Big in Japan Ch. 01

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is 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, racism, 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.

Note: if you try any of the whiskeys discussed in this story, please drink responsibly.

***

Part 1 - Prologue

FBI Executive Assistant Director Owen Lange went into the daycare room of the FBI offices in New York City. The caretakers recognized him, but were surprised to see him in the daycare center.

"Hello, ladies." he said to the two women on duty. "I have a birthday card for Greta Speer from her sisters." One of the women took him to where three-year-old Greta was playing.

"Hi Greta." Owen Lange said. "This is a birthday card from your sisters." He handed her the card, which he'd already taken out of its envelope.

"I have sisters?" Greta said in wonder as she looked at it, and at the photo of Carole and Tasha inside, with great interest. "Mommy, I have sisters?"

"Yes, you do." said FBI Special Agent Sandra Speer, coming up behind EAD Owen Lange. "Sir, can I see you outside for a moment?"

They went into the hallway, and Sandra turned on her superior Agent. "Sir, with all due respect, that was wrong of you to give Greta a card from her father! He agreed not to contact her at all! I didn't let her see the card he tried to send through Jack Muscone last year------"

"Hold up, Agent Speer." Owen Lange said in his scratchy voice. "First, you will have to believe this, and I will also testify to it in Court, that Don didn't know anything about this, at all. This was all Carole and Tasha's doing. And I promised Carole I would give Greta the card, and I've fulfilled that promise."

"I didn't want her to even know she had sisters." Sandra said darkly.

"Yes, I know." said Owen Lange. "But she was eventually going to find out, one way or another. You're up against something way too powerful for either of us to fight against. I just made things a little easier for you."

"Don Troy may be the Iron Crowbar, Mr. EAD, but he is not all powerful." said Sandra. "And he damn well better honor the custody agreement he signed."

"I wasn't talking about Don, Sandra." Owen Lange said. "I was talking about Carole..."

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

Sunday, August 23d. We were at Teresa and Todd's house for the party celebrating Mike Burke's fifth birthday. Even Jack Burke was on good behavior, and spent most of his time talking to Carole, who to my surprise not only tolerated Jack, but played video games with him in the den room.

All my kids and their mothers were there, as were Cindy, Callie, and Betsy. And Daniel Allgood had brought Dan and Patricia. Dan played with his brother Doug a lot, while Patricia and Tasha found things to do that did not include boys. But Melina had not attended... and neither had Pete Feeley.

"I invited Pete and his parents, and Tiffany and Jennifer too." Teresa told me and Laura quietly and privately as the kids consumed amazing quantities of ice cream and cake. "But I just got reply on the Evite that they would not be attending. Nothing personal, by voice or phone or email."

"Tanya's been that way all week at work, too." I said. "Stiff and formal... with me, the Chief, Cindy, you... and even with all the Detectives. She's doing her job, and she has answers for every question I ask... and I've asked a lot to keep her on her toes... but she's definitely 'not perky' right now."

Laura asked "What was the ruling on Archie Brody's death?"

"Suicide." I said. "We had an amazingly fast Coroner's Inquest, in which Martha the M.E. and I both testified. Everything was totally consistent with suicide, so no conspiracies to form theories about."

"Carole has been unhappy that she hasn't seen Pete all week." Laura said. "I told her she needs to be prepared to not see him as much------ oh, hello Carole."

Carole had walked up to us. "Daddy, you gotta fix things, so we can see Pete again. It's important."

"Why is it important?" Laura queried our daughter, perhaps a bit sharply.

"I don't know why, Mommy." Carole said, standing her ground. "I just know that it is. And Daddy and Mis-ter Muscone have got to be friends again, so they can bust bad guys together again."

"No he doesn't!" Ian said, having come up to us, also. "Pete's daddy is the FBI! He's bad, so Pete's bad! I'm glad he didn't get to come!"

Carole turned on her brother and yelled "Pete's not bad! He's better than you!" She looked like she was going to attack her brother, and he was dug in to give her that fight. Laura intercepted Carole, while I took Ian aside for some remedial discussion on not holding his hatred of the FBI against Pete... which was not well received.

"Carole," I overheard Laura tell our daughter, "you should never take someone else's side against the family, especially your brothers and sister." Good advice from my 'Corleone' wife, I thought to myself.

