Operation Kill a Cop

Chapter 14

Kinney arrived back at the opening to the tunnels. He put his flashlight in his back pocket. He then tucked his gun behind his belt at his waistline. Kinney got out of the car and walked over to the opening. Pressing his fingers behind the greenery concealing the door, he forced the door open.

Kinney pulled flashlight out of his pocket. After switching it on, he climbed down the ladder. When he reached the section of the ladder he had removed, Kinney stopped and jumped to the tunnel floor. Using the small stream of light the flashlight provided, he continued on to the room he had locked Ironside in.

Kinney reached into his jeans pocket and removed the key. He shined the flashlight on the key hole. Placing the key in the lock, he turned it and released the deadbolt. The door opened to a completely dark room. His flashlight was dying. It did not provide enough light to see into the room

"Ironside! This is not going to help you. You are going to die. So why don't you take it like a man?" He stood still and listened. Silence. He did not like it. "Turn on the damn lantern, Ironside!" He shouted.

The light on his flashlight went completely out. "Damn it!" Kinney looked into the room but it was pitch black. "You are only making it harder on yourself." He still received no answer from the Ironside. "Damn cop," he mumbled.

Kinney walked forward into the room. As soon as his feet came in contact with the string, he tumbled forward and fell into the table that Ironside positioned perfectly. He lost his balance and tripped over the chair. Kinney went crashing to the floor, hitting his head on the table on the way down. He blacked out.

14.2

Ironside could hear the echo of Kinney's voice yelling at him. He readied his make shift bow, holding the dart against the elastic. In the distant he could hear a crash. The string he set across the door had held. Ironside had no doubt he had tripped over it and fell into the table. He listened for further movement. There was none. That could only mean Kinney had be knocked out cold in the fall. He wondered how much time he had. Maybe he should try to explore the area a bit. He would no doubt hear Kinney when he regained consciousness. He would be angry and would probably be yelling at him from the distance.

Anger, unless controlled could be anyone's downfall in any dangerous situation. Years of being a cop had taught Ironside to control any anger he felt. It would give him the advantage. He certainly had plenty to be angry about. He had lost more than a half a dozen good cops…good people to Kinney's twisted value system. Carl Reese was still in the hospital, although he would recover. Ed could have been killed if he had not spotted that car at the last minute. But what angered him the most was the attack upon Barbara. He had waited so long for her to come back into his life and because of Kinney, he had almost lost her for good. And her only crime was her love for him. This was one man he would take pleasure in arresting. He would be in that courtroom when his sentence came down. Ironside would not lose a wink of sleep over the death penalty when Kinney received it….and he would. He wanted justice for his cops who lost their lives in the line of duty, for the families who would have to go on without the young men they loved; all because they happened to share Ironside's name in part; all because they were cops like himself. They died because Kinney had a grudge against him. Ironside WAS angry…..extremely angry but he would control it and turn that anger into an advantage. Kinney did not understand that an angry Ironside was an extremely dangerous man, in or out of a wheelchair.

The most important thing now was to keep his wits and defend himself. He knew he was at a disadvantage physically but it was no different than any other situation of this sort he had found himself in, in the past. He had come out of those safely because he kept his wits about him. Today would be no different. What was his police force called him? The Ironman on Wheels. Kinney was about to find out why.

He would wait for Kinney. He was a patient man…..at least for now he was.

14.3

Sgt. Ed Brown and Officer Eve Whitfield were going over the plans of the tunnels provided to them. "There are eight entrances into the tunnels, commissioner. I thought you said there were four."

Commissioner Randall pulled the blue prints from Ed and Eve and started going over them. "I only remember four," he said, "but this clearly shows eight. These are not the plans that I remember seeing. There are many more tunnels than I can remember. How are we ever going to find him in time?"

