This chapter is in parallel with 'Feral, Chapter 12 - Sleep of The Vigilante - Day 3', but you should read this chapter first...
The next day
Wednesday
The following takes place between Midnight and 1:00 A.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
We got to bed at around a quarter past midnight.
This was turning into another 'Week of Hell', but at least we actually got some sleep, last time!
12:32 A.M.
I finally managed to put the phone down, after talking with Mindy. The conversation kinda wandered and turned into phone sex, which apparently woke Chloe! Anyway it was really good to hear Mindy's voice and she had some, well, very dirty things to say!
The following takes place between 1:00 A.M. and 2:00 A.M.
Chicago Police Department
District 21
Chicago
1:30 A.M.
The timer ran down to zero and the bomb exploded.
The District 21 Headquarters bulged and then shattered, masonry exploded everywhere and the building collapsed in on itself.
It was total devastation.
Plaza Hotel
Chicago
1:47 A.M.
"Lieutenant Matthews!" I said groggily, into my cell.
"I think somebody found out that we weren't investigating Fusion!" Voight said.
"Come again!"
"District 21, just got bombed!" Voight said, angrily. "Fifteen minutes ago!"
I sat bolt upright in bed.
"Casualties?"
"A dozen so far. We're just lucky it was during the early shift. I think you're gonna need to head back to New York, while I find a new place to work out of," Voight advised.
"Thanks Hank. My condolences," I replied.
"Thanks and many thanks for your assistance, I'll keep you in the loop."
The following takes place between 2:00 A.M. and 3:00 A.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
2:09 A.M.
Voight had just called with extremely disturbing news.
The District 21 headquarters, had been destroyed by a bomb.
D'Amico was making his feelings felt and I felt sick to my stomach; this man needed to die, he was pure evil!
The following takes place between 7:00 A.M. and 8:00 A.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
7:31 A.M.
I woke up and found Marty in the kitchen.
I explained what had happened to District 21.
Marty was not happy; D'Amico was escalating and escalation was very bad, for everyone!
The following takes place between 8:00 A.M. and 9:00 A.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
8:01 A.M.
The package had arrived!
I opened it, with Dave watching. Inside was a carefully wrapped smartphone, with the SIM and battery removed.
"Okay, give me an hour or so, one phone hack, coming up!" I said, flipping on the signal jammer.
The following takes place between 9:00 A.M. and 10:00 A.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
9:18 A.M.
I had the phone's contents downloaded, without a problem and I now knew the guy's full life story! I emailed everything to Mindy and sent her a text to tell her that it was on it's way. I would go through the information properly, myself, just in case anything was of use to us here, in Chicago.
9:58 A.M.
I suddenly had a thought.
That Joshua kid, in New York, had better have his wits about him, as according to my calendar today was the start of the two girl's monthlies! I had a nice chuckle at that, until...
My cell rang, it was the Fusion divert.
"Go!" I snarled.
It was Fellowes.
"Morning, Kick-Ass! We need you, right now; we're in shit, but then what's new! West Harrison and South Sacramento, bring guns!"
"Thirty minutes, guys!" I replied, dropping the call.
"Marty, gear up!" I yelled.
I also called Abby and asked her to get down to Safehouse A.
The following takes place between 10:00 A.M. and 11:00 A.M.
Chicago
10:15 A.M.
We left the safehouse and headed north, towards Fellowes and Murphy.
10:44 A.M.
I stopped Beast, about sixty yards back from the junction. We had approached from the east; we could hear weapons fire and saw a Police SUV being blasted by men with automatic weapons.
I called Fellowes.
"Where are you guys?" Fellowes shouted, over the noise of weapons fire.
"About sixty yards east of you. We can see the men firing at you. Who are they?" I asked.
"Don't know. Whole damn City went to hell about an hour ago. Cops are being engaged, all over the fucking city!" Fellowes replied.
"Okay, we're engaging!" I said, hanging up the cell.
I explained what Fellowes had said, to Marty.
"We take those shooters down, now!"
10:52 A.M.
We moved down the sidewalk, using trees and cars for cover.
Frightened pedestrians and drivers had fled the scene. Abandoned cars in the street made good cover, as we got closer. Ever since the 'Week of Hell' we had been carrying four Heckler & Koch G36C assault rifles, as standard kit in Beast. Battle Guy, had recently learned how to use one, so this would be his first outing with the weapon.
