Uncaped Crusader

by Willow Morgan

  Jo nodded. "That would follow, yeah."

  "So Kingston took a page from the Dark Avenger's book and sent us an anonymous tip," Blake continued. "He did it to make us think the Dark Avenger was helping us. He knew the Dark Avenger would stick his oar into the raid and show himself, and that's what happened. Then he sends out the big guns to shoot the fucker down."

  "There's only one problem with that," Kat countered. "The raid was supposed to happen tomorrow."

  "What difference does that make to a guy like Kingston?" Blake argued. "So he posts his chopper with orders to shoot the minute Batman shows up."

  "Except he couldn't give orders to a drone," Jo reminded him. "Whoever controlled that chopper was somewhere else."

  "And now we have no idea where the Dark Knight is. He could be drowned at the bottom of the bay."

  Jo covered her eyes and groaned. "Don't even joke about that."

  "What's eating you?" Nate demanded. "You were the one who said he was an outlaw and a vigilante. Now you want to hold a state funeral for him."

  "I'm not saying that. I just don't want him dead. He saved both our lives, after all."

  The waitress brought their drinks, and Nate stirred sugar into his coffee. "I say we track down this Ryder Mackenzie and see where he was during the attack. If it was him, he must have turned around from talking to us, put on his pajamas, and ran straight to the docks. There's no other explanation."

  "Not necessarily," Jo told him. "We stopped at Carter's for a few minutes. He could have overtaken us."

  "How do you explain the chopper blowing up that ship?" Blake asked. "The yard records list it as belonging to Kingston."

  "The ship could have been carrying the incriminating evidence," Nate suggested. "Maybe it never was in the depot at all, and Kingston used the Dark Avenger to destroy the very evidence the Dark Avenger was trying to retrieve."

  Blake ran his fingers through his hair. "This is getting way too complicated for my tiny brain."

  "So....do we have to go through with this raid tomorrow after all?" Kat asked. "Can't we just call in sick or something?"

  Nate made a face. "I wish."

  "Chief Bates would suspend us without pay and put us under administrative investigation if we did that."

  Everyone rounded on Blake. "He said that?"

  Blake nodded. "I made an offhand remark about the raid being a bad idea and he hit the fucking roof. He said undermining the raid would be tantamount to giving Kingston a pass. He said anyone who didn't do their part tomorrow would be investigated for corruption and conspiracy for helping Kingston."

  Jo covered her eyes again. "Jesus Christ!"

  "I told you he was the one feeding us this info," Nate countered. "Why would he be so hot to raid the depot if he wasn't the one who put us up to it in the first place?"

  "How do you explain him being in the company of so many people when we saw the Dark Avenger?" Jo asked. "He can't be the Dark Avenger. It's impossible."

  "Then maybe he's working for Kingston," Nate argued. "Maybe he's the one who's carrying out Kingston's orders from inside the Department."

  Blake blinked at him, slack-jawed. "You are NOT suggesting that Chief Bates is corrupt. Don't you even think about it. That dude is a fucking law enforcement hero."

  Nate held up both hands. "Okay. Maybe that's going a little too far."

  "We're all on edge after what just happened," Kat chimed in. "Let's call it a day."

  "So...." Nate scanned the group. "Are we all just gonna show up tomorrow and go on this raid like it's all daisies? Is that our plan?"

  The other three exchanged glances. "What else can we do?" Kat asked.

  An ominous silence fell over the table. Jo couldn't think of one thing to add to the conversation. Today's events called everything into question—everything she thought about her job, the Department, and even the people around her. She didn't have a single scrap of solid ground on which to stand.

  She registered the same despair and uncertainty in these three, her closest friends in the world. Blake took out his wallet and tossed a few bills on the table. "I'm going back to the office. I got work to do."

  He and Kat left without another word. Nate took his time getting out of the booth and limped to the exit and paused on the sidewalk. The whole damn Police Department was still over at the docks cleaning up the unholy mess—all but Jo and her friends.

