Pet Recyclers
Bank Shots
Copyright 2011 David and Linda Broughton
Smashwords Edition.
All characters and events are fictional, any resemblance to real persons or events is purely coincidental. Authors retain all rights, no part of this work shall be copied or transmitted without the expressed consent of the authors.
Bank Shots
Chapter 1
Sheriff Fred Ramsey is a bit nervous today, he's been married before, so it's not altogether new to him, but it's still something a man doesn't do every day. If he was sure of what her answer will be, he might be less nervous, but the fact is, he's not sure at all. Today is the special day, he's made arrangements for a special dinner in a fancy Birmingham restaurant, and booked a night in a first class hotel for after the dinner.
At the moment, he's heading to the bank in his personal vehicle, a Chevy pickup truck, to get some money out of the bank. He's got a ring set aside at the local jewelers, now he has to pay for it and pick it up. He's been dating Lisa for a while now, he's decided to ask her to marry him. Whether or not she will, is still an open question because she may not want to be a Sheriff's wife, with him being called out at all hours, and at the risk of running into who knows what, though in this poor county, there aren't a lot of bad dudes to run into, the few local bad dudes still respect the Sheriff, they won't try pulling guns and the like, only the criminals that pass through from time to time pose any real threat.
Fred is wearing his civilian clothes, it's his prerogative whether to wear the uniform or not. He wears one most of the time, but not today. As the duly elected County Sheriff, he's never officially off duty, but unless there's a crisis, he's taking the day for himself.
Lisa is independently wealthy, she doesn't need a husband for financial support. In fact, she's a very independent woman. A former FBI agent, she couldn't be any more independent, but Fred likes that, to a degree. Lisa is becoming a little bit more like the locals, though the big city in her upbringing still shows up often. All man, he can overlook that, she's not only beautiful, but a real tiger in bed, that will make a man overlook a lot of things. The fact she can out fight him is a little disconcerting at times, but he likes that she can take care of herself when he might not be around, as often happens when he gets a call at who knows what time of night.
All in all, she's a hell of a woman, the other problem they'll have to work out is her work, running a pet shop for pets people abandon or leave there for any number of reasons. It was a huge Rottweiler that brought them together when the owner was killed and she had to fetch the dog. She took on that case all by her lonesome for a while, when the Feds told him to leave it alone. She was smart enough to get outside help when she needed it, and she did need help, she defeated nearly an army's worth of men with only two other people on her side. A woman like that, is good to have in your corner, any time. I sure as hell don't want to get on her bad side.
Fred keeps up his ruminations, as he pulls into the bank's parking lot. I'll get the ring and ask, she can say yes, no, or maybe. A straight yes would be best, but I could accept a maybe, given all we'll have to work out. A flat no would break my heart, but if that's the case, better to know it now than to keep on going with a relationship that's not going anywhere besides the bedroom, as great as that is.
Had Fred not been thinking about such things, and had been paying attention to his surroundings as he got out of the truck, he might have known something was wrong, very wrong.
Chapter 2
As Fred walks into the bank, he hears someone scream, a loud shot is fired, debris falls from the ceiling, a masked man waving a cut down semi-auto shot gun hollers out, "Tellers, get the money out, put it on the counter, now, you, Mister Manager, into the vault, start bagging the money. No dye packs, no alarms, or everyone dies." Fred reaches to his side for his duty pistol, a Glock in nine millimeter, formerly belonging to the Feds, cast off when they decided that nines were too small, so they distributed them to small law enforcement agencies. He pulls it out, aims at the shotgun wielding man. As a good peace officer is required to do, he calls out, "Drop the weapon, County Sheriff, I've got you covered." Unfortunately, he hadn't noticed the two other gun wielding perps until too late. One of them fires his shotgun in his direction. The cut down weapon spreads too wide, it doesn't do any serious damage, just pock marks his shirt, since he has a high tech, thin bulletproof vest under it. Fred dives for cover behind the marble podium for filling out deposit slips. He fires a couple of shots to keep the gunmen at bay, but didn't notice that one of the supposed customers cowering behind him isn't a local. This one is armed with a pistol. He fires, the hit takes Fred's wind, but doesn't penetrate the vest. The perp fires four more times fast, he hits Fred in the upper left thigh, the wound starts bleeding profusely immediately.
One of the other robbers hollers out, "Leave him, time's almost up." The perps bag up the cash on the counters. One of them takes the money the manager bagged, his sleeve rides up to reveal a tattoo. As the manager looks at the tattoo, this robber fires a blast at point blank range right into the manager's chest, he falls to the floor, he's still alive, but won't be talking, if he continues to live, which he might not. The four robbers high tail it out the front door. Fred fires a couple of shots as they're leaving, but he's fading fast, all he manages to do is pockmark the glass, the damn puny nine won't shoot through the heavy glass doors. He gets out his cell, dials the office using speed dial, then tells the desk who he is, and where, he blurts out shots fired, then passes out.
