. Reginald B.F. Lewis offered to vote for it provided that an amendment to force the dispersal of Detectives to the Precincts was attached. That was defeated, 5-6. Then the Mayor said that he did not want to be the tiebreaking vote for the overall bill, so it had to have a clear majority or he would vote against it."

"Whaa?" I gasped. "What is that about?"

Sheriff Griswold took it up: "I can understand it. If there wasn't going to be a Charter vote at the end of the month, he might've helped force it through, but why commit to that when there's a vote ahead that will tell us what the People think? Anyway, it still looked like Sorrells and Weston might vote with the Republicans to pass it, but Sorrells made a motion to lay it on the table... and it passed, 10-0. So anyone can bring it back up, but it looks like they won't unless and until the Charter passes."

"Good grief." I muttered...

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

"Hello and welcome!" said Catrina Pierce at 8:00am from the KFXU studios. "Thank you for joining us on Fox Eight University Sunrise! I'm Catrina Pierce, and with me on this day, the anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, is Meredith Peller. Hello, Meredith."

"Hello Catrina. Hello, everyone." said Meredith. "As we remember those that died in New York, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001, it's a busy news day right here in our County. Let's go to Priya Ajmani for more. Priya!"

"Thank you Catrina, thank you Meredith!" said Priya happily. "Good morning, everyone! The Town & County Police and Sheriff's Deputies made fourteen arrests at the Town & County Council meeting last night. Of those fourteen that were arrested, six were not from this County, and Fox Eight News has learned that many of the arrested persons have ties to the NEA, the powerful Teacher's Union. The NEA is bitterly opposed to the new Charter proposal, as property taxes for schools will be controlled by the Town & County Assembly as it is now, and not by the new School Board, which is what the NEA has demanded."

Priya: "And after the public meeting, the Council met in Executive Session over Sheriff Griswold's proposals for a new rank structure for the Public Safety Department, which also is included in the Charter proposal. The Council voted to table the proposal, but may take it up again if the Charter passes, which will allow the Public Safety Department to begin implementing its structure early..."

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

"If the Charter passes," asked Teresa Croyle as we sat in my office and watched, "won't it go into effect immediately?"

"Yes and no." I said. "This is all

assuming

it passes... yes, I know, dangerous word... but we set the vote date so that elections for newly created posts can be held on Election Day in November instead of having to have a special election. But most of the new institutions and changes don't kick in until January 1st."

I continued: "The EMS won't come into being until January 1st, though the Sheriff can begin acting to implement it upon the Charter's passage. The new School Board won't be in effect until January 1st. And our new rank structure won't kick in until January 1st, unless and until the Council puts it in place early."

After a moment, I said, "Okay, where are the arrested suspects? I want to talk to them."

"They're here." said Teresa Croyle. "And their arraignment is at 10:00am. Somebody ran to Judge Nance and told him we had them here, and he moved the hearing up."

"I'd better hurry, then." I said...

Part 2 - Groundwork and Gruntwork

8:30am, Wednesday, September 11th. After glancing at the files of the fourteen perps arrested the night before, there were two that I wanted to talk to. They were brought to Interrogations-1 and -2, and handcuffed to the tables, per my instructions. Then I went inside, Detective Parker in tow.

I recognized the guy in I-2: he was one of the thugs that had accosted the Charter Commission at the dinner at Applebee's. (

Author's note: 'Casting Aspersions', Ch. 04.

) I went in.

"Well, well, well." I said to him as Parker and I came up to the table. "Last time I saw you, I said it was up to you if an arrest would be made. Looks like you made your choice."

"I want a lawyer." the man snarled. "I will answer no questions without a lawyer present."

"Okay." I said. We left the room and went into I-1. I did not recognize the man, but he looked like he aspired to be a Union boss one day. Before I could even speak, he just looked up at me and said "Lawyer."

"You'll have plenty of time to get one." I said. "You're not from this Town & County. I'll be asking for no bail." With that, I left, followed by Parker.

As we walked down the hallway towards MCD and my office, I texted Paulina "

Go for no bail on the out-of-Towners.

"

A minute later she texted back "

I'm not assigned to it. Walters gave it to Dwayne Gregory. We'll talk later.

"

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

At 10:00am, my strategy session with Cindy was interrupted by a call from FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone. He asked if I could meet him for lunch at the Cop Bar at 11:30am. I said I'd bring Jerome Davis with me, and Muscone agreed. I called Jerome and made sure he could make it.

"What's that about?" Cindy asked when I hung up.

"I don't know." I said. "I haven't seen Jack or really talked to him for days. Maybe Tanya put him on a diet, and this is the only way he can safely get double cheeseburgers." Cindy burst out laughing at that.

I then asked "I saw you talking with Tim Jenkins at the reservoir ceremony. How are things in Southport?"

"Good." said Cindy, her ice blue eyes lighting up just a little bit. "He and Ted Crenshaw have cleaned out the rotgut infecting the Southport FBI office, and gotten some new people in there. Now they're starting some operations, even looking at Turpin Heights in the State to the south."

I nodded. "That's a lot of Swamp to drain. A lahhhht of Swamp..."

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

As Jerome Davis and I came into the back 'Command Room' of the Cop Bar, Jack Muscone was already there. And he had someone with him.

