Interlude Ch. 09

The order of my stories to read is:

Todd & Melina series, Interludes 1-5, Sperm Wars series, Russian Roulette series, Case of the Murdered Lovers series, Case of the Murdered Chessplayer series, Case of the Executed Evangelist series, The Swap series.

Interludes 6-9

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.

This interlude is intended to bridge the gap to the next blockbuster set of police drama stories. Thank you for bearing with me, and I hope you enjoy the stories.-- WW.

Part 17 - The Morning Routine

The day started quietly, anyway. It was Wednesday morning, 6:30 am, and the MCD team was filtering in. Cindy and I were there first, and we were already enjoying our large mugs of coffee by the time Martin Nash, Diana Torres and Tanya Perlman came in. A few minutes later Angela Harlan and Hugh Hewitt walked in together, and it was not hard to observe and deduce from the furtive looks they gave each other and the rest of us that they'd spent the previous night together.

At 7:00am, our attention was firmly fixed upon the lovely redhead on our TV screens. As ever, it was time for Bettina!

"This is Betting Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News! The whole town has been rocked by the stunning news of the arrest of Elizabeth--" she named my sister as the screen showed Elizabeth being loaded into the van, with me next to her. I felt sure that if I had not been standing exactly where I was, they would've had footage of an extraordinary event. I listened as Bettina continued.

"Wanted on felony drug and other charges, she surrendered to Authorities and is being held without bail. Sources tell Channel Two News that a plea deal is being worked out, but Police are not commenting on her possible reasons for turning herself in. This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News. Let's go straight to Priya Ajmani at the national desk."

"Thank you, Bettina!" the gorgeous Indian woman said, standing in front of the Federal building downtown, as if that would make her information more relevant and important. "Channel Two News has learned that the diplomatic conference of OAS nations in Miami is scheduled to begin on time, despite security concerns voiced by several of the participating nations. The Venezuelan and Ecuadorian diplomats have complained formally that security around the hotels and meeting areas are extremely lax. The Homeland Security Department has issued a statement that while they believe security is more than adequate, they are providing additional security for any diplomats that request it. This is Priya Ajmani, KXTC Channel Two News National Desk."

"And now let's go to Tim Dawdle for sports." the desk announcer said. A thin man with curly black hair, glasses, wearing an ill-fitting suit, who obviously had never played a day of competitive sports in his life, came onto the screen. Though seemingly live, it was obviously a previously recorded story from the University football stadium. Dawdle looked like a 'millennial pajama boy' as he spoke into the microphone.

"The University expects a big year on the football field, and Coach Brian Harlan will have to work hard to earn his large salary with the schedule he'll be facing." Dawdle said, his voice nearly a sneer as the TV showed scenes of college players practicing. "Coach Harlan says he's hopeful for a great season, mentioning that he expects big contributions from Tony-" mentioning the name of the kid who had witnessed Ned murdering Big Alex, the kid who I knew was supplying performance-enhancing drugs to other players,"--, as well as from Heisman Trophy candidate Nick Eastwood at quarterback, and from Jefferson Jackson at tight end."

Dawdle's finish was outrageous: "These and the other players are receiving generous scholarships from the University that pay their tuition, board and books, and it's time for them to step up and give back for all that they've been given. And with wealthy alumni giving generous contributions to the University, they're expecting for these players and coaches to contribute to a championship season... and the School's bottom line. This is Tim Dawdle for KXTC Channel Two Sports."

"That fucking pantywaist asshole!" Angela exploded, clearly pissed off at the insinuations of the little wussy's sneering sports report, especially towards her cousin, the head football coach. There was a general murmur of agreement. It was the first burst of emotion that we'd seen from Detective Harlan, and it was totally understandable.

"Totally agree." I said. "Somebody turn that shit off."

Have I mentioned that I am not exactly a fan of the Press?

Part 18 - Speed Trap

"We have your slug Bounel here." City Detective Robin Ventura informed me over the phone later that afternoon. "He's nervous, though. He's trying to fight to stay here instead of going to your County."

"Well, he doesn't have much choice about that." I said. "We'll be there inside two hours to pick him up."

"Be careful, Don." Robin said. "I've got a nasty feeling about this one."

