A Thin Blue Line (vol 2)

[Reltzik]

OOC Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?311794-A-Thin-Blue-Line-OOC)
1st IC thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?312155-A-Thin-Blue-Line&p=16332439#post16332439)

Jules takes advantage of the break in the interrogation to grab a smoke. Just as the nicotine's starting to "calm" his nerves, his cell phone rings. It's from the same number that La Loba's been using to call Tanner.

*****

Meanwhile, Tanner's meeting with Lieu-Lou. She moves on to the other point that Tanner raised.

"Now about the victim's identity. We've got a fingerprint match and a visual ID. But let's say those records were altered somehow. We should still be able to find somewhere that the real Officer Rodrick -- to the extent that there IS a real Officer Rodrick -- left actual fingerprints for us to make a comparison to the corpse rather than just looking them up in our files. I'll get someone on that. Now in the meantime, do you want a specialist interrogator for Atake, or would you rather tackle this yourself?"

[Kislath]

"Honestly, I don't know what to make of this. He might be lying and trying to muddy the issue, or he might actually believe it. He might just be a kook. Either way, I don't even know what I should be asking him at this point. You might wanna go ahead and bring in a specialist.
Either that, or we could just lie to him about accepting his deal."

[Thrair]

"Guadalupe. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

[Reltzik]

Lieu-Lou considers for a moment.

"The only thing he has of value is whatever he knows about your dead man and his schemes... assuming he knows anything. Given Rodrick's involvement with La Loba and her schemes, we should be trying to extract everything from him that we can. Also, I think the military wants something else out of him. They've been cooperating with us, so we should do the same back.

"A false deal MIGHT be an option at this point. Anything Atake says under that pretext will be inadmissible against him, but between the words of a half dozen cops, dozens of potential witnesses, and the video feeds from Rodrick's flat, we've already got him dead to rights whether we can use anything he says or not. The problem as always is that if word of it gets out -- and it most likely would -- it could affect every other plea bargain that we or the DA try to make for years to come. Whether that's worth putting an end to whatever La Loba is planning is a command decision that you probably shouldn't be grappling with yourself, but to make that decision us brass need eyes and ears to gauge, first, how valuable Atake's information is to shutting her down, and second, whether La Loba's scheme is a credible enough threat to be worth the cost to shut it down in this manner. Without knowing those two things, we're making the decision blind."

Lieu-Lou closes her eyes to consider for a moment. Then:

"If you REALLY want to crack him, go ahead with my blessing. Otherwise, you have plenty of other ponds to fish in, and I can get someone more qualified than you for this particular pond. You're technically under Chief Van Mueller's authority rather than mine right now, and he's out of action for the moment, so I can only advise, not order. But I know that the Chief would say you're the man on point and it's your call to make. The brass's job is to find the right people for the job and give them the tools, training, support, organization, and oversight to do the job. But once it's time to DO the job, the brass's job is to smooth your path, stay out of the way, and let you do it."

She glances at the phone's handset in irritation. Apparently the MPD's PR office still isn't picking up.

*****

"I tried your partner first," Guadalupe says. "Since I seem to have a better working relationship with him. Unfortunately, the call went straight to voice mail." That's not surprising. Up until a minute ago, Tanner was in the interrogation room, and reception in those things is god-awful. Now Jules can see that he's meeting with Lieu-Lou. "We've reached a branching point in the contingency plans and I need to decide soon... too soon to wait for him to get back to me. The short version is that the stakes are about to get upped and I have to decide which is the lesser evil to bet on. On one branch of the decision tree a long-term Baker stops being viable. We'd either need to see movement on Baker in the next couple of days, or we'll have to commit to... one of the non-cooperative strategies. Probably the less-friendly of the two. The other branch of the tree still allows a long-term Baker under the best-case scenario and sees fewer casualties in that event, but has a far higher casualty rates among civilians under the worst-case scenarios. It also takes the initiative about WHICH scenarios play out away from me and puts it into the hands of people who don't know enough to recognize those worst-case scenarios, and who would likely steer events in the worst direction out of sheer incompetent belligerence. Since you and Tanner are what's left of Baker, I need your report on how likely we are to see movement in the next two days, and since he and possibly you are what's left of my active allies in the MPD, you have a right to be included in the decision.

"... and since you are half of what's left of Baker, I'm pretty sure that means the two of us need to have it out if Baker's to have any chance of succeeding at all. But that will probably take a good chunk of an hour, and I have about five minutes before I need to decide on this point."

[Kislath]

"Okay. I'll try to see if he has anything that might actually be useful. I guess I'd better go find Jules first, though. Maybe he said something to him that might be important."

Thad leaves, and hey, what luck. There's Jules right there handy.
He strolls over to him.

"Dude, You won't believe what this Atake guy is saying."

[Thrair]

Jules grunts in irritation and raises a finger to Tanner indicating he needs a second.
"If this Baker plan relies on cooperation between us, it's dead. And you know what I think of your plans. Of how they'll inspire riots. Assume your plan will not work well, and go from there. If something results in mass riots if something goes wrong... ditch it. Not worth the risk."

"My opinion? This right here's the big problem. There's too many of you people who're too proud and who want to see things fixed 'their' way, and you're all tripping over each other. Your plans screw up their plans, their plans screw up yours. It's a pileup of ideas that are only good on paper and in a vacuum. If you had complete control, your idea'd be great. So would some of ours. But between the Force, the Wolfpack, the Politicians, and the pissed off yahoos? Crapshoot. Nobody's backing down and you know it."

"So... Whatever you're planning? Go with the one's least likely to get civilians caught up in the crossfire when things go wrong... because they will. I don't care much about your gang getting caught up your own mess, because you'll be bringing down on yourself. That's on you. And if you want to go up against the force, well... it's part of the job we get paid for. Who knows... maybe you'll catch some of the corrupt ones by blind luck. But don't start another goddamn LA riot. Here's Tanner, he just got out of a meeting. So you can have a second opinion."

Jules hands the phone to Tanner. "Your call, Tanner. You're better suited to deal with her."

[Reltzik]

La Loba starts to say something as Jules hands her off, but he doesn't catch it.

When Tanner comes on, she repeats most of what she said to Jules -- leaving out the part about a better working relationship, needing to have it out with Jules, and not being able to reach Tanner.

[Kislath]

"Uhhh... We're not in any big hurry on our end. Everybody is real antsy thinking that you're about to do something, but there's no plans to attack or anything. I don't know why you're suddenly feeling any pressure. Yeah, sure, that mess earlier has the 23rd all riled up, but they know that it wasn't your guys behind it, so after the confusion wears off they should chill. I'll be calling their Captain soon to try to defuse the situation. Nobody wants a war...well, maybe a few guys do, but they're not important.
In the meantime, I'm working on catching the creep who sicced those two hitmen after me. My witness is being interviewed about him, and in a few minutes I should have a pretty good picture of this scumbag. A little comparison to the personnel records should flush him out, and you'll have a nice juicy headline of another dirty surge cop either going to jail or to the morgue.

Okay... now I have to ask you a very weird question. I don't even want to, but I have to because it's my job.

Those two guys from Nando's apartment this morning... well.. I know this is nuts, but... well, one of them is insisting that he knows what your REAL plans are, and he's trying to make a deal. He also says something even worse, or maybe better depending on how you look at it.
Now, remember, my job is to consider all possibilities until I can narrow down which ones are true, so please don't be mad at me, and I don't want to upset you, but this guy is saying that the body in our crimelab isn't really Nando's, and that he faked his death, which he had done once before, and did a good job of it.

I know, crazy, right? Still, this opens up a whole new can of worms. This is the sort of thing that gets a lot of attention from all the wrong people.

Here's my question: When and how did you first hear of his death? This is important. You knew before we did. How? No, I'm not accusing you of anything. I just have to analyze any possibility that someone has been playing us, or maybe playing us both. Have you seen his body?

Also, I guess I gotta ask... Do you have any other big plans that we don't already know about? The stuff we know about is pretty big stuff, and I can't imagine what could be any worse, but we'd appreciate it, I'd appreciate it, if you could let us know. I'm trying to help you, you know. This guy says that Nando is alive and you two are cooking up something huge.
Is there anything to that?
Is that why you're so much more worried, now that this guy has been arrested and wants to talk?
If that's not it, then what is the problem? Why are you in such a hurry to choose a plan of action right this minute?
Again, sorry about this, but I have to ask. I wouldn't expect you to admit it if it were true, of course, but I figured you'd like a heads-up about this mess."

[Reltzik]

La Loba takes a moment to digest this. Then, going slowly, as if picking her words carefully, she says:

"You're asking a lot, Detective Tanner. I'll answer what I can of it... but I've got only a couple of minutes left before I have to make this call, and the answers you want will take longer than that. In short, yes, Nando is dead, and no, things aren't going to get better. If anything, cracking down on the Sanguinarios will make them desperate, dangerous, and determined to bring the hammer down on us before we help bring it down on them... and in the end it's not enough. The Sanguinarios are symptoms of deeper, underlying issues, born of a direct and sadistic racism in the highest ranks of Michaelburg's government and perpetuated through neglect and willful ignorance. Unless those are resolved police abuse will always be a severe problem in Brookvale, and our ability to do that ENDS if we don't act by Saturday. Numerous, public arrests for abuse will allow us to remove that deadline and extend Baker's timeline out into something where it has a halfway respectable chance of success. Otherwise, we have to pull the trigger on CJ or Davi before we lose the trigger entirely. That will result in casualties. I have a way to reduce those casualties... but only if I give up on Baker in the long term. If I take those precautionary measures, EVERYTHING shifts into the short term, and Baker either succeeds or dies by Saturday. So I need to know how confident you are that you can get numerous, public arrests on multiple issues by then. If so, there's a chance to resolve this with a minimum of strife. If not, I need to take steps to get civilians out of the line of fire, and I need to start doing that now.

"I'll find time in the next hour or two to answer your questions in detail, but I need to make this call NOW. Your partner says I should give up on the best case scenario and keep the civilians safe, even if that's what puts the last nail in the coffin for the best-case scenario, because the best case scenario is dead anyway. Convince me, quickly, that he's wrong, or that's exactly what I'm going to do."

((We'll say that Tanner's holding the phone so that Jules can listen in. If Jules wants to. Which... he might not. If not, what is he doing instead?))

[Kislath]

"Okaaaay... I still don't get what the all-fired hurry is all of a sudden. What's going to happen or change between now and Saturday? Why the rush? Does it have anything to do with all of those other cities involved in this?

As for nabbing badguys and headlines, if my witness, who by the way is pretty darned reliable since she's the very leak who caused all of today's mess, gives me enough to go on, then I should be able to nail at least a few dirty cops within a day or two. It'll make huge splash in the media and make a lot of cops and brass reeeeeal nervous.

Jules?"

[Thrair]

Just in case you didn't see the OOC post I made.

"Hm? What is it?"

[Kislath]

"Do you know what she's talking about, what her big hurry is?"

[Thrair]

"Not a clue. She's pulling her cryptic "too classified for you to know" routine, and expecting us to make informed decisions based on it. I cannot tell you how badly I wish I could arrest her."

[Reltzik]

The inexplicable silence at the end of the phone comes to an end as La Loba takes the two of you off of hold. "All right," she says. "I've started the preliminaries, but I really don't want to commit to this if I can be sure it's unnecessary. I think I'll be able to abort for a bit... maybe an hour until the point of no return. If you want to meet and get on the same page, now's the time. Or we can set up a teleconference of some sort if that's more convenient for you."

[Kislath]

"Okay, sounds good. I guess the teleconference would be best for me. I need to hang around here for a bit if possible so I can ID this dirty cop as soon as the witness points him out to us."

[Reltzik]

"All right," La Loba says. "I don't quite know where everyone is at this second, but unless everyone's completely out of place I think I can find someone at your precinct with the equipment for the teleconference in five or ten minutes. Roughly. There will be no record of our next contact, no video, no audio, no nothing. You can bring in the people you would trust with a snitch's identity, but no one else. My messenger will find you at your desk."

And then she hangs up.

[Kislath]

"Oooohkaaaaaaayy....

Hey, Jules. La Loba is having one of her inside people here at the precinct set up a conference for us, all hush-hush like. A messenger should be here in a couple of minutes to tell us where to go."

[Thrair]

Jules rubs his eyes with one hand, reaching for his smokes with the other.
"... Oh for.... Look... this is shaky ground. I should be coming so I can identify the insider, and I should be passing this information along; it confirms a lot of suspicions we've had. Any other circumstance, and I would. Not doing so is bending a lot of regs. Probably breaking 'em. Easiest way for me not to do so is to not be involved."

Jules lights up, giving Tanner an apologetic look.
"No offense intended, but I get the impression you could care less if you lose your job. After the bull they've put ya through, I can understand why. But there's way too much at play for me to put myself in that position, even if I was as much a maverick as you in the first place. So I'm going to have to pass the buck on this one.

"In the meantime, I'll see what else I can move on. We've got a mess of possible leads and intel, and most of it's sitting there waiting to be sorted through. I'm thinking I might see if anyone's set up a proper case file while I wait for Logan to clear the hospital. Larson has him pegged as the much intelligent and dangerous of the two. I'm going to need to prepare myself in case I'm needed to assist with that. I can't afford to blow the second chance like I did with Atake.

But first? I'm going for a walk and a smoke. Good luck, Thad."


Assuming Kislath's next post doesn't need a detailed response from Jules, his next stop is a block away from the precinct to a good smoking spot, away from all the insanity.

[Kislath]

"Hmmm... okay. Suit yourself. That's probably the smart thing to do.
Luckily, I'm not very smart. I'll fill you in later, I guess."

[Reltzik]

((Ima assume K is ready for the messenger, then.))

About a dozen minutes later, a cop shows up at Thad's desk. She's short, Hispanic, with her hair in a bun and the name J. Ruiz on her nameplate. She's got a special detective badge with a big 8 indicating she's assigned to this precinct.

"Detective Tanner?" she asks. She sounds a bit nervous. "A... friend asked me to bring you downstairs and show you something."

[Kislath]

"Ah! Cool. I've been expecting you. Lead the way!"

[Reltzik]

Ruiz leads Tanner down into the bowels of the precinct, to a place he hardly ever goes: the kennel. Most K9 tasks are handled by Metro, but the MPD's philosophy is to provide at least one or two people of each proficiency to the precincts whenever possible, on the theory that a quick local response might be required in an emergency and on the principle that the precincts should be as antonymous as possible. There's a half-dozen dogs here, and one or two special detective dog-handlers each shift.

Most of the dogs react to Ruiz's arrival by leaping up and barking joyfully, rearing up against the sides of their pens and wagging their tails with vigor. She takes a few seconds to go over to each of them, providing a little bit of petting and some words of greeting. One of them has a bandage taped onto its muzzle and seems a bit less energetic than the others, and she takes a bit of extra time to make sure it feels loved and happy. Another one is lying on its pen's floor and seems a bit too tired to get up, but still lifts its head and thumps its tail on the floor, and to that one she provides a gentle pat on the head and not much else. Then she gives a sharp instruction to each dog to be quiet, and they all obey. The barks stop and most of them curl up on the floors of their respective pens.

Ruiz then leads Thad over to a workstation where she's got a laptop set up. "My shift-buddy's on vacation for the week," she says as she logs in. "And people always call ahead if they need a dog. So we shouldn't be interrupted. I'm supposed to set up a video chat for you and then watch to make sure you're not recording it. If you are, I'm supposed to signal her and she'll end the call immediately."

Ruiz brings up the application, types in some connection information, and clicks on the "connect" button. She clears the chair for Thad to use as the software connects and La Loba comes on screen.

[Kislath]

"Hey, it works. Cool.

Well, it's just me. Jules had better things to do, I guess.

So... what's up?"

[Reltzik]

"I'm sure he had anything else to do," La Loba says with a grimace. Then she sighs and straightens up, more formal and business-like. She holds up a thumb drive for Thad to see, and starts to say something. Then she stops and reconsiders. She places the thumb drive back on her desk, barely within the camera's field of view, and starts on another track.

"You wanted to know what the rush was. I didn't have the time a moment ago to explain it. Now I do... but let's see if I can't spare you long explanations of things you already know. How much do you know about my organization's use of cell phones?"

*****

Meanwhile, Jules has found a nice bench on a corner a block and a half away from the precinct. He's lit up and aside from work and this god-awful heat, things are pretty calm and relaxing.

Then his phone rings. It's Captain Adamson calling.

[Thrair]

Jules sighs at the sight of the caller ID. Adamson wasn't likely to be in a good mood, if he was capable of them. He shifts the cigarette to the side of his mouth, currently unwilling to set it aside for anything short of of a natural disaster.

"Hello, sir. Need something?"

[Reltzik]

"Yes, Detective," Adamson says. He sounds mildly grumpy but above all exhausted, as if he didn't get a wink of sleep last night. "I need to bring you into the loop about La Loba's activities last night, and discuss the purported documentation of corruption you sent over." The fatigue is definitely audible in his voice. "And I've also got something I need you and your partners to do. Ah, as a warning, I might have to hang up suddenly. I'm expecting the PR office to check their voice mail eventually, and when they do I'll have to beep over quickly."

[Thrair]

Jules winced, inwardly. He was about to say pass off some blatant bull. Not any outright laws... but certainly in the spirit of them.

"Hm. They're not with me, but I'll update 'em when I see 'em next. Haven't seen Nguyen at all today, what with the shooting at the apartment complex. Ran into Tanner a while ago, but we both broke off to follow up different leads. As to Brand, I'll have it sent her way. Don't know what she got pulled for, though."

Jules takes another quick drag, then grumbles.
"Alright, hit me. What've we got on her?"

