No Way Out Ch. 01

The strength of the gloom that filled the room was palpable. "So what are our options?" asked Sheriff Griswold. "Can you hold off making an investigation? Let the Federal stuff work through before doing anything at all?"

Britt replied: "Like I told Coleman, I can hold off beginning a formal investigation until they show me more of what they have. But that's going to come out in time, and when it does and if it's valid, I'll have to open a file."

Britt: "But worse than that... you know that when all this drops into the Media's lap, I'll be pressured by them and the politicians to start an immediate investigation regardless of what the Feds do. And in this political season... it's going to be en fuego."

After a few more minutes of conversation, Britt disconnected. Teresa stood up and said "If you guys will excuse me..."

"Are you going to talk to Commander Troy?" asked the Chief.

"No sir." said Teresa. "Commander Ross..."

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

Deputy Chief Ross was talking with Lt.(B) Wausau and Cpt. Thompson when there was a knock on her door, followed by it opening to reveal Lt. Cmdr Teresa Croyle.

"Sorry to interrupt," Teresa said, "but we've got a full bore 'red alert' situation. Can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure." Cindy said. "Okay, guys, we'll finish this up tomorrow." Wausau and Thompson left the office, and Cindy had Teresa sit down.

"Have you heard what's going on?" Teresa asked.

"No." Cindy said. "And I was going to talk to you anyway; we don't have a Captain of Physical Properties, and the Precinct Captains are giving me grief when I ask them for inventories and such stuff."

Teresa said "You need to put that on the back burner for now. This is much bigger. The FBI, particularly Martin Nash, tried to get Don to go over to the Federal Building, but Don smelled a rat and declined to go. So Nash and that female ATF Agent at the Hospital during the bombing, Lindsey Black, showed up. They asked him about that mission you and he went on, to escort Betty Morelli to the Grand Jury in The City."

"Okayyyy...." Cindy said warily.

Teresa said "First let me ask you this: did Don ever sign a document taking custody of Betty?"

Cindy said "No, he never did. We just went into a strip club, got Betty, and left. I don't remember Don signing anything, and I sure didn't. In fact... I don't think Betty was under arrest. We were escorting her as a witness."

Teresa nodded. "Stick to that story. Nash had a copy of a document that he said had Don's signature on it, transferring custody of Betty to Don. Don denied it, and then Nash mirandized Don and asked if Don had had sex with Betty."

"Ohhhh, geeeez..." whispered Cindy. Then she caught herself and said "What... did Don say?"

Teresa said "He did the only thing he could in that situation... he took the Fifth."

"Ohhhh myyyyyy Godddd...." Cindy gasped. Then she caught herself and said "What now?"

Teresa said "Now we wait. The Feds have already gone to Britt Maxwell to try to get her to start a State investigation, but aren't giving her everything they have... Cindy?" She observed that Cindy was exercising a Michaux family trait... she was in a reverie.

When she came out of it, she said "Okay, I need to call my father and my lawyer. They'll come for me next, they'll try to force me to betray Don like Iscariot betrayed Jesus..." She slipped back into her reverie. When the ringing of her desk phone jarred her out of it, Teresa was no longer in the office. She answered the phone.

"Ma'am, this is Captain Thompson." said Captain Thompson. "KXTC, KSB, and KFXU have all just called. They're asking for confirmation that the FBI is investigating Commander Troy, and for an official Police comment on it..."

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

5:00pm, Monday, January 20th. I was sitting at my desk when four persons came through the open door: Captain Perlman, Lt. Cmdr. Croyle, Sheriff Griswold, and Chief Moynahan, and not necessarily in that order.

"Well, at least y'all are still speaking to me." I quipped as the Sheriff closed the door and everyone found a place to sit.

"While we still can." the Sheriff growled. "What I want to know is how they glommed onto this."

"That's an 'Easy Button' answer." I said. "If memory serves me correctly, a hatred-filled reporterette just got released from prison after having a baby. I suspect we will see that reporterette on KXTC's newscast tomorrow morning, if not tonight, spewing every bit of hatred-filled invective at me that she possibly can."

