The Blood Eagle in the Big Easy

by K. A. Lange

  “Do what exactly?”

  “Continue to involve yourself in the world around you?” She swept her arms around as she made her way to the bar for a fresh napkin. “How can you stand the pain?”

  “Love!” It was the only answer I had. “Without love what’s the point of life?” Walking over to her I put my arm around her shoulder. “Life, no matter how long or short, is full of both wonder and suffering.” Pulling her close she cried into my shoulder. “Life is as hard and unyielding as it is beautiful and tender. Hang onto the joy and let go of the pain. If you can do that you will be able to thrive instead of merely surviving life.” Holding her tightly I whispered in her ear. “So love deeply and often, cry when it hurts and rejoice in the little things.”

  She hugged me for all she was worth. “You’re so much stronger than I ever dreamt.” She sat down as she wiped more tears from her eyes. “You’re still my hero in so many ways, I don’t know if I could do it if I were in your shoes.”

  That made me uncomfortable as I took a seat next to her wringing my hands nervously. “We should talk about that possibility.”

  Closing her eyes she turned to me with a sad and confused look on her face. I broke my heart to see her like that. “Oh, so there’s more?”

  Shifting uncomfortably in my seat I wasn’t sure how to answer her. “I don’t know if there is or not, but you are my daughter and there is a chance you could be like me.”

  Her face contorted between fear and joy. “I don’t know if I want to be like you in that way. I think I do, but I’m scared.”

  “You’re a wise woman indeed.”

  She leaned back in her chair as she considered the possibilities. There were tests that could be performed to verify my suspicions but that would come in time. For now we talked about life, love and the inevitability of death. It wasn’t as if I couldn’t die but left to my own devices and foregoing anything hazardous I wasn’t sure just how many years I had in front of me, and I already had 2800 behind me. Mir told me that while the aging process was nearly nonexistent at a cellular level, I still aged however slowly it might be. Kira was frightened of the world changing around her and the people she loved dying while she watched helplessly. They were valid fears and ones that still haunt me to this day. The world is always changing and morphing into something altogether more beautiful and horrible at the same time. All we could do was hope for the best and do what we could to keep those around us safe. We spent the next few hours talking before she left to have the tests done. That left me with nothing else to do but worry about the results, and perhaps catch up on some paperwork.

  Chapter 21

  It was around eight when I got the message from Gregory asking to meet at his office at nine thirty for a joint task force situation report (SITREP). He also requested that I bring any additional files I might need to ensure the task force was brought up to speed. After pushing everything I needed to cloud storage I grabbed my things before calling for Mir.

  “How may I be of help sire?” He made a quick bow as he made one of those disapproving looks you get from your girlfriends mom when she really doesn’t like you.

  Looking around the room to see what could have caused such a reaction I plopped back in my seat. “What is it?”

  He scrunched up his nose as he considered the room. “It’s nothing really.”

  Wow he was a worse liar than I was. “I’d like to call bullshit!”

  Mir shook his head as he leaned back. “Fine have it your way.” He gave the office one more hard look before turning his attention back to me. “Isn’t this place a bit archaic and more than a little moldy? It’s such a change from your residence, which isn’t exactly modern but... Hell there are still soot stains from old gas lamps that used to hang on the walls. For god’s sake, you really need to step into the industrial age and we can work our way up from there.”

  That would have hurt my feelings if I hadn’t heard the same argument from my daughter. I had to admit it still kind of sucked to hear it from someone else. Moldy was a bit of a stretch... sort of. Everything in New Orleans was at least a little moldy. Damn! I really was going to have to talk to Kira about her plans for a more modern building in the near future.

  I wasn’t about to give up without at least trying to defend myself. “Such is the way of things here in the Crescent City. We seem to cling to tradition.”

  “Tradition?” He said incredulously. “So black mold and toxins are the reason nothing ever gets done in this city! That’s one hell of a tradition.”

  Oh for Christ’s sake! “Let’s just table this discussion for now and move on to the reason why I called you.”

  He straightened himself in his chair as he continued to look around the room disapprovingly. “By all means let’s get a move on! I’m an illusion in your minds eye and even I feel a chest infection coming on.”

  I never thought of Mir to be a hypochondriac before, and if I had to guess he was just trying to prove a point. “Someone is feeding information to Gullveig pertaining to our investigation.”

  He smiled as he understood his task. “So you would like me to find them?”

  “Immediately if not sooner.”

  “Consider it already taken care of, I’ll be in touch.” As quickly as he appeared he vanished into the aether to chase down our mole and perhaps to escape the toxic fumes.

  Gathering a few personal items I left my office soon after heading for the Hale Boggs Federal Building, named so after the Senate Majority Leader who died in a plane crash in 1972. Considering how close our two buildings were it only took me ten minutes even with heavy morning traffic to arrive at the underground parking garage. Flashing my ID to the Court Security Officer, or CSO, on duty he waved me through unimpeded. As I made my way to the elevators another CSO stopped me to check my ID before escorting me to the sixth floor, leaving me at the security checkpoint just outside the Marshal’s office before returning to his duties.

