Chapter XV

ictor was already seated at a booth and had his coffee when the Chief walked in.  "My apologies Mr. Bension.  Too many things to do and not enough hours in the day. 

"I hear you Chief.  No apology needed.  But you'll find, the older you get, the less it takes to keep you busy!"

Both men laughed, and the waitress appeared at the side of their table.  The place was lit with light stanchions made of heavy wrought iron.  The heavy texture on the walls created the look of a stone fortress under the dim light.  The electric lamps flickered like a candle flame and aided the warm ambience of the restaurant.

Both men had ordered drinks, and had received them.  They had just turned in their orders for steak, and the waitress returned with some bread.  He had a piece of bread buttered, and had just taken a sip of the hot coffee when his phone rang.  With a sigh and an exasperated look, he fished it out of his pocked, opened it and said "Hello."

Victor could hear someone shouting over the phone and looked at Chief Perry with surprise.  The Chief was already rising to his feet and in too much of a hurry, sloshing some coffee on the table.

"You'll have to excuse me Victor.  There's been a shooting at the Mayors home.  I have to go" and took off almost in a run.  Victor saw the lights on his cruiser come on and heard the scream of the siren long after it screamed past the side of the restaurant.

"I think he was in a hurry wasn't he Mr. Bension?" asked the waitress.

"Yes, and I must go as well.  I want you to bill the city for the dinner tonight.  And put a twenty dollar tip on it for yourself.  Someone will be by to sign it for you."  Victor snapped a call to Lane and told him to call the Team and meet him at the Mayors home.

He drove like a mad man to the home of the Mayor way up on the hill.  Few knew of the road which doubled around behind the house and came up to the fence within fifty feet of the back patio and the pool.  He mentioned this to Lane thinking the Police wouldn't let him up the road.  They probably had orders to keep persons of no authority out.

When Victor pulled up to the fence at the rear of the Mayors home he noticed a fifteen foot U-Haul moving van.  "Hmm" he thought.  That looks similar to the one that pulled in front of me when I was almost to Russell Adams house.  He heard another vehicle coming and fast and turned to see Len, Melinda, William and Sharon in the same car.

They were having dinner just down the road from the Fortress where the Chief and Victor had met less than an hour ago.  Victor clued them in on what was going on and mentioned the van.  "Would you check that out?" he told William.  Meet me inside as soon as you get through.

"Sure enough" William responded.

Victor opened the gate and stepped through, nearly knocking Nancy Wilhelm to the ground. "Oh, I'm so sorry" he said.  Then, out of surprise asked "What are you doing here?"

"I was with Russell Adams.  He had some business with the Mayor.  But the Mayor double crossed him and pulled a gun shooting Russell twice as soon as he stepped into the door and reached for the envelope as instructed by the Mayor.  Russell charged him and I saw the envelope that Russell was supposed to pick up, and grabbed it and ran out the door.  Another shot rang out and I thought he was chasing and shooting at me so I hid behind some bushes."

After the police got here, I started making my way around the fence behind the bushes to get away.  I was hoping Russell had left the keys in the van.  We were running off to get married with intentions to live in San Diego far from this corruption filled city."

She stuck out an envelope and Victor took it.  She said "Russell told me there was someone in San Diego he was supposed to ice for the Mayor, and had promised him ten thousand up front, twenty thousand to finish the job.  The picture of the person he was to eliminate was supposed to be in the envelope."

Victor looked at the envelope and it was sealed.  He opened it and withdrew a picture.  He glanced at it and then held it out for Nancy to see.  She took one look at it and keeled over.  Victor hollered at Will and Len to come over but be careful not to be seen from the house.  Instantly they showed up, and picked Nancy up, hauling her to the back of their car.

"Are the keys in the truck?" he asked.

"Yes sir" came the quick response.

"Good.  Drive it to a secure spot away from here where you can search it."  Then he added "if you get caught, we all go down."

"Mel, you and Sharon take Nancy in your car.  Same instructions.  Oh, here, take this" and handed her the envelope.

William knew of a vacant building just a mile from there in a commercial complex.  Sharon and Mel met them there as they backed the truck in, pulled the car in after and shut the door.  Nancy came to in the back of the car while they were en route, and sat quietly crying in the back seat.

They raised the door to the truck but didn't see too much other than just some junky looking household items.  They were dirty.  Dusty.  Like you'd find in a storage shed that had been shut up for a long time.

They methodically began to pull stuff out of the truck.  What they found amazed them and scared them at the same time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Victor strode on up to the house and stepped into the back door.  On the floor a corpse was covered up with a white plastic Police tarp marked Stillwell Police Department.  He bent over and lifted the corner of the tarp and looked into the unseeing eyes of Russell Adams.

A Policeman came over and said "Mr. Bension, how are you doing tonight?"  Then "what in the world are you doing out here?"

"I was having dinner with the Chief when he got the call.  Who is this guy?

I don't know him other than than seeing him around town a little bit."  He paused then resumed speaking.

"Mayor Ludlow startled him in what was probably a break-in.  Seeing only a vagrant, and not knowing who he was, he ran into another room.  The man then charged Mr. Ludlow, and Mr. Ludlow fired.  By then, the man was on him, and he fired more.  That's when the man ceased to struggle.

He went on with his narrative.  "He then called the Police Station."

The coroner had arrived, uncovered the body, checked him out a little, felt for a pulse and to see if his pupils would respond then, satisfied he was dead, stuck a sharp probe into his liver to get his temperature.  There was blood everywhere.  There had to have been more of a struggle before the final shots that the Officer had reported.

"Hello Victor" said Chief Perry.  I apologize for not bringing you with me.  I just didn't know what kind of a loose cannon was up here, and I didn't want a bunch of people messing around with the crime scene."

Victor held up his hand saying "no apology needed Chief.  I've been through many of these and I've never gotten used to them.  I'm just sorry we didn't get to eat before this all went down!"

"I heard that man!" the Chief responded

He was summoned into another room, "Excuse me Victor" he said and he turned and started walking away.   Then, "I'll be back in a second."

Within just a few minutes, Lane stepped through the door with William.  He had stopped at the warehouse where the men were unloading the truck.  It was nearly empty when he got there, and he stood around while they pulled the last few items out of the truck.  Nancy just sat in the back seat of Lens' car staring out the window.  She was motionless as they finished hauling out the rest of the junk.

William wanted to come with Lane and it was decided Len would stay with the truck and the girls.  They sauntered over to Victor and began to tell him of the contents of the truck.  When they told him they'd found the briefcase, he asked what was in it.

"The weapons" said William.

"Did you find anything else of importance?" he ventured.

"Yes.  We found the original disks.  And several copies of same."

Victor scrunched up his eyebrows. "I guess I'm confused.  I thought the 'original' were thrown away.  What do you mean the 'original' discs?"

"We found the original discs.  Somehow Russell had gotten a hold of them.  Probably by dumpster diving.  We think he had the chance to copy the original discs before I destroyed the content inside the stator I built.  I remember Boslo tossing them into the waste basket as he left the meeting that day.  That meeting was to turn over the discs to the FBI that day.

Anyway, Russell had restored them then created about six copies of the entire set . . . well, that we know of" William finished.

"Did you see the picture of the person Russell was to ice?" Victor asked.

"Yeah" replied William.

How is she taking it?"

"Like a robot . . ."

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