Deliver Us From Evil

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, racism, 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.

There may or may not be discussion of political issues in my stories. If you are a Snowflake that feels you need to be protected from any mention of politics, then click the Back button now, and never attempt to read any of my stories ever again. You've been warned.

Special note: There are NO sex acts involving minors in this story nor any of my stories. Any explicit acts or discussions of them are about adults 18 or over.

***

Part 9 - Fatalities and

Federales

12:00 high noon, Monday, August 2nd. Teresa and I drove up to the parking lot of the diner, which was in the southwest portion of The City, at the line where the southwest suburbs morph with the business district proper. We were allowed to go into the exclusion zone, and directed to park near the periphery of it.

There were two fire trucks, an EMT vehicle, and a large number of LEO vehicles already there. A large tent had been set up to conceal the burned out shell of the Geiger's car. Geiger himself was sitting on the back of one of the ambulances, surrounded by EMTs and LEOs.

Our SBI badges got Teresa and me access to the crime scene. Teresa had logged us into SBI duty as soon as we'd crossed into Nextdoor County (yes, Teresa has the passkey to my Police iPhone; I trust her). Getting to Geiger proved a bit more difficult. Federal Agents were in his face, trying to question him, and other Federal Agents were trying to block everyone else from speaking with him.

That was causing severe friction with the City Police Detectives on the scene, Tony Long and E.J. Jefferson. They were shouting at FBI Special Agents Cabe Andrews and Peter Page, and the Federal Agents were shouting back at them.

As they verbally sparred over jurisdiction, FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone suddenly appeared next to me. "You're going to need my help on this one, Dog." he said very softly, almost a whisper. I turned and glared at him, and he said "Look, they want to take Geiger to the Federal Building and question him. And if they do, you may not see him again for a long time... maybe

ever

."

"That will be the day." I said witheringly. "Come on, Iron Wolf. Let's go get Geiger."

I took my red crowbar out of its trenchcoat pocket and went forward. Cabe Andrews and Peter Page practically leapt to get in front of me. "Where the fuck do you think you're going?" thundered Andrews. "You're a local cop, out of jurisdiction!"

I said loudly "I'm an SBI Inspector, and this is a State crime scene, not a Federal one. Get out of my way, or this State Agent will shoot and kill you for trying to murder her husband in my Town & County!" I was referring to Teresa, who already had her service weapon drawn and aimed at Cabe Andrews's head. (

Author's note: 'Vengeance Is Mine', Ch. 01.

) There were gasps from the people present. Both Federal and more local LEOs were going for their

Government

guns, and choosing sides.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" yelled Jack Muscone as he came up to us. "Put your guns away, all of you!" No one complied. "Let them through, Andrews."

Cabe Andrews seemingly conceded. He and Peter Page moved to the side. But as Teresa and I moved by him, he said loudly "Next time I

will

kill your husband, you fucking cunt!"

*WHAM!*

Before Teresa could react, I swung the red crowbar as hard as I could at Cabe Andrews's head. He ducked, but my swing was downward and I got him solidly on the back. Peter Page went for his weapon, and I swung backhand and caught him square in the chest. Then I stepped up and slammed my closed fist into the side of Andrews's head. He went down, and I began whaling away at him, striking his back with savage crowbar blows as Teresa put the business end of her firearm practically up Peter Page's nostril.

"Her husband is my blood nephew." I yelled as I kicked Andrews in the ribs as hard as I could, feeling a rib and soft tissue give way. "I'm going to kill you right now, just for threatening him!"

Unfortunately for me, Jack Muscone got between me and Andrews. Then a lot of City PD Officers came in and surrounded the Federal Agents. Tony Long said "Inspector, you need to get Geiger out of here, right now."

"He's under arrest!" yelled Peter Page. "We're taking him into Federal custody! And you assholes Troy and Croyle just assaulted Federal Agents! You're under arrest, too!"

"No they're not!" yelled Muscone. "All you Federal Agents, stand down! This is the City's crime scene!"

"No it's not." said BAFTE Special Agent Nancy Harding, who we already knew. (

Author's note: 'Big In Japan'; 'Vengeance Is Mine'

) "The explosives make it a Federal crime."

"Murder makes it a State crime." I said, and fairly free of anger. "And don't try to tell me this is not murder, or I'll make you look really silly."

