Crime and Punishment
It was evening, the sun was slipping over the Arklay Mountains as many of the citizens of Raccoon City were just coming home from a tedious day of work and a favorite past time of many in Raccoon City was tuning into the local news to find out the day's events. However, on this day, a breaking event was unfolding at the Raccoon Police Department Headquarters and everyone watched intently as the news resounded over their television sets.
"We have some breaking news at R.P.D headquarters this evening. It seems that the newly formed S.T.A.R.S unit has busted a fairly substantial drug lab in the 9800 block of West Euston Street. Our reporter Candice Monroe is at RPD headquarters for the press-conference. Candice…"
"Yes we are just getting word from Chief of Police Brian Irons, that the newly formed Special Tactics and Rescue Service, has made a major bust of illegal narcotics and other controlled substances earlier this afternoon on the West section of Euston Street. Let's join in on the press conference already taking place; Chief Irons has finished with his opening remarks and is sending it to S.T.A.R.S Captain Albert Wesker."
Captain Wesker stepped up on the small stage and approached the lectern. The room was hushed as all the reporters were waited for Captain Wesker to deliver his report. Except for the clicks of cameras and the buzzing of a few tape recorders a pin could be heard throughout the conference hall.
"As of 12:30 this afternoon the Alpha and Bravo units of the Special Tactics and Rescue Service infiltrated a massive illegal narcotics lab operating out of a single family home located on 9861 West Euston Street. Inside the house officers discovered a small cache of weapons including several unregistered Uzis, Ak-47's, and 9 MM handguns. Officers also discovered a few kilos of heroine, several kilos of marijuana, and a lab that was actively manufacturing crystal methamphetamine. The street value of these drugs is estimated at over fifty thousand dollars."
Captain Wesker paused and adjusted his sunglasses.
"This is not only a victory for the residents of the west part of Euston Street which has been plagued with these types of crime for too long, but for the Raccoon City Police Department and the S.T.A.R.S unit. Drug labs like this have been blight on our city for too long and we are happy to give the residents of this part of Raccoon City some peace of mind tonight as they can once again walk the streets without fear of reprisal from dope dealers and gang activity. Now, I will be answering a few questions that you the press may have."
Hands from all the reporters shot up and Captain Wesker looked around and pointed to a report toward the back of the room.
"Were there any suspects found inside the drug house?" The reported from the back of the room questioned as Captain Wesker was paused.
"Yes." Captain Wesker continued. "We found a few suspects and they have been arrested pending a bail hearing. We also found four minor children, one of which was an infant girl, inside the drug house. In addition to the federal narcotics charges we will be adding a host of child endangerment charges; next question?"
The Captain looked around and pointed to another reporter.
"What will happen to the children you found in the drug lab as well as the apprehended suspects?" The reporter asked.
"S.T.A.R.S members have taken the children to the Raccoon General Hospital to check for any injuries they may have sustained during their time in the drug house. They will be visited by the Raccoon City Department of Family and Health Services and placed in their care until we can be placed in a suitable home for someone to care for them." Captain Wesker said sternly. "As for the suspects in the case, they will be held in jail here in RPD Headquarters to await a bail hearing or trial, next question."
Captain Wesker pointed to another reporter in the front of the room.
"Who were the suspects apprehended in this drug bust?" The reporter asked. "Are they members of a group?"
"Yes, they are members of the Euston Street Runners." Captain Wesker said. "The Euston Street Runners are one of Raccoon City's most prolific and violent street gangs. In this bust we managed to apprehend several low-level gang members, but we were fortunate to have snagged their second in command, Robert Thatcher. He is our biggest prize in this sting and we will be asking the DA to push for no bail as he has ties to several major narcotics dealers around the country. Next question you there in front."
"Thank you Captain Wesker." The reporter said. "This is the first major victory for the newly formed Special Tactics and Rescue Service, were there injuries on either your squad or with the gang members?"
"There were no injuries sustained by either the children inside the home, the S.T.A.R.S unit, or the gang members." Captain Wesker said. "Both the Alpha and the Bravo units took great care in planning and executing this operation. These kinds of delicate operations are a specialty of the S.T.A.R.S and how we plan on serving the good people of Raccoon City. We promise to keep civilians safe while we complete our mission and we have successfully accomplished this on our first major case, which was not easy considering the level difficulty and the potential for civilian casualties in this particular case. I'll take one more question and then we'll wrap up. Yes, in the front row."
"Captain Wesker," The woman reporter began. "How long has the S.T.A.R.S unit known about this drug lab and when did you start planning for the raid?"
