Part 7: The next lead
On December 9th, 2013, after almost a month of running down every name on the ledger they found in the black-market dealer's van with no luck of any leads, Naruto, Lee, and Hinata walked into the precinct to find Sasuke at his desk, talking on his Droid phone.
"Yes," he said, "Yea that's the name," there was then a woman's voice over the other line of the phone that neither Naruto, Lee, nor Hinata could understand, "Yes, yes I know," there was then more talking over the other line, "Alright, thanks."
Sasuke hung up the phone, and turned to his partners, "Morning Sasuke," Naruto said as he walked up to his friend, and stood next to him, "Got anything?"
"I've contacted one of our informants," Sasuke said, "I just finished running down the last name in that ledger."
"And," Hinata asked as she sat on the desk to Sasuke's left, "What'd you find?"
"Nothing: so far not one name in that ledger pops or gives us a clue as to who made any buys of the kind of dart that shot us in the back," Sasuke said, "I'm beginning to think that we can just chuck the innocent bought-it-off-the-black-market idea right out the window."
The four detectives spent most of the morning, and some of the afternoon looking over the clues, trying to find the answer, and at 7:35 P.M.
"So where do we go from here," Lee asked, "Right now all I see is a bunch of dead-ends, just dead ends everywhere I look."
"Maybe not," Sasuke said as he remembered what Laceration Larry said when they spoke over the phone when Detective Swartz was captured, "If Laceration Larry wants to get revenge on the officers that put him in jail then I think I know where he's going to strike next."
"Might also be a good idea to show Hinata the surprise we got her," Naruto said as he, Sasuke, Lee, and Hinata stepped on the elevator to the garage.
"Wait, what surprise," Hinata asked as she looked around at her partners, "Come on, what surprise?"
"Don't worry, you'll like it," Sasuke said as the elevators doors started to close, "Trust me, you'll like."
In the parking lot, Sasuke, Naruto, and Lee walked up to a car-shaped canvas and underneath it was something very sporty and expensive looking, "Alright Hinata," Naruto said, "Since you have joined us in Special Activities, we thought it would only be fair that we should give you the kind of car that only we would drive."
Sasuke and Lee pulled the canvas off the car to reveal a black Ferrari FF with the words Police written on the head rest of the seats.
"Oh my god," Hinata said as she clasped her hands over her mouth, and walked up to her new car, "You guys did this for me?"
Naruto held out his hands, and there were the keys, "It's all yours." He said.
"It was actually Naruto's idea," Sasuke said as he slapped Naruto on the shoulder, "He actually was the one that bought this, me and Lee just put our money together to put on the various add-ons."
As soon as Naruto turned to face her, Hinata threw her arms around Naruto's neck, and the force of Hinata's arms nearly snapped Naruto's neck in two.
"Alright, alright," Naruto said as he wrapped his arms around Hinata's waist, "You're welcome, you're welcome: can't breathe."
"Oh, sorry," Hinata said as she pulled away, and then brushed some dust off of Naruto's shirt. "Great," Sasuke said as he clapped his hands together once, "We're all happy, all's well, but we have a job to do: alright," Sasuke opened the door to his Ferrari 458, "Let's mount up, and roll out!"
Naruto, Lee, and Hinata got into their cars, started up the engines, and got on the road behind Sasuke.
Sasuke, Naruto, Lee, and Hinata arrived at the apartment complex of Sergeant Paul Branson at 7:50 P.M. (about fifteen minutes after they left the precinct) to find a man in a ski mask holding one of the female bellhops against the wall of the entryway with a gun to her neck.
"Hey," Naruto yelled as the team stepped out of their cars, "NYPD, drop that gun!"
The man threw the bellhop through the door into the lobby of the apartment building, and then turned around just in time to see the last thing of his life which was muzzle-flash from the end of Sasuke's Colt M1911, and the last thing he heard was two gunshots.
The thug slid down the wall of the wall of the entryway, two bloody marks along the wall along with two bullet holes in the center of the marks as Sasuke, Naruto, Lee, and Hinata walk passed him, into the lobby where two armed thugs were holding the manager at gunpoint, and one of the patrons in the sights of a shotgun.
