Iscariot Ch. 01

"We had three precincts before. They did not do anything to make the Police Department more efficient, nor did they do anything that could be demonstrated to have more efficiently served the People of the County. Some will say that three precincts adds jobs; we found from experience that no significant jobs were added. Some overhead positions were created, but were filled from within, and we were not budgeted more Officers. So the end result was the same number of people."

"Also," I said, "the argument has been made that more Precinct stations will more efficiently serve the County, as more Fire Stations serve the County more efficiently. But that is simply not the case. The Police don't operate like the Fire Department, and vice versa. We use mobile Police patrols to go wherever is needed. We simply don't need the overhead."

We had hoped that my detailing all this would curtail some of the people coming up and speaking, but that was not going to be the case. And the first person to the podium? Why, Eldrick X. Weaver, of course.

"I have two items I want to bring up." said Weaver after he stated his name. "First, I propose a new rank within the Police Department structure, which would be the equivalent of the Fire Department's Superintendent rank. The Atlanta Police have the rank of Major, and it's for installation commanders. I was going to propose this as part of the overall Public Safety structure, but you separated out the Police structure and moved the hearing up to tonight. So my proposal is for this rank for each Police installation in the County."

"And that leads to my second proposal, which is three precincts." said Weaver. "I do not agree with you, Chairman Troy, that three precincts didn't work before. I believe three precincts worked very well. You can take that as a compliment of your administration of them, but they did work." Applause broke out, and I had to admire the neat trick of saying three precincts worked because of my administration of them... by implication, if I say they didn't work, then it would be a de facto criticism of myself.

I tapped the gavel a few times to rein in the crowd, and said "I appreciate the enthusiasm, but in the interests of time, let's please not applaud too much. This is not a State of the Union address, and we're not ripping up any speeches at the end." There was some laughter.

"Mr. Weaver," I said, "you're making one point for me... the difference between the Police and Fire Departments. This will come up in the TCFD hearings, but they base out of their installations, while the Police base out of mobile units. We don't need installation commanders the same way the Fire Department does. We have a Captain position over all our Physical Properties, the Deputy Chief is in overall charge of our installations and equipment, so a new position is redundant, and therefore unnecessary."

"Mr. Troy," said Weaver, "are you speaking as Chairman of this Commission, or as part of the Police?"

"It's a fair question." I said, realizing Weaver's trap attempt. "I'm not speaking officially on behalf of the Police at the moment, but I did say at the beginning of this hearing that I would be engaging speakers with my Police knowledge and experience." After a pause I said "So now I have a question for you, Mr. Weaver: can you name one good reason or show something to these other Commission members and the Public, why three Precincts is better than two... or one, for that matter."

"Like I said," replied Weaver, "I don't agree with your assertions that three precincts are less efficient than two, and I am one of those that believe three precincts did serve and will serve minority areas of the County better than two, or one."

"How so?" asked Edward Steele, and rather sharply. "No matter how the three precincts would be set up geographically or demographically, they would not serve all of our Citizens, of all ethnicities, genders, orientations, and all of it, any better than two... or one."

Weaver's eyes got a bit more hostile as he said "I believe that with a good setup... and the previous three precincts was a good setup... the minority areas of the County are better served by the Precinct that covers them." He paused for effect, and may have been surprised that he was not further engaged in that conversation.

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

9:15pm. KXTC reporter Lester Holder got a phone call from a trusted source. After a few minutes of conversation then hanging up, he called for a cameraman, who would double as security for him, and they left in a KXTC van.

"What's it about?" asked the cameraman as they pulled out onto the road. He was the cameraman who had been hostile to Keith Madden before.

Penis Holder said "A reliable source called and said that he wanted me to meet him and a guy who has some of McGinty's Materials. He wants to give me the dirt in the files on Donald Troy, which he says is very damaging, and then we can pay for more material, or he'll sell it."

"You believe him?" asked the cameraman.

