Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.
Italics - Spanish
Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic.
Chapter 27. Tuesday, part II
They talked about different parts of the USA they had seen or wanted to visit, and finished their meal with some coffee. They were just rising from the table when Zero came in and put on the TV.
"You´d better see this," he said.
The TV had on extra news from the local channel. It showed an ambulance leaving the City hall. A reporter looked into the camera and talked about the assault on former mayor Juniak. As of right now no one knew if Juniak had been hit or not.
Tank picked up his phone, but never got the chance to call anyone before it rang.
"Yes."
"-"
"We just saw it on the TV News."
"-"
"Anyone else?"
"-"
"I'll send over reinforcements."
He hung up.
"That was Cal. Someone took a shot at Juniak when they left through the back door on the City Hall. He was wearing a vest and only got a scratch from a ricochet. No one else was hurt. Juniak was taken to the hospital for checkup, but according to Tank he was conscious and loudly complaining that it was only a scratch and that Brown could stitch him up in five minutes, or maybe even just put a bandaid on it. Hal was with him in the ambulance, and Cal, Vince and Manny were in car following. I said we´d send a second team to get him out of the hospital safely."
"The shooter?"
"No information so far. The TPD had just arrived when they left with the ambulance."
"OK. Tank, take a team to the hospital. I'll try to get Yeoh on the phone."
Tank gave Annie a kiss and left to put on his vest and more weapons.
"You want to work in the electronics room?"
"Thanks Hector, but I´ll be in the apartment. I don't know if I can concentrate right now."
"You know where I am if you want some company or someone to talk to."
"Thanks Hector."
Annie gave him a hug, and then went to the apartment. She made a cup of tea and sat in the sofa with her laptop and tried to write some emails, simultaneously watching the news. She soon gave up on the emails, and concentrated on the news. They were still rehashing what they had said earlier, and gave less information than Annie already had from Cal´s short phone call to Tank. The police refused to leave any comments, according to the news reporter.
After what felt like an eternity Tank came through the door. Annie ran from the couch and hugged him. Tank just held her, stroking her hair and back.
"I´m sorry," she said.
"You don't get to apologize. I should have called you, but I had to stay focused on bringing Juniak and the teams here. I got here as soon as I was back at Haywood."
"Thanks." Annie tried to dry her tears, and Tank gave her a kiss.
"You want to come to the conference room and hear what's happened?"
"Absolutely. I'll just wash my face first."
They were in the conference room five minutes later. It was full to the brim, with Rangemen, Juniak, Frank Plum and agent Yeoh.
Annie looked at Juniak on the other side of the room. He had a bandage on his left arm, but seemed to take it in stride.
"Here´s a chair for you," Woody offered.
Annie was about to say that she could stand, but a look convinced her that that argument would not hold, so she smiled and thanked Woody for the seat.
Ranger began the meeting.
"All right. Quick recapitulation. Joe Juniak was in the City hall today to talk to some administrators. We had a team on him, and he had a vest. When they left the building through a backdoor somebody took a shot at him. The first shot hit him on the left side of his chest. The vest worked, but he´ll have a bruise, and he cracked a couple of ribs. The second shot ricocheted of the buildings wall and caused a small wound on his left arm. No one else was hurt, and the team protected him. After an examination in the hospital and some stitches an increased team saw to his transportation here."
Juniak stood up.
"I just want to thank the team and all of Rangeman. You saved me today, and I don't want to think about what would have happened without you."
He sat down again.
"Apart from the team close to Juniak, Ram had surveillance further out. He caught the shooter, but not before he managed two shots at Juniak, and one at Ram. In self-defense Ram shot him, and the shooter is now in intensive care at the hospital. It was Johnson. Ram was not hit."
Yeoh took over.
"I talked to Johnson, who said commissioner Ford gave him the order. He claimed that he tried to do it like when he shot Tank. The big difference in my opinion is that he couldn't be sure that Juniak had a vest on. Oh, beside the small fact that he hasn't reported any of the shootings to the FBI. And we don't encourage shooting people, whatever you've heard about us.
"I could only talk to Johnson for a couple of minutes. Right now he has two guards from Rangeman plus two from the TPD outside the door, and some from the FBI are on their way. When they get there we´ll withdraw the Rangeman guards. But there's no way I trust the men from the TPD with Ford still around.
"There's a warrant of arrest against Ford, but so far he's still on the loose."
Hector took a step forward.
