The first sniper attack part 1
Anastasia's viewpoint
It wasn't the cell going off that woke me; Natalie crawling over me to answer it did that.
I heard her take the call, somehow sounding crisp, cheerful and above all awake, god I wish I could do that out of a sound sleep. It was obviously an official call, as I heard her ask the despatcher to text the address through and end the call, before looking over at me.
"Sorry Tsarina, I didn't mean to wake you"
'S'ok, next time remind me to get you to leave the phone on your side of the bed. What's up?"
"Major Crimes just got a call out to a murder, some women's been shot in a high rise apartment block. Close your eyes for a moment, I'm turning on the lights" Turning on the bedside lamp Nat stood up and headed for the closet as I sat up. Looking at the clock I realised it was after 2 AM. We had tumbled into bed less than 3 hours ago and been asleep for barely two.
"Might as well come with you, I'm supposed to see Major Crimes today, so may as well see them in action" Nat looked back from the closet, where she was putting on a bra.
"Are you sure? I can get there myself" I rolled out of bed and walked over to my half of the closet. Just then her cell chimed, indicating a text had arrived with the address.
"Yeah, it's fine, besides, we've only just got here and I'm not so sure what sort of neighbourhood you're heading into, so I'd feel better if I tagged along" She leaned over and wrapped her hand around my neck, pulling me into a quick kiss.
"Thank you, that's really sweet and I appreciate it" I laughed as I pulled away to get dressed.
"Well, I'm awake and as we don't have time for something more fun we might as well do some work"
20 minutes later we were in the car and programming the address into the GPS, 30 minutes later we pulled up amongst a sea of black and whites and unmarked Crown Vic's, bathing the area in a lurid wash of red and blue light. It all felt so familiar. 'Same shit, different city' I thought.
As we got out I noticed at least two news crews filming the front of the building and nodded to Nat.
"Your first catch of the day" She eyed the crews and nodded slightly.
"Shooting the building for establishing shots because no one's talking to them yet. Let's find out what's got everyone out of bed".
We walked under the tape, flashing badges and passes at the uniforms before walking into the foyer. A sergeant checking people in took our names and told us to head to the 24th floor.
"Nice building" I murmured as we rode the elevator.
"Hmmm, expensive too, looks like real marble"
The doors opened on the 24th floor and we stepped out to be directed down a hall and round a corner to an open door. Pausing to look inside, a very nice-looking apartment greeted us, with voices coming from further inside. I gestured to Nat.
"After you, I'm just the taxi service" She smiled quickly and led the way in.
The living area was a mess. There was blood and brains scattered across one wall, together with a large divot in the concrete wall, at least ten feet from a woman's body on the floor. The smell of blood was everywhere, together with the other, even less attractive smells that accompany violent death.
A tall black man was speaking with an attractive blonde woman in the centre of the room, while an equally striking blonde examined the victim. The window had shattered, leaving glass fragments scattered across the floor.
"At about 1.20 the neighbour heard the glass shatter and a loud bang. He looked round the edge of the balcony, saw the mess and our vic's feet and called 911 at…" He consulted his notebook; "…1.24. First response was here eight minutes later and broke down the door" The blonde's mouth quirked up.
"1.20's a bit late to still be up on a Monday night…" She grimaced "…well Tuesday morning actually, isn't it Detective Gabriel? What's their story?" The detective smiled.
"The neighbour, a Robert Collier, is a computer gamer Chief. Apparently plays online video games to all hours of the morning. He's a university student who schedules his classes to allow him to play late and sleep late" I took a closer look at the women in the peach trench coat; obviously this was Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson.
She was pretty, in her 40's but striking. Her voice was a honeyed Georgia accent, but starting to lose its edge, probably from years of living in LA. As I looked around the room I saw the blonde kneeling by the body shake her head at the mess. There wasn't much left of the victim's head, most of it was smeared across the wall. She looked up and spoke to the Chief.
"I'm sorry Chief Johnson, but in this case there's not much I can tell you that you can't see at a glance. Cause of death is a high velocity projectile striking the left temple, with massive trauma as it exited the right side of the cranium just below the right ear" She gracefully climbed to her feet and pulled off her blue medical gloves. "At least it was quick; the victim would have died instantly"
"Well thank you anyway Doctor Isles, I appreciate you coming all the way out here at an ungodly hour of the morning" I took a closer look, so this was Doctor Maura Isles. She was dressed in dark slacks, green silk blouse a grey tailored coat and wore a set of strappy high heels that wouldn't have been out of place on a model strutting down a catwalk. Yes, that was definitely Maura Isles.
I scanned for Jane Rizzoli, but didn't see anyone who fitted the description. I looked back as Chief Johnson spoke again.
"So, where did the shot come from gentlemen, there's nothing with a line of sight close enough to shoot from. Did someone shoot from the next balcony along?" An older man with a grim face spoke up.
