Lady Justice and the Broken Hearts

by Robert Thornhill

“Damn! Looks like we’re back to square one.”

  By this time, news of the altercation had spread through the hospital and people were gathering in the hallway of the ICU.

  I heard, “Get out of my way!” and a fiery little doctor pushed her way through the crowd.

  “What in the name of holy hell is going on here?” she asked.

  I simply replied, “Dr. Elizabeth Crane, meet your half-brother, Mark Davenport.”

  Naturally, this was a shock to both of them, more so for Mark than for Liz. I had told Dr. Crane about her other half-brother, but with Mark being in Washington, they had never met. I just hadn’t gotten around to telling Mark that Dad had another paramour besides his mother.

  “Uhhh, pleased to meet you,” Mark said, extending his hand. Then he turned to me. “You knew about this and didn’t tell me?”

  “Long story, and I only found out a couple of months ago myself, and then with the open heart surgery ---.”

  “My brother had open heart surgery and didn’t think to let me know. Thanks a lot.”

  “I knew you were busy.”

  “That’s bullshit! We’re family --- sort of.”

  “Well, then you’ll also be interested to know that your new half-sister is my cardiologist, so if you ever have ticker problems, you’re covered.”

  He just shook his head. “Looks like we have a lot of catching up to do.”

  “If you’re going to be in town for a while, maybe the three of us could get together with Dad. It would make for an interesting family reunion.”

  They both nodded, so it was a done deal. Now I just had to tell my father.

  It was after seven by the time things were sorted out at the hospital and I got home. I had just sat down to share my incredible day with Maggie when the phone rang. It was Kim Delany.

  “Walt, sorry to bother you at home, but I didn’t have the number for the man from Homeland Security. I didn’t know who else to call.”

  “Not a problem, Kim. What’s going on?”

  “When I got home this evening, I started peeling off my clothes to take a shower and something fell out of my pocket. It was some kind of small thumb drive, you know, one of those flash drive things you plug into the USB port on a computer. It’s nothing we use at the hospital, so I started thinking, and well, ---.”

  “You think maybe the terrorist slipped it in your pocket when he had the gun to your head.”

  “Exactly! If it is, I’m sure Homeland Security would like to have it.”

  “You stay there, lock your door and don’t let anyone in but me. Understand?”

  “Whatever you say.”

  “Good. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

  I knocked on Kim’s door and saw her open the little peep hole. Seeing it was me, she opened the door. “Thank goodness you’re here. I’ve been so nervous since I found this thing.”

  She held up the object and it was exactly what she described.

  “This is great,” I said. “This must have been what Mark’s men we’re looking for when they searched his body. It may just contain the vital information they need. I’ll see that he gets it.”

  “Thank you so much for coming by.”

  “Glad to do it. Is there anything else I can do for you while I’m here?”

  “No. Now that this is off my mind, I’m looking forward to that hot shower.”

  I started to leave, but she grabbed my arm. “Yes, there is one more thing. I almost forgot. After everyone left, the orderlies moved the bed out of the room and I found this,” she said, holding up a cell phone. “I don’t know where it came from, but maybe it belonged to the terrorist. You should probably take it too.”

  She was absolutely right. If it did belong to Yasser, the information about the calls he made could help identify the other members of his group.

  On the way home, curiosity got the best of me. When I was stopped at a red light, I picked up the phone just to see who a terrorist was likely to call. I fully expected to see the number for Domino’s Pizza delivery.

  I was shocked to see that the last transmission was a text that read, “Nurse has thumb drive.”

  Somehow, Yasser had gotten the message to his cohorts that he slipped the sensitive information on the flash drive to the nurse.

  Then it hit me. I made a U-turn and sped back to Kim’s apartment.

  I took the steps three at a time, but when I arrived at her apartment, I realized I was too late. The door had been forced open and there were signs of a struggle.

  Kim Delany had been abducted by the terrorist cell.

  CHAPTER 20

  I immediately called Mark Davenport. He and his crew were on the scene in twenty minutes. I gave him the phone and the thumb drive while his men went over the apartment with a fine toothed comb. They came up empty as I expected they would.

  “Good work as usual, Walt,” Mark said, holding up the thumb drive. “We’ll get this analyzed. I just hope it has what we’ve been looking for.”

  “What about Kim? We have to find her. What can I do to help?”

  “Not a thing. You go home, get some rest and leave the rescue to us. We’ll find the young lady.”

  I knew that would be his response. The Feds don’t like working with local law enforcement agencies, not to mention a seventy-one-year-old private investigator. I was sure his heart was in the right place and he would do what he could to save Kim, but I also knew that sniffing out the sleeper cell’s plot was his highest priority.

  If we were going to get Kim out alive we would have to act quickly. I remembered reading about a young woman who was working with refugees in Syria who had been captured and killed by terrorists, and I recalled the graphic photos of Coptic Christians being beheaded.

  My first call after getting in my car was to Ox. He readily agreed to bring Judy and meet at my apartment. My next call was to Kevin. My third call was to Maggie, asking her to have Willie and Dad come up. By the time I got home, I had formulated a plan.

