Текст книги "Boston Blood"

Автор книги: Louis Samways

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Текущая страница: 13 (всего у книги 17 страниц)

Seventy

Sandra Austin is stood at the vending machine for what seems like the hundredth time in one day. Her camera man Mike walks up to her gingerly.

‘Have you spoken to Bob yet?’

She takes another hot coffee from the vending machine. She takes a long sip from the cup, the warm liquid refreshing her tedious spirits.

‘You know what Mike, since the last time you asked me I still haven’t spoken to him. I wonder why.’ She states sarcastically

Mike shakes his head in frustration.

‘Well to be honest Sandra I don’t like sitting on my ass all day at a Goddamn train station waiting for something to supposedly happen when one of the biggest news worthy events that I have ever witnessed in my thirty five years of being alive is happening right now, and I’m not there to film it!’

Sandra throws Mike a stern look.

‘What did you expect Mike; they let you into M.I.T to film Connor Chase and his men up close?’

‘No not exactly. But I do want to be in the vicinity when they send the SWAT in.’

‘Do you think they would let you film that Mike? Don’t you think that maybe that would give Chase a warning about the infiltration?’ Mike shrugs at Sandra’s comments. He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a cigar. He lights it and blows smoke into Sandra’s Face. She shoos the smoke away with her hands and pulls a sickened face at Mike. She steps backwards and throws the bird at Mike. He laughs and walks away leaving her by herself sipping on lukewarm powdered coffee.

‘Asshole’ she mutters to herself while casually people watching.

Seventy One

Eddie smith walks into the interrogation room. Three security officers are standing at the door. He signals them to go relieving them off their duties. They comply and earnestly walk out of the room. Eddie shuts the door firmly behind them. He turns around and looks at Frank who is sitting down palms faced down on the table glancing at Eddie. He walks over to the table and takes a seat, unbuttoning his suit jacket as he does so. He rests his hands on the table and looks back up at Frank. They make eye contact. Frank smiles openly and relaxes back into his seat.

‘What?’ Asks Frank

Eddie shakes his head in disappointment as he lights a cigarette.

‘I think it’s obvious don’t you?’

‘Not exactly Eddie. Enlighten me.’

‘I’ll give you one clue’

‘Go on’

Eddie gets up from his seat and looks Frank up and down. Frank is shackled with handcuffs around his wrists. Eddie slowly makes his way around the interrogation table. He grabs Frank by the head and slams it hard into the metal table. Frank’s scull bounces in one tremendous jolting action. Frank grunts in pain. Eddie walks back to his seat and sits down, calmly observing Frank. The three security guards rush in guns drawn.

‘Is everything okay Sir?’ asks one of them

Eddie nods. The guard notices Frank’s bleeding nose and smiles. He walks out with the two other guards and slams the door.

‘I’ll let you have that one for free Eddie’ snarls Frank while whipping the blood off his nose

‘This isn’t about me getting one for free Frank. It’s about me trusting in you and putting in a good word to get you back on the force. Then what do you do. You go and break the chief of police’s nose. Then to make matters worse, you are suspected of being in a damn fire fight with the secret service’

‘What do you mean the secret service?’ asks Frank

‘Don’t play stupid Frank. Did you not go and see Jacob Reach in downtown Boston earlier today?’

Frank shakes his head while whipping at his face once again.

‘No I did not. And even if I did I wouldn’t be fighting the damn secret service.’

Eddie seems unconvinced. He stubs out his cigarette on the metal table and stands up.

‘So you’re telling me that all this chatter about you being involved in a shootout down town is bullshit? And the fact that I found you down in a warehouse not too far away from the alleged shooting is pure coincidence?’

Frank shakes his head.

‘You’re Goddamn right it’s a coincidence. Ever since I came back all I’ve been hearing is how I’m in it for me and not one of the team. Truth is it was my own team that sold me out and made me look that way. So you tell me Mr DA, who’s really to trust, the Goddamn department, the people who seem to have a raging hard on over me and my business, or me, a guy that has done nothing but his job, a guy that has nothing but dedication and balls. I admit that I am not perfect. Heck I’m imperfect! That doesn’t mean that I’m the person people seem to be pinning me for. All they do all day long is speculate if I’m a good cop or a bad one. Truth is Eddie I’m the cop I need to be, the cop that Boston needs me to be. Nothing else, if they don’t like it, then they can kiss my ass because quite frankly if you’re going to arrest me then do it now, if not then un-cuff me. I have an ass hole to arrest.’

Eddie walks over to Frank and unlocks his cuffs.

