Who Watches The Watchers Ch. 03

Catrina: "Inspector Maxwell also filed motions in both Federal and State Superior Courts to block U.S. Attorney Richard Baldwin and City District Attorney Ann Tish from giving the twelve Officers, First Deputy Commissioner Chennault, and Bureau Chief Adams immunity, saying that they are the guilty parties, and they are going after City Police Internal Affairs leader Captain Wes Masters to cover up their own criminal complicity."

Priya: "Federal Judge David Herbert did issue injunctions to stop any immunity from being awarded, and he has scheduled a hearing for tomorrow morning to hear both sides's evidence in the case. Preliminary hearings of this nature are rare in Federal Court proceedings, but Judge Herbert says they are needed in this particular case."

Catrina: "Governor Sharon Marshall praised Inspector Maxwell and Judge Herbert for, quote, 'seeking the truth over the one-sided narrative of corrupt Federal Agents', close quote. She also condemned State A.G. Gil Krasney for not only not helping, but obstructing her efforts to get to the truth."

Priya: "Krasney and U.S. Attorney Richard Baldwin retaliated with statements condemning Governor Marshall and Inspector Maxwell, saying their efforts were, quote, 'partisan attempts by two hard-right Conservatives to destroy the lives and reputations of good Police Officers and Federal Agents', close quote. U.S. Attorney Baldwin was particularly vicious in his comments, calling Inspector Maxwell names that we cannot repeat on-air in this family environment..."

Part 16 - The Scales of Justice

Tuesday, March 2nd. Teresa and I were driving in the early morning dawn towards The City in the SBI SUV, the embedded LED blue lights flashing. The hearing in Judge David Herbert's Courtroom was at 9:00am, but we wanted to allow plenty of time in case of traffic or any other issues that might come up.

We could have flown in the TCPD helicopter, but we weren't sure where we could land. I had no desire to fly anywhere near the Federal Building, much less land on its roof and have to leave it to the mercy of Federal Agents in the building. Ditto that for City Police Headquarters. And the Airport was a distance away, giving us the same traffic problems.

And there was another reason we 'chose to drove'. The Black Beauty was right behind us, burning its blue lights. Cindy Ross was driving, and Molly Evans was in the shotgun seat. And they were monitoring for signals that might've interfered with the Maps app, making Siri lie to someone.

As we neared the outskirts of the City suburbs, the radio crackled, then said "Green Crowbar to Red Crowbar."

"Go for Red." I replied, and those specific words were required as a small way of authenticating our transmissions.

"Green to Red. We are picking up radio signal transmissions just above you, over."

Teresa checked her Maps app. "Yep, it's telling us to take the Green Street exit. That would take us south, and that road is heavily trafficked."

"Buddy to Bowser." said the radio. "There is a drone flying directly over your vehicle. Maintain course and speed, and we'll take care of it." A moment later I heard what sounded like a firecracker popping. "This is Buddy. Drone destroyed."

Teresa said "Siri is now telling us to go to the Interstate interchange, which is what it should be telling us."

"Bowser to Buddy. Threat ended." I said. "Thanks for the help. Keep watching to see if they fly anything else at us."

Mere seconds later, the radio crackled then spoke again: "Commander Troy. Commander Donald Troy. Turn around and go back home. Do not enter The City."

I grabbed the radio mike and said "Unknown transmission, identify yourself."

The radio replied "Turn around and go home, Commander. If you continue forward, there will be consequences."

"No doubt about that." I said to Teresa, then I keyed the mike and said: "Unidentified transmission... bring. it. on."

There was no reply.

"I don't need to say it, but keep your eyes peeled." I said. I was halfway expecting a vehicle to come alongside us and start firing weapons at the car, or for attack drones to appear. But none did, and we made it safely to the Federal Building, where the Courthouse was...

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

Teresa had her Uniform jacket with the full 'fruit salad' of ribbons, but not her MOV medal. Being logged in as the SBI Reserve Inspector, I was wearing an SBI uniform jacket with white button-down shirt and black tie, and blue pants, and ribbons for my SBI Citations and a ribbon for the Governor's Gold Medal. Cindy was wearing her formal Sheriff's Department uniform, with her TCPD ribbons and State ribbons.

Meeting us in the lobby from the garage were FBI Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone... and FBI Executive Assistant Director Owen Lange. I observed that he had a cut under his eye, and that he was walking with a noticeable limp.

