Little Red Haired Girl Ch. 03

"If they don't pass a Budget, sir," I said, "we won't have anything going on at all. There will be no money for just about any Government functions, including this Police Force."

"We-ellll," said Cindy Ross, "we'll still be able to pay salaries and the basic bills. But there will be virtually no training, and definitely a minimum of firing of ammunition. A lot of that comes from State funding."

"I was referrrr-ing to the CFPA lawsuit." said the Chief. "But maybe if you win, Commander Troy, they'll stop badgering us with frivolous law-soots." I nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Speaking of the Budget battle," said Tanya, "Is Keller right, or is he blowing smoke up our you-know-wheres?" She was looking at the Sheriff, who like any good Klingon Warrior did not allow his face to show a thing.

"He's blowing smoke." said Teresa. "Todd's lobbyists said the Budget has been written, and it's basically the same as the last passed one, with some baseline budgeting increases, and the changes to the SBI."

"You have a better source than I do, Crowbar." growled the Sheriff, looking affectionately at Teresa.

"And she's better looking, too." I replied. "And from what I'm hearing, Cerone and Molinari are going to handle the State Senate, which means it's a 'done deal' to pass there; and Speaker Jacobson, Elijah McKinney, Billy Williams, and Peter Long Cox think they'll get enough of the State House to abandon Wilson Hammonds that they'll get it through the State House."

"And it will have enough to get Governor Jared to sign it." Cindy said. When we all looked at her, she said "What? I've got sources, too."

"And you're source's initials are '(P)riya (A)jmani'." I replied. A green crowbar was waved in my general direction as Cindy smiled.

"Well, my source is a Federal one." Tanya said. "And he thinks it won't matter if they reconstitute the NTF under another name. The U.S. DEA isn't going to have much to do with them unless and until they demonstrate some integrity and competence."

"They don't ask much, do they?" Teresa scoffed.

"What do you think of a new SBI-IDE, Crowbar?" asked the Sheriff. Everyone looked at him with wide eyes, seeing that he'd just revealed the name of the new unit-to-be.

"Theory and practice, Sheriff." I said. "There's the theory of what people think it will be, and then there's the practice of what it will become. Kind of like the Vice President of the United States."

"What do you mean?" asked Tanya.

"I've always believed that when they wrote the Constitution, our Founding Fathers meant for the Vice President to be a semi-legislative position; the Vice President would be to the U.S. Senate what the Speaker is to the U.S. House. But in practice, things quickly evolved very differently. Verrrry differently..."

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

The Barkers took Frieda to her parents's joint funeral, which was held in the Chapel of the Frank Freeman Funeral Home, with Chaplains Romano and Calvin presiding. Some of Mr. Franklin's co-workers came, and Mrs. Myrtle L. James led a delegation from the Ladies Auxiliary, but it was not particularly well-attended.

Captain Teresa Croyle's plan for quiet, unobtrusive surveillance of Frieda by the TCPD was an excellent one. Unless one was looking for them, one would never notice that extra Patrol cruiser patrolling in the Barker's subdivision, and one would not realize those two extra Officers at Frieda's school were monitoring on her behalf when she returned to school. One might not notice that unmarked car with two plainclothes Officers seeming to be around where Frieda was.

"You are almost as good at unobserved surveillance as my mother." I told Teresa when we got back from the funeral.

"Who do you think taught me all this?" Teresa replied, making me chuckle.

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

3:00pm, Monday, February 25th. A meeting was convened in Classroom 'E'. Present were me, Commander Ross, Captains Croyle and Perlman, Detectives Rodriguez and Warner, CSI Mark Walker, and State Crime Labs Director J.R. Barnes.

"We did a much closer examination of the cars in the Bypass crash." said Barnes. "The engine and steering of the car that crashed into the Franklin's car had electronic controls, and there was a circuit box controlling them. Unfortunately, that box was badly damaged in the fire. I suspect something flammable or even a mild explosive was attached to that box, to make sure it burned up."

"So it was guided into the Franklin's car?" I asked.

"Yes sir." said Mark Walker. "But here's the rub on this one: there was a homing device attached to the Franklin's car, which guided the other car to run into it. It was an emitter, and was not destroyed in the crash, which enabled us to activate it and therefore find it in the mangled metal of the Franklin's car. It was placed to the left of center, which is fortunate for Frieda: if it had been put more in the middle or to the right, the other car would've hit the Franklin's car more in the middle, and that impact might've been worse."