"Me too." I said. Hanging up the phone, I got up from my office desk and went down the halls to the MCD room.

"Who wants to volunteer for a very dangerous prisoner transfer?" I asked. As I expected, Hugh Hewitt's hand shot up immediately. Everyone else just looked at me quizzically.

"City picked up Barry Bounel." I said. "We're going to bring him over here. Nobody besides Hugh?"

"I'll go." said Cindy. "Maybe I'll get the chance to soften him up for your interrogation."

"You just might, but we have to get him here alive first. Hugh, go to the Armory and check out an M-4." I said, referring to the military "assault" rifle.

"Wow, this really is a big one!" Hugh said as he quickly exited. I went to the Chief's office, into which I was immediately admitted.

"Ventura called. Bounel's in the City Jail. We're going to transfer him. Can you implement Plan Bravo?" I said.

"Sure." said the Chief. "I'll notify the Courthouse. Think there might be a problem?"

"I sure as hell do." I said. "And sir, you might want to have our officers watch out for suspicious activity around these Headquarters, as well."

"I'm already doing that." the Chief said. "People might not notice it, but our police have been patrolling the area around here more frequently than some of the hot spots around Town..."

-----------------------

It was just past the middle of August. The University would soon come back into session for the Autumn semester, but the Town had not yet awakened from the seasonal siesta it enjoyed during the summer 'down time'.

I'd had a long conversation with FBI Agent Jack Muscone just a few days before. The SBI had dropped the investigation of Dick Ferrell and had also stopped discussing the drugs that we'd taken from Bounel. Only Steven Ikea was continuing to be a problem; in fact, Captain Malone had had to take him into a room for a private "conversation". It was the first time I'd ever seen a problem between Malone and Ikea. I understood why Ikea was really itching to bust my chops over the Bounel raid; my curiosity was raised as to why Malone was seemingly taking my side. I suspected he wanted things to quieten down, but I didn't know why.

Muscone had told me that Dr. Mays in California had put the drugs up for sale on the international black market but had been murdered before he could actually make a sale. The samples in Dr. Mays's possession, as well as a lot of other stuff, had been confiscated by the U.S. DEA. Then Muscone had said that Fred Dixon of the FDA/DEA was looking for Barry Bounel. Muscone suggested that others might be looking for Bounel as well, with the intention of doing Bounel great harm. So far, no one was outwardly worrying about the Town & County Police nor our samples of the drugs anymore.

"One other thing." Muscone said. "I tried to find out what happened to that guy 'Skinny Beard', who was arrested after the Oldeeds murder, since you wanted to talk to him. He has totally disappeared, and I was warned off of further inquiry about him. I do know that he is not in police custody in any jurisdiction in the Nation, nor is he in the FBI's custody. Looks like Witness Protection to me."

"No," I said. "He's rogue. Either he gave your sister organization the slip and got clean away, and they're embarrassed because they can't find him now -OR- something 'wet' happened to the creep. But it doesn't matter anymore: Skinny Beard is also useless to me now; it's Bounel we need to talk to. He's the only one who can give me the next link in the chain."

"Which he'll try like hell not to do. That guy is the biggest liar outside of Washington, D.C." said Muscone. "Even if you get him, you can't trust a damn thing he says."

"Vee hav vays too make him speek der trooth." I said in my best imitation of a wartime German accent. "I vill conveence heem too tawk."

"Just don't leave a mark." Muscone said. "That punk Ikea is starting to make waves that even I'm hearing about: he's gunning for you, and telling people to look for blue paint chips on perps that get beat up. I am not shitting you on that."

"Thanks for the heads-up." I said. After the call was completed, I thought long and hard about what to do with Ikea. He needed another comeuppance, big-time.

-----------------------

As we drove to the City, I told Hugh and Cindy that I thought someone might try to interfere with the transfer of Bounel to our County.

"What are we going to do with him?" Cindy asked. "We can't arrest him for the drugs; we took those from him without a warrant."

"I know." I said. "I just need to talk to him, trick the truth out of his lying half-breed ass, then we'll let him go. We might have to help him escape, too."

"What the fuck?" Hugh said. "I'm carrying all this firepower and now you're saying we're going to let him go?"

