Chapter 3: Sins of the Father
Tuesday July 2nd, 2002
Rockefeller State Park Preserve
Pleasantville, NY
12:05 AM
Dan? Dan, come on, wake up! Dan was hearing Lita's voice ringing inside his head. The back of his head throbbed as he started to stir. It wasn't just Lita's voice, it was Carl's as well, "Shannon, are you still alive?" With both people - one remote and one in his presence - Dan was getting annoyed at the voices calling out to him, "Yeah, yeah, I'm alive, all of you, shut up!" He began pushing himself up as he shook off the pain, "This has been a really shitty few days. I need a vacation after this." Dan got to his side and peered around to get his bearings. "Shannon," Carl asked, "you alright?"
Dan started to growl as he stood up, "Aside from your son nailing me in the back of the head, no complaints otherwise." You don't need to go to an ER, do you? Lita asked telepathically. Dan just straight out stated it, turning his head to address her, "No, I'm fine. Kevin and Manny took off. How far out are you?" "Who in the hell are you talking to?" Carl asked, clearly concerned. Dan turned back to the Sergeant still bound up, "I'm talking to my girlfriend." That clearly alarmed Carl. He asked with an eyebrow raised, "There's no one there. Are you sure you don't need a doctor?"
From what Roland said we're about 10 minutes away. We'll meet you at the park entrance.
"Alright, we'll see you then." Dan turned back to the sergeant and spoke out, "Me and my girlfriend have a psychic link. I can communicate with her telepathically." Carl shook his head like he was imagining this whole thing. He was becoming more and more timid as he was trying to figure out what happened tonight, "I-is that how you found out about what happened to me and my father? Did you read my mind?"
Dan shook his head, "No. Eddie's with Lita in Ecto-1. I had him explain it to Lita and through her I relayed the information." Carl was on the verge of being thrown into panic. Dan finally realized that Carl was still in his handcuffs, "Here, let me get those off." Dan put out his hand and waved it before Carl. Carl suddenly felt the cuffs release and drop to the ground behind him. He stood up quickly and started to back away from the Ghostbuster, rubbing his wrists where the cuffs chafed him, "What in the hell are you?"
"Not a threat to you, that's for sure. I owed you for what you did for me Sunday; shooting that damn Man-Bat thing in the head before it took a swipe at me," Dan turned and started up the walking path, "We're even now." Dan made it a way ahead when he realized Carl wasn't following. He stopped and turned, "What, you wanna stay in the forest all night? Come on, Ecto-1 will be here in a few to take you home."
Carl made a comment under his breath, "Shannon's got telepathic powers? I knew something wasn't right with him…"
The two of them walked the trail. Dan was beyond angry with the circumstances of his life at this point. It seemed like every time a problem arose he was taking lumps. He rubbed the back of his head where Kevin nailed him, huffing in annoyance at the pain. He could still taste the blood on his lip from the first punch Manny landed on him. Carl followed beside Dan looking at how miserable he looked. He remembered ripping Dan for being a failure while he was trying to break up the fight between him and Kevin. Knowing what he does now there was a touch of shame he felt because he knew now that Dan was only trying to prevent history from repeating.
Carl always disliked Dan. It was for a myriad of reasons - chief among them being Eduardo's manager and that he was a Ghostbuster of the highest rank next to Egon - but he didn't think the man was bad. He felt bad when Manny called him and told him that a pickup needed to be made and that Dan was the one that needed to be arrested. Dan hadn't done anything like that before. It might have been that the day before when the Draugr and the Man-Bats attacked Tribeca, Dan showed genuine concern when one of the Bat monsters clawed his riot helmet off. Saying he didn't want to see Kevin without a father…
"Look, Shannon," Carl started, "for what it's worth…" "Don't even start apologizing to me," Dan was clearly not having it, "I don't take fondly to assholes waiting until extreme situations to figure out they fucked up. Worst part is, you could have said that shit at any time and prevented this whole nightmare," Dan quickly stopped and turned on heel to look at Carl, "I mean, seriously? A gang? Are you 31 flavors retarded? After all this shit about you getting mad at Eddie for being a Ghostbuster thinking we're con-artists, you don't even have one shred of culpability after admitting you were trying to be a part of a fucking gang? What the fuck was your thought process?"
