--===Net Wolf | Paladin | Episode 3: Body Count===--
+
Paladin
Episode 3: Body Count
Author's Note: *Thanks go to Almighty Kang for helping come up with the basic
plot idea for this episode.*
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
Susanne Barnes pulled into her reserved parking space and turned off the
motor. She moved quickly, as she was late for an important meeting with the
firm's senior partners. She grabbed her briefcase and locked her car, then
walked brusquely toward the elevator. She did not notice the men sitting in
the van fifty feet from her.
"How about that one?" the driver asked his boss.
"Looks good. Looks like she works out. Definitely a prime choice."
The driver started the van and pulled out of his parking space slowly. He
didn't want to give the woman any reason to look this way. He pulled into the
aisle she was walking down, and then paused the vehicle.
In the back, two men were ready. They had on gloves, and they pulled down ski
masks over their faces. The closer one unlatched the van's side door. The one
on the driver's side tapped the driver on the shoulder, to let him know they
were ready.
The driver accelerated, careful not to squeal the tires. As they approached
the woman, they slid the door back, and both men crowded into the doorway. The
van nearly hit the woman as it drove past her, and the two men jumped from the
moving vehicle. Before Susanne was even aware enough to scream for help, one
man put his hand over her mouth. In his hand was a rag soaked in ether.
Susanne collapsed into the arms of the second man, who held her up off the
ground. The van, which had kept going, circled around the aisles and came
back, stopping next to the two men and their unconscious victim. The man who
had knocked her out grabbed Susanne's feet, and the two manhandled her into
the vehicle. In another five seconds, the van door was closed, and the van was
pulling off.
Inside, the two men dumped the woman on the floor in the back of the van, and
then pulled a black curtain across, obscuring the view from outside into the
cargo area. The van stopped at the gate to pay its parking fee, and the
attendant was completely unaware that anything untoward had happened.
"They just get easier, boss," the driver noted.
"Practice makes perfect," he agreed.
The van drove on to a new location, where the task was repeated.
-----
Back in the parking garage, a half-hour passed without anything noteworthy
happening. Then, a security guard entered the facility. He walked down the
rows, checking license plates. When he had inspected the entire facility, he
returned to his desk in the lobby.
"Mr. Cutter, please," the man said, and then waited a few minutes. "Mr.
Cutter, this is security. We went and checked the parking garage for Ms.
Barnes' car like you asked, sir. It's not here. Has it been stolen?"
"I don't know," Mr. Cutter said. "Susanne's not here, and she should be. I've
not been able to reach her. I guess we'll wait to see if she comes in late.
That'll be all."
"Yes, sir."
Cutter set down the phone and frowned. His partner, Ed Jaymes, saw the
expression. "What's wrong?"
"Susanne's not here, and I can't reach her by phone. It's not like her to miss
a meeting without so much as an excuse."
Jaymes set down the contract they'd been going over. "That is unlike her. Have
you called her house, or just her cell?"
"Both. No answer at either one."
"Maybe we should send someone to her house to check on her."
"That's a good idea. I'll send security." Cutter picked up the phone to give
the order.
-----
"Gentlemen, this meeting is called to order. We are here to discuss a course
of action to be taken concerning the odd disappearance of one of our
colleagues. Susanne Barnes did not show up for work today. She missed a very
important meeting. She has not answered either her home phone, nor her cell,
and her car is not in her driveway. We have also checked, and it is not in the
building's parking garage, either.
"A call to the police department has elicited no reaction. Because she is an
adult, and because her car is also nowhere to be found, they have no
indication that any crime has been committed. They said that we have to wait
at least forty-eight hours before we can file a missing persons report,"
Cutter explained to the gathered attorneys.
"Do we have any indication that something has actually happened?" one of the
newer lawyers asked. "Perhaps she had a family emergency or something."
"You haven't worked with Susanne yet, have you, Jenkins?" Cutter inquired.
"No, sir."
"Susanne would do her best to inform us that she was going to miss a meeting
if she was in the emergency room. The only reason I can think of that she
would not have called in is because she *can't*. It's not in her nature to
leave us uninformed."
Jenkins nodded understanding, then one of the others asked, "So, what are our
options?"
"First, we can do nothing. We can wait forty-eight hours and see if she comes
into work in the next couple days. If she does, then we can find out why she
disappeared. If not, then we have wasted two days waiting for something that
probably won't happen, and might, in the meantime, cost Susanne her life.
"Second, we can badger the police into investigating. I don't think this will
work, and even if it did, they would not put much strength into the search.
"Third, we can hire a private investigator. This is probably our best option,
but the firm would have to cover the cost, and I also don't know how quickly
they could get on her trail."
Jaymes said, "I motion that the firm go ahead and hire one of our usual
investigators, to begin searching for Susanne immediately."
Jenkins, wanting to re-establish his loyalty to the firm, said, "I second."
"All in favor?" Cutter asked. The vote was unanimous. "Very well. We'll put
Saffer on it immediately, assuming he's available."
"What about Bobby Curtis?" one of the junior partners asked.
"Who?" Jaymes inquired.
"He's a businessman, but he's got lots of connections. He's blind, but he's
got a reputation for finding solutions to tough problems."
"You want us to use an untried investigator? And a *blind* one at that?"
Cutter asked in surprise.
"Well, the word is he's not just an investigator. He's got a reputation for
getting results. A friend of mine got his help a few months ago, and swears by
him."
"We'll table that idea for the moment," Jaymes decided. "For now, we'll go
with Saffer, and see if he can find Susanne. Meeting adjourned. Kevin, could
you stay behind for a moment?"
The junior partner felt his face flush in embarrassment, but he sat while the
rest of the group filed out. Cutter and Jaymes moved over to his end of the
table and sat across from him.
"Tell us what you know about this Curtis fellow," they ordered.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
Bobby sighed. "You know, I'm a cop, not a socialite. These suit-and-tie
affairs are not my thing."
"You're ostensibly a venture capitalist," Mel corrected. "And you have to look
the part."
"If I'm that friggin' rich, I can dress any goddamned way I want."
"You still have to play by the rules," Mel told him. "Lots of big names will
be there, and you can make some more contacts," she said, pulling a pair of
handcuffs out of a cabinet.
"This would be a hell of a lot easier if people knew I was a cop, rather than
me saying I 'might have a way,'" he complained while holding out his arms.
"I agree with you there, but that dimwit who set this up made it quite clear
that we weren't to reveal your official status."
"Then why can't I at least call myself an investigator? Or... hell, I don't
know. It just rankles me to have to keep lying about what I do for a living.
And what happens the first time some asshole asks me where my money came
from?" he asked while Mel slipped the cuffs around his hands.
"Just tell them you inherited it, and that your family made its money doing
import-export."
"Right."
Mel finished locking the handcuffs on his wrists. "Okay, now you have to
unlock them."
Bobby focused on the handcuff lock mechanism, imagining in his mind what it
looked like inside. He had studied a diagram of the lock for over an hour,
trying to burn it into his memory.
While Bobby struggled, Mel watched his progress. Finally, she asked, "So who
are you planning to take to this little get-together?"
All of a sudden, the lock popped open, and Bobby pulled the cuffs off his
wrists. Handing them back to Mel, he said, "As per your request, I'm going to
ask Amber to go with me."
Mel looked at him, and lowered her voice. "You mean, you still haven't taken
her out?"
"We haven't had another of these little parties for me to attend since we
discussed it."
Mel rolled her eyes at him. "You dork." She put the cuffs back in the cabinet,
and said, "It took a minute and eight seconds. You need to try to get that
time down."
"Yeah, I know. I'll keep working at it."
"Now go make Amber's dreams come true," Mel said with a grin.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Not that I mind, Bobby, but you could have given me a little more warning. I
look a mess," Amber objected.
"You look beautiful," he replied. "And I couldn't give you more warning,
because I didn't get more warning. I was invited to this thing at the last
minute. I get the feeling we might be here for a reason."
"Oh?"
"Well, I'm gaining a reputation as the guy to go to when you have problems.
They may not know how I solve their problems, but I think they're getting the
idea that I can get things done."
"Is that good or bad?"
"Probably bad for the people who set this program up. It's just fine with me.
I'd love to drop the charade."
Amber hugged his arm, and then "led" him toward the refreshments table.
"Thanks," he said to her as they approached. "I need a drink."
-----
Bobby and Amber had been mingling for nearly an hour, and they were very close
to leaving, when finally Cutter approached him. "Hi. Frank Cutter." He held
out his hand.
Amber, playing her role, whispered sotto voce "He's offering to shake."
Bobby nodded at her and stuck his hand out in mid-air, intentionally not
grasping Cutter's hand. Cutter grasped his hand and shook. Bobby said, "Bobby
Curtis. This is my friend, Amber Mitchell."
"How do you do," Amber said as he gently shook her hand.
"I must admit, I've been better," Cutter said. Lowering his voice, he stepped
a little closer and said, "Word on the grapevine is that, if a person has a
difficult problem, that you can help."
