by John Carrick
"I came to get proof," Ashley told him. “This is where it is.”
“Dunkirk was an accident?" Cole asked, confused.
"When I ran into Bobby in the forest, this is where I was coming."
"Who is Bobby again?" Cole asked.
"Bobby Dunkirk, he's the youngest son. I met him in the forest, when I was on my way here."
"And where is here?" Cole asked, looking at the imposing, yet abandoned structure. A layer of soft, fine dirt, blown by the wind, covered the driveway and the walk leading to the door.
"I don't think anyone is here."
"I came back for security footage, and this is where it is," Ash said.
She walked up the driveway. She was surprised Cole didn't object or move to stop her. In fact, he stayed right next to her.
Ash slipped her hand into her pocket and held the device. She waved her other palm in front of the access panel.
The door chirped, depressurized and hissed open.
She hesitated. She hadn’t done anything clever or special. Ashley had no idea why a panel at a house she had never been to before should recognize her. It was possible the Micronix had done it for her, but she didn’t know how.
A car screeched to a landing in the driveway behind them.
Ash and Cole froze as two suited agents exited the car. They both wore mirrored sunglasses.
Seeing Ashley and Cole, the driver gestured for his younger partner to calm down. He surveyed the surroundings and respectfully approached.
"Hello Ashley, I’m Chief Warrant Officer Lee," he spoke to Ash, but then extended his hand to Detective Cole, breaking eye contact with her to look over to him.
"Detective Cole," he said, as they shook.
"How do you know my name?" Ashley asked.
"What are you doing at this house?" Lee asked.
"You're on my father's security team, aren't you?"
Lee nodded and bowed slightly, "At your service."
"It was you that Ross saw," Ashley said. "He thought you were the bad guys staking out my house.”
“Oh, they’re here too. Don’t be fooled.” Lee smiled. “They almost caught when you stopped by your home. It was only because they pulled one team off to replace them with a fresh crew. You hit the only window in months of surveillance. We were all very impressed. Congratulations.”
“What happened to you guys? When they came for my Mom and Dad, why didn't you stop them?"
Lee gestured for them to enter the residence. He followed his partner in and waved at the panel. The door closed behind them.
"They came here about an hour earlier, arrested everyone. They had warrants with our names. There was nothing we could do. We haven't come back to this location, but we've kept them out too. We have lawyers protesting the entire fiasco, everything is frozen until it gets settled in court."
"I need evidence," Ashley said.
Lee waved a hand over the control panel. The sensors recognized his presence and fired up the displays.
Everything was sill operational, feeding real time streams of Ashley's house and street. The four motion sensitive relays were trained on various sections of the property, while the oscillating and static positions displayed focused locations.
Several high-powered rifles and large bore weapons were trained on key positions of her family home. Crosshairs over street level doors, the front, sides and even the landing pad, all covered.
Lee pulled up the date of the attack. He scanned through the footage, slowing as the rooftop landing pad and front lawn filled with black vehicles and federal agents.
"That's them," Ash said.
Lee backed up a few minutes and switched through the focal ranges. He found the infrared and panned through the house. Ash saw her mom coming up to the main floor from downstairs. Even though her figure was represented as light, translated by the heat in her body, Ashley could recognize her mother's walk.
"We've stayed away from the residence since you were taken. We thought you were taken. We've been staking out the neighborhood. Your place and here, waiting for something to break."
The infrared footage revealed a thick-bodied man entering the kitchen from a door on the back of the house. She watched her mother enter the room, and their glowing silhouettes merged as the intruder pounced. They struggled for a few moments and Ashley watched liquid heat began to run down the legs of her mother and the intruder. The white liquid pooled around their feet, spread and faded to a cool purple-blue.
On the monitors, a streak of light rushed into the room and drove the thick shape of the intruder from her mother's from. Ashley recognized his shape; the new, quick moving light was her father. The intruder fled through the same door he'd entered. Ashley watched as her father caught her mother and together, they sunk to the floor. More liquid heat pooled around them and then faded.