"Pete's more family than Ian is... to me." Carole said, then added cryptically: "He will be, anyway."

I felt a vibe, and looked over to see Cindy across the room, staring at Carole. Then her ice-blue eyes drifted to my gray peepers...

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

Monday, August 31st, 8:15am. Parents of first graders were lining up along the walkway of Eastside Elementary School, forming a gauntlet for their children to walk through. My wife Laura was near the front end, as was Nextdoor County Police Chief Molly Evans. Molly was in her uniform and taking charge of the students, which reassured nervous parents.

The gauntlet of parents ended at the bottom of the three steps leading up to the the patio in front of the entrance to the school. Deputy Chief Cindy Ross was at the end of the parents's line, with a digital camera. Waiting at the top of the steps were the Town Mayor, the County Sheriff, and Your Iron Crowbar, holding the instrument for which I was named.

Cindy and Molly were communicating by earbuds, and I heard Cindy tell Molly to start the kids through as she (Cindy) hit a button on the big boombox next to me. The Black Eyed Peas song 'Let's Get It Started' blasted out and the parents began clapping and cheering in rhythm as the kids started coming through, getting high-fives or fist bumps along the way... and of course parents were taking photos of their child coming through.

The first first-grader to come through was my son Jim, followed by my son Ross. Jim came up the steps, grasped the rounded end of my red crowbar, and turned to the others and yelled "Touch the crowbar for good luck!" as his sister Carole had two years before. (Author's note: 'Ethical Dilemmas', Ch. 01.) A tradition, this had become.

Ross followed Jim in grabbing the end of the crowbar. Cindy was photographing every child as they came through and posed touching the crowbar for one second. Next through was young Dan Allgood. He posed with me and the crowbar, then went over and hugged his father's legs before running into the school building.

Young Pete Feeley came through. To my surprise, I felt some emotion at seeing him, remembering how close to death he had come as a baby, and his mother's sacrifice for him. (Author's note: 'Six Degrees', Ch. 01-02.) To my further surprise, he hugged my legs and said "Hi Mister Crowbar!" before posing holding the crowbar.

Eastside Elementary had become a 'magnet' school in the Town High School system, and as such had a very diverse range of ethnicities in its student body. White children, Black children, Hispanic children, and Asian children all came through. Every single one of them held the crowbar and posed with me. And every parent received a print of their child posing with me and the crowbar, courtesy of the Daniel Allgood Campaign for Mayor.

After the 20 minutes it took for every first grader to go through, the gauntlet began breaking up. Parents came up to me to thank me for being there, perhaps unaware that two of the kids were mine, so it took me a few moments to get to Laura and Molly at the other end. Laura was dabbing tears from her eyes, as she had when Carole had gone through two years before.

"I promised myself I wouldn't cry." Laura said as I put my arm around her to lead her to my Police SUV. "I just can't believe how quickly my baby boy is growing up."

I had seen Tanya and Jack Perlman near the front of the line, but they had not spoken to me... especially Jack Muscone, who was definitely avoiding me.

Laura said "Are you going to send your mother the photos of Jim and Ross?"

"Yes." I said. "And then I'll call her in Apple Grove. It's her birthday today, you know..."

Part 2 - Whisky Central

"Winter's city side, crystal bits of snowflakes
All around my head and in the wind
I had no illusions that I'd ever find a glimpse of
Summer's heatwave in your eyes..."
------ Alphaville, 'Big In Japan'

10:00am, Monday, August 31st. My lovely assistant Helena buzzed me and announced two visitors. A moment later FBI Assistant Special Agent In Charge Karina White and DEA Supervisory Special Agent Dwight Stevens were sitting in the hot chairs in front of my desk. I poured them coffee and refilled my own Airborne School coffee mug, as well.

"This must be about Commander Croyle's cousin Jen Sakai." I said.

"Not much gets past you, Don." Karina said with a smile. "And it's about a lot more. We've uncovered a fairly large, sophisticated smuggling operation that involves both whisky products and drugs; ergo, Dwight and I are spearheading the joint task force investigating it."

"Due to your past ATF experience." I said to Karina. She nodded vigorously in agreement.

