What Shadows Lie
Chapter 5: Send a Thief
By: Chris Ward
January 20- 24, 2007
Tru had just finished dressing for work when her bedroom door slammed open.
“That asshole you call a partner’s here.”
Rolling her eyes, she finished belting on her weapon. “And?”
Her mother had been furious since the start of Tru’s suspension, but had waited to
say anything. “When the FUCK are you going to wake up, Gertrude? There were two of
you involved in that, but you’ll notice that you were the ONLY DAMNED ONE to get in
trouble!”
Slipping past her long enough to slam the door, Tru whirled on her mother in fury.
“Listen, damn it. I’ve put up with your shit for almost thirty fucking years! I get that you
have some sort of seriously fucked-up Man Hate because of my father, all right? But
this is not some sort of goddamned anti-woman campaign. Christ, Mom, I fucking SHOT
SOMEONE! THAT was the reason they suspended my ass. Would I do it again? DAMN
FUCKING RIGHT, but it was my goddamn bullet, not Ray’s, that put the guy down! THAT’S
THE ONLY FUCKING REASON RAY WASN’T FUCKING SUSPENDED!!! Not only did he not
put a hole in our suspect, but he doesn’t have a list of brutality complaints, most of
them justified, a mile long. Damn it, Ma, they had no fucking choice but to suspend me!”
Nearly tearing her door of its hinges, she turned her back on her speechless mother
and stormed down the hall. Grabbing what she needed, she put on her coat and yelled,
“Ray? Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
As they drove to the station, he glanced over where she sat steaming in the
passenger seat. “Problems?”
Closing her eyes, she shrugged. “The usual. Everything’s a big fucking conspiracy to
keep her perfect rape-daughter from getting ahead in a man’s world.”
“Thought I heard something like that.”
“You were listening?”
“I was actually trying not to, but you were… explaining things to her a little too loudly
to miss. Let me guess; you got put on leave, but I didn’t, so it’s a conspiracy?”
With a bitter grin, she nodded. “She deliberately ignores facts in favor of her
seriously fucked-up paranoid-delusions.” Deliberately shrugging the fight aside, she
looked out her window. “Anything new on the thefts?”
“I wish. Things’ve been quiet the past couple days. You’ll see what all we’ve got
when we get there.” He was about to say something further when the radio
interrupted. Frowning, he picked it up. “This is Taylor.”
“Report to the Corinthian Casino. They just reported a robbery.”
“Roger. On our way.”
Flipping on the lights and siren, he made a u-turn and sped to the crime scene.
“Looks like you’ll see one first hand, Gert.”
Inside the casino, which had closed due to the theft, they found the manager sitting
at the bar. Looking up from the table, he forced a smile. “Morning, detectives. Care for
a drink?”
Ray looked critically at the half-full glass on the counter and shook his head. “No
thanks. What happened?”
Standing up, he shrugged. “Want to see the safe first? Or the surveillance?”
After a glance at Tru, Ray grinned. “We’ll take the safe.”
Leading them down to the basement, he explained how the theft had been
discovered. “A couple hours ago, I sent one of the hostesses, Gina Bell, down to
refresh the Pit. Maybe 10 minutes later she flipped the alarms.”
Tru was looking around as they went down the hall. “Looks like a good security set
up. How much did they get?”
Stopping outside the open vault door, he gestured them ahead. “See for
yourselves.”
The massive safe, roughly the size of an expensive suite of apartments, had been
stripped bare. Not even a roll of quarters remained. Staring around in complete shock,
all she could say was, “Holy fuck!”
Ray had seen it several times already. Looking back at the manager, he pulled out
his notebook. “How much?”
“I don’t have exact figures right now, but I do know the amount to have been in
excess of three hundred million.”
Staggered by the amount he could only stare at his notebook. Tru had started
locating the various security measures and taking notes. Whistling in surprise, she
looked at the list. “Christ! Looks like six or eight cameras, a motion detector, heat
sensors and trip-beams at several different heights and angles around the room.
Given what I can see, I’m assuming there are pressure sensors in the floor as well?”
When he nodded, she shook her head. “How the hell’s that work?”
“Everyone with authority to open the safe is given a three-digit identification code.
When you input the code, the computer asks you whether you are withdrawing or
depositing, and how much; you have to input an exact amount. When the door opens,
the lasers are turned off and the pressure sensors are instructed to ignore the weight
of a single person; whoever inputs the code must enter alone. The pressure sensors
in the drawers and shelves are semi-intelligent; they ‘know,’ through the weight, the
precise amounts they hold. They are instructed to allow the amount input at the door to
either be added or removed from them. If you take or leave more an in-safe warning is
issued and you are given an opportunity to fix what may be a legitimate mistake. If after
3 minutes the mistake hasn’t been fixed, the safe closes, the entire labyrinth down
here goes into lockdown, and an alarm goes out over the security channels.”
