by Doug Ball
“All he said was that this job was goin’ to make him rich and he would go straight after it was over. He added something about a cool million that Dorothy didn’t quite catch and he wouldn’t repeat.”
“Dorothy?”
“His girl.” Abdul used his sleeve to wipe away a tear rolling down his face.
“You okay, man?”
Abdul nodded.
“I thought he was married.”
“He is. Said he loved them both, cuz he had a big heart. Lived with Dorothy. ”
“Can you give me the dope on Dorothy? I’d like to talk to her. No rousting. No bust. Just talk.” He tried real hard to convey sincerity.
“Wouldn’t be right, cop.”
“I guess his killers get away with it then.” Bruce got up to leave, hanging his handset in the cradle.
A knock on the glass stopped him. He turned to see Abdul motioning to the handset.
He thought, ‘What did he have to loose except a little more time?’ He picked it up again.
“She lives in the East Valley a block or so off of Superstition Springs. Her name is Dorothy Harmon, name’s in the phone book. Get them will ya? I hope this isn’t about the Muslim creep that I was talking to when I was busted. He needed a driver.
“Ski was the only pal I could count on. He offered to alibi me for the fall that put me in here this time, but the CA proved he was somewhere else and still let him go. County Attorney never even charged ol’ Ski for perjury or false statement.”
“Tell me about the Muslim.”
“No can do. I’d be dead before you were outta the parking lot.”
“I can get you moved.”
“Wouldn’t do no good. That man got strings attached everywhere.”
“He got a problem with Phoenix or in Phoenix?”
“Yeah, he hates all of Arizona and the Governor is the focal point. He’d kill her if he could. She cost him a bundle and doesn’t even know it.”
“Tell me.”
“Pardon?”
“Tell me.”
“I said I want a pardon. It’s only a trafficking charge, nothing big, bad, and violent.”
“I’ll let you know.”
Abdul hung up the handset, turned, and banged on the door.
The door behind Bruce opened. “You get what you needed?”
“Yeah, I think I got all there was.”
Abdul exited through his own door without a look back.
#
Tan started up the truck and headed for the office. Rachel had left a message on his phone during the night telling him the Governor wanted to talk with him first thing in the morning. Traffic was its usual snarl and honking lane changers which didn’t do a thing for his mood. He had wanted to stay home until mid-morning due to the Honey-do list his wife had for him and knowing that things would probably pick up on the case later today, he thought this would be the last free time he would have for a few days at least. Some clown driving an old beat up piece of smoking junk cutting him off brought him back to the now and reality.
His phone rang. “Yeah, this is Tan.”
“Where you at?” It was Lenny.
“On I-10 headed east. Should be in the office in fifteen.”
“Don’t go to the office. Keep traveling to the 60 and meet me at the Starbucks on McClintock in Tempe.”
“Whatcha got?” Tan was very interested.
“Nothing I want over the airwaves.” Bruce’s voice was excited and tightly controlled.
“Once I get past the interchange I should have smooth sailing and that’s three miles ahead. All I can see are cars and trucks creeping down the road. Lots of red lights. I’ll be there someday.”
“Gotcha. Eastbound 60 is almost empty. What do you want to drink?”
“Coffee, black, strong, and nothing added.”
“I’ll be waiting. Turning in the lot now.”
Rachel answered Tan’s voice dial and, after he spoke, “She isn’t going to be happy with this, Tan.”
“Tell her this is more important than her schedule.”
“Will do. Be safe.” Rachel turned to tell the Governor.
The Investigator whispered a prayer that this was that important and kept driving. He looked in his rear view mirror to check for a lane change to the right. Something wasn’t right, but the lane was clear. He changed lanes. Moments later he checked his mirror again. The same car was behind him and practically on his rear bumper.
He cut back to the left and headed for the HOV lane. The car followed, cautiously, but still it was obvious it was following. Tan took a good look at the passengers, two men in the front seat and a possible in the back. Neither of them had anything that stood out about them at this point. They were just two ordinary faces.