  Nate scowled at the flurry of activity. In front of their eyes, Chief Bates crossed their line of sight, issued orders to a few equipment operators, and stormed off elsewhere.

  Like her friends, Jo found it near impossible to believe Chief Bates could be working for the enemy, especially Gabriel Kingston. She would rather believe aliens controlled him than that.

  Nate turned his back on the docks, and the couple started the long, slow haul back uptown. "What do you want to do?" she asked. "Do you want to go back to the office, too?"

  "And sit around thinking about this damn case?" he spat. "No, thanks."

  "What do you want to do, then?"

  He glanced at her on the side. "We could go home. I could claim that my leg hurts and I need you to bathe my fevered brow with rose water."

  She burst out laughing in spite of herself. At least they could still laugh about this. "That would be funny if I didn't suspect that your leg really did hurt. Maybe we should stop by the pharmacy and get that script filled." She stole a peek at him. "Does it hurt?"

  "A little bit. I don't need any painkillers, though." He slipped his arm around her. "I wouldn't mind taking the afternoon off with you, though."

  She let him kiss her, but that still didn't answer the question of how they were going to spend the rest of the afternoon. Even if, by some miracle, they took the afternoon off for medical reasons, he wouldn't be able to leave the case alone any better than she would.

  He would get out his phone and pore over those documents and would dwell on the raid coming up tomorrow morning. He wouldn't be able to stop himself. He wasn't made that way. None of them were.

  She slipped her hand into his, heading up the street, but their footsteps seemed to wend toward the Police Station. Of course, they did. They were Police Officers, weren't they? Where else would they go in the middle of a workday?

  They stopped at an intersection. Nate scanned the town for no reason while they waited for the signal to change. When the walking man changed from red to green, Jo tugged his arm, but he didn't move.

  She glanced over to find him frozen. He stared at something over her shoulder, and his eyes went cold and hard. "Son of a bitch."

  She spun around. He was gazing at the Lord Henry Hotel, the fanciest establishment in town. He glared through an open French door that gave a view to a comfortable bar inside.

  The bartender polished glasses talking to a single patron, a man in a business suit sitting on a stool. While Jo watched, the guy lifted a pint glass of beer, sipped it, and put it down again.

  "It's him," Nate whispered.

  "Who?" she asked.

  "Mackenzie. He could have come back here after he swam around the other side of the bay."

  "Are you serious?" she returned. "That's stretching it."

  "I'm gonna talk to him. He's got some questions to answer." Before she could stop him, he walked right into the bar. She hurried to keep up with him.

  Nate pivoted around the guy and leaned his elbow on the bar. "Mr. Mackenzie?" He stuck out his hand. "Detective Nate Fricks. We spoke this morning over at the martial arts studio. Remember?"

  Mackenzie swiveled his stool around and grasped Nate's hand. "Detective! How are you doing?" He looked over at Jo. "You haven't introduced me to your lovely partner."

  "Take it easy, big fella," Nate rumbled. "This is my wife, Detective Jo McGee."

  Mackenzie's eyes widened. "Your wife is a detective, too?"

  "She's a damn good one, too," Nate replied, "so behave yourself, or she'll cuff you to the bed."

  Mackenzie erupted in laughter. "You soun
d like you speak from experience."

  Nate perched on a stool next to him, but Jo didn't get involved in this. She wasn't sure how to deal with this man. She couldn't decide whether to treat him like the Dark Avenger or an innocent visitor who didn't know the first thing about Soledad.

  If he was the Dark Avenger, she would almost feel intimate with him for all the time she spent around him, to say nothing of the time and energy she put into thinking about him.

  She sat down on the stool on Mackenzie's other side. That left him no choice but to face Nate alone and keep his back to her.

  Nate flagged the bartender and ordered a Virgin Mary, so he must consider himself still on duty. Jo got a pineapple juice.

  Mackenzie waved toward the door. "Looks like something big is going down at the docks."

  "There is," Nate replied. "A military chopper tried to shoot someone, and then it blew up a freight ship."

  Mackenzie's eyes widened. "You wouldn't think a little town like Soledad would see that kinda action."

