Internal Affairs Ch. 09

Roger had given it a lot of thought. All he had was Hillary's vague confession to him. There was no real evidence against her. It was just the time line. I was the wake up call he needed to convince him it would take years to be safe, if he ever managed it at all. Having the cops that pissed off at you wasn't like having your neighbor pissed. Cops could do all kinds of things to a guy. They weren't likely to kill him, but they would likely have no problem killing his dog. He didn't have a dog but he might one day.

For the moment they would have to settle for trashing his car and his life. So the DOJ's offer looked better all the time.

The best he could do was tell DOJ about the Hillary Bridges and hope they could investigate. They might be able to turn her to get whoever had convinced her to burn his house.

"Hello, ID 737PDS," He said to the voice who had answered the phone simply hello.

The digital transfer took only Milliseconds. "What can we do for you Roger?" the female voice asked.

"I saw your advertisement in the Times. I would like to see the house," Roger said.

"We can arrange that, is there a time that would work best for you?" the voice asked.

"Anytime at all is fine. Probably the sooner the better," Roger said.

"You will be hearing from us later today." The voice suggested.

Roger remember only parts of the briefing since he never planned to run. He knew he should leave everything in place. He would be picked up by an Airport Limousine. Everything up to that point should appear natural.

He didn't even bother to call in sick. He just didn't show up for work. He trashed his cell phone immediately after the call.

He packed a small backpack with some clothing and some cash. Cash was always good, when one was going on the run. He also packed about ten Mark Daggers. Since Roger made his own they were totally untraceable. He had made them from eight in pieces of a bright orange driveway marker stake. It came from Home Depot so they were easy and cheap. He had simply cut them, feed them though a piece of automobile vacuum line for a handle. He sharpened the tip with a pencil sharpener. During his time as a junkie he had become a master of the shank. If worse came to worse, there was always the Bic Ballpoint pen.

Roger dressed in clean clothes after his shower. Since he had no idea when he would have the chance to shower again, he was very thorough. He emptied his pockets of his keys and any identification. He didn't have much besides his driver's license and his police ID.

Roger was going to be in the wind. He could have faked his own death, but he didn't bother DOJ would surely swoop down to investigate. Everyone knew he had a connection with them.

He was ready to leave at 9AM, so he sat listening for his burner phone to ring.

"The limo is on the way. The debrief will be in DC." A different mysterious voice delivered the message. Before he could acknowledge the message the phone went dead.

When the limo pulled down the drive it wasn't a limo at all. It was a minivan with the legend 'Airport Limo' on the side. He knew it was kosher because no one else could have thrown it together so quickly.

Roger was in the cab with his back pack very quickly. The limo was in his drive no more than five minutes. Once they cleared is property he said, "It's a little chilly today." He pulled on a very lightweight nylon parka purchased in the Thrift store. The big appeal for Roger was the hood. The limo dropped him at the terminal. Roger wore his large mirrored sunglasses and raised the hood. Sure he would look suspicious, but that wasn't proof of anything.

He walked to the ticket counter and picked up his ticket purchased at the last minute. He found a blind spot in the CCTV system and waited. There was always a blind spot, so it didn't take any spy craft to find it.

When they called his flight, Roger went to the boarding gate. They confiscated his daggers, but it wasn't a big deal. He would just find a drug store and buy a pack of Bic pens. Once he was on the plane, he removed the glasses and parka. He carefully place both into his small backpack before storing it beneath his seat. Since there was ten grand cash inside it, he wanted to keep it close.

After a couple of more hours waiting for the plane to make a half hour flight, he was out the door of the much larger terminal.

He had no idea when or where they would kidnap him, so he took a cab from the airport to the Lincoln Memorial. He had the driver go through a McDonald's drive threw window before dropping him at the memorial park.

Roger had a pleasant lunch before the call came through. "A black Buick will pick you up in ten minutes at the west entrance gate," the mysterious voice informed him.

"I do hope you will be in the car. You seem to by my only friend at the moment," Roger said.

"I am working in a call center, so no I won't be in the car. Have a good day."