"We have known about this particular lab for quite some time and it has been under surveillance during our planning phase of the mission." Captain Wesker answered. "I am reluctant to give specifics because that may harm our case against these drug dealers in court, but we are happy that this mission was so successful, we are happy that we have taken a lot of illegal guns and controlled substances off the street, also that there were no casualties with this operation. Now if you all will excuse me."
Captain Wesker stepped down from the lectern as all the reporters began to clamor for more questions to be answered, however the captain walked out of the conference room and down to the S.T.A.R.S office, where the other team members were waiting for his arrival and his debriefing. Captain Wesker walked over to his desk and beckoned everyone to pull up a chair around him. All the S.T.A.R.S members circled around his desk, while Captain Wesker pulled out his note pad as well as a pen to prepare to take down statements from this debriefing.
"First of all," Captain Wesker began. "I want to thank you for your hard work and professionalism out there this afternoon. Our first mission was a great success and I think we've earned a lot of respect from not only our peers in the RPD, but also out in the community."
Everyone graciously said their "your welcomes" to Captain Wesker and once they were finished he continued with his debriefing.
"First up," Wesker asked. "What happened to the four children we found at the drug house?"
"Brad and I took them to Raccoon General Hospital." Jill said. "We were met by a Miss Houseman of Family and Health Services. She said that once she gets a full report about their condition from the hospital she would be delivering it personally to your desk. She said to she hoped to have it for you tomorrow afternoon by the latest."
"Good." Wesker said writing down Jill's report.
"Have the suspects been booked and to see the judge yet?" Captain Wesker asked.
"Yes." Captain Enrico Marini said. "They were taken up to central booking at 14:30 then taken up to see Judge Ramsey at around 17:00 hours."
"What was the outcome of the bail hearings?" Wesker asked. "Did we manage to keep Thatcher in lock-up?"
"I was not able to stay for the bail hearings." Captain Marini said. "But I did request that the District Attorney ask for no bail on Thatcher."
"Very good." Captain Wesker wrote in his notes. "Has all of our equipment been accounted for?"
"Yes." Forest said. "Both Chris and I took inventory of all our outgoing and incoming equipment for this mission and all has been accounted for and returned to its proper place in storage."
"Joseph." Wesker turned and asked. "Did you and Richard take all the evidence to the evidence room, tag, bagged, and handed it to the evidence room clerk?"
"Yes Captain." Joseph answered. "We just finished a little bit before you came down. In all, I would say there was over a hundred pieces of evidence."
"What was the official tally on the drug money?" Captain Marini asked.
"The total was fifty-six thousand, seven hundred ninety eight dollars in cash." Captain Wesker answered.
Chris whistled while everyone else in the room sat there astonished at the number.
"Yes." Wesker said. "The Euston Street Runners were a very successful gang of thugs. I have to admit, even I was a little surprised at the magnitude of their operation. It is a good thing we brought them down, because as you all know it looks like they were looking to expand their business."
Suddenly the Wesker's line rang and he excused himself while he picked up the receiver to answer.
"Captain Wesker here." He answered.
"So you think you're so smart, huh Blondie?" A gravelly male voice said on the other end of the receiver.
Immediately, Wesker hushed everyone and put the phone on speaker.
"Well I got news for you Blondie." The voice said. "I just got sprung from the slammer and I'm gunnin' for ya."
As soon as the sentence was finished, Brad quietly but quickly got up from his seat and began to try to set up a trace on the call.
"Who is this?" Wesker questioned.
"Euston Street Runners will never die." The raspy voice said. "But too bad the same can't be said for you Blondie. I got a bullet with your name on it."
"Threating an officer of the law is a serious offence." Wesker said sternly. "You don't want to add to your already lengthy indictment, do you?"
"I'd watch my back if I were you." The voice continued. "Cause I'm comin' for ya Blondie, I'm comin' for ya real soon."
The line clicked signaling the end of the telephone conversation. Wesker put the phone back on the base while everyone looked around uneasy. Brad looked up from his computer console and said, "The call came from a pay phone on Warren Street, about three blocks away from HQ."
"Who was that?" Barry asked.
"If I had to guess," Wesker said. "It was probably Robert Thatcher, the second in command of the Euston Street Runners."
"He threatened to kill you." Captain Marini said. "We should go and pick him up right now."
"We don't have any proof it was him." Wesker said.
"But we all heard it." Enrico said.
"That we did." Wesker said with his voice unwavering. "But our word alone isn't going to be enough to get this guy. We would have to catch him in the act or find something tying him to the threat."
"Sounds like a plan, so let's nail this son of a bitch." Enrico said.
