by Lee Perry
One of her young engineers suddenly burst into her office, “A series of off-network servers are being flooded with massive data packets!” He looked stricken and pale, “What should I do?”
Bea held up a hand to calm him and turned to her screen. Her hands flew over the keyboard as she called up the servers he was referring to; she maintained a series of servers not connected to the bureau’s network for data she needed to store where her people could verify it clean and harmless. She leaned back in her chair, watching as a sea of code flooded her monitor.
“What’s happening?” the young agent asked in a hushed voice.
Leaning forward, her fingers again flew over the keyboard as she tapped the data stream, looking for the IP address and a small grin tugged at the corners of her mouth, “I believe,” she turned to him, “we’re being handed everything we’ll ever need to put away the Rossi Outfit… and more.”
Darien, CT
The agent on point tried the doorknob and when it turned, the second agent silently leaned the battering ram against the wall as the team flooded inside. Jordan’s surprise that the door had been left unlocked evaporated when she turned into the kitchen and found herself face to face with a toddler who bore the striking deep brown eyes of his mother,
“Cameron...” she greeted him with a smile. Officers surrounded two men and an older woman seated at the table, and a young woman standing at the sink emitted a small shriek, holding her hands over her head. Jordan dropped her arm, holstering her weapon. “Hello, Cameron…” she soothed, pulling the child from the high chair. “Let’s go outside…” Shots rang out from the teams that had continued through the house and she turned to an agent she knew was a parent, “Take him out to tactical…” He slung his assault weapon and took Cameron in his arms, turning and running for the back door.
Jordan drew her weapon again and ran down the hallway. She popped her head inside another room and saw two older men seated at a desk with their hands raised.
“We got this!” an agent shouted as she and her teammates pointed their weapons at who Jordan hoped was Anthony Rossi.
Following the sound of gunfire, Jordan ran up the stairs to the second floor. Seeing an officer down and clutching his leg, she grabbed him by his Kevlar and dragged him to the side. “FBI!” she shouted, “Put your weapons down and come out with your hands on your heads!”
“FUCK YOU, YOU CUNT!”
Jordan looked across the landing to the other agents and the leader gave her the okay sign. She nodded and they heard a different voice shout,
“Fuck you, Joey; I’m not gettin’ fucking killed because of you!”
“Well, then fuck you too, Fred!”
Jordan and the others ducked again when more shots rang out and she heard a man scream,
“YOU FUCK! YOU FUCK! YOU KILLED HIM!”
“Here I come!”
She heard the other voice scream and when she peeked down the hall, she saw a young man racing toward them, firing fully automatic handguns in both hands. The noise from the bullets flying at them in such a small-enclosed space was deafening, and holding her weapon in a firm one-handed grip; Jordan stepped into the hall, turned to the side to present as little a target as possible, and began firing. She felt sharp thuds across her abdomen and ribs and she stumbled back out of the hall and onto the landing. It was suddenly silent and the leader, taking a quick look down the hall to confirm Jordan’s hit, quickly darted across to kneel by Jordan and the fallen officer,
“You got him…” she said, popping open the snap buttons on her windbreaker. She tore up the Velcro fasteners on the side and lifted the front piece, “He’s down…” she informed her, scanning Jordan’s chest and abdomen for penetrating wounds, “and you are very lucky.” she grinned.
Jordan gestured with her chin to the agent next to her, “Check him…” She rasped and struggled to her feet, refastening the Velcro closures on her vest while she watched the other team members run down the hallway and into a side room shouting,
“HANDS ON YOUR HEAD! HANDS ON YOUR HEAD!”
She stood with her weapon at the ready until she heard,
“Two down, one in custody! CLEAR!”