"That would depend on the problem," Bobby replied.
"My colleagues and I have a... difficulty. Might you be willing to help us?"
"Perhaps you should explain," Bobby said without committing himself.
"Let's step into a conference room. This way," Cutter said, and led him off.
Amber remembered to lead Bobby, who was supposed to be blind.
Once inside the conference room, Cutter dropped the coyness. "I'm an attorney.
I'm a senior partner at Cutter, Jaymes and Royce. Recently, one of our
partners, Susanne Barnes, disappeared mysteriously. Her car is nowhere to be
found, and she has dropped off the face of the planet. Neither her family nor
any of her friends has heard from her, and a private investigator we hired to
find her came up empty."
"Have you tried calling the police?" Amber asked.
"A half-dozen times," Cutter replied in disgust. "Because her car is also
gone, and there is no sign of foul play, they won't do anything. Oh, they took
a missing persons report, but that's it. They made it clear that they weren't
going to waste any resources on it."
"Why do you think she's in trouble?" Bobby asked. "Perhaps she just wanted to
start over somewhere else."
"That's completely out of character for Susanne. She was very close to her
family, and she was devoted to her job. She had just made partner six months
ago. I believe she was even having a new house built. People like that don't
just up and walk away."
Bobby had to admit that was true; usually people had to be either depressed or
in trouble to ditch a good life. "Does she have any enemies?"
"None that would go to these lengths. She handled corporate law for us. None
of her recent cases was in any way heated or controversial."
"So you have a missing woman with no indication of where she went. You have no
evidence that points to foul play except that her disappearance by choice
would be very odd behavior for her. Her car is missing, so you have no
indication when or where she might have been abducted, if that was the case...
is that about it?"
"Yes. No one has received any kind of ransom demand, no taunting messages
about her being killed, and no communications from her of any kind."
"I see. Yes, from the sound of it, your friend is in deep trouble."
"Will you help us?"
"I'm not sure that I *can* help you. But I will see what I can do."
Cutter had been warned not to discuss payment with Curtis, so he didn't say
anything more. They all left the conference room, and while Cutter returned to
the party, Bobby stopped Amber.
"Something tells me we just got what we came here for. Let's get out of here."
"Okay," Amber replied, and led him toward the doors.
-----
Bobby led Amber into his apartment, and closed the door. He watched as she
looked around at the sparsely furnished, almost completely undecorated place.
"Well, Freud?" he asked with a chuckle.
Amber blushed. "I was just looking."
"Sure you were," he teased. "I have to go to the restroom real quick, so make
yourself at home."
Bobby headed into the bathroom to take care of his business. The evening had
been interesting so far, but he hoped that the rest of the night would be even
more so. He washed his hands and dried them as he wondered how Mel was really
going to react to tonight.
*I guess I'll worry about that later.*
Bobby emerged from the bathroom, and it became quite clear that he wasn't
going to worry about it *now*, as he saw Amber leaning against the hallway
wall, staring at him hungrily. He also noticed, in more than a passing glance,
that she was completely nude. Her nipples stood erect from her body, and her
brown eyes bored in on him.
Before he could say anything, she pushed herself off the wall and moved toward
him. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her body against him. He
placed his hands on her hips, then slid them around to her ass.
"Oh, yeah, that feels good," she said. Then she tilted her head up and kissed
him hard on the mouth. Her tongue was soon insisting upon access, and he
parted his lips to allow it to invade. Their tongues were dueling as his hands
groped her ass cheeks.
Soon, Amber's hands moved back around to Bobby's front, and reached down to
his belt. She wiggled and squirmed, moving her body out of the way while not
breaking his grip on her butt, so that she could get his pants undone.
Finally, she pushed them down off his hips. Soon, his briefs followed suit.
Amber ignored his shirt for the time being as she reached out and took hold of
Bobby's dick. She stroked it, enjoying the feel of it in her hand. She had
wanted him to fuck her for months, and now she would not be denied. She
stroked him until he was as big and hard as he was going to get, then she
pressed herself fully against him again.
Breaking their kiss, she looked into his eyes. "Fuck me. Right here, right
now."
Bobby's hands gripped her ass even more tightly, and he lifted her off the
ground. Amber wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck,
holding herself in place. Bobby turned and pushed her against the wall, then
reached down to position his cock at her entrance.
"Oh, god, yes!" Amber screamed as Bobby pushed his dick into her. He backed
out and thrust in again, and she cried out again. He rammed into her over and
over, finally sinking to his full depth within her.
"Oh, yes. Fuck me hard!" she pleaded. Bobby got an idea. He focused briefly,
forcing the special aura to surround Amber. Then he used his kinetic ability
to hold her in place. He then started to ram into her as hard as he could.
With her body held in the grip of his psionic field, she felt the full force
of his thrusts. She was loving every second of it.
"Oh, shit! Oh, yes! Oh, god! Don't stop! Fuck me forever! Oh, god, I'm gonna
-" Amber's words were cut off by the scream of her orgasm. Bobby continued to
slam into her over and over, prolonging her orgasm as much as he could.
Finally, as Amber began to settle from her climax, he slowed his thrusts to a
stop. But he did not pull out of her.
Bobby took her into his arms again, releasing his psionic hold on her. He
carried her into the living room and set her down on the back of a soft chair,
his cock still buried inside her.
"Oh, shit, that was awesome!" she exclaimed. "Fuck me..."
Though the last was intended as more of an interjection than an order, Bobby
said, "I intend to. I'm not done with you yet."
Amber's eyes lit up at that. She smiled at him coyly and said, "What're you
gonna do to me, mister?"
Bobby just rolled his eyes at her. "Stand up and turn around," he said, giving
her room to do so. Amber instinctively bent over the back of the chair,
presenting her pussy to him, ready for fucking.
Bobby quickly re-entered her, and he didn't waste any time building up speed.
Quickly, he recovered his earlier rhythm, and Amber was soon moaning and
crying out in pleasure as she started to rise toward her peak once again.
When Amber screamed out her second orgasm, Bobby reached around and pinched
her nipples. Amber went into overdrive, bucking back at him and tossing her
blonde hair back and forth.
When Amber began to settle from her orgasm, Bobby didn't even bother waiting.
He pulled out of her, and then led her over to the couch. He gently pushed her
down onto her back, and then settled above her. She smiled up at him as he
entered her yet again. He didn't waste any finesse on this; he was close to
coming, and he really needed the release. He slammed into Amber with all of
his strength. For her part, Amber loved every movement. Her hips bucked up at
him, driving him even deeper inside of her.
Finally, Bobby couldn't hold back any more. He grunted loudly and loosed a
torrent of cum deep into her pussy. The feel of him within her sent Amber into
her final orgasm for the night, screaming and bucking beneath him. Bobby
continued to thrust until his climax passed, and then he slowed to a stop, but
it took Amber a few moments longer.
Finally, the two of them having exhausted their lust, they cuddled tightly on
the couch and took a short nap.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"God, I would love to have you all the time," Amber said with a smile as she
made breakfast the next morning.
"Amber..."
"Yeah, I know. You belong to Mel. I'm not looking for a relationship, anyway.
But you are a very, very good lover."
"I'm not so sure I 'belong' to Mel. And... why aren't you looking for a
relationship, if I may ask?"
She set the plates down on the table. "Well, let's see... My father beat me,
my two boyfriends in high school both forced me into sex, my college boyfriend
got me pregnant and then dumped me - the baby miscarried - and my one husband
beat me, cheated on me, and then dumped me. I'm pretty burnt out on the idea
of relationships with men for a while."
"Ouch," Bobby said in response. Amber smiled.
"Yeah. Life sucks sometimes. What did you mean, you don't belong to Mel? I
thought you two were going together."
"That's the problem. We can't really 'go' anywhere together. We can't live
together, we can't be seen together in public... essentially, we work
together, and that's about it."
"Does she know that you took me out last night?"
"Yes." He didn't think it prudent to tell her that she had insisted he do so.
"Ouch," Amber said in return, mimicking his earlier comment. "This could get
ugly."
"How so?" Bobby asked naively.
"Mel's not had good luck with relationships, either... but in her case, she's
the problem. She usually picks guys with whom a real relationship is very
unlikely. I believe she's avoiding a commitment for some reason, but she's
never talked to me about it."
"Oh. What do you think I should do?"
"For your own sake, I would say break it off. Unless you really love her, you
don't want to get any deeper than you already are and have to break it off
later. If you can't be seen with her, and I agree it's not safe to do so, then
you certainly can't marry her. And I think she really needs that."
"Breaking up with her could make life at the lab a bit harsh..."
"She'll get over it. Eventually."
"You're not just saying this so that I'll start dating you, are you?" he asked
astutely.
"You're seeing her now, and yet you took me on a date," she pointed out.
"But I'd be more available to you if she and I weren't a couple," he said,
reverting to the cop he used to be.
