Scavenger Hunt Ch. 05

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is 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, racism, 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.

There may or may not be discussion of political issues in my stories. If you are a Snowflake that feels you need to be protected from any mention of politics, then click the Back button now, and never attempt to read any of my stories ever again. You've been warned.

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Part 18 - Success and Failure

*WOOP-WOOOP!*

The sirens and blue lights were blinding as the TCPD Police cruisers came up from all sides, surrounding the cars and the perps.

"POLICE! DROP YOUR WEAPONS AND RAISE YOUR HANDS!"

"We surrender!" yelled one of the perps as all of them dropped their weapons and reached for the sky. Officers swiftly took them into custody. The TCFD Engine came up and bathed the burning van in chemicals (mostly baking soda and inert drying ingredients) until the raging flames were quelled.

"Did anyone get out?" Lieutenant Jerome Davis, who had led this contingent of Police, shouted. "Did they get out alive?"

"No sir." said Sr. Patrolman Johnson as he pointed out the three burned hulks inside.

"Good!" shouted one of the arrested Asian women, whose face had been revealed with the other perps when their masks were removed. "We have completed our mission! Tell your Iron Crowbar that Amelia Sedgwick got what she deserved, the death a traitor."

"Consider me told." said Your Iron Crowbar as Teresa and I came out of the shadows. "Jerome, take these four to Police Headquarters and process them. Do not let them have their phone calls to call attorneys yet, though their attorneys may show up anyway. I'll be there shortly."

As Teresa and I watched the crime scene being processed, I said "Remind you of something?"

Teresa said "Yes sir. The night you were ambushed. Their rocket didn't fire. These rockets did." (Author's note: 'Casting Aspersions' Ch. 03-04.)

"Yoi. Tahenyoi!" I said, which was Japanese for 'Good. Very good!' I continued: "Yes, very similar in the execution of the attack as well as the weapons used. Well, it can't wait. We have to go tell Bobby Sedgwick that his sister is dead..."

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

9:00pm, Friday, October 15th. Father Alberto Romano and Lt. Cmdr. Teresa Croyle went into the room of Bobby Sedgwick. I had followed them down the hall, but did not go inside. Instead, I paced down the side hall as I talked on my cellphone.

"Yes, Sheriff." I said. "Amelia Sedgwick and two Deputies. All three dead. They didn't stand a chance. Martha is conducting the autopsies of their charred remains now."

I noticed that someone, an older white man in a suit and fedora hat was in the waiting room at the corner of the intersection of the hallways. He was holding a small bouquet of flowers, and was watching KXTC's coverage of the burning train car on the television mounted high in the corner of the room---

"NO!" I heard from Bobby Sedgwick's room. It was Bobby's voice, shouting "NOOO! SHE CAN'T BE DEAD! NO! Noooooo!" The man briefly turned his head to look for the source of the noise, then turned back to the television. I went back towards the intersection of hallways and into the main hallway.

The man fished out his cellphone and made a call. "Yeah, she's dead. They just told her brother. And the Iron Crowbar just told the Sheriff she's dead." I heard the man say, not as quietly as he thought he was speaking. "Okay, I'm getting out of Town. See you in Palm Creek."

He got up, leaving the bouquet of flowers in the seat, and walked into the hallway and around the corner---

WHAM!

My open palm slammed into his nose and eyes and he went down like a shot. In less time than it has taken you to read this, I had him turned over and cuffed from behind. Teresa came out of Bobby Sedgwick's room and handed me a piece of duck tape, which I applied to the man's mouth, to prevent him from taking a cyanide 'button'.

I said "Let's get this to Myron." as I took the man's cellphone out of his pocket and put it in the evidence bag Teresa was holding open...

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

"Lawyers for the Asian Team have already arrived." Claire Michaels reported to me as Teresa and I came into Police Headquarters. Uniformed Officers were escorting the man I arrested at the Hospital, and his cellphone was already in Myron Milton's expert possession.

"Okay." I said as we went into my office. I got onto my computer. "One second." I transferred the audio file I'd taken from the little bug just inside the door of the waiting room the perp had been in, recording his conversation, to the evidence servers. Teresa poured coffee for all three of us, and then sat down. "Okay, whaddya got?" I asked.

