Special Weapons and Tactics

Susan - Tuesday Morning:

I was just so sad and depressed even after the ER visit and an hour more talking with Dr. Rachel. My mind was just spinning even though I had taken a Valium. I just couldn't understand what I had done to make that nice young man Sam O'Donnell do the things he had done to me. It MUST have been my fault and I guess I was still so fucking crazy I just couldn't see it. I didn't want to have any kind of sex with him. I sure didn't THINK I was giving him those kind of signals, at all. None of our conversations were even flirty. It wasn't like even those crazy things I had "felt" for Jack - using him to get Ecstasy and hopefully fix my ever deepening gloom last year.

I didn't even want to take that Ecstasy last night but it was almost like a reflex habit reaction. I must have acted real crazy on the Ecstasy and that's why Sam did what he did. I didn't deserve John, that's for sure. I didn't deserve my kids. But I still wanted John and my kids and my family back, and about all I could do every time I reached this point in my infinite loop thinking was start crying.

John called and didn't seem mad. I clung to his voice like a life preserver and it barely penetrated when he said Karen Rigby, one of his team members and just a nice young lady I had met at the Jenny family party, had been shot. After he hung up I wondered if John had been in danger too and I would have really gone to pieces if it hadn't been for the Valium kicking in.

Then Jenny called and said she was coming to get me. I was both sad and yet relieved. My old attraction-repulsion thing was happening with Jenny. I was just so jealous of her because I really felt deep in my soul Jenny would be better for John than me. And maybe even better for my kids than I could ever be. And yet my heart wanted what it wanted - and that was not to give John up to anybody else. But I also felt Jenny was just a basically good person and I couldn't really dislike her. Sigh. So I nervously waited for Jenny while quickly packing everything up. So much for a couple of "relaxing days at the beach."

Jenny and Gigi soon arrived. I think I must have dozed off. I was also taking some prescription strength Ibuprofen for my bruises and soreness. I did not know for sure whether Sam used a condom so I also had a broad spectrum antibiotic to take for the next seven days as a prophylactic. I was also cautioned not to have unprotected sex for the next two weeks as well, until I had checked out as clean. Not likely any sex was going to happen anyway. And I had felt a little glimmer of desire with John just last week. I had cherished having that kind of intimacy with him whether my own desire was fulfilled or not. I wanted to perform those wifely duties with and for John and no one else. Period.

Jenny and Gigi both hugged me and acted like loving sisters. Maybe like real sisters should act rather than my own bitch sister, Janice. I thought I just wanted to be quiet and maybe sleep on the hour ride back but I heard Jenny and Gigi talking about "close calls" and maybe more that had happened with them as well on their speaker cellphone call. Gigi was actually driving my BMW back at the time.

I kind of mumbled, "I can't figure out what I did to make Sam act that way..."

Jenny told Gigi she'd call back and then turned to me.

"Honey, you didn't do a thing. It wasn't your fault. Some men are just mean to women and also kick dogs, as well. Believe me I know. I was married to one once. When we were dating and then first married he was the sweetest thing there was, I thought. He was also the cutest thing. Six feet tall, blue eyes, dirty blonde hair, strong chin and bright teeth and even dimples. But it was all an act. He was rotten inside and he maybe tried but couldn't keep it in. At the end he beat me up and raped me more than once. If he hadn't just disappeared on me I was going to kill him, if Frenchie didn't first. Guess he finally figured that out."

"All I want is to try and get my marriage back with John. You probably need to know that. I am not the least bit interested in dating or sex with anyone else. Period. And this kid Sam just seemed so nice and friendly - right up until he wasn't. It just doesn't seem right. Like it's GOT to be me somehow. Why me?"

Jenny was silent for a few seconds.

"John told me a little bit about you and your - problems. You're seeing a psychiatrist, right? And maybe that's the best person to get a more accurate answer from. But I'll give you my own opinion and perspective. It's the old "good news bad news" thing. The good news is you're a beautiful woman and attract good men - like John."

I scoffed, "Yeah - when I'm sane..."

