Midnight City Ch. 01

The chronological order of my stories is now 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, 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.

Part 1 - Prologue

Sunday, November 13th. Dr. Laura Fredricson was catching up on grading tests and other paperwork. Her office was back to normal now. She'd had the already-excellent security upgraded even further, with her husband's help. She wondered if even the CIA's best technology gurus could break through it. She hoped she didn't have to find out.

Speaking of her husband, he was at The Cabin with Carole and Jim, as well as Molly, Ross, Ian, and Cindy... which gave her, Laura, that chance to catch up on work. She began wondering if Don had come to any conclusions about the break-ins. She remembered how his gray eyes had looked when he looked around after they'd gotten back from the Lake... as if he was already a step ahead of the Campus Police and everyone else. But he had not said anything.

There was a knock on the door, which surprised Laura. She called out "Come in!" and the door opened to reveal the gorgeous porn star Callie Carrington. Her light blonde hair was made up in a perfect style to accent her beautiful face, her lips were full and inviting, and shimmering with the clear gloss Callie had applied to them, and Callie's blue eyes were sparkling as always. Her perfect body was covered by a white sweater that strained to constrain her breasts, extremely tight blue jeans that looked like they'd split apart at the deep crack of Callie's magnificent ass. Callie's white western-style boots encased the blue jeans.

"Hi Callie, I didn't expect to see you today." Laura said, though smiling at the sight of the beautiful young woman.

"I'm sorry for barging in on you, Dr. Fredricson," said Callie happily, anything but sorry, "but I'm going to the City this week, and I wondered if you knew of any girls I should recruit into my Film Company."

By that, Callie meant her pornographic films company, which featured romantic and softer films, and was popular with women and with husbands who watched with their wives as couples.

"I've got a couple of names." Laura said. "One of them is one of my students here at the University, so she may turn you down. Her name is Tiffany Barclay, and her stage name is 'Betty Lamarr'." Laura showed Callie her file on Tiffany, who was a pretty redhead with a slender body.

"Oh, she's cute!" Callie said. "But she's one of your students?"

"Yes." Laura said. "She's majoring in psychology, with an emphasis on sexual studies. I haven't seen a girl as addicted to sex since Karen Warner blasted through campus."

"And who else?" Callie said.

"There's a woman that works in a nightclub over in the City." Laura said. "Does live sex shows on stage with men or other women. Her name, her stage name anyway, is 'Norelle Black'. Beautiful woman, about 28, raven black hair, incredible body."

"Sounds like you, Doctor." Callie said with a grin, her eyes sparkling. Laura smiled.

"This woman is hotter, but she's known to be somewhat weird. Kind of keeps to herself, which is not easy to do in the adult industry. Rita from 'Lashes & Lace' introduced her to me at Rita's clubs, and we had a good talk."

"And more, I hope." Callie said. Then she looked at the woman's photo. "Wow, she looks like the type of woman that would come into a private eye's office and start trouble. Okay, I'll look her up, too."

"Speaking of private eyes," Laura said, "How are things with Eddy the Bounty Hunter?"

Callie smiled briefly. "Oh, I haven't seen him in weeks. He got onto this big case, or so he says. And that's okay. He was a pretty good fuck, but beyond that he's not that great a guy. But maybe I'm spoiled... because of the Iron Crowbar. I think you're the luckiest woman on the planet to have that hunk of a man in your bed every night."

"Don't I know it." Laura said, smiling at the thought of her husband Don. "I get wet every time I think of him, every time I see him..." After a moment of thought, Laura said, "If you have some time, Callie, let's go into the little bedroom in my clinic..."

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

"I can't believe the legendary Iron Crowbar so happily changes diapers."

The sentence was uttered by one Cindy Ross, speaking to her sister Molly at The Cabin. Molly burst out laughing.

"He really wants to be close to the boys." Molly said. "And I'm glad for that."

"You ever thought about dating someone else?" Cindy said. "Not that I'm saying you should, but while Don does do right by the kids, it can't be the same thing as a full relationship."

Molly nodded. "No... meaning I've thought about it and am not really interested. I had such a bad marriage that this arrangement actually works well for me. Don's not too far away; Laura is a great friend and 'sister wife', so to speak; I get to see you as often as I see Don. But speaking of relationships... have you talked to Jenna since the election?"

