Six Degrees Ch. 02

The chronological order of my stories is now listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

*****

Part 6 - The Crime Scenes

"Officer down! Officer down!" came the call over the police radio, with a call for an ambulance and an address.

Someone in the neighborhood had seen the van pull in and the masked men exit the vehicle, and immediately had called 9-1-1. The Police, already on heightened alert, converged. The first to arrive at the house made the call, and now the entire TCPD vehicle fleet was moving all over the place like a disturbed ant bed. It was not long before the black van was spotted.

"We've got company." the van driver said. Two Police cruisers had pulled in behind them, blue lights blazing.

"Go for the State Line!" one man called out. The van sped up, hurtling through traffic. They had their radio tuned to Police frequencies, and realized that they were about to be cut off. The driver sped through traffic towards North Avenue, which would lead to the West Highway out of Town and towards Hammondsville, across the State Line--

*WHAM!!*

The Police cruiser came out of nowhere and t-boned the van, hurling it through the air. It came to rest on its side. Officers pulling up got out of their cars and converged on the van, guns drawn.

The leader inside the vehicle had been strapped in. Seeing what had happened, he released himself from his seatbelt, then got out the .22LR auto pistol with silencer.

*pop* *pop* *pop*

The officers heard the muffled noise. They yelled for the occupants to come out of the van. There was no response. Finally, one well-armored officer got to the vehicle and looked inside the windshield.

"I think they're dead." he said. Another officer came to the back doors and opened them, covered by his teammates Looking inside, they saw four dead men... three by gunshots to the head at close range, the fourth by taking cyanide.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I was in my office. I had gone over the duty logs and was working through emails. Most of them were between other officers with copies to me; I made sure to read those to understand what my people were doing.

I became aware that there were people moving around in the halls. Since Precincts had been established, traffic in the hallways had fallen off, so for activity to be going on now meant something was up. I felt a strange vibe.

And then my door practically flew off its hinges, and I became aware of a platinum blonde Police Captain rushing in. The look on her face was sheer horror, and chilled me to the bone even before she spoke.

"Don... it's Tanya."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I entered the house. The bustle of activity by the Crime Lab and Uniformed Officers immediately ceased upon sight of me.

"Carry on. Carry on." I said quietly, almost hoarsely. The activity resumed.

I was not numb; I felt the blood rushing to my head, the agonizing pain in my heart, and the lead weight in the pit of my stomach. I willed my legs to move as I came into the front room. Martha the M.E. pulled up the bloodied sheet to let me see the mortal remains of Pamela Feeley.

"She died instantly, Commander." Martha said. "Semi-automatic gunfire. One of the guns raked across her abdomen, practically cut her in two. Others got her in the head and heart area." The sight of what machine gun bullets could do to a human body was morbidly fascinating to me... but in this case was utterly horrifying.

I looked up at Cindy, who understood. "This way. Back room." she said. Patrolman Hicks led us to the room, which was little Pete's nursery room.

Going in, I saw no body on the floor, but there were two large bloodstains in front of the crib. "She's still alive, sir." said Hicks. "They rushed her to the Hospital in a Police car rather than wait for an ambulance."

I steeled myself and looked in the crib. There was a mound. I could see where someone had marked two bullet holes. Underneath the blanket... was Tanya's armored vest, wrapped into a tube.

"She wrapped her vest around the baby." said J.R. Barnes, who had come into the room. Normally, .22 long rifle can penetrate kevlar vests, but the bullets hit where the vest overlapped itself. He's alive and didn't seem hurt, but he was taken to the Hospital with his mother."

"Oh my God." I whispered. Then I felt my legs leave me, unable to hold me up. I realized I was sitting on the floor. "Oh my God, she wrapped her vest around Pete rather than put it on!" My head fell into my hands as the pain overwhelmed me. "She gave herself up to save him..." I was crying, feeling the tears running down my face, unaware of anything else for a moment.

Then Sergeant Rudistan came in. He saved me from dishonor by saying "Commander, are you finding any clues down there that we missed?" I sucked it up, then looked up at him and Cindy.

"No, I guess not." I said, then took his hand and let him pull me up to my feet again. I listened as Rudistan gave the report of the van being interdicted and the perps found dead. Ballistics would be run to see if the guns in the vehicle matched the casings and bullets found here at the house.

