AU: Ah, Pete... you are not very smart are you? Pete sees Major Sam Carter at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Complex, but she is dead isn't she? Where there is a teacup, Pete seeks to create a storm.
Chapter 2: Much aZoo About Nothing
Friday, 5th March 2004 – Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Complex – Pete Shanahan
I wasn't sure if it was the noise from the birds, the people surrounding me or the god-awful headache that jerked me awake.
"Owww… ngahh." I groaned, gripping the sides of my head noting it did nothing to stymy the pain sitting behind my right eye socket. What the absolute f… I was about to voice my displeasure when someone shook me which sent a bolt of nauseousness rushing from my stomach into my mouth, the threat of looming sickness making my headache worse.
"Sir. Are you alright?" Said the stranger in a green shirt, khaki cargo pants and a cap. Zoo staff.
"Yeah. Unexpected headache." I lied, suddenly appreciating all those times my ex-wife bitched about her migraine headaches. I could never understand what she was complaining about because I assumed it was just a run of the mill headache.
How wrong I had been.
Sitting up as best I could while trying to ignore the red-hot poker moving through my eye and out the back of my head, I wondered what the hell O'Neill had done because all I remembered after seeing Samantha and her brat was a flash of red, his face and angry brown eyes before everything started to go black.
Since I was pretty much stalking the man's wife on the chief's time, I couldn't really do anything about his assault on me. I suspected I would have no evidence on my person that would even begin to prove that it had been him. Just like last time.
Besides that, I had no reason to be here when I should have been on my way back to the station after following what turned out to be a dead-end lead on a current case that brought me down this way when I was sidetracked by a hot mama at the gas station. That was how I had ended up at the Zoo in the first place.
I didn't understand. She was supposed to be dead. Mark said he'd been at her memorial. So, how was it possible that I saw her today, with him and a child? I thought of the letter and the card from an anonymous source. It had been sitting on the seat of my car one day when I returned from having lunch at a local taco shop.
"Here, Officer. Let me help you up." The zookeeper offered, extending his hand toward me.
"Thanks. Ah, actually, it's Detective." I corrected him, though it was not strictly speaking necessary. I was technically still an Officer even though my job was that of a Detective. The man merely smiled as he assisted me before producing an unopened bottle of water.
"It's warm in here, going from 27 to 77 would knock anyone around." He suggested with a wry smile. He wasn't wrong about that as evidenced by the trickle of sweat I could feel wending its way down my back, but it wasn't the reason. "The birds need it to survive." He added jovially as if I needed an explanation for why the temperature was so high in a tropical aviary.
Nodding my understanding as I opened the bottle and took a sizable gulp. Boy did I want to bring that Air Force bastard down. Even more so now, since this was the second time that he had assaulted me, the first time leaving a sizable scar that I would probably have forever.
On top of that, he'd lied about Samantha being dead. They all had.
Even Mark. Unless they had lied to him as well.
"You should take it easy." The keeper man kept talking despite my silence.
"Thanks. I'll do that." I replied as I stalked off, keen to get back in my car and down a handful of paracetamol or ibuprofen – maybe a bit of both – and drive myself back home.
As I approached the exit, I noted a camera in the corner of the aviary pointing towards the other end. Looking the other direction, I saw a second camera above where I had woken up and smiled to myself. Gotcha now you son of a bitch. Despite the pain in my head, I turned back and sought the man in green who was now tending to a bird feeder with a flock of brightly coloured parrots ducking and weaving around him. The too cheerful squawking sent a painful stab through my head which in turn triggered another surge of nauseousness. It was testament as to how much I wanted O'Neill's head that I didn't just up and walk out.
"Hey, I don't suppose I could see the footage from the cameras in here?" I asked, hoping that I'd catch the bastard in the act. He merely looked me up and down wearing a raised eyebrow with a question in his eyes. Why would I need to see footage? Moving my jacket ever so slightly with the aim of displaying not only my badge but the rest of my concealed 'officer of the law' ensemble netted me the reaction I was looking for.
"Sure, Detective. Give me 5." He replied, then turned back to his eclectic array of colourful feathered friends. Instead of waiting for him in this sauna, I decided to head outside. Maybe the cooler temperature outside would ease the throbbing in my head.
Then again, maybe not. Though I found that closing my eyes behind my dark sunglasses helped lessen the sharpness. Seven minutes later, we were in his office scrolling through footage on two small black and white screens that were so grainy, I didn't know why they even bothered.
"What time?" He asked as he scrolled backwards, eying me suspiciously. Checking my watch, I noted it had barely been thirty minutes since I last checked my watch just prior to entering the aviary.
"Start from 40 minutes ago." I requested. He nodded and stopped at that point in time before hitting play. The greyscale grainy faces of a multitude of visitors came and went, but still my target had not shown.
"What are you looking for?" He asked after a couple of minutes had cycled on the footage.
"There, that man." I replied, pointing to the man with the military short back and sides cut who had just come through the door. The other camera showed both him and Samantha with the little girl between them. He was pointing towards the seed vendor that stood halfway up the aviary pathway, then talking to Samantha who I could just see was nodding her head. Just as he started to turn, the video went fuzzy filling the screen full of the white snow synonymous with bad reception. "No. What the hell?" I complained bitterly as the footage futzed out completely showing nothing but wobbly white lines on both monitors.
