Hampered in His Plans Ch. 05

After the Funeral Mass, the pallbearers took the casket down the aisle and back outside. An announcement had been made asking only the immediate family and close friends to attend the ceremony at the cemetery.

There was a section in the southeast part of the Cemetery for indigent burials (and few of those; most were cremations), but someone had bought a plot for Amy very near Dr. Heinz's grave; it did not take a great feat of deduction to know that my wife was the benefactor in that.

Teresa led the pallbearers through the procession. Father Romano poured dirt on the casket in the shape of a cross as he recited the "ashes to ashes, dust to dust..." lines. Then he made the sign of the cross and led the group in prayer.

And then Patrolman McGhillie was joined by his father, Town & County Councilman Ian McGhillie, in using their bagpipes to play "Amazing Grace". It was not discordant, it was not blaring. I let the music flow through my soul, grieving for one last minute for a girl who'd loved her little dog...

Once done, it was time to get busy. It was time to take vengeance. I was later told that a great many people saw the cold look on my face, and knew that serious pain awaited a criminal. They had no idea how right they were...

Part 27 - Into Deepness

Friday, January 22d. Around 4:00pm I received a call from Dr. Searles. I went up to the Hospital, and to his office.

"A heart is about to become available for Robert Brownlee." said Dr. Searles. "A young man was severely injured in a motorcycle accident near Midtown. He's brain-dead, and his family is going to execute the living well to have his life support taken off. He matches Brownlee almost perfectly, and I've already received confirmation we'll get the heart."

"What time will that be?" I asked.

"Should be in just a few hours." said Dr. Searles. "The living will is being worked through the Court system now. That's pretty routine. And I'm sure you're wondering why I called you to come here instead of just calling or texting you."

"Glad you said it out loud," I replied, "before I had to ask."

"I wanted to show you something." said Dr. Searles. "I got that confirmation... without even asking for it. Usually I get notified, I then look at the organ, see if it matches, and then put in my acceptance for it. Since Brownlee is at the top of the list and it's such a good match, I'm not surprised we're getting it... but this time, they're like 'Hey! Here it is!'."

"I see." I said. "Has this ever happened to you before?"

"Just once." said Dr. Searles. "I was once asked to do a heart transplant in Florida. I was flown down there on a private jet, the hospital there had already put in the paperwork for me to do the surgery in their hospital. It was all arranged. And I just checked the records; that heart came in the same way. It was routed to that hospital already. The recipient was one of those new-age Internet billionaires who had a rare heart defect."

"I heard that Steve Jobs just happened to get a pancreas he needed, that kept him alive a few more years." I said. "I'm sure his money helped procure that. Not that I'm complaining, but after what just happened with Amy..."

"And that's the second reason I called." said Dr. Searles. "I called a colleague at Boston Medical, Dr. Falkner. He said they expected for us to get that liver over their candidate, but get this, Don: they were told they were getting the liver. And not through normal channels... but just like Brownlee's incoming heart, here."

The puzzle pieces were going into place with every word. I could see what was going on. And because I knew that Vauxhall had just put through a payment, I knew that this was my chance.

"Doctor," I said, "do you think Dr. Falkner will give an affidavit to the FBI about that? And will you give your own affidavit to what you've told me, about everything?"

"Of course." said Dr. Searles. "Think this will help you get the guys you're looking for?"

"Oh, yes." I said. "Ohhhhhhh, yesssss. Listen, Doctor, please, not a word to anyone about this. Anyone, not your people here nor the Hospital Staff nor Administration. Let me know when you get word of when that heart will arrive, but do let me know before it gets here. You'll get the heart; just go on in and replace whatever Brownlee has inside him with it. Leave the rest... to me."

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

"Here are the jump drives." David Krueger said, handing me a static-proof sleeve with a number of jump drives inside, sealed with evidence tape. "We added one last thing. When you asked us to check on the Organ Donation System, we saw the confirmation for the heart that is coming here. But the thing is, it was not entered into the regular system. Someone bypassed the system and sent a direct confirmation to University Hospital. It happens from time to time, but is irregular. I can't say if that is legal or not, by the way."

"It's not explicitly illegal." I said. "But that will change if I have my way, both at the State and Federal level. You need to accompany me to the door of the Evidence Rooms with these; once I'm inside there, you can go home."