Claire said "They all gave false names, but we've identified them from facial recognition, and some of them from fingerprints. First is Li Wei Guo, who has connections to the Red Chinese Government, and possibly to the Central and South American cartels. Second is Cassandra Yeoh, 34 years old. She's Malaysian, and a naturalized American Citizen. She's a programmer for MegaTech Industries, and she has no prior criminal record. Fingerprints are on file because she has a Top Secret clearance, obtained for her by MegaTech Industries."

"Not anymore, she doesn't." I said.

Claire nodded, then continued: "Third is Yan Wu, 32 years old. He is a homosexual, and he has Organized Crime ties. He allegedly recruits young men to be male prostitutes for gay sex, mostly by letting them run up big drug debts, then making them pay off their debts by sexually servicing male clients."

"Less Than Zero." I said, remembering the plot of that movie.

Claire nodded, then continued: "Yan Wu is reputed to be an exceptionally vicious man, who takes pleasure in raping and torturing his male victims before he kills them. His DNA is on record as being one of the men who sodomized The Geek when you captured Keiko Shimono and rescued your wife." (Author's note: 'Long Cool Woman', Ch. 03.)

"And last," Claire said as she handed me a folder, "is someone of your previous acquaintance, sir..."

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

I went into Interrogation-1. A very slender, slight Asian woman was sitting at the table. Next to her was her attorney, Max Chambliss, the sleazebag attorney from Gresham & Mason, P.C. Officer Lisa Burrell was the Uniformed Presence.

"Ahh, Mai Ling." I said as I sat down opposite her. "I haven't seen you since I asked for your mass spec standards during the Pine Valley case. You disappeared on me." (Author's note: 'Environmental Hazards'.)

Mai Ling said, her voice surprisingly low-pitched for so small a woman, "It is wise to disappear when one is being pursued by so formidable an antagonist as the Iron Crowbahr."

"No doubt about that." I said agreeably. "So where is Chris Maple? What happened to him?"

"I truly do not know, Commander." said Mai Ling. "Either he wisely disappeared, also, or Paul Brandon got to him. I made sure that Brandon did not catch me before you arrested him; I value my health."

"Stop talking." Max Chambliss said.

"I did not ask for you to speak." Mai Ling said. She turned to me and said "But he is right. I am invoking my Fifth Amendment rights."

"Too bad." I said as I got up. "I would have enjoyed discussing with you the chemical technologies you've been stealing, or trying to steal. If you'll excuse me..." I left the room.

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

Back in my office with Teresa and Claire, I said "So Michael Bertram is representing Yan Wu; no surprise there, as Yan Wu has the mob ties. John Proctor is representing Cassandra Yeoh; no real surprise there, she's a valued MegaTech Industries employee, and he's one of their top attorneys." (Author's note: 'Homewrecker', Ch. 02 for Proctor.) "And Chip Blake is Li Wei Guo's representation, possibly by sheer default."

Me: "So Edward N. Parker is not representing any of them? That's interesting."

Teresa said "What does that tell you?"

I said "What I already knew: I expected Feng Xingshi to be one of the four, and for Edward N. Parker to be representing him. But no... and that has to mean that Feng Xingshi is actually one of the higher-ups. Okay, who is the guy I took down at the Hospital?"

"Marty 'The Mule' Squerciati." said Claire. "At one time he was one of the best drug mules working for the Southport Mob. And he trained others in the techniques, possibly including Beverly D'Angelo, who was murdered in our County." (Author's note: 'Homewrecker'.)

"During a MegaTech Industries event." I added. "And a smuggler, like Jerry Barsbane. So why is Marty the Mule up here now?"

Claire said "Not sure yet, sir. The Southport FBI office believed that he retired, as he had plenty of money and didn't need to keep risking himself in drug activities."

I said "Or maybe he was a deep undercover C.I. for the Southport DEA, and retired, kind of like 'Ice Cube' Perry did."

"Why do you say that, sir?" Claire asked.

"Ohhhh." Teresa said. "I get it. Who wanted Amelia Sedgwick dead? The Swamp Frogs! If he was working undercover for the Feds, it would've been while Les Craig, one of the dirtiest Swamp Frogs of them all, was in Southport. So maybe those Swamp Frogs asked him to help out and observe to make sure Amelia died tonight."

"Damn, you're good." I replied. "Sure you don't want a crowbar?"

"Don't need one." Teresa replied...

