Yeah, like hell you didn't I thought. Right on time, if hard doesn't work, try soft. Gods, did this guy think I had forgotten my training? But I didn't say anything.
"Look, how do you think this guy got his info? Have you told anyone?" Asked Mark.
"Well let's see, night before last the Vampire Master of the city seemed to know, and I don't know who talked to him. I had the local Officer in Charge for the FPI pulled off of a case because he completely blew a stakeout, cuffed me, roughed me up a bit, and finally had me sprayed with enough wolfsbane to have killed me if I were wolfin'. There were several witnesses to the Master's IDing me, all of the other Vampire council members for a start. A couple of them have no reason to love me, though I doubt any of them would sing to 'Kelly', I don't see him and them getting along. Still… it would be a place to look. My great uncle knows, because he saw me shift. It was a special circumstance. I guarantee he's not the leak, he has, or had, a clearance nearly as high as mine. He's also the one that brought up a little something you guys didn't feel the need to tell me. It seems it's genetically linked. Did you guys not know that, or did you just not think about it?" I really didn't want to mention Mary if I could avoid it. I knew she hadn't leaked, and I didn't want to bring any attention down on her.
Mark looked at me with a 'butter wouldn't melt' expression, and said "I'm not sure what you're talking about John, I haven't been cleared to everything in your file." Yeah, my ass, I thought. "Still, the list you gave does give me a couple things to check up on. Anything else you can think of that we might need to look into?"
"Yeah when I think about it, there's one Vampire in particular that has absolutely no love for me, and might be willing to go to any length to piss on my Wheaties. Feododr Orshanski, and he was there when the head Vamp named me as a former SEAL. Still, I would look to see how the Vamps knew, someone is talking."
"All right John, I'll check into this, and we'll let you know what is going on. We will also have a talk with the judge, and with both the attorneys. We take a dim view of this sort of thing, we might really need to recall you, and use your talents again one day. That's going to be a bit harder if you're made. Oh, and expect to hear from us officially soon for a debrief on that hostage thing you and the Federal Special Response Team worked on a few days ago."
"OK, thanks for the heads up, if we're done here though, I now have to go deal with a hysterical family that's somewhat more anti-violence than Gandhi." With that, I stood up. Mark stood up, we shook hands, and walked out, if not arm in arm, at least roughly on the same side.
*****
The drive to Mom and Dad's house was a blur of bad traffic. I was sort of on automatic, trying to figure out what the hell I was going to say. When I got there, the scene was every bit as bad as I had expected. Mom was in tears, Dad was still in the hospital for the night.
I got the whole treatment, "We raised you to respect human life, not take it." And "how could you have kept this a secret for all of these years, didn't you trust us?" Yes, all these, and many more! But wait, if you act right now, you can also get, "you knew your dad had a weak heart," and "you're no son of mine".
Well, after about an hour and a half of this, I had had enough. I blew my top, not in a Baresark way, but I lost it just the same. "Look Mom, do you know why Uncle Lars has a different last name? Do you know why Gramps was such an anti-violence type? Or why he and his brother have never been in the same room in forty years until you guys butted in?" She shook her head, a little pale, partly from the tone of my voice I guess. I wasn't in a mood for this anymore. "Great Gramps was a fucking Nazi OK? Both of the boys took after him, they both joined the Waffen SS. Oh, they didn't stay in it long before they deserted, but they both probably have the tattoo. Further, once they deserted, they were in the Resistance, and got in a major firefight. It seems there's a minor little genetic gift that flows in the family. Know what it is?" She shook her head. "The brothers both go Baresark. It seems that in battle rage, Gramps eats people. Unka Lars told me all about it, so save the sanctimonious horse shit. I have never killed a man that wasn't a sworn enemy of our country, Gramps ate team mates! Sure he was revolted afterwards, but that don't bring his teammates back, or the B-17 crew he was supposed to rescue. Gramps was so wigged out he had been living in denial ever since. Lars found a way to control it so that it wouldn't control him, and Gramps hated him for it. That's why the name change!" Well I wouldn't have gotten a more effective conversation stopper if I had thrown a Frag in the middle of the room. She stared at me with horror in her face, then Mom ran out of the room crying. I turned and walked out of the house. I was sure that this wasn't done, but I was also sure that we wouldn't finishing it in the near future. Maybe in six months or so, we could talk about this like reasonable human beings. Maybe.