The driver of the black Buick was definitely not the female voice. "I'm Bruno and it's my job to deliver you safe to the debrief."

"You are in for a boring day," Roger said. "Nobody knows I'm in the wind, or where I went."

"I'm used to boring," he replied almost friendly.

"Good are we going to the office?" Roger asked.

"We decided to use a safe house for the debrief," Bruno said.

"Okay, you are the boss for now," Roger agreed.

First thing we need to do is close out your old life. We have an agent in there now moving money around, and selling all your property."

"I guess, I expected that I wouldn't be going home. It just seems so final when you say someone is down there selling and donating my stuff," Roger said. "How about stopping to let me buy some personal items. You know shampoo and stuff."

"Sure we kind of expect that kind of thing," he said.

"Any place in particular?" he asked.

"No any drugstore will do," Roger replied.

"Just don't draw attention to yourself," Bruno said.

"Then you shouldn't dog me. You don't look gay enough," Roger said.

They stopped at a Walgreen drugstore. Roger bought a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo, as well as a back to school pack of the rigid Bic Pens. Roger also picked up a few candy bars.

"Why the candy bars," Bruno asked.

"The 'take out' food only goes so far," Roger said.

"You done this before?" Bruno asked.

"Oh yes, so you haven't read my file," Roger asked.

"I just got the assignment this morning. I don't need to know much, since my only job is to make sure you stay alive during the debrief." Bruno said.

"Then our goal is the same," Roger said.

"Then let's get you out of the open," Bruno said. Roger sat back to watch the changing landscape. It went from the touristy part of town to the suburban commercial areas in just a few minutes. Then to an almost vacant industrial park.

Roger was a little concerned when Bruno pulled the Buick into the drive of a deserted plant.

"This would be a great place to kill a cop and then dispose of the body. You wouldn't have to go outside at all," Roger suggested.

"Or to hold off an army of thugs trying to kill a cop," Bruno suggested.

"How would it be against an army of cops?" Roger asked.

"Thugs, rogue cops none of them have artillery," Bruno said.

"Hopefully," Roger added.

Bruno showed his ID to a camera at the gate to have it mysteriously slide open. He drove the Buick to the loading dock where again a door opened automatically for him. He drove inside the building before the door closed behind them.

Roger swung the heavy passenger door open, then climbed out of the car. Roger had noticed that the doors seemed a little to heavy. He also noticed that the car had no pickup at all. He was sure it was because the Buick was bullet resistant.

"Is this bitch armor plated?" Roger asked.

"Inside The doors, and under the roof it has a special laminate of steel and Kevlar. It will stop most anything smaller than a fifty cal," Bruno said. "Under the floor is a real blast plate."

"I hope that is how we travel everywhere. So how is the gas mileage?" Roger asked.

"Sucks, but who cares we ain't paying for it, at least not directly," Bruno admitted.

Roger followed Bruno to the second floor. There was a good view of the parking lot from what had once been the plant manager's office. They had turned it into the communications center. Not the kind you find in a call center. It was more about computers, and video screens.

Roger had no idea how modern the CCTV system was, but it was well designed. The cameras covered almost every inch of the building inside and out. Bruno gave Roger the video tour.

"The building had been a plastic molding operation until the Obama administration," Bruno said. He pointed to a monitor showing a long empty room. "That was the manufacturing area, now it is where we park our cars."

He walked to the phone, and with out dialing said to someone, "Tell the man that we are here." If the shit comes rolling down, you pick up that phone and say domino, that's our code to call in the troops."

"I don't think that you are going to have that problem," Roger said.

"I hope not. I generally only work with high risk targets. That is why we had a car with armor and why I stopped at the Walgreen's. It is one of the securerst sites in the city," Bruno said.

"Is it also why we had a tail car?" Roger asked. "It was so obvious that it had to have been ours."

"Very observant, I bet you were a good cop." Bruno suggested.

"I was but I was also a paranoid junkie. I'm not sure which made me look behind us." Roger admitted.

"Well I have called in the pros from HQ to do the debrief, so that should start in a couple of hours," Bruno said. "Your room is through that door. It ain't much but it's only for a couple of days."

