I had been ordered to go sit in the briefing room until they were done talking and I was ordered not to talk to anyone, Troy had come to get Spike and took him to the holding rooms – they didn't tell me I wasn't allowed to use the laptop on the desk that Spike had already hooked up to the information I wanted. I checked through the shortcuts and found the security cameras for the holding room and hit enter so I could listen to what they were saying. They were getting grilled by Halloran about entering the SRU without identifying themselves and that they were lucky not to be shot considering their behaviour towards several officers. One of the Feds had a laptop on and he motioned the screen towards Spike, I leaned in closer and he suddenly looked up at the camera – he made a slash motion across his neck and the video feed went dead. I slammed the monitor down and leaned against the chair back.
It was over an hour later that I heard footsteps behind me, everyone else not on duty had been ordered home and I stood up to face Halloran, the Feds and Spike who was looking like a bombshell had been dropped. Parker came up last and pushed me back down on the seat and faced me looking officially pissed off at what was going on.
"Okay. Okay, so here is the deal. The Feds are here to support you as they have been made aware by a certain Commander of reliable intelligence against a threat to the SRU and their families. They have been tracking it for a while and have made some leads but since 2300hrs the trail has gone cold and all information was lost – do you know how?"
I shuffled into the seat properly and nodded, pulling out a printout of computer files that were archived in my personal storage space.
"After I sorted Wordy out I went to check on my files, the report I had been sent via mail was what he found, along with doctored photos of his family. All my research and notes were missing and after I checked the security feed I discovered someone had broken in; then I found that someone had let them in – this is an inside job!" I replied.
"What do you mean an 'inside job'?" Halloran demanded.
"The footage showed blurred images, but only around the person coming inside the building, you can do that to CCTV by using LED's – it's a trick I'm familiar with – the only way to get in this building through that door, is by someone clearing you from the inside!" I explained.
Halloran pulled Parker and the Feds to one side and talked to them for a moment, they all agreed something and the Feds headed out of the main entrance with Halloran while Parker stayed with me, he was pacing the room again and I looked at Spike who shook his head to tell me to keep quiet.
"Boss," I started gently.
"Quiet!" he replied.
I looked up at him and frowned.
"Boss this is my fault!" I said louder.
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" he yelled in my face.
I stood opposite him as he had shouted that at me, Spike had done the same and made a move to come over, it was very rare to see Parker this pissed off – typical for me to be one of the first people to manage it for a while.
"Boss if heads are going to roll then it should be mine – the research was mine, these problems are because of me!" I said stepping forward.
I was grabbed by the shoulders and pushed down hard onto the chair and kept there immobilized, I sat still and kept on looking at Parker to find out what was eating him up inside; the Commander came running back in with Troy, he ordered Parker back and kicked Spike out of the room; he then hit the shutters to give us privacy and turned back round to me.
The look on his face was not good – seriously not good!
"Officer Fraser, you are hereby placed on suspension until we discover the source of these attacks against the SRU and families. You being on active duty with this police force are classed as a liability and you are now under investigation. You may still hold a firearm under your legal permits but are banned from entering the SRU without formal invitation and may not attend any location where the officers are deployed. Officer Nichols, relieve her of her badge, warrant cards and ID entrance card and remove her from the premises."
I handed Troy all the requested on autopilot and was handed the contents of my locker by Halloran in a black rucksack, he lifted the shutters again and I was removed from the room by them both; I couldn't even look at Parker or Spike as I was taken past the main desk and escorted to the awaiting patrol car and sent on my way.
Back inside Parker was still silent and Spike was trying to get information out of him, he wouldn't talk and he walked away to Halloran's office on the top level. Troy came over and gripped Spike's shoulder.
"What happened in there?" he demanded.
Troy pulled him to the gym so they could get some privacy to talk, it was 5am and all hell had broken out in the main areas due to the incident and call outs to different team leaders – the place was a riot.
"What happened – where is she?" Spike demanded again.
"She's been suspended and placed under investigation. Halloran has had enough and the Feds are going to keep an eye on the families – that's all I know Spike. I can cover you if you want to go?"
Spike just looked at Troy – what the hell was going on?
In the back of the patrol car I pulled out my phone after making a decision, I typed in a single sentence and asked the driver to take me to the all night bank instead of the house.
Spike pulled his phone out and slid down the wall, Troy was beside him in a split second and he looked at the message he had received:
'I'm sorry.'