"The bad news is you're a beautiful woman and attract bad men - like Sam. And what makes it worse is that only the "best" worst men are going to really make a run at you. And I have a feeling that is exactly what Sam is and what he did. I'd like to say you just need to forget about Sam totally, but in reality you probably do need to remember and learn from this. It's the same kind of lesson I sure learned from my ex. It's a hard lesson but that's life sometimes, ain't it?"

The next two weeks passed in sort of a blur.

Jenny was just so nice that if she did end up with John I'd still love her anyway. And I would hate her and him. But for right now I took my meds and I got to sleep with John every night and he put up with my tears and just held me. I stopped taking the Valium after the first week and I didn't need to talk with Rachel every day any more either. My kids had just been told I had a flu bug and that's why I wasn't feeling good and they were all acting great, really, as well. I loved them more every day and that wasn't faking it - like I had to last year.

Tuesday of that second week I actually got a call from my mother, Edith. She said she was missing me and her grandkids a lot and was wondering when I was coming back home to St. Louis?

"Mom, I've decided to stay down here at least until the kids time with their Dad is up. I am actually staying with them all right now, anyway."

"Oh, well - that's good. Right, honey? Are you and John getting back together? Is that still what you want?"

"Yes, it's what I want, but I don't know if we are actually getting back together. I can't blame him after all the things I did - and keep doing."

"What does that mean - keep doing?"

"It's just another mistake I made, Mom. I misjudged someone and - it turned out bad - but we're past it now and I don't want to talk about it."

Of course that was like waving a red flag in front of a bull and dear old Mom kept pressing me for details but I wouldn't budge.

Finally she said, "Oh, just a bit of good news for you. Jack Carter came by to see me and he is now just real contrite and apologetic. He said he's had some real good counseling and realized his mistake and the truth now and just wanted to let you know that. He didn't even ask where you were at. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, that's great. But please don't talk to him anymore. I know it's probably hypocritic or something for crazy little old me to call someone ELSE crazy and worry about that - but that's how I feel about Jack. I'd just rather hear nothing else about him ever. Got it?"

"Oh, sure, honey - I get that. Just don't worry about him."

What Mom didn't tell me was that she had given Jack my new cellphone number which he had wheedled out of her just to "call her one time and apologize personally"...

After I had finally stopped needing any Valium one Saturday night all us adults went out. It was me and John, Frenchie and Gigi, and Jenny and Carla both had "dates" - really a couple of funny guy musicians they knew that happened to be twins. Of course we had dinner at a Creole bar and restaurant with a pretty large dance floor and a decent Zydeco band. And we all danced a lot and were laughing at the twin's antics. I was almost feeling normal - just normally happy - for the first time in almost 3 years. I think John had one beer all night and I didn't drink anything alcoholic. Just water and sweet tea.

The next day was a Sunday and John and I and the kids spent all day together. We rented a pontoon boat and just cruised around Mobile Bay all day, stopping every once in awhile so the kids could play in the water. The pontoon boat rental included a paddleboard and that was a lot of fun - and harder to stay on and actually paddle than it looked like.

By the time we got back home after eating out again everyone was just pleasantly tired.

Later that night I woke up from an intense dream. Just once in my wildest college days I had engaged in a threesome - me and two guys. I had just been dreaming about that - one guy was screwing me and I was sucking the other guys cock and I was just about to come in my dream when it all morphed into one of the early times I remembered making love with John. And seeing John above me and feeling his wonderful body on top of me and filling me completely up is when I did come in my dream. So intense that it woke me up. I reached down between my legs and I was soaked there. As wet as I ever got and definitely ready for more.

Dr. Rachel had told me that my body would eventually adjust to the meds and my libido would come back - and I guess it just did!

I reached down and into John's boxers. He already had a half hardon and it didn't take much to coax that into full mast and I sucked on it just a bit to lubricate it with some of my saliva, he was so big and I was so tight now that every bit would help. Especially since John still seemed sound asleep. I climbed on him and started working it into my pussy. It went in pretty easily I was so wet - and I had a mini-orgasm as soon as it entered and another as soon as it bottomed out. About then John did wake up and I kissed him with all the love and desire I could. The feeling to me was almost indescribable and better than I could even remember. It was almost like the first time with the love of my life.

