Dream Weaver Ch. 04

I saw others helping me to the other room, followed by Admiral Cordell, and Jack Muscone and Martin Nash helping to secure the arrest of the other men. The tape then stopped as Laura was taking Cindy's blue crowbar from her and wiping it down.

"Wow." I said. "She obliterated six agents and that asshole Bond."

"Six highly trained agents, too. I've never seen anything like it." Laura replied. "She was on fire. Any idea why?"

"Didn't like her blood kin being fucked with?" I asked. Laura nodded.

When Cindy brought Carole and Molly back in, I said "Carole, give your cousin Cindy a big hug for helping your daddy." Carole gave Cindy a big hug, and Cindy realized what I'd just been watching.

"You saw?" she asked.

"Did I ever." I said. "Thank you."

"You did the same for me, and Teresa, at Ward Harvester." Cindy said.

"I wasn't facing six-to-one odds." I said.

"Oh heck, those odds are in Cindy's favor, every time." Molly said, teasing her little sister. That got me laughing, and I couldn't stop...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"And here he is, being rolled out of University Hospital in a wheelchair!" shouted Bettina Wurtzburg as KXTC and KSTD carried my dismissal from the Hospital live at 2:30pm. I waved at the small crowd, being held behind a police tape line with officers behind it.

"Commander, what happened to you?" shouted Priya Ajmani.

"Didn't drink enough water." I shouted back.

"Where is your crowbar, Commander?" shouted Bettina Wurtzburg. That was a damn good question, I thought.

"Captain Ross is the real Iron Crowbar today, but don't tell anyone; it's her secret identity." I shouted back. A blue crowbar was waved in my general direction by the aforementioned platinum blonde.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As I got out of the car at the Mountain Nest, I was greeted by a lovely sight. My mother Phyllis came out to greet us... alive, well, and looking healthy and radiant. I gave her a warm hug and she helped me inside.

"First, some soup." my mother said as I sat at the breakfast table. The soup was a medicinal chicken and herb dish, and it was delicious. I felt very much better as I finished off the bowl.

"Okay, I'll be going now." said my mother a half hour later. "Don, Molly and I are keeping the kids and the dogs, and of course we'll have Cindy, Teresa, and Todd looking in on us. Meanwhile, you get some rest son. Mother's orders."

"And doctor's orders, too." Laura said. She escorted Phyllis to the door as I went into the den. The bed inside the sofa on the far wall had been pulled out and made up so that I could sleep in it without having to climb the stairs. I changed into pajamas and laid down. Laura came and cuddled beside me.

"I saw the news report that Casey Walker had died." I said. "Tragic accident."

"Not tragic to me." Laura said with asperity. "So, first, I need you to tell me everything you can remember during your ordeal." I told Laura the story as best I could remember it, leaving virtually nothing out... except the actual passwords themselves. That was my and P. Harvey Eckhart's secret.

"So," Laura said, "they induced you to believe Todd, Chief Griswold and Cindy were dead, and that you had no children. They killed off your parents in your 'dream state'. I didn't exist at first, and you were married to Melina, who cheated on you with Jack Burke and then left you. They were taking away all the people and things you loved and could cling to, then inducing you to feel emotional pain, to demoralize you."

"I guess that's why they had Jack and Martin be bad guys, too." I said. "You know, I first started realizing something wasn't right when I saw a man at The Asylum that I'd never seen before. You once told me that we cannot dream of people that we don't know or haven't met or seen, that our brains can't make up anyone out of nothing. This guy was older, distinguished, big forehead, glasses, tall. Does that ring a bell?"

"No." said Laura. "You're right about people in dreams... so maybe he was really standing there, and you were aware of him?"

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking." I said. "So they kept asking me about jump drives, and classified information, and trying to make me admit I was a traitor... which I am not."

"Yes." Laura said. "What happened is that Dr. Casey Walker began 'Operation BEEKEEPER' to investigate you. He thought you'd passed classified information to Priya Ajmani, and blamed Sharples for it. He then further thought you were a criminal, maybe even the Consultant, when he thought you knew too much and were solving too many crimes too quickly. He's not the only one that has ever thought that, I might add."

"Your old mother, 'Diana', thinks that, too." I said.