  At this point I was greeted by two young deputy Marshals who looked as if they just stepped out of a photoshoot for GQ magazine. They escorted me to the conference room which surprisingly was filled to capacity. I looked around the room to find that the members of the SOG were forced to stand against the back wall while a veritable of who’s who in Louisiana’s Judicial system took center stage. At the far end of the table sat the Clerk of Court and her assistant stood behind her. As head of the Marshal’s service Gregory sat next to her. The Chief Judge and her staff took up the remainder of the far side of the table. Gregory gestured for me to take the only open seat, which was conspicuously at the head of the table. Taking my seat I looked to my right and saw the rank and file of the FBI.

  Gregory stood as he shook my hand. “As you can see we have a few guests today.” Making myself comfortable I nodded at the head magistrate. “It would appear that many of my esteemed colleagues wanted to meet you.”

  The Head Magistrate stood and smiled in my direction. “What Mr. Aaron meant to say was most of the people in this room are left to clean up your messes.” With a smile she waved me back in my seat as I started to stand. “It’s not as if we mind usually, we just wanted a chance to meet and thank you for your service to our community.” She sat back in her chair relaxing slightly. “I for one am very happy to take credit for all your hard work, especially if all I have to do is push a little paperwork around to hide certain things from the public, its a small price to pay.”

  Smith couldn’t help himself as he feigned a cough trying to hid the fuck you he muttered under his breath. The agent next to Smith glared at him as his voice took a hard edge. “My name is Special Agent in Charge Michael Anderson, it's a pleasure to meet you.” He gave Smith one of the deadliest looks I’d ever been witness too before he gave me his full attention. “It would appear that Agent Smith has yet to learn his place. I’ll make sure I rectify that personally.”

  “Fuck you!” Smith screamed as he jumped to his feet. “I can’t believe you would allow this menace to roam the
streets to do whatever he pleases!”

  Anderson got to his feet slowly as he turned to Smith, grabbed him by the elbow and escorted him forcefully from the room. Normally I don’t care to bare witness to someone getting their ass chewed out but in Smith’s case I was more than willing to make an exception. Anderson quickly relieved Smith of his badge and service weapon before dismissing him from the premises.

  Anderson tried to compose himself as he stepped back in the room. “Mr. Smith will be unable to continue his duties during the course of this investigation.” He placed the weapon and badge inside his briefcase and snapped it closed. “I would like to offer my support in this matter from here on out. Whatever resources you need are at the SOG’s disposal.”

  Smith’s outburst and subsequent removal dampened the overall mood as Mr. Letten stood to speak. “It would seem that the SOG with the assistance of the FBI have much to discuss with you Mr. Warden, but I too would like to take a moment to thank you for all you have done to keep our city safe.”

  “It’s been a pleasure to serve the community.” Standing I shook the hands of all the visiting VIPS as they filed out to return to their daily routine. Anderson issued orders to his fellow agents and quickly followed the VIP’s out of the room to run down what few leads we had. Soon all that remained was me, the SOG, Anderson, and Gregory, allowing room for the SOG to sit in comfort for the remainder of our little gathering.

  “For those of you who may not know Special Agent in Charge Anderson, he’s the head of the New Orleans FBI Field Office.” Gregory looked unsure if he were happy about the new wrinkle in the room. “Now that the dog and pony show is over we can get down to business. Deputy Jones would you please bring us up to speed on the case.”

  Jones stood and grabbed a remote which dimmed the lights and lowered the projection screen. He began with the standard background information, starting with the purchase of the farm by Creepy George ten years ago, during which time it had been cited on several occasions by the local authorities for building code violations until the entire farm was condemned six months ago. CSI recovered a laptop in the upstairs bath that had been encrypted in layers, the first of which their techs already penetrated allowing them access to emails and other files. The second layer of encryption was military grade software and protected a partitioned section of the hard drive which Jones assured us would be penetrated soon.

  There were two emails in particular that were of interest which revealed official FBI files and photos of the two previous crime scenes in New Orleans. What made them of particular importance were the threats of violence in the body of each of the emails. The SOG had already secured a warrant to track the IP address of the person who created the now defunct email, but there was little hope they would find whoever did this in time to stop Gullveig. Unfortunately it was all we had at the moment. Jones concluded his part of the presentation and handed the remote to Pete who quickly delved into the details of the latest victim before turning the room over to yours truly.

  “Deputy Jones if you could please have someone access this address.” Handing him a piece of paper with the web address and password for the cloud drive we waited until the file opened. Unfortunately for me I didn’t have a clue on how to work this particular clicker so I faked it with the O.D.I.N. interface and opened the files at the speed of thought. “We’ll backtrack a little to lay the groundwork for where we are today.”

  Photos from Maine came into view as we discussed some of the basics of how we came in contact with the Fenrir or ‘the wolf’ Cult. I had the unpleasant task of informing them that one of the five missing leaders of the cult had been Helena. Disbelief and anger could be felt throughout the room. No one likes to be used and the Marshals as a whole were no different. With Helena, Dr. Galvez and Creepy George dead it left two unknowns still walking free, which meant that Gullveig only had two henchmen left at her disposal. The sooner we were able to discover their identities the quicker we would be able to track down her whereabouts.

