Operation Kill a Cop

Chapter 13

13.1

Ed pulled his dark blue Ford to the curb in front of the apartment building. He and Eve got out of the car and headed up the steps. In front of the door a police officer nodded at both of them as they pass through. They were met at the apartment door by a young police officer. "What have we got?" Ed asked.

"Nothing here that I can see sergeant," the officer told him.

Ed and Eve entered the apartment. Ed looked around. It was clear Kinney did not not make neatness a priority. The apartment had beer bottles everywhere. Clothes were lying on the floor. "Check the bedroom," Ed told Eve. He went into the kitchen. Opening the drawers, he looked inside of each one. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Ed looked in the refridgerator. It was loaded with beer and nothing else. A quick glance into the wastebasket revealed Kinney ate a lot of fast food. An inspection of the cupboards revealed nothing. Ed left the kitchen and walked back in the living room.

"Ed!"

Ed turned his head when he heard Eve call from the bedroom. He left the livingroom and walked down the hall. Ed looked into the first bedroom he came upon and moved on to the next one when he found the room empty. He entered the second room. He found Eve standing in front of the closet. Ed bent down and picked up a sheet of paper. It was a computer printout of all of the officers in the San Francisco police department whose name contained some form of Robert.

"The is not much doubt Kinney is the one killing our cops," Ed said.

Eve looked at Ed, the worry evident in her eyes. "I am worried about the chief. If Kinney has him, he's in serious danger."

Ed took hold of Eve's hand and squeezed slightly. "Sometimes we almost treat the chief as if he is a kid that needs looking after. We perceive that wheelchair of his as a weakness. Sometimes we forget that the chief uses it to his advantage. How many times have criminals underestimated him because of that chair? When they have, that is when they are out smarted by him."

"I know, but this is not someone who will underestimate him. I'm really worried about him."

"We will find him," he reassured her. "He knows he just has to keep Kinney busy until we find him. Now come on, let's keep looking for anything that will help us locate where Kinney is holding him."

After an extensive search, Ed and Eve and Eve did not turn up anything new. They returned to Ed's Ford. He started it up and pulled away from the curb.

The car radio sounded. Ed picked it up and said, "Sgt. Brown."

"Ed, it's Mark. They just found the Chief's van."

13.2

Kinney entered the hall to Carl Reese's room. Outside the room, a uniformed officer sat in a chair reading a magazine. Kinney was not expecting a guard. He should have forced Ironside to tell him if he had assigned one to the lieutenant. He just did not think of it. Now he had to think of a way to get that officer away from the lieutenant's room.

He walked down the hall. He located a telephone and called the desk. When the duty nurse answered the phone, Kinney said "This is Sergeant Davidson. Please have the officer on duty outside Lieutenant Reese's room report to the lobby. Chief Ironsides is waiting to speak with him."

The duty nurse walked down the hall and relayed the messsage to the officer. He thanked the nurse. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled our his cell phone and dialed Ironside's office. "Can I speak to Sgt. Brown, please."

"I am sorry but he is not in the office right now but you might be able to reach him on his car phone," Mark told him.

The officer called Brown's car.

"Sergeant Brown."

"Sergeant Brown, this is Officer Duffy. The duty nurse just told me to go to the lobby to meet with Chief Ironside. Since I heard an APB was put out on the chief's van, this sounded fishy. I thought I would check with the chief's office before following an order I am not sure was given."

"Duffy, the chief is missing. This is more than likely an attempt on Lieutenant Reese's life. Do not leave his room, not even for a minute. I will have more men sent over."

Officer Duffy returned the cellphone to his pocket. The magazine had lost his interest. He no longer had any desire to sit down. His eyes darted up and down the hall, looking for any sign of trouble. He would feel better when the help that Brown promised arrived.

13.3

Robert Ironside dragged himself over to the lantern. Reaching up, he grabbed a hold of the lantern and pulled it off the table He crawled over to his make shift weapons. After setting the lantern down, he picked up the string. He pulled the elastic off of the roll of string and placed it into his suit coat pocket. The detective unraveled as much of the string as he thought would be needed, pull the string apart with both hands until it gave way. He picked up the two pieces of wood, placing one over the other to form a "T". He then took the string wrapping it around both of the pieces of wood binding them together as one.

