Robin Hood -
a F/X-the series fanfic:
(Disclaimer: I gain no money from this story, and all characters and the show itself is not my property but that of Rysher Entertainment)
Part 1:
Angie was screaming. A horrible, blood-curdling scream as if death itself had come to take her. Rollie was running toward that sound. But he could not reach her. Time moved in slow motion, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't reach Angie. Someone was hurting her, he had to save her. Suddenly the darkness ahead flashed and in a soft circle of light he saw a man standing over Angie, pummeling her. She was screaming Rollie's name. Rollie yelled for the man to stop, but he wouldn't. He finally reached them and spun the man around, fist ready to strike. Then he froze. His own face stared back at him. Then his mirror image began to laugh at him. A slow, cackling laugh, and he stared down at Angie on the floor.
"Why weren't you there, Rollie?" she asked, "Why didn't you save me?"
Rollie wanted to reply, but could think of nothing to say. Anger welled up inside of him and he struck out at his mirror image but his hand went right through it as if it was air. The laughter was all around him now, and the screams. Angie below him asking why he didn't save her, Mira and Frank and Sarah, their images all floating around him in the darkness. They were all asking him as well.
"Why?" they said, "Why weren't you there? Why didn't you spare us?"
"I tried!" Rollie screamed, "I tried!"
But the screams, and the questions and the laughing continued. Rollie reached down to help Angie to her feet, but her image shifted, morphed into another, a gravestone. On it was her name. Rollie's heart quickened and he stared around him. He was in a graveyard, in a circle around him were the gravestones of all his friends. Angie, Frank, Sarah, Mira, Mangela, Dingo, Leo. Everyone that had ever meant anything to him in his life. The laughing continued, and Rollie looked up to see a man clad in dark black trenchcoat laughing. He had a black mask over his face.
"Who are you?" Rollie screamed.
The man pulled off the mask, and Rollie gasped seeing Manny Ramirez.
"You have failed me, Rollie," he said, "you let my daughter die. And so now you must die as well."
Manny slowly raised his hand, in it was a gun. He pulled the trigger............
Rollie woke up with a jolt. He sat straight up, sweat pouring off his face and body. It took a few moments for his mind to clear from the haze of the dream, and to realize where he was. He looked over at his digital clock, it was 3 o'clock in the morning. Rollie wiped his forehead with his hand, and slowly got up to head to the bathroom.
He had been having the dream every night for a week. Every night since the whole Loubar business had ended. Loubar was still in the hospital, recovering, if you could call it that. His mind and body were still a wreck, and the doctors believed he would have to be institutionalized. Rollie still couldn't help but have thoughts of sneaking into the hospital room, plunging a hypodermic needle filled with toxin into his IV bag. But he couldn't. He knew that.
A lot had happened in the week since then. Angie was still staying with Mira, but had recently found a new apartment. She had no things to move in with, everything had been destroyed in the bomb blast, so she would have to start buying new ones. Rollie would help. After all, in a way, it was his fault.
That was the thing that had been haunting Rollie. If he had not been so intent on catching Loubar, helping Elena, righting the wrongs, none of this would have happened. By making himself a target, he made his friends a target. He couldn't allow them to suffer for his mistakes. He had let Loubar escape before, and he hurt Angie in a way Rollie would never truly understand. He let him escape again only to kidnap and nearly kill all of his best friends more than once. Frank was still recovering from his bout with amnesia, it was only Sarah's patience and loving care that allowed him to be doing as well as he was.
Mira had not come around as much in the past week. Being around Angie so much, who knew what they had talked about. Rollie did notice that Mira was being protective of her though. As for Angie, they had patched things up. However they still were unsure about their true feelings. What were they to eachother? Friends, partners, siblings? Or something more? Rollie didn't know. But he did know he had failed in a promise. He had promised Manny he would protect his little girl, and he hadn't done that. That was perhaps the thing that was causing Rollie the greatest heartache.
Rollie stared at himself in the mirror. He had broken one vow. Now he would make another.
"I will protect," Rollie vowed, "I will protect everyone that I can."
Rollie splashed water over his face. Now he knew. He would make right on his mistakes. No one, not his friends, not Angie, not anyone in this city would suffer if he could help them. He had spent his time having fun before, helping yes, but it was still fun, now that time was over. It was time for a change.
* * *
"The Chinese government wanted to thank Rollie," Mira said, "but he wouldn't hear of it, as usual."
"That's Rollie," Angie said with a smile.
It was early morning and Angie and Mira were getting ready for the day ahead. Angie was reporting to the loft today, they had another job in the works. Some sci-fi movie with a lot of special effects. Rollie hadn't given her all the details yet. Back to business as usual. Angie shook her head, if only that were true. Nothing would be 'usual' anymore.
"So all of the conspirators were apprehended?" Angie asked.
"Almost," Mira said, "almost. Everyone here was except for one man, we believe. He escaped back to China before we realized he was involved. No doubt to let his leader know everything that happened."
"Leader?" Angie asked.
"Yeah," Mira said, "see this group which organized this is stationed of course, in China. The leader never left. We're still getting information, but it's very difficult. No one talks out of fear for their life, instead we found a windfall in one of the conspirators apartments, computer records. It's classified, though, the FBI took over."
"Mira," Angie said hesitantly, "these guys aren't the kind to come back for revenge, are they?"
Mira smiled.
"I don't think so, Angie," she said, "they'll have plenty to worry over with the authorities after them. I don't think they'll be trying to track anyone down."
Angie nodded. They had already gone through so much with Loubar and the near assassination of the President.
"The American government also wanted to thank Rollie," Mira said, "in fact the President himself sent a letter of thanks. Once again, Rollie wanted to avoid publicity. You'd think a man in business for himself would want a free plug or two."
"I don't think we need more business right now," Angie said.
Mira nodded, it had, after all, really only been a week since all that had ended. Everyone was still very much feeling the effects. They needed down time. Running for your life, saving others, and chasing down a killer wasn't exactly stress reducing.
"How has Rollie been?" Mira asked.
"I've been talking to him," Angie said, "we've agreed to take things slowly, we're really not sure how we feel. I'm not anymore. Sometimes Rollie was like a brother, sometimes I wished he were more. But I don't really know. I had a crush on him when I was a little girl, you know, I think that old fantasies came rushing back when Loubar-"
Angie cut off. But Mira understood.
"It's all right, Ang," Mira said, "you've just got to concentrate on you and the real Rollie Tyler now."
Angie smiled at Mira.
"Amen to that," she said, "he's enough trouble as it is."
"You're telling me?" Mira said with a sly grin.
They both laughed. It felt good. Angie hadn't laughed in a long while. Maybe she could go back to her old self. Maybe she could put Loubar and the past behind her. She only hoped Rollie could as well.
* * *
Angie walked into the loft. Rollie had just hung up the phone. He turned and smiled at her.
"Morning, Ang," he said, his accent a little heavier then usual.
Angie knew that, from years of knowing him, as a sign that he was tired. Really tired. In fact, upon closer inspection Angie noticed dark bags under Rollie's eyes. He hadn't been sleeping.
"Morning," Angie said simply, walking up to him, "what's up?"
"We've got a meeting with the producer of 'Shadow Wars', tomorrow," he said, "it's a new sci-fi, space action flic. Gonna be a real test of our abilites. Which is why I wanted to get working on this now."
Rollie gestured to the new computer systems that had been installed. The old ones had been ruined by the grenade blast Frank had fired when Loubar had had control of him. The new systems were up to date, faster, better interface, much more sophisticated 3-d mapping technology. Rollie had also reworked the PDA's to incorporate them into the new system. The possibilities with these things were endless.
"Good thing I had an insurance policy," Rollie said with a smile, "though I'd have loved to seen the face of the agent who read my report."
Angie smiled.
"Yeah," she said, "destroyed by grenade launcher. That'll go in the record books."
Angie sat at the terminal, and began cycling through the system doing normal diagnostics. She was quick and efficient as usual.
"Looks good, Rol," she said, "I'm gonna love playing with these."
"You'll get the chance, I assure you," Rollie said, "wait'll you see what these guys have planned for 'Shadow Wars.'"
"Can't wait," Angie said, "I only hope-"
Angie's words were cut off by a pounding at the door. Both Rollie and Angie jumped, still jittery from their past experiences. Rollie ran to the door, then cautiously opened it. A figure in a dirty tan trenchcoat was hunched over in front of the door. It looked up at him and Rollie gasped. The figures face was bruised and bloody. The man's curly grey hair uncombed and full of dirt. But Rollie recognized the face.
"Joe!" Rollie said in shock.
