This chapter is in parallel with 'Feral, Chapter 10 - Sleep of The Vigilante - Day 1', which should be read first...
Author's Note: Please note that New York and Chicago are in different time zones. Therefore New York times are one hour ahead of Chicago. I have attempted to take these timings into account.
The next day
Monday
The following takes place between Midnight and 1:00 A.M.
West Ridge
Chicago
0:55 A.M.
Mindy called last night.
She told me all about this boy, called Joshua, who had been staying at Safehouse A, in New York. I understood that Mindy almost killed the boy! Not a surprise really; I would never invade a safehouse that belonged to Hit Girl, unless I was hoping to die! Apparently he was the boy that Chloe loved and was supposed to be dead! The kid had been in a coma and had only came around sometime in February. I rather thought that the story was a bit far fetched, but then a few years ago, I would never have believed the story about an eleven year-old assassin, called Hit Girl!
Mindy called again, about ten minutes ago, advising me that Marcus was going out of town for a few days. Mindy is intending to hunt down Ralph D'Amico, with Chloe's help and possibly this Joshua kid.
The following takes place between 4:00 A.M. and 5:00 A.M.
4:34 A.M.
The Fusion number rang.
It was Jack Bay and he had some very bad news.
Fusion was being hunted, by the Chicago PD.
Now he said that so far, he did not know who was calling the shots or who had initiated the investigation, but for now Fusion must go dark and not appear in public, day or night.
Jack would contact me, when he had further information.
I tried to get back to sleep, but couldn't, so I got up and started training.
The following takes place between 5:00 A.M. and 6:00 A.M.
5:54 A.M.
I was hungry and dripping with sweat, so I grabbed a hot shower and then went to find myself some breakfast.
The following takes place between 7:00 A.M. and 8:00 A.M.
7:15 A.M.
Marty appeared downstairs.
"How long have you been up?" Marty asked.
"Since half four! Jack Bay called..." I said and explained the call that I had received.
"That sucks!" Marty said and went off to get breakfast.
The following takes place between 8:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M.
Chicago Police Department
District 21
Chicago
8:22 A.M.
Sergeant Voight was not happy.
The task he had been given went against everything that he believed in!
"Right listen up!" He called, as he walked out of his office.
"Kick-Ass!" he said, putting up a, not so good photo, up on the board.
"Hit Girl!" Another, not so good photo went up.
"Shadow!" Another, this time much worse photo, went up.
"Now, I don't agree with this tasking and I sure you don't either!" he said to the three men and one woman, in front of him.
"You fucking kidding, me?" Olinsky asked. "Those guys are heroes!"
"Damn right!" agreed Lindsay.
"We have an expert on these guys; he's from the NYPD. He should be here any minute... Here we are!" Voight said, walking down the room, towards the stairs.
"Hey, appreciate you coming!" Voight said, holding out his hand. "Hank Voight!"
"Marcus Williams," Marcus said, introducing himself and shaking the outstretched hand.
"Antonio Dawson!"
"Erin Lindsay!"
"Adam Ruzek!"
"Alvin Olinsky!"
"Okay, you guys are nice! What's up with that battleaxe downstairs?" Marcus asked, with a smile.
"There isn't enough time in the day!" Olinsky offered, with a smile.
"I assume you are all up to speed as to why I am here," Marcus said, nodding at the photos and grimacing.
"I think it's horse shit!" Olinsky stated, causing Marcus to smile.
"So we are all agreed!" Marcus said, before continuing and walking up the room. "Ralph D'Amico, serial, evil bastard!" Marcus fished out a photo and stuck it to the board, on top of the existing three photos.
"Slippery bastard, blew his way out of Rikers a little over a week ago," Marcus explained, angrily.
"We heard about it!" Voight said, grimly.
The meeting was then interrupted.
"What the fuck is going on in this place?" Matthews asked, coming up the stairs. "I hear you're chasing Fusion!"
"Slow down, SWAT!" Voight said, heading Matthews off. "We are not investigating Fusion; we're after those that are!"
"Lieutenant Marcus Williams, NYPD, meet Sergeant Craig Matthews, CPD SWAT!" Voight said, introducing Matthews and Marcus.
"Hi Lieutenant!"
"Sergeant!"
"SWAT, are the biggest fans of Fusion out there! You need our support, we're there Voight!" Matthews said.
