Shipping and Handling Ch. 01

"Obviously." replied the Chief. "O-kayyyy, I don't think that little rant by Amber and Holder are going to be helpful to KXTC, so no replies to it, officially or unofficially, by any of you. Let them shadow box with empty air, and let it die down."

"Commander Troy," the Chief continued, "you were away a lot of last week and the first part of this week. Get up to speed on what is going on in my Police Department, and be ready to brief me at 9:00am."

"I can brief you now, if you like, sir." I said. "I made sure to keep up with everything, including Angels meetings by phone."

"Good." said the Chief. "See me at 9:00am anyway..."

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

"Hello and welcome to Fox Eight University Sunrise." said the athletic and pretty blonde Catrina Pierce at 8:00am. "With me as always is Meredith Peller. Hello, Meredith!"

"Hello, Catrina!" said the 'housewife-pretty' blonde Meredith Peller. "Here's what's happening in the news. It was big, it was controversial, and it was a brutal cat-and-dog fight as Commander Donald Troy testified under oath and with immunity before the State House Judiciary Committee. Let's go to our field political reporter Priya Ajmani in Midtown for the details. Priya!"

"Hi Meredith, hi Catrina!" the lovely Indian reporterette said as she came onto our television screen. "Yes, Commander Troy testified, saying what he has always said: that he never told Governor Jared that he was investigating Donna Rodman and Hillary Braselton until after he'd opened the investigation. Despite his consistency, Commander Troy testified under an immunity agreement, and it was good for him that he had it, as sources tell Fox Eight News that Legislators intended to accuse Commander Troy for perjury if he did not implicate Governor Jared, and State A.G. Karl Handel was very eager to press charges against Commander Troy if he did not say what A.G. Handel wanted to hear."

"Priya!" said Catrina, "sorry to interrupt, but A.G. Handel signed the immunity agreement. If he was so eager to charge Commander Troy with perjury, why did he sign the immunity agreement?"

"That's a great question, Catrina!" said Priya, who obviously had the answer already; this was 'batting practice' pitching. "Sources have told Fox Eight News that A.G. Handel wanted to give limited immunity, but Commander Troy and his lawyer refused to accept anything but full immunity. After a brief private meeting between A.G. Handel and Commander Troy's attorney Mike G. Todd, Mr. Handel did sign the agreement."

"So what else happened, Priya?" asked Meredith Peller.

Priya replied: "The testimony became tense and then explosive when Representative Tasheeka Harris of Midtown, who is black, questioned Commander Troy on last Fall's mayoral race, accusing Commander Troy of helping Daniel Allgood deny Eldrick X. Weaver the win. Commander Troy strongly rebutted Representative Harris's assertions, and Ms. Harris called Commander Troy a racist. Commander Troy's reply was cut off and his microphone did not catch what he said, but Legislators on both sides of the aisle were making objections to the exchange, and Committee Chairman Madoff shut it all down. Let's roll the tape on that now."

Tape rolled, showing somewhat edited parts of the exchange, but at least showing Your Iron Crowbar in a 'not unfavorable' light.

"Thank you, Priya! We'll come back to you shortly." Catrina said. "Right now we have Peter Dwayne Gordon of Clear Call Polling with us. Peter, what is the fallout of all this?"

"Good morning, Catrina and Meredith." said Peter Gordon said cheerfully. "As you know, we conduct polls on Commander Donald Troy because we receive numerous requests for that information. After being credited with the Marcie Harper drug bust, Commander Troy's popularity in the Tri-County area, which includes the Town & County, Nextdoor County, and Coltrane County, was at 86%. Spot polling Monday after he took the 5th showed Commander Troy dropping to 72%, but after yesterday's testimony he is back up to 80%, all with a 3% margin of error."

"How about Governor Jared?" asked Meredith.

"After the Budget was passed," said Peter, "the Governor was at 52%, his best polling of his second term. After Commander Troy took the 5th on Monday, Jared's numbers dropped all the way to 42%. Yesterday he'd climbed back up to 46%. So while taking the Fifth is not supposed to be automatically construed as guilt, the relentless Press coverage telling people what to think had a very deleterious effect on the Governor's numbers."

"What about the Republican and Democrat Parties?" asked Catrina.

"The data is very location-dependent." said Peter Gordon. "For the Republican Party, in the rural areas that tend to support Grassroots Republicans such as Governor Jared, his numbers have held steady, as have Sharon Marshall's. They're much lower but also steady in the urban centers of the State. But in the suburbs, the Republicans are taking huge hits, especially in areas currently represented by Establishment Republicans. Similar results are showing for the Democrats, who are making those gains among the so-called soccer moms of the suburbs..."