Tanya said "But they didn't put this together in less than a week. They've been planning it for a long time. Months, even."

"That is Iron Crowbar thinking, there." I said. "Here, hold this." I passed the red crowbar over the desk to Tanya. She cackled with glee as she tapped the crowbar into the palm of her hand.

"So why are they springing this now?" asked Teresa. "Why not spring it all those months ago?"

I replied "Well, there are two events that have happened very recently. Amber Harris had her baby; and the State Legislature came into session, with many of them relentlessly driving to impeach Governor Jared."

"And they're damaging you so you can't protect Val?" asked the Sheriff.

I shrugged. "I don't know. The Legislative session only lasts through March, so time is short. And there is no guarantee that anything they do to me can and will lead to getting Governor Jared out of office."

I saw the Sheriff's mustaches twitch just a bit, then his eyes become introspective. Whaddya know, our resident Klingon Warrior was in a reverie(!).

"And that brings us full circle to my question." said Teresa. "They must think they have something really bad on you, and not just that document. How can they prove the charges otherwise?"

"That's where Amber Harris comes in." I said. Everyone looked at me wide-eyed. I said "Okay, I've said too much already. Really, I shouldn't be talking to you at all; I've taken the Fifth."

Tanya said "We need to find out what they think they have on you. I'll have Intel start looking into it... and Myron, too, of course."

I help up my hand and shook my head vigorously in disagreement. "That's the one thing you cannot do. You've gotta believe that all of you are being watched, the TCPD is being watched, and you just know that the Enemy would just love to catch any of you coloring outside the lines trying to help me. So please don't."

"That's a point." said the Chief. "There is very little we can doooooo. We can fight every effort they will make to suspend you, but that's only if you don't get indicted. So this is up to you and your lawyer, Mr. Crowbarrrr."

The Sheriff had come out of his reverie, and said "Okay, guys, Crowbar is right. He shouldn't be talking to anyone except his lawyer. With your permission, Chief, let's reconvene in your Conference Room and hash this out..."

Part 5 - The Gathering Storm

Despite the hour, the Press was beginning to gather in the Press Room, most of them 'cub' reporters. Their hushed whispers soon became a steady hum of noise as they discussed not only the rumors swirling about the Town & County Police Commander, but the news from Midtown that the Impeachment of Governor Val Jared was imminent.

It eventually became apparent that no one from the TCPD was going to come out to brief them. Those that asked at the Duty Desk found that Captain Thompson and Commander Ross had already gone home...

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

I called Laura. The first words out of her mouth were "Don't say a word. We'll talk in person later." The call disconnected.

After disconnecting the call, I went to the Chief's office. He had me come in and sit down. "Anything new?" he asked.

"No sir." I said. "I talked to Mike Todd, and he said the Feds have not attempted to get a warrant for my arrest yet. He's a bit surprised at that. I'm not."

"Why are you not surprised?" asked the Chief.

"Two reasons, sir." I said. "First, I think the coffee klatches around here tomorrow morning will be ones for the ages; the news reports are going to be an unbridled display of Media hatred, bias, and agenda-driven reporting. And second, I think the Swamp Frogs may want to get their ducks in a row on this. They may go to a Grand Jury and get an indictment before getting the arrest warrant."

The Chief nodded. "I a-greeeee. And just so you know... this Karl Coleman, who went to Britt Maxwell, also went to District Attorney Walters, with a pitch similar to the one he gave Maxwell... they want her to press forward with charges against you, but wouldn't give her everything they had. Miriam said the case was outside of this County's jurisdiction, so she had noooo desire to touch it." I nodded thoughtfully.

"I'll say this, Mr. Crowbarrr." said the Chief. "I bee-lieeeeve that the Feds don't have much of a case; otherwise, they'd have come in here and arrested you instead of trying to trick you into going into the Federal Building, where you would've had no protection. Add to it that they're 'hinting' that they have more on you, but won't show you what it is, suggests to meeeee that they are playing games that you rarely if ever playyyyy."

