George and Gracie
Chapter 01
This story is based on the Star Trek Movie The Voyage Home featuring the original crew of the starship Enterprise along with of course the cast of Ironside. I do not own any of the characters. They are the creation of Collier Young and Gene Rodenberry.
1.1
"Chief, are you sure you don't want to go to the show with us tonight?" Eve asked Ironside.
"No thanks Eve. The last two times I went to the show with you, Ed and Mark, I did not stay for the conclusion. I really don't like today's police dramas. They don't resemble reality. I will just watch television and go to bed early. You enjoy the show," Ironside said.
The door opened and Ed Brown walked in. "That wraps it up chief. We just booked Tony Martini. He won't beat the charges this time. Not even your brother could get him off." Ed noticed that the chief had not changed into casual clothes. "You are not going to the show dressed in that suit are you?"
"The chief has decided to stay home, Ed," Eve informed him.
"Come on chief! With all the cases we have had to solve in the past few months, you deserve to play hooky as much as we do. Why don't you go and change your clothes. We will wait for you. The first few minutes of the movie are advertisements anyway."
"No thanks, Ed. Barbara is staying tonight. We will just watch television. You go out and enjoy yourselves. I'll see you on Monday."
"You sure, chief?" Ed gave him one last chance to change his mind.
"I'm sure. See you Monday," Ironside said. He turned his chair and wheeled to the kitchen.
Ed looked at Eve who shrugged. "Goodnight, chief," Ed and Eve said at the same time. They left to meet Mark in the police garage.
Ironside checked the chili. It was cooked. He looked at his watch. It was seven o'clock. Where was Barbara? They had not been together for nearly a week. It was part of the reason he had not gone with his staff to the movies. He could have sat through another one of their silly police dramas because he enjoyed their company but he wanted to see Barbara.
A knock sounded on the door. Ironside wheeled up the ramp and opened the door. Barbara stood on the other side. In her left hand, she held a bottle of wine. "Are we alone?"
Ironside smiled. "Ed, Mark and Eve went to the movies. We are alone."
She handed him the bottle of wine. Ironside wheeled back down the ramp. He put the bottle of wine on the table. He wheeled to the kitchen and brought the pot of chili to the table.
"What time do you expect Mark back?" Barbara asked him.
"Monday morning," he answered with a grin. "He is staying at Ed's."
Ironside began dishing up the chili. "Sit down." He pulled a chair out for Barbara. She sat down and poured the wine in both of their glasses.
"I ran into Mark downstairs. He said you finally arrested Tommy Martini. Do you think you will be able to make the charges stick this time? He has slipped through the courts twice now."
Ironside tasted the chili and smiled. "He won't get away this time. We have him on film killing the grocery store owner. I have that security tape tucked safely away. It will remain out of sight until the trial."
When dinner was over Ironside and wheeled away from the table. Barbara got up, pick up the dishes and carried them to the sink. "Just leave the rest of them there. I will take care of them in the morning."
Barbara could see that Ironside was extremely tired. "Why don't we watch television in the bedroom where we will be more comfortable?"
Ironside agreed. He did not particularly want to sit up in his wheelchair much longer. His back was bothering him and he wanted to stretch out. They both got ready for bed. Ironside switched out of his wheelchair and into bed. After making love, Barbara laid her head on his shoulder and ran her fingers through his chest hair.
She reached for the remote control and began surfing though the channels. She stopped at an old science fiction movie. She could tell from his steady breathing that he had already fallen asleep. She watched the movie to its conclusion, turned off the television and went to sleep in Ironside's arms.
1.2
Ironside woke up to darkness. He glanced at the clock. It was only five o'clock in the morning. He stretched his arms out above his head. He had spent a wonderful weekend with Barbara. He could not remember the last time he had an uninterrupted weekend. But it was Monday morning and another week was about to begin.
He had kept Mark up quite late the previous night so he decided not to wake him. Using the bed frame, Ironside pulled himself up into a sitting position and then got into his wheelchair.
