Power Ch. 04

"The City's." said Myron. "It's the Badlands, so nobody will really notice. At the same time, we'll have to get a warrant, and the City Police leak like sieves. So the FBI will know about it pretty quickly."

"You guys catch on fast to what the real problems around here are." I said with a grin.

"Yes sir," said Myron, "we try to do what you do: keep our eyes and ears open. Not too hard to see what's going on with our Federal buddies."

"What do you know that I don't?" I asked, turning on my anti-bugging device, and knowing that Myron might have info obtained from his father.

"You may know it already, sir," said Myron, "but efforts are being made to force the Deputy Director out, either by retirement or simply moving him to another position. Les Craig is being groomed to take over FBI operations in the City, which means Jack Muscone's team will be destroyed."

"Yep." I said. "The party never stops around here. Okay, thanks for the info, Myron. We won't go for the warrant just yet; I think I have a better idea in mind for this phone number...

Part 16 - Power of Evil

"Agent Darkwave, where is Commander Troy's SUV?" he asked.

"At his home on the side of the mountain, sir." said Agent 'Darkwave'.

"Hmmm," he growled, "this isn't right. This isn't... right."

"Sir?" asked Darkwave, turning her head to look at him.

"He should be in the City by now." he said. "He should be following up on that phone number that Aurus gave Becca Larrington. Okay, where is the Huntress?"

"At a dinner with her husband, the County Sheriff, sir." said Darkwave. He did not notice the slight change on Agent Darkwave's cute face.

"All right, keep monitoring." he said. "I'm going back to Washington. Something is wrong... very, very wrong. What about Commander Troy's personal vehicles?"

Agent Darkwave typed at her monitor for a few seconds. "His wife's car is at the Psychology Building on the University Campus. His mother's car is at her home. He doesn't have a POV."

"What about that old green piece of shit?" he asked.

"Oh, that one." Darkwave said. "That car has no 'Theft' light device or other device to track it by. It's too old, so it's exempt from the laws requiring those devices. It's usually in his garage in his home on the mountain, and I have no way of knowing if he's driving it now."

He shook his head. That god-damned redheaded stepchild... he should've killed Troy on that torture table when he had the fucking chance, he thought bitterly to himself. Oh well, spilt milk... time to retreat and regroup to Washington... much planning still needing to be done. Much, much planning...

"Oh, one more thing, Agent Darkwave------" he started, then realized that 'Darkwave' was not at her post, but had disappeared...

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

Sunset, Saturday, February 25th. People were coming in for the dinner service at the Lakeside Inn & Suites, and it was time for Cindy and Roy to re-position themselves.

"Okay, Roy," said Cindy as she and Detective McGhillie sat at the dining room table, "you are worthless to me tonight. It is obvious you are smitten with Becca Larrington. You can ask her out after our mission is over and Aurus is captured, but for now..." She shrugged her shoulders. McGhillie just grinned.

"Okay, go check around the perimeter." Cindy said. "Keep your radio turned off unless you see something suspicious, then call for backup. You're technically out of jurisdiction here."

"Yes ma'am." said McGhillie. He got up, said a couple of words to Becca, who met his smile with her own, then headed out to the lobby and the parking lot.

Cindy told Becca she was going to be in the front lobby, still well within sight of Becca at the dining room's front desk. She asked Becca to not go anywhere without letting her know, and Becca agreed.

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

The Black Beauty was under a tarp in the parking lot of Molly's condo complex. I had cooked dinner for her and my mother (and cleaned the dishes myself), and now the three of us were sitting and talking and playing with the boys. It was good to be able to spend some time with them, but we were ready to go at a moment's notice if we were called by Cindy or the Nextdoor County Police.

"So you're not going to raid that tenement in the City or call that number, son?" asked my mom Phyllis.

"No, not yet." I said. "I honestly expect to get word of George Aurus's whereabouts tonight. I expect someone will see him and call it in. If not, I'll ask the City Police to raid that place at 5:00am."

"Without a warrant?" Molly asked.

"No, they'll get one from their Night Court." I said. "And maybe the FBI won't hear about it until it's way too late."

"You're really concerned about the FBI, son." said my mother. "Are things that bad with them? Is Les Craig one of the bad guys?"

