by Mark Nolan
“Well you’d better tell that to the cops,” Tanner said.
“Thanks, Tanner. I plan to.”
Jake ended the call, thinking that this situation was totally surreal. Moments ago he’d been minding his own business at this beautiful park, just taking some pictures. There were people having picnics, jogging, flying kites, tossing Frisbees, walking dogs, watching the sailboats and playing with their kids. Life was good. Now a moment later he was being impersonated and falsely accused of who knows what. And his face was being shown on the news as a wanted criminal who should be shot or sent to prison for a very long time.
He turned to his college student assistant and said, “Caleb I have a bit of an emergency to take care of, something I have to do right now. Can you finish up the photo shoot and put the equipment away?”
“Sure, I’d love to boss man,” Caleb said.
“Get a few dozen more shots, and if I’m not back in an hour you can stow the camera equipment in the trunk of your car and grab some food, okay? This should cover your lunch.”
Jake handed Caleb some money.
“Okay cool,” Caleb said. “And I’ll get some nice shots too, you can count on me.”
“Thanks, I know I can, that’s why I’m leaving you in charge. Try to get a variety of shots, not just cute girls that you like. And keep really close tabs on the camera equipment so nobody walks off with any of it while you are distracted. That’s really important. I’ll see you in a while buddy.”
Jake picked up his camera backpack that held his personal DSLR camera, but he left the other equipment bags for Caleb to use. He called to Cody, who was watching him while resting on the grass. Cody jumped up, and they both jogged over toward the parking area by the water.
As Jake got closer to the Jeep, he pushed the remote start button on his key fob, as he often did, to start the engine and the heater or air conditioner. That was so nice how it would get the engine going and either heat up the inside of the vehicle or cool it off while the doors remained locked.
This time, however, the moment the engine started, a small explosion went off, apparently from under the driver’s seat. It blasted ball bearings or some kind of round projectiles up through the windshield and roof. The driver’s side of the vehicle now looked like Swiss cheese, with a pattern of buckshot-size holes right where Jake would have been sitting if he hadn’t used the remote.
Every person within earshot turned and looked at the Jeep with the shot up windshield and smoke coming out of the holes. Jake stopped in his tracks when he saw what had happened, and he spoke to Cody.
“Judging by the shot pattern, it looks like that explosive was probably planted under my seat,” Jake said. “My butt hurts just looking at that. I guess we’re taking a different way out of here Cody.”
Jake was not amused to be on the receiving end of this kind of creative ordinance, and he pulled his camera backpack around in front of him to get access to his pistol through a zippered slit in a pocket. The pack was also modified with a lining of Kevlar and would act as a makeshift bulletproof vest in a pinch.
Cody let out a growl; he wanted to fight whoever had caused the explosion. He hated explosions. It had been a while since he’d bit a chunk out of a terrorist. Today would be a fine day for it. Jake understood the fight-hungry look in Cody’s eyes, but sometimes you had to choose your battles. No further shots or explosions were heard, so Jake flipped the pack around to his back again, clipped the lead onto Cody’s collar, and then headed back across the grass, away from the water and toward the city.
When Jake got to Marina Boulevard, he crossed to the other side of the street and then snuck a quick glance at his reflection in the glass of a large bay window on one of the homes there. The late, great newspaper columnist Herb Caen used to mention the beautiful interiors and furniture you could see behind these windows as you passed by. In the reflection of the window, Jake saw a motorcycle-riding Police Officer drive past. The officer turned off of Marina Boulevard and rode his Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle right up over the sidewalk curb and onto the grass. He turned on his lights and siren, and zoomed across the big lawn toward the parking area as the crowd parted and people moved quickly to get out of his way.
“Don’t look in this direction officer,” Jake said under his breath, “Just keep your eyes on the smoking wreck of my Jeep. By the way, that is one badass motorcycle you’ve got there boss.”
Jake and Cody walked down the sidewalk, while Jake made a conscious effort to smile, and look like he was just walking his dog and getting some exercise. He turned the first corner he came to and walked up a side street away from the bay, then headed in the direction of a trendy sidewalk café.
