Dark Side of the Force Ch. 04

"Oooohhhh..." Daniel moaned at the same time as Melina engulfed his long, thick shaft, her lips sliding tightly but slickly along his throbbing meat until she'd swallowed nearly all of that. Her head raised up then sank down again, then began bobbing up and down in a smooth steady rhythm as the black-haired beauty expertly fellated her husband's cock.

Daniel lay back, enjoying the sensations of his beloved wife giving him head, feeling both the intense physical pleasure and the deeply emotional love for Melina as she serviced him. His hand was roaming over her back, feeling the firm, sweet globes of her asscheeks under the hem of the nightgown, letting his fingers slide down the crack of her ass to her pussy, where he teased her labes.

"Mmmmmmmmm," moaned the beautiful wife, a moan of pleasure and joy. For her part, Melina loved nothing more than pleasing her husband, especially using her lips, tongue and vagina to bring him maximum pleasure. Knowing that Daniel was enjoying her mouth and her sexual efforts made her incredibly happy. She settled down onto Daniel as she sucked him voraciously.

Clink!

Melina's mouth came flying off Daniel's cock as she listened intently.

"What was that?" she whispered.

"I don't know." whispered Daniel, turning serious. "Sounded like someone trying to break in." He quickly got up and reached for the 12-gauge shotgun he kept beside the bed. As he went to the doorway, Melina opened the dresser on her side of the bed and pulled out her bedside revolver.

The house was bathed in moonlight through the windows as Daniel opened the bedroom door and looked out. And then he saw it: three men in black body armor and motorcycle helmets were coming up the stairs!

"There he is!" snarled the first man coming up the stairs. He aimed his pistol and fired just as Daniel fired his shotgun.

"AAUGH!" Daniel screamed, falling onto his back on the landing in front of the bedroom door. His shotgun has been 'no effective' against the perp.

Then Melina peeked out the door, crouched down. Her arm extended into the hallway and the Ruger Redhawk .44 magnum spoke. The first man fell back as the bullet ripped through his throat, killing him. The second man received a bullet in the front of the throat, just under the helmet. The third man's helmet face shield shattered as the third bullet fired from Melina's gun went into his left eye and then into his brain, what little he had, liquifying it.

"Daniel!" Melina gasped, going to her husband. He'd been shot in the shoulder.

"I... I think I'm all right." said Daniel. "Call 9-1-1... go, call for help!" he ordered, finally getting Melina to stop attending him and make the needed call.

----

I arrived at the Allgood home just as Daniel was being loaded onto the ambulance. "Flesh wound." said the EMT. "He'll be all right, but we're taking him to University Hospital for treatment."

"Don't let me stop you." I said. "I'll talk to you later, Daniel." Allgood just nodded. Melina climbed aboard with her husband, wearing a housecoat. "Guys," I said to the EMT's, "get the man's wife some scrubs to wear at the hospital."

"Wilco." said the EMT. Seconds later, the ambulance was on the move. I looked around, seeing Chief Griswold berating Cindy.

"Lieutenant, you are on light duty and you are not re-certified, what the hell are you doing here?" Griswold was demanding as I came up.

"I'm not here as a cop, sir, I'm here to see if my business partner is okay." Cindy fired back. She was not taking shit from anyone, not even her Police Chief, I thought, inwardly happy. The Chief was not amused, and I had to step in before he blew a gasket, however well-intentioned, and busted my Lieutenant down for insubordination.

"It's okay, Chief." I said. "Ross, head on over to the hospital and stay with Melina while they check out Daniel." Cindy scooted. The Chief gave me a glance that was meant to convey daggers, but underneath he was thankful I'd intervened.

"Commander, you're off this case, too." Griswold growled. "Your ex-wife and her husband are the victims."

"Who's on it?" I asked.

"I've got Nash and Torres leading it." said the Chief, then he lowered his voice to convey conspiratorial secrecy. "Go in and take a very quick look around, but stay out of their way." I did so.

There were three dead men on the stairs, one at the top of the landing, one just behind him, a third at the bottom of the stairs... he'd tumbled backwards, breaking his neck though he was already dead from the .44 magnum bullet that had destroyed him.

I carefully made my way to the top of the stairs. Nash was at the bedroom door and Diana Torres was in the bedroom.

"Sir," said Nash, "the perps were using nine millimeter pistols. Allgood had a shotgun and a .44 magnum. Three bullets fired, three empty cartridges in the revolver." He handed me the .44 magnum, which was in an evidence bag.

