Chapters 24. Let Slip

Bucky

Any advantage we had in dealing with the militias and insurrectionists was gone when the explosion of the boat made it onto the national newscasts that evening. Helicopters from several news sources hovered over the scene as the FBI, ATF, and fire department had boats on the river looking for debris and the remains of Emil Blonsky. As more news sources became aware of the ten different law enforcement teams going to different vineyards in the eastern portion of the country the coverage of that also hit the news and speculation began filling the airwaves over what the "feds" were involved in. In a joint statement released by the press secretary of the FBI on behalf of all the agencies involved, the announcement of the ongoing investigation was finally released, and we totally lost the element of surprise. They knew we were coming for them, and it likely meant they were going to take their operations underground, making our job doubly harder.

In the few days since we raided that vineyard next to the Potomac River, we had received some good news. Sam was going to be okay, although his injuries, mainly concussion syndrome, would keep him out of the remainder of the fight. Human remains had also been found at the bottom of the river that seemed to confirm that Emil Blonsky, the man who set the explosives off was dead. According to Coulson that was a good thing. In his opinion, the man was "unhinged" at best. Apparently, all those years before when he went undercover with the cartels in Mexico had affected him deeply when his undercover status was revealed. Normally, they would have killed him in a gruesome matter, leaving his body to be found as a warning to stay out of their business but they decided to go another route by torturing him to the point where he became disassociated from reality. Only then did they release him. According to Coulson even Thaddeus Ross was wary of his former friend, considering him a ticking time bomb that could harm their cause more than help it. Why he was working with the conspirators was unknown, perhaps in his crazed state he saw it as payback for not rescuing him from his torture at the hands of the cartels.

Now that the danger was out in the open the various local, regional, and national law enforcement agencies and the military recognized that they had underestimated the power these militias had to draw in disgruntled former and current members. It was a wakeup call to those organizations, and they began investigating those who had been associated with the people taken into custody. An even bigger round up was coming as connections were made. It would likely set off court challenges by the ACLU and other civil liberty organizations, but the stakes were too high. These people could kill thousands with well-placed bombs disguised as bottles of wine. They had to be stopped.

We also had the benefit of Phil Coulson joining our task force. I could see why Thor thought so highly of the man. If I had encountered him before joining the police academy, I might have chosen to go into the FBI instead. Three years before he had been seen as a man shouting into the wind when he began voicing his concern over the behaviours shown by his colleague, Thaddeus Ross. After the death of his daughter, Ross began skirting the law in his own investigations. He always had results, but his methods were questioned. When Ross suddenly retired to become a private security consultant it wasn't seen as troubling to most of those same colleagues. In fact, they thought he was taking charge of his life after a difficult transition. Then he began showing up at FBI headquarters, encouraging others close to retirement to join his growing company, that was apparently doing very well as he had tapped into a sense of discontent among some heavy hitters in the corporate world who had concerns about policing. On his own Coulson decided to retire and join Ross, beginning his personal two year deep undercover assignment.

"That was when I became aware that this private corporation Ross had formed was being bankrolled by Alexander Pierce," said Coulson, during his part of the debriefing of the vineyard raid, then he looked at us three NYPD officers. "I'm pretty sure Pierce forming a security firm raised some eyebrows in your jurisdiction."

He gestured for me to come up. "It did," I confirmed. "Pierce was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but he was more than willing to fight dirty to protect his investments. He was primarily a slum landlord, who had no qualms about evicting whole buildings full of tenants when he pushed through zoning bylaw changes to get approval on high end luxury real estate developments on those properties. His security firm used enforcers to push those who resisted eviction the most to leave, sometimes with little more than the clothes on their back. People were too afraid to report the abuses, fearing retribution. About eight years ago we were surprised to find Pierce being named to the Police Commission. That's when we first suspected that he likely had some people in the local government in his pocket. Nothing we could prove in a court of law. He became Assistant Police Commissioner last year and his influence on policing grew, especially in regard to the areas around his properties."

"Agent Odinson also advised the others on this task force that your group uncovered some other connections that hadn't been noticed before," said Coulson.

