The Yellow Rose of Texas Ch. 02

"Cool." said Nick, as he began nuzzling Laura's neck. "So... Bettina's getting angry because your husband won't give her interviews or return her calls anymore. Why's he being like that?"

He instantly knew it was a mistake to have asked that, as he felt Laura tense up. She turned over and looked at him.

"Are you kidding?" she asked. "Have you heard the things she's said about my husband in her morning reports? Have you not heard her insinuations that my husband has done wrong, and her attacks on the entire Police Force? Not to mention the things she's said that were factually false, and then trying to scare people by talking about nerve agents after the FBI asked her to not talk about that? which was badly irresponsible reporting. And she wonders why he won't give her the time of day after all she's said and done to harm him as much as possible?"

"Really?" asked Nick, stunned. "She's never lied; she's never said anything factually false. And the People have a right to know about dangers like the nerve agents that were brought into here. That's no reason for your husband to stop talking to her------"

He stopped talking as Laura got out of bed. Without looking back, she went to the main room and got dressed, then left without another word.

And for the first time, Nick Eastwood had to ponder that perhaps not everyone considered the Press to be an honest Institution working on the People's behalf...

Part 11 - Breakdown

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded reporterette at 7:00am, Tuesday, May 16th, from in front of City Hall. "Channel Two News has learned that the Town & County Council will discuss the issue of Police Leadership in their regularly scheduled meeting tonight!"

"Sources tell Channel Two News that several Council Members are very worried about what appears to be a total breakdown in the Vice and Major Crimes divisions of the Town & County Police Force." Bettina said, smiling and enjoying every word of her report. "One Council Member described the Police Force as 'rudderless', while another Member said the Police Department is unable to execute its mission of protecting the Public."

Bettina went on: "Sources also tell Channel Two News that several members of the County are beginning to question Commander Donald Troy often being 'on loan' to the SBI or FBI in a consulting capacity, saying that he is neglecting his duties right here in our Town and County. State Senator Katherine Woodburn, who is strongly opposed to the SBI Reserve program, has also complained in her speeches that Commander Troy is leaving the TCPD 'helpless' when he leaves the County to work for the FBI or SBI."

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

"Well, folks," I said as we watched, "your esteemed State Senator Woodburn just insulted you in front of everyone. Now I know different, but she just told everyone that you are unable to do your jobs without me present."

"Don't fall for the trap, Commander." said Cindy. "Don't start talking politics."

"There's another trap in that, also." said Teresa Croyle. "She wants you to resent Commander Troy for being good and succeeding. You guys are good, and you can get the job done with or without him. Even so, we're lucky to have Commander Troy to make us even better, no matter how good we are."

"Well, stated, Captain. You are absolutely corrrr-ect." said Chief Moynahan, coming into the room. "And so are you, Captain Ross. Let's not let the filthy Media demoralize us. Meanwhile, Commander Troy, I need to see you in my office."

After I left with the Chief, Cindy said "What else pisses me off is that Bettina is trying to tell people that we can't handle crime in this County. She's all but inviting criminals to come in and start trouble."

"Fine with me.," said Teresa loudly. "We'll just redirect their suppositions with some solid arrests, and Bettina can sit and spin..." Everyone smiled and nodded at her confident message.

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

"Okay, Mr. Crowbar," said the Chief, once we were seated in his office, "what Bettina reported was halfway true: several Council Members are definitely raising the issue of your dual- or triple-role with the TCPD as well as the SBI and FBI. It's going to come up tonight, and you need to be ready to answer their questions."

"Oh, I will be." I said acidly. "But why are they suddenly bringing this up now?"

"You're the one that nothing gets by." said the Chief. "So you tell me."

I thought about it. "Must be Katherine Woodburn getting Thomas P. Cook and Kelly Carnes to gin it up with the Council."

"Give that man a crowbar." said the Chief. "I will add that Senator Woodburn has been haranguing the Sheriff and myself over it."

"For how long, sir?" I asked.

"Couple of weeks now." said the Chief. "Since about the time you started solving that Safe Room case."

I nodded. "And now the Council, or certain elements of it, are trying to prevent me from working with the FBI to finish off this Superior Bloodlines case."

"Do they even know about all that?" asked the Chief.

"Katherine Woodburn does." I said. "Thomas P. Cook might know some of it, if Katherine told him or if he's keeping his eyes and ears open. But it's also an SBI thing: Katherine knows I can make the Governor's plans for the SBI come true, and she is hell-bent on stopping that."