Thinking quickly, Ray asked, “Did the alarm go off?”
“No. However it was they defeated the security system, they beat the entire thing.”
Looking over at Tru, who nodded, he put his notebook away. “We’re gonna need to
see that footage.”
“Of course. Is that all you need down here?”
Shrugging, Tru followed behind them. “I think so. Crime Scene’ll be here soon. They’
ll obviously need to look around.”
Shrugging, he led them to the security room above the main floor. On the way, Tru
noticed a small, dark room. “What’s in there?”
Glancing over his shoulder, the manager laughed. “Maybe thirty, forty years ago, a
while before Mr. Linderman bought this chain and renamed it, this was one of several
mob-owned casinos; the Gambino’s, I think. That room was where people caught
cheating were… persuaded… to stop. We still stick people caught cheating in that
room, even give them time to look at the marks on the table and the stains on the wall
before we join them. We take their information and put them in the system. If they’ve
been caught at any other casino, anywhere in the country, they get blacklisted. If they
haven’t, they’re warned and told to leave for the night.” Showing them into the security
room, he cued up the footage from the safe and left them alone. After a few hours, they
were leaving the casino.
Back at the precinct, the Captain waved them into his office. Once they were seated,
he leaned back in his chair. “What’s the situation?”
Ray glanced through his notes. “Same shit, different day. Like all the others, this one
was completely impossible. There’s no way that door could be forced without setting
off enough alarms to wake the dead, and there’s no other way in.”
“Surveillance footage?”
“We scanned it before we left. The tapes are on their way to the techs, but it’s the
same damn story. You can vaguely make out that someone might be there, but it almost
immediately goes blank for five, maybe ten, minutes; and when it clears everything’s
gone.”
“How much”
“We’ll get an exact number when the records get here, but the manager estimated at
least three hundred.”
Nearly choking on his coffee, the Captain gasped, “Million?” When Ray nodded, he
fell back in his chair. “Christ! That nearly doubles what they’ve already grabbed.”
Looking out his window into the squad-room, he sighed heavily. “Do we have
anything?”
Loosing a frustrated breath, Ray scratched at his chin. “I wish. Another dot in the
map maybe, and another few hundred million to keep our eyes out for, but that’s it.”
Swearing under his breath, the Captain looked at his clock. “Grab some lunch, then
get your asses to the war-room and find something.”
**************
Several hours later, they sat staring at the map. Having just finished walking her
through the case, Ray threw his notes on the table in exasperation. “That’s all we’ve
got, Tru. No links; no patterns; no fucking clues.”
Tru kept focused on the map. “There’s always a pattern, Ray. You just haven’t gotten
a chance for a fresh look.” Tearing her eyes away, she began flipping through the case
notes on the table. After an hour, she stopped as she ran across a familiar name. “Didn’
t that manager tell us that Linderman owned that casino?”
Confused, he glanced at his notebook. “It sounds familiar. Yeah, he mentioned it
when you asked about that room. Why?”
“Because I just ran across his name.” Looking through the remaining paperwork,
she made a series of notes. After an hour, Ray left to grab dinner for the two of them.
After several more hours, nearly 8 that evening, she was finally finished.
Rubbing her forehead, she took a drink of her soda. “Counting the casino, there've
been six of these thefts?” When Ray nodded, she picked up her notes. “In that case, I’
ve found a potential link. In each location, the majority shareholder and at least one of
the minority shareholders are on this list: Linderman, Petrelli, Deveaux and Bishop.”
“You think they’re being targeted?”
Looking thoughtfully at the map, she shrugged. “Maybe. We know Linderman was
under investigation before his death derailed it. The Petrelli name was closely linked
with him, and the family’s fairly prominent, although they’ve mostly dropped from site.
Not a clue about Bishop, but Deveaux rings a bell.”
Resting her eyes for a minute, she glanced at the clock. “Christ! I didn’t realize how
fucking late it was! Let’s get this shit to the lab and take off. Maybe the techs can get
something out of this while we sleep.”
**************
Over the next couple of days the thief stayed quiet. Unfortunately, that helped keep
the case frozen. Ray and Tru spent their days pouring over the case, praying for
something to jump out at them. Thus far, nothing had done so.
Shortly before they were ready to leave on the twenty-third, the computer lab called.
Putting it on speaker, Tru said, “Go ahead.”
“Those names you gave us to search with? It took some digging, since the trails are
hidden under a half dozen layers but there is one other business we could find. The
majority shareholder is Bishop, with Petrelli as the largest minority holder.”
“What can you give us?”
“It’s some sort of clearing house for the Reserve. It even has an armored transport
service attached.”