Chapter 3
Lisa is in Mary's dress shop, looking for the perfect dress to wear on her date with Fred this evening. Unless she misses her guess, he's going to pop the question tonight. She's great at reading people, she seldom misses her guesses. She put off buying the dress until the last minute, she's not one that likes shopping, or fancy dresses. The fact that she doesn't know how to answer his question made the decision to keep the date tough. She cares for Fred a whole lot, more than any man she's ever dated, but isn't sure she wants to be married, to him or anyone. She's made a nice life for herself here in Norbertville, now that she's adjusted to small town life. She half wishes things could stay like they are, a good man to be with when she wants one, but not living together full time. He is great in bed, that's a big plus in her book, but no man is good enough in that department to make her want to change her life that much. She made a big change when her Aunt Sarah left her a large trust fund and the pet shop, she gave up being an FBI agent, and big city life. Another big change in her life doesn't seem too appealing right now. However, if Fred can understand that, and move in with her instead of her moving to his place, it could work out. She's not about to leave her animals behind, but Fred knows that, they all like him, which is always a good sign. She thinks she'll have to give him a maybe, then try to come to terms on what their married life will be like.
I kind of wish he would quit being the sheriff, and just help me at the shop, that could be a sublime life. I have plenty of money, when I rooted out the bastards that nearly blew me to hell, I got their money, I have tons I haven't done anything with yet, besides Aunt Sarah's large trust fund, which would be more than enough to support us both in fine style. I'm well aware that most men are defined by what they do, asking him to give up being sheriff to become an owner of a shop for unwanted pets might be akin to asking him to give up his balls. There's no way in hell I'd want to do that to him, figuratively or otherwise.
Lisa is looking over a rack of dresses near the front window, rather absentmindedly as she thinks things over. Suddenly a siren wailing as a sheriff's car flies past drags her out of her ruminations. An ambulance with it's lights and siren going full blast is right behind the sheriff's cruiser. Soon, two more sheriff's cars go flying by, sirens wailing, but all the sirens stop suddenly. Lisa knows that Fred is more or less taking the day off, so she thinks he's probably not involved yet. However, if something big happens, it could put an end to their plans for the evening. It's nearly three now, Lisa knows they need to leave town at five or so to make it to Birmingham by eight, the time Fred said he made dinner reservations for. The fact they're going to a fancy place in Birmingham was a giveaway that something big was in the offing, they hadn't done anything of the sort before now.
Lisa forgets about getting a dress, she'll have to make do with whatever she's got, if they're able to go at all. If not, a dinner at any place closer will do, as far as she's concerned. She runs outside, the lights are flashing down at the bank, which probably means somebody robbed it, or attempted to.
Lisa hotfoots it down the street toward the one bank in this small town, she doesn't need to take a vehicle to shop on Main Street. It's short, there aren't too many shops, only about ten besides her shop, and the bank, which is located near the only stoplight.
As Lisa arrives, the ambulance burns rubber out of the parking lot, it's siren wails, it dodges cars stopped for the light, then heads down the main road. It's either going to the small clinic, or if the patient is in a bad way, they may take whoever it is to Tuscaloosa, some forty miles away. It may do both, stopping at the clinic long enough to stabilize the patient, then continue to Tuscaloosa, or rather the nearest hospital, a suburb of Tuscaloosa called Northport.
Lisa barges right into the bank, the sheriff's deputy at the door doesn't try to stop her, her determined expression lets him know right away it would be foolish to try. Everyone around knows how badass she can be, women that take on armies and win the battle aren't going to be stopped by one lone deputy.
Inside the bank, the sheriff's deputies all look grim, as they go about their duties, interviewing witnesses, making drawings of the scene, and taking pictures. Lisa knows that it will probably all be for nothing, all banks are insured by the FDIC, which will make it a Federal case. She investigated many bank robberies when she was a Fibbie, when they didn't have her slogging through paperwork back at the office. Had they let her stick to investigating most of the time, she wouldn't have been so ready to accept her aunt's generosity and move to a small town in Alabama.
Lisa notices the large pool of blood by the marble podium, and the pock marks from shots that didn't find their mark. Apparently, at least one did. At this point, she doesn't know if it was one of the customers, employees, perps, or cops. She notices Frank nearby, one of the deputies she's acquainted with. "Hey, Frank, what the hell went on here?"
As Frank looks up from his notebook, his grim expression worsens, she recognizes that look, it's the one she often had on her face when she got stuck with doing notifications, something no cop or Fibbie ever wants to do. "Lisa, you shouldn't be in here."
"To hell with that, what's going on?"
Frank takes a long, deep breath, Lisa braces herself for the worst, whatever that might be. Frank gives her a second, then moves closer, he speaks softly, "Lisa, it's Fred, he's been shot. He's at death's door. One of the ladies stuffed a tampon in the bullet hole, or he would have been dead already. The manager was shot too, but the security guard only got a lump on the head. We haven't figured out the whys of it all yet."
"Wasn't Fred wearing his damn vest? I told him to wear it all the time, even off duty."
"He was, as best we can tell so far. He got hit in the leg, it must have hit a big vein or something, he nearly bled out in a short time. He and the manager are on their way to Northport hospital now, but once they have them able to travel further, they'll probably be sent to Birmingham General.
"Shit, damn it to hell, what the hell happened? He should know better than that, how did they get him?" Lisa should probably be concerned about the manager too, he's an all right guy, but right now Fred is her only concern.
"He walked in, on his own business, he drew on the one gunman he saw, two more started shooting at him, he dove behind the podium. The three he could see couldn't get a good shot at him with their sawed off shotguns. From what the witnesses say, there was a fourth man, acting like a customer cowering behind him. That one drew a pistol, shot him in the chest first, then fired four more shots fast, one hit Fred in the thigh. He still managed to call the department, and get off two shots as they were fleeing out the door, but he only hit the glass, that's how those two spider-webbed marks got in the glass doors. These puny nines won't shoot through a windshield most of the time, they've got no chance going through that thick glass."
