Schools and the Second

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 13 - Federal Machinations (continued)

As Bob Rovers got to the intersection, twisting Laura's arm hard to cause her as much pain as possible, he heard something around the corner where the others had gone.

"What the fuck?--- AAUGH!" he cried out. Laura had kicked him in the knee, then maneuvered out of his grasp and turned to attack him. He raised his gun to shoot her, then saw the flash of blue and red come around the corner.

"You bastard!" I yelled as I launched past Laura and into the attack. "I will

kill

you for touching my wife!" With as fast and deft a move as any he'd ever see, I twisted Rovers's gun arm around, then drove my fist into his face.

*SMASH!*

The blow stunned Rovers, and I pinched between his thumb and index finger, forcing him to loosen his grip on his gun. Then I slammed his hand against the wall, and the gun clattered to the floor.

Rovers tried to counter my attack, but, still holding his gun hand, I stepped sideways towards him and slammed my elbow into his face. That probably hurt my elbow as much as it hurt his face, but it stopped what he was trying to do. Then I reminded him and the world that I'm ambidextrous, and threw a left-handed haymaker at him.

*WHAM!*

Rovers staggered back, and I was all over him. "You bastard!" I said as I delivered a powerful, closed-fist punch to his midsection, making him gasp and double over. "If you ever..."

*WHAP!*

"... touch my wife..."

*SLAM!*

"... again... "

*POW!*

"... I will... "

*WHUMP!*

"... tear you apart!"

Rovers staggered against the wall under the force of my blows. He tried to punch me, but I grabbed his arm, twisted him around, and pulled on his arm until I heard a

*SNAP!*

. Rovers fell to the floor, screaming in pain, and I brought the red crowbar out. Holding it with both hands, I raised up and then swung it down with all the power I could muster.

*WHAM!*

By the grace of whatever demon spawned him, Bob Rovers moved his head to one side just enough to avoid the blow. The crowbar smashed into the floor, digging out a small crater, sending small shards of floor material flying out. Having missed, I raised my arms again to finish the job... and felt a pair of hands grab my wrists. I whirled, about to attack my attacker.

"Don't do it, Commander!" yelled Executive Assistant Director Owen Lange. "It's over. Just stop!"

I was breathing hard, and still felt the surge of pure fury that had started when I'd peeked around that corner and saw Rovers twisting my wife's arm behind her. "Let it go, Commander." Lange said more quietly. I let the energy leave my arms, and Lange let me go. Jack Muscone had come up, and positioned himself between me and Rovers.

"I understand, Commander." said Lange. "I don't blame you a bit for protecting your wife. But he's not worth killing."

"I'll be the judge of that." I said hoarsely, surreptitiously seeing if I could get to Rovers and kill him with one more blow. Alas, I couldn't; more Federal Agents had moved between us.

"It's okay, Darling." Laura said, coming up to me and putting her hand on my shoulder. "I'm okay." I let her hug me, and I returned the hug.

"He needs medical attention." one of the Federal Agents said as he and another agent tended to Bob Rovers.

"Not in this County." I snarled. I turned to EAD Lange and said "Get him and his bastard brother out of my County. If they're still here at noon, I'm going to kill both of them, no matter what you say or do."

"He means it, Owen." said Laura. "And I might just beat him to it."

"Guys, get him back to the City." said Lange. "Take him to the Hospital there."

Just then David Rovers and Peter Page came around the corner, their hands cuffed behind them. When Teresa and I had arrived, we saw what was going on. When Parker and Geiger went past us, Teresa attacked David Rovers, and Parker whirled and attacked Page. The vaunted FBI BAU Agents were woefully easy to subdue as their weapons were quickly removed from them, then their bodies subjected to punishment. Then I made my attack on Bob Rovers.

"Director Lange!" shouted David Rovers. "Arrest Donald Troy and his TCPD Officers for assaulting Federal agents!" Lange whirled around and went up to David Rovers.

"Rovers, you don't tell me what to do." said Lange. "If anything, your brother here attacked a Federal Agent, that being Dr. Fredricson here, who as a Deputy Director within the CIA outranks every one of us. If anyone should be arrested, it would be your brother. Want to play it that way?"

