Chapter IX

haron awoke to sunshine coming through a window she did not recognize.  There were flowers all around, and Dale Pearson was sitting in a chair in the corner reading.  He was positioned in a way that he could see if someone came in, they would not see him.  A nurse came into the room and cheerfully stated "well, good morning!  Did you have a nice nap?"

Dale looked up from his hiding place to see Sharon laying there with her eyes open.  She had fought and won a hard battle the last couple of days, but she looked much better this morning.

And the battle she had fought had been a deadly life and death struggle with a man intent on disemboweling her.  True, she had blown him nearly in two with that big old shotgun, but had Dale not been there instantly, she would have died on the floor of their house.

Sharon was tired.  She was tired of the stress, the strain of everyday effort just to survive, the mental strain . . .  She was just tired.  She wondered where William was, what he'd been through, or even if he was dead.  They had gotten very little out of Tack because of the lawyer he hired, and, he'd gleefully learned that Sharon was in the hospital fighting for her life.

While he'd had no part in that plot, he was glad to see her get "justice" dealt back to her.  But that was the way a criminal thought.  Even criminal cops.  He was a thug.  There was just no way around it.  And it was a toss up between the CIA and the ATF as to which of the Federal Agencies was the dirtiest, but with him being as dirty as he was, the ATF was the dirtiest of the two.

And she didn't have a whole lot of respect for the FBI, the organization for which she worked in the pursuit of justice.  But she would be back.  And she would be back until her friends and husband were accounted for.  God help the person who had harmed them.

On the day Victor dropped in, he had some news.  Agent Rice was being very cooperative and so was Agent Wilson.

"Wilson?  Boslo Wilson?"  She scrunched up her eyebrows wondering where she had heard that name.  Then she remembered hearing it in the report of the meeting when William turned over the discs to the FBI.  He was the ATF, FBI liaison sent from Washington to retrieve the discs.  She shuddered at the thought of the ATF having control of them and using what was in them.

But Victor would not release them, and he was being pressured by the associated agencies to either file charges or let the men go.  He had bluffed the Commissioners of each agency about as far as he could.  He simply had to have some information, and fast!

"Get me into the cell with Tack.  I'll make him talk," she growled.  I'm sick and tired of being the good guy, and I'm ready to kick some tail and get some answers.  Ask Tack what he wants for his last meal, and when he asks what's going on, tell him I'm coming and he ain't seen me mad yet.  Oh, and place him in what he thinks is a sound proof cell."

Victor chuckled to himself and said "I think I can arrange that.  Bout six?"

She gave him the thumbs up signal, then asked "any news about William, or Lane or Len and Melinda?"

"No, that's what we're waiting on.  But with all the evidence piling up, I'm beginning to think there is a Kingpin somewhere who is at the bottom of all this.  I aim to find out who it is and bring him down.  Enough people have died over this Crawley Caper."

He started out the door again, phone in hand.  Roger?  Yeah, this is Victor.  I need a job done and right away.  He stopped and paused, then looked straight at Dale sitting there quietly.  He motioned for him to follow him, and he got up and stepped out of hearing range of the room with Dale on his heels.  "We're expecting another hit attempt on Sharon.  Rice stated to one of the questioners he didn't look for her to live through a second attempt.

Dale looked tired but said "Chief I'll not leave her room."

"See that you don't officer Pearson."  Victor started down the hall, then turned and paused.  "She will be released this evening, but she's going to need some strong and capable men around her."

Pearson looked at Victor and bluntly said "you know she's not capable of interrogating Tack.  He'd kill her this time.  So, are you using her as bait?"

"Call it what ever you want to officer.  But I mean to wind this thing up or die in the attempt.  Let's get something straight though; I will never send someone out to do a job I won't do myself, or use an officer I don't think is capable of the job.  Do you understand officer?"

"Yes sir."  He decided to let the conversation stop where it was instead of risking the wrath of Victor Bension.  At that, Victor turned and started down the hall.  Dale decided he would protect Sharon or die in the process.  He had grown quite fond of her, and she was very beautiful, even sick as she was.

When Dale stepped out of the room Sharon felt something she had not felt since her and William were separated in Las Vegas.  All the loneliness seemed to come down on her at once and she felt abandoned.  She wished for her XD, but found nothing with which to protect herself should the need arise.

She quieted down when Dale walked back into the room.  She felt she could trust him and depend on him.  He had certainly saved her life just a few days ago.  It was nigh onto six when she awoke, and the nurse was readying a wheelchair for her.  There were four men in her room to accompany her on the trip to the station.

