[Lady Justice 15] - Lady Justice and the Vet

by Robert Thornhill

  “Do we have a choice?”

  “It’s this damned shutdown thing,” Mark replied. “Every department is being cut. Agriculture, Education, Housing and Urban Development --- they’ve all been cut nearly 90%. Homeland Security has been pretty lucky so far. We’ve just been cut by about 30%, but we’re stretched pretty thin. We could use some extra bodies.”

  “How can we help?”

  “The CSI guys went over everything at the three abandoned buildings where we found the guns and grenades. The only thing they came up with was one partial print, but it was enough to get a hit --- a Muhammad Karzai. Our intel definitely links him to some domestic terrorists types. We think he’s one of our guys. We have an address for him. Since you two were instrumental in uncovering the plot, I thought you might like to be in on the bust.”

  “Absolutely! Give us a minute to call our wives and we’ll be ready to roll.”

  Karzai’s apartment was on the third floor of an old house on McGee in Midtown.

  Mark and three others from Homeland Security were going inside. Ox and I were to watch the front and back in case Karzai tried to run.

  They slipped quietly in the front door and I could imagine them padding silently up the two flights of steps. Then I heard the ‘CRASH’ as they breached the door. Then ‘CLEAR’. ‘CLEAR’. It sounded like we had missed him.

  A few minutes later, Mark waved us in.

  “He’s one of them all right. We found a map of Grand Avenue with the three stash houses plainly marked, but no Muhammad.”

  One of the guys searching the apartment called down. “Mark, you’re gonna want to see this.”

  We climbed the stairs and the guy handed something to Mark.

  I looked over his shoulder and was shocked to see that it was a photo of me --- and there was a big, red ‘X’ across my face!

  CHAPTER 13

  Curtis Brown, Muhammad Karzai, Farzad Wahidi and Ahmad Navid had just turned onto McGee when they spotted the black and white and the SUV in front of Muhammad’s apartment.

  “Well, damn!” Curtis muttered. “Looks like they’ve made you, Muhammad. They must have pulled a print from one of the buildings where you stashed the supplies for the parade. You can’t go back there now. You’ll have to stay with me.”

  They watched as four agents entered the building. One officer circled around to the rear of the building and another remained in front. Curtis squinted to get a better look.

  “Unbelievable! It’s the old cop! Karma, I’m telling you. Three times he’s had his nose in our business and that’s three times too many. Farzad, the old man is yours. Will you take care of him?”

  “I would be honored.”

  “Okay, that’s it!” the captain declared, looking at my photo with the ‘X’ across my face. “You’re out of here!”

  “What exactly do you mean by ‘out of here?’”

  “I think it’s pretty clear that you’re a target --- a marked man. They obviously want you out of the way. This photo was taken at the All-Star Game. They must have made the connection to the parade bust. You need to make yourself scarce until we get these guys under wraps.”

  “But ---!”

  “No buts! Take Maggie and get out of town. Surely there’s somewhere you’ve been wanting to go.”

  “Just listen! If they’re after me and we know it, you can use me as bait to lure them out in the open --- like we did with Henry Martin when the Aryan Brotherhood had a target painted on his back.”

  “Walt, we’re dealing with international terrorists here. Their group just blew up a shopping mall in Nairobi and killed over sixty people. This isn’t a gang of Nazi skinheads. They’re professional killers, and it’s not just about you. What if they come after you when you’re with Maggie or your dad? Now get out of here!”

  I could see his point, so reluctantly, I stowed my gear and told Ox goodbye.

  On the way home, I tried to decide how to break the news to Maggie. When the internal debate was over, I opted for the truth. I’m a terrible liar and Maggie always sees right through my bull crap anyway.

  Her response to my opening line validated my decision.

  “Sweetie, how would you like to get away for a few days?”

  “Okay, spill it. What have you gotten yourself into this time?”

  For the next twenty minutes, I laid out the whole story for her.

