I'm really sorry that it took these ages to get this part open. Enjoy
though!
Steve cranked down the car window and backed up his elbow on the frame. The red lights in front of him stood still. Nothing moved, which was not really an unusual shape on the streets of LA. It often drove him nuts. The sounds of the different horns, the shouting people, the disorganised police men, who tried to bring some order into the endlessly long lines of motor vehicles.
The cars rolled fowards, inch for inch, Steve guessed that turtels were faster. He felt like biting into the wheel. His right hand was pressed against it, his whole body was tensed, each of his breaths escaped as though it was steam from a hot kettle. "You're driving a car, not a telephone booth, a car!", he mumbled as the Mercedes in front of him made a senseless emergency break after rolling only a few feet forward.
Amanda put her hand onto his knee, hoping to calm him down a little. She knew Steve's tempestuous character, which could go out of control rather quickly, especially in personal cases. She couldn't hold it against him.
Right now she was quite furious as well. But she still could think clearly and that was the reason why she had insisted to join him. She really trusted him, hell, if there was someone, in whose hands she would give her life to be protected, it was Steve. But if there was someone she would warn a gangster of, it was Steve in rage.
Mark had stayed at the hospital. He was still shocked, less about the fact that someone had tried to kill him, but more because Jesse was the one who had to carry the can now. Steve had wanted to send an officer to the hospital, but Mark didn't want him to do so. Having uniformend people around, somehow made him nervous, at least in this case. He had insisted that Amanda and Steve should try to find the killer, as soon as possible. Therefore they had agreed to start with the only connection the still knew...
They finally stopped in front of a big building, an ugly concrete block, which appeared even more dangerously in the darkness than Amanda and Steve remembered it. Only the plate at the front door was not the same any more. The 'Lynd Science' shield had disappeared, instead of it some golden letters read now 'Worth Lenses'.
As they entered the hall, Amanda tapped Steve's arm and swayed her head in the direction of a tall woman with brown hair. She was correctly dressed and had an erect posture, was talking to a secretary and noticed neither the leutenant nor the pathologist. "She is it, isn't she?" Steve was still not sure, but Amanda, whose memory for people was excellent, nodded positiv. Never ever she'd forget that face.
Steve's eyes narrowed. "Well, what do you know! Hadn't even recognised her without broomstick and wand!" Then he took his police ID out of his pocket and together they walked over to the woman. "Mrs Gale Wentworth?"
She turned around and threw them a smile that was so artificial that Amanda thought Mrs Wentworth had convulsions around her mouth. "That's me, what can I do for you?" But when she saw Steve glaring down at her, even she wasn't able to smile any more.
Steve showed his ID, though he was certain that this wasn't necessary. He knew that if looks had killed, he would have hit the floor immediately. "You still remember us?" he asked provokingly.
Gale Wentworth indicated them to follow her and they walked over to a small group of palms in tasteless pots. She frowned at him angrily. "Leutenant, what a big surprise! What's been leading you here?" she brattled.
"To be honest: a small problem with your ex-employees!" Steve replied sharply.
"What are you meaning?" Gale's attempts to look extraordinarly stupidly failed badly.
"Peter Berrow was murdered!" Amanda informed her, folding her arms over her chest.
"Who?" Mrs Wentworth wasn't exactly what one would call co-operative.
After the discovery of the RZ1765, a mutated small pox virus, which had a deadly effect within a few hours, the firm Lynd Science had had the chance to sell it for millions of Dollars and to save itself from bancruptcy. But then these people had put their oar in. Two innocent persons had been infected, as far as Gale knew, one them had almost died. She didn't actually feel sorry for him. Curiousity was deadly...and willingness to help as well. But Lynd Science was ruined and had it cost years to develope a new firm. And now these people were coming again. No! She wouldn't risk that they destroyed her life again!