I went up to Geiger, and no one stopped me. "You okay?"

"Yes sir. Physically, anyway." Geiger said.

"Come show me the car." I said. I took Geiger by the arm and led him to the tent. Just as we went inside, Geiger slipped something into my trenchcoat pocket.

"That's my audio recorder of our interview with Lana." he whispered. "The Federal Agents will take it from me if they can. From what I just saw, though, they won't get it from you."

"No doubt. Thanks." I said. I looked at the burned out hulk of metal that was once a vehicle. City Police CSIs and ATF Agents were examining it. The charred remains of Keith Madden were still in the shotgun seat.

"My God." I said. "What the hell happened here/"

Agent Harding had followed us into the tent. "No, I don't like you, Commander Troy, but I'll work with you if you work with me. The main reason you're not dead now is because most of those guys outside hate the Rovers BAU guys far more than they hate you, and truth be told, they enjoyed seeing you whip their asses."

"Delighted to be of service." I said. "Okay, what happened here?"

Nancy Harding said "This is my colleague, ATF Special Agent Lane Powers." Lane Powers just nodded at me, and I at him He was in his thirties, medium height, medium brown hair. He was the kind of guy who could blend into a crowd and not be noticed at all, and that is not a compliment on my part.

"Geiger, what happened?" I asked.

Geiger said "We came out of the diner and got into the car, me driving. A server in the diner came out with my cellphone, which apparently fell out of my pants pocket. I got out of the car to get it, and was facing her and not the car, and it just... blew up behind my back."

"We've taken the server's statement, sir." said Tony Long, who'd just come in. "She saw it blow up out of the corner of her eye, but didn't see anything else that was useful."

I went around to the driver's side. Lane Powers said "There's metal and wiring under the driver's seat, Inspector." He held up a small bag, with what looked like the remains of a digital timer. "We found this timer, too. We're speculating that a trigger device was placed under the driver's seat."

Powers: "We think there was plastique under both the driver's and shotgun seats, in the glove compartment, and maybe in the trunk. When Mr. Geiger sat down, it activated the timer. It was sheer fortune on his part that he had to get out of the car to get his cellphone."

I said to Geiger: "Now you know how Parker felt that night." I was referring to the night Geiger had had to put an (unknown to him) empty gun to Teddy Parker's head and pull the trigger. (

Author's note: 'Iscariot', Ch. 02-03.

) Geiger nodded in agreement.

Teresa said "I have a question: why not set the bomb off immediately?"

I said "Geiger, how long after you sat down did the bomb go off?"

"At least 30 seconds, sir." said Geiger. "Maybe more like a minute."

"There you go." I said to everyone. "Enough time to make sure they were both in the car when the bomb went off. And maybe even driving away."

After a few minutes, Teresa, Tony, Geiger, and I went back out of the tent. We were almost immediately surrounded by Federal Agents, including Federal Marshals Tommy Dugan and Kurt Powell. Peter Page and Jack Muscone were right behind them.

Dugan said "Commander, we have to take Mr. Geiger in for questioning in front of cameras. Please cooperate, and we'll forget to arrest you for assaulting a Federal Agent."

"Okay." I said. "But first, I need to do this. Mr. Geiger, ask for a lawyer, and answer no questions without an attorney present. And in fact, let me call you a lawyer."

I fished out my personal iPhone and made a call, and said loudly enough for everyone to hear: "Hello Senator Molinari! I need your help. I need a really good lawyer to come to the Federal Building and represent my friend Mr. Timothy Geiger... yes, the Feds are taking him there now... yes sir... that's very kind of you, sir... thank you sir. Have a great day."

As I disconnected, Peter Page was apoplectic with fury. "You... you just called the biggest

mobster

in this half of the State to get a lawyer for this guy?" he asked, pretending utter disbelief.

"Why, that's a very harsh thing to say about one of our State Legislature's most respected Senators." I said with Rudistan-ish joviality. Then I lowered my voice and said menacingly "And it means that Geiger is now under the protection of Senator Molinari's (air quotes) 'associates'. You should take that into account before you consider doing something more akin to your normal level of stupidity---"

Just then there was a commotion at the outer ring of the perimeter. "Let me through!" yelled Alison McFarland. "They're my employees!"