  "It shouldn't." Nate sipped his drink. "Do you mind if I ask what brings you to such a little town?"

  "Me?" Mackenzie took longer than he should have to answer. "I'm here on business. I thought I told you that."

  "Do you mind if I ask what business brings you here?" Nate asked. "I don't mean to pry. It's just that there's been some strange stuff going on. A heavy-hitter like yourself coming to town at a time like this strikes me as slightly unusual. It seems coincidental that you would show up, and at the same time, the shit hits the fan in a way it wouldn't otherwise. You understand."

  "Absolutely," Mackenzie exclaimed. "I'm here doing a deal with Wesley Falkner. Do you know him?"

  "I know him, all right." Nate rotated around and faced him. "It's even more unusual that two such wealthy entrepreneurs would meet here, in Soledad."

  "Not really." Mackenzie faced front and mumbled into his glass. "Falkner lives here. I'm meeting him at his home."

  Nate pivoted his stool to the front and asked in a nonchalantly way like he was just passing the time, "How long have you been in town?"

  "About a week."

  Nate nodded and smacked his lips. "I see."

  What in the world was he getting at? The Dark Avenger mystery had been going on a lot longer than a week, but that didn't mean Mackenzie couldn't be the Dark Avenger. He might mean he'd been in town a week this time. He might have come to town to stop Kingston from killing Molly, left town for a little while, and now he was back. Saying he'd been in town a week could mean anything.

  Mackenzie cocked his head and scrutinized the side of Nate's head. "What is this all about? I get the feeling you're questioning me about something. If you are, just come out and tell me. I have nothing to hide from the Police."

  "I'm not questioning you—not in an official capacity," Nate returned. "I just want to find out as much about you as I can—as much as I can without consulting Wikipedia, that is."

  Mackenzie grinned and relaxed. "Fame isn't all it's cracked up to be."

  "I can imagine," Nate breezed. "I can imagine it would stop you from doing a lot of things you could do if you could be anonymous. It might stop you from making a difference in people's lives without the media coming down in packs to pick it to pieces."

  Mackenzie studied him with a strange intensity. He didn't answer. Jo couldn't tell if the man read more into Nate's comments than he said on the surface.

  Without warning, Nate tossed the last of his drink and got up. He clapped Mackenzie on the shoulder. "It was good to see you again. If you're sticking around town, maybe we could share a drink again sometime."

  He walked away too fast. He didn't even wait to listen to Mackenzie say, "I'd like that."

  Jo barely got half her drink down her throat before she had to race out of the bar. She hustled up to Nate on the sidewalk. He walked a lot faster now, and he didn't flinch once. "What's the matter with you? You didn't even ask him where he was this morning during the attack?"

  "He wouldn't have told the truth. The point is that he could have done it. He could have done it all. He could have either stolen or borrowed Falkner's Lamborghini that night at the graveyard. He could have been the Dark Avenger every other time without anyone even noticing that he wasn't around. He didn't have any meetings or anything to give him an alibi."

  Jo chose her next words with care. "I think you might be putting a different construction on it."

  "It doesn't matter. Come on. We've got a raid to prepare for."

  Chapter 4

  Nate scanned the dockyard through his binoculars. "Come out, come out, wherever you are."

  Blake elbowed up next to him. "You really think the Black Leopard will show after what happened yesterday?"

  "He wouldn't miss it."

  Jo hung back. She leaned against the paddy wagon down the block. A bunch of plain-clothes officers already surrounded the docks, they talked to the security guards and a few Port officials about bringing such a large Police presence onto the premises.

  Kat stood next to her. "Has anyone thought to locate Kingston in all this?"

  "We sent legal representatives to his office and his home to serve the search warrant, but he wasn't at either place. He must be here."

  "He's shredding the documents as we speak," Blake chimed over his shoulder.

  "I'm telling you we have no reason to think the Dark Avenger is trying to help us," Jo ventured. "That whole stunt yesterday could have been designed to tip Kingston off that we were getting ready to raid him."