"That's me," Joe Crictor said, trying to smile but grimacing instead.
Joe slumped a little more, holding his side in pain. Rollie put Joe's arm around his shoulder and led him into the loft.
"Rollie?" Angie said.
"This is Joe Crictor," Rollie said, "he saved me when I was on the run from the police."
Joe had found Rollie huddled in an alleyway after he thought Angie had died. He had helped him, and saved him from being caught by the police. Joe was also homeless, Rollie had been keeping an eye out for him but hadn't found him, instead, it seemed, Joe found him.
"Joe what happened?" Rollie asked, "We've got to get you to a hospital!"
"No," Joe said in a cracked voice, "no hospitals. I'm, I'm sorry for doing this, but I have nowhere else to turn for help."
"Of course," Rollie said, "anything. But first, what happened?"
"It's a long story," Joe said, "but the main thing is that someone's out to get the homeless in this city. Something bad is happening, something real bad."
"I'll get the first aid kit, then call Mira," Angie said.
"Who's that?" Joe asked.
"A detective friend of ours," Rollie said, "you can trust her."
"I can't be seen talking to the police," Joe said, "I can't. They'll kill me."
"Who?" Rollie asked, "who will kill you?"
Joe, however, grimaced in pain and with a slight grunt grabbed his side again. Rollie helped him into a chair, setting him down gently. Rollie didn't know what was going on, but he knew this time, he was keeping his vow.
Julio Valesquez sat impatiently in his lavishly furnished office on the first floor of his mansion. His posture was relaxed and easy, however the thrumming of his fingers against the arm of his leather chair betrayed his true emotions. Finally his head of security came to the door.
"We have them, jefe," he said.
"It's about time, Ricardo," Julio said to the large and imposing Ricardo Pomalez, "where did you find them?"
"In that warehouse, of course," Ricardo said, "they tried to protect them, but in the end the realized it was, not worth the trouble."
Julio smiled a knowing smile.
"I take it you made an example out of one," he said.
"Si, jefe," Ricardo replied, "one in particular who was rather, difficult. I do not believe he will be so difficult next time."
"Good," Julio said, "now bring them in."
Ricardo nodded and called to the two guards around the corner. They dragged two men into the office with them and threw them into the seats in front of the desk. One man was pale and dark-haired, the other blond. They both wore old, dirty clothes which seemed to have been compiled from a combination of every style there was.
"Bienvenido," Julio said, "welcome, I trust your ride here was comfortable?"
Neither man said anything, the blond man stared at his feet while the dark haired one eyed Julio with fury.
"Silent," Julio said, "that's funny. Seeing as how you didn't plan to be so silent before. In fact I believe you were going to go to the police."
The blond man looked up, fear in his eyes.
"No!" he said, "No, never! We just wanted out, was all. We weren't going to go the police, and we won't not, either."
"Shut up, Robert," the dark haired man said, "they brought us to see the boss. Now we know his face. We're already dead."
"No!" Robert said, "No, you won't kill us will you? We won't say anything. We'll go back to work!"
Julio shook his head with mock sadness.
"I am sorry," he said, "but you have already proven you are not trustworthy. I cannot have men like you working for me, and I cannot have you going off to the police. However, I always make it a practice of looking the men whose death I command in the eye."
Julio leaned forward over the desk and stared at each one of them.
"It is honorable," he said.
"There's nothing honorable about you," the dark haired man said.
"Sam!" Robert said, "Don't say things like that! Maybe the boss will give us a chance!"
"No," Julio said, "no chances. You betrayed me. Ricardo, you know what to do."
The two security men grabbed them.
"No!" Robert yelled, struggling.
"What, can't you do your own dirty work?" Sam asked.
"I don't put my hands on trash like you people," Julio said, "who knows what kind of germs you carry?"
They were drug out of the room.
"Make sure of no slip ups," Julio said.
"Of course, jefe," Ricardo said, "always."
Julio nodded, and gestured for him to leave. He sighed, and fiddled with the large gold ring on his finger. These people were so difficult. You would think they would thank him for what he was doing, instead this.
'Well,' Julio thought, 'at least I can make an example of these two. I shouldn't have any trouble for a while.'
* * *
Detective Mira Sanchez sat across from Joe on Rollie's couch. Rollie and Angie had finally convinced Joe to talk to her.
"So Mr. Crictor," Mira said, "tell me what happened to you. Who did this?"
"These men," Joe said shaking his head, "they don't say who they are. But they work for a man, they call him 'el jefe'."
"The boss?" Mira said, surprised, "are you sure?"
Joe nodded his head yes.
"You know something Mira?" Rollie asked.
"Julio Valesquez, a.k.a. 'the boss'," she said, "he's a rich thug who's into everything from drug dealing to fraud. He's involved in some sort of organized crime we're sure of, just not sure who. He's got an army of lawyers and an army of faithful employees, we haven't been able to pin anything on him to convict. Tell me why they did this."
"Because I tried to protect some friends," Joe said, "Sam and Robert Shilings, they showed up at the Warehouse on the run. These goons showed up not long afterward. We tried to hide them, but when I said they weren't there they started beating on me. Then another goon took out his gun and threatened to start shooting if everyone didn't tell them where they were. No one was going to, but Sam and Robert came out from hiding to save us. We're all loyal like that to eachother. I tried to talk them out of taking them, and they drug me outside with Sam and Robert, beat me some more and tossed me aside."
"Whoa, whoa," Mira said, "slow down. The warehouse?"
"It's a group of homeless people, Mira," Rollie said, "they all gather in this building in the warehouse district for food and shelter."
"We're a community," Joe said, "a loyal one. But with those guns, no one could help me. The last things those guys said to me, was that if I talked to the police they'd kill me and then burn the Warehouse."
Joe shivered.
"That's why I didn't want to talk to you Ms. Sanchez," he said, "except that Rollie said I could trust you."
"You can," Mira said, "and you, Mr. Crictor, may be a key man in stopping Julio Valesquez. Do you know where they took Sam and Robert?"
"To see el jefe, I think," Joe said, "I've heard of people trying to run from him before, and being taken to see him. Of course they never are seen again."
Joe hung his head.
"They were good men," he said sadly, "I'll miss them."
"Do you know why they were on the run?" Mira asked.
"That's another story," Joe said, "they didn't say, but I know. They quit working for him."
"Working?" Mira asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No one knows for sure," Joe said, "but I think it's this 'el jefe', or Julio guy that's offering work to everyone in the homeless community."
"Work?" Mira asked, "What kind of work?"
"Not sure," Joe said, "it's all kept hush hush. The people who go to work are kept somewhere else, I don't know where. They work for 'el jefe' and are given food and shelter, but they can't come back and talk to anyone."
"And Sam and Robert tried to get out," Mira said, "and Valesquez's goons came after them."
"Where do you have to go to get work?" Mira asked.
"The sign up point changes all the time randomly," Joe said, "but every so often a guy would come in and announce where to go sign up if you wanted to. At first it was real popular, then once people saw what happened if you tried to leave... Well now workers are more scarce, and they're getting fiercer about getting people. I've even heard they've forced a few into work."
"But what are they doing?" Angie asked.
"That's what we've got to find out," Mira said, standing up, "Mr. Crictor, if you'd come down with me to the station and tell your story, I'm sure we could get you police protection. You could help us set up a sting operation with Valesquez, find out what he's doing, and bust him."
"No way," Joe said, "they have eyes everywhere. I set foot in that station, and I'm as good as dead. Police protection or not."
Mira sighed.
"Mr. Crictor, I understand," she said, "but this is serious. He's threatening, killing, and possibly enslaving people. He needs to be stopped and we need your help to do it."
"If this can't be done without me getting all involved with the police," Joe said, "then I'm leaving."
Rollie put his hand on Joe's shoulder.
"You're not going anywhere, Joe," Rollie said.
Rollie stepped over to the other side of the room and gestured for Mira and Angie to follow him.
"Tyler-" Mira started.
"Hold on, Mira," Rollie said, "you heard him. He's terrified. You're not going to get him to go through all the red tape."
"He seems pretty stubborn, Mira," Angie said.
"So what are we going to do Tyler?" Mira asked, "How are we going to catch Valesquez?"
Rollie grinned in a way that both Angie and Mira recognized.
"Don't worry," Rollie said, "I've got a plan."
* * *
"How do I let you talk me into these things Tyler?" Mira asked, exasperated.
Rollie grinned at her, his front teeth stained a light yellow.
"Because you know they always work," Rollie replied.
"Yeah, right," Angie said, "and always get you almost killed."
"Don't worry, Ang," Rollie said, "I've got you backing me up."