She turned to the team leader, “That’s everyone on our list except Alex Sparrow…” She gestured to the stairs, “she’s probably hiding on the third floor.” Jordan started trudging up the staircase and the leader nodded, motioning for two SWAT agents to follow. Catherine said she was close… Jordan thought worriedly, where is she? She pressed a hand against her side to minimize movement, acutely aware she could feel broken ribs moving beneath her protective vest. “Goddammit…” she muttered, wincing when her earpiece crackled loudly,
“Jordan!” Stewart shouted, “Cyber says Catherine Bernard is in a warehouse…”
She turned to the two agents, “Stay here till you get more boots behind you...” she ordered and ran down the stairs, trying not to groan as she flew down the hall and out the back door. “Where?” she shouted, holstering her weapon and running to the car.
“Not far…” He held up a piece of paper and she snatched it from his hand as she passed him and got in the car. “Wait!” He ran after her, “I’ll come with you!”
“No…” she clutched the paper around the steering wheel and started the engine, “We don’t have Alex Sparrow yet and they still need to clear the third floor…” she threw the car into gear and flew down the driveway.
She rolled up the window and activated the GPS. She recited the address where Catherine was as clearly and calmly as possible and after a soft mechanical female voice informed her to take a right onto the roadway, Jordan fumbled for her phone; without looking, she double-tapped the screen and speed dialing Bea, didn’t see the lighthouse app that flashed, “Catherine is sending you a message”,
“Jordan…” Bea answered and continued, “I narrowed down Catherine Bernard’s location to a warehouse that is across a parking lot from another warehouse that’s presently going up like a Roman candle and my department is, at the present moment, receiving gigabytes of data from Doctor Bernard’s location.”
Jordan’s brows furrowed in momentary confusion, “And?”
“She busted into Anthony Rossi’s mainframe she’s making it deposit copies of all their illegal online activities directly into my secure servers.” Bea sounded smug and she added, “And I can tell you her phone is located approximately twenty feet above the floor of that warehouse… so there should be a second floor in there, understand?”
Alex could see the tall flames as she approached and she parked around the corner; clutching the gun wrapped in Anthony’s t-shirt as she ran to the warehouse. She could see police cars and fire trucks scattered in the street and in the parking lot and she hid behind as many vehicles as she could then hugged the corrugated metal wall of the warehouse and ducked inside.
Two police officers stood watching firefighters dousing the flames and one noticed Alex entering the warehouse behind him from the corner of his eye, “Crap, did anybody evacuate that building?”
His partner turned to regard the open warehouse bay doors and shrugged, turning back to the inferno, “I dunno. I heard there was all kinds of explosive shit blowing up but I haven’t heard nuthin’ since I got here… it probably doesn’t matter now.”
“Didn’t you hear the BOLO for some broad in Witness Protection?”
His partner shrugged, “Yeah… what about it?”
Alex climbed the metal stairs quietly, unwrapping the gun and dropping the t-shirt with a calm she didn’t feel. When she reached the top of the stairs she ran, pushing her way through the glass doors, gun extended in both hands. Turning to the left she saw her wife, waiting for her, also holding a gun in both hands, pointed at her.
Her mouth dropped open in shock, “Oh my god… it’s you!” Cathy stood silently and Alex struggled to catch her breath, “On the way here I started to think it was the FBI... fucking with me.” She snorted, finally noticing the flood of data that filled
the monitor behind her, “Step away from there…” Cathy said nothing and Alex shouted, “I said step away!”
“Or what,” Catherine said calmly, her voice a harsh whisper, “you’ll shoot me?” Alex’s mouth dropped open in shock at the soft raspy voice and she continued, “Will you shoot me in the throat, Alex? Like Coastanoa did? Or will you kill me like he killed our daughter?” Alex was speechless and she added, “I understand Ed was your co-worker… You,” her raspy voice shook with rage, “worked willingly with our daughter’s murderer!”
Alex suddenly looked angry too, “You have no idea what I was going through or who I am associated with now, Cathy…” She leered, “So if you want to know where Cameron is, you’ll move away from there and let me shut down whatever clever thing you think you’re doing.”