[Reltzik]

"Worse than nothing," Adamson grumbles. "If her goal is to start riots she's doing a damned good job of hiding it. Upper Brookvale - hell, ALL of Brookvale - was on the knife's edge last night after that Erica Sanchez got shot. We've crossed paths before, by the way, charming kid, couldn't happen to a nicer girl." That's sarcasm. "Not that she deserved to get shot. Anyhow, Almeida could've just sat back and let nature take its course. Instead she just popped up out of nowhere... have I mentioned how much I HATE how those cell phones let her duck in and out of surveillance whenever she pleases? ... and everywhere that the locals were starting to get rowdy, she went straight there. Made a big public show of calming them down... shouting them down, usually. AND recording it all. At this rate if we ever try to charge her with incitement she'll have excellent documentation that she's been doing the exact opposite of inciting. Not a perfect air-tight defense but the next best thing. She's already releasing propaganda videos of it through the Wolfpack's social media outlets, calling on everyone to remain calm and collected and not lash out violently because, get this, she has a plan for driving the 'sanguinarios' out of Brookvale and we'll start seeing movement on it sometime in the next week but it won't work if people get violent. By my count, which is probably low, she stopped violent outbursts from happening five times last night AND rescued four of our boys that some angry toughs had subdued. Rode in and gave them a tongue-lashing just when they were about to start getting really nasty. Not that she'll tell us who the perps were... and not that we can do anything to her if she doesn't. She just reminded us, hard, that we can't afford to just arrest her." He sighs, a really world-weary sigh on top of his exhaustion.

"Anyhow, that evidence of corruption you sent over yesterday? It's nothing. An old con artist's trick. You make it LOOK like there's a pattern by taking a huge data set, like a bunch of IA complains for two whole precincts over several years, and cherry-picking a bunch of suggestive coincidences. And if you have enough to pick through you're GOING to find a bunch of coincidences. They don't even have to be tightly-linked. The more circumstantial the connection, the more the mark fills in the blanks themselves. It's how conspiracy theories are born, and what you have looks like she's trying to start some. Which is bad, because it will drive the civies nuts. When you get down to it, that's the real problem. That bitch is crazy, but she's getting everyone else out there even crazier. Without her on the streets we would have had a dozen bodies or more on the deck easy... and at least four of them would have been cops. We need to put an end to that messiah following of hers before we can get rid of her.

"So I had a brainstorm a few minutes ago. We call her bluff before she raises us further. I want you and Tanner to tell her you're investigating her accusations and ask her, point blank, for all the 'evidence' she's gathered. If she hands it over and there's any substance to it, it will give the PR office a head start on it. And the rat squad, I guess. Better if we're cleaning up any mess by the time she goes public with it. If she has nothing, and I'm guessing she has nothing, we get to stop fretting about it. But the real opportunity is if she tells you no. That's obstruction. We could nail her for SHIELDING the very 'sanguinarios' she's been talking about getting rid of, and her only legal defense would be saying that she didn't have any evidence to hand over. Either way it would demoralize her people and break her rep for good."

Adamson's tone has gotten less tired and more energetic. Despite (or perhaps because) of the fact he's likely had little to no sleep for over a day, he's clearly excited by this idea. He doesn't sound angry either, save for an obvious and visceral hatred directed at La Loba. If anything, he's talking to Jules like a colleague rather than someone to order or bully around.

[Thrair]

Jules' brow furrowed slightly in confusion. Not about what Adamson was saying, but by his attitude. It was.... odd. Enough so to make him naturally leery. After a brief pause, he decided it was worth keeping an eye on, but he should otherwise focus on the conversation at hand.

"Hm. Some of that squares with my estimation. She's infuriatingly good at manipulating crowds. Though I think she's going to lose control of them, eventually. But removing her causes as many problems as it'd solve. Name your poison, I guess."

Jules mulled over Adamson's suggestion. Not a bad idea on paper, but way too flimsy. Actually, it was a lousy idea because of that. Again, this was odd. And he couldn't shake that nagging wariness. He felt like he was missing something. And he wanted to make sure Tanner had a little wiggle room to try and work his magic. At least until an alternative appeared.

"And... I dunno... If I'm gonna be totally honest here.... I don't think it'll work. She and I have had some heated words, and that bridge is pretty thoroughly burned. If it ever was there in the first place. Tanner's got a bit more trust from her... but not much. His approach is getting us some information on our case, but she'd double back in a hurry if she felt he was trying to worm information out to use against her. Only reason we've even gotten what we have is because she knows we're following up on Rodriguez's murder. I'd rather not risk that until we've nabbed the bastards that killed him and Brown."

Jules took another weary drag, then continued. Even if he took the suggestion at face value, he just didn't think it'd work.

"More than that, I don't think it's enough. Even assuming she outright refuses to give us the evidence, instead of simply pretending she doesn't have it... She can easily spin it. Claim she doesn't trust us to use the information, and that's why she's refusing to give it to us. Hell, as much as the people in the slums hate us, she'd probably be able to convince the crowds that we only wanted the information so we could cover our own asses and plug the holes. I'm sorry, sir... but I'm just not seein' it."

Heh. He had a thought. A bit petty, perhaps... but it honestly might work to give Adamson something to chew on, while still giving Tanner some extra time.
"You know... she was witness to a crime, recently. That firefight in the apartment complex. We brought in a couple of scumbags that are involved in the Rodrick case. We could call her in for a witness statement. Don't think her lawyer could claim we were harassing her over that. I'm a little curious why she was in the apartment in the first place. She didn't see fit to provide me an explanation for that. Which I found to be more than a little rude, given we got her out of the there in one piece."

[Kislath]

"Your phones?

Well, you all carry them. They have really good video capability. You have a cool app installed on them which tracks all of the cops in realtime. They probably all run on your own network.

I guess that's all I can think of."

[Reltzik]

"It doesn't exactly let us track all cops," La Loba says. "There are flaws and shortcomings. Holes in the system. But it's a huge edge. The network is critical for our survival as an organization. It helps us get a few hours here and there where we aren't monitored by the police. Without it, we don't have the breathing room to meet without dirty cops busting down the door. Without it, I'd be surprised if we survived for two weeks as an organization capable of coordinated efforts to curb police misconduct. Not when the sanguinarios KNOW we're out to get them and have proven more than willing to retaliate against us and our families.

"And that's the problem. I don't know if you follow politics at the state level. Probably not. Most people don't. But there's a bill that's likely to become law on Monday that will give cops the tools they need to shut down video monitoring of their activity... and that includes our network. Without that, it's the end of our efforts. Simply arresting a chunk of the bad cops won't do the trick. Remember, the individuals are just symptoms. The problem is that the system is broken. Sweep up a bunch of individuals and the They'll follow through on the pretext that we're an illegal gang. Most of our leadership ends up in jail on some trumped-up charge or another... or dead... and all our attempts fix the problems that have hounded Brookvale for decades come to naught. We lose. Everything we've spent years building, all the changes and reforms we've been trying to implement, all for nothing.

"So we have to kill the bill. We MIGHT be able to do that, but only if we can quickly whip up a large amount of mistrust for police with exposure of misconduct. And we'd need to have lead time to do it, a couple of news cycles at least. The more the better, actually. We should have already started, but I'm bending over backwards to resolve this short of an all-out war. So the deadline's Saturday. And unless you can come through with Baker, our only means of doing it is with CJ or Davi. And if we DO find some sort of method to survive without CJ or Davi? If that sparks retaliation or simply indicates to the MPD how to build up a defense against them, we'll have to execute anyway. Preemptively. Use it or lose it. So unless we can kill that bill promptly, and do it in a way that doesn't give away our strategy for the rest of the series, we've got no choice but to escalate."

There's something about her attitude that suggests she's holding something back. Not lying, but far from the whole truth.

*****

Adamson grumbles a bit. "Once she's in jail we'd be able to control the narrative, not her. She won't be letting any secrets slip from a secure cell, no matter how old. And I know it's a bad option. We just don't have any GOOD options, and this one feels like the best of a bad lot. Interviewing her doesn't get her off the street for long and won't accomplish anything other than pissing you off. Believe me, you don't REALLY hate that bitch until you've sat across an interrogation table from her. Attitude problem, major attitude problem. Take her attitude on the street and multiply it by twenty. But okay. Try it your way and trust me, within five minutes you'll want to give my approach a try instead. Just have it in your back pocket when you interview her, ready to go if you decide you want to do it."

[Kislath]

"Oh, okay! Now I get it.

Yeah, I know about that Bill. People have been pestering me about going to a rally supporting it.

I get the feeling you're not telling me something, but that's okay.

I have an idea. It's a little out there, though. I can't exactly call up the Governor and tell him not to sign the bill, but I know some people who possibly can, and to save the city a lot of trouble, they just might.

Do you think that might be worth a try? In the meantime, I'm just waiting on an I.D. on the cop who caused all the ruckus awhile ago, so that'll make a nice splashy headline."

[Reltzik]

"You're right. There are things I'm not telling you. I've got a game plan that I'm not ready to give away.

"Swaying the governor is a good thought, and if it could work I would have appealed to the Governor myself," La Loba answers. "But his hands are tied. He lost a lot of political capital making those pardons, and more with the compromises and budget cuts he needed to implement with the recession. The vote counters think this vote's going to get close to a veto-proof majority, and even if it doesn't quite clear that bar it's close enough that opposing it would be a very questionable political move to make. Especially with a last-ditch budget fight just around the corner where he's going to need every supporter he can get. He can't afford to alienate anyone right now. So it's the legislators that need swaying.

"The problem there is that we've got someone working against us. A corporation. Civil Security Solutions. They run a bunch of private jails here and in neighboring states, and they also manufacture equipment for police, provide training seminars, things of that nature. They've been backing this bill to the hilt. Lobbying, calling in favors for financing election campaigns... nothing we can outright prove in court, but it's there... organizing social media campaigns and funding the rallies. And it's not just on this. They're behind a lot of what's going wrong in Brookvale. I told you that the sanginarios are symptoms of deeper problems? Well CSS alone is the cause of about a third of those... and is reinforcing another third of them. If we could just get RID of them, choke off their blood money so they starve..."

She reins herself in. "That would require in-depth investigations, warrants, panels, investigative journalism, the sort of things that WON'T happen without a big media splash. MUCH bigger than the one you're about to hand us. The short version is, they get paid when people go to jail. They've got a huge profit-incentive to ensure as many people as possible go to jail for as long as possible, and so they're spending money to make that happen. And due to a combination of historical trends and a police society not willing to police itself, Brookvale gets to be their chief inmate-farm. I could spend hours showing you data that at least paint a picture of what they're doing, the sort of activities that would make you vomit.

"But that's a long-term situation and right now we're facing a short-term problem. I'd love to be able to sway the legislature, but we need more than what you say you're going to get us. More to be sure, at least. Maybe it will make the difference and maybe it won't, but we can't bet on a maybe. Not in this case. So we have to get ready to pull the trigger on Saturday, and that means doing things NOW... things that will quickly cascade out of control. Like moving all our witnesses into protection so the sanguinarios can't act against them. But doing that will both identify our witnesses to the sanguinarios... and get them speculating about who else might turn against them. It will cause them to up their campaign of terror, lashing out against people NOT under our protection. So we can't just move the witnesses. We have to move EVERYONE."

Almeida laces her fingers together, and her voice takes on a formal tone. "Starting in a bit under an hour, my organization will begin executing a voluntary mass evacuation of Brookvale. And the reason we are giving is that, in light of upcoming revelations of police brutality and misconduct, we expect widespread rioting and police retaliation. Everyone who wants to can come to us for shelter in prepared safe-zones. Those who want to shelter in place will receive material and organizational support, everything from supplies to board up their storefronts to ensuring they have clean water and food for the duration. The announcements will be very public and everyone in Brookvale... especially the cops of the Surge... will notice.

"And that's the problem. We won't execute Davi or CJ until Saturday, not unless the situation changes drastically. But we will be telegraphing our intentions... and committing to the execution. In anticipating the panic and trying to mitigate it, we will also be ensuring it happens. In evacuating Brookvale in light of LIKELY rioting and police crackdowns, we ensure that they become a certainty. Much reduced, because there will be a lot fewer people to riot or to get caught up in the angry panic of the sanguinarios. But still a certainty.

"The bottom line is that I have to protect my people... which is not just my organization. It's everyone in Brookvale. But there's more to it than that. A lot more. I'd love to tell you, but I don't think you're ready to hear it. Not unless you have an answer to my earlier question: Why was Chief of Police Adamson killed?"

[Kislath]

"Ugh. This again?

Look, I haven't the foggiest idea. From what I can gather, he was the most sanguine of all the sanguinarios. He went way too far, and got whacked for it.
Maybe he got killed by someone who thought he wasn't going far enough? Maybe it was other cops who got him?
I dunno. You stumped me on this one.

As for the CSS company, I've heard of those guys. I also still keep up with Alabama news, and a company just like them just got tossed out of the State for that sort of thing. It's kinda short notice, but the Attorney General's Office down there might be able to give you some clues on how to nail those guys and get rid of them.

In the meantime... wow.. I don't see how I'm going to possibly be able to make big enough a difference between now and Saturday to stop this vote, so, yeah, you should probably go ahead and start the evacuation. Do it as quietly as you can, though. Maybe you can keep things from getting too stirred up, too quickly."

[Thrair]

Jules grumbled irritably.
"Hm. Yeah. Probably. It's a headache for tomorrow, though. Today's been rough, already. I'm not even going to try and get any useful information out of her until I've had a good night's sleep.

"Even leaving that aside, I need to catch up on this case and consolidate what we do have. Bear in mind, sir, that I was put on this case just recently. I've skimmed through the notes, but I'm sure I'm missed things. Need to correct that. Might be able to pick up on something. Spot a pattern I've missed."

Jules glanced at the time on his phone and grimaced. It felt far later than that. He'd have to check and see if Nguyen had set up a proper case file. He'd also need to talk to Paige. Godverdomme.
"Well, anything else you wanted to cover?"

[Reltzik]

"Hell, that's right, you were with that SWAT team when it all fell in the crapper, weren't you?" Adamson asks. "Good job there, that was some first class work from what I've read. Lt. Paige should put you in for a commendation... and if she doesn't, I will.

"Just one more thing. FYI. La Loba's planning to incite riots. I'm sure of it now. And she's planning to do it soon. By Friday of next week at the latest. Take this as the overall impression of the man that's been trying to take her down since the Surge began. I don't know if you have any idea how much damage she can cause, but whatever you're thinking, it's more. She's the most dangerous perp you will ever meet, no exaggeration at all, and we HAVE to stop her. She could do serious damage to our ability to police this city... and without us policing the city, EVERYONE suffers. I know you know that, but you might want to remind your partner, if he isn't so far off the reservation yet that he can't hear you shouting. I WARNED him she gets into peoples' heads, but..."

He breaks off that thought with a grumble. "In any case, try to remind him of what's at stake here. Ask him what he thinks Michaelsburg would look like without an effective police force. Because La Loba has decided she wants to destroy effective policing in this city, and she's got a plan to make that happen. So everything that might happen if there's a backlash against us nailing her, we also have to weigh that against what will happen if we just roll over and let her screw us.

"Oh, I'll tell him too, he's supposed to be out here for a sitdown with my counterpart from the 26th in a bit, but I don't think we've got good chemistry. He might listen to sanity if it's coming from you.

"And you're welcome to join us for that sitdown. I think it would help keep your partner... grounded. Purely optional, but you're invited.

"That's about it."

*****

"It sounds like you know most of the pieces what happened in '26," La Loba says to Thad over the teleconference. "But you haven't put the picture together. It's not about what Adamson was like, it's about what he pulled off. The biggest heist in the town's history, and no one's heard of it, and it's the cause of everything happening in Brookvale today. It shouldn't be hard if you look at the timeline and think about what Adamson was doing... but it will be hard anyway, because you're not ready to believe it. Once you are, once you see through the last of your illusions regarding the MPD... then I can bring you in all the way.

"I don't think what worked down in Alabama will work here. Partly because OUR Attorney General was, little-known fact, quietly on the CSS board seven years ago, before he shifted over to politics, and he's been quietly advocating for CSS ever since. Sweetheart deals and policies that help their bottom line. Besides... I think running them out of the state is a bad move. That leaves the profit incentive in place, and whoever fills the void will have all the same motives they did. What I want to do is destroy their market value and have some level of public government buy them up cheap. Undo privatization for pennies on the dollar. With the company comes the paper trail, and with the paper trail comes... well, everything. Exposure, prosecution, national conversation about slavery... yes, I can go into that if you want... and throwing two thirds of their executives into their own jails pour encourager les autres. There's no justice like poetic justice. And reforms will be much easier to implement if government is running things directly."

She picks up the thumb drive and starts fiddling with it. "You know... mostly I wanted this teleconference to explain to you how CSS is bad news. To try to force you to see it because I thought you wouldn't believe it. I had my standard Power Point presentation prepared. But since you think it's possible in principle... I'm surprised. I was sure you'd fight the idea."

She fiddles with the thumb drive a bit more, clearly indecisive. It's an unusual emotion to see on her.

"Let me tell you a bit about CJ and Davi. They're... war plans, basically, though they aren't necessarily shooting wars. I hope to keep them from being shooting wars. Davi is a sort of limited warfare. We go into the conflict trying to achieve specific objectives and then obtain a truce once successful. Institutions get hurt... probably people, though we'd try to keep that to a minimum... but there's a fixed set of policy goals. The minimum required to achieve rational governance and justice for Brookvale. I had high hopes for Davi with our projected November execution date, because by then we'd have had an overwhelming superiority, enough to force a quick capitulation. That... doesn't hold true now.

"CJ is total warfare. Its a recognition that the MPD is inherently inimical to our existence, and vice-versa. To use the cliche, the city isn't big enough for the both of us. CJ only ends with one, the other, or both of our organizations destroyed. Quite possibly both... in fact, I guesstimate mutually-assured destruction to be the most likely outcome. Its goal is the complete destruction of the MPD's as a law enforcement agency by all practical and effective means of depriving it of funds, equipment, personnel, support, credibility, and will to fight, before the MPD destroys us in turn. It's a pretty ugly scenario for everyone, participants and bystanders alike... but if it's CJ or just rolling over and ****ing dying, we're going with CJ. Do not doubt that.

"Davi was my preference, except I don't think it will work. Not with our hand being forced early. Right now Davi's chances are abyssal because we are not ready. Unless..."

She hesitates again, still indecisive, her attention focused on the thumb drive.

"If Baker were a going concern, if it could be converted into a fifth column inside the MPD trying to force the reforms we needed, taking down the Sanguinarios, generally acting in support of Davi... and if we could arm that fifth column with the examples needed to show EVERYONE that cell-phone cameras were essential to keeping police brutality in check... and if we could do that sometime between the evacuation and Saturday..."