"I put trackers on the two cars in commissioner Ford´s garage," he said. "I did it after Annie met with Helen Plum in the park. I also have one on Johnson's car. Right now Johnson´s Toyota is heading towards Newark. Maybe Ford is in it. The two cars in his garage are still there."
Yeoh immediately called the FBI and Hector sent them the tracker information.
The meeting broke up soon after. Brown tried to convince Juniak that he should rest in the apartment, but Juniak refused. He said he wanted to know if it was Ford in the car before he considered taking any more pain pills or rest.
Tank, Ranger and Yeoh had a mini conference in one corner of the room, and decided that the delivery of Morelli was still on for the same place and the same time. Depending on if Ford was still not found before that they might reschedule.
Before Yeoh left for the TPD he got the cache with Morelli´s photos and the memory cards. He lifted his eyebrow at Ranger when he claimed that they had gotten the material just half an hour before.
"I see. You have no idea what's in it or have looked at the contents."
"I'm pretty sure that there´s enough evidence to take Ford down, even without Johnson´s testimony. But I haven't had the time to look at the material," Ranger answered. "Besides I'm not especially interested in Ford. Just get him locked up so people can move around freely again."
Yeoh left, but met up with a team of the FBI to get a look on the material before he went to the TPD.
Tank called Gazarra, but it went to voicemail. He could easily imagine that the police officer didn´t have the time to take phone calls, so he just left a message. Then Ella came into the conference room with coffee, tea, sandwiches and still warm cookies.
"They smell fantastic," Annie said with a smile.
"I thought that you could need some happy food," Ella answered.
"Thanks. But that said I must stress that so far we have been incredibly lucky that there's not been anyone killed. So in a way I am happy. But I´ll definitely feel even more happy with a cookie or two."
They drank some coffee and ate of Ella´s bounty. When they were about to break up Ranger´s phone rang. He answered it and had a brief conversation. He hung up.
"OK, that was Yeoh. It was Ford in Johnson´s car. When he saw the roadblock he tried to force his way through. When they shot in self-defense he ran into the barrier on the side of the road. He´s dead."
They were silent for a while.
"Well, I suppose we'll be short some explanations for ever then," Juniak said.
"Most likely. Unless Morelli knows more, or Ford has a similar setup as Morelli and someone will get mail or email in a few weeks."
"Does this mean we can go home?" Annie asked Tank in a low voice where she sat beside him.
"I sure hope so. But I think we should wait until tomorrow to be on the safe side."
She burrowed closer to him, and he put his arm around her.
Brown gave Juniak a long gaze.
"I get it, Bobby. I will take some pain meds now and go and rest for a bit."
"Good. You have my number if you need anything."
Juniak and Frank left, and as the others were on their way out Tank´s phone rang. Tank had a short conversation, and then hung up.
"It was Gazarra. He asked if he could come over. He had some things to tell us. He'll bring someone as well."
"We better meet in the conference room on the first floor then. The last time he brought someone over it was Johnson," Bobby said.
"I´m going back to the apartment if that's OK with you," Annie said to Tank.
"Of course. I don't know when I'll be back. I hope I'm not involved in delivering Morelli, but this day has screwed with all plans."
He kissed her and Annie went to Tank´s apartment.
Ranger looked at him and lifted his left eyebrow in a silent question.
"She was tired. And she´s not really involved with the police angle except for Morelli."
x x x
They went downstairs, and Gazarra arrived a short while later. He had a police in uniform with him.
"Gaspick." Ranger said.
"Ranger, Tank, Brown."
"We're just waiting for Hector to get here and check you. You can leave your cell phones over at the desk in the meantime."
Hector came and made quick work of searching for surveillance equipment.
They went in the conference room, and Ranger called for coffee.
Just as they were about to start talking there was a knock on the door. Outside stood Yeoh and an unknown man.
"Just wait for Hector, then we can continue this talk," Tank said.
Hector checked them over, and then they came inside.
"Gaspick," Yeoh nodded at the policeman.
"Yeoh, Weaver."
"For those who hasn´t met him, this is special agent Weaver. He´s been on the Ford case for quite a while."
Agent Weaver looked like he was in his early thirties, with a short stylish haircut, and a light build.
"As I was about to tell you before we were interrupted it seems like Gaspick here isn't exactly what he looks like."
"A stuck up bootlicker with a hard on for the minutiae of the law?" Tank suggested.