"I can't really figure that out." I said. "On the one hand, he's gunning for higher jobs and titles, and may see capturing Aurus as a means to that. In that, he's not a bad guy, but just getting in the way.

"On the other hand," I continued, "well, it's one of those things where we just are not sure who we can trust anymore. And I'm really bothered by his focus on Leonard Lotz."

"And well you should be, son." said my mom. "Agent Craig's words about your torture are very, very disturbing."

"How did you know about that, Mom?" I asked. I had not told my mother of that.

"Why, your Chief Moynahan told me earlier today." Phyllis said. "He was consulting me about how to handle the Media over some of their reporting, and that also came up."

Yeah, right, I thought to myself. Either the Chief is trying to date my mom, for which I would not blame him a bit; or they're cooking up something. But I put that aside for the moment.

"I think Lotz is the key." I said. "Not to George Aurus, but to what's going on behind all that, with the sanitarium and the Federal installation, and Millwakee, too."

Just then Ross climbed into my lap. "Daddy, can we read this book?" he asked, which meant he wanted me to read the book to him. And of course I very happily did so.

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

The 'Town & County Food Services' van came along the side road that led along the back of the Lakeside Inn & Suites, almost underneath the first floor balconies that overlooked Lake Reservoir. It stopped at the service loading and unloading door where foodstuffs were stored for the dining facility. The driver, in his T&CFS coveralls, got out and knocked on the door.

The service manager inside had been warned by the Police to be wary of any strangers coming to the door. But he recognized the driver, and there was no telling how long it would take the Police to come down here, and the night was busy. He opened the door.

Instantly, two masked men burst inside and took him down before he could react. His hands were zip-tied behind him, his ankles zip-tied by very heavy duty plastic zip-ties, and he was gagged and put against the wall out of sight, then injected with a dose of a sleeping potion.

The driver was also injected with sleeping agent, similarly bound and gagged, and left next to the service manager. The two masked men rushed to the stairs.

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

"Hey, Becca," said one of the waitresses coming up to the front podium, "Ted needs you to come to his office real quick. Said it would only take a minute." Ted was the service manager, and he often would call Becca to the back to check on reservations or numbers of patrons.

"Okay." Becca said. She went back along the aisle to the door to the back rooms.

Cindy saw the other girl come to the front desk and Becca leave. She immediately went over. "Where did Becca go?" Cindy asked. The girl, who was black, looked at Cindy as if she (Cindy) were a cockroach infesting the dining room. Cindy got out her badge and flashed it.

"Becca. Where did she go?" Cindy growled.

"Service manager's office." said the black girl, her eyes full of hatred for platinum blonde policewoman. Cindy rushed past her towards the back.

There was no one in the office, and the office to the storeroom was locked. Cindy rushed back to the dining room and went onto the balcony overlooking the lake. The dining patrons there looked at her curiously.

Looking down, Cindy saw the food van, and at that moment saw Becca being dragged out of the hotel. The masked man was covering her mouth with one hand.

"Stop! Police!" Cindy yelled. She went over the balcony to a landing with plants below, then scrambled over the side and dropped to the ground behind the van. The instant she landed, the gun was in her hand, pointing at the masked man, who pulled Becca up in front of him, and Cindy saw that he had a gun to Becca's head.

"Please, Captain," said a voice from inside the van. Cindy saw the very short man with thick glasses peering at her. "I would hate to have to kill this young girl prematurely. Now please drop your weapon."

"No." Cindy said. "Let her go. Now."

"Oh my." said George Aurus. "Such bravado. Only someone with a crowbar would be so bold. But I do assure you, Captain Ross, that my friend here will kill your friend if you do not drop your weapon."

"Then all of you will die with her." Cindy said. She knew that to give up her gun meant her death as well as Becca's, and she would rather take her chances with the standoff------

*CLICK!*

Cindy felt the steel of the business end of a revolver press against her head just behind her right ear. The second man, of which she'd been unaware, had been hiding further down the road, and had come up behind her.

Acting defeated, Cindy turned her wrists to point her gun straight up into the air, but did not drop it. She was hoping the man behind her would reach up to take it, and then he would learn what the Police Boxing Matches were truly about.

"Don't even play with her." said Aurus. "She's too good at the martial arts."