"Shit, damn it to hell, quick before the Feds get here, dub me off the security tapes, or maybe they use CD's these days."
"It's on hard drives, I can get you copies on CD."
"There won't be any call for that. This is our case, get the damn meddling civilian out of here, deputy." Lisa and Frank turn to look, two men in suits have waltzed in behind them. They're obviously Feds, Lisa recognizes both their dress and demeanor.
"Shut the hell up, bozo brain, these bastards shot my man, and Jeff Martin, the manager. I'll get any damn thing I want, and there isn't shit you can do about it. Go, get me the CD's, Frank. Who do you want to face down, me now or them later." Frank doesn't say a word, he heads to the back. Lisa thinks he's going to do what she asked, to do otherwise wouldn't be smart.
The damn agent starts after him. Lisa sticks out her foot, and slaps the idiot on the back, hard. He falls face down onto the floor. "Oh, did you slip and fall, I suggest you watch where the hell you step."
His partner makes a big mistake, he takes out his cuffs, not his weapon. He grabs for Lisa, she judo flips him down on the floor next to his partner. When the agent looks up, she has her Sig Sauer forty-five in his face. "I think you don't know who I am. I'm Lisa Jenkins, if that doesn't scare the shit out of you, it should. I'm not taking any crap from you bozos, get that through your head. If you make me, I'll make a call, how would you like to deal with Ash Pane, she's meaner than I am, and I'm plenty mean."
At the mention of Ash Pane, the pissed off expression both of the agents have is erased, replaced by one of fear. "I see you've heard of her. I'll have you know I've picked up one of her habits, removing the family jewels from guys that tick me off enough. You're about one millimeter away from that level, want to try some more shenanigans?"
They both shake their heads in a way that means hell no. Moments later, as Lisa puts her pistol away and lets the two agents get off the floor, Frank hands her half a dozen cased CD's. "Here's what there was, Lisa. I don't think it'll help much, the three with shotguns wore masks, and the one pretending to be a customer was obviously in a disguise."
"Thanks Frank, that'll give me a starting point. Have you canvassed the area, to find out if anyone saw the getaway car?"
"That's being done as we speak. I haven't heard anything back on that yet."
"Okay, keep me updated."
"Sure will."
Lisa turns to the cowed FBI agents, "Either of you two want to tell me how the hell you got here so fast, Birmingham is a good distance away, especially considering the heavy traffic this time of day."
The mouthy one that she tripped shakes his head no. Lisa takes out her folding tactical knife, she opens it with a flourish. "Are you sure you don't want to tell me. I'll find out anyway, you might as well keep your jewels intact."
The other agent decides he likes his parts where they are, so he speaks while the formerly mouthy one glares at him, "We were one town over, on the Mississippi side of the line, another little town got hit earlier in the day by what we think are the same guys. These guys are either nuts, or greedy as hell, they've been hitting small banks all over the south."
"Why small banks, the takes would have to be small?"
"We think it's due to less security, and the local cops response times are usually slow. Maybe they're practicing for something bigger, we don't really know. Should you get them, there's a hefty reward for them."
"If I get them, there … well never mind, I don't need to be telling you that. Figure it out for yourself, they shot my man, they're toast, sooner or later."
"I didn't hear that."
"That's smart, if you get in my way, there's nothing in it but trouble for you. I'll be on my way now."
Lisa turns, struts out of the bank, then runs to her shop. She locks up, and puts out the closed sign. Her friend and coworker, Martha gives her one glance before quickly deciding not to say a word. Lisa marches upstairs to the safety and comfort of her bedroom. Soon, Rowdy, the big Rottweiler, and Spike, his Chihuahua constant companion, nose their way into the room. She holds them as she lets herself cry, she wouldn't do that in front of anyone now, she's got to keep up the strong front.
Lisa cries for a while, then lies back on the bed. Spike and Rowdy cuddle close, knowing by intuition that she needs them now. After an hour or so of letting go, she takes a shower to wash away the dregs of the tears, and make herself feel a little better. The dogs don't join her in the shower, they don't care for their baths, let alone showers.
Chapter 4
When she's dressed again, Lisa takes the discs downstairs to tell Martha what's up, with Spike and Rowdy at her heels. We'll look at the discs together, I'll need all of Martha's strength to be able to watch my man get shot. I guess I should go ahead and marry Fred, if he survives, apparently I've made up my mind he's my man, better make it above board, so folks won't gossip so much, he does have a standing in the community to maintain, sheriff or not.
Before she bothers to look for Martha, Lisa grabs the phone in the back room near the kitchen table they use for having coffee, and sometimes have their meals at. It's a new table, the old one got shot to hell in the last debacle she found herself in. Her shop was wrecked too, but it's been made over, better than it was before, and now it's completely secure and bulletproofed, inside and out.
Lisa calls the Sheriff's department, she asks to be put through to Frank Davis, the same Frank that was at the scene, he'll tell her what he knows, if there's anything new to tell. When she's put through to Frank, she doesn't beat around the bush, "Frank, this is Lisa, heard anything about Fred?"
