Case 1: Sniper, Part 3
Disclaimer: Same as before.
C.J. Sandiego - Thanks for the reviews, appreciate it. But the reason why I put Tatiana's birthday on Sept. 11th was to make room for a few Zack/Tatiana tender moments.
~ ~ ~ ~
7 May 2000: Hal sat in his apartment, walking across the hardwood floor, looking at mementos from years of traveling the world from his days as a boy soldier with the Royal Marines to his more recent ones as an SAS operative. His mind raced with questions, the e-mails, the taunting one's he'd get at strange hours of the day from the sniper.
The phone rang just then, "Hal? It's Ivy, I've got a couple interesting bits of evidence from the Crimelab. They tried to call you but you weren't in. Do you want to take a look at it before we turn it over to Armando and Maria?"
"Yeah, your place or mine?" Hal asked.
"I'm already on my way over," Ivy said, "I haven't had dinner yet, so could you do me a favor and get some food?"
"Anything in particular?" Hal asked.
"Just put an order in to Mother Earth's Chinese again, I'm in the mood for some take out." Ivy replied, "See you later."
"Right. I'll get that order ready. What do you want?" Hal replied.
"One order of General Tso's chicken, Lo Mein noodles, and a fortune cookie, Wonton soup sounds good too." Ivy replied.
"Right. Good bye, I'll see you in half an hour." Hal replied.
Hal put in a call to Mother Earth's Chinese for some takeout just then and ordered Ivy's food and some for himself, realizing that he hadn't really eaten anything since that six inch sub at Subway's at noon.
The doorbell rang and Hal peered through the peephole and opened the door. Ivy walked in, wearing a red cotton button down blouse and a pair of black pants. She hung her brown jacket on a hook that was just inside the door. Hal closed the door and locked it. Ivy had a file under her arm and her keys in her hand.
"What did you find?" Hal asked.
"The bullets used to kill our three victims were all fired from the same gun. The FBI lab in Quantico just faxed us some bullet twist blueprints and found that they come from an unusual type of sniper rifle, an SVD Dragunov." Ivy said.
"That's a fairly common rifle available on the black market, and I'm now figuring our sniper for savvy. There must be something associated with this weapon for him." Hal replied.
"Think he's a Russian of some sort?" Ivy asked.
"I highly doubt that." Hal replied, "I've been getting weird e-mails over the past couple of days from our boy. He must have some sort of gunsmith training, maybe he was an armorer in the military."
"He could be one of those militia guys." Ivy interjected, "They're usually gun freaks who can get this sort of stuff."
"True, I'm not disputing that, but there's something familiar about this man. His operating patterns and mode of operation. All three victims had in common some variation of the name Chris, Powers, or Osborne somewhere." Hal replied, "The last e-mail he sent was this: The Traitor Will Perish. Vae Victus."
"Vae Victus?" Ivy asked.
"Suffering to the conquered." Hal replied, "It's Latin."
Ivy asked, "Could I use your bathroom?"
"Sure, It's down the hall." Hal replied.
As Ivy walked through the apartment she could see all sorts of mementos from Hal's operations around the world. She saw a half-burned Columbian flag in a frame across the hall from the bathroom. As she finished her business, washed up and headed back to the table, she noticed another snapshot. There was a picture of Hal and three other British soldiers, judging from their uniforms which consisted of their DPM trousers and brown t-shirts and jungle boots wearing floppy bush hats and sunglasses milling amidst soldiers from another country. The caption read South Africa, 1993. It hit Ivy like a streetcar just then.
"Interesting souvenirs you've got." Ivy replied, "Where'd you get that flag?"
"From a Marxist rebel camp we raided back in 1992." Hal replied.
"Wait a minute, the name of that visiting diplomat next week, Christopher Powers. He's from South Africa.....That picture you've got just outside your bathroom next to that flag. It hit me just then, because I remember that you mentioned that the three victims had some variation of...."
"I know what I said, Ivy." Hal replied, as he got up to fetch another photo album, "I'm thinking that he might have been a former pupil of mine from the South African deployment."
"What are you doing?" Ivy asked.
"I'm looking for a picture of the boys. That's what we called the fifty lads that they put the four of us in charge of teaching the art of sniping to." Hal replied, as he returned with an old photo album.