"All right, thanks for the report." I said.

"Commander," said J.R. Barnes, "there's one more thing you need to see. These were found in the crib next to the baby." He then brought out Pete Feeley's shield, still in its frame, and the Laika crowbar. Both were now in evidence bags.

"The fucking bastard..." Cindy whispered, anger now on her ruggedly pretty face.

"We'll get these back to you after we've examined them for evidence, Commander." said Barnes, knowing from where they had come.

"Thanks." I said. "Take your time, get everything you can." Then my spidey-sense started going off, and apparently I was not the only one so affected.

"Commander," said Cindy, "we need to go to the Hospital. Right now."

"Yeah." I said.

Part 7 - Confrontation

I'd been to the Trauma area of the Hospital entirely too many times. When I got up to the Nurse's Station and the waiting room area, I was only a bit surprised to find my wife Laura already there.

"Tanya's been rushed into surgery." said Laura. "She took three bullets. The E.R. people said she did not look as bad as Cindy did the night she was brought in, but it's still serious."

"And baby Pete?" I asked.

"Tanya put a pacifier in his mouth, so when the vest impacted him, he didn't cry out." Laura said. "Also, the vest hit his entire back, dispersing the force of the blow. Babies are surprisingly resilient, but it was still a hard blow for him to take. He's got some bruising on his upper back, but it looks like his kidneys are okay. If there's no internal bleeding or head trauma, he should be okay."

"Good." I said, relief flooding my soul. Then I remembered: "I need to call Paulina."

"Why?" Laura asked.

"Tanya's living will calls for me to become Pete's guardian if she's incapacitated." I said.

"Funny," Cindy said, "I had a thought about that very thing at the house. That's why I told you we need to come here."

The waiting room was beginning to fill up as Officers and Detectives came up. Teresa, Julie Newton, Julie's sister Yvonne, and Helena all rushed up, followed by Martin Nash and Joanne Cummings. Then the Chief came in.

Just then, my cellphone beeped, as did Laura's. We were independently getting messages to come to the Main Reception Area in the lobby.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"I am taking that baby into Child Protective Services right now." the woman was telling the woman at the front desk. "If you do not cooperate, I will have these two SBI Agents arrest you. His mother is incapacitated, and I am formally taking custody of Peter D. Feeley."

"Like HELL you will!"

I need not say my crowbar was in my hands as the woman whirled to face me. She was black, middle aged, and was dressed well. She was also the head of the County's Child Protective Services, and her name was Linda Farris. The SBI Agents with her were Agent Greenwalt and Carter Fischer.

I continued: "The baby's mother left a living will, naming me as guardian. You even try to touch that baby and I will kill you on the spot!"

"Gentlemen," said Farris, "arrest that man." I just looked at Fischer and Greenwalt.

"Ma'am," said Fischer nervously, "that is the Iron Crowbar. He is the Police Commander in this County."

"I don't care who the fuck he is." said Farris. "Arrest him. Right now."

I spoke up, sheer menace in m voice. "I'll save Fischer and Greenwalt by asking you to exhibit your warrant to arrest me. Oh, you don't have one. And it wouldn't matter: you will have to kill me to take that baby from me, and that's if I don't kill you first."

Laura hung up her cellphone. "Paulina called Judge Watts. He's already putting out a bench warrant for you to appear before him immediately, Ms. Farris." The woman's phone began ringing, and by sheer coincidence confirmed what Laura was saying.

"Agents, stay here." said Farris. "If anyone tries to take that baby from your custody, arrest them."

"I'd suggest you two guys leave my County before I get really upset." I said to them. To Linda Farris's shock, they quickly left. They had no desire to learn what a Crowbar beatdown felt like...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Your Honor, here's the living will giving Commander Troy and his wife guardianship of Peter Donald Feeley during his mother's incapacitation." Paulina said.

"Ms. Farris," said Judge Watts, who was looking surprisingly angry, "would you explain to me why you even think you have custody of that child? And why are you acting unilaterally without securing the required legal paperwork, which will now include a warrant that will never be issued?"

"Your Honor," said Ms. Farris, "it is not unusual for Child Protective Services to take physical custody of a child immediately upon learning of the mother's incapacitation. This child needs to be cared for, and arrangements made for that immediately."