"I don't understand why." said the Chief. "I know she's heard more than a few earfuls about how bad the SBI is and how much they interfere with local LEOs doing our jobs. I don't understand any of them opposing an overwhelming consensus of advice."

"Political power, sir." I said. "She's a globalist, and she wants power to come from the top down. Devolution of power to the lowest levels is kryptonite to her and her ilk. She wants to use her political power to control others, and devolving police power out of the SBI's hands absolutely stymies her."

"And it's also the politics of personal destruction." I said. "She hates every person that voted for Val Jared with a passion. She wants to flog those people that dared to vote for a man of the People rather than the Globalist Elites, and if she can't do that literally, she'll try to do it by screwing over Governor Jared."

"Last of all, sir," I said, "she doesn't want me to succeed. And that's because she has dealings with the people we're going after, as does Thomas P. Cook. And I think she knows that this is absolutely the worst time for the Council to be bringing up my dual roles... just as we're about to take down two corrupt, violent groups just as they are beginning to implement their plans to bring chaos and destruction."

"I agreeeeee." said the Chief. "So, if the Council insists you drop the dual roles, what will you do then?"

I looked Chief Moynahan hard in the eyes to underscore my words as I said "I'll have a decision to make... won't I?"

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

9:15am, Tuesday, May 16th. Senior Managing Editor Bettina Wurtzburg was called into the office of Burt West, whose title was Associate Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. He answered to the owner of KXTC, Todd Burke of BOW Enterprises. Also in the office was Sports Reporter Nick Eastwood.

"Before we talk, watch this." said West. He started the DVR of Priya's broadcast of fifteen minutes before. Priya was interviewing Commander Donald Troy of the Town & County Police Force."

"Commander," Priya was asking, looking up at the very tall man that towered over her even though she was wearing the highest heels she could walk in, "is the Vice Squad harmed by Lt. Masters leaving?"

"Lieutenant Masters is an outstanding Police Officer and has been a great leader in the Vice Squad," I said, "so of course losing him is is a blow to us. But he trained his people well, Captain Ross and Captain Croyle have trained them well, and they will continue to do an outstanding job. I would not want to be a drug perp or a pimp in this County with those guys coming after me."

Priya grinned at that, then asked "Some Council Members have said the Detective Division is, quote, 'rudderless'. Do you agree with that, Commander?"

"Well," I said, "to whomever said that, I'm sure Captain Ross appreciates that motivation whenever she gets in the ring for the Police Boxing Matches. The truth is that not only is she a formidable contestant in the Matches, she's an outstanding leader of our Detectives, who are all very good people that I am proud to be working with."

After a couple more softball questions and answers, Priya wrapped up with "This is Priya Ajmani, Five-Alive News in the Morning, having brought you an exclusive interview with Police Commander Don Troy..."

"You can cut that off." said Bettina bitterly. West did so.

"So, Bettina," said Burt, "where was your interview with Commander Troy?"

"The bastard won't even return a phone call or give a comment." said Bettina. "And Priya probably gave him a blowjob for that interview." The men in the room did not bring up that Bettina herself had slept with Commander Troy and taken the extramarital deposit from him.

"Nick." said Burt West, indicating for Nick to start talking.

"Bettina," said Nick, who had fucked the lovely redheaded MILF and deposited his own considerable loads into her, said "I've gotten some word that the Commander is cutting you and KXTC off because of what he considers to be deliberately hostile reporting, and even dishonest reporting at times."

"I've never made one false statement!" Bettina said angrily.

"No," said Nick, "but he and others consider the slant of your reporting to be a deliberate attempt to cast him in a negative light. And it's not just him; polls are showing that our ratings are slipping while Priya's are going up. If they didn't have that idiot John Hardwood and his very dishonest reporting, KSTD probably be well ahead of us by now."

"Well what the hell do you expect me to do?" Bettina practically shouted. "Kiss his ass on the air? Or be a whore like Priya for an interview?"

"First," said West, "take a deep breath, and let go of the personal animosity." He waited until Bettina exhaled loudly enough for him to hear it. "Now, we've gotten word that the reporting of the nerve gas situation is what really has Troy pissed off, and especially that we continued to report on it after the FBI asked us to stop. We're not going to bring it up again publicly, but we are going to issue a private apology to the Police Force and to the FBI, and advise them that we will unilaterally agree to be more circumspect in reporting of sensitive issues of that nature in the future."

