by Tom Heaven
A hooded figure stepped up to his driver’s window and emptied a full fifteen-round clip into the officer’s head and chest before he could turn to see where the shadow in his peripheral vision had come from.
When the rookie came running back to the car, he bent over and opened his mouth to speak but dropped everything and vomited instead. He gradually regained his composure enough to grab the radio mic and let the dispatcher know, “Officer needs assistance, officer down, send an ambulance. Please…Help!”
The dispatcher came back with, “Calm down son, what is your location?”
“Oh yeah, Thirteenth and Broadway in front of the donut shop.”
“Is the downed officer still breathing?”
“One second… no! There isn’t any carotid pulse either. I can see three GSW’s to the head and at least ten more in his chest.”
“O.K., it sounds like CPR will be of no use. Don’t move him then. Help is on the way.”
Dan and Frank were on call that evening so they were notified immediately after an ambulance was dispatched. By the time they got there, the scene was still relatively quiet. Two patrol cars had been sent as backup for the rookie and the medical examiner was on his knees examining the body which had been removed from the squad car. The siren screams of more units on the way could be heard in the background.
Dan raised the yellow “Do Not Cross” tape enough to get his wheelchair under it and approached the rookie. “Have you canvassed the area yet.”
“Yes sir. I found this. He handed a gun in a plastic evidence bag to Dan and pointed to a yellow marker noting where it had been found.”
“I see you have protected the evidence well, Jensen,” said Dan, as he leaned over to read the officer’s name tag. “Good job.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“We’ll need to talk to you when we get back to the station, so don’t go home till’ we do.”
“Yessir.”
Frank looked over the M.E.’s shoulder at the body and said, “Whoever is doing this to cops certainly has a hard on against us. It takes a lot of anger to empty a full clip into a victim.”
“It sure does. We better find this perp quick or we are going lose more of our comrades.”
Shortly after their return to the station, Dan was interviewing the rookie officer.
“What time was it when you and officer Baker arrived at the donut shop, Jensen? What’s your first name, by the way?”
“It’s David, sir. It was five minutes after two a.m.”
“And then Baker asked you to go for donuts and coffee?”
“No sir, he didn’t have to ask. It was our regular routine. I would just get out and go get them when we stopped.”
“What happened next?”
“I said ‘Hi’ to Mr. Nagi, he’s the man who works the night shift at the shop. I asked him for two coffees, then I walked over to the pastry case. Officer Baker liked a variety of donuts, so I tried to pick a couple of different ones every time we stopped. I was having some trouble deciding when I heard the shots.”
“How many shots?”
“I don’t know, they were too rapid. At the time, I was thinking more than ten.”
“Did you get a good look at the shooter?”
“No sir, he was gone by the time I got outside.”
“Fifteen shots were fired. It takes a while to squeeze off that many rounds even with a semi-automatic. How come you didn’t get back out there in time to see the perp?”
“Well, I guess it took me a second or two to process what I had heard, but then I turned and ran towards the door. Mr. Nagi stepped out from behind the counter with the coffee and I bumped in to him and spilled it all over the poor guy.”
“Did you stop to see if he was burned or hurt?”
“No sir. Honestly it couldn’t have been more than five to ten seconds from the time I heard the shots until I was out the door.”
“Did you notice anything at all, David?”
“No, I was focused on my partner slumped over behind the wheel.”
“David, you may have seen more than you know. I would like you to take a few deep breaths right now, close your eyes and think of the last time you were at the beach.”
“How is that going to help?”
“Sometimes when we are upset at what we have seen, we forget other things that we saw as well. If we can get you to relax, maybe something else may occur to you. Are you ready to proceed?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, so let’s go back to the beach. Take those deep breaths again, close your eyes and see yourself walking on the sand at the edge of the water. You may feel the coolness of the wavelets as they wash over your feet in contrast to the heat of the sand under your soles.
As you walk along you can picture yourself at the donut shop as you brush past Mr. Nagi and the coffee spills. Continue walking and when you get to the door and look out, what is the first thing you see?”
“I see our patrol car.”
“Good, now look all around the patrol car. What do you see?”
“I see the sidewalks are empty. On the road, speeding away from the scene is an old red pick-up.”
“You are doing very well David. Now I want you to look at the back of that truck. Can you read the license plate?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It is covered by thick black exhaust from the truck.”
“Very good! Can you see anything else?”
“No.”
“Thank you, David. Now I would like you to take a few more, deep breaths, and let each breath allow you to become more and more awake.”
When Dan finished Officer Jensen’s interview, he joined Frank and the others in the conference room for morning brief.
Chief asked Dan, “Did you get anything more?”
“Yeah, he saw an old truck with leaky oil gaskets leaving the area but wasn’t able to get a plate number.”