"Nothing much, I know he made it to Northport alive. They pumped him up with some kind of manufactured blood, then shipped him on to Birmingham, but not Birmingham General, he's at Shelby Baptist, so is Jeff."
"Call up there, you tell them to fly in the best surgeons they can get … no on second thought, I'll make a call, it'll save time and trouble for you and me too. Anything on the shooters?"
"Nothing much, the Feds are freezing us out for now. You left two very pissed off Feds behind. They checked you out though, I don't think they'll be bothering you. They seem to think you're a special investigator for the President of the United States."
"Good, let them think that. I guess it still shows up as valid. I got that when I was dealing with the last mess, I thought it would be revoked by now." Lisa doesn't let on that it was never supposed to be real, but once it's put into the computers, except for dealing with the President on a daily basis, it is real. The President does know about it, and okayed her having it, he really didn't have much choice, Ash said he should, anyone with any brains doesn't tick her off, no matter what office they may hold.
"You've got one of those and you live here?"
"It's kind of honorary, you might say. I don't work for the President on a daily basis."
"Oh, whatever. When I hear anything more, either on the case or Fred, I'll let you know."
"Don't worry about Fred, if he can just hang in there, I'll get him the best medical attention money can buy, Jeff too, for that matter. I think Jeff saw something that could ID the perps, that's the only reason I can think of they'd shoot him."
"Maybe so, I don't know yet. Oh, great, the county will love you paying Fred's bills, they're self insured you know, they hate having to pay out huge medical bills."
"Yeah, don't we all. Later Frank."
"Later on, Lisa."
Martha has come in from cleaning the dog pens, and has been standing nearby most of the time Lisa was talking with Frank. Why she was cleaning them when it's Lisa's turn she doesn't know, but she appreciates it. Lisa doesn't stop to talk to Martha now, she makes another call, this time to Ash, her cell number, since there's no telling where in the world she'll be at any given time. She gets only voice mail, so Ash is someplace where she doesn't get a signal, or is in the middle of something that precludes having the phone ring. She'd pick up otherwise. Lisa leaves a brief message, then takes a laminated accordion style card from her pocket for the right number. She punches in the number for the main office of Ash's various enterprises, they can probably get done what she needs.
"Pane Enterprises, Bobbi speaking." Lisa knows this Bobbi a little bit, this Bobbi is a woman, short for Bobbyjo. She's Ash's right hand gal for business things, though she doesn't usually take part in her forays into the dark side, she's usually aware of what's going on.
"Hi Bobbi, you're probably just the person I need to speak with. This is Lisa Jenkins."
"Oh, hi Lisa."
"Hi, look I don't know if I have any time to waste, can you get the best team of doctors, one of them a vascular surgeon, to Shelby Baptist Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama right away?"
"I don't know if I can get the absolute top people on a moment's notice, but I know I can get somebody very experienced and qualified."
"Fine, have them see what they can do for Fred Ramsey, that's Sheriff Fred Ramsey, he was shot earlier today, the vest stopped the immediate problem, but he got hit in a vein or something in his upper thigh, he nearly bled out." As an after thought, Lisa adds, "Oh, have them see what they can do for the bank manager, Jeff Martin too."
"Sorry to hear that Lisa. When he's stable enough, we might move them to the same hospital you were treated at … is there still a threat to his life, other than the wounds I mean."
"No, I don't think so, not as far as Fred is concerned. He stumbled into a bank robbery in progress on his off time. I wouldn't think anyone's after him, three wore masks, the fourth wore a disguise, so no, I don't think there's that kind of threat. If Jeff makes it, he might have noticed something that can help identify them but I don't know that for sure. Oh, by the way are Gary and Joe available, I could use their help on the case." Gary and Joe are the people that helped her out the last time, she knows and trusts them.
"Okay, great, the doctors may stay there with them in that case. Maybe we'll just have this Jeff Martin moved. I'll get right on that. Joe and Gary are with Ash, working a case. I'll let them know when I hear from them. Later."
"Later."
Since she had the phone on speaker the whole time, Martha heard most of her conversation with Frank, and all of the one with Bobbi, she grabs coffee cups, pours them some, and sweetens it with Wild Turkey Liqueur from the high cabinet she put it there for times of distress or celebration.
Lisa's glad she doesn't have to tell Martha what happened, the more she repeats it, the worse it sounds to her. She sits down in her usual spot, grabs the coffee, tests it for heat, then gulps it down. Martha used so much liqueur that it was only slightly warm.
Martha refills Lisa's cup with coffee, adding just the touch of sugar she normally takes. Martha sits down, looks to Lisa, then asks solemnly, "So, when are you going to Birmingham?"
"I don't know at the moment. Fred's too bad off, he'll require surgery when he's up to it. I won't be able to see him for a while, I'm sure of that. I'll probably have to wreck the hospital to get in to see him, I'm no relation, yet. What really ticks me the hell off, is Fred and I had a special date planned for tonight, I'm sure he was going to ask me to marry him. Oddly, until this happened, I wasn't sure what my answer would be."
"I take it you've made up your mind, that if he survives, you'll marry him?"
"Yes, but he'll still have to do the asking, I won't take that away from him. He might not ask now, you know how fragile these macho men can be, until he's back to one hundred percent, he won't think he's good enough."