‘Look Frank I understand where you’re coming from, all I want from you is the decency to not make me look like an idiot. If you have to do what you have to do, then make sure that it doesn’t lead back to me or you. I know that sometimes the rules have to be broken. But I don’t want you to think that gives you the right to go out and cause havoc. When you’re on those streets you are representing the City of Boston and its law enforcement. Don’t you forget that’ Says Eddie

Frank nods as he gets up from his seat, rubbing his wrists.

‘Is Shaw okay?’ Asks Frank

Eddie laughs

‘Yeah he’s alright. His nose isn’t broken, just his pride.’

‘Well the asshole deserved it. All he does is bark orders. He should keep his fat mouth shut when it comes to mentioning me and my life’

Eddie nods in agreement, patting Frank on his tatty shoulder.

‘Frank you need to get some hot food in you and have a shower. A change of clothes and a belly full of food will do you good, a lot better than no food and half a bottle of Jack.’

‘Yeah I hear you.’

Frank walks towards the door.

‘One more thing before I forget, keep away from Shaw. He wants blood, and I’m not talking about a punch up. The guy wants your career Frank.’

‘As far as I’m concerned he can have the darn thing, less problems for me to deal with.’

‘True but just be prepared that after this shit storm is over, he’s coming for you. I’ll put in a good word with the FBI or some other agency and get you transferred out of this crappy department’

Seventy Two

Jason is pacing the train’s cabin once more. His eye line never leaving the direction of the hostages. He watches their every move. Processing each of their face’s in an attempt to recognise everyone. He’s sure about this situation. He’s never been surer of anything in his life. He leans against the train’s cabin next to the large window and peers outside. He notices the fast moving landscape. He stares long and hard into the windows view losing focus of his current situation. The hostages are quiet as they watch his every move. Clearly shaken and distraught, most of the hostages dare not look at each other at running the risk of making Jason think they are conspiring. The mangled corpse a few feet away from the grief stricken group is reminder enough of the danger of this situation. One man sits and watches Jason with calculating intent in his eyes. The man has long dirty brown hair, amidst with grease and grey hairs specked throughout his sparse hairdo. He is wearing a black hooded jumper, unbranded. His blue washed denim jeans are of the norm. Overall he is the sort of man you wouldn’t notice in a hurry. The sort of man Jason wouldn’t notice in a hurry. The man staring at Jason is slim and slender. He is notably tall while sitting down. The herd of hostages surrounding Jason disguises the tall hooded man. No one notices him except the pregnant women sitting next to him. She turns her head slightly, slanting her vision from Jason while she addresses the hooded man.

‘I wouldn’t stare at him like that you know.’ states the dark pregnant women. Her deep brown eyes are comforting to the man as he snaps out of his intense surveillance and is welcomed with her melodic tone and safe eyes.

‘I’m not staring’ explains the man

‘You could have fooled me’ she says softly

‘I wasn’t, trust me. I was planning. Situations like this have to be thought out. There’s only one of him. It’s going to take a lot more than an AK to stop me.’

The woman shakes her head in fear as she eyeballs the man., her face telling him not to be a hero, but her heart saying otherwise.

Seventy Three

Officer Mullins is leaning against the wall next to Chief Shaw’s office door. He is staring at the name engraved on the foggy glass. He takes a deep breath in and knocks on the door with two swift heavy thumps. A muffled voice on the other end acknowledges the knock. He opens the door and is met by a bruised Chief Shaw. Shaw is holding a tissue to his bloodied nose. He nods at Mullins, holding his hand out pointing towards the seat facing his desk. Mullins takes the invitation and sits down overlooking the Chief’s brown chair. Shaw plods along the width of the room and pours himself a drink. He looks at Mullins. Mullins shakes his head, declining the two fingers of whisky. Shaw makes his way back behind his desk. He sighs deeply and sits down, chugging heavily on the whisky as he removes the bloodied tissue from his nose.

‘What happened?’ Asks Mullins

Shaw smiles while taking another sip on his tall glass.

‘We found Frank’

‘Okay, I gathered that. After all that’s why I’m still here and not out on a search party leading my convoy. I mean, what happened to you sir?’

‘We found Frank that’s what happened.’

‘Frank did that to you?’

‘Yes. That’s beside the point though; we need you and your men to form an extraction team. You will be working with Frank. You will follow his lead and go into the M.I.T building and rescue the hostages. Any resistance you encounter must be met with lethal action. You have my permission to use whatever means are necessary at securing the safety of everyone in the building.’

‘So we are a go on this then? Washington agreed to the extraction team?’