SSA Dwight Stevens said "Karina is our adult supervision. We've put together a pretty elite team on this. You remember FBI Agent Eduardo Escobar from the old Team Lazarus? He's working with us from Texas. DEA Agent Juan Alberto Morales in Southport is working with us. And Lindy Linares has been assigned to help with our cyber and digital needs."

Karina said "And from the ATF, we have Nancy Harding, who I knew from my days with them. She's a very good Agent, and one of the good guys. I tried to get her on my FBI team, but they wouldn't give her up."

I nodded, understanding why I was being told all this. My rift with Jack Muscone meant that I was skeptical (at best) of all Federal Agents, and Karina and Dwight were making their pitch for this team.

Dwight Stevens: "The unfortunate thing is that the Swamp Frogs are aware of our investigations, and they tried to force DEA Agent Kevin Pitts on us. He's not a dirty 
Agent, not like Curtis Halsey and Lindsey Black, but Jack Muscone told them in no uncertain terms that Pitts was not welcome on this joint task force."

"Good." I said, not letting my face show anything, feeling as well as seeing that Karina was intently watching my reactions. "So... whaddya got? And what do you need from me?"

"Any help you can give us." Dwight Stevens said. "We'll make all of our data available to you, and maybe you can do Iron Crowbar things and correlate bits of information that we don't see the patterns for."

"Okay," I said. "Give me the Cliffs Notes now."

Karina took a jump drive out of her pocket and handed it to me. Then she began talking: "After the incident where Jen Sakai attempted to have Todd Burke kidnapped," (Author's note: 'Sugar and Spice', Ch. 03.) "we've been digging into her and her husband, Sakai Hideo. He's long gone; he went back to Japan and may have made it to Red China. But Jen was using her contacts with the Yakuza and family connections in Louisiana to smuggle distillates to Japan for making Japanese whisky."

I said "So they basically made a form of moonshine whisky, and sent it to Japan for barreling. I would also imagine they are taking raw molasses, a by-product of sugar production, which is the basis for making rum, and sending that, too."

Karina: "Yes, and the smuggling ring also stole some barrels meant for legit Texas whiskey producers and sent those to Japan... and even barreled some of their own whisky and rum distillates for several years and sent that over. And the Yakuza pays handsomely for finished products like that."

"I'm sure." I said. Then I sat back in my chair and looked at them. "But tell me... Jen Sakai and her husband had connections to the Red Chinese. Her ring in Texas, that the FBI busted up, had connections to the Red Chinese. I'm sure those that could afford it would pay huge to have good whiskey smuggled to them in China, and the Chinese Government might just look the other way because their own officials would be getting their share of it. Anything along those lines?"

Dwight and Karina looked at each other for a second, then Karina said "You're right, Don. That's what we're looking at now, but we're just starting to get any threads to pull. And we have the full cooperation of Takaki Misaki and the Japanese Government in our investigations. The Chinese Government talks a good game, but they're not nearly as helpful when push comes to shove, probably because, like you said, the Government officials are probably getting their cut."

Dwight Stevens said: "With your permission, I'd like to go talk to Commander Croyle, if she's available, while ASAC White talks to you." I called Teresa's office. The Iron Wolf was 'in', and said she'd talk to Stevens.

After he left the office, Karina said "First, Don, I want to apologize for my role in helping Jack Muscone keeping you from finding Archie Brody. And I want to apologize on Jack's behalf, and try to heal this breach------"

I held up a hand, stopping her. "I accept your apology for yourself. But not for Jack. He's going to have to apologize for himself."

"I get that." said Karina. "There's other news, too. Martin Nash opened an OPR on Jack over the Brody suicide and the events that led up to it. He may come here, to your Town & County, to interview you and other Police Officers, as well FBI Agents in this Region."

"Hoo boy." I said. "According to Federal Judge Landis, Muscone and the Russo BAU Team did nothing illegal. What's to investigate?"

Karina: "It may just be taking a cheap shot at Jack. Or it could be the Swamp Frogs piling on him like they tried to pile on you over the Morelli case. Don, you have no idea how angry they are that you got that Immunity Agreement from Judge Landis on top of that pardon from Governor Jared."

"Oh, I have a pretty good idea of that." I replied with a wan smile. "Still, there's nothing on Muscone to go after."