"I don't understand. Those cameras are closed circuit. Nothing should be able to interfere with them." He stated unequivocally, though right there in front of us was evidence that they could be tampered with. The problem was proving who did it and how. When the screens cleared a few minutes later, he was gone.
"Dammit!" I cursed with strenuous nod of my head, then winced when the sudden movement caused the pain to ignite and explode. "Fuck!" I growled as I gripped my head.
"Whoa, man. What the hell did he do?" The bird man asked, a little taken back by my reaction to his stupid cameras not working.
"Nothing." I ground out, then turned and walked out not even bothering the thank him for his time.
As soon as I made it to my car, my immediate task was to hit up the pharmacy I kept in the glove compartment. Opening my treasure trove, I pulled out the bag of wonder drugs that contained everything from antihistamines to Imodium. You never knew what you would need in the middle of a stakeout. There was nothing worse than having to run to the bathroom every five seconds if you ate a bad burrito when you were supposed to be watching someone. Raiding the various packages, I found the paracetamol and ibuprofen then popped two of each. If this went on much longer, I'd scream. Just as I turned the car over, my phone rang. Looking at the viewscreen on the front, I muttered an expletive. Of course it was the chief.
"Shanahan." He barked before I could greet him, making me pull the phone away from my ear when his growl triggered another wave of agony.
"Yes, Chief."
"What the fuck are you doing at the god damned Cheyenne Zoo? I sent you chasing a drugged-up pimp for information, not for a picnic in the park!" He berated so loudly that I didn't need speaker phone for the conversation.
"The lead was a dead-end Sir, but he mentioned the Zoo as an exchange point. I went to check the camera footage." I lied blatantly because there was no way I was telling him the real reason for my visit here. It wasn't all false, the lead was a dead-end though not once did he mention the Zoo.
"And did you find anything Detective?" He groused down the line, putting a slant of the 'De' part of my title.
"Someone tampered with the cameras. I got nothing." Again, not a lie, just not the whole truth, Your Honour – so help me God.
"Get your arse back to base, Detective." He ordered.
"Actually, chief…" I countered since I had to go home. I had to do something to rid this pain in my head.
"NOW!" He barked before slamming down the phone so quickly I could not get my 'Yes, Sir!' out. Folding my phone in half, I started on the trip back to Denver hoping my headache would go away before I got there. What I really wanted was to go home and find that letter telling me she was alive. I hadn't believed it simply because when my best friend said he had been there, I believed him. Picking up my phone again, I dialled the familiar number and waited for my buddy to answer.
"Mark Carter." He answered after the fifth ring.
"Mark, buddy!" I greeted as cheerily as I could manage in my current predicament.
"Pete. How's things?" He asked over the noisy clacking of his keyboard.
"Oh, you know. Chasing bad guys, checking out the landscape in Colorado Springs. Seeing your sister." I thought I might as well go all in at the start. The sharp intake of breath meant that he had most certainly heard me despite the fact that he was working on something.
"That's not funny, Pete." He chided, the anger in his voice clearly evident.
"I know. I'm not trying to be funny, Mark." I threw the ball back into his court. The tapping on his keyboard had stopped.
"Sam's dead, Pete. I was there. I saw the casket. Her CO presented her flag with tears in his eyes, dammit!" He all but barked down the phone. I didn't think Mark would appreciate knowing that that CO was fucking her seven ways from Sunday. Even if he didn't like the Air Force, he lived his life based on the principles ingrained into him by his Major General father.
"Telling you, man. I saw her." I insisted. "She had long hair and glasses, but I swear to God, it was her, unless you have another sister you're hiding from me." I insisted while navigating the mid-afternoon traffic.
"No, I don't have another sister! Whoever you saw was not her. Sam is dead." The choking sound in his voice was apparent over the phone. Perhaps calling him about this so soon was a bad idea. Even though they rarely saw each other, he loved her fiercely. I could tell by the way he spoke about her accomplishments with the Air Force. Despite hating the institution, he was always proud of what his sister had done with them, and I wondered if he knew about the aliens and the finger laser guns?
"Yeah. Look, sorry man. It's just… I was hoping, you know?" I replied, putting on a hopeful tone of voice.
"Yeah. I know. You'd have made her happy." He replied, which made me roll my eyes. Yeah whatever.
"I'll see ya next time I'm in California."
"Sure thing. See ya then, Pete." The sound of his phone clunking down ended our call. I'd have to find proof that Samantha was alive before going to him again. Photos might be enough, but I knew I would need more. Mark was a sceptical man by his very nature and would question the authenticity of any photos I produced.
I'd go back to base to please the man behind the desk, then put in for sick leave for the rest of the day. My headache was slowly going away thanks to the fistful of tablets I had taken. Hopefully by the time I got back to the precinct, it would be gone completely.
I needed to get home and work out what I had done with that letter and the card. From there I could work on getting proof that Samantha was alive and start the process of taking down the bastard responsible for lying to her family about her death.