She trails off, not quite willing to finish the thought.

[Kislath]

"Sounds good. I'm in.
If that will help prevent CJ, then what choice do I have? I certainly don't want to see that happen. There are still a lot of innocent people throughout the city, even in Brookvale, who still need protection. Even dirty cops are better than no cops, at least most of the time, and there are still plenty of good cops.

Some examples I can use would be great. To be honest, so far no one is paying much attention to anything I try to tell them. They say that you've managed to mess with my head and that all the vagueness means that there isn't any substance behind what you say. Even now, I'm sure they're planning to try to stop you, convinced that they can get away with it without your lieutenants wreaking absolute havoc. I don't think that for one minute, though. It would be nice if I had something concrete I could show them to make them back off. Something that's not just threatening, but proof that you are right, would be just dandy."

[Reltzik]

"The problem with knowing things about the cell network," La Loba says, fiddling with the thumb drive, "is that everyone KNOWS something about the cell network. They KNOW it can't store video. They KNOW it's too much information to store. They KNOW it's too much raw feed and not enough processing power. They KNOW it's already strained to its limit just doing facial recognition and sending out location-based alerts. They KNOW it hogs up the camera on each cell phone it's installed on, which is every cell phone we've distributed in Brookvale as part of our charitable efforts, and they KNOW that's preventing it from recording video. Everyone, especially the sanguinarios, KNOW this. They've taken apart phones and confirmed that they can't record and store video. Everyone using the system KNOWS their phones can't record video, so this story is perfectly consistent. They've gone years with no incriminating videos surfacing, something that they KNOW surely would have happened by now if the phones pointing at them were actually recording. All the cops we've let infiltrate our organization KNOW that we don't have enough people to sort through that much video for crimes without them knowing. The infiltrators KNOW we're PREPARING to do something like that, training for it once we upgrade the system, but they KNOW that all we're doing now is watching footage of cops in other places, like New York, as practice. And Nando confirmed for them what they already knew, so they knew it twice as confidently as before. Despite everyone in Brookvale aiming a cell phone camera at them at every opportunity, the sanguinarios KNOW that there has been absolutely no one monitoring and documenting their bad behavior, and there hasn't been for the entirety of the Surge. Everyone KNOWS this."

La Loba grins. It's not a friendly grin. Not in the least.

"Now imagine, if you will, how the sanguinarios would react if they suddenly were given to know otherwise. They would panic. They would rack their brains for every person who might have ever recorded them in a bad act, and they would go after them. They would try to think of any place the data might be stored, and they would raid that place in an effort to cover their tracks. They would go berserk."

She holds up the thumb drive. "You asked for video evidence of shakedown operations at the Alma shop. Here it is. Two years of it.... exactly what they know, KNOW, cannot exist. You said that you intended to take it to Captain Adamson, who I am quite certain is not able to keep it secret from the sanguinarios. Our read of him is that he would confront the responsible parties in a fury. And when that happened, every sanguinario NOT in that footage will know that everything they know is wrong... and all hell would break loose. Which is why I couldn't give it to you until I'd started the evacuation."

She looks over Thad's shoulder. "Jackie?"

Special Detective Ruiz doesn't say anything... and she looks completely terrified. But she reaches past Thad and plugs a thumb drive of her own into the laptop. La Loba plugs her own drive in and enters some commands into her computer. A small window and progress bar opens up in the bottom-left of Thad's screen, showing progress of a file being uploaded.

"Be careful what you wish for, Detective. I am putting the opening salvo of Davi into your hands."

[Kislath]

"Thank you, Miz Almeida. I'll make sure that this gets to all the right people. How long do you need to finish the evacuation?"

[Reltzik]

"Finish probably isn't the right word," La Loba replies. "It's a voluntary evacuation. There are going to be... incidents coming up. No I haven't planned them, but with this many loose cannons rolling around I'm planning FOR them. With every incident, we'll have another wave of people deciding they want to get out, and we expect that pattern to hold for the duration. But for the purposes of acting on what I'm handing you, I'd ask that you give us an hour at least, preferably an hour in half. By then we'll at least have the essential evacuees in transit and have made the general announcement."

[Kislath]

"Oh, Okay, no problem. I'll be here for awhile anyway working with this witness, and then I should check in with some other guys around here, and finally make my way to the 23rd.

I hope this works. I can't wait to see the look on Adamson's face. Wish me luck, and good luck to you, too."

Thad makes a mental note to look again into this great heist thing from back in the 20's. Then he thinks of where he can watch the video on the thumbdrive without anyone else seeing it. He also considers making a backup copy, just in case. These things have a habit of disappearing at the worst times, you know.

Heh. Right about now Adamson is just waiting to tear me a new one over arresting that Ned Meyers idiot and listening to La Loba. This is gonna be great. Thad smiles a rare, genuine smile.

[Reltzik]

"Best of luck," La Loba says, and then signs off as the upload completes.

Thad now has a thumb-drive of unviewed footage.

He's also got at least three dogs whining at him and Special Detective Ruiz for attention. Ruiz is staring at Tanner with a degree of extreme trepidation.

[Kislath]

"Cheer up, Ruiz. The fun part is about to start. First, though, let's have a look at this on your laptop here with no one else around."

[Thrair]

Jules finished his smoke and headed back to the precinct. Once there, he went over to find Nguyen.
"Hm. You got a copy of that wolfpack data ready yet? I'm about to head over to Lt. Paige and talk a few things over with her. Was going start digging through that when I was done."

You might want to assemble what he has on your end, but do not post it yet. You'll see why when I get to that section. I just want it ready for Jules to mull over, IC. No, this is not remotely suspicious at all.

[Reltzik]

"Copies, yes," Nguyen says. "But it's still evolving. Very rough framework and the index sucks. There's just too much data. I could spend every waking hour for the next month going through just what the 23rd sent us and not get through it all, and most of what I'm working with the 23rd dismissed as minor details. It's at the fringes of their files, not front and center. My models fit what I've gone through so far... and the 23rd's and Rodrick models DON'T... but what I do have is kind of crazy and there could easily be something buried eighty percent of the way down the stack that completely invalidates everything."

*****

"Okay," Ruiz says, sounding small and vulnerable. She reaches over to bring up the directory of transferred files on the laptop. "I'm mostly wondering whether I'm going to have a job tomorrow."

Most of the files are named and organized by date, with one file dated roughly halfway through each month for the past year or two. But the earliest two files have additional names: "First Demand" and "Welfare Check".

[Kislath]

Well, before showing this to anyone, Thad is going to know what he's showing. Therefore, he watches all of the files.

[Reltzik]

The first video, titled First Demand, is grainy security camera footage from La Jardin de Regalos. There's an overlaid time-and-date-stamp placing it right around when the Surge started. There's no audio. It shows someone who looks pretty close to Ned Meyers come in and discuss something with Senior Alma. The discussion lasts about five minutes. Going off body language the meeting is originally somewhat friendly, with Alma at first being guarded and then talking at length about something in response to a few questions from probably-Ned. Ned suggests something, and Alma clearly signals no with a headshake and some waved hands. Ned becomes physically domineering, flexing to enhance his apparent size and moving forward into Alma's personal space. The exchange becomes heated, with Alma looking increasingly intimidated. Finally Alma acquiesces, goes to the till, pulls out some money, and hands it to Ned. Ned leaves and that's the end of the video.

The second video, titled "Welfare Check", is clearly recorded on a cell phone from the crack of an ajar door. Despite the limited angle the video quality is much better and there is audio. It's about thirty minutes long, but within two minutes Tanner can get the gist of it. (His call if he wants to invest the time watching the whole thing, if so, I'll post it in a bit.) Two uniformed cops and Det. Ned Meyers have come to what appears to be the Alma residence to follow up on whether Alma's been abusing his nephew and determine whether the nephew needs to be taken into protective custody. Alma's clearly terrified, and while the two uniforms seem to be doing their job well, Meyers keeps dropping menacing hints which, in context, can be taken to refer to Alma's IA complaint. The file is dated the night before Alma withdrew that complaint.

The remaining videos seem to be all of the same. Thad can't watch them all, but they seem to be more grainy security footage of Ned Meyers coming to Alma's shop and getting more money from him.

Overall, it's not enough for a conviction, not without a witness to come forward and back it up, but it IS enough for a suspension and a major investigation. Provided anyone takes it seriously.

[Kislath]

Okay, good enough. Thad is satisfied that La Loba hasn't just pulled a major prank on him. He also knows that since he does have Mr Alma's testimony to back it up, Ned will be going bye-bye.

"Okay," says Thad. "I guess this'll do. Thanks, Ruiz."

He pockets the thumbdrive and goes back upstairs. Maybe by now he has a picture of this "Mack" guy.
If yes, then great. If not, then he'll wait around as long as is practical to get it. After that, it's off to the 23rd for a little show-&-tell with Captain Adamson. If he happens to see Jules, so much the better.

[Thrair]

"Hm. Alright. That'll have to wait until tomorrow, then. Thanks, Nguyen."

Jules stopped by at his desktop long enough to email Larson a request for everything he could give on Logan. Then he headed over to Lt. Paige's office.
"Ma'am, you have a moment? I was hoping to talk to you about a couple of things. Wolfpack and 23rd in particular."

[Reltzik]

"Won't look much different tomorrow unless it's been completely invalidated," Nguyen calls after Jules. "Like I said, at least a month to sort through it all unless I get a hell of a lot of help."

Jules finds Lieu-Lou unwrapping a sandwich from the hallway vending machine. This is clearly lunchtime for her. "I can't say I want to talk about it, Detective, because everything about it stinks to high Heaven, but it's the job. Have a seat and talk."

*****

Thad gets upstairs just in time to see Jules heading into Lieu-Lou's office and hear what Nguyen's called after him.

Shannon's moved past sketch artist phase. She's working with a photocopy of the drawing and trying to identify it from files of police photos. Thad recognizes the face, though. Mack is one of the three mooks that showed up at Alma's shop just after Ned got arrested.

[Kislath]

"Hey, how's it going with the... whoa! This is the guy? I know this guy...sort of. At least I know where to find him. Here, lemme get a picture..."

Thad takes a picture of the picture with his phone.

"Okay, perfect. He's as good as caught. Thanks!"

Then Thad goes back to Paige's office, but not without a quick detour to Nguyen.

"Hey, Nguyen, guess what? La Loba's video & computer capability is a LOT better than Herman Rodrick deliberately misled us to believe. It's downright terrifying. I don't know if that helps you at all, but there it is. If this little sample she gave me is any indication, Michaelsburg is totally screwed."

Then, to Lieu Lou and Jules.

"Hey. Are you guys sitting down? You should be sitting down. I've got some huge news, and I mean huge. Well, pretty huge. More than just really big, but not earth-shattering. Enough to make me ramble on like an idiot like this. You ready?"

[Reltzik]

I'm going to say that Jules at least gets time to lay out what he wanted to say to Lieu-Lou before Thad barges in, so Thrair, when you post, post both what you wanted to say and your reaction to Thad's entrance.

[Thrair]

Jules slid into a seat opposite from Lieu-Lou and slumped into a slouch briefly before shifting to correct his posture.
"So... been doin' something thinking. Once I'm done talking here, I think I'm going to grab a notebook and try and sort everything out.... But before I do... I was hoping to go over a few things. First of all... the Wolfpack. What's the actual conviction rate on their people, once they're brought in? And I don't just mean after they're formally charged. I mean just how often are they arrested and released without anything? I'm getting the distinct impression it's gotta be low. Uncomfortably low, actually. Enough to make me start asking questions."

Jules' face settled into his poker face, and he made no effort to correct the reflex. Truth be told, he was wearing it more than usual, lately.
"In particular, I'm starting to think I'm going to have to play IA a little, for this case. I don't see how way around that, and it's going to step on toes. I've actively avoided politics as much as I can, but I've already been alerted by two different members of senior brass that I've lost that battle, because of this lousy case. In particular, I want to look into former Sergeant Adamson and pretty much the entire 23rd. I can't get anything useful from that and hide what I'm doing. This is gonna piss a lot of people off, and that's going to cause blowback. Any tricks or loopholes you know of to disguise what I'm doing for a bit? In all the complexities of reports and assignments and brass paperwork, there has to be something. If not.... I'm thinking I might have to ask for a temporary transfer to the 23rd. Hate to say it, ma'am, but a sting on our own people might be in order."

Then Tanner barged in, with that classic wry grin of his and talking a mile-a-minute.
"Or, ya'know.... I could just do it his way for a change," Jules said, pointing his thumb at Tanner over his shoulder. "I'm sorely tempted to."

[Kislath]

"Hey, my way gets results! Sometimes. Anywaaaaayy...

I got an ID of the dirty cop who burned us this morning on the sting and tried to get me killed. See this picture? Recognize him? It's one of Ned Meyers' buddies from the candy store mess. One of the guys who showed up just after you took off with Ned and chased after you.

That's just the gravy, though; here's the meat.

Rodrick lied about the Wolfpack's video and computer capability in an attempt to deliberately mislead us. We've all been assuming that there wasn't really much to it. HA! Were we ever wrong. La Loba has thousands of files stored showing the cops of the Surge doing all sorts of fun stuff. It's not like the crap we saw before, either, oh, no! She's got the good stuff. Her threat to destroy the whole city by releasing it all publicly? It's a viable threat. She can really do it. She even gave me a little sample here..."
( fishes out thumbdrive )
"showing all the times Ned and his buddies went to Alma's candy store and shook him down, including the very first time where he put the heat on him. There's also another time when some cops went over there to threaten him about his kid, nephew, whatever. I told Ned Meyers that we had some video of him just to try to rattle his cage a little, but it turns out that we really do! HAWHAW!

This is more than enough to put him and his buddies away, at least with the matching testimony of Mr Alma.

The thing is.. this is just the tip of the iceberg. She's got tons of this stuff, and arresting her won't do one bit of good to stop it's public release.
She hasn't said flat-out that she has any demands, but I know what she wants. She wants the Surge to stop, the upcoming bill to ban the videotaping of cops to be stopped, and the biggie.. Justice.
No pressure.
For now, though, she just wants me to show this to Captain Adamson at the 23rd, along with any other Brass who might be handy at the time. I personally can't wait to see the look on his face, but she figures that the tirade he'll launch into immediately thereafter will be sufficient to let the whole precinct know just how much trouble they're really in this time."

[Reltzik]

Lieu-Lou had already started looking up stuff on her computer from Jules asking about the Surge's conviction rate. When Thad barges in, she gets a pained look, picks up her phone. "One moment," she says, as it dials and it rings. "Yes, Detective Nguyen? Come into my office, please."

She then busies herself closing blinds for the twenty seconds or so that it takes Nguyen to get in there. She closes the door behind him and locks it.

"What I'm hearing from both of you is that you want to go after our own people. Nguyen, are you of the same mind?"

Nguyen hesitates. "Uh.... well that seems to be where the problems are... plus the Wolfpack... and most of-"

Lieu-Lou cuts him off with a wave of her hand. She goes back over to her desk and half-sits, half-leans on it. "Detective Tanner... you might be under the impression that you got away with it once, and so you can get away with it again. The sad, unfortunate fact is that last time your career survived because you went after brass, not everyday cops, and it was our own people that they were shaking down. The Union backed you and that saved your butt. That's not the case here. Those of us in management -- some of us, at least, including myself and Chief Van Mueller and a bunch of others -- have been trying to do away with the blue code, wherever we find it. We've had some success but it's still very much in play. So make no mistake... all of you. Even if it needs to be done and even if we succeed... especially if we succeed... going after our own could cost us all our careers. Are you prepared for that? And do you think we can do enough to make a difference?"

[Thrair]

Jules' face curls into a wry grimace, and he lets out a groaning chuckle.
"Hah. I very much doubt it. We'll just clean up a little and it'll be back to square one in 10 years. But that's the cost of keeping things in check, isn't it? Any event, I can't speak for Nguyen... but Tanner and I don't really have careers to worry about, do we? Just detectives, and I don't see that changing."

[Kislath]

"HawHaw! OH yeah. My name has been mud for years. I see no promotions in my future. Heck, they've tried to kill me a few times already this week, especially this guy from this morning. There's no way I'm letting that slide.

Boss, we can either clean this up nice & quiet-like as best we can, or La Loba will destroy the whole Department. Either way, a lot of cops are going to lose their jobs. At least we have a chance here to save the good ones, and not cause riots.

You'd think that Internal Affairs would have fixed all of this, but they aren't doing squat. To be honest, I think maybe that they're the ones behind some of this stuff. Yeah, I said it."

[Reltzik]

Nguyen seems deeply hesitant. Not only is he new to being detective, he's young for it, close to the minimum age. You don't know much about his career plans, but that spells someone who's trying to climb the ranks and go into command some day. Maybe high levels of command rank.

Still...

"I guess there's no point in protecting my career if there's no Department to have a career in," he finally says.

Lieu-Lou eyes the three of you for a moment, and then nods and goes back to her seat behind the computer. "Okay. Nguyen, you're best at the computer stuff and you're already working analysis. I want you to set up a virtual workspace for this to keep track of everything. Normally I'd just haul in a whiteboard, but I don't want anything physical that Hil-... that anyone can find." Nguyen nods, relaxing a bit. "We can't hide a virtual workspace from an intent search, but no one's stumbling across it by accident.

She pecks at her computer a bit. "Now, let's see. Halleck, you were trying to find out if the conviction-to-arrest ratio was low for the Wolfpack? I'm pulling up the database now, and-"

"Excuse me," Nguyen says. "I've already got that number. At my desk, that is, not memorized. It's pretty low but it's complicated by the fact that hardly anyone with the Wolfpack takes a plea deal. Like, EVER." That's significant. Roughly ninety percent of closed cases end with plea bargains or dropped charges rather than trials. "It's a point of pride for them not to negotiate or compromise. So some of that low conviction rate could be explained by them not blinking when we go 'boo', and some of it could be explained by juries being unpredictable, and some of it could be explained by the DA not thinking the small stuff is worth the time and expense of a trial. But when they DO get convicted, they average longer sentences and larger fines. We'd have to delve into it on a case-by-case basis to figure out how much is caused by that or by... other factors. That would take days or extra people."

