Sting of the Scorpion Ch. 01

"You're more of a hunter than you let on." he said. "7-08 is used by people who know what they are doing. I use the .270 myself. And by the way, Chief Griswold told me about your modesty, and what he thought of it. I share his sentiments."

"Thank you, sir." I said.

"I'm glad you came in," he said, "because I do want to talk to you. First, I know that you and Sheriff Allgood advanced my name to the Council for this position, and I am grateful to you both for that. I also appreciate your words that you would support me as your boss, and I know you will because you're one of the most professional officers as well as the most talented Detective I've ever had the pleasure to know."

"Thank you sir." I said. Then Bennett got serious. His voice was still pleasant and fatherly, but there was an edge to it.

"I do need to tell you, though," he said, "that some on the Council have outright asked for me to find a way to get rid of you. And some of them say you're the best thing since sliced bread. For myself, the bottom line is that you're doing a brilliant job and I want you to carry on doing that job."

He continued: "What I don't like, as the old hotel commercial says, is surprises. Be sure to keep me in the loop so that I don't get ambushed by those bastards in the Press. If you think Chief Griswold hated the Media, you ain't seen nuthin' yet." I smiled as I nodded.

He went on: "And definitely don't give anyone reason to ask me why you're beating the shit out of someone and what I'm going to do about it. I do love the 'Iron Crowbar' persona you've developed. I used to love Batman comics, still do, and I fully understand what you're doing with that. But if and when you have to use that crowbar of yours, let me know quickly. That goes for Captain Ross, too, and I'll be sure to mention that to her myself."

"Yes sir." I said.

"And don't beat up Deputy Chief Brownlee, either." Chief Bennett said. "I'll handle him. Some members of the Council want me to find a way to get rid of him, but unlike you he has no supporters anymore. But I know he's a good administrator, and he'll do a good job for me because he knows he has to."

"Yes sir." I said, knowing that Brownlee's motivations were not what the Chief thought they were.

"Okay then," Bennett said, standing up. I stood up also. "I'll let you get to work. It's going to be good working with you, Commander." He reached over and extended his hand, and I shook it firmly.

"Yes, Chief, it's going to be fun." I said. "If you'll excuse me..."

"Sure, but one thing... " he said. "I know you and Chief Griswold were very close, and he said he called you 'Crowbar'. Would I be offending you if I called you that? Just for a bit less formality?"

I smiled. "Chief, you can call me anything you like... just keep it clean."

"As long as you don't go overboard with that crowbar..." he said, his eyes twinkling. I catalogued my many observations of him as I left, noting that he was looking at the painting I'd given him with happiness...

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

"Congratulations, Captain!" gushed Teresa Croyle as she came into Cindy's office. "Can I give you a hug?"

"Of course you can!" Cindy said, somewhat shocked that Teresa needed to ask. The two friends hugged warmly.

"Have a seat for a minute." Cindy said. Teresa sat down on the loveseat sofa as Cindy sat down behind her desk. "I just want to tell you that when we're alone, you can drop the formality. I don't care what the Commander says, you're still my friend and that isn't changing for all this. Of course in public we have to play the game, just as we have to with Don."

"I understand." Teresa said, then added "I am so happy for you! You really deserved this, and the Commander got it right yet again when he went to the Council for it."

"And I am really grateful to him for everything he's done for me." Cindy said. "I'd take bullets for that guy... oh yeah..."

"You already have." Teresa said, finishing their private joke. "And if there's a next time, I'll be doing whatever I can to get in front of your hardbody ass, just so you know."

"Stoppit." Cindy replied, lest the emotions she was feeling well up. "So... how did Tanya take it?"

"Okay, I guess." Teresa said. "Why?"

"Just between us and the lamp-post," Cindy said, "Don immediately saw that she wasn't happy. Not because I was getting promoted, but because she'd always thought she'd be the one to be. I can understand that, too... I really didn't expect this, not this quickly, and Tanya is older than me and has been here longer. Ditto that for you, by the way."

"True," Teresa said, "but I left and came back. And with my past, I feel very lucky to be here at all, much less a Lieutenant. And I'm grateful to you for that."

"Be grateful to Donald Troy for that one." Cindy said. "Sure I was ecstatic to have you back here, but I could not have arranged it like he did."