Steve had rarely ever felt like slapping a woman into her face, but Gale Wentworth was an exception. She didn't want to talk, she hated him too much and he hated her as well. Her icy look, her thin lips, her arrogant behaviour. Steve felt the anger increasing in his body. There were only a few seconds left until it would have reached his hands and hell knew what he'd do then. He had to think. There had to be a way to make that woman talk and violence was certainly not the right one.
He made one step forward, Gale could see his eyes sparkeling furiously. "Listen to me, Mrs Wentworth, you know whom we're talking about! Peter Berrow produced a mutated small pox virus, which almost killed my dad and my best friend, then he stole it and murdered his partner Ray de Nino. He was sent to prison and now he's dead. Murederd. We need information. Files. Whatever you know!" He had almost shouted at her. The people in the entrance hall had turned around and stared shockedly at the scene.
Gale shrugged. She was getting weaker. But still her lips were closed.
'Plan B', thought Steve. "You have a pretty nice life right now, haven't you?" He tried to choose his words as pointed as possible.
She shrugged again. "I'm the head of this firm. We produce contact lenses!"
"Contact lenses!" hissed Steve and grinned almost amusedly. "So what do ya think...what would the people say if they knew that the woman who has the fingers on their contact lenses, has once had good connections to some small, deadly microbes? Would be a rather good publicity, don't you think?"
Gale glared at him and answered cool:"That's extortion, leutenant! And that's illegal as far as I know. But I'm sure I don't have to throw light on the constitution for you. So if you'd excuse me, please..." She was up to turn around, but Steve and Amanda blocked her way.
"I'm not forcing you to anything, Mrs Wentworth! I'm just reminding you of the fact that the press has been very gentle to you once you had created that nice virus. That's not gonna happen a second time to you! My friend is seriously ill, Peter Berrow has been murdered and you are obstructing the justice!" Steve was shouting again, his eyes sparkled enragedly.
Gale's lip trembled, you could see that she was boiling inwardly and that was certainly not a results of the heat. She slowly closed her eyes and snorted. "You won leutenant Sloan! You will get your files when you promise me never to turn up here again."
Steve's eyes narrowed. "You can count on that!"
"And what are we going to do now?" asked Amanda after she and Steve had left the a very disappointed Gale Wentworth, who was forced to explain a lot of rich investors with an awful German accent why the man with the police bandage had yelled something about a virus.
"We are going to let the guards in prison have a look at these files. If we are right and the murderer of Peter Berrow and the man who tried to kill dad are one and the same person, he must have visited the prison and administered Berrow anticoagulants." Steve sounded the horn of his car several times, they were stuck in a traffic jam again.
"Steve, it's the security wing of a prison. You can just walk in and say 'Hi, I just want to murder one of your inmates if you are ok with it.' " Amanda was probably right, that was absolutely impossible. But somewhere they had to start. After all she didn't have a better idea.
"Officer, what can I do for you?" They were greeted by Steve's new 'friend', the stocky guard with this arbitrary grin.
"Leutenant!" He was corrected again and again he didn't care much about it.
"Actually you could help us. Look at these pics and tell me if you know anybody!" Steve threw a restless glance at his wristwatch and realised how damn unpatient he was. He would find the guy who had done that to Jesse and who tried to do something to his dad, and once he would find him, he would kill him or worse if that was possible.
"Ts ts ts, where are your manners leutenant? I'm waiting for the magic word!" The guard smiled smoothly and his thick lips uncovered a chain of small shining teeth.
Amanda saw Steve's body tensing up and grabbed his wrist quickly. She knew that, if Steve was really up to beat this man, she wouldn't be able to hold him back, but she was sure that he'd calm down once he realised what he was up to do. She knew Steve too well and he would never have done something stupid, not at all if his dad's and Jesse's life probably depended on it.
"Please!", mumbled Steve through gritted teeth.
The guard, his name was O'Neil by the way, looked through the files as though he had at least deserved a nobel price for what he was doing. "No...no...no", he muttered, scrutinisizing the pictures the people in the files. But suddenly he frowned. "Hey, I know this guy!"