Ray looked a little confused. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Every dime the Reserve sends us goes through one of maybe six or eight clearing
houses before being distributed. This is one of them.”
Looking through her notes, Tru commented, “We know the thefts have been
committed in the morning, when the business in question had an unusually large
amount on hand. When is this place scheduled for another shipment?”
“Give me a minute.” After several minutes, the tech’s voice came back over the line.
“Looks like they have one tomorrow morning.”
Jerking upright, Tru stared at the phone. “Fuck! Give me an amount and a time!”
“Umm… looks like about six hundred million coming in around 5 in the morning, and
being shipped out around 7.”
Leaping to her feet, she said, “Not to be rude but thanks and goodbye.” Hanging up
the phone, she spun on Ray. “Talk to the Captain. I’ll get in touch with the business.
Maybe we can catch this bastard.”
Ray nodded and left while she dialed the phone. Knocking on the door, he entered
the office. Finishing his call, the Captain hung up the phone. “What’s up?”
“We may have caught a break.”
“Thank God. What is it?”
“A couple days ago, Tru spotted the link. Following it, we think we’ve spotted the
next target.”
“What’s the link?” After Ray explained what Tru had spotted, he grunted. “How the
hell’d you miss that?”
“Tru’s more intuitive than I am, and we only heard about Linderman that day. I was
looking for the link from a different direction.”
“All right. What do you need?”
“Tech found one business in the city with the shareholder link. They also learned the
place will have better than a half billion on hand for about three hours tomorrow.”
“And you think this guy’ll show?”
Ray was about to answer when Tru knocked. After being waved in, she said, “Just
spoke with their head guy. He was willing to let us set up in the safe when they move
the money.”
Staring thoughtfully into the squad-room, the Captain asked, “How certain are you
about this?”
Glancing at Tru out of the corner of his eye, Ray weighed his options. “About as
certain as we can be.”
“All right. Do it.”
**************
After the vault was closed, locking them both inside, Ray looked around. “Shit. I’ve
never seen this much cash in my life. Suppose they’d miss a few grand?”
Laughing, Tru picked up a stack of hundreds and smelled it before putting it back.
“Probably. Not that you’d get anywhere, since I’m willing to bet we’re being recorded.”
“Not to mention we’ll probably be strip-searched when they let us out?” After a few
minutes of silence, he looked directly at his partner. “You realize this has the very real
possibility of biting us in the ass?”
“Meaning?”
“If they don’t show up or, even worse, get away, we’ll probably be looking for work
next week.”
Shrugging, she leaned against the shelves behind her. “Possibly.”
As 5 became 6 and moved on toward 7, they both began to worry more about the
possibility of nobody showing up. Finally, at 6:30, Ray detected a slight movement near
Tru. Raising a hand sharply, he caught her attention and pointed it out before slipping
further into his concealment.
An inky blackness grew on the floor and a woman emerged, seeming almost to grow
out of the shadowy stain. She was wearing dark clothing and a hood of some sort, but
her green eyes seemed to pierce the darkened interior as she looked around.
Tru and Ray were hidden behind pellets of money, which allowed them to see her
without being spotted. Apparently satisfied that she was alone, she looked for the
surveillance cameras. With a grin, she waved her hand. “We can’t have that, now, c’n
we.” Dark shadows enveloped the cameras, preventing them from seeing what was
happening.
In her thickly accented, husky voice, she muttered, “Now, then. Let’s see how quick
ye c’n make a bloody half billion disappear, Devnet.”
Drawing his weapon, Ray stood from his concealment and took aim. “Police; don’t
move!”
Her shoulders hunched as she glanced back at him, her emerald eyes narrowed in
fury. “Ah, fuckin’ ‘ell!” Ray watched in stunned horror as she spun around and thrust
her fist toward him. A shadowy black rod emerged and launched toward him, barely
missing as he threw himself to the ground.
Tru watched the woman shrug and make a vague gesture. An inky pool appeared a
few feet away. As the woman crossed the distance, Tru stood and took aim, desperate
to stop her from vanishing. That same sensation of the breaking wave overcame her
as she shouted, “Not so fast, bitch!”
As the wave dissipated, the pool disappeared and the darkness surrounding the
cameras vanished. The woman looked around in horror, then spun in rage and thrust
her fist toward Tru. When nothing happened, her eyes widened as she realized
something had suddenly rendered her powerless, and then narrowed in rage. With an
incoherent shriek, she leapt at Tru, fingers clawed.
With a broad smile, Tru ducked the attack and slammed her heel into the base of the
woman’s skull in a vicious side kick. As she crumpled unconscious to the ground, Tru
took out her radio. “All right, Captain. Don’t ask me how she got in, or how she planned
on getting out, but we’ve got her.” Taking her handcuffs, she slapped them on the
unconscious woman’s wrists. Once that was done, she did a quick frisk of her body,
then checked her pulse and respiration.