As the thug with the shotgun turned to face the four cops, Naruto swiftly pulled out his Glock 24, and shot twice: the thug flew backwards, bleeding out of his nose and mouth.
The second thug punched the manager across the face then turned to face the four cops just as Lee pulled out his SIG Saucer P226, and fired twice.
"Oh thank god," the manager said as Sasuke helped him off the floor, "I am so glad you came!" "Is there someone here named Paul Branson?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes," the manager said, "Take the elevator to the seventh floor, second door on your left."
"Naruto," Sasuke said, "Pick up the shotgun, might be useful."
Naruto picked up the Winchester Model 1300 (the Winchester Model 1300 series has long been held in high regard as a classic shotgun series since its inception in 1978, the family alone carries with it some 32 variations on the base Model 1300 design and cover the gamut of uses) that was dropped when Naruto shot the thug that had it twice in the chest.
Just before Sasuke could pressed the button to open the elevator door, there was a ping, and as the door opened, Hinata pushed Sasuke aside, pulled out her Fabrique National Five-seven (the Fabrique National Five-seven is a self-cocking, semi-auto that has seen service in military, security, and civilian markets), and as one of Laceration Larry's thugs appeared from behind the opening doors, Hinata pulled the trigger on her Five-seven twice.
"Why do men always wait until the last minute to do something," Hinata asked as she stepped onto the elevator.
"Because they're always cautious," Sasuke said as he stepped onto the elevator, aimed his Colt M1911 at the thug, who was still alive and breathing, and shot the thug once in the skull, "Never trust what your eyes tell you," he reached over to his left shoulder with his right hand, and pushed the back of his leather jacket down a bit to reveal the bullet scar in the back of his shoulder, right above the tip of his shoulder blade.
"How'd you get that?" Hinata asked.
"Afghanistan, April 5th, 2009," Naruto said, "We all have one," Naruto pulled the collar of his shirt aside to reveal the bullet scar that was on the tip of his right pectoral, just above the veins and arteries connected to his heart, and missing his right lung by a millimeter.
"He's right," Lee said as he pulled his sleeve up to reveal the bullet wound that went half an inch below the joint of his upper and lower arm.
"You got those in the Army," Hinata asked as the doors to the elevator closed.
"Yep," Sasuke said, "You've never really been a Ranger unless you've almost been killed by a terrorist."
When the elevators opened on the seventh floor, two of Laceration Larry's thugs who were standing in front of the elevator turned around just as Naruto and Hinata raised their guns: Naruto fired one slug from the Model 1300 into the thug on the right as Hinata fired her Five-seven twice into the thug on the left.
As Lee entered the hallway, he turned to his left and saw one thug in front of the entrance to the second room that was kicked in: Lee raised his P226, and fired twice: striking the thug in the left kidney, and in the left side of the neck.
One thug charged into the hallway, and as he reached for his gun, Sasuke shoved Lee aside, aimed his M1911 at the thug, and shot the thug twice in the chest.
Naruto entered through the door that was kicked in, and saw two thugs jump out of nowhere, one had a MP5 and one with a Five-seven, as Naruto fired a slug into the man with the MP5, Lee came in behind him, and shot the thug with the Five-seven twice in the chest.
Sasuke entered behind Naruto and Lee, and was followed by Hinata who had her Five-seven at the ready.
Sasuke walked out onto the balcony where he was punched in the side of the face, as he spun around: his gun flew from his grip, in through the door to the apartment where Naruto, Lee, and Hinata were searching the place.
Sasuke finally regained his concentration to stop his attacker who stabbed at him with a knife, Sasuke was pinned against the wall of the balcony with his attacker trying to drive the knife into his chest, his attacker was strong, but Sasuke was a bit stronger and military trained.
Sasuke quickly disarmed his attacker by making his attacker move the grip of his knife against his knee cap, he then reared back, threw his foot forward, and broke his attacker's leg which caused him to drop his knife.
Sasuke punched his attacker across the throat, spinning-side kicked the man across the face, and then threw him over the edge of the balcony and fell to the street below, landing just a foot from smashing in the roof of Sasuke's car.