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

As the evening wore on, reports came in. The train car fire was being extinguished. Jack Muscone was no longer attempting to call me, nor were any other Federal Agents calling me or anyone in the TCPD.

At 11:15pm, Martha the M.E. came to my office. As she handed me a file folder, she said "I did Amelia Sedgwick's autopsy, as you requested. I'm going to wait until tomorrow to do the Deputies's autopsies. Maybe that'll keep their names from being blabbed all over Creation before the families can be notified."

"Good thinking. And thanks for this." I said as I held up the file Martha had handed me. She nodded and exited the office.

A few moments later, Lieutenant Myron Milton came into the room. "We have it, sir. Squerciati's cellphone was a burner. It pinged another burner purchased at the same time, part of the same lot. We got the number of the phone he called from the Hospital, and where it was located."

"Don't keep me in suspense." I said. "Where is it?..."

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

12:00 midnight, becoming Saturday, October 16th. The two men were sitting alone in the office space in the building rented by the Swamp Frog Government Agents. (Author's note: 'God Save The Queen', Ch. 01.) It was now abandoned and cleaned out of all furniture except their two desks.

"Okay, that's it." the white man said. He was in his 40s, and looked as young or younger than the Asian man next to him, who was actually in his 30s. The white man said "Our man at the Hospital reported that the priest informed Sedgwick's brother that she was dead, and the Iron Crowbar was telling his Sheriff the same thing at the same time. And the autopsy report of her death was just publicly filed by the Medical Examiner. But what happened with the train?"

The Asian man, who was Feng Xingshi, said "The tanker train car was supposed to be right next to BOW Enterprises when it exploded, but the train stopped early. I don't know why; the broken rail was in exactly the right place and the alarm went off at exactly the right time. I apologize for the failure."

"C'est la guerre, n'est pas?" said the white man. "That is unfortunate, but the main mission was successfully completed. My boss and his superiors will be very pleased that Sedgwick is dead. Okay, one final phone call, and then we'll get out of here and go back to Palmyra County." He dialed a phone number...

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

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

"Commander Troy." I said as I answered my Police iPhone. "With whom am I speaking?"

"Commander!" said the white man. "You don't know me, but I certainly know you. You have interfered with our Olympics of Crime games many times too often for our liking, so we'll be leaving your County forever. I just wanted to tell you that our successful execution of Amelia Sedgwick was our little farewell to you."

"Indeed it was." I said. "Take a look outside."

The 'look outside' was the parking lot of the building full of TCPD vehicles, lightbars blazing and searchlights illuminating the building. Teresa and I were among them, standing behind our open doors of my Police SUV.

As the call disconnected, I barked the orders into my radio and out loud to everyone around. "Breach! Breach! Breach! Execute! Execute! Execute!"

*BAM!*

The ram busted the door open, and well-armed-and-armored TCPD SWAT Officers burst into the office. The two men found the business ends of many local Government Guns in their faces...

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

12:30am, Saturday, October 16th. Feng Xingshi was in I-2 with his attorney, Edward N. Parker. In I-1, the white man was with his attorney... Nathan Masterson of Gresham & Mason, P.C.

"They never expected us to get him." I said as Laura, Teresa, and myself looked at them through the one-way glass. "They brought their big gun legal beagle in for him."

"Who is he?" Teresa asked.

Laura said "He's Dr. Mark Wages, senior researcher for MegaTech Industries. He was one of the key players in Palmyra County's MegsTech office when I went undercover down there. I'm absolutely shocked to see him sitting there, and being a part of this." (Author's note: 'Long Cool Woman')

I said "Keiko Shimono forgot to mention him to me last Wednesday, as well. Must've slipped her mind. But it fits that he's part of it, and that we keep running into the same bad actors we've run into before; after all, this is their territory, so to speak."

Teresa said "So who do we want to talk to, sir?"

Laura said "Don't talk to Dr. Wages just yet. I need to consult with my people to see what we want to do about him."

"Wilco." I said. "Teresa, maybe we should talk to 'Marty the Mule' Squerciati..."

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

I-2 was cleared, and Marty Squerciati was brought in. His legal representation was Emilio Andolini of Andolini & Tommasino, P.C., who was a relative of Guido Andolini. (Author's note: 'Consent of the Governed' for Guido.).

"C'mon, Iron Crowbar, what did I do to deserve to get roughed up by you like that?" Marty asked.