Ed grabbed the blue prints from the commissioner. "We will find him in time because we have to," he said. "Okay, so there are more than you remember. Kinney must be planning to use the tunnels to get out of the city after he kills the chief. We have the city bottled up. Every exit in and out of the city is covered by cops. Commissioner, do you remember if any of these entrances are outside the city limits. Could Kinney get by our policeman by using one of them?"

Randall walked over and stood next to Ed. "My knowledge is base on four entrances. If memory serves me correctly only one of those was outside the city limits. I don't see how that would do him any good though. The main highway is just the other side of it and we have that covered. No, I just can't believe he could slip by us using that entrance."

"Which entrance are you talking about?" Mark asked.

Ed pushed the blue print in front of Randall. "Point it out."

Randall ran his fingers along the blue print. He stopped momentarily and shook his head and continued. He moved along the outside of perimeter of the tunnels and stopped at one area that marked one of the entrances. "Here, this is the one I am talking about."

"And you say the highway runs along here?" Ed said as he used his finger to indicate the highway."

"Yes, I believe that to be correct."

"Ed, there is no way Kinney could get out that way," Eve said. "We have barricades along here if that is the highway." She pointed them out. He could not even cross the field. He would be spotted."

"Maybe not," Mark disagreed. "If he left at night, he could travel along here," he said pointing.

Ed considered what Mark said. "Isn't there a cement wall along here?" he asked, again pointing it out on the blue print.

"Yes, but he would be spotted," Randall argued.

"Nooooo, I don't think so. Not if he left at night like Mark said," Ed said.

Eve felt like they were wasting precious time. They had to find the correct entrance and time was running out. "Is there anyone that knows these tunnels, commissioner? Are they used for anything at all?"

"There are a handful of people who know about them but I really don't know who would know them any better than I do. These tunnels were sealed more than twenty years ago," Randall answered. "Anyone that had anything to do with them is no longer working for the city."

"Before they were sealed….do we know what they were used for?" Mark asked.

"Crazy as it sounds, they were originally built to house a certain number of people in case of a nuclear attack. You know, people who would be important in a post nuclear disaster." Randall said. "After the cold war ended they were sealed up. One entrance was left unsealed in case we were to use them again. Even that one was sealed up because some kids found it and the city council was afraid one of them would get lost down there."

"We need to find out who knew enough about them to help us," Eve said.

"Why don't we just unseal all of them and send police down everyone of them?" Mark asked.

"That might take days to find the Bob that way," Randall said. "If this blue print is correct, they run under the entire city, not just the outside perimeter, as I originally thought. I don't think we have that kind of time. We have to find him before Kinney decides to kill him and unless I miss my guess that is going to be sometime tonight."

"Commissioner, is there anymore records on these tunnels? Who's jurisdiction did they come under? There has to be someone who knows more about them than we do," Ed insisted. "We have to narrow down what entrance Kinney used to go in and where he is going to come out. It is the only chance we have of finding the chief in time."

Randall reached under his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "If there is, it has to be in the records room."

"Eve, get down there and work with whoever is on duty. Find out who had jurisdiction of those tunnels and find someone who is alive, a dead employee is not going to do us any good," Ed ordered.

Eve nodded. "What are you going to do?"

"I am going to have all the entrances located. We don't even know how accurate this blue print is. If all else fails, we unseal every one of them and send cops down there just like Mark said."

"You will never find him in time that way, Sergeant," Randall said.

"We'll find him," Ed said. "No other outcome is acceptable.

14.4

The cloud began to lift. Kinney opened his eyes. It was still pitch dark but he was sure he was awake. He could feel the pain in the side of his head. The last thing he remembered was hitting his head on the table after he tripped over the chair beside the table. His head ached. Kinney rubbed his temple. He felt dampness on his fingers, blood no doubt.

He felt for the table. Grabbing the side of the table, he lifted himself to his feet. Kinney felt around for the chair, which had been the cause for his fall. Having found the culprit, he felt for the seat and sat down. Even though it was completely dark in the room, Kinney knew the blow to his head have left him dizzy. The dark room seemed to be spinning around him. His temple throbbed.