She recognized one of them as the lead man to which she had spoken about the pick up of Rice.  She smiled at him and said "I ain't so tough now am I?"

"You're a lot tougher than I would be in this situation Sharon!" he responded.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At the precinct, Sharon stopped the man pushing the wheelchair before she got to the corner.  She was fully dressed as if she was going to work.  She asked for her "heels" and slipped them on when handed to her.  She then stuck an Arkansas toothpick into her bra for fast retrieval, and walked around the corner.

Tack was just finishing the huge meal he had ordered.  He thought they were just bluffing when they placed him in the "sound proof room."  He also thought it was cool that he'd just eaten what the jailer called his last meal.  He burped long and noisily, satisfied with a perfect meal, one like he hadn't had for a while.

Then, he heard the high heels of a woman on a mission.  A little chill went up his spine as he remembered something the jailer said as he locked the door of the padded room.  And then she stepped around the corner.  "Thought I was dead did you?"

Terror was riding up high by that time and she took a step closer to the cell. She paused and said "I've some questions for you.  Remember that beating you gave Lane Wardlow?  Well, he died this morning.  And that made me mad.  But do you know what?  I purchased a little time in here from Victor, and I'm going to do some payback.  No one else is even close, so screaming ain't gonna help."

She stepped closer to the cell, and Tack backed up.  All his smug character was draining out of him.  She reached into her bra and pulled out the Arkansas toothpick, touched the little silver button on the side, and the blade snapped out clicking loudly as it locked open, glinting in the light above her head.  On her face was the look of someone who was ready to get some payback for a friend.

Tack yelled at the jailer.  "Oh, didn't they tell you Tack?  This is a sound proof room.  Ain't nobody can hear you but me, and I aim to hear a whole bunch more before I kill you.  Do you understand tough boy?"

She moved closer, then said in a low voice.  "I'm so tired of the police game, of catching bad guys and seeing them go free.  I'm tired of being a good cop and see my friends be hurt and maimed and killed with no recompense.  There ain't nothing you can tell me that I want to hear, except you screaming like a woman."

"Remember how you screamed the other night when you thought I couldn't take you?  And I wasn't even mad then.  Now, I'm getting pretty mad, and, I'm wanting some justice.  But not the kind of justice the liberal soft bellied lawyers yammer for.  I'm here to see you turn blue."

She took another step toward the cell, and stood there seductively.  "I want to see some real blood.  I want to see what color of blood a backstabbing coward bleeds.  Are you ready?"

She was nearly to the door of the cell and she had plenty more to say.  She produced a key to the cell door, and twirled it around her finger by the ring it was on.  It glinted and flashed as the light caught it.  "Ever heard a man scream when he was being skinned alive?  She stuck the key in the door, and Tack came alive.

"I'll tell you anything you want to hear.  Just don't come any closer!" he yelled.

"Nah.  It's too late for that," Sharon said quietly and with a menace that curdled his blood.  "Besides, I ain't killed nobody since I shot the FBI Commissioner in the back.  I felt his warm blood on my face grow cold, and I liked the thrill of it.  Ever tasted your victims blood Tack?"

She licked the blade of the knife.  "This one's for you."

Tack fell to his knees and started talking.  Sharon looked and he had pissed himself.  He was singing like a bird, and in just a few seconds, all his dirty secrets concerning Walter and Judge Baker gushed out.  He was still on his knees begging for mercy when Victor came in.  "Did you get that Chief?"

"Yeah," he responded.  "Remind me never to get you mad at me.  He'll sit in the gas chamber for this."

"See that he does Chief."  Sharon turned around and walked back to the corner behind which her wheelchair sat.  She felt faint and before she could reach the wheel chair, the ceiling turned black and started coming down on top of her.  Six pairs of hands reached out and grabbed her, letting her down gently on the floor.  One of the female officers was working on her.  She was bleeding again, and the ambulance which had delivered her to the precinct had orders to stand by.

When summoned, they came running, and instantly went to work on her.  She's bleeding on the inside as well as the outside.  Something was very wrong on the inside of her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was a full week later that she awoke to the early morning sunshine streaming through the same window.  She looked around and saw three very handsome men standing close.  One was William, another was Len, and the other was Lane.  "Where's Melinda?" she said weakly.

"Did I hear you right?  You mean I've been gone for a week and you're asking for Melinda?" William was laughing.  "Ok.  Melinda, step up here.  She's yammering for you." William said.

Melinda peeked around the curtain and said "Hey girl, you gonna lay in that bed from now on or what?"

Tears of joy ran down her face as she hugged four of the most precious people in her life.  Dale Pearson was beaming as he looked on.

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