"That's right," I added, then I gestured to Torres. "Officer Torres had more extensive knowledge on the Fontaine / Allegra crime family. He noticed supposedly legitimate companies owned by them in partnership with shell companies owned by Pierce. One of them, a cleaning company was implicated in the bugging of a secure workplace where my wife was employed. There were other shell companies owned by Pierce or some of his business associates who were buying up vineyards in the northeast. It puzzled us at first until we made a little nighttime sortie to one. We found Agent Sylvie Laufeyson on that visit, chained to a bed and in rough shape. We also found documents confirming the purchase of large amounts of the ingredients for the same type of bomb that was used in the Oklahoma City bombing. After some brainstorming, we realized they were making a liquid version of that explosive to go into special inserts in the wine bottles. Those bottles could be distributed anywhere as part of a regular wine order for any event being held in a federally owned site."

"Thank you, Sergeant Barnes," said Coulson. "We all know how effective those wine bottle explosives were. I hope your colleague makes a full recovery from his injuries." He looked at everyone. "For two years, I have been pretending to be part of this group and even I wasn't aware until recently of this plan to use innocuous looking bottles of wine to destroy federally owned properties. I thought they were using the vineyards as staging areas, nothing more. There have been some additional players implicated." A picture of John Walker appeared on the screens, and I squeezed Jane's hand for comfort. "This man, John Walker, used a relatively harmless computer code to create a hack that spied on some pretty secure government servers, specifically those involved in national security. He was turned in by his ex-wife, who is part of our team here; she survived an attempt on her life in return for that. He is also part of one of the militias based in California and having been in his presence for the past few months, is probably one of the more dangerous members of this group. He is a psychopath who sees this whole thing as a game, with him as the winner, no matter what the cost. It was him that blew my cover, necessitating my extraction." He looked at Jane and sighed. "Mrs. Barnes, I am truly concerned about your safety. Your ex-husband is fixated on either reclaiming you ... or removing you from existence. By extension it puts your husband in danger as well. Both of you need to pay close attention to your personal safety as I don't think he's done with you, not by a long shot."

Jane glanced at me, and we smiled grimly at each other. It wasn't unexpected. John's personality disorder meant he would be like a bloodhound trying to track us down. All we could do was try to stay ahead of him as best we could until he was taken into custody and this whole ordeal was over.

For the next hour Coulson told us everything else that he had found out, and who was involved, confirming many of the people we had already identified. It was damning testimony, especially for law enforcement as he named some notable people who hadn't yet been associated with Pierce, including some that I had admired previously. Those names of officials in local police departments had already been passed on to the various internal affairs departments and district attorney offices to begin the process of removing them from influence and drawing up charges. Those who were connected with federal law enforcement would be handled by their agencies and special prosecutors already being assigned by the Attorney General. It was a conspiracy unlike any ever faced in our country and would have reverberations for many years. When we left the briefing area, we all knew we still had much to do.

Coulson and Thor caught up to our team in our smaller common space. Rig received a handshake from the older man, as apparently, they had worked several cases together. Then he was introduced to the rest of us individually. He sat at the table where we had assembled then looked at Thor.

"Erik Selvig, what's the latest on his condition?" he asked.

"Out of hospital and recuperating at home," replied Thor. "His daughter has taken a leave of absence to care for him."

"Just so you know, the NYPD officer that was with Blonsky, was not happy about what he did," said Coulson. "Rumlow might be someone to target for taking in. I think he's regretting his whole involvement with everything. Not that he said anything outright, but he made it known more than once that he thought they were getting too bold. The death of Laufeyson and the assault on his wife troubled him greatly. He spoke of being in the police academy with you two, Barnes and Wilson, several times."

"You think he might turn on them?" I asked.

"Perhaps," said Coulson. "He'd want some sort of deal. I'm certain he knows his police career is finished."

"He's been associated with Pierce for a long time," I stated. "I was surprised that he came to Canada looking for us as he was on Pierce's protective detail. It was pretty blatant for him to be involved in a shooting when Pierce was promoting his law-and-order platform."