Ironside pulled the elastic band out of his pocket, wrapped it around the ends of the cross part of wood and stretched it so that the tension was fairly tight. He made sure it was securely fastened. Dragging it with him he crawled away from the door. He pulled the dart out of his pocket, placed it on his home made bow against the elastic band and pulled the elastic back. Ironside aimed for a dark spot on the door and released the elastic band. The dart shot across the room and embedded itself in the detective's target. He crawled back to the door and pulled the dart out. He placed the dart back in his pocket, satisfied it would operate as he intended.

It was now time he make things more difficult for Kinney when he returned.

13.4

Tracy sat on the side of her mother's bed. She could tell her mother was very upset but did not know why. She took her mother's hand in hers. "Are you worried about Daddy?" She asked.

Barbara smiled at her little girl. "No honey. Your father is going to be just fine." She did not see any reason to worry the child. Nor could she tell her that her father was the furthest thing from her mind. She saw no reason to frighten her daughter with the disappearance of Bob Ironside. She was worried enough for both of them.

Barbara knew how much Bob loved what he did. His record alone was positive proof he was extremely good at it. She also knew trying to get him to retire would be futile. Truth be told, she could never ask it of him. She would have to resign herself to worrying about him. She simply had no choice, she loved him.

She picked up the phone and dialed Bob's office.

"Chief Ironsides office," Mark answered.

"Mark, has there been any word on Bob?" she asked.

"No, I am sorry Barbara. We have located the van. He was not with it. Ed and Eve are checking it out now. I will call you as soon as I hear anything."

"Thanks Mark. I will check back with you later."

He could hear the disappointment and worry in her voice. "The chief will be fine. You know how resourceful he can be. Try not to worry."

She thanked him again in hung up the phone. All she could do was wait... and worry.

13.5

Ironside pulled himself into a sitting position beside the door. He shined the lantern on the lock. It did not appear to be a dead bolt lock. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He removed the first credit card he came upon and placed it between the door and the door frame where the lock was. He pushed the card down on the lock. Ironside continued

working the credit card against the lock until he was finally able to force the lock open. Ironside held the card in place, pushed his shoulder against the door and it swung open.

The detective crawled back toward the table. Grabbing the table leg, he pulled the table toward him and the door. He backed up and pulled again. Ironside continued the process until he had the table where he wanted it. After he took the other lantern, he crawled back to the door. Pulling himself through the door, Ironside inspected both sides of the doorframe. He was able to spot nails on both sides of the door. He wrapped string around the nail on the one side and stretched it to the nail on the other side of the door. He pulled the string tight and wrapped it around the nail. Ironside then tested the strength of the string. He hoped it was strong enough. He shut the door after placing his home made cross in his back pocket. Stopping momentarily, Ironside could feel the exhaustion that had set in but he had no choice but to continue to set up for his defense.

He began crawling down the tunnel toward the ladder. When he arrived at where the ladder had been, he felt along the wall. Where was that ladder? He had been sure it was right in this area. Holding the lantern up, he searched along the wall. There above his head, he could see the ladder. Somehow, Kinney had taken out a few steps. Not enough to keep Kinney from getting out but enough that he could not reach them, not being able to stand. Still he had to try. Ironside pulled into a sitting position. He reached upward, trying to touch what was now the bottom stair. Even stretching as far as he could did not bring him close to the first step. He had a hunch Kinney would make sure he could not get out the same way they came in, if he was able to escape from the room.

Ironside reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. After flipping it open, he looked at the signal bar…..there was no signal. He did not figure the phone would work this far under the city. Well, there was no chance of getting out this way. He decided to head down the tunnel. Maybe he could locate another entrance.

As he crawled down the tunnel, Ironside tried to recreate his conversation with Randall the night he had told him about these tunnels. If his memory served him correctly, there were four of them. He only wished he and Dennis had not drank so much. His memory of the conversation was not coming back to him beyond being told about the tunnels.

He was not sure how far he had crawled. He stopped his forward progress and rolled over to the wall. Feeling along the wall for anything that he could attach the string to, Ironside wedged the string around a pipe that was sticking out of the floor. He crawled to the wall on the opposite side. Fortunately on that side, the same type of pipe was sticking out of the floor. He wrapped the string around pipe after stretching it tight. Once he had secured the string, he once again started crawling down the tunnel. He had to find a place to make a stand against Kinney.