"I trust that your attackers are in much worse shape, sir?" I said. He barked a laugh.

"Better than that." the EAD replied. "They didn't survive it."

"Did they attack you here? Or in Washington?" I asked.

"Washington." said Owen Lange. "Deputy Director Lance and I went to dinner. When we came out of the restaurant, a car pulled up with the ubiquitous screech of tires, and four men jumped out and attacked us. Welllll, I remembered that Police Boxing Matches training you gave me, and all four of them put together were not equal to one student of the Iron Crowbar. Still, it was a hard fight, and Lance got a fractured eye socket. And then I started snapping their necks, and that was that."

"Who were they?" I asked as we went up the stairs to the second floor, where the Courtrooms were.

"No idea." Lange said. "It was 'no joy' on their fingerprints and their DNA. But the way they attacked us suggested military training. Your wife Laura suggested that someone removed their fingerprint and DNA data from all of the Government's databases, which I would have thought was impossible. We always have a record somewhere... Don?"

We'd been walking down the hallway when I'd suddenly stopped, having gone into a reverie. Lange and Muscone circled back to us as Teresa watched both me and our surroundings.

When I came out of it a minute later, I said "Teresa, do you remember the bodies of Julie Matheson's killers that were found in Nextdoor County in January?" (Author's note: 'Price No Object', Ch. 04.)

"Sure... ohhhhh." Teresa said. "One of those slugs had no fingerprints in the FBI database. We thought at the time it might be because of his relatively young age."

"Yes, but now we have two such examples of that." I replied. "Mr. EAD, what do we think of coincidences?"

"That they don't exist when there's two or more of them." Owen Lange correctly replied. "So the bozo in the Matheson case and the bozos that attacked me are the same muscle for the same rogue Feds?"

"So I read the riddle, sir." I said. "And I'll add that the Matheson case was about the Cerberus and Charrington projects. Cerberus could be used to wipe out the identity data on the low-rent slugs, and Charrington could cut through the Apple software and make Siri lie to us..."

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

As we approached Judge Herbert's Courtroom, there was a small problem: guns. Specifically, service weapons. The Swamp Frogs had protested Chiefs Moynahan, Evans, and Soltis being armed, and also vociferously protested Your Iron Crowbar and the Iron Wolf having weapons. So Britt Maxwell protested the Feds having weapons.

The solution by Judge Herbert was the Courthouse rule that only Deputy Sheriffs could be armed inside a Courtroom proper; not even Federal Marshals transporting a prisoner would be allowed weapons inside the Court chamber. So we all had to clear out weapons and have zip-ties run through the barrel. Yeah, we could take them off, but it'd take a few seconds, and that would be enough to prevent a sudden shooting... I hoped.

And then there was the matter of a red crowbar. My red crowbar. FBI Special Agent Lindsey Black almost made a fool of herself protesting me having it. "Your Honor, it's a weapon!" she wailed.

"I'll allow it." said Judge Herbert. "I feel much more comfortable when the Iron Crowbar has his iron crowbar."

"But Your Honor!------" Lindsey continued.

"Enough!" Judge Herbert almost shouted. "One more word out of you about it, and you'll spend the entirety of this hearing in jail, for Contempt." Lindsey was encouraged to shut her mouth by U.S. Attorney Richard Baldwin and by Karl Coleman, who had returned to The City.

At the Defense table was Wes Masters, joined by SBI Counsel Earl Drake, SBI Attorney Jenna Stiles, and SBI Inspector Britt Maxwell. After making a point to go up and shake Coldiron Masters's hand, I jokingly asked Britt when she became an attorney. She replied that the Judge was allowing her to sit at the table and present her side.

Teresa and I sat down in seats behind the Defense table, as did EAD Owen Lange, Special Agent In Charge Jack Muscone, and DEA Supervisory Special Agent Dwight Stevens. SBI Agent Terence Johnson was also seated there.

On the front row behind Masters was Chief Sean Moynahan, Chief Molly Evans, and Chief Frank Soltis, all in at least Duty Dress uniforms. Because Chief Moynahan was here, Sheriff Griswold had remained in the Town & County; indeed, he was taking up our airspace in the temporary office at TCPD Headquarters assigned for his use.

I pointed out the group to Teresa and whispered "I hope our Detectives will become as close a group as they are."

"You got Angels." Teresa replied. And that brought home a point: even with the crowbar, I felt like I was unprotected, that no one had my back... oh, wait!