"Yeah, they can be like that, but don't let him get away with it. A man can get married on crutches, or in a wheelchair, there's no shame in that."
"No, there isn't, but these macho guys don't see it that way."
"True enough, so what do you plan to do about the guys that shot him and that nice Jeff Martin?"
"I think you know me well enough to know what I'm going to do."
"I know they won't stand a snowball's chance in hell of living through it, if you can find them. What are you going to do about finding them?"
"The first thing I'm going to do is look at these discs of what the bank's cameras recorded. It won't be easy, Fred getting shot will be on them, I don't know if they had coverage of Jeff getting shot or not. He was in the vault at the time."
"I would think that's one place they'd be sure to have cameras."
"I don't know, it's a small bank, the vault isn't all that big."
"True, but…" The ringing of the phone interrupts whatever Martha was going to say, as Lisa jumps up, then hits the speaker button.
"Pet Recyclers, this is Lisa."
"Lisa, it's Frank. I've got a little background information for you. I don't know if it will help or not."
"Well, lay it out, any info is better than none."
"It's not much, but the Feds have been trying to get these guys for a while now. They've robbed banks from Arizona to Alabama, staying in the south for now, probably so the weather is passable. I think this same crew was responsible for a string of bank robberies in the north last summer, the MO is the same, so is the trail of dead and injured. I don't know if the Feds have connected the dots yet, but it's likely they have. These guys skip around, but basically blaze a trail one direction, then go back by a different route, robbing banks all along the way. Oddly, the one place they haven't robbed any banks, as far as I can tell, is in California. With that state having the highest number of bank robberies in the country, it's hard to be sure about that. They may have learned their trade there, for all I know now."
"Well, you're right, that doesn't help much, but it's a little something. Any inkling as to where they'll strike next?"
"No way to know for sure, it might be slightly to the north, or to the south, but for sure east of here, they're on an eastern sweep right now."
"All smaller banks, in smaller towns, with little security?"
"Yeah, that's the profile."
"Any chance the security guard was in on this one?"
"Not much, so far as I can figure out, that's part of the profile, some of them come in the back, and knock the guard out. They don't always shoot people, but for some reason, they sometimes do. I get why they shot at Fred, he was trying to stop them. Why they shot Jeff, I haven't figured out, he wouldn't think of trying anything."
"No, he wouldn't, but my guess is he saw something that could help identify them."
"Sounds logical, though these types aren't often logical."
"True enough, is that all you've got?"
"So far, yeah, the Feds made that much available to all law enforcement agencies, but I'm sure there's a lot they're not telling us."
"That's usually the case, I used to be one, you know."
"Yeah, I know, but you got fed up with it, no pun intended."
"None taken. Later Frank, keep me up to date as you can huh?"
"Same goes for you."
"No way, if I find their asses, they're mine. Good to know that badge is still current, I can do what I want."
"Like you need a badge for that?"
Lisa would chuckle at that, but she's not in the mood. "Bye Frank."
"Bye"
Lisa hits the off button of the phone, then sits back down. While she was busy talking to Frank, Martha slipped away from the table. In a couple of minutes, she's back with a fifth of bourbon, the good stuff, and two short, wide glasses bartenders call rocks glasses. She pours an inch or so of bourbon in each glass, but doesn't add any ice. She grabs the discs, then puts one in the player attached to the large security monitor here.
It's tough going, barely Lisa sips the whiskey, she doesn't want her brain clouded as she watches the recordings. Fred seemed preoccupied as he walked into the bank. He never saw the two masked men in the corner. Watching him get shot was bad enough, but the way Jeff got shot was sad and gory.
Unfortunately, she has to watch that part several times as she tries to figure out why the perp shot Jeff. Martha is the first to notice, "Look at that, as the bastard reaches for the money bag, his sleeve rides up and reveals a tattoo. I can't make it out, the angle isn't that good. I'll bet that's why this son of a bitch shot Jeff, the tattoo could be a lead."
"Could be, but I don't have the means of enhancing this footage. I need to make a trip to DC."
"Do what you have to do, honey, I think your friends in Denver would be a better bet to get done what you need in a timely manner, but I think you should wait until tomorrow. You've had a bit to drink, and it's been a tiring, trying day. Finish your drink then get some sleep. I'll lock up, I'll stay here for now, in my apartment, I don't care for running back and forth to my place this time of year. Though it's dry lately, the weather still chills my bones most of the time."
"Yeah, the humidity makes it that way. I'm still not used to it. I think you're right, on both counts, I'll hop my chopper over to the airport tomorrow, can you make the call to have one of Ash's charter company Citation Ten's there? Filler up, there's no way I'll sleep without a good snoot full."
"Yeah, I can do that, on both counts. I figured as you'd need a snoot full."
An hour later, Martha helps Lisa to bed, she's snockered, the events of the day and missing supper have combined with the alcohol to wipe her out.
Chapter 5
Lisa uses a customized riding lawn mower to tug one of her three choppers out of the barn on its wheeled dolly. She's still feeling somewhat hungover, but some good sleep and a light breakfast including lots of coffee and orange juice helped alleviate it a lot. She's at what used to be Harvey Silvers' place, but it's hers now. The house is still undergoing renovations, she's yet to stay here, and probably won't during the winter months, it's a long drive on gravel roads from her shop in town. The collection of old cars that used to fill the barns went to Martha, she already had a lot of old cars and knows how to work on them, or where to get things done by people that know what they're doing. Martha is fixing one up for Lisa in her spare time, a forty Ford that was pretty much just the body shell and frame. Martha, and a few of her many male friends, are putting in more recent running gear, but will make it look for all the world like a stock original, if nobody looks too closely.
