Chapter 17

Mandy had been released from hospital after spending the night for observation. Things were bad. Liv Morgan was dead. Meanwhile Riley Morgan was missing. Sonya had let Mandy know that the "suggestion" was that if Detective Morgan was seen he should brought in to "debrief." Of course the rumors were running wild. Was it a mob hit? Some friend of Randy Orton's? Some one the know dirty cop had screwed looking for revenge? Mandy had no idea. What she did know was just how lucky she was still be alive. Riley pulling her to the ground after that call he got. Mandy also had another terrbile thought. What if she had caused this. Liv Morgan has been her informant. Clearly this was some kind of leak. What if by having Liv go after her brother had led to this.

Mandy sat in her living room doing nothing just feeling numb. Her phone rang again. She didn't have to check it. It was either Mike or Ember calling to tell her Mike wanted her to call him. She didn't want to do it. She just wanted some time alone.

Seventy Second Precinct

Trish Stratus had been on the job long enough nothing really shocked her anymore. Until now. She was doing some paper work at the desk when she heard the door the Precinct open. "Riley?" She asks in shock seeing Detective Morgan entering. He looked like hell which of course he did with his sister dying. "Not now Sargent," Riley says heading for the door to head to Intelligence level scanned in and disappered. "That was Morgan," Sonya Deville says. "Yeah it was," Trish says. "Are you going to do something? Shouldn't command me called?" Sonya says. "Deville you are going to have to learn when to just be quite and move on," Trish says. "He went missing last night. God only know what he did seeking his own form of justice," Sonya rants. "Get to work you have a patrol to do. And if you are thinking about telling command think twice," Trish warns.

Up in bull pen area Shawn and the team are running down the very little the knew. He stopped when Riley came up the steps. "Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson. They got hired to kill me," Riley says breaking the silence. "Riley you should go to the hospital," Bobby finally says. "Go to hell Bobby!" Riley says. "Look you can't be involved in this investigation," Bobby says. "My sister gets killed you want to lecture about precdedure," Riley yells. Johnny steps between Riley and Bobby. "Riley how do you know it was Wilder and Dawson?" Shawn asks trying to calm Riley down. "Adam Cole... and yes before anyone asks the guy with mob ties! He gave me a warning at the last second. I checked my surveillance camera and took cover. That is where I have been I was off confronting Cole," Riley spews out.

"Are you sure you can trust him?" Keith makes the mistake of asking. Shawn seeing Riley is about to snap again steps in. "Johnny take him into my office," He orders. Riley lets his partner lead him to Shawn's office. "Shawn you can see he's not in his right mind," Bobby says. "Let me handle it," Shawn says. A phone starts to ring. Mickie answers it. "James, Intelligence... Alright hold the scene... Sargent that was homicide they have a dumped body stapled to her forehead was one of Riley's business cards," Mickie says.

Crime Scene In Central Park

"Shit Mia," Riley says arriving on the scene followed by Johnny. "Who found her?" Johnny asks one of the uniforms. "It was a maintenance man he was doing some work on the sprecler system. She was stashed in a shed," The uniform explains. Riley feels numb. Mia had been a CI of his for years. She had been a kid who had made a huge mistake but a good person. She had finally gotten past her charges. Now she was dead. The comparison's Liv were right there. Riley felt this tightness in his chest and forced himself to breath. "What was she killed with?" He asks one of the uniforms. "We think we found the murder weapon," One of the uniforms says holding up a knife in an evidence bag.

"Happy birthday partner," Jake says handing Dean a box. "You couldn't just buy me a bottle of boos?" Dean asks. "Renee asked me not to encourage your drinking," Jake jokes. Dean opens the box and pulls out a large curved knife with a unique handle. "Damn this is nice," Dean says. "Thought you would like it," Jake says.

"Detective are you alright sir?" The uniform officer asks. "Yeah I'm fine," Riley says walking back to the car. "The ME thinks she would have been killed around nine last night," Johnny says. "Dude this is really bad. Who ever is behind this really knows me," Rileysays before explaining about the knife. "Sure its the same knife?" Johnny asks. "Yeah I'm sure," Riley replies grimley.