  When I walked in our door, I was surprised to see Mary Murphy with her ball bat. Somehow, she had figured out that something was going down and she wanted in on the action.

  I assembled my motley crew and explained the situation. They were all eager to help.

  At Kim’s apartment, after I had made my call to Mark Davenport, I scrolled through the recent calls made on the terrorist’s cell phone and copied the numbers. I figured the calls might have been made to other members of his group.

  I knew from my past experience on the force that the department had the technology to track the location of an active cell phone. I also knew that Judy was the most computer savvy among us, so I had her contact the technician at the precinct to fill him in on what we needed.

  Fortunately, the tech on duty was a good friend and readily agreed to help us.

  I gave him four of the numbers I had taken off the terrorist’s phone and in minutes he had the location of all four.

  Next, I divided our little band of adventurers into four groups, Ox and Judy, Kevin, Dad and Willie, and Mary and me, and assigned each team one of the suspected terrorist numbers. Then I had Judy set up a conference call between the technician and the four groups. That way he could communicate with each group as to the location and the movements of the terrorists.

  According to the tech, all four of the cell phones were on the move.

  We headed to our respective cars and started trailing our assigned numbers.

  As we sped through town, I could tell from the instructions that the tech was sending, that all our numbers were moving toward the Missouri River. Eventually, we all converged on Woodsweather Road and on to Market Street and the old structures that backed up to the river.

  Finally, the tech announced that all four cell phones had stopped moving. They had joined another half-dozen cars in the parking lot of one of the old warehouses. We saw no movement, so we assumed that they had joined the others inside.

  We crept as quietly as our creaky old bones w
ould allow and found the door unlocked. The first room was an outer office. A door on the far side of the room opened into a large warehouse area where a dozen or more men had gathered. Several were holding automatic rifles. They were standing in a semi-circle, and watching a tall dark-skinned man standing over a small figure bound to a chair --- Kim Delany.

  The man was wielding a large knife in a threatening manner and shouting at poor Kim. I couldn’t hear his words, but I had no doubt he was looking for the missing thumb drive. I also had no doubt that when he was convinced that Kim didn’t have it, her life would be over.

  After watching for a moment, we retreated back into the first room to consider our options.

  “Twelve of them and seven of us,” Kevin said. “I don’t like those odds.”

  “Not to mention that they are probably all armed, some of them with automatic rifles and we have four handguns between us,” Ox added.

  “Maybe you should call for backup,” Dad suggested.

  “No time,” I replied. “As soon as that guy wielding the knife discovers that Kim doesn’t have what he’s looking for, he’ll cut her throat.”

  Willie had been nosing around. “Dere’s another door over here,” he said. “It goes up some steps to a balcony dat looks down on de warehouse. You could get de drop on dem from up dere.”

  I took a quick look. “He’s right. We might just have a chance, and we’ll be far enough away from them that we just might pull off a bluff.”

  “What kind of bluff?” Dad asked.

  Willie had also found a janitor’s closet. I pulled out three brooms and handed one to Willie, Mary and Dad.

  “When the four of us with guns open fire, they will see your broomsticks and at a distance, think we’re all armed. Seeing they’re surrounded, maybe they’ll think twice about getting in a fire fight.”

  “And what happens if they call your bluff?” Dad asked.

  I didn’t have an answer, but Kevin did. He found an old wooden chair and shoved it under the door handle leading into the warehouse. “That ought to slow them down long enough for us to get back to our cars, but we’ll have to run like the devil himself was after us.”

  “I ain’t never seen the devil,” Mary said, “but that big guy with the knife is close enough for me.”

  “About the guy with the knife,” I said. “I’m afraid if we just announce our presence, the first thing he’ll do is cut Kim’s throat. I think our first move should be to take him out.”

  “I agree,” Kevin said. “Here’s what I think we should do. We’ll all go to the balcony and take our places. Ox has the loudest voice, so he should be the one to scare the bejesus out of them. You and I will have our guns trained on the big guy. When Ox shouts, we shoot. Surely one of us will take him out. Then we’ll just have to see what happens after that.”

  I looked at our little group. “Anyone have a better idea?”

  No one did.

  “Mary, Dad, Willie, if those guys don’t buy our bluff and start shooting, get the hell out of the way. Understand?”

  They all nodded.

  We made our way up the steps and spread out across the balcony. Mary, Dad and Willie aimed their broomstick cannons over the rail. Ox watched as Kevin and I crouched and rested our pistols on the balcony rail.

  I nodded and he silently counted down with his fingers.

  Three, two, one. HANDS IN THE AIR!” he bellowed. “WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED!”

  As I suspected, the man with the knife looked up, then quickly turned his attention to Kim.

  “NOW!” I shouted, and our pistols erupted simultaneously.

  I saw the big man lurch, his knife inches from Kim’s throat. We both fired again and the man collapsed, the knife falling from his hand.

  At first, there was no response from the others. They seemed to be considering their options. After seeing their comrade fall, they were most likely considering their chances. I heard one of them give an order, and several of them reached into their pockets and pulled out grenades of some kind.

  My hiney puckered as I considered the possibility that they might be hurling them into our balcony, but instead, they pulled the pins and tossed them onto the floor.