Amanda and Steve curiously looked over O'Neils shoulder to find out what he had discovered. Steve shook his head in disbelieve. He had forgotten to take Ray de Nino's file away. Ray de Nino had been a further member of the RZ1765 developement team and had been murdered by Peter Berrow because he was willing to give the virus and its serum back once he had stolen it. The had cost him his life. And that fact made it also impossible for him to appear in a prison or anywhere else.
"Are you sure?" Steve asked very confusedly.
O'Neill glared at him as if he had been accused of a murder himself. "Of course I am! Whom do you think do I know from, that Pete liked peppermint drops. He always brought him some."
Steve had to admitt that he hadn't listened very properly when he was told that thing about the peppermint drops. But now that he thought about it....anticoagulants were hadn't any kind taste, therefore it was easy to give some of them into other food....like peppermint drops. Nevertheless he wanted to contradict that the man, who had just been identified by O'Neil was DEAD, but Amanda had just thrown a closer look at the photograph of Ray de Nino and could hardly suppress a loud scream. "Steve, we've gotta go!"
"What, why?" Steve had to sort his mind and slowly got the feeling that one wouldn't let him time to do so.
Amanda just pulled on his arm like small child and dragged him to the exit. "I'll explain it to you on our way back to the hospital, come on!"
"Ohk, if you think so, then...", Steve followed her more or less voluntarily, then he turned around and waved the guard "Thanks, you've been a big help!...though I still don't know why..." he added quietly, but then he was pushed by Amanda again.
He became more and more worried, seeing the anxiety in her eyes.
"Maybe Mark is in danger and Jesse as well! We've gotta hurry up!"
What has Amanda discovered? We'll get to know soon!
~~~~~~ Hey there! I promise that the next chapter will...well...will be a bit more consisting. Sorry again that you had to wait so long for this part, but I was quite busy with school (Do you know that English teachers are very disappointed when you write in their lessons, even if it's English?!) and...urm...watching football (soccer) world cup. :-S
Hehe, never mind, please R&R to tell me if I must feel guilty. No, nooo, that was joke, please be kind. ;-)
Steve cranked down the car window and backed up his elbow on the frame. The red lights in front of him stood still. Nothing moved, which was not really an unusual shape on the streets of LA. It often drove him nuts. The sounds of the different horns, the shouting people, the disorganised police men, who tried to bring some order into the endlessly long lines of motor vehicles.
The cars rolled fowards, inch for inch, Steve guessed that turtels were faster. He felt like biting into the wheel. His right hand was pressed against it, his whole body was tensed, each of his breaths escaped as though it was steam from a hot kettle. "You're driving a car, not a telephone booth, a car!", he mumbled as the Mercedes in front of him made a senseless emergency break after rolling only a few feet forward.
Amanda put her hand onto his knee, hoping to calm him down a little. She knew Steve's tempestuous character, which could go out of control rather quickly, especially in personal cases. She couldn't hold it against him.
Right now she was quite furious as well. But she still could think clearly and that was the reason why she had insisted to join him. She really trusted him, hell, if there was someone, in whose hands she would give her life to be protected, it was Steve. But if there was someone she would warn a gangster of, it was Steve in rage.
Mark had stayed at the hospital. He was still shocked, less about the fact that someone had tried to kill him, but more because Jesse was the one who had to carry the can now. Steve had wanted to send an officer to the hospital, but Mark didn't want him to do so. Having uniformend people around, somehow made him nervous, at least in this case. He had insisted that Amanda and Steve should try to find the killer, as soon as possible. Therefore they had agreed to start with the only connection the still knew...
They finally stopped in front of a big building, an ugly concrete block, which appeared even more dangerously in the darkness than Amanda and Steve remembered it. Only the plate at the front door was not the same any more. The 'Lynd Science' shield had disappeared, instead of it some golden letters read now 'Worth Lenses'.
As they entered the hall, Amanda tapped Steve's arm and swayed her head in the direction of a tall woman with brown hair. She was correctly dressed and had an erect posture, was talking to a secretary and noticed neither the leutenant nor the pathologist. "She is it, isn't she?" Steve was still not sure, but Amanda, whose memory for people was excellent, nodded positiv. Never ever she'd forget that face.