Damn! Cindy thought to herself. Then she felt the sting of an air gun injecting sleeping agent into the back of her neck. The lights fused together and got blurry, then faded to black...

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

Roy McGhillie was in Cindy's Police SUV, watching the parking lot. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a food services van come out from around the back of the hotel. Then it turned left onto the highway... going away from his County, even though the logo on the van said 'Town & County Food Services'.

Instantly feeling something was wrong, McGhillie got out of the SUV and ran to the hotel. Cindy was not in the lobby. Running to the dining room, he saw that Becca was not at the front desk; instead a young black woman was there."

"Ma'am," he said as he came up. "Do you know where Becca is?"

"She's in back." said the woman.

"Did a blonde woman come back through here?" Roy asked.

"You mean the cop?" the girl snarled. "Yeah, she went back there, too. Haven't seen her since."

Roy raced to the back. No one there. As he came out, he saw several patrons on the balcony. Some of them called to him.

"Sir, are you Police?" one man asked.

"Yes sir." said Roy. "What happened?"

"That blonde woman jumped down to the street below." said the man. "They ambushed her and knocked her out, and put her and another girl in the van and drove off."

"Please call 9-1-1!" said Roy. He rushed out front and to the SUV. Before calling in on the radio, he got out his cellphone and speed-dialed a number...

Part 17 - Power of The Crowbar

Yes, Daddy upgraded, I thought to myself as the Black Beauty tore along the highway towards Hillside, going to meet the two blips I was seeing on the digital map. They were just ahead of me, getting to Hillside now. The Nextdoor County Police had been deployed by Lt. Paul Price, who proved to be a lousy tactician; his forces were deployed towards the hotel, and the van had easily avoided them.

When Cindy had been captured and knocked out, the criminals had left her gun, holster, badge, every piece of jewelry on her, and even her shoes, on the road in case she had a tracking device on her. What they did not know is that she and Becca had tracking devices inside them. They, as well as Roy McGhillie, had swallowed capsules with the devices a few hours earlier. The batteries would last four days, but the capsules would work through their alimentary canals in 18-24 hours if not sooner.

Thanks to P. Harvey Eckhart's technology, I was now in hot pursuit of the van, and I had an idea of where they were going to go as they went south through Hillside. As I got to the north end of the town, they were indeed going right where I thought... the Baseball Fields.

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

Pulling up to the concrete block electrical shed, the two men first carried Becca inside. There were two metal mesh beds, side by side. Becca was placed on the one on the right. Her hands were secured with metal wiring, then her legs were spread and secured to the edges of the bed with wiring. Then Cindy was brought in and similarly secured to the left side bed, but on her belly. She was still unconscious.

One of the men began unfastening his belt and opening his pants, fully intending to begin raping the women, when George Aurus's voice cut through the air.

"No, we don't have time." Aurus said. "Spray them down." He'd taken a chair on the right side of the room. Next to him were the electrical boxes that fed the massive klieg lights that illuminated the baseball and soccer fields. He'd hot-wired the main, the cables leading through a junction box of switches, then another set of battery cables led to the beds.

One of the men pulled a garden hose into the room from the outside. It had a spray-gun attachment on the end. The man pulled the trigger and began dousing the women with water. Becca screamed through her gag. Cindy remained silent; the cold water did not awaken her.

"Boss!" said the other man. "Car coming."

"Police?" asked George Aurus.

"No, old civilian car, looks black. Lights aren't on. They're trying to sneak up on us."

"Yes, they are." said George. "Gentlemen, get the hell out of here. Run to the woodline and get in the trees, then keep on going. Go!"

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

As I pulled in, I saw two men run out of the door and around to the back of the small building. I exited the car with my gun drawn, then caught a glimpse of them in the moonlight running at top speed towards the woodline.

I did not have time to go after them. I went to the concrete shed and looked inside. Then, with gun still drawn, I walked inside.

"Ah, Commander Troy, at long last we meet." said the rather high-pitched voice of the midget George Aurus. He was holding something in his hand, which was attached to a box at the side of his chair. I pointed my Beretta M96 at him and clicked on the laser sight. A red dot appeared on his face.