"Okay, get out there, find out who is driving this and get back to me!" Voight ordered his team, before heading back into his office, followed by Marcus, as the rest of the team headed downstairs.
The following takes place between 9:00 A.M. and 10:00 A.M.
West Ridge
Chicago
9:28 A.M.
I received a call from Marcus, of all people and he was in Chicago!
He explained what was happening and that instead of tracking down Fusion, Voight and his team were now tracking down whoever set Fusion up! Marcus asked me to call Mindy, as he wanted to stay away from her, so that no connections might be made.
I had kicked Marty out of bed and let him know what was happening. He was shocked, but grabbed breakfast and was now on his computer, digging for information.
I dropped a text to Kim and advised her to stay off the streets, both as Kim and as Hawk.
The following takes place between 10:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M.
West Ridge
Chicago
10:00 A.M.
I put my cell away, after calling Mindy.
It was really good to hear her voice again and to know that all was well. I did miss her, enormously. You never realise how much you'll miss someone, until they are gone! I rang Dr Bennett to let her know that I had heard from the girls. As expected, she really missed Chloe and worried all the time about her.
I took Sophia for a long walk, as there didn't seem much else to do right now and it would give me time to think. I left Marty digging through things and headed over to the park.
The following takes place between 12:00 P.M. and 1:00 P.M.
West Ridge
Chicago
12:05 P.M.
The walk was invigorating and made me feel a lot more with it. I worried a lot about Mindy and also about Chloe. Chloe is like a little sister to me and I don't want anything to happen to her, but I also know that I can trust Chloe to have Mindy's back, when required. I also hope that Chloe will be level-headed when dealing with Mindy and her sometimes psychotic nature!
I miss Mindy enormously, we've only been a part just over a day, but I miss her. I also know subconsciously that she is over eight hundred miles away, just like before!
On entering the house, I found Marty chatting with Abby.
Abby was doing really well and passing all of Marty's geek tests! With Abby providing comms and technical support from the safehouse, Marty would be able to come out with us, as an operator. For now though, with Fusion technically grounded, we would stay away from the safehouse. This was okay as Marty could still access everything he needed to, from here.
It also gave me time, to train with Marty. Abby joined us when we trained, learning some basic defensive movements. Which I hoped that she would never need, but you never know!
The following takes place between 1:00 P.M. and 2:00 P.M.
West Ridge
Chicago
1:23 P.M.
Dr Bennett came over for lunch, with Curtis.
Both were missing Chloe and were worried about what the two girls might be getting into. I was the same, so it seemed sensible to support each other. Curtis really did seem down and was really worried about Chloe, which was a bit of a surprise considering how badly Chloe usually treated the kid!
It seemed that Chloe was not all that good at calling her mother, in fact she had called only once, since they had got to New York! I promised Dr Bennett that I would let her know all was okay, whenever Mindy called.
I also updated Dr Bennett with the Fusion problem, so that she knew what was going on.
The following takes place between 2:00 P.M. and 3:00 P.M.
West Ridge
Chicago
2:55 P.M.
Dr Bennett stayed with us for the afternoon, while Marty and I trained.
Abby and Curtis insisted on joining in! That little kid really does have a lot of energy and for that matter, so does Abby!
The following takes place between 3:00 P.M. and 4:00 P.M.
3:15 P.M.
After a shower, I sat down to speak with Dr Bennett and we chatted about Fusion and other things. Dr Bennett reminded me that she was available at any time of the day, or night. I suggested that she take the name 'Medic' and she agreed, as it fitted what she did as a doctor. We then discussed a secure way of contacting her, without revealing her own identity and therefore Chloe's identity.
I asked about Curtis and what his parent's did.
Apparently, Curtis' parents were both lawyers and lived in Washington DC. They provided their services for quite high fees and were very successful.
The following takes place between 4:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M.
4:33 P.M.
Dr Bennett went home, taking Curtis with her.
I went up to our room and sat down with a book that I had been reading for a project that I was working on. I was hoping to be able to surprise Mindy with a new skill, but for now I was still learning and it may be some time before I am skilled enough to show it off. Only Marty knew what I was learning and it wasn't easy keeping it a secret from Mindy as she was always suspicious!
The following takes place between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M.
5:55 P.M.
The rest of the day proved to be boring, to say the least.