He turned it to another page and showed the snapshot of a four-row deep group photo. The men kneeling in the front had L42A1 sniper rifles, an old British design, and the men standing in the back all wore floppy bush hats or red berets and hardened expressions. Not a single one of them was black, Ivy noticed. "Who are the boys?"
"They're a bunch of lads from the South African Special Forces Brigade, you can tell by the red berets." Hal replied, "Hard core bunch of blokes I swear."
The doorbell rang again, "Must be our food." Ivy said.
"I'll get it." Hal replied, "Who is it?"
"Detective Lestrade, SFPD. Is Mr. Olden in?"
"Yes, this is he mate." Hal replied and opened the door to find a narrow framed fellow in his late thirties wearing a shirt and tie with gray slacks and a gray trench coat.
"The SFPD's taking the case, we want ACME off of it. You're to turn over your evidence to us first thing in the morning. If that's a problem I can have you and your partner arrested for withholding evidence." Lestrade began.
"You'll get it tomorrow mate. Now we've got a sniper to catch." Hal replied.
"No need, we've got SWAT sharpshooters roaming the city at various locations waiting just to nail this guy. Good evening." Lestrade replied and walked off.
Hal closed the door and said, "Of all the hard headed abrasive characters I've encountered in my time..."
"Lestrade?" Ivy said, "He's got a reputation for being a royal pain in the ass. He's the most ambitious guy in the SFPD. He and Lauren Weimar would be perfect together."
"Who?" Hal replied, "Oh, wait, dirty blonde woman, a little older than Zack. Goes through partners the way a machinegun does bullets, ethics of a shark."
Ivy laughed lightly, "You just about described her."
"I know, I heard Armando complaining about her after our match." Hal replied.
The doorbell rang again and Hal answered it to find the small boned Chinese teenager that had taken their orders a couple days beforehand at Mother Earth's. "Thanks mate," Hal said, paying the boy, and giving him a tip.
"Sir?" the boy said.
"Yeah." Hal replied, "What is it?"
"Applications for ACME are to be turned in at the end of the month, right?"
From the kitchenette of the small studio apartment Ivy called out, "They are. God luck."
"Thank you ma'am, sir." The boy replied.
"Good luck to you too mate." Hal replied.
As Hal walked back to the table with their orders Ivy said, "Did any of these guys especially dislike Mr. Powers?"
"Not especially. Some of them weren't crazy about ending apartheid, but they accepted its end. I can't really think of any in particular that might want to kill him, but you just can't tell with some people." Hal replied.
"I guess you can't. Do you have a list of names?" Ivy asked.
"No, but I could call up a mate of mine who went to serve in the South African Army back in 1990." Hal replied, "I should be able to have some information on that tomorrow."
They started to eat and mix in a little small talk, "Did you hear that Tatiana fainted after her shift?" Hal asked.
"I did, is she alright?" Ivy asked.
"Let's just say Zack's gonna have to move the wedding back if Tatiana still wants to look thin in her dress...." Hal grinned.
"Why that sneaky little..." Ivy grinned, "I didn't think he had it in him."
"People surprise you sometimes." Hal replied as Ivy walked up to the phone.
"Do you mind?" Ivy asked.
"Not at all." Hal replied and grinned as Ivy dialed and Zack answered, Ivy set the phone on speaker just then.
"Zack, you've been naughty haven't you?" Ivy said.
"Ivy, I don't know what you're talking about." Came Zack's voice, tinny over the small speaker.
"Well ask Tatiana." Ivy replied, grinning, "Bye."
"What, wait? Ivy?" Zack said as the phone hung up.
"Oh that was cruel." Hal replied, and gestured with his eyes out of his kitchenette window.
"What is it?" Ivy asked.
"The rooftop across the street." Hal replied, "Don't indicate you've seen him."
"Our boy?" Ivy replied.
"If he remembered a damn thing I've taught him, no it isn't." Hal replied, "Unless he's got a partner, in which case throws this equation through a whole new twist."
"What do you mean?" Ivy asked.
"For every sniper you do see for security functions there are at least two you don't." Hal replied, "It's a bloody police sniper, that rifle isn't a Dragunov. It's a Winchester Stealth."