  She grasped the gravity of the situation right away. “So bottom line, we’re fleeing the city so that a pack of Islamic terrorists won’t assassinate you.”

  “That’s it in a nutshell.”

  She thought for a moment. “Branson! We haven’t been to Branson for a few years. We should go see Yakov Smirnoff. It would be refreshing to see a foreigner that’s not trying to kill you.”

  “You’re taking all of this pretty well.”

  She just stared at me. “My husband just told me that he’s at the top of a radical extremist hit list and if we don’t disappear right now, he might disappear forever. What choice do I have? Let’s get packed and get out of Dodge!”

  “You start packing. I need to talk to Willie. He needs to know what’s going on just in case some of those goons show up here.”

  I gave Willie a call. He came to our apartment and I briefed him on the situation.

  “I don’t see any reason to tell the rest of the building and get everyone worked up. As far as they’re concerned, we’re just taking a little vacation. I trust you to keep an eye on things and if something doesn’t smell right, call Ox.”

  “You can count on me, Mr. Walt. Jes’ go an’ be safe.”

  Maggie had finished packing and we were just about to leave when there was a knock on the door.

  It was Mary and Morty.

  “Got a minute, Walt?” Morty asked, pushing his way into the apartment. “I have something that I want to run by you.”

  “Well, we were just about to leave ---”

  “This won’t take long,” he interrupted. “I’m pretty sure you’re going to like my offer.”

  “Offer? What offer?”

  “I want to buy the Three Trails Hotel. I’ll give you a real good price for it.”

  I was dumbfounded. “But --- but why? Why in the world would you want that place? What would you do with it?”

  “It may be a dump, but the location right there on Linwood Boulevard is sweet. I’ll get rid of all the tenants and remodel the place --- make ten market rate apartments out of those twenty sleeping rooms. It could be a real cash cow, but that’s not the main reason that I want it. I want to get Mary out of there. She deserves better.”

  I hadn’t really talked to Mary since her first date with Morty. It was beginning to look like things were moving right along. I noticed for the first time that Mary was wearing a new dress and her lips were painted bright red. I could never recall seeing her with lipstick.

  I was constantly complaining about the hotel and moaning because I couldn’t find anyone with enough balls to tackle the place, but now that there was an actual buyer standing in my living room, I was experiencing mixed feelings.

  I turned to Mary who had been unusually quiet. “How do you feel about this? Are you ready to move up in the world?”

  She shrugged her shoulders and gave me a half-hearted nod. “Sure, I guess so. Morty said he would find me a place with real air conditioning and maybe even a pool. That would be nice.”

  Once again, the image of Mary in her bikini flashed into my mind.

  “Can I think about it for a few days? We were just on our way to Branson for a little R&R.”

  “Sure, take your time. While you’re away, Mary and I can be checking out apartments for her.”

  I locked the door and my three friends followed us down stairs to bid us farewell. I threw our luggage in the trunk and gave one last look to the three of them waving to us from the front porch.

  I checked traffic and pulled out into the street.

  “Well, we’re off to Branson. How would you like to ride
one of those duck things?”

  Suddenly, Maggie grabbed my leg and I felt something round and hard pressed against the back of my head.

  “I’m afraid you won’t be going to Branson today Mr. Williams.”

  I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a man of Middle-Eastern heritage staring back at me.

  Apparently the terrorists had beaten us to the punch.

  Willie waved and was about to return to his apartment when something caught his eye --- a figure had risen from the back seat and Willie saw the last rays of the afternoon sun glint off of a metallic object.

  It only took a moment for his old grey head to process the fact that Walt and Maggie had been abducted at gunpoint.

  Walt had told him to call Ox in an emergency, but by the time the big cop arrived, Walt would be long gone. Willie knew he had to act immediately before losing sight of his old friend.

  He grabbed Morty by the arm. “We gotta go! Some dude was hidin’ in Mr. Walt’s car an’ he’s got a gun!”