Lieu-Lou nods at that in acknowledgement. "We have an apparent deadline of Saturday and I don't want more people involved in this than can be avoided." She doesn't say whether this is to reduce the number of people staking their careers, or reduce the number of people who could spill the beans. "So I guess we'll have to let it sit at that. Now Halleck... I could swing a transfer to the 23rd if you want, but even with the Surge transfers don't happen THAT quickly. By the time you got there, Almeida's deadline would have come and gone. So instead... I think I'll finally give in and let Adamson have his joint investigation in the Rodrick case after all, and let it be based out of the 23rd under his authority. We can even let out that Detective Tanner had been the major obstacle to that and with him officially off the case, you and Nguyen came forward and asked for a cooperative effort. That should both get you out from under any rumors of Tanner being a blue rat -- sorry, Tanner, but they're already saying it after you arrested Ned Meyers -- and position you where you can pry into things and with a reason for doing so, and do it in a matter of hours rather than a week or two. And I won't even have a hard time getting it past my boss.

"Tanner, you're officially on leave since last night, and under Van Mueller's authority rather than mine. With him sidelined I'd hope you would take my advice, or at least my appreciation of what the Chief would want you to do, but you're a free agent now. What are your intentions and how can we help?"

[Kislath]

"Well...first thing's first. I need copies of the files on this USB drive. These things tend to get lost at the worst possible times, ya know. I need copies enough to take one to Adamson, keep one safe, and send one to Internal Affairs. Let them choke on it, too. Oh, and I guess Ned Meyers should have one. His lawyer will need it.

Next, this guy who hired the hitmen this morning.. it's time to pop him, and probably his buddies.
Before that, though I need my witnesses in protective custody. REAL protective custody, that is, where cops can't find them.

Of course, I still don't know who the sniper is, and I doubt it's this mystery "Mack" guy. He might know, but I'm not counting on it. Still, he's proven himself to be inclined to kill cops, so maybe he's in on it. Heck, maybe he even killed Rodrick. Either way, I gotta identify this creep, and fast. Is there a personnel database I can search for his picture?"

[Reltzik]

"I've got some spare thumb drives," Nguyen says.

"Make an extra copy for me," Lieu-Lou says. "I'll make a half-dozen more and make sure at least one is squirreled away somewhere that it can't just be snatched. And don't worry about getting Meyers one unless it's to sweat him. The DA can get that to his rep when it comes time for the disclosure filings. As for pictures of the 23rd, I think your witness is looking through an album of them right now."

"I can show you how to get access to the department files on your computer," Nguyen offers.

"As for protective custody.... I don't really know who to go to if we're hiding them from the MPD as well. .... hmm. Okay, I've got a couple of contacts in the State Police. I'll reach out to them and see what they can offer, but I don't know if they'll be able to come through. Feds coming in here would generate too much talk, but we can get them over to the Staties easily enough."

[Kislath]

"Okay, cool! Once we I.D. this creep, whaddyasay, Jules? Wanna ride with me to arrest him...or were you working on going with some other angle? Did I hear something about you going over there to the 23rd?

Thanks, Ngyuen. I don't know what we'd do without you, really. Yeah, let's see if we can find this sumbeech and then make some copies of these files.

State custody should be fine, I guess. Heh. I don't suppose you know about any other bunkers, do you? HAW!"

[Thrair]

"Yeah. With all this business with Almeida, we've been sidetracked far too long from Rodriguez and Brown's killers. And since there's nothing we can actually do about what she's doing, I'm going to take a good close look at the 23rd. Every day, they seem more and more likely to have some involvement. Even if it was just an 'accidental' leak that got them killed. Was hoping to take a subtle approach to it."

Jules fixes Tanner with a firm stare.
"But if you think this bastard's one of the people involved, then nuts to that. I'm coming with you."

[Reltzik]

"Then I'll hold off on the joint investigation," Lieu-Lou says. "Especially since you'll have a hard time going undercover if you make a big, visible bust on one of our own. And that's another thing." She fixes all three of you, but especially Tanner, with a This Is Serious look. "We're cutting enough corners as is. Everything we can do by the numbers, we do do by the numbers. That means arrest warrants and enough evidence to make it stick, solid, even in the face of hard lawyering. Otherwise they go away scot free like Ned Meyers did yesterday and we get a repeat of the backlash we saw yesterday. Times fifty for it being our second offense."

[Kislath]

"SWEET! Rock n Roll!
I guess the first thing to do is go see if my witness has found his picture in the book yet.

Nguyen, take this, and make those copies. Wait..Boss, you want a copy on your computer first? For that matter, you wanna watch it? Ned's scot-freeness is only gonna be temporary.

Maybe I should put a copy on my own computer?

Anyway, yeah, I think he might be in on Rodrick's death. Rodriguez. Sheesh. Those 30 silver coins meant he was considered a traitor, and we saw this morning how he feels about blue rats like me."

[Reltzik]

"Make the connection," Lieu-Lou says. "Evidence, not supposition. Yes, I'll take a copy. Make whatever backups you feel are appropriate. Just don't spend all day on it.

"And Halleck, let's have a bit less defeatism. All Almeida's really threatening is a PR challenge and we have enough warning to get in ahead of her. If the announcements come from us, we can keep it from being a disaster, and we've got a damn fine PR staff when they return their calls. Hopefully they're not getting back to me because they already know there's a problem and they're too busy working it, but maybe there's a bug in the phone system. In which case I can still drive down to Metro and kick their asses into gear personally."

[Thrair]

Jules turned his head to Lieu-Lou at the sound of his name, surprised by the mild rebuke.
"You misunderstand, ma'am. I don't mean there's nothing that can be done about her, I mean there's nothing we can. The Wolfpack is well beyond the scope of this investigation, though parts of it may be involved. And dealing with Almeida is, quite frankly, well above our pay grade. Tanner and I, and to a lesser extent Nguyen? We're all stretching the limits of our authority with this case. We've gotten away with it to an extent because there's a lot going on and our case is caught up in the middle of some of it... but we're already seeing the blowback from that."

Jules sighed and shook his head.
"I prefer to focus on what I have both the ability and authority to deal with. As a Detective, that generally means working within the framework of a given case. Occasionally I'm given a little dispensation from someone in the brass to step beyond those, as I have in this case. But there are still very strong limitations to what I can accomplish without delegating up the chain. Speaking of blowback, those limitations are probably about to get a lot stricter. Even without factoring in the possibility of corruption in the force, we have simply been pushing our luck. We go through with this, and we're going to get mired up in red tape real damn quick. Tanner's already on paid leave. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up following suit. We'll probably both be getting looked at by IA within the week."

Jules paused for a moment, wincing inwardly at the thought that he was echoing a few of Guadalupe's criticisms. It left a sour taste in his mouth. He then turned to Tanner with a nod.
"Sorry to put a fine point on it, Thad... but I want remind you that this is going to end up crippling my ability to work within the system. Certainly in the short term. If you think this our man, I'm with you. But please tell me you're damn sure of it. If so? Let's go get the bastard."

[Kislath]

*sigh*
"Man, this case is so screwed up, I'm not damn sure of anything. I know he's the guy who tried to kill me awhile ago. I'm pretty sure he knows something about Rodrick. I'm very sure that he'll deny it, too. I might have to get creative. I think maybe trying to rile him up might make him say something stupid. I think maybe I might just go ahead and arrest him for Rodri... Rodriguez's murder while I'm at it, or at least tell him that I am, you know, rattle his cage a bit, make him think we've got him cold for it. Maybe he'll say something useful.

If you don't want in on that, I guess I understand, but it'll be fun."

[Thrair]

"No. I'm in. I just wanted to make sure you knew what it's going cost us. Ma'am? Any special quirks on procedure for this? Arresting fellow officers doesn't come up often. Not a section of the book I'm familiar with."

[Reltzik]

Lieu-Lou sighs. "The procedure, unless it's a case of an immediate threat, confession, or crime you witness in the moment, is to put the arrest into the hands of the perpetrating cop's chain of command. Or IA's hands. Insofar as there IS a procedure... which there isn't, really. It's more custom and precedent than hard and fast regs, and there's not much of either of those either. Cops looking to arrest other cops outside of disciplinary action by commanders or IA just doesn't come up enough for that. From a legal standpoint, you have the same authority to arrest a cop as you would any other person.... that is, with a warrant or an immediate cause. But we all know it's not the same.

"The only legal difference is that we assume an obligation to report all crimes, including our own, when we become cops... and that some actions that would be crimes for civilians aren't for cops, and some which would be legal for civilians are crimes for cops. But we've already waived our right to remain silent as part of our terms of employment with the city. Technically, we can quit and keep silent... and that's fired with cause, rather than retired... but we don't have many other legal options. In practice, it becomes a contract dispute. The Union reps get involved for anyone the Union covers, and they double as defense lawyers. Command ranks, IA, and anyone else the Union DOESN'T cover have to bring in their own legal counsel, purportedly also as part of a contract dispute. And the only reason I know this is that I looked it up last night."

[Kislath]

"HawHaw!

Okay, no problem. I'll let Adamson in on the fun. He'll wanna know what's going on anyway, so why not let him have a front-row seat?"

[Reltzik]

Lieu-Lou considers the three of you. "All right. I'll hold off on that joint investigation, Halleck. Be careful, be thorough, and try not to burn ALL your bridges."

[Thrair]

Jules nods curtly. "Will try, ma'am."

He then turns to Tanner.
"So, how do you want to play this?"

[Kislath]

"Carefully, for a change. They'll never expect that. Let's I.D. the perp, then go see Adamson. We'll show him our cards and have him call the guy in.
I don't really think that'll work without his buddies telling him we're there and spooking him, of course. There's no telling if they know what he did, but even if they don't, if he hears we're in their house and the Boss wants to see him, he'll put 2 and 2 together. If he runs, we just put out a BOLO for a dirty cop-killing cop and let his buddies handle it. Maybe they don't know that Van Mueller is still alive. Maybe they assume we mean Rodriguez and Brown. Either way.
Heck, maybe we call him in ourselves. I dunno yet. Anything can happen once we get there."

[Thrair]

"Fair enough. Still.... from a damage control perspective, I might have to pull out some old skills. This is going to get us both burned. Only question is how badly. You're probably in for it, what with your history. No getting around that. Doesn't seem to bother you personally, but it's gonna cripple our ability to get things done if we're both tagged as rats."

Jules pauses, and he shoots his best imitation of Tanner's grin.
"So.... You up for a little acting?"

[Kislath]

"You gotta ask? HECK YEAH!

What do you have in mind?"

[Thrair]

"I was thinking a little misdirection. Giving the implication you're dragging me along, and I'm getting sick of it. Let on like we're butting heads, and that I think you're wasting our time with wild goose chases. When we should be focusing on.... say Almeida? That's where the acting comes in, any rate."

Jules takes out his pack and grabs a fresh smoke, preparing to light it.
"See... a lot of the guys out there already suspect you're just looking to burn cops. If they think we're butting heads, and that I want to focus on Almeida, they might try to do some damage control of their own and steer me towards what they want us to investigate. Not only does this give us some idea of who wants us looking where, it gives me a bit of leeway in that they won't know for sure if I'm in on this, or just getting dragged into it.

"I mean, sure, they'll still be wary... but it just might give me the excuse I need to get closer to them. Maybe even working alongside them. Especially since their attempt to kill you on the road confirmed that our cop-killers are on the Force. But we've only connected a few to this. I want 'em all. And if they think they can divert me without risking exposing themselves, say by aiming me at her? I think they'll take it."

Jules lights up with a slight chuckle.
"Hell, that's one advantage of her getting under my skin. She and I have been butting heads every time we've run into each other. A few times publically. It has to be common knowledge by this point. And if they've any moles on her side, it'll look like it's getting confirmed.

"And hey, I might just get some useful information on her in the process. She's next on my list, anyway, after all."

[Kislath]

"Okay, cool. Heh. For a second there I was afraid you wanted to do something really crazy.
Me? I'm thinking of getting really crazy.

Let's get to it!"

Thad's plan and actions:
1--Make copies of the thumbdrive.
2--ID the guy called "Mack."
3--Wait for Jules to do his stuff.
4--Head over to the 23rd.

[Reltzik]

Nguyen is pretty quick to get the thumb drives copied.

Over in the interview room, Shannon's narrowed the suspects down to three men from the 23rd's roster, all of whom look very similar and are close matches for the sketch. Officer Mikel Kerensky, Officer Jeff Prescott, and Detective Paul Seeny. However, a quick look at their jackets shows that Kerensky is too short to have been the man who was trailing behind Ned Meyers yesterday. If Thad assumes that Mack was that guy who came in after Meyers got arrested, that leaves Prescott and Seeny.

[Kislath]

Nuts. We'll have to bring them both in so Thad can see which one he recognizes. ( or which one recognizes Thad. )

[Reltzik]

Sorry for the delay. I wish I could say it was something important, but it was mostly lack of inspiration.

The two of you get on the road, headed for the 23rd Precinct. Along the way, you have time to compare notes, so consider yourselves caught up on everything that each other knows.

As they're nearing the 23rd, Thad gets a phone call. He's in a particularly involved section of the Expressway at the moment and can't answer, but a minute later he's free to get the message off his voice mail. It's Theo Milonas, Thad's fixer drinking buddy from Bambino's.

"Thad?" Theo says in the message. "Look, I know you don't like talking business, but we have to get together and talk about this Martyr's Tree business. And by have to, I mean Jimmy L. and Anthony K. want you briefed in full, and they're paying my fee to get you briefed in full with a premium for doing it by tonight, and what they want, they get." Allowing for abbreviation, those are likely two occasional patrons at Bambino's from two different not-quite-rival-at-the-moment families. They don't hate each other but they're not close buddies either. They're young, and their formal positions in their respective organizations isn't that high, but they've got high-placed family. They're probably going to rise through the ranks fast as a result and often get used as errand boys for business from much higher up, meaning that it's likely that someone a lot more important than Jimmy or Anthony is behind this. "So call me back and we'll meet up, or just drop by the bar. Or hell send someone else if you're too busy. But we got to do this."

While Thad's busy with that, Jules gets a call from Lieu-Lou. "Halleck? I'm calling to give you a heads-up. I was talking to one of my Statie contacts. They can handle protection, by the way, but there's something more. He doesn't know all the details and he had to be cagey with what he did know, but they've already got someone in Almeida's organization. He said that this undercover might try to make contact but, if so, he'd likely do so in code or double-meaning, something that wouldn't be obvious. Yes, he, that's the only information on his identity that I got. In any case, you needed to know that we had another player in the game."

[Kislath]

"Hmmm... this is probably a lot more important than it sounds. Say, Jules, how'd ya like to see how the other half lives?"

Thad pulls over the first chance he gets, and calls Theo.

[Thrair]

Jules mulls over what Louie-Lou said, grimacing. "Handy to know, but also another snag. Lovely. I only know one of her people that might fit the bill. Exact wording, there. Anyways, ask Nguyen if he can check and see if anyone connected to the staties looks like Jorge. Almeida's bodyguard. Guy's big, has a second agenda regarding Almeida, and tried to nudge me in a direction once or twice. It's a long-shot, but ya never know. I'll be there to help when we're done here. Hang on, Thad needs something."

"What do ya mean?"

[Reltzik]

Theo picks up, but not immediately. There's time for Thad to answer Jules's question and maybe Jules to get a reply in first. (So keep posting, yo.)

[Kislath]

"I know this guy who knows lots of things and lots of other people who know even more things. He's got some information he says we have to have. He's reliable, and this time, someone else is paying for the info. I guess someone high up really wants us to know just what we're stepping in."

[Thrair]

"Alright. Good news, but I don't see where you're going with this. Hang on..."

Jules shifts the phone back to his ear.
"Alright, Tanner has something cooked up, but sounds like it might take a minute to explain. So..."

Would like to hear her response to earlier post.

[Reltzik]

"Was he hanging around the Precinct this morning?" Lieu-Lou asks. "... nevermind. I'll pass the word to Nguyen. But it doesn't seem likely that someone as good at catching undercover cops as the Wolfpack managed to let one slip in as the bodyguard for the very top of their organization. ... unless the reason they're so good at it is because it's MPD undercovers and they've got an inside source with us that they don't have with the State Police. Either way, it's fishy."

Theo finally picks up. "Thad? I just left you a message, did you get it?"

[Kislath]

"Yeah! I did! I figured I'd freak you out by answering right away for a change. HAW!

So, whatcha got for me? I was heading for Brookvale, but I guess I can take a detour if you can't just tell me on the phone."

[Reltzik]

"Not if what you're doing at this moment is important," Theo says. "I've got very strict instructions on that. I'm supposed to help your case by letting you know what Martyr's Tree really is, but do it without interfering with your work. That would defeat the purpose of helping you. So if you're not free now, just come by any time today or tonight, and if you won't be free any time today or tonight, send someone in your place."

[Kislath]

"Well, most stuff I do lately is pretty important, but you need this by tonight, and it'll probably be pretty useful to me, and I have a feeling that I'm gonna get reeeeal busy for the rest of the day & night after I get where I'm going, so now is probably a pretty good time."

[Reltzik]

"All right," Theo says after a moment. "So long as you're sure this is the least disruptive way to do it. I'm at Bambino's, but I can meet somewhere else if you'd like. But I won't meet on cop turf and I won't go to Brookvale." Not meeting at a precinct is his SOP but this is the first you've heard that he's staying out of Brookvale.

[Kislath]

Thad tried to think of a more strategic place to meet to minimize the wasting of any time, but can't think of a good spot. He's also a bit concerned that Theo won't go near Brookvale. It's not like a guy who snoops around to not want to go into any area where the snoopage might be particularly good.

"Bambino's is fine. I'm on the way."

"Sorry, Jules, but this could be something big. We gotta let Captain Adamson stew a little longer."

With that, Thad takes the next turn toward his favorite hangout.

[Thrair]

Jules nods as Thad finishes his conversation and turns the car around.
"Fair enough. We've time, for a change."

Lifting the phone back to his ear, he returns his attention to Lt. Paige as Thad drives.
"Yeah. Like I said, it's a long shot. And the whole thing is fishy, quite frankly. We've tried getting people in before. Never really works. Rodrick's the sole exception, as far as I'm aware, and even we don't know what in the hell he was up to. If the staties got someone in there, they're either damned good or already burned and just don't know it.