Lee panned over to the side of the house, where the intruder was entering an uninterrupted shot. He switched back to full color, and the image snapped into focus, it was Martin Dunkirk; he was covered with blood and grinning.
Lee scanned forward in time; they watched the federal forces assemble on her front lawn. The front doors stood open. Soon soldiers wheeled out someone in a white body bag, presumably the body of Ashley's mom.
Ash watched as her father burst from the house, his hands and shirtfront, covered in blood. The lead agent, the man who was obviously in charge, Director Stanwood drew a pistol and raised it.
Dr. Fox said something to Stanwood, but the agent pulled the trigger, the pistol fired and Ashley's father fell, mortally wounded. Lee rewound the footage and turned up the audio. Microphones, set on the property, played back the words her father said as he came out of the house.
"Joe, you have to help, Ana. Please, Stanwood..."
Then the pistol fired, it sounded so loud it may as well have been in the room. Dr. Fox fell again.
Stanwood motioned for the soldiers to pack up Dr. Fox's body. They rolled it onto a white frosted body bag and carried it to one of the waiting transports.
"We need a copy of this," Cole said.
Lee selected the time range, less than four minutes from start to finish, and exported a clip. He opened a network browser and copied the clip into a dozen mirrored storage accounts. Lee wrote a network address down and handed it to Ash, who smiled and nodded, "Thank you."
Cole fixed one of the live cameras on a hostile argument between Urich and Von Kalt across the canyon.
“That’s Director Von Kalt.” Ashley said. “He’s trying to kill me.”
From overhead, Captain Anastasia Snow and Chief Warrant Officer Reid watched Ashley and Cole leave the security residence. It had been little trouble to eavesdrop on the conversation.
Captain Snow found herself conflicted with relief at how events were unfolding and furious about having so little influence. It appeared that the only person who wanted Stanwood dead more than her, was her daughter.
The cognitive dissonance caused by her simultaneous joy and revulsion at the recent turn of events prevented her from inserting herself. She couldn’t explain it and didn’t feel compelled to.
Thankfully, Reid didn’t ask for any kind of explanation.
Ashley and Detective Cole reached the police station a little after dark. Once in his office, Cole logged in and had no trouble locating Ashley's brother, Geoff. He was at a juvenile holding facility not far from where he'd been picked up.
Cole filed a request for Geoff, a material witness, to be brought up to his office ASAP. The facility supervisor sent Geoff with a young social worker. Unfortunately, they were sent by way of public shuttle, an hour's ride at least, maybe two if the shuttle had prior scheduled deliveries.
Cole's phone rang. "What's going on?" he asked.
He walked over to the printer and pulled up a sheet of paper from the tray. "Yeah. It's here. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, it says. Material warrant for all persons, property or information pertaining to the ongoing investigation into Six
th Gate Citizen Dr. Andrew Fox, matter of national security, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, there are twelve, numbered and signed."
Cole listened for a moment. Ashley could hear was frantic yelling from the other end of the line.
"What, Dunkirk? Yeah, sure, I'll triple it. Hold on, I'll be right back." Cole set down the receiver and gestured for Ashley to stay put. He rose and left the office.
Ashley found herself immediately bored. She picked up the warrant. There were indeed twelve names and corresponding signatures.
She opened the drawer to Cole's desk. There were two guns, a small revolver and a pistol. Ashley tucked the revolver into her belt and closed the drawer, pulling her shirt over the butt of the weapon.
She leaned over to the terminal and pulled up one of the storage mirrors Lee had given her. Ashley downloaded the surveillance file and opened it. She watched it seven times before the detective returned.
Cole paid no attention to the video clip running on his screen and picked up the phone. "He's in our wing, strapped to a bed. One leg is just destroyed. We've got four guys on him, he's not going anywhere."