Yes, that was Chief Sheriff's Deputy Cindy Ross of the Town & County Sheriff's Department, and in uniform! They did not even say anything to her, much less have her weapon be secured. She was armed with her locked and loaded service weapon, as well as the green crowbar and the Power of the Vibe. Angels watching over me, my Lord, I thought to myself.

That did mean that Cindy was not sitting with us. She'd shaken hands with her fellow Deputy Sheriffs, one from Westphalia (for Britt Maxwell's security) and the rest from the jurisdiction of The City, and stationed herself along the side wall near the side entrance with all of them.

There was also a surprise, to me anyway: TCPD Vice Detective J.J. 'Ice Cube' Perry was sitting on our side. I waved to him and he reciprocated in kind. "Why is Ice Cube here?" Teresa whispered.

"He may end up being a character witness." I said, somewhat cryptically. Teresa peered at me, then said "You're up to something. Again."

"Patience, mon ami." I replied.

At the Prosecution's table were U.S. Attorney Richard Baldwin and City District Attorney Ann Tish. D.A. Tish was a black woman in her late 30s to early 40s, in good shape but not athletic. I'd heard she was very intelligent and had a very upwardly mobile future. I also heard she was far-Leftwing, supported 'bail reform' (now a codeword for no bail, even for gun crimes, and often just dropping charges against black perpetrators of crimes), and had advocated for defunding the Police even as parts of The City had burned during the previous year's protests.

Sidebar: How do we know which side is the Prosecution and which is the Defense? In most cases, the Prosecution's table is closer to the Jury Box at the side of the room than the Defense table. In this case, the Jury Box was to the Bench's left, the audience's right, and so the Prosecution side was to the right.

A number of Federal Agents were sitting behind the Prosecution's table. Besides the aforementioned Lindsey Black and Karl Coleman, David Rovers and Andrew Parsons were there, and so was DEA Special Agent Tommy Ridley, who'd been one of the undercover DEA Agents. He kept glancing over at me and Dwight Stevens furtively, and I was beginning to get a bad vibe about him.

And then there was City Police First Deputy Commissioner Liz Chennault, a fit woman in her fifties but with prematurely graying hair, and wearing glasses. There were three gold stars on each of epaulettes and collars of her uniform jacket, and rows of gold-bordered ribbons over her right jacket pocket. The City Police used metal-bordered ribbons, while the TCPD used borderless ribbons like the Military's ribbons, with only four metal-bordered 'boxes'.

Seated next to her was Narcotics Bureau Chief Ken Z. Adams, a relatively tall man with black hair. I thought to myself he could play the role of Sherlock Holmes in a stage play. He had two gold stars as his rank, and 'Chief' was the rank of City Police Officers with two stars. Behind them were a dozen City Police Officers, including Detectives Long, E.J. Jefferson, and 'Sapper' Warren.

"Oyez, Oyez, Oyez!" announced the Bailiff. "Please rise. Court is in session, the Honorable David Herbert presiding." We all stood up as Judge Herbert came in and took his seat behind the Bench.

"Be seated, please." he said, and we all sat down. He said "This is a preliminary hearing regarding the indictment against Captain Wes Masters, and also the sought-for indictments against First Deputy Commissioner Chennault and Chief Adams. Unlike the formality of a petit jury proceeding, I may allow the Defense to interrupt, and to not only cross-examine, but to call up witnesses immediately in rebuttal of the Prosecution's witnesses."

Judge Herbert: "There is one other thing: no one may leave this Courtroom from this point on, until the hearing is finished. There are restrooms through the door the Jury uses," he pointed at the door as he spoke, "and a Deputy Sheriff will escort you to them. There is no egress from those rooms to the outside. There is also to be no use of cellphones; in fact, they should be turned off. Even if a nuclear bomb goes off in your various jurisdictions, your place is here------ oh. Sorry, Commander Troy."

I'd winced at that last sentence, remembering my own very close encounter with a nuclear weapon during the EMPTY QUIVER emergency (Author's note: 'The Nuclear Option'.), and the Judge had seen my look and himself remembered. I just slightly waved in acquiescence.

"Okay, Mr. Baldwin, call your first witness." said the Judge.

