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.
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Part 20 - Crowbars Rule The Night (continued)
I looked over the edge of the crib, seeing the baby lying on his back. I reached down and grabbed his little cheeks, sliding the stick with the q-tip on the end into his mouth and swabbing his cheek thoroughly. As I let go and put the swab into the plastic capsule, the baby began getting fussy and crying a bit.
"Your turn, bitch." I said. Teresa helped turn Amber over, and I pried her jaw apart much more forcefully than I'd done to the baby. Amber tried to fight it, but was helpless to resist, and within seconds I was sealing her DNA sample in its plastic sleeve.
"So, I'm turning it around on you, bitch." I said. "I'm going to find out if your baby is Trent Ridge's child. If it is, that's proof that you aided and abetted him in evading capture by Police. It'll be enough to revoke your parole and send you back to prison, and for one hell of a lot longer than 36 months. And this time... you won't have Betty Morelli to talk to in prison, to try to get her to admit she had sex with me. Your gambit... has failed. Mine won't."
"You can't use that!" hissed Amber. "How are you going to explain how you got the DNA samples?"
"Oh, I dunno." I said. "Maybe I'll do what you've been trying to do... make the charge, then demand DNA samples. After all, Amber... it's
the seriousness of the charge
that counts, right?" My masked companion couldn't help but emit a guttural, evil laugh at that.
"So be sure to reconsider what you've been saying on the airwaves about Betty's baby." I said. "I can always come back for your baby... and it won't be to take a DNA sample." I nodded to Teresa, and as I put my mask back on, Amber's mouth was re-taped shut.
"We can go out the patio door." Teresa whispered as I turned off the lamp, leaving the room in darkness but for the moonlight streaming in through the glass of the patio door.
I went over to the patio door, opened it, leaned my masked head out and shook it at the two women trying to flatten themselves against the wall, then closed the door back.
"No." I said. "Let's go out the way we came in." Teresa did not understand, but she didn't argue. And I didn't explain that the Power of the Vibe was strong in my vicinity, and that I knew who was on that patio deck...
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Teresa and I made our way across the street and down the dirt-road path behind the houses that the garbage trucks used to collect the trash. Several blocks over, we arrived at a larger street, where a strip mall was, and got into my Police SUV that was sitting behind one of the businesses.
"Listen." Teresa said as I turned on the car. The radio had come on, and was squawking about a 9-1-1 call that two masked persons had been spotted in what turned out to be Amber's neighborhood.
"Someone saw us, called it in?" asked Teresa.
"Could be." I replied agreeably. "We should go check that out."
"There are times I think you're crazy." Teresa said as we pulled out onto the street. "And then there are times like this... when I'm certain of it." I just grinned in reply.
We came up to a Police SUV near the end of the street which Amber's house was on. It was the 1st Precinct mobile command post van. As we got out, I saw that Teresa was wearing a trenchcoat that was identical to mine, but hers fit her perfectly, and had her rank of oak leaf clusters on the shoulders, while mine had a single star on each shoulder epaulette.
"Nice choice of outerwear, there, Ms. Croyle." I said. "I heartily approve."
"I thought you might, sir." said Teresa. We came up to Senior Sergeant Roy McGhillie.
"Sir, ma'am," McGhillie said, "we got a 9-1-1 call that two masked persons in black were seen on a back patio of one of the homes on this street. We converged, and are attempting to locate and pursue them." I heard a drone go over our heads as McGhillie talked.
"Descriptions?" I asked tersely.
"Both medium height, about like Commander Croyle here." said McGhillie. "One fit, muscular; the other more slender. But neither of them was tall enough to be mistaken for the Slender Man, sir."
"Good." I said. "I don't feel like getting into a fight tonight..."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
2:30am, Sunday, January 26th. Cindy Ross and Callie Carrington arrived at Cindy's mother Maggie's apartment. They were soaking wet and covered in mud.
"God, that was close." Cindy said. "Someone must've seen us and called the Police."
"But we evaded the great TCPD." Callie said with a grin.
"And we're soaking wet, freezing cold..." Cindy said, "... and the Iron Crowbar got there before us. I guess that was Teresa with her."
"I can't believe Don stuck his head out the door and waved us off." said Callie.
"Lucky for Amber they got there first." Cindy said. "I was going to make sure she could never speak again. Ever."
"Let's take a shower." said Callie. They showered together, then put on fresh clothes. Then they went to Betsy's bed, watching her peacefully sleep...