"How did you learn of the mother's incapacitation so quickly, Ms. Farris?" asked Judge Watts skeptically.

"There was a call to Child Protective Services, Your Honor." said Ms. Farris.

"By who?" asked Watts, his voice underlying his growing irritation.

"I will have to check and get back to you, sir." said Ms. Farris. "When I was told of it, I assumed the Police made the call."

"Really!" said Watts, shaking his head. "The incapacitated woman is herself a Police Officer. Any one of her colleagues would take care of that child, even if she didn't leave the legal papers to have Commander Troy assume guardianship, of which he is fully capable of doing. Now why don't you tell me what's really going on, Ms. Farris? Why are you trying this end-around to take custody of that child?"

"I'm not sure what you're asking, Your Honor." said Ms. Farris. "I'm just trying to do my job."

"That's a load." said Watts. "Ms. Patterson, your writ is granted. Commander and Mrs. Troy have guardianship of Peter Donald Feeley during Ms. Perlman's incapacitation, and while I pray to the Lord she recovers... should she die, that guardianship will continue as the process to make it permanent is completed.

Judge Watts was not finished: "Furthermore, Ms. Farris, neither you, nor anyone at Child Protective Services, nor anyone associated with you or CPS, nor hired by you or CPS, is to attempt to take custody or physical possession of that child. To attempt to do so will be considered Contempt of this Court as well as a felony criminal offense of kidnapping. Do you understand, Ms. Farris?"

"Your Honor, I intend to appeal this ruling--"

"I SAID 'DO YOU UNDERSTAND?', MS. FARRIS!" yelled Judge Watts, his patience gone. "Give me one more word of crap and you will be in jail for Contempt. DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND?"

"I understand." said Ms. Farris. The look on her face was sheer ugliness.

Part 8 - The News

I was in the waiting room. The Chief and Cindy were there, as well. I had permitted Martin Nash and Teresa Croyle to stay, and told the rest of the Detectives to go back to work, promising to give them updates as I received them myself.

Paulina had given me the paperwork making me Peter D. Feeley's temporary guardian. "She's already appealed, and to my utter shock, Leahy squashed it like a bug. With prejudice, too." Paulina said. "I don't know what the hell is going on with all that. I've never seen anything like it. Good thing you called me and had me already on the move about it."

"Thanks to Cindy and her vibes." I said. "But it's obvious why Farris is doing this--"

Just then FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone barreled in, his face as white as a sheet. He was followed by Sandra Speer, who broke off and went to hug her boyfriend Martin Nash (which is why I let him stay).

"How... how is she?" Jack gasped.

"Have a seat." I said, indicating the space next to me. "C'mon, sit!" He finally obeyed, and I said "She's alive, she's in surgery, we're waiting to hear more. Early word is that it's not life-threatening like Cindy was, but I'll believe that when I see it."

"And the baby? And Pamela?"

I said "The baby is fine, despite an attempt to kill him, and another to kidnap him. Rudistan and Morton are guarding him now, and it will take nuclear weapons to get past them. Pamela... was killed in the initial attack."

"Oh, geez." said Jack. "Wait... what kidnapping attempt?" There was a chorus of agreement with the question.

"The head of Child Protective Services tried to take custody of little Pete and take him out of here. And right under my nose." I said. "They must think I'm a stupid idiot and would not see what they are up to."

"But why?" asked Teresa. "Of course, I can ask that about this whole attack."

"Speaking of that," I said, "it's time to go to work and figure it out. Captain Ross, take direct charge of this case. Get Detective Cummings and start putting the puzzle pieces together. Lt. Croyle, get your people to work contacting C.I.s and the like. See if there's anything else going on, or if this is meant to distract from something. Mr. Nash, you are the liaison to our FBI friends here. Stay with them, work with them on any traces of information. Jack, you might ask the Belfort Badge Gang Task Force if anything was going on recently."

"I don't have to ask." said Jack. "You're going to hate me when I tell you this, but they told me yesterday that there was some activity on Belfort's network Sunday."

I had to take in a breath, then I exhaled and said "No, I don't hate you for that, Jack. You're sitting there hating yourself enough for both of us. Seriously, tell your Task Force People that moving like pond water won't get it done, and has gotten a Police Officer wounded and her mother-in-law murdered."