I said "I believe you're right, sir. But there are two things that concern me. First, the Feds went to interview all of Jerry Morelli's men that are currently in prison. And second..."

When I didn't finish the sentence after a long moment, the Chief said "What? What is it?"

I said "Cindy. They're going to come after her even harder than they're coming for me. They know they can't break me, but they may think they can break her. And they are going to make her life as much of a living hell as they possibly can until they get what they want. I'm..."

My voice faltered for a moment, then I caught myself and finished: "I'm just sorry she's going to be put through that on my account..."

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

"Daddy!"

Nothing in the world is better than coming home to the Mountain Nest and hearing that sound, followed by my firstborn child running up and hugging my legs.

"Hey, Fussbudget." I said. "How was your day?"

"It was o-kay." Carole said. A moment later, Jim came up and hugged my legs. I noticed two outstanding dogs 'moseying' to the back door.

"Daddy," Carole asked, "can I go with you to take the dogs out?"

I looked over at Laura, who'd just come out of the 'Puter Room. She nodded her head, so I said "Okay."

Laura said "Stay with your dad, Carole. Don't wander off by yourself."

"Okay, Mommy." Carole said. We went out back and down the stairs to the patio, and sat down as the dogs ran off to inspect their territories. I felt as much as saw Laura at the backdoor, watching over the backyard.

"Daddy," Carole said, "are you in trouble?"

"What do you mean?" I asked back.

"There are some bad people that want to hurt you, Daddy." Carole said. "You have to be careful."

"How do you know this?" I asked. "Did you dream something, Carole?"

"No, Daddy." Carole said. "I just know. I don't know how I know, but I know. Just like I know Shawn Redmond didn't like going to Jameis's grandfather's junkyard because Shawn hates black people. But Mommy gets mad if I start talking about stuff like knowing things, so that's why I asked you if I could come out here with you, even though it might be dan-ger-usss."

Six years old, I thought to myself. God have mercy on the criminals of this world when she grows up.

"I'll be careful, Carole." I said. "I always am, anyway."

"This is diff'rent, Daddy." Carole warned. "What-ever you do, don't let them arrr-rest you. If you do, they'll say you tried to run away, and they'll shoot you. That's what they want to do. They want to shoot you in the head and kill you."

I could sense Carole's nervousness, and I was starting to get nervous, too. "Okay," I said, "but if they come for me, you're going to have to help your mother take care of your brothers and sister, and Bowser and Buddy."

"Sis-tersss." said Carole, emphasizing the plural. "I know you said not to say anything, but Betsy is in dan-ger, too."

"That's right, I said not to say any more about that." I said sternly. "Cindy and Callie will keep Betsy safe, so don't worry about her. Okay, here come the dogs; let's get back inside..."

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

I gave the kids extra hugs as I put them to bed. Carole hugged me harder than normal and said "See you on the other side, Daddy!" She knew, I realized. She knew.

When I went downstairs, I saw that Laura had poured us some Pappy Van Winkle Reserve. I swept the greatroom for bugs, finding none, then sat down on the sofa against the wall with my wife. We talked quietly, as if it were a normal evening and we didn't have a care in the world... but my most powerful bug-killer was on.

"I stopped you from talking on the phone today," Laura said very quietly, "because I'm paranoid enough after 30-plus years in the CIA to think they are tapping your cellphone calls, and maybe mine, too... and before you ask: yes, they have the capability to do it."

"Oh, I know." I said. "And you were right to stop me from talking."

"I called William after I heard about that little visit by his nephew to you." Laura continued, referring to the retired Deputy Director of the FBI, Martin Nash's uncle. "He and I have worked together for many years, and professionally we've been about as close as Federal Agents can be."

"But it was different, this time." I interjected as I sipped the the Pappy Van Winkle, and realized that it had been a long, long time since Laura had shared her 'stash' of it with me like this.