"I'd rather have the entire NYPD backing you up, Tyler," Mira said.
"Won't need them," Rollie said, "I'm going to get in and get out. All we need is the information."
They were standing in the loft, the morning light coming in through the windows. They had finally gotten Joe into a hospital, having two bruised ribs. However, they had gotten all the information they'd need first. Rollie was standing in front of Mira and Angie, and spun around.
"Well," he asked, "how do I look?"
Mira and Angie bothed raised an eyebrow at him. Rollie was dressed in the most dilapidated outfit imaginable. He had hole filled dirty jeans on, over which a cut off pair of sweat pants were placed. Tennis shoes with the toes open were on his feet. He had three different shirts on plus a once loud plaid sweater, now thin and faded to one color. Over top he wore a faded tan trenchcoat. On his hands were worn woolen gloves, with the tops of the fingers worn out. Rollie's hair was dishoveled, he had fake stubble across his face and his teeth slightly stained yellow.
"You're the worst looking bum I've ever seen," Mira said.
"Why thank you," Rollie replied.
"Are you sure you didn't over do it?" Angie said, grimacing a bit at the somewhat pungent chemical Rollie had placed under his armpits.
"Become the roll, Ang," Rollie said with a flourishing gesture like that of a Shakespearean actor.
"You've become something all right," Mira said with a smirk, "what about the surveillance?"
Angie spoke into a small microphone in front of her.
"Can you hear me, Rol?" she asked.
Rollie nodded, an invisible earpiece placed in his right ear fed him her speech.
"What about sound and video?" Mira asked.
Angie flipped a switch, and one of the screens next to the computer flipped to show Mira and Angie.
"Belt buckle," Angie said, pointing to the small belt Rollie wore, "both a minature camera and microphone."
"Don't worry," Rollie said, "I don't plan to use the bathroom any time soon."
Mira looked at him out of one eye.
"See that you don't," she said.
"So now what?" Mira asked.
"So now I plant myself in the warehouse, and wait for the goons to show up," Rollie said, "Joe said they usually show up once a week, at least. They're due."
"But they showed up yesterday," Angie said.
Rollie shook his head.
"Only to track down some runaways," Rollie said, "not to recruit."
"But to recruit for what is still the big question," Mira said, "this is still very dangerous. We have absolutely no idea what you're getting yourself into."
Rollie stared her in the eye for a moment.
"Do I ever?"
* * *
Rollie walked through the doors of the Warehouse. It was still cold outside, and there were a good number of barrels set up burning whatever fuel for the fire there was. There were over a hundred people here, constantly coming in and out. Rollie wasn't even given a second look. He targeted one group around a barrel and walked up to them.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked in a husky voice.
One man, older with silver hair, gestured for him to take a spot to warm his hands.
"Thanks," he said, and began to rub them close to the fire.
"Name's Lou," he said, "how're ya doin?"
Three of the four men eyed him strangely, while the fourth older man nodded at him.
"Good to meet you Lou," he said, "I'm Bert, this is Pete, Frank, and Daryl."
They all grumbled a hello.
"Don't mind them," Bert said, "we've just had some trouble lately, and they aren't feeling to friendly."
"Trouble?" Rollie asked.
"Some thugs," Bert said, "beat up on a good man, and took away two others. Been a lot of that, lately."
"What thugs?" Rollie asked, prying further into what they knew.
Bert shrugged his shoulders.
"Well," he said, "rumour has it-"
But his phrase was cut off when the hum of voices came to a sudden stop. Rollie looked over his shoulder to see three men in expensive suits and trenchcoats stride in.
"Attention, everyone!" one man called in a Spanish accent, "All of you here are destitute, and alone. No money, and no hope of getting any. Our illustrious leader, has chosen to be your benefactor, and is offering work to whomever wishes it! In return, you will recieve food, shelter, a warm bed and warm food, plus spending money. All who want a better life, step forward!"
Rollie glanced around. No one was moving.
"Here we go, ladies," Rollie whispered, aiming his voice at his belt.
In the van, a block away, Angie and Mira waited, watching everything that was going on.
"Be careful, Rollie," Angie said.
Rollie began to walk forward, and heard a voice behind him whisper 'no!'. Rollie knew it was Bert, but this was what he come here to do. He walked up to the men.
"You serious?" he asked, "About all that?"
"All that and more," the man said with a smile.
"Sounds good to me!" Rollie exclaimed, "Where do I sign up?"
"Just follow my men's instructions," the man said, then gestured around.
"Anyone else?" he called.
Still no one else moved. The man shrugged.
"Then next time!" he called with a smile, and Rollie was escorted out with them.
One of the other two men handed Rollie a small map.
"Follow this map to this apartment building," the man said, "go to apartment 3C at 12 o'clock. Knock twice, tell the man you wish to become a contributing member of society. They will let you in, and you will be given your assignment."
Rollie nodded, and they walked away.
At twelve o'clock Rollie was knocking on apartment 3C in an older apartment building on the east side of town. A man called out.
"What do you want?" the voice asked.
"To," Rollie started, "to become a contributing member of society."
The door opened a crack, and then fully. He was allowed into a smoke filled apartment, where instead of normal home furniture was a large desk, files, maps, and computer equipment.
"Step this way," the dark haired man who had answered the door said.
Rollie walked toward the large desk. The man at the desk turned around, and smiled. Small and wirey, he had beady eyes and thick glasses. His greasy hair only completed the look.
"Welcome," the man said, "you're one of the recruits from the warehouse."
"Yeah," Rollie replied, "name's Lou Peters."
"Well, Lou," the man said, "you've just made a very good business move. You must be a very smart man. You've just been hired by the greatest benefactor imaginable."
"Who is this guy?" Rollie asked.
"Tut, tut," the man said, "we cannot reveal any information until you prove your loyalty to us. For now, you will stay in a room in this apartment building, you will be fed, and can take a warm shower. Then you work."
"What kind of work is this?" Rollie asked.
"There is a wide variety," the man replied, "you are what my benefactor would call his own personal army of gophers. You do just about anything. All for one purpose."
"And that would be?" Rollie asked.
"To help the poor and downtrodden," the man said, "to save those this government and law officials have wronged. And, of course, to make money in the process."
"When do I start?" Rollie asked, smiling.
The small man grinned.
"Right away," he said, "tell me, have you ever robbed a bank before?"
Rollie raised an eyebrow at him. The small man laughed.
"Don't worry!" he said, laughing, "It all goes to a good cause, just think of yourself as Robin Hood!"
* * *
Part 4:
Rollie sat in the dingy one room apartment they had placed him in. It was small, with a bathroom which he could barely fit in. However, Rollie surmised, this would be better than the streets. Rollie was certain they'd be doing a background check on him and have him under surveillance at all times. He'd have to be careful. So, in order to talk, he walked into the bathroom and started up the shower. He closed the door, took off his belt and held it facing his face, and rolled down his outer layer of pants somewhat. He sat on the toilet, and hoped if anyone was watching they wouldn't want to watch to close.
"Angie? Mira?" he asked.
"We're here Rollie," Angie replied through his earpiece, "and we've heard everything so far."
"Good," Rollie said, "then maybe you'll have an idea of what to do."
"Well, it seems pretty obvious what's going on," Mira said, "Valesquez is recruiting the homeless to commit crimes. A nice operation. He sets them up in one of his slums, and gets as many workers and scapegoats as he wants."
"You can't rob a bank, Rol!" Angie chimed in.
"I know, Ang," Rollie replied, "but I can make it look like I tried."
"What do you mean, Tyler?" Mira asked.
"I'm obviously going to have to know something about the robbery," Rollie said, "we can set something up, I'm sure. Right now, I'm worried about the background check."
"Taken care of," Angie said, "I intercepted their transmission to NCIC, even though it was on an encrypted frequency. I plugged your alias into a reply. You're alias has been out of work for five years, since a layoff, since then you've been a wonderer and been involved in a few petty crimes. You know, these guys have pretty sophisticated equipment, though, Rol."
"Valesquez may own slums," Mira said, "but he sure doesn't live in them. He's got a mansion and huge plot of land just outside of the city."
"Well, he won't be living there much longer," Rollie said, "with this single job I plan to get enough information to bust him. For now, though I'm going to have to put the belt away and sign off."
"Why?" Angie asked.
"Because," Rollie said, "I really do need to take a shower."
* * *
"Your roll will be simple, Lou," the man, who Rollie now knew was named Simon, said, "you will provide the distraction. When our men leave the bank, they will take off in a getaway car, you'll be providing the cover they need to get away clean."