I hoped Mindy was having more enjoyment than I was, at the moment.
Then I got a phone call. It was Jack Bay. He wanted to meet me and me alone, at his house in Vernon Hills. He gave me an address and suggested that I come as myself, for about eight, this evening.
The following takes place between 6:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M.
Chicago Police Department
District 21
Chicago
6:30 P.M.
"So, what have you got," Voight asked his team.
"Not much, we know that somebody has put word out about Fusion. But that's it, we're leaning on everybody that we can!" Lindsay advised.
"Well, obviously you're not doing enough, I don't care how you do it, but I want something concrete!" Voight responded, obviously annoyed.
"It must be D'Amico; he has a nasty reputation and many people are too afraid to talk," Dawson said.
"Well, just make people more scared of us!" Voight suggested.
The following takes place between 7:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M.
Plaza Hotel
Chicago
7:22 P.M.
I had just finished a late dinner and was back in my room.
Voight had called and advised me of the lack of progress. I told him that I wasn't surprised. D'Amico had a long reach, a very long reach! He was scary when he was behind bars, but now...
My thoughts also drifted a few miles away to Dave and his team. Things could kick off in Chicago, any time! I also thought about Mindy and Chloe, hundreds of miles away, back in New York City. I hoped that Mindy wasn't going to do anything stupid. She can over react at times and go off and make stupid mistakes. Thankfully she has Chloe with her, which should help and at least provide some competent backup to Mindy.
That Ralph D'Amico is capable of anything! That man has no boundaries, at all! I just hope that Mindy leaves at least some of New York City still standing, by the time that she has finished with him! It worries me that she might go too far, to accomplish her mission, just like she did with Frank D'Amico, all those years ago.
Damn, I wish Damon was still here, at least Mindy would listen to him!
The following takes place between 8:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M.
The Farm
Vernon Hills
Chicago
8:02 P.M.
I turned left off of I-60, up the driveway to a large property set back from the road.
The drive had taken about forty minutes and just to be safe, I had Sophia with me. I pulled up outside the house and found Jack Bay waiting for me. We had met, just the once, after the Week of Hell.
"Hi Dave, you okay?" Jack asked, holding his hand out.
"Yes, thanks, hope you don't mind me bringing Sophia," I replied, shaking his hand.
"As long as she doesn't repeat anything we say!" Jack joked and lead me inside.
"You have a nice place here, Jack," I said.
"Thanks, we like it."
"Is that Mindy's mother?" I asked.
I had noticed a large photo, on the mantelpiece over the fire. The man was Damon, in NYPD uniform. The woman, had Mindy's eyes, her hair and her looks.
"That is Mindy's mother," Jack confirmed.
"Damn! If Mindy grows up to look like that, then I'll be a very lucky man!" I commented.
"She was lovely, a lot of people were very jealous of Damon!" Jack said.
At that moment a tall woman with brown hair, walked in.
"My wife, Natalie," Jack said, introducing the woman.
"Hello, Mrs Bay," I said.
"Natalie, this is Dave, Mindy's partner and Sophia."
"I'm really pleased to meet you Dave. Jack told me that Mindy was being looked after by a strapping lad," Mrs Bay said, with a smile.
"Thank you, you have a lovely place here, Mrs Bay," I replied, feeling a little embarrassed.
Mrs Bay vanished into another room, while Jack and I sat down to talk.
Jack explained about Voight's lack of progress, not his fault, but nobody was talking. That didn't surprise me, as D'Amico scared me, so I knew how others might feel! We discussed things for another hour; he was concerned about Mindy, in New York. I explained that she wasn't alone, but that she had another member of our team with her.
The following takes place between 9:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M.
The Farm
Vernon Hills
Chicago
9:15 P.M.
"Thanks Jack, I'll call you when I hear anything from Mindy," I said, shaking Jack's hand.
"I'll do the same, when I hear from Voight, or anybody else," Jack replied.
Sophia and I got back into the SUV and headed back home.
The following takes place between 10:00 P.M. and 11:00 P.M.
West Ridge
Chicago
10:02 P.M.
I arrived home and explained everything to Marty, who had been waiting for me to get back.
We then headed to bed, all the driving was a little exhausting.
You are advised to read 'Forsaken, Chapter 59 - Sleep of The Vigilante - Day 2' next...