COP

by Jim Magwood

  Peter had the chopper warmed up when Jacob got to the little landing strip and they were soon landing at Roger’s cabin at Bistcho Lake, several miles to the west of Jacob’s lodge. Roger met them at the lake landing strip and took Jacob to his cabin by Jeep. It was nowhere near the size of Jacob’s lodge, but for Roger it also represented peace. It had a large computer center underground and he was linked by satellite to his business and his home in Vancouver where he could tap into massive resources. He also had contact with the resources of the group he worked with doing unofficial researching for governments and companies world wide, and he was able to link to satellites through them that gave him inroads into almost anywhere in the world.

  After catching up on life with each other for an hour, the men retired to the basement computer center and started discussing the project Paul Corbin had given Roger. Roger’s system had already collected huge amounts of data, but nothing had yet red-flagged. He didn’t see anything that gave him new insight, so that’s where he and Jacob started.

  “Here’s the list, Jacob, of everything that’s popped up. I’ve got it all categorized in this file by types of references— fires, names or titles of people, and so on. There are about fifty different categories, as you can see.”

  Jacob was sitting at the second computer so both men could read files together or both could be pursuing different activities. At this point, Roger was scrolling down the files and Jacob was just watching them and listening to Roger’s commentary.

  “Nothing here makes any direct or disturbing links. As you see, there are a few hundred reports about the fires themselves. Nothing in them that I can see that stand out. Pretty much news reports, police reports that are much more in depth, and so on. There are thousands of reports of children and problems. Here I’ve kept them isolated to school type problems: fights, robberies, deaths, and so on. Nothing stands out. It’s pretty sad to see so many violent incidents affecting the kids, but there’s nothing really, at least specifically, relating to what we’re looking at.

  “There are many items about the political figures. I’ve isolated out natural deaths, normal auto accidents and so forth. The list is just anything unnaturally violent or in the suspicious categories. There are a lot of them. If the crimes or accidents were apparently resolved and figured out, I isolated them out. I still have them in the database for later review if anything comes up, but I wanted to get this file down to what might be truly active, possibly related items that would fit what we’re looking for.

  “Now in this file I’ve taken the data I just showed you and tried to see if there are any links between them. It’s the same data, just released to search against each of the items for matches. There are many links, as you can see, but nothing major. The senator talked to a lot of kids. School fires from years ago that were started by angry kids. Kids that had been injured in some way that linked to some other item in the file. Again, nothing stands out as immediately being a clue to get us going, but it’s all there.”

  Jacob asked, “So, now that you’ve seen it all, what’s the answer?”

  “Well, right now I would say the answer is to leave it alone, take a nice long walk in this beautiful forest and then a nice long nap. But, I suspect that wouldn’t solve any problems. Anyway, it wouldn’t solve these problems. But it might solve problems regarding hunger and rest. You’ve had a long trip. Would you like to take a break and start this later?”

  “No. Thank you but I’m fine. I had some great food and a wonderful sleep last night. Perhaps we could begin eyeballing the lists and see if human eyes might pull out something the computer didn’t notice. Or maybe an idea might come to us by simply seeing all these items.”

  “Okay. Let me duplicate the list in your system there and then we can both see the same things, but separately. Okay now, if you see anything just speak out. Or highlight it and we can discuss it together later.”

  For the next seven hours the men scrolled down the lists. Nothing caused them to stop and have any major discussions, but they both highlighted several items to walk through later. Roger went upstairs and brought down some simple sandwich fixings and fresh fruit for lunch, but they kept on working. Finally about four o’clock, the men finished their run-through and began comparing notes.

  “You first,” Roger said. “I’ve had some time with the files already, so have you seen anything that raises your interest?”

  “Okay. I’ve been concentrating on the files with the linked ideas, then bouncing back and forth to the actual data. Just trying to let my mind focus on the types of activities and to enable ideas to come to the surface. As you said, there is nothing that sends up real red flags, but there are many that do seem linked in possibly relevant ways.

  “For instance, looking at the major crimes like murders and violence against the political figures, there are some where adults who were parents did the crimes. I didn’t see any of them that stood out specifically. What I tried to concentrate on were items where a father, for instance, shot a politician but the crime could also be linked to one of our other incidences. He also burned a school, for instance. Nothing like that popped up so I basically disregarded the shooting incident. I used the premise that an incident must be related to more than one of our other incidents to be included. That may be too simplistic, but it was a way to start.”

  “Yeah, I like the idea. We could get so specific here that every single crime would stand out, and that would drive us crazy. Did you see anything important?”

  “There were a few. There was one where someone on a school board had been fired for improper acts with some children and had then been attacked by some parents. Also, there was one of the same type where it was also linked to a politician making some speech about it. The person had ultimately been found innocent but had considered their life ruined and ended by attacking the politician. The politician was killed and the teacher tried and jailed, but that seems to be the end of it. Nothing to take us to the present.