"Pierce is definitely the guiding force behind this," replied Coulson, then he looked at his watch. "I better get going. Melinda wanted to go over some satellite surveillance images with me. We'll talk some more."

With a wave to the others he left and I looked around. Tony Stark and Bruce Banner were both standing behind Peter and Ned, guiding them through some online searching. Thor and Rig were huddled together, looking at something on a tablet. Joaquin was making something to eat for himself, Malin and Carol while they watched, offering him suggestions. Finally, I rested my eyes on Jane, my wife. She was standing near Tony and Bruce, but didn't seem to be involved in their discussion.

My wife ... how I loved the sound of that phrase ... turned towards me and our eyes met, bringing this beautiful smile out of her that filled me with this warm sense of belonging. I tilted my head slightly to the side and she nodded turning to follow me out of the room. Quickly, we went to our quarters and began kissing as soon as the door closed.

"You read my mind," I said, holding her around the waist.

"I'm worried," she said, shaking her head. "Are you still going after the other vineyards?"

I shrugged as it was still being discussed at a higher level. The vineyards were still owned and controlled by the shell companies which meant they were still targets but we weren't expecting any action at the other sites now that our first sortie had exposed our game plan. So far, satellite imaging had confirmed normal vineyard activities. All federal properties with spaces for public events had put a moratorium on the use of those spaces, along with a full regular security scanning for explosive devices. All wine found onsite was considered suspect and confiscated.

"Hey," I said, lowering my head so I could make eye contact with Jane, "we won't be going out unless we have full backup. Full SWAT support units are being requested for each team that goes out there."

"I'm more worried about the people like John," she replied. "They're wild cards, aren't they? Him, with his personality disorder may react in a way that's totally unexpected. There's no telling what he's capable of. At least, those with military experience or law enforcement experience, they'll still show some form of, what do they call it ... rules of engagement?"

There was a sense of fear in her words, fear of the unknown because we really didn't know how the majority of those involved were going to react when they were confronted. At best we could hope that those with prior experience engaging with an enemy knew when to give it up but if our experiences with the general population in the age of pandemics, extreme weather, and suspect governance had shown was that it seemed to draw out the worst in so-called rational individuals. In many ways, what Jane was sharing with me now was her need for reassurance from me that I was coming back from whatever the next engagement would be. That was my intent but so much was out of my control that I felt what I was giving her may be inadequate.

When we got back out there after our heart-to-heart talk that included some comforting kisses, we were both surprised and pleased to see Happy Hogan had arrived. He still had bruises on his face, but they were yellowish green, already into the healing stage. His arm was in a sling, but he gladly accepted hugs from most of us, hugging us back with his free arm.

"Since I'm now a target I figured I could be here as on-site security," he said to us. "I did stop in to see Sam. They have a 24 hour guard on him and his girlfriend as she demanded to be with him. Captain Rhodes and Lieutenant Rogers both give you their best. They have already made several arrests of individuals in several precincts with ties to Alexander Pierce. Some of them were coerced into it and are cooperating."

Happy also confirmed the arrest of Justin Hammer, facing conspiracy charges, as well as murder and attempted murder for the hacking of the vehicle that Happy, the driver and the Hammer Industries operative were in. After planting the lie that she survived the crash and was being treated in hospital the man himself showed up to take care of her, in a brazen display of hubris. His business empire was now in ruins, as he ran it as his own personal fiefdom. Without the defence department contracts there was no business to run, and his illegal activities had cost the jobs of hundreds of employees.

It was a few more days before the teams received the go aheads for the next stage of raids. This time we were raiding a significant number of private gun clubs that had sprung up in the past two years, clubs that had connections to Pierce and his business associates. Satellite and drone surveillance had indicated an increase in activity in them. Facial recognition software confirmed the presence of many of those suspects we had already identified. The plan was to go in at night, shutting off the power to their facilities while we, wearing body armour, were supplied with spotlights to blind them and take them into custody. There was no indication they already had explosives on site, but it could have happened before surveillance started on them. The initial attack would be with flash-bang devices, designed to confuse and stun them, hopefully long enough to prevent them from triggering any explosive devices on the premises.