"She once did." Laura said. "Then you called her by her name and rocked her world, in the non-sexual sense. Anyway, Walker got Bond and Staffeld to go after you, and for Walker and Bond it got really personal, especially after you pushed back against Bond on the questioning. Then I stepped in, and that made them angry at me as well as you, and even more determined to 'prove' you were a traitor."

Laura went on: "They tried to force you to confess by those 'enhanced interrogation' techniques, but you never would confess. That convinced some of my superiors at the very highest levels that you're loyal. Walker pretty much went insane, and went way over the line in his treatment of you; ergo, after we interrogated him, my authorization to terminate him with extreme prejudice was approved... and again, at the very highest levels."

I nodded. "I guess those methods aren't all that effective." I said. Laura looked at me funny.

"Don, you have no idea." Laura said. "Those are some of the most devastatingly effective techniques we have. And some of the most brutal and least-used. We rarely have to go that far; enemies usually break long before that. Even some of our most hardened Islamist enemies broke from things like waterboarding, which pales in comparison to what they put you through."

"I guess that's because I was innocent? And not unwilling to die... and that because they went too far in taking my life away, giving me nothing to live for, to hope for."

"That may well be the case." Laura replied. "Especially the latter part. You'd just all but tried to commit seppuku on that helicopter, and your mind is such that you refused to submit, preferring death to the dishonor of treason."

I nodded, contemplating it all. And I decided it was too much to process at the moment. "Okay." I said. "Well, I guess on Tuesday I'll start helping the FBI with the Westboro Syndicate again. How are they doing with that?"

"Oh hell, they stopped the minute you were reported missing." Laura said. "Poor Jack Muscone has been beside himself, and now has a reputation for grinding agents into the ground relentlessly looking for you. His boss, the Deputy Director, was working with me looking for you, as well."

"How did y'all find me?" I asked.

Laura replied, "You saw that plane come into the airport just before you blanked out?" I nodded and Laura said "That plane was Walker's, and they used it to fly you to the City. We traced it quickly enough, but we didn't know where you were. I didn't even know about that secret CIA facility west of the City; I only knew of the one near the Railyards, and you weren't there. But we were monitoring the City area, so when your alarm went off, we were almost right on top of you."

"And Admiral Cordell helped you?" I said. "You asked him? or he asked you?"

"No." Laura said. "I think Teresa told him about you being missing, or maybe it was Myron and Mary. Cordell was one pissed off man, too. Then Todd and his friend Teddy showed up and insisted upon helping look for you. It was easier for me to just let them than waste time arguing. And when your transmitter went off, Cordell and Todd were all over it like white on rice."

My brain did process that, and rather quickly. There was only one question left... where the hell was my original red crowbar, that had been on the helicopter with me and Westboro?

"There is one other thing, Darling." Laura said. "The processes and the drugs that were used on you... have never been used on anyone we intended to keep alive." As I looked at my wife in shock, she nodded and said "Yes, every person who has ever been subjected to what you endured... did not survive. You are the only one who managed to live through it."

"As such," Laura said, "I'm going to be studying you, and watching over you. Others will be watching over you, as well, including Cindy and your Chief. Please don't take their heads off if they seem overly concerned about you or watchful over you. The truth is that you should be put on Restricted Duty for a long time, even months, but you'll never go for that."

"So it's unofficial," she admonished, "but we have no idea how you're going to react to things going forward. So take it easy, let me know of any physical, mental, or emotional strange feelings you have... besides when looking at my legs like you are now... and don't try to hide anything, especially if it might endanger the lives of anyone on your Police Force."

I was stunned at what I was hearing, but I agreed with Laura's 'requests'... knowing they were not just the TCPD Psychiatrist's 'requests'.

Part 18 - Day of Freedom

Monday, July 4th. Though I was recovering well, I was still tired. So I was given a wheelchair to toodle around in. That morning, instead of going to the Start Line for the Triathlon, I went to Police Headquarters. I had to shake a lot of hands of Officers welcoming me back. Well, I didn't have to; I wanted to.

"Oooooh, nice ride." said the ever-perky Tanya Perlman, driving down the hall to greet me. "Wheelchair races, anyone?"

"I'll take a raincheck." I said. "How are you doing?"

"Good." Tanya said. "They're going to be finished with the new State Crime Lab building soon. I'll give you a tour. By the way, you have a visitor in your office." I wheeled down the hallway.

Inside my office was Jack Muscone. When he saw me, his beady eyes became a little wide, and his handshake with me was a bit firm.