"OK, so this is a sort of give the public a warm and fuzzy feeling." Ivy said, "Smart."
"Smart." Hal replied, "I'd like to think so, but there simply aren't enough snipers in the police department and far too many possible victims out here to kill."
"He hasn't struck at night yet." Ivy replied.
"True, but he probably searches out his next hideout by night." Hal replied.
Ivy yawned tiredly, "Well, I'd best get going. Thanks for having me over. See you in the morning?"
"I'll see you then." Hal replied as he walked Ivy to her car unaware he was being watched.
~ ~ ~ ~
From somewhere across the street an unknown man watched as his former mentor escorted an auburn haired woman, his partner, to her vehicle. His rifle was still in the briefcase, and he didn't bother to try and assemble it. He just took some mental notes on these two ACME detectives that showed up at his past three victims' crime scenes.
The fact that his former mentor was about and on his case was a nice little bonus perk. He was part of a four man SAS detachment that had taught his unit the basics of sniping and field craft. He would pay his mentor a visit later on, maybe discuss the murder of his true target after he was done his deed before he flew back to South Africa.
These new sniper patrols weren't really that bad, they were more of an annoyance than anything else. Perhaps tomorrow was time to spit right into the SFPD's face and show just how little he respected their abilities.
~ ~ ~ ~
Zack's Apartment, Somewhere around San Francisco Bay
"Zack?" Tatiana said as she walked into his apartment, "There's something I want to talk about."
"Sure honey, anything." Zack replied, "That's why I figured tonight for a nice, home cooked meal by candlelight...."
Zack's eyebrows waggled suggestively. Tatiana blushed slightly and said, "Well, daddy, if you want...."
"Wait a second, you called me daddy, that must mean..." Zack said.
"Yes, honeybunch, that night in Honolulu we had on case had some unexpected results. I was wondering if we could move our big day back a month or two so that I can look semi-thin." Tatiana replied.
"Your wish is my command." Zack replied and held his fiancée as he kissed her tenderly.
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC (This is gonna be a long fic, because it spans a few years.)
Disclaimer: Same as before.
C.J. Sandiego - Thanks for the reviews, appreciate it. But the reason why I put Tatiana's birthday on Sept. 11th was to make room for a few Zack/Tatiana tender moments.
~ ~ ~ ~
7 May 2000: Hal sat in his apartment, walking across the hardwood floor, looking at mementos from years of traveling the world from his days as a boy soldier with the Royal Marines to his more recent ones as an SAS operative. His mind raced with questions, the e-mails, the taunting one's he'd get at strange hours of the day from the sniper.
The phone rang just then, "Hal? It's Ivy, I've got a couple interesting bits of evidence from the Crimelab. They tried to call you but you weren't in. Do you want to take a look at it before we turn it over to Armando and Maria?"
"Yeah, your place or mine?" Hal asked.
"I'm already on my way over," Ivy said, "I haven't had dinner yet, so could you do me a favor and get some food?"
"Anything in particular?" Hal asked.
"Just put an order in to Mother Earth's Chinese again, I'm in the mood for some take out." Ivy replied, "See you later."
"Right. I'll get that order ready. What do you want?" Hal replied.
"One order of General Tso's chicken, Lo Mein noodles, and a fortune cookie, Wonton soup sounds good too." Ivy replied.
"Right. Good bye, I'll see you in half an hour." Hal replied.
Hal put in a call to Mother Earth's Chinese for some takeout just then and ordered Ivy's food and some for himself, realizing that he hadn't really eaten anything since that six inch sub at Subway's at noon.
The doorbell rang and Hal peered through the peephole and opened the door. Ivy walked in, wearing a red cotton button down blouse and a pair of black pants. She hung her brown jacket on a hook that was just inside the door. Hal closed the door and locked it. Ivy had a file under her arm and her keys in her hand.
"What did you find?" Hal asked.
"The bullets used to kill our three victims were all fired from the same gun. The FBI lab in Quantico just faxed us some bullet twist blueprints and found that they come from an unusual type of sniper rifle, an SVD Dragunov." Ivy said.
