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Chapter Sixteen
"Captured!"
Paul threw a file on his desk as he entered his office with Strenlich on his heels. "Goddammit! We've got to find the leak and we've got to find it fast!"
Strenlich rubbed his hand over the back of his crewcut and shook his head. "Whoever it is, they are good. We've lost three key witnesses for the prosecution in the last year alone."
"Yeah, but where are they hiding? Here, in the department? The DA's office? Or the court system itself? We've got to find who it is and fast before we add more witness deaths to the list."
Strenlich smiled. "How about disseminating some false information and see where that takes us?"
Blaisdell returned the smile. "How about doing that? I like it. Get on it. Meanwhile, I've got some checking to do on my own."
"Right away, Captain."
Paul sat at his desk and fiddled with a pen for a moment before he called a number that wasn't written down anywhere in Paul's files or personal possessions.
"This is Falcon," he said softly.
"Well, Falcon, it has been a while."
"I need some help in flushing out a mole. Are you game?"
"You know me, I always enjoy a rousing game to keep my hand in things. I can be there in...six hours."
"Good. We'll meet at the usual location."
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"Hey, Kermit, Tommy and I are going for a walk before lunch. We'll be back in about a half hour or so."
"Stay close," Ansel warned.
When Peter looked at Celeste, he saw Ansel's warning echoing in her eyes.
"Will do. Better hurry, sport, we don't have much time," Peter said, tousling Tommy's thick hair.
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Frank and his men were lying in wait when Conrad, the mechanic from the police depot, showed up in regular street clothes. He sat down on a street bench and began to read a newspaper.
Soon, one of Frank's connections from another precinct sat down beside Conrad, also with a newspaper. Conrad glanced over at the man suspiciously. "You aren't the regular guy."
"No, I'm an exceptional guy," the cocky undercover cop replied.
"Well, tell me what you've got to say and be done with it. I've got to get back to work in twenty minutes."
"You ready for your next assignment," the cop asked quietly, his eyes on the newspaper.
"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't!" Conrad's temper was beginning to show.
"I heard you did a good job on the last gig, that asshole detective's car."
"Yeah, what of it? Either give me the assignment and proof of deposit into my account, or leave me alone!"
The cop smiled sweetly. "Okay, Conrad, your next gig is a stint in jail. Is that easy enough for you to understand?"
Frank and the others broke from their hiding places and descended upon Conrad and the cop, who had a good lock on Conrad's arm behind his back.
"I want my lawyer! I want him now!"
Frank smiled with satisfaction. "Take him to where he can speak with his lawyer. After he is booked on conspiracy charges, of course. Start off with that and more will be added later. But keep him under wraps for as long as possible."
Strenlich pulled out his cell phone and called the Captain to give him the good news.
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"Come on, men, we've got a location!" the leader of the three teams of assassins called out. His men were pros, going immediately into packing up for their destination.
"Will we need anything special for this trip?"
"For two cripples, a boy, a wounded cop and a computer geek cop? Nah, we could practically do it in our sleep."
Within minutes, the three new Black Explorers were on the road, heading for the Misty Mountains.
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They were away from the house when Peter noticed that Tommy had something hidden under his jacket. Peter stopped and gave Tommy a suspicious eye. Tommy smiled and pulled out his book, "The Spirits of the Forest".
"Now, Tommy, I thought you wanted to look for some pieces of wood to carve with. We don't have much time left before Christmas if we are to finish."
Tommy frowned and shook his head. He went over to a flat rock and sat on it, opening the book. Peter sighed and followed him over to the rock, muttering, "Oh yeah, I really wanted a frozen butt today. Thanks a lot, Tommy."
Tommy only beamed at him, but then his gaze was lost in the towering trees. He stared intently and cocked his head occasionally as if hearing something Peter couldn't hear. The boy's eyes glazed over as the strange mists began to approach them.
Peter touched Tommy's shoulder. "Hey, Tommy, you okay?"
Tommy was concentrating so intently that he jumped with Peter's touch.
"Whoa, Tommy, I'm sorry I startled you. What were you looking at?"
Tommy's expression was dark. First, he pointed to the tree tops, then the sky, then to the growing mists, and finally he opened his book to a description of the spirits of the forest.
"You heard or saw the spirits?" Peter asked.
Tommy nodded and then frowned in frustration. He knelt down in the snow and wrote the word, 'more'.
"More what?"
Tommy sighed as he closed his eyes. Once he opened them, he wrote, "More trobble."
Peter touched Tommy's back. "More trouble? Is that what you mean?"