  We felt the concussion as the bombs exploded, filling the air with dense smoke.

  We couldn’t see what was happening, but we heard orders being given and footsteps retreating to the far end of the warehouse.

  None of us moved until the footsteps had died away. Only then did we venture down the stairs. Kevin removed the chair from the door and we fought our way through the smoke to where Kim was being held.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw she was still alive.

  As I loosened the ties that bound her to the chair, I heard the roar of outboard motors coming from the river bank. Fortunately for us, the terrorists had a getaway plan and chose to use it rather than have a shootout at the O K Corral.

  Considering the fact that a knife blade had been inches from her throat, Kim was in pretty good shape. As soon as her arms were free, she gave me a big hug.

  “Thank you soooo much! I’m certainly glad you survived your operation.”

  “That makes two of us,” I replied.

  The smoke was just beginning to clear when Mark and his Homeland Security team burst through the door.

  The look on his face when he saw our little group was priceless. In an instant, his demeanor changed from shock to relief, and finally to disgust.

  “How in the hell did you get here before us?” he asked. Almost immediately he answered his own question. “You copied the calls from Yasser’s cell phone before you handed it over to me, then had one of your guys do a trace. Am I right?”

  I nodded.

  He looked at the dead terrorist on the floor and then at the three senior citizens holding the brooms. “You actually took out a terrorist cell with brooms?”

  “Clean sweep,” Dad replied, smiling.

  “Had to use the broom,” Mary added. “Couldn’t get close enough to use my ball bat.”

  He just shook his head in amazement. “How many got away?”

  “A dozen,” I replied. “They had motorboats stashed on the riverbank.”

  “I wish you would have waited until we got here. We might have been able to wrap up the whole cell.”

  “If Walt would have waited,” Kim replied, “I wouldn’t be alive.” She pointed to the dead terrorist. “He was just seconds away from using that knife when Walt fired.”

  “Well, that’s a positive,” Mark said, “but with them getting away, we still have to worry about the attack they’ve been planning.”

  “Did you get anything off the thumb drive?” I asked.

  “We got the names, addresses and phone numbers of the other cell members, but I have no doubt they’ll regroup somewhere else and dump their cell phones.”

  “What about the offensive they were planning? Was there any information on that?”

  “Only this,” he said, handing me a sheet of paper. “Looks like some kind of code. I have my analysts working on it as we speak.”

  BEAST

  Q X F U M S L H R A E T O C F K L P B E A V W A

  S X Q R M T Y I L W V R J G D A W I N M K S T C

  V M D A Q K J G T U O P L J E W Z A R X J K B R

  U O S C E A C U L Q Z D M G U K R E

  T K S R Q X R D J B X Z Y I D G A L P T S C M E A T S

  Z V H K Y W P X U O K A Q V H I B W T B L P I F D S E

  C Y O K E Z R M T D X Z P K G E R N J R W Q X D H I Y

  V T Q Z M L F U J S X N B T Q Y E B P C Z M V F S T S

  S B C X L U T V S Y L H U T P W I X T I A Q N C D P V

  D T M S Z F A B Y Q Z P K J B V L

  “May I keep this?”

  “Sure, it’s a copy. Maybe you can make some sense out of it. If you do, call me immediately! No grandstanding!”

  “I wouldn’t think of it.”

  CHAPTER 21

  I heard a knock on the door and a cheer went up from t
he small group that had assembled in my living room.

  “Yeaaa! Pizza’s here!”

  On more than one occasion, when the need arose to solve a particularly sticky problem, I had called this group of crafty seniors together.

  Maggie, Ox, Judy, Mary, Willie, Jerry, the Professor, Dad, Bernice, Kevin and Veronica, along with myself, represented over 750 years of collective experience. There was very little in this old world that one of us had not come to grips with.

  After the pizza had been snarfed and Ox had impressed us with a massive burp, we were ready to get down to business.

  I passed out copies of the encrypted message that Mark’s men had pulled off of the thumb drive that Yasser had slipped into Kim’s pocket.

  “There’s a good chance that a clue to the terrorist group’s offensive is hidden in here,” I said. “Our job is to try to decipher it. The document is labeled ‘Beast.’ Any ideas what that might mean?”

  Bernice was first to answer. “When I think of beasts, I think of all the animals in the zoo. Maybe they’re going to blow up the zoo.”

  Jerry jumped on that one right away. “The largest beast in the zoo is the elephant. One day an elephant saw a naked man and asked, ‘How do you breathe through something so small?’”

  “Jerry, get serious or you’re outta here!”

  “Sorry, sometimes I just can’t help myself. How about this? Beast is one of the fictional characters in Marvel’s X-Men comics. He’s an authority on biochemistry and genetics and is the X-Men’s medical doctor. Maybe they’re going to blow up a hospital.”

  Judy raised her hand. “When I was serving in Korea, there was a six member boy band called Beast. They were the Korean version of the Backstreet Boys.”

  My eighty-nine year old father was definitely not a fan of contemporary boy bands. “Well, if they’re planning on blowing up some of those punk rockers, I just might sign on with them.”