  "If that's true," Blake asked, "why did he tip us off about Molly getting kidnapped?"

  Kat rolled her eyes to Heaven. "Can we please stop dragging the whole subject through the mud for the thousandth time?"

  Before anyone could say anything, Nate interrupted without taking his binoculars down. "Here comes Chief Bates."

  Jo and Kat stood up. Jo peered over Nate's shoulder. Chief Bates exchanged a few words with one of the other detectives by the security post. Then he rotated around and waved to the party across the street.

  "That's us." Nate pocketed his binoculars. "Let's roll."

  The four friends marched across the street, and Chief Bates joined them. "The site is all secure. We won't encounter any trouble at the depot."

  "Did we locate Kingston yet?"

  "A couple of flat-foots laid him up over at Health and Safety. He's giving 'em the usual song and dance."

  Jo spoke up from the back of the group. "What about his people? He ambushed us out of nowhere last time we tried to interfere with his business."

  "Everyone on site is accounted for," Chief Bates replied over his shoulder. "Everyone inside the fence has the necessary clearance to be here, and none of them is carrying any weapons. If his people have orders to attack or stop us, they aren't here."

  "What about the chopper?" Kat asked. "Does anyone know where it came from or where the control signal originated?"

  "We're still looking for it. The satellite feed was encrypted. We might never find out."

  "Unless it comes back," Blake muttered.

  The team pivoted following the arrows toward Gabriel Kingston's shipping depot, and the domed warehouse rose several stories taller than the low sheds and warehouses around it. It seemed to loom over Jo and her friends as they approached.

  It breathed with menace as though it understood these interlopers wanted to pry its secrets from it. She cast a searching glance around the yard. Was the Dark Avenger out there somewhere? Was he watching them right now? What about the chopper? Was it just waiting to rush out and attack the way it did yesterday?

  A line of uniformed Police held back a crowd of dockworkers. The workmen glared at the officers outside the warehouse with undisguised loathing. No doubt they all wanted this over with, so they could get back to work. Jo didn't blame them.

  A locksmith in blue overalls bent over the entrance door next to the loading bay. He fiddled with a few keys and popped the lock. He pushed the door back. "There
you go, folks."

  "Thanks, Nicky," Blake told him.

  He picked up his toolbox and left, but before anyone could enter, Kingston came barging out of nowhere. His son Julian flanked his right side and what could only be his legal team hurried at his left. "Stop where you are! This is private property and you are trespassing. You're exposing the Soledad Police Department to legal action by invading my place of business without the necessary authority."

  "Oh, good. You finally decided to show up." Blake bellied up to him and flapped a piece of paper in his face. "Here's your search warrant. Just stand over there with your minions while you pore over the details 'cuz we got a raid to carry out."

  Kingston took the warrant and scowled at the tiny writing. Blake took hold of his two shoulders and bodily shifted him out of their path. Jo, Nate, Kat, and Chief Bates pushed past them and entered the warehouse.

  Chief Bates barked orders at everyone. "Get the safebreakers in here. Open that loading door, Fricks. We need the heavy equipment to pull up this floor."

  Nate punched buttons on the wall, and the rolling door glided up. Daylight poured into the warehouse and illuminated racks, shelves, and stacks of containers rising to the arched roof.

  Blake left Kingston to study the warrant and yelled to the heavy equipment operators. Backhoes and loaders rumbled into the depot.

  Jo and Kat made a quick sweep of the premises. "So where's the safe?"

  Blake consulted his phone. "The anonymous informant says it's in the far southwest corner."

  The friends couldn't even get near that corner. "Get one of those container forklifts in here," Chief Bates ordered.

  Some of the dock workers brought their forklifts inside. While they moved the stacks to expose where the safe should be, Jo and her friends checked the rest of the warehouse. They found a small office on the upper tier, but it contained no filing cabinets or even any computers. A single chair sat behind a desk, and a water cooler occupied one corner. That was it.

  Jo paused in the doorway. Her heart sank. The longer this went on, the more she didn't like it at all. "Am I the only one that gets the feeling we've been played?"