Shipping and Handling Ch. 03

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, 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 9 - The Deep End

"What?!" said Cindy, Chief Moynahan, and Chief Soltis, all at once.

"Oh." I said a second later. "The fake IDs."

"He gets it." Melina said. Laura's eyebrows shrugged up in acquiescence.

"Enlighten us, Mr. Crowbar." said Chief Moynahan.

"For us," I said, "the issue is this murder, these furniture thefts, and possibly insurance fraud, which are State pervues. For these Federales, the issue is that a lot of systems are being breached to insert these IDs. From the Marcie Harper gang, to the nuke incident, to the Tolson/Aurus escapes, to what we're starting to find now with these CDLs and other IDs... someone has done some extreme hacking here. And it's obviously a problem for our Federal friends and neighbors... and spouses."

"Yes, it is." Laura said, returning my 'look' with one of her own. "Jimmy Tolson's escape from a Supermax prison has shown us that this is a very serious breach of Federal as well as State databases, and it's a matter of national security. Even worse than the bad guys being able to insert fake data, we're worried that the data of good agents could be altered to look bad, and therefore compromise those good people. It's bad for the FBI and the military, but for the CIA and the DEA this could become a nightmare."

"So you don't want us doing anything that might let the perps know we're on to what they're doing," I said, "especially regarding things like these CDLs."

"That's the gist of it." said Muscone. "We know you guys have hit on a bunch of these fake IDs, and we want to pick it up from here."

"You'll be wasting your time." I said. "The origin of that problem and the prison IDs is not with SPS. It's wherever 'The Geek' is being held by the Feds----"

And then I saw it, in Muscone's eyes, and Laura's. "Don't tell me... you've lost him, haven't you?" For a moment no one said anything, and I wished I had my cellphone camera out to take photos of the guilty looks on some Federal agents's faces.

Finally, Melina said "It would be more accurate to say that we're not sure who has control of him. He was brought here, to our Town & County, during the nuke crisis. We thought General Just brought him in, but under interrogation, Just admitted that he was not the one that brought him in. We're theorizing that The Geek was brought in ostensibly to find the perps, but in reality to scout you out, Don."

"And get a layout of the land of the Town & County." I said. "I also suspect The Geek is the one behind that cyber-attack on the TCPD. As to who has control of him... I daresay it's Shimono and her group, at least right now. And Cindy, that reminds me..." I said, turning and looking at the Green Crowbar, "... we've gotta come up with a really cool name for those guys."

"No doubt about that." Cindy replied.

"Soooooo, Mr. Crowbar," said the Chief, "are you good with suspending this case for now?"

"No sir." I said. "This is a murder case. A man's life was taken from him, and every minute we waste by not pursing the case makes it infinitely harder to solve."

"I'm sorry the man died," Laura said, "but Don, this is a much bigger issue, and a much greater threat to us."

"I get that." I said with alacrity. "What I'm going to suggest is that we can keep working on our case from angles that won't interfere with your work on the IDs."

"How?" Melina asked. "You've found out by now that the man your Detectives interviewed thinking he was Bert Cowell, is not Bert Cowell. How are you going to go in there and say 'We know you're not Bert Cowell.' without them knowing you found out about his fake ID?"

"For God's sake!" I spluttered, worn to anger. "We the Police run checks on IDs all the time! Every traffic stop, we're running an ID on the person to see if they have an outstanding warrant. In a case like this, we're running checks on the victims and potential perps. It's normal!

"Hell," said Cindy, "they'd be more suspicious if we weren't running ID checks."

"They have a point." Laura said quietly to Jack Muscone.

"Yeah, they do." said Muscone. "And the damage is done: they've already been running the ID checks on the SPS people related to this."

"How about this, then?" Melina offered. "You guys keep running your investigation of the murder, and let us take over the furniture thefts and the insurance fraud investigations. We'll share anything we find with the State Insurance Commissioner's office."

"No." I said. "First, because those are State crimes; and second, because the cases are too intertwined. And they know by now that we're investigating. If you really want cover for your ID investigation, you should let us continue our work on this case. If we pull back now, they'll wonder why."

