Part 8 – High Noon
The sketches that Tiffany helped the sketch artist build were all men: one was of a Caucasian male in his late-thirties with thick sideburns that extended down the sides of his jaw.
The second was of a Hispanic male in his mid-twenties that had a thick, bushy mustache, and a very distinctive, deep scar on the right corner of his chin.
The third was another Caucasian male, probably early twenties with long hair, cleanly shaven, and had a mole above his right eyebrow.
"You're sure these are the men that you saw at the competition," Sasuke asked.
"One hundred percent," Tiffany said, "They had very distinct Cajun accents, and they drove a brand-new RAM 1500, white."
"Thanks, Tiff," Sasuke said as he slapped Tiffany on the arm, "Here's the deal: get Jack from school, go home, and call in sick tomorrow. I'll send some uniforms over to the house to keep you safe."
"Right away," Tiffany said.
As she was leaving, Iruka walked up to them, "This is it," Sasuke said as he held out the three pictures.
"Run these pictures through the database yet," Iruka asked.
"No, not yet," Sasuke said, "But Tiffany is absolutely sure that she saw these men at the competition and she even remembers they drove a white RAM 1500."
"Not exactly very cowboy like," Shikamaru said as he walked up to Sasuke.
"That's probably because they're using it as a get-away vehicle," Sasuke said, "They park about a mile away, use the horses to get to the scene of the robbery, rob the trucks, take the horses back, load up the horses, and drive away. Since horses aren't registered as motor vehicles there's no legal way of tracking them outside of tracking chips."
"We could put an APB out on these men," Shikamaru said, "With the right amount of press on this, we should have a few tips on them within a few hours."
"I'll see who to talk to," Iruka said as he walked over to the copier, and made three copies of each drawing, then walked back to Sasuke and Shikamaru, "In the meantime, run these drawings through the facial recognition database, see if any of them have previous histories, and see if any of them own a RAM 1500."
"Yes sir," Sasuke said.
Flashback…
Gramercy Tavern was exactly as advertised, not upscale, but defiantly more of a dress-shirt type of place, at least the Tavern half of the restaurant was.
The first thing Sasuke and Itachi did before getting back to the hotel was get a falafel with as much as they could on it, "Maybe you could go hook up with Cousin Eric out at LA," Itachi said, "See if we can get you a job with the Park Rangers?"
"Maybe," Sasuke said, "But Park Ranger isn't exactly my stick."
"You got to think of something," Itachi said as the two of them threw the wrappers into the nearest trash can, "To be honest, I'm just not sure above dad hiring you. You don't really have any formal training."
"I know that," Sasuke said, "Dad wants me to sign up at the plumber's school that he went to."
"I can see it now," Itachi said, "The plumbing class of 2014. Your motto will be 'we're the shit'."
Sasuke and Itachi broke up laughing as they entered the elevator, what they would hear when they were entering their family's suite would be the thing that would haunt their dreams for the rest of their lives.
End Flashback…
Local News Anchor Sheridan Rayner was sitting at his desk when he was handed a special bulletin.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am just being handed a notice," Sheridan said, "Alexandria Police have identified three men with suspected ties to an armored car robbery from earlier this morning," the artist renderings then appeared on the screen, "If you have any information on anyone matching these photos please submit a tip to the Alexandria Police. If you see these men, do not approach them, they are to be considered armed an extremely dangerous."
Within fifteen minutes, the three pictures were being broadcasted across every last New Station in Alexandria, and within five minutes, every last phone in the station was going off with anonymous tips.
"Of course," Sasuke said as he was writing the information the lady on the other line was giving him, "Thanks. Have a good day ma'am."
He tore the page out of his notebook and handed it to the Sergeant picking up tips.
"Can you believe this," Shikamaru asked as he put down the phone to hand his page to the Sergeant, "We get a couple pictures on the TV, and suddenly we're swamped."