The chopper Lisa chooses to use today is a Eurocopter EC-135, formerly known as an Aerospatiale, but this one has dual Pratt and Whitney engines installed. It's relatively small, and very maneuverable. This one is armed, it has a pod full of small rockets, a twenty-millimeter cannon, and a fifty-caliber machine gun, but they're installed in pods that don't look menacing at all, until turned loose on a target.
Lisa doesn't expect to need the armament, she's chosen this particular bird for it's agility, and relative speed, it's not the fastest chopper in the world, but it's much faster with the new engines than her Bell Jet Ranger 430, or her reconditioned old military style Huey.
Since it's already fairly late in the morning, Lisa wants all the speed she can get, she always does. The chartered Citation waiting at the Birmingham airport will wait until she gets there, one of many advantages of being able to charter a plane. Another being that she won't have to fool with security that would give her a bunch of crap about being armed. The Presidential Investigator badge and ID she now has in her pocket would allow her to do what she wants, but she doesn't want the hassle, for sure the TSA people don't. If they tried to grope her, she'd probably shoot them, so not dealing with it at all is the only real choice.
There are closer albeit smaller airports than Birmingham that could handle the Citation, but she wants to check on Fred while she's there, and then again coming back. It made the most sense to just fly out of Birmingham, more so than taking the Citation from the closest airport, actually fifty miles or so further away, the distance wouldn't be worth the trouble of taking off and landing again. The only real reason for taking the chopper at all is the speed, most of it gained by not having to deal with traffic on the highways.
It's all very logical, at this time Lisa is being more logical than ever, since focusing on it and the case is helping keep her worry for Fred down to a level she can deal with.
Lisa checks the bird over carefully, she needs to top up the fuel, so she does so from a tank and pump she had put in. All of her birds use Jet A fuel, or JP 5 in military terms. She doesn't need JP4 in this climate, but has access to that and anything else she needs.
Now topped up and checked out, Lisa hooks the bird up to an external power supply for startup. The batteries could probably do it, but she wants to keep them at full charge, since on such a short hop, they might not have a chance to get recharged by the engine's charging system. She spools up the engines by hitting the button, when they're up to speed she hits the igniter switch. The engines catch, and start to warm up. Lisa lets it warm while she disconnects the power supply. She goes through the preflight checklist extra carefully, as if she was a newbie, since she's half hung over and worried she doesn't want to forget anything.
When she's sure everything is right, Lisa takes the bird straight up. She'll be at the hospital in less than an hour, if all goes well. She's doing what she can to make sure it does, but not everything, she suddenly remembers she forgot to toss in her suitcase, so she lands again, lets the engines run while she gets it out of her truck. She tosses it in the luggage compartment then takes off again.
Chapter 6
Lisa brings the chopper down right in the middle of the hospital's landing pad. Four guys are standing by with a wheeled dolly to move the bird out of the way, in case the Flight for Life chopper needs to land. Thinking of this makes Lisa wonder why the Flight for Life wasn't used for Fred and Jeff. There are only a few of those birds, so there may not have been one available. I need to talk to someone about keeping one in our area, I'll buy the damn bird, pay for the fuel, supplies and staff, but I wouldn't want the hassle of running the program. I suppose I could pilot it in an emergency, but isn't every time they fly an emergency? Maybe I can set up to fly it when the regular pilots are taking time off or something. I'll look into that later, now I best get to the matters at hand.
Lisa struts into the hospital through the side entrance, the metal detectors go crazy. Why hospitals need them is something she hasn't figured out. This is one of the reasons she brought her badge with her, a flash of the badge backs the two security guards up, one is an old gent, the other a young guy, but they both must know what kind of badge it is, they back away as if she's a leper or something.
Lisa finds her way to the main information desk, manned or rather womaned by three mature women wearing pink smocks over their clothes. "I need to find out about a patient, Sheriff Fred Ramsey."
"Are you family?"
"Not yet, officially."
"I'm sorry, I can only release information to family, and not much at that. Not that I care, but that's the policy we have to go by."
"I suggest you get somebody with some authority down here, and fast. I'm not one to take no for an answer. I'll take this place apart if I have to, now call somebody."
"Sure, calm down, I'm only a volunteer, take it up with the bigshots, to tell you the truth, there's one guy here I'd enjoy seeing taken down a few pegs. I'll call him."
"You do that, I'll take him down one way or the other." The lady makes a call, in a few minutes, a thirty-something man in a sharp, expensive suit strolls casually up to the desk area.
"I'm assistant director Stanley Walsh, is there a problem here?"
The lady waves her hand toward Lisa, "You can take that up with her."
"What seems to be the problem, m'am?"
"I need information about Sheriff Fred Ramsey, this lady tells me I can't have it, since I'm not family yet."
"That's the policy, girlfriends aren't given any official status."
"I've got all the official status I need right here." Lisa pulls both her pistol and her badge, she cocks the hammer as she puts the barrel against Walsh's head. "Now, do you give me what I need to know, or does your replacement? If you know what kind of badge this is, you'll know I can shoot you right now in front of everyone and not be so much as questioned about it." Lisa is messing with him, she didn't rack the slide, there's no round in the chamber, but he doesn't know that.
