Nolan's Journal Chapter 17
"Well, it finally happened. Actually, three things happened, but unfortunately, we failed to make the connection between the first two. The city experienced a partial blackout. Nothing was surprising about it. We had what was a severe heatwave, even for LA. Everyone ran their air conditioners, and the load on the grid was just too much. Something had to give, and it did. Things cooled down a little, and eventually, the power was back online.
"The second thing that happened was the rupture of a major gas line. PG&E had to dig up the street to fix that one, and in the meantime, the area had to be evacuated. That required manpower the LAPD didn't have enough of, so Governor Newsom called in the National Guard to help. That included Bailey, but all in all, the duty was less hazardous than what she faces on a daily basis as a firefighter. It was also a distraction from worrying about Jason.
"The third thing that happened must have been the culmination of planning by Oscar Hutchinson and whomever else he was working with. The operation bears the distinct scent of Monica Collins, but I don't have any proof she was involved. Neither does the rest of the LAPD or Garza's FBI people. The power went out again, this time in the area including the Federal Reserve Bank. That in itself shouldn't have compromised the bank's operations. It has emergency generators. Unfortunately, another gas line breached at the same time. Many generators are solar or run on propane, but the ones at the bank ran off city gas supplies. No gas, no emergency power. Apparently, the first two outages were a practice run.
"The bank was left totally vulnerable. It had no power to run the security systems, and the personnel had to be evacuated because of the gas. The gas also made it impossible to put a cordon around the bank to guard it. The bank was physically robbed, but that was chump change. There was another cyberattack, but this one wasn't subtle or limited in any way. Monica, Oscar, or whoever was behind it must have hired themselves the master cyber thief of master cyber thieves. I suspect it was someone connected with the money launderer Monica was courting. She probably promised him the haul of his dreams. He got it, too. It will take months or years to trace all the thefts, let alone get any of the money back. In the meantime, the banking system security is crippled, allowing for further incursions – the nightmare of nightmares.
"Fortunately for the LAPD, that's a federal problem, which means that the feds' resources, not ours, will have to be devoted to fixing it. But we still look like idiots for not picking up on the plan. That doesn't do much for any confidence we might have from the citizens we are supposed to serve.
"If Monica and Oscar were involved, they would now have almost unlimited operating funds. For Oscar, that might mean going off to some non-extradition island – at least until he gets bored. Monica is a whole different matter. According to Blair London, she lives for power, not money. Money is just a means to an end. What kind of power she'd be seeking is anyone's guess. Blair doesn't think that big, and I certainly don't. We'll all be waiting for the next handmade, top-of-the-line, high-heeled shoe to drop. Maybe LA will get lucky, and Monica will drop it somewhere else. Somehow, I don't think we'll be that fortunate."
"Jason is still out there. Aaron is working through his show business network to keep tabs on Darcy Midkiff. So far, no Jason sightings. Aaron may have guessed wrong about Jason's choice of victim or he may just be operating under the radar. Either way, we need to find out something about him soon, or Bailey's going to go nuts with the tension. I won't be far behind her."
"Aaron's mother is going to be filming a 'Where Are They Now?' series about stars, like Darcy Midkiff, who were big hits in a show and faded from sight. He thought it would be the perfect chance to look around her estate, so he volunteered to help with production.
"Aaron will be looking for any indications that Jason is around, but that isn't the only strategy. The interviewer will ask Darcy about her life and if anything has happened to make her happier. If Jason's in the picture, she may bring him up. Even if she doesn't mention him by name, we know his pattern of behavior. If Darcy gives any indication that he's there, Aaron can push to have the crew film around the estate for background. One way or another, if he's there, a clue should pop up in the footage.
"On the subject of terrible human beings: Oscar Hutchinson. His daughter Ashley came to the division and asked for me. I guess we developed a bond when she was in the hospital for her kidney transplant, and Oscar was trying to use the whole thing to stage an escape. She poured her heart out to me. I suppose I was a father figure of sorts – one who isn't an amoral sociopath. Anyway, she came to tell me that she thinks he's in the city. There were several places that she and her father used as hideouts, one of which is near a restaurant she likes. She had a job interview in the neighborhood, and when she stopped in for a quick lunch, she thought she spotted Oscar outside. She gave me the address of the hideout, and Stella and I went to check the place out, with Lucy as backup.
"Of course, we weren't lucky enough to stumble upon Oscar. He may have spotted Ashley and known that she knew about the hideout. Still, we did find some food containers with fresh leavings. He had been there and not too long ago. That kills the theory that he flew off to some welcoming island. He would need money to set himself up on a retreat like that, so he may be waiting for his cut of the Federal Reserve Bank job. The way Monica operates, if she was the operation's mastermind, he may never get his cut. If that's the case, he would try to wreak some revenge. Whatever is going on, we'll keep a watch out for him.
"Oscar may try to pull off a much less complicated crime to get operating funds. That would be an opportunity to catch him and put him back behind bars where he belongs. As a kid, Ashley was in on a number of scams that he pulled. She's sitting down with Harper and Lopez to try and figure out what he could engineer quickly enough to raise whatever funds he needs. Ashley's pretty motivated. Aside from what Oscar tried to pull on her, the whole blackout thing really hit her hard. She'd been getting dialysis while she was waiting for her kidney and made some friends with fellow patients. Some of them ended up with units they could use at home, and when the power went out, they were in real danger. One of them almost died, which really pissed Ashley off. She realizes that Oscar doesn't care who he hurts as long as he gets what he wants. He and Monica are a pair that way, and Jason makes three. As a cop, I really get to see the worst of humanity. Fortunately, hanging around with other first responders, like my friends and my wife, I also get to see some of the best."