Part 5 – The Highway Robbery – Part 1
The underside of the overpass on Martin Luther King Drive in Alexandria, if you ever want to get the feeling someone might come from out of nowhere and mug you, go there at night, and just stand there.
Two days following Sasuke and Shikamaru breaking up Evan Richter's forgery ring, and returning Lilies in the Springtime to the Louvre, a Loomis Armored Car on its way to Capital One Bank on Murray Street very early in the morning stopped clean in its tracks as a large-caliber round slammed into the engine block of the car.
The two guards inside watched as four assailants came in out of the darkness. One of them came out of the shadows, and blew out the two front tires.
The first armed guard swung the door open with his Glock 19 in hand and opened fire before one of the assailants got a lucky shot, hitting him in the ankle.
Another one of the assailants walked up with a shotgun and hit him in the chest before turning to his partner in the van who managed to blast him with his own Glock.
Another came in, and shot the guard four times in the chest and stomach, right on the edges of the Kevlar plates in his vest.
The assailants grabbed the keys off of the guard and unlocked the back of the van.
In the back of the van, they began unpacking their ill-gotten gains and ran off into the night.
Magnolia Trace Apartments…
Sasuke was asleep in his one-bedroom apartment enjoying a nice dream when his cellphone went off. Sasuke reached over to his bedside table, and picked up his phone.
"Uchiha," Sasuke said as he answered the call.
"Sasuke," Shikamaru said over the other line, "It's me."
"Do you know what time it is you damn psychopath," Sasuke asked.
"Yea," Shikamaru said, "It's 5:13 A.M., and we have a case. I'm on my way to get you. I'm getting you out of bed whether you want to or not."
As the line cut, Sasuke climbed out of bed, and walked over to his dresser. He put on a pair of jeans, a simple blue shirt, his combat boots, the Egara Black Modern Fit Car coat his father bought him for the New York Trip, and his Alfani men's scarf.
Sasuke retrieved his badge, gun, phone, and wallet. As opened the door, he was proven right in getting his scarf. It was freezing that day, and the weather channel said it was going to be the same temperature for the rest of the week.
Sasuke walked out to the turn-circle just outside the main entrance of the apartments when Shikamaru pulled up.
"Morning," Shikamaru said as Sasuke opened the door, and stepped inside. As soon as Sasuke shut the door, and buckled in, Shikamaru held out a coffee cup, "Coffee?"
Sasuke took the cup, and took a quick sip after Shikamaru poured him a cup. "That's pretty good coffee," he said.
"I made it myself," Shikamaru said, "The key is to roast the beans the day prior to brewing."
"Thanks," Sasuke said, "Any food?"
"I was going to get donuts on the way," Shikamaru said, "Shipley's?"
"Perfect," Sasuke said.
The main street in Alexandria is Jackson Street. Four lanes stretching from a small gas station/ convenient store just one hundred yards away from Alexandria Senior High School to the foot of one of the three bridges that crossed the Red River leading into Pineville.
MacDonald's, Sonic, Chick-Fil-A, Wendy's, Burger King, Subway, two Grocery stores, a highway overpass, an Urgent Care Clinic that used to house a Blockbuster, and many more things are along this street.
Back when Sasuke first got his license, nine years prior, he would have gone to any one of them, but not Shipley's. The Shipley's Donuts on Jackson Street nine years prior was one of the most annoying places to go for Donuts. You asked for glazed cake donuts, they'd say they didn't have any, but they did have plain cake donuts. Even if you asked them to take the plain ones out and glaze them, they'd say no. Two years prior, however, Shipley's got new ownership and the standards went up.
As Shikamaru pulled up, he turned to Sasuke and asked, "What'll you have?"
"Cinnamon twist and a Big Earl Sausage & Cheese," Sasuke said.
Shikamaru leaned out the window and spoke, "A cinnamon twist, two Bear Earl Sausage and Cheeses, a bag of donut holes, and four coffees."
Sasuke pulled out his wallet, and handed Shikamaru a five, "That should cover mine." He said.
"Alright," Shikamaru said as he paid for the donuts, took the bag, the cups, and proceeded onward toward the crime scene.
A direct drive down Jackson Street very early in the morning is relatively easy when it gets around lunchtime and rush hour is when you see people shouting profanities at each other.
Downtown Alexandria is very much a beautiful picture of 1940s America meets Modern America. You have the Hotel Bentley that is right across the street from a Holiday Inn, and an old-school Irish pub right across from a modern restaurant.
Arriving at the crime scene, you could see the medical examiner was already there.
As Sasuke was just finishing his cinnamon twist, he walked up to Tsunade. "Morning," she said as she stood up to see Sasuke, "Never thought you'd be working on this did you?"
"On a crime at 5:30 in the morning," Sasuke asked as he watched Tsunade close her coat, "Here," he handed her one of the coffees he and Shikamaru picked up.
"Thanks," Tsunade said as she drank.
"What do we have," Sasuke asked.
"Armed robbery," Tsunade said as she walked around to the front of the truck, and pointed at the bullet hole in the grill, "First shot was aimed directly at the engine block which stopped the truck dead in its tracks."
"That's no small feat," Sasuke said as Shikamaru joined them.
"What is?," Shikamaru asked.
Sasuke pointed at the bullet hole, "Whoever did this took out the engine block," he said, "And most armored cars today are reinforced so that this particular thing doesn't happen."
"They got lucky," Tsunade said, "Bullet passed in between the grooves of the grill, and carved straight through the engine block."
"Let me take a close look at the bullet hole," Sasuke said as he pointed at the straps that held the hood shut, as they pulled the hood open, Sasuke crawled toward the bullet hole to see that it was a small diameter bullet, "That's a small diameter bullet. How could a bullet that small stop a reinforced truck?"