Cindy sat back on the sofa and looked out the window, seeing the Town and noticing the light of a train as it came out of the western horizon. "No." she said. "I've called a couple of times, left messages, but she hasn't called back. I'm not going to push it, and I'm not going to chase after her."

"Hmmm," said Molly, "someone else in your picture?"

Cindy smiled briefly. "Technically, no. But Callie Carrington, the porn star, stays at my place when she's in Town. She's in Town right now. And I could definitely get used to her presence around here. But... she's busy, she's in and out of California, and our lives just aren't matched up right now."

Molly nodded, not probing that any further. "So, what about Police business? How are things going there? I know I haven't heard much from 'Coldiron' about any drug issues."

"With the not-so-good Pastor Westboro dead and buried, Robert Brownlee and Leonard Sharples rotting in prison, and the Criminal World scared to death of my Police partner, and rightly so... it's been pretty peaceful around here. And that is not a complaint."

Just then they heard Bowser coming down the stairs, then saw him run into the room. Looking back, Cindy saw the dog's owner, Carole, coming down the stairs, followed by Carole's father.

"Okay," I said, "Ian is fed, watered, diaper-changed, and put down for his nap. Ross and Jim fell asleep while playing, and I put a blanket on them. Carole here is being the fussbudget she normally is."

I had picked up Carole and now handed her to Molly as I said "Cindy, I just got a call from Jack Muscone. He wants us to come over to the City. I don't know what it's about. If you'll grab your suitcase, I'll call Laura and tell her. Sorry about this, Molly."

"Oh, that's okay." Molly said. "I'll just keep Carole and Bowser company."

"Bowser is MY dog!" proclaimed Carole, who was not in a good mood.

"Are you being a 'Grumpy Cat', Carole?" I asked sternly. My daughter looked up at me, knowing I was not pleased with her attitude. "You can let Molly help you play with Bowser, can't you?"

"Yes sirrr." Carole said sullenly.

Part 2 - City By Day

We were dressed in civilian clothes and we were riding in style in the Black Beauty. As Cindy drove the gleaming dark green car, she discussed the upgrades, which included small machine guns in the door panels that could fire backwards if the doors were opened and the trigger buttons pressed. Better radar equipment. And rockets. Very cool stuff.

Getting to the City, we headed to the Federal Building, and to the FBI offices there. We were escorted into a conference room, which held the DepDirector, FBI Special Agent in Charge Jack Muscone, Special Agent in Charge Clark Webster, Special Agent Sandra Speer, Special Agent Lindy Linares... and SBI Inspector Britt Maxwell. The raven-haired beauty was looking very stunning, her blue eyes twinkling as they always did. I noticed Cindy had as positive a reaction to the lovely Britt as I did. I also noticed Sandra and Lindy looking at me, and I made sure to give meaningfully flirtatious them looks as I greeted them.

Once we were seated and given bottled waters, the DepDirector indicated to Jack Muscone to start the meeting.

"Nash and Escobar are on another mission right now---" Muscone began.

"Lake Amengi-Nunagen is really nice this time of year. The leaves have turned, everything is really beautiful." I said. Jack just looked at me with his beady black eyes. The Deputy Director's mouth pursed into what was for him a smile. I thought that I should make him and Teresa 'Cunt' Croyle have a smiling contest.

"Four hundred years ago..." said Muscone, referring to the joke about burning me at the stake. "Yes, that's where they are, and I won't even ask how you know. Anyway, what we asked you guys to come in to discuss is some impending and embargoed news. First, the FBI's report on SBI corruption will be coming out, and it's going to be very ugly for the SBI."

"Wish this had come out on November 1st." I said. "But the good guy won the Governor's race, so I'll excuse the tardiness."

"Don," said the Deputy Director, "I'm sure you can imagine the backlash if we'd put this out before the Election. The Democrats would be accusing us of trying to influence the election, and probably accuse us of stealing it for the Republicans. Anyway, the report really wasn't completed until this past Friday."

"I can't wait to read it, and act upon it." said Britt Maxwell, who was the equivalent of Internal Affairs for the SBI.

"Maybe it can help you and Governor Jared with your plans for the SBI, Don." Cindy said.