Rubbing the shoulder he’d slammed into the floor, Ray walked over to them. “She all
right?”
Standing up, she flashed a wicked grin. “Yeah. She’ll have a blinding headache
when she wakes up, but that’s it.”
Wincing as he massaged the shoulder, he grunted, “I think I can live with that.”
Glancing down, he asked, “Any clue how the hell she pulled it off?”
Looking past him, she pointed toward where he had been standing. “Not a clue, but
you were damn lucky.”
“Holy God!” Walking over to the wall, he saw a small, perfectly formed hole carved in
it. “What the fuck?”
Just then the Captain led a small group of officers into the vault. Stopping just inside
the door, he stared at the unconscious woman. “Shit. Is she all right?” When Tru
nodded, he pointed out a pair of officers. “You and you haul her out.” Looking back at
Tru, he raised an eyebrow. “Why’s she asleep?”
Tru shrugged. “She threw something at Ray, and then attacked me. She missed; I
didn’t. I sort of figured unconscious was better than bleeding.”
Rolling his eyes, he turned to Ray, who showed him the hole. “Holy fucking shit!
What the hell’d she throw?”
Shrugging, Ray grimaced as his injured shoulder objected. “Don’t know. As soon as
she acted like she was throwing something, I hit the ground.”
“Good idea. What’s with the shoulder?”
“I landed on it. Feels bruised.”
“There’s an ambulance outside, since I wasn’t sure what hell you two would raise in
here. Get yourself checked out.”
**************
The next day was interviews and paperwork. Ray’s shoulder had been badly bruised
and had suffered a minor sprain, so he was taken to the hospital. The doctor put him in
a sling for a week, and prescribed painkillers and an anti-inflammatory.
In the interview room, they were sitting across the table from the woman they had
arrested. Tru was looking through the case notes in front of her. “So, Ms. Cormac-“
“How’d ye know m’name, bitch?”
Shrugging, she smiled. “We didn’t. You called yourself Devnet, and we’ve had our
eyes out for a woman with that name, so I took a gamble. Thanks for confirming.
Anyway, we have you for attempted grand larceny of six hundred million. All things
considered, we can make the case for you having actually stolen another six hundred
and thirty-five million. Now, nobody on earth needs that much themselves, and they
certainly don’t steal it for personal use. So, who were you funding?”
“Sit ‘n’ spin!”
Shifting his arm in the sling, Ray leaned back. “We have you linked with an arrest we
made a couple weeks back. Maybe you recognize the name Angus Sullivan?” the slight
widening of her eyes was all the confirmation the detectives needed. “We know he
was acting as a hit man for someone, but we’re not sure who. We do know, or strongly
suspect, that it’s the same person you were, shall we say, fundraising for. Give us a
name, and we should be able to cut a deal.”
“Go bugger yerself an’ git me a fuckin’ lawyer!” At the magic words they gathered
their notes and left the room, cursing once they were out of her hearing.
The final hours were tied up with more paperwork. Finally Ray drove Tru home.
Before she got out of the car, he looked over at her. “What time do you need me here
tomorrow?”
Opening the door, she thought for a minute. “His flight’s supposed to be in at 9:45.
We’ll probably want to leave here around 6 or 7.” Glancing at the time on his dash, she
thought quickly. “It’s nearly midnight. Counting the drive to your place and the drive
back, you’ll be lucky to get five or six hours. Why don’t you stay here tonight?”
“What about Delilah?”
“Mom’s not here tonight. She has some sort of big meeting out of town, so she’s
gone for a couple days. We have a spare room, with a bath if you want it, and I know
you carry a spare outfit in your trunk.”
After a moment’s thought, he agreed. After he parked the car, they went inside. 10 or
15 minutes later, after showing him the guest room, she was soaking in a hot bath.
After an hour, she started drying off and shutting off her lights. When she had turned
off every light save her bed lamp, she slipped into the pajamas she planned on
sleeping in, and tossed the towel into the bathroom.
As soon as she had done so, she spotted an odd shadow on the wall nearby. Before
she had a chance to realize what was going on, she was being drawn into it. Less than
a minute later, she found herself in the frigid air, wearing only the skimpy pajamas she
had pulled on earlier, near a street lamp. Swearing under her breath, she looked
around. “Where the fuck am I?”
Slipping back into the nearby shadows, she attempted to get her bearings. “Oh, you
have got to be fucking kidding me!” She had somehow emerged three houses down
from her own. Sprinting the distance, she grabbed the hidden key and slipped into her
own room. Less than an hour, she managed to fall asleep.