"Yeah. And Chief Griswold, too." said Teresa. After a pause she added "And I have to say it: I'm grateful to Captain Malone, too. Before Don was here, he really saved my ass. I know he did some bad things, but is it wrong to be grateful to him for helping me?"

"No, of course not." said Cindy. "Even Don said that Captain Malone took care of his people, and Don follows that example and takes care of us."

"Speaking of that... what do you think will happen with Tanya?" asked Teresa. "Think she'll stay with us?"

"I hope so." Cindy said. "I hope so. Who in the world would we put in charge of MCD if she left?"

Part 3 - Codename: Scorpion

"I have to see the Commander himself, right away." said the voice of the old woman on Monday, May 4th at 9:30am. She was in the lobby of Police Headquarters, clutching a file folder to her chest. Detective Joanne Cummings was attempting to assist her.

"Ma'am," said Detective Cummings, "I'll be glad to give that to the Commander for you, but he's in meetings and cannot be disturbed." She was trying to protect me, but I knew I needed to intervene as I came down the hall and around the Duty Desk into the lobby.

"I'm out of those boring meetings now." I said, coming up behind Joanne. "Hello, Mrs. Boddiker! How nice to see you again. Detective Cummings, this is Mrs. Boddiker, who has been helpful to our Police Force, and who helped me solve cases on at least two occasions... including the murder of Mr. Belle." That would get Joanne's attention, I knew, as she was fully aware of her boyfriend Seth Warner's involvement in the Belle murder case.

"Mrs. Boddiker," I continued, "this is Detective Cummings, one of my rising young Detective stars. How can she and I help you today?"

"I am sure this Detective is as capable as she is lovely," said Mrs. Boddiker sweetly, "but only you can help me with this, Commander." She extended the folder to me, and I could see immediately that it was a U.S. Government folder that normally contained classified data.

"Ah, I understand, Mrs. Boddiker." I said. The tab on the folder said 'Codename: Scorpion' on it, and had the white sheet with red border and the words 'TOP SECRET' attached to the front. "Can you tell me where you found this?" I asked.

"My friend, the widow Athena Jones, and I were walking in Courthouse Square to our usual bench to feed the pigeons and talk about things. You young people should do more of that and less running around." I smiled as she continued: "When we got to our bench, Mrs. Athena Jones saw the folder and said it was some kind of classified thing. She asked me to bring it to you personally, and so I have."

"And I am grateful to you both for doing that." I said. "Did either of you look at the contents of this file?"

"No sir." said Mrs. Boddiker firmly. "We could see it was some sort of secret information, and we're good American Patriots so we did not open the folder. She didn't handle it at all, and I brought it straight to you here so you could give it to your FBI friends."

"And that was exactly the right thing to do." I said. "Detective Cummings, will you take Mrs. Boddiker back to the MCD room and get her statement? And perhaps show her around Headquarters. I'm sure she would enjoy the tour."

"Certainly, Commander." said Joanne, understanding that this was a reward to Old Mrs. Boddiker. "Sir, shouldn't we take this to the FBI right away?"

"As I'm sure Mrs. Boddiker knows," I said, "I am the FBI. And yes, I will get it to them right away. Thank you so much, Mrs. Boddiker. If you'll excuse me..." With that, I hurried back behind the Duty Desk and down the hallway as Joanne and the Duty Desk Sergeant outfitted Mrs. Boddiker with a Visitor's badge.

I took the file to my office. Knowing I needed to do this, I put on latex crime scene gloves and opened the file. 'Scorpion' was the code name of a CIA Agent, I could see from the front page. I scanned the four pages and saw that the agent's real name was not listed anywhere, just some information on past assignments, mostly to Europe. The papers did not say if the agent was a man or woman, either.

I used a UV light on the pages to see if Mrs. Boddiker or anyone else had looked at the papers. To my amazement, there were no fingerprints on any of the pages inside the folder... none at all. That's interesting, I thought to myself as I closed the file.

Going to the Chief's office, I told him about the file being found, and said I'd take it to the local FBI offices now.

"Oh, don't bother." said Chief Bennett. "Look behind you." Indeed, just coming into the anteroom was Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone. I formally introduced him to the Chief, and we all sat down as I handed Jack the file.

"Oh wow." said Jack as he opened the file and looked at the top page. "Don, did you look at this?"

"I did look at the top page," I said, which technically wasn't a lie, "to ascertain what it was. Not something we want sitting in Courthouse Square."