“That goes along with Frank’s observation of an oily patch next to Baker’s patrol car. Well, let’s see what we have to go on. We’ve got the first murder weapon… a knife which might have belonged to a military person or maybe not. We’ve got another murder weapon, a Sig Sauer 226 which also might have belonged to someone in the military, or maybe not. And then we have the clincher…an old truck that’s leaking oil. Put that all together and we got ‘bupkis’. So, let’s get out there and get some leads that will help us find this this cop killing son of a bitch.”
Dan and Frank spent the rest of their day going back over every detail. They went back to The Bobcat and re-interviewed all the patrons that were there the night of the murder and reviewed every witness statement in the victim’s file. By the time they were finished, they were ready to call it a night. Both detectives were anxious to get home.
Chapter 62
Annika threw her arms around Dan’s neck as soon as he entered through the door. He loved it when she did this. The smell of her hair and feel of her breasts, squashed against his ches made all his tension from work disappear. All he had to do was tip his head down just a bit and he could kiss her neck.
She shivered and said, “If you keep that up, we are going to be late for our dinner and you know Benji will never tolerate that!”
“Okay, a rain check will have to do for now, but I think it’s going to be an early night.”
“You won’t get any argument from me.”
In the dining room, Benji had the table set for three as always. He was considered a member of the family and not “hired help.”
“Hey Dan, welcome home.” Benji yelled from the kitchen. Please sit down you two, I don’t want your dinners to get cold.”
“What are we having?” asked Annika.
As he entered, he said, “We’re having lobster bisque to start with. Our main course will be a
seafood salad with shrimp, scallops and lobster. I made a citrus vinaigrette for the salad and I found a great Sauvignon Blanc in the wine cellar that should give us a nice balance.
While they were eating, Annika said, “You know Benji, with your culinary expertise, you should have your own restaurant.”
“I think I would love that except that would mean leaving you two and that’s not going to happen unless you fire me.”
“No Benji, that’s the nice thing about being a family is that you can’t fire one another. I think we’re stuck with each other ‘for the duration’.”
Later that night, after Dan had collected his “rain check,” he and Annika were talking about the future. Once again, the topic of having children came up.
Annika said, “Do you have a preference Dan, boy or girl?”
“No, it doesn’t really matter to me. I’ll be ready to coach a boy or girls’ soccer team when the time comes.
One thing that is very important to me is that we take parenting seriously. All too often I must deal with people whose lives have been ruined by bad upbringing. It never ceases to amaze me that you must take a course and an examination to drive a car, but you can screw up a kid’s life with no oversight whatsoever. Although I know that we will both be good parents, I would like us to take some formal parenting classes as soon as we get you ‘knocked up’.”
“According to what you just said, one of the first classes we should take is the use of formal communication. But seriously, I agree. We should do everything we can to make sure any child of ours is well educated, confident and able to cope with anything life throws at him or her.”
“On a separate topic, something you said at dinner tonight got me thinking. How would you feel about my buying Benji a restaurant?”
“I think that’s a great idea!”
“You should, it was yours.”
“That’s settled then, I’ll tell him in the morning.
A kiss good night marked the end to the evening’s “pillow talk” and they assumed their usual spooning position for sleep.
In the morning, as Dan was getting dressed, he said, “I’ve been thinking about going back to the gym. Since we have to stay in pairs whenever we can, how about you joining me? Don’t get me wrong, you are in great shape already, but you might be able to tighten this up a bit.”
Dan smacked her bottom with that last observation.
“I’ll show you how tight those muscles are the next time I wrap my legs around you sweetheart. You won’t be able to get out of bed for a week.”
“So, what do you think, honey, would you mind going to the gym with me?”
“Not at all. I won’t be lifting weights with you, but some cardiovascular exercises would feel great. Are you sure you’re okay with going back there? Isn’t the memory of being shot still too fresh in your mind?”
“That’s the main reason I want to go back. I want to make sure The Assassin doesn’t have any remaining power over my life.
Chapter 63
While driving to the station Dan and Frank were discussing the level of pressure the team was under at present. Frank was saying, “Yeah, I don’t remember a time when we have had to worry about two lethal threats at the same time. Between this cop killer and The Assassin, we have to look over both shoulders at the same time.”
Dan said, “I haven’t mentioned this, but one of the things I plan on doing to decrease the pressure is to start back at the gym with Eddy. I have asked Annika to join me.”
“Jesus, Dan, won’t the painful memory of gettin’ shot there just increase your stress?”
“I thought of that, but I don’t get any more nightmares about then, and having Annika by my side will keep any anxiety under control. You know I’ll be super cautious when we leave the gym though.”
“Do you want me to go with you? It wouldn’t hurt to have somebody else packin’ when you walk out that door.”
“It would be great if you wanted to come with, but I don’t want you to burn your off-duty time looking out for me.”