The sign for the airport exit came into view, Tan cut right through traffic causing horns to sound and tires to screech as he passed through some mighty tight gaps in the traffic and grabbing the exit at well over the posted speed. The car followed the same path except for the last lane of traffic. A semi filled the space stopping the chase car cold so they missed the exit. Tan was in the clear.
‘Must be doing something close to the case to bring out the chasers,’ he thought.
He poked his phone and said, “Starbuck’s McClintock Tempe AZ” and waited. Up popped the website with the Directions option clearly marked. He touched the screen and hit the blue arrowhead. An Aussie sounding voice told him each and every turn until he found McClintock. Just as he was turning he realized he had another car on his tail.
Without lifting his phone into view he hit the speed dial for Lenny and the speaker option on the screen. “Yeah?” came Lenny’s voice loud and clear.
“I’m being followed.”
“Irate husband?”
“Probably. White Toyota Camry. One man. Extra antenna on the trunk.”
“Where are you?”
“Headed north on McClintock about a mile from you coming at you.”
“Keep coming and I’ll pick them up when you go by. Leave your phone open.”
“Oh oh, the car I ditched on I-10 is back also. Black Honda Civic. Three men. No outstanding marks.”
“You are popular, aren’t you? I just called dispatch. They are alerting whatever assets they have out this way and we’ll see what happens. Keep talking.”
“Passing Southern.”
His truck stuttered.
The two cars stayed behind through the intersection with the Honda in the left lane and the Toyota in the right behind him. The Honda moved forward alongside him. ‘They think they have me boxed. Lots of exits to my right with all these driveways and such.’ The Honda closed in. Tan took the next access into an almost empty mall parking lot and was followed by the Toyota. He did some gas pedal stomping, brake slamming driving across the empty acres of asphalt only to get the Honda in on the chase again. At one point he did a ground spin and went between them missing the Honda by no more than a frog’s hair. “Mighty fine driving you’re doing there Deputy, you ought to be a stunt driver.” He smiled into his rear view mirror.”
He pulled back onto Southern and stomped it.
Seeing a stealth cruiser headed his direction, he breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled into the center lane, shifted gears, and his truck died in the middle of Southern looking at the rising sun. There was nothing else he could do but leap out of the truck with his weapon in hand.
The two chasers stopped with their headlights aimed right at Tan. Doors opened as Tan leaped out of the driver’s door and moved behind the engine block with his arms across the hood holding the weapon. The guns of the chasers were pointed at him from behind opened doors.
The stealth car moved in behind the two chasers. Two men came out of the stealth car and yelled, “Police Officers, freeze,” as they held their guns in one hand and badges in the other.
Time stood still as the traffic on Southern kept moving, a helicopter arrived overhead, and Lenny rolled in to one side of the blocked chase cars, jumped out of
his car with a shotgun in his hands, and yelled, “Freeze, Police Officer.”
All Tan was thinking was, ‘This routine couldn’t have been planned and choreographed any better than the way it was going down.’
The five men in the chase cars laid their weapons on the roofs of their cars and put both hands in the air. One from the Camry yelled, “FBI,” as he and the rest of the men in the two cars flashed badges in their left hands.
Tan came unglued. “You bunch of idiots. Why didn’t you just say so from the beginning instead of chasing me all over the place? I got half a notion to arrest you all on endangerment charges.” He stopped and just shook his head, “I’ve got a four year old at home with better sense than you five combined. Who’s the head man?”
“I am. You keep talking like that, I will arrest you under the Patriot Act for interfering with anti-terrorist activities. I will then lock you all up and come back to talk with you when I got around to it.”
“Mister FBI man, you are forgetting who has the drop and how many of you would be dropped. I count five without guns facing four with guns.”
Another car pulled up, the uniformed officer got out with a shotgun.
“Make that five,” Lenny said.