Sasuke got back on his feet, and saw Sergeant Paul lying against the wall of the balcony, his side and the ground coated in blood thanks to a bullet wound in his pelvis.
"Paul," Sasuke said as he ran over to his friend.
"Detective Uchiha," Paul said with a weak voice, raising a hand.
"Just hang on," Sasuke said as he pulled out his great grandfather's automatic stiletto, and cut the sleeves off his jacket, "Guys," Sasuke called into the apartment, "He's out here," Sasuke shoved the sleeves into Sergeant Paul's gun wound, and held them in place as Naruto, Lee, and Hinata ran out onto the balcony, just as Sergeant Paul passed out because of blood-loss.
"He alive," Hinata asked as Sasuke pulled off his jacket, and then put Sergeant Paul's arms through the sleeve holes.
"He's alive," Sasuke said as he looked at Naruto who pulled off his jacket, then wrapped it around Sergeant Paul's legs, and then slung the handle he made out of his jacket's sleeves over his shoulder as Sasuke lifted Sergeant Paul off the ground by his shoulders, "We have to get him to a hospital."
Sasuke and Naruto carried Sergeant Paul down the stairs, to the street to Sasuke's Ferrari 458, and put the unconscious officer into the front seat.
"Get back to the precinct," Sasuke said as he put his hand on Naruto's shoulder, "Tell Ethan to keep a twenty-four hour watch on Sergeant Penelope, SWAT Sergeant Luke, and all the other officers that arrested Laceration Larry."
"What about you," Naruto asked as Sasuke turned around, and ran around to the other side of his car, "What are you going to do?"
Sasuke opened the door to his 458 Italia, "First I'm going to get Paul to the hospital," he said, "Then after that: I have to do a little investigating on my own."
Sasuke quickly drove Sergeant Paul to the hospital where a group of nurses ran out to meet Sasuke who placed Sergeant Paul on the stretcher, and watched as the nurses carried him away.
At 8:45 P.M., Sasuke took his Ferrari 458 to an alleyway in the Bronx to meet with one of his contacts: Sasuke stepped out of his car in the falling snow, and looked around: nothing but the alleyway, the snow covered ground, the moonlight, and the stars in the sky.
Sasuke heard a click from behind him, then as he felt the cold steel of a knife against his back, he heard someone in a low voice speak, "Turn around," the voice said, "Very slowly."
Sasuke turned around slowly to face the man who was dressed in a long black trench coat, his face was covered in the shadow of the dim moonlight and also by the black hood and the large black hat.
"You want to get that knife out of my gut," Sasuke asked as he looked into the darkness of the man's hood.
The man flipped the knife closed with his gloved hand, "What is it you want to know," the man in the hood asked as he put his knife away into his jacket, keeping his other hand inside the pocket of his jacket, then walked over to a trashcan, and started pacing in the snow.
"I'm sure you know that Laceration Larry has escaped," Sasuke said as he looked at the hooded man, "He's kidnapped one of my fellow officers, and his thugs have left another one critically wounded."
"Yes," the man in the hood said as he continued to pace next to the trashcans, "I know," his voice was low and deep, but not intimidating, "You want to know how to stop him?"
"I want to know what he's really planning," Sasuke said, "His plans of kidnapping one cop, nearly killing another, and still having seven more to go doesn't make any sense."
"So at last you see the truth," the man in the hood said as he continued to pace in front of the trashcans, "It's a diversion, a way of keeping you looking in one direction while he's really walking in another. Your original theory was that his prison break was to take revenge on the ones that condemned him," the man in the hood reached into the trashcan behind him, pulled out a file, and held it out in front of him, "But in real life: this is much bigger."
Sasuke took the file from the man in the hood's hand, and opened it: the pieces of paper inside were classified Russian military documents about their assault on Berlin back during World War 2.
"I don't get it," Sasuke said, "What does this have to do with what Laceration Larry is planning to do?"
"That is for you to find out," the man in the hood said, "But believe me when I say, you will come to learn what this means shortly."
It was with that word that Sasuke looked up, and he was standing in the alleyway, alone.