Brother in Arms

Chapter 3

Della stood in the middle of Perry's office. This is silly, she thought. Perry has barely been gone a day and she was feeling alone. She knew how much Perry needed this time away from the office. Two bruising trials in San Francisco and several here in Los Angeles had taken a toll on him. He had been so excited about spending time with Robert. Up until now, they had worked together at a feverish pace to end the drug trafficking in San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. Perry had been shot twice and knifed while in San Francisco and both he and Robert had been shot at numerous times.

Their workload here in the office had been no different. One case after another seemed to be the norm anymore. Everybody who needed a criminal attorney wanted Perry Mason defending him or her. They no more finished one case and someone appeared in his office pleading with him to take their case. Della did not mind the fast pace Perry set for them but she knew the late hours and lack of sleep had caught up with him. So when he finished his latest case Della had insisted he and Robert stop putting off their fishing trip and actually get out of their offices and go. With the help of Robert's staff pushing him out the door, Della did the same with Perry. She knew she did the right thing after she saw the excitement Perry displayed about the trip.

Then why did she have such a strange feeling. She had wanted this for Perry. He deserved the rest and relaxation. Della just could not shake the feeling something was wrong. This is ridiculous, she thought. She was just missing Perry. They were rarely ever separated these days for more than a few hours. Two weeks away from him was a long time. Stop it! Della told herself. It's two weeks. She would talk to him every few days and he would get the rest he so desperately needed. It was a chance for the two brothers to really get to know each other outside of their professions.

Della had been so lost in thought it took a few seconds to realize Paul's code knock was sounding on the door. "Come in, Paul."

The door open and Paul Drake's tall, handsome figure entered the office. "Hello, beautiful! I thought you would probably be moping around with Perry leaving this morning. So I have decided to take you out to lunch to take your mind off him."

Della smiled. Just like Paul to know what she or Perry was thinking at any given time. "Perry will not be please to know you are moving in on me the minute he leaves town," she teased.

Paul grinned, "He's not here to stop me. I will worry about the consequences when he gets back. Now how about closing up shop for a while and we will grab a bite to eat. Maybe we won't even return to work."

Della laughed. "Alright, Mr. Drake, let's get some lunch."

Paul offered his arm and Della took it. They stop by the Gertie's desk. "We are going to lunch."

Gertie smiled. She was please Mr. Drake had stopped by to take her to lunch. The first day away from Mr. Mason would be the hardest for her. "Enjoy your lunch," she told them.

Della left the office with Paul. For some reason she just could not shake the uneasy feeling within her.

xxxxx

Perry had been driving for some time. He and Bob Ironside had been discussing everything from politics to current events to the cases both of them had found themselves immerged in over the years. The communication flowed easily between them with both enjoying the others company.

"You never did tell me what you thought of my, I mean our father," Perry said.

"I pride myself in reading people well and William Mason is a fine man," Ironside said. "I was touch by how quickly he accepted me as his son. I was equally impressed by how your mother treated me when I spoke with her on the phone."

"Dad is proud to know you are his son. The entire family is looking forward to meeting you over the Thanksgiving holiday," Perry said. "I was wondering what Ed, Eve and Mark will be doing for the holiday."

"Eve's parents will be in Europe so she will spend Thanksgiving with Ed, Mark, and Mark's aunt. I usually spend it with them so this will be a change for them as well," Ironside said.

"My mother thinks they should come and spend it with us. They could fly out with you. There is plenty of room for everyone between my parents' home and mine let alone my brother and sisters," Perry said.

"I'll ask them. They might enjoy getting away at that," Ironside said.

"Bob, there is one thing I have to demand on this trip," Perry said.

"And what would that be," Ironside asked,

"I brought a deck of cards. We are going to play poker. It has to be settled between us who is the better poker player," Perry insisted.

Ironside grunted. "We don't need to play another game to know the answer to that. I am the better player."

"One hand doesn't prove you are better. Besides I actually had you beat. My hand was better than yours," Perry pointed out.

"Counselor, you know very well it makes no difference who has the better hand when you fold your cards and you did fold," Ironside said.

"You did not play fair," Perry complained.

"What are you talking about? I simply raised the stakes and you did not trust your hand."

"Your stakes were too high! Just how was I supposed to gamble away Della? Not only would I have lost your cooperation but you raised the stakes to give up Della to you." Perry shook his head. "The stakes were too high. I would never give up Della, not even hypothetically," Perry laughed.

"Don't you think I knew that," Ironside grinned. "You let me bluff you. That's the name of the game."

Perry laughed. Well it will not work this time. I intend to beat you. And this time we will be playing for cash."

"Cash!" Ironside said. "I live on a fixed income."

Perry laughed. "When I get through with you it will be less than fixed."