Roger walked through the crude hole in the wall into another office. That office held a bed and desk. There was another raw hole in the wall which lead into a bath room. The bathroom even had a cheep plastic shower stall, a toilet, and a small sink all crammed into what had previously been an executive bathroom. The previous entrance doors were all nailed shut no doubt

"I see you spared no expense," Roger said just before he stretched out on the hard cot. He tested it because he had slept with one eye open the night before. Since he hadn't killed Hillary, and since he knew that he could not trust the town cops, he slept poorly even with his Glock 9mm on the night stand. It was somewhere toward morning when he made the decision to run. Then an hour later, he decided to call the DOJ to advise them they hadn't finished with the police cleanup. "Since they still held a large chunk of his money, he felt obligated to go along, which is what led him to the empty plastic plant.

Roger didn't realize that he fell off to sleep until Bruno woke him. "Get your head out of your ass roger. You are about to have company."

"Oh yeah, who is it going to be this time?"

"When they get here, they will tell you. The first car just passed through the front gate. So come get a cup of coffee and get your head right," Bruno suggested.

"Okay," Roger went to the bathroom then washed his face and hands before going into the observation room. He found the coffee pot on a small table well away from the equipment. He had smelled the coffee before he found it.

Roger looked at the monitor showing the man and woman outside their car obviously talking while waiting for someone or something.

They waited long enough so that he was on his second cup when he heard a voice. "Sam Abraham," the voice said. Bruno did something because the gate opened for Sam.

Sam had managed to keep him working even when Roger was lost in his addiction. Sam had seemed to have a friendship with Roger. Once he was clean for a month, Roger realized that it was just a job with Sam. For a while Roger felt betrayed, but he eventually came to understood that it was just business. He supposed that's what a hit man though as well before he pulled the trigger. When Sam joined the others, the three of them entered the stairway and headed up.

"Hello Roger how you been?" Sam asked falling back into his handler persona.

"Since I got clean, I have been fine. Thanks for finally asking," Roger said.

"To be honest, I never thought we would meet again," Sam said.

"Life's just filled with surprises," Roger said.

"This is Lois Miles and Devin Reese," Sam said.

"There are four DOJ people here to interview one runaway cop. Sounds like overkill." Roger suggested.

"Well you know, it's our slow season," Devin suggested warm smile.

"Look Dev, I went to all the interrogation classes and I sat through a debriefing that lasted for two weeks. So, let's not pretend we give a shit about each other. I'm just here to give you a heads up. You didn't kill the snake after all. When I have emptied my head of fact and suppositions, I'm going to head for parts unknown. Well unknown to everyone but the people who wire my reward check," Roger admitted.

"How about we stop playing whose is bigger and get on with it. That way we all can leave as soon as possible," Lois said.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Roger said.

Roger knew that he was a little out numbered. Since he seemed to always be holding the short end of the stick, he decided to make the best of it.

Bruno held out his hand, "Good luck Roger." Even that seemed scripted.

"Thanks Bruno, you will see to those changes back home for me?" Roger asked.

"It was started, when you explained you wouldn't be going back," Bruno replied.

Roger shook Bruno's hand, then turned to the others. "Lead me to the water board," he said without a smile.

Where they led him was to a room just past the bathroom. Roger entered first. It was a typical interview room. There was a wooden library table in the middle, and the recquiset three chairs. As usual there was a single chair on one side of the table and two on the other.

Roger took the chair on the left side. He noticed the hand cuff ring on the edge of the table.

"What, no cuffs?" Roger asked.

"Not this time," Lois said. "Today we are all good cops."

"That remains to be seen," Lois was close to Rogers age maybe a year or two less. She was obviously not a field agent. She had to be more into the administrative area. She lacked the poise of a field agent. Psychologist. Roger thought.

Devin on the other hand was filled with quiet bluster, just like every FBI agent he had ever met. There was something different about Devin though. He didn't seem to have the 'stick up his ass' FBI mind set.

"Shall we begin," Loise waited until Roger Nodded. "For the tape, this interview is with Detective Roger Hartman of the Capitol City Police Department. It concerns an arson investigation being conducted there. We are interviewing Detective Hartman as part of our ongoing investigation pertaining to elements within the Capitol City Police Department."