Chapter 5: Send a Thief
By: Chris Ward
January 20- 24, 2007
Tru had just finished dressing for work when her bedroom door slammed open.
“That asshole you call a partner’s here.”
Rolling her eyes, she finished belting on her weapon. “And?”
Her mother had been furious since the start of Tru’s suspension, but had waited to
say anything. “When the FUCK are you going to wake up, Gertrude? There were two of
you involved in that, but you’ll notice that you were the ONLY DAMNED ONE to get in
trouble!”
Slipping past her long enough to slam the door, Tru whirled on her mother in fury.
“Listen, damn it. I’ve put up with your shit for almost thirty fucking years! I get that you
have some sort of seriously fucked-up Man Hate because of my father, all right? But
this is not some sort of goddamned anti-woman campaign. Christ, Mom, I fucking SHOT
SOMEONE! THAT was the reason they suspended my ass. Would I do it again? DAMN
FUCKING RIGHT, but it was my goddamn bullet, not Ray’s, that put the guy down! THAT’S
THE ONLY FUCKING REASON RAY WASN’T FUCKING SUSPENDED!!! Not only did he not
put a hole in our suspect, but he doesn’t have a list of brutality complaints, most of
them justified, a mile long. Damn it, Ma, they had no fucking choice but to suspend me!”
Nearly tearing her door of its hinges, she turned her back on her speechless mother
and stormed down the hall. Grabbing what she needed, she put on her coat and yelled,
“Ray? Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
As they drove to the station, he glanced over where she sat steaming in the
passenger seat. “Problems?”
Closing her eyes, she shrugged. “The usual. Everything’s a big fucking conspiracy to
keep her perfect rape-daughter from getting ahead in a man’s world.”
“Thought I heard something like that.”
“You were listening?”
“I was actually trying not to, but you were… explaining things to her a little too loudly
to miss. Let me guess; you got put on leave, but I didn’t, so it’s a conspiracy?”
With a bitter grin, she nodded. “She deliberately ignores facts in favor of her
seriously fucked-up paranoid-delusions.” Deliberately shrugging the fight aside, she
looked out her window. “Anything new on the thefts?”
“I wish. Things’ve been quiet the past couple days. You’ll see what all we’ve got
when we get there.” He was about to say something further when the radio
interrupted. Frowning, he picked it up. “This is Taylor.”
“Report to the Corinthian Casino. They just reported a robbery.”
“Roger. On our way.”
Flipping on the lights and siren, he made a u-turn and sped to the crime scene.
“Looks like you’ll see one first hand, Gert.”
Inside the casino, which had closed due to the theft, they found the manager sitting
at the bar. Looking up from the table, he forced a smile. “Morning, detectives. Care for
a drink?”
Ray looked critically at the half-full glass on the counter and shook his head. “No
thanks. What happened?”
Standing up, he shrugged. “Want to see the safe first? Or the surveillance?”
After a glance at Tru, Ray grinned. “We’ll take the safe.”
Leading them down to the basement, he explained how the theft had been
discovered. “A couple hours ago, I sent one of the hostesses, Gina Bell, down to
refresh the Pit. Maybe 10 minutes later she flipped the alarms.”
Tru was looking around as they went down the hall. “Looks like a good security set
up. How much did they get?”
Stopping outside the open vault door, he gestured them ahead. “See for
yourselves.”
The massive safe, roughly the size of an expensive suite of apartments, had been
stripped bare. Not even a roll of quarters remained. Staring around in complete shock,
all she could say was, “Holy fuck!”
Ray had seen it several times already. Looking back at the manager, he pulled out
his notebook. “How much?”
“I don’t have exact figures right now, but I do know the amount to have been in
excess of three hundred million.”
Staggered by the amount he could only stare at his notebook. Tru had started
locating the various security measures and taking notes. Whistling in surprise, she
looked at the list. “Christ! Looks like six or eight cameras, a motion detector, heat
sensors and trip-beams at several different heights and angles around the room.
Given what I can see, I’m assuming there are pressure sensors in the floor as well?”
When he nodded, she shook her head. “How the hell’s that work?”
“Everyone with authority to open the safe is given a three-digit identification code.
When you input the code, the computer asks you whether you are withdrawing or
depositing, and how much; you have to input an exact amount. When the door opens,
the lasers are turned off and the pressure sensors are instructed to ignore the weight
of a single person; whoever inputs the code must enter alone. The pressure sensors
in the drawers and shelves are semi-intelligent; they ‘know,’ through the weight, the
precise amounts they hold. They are instructed to allow the amount input at the door to
either be added or removed from them. If you take or leave more an in-safe warning is
issued and you are given an opportunity to fix what may be a legitimate mistake. If after
3 minutes the mistake hasn’t been fixed, the safe closes, the entire labyrinth down
here goes into lockdown, and an alarm goes out over the security channels.”