13.6

Ed slammed on the breaks and his Ford came to a screeching halt beside Chief Ironside's van. He pushed the door open and ran straight to the van. He opened the driver's door and jumped in.

He could not find anything out of the ordinary. Eve opened the door. "I knew it was to much to ask that we would find him here."

"I was not expecting to find him. Kinney would know enough to change vehicles. This one is easily spotted. I was hoping the chief left a clue. If he did, I don't see it."

Eve looked around the van. Ed was right. There was nothing here that would help them...or was there? "Ed, the chief's cell phone is usually on the dash. It is not there."

Brown looked at the dash. Eve was right. The cell phone was missing. He reached for the car phone. "This is Sgt. Brown. I want the GPS on the Chief Ironside's cell phone checked. Trace its location and call me back on my cell phone."

Ed and Eve waited. The minutes seemed hours. "Let's go over this van again. The chief always leaves something to help us. We must have missed it." After an extensive search of the van, Ed and Eve still came up with nothing. As far as they could see the chief had not left anything that could help them. Maybe he had been unconscious for the ride here or he was watched to closely for him to do anything.

Eve sat down in the passenger seat. "I don't like it, Ed. The chief always leaves us something. Do you suppose it is so subtle that even we are not picking up on it?"

Ed did not have a chance to answer. His cell phone rang. He pressed answer and said, "Sgt. Brown."

"Ed, it's Mark. They just called. The chief's cell phone is not registering a GPS signal."

"No signal? Is the phone on?"

"They think so," Mark answered. "It could be that he is out of range of the tower."

"That would mean that Kinney took him out of the city. I don't believe that. He wants to grandstand in front of the San Francisco Police Department. No, Mark, the chief is in the city."

"Maybe Kinney discovered he had the phone and took it away from him. He could have shut it off. Maybe they are wrong about it being on."

"No, police cell phones are equipped so that the GPS can be tracked even if the phone is off. He has to be somewhere the signal cannot be picked up," Ed said. "Mark, we are headed in. Check on Hedison's progress. Finding the chief may come down to what Kinney was doing before he left Headquarters."

"He left no clues in the van?" Mark asked.

"Nothing that Eve and I can find," Ed answered. "When we get back, you go over the van. You may see something we missed. You spend more time with the chief than we do."

13.7

Kinney watched as more police officers entered the hospital. Duffy did not come down to the lobby and now more police were showing up? That could only mean one thing. Duffy sensed something was wrong and called Ironside's office. Maybe he already knew Ironside was missing. It was obvious he was not going to be able to get to Reese. He was to well protected. He would be lucky to get out of here without being caught.

Kinney slipped into maintenance room. He looked around. On a hook was white overalls with a white hat. He took them off the hook and put them on. He open the door and pushed cleaning cart out. He lowered the hat down over his eyes. Looking straight ahead, he pushed the cart down the hall. As he tried to push pass Reese's room, he was stopped by a nurse. "We need clean up in this room."

Kinney lowered his eyes and pushed the cleaning cart into Reese's room. He kept his back to Reece and began cleaning up spilled water and juice. Two police officers were talking to Reese, bringing him up to date on the chief's disappearance. Fortunately, they were blocking Reese's view.

Kinney finished cleaning up the mess. Keeping his head down, he pushed the cart back out of the room. He headed down the hall toward the elevator. Kinney pushed the button. When the elevator opened, he entered with the cart. Once inside, he pushed the button for the ground floor. However, the elevator stopped on the second floor. Two more police officers entered the elevator. Kinney remained at the back of the elevator with his cap pulled low over his eyes.

Both officers were discussing the disappearance of Robert Ironside. When the door opened on the ground floor,

Kinney pushed the cart out. He spotted another maintenance closet. He entered the closet and removed the overalls and cap. Kinney then walked out of the hospital.

13.8

Ironside stopped his progress down the tunnel. He had run out of string but then Kinney would be wise to it after twice. One of the lanterns went out. Ironside threw it aside. It was of no longer any use to him. He could not remember how far apart the entrances into the tunnel were. Even if he was able to reach one and pull himself up the ladder, how would he ever free the door to the tunnel. It would be sealed as the other one was. He would have to hold his own body on the ladder with his sheer upper body strength and his strength was waning. When he decide he had rested enough. Ironside continue down the tunnel. So far he had not found anywhere he could stop and wait for Kinney. He needed more protection than the open tunnel would provide. He had no choice but to continue.