"I'm not forgiving Troy for any of this." growled David Rovers. "I'm taking him down, one way or another."

"Bring it on, shit eater." I snarled back at him.

"Rovers, you wont take Troy down through the legal system." replied Lange. "And if you know what's good for your health, you'll let it go." Then he said: "Muscone, get these guys out of here, and by that I mean clean out of this County. Commander, Dr. Fredricson, I need to talk to you for a moment."

"We've got to continue interviewing the suspect." said Laura. "He was just telling us that---"

"I know, I know." said Lange, interrupting her on purpose. "Let's go talk."

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

"In one sense, David Rovers was right." said Owen Lange as he, Jack Muscone, Laura, me, and Teresa Croyle settled down in Laura's small Hospital office. "That was assaulting Federal Agents."

"It was self-defense, or defense of his wife." Laura replied. "I'll sure testify to that, if anyone tries to go that far with it."

"How about I go arrest them for assaulting Police Officers?" Teresa said. "Holding two TCPD Detectives at gunpoint was that, and maybe kidnapping as well."

"Why don't we all just leave the legal system out of it," said Lange, "and I'll make sure Rovers and his crew do the same. But listen, there's more going on, and it's the reason I'm here in the first place. Rovers's methods leave a lot to be desired, but he was right: the Feds are taking physical custody of the suspect Eagan, and the Court Order forbids any psychologists from talking to him, unless given permission by the Judge. And you don't have that."

"Who was the Judge?" I asked. "It could not have been K.M. Landis, the Federal Judge for this District."

Our State was divided into three Federal judicial districts. The Eastern District covered the City and all of the farm counties in the eastern and southeastern parts of the State. The Western District covered the Town & County and down to Midtown. The Southern District covered Southport and rural parts of the State south of Midtown.

Jack Muscone said "No, it was Judge Ruth B. Taney. She's by far the most leftwing Judge in the District. Rovers went to Midtown and specifically to her."

"Can we appeal it?" asked Laura.

"You can." said Owen Lange. "And we are. But I'll tell you now we're going to lose. The fix is in on this one."

"Laura," Teresa said, "you said that the suspect was telling you something when these bastards interrupted. What was it?"

Laura said "Adam Eagan couldn't remember details of how he'd planned the attack, nor from where he'd obtained the keypass to the teachers's parking lot door. He was acting dazed, as if he'd been hypnotized or brainwashed. As we talked to him, he was starting to remember details...

and he was remembering that he had been trained to make this attack!

..."

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

As we left the meeting, I went down to the ICU ward. The only windows to see into it were in some double doors that were fire doors, and couldn't be accessed from outside. At the far end of the room was a window, showing a room whose walls were an eerie tinge of green, and the light from that room was also eerily green. That room was the 'clean room', where Molly was.

I couldn't see Molly, but I tried to send mental energy her way. I don't know if it worked, but after a moment I felt a hand on my back. It was Cindy, who'd come up and was in the process of putting her arm around my waist. In reply, I put my arm around her shoulders in a hug.

"I heard you had some excitement in the security wing." Cindy said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Yep." I said. I told her about the incident with Rovers, and also the Federal Court order that was allowing the Feds to take the suspect out of our jurisdiction, and what Laura had told us the suspect said.

"Ginned up." Cindy said. "This whole thing is a 'false flag' event, isn't it?"

"I dunno." I said. "But the way the Media's acting, and the Feds, and the Courts..." I didn't finish, and decided to change the subject. "How's Molly doing?" I asked.

"Unchanged, according to the nurses." Cindy said. "It hasn't even been 24 hours yet, so I guess that's not surprising."

"How's your mom holding up?" I asked.

"When I was shot up, and lying here," Cindy said, "my parents came down and we had something of a family reconciliation, as you know." I nodded, and Cindy continued: "I think at that time it got real for them that what Molly and I do really can cost us our lives. And I think Mom is reliving that. I don't think she expected her Police Chief daughter of a small-town Police Force to have this happen to her."

"I will also say this." Cindy said. "I heard my mother tell Chief Moynahan that she was glad that you would be there for Molly's boys if she died. I don't think she knew I could hear it when she also said she was glad Molly had had children to continue after her."

"And Molly will recover, and will continue raising them." I said. "That's what I choose to believe."