Thinking quickly, Ray asked, “Did the alarm go off?”
“No. However it was they defeated the security system, they beat the entire thing.”
Looking over at Tru, who nodded, he put his notebook away. “We’re gonna need to
see that footage.”
“Of course. Is that all you need down here?”
Shrugging, Tru followed behind them. “I think so. Crime Scene’ll be here soon. They’
ll obviously need to look around.”
Shrugging, he led them to the security room above the main floor. On the way, Tru
noticed a small, dark room. “What’s in there?”
Glancing over his shoulder, the manager laughed. “Maybe thirty, forty years ago, a
while before Mr. Linderman bought this chain and renamed it, this was one of several
mob-owned casinos; the Gambino’s, I think. That room was where people caught
cheating were… persuaded… to stop. We still stick people caught cheating in that
room, even give them time to look at the marks on the table and the stains on the wall
before we join them. We take their information and put them in the system. If they’ve
been caught at any other casino, anywhere in the country, they get blacklisted. If they
haven’t, they’re warned and told to leave for the night.” Showing them into the security
room, he cued up the footage from the safe and left them alone. After a few hours, they
were leaving the casino.
Back at the precinct, the Captain waved them into his office. Once they were seated,
he leaned back in his chair. “What’s the situation?”
Ray glanced through his notes. “Same shit, different day. Like all the others, this one
was completely impossible. There’s no way that door could be forced without setting
off enough alarms to wake the dead, and there’s no other way in.”
“Surveillance footage?”
“We scanned it before we left. The tapes are on their way to the techs, but it’s the
same damn story. You can vaguely make out that someone might be there, but it almost
immediately goes blank for five, maybe ten, minutes; and when it clears everything’s
gone.”
“How much”
“We’ll get an exact number when the records get here, but the manager estimated at
least three hundred.”
Nearly choking on his coffee, the Captain gasped, “Million?” When Ray nodded, he
fell back in his chair. “Christ! That nearly doubles what they’ve already grabbed.”
Looking out his window into the squad-room, he sighed heavily. “Do we have
anything?”
Loosing a frustrated breath, Ray scratched at his chin. “I wish. Another dot in the
map maybe, and another few hundred million to keep our eyes out for, but that’s it.”
Swearing under his breath, the Captain looked at his clock. “Grab some lunch, then
get your asses to the war-room and find something.”
**************
Several hours later, they sat staring at the map. Having just finished walking her
through the case, Ray threw his notes on the table in exasperation. “That’s all we’ve
got, Tru. No links; no patterns; no fucking clues.”
Tru kept focused on the map. “There’s always a pattern, Ray. You just haven’t gotten
a chance for a fresh look.” Tearing her eyes away, she began flipping through the case
notes on the table. After an hour, she stopped as she ran across a familiar name. “Didn’
t that manager tell us that Linderman owned that casino?”
Confused, he glanced at his notebook. “It sounds familiar. Yeah, he mentioned it
when you asked about that room. Why?”
“Because I just ran across his name.” Looking through the remaining paperwork,
she made a series of notes. After an hour, Ray left to grab dinner for the two of them.
After several more hours, nearly 8 that evening, she was finally finished.
Rubbing her forehead, she took a drink of her soda. “Counting the casino, there've
been six of these thefts?” When Ray nodded, she picked up her notes. “In that case, I’
ve found a potential link. In each location, the majority shareholder and at least one of
the minority shareholders are on this list: Linderman, Petrelli, Deveaux and Bishop.”
“You think they’re being targeted?”
Looking thoughtfully at the map, she shrugged. “Maybe. We know Linderman was
under investigation before his death derailed it. The Petrelli name was closely linked
with him, and the family’s fairly prominent, although they’ve mostly dropped from site.
Not a clue about Bishop, but Deveaux rings a bell.”
Resting her eyes for a minute, she glanced at the clock. “Christ! I didn’t realize how
fucking late it was! Let’s get this shit to the lab and take off. Maybe the techs can get
something out of this while we sleep.”
**************
Over the next couple of days the thief stayed quiet. Unfortunately, that helped keep
the case frozen. Ray and Tru spent their days pouring over the case, praying for
something to jump out at them. Thus far, nothing had done so.
Shortly before they were ready to leave on the twenty-third, the computer lab called.
Putting it on speaker, Tru said, “Go ahead.”
“Those names you gave us to search with? It took some digging, since the trails are
hidden under a half dozen layers but there is one other business we could find. The
majority shareholder is Bishop, with Petrelli as the largest minority holder.”
“What can you give us?”
“It’s some sort of clearing house for the Reserve. It even has an armored transport
service attached.”