"Any event, there any chance I could talk to this contact of yours? I understand if the answer's no, ma'am. But I keep getting the runaround everywhere I go. That reminds me, you might talk to Captain Larson. He seems a good sort, and he does what he can despite the red tape. You might be able to get the ball rolling in ways I can't. I'm far too low on the food chain. You're a bit higher.

Especially since.... well.... Tanner and I have been given free reign for a while, on this case. More than I've ever HEARD of anyone getting. But we're about to get to do things that will yank that choke collar back with interest. Once that happens, we'll be essentially crippled. If we're lucky enough to not get pulled off the case entirely, we'll have people directing us to look where they want us to, which is essentially the same result."

[Reltzik]

"Then I'd be the one yanking your chain," Lieu-Lou says. "Unless it comes from my boss or further up the, er, chain of command. For now I'm trying to buy you the freedom to do this because someone has to, but I might not have that option for long. Make the best of it. I'll talk to this Captain Larson and warn my contact. I'm fine with you two meeting but he might not be. Good luck out there."

Bambinos isn't that much of a detour, especially since it's nowhere near rush hour. Once upon a time this was the Italian quarter of the city. Demographics changed but the bar didn't. Even though the building was remodeled at one point for more modern utilities and materials, it retains its century-old lines and feel. It has the feel of a place slightly out of time, pretending to be modern but actually a generation or two out of step ... and not pretending all that hard.

The place is currently a sports bar and grill (with emphasis on bar, which is why smoking is allowed), with TVs showing a baseball game, a NASCAR race, and a professional billiards match. Framed pictures on the wall near the entrance show the venerable locale's history as a saloon and then as a speakeasy. The bar is oak with brass fittings and runs along the wall just to the right of the entrance. The bartender catches Thad's eye as he enters, nods in greeting, and goes back to mixing a drink -- probably Harry's vodka martini, that 007 wannabe. The lunch crowd is in but the place is only half full. A half dozen people are watching the baseball game at the bar and making small wagers with each other. A noisy trio at one of the tables is playing dominoes, and their volume is drawing a few angry looks. Thad's sense for the place tells him they're going to get a polite but firm suggestion to moderate their noise level in the next few minutes. One of the pool tables is in use, but it's not a proper game, just a couple of guys trying to recreate the shots from the billiards match on TV. There's a quiet game of gin going on in one of the booths, and several other tables have people either enjoying quiet conversations, or lunch, or both. Unless the gambling at the bar involves book rather than just people betting casually, there's nothing illegal going on here, at least not in plain sight.

Theo isn't in his normal booth. Instead, he's got his rum and coke and is in a different booth, next to Shmeling's Loss, as regulars at Bambinos know it. The Loss is an old-time standing radio that someone once emptied a shotgun into, and the gutted old museum piece currently holds a place of honor in a nook next to a slightly-more-modern jukebox, which is playing Sinatra. Theo is contemplating the dead radio as Thad and Jules enter, but turns at the jangle of the bells over the door and waves them over.

[Kislath]

OOC:
That's the best flavor text I've read in a very long time. Well done!

Thad nods in acknowledgement and then walks over to take a seat at Theo's booth.

"Hey, good to see you. This is my new sort-of partner, Jules. Lara got dragged off by a bunch of red tape. He's cool.

Sooo.... What's up?"

[Reltzik]

"What isn't up?" Theo asks, shaking (or at least offering to shake) hands with both Thad and Jules. He doesn't introduce himself to Jules, which might seem rude but is part of the mafia code. "I already told you what I've been hired to do and who hired me, but reading between the lines -- which isn't hard in this case -- the families are worried about Brookvale. They want you cops knowing what you've stepped in. The bigger picture."

He gestures at the destroyed radio. "Take this old victim here," Theo says. "People forget history. Everyone knows it's called Shmelling's Loss but no one remembers that Don Eduardo shot it with a sawed-off shotgun in '37. It was his signature weapon. Nickel-plate on the butt with the number of a Biblical passage. Accounts differ on which passage, something about the importance of family, Eduardo was like that. Eduardo blew his top when Shmelling went down in the first round to Louis and blasted the radio the whole bar had been listening on. Eduardo lost a bunch of money on wagers, but it was more a pride thing than a money thing. He just pulled out his gun, emptied both barrels, paid for his drink, and then walked out without a word. Bambino -- actually a Bambino, the bar was still in the founder's family, but it was Bambino Junior and he was in his 80s -- was afraid that if he repaired or replaced it Eduardo would take offense. Undoing his handiwork, you know? So he bought a newer more modern one and set it up on the bar, but left Shmelling's Loss in place. Everyone kept wondering whether Eduardo was going to approve or take offense at the move, but Eduardo just kept completely silent about it for the rest of his days. In '68 his grandson finally paid the management here for the damages, with interest and inflation, not that they'd been asking. He was settling his ancestor's debts, he said. Maybe it was an honor thing, but more likely it was religious, buying Eduardo's way out of Purgatory. But by then Shmelling's Loss was a fixture of the place, so it stayed. And that was almost two generations ago. Since then... people forgot the history. Not counting me and now you two, if you went around asking I doubt a single person here knows why there's always been a gunshot radio here. Mikey would, if he were in this early." That's the present owner. "But anyone else? Nope. People just forgot history."

During this spiel a waitress comes by to take orders. She's unobtrusive about it and doesn't seem to care much what Theo's saying, but Theo doesn't move on from the topic to the real business until she's gone. And not immediately after that either. He finishes his story, which is obviously why he was sitting next to the Loss in the first place.

"What you boys in blue are fighting with Martyr's Tree is history. Brookvale history. Dangerous history. Far more dangerous than a dead radio. It's a pattern that's repeated over and over and over again, once every generation, and almost no one realizes it's there, because everyone forgets history. Now it's this generation's turn. It's going to make the families lose money, which is why they care, and a lot of people are going to die, which is why I'd guess you would care. That's what's up."

[Thrair]

Jules takes a moment to glance over Shmelling's Loss, then lights up.
"A little philosophical for me, but I get the point. Something I've known for years, to be honest. We never stop crime, and we never will. 20 years from now, it'll be the same thing with different names, is all. Our job's just to keep a lid on the worst of it."

Jules leans forward, eyes alert.
"So. What's the worst of it look like, this time?"

[Kislath]

"Heh. I've wondered about the radio a couple times myself.

Okay, so teach us some history."

[Reltzik]

"Different type of pattern," Theo says, stirring his rum and coke with a glass swizzle stick. He still hasn't even taken a sip. "That's about human nature. Universal. Everyone has it in them, even if they don't feed it. It's different stories that play out the same way. Brookvale's just the one story. One problem that's been going on for as long as anyone remembers."

Theo leans back in the booth and pulls out his own cigarette. "Think of it like diseases. You're talking about getting colds. The thing is, they're DIFFERENT colds. Each time you get a cold it's a different sickness, and when you get well it's because the disease is actually gone. They act alike but they're not the same. What's going on in Brookvale right now is more like herpes. It flares up and goes dormant regularly, almost like clockwork, but it's the same disease whether it's visible or not and the sickness just stays there even when it isn't obvious. Every generation, almost like clockwork, Brookvale erupts into violence. The details differ because the times change, but the underlying problem is the same. What I can't tell you for sure is what that problem is. I have a guess, though."

He lights up, takes a draw, and then pulls out his cigarette to gesture with it. "Did Thad here tell you what I do? Ignore it. Most people don't know what I really do. My job is collecting stories, and I've been collecting stories about Brookvale since I got burned in '73. Since I was standing next to someone who got burned, I mean. And one of the stories I've collected... might explain it. Parts of it might even be true.

"You ever heard of the Oak Society? That's probably not what they called themselves, but it's what other people called them, if they knew they existed, because they used an oak tree as their symbol. THE oak tree. The Brookvale Oak, that's what it was called before it became Martyrs' Tree. It was planted when the Brookvale settlement was founded, in 1825, over thirty years before Thomas Michael founded Michaelsburg. The original settlers were here trying to set up a special type of colony without slavery and with equality between the races. Some versions I've read -- only read, people don't actually tell these stories any more, they're buried in old books and letters -- say they were very religious, and others say they rejected religion entirely as part of the new wave of enlightenment, and still others say they were a bizarre cult. Some say they were founded by Thomas Paine. Others say that Paine faked his death and came out here with a bunch of followers. Others say it was Freemasons, others that it was a secret society of Catholics, on and on. Anyhow, they mostly wanted to be left alone and ignored by the rest of the world, so they found a hilly section along the river with a nice secluded vale and a brook through it. It didn't work out, though, the rest of the world caught up with them, and before long the original settlers lost power to newer settlers who wanted things the way the rest of the country did it.

"Yeah, I know, hippie commune a century and a half too early, failed social experiment, boohoo. But this is where the Oak Society begins. The original Brookvale settlers lost power but they didn't lose their beliefs or their goals. So they set up a secret society to try to regain control of their community, or at least steer it back to where they thought it should be from the shadows. There's... lots of lore floating around, if you know how to recognize it and the right place to look. References in folk tales, symbolism in artwork. Real Dan Brown crap.

"Anyhow, most of the stories come to an end in 1926. Supposedly the Oak Society made a big play in '25 for the century anniversary of Brookvale's founding, and then got wiped out in '26 from the backlash. The stories are all over the place about how it actually played out, but that's what they agree on. But either way, they pretty much got wiped out."

He pauses, letting that sink in, and flicks some ash into the ashtray before continuing. "Except... I think one member of the Oak Society survived to carry on their fight... and that he was behind every cycle of violence in Brookvale since then."

[Kislath]

"Lemme guess.. a guy named Adamson?"

[Thrair]

Jules shakes his head.
"Whoever it was doesn't really matter. They'd be dead by now. If this is what's going on... and a big if, mind you... then someone else took over. And someone stupid enough or crazy enough to make a fuss over a century-old pissing match between dead men and women. I could see it happening, but I'd need a lot more to go off of before I put much stock in it."

Jules pauses for a small drag and looks the other man in the eye calmly, but with his expression kept flat.
"No offense, sir. But I tend to look for more mundane motivations behind events, first. More often than not, greed's that motivation. Idealists are rarer, but you find 'em now and then. Even on the other side of the line. But what you're describing just doesn't pop up much. I think it more likely that this folk-lore is just a convenient string to pull on when someone wants people riled up."

"On top of that.... you're hedging. Too careful not to frame this as fact. So... I'm willing to assume you have other theories, also."

[Reltzik]

"Some neighborhoods have a character," Theo says after a moment. "An attitude. Something that infects their residents, gives them a reputation far and wide. Think South Boston, or the Tenderloin, or dozens of others. It's not as universal as people think it is but there's usually a basis for it. Brookvale's got character like that too, and it's not about anything rational like profit. Ideals enter into it some. But mostly its pure stubbornness. Go into the right circles, the sort that care how people fight, and a Brookvale fighter's got a reputation for staying on his feet longer than most people should... and when they go down and out, and wake up an hour again later, they'll be looking to continue the fight. The families used to do a lot of recruiting in Brookvale. Not for members, but for contractors. Good muscle, if you can put up with the discipline problem.

"But when you get down to it, Brookvale's not the urban blight most people think of it as. No, not when you get down to the type of people it has. Brookvale is hill country and its people are hill people. Even if all the hills are covered in asphalt now. Even with the immigration. The newcomers acclimate to that aspect of the place quickly. Brookvale's got long memories and longer grudges, and that's coming from someone whose family came from the Balkans. It was never profit that fueled the Society, if the Society is real... and I think it was, at one point. And it wasn't ideals either, though those often got tied up in it. No, it was a good old fashioned stubborn feud. A refusal to go down and stay down while their enemies are still standing. Hatfields and McCoys, only less about blood relations and more about ideology or politics. Maybe Irish versus English.

"So, yeah. I believe the Oak Society was real, in one form or another. It's just damn hard to sort out what parts are true and what parts are false. But either way, it's true in another sense. It speaks to Brookvale. Even if the Society never existed, some part of the story touched people enough for them to keep telling it. Even if it's just a powerful myth... it's still powerful. But I think the Society was likely real. It's the sort of stubborn refusal to stay down when anyone sane would that's characteristic of Brookvale. Profit's a rational motive, but these aren't rational people. Most people aren't, when you get down to it."

He glances over at Thad. "And no, the name's not Adamson. The only times I've heard of an Adamson involved in this, it was on the OTHER side." He reaches into his jacket and pulls out an envelope. "It's this guy." He produces a bunch of old photos and lays them out on the table. They're of a heavily built black man at various stages of his life. "Sam Fields. Often called 'The Oak', which should tell you something. Brookvale and its trees. Crazy people. Anyhow, Sam here used to be a fixture in Brookvale. Community leader, guiding light, charismatic rabble-rouser. Not much of a conventional career, dock worker, factory worker, construction worker, that sort of thing, never in politics or business, not a leader in that sense. But he was a leader in that he could talk, and get people listening to him, stir up their passions. They respected him.... and Brookvale folk almost never respect anyone. I can't say for sure if he was with the Society, but there are stories placing him with them and the romantic in me likes the idea. What I CAN tell you for sure is that he was instrumental in at least three outbreaks of violence. 1946, 1961, 1973." He taps three photos in turn. "He wound up in prison after each of those for his part in the fighting, and then he'd get out of prison and wind up in a bottle instead. But when he finally pulled himself out of the bottle, he'd start looking around Brookvale and start trying to solve its problems, and that's when he was dangerous. A lot of stories place him in the fighting in 1926 too, getting a leg injury that gave him a lifelong limp. Some even say he was a Brookvale cop in '26, which isn't as crazy as it sounds. Brookvale did some weird, progressive stuff in '25, whether you believe the Society was behind it or not, and that included putting some black cops into uniform. The last confirmed sighting I have of him was in '94, calling for an end to gang violence. And you're right, he's probably dead by now. If he is still alive he's over a hundred years old and his liver is flipping the bird to every actuarial table in existence. But if there was ever a man who was just too stubborn to die, it'd be him."

[Thrair]

Jules grumbles, as if in thought. Truthfully, he was more wary than thoughtful. His instincts were nudging him to test a reaction.
"Sounds a rather lot like La Loba."

Two things. First of all: Someone who knows Jules knows that, barring a very small handful of close friends, he doesn't use nicknames. It's generally last name basis... maybe first name if he's comfortable with them or deeply pissed at them. But not nicknames. So Thad can probably tell something's up, with that.

Secondly, Jules is watching for this guy's reaction, because he suspects the guy might be trying to guide the conversation towards her.

[Kislath]

"Let's remember to ask her if she knew him. Betcha she did. Maybe still does."

[Reltzik]

"Maybe there's a connection between them," Theo says. His tone is less suggestive and more acknowledging uncertainty. "If it's there, I haven't found it. Not anything solid, at least. There's stories. Like he's really her father or maybe he secretly made her his successor or something. The normal fable crap that's out there whether it's true or not. I keep going back and forth on that. But right now I'm leaning towards no, for two reasons. First, the similarities are easy to explain another way. Maybe she modeled herself after him intentionally because that's what Brookvale people respond too, or maybe she was just that way anyway by luck of the draw and that's why they're falling in line behind her rather than anyone else. Second, timing. She would have still been a kid the last anyone heard of Fields, but she only made her rise in the past few years. It doesn't add up.

"But in the end, I don't think it matters. Regardless of why she's like him, she's like him in all the ways that made him dangerous. She's the same sort of catalyst that gets Brookvale all stirred up. But she's also UNLIKE him... again, in all the sort of ways that can make her dangerous. You see, Fields was... a leader, sure. Charming, charismatic, inspiring. He could speak about basic right and wrong, justice and injustice, and it would stir something deep within people. Make them willing to fight, kill, and die for principles. He had the golden tongue. But he didn't have a brain to go with it. Well, not a remarkable one. He wasn't an idiot. Just quixotic. But he was a common man, a manual laborer, not an inspired visionary, not a big picture thinker. He didn't do strategy or organization or logistics, not well. He reacted. He fought for his causes and got others to do the same, but he wasn't incredibly smart about it. The Oak was... an oak. Big, strong, sturdy, solid, unmovable, but not blessed with genius. The Wolf, on the other hand.... have you met her?"

[Kislath]

"Heh. Boy, have we ever. We're even on each others' frickin' speed-dial. She's been making things crazy for days, and it looks like it's gonna get even worse."

[Thrair]

Jules pauses inwardly, still wary of the man in front of him.
"Hmfph. Not that La Loba's given us anything of actual use. Waste of time. I ought to tell Louie-Lou as much."

Again. Nicknames. Jules doesn't know this guy like Tanner does, and is extremely suspicious of this *******.

[Reltzik]

"Well then you probably know her better than me," Theo says. "I've only talked to her twice, briefly, over the phone. I was trying to track down the identity of a history student who focuses on Brookvale and someone told me to go through her. She just laughed at me, said she didn't have time, and hung up. Tried again a few days later, same response. I decided to quit calling before she quit laughing. That wasn't enough to get her measure. But everything I've heard says she's scary-smart and that she hates cops. Not surprising that she's not cooperating with you."

He seems to be oblivious to Jules's suspicions. Jules's poker face is paying off.

"But this isn't really about telling you about her. Well, not just that. This is about Brookvale's pattern of violence. It's not reliable to the point you could set a clock to it, but it's regular enough. Every ten to twenty years the place just erupts. 1926, 1946, 1961, 1974. It looks like it skipped a generation in the 90s, but it didn't, not really.

"Three of those five times fit the pattern perfectly. '46, '61, and '74. '26... '26 I'm not sure about. No one's sure about it. Brookvale was complete chaos in '26 and the witnesses I was able to find still alive only knew their small pieces of it. Most of the key figures wound up dead, either in the violence or in prison afterwards. Half of Brookvale's government ended up hanging from a tree within a week. Brookvale's City Hall burned, and so did the library, and the police station. So there's hardly any records or witnesses to go off of. Supposedly most of the story of what happened got into the local paper, but that edition didn't go out before the newspaper's office went up in flames, and there's only a handful of copies left. That's why I was trying to find that history student, by the way. I was tracking down one of those surviving editions but that student had snatched it up for some report a couple months earlier. But the point is, '26 was just a complete ****ing mess and if anyone knows how it really went down I don't know who it is. So that's a big question mark. The fighting was bad, though, really bad, worse than any of the others.