"Give it your best shot counselor. It will be a pleasure relieving a big shot lawyer of his money," Ironside said with confidence.

xxxxx

Lt. Arthur Tragg read the report Andy had just set on his desk. He did not like what he was reading. If Tony Castle was determined to kill a cop then the cop was in serious trouble. Castle had been a member of Special Forces in the United States Armed Forces…Black Ops. He had numerous important kills. Castle had been one of the top in his field. If the job was messy, it was assigned to Castle and his team. Castle was a killing machine and the military used him to the fullest.

For ten years, he had been the best there was until he disobeyed an order. He had been ordered to take out the head of a terrorist government. The leader was scheduled to meet with the head of another government. Castle was to take out just the one leader but he considered the other just as much of a terrorist as the other. He did not understand why the United States government could order the death of one yet protect the other. How could he be considered an ally of the United States? Castle decide to kill both leaders. For what was supposed to look like an accident, turned out to be the slaughter of both leaders. The governments of each country pointed the blame at the other. It began a full-scale war.

Castle had been court-martialed and discharged from the military with a dishonorable discharge. He was unable to adjust to civilian life. He was in constant trouble, in and out of jail. He had not held down a job for five years. The CIA had reason to believe he had become a paid assassin. They had lost track of him nearly six months ago and had not been able to locate him since.

Lt. Tragg completed his reading and picked up the phone. He dialed Paul Drake's office. When Drake's secretary came on the line Tragg said, "This is Lt. Tragg of the LAPD. I would like to speak with Mr. Drake."

"I am sorry lieutenant but Mr. Drake is not in. May I leave him a message, sir?" She asked.

"It is important I speak with him. Do you know where I can find him?" Tragg asked.

"No sir. I do not. He left the building with Della Street from Mr. Mason's office. He did not say when he would be back. You might try his cell phone," she suggested.

Tragg thanked her and hung up the phone. He reached in his pocket and removed his cell phone. Looking through his contact, Tragg pushed Drake's name. He listened and few seconds later Drake's voice mail told him to leave a message. "Paul, it's Lt. Tragg. I need to talk to you. I have the information you asked for and it is not good. Call me as soon as you can. We need to find out who the cop is that Castle is after and we better do it fast or we are going to have a dead cop on our hands." Tragg hung up the cell phone and returned it to his pocket.

xxxxx

Paul Drake looked at Della over the dinner table and said, "Come on Della, it is only two weeks."

Della realized she had been daydreaming. "I am sorry Paul. I do not mean to be such poor company."

"You could never be poor company beautiful," Paul said playfully. "I do sense there is something bothering you besides Perry's absence."

"It's nothing, Paul."

"Come on Della, something is bothering you," Paul said.

Della hesitated and then said, "It's hard to explain. I have a feeling I simply cannot shake."

Paul leaned forward. "What kind of a feeling? Perry?"

"Yes, Perry." Della tried to get her thoughts together so Paul would not think she had lost her mind. "Paul, I have a feeling Perry is in trouble and I have no reason to believe that he is. I know it is silly but I just cannot help it."

"Della, I don't think Perry is the only one that has been overworked lately. There is no reason to believe Perry is in any trouble. He went up to Commissioner Randall's cabin with Bob Ironside. He is with a cop. He is fine. You are letting your imagination run away with you. Now I am sure, you need to get out of the office and relax. Why don't I take you to a movie this afternoon and then we will have dinner somewhere? Tomorrow I want to see you call some of your friends, you know the ones you ignore when Perry is around, and go out and have a good time."

Della knew Paul was right. She and Perry were fortunate to have such a good friend in Paul. She smile and said, "You're right but I get to pick the movie. I am tired of the war pictures you and Perry pick out all the time."

"Oh great, that means a chick flick," Paul laughed. From within his pocket his cell phone rang. He reached in and withdrew the device. "Drake," he spoke into the phone. He listened for a moment and said," Okay, I will give Tragg a call." He hung up his cell phone.

"What is it Paul?" Della asked.

"Tragg called my office." He looked at his cell phone. It showed a miss call from Tragg. Then he remembered he had set his phone to send Tragg's call directly to voice mail while he was working Perry's last case. They had been avoiding Tragg in order to protect Perry's client. Paul called Tragg. When he answered Paul said, "Hi lieutenant. Do you have that information for me?"

Tragg gave him a rundown on what he had found out. The longer Tragg talked the deeper the frown on Paul's face became. After Tragg hung up Paul sat quietly trying to get his thoughts together.

"What's the matter, Paul? Della asked concerned.

"There is a cop out there in a hell of a lot of trouble," Paul said.

xxxxx

Commissioner Randall entered Ironside's office. "While the cat's away…."

Ed watched the commissioner come down the ramp. "We're not playing, commissioner. We working on a couple cases we have not been able to spend much time with. The chief wants them solved. So we are working them while he is gone. What brings you here?"

"We have a missing dog, Sergeant," Commissioner Randall said. "Mark, any coffee over there?"