"Hopefully a few of these pay off," Sasuke said.
"You might be more right than you think Sasuke," Iruka said as he walked up to his two detectives, and handed Sasuke a small note to Sasuke, "A teller down at CenLA Federal Credit Union remembers highwayman number one coming in with a large bag, and reserved one of the bank's larger safe deposit boxes."
"What are you willing to bet that when we get there we'll find some form of contraband in the box he took out," Shikamaru asked.
"How long before we can get a search warrant," Sasuke asked.
"Done," Shikamaru said as he held the warrant out, "Curtsey of Judge Jiraiya Malone."
"Now we know how you get warrants out so fast," Shikamaru said.
"Just get down to the bank," Iruka said.
Judge Jiraiya Malone, the tallest, and most muscular 42-year old male with white hair you'd ever meet. Before running, and winning his seat as Alexandria District Court Justice in a landslide victory he was Deputy Chief of the Alexandria Police, chalking up nearly three hundred arrests with a 90% conviction record.
CenLA Federal Credit Union…
As Sasuke and Shikamaru walked into the bank, and through the metal detector, they quickly pulled aside their coats to reveal their badges.
"Can I help you two, gentlemen," the teller asked as he looked up to see them.
"Yes," Sasuke said, "We received a tip that a man fitting the description of a man we've been searching for has opened a safety deposit box here. We need to take a look inside."
"I'm afraid I can't do that," the teller said, "To do so would be a breach of our client's confidentiality."
"Well asking nicely didn't work," Shikamaru said as he reached into his pocket, "Then I'll make this easy," he handed the search warrant to the teller, "This warrant says if you don't let us look into that safety deposit box, we have the right to arrest you and anyone else who says we can't look into that box for obstruction of justice."
The teller handed the warrant back to Shikamaru as he picked up the phone, "Mr. White, could you come down here," he asked, "There are two cops with a warrant to search one of the boxes."
Five minutes later, a man about forty years of age came down to the ground floor, "You are the officers," Mr. White asked.
"Yes," Sasuke said, "You remember this man," he held out the picture of the first man Tiffany described.
"Yes," Mr. White said, "Mr. Morgan. I saw his picture on the news, and I could scarcely believe it."
"Well believe it," Sasuke said, "Could you please take us to his safe deposit box?"
"Of course," Mr. White said, "This way please."
Mr. White led Sasuke and Shikamaru into the back, and unlocked a large twelve-inch by fourteen-inch box when Mr. White unlocked it, he pulled out a ten-inch by twelve-inch box that was roughly sixteen inches long.
As he pulled it out, it was quite obvious that he was struggling to lift it, "Open it," Sasuke said.
"I don't have the key," Mr. White said.
"Bullshit," Sasuke said, "Each bank has an extra key in case of emergencies. Go get it, now."
Mr. White walked out to the teller's desk and pulled out a small, brass key. When he returned, he handed it to Sasuke who opened it and instantly found what they were looking for.
"Bingo," Shikamaru said.
Sasuke reached in and produced stacks of 10-ounce gold bars, large silver coins, and stock certificates.
"Gold bars, silver coins," Sasuke said, "These guys must have hundreds of thousands of dollars here."
"Not to mention what these stocks are worth," Shikamaru said as he looked through the certificates before looking up at Mr. White, "Who did you say this unit is registered to?"
"Mr. Morgan," Mr. White said, "His name is listed in full as David Morgan."
"It's an alias," Sasuke said.
"No doubt," Shikamaru said as he held out the stocks, "Look at the kind of stocks they have, railroads, tech companies, even casinos."
"All owned by people who I'd imagine would be very happy to see these returned," Sasuke said, "Get on the horn and see if you can get anyone from Loomis down here to reclaim this stuff," he then turned to Mr. White, "In the meantime, Mr. White, there is something very special you could help us with."