"That's for sure." said Jack. "I'll notify my boss and also your wife about it. She'll probably want to have the CIA start an investigation, since it's about a CIA officer or spy, if I'm reading this correctly."

"I'll leave it in your hands." I said. "So, what brought you here in the first place?"

"Oh, I just wanted to meet your new Chief." said Muscone. "I'm going to be in here explaining why I have to borrow you for FBI consulting, so I'd best get to know him." Chief Bennett smiled.

"He likes hunting." I said. "He also plays chess at an amateur level, but I'll smoke him like a cheap cigar if I play him. He and his wife play contract bridge... and pretty well from what I understand. He'd have loved the Kurchikov case.

I continued: "He is a diplomatic administrator, but will not hesitate to spank me with my own crowbar if I get out of line. He also likes jigsaw puzzles, but he doesn't like golf at all, which is unfortunate. Last but not least, his wife loves gardening and commandeers him to help in the garden, but he could do without that if he had his way."

"How in the world?..." gasped Chief Bennett, looking amazed but also a little unsettled. Jack Muscone began laughing.

"That's your Iron Crowbar, Chief." Jack said. "I swear I believe he was burned at the stake in previous lives. Why don't we go to lunch at the Cop Bar, on my tab since I can expense it, and I'll give you both a rundown on our progress on some things going on in this County..."

Part 4 - The Operation Gravestone Sting

Dr. Laura Fredricson looked amazed when Jack Muscone handed the file folder to her. It was still the afternoon of Monday, April 4th, and they were alone in one of the FBI offices in the Federal Building on Courthouse Square.

"This is about one of our overseas agents." she said as she looked at it. "Fairly old information, too. Fortunately, it doesn't say who he is, but it could still be damaging. It's part of a larger file, which I can determine by looking up these numbers in the corner of the pages. Where again did you find this?"

Jack repeated the story of Old Mrs. Boddiker and the Widow Athena Jones finding it, giving it to Don, and Don giving it to Jack. He finished by saying "Do you want the Company to investigate this, or for the FBI to do it?"

Laura considered it. "I'll notify the Director and the top brass in Counterintelligence about it, and find out which agent this is about. After that, it'll probably come back to you, as the FBI handles domestic security breaches. Did Don get statements from the old ladies?"

"One of his Detectives got the statement from Mrs. Boddiker." Muscone said. "She didn't have any idea how to contact Mrs. Jones, just said they'd meet at the Community Center from time to time. So Don's going to 'casually', to use his term, look for her, but for now, nothing on her at all."

"As to who you want to investigate, just let me know." Muscone said. "And moving along, we now come to the good stuff: my boss says you are ready to put 'Operation Gravestone' in motion, and we have the green light to work with you on it. I think you've come up with a great plan."

"Yes." Laura said with a great deal of satisfaction. "My Director gave me my own green light last night. I just hope it works better than that little disaster at County Airport."

"Don says that operation was extremely successful, one of the best operations in CIA history... and I don't think he was being sarcastic." said Jack.

"He's my husband, he's trying to be nice so he can get me into bed." Laura replied as she read the contents of the file. Jack barked a brief chuckle, then sat back and admired Laura Fredricson.

She was wearing an off-white dress with blue outlines, a blue belt, and navy blue high heel pumps. Her legs were crossed, and they were magnificent, Jack thought. He felt jealous of the Iron Crowbar... my goodness, he thought to himself, no wonder Don is so happy: he's tapping this any time he wants it.

As Laura looked up from her reading, she said casually "So Jack, how is your love life? Still seeing Tanya when you're in Town?"

"We've gotten together a couple of times," Jack said, "but I think she and that University President of yours are a lot hotter item than either is letting on. I know the Wellmans have an open relationship like you and Don do, but I don't know if Sally Wellman realizes what's truly going on behind her back."

"Oh, she does." Laura said. "And she's not particularly happy about it."

Jack continued: "And on top of that, I'm not sure we should piss off Dr. Wellman... word is that he's one of the names on Don's 'Shadow Man' list."

"Ah yes." Laura said, smiling. "Don and Cindy call it the 'Eightfold Fence' list, apparently after some ancient Japanese poem. I don't know what's gotten into Don about Japanese culture, but he's been studying it for months, ever since Takaki Taichi's death."