"Yeah... the source, anyway." said Holder. "He's always been good for leads on stories. And he hates the Iron Crowbar as much anyone does."

"Why doesn't he sell the goods on Troy, then?" asked the cameraman.

"Nobody will pay for them, at least not much." said Holder. "Troy can't be blackmailed; he'll say 'Publish and be damned.' rather than pay hush money. And everyone in the world wants Troy exposed, and what's on him out there, while others will pay to keep the rest of it quiet."

"We gonna pay?" asked the cameraman.

"Probably not." said Holder. "We'll pretend to have interest, but I'll probably offer to hook him up with someone who can pay him a lot, and you and I will take the 'finders fee' cut."

"Where we going?" asked the cameraman, who'd driven in circles to make sure the TCPD was not tailing him, as they had been doing for several weeks.

"Public storage units, near The Junkyard." said Holder, referring to the property where the copycat Black Widow had left a man dead. (Author's note: 'Return of the Black Widow', Ch. 03-04.)

"Will we be safe there?" asked the driver.

"We ought to be." said Holder. "And with Troy stuck in that meeting, we don't have to worry about him showing up..."

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

People came up one-by-one, many of them asking for three precincts. I got to where I started cutting them off by asking them to convince me with a concrete reason three was better than two or one. They seemed to be nonplussed that I didn't really engage them, often saying, "As we covered before..." and then moving on.

As the evening wore on, other Commission members took bathroom breaks, and some of the Press reporters left. I stayed steadfastly in my seat. Probably the only issue that came up was one young, white man with an unkempt haircut and beard, wearing a green PCGW shirt stepping up to the mike and saying "In all of this, I'm not hearing anything that addresses Climate Change. Climate Change is the biggest and most important problem facing us today, and the Police are doing nothing to contribute---"

I began tapping my gavel, and the guy wouldn't stop. I kept tapping, saying "Hold on." then "Stop talking...", but to no avail. So I cut off his mike.

As the lack of sound pervaded theater, I said "Slow your roll. Stop talking for a second, so I can explain a point of order here." The guy finally stopped and I said "What you are attempting to address is political policy. This Charter creates the structure of the County Government, not its policies. It's like the bowl that holds the cereal and the milk of your breakfast. It's up to the Council and the Assembly to make the policy, so that is where you should be discussing these issues, not here with us."

"No," said the slug, "we have to put it into the Charter itself to force the Government to acknowledge Climate Change and to implement policies to combat the Corporatists as they destroy the earth---"

I stood up, this time tapping my red crowbar in my hand instead of the gavel on the table. "One more time." I said authoritatively. "You are out of order, and out of the scope of this Commission's objectives. Now yield the microphone." To emphasize my point, the Sergeant-At-Arms had come up on stage behind the man, and Captain Croyle had also risen to her feet, though she did not leave the front row. The guy looked at me with unappeasable hatred, but backed off and ultimately left the theater.

And then there was the young black woman in a red shirt that got up to the mike and said that she supported three precincts. "I believe a third precinct is the only thing that will meet the needs of the safety of our children. We are not spending enough on the safety of the children."

I replied "Ma'am, how is spending more on a facility that will not have any more Officers overall going to help with that?"

"Hire more Officers, then." the woman said. "Get the money by raising taxes on the wealthy white elites in the northern suburbs to pay for more black Police Officers keeping our children on the Southside safe."

"Young lady," said Edward Steele, "why do you think an increase in taxes will automatically go to paying for more Police Officers in majority black areas?"

"So you're saying you don't support having Officers to keep our children on the Southside safe?" the woman angrily asked. People in the audience began booing. I began tapping the gavel.

"Ma'am," I said, "that is not what he said nor implied. And you're beginning to cross into the realm of policy that is beyond the scope of the Charter."

"If not now, when?" the woman asked. "If not here, where?" Some people applauded while others said things like "Yeah!" and "You tell him!"