“Cody, go there and wait.”
Jake pointed to a spot just outside of the velvet rope that ran along the side of the outdoor dining area. Two other dogs were sitting there patiently waiting for their family members to finish their meals. Cody went to the spot and stopped there, looking back at Jake as if this was total nonsense. Jake nodded at him knowingly and gave the hand signal for sit, stay. Cody sat, and one of the other dogs barked at him, but he just stared at the dog, growled and showed his teeth as if to say, “Seriously? Come at me if you want a piece of this, fool.” The other dog backed down and stopped barking. Jake walked up to the hostess and smiled at her.
“One for lunch sir?” the hostess asked.
“An outdoor table for two please, I’m meeting someone here,” Jake said. “But first could you tell me where the restrooms are, so I can wash my hands?”
“Yes, of course, the facilities are through that door and to your left.”
“Thank you, I’ll be right back.”
Jake knew where the restrooms were located in the restaurant, but he was making up an excuse to go inside and leave his dog unattended for a moment. He entered the bar area and spotted the ATM machine he’d seen there on a previous visit. He withdrew as much in cash advances as he could on several different credit cards. He felt lucky that he hadn’t canceled the credit cards yet, and Gwen hadn’t maxed them out either.
He stuffed the cash into his pockets, went out the back door and then into a gift shop next door. He paid cash for several prepaid cell phones and cards with minutes, along with a Giants baseball cap. Jake exited the gift shop, stuffed the phones into his camera backpack and put on the new baseball cap along with his Ray-Ban sunglasses. The moment after Jake stepped out onto the sidewalk, a police car stopped and parked nearby, and a male and female officer got out. Jake turned his head away from them and quickly ducked into a waiting taxi cab.
“Where to friend?” The driver asked. He spoke with an accent and had a beard.
“Pull up there by the end of the block, I’m waiting for someone.”
“One block, are you kidding me?”
“Jake waved a twenty dollar bill and said, “Once we pick him up you’ll earn a nice fare. Or I could just give my money to one of these other taxi drivers.” He pulled on the door latch and opened the door part way as if he was going to get out.
“Relax my friend, you got it.”
The man drove his taxi cab down the street and parked at the corner. Jake gave him the twenty dollar bill and asked him to wait just a minute, there was more money where that came from.
The man nodded and smiled, “Sure pal, twenty bucks a minute is okay by me.”
Jake walked quickly along the sidewalk until he could see Cody from a half a block away. He let out a low whistle in a pattern that Cody recognized as a command, and the dog trotted right over to him. They went to the taxi and got in the back seat. The driver gave Cody a skeptical look until Jake showed him another twenty and said, “There are lots of other taxis here if you don’t like my dog or my money. Any taxi will do, you’re not special.”
“No worries, I was just admiring your dog… and your money.”
Cody stuck his nose out the window and smelled the air as the car moved along, unconcerned with the business negotiation. He
focused on more interesting things like aromas and sounds. He could always bite the driver if it came to that. He actually hoped it would, he was still angry about the explosion.
“Where to now, big spender?”
“Head East, toward Fisherman’s Wharf,” Jake said. He just named the first place that came to mind.
“Okay, and it costs double for the dog.”
“No it costs the same, don’t push your luck.”
The taxi driver looked at Jake in the mirror and pushed his luck because this guy seemed to have lots of money and he needed his help for some reason.
“Okay only twenty dollars more for the dog.”
Jake lost patience and said, “If you mention my dog again I might tell him to bite you. He’s got rabies. Right boy?”
Cody barked and growled, and he huffed his hot breath on the back of the driver’s neck. The driver said nothing but his eyes went wide when he looked in the mirror and saw Cody showing his teeth. He made a few turns until he was on Bay Street. That would take them to the wharf area.
Chapter 68
Sergeant Beth Cushman finished up interviewing a witness for a case she was working on, and then she walked down the sidewalk to her unmarked police car. As she walked, she started having one of her cop intuition warnings. Whenever that happened, there might be something big going down in the city. On a hunch, Beth stopped and sent a text message to her partner, Terrell.