"Hi Jack." I said. "Someone tried to beat you to the witch trial."

"Thank God they failed." said Muscone. "I think you heard what Captain Ross did to those guys who were beating you down in the hallway. My only regret is that I did not get to do that to them myself." I wheeled around behind my desk as Jack sat in a 'hot seat' and told me that on Tuesday we could start nabbing more Westboro people. All I had to do was sit in a chair or in bed and correlate the data.

"You'd better have a damn good reason for being in this office instead of at home resting." I heard a voice say. It belonged to the Town & County Sheriff, Daniel Allgood. He came into the office, followed by Chief Moynahan. I made a point to shake hands with both of them before answering.

"Sheriff, I am at home." I said. "This office is home."

"Heh heh heh heh." chuckled Moynahan. "Sheriff, you will never be able to con-tain the Iron Crowbar. At least here in his office, I can make him sit quietly instead of chasing after bad CIA Agents."

"Uh huh." said the Sheriff skeptically. "Seriously, Don, Melina and I are very happy you're okay. Having said that, I really don't want you overdoing it until you've recovered." The mention of Melina's name triggered my memory of the induced dreams in my head. If I wasn't careful, I'd begin wondering what was the dream, and what was reality...

"May we join this party?" asked a happy voice, belonging to the ever-irreverent Mary Mahoney Milton, as she and Myron came to the door.

"By all means, please!" I said.

"Don," said Muscone, "these two people have been a godsend to us in tracking down Westboro. Please tell me what it will take to hire them away from you."

"Not even burning me at the stake will work." I said. I would later thank Myron and Mary, and tell them to thank Myron's father profusely for that signal device that had fortunately worked to perfection... and saved my life.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"And here he comes," said the radio announcer as I listened in on my earpiece. "Todd Burke is in clear first, with the Bradley Rangers simply unable to keep up with Burke and his partner Teddy Franklin today. The real race is for third place, with the Army ROTC team holding off the Coltrane County Fire Department team..."

I was at The Fairgrounds, near the finish line, sitting in the wheelchair. I was wearing my light blue shirt with my badge embroidered over the heart, khaki pants, and my khaki Tilley Hat. I had my (current) red crowbar, as well. Technically, this was a uniform, so I had my gunbelt on... I had not yet been put on restricted duty.

With me were Laura, Molly, Cindy, Teresa, Joanne and Seth, Barry Oliver, Myron and Mary Milton, Tanya Perlman and Jack Muscone, Martin Nash and Sandra Speer. A large number of people had greeted me today, everyone from the Mayor, Congressman Condor, and Councilman John Colby, to little Susie Haskins, Davie Marsdon and Timmy Austin. I took selfies with the kids.

"Davie, Timmy," I said to the boys, "you did a great job telling Sergeant Rudistan about your secret passage under First Baptist Church. Because of you, a lot of lives were saved."

"That's because of you, Mr. Crowbar, and Captain Ross." said Davie. "We just showed them the secret panel."

"You did your part." I said. "And I suspect good things are coming your way for that." Yes, I did have plans...

"Mr. Crowbar," said Timmy, "can we get a tour of Police Headquarters?"

"Why, I think that can be arranged." I said. "Maybe on August 1st, how about that?" The boys were very excited.

"Sir," Teresa said quietly, her right arm and shoulder immobilized, "August 1st is Promotions & Medals Day. It'll be a really busy time..." I just smiled enigmatically at my Vice Lieutenant.

"Yes, it will be." I said. "And trust me, it'll be the perfect time for the boys to come through and see us..."

I then studied Teresa. "Tell me, Lt. Croyle, how you happen to be able to still be on active duty?"

"She qualified with a gun left-handed." said Cindy Ross, overhearing us. "Only the second person ever to be qualified with both hands with a gun. Hmmm, wonder who the first person was..." That first person to do that was Your Iron Crowbar.

Just then, Todd Burke crossed the finish line, in first place. Teresa was not beaten going over to him for congratulations, followed by his BOW Enterprises people and Cindy. Meanwhile, Tanya was peering at me, her cheeks rosy and her eyes twinkling.

"You've got something planned for those boys." Tanya said.

"Oh, I've got a lot planned... a lot." I said, smiling. "And I'm going to need your help on some of it, too."

