This chapter is in parallel with 'Feral, Chapter 11, Sleep of The Vigilante - Day 2', but you should read this chapter first...
The next day
Tuesday
The following takes place between Midnight and 1:00 A.M.
Southside Firehouse
Chicago
0:22 A.M.
The alarm had sounded and Truck 83 was leaving for an emergency.
Eighty yards down the street, a man watched as the Fire Truck pulled out, with lights flashing. He waited until the front wheels of the truck touched the road, before pressing the button on the device in his hand...
...Truck 83 came apart and half a dozen men died, instantly.
The night sky was lit up, for miles around. Flaming debris fell onto the Firehouse, setting it alight, just as other vehicles were pulling out of it. The Ambulance, directly behind Truck 83 exploded, as red hot metal and flames touched off the fuel.
The surviving Firefighters tried to fight the fire with what equipment was available, but they were fighting a losing battle.
Eighty yards away, a car pulled away smartly and headed north.
0:44 A.M.
The phone rang. I grabbed it.
"Voight!"
"Disaster, CFD has just been bombed!"
"Get my team in, right now!"
The following takes place between 1:00 A.M. and 2:00 A.M.
Plaza Hotel
Chicago
1:22 A.M.
I dragged myself out of a deep sleep.
The damn phone.
"Go!" I said, grumpily.
"It's Voight! D'Amico has escalated, a Firehouse just blew up!"
"I'm on my way!"
The following takes place between 2:00 A.M. and 3:00 A.M.
Chicago Police Department
District 21
Chicago
2:05 A.M.
Sergeant Voight was not happy.
The team were all at their desks, looking very concerned. Perched on the corner of one desk was Marcus.
"That bastard has escalated; this is now a war! Nobody fucks with my City! The gloves are off, you lot get out there and get me some intelligence, any way you can!" Voight said, loudly and angrily.
All, but Marcus and Voight, flew out of the building.
"Where do we start?" Marcus asked.
"Let's go get breakfast. We need to go see a colleague," Voight suggested.
The following takes place between 3:00 A.M. and 4:00 A.M.
West Columbia
Chicago
3:04 A.M.
The Fusion number rang.
What the fuck now; I need fucking sleep!
"Hi, Kick-Ass?" A voice, that I didn't recognise, asked.
"Who?" I snarled.
"You don't know me, but my name is Hank Voight. I got your number from Sam Fellowes; we really need your kind of help."
I knew who this guy was, well sort of, but I wasn't supposed to know; so do I trust him?
My personal cell chirped, with a text message, it was from Marcus.
'Trust Voight'
Straight and to the point. One question answered!
"Okay, Voight, speak!"
"I'm heading the team that's supposed to be investigating and targeting you. I don't agree with the investigation. A Firehouse has just been bombed; now, our New York liaison, suggests that this is the work of Ralph D'Amico, who escaped jail just over a week ago! I believe that your team are very familiar with the D'Amico family!"
"We are!" I replied, angrily.
"So far, we have my team, SWAT and our New York liaison, plus of course, Fellowes and Murphy," Voight said. "The word has gone out; we are not pursuing you guys, we are pursing those who are after you guys. I assume they are the same as those who blew up the Firehouse and nobody fucks with my City and survives!"
The following takes place between 4:00 A.M. and 5:00 A.M.
West Columbia
Chicago
4:11 A.M.
I gave up trying to get back to sleep.
That call from Voight had disturbed me; D'Amico was going all out! I couldn't believe that he had targeted a Firehouse. What could they possibly do to him? D'Amico was flexing his muscles, letting everybody know, what he can do and will do, if people don't drop into line.
I called Mindy, to remind her to be careful.
If D'Amico was bombing things in Chicago, then he would probably start bombing things in New York, too. I wasn't completely surprised, therefore, to hear that there had been an explosion, in New York, last night! I told Mindy to be very careful and that I wanted her and Chloe back alive.
I went to wake Marty.
It was time to head down to Safehouse A and start work.
The following takes place between 5:00 A.M. and 6:00 A.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
5:15 A.M.
We grabbed breakfast, on the way and were now hard at work.
We were receiving regular emails, full of data, from Voight and Jack Bay.
All this Data needed to be sifted through and Marty was finding it hard going.
The following takes place between 6:00 A.M. and 7:00 A.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
6:37 A.M.
Three new faces appeared in the briefing room, just after six.
"Hi Dave, Marty! We heard the news and wanted to see what we could do to help," Dr Bennett said, pushing Curtis and Abby into the room.
Marty's eyes lit up.
"Hal!" Marty exclaimed. "Great to see you; major data dump, dig in!"