"You'll do that without me." said Bettina. "The reporting was accurate, sourced, and the Public had a right to know they were in danger, as they were in danger."

"Yes, we are going to do this without you." said West. "And we're not going to ask you to apologize yourself nor make any statements. You just keep doing what you are doing, but be more circumspect on what you report when Les Craig is your source."

Bettina was stunned into silence. And she was further stunned when the door opened, and in walked Todd Burke, dressed in a well-fitting suit and tie that had enriched his tailor by several thousand dollars.

West and Eastwood got up and walked out. Todd brought a small chair up to sit next to Bettina, in 'Michael Corleone' style.

"Bettina," said Todd. "I want you to continue reporting for KXTC and being Senior Managing Editor. I want you and KXTC to to report truthfully and fearlessly, as you always have."

"Is your uncle putting you up to this?" Bettina said spitefully.

"No." said Todd. "My uncle makes a point to not tell me what to do regarding KXTC. He really does have bigger things to deal with than your hostility towards him in your reporting. But what I also know, and am telling you now, is that FBI Special Agent Les Craig is not someone a good reporter should be trusting as a source. So start reporting with less of his agenda in mind."

"Why do you think I'm not going to go tell Les Craig everything you just said about him?" Bettina asked.

"Because you are a good reporter that wants to keep being one at this network." said Todd. "Oh, it does not require Iron Crowbar thinking to know that you are considering that you can find a job elsewhere, especially after making an issue of 'journalistic integrity' against 'Government coverup'. And you may can. But I think you're smarter than that, and you may also come to realize that I am a much better friend to you than Les Craig ever will be. And while my uncle is a very forgiving, patient man, he is deeply aware of who his enemies are.. and who is allied with those enemies. Just sayin', is all."

Todd got up to go. "Have a good day, Ms. Wurtzburg. Oh, one more thing... as I said, my uncle is a forgiving man. He might even provide you one of the biggest scoops of your career, and your aunt, Elsie Gringer, might share in your good fortune. Les Craig cannot provide you with anything but trouble, and ultimately bad information and you being fired for reporting that bad information..."

Part 12 - Keys To The Kingdom

3:00pm, Tuesday, May 16th. Cindy came into my office.

"Vice is going to conduct a drug raid tonight." she said. "Teresa has her SpecOps people ready to help, but I'm going to monitor from here. Ergo, have fun at the Council meeting without me."

"I'm sure I will." I said. Just then, Paulina Patterson and Chief Moynahan were admitted to the office. "You wanted to see me?" she asked.

"Yes, and for professional reasons." I said. "I'm about to need to ask for a warrant."

"Sounds like you've made some progress, Mr. Crowbarrrr." said the Chief.

"You've solved the code?" Cindy asked excitedly.

"Well," I said, "look at this." I turned my laptop computer (that was not hooked up to anything) so she could see it, and began typing under the code phrase AE049/ .[,A;B /C[D.

The line I typed read:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789.,;/[

"With respect, sir, Carole could type that." Cindy said. Paulina smiled at the joke.

"She really can write the alphabet already, and she's not even four years old yet." I replied proudly. "Okay, here's what's next."

I typed under the first line another line, so that the total looked like this:

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789.,;/[ EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789.,;/[ABCD

"I think this is just a simple transposition key." I said. "A=E, B=F, and so on. The most famous of these is called the 'Caesar code', which I think goes the other way, but I digress. In this decode message, the second sets can be read '0=4' and 9=/'. So that means after the letters we put the numbers from 0-9, as opposed to 1-9 and zero afterwards."

"Makes sense." said Cindy. "But what about the punctuations?"

"They come at the end." I said. "They're spelled out to show the order of them, and the corresponding letters, and there are only a few. So if you look at my two lines, you'll see that zero corresponds to four, nine to the slash, the period to the bracket, and so on. It seems to fit, so far."

"Great!" Cindy said. "So if you apply that, what does the Braille code say?"

I typed it out:

K/[/G P;D,A MBAML .SAFE DE[PS OTBPX MI,BE RPMEP METWP

"Oooh, I see some words!" Cindy said. "And that has to be 'safe deposit box', there."

"I think you're right." I said. "So now, on to the second key..."

To be continued.

Dear readers, can you discover the message? And more importantly, what is the second key?