We took up positions behind an abandoned vehicle, aimed our weapons and started firing into the men, who were facing away from us. Four men dropped immediately, followed by another two. The remaining man dived down and away, to the right. Battle Guy shot him, with the help of the laser sight, on his weapon.
The following takes place between 11:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M.
Chicago
11:02 A.M.
We came out from cover and advanced towards the dead men and the Police SUV. We checked over each of the dead men, to ensure that they were dead and none were going to popup behind us! I found Battle Guy's target and grinned, it was a single shot dead centre of the forehead. He must have been looking directly at Battle Guy, when he fired. I was impressed, with Battle Guy's marksmanship!
We headed over to the Police SUV.
"Anybody home!" I snarled.
"Funny bastard!" Murphy said, sticking his head up.
"Anybody important hurt?" Battle Guy asked.
"Just my pride and the SUV!" Fellowes replied. "This is not going to go down well!"
I cast an eye over the Police SUV, it had one or two holes, or maybe several dozen, actually!
"Bit of paint, bit of filler and it'll be good as new!" I quipped.
"Forgive me, if I don't laugh!" Murphy responded, with a grin.
"Who were those clowns?" Battle Guy asked.
"No idea! This is happening across the city, it's fucking ridiculous!" Murphy exclaimed.
"We need to go, we'll see where else we can help, good luck and keep us informed!" I growled, angrily.
11:12 A.M.
We climbed back into Beast, reloaded our weapons and headed west.
"Fusion, Hal. I'm ready to provide support. I am getting a ton of shit from Bay and I need time to process it all!"
"Good on you, girl!"
11:23 A.M.
"Well that didn't last long!" Battle Guy yelled, as we turned left onto South Independence Boulevard.
In front of us were two Police cruisers with four Police Officers crouched down behind and firing pistols towards a group of gun men, who were behind an SUV. We accelerated past the Police cruisers and placed Beast between the Police and the gun men, using Beast's armour for cover. The four Police Officers moved forward and joined us.
"Thanks, Fusion!" One Officer shouted, over the shooting.
"Glad to help," I responded, firing my G36C, at the gunmen.
South Independence Boulevard was six lanes wide, with a wide grass median and dotted with trees.
Battle Guy maintained short bursts with the Police Officers, keeping the gunmen occupied, while I moved forwards using the, not very large, trees for limited cover. I managed to drop two gunmen, before another two gunmen started running towards another SUV, across the median. I fired after them, but missed.
"Fuck!" I yelled, angrily.
We didn't have Eisenhower with us, unfortunately, so I ran back to Beast. The left hand side of Beast had a lot of damage from bullets, but none had passed through. I climbed in.
"Battle Guy, get in!" I called, starting the engine.
Once Battle Guy was in, I accelerated after the gunmen, leaving the four Police Officers shocked, but alive.
11:34 A.M.
I stopped.
Beast blocked the gunmen's SUV, causing the men to run further down the boulevard, towards an abandoned elevated rail track and using the large buttresses for cover. I was hit several times, by bullets, which did not deter my advance. I was running low on ammunition and was being careful with what I had left.
A Police cruiser skidded to a halt, beyond the elevated track and two Police Officers, with AR-15 rifles, started to attack the gunmen, who refused to surrender and were eventually cut down.
Once the gunfire had died down, one of the Police cruisers from earlier, came down to us and I pointed out the SUV for them to recover. The Officers gave their thanks, then Battle Guy and I, headed back to Beast.
The following takes place between 12:00 P.M. and 1:00 P.M.
Chicago
12:07 P.M.
We reloaded our weapons and magazines.
I had to admit that Mindy had been very astute, when she had increased the ammunition load out for Beast. Between us, we had already consumed over a hundred rounds so far this morning.
We stopped for a bite to eat, before continuing our patrol
The following takes place between 1:00 P.M. and 2:00 P.M.
Chicago
By half past one, we were heading south.
1:38 P.M.
We got passed a call, via Hal, from Murphy.
Murphy reported an emergency, at the intersection of West Douglas Boulevard and South Sacramento Drive. There had been a bad traffic accident and the attending units were under fire and couldn't treat or rescue the injured.