I put on blue EMT gloves and took out the revolver. Three expended cartridges, no other bullets in the gun. "So we're playing it that Daniel shot the guys, not Melina... who obviously is the one who did shoot them?"

"That's what the Media is going to hear." said Nash.

"That's right, sir." said Torres. "Mr. Allgood defended his wife from the home invaders."

"I see." I said. "Did you find the box of .44 magnum shells?" I asked.

"The Crime Lab team found a box of shells." said Torres. "Not the same brand as those that were fired, but the only other .44 magnum shells found in the home."

"Interesting." I said, mostly to myself as I looked up, catching the A/C vent in the corner of my eye. I noticed it was not perfectly re-aligned with the wall. I quickly looked away and said nothing. Nash might have been following my look, but he then made a point to look around on the floor. I could tell what was up, and that my Detectives knew it also... and that they were doing what I would be doing about it.

"Okay guys," I said. "I'm not even officially here, the Chief has told me I can't be on the case. So you guys wrap it up and let the Chief know what you find. If I happen to see a copy of your reports in my own email by accident, I won't complain."

"Roger that, sir." said Nash as I left.

----

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" blared the lovely redhead reporter at 7:00am the morning of September 11th. "On this day that we remember those lost in the Twin Towers attacks, we also have breaking news of an attack upon the home of Sheriff candidate Daniel Allgood and his wife earlier this morning! Mr. Allgood was wounded in the left shoulder during attack, but managed to kill all three of his attackers, protecting his wife from the home invaders!

"Mr. Allgood was rushed to University Hospital, where doctors performed minor surgery to repair his shoulder. The hospital issued a statement declaring that Mr. Allgood should make a full recovery and will be released in one to two days. Meanwhile, the Police say they have not yet discovered why the attack on Mr. Allgood was made, refusing to speculate if this was a burglary gone bad... or if this was a deliberate attempt to assassinate Mr. Allgood."

----

"Absolutely nothing." said Dr. Woodrow. "Of course the perps had no IDs on them, but we've gotten no identification from the fingerprints, either. We took DNA samples, and the University Hospital's lab are running them as well as us, but we're not hopeful for anything."

We were meeting in Classroom 'E', and it was 2:00pm the same day of September 11th. It was carpeted, with tables and chairs arranged like a conference table, but I hated the lack of sunlight that the main conference room had. Present with me and Dr. Woodrow were Tanya Perlman, Cindy Ross, Martin Nash, Diana Torres... and Jack Muscone, who I had invited to sit in. I was at the head of the table, leading the meeting; the Chief had told me that he would be delegating such meetings to me as he wound down towards retirement.

"I don't doubt you won't find anything." I said. "These guys were professional killers, part of a hit team. We won't identify them, even with Agent Muscone and the FBI's help, if I don't miss my guess."

"Sir, these perps were wearing motorcycle helmets." said Nash. "Do you think they were part of the group that rescued us at the Olivet Gym when Lt. Ross was wounded?"

"Oh noooo," I said, "those guys were friends. These guys are enemies. And while we're on that subject, let me fill you guys in on this: the reason I asked FBI Agent Muscone to sit in on this meeting is because he and I have been working on a case at the Federal level. You'll all remember those rogue CIA agents who were unfortunately killed at the County Airport. You may also remember that an eight-man hit team broke Sarah Collins out of the Campus jail. Agent Muscone and I are thinking these guys are remnants of that hit team."

"Yes, that's right." said Muscone. "I know we can trust you guys to keep this in this room. We, meaning the FBI, think that two of those eight men from the Collins-breakout hit team were killed at the airport. We're thinking that the three killed at the Allgood home last night were part of that group. That leaves three more out there somewhere. They may or may not be hanging around here in this County, but you guys need to keep your eyes peeled."

"Any idea at all why they'd want to kill the Allgoods?" Detective Diana Torres asked.

"And by that," said Nash, "I think she means who hired these guys, who's behind them, and why the behind-the-scenes people wanted to kill the Allgoods." All eyes were on me, even Jack Muscone's.

"At the risk of a beatdown from Lt. Ross's crowbar," I said, half jokingly, "I don't have my theories properly formed yet. Not enough data." Sure enough, that got an accusatory look from Cindy, who was thinking I was not sharing everything. "I know, Cindy, you think I'm holding back, but in reality I'm not. I'll tell every one of you what comes to mind... when it does." Cindy was less than mollified.

