“What about it?” said Tommy.
“I’m starting to think that it’s a slam dunk for self-defence.” Sawatski turned towards Spence. “I mean, that’s what it looks like, right partner?”
Spence nodded. “Oh yeah, it was totally self-defence, partner. Totally self-defence.”
“Can you make it stick?” said Cindy.
“Sure, we can make it stick,” said Sawatski. “We’re the good guys!”
“You better be sure,” said Claire, holding her injured wing.
Spence flagged down one of the arriving ambulances to attend to her. She recognized one of the uniforms that was on scene. “Hey, Jason!”
The uniform nodded. “Whatcha need, Spence?”
Spence pointed towards Claire Hebert. “Need you to follow this one in to Health Sciences, twenty-four-hour guard. The Stephanos thing.”
“You got it,” said Jason. He motioned over his partner to join the protection detail.
~
Tommy walked over to Ernie, who was leaning up against the railing next to Nathaniel’s corpse. “So, it’s probably time for you to get out of here,” said Tommy.
“Probably,” said Ernie.
“Think you’ll retire?”
Ernie smiled. He flicked his cigarette butt to the ground, crushing it out with his boot. “I think so. I’m getting too old for this shit.”
“Guess I’ll see you around.”
“Guess so.”
Ernie started walking away, down the access road in front of the Princess Elizabeth. Tommy looked back at the scene: Cindy, Claire, the big fat redhead guy, and the cops that weren’t as bad as he thought. He called out to Ernie, “Hey, Dad!”
Ernie stopped. He turned back to look at Tommy. “Yeah?”
“We should get a coffee some time.”
“Yeah,” said Ernie. “We should, son.” Ernie smiled back at Tommy. He kept smiling as he disappeared into the darkness.
~
Cindy left Claire, who was being attended to by two paramedics. She put her arms around Tommy. “That was one hell of a weekend, Felchfairy.”
“You got that right, Supercunt.” Tommy looked over at the spot where the snow had flown up from the explosion. “Looks like I’m gonna need a new truck.”
“Maybe,” said Cindy. “Then again, you do need a new van.” Cindy looked over at the boogie van, with its doors open, its engine idling, and the keys in the ignition.
Tommy smiled at her. “On one condition.”
“Name it.”
“Trim the dingle balls, so I can see out the windshield.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
February 3, 2016
The Winnipeg Sentinel
FEDERAL VIROLOGY LAB LINKED TO EXPERIMENTS ON RIVERVIEW GROUNDS. WINNIPEG STILL UNDER BOIL WATER ADVISORY
By David Worschuk
The RCMP Major Crimes Unit announced today that additional evidence of ‘unique chemical compounds’ has been discovered at the home of a Winnipeg biochemist who was employed at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg’s North End. A hazardous materials team from the laboratory, as well as members of the Winnipeg Police Service Emergency Response Team, attended to the home of Jason Matthew Pokrant at 88 Mattinee Bay in North Kildonan. The compounds were removed without incident.
Mr. Pokrant locked himself in one of the Level 4 containment labs at the federal facility on January 29, ingesting a lethal dosage of active viral cultures, including the Ebola virus. It is believed that Pokrant died soon after he ingested the lethal viral cocktail. His body has yet to be removed from a secure section of the Arlington Street laboratory.
“There is no threat to the public at this time, including the neighbourhood that surrounds the National Microbiology Laboratory,” said Heather Barnes, Communications Coordinator for the facility. “The laboratory is world-renowned for its safety systems, with zero events of loss of containment occurring since the facility opened in 1999.”
Pokrant’s apparent suicide note, which appeared in the January 30 edition of the Winnipeg Sentinel, detailed his work with the underground laboratory, which was housed in foundation remnants of the King George Hospital, which was demolished in 1999 to make way for the Riverview Health Centre. Pokrant spoke highly of Morley Chancellor, the reported head of research at the facility, in the note. Chancellor, who had worked at the Brandon Hospital for Mental Diseases in the early 1950s, was found clinging to life in the underground facility during the early morning hours of January 25. He was transferred to the Health Sciences Centre, where he remains on life support.
The City of Winnipeg water department has continued to analyse the chemical composition of the water supply since January 26, when information first came to light regarding the use of experimental compounds in the Winnipeg water supply. “We simply don’t know what we’re looking for,” said David Witwicki, water quality manager for the City of Winnipeg. “We are continuing to advise residents to boil water first before using it for drinking and cooking.”
Retailers in and around the city have sold out of much of the available bottled water stocks. The prime minister’s office announced today that Canadian Forces personnel from across the country are in the process of shipping bottled water to the city, using military transports.
The RCMP announced today that it has discovered additional evidence in regards to the extent of human testing for experimental compounds in Manitoba. Oscar Willington, an eighty-seven-year-old resident of Brandon, led RCMP investigators to a hidden storage room in the former Brandon Mental Health Centre. The facility was closed in 1999 and is the current site of the Assiniboine Community College. In 1949, Willington was working as an orderly at the centre. “I can still remember the screaming from the off-limits wards,” said Willington, who reportedly saw Dr. Donald Ewen Cameron at the facility. Dr. Cameron officially worked at the centre from 1929 to 1936, though unconfirmed reports have recently come to light that he continued to experiment on patients in Brandon as late as 1953.
Dr. Cameron, who died in 1967, was a key figure in one of the darkest chapters of Canadian medical history, experimenting with LSD and brainwashing techniques on unwitting patients at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal from 1953 to 1964. The experiments were funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, under the code name MKULTRA. Val Orlikow, the wife of long-time Winnipeg North MP David Orlikow, was one of Cameron’s patients. Orlikow, who died in 1990, first spoke publicly about her experience for an ABC News exposé on CIA mind control in 1979. “I thought that this was the coldest and most impersonal treatment that anyone could give to anybody in the world,” said Orlikow, who was being treated by Cameron for post-partum depression in the late 1950s. “I can’t imagine the mentality of people who would do this.” Orlikow sued the CIA, winning an out-of-court settlement in 1988. As part of the settlement, the CIA admitted no wrongdoing for the experiments that Orlikow was subjected to.