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

"Priya's sure changed." Tanya Perlman said as we sat in my office before the Angels meeting. Cindy said nothing, though her eyes fluttered towards me for a second before returning to the monitor as Tanya finished: "She used to be what Amber is now."

"I'm not complaining." I said. "I'm not holding out hope that Amber or Bettina are going to get any better, though. So, ladies, the Chief was right: I haven't been here very much the past week and a half. You've done a great job in my absence, and I appreciate the emails and phone conversations keeping me in the loop. So... what's new?"

"I took a call from Detective Nell Bell in Midtown yesterday afternoon." Tanya said. "I'd looked to see if we had any moving van thefts in this County, and we'd had a couple that appeared to be a scam run by some University students using Craigslist. But we had a different anomaly that was very interesting to her: the TCPD has recently recovered two State Moving Services trucks, both empty."

Tanya continued: "One was found in the Junction Station area; the other, just south of the Pet Cemetery. Both trucks were wiped clean, with no fingerprints or any other evidence revealing where they'd come from nor what they'd carried. Detective Bell said the truck numbers matched trucks that had disappeared with people's furniture and stuff from other parts of the State."

"Hmmm... wait." I said as it hit me. "These were real SMS trucks?"

"Yes sir." said Tanya. "The VINs as well as car tags matched vehicles belonging to SMS. After holding them for four weeks, we gave them back to SMS."

"Cool beans." I said. "I asked because when I talked to Detective Bell yesterday, I thought she'd said that fake SMS trucks had arrived to pick up people's furniture. But the ones found empty in our County were real SMS trucks?"

Teresa asked "Maybe those were different cases than these?"

"That's likely." I said. "Tanya, tell you what: even though this probably falls under Vice, assign an MCD Detective to it. Get with Detective Bell in Midtown and clear up all the misunderstandings about fake vs. real trucks, then let's see what else we can find out, including what might've been on the empty trucks before they disappeared and were found empty up here."

"How about I assign Geiger to it." suggested Tanya, her eyes twinkling. "He's transferring to MCD after Davis gets back from Advanced Course."

"You know what's the only thing wrong with that idea?" I asked.

"That you didn't think of it yourself." Cindy said flatly, stealing my joke right out from under me.

"Ouch! Touché!" I said, conceding victory. "But yes, that's a good idea. Put Geiger on it. I was going to suggest having Mary Milton call Detective Bell, though. I get the idea that those two might get along very well. Similar personality types."

"Just don't have them be such good friends that Mary leaves for Midtown." Tanya said.

"The worry is not wasted. Mary did work down there before coming up here." Teresa said.

"But her husband and baby are up here." I said. "If she ever leaves, you will definitely get to know what my face would look like when I am totally shocked. Okay, any other business?"

"Fallout, pun intended, from the nuclear incident." Cindy said. "I talked with Tim Jenkins of the FBI. He said there are still no leads on the whereabouts of Tomoko Shimono 2.0, which is what they still call her, nor any sign of Jerry Barsbane, Trent Ridge, Quint Starr, nor Dick Granger. Federal warrants were served and executed to examine Granger's office at State Parcel Service in the City as well as his home. It was 'no joy' for any information on that."

"They may be well out of State by now." said Teresa. "They'd be idiots to hang around the Iron Crowbar's domains. I did contact Police Chief Harold Bennett in my childhood home town to be on the lookout for all of them in that area, but they haven't seen anything... at least that's what they're telling me."

"What's going on out there regarding railroads and industries moving in?" I asked.

"It's tied up in Court now." Teresa said. "The Midwest & Pacific Railroad had options on the land for railroads, and BigRoadAndRailCorp tried to buy that land out from under them. I do know that U.S. Senators Samuel Russell and Roy Lester (of the State west of us) pushed really hard for the Federal Railroad Administration to give the rights to BigRoadAndRailCorp, but the Court issued an injunction."

"And until that gets resolved, everyone else is standing by or held in check." I said.

"Yes sir." Teresa said. "Todd is generally moving away from putting a BOW Enterprises facility out there, especially after the attempt to steal the Mutanix technology. He's now looking to see if there's any silver in the ground out there."

"He's got enough to to, and he wants to go into silver mining?" Cindy asked, perhaps a bit witheringly.

