“You really think I’m bad luck?”
“No, more like a lightning rod.”
“What should I do about it?”
“Don’t walk point. You watch our backs.”
“Just so you don’t make me wait in the car,” Ellie conceded. “Who do you think Donaldson will put on our necks?”
“Probably Morton and Finney,” Connor replied. “I saw Morton in interrogation with the woman after we brought her in. I’m thinking he saw potential there.”
“Morton hates your guts.”
“Morton thinks I’m a hotdog. He doesn’t hate me.”
“He calls you Honky-dog behind your back.”
“He does not,” Connor laughed.
“Only because he’d get written up for it.” Ellie smiled. “He put the make on me a couple times.”
“Oh no… someone was actually interested in dating you? How could he think such a thing? Morton will be chief of detectives one day soon. You could do worse. He’s around my age and never married.”
“Morton gives me the creeps. He’s a player.”
“He could be your frack buddy, Starbuck.”
Ellie gave Connor a head slap. “That’s for disrespecting the Galactica. I’d sooner go out with Jenkins.”
“I could arrange that, El.”
“I’ll use my stun gun on you in a heartbeat, Opie. You watch your mouth.”
“Sorry, El, my romantic fantasies were churning. What did you tell Morton when he asked you out?”
“I know how things work. I told him no politely.”
“Good, because we’re all on the same side.”
“Whatever you say, Honky-dog.”
Chapter 8
Conspirators
“Finally,” Jason commented. He stood with Luis, Connor, and Ellie in a cold drizzling December rain. “What the hell took them so long? You and Ellie have been back with the warrant for nearly an hour.”
“I don’t know, Jas,” Connor replied. “They were right behind us in the parking lot.”
Finney, sandy haired and five feet eight inches tall, wore a rumpled brown raincoat and walked with a slight limp from a knee that acted up in bad weather. He smiled at the police officers crookedly, his shoulders hunched and hands buried deeply in the pockets of his coat as he approached them. Morton, nearly half a foot taller than his partner, strode by Finney. He had an ease of movement with very little side to side gait. His hands swung slightly at his sides as he walked. Morton’s hair was cut short giving his already angular dark face a lean, angry look. He went up to Connor without a glance at the others.
“Are you ready to go?” Morton’s raspy base voice sounded impatient as if the uniformed officers had been keeping the detectives waiting.
“We’ve been ready, Detective,” Ellie piped in, leaning around Connor to lock eyes with Morton. “You guys were in the garage at the same time we were. Where the hell have you been?”
“Sorry,” Finney cut in. “Luke had to take a meeting with Councilman Stennis.”
“What?!” Ellie looked at Finney in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding. You guys jeopardized a righteous bust like this to kiss Stennis’s ass?”
“Councilman Stennis wanted reassurance this wasn’t another graffiti sting,” Morton replied, grinning at Ellie.
“Calm down, El.” Connor took her arm and ignored Morton’s innuendo. “Luis is senior on scene, Detective Morton.”
“We’re ready.” Arvizo nodded when Morton looked at him. “If you don’t mind me asking, how the hell did Stennis get a heads up on this operation?”
“I do mind,” Morton responded. “Let’s go. James, take us in.”
“Connor’s going in first, Detective,” Arvizo stated. “Jason and I go next. Ellie gets our six.”
“If that’s the way you want it.” Morton grimaced as if he’d bitten into something sour.
“Are you certain this is the house?” Finney asked Arvizo.
“As sure as we can be, and get this done before our guests down at the station warn them,” Luis answered. “Connor will be knocking not breaking the door down.”
The group quietly moved across the street and into position. Connor knocked on the door with his team spread out on both sides. The two detectives waited a few steps behind. A woman in her mid to late fifties answered the door. When she saw Connor, her eyes widened and she closed the door slightly.
“Que?”
“We have a warrant to search the premises,” Luis explained in Spanish, holding up the warrant. “Step aside, please.”
“No… no…” the woman said, shaking her head and trying to close the door.