"I got this." I said. I went towards Alison, with Teresa following closely, of course. "Let her through!" I yelled out. As Alison ran up to us, I caught her to keep from running past me to the tent.

"What happened?" Alison cried out. "Are they... I heard there was an explosion! Let me go, I've got to see..." It was absolutely the worst possible timing that a gurney with a body bag was brought out of the tent. "Oh my God..." Alison gasped.

"Hold on." I said, holding her arms to keep her in place. Then I looked into her eyes and said "Yes, there was an explosion. Geiger's okay. Keith... Keith is dead."

"Oh my God!" Alison wailed. "Nooooo!" She all but collapsed as she fell into me. There was only one thing I could do for Alison, and I did it. I held her up, being her anchor as she clung to me and cried it out...

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

1:30pm, Monday, August 2nd. Jack Muscone had asked Teresa and me to meet him at his office at the Federal Building, but I'd shot that down immediately. So he'd come down to SBI Headquarters in Westphalia. Teresa and I were eating our purchases from the drive-thru of Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers while meeting with him, SBI Inspector Brittany M. Maxwell, and Karina White of the SBI-OER, formerly of the FBI and BAFTE.

Jack said "I'm used to Tanya eating at grisly crime scenes and autopsies, so it's no surprise to see you two eating now. And just

how

did you get William J. Rutledge of Bedford, Benning & Bell to represent Geiger? Rutledge is the most powerful lawyer in the State, even though Gwen Munson thinks

she

is. And he's insanely expensive."

I said "He's who Senator Molinari sent. And if you Feds try any shit with Geiger, Rutledge will barbecue you on a spit."

Jack said "I really wish you wouldn't lump me in with the dirtbags and the Swamp Frogs."

"You should retire, then. Hint hint." I said. "Seriously, why

are

the Rovers BAU people and the Swamp Frogs here? I'm not kidding when I say I saved Cabe Andrews's life by beating him up. Teresa might've just killed him."

"No 'might've' about it." Teresa said venomously.

"Y'all need to stop talking that way in front of other people, and I'm not kidding." said Britt Maxwell. "But the question is valid, Jack: why

are

those slugs showing up?"

Muscone said: "I dunno, they're treating me like a mushroom again. But I can also say that it might have something to do with whatever Geiger and Madden were looking into, and what Don has been looking into, but won't tell me anything about it." His voice had risen as he completed the sentence, and it was an accusation.

"No, I haven't, and I'm not going to." I said. "If I do, they can order you to tell them what it's about, and then they'll tell the Swamp Frogs in Washington, as well as the perps involved."

"And I don't have to answer them." Jack said.

I replied "I won't put you in the position to have to make that choice."

Just then there was a knock on the door, and City Police Detectives Tony Long and E.J. Jefferson were ushered in. Long said "We came down to let you guys know what happened with Geiger. It's a damn good thing you got him a lawyer ahead of time, Commander, and a really good one like William Rutledge."

"What happened?" I asked as Long and Jefferson sat down.

Tony said "They let us watch the interrogation from the other room through the glass. And that's what it was, an outright, fully hostile interrogation. That BAU guy, Peter Page? He started right in on Geiger, asking what they were investigating and who had reason to try to kill them. The ATF Agent, Nancy Harding was her name? She literally had to ask that Page be removed from the room so she could ask her questions about the bombing itself, because Geiger and his attorney were just about to shut it down."

Tony Long: "Geiger was helpful and forthcoming about those details. He repeated the story he told at the scene, that he and Madden were interviewing a Press source at the diner, they went to the car and got in, then the server came running out with Geiger's cell phone and the car exploded, knocking him into her. He covered her with his body but other cars intercepted any shrapnel that might've been zinging their way."

Tony: "And then Page went back in and started reading Geiger his rights. The attorney asked why he was reading Geiger his rights, and Page gave the standard boilerplate about it being for Geiger's protection and all that. Geiger asked if he was under arrest, and Page said not yet."

I said "Jack, do you think you could get the video of the interrogation?"

"I can try." said Muscone. He got out his iPad, logged into his FBI account, and pulled up the interview, which went as follows:

Peter Page: "Who were you and Madden meeting with?"

Tim Geiger: "A confidential source."

Page: "I want a name. Who were you meeting with?"