"By all means," Wesker responded. "Start by trying to pull the prints off the pay phone and canvas the area and see if anyone who saw him using that pay phone."
"I'm on it." Enrico said. "Richard you and Brad head down to that pay phone to check for prints."
"Yes Captain." The men said getting up and grabbing their gear, before dashing out of the room.
"Chris." Wesker said turning to him. "You and Barry go down that way and start canvasing the area for anyone who may have seen anything."
"Yes Captain." Chris said getting up from his chair.
"Enrico," Wesker said turning to him. "Head up to Chief Irons office and inform him that we have a potentially dangerous situation on our hands and that I want everyone to have twenty-four hour police detail when they go off duty, that includes yourself too."
"Yes Wesker." Enrico said leaving the office.
"What about the rest of us Captain Wesker?" Kenneth asked. "Is there anything we can do to help?"
"We need to wait for the others to come back with some evidence." Wesker said. "But right now let's get through this debriefing and then I'll head up to Central Booking to see if any of the other gang members made bail. If not, perhaps they could shed some light on Thatcher."
Captain Wesker breezed through the rest of the debriefing with the rest of the S.T.A.R.S. team members. Once the debriefing concluded, Captain Wesker left the S.T.A.R.S. office to head down to the jail cells to see if any of the other members of the Euston Street Runners had been released on bail and if they had not, he would interrogate them to find out what Thatcher's angle was and also find out how they could nail him.
Once in the holding cells, Captain Wesker checked with the release clerk to see if Thatcher had indeed made bail, which he most certainly did about fifteen minutes ago. Taking a copy of the bail bond, Wesker then requested to have two members of the Euston Street Runners brought up to the interrogation room for questioning. But he had to think carefully about which of the remaining suspects to bring up for questioning. Making a snap decision, he picked the only female found in the house and possibly the mother of those four children and he also picked the youngest member of the Euston Street Runners caught in the sting. Usually the younger ones didn't hesitate to give out information in exchange for a lesser sentence.
After the decision was made, Wesker high-tailed it up to the interrogation room to wait their arrival. Before he went inside, he grabbed the file on the young woman and began to sift through it. It was a pretty lengthy file, so perhaps there was something in there that could make her crack. He also tried to look for the file on the young man caught with the gang, but getting records from RPD Juvenile Justice Division was a difficult process and one he didn't have time to get the proper clearance for, so he would see how just talking to him cold would play out.
The first to be brought into the room was a young woman who was obviously strung out on something and even worse she was starting to withdraw which made her jumpy. However, Captain Wesker wanted to see if she would be willing to give up any information about Robert Thatcher. The police officer sat the young woman down in front of Captain Wesker, she faced the two-way mirror, but did not look into it at all, nor did she look at Wesker. She just looked down at the hard wooden table.
Captain Wesker glared at the sorrowful young woman who sat before him. Her dark brown hair was greasy and disheveled, her blue eyes were devoid of hope or signs of life, and her thin nose ran constantly which caused her to keep sniffling repetitively. Her clothes were stained and dirty, she smelled like a soiled mattress in a sleazy motel, she probably hadn't bathed in a few days. She had track marks all over her body, and her arms were severely scarred and bruised from years of intravenous drug use. From the looks of things she had blown out all the veins in her arms and resorted to shooting drugs into the veins in her neck. This was a hollow shell of a human being who would be best put out of her misery instead of lingering on in such a horrific state.
"Miss Tammy Garner." Wesker said beginning their conversation by looking through her past criminal record. "I see you have a lengthy rap sheet here. Let' see, in 1988 you were convicted of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia for which you were subsequently convicted for. Since you were a minor at the time you served a year at a drug rehab facility in Princetown, but I'm guessing somewhere along the way you relapsed."
The young woman did not look at Wesker. She just sat quietly in the hard chair and squirmed as he continued to read her lengthy criminal history.
"You were busted in late 1990 for possession of drug paraphernalia, prostitution, and resisting arrest." He said standing up and walking around as he read her rap sheet. "You were four months pregnant at the time."
"Yeah." The disheveled young woman answered sounding somewhat agitated. "So what?"
"After spending another year in the slammer you got out, got clean for a stint, but relapsed again." Wesker said. "When the cops busted you this time, you were tried for possession of drug paraphernalia, prostitution, and now child endangerment. You were also about three months pregnant again."
"Are we going…?" She stuttered a bit, she was beginning the withdrawal process. "Are we going anywhere with this?"