I stopped at a fast food joint on the way home, I finally realized that I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Two super sized meals later, I was home. Mary met me at the door with a hug and a kiss.
15
To say I was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement. I was more than a bit curious as to how in the hell Mary found her way to my house, but I would worry about that in a second. Right now I just wanted to enjoy the moment. And the next, and the next… A little bit later, I finally came up for air, and asked: "Not that I mind, but how did you get here?"
"Well, many years ago, my Mom and Dad got together, and…"
"All right smart ass, you know what I mean. How did you find my place?"
"Well when I saw the news reports, I had your phone number on my phone, so I called and asked Lars how I could help."
At that point Lars interrupted, "It's my fault John, I told her how to get here, if you're going to blame someone, blame me."
"Relax, I'm not 'blaming' anyone, I'm happy you're here, I just wanted to know how you found the joint. Uncle Lars, I owe you the apology, I lost my temper tonight, and outed you. Mom and Dad were being more than usually obtuse, and…Sorry." I said as I stood in the doorway with two handfuls of Mary.
"It's all right, I should have told them about my brother and me years ago. I only refrained out of consideration for my brother, though why I don't know…" Lars said with a ragged smile. "You hungry?"
Being 'Thrope means always being able to eat, so I said, "I could have a little bit."
"There's ham steak on the warmer, with wild greens, and yams. Dig in."
Score! Yeah, I had a couple of Jack in the Box meals on the way home, but this was real food. Over dinner we discussed the court case and the day in general. That and drank. By the time the evening was over, we had polished off the best part of a fifth of Evan Williams, and I was pleasantly buzzed and willing to forgive even my parents.
Lars had gone to bed, and I was trying to screw up my courage to ask Mary to stay the night. I guess it must have shown on my face, because Mary looked at me and said, "John, you don't have to work this hard at it. If you want me to stay, just ask."
Well, there it was. Yes, I did want her to stay, in fact, I really thought this might go somewhere serious and permanent, but I couldn't help but remember the last 'permanent' thing I had been involved in. "Mary, I would love to have you stay."
"Ok, White man, I hear a 'but' in there. What's going on in that little pea brain of yours?" She was grinning as she said it, but it looked like she really wanted to know.
So I told her the whole sordid story about my marriage, and the aftermath. It wasn't a pretty story, and I wasn't too proud of some of what I had done in the aftermath of the divorce, but there it was. She just nodded and listened until I was done.
Then she looked at me and said, "So, based on one bad, OK, REALLY bad breakup, you're going to live without a long-term relationship for the rest of your days? John, it's not that hard. I like you. A lot. I may even love you, I don't know, I'll get back to you on that. I thought you were a really good catch when we first met, once I knew you weren't FPI. Go with it! My people have never gotten into that whole drama thing y
ou guys get hung up on. If you want to spend time with someone, you do. If it turns out to be a bad idea, you will both know about it soon enough, and you walk away. So, do you want to go to bed, or not?"
Well, what the hell can you say to that? I didn't say anything, I just laid a lip lock on her and let my actions do the talking. Eventually we went up to the hot tub, and made love. Then we went to bed and did so again.
*****
The next morning I woke up at about the normal time, and went for a run, vice doing the normal calisthenics. I didn't want to wake Mary. While I was out trotting around the lake, an idea that I had been toying with finally jelled. Marina or her minions were casing me, and seemed to really want the gold from her son(?) back. Why, I don't know, and in the short run, I don't care. This was something I could use against them. If they wanted this stuff back so bad, maybe I could bait them into coming out of hiding with it. Now all I had to do was sell it to the Lieutenant.