13.9

Ed and Eve arrived back at the office. They walked down the ramp and were met by an anxious Commissioner Randall. "Well Sergeant, any word on your boss, yet?" He asked.

Ed shook his head in frustration. "Nothing in the van that we could find that would give us a clue of his whereabouts."

"Nothing?" Randall complained. "He always leaves something. There must have been something. It could have been something only one of you would recognize."

"I only wish he had, commissioner," Eve said. "But there was nothing. It is possible he was watched to closely."

"I can't believe it. Bob knows if we are to help him, he must help lead us to him," Randall argued.

"There might be one thing," Ed said. "His cell phone was missing from the dash of the van. He always leaves it there."

"Did you trace the GPS?"

"Yes, commissioner but they said it had no signal," Mark said.

"No signal? That doesn't make sense. Police cell phones are designed so that we can track them even when off. The signal is still actually there even when off. The only way we could not find him is if he is out of signal range," Randall said.

"Commissioner, Ed doesn't believe that Kinney would take the chief out of the city," Eve said.

"Ed's right. He wants all eyes of the San Francisco Police Department on what he is doing. If he is going to kill Chief Ironside, he would do it right here in San Francisco," Randall insisted.

"Then why can't we trace his cell phone?" Ed asked.

"Because he is somewhere where the signal is blocked," Randall said.

"Then that narrows down where in the city he is being held," Mark said.

"Alright, I buy into this, commissioner. Where would a signal be blocked in this city?" Ed said.

"What about a building made entirely of cement?" Eve asked.

"Alright Eve, you start there. Find out every building in this city that is made entirely of cement," Ed said.

"Ed, what about the sewers?" Mark asked. "There would not be any signal down there would there?"

"No. Commissioner, can we assign some police to start searching the sewers."

Randall did not respond. It was obvious from the look on his face, something they had said had rang a bell. "Commissioner?" Eve asked.

"There is something that you people are not aware of," Randall said.

"Commissioner, if you know something that could help us find the chief, then tell us," Ed said.

"There are tunnels that run under this city. It is a little known fact. They have been sealed off for a long time. They would be on micro film. It is possible that Kinney knows about them since he worked in records," Randall said. "There is no way Bob would get a signal down there."

"Mark, get down stairs and have Hedison find the micro film for those tunnels. Have him run off plenty of hard copies to hand out to the police officers." Mark headed out of the office on the run.

13.10

Kinney could not believe he got past all those cops. Obviously, Ironside's brilliance did not run through the entire police department. He had been away from Ironside for a long time. He had to get back to the tunnels. He would have like to kill both Reese and Brown but maybe he didn't have to. He could convince Ironside that he had done so. That would be enough. He would die thinking he could not save his precious golden boys.

Kinney jumped into the car and sped down the street. Time to die, Ironside.

13.11

Ironside crawled along the wall. With his make shift bow in his back pocket and his home-made knife in his suit coat pocket, they were all that stood between him and death. He knew he was running out of time. Kinney would be back any minute and find him missing. He would be furious….at least Ironside hoped he would. If he was, he would make mistakes. A man who kept his wits had a better chance of not making fatal mistakes.

As he continued down the wall, he wondered if his friend…..Commissioner Randall would remember these tunnels. By now Ed, Eve and Mark would be concentrating on those sections of the city that would block his cell phone signal. Hopefully the commissioner had checked on their progress and they were able to figure out where he was. However, he simply could not depend on them to come in and save him. He had to depend on himself. He stopped for a moment, drew in a breath and continued crawling alongside the wall. His forward progress was stopped, by what he was not sure. He held up the lantern and saw a low cement wall about three feet high. He did not know what its original purpose was and did not care. He only cared that it was there.

Ironside crawled behind the wall and rested. He pulled the home made bow out of his pocket. He reached in his other suit pocket and retrieved the dart. He would make his stand here. At least it afforded him some protection.

Ironside turned out the lantern and waited…..for Kinney to find him.