"Probably true. But like I said, I don't want a relationship. I want your
body," she said with a mischievous grin. "If you love her, then by all means,
stick with her. Find a way to marry her. But if you're not that serious about
it, you're only going to hurt her and cause yourself more grief if you don't
stop now."
"I don't really know how serious I am. But then, I guess that very thing means
I'm not all that serious."
Amber did not reply to that.
After a few moments of silent thought, Bobby said, "Thanks. I'll have to think
about it, but I think you're probably right." When she didn't respond, he
asked, "Is something wrong?"
"I just don't want to say anything else. So far, I've given my professional
assessment of the situation. Anything else I might say would be personal, and
I don't want to put Mel down in front of you."
"I thought you were her friend," Bobby said, confused.
"Oh, we are. Best friends. But I'm not a blind friend. Uh, excuse me..." Bobby
waved it off. "I see all her flaws very clearly. It makes it hard to watch
sometimes... her life is something of a train wreck."
"She hasn't really told me a lot about it. I know about some of her childhood,
but mostly we end up talking about work, even... you know..."
"In bed? Yeah, that sounds like Mel. Her work is about all she has."
"That's kind of sad."
"No, it's very sad. It's pathetic. And she won't take any advice about
changing it, so it will never get better. That's what you'd be in for if you
stick with her. I don't want to sound like she's a horrible person, because
she's not. She's just very... one-dimensional."
"And you're more well-rounded..." Bobby finished her thought.
"Well, I'm two-dimensional. I like work and sex."
Bobby arched an eyebrow at her. "Combined?" he said with a grin.
"Whenever possible!" she responded, and opened up her robe.
They were late getting to work.
-----
"Hey, you two," Terrier called as they came in. "Mel was looking for you,
boss."
"I'm sure," Bobby said with a smirk to Amber. "Where is she?"
"In the lab, where else?" he replied.
As Bobby walked off toward the lab, Russell asked Amber, "So how'd your date
go with him?"
Amber looked at him very coolly. "None of your business. Don't you have work
to do?"
Terrier backed off. "Okay, okay..."
In the lab, Bobby snuck up behind Mel, who was looking over a display. He
reached around and grabbed her quickly, causing her to scream.
"Bobby! Put me down!" she said, but she was grinning. She turned around and
gave him a kiss once he did let her go. Then she looked at her watch. "Hmm.
Your date with Amber must have gone quite well."
"I thought you didn't want details," he reminded her. In his mind, he was
wondering if Amber was right about Mel's personality.
She gave him a strange look, then shook her head and turned back to the
display. Bobby wasn't sure what she was thinking, but he didn't want to deal
with it just then, anyway. "Dipshit said you wanted to see me about something."
Mel nodded. She brought up another display on her screen. "I've collected all
the information the government has on Susanne Barnes. It's remarkably little.
She was fingerprinted as a child, so we have those, but she has no criminal
record, no service record, no nothing. She's little more than a name and a
number."
"That's great. So where the hell am I supposed to start with this? People
don't understand that this is why police rarely tackle adult missing persons
cases; there's nowhere to start!"
"Well, you could talk to her friends, I suppose."
"If I can figure out who *they* are..."
"You're the cop. I'm just the techno-weenie," she said with a smile.
"At least you're a cute techno-weenie," he offered. She blushed, and he kissed
her. When they broke the kiss, she looked at him suspiciously.
"Something's wrong. What is it?" she asked.
*Ah, shit. How do women do that?* He wouldn't lie to her, but he wasn't going
to discuss it with her at the moment. "Ask me again later. I'm not up to
discussing it now."
Mel gave him a curious look, but nodded her head. "So, what are you going to
do about Ms. Barnes?"
"Go talk to her coworkers, and see if she had friends outside of work that
they knew about."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Yeah, and I might as well get to it."
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The police detective walked into the pawn shop and looked around. He was new
on the force, having transferred from a small city force. He walked up to the
counter, where the clerk was eyeing him.
"Can I help you?" the man asked.
"Detective Grayson, Broadmoor Police Department. You reported some suspicious
jewelry?"
"Yeah. This guy comes in and sells me this whole load of stuff. After I got to
sortin' through it, I see that some of it's engraved. But the engravings are
to different people, y'know? Like he got the jewelry from lotsa different
folks."
"Can I see the items?"
"Yeah, I kept them in a box. I didn't want to mix them in with my other stuff,
'cause I figured you was gonna take it all." The man grumbled something about
the financial loss and how stupid he'd been to not examine the stuff more
closely before paying for it.
"Can you give me a description of the man who sold it to you?"
The pawn broker told the cop what he knew, and then the detective took the box
of jewelry and returned to his car.
-----
Back at the precinct, Grayson filled out the necessary paperwork, turned in
the evidence, and then he went to talk to his lieutenant about the case.
"What'd you get, Charlie?" his lieutenant asked.
"Looks like stolen goods. Some of the stuff is engraved, and is to several
different people."
"Well, check the books, and see if any of the names match up."
"I already had them run that check on my way in. The only possible matches
they found weren't to any robberies or burglaries."
"What, then?"
"Two of the names could possibly be to missing persons cases. Since we don't
have full names on the engravings, there can't be a 'match', but those were
the only things the computer spit out."
At that, the lieutenant sat up straighter. "Let me see the file." Grayson
handed him the notes. He took only a few looks at the file before closing it.
"This is good work, Grayson. Unfortunately, I have another case I need you to
work on that has a higher priority than this. I'll make sure this gets to one
of the other detectives."
"Yes, sir. What do you have for me?"
"Armed robbery. Here's the file." The lieutenant handed him a file from the
top of the pile on his desk. "See how quick you can track these bastards down."
"Yes, sir." Grayson left the office, and the lieutenant watched him go,
tapping the edge of the file folder against his desk. Once he saw Grayson sit
back down at his office, he picked up the phone.
"Records, Malloy speaking," the voice on the other end said.
"This is Lieutenant Sandoval. I need to transfer a case."
"Your access code, Lieutenant?"
"Adam William Sam Henry Ida Thomas four-eight-four," he replied.
After a brief pause, Alice Malloy asked, "Case number?"
"3874296."
"That case is currently assigned to Detective Charles Grayson, correct?"
"Yes. I would like it reassigned to Detective Ian Loginov."
After another brief pause, she said, "You are aware, Lieutenant, that
Detective Loginov is on medical leave, and may not ever return to duty?"
Sandoval got a little irritated. "I don't need to have my decisions questioned
by a clerk, *Officer*."
"I'm just doing my job, sir," she said calmly. In the last eight months, she'd
gotten used to being barked at. She entered the information into the computer.
"The case has been reassigned, sir. Is there anything else you need?"
"No, that will be sufficient." Sandoval hung up before she could say anything.
"Have a nice day, Jackass," she said into her headset. Having nothing else
pressing to do, and curious as to why a newly opened case was being given over
to an officer who was currently in the hospital, Alice took a look at the
file. What she saw disturbed her greatly.
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"Damn that felt good," Alice said, cuddling up next to Bobby. They had just
finished making love, and she was basking in the after-glow.
Bobby rubbed her back gently but didn't say anything. He kissed the top of her
head, though.
After a moment, she asked playfully, "So how many other women do you share
this bed with?"
Bobby arched an eyebrow at her in surprise.
"Oh, come now, Mr. Curtis," she said in her at-work voice. "We're not in a
monogamous relationship, and I know there are others. Probably that tramp who
works for you as a reader."
"Are you laying claim to me, Alice?" he asked worriedly.
For a moment, she didn't respond. Then she said, "No. Something tells me that
would be a bad move for me to make. I'll take what I can get."
"Thank you. Right now, I cannot make a commitment to you, or anyone else. My
life is simply too complicated."
"Hmph. Complicated. That's what my boss said this afternoon."
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, it's nothing. There's this case that got buried today, and it really
irritates me. When I mentioned it to my boss, he said, 'the assigning of case
files to detectives is very complicated.' I wanted to smack him."
Bobby sat up a little in bed as she got up to go to the restroom. "What was
the case about?" he asked, just to show interest in her life.
When she came back out from the bathroom, she said, "Some stolen jewelry. But
the detective who first opened the case believes the jewelry to have come from
some missing persons cases. But the lieutenant in charge of that division
assigned the case to someone who's in the freakin' *hospital*!"
Bobby's mind was wandering now. *Jewelry... I wonder...* "So no one is looking
at the case now?"
"No. It's just sitting there. And it will continue to sit there, because
Loginov probably won't ever come back to work!"
"You think I could have a look at the case file?" Bobby asked as off-handedly
as he could.
Alice looked at him. "Why would you want to see the case file? Just what *do*
you do with the information I give you from time to time? I've seen no sign
that you're just a police junkie... though I know you used to be a cop," she
said with a smile, revealing that she'd done her own background check on him.
"It's never appeared in the papers, so I know that's not it..."
"Occasionally, the people I deal with have problems, and ask me to look into
things, quietly. If and when I can help, I do. That's all."
"You're a detective?"
"No, I'm a businessman who used to be a cop," he said, remembering the lie.
"But you're interested in this file. Why?"