Connor drew his Ruger out, holding it against his leg. He pushed gently in against the woman’s closing pressure, easing her inexorably back, forcing her to retreat. When the door was open sufficiently, Connor brushed by the protesting woman and inside the house. He rushed into the room on his left with weapon raised while Arvizo went right. After clearing the entryway, Arvizo escorted the woman from the house while Connor held position. Jason moved into Arvizo’s prior spot with riot gun ready. Ellie stayed on the stoop with a second riot gun. With the detectives detaining the woman, Arvizo hurried back into the house behind Connor.
In the larger room a green sofa, stuffing sticking out of the cushions, was pushed against the far wall. An end table held overflowing ashtrays, empty glasses, beer bottles, and paper trash. Two frayed lawn chairs rounded out the ensemble. Connor grinned at what decorated the opposite wall. A fifty inch Sony Plasma television and wireless speakers adorned the peeling wallpaper. A huge entertainment center was set up under it. Connor recognized both a Playstation 3 and a Nintendo Wii outfit along with piles of accouterments.
Connor and Arvizo stayed where they were, watching the hallway leading to the back bedrooms while Jason cleared the kitchen on the right with Ellie guarding his back. Jason carefully opened the door leading out to the attached garage. He hit the light switch. The tiny garage was piled high with refuse. Something furry with a long thin tail scurried from one side of the garage to the other. Jason looked at Ellie, who returned his gaze with a gesture of contorting her face and gagging. They returned to the main living room. Jason shook his head in the negative.
Connor walked up on the first bedroom to his left; and opened the door, allowing it to swing open without moving from the side of the frame. He peeked in and saw it contained elaborate printing gear with copy machines and computers. The room was immaculately clean. Connor cleared the small closet, and stepped out of the room. The door inside the next bedroom on the left had three unkempt beds and a sleeping bag on the floor. A filthy bathroom across from the bedroom was empty. Connor went to the last bedroom at the end of the hall. He gestured for his companions to get back against the wall. Connor tried the doorknob while standing to the side. It was locked. A shotgun blast blew out the center of the door, causing the three officers outside to duck into the rooms along the hallway. Connor looked questioningly at Arvizo who held up a hand in a wait gesture.
“Stop shooting! We are with the Oakland Police Department. We have a warrant to search the premises,” Luis yelled in Spanish. “Lay down your weapons and come out or you will die. We have snipers zeroed in on your room. Come out with your hands on top of your heads or I will have them sweep the room with fifty caliber bullets.”
“Fuck you!” A voice screamed out from inside the room, accompanied by a second blast through the door.
Luis shrugged from the bathroom doorway at Connor. Connor threw a concussion grenade through the blast hole, knowing if anything had been volatile inside it would have blown when the shotgun was fired. After the blast, screams of pain emanated from the room. Connor broke through what was left of the door. Two men lay on the floor, bleeding from the ears, nose and mouth as they writhed on the floor. Crates and boxes were piled against the surrounding walls. Luis followed Connor around the room while Jason and Ellie watched the two men on the floor. Arvizo smiled at Connor, ta
king out his earplugs after opening the first box he came to.
“Jackpot!” Luis grinned, holding up documentary paper. “I’ll go get the detectives while you three nurse these two idiots. I’ll call for an ambulance too.”
“Luis, when Morton comes inside, would you stick with him?” Connor asked. “I’m wondering if he’s representing other interests on this operation.”
“Yeah, I will,” Luis agreed. “I thought it kind of funky for him to be discussing this with Stennis.”
“That was my thought too,” Connor agreed, putting on his Nitrile gloves. “We need to gently keep our superiors from screwing around with the files and computers in the next room.”
“I’ll call Ben on his private line and tell him we need a high tech team right now before the crime scene gets unintentionally contaminated.” Luis took out his cell-phone and walked away.
“You really think Stennis is worried about this bust?” Ellie asked Connor as they all took out their earplugs. Connor knelt next to the first injured man. Ellie collected the two shotguns with gloved hands and put them aside.