"Yep." I said. "We need to find out what the bastard knows about those drugs we took from him. If he cooperates, we'll try to get him out of the State-- alive. If not... we'll just let him go and he'll be dead in an hour."

"What's this all about?" Hugh asked. I could feel as well as see Cindy's eyes looking at me in the rear-view mirror.

"Those drugs we confiscated... they were stolen from a research lab." I said, not telling the full truth to Hugh. "There are some no-shit bad people trying to get at them. They can't get them from us, since they're either destroyed or hidden amongst all the drugs in the Evidence rooms, but if we can find out who wanted them, we can hit the perps hard and make them... unwilling to do further business in our County. Either way, we just need to wrap up the loose threads."

--------------------

"Aw shit, not him again." Bounel said as he caught sight of me by the van in the basement of the City Jail.

"Come on, Bounel." I said. "Get your fucking ass into my van."

"Man, I ain't going nowhere with you, dickhead." Bounel replied. He struggled against the City Police Officers escorting him, actually trying to go back inside the jail!

"Bounel, listen to me." I said. "Your life is in extreme danger right now. I'm not fucking around with you. If we don't get your sorry ass to safety, and damn soon, you won't live to see tomorrow morning's sunrise. You will die in the City jail tonight if you don't come with us. Now get your punk ass into my van if you want to live."

Bounel looked at me, skepticism and hatred in his dark eyes. "Fuck you, asshole." he said. But he'd stopped struggling.

"Charlie, get the bastard in the backseat and sit next to him. Keep him cuffed. If he tries to fuck around, shoot him." I said. Cindy Ross was "Charlie", Hugh was "Hotel" and I was "Delta" for this mission.

"Want me to drive, Delta?" Hugh offered.

"Negative." I said. "I've taken the defensive and combat driving courses, and neither of you have yet, at least not with the police. I gotta drive this one. Hotel, you ride shotgun, and have the M-4 ready. Charlie, you have your weapon locked and loaded and out of its holster, also."

"Roger that." both said at the same time.

Driving back out of the City, we took the four-lane, divided highway back towards our County. I remembered the times I'd made this drive in the Arruzio case... the Arruzio case...

"That's it!" I said out loud, remembering what I needed to about the original raid on the Bounel dorm room. Then I realized the mistake I'd made in making the outburst out loud.

"What?" Cindy said.

"Nothing." I said. "I'll tell you after we interrogate the halfbreed here."

"Fuck you, cracker." Bounel said. "I'm not saying a god-damned thing to you, and I don't give a shit if you brought your crowbar or not."

-----------------------

"Oh shit. Here it is." I said, the quietness of my voice contrasting with the deep rush of excitement... and fear... that I felt.

We were in Nextdoor County, the county next to ours and between us and the City. Ahead of me was what looked like a two-car crash on the right side of the road. As we approached, a man with brown hair and mustache and a brown suit began waving his hands to get our attention... and get us to stop. There was a bright red spot on his forehead and a trickle of red down the side of his face.

"What are you doing?" Hugh said as he realized I was actually speeding up.

"Lock and load, Hotel. This is an ambush." I said. I pushed the accelerator as hard as I could to the floor, pressing even harder to coax more speed out of the engine.


"What the fuck are you doing?" Bounel said, moving around in his seat.

"Shut the fuck up and sit still, Bounel, if you want to live past the next two minutes." I roared. The man at the car accident began running out into the road as we approached. I swerved to the left side, almost going off the road into the median to avoid him as he literally tried to throw himself in front of me. The police van whisked by him with just inches to spare; the guy almost was caught by the right side mirror and the rear bumper.

As I looked in the door mirror at the guy we were leaving in our wake, he had his hands up in a "What the fuck, we need help here!" gesture. He was acting the part all the way through, I noted.

I tuned the police radio to Nextdoor County's police channel, then grabbed the mike. "This is University Police officer Delta." I said into the mike.

"Go ahead, Officer Delta." came back a scratchy voice.

"There's an accident westbound on the main highway near mile marker 13." I said. "Looks like a two-car crash. Please send out an EMS unit or police."

"Roger that. Any injuries?"