While Marty and Hal waded through the Police data, I got up and suggested that we take Sophia for a walk. Abby was a lot better than me, when it came to sifting data, it must be a super geek thing!
I am only a geek, not a super geek!
The following takes place between 7:00 A.M. and 8:00 A.M.
The Park
Chicago
7:31 A.M.
Sophia enjoyed the walk and she also enjoyed chasing Curtis, who was slowly warming to the large, ball chomping dog!
Dr Bennett was a bit subdued, more than normal and it was obvious why. I think she had come over to be near others and so that she might find out what was happening in New York.
It was good to be able to talk with somebody else, who had the same worries, too.
The following takes place between 8:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
8:37 A.M.
Young Curtis was completely exhausted by the time we got back to the safehouse, so he lay down on the couch, after a large drink of water and fell asleep. Sophia joined him on the couch, after getting a big drink herself.
Marty and Abby had managed to sort through most of the emails and they were able to make some sort of sense of things. The explosion at the Firehouse had sent a ripple of fear throughout the City. There was genuine fear, among the Police and Fire services, as to who might be next.
I didn't want to contemplate the level of fear in the civilian communities.
The following takes place between 9:00 A.M. and 10:00 A.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
The rest of the morning was spent digging through intelligence.
The following takes place between 10:00 A.M. and 11:00 A.M.
Chicago Police Department
District 21
Chicago
10:04 A.M.
"So we have nothing!" Voight exclaimed.
"Everybody is afraid; too afraid to talk!" Lindsay replied.
"He's good, is that fucking D'Amico. He has the place locked down tight. We must find his man, here in Chicago. If we can't get to them from the bottom up, we go top down!" Marcus offered.
"Good advice, people, let's move!" Voight ordered.
The following takes place between 11:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
11:55 A.M.
I put the cell down and explained the substance of the call to Dave.
"So, did she ask to speak to me, Marty?" Dave asked.
"No. She seemed too excited!" I replied, laughing.
The following takes place between 12:00 P.M. and 1:00 P.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
12:35 A.M.
"I have something!" Abby called.
"What have you got!" Marty asked.
"I have a name: Arkady Orlov," Abby replied.
The following takes place between 1:00 P.M. and 2:00 P.M.
Chicago Police Department
District 21
Chicago
1:04 P.M.
"We have a name! Fusion's intelligence guys are obviously better than mine! Get me everything about him, everything!" Voight said, sounding slightly happier.
1:25 P.M.
"Arkady Orlov, Russian immigrant. We have an address..." Lindsay said.
"Well let's go..." Voight said and vanishing down the stairs.
The following takes place between 2:00 P.M. and 3:00 P.M.
South Carpenter and West 56th Street
Chicago
2:04 P.M.
The vehicles of Voight and his team skidded to a halt outside the house of Arkady Orlov. Everybody got out and advanced on the house. Olinsky and Ruzek went up to the front door, followed by Voight. Dawson and Lindsay headed around the back of the house.
Suddenly, two shotgun blasts rang out, blasting the front door from the inside.
Olinsky and Voight were to each side, but Ruzek caught part of the blast and fell back down the steps. Olinsky fired off a dozen rounds from his AR-15 and kicked down the remains of the front door. Simultaneously Dawson kicked in the back door. Lindsay went in with her pistol up and reported the kitchen as clear.
Olinsky found Arkady Orlov dead, in the hallway; he was riddled with AR-15 bullets. Voight was down with Ruzek, who was bruised but okay, thanks to his vest. Voight got up and went to see Orlov.
"Fuck! We needed him alive!" Voight yelled. "Tear this place apart, find me something!"
The following takes place between 3:00 P.M. and 4:00 P.M.
Chicago Police Department
District 21
Chicago
3:58 P.M.
"Kick-Ass?" Voight asked.
"Yeah!"
"We struck out; Arkady Orlov wanted to go out in a blaze of fucking glory and we helped the bastard!" Voight explained.
"Those were probably his orders," Kick-Ass replied.
"I agree, D'Amico would issue orders like that!" Voight responded.
The following takes place between 4:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
4:04 P.M.
"Did you find anything else of use?" I asked Voight.
"We found weapons and certain items related to bomb making. He was definitely involved in something, we just don't know what yet!" Voight replied.
"Well, one less, is still one less!"
"Oh and pass my thanks to your intelligence team; they are damn good!" Voight said, before ending the call.
4:15 P.M.
"Abby, Marty, congratulations! Your info was bang on and Voight sends his thanks. Keep up the good work Abby!" I said, causing Abby to blush.