“Not really.” Connor carefully searched each of the downed men as they rolled around in agony. “Luis told you not to shoot that damn shotgun again.”
Jason chuckled. “They can’t hear you, Opie.”
“Who cares,” Connor replied, grinning up at Jason. “Any thoughts about Morton and Stennis, Jas?”
“He’s the youngest detective in the precinct. I don’t know much about how he got there.” Jason bagged items Connor took from each man while Ellie observed. “Do you think he’s supposed to acquire something from our crime scene for his buddy?”
“I know detectives only screw around with computers at a crime scene on TV,” Connor said. “In real life they bag and tag without so much as turning them on in case the computers have a virus encoded to destroy everything on the hard drive.”
“You two are really getting us up to our eyeballs in political intrigue,” Jason observed, sealing the first man’s effects and taking out a second bag.
“Doesn’t it feel nice to get out from under the fracking overpass once in a while?” Ellie asked.
“That’s cold, El.” Jason feigned outrage. “Luis and I are at your beck and call - and this is the thanks we get?”
“Tell her about the darkness, Jas,” Connor directed. “She doesn’t believe me.”
“Don’t doubt the darkness,” Jason advised. “We have to steer you under its radar until some of the potency dissipates.”
Ellie laughed. “You guys are frackin’ nuts. Hey, I was the rearguard today, wasn’t I? I’m heeding the darkness. How much more-”
“Did you have to blow them up, Bradwick?” Morton scoffed, looking down at the injured men.
“I had to think through it logically, Detective Morton,” Connor replied, standing up after giving Jason the last item from the second man. “The perp here kept shooting a twelve gauge shotgun at us through the door. It’s my bad. Instead of bringing Superman with me to the scene, I brought you, so I threw the grenade.”
This caused suppressed hilarity from Ellie and Jason who turned away, focusing on the room around them while Morton became apoplectic. He walked up into Connor’s face, poking him in the chest. Finney and Arvizo entered behind Morton, glancing at each other uneasily.
“Who the hell do you think you are, Bradwick!? First you slime a man that’s like a brother to me, and his son. Now, you’re disrespecting me at a crime scene. You’re nothing but a glory hound to me. Instead of pursuing hard police work, you’re out stirring up trouble.”
Jason grabbed hold of Ellie, seeing Mount Vesuvius forming on her face, ready to erupt. He shook his head violently, getting her to turn away.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Detective Morton,” Connor replied calmly. “If you have a grievance with me, Sergeant Donaldson is the one to place it with. Now really, Sir, we should process and protect the crime scene while Officer Arvizo escorts you through what we found.”
“Finney and I don’t need no damn guide.” Morton, angered he couldn’t get a rise out of Connor, worried at what Connor was hinting at.
“I called it in. Sergeant Donaldson is sending over a high tech team to process the computer and printing room, Detective,” Arvizo informed Morton.
“You did what?!” Morton turned on Arvizo. “You bypassed Finney and me on whose authority?”
“It was my crime scene until bringing you two in. I had two perps down and an unknown high tech room which could be contaminated. I’d think you’d be mad if I didn’t take precautions,” Luis reasoned.
“Calm down, Luke,” Finney urged, walking over to the open box and then looking around the room. “This is a damn good bust. It looks like we just shut down an illegal alien processing depot. God only knows who could have smuggled them this kind of paper. Luis is right. What the hell do we want to go rooting around in a room where the only thing we could do is mess things up and get into trouble? Hell, I can barely understand E-mailing.”
Morton, seeing he could only dig a deeper hole, shook his head in disgust. He exited the room, taking out his cell-phone as he headed down the hallway. Morton paused outside the computer and printing room, his left hand clenching into a fist, before the person he called answered. Morton continued through the house, speaking into his cell-phone in hushed tones.
“Luke has a lot on his mind,” Finney said apologetically, watching Jason and Connor help the two men into a sitting position as an ambulance siren approached. “I’ll go show the EMT’s in. Nice work.”
“Thanks, Detective,” Luis replied.
“That was tight,” Ellie said excitedly. “Did you see Morton’s face when Luis dropped the bomb on him? Who do you think he was calling?”