"In 1993 you were busted several times for prostitution, fraud, and a driving while intoxicated." Captain Wesker said sternly. "You were convicted of the DWI and prostitution charges, but the fraud charges were dropped due to circumstantial evidence."
"I had a good lawyer that time." She said bitterly.
"That may have been, but in mid-1994 you were once again busted for prostitution, possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest, and threating an officer of the law." Wesker said reading the charges. "And this time you were six months pregnant."
The young woman didn't say anything this time. She just scratched her head and looked down at the table.
"It says here you plead guilty to all charges." Wesker looked up from the thick manila file and saw Tammy looking downwards. "You were subsequently sent to Arklay Women's Facility to undergo drug addiction treatments. While you finished the program when you came back out you relapsed again."
Tammy looked up at Wesker, but did not speak. Captain Wesker put the file down and sat in the chair across from her. Taking off his dark sunglasses, he looked into her cold lifeless eyes with disdain and said, "So what's a two-bit druggie whore like you going to do when I ask the DA to throw the book at you?"
"I wanna…" She stuttered over her words again. "I wanna see my-my kids!"
"Funny." Captain Wesker said with sarcasm in his stern baritone voice. "You care so much about your children now, but were they even a thought while you were shooting up in that drug house or selling your body in dark alleyways and the backs of cars. Why do you care about them now?"
Tammy didn't answer.
"If they weren't enough to save your wretched hide then, don't beg to see them now." Wesker said angrily. "The only way you're getting out of this is if you give me what I want!"
Tammy's eyes peered into Wesker's blue and green eyes and figured it would come to this.
"You want me to-to suck your cock right here in the interrogation room?" Tammy asked. "I've done it be-before you know…"
Captain Wesker was disgusted by her. Everything about her caused him to recoil in revulsion. From her cold dead eyes, to her leaky wet nose, and even worse, that fetid stench on her body. Nothing about this woman was in the least bit attractive or appealing and he couldn't imagine someone else didn't feel the same way about her. Just off the top of his head, Wesker could think of a hundred other things he would rather do than allow this vile person to come anywhere near him, let alone place her filthy mouth on something so pristine.
"I want information about Robert Thatcher." He said quickly ignoring her comment.
"Robbie is my daughter's father." She said looking away from Wesker.
"So," Wesker answered. "What is your point?"
"I can't give him up." She said. "He would take my daughter away from me."
"You're already going to lose your daughter." Wesker said without a trace of compassion in his voice. "As well as your three boys, so you may as well start talking now."
"You can't, you can't take my kids from me." Tammy practically implored. "They need me."
"They're better off in Children's Services than anywhere near you." Wesker said wickedly.
"How-how can you say-say that." Tammy said getting flustered and tears streaming from her eyes. "I'm-I'm-I'm their mother."
"You're a drug addict and a whore." Wesker corrected. "Your actions do not scream that of a loving and tender mother. So don't feed me that line of crap."
Tammy began to sob bitterly; she couldn't believe how cruel he was being to her. Grant it, she was an addict and a prostitute, but she did those things because she was sick all the time and the drugs made her feel better, but she did love her children and couldn't bear to live life without them.
Meanwhile Wesker slid over a box of tissues for her and folded his arms across his chest. He waited as patiently as he could for her to calm down, but time was of the essences. For every moment she spent sobbing about the truth was a moment Thatcher was getting further and further away. But if interrogation had taught him anything, it was never to go beyond someone's breaking point, that's when things went bad and quickly. It took a moment or two, but finally Tammy began to calm down. When she was sufficiently calm Wesker continued with his interrogation.
"I want to know where he would go if he made bail Miss Garner?" Wesker asked.
"He made bail?" She questioned.
"Yes he has." Wesker said calmly.
"But... But he said he would spring me if we ever got caught." Tammy said sounding completely disillusioned. "You're-you're lying. You're trying to make me think that-that-that Robbie don't care about me."
Captain Wesker didn't say anything; he just took out his copy of the bail bond sheet and slid it over to her. Tammy grabbed the tiny slip of paper and read it. It was true, Robbie did make bail and he did leave her in jail to rot. With that Tammy broke down and sobbed inconsolably. Wesker knew that this was the end of the interview and it was time for her to go back down to holding. He got up from his chair and knocked on the door for the police officer to escort out back downstairs.
"We're done here." He said as the officer walked into the room.
"Yes Captain Wesker." The officer said walking over to where Tammy was sobbing and helping her to her feet.
"She's pretty unstable and going through withdrawals." Wesker said to the officer before he left the room. "I'm going to write up a request to have her transferred to Folsom Street Rehab Facility but for tonight, have her placed under observation at Raccoon General Hospital."