"I know." said Cindy "But I think I know what my mother was saying, was really saying. Betsy is a wonderful baby, and I'm eternally glad she's my daughter now... but we all know I'm not going to have blood children of my own. Molly's boys are all that's continuing her parents's line. And in its own way, it's still a rejection of my orientation..."

"No, no, no." I said. "One thing I've observed is that Maggie has accepted Callie as family. In other words, your mother has accepted your orientation as well as the woman you've chosen to marry. She was much less accepting of me, and Molly having children by me, when all that happened."

"Until she and my dad met you." Cindy said. "Then you charmed them. And Mom loves those boys. She loves... those boys..."

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

Captain Damien Thompson gave an interview to KFXU's Catrina Pierce, where he stated "You have to remember that Bettina Wurtzburg and KXTC launched a campaign of unmitigated hatred with the intent to have DFACS remove Commander Cindy Ross's baby from her custody and put the baby into the foster care system. Commander Ross's sister, Chief Evans, is fighting for her life in the Hospital after being wounded while stopping the school shooter."

Thompson continued: "And then Bettina goes and attacks Chief Evans's children, threatening them with DFACS, just to take a shot at the boys's father, Commander Troy. So I'd say what Commander Troy said to Bettina and to all the Media there was more than justified..."

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

12:30pm, Tuesday, May 7th. Jack Muscone invited Chief Moynahan and me to lunch at (where else) the Cop Bar, where he had (what else) the Double Cheeseburger Plate. I switched up and got the Fish & Chips Basket. The Chief got a Steak Caesar Salad.

"You were really out for blood, weren't you?" Jack said after we'd ordered.

"It might be a good idea if I don't say out loud that I very much intended to kill Rovers." I said. "I wouldn't want you to have to testify against me."

"Or me having to suspend you, Mr. Crowbarrrrr." said the Chief.

"Don't sweat it." Jack said. "The EAD has already made a complaint to Washington about Rovers and his team putting

Government

guns to the heads of doctors, Police Officers, and most of all, a former Deputy Director of a branch of the CIA. As you like to say, '

it is possible

' that that email was copied to the CIA Directorate of Science and Technology, and that they are royally pissed right now."

"Not as much as Dr. Fredricson's loving husband." I said. "So... what else is going on with all of this? Let me ask something more specific:

when is the Deputy AG getting here?

"

The Chief looked shocked, and Jack gaped at me for a second, then said "400 years ago..." Then he said "Tonight. He wants to meet with some of these student protesters, especially Darryl Smogg, the self-styled and Media-anointed leader of the protest group. So how did you know he was coming here, and by that I mean specifically tonight?"

I replied "We wondered what was going on with the Media announcing his visit. I can now say that it's likely Bettina and KXTC made a

huge

mistake. They weren't supposed to announce it when they did, but they goofed up and did. The timing was inexact, but it fits the pattern... at least the pattern l'il ol' paranoid me is seeing."

Jack gaped at me again. The Chief skeptically asked: "Are you suggesting they

knew

this school shooting was going to happen, and were planning to come down and make political hay out of it?"

I just sorta shrugged my shoulders. "We-el, sir, if we allow our minds to conceive the inconceivable idea that certain Swamp Frogs

would

create a 'false flag' event for political gain, that includes something shocking like students being murdered, then certain pieces of the puzzle begin to fit the pattern."

"Geez..." said Muscone, who looked at his half-eaten double cheeseburger. "It's times like these I wish I could eat no matter what I felt, like Tanya can."

"Don't let it get to you." I said. "So, what did you want to talk about at this lunch?"

"Well, it fits your pattern now." said Muscone. "Team Lazarus has been ordered to stand down on the case. Other FBI units will come in from Washington and take charge, and 'work with' the Nextdoor County Police on the case. They, meaning these other units, are totally ignoring the questions of who gave the perp that passkey to that door of the school building, who gave him the cop-killer bullets he used, and how he got the handguns he used."

Muscone went on: "I've seen the evidence myself: this guy was a loner, but unlike other school shootings, this guy didn't raise any red flags with anyone. He did not search out radical information on his computer, he didn't frequent Socialist propaganda websites, at least not very much. So he doesn't appear to be radicalized. Dr. Yates and your wife heard what he said about being trained, but while the FBI formally apologized to Dr. Yates for the Rovers team's actions, an apology he formally refused to accept along with the promise of a lawsuit, they did tell him that they would not permit him to speak to the suspect again, and that anything he had to say would be ignored by the official inquiry."