“I already know where he is, Alex.” Catherine’s voice sounded raw, “and the FBI is already there.”
Alex’s face flushed red with rage but she still gave her a feral smile, “But they don’t know you’re here, do they?”
“At this point,” she assured her, “I’m sure they do.”
Alex glanced again at the monitor, “I’m not kidding Cathy, step aside if you want to live to see your son.”
Catherine emitted an explosive sound from her lips, “I thought he was our son, Alex!” Their guns still trained on each other, Catherine held hers in one hand and pulled a well-worn picture from her back jean pocket, “Did you forget we had a daughter too?” She held it up for Alex to see, “How could you work for the people who murdered your little girl? Did you forget what Chelsea looked like lying dead on our kitchen floor in a pool of her own blood?”
“You don’t understand!” Alex shouted.
“What’s there to understand?” Catherine’s hoarse voice shook, “You willingly work for people who shot your wife and killed your daughter!”
“It was a mistake!” Alex wailed, “He wasn’t supposed to…” her voice suddenly faded.
“What?” Catherine cocked her head as though she couldn’t hear her, “He wasn’t supposed to kill us?”
“NO!” She shouted, desperate, “He wasn’t supposed to shoot her!”
“Oh… right,” Catherine’s smile was humorless; “he was only supposed to kill me… yes?”
Shaking with rage Alex yelled, “Get out of the way!”
Catherine dropped the hand holding the picture to her side and shook her head, “No.” she raised the gun higher.
They stared each other for a long moment, and Alex tried to calm herself and her shaking hands when she realized Catherine’s eyes were brimming with tears,
“Why didn’t you love us, Alex?” she implored quietly, “Why couldn’t you do what was right?”
Alex felt a lump form in her throat and she shook her head helplessly from side to side, “It’s not that simple…” she rasped hoarsely, “I won’t have it be that simple!”
Jordan burst in the room and Alex whirled, training her weapon on her, “Put the gun down, Alex!” she warned. “It’s over.”
Alex scoffed, looking from one woman to the other, “Oh my god, I should have known!”
“Put it down, Alex,” Jordan ordered, “it’s over now. Catherine found you, we have Cameron so just give it up and the federal prosecutor will cut you a deal.”
The hand Catherine held the gun in began to shake in relief when she heard Cameron was safe and her arm dropped to her side, a soft cry breaking from her.
“Oh, yeah, I see…” Alex kept her gun trained on Jordan but she shot Catherine an expression filled with hate, her voice dripping with sarcastic venom, “so I’ll go to prison so you and your FBI girlfriend can fuck happily ever after?”
Catherine shook her head and tears dripped from pleading eyes.
Jordan gripped her weapon, “Put it down…”
Alex ignored her, “Oh no, Cathy,” she scoffed contemptuously, “I think what’s gonna’ happen here is I’m gonna’ fuck you good and hard in hell…”
The cop entered the building and stood in the foyer; Unbelievable, he’d rather stand around watching a fire with his thumbs in his ass than do the frickin’ job… he thought, his hands resting on his heavy utility belt, “C’mon, Goddammit!” He shouted, “If anyone’s in here you gotta’ evacuate!” He cocked his head to one side, Is that talking? He hooked a thumb over his shoulder and added, “In case you haven’t noticed there’s a giant frickin’ fire raging outsi…”
Two gunshots suddenly rang out from the loft and he jumped, grabbing for his weapon and running for the metal staircase when he heard the ragged scream.
EPILOGUE
Resolution
Stamford, CT
Her hand felt warm and when she opened her mouth, an involuntary noise escaped it and she clamped it shut again, clutching the warmth. Kept heavily medicated for days, she was unable to do more than grunt painfully with each breath and blearily blink unfocused eyes before succumbing to the fog of the constantly dripping painkillers in her IV line.