The following takes place between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
5:08 P.M.
We were all quite cheerful, as we sat down to dinner that evening.
Today started badly, but we have had a slight success!
I also understood that to receive a compliment from Voight, like that, is quite rare.
The following takes place between 6:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
6:18 P.M.
Abby went home, while Marty and I tided things up.
We were just about to head home, too, when we got a call.
It was Voight.
"We've found a building; thought you guys might like to join in!" Voight said.
Voight gave us the address and said he would meet is at eight.
Marty and I got ourselves geared up
The following takes place between 7:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M.
Beast, driving through Chicago
7:08 P.M.
We were on the way to the meeting point in Beast.
7:47 P.M.
We arrived and met up with Voight.
The building was a commercial property, with an empty shop, on the first floor. Voight and his team were ready to assault the building and just waiting for us.
The following takes place between 8:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M.
Suspected D'Amico Facility, Chicago
8:02 P.M.
We moved in.
Voight and his team would go in from the front, while Fusion would go in from the rear. I kicked in the rear door and went in, G36C at the ready, followed by Battle Guy who was similarly equipped. We could hear the noise of Voight and his team, doing the same thing. Curiously there was no shooting, nothing. This stank!
We met up with Voight's team and moved up to the second floor.
8:24 P.M.
We had a problem.
It was a trap!
Do you know why we knew it was a trap? It was the sign that said: 'THIS IS A TRAP'! We had all walked into a large room and the sign also told us that all the exits were booby trapped, both the windows and the doors.
This fucking sucked, and apparently, I was not the only person who thought this!
"Anybody got any ideas?" Voight asked.
"Let me check this out," Battle Guy said, putting down his weapon and checking out the booby traps.
The following takes place between 9:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M.
North Kilbourn Ave
Chicago
9:06 P.M.
I had just had dinner and was back in my room, on my laptop.
I really needed to get a new one, this one sucked, big time!
My bag started to beep, it was the Fusion radio. Marty insisted I carry one, just in case. It was set to beep, when a call was coming through and I would have to enable the call, with a decryption key. I grabbed the radio out of my bag and put on the headset, before punching in the decryption key. I then checked that my door, was closed and locked!
"This is Hal, go ahead!" I called.
"Hal, this is Battle Guy... Long story, but basically we're trapped in a building, booby trapped exits, hastily installed explosives and sensors, with a central detonator," Battle Guy explained.
"Tell me what you need; I'm online with the safehouse, now."
Confirmed D'Amico Facility
Chicago
9:27 P.M.
Battle Guy was talking complete gibberish to Hal!
I assumed that it meant something to those two; they were thick as thieves when it came to super geekiness! Marty had traced all the cables and wires that related to the booby traps. They seemed to be hastily installed, without much attempt at concealment. I assumed that they didn't expect to trap somebody good, inside!
Battle Guy had found the main control unit, which typically had a timer. We had till ten-forty-five, that evening. To top it off, Voight's radios were jammed; but not our comms!
North Kilbourn Ave
Chicago
9:50 P.M.
"You still on that laptop, Abigail?"
"I'm working Mom!" I called. "Something important!"
"I need you to do something for me."
"Mom, I'm busy, give me a minute!" I called again. "Jeez!"
"Battle Guy, I'm sending you the specs now," I called, getting back to business.
The following takes place between 10:00 P.M. and 11:00 P.M.
Confirmed D'Amico Facility
Chicago
10:10 P.M.
"What have you got, Battle Guy?" Voight asked.
"I have the specs for the central control unit. I just need time to deactivate it and get us out of here," Battle Guy said, calmly.
"Wake me when you're done," Voight said and closed his eyes, sat down and leant against a wall.
10:40 P.M.
"You almost there Battle Guy?" I asked.
"Couple more minutes!" Battle Guy replied, alternating between his phone, the radio and the control unit. He had been doing that for the last half-hour and kept requesting more information from Hal.
10:44 P.M.
"Well, we gonna go boom?" I asked, calmly, although I definitely did not feel calm!
Battle Guy finally looked up, with a smile. "Well, we should know in the next sixty seconds!"
10:46 P.M.
"We still alive?" Voight asked, opening his eyes.
"You sound unhappy about that!" Olinsky stated with a grin.
The following takes place between 11:00 P.M. and Midnight
Confirmed D'Amico Facility
Chicago
11:15 P.M.
Chicago PD bomb disposal arrived and cleaned up the explosives.
That whole evening sucked!
We headed back to the safehouse.
You are advised to read 'Feral, Chapter 11, Sleep of The Vigilante - Day 2' next...