A large commotion at the doors to the office distracted Cole from his call. He set down the phone.
The storm at the other end of the line had reached them.
Chapter 72 – Synthesis
It was easy for the small man with the doctor’s bag to slip past the chaos. Dr. Cedric Bergstrom moved through the station with intent. The ACPD was beyond over-confident. No one questioned him or even gave him as much as a sideways glance.
He reached the holding cell and nodded to the soldiers. They didn’t hesitate either, promptly opening the cell for the diminutive doctor.
Bergstrom nodded and smiled his thanks, waiting as they closed the heavy metal door.
Dunkirk was unconscious.
Bergstrom opened his bag and removed several wicked looking syringes. He pulled out his scanner and slowly examined Dunkirk’s shattered body. He’d seen the news clip on his way to the station.
Boy, that Ashley, she sure could kick.
Dunkirk’s body was a mess of superficial wounds, but his legs had taken the worst of it in the fall.
Cedric calculated that he’d need to prepare twenty-two injections to get the boy right. He went to work, filling the syringes with his own proprietary formulae, purple, as opposed to Dr. Fox’s more famous blue product. “When this is all over, you’ve jut got to come visit me down at the work shop, my old friend.”
Three uniformed officers tried to keep out a throng of black suited agents. They pushed right through Urich and several other detectives; they just couldn't hold them back.
The entire swarm of people flowed into the detective's workspace, filling the open corridors between desks with angry, shouting, law-enforcement officials.
When Deputy Director Von Kalt, who was at the center of the fracas, saw Ashley, he froze and gave her leering predatory grin.
A moment later he pointed at her and shouted, "This is a case of National Security! You're obstructing Justice! You're all under Arrest!"
Ashley pulled out the detective's revolver and pointed it at Von Kalt with one hand.
The room fell silent.
No one moved or spoke, and to Ashley’s utter shock, no one raised a weapon at her.
Deputy Director Von Kalt didn't answer, so Ash pulled out the piece of paper, "This warrant says you're after me. You killed my parents and now you want to kill me? You think I'm a threat to National Security?"
Detective Cole reached down to his computer and hit a button.
The video Ashley had opened was broadcast to the wall-mounted screens around the room.
The sound silenced the onlookers.
The assembled officers and agents watched the footage.
They saw Dunkirk emerge from the house, covered in blood.
They saw Dr. Fox approach Director Stanwood, asking for help.
Deputy Director Von Kalt was there, standing next to Stanwood.
Dr. Fox called Stanwood by name and he shot him.
As the video started again, a new group of agents arrived in the detective’s offices. There was hardly enough room for all the angry law enforcement officials.
He entered with the second batch of Agents. It was him: National Intelligence Director Joseph Stanwood. He was there, in front of her, staring at her. He was limping and used a cane.
Ashley smiled.
She folded the warrant and tucked it into her back pocket, moving her aim from Von Kalt to Stanwood and taking hold of the weapon with both hands. Ashley was positioned behind Cole's desk, near an open hall door.
Cole stood next to her.
There were still no guns in anyone else's hands, yet.
"What the hell is this?" Stanwood asked. "You're just going to let a child stand there, holding all of you at gunpoint?"
Over the speakers, a shot was fired.
Stanwood looked at the closest screen. He saw the image of himself, standing over Dr. Fox's body.
Detective Urich stepped forward, confronting Stanwood. "My witness isn't going anywhere with you. Neither is my prisoner. I believe we have plenty of evidence to place both of you under arrest."
"Is that a fact?" Director Stanwood said. "Habeas corpus has been suspended? You are a homicide detective, if you intend to charge someone with murder, you need the body, don't you?"
No one replied.
"Might I also point out the fact that Dr. Fox violated dozens of international laws and was threatening the state? He was in possession of advanced weaponry and threatened to hold the entire country hostage. The man was a danger to himself, as well as those around him. The warrant is legal. Now, if you obstruct me in any way, I will shoot you myself. Turn over my prisoners, Both children," Stanwood glared at Ashley, "And The Dunkirk." Stanwood referred to Dunkirk as if he were a thing, a weapon or some sort of monster.