Karina said "Unless EAD Owen Lange is right, and they're using this as an inroad to investigate Jack for his brother's death all those years ago..."

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

"Look," said Teresa Croyle, "I'm not trying to avoid your questions in any way. It's just that there is literally nothing I have to offer you in the way of information."

She was sitting behind her desk, and DEA SSA Dwight Stevens was sitting on the sofa in front of her. She continued: "I was married to Easton Windham for less than one year, and that was some fifteen years ago. I have absolutely no idea where he went off to after we separated and had our marriage annulled. And I just found my mother's family a few months ago, and I barely know any of them."

Dwight Stevens said "I understand. We're just trying to understand who Easton Windham and Weston Windham are... or were. We understand that Weston died in a plane crash four years ago, and it may be related to what Jen Sakai and her husband were doing. What I wanted to ask was if you would put in a good word with your aunt, Clarissa Esterson, for her to talk with us about that."

Teresa said "Like I said, I've met her a grand total of once. I feel like I'd be imposing on her. You really might be better off just knocking on her door yourself..."

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

11:30am, Monday, August 31st. Chief Moynahan had invited me, Cindy, and Teresa to lunch at the Irish Pub, a.k.a. the Cop Bar, his treat. We were in the back 'Command Room', and I was having the Double Breakfast Burger Plate. Cindy was having the Fish & Chips Basket; Teresa, the Steak Caesar Salad; and the Chief was having a double cheeseburger, but with a salad instead of fries.

"How was the first day of schoooool, Mister Crowbarrrr?" the Chief asked.

"Good, sir." I said agreeably. "Jim and Ross were ready to get started. I suspect getting away from Carole contributed to Jim's enthusiasm, and Ross was Ross... he just deals with whatever is in front of him."

"Jim and Carole aren't getting along?" Cindy asked.

"They can be like oil and water sometimes." I said. "Jim is less than a year younger than Carole, but two grades behind. And he would rather she not tell him things, and let him experience and learn for himself, while she wants to be 'helpful' and tell him everything. But they're nowhere near like what Elizabeth and I were like."

Cindy said "Molly called me after the walkthrough party was over. She said she wasn't as emotional about it as she thought she would be, that she was just happy for Ross. Then she told me that Laura was all but bawling her eyes out when she hugged Jim and he went through the line."

"How were Tanya and Jack about Pete?" Teresa asked.

"Molly said Tanya was a bit emotional but mostly happy." Cindy said. "Jack was just there. Not that he didn't care, but he just didn't show any emotion."

I said "I have to admit that when Pete came through the line, I was remembering that day Tanya was paralyzed after wrapping him in her armored vest. And then Pete hugged my legs. That hit me more than Jim and Ross coming through."

"Sooooo," drawled the Chief, "good segue: how are things with Captain Mus-connnnne?"

I said "About the same, sir. She's doing her job, staying on top of things. But she's keeping stiff and formal, not seeming to have fun like she used to."

Teresa said "I have to admit... this morning I got a feeling like she must've been having. Dwight Stevens wanted me to contact my Aunt Clarissa and pave the way for the Feds to talk to her about my cousin Jen and also Weston Windham. It's not that I wouldn't do it, but I told him that I didn't know her all that well, and it'd be just as good if he just knocked on her door himself. But I thought of Tanya always complaining of being asked to be the go-between to Jack, and the imposition of it."

"Says the woman that bitched Tanya out at the Brody crime scene." Cindy said cattily.

"That was totally correct to do." I said sternly. "Tanya wasn't just taking Jack's side against me, she was taking the FBI's side against the TCPD, in front of all the TCPD Officers, CSI's, and the Medical Examiner at the scene."

I turned to Teresa and said: "Having said that... maybe if you go tell Tanya how you felt when Dwight wanted you to intercede with your aunt, maybe that'll be a first common-ground step to making things better------"

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

It was Teresa's personal iPhone, and she answered it. "Hello?... hi, Aunt Clarissa, how are you?... er, you want me to come down there as soon as possible? Are you ill, is everything okay?... er, I might could come as early as tomorrow, but my husband can't leave right now..."

Cindy said "I'll go down there with you." She knew I would not let Teresa go alone.