"Not much gets past you." Laura said as she sipped her drink. "I asked him what was going on with you, and he said he didn't know. I outright accused him of lying to me, and he said there was nothing he could say or do about what was going on, and he didn't have the details, either. Then I asked him why Martin was letting himself be manipulated into doing what he was doing, and trying to trick my husband like he did. William said he didn't know, and that Martin was his own man. He then said he needed to go, and disconnected the call."

"Oh, he knows." I said, my voice a whisper.

"So I'm just a Texas-Yellow-Rose Crowbar; I haven't graduated to Red yet." Laura said, making me smile. "What's really going on, here?"

I said "I think Martin has 'allowed' himself to be part of this, and his uncle has allowed it or perhaps guided it, because they still think I have McGinty's Materials, and for some reason they are desperate to get those Materials. I believe that if things went the way Nash had expected them to, he'd offer some kind of plea deal in exchange for the Materials. He didn't expect me to take the Fifth.

"Sooooo..." Laura said, "if you have McGinty's Materials, why don't you use them to get out of this mess?"

I said with a slight grin: "First, because I don't have them. And second, because that's not my style. Getting blackmail on someone and holding them only works so well, and doesn't work on me and others who realize it's better not to submit to it. So any 'stuff' I get on people... I prefer to use it and destroy the person than let them know I have it on them. If I don't want to destroy the person, I'll let the sleeping dog lie, so to speak."

"You would make a lousy Washington politician." Laura said, and I think she meant it as a compliment.

"Lousy Midtown politician, too." I said. "But this is about more than McGinty's Materials. It's very much the Swamp Frogs, at the Federal, State, and local levels, taking advantage of what they think is an opportunity to destroy me."

"God, they've had so many chances to do that." Laura said. "Why now? And why this?"

I replied: "You may remember that the Consultant of Crime tried to destroy my reputation before destroying me. For some reason, it was important to him to crush any good reputation that I had before putting me on that helicopter and forcing me to press the button." (Author's note: 'Along Came A Spider', 'A Tiny Slip'.) "It's something similar here, except they think they really do have something on me. And this was served up to them by a rabidly dishonest, hate-filled reporterette that by sheer coincidence just got out of prison."

"As to why now?" I continued. "I'm not sure. They did the Independent State Counsel investigation to get rid of me so they could get rid of Jared, and when they failed to get me, they held off going after Jared." (Author's note: 'Swamp Frogs'.) "It could be the same thing again, but it could be more. This is coming on the heels of the civil rights lawsuits by the US DOJ against the Mayor and the TCPD. It could have something to do with all that."

"I suspect that's closer to the truth." Laura said. "So, what are we going to do?"

"I can't let them arrest me." I said. "Carole believes they will murder me, and I think she's prescient. I already had that vibe before she did."

"I agree with that." Laura said. "Not so much Carole's fantasies, but that Robin Isley's team will kill you if they can." I let my eyes cut over to her, and she said "Oh yes, I know she's behind this. I have not been letting the grass grow under my feet, and I've used what power I have left to probe this. Isley is a snake in the grass, Don. But leave her to me, I have a way of neutralizing her and her teams."

"They'll come here, and to The Cabin, so I can't be here when they arrive." I said.

"And you can't take us all with you." Laura said. "But like I said, you're going to have to trust me and let me handle things on this end."

"I do trust you." I said. "I just feel like I'm abrogating my duty to protect my family if I don't stay to defend you."

"Put the alpha-male ego aside, Darling." Laura chided me. "Discretion is the better part of valor, here. And I'm not defenseless."

"No, no you are not." I said in agreement. "So this is the reason for the Pappy Van Winkle?" I asked with a wan smile.

"Not much gets past you, Darling." Laura said...

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

Laura and I had made love like it was the last time we ever would. Afterwards, I dressed in all black, went and took one last look at my children, petted the dogs, then snuck out via the back door.

I made my way down the trail and onto the University Campus, knowing where the cameras were and which way to go to avoid them. I had work to do, and I set my mind to that inexorable purpose as I disappeared into the blackness of the night...

To be continued.