John was now very actively participating and we were both trying hard not to make too much noise - but I knew I was almost out of control and as I came again he muffled my mouth with his and then came himself so hard he arched his back and lifted me right off the bed. Then we both were almost instantly right back asleep.

John:

It was a Monday 2 weeks after the law office murder/robbery when I received a strange call.

I was in a pretty good mood today. So much so I was getting some looks by the people around me. "What?" I wanted to ask them. Maybe it was the sex I had with Susan last night.

It was totally unexpected. It was just our new normal going to bed routine. I held her and she wasn't crying anymore and we were so tired from our day on the Bay we both fell asleep pretty quickly. And then she woke me up in the middle of the night in the best way possible - and also then put me right back to sleep after some very pleasant exercise - in the best way possible. So I was feeling pretty good when the call came in for me.

George Butler asked me to come by his offices for a meeting about the robbery.

"Do you want me to bring the Homicide and Robbery lead detectives?" I asked.

"No, just you, for now. It's also kind of a personal thing and I've got some video and reports from my head of security and investigations to go over with you."

"OK - things are pretty quiet right now, is now good for you?"

"Yes. We'll be waiting for you. Thank you."

Interesting, I pondered. Wonder what this "personal" stuff was all about?

The last two weeks had gone by pretty quickly. Karen was still alive, thank God, and had left the ICU after 8 days. She had lost her spleen and that was what had almost killed her - extreme internal blood loss and accompanying shock. One lung was also punctured and her collar bone was shattered. The least life threatening injury - her collar bone - would hurt the most and take the longest to heal. Somebody from our team went by daily to just check in with her. Her fiance was there every night. He was a good guy and that would hopefully work out.

But cops marrying other cops was a difficult and risky thing. Hell, cops marrying anybody was a risky thing. Love might find a way, though.

Susan and I were still sharing our bed and one bedroom, but we hadn't been intimate anymore, until last night! Susan had cried some nights that first week and I held her in my arms. But she wasn't crying now and falling asleep quicker every night. As was I. It was restful for me just to hold her but I couldn't seem to go to sleep until she did, now.

The kids seemed to be doing just fine. Happy that Mom was there with them and I was also coming home every night and mostly right on time. I was trying real hard to limit my own extra hours and delegating ever more to my really good crew.

Jenny told me Susan was trying very hard to act normal every day with the kids and was doing a real good job at that. She had taken some valium every day the first week but Jenny was pretty sure she had mostly stopped that now.

Abbie still came to get in bed with us late at night about 50% of the time.

Susan was talking to Dr. Rachel every day that first week but it was now just a scheduled Tuesday and Thursday morning hour. I had also talked to Dr. Rachel a couple of times about Susan - and how I was holding up myself. She told me the last time we talked she thought she could make a continuing education conference in New Orleans in about 3 weeks and maybe we could all meet somewhere halfway for an afternoon. New Orleans was only about a 2 hour drive from Mobile and Biloxi or Gulfport was about halfway and had some nice hotel/casino combinations. After last night I couldn't help but looking forward to maybe Susan and I spending a night - just us - in a nice hotel someplace like that.

The reports back from the Orange County and Baldwin County PD's (where Gulf Shores actually was) were - interesting. They both had "concerns" about a certain Sam O'Donnell. Several women had made some complaints and accusations against little old cute and harmless Sam - most involving drugged and non-compliant sexual encounters. Seems Sam had a thing for "MILF's" and rough sex and drugs. But he had never actually been arrested and it was always a "he said, she said" kind of thing and most of the women dropped their complaints shortly - none ever followed through. I was still working on just how to handle Sam, though Frenchie and Jenny had some strong ideas on the subject - mostly involving swamps and alligators. Jenny especially had not the slightest doubt in Susan's side.

As a policeman I always had some doubts just hearing one side of ANY story, though. And my own history with Susan made complete trust in her now very difficult for me. I was pleased (was pleased the right feeling???) to know of Sam's history and that it certainly corroborated Susan's account. He was looking more and more like a sexual predator kind of asshole.