It was Callie that had noticed that TCPD vehicles were being seen on the road a little too frequently, and Cindy had realized that they had been spotted, and a 9-1-1 call made. She also knew they couldn't just allow themselves to be found; neither woman had ID, and they knew Amber might also call in her home invasion.
They'd hidden in drains that went under driveways by the road, then made their way to a patch of woods. Then they realized that drones were flying, and may have been catching their heat signatures.
They finally got to a drainage creek behind a neighborhood, that fed into the River west of them, and they walked along it for a good ways until they were out of the neighborhood. But the drones were still flying, and more TCPD cars seemed to be in the areas they were in.
And then it all stopped. The drones went away, and the TCPD cars vanished...
Back at the mobile command post, reports were coming in. "Drones show two possible suspects in Northside Creek. Pretty dirty water to be in, but we may have them cornered."
"Okay, let's call it off." I said. surprising everyone. "I don't want you guys getting wet and dirty for no good reason. If we catch them, we can't show that they were here, in this neighborhood. And unless and until someone reports a break-in, we're wasting our time and giving them a free meal at County Jail, even if we do arrest them."
"I agree." said Teresa. "Call it off. You've had enough practice for one night."
As the operation broke off and the mobile command unit broke down, Teresa and I went back to my Police SUV. As we headed home, Teresa said "Why do I get the feeling we weren't the only ones that went after Amber tonight?"
I grinned. "Quite possibly because we weren't. But we were not seen. They were. Stupid to be seen. If you are seen, you can be arrested. Or worse."
Teresa said "And you let the search go on for three hours, then called it off just before we had them circled in?"
"Yeah." I said. "Those two got enough S.E.E.R. training for one night." S.E.E.R. was the military training to get away from the enemy when being pursued. I'd absolutely hated it when I was in ROTC and OBC and OAC in the Army. And I felt sure that those two pursued persons had hated those few hours of their evening.
Teresa nodded, then cackled as she fully figured it out...
Part 21 - Sins of the Uncle
Meanwhile...
Dr. Laura Fredricson came up to the dark cabin on the east side of Lake Watchacoochie, across the lake and downstream from the property she and her husband owned. She knocked, getting no answer. But the door was unlocked, so she opened the door and went inside.
"William?" she called out.
"Back here." she heard the voice of the retired FBI Deputy Director say. He had been sitting on the deck by the fire in the fire pot, looking out over the water, but had come inside to see who was there. He was holding a bottle of an 'adult beverage'. Only the light of the streetlamp outside illuminated the interior of the house with an eerie yellow glow.
"Laura." he said. "It's you. I halfway expected it to be your husband, but of course it's you." He sat down at the kitchen table, and Laura sat down opposite him. She noticed the porcelain decanter on the table, next to a file folder with papers inside it.
"Yes, of course it's me." Laura said. "After all we've been through, I have to be here. And this isn't my husband's doing."
"I know. Want a drink?" the DepDirector said, his words slurring. "It's the last bottle of the Pappy Van Winkle you gave me. No sense letting it go to waste."
"No thank you." said Laura. "How did it come to this, William?" He knew what she meant.
The DepDirector slid the file folder across the table. Laura did not try to read it in the darkness. "They had everything. Mitt Willis, Conrad King, Brendan Chapel... they had it all, and they gave it to the Consultant of Crime, who put the proof in with McGinty's Materials."
He poured a shot for himself and drank it down, then slurred "All my life, I tried desperately to bring down the White Supremacists... Superior Bloodlines, White Roots, the Polar Bears... and I never could make things stick. And then I crossed the line. I used my FBI position to illegally obtain data, to get warrants based on false information, trying to build a case. But they were watching me, like an insect under a microscope, and they kept the records."
"And then..." he said, "... your husband came along, and wiped out Westboro, then wiped out Superior Bloodlines a year later. He ripped them to shreds, all of them, even got Mitt Willis cold for murder. The only one he hasn't got yet, is Chapel."
"And it's only a matter of time before one of them takes out the other." Laura said. "Anyway, that's why you and Martin were so desperate to find McGinty's Materials. And why Martin made a deal with the devil Isley, and took part in the raids."
The DepDirector nodded. "I swear to God, Laura, I didn't know what they were going to do! I didn't know that nutjob Halsey was going to try to kill your daughter!" He began sobbing. "I didn't want Don to get hurt, either, and he almost died from the enhanced interrogation..." He sobbed some more.