Geiger: "I'm employed by a Media company. The person we were meeting with is a journalistic source, and I will not divulge the name of that source."

Page: "Then you'll be arrested for obstructing a Federal investigation---"

William J. Rutledge: "And we'll sue you to death for unlawful arrest, false charges, and using threats and intimidation to violate my client's rights."

Page: "Fine, we'll go through that process. We're the Federal Government, we have virtually unlimited resources, while your client is going to be having to pay a hell of a lot of money for your legal services---"

Rutledge: "Which at this time are

pro bono

. And I doubt the judge that gets this case is going to be very tolerant of your antics, especially after you just admitted to them on camera."

Page: "Your time, your money. And the judge will never see that video. But as I was about to say, you will be paying that money and having to take all that time for nothing. We're getting the video of all the cams in the area, including inside the diner. We're going to identify her, and then all your holier-than-thou posturing about Press Rights will be for less than nothing."

Neither Geiger nor Rutledge bothered to respond, so Page continued: "What were you meeting with this so-called confidential source about."

Rutledge: "That's privileged, too, and I think you know that."

Page haughtily said "I don't know any such thing. A man is dead after explosives destroyed the car he was sitting in. That looks like an act of domestic terrorism, which is a Federal issue and under our jurisdiction, not a local one. And whatever was being discussed is material to that."

Rutledge: "And your lack of knowledge of the law is appalling. Now do you have any legitimate questions for my client, or is it time for me to take him out of here?"

Page said: "Your client is not going anywhere. Mr. Geiger, do you really expect to fool us into believing that you left your cellphone behind by accident? Do you really expect me to believe that that wasn't your excuse to get out of your car while Madden was left inside to be murdered?"

Geiger: "Are you trying to suggest or imply that I was trying to kill Keith?"

Page: "

Were

you?"

"Don't answer that." snarled Rutledge. "We're done here. I'm taking my client out of here, and you better leave him alone and not bother him in any way... including trying to follow him or conduct surveillance on him like you've been doing already. We have the proof."

"I'm not denying it." Page said. "Don't leave town, Geiger. You are officially a person of interest in the domestic terrorist bombing that led to the murder of

journalist

Keith Madden."

"Wow." I said as the video ended. "Did y'all catch Page's fuck-up, there?"

Everyone shook their heads, except Teresa. She said "Page called the source they were meeting with (air quotes) 'she'. How did he know? I never heard him say the person they were meeting with was a woman, only that the server was a young woman."

"Exactly. Excellent observation." I said. "Yes, they may have video and saw that it was a woman, but in that case why ask Geiger who it was, especially after he's already said he's a Media employee and the source is protected?"

"But he's not a journalist himself." Britt Maxwell noted.

"But Keith Madden was." I replied. "And that's cover enough, as I well know from my many, mostly hostile, dealings with the Press. And there's one other thing: Page was trying to intimidate Geiger, but Geiger grew a pair, and a big pair, when he went undercover on the 'Iscariot' mission, and brought Edward Blassingame's operations to a sudden con-cluuuu-sion. Page is not going to scare Geiger. So I'm theorizing with that data that

Peter Page already knows what this is about, and why Madden was murdered.

"

"Which is more than I know." said Jack Muscone grumpily, and pointedly.

"Goddammit, Jack, just drop it." Teresa said, a tinge of anger in her voice.

"C'mon! I'm trying to help!" Jack exclaimed, about to explode. "It's bad enough they treat me like shit on their end, but it's

really

bad when you guys treat me like shit, too---"

"YOU DON'T

WANT

TO KNOW!" Teresa yelled. "If you

did

know, Tanya and your daughters would be burying

you!

"

"She's right, you know." I said helpfully, knowing that I was not being helpful.

Jack threw up his hands. "Okay. Okay. I give up." He got up and headed for the door. Just before leaving, he said "I've heard that EAD Owen Lange may be coming to The City. Putting me off is one thing, but trying to fuck with the EAD is a whole 'nuther thing."

"Thanks for the heads-up." I said. Exasperated, Muscone opened the door and left.

E.J. Jefferson, a former TCPD Officer and first cousin of FBI Special Agent Julius Jefferson, asked "Is the Federal Government involved in this? Like those Swamp Frogs that were working with the corrupt CPD leadership?" (

Author's note: 'Who Watches The Watchers?'

)