Part 19 - Soul of the Iron Crowbar

For the next several weeks, I basically sat at my desk. I'd re-qualified with my gun, both left-handed and right-handed. Lt. Teresa Croyle was at Police Academy Advanced Course, and Detective Joanne Warner was at Detective School. They'd be back by August 1st.

Fortunately, it was a very quiet month. I spent most of my time either with the FBI or with Myron and Mary, putting together the threads that wove into a tapestry of successful prosecutions of dozens, even hundreds of Raymond Westboro Syndicate members.

I also spent time putting Officers in for awards, writing up recommendations at every level. Cindy wrote up one that made me smile when I approved it. And some of my nominations caused Boards of Inquiry to be convened... I'd put both Cindy and Teresa in for the Medal of Valor.

It was a busy time, but fortunately not a physically demanding one, and I'd fully physical recovered from my ordeal, and was even beginning some swimming and Aikido training. But my back still hurt, sometimes badly. That was a problem.

And that led to Friday, July 22d. My nephew Todd came to get me before dawn. I hugged and kissed Laura goodbye, and I noticed Todd sneak a kiss from Laura while I hugged my mom. Todd then drove me to County Airport, where we boarded a plane. It took off, then headed northwest.

We landed at Seattle, then boarded a bigger plane. It looked like a typical Japan Air Lines jet, but once I was aboard I was surprised to see it was not typical of airline seating. It was composed of compartments.

"Ah, Donald-san." said Takaki Misaki as I was invited into a back compartment after we took off. "I am honored to have you with us on our flight."

"I am honored to be here with you." I said. After Todd and I were invited to sit down, we were served saké by Todd's assistant Mariko, who was actually the daughter of Misaki-sama.

After talking with them for a good while about how I defeated Westboro, we all went to our assigned beds to get some sleep. I woke up just before we landed. Our destination was Tokyo, Japan.

I had my passport, but did not need it. Special buses met our plane, and whisked us out of the airport and onto the road that led south and west of Tokyo, towards Odawara and Atami, with Mount Fuji-san in the west.

I was taken into a complex of buildings that had once been an ancient castle. As it grew dark, I was given proper clothes to wear: a red kimono with black patterns across it, a sash belt, leggings, socks and slippers. The ancient costumery was kind of cool.

Todd was dressed similarly, but his kimono was all black. Takaki Misaki met us and led us into an audience chamber. I was totally stunned at whose presence I was in... the Emperor of Japan himself.

We all bowed formally and he bowed back. He congratulated me on my successes against Westboro, but also against the rogue Corrigan Cell, the Casey Walker Cell, and the fight against Superior Bloodlines. There must be something bigger than I originally realized, I thought to myself.

After our meeting with the Exalted, I was then led to a small room. It opened into a large outdoor courtyard. I was invited to sit down and watch a short video. And I found out where my red crowbar had gone.

"We took the liberty of taking your crowbar, Donald-san." said Misaki. "As you can see, it has been transformed." That was an understatement. I watched as a disciple of Yoshindo Yoshihara, Japan's preeminent swordsmith, melted down my crowbar, along with other metal from the helicopter, from First Baptist Church, and from raw iron ore. Over time, which was several weeks, the metal was forged into two swords... one of them being a katana.

As I had watched, Misaki had left me and Todd. Now, as a large drum beat steadily my nephew escorted me into the Courtyard. There were several dozen people, all in black, some masked, a few not. I went through the rows of men to the rhythm of the drum to the dias in front, where Takaki Misaki awaited me. He was now in a formal kimono uniform with a large overmantle, as he'd worn in the field at Cemetery Hill during the Tea Ceremony back home.

Behind him, I noticed that someone was in a chamber, shrouded by curtains. And I realize that it was likely the Emperor or a family member in there, thus giving the seal and mandate of the Chrysanthemum Throne to this ceremony.

Misaki-sama opened the ceremony by saying something in Japanese, and the assembled gathering shouted as one in reply. He then said "Donald-san, the Iron Crowbar, your virtue and service are beyond reproach. To whom do you swear loyalty?"

"To the United States Constitution." I replied with alacrity. That apparently was a good answer. An old man, a scribe, imprinted words on five pieces of rice paper with hiragana script. Mariko came up, her hands in latex gloves that contrasted with her lovely peach kimono, and used a device not unlike a diabetes-tester to prick my finger. She pressed my finger to the five pieces of rice paper, my blood smearing them.