The small doors on the far side of the office opened. A uniformed police officer entered first, with another officer close behind.
The first man was scared. He'd been struck above the left eye; his forehead was swollen and cut. The holster at his belt was empty.
The man behind him, the somewhat mobile Martin Dunkirk, wore a police issue vest and jacket as he held the young officer with a gun to his back. "Looks like this is as far as we go," Dunkirk said.
The officer swallowed.
Ashley switched her aim from Stanwood to Dunkirk.
The moment seemed to stretch into infinity.
Everyone else reached for their weapons now, but it was too late.
Only a fraction of a second had passed.
The hostage officer was wearing a bulletproof vest, Dunkirk hiding behind him. Dunkirk raised his shotgun.
Ashley fired, hitting him in the arm.
Suddenly the office came alive as agents fired and dove for cover simultaneously.
Dunkirk jerked the trigger, blasting at Ash and Cole, but Urich jumped in front of the shot, sacrificing himself for his partner and the girl.
Cole flipped the desk.
Ashley swept her hand over eight light switches, plunging the floor into darkness. As the light vanished, she marked Stanwood's position and scrambled to avoid the officers pursuing Dunkirk.
Dunkirk dragged his hostage down one of the nearby hallways.
Cole tended to the wounded Urich. He'd taken some of the scatter shot to his arms and shoulder, but his vest saved him from mortal injury.
Von Kalt went with the agents and officers in pursuit of Dunkirk.
Ash slipped through the shadows behind cabinets and desks until she found herself just a short distance from Director Stanwood. She held the Micronix in her right hand and the detective's revolver in the other.
The sounds of the pursuit returned. Dunkirk had become ensnared in the famous police department maze and was on his way back to them.
They all turned toward the hall where Dunkirk would emerge.
Ash crept closer to Stanwood.
There was a small credenza between the director and what would be the oncoming pursuit, and he was further obscured by a filing cabinet.
As Dunkirk and his hostage backed into the Detectives' Hall, he did a double take, frustrated to realize he'd simply moved in a circle.
Ashley leaned out from behind Stanwood, seeing Dunkirk and being seen by him. She glared, taunting him.
Dunkirk abandoned his hostage and opened fire on Ash with both weapons, hitting Director Stanwood several times.
Ashley hid behind the credenza and the Director.
Dunkirk's aim was off due to several police-fired rounds. He replied with blasts from the shotgun. Pursued, the fight raged on, into another section of the station.
It had all happened in a singular moment.
Stanwood, wearing terillium threads, was largely unharmed. He’d gone down, but none of Dunkirk’s shots had even drawn blood; at the worst, he might be a little bruised.
National Intelligence Director Stanwood clambered to his feet with the help of his cane and was in the process of brushing off his jacket when he first caught a glimpse of Ashley.
She had noticed it was the left knee he was struggling with and approached from that side. As he spun to confront her, she stepped forward. Her right hand shot up to his neck, punching the Micronix into the left side of his throat.
"I remember how long time lasted, when I first touched this thing," she said. "I hope you're feeling every last second of this."
Ashley pulled the blade all the way around to the other side of his neck, dropping with the man as he fell to the floor.
She stared into his eyes as his breath came out his throat, making a sad flute-like sound. She watched the light fade from his eyes as his oxygen-deprived system slowly ceased understanding and experience.
Crouched low, Ashley had not been seen.
Cole and Urich were on the other side of the credenza, in the other section of the office.
Using the natural cover, Ashley crept out of the detectives' wing. She found a restroom and stopped to ditch the gun and wash the blood from her hands. From there, according to the evacuation placard glued to the wall, it was no more than thirty steps to an unguarded stairwell.