Two hours later…
The man fitting the first person's description entered the bank, and walked straight up to the counter, the teller was facing the wall with his back to the counter.
"Excuse me," he said.
"Yes, can I help you," the teller asked as he was counting money on the counter, his back still turned to the suspect.
"I need to check my safety deposit box," he said.
"And your name sir," the teller asked.
"David Morgan," he said.
"Ah yes, Mr. Morgan," the teller said as he turned around to reveal Sasuke his P226 in his right hand, and his badge in the other, "I've been expecting you."
The man turned around only for Shikamaru to appear behind him, his Glock 22 trained on him, "Don't think about it," he said.
Sasuke walked around the counter, pulled out a set of cuffs, forced the suspect's arms behind his back, and locked them in place.
What he pulled out next confirmed he was the person they were looking for: hidden in a pocket inside his coat, just within drawing distance was a Remington Model 1861.
Back at the station…
"So this is suspect number one," Iruka asked.
"Yes sir," Sasuke said as he held a file on him, "The second we got back, the computer found his record," Iruka took the file and opened it to study his previous charges, "His real name isn't David Morgan, it's Arthur Peterson, and he's got a rap sheet stretching back to when he was twelve."
"It says his father was Richard Peterson," Iruka said, "I ran into him several times when I was a patrol officer. He was Alexandria's de-facto town drunk in every sense of the term."
"That bad eh," Sasuke asked.
"Out of the one hundred and seventy-three arrests I made as a patrol officer, Richard Peterson counts for about sixty of those," Iruka said, "I would usually find him lying in the alley next to Sticks. The chief adopted a catch and release policy just for him."
"And his mother," Sasuke asked.
"Working almost all the time," Iruka said, "Two jobs, one as a clerk at the library, the other as a desk agent at the Bentley Hotel. After it closed down, she took another job working the night shift at the Holiday Inn."
"Absent parents equals kid grows up to be a criminal," Sasuke said, "What I don't get is why he would join a gang of stick up men cosplaying as 19th-century highwaymen."
"I would bring Richard home most nights," Iruka said, "Arthur would often answer the door. He would always answer the door dressed in cowboy pajamas carrying a fake revolver."
"Little boy who loved cowboys from the beginning now becomes one," Sasuke said.
"Bet I could get something out of him," Iruka said.
"Go ahead," Sasuke said.
Sometimes a family tie is the best way to get through to a suspect, in this case Iruka's help was all they needed to track down the other members.
He even gave up their names: Patrick Quinten & Michael Nunez.
Arthur put his two compatriots at the Quality Inn just off of Highway 165, as the two of them arrived, they strapped on their vests, and walked up to see the two of them drinking on the second floor balcony of the hotel.
"Patrick Quinten, Michael Nunez," Sasuke said as they looked up at the two of them, and held up his bade, "Alexandria Police, you're under arrest."
"How do you know us," Michael asked.
"I'll leave that to the judge," Sasuke said.
"Indeed," Patrick said as he immediately drew his Remington 1861, cocked the pistol, and fired.
The gun accidently chain-fired, and exploded in his hand, the shrapnel from the gun parts took half his thumb, the tip of his index finger, and the very tip of his middle off while the resulting shrapnel tore up his arm, and the right side of his chest.
Michael drew his and fired, his didn't chain-fire, and hit Sasuke on the right side of his stomach.
As he dropped, Shikamaru opened fire, causing Patrick and Michael to jump back into their room as Shikamaru dragged Sasuke into cover.
"Ah fuck," Sasuke said.
"You're hit," Shikamaru said.
"It's alright," Sasuke said as he helped his partner remove his vest.
They then lifted up his shirt to reveal all he had was a serious bruise forming on his side.
"No telling what they've got in there," Shikamaru said, "They're not afraid to kill cops. They know what's coming."
"You got something in the truck," Sasuke asked.
Shikamaru opened his truck, and pulled out a Bushmaster XM-15, "This work," he asked.