"Karina!" I said as Special Agent Karina White came up to greet me, giving me a hug. I introduced her to Jerome, telling him that Karina had greatly helped us bring Geiger's 'Iscariot' operation to a successful conclusion.

As we sat down, I said "So how are things going with BAFTE, Karina?"

"That's what we're here to talk about." said Jack Muscone, as I noted the twinkle in Karina's eyes as Jack said "Allow me to introduce you to the new FBI Assistant Special Agent In Charge for my region."

"Oh wow...." I said, my voice getting lower. "You're transferring to the FBI?"

"Yes." said Karina. "SAC Muscone offered me the opportunity, and it was one I couldn't refuse." That made my eyebrows go up a little bit.

"Yeah, he's seeing it." said Muscone, seeing that I was seeing it. Jerome grinned, also seeing it.

Karina said: "Yes, Jack pulled me out of the BAFTE. He also pulled out a couple of my best guys and sent them to work with Crenshaw and Jenkins in Southport."

"O-kayyy." I said. "And what I'm seeing is that something happened to that special BAFTE team. What happened there?"

"Four hundred years ago..." Jack said. "Yes, Don, that's part of the story. The Swamp Frogs realized what we were doing, and they moved quickly to break up that BAFTE team. I got Karina and the two guys, but most of the others were scattered to the four winds: Seattle, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York. Some in the BAFTE, but some to other agencies, mostly the DEA."

"Any in Pennsylvania?" I asked.

"Yeah, a couple." said Jack, trying to sound nonchalant. "But that's not important------"

"Embedded in the Swamp Frog hotbeds up there?" I asked. Muscone saw I wasn't going to let it go.

"We really shouldn't talk about it." said Jack.

"Okay." I said "But I hope they have someone watching their backs, especially if the Swamp knows who they are."

"They'll be fine, Don." Jack said. "Anyhoo, and changing the subject, I appreciate you taking up for Tanya and letting that scumbag Reginald B.F. Lewis know what will happen to him when he says things like that to her."

"Absolutely my pleasure to have done that." I said, though a bit moodily. "But speaking of not wanting to talk about something, let's just move on from that. So tell me about your personnel situation in Southport, beyond Karina's buddies."

Jack's eyes cut toward me and Karina gave us a brilliantly lovely grin. "I see what you were saying about him." she said.

"Yep." said Muscone. He then said "Crenshaw and Jenkins are doing very well down there, and the first thing they did was uncover some corruption within the Federal agencies down there. FBI, BAFTE, DEA agents. Seven were found to be compromised, taking bribes from the Mob, mostly Orrin B. Taggart's organization. They were fired."

"The result of that," continued Muscone, "is that Crenshaw wants to set up a rotation of Agents between Southport and other places, to try to keep the Mob from recruiting Agents. If the bad guys try to get to someone, he or she can be move along to another location. Harder to find out who they are in order to threaten them, too."

"The problem with that," said Karina, "is that we just don't have that many people to rotate. Heck, I'm trying to build a team myself."

"And I'm not sure I like the idea of rotating people." said Muscone. "Doesn't allow for building camaraderie. Flip side of that, Team Lazarus might've stayed together

too

long. What do

you

think, Lieutenant Davis?"

"The logistics of rotating Federal Agents is something I would not want to have to figure out, sir." said Jerome. "Maybe something like the military does... moves after three or four years in one location." We all nodded.

"So tell me, Jack, Karina." I said. "The jury tampering in the Blassingame case. What's going on with that?"

"That was the first thing Jack handed me when I walked in the door." said Karina. "I've been working with Lindy Linares of SAC Cardigan's cyber group and Melina Allgood, the Supervisory Agent here. SBI Inspector Britt Maxwell has been helpful, but she's swamped. So who in the TCPD can I work with?"

I looked over at Lt. Davis, who said "The Data Guyz and Lt. Mary Milton were working on that one, sir."

"I'll speak with Captain Perlman." I told Karina. "I'll get her to assign someone as your POC on that." POC meant 'point of contact', and everyone at the table understood.

"Thank you." said Karina. "We've got the the people at the Hotel that controlled the systems, but they didn't know anything of value. They were just paid to rig the system and show the videos. If we're going to get David Rovers and Andrew Parsons, I'm going to have to find more. A lot more."

I nodded. "And even then, it'll be tough. You may have to go through the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), and there are probably Swamp Frogs in there, too, protecting the bad guys."

Muscone said "We'll worry about that when the time comes, so don't worry about it. But speaking of the Blassingame case, he's starting to marshal his forces against the Government, now that there's no hope left to save his son via a plea deal. And ditto that for U.S. Senator Samuel Russell."

"They didn't have to let him go back to Washington, did they?" I asked.

"Nope." said Muscone. "There's now a fight over the language of that clause about not hindering them from going to their Congressional duties. They may say the murder and rape charges are enough to retain him. I also had word out of Washington that the Senate may move to expel him if he doesn't resign. But I think all that is just talk. If they did that, he would turn whistleblower, and he could blow up the Establishment like nobody's business."

"Is he being guarded?" I asked. "His life is in extreme danger, you know."

"City Police and State Troopers, the anti-riot guys, are on guard duty at the Cannon Building." said Muscone. "He ain't goin' nowhere."