"Because someone is missing, and I'm wondering if her jewelry is missing with
her."
"Oh." Alice sat next to him for a moment, considering. Finally, she said,
"Come by tomorrow afternoon. I'll have a copy of the file for you then."
"Will the file contain a description of each item of jewelry?"
"Probably not."
"Is there any way at all you could get me pictures, or descriptions, of that
jewelry?"
"You're asking a lot for a guy who won't commit," she said with a wry grin.
He ran his hand down her side, causing her to shiver. "Aw, c'mon. You know you
want to help me..."
"All right, damn you, I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you," he said, leaning over and gently pushing her down onto the bed.
"Oh, god, yes..." she muttered.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"Hey, Alice," Bobby said quietly. One of Alice's coworkers was in the office.
"Hello, Mr. Curtis," she said properly. "You're here for that copy of your
police record, correct?"
Bobby was confused at first, then realized she was covering because of the
other person.
"Yes, ma'am," he said politely. The coworker did not so much as glance at
Bobby as he left the room. When he was out of sight, Bobby moved closer.
"This cloak and dagger shit is starting to get to me," Alice admitted. "I'd
prefer if you didn't come to the office anymore."
Bobby stepped back just slightly. "I thought you were okay with our
relationship," he objected.
"I am... mostly. But from now on, when you need something, meet me for dinner
or something. I can take files out of here without a problem, but if I'm seen
giving them to you, it's my ass."
"Okay, fair enough. I'm sorry this is getting to you. I do try to get my
information other ways before I pester you."
"I appreciate that. I printed out some digital pictures of the jewelry for
you. Don't ask how I got them."
Bobby arched an eyebrow at that, but didn't say anything. He took the folder
and slipped it into a manila envelope, which he then sealed. He said, "I think
you'd better give me a copy of my actual police report, now... just in case
that other guy gets suspicious."
"Good idea," she agreed, and printed up a copy. "Will that be all, Mr.
Curtis?" she said, back to her proper self, but with a smile.
"Yes. Thank you." He forewent the kiss, just in case, but he smiled at her and
gave her a nod, and then he left the office.
-----
Back in his own office, Bobby looked over the file carefully. He separated the
pictures into men's and women's jewelry, and set the men's pictures aside. He
looked at the case file, which was ridiculously thin because it had just been
opened.
Amber came in and sat on the corner of his desk. When he looked up at her, she
smiled at him.
"Headquarters wants you to do some paperwork."
"I don't do paperwork."
"Apparently, they need to justify your funding, or something."
"Right. How do you justify the funding for an organization that does not
exist? Tell them to go piss up a flagpole. I'm not a bean counter."
Amber arched an eyebrow at him. "Something wrong?"
Bobby sighed and sat back in his chair. "Just the thing with Mel. Sorry to be
so snippy."
Amber moved closer. "You're going to have to do something soon, Bobby. For
your own sake."
"I know."
"Anyway, that's all I had for you. Whatcha workin' on?"
"That disappearance. Alice gave me a file about some stolen jewelry that got
pawned."
"You think it's related?"
"If it is, then this is far bigger than just a single disappearance. This guy
sold men's and women's jewelry, and the engravings on some indicate at least
six or seven different people."
"Wow. So what's your next step?"
"Go and see her coworkers. See if anyone recognizes any of this jewelry."
"Good luck."
"Thanks."
-----
"Mr. Curtis," Cutter said in some surprise. "What are you doing here? Did you
find Susanne?"
"Not yet. I'm following a lead." Bobby pulled out the pictures of the jewelry
from the leather folder he was carrying. "Do you recognize any of this jewelry
as being Susanne's?"
Cutter didn't even bother with them. "I wouldn't recognize Susanne's jewelry.
But her paralegal might." He pushed the button for the intercom. "Micah, could
you have JoAnne come to my office, please?"
"Yes, Mr. Cutter."
"JoAnne has worked with Susanne since she got here two years ago. If anyone
would recognize something that belonged to Susanne, it'd be her."
Bobby nodded. They waited for the woman in silence. Finally, there was a knock
at the door.
"Come in," Cutter responded. A very attractive redhead entered the office. She
graced Bobby with a beautiful smile, and then turned to Cutter. Bobby, in
character, had to pretend not to see her smile or her beauty.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
He handed her the pile of printouts. "Does any of this stuff belong to
Susanne, do you know?"
JoAnne flipped through the pictures quickly, until she got about halfway
through. "Wait... this one, maybe.... Yeah, this one is hers!" Flipping a few
more photos, she said, "And these earrings!" She didn't find any more, but she
pulled out the two pictures, a ring and a pair of earrings, and handed them to
Cutter. "Those two are hers. I'm sure of it."
Cutter took the stack of pictures from her, put the two on top, and handed
them off to Bobby. "Does this help you?" Bobby took the pictures but did not
look at them, as it would have revealed his secret.
"Yes, but it's not good news, I'm afraid."
"Why not?" JoAnne asked.
"These items were sold to a pawn broker. *Not* by a young woman attorney."
It didn't take much thinking for either of the other two to figure out what
that meant.
"She was mugged," JoAnne said.
"Or worse," Cutter agreed.
"What's your next step?" Cutter asked Bobby.
"To find the guy who sold these items to the broker. Then we'll see what
shakes loose."
"Keep us informed, will you?"
Bobby shook his hand, then nodded politely to JoAnne before he turned and
walked out of the office.
*This doesn't look very good.*
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
Paladin entered the pawn shop just after sunset. Bobby had taken the time to
return to the office and don some more appropriate garb for this part of the
city. He was now Paladin, someone you absolutely did not want to mess with.
The pawn broker, who was only 5' 7" tall, looked up at Paladin and said, "How
can I help you, Mack?"
The man tensed as Paladin reached into his overcoat, but was relieved to see
only a sheet of paper come out. Paladin put it on the counter and slid it
across to the man. "You bought these two items, and then gave them to the
police. You gave a vague description of the seller. I want his name."
"Hey, I don't know every guy that walks in the joint..."
"And you don't pay two grand for stolen merchandise to just anybody who walks
through the door. I want a name."
"I don't deal in stolen goods," the man said, offended.
"Then you're in the wrong line of work," Paladin replied simply. "Either way,
you know this mutt's name. I want it, and you're going to give it to me."
The man reached under his counter. He was obviously going for a gun. Paladin
was rather quicker on the draw. The man soon found himself face-to-barrel with
a .45 automatic.
"Do you have any notion what this weapon would do to you at this range?"
The man nodded jerkily.
"Good. Now let's see both your hands. Slowly." The man let go of the .32 he
kept under the counter, and very slowly lifted his hands over his head.
Bobby then used his psionic abilities. He grabbed a large and heavy
television, and hoisted it into midair over a glass cabinet full of crystal
dinnerware.
"Now, you can give me that name, or I can trash this place one expensive item
at a time. Your choice."
"Hey, look man, you don't have to..." The man was dumbfounded at seeing a
television floating around the room, and couldn't even make a coherent
objection.
Bobby dropped the television. The cabinet shattered under the impact, and the
pieces of crystal went flying everywhere.
"What's next? Perhaps the plasma-screen on the wall? Or we can move over to
the computers..."
"No! Man, shit! His name is Benny. He hangs out under the Brook Street bridge.
I don't know his last name. He's my height, a little heavier, has a scar on
his right cheek. Dirty hair, I don't know if it's brown or black."
"Fair enough," Paladin said, setting the computer he'd lifted back down
gently. "The next time I have to ask you a question, I'd suggest being more
cooperative."
"Yeah. Sure thing." the guy said, anxious to have this freak of nature out of
his store.
"Good day." Paladin turned and walked out the door. He used his 'kinesis to
pull the small shard of crystal out of his back and let it fall to the floor.
Just then, he turned around and stared at the broker.
"Why the hell did you call the cops, anyway? You're clearly used to doing
business with this guy."
"I got my reasons."
"Fair enough," Paladin said, and walked out of the shop.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
Though Paladin went looking that night, and every night for the rest of the
week, he did not find Benny. It was looking as if Benny would be a dead end,
but Paladin was going to give it one more shot.
Walking through the area beneath the bridge, he stopped every homeless person
he came across.
"Have you seen Benny?" he asked politely, figuring that intimidation would not
get the results he desired.
Almost universally, he was answered with either a shake of the head, or a
mumbled negative.
Finally, however, halfway through the night, he ran across a different
response.
"Have you seen Benny?" he asked a tall black man who seemed to have more
dignity than those around him.
"Why you lookin' for him?" the man asked.
"I need to speak with him. I think he may know something about an abducted
woman that I'm looking for."
The black man looked Paladin up and down. "Who are you, man?"
"I'm Paladin," he said, not knowing if the homeless man would have heard of
him or not. He'd only been in Broadmoor a few months, but his street
reputation was spreading.
It had spread far enough that this man had, in fact, heard of him. "Damn, man,
I thought you were a myth. Do you really need Benny for some woman?"