"Ohhhhh, what plans are those?" asked Britt. Cindy had let the cat out of the bag. I wasn't happy, but I held my temper: I knew Cindy was doing that because I hadn't filled her in on the details, either. My cousin can be bitchy, that way...

"Let's not waste the FBI's time talking that right now." I said to Britt, trying to dodge. "I'll brief you and Cindy over dinner."

"Then we're all going to dinner with you," said Sandra, her blue eyes gleaming at me, "because I want to hear it, too."

"I think we can tab a dinner for all of us tonight." the DepDirector said. "Okay, Jack, keep going."

"Yes sir." said Muscone. "Anyway, this report may not be as strong as you were hoping for. It discusses mostly poor law enforcement procedures, failures to communicate, bad training, and an atmosphere of internal hostility and suspicion. There are a lot of good SBI agents, and there are also a lot of bad ones."

"What is not really discussed in this report," continued Muscone, "is the corruption and the criminal activity, or potential for criminal activity. We're going to send that to the SBI Office of Ethics and Review, but our lawyers simply wouldn't allow us to publish half of what we found because we just didn't have enough to back it up with indictments. That pertains especially to Director Lewis."

"Damn." said Britt Maxwell. "I can assure you that my report won't have any such restraints... and will be far more in depth in its damnation of some of the SBI's leadership."

"Has the Governor tried to get you to tamp it down?" I asked Britt.

"I'll put it this way." Britt replied. "He never directly asked me to censor myself or back off. However, he did say some things like 'the election is over, it's time now for healing' and 'we don't want to destroy the People's trust in the organization itself'." I felt Cindy peering at me as Britt spoke.

"What do you know about all of this, Commander?" asked the DepDirector, who was also peering at me.

"Not much new, sir." I said. "Just after the election, Jack Lewis's people approached Governor Jared's people with a proposal that Lewis would resign immediately as SBI Director if all investigations of him and the SBI were dropped. The Governor flatly rejected that, but they did discuss Lewis resigning and the investigations of him personally going away. I have not been told of the progress of those discussions."

"Inspector Maxwell," said Jack Muscone, "you'd better never, ever, let Dick Ferrell off the hook for what he did to Tanya. And I don't even need to say what is going to happen if and when I come face to face with him again."

"Don't worry, I won't." Britt said. "And my report recommends if not outright demands Ferrell's prosecution for aggravated assault for that incident. But I don't know if anything will ever happen. They're really covering for him, and I'm not sure why. I'm guessing he has some really nasty pictures of the rest of them." Everyone laughed at that, though tepidly.

"What about Robert Gaston?" asked the Deputy Director. "Is he clean or dirty? Can he be trusted?"

"He cannot be trusted, for damn sure." I said. "He was Lewis's de facto campaign manager within the SBI. However, there are rumors he helped undermine Lewis's campaign by having Lewis continue to support Ferrell, and those same rumor-mongers think he did that so that he, Gaston, could become SBI Director. Either way, if he's playing both sides like that, I sure as hell wouldn't trust him."

"Wasn't he going to be Director already, if Lewis had won?" Special Agent Lindy Linares asked.

"Supposedly." I replied. "But the underground word was that Lewis was going to put Ferrell in the SBI Director's chair, or at least put that up for consideration. That was before the incident with Tanya Perlman. And I personally believe those rumors, that Lewis was just paying Gaston lip service, and that Lewis really wanted Ferrell to be the next SBI Director."

"So you wouldn't recommend Gaston as SBI Director?" asked the DepDirector.

"No, I wouldn't." I said. "But that doesn't mean Governor Jared won't think about it."

"Who would you put in the SBI Director's chair?" asked the DepDirector.

"Tom Conlan." I replied. "And that's part of the overall plan for overhauling the SBI, and I think it'll be best to not talk about that further."

"How about you as SBI Director, Commander?" said Clark Webster. "With your record of successes, you could clean that filth up like no one else, and the People of the State would support you all the way."

Cindy had brought out the green crowbar, and was waving it. "Do not even try to take the Iron Crowbar away from my Police Department." she warned. "I would be very... upset... if that happened."

"Don't worry, my friend." I said. "I am not going anywhere." Cindy and I fist-bumped.

