Chapter 15
Twenty minutes later, Bruce's black car entered Gotham Police Headquarters. The place was swarming with officers and upon seeing the VIP, they all scrambled into an even more frenzied hurry.
Once inside Bruce turned seeing the TV. It flashed red. GOTHAM BREAKING NEWS. WAYNE MANOR WAS ATTACKED IN UNEXPLAINED EXPLOSION.
Bruce set his jaw and walked past it. He knocked on the Commissioner's door. It opened and Gordon motioned both of them in.
Once inside, Bruce handed over the tracker and Gordon sealed it into a plastic bag labeled evidence. Selena had never been in Gordon's office only in the front lobby. The walls were decorated with several medals and awards for helping save the city. In the very back half hidden in shadow was a lone picture. It captured the masked vigilante standing next to the Bat Signal his cape flowing gently in the wind. Batman was lit in golden light from the city lights behind him. His cowl covered his face, but his dark eyes pierced into the viewer as if he knew someone had taken his photo. Selena recognized that look. It was the same face of determination that she saw when he rescued her. It was a brief exchange of mere seconds, but it felt like time had stilled for her.
His voice was deep with reassurance before he disappeared and Gotham police swarmed the scene. She would see him one last time from the back of a squad car. Out the back window, she saw him swing across buildings racing off to stop the next wave of crime. She never got to thank him, too stunned seeing him up close and by the time she said it he was gone. If she ever ran into him, it would be the first thing she'd say.
Selena turned to see Gordon and Bruce hunched over something on his desk. She set her purse down and headed in their direction.
"What is it?" Selena asked feeling out of the loop.
Gordon glanced up at her and then over to Bruce. His stare remained fixed, but he nodded. "It's fine. She needs to know."
Selena tilted her head. Gordon pulled one of the pictures from the beige folder. She took it. It was a photo of her leaving the club the night she had spoken with Bruce.
"Why am I being shown this?" She asked perplexed.
Gordon tapped in the upper right corner. Half hidden in shadow lighting a cigar was a figure wearing a brimmed hat and dark trenchcoat.
"Someone is tailing you," said Gordon.
Selena frowned. "And? What does this have to do with the attack on Bruce's family?"
"How many times do you and Bruce meet?"
"Like in general? Not that often. A few times a month. Why?"
Bruce straightened up. "Based on the footage seen here, someone wants to know who I've come into contact with. That includes you, Selena."
"You've got to be kidding me. Bruce, how many people do you see a day? Why me?"
Bruce ran a hand across his chin. "Like I said the Wayne family has a knack for attracting the wrong attention."
Selena chuckled. "Ha…Shouldn't we be more focused on finding the missing nine-year-old child? I can take care of myself."
Bruce glanced at her like he wasn't convinced.
Selena scowled at him. "What?"
"They are going to use you against me just like they did to Alfred and now to Dick."
"My father has his own security measures he uses with me. I don't want nor need anymore."
"That's not the point."
"You're right. The point is we have a child out there fighting for his life probably terrified! Come on guys!" Selena threw up her hands in exasperation. "I don't need a babysitter. Let me help."
Bruce huffed knowing he wouldn't win. "Fine."
Gordon decided to change tactics. "From what my team has gleaned from the crime scene on short notice is, it is a highly trained unit who isn't afraid to use deadly force."
Bruce grunted. "I gathered that based on the destruction. What about the fallen assailant? Any defining tattoos or marks that could point us to what organization they could be tied to?"
Gordon pulled out his phone. "These haven't been submitted into evidence yet, but since I'm in charge you can see them."
Bruce leaned over and Selena watched his expression.
"Hmm. I'm unfamiliar with that symbol. Do you know anything?" Bruce asked.
Gordon shook his head. "We call them ghost agents. No matching fingerprints in the system and facial recognition was a bust."
"I see. Well, there goes that lead." Bruce's jaw ticked. "I want you to monitor my phones in case a random demand comes in. That is our first lead."
"Alright."
"Anything else? Was anything stolen?" The millionaire asked.