"He had some of her jewelry in his possession," Paladin offered, hoping that
some tidbits of info would generate trust in the man. "I think he may know
something that will be helpful to me."
"Well, I tell you what. I haven't seen Benny in days... and I should have. He
used to hang out here every night. Oh, sure, if he came into some cash, he'd
stay at a motel with a hooker, but most nights, he's right here. But I haven't
seen him since... oh, four, five days ago."
"How come I haven't seen you here before? I've been looking for Benny just
about that long."
"I come and go, man. I can't sit still like these other fellows. I always have
to be movin'. Guess you were just unlucky."
"Still am, since you don't know where Benny is, anyway."
"No, I don't. But you know, I do know some guys who might. I've seen him
hangin' out with them lotsa times."
"Who are they?"
"Don't know who, only where. They hang out at a body shop over on Third...
Dale's... or Dave's... one of the two, can't remember now."
"I'm sure I'll find it."
The man took another long look at him and said, "Yeah, I'm sure you will, too."
Paladin gave him a smile, then pulled out his wallet. The man shook his head,
"Nah, I don't need nothin' from you."
Paladin offered him a fifty. "I'd pay anyone else for the info. Don't see any
reason you shouldn't get the money."
After a long moment, the man took the bill and pocketed it. "Thanks. I hope
you find your woman." The man moved off. Paladin watched him go, noting the
dignity in the man's gait, and wondering what his story was. He obviously
didn't belong down here.
-----
A quick call to Mel located Dave's Body and Paint on Third Avenue. He spent a
half-hour on surveillance, but didn't see much happening. Finally, he decided
it was time to announce himself.
Paladin walked in the open garage door of the body shop. The lights were on,
but nobody was working on cars, as it was well after hours.
"Hey, man, what the hell you think you're doin', bargin' in here?" one of the
thugs - and it was obvious they were thugs - said, accosting him as soon as he
stepped through the entrance.
"I'm looking for someone, and was told that you gentlemen might be able to
help me."
A large man dressed in a tight T-shirt and jeans picked up a huge adjustable
wrench and said, "Ain't you proper. Yeah, we can help you... Help you right to
the hospital if you don't get your sorry ass outta here!"
Paladin sighed audibly. He hated having to convince people to give him what he
wanted. He was debating on 'kinesis or a gun when one of the men charged at
him. Before he could even consciously think of a response, his body dropped
into a defensive stance, and as the man came within range, Paladin thrust his
fist forward in a perfect karate punch. He connected with the man's jaw, and
the thug crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
Soon, another of the men was rushing him. He spun toward him, his trench coat
whirling and blinding his opponent, right up to the point where Paladin's foot
connected with his head. The man's head snapped over, and he lost his balance,
falling against a large tool chest. He slumped to the floor as well, dazed and
confused.
There were only two men left standing. One was the large man with the wrench,
and the other was obviously the leader. Wrench man approached, thumping the
wrench into his hand.
"I'm gonna bust your skull open, motherfucker!"
Paladin pulled out his .45 automatic and leveled it at the man's head, pulling
back the trigger.
"If you take another step toward me, it will be the last step you ever take."
The large man froze, and then he suddenly felt the wrench yanked from his
hands. Both of the standing thugs watched in shock as the wrench floated over
to Paladin.
"What the fuck are you?" the leader asked.
"I am Paladin. And you are?" he asked reasonably, as he lowered his .45 and
grabbed the wrench, which was now floating right in front of him.
"Tyrone," he answered.
"How stereotypical of your parents," Paladin said with a vicious smirk at the
tall black man. "I hope no further demonstration of why you need to cooperate
is necessary. I don't really want to kill you. Yet."
"Whatchu want?"
"I'm looking for Benny, and I want to know what his connection is to you."
"Man, Benny ain't been here for days," the T-shirt man said.
"What does he do for you?" Paladin asked Tyrone.
"Man, he don't work for me! He's a gofer for some big shots."
"Then why was he repeatedly seen in your company?"
"You ask a lot of questions, man," T-shirt man warned.
"It's what I do," Paladin replied, looking to Tyrone for an answer.
"You some kind of cop, man?"
Paladin had asked this question very clearly of his supervisors. He wanted to
be as honest as possible, even with thugs.
"I'm not here to arrest anybody. Now, what's your connection with Benny?"
"Like I said, he's a gofer. He delivers messages and shit."
"So the 'big shots' you mentioned are your bosses."
"Hey, ain't nobody my boss, cracker," the man said, offended. "We're
contractors, dig? Benny lets us know what the big shots want done, and we do
it. For a price."
"And what have they been having you do?" Paladin asked, mainly out of
curiosity.
"None of your goddamned business," T-shirt man said, advancing on Paladin.
Paladin haphazardly tossed the wrench he was holding in T-shirt's direction.
The throw was 'kinetically augmented, and when it hit the man, he fell to the
floor.
"You probably have half a dozen broken ribs. I wouldn't breathe too deeply.
And talking is right out of the question."
Paladin moved over toward Tyrone who, while tall, was not as tall as Paladin.
Paladin looked down at the man and said, "Now, what is it that you do for
them?"
Tyrone knew when resisting was a good idea. Now was not one of those times.
"Man, all we do is find people and take 'em off the streets."
"You abduct women," Paladin said.
"Women, men, a couple kids... doesn't matter. So long as they're healthy."
"Why?"
Tyrone looked at Paladin as if he was stupid. "Because that's what they told
us to do! Hey, you want to live in this business, you don't ask questions you
don't need the answers to, dig?"
"I hear you. And when did you last see Benny?"
"Sunday night. Yeah, he was all full o' hisself because he just got rich
sellin' off some jewelry from the people. I ain't seen him since."
"And the people he works for?"
"Don't even know who they are, man. Only person I ever talk to is Benny.
Gettin' annoyed, too, 'cause he ain't been around, which means we ain't
gettin' paid."
"How sad for you," Paladin said sarcastically. He knew that he'd gotten all he
was going to get out of this guy without a *lot* of extra time. "Have a nice
evening," he said, and turned and walked out the door. Tyrone stood and
watched him go, then reached for a phone.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
Paladin had a feeling he was being misled. A phone call brought Terrier with
the car. Paladin climbed in.
"Hey, boss, great to be working with you again. What have we-"
"Do you know how to shut up?" Paladin asked.
Terrier's enthusiasm finally was subdued slightly. "Sorry, I just think it's
an honor to work with you."
"If you're trying to learn the job, there are a few simple rules. Listen far
more than you talk. Pay attention to *everything*, and don't get in my way."
"Yes, sir."
"What we are involved with is a search for a young woman, an attorney, who has
been missing for almost two weeks. She is almost certainly dead, but we need
to find out the whos, whats and whys of it in order to make sure it's not
something more sinister going on. I'm beginning to think that it *is*, in
fact, something far more sinister."
"What makes you think so?" Terrier asked, curious.
"Because the people in that shop over there have been tasked with kidnapping
'healthy' people off the street. If he wasn't bullshitting me completely,
there is no specific target, just that they be healthy."
"And you think that this woman was abducted by them?"
"Probably. The guy whose name led me to these punks had her jewelry in his
possession."
"Kinda thin, boss."
"That's why we're sitting here, Grasshopper. We're going to follow them to see
where they go. Though they said they don't speak to their bosses through
anyone but this Benny character, I'm willing to bet they have an emergency
number of some kind."
Sure enough, as Paladin was speaking, a car pulled up. As the guy got out of
his car, he looked around. He looked directly at Terrier's car, but the
special glazing on the windows made it impossible for him to see into the car.
The man turned to walk into the building.
"Get a picture of him," Paladin ordered. Terrier raised his camera - something
he had taken to always carrying, on Paladin's orders - and waited for the man
to enter the light. Once he did, Terrier snapped several shots of him.
"Now what?" Terrier asked.
"Now we wait."
The man was in the body shop for less than five minutes. When he got back in
his car, Terrier asked, "Do we follow him?"
"No. But get a picture of his license plate."
Terrier did so. He had to be quick, because as the car pulled away, a van
pulled out of the body shop.
"Them, you follow," he said. "*Carefully*."
"Yes, sir," Terrier acknowledged.
-----
"Boss, shouldn't we be doing something about these guys?"
"There's nothing we can do. We could stop them from taking these people, yes,
but that wouldn't stop the leaders of the group. I can't save everybody,
Russell," Paladin said, then cursed himself for using the kid's real name.
"Gotcha. So, we're just gonna follow 'em?"
"We're waiting to see what they do with their catch once they've caught it."
After two hours of driving around, and four abductions, the van headed to a
seedier part of the city. Terrier dropped back a block, to try to avoid being
seen.
He needn't have bothered, as the men in the van weren't even smart enough to
look for a tail. They headed straight for a warehouse, where they opened an
overhead door and pulled in. Terrier pulled up beside the building, and
Paladin got out.
Sneaking along the building until he found a window, Paladin carefully peered
in. He couldn't see anything in visual light, so he switched his visor over to
infrared. It became clear that the victims were being bound and placed on
either chairs or a couch. This took several minutes. After that, the men got
back into the van.