"It's possible Chief. The apartment to our left was empty; the owners are apparently out of town, at least according to the building super"
"Lieutenant Flynn, could you please check to see if there are surveillance camera's covering the corridors, elevators and fire stairs. If the shooter was in the next room, then they must have got in here somehow. And can we get into that apartment please?" He nodded.
"Sanchez and Rizzoli are getting the super to open it up, should be inside any time now. Provenza's chasing up any surveillance footage"
"Whatever they used, it packed a hell of a punch, its buried deep inside this wall. In fact it's hit an intersection with another wall and it's got to be at least six inches deep in there" I looked over to an Asian officer who was shining a torch into the impact divot.
Getting a good look at the impact crater I felt a chill as realisation hit. I'd seen that before.
"What weapon packs that sort of punch?" It was Detective Gabriel. I looked around for a moment, hoping someone else would answer before reluctantly clearing my throat. Faces turned towards me, including Chief Johnson's.
"And who might you be, if I may I ask?" I smiled and took a step forward, raising my hand to wave weakly.
"Special Agent Anastasia Romanov, the Bureau's liaison to the LAPD" Johnson raised one eyebrow as she regarded me coolly.
"And what exactly is the Bureau's interest in this case Agent Romanov?"
"None that I'm aware of Chief, I'm just the transport for someone else" Natalie stepped forward and spoke.
"That would be me Chief Johnson. Natalie Dearing, I'm your new media liaison and Agent Romanov was kind enough to deliver me to the scene" She stepped forward and shook the Chief's hand. I saw Chief Johnson giving Nat an appraising glance, she wasn't the only one, every man in the room was doing the same thing. Fortunately I had gotten used to it by now and I couldn't blame them really.
Nat was wearing dark skinny jeans and heels which made her legs look even longer than normal, a crisply tailored white blouse and a dark blue jacket that contrasted with her long blonde hair. How she could roll out of bed and look that good after a few minutes in front of a mirror was a skill I hadn't managed to acquire, lord knows I'd tried.
"And what brings you to my crime scene Ms Dearing?"
"Standard operating procedure for Major Crimes' cases Chief; I get the call when you do. Hopefully I'm not needed but I'm here if you need me to keep the media off your back. It lets you concentrate on the case while I distract the media". Chief Johnson looked sceptical; I wondered if she was thinking Pope had assigned Nat to keep an eye on Major Crimes.
"Is it just Major Crime's cases that you turn up to?"
"No Chief, I also respond to FID and the Gang Task Force cases as well. I expect to be busy" Chief Johnson nodded and smiled, obviously accepting Nat's answer.
"I 'spect you will. Well, nice to meet you both, even if it's not under the best of circumstances" She turned back to me. "You were saying Agent Romanov?"
"I would suggest that the weapon used was an anti-material rifle, firing a 50 calibre round. The penetration of the wall supports that calibre round" Tao nodded.
"Agent… Romanov?" He looked to me for confirmation and I nodded; "…might be right Chief. Most bullets get stopped by an inch or two of concrete, not this baby" Flynn looked at me with scepticism
"Anti-material rifle, you're talking about a snipers rifle?"
"Not really, a sniper's rifle is designed to take out soft targets, whereas an anti-material rifle is designed to damage hard targets such as unarmoured vehicles, helicopters and aircraft, exposed equipment such as radio gear and radar and also for punching straight through body armour and bulletproof glass. Some can even make a good try at penetrating light armoured vehicles" I nodded at our victim.
"Needless to say, their effect on an unarmoured target is pretty horrible" Maura Isles nodded.
"The injury suffered by the victim could have been caused by such a weapon. Much of the right rear hemisphere of the cranium has disintegrated and there is evidence of massive hydrostatic shock to the soft tissue"
"And the entry wound Doctor?" Chief Johnson asked. Doctor Isles slowly shook her head.
"The projectile carried away a significant amount of the area surrounding the entry point, so I couldn't confirm the exact size of the calibre weapon used"
Gabriel looked back out the open frame that had once held the sliding glass door to the balcony before speaking.
"But there's nothing with line of sight, no buildings that overlook the apartment"
"Yes, there's no building within range, but you could have shot from a position on the ground some distance away" Flynn waved angrily at the gaping hole.
"No way, the closest patch of open ground that could see into here must be over a mile away" I nodded, understanding he wasn't angry at me but the implications.
"I've heard of shots from over a mile away, against moving targets"
"Where?" Gabriel asked.
"Iraq and Afghanistan and they were against moving targets. Against a stationary target, with a laser rangefinder and a serious scope; you are looking at much longer range"
"How much longer" It was the Chief.
"A Canadian sniper hit a Taliban insurgent in Afghanistan at over 2,800 metres, that's about a mile and a half, against a moving target. If the target had been stationary he probably could have hit him even further away"
As one, everyone turned to look out at the darkness. Finally the Chief spoke softly.
"Oh my Lord"