"Trying to cozy up to Morelli as often as he could." Ranger continued.
"Actually he's been working for the FBI for more than five years," Yeoh interjected. "He was stationed at the Trenton PD because, as I've told you, we've had our eyes here for a long time."
Ranger and Tank looked at Gaspick, who calmly met their eyes.
"I´ll give you the benefit of the doubt if you have anything to contribute to clear up this cluster-fuck," Ranger finally said. "But you were a real pain in the ass towards my wife before, so it better be good."
Yeoh then held the briefing, and with input from the people in the room they managed to get a clearer picture.
Morelli had blackmailed Juniak to make him a police officer a couple of years before Juniak became mayor. Ford replaced Juniak, and Morelli had blackmail material on him before he even started as commissioner. Yeoh said that they had checked the photos and memory cards from Morelli´s cache, and the dates on some of the pictures were before Ford replaced Juniak. The appointment of the police commissioner was political, and some of the politicians involved were suspected of ties to the mob, even though they hadn't found any hard evidence.
Gaspick said that during his time at the Trenton PD he had managed to cozy up enough to Morelli to see that he was helping the Grizoli family, overall was a lazy and lousy detective, and confirmed the rumors that Morelli had inside information enough on Stephanie to get quite a lot of money on the bets about her. Ford often had Morelli doing special 'errands' for him, even though Johnson had taken over some of those when Morelli´s addiction to alcohol and drugs had made him unreliable. His continued obsession with Stephanie-look-alikes had been noted as well. Gaspick also mentioned some other people at the TPD he had tied to the mob, in some cases he had evidence, in some not.
Weaver confirmed that they had evidence on some at the TPD, and that Johnson had collected evidence on some of them. Unfortunately they couldn't be sure if the evidence was untampered with, and it would hardly stand up in court. And a comparison of the names that Gaspick supplied and the ones on Johnson's list showed that the latter mostly had ties with other mob families than Grizoli, or gangs.
Gaspick also told them that he knew of at least four incidents with Morelli stalking women, all of them 'persuaded' not to report it officially. At least one case of DUI was also not officially reported.
Commissioner Ford had due to his mob connections concentrated the efforts of the TPD on other families than the Grizolis. The work had definitely made a difference, but in the ensuing power vacuum that emerged the Grizolis had managed to consolidate themselves as leaders.
They briefly discussed Ford´s death and probable consequences. But no one could really predict what would happen.
"Who's in charge at the police station right now?" Tank asked.
"Ford´s second in command, Carver," Gazarra answered. "Problem is, he was close to Ford, which automatically makes me suspicious of him. And I honestly don't know how they appoint someone under these circumstances. Or who does the appointment, since many of the politicians are suspected of ties to the mob. And we don't have a mayor either…"
"The FBI has made authorities aware of the problem. Carver won´t be commissioner in a couple of days," Yeoh said.
Gaspick and Gazarra left shortly after, and the FBI-agents confirmed that the transfer of Morelli would continue as scheduled.
Yeoh also thanked them for their hospitality, but from now on he would be staying at the same hotel as agent Carver.
When the FBI-agents had left they gathered in the conference room on the fifth floor. Woody and Binkie came in and told them of how they planned to get Morelli to the airfield. They would get him out of Haywood through a tunnel that came up half a block from the Rangeman building. They had talked to Bobby, and decided that it would be easier to anaesthetize Morelli for the trip. Everything was set up, and they would leave in two hours.
"Now what?" Tank asked when everybody else had left them in the conference room.
"Now you go to your woman. And tomorrow I sure hope I'll be returning to mine."
"Sounds like a plan. Have you talked much to Frank?"
"No, I haven't."
"Maybe you should take him with you to Miami, and not wait until the christening. He needs to get away from Trenton."
"I'll talk to him and Babe."
"Good."
Ranger went up to the seventh floor, and Tank went to his apartment. When he opened the door he found Annie asleep on the sofa. He checked the fridge, and as silently as possible made a salad to go with the leftovers. When he had laid the table he woke Annie.
"Hello sleepyhead."
"Hi. For your information I needed that sleep."
"If I hadn't needed some food in my stomach I would have carried you into bed and joined you. I have some food over at the kitchen table."
They talked a bit about what Tank had learned in the conference room. And they decided that tomorrow they would get back to Tank´s house. Annie declared that she would stay there for a couple of days to acclimate to, as she called it, normal life.