  “What? Are you sure?”

  “Hell yes I’m sure. Now get yo’ ass in gear. We can’t lose ‘em.”

  The three of them piled in the ’59 Caddy and Morty peeled out in pursuit.

  “There they are,” Mary said, pointing a few blocks ahead. “What do we do now?”

  “Jes’ keep up,” Willie replied. “I’se callin’ fo’ help.”

  He hit the speed dial on this phone. “Louie? It’s Willie. I need some muscle!”

  I could tell that Maggie was petrified. She still had a death grip on my leg. I had lost count of how many times she had been abducted in my five years on the force. We had made it through all of those near tragedies, but I had a bad feeling about this one.

  “Where are you taking us?”

  “Just drive and keep your mouth shut. I’ll tell you where to turn.”

  The fact that our abductor wasn’t wearing a mask or trying to hide his identity in any way was disturbing. It was obvious he wasn’t planning on us being around to identify him.

  “Take a left on Prospect,” he ordered.

  My mind was racing, trying to figure a way out, but I was coming up blank. As far as the police and all my friends knew, we were supposed to be off the grid for at least a week. No one would even know we were missing until it was too late.

  I turned as ordered and glanced in the rear view mirror. A bright red ’59 Cadillac Eldorado was two cars behind us.

  I had no idea how they had known or what they could possibly do, but I felt a profound sense of relief. We weren’t alone.

  I gave Maggie a reassuring pat on the hand. “It’s okay. We’re going to be fine.”

  “I told you to shut up!” the guy said, smacking me on the back of my head.

  We were almost to Independence Avenue when the Caddy pulled around us. As it settled in front of us, I saw a message scribbled on the back window. It was bright red, probably written with Mary’s new lip gloss.

  It simply read, “Unlock your doors.”

  Our car was a new enough model that the doors locked automatically when the car was put into gear. It was designed to keep the bad guys out, but right now it was keeping a bad guy in.

  I glanced in the rear view mirror again and was shocked to see Louie the Lip and two beefy black guys on our tail.

  Unlike Willie who had forsaken the life of a con man to work with me, Louie was still a man of the street. Willie and Louie had remained close friends and more than once he had helped pull my fat out of the fire.

  I had no idea what they had planned but I was ready for anything.

  Suddenly, the brake lights of the Caddy flashed on and Morty came to a screeching stop. I hit my brakes and the door lock button at the same time.

  I saw Louie’s car doors open and in a flash, the two beefy black guys were in the back seat with pistols stuck in the terrorist’s ribs.

  “I’ll take that,” one of them said, grabbing his automatic.

  Louie stepped up to the driver’s window and handed me the gun his friend had taken off the perp. “Think you can handle it from here?” he said, his massive lower lip curling into a smile. “Willie’s called the cops and it would probably be better if we weren’t around when they get here.”

  “Sure,” I replied, taking the gun and grabbing his hand. “Thanks, I owe you.”

  “Nope,” he said, walking away. “It’s what friends do.”

  I got the perp out of the car and was about to turn him around and have him put his hands on the roof when Maggie stopped me.

  “Wait a minute,” she said. She walked up to the guy and punched him square in the nose. “Asshole!”

  Willie, Mary and Morty climbed out of the Caddy and there were hugs all around.

  I gave Willie a little longer hug than the others. “Thanks friend. Don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “Hope you never have to find out.”

  Morty was all smiles. “That was really a gas! I didn’t realize how boring my life was until I met you guys!”

  CHAPTER 14

  “Unbelievable!” the captain said. “You can’t even get out of town without getting in trouble!”

  “It wasn’t for lack of trying.”

  “I thought you’d given up that hair-brained idea of being ‘bait’ to lure out the perps,” Mark said, smiling.

  “Trust me --- with Maggie in the car, the last thing on my mind was being ‘bait.’”