"Okay guys, if there's nothing else..." I said.

"If I may have a moment with you privately, Commander?" said Tanya.

"Sure. The rest of you can go." I said. "Cindy, why don't you take Agent Muscone to meet our new ADA, Ms. Stiles, and I'll catch up with y'all in a minute." Everyone except Tanya left.

"Don," said Tanya, her informality making a specific point, I knew, "Dr. Woodrow asked me to handle this while he looks the other way. Although the bullets we recovered from the perps were damaged, they were very likely 'cop-killer' bullets. Illegal to own. Now Daniel might have had them when he was a cop, but he's on leave of absence, and he also can't have them in his home. Of course I've made sure this won't see the light of day, but I wanted to make sure you knew."

"Thank you, and thank Dr. Woodrow." I said. "And yes, I had a suspicion of it. Who in the world only loads three bullets into a revolver, even if she only needed three to wipe out three perps? No, she took the unfired bullets out and hid them... and of course my guys didn't exactly expend a lot of effort looking for them."

"She?" asked Tanya, her eyes showing that her suspicions were confirmed. I could not help but grin.

"Daniel was already hit." I said. "And he used a shotgun to defend his home and wife. But there's no way he fired a .44 magnum revolver, and certainly not with such deadly accuracy, while injured like that. Last but not least, there's only one marksman in this County who is that good... and she showed it when those guys invaded her gym and wounded Cindy that time."

"Ah yesssss, I remember that." said Tanya.

-----

"Why don't the four of us go to lunch?" I asked, having gone to Jenna Stiles' office, where she, Cindy and Jack Muscone were chatting.

"Sorry, Commander, I've got a lunch meeting with Krasney at the Courthouse." said Jenna. "We're going to go over that big bust Croyle and Sharples made last week."

So the three of us, Cindy, Jack and myself, went to the Cop Bar, where Jack was one very happy FBI agent as his favorite double-cheeseburger was served.

"Now Don," said Cindy, "I didn't say a word, I was keeping my mouth shut." She was referring to what I'd said in Classroom 'E' about holding back on stuff.

"You're right." I said. "That was all on me, but everyone knew you were thinking it. Now, since it's just the three of us, I'll wax eloquent just a little bit:

"I have three ideas as to who would want to kill Daniel Allgood." I said. "One is the person who sent me that lovely painting depicting the Fall of Troy. Another one is Harold Malone or someone associated with him, perhaps the White Supremacists... that's one reason I had Jack sitting in with us. The third possibility is Senator Nathan Allen, as Allgood suggested in his most recent campaign speeches that he will be cleaning up local political corruption if he's elected Sheriff."

"My people didn't pick up any chatter from the supremacy groups." said Muscone. "And I also don't really see the motive for them to do so. Allgood wasn't exactly an enemy of Malone's racial associations; in fact, Allgood knew about a lot of it and let it go."

"True enough." I said. "They're not my foremost suspects. But Harold Malone himself? That can't be discounted."

"Nathan Allen." said Cindy. "I'm not seeing his motive, though I think he's definitely down and dirty enough to have something like that done."

"This is very thin, Cindy, and it's why I don't like talking theories without something behind them... this is really out there in left field." I said. "But here's my line of thinking: despite the religious nutjobs from the Oldeeds cabal helping Nathan Allen get back into his race, he was still hoping to piggyback on Harold Malone in order to win himself.

I continued: "Malone leaving the race actually hurt Allen very very badly, and Allen knows it. So Allen's best, if not only chance to win... and by that I mean make it close enough so they can steal the election for him... is to have Allgood out of the race so that both sides have to start over."

"Ahhhhh, I get it." said Cindy. "Damn..."

"There is no limit to what Nathan Allen will permit himself to do." I said. "No limit. None."

"Yet we're limited by our ethics and constrained by the law." said Cindy. "Not that I'm complaining about that, but the deck's stacked against us because of it."

I peered at Cindy. Her words struck me, resonated with me. Yes, we're limited, self-limited, while Nathan Allen rapes underage girls and has people assassinated. Again I pondered to myself the question of relationship between the Law and Justice...

-----

On the morning of September 12th, I spoke to Melina as Daniel was being processed to leave the hospital.

"I'm sure those cop-killer bullets hidden behind that bedroom a/c vent cover will disappear very quickly." I said quietly.