"I'm impressed. How'd you know to try to activate the emitter?" I asked.

"Oh, that was Captain Perlman, sir." said Barnes. "She suggested it."

"I haven't forgotten Takaki Taichi-sama, sir." said Tanya, referring to his great seppuku that wiped out some of the Corrigan Cell. (Author's note: 'Seriously Inconvenienced', Ch. 05.) I nodded in very complete understanding, as did Teresa.

"The homing device used was similar to the one used in that case." said Mark Walker. "It's the electronics in the other car that interested me. I asked Barry Oliver to come over and take a look. The fire damaged the circuitry, but we were able to get some information out of it. It's a MegaTech Industries design."

"Big Boy Elitists at work." I said. "Consider me 'not surprised'."

"What scares me is that someone was able to get to the Franklin's car and put the homing device on it." Cindy said. "Frieda is in real danger if her family was being watched that closely."

"Worse than that." I said. "Can anyone tell me why?"

No one spoke for a moment, then Tanya said "Oh. The gas leak."

"Right you are." I said. "The road had to be cut off to force the Franklins onto the Bypass, where the other car was waiting to smash into them. And the homing device had to be on the car before that. That's planning, coordination, and execution of a frighteningly good level of detail. Almost to the level of a Consultant of Crime, I would say."

"And confirms the point that Frieda is still in very real danger." Cindy said.

"Okay," I said, "anything on the driver of the car that crashed into the Franklins?"

"Yes sir." said Tanya Perlman. "The FBI finally identified him through their facial recognition software. His name was Ted Johnson. He earned two Bronze Stars and four Purple Hearts with the Army in Afghanistan, but came down with acute PTSD. He was under psychiatric care at a V.A. hospital for six years, then finally was released and was in the care of a charitable group that helps soldiers with those kind of things. He was doing odd jobs, working at grocery stores or Target stores, that kind of thing. He disappeared from the V.A.'s radar about ten months ago, but he had no arrests or anything until the car crash the other night."

Tanya continued: "I'll go ahead and give you the autopsy information, as it relates to this. Martha the M.E. found drugs in his system, the kind of drugs that gets soldiers really amped up. ISIS troops in the Middle East would take the drugs when going into battle, and it's funny you just mentioned the Consultant of Crime, because his people used those kinds of drugs. The guys that attacked the nuclear power plant... and the guys that attacked me and Pamela and Pete that day... were amped up on those drugs." (Author's note: 'Eyes Only', Ch. 4; 'Six Degrees', Ch. 01-02.)

I nodded. "I see." I said simply.

"So is this a Consultant-related group? Or a Superior-Bloodlines-related group?" Teresa Croyle asked.

"I know that we in here know about the Consultant's methods, since Don went after him and took him down." Cindy said. "But he didn't get along all that well with the Superior Bloodlines people. So that begs the question: who knew the Consultant's methods well enough to be using them here and now?" I looked over at her.

"Tomoko Shimono." I replied.

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

After the meeting, I contacted the Army about the death of Ted Johnson. They said they would take care of family notifications as well as funeral arrangements. Whatever had happened on the Bypass, he would get the final sendoff befitting that of an American military hero.

Part 21 - The Warning

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Tuesday, February 26th. "Despite a bipartisan effort to prevent discrimination against undocumented workers, the State House is moving a Budget bill through the Ways & Means Committee that includes significant Immigration legislation desired by deeply unpopular Governor Val Jared!"

Bettina began: "Channel Two News has learned that the Budget bill includes money for a new SBI structure that dismantles the old Narcotics Task Force and replaces it with a new entity that will be responsible for State drug enforcement, but also will be tasked at finding and arresting undocumented workers and turning them over to Federal authorities."

"Additionally," Bettina continued, "legislation is embedded in the bill that will force employers in this State to prove they used the eVerify program to determine the status of any employee they hire, with severe penalties for companies, their CEOs, and their Boards of Directors if anyone is illegally hired by the company."

Bettina went on: "Last year, Republican Representative Wilson Hammonds of Pottsville was Chairman of the State House Ways & Means Committee. This year, he is a helpless bystander as the Budget bill is rammed through the Legislature despite his efforts to create a bipartisan coalition to deny Governor Jared a victory of any kind. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, showing Wilson Hammonds looking haggard and dejected as he said "We will never stop fighting to stop Governor Jared's racist policies against undocumented workers. Supporting hardworking undocumented immigrants in our State is an act of love."