"The clear anomaly is the 90s. Hard to put a date on when exactly it happened, because things didn't boil over like they did all the other times. Instead we got a lot of gang warfare out of nowhere. It wasn't about the drug trade, I've ruled that out. The wrong people were fighting each other. Some people thought it was clashes between a whole bunch of immigrants flooding into the neighborhood and the old black population, but I had a different hunch. I thought it was the same cycle come around again, but acting out different because something had thrown it off-kilter.

"You with me so far?"

[Kislath]

"Oh yeah, absolutely."

[Reltzik]

"So I had a pattern with an anomaly," Theo continues. "I went looking for what was the same all three times that fit the pattern... plus maybe in '26... but was different in the '90s. I found three ingredients that were present the other times but were missing in the '90s. Maybe only one of them matters, or maybe it's a combination.

"The first I've already told you. Leadership. Sammy boy here was very much a part of all the earlier outbreaks of violence, maybe even in '26, but barely made any showing in the '90s.

"The second one was Segregation. Yeah, it was over by '74, but it wasn't really over. Segregation laws were dismantled but most of their effects were still hanging around. Brookvale was still almost entirely black, moving into the white neighborhoods was difficult, a lot of white jobs were still inaccessible, on and on. Just because it changed on paper doesn't mean it actually changed. It was less a factor in '74 than the other times, though. In '61, a lot of people were already raring to go from the Civil Rights movement, and they were more in favor of Malcolm X than Rev. King. In '46, a lot of them had come back from the war and seen a lot of places where things were different, and especially they were seeing parallels between Jim Crow and the Nazis.

"Like I said, I don't know much about how it went down in '26, but the lead-up to is easy to figure out. Brookvale got a new government in '25. The Society of the Oak engineered the whole thing, supposedly. If you believe that. Either way, a few white county clerks working in the Brookvale annex decided together that they weren't going to take the normal steps to keep blacks from registering, went out of their way to make it easy in fact, and at the same time a whole lot of blacks decided they were going to try to register, and somehow they flew it in all under the radar. Society or no Society, there's something fishy about how it all came together. Black voters outnumbered white and Brookvale got a completely new government. All white, but all anti-Segregationist. Really weird given the times. They started dismantling Segregation in Brookvale, even doing illegal stuff like hiring black cops, like I told you. They were ready to take it to court. The old school whites who got kicked out in '25 started screaming bloody hell, but they didn't like their chances in court, so they tried another strategy. They started the effort to get Brookvale annexed by Michaelsburg and so undo everything that the new government had done. The annexation vote was in '26, annexation won, and Brookvale immediately exploded. The details are way too confused to work out. But Segregation was definitely part of why it happened.

"It wasn't as much of a problem in the 90s. Blacks were actually able to get the hell out of Brookvale, at least if they had talent. The demographics were changing and the place wasn't majority black any more. Lots of immigrants, mostly Hispanic but a bunch from all over. There was more opportunity, in theory, though in practice almost anyone growing up in Brookvale was **** out of luck.

"So that's two ingredients that were there each time that fit the pattern, but were missing in the '90s. Leadership, in the form of Sam Fields. And a major grievance, in the form of Segregation. Can you guess the third?"

[Thrair]

"Easy." Jules says with a shrug. "A target."

[Kislath]

"... hmm...no, I can't guess. Target sounds good. Scapegoat.
The economy was good...
Wars?
Nah... I got nothing."

[Reltzik]

"Not a target," Theo says. "Oh, sure, that's part of how it plays out. In '46, '61, and '74, the target was the MPD specifically and the city government more generally. There were some incidental other parties that set the whole thing off, but within hours it would always be the Brookvale mob versus the MPD and they'd all but forgotten their original grievances. But I was looking for things that weren't there in the '90s, and the MPD was there. As were a host of minor things that could have set them off.

"No, it's what you called me about yesterday, what I said I was going to tell you about when I asked you to come in. Martyrs' Tree.

"I told you I got burned by Martyr's tree before. Back in '74, I was working mostly with for the Civeno family. You've probably heard of them, Thad, even if they were before your time. Jules, I don't know how much mob history you know. Short version, they were pretty badly weakened to the point where the other three families could run them out of town by the early '80s. What a lot of people don't remember is that what weakened them in the first place was Martyrs' Tree. The Brookvale Oak, it used to be called, before most of Brookvale's government got hung from it.

Theo starts pulling out a bunch of other photos. "This here is Mayor Deltino. Elected in 1970, run out of office in 1975 for a variety of misdeeds, some of which he actually committed. Other than that, he's best remembered for constructing the Expressway that shaved about half an hour off the commute of anyone coming from that direction into downtown.

"The Civenos backed his election. They came close to owning him. They did own the construction firm that got the no-bid contract to put that road in.

"The problem was that Deltino had been a cop in '46 and part of the city government in '61. He'd seen part of the pattern. He recognized Martyrs' Tree for what it was. EVERY time things turned violent in Brookvale, even in '26, it started at the foot of that damn tree. It was a symbol, a powerful one. It was also a gathering place. A staging area. Neutral ground. A place where impromptu assemblies and demonstrations and outright mobs could coalesce. Mayor Deltino knew its history, and he wanted it gone and the earth paved over and maybe salted for good measure. And that's why he paid about five million extra to route the Expressway right over where it stood.

"The Civenos argued with him, but not much. He'd padded their contract pretty nicely. Never anyone mind that the new route went through the center of Brookvale, destroying a lot of homes and businesses and some old Brookvale government buildings that weren't doing much of anything. There were a lot of angry people, a few protests, some lawsuits, nothing the Civenos and their security couldn't handle. Ah, that was mostly cops moonlighting as security for their construction firm. You know how it was.

"But none of that really caused much of a problem, even if those cops-slash-muscle were a bit... vigorous in keeping things under control. Not until the route reached Martyrs' Tree. THAT'S what brought Brookvale together to stop us. Not their homes, not their businesses, but a goddamned mother-****ing tree. They were crazy. All of them, insane.

"So there was a bit of a standoff. Pickets, human chains, protestors living in the tree, so on. Lasted a couple of weeks before the Civenos lost patience and decided to just clear them out by force. They were old school, and that hippie crap didn't work well on them." Theo's been producing more pictures -- some aerial shots of the construction including one shot of it stopped dead right in front of a big oak tree, other pictures of the protestors and the standoffs. One of those photos has Sam Fields in it. "So the Civeno muscle laid into them, they fought back, and when the dust cleared you had five dead protestors, another dozen injured, and three off-duty cops in the morgue.

"The rest of the MPD had been taking a wait and see attitude, but that changed quickly once it got to dead cops. They swooped in all angry and avenging. But the rest of Brookvale also turned out, not just the tree-huggers and the protect-our-town's-history types. And after that it was nothing but anarchy, chaos, a lot of blood in the streets, and a whole lot of angry people trying to drive the MPD and the rest of Michaelsburg's government out of Brookvale so badly they never dared come back.

"Of course they couldn't. The cops had too much equipment and too much training. But it was nasty for a few days, fighting street-to-street and building-to-building.

"Afterwards, the Civenos finished the contract, starting with ripping down that damn tree, but lost a lot of money on the deal. They were also more involved in Brookvale than any of the other families and had severe interruptions to their supply lines, some of their warehouses burned, and basically everyone they were running protection on simultaneously deciding to give them the finger. Or a baseball bat to the head. They also had a falling out, big time, with Mayor Deltino, and were a big part of the push to get him out of office. Once it was all over, they'd lost enough money, muscle, prestige, and political allies that the other families could slowly snatch up their interests. It didn't really come to a mob war, but the Civenos saw the writing on the wall and either relocated out of town or married into the other outfits. Inside of ten years, the Civeno family didn't exist in Michaelsburg any more.

"I don't talk about it much, but Brookvale's been a hobby of mine ever since then. Like I said, I was working for the Civenos when they got burned. It was kind of hard not to notice. Some of the old bosses still remember that Brookvale basically ate one of the families alive. That's not the sort of thing the other families are likely to forget, and it's why they're a little nervous now. And crazy Mayor Deltino... the more I looked at it, the more I realized he wasn't all that crazy. Martyrs' Tree was just all kinds of bad news and it always has been. Like a cancerous tumor growing in his city. Someone had to cut it out, and he manned up and did it. It cost him his career and his mob friends, but he did it. Come the 90s things didn't play out as bad as they had all the times before. Maybe because they didn't have a gathering place that everyone, including the gangs, saw as neutral ground. No location where they could unify and coalesce. No living symbol of Brookvale as a larger community. Maybe that's what made the difference."

[Thrair]

Jules was starting to get frustrated. Nothing he'd told them was something they could act on. And they already knew most of it, to boot. Furthermore, he was wasting time by treating this as a lesson and not a briefing. Wasting time with unnecessary tangents and rhetorical questions.

"Hey Thad, I'm going to make a few calls while I wait for you to finish. Sound good?"

[Kislath]

"Hmm.. okay, sure.
Well, we have a problem now, then. La Loba has been using the spot for a big meeting place. Tons of folks were all gathered up there just a couple of hours ago. She was giving various groups their marching orders to go do stuff.

Do you think it might have the same effect as the other times?
Also, why are the families so worried now? Just in general over the possibility of community upheaval, or something more specific?"

[Reltzik]

"Yeah, I know. It's worrisome. People are suddenly starting to remember Martyrs' tree again. It's like it's back in play forty years after we killed it. And Fields isn't around, but he's got a replacement. And Segregation isn't an issue, but Brookvale's suddenly realizing it's got a whole lot of other grievances.

"The families are worried about upheaval, mostly," Theo says. "At least that's my guess. They don't do much business in Brookvale -- not much money there for them to want -- but they do move product through there. Don't ask me the details, I don't know them. The real thing they're scared of is what happens if Brookvale finally succeeds. It's worse than you realize.

"There's one last piece you need to know. You've probably been thinking you're looking at riots if things go bad. That's what the MPD always thought they were. What the papers always called them. But that's not what they are. Except MAYBE for '26, Brookvale has never rioted. Not once. Riots can have targets but they don't have agendas, and every time violence broke out in Brookvale it DID have a goal. Each time, Brookvale wanted to carve itself free of Michaelsburg's control.

"That's not a riot. That's a rebellion. And if it succeeds this time... well it would set a bad precedent. Other neighborhoods might try the same thing. Alson, for one.

"Forget the details of what piece of this or that business is exposed. The thing about organized crime is that it's organized. It doesn't do well in a state of anarchy. THAT'S why the families are edgy."

Sorry, Thrair. I honestly expected Thad to wait on this infodump until after your business at the 23rd, not drag you along to it.

[Kislath]

"Hmmm... say, have you ever heard of a Police Chief named Adamson who got killed back in '26 or so?
La Loba keeps bugging me about it, but she won't tell me what significance it has."

[Reltzik]

"A little bit," Theo says. "Not much, about the man. But I know about the election in which he got killed and the role he played in it.

"There were actually three issues at work in that election. One was pushback against the Society or whoever it was that had taken over in Brookvale. The second was that Michaelsburg was looking to expand and Brookvale was in the way. The third was Prohibition.

"You see, Michael's Landing, here in Michaelsburg, is... well the lay of the land and the depth of the water and a bunch of other factors I don't understand make it the best site for cargo to make landfall this side of the River for a few hundred miles upwater or down. But it's too built up. All the streets and the buildings were laid down before automobiles. Not exactly before railroads but before rail got out here. You can get a truck in there and there's even a pair of rails running in through a tunnel, but it's a major bottleneck for shipping.

"The Brookvale riverfront is one of the runners-up for good sites to land cargo. Somewhere in the top five. But it DOESN'T have a major metropolitan downtown sitting right smack on its ass. It's got good rail access and good road access. So a lot more cargo transfers between water and land there than at Michael's Landing. And that was true in '26 for another reason... the new wave of Brookvale cops didn't give a damn about enforcing Prohibition. They had other agendas.

"So Adamson was pushing for annexation, both to enlarge Michaelsburg and because he wanted to shut down the smuggling going through Brookvale.... though I've heard a few stories that he was only trying to shut down MOST of the smuggling, and one of the families had him on its payroll and the Brookvale smuggling was cutting into their monopoly. I don't know if that's true. Either way, he was motivated. He was out in Brookvale at rallies and fundraisers and mobilizing voters. Very charismatic, a natural leader.

"Pretty much everything from the late afternoon of election day on is... well, completely confused. But he was killed that evening by an angry mob near the start of the riots... at least that's the story. I never found a witness or written firsthand account to verify it, don't even know where he was when he died or the exact hour. But when the MPD came pouring into Brookvale to restore order, it had blood in its eyes and a martyr in its heart, and everything went straight to hell."

[Kislath]

"Wow. Okay. Thanks. Maybe that will help me figure out what she's trying to tell me without telling me.

So, meanwhile, any advice for us?"

[Reltzik]

"She's giving you riddles, huh? You'll get a laugh out of this if nothing else. If you're trying to solve some riddle about Brookville's history, there's one person out there I know of who knows more about it than I do. That history student I told you about, the one who got that newspaper. I didn't find out until later that I wasn't supposed to go through La Loba to get an introduction and permission to talk to her. I was supposed to go through La Loba because she WAS La Loba. 3.8 GPA, four degrees, and on top of that all she had time to be a research assistant in some classified top-secret government think tank. She wrote the paper on Brookvale history. The ONLY one. If there's another egghead scholar who's studied it, I couldn't find them. Brookvale's just... there. No one thinks about it until it becomes a problem, and once it stops being a problem, they stop thinking about it."

Theo takes a sip of his rum and coke, grimaces, sets it down, and stirs it with his swizzle stick. Apparently the coke isn't flat enough for him yet. "As for advice? As your friend? If you have vacation days, use them. Get the hell out of town and don't come back until it's all over. Brookvale rebellions aren't like normal riots. They don't smash windows and burn cars and loot TVs. They go gunning for cops. Don't be around when they come hunting for your blood.

"But if you're not that smart... and I'm pretty sure you aren't... get ready for hell. Get your buddies ready for it. Make sure everyone knows what's coming. Get everyone forted up and on alert. Get the riot squads turned out. Get the National Guard on speed dial. If this is going south, best you're ready to win it as soon as it starts. But whatever you do... DON'T put her in a SWAT sniper's crosshairs." He pulls the swizzle stick out and taps it on the edge of the glass, dislodging droplets. He also fixes Thad with a great big scowl. "I've spent most of my life hanging out with a bunch of hardass Roman Catholics. I know how martyrs happen. I know what they do. I know that they're most dangerous when they're already dead... and once they're dead, you can't kill them a second time. That's half of why I didn't have to argue hard with the families not to kill her, despite the problems she's causing. They understand how this works." He takes another, cautious sip, grimaces again, and goes back to stirring.

"The other half of why is they think she's going to get herself killed anyway, fighting you. And if it's you that makes her a martyr, the families don't catch the backlash for it."

He mulls over his not-yet-ready rum and coke for a moment. "Oh," he adds, as an afterthought. "If you want to know more about HER, I'd try digging into her background at the University. I never got around to it, myself, not much anyway. But if you want to understand a master criminal, you don't study their master jobs. You study their early work, back when they were still raw and unfinished. Think the same thing goes for her."

[Kislath]

"Okay, cool. Thanks.

So, the families don't want her dead unless its someone else who kills her, because they don't need the kind of trouble that would cause them, and they'd prefer I didn't kill her, either. Okay. I wasn't planning on killing her, so that's good.

When the real trouble starts, it'll be really bad and aimed at us cops.

Brookvale doesn't like being part of Michaelsburg.

I really should just leave town for awhile.


Okay, I think I got it. Thanks, Theo."

[Reltzik]

"That's about the right of it," Theo says. "Except the families don't care if you kill her. Might even prefer it. That was just my own warning. Anyone who puts her in the ground is going to catch the worst kind of hell imaginable."

[Kislath]

"Well... alright then. Thanks.

I guess we gotta get back to work. Come on, Jules, let's go nail some bastids."

[Reltzik]

You get back on the road and get into the 23rd Precinct. There's no incident, but... there's... traffic. A lot of traffic, and it's not common for this time of day. Most of it's leaving Brookvale. The city streets are clogged, but again, most of it's heading towards the Expressway and you're leaving it. There aren't many people on the street aiming cell phones around, either, and the carefully-coordinated protests around the 23rd that Lara Brand reported are not present.

You arrive at the Precinct about an hour before the meeting that Thad has to attend (but that Jules doesn't). Plenty of time for Thad to try to ID "Mack" and for Jules to lay the seeds of the idea that he's chaffing against Thad's rogue ways, if that's still what you want to do.

[Kislath]

"Hmmm.... looks like the evacuation has already started. That's good, I guess."

Thad strolls into Captain Adamson's office.

"Howdy. Before the meeting starts, there's this thing we need to discuss. It can wait if it has to, but you probably don't want me dropping this latest bombshell on you with everybody else around."

[Thrair]

Jules walks in behind Tanner and shoots him an irritated look from behind, then sighs and sits down. He nods grimly at Adamson, and mentally adds a wry note not to play poker with Tanner. He couldn't deny there wasn't a small portion of him that wasn't acting, but he also couldn't help but admire the sheer audacity of the man.

Misdirection, ahoy!

[Reltzik]

Adamson is in his office with Lieutenant Nivens (head of the 23rd's gang unit's undercover operations, who you both met at the Adamson residence), listening to a radio and discussing what they're hearing. The broadcast is in Spanish, making it pretty indecipherable, but Nivens apparently understands it. What isn't indecipherable is the broadcaster's voice. That's La Loba, speaking to her people.

"Well come on in," Adamson grumbles. "What's one more bombshell? Please tell me it's this evacuation... insanity. What the hell is that bitch thinking? She's crazy. That's the only explanation. So please tell me it's that. I'll take redundancy over more bad news."

[Kislath]

"Ah, well, yeah, the evacuation seems to have already started, and I guess that's not the worst possible news. I mean, sure, it's bad, really bad, because that means we're probably too late to stop what happens next. At least fewer people will be hurt or killed.