Ray looked a little confused. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Every dime the Reserve sends us goes through one of maybe six or eight clearing
houses before being distributed. This is one of them.”
Looking through her notes, Tru commented, “We know the thefts have been
committed in the morning, when the business in question had an unusually large
amount on hand. When is this place scheduled for another shipment?”
“Give me a minute.” After several minutes, the tech’s voice came back over the line.
“Looks like they have one tomorrow morning.”
Jerking upright, Tru stared at the phone. “Fuck! Give me an amount and a time!”
“Umm… looks like about six hundred million coming in around 5 in the morning, and
being shipped out around 7.”
Leaping to her feet, she said, “Not to be rude but thanks and goodbye.” Hanging up
the phone, she spun on Ray. “Talk to the Captain. I’ll get in touch with the business.
Maybe we can catch this bastard.”
Ray nodded and left while she dialed the phone. Knocking on the door, he entered
the office. Finishing his call, the Captain hung up the phone. “What’s up?”
“We may have caught a break.”
“Thank God. What is it?”
“A couple days ago, Tru spotted the link. Following it, we think we’ve spotted the
next target.”
“What’s the link?” After Ray explained what Tru had spotted, he grunted. “How the
hell’d you miss that?”
“Tru’s more intuitive than I am, and we only heard about Linderman that day. I was
looking for the link from a different direction.”
“All right. What do you need?”
“Tech found one business in the city with the shareholder link. They also learned the
place will have better than a half billion on hand for about three hours tomorrow.”
“And you think this guy’ll show?”
Ray was about to answer when Tru knocked. After being waved in, she said, “Just
spoke with their head guy. He was willing to let us set up in the safe when they move
the money.”
Staring thoughtfully into the squad-room, the Captain asked, “How certain are you
about this?”
Glancing at Tru out of the corner of his eye, Ray weighed his options. “About as
certain as we can be.”
“All right. Do it.”
**************
After the vault was closed, locking them both inside, Ray looked around. “Shit. I’ve
never seen this much cash in my life. Suppose they’d miss a few grand?”
Laughing, Tru picked up a stack of hundreds and smelled it before putting it back.
“Probably. Not that you’d get anywhere, since I’m willing to bet we’re being recorded.”
“Not to mention we’ll probably be strip-searched when they let us out?” After a few
minutes of silence, he looked directly at his partner. “You realize this has the very real
possibility of biting us in the ass?”
“Meaning?”
“If they don’t show up or, even worse, get away, we’ll probably be looking for work
next week.”
Shrugging, she leaned against the shelves behind her. “Possibly.”
As 5 became 6 and moved on toward 7, they both began to worry more about the
possibility of nobody showing up. Finally, at 6:30, Ray detected a slight movement near
Tru. Raising a hand sharply, he caught her attention and pointed it out before slipping
further into his concealment.
An inky blackness grew on the floor and a woman emerged, seeming almost to grow
out of the shadowy stain. She was wearing dark clothing and a hood of some sort, but
her green eyes seemed to pierce the darkened interior as she looked around.
Tru and Ray were hidden behind pellets of money, which allowed them to see her
without being spotted. Apparently satisfied that she was alone, she looked for the
surveillance cameras. With a grin, she waved her hand. “We can’t have that, now, c’n
we.” Dark shadows enveloped the cameras, preventing them from seeing what was
happening.
In her thickly accented, husky voice, she muttered, “Now, then. Let’s see how quick
ye c’n make a bloody half billion disappear, Devnet.”
Drawing his weapon, Ray stood from his concealment and took aim. “Police; don’t
move!”
Her shoulders hunched as she glanced back at him, her emerald eyes narrowed in
fury. “Ah, fuckin’ ‘ell!” Ray watched in stunned horror as she spun around and thrust
her fist toward him. A shadowy black rod emerged and launched toward him, barely
missing as he threw himself to the ground.
Tru watched the woman shrug and make a vague gesture. An inky pool appeared a
few feet away. As the woman crossed the distance, Tru stood and took aim, desperate
to stop her from vanishing. That same sensation of the breaking wave overcame her
as she shouted, “Not so fast, bitch!”
As the wave dissipated, the pool disappeared and the darkness surrounding the
cameras vanished. The woman looked around in horror, then spun in rage and thrust
her fist toward Tru. When nothing happened, her eyes widened as she realized
something had suddenly rendered her powerless, and then narrowed in rage. With an
incoherent shriek, she leapt at Tru, fingers clawed.
With a broad smile, Tru ducked the attack and slammed her heel into the base of the
woman’s skull in a vicious side kick. As she crumpled unconscious to the ground, Tru
took out her radio. “All right, Captain. Don’t ask me how she got in, or how she planned
on getting out, but we’ve got her.” Taking her handcuffs, she slapped them on the
unconscious woman’s wrists. Once that was done, she did a quick frisk of her body,
then checked her pulse and respiration.