Mark poured a cup of coffee and brought it over to the Commissioner Randall. "Thanks, Mark," he said as he sipped the coffee. "You cleaned the pot again, didn't you?"

"I have no desire to die of a disease even if the chief does," Mark said.

Randall laughed. "I bet Bob threw a fit."

"He wasn't happy," Mark said.

Eve sat down at the table. "You are not going to have us playing dog catcher again, are you Commissioner?"

"Do you remember a man by the name of Dunlap? He runs a facility for training dogs…guard dogs and attack dogs."

"Isn't that the place where the chief trained with one of those dogs? He still visits that dog now and then," Ed said.

"That's the one," Randall said. "A dog has come up missing, a dog by the name of Otto."

Eve looked at the commissioner with surprise, "Why, that's the chief's dog."

"That's right," Commissioner Randall confirmed. "I thought you would like to locate the dog before the chief gets back here. If he finds out his prized pooch is missing he is going blow his stack if we have not made some attempt to locate him."

"When did they discover he was missing," Mark asked.

"This morning. He was in his kennel when the kennel help left last night. When they got in this morning, he simply was not there. The door to his kennel was closed. There was no trace of the dog anywhere on the grounds. It seems he just vanished. Anyway, Dunlap came to my office this morning when he found out Bob was out of town. He wanted Bob's help finding the Otto since he knows he is so fond of the dog. I told him you people would be happy to take on the case until the Bob gets back to take over. So Ed, I would like you to head this up," Randall said.

"We will get right on it, commissioner." Ed stood up. "The other cases will just have to wait. I don't want to be the one to tell the chief his dog is missing when he gets back here."

Randall finished his coffee. "Since the case is in good hands I will inform Mr. Dunlap that you will be around to speak with him." Randall got up and left the office.

Brown looked at his two friends. "We have two weeks to find Otto. If we haven't found him by then we draw straws for who gets to tell the chief the dog is missing."

"Forget the straws," Mark said. "Let's find the dog so the chief doesn't take a bite out of one of us."

xxxxx

Meanwhile…..

Tony Castle had set twenty two animal traps around the Dennis Randall's cabin. He staggered them and placed them within a quarter of a mile to the cabin. Afterwards Castle covered them with leaves or any pieces of terrain he could gather up. He had nearly thirty more to go.

Earlier he had rigged the commissioner's fishing boat to blow up by remote control. Ironside would not be leaving by that boat. If Castle had his way, he would be swimming with the fish not catching them on a fishing pole. Castle headed back to the cabin.

When he reached the cabin door, he jimmied the lock and entered. Castle headed directly for the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and removed its entire contents and loaded it into a box he had placed in the cabin earlier. He then went over to the cupboards and proceeded to remove everything in them as well. Loading it into the box, he picked it up and set it out on the porch. Castle went back into the cabin opened the silverware drawer and removed all the kitchen knives as well as forks, butcher knives and anything else he could find he perceived as a weapon.

Castle entered the bath room and ran an inch of water into the tub. Using wire he ran it down into the tub and then hooked the wire into the electrical outlet at the floor. He covered the wire on the floor with the bath mat. He allowed the water to sizzle with electricity. After all he did not want to electrocute Ironside, give him something to think about. He opened the medicine cabinet and removed the shaving razors.

Castle went out door, open the telephone box and cut the wires. He went over to the water shut off and turned it to off. Castle headed back to his pickup truck and took a ladder out and carried it back to the cabin. Setting the ladder against the cabin, he grabbed an over large tarp he had placed there earlier. Castle climbed the ladder with the tarp in hand. When he reached the top of the ladder, he climbed up on to the roof. Watching his footing carefully he placed the tarp over the chimney, tying a rope around the chimney to hold the tarp in place.

He went back into the cabin and went into the utility room. He removed the fan motor from the furnace and threw it into the box on the porch with the other things he had collected from the cabin. Castle took the box, headed back to his truck and reached for six rifles that were laying on the flatbed. He then pulled out stands for the rifles. For the next hour he set them to surround the cabin keeping them just inside the woods out of sight. He loaded the weapons and hooked them into his remote control system. He used collected brush from the woods to cover and conceal the rifles.

Once again Castle returned to his pickup up truck. He pulled out small cameras and remote control system based on movement. He placed two cameras in a 'v' shape so that they all pointed toward the camera at the other end of the cabin. The porch went around the entire cabin. The height of the cameras was staggered to maximize their coverage. Satisfied they covered as much of the porch as possible. Castle completed his work by disguising the cameras as fancy outdoor light fixtures.

Castle made one last trip to his truck. He got in and headed out to the perimeter of Randall's property. He set explosive devices to keep out anyone who might decide to come help Ironside and Mason.

This was not the type of assassination he set up overseas, he thought. It was far from professional but it would serve the purpose. He was now ready for Ironside. The big shot detective would pay for what he had done with his life and that of his brother's.

xxxxx