Paladin got back into the car just as the van pulled away.
"Go after them?" Terrier asked.
Paladin shook his head. "We know where to find them if we need to. We follow
the victims."
"'kay."
The two sat in relative silence for over an hour before anything happened.
Finally, another van pulled up and went into the warehouse. Once again,
Paladin slipped out of the car and over to the window.
What he saw was an almost identical reversal of what had happened earlier; the
victims were unfastened from their seats, hoisted over a shoulder, and carried
to the van, where they were unceremoniously dumped inside. Once all four were
inside, they closed up the van and left.
Paladin had gone back to the car after seeing the first two loaded. He told
Terrier, "Follow them when they leave."
The van pulled out, and Terrier pulled out with them, keeping his lights off
until they were a full block ahead of him. He waited until they turned a
corner, then he flipped on his lights and continued following.
The van did not make any changes in course that weren't necessary, so Paladin
wondered if any of these people knew about counter-surveillance techniques.
The van turned another corner, and when Terrier made the same turn, the van
was gone.
"Shit," Terrier said.
"Slow down," Paladin ordered. He flipped his visor to infrared mode, looking
for heat sources. Halfway down the long block, he spotted one. Flipping back
to visual, he pointed. "Stop here."
As Terrier pulled over to the curb, Paladin studied the building. It showed no
obvious signs of being active. It should not, at this hour of the night, be
active, as it was a mortuary.
"Time to call in. Give me your camera."
Terrier handed over his camera, and Paladin plugged it into the car's
computer. He called up HQ.
"Mel, I've got some data coming your way. I need an ID on the person, and on
the location. I'm shipping it in an email."
"I'll be waiting," she said, and hung up.
"Now what?"
"I don't want to go in there without knowing what I'm up against. If this guy
is some kind of organized crime boss, I'll handle it one way. If he's
something else, I'll handle it another."
"What do you think they're gonna do to those people?"
"Given they took them to a funeral home, nothing good."
The phone rang in less than three minutes. "Paladin," he answered.
"Okay, the guy in the photo is Dean Giles. He's the chief medical examiner for
Broadmoor."
"The coroner," Paladin said in surprise.
"Right. The mortuary is not in operation, and hasn't been for eleven years. It
does, however, belong to a dummy corporation which some quick digging shows to
belong to a man named Antonio Sandoval."
"Who is he?" Paladin wanted to know.
"A police lieutenant."
"Interesting. Thanks, Mel."
"Anytime."
Paladin hung up the phone and turned to Terrier. "Now we know why these crimes
were given to an inactive police detective.
"Why?"
"The guy who owns this building is a police lieutenant. And the guy at the
body shop was the coroner. This one stinks to high heaven. I'm going in there
now."
"Watch your ass, boss."
"Always do."
-----
Paladin moved along the block until he reached the corner, and walked down to
the alleyway. He made his way back down to the mortuary, and paused about
thirty feet from it. Switching to infrared mode, he saw no guards outside.
*Odd. For cops, they aren't very bright. Of course, if they were bright, they
wouldn't be breaking the law.*
Paladin moved to the building's back door, but it was locked. *I guess they
figure that's as good as a guard.*
Reaching into his coat, Paladin pulled out a device that he had acquired many
years ago from a burglary suspect. He fit the device into the lock, and
activated it. The mechanism in the device expanded a set of pins, learning the
layout of the lock. Once that had happened, it locked into place, and formed
itself into a perfect key.
Paladin turned the lock and opened the door.
Inside, the place was dark. Paladin repeatedly switched from visual to
infrared mode, trying not to bump into or trip over anything. The back door
led to a hallway, off which were several rooms such as a chapel, a viewing
room, and an office. About halfway down was a door marked "Employees Only".
*That's where they'd be.*
Hearing voices, Paladin slipped quickly into the viewing room and plastered
himself against the wall. The voices passed by in the hall and went out the
back door, still talking. Neither of them had so much as looked around.
Paladin waited a moment, to make sure that no one else was coming down the
hall. Then he made his way to the office across from the Employees Only door.
He couldn't see anything in the office without turning on a light, which he
wasn't about to do. He watched the door for five minutes, wondering just
exactly how to proceed.
*Just barging in seems awfully dangerous without protective gear and some
flash-bangs. On the other hand, I don't know of any other way to get inside
that area.*
Just then, the door opened. Paladin was already deep in the shadows, and knew
he would not be seen unless they actually came into the office. His hand was
already on his pistol, just in case that should happen.
"Man, the boss is pissed," the one man said to the other.
"Wouldn't you be, if some cocksucking idiot nearly blew your entire operation
because he got greedy? Man, Benny was a real fuckup."
"Yeah, well... no more problems from him. Let's get going, the boss wants us
to get that other load from Mornington."
"Shit, I hate this job."
"It pays the bills, man."
"I hear you, but..." the voices were cut off by the door closing.
*So this is a bigger operation than just the local disappearances. How do they
manage that?*
Paladin moved over to the door and opened it very slowly. He had his visor on
infrared, since it was so dark in the building. There was no one guarding the
doorway, which led to stairs.
*Fuck. I hate stairs. No cover for at least twenty feet. Do they squeak? Fuck!*
Taking a deep breath, Paladin stepped onto the stairway, immensely relieved to
feel solid concrete beneath him. He made his way quickly, but silently, down
the stairs and turned into the first doorway he found.
The room was not empty.
Seated before him, each one locked to a chair, were three of the victims he'd
seen picked up a little while ago.
"Where's the fourth?" he whispered.
Just as one of them was about to answer him, a shot rang out.
"Never mind," Paladin said, his look hardening. "Time to go, folks."
"How would you like us to do that?" one man rasped out. "We're locked down!"
Paladin looked at their hands, which were bound tightly with rope, and the
rope was locked with a chain and padlock to their chairs.
*Shit. I didn't practice padlocks. This could take too long.*
Reaching out with his mind, Paladin tried to picture the inner workings of a
padlock. He knew them in vague terms, but he had not studied them. Luckily,
the locks were cheap, and forcing the mechanism was not overly difficult. Two
minutes later, he had the first one open.
He managed to get the others open somewhat more quickly, and four minutes
later, they were all free, though they were still bound. A flick of Paladin's
combat knife took care of that quickly enough.
"Stay put," Paladin ordered, as one of the men was about to leave the room.
Paladin reached up to activate his radio.
"Paladin to Terrier, respond."
"Terrier here."
"Bring the car into the alley. Let me know if you encounter resistance."
"On my way." It took two minutes, by Paladin's watch. He was getting very
antsy; he could be detected at any time. "Okay, I'm outside the back door.
Nobody back here that I can see."
"Wait there. I'm sending out three victims. Take them to safety. *Do not* take
them to the police department."
"Understood."
Clicking off his radio, Paladin turned to the three captives. "C'mon, it's
time to go. Follow me and keep your mouths shut, and we'll get you out of here
alive."
"Who the hell are you?" one woman asked.
"Paladin," he answered simply. "Now let's move."
Paladin stepped out into the hall, looking both ways. No one was visible, so
he motioned to the captives, and led them quickly up the stairs and out the
door. He pointed to the back doorway, down the hall.
"There is a car waiting for you outside that door. Move."
The two women and the man ran down the hallway and out the door. Once the door
was open, Paladin stopped watching; they were Terrier's responsibility at that
point. He turned back and went down the stairs again.
As he came to the room where the captives had been, he heard someone inside.
"Shit!" the voice said. He heard the man walking quickly toward the door. At
the last second, Paladin stepped in the doorway and punched the man full-force
in the face. As the man staggered back and started to crumple, Paladin grabbed
him. A quick twist of the neck made sure the man would not give him any
further trouble.
"Sorry, buddy, but I don't yet know exactly what's going on here, and I can't
have you raising any alarms."
Paladin moved quietly down the hall toward a larger room with lights on. He
couldn't see into it, but he heard some voices.
"What the hell is taking Will so long? All he has to do is unlock the bitch
and bring her in here."
"I don't know. Go find out. We can't fuck around. We've got to get these
organs packed and on a plane in less than an hour, or they're completely
worthless to us. That's a hundred grand sitting in those coolers. Go tell him
to get his fucking ass in gear."
Paladin heard the man moving toward the doorway, and leveled his pistol. As
soon as the man appeared, Paladin shot him twice in the body, and once in the
head, as he had been trained. The man fell to the floor like a marionette with
its strings cut.
Paladin ducked into a storage room and waited for the aftermath of his actions.
"Holy shit!" a voice said. "Somebody blew him to hell and gone!"
"I can see that, fuck nuts," the boss said. Paladin was quite certain it was
probably the coroner. "Find the guy that did it!"
"I ain't walking out that door," the henchman said reasonably. "I'm getting
out of here!"
"You fucking coward," the man said to what was probably a retreating back.
Paladin figured there was another way out of that room. He heard the coroner
moving around inside, but he wasn't talking to anyone, which meant he was
probably alone.