"And good luck getting the Press to report any of it." I said.

"That's another thing, thanks for reminding me." said Muscone. "Sean Carlsen, executive producer at KFXU, called me and told me that his reporters had received death threats if they report information that's quote unquote 'inconsistent' with what the Mainstream Media is reporting. I got word that the national Fox News office received similar warnings, though not with any specific death threats. Carlsen told me that KFXU won't report anything known to be wrong, like 'assault rifles' on the scene, but he's also not going to report on things like the killer saying he was trained to do the deed."

"And speaking of the Pressss..." said the Chief. "We're pretty fortunate that no one in the Media is willing to report your little tête-à-tête with them, particularly Bettina Wurtzburg, this morning, Mr. Crowbarrrrr. The presser was being covered live, but they cut away when you started going off on her."

"I don't suppose," I said, "that any of those so-called journalists followed-up and checked on Bettina's treason investigation?"

"A couple of calls from the national networks to our office in the City." said Jack Muscone. "But they weren't interested in the details. They just asked if it was true or not, then hung up."

"I've told Captain Price that you will not be participating in any more of those Press conferences." said the Chief. "You were totally correct in calling them out, and Bettina was once again way out of bounds, but you got emotional about your children, and I'm not going to have you up there taking cheap shots from the Media over your kids."

That was the Chief's face-saving way of saying that he was not going to allow me to embarrass myself again, as that is how he'd perceived my philosophical exchange of values with Bettina. I would lose no sleep over being disinvited to future Press Conferences on this matter.

Part 14 - Pivot Points

Meanwhile...

Cindy, her family, and the old Midtown PD team were sitting in the waiting room when FBI Special Agent Tim Jenkins came in.

"Tim!" Cindy said, standing up and giving him a hug. She then said "Let me introduce you to everyone. This is Tim Jenkins with the FBI; he and I worked together when that crisis we can't talk about happened a few weeks ago." She was referring to the EMPTY QUIVER event.

"Tim, this is my mother Maggie." said Cindy. Tim shook her hand respectfully, then Cindy said "This is my fiancée Callie."

"Ah, yes, I heard many great things about you." Tim said as he shook Callie's hand.

"It's nice to meet you." Callie said, and nowhere near as enthusiastically, having seen Cindy's ice blue eyes light up when Tim Jenkins entered the room.

"This is Midtown PD Chief Frank Soltis, and City PD Captain Wes Masters." Cindy said. "They were all on the same team in Midtown with Molly."

"I'm really sorry to hear about Chief Evans." Tim Jenkins said. "Any word on her condition?"

"No." said Chief Soltis. "But I know Dr. Morgan went into ICU a few minutes ago, so I hope we'll hear some good news sooooonnnn."

"So what brought you up here?" Cindy asked Tim as she had him sit down.

"SAC Muscone brought in what he called 'reinforcements', seeing that some strange things are going on up here." said Jenkins. "I came up from Southport, but apparently not in time to participate in the fight in the secure wing."

"What was that all about?" asked Cpt. Wes Masters.

"Oh, just the Iron Crowbar, taking care of his people." said Cindy. "In this particular case, his wife, Dr. Fredricson. That is a special kind of stupid, to try to physically mess with her."

"I'm surprised she didn't break the guy's neck herself." Callie said.

"The other Agents had guns drawn and pointed at Dr. Yates and the videographer." Cindy said. "That's the only reason I can think of that she held back."

Just then it got quiet in the room, as Dr. Morgan came in. "Hello, everyone." he said. "I know you've been waiting to hear something, and I appreciate your patience with us. I just checked on Chief Evans. Her vitals are unchanged, weak but steady. But there is a problem: her white blood cell count is going up. It could be normal, but if it keeps going up, it could be a sign of infection. We'll be keeping a close eye on that."

Everyone nodded and thanked Dr. Morgan for all he was doing for Molly. He exited the room and went down the hall, leaving a family clinging to hope, but feeling helpless to do anything...