Beth: Anything going on?
Terrell: Getting coffee at Starbucks
Beth: What’s the coffee of the day?
Terrell: Café virgin
Beth: Awkward
Terrell: Damn autocorrect. I meant café vagina.
Beth: WTH?
Terrell: *Café Verona! V-E-R-O-N-A
Beth: Haha
Terrell: How do you turn off autocorrect?
Beth: You could read the instructions
Terrell: That’s just crazy talk
Beth: Oh sure, blame it on autocorrect
Terrell: I blame everything on technology
Beth: Probably a case of asphalt
Terrell: Meaning?
Beth: Your ass - your fault
Terrell: You’re nooooo help
Beth: I’m getting one of my intuitions
Terrell: Uh oh, fertilizer gonna hit the fan?
Beth: Maybe so, stay frosty
Terrell: Going to my rig, check the computer
Beth: Me too, touch base in a bit
Terrell: Roger that, out
Terrell got into his vehicle and looked at the dashboard computer. He saw the face of his friend Jake Wolfe on the monitor screen. The All-Points Bulletin said that Jake was wanted for shooting a Congressman’s pregnant wife in the stomach.
“This time Jukebox is really up the creek without a paddle,” Terrell said as he called Jake’s phone.
At police headquarters, Chief Pierce was yelling into his phone at one of his inspectors about the APB on Jake Wolfe.
“And get Lieutenant Hayes on the radio or the phone, right now,” Pierce said.
Pierce was going to have to put every cop in the city on the urgent task of apprehending Jake Wolfe. It rubbed him the wrong way to think that Hayes’ friend could be involved in anything like this. Jake had always seemed like a stand-up guy, even though he bent a few laws now and then. But reckless or not, Jake was always on the side of the good guys. In fact, just last night Jake had nearly got himself blown up by grenades while trying to help the police catch a serial killer. This didn’t add up, something was not right.
Pierce’s phone rang for the umpteenth time, and he answered, “Chief Pierce.”
“Chief this is Doctor Lang, the police psychiatrist. We have a problem with one of the officers.”
“I’ve got bigger problems right now Lang, so if it can wait…”
“It’s about Sergeant Cori Denton, I have reason to believe she’s like a ticking time bomb sir,” Lang said. “We need to help her before she causes an incident.”
“We’ll have to let her continue ticking until tomorrow morning. Right now I’m up to my ass in alligators and I don’t have time for human resources problems.”
“Alright, you’re the Chief, but I want a meeting with you tomorrow. You have no idea how serious this could be. Denton might be dangerous to herself and to her fellow officers and to public safety.”
“Put that in writing for me along with your recommendations for vacation time, anger management, or whatever would help Denton. We’ll meet first thing in the morning, you have my word.”
Pierce ended the call and started ordering more cops to make their way to the Moscone Center area as fast as possible.
Jake’s phone vibrated, he looked at the display and saw it was Terrell calling. Jake didn’t want to talk with the taxi driver listening, but he didn’t have much choice.
“Turn on the radio,” Jake said to the driver.
Jake hoped that music might help to drown out some of what he would say into his phone, so his words would not be heard as clearly by the driver.
“Sure buddy,” the driver said, and he turned on a sports talk radio station.
Jake answered Terrell’s call and said, “I guess your coworkers are eager to interview a certain photojournalist.”
“This is a nightmare, someone at the Moscone Center shot the very pregnant former prosecutor Katherine Anderson right on her stomach,” Terrell said. “And the shooter looks just like you. He could be your twin brother.”
“Is Katherine Anderson alive? How is the baby? Is there anything I can do to help them?”
“I don’t know the current medical condition, but right now the threat to yours is growing worse by the minute.”
“But you know I would never do that, and I have an alibi and witnesses as proof.”
“There is an APB out on you. Everybody with a gun and a badge is after you. Federal, State, City and County law enforcement of every kind. Let me pick you up in my police vehicle for your own protection.”