Paladin decided to play with his prey a little. He called out, "Perhaps your
friend isn't so dumb. Discretion is the better part of valor."
The noises in the room had stopped as soon as Paladin started speaking.
"Fuck you, asshole!" the coroner said. "You'd better get out of here, before
the rest of my guys show up!"
Paladin chose not to speak further. He stuck around to see what the coroner
would do. Meanwhile, Paladin contacted Terrier, who had taken the victims to
the bus station, where there were always taxis readily available. He had paid
the taxi to take all of them home.
"On my way back now, boss."
"Step on it. I don't know how much longer this guy's gonna futz around here."
"About three minutes away."
"Make it two."
"Understood."
Paladin slipped out of the room and down the hall, making his way silently up
the stairs and out of the building. He came around the front of the building
just as Terrier pulled up with the car. Paladin slipped in next to him and
closed the door.
"That was fast," Paladin said. "I didn't expect you to have gotten rid of them
yet."
"Bus station's only a quarter mile from here."
"Good thinking," Paladin said, grudgingly praising the kid for being quick on
his feet.
After another ten minutes, a car pulled out of the parking lot. "Follow him,"
Paladin said. "Carefully. This guy is probably not as stupid as the others."
"Right." Terrier kept a full block and a half behind the other car, which
headed in an almost straight line for the police department. Paladin got out
of the car and walked in after the man, trying to make himself as
inconspicuous as possible. Giles, the coroner, never got a look at him, so
Paladin didn't have to worry about being recognized, but he didn't want to
spook the man.
"Well, nice to see you again, Sailor," a voice said.
*SHIT!*
He turned and smiled at Alice. "I didn't know you were working this time of
night."
"Night shift worker is recovering from surgery. I'm on the night shift all
this week. What are you doing here?"
Paladin pulled Alice into an unused room, and then poked his head out to keep
an eye on his target. When he saw Giles go back into the detectives' area, he
couldn't follow him, anyway.
"I'm working," Paladin said, seeing the suspicious look in Alice's eyes.
"Look, I'll explain it to you over lunch tomorrow, but right now, I can't stay
here."
"How come it seems very much like you can see?" she asked, annoyed at his
answer.
"I'll explain that, too." He leaned down and kissed her briefly but
passionately, then let her go. "Take care of yourself, Alice... and I was
never here."
"But..." she tried to say, but he was already walking briskly out of the
building.
*Fuck,* Paladin swore to himself repeatedly and vociferously.
"What's up?" Terrier asked.
"Just drive," Paladin barked. "Back to HQ."
"You got it, boss," Terrier said, knowing when it was not a good idea to cross
his team leader.
-----
Mel and Amber found Bobby in the gym about a half-hour after he arrived back
in the facility. He had changed out of his Paladin garb, and was in his sweats
now, working furiously on the heavy bag.
"He's pissed about something," Amber whispered to Mel. Mel nodded.
"Bobby?" Mel called out. "What's the matter?"
At her question, Bobby leveled a right hook at the bag that sent it dancing on
its chain. He turned to the two women and said, "Headquarters is the matter!
They've gotten me into this mess, and I'll be damned if I'm going to continue
operating this way!" He returned to the bag and slammed his fists into it
several more times before he finally put his fists on his hips, taking several
deep breaths. He took the towel that Amber offered him.
"So, I followed the guys who were abducting the people, and then I followed
the people who picked up the abductees. They went to the mortuary I asked you
about." Mel nodded in understanding.
"I got three of the victims out of there. I was too late on the fourth."
"They're... dead?" Amber asked.
"Oh, yeah. Sliced and diced," he said. He regretted it when he saw Mel go
pale. "They are running a... human chop shop. They're selling organs on the
black market. They abduct the people, take them to the mortuary, and kill
them, then harvest their organs."
"That's perverse," Amber said in disgust.
"Yeah, well, the ME got scared after I killed two of his guards, and he ran to
his buddy, the police lieutenant."
"You killed two people?" Mel asked in concern.
"Didn't have many options. Besides, what they're doing, it's exactly what they
deserved. Anyway, when I followed him to the police station, who do you think
I should happen to run into?"
"Oh, no," Amber said with a groan. "Alice..."
"Right. Alice *Fucking* Malloy. Who now is wondering why her blind lover
seemed to see quite well, and why he was acting weird inside a fucking police
station! FUCK! If HQ would have had half a brain and just let me call myself
an investigator, none of this would have been necessary!"
"What are you going to do about Alice?" Mel wanted to know.
"What can I do? If I want to continue having a source of information inside
the police department, I'm going to have to tell her at least some portion of
the truth."
"You can't tell her about the DJE, or Project Guardian."
Bobby glared at her. "I don't need to have the rules spelled out to me, Mel,"
he snarled. He turned around and slammed his fist strongly into the bag again,
then walked out past the two women. Amber looked at Mel.
"That wasn't a good move."
"He needed to be reminded," Mel insisted.
"No, he didn't. He knows the rules better than you do. He has to live by them
every day. You and I get to go home at the end of the day. He lives this job
24/7. You have no idea what that's doing to him."
"Oh, and you do, huh?" Mel sniped.
Amber looked at her colleague with a raised eyebrow. "No, not really. But I do
know that you reminding him of the box he lives in, isn't likely to have
helped the situation." Amber turned and walked out before Mel could say
something else to upset her.
Mel said, "Shit." She walked over, balled up her fist, and smacked the bag as
hard as she could.
"Oh, fuck," she muttered as the pain shot up her arm all the way to her elbow.
She cradled her arm as she decided to take a trip to the hospital for some
x-rays.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
The next day, Bobby picked up Alice for lunch. He didn't bother with the
blindness subterfuge, since she had already seen quite clearly that he
could... see quite clearly.
Rather than take her to a restaurant for lunch, he walked her to a small park
nearby. It was small enough to be nearly empty, which meant they would have
lots of space with few ears to hear them. They picked up lunch at a hot dog
stand on the way.
"Elegant," she said, referring to lunch. They sat on a bench under some trees
and ate.
"I wanted this to be a private conversation."
"So, what's going on?" she asked acidly.
"Okay, first off, I really am blind... without this device on my head."
"What device?"
Bobby had to remind himself that his visor looked like sunglasses to everyone
but the most astute observer. He clicked it off, and pulled it free of his
head. He showed it to her, but did not let go of it. While she looked at it,
he spoke.
"Right now, I can't see a damned thing. As you know, I used to be a cop. I was
blinded on the job when some punk threw acid in my face. I spent seven years
completely blind. Then, a while ago, some researchers approached me about a
new experimental device. I couldn't tell you exactly how it works, but it
pipes an image of the world directly into my brain. It acts as my eyes and
optic nerve."
He clicked the device back into place and was relieved, as he always was, to
see the image return. "As a blind man, I was not very successful. I didn't
really function at all. When I got my sight back, I had to figure out what I
was going to do with my life." At this point, Bobby was lying, and he didn't
like it, but he had to play by the rules... mostly.
"Since I inherited a large sum of money from dead relatives, I didn't have to
do anything, but I decided to work as an investigator."
"So you're just a P.I.," Alice said.
"Not exactly."
"What, then?"
"Unfortunately, I can't tell you that."
"I don't like being lied to, Bobby."
"Nobody does. All I can tell you is that it was necessary."
"Why was it necessary?" Alice demanded.
"In order to tell you that, I'd have to tell you things I'm not allowed to
tell you."
"That's circular reasoning."
"No, it only seems like it is. If I tell you why I can't tell you, that would,
in essence, tell you *what* I can't tell you."
"You work for the government, don't you," Alice surmised rather quickly.
"I did not say that."
"But you're not denying it."
"I'm not allowed to do that, either."
"Dammit, Bobby, this is bullshit! Either tell me what's going on, or so help
me, I'm walking out of this park right now."
Bobby sighed heavily. "I told you, I can't."
Alice threw what remained of her food in his lap. "Don't bother asking for
more information from me ever again. Because you know what? I *can't tell
you*." Alice walked off in a huff, pissed at the world.
"I deserved that," Bobby told himself. He'd not expected things to go any
better than they had, though he had held on to the slimmest of hopes. He
looked down at the stains on his clothes, and sighed.
*Fucking government.*
-----
"Do you have them?" Bobby asked.
Mel held out the cards to him with her left hand. Her right was currently in a
sling from the damage she had done to it the night before. Bobby took them,
and looked them over, holding them up to the light to see the way the ink on
the signatures shone differently from the ink in the background. "These are
good," he mumbled.
"The best the U.S. Marshalls can provide," she replied. Bobby looked at her in
surprise. "WitSec," she explained.
"Oh, right. I thought they used authentic documentation," he objected.
"Most of the time, they do. Sometimes, forgeries are necessary. What exactly
do you need these for?" she asked.
"I would think the answer to that is rather obvious," he replied, not wishing
to verbalize his plans at the moment.
"You can't just go around killing people!" Mel objected.