Rollie, Mr. Simon, and four other men were sitting in that same office Rollie had been brought to originally.
"Normally we would have given you new clothes," Mr. Simon said, "but in this case we want you to keep your, look, for effect."
Mr. Simon pulled out a small black box, with an antennae and button.
"This is for you, Lou," he said, handing it to Rollie, "the plan is simple. You'll walk down the street, bottle in hand, and pretend to be a raving drunk lunatic. I hope that isn't too far out of character for you. When the men leave the bank, you will press this button which will set off a small explosion planted in the mailbox next to the bank. This will happen simultaneously with my men taking off in their vehicle. Once they are in motion, you will react to the explosion by screaming and running out into the street. Do your best to make as much a commotion as possible. If the police arrive before the men get out of sight, try your best to block their path."
"Won't they arrest me?" Rollie asked.
"They'll be too worried about the terrified people and the stolen money," Mr. Simon said, "trust me, just once my men get away, slip away yourself. You'll be fine."
Mr. Simon turned to another one of the men, and handed him a manila envelope.
"The explosive is inside," Mr. Simon said to him, "just drop it in the mailbox about a half an hour before you go for the job."
Mr. Simon turned to everyone.
"You four have been briefed on the layout of the bank and security systems," Mr. Simon said, "as usual, you are to take a police scanner with you. Make it known if you hear any call out you will begin firing. Meet where we normally do for the trade off."
"Where should I go?" Rollie asked.
"Just head back here," Mr. Simon said, "unless you think you're being followed. When you arrive three hundred dollars will be waiting for you, inside your room."
"That's all I have to do for three hundred?" Rollie asked.
Mr. Simon smiled.
"That's all," he said, "dismissed."
All five of them left. The four men reminding Rollie that the robbery was to happen at precisely eleven o'clock this morning, and a stern warning not to be late. Rollie assured them he wouldn't be. Rollie left the building.
"Angie," Rollie said softly.
"Yeah, Rol?" she replied, "We're here again. Though I'm getting tired of having to wake up so early to get here. And Mira took leave for a day to be here."
"So this better be worth it, Tyler," Mira said.
"Don't worry, it will," Rollie replied, "Angie I'm going to need a minature tracking device launcher."
"One of our TDL's, huh?" Angie replied, "You've never been to good at firing those."
"I'll be pretty close this time," Rollie replied, "I'll meet you at the corner of Chester and Williams at quarter till eleven."
"We'll be there."
* * *
Rollie had grabbed the tracking device quickly on his way to the National Bank. Both Angie and Mira warned him to be careful, and also reminded him they were taping everything and watching his every move. If he got in trouble, Mira would have police on the way immediately. Rollie didn't have to worry about things being admissable in court as much, because if they found out where Valesquez was stashing items, or better yet capture video of him with the stolen goods, he'd be as good as in prison. All Rollie had to do was stick to his role and his story.
Rollie arrived right on time. He pulled the whiskey bottle, covered with a brown bag, out of his pocket and took a swig of the water inside. He began to stumble down the street, banging against the wall and talking to himself. People avoided him. In his mind he went through all the possible outcomes of this heist, and what his response would be to each of them.
As he got closer to the bank, a black sedan pulled up, and the four men got out. They walked up to the entrance, and just as they opened the door slipped on dark black masks. Each wore gloves, and had what must have been guns under their overcoats. One man had a portable police scanner in one hand. As one they entered the bank. Rollie continued to lean against the wall swigging, however his hand reached into his pocket and thumbed the two items there. One was the remote he had been given, the other the tracking device launcher. He slide up further toward the car. A few minutes passed by when the thieves burst out of the door.
They jumped into the car, and took off. An alarm sounded from the bank. As the car passed him Rollie slid the launcher out of his pocket and with a small hiss of compressed air the tracking device flew, struck and stuck to the back bumper of the car. Then he thumbed the remote, and depressed the switch. The mailbox on the corner exploded sending a fireball of burning and shreaded paper into the air. The explosion was bigger than Rollie thought it would be, and he fell backwards. Two windows of the bank shattered, and an unfortunate clerk who had run outside fell to the ground.
"Rollie are you all right?" Angie's voice said over the earpiece.
"I'm fine Ang," Rollie said, plucking himself up off the ground.
The sounds of sirens began to be heard in the distance.
"You'd better get out of there, Tyler," Mira said.
"There's a hurt man," Rollie said, "I've got to help him."
"Help is on the way," Mira said forcefully, "you've got to get out of there. Or do you want to blow your cover?"
Rollie growled, and began to stumble back up the street, and slid over into a side alleyway. The getaway car was long gone.
* * *
The tracking device was working perfectly. Angie was easily able to track the car as it and the stolen goods hurried across town. Finally it stopped.
"Oh you're not going to believe this," Angie said to Mira.
"What?" Mira asked, "Where did it stop?"
Angie pointed to the blip on the map.
"Warehouse," Angie said, "on the docks."
Mira and Angie looked at eachother, surprise and irony in their eyes. The same area where Loubar had led them, and Rollie and the two of them had nearly died in an explosion, only after they were able to escape a game of Loubar's where Rollie had to choose which one of them would die.
"Strange," Mira said.
"Coincidences," Angie said, shivering.
"I wonder," Mira replied.
* * *
Rollie walked up to the back of the warehouse carefully. He had followed Angie's directions and found the place. Against Mira's better judgement he had gone there himself. If the police descended on the place now, they would just get a few petty crooks. They needed more information, and proof, to nail Valesquez. Rollie was just going to, carefully, look around. He had already gone back to the apartment and collected his money, he left on the premise of spending it.
Rollie slowly approached the building, approaching from what was, hopefully, a blind spot in the window positioning. The guards wouldn't be expecting anyone to find the place, anyway, from the outside it looked like it was ready to fall in on itself. Rollie hit a feeling of deja vu, and foreboding, but he pressed forward anyway. He made it all the way to the wall. If he could get a bug inside, and maybe a minature video feed, he could collect information on security then come back at night, and go through any files they would have.
He had originally wanted to get into the office at the apartment building, do a little hacking on their computer systems. But security was far too tight for that. Rollie got to an window which was cracked open. He carefully pushed it open further, and began to climb inside.
"Tyler," he heard Mira's voice.
"Don't worry, Mira," Rollie whispered, "I'm going to stay low. Everything will be fine."
Rollie raised his leg to stretch into the window. Then he heard an all too familiar click behind him. The hammer of a gun.
"Don't move," a rough voice said, "or you die."
Rollie turned around to see one of the largest men he had ever seen. Rollie had raised his arms.
"Hey, mack," he said, "I'm not doin' nothin'. Just was tryin' to find a place to sleep. But if this is your place or something-"
"Shut up," the man said, putting the gun in his face, "and come with me."
"Ok," Rollie said just don't shoot.
Rollie began to walk, and then bent over suddenly as if in pain. The man was uncertain what to do, and Rollie used the moment to bat the man's gun hand away from him. He landed a solid punch to his chin. The huge man staggered and Rollie began to dart around the corner, but for his size the man was incredibly quick and latched on to Rollie's coat. He lifted Rollie up into the air.
"Mistake," the man growled, blowing his bad breath in Rollie's face.
The man threw Rollie into the wall, and back handed him. Rollie fell to the ground, dazed and tasting blood. The man lifted him up, and again back handed him, this time with his gun in hand. The cold steel flew across Rollie's temple, and he saw stars, then blackness.
* * *
"Rollie!" Angie yelled again.
They had watched in horror as Rollie had been caught. Mira was immediately on the phone. Angie frantically tried to wake Rollie by yelling at the top of her voice.
"Angie, cool it!" Mira said, "Help is on the way!"
Angie's left leg began to shake as they watched through the video camera Rollie being dragged inside the building and thrown to the ground. The man who had captured him gestured for another goon to keep a gun on him while he went to get the boss. There was a moment of silence.
"Mira-" Angie began.
"A couple more minutes Angie," Mira said, "I let them know we had found the bank robbers, they've already got five squad cars on the way."
Further sounds came, a shuffling, footsteps. Finally the man came back, with another person.
"Found him sneaking around outside," the large man said.
The other person's face came into view. Angie gasped. It was the small man from the apartment.
"Lou Peters, eh?" he said, stroking his chin, "Search him."
The camera jerked as they roughly searched Rollie for wires, money, weapons, or anything else.
"Nothing but bad smell," the large man said.
"Still," the small man said, "he couldn't have found this place himself."
Suddenly, finally, the sounds of sirens were heard in the distance.
"Cops are coming," a voice yelled.
"It's about time," the small man said, "everything ready?"