Steve's eyes narrowed. "Well, what do you know! Hadn't even recognised her without broomstick and wand!" Then he took his police ID out of his pocket and together they walked over to the woman. "Mrs Gale Wentworth?"
She turned around and threw them a smile that was so artificial that Amanda thought Mrs Wentworth had convulsions around her mouth. "That's me, what can I do for you?" But when she saw Steve glaring down at her, even she wasn't able to smile any more.
Steve showed his ID, though he was certain that this wasn't necessary. He knew that if looks had killed, he would have hit the floor immediately. "You still remember us?" he asked provokingly.
Gale Wentworth indicated them to follow her and they walked over to a small group of palms in tasteless pots. She frowned at him angrily. "Leutenant, what a big surprise! What's been leading you here?" she brattled.
"To be honest: a small problem with your ex-employees!" Steve replied sharply.
"What are you meaning?" Gale's attempts to look extraordinarly stupidly failed badly.
"Peter Berrow was murdered!" Amanda informed her, folding her arms over her chest.
"Who?" Mrs Wentworth wasn't exactly what one would call co-operative.
After the discovery of the RZ1765, a mutated small pox virus, which had a deadly effect within a few hours, the firm Lynd Science had had the chance to sell it for millions of Dollars and to save itself from bancruptcy. But then these people had put their oar in. Two innocent persons had been infected, as far as Gale knew, one them had almost died. She didn't actually feel sorry for him. Curiousity was deadly...and willingness to help as well. But Lynd Science was ruined and had it cost years to develope a new firm. And now these people were coming again. No! She wouldn't risk that they destroyed her life again!
Steve had rarely ever felt like slapping a woman into her face, but Gale Wentworth was an exception. She didn't want to talk, she hated him too much and he hated her as well. Her icy look, her thin lips, her arrogant behaviour. Steve felt the anger increasing in his body. There were only a few seconds left until it would have reached his hands and hell knew what he'd do then. He had to think. There had to be a way to make that woman talk and violence was certainly not the right one.
He made one step forward, Gale could see his eyes sparkeling furiously. "Listen to me, Mrs Wentworth, you know whom we're talking about! Peter Berrow produced a mutated small pox virus, which almost killed my dad and my best friend, then he stole it and murdered his partner Ray de Nino. He was sent to prison and now he's dead. Murederd. We need information. Files. Whatever you know!" He had almost shouted at her. The people in the entrance hall had turned around and stared shockedly at the scene.
Gale shrugged. She was getting weaker. But still her lips were closed.
'Plan B', thought Steve. "You have a pretty nice life right now, haven't you?" He tried to choose his words as pointed as possible.
She shrugged again. "I'm the head of this firm. We produce contact lenses!"
"Contact lenses!" hissed Steve and grinned almost amusedly. "So what do ya think...what would the people say if they knew that the woman who has the fingers on their contact lenses, has once had good connections to some small, deadly microbes? Would be a rather good publicity, don't you think?"
Gale glared at him and answered cool:"That's extortion, leutenant! And that's illegal as far as I know. But I'm sure I don't have to throw light on the constitution for you. So if you'd excuse me, please..." She was up to turn around, but Steve and Amanda blocked her way.
"I'm not forcing you to anything, Mrs Wentworth! I'm just reminding you of the fact that the press has been very gentle to you once you had created that nice virus. That's not gonna happen a second time to you! My friend is seriously ill, Peter Berrow has been murdered and you are obstructing the justice!" Steve was shouting again, his eyes sparkled enragedly.
Gale's lip trembled, you could see that she was boiling inwardly and that was certainly not a results of the heat. She slowly closed her eyes and snorted. "You won leutenant Sloan! You will get your files when you promise me never to turn up here again."
Steve's eyes narrowed. "You can count on that!"