We went downstairs, where we both signed the jump drives into evidence. I then told the Officer on duty there that I was going to come in and personally lock them into one of the drawers in the safe. There are drawers in there like safety deposit boxes, but with electronic combinations. I set one with the four-digit code '9078', then came out of the safe room.

"I'm going to check on something before I go." I said. "David, have a good weekend, you can go." With that, I went into the room that was for weapons evidence. I turned on my bug-killer, which would cause any tapings to look like Slender Man was coming; the tape would have a hum and start breaking up and whacking out.

I went to the very back, where the manila envelope with my personal seal on it had lain dormant for a long, long time. I opened it, opened the gun case, and took out the packet of four syringes... Ned's drugs that I had not destroyed. I put the packet into the inside pocket of my trenchcoat, which I was wearing as if I were going to go directly home from here. I resealed and put the now-empty gun case back where it was.

"Have a good evening." I said to the Duty Patrolman. I went back upstairs, and secured the pouch in my safe in my office, next to the Red Crowbar whose metal had exterminated the Rev. Jonas Oldeeds."

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

"ETA 10:45pm." came the text from Dr. Searles at 10:15pm.

I was in my office. I had met Laura for supper at the Cattleman's Club, then come back to the office hours before. There were no lights on inside. I had worked in the dark, filling two plastic syringes from the Hospital (all too easy to steal, to be quite frank about it) and half-filling them with two of the four drugs from the vials. I hoped they retained their efficacy after all this time.

I put on my trenchcoat. I left my badge and my gunbelt on my desk, and was armed with only a backup revolver, for which I had a concealed-weapons permit to carry... and the current Red Crowbar. Just as I was about to leave, the door to my office opened... and in came Cindy Ross.

"Going somewhere?" she asked, her voice almost dripping with cynicism.

"As a matter of fact," I said quietly, "I am."

"Anything you care to share with your blood kin?"

"Not really." I said. "This is personal, not official."

"Yeah, sure." Cindy replied. "Then I'll personally go get my coat, and go with you."

"You are not coming." I said, in the tone of an order.

"Then you are not going." Cindy replied fearlessly. "I swear to God that I will personally arrest you if you try to leave this Station without taking me."

We stared at each other, our blue and gray eyes locked. Then I said "If you do come, you're going to see some things you should not have to see. I don't know if you can handle it."

"Only one way to find out." Cindy said, crossing her arms.

I knew she was going to win this battle of wills, so I said "All right. We've done everything else together; you might as well come over to the Dark Side with me."

I then said "Leave your gun and badge either here or in your office. Bring a backup gun if you have one, but have nothing on you that shows you're Police. Bring your ID card so we can get back in the building."

We went down the hall, my bug-killer full-on. Cindy stopped by her office and did as I'd instructed. We went out the side exit. I took her I.D. card and mine, and secreted them in a little crevice under the steps. I then led the way to an old, beat-up green car.

"Nice ride." Cindy said. "Where'd you get it?"

"Impound Yard." I said. "I'll tell the Officer at the gate that we're going undercover." Indeed, the Officer at the gate was Sergeant Rudistan. He told us to have a good weekend.

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

"Here's the heart you're waiting for." said Steven Moschel at the Nurse's Station, dressed in his courier uniform. The nurse took the ice chest and signed off on the paperwork while an orderly raced with the life-saving organ to the surgical wing, where Dr. Searles had Robert Brownlee prepped. It was 10:50pm.

"Yes, it's all good." Moschel said into his phone as he walked back to his car. "Just delivered it. Sure... I can do another one in a few days, if the check clears... okay, bye."

As he came up to his car, a brand-new Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 Pirelli Edition, he saw a tall, broad-shouldered man in a trenchcoat and Tilley Hat, with only Airborne wings attached, looking at the car.

"Wow." said the man in a low, husky voice. "That's one heck of a car."

"Thanks!" Moschel said brightly. "Got it with the money from my last job. Excuse me." He reached for the door handle.

*WHAM!!*

With lightning speed, the red crowbar had flashed, hitting him squarely in the back. The force of the blow slammed him against the car. As he turned, the bigger man's fist crashed solidly into his jaw, and he crumpled to the ground.