"Take a look," one of the techs said as they walked over to Sasuke carrying the fragments of the bullets.
Sasuke took the bullet, and observed the round, "How is it not mangled beyond reprieve?"
"Bullet hit the edge of the oil-intake valve, and was deflected out of the way of anything harmful," the tech said, "Seems to be by the grace of God."
As the techs left, Shikamaru held out his hand toward the bag which Sasuke handed him, "What happened to the driver and his partner," Sasuke asked.
"On their way to Rapides Regional," Tsunade said, "Men who shot at them probably didn't understand the meaning of 'bulletproof vests'. Shots landed on the outer-edges of the Kevlar plates."
"Guess that means we can keep Homicide off our case," Sasuke said.
"For now at least," Shikamaru said, "If those two die, then Homicide will be all over this investigation."
"Let me take a look in the back," Sasuke said as he walked around to the back of the truck, the key was still stuck in the lock, and the back was left wide open.
As he stepped into the back, he saw most of the unopened boxes inside the base were locked boxes, "What's it look like?," Shikamaru asked.
"Toss me those keys," Sasuke said as he pointed at the door.
Shikamaru took the keys out of the lock and tossed them at Sasuke who unlocked one of the boxes.
"What's inside?," Shikamaru asked.
"Cash," Sasuke said as he pulled out a stack of $100 bills, "Unmarked $100 bills, almost completely worthless, and illegal. These guys knew what they were after."
"The questions right now are: what is it they're after," Shikamaru said as he held up the evidence bag, "And what kind of firearm would use this?"
Sasuke walked to the back of the truck, and held out his hand which Shikamaru placed the bag into, "I think I might know someone who could identify this."
NG Beauregard Training Range, Pollock, LA…
The range out in Pollock was in no way local to Alexandria, but if you want to throw lead at your targets, then NG Beauregard is the place to go.
It's also the only place Sasuke knew where his old friend would be so early in the morning before her shop opened.
As they entered, they saw Tenten down at the range firing shots form her Ruger American .300 Winchester bolt-action rifle.
Tenten was dressed in a pair of U.S. Military combat boots, black jeans, a white shirt with red accents, a brown leather jacket, and had her hair up in a pair of double hair-buns.
As soon as the range-master declared a cease-fire, Tenten turned back to her station to see Sasuke walking towards her.
"Morning Tenten," Sasuke said as he walked up to her.
"Morning Sasuke," Tenten said, "You here to shoot?"
"Afraid not," Sasuke said as she showed her his badge.
"You did it," Tenten said as she stood up, and hugged him, "Congratulations."
"Thanks," Sasuke said as they pulled apart, and held out the evidence bag containing the slug, "We need your help."
Tenten whistled as she took the bag from Sasuke's hand, "That's a lot of lead," she said, ".45-90 at least, powerful round."
"There any modern rifles that can fire that kind of round," Shikamaru asked.
"Nope," Tenten said before gesturing toward her rifles on the table, "And none of the rifles I fired even come close to this. Odds are in this part of the world it's a Sharps," Tenten looked up at Sasuke, "Where'd you get this?"
"Dug it out the engine block of a Loomis armored car," Sasuke said, "Bullet glanced off the edge of one of the cylinders, and embedded itself inside the car's cup holders."
"This is a lucky bullet," Tenten said, "Most bullets like this when they hit an engine block would be shredded to pieces upon impact."
"Thanks, Tenten," Sasuke said as he took the bag back, "Do me a favor, as I recall, your father dealt in a lot of antique firearms. Think you could go through his books, and tell me if he ever did maintenance on any?"
"That'll be my first order of business when I get back to the store," Tenten said as she picked up her Ruger Redhawk Model 5032 Revolver, "They're about to call the range hot," Tenten slid on her glasses and ear protection, "I'll keep my ear to the ground."
"Thanks, Tenten," Sasuke said as he and Shikamaru walked off.
"How's she know so much about weapons," Shikamaru asked.
"Tenten," Sasuke asked as the men and women on the range began firing, "Her father's a retired cop who owns Akihiro Firearms in downtown Pineville."
"So, she grew up breathing guns," Shikamaru said as they entered his truck, "Where's that leave us?"
"We know the make of one of the guns that were used," Sasuke said, "I say we head to the corner to see if Tsunade is done with the autopsy of our unlucky robber."
Flashback…
One of the stops on Sasuke's graduation trip was to the World Trade Center Memorial, which was still under construction, while they couldn't get in to see it, the construction of the building let everyone know what the architect had in mind.
"What about reenlisting," Itachi asked, "Now that you have your degree, you could get your brass bars."
"There's an idea," Sasuke said, "Maybe rejoining isn't such a bad idea."
"Being an officer certainly isn't a bad idea," Itachi said as they walked up to the south fountain, "I know that serving filled me with a great sense of purpose."
"My time in did as well," Sasuke said.
End Flashback…
At the Coroner's office, Tsunade had just finished digging the bullets out of the unlucky robber's body.
"Anything," Sasuke asked.
"Good morning to you too," Tsunade said as she removed her gloves, "And I do have something," Tsunade turned down the lights, picked up a small black light, and held it over the robber's hand, "I sprayed the hand with a mixture of Sodium Rhodizonate and distilled water," as she turned on the lights, the unlucky man's hand glowed almost completely underneath the UV light, "Lot of gunshot residue."
"He was handling black powder," Sasuke said as he crossed his arms, and started counting on his fingers, "The outfit, an armored car, everything useless was left behind, a Sharps rifle, and excessive gun powder," he turned to Shikamaru, "This guy was roleplaying as a Wild West highwayman."
Guess what happens…