So... speaking of people getting killed... " ( Thad shows Adamason the picture of the drawing of "Mack" on his phone )
"who is this guy? No, he hasn't been killed, at least not yet, but he IS the one who hired those assassins to try to kill me this morning. He missed, of course, but they did kill one of La Loba's guys and put Van Mueller in the hospital. That's gotta be part of this rush to evacuate. She's pretty pizzed off. He's probably the one behind the snipers, too, and maybe even Herman Rodrick's killer, too. Probably, in fact. Anyway, the witness says he's one of yours, so who is he?"

[Reltzik]

Adamson's pretty irate. "So you knew this was coming and didn't give us a warning? It's a pure mess out there." He snatches the phone out of Thad's hands and examines the picture with a glare before handing it back. "I don't know him, and I know all the people in my unit. Your witness is lying. They do that around here. That bitch puts them up to it just to mess with us. If you knew anything about the neighborhood, or if we'd gone in for a joint investigation so you were teamed with someone who knew something about the neighborhood, you wouldn't have been tricked like that." Adamson gives a glare, not to Thad in particular, but at the world in general and perhaps the absent Almeida.

Then he continues in a bit less of a cranky tone. "What I wouldn't give to get her off the streets permanently. Speaking of which, your Fed buddies were here last night. Interdepartmental action team, about a dozen people. FBI, NSA, ATF, few others. I was trying to explain to them how we thought La Loba's bombshells were metaphorical, but it was a mess here mobilizing to contain potential riots following that girl getting shot, and then I had to stop briefing them because of our bomb drill. They went off on their own during that and we hadn't gotten around to exchanging cards. They're out there somewhere, though, looking for her. Maybe they'll nab her. That would get rid of the headache of her on the streets while saving us the headache of having her in our cell."

[Kislath]

Thad doesn't even know how to process that, so he just walks away.
Maybe someone else around here will recognize this "Mack" guy, he figures, so he goes around asking people. Worst case scenario, he figures, is someone calls the dude to warn him, and if that flushes him out, great.

[Reltzik]

Thad gets a hit pretty quickly from a busy sergeant at the front desk. He recognizes the picture as a detective from the Narcotics unit, but can't put a name to the face.

What's Jules doing?

[Thrair]

Jules grumbles wearily after Tanner leaves, then nods at Adamson.
"Would that we had anything solid on her.... And that.... ah, nevermind. Any event, sir... I assume you've gotten the full rundown on Logan and Atake, out by the slums? Was hoping to get your thoughts about a couple of things, if that's alright."

[Reltzik]

Adamson glares at the door that Thad left through, then deflates a little bit and turns to Jules in a bit more of a polite (but still grumpy) manner.

"Those are the two Marines that came here to kill Rodrick? I can't say that I got the full rundown, but I did get a preliminary report. It's a shame you didn't call us but I get that it was time-critical. What do you want to know? Do you think they're the ones who killed him?"

[Kislath]

Thad walks back to Adamson's office to tell Jules he got a line on the guy, and to tell Adamson the same thing, more than a little just for spite.
( It'll take a moment to get there, so he won't be interrupting )

[Thrair]

"Hm. Sorry about that, sir... But, as you said, timing critical. Still.... no. It looks like they were trying to kill him, but didn't realize someone else beat them to it. That said, they shouldn't have known he'd been alive in the first place. Officially, Rodriguez has been dead for a while. I'm very interested in finding out where they got their information. We've got leaks all over the place, and I'd like to get the bottom of at least one of them by the end of the week.

They're garbage, though. Talking scum of the earth. But they were marines. Going to be hard to get them to buckle unless they get something out of it. Thought of that makes my blood boil."

Jules grumbles, counting off points with his fingers.
"So... questions I've got going through my head:
-One: How likely is it that they're involved in this overall mess? Timing's a little too much of a coincidence for my tastes, but I can't honestly rule that out.
-Two: Even if they didn't kill our guy, who's the leak?
-Three: How do we get them to talk without letting them essentially walk?
-And, most importantly, Four: What in the nine hells was she doing in that room?"

Jules leans back in his chair and rubs his eyes.
"Honestly, that last one's bugging me the most, right now. They knew who she was, and that's a big red flag. If they'd tracked him down on their own, which I just don't see... why'd they get her? They've not been here long. They shouldn't have had time to find out how she was related to him.

More than that, they claim she was already there. Which is another huge coincidence in a long string of them. It almost feels like someone tried to use these... hrm.... to put her in a spot where she might get caught in the crossfire. Godverdomme. I hate dealing with her."

[Reltzik]

"Try having her as your lead case for almost two years running," grumbles Adamson. "Then you'll know what hate really is."

He sits down in his chair, glaring at the radio which Almeida is still talking in Spanish over. "I can't answer your other questions," he says. "But if we've got leaks, it's almost definitely her. She watches us like a hawk. She knows practically everything we do. There's the cell phones, but that can't be all of it. She knows too much for it just being those cameras. But she's not foolproof. Rodrick... hell if I'm going to call him Rodriguez, I knew him as Rodrick... he got past her defenses.

"We had to move heaven and earth to make it happen, too. Total false cover set up by someone outside the department.... or maybe it's sounding like you're right and he went back to his real pre-protection identity. .... which I don't hold against him. I know how witness protection works. Don't see many people in protection become cops, but I won't hold it against him that he came to us with his new identity rather than his old one.

"But we had to falsify everything to make it work. Everything. Computers, paper files, department gossip... EVERYTHING. That's what it took to get a man close to her. THAT is how good her intelligence network is, how hard it is to beat. We took it so far that it took me until this morning to convince Human Resources that he hadn't really been fired for beating up my piece-of-**** cousin. Now they'll finally break the news to his next of kin, and once you can show he wasn't a Wolfpack plant he'll get a proper police funeral. His Final Dispatch is going to be tomorrow, by the way, 5 PM." That's what the MPD calls their version of the Last Call, a common police ritual in which Dispatch honors a fallen officer over the radio.

He transfers a half-scowl back to the door as Tanner returns. "If you care, that is."

[Kislath]

"Of course I care. How could I not care?

I got a line on our guy. He's in Narco."

[Reltzik]

"Well then, go talk to Captain Arkady," Adamson says. "Assuming you can find him. He's dead center in the mess from the shooting yesterday. Actually, I'll come with you. I've got something to show him. Nivens, any change?"

"Nah," Nivens says from where he's been listening to the Almeida talking in Spanish on the radio. "Oh, a few words here and there, she's not on a loop, but the gist isn't changing. You want me to keep listening?"

"Sure," Adamson tells him, "But also text some of your people and have them get word to us about what's really going on."

Nivens nods, and Adamson grabs an oversized evidence bag from the corner, plus a much smaller one. "Come on," Adamson says. "His office is on the fourth floor, I'll show you where. I want to see where your lead on this Mack person goes, firsthand."

He punches the elevator button and takes the opportunity to provide some explanation. "This is what Erica Santiago was holding when she was shot yesterday," he says, showing the large bag as he walks towards the door. Through the clear plastic is a gun clearly designed for laser tag. It's the rough shape of an assault rifle. It's also bright orange and red. "And this," he adds, holding up the smaller bag, "and others like it were the only lighting in that building." It's a blue nightlight. "Some blue Christmas lights as well. Don't let the colored plastic fool you. That toy looks a lot like a real gun in blue light. I'll bet Almeida won't say a word about that at all. Add in the fog machine they had going, low lights, and the fact that all the witnesses, police and kids alike, agree that Erica Santiago spun around with this in her hands as the Narcotics boys broke in the door. It was a split-second decision whether to shoot. It's not my unit, but if anyone asks my opinion, personally or professionally, I'm going to recommend no action against the officer who shot her."

[Thrair]

Jules nods in irritation. "Hm. Fair enough. But the individual officer's not necessarily the problem, here. Mind if I'm a bit blunt, sir?"

Jules wants to tread thin ice. As I understand it, while Police forces aren't as strict about respect and insubordination, he could still get a bit of heat for mouthing off next to a guy who outranks him by about 3 orders of magnitude. At least without giving fair warning.

Also, was confused for a moment by the chat colours. Caught ya before the edit.

[Reltzik]

Basically, Adamson's options if you piss him off mostly involve complaining to your chain of command or to IA. He might also get you kicked out of the building.

And uh, yeah. Oopsies.

"Go ahead," Adamson grumbles. "Everyone else is. At least you know to ask permission."

Seeing him close up, in the wash of the hallway's fluorescents rather than the incandescent lighting of his office, it's clear that he's had little to no sleep lately.

[Thrair]

Jules nods respectfully, then continues.
"Right, then. Even if the individual officer wasn't to blame for this, he was still in a position where it was possible. The ones calling the shots in the 23rd, more specifically their narcotics? They're screwing up. Be it lapses in procedure, poorly checked leads, or malice.... hard to say. Probably differs in each case. But they have an overall pattern of sloppy and overly aggressive behavior."

Jules grimaces, mostly with distaste. He respected Adamson enough from what he'd seen to be open with him, though he mistrusted the man's priorities.
"You don't seem the type to like disparaging fellow officers, even as a group.... but you can't deny the general feeling among the precincts that the 23rd is where people get reassigned to so they're someone else's problem. Almost nobody I've talked to has a favourable opinion on the 23rd. One of their officers nearly dropped a slur to my face about the people around us, right after the incident this morning. When I chastised him for it, he was willing to tone it back for the time, but viewed that as a waste of time. I get there's a lot of bad blood between the force and the people, but an apathetic attitude towards it is a core part of the problem. And it's endemic to the entire precinct, near as I can tell."

[Reltzik]

Adamson sighs. "Brookvale's never gotten along with the MPD, not since... well, not in living memory. Too much bad blood on both sides. Most people don't realize it, but the 23rd and the 26th have had a higher combined casualty rate over any thirty year period since they were founded than any other pair of precincts in the entire city, and it's because the people here just don't like us. Cop-hating is the neighborhood pastime and we lose too many good men and women because of it. That kind of attitude from the people we police carries consequences in how we treat them in return. That's just human nature. Reining it in is impossible... and wouldn't make a difference. They hate the uniform, not us. And that's not the mission anyway. Our job is to uphold the law and maintain order, not win popularity contests. It would be nice if this were the sort of neighborhood that gave us the luxury of doing that too. It isn't.

"As for the rest? Most of the bad leads are Almeida's fault. She can't stop us from get real information from real snitches, but she covers it in twenty times as much bull**** from fake snitches. It's practically impossible to police with her in the same neighborhood. As for personnel... we work with the materiel we're issued. With the squadmates we're assigned. Same as you do. If you've got a problem with how the other precincts view us, take it up with them.

"But what happened yesterday wasn't their fault. It was ours. Mine and yours and Lieutenant Paige's and the Deputy Commissioner's. That wasn't an ordinary Narcotics bust. Officially they were there looking for a meth lab. No warrant, but they smelled a suspicious chemical odor coming from within the building and that was probable cause. Except that's not the real story. The Narcotics boys know what a meth lab smells like and it's not a fog machine. But they were really there looking for Almeida's bombs, like we discussed at dinner Tuesday. The same bombs we were pretty sure weren't there by then, but 'pretty sure' didn't cut it. We had to give them the lead because of the meth lab story, and that was the problem. Narcotics cops might know what a meth lab smells like but they don't know what a bomb factory smells like. So they went in. And instead of a bomb factory, it was a derelict warehouse that woman converted into a playground to attract teenage recruits. And we sent them in there expecting terrorist bombers."

His voice is heavy and his face a stiff stone mask as the elevator arrives. He steps in and holds the door open for you to join him.

[Kislath]

"Hey, I can dig it. Under those circumstances, I'd be more surprised if nobody got shot."

[Reltzik]

Adamson looks briefly surprised at Tanner, as if he'd been expecting more of a fight. But then his face slides back into dour, grumbling, stiff, and very tired.

"Try telling that to her next time you see her," he says, punching the button for the fourth floor. Then he holds the door for a water guy with a hand truck delivering jugs to coolers on a hand truck for the second floor. "Speaking of which, there's something I'd like you to do. She's been throwing mud at the wall saying our people are corrupt, correct? Next time you see her, ask for her evidence. All of it. Say it's for an investigation. If she doesn't give it, we can get her for Obstruction and I doubt her people will thank her for shielding the same cops she's been complaining about. If she does give it, we can actually act on it rather than letting her dangle a Sword of Damocles over our heads, and do it on our schedule and initiative, not hers. I'm sick of not knowing what cards she's holding, and I'm now sure we're in for the worst kind of hell whether we arrest her or not. When that comes I want her off the streets, not stoking the fires. I know my people are clean and it's time to call her bluff."

[Kislath]

"Mmmm... maybe your people are clean, and maybe they aren't. So far I'm seeing a lot of dirt around here in the 23rd. Ned Myers and his buddies, this guy who keeps trying to kill me, Mike Lawrence....
still, I guess that maybe the rest of them might be okay. Sure, why not?

That said, the obstruction angle is a pretty good idea. I got a bad feeling that she's about to give us both barrels full of evidence any minute now anyway, so we might as well ask her for a sneak preview. As for arresting her, well, maybe she's just bluffing, but she's got lieutenants ready to take over, and the word is they're even worse. I reckon we can find out."

[Thrair]

"However we go about it, I'd like a proper assignment, again. And consolidation of a proper task force. It's not enough to just share information. We're all spread out around a half-dozen separate investigations, and the redundancy and lack of focus is beginning to irritate me, sir. I get there's a lot of jurisdictional friction, largely because of the special circumstances of the city.... but still."

Jules scratches his head and yawns wearily.
"In particular, we need someone in charge. Tanner and I, for one, have kept running into dead ends not for lack of leads, but because our investigative unit doesn't have someone who can cut through the maze of red tape. This jurisdictional politics has caused a ton of mutual roadblocks, and us grunts can't get past that on our own. Some compartmentalization, it is necessary.... but this is ridiculous."

[Reltzik]

"Fine by me. If we couldn't handle it completely in-house, I wanted joint operations since the moment I learned Rodrick was dead," Adamson says as the water guy gets out at the second floor. "Now. What's this about Mike Lawrence? He's one of my best officers. He doesn't just do his job, he's a natural team builder. He helps get everyone doing their jobs and looking out for how they can assist their teammates. What do you have on him? Is it anything substantive, or is it just more of Almeida's vapor?"

[Kislath]

*sigh*
"Ah, nevermind. He's not so bad. I even like him. He's just tapped into the network of corruption here to some extent. He knew about the sting operation this morning and knew to avoid the area, for example, along with several others that this dirty "Mack" guy trusted enough to warn. Internal Affairs has a big file on him, too, but I don't know what all is in it. They just warned me to watch my back around him."

[Reltzik]

"Your network sounds like just the grapevine," Adamson says, relaxing a smidge at hearing he doesn't need to suspect one of his top officers. "Back before I was brass and could use it myself, I would have damn well expected any cop who knew ahead of time about an IA op like what I've heard described to let everyone know about it for three precincts in any direction."

[Reltzik]

((I'm taking the lack of replies as meaning it's time to fastforward.)

The elevator arrives at the fourth floor, and Adamson leads the two of you through the Narcotics section to Captain Arkady's office. The section's fairly deserted, probably because it's the middle of the shift and most everyone is out on business. Arkady is in his office, talking on the phone to someone while he runs a finger along a spreadsheet on his computer monitor. Adamson stops short of the door, clearly wanting to wait until Arkady's finished his phone call.

"Look, Tanner," Adamson says. "About yesterday. I didn't come onto your turf to cause you trouble. I just wanted tighter cooperation, more and faster information-sharing. I wasn't trying to get you canned or off the case, and it's good to see that Lieutenant Paige still knows how to dance."

[Kislath]

"Oh, ok. It's cool. Really. In fact, it worked out better for me and for the case that it happened, so if anything, I should thank you.

Uhm.... Thank you.

I must also apologize. I know I've ruffled a lot of feathers around here, mainly yours. I'm not trying to cause trouble, either. I'm just finding an awful lot of it, or should I say it's finding me."

[Reltzik]

"Yeah, well, you're involved in Almeida's business," Adamson says. "There's nothing about her that isn't trouble."

Arkady glances up from his screen for a brief moment. Three seconds later he's hung up and is storming out of his office in full confrontation mode.

"What the hell are you doing here Tanner? You're supposed to be on leave!"

[Kislath]

"Yeah.. a lot of people think that.

Since you asked, I'm here for this guy. ( shows picture ) He's probably the one who killed Rodrick, and definitely the one who's been trying to kill me. Call him in, will ya? Don't tell him I'm here, on the miraculous off-chance he doesn't already know.

Yes, I'm dead serious. I'm here to haul him in.

[Reltzik]

"Well last I checked I'm a captain and you're just a detective," Arkady snaps. "So if you think you're going to boss me around in MY unit, either show me a warrant or go... jump in the River." He was definitely about to say something stronger there. And he didn't even look at the picture.

[Kislath]

"Before you decide to do things the hard way, you should know that your own involvement in this is already in question by the friendly folks at Internal Affairs.
Naw, that's not true... heh...they aren't friendly at all.

The fact that you don't even have to ask who I'm talking about or even look at the picture shows me how deep in this you are. At least now I know why you tried to get me off the case. Heck, I figured you'd at least pretend to be concerned that one of your men was a cop-killer instead of just complaining about a warrant.

Now, you can call him in or I can go hunting for him. He already knows I'm coming for him by now, so I reckon he'll try something juusst stupid enough to let me kill him, and make no mistake, he's killed two cops and tried to kill two more, so I'll get away with it. Well, assuming that any of us survive the weekend, of course, after the Wolfpack have their fun.

If you just wanna keep this quiet and have your own guys pop him, well, I reckon that'll be okay, too. Heck, I might not even have to issue a systemwide BOLO for his cop-killing azz.
*sigh* A Sergeant, no less. They just don't make good cops anymore."

OOC: Thad is trying to suggest that he already knows who he is, and that's not an issue. He called him Sergeant and never asked for his identity, and said things to make Arkady totally blow his stack and lose the ability to think clearly. Adamson is with me, so maybe he will assume that he pointed me to Arkady's unit. It oughta work, but if it doesn't, there's always Plan-B.. as soon as Thad figures out what it is. There can't be that many Narco sergeants in the 23rd, right?