Mandy's Place

There was only person Mandy was willing to see and that was Sonya who she had let in. "They are actually going to just let him come and go as he pleases," Sonya says having just explained about Riley showing up and Sargent Startus letting him just head up. "Sonya if anyone is going to know who tried to kill him it's Riley," Mandy says. "There are rules Mandy," Sonya reminds her. "And there are exceptions. Maybe Morgan is working a case. Maybe there are other under cover cops involved. Or maybe its the kind of case only Intelligence can handle," Mandy theorized. "Intelligence is a division of the NYPD. They have to follow the same rules I do. Stuff like this is why your boss wants to take down Morgan," Sonya says.

"My boss has a grudge and the more I learn the more I side with Riley," Mandy says. "You have to be kidding me. Siding with Morgan. You were the one the pushed Liv Morgan to go after her brother," Sonya reminds her. "And now she's dead. Sonya I was there. I saw that girl torn to pieces by bullets. Maybe I think anyone that would be willing to do that should have Riley Morgan hunting them down. Hey Sonya I could have been killed," Mandy yells. "I hope I misheard that," A male voice says. Mandy turns and sees Mike standing at her now open door. "How did you get in here?" Mandy asks stunned he is there. "Your doorman let me in. I was worried and wanted to see how you are doing," Mike claims.

"I need to get back to to work. I'll check in later," Sonya says as she leaves. "Mike you didn't need to come over I'm going to be fine," Mandy claims. "Mandy I can tell you aren't fine. And it sounds like you have changed your mind on Riley Morgan. Mandy I really hope that isn't the case," Mike says. "Mike the case is dead. Liv Morgan was out witness. She didn't turn anything of value before her death..." "I thought you had information from his computers?" Mike interrupts. "Mike there was nothing of value on there," Mandy lies. The truth was the information Riley Morgan had on Mike had incredible value. But what Mike wanted was something to put Morgan in jail.

It dawned on Mandy she was now caught in the crossfire between two law enforcement officials trying to put the other in jail. "Mandy listen to me. I want you to hand over what you have. Let me have others look it over. You never know what they could find. I am sick of this fish getting off the damn hook," Mike says.

The door burst open after being struck with a battering ram. Bobby took point followed in by Riley, Dean, Mickie, and two other officers from the gang unit. Bobby turned to the gang unit cops and told them to clear the upstairs of the house. He and Mickie would take the basement leaving Riley and dean the ground floor. This kind of set was fine for normal home but this place was huge. It was hold brownstone converted into apartments at some point. The problem was a ticking clock. The man they were trying to arrest Michael Tarver was believed to be behind a violent murder of a young kid. The issue was kid was the son of a powerful gang leader. The problem was Tarver had done it in a way to make it look like a latin gang had done it.

New York was the verge of a gang war unless they could get Tarver and eitehr get him to confess or prove he did it. Tarver have been a wild card in and out of jail for years. He was even a relative of the kid he killed but he hated the boy's father. So there wasn't time to wait for more back up. "Everyone be careful. Tarver's record shows he shoots first and asks questions never," Bobby reminded everyone on the raido. Riley went left and Dean right. Riley reached a kitchen area when he heard it. "NYPD DROP..." The sound of gunshots.

Several Days Later

"As I stated earlier. I heard Detective Ambrose yell out his warning," Riley says to the two investigators from Internal Affairs. "And when you got to the room what did you see?" Another question Riley had already answered. "Detective Ambrose stood in the hall holding his weapon. Montez Ford was on the ground a clear bullet wound in his chest," Riley says. "And did Mr. Ford have anything in his hands?" "A cell phone… But..." "No further questions detective."