The Sergeant growled, "You think I'm proud of that?" "Not now," the engineer stated back, "but when you did it, I bet you were thrilled as all hell that you did it!" Carl lost his scowl. Dan nailed it. He continued as Carl lowered his head, "Here was a teenage boy, fighting against the world. Father was a cop; working for the machine! No, Carlos Rivera wasn't gonna be that! He had bigger and better plans! He was tough; he was smart; he was gonna show a thing or two to this fucking world! Stop me when I get something incorrect."
The NYPD officer ran his fingers through his hair, a clear sign his tongue lashing was landing too accurately. He momentarily looked to the gravel walking path and put his hands on his hips. After a moment of thinking he looked back up, "I was mad at my dad. He fought in Vietnam after getting busted on a possession charge of his own and was given the choice of military or prison. He decided on the military. After basic, they sent him over and was stuck there for six months. Mom said when he came back he was a different person. Two members of his squad were killed in an ambush. The Viet-Cong used a stolen .50 caliber machine gun to cut them down. The carnage… I remember him telling me they… exploded from the impacts. All that was left of them was pieces."
Dan was understanding, "He went hard on getting you to not make the same mistake he did because it scarred him, but instead it pushed you toward it. With his military experience he was let into the police department. Getting into a bad crowd nearly ruined his life. He didn't want to see you do the same, but it happened anyway." Carl nodded, his eyes averting away from the man before him. Dan became bold and asked, "What gang was it?" Carl looked back to him and became miffed again, "Come on, really?" "Yeah," Dan answered, "really. What gang was it?"
Carl started to pace the trail. After a moment he looked back, "The Vertas Locos." Dan put his hand to his forehead in disappointment as Carl explained, "I sought one of them out after Dad grounded me. The next day after school my sponsor took me to them and asked for an initiation. They made me participate in a Beat-In; they beat the hell outta me to see how tough I was. What made me think he didn't care was I told him kids beat me up on the way home and he said, 'That's karma for ya.' That was when I wished death on him and I went forward with the drug drop."
"What did he ground you for?" That surprised Carl. He also didn't look comfortable after he asked. He knew he was going to get grilled for it, "I beat up a kid at school for his lunch money." "Oh, fuck me," Dan dropped his arm to his side and started to pace the same as Carl, "That explains a lot!" "There was his little punk at school that didn't think Latinos were tough, so I showed him what for!" Dan turned and approached him to be in his face, "Then after the Verta Loco killed you father, then what? They're a mostly Latino gang, aren't they? Are they the reason why in the aftermath you started to reject your Latin heritage? You decided to go by Carl rather than Carlos?" "My father did it first!" Carl screamed. Both men had a look in their eyes that showed things were about to boil over. Carl attempted to back the gears down and started to talk in a less booming voice, "My father tried to downplay his heritage while in the Army. He came back and he married and tried to live normally despite his PTSD. I thought he was traumatized because he rejected it. I thought if I kept it true, I wouldn't be so weak…"
Dan cut through, "But when he showed how much he loved you to sacrifice himself, you somehow thought that was what got your dad killed. So, you rejected it. Carl," Dan sighed, "Kevin isn't having that issue. What he's having is exactly what got to you and your father: puberty. That was the real reason. The sense of finding one's own path. Kevin wasn't going down the path you were because he had a fresh slate. You did better as a father than most of your generation. I saw Kevin and I saw that our future as a species had a chance. But, instead of allowing him to find his way with your guidance, you attempted to guide him by force. Nature can't be controlled. It can be guided; it can be influenced. You can't change your son under strict conditions without his consent. Your dad and my brother went into the military by choice. They knew what was ahead of them when given that option. They accepted it and went through with it, good, bad, or indifferent. Your son doesn't want to be a cop. You should have just accepted that. He may have changed his mind later. In the end, you don't know. People don't fail because they don't do things your way. There may be a reason for it."