The discovery of the underground facility, which occurred during the early morning hours of January 25, continues to reveal connections to the Weights and Measures Branch of the Manitoba government. Tobias Finch, the deputy minister for the department, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the scene. Nathaniel Goodwin, listed as an employee of the department, was shot and killed by Winnipeg Police Service Detective Sergeant Miles Sawatski and his partner, Detective Constable Gayle Spence. The detectives were recently cleared of any wrongdoing by the Officer-Involved Shooting Board.
February 5, 2016
The Winnipeg Sentinel
DEATH OF VETERAN DETECTIVE IN FIERY CRASH YIELDS FEW CLUES
By Staff Reporter
The Winnipeg Police Service is appealing to the public for any information on the events surrounding the fatal collision that claimed the life of Winnipeg Police Service Detective Constable William Sangster during the early morning hours of January 25.
> Sangster was driving his personal car, a dark-brown 2004 Ford Crown Victoria, on Bartlet Avenue, when he was involved in a head-on collision with a 1986 Pontiac Parisienne that had been reported stolen. Sangster died at the scene. Neighbours in the vicinity of the crash reported loud noises at about 3:45 a.m. on the morning in question, which were assumed to be from snow removal equipment. The driver of the Pontiac fled the scene.
The city’s 311 enquiry line logged over thirty complaints from residents of Bartlet Avenue in the days leading up to the crash, due to heavy accumulations of ice, which had created deep ice ruts that may have contributed to the head-on collision. Anyone with information on the crash is asked to contact the Winnipeg Police Service Investigation Unit.
February 21, 2016
The Winnipeg Sentinel
RIVERVIEW ADMINISTRATOR FORMALLY CHARGED, SUPPLIED PATIENTS FOR “KING GEORGE” FACILITY
By David Worschuk
The latest twist in the story of human experimentation on Manitobans culminated in the arrest of Joseph P. McIntyre, chief administrator at the Riverview Health Centre. McIntyre, 57, appeared before a judge at the Manitoba Law Courts Building this morning, charged with multiple counts of patient endangerment. McIntyre pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The discovery of the underground facility, which was apparently known as the King George, revealed the existence of 24 patients who were being administered a variety of drug compounds. The patients ranged in age from 77 to 92, and were all listed as deceased at the Manitoba Department of Vital Statistics. Steven Cooper, the Crown attorney for these proceedings, explained to the court that the patients were chosen systematically, having no family or friends who would be enquiring as to their welfare if they suddenly died.
“The tactics used by McIntyre are what we would expect from an Orwellian novel,” said Cooper. “There are few words that can describe the level of suffering that these patients have endured.” The patients, whose names are under a publication ban, have been sent to various area hospitals for treatment. Two patients have reportedly died from the effects of the King George treatments.
November 17, 2016
The Winnipeg Sentinel
SENTINEL REPORTER RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS AWARD
By Staff Reporter
David Worschuk, Crime Reporter for the Winnipeg Sentinel, has received the prestigious Journalist of the Year Award from the National Newspaper Awards jury. Worschuk, a seven-year veteran of the Sentinel, was honoured in Toronto for his coverage of the Riverview Health Centre scandal, which revealed a decades-old legacy of human experimentation in Manitoba. Worschuk is currently writing a novel about the case, which is scheduled to be released by the newspaper’s Sentinel Press next year.
January 26, 2016
Kijiji Manitoba, Used Cars and Vehicles
WANTED: Looking for 1988–1996 Ford F-150 regular cab pickup truck, two-wheel drive. Any engine/transmission combination. Body must be good enough to pass safety. Must have dual tanks. Call Tommy at 204-929-3673.
About the Author
MICHAEL J. CLARK started his writing career in the field of automotive journalism, winning national awards in Canada for his writing and photography in both print and online publications. After retiring from reporting on all things car, Michael completed his first novel, Clean Sweep. He lives in Winnipeg with his wife, Carol.
DISCOVER ONLINE
Three crooked cops going straight after a murderer
Woody was working on getting high when the phone rang. Dennis was on a date — it was a date he paid for, but a date all the same. Os had blood on his hands from a little extracurricular law enforcement. All three men picked up their phones because they were cops, and cops are never really off-duty — not even when they’re crooked.
Detective Julie Owen was savagely killed in her own bed, and the unborn child she was carrying is nowhere to be found. The grisly crime has the brass breathing down the necks of the three detectives tasked with finding Julie’s killer. Woody, Dennis, and Os each shared a bond with Julie that went deeper than the blue of their uniforms and have their own reasons to want to find the person responsible for her murder. Secrets drive the investigation — secrets that need to stay buried long enough to solve the case.
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Copyright
Copyright © Michael J. Clark, 2018
Published by ECW Press
665 Gerrard Street East
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4M 1Y2
416-694-3348 / [email protected]
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
Cover design: Michel Vrana
Author photo: Christine Bradley Portrait
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Clark, Michael J., 1969–, author
Clean sweep : a crime novel / Michael J. Clark.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77041-397-9 (softcover).
Also issued as: 978-1-77305-171-0 (PDF),
978-1-77305-170-3 (ePub)
I. Title.
PS8605.L36236C54 2018 C813’.6 C2017-906198-4 C2017-906199-2
The publication of Clean Sweep has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and by the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays. Ce livre est financé en partie par le gouvernement du Canada. We also acknowledge the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), an agency of the Government of Ontario, and the contribution of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
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