‘Not exactly, I’m still working on that. I’m scheduled to have a conference call with the secretary of defence in a few minutes. I will run the plan through with him and see if we have the go ahead. I need you to be ready with your team so if they comply with our plan then we can execute it immediately.’

‘Understood Sir’

‘Good. Meet with Frank down the parking lot. They are setting up another convoy down there.’

‘Okay’

Mullins gets up from his chair. He turns around to walk towards the door. He stops dead and faces Shaw once again.

‘What?’ Asks Shaw

‘So you told him about his brother Adam?’

Shaw pours himself another drink with the spare bottle on his desk. He takes a sip and evens his eyes towards Mullins direction.

‘No I did not. The guy is a loose cannon. He did this to my face for breaking his balls. Imagine what he will do if I break his heart and tell him his brother bit the bullet. Not to mention that it will affect his performance in the coming hours. I don’t want him going on some revenge mission for his brother.’

‘With all due respect sir, I think he’s already set at making Chase pay.’

‘He’ll get over Tasha, he’s just mad because he got found out. McKenzie has only ever loved one woman. She was killed ten years ago, not ten hours.’

‘If you say so’

‘I do say so. Now get going and keep your nose out of his business. Now scram!’

Seventy Four

‘Look I’m off to the can. Radio me when that ass hole manages to get down here.’ says Frank making his way up the stairwell of the parking lot striding up the staircase in a hurry.

He reaches the door to the main floor. He opens it and makes his way down the corridor. He watches as officers walk past him, each of them acknowledging him with a look of respect. Some even borderline fear. Frank enjoys the reputation. He thrives off his it. He carries on walking down the sparsely lit hallway. He finally reaches the toilets. He opens it and walks up to the urinal. He unzips his fly and relaxes. He hears something. He looks around and sees nothing. The cubicles are all vacant. He carries on. He feels something grab him by the back of the head. It forces him face down into the dirty urinal at a blinding speed. He feels his face crack against the ceramic. The force busts his nose open. He tries to draw breath. He can’t, the urinal flushes and water makes its way into his mouth. He chokes hard on the salty thick water. Struggling to breath he wriggles for room. His clothes drenched with water, he manages to escape the grip. Once again his head is slammed into the urinal, seconds after he is thrown in to the tiled wall. Fragments of tile chip off at the impact, the crack in the wall is caked in Frank’s blood as he is knocked to the ground. He hits the cold sticky floor with a thud. His vision goes dark. He tries to open his eyes. He hears the bathroom door creak open and then buckle back shut. He manages to catch a glimpse of the door shutting; it’s a mere shadow in the darkened room. The door slams open once again. Footsteps rush towards him as he is grabbed by someone.

‘Officer down I repeat Officer down in the first floor toilets, requesting medical assistance.’ The voice says. Frank feels the man grabbing his head and resting it on his knees.

‘You okay Frank, can you hear me?’ Asks the man

Frank can’t respond. His head is a rife with pain as he tries to open his eyes.

‘Frank look at me, can you hear me?’ Frank musters a brief nod as he attempts to stay conscious.

Seventy Five

The view from above is distorted by the fish eye effect of the rifle’s scope. The reporters are still down on the ground, surrounding the area like a sea of snapping fish. The flashes from the cameras are causing a lens flare to appear on the northern end of the scope. The man in the suit sighs in frustration as he pans the distance waiting for his mark. He looks down on the ground and flicks through his PDA, pulling up various bits of information. He reaches into his suit pocket and pulls out a metal rod. He attaches it to the PDA using a jack. He points the rod up towards the sky, a few feet over his head. He looks down and sees the reading.

“12 Miles per hour wind speed. Southern quarterly dip” It reads.

He detaches the rod and puts it back into his Jacket pocket. He switches a button on the PDA and presses his finger into his ear.

‘This is Romeo 171. Wind speed and direction is as we calculated. The arrival of tango one is estimated in less than ten minutes. The target will be arriving from the east. The shot will dip in the wind but nothing that I can’t handle. We are a go; I repeat we are a go.’ Says the man

‘Affirmative’ replies the musty voice on the radio.

The man unclips his ear piece and puts it back in his suit pocket. He takes aim once more. He peers through the powerful scope, his finger resting on the side of the rifle. He pans to the east and sees a convoy approach in the hot sun in the distance. The image blurry from his position, he winds the scope in. The image stabilizes as he sees the four car convoy approach. The American flags attached to the cars are rippling in the wind as he breaths in and cocks the bolt back, his breathing turns slow and heavy as he watches the cars approach in the distance. He looks down at his PDA and pushes a button. A timer starts counting down from seven minutes. He watches the timer intently as a roar from the crowd bellow erupts at the approaching president of the United States of America.