"No, but we did find this next to a burned-out delivery truck. Guess they torched it before leaving." Gordon handed Bruce an evidence bag that held the paperweight that sat on his desk. He kept his face neutral, but a glint entered his eyes. He knew exactly what it meant. It meant his son would put up a fight and he did.
Selena's phone buzzed. It was an unknown number. "Guys?"
Both men looked at her and she held it up.
"Put it on speaker," Gordon commanded quickly typing some codes into his computer. "Keep them on as long as you can. A minute at best."
Selena nodded and answered. "Hello?"
A garbled deep voice answered. "Selena Kyle, do not attempt to call the police or the vigilante. There is to be ten million dollars deposited into this crypto account by midnight tonight. If you don't there will be consequences."
"Is there anything else you would like?"
The voice paused as if surprised about the question. "No. Follow orders and no one gets hurt."
"What are the consequences if I am late in delivering the money?" Selena fired back.
There was another pause.
"Hello?"
"The Wayne Manor is just the beginning. Failure is not an option."
CLICK. The call cut off.
Selena glanced up. "Did you track it?"
Gordon shook his head. "Five seconds short."
Bruce looked relieved.
"Bruce, what are you thinking?" Selena asked quizzically.
"It's them. By mentioning the Wayne manor and calling your cell all points that they are the responsible party."
"Are we going to just hand over the money? Where do we even get that much money?" Selena asked eyes wide.
Gordon shook his head. "The city mayor will never approve that much in crypto or not."
"It's fine. This is my problem. I'll wire the money. It's my family at stake."
"What? Won't that bankrupt you?" Selena squeaked.
Bruce blinked. "Don't worry about it."
"But!"
Bruce shook his head cutting her off. "I can't let the city pay the price."
"Why call me?" Selena tilted her head.
"They are worried my phones would be tapped and the GCPD would be monitoring it. Smart move," Bruce replied with a grunt.
"Did you just compliment the guys that took your kid?" Selena gaped at him.
Bruce turned away and looked again at the photos taken at the crime scene. He had a hunch and that phone call just confirmed it. He glanced at his watch. It was nearly 6pm.
"When will your team be done sealing off my house?" Bruce asked Gordon.
"They should be done around 8pm."
"Good. I will be back here at 9pm," Bruce grabbed his coat.
"Where are you going?!" Selena asked scrambling after him.
"We're going to check in with our first witness and see how he is faring," Bruce replied.
Right Alfred. "Will Dick be okay?" Selena asked worried.
"He's a strong boy. He knows we'll find him."
Gotham General was a constant buzz of activity dealing with the harsh aftermath of a city ridden in crime.
Bruce slipped on a mask and hat and made his way over to a side entrance where a GCPD officer stood. After a brief exchange, Bruce motioned for Selena to follow.
Five floors later they found Alfred's room. A nurse had just exited the room, so Bruce flashed his ID.
"How is he?"
"He is a fighter, but the damage done to him has left his body very weak. He's on a sedative and several pain medications. We had to perform surgery to remove one bullet that lodged itself into his sternum. He's a lucky man. The other bullet missed his heart by inches. Before he went to sleep, he wanted me to give you this," the nurse pulled out a white slip of paper and handed it to Bruce. "You can see him, but he won't wake up for several hours."
"Thank you."
"Sure thing. Hit the call light if you need me."
Bruce held the door open to let Selena in.
"Watch him for me. He'll want to see a familiar face when he wakes up."
"Ok, what about you?"
"Tell him I'm getting his grandson back."
"You're going to do the money drop?" Selena asked worried.
"No, I'm going to go call for backup."
"I thought Gordon had it handled?" she asked tilting her head. Then it clicked.
Oh.
That backup.
The bone-crushing kind.
He was going to signal for Batman.
"Be safe. I'll call you if anything changes," Selena put her bag down and pulled up a chair next to Alfred's bed.
Bruce turned to the officers outside the doors. "Lock this floor down. Let no one in unless it's Gordon, Selena, or myself. Understood?"