Rubbing the shoulder he’d slammed into the floor, Ray walked over to them. “She all
right?”
Standing up, she flashed a wicked grin. “Yeah. She’ll have a blinding headache
when she wakes up, but that’s it.”
Wincing as he massaged the shoulder, he grunted, “I think I can live with that.”
Glancing down, he asked, “Any clue how the hell she pulled it off?”
Looking past him, she pointed toward where he had been standing. “Not a clue, but
you were damn lucky.”
“Holy God!” Walking over to the wall, he saw a small, perfectly formed hole carved in
it. “What the fuck?”
Just then the Captain led a small group of officers into the vault. Stopping just inside
the door, he stared at the unconscious woman. “Shit. Is she all right?” When Tru
nodded, he pointed out a pair of officers. “You and you haul her out.” Looking back at
Tru, he raised an eyebrow. “Why’s she asleep?”
Tru shrugged. “She threw something at Ray, and then attacked me. She missed; I
didn’t. I sort of figured unconscious was better than bleeding.”
Rolling his eyes, he turned to Ray, who showed him the hole. “Holy fucking shit!
What the hell’d she throw?”
Shrugging, Ray grimaced as his injured shoulder objected. “Don’t know. As soon as
she acted like she was throwing something, I hit the ground.”
“Good idea. What’s with the shoulder?”
“I landed on it. Feels bruised.”
“There’s an ambulance outside, since I wasn’t sure what hell you two would raise in
here. Get yourself checked out.”
**************
The next day was interviews and paperwork. Ray’s shoulder had been badly bruised
and had suffered a minor sprain, so he was taken to the hospital. The doctor put him in
a sling for a week, and prescribed painkillers and an anti-inflammatory.
In the interview room, they were sitting across the table from the woman they had
arrested. Tru was looking through the case notes in front of her. “So, Ms. Cormac-“
“How’d ye know m’name, bitch?”
Shrugging, she smiled. “We didn’t. You called yourself Devnet, and we’ve had our
eyes out for a woman with that name, so I took a gamble. Thanks for confirming.
Anyway, we have you for attempted grand larceny of six hundred million. All things
considered, we can make the case for you having actually stolen another six hundred
and thirty-five million. Now, nobody on earth needs that much themselves, and they
certainly don’t steal it for personal use. So, who were you funding?”
“Sit ‘n’ spin!”
Shifting his arm in the sling, Ray leaned back. “We have you linked with an arrest we
made a couple weeks back. Maybe you recognize the name Angus Sullivan?” the slight
widening of her eyes was all the confirmation the detectives needed. “We know he
was acting as a hit man for someone, but we’re not sure who. We do know, or strongly
suspect, that it’s the same person you were, shall we say, fundraising for. Give us a
name, and we should be able to cut a deal.”
“Go bugger yerself an’ git me a fuckin’ lawyer!” At the magic words they gathered
their notes and left the room, cursing once they were out of her hearing.
The final hours were tied up with more paperwork. Finally Ray drove Tru home.
Before she got out of the car, he looked over at her. “What time do you need me here
tomorrow?”
Opening the door, she thought for a minute. “His flight’s supposed to be in at 9:45.
We’ll probably want to leave here around 6 or 7.” Glancing at the time on his dash, she
thought quickly. “It’s nearly midnight. Counting the drive to your place and the drive
back, you’ll be lucky to get five or six hours. Why don’t you stay here tonight?”
“What about Delilah?”
“Mom’s not here tonight. She has some sort of big meeting out of town, so she’s
gone for a couple days. We have a spare room, with a bath if you want it, and I know
you carry a spare outfit in your trunk.”
After a moment’s thought, he agreed. After he parked the car, they went inside. 10 or
15 minutes later, after showing him the guest room, she was soaking in a hot bath.
After an hour, she started drying off and shutting off her lights. When she had turned
off every light save her bed lamp, she slipped into the pajamas she planned on
sleeping in, and tossed the towel into the bathroom.
As soon as she had done so, she spotted an odd shadow on the wall nearby. Before
she had a chance to realize what was going on, she was being drawn into it. Less than
a minute later, she found herself in the frigid air, wearing only the skimpy pajamas she
had pulled on earlier, near a street lamp. Swearing under her breath, she looked
around. “Where the fuck am I?”
Slipping back into the nearby shadows, she attempted to get her bearings. “Oh, you
have got to be fucking kidding me!” She had somehow emerged three houses down
from her own. Sprinting the distance, she grabbed the hidden key and slipped into her
own room. Less than an hour, she managed to fall asleep.