"He's right, you know." said Chief Moynahan. Melina did not look particularly happy at that comment.

"That leaves the Shimono Group." said Muscone. "We really do need you guys to let us take the lead on them."

"That should be no problem." said Chief Moynahan, who then caught my look at him. "Or is it, Mr. Crowbar?"

"Chief," I said, "it's just that Becca Larrington was nearly a victim of George Aurus... as was this here Crowbar woman..." I was pointing my thumb back at Cindy, who began tapping me on the shoulder with a green crowbar. I continued: "We're going to be on the lookout for him or Jimmy Tolson coming into this County."

"We understand that." said Melina. "I think what Jack is saying is to perhaps not be too aggressive in expanding the Saidy murder case and the SMS insurance fraud to getting in over your heads with these other people."

"Oh, like we haven't been in 'over our heads' with them already." Cindy said acerbically, making air quotes. When I turned to look at her, she said "It's not like you weren't chained to a nuclear weapon by those bastards." She then turned to the others and said: "My point is that Don is the most likely target of Aurus and Tolson, as Don is the one who put them in prison. And the others are likely greatly interested in revenge on Don for thwarting their plans for getting the Mutanix from BOW Enterprises. Of course we're going to be watching out for them."

"We'll stay in the shallow end of the pool, and you big kids can have the deep end all to yourselves." I said. Laura peered at me; she knew that my voice was connoting something other than willing acquiescence.

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

We locals returned to Classroom 'E', and all eyes were upon us. "Okay guys," I said, "we're going to slow our roll for the evening. Mary, call Detective Thomas Warren of the City Police, give him Clarence Meadows's address, and ask him to have people visit Clarence. Give him what he needs to understand what we're investigating, and have him ask Clarence about the assignment to move the Farrises, and why he didn't accompany the truck after loading it."

"Other than that," I continued, "you guys can go home. Nell and Eric, Chief Soltis is staying with Chief Moynahan, and you can stay at my Cabin on top of the mountain. It'll sure save on hotel expenses."

"Mary," I said, "I'll be back here after I take Nell and Eric up there. Don't do any more on the computer tonight. I'll brief you later on all that. Everyone else, I'll see your shiny happy faces tomorrow morning."

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

"Wow, what a neat place!" Nell Bell said as she and Eric Hannum came into The Cabin. "You live here?"

"It's a long story." I said as Cindy and I came in with them. "My family lives in my wife's home closer to the University, and we sometimes stay here on weekends with other friends and family."

I took them up to see the two guest bedrooms. "Don't strip the sheets, as you might be here more than one night. Leave the beds unmade in the morning, and we'll take care of everything after you leave. Feel free to use the kitchen, or you can get takeout or go out for a late supper. You've got my number and Commander Ross's number as well as Chief Soltis's, so if anything happens, speed-dial us." I gave them the guest code to the alarm system.

As Cindy and I left, I noticed that they were going out onto the back deck, and I knew they'd be spellbound by the spectacular view of the Town & County for a while...

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

As we were driving back to Headquarters, Cindy asked "How did Melina know about the Bert Cowell interview, and that he wasn't who Julia and Teddy thought he was? Mary didn't look him up at all until literally minutes before she and Jack and Laura barged in."

"Ah, you caught that, too." I said, then added: "That's why I wanted you to come back to Headquarters with me. I need to talk to Myron and Mary, and as Myron's boss you need to hear what I'm going to say, as well...

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

We were sitting in my office. I had a lap full of baby Louise Milton as her parents and Cindy sat in the hot chairs in front of the desk.

"You look like you've held babies before, Commander." Mary said. Louise smiled brightly at the sound of her mother's voice, and had been no fuss at all as I'd held her and baby-talked with her for a minute.

"I've had some practice." I said. "And there is nothing in the world like raising a child, or children... as everyone in here now knows." That made Cindy smile at the thought of Betsy now in her home.

Louise started getting fidgety, so Mary came over and got her. I said "Okay, Mary, you can take Louise home after this briefing. Myron, you might want to call in a couple of your techs; you have a long night ahead of you."