“Hey, I wouldn’t be wasting my off-duty time. I’d be putting it to good use by burning some calories. You already pointed out that I could stand to shed a few pounds.”
“That would be great, Frank. Let’s shoot for three days a week if that works for you.”
“Count me in.”
Chapter 64
Whenever he thought about that bastard, Carter, his blood would boil. Even now, while he was setting up for his next kill, his anger diminished the pleasure he usually felt before fulfilling a contract. This one should be extremely satisfying. It wasn’t every day he got to kill a United States Senator. His usual price for fulfilling a kill contract, ranged from $100,000 to $500,000, with snitches and debt absconders at the lower end and powerful family heads at the highest end. The senator was going to net him three-quarters of a million dollars.
He should be focusing on the task at hand. Instead, he kept thinking how killing Carter was going to be even more satisfying.
He tightened the screws on his scope mount and looked out from the fourth-floor window of his room in the Hyatt Regency hotel. His target made it a practice to stop by at the bar in the Liaison hotel across the street after work. Both buildings were just down the hill from the Capital Building where lawmakers worked during the day.
He couldn’t have picked a better setting. The entire front of the Liaison was glass. He knew that it would have to be strong glass to protect the pedestrians and patrons, but that it could not withstand the impact of his 30-06.
While waiting, his thoughts kept returning to how much he would enjoy ending Carter… “not just Carter. I am going to make him watch while I kill the Swedish bitch one piece at a time.”
Suddenly he saw his current prey entering through the door of the Liaison. Damn! He had intended to pick him off while he was still outside. Now he would have to account for the glass in the bullet’s trajectory. He made a quick adjustment to his scope, sighted on the senator who was just about to sit down, and squeezed the trigger. The bullet penetrated the glass cleanly and struck the unlucky man sitting next to the senator, in the left shoulder.
His escape plan did not allow for a second shot. He quickly dis-assembled his rifle, packed it in its case, and moved to the freight elevator he had locked in place on this floor. The pandemonium across the street allowed him to slip unnoticed through the front door and down the street to a taxi stand.
“That’s it Carter. You have interfered with my business for the last time. I am coming for you and everyone you care about, Now!”
Chapter 65
After morning brief on Friday, Dan was telling Jerry that Bonnie seemed to make a good partner for him.
“Almost like a couple who are dating.”
Jerry said, “We aren’t a couple. Karen is still too much in my heart to even think about someone else in that way. I think that’s why Bonnie agrees to be my partner, because she knows I won’t hit on her”
“Well it seems like when you are done grieving Karen and ready to move on, you might want to consider Bonnie. She seems like she would make a great partner on and off the job.”
“I’m not so sure. She and I work together okay, but I notice that she seems to treat the other guys with some contempt. She may be just caught up in the “harder to make it as a woman” dynamic.”
“As long as you are working well together, that’s what counts.”
“Yeah.”
***
During their usual pillow talk that evening, Dan said, “I was telling Jerry that he should consider Bonnie when he’s ready to move on. What do you think?”
“I don’t know her very well. I would hate to see him get hurt so soon after losing Karen. Maybe I should invite her to do something with me, so I can get a sense of how she would be for Jerry.”
“That’s a good id
ea, why don’t you have her over for a swim in the bay? Benji and I will be shopping for a restaurant tomorrow and the weather is supposed to be ideal.”
“Great, that’ll give me a chance to break in my new bikini. See how many stares I can get from the surfers and beach bums.”
“I’d ask you to model it for me now except that it would take way too long for you to put it on and me to take it off.”
Annika reached over and turned off the light and said, “I agree, let’s skip the bikini part, and get right to the on and off part.”
Chapter 66
Officer Matt Dubois from SDPD, Eastern Division arrived at his small, one-bedroom apartment after what had been an extremely tiring shift. His only intent was to grab a quick tv dinner, shower, and hit the rack. By the time he did finally pull down the covers and get into bed, he was so tired, he didn’t notice the shallow breathing of someone in his closet. Within fifteen minutes he was sound asleep and lightly snoring.
There was a faint creaking as the closet door opened and a shadowy figure stepped out in to the room, carrying a pillow and a syringe. When Matt felt a needle prick his neck, he waved his right hand and tried to swat the mosquito. This “mosquito” injected a combination of oxycodone and haloperidol which helped him slide deeper into a non-responsive sleep state. Once the pillow sealed his mouth and nose, the young police officer was unable to resist his assailant, as he tried, and failed, to inhale just one last breath of air.
Chapter 67
When Annika called the next morning, Bonnie said she would be delighted to go for a swim.
“I’ll just grab my suit and come on over, if you don’t mind me changing at your house.”
“No, not at all. I’ll see you when you get here.”
Annika answered the door wearing her bikini and a short robe. Bonnie entered and said, “I don’t know if I want to be seen next to you on the beach. You are beautiful, and I’ll look frumpy by comparison.”