Laura then said "But let me change the subject here: any new information on that prostitute murder at Lake Amengi-Nunagen? And anything new on Michael Burke?"

"On the murder, no, though we're developing some leads in the City. My guys are dancing on eggshells around City Vice, though. We don't want them knowing too much, and we don't want to blow the other woman Cherie Ward's cover as a C.I." said Muscone. "I was hoping that Don would take a much greater interest in it and work on it with us a lot more. Unfortunately... other stuff came up, and then there's the internal Police Department stuff that has been going on."

"Well, don't despair, Don is interested in the case, and especially Michael Burke." Laura replied as Jack began rustling through some papers on his desk.

"Ah, here it is. This is what I was trying to remember." Muscone said, looking at one of the papers. "There has been some things going on with Michael Burke. We've been monitoring him under a FISA warrant. His cellphone activity picked up about a week ago. A lot of calls between his cabin at the Lake, and... looks like the City. Burner phones, but the nearest cell tower to Henry Wargrave's offices." After a pause, Jack asked "You think there's something between him and Wargrave?"

"I'm not sure." Laura said. "But I'd appreciate it if you prioritized the Michael Burke surveillance. He may be a Wargrave link, and the weak link in the chain."

"Good." said Muscone. "I'm not sure why, but my boss really wants to take down Wargrave. It's almost like it's... personal with him."

"He's not the only one." Laura said. "And it's personal with me, too. I don't care how rich the fucking bastard is, for him to have gone into my office like he did, then later leave that photo of me on my husband's desk..." She trailed off, not needing to finish the sentence. Muscone nodded, knowing that a bleak day for Henry R. Wargrave was approaching with this woman on the warpath against him.

"Okay," Laura said, "let me fill you in on 'Operation Gravestone', at least the parts I can tell you about."

Laura started: "I had to tell your Deputy Director to not shut off all of Wargrave's financial pipelines... because a couple of them were set up by us. We have assets in the Middle East, posing as tribal fighters, and we had some of them signal Wargrave that they needed a weapons shipment. Wargrave is desperate for cash, especially after you and the local Police interdicted that diamond shipment, and he went for the deal without checking out our mercenaries too carefully."

Laura continued: "Once he's bought arms from our first team, he'll take them to another group. Our tracking devices as well as 'humint' assets will be following. We will interdict the purchasers of the weapons. We also have our assets in place to take custody of Wargrave when he tries to get on a plane and get out of there."

"And you'll be bringing him back to the United States?" asked Muscone.

"Uh, eventually." said Laura, evasively.

"My boss is not going to like that." Muscone said, knowing what was going on. "He wants Wargrave here, alive, so we can get information about Superior Bloodlines and arming them."

"I know," said Laura, "and we have a deal in place between the domestic and foreign agencies to get that information out of Wargrave for you."

Muscone shook his head. He did not like this, and he knew he couldn't ask about it nor protest the plan. "What about Don?" he asked. "If Wargrave is what we think he is, Don is going to want a lot of information out of him, too."

"We've... taken that into full consideration." Laura said. Muscone did not fail to notice the pause nor the carefully nuanced answer she had just given. So much for marital bliss, Jack thought to himself. Laura knew what he was thinking.

"Jack," she said, "Don had his chance to know all this, but he simply refuses to join the Company, despite the chair being held out for him at least three times. And besides... unlike just about everyone else, he alone thinks Wargrave is not the Shadow Man. If he's right, he'll still have to pursue that criminal."

"You are definitely going to buy me a double cheeseburger at the Irish Pub for this." Jack said. Laura smiled... if that was all it took to buy off Jack's cooperation, she'd buy him a double cheeseburger every day for the rest of the year...

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

Several time zones ahead, darkness had enveloped the land as Henry R. Wargrave, Austin R. Murphy, and two local men waited by their jeep. The land was arid but was much more dirt than sand, and the dirt was irritating when whipped up by the wind only to come to rest on one's skin.

"How much longer?" Wargrave asked, his voice barely a whisper despite no one being in the vicinity for miles, as he looked at the glowing dots on his wristwatch. "They were supposed to be here an hour ago."

"I don't know." said Murphy. He brought night-vision binoculars to his eyes, scanning the desert and the road. "Ah, wait... there's something coming up the road... at least a klick away." He watched for a few second. "Yeah, it's a vehicle, a truck. I think that's them."