"We're less than five minutes away!" I replied, putting my foot down.
As we approached the junction, we could see smoke from a fire and we could also hear gun shots.
The actual scene was chaos.
We pulled up beside a red and black fire truck, 'SQUAD 3'.
Several Firefighters were crouched behind the truck, sheltering from the bullets flying around. Beyond them we could see one Police cruiser, with a Police Officer shooting an AR-15 rifle. Another Police Officer was on the ground, obviously wounded, but still moving. In the middle of the junction were five vehicles, three of which were smashed up and I could see people still in the vehicles. Flames were coming from a small truck, causing the smoke. Another fire truck, 'ENGINE 51' and Ambulance '61' were off to the left; their crews were pinned down, too.
1:41 P.M.
We got out of Beast and headed over to 'SQUAD 3'.
We were met by a Lieutenant, with 'SQUAD 3' on his helmet and 'RESCUE SQUAD' on his right arm.
"Can you help? We must get to those people, before somebody dies!" The Lieutenant yelled, over the gunfire.
The gunmen were in amongst the trees and were not readily visible.
"We'll do what we can!" I yelled back.
"Battle Guy, let's get that Officer to safety!" I ordered.
I ran forward to the wounded Officer. He had been hit in the left arm, two shots. Battle Guy and I dragged him into the shelter of 'SQUAD 3' and left him with the Firefighters, who started on first aid.
Battle Guy and I grabbed a Type III shield each, from Beast and started approaching the crashed vehicles. From there, we could identify the closest gun men and started firing single, aimed shots hoping to dissuade them from their actions.
1:53 P.M.
We could have done with a sniper rifle, right now. Maybe I'll get Mindy to buy me one, but right now we needed to come up with a plan.
I ran back to the Lieutenant.
"Would it help for us to escort your guys over to the cars?" I shouted.
"The cars would shield us, while we check on the accident victims!" The Lieutenant replied, loudly.
I had a sudden thought.
"Could your hoses create a fog, to cover everybody?" I asked.
The Lieutenant didn't immediately respond, but started talking into his radio and within less than ten minutes, two streams of water fog were arcing across the street, causing a dense mist. All of the Firefighters and the Paramedics rushed forwards. One team of Firefighters started to extinguish the flames, while the Paramedics and members of 'SQUAD 3' started attending to the injured drivers.
The following takes place between 2:00 P.M. and 3:00 P.M.
Chicago
2:02 P.M.
Battle Guy and I, moved forward, shields up and we got very wet.
We advanced through the mist and as we became visible, started to receive impacts on our armour and shields. We went back to aimed shots, taking out two gunmen and advancing forward.
2:22 P.M.
There were still five gunmen left.
At least, while they were targeting Battle Guy and me, they weren't targeting the Firefighters and Paramedics. The gunmen started to move up and two fell to shots from Battle Guy, the remaining three gunmen started to run, but we cut them down with aimed shots. We then checked each gunman, to make sure they were dead, before we headed back towards Beast.
I spotted the Lieutenant and headed over to him.
"All clear, Lieutenant! You can cut the fog!" I called.
"Thanks!" The Lieutenant replied, before speaking into his radio and within a minute the water fog ceased.
2:56 P.M.
"You guys were great, thanks!" The Lieutenant exclaimed, once things were under control.
"Glad we could help!" I relied.
The following takes place between 3:00 P.M. and 4:00 P.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
3:40 P.M.
It felt great to back at the safehouse.
We could both get out of our combat suits and have a shower.
"That was a fun morning!" Abby said, once we settled down with a coffee, in the kitchen.
"Not funny, Abby!" Marty responded, with a grimace.
Once coffee was out of the way, Marty and I restocked Beast with ammunition and replaced the fired G36C assault rifles, with fresh ones. I sat down to clean both used assault rifles, while Marty examined the damage to Beast.
The following takes place between 4:00 P.M. and 5:00 P.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
4:50 P.M.
All the weapons were cleaned and Beast was reloaded.
The damage to Beast's bodywork was purely cosmetic. For now, Marty filled the bullet holes and removed any rough edges. They would require a proper repair job later. The damage to the glazing however was permanent. The two, main, side windows, would need to be replaced.
Mindy goes away for a few days and we trash Beast! But then again, it was designed for exactly that situation and performed perfectly.