Seventy Six

‘This is bullshit. You’re always saying how the United States doesn’t negotiate with terrorists, but you won’t let us go into the building and rescue the hostages. It sounds like you don’t negotiate with anybody!.......Yeah that’s right……Fine…….I’ll take full responsibility……I’ll report back when it’s done’ Eddie hangs up the phone and turns to Chief Shaw.

‘It wasn’t easy but I managed to get them to roll over and let us go in to the M.I.T building and diffuse this situation.’ Says Eddie

Shaw looks on impressed.

‘Wow how did you manage that? That’s some feat’

Eddie smiles and pours himself a drink.

‘I supposed it has something to do with me being the DA.’ He laughs

Shaw takes a drag on his cigarette. The DA’s door bursts open as two officers rush into the room.

‘Sorry to interrupt sir’s but Detective Frank McKenzie has been attacked in the communal toilets’

‘What?’ Asks Eddie in shock as he quickly gets up and follows the men out of the room. He stops dead and signals them to wait outside as he turns to Chief Shaw.

‘You don’t have anything to do with this do you?’ Asks Eddie

‘What the hell are you on about? Why would I beat Frank up?’

‘I don’t know, maybe because he smashed you up pretty good no more than half an hour ago.’

‘I wouldn’t risk it, the guys a nut job. He’d have any ones number in this station. I find it hard to believe anyone would cross him.’

‘If you say so Chief’ Says Eddie, his tone visibly unconvinced

Shaw taps Eddie on the shoulder and both men follow the leading officers down the narrowing hallway. They rush over to the end and reach the situation room. Frank is sat on a stretcher bracing his head with a damp cloth. The cloth is bloodied as he wipes away the red residue off his skull. His face is a mess with bruising and welts. Eddie holds Shaw back as he makes his way over to Frank. Frank spots Eddie coming and sits up straight, putting on a brave face as he approaches.

‘What the hell happened here’ asks Eddie as he reaches the stretcher. EMT’s are trying to attend to Frank but it is proving difficult. Frank pushes one of the EMT’s away.

‘Nothing, I’m fine. I wish everyone would just leave me alone.’

‘You don’t look fine Frank. Looks like someone bashed you up pretty good.’

Frank winces in pain as he cracks his neck from left to right.

‘Oh well, looks like they got what they wanted then don’t it’

Shaw moves in closer. Eddie Turns around and warns him off with an obvious facial expression. Frank looks up and nods to Shaw. Shaw makes his way towards Frank and Eddie.

‘You okay Frank?’ Asks Shaw

‘Yeah I’m okay. Look, I’m going to apologize for earlier, I shouldn’t have laid my hands on you. You’re a superior officer and that was unbecoming of a Detective of my tenure’

Shaw smiles as he looks on at Frank.

‘Looks like that bump to the head has made you into quite the words smith Frank’

‘I mean it, if you want me to hand in my badge, I’ll understand’

‘There won’t be any need for that Frank. We have convinced Washington to allow us to make a move on M.I.T. You will be leading an extraction team into the immediate area to recover Chase DOA. Obviously we want the Hostages rescued and accounted for.’ Says Eddie

Frank nods as he hoists himself off the stretcher. The waiting E.M.T’s take the stretcher away as Frank stretches out.

‘What did happen in their Frank?’ Asks Eddie once more

‘I was taking a piss then all of a sudden I found my head being rammed repeatedly into the urinal. It knocked me for six, so I couldn’t ID the attacker. Whoever it was, he was mighty strong.’

‘Okay, I’ll get a snag on the CCTV. I’ll keep you informed on ID’ing the perp.’ Says Shaw.

Frank nods in understanding as Shaw walks away. Eddie eyeballs Frank to get his attention. The busy incident room is ignoring the two men standing in its center piece. Eddie pulls Frank closer.

‘Have you been drinking or doing anything that could make you look like an idiot on the CCTV?’

‘No course I haven’t’

‘Good, I don’t want him pulling the footage up and seeing your drunken ass falling over and hitting your head on the urinal.’

‘I’m sure I won’t disappoint you Eddie’

Eddie snarls at Frank’s remark, pulling him even closer to a hairs breadth away.

‘Don’t push me Frank. I already told you to pull yourself together after attacking the Chief, now this. If I find anything out of the norm on that tape I swear I’ll kick you off this case so fast you’ll be doing backflips into your crappy ford Capri!’

‘We can’t all afford a Mercedes you dick’