"Silver is important in technological applications." Teresa replied. "If they find any deposits at all, they could well be worth mining."

"And crops don't grow exceptionally well out there." I mused, the chemist in me speaking up. "There could indeed be some silver deposits."

As I drew the meeting to a close, I said "Cindy, if you talk to Tim Jenkins again, ask him to very quietly look into Jeff Farley, the City Police Officer that worked with Bundy McGinty, then was rumored to have gone to the SBI and worked with Ferrell. I can't come up with any record of Farley being in the SBI, nor being an SBI Reservist or Consultant. It might be worth pursuing."

"Wilco." said Cindy. Was that my imagination, or did her ice-blue eyes light up just a little bit at me having given her a reason to talk to him again?...

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

At 9:00am, I reported to the Chief's office for my meeting with him. When his assistant Cassie admitted me into the office, I saw that Sheriff Griswold was already there and seated. I sat down at the Chief's invitation next to the Sheriff.

"Very well done in Mid-towwwnnnnn, Commander." said Moynahan. "I also talked to Chief Soltis, and he expressed his appreciation for you consulting with his young Detectives about the moving van thefts."

"Please tell him I was glad to consult with his new people, who are impressive young Detectives." I said. "Between you, me, and the crowbars, I think he's worried that I was miffed that I was consulted on such a seemingly small thing... but it's not small, especially if there's an SMS and therefore SPS connection."

"Har." growled Griswold. "Funny how all this stuff connected to Blassingame has been coming up the past few weeks."

"Chief," I said with a grin, "Our Sheriff obviously believes in coincidences."

"Heh heh heh heh." Chief Moynahan chuckled as Griswold's mustaches twitched merrily. "I bee-lieeeve the Sheriff has some information for you, Mr. Crowbar."

"Yes, I do." said Griswold. "I got word from John Colby about the Council meeting last night. They've tabled my proposal to have the EMTs resurrected. Their official reason was to see what the Charter Commission does. Their unofficial excuse was to let the Charter Commission do it, so that the Council is absolved of blame if any problems come up."

"Harrumph." I said. "Politicians. Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em... especially the Sheriff."

"Just don't shoot the Deputy, Crowbar." Griswold softly growled, his mustaches twitching some more.

"Oooh, good one, Sheriff!" I said. "And I'm not asskissing when I say that."

"You gotta learn to kiss ass, Crowbar." the Sheriff replied.

"If Commander Troy starts kissing asses," said the Chief, "I'm going to shoot him and find out what he did with the real Iron Crowbarrrrr..."

Part 5 - Jailbreak

At 10:30am, Wednesday, March 27th, FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone came to Police Headquarters. His face looked worried, but what had my curiosity up much more was who came with him: Supervisory Agent Melina Allgood. My curiosity, and foreboding, increased when they went by the Command Suite (my and Cindy's offices) and to the Chief's office suite.

Moments later, Cindy and I were 'invited' to the Chief's Conference Room. "What's it about?" Cindy whispered as we almost collided in the anteroom in front of our office doors.

"No idea." I said.

Going into the Conference Room, the Chief was at his usual place at the near end of the table. To his right, his back to the door, was Muscone. To the Chief's left, facing the door, was Melina. I went and sat to her left, and Cindy took the seat to Jack's right.

"Thanks for coming in." Muscone said. "A serious situation has developed. There has been an escape from two prisons, including the Supermax prison east of Acropolis City (the capitol of the State to our east).

Melina took it up, having plugged her tablet into the console on the middle of the table, and bringing up some photos on the wall monitor. "These two men were helped out of the two prisons. I think you might remember them."

"Ohhhhhh, shi-it." I muttered as I looked at the mug shots of George Aurus and Jimmy Tolson. (Author's note: 'Black Velvet' and 'Power' for Aurus, 'Disappearing Act' for Tolson.) "How did they escape? They had to have had help--- ohhhhhh, noooooo."

"What?" asked Cindy, turning her ice-blue peepers and the full power of her vibe upon me. "Wow, you're giving out a strong vibe, Don..."

"I think he's figured it out. Not much gets past him, so I'm told." said Melina, her voice deadpan flat, but with the merest hint of a twinkle in her eye. She continued: "At the Supermax prison, at 4:00am Tuesday morning, a guard with the Bureau of Prisons ID of 'John Green', penetrated the most secure areas and got Jimmy Tolson out by taking him to the open-air exercise area. A small helicopter, or perhaps a large drone, lifted the prisoner out and flew him to the road, where a car was waiting for him. The guard then exited through the normal way, and was able to walk out and drive away."