Walsh is suddenly very stinky, as the front of his pants turns wet, and the rear sags and the blue suit pants turn brown. Lisa has to take a couple of steps back, because he reeks.
"Well, hell that's one way to get a pistol out of your face I guess. I should shoot you for assaulting my nose. Now, do I get the information I need, or do you die?"
Walsh is very pale, Lisa thinks he might pass out at any moment. He tells the lady in pink, "Give the lady with the big gun anything she wants. Can I go now?"
"I'd say you already did, but go on, get the hell out of here, and send the janitor to clean up your mess. I should rub your face in it, and make you clean it up, but I don't want to get stinky too."
Walsh turns and does a strange walk, as far as the nearest mens room. Lisa waits until he's inside the room, then busts out laughing, more from a little stress relief than it being all that funny. The lady in pink is laughing too, she thinks it's funny as hell. As soon as they can get their composure, the lady looks on the computer, then tells Lisa, "That was pretty much all for nothing, but I was glad to see it. The sheriff is in surgery right now. They had to wait to do it until he regained enough strength to get through it. I can't tell you any more than that. His team of doctors are from out of town, I suppose you had something to do with that?"
"Yes, I did, and I'm taking care of the bills, I guess I should see to that while I'm here."
"That would go a long way toward getting you the privileges you need, the one paying the bills usually gets told anything they want."
"Okay, I'll take care of that in a moment, what can you tell me about Jeffery Martin, he was probably brought in about the same time as the sheriff."
"One moment." The lady checks the computer again, "He's still in critical condition, but should make it. The bean burritos he had for lunch saved his life. It's the talk of the hospital."
"What the hell?"
"I'll try to explain, as best I know how. He was shot at point blank range with a shotgun, as you probably know, they're not all that powerful, and at that distance, the shot didn't have a chance to spread out much. The shot went through his stomach on the front side, yes, but the shot, at least most of it, wound up in the bean burritos he had right before the robbery. That's as best I understand it, anyway."
"I know those burritos, they're from a little place a few doors down from the bank, I eat there often. I knew they were tough, but not bulletproof."
"I wouldn't say they're bulletproof, but bird shot proof."
"Bird shot? I would have thought they'd use buckshot?"
"Not this time, it was something called Number eight birdshot, but not the lead kind, this was made of something else.
"Steel or tungsten most likely, though there are other varieties."
"I wouldn't know, I only use double ought buck in my shotgun, it's mostly for home defense."
"Yeah, good choice, most of the time."
"I think so, but I do use some rock salt shells to keep some nasty critters away, sometimes of the two legged variety."
"Yeah, I know what you mean."
"Oh, by the way, this Mr. Martin is scheduled to be moved elsewhere, but the records don't say where."
"They wouldn't, he's a material witness, he saw something that could help ID the perps. I know where he'll be going."
"Very well, is there anything else I can do for you?"
"Direct me to the billing department."
"Right down the hall, there's a big sign, you can't miss it."
"Not if I'm aiming at it." They both chuckle at that, then Lisa struts away to go take care of the billing.
Thirty minutes later, she's in the air again, zipping over to the Birmingham airport.
Chapter 7
When Lisa steps off the plane, it's snowing lightly. It's cold, but not terrible, it's not the same kind of cold as in the south where anything under sixty-five feels cold to her. This is a drier cold. Though the powdery snow is falling her light jacket is enough, so long as she's not out in it too long.
Susan, what one might call Ash's left hand girl if Bobbi is the right hand girl, meets her right outside the plane, then guides her to a stretched Hummer limousine. She explains, "Sorry, between the weather and being short on chopper pilots right now, we can't hop over the traffic to the offices."
"I fly choppers, if one's available, I'll hop it over."
"That's another rub, there aren't any available at this time."
"I know Ash has lots of them, why aren't any available?"
"I don't suppose I should say, I'm not sure exactly what she's up to anyway. Another one of her many missions to save the world, I presume."
"Something like that, undoubtedly."
They get in the limo, the driver starts out of the airport without being told where to go, a good thing for him, most people don't like it when they're told where to go, it's usually the same place they're always told to go. Ash owns this airport, and the one closer to her home in Evergreen. This one is what used to be called Stapleton International, it's Pane Enterprises private airport now. She uses this one sometimes, but it's primarily used for her airfreight business now. It's closer to the offices than the one near Golden, which is why Lisa's plane landed here, so she wouldn't have to fight the traffic to come into Denver, or the suburb where the offices actually are. Lisa knows Denver proper is the same size it always was, and always will be, only the once small towns around it grow up and out, making it one large city in actuality, if not technically. Lisa is keeping her mind occupied with such inane details, rather than worry about Fred.
She doesn't talk to Susan much on the ride, she keeps looking out the window, and dredging up any inane facts she can to keep the worry at bay. She doesn't worry well, when she gets worried, people around her are in trouble, and she certainly doesn't want any trouble with Ash's people.
It takes a while to slog through the traffic to get to the ten story office building across the street from Ash's mall, the driver does the best he can to miss the worst of the traffic, but stupid drivers abound, there are traffic snarls everywhere today. I would think that people that live here would know how to drive on snow and ice, but it sure doesn't seem like it.