She focused on the warmth in her hand and cautiously moved her fingers. Distantly, she wondered how much time was passing before realizing it was a hand holding hers. Hello? She tried to clear her throat and emitted a soft strangled noise. When she finally opened her eyes she blinked slowly, willing them to focus when the heavy lids suddenly dropped down, Goddammit… she thought, and blinked them open again.
Turning her head to the side, she stared dully until her vision began to clear and she realized she was looking into the warmest brown eyes she had ever seen; the only eyes she ever wanted to look into and she smiled weakly,
“Hey…” she mumbled, her voice thick from disuse.
“Hey, Jordan…” She heard the soft, raspy whisper, “I’m here.”
Jordan stared at her for a long minute before asking in a small voice, “Am I dreaming?”
“No,” Catherine snorted softly, “you’re in the hospital…”
Her smile was tremulous, “I can hear you…”
Catherine gave her hand a squeeze and stood, bending to place a soft kiss on her cheek, “That’s good,” Jordan could hear the smile in her voice, “cuz’ I’m supposed to keep it to a whisper for a while.”
Jordan smiled at the feel of the soft breath on her skin and she laughed for brief moment but the joy she felt was overwhelming and she burst into tears.
New York, NY
Stewart waved her in his office and she sank gratefully in the chair, exhausted; Jesus, I feel like I walked here from the hospital…
He was watching a news story online and turned up the volume,
“The tragic story that began nearly a year ago with the murder of a little girl and her mother has finally come to an end. It was two months ago today that the head of the Rossi crime family and his associates were taken into custody during a bizarre pair of simultaneous raids in Darien, Connecticut, and the list of charges against Anthony Rossi and the five remaining members of the Rossi outfit are now over one hundred pages long. Chief among them; conspiracy to murder and murder of a woman and her little girl, the wife and daughter of Alexandra Sparrow, a Rossi associate killed during the raid on a warehouse owned by Rossi, as well as the murders of five FBI agents. Their attorneys are preparing aggressive defenses, but their odds of receiving lenient sentences are bleak considering the mountain of evidence captured by the raid on the warehouse… only a portion of which was presented during a hastily convened federal Grand Jury earlier this week.” A federal prosecutor appeared on the screen, “The Rossi family maintained extensive digital records of their criminal activities online...” He shrugged, “It was just a matter of time before we caught them.”
Stewart clicked the window closed and snorted, “Well, I’m sure he’d like to think it was…”
Jordan rolled her eyes, “If he only knew.” she muttered.
“So…” He sat back in his chair, regarding her, “tough workout this morning? You look pretty pale.”
“Yeah,” she sighed, “leaving t
he hospital and coming here in a car was exhausting.”
“Doctor Bernard drive you?”
“Uh, no, protective services… She and Cam are waiting in the cafeteria…” she suddenly felt awkward, “we’re gonna’ have lunch.”
He looked at her questioningly, “And you came up here to…”
“I wanted to check in and get the latest.”
“Ah…” Stewart warmed to the subject again and leaning forward, dropped his elbows on the desk, “Well, Rossi was pretty shook up when he found out his best friend in the whole world hung himself in a prison cell.”
Jordan remembered the look on Rossi’s face when SWAT swarmed his office; He just sat there with his hands up, looking annoyed. “Really?” she shook her head, “Wish I’d seen that.”
“Yeah, the look on his face was absolute devastation and I thought; good, Mister Rossi, now you know how it feels… to lose someone… you…” His voice trailed away and a long moment of mutual silence passed between them. “Anyway, he managed to bounce back and got himself a pricey lawyer… We’re still holding his aunt for using a fraudulent credit card to make online purchases.”
“Fraudulent…” Jordan shook her head, “not stolen?”
“Rossi had aliases he used for credit cards and the like. The prosecutor’s just trying to use her as a wedge to get Rossi to roll on everything and plead guilty so he can save on a trial.”
“It won’t work…”