"So," Carl was now talking more softly, "is that the reason Eddie didn't want to be a cop, too?" Dan knew the answer, but he wasn't sure how well Carl would be able to handle it, "Let's just say there's more… complex reasons why Eddie was not keen on doing it. His skills aren't going to waste. I've rode with him for over two years. He didn't waste the training he has. He's very resourceful and he's actually smart; he's just socially retarded." Carl chuckled a bit at that, "Yeah, that's Eddie."
Dan started to look uncomfortable, but he knew it needed to be said, "Look, me and my mother had a fight about my relationship status before I lost my job back in Illinois. Before I left Illinois, when my brother found out I was coming back here to be a Ghostbuster again he told me I was no longer welcome at his house. My father…" he scoffed a moment, "That motherfucker better pray I never write a book about him. The point here is I hate seeing family members go so far as to disown each other over petty shit. I know you're angry at Kevin over blowing his grades, but he wouldn't have done that if you weren't planning his life for him. Your dad didn't want you to be in trouble; you didn't want Kevin to be without guidance. You should have just reaffirmed doing the right thing and let nature take its course."
Carl rolled his eyes, "Thanks for that, Dr. Spock."
"Hey!" Dan said in indignance, "Just because I don't have kids doesn't mean I can't comment on methodology. Sorry for being nosey, but he was aiming the gun at me first after all." That was when both men heard it in the distance. They looked toward the sound and saw blue flashing lights on the nearby road, "That's Ecto-1. We better get to the head of the trail." Both of them broke out into a light jog.
Ecto-1 pulled into the parking lot of the park and stopped in front of an archway in front just as the two of them walked to the end of the park entrance. Lita stepped out of the back seat and ran to Dan. They both held onto each other in embrace as she cried a bit, "Dan, are you okay?" "Just another busted lip and whack on the head," he said as he pulled away to look at her, "Honestly, I think I'm getting numb to the pain."
Eduardo also stepped out of the car and ran to his brother on his injured foot, "Carl! Man, are you alright?" He stopped before him and checked him over. Carl was more docile than normal as he responded to his brother, "Yeah, I'm fine. Physically, anyway." "I heard about Kevin," Eduardo said, his voice starting to inflect pain as he spoke, "and about Manny. Man, I didn't know." "Don't blame yourself, Eddie, I should have stopped to reassess what I was doing a long time ago."
"If you guys are done," a voice called out still by the car, "we gotta get going." Carl looked to his side and noticed Dan was still standing next to him with Lita, but he heard Dan's voice by the car. He was thrown off, "Since when did you learn how to throw your voice, Shannon?" "Hey asshole," the voice said again, "I'm over here." Carl turned toward Ecto-1's passenger door and saw another Dan Shannon standing there outside it. His eyes widened as he looked back and forth between the two of them, "What the…?"
"He's me from another dimension, Carl," Dan said, "It'd take far too long to explain."
Eduardo used this as an opportunity to slam his brother, "If what we do is complete crap, how do you explain him?" Carl looked back at his brother then back to Old Man Dan, "I'd say the taser made me see things, but I know that's weak." "Congratulations, Sergeant Rivera," Dan said with scorn, "you finally figured out our world is just a little more fucked up than you bargained for," Dan then went to address everyone, "Come on, we gotta get back to the firehouse. Carl, you'll have to come with us for now."
"Like hell!" Carl yelled, "I gotta get to the precinct and tell the captain what's going on! If this cult…" Eduardo interrupted him, "Forget it, Bro. You set foot in the station house, they're gonna fillet you!" "He's right," Old Dan confirmed, "The cult has control over all of the old Bishop assets. You just got transferred to Tribeca, right?" Carl now knew what that meant. He forgot the Bishops had control over some of the police captains and the chief. He had a defeated look on his face, "Okay; you guys win. I'll go."
Dan sighed in relief, "Good. Let's get back to Manhattan."