[Reltzik]

"Fine!" Arkady snaps, and snatches the picture from Thad to look at it. He's just barely containing his fury. "Your unit captain warned me about you. You're paranoid. You think you're above your fellow cops, that it's you're job to police the police. The fact that IA didn't invite you to join the rat squad years ago means they don't agree." He stops fuming long enough to look at the picture, and then hands it (more like tosses it, it flutters some in midair) back. "Yeah, that's one of my sergeants. But you still don't get to make an arrest without a warrant or immediate cause. Which of those do you got? Because otherwise you're just wasting my time and threatening to screw up my deployment rosters five times worse than you already have!"

[Kislath]

"The sting operation that your boy derailed this morning got the tip that I was there from a witness. That witness ratted him out as the one who had been terrorizing her into submission, and identified him as the one she called to warn about the sting. The assassins themselves filled in the rest of the gaps, and the timetable pretty much cinches it that your guy didn't have time enough to get someone else to do his dirty work. I suppose that he could have, but then it only means that he passed the info along to yet another killer. Either way, he's got some splainin' to do.

Warrant? No, I don't have one yet.
Immediate cause? Oh yeah, I'd say having a cop-killing-cop running loose is a pretty immediate problem.

As for my paranoia? Go ask Van Mueller if all of those bullet holes in him are just my imagination."

[Reltzik]

Arkady's nostrils flare as he weighs the options, and it's pretty easy to see what's going through his head.

First, what Thad's describing doesn't rise to immediate cause, and Arkady would definitely know that. He probably has to give that lecture to overeager subordinates once or twice a week. Thad didn't witness "Mack's" involvement firsthand, and he doesn't have a confession. He might have enough to get a warrant, with a judge double-checking Thad's assertions, but there's not enough to make an arrest out of hand.

Second, he's a freaking captain. He's not going to cave in to pressure from someone he outranks by three grades. If he was prone to that, he'd never have made it past sergeant.

Third, he doesn't like Thad. Not at all.

But on the other hand, Thad sounds like he has good cause to be investigating "Mack", even if he's short what he needs for an arrest. And this is a serial cop-killer case.

"... that's not immediate cause," Arkady says after a moment, through gritted teeth. "But I'll let you have a supervised interview, me on the other side of the glass. Thirty minutes tops. No arrest without my approval. If you don't like that, you can get ejected from the building and go running to the rat squad. Your choice."

[Kislath]

"Works for me. Let's do it."

[Reltzik]

Sorry I went so long without posting. Really busy with school, and I lost track of the fact that it was my turn to post.

Arkady makes a couple of brief phone calls, and then leads Thad to an interview room with a sergeant in it. The sergeant looks like he just arrived. He matches Shannon's sketch, and more interestingly, he's got a small knife just like Shannon described. He's currently peeling an apple with it, trying to get the entire apple peeled in one go, with the peel slowly creating a small pile on a paper plate.

"Remember," Arkady says to Thad. "Interview. Not interrogation." The distinction, here, is that the interviewee is not to be pressed hard. In particular, no accusations are to be leveled and the interviewee is to be presumed reasonably honest. Forgetful or a little evasive, maybe at times, but honest. The objective of an interview is to gain information from them, not force a confession.

Arkady settles in on the other side of the glass -- not one-way mirror, it's more like a conference room -- and starts discussing the toy laser gun with Adamson.

Is Jules getting in on this, or is there something else he wants to do?

[Kislath]

What's this interview, not interrogation, stuff? How am I supposed to convince Arkady his guy is dirty if... ah, nevermind.

Thad just sits there in silence for an uncomfortably long time, occasionally smirking and acting like he about to say something, but then doesn't.
He looks at his watch like he's waiting for something. While doing so, he hums the tune of "Mack the Knife" to himself.
Eventually he speaks.

"Nice knife. Cute. Distinctive. The kind that people remember in detail when they talk about it later. Yep. Very memorable. Just the right length to do a lot of damage without killing a guy, too. Stab a dude in the spine, for example, and he'd be in a wheelchair only wishing he was dead. heheheh.

I suppose you heard about all the crazy crap that happened this morning?
You wanna know something funny? That whole operation was supposed to buy us some time, to keep la Loba from burning down the city for a few more days. Now, instead, what with her guy getting killed, instead of me, all hell is about to break loose within a few hours.
Ain't that funny? Life sure has a way, dunnit?
Of course, her boyfriend getting killed was what really set her off.
You remember Herman Rodrick? Yeah... he was her boyfriend! Ain't THAT some crazy crap, too?

Why do you reckon he got killed, anyway? Just for being a blue rat? Kinda extreme, innit? I mean, gutting him like a fish, stringing him up, and stuffing his pockets with 30 "pieces of silver?" Sheesh!
Ah, well, these things happen. I'd hate to be the guy who did it, though. La Loba's cooking up something super-special for THAT guy, I'm sure. HAW! Didja know that she offered me a BIG ol' pile of money to not arrest the guy, but just tell her who it was instead? Considering how he keeps trying to kill ME, I might just have to take her up on that so I can leave town! HAHAHAH!!

Right, then, well, back to business.
You're a Narcotics Sergeant, yeah?
Lemme ask you something, theoretically.
Theoretically, how hard would it be for some cop to plant some dope in a pulled-over car to nail some scumbag who was getting away with too much stuff? Let's say some Wolfpack guy flipped off a cop as he drove by and laughed in his face. How hard would it be to pull him over, and, you know, make dang sure that the punk wasn't laughing anymore?
Oooooh... what if he was driving a nice car? That could be seized, right?
The reason you're here is that I'm looking into some crazy-azzed claims that that sort of thing might be happening around here, and I figured I'd get your expert opinion on things. Could such a thing really happen, or if not, why not?"

[Reltzik]

Yup, that's an obstacle. Arkady's not exactly supporting your efforts here.

"Mack", whose name Thad still doesn't know, flinches slightly at the grin. That's usually a tell-tale that Thad's caught a crook. But he covers it well and keeps peeling the apple while Thad talks. It's hardly proof. Certainly not proof that would satisfy a jury, or IA, or Arkady.

"Sounds like we should arrest her for attempted bribery, then," Mack (or whoever he is) says. He's in a suit rather than a uniform and so he's got no nametag. Only the design and color of the badge identifies him as a sergeant. "Especially if she's about to go nuclear like everyone's been saying she might. Go talk to Gangs about it. Captain Adamson's been trying to get her on something for a while now. There he is, right out there." He gestures at Adamson with his chin.

"Now.... as for your plant-drugs-in-a-nice-Wolfpack-car theory? Can't happen. The Wolfpack doesn't HAVE nice cars. Beat-up old jalopies is more like it. Conspicuous austerity. Socialists. Give everything they can to the poor and make pretend that the highest ranking among them is just as poor as everyone else. Regular commies. Oh they've got lots of assets... La Loba more than anyone... but they don't flaunt them in expensive vehicles where people can see them. And if we were going to do that to the Wolfpack whenever they flipped us off... well, we'd have had a couple thousand more arrests in our stats than we do right now."

[Kislath]

"Well, alrighty then. I guess that's all I needed. Thank you.

*sigh*

Ah, the hell with it. I'm sick of these stupid games.
Look, the witnesses against you are already all in protective custody where you can't reach them, guests of the Wolfpack, and have already filed their sworn statements.

She watches my every move, you know. La Loba, I mean. Kinda creepy, actually. Her spy network is incredible. Much more advanced and capable than anything we ever imagined. Anyway, she already knows who I'm talking to by now, and why. That really sucks for you.

Heh,heh,heh.. Ah....Karma is awesome, innit?
You wanna know the funny part?

If you hadn't tried to kill me, I never would have thought you were anything worse than a dirty drug-planting, car-stealing scumbag. That's all I had on you. hahahaha!! Instead, now I have Herman Rodrick's killer. And Lou Brown's killer. And my own attempted killer. What luck! Using those same idiotic, and shall I add, talkative, hitmen wasn't very bright, but hey, no one here is accusing you of being very bright, right? HAW!! I guess good help is hard to find, eh?

I suppose I should at least ask why you did it, but you know what? I don't even care anymore. I'm sure that Rodrick must have had it coming, right? You can explain it to her, maybe, right before she guts you like a fish.

Don't look at me like that. This is all your own fault.

This is only an interview, not an interrogation, so you're free to go, if you want. Heaven forbid I mess up Arkady's precious duty roster schedule by taking up too much of your time. There's no sense in keeping you here all day. Either you talk and get arrested, or you die in the street. I couldn't care less which at this point. I don't especially want to protect you, but I will.

If, however, you didn't kill Rodrick, well... now would be a most excellent time to say so. Try to be convincing."

[Reltzik]

While he pretends to be focused on peeling the apple, the sergeant's face is ticking slightly as Thad speaks.

"La Loba's not omniscient," he says, trying to keep his voice under control. He's angry. Maybe he's the sort of person who gets angry when he's scared. "Herman was screwing her every way that it's possible for a woman to get screwed, and feeding her a bunch of misinformation while he did it, and she didn't realize it for one-"

Thad can hear the door behind him open as Arkady steps in the room, and by his footsteps he's angry. Jules can see he's VERY angry. Thad overstepped his bounds.

But then the sergeant looks over and sees Arkady. His hand slips. He snips off his continuous peel far too early, and he scores a light cut on his left index finger.

He stands up with a hiss, sucking blood from his finger and dropping the apple on the table. Then he looks at Arkady and, half-panicked, starts talking like crazy.

"It's not like he said, sir! That woman who works at that auto shop, it was all her idea! If anyone's been planting drugs on those cars it must have been her and her family! They got finder fees off of it!"

Arkady pulls up short of Thad. The sergeant is gesturing with the knife. Wildly. In the "unsafe suspect, taser before approaching" sort of way. Thad clearly unhinged him, and now he's misinterpreted Arkady's presence and anger as being in support of Thad.

"I didn't hire any hitman!" he yells. "WE DON'T KILL COPS! None of us would ever kill a cop! We're not cop killers! That bitch at the auto shop, she tipped me off that this guy was trying some bull**** IA crap, so I put the word out on the grapevine last night so no one would get caught by it!"

"Put the knife down, son," Arkady says. "It's all right, you're not in any trou-"

"It could have been anyone! Everyone knew he'd be there! Hell it even could've been civies! Who knows who else that bitch tipped off! She's framing me! It was a setup all from the start! She's framing me like the slumrats always do to us! It was her idea all from the start and now-"

He's got zero poker face. Thad and Jules both can easily see that he's lying about it being Shannon's idea, as well as Shannon or her family being the ones to plant drugs in the cars. It feels exactly like something he's been rehearsing in his head for an hour or two while waiting for the ax to fall. But he's telling the truth about not calling in a hit on Thad... and never, ever, ever being willing to kill a cop. If anything, what's got him unnerved is the idea that someone might be that wrong about him on that particular subject.

He's also getting even wilder with that knife. He doesn't seem to mean it as a threat... he's just gesturing with it because it's in his hand. But he could easily hurt someone like that by accident... or if he has a sudden impulse to violence.

Arkady repeats his order, and this time it clearly IS an order. "Put the knife DOWN, Sergeant. Calm down and take a deep breath."

Thad isn't in a position to see Adamson step into the interview room. He can hear Adamson, but it's the wrong angle and every part of Thad's training tells him not to take his eyes off that knife. But Jules has a clear view of Adamson drawing his service weapon from his jacket.

[Thrair]

Jules steps pointedly between Adamson and Mack to block both their lines of sight, raising a finger at Adamson with an audible growl of warning. He then turns to Mack with faked tones of mild annoyance.
"Mack? Look at the apple? See that blood? You nicked yourself and it's making a mess. It's gross. And Tanner's about to get half his hide torn off by the Captain here for spewing out a bunch of malarkey, so let's get to a minimum safe distance from the ass-chewing, eh? Meantime, we can get you to the bathroom and get you cleaned up so you stop bleeding over good food. Plus we'd have to fill out a bunch of paperwork for the health department."

He then glances at Adamson to make sure he checked the motion on the sidearm, before returning his gaze to Mack.
Jules is making an intentional non-sequitor here. Try and get the guy's brain confused and switch gears a little. While also insinuating Tanner's in trouble, not him.

[Kislath]

"Save some of that blood, Jules.

Sergeant, I'm gonna need a list of every grape on the vine you told about me. Like it or not, one of them IS the killer."

[Reltzik]

Adamson has drawn his weapon but is keeping it pointed at the floor. He's not planning to shoot "Mack", but it's still a suspect behaving wildly with a lethal weapon. He adjusts position slightly so he can open fire past Jules if need be, but he's not initiating action.

Somehow, all of it works. The sergeant gets confused... and then realizes that he's bleeding. And also waving a knife around in front of a bunch of cops. He mutters an apology and returns the knife to a wrist sheathe. Arkady breathes a huge sigh of relief.

Adamson motions a probie over. "You," he says to her. "Go find someone with first aid training to look at the sergeant's injury." She nods and runs off on her errand.

The sergeant slumps back down in his chair, looking dazed and drained. "Um... let's see who I can remember. Lawrence and Macabbee, Harding, most of that crowd, Meyers and his team... hell I think I got two or three dozen people. Most of them said they'd pass it along to their buddies. Someone said they were going to pull your file photo and a couple others said they were going to put it out on the CB. But none of them would ever kill cops either, they..."

He trails off, stuck by a thought. "La Loba. Damn. That must be it. She must have hacked the CB."

This is of course an absurd theory of the crime -- she already knew about the whole operation WITHOUT hacking into a police chat ap -- but he seems to think it's reasonable. Of course, he's not in his best state of mind right now, and who knows what details or misinformation he's picked up about the morning's Charlie Foxtrot.

[Thrair]

"Not likely. Her people got hit worse than ours did."

Jules pauses for a second, then walks up a little closer to Mack, casually pulling out a pack as he does. Less because he wants one and more to make himself appear less threatening.
"Hey now. I understand why you might want to cover for the other guys. We look after our own. We have to. Sometimes that means looking the other way, so we don't see something we don't want to act on. Like not seeing the open beer in a buddies car... because he just saw a nasty homicide the day before and it's better to just make sure he gets home safe to sleep it off."

He stops a few feet away from Mack and puts on his calm measured tones.
"But sometimes people take advantage of that. They cross the line more than they need to. And if we keep looking the other way, maybe they start to think they haven't crossed that line at all. Maybe we do, too. And after a while, that line starts to blur, doesn't it?"

Jules sighs wearily, not having to fake it nearly as much as he'd like.
"Level with yourself. You know some people who've... pushed it too far. We can't keep looking the other way, Mack. I mean... we just.... we can't. Because eventually, if they haven't already, they'll keep pushing until they do something bad enough that it takes down everyone involved, including the people just trying to watch each other's back."


"... Hell. Look at how you just reacted. You misunderstood who the Captain was angry at. And you got to thinking that you were about to get pegged as a cop-killer when all you were tryin' to do was keep some buddies out of trouble. Think about what'd have happened if that was actually the case, because it's exactly what happens when we look the wrong way for the wrong people... and for the wrong reasons."

Jules thinks this guy's full o' ****, but for minor things grand-scheme. And thinks this guy still wants to think of himself as a "good guy". He's painting an out that lets him keep fooling himself into think he's doing the right thing. Isn't cognitive dissonance a bitch and a half?

[Reltzik]

"Hell, you see a buddy with an open container, you drive him home yourself," Mack, or whatever his name is, says. "Bad homocide or no. Just being a cop in Brookvale's stress enough to go the extra mile for each other."

Then he locks eyes with Jules. "But that's exactly why none of us would kill a cop. EVER. We're stuck together in this. We have each others' backs, because if we didn't these slumrats would eat us alive. And we all know it.

"This had to have been someone else. Rodrick had to have been killed by someone else. The hit on Tanner had to have been someone else. Hell, even that IA rat had to have been someone else. We. Don't. Kill. Cops."

[Kislath]

"One. Of. You. Does.

La Loba didn't hack anything. She was in on it from the start. The whole thing was practically her ide--
Waitaminute....

Hmmm... I just had an odd thought. You say you guys are all super-tight around here, right?
Does that include the cops who are also in the Wolfpack?
Oh, yes, you have a bunch of cops here in this house who are also Wolfpack members. Did you know that?
I wonder... what if one of them became more loyal to the cops than to La Loba? Such a person would have known about the sting ahead of time, and might have tried to thwart it.

Nah.. if anything, they're all fanatically loyal and driven. Nevermind.

Ok, look.. Herman was La Loba's boyfriend, and he was feeding you guys false info about her and her capabilities. By the way, those abilities are nothing short of staggering. You say she's not omniscient? Heh. I say she's pretty darned close to it. You gotta see the stuff she's got and what it can do to believe it.

Anyway, so he's a rat, right? Why kill him over it? The only thing I can think of is that he got too close to something huge.
What was he doing before he got whacked?
Who was he hanging out with the most?
I busted Ned and he laughed about it. Nobody killed Rodrick over some chump change charge like shaking down shopkeepers or even stealing cars with planted drug busts.
Think, man.
Who around here might have been up to some really bad stuff? Stuff worth killing over. And among them, who was Rodrick sniffing around the most?"

[Reltzik]

"Mack" is relaxing a bit, in a way that suggests none of those questions are hitting close to home.

"I didn't know him that well," he says, "But he mostly hung out with the women. His old mentor Harding and her friends Albrook and... that other one, whatsername. Went into the prison system. Amy something. Also, Macabee, that's Lawrence's partner. None of them are into anything serious. Hell, NO ONE is into anything like you're talking about, serious or not.

"And he wasn't DIGGING into anything. The times he got to hang out with us, he asked a lot of questions, sure, but they were personal questions. Not about work and not about anything on the side. He wanted to know how friends were doing, catching up on everyone's family, gossip, that sort of thing. He wanted the grapevine, to be part of the community. He lost that when he went undercover."

Adamson has put his weapon away and has been doing something on his phone. Now he tucks the phone into his shirt pocket and steps up. He seems grim, severe, perhaps a bit angry.

"So you haven't been doing anything on the side, have you? Explain to me again this part about the snitch who you think is responsible for this morning."

Something about Adamson's countenance makes it clear to Mack that he's not been believed, and he stumbles through his speculation of Shannon's crimes again.