by Mike Ryan
“Fine. I’ll have two analysts report to your office within half an hour.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Lawson then left to go back to her office while Davenport stayed stationary, thinking about whether she was as close as she believed she was and who he wanted to send to her. He then turned to his secretary before heading back to his meeting.
“Have Fulton and Rogers report to her office immediately,” Davenport said.
Approximately twenty minutes later, the two analysts came to her office as she was working on her laptop.
“Ms. Lawson?” Fulton asked. “We were told to report to you.”
They exchanged pleasantries and the two analysts told her about themselves. After talking to them for a few minutes and picking their brain a little, Lawson was satisfied she was getting good people she could work with. She explained the situation to them and what she was looking for.
“I would like you to start combing through airport surveillance footage,” Lawson said to Fulton. “I want you to pay specific attention to two dates. The date we know Smith flew back into the country, and at the Bob Hope Airport where 17 was killed. I want you to also check out flight manifests for every flight into the country the day he was supposed to fly in.”
“OK.”
“Rogers, I want you to start digging into records and information for every major city on the east coast.”
“What do you consider major?” Rogers asked.
“Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Atlanta, Washington, DC., Miami. Start with those first then work your way down if nothing comes of them.”
“What exactly am I looking for?”
“Statistics for major crime increases in the last three years. News stories of a new gang or player in town, police requests for information regarding an individual where they don’t have much,. If Smith has relocated into one of these cities, it’s likely murders or major crime stats have probably gone up, and it’s also likely the local police have nothing on him and have attempted to gain insight into his identity by requesting further information, either from us or the FBI.”
“I’m on it.”
“Thank you both. With some luck and hard work, hopefully we can pinpoint his location within a few days.”
8
The Philadelphia Police Department had called a 10am press conference to discuss a string of recent murders plaguing the city. All the major news organizations were there, TV stations, newspapers, and news blogs, basically anyone who had press credentials. Though it wasn’t being broadcast live on TV, the stations were just cutting up footage and highlights for their later news broadcasts, it was being streamed live on their websites. Ever since the day before when the police announced they were holding a news conference, Jones started looking into it and had a feeling that him and more specifically Recker would be the main topic. Well, more or less all Recker since he was the face of their operation. Both he and Recker were in the office watching the live stream of the event on the computer. Police Commissioner Paul Boyle stepped up to the microphone to start the conference.
“Thank you all for coming. The reason for this conference is to discuss several murders that have happened in our city recently. The last two having occurred in the past three days. We believe the deaths of Sidney Bowman and Reed Laine is the work of the man that the media and the public have dubbed The Silencer. We are releasing a picture of the man that we believe to be The Silencer and are hereby announcing him as wanted in connection with their murders. We are asking for the public’s help in identifying this man so we can prevent any other incidents from happening. If you know who this man is, where he lives, or you see him walking down the street, please call the police tip line.”
Boyle stepped aside as a picture of Recker appeared on a screen behind the commissioner. It appeared to be a picture from some type of security camera from the shopping center where Recker left the car and body of Sidney Bowman. It was a still shot of Recker walking away from the car. Jones glanced over at Recker, who returned his look with a shrug.
“I didn’t see any cameras,” Recker said.
“Obviously,” Jones said. “This isn’t going to help matters any.”
Boyle talked about the deaths of the two men, as well as several other incidents reported to be the work of The Silencer over the past several years. He recounted not only murders, but also other minor cases they thought Recker had been involved in. After Boyle had finished his speech, he opened the floor to questions from the media.
“What makes you think the man is The Silencer?” a reporter questioned.
“This is the first actual photograph that we’ve gotten of him that matched up with some of the sketches that have been drawn over the past few years.”
“If The Silencer did do these, what makes you think it was murder and not self-defense?”
“We have evidence that would indicate murder. I can’t really get into further specifics than that.”
“Doesn’t Laine have a long police record?” another reporter asked.
“A man’s criminal history has no bearing on whether his murder is investigated or not,” Boyle said.
“Yes, but, with all due respect, every instance that you’ve reputed to be the work of The Silencer, innocent people have been protected, and criminals have wound up either in jail or dead.”
“As I said, a victim’s criminal history has no bearing on anything. The Silencer is not a member of law enforcement and is not entitled to just go shooting people at will. This isn’t the wild west. We have law, we have courts, we have a justice system. We do not work outside of those controls just because we feel like it and call it justice. It’s not how it works.”
“But you’re asking for the public’s help on something they don’t want to help you on,” the reporter said. “I’ve talked to several citizens who think The Silencer is more helpful than the police are.”
“Well that would be false and incorrect.”
“But the public perception is, he helps the weak, the vulnerable, and the innocent. And the only people who get hurt are the criminals who are trying to capitalize or prey on them. The public supports him and believes he does what should be done and what’s necessary, or does what the justice system fails to do.”