“I would suggest you get a bit more humble while you’re in my jurisdiction, which just happens to be a state that has rejected cash resources of the Federal Government.” Tan was not joking. Everyone within hearing heard seriousness in his voice.
“I want you, Mister FBI Man-in-Charge, to walk over here with your hands up so I can take a look at your cred and call this in. The other four of you don’t move a muscle. If you have to sneeze say so ahead of time.”
The lead agent moved toward Tan with both hands in the air until Tan could take the badge holder from him. “Turn around and face that shotgun.”
He turned and didn’t like what he saw, “You mind pointing that thing towards the little birdies flying over, please?”
“Yeah, I mind. Shut up.” Lenny was not joking either.
Tan read the credentials, grabbed his mike, and called it in.
Dispatch replied with, “It will take a while to verify these. I will get back to you, 1MaryS1.”
“1MaryS1. Take your time, we’ll find out how long the mighty FBI, if they are FBI, can hold their hands way over their heads,” Tan said with a smile at the four facing him. He shoved the one in front of him, “Go join your friends.”
Lenny tracked his every step with the 12 gauge hole at the muzzle end of his shotgun.
A plainclothesman from the stealth car asked, “You two gonna need us and the black and white anymore?”
“Let’s get these vehicles out of the street and into that lot, then you’re done. Thanks for the help.” said Tan as he moved to the chase cars and took the weapons from the roofs and then placed them in the back of his truck.
He turned to the five and said, “We wait. One at a time come over here, starting with you Mr. Man-in-Charge, put your hands on the hood of my truck and then assume the position. I will frisk you, and, if you are real nice and follow directions well, I will then let you sit on that curb there,” he pointed, “in the shade until dispatch gets back to me. Let’s do it.”
The lead man started moving.
9
Two hours later in the quintet’s meeting room, Tan said, “So you are telling me that some radical Islamic fanatic is going to provide a massive disaster somewhere in the great southwest, and that somewhere will probably be Arizona and the reason you were so clumsily following me was that you wanted to talk to me in private away from the office. Sounds like BS to me and that ain’t Bible Study.”
“Okay, so I made a wrong call. Would you kindly quit rubbing it in? But, yeah, you got the gist of the story. We really do believe that this clown is going to do something big in Arizona. Well, 90% chance it’s Arizona. We figure Phoenix metro area is a prime target.”
Tan was exasperated, “I think you are playing us for a bunch of dumb local yokels you can blow off with a story that’s so big it’s scary. We won’t buy it. We have our own cases. We will cover them ourselves.
“In case you haven’t heard, our Governor cut the state off from all Federal funds and we have saved a bundle. The borders are secure. The welfare state is almost non-existent. Education is vastly improved. We have the lowest drug rate in the nation and the fastest courts in the nation. Why are you here when the President wouldn’t even help us with a Mexican invasion?”
“Beats the crap outta me, Investigator Brown. I am only following my orders from the big brown building in D.C. All I can say at this point is you can have your cases and we will work on this terrorist nutcase all on our own. I will help you anyway I can and I would appreciate the same exchange from you. Deal?”
Tan thought about the ransom demands and figured this was part of what these FeeBees were talking about. “Okay, you go your way and we will go ours. If we hear of anything like you have described we’ll call you. Leave your card at the desk with my number 2 man.” Tan turned and walked out. Half way through the door he turned, “Don’t pull anymore stupid stuff like you did today again. I will guarantee you will be escorted to the state line in a school bus and left to walk the rest of the way. You five really endangered a bunch of folks in that rush hour traffic.”
One of the agents said, “When isn’t it rush hour around here?”
Chuck responded from the front desk, “Three thirty in the morning is kinda slack.” His phone rang.
#
FedEx delivered another note, with all the earmarks of the first one, which was carefully opened by one of the security force before the Governor read;
Madam Governor,
How’s the collection of one half billion in precious stones and currency coming? Time is running short, just like the river which will dry up soon. More to follow. Be ready.