  “There was another one—let me scroll down here a bit— yes, here it is. There was our senator, Marks, who was murdered. He made several speeches to school children and to several parent groups advocating moving to different types of schools, magnet schools I think he called them, that were not well received by the public. He received many pieces of violent correspondence, but no incidences came from them that were identified. There was another one where he was called on to setup some kind of a memorial for some children that were attacked and killed during a field trip to the city. Caught in some kind of a gang war, it said. But, the children were from out of state and the senator apparently didn’t think a memorial was called for. That produced a lot of anger at the time, but nothing came from it. Since it involved Marks and school children, it linked, but as the children were from out of the area and nothing further came from it, it is definitely on the back burner.

  “There were several other links of that type, but nothing that stood out as definitely needing heavy follow-up right now. Nothing that said it’s a major target for us.”

  “Did you find and mark a lot of items for further review?”

  “Yes, there are likely about two hundred or so. Again, nothing major, but possibilities.”

  “I came across several items of the same type of possible relevance. I was concentrating on the list of actual events and references, not the categorized list. I was trying to see similar names, or dates that put something in our specific time frame, or things that linked to those specific schools that had burned. That kind of thing. I saw some things that were close, but most of them had been resolved with a trial or something and so I discarded them. I did see those items you mentioned with the senator and there were a few others, but like you I didn’t feel they were really related.”

  “So, one whole day and we haven’t solved the crime yet. We must not be on the first team, do you think?”

  “Ah, but perhaps a decent meal and a night’s sleep would raise our consciousness levels? You didn’t happ
en to bring Marie to make one of her wonderful creations for us, did you?”

  “No, unfortunately we will have to provide for ourselves.”

  “Ah, then let’s move ourselves to the kitchen and see what the cook—moi—can find. Shall we?”

  “I’m sure we will survive.”

  Roger managed to find some beautiful lake trout not more than a day old and caught from the lake out front, plus assorted mushrooms, onions, rice and fresh rolls, and both men agreed he cooked a meal that was at least passable. They devoured every ounce of it.

  After the meal, Jacob said, “Yesterday, Marie baked some of her…”

  And Roger moaned, “Not her cinnamon rolls. Please don’t tell me that.”

  “Well, yes, she did that. And, oh, look. Here in my bag. She must have put this bag in here when I wasn’t looking and, oh, look, some of her…”

  “Cinnamon rolls,” Roger breathed. “Oh, Jacob. We could heat them, and I have butter, and we could…”

  “Yes, we could,” Jacob finished.

  And they did.

  By the time they finished, it was time for a night’s recuperation, so they promised each other an early start and turned in. Jacob thought Roger would likely dream of cinnamon rolls. Both men, though, spent a restless night thinking about computer files, woke early and were back at the research well before daybreak.

  Jake and Paul stood in front of Commander Carver getting their new, or additional, marching orders. Sylvia was still in the hospital, recovering but still having daily exams and shrapnel removals. Paul was still sore, but had no damage.

  “You two have been entirely too lazy. Not enough work, I ‘spose. Gotta get the city’s dime out of you. So, I want you to work on these supposed computer crimes with Henderson and Campbell. In addition to the bombing stuff. They’re swamped and all you got is these school things.”

  “But, Cap’n. The school things have us running every which way. We can’t get a handle on them. There’s more…”

  “That’s why you need some real work for a change. Get your minds to thinking straight again. Maybe you’ll see the light then and solve those school things in a timely fashion. Now, any more questions? Good. Go to work.”

  Jake opened his mouth to protest again, but Carver just looked up at him with that look. Jake closed his mouth and they walked back to their desks.

  They grumbled about the added work, even took a long lunch to salve their spirits, but huddled with the other detective team when they got back. They got a list of all the socalled computer crimes the other team was following, but only picked up the files for the bank raids. They spent well into the evening reading and discussing the files, trying to get some handle on them. Without luck. Everything seemed to be coming up with zeros these days.

  When they got back in the morning, they began their review again, called the other team for some clarifications, and called a couple of the banks to get more details. The two big cases they had were the intrusion into the Federal Reserve system and the raiding of the mortgage banks. Jake suggested maybe they approach Carver to get permission to go to Brussels or somewhere to follow up with them, but Paul just looked at him, so he said, “I guess not, huh?”

  Commander Carver threw the newspaper over his desk for Paul to catch. “What is this?” he growled.

  Paul glanced at the page staring up at him, then turned it so Jake could also look.

  “What specifically, Commander?”

  “What specifically is that little summary on the bottom of the page about attacks on banks all over the world, guys linked to our fires from across the country and other little tidbits you should be telling me about. And all of them linked together? Little tidbits which you two have supposedly been investigating for some weeks now and which you apparently aren’t getting anywhere on. Little tidbits the Chief called me about this morning, early this morning, when I should have been having a restful sleep. Is that what specifically enough for you two gentlemen?”