With no major cases on his plate, today would be busy but routine. He and his staff would spend the day working on unsolved cases. Ironside wheeled into the bathroom for a shower and shave. He got dressed and headed back out to the main room. When he entered, he could smell bacon and eggs. After all the time Mark had spent with him, he would still fix him eggs, even though he knew he did not care for eggs.
"Morning, chief," Mark caled out. Breakfast is just about ready."
Ironside wheeled over to the table where Mark had set a place setting for him. Mark returned from the kitchen and scrapped eggs and bacon out of the frying pan and onto Ironside's plate. He set down two slices of toast in front of him. Walking back to the kitchen, he brought back a coffee pot and poured the chief a cup of coffee.
"So how was the movie? Ironside inquired.
"Typical shoot 'em up cop movie with no one paying any attention to police procedure. It is a good thing you did not go on Friday. You would have hated it."
"They don't make any good cop shows anymore," Ironside grumbled. "They just make us look bad and everyone thinks that is how we operate."
Ironside read the paper while Mark cleaned up. By the time he finished with his paper, Ed and Eve were walking through the door.
"Morning, chief," They both called out at the same time.
Both Mark and Ironside returned the greeting. The phone rang. Mark picked it up and announced, "Chief Ironside's office... One moment please." He turned to the chief and said, "There is a Dr. Gillian Taylor here to see you."
"I do not know a Dr. Taylor," Ironside said, reaching into his memory. He thought for a moment and then said, "Tell them to send her up."
A blond woman in her thirties walked into Ironside's office. She walked directly over to Ironside and said, "You don't know me Chief Ironside but I need your help."
"Sit down, Dr. Taylor. These people are members of my staff, Sgt. Ed Brown, Officer Eve Whitfield and Mark Sanger. Now what is it you want me to do?"
I am a marine biologist. I work at the Citation Institute. I am not sure if you are aware that we have a couple of humpback whales named..."
"George and Gracie," Ironside finished for her. "Yes, doctor, it happens that I am aware of it." Ironside said nothing further. He waited for Gillian to go on.
"Well chief, less than an hour ago two men came to the institute and joined the tour. They were dressed very strangely. The one man called himself Admiral Kirk. The other man's name was Spock. I do not know if that was his first or last name."
Ironside, who had been listening attentively, asked, "What was strange about the way they were dressed?"
"Admiral Kirk had on what looked like some kind of uniform while Spock had on what almost looked like a bathrobe with a ban around his head. They seemed extremely interested in my whales."
Ironside smiled. "I don't find that particularly strange, doctor. I have heard that attendance at your institute has gone up sharply since George and Gracie were brought in."
"It has but you have not let me finish, Chief Ironside."
Amused by her reprimand, Ironside smiled and said, "I am sorry doctor. Please go on."
"While I had the tour group inside looking into the whale tank, the man named Spock jumped into the tank and swam over to Gracie. He put his hands on Gracie's head and remained that way for the longest time."
"Then what happened?" Ironside inquired.
"I left the tour behind momentarily and arrived outside at George and Gracie's tank just as Spock was getting out of the water."
When she hesitated again, Ironside gave her another verbal nudge. "And then?"
"Well, Admiral Kirk followed me to the tank. He assured me that they meant the whales no harm. When I said they were messing with my whales, Spock said and I quote, they were not the hell my whales. I said I suppose the hell they told you that and he said, the hell they did."
"Yes, and then what happened." Ironside continued to gently push her to keep going.
"Spock said something very strange to Admiral Kirk. He said, Admiral if we were to assume these whale are ours for the taking then we would be as guilty as those that caused their extinction. Past tense, Chief Ironside, caused their extinction. I am worried they might try to steal the whales."
Ironside smiled, attempting to hold back laughter. "Miss Taylor, it is Miss Taylor isn't it?"
"Yes, of course," she answered.
"Miss Taylor, even if they wanted to steal the whales, it is not as if they could load them on a truck and drive away with them, now is it?"
"Well no, of course they couldn't."
"I don't think you have anything to worry about. They sound like a couple of kooks. They could not possibly steal the whales. If I were you, I would simply distribute their descriptions to your security to prevent their entry into the Citation Institute. That will prevent them from doing any harm to the whales. Does that help ease your mind?"
