Gotham's Heroes is a collective story from SparkyCSI, Aphina and Axellia (please read the author bio for further information).
Whilst we own our OC's, even when we combine our savings, we are not even close to owning a percentage of CSI: NY - so don't sue us!
Gotham's Heroes
Chapter 14: Confessions and Commands
Angell surveyed the mayhem in front of her. Someone had dumped a body in the middle of Grand Central Station and so far, not a single person had actually noticed. She'd called her lieutenant and requested a partner for this case. Not only did she need help with the interviewing, she had just spotted another dumped body. Only this one had been stabbed.
She wasn't even sure how many were actually witnesses, and how many had turned up just to stare.
"You needed back up?"
She rose to her feet, turning, to find Flack staring down at her. "I thought you had just been released from the hospital?" she asked him, eyeing suspiciously. The Captain would have her head if he was returning to work against orders.
Flack nodded, as if reading her mind. "They're swamped. They've had a drive-by and a multi-car pile-up over on the interstate. Even the CSI's are swamped. But we should be getting someone soon."
Angell nodded. She'd heard the calls go out over her radio, and Flack was wearing his badge still. "So far, I've found two victims. One stabbed, one shot. No one saw anything, no one head anything. But these guys are stone cold. It's like they were killed, stored, and dumped. But how the hell can you dump two bodies and no one notice?"
Flack frowned and looked around at the uniforms talking statements from witness, the majority of which we either shaking their heads or looked completely clueless. "Just another day in New York City, huh?"
Angell sighed. "You're telling me," she muttered, her eyes falling to the paper which was curling around her feet. She looked back up at Flack and then did a double take as she spotted a familiar face on the front page. She reached down and grabbed it.
"What are you doing?" Flack yelped. "That's evidence!"
"That's your girlfriend," Angell countered, holding the front page up.
Flack's jaw hit the floor as he saw the picture of Taylor clocking Carmen. "What the hell is that?"
"That would be your girlfriend and your ex-girlfriend battling out over you," Angell informed him.
Flack's eyes narrowed, picking up the hint of bitterness in Angell's tone. "I didn't encourage them to fight. And I certainly don't condone it."
Angell rolled her eyes. "Well they did. And I'm the one who had to take Taylor home and comfort her as she cried all night."
Flack looked back at the paper, feeling guilty. "We should have told her," he sighed.
"Damn straight," Angell snapped. "Because now Taylor doesn't know what she wants." She quickly looked away, wishing she could take that statement back.
"What does that mean?" Flack asked her, his curiosity peaked. Surely she wasn't saying what he thought she was saying, was she?
'And your saviors have arrived," Danny's cheerful voice boomed at them as he and Lindsay ducked under the rope.
Flack tore his eyes away from Angell and forced them to look at his best friend. "What time do you call this?" he asked him.
Danny shrugged. "We had to walk three blocks because half of the roads are closed off. Would you believe the luck drivers are having today? I'm telling you – EMS are rushed off their feet. I just hope that nothing else happens, or I think a lot off people are going to be called in on their day off."
"What's that?" Lindsay asked, pointing to the paper Flack was still holding. "I hope that's not evidence, Don."
"It, uh…" Flack stammered wondering if he should tell the truth or lie.
"It's Carmen and Taylor's bitch fight," Angell explained.
Guess it was the truth then.
Danny pulled it from him and scanned the front page. "Damn. Nancy Drew can punch. At least my girlfriend is normal." He looked up to find three pairs of eyes staring at him. He shrugged. "Me and Cory are officially dating."
Lindsay let out a squeal of excitement and leapt up at Danny, wrapping her arms around him. "I'm so happy for you!"
Danny looked around uncomfortably – he wasn't being paranoid when he thought people were watching them. Whereas the morbid onlookers were staring at the crime scene, now, Lindsay's squeals had caused them to divert their attention to the source of the high pitch yell of excitement. "I think we should maybe get on with processing this scene," he muttered uncomfortably.
Lindsay unwrapped herself from around Danny's neck and looked around, quickly straightening her top and clearing her top. "Maybe you're right,' she agreed. "You want to take this one," she nodded at the stab victim. "I'll take the other one."
Taylor stared at the paper in a combination of horror, disbelief and amazement. The question now was, how was she going to break the news to Carmen that she was on the cover of a tabloid rag? She didn't have much time to ponder the question as her phone rang.
Glancing at the caller ID and seeing it was withheld, she flicked her phone open, figuring she was about to get a roasting from Alex. She was very much mistaken when a cold, Russian accented voice spoke to her in Italian. "Ciao, Ms. Turner. Dovremmo parlare." Taylor felt her blood run cold.
"Who is this?" she asked.
"That is not important. What is important is that you have something of mine and I would like it back."
"I don't know what you're talking about,' Taylor said.
"Now we both know that isn't true," the voice mocked her. "Do you know where your friends are?"