"Yes, sir! Understood, sir!"
With that, Bruce exited the unit and jumped into his car. He headed south to some thick woods near an abandoned factory. A hidden button inside the building opened up a mini version of the Batcave.
A black suit and cowl stood in a corner waiting. Bruce grabbed a spare laptop and typed in a code. Even though Gordon failed in tracking the phone call, Bruce had succeeded in tracing it. Unbeknownst to the others, his watch held a tracker in it and it activated the moment the call came in. Equipped with the latest software, it found the signal in 30 seconds. It was exactly what he thought.
The reason behind Bruce needing to "signal" Batman was all a ruse. He knew who had his son and attacked the home. They made it look like Dick was the target, but Alfred's note was the final clue.
Bruce unfolded the white sheet of paper. Hastily scrawled across it was one word: Jewel.
Jewel was the codeword for one of the men on Alfred's covert ops team when he served in the British Royal Forces. The name would not be the same man that served with Alfred but the code names would be passed down to the next candidate. Alfred's code name was ACE. Jewel was the fourth in command.
A secret long buried had raised its head. Why a new covert ops team wanted to target Alfred and take the child with him was what remained to be uncovered. Bruce slipped into his suit. He couldn't risk going to the Batcave until the investigation was over. He had spare bunkers scattered throughout Gotham, so he would manage without his top supplies.
Now to track down the enemy was going to be a challenge. Most of the information he had on them was back on the servers at the Batcave, but he could do a dark web search. It was the fastest and most efficient way to see their movements and clues into where they could be headed to next.
Bruce poked around some servers on the dark web tapping into some of his contacts. Back in the day, Alfred's unit was top-tier. The unit that was currently active was good but not as savvy on the web. Bruce was able to pick up their online presence and found what he was looking for.
There was a bounty on the dark web for Alfred's head. There was a second one for the kidnapping of the child in his possession. Bruce clicked a link that led to more information. It held pictures of the manor, of Alfred shopping, of him taking Dick out for lunch.
Though Bruce trusted Alfred, it did concern him that Dick's information was that easily taken and leaked into dark circles.
Bruce could do nothing about public cameras capturing their images but he could stall them.
He typed away quickly on his laptop finding an algorithm that used facial recognition that would flag any public appearance of them on the dark web. Hacking a little deeper into it he programmed the system to scramble their faces making them nothing but a blurry image. That should keep any more lookers from hunting them further until Bruce could get a more permanent solution.
He stood up and put in a call. It rang once.
"Commissioner Gordon. Whom am I speaking with?"
"It's me." Bruce replied.
"Oh, Mr. Wayne. How can I help?"
"Has there been any progress with the tracker?"
"My team ran it. We found several fingerprints but none of them registered in our system."
"Try the international database."
"What? Why?"
"Just trust me."
"Alright. Hold on."
He heard the man clicking away on his keyboard.
"Well, what do we have here? Mr. Wayne, you are a genius. You should be a detective."
Bruce rolled his eyes. If only Gordon knew he already was. Only two people in all of Gotham knew his dual identity. Alfred and Dick.
"Who does it register to?"
"Mr. Wayne, how did you know to use that resource?"
"Gordon, my son's life is in danger here."
"I can't tell you. You don't have clearance. I'm sorry."
Bruce laughed. "Gordon, I will ask you one last time. What's the name?"
"Mr. Wayne do not make me pull rank on you."
"Rank? Are you pulling that card now? You've already crossed that line by showing Selena and me unreleased security footage. Don't play with me."
"That was via my discretion, Mr. Wayne. Let us do our jobs."
Bruce scowled at his phone. Stupid legal lines. He grunted. Gordon was right, but what Gordon didn't know was those lines had been blurred the first time he met Batman. "Fine. I'll just tell you who it is. His name is Jeffrey Pickoxtl. A French ambassador. Don't forget I am a Wayne, Gordon. I have connections everywhere. I'll call you when I'm ready to pay the ransom demand."
CLICK.