"Oh dear." he said, his voice mocking. "If you shoot me, Commander, then this dead-man switch will be released, and quite a few amps of electrical power will begin cooking these women, and you'll never be able to shut it off in time to save them. So please put your weapon down, and kick it over to me."

"No way in hell." I said. Why cops in the movies give up their guns, I don't know... but to do so is suicide, and I had gone that give-up-my-life route with Westboro... and George Aurus was no Westboro.

"Not even for your own cousin's life?" said Aurus.

"You know that if you kill them, I will kill you... painfully." I said. "And I'll gouge your fucking eyes out first. Take your hands off the switch, and you go to jail, where you'll be protected from those looking for you now to kill you."

"Oh, you know about that." said Aurus. "Most impressive, most impressive. Physique, courage, and brains. You have it all, and a crowbar to go with it. Everything I never had."

"You're obviously not an idiot, yourself. Way too many brains to do what you've been doing and to stay hidden." I said. "I know you've been badly mistreated. I can and will bring those who persecuted you and the others to Justice. You can help me... or it will all end here. It's your choice."

"Yes..." said George, his voice growing eerie. "It is indeed my choice. The power is in my hands, literally as well as figuratively. Surely you of all people, Commander, know what it's like to have power, true power... the power of life and death over others."

He looked over at Becca, who'd been listening to us, her eyes wide with fear. "Yes," he said, "I have the power over this young woman's life. She lives or she dies at my whim... and I live or die at your whim, Commander. Isn't that what it's all about, Commander? Power? People kill each other over money, thinking that gives them power... politicians... my God! what the politicians do to have the power of Government over others..."

He then turned to me. "But I choose the real power... the power of a god! The power to determine life or death over other human beings. The power to create life by ejaculating my semen into a woman, with or without her consent, like the ancient Greek Gods did to wives in front of their husbands. And the power to kill or to let live. You know that power... don't you, Commander?"

"You have gone mad, Aurus." I said. "That's not power. That's just violence."

"Oh, but you are soooo wrong, Commander." said Aurus. "Soooo wrong. You believe power lies in authority. Well, power is something that is not given, Commander. Power is something you take!"

"Is that what Dr. Yarborough taught you?" I asked, hearing a slight noise outside, hoping it was my Police backup.

"Oh yes, Commander." said Aurus. "That, and a great many other things. He was an enlightened man when it came to the concept and the applications of power."

"Enough of this." I said, growing tired of it. "Yarborough was a madman, an old, deranged man. And so are you, Aurus. Give it up, it's over."

"Oh yeah?" snarled Aurus, "We'll see about tbat!"

*FWUP!*

I barely heard the sound as something whizzed by my left ear. In a split-second, I saw an arrow fly into the control panel of the mains.

*WHAM!* *ZZZZZT!* *ZZZZT!*

The electrical box practically exploded into a shower of sparks. I began to turn my head to look over my left shoulder. I got a brief glimpse of a relatively short, slender person in all black and wearing a mask, then something liquid hit the brim of my hat and along my right eyebrow. I instinctively ducked and turned my head, but still felt the burn. It was pepper spray!

"Aaugh!" I gasped out. My assailant took the opportunity of my momentary incapacitation to run out the door. I went for the water hose and sprayed the water stream right into my face, then at an angle as I redirected handfuls of water into my burning eye.

Even though I'd been subjected to CS gas before, and one can build up an immunity to it, it took a moment to get my eyesight in that eye back. And one Tilley hat fucked up, too, God-dammit! But I was lucky, it was only a glancing blow, and one eye was not affected at all.

Lucky. Lucky Iron Crowbar.

Aurus had been stunned, and had surprisingly not tried to run. He looked up at me. "Yes, I guess it's over. You'd better kill me now, before the Police arrive."

"And why would I kill you?" I asked.

"I kidnapped your cousin. I fully intended to watch my henchmen gang rape her, then I was going to rape her before murdering her." said Aurus, trying to bait me. "Your blood kin, Commander. Raped and murdered."

"But you didn't." I said, not rising to the bait. "And now I'm going to exercise some power, and not kill you. No 'suicide-by-cop' for you today, George."

Just then, I saw Roy McGhillie poke his head in the door. "It's clear, McGhillie. Tend to Ms. Larrington." I called out. Roy came in, followed by Molly, Detective German, and an NCPD Uniformed Officer.