"That's a fairly common rifle available on the black market, and I'm now figuring our sniper for savvy. There must be something associated with this weapon for him." Hal replied.
"Think he's a Russian of some sort?" Ivy asked.
"I highly doubt that." Hal replied, "I've been getting weird e-mails over the past couple of days from our boy. He must have some sort of gunsmith training, maybe he was an armorer in the military."
"He could be one of those militia guys." Ivy interjected, "They're usually gun freaks who can get this sort of stuff."
"True, I'm not disputing that, but there's something familiar about this man. His operating patterns and mode of operation. All three victims had in common some variation of the name Chris, Powers, or Osborne somewhere." Hal replied, "The last e-mail he sent was this: The Traitor Will Perish. Vae Victus."
"Vae Victus?" Ivy asked.
"Suffering to the conquered." Hal replied, "It's Latin."
Ivy asked, "Could I use your bathroom?"
"Sure, It's down the hall." Hal replied.
As Ivy walked through the apartment she could see all sorts of mementos from Hal's operations around the world. She saw a half-burned Columbian flag in a frame across the hall from the bathroom. As she finished her business, washed up and headed back to the table, she noticed another snapshot. There was a picture of Hal and three other British soldiers, judging from their uniforms which consisted of their DPM trousers and brown t-shirts and jungle boots wearing floppy bush hats and sunglasses milling amidst soldiers from another country. The caption read South Africa, 1993. It hit Ivy like a streetcar just then.
"Interesting souvenirs you've got." Ivy replied, "Where'd you get that flag?"
"From a Marxist rebel camp we raided back in 1992." Hal replied.
"Wait a minute, the name of that visiting diplomat next week, Christopher Powers. He's from South Africa.....That picture you've got just outside your bathroom next to that flag. It hit me just then, because I remember that you mentioned that the three victims had some variation of...."
"I know what I said, Ivy." Hal replied, as he got up to fetch another photo album, "I'm thinking that he might have been a former pupil of mine from the South African deployment."
"What are you doing?" Ivy asked.
"I'm looking for a picture of the boys. That's what we called the fifty lads that they put the four of us in charge of teaching the art of sniping to." Hal replied, as he returned with an old photo album.
He turned it to another page and showed the snapshot of a four-row deep group photo. The men kneeling in the front had L42A1 sniper rifles, an old British design, and the men standing in the back all wore floppy bush hats or red berets and hardened expressions. Not a single one of them was black, Ivy noticed. "Who are the boys?"
"They're a bunch of lads from the South African Special Forces Brigade, you can tell by the red berets." Hal replied, "Hard core bunch of blokes I swear."
The doorbell rang again, "Must be our food." Ivy said.
"I'll get it." Hal replied, "Who is it?"
"Detective Lestrade, SFPD. Is Mr. Olden in?"
"Yes, this is he mate." Hal replied and opened the door to find a narrow framed fellow in his late thirties wearing a shirt and tie with gray slacks and a gray trench coat.
"The SFPD's taking the case, we want ACME off of it. You're to turn over your evidence to us first thing in the morning. If that's a problem I can have you and your partner arrested for withholding evidence." Lestrade began.
"You'll get it tomorrow mate. Now we've got a sniper to catch." Hal replied.
"No need, we've got SWAT sharpshooters roaming the city at various locations waiting just to nail this guy. Good evening." Lestrade replied and walked off.
Hal closed the door and said, "Of all the hard headed abrasive characters I've encountered in my time..."
"Lestrade?" Ivy said, "He's got a reputation for being a royal pain in the ass. He's the most ambitious guy in the SFPD. He and Lauren Weimar would be perfect together."
"Who?" Hal replied, "Oh, wait, dirty blonde woman, a little older than Zack. Goes through partners the way a machinegun does bullets, ethics of a shark."
Ivy laughed lightly, "You just about described her."
"I know, I heard Armando complaining about her after our match." Hal replied.
The doorbell rang again and Hal answered it to find the small boned Chinese teenager that had taken their orders a couple days beforehand at Mother Earth's. "Thanks mate," Hal said, paying the boy, and giving him a tip.
"Sir?" the boy said.
"Yeah." Hal replied, "What is it?"
"Applications for ACME are to be turned in at the end of the month, right?"