"Ironside! Where are you? I'll kill you, you SOB. You are dead, Ironside! Do you know that? You're dead!." The room remained silent. Where in the hell was that crippled cop? He had to be in here somewhere. Kinney knew he had to find a lantern. He had to get some light in order to find his way around. He got up and walked slowly over to the table where he knew he had placed a lantern. Kinney felt around on the table. Ironside must have removed it. He remembered there was another on that table. He turned around and made his way back to the table. Forgetting that he had moved the chair in order to sit down, he again walked into it and tripped. Down he went again, taking most of the weight on his knees. "Damn it!" He grabbed the table and pulled himself to his feet. Feeling around the table, he knocked the pitcher of water to the floor. He continued to feel around the table. He picked up the glass and threw it across the room in frustration. He made one final swipe across the table and found no lantern. Ironside had removed that one as well.

Why didn't he tie up that damn cripple? How could one man, in a wheel chair no less cause so much trouble? Where was he? He had to be in this room. Kinney had locked him in here. He turned to what he believed was the cupboards and slowly shuffled his way over to them. He walked into an open door and banged his knee. Pain shot through the knee. The damage caused from the impact of landing on his knees in that last fall, compounded the screaming pain shooting through his legs. He closed his eyes and willed the pain away. He was sure that one or both kneecaps had been either broken or damaged when they took the full weight of his body.

Kinney felt around the cupboard. He could not feel anything. He tried to remember if he had left anything in the cupboard when he cleared out everything that Ironside might use as a weapon. He just could not jog his memory. No, he was sure nothing was left Ironside could use. He knew Ironside's reputation for making weapons of practically nothing. He had made sure what was left in that cupboard was useless to him.

Kinney slammed the cupboard shut and felt for the cupboard above. He found the cupboard handle and opened the door. He reached in and pulled out another lantern. After lighting the lantern, Kinney held it up and looked around the room. The lantern did not light up much of the room but Kinney did not see Ironside anywhere. He walked around the room, lighting each section of the room as he passed by. He could not believe it. Ironside was not in the room.

How did he get through a locked door? It was definitely locked when he arrived and yet Ironside had escaped. The rage rose in within him. Ironside had already caused him way too much trouble. He needed to find him and kill him. Then he would wait until it was dark and get out of San Francisco. He would head for Mexico. But first he had to find that damn crippled cop.

Kinney took the lantern and left the room. He pulled the gun from his waist and headed down the tunnel in search of Robert T. Ironside.

14.5

Ironside leaned against the wall in a sitting position. He remained in completed darkness awaiting Kinney. He knew he was awake. He had heard him yelling for him. Chief Ironside did not know how far he had crawled away from the room he had been held in. He only knew that Kinney's voice sounded a long way off. He had no idea how long it would take Kinney to reach him. If it were not for this flaming darkness, he would know how long before Kinney arrived. At least Kinney would not know when he had reached him. If Ironside was lucky, Kinney's rage would build and he would continue to yell for him. If he had had any sense at all, he would shut his mouth and search for Ironside silently. The chief hoped he had angered him enough to continue his rage so that he would hear his would be assassin coming.

Ironside raised his right arm in the air to try to stretch the stiffness that probably was caused from the fall from the ladder. His hand hit the wall. Rocks came tumbling down on top of him. Ironside covered his head with his arm as more stones and rocks came down on top of him. He removed his arm once the falling rocks stopped.

The detective felt around for the rocks. He gathered a couple of them in his hand. The larger one he threw away. The other was the size of a golf ball. Ironside felt the rock and turned it around in his hand. Reaching down, he grabbed a few more of the rocks. Ironside picked up his homemade bow. He placed the rock on the elastic and pull it back. The exhausted cop pointed the bow down the tunnel in the opposite direction he had come from. He let go of the elastic and shot the rock down the tunnel. Satisfied the bow would double as a sling, Ironside began collecting stones and placing them in his suit coat pocket.