"And what are we going to do now?" asked Amanda after she and Steve had left the a very disappointed Gale Wentworth, who was forced to explain a lot of rich investors with an awful German accent why the man with the police bandage had yelled something about a virus.
"We are going to let the guards in prison have a look at these files. If we are right and the murderer of Peter Berrow and the man who tried to kill dad are one and the same person, he must have visited the prison and administered Berrow anticoagulants." Steve sounded the horn of his car several times, they were stuck in a traffic jam again.
"Steve, it's the security wing of a prison. You can just walk in and say 'Hi, I just want to murder one of your inmates if you are ok with it.' " Amanda was probably right, that was absolutely impossible. But somewhere they had to start. After all she didn't have a better idea.
"Officer, what can I do for you?" They were greeted by Steve's new 'friend', the stocky guard with this arbitrary grin.
"Leutenant!" He was corrected again and again he didn't care much about it.
"Actually you could help us. Look at these pics and tell me if you know anybody!" Steve threw a restless glance at his wristwatch and realised how damn unpatient he was. He would find the guy who had done that to Jesse and who tried to do something to his dad, and once he would find him, he would kill him or worse if that was possible.
"Ts ts ts, where are your manners leutenant? I'm waiting for the magic word!" The guard smiled smoothly and his thick lips uncovered a chain of small shining teeth.
Amanda saw Steve's body tensing up and grabbed his wrist quickly. She knew that, if Steve was really up to beat this man, she wouldn't be able to hold him back, but she was sure that he'd calm down once he realised what he was up to do. She knew Steve too well and he would never have done something stupid, not at all if his dad's and Jesse's life probably depended on it.
"Please!", mumbled Steve through gritted teeth.
The guard, his name was O'Neil by the way, looked through the files as though he had at least deserved a nobel price for what he was doing. "No...no...no", he muttered, scrutinisizing the pictures the people in the files. But suddenly he frowned. "Hey, I know this guy!"
Amanda and Steve curiously looked over O'Neils shoulder to find out what he had discovered. Steve shook his head in disbelieve. He had forgotten to take Ray de Nino's file away. Ray de Nino had been a further member of the RZ1765 developement team and had been murdered by Peter Berrow because he was willing to give the virus and its serum back once he had stolen it. The had cost him his life. And that fact made it also impossible for him to appear in a prison or anywhere else.
"Are you sure?" Steve asked very confusedly.
O'Neill glared at him as if he had been accused of a murder himself. "Of course I am! Whom do you think do I know from, that Pete liked peppermint drops. He always brought him some."
Steve had to admitt that he hadn't listened very properly when he was told that thing about the peppermint drops. But now that he thought about it....anticoagulants were hadn't any kind taste, therefore it was easy to give some of them into other food....like peppermint drops. Nevertheless he wanted to contradict that the man, who had just been identified by O'Neil was DEAD, but Amanda had just thrown a closer look at the photograph of Ray de Nino and could hardly suppress a loud scream. "Steve, we've gotta go!"
"What, why?" Steve had to sort his mind and slowly got the feeling that one wouldn't let him time to do so.
Amanda just pulled on his arm like small child and dragged him to the exit. "I'll explain it to you on our way back to the hospital, come on!"
"Ohk, if you think so, then...", Steve followed her more or less voluntarily, then he turned around and waved the guard "Thanks, you've been a big help!...though I still don't know why..." he added quietly, but then he was pushed by Amanda again.
He became more and more worried, seeing the anxiety in her eyes.
"Maybe Mark is in danger and Jesse as well! We've gotta hurry up!"
What has Amanda discovered? We'll get to know soon!
~~~~~~ Hey there! I promise that the next chapter will...well...will be a bit more consisting. Sorry again that you had to wait so long for this part, but I was quite busy with school (Do you know that English teachers are very disappointed when you write in their lessons, even if it's English?!) and...urm...watching football (soccer) world cup. :-S
Hehe, never mind, please R&R to tell me if I must feel guilty. No, nooo, that was joke, please be kind. ;-)