“I can’t help the public perception. All I can state is he’s not a police officer and he does not have justification for some of the things he does,” Boyle said. “He must be held accountable the same as anyone else. It’s the law.”
Commissioner Boyle took a few more questions, none of which were very sympathetic to his cause of capturing or identifying who The Silencer was. As the reporters’ questions indicated, the media, as well as the public, were firmly behind The Silencer. It wasn’t very likely the police were going to get the kind of support they were hoping for. As the conference started to wrap up, Jones started wondering about their future.
“Should we begin packing?” he asked.
“I don’t think that’ll be necessary.”
“Well your profile just went up five thousand percent.”
“From a police standpoint, this is nothing new. I’ve always been on their radar. They’ve sent up requests to the FBI before. They’re just making it public now.”
“Why now after all this time?”
“I’m making them look bad I guess,” Recker shrugged.
“Still, this won’t make our jobs any easier.”
“Wasn’t easy to begin with.”
“Well this won’t help.”
“They’re grasping at straws. They’re not likely to get much help from the public.”
“That’s a very premature assumption to make I would say,” Jones said. “Your picture was just released by the police to the public and will likely be plastered on every bulletin board, bus stop, website, train station, and blog site known to mankind.”
“Hate to break it to you but my face hasn’t exactly been a secret for a long time,” Recker said. “They’ve had sketches of
me from almost every case I’ve been on since we started. From the girl I saved from getting raped at the bar, the woman I saved from her husband at the hotel, or the convenience store I saved from being robbed, they’ve always known what I looked like. Now they just have a physical picture.”
“Still, I can’t believe this won’t somehow reach the ears of the CIA. This has to reach their doorstep somehow,” Jones said.
“Maybe.”
“For the sake of simplicity, it may be better if we start up operations in another city.”
“You really wanna pick up and move?” Recker asked.
“Do I want to? No. But in the interest of self-preservation, I think it may be wise. We’ve always known this day may come. We always knew there could be a time when the heat became too much and it would simply be more difficult to work here. Perhaps the time has come. We’ve talked about this.”
“I know. I just don’t know if I wanna keep doing this every few years. Moving.”
“Why?”
“I dunno. I feel like we’ve established something here,” Recker said, rehashing the same conversation they had earlier.
“We’ve never really put down roots,” Jones said. “There’s nothing to prevent us from going somewhere else. Pack up the computers, load up a moving van, and we’re gone. Just like that. There are other people in other cities who could use our help, just like this one.”
“I know. It’s just… I’d hate to lose all our contacts, friends, and have to start all over again.”
“To be fair and honest, we only have one friend. And she’s moving on, Mike. She’s got a new relationship, she won’t be around as much, there’s really nothing keeping you here. You can make contacts in other places just as easily as you did here.”
Recker nodded, knowing he was correct. “Yeah. Let’s give it a couple weeks first and see what happens. If it looks like it’s getting too hot, then we’ll pack it up.”
“Deal.”
“Have you picked up anything in the last couple days on the CIA front?” Recker asked.
“No. It’s been quiet.”
New York---Lawson was in her office working on some leads when Rogers came rushing in, a little out of breath. He had his laptop in hand and set it down on Lawson’s desk and started typing on it.
“You’re not gonna believe this,” Rogers said calmly, although the speed of his entry and the glint in his eyes gave away his excitement.
He pulled up the picture of Recker off the Philadelphia Police Department’s website from the photo they released of him from the press conference they had the day before. Rogers zoomed in on the picture and blew it up across the screen to get an even better look at it.
“Oh my god, it’s him!” Lawson said.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
“Where’d you get this?”
“The Philadelphia Police Department released the picture yesterday.”
“Why? What happened so he’d be on their radar?”
“They’re linking this man to a couple of murders that happened there within the last few days,” Rogers said.
“Who were the guys he supposedly killed?”
“A couple of nobody’s. One was a convicted child sex abuser, the other was a friend of his, might’ve dipped his toes in the same pool, just not caught yet.”
“This is the break we’ve been looking for.”
“Maybe. If the heat’s on him then he might just pick up and leave,” Rogers said. “Might be gone by now anyway.”
“OK. We stop everything else and concentrate on Philly,” Lawson said. “We know he’s there. So, let’s put the pieces together and figure out what he’s doing there and who he’s doing it with. I’ll contact the Philly police and see if I can get a look at the file they have on him.”
“You got it.”
Lawson immediately got on the phone and called the Philadelphia Police Department. After talking to a couple different people and being put on hold for a few minutes, she eventually was put through to Commissioner Boyle. After a quick greeting and identifying herself, she quickly got to the heart of the matter.