"And no one raised an alarm, or saw anything?" I asked, my voice correctly connoting my sheer disbelief.

"No, and I'll get into that in a minute." Melina said. "At the other prison, George Aurus was locked away in the psychiatric ward. At about the same time as the Tolson escape, Aurus was found unresponsive in his cell. He was rushed to the Infirmary, where the doctor, whose ID had the name 'Lance Queen', apparently stabilized him, but ordered that Aurus be life-flighted to the nearest major hospital."

Melina went on: "The doctor got on the helicopter with Aurus and a guard, whose ID showed him to be 'John Sparrow', but the helicopter never made it to the hospital. It landed about halfway to its destination in a farm field, and was found empty. Aurus, the doctor, the pilot, and the guard were all gone."

I nodded. "Brilliantly planned, flawlessly executed." I said.

Muscone said "Care to guess who the perps were that did this, Don?"

I raised my hand as if to move a chess piece, then took a notepad, wrote something on it, folded the piece of paper and handed it to Cindy. She opened it, read it, groaned, and nodded. "Show us." she said. Melina put up some IDs on the monitor screen.

"I don't know who John Green is," I said, "but the man in that photo on the ID is Trent Ridge." Cindy gasped. I continued: "John Sparrow is Quint Starr. And 'Dr. Queen' is the spitting image of Jerry Barsbane, who I had the dubious pleasure of meeting personally a short while back."

"And lucky to have survived it." said Melina. Cindy turned the piece of paper around as if she were revealing a poker hand of cards. I'd written 'Trent & Quint, Barsbane, Shimono' on it."

"And very cute." I said. "Green... (Sp)arrow... Queen. In the comics, the Green Arrow is Oliver Queen, and his love interest, the Black Canary, is Dinah Lance."

"You don't miss a God damn thing, do you?" Muscone said, rather sharply. Then he asked "So where was Shimono in all this?"

"Controlling the drone or whirlybird that flew Tolson out of the prison I'd guess." I said. "Only question for me is who flew the medivac chopper."

"Fingerprints on the controls came up as Quint Starr's." said Melina, starting up a video. "Prison cameras filmed the loading of Aurus on the helicopter. As you can see, after the doors closed, it was several seconds before the helicopter took off, and there's some movement in the cockpit. My analysis is that Starr rendered the pilot unconscious and then took the controls himself. Starr did have helicopter pilot training while in the Special Forces in the Army."

"But the pilot's body hasn't been found?" I asked. "Seems they'd kill him, or her, and just leave the body with the chopper, or leave him alive and tied up with the chopper. And if he was part of the plot, no reason for Starr to switch out with him."

"It's a strangeness." Melina said, and I knew she was needling me, having heard that phrase a few times during our eight year marriage. "The scariest thing about all this, though, is the IDs. Both prisons use retinal scan technology to identify the guards as their IDs are scanned. So someone had to feed in these guys's retinal scans and the IDs with these photos on them. That means they had access to the Bureau of Prisons's database, which means we've either got a mole or a huge breach of our systems."

"Now you know why I was upset when Mary Mahoney got that data about an FBI Consultant." said Muscone.

"Stop it." Cindy warned, waving a green crowbar in his specific direction. Muscone looked miffed that he was being 'fronted by the Green Crowbar on that.

Melina watched them with something bordering on confusion and disdain on her beautiful face, then turned back to continue the presentation. "Needless to say, this has caused a huge commotion in Washington at the very highest levels. We are now having to scatter our assets like a covey of partridge, looking for potential false IDs being planted in every Agency, including the CIA, NSA, FBI, and the Military. Of course for you, Don, the imminent threat is who was broken out of prison."

"Yes, yes it is." I said. I then went into a reverie. When I came out of it, all eyes were upon me.

"Don?" asked Muscone, "Any idea why they sprung those two in particular? To come after you? To distract you?"

"No data yet." I finally said.

"There is one other thing." Melina said. "Remember Alicia Foster, the disavowed CIA Agent?" I nodded, remembering Alicia Foster from an earlier case. (Author's note: 'The Credit Card Caper'.)

Melina said "In doing our 'security review' after the Tolson escape, we discovered that Alicia Foster, who is in that same Supermax prison in the women's wing, had a visitor last Saturday. An Army Captain, in uniform. Name of... wait for it... Dinah Lance." An Army ID was projected onto the monitor, along with a photo from the prison of Alicia's visitor.