  Confirming what many in the room were beginning to suspect I revealed that it appeared that we had someone inside our investigation feeding her information. The room was surprisingly quiet at the revelation allowing me to theorize that it was the same person who leaked them information twenty years ago. Though she could have recruited someone new during the past 20 years I didn’t think it likely. Suddenly my phone alerted me to a new message, which surprised the hell out of me since I was forced to turn it off before entering the building. Excusing myself, I opened the phone to find a message from Mir.

  ‘Sire, I was able to access the files on the laptop recovered from the farm. Please review these photo’s to see if you recognize anyone.’

  The first photo was of Helena, Galvez, Creepy George and Smith all posing for a group photo as they held Gullveig’s cane in the air like it was a trophy. Swallowing hard I closed the screen. “Exces me, Agent Anderson, can I have a moment of your time before we continue?”

  “Is it important?” Anderson was surprised at my request. “If it’s something to do with the case go ahead and share with the room.” Stepping over to him I clicked the screen open on my phone to privately reveal the photo.

  “If you will excuse me for a moment I need to make a call. Please continue in my absence.” Anderson stormed out into the hall to make his call.

  I continued, pretending to click the pointer and displayed the photo on the big screen to the entire room. Anger erupted from everyone in the room except Gregory, who turned several shades of gray. He picked up his phone and quickly dialed. A phone rang under the conference table. Gregory dropped out of site for a moment and returned with a phone in hand. “That son of a bitch!”

  “Smith?” Anderson asked as he returned to the room. “If he shows up at the office they have orders to arrest him on sight.”

  “He had to know we would find out or he wouldn’t have left this.” Gregory tossed the phone across the table at me. “Any idea’s where to start?”

  “Same as any other criminal!” Anderson seethed. “Only we need to keep it out of the press, for the safety of everyone involved as well as the public.”

  “Agreed,” Gregory nodded at Jones who quickly left the room presumably to issue a bolo for Smiths’ car and an APB for the man himself. Anderson made a call to activate the GPS tracker for his vehicle which was quickly found abandoned on the side of the road in the East. Smith had years of training on how the FBI or any other governmental agency would try to hunt him down and he could hide from them indefinitely if the need arose.

  It was time I played my trump card as I focused on what I needed from Mir, who was able to access all available cameras, whether it was cellphones or traffic cams throughout the city to track Smith’s movements. While the Marshals and the FBI could legally access these options they lacked the resources needed to view them in real time. Mir however could. The fact that Smith would never make it to trial was left unspoken yet understood throughout the room. He had far too many strikes against him, starting with the fact he was in bed with a homicidal body jumper and ending with the fact he had betrayed his fellow law enforcement brethren. It was only a matter of time before we found him, and once that occurred someone was going to have a really shitty day.

  Chapter 22

  It was nearly noon by the time I was able to extricate myself from the hornets nest I created with Smith’s photo. The Marshals, FBI and the Local Law Enforcement (LEO’s) had quietly launched a massive manhunt for Smith who was, for the moment at least, eluding detection. I was offering two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for information which lead to his capture. That should help any reluctant CI to step forward with any helpful details. It didn’t take long for word to spread through the city. Hell, this place is known for its gossip. The most intriguing side effect was the fact that nearly all criminal activity came to a screeching halt as they reluctantly joined forces with law enforcement. Smith had little hope of finding safe harbor and the odds continued to stack against
him with each passing hour.

  Stepping out of the elevator into the garage I found that there weren’t any CSO’s present. They were possibly tightening security around the perimeter of the building. One less thing for the Marshals to worry about as they focused their search for Captain Douche. Unlocking the car door I let my mind wonder as I absently left the garage, headed for the office. It would appear that Smith left his cell on purpose, using it as a listening device to ensure a head start if he were discovered.

  The lack of traffic this time of day made my rather short commute pass even faster. As I turned into the drive I quickly discovered that traffic hadn’t been light they were just all jammed into my parking lot. Kira’s pink Hummer was at the far corner, Katherine’s Mercedes was next to it, and Rex’s SUV was across the lot along with a few other vehicles I recognized. My security teams were visibly making their presence known as they patrolled the area. Something told me that whatever the issues were inside the building, it had little to do with Smith.

  I barely made it through the brass doors before Justine frantically waved me over, forcing me to ignore the shifting crowd on the second floor for the moment. “Good afternoon Justine.” I gave the crowd above us a hard look before turning my attention back to Justine who appeared to be highly stressed. “I take it we have visitors.”

  Her face was strained. None of the usual levity touched her delicate features. “You could say that.” she snapped. She glared upstairs as she pointed at my office. “Katherine and Kira are waiting for you. It would seem they’re at the center of this whole mess!” She was clearly angry about the current state of things.

  “Any clue what’s going on?”

  “Not really.” She pushed the sign in sheets to one side in a huff. “Its the entire MCC.” She waved her hand at the banister. “Every single one of them are here, waiting to see you, Kira and your ‘EX’-wife.”