Taylor bit her lip. "What are you talking about?"
"Those pretty detective friends of yours. We've met one of them already – he wasn't very helpful, but your reaction was quite entertaining."
Taylor glanced down at the paper in front of her, her own face teasing her. She swallowed. "What are you talking about?" she repeated.
"Right now, four of your friends are trying to figure out why two seemingly unconnected bodies have been dumped at Grand Central Station. Now, at the moment, those bodies are harmless. However, that could change. If you want to see your friends again, you will return that flash drive to us. Needless to say, if you inform them that there is something, how do you say, 'off' with their crime scene, we will kill them, along with a large percentage of New York."
Taylor could feel the blood rushing from her head. "How?" she managed to force out the question, although her voice was barely louder than a whisper.
The voice on the other end of the phone laughed at her. "Let's just say our fathers taught us a thing or two before your country ensured their murder."
"What do you mean?" Taylor demanded. But it was too late – she was talking to a dial tone. With her body trembling at the message, Taylor headed straight back to the crime lab.
~G~H~
"I've cracked it." Adam uttered. Carmen merely blinked for a second, before throwing her arms around Adam's neck.
"You are a genius." Cory said grinning and leaning forward to catch a glimpse of the shape on the screen as the door burst open behind them. Carmen turned to greet a breathless Taylor.
"Adam's just cracked the decryption!" Carmen told her also leaning over Adam's shoulder.
"We have a bigger problem." All three of them now turned to face Taylor who shut the door behind her.
"VSPA just called me; we need to give them the flash drive." Taylor told them. Cory's expression turned to a frown as Carmen's jaw dropped.
"What did they say exactly?" Cory asked, keeping calm despite the fact she was alarmed.
Taylor explained the phone call as the others listened intently.
"There's been multiple call outs today, they could be talking about anyone, anywhere." Carmen thought out loud. Taylor shook her head.
"It's got to be somewhere where Flack is, remember the message?" Carmen nodded, panic filling her chest. She shoved it away.
"Flack was meant to be off today…"
"They called him in to work a scene; it's crazy out there at the minute." Adam added. Carmen stared at him, a new wave of sickness filling her.
"Do these blue prints look a lot like Grand Central Station to you?" Taylor asked, peering at the screen. They all leaned over Adam looking at the screen.
"Danny, Angell and Lindsey are at that call out." Adam murmured, as the horror of the situation struck the girls even more.
"And there's no way to contact them…" Cory whispered a look of fear in her face.
Adam was the first to speak.
"I can make a copy of the flash drive…" His words seem to snap them all back into action.
"Can you do that?" Carmen asked wrapping her arms around herself as she struggled with Taylor's information. Adam nodded before beginning to tap violently fast on the keyboard.
"There's no guarantee that if we give them the flash drive that they won't kill them anyway." Cory mused out loud. Carmen was still looking over Adam's shoulder at something that looked like blueprints.
Taylor was shaking her head arms crossed.
"It's the only thing we can do, we have no idea what they're plans are." Taylor muttered.
"Actually…" Carmen murmured into the silence. "I think they've made a chemical bomb."
The two girls heads whipped around focusing on Carmen who was studying what Adam had up on screen. A list of long chemical names and doses.
Let's just say our fathers taught us a thing or two… The words echoed around Taylor's head as she frowned.
"It would make sense, they're fathers were chemists." Cory said out loud, her brain still ticking over.
"What if…what if the crime scene was a fake, what if the bombs hidden somewhere there?"
"But what wouldn't look out of place at a crime scene? Judging from the amounts here this bomb wouldn't be something you could just slip into your pocket…" Cory continued.
"And it can't be that noticeable otherwise the guys would have already called it in." Carmen pointed out.
Taylor was watching Woody with a confused expression on her face. He had suddenly reappeared and was pointing furiously at his stomach.
"Hungry?" she questioned frowning. Woody shook his head and looked around for something. He pointed at the screwdriver Adam had left out on the counter.
"Screw driver, screw, tools…" Taylor guessed. Woody rolled his eyes and pointed at himself and drew a line from his chest to his pelvic bone. Meanwhile the others had stopped debating and were staring at Taylor like she was crazy as she muttered random words under her breath.
Woody was looking around again, and pointed at a file with a photograph attached to it.
"Photo, frame, camera, film, strangled?" Woody shook his head jabbing his finger more furiously at the dead woman in the photo.
"Body?" Taylor asked, crossing her arms over her chest and frowning. Woody's eyes widened and he nodded furiously.
"So…body?" Taylor repeated trying to work out where this fitted into anything that had occurred recently.
"It's in the bodies!" she suddenly erupted, startling Cory, Carmen and Adam.
By now Woody was gesturing wildly at his stomach, drawing an invisible line from the bottom of his rib cage and to his pelvic bone.