The following takes place between 5:00 P.M. and 6:00 P.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
5:22 P.M.
The three of us sat down to dinner and I had to sit through Marty's jokes, with a few of Abby's thrown in.
I will admit that some of Marty's jokes tended to be a just little bit too disgusting, for a thirteen year-old girl! But Abby enjoyed them and reminded us that she was almost fourteen. This also reminded me to ask when Chloe's birthday was and Abby told us. Marty made a note, so that we wouldn't forget and miss it!
After dinner, I left Marty and Abby chatting about some computer related things, while I sat down with Sophia.
You might have thought it strange that I was sitting down and talking to a large dog, that liked nothing better than to rip a man's testicles off! You might be right, but talking to a dog is slightly less creepy, than talking to yourself. As a bonus the dog generally didn't argue with you! Besides I'm used to talking with a complete bitch, but as she is in New York... Sophia enjoys the interaction, I think...
The following takes place between 6:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
6:43 P.M.
Sophia had had enough and wandered off downstairs to have a snooze.
I gave up trying to work out what that lunatic Ralph D'Amico would do next! I followed Sophia downstairs and took out my frustrations by training.
The following takes place between 8:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
8:13 P.M.
With my frustrations suitably eradicated, I went to see what Marty and Abby were up to.
They were wading through mounds of paper and checking things off a computer screen.
"You two enjoying yourselves?" I asked.
"I think so, most of this shit is encrypted. You bored Sophia out of her mind, yet?" Marty asked, with a chuckle.
"Ages ago; been training," I replied, with a scowl.
"Yeah, I can tell, Jeez!" Abby said. "You need a shower!"
"Okay hint taken!" I laughed.
I went to grab a shower.
8:38 P.M.
I thought that Abby was on to something, but I'm not sure what.
We had a ton of crap to sift through and a lot of it was encrypted, Abby had a brilliant analytical mind and was able to find patterns quite quickly. I enjoyed working with her and we made a good team, but I would admit that she got through that stuff quicker than I would, too.
Abby had found a document in the watchdog's email, from that phone that Chloe had seized. It referred to an event that was due to happen soon. So far we had no idea in what City or when this 'event' would take place. Whatever it was, it involved a lot of people, nearly two dozen.
I explained what we had found to Dave, who agreed that this might be important.
"Keep pursuing it, it's all we've got at the moment, guys and if it can help the girls, we need it. Well Done!" Dave said, smiling.
The following takes place between 9:00 P.M. and 10:00 P.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
9:29 P.M.
"Okay, I think it's an attack against the Police," Marty confirmed.
"CPD or NYPD?" I asked.
"No idea yet."
"Keep on it," Dave said.
The following takes place between 10:00 P.M. and 11:00 P.M.
Safehouse A
Chicago
10:43 P.M.
"Anything else, guys?" I asked, looking into the briefing room.
Both Marty and Abby were shattered and looked it.
"Not yet, we've almost decrypted all the data; we'll know soon," Abby said, turning back to the computer screen.
The following takes place between 11:00 P.M. and Midnight
Safehouse A
Chicago
11:32 P.M.
"Got it! Marty am I reading this correctly?" Abby asked, tiredly.
"It looks like something's building in New York, near Central Park. That fucking bastard is flexing his muscles!" I said. "Call it in to the girls!"
I looked at Dave.
"The girls are in for a world of hurt, unless they can stop this," I said, sadly, looking at Dave's pained expression.
11:42 P.M.
I grabbed my cell and dialled Mindy.
"What?" The voice growled.
"Hey, growly girl!" I laughed.
"Oh, it's you Abby! What's up?" Mindy asked, sounding a bit tired.
"Something is brewing in Central Park. You girls wanna investigate? You might need your assault rifles!" I explained.
"How the hell, would you know what's happening in Central Park?" Mindy asked, incredulously.
"As my hero, Alec Hardison, says: 'Age of the geek, baby!'" I replied. Geeks rule!
"Funny! Send us what you have and I'll apply leverage to get grumpy out of bed!" Mindy responded and hung up the cell.
I assumed that 'grumpy' would be Chloe! Oh dear!
I rapidly sent everything I had to Mindy via email and then got ready to head home.
You are advised to read 'Feral, Chapter 12 - Sleep of The Vigilante - Day 3' next...