"Yeah," the large man said, "what should I do with him?"
"Stick him on one of the cots," the small man said, "they won't be able to tell the difference."
Angie and Mira eyed eachother. Why were they so calm? The view changed as Rollie was lifted, carried then put down again.
"Come on, Rollie, wake up!" Angie yelled again.
The sirens had grown loud, then stopped. A police officer was yelling over a loudspeaker something about being surrounded and surrendering.
"Open the door," the small man yelled.
There was a sound of doors grating, police yelling freeze. They heard footsteps. Angie and Mira had already started the van and were on their way there.
"Officers," the small man said, "what is the problem?"
Angie and Mira could only see the ceiling, Rollie was lying on his back.
"What are you doing here sir?" a man asked.
"Helping those that need help," the small man answered.
Rollie began to grown.
"Come on Rol!" Angie said, "Something weird is going on!"
"Angie!" Mira yelled.
Two cars had suddenly pulled in front of them, blocking their path. Angie slammed on the brakes. Four men poured out of each vehicle, guns drawn, and all wearing masks. They quickly surrounded the van, and two jumped on.
"What the-" was all Mira could say before one put a gun to her head, then another at Angie.
The other man was searching the van. He pulled every video out of every recorder, plus all videos lying around. Including the one Angie had been recording from Rollie's belt camera.
"Nice doing business with you," the man growled.
They left, guns still trained on them. They were gone as quickly as they had come.
"I don't believe this!" Angie yelled, "Who were they? How'd they know about us?"
"Uh-oh," Mira said, eyeing the display.
Rollie had finally rolled over. They got a view of the room. Around the room, cots were lying everywhere, on them a person each with blankets. Across the room there looked to be a buffet line of some sort. Police were slowly walking around the area confused. The small man was still talking close to Rollie.
"-and so he set up this place," he was saying, "it's not finished yet. It will have bathrooms, and heaters, and a rec room. But there were so many who needed shelter, we couldn't turn them away. We'll just have to work around them."
"Sir," another officer said, "we've got the report back. This place is registered with the city, all the paper work is in order. It's a shelter all right. There's nothing around the perimeter, we found a truck and a van, but they were full of food and supplies."
"I'm terribly sorry about this sir," the officer said, "we got a false tip."
"That's all right," the small man said, "please come by and help out sometime. After all, charity is good for the soul."
Rollie had finally woken up, to hear the last part of the conversation. He was still slightly groggy though, and staggered to his feet.
"Officer," he slurred, and the officer turned around, "officer they're them. They're them. Please wait, you've got to listen."
Rollie slumped over slightly, still woozy from the blow to the head. The small man was suddenly next to him.
"I'm sorry officer," the small man said, "he came in last night stone drunk, I didn't want to turn him away, might cause or get in trouble."
The officer nodded with a slight smile and walked away.
"You-" Rollie muttered.
"Yes, me," the small man said, chuckling, "now lay back down. Your friends should have been taken care of by now. So have your accusations. Mr. Valesquez is a saint, now, at least when the media hears about this he will be. Police trying to raid a homeless shelter, how awful."
"How?" Rollie muttered.
"Oh don't you worry about that," the small man said, "just be happy in the fact that you played your part perfectly."
Rollie was pushed back to the cot roughly. He moaned.
"Rollie what's going on?" Angie asked through the mic.
"We've been tricked," Rollie said, "somehow they tricked us."
"A homeless shelter," Mira said, disgusted, "they led us to a homeless shelter funded by Valesquez, and now they're going to turn this into a media circus. There goes my job and any hopes of catching Valesquez."
Rollie rolled over onto his back. He moaned again, though this time not from pain. He had been fooled, and because of that a crime boss would go free.
* * *
"-inane, crazy, stupid, immature, irresponsible actions I have ever seen in my life!"
Rollie, Angie, and Mira sat squirming in Captain Vanduren's office. He was mad. Really mad. He paced back and forth in his office, his face red and gesturing wildly.
"Do you have any idea what the press is going to do with this?" Vanduren yelled, "They'll have a field day! Valesquez will be a hero! You've just ruined years of investigation!"
"Captain-" Mira started.
"Don't start with me, Sanchez," Vanduren said, "you should have known better, I'm not surprised at Tyler. Right now, though, between internal affairs, the press, the commissioner, the mayor, and every one else, I'm under a lot of pressure right now."
Vanduren shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Sanchez," Vanduren said, "but you're suspended."
"What?" Mira blurted.
"Captain," Rollie started.
"Don't try to tell me it was your fault Tyler," Vanduren said, "you're all to blame, but right now I have to do this. I have no choice."
"For how long?" Mira asked through gritted teeth.
"Indefinitely," Vanduren said, "at least until this blows over a bit. I'm sorry Mira. I'll need your gun and badge."
Mira got up, slammed the items on the desk, and without looking at Rollie, stalked out of the room.
"Captain, that wasn't necessary," Rollie said, "we can still get Valesquez."
"He must have stole the tape!" Angie said, "All the evidence!"
"Can you prove it?" Vanduren snapped.
"No," Angie said, looking down.
"Then it does me no good," Vanduren replied, "and right now I've got bigger things to worry about. Valesquez played the three of you for saps, and now I'm paying for it."
Rollie and Angie left the office dejected.
"He's right Ang," Rollie said, "Valesquez did play us for saps. I fell right into it. The question is, why?"
"He knew you were going undercover," Angie said, "rather than kill you, he used you to his own advantage, that's all."
"Still, how did they know?" Rollie asked.
"Who let you know about this whole thing in the first place?" Mira said, from behind them.
"Mira I'm sorry," Rollie started.
"Whatever," Mira said, "right now, we still have bigger concerns. I may be suspended, but I want to get to the bottom of this. And now I won't need any search warrants."
Rollie grinned.
"Sounds like Mira to me," Rollie said, "now, I know what you're getting at, Joe."
"Joe Crictor," Mira said, "our poor, beaten up bum."
"But he saved me before," Rollie said, "I don't see him doing this now."
"He's the only person that could have," Mira said, "and who knows his reasons. We're going to have to find him."
"I don't see where this is all leading," Angie said, as they walked up to the van, "nothing makes sense. We've got the apartment building where he's recruiting, a homeless shelter set up for the police to find, a bank robbery, all one big ruse? It seems like an awful lot to go through."
"We're missing something," Rollie said, nodding his head in agreement, "plus, I wonder if the location of the shelter was a coincidence."
"You mean where Loubar took us?" Mira asked, "You think there's a connection?"
"I don't know what to think," Rollie said, "but I know there are a lot of things we don't yet know, as far as what has happened over the past couple of months."
"Namely," Mira said.
"Well," Rollie said, counting them on his fingers, "what happened to the leader of this group who hired Loubar to assassinate the Chinese minister? Who hired Loubar to assassinate the President? Where did Loubar get access to that warehouse? How did Valesquez know about our every move?"
"We've been busy," Angie said, chuckling ruefully.
"You can't tell me these are all connected, Tyler," Mira said, "they're all completely different situations."
"Except for one thing," Rollie said, "in all three we were involved, in all three we were tricked, and in two of the three Loubar was involved."
"Another thing," Angie said, "all three involve organized crime."
Everyone became silent.
"I hadn't thought about that," Mira said, "you're exactly right Ang. But, still, three different groups. Not one. One Chinese, one Latino, one unknown."
"Birds of a feather, Mira," Rollie said, "crime organizations have been known to make alliances."
"If you're right," Mira said, "you and everyone else may be in a lot more trouble then we thought."
"What do we do?" Angie asked.
"We've got to find out for sure," Rollie said, "and the only way is to backtrack. Starting with Valesquez."
"To get to him, we need to find Joe first," Mira said.
Rollie hopped in the van, Angie and Mira right after him.
"You know, we're disobeying Vanduren," Rollie said.
Mira and Angie both gave him a look as he started up the van and put it into gear. Mira smirked at him.
"Wouldn't be the first time."
* * *
They pulled up to the warehouse building, where Rollie had first met Joe. After treatment at the hospital, they had found out, Joe had disappeared. This is was the first logical place to start looking. Rollie wasn't prepared for what he saw. The building was in ruins, burnt nearly to the ground. The smell of smoke still lingered in the air. They were stopped a little ways away by a small blockade.
"I'm sorry sir," the officer said, "this area is off limits. Too dangerous."
"What happened here?" Rollie asked.
"Big fire," the officer said, "huge. Investigator thinks it's arson. Seems to have started in different places at the same time. Whatever it was, the fire department couldn't put it out for nearly four hours."
"Was anyone inside?" Rollie asked.