"In their stomachs?" Taylor questioned. Woody nodded a proud expression on his face. Taylor turned back to the others who were watching her with a mixture of confusion and amusement.
"Woody says the bombs are in the bodies, they cut the stomachs opened and stuffed them in that's why it hasn't been called in yet!"
"You have to hand it to them, they're clever." Carmen remarked thoughtfully. Something was beginning to twitch in her head, the makings of a plan.
"I think it's safe to say that the building's being watched right now and so is the scene. We can't step out of here without risking their lives." Cory added, assessing the situation.
"There's no way we can get a bomb squad over there, they'd blow them up the first sign they got." Cory continued. Taylor looked uneasily between the other two women and Adam.
"We're going to have to give them the flash…" Carmen interrupted Taylor's sentence to address Adam.
"Do you know if the morgue van's gone in?" Adam shook his head at her question.
"They're backlogged too." He replied. Cory raised an eyebrow in Carmen's direction.
"You thinking something." She looked at her pointedly.
"I think I may have a way to disarm the bomb without the terrorists realizing." Carmen said carefully.
"Shoot." Cory said, dropping into one of the vacant chairs, as Taylor hopped onto work surface.
"What if we got a member of the NYPD bomb squad, to dress as a hauler and go into the crime scene with the van, once they get the bodies on board, he can begin disarming? It's risky but it's the only way I can think of doing this without blowing everyone up." Carmen told them honestly.
Cory nodded her agreement.
"It's the best thing we've got. You have anyone particular in mind?" Cory asked. Carmen's face turned into a grim smile.
"Let me give him a call."
~G~H~
"Sullivan." The gruff voice on the other side of the phone beckoned. Carmen swallowed her panic for a second before speaking.
"Matt. It's Carmen, here, Carmen Devine…"
"Carmen. I was wondering when you were gonna give me a call." Carmen shook her head, ignoring the curious looks the rest of the group was giving her.
"Sorry Matt, this isn't a social call. Look your own speaker phone with Agent Cory Reid, Adam Ross and Taylor Turner."
"Taylor Turner?…I read her column all the time, she's amazing…"
Carmen rolled her eyes interrupting him as Taylor blushed.
"Speakerphone Matt," she reminded him. There was an embarrassed silence on the other side of the line.
"We have a situation, it's kind of a delicate one; it could do with your expertise," Carmen said tactfully.
"You want me to get my squad mobilized?" he asked finally. Carmen shook her head before realizing that Matt couldn't see it.
"I was thinking this is kind of a one man job, just you," she muttered.
"Too bad this is work related Carmen…"
"Speakerphone," she interrupted again, her face flushing red. Matt chuckled for a moment before retaining his seriousness.
"So what exactly do you want me to do?" Matt asked now in a business like voice. Carmen began to explain the plan.
~G~H~
AN: And the plot thickens! It's an evil cliffie, we know that! We are trying to post more quickly but with 3 separate lives that are being bombarded by real life, it's tough! Let us know what you think!
Lapland – (Sparky) Thanks! I thought RL by itself was bad, but when you multiply that by 3, it's murder! (lol) Glad you're enjoying it and I'll try to check out the stories. (Aph) – RL is really laying a smack down on the three of us at the min, and with Christmas rolling up it's a nightmare. Your just gonna have to wait and see. I think I read Pixie and I really liked it, but I don't remember if I reviewed it or not. Thanks for the review x (Ax) Today was my first day off in eight weeks, and thus far, I have done eight loads of laundry – so sorry for the long wait on an update. I'll have a gander too – it may take a while though!
Maddy – (Sparky) If you ever figure out a way to become independently wealthy so we can write all day, please let me know! I'd love to! I'm glad that you liked the chap! (Aph) – lol we're late and that's kinda my fault. It's nice to hear from you again girl! If only, we could all do that! Thanks for the review. (Ax) I would love nothing more. Damn all those bills!
Forest Angel – (Sparky) I don't know what the extent of the implications will be just yet, but the plot is heating up, so needless to say, it may not be addressed for a while! Thanks! (Aph) – lol This ha been a complete whirlwind and of course we're all busy, but I am glad you love the story. (Ax) – I've actually had to go back and reread what was written, and I can honestly agree with sparky on that!
Demolished-soul – (Sparky) It definitely gets more interesting from here on. We have a lot of twists and turns planned! Thanks! (Aph) We're sorry you had to wait so long, it's just been manic, we're barely getting anytime to chat ourselves at the moment. Glad your still with us. (Ax) I keep forgetting what we write (because we go long periods on the updates/writing) and it still surprises me every time!
Meadow – (Sparky) Tabloids are a definite love-hate relationship. It's fun to use them in the story! Thanks. (Aph) lol I love the love-hate thing tabs have! (Ax) Well, it was fun to write, but I'd not like to do it full time, lol.