I continued: "I am now certain that the recent cyber-attack on the TCPD computers was committed by a bad actor known as 'The Geek'. Have you heard of him?"

"Yes sir." said Myron. "After you told us about his presence during the nuclear incident, I told my father about him. My father and a source----"

"Who is my father, and at my request." said Cindy.

"She said it, not me, sir." Myron said. "But I'm not denying it. They found out some stuff about 'The Geek'. He is definitely a bad actor, and very dangerous in the cyber arena."

"Yes, he is." I said. "He was the cyber equivalent of a 'meth lab slave' for the Government after he got caught hacking the Big Boy Banks's algorithms for front-running stock transactions and using them for his own benefit. But he's also working for the Shimono Group. Anyway, it was confirmed by my observations tonight that the Government has planted a background program, probably a daemon, that was following what Mary was looking up on her computer. And then Lo and Behold!... the Federales came in just as we were about to put out a bunch of APBs...

"Those bastards!" Mary gasped angrily, making Louise look up at her in what would be shock.

"Careful, Lieutenant." Cindy said. "One of them was the Commander's wife."

"I'll excuse it." I said. "And I will be having a conversation with Laura about this. In the meantime, Myron, you need to scrub the system and find any background code. I also need this entire Headquarters triple-swept for bugs and made clean of them by tomorrow morning. You are personally in charge of that, Lieutenant Myron Milton."

"Yes sir." said Myron. I excused him and Mary, and Cindy and I waved goodbye to Louise as they took her and left.

"Wow, that's bad." said Cindy. "What's it about? Is that ID thingy really that bad? I mean... we can create a fake ID on the DMV servers. We did it for you when you went to visit Marcie Harper with Todd."

"Yes, the situation is that bad." I said. "What the Feds are dealing with is more far-reaching than simple stuff like what we do. For example: in the Supermax jail break, they put retinal scans in the system to go with the IDs. That is not easy to do at all." After a pause, I continued: "But I don't think that is all that's bothering them, nor the real reason why they wanted us to drop this case."

"What's their real reason?" Cindy asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine." I replied.

"Bull shit." Cindy said quietly. "Your guesses are accepted as testimony in Court."

I whimpered a laugh. "Well, in this case I really have no idea. It's like a bowl of Senator Cerone's spaghetti... noodles going out in every direction, all tangled up, with a layer of thick cover-up sauce on top..."

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

I came into the Mountain Nest to see Carole and her mother sitting on the stairs in 'time out'. Carole looked both angry and miserable, and Laura looked determined. On the bottom step was the redoubtable Bowser. Just across the hallway, on the living room carpet, Buddy was snoozing.

"Uh oh." I said. "Carole, why are you in timeout?"

"She's been giving me some serious attitude." Laura said, answering for her daughter. "And timeout doesn't seem to be enough. I'm thinking that she may have to sit here while everyone else watches 'The Flash' and 'Supergirl' on Tuesday night." That made Carole look even more miserable... but at the same time she was holding out with the attitude.

"Carole..." I said, bending over enough to get her eyes looking at mine, "why are you upset?"

"Because Mommy went to 'MEETINGS'! She promised she wouldn't go to any more meetings!" my daughter yelled. Buddy opened one eye to see what was the matter, then went back to his supervisory nap.

"Carole," I said, "your mother was in a meeting... with me . She was at Police Headquarters, where I work. Now why are you upset about that?"

Carole did not answer, but just looked up at me. I said "Go put on your jacket, and let's take these dogs out." I could not believe the sheer speed with which the dogs arrived at the back door. The Flash had nothing on them! I thought to myself.

"This has got to stop." Laura said quietly to me as Carole went and put on her jacket.

"I'll do what I can." I said.

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

As the dogs did dog things and inspected their domains, Carole and I sat on the metal mesh loveseat.

"Carole," I said, "I could have sworn that we had this discussion before, and you were going to stop pouting when Mommy goes to meetings, especially meetings with me."