The officer hung his head.
"Apparently there was some kind of homeless community in there," the man said sadly, "they've found a lot of bodies, most too badly burned to be recognizable. They're still sifting through the rubble."
Rollie thanked the officer and slowly pulled away from the scene, a lump in his throat. There had been many men, women, and children in that building. All struggling just to survive, working hard and together to bring some sense of community, all to die horrible deaths.
"Why?" Angie said in a choked voice.
"Tying up loose ends," Mira said, "making a point. Who knows. With scum like Valesquez they don't need a good reason."
"We know he was recruiting people to help commit crimes," Rollie said, "these people turned him down. Retaliation?"
"Maybe," Mira said, "or maybe something else. We don't know."
"Well I know this," Rollie said, "I want this guy and I want him bad."
"But we don't have a lead to go on," Angie said, "Valesquez has covered his tracks too well."
"If only we could hack into the computer systems at the shelter he set up," Rollie said, "when I was there, they looked like they had just about everything on them."
"I'd bet Valesquez has a personal computer as well," Angie said, "if we could get into his house, I could search through his system, copy some files, gather some evidence."
"Whoa, whoa," Mira said, "hold on. That shelter is no doubt heavily guarded, especially the computer room. And Valesquez mansion, you might as well try to break into fort knox. He's got everything from electrified fences to guard dogs, to infrared detectors. No one can get in."
"I've heard that before," Rollie said, "there's no such thing as an impenetrable security system. Right Ang?"
Angie shrugged.
"I've hacked into the Pentagon," she said, "I've bypassed security at the most heavily guarded of places. I could probably get in."
"All right," Mira said, "even if you could get in undetected, finding the right computer, sorting through and copying the files, avoiding the guards, and getting back out would be almost impossible."
"Nothing is impossible, Mira," Rollie said, "all I need is a good layout of Valesquez security system."
"Where can we get that?" Mira asked.
"Well a couple of satellite photos would help," Angie said, "a drive by with a few close up shots, some surveillance, that would get us some information."
"That's a good start," Rollie said, "but I bet a fairly large company put together that system for him. If we could tap into their records-"
"If we could tap into their records," Angie said, "we could pull up the whole thing from the biggest fence to the smallest detector."
"We'll need to head back to the loft," Rollie said, "and pull up some info on the internet link."
They drove back to the loft in silence, one glance at Rollie, though, and you could tell his mind was working a mile a minute. They arrived at the loft, and as the three walked up to the door a figure appeared from behind the dumpster. Rollie's eyes opened wide.
"Joe!" he said, staring at the mottled face of Joe Crictor.
He was even more dishoveled than normal, and his face was tear stained.
"They double crossed me Mr. Tyler," he said, "oh god, they double crossed me and everyone paid for it."
They led Joe into the loft, locking the door behind them. He sat on the couch, close to tears.
"The warehouse," he moaned, "they-"
"We know," Rollie said softly, "what are you talking about Joe? Who double crossed you?"
"El jefe," Joe replied, "they killed them anyway."
"You'd better start from the beginning," Mira said forcefully, "and you'd better not leave out anything this time."
"All right," Joe said, "I lied to you. But I had a good reason. After they worked me over, they showed me something. Something horrible. They had some kind of explosive thing or something rigged all around the warehouse. They said they could torch the whole thing at a touch of a button. They said if I didn't help them, everyone would die."
"Help them how?" Mira asked.
"By misleading you," Joe said.
"Wait a minute," Rollie said, "I didn't even become involved in this until you came to me. Why would they want you to mislead me?"
"I don't know," Joe said, "they said something about humiliation being the first step."
"First step toward what?" Mira asked.
Joe shrugged.
"They didn't tell me much," Joe said, "they just kept reminding me that if I didn't cooperate, everyone would die. So I did."
Joe's teeth and hands clenched.
"But they killed them anyway," Joe growled, "I did what they wanted and they killed them anyway. All my friends, they were my family."
Joe sunk his face into his hands, his shoulders shaking in rhythm with his silent sobs. Mira and Rollie met eachother's gaze.
"So," Mira said, "we were right. Joe was in on this. But more than we thought, they had you targeted from the beginning, Rollie."
"But not to be killed," Rollie said, "for humiliation."
"That was the first step," Angie said in a worried tone, "that means there are more."
"I'm so sorry," Joe said, raising his head, "I'm so sorry for this. For all of this."
"It's not your fault, Joe," Rollie said softly, patting him on the back, "you had no choice."
"What connection do you have to Valesquez, Tyler," Mira asked, her brow furrowed.
"Nothing, as far as I can tell," Rollie said, "but like we said before, we've got a running link through this."
"Organized crime," Angie said.
"Exactly," Rollie said, "and me. We've stopped two assassinations. Maybe this is revenge."
"Like we need more of that," Angie sighed, disgusted.
"A lot of people have died," Rollie said, "a lot of people have suffered because of me. This has got to stop."
Rollie thought of his vow. No one would be hurt. No one again. Instead, dozens killed, needlessly. It was his fault, in some way, it was his fault. Anger surged through Rollie's veins. Anger at the injustice of it all. Anger at himself, for not seeing it.
"I walked blindly into a trap," Rollie said, "I should have seen it. It was all too easy."
There was a moment of silence.
"So now what?" Angie asked.
Rollie looked at Angie, and she nearly stepped back at the cold look in his eyes.
"We work harder," Rollie said, "we've got to get into Valesquez place, and find out what is going on. Find out if his ties to either Loubar or the Chinese, find out why he's after me."
Angie followed Rollie to the computer.
"Run a search," Rollie said, "get Valesquez's address and name, find out what company did work for him."
"I'm on it," Angie said, sitting down.
Several moments passed as Angie furiously searched through the various security companies in the New York area.
"Got 'em," she said after a while, she pointed to the screen, "HomeTech Security Systems. They did it about a year ago."
"Can you get into their records?" Rollie asked.
"Hold on," Angie said typing, "they've got a web site, and it looks like their main computers are tied to a modem. Let me see if I can bypass the firewall and the encryption sequences."
Angie typed further. She initiated the decompilation procedure on the password protection code.
"Let me implant a quick self replicating virus," Angie said, "to corrupt the tracing, and interrupt the logic loop."
Another couple moments.
"I'm in," she said, "let's see what they've got. I'll search real quick for his record."
Angie went through the database until she came upon Valesquez's name. She opened his file.
"Downloading," she said, transferring all the data quickly over their ISDN line.
About 30 seconds passed, then the computer beeped as the file completed transfer.
"Got it," she said.
"Pull it up," Rollie said.
Angie pulled up the file and looked it over. She pulled up an image along side of a text file. The image was a blueprint, a detailed layout of Valesquez's house.
"Everything," Angie said smiling, "the whole security system. Even the codes to unlock the doors!"
"All the checkpoints, all the power sources," Rollie said, also smiling, "even the wiring layout."
Rollie layed his hand on Angie's shoulder.
"Good work, Ang," he said.
Rollie felt Angie's shoulder tighten under his hand. In fact her whole body stiffened. That snapped Rollie back into the reality of what had happened only a little while ago. He quickly took his hand away.
"Ang," he said, "I'm sorry."
Angie grabbed Rollie's hand and placed it firmly back on her shoulder. She looked up at him.
"No Rol," she said softly, "I am."
They stared at eachother for a long moment, and slight smiles came to both of their faces.
"Got something?" Mira said from behind them.
Rollie jumped up, startled.
"Yeah," he said, "have we ever. Look."
Mira looked at the screen.
"With this stuff we can be in and out easy," he said.
Rollie slammed his hand on the desk.
"Valesquez is ours," he said confidently.
"So," Angie said, looking at Rollie, then at Mira, "shall we?"
Mira eyed them both for a long moment, Rollie's normal, infectious eagerness showing through clearly. Mira nodded her head with a smile.
"Let's shall."
* * *
"I can't believe you canceled the work on the film," Angie said.
"We've got more important things to worry about, Ang," Rollie said.
The sci-fi flic Rollie had started in on, he had abandonded.
"Don't worry," Rollie said, "you'll still get a check. I've got plenty saved to tide us over."
Angie shook her head.
"I'm not worried about the money," she said, "I'm worried about you. You seem more, engrossed, than usual."
"The news said there may have been 120 people in that building Ang," Rollie said, "and I'm partially responsible for their deaths. I want to catch the guy who did this. If we catch Valesquez, we may get insights into everything that has happened over the past month."
Rollie was right. But Angie was still worried. There was something different about him, she just couldn't put her finger on it. No time to dwell on it, though, a day had passed while they planned, and now it was night. It was time for action.