I made it back to the house as Lars and Mary were getting up. We had breakfast together, then I got a quick shower, got my gear on, and headed in to the office. When I checked my email, I found out that the judge had found against the defendant on the motion for dismissal, and had found that I had not performed an unlawful search, based on Washington vs. Roberts, and US vs. Lesley. Well that's cool, though I'm sure that this will go to appeal, and probably all the way to the Supreme Court. I doubt I'll have to go back in on this case, at least not until the appeal starts. Without getting my contact thrown out, Green's done, not even 'the Great Kelso Kersey' stands a chance of getting a judge to buy the discrediting of the case on its merits. No, his one and only shot was a technicality, and it looks like that's been blown. Lieutenant Murphy wasn't in her office, so I started going through the official business in my in box. The first thing was a note from an attorney I know that handles civil law. He was offering to take me as a plaintiff in a civil suit against "Mr. Kersey, the Seattle Times-PI, KIRO, etc. et. al." Seems he thinks that I have a good case for violation of civil rights, and damages for defamation, and slander. I called him up and discussed it with him. It's not that I want the money, I don't really, but if I can make this go away quick and quiet I will be much happier.
The next thing in the box was a report from the Border Patrol on my request for information on a 'Marina Colhuacan and a Mixcoatl Colhuacan'. They had crossed into this country on the fifth of March with seasonal labor permits, see attached picture etc… OK, now we were getting somewhere. The picture of the boy matched as well as I could tell based on what was left. The clincher was the necklace he was wearing in the picture. This was our Jose Doe. Well, that gives me enough to put a PC to arrest statement out on 'Mommy Dearest'. I sent on out on the wire immediately with the usual armed and dangerous/ suspect is magically trained and 'capable of Offensive Magic'.
Now, do I think I am going to get some county sheriff or state trooper to find her on a traffic stop? Well no, but you have to play the odds. Putting her picture out doesn't cost us anything, and we've had stranger things happen than this. Hel, several years ago the FPI got lucky and caught a Voodin' High Priest that was into curses for hire, and wanted on several counts of Murder by Magic because he got stopped for DWI. I don't think much of the FPI on the whole, but I didn't care who got this guy, just as long as he got fried. At one time this shit head had the entire south central district of Los Angeles dancing to his tune, and had killed or been involved in the killing of at least three cops.
I spent the rest of the morning taking care of various things from past cases, and writing up reports on the assault Saturday night, and the rest of the things I knew to date. This involved calling the evidence locker at the Federal building and getting them to photograph the knife, then email me the picture, getting the report from the Seattle P.D. and half a dozen other little details. Then I had to tie all of this together in the paperwork with the details I had observed earlier of the condor following me, the presence of traces of the same beasties at my house, and the information I had gotten from the Vampire council. Further I had to tie all of this up with the rest of the things I knew, in a way that would allow a judge or a prosecutor to see the same things I saw, and draw the same conclusions. By the time I got done with all of this paperwork it was lunch time.
*****
After lunch (a big bowl of chili), I got a call from KIRO, they wanted to apologize for any problems that their "over enthusiastic reporter" might have caused. Shortly thereafter, I received calls from most of the major media with similar messages, it seemed that no one wanted to risk a jury's wrath for harassing a minority, and an alleged war hero at that. Either that, or the Government in the form of Commander Dorflinger's boys had 'explained' some things to some folks. I didn't care much either way, as long as it worked.
I went in to see the Lieutenant after I got off the phone with the last of them. We talked about the Green case for a few minutes, and then I broached the primary topic of the day.
"Pam, I have a primary suspect for the boiled growers case, but I can't locate her." I said as I kicked back in the side chair.