Tommy's head bobbed up and down, and then he gestured with both hands like he was shooting guns.
"Ah, shit," Peter said, never doubting Tommy's instincts for a second.
He pulled out his walkie-talkie and tried to raise Kermit, but all he got was static.
"Damn," he whispered.
He pulled out his Beretta and checked his ammo, then he reached down to his ankle gun and checked the ammo there, grunting when his side protested.
"Tommy, we have to be very careful. We have to make our way back to the cabin and warn the others."
Tommy's eyes filled with tears just as some distant explosions went off. It was the booby-traps. Someone was trying to sneak up on the cabin. Peter bit his lip. Maybe he should hide Tommy in one of the shelters and then head to the house to help Kermit and the others.
Another series of explosions went off in a different direction followed by gunfire. In the distance, Peter heard Celeste screaming for Tommy. That made Peter's decision easier. If there was enough danger for Celeste to be screaming for Tommy, then things there were really bad.
Peter glanced around, looking for the nearest shelter, and found one. "Come on, Tommy, it's time to play hide and seek."
Tommy didn't move right away, only stared up at Peter with those huge luminous eyes of silver. He reached out and put a hand to Peter's heart. Peter knelt down beside him. "Look, I know it's scary, but I've got to help the others and I can't do that if I'm worried about you. Do you understand?"
Tears filled Tommy's eyes as he nodded reluctantly and followed Peter to the dugout, clutching the book in his hands. Peter helped to get him settled, and took out the guns stored there. He turned on a flashlight for Tommy. "You just read until I get back, okay? And don't come looking for me for any reason. No matter what you hear? Promise me."
Tommy nodded again and brushed his hand across Peter's cheek.
"I'll be back as soon as I can, Tommy. I swear it."
It killed Peter to close the hatch on the lonely little boy, but it was the safest way. Peter's head popped up when he heard more explosions peppered with heavy gunfire.
"Shit, why can't it ever be easy?" he muttered as he held his side and got to his feet, running off to unknown dangers. Unknown because the mist was so dense, Peter could hardly see his hand in front of his face. Unknown because with so many booby-traps going off, the team attacking them had to be huge. And unknown, because he didn't know for sure if Kermit and the others were even still alive.
Peter paused, suddenly unsure of his way. Hell, he could set off a booby-trap himself if he wasn't careful. There was another noise in the distance, almost like drums softly beating to an ancient rhythm. He shook his head. He was letting Tommy's book affect his thinking.
Closing his eyes, he tried to visualize the cabin. He tensed as he saw Kermit push Celeste from the front door of the cabin and take a bullet to his left leg. Ansel was using the biggest shotgun Peter had ever seen. Even Celeste was using a rifle.
The attacking force wasn't close enough to be a real threat...yet. But if they weren't stopped, they would be. Peter decided to sneak around behind the hit men and catch them in a cross fire.
Stepping as delicately as he could, he fell back deeper into the forest, noticing the mists weren't as dense there, but the snow was beginning to fall in earnest now. Peter could still see where he was going at least and came up behind two men.
If he fired now, the assassins would know there was trouble behind them, so he filled his pockets with his guns and snuck up on one man's position. He tried to think how his father would attack this man, but then he decided to do it his way. Tapping the fellow on the shoulder, he did a roundhouse punch to the man's jaw as the assailant spun around.
The next man started to react and Peter pulled his knife from his boot and hurled it into the chest of the next man. Tossing their guns away from them, he knelt by both and checked for life signs. One man was dead, and the other unconscious, so he tied up the unconscious man with his own belt and proceeded ahead.
He heard a walkie-talkie and pulled it from the dead man's jacket. "Hmm, this might prove useful since mine isn't working."
Strangely enough, Peter came across two men already dead, but without a mark on them. He spun around and only saw the mists spreading out toward the cabin. He licked his lips in disbelief.
'What the hell?' he wondered, but he didn't have time to think about it long.
After a moment, he couldn't see the cabin at all, but he heard the engine of Ansel's ancient truck rev up, and then it was moving like a locomotive. 'Good, Kermit, go, get Celeste and Ansel out of here while you can. I'll watch over Tommy. Maybe when it's dark, we can make our way down to the canoes and escape.'
The snow was falling heavily, encouraging Peter that the tracks to Tommy's hideout would be hidden before he got there, just in case someone was following their tracks left in the snow.
Peter started moving back toward Tommy's location, but before he could reach his destination, something hard hit him on the back of the head. Peter went down like a dropped sack of potatoes. He tried to get up, but he was kicked him in the ribs and that was all it took to knock him out.
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