The Ancient Mariner
The Governor called her Investigator.
Minutes later Tan arrived thinking she wanted an explanation of the fiasco this morning. He was ready. “You wanted me, Governor?”
“Yes,” she was sitting behind her desk. “Take a look at this.” She shoved a copy of the note across her desk.
Tan read the note and returned it. “We expected that.”
“I don’t want to see another one. I want these threats to stop and the culprit buried in our prison system in the deepest hole we can find. Am I making myself clear?”
“Governor, we are hard at work on this thing. It is moving forward. We know more now than we knew this morning. Between the FBI’s game this morning and you calling me on the carpet right now, I have not been able to get any work done myself. Knotts is waiting to talk to me about something he has. Lenny is talking to folks in the north and west valley. Leon is chasing a couple of leads he has found. Chuck is chasing rainbows one color at a time and learning more about explosives and trucking than he ever hoped to know, shipping and usage included. I have been trying to get a story board set up.”
“That’s just not getting it done, Tan. I want results.”
“Governor, what you want is my desire, also. We are trying, but unless something breaks loose out of the clear blue skies of Arizona, it’s going to take time. Time we may not have if my men and I are slowed down”
“Get going then, and I want to hear about all of your big leads at 6 PM daily.”
“See ya at six, Governor.” He turned and walked out. ‘What got into her bonnet today?’ he asked himself as he cleared Rachel’s office and turned toward his office. Bruce stood there leaning against the wall.
Bruce said, “We need to talk, now. My office.”
#
Lenny pulled into the house just off of 56th Street in Paradise Valley. Getting his notepad from his shirt pocket he checked the number again. This was the place, a small, semi-shabby bungalow with paint peeling off in paper plate sized flakes. He parked and walked to the door, pushed the button, heard the ding dong, and waited. ‘At least the do
orbell works,’ he thought.
A very nice looking woman answered the door, “Yeah, whata ya want. I ain’t buyin’ nothing, ain’t got no money.” She looked him over good while bending down for the newspaper. The front of her house robe gapped showing more than cleavage.
It didn’t appear to Lenny she had anything on under the robe. “Police Officer, Ma’am.” He flashed his badge and ID. “I’d like to talk to you about Roger Wolinski. Understand you know him well.”
She pulled herself erect and cinched up the belt on the robe. “Yeah, I know the bum. He owes me big money, which he said he would have last week. You got the bum in jail or what?”
“I’m sorry to tell you this, Mrs. Wolinski, but your husband is dead.” He watched for a reaction.
None.
“Somebody killed him after a heist he worked, or so it appears. Can I come in, we need to talk?”
“Yeah, sure. Come on in.” She stepped aside and waved him in. Pointing to an old recliner, she said, “That’s the best seat in the house. It’s yours.”
Lenny parked in the chair. “It is a nice chair, comfortable, too. When did you see Roger Wolinski last?”
“I wish I’d never seen the bum and I ain’t Mrs. Wolinski anymore. I am Eve Matthews since the divorce and that bum owes me money. Any chance I can get my money from the estate? That’s a laugh, estate.”
“Not unless you got a signed IOU and he has money stashed somewhere that somebody knows about.”
“All his money went to that floozy he’s got stashed in East Mesa, that Dorothy girl. Check with her. Hey, you wanna drink or coffee or something?”
“No thank you. We’re checking everything and everybody, ma’am. So Roger and you are divorced, when did this happen?”
“Which time? Done it three times. No more though. I’m through.” She paused, “I guess he’s done now, ain’t that right. You mind if I have a drink?”
“You go right ahead.” He watched her walk to a dry bar in the corner, reach over, pull out a bottle of cheap no-name brand bourbon, and pour a juice glass full. She threw it down like a sailor fresh from the sea.
“Ah, that’s better. Talking about that cheating ex of mine makes me thirsty.” She sat on the couch and pulled her legs up under her robe flashing a lot of leg, smiling at Lenny all the time.