14.6

Mark Sanger set a cup of coffee in front of Sgt. Ed Brown. "Thanks Mark, but I just can't drink anything right now." The phone rang. Brown grabbed it. "Chief Ironside's office, Sgt. Brown."

"Ed, it's Eve. I found him!"

"Found who?" Ed inquired.

"Horace Holmes. The tunnels fell under his jurisdiction until they were sealed," Eve answered.

"Have him picked up and bring him here," Brown ordered.

"That's not possible. He's in a nursing home. He's eighty eight years old but the doctor there says his mind is as sharp as a tack. He let me talk to him. Holmes says the commissioner right about that entrance. The highway is right next to it. But the commissioner is wrong about where it ends. The plans that we have do not show how far it goes out. The tunnel was added later on. Kinney would come out of the tunnel on the other side of the highway. He would go right under all of our police officers. They would never see him. He also said there is an entrance two miles straight from the cross tunnel. It is out in the middle of nowhere. He says of all the entrances into the tunnels that is the only one that he could go in and out without being noticed. Ed, he is convinced that is where he would have taken the chief."

"Good work Eve, get back up here right away." Brown hung up the phone.

Commissioner Randall waited for Brown to brief him. "Horace Holmes is our man." He told Randall what Eve had found out.

"Ed, I remember that entrance now. What Horace doesn't know is that the entrance was moved after he retired. You won't find it where he says it is. But I know where it is." Randall picked up the phone and dialed. "This is Commissioner Randall. I want every available police officer to report to the following areas." He gave the name of the roads where the two entrances were located. "It is believe to be where Chief Ironside is being held captive." Randall barked out more orders and then hung up the phone. "Let's go, Ed."

Eve Whitfield came into the office. "Eve, you and Mark follow us over in the chief's van. Bring the chief's extra wheelchair with you." Ed Brown and Commissioner Randall left the office on the run.

14.7

Kinney held the lantern up to light his way down the tunnel. He did not see the string that was strung across the tunnel. He walked right into it. He right foot hook on it and once again, Kinney fell to the floor falling on both of his already painful knees. He screamed in pain. "I'll kill that son of a bitch! I..R..O..N..S..I..D..E! He yelled at the top of his lungs.

14.8

The chief had been correct. Kinney was so enraged, he had lost all sense of reason. He was announcing his arrival just as Ironside had predicted. The detective readied his bow.

"You're dead Ironside. Do you hear me, you sorry excuse for a cop! You're dead! I am going to kill you slowly. I'll shoot you in your useless legs and continue plugging you all up way up your body and watch you bleed to death. Nobody is coming after you, Ironside. I killed Reece and Brown. You hear me you bastard. Your golden boys are dead and so are you!

Kinney continued down the tunnel, holding the lantern up in the air to light his way.

Ironside spotted the light coming from the lantern down the tunnel. He lifted the bow. He placed the dart on the elastic and pulled it back. He aimed in the direction of the light and waited.

"I am going to kill you slowly! The great Robert T. Ironside is going to fall at my hands. You ruined my life and now I am going to kill you Ironside. Do you hear me, cop?" He continued down the tunnel with the lantern in one hand and his gun in the other. "You're dead, Ironside!"

Ironside watched as Kinney's form began to come out of the darkness. He came closer, then closer. Ironside spotted the gun in Kinney's hand. Robert T. Ironside pulled the elastic back as far as he dared and shot his dart at Kinney's gun hand.

The dart traveled at top speed finding its way through the darkness. The makeshift arrow hit its target. Kinney screamed as the dart pierce his hand. He dropped the gun which skidded away down the blacken tunnel. Kinney screamed in agony. "Now you die Ironside," he screamed like a raving lunatic. He spotted Ironside and stormed toward him in a murderous rage.