A shorter person was there in a flash as the big man secured Moschel's hands with a plastic zip-tie, which are used as handcuffs when need be. Then the big man put a plastic ball in Moschel's mouth, and secured it with a bandana. The shorter person, who was masked, then half-dragged Moschel down to the end of the parking deck, where an old green car with it's trunk opened awaited them.

"Watch." said the person into his ear when they stopped Moschel watched as the big man in the trenchcoat slid detcord into the gasoline tank of the expensive new car. On the end of the detcord was plastique covering a blasting cap. Another detcord line went under the engine block, where a larger block of plastique had been wired up as Moschel had delivered the heart to the Nurse's station.

As the big man approached the other two, he stopped at a concrete column. He held up a clacker, to which a thin wire led to a blasting cap that was attached to the near end of the detcord. He clicked the clacker a couple of times. The result was instantaneous...

***WHUMPOOM!***

I felt the explosion from behind the column. Cindy had secured Moschel on the other side of the green car, and there were other cars parked there, too. Shrapnel was flying all over the place. Expensive shrapnel, too; it had once been a Lamborghini.

"Too bad about the car." I said in my 'gruff' voice. We threw Moschel into the trunk and hurriedly got out of there just as nurses were coming outside to see what the noise was about.

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

"The first thing they're going to do is call you." Cindy said. "And your cellphone is in your office. Mine is in my office."

"Darn, I forgot it there." I said. "My personal one is at home, too. Laura is going to tell them that I'm driving to the City to meet our FBI friends about a lead. That can be your excuse, as well, unless you have a better one."


"Does Laura know what this is about?" Cindy asked.

"Not all of it." I said. "If she did, she would've stopped me... but for different reasons than you were going to."

We drove to an alley and to an empty unit in a strip mall. We hauled Moschel out, and I carried him over my shoulder into the back room, which Cindy noticed had corrugated cardboard on the walls.

"Soundproofing." I said. "We're going to need it." With that, I put Moschel face down on what looked like a massage table, and handcuffed his hands and ankles to the four legs, immobilizing him.

"Okay, Mr. Moschel." I said, squatting to his eye-level so he could see my eyes behind the mask I'd put on. "You stole a liver meant for a little orphan girl. She died. That pisses me off. So... you are going to tell me everything. You are going to tell me your contacts on both ends, you are going to tell me who's been financing you through Vauxhall." I removed the ball gag.

"Fuck you!" Moschel shouted. "HELLLLP!!"

I slapped his face, hard. "No one can hear you, fucker." I said, still in my gravelly 'gruff' voice. "Now, talk. Who's your sponsor? Say his name!"

"I'll see you in hell!" gasped Moschel. "I'd die more painfully if I told you."

"Oh, I doubt that." I said, rising back up to my full height. "But let's find out." I went down the side of the table and pulled the back of Moschel's shirt out from his pants, exposing his lower back. Cindy was watching me intently, probably expecting me to hit his kidneys with the Crowbar. He would not be so lucky.

I took out the first of the two syringes in my trenchcoat, took the plastic cap off the needle. "Watch this." I said to Cindy. I stabbed the syringe into Moschel's back, very close to his spinal cord, and injected just a tiny amount of the drug.

"YEEEEARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!" Moschel screamed. "OH GOD! OH GOD! MAKE IT STOP!"

'Want it to stop?" I asked. "Start talking."

"AAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!!" Moschel screamed, tears running out of his eyes, spittle beginning to drool from his mouth.

This was the pain-inducing drug that Ned had created. I could see why the CIA wanted it. Moschel was in excruciating, agonizing pain. Even the tiny amount I'd injected was attacking his nerves, the pain going up his spine and all over his body. And part of the cocktail of drugs in this mixture prevented his body from shutting down or emitting endorphins to kill that pain. It would eventually kill him, but not before hours, even days, of the most agonizing pain one could feel relentlessly attacked him.

I then injected a small amount from the second syringe. This was the antidote to the first compound. The pain was still there, but much less than before.

"Okay, are you ready to talk?" I asked.

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

Moschel reminded me of Barry Bounel. He seemed incapable of telling the truth. He began giving me information that I knew was false. When I asked questions to trip him up, it worked, but he just told more lies. I'd recorded that, just to see if any truth would be mixed in. But I'd had enough.