"That won't be all I tell them." said Jack. "And then my boss will have his turn with them. You might get some leftovers."

"Good enough." I said. "While you're at it, check up on Linda Farris, see if she's part of this group..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I had sent Cindy out of the Hospital not only to take charge of the investigation, but also because I knew Tanya had a lung wound, and I did not want Cindy to re-live her own horrific experiences when any news came out.

At 2:15pm, that news came. Dr. Morgan came to the waiting room. "May I see the Commander and the Chief?" No one knew if this was good nor bad, but Chief Moynahan and I followed Dr. Morgan down the hall to a small exam room where he could show X-rays and stuff.

"I have good news and bad news." Dr. Morgan said. "The surgeries went very well. As long as there is no internal bleeding that we missed, she should begin recovering. She has three wounds. One is in her left leg; it fortunately missed the bone and the big arteries and veins, and it's not too bad.

"The second, or probably the third, is in her right lung. She's very fortunate that it went straight through without severe damage. Captain Ross's damage came from an expanding bullet that hit in the wrong places and did a lot of tissue damage; Lt. Perlman is far more lucky."

"And the third must be the bad news." I said.

"Yes, it is." Dr. Morgan said. "The third... hit her in her back. She must've been spinning when it hit." He pointed to a drawing of the lower back he'd posted on the whiteboard. "It hit right here at the base of the spine, above the coccyx. It shattered these vertebrae, and cleaning that up was what took so long. But worse... her spine is damaged. I'm sorry, but I believe she will be paralyzed from the waist down."

I felt the Chief put his arm around me as the agony went through my own spine.

"I'll tell the others, Commander." Moynahan said.

"No. No sir, I should be the one to tell them... especially Jack." I said, rallying myself, and steeling myself to do my duty.

Part 9 - Spinning The Webs

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" yelled the lovely redheaded reporterette from outside Police Headquarters at 7:00am, Tuesday, February 4th. "The Town & County Police Department remains in shock after the brutal attack upon Major Crimes Division Lieutenant Tanya Perlman and her family!

"Pamela Feeley was killed in the attack upon her home on the second anniversary of the death of her son, Police Corporal Peter M. Feeley. Lt. Perlman saved her baby son, Peter D. Feeley, by wrapping him in her Police armor vest. Lt. Perlman is in intensive care at University Hospital, but doctor's say she is expected to recover. Baby Pete Feeley will be released into the care of relatives later this morning, as he suffered only minor injuries."

"In a related story," Bettina continued, "Governor Val Jared suspended Child Protective Services Director Linda Farris, after Farris attempted to gain custody of baby Pete Feeley without authorization. Judge Rodney K. Watts not only blocked Farris's illegal move, but recommended to the Governor that Ms. Farris be suspended until her actions are either explained or discovered. Ms. Farris has retained legal counsel and is not cooperating with authorities."

"The perpetrators of this horrific attack were chased down by Police, but are reported to have killed themselves after their vehicle was rammed by a Police cruiser. Police are investigating the case, but so far have no leads as to who is behind this attack upon one of their own..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"You must've been getting way too close to them." said the DepDirector of the FBI. We were in the Federal Building, in the FBI's hidden-away conference room. It was 10:00am, Thursday, February 4th. Present were himself, Jack Muscone, Sandra Speer, Lindy Linares, Eduardo Escobar, all of the FBI; myself, Chief Moynahan, Cindy Ross, and Martin Nash.

"We got a huge break with Vauxhall." I said. "We shut it down, we shut down the John Clay Financial Services, the Castor & Pollux Enterprises, and you FBI guys were and are crawling up City & Counties Bank's ass. We got Steven Moschel, and he sang like a canary, so that whole organ donation ring is now being busted by your guys across 22 States. Hospital Director Alcott has confessed and cut a deal in exchange for her testimony."

"Not only that," said Jack Muscone, looking exhausted, "we're pretty sure those four guys who attacked Tanya and her family were hired out of the Belfort Gang system. We're looking hard for any financial transaction that might've had a Vauxhall connection and a connection to Belfort. Or maybe we'll find the bastard Consultant's new payment pipelines, and can get something straight to him."