"Good afternoon. I'm Wade Barrett and welcome to The Barrett Report." Barrett comfortably leaned back in his chair and stared at the camera and microphone. "For those of you who have followed The Barrett Report, welcome back. For those of you who are new to this podcast, I hope you will find it to be informative about current events, both local and otherwise."
He sipped from his cup of tea. "I've been an investigative reporter for many years both in the U.K. and here in America. Most recently, I was reporting from the lovely city of Davenport, Iowa. Now, I'm reporting from the lively and bustling city of Baltimore, Maryland where I will be covering stories from Baltimore as well as Washington, DC. Stories that could affect everyone both in this country and internationally. Right now, I'd like to start off with startling and disturbing developments back in Davenport."
In Davenport, Jericho gave Roman a sardonic glance. He and Black were sitting in Roman's office watching the podcast with various degrees of interest.
"Last night, an attempted assassination against Davenport District Attorney Adam Cole occurred at his office in City Hall." Barrett's expression was stern yet regretful. "The assassin and two other men were killed during the incident. Mr. Cole was not injured. The name of the assassin has yet to be released by the authorities. However, the names of other two individuals have been released and their next of kin notified. Murdered in the assassination attempt was security guard Alan Foster. Killed in an apparent exchange of gunfire with the assassin was District Attorney Investigator Bobby Fish." Barrett's eyes stared into the camera. "Both killed in the line of duty. Last year both the Mayor of Davenport, Paul Heyman, and his opponent in the Mayoral race, Lacey Evans who was the City Financial Officer, were assassinated at a public event. Those assassins have been apprehended by Federal authorities and are currently being held without bond."
Barrett tapped his forefinger on the table in front of him. "Another breaking story out of Davenport is personally distressing for me. My former employer at television station Channel 11, Mr. William "Billy" Gunn, has been arrested on multiple charges of statutory rape and possession of child pornography." Barrett sighed and slightly shook his head. "I've known Mr. Gunn for several years, and he is highly respected in his field. So, these accusations come completely out of left field, so to speak. Of course, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. And my journalistic ethics require I report without favor or favoritism…which I will do. No matter my personal feelings."
Jericho couldn't help but snort as Roman merely raised an eyebrow. Black continued to stare at the computer screen.
"Moving to local news, there are several issues before the Baltimore City Council and Baltimore County Council," Barrett continued. "Issues I will be following include the City and County school systems. Are they in crisis? And what are the plans to improve both the quality of education and safety of faculty and students? Issues with infrastructure failure. What are the plans to repair or replace crumbling or decaying infrastructure beyond emergency patches? What are the plans in case of a massive failure? And third, solving the transit problem. Are there plans for extensions of the current mass transit systems? Perhaps the City and County could look at Washington, DC's mass transit system for ideas."
Barrett charmingly smiled. "As always, I'm eager to hear from the viewers. What are your concerns? Email me at WBarrett . I'm at your service. Podcasts will be every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 2pm. Remember, the people have a right to know. This is Wade Barrett. See you on Friday."
"Good Lord, what a snake oil salesman," Jericho chuckled as Roman closed the podcast.
"He's good," Roman admitted.
"He's dangerous," Black calmly countered.
Roman nodded. "Suggestions on how to deal with him?"
"He likes pretty women," Jericho pointed out.
Roman slowly nodded. "Contact Tiffany Stratton. She's still in the Baltimore Mayor's office. Have her feed Barrett a few items. She can tell him it's a test to see if he's genuine or just another mouthpiece for the administration." He half-smiled at Black. "Give him a couple of weeks before you make your move."
Jericho's eyes flickered to Black then back to Roman.
Black just nodded with a slight smile on his face.
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"How are you doing?" Malenko asked as Cena and Styles settled into their chairs in the conference room. A laptop was in front of them open with a Skype to Adam Cole. Seeing Cole's tired face, Malenko figured the question was more rhetorical than anything else.
Cole shrugged. "We've been arranging for Bobby's funeral. He's going back to Albany to be buried next to his parents."
Flanking Cole was O'Reilly and Strong who, Malenko silently decided, looked as worn out as Cole.