From the kitchenette of the small studio apartment Ivy called out, "They are. God luck."
"Thank you ma'am, sir." The boy replied.
"Good luck to you too mate." Hal replied.
As Hal walked back to the table with their orders Ivy said, "Did any of these guys especially dislike Mr. Powers?"
"Not especially. Some of them weren't crazy about ending apartheid, but they accepted its end. I can't really think of any in particular that might want to kill him, but you just can't tell with some people." Hal replied.
"I guess you can't. Do you have a list of names?" Ivy asked.
"No, but I could call up a mate of mine who went to serve in the South African Army back in 1990." Hal replied, "I should be able to have some information on that tomorrow."
They started to eat and mix in a little small talk, "Did you hear that Tatiana fainted after her shift?" Hal asked.
"I did, is she alright?" Ivy asked.
"Let's just say Zack's gonna have to move the wedding back if Tatiana still wants to look thin in her dress...." Hal grinned.
"Why that sneaky little..." Ivy grinned, "I didn't think he had it in him."
"People surprise you sometimes." Hal replied as Ivy walked up to the phone.
"Do you mind?" Ivy asked.
"Not at all." Hal replied and grinned as Ivy dialed and Zack answered, Ivy set the phone on speaker just then.
"Zack, you've been naughty haven't you?" Ivy said.
"Ivy, I don't know what you're talking about." Came Zack's voice, tinny over the small speaker.
"Well ask Tatiana." Ivy replied, grinning, "Bye."
"What, wait? Ivy?" Zack said as the phone hung up.
"Oh that was cruel." Hal replied, and gestured with his eyes out of his kitchenette window.
"What is it?" Ivy asked.
"The rooftop across the street." Hal replied, "Don't indicate you've seen him."
"Our boy?" Ivy replied.
"If he remembered a damn thing I've taught him, no it isn't." Hal replied, "Unless he's got a partner, in which case throws this equation through a whole new twist."
"What do you mean?" Ivy asked.
"For every sniper you do see for security functions there are at least two you don't." Hal replied, "It's a bloody police sniper, that rifle isn't a Dragunov. It's a Winchester Stealth."
"OK, so this is a sort of give the public a warm and fuzzy feeling." Ivy said, "Smart."
"Smart." Hal replied, "I'd like to think so, but there simply aren't enough snipers in the police department and far too many possible victims out here to kill."
"He hasn't struck at night yet." Ivy replied.
"True, but he probably searches out his next hideout by night." Hal replied.
Ivy yawned tiredly, "Well, I'd best get going. Thanks for having me over. See you in the morning?"
"I'll see you then." Hal replied as he walked Ivy to her car unaware he was being watched.
~ ~ ~ ~
From somewhere across the street an unknown man watched as his former mentor escorted an auburn haired woman, his partner, to her vehicle. His rifle was still in the briefcase, and he didn't bother to try and assemble it. He just took some mental notes on these two ACME detectives that showed up at his past three victims' crime scenes.
The fact that his former mentor was about and on his case was a nice little bonus perk. He was part of a four man SAS detachment that had taught his unit the basics of sniping and field craft. He would pay his mentor a visit later on, maybe discuss the murder of his true target after he was done his deed before he flew back to South Africa.
These new sniper patrols weren't really that bad, they were more of an annoyance than anything else. Perhaps tomorrow was time to spit right into the SFPD's face and show just how little he respected their abilities.
~ ~ ~ ~
Zack's Apartment, Somewhere around San Francisco Bay
"Zack?" Tatiana said as she walked into his apartment, "There's something I want to talk about."
"Sure honey, anything." Zack replied, "That's why I figured tonight for a nice, home cooked meal by candlelight...."
Zack's eyebrows waggled suggestively. Tatiana blushed slightly and said, "Well, daddy, if you want...."
"Wait a second, you called me daddy, that must mean..." Zack said.
"Yes, honeybunch, that night in Honolulu we had on case had some unexpected results. I was wondering if we could move our big day back a month or two so that I can look semi-thin." Tatiana replied.
"Your wish is my command." Zack replied and held his fiancée as he kissed her tenderly.
~ ~ ~ ~
TBC (This is gonna be a long fic, because it spans a few years.)