“Someone special, I’ll bet,” Connor replied.
“You made an enemy there, my friend,” Luis said, sporting a wide grin.
Connor shrugged. “Frack him.”
* * *
Connor ran after Ellie over the desert sand with only the full moon casting any light across the barren wasteland. He could hear Ellie’s labored breathing. The wispy crackling sound at his back of some nameless horror pursuing them filled him with terror. Connor believed he would have no way to fight the thing once it caught them. It had sucked the life from everyone they had known. Connor saw Ellie look back, urging him on in fear.
“Faster, Connor! The vamp’s right behind you!”
Connor’s head pounded, numbing all other senses. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. Clenching his fists, he turned, unwilling to be taken with his back turned. Fists up, Connor saw the huge fanged demon sweeping straight at him, its eyes round red orbs of fire with slavering mouth gaping in anticipation. With a groaning wail of anguish Connor launched out of his bed, sweat running into his eyes and hands beating at smoky tendrils of a nonexistent monster. As the monster’s form dissipated back into its dream lair, reality swept over Connor like a freight train, initiated by the insistent knocking on his door and the actual train whistle emanating from Jack London Square Station. Because of the holiday season, he and Ellie had pulled a double shift, sleep finally coming for him at six in the morning. A quick glance at the clock revealed it was only 10:35 AM.
Fighting off the dregs of his dream illusions, Connor jogged out to his front door. He peered through the security eyelet in the door. It was a harried looking Julie Morrison. Connor pulled back, fighting off the urge to pretend he wasn’t home. Glancing at his attire, Connor made sure he wasn’t hanging out of his pajamas and pulled the sweat-soaked sleeveless t-shirt down further past his waist. Julie knocked insistently before Connor could turn the doorknob. He opened the door partially, feigning surprise at seeing Dr. Morrison.
“Hi, Doc,” Connor greeted her with a small wave of his left hand. “What brings-”
“Connor, Detective Morton is leaning on me to certify you and Ellie as psychologically unfit for the job!” Julie blurted the sentence out
as if she had been practicing it for the last half hour.
Is that all? I wonder what she’d think of my dream. Connor stepped aside and waved her inside. “Excuse the way I look. I had a nightmare and sweated right through my pajamas. Could you make yourself at home while I shower, Doc?”
“Did you hear what I said?” Julie asked excitedly. “Morton calmly advised me if I ever wished to get past working as a psycho doorstop, I’d come to the right conclusion about you and Ellie.”
“Would any of that change if I skipped taking a shower?” Connor smiled to take the bite out of his less than enthusiastic response to the news.
“I… no… of course not,” Julie took a deep breath. “I guess you’re used to this kind of stuff.”
“Not really but I can’t do anything about it right this second. If you’re familiar with coffee makers, just hit mine on in the kitchen and have a seat. I’ll be out in ten minutes.”
“Okay,” Julie agreed, watching Connor walk toward his bathroom, the muscles rippling through the wet t-shirt and bulging on the backs of his arms as he walked. She wondered for the second time that morning whether this had been a stunt of her subconscious mind to be alone with Connor.
Julie moved toward Connor’s kitchen, noticing not a single item was out of place. There were no dirty dishes in the sink or even a stray dish towel thrown haphazardly on the table. Julie hung her coat over one of the chairs and pushed the coffee pot on button, making sure it began the brewing cycle before sitting down. Less than ten minutes later Connor appeared in clean jeans, t-shirt, and tennis shoes, toweling dry his crew-cut hair. He poured them both coffee before setting out creamer, sugar, napkins, and spoons. Julie took a sip of the coffee black, and nodded her approval.
“Good coffee.”
“Thanks, it’s not bad,” Connor replied, putting chocolate mocha creamer in his. “Okay, so Morton actually came to see you in person. He then insisted it would be bad for you if a report questioning me and Ellie’s ability to do the job isn’t filed… that right?”
The Protectors: Vigilante Justice (Vigilante Cops Book 1) Page 10