Court Room One Month Later

It was taking everything Riley had not to jump up and strangle the bastard. Mike Mizanin was the prosecuter. "If Dean Ambrose had taken one damn second to make sure what was going on than Montenz Ford would still be alive. The badge he wore means he should held to a higher standred…

"Riley you listening?" Johnny asking as they headed up to the bullpen. "Sorry no I got a million thoughts running through my head," Riley admits. They fill everyone on in. "How long did you know Mia?" Bobby asks. "A few years. She was young made a mistake was carrying an unregisterted gun for her idiot boyfriend at the time. She had some good connections. Never led me wrong," Riley says. "Does this mean we have a leak? If someone knows one of Riley's informents?" Keith asks. It was a worrying thought. So much of here work relied on working with CI's. And the CI's needed to feel safe. And while you were told not to care about them the truth was they all had a few they cared about. A few that had proven to be worth another chance.

"Riley did you have Mia officaly registed as a CI?" Shawn asks. You were supposed to be put any informents in a offical file but for various some weren't. "I did about two years ago. She gave me a tip on a case with reward. I wanted her to have it… God damn it I..." he stops himself. "Dana you and Mickie track down Mia's family see what they know about where she was supposed to be last night. Bobby you and Keith run down info on this knife. I dobut very many could be made," Shawn says taking command. "I'll go meet up with the ME," Johnny says. "I'll come with you," Riley says. "No Johnny can do that alone. Riley in my office," Shawn says.

They team breaks up. Once he and Riley are alone Shawn closes the door to the office. "Did you even try to sleep last night?" Shawn asks. "No," Riley admits. Shawn pulls out a key from his desk. "The apartment above my garge. Go get some sleep. I know I can't keep you away from either of these cases. But I can at least try to keep from burning out," Shawn says. Riley has no will to fight back. "Just one thing I have been thinking about. If these murders are connected what if Liv wasn't the first?" Riley asks. "Riley this can't be about Robert," Shawn warns. "Its not about my dad. But think about it only a few people would know about that knife I gave Dean. And there have been no leads in who killed Dean in jail," Riley says.

A little later

Riley could see the crime scene tape was still up around the house. He was breaking a ton of rules being here but he didn't give a rat's ass. He entered the front door and ignored the stairs that Liv had died on. He headed to his office. He opened the wall safe and pulled out all the cash he could. The flash drives that kept information he didn't want anyone to access as well his information on his invetagion into his father's death and a gun out. He stuffed them all into a duffle bag before closing the safe and returning the picture to its normal spot. He exited the room house. If anyone had noticed him they gave him a wide birth.

He opened in his trunk and tossed the bag in. He took one last look at the house. He would never return. That was why he he had come here before heading to Shawn's and grabbed this stuff now. He needed to make sure no one else got a hold of it. Even people he trusted greatly like Shawn or Johnny could be put at risk. "What the hell is that?" Riley thinks as he sees a wire hanging down. It was easy enough to guess what happened. The numerous bullets had torn open a hole in the building. Riley walked over to the house again. The wire was thick to thick to be used for a home. Than it dawned on him. "Its a long term bug. Someone had my place wired," Riley thinks. He pulled out his pocket knife and used it to tuck the wire back up out of sight. Things were changing quick.

"Hello Riley," A voice says. He had been to tired with the wire he had zoned out. He reaches for his gun and aims it at Mandy. "Easy," she says holding her hands up. "Sorry," he says putting it back in it's holster. "I shouldn't have snuck up on you," Mandy says. "I'm sorry its just with what happened to Liv I'm on edge," Riley says. "I shouldn't even be here. I was just… I'm sorry about what happened. I am so sorry about Liv," She says honestly. "Thanks. Are you okay?" He asks. They had been separated at the hospital. "I'll be fine thanks to you," Mandy says. "Good. I don't need anyone else getting hurt because of me," Riley says. Mandy is stunned she can see how on edge he is. How different he sounds. "Riley they will find who did this," Mandy tries to convince him. "Look Rose something deep is going on here. You need keep your distance," Riley warns. "I wish I could help," Mandy says. "Hop in your car and follow me," Riley says.