"Guys, this kind of camaraderie is what I want all of my FBI units to have. In a professional manner, of course." said the DepDirector. "Okay, so let's move along to the next agenda item I wanted to discuss with you guys: Wallace Bedford. He lives in New England, and is a very powerful and wealthy financier from an old Southern family. He and 'Mittens' Baker were known to be close. Bedford also had business relationships with Perry Richards, Conrad King, and the leaders of BigCommCorp, the biggest media conglomerate in the nation. He's on the Boards of several big companies, most notably BigPharmaCorp."

The DepDirector continued: "We also are beginning to develop leads that he has connections to Superior Bloodlines. He's never been shy about being the direct descendent of a founder of the Ku Klux Klan, nor his racist attitudes, but actually connecting him to this shadow group is another thing. And then there's more... well, let's not discuss that here."

"You mean the fact that he was the one that paid Steven Moschel to steal Amy's transplant organ for his, Bedford's, own son, who is very ill?" I asked.

"What?!" gasped Cindy, turning her head and peering at me with pure disbelief. "You know this, and that bastard is still alive?"

"I can't prove it yet." I said. "And like Westboro, killing him gets him off easy. I want him publicly humiliated first. And he's not mine to kill." Cindy and I exchanged a glance; she knew what I meant by that last sentence.

"And I would love to help you accomplish that, Commander." said the Deputy Director. "Though I first want to ask him a few questions about who his associates might be. And speaking of those associates... you better not know this Commander, or you could be arrested... we have developed deep intel that Dick Ferrell has joined Wallace Bedford's team, ostensibly as a security analyst and bodyguard, but possibly more."

"Nooooo, I didn't know that." I said. Yes I did, I thought to myself, but I had no desire to get arrested, so I held my tongue.

"Inspector Maxwell," said the DepDirector, "this is why you might be finding pushback on any attempt to prosecute Ferrell. These are some powerful people, and if Ferrell becomes one of their soldiers, they'll try to protect him."

"Won't stop me from trying to take his ass down." replied Britt.

"That's one thing Nash and Escobar are looking at with regard to Lake Amengi-Nunagen." said Muscone. "Ferrell's involvement with some of those people up there, and seeing if he's hiding up there."

"Now that the elections are over in all the States," said the DepDirector, "we are expecting Superior Bloodlines to begin making their next set of moves. Fortunately, they were stymied in Teresa Croyle's hometown, then totally blown up in the Iron Crowbar's hometown."

"Good thing my hometown is in Canada." said Cindy. We all chuckled again... except the Deputy Director.

"And seriously, that's what I need to ask all of you about." he said. "Where you guys think they'll try to strike next." Again, everyone seemed to be looking at me.

"Offhand," I said, "I'd say they won't strike in one place next, and won't try again to do what they tried in Apple Grove and Providence Springs. They'll infiltrate numerous places at once, get really embedded, grow their networks, then when they think they're ready, they'll spring out in a bunch of places at once. Their object will be to overwhelm the FBI and indeed the entire Government."

"How long will it take them to do that?" asked Jack Muscone.

"Years." I said. "Which gives us time to detect them, watch them, then pick them off as we break down their entire web."

"I fear they're going to work faster than that." said the Deputy Director. "Time is beginning to be against them. They are ultimately globalists, using racism as a false front, and there is a tide of anti-globalism beginning to form here and in Europe."

As the room fell silent, the Deputy Director said "Okay, if there's nothing else, let's go have dinner."

"I have just one question." I said. I could feel the room tense up. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" asked Jack Muscone. Everyone else looked puzzled, except the Deputy Director, who looked like he was realizing I was onto them.

"Oh, I mean that I see Special Agent Webster in this meeting." I said. "Nothing personal, Agent Webster, but why is Missing Persons in this Special Unit's meeting? And calling Cindy and myself over here on a Sunday evening, just to talk about this background chitchat?"

I leaned forward and said "Something is going on. Y'all want us here to be available, to be around, but you don't want to say anything, not yet. You've been antsy all afternoon, and it's not about Dick Ferrell and Jack Lewis. And with Mr. Webster's presence here, I'd suggest it's a missing person."

Sandra Speer and Lindy Linares were grinning. Britt Maxwell's eyes were twinkling brightly. Jack had the '400 years ago' look that is unexplainable in print, and the DepDirector was shaking his head.