"Thank you, Your Honor." said Baldwin. "Before I do, I wish to make an opening statement." The Judge nodded, and Baldwin said "We have already taken this matter to the Grand Jury, and in their wisdom more than 12 of them voted to indict Wes Masters for his crimes. I intend to show in this hearing why the Grand Jury took the correct action and returned an indictment, and I also intend to dismantle the Defense's pathetic attempts to defend-------"

Judge Herbert tapped his gavel. "Leave the evaluations of the various presentations to me, Counselor. Does the Defense wish to make an opening reply?"

"Yes, Your Honor." said Britt Maxwell, standing up. "First, while I respect Grand Juries, as you know, Your Honor, they only hear what the Prosecutor tells them, leading to a one-sided portrayal of the case. I'm grateful to you, Your Honor, for giving us this opportunity to present our side of it. In this case, some of those that are Captain Masters's accusers and who testified before the Grand Jury are actually the perpetrators of the crimes for which Captain Masters is accused, and are accusing him to cover up for their own------"

"Objection, Your Honor!" cried out Baldwin. "Inspector Maxwell is revealing what is supposed to be secret Grand Jury information. Additionally, only Captain Masters is on trial, here------"

"Hold on." said Judge Herbert. "First of all, this hearing is to determine if Captain Masters should be the only one on trial, and the SBI Inspector will have the right and every opportunity to show if someone else should be. And second, Inspector Maxwell, do be careful about what is revealed regarding the Grand Jury. You didn't cross the line this time, since you didn't name any witnesses, but I recommend you not get close to that line."

"Yes, Your Honor." said Britt Maxwell.

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

Baldwin worked through his case. He called DEA Special Agent Tommy Ridley to the stand, and Ridley said his evidence, turned in to his DEA superiors, showed that Wes Masters was clearly the leader of the drug distribution ring, and used his I.A. position to cover up for those running the ring. He said that I.A. Lieutenant Herbert Walker was beginning to amass evidence against Wes Masters when Lieutenant Walker was murdered.

Britt brought DEA SSA Dwight Stevens to the stand. Stevens said he was the point man for the DEA's investigation of the drug ring, and he said that Ridley never gave nor showed him, Stevens, any evidence that pointed specifically to Masters. On cross-examination by Baldwin, Stevens was forced to admit that Ridley could've bypassed him and given information to others in the DEA or FBI, though to do so would've been 'wrong' of Ridley.

And then the first legal issue came up. Baldwin called First Deputy Commissioner Liz Chennault to the stand. Britt Maxwell objected, in order to point out that First Deputy Chennault was one of the persons that Maxwell had asked for indictments against, and as such Chennault needed to be read her rights before being questioned.

"That is true." said Judge Herbert. "Commander Troy, would you read First Deputy Commissioner Chennault her rights, please?" I got up and began reciting the rights.

"I know the rights." Chennault said. "I've been a Police Officer far longer than you, Troy." Lindsey Black snickered out loud at that, earning a 'probative' look from the Federal Judge.

"Consider her mirandized, Your Honor." I said as I sat back down, grateful to Britt Maxwell. If she had not had brought that up, and Chennault had testified without being read her rights, any case against her would've been thrown out on the technicality. I'm sure that was part of the Swamp Frogs's plan, and I could tell they were not happy that that plan had been stymied...

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

Britt used her 'special power' to call a witness in the middle when she called Your Iron Crowbar to the stand after Baldwin tried to claim that City Police under Masters's command had kidnapped DEA Special Agents Kevin Pitts. I took the stand and was sworn in.

Britt led me through the Pitts rescue, where I revealed that the location he'd been held and tortured was a Federal facility, not a City nor State facility. I also gave the details of the rescue and the attempt to shoot down our life flight helicopter.

Then Baldwin took his shot. "How did you learn the location of that facility."

"I received an anonymous tip from a very reliable source." I replied.

"What was that source?" Baldwin persisted. "Exactly who was the source of that tip? And don't say 'anonymous'; I'm going to do whatever it takes to find the name and put it in the public record."

It was Judge Herbert himself that intervened: "Commander, was it your wife that gave you that information?"

"Yes, Your Honor." I replied. Well, Laura and Melina, but Commander Spock of the Starship Enterprise correctly said that 'it is not a lie to withhold the truth'.

"No more on this subject, then." said Judge Herbert.

"But Your Honor!" started up Baldwin, but Judge Herbert began tapping his gavel.

"Let me finish my statement." said the Judge. "Not only would conversations between Commander Troy and his wife be protected by spousal privilege, I am well aware of who Commander Troy's wife is. And I am not convinced that everyone in this room has the clearance to be hearing very much of anything that comes from her..."