"No, Chief Ironside, it doesn't. They could slip past security and harm the whales. I cannot allow that to happen. I need your help."
"Miss Taylor, my staff and I have a very heavy case load at the present time. But I will tell you what I will do, I will have someone in the department take a look into it for you." Ironside did not really think it was necessary but he needed to get the woman out of his office. He had a lot of work to do.
She shook her head. No sir, I want the best there is and that is you!"
Ironside's patience was wearing thin. He was not about to get involved with an impossible theft of whales that weighed tons. No one could possibly steal those animals from the institute. "I am sorry Dr. Taylor, but my staff and I cannot involve ourselves in protecting two whales that cannot possibly be stolen."
"Then everything you said was nothing but bull," a very upset doctor shouted at him.
Eve decided she better intervene before the chief lost his temper. "Miss Taylor, what the chief is trying to say is that we will see that the matter is looked into by very qualified police personnel. It will just not be this office."
"That is not good enough. She turned to Ironside and said, "Chief Ironside, I went to a lecture of yours at the college about a year ago. A friend of mine is on the police force. You may know her, Fran Belding?"
"Yes, I know her," Ironside said. "She has worked with my office from time to time."
"She said you were the most honest individual she had ever met. She told me there was no one in the police department she respected more. Fran said you find the truth and you protect the innocent. So, I decided to go to hear your speak at the college. The one thing that struck me most was you said that everybody and everything deserved a fair chance. You spoke of a case where dogs were being stolen and held for ransom. Fran said you took on that case without hesitation. You solved it and protected those poor dogs from a fate of death as I understand the dognapper was going to kill the remaining dogs when they found out you were on to them."
"Look, Miss Taylor…" Ironside began.
"No, don't interrupt me, Chief Ironside. I believed in you. My whales deserve protection, your protection. Are you going to tell me everything you said was just you saying what the public wanted to hear? Are you going to help me or not, Chief?" Gillian got up and stood with her hand on her hips, starting at Ironside in defiance.
Eve could tell her boss was softening. Something in the woman's plea was getting to him. He looked into Gillian Taylor's eyes. She was showing signs of breaking down in tears. He sighed and said, "Alright, Dr. Taylor, we will look into it. Now can you tell me anything about this Admiral Kirk? What does he look like? Do you know where he is he from? Is there anything you can tell me about him that would help us find him?"
"He was in a red and white uniform. There did not seem to be anything on the uniform that would indicate his rank, if he really was an admiral and it was not a uniform that I have ever seen before. I believe he was an American. He was good-looking and very charming, about five foot eleven with light brown hair, hazel eyes. He did not indicate where he was from."
"What about the other man?" Ed asked.
He gave me the creeps. He, like I said, was dressed in what appeared to be a fancy bathrobe. He had a band around his head and he never smiled, unlike Admiral Kirk. He spoke funny."
"In what way?" Eve asked.
"It was more his demeanor. He spoke with absolutely no emotion. He was tall, thin with short black hair.
"Do you know where they went when they left you?" Ironside asked.
"I ran into them. Kirk offered to take me to dinner to discuss the whales. We dropped off Spock in Golden Gate Park. Kirk said he was just going to hang out there while we ate dinner. I told him I need a little time before going to dinner with him. But I have thought about it and I don't think I will have dinner with Kirk."
"Why not?" Ironside said gruffly.
"Because it could be dangerous, Gillian answered.
"Dr. Taylor, I want you to keep that dinner date with Admiral Kirk," Ironside insisted.
"But..."
"Don't worry, I will have you under surveillance. We will make sure you are not harmed." Ironside assured her. "Go back to work. We will send police to follow you when you leave here. They will be with you the rest of the day.
"Thank you Chief Ironside. It appears Fran was right about you after all." Gillian Taylor got up and left Ironside's office.
Mark walked out of the kitchen with a pot of coffee and holding several coffee cups in the other hand by the handles. "Seems I remember the dog napping case a little different than Doctor Taylor."
"He did not hesitate to come to the aide of those poor pooches," Ed said sarcastically.