It was just a short 15 minute drive from my squad room to Butler's office and I was shown right in. George introduced me to Kevin Sandberg - his head of "security and investigations." I already knew the guard that had been killed that day wasn't just some cheap rent-a-guard, but an actual ex-military employee of the firm. After the pleasantries we got right down to business.

George started, "I want my paintings back and I've devoted considerable resources to finding out what happened and where they might be. They're all quite valuable and many very rich "underground" art collectors conceivably might be interested in 'Gettysburg', especially. But I do not find it very credible that an international collector might be behind this. Still too much NAZI collected and hidden European art officially missing yet available for acquisition - for the right price. So I've had Kevin and his people focus on Americans and particularly Southerners who might have a great enough interest to either fund this heist directly or merely make their interest - and money - known to the right elements.

"What do you know about the Alabama O'Donnell family?"

My eyebrows did move. I am a pretty good poker player but this did surprise me.

"Ah - you HAVE heard the name, eh?

"First, let's look at the video recordings we did get from the robbery again. I think you saw them all initially that day, right?" And we looked at all four minutes worth on the 52" inch flat screen TV he had in his office - tastefully hidden behind what was undoubtedly another multi-million dollar original painting when not in use.

The whole robbery only took 6 minutes and the shooting of Karen and Jim occurred during the last 30 seconds. If they had only waited another 30 seconds they might not have been shot - or they might have been shot anyway as the plain unmarked panel truck drove away with 10 paintings and all the perps inside. One outside camera just caught the truck turning a corner one block up when 10 seconds later two more Mobile PD cars arrived with lights and sirens blaring. Damn. Timing may not be everything in life - but it sure seems that way sometimes.

George said, "Again, my condolences for Officer Bast's death and Officer Rigby's grave injuries. I can't do anything to undo it but I have made some arrangements financially to help both families out."

I had heard some rumors of some anonymous financial help arriving. I did appreciate it if true and also understood why it should remain anonymous. Many reasons.

"I've heard some rumors. Thank you for that. I won't say anything else about it."

George and Kevin looked at each other and I felt like maybe I had passed some test.

"Did you notice the weaponry the perps used?" Asked Kevin.

"Yes. Looks like they both had FN P90's - fully auto. A really nasty weapon designed to fire armor penetrative shells like .22 magnums on steroids and much more deadly. I had seen some Austrian Special Forces in Iraq carrying them."

"Yes. These aren't well known weapons here in the USA. Just a few city SWAT units actually use them - and Houston is one of those. I had some of my investigators do some casual inquiries. Turns out a couple of Houston SWAT officers recently left town suddenly and under a bit of a cloud - and they took their P90's and Five-sevens with them. Here are their pictures."

The P90's and Five-sevens both used that same 5.7x28mm shell.

And he flashed them up on the screen. Just looked like a couple of All-American SWAT operators to me.

Then Kevin said, "Let's look at some of the robbery video in stop-action..." and he ran that in another window while shrinking the "mug" shots.

"I'm pretty sure that's who these two guys are," Kevin said while using a laser pointer to highlight them. "Everyone was wearing subtle disguises - like fake facial hair and wigs, fake eyeglasses, and even makeup," Kevin continued.

"We've got some contacts pretty high up in Homeland Security and we ran all the best facial shots we had against their facial recognition database - and these two Houston cops had a "minimal" kind of hit - like maybe only 90% possible. But we now think it's them and are proceeding on that assumption."

George then continued, "We thought they would leave the country with their loot as soon as possible. And they might have. But our ongoing investigations lead us to believe they might still be somewhere here in Mobile or Southern Alabama. It's not that I don't think you guys - the Mobile Police and Alabama State Department of Investigation - are not capable, but we thought it might have gone out-of-country real fast and Kevin and his guys have contacts pretty much worldwide."

"Really? Worldwide?"

"Yes. We aren't the largest law firm in the country or even the South - but we are definitely upper tier and handle mostly very rich individuals and now multi-national corporations. Free trade and Globalization means we have found the need to expand our security and investigative division appropriately."