She and Rollie had put together a large assortment of items they would need. They had crafted an incredibly detailed plan, from start to finish Angie knew every step. They have even put together contingency plans in case something went wrong. The only unknown variable was the location of guards. They would simply have to avoid them, and hope they weren't spotted.
Rollie kept reminding her that they were breaking and entering, because they weren't going to break anything, and it was only a crime if they got caught. Angie didn't need to be reminded, they'd done this sort of thing before. She had helped Rollie do everything from faking identities to swapping fake diamonds for real ones, this time wouldn't be any different. At least they hoped not.
Midnight came, which was when Rollie had planned for the operation to begin, and Mira, Rollie, and Angie sat in the van three blocks from Valesquez huge estate. Rollie had offered for Mira not to be a part of it, so her already delicately balanced career wouldn't be put at further risk, but she had flatly refused that. So the friends sat waiting.
"What happens after we get the info?" Angie asked.
"Vanduren will have probable cause for a search warrant with your statements," Mira said, "no doubt, though, they will completely wipe away all evidence before he can get in. But we'll already have the information. The DA's office won't have to know we got it before the official search, now will they?"
"I love a devious mind," Rollie said with a grin.
"It's rubbing off on me," Mira said with a smirk.
Rollie checked his watch, perfectly synchronized with Angie's.
"All right," he said, it's time.
Angie and Rollie were dressed in all black, and Mira would monitor the situation from the van. They would go in, Rollie would be a lookout while Angie got the information. Then they would get out in a hurry. The rest, from there, was up to Mira and the NYPD.
Angie and Rollie had minature cameras and also headsets to talk to eachother. Both had backpacks and belts full of 'goodies', as Rollie called them.
Valesquez estate was large, but not too large. The house was surrounded on all sides by a massive iron fence. The fence had weight sensors on them, which would detect any extra weight over 30 pounds on the bars. Fortunately, Valesquez also liked trees on the north side of his house, which also happened to face the back.
Rollie and Angie reached the back of the house. A dark cloud, covered the moonlight, blanketing the area in total darkness. The house itself was huge, gothic in style. Large gargoyles adorned the roof and lower sections, and huge pillars went across the porch, which encircled the house in a mammoth walkway. The only light came from a few rooms, where shadows slowly crept back and forth. A slight wind blew the leaves on the trees ever so softly, the rustling sounding like a giant breathing.
"Ok, Mira," Rollie said in his headset, "play the tape."
Mira hit the play button. The blueprint of the security system layout, also told the frequency at which the surveillance cameras sent the feed back to the main computer. Using an old trick, they had simply recorded a section, and would play it back in a loop, interrupting the true feed. No one would see they were there through the cameras.
Rollie tossed a rope up one of the tree branches.
"You first," he said to Angie.
Angie clipped the rope to her belt, and Rollie hoisted her up pulley style. Angie tied off the rope and Rollie climbed up himself. Rollie had been carrying on his back a rather large piece of equipment. He pulled it off his back, and Angie pulled off her back another section that clipped together.
"This thing is so cool," Angie said.
One big problem they had had to overcome, was traveling across the grounds. There were guard dogs everywhere just itching to snack on someone. Rollie wanted to avoid that possibility entirely. There was also a web of motion detectors in strategic spots on the ground, those also had to be avoided. Rollie had dug into his vault of gadgets, and pulled out a good one.
Rollie set up the thing which looked sort of like a crossbow, only much larger.
"Ok," Rollie said, lining up the scope on the thing, "here we go."
The shooter shot a grappling hook from a air compressor gun, which was rigged in the back to a huge looping coil of rope. Rollie took careful aim, then shot. A soft wisp hit as the hook flew seventy yards from the tree to the roof of Valesquez's house, 35 degrees above where Rollie sat. It landed with a soft clink, then snagged.
"This better work," Angie said, "I'm going to be awfully sore from carrying that rope. What ever happened to chivalry?"
"Hey," Rollie said, "I was carrying the rope, remember?"
Rollie now grabbed the large armature that had launched the grappler, and secured one end firmly around the large branch they were perched on. He pressed a switch, and the coil wound up slightly until taught.
"Ladies first?" Rollie said smiling.
Angie grabbed the armature. It had a middle section, from which the grappler had been fired, jutting out were four arms. Angie wrapped each of her arms and legs around them.
"Ready?" Rollie asked.
Angie nodded, they had practiced this before, it was a good thing she wasn't scared of heights though. Rollie removed one of the sections that had launched the grappler and replaced it with another, a small, but powerful, battery powered motor. Then he flipped another switch.
"Hang on tight," he whispered.
Angie slowly began to ascend the rope, minature wheels in the base of the armature slowly wheeling her up. It was a slow, tricky process, requiring great balance. It also required a good deal of stamina, as Angie already began to feel her muscles heating up from the strain of hanging on, plus the nervousness. The armature carried Angie slowly the 70 yards to the roof, Rollie and herself holding their breaths the whole way. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Angie reached the roof, and sent the armature back down to Rollie.
Rollie situated himself, took a deep breath, and hit the switch. Slowly, his much larger frame was carried up the rope. Rollie prayed the hook and branch would hold, and that he would keep hold of the armature. The motion was slow, and Rollie, having less balance than Angie, began to sway slightly. Still he moved, slowly. After a while, Rollie was at the half way point, roughly 50 feet off the ground. Then he saw, below, a guard walking toward them.
The rope was black, and Rollie's clothes were also, but he couldn't take the chance of him hearing the slight whirr of the motor. Rollie cut it off, and hung, dangling and slightly swaying as the guard walked closer. The guard walked around, perusing the area. The motion detectors saw him, no doubt, but were expecting to. Rollie held his breath again, beads of sweat trickling down his brow.
The guard walked up to, then under Rollie. Then a horrible thing happened. One of the pockets in Rollie's belt was open, the one which held Rollie's PDA. It slipped, and Rollie could do nothing about it. It began to fall, out of instinct Rollie reached out to grab it, throwing himself off balance. The armature tilted wildly, and Rollie bit his tongue to keep from yelling out as one arm and leg slipped off.
Rollie now hung by one arm and leg at a wild angle, facing down. Facing down, so he could see the PDA falling. It fell, and landed with a thump just behind the guard. The guard whirled around, gun out at the sound. Seeing nothing, he peered harder. Then he looked down. He reached down and picked up the PDA eyeing it with curiosity.
Rollie still swayed precariously, inches from falling. The wheels on the armature had begun to loose their grip, and the force of it swaying was causing the bark on the tree to eat away at the rope. And then the guard looked up.....
* * *
Rollie's mind went into overdrive as the guard's head slowly raised. His thoughts sped up as he examined his options. He could just dangle there, to be shot down by the guard. He could drop down onto the guard, but the 50 foot fall might kill the guard and him. At the very least injure them severely and set off the motion detectors. Rollie realized the armature was already coming off the rope. Twisting painfully Rollie grabbed the rope withe one hand, and popped the release valve on the armature, pulling the wheels off the rope. With another twist his dropped the heavy object just as the guard looked up. It struck his head with a heavy thud, and the guard fell to the ground, unmoving.
Rollie hoped he hadn't killed him. He also realized if anyone was watching the movements of the guards they would notice he wasn't going anywhere and would investigate. But that wasn't his main concern as he hung there, the tough fibers of the rope digging into his skin. With great effort and will power, Rollie swing his body sideways, and began to ascend hand over hand. He gritted his teeth, tough fibers in the rope burning and ripping the skin on his hands. It took incredible upperbody strength and control, and he continued only by sheer force of will.
By the time he had gone fifteen feet his muscles were screaming with pain. His back and arms churned and he could feel sweat covering every portion of his body, despite the chilled weather. Still he continued, seeing Angie ahead on the roof. Rollie decided on a different tactic and with another great effort swung his legs up behind him, and began to inch up using both arms and legs. This was much slower, and still difficult, but pulled some of the strain off his arms.
After what seemed an eternity, Angie helped him over the ledge and onto the roof. Rollie collapsed onto the ground breathing hard. Angie stood over him.
"Well," he said, "there went the easy part. See, no problem."
"I was this close to calling for backup," Mira said over the headset, "you scared me there, Tyler."
"Aw," Rollie said, "a slight snag, nothing to worry about. Although we'd better move a little quicker now."
Rollie picked himself up off the ground, and he and Angie carefully crept along. This portion of the roof was flat, but they'd have to climb up and back down a huge sloping portion to get to a ventilation duct in the center. Rollie hooked another rope to himself, then the other end to Angie. They began to carefully make their way up the roof, dangerous because of the slick shingles. They made it successfully up to the peak. Then they had to make their way down. Rollie eyed the slope carefully, it was at least a 50 degree angle. He looked at Angie and she nodded at him, in encouragement. Slowly they began their descent.