  “Well, now you can give that vacation another try,” the captain said. “Where were you two headed?”

  “Not a chance. I’m staying right here where I have backup. When we were alone in the car with the perp, all I could think about was that no one knew what was happening to us. Think about it --- these guys have resources. They knew who I was, where I live, and they connected me to Zareef Kahn. If they really want to whack me, they could probably find me anywhere.”

  “Your call,” he replied, “but watch your back.”

  “So who was the guy with the gun to the back of my head?”

  “Farzad Wahidi,” Mark replied. “We got a hit off his prints. He’s a known associate of the Karzai character and definitely connected to al-Shabab. We’ve got some of our best guys interrogating him, but so far, nothing. He’s a tough cookie. We’re just hoping that having nailed one of their guys, they’ll think twice about planning another attack.”

  “They’ve got Farzad,” Curtis said, shaking his head.

  “But how?”

  “I don’t know, Ahmad. Getting rid of the old guy should have been a walk in the park. I don’t understand how he manages to disrupt all of our plans. Our big strike is still a few weeks away so we should have plenty of time to take him out of the picture. Are you up to the task?”

  Ahmad nodded.

  “Good! I have a plan.”

  A few days after our abduction and rescue, I received a call from Morty.

  “Walt! How would you and Maggie like to go to Hell?”

  “Actually, our kidnapping last week was about as close to that as I’ll ever want to be. What exactly did you have in mind?”

  “Life has been a bit stressful for all of us lately, what with all the kidnappings and the attempted mugging in the park. Earl and I thought it might be fun to just get together and let our hair down, so to speak. We’ve made arrangements to rent the Edge of Hell haunted house for an evening, just us. It will be closed to the public.”

  Halloween was just around the corner and every year several old buildings around town are converted to haunted houses where patrons can pay twenty-seven bucks to get the crap scared out of them --- thirty-seven bucks if you didn’t want to wait in line.

  “Sounds like fun. What should we bring?”

  “Just yourselves, in costume, of course. Everything else will be provided - food, drinks, treats, thrills and chills. Oh, yes, Earl and I also have an important announcement that you don’t want to miss.”

  “Count us in.”

  After he hung up, I thought abo
ut how different life is for the rich and famous. I had read stories about Elvis Presley renting entire amusement parks so that he and his friends could enjoy an evening of fun without the constant pressure of fans and the press. Morty and Earl’s little get-together probably had a price tag in the thousands, a month’s pay for the guy on the street, but a drop in the bucket for our millionaires.

  On the night of the big event, we loaded Willie and the Professor in our car. Dad, Bernice and Jerry were to pick Mary up at the Three Trails.

  The Edge of Hell was located on 12th Street in the West Bottoms, tucked under the massive 12th Street Viaduct.

  The entire West Bottoms has a creepy feel even in broad daylight. Most of the buildings are nearly a hundred years old, many of them abandoned. The Missouri River sits on its north edge and many of the old buildings have the high water mark of the disastrous flood of July 13, 1951 painted in bright red on their walls. Even creepier is the fact that that particular 13th was on a Friday!

  We parked and were greeted on our way into the building by a disgusting individual we came to know as the Rat Man. His particular talent was putting live rodents in his mouth. Jerry, of course, couldn’t resist asking him if he used ‘mouse wash.’

  After passing the Rat Man, creepy groans and wails assaulted our ears as we made our way into the depths of Hell.

  Once inside, I couldn’t help but marvel at the personas that our little group had assumed.

  Maggie and I were pretty conservative; I was Roy Rogers and she, of course, was Dale Evans. In addition to the fact that Roy was one of my childhood heroes, the costume gave me the opportunity to pack my six-gun, which I considered a rational thing to do given the fact that I was being stalked by terrorists.

  Dad came as Al Capone and Bernice was the blond bimbo on his arm. Given Bernice's encroaching Alzheimer’s, the bimbo thing didn’t require much acting on her part.