"Have you put an attempt to locate out?" Pam said as she looked up from her desk.
"Yes, actually I put out a PC to arrest. I have enough to hold her if I can find her. But Pam, this gal ain't your normal pot grower or poacher. If I understand right, this gal controls at least 3 of some sort of Aztec Vampire shape shifter, and packs a really mean cauldron. When Pete and I went out to Peshastin the whole migrant community was scared shitless of her. I don't think we're going to get her by a lucky traffic stop."
"OK, you wouldn't be saying this if you didn't have a hare-brained plan that you felt you had to talk me into," Pam said with a grin. "So let's hear it."
"Well, as the report here reads, the murderer or her agents have been following me, and have actually attacked me because they thought I had some of the gold from the murdered migrant, a Mixcoatl Colhuacan."
"Oh, no, you don't. John, hold it right there. My officers do not 'do' 'bait'. I remember an old Pogo comic, 'once you've been used as bait, it don't matter if you caught anything, you're not much good for anything else.' John, we are not going to 'use up' one of my officers damn it." She didn't look particularly pleased with me.
"Pam, if you have a better idea, I'm open for suggestions. These folks have even tried to break in to the damn Federal building, and the only thing that stopped them was the security systems installed. If we don't take these mutts down, and soon, eventually they'll get through and get their gold. Then we'll have no way to locate them, and if she's killed once, she'll kill again, if she isn't caught. Think of someone that can kill from miles away, and virtually untraceably. Do you want this bitch and her Aztec death legions roaming our woods?" This Marina had me just a little scared. I don't do scared well, my typical attitude is 'it scares me, kill it'. I think this showed on my face.
"Draw it up. Work on it for a couple of days, while I try to think of something better. If I can't come up with something, we'll look at it. Hey, how about using a magic sniffer to try to locate her?" Pam's eyes lit up, she thought she had found a way to avoid a 'bait' situation.
"No dice, boss, you can only detect a magic user when they're using their power. You want to put several of us on full time 24/7 coverage waiting for her to do a spell, and then try to track the smell before the spell is over? I don't think the budget folks would think much of that. Not to mention that her next spell might kill someone else."
"OK, like I said, draw it up, take a day or two, and if I can't figure out something better, we'll examine it."
Well, that looked like the closest thing I could get to a victory, so I took it. I spent the rest of the day working on how to make a foolproof trap that wouldn't kill the bait, ME.
16
When I got home that night, I was a bit wiped. I wish someone would explain to me why sitting and planning is more exhausting than doing. It doesn't make sense, but it's often so. Mary had gone back to her house ea
rly that morning according to Lars, so it was just us guys again. It was about sundown, which was good, as I needed to get in touch with the Seattle Council and find out if they had learned anything. I had the council's office phone from when we paid them a visit, I'm not sure if just calling the council was 'done' or not, but I really didn't want to deal with the Seattle traffic tonight.
When I called the council office, the secretary that Mary and I met a couple of days ago answered the phone, and immediately put me thorough to Maestro Sorenson.
"Don Sorenson, How are you this evening? Is this a good time for a question or two?" No I wasn't scared of the guy, but I did need things from him, and Vampires are notoriously touchy about formality.
"Officer Fisher, John, if I may? How are you? As I mentioned on Saturday, I am in your debt. I always have time for you. How may I be of assistance to our favorite officer of the law?"
OK, that was spreading it on a bit thick, but maybe he really means it? Nah. "Viggo, my friend, I was wondering, have you and your associates had any luck with locating the individuals we discussed the other evening?"
"John, I am afraid we have not yet been successful. These Civatateo seem to be very adept at concealing their presence, and striking fear in the mortal citizens of this world in which we live." He sounded actually disappointed. I'm not sure if this was because he really wanted to help, or if he was just offended professionally that someone could successfully hide themselves from him. Either way it looked like it had become personal for the good Don.
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