I said "I have a burner with your fingerprints all over it, that just one minute before I arrested you called another burner that we now have, which belonged to a guy with some serious Federal issues headed his way. I have your voice saying Amanda Sedgwick's brother was just told she was dead, showing you were there just to confirm that. That puts you on the spot for conspiracy to commit her murder, since one of the gang leaders responsible for that also was where the burner phone you called was."

"My client was asked to confirm some information." said the lawyer Andolini. "That's nothing any Private Eye doesn't do."

"Marty," I said, "I'm being straight with you, here. So you and your attorney need to stop playing games with me. I was able to arrest you because I was looking for you at the Hospital. I was looking for someone associated with the Toyota Gang cells to be there, to confirm Amelia Sedgwick's death... and Lo! and Behold! there you were, with that silly batch of blue flowers that are proper for a funeral but not as a gift to someone in the hospital. Now come on... why did you take that job when you don't need the green dollar bills? Why are you fooling around with those kids and their crap games?"

"Cut me a deal." said Marty.

"Marty, let me do the negotiating." said Emilio.

I said "The problem is... I can give you a deal on any State and local charges, but I can't give you a Federal deal. And I don't want to expose you to any of their dirty tricks."

Marty turned to Andolini and said "He's a smart kid. You need to be smart like that---"

Just then the anteroom door burst open, and FBI SAC Jack Muscone walked in with Federal Marshals Tommy Dugan and Kurt Powell. "Sorry, Commander, but we're taking Federal custody of Marty Squerciati. I've got the Federal warrant right here."

He extended the document towards me, but I did not take it. "You can give that to his attorney, here." I saw that Theo Washington and some Uniformed Officers in armor were at the door. "It's okay, Theo!" I said loudly. To Marty the Mule, I said "See? They play dirty."

"You're a smart kid. You're gonna go places. Good places." said Marty as the Marshals made him stand up, then escorted him out of the room. I hoped that was a compliment...

Part 19 - Issues and Answers

1:15am, Saturday, October 16th. Chief Moynahan called a meeting, and we gathered in Classroom 'E'. I'd ordered bacon-egg-and-cheese sandwiches from the 24-hour McDonalds near Campus, and those were being consumed along with Lt. Jerome Davis's 'Navy' coffee.

It was a big meeting, too. In addition to all of MCD, Lt. Rudistan, and Lt. Purvis, Captain Abram was here to report on the train situation. Lieutenant Jerome Davis had been in charge of the Response Team that captured the Toyota Gang's Asian Team, and was here now. Captain Hugh Hewitt of 1st Precinct and Lieutenant Sean DeLong of 2nd Precinct were still at the Mobile Command Post set up to address the train explosion. Sheriff Griswold was also at that Command Post, so Cindy Ross was here with us.

And we had Federal Agents at the meeting. The FBI was represented by SAC Jack Muscone and Special Agent Steven Gable. SSA Julius Jefferson was at the Mobile Command Post. DEA SSAs Dwight Stevens and Lorena Rose were here.

And also here was Gary Weller of the National Transportation Safety Board, the NTSB. He'd investigated the disappearance of BOW Enterprises Flight 29 with my mother and Clarissa Belvedere Esterson aboard. (Author's note: 'Who Watches The Watchers', Ch. 02)

"O-kayyy." said Chief Moynahan. "Where to begin?"

I said "Chief, let's start with the train incident, and then these Federal Agents can take their leave of us while we discuss the local murder."

"Of a former DEA Agent." said Dwight Stevens.

I said "But not one today. Dwight, I didn't give you any crap when you took over the Toyota Gang case. So return the favor and don't give me one word of flak over the Sedgwick case. It's murder, and it's my case."

"Point taken." said Stevens, though I sensed he was just pretending to back off for the time being.

I said "Captain Abram, you're leaving 2nd Precinct with a bang." Everyone started laughing, led by Rudistan.

"Thank you sir," said Captain Abram, "and let me take this opportunity now to say I've really loved working with all of you in the TCPD. I appreciate the opportunity Chief Moynahan and Commander Troy have offered me, but being in I.A. will put something of a wall between me and the rest of you."

"And let me thank yooooo, Captain," said the Chief, "for the really excellent job you've done with 2nd Precinct." Everyone gave Captain Abram a strong round of applause that turned into a standing ovation.