Eventually, they pull into the lot behind Ash's office building, one of many, Lisa knows, but this is the first one she bought, her top people still work out of here, and more importantly, it's where Robert, and his fancy computers are located. Most of Ash's top people are at least millionaires, if not billionaires, they keep working for Ash because she allows them to do what they do best, and gives them lots of perks, some of which money alone can't buy.
The driver handles Lisa's one medium sized suitcase, while Susan takes them to the elevator. Susan tells the driver to put the suitcase in apartment two, while she and Lisa go see Robert. He nods in reply, why he hasn't been introduced is strange, Ash always introduces everyone, but then this is Susan, not Ash, she may not know this driver's name, the limo company belongs to Ash too, and has lots of drivers.
As soon as Susan takes her to see Robert, she makes her excuses to go upstairs to her office. Robert gives Lisa a hug, one she can sure use at the moment. When he backs away, he asks, "Okay, now that the niceties are out of the way, what have you got for me, something interesting, I hope?"
"What I actually have is very little, I'm hoping you can work your magic to find out more, a hell of a lot more."
Robert pulls out an office chair, and motions for her to sit. She does, then he sits down on another chair, this one is a high backed chair with speakers built into the wrap around headrest with a computer keyboard and joystick attached to the arms. "Okay, Lisa, lets hear the whole story, give me every detail you know."
Lisa tells him what little she knows, and gives him the video discs. He dubs off copies immediately, then gives her back the originals. "Okay, I'll get to work on the video, while it's being enhanced I'll see what I can dig up on these guys."
"I take it you have clearance to get into the FBI files?"
"FBI? I can get anything the Feds have, legally, that takes most of the fun away though. Every once in a while, whenever they update their security, I still hack in, just to keep my skills sharp."
"All right, I'm beat, I'm going up to the apartment, I plan on staying the night, can you call across to Ash's place and have them send over some food? One of those Ash Pane specials will do."
"Sure, no problem. It'll take about thirty minutes. There's other food there, if you get hungry later, and cold drinks in the vending machine in the apartment, no cash needed."
"I take it that was your idea?"
"Yeah, the drinks in the main fridge took up too much room. If I'm not in here, I'll be in the other apartment. It's a twin of that one."
"I remember. See you later."
"Much later, for sure."
"Yeah, most likely."
Lisa takes the elevator up to the tenth floor, she's too drug out to use the stairs. She slips off her shoes then kicks back on the couch, waiting for the food to arrive. It does in the thirty minutes or so Robert had said. She eats the big steak, the baked potato, and has a Coke then she gets herself ready for bed. She's glad that Ash got her a cloud bed, and has them here too. She probably won't feel much different than she would at home, except that she won't have the animals to comfort her. They are a big comfort to her at times like this especially, in Rowdy's case, a huge comfort.
Chapter 8
When Lisa wakes, her body feels much better, but her mind doesn't. She feels more down in the dumps than ever before. She's not sure why, something to do with what she was dreaming, but the dream fades before she can recall it. An overwhelming sadness pervades her mind. She doesn't know what to do about it, so she decides to take a shower. In the steamy shower, the tears fall unbidden, she's not exactly sure why, whatever snuck into her head did so in her dreams, her conscious mind can't grasp it, whatever it may be.
When the tears cease, she feels somewhat better, so she turns off this shower that never runs out of hot water. It's got the nifty on-demand water heaters like her place has since the rehab, another of Ash's many gifts to her. Oddly, she hasn't spent much time with Ash, but Ash has given freely, and treated her like an old friend, except for never having much time to spend with her. I guess the busy life of a person with larger than life superhero status among the masses doesn't have a lot of time to spare.
According to what Ash's people tell me, Ash is very giving, unless somebody is on her bad side, then what she gives those on the receiving end sure as hell don't want. To hear people talk, she's Superwoman, Wonderwoman, the angel of mercy, the Angel of Death, and the Destroyer all rolled into one eye-pleasing package. Not all of what's said about her could possibly be true, but she does lend enough credence to the rumors to make many people believe they're true.
Damn, why do I keep cluttering my mind thinking about other things besides this case? I guess I'll think about anything else, thinking about the case reminds me of why I'm on the case. Will Fred make it? Will he still want to be married? Will he still be sheriff? If, if, if, shit, I've got to get my damn act together, or these bastards will be ruining no telling how many more lives. They've sure as hell made a mess of mine, Fred and Jeff's.Yeah, that's it girl, get mad, then get their asses. You go girl, go get these sons of bitches, and put 'em in the ground without so much as a prayer over their unmarked graves.
Lisa dresses more casually than usual, just sweats, a T-shirt, and sports shoes with no socks, for now. She doesn't bother to put on her vest or weapons, if there's one place she doesn't need either it's here, absolutely nobody, in their right mind or not, messes with Ash's place or her people. Some did for a while, but they all died of natural causes, when somebody has that many big bullets in them dies, it's only natural.
There's a coffee maker in the apartment's kitchenette, but she knows there will most likely be coffee already made in the eighth floor break room. She takes the stairs down the two flights, her body is up to it today, and sometimes exercise helps clear the mind. It's only two flights, down not up. I'm not sure I want to try going up them as quick as I'm going down, but maybe later I'll take them up and down for four or five floors, just to get things pumping, but not before coffee, that's for damn sure.