  Paul and Jake were both reading the article quickly. It had originally been written by a reporter in Spokane, then had been copied and expanded on by a D.C. reporter. The theme that came out was how a major national, and even international, conspiracy was taking place. How several people were involved from places around the world, and how it appeared to be headquartered in their own beautiful capital city.

  “Oh, man,” Jake moaned, and Carver replied, “Yeah, oh, man. What do you know about these things?”

  “Cap’n, we haven’t heard a word about this until now. Not another department from anywhere has called us. Have you heard from anyone else about these things being linked?” “Why, yes, now that you mention it. I did get a little social call from a certain gentleman from an unnamed agency spelled F-B-I asking me to tell him all about these links, which request I had to deftly dodge because I didn’t know anything about the links. He, on the other hand, had apparently gotten a social call from a certain gentleman in the White Hours of these United States asking him the same question, which question I assume he also deftly dodged because he didn’t know about them, either.”

  This time both Jake and Paul moaned, “Oh, man,” and Carver returned, “Yeah, oh, man.”

  He continued, “Do you able dee-tectives think you can go out into yon office and put your well educated heads together and come up with something I can pass back up the line to soothe the savage beasts in pay grades well above my own?”

  Then his voice lowered a bit and he said, “I know this has caught you by surprise and I know you’re working hard, but get on this mess and see what you can find. Get whatever teams you need together and sort this stuff into some neat little piles. See if you can find anything confirming that these things are tied together, or whether we can refute some of it. I’ve already sent out a message through the system telling everyone you two are in charge of tying this all together and that everyone is to cooperate. Everyone will still work on their own specific investigations, but everything is to flow to you two and get tied together. Capiche?”

  “Yes, sir, Cap’n, we do capiche. We do indeed,” Jake replied. “Perhaps now, Paul, you and I might retire to our office beyond yon door and prepare some major documents about this incident?”

  “Yup, I do think that would be more than appropriate. Commander, I believe…”

  “Get out of here, you two.”

  And they got.

  Paul and Jake spent most of the rest of the day gathering information relating to the news article. By the time they finished, more articles were popping up around the country and funneling their way. With most of them, as was usual with “conspiracy researching,” the news investigators made more out of the little actual data than was warranted, but they began to add up to a major headache for the many police departments that were trying to sort the incidents out.

  The men weren’t able to get much of substance, but did verify that the various articles accurately reported different incidents. There just wasn’t anything much that actually linked the incidents together. Two messages from supposed “interested parties,” one popping up in a French news office and the other with a D.C. newsman, came suspiciously close to the top of the lists they reviewed. Both the articles purportedly asked questions or claimed a small amount of information about certain events and then claimed the events were linked. The news people had jumped on the “questions” and ran stories based on them that claimed more fact than was evident. “Follow-up stories” would be forthcoming.

  By four o’clock, both men had headaches and they decided to call off the search for the day and go visit Sylvia. She hadn’t been able to have visitors since the explosion because of her general health and the many clean-up surgeries she had been having. When they called the hospital, they were informed she was able to have a few visitors now, so they headed that way.

  They had to pass through a police guard at her hall and door. The Chief was taking no chances on any possible follow-up attacks. When they knocked and Paul stuck his head in the
door, he choked at the sight and pulled his head back out.

  “What?” Jake said with a frantic tone in his voice.

  “She’s all bandages,” was all Paul could get out.

  The men stood in the hall for a moment, unsure what to do, then slowly, carefully edged through the door. And she was “all bandages.” She had a sheet covering her central body but her legs and arms and head were swathed in white. Her feet were uncovered, but her legs were wrapped individually, both arms were wrapped, and her body was seemingly encased in some softer wrapping. Nothing of her face showed except holes for her eyes and nostrils, with a breathing tube there, and her mouth was wrapped except for a hole for more tubes.

  Jake also choked, and almost backed out of the room. The men stood helplessly and just stared at the partner they couldn’t even see. Finally, Paul saw her eyes roll toward them and her index finger raise and wiggle at them. He grabbed Jake’s arm and pulled him to the bedside, one of them on each side of her. The left arm rose very slowly and they could almost hear it creak as it bent at the elbow. Sylvia’s hand got to her face, the index finger pointed at Paul, then to her mouth and wiggled.

  Paul looked doubtful for a moment, then asked, “Are you saying that you want us to talk, Syl?” The finger “nodded” up and down.

  “Okay. I guess I shouldn’t ask how you are, huh?” The finger wagged sideways.

  “Okay. Uh, you see Jake over the other side there?” The finger wagged up and down.

  “Uh, well, uh, we just wanted to see how you were. Maybe take you out dancing or something.”

  The hand and arm dropped to her body and they saw her stomach kind of convulsing—with laughter? They saw tears come out of the corners of her eyes. Then her hand raised again and she wagged, “No.”