"Seems the way I remember it," Eve said, "he had to be dragged kicking and screaming into that case." She smiled causing grins to appear on both Mark's and Ed's face.
"Well, as usual your memories are cloudy. I assigned what I thought were perfectly capable detectives to that case and had to intervene to keep the case from going on forever and to keep this office from more important duties," Ironside corrected his staff. None of them was buying his explanation though.
"We could argue with you, chief but we will have to do it later since you just added to our work load," Eve said.
"I would think you would appreciate not having to work on old cases. You all seemed to complain when I insist on it," Ironside pointed out.
"Okay chief, where do we start?" Ed asked the boss.
"If these two were dressed in the manner in which Gillian Taylor says they were, someone must have noticed them," Ironside began.
"In San Francisco?" Mark asked in amazement. "Have you been out on the streets lately?"
Ironside shot Mark a look to silence him. "Since they were not traveling by car, they must have taken public transportation. We will start by finding out how they got to the institute and talk to those who saw them. We need to find out if we are dealing with just these two or if they are part of a larger group."
"You said yourself they were probably just two kooks," Mark said.
"And that is what we are going to verify. Once we have done that, we should be able to calm Miss Taylor's nerves. Then we can get back to the real work at hand," Ironside barked.
"I can't believe you even took this case, chief," Eve said, shaking her head. "I think you are turning soft. The woman threatened to shed a couple tears and you caved."
Ironside looked at his staff that were all trying to hold back smiles. "You will find out how much I have softened if everybody doesn't get moving." He wheeled his chair toward the door. Ed, Eve and Mark shared grins and then followed Ironside out of his office.
1.3
Arriving at the Citation Institute, Ironside wheeled his chair into the lift and lowered his wheelchair to the ground. Mark moved in behind the chief and pushed him toward the building. A woman immediately walked over to the group. "I am sorry but we do not have any more tours today but if you would like to roam around on your own, the cost is fifteen dollars per person."
Ironside pulled out his badge and showed it to the institute employee. "I am Robert Ironside. These people are on my staff. We would like to talk to some of your employees regarding an incident that happened today with George and Gracie."
"Oh yes of course. I thought you looked familiar. You are Chief Ironside."
"That is correct," Ironside replied with his usual gruffness.
"Where would you like to start?"
"Eve, Ed, spread out and start talking to people." Eve and Ed left his side immediately. "I can start with you. Did you see the man that got into the tank with the whales?"
"Yes, chief. He was tall, slender, with black hair and looked like he came in his bathrobe."
"Yes, Dr. Taylor gave the same description. Did you happen to see how they arrived?"
"Yes sir, the bus that is outside the institute."
"The very same bus that is sitting out there right now?"
"Yes sir. I remember the number six on it."
Ironside took down her name, thanked her for her help and wheeled away. Mark had to hurry to catch up with him.
Arriving at the bus, Ironside told Mark to have the driver step out of the bus.
The driver stepped down. "The young man said you wanted to see me Chief Ironside?"
"Yes, that is correct. I was wondering if you might remember two passengers that rode your bus here to the institute?" Ironside inquired.
"Well, I had a lot of people that rode the bus today but I will try to help you if I can."
"You could not miss these two. One was a good looking man, in some kind of uniform, a red uniform. The other was…"
"…in a bathrobe. He wore a band around his head. Yes, I do indeed remember them. They sat near the back of the bus. There was this kid sitting across from them playing loud music on one of those boxes. You know the kind?"
"Yes, I believe so," Ironside answered.
"Well, anyway. The guy in the uniform asked him if he would mind turning down the noise. He asked more than once. The kid just turned it up louder. The other guy, the one in the bathrobe reached over and pressed his fingers between his neck and shoulder. The kid passed out. Slept in my bus for over an hour. I don't know what the guy did to him but I sure wish he would teach me how to do that."
"Where did you pick them up?" Ironside inquired.
"Down town," the bus driver responded, giving him the intersection.
"Thank you for your help," Ironside said, as he turned his chair around. "Let's find Ed and Eve. We have a beat cop in that area on a horse. He should have spotted those two." Mark wheeled Ironside back to the institute.