"Can't tell at this time; we're westbound with a prisoner transfer and cannot stop."

"Roger that. Ambulance is dispatched."

I continued to drive as fast as I could, and as soon as a hill took me out of the sight of the accident, I turned on my blue lights and siren. I was going over 90 miles per hour.

"You don't think that was real?" Hugh asked.

"Oh hell no." I said. "Dollars to doughnuts the University Police calls us and tells us the other county calls them and says their ambulance can't find an accident."

-----------------------

Just as I was pulling into town, shutting off the siren and lights, I got a call on my cellphone. It was the Chief.

"Stay off the police radio and go straight to the Courthouse complex." the Chief growled. "We've got two bogeys watching Headquarters. Black cars. God, they're idiots -- like we can't read the US Government car tags on the back of the cars."

"Roger that, Chief. Don't approach the bogeys... we don't want them to know that we know they're there, at least not yet." I said. The chief agreed and hung up the phone.

The Police Headquarters had a flaw: there was no garage to drive into, and we'd have to transfer Bounel from the van, meaning we'd have to be outside, even if just for a few seconds. Anyone watching would see us, and since the Oldeeds assassination I had a most very healthy fear of snipers...

Part 19 - The Bounel Inquisition

We drove into the garage that led to the basement of the County Courthouse. This was how perps were transferred from the County Jail to be taken to the courtrooms for their trials. Once inside, the Deputies disappeared, leaving us alone to take Bounel down a basement corridor.

"In here." I said, guiding my little party into a side room. It was not meant to be an interrogation room, but it would do. We sat Bounel down in a chair. I took the other chair as Cindy stood right behind Bounel, and Hugh took up a post near the door, his M-4 at the ready.

"Listen, asshole," Barry said, frustration in his voice, "you said you'd stay the fuck away from me after you raided my dorm room. What's up your ass now?"

"Barry, I'm trying to save your fucking worthless life." I said. "I didn't even bring the crowbar today... I don't need it. If I want you fucked up, I'm just going to take you outside and let you go. You'll be standing right out there in the street, and I doubt you'll have time to even figure out where to take a shit before someone makes halfbreed swiss cheese out of you..."

---------------------

It took a very long time... hours of sparring with Bounel to get the simplest story. In fact, I was the one who broke first.

I had already once told Cindy to take Bounel to be released outside. Bounel didn't get to the door before he said "All right, I'll talk to you."

But then he lied, dodged, and didn't make hardly one true statement. I had rarely encountered anyone who would lie as often and consistently as Barry Bounel...no Washington politician had anything on this guy.

Finally, I'd had enough. "Take him out of here, Charlie. Take him outside and let him go. Don't bring him back even if he says to. I'm done with him, I'm tired of him lying every time he opens his halfbreed potty mouth. You're free to go, Barry. Get out of my sight." Turning away as Cindy took him out the door, I took out my cell phone and said to Hugh "I'm going to order pizzas to deliver to the station. What do you want on yours, Hotel?"

They almost got to the outside door. I don't know what snapped in Bounel's head, except maybe some sixth sense that his death awaited him outside. "Okay, I'll talk to him."


"You heard him, Barry, he's done with you. You're out the door." said Cindy. "I'm not taking you back in there." Bounel began trying to pull away and walk back, but Cindy was much stronger and she began violently pushing him to the door.

"No, wait, I'll talk to him! I'll tell him what he wants to know!" Bounel said desperately.

"I told you, he's done." Cindy said, but she pretended to let Bounel tear himself away from her grip. He rushed back towards the interrogation room. Hugh and I were walking down the corridor, heading back to the van.

"Okay, I'll talk, what do you want to know?" Bounel said.

"The phone number of your next of kin." I said, walking past him. As he gaped at me, I said over my shoulder "I told you, Bounel, I'm tired of your shit and I'm done with you."

"C'mon man, I'm serious!" Bounel cried out. He was sweating profusely and clearly desperate. "I'll tell you what you fucking want to know!"

I turned around and looked at him for a moment as Cindy came up to us. "The next time a lie comes out of your filthy mouth, Bounel, it's all over for you." I said. "Get your halfbreed faggot ass back in there." Bounel silently complied, going back into the room.