"Okay, asshole." I said. "I am tired of you." I injected another small amount of the first drug. I saw Cindy's eyes crinkle; she was wincing as the she saw and heard what was happening. She probably could smell it, too... Moschel had lost control of his bladder and his bowels.

"AAAAAUGH! Stop the pain! I'll talk, I'll talk!" he begged.

"I'm listening." I said, making no move to relieve his pain. After a moment, he realized through his agony that he would be talking through the pain. And he broke.

He gave me Vauxhall. He gave me City & Counties Bank. He gave me his bank accounts, all four of them in the State, and ten more in other States. He gave me Dr. Alcott, the Hospital Administrator, and a Nurse... the one that was Nurse Ratchett's supervisor, that had challenged me and then bitched about me.

"Pleaseeee! Stop the pain, please!" he gasped, his body quivering, sweat pouring out of him everywhere, his curly black hair soaked and matted to his head.

"You know what you have to tell me." I said. "Say his name!"

"I don't know his name! I swear to God!" Moschel yelled out. "I only know... he's behind City & Counties Bank... he may be connected to the University..."

"Okay, I think you need a stronger dose." I said, readying the needle.

"NOOO!!" Moschel yelled desperately. "I swear to God, that's all I know!"

"What's his connection to the School?" I thundered gruffly.

"I don't know! But he has... access to the Hospital... he goes there... to use computers so he can't be traced..."

I took out the other syringe, and injected enough to eradicate his pain over the next several minutes.

"Here's the program, Mr. Moschel." I said, again crouching so his eyes were looking into mine. "You are going to be left where the Police will find you. You will tell them, voluntarily, everything you have told me. If you leave out anything, even one word, I will find out, and I'll bring this first syringe back to you... but not the second one. If you don't talk to the Police, they'll release you... and you'll be seeing me again. Figure it out, boy: I found you tonight, and I will find you again. Your only chance to live is to talk to the Police. Do you understand?"

"Yeah" said Moschel weakly, totally beaten, totally broken.

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

Perhaps it's a family trait, as I share my late nephew Ned's sense of irony. We drove Moschel to the Saskia Warehouse, where Teresa had found Amy and Buddy. We left him tied to a fence stake, gagged, on the back side of the building.

As we drove the green car back to the Impound Yard, taking dirt back roads through farms owned by BigAgraFoods, Cindy was abnormally quiet. Finally she said "What did I just witness tonight?"

"You witnessed your cousin going to the Dark Side." I replied. "I told you that you shouldn't have come."

"Not that." she said. "The drugs. What the hell was that stuff you injected into him?"

"That," I said, "I will not answer."

"Oh, never mind, you don't have to." Cindy said. "I did look up the classified stuff on your nephew Ned one time. I thought you destroyed those drugs."

"Which is why I did not tell Laura about this." I said. "She thinks I destroyed them, too. But as you can see, I didn't. I don't want the CIA knowing they still exist, but more importantly, I needed to test them. And getting Moschel to talk was a good way to do it."

"Test them?" Cindy asked, stunned. "For what?"

"If what I think is going to go down actually does..." I said, "... then one other person is going to be the recipient of the pain-inducing drug. Do I need to tell you who that is?"

"But... you keep saying you want to arrest the bastard instead of killing him." Cindy replied, and astutely. "So that doesn't make sense."

"I do want to arrest him, put him on trial." I said. "But there is a very good chance he's not going to let that happen. If that's the case, I might need these drugs one more time... to save my blood kin."

Cindy said no more.

Part 28 - Test and Temptation

I unlocked the gate to the empty Impound Yard near the State Line with a master key (I'm the Police Commander, of course I have a master key!), parked the old green car in the back of the lot from where I'd obtained it. I also emptied the two syringes I used on Moschel at the Impound Yard, then buried the separate parts in some dirt under a car in the junk area.

Cindy had already started the engine to the Police Cruiser that was parked at the site and pulled it outside the gate (it looked like a radar trap, other cars were slowing down when they saw it). I locked the gate and got in.

"The radio is full of chatter about the exploding car." Cindy said. "They're looking for a green car already."

"Yet we drove all over this Town and County in it, and no one saw us or stopped us." I replied. "Methinks we have places we can still improve this Police Force."