With "go" time set at 19:30 the following day we spent the rest of this day going over the layout of the location we were assigned. Although we broke quickly for a meal there was no time for chit chat or small talk and we trained in the dark at the secret site, using the old buildings there as our training ground while we simulated a night raid. We were well into it until after midnight when Thor finally let us wrap it up.

When I returned to our quarters Jane was already in bed, the lights in our bedroom turned off. She didn't greet me so I assumed she was asleep and I undressed in the dark, then headed to the bathroom for a quick shower. For a time I stood there with my head bowed, eyes closed, letting the warm water wash over my neck and down my back. I felt a little sore between the shoulder blades and pulled my arms across my front in turn, stretching out the back muscles to release the tension but it didn't help that much. The sound of the bathroom door opening alerted me and I turned around in time to see Jane step into the shower.

"By the groans I heard coming from here it sounds like you need some help," she said. "Where does it hurt?"

"My back, between the shoulder blades and below the neck," I said, turning my back to her again. "I tried to stretch it, but it wouldn't release."

She poured some body wash into her hand and worked it into a lather then began squeezing the muscles from my neck outwards and down, moving from one side to the other. Pressing her thumbs into the knots there I groaned then laughed at the sound of my discomfort being pummelled out of me.

"Lean forward against the wall," she said softly, "so I can work down your spine."

Obliging her request I leaned against the wall, almost collapsing against the pressure of her thumbs and hands as she worked her way down my back. If I wasn't already married to her this alone would have resulted in a marriage proposal as she seemed to know exactly where to press firmly to release the tension that had been building for weeks. I winced at one particular sore spot midway down my back and she worked on it, gently at first, then applying increasing pressure. Finally, she guided me into the stream of water that was now lukewarm to rinse off. Reaching behind I turned it off and looked at her with absolute love for what she just did for me.

"Where did you learn that?" I asked. "Do you know how incredible that felt?"

"From when I was in hospital," replied Jane. "I had a lot of tension in my back and neck, ground my teeth in my sleep a lot as well. Once I was healed enough to go home, they suggested a regular massage to release the tension and to keep the scar as smooth as possible. Self-care became very important to me."

There was still a touch of the pain from that time in her life in her eyes and I clasped her close to me. I was so lucky to have found this woman. When we dried ourselves off, I applied lotion to my hands, rubbing it gently into her back and shoulders, then her arms and legs, wanting to return the gesture in some way. It wasn't even sexual in nature, just part of showing her how much I cared. When we did get in bed, I took my lead from her. She didn't put any sleep clothes on, so I didn't either. It was so nice, her skin was so soft and fragrant from the lotion, as I ran my fingers lightly over her body, then placed my face close to hers so I could feel her breath on me. Just like on our honeymoon I got the feeling that this could be the type of moment in which to conceive a child. I felt so close to her, so connected that it had to mean something.

"What are you thinking?"

Her voice was little more than a whisper and the breaths she made felt like feather touches on my skin.

"Honestly? Like this would be the perfect moment to make a baby. There's just you and me in this sanctuary. Nothing outside matters to me right now. Everything I feel and touch is us being calm and close."

Even her smile resonated through her breath. Then she raised her head so she could look at me in the dark. Gently, I stroked her damp hair, running my fingers through it.

"Do you really want to start trying?" she asked. "Even with everything up in the air?"

I nodded. "I felt this way on our honeymoon as well. Just a feeling of the perfect moment that I never wanted to forget. Logistically, I know it's not going to happen yet. You'll have to get the IUD out first, but I would like to be a father again before I turn 40." I had a thought and laughed out loud. Jane looked at me wondering what had made me react that way. "I would at least like to have another child before my daughter has one. Can you imagine the comments I would get if I became a grandfather before we had our first?"

"I would tell them I'm married to the world's sexiest grandfather," offered Jane. "Your friends would make fun at first but they all care about you and would be happy for you, either way."