“I understand yesterday you held a news conference and released a picture of a suspect in some murders you’ve had recently,” Lawson said.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I believe we can help you in that regard if you’re willing to reciprocate that help.”
“What did you have in mind?” Boyle asked.
“We know who the man in the photo is.”
“Who is he?”
“Well, first, before we get into that, I’d like to set some ground rules.”
“Such as?”
“Well, I’d like to look at the file you have on him, everything you suspect him of.”
“That could be arranged,” Boyle said.
“Great.”
“How is it that you know this guy?”
“I can’t really divulge that, sir.”
“C’mon, you’re gonna have to do better than that. You want my cooperation? Fine. I’m willing to give it. But cooperation is a two-way street and if you want my help, then you need to fill in the dots.”
“OK. I’ll tell you what I can,” Lawson said. “He’s a former CIA agent who, due to various circumstances, is no longer with the agency.”
“He went into business for himself?”
“Maybe. Kind of looks that way. There’s some debate amongst some of us as to what to do with him.”
“Oh, you got that too, huh?”
“What’s that?”
“He’s been here about three years as far as we can tell,” Boyle said. “At least that’s when we first started getting reports on him.”
“Yeah?”
“Well, you’ll see when you read his file, but so far, he’s only targeted criminals. He helps the elderly, stops robberies, kills the thugs...he’s a one-man task force.”
“So, what’s the debate?” Lawson said.
“You know how many people I pissed off in my own department with the press conference yesterday?”
“No. I guess I don’t quite understand the problem.”
“The problem is half my command, eighty percent of my patrol units, and sixty percent of my detectives want to leave the guy alone and let him do his thing,” Boyle said. “They say he makes their job easier. They wanted me not to release anything and possibly scare the guy off and have him go to a new city.”
“So, why’d you do it then?”
“Like I said in the presser, nobody’s above the law. Even those who apparently are on our side. Sometimes, people trip over their halo if it falls off.”
“I get your meaning.”
“What’s this guy’s name?”
“John Smith,” Lawson said.
“Really?”
“No, it really was his name with us. I don’t know what he’s using now.”
“So, what are you guys planning on doing with him?” Boyle said.
“Well, it’ll largely be up to him, assuming I get close enough to talk to him.”
“You wanna talk to him?”
“Absolutely. He has a special set of skills which could be useful.”
“You don’t have to tell me about that. I’ve seen his work.”
“Anyway, I can be down there tomorrow morning if that works for you,” Lawson said.
“Yeah, fine.”
“Can I ask one other favor of you?”
“You can ask.”
“I know you just put it out there and he’s your number one target, but can I ask you to back off it already?”
“Back off?” Boyle asked, surprised at the request. “You’re telling me how dangerous he is, not that I need a reminder, and you want me to back off?”
“He’s been missing for three years,” Lawson said. “I don’t want to take the chance of him feeling the walls are closing in so he flies the coop and we lose track of him again for another three years. This is the closest we’ve gotten to him
. I don’t wanna lose him now. I’m just asking, please, you don’t actively pursue any leads on him until we get a team down there.”
“Well, I’m not going to make any promises right now. The media and the public love his persona, so I don’t even know if we’re going to get any leads that are worth pursuing. I’ll take it under advisement.”
“Very well. I’ll be down tomorrow morning.”
When Lawson put down the phone, she could hardly contain her excitement. After only a few days of searching, she’d already got a line on Smith’s whereabouts. It made her wonder how she could find him in a few days when the previous regime couldn’t find him in three years. Then she thought about what Bernier told her and how they didn’t seem to be looking for him very hard. She believed Davenport knew he’d made a colossal mistake in trying to terminate Smith and the easiest thing to do was just to sweep it under the rug. Keeping it at the forefront only reinforced what a grave error he’d made. Regardless of Davenports reasons or ineptitude, this would be a big feather in Lawson’s cap. Though she wasn’t initially too sure about this assignment, she was beginning to warm up to it. She kind of liked the idea of working on specialized cases and being the big gun, brought in to save the day. Now, she just had to deliver. It was one thing to find Smith. It was another to take him out or bring him in.
Davenport was in the outside office with his secretary discussing his itinerary for the next couple of days when he noticed some activity going on in the hallways. He saw both Fulton and Rogers, analysts that he had assigned to Lawson, fly by as if they had some urgent news to share. Wondering if they’d found something, Davenport eagerly left his office and swiftly walked to Lawson’s to see what the fuss was about. When he got there, Lawson and the two analysts were almost giddy and going over plans of some kind.
“From your demeanor, I take it you’ve caught a break,” Davenport said.
“Not just a break,” Lawson said. “We’ve found him.”
“What? You found him?”
“Yes. I wish I could say it was our brilliant deductive skills, but I can’t. Philadelphia police released a photo of a murder suspect.”