"The 'where' is the Assembly and the Council, and the 'when' is not now." I replied. "We're not putting tax rates into the Charter, nor getting to the level of putting a set number of Police Officers in there..."

Part 8 - Into Darkness

Only the bluish light of a streetlight on the corner of the long row of storage spaces broke through the darkness, leaving everything in a monochrome silence. Holder and his cameraman, who was carrying a small camera, got out of their truck and walked along the 'street', seeing nothing but the dark garage doors against the lighter walls of the buildings on either side.

"Psst. Over here." said a shadowy figure at the end of the building, who then disappeared around the corner. Holder and the cameraman walked towards him...

*ZZZZZZZT!* *ZZZZZZZT!*

Both men fell to the ground as the powerful voltage of the TASERs coursed through the probes that had been fired into their backs...

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

"Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them."

--- Mark 14:10

Detective Timothy Geiger came into the pitch-dark, empty BigAgraFoods warehouse from the west side, the same door where Cindy Ross and Callie Carrington had been ambushed. (Author's note: 'Causing A Commotion', Ch. 01.)

"Over here." he heard a voice say. A beam of light flashed through the darkness, followed by a small lantern being turned on. As Geiger walked up to it, he saw that the man was Jerry.

"First, apologies for this," said Jerry as he waved a device around Geiger. "Gotta check for tracking devices. Where's your cellphone?"

"In my car, parked a block up the street." said Geiger.

"Good." said Jerry, satisfied that Geiger had no devices on him. "You find anything on McGinty's Materials?"

"Not yet." said Geiger. "The FBI is looking into the smuggling business McGinty may have been a part of. They think it would've been easy for him to pay someone a little extra to deliver a package to one of those dropbox mailbox places. But I haven't had time to follow up on that, and we're going to have to let the FBI do it, because they have resources we don't. Once they find something and make a report, I can hack into them and see it."

"Not bad." said Jerry. "I'm sure you know that we've been following your... research, and we like your ideas. So your colleagues think you're still dirty?"

"I wasn't dirty, not like Ikea was." replied Geiger, with the slightest tinge of anger in his voice. "But I did what I had to do to survive."

"We all do that." said Jerry. "The truth is, Mr. Geiger, that you might not've been dirty in the traditional sense, but you worked with Harold Malone and Steven Ikea, and they were running some serious rackets, using the Town & County Police as their personal enforcement tools to enrich themselves. They let you do the dirty grunt work while they got paid the big bucks to take their chosen drug gang's competition off the streets. But no doubt about it... you were stained, along with them. And you always will be, as long as you stay with the TCPD."

"Yeah, I know." said Geiger sourly.

"Okay, Friend, you said you wanted in." Jerry said. "Up to now, it's just been you and me. We can keep it like this, and you'll get paid a little bit here and there in exchange for information on things. Or you can join the team, and make some serious money doing solid work."

"That sounds like where I need to be." said Geiger. "I'm about done with the TCPD, no matter what arrangement you and I have."

"Good." said Jerry. "Okay, then, this is it. If we go further, you're in... but you can't get back out. My boss has ways of dealing with people who try to back out. Remember Jimmy Tolson?"

"Yeah, he was murdered." said Geiger.

"Yeah," said Jerry, "but if you don't know, read up on how he was murdered. But I get the sense we won't have to worry about that. I think you're solid. So, you ready to join the team? A real team, instead of those jokesters on the TCPD?" He extended his hand.

"Yeah, I'm ready." said Geiger, shaking Jerry's hand.

"Come this way, then." said Jerry. He picked up the lantern and led the way through the pitch-black warehouse and into the smaller rooms to the south. They went to the east-side wall, towards one of the doors.

"Step into your future." said Jerry. Geiger walked forward into the dark space. As he did, a lamp on a desk flicked on, bathing the room in a dim light, and revealing the well-dressed, distinguished older man behind the desk.

"Hello, Mr. Geiger. Welcome to the team." said the man. "My name... is Edward Blassingame..."

To be continued.