"I don't want her to go to meetings at all!" Carole said, her voice near crying. "Every time she goes to meetings, something bad happens!"

"And you're worried something bad is going to happen to your mother if she goes to meetings?" I said, understanding the real concern here from the vibe Carole was giving off, as well as her words.

"Ye-es." Carole said. "I want her to be safe."

I put my arm around my daughter and hugged her to me. "I understand. And I want her to be safe, too. But Carole, your mom does what she does to keep you and me and everyone else safe. And she's very good at what she does, and she stays as safe as she can be. And I do everything I can to keep her safe, just like I do what I can to keep you safe. So don't worry about her, okay?"

No reply. I continued: "And whatever you think, you need to stop stressing her out by pouting about it. It's time to grow up and be a big girl about this."

Finally, something was getting through. "I am a big girl." she said. Then a thought came to her: "Daddy, do you worry less when you're a grownup?" No, I worry more, I thought to myself, but I wasn't going to tell her that.

"It's a different kind of worry for us grownups." I said. "And I've found as I've gotten older that it's okay to be concerned, but to worry about anything too much isn't going to help. You just think about doing well in school, having fun with your friends, taking care of your brothers and sister and Buddy and Bowser, and let me and your mom worry about the grownup things."

"O-kay." Carole said, her voice showing she was still not too happy. We went back inside, to where Laura was sitting on the far sofa.

"Carole is unhappy about 'meetings'," I said, "because she's worried about you and wants you to be safe."

"Awww." Laura said. "That's very sweet of you, Carole." She picked up her daughter and hugged her. "But don't worry about me, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy." Carole said, hugging her mother back. They went upstairs to get ready for bed, and I helped Jim get ready.

"Daddy," Jim said, "can we work on the Lego castle at The Cabin this weekend?"

"I hope so, son." I said. "I'm working on a Police case, but I'll come help you and your brothers as much as I can, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy." said Jim. "I guess the bad guys don't let you have weekends off like normal people, do they?"

I chuckled. "No, they don't. And who told you that?"

"Carole." said Jim. "She says Po-leece Officers never stop working." She was right about that, I thought to myself.

"Yes, keeping people safe never stops." I said. "Okay, you and Buddy go to sleep. You've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow..."

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

Laura made my neat Scotch a double, and her own drink, a 'Godmother' vodka and Amaretto, was pretty stiff.

"I'm the psychiatrist," Laura said, "but you're the one that got her to admit she's worried about me. I don't know why she's been so vocal about it these days, though."

"Laura," I said, "you know that Carole senses things, a lot like Cindy does, maybe even more. She can all but read our minds, and can sense when we're stressed, and that stresses her. So my observation and deduction from her reactions as well as your presence in my Police Headquarters tonight is that you are involved in something. Care to tell your loving husband what it's about?"

Laura smiled and snuggled into me as I put my arm around her. "She's right, and you're right. Since I retired, I've been in a consulting position; they tell me about a situation and I research it, give my opinion, and point them in the right direction. I also have continued to do psychological work for them, analyzing things and doing some research with Callie's help."

"However," she continued, "I got a call from the new CIA Director, but only to ask me to take a call from the Director of National Intelligence himself. So I did, and he outlined just how bad the penetration of our systems has been. I've been working on that, and while I've avoided going to Washington, D.C., it may be inevitable that I have to at some point."

"Okay, so tell me what's really going on." I said, not allowing my wife to believe for one moment that she was dealing with an Agency of the Weak-Minded.

Laura gave a pursed smile. "I can't. Classified, need-to-know, whatever cliché works."

"I understand." I said. "So I'll tell you what's going on, and you just fill in the blanks where you are able to."

Laura's eyes went wide as I began: "I don't know what Melina is, but she is one hell of a lot more than an FBI Supervisory Agent for this area. I think she's in charge of the aftermath of the nuke incident, and has been tasked with the capture of the Shimono Group, for whom we really do need to give a cool name. I also suspect she has either been assigned or has taken on for herself the threat posed by the person we call 'The Geek', who I think you and your Fed buddies believe is the real computer power behind these cyber-threats, including the ID issues."