"What bullets would those be?" Melina asked, her voice lilting and a bit sarcastic. "Certainly there are no such bullets hidden anywhere in that house." By that, I knew Melina was telling me she'd already removed them from where she'd hidden them just before the EMTs and Police arrived.

"I have no idea what bullets those would be." I said. "Figments of my all-too-active imagination, I'm sure. My Crime Lab assures me that no such bullets were used to exterminate any perps during any home invasions, either."

"Mighty white of 'em." Melina replied as 'Nurse Ratchett' ordered Daniel to sit in the wheelchair for the traditional ride out of the hospital.

A gaggle of media was there to cover Daniel, and his lovely wife at his side, as he stepped out of the wheelchair that had carried him to the door. His left arm was in a sling, but he spoke confidently to the cameras and the crowd:

"It will take more than assassins' bullets to stop this campaign." he said loudly. "It will take more than Evil can muster to stop Good and Justice from winning in this County, and as your next Sheriff I will be committed to the side of Good and Justice in the never-ending battle against Evil!..." The crowd roared in applause. It was at that moment that I knew that no matter what the Democrats did, Daniel Allgood was going to be elected the next Sheriff of the Town & County. Chalk up one more little victory in the ultimate plan of the ol' Iron Crowbar...

Part 21 - Plans In Formation

On September 15th at 9:00am, Police Lieutenant Cindy Ross took careful aim at the target with her service weapon, a Sig Sauer P229 in caliber .40 S&W, and squeezed off ten shots in rapid succession. As the target was wheeled back, it was clear Cindy and done a 'Melina'... it was a perfect 3x3 square matrix within the innermost ring.

"You more than passed." said the Armorer, "but where did the tenth shot go?"

"Look closely at the middle hole." I said. "It's a hair bigger. Two shots went through that one hole."

The Armorer looked at it closely, then whistled. "You're right, Commander. Okay, that's a perfect 10 of 10... and then some." He signed Cindy's re-qualification form as I took the target off it's mount; it would be framed and presented to Cindy by me in the near future.

When we got back to MCD, she was surprised by the applause as all of the MCD and Vice Detectives were gathered to welcome her back to full duty. There were cupcakes for everyone, to my chagrin: the last thing I needed was a sugar-bombed group of Detectives. I did notice Jenna and Cindy talking during the chatter, and their eyes spoke volumes as they looked at each other...

----

Not everyone was in a partying mood. In Room 1822 of the Marriott Grande Hotel in the City, several high-powered men were meeting. State Senators Cerone and Langdon, Congressman Condor, SBI Director Lewis, Judge J.B. Stone and University Regent Austin R. Murphy, a close personal friend of the meeting's host, billionaire Henry R. Wargrave, were all in attendance, ready to decide their next course of action.

"I don't know, at least not yet, who was behind that attack on Daniel Allgood," said Wargrave. "But he did us and you no favors at all."

"My contacts are suggesting that it came from out of State." said Rep. Condor.

"My boys are telling me it's very likely Nathan Allen was behind it." said Senator 'Coffin' Cerone.

"Gentlemen," said Wargrave, "let me whet your appetites with one tidbit... are you sure that Daniel Allgood was the target?"

"Why the hell would someone want to kill his wife?" asked J.B. Stone. "That makes less than zero sense, no disrespect intended, Mr. Wargrave."

"None taken," said Wargrave, "but it's just a little something to consider. I don't insist upon it. Meanwhile... let's get back to the reason for this meeting: Senator Nathan Allen."

"The man would not step down." Cerone said, the frustration in his voice barely showing. "We told him what he needed to do, now it may be too late."

"It is too late." said Condor. "Less than two months to the election. While Allen has recovered remarkably well after the help from the Reverend Robert Patterson and the Oldeeds Group, he is still in bad enough shape that we can't rig the election for him."

"And let me add to that." said Murphy. "Our Police Commander is already talking to the Federal Elections Commission. He got one of their agents to arrest Katherine Woodburn and got KXTC out of her hands. By the way, Henry, just who the hell is this FEC Agent Fred Dixon? I couldn't get any information on him, not even from my best Government contacts."

"And you won't." said Wargrave. "Don't worry about him, Austin. But that gambit didn't work: I was outbid for KXTC. But you're point is valid... the Iron Crowbar is all over the place about potential election fraud. We can't help Senator Allen unless the election gets much, much closer than it is."