“Okay, I’m loitering at the Marina Green, just like Secret Service Agent Shannon McKay told me to.”
“Wrong answer. Two of my fellow cops are at the Marina Green right now, questioning your assistant Caleb. And they found your Jeep there, shot full of holes.”
“Alright, that’s true. Somebody doesn’t like me.”
“I’m using your cell phone’s GPS to track you,” Terrell said. “The phone data tells me you are driving away from the area, traveling in a vehicle at approximately thirty miles per hour, heading East on Bay Street.”
“You’re good, I’m going to have to switch to one of the throwaway prepaid phones I bought.”
“Just pull over and you won’t need the burner phone because you’ll be safe in my car.”
“I can’t sit around in custody, nobody should be able to shoot a pregnant woman and get away with it, especially when they are wearing a mask to look like me. I’m going to find that perp and put a bullet in him myself.”
“Stand down Jake, if any cops see you, the odds are they could shoot you in a knee-jerk reaction. Just about everyone thinks you did this, except for a few people like me and Beth and Ryan. Pull over right now and wait for me to pick you up.”
“I’m really sorry about what happened to Mrs. Anderson, and I want the shooter to go down for this just as bad as the cops do. Let me help. I’m an investigative photojournalist, and I can investigate.”
“No you can’t, you need to go into hiding until we get this straightened out.”
“If your guys are talking to my assistant Caleb, he can verify my whereabouts at the time of the incident. And he can be my alibi. I was also caught on video by the CCTV camera on top of the Marina Green’s flagpole. Call Agent McKay of the US Secret Service at the White House, she’s my new best friend.”
“I’ll pass that along, but the cops are in no mood right now to hear you say they are wrong.”
“No cops ever want to hear they are wrong, you guys all have conf
irming bias. Hang on I’m getting another call. I’m going to put you on hold.”
“No do not put me on hold,” Terrell said.
Terrell turned his lights on to make the car ahead of him get out of his way. He was going to catch up with Jake’s vehicle. And if it didn’t pull over, then he’d ram into it with his police car and force it off the road.
Chapter 69
When Zhukov saw the Agents running out of the conference center, he realized he’d cut things too close. It was time for another distraction.
He steered the car with one hand, and used his phone to view a live feed from a video camera inside the white van he’d been driving earlier. He could see the dead body of the man he’d killed, and the man was now wearing a mask of Jake Wolfe’s face. He’d been posed on his stomach and holding a rifle.
Zhukov reached into his pocket and took out a radio that Elena had hacked into the Secret Service channel. He tried to sound like an Agent as he said, “The suspect Jake Wolfe has been spotted in a TV news van parked near the North corner of the building. He appears to be armed with a rifle.”
Zhukov recited from memory the van’s license plate number and the names of the cross streets at the corner. The van he’d stolen was a similar style as the other media news vans, and Zhukov had stuck a sign onto the side of the vehicle featuring an out of town news station’s logo.
Next Zhukov entered a combination into his phone that caused a remote device inside the van to come to life. It was a proximity detector, and when someone approached close enough to the van it would trigger another, more interesting device.
After driving several blocks away from the scene of the crime, Zhukov drove the car into a hotel’s underground garage and parked in one of the few corners he had scouted out earlier where no CCTV cameras were watching. He got out of the car, left the keys in the ignition and left all of the windows down. With luck, someone might steal the vehicle and cause more confusion.
A red Audi was parked a few spaces away. He’d left it there earlier so he could switch cars. He used the key fob to pop the trunk, grabbed a small duffel bag and got into the car. He opened the bag and used the contents to change his appearance once again. Moving quickly, he put on a women’s blonde wig and added a long-sleeved red blouse that was a similar color to the red car. He smeared makeup concealer cream onto his face, applied bright red lipstick and put on a pair of red-framed sunglasses that also matched the car and blouse. It wasn’t as good a disguise as the facial mask he’d been wearing, but it was quick and would fool most people if they didn’t get too close.