"Why not? They did. They didn't have any reason other than *money*. You really
think that's a good cause for murder?"
"No, but what makes you any better than them?"
"I have a good reason to take their lives."
"Like *what*?" she demanded.
"To prevent them from killing anyone else," he said, and stared her in the
face. "Or have you forgotten we're here to provide justice for the victims? I
can't think of *anything* else that would be suitable for these people."
"There's got to be another way," she objected. "No matter what you call it,
it's murder."
"No, it's capital punishment."
"Which is *also* murder. It's just state-sanctioned murder."
"Precisely the difference," Bobby pointed out. "You may not approve of
violence. Back here in the lab, you get to have that luxury. Out there,
violence is usually what stands between me and a six-foot hole in the ground."
"It's also what's going to put you *in* that hole in the ground!"
"Not if I do my job right," he replied. "Now I have to get ready. Where's
Russell?"
"Leering at Amber, where else?"
"Joy." Bobby looked at Mel for a long time. "You really don't belong in this
business, do you." It wasn't a question.
"No, maybe I don't."
Bobby thought about saying something, but in the end, he couldn't bring
himself to do so. Instead, he turned and said, "I'll talk to you later."
"Be careful," she called to him.
"Always am," he replied.
-----
"What the hell did you think you were doing, calling a meeting out here?"
Sandoval raged. "We're in the fucking middle of nowhere!"
"Me? You called this meeting!" Giles responded.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Sandoval demanded.
"Oh, shit," Giles said, realizing what had happened.
At that moment, Paladin stepped from the shadows. "That's right, gentlemen.
You stepped into the easiest of traps." Paladin leveled an Uzi submachine gun
at the two. "I would suggest that you not move, or I will have to get rather
nasty about things. Terrier, take their guns."
From the other side of the field, Terrier emerged from the shadows. He quickly
patted down the two men, retrieving a pistol from the police lieutenant.
"Check his ankle," Paladin ordered.
"I ain't carried a gun there in three years," Sandoval snarled as Terrier
checked both ankles, finding nothing.
"Now, gentlemen, you're going to walk. Should you attempt to run, I will put a
bullet in your head. Attempt to fight, and I will do the same. Please do not
attempt to negotiate your way out of this; we will talk when we get to where
we're going."
Paladin and Terrier kept guns trained on the two men as they were directed
over to a van. Paladin had purchased the van earlier in the day with fake
identification. The two men climbed into the back of the van and sat on the
bench seat. Terrier climbed into the driver's seat, and Paladin sat on a
rear-facing jump seat. Terrier pulled out onto the road as Paladin kept an eye
on their prisoners.
"Who the hell are you?" Giles demanded. "You killed two people in my own
fucking shop!"
"If you're not careful, I'll kill two more," Paladin warned, giving them the
idea that they might live through tonight.
-----
The men were securely bound to chairs, with a rope around their wrists and
that rope then padlocked to the chair. Paladin looked at them very carefully.
Giles was sweating. The police lieutenant was squirming, trying to get out of
the bindings.
"You're wasting your time. I'm quite good at tying knots. Now, I have a few
questions. If you don't answer them, or give me answers I don't like, I will
inflict a large amount of pain upon your body until you start being
cooperative. Is that understood?"
"Why are you doing this?" Giles demanded.
"For Susanne Barnes," Paladin replied simply.
"Who?" Sandoval inquired.
"You don't even know the names of your victims. *That* is why you are here."
"Look, buddy, I don't know who you think you are, but if we come up missing..."
"Then what? Dozens of people go missing every week. As adults, you are
entitled to leave your job, home, family, and city at any time, without any
reason or warning. Even though your cars will be found, eventually, by then it
would be much too late. Now, can we get on with the questions, or do you wish
to whine some more?"
Receiving no response from that, he asked, "If Susanne was abducted off the
street, where was her car? It was never located."
"Fuck off," Sandoval offered.
Paladin lifted Sandoval into the air using his psionic ability. He stared
directly at Sandoval as he floated four feet above the ground. Then Paladin
accelerated Sandoval and his chair into the far wall of the room. The wall was
made of cinder block, and Sandoval's head made a resounding clonk as it hit.
After doing that two more times, Paladin set the man back down where he had
been.
"Did I mention that I don't have to move to hurt you? Sorry about that
oversight. Now then, where is Susanne's car?"
"Fuck!" Giles said, having watched what happened to Sandoval - as best he
could, since he couldn't turn completely around - with distress. "We told the
boys to steal the cars after they did the kidnapping!"
"I see. What did they do with them?"
"I don't know. I just told them to get rid of them. They own a body shop, I
didn't figure it'd be tough for them to make the cars disappear."
"Very good. I know that you were harvesting organs. But where are the bodies?"
Sandoval rolled his eyes. "It's a mortuary, fuckhead! They've got a
crematorium!"
Paladin raised his eyebrows; he had not thought of that.
"Now, I know that you have other thugs in other cities. What cities?"
"No way I'm giving those names up to you, asshole," Sandoval tried. Paladin
looked at him, and Sandoval's throat began to constrict. Soon, Sandoval was
completely unable to breathe. After thirty seconds, Paladin let him loose.
"I can kill you without lifting a finger. Do not try my patience. I don't have
that much."
For the next several minutes, Sandoval and Giles detailed the entire
operation. It was amazing how many people they'd corrupted for their empire.
Finally, Paladin had run out of questions. He stared at the two men. "So, what
do you think I should do with you?" he asked, curious to see what their
responses would be.
"I think you'd fucking well better let us go, asshole, or you're a dead man,"
Sandoval threatened.
"Really. And who's going to kill me? You think any of your peons can find me?
Or, if they do, could kill me? You two masterminds couldn't even avoid falling
into the most obvious of traps. You know I had three more ways thought up for
capturing you if tonight's plan didn't work. I didn't really think it would.
You two have to be the dumbest smart people on the planet."
"What are you going to do with us, then?" Giles wanted to know, fearing the
answer.
Paladin walked over to a table in the room, and he picked up two cards. He
moved over in front of the two men, and held the cards up, one in front of
each man. "Do you recognize these?"
Each men stared, aghast, at their own signature on a Organ Donor Card.
"You can't..." Giles complained.
"Why not?" Paladin demanded. "You did it! And to people who were completely
innocent!"
"There's no one completely innocent in this town," Sandoval replied cynically.
"Least of all you two," Paladin remarked. "Terrier, get these asswipes back
into the van."
-----
As the van pulled away slowly, the two criminals looked at each other.
"Why the hell did he let us live?" Giles demanded.
"I don't know, but he's a dead m-" Sandoval couldn't finish his sentence. His
throat was constricting, and he couldn't breathe. Giles watched in horror as
Sandoval's face turned purple. He heard a snap as Sandoval's larynx was
crushed, guaranteeing his death.
Giles ran. He ran as fast as his overweight body could carry him. But it
wasn't fast enough. Suddenly, he felt a great pressure gripping the back of
his head and his chin. The force began to twist his head. *Oh, god, he's going
to-!*
Snap!
Giles fell dead to the ground of a broken neck. At that point, the van pulled
away. Paladin was certain the bodies would be discovered quickly; after all,
they were right in front of the hospital. He didn't want those organs to go to
waste.
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
"I'm sorry that I don't have better news for you."
"Do you have... any idea who did this?" Cutter asked, a little choked up.
Bobby was surprised to see that. He handed over a newspaper that announced the
sudden deaths of a police lieutenant and the chief medical examiner. The
article praised the two dead men for having filled out their organ donation
cards, and proclaimed that they had saved the lives of six people.
"They... did this?"
"My sources say that they were involved in black market body parts. Susanne
was killed to have her organs harvested. I'm sorry; she was dead long before
any of us could have gotten to her."
"Thank you for figuring it out. What do we owe you?"
Bobby waved that away. "I didn't do most of the work, I just poked around and
asked the right questions of the right people."
"Thank you, again. If you ever need a lawyer..."
"I hope like hell I never do," Bobby said with a smile. "Take care of
yourself."
Bobby walked out of the office, nodding at the receptionist by mistake. As he
rode down the elevator, he wasn't sure exactly how he felt. This case, in
particular, seemed to hit the entire team harder than others. Amber told him
it was only natural, given the circumstances, but he wasn't sure.
*I know that we couldn't have saved any more than we did, but dammit, how many
did they kill? I don't think we'll ever know. At least I have that list of
body part dealers. The FBI can follow up on that. But there are rogue cops in
Mornington. Who the hell do I talk to about that one?*
Bobby returned to the office, and slumped down in his chair. He rubbed his
eyes heavily, and didn't look up when he heard someone enter the office.
Finally, he did lower his hands, and saw Amber standing before him, looking
worried.
"What's wrong?" he asked, instantly on alert.
She set a sheet of paper in front of him. "Mel has requested a leave of
absence. HQ approved it an hour ago. She walked out of here, and I don't know
where she went."
*Fuck.*
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...
...---=== http://netwolf.wolfpub.org ===---...