All went well for the first third of the descent, then Angie slipped. She fell, and began sliding down the roof at high speed. Rollie braced himself and the rope snagged, but he was too off balance. Rollie fell, slidding past Angie who had stopped. Rollie's greater weight pulled Angie and she tail whipped around and off the side of the roof with a slight scream. Rollie dug his feet in as best he could and lurched as he stopped Angie's fall.
Angie was dangling by her belt, hanging upside-down, looking at the ground so far below. Slowly, she felt herself being pulled back up by Rollie. Using her climbing skills she spun herself back upright and began using tiny handholds in the masonry of the mansion to help the climb. Arduously, Angie made it back to the roof. Rollie was out of breath again.
"You need to lose weight," Angie said to him.
Rollie eyed her.
"Don't even think about saying it," she said, giving him due warning.
They continued a moment later, making it safely to the flat center of the roof. They went to the large duct.
"How many of these things have I crawled into?" Angie asked, as they took the grate off.
"Enough to be a pro at it," Rollie said.
Angie slid in, Rollie followed. Soon they were on hands and knees, crawling their way along. Rollie had lost his PDA, but Angie still had hers. Between her and Mira, with the blueprints back at the van, they were easily able to ascertain where they were in the building. They were heading for Valesquez's main office, which was where his computer most likely was. On that should be all the incriminating information they needed to nab him, and perhaps information on a lot of the other things that had been plaguing them.
After fifteen minutes of crawling, they finally reached the vent above his office. Since it was night time, the security system was in full force. The blueprints showed that Valesquez office door was crisscrossed with lasers, if one beam was broken, the alarm would sound, however no others in the room. The vent was just large enough for Angie to fit through, but not Rollie. Then again, he was needed anyway, because he was going to lower her in. They had decided to send Angie in ala Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. Except she could touch the ground. The vent was about three feet to the right of the computer desk, Angie poked her head out, saw the coast was clear, and Rollie lowered her down. Her feet touched the ground soundlessly and she kept herself hooked to the rope as she sat at the computer, pulled out her jazz disk, and began downloading the contents of Valesquez's harddrive. She first had to get past a password lockout, effortlessly doing that a small blue status bar began to rise with the amount of information that had been copied.
"500 megabytes of stuff, Rol," she whispered into the headset, "mostly text and spreadsheet files. I have a feeling we hit the mother load."
Time passed slowly, and then Angie heard footsteps. Someone was approaching the office. A light in the hallway came on. Angie looked down at the status bar, it was 90% finished.
"Come on, come on," Angie whispered.
"Angie get out of there," Mira warned.
"One more second," Angie said, having a flashback to Victor Loubar's house before it exploded.
Angie heard a beeping sound, no doubt the security system turning off the door lasers. Finally the copy was complete, and Angie rushed to the vent. Rollie hurriedly pulled her up, and they replaced the vent grate just as Julio Valesquez himself walked in. He sat down at the computer and began working. There was no evidence anything had happened while he was gone.
As silently as possible, Rollie and Angie made their way back up the grate. Soon they made it back to the roof, both of their backs screaming with pain. They made their way back to the grappling hook, where the long rope was still attached.
"We don't have a way to get down the rope," Angie said, "you dropped the armature."
Rollie pulled a long strip of rubber with two handholds out of his pocket.
"I thought of that," he said.
He pulled out another one and handed it to Angie, they would have to slide down. That's when the alarm went off. Someone had found out, most likely found the guard they had dropped. Angie and Rollie both quickly slung the rubber pieces over the rope, grabbed hold, and began sliding down. They hadn't stopped to see the guards directly below them, helping the guard Rollie had knocked out.
Gunshots rang out as Angie and Rollie zipped down the line, wind rushing through both their hair. Angie hit the tree first, at a fairly high speed, but was able to stop herself, and grabbed hold. Rollie wasn't so fortunate, the rope, which had been eaten away at by the bark of the tree, finally snapped as Rollie neared it and he fell. Fortunately his momentum carried him over the fence, and he landed hard on the ground below the tree. Angie dropped quickly and helped him up.
"You all right?" she asked.
"I will be," Rollie said, grabbing her hand, "as soon as we get away from the guys with guns."
Gunshots rang out again, and a piece of bark exploded behind Angie as a bullet hit the tree. They took off running into the night. The guards, hampered by their own defense systems, couldn't chase them right away, and they lost them easily. Finally they reached the van, to a relieved Mira Sanchez.
"Got it?" Mira asked.
Angie held up the disk, smiling.
"Got it," she said.
"Good," Mira said with a nod, "now let's get out of here."
* * *
Vanduren got the search warrant, and they raided Valesquez's mansion. True to Mira's prediction, he wiped the computer system as they tried to enter, but they had already taken care of that problem. All of his goons were captured, and then Valesquez was caught as he tried to escape from a secret exit to his garage. Mira told Rollie and Angie that he was utterly confused as to what had happened. Fortunately, Vanduren was too happy about the bust to be upset with them for disobeying them. He pulled Mira off suspension.
"He was Tylered," Angie said with a grin.
They were sitting in the loft, and Mira had invited a friend over, who had wanted to meet them. There was a knock on the door.
"That's him," Mira said, and answered it.
She led him in. Angie raised her eyebrows.
"Guys, meet Tommy Chin," Mira said, "he's a friend of mine, who walks the beat down in Chinatown."
Tommy was almost six feet tall, had extremely dark hair and eyes, and was extremely handsome. Rollie glanced at Angie who stared a little tongue tied.
"Hello," he said, "I'm a big fan."
Rollie shook hands with him. Tommy turned and smiled at Angie. She sheepishly held out her hand and muttered out a hello.
"I also asked Tommy over to identify something," Mira said, "I'd thought you'd want to see."
Mira pulled something out of her pocket, and held it for everyone to examine. It was a small gold ring.
"Valesquez was wearing this when we arrested him," she said.
The ring was gold indeed, solid gold. Engraved in it was a dragon, snaking it's way up, down, and all around the ring. On the top, was a small symbol embedded and lined with silver. Tommy picked it up, stared at it.
"That symbol looks Chinese," Mira said, "have you ever seen it before?"
But she stopped short, for the man had paled, and was staring at it with a hard look on his face.
"You have seen it before," Mira said.
"Oh yeah," Tommy replied, "I have."
He looked up at them.
"And you say he was wearing this?" he asked.
Mira nodded.
"That's not good," he replied, "this is a symbol I'd never thought I'd see again."
"What is it?" Rollie asked.
"It's the symbol of a great evil," Tommy said, "a great and evil man. A man who everyone has thought dead for the past seven years, along with his massive underworld organization."
"Who?" Mira asked.
"No one knows his real name," Tommy said, "but he is called Wang Shou Xin. Roughly translated, you might call him, 'King Death.'"
"Charming name," Rollie joked.
"This is no laughing matter," Tommy said, "he and his organization have been one of the cruelest and most inhuman in history. And we never really proved anything, that's how good he was. However, when we began to catch up with his goons, he disappeared. Supposedly his died in an explosion on his boat, as he fled China."
"Let me guess," Rollie said, "no body ever found."
"No," Tommy said, "and he didn't show up again. No one was sure who attempted the assassination on the Chinese minister, though, but we didn't think it was him. This ring is worn by his most trusted of agents."
"So we were right," Angie said, "Valesquez did have ties to the Chinese underworld, and probably ties to the attempted assassination."
"This is big," Tommy said, "Shou Xin had ties everywhere in China, but not in America. Now he's here. No doubt, now he wants revenge for stopping the assassination."
"Wait a minute," Angie said, "Valesquez men purposely led us on a wild goose chase. Joe said that they kept saying 'humiliation was the first step.' Is that part of his revenge?"
Tommy paled further, and stared at Rollie.
"You are in grave danger, my friend," he said, "Shou Xin had a code of honor he had written, or so he called it. When someone crossed his path, he had 3 steps he always used to take revenge. I've seen a supposed copy. I remember it, I lost a partner to it."
Tommy ticked them off on his fingers.
"For the man who dares defy Shou Xin," he said slowly, melodiously, "the path to retribution is as follows - the first step, humiliation, the second step, pain, and the third - "
Tommy paused.
"The third?" Rollie asked.
Tommy looked at him in the eye again.
"The third step," he said, "is death."
* * *
TO BE CONCLUDED: in my next fanfic "Death Storm"