Back to Bettina live: "And the new weather station on the bluffs above Point Hollow is expected to go into operation next week. This week, elementary schoolchildren will get tours of the facility as well as the nature walk built by the local Boy Scout troop as part of an Eagle Scout project..."

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

"Now why in the heck do we need a weather station up there?" asked Teresa Croyle. "They've already got a weather station at County Airport, and also at the University Observatory on the other side of the mountain."

The Command Group, Captains Croyle and Perlman, and the Sheriff were in the Chief's Conference Room as usual, drinking well-made coffee and watching the broadcast.

"Harrumph." I said, a bit sourly. "That's an easy deduction to make."

Tanya grinned as she said "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but it's not just a weather center. It's a Federal communications center, which can transmit and receive radio signals better than the Federal Building downtown can."

"It's right on the bluffs overlooking Point Hollow, too." I said. "Dr. Mickelson of the University convinced them to let him monitor for radiation and signal sources from within Point Hollow from that facility. And the DEA can monitor for any drug trafficking, should they so desire."

"Can this new Federal Communications facility monitor all of the Town & County's communications?" Teresa asked.

"That is 'Iron Crowbar' thinking, there, young lady." growled Sheriff Griswold, his mustaches twitching. Everyone chuckled, though tepidly as the Sheriff continued: "The answer is: yes, they can. Any and every radio signal generated."

We all became quiet. Knowing that this facility could be used by the Federal Government to monitor Citizens was a chilling thought.

"I just wished Bettina had kept her mouth shut about the schoolchildren taking the tour of the place." said Tanya, breaking the silence. "Frieda Franklin is going to be one of those kids, and it's hard enough trying to protect her as it is."

"That's true." Teresa said. "She's relatively safe at school and at her home, where we're watching. But on things like these school field trips, it's more difficult. I wanted to have a plainclothes Police Officer posing as a teacher be with the group, but the school refused to let us do it."

"Why?" asked the Chief.

"The principal asked if the undercover Officer would be armed," Teresa said, "and I said of course he would be; he's there to protect a student in danger. The principal then said that not only was his school a 'gun-free' zone, but the field trip would be, also. And he considered the gun to be more dangerous to the students than a killer trying to murder one of them."

"Aren't Police exempt from those school gun-free-zone laws?" Cindy asked.

"Only if the Police Officer is in uniform, with his or her badge on constant display," I replied, "and he or she has to check in with the school office."

Teresa added: "And the principal said he didn't want the students to feel threatened by the presence of someone in what he called 'combat uniforms'. He said that school functions should be a 'safe space' for the children, so he summarily denied us being part of the school group. And he was less than friendly in the tone of his voice, as well."

"I am getting more than a little tired of this 'political correctness' bullshit." growled the Sheriff, and he was really growling this time. "We're trying to protect a little girl's life, here."

"And we will, Sheriff." Teresa said. "In spite of the obstacles, political or otherwise."

"That's 'Iron Crowbar' talk, there, young lady." I said, to Teresa. There were chuckles at my play on the Sheriff's earlier words as everyone nodded vigorously in agreement.

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

4:00pm, Tuesday, February 26th. Mrs. Barker was at home alone, beginning preparations for supper. Barky was curled up in the corner, supervising with his eyes closed.

She thought she saw a shadow at the window. As she looked out, Barky poked his head up. A second later, he began growling.

Mrs. Barker had been told what to do by the Police, and she did it. She ran for the front door as she heard the *WHAM!* of someone trying to kick in the back door. She ran out of the house and into the front yard, screaming as the back door splintered and flew open, unable to resist the power of the vicious kicks delivered to it.

Barky began barking and growling at the intruder who came in, and then he attacked, nipping at the perp's legs. The perp drew his foot back and then kicked Barky has hard as he could. The pup flew through the air, howling, then yipped in pain as he landed hard. He tried to get up, but his quivering back legs didn't support him.

The perp had little time, he knew. He ran though the house, finding it empty. In the bathroom of the master suite, he grabbed some of Mrs. Barker's lipstick and began writing on the mirror...

As he left, he gave Barky another vicious kick to his back legs. The dog again yelped in pain, even as he tried to turn and attack his attacker. He collapsed again as the perp left through the damaged back door...

To be continued.