"Perfect," Sasuke said as he took the rifle, "I'll cover you."
"You're injured," Shikamaru said.
"Just go," Sasuke said, "I can still shoot."
Sasuke switched the rifle to semi-auto, took aim at the window, and as Michael raised the shotgun out of the window to shoot, Sasuke fired three times, causing him to take cover as Shikamaru ran up to the second floor.
Michael blind-fired out the window, shooting the ground in front of Shikamaru's truck.
Sasuke then turned back to the window, and fired several more shots, shattering the glass, and sending Michael diving for cover.
Michael simply aimed right out the door, and as he did, he felt the polymer casing of a Glock pistol pressing against the side of his head.
"Think real hard about your next move," Shikamaru said.
Saint Francis Cabrini…
"I was wondering when we'd add you to our injured detective's wall," Shikamaru said as he and Sasuke waited for the person to take care of Sasuke's wound.
The bruise was about foot long, half a foot wide, and had a very ugly welt in the center where the bullet hit.
"Real funny," Sasuke said as he looked up to see the doctor coming to see him.
"I was wondering when I'd see you here," Sakura said as she entered.
"Sakura," Sasuke said, "This is a surprise."
"You made a real mess of yourself this time," Sakura said, "Almost as bad as the time you and Erik Strauss had that fight after he slapped me when I turned him down for a date."
"If I remember correctly I won that fight," Sasuke said, "And all I got was a bloody nose."
"And he got a black eye," Sakura said, "And a referral for slapping a woman."
"I'll let you two talk," Shikamaru said, "See you tomorrow, partner."
"See you buddy," Sasuke said.
"Let's take a look at that," Sakura said.
"Sure," Sasuke said as he removed his shirt.
"Not too bad of a bruise," Sakura said, "A lot worse than what I saw down at Rapides Regional when I was an intern."
"What's the cure doc," Sasuke asked.
"Well the good news is the Kevlar saved you from the bullet," Sakura said as she pulled out some gauze, "Unfortunately you do have a broken rib so I am going to have to bandage it."
"What about duty," Sasuke asked.
"You should be ok," Sakura said as she began patching the wound.
"What about having a drink," Sasuke asked.
Sakura stopped to look up at him, "What," Sakura asked.
"You heard me," Sasuke said, "The old gang is going to meet up at Konohana tonight for a few drinks. You want to come?"
"I certainly wouldn't mind," Sakura said as she tied off the bandage.
"How long before you get off," Sasuke asked.
"I get off at eight," Sakura said.
"I'll pick you up," Sasuke said.
8:15…
"There he is," Naruto said as Sasuke entered with Sakura.
Naruto was standing behind the bar with his girlfriend, Hinata, sitting at the bar was Shino, Tenten, Sai, the team's assistant machine-gunner in Afghanistan, now owner of Sai's repair shop, and Ino, the team's B&E specialist in Afghanistan, now the town's premiere florist, working side-by-side with her mother.
"Hey guys," Sasuke said as he walked up to the bar.
"You invited her," Shino asked.
"You know it," Sasuke said as he took his seat at the bar, Sakura right next to him.
"So," Naruto said as he placed the glasses in front of the group, and poured them each a single drink, "What are we drinking to?"
"I don't know about you," Sasuke said as he took his glass, "But I would like to make a toast to Alexandria. This town does things to you. It'll take care of you if you love it, it'll chew you up if you hate it. But one thing it will do is it'll bring people together. When we left High School, we all swore that we'd never return to find jobs here, but here we are. Sitting at a bar that is owned by one of our friends, two of us carrying badges for Alexandria Police, one of us fixing weapons for Alexandria natives, one of us fixing cars for Alexandria natives, one fixing Alexandria natives, and one making flower bouquets for Alexandria natives. To our home town."
"Our home town," everyone said as they downed their drinks, and slammed them onto the bar.
End of Episode 2…