"If my department can help with anything, let me know," Malenko offered as someone knocked on the door, then opened it and walked in. Malenko nodded towards a chair then turned back to the laptop as the man closed the door behind him. "I asked DOJ Investigator Steve Austin to join us. He offered to help when our investigation ran into a bit of a buzzsaw."
"What buzzsaw?" Cole demanded.
"When performing the autopsy on the assassin, identified as Christopoher Daniels, the ME noticed signs of plastic surgery," Cena explained. "We started delving deeper and…" He glanced at Austin.
"They ran into a Federal firewall," Austin growled. "And got nowhere. So Chief Malenko asked if I could find a way around that firewall."
"You came here so quickly to help?" O'Reilly slowly asked.
"Austin was already here working on something completely different," Malenko smoothly answered.
"Did you find a way around or through this firewall?" Cole injected.
"Let me start from the beginning," Austin answered. "His nickname, the Fallen Angel, is legit for him. His name, however, isn't Christopher Daniels. That name was put into the system when it became associated with a few other assassinations. And was coded with a 'need to know'. When Malenko's people ran it with the tag 'assassination', it got through." He nodded at the skeptical looks. "Yeah, a Mickey Mouse coding," he added with disgust. "Christoper Daniels is a fairly common name," Austin continued. "The Christopher Daniels alias he used actually belongs to a judge in Columbus, Ohio."
"He assumed the identity of a judge?" Cole's blue eyes widened.
"At the time he stole the identity, Judge Daniels was an Assistant DA," Austin chuckled. "About eight years ago, Daniels was at a conference in Mexico City. While there, his driver's license was stolen. Nothing else was taken from the wallet. Daniels didn't know it had been stolen."
"How did that happen?" Styles curiously asked.
"As best as it was reconstructed, it was stolen from his hotel room," Austin explained. "The conference was at the hotel, and he never left it except to go back to the airport. He used his passport to go through security." He grinned at Styles' snort. "Think about it. You're in the hotel. If you're like most people, when you change clothes, you put your wallet on the nightstand or table or something like that. He'd called for room service because he was leaving early the next morning for the airport. He grabbed his stuff and went to the shower. Just as he got out, there's a knock on the door with room service. He wrapped a towel around his waist and unopened the door. Told the waiter to put the trays on the bed, signed the bill, and went back to the bathroom to get dressed. That's when the waiter, our Fallen Angel, stole the driver's license."
Austin paused while everyone there ran the scenario through their heads. "The Judge didn't realize his license was stolen until he got the renewal reminder from the Ohio DMV and realized it was missing. He reported it as lost or stolen and got a new one."
"So, who is he really?" Strong demanded.
"Before Christopher Daniels, he was Jeffrey Conners," Austin replied. "The real Jeffrey Conners died four years before the Fallen Angel assumed his identity. Before that, he was Michael Baxter. That identity was stolen just after Michael Baxter became a permanent resident of a mental health facility after being diagnosed with schizophrenia. I got my boss at the DOJ involved early this morning, and she put on a full court press to get this much information."
"Why the Federal firewall?" Cole asked.
Austin glanced at Malenko, then carefully replied, "Apparently, the Fallen Angel had performed some services for the more clandestine agencies of the government. Your investigation triggered red flags with those agencies."
Everyone sat quietly for several moments.
"We're at a dead end?" Cena finally asked.
Austin shrugged. "To be honest, the fact this asshole is dead helps. Dead men don't talk so he's not going to be embarrassing people who don't want to be embarrassed. The concern is more what damaging evidence he might have squirreled away that he was keeping as an insurance policy. My boss' concern is with what happened here. She's keeping her hands clean of anything else that might come up. The Christopher Daniels identity has been traced to Denver. We've got DOJ and FBI investigators on that. They beat the guys from some alphabet-soup agency to his house with search warrants. My boss called in some favors and worked up a deal. We get anything pertaining to Christopher Daniels and those guys get the rest." He glanced at Malenko. "You find out where he was staying here?"
Malenko nodded. "We showed up at dawn at this hotel with search warrants and took everything out of the room. All that's in evidence and being tested now."
"Expect a visit real soon from the alphabet-soup jackasses," Austin warned. "Even with the agreement that's been brokered, they may try to strong-arm stuff away from you."
Malenko shrugged which caused Austin to grin. He had a copy of the signed agreement in his pocket and planned to use it. He'd stand with Malenko…just like old times.