"So Detective how long were you undercover with the Capitol City Police." Lois asked.

"It isn't that simple. I worked for them starting when I was twenty one. I was two years on the beat, before I was approached by the DOJ investigators. They wanted someone inside. So I agreed to watch listen and report what I found.

I reported to my handler for two years working inside the department. There were many officers inside the department providing security service to drug dealers. They weren't just looking the other way. They actually drove patrol car up to the drug deal to provide security."

"Yes, we know all about that. There was a time when you became a dealer?" Lois asked.

"Yes, several of us sold drugs from the squad cars. I am told the information I provided led to arrests that led all the way back to Mexico."

"Give the kid a pat on the back," Devin said.

"That is Detective kid to you," Roger snapped at Devin. "Who the fuck are you anyway."

"I told you my name," he replied.

"You told me your bullshit name. Try telling the real one," Roger demanded.

"You know I can't do that," Devin said. "Let's cut to the chase. What happened."

"A cop set fire to my house. The head of internal affairs to be exact. When I was reinstated, I was assigned to internal affairs division. It was their way to keep me under the chief's thumb. The head of internal affairs for some reason set fire to my house."

"So you think it was on the orders of the Chief of police?" Lois asked.

"Well Hillary wouldn't act on her own, unless my testimony would put away one of her friends. My thinking is she did it for whatever reason, when she knew no one would be home. She just drove up and tossed a Molotov cocktail through a side window and drove off."

"Very neat and clean," Devin said. "Since you worked it out, and she didn't deny it, she might have been making a cry for help." Lois said.

"Either way she knows now that she is on he bubble. When I didn't show up for work today, she at least knows the shit is over," Roger said.

"So you are saying, we need to send a team to interview her," Lois suggested.

"I frankly don't care what you do with her. You obviously didn't get them all. I just decided that it was time for a career change. I'm telling you because you promised me a new identity. Now I need you to hold up your end."

"We are going to provide you with that," Lois said. Give us a day to check out what you have told us, then we will talk again."

"In the meantime, do I stay in this beautiful resort?" Roger asked.

"What you don't like the accommodations?" Devin asked.

"It's little like a jail, and before you ask, I have indeed spent time in a jail." Roger said.

"What was it five days, to establish your street creds," Devin said.

"It seemed longer," Roger said.

"I promise, you will be out of here the moment we make sure no one is after you. It most likely was intent on running you off, which they have done. Leave it to us. We will investigate this matter. In the meantime we will work on relocating you. A US Marshall's service rep will be to see you. We just need to assess the threat level. To decide on our plans going forward. Bruno will stay with you here or in a Motel, until the Marshall's team shows up. Then it is a matter of relocating you. Do I need to warn you that there are no goodbyes," Lois said.

"Yeah that's why I didn't do this earlier. I thought I wanted my old life back, but I guess I was wrong." Roger said.

"The good news is the local cops were the only ones involved. If it had been Paco Gomez, you would have been killed with no warning or mercy." Devin said.

"Thanks for that, but I think it was too much information," Roger replied. "Now when do I become someone else?"

"Soon," Lois said.

The three of them just left after the brief information gathering interview. In their car Lois and Devin didn't speak for the first few minutes. After a thick silence, Lois spoke. "You really tried to get under his skin," she said.

"You knew that is what I do when you asked for me," he replied.

"He really is too smart to allow that. He did his undercover work and stood up. He wasn't going to rise to your bait. Like he said he knew all the tricks." Lois suggested.

"Do you believe that the investigators missed something?" Devin asked.

"Of course they did. We followed the infamous Judge Knapp model. We thought we could rehabilitate some of the existing cops. We should have just taken over the department and fired everyone of them," Lois said

"Yeah there would have been so many civil law suits we would be in court till we retired. But that is hindsight, we need to go forward. Let's go down to Capitol City and Interview Hillary Bridges," Devin suggested.

"Of course, Hartman isn't going anywhere," Lois said. "The geeks will still be building the ID for a few days. Have your people heard if there is an open contract on him."