She kissed me then and we embarked on making each other happy in that moment. There was no other way I wanted to spend my night before a mission than doing what I was doing right at that moment. By the time we could actually begin to create a new life we wouldn't lack for practice.

~~~~~

When we loaded up on the helicopters for the quick flight to our destination I had to transition into a mindset more suited for a military engagement. That's what this was as we fully expected to take fire from an opposing force. On the flight there I felt like I was back in Afghanistan, riding a Black Hawk helicopter with my squad. There was a grim sense of readiness apparent in all of us but I still had to restrain myself from acting as if I was the sergeant as we were under Thor's command. Before we reached our destination he undid his seat belt and knelt in front of each of us in turn, not saying anything. Instead, he visually inspected our weapons and gear, before pressing his hand into our upper arm, a gesture of readiness and support.

Our landing, in tandem with a second helicopter carrying our SWAT backup was quick and dirty, as we scrambled out and met at a muster point. Carol and Jack would be staying with the aircraft but we did have Coulson and another FBI agent added to our team. Our comms and video links were confirmed active by Tony at the communications centre. A vision of Jane standing next to him, watching one of the video feeds on the multi-screened wall, entered my mind and I had to clear it, as I couldn't afford to be distracted. Not now, when we were preparing to approach the gun club and launch our raid. Quickly, we approached the perimeter of the facility, finding the fence locked. The parking lot was full of vehicles and satellite surveillance confirmed a number of people had arrived earlier.

One of the SWAT team members pulled bolt cutters out of his backpack and cut through the padlocks that held the gates closed. We entered the yard and spread ourselves around what cover was available, other than the vehicles. As two of the SWAT team prepared to cut the power, the rest loaded their grenade launchers, situated under the barrel of their firearms. Thor gave the command to execute, and the first stun grenades were launched, crashing through the windows of the building. We could hear yells from inside just before the devices exploded. A door opened, the bright spotlights were turned on, and several people stumbled out, coughing and obviously disoriented.

"Federal agents," yelled Thor. "Come out with your hands up!"

Several of those who came out did put their hands up then some of the hard-core militia members still inside decided to go down fighting and began firing back through the broken windows. Another round of flash bangs was launched and although the firing stopped momentarily it started up again and we found ourselves under fire. With no choice we began firing back, while yelling at those who were trying to surrender to lie flat on the ground. Several managed but some were shot in the back by their own people. Although we tried to avoid shooting them, in the confusion that came, I couldn't be sure that we didn't hit anyone either. It was war for too many of these people and all that kept going through my mind was a line from Julius Caesar, "Cry 'havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war." Anyone who has been in battle should know that line because it reflects the all or nothing mindset of people who see themselves as standing their ground, even if they are in the wrong, as these people were.

The firefight between us and them lasted far too long but when a lull in the firing happened that's when the shit got real. A woman, carrying a baby, appeared at the doorway, her face a mask of fear. Even from my position I could see the tear tracks on her cheeks. All she wanted was to get out of there and get her child to a safe place.

"Civilian with child," I announced. "Cover me while I get her to safety."

Breaking my cover I ran towards her, meeting her in no man's land, and placed my arm around her, yelling at her to come with me. As we ran through the spotlights shining on the building, I could actually see Joaquin's eyes ahead of me. He was prepared to take her further away from the firing once we reached his position. Just before we got to him I heard a shot and felt the pain in my leg, then another shot that hit my left arm. It must have broken the bone as I had no strength left in the arm. In fact, I couldn't feel it at all.

"Keep running," I yelled to the woman, pushing her on as I fell. Joaquin looked like he was ready to come out and get me, but I waved him back. "Stay under cover!"

Reaching for my handgun I was shot again, this one hitting me in the right arm. Desperately I tried to crawl my way to safety as the others started firing to cover me but with only one arm working I could barely move. More shots hit the ground just ahead of me, keeping me where I was. Swearing like a sailor I laid there, feeling the total and complete sense of failure at getting shot three times. None of them alone, or even together, were likely to be fatal but they were taken to make me vulnerable and keep me exposed so I couldn't move. I looked back to the building only to see a smiling face behind the rifle that had taken me down. That's when I knew I was in big trouble.

William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1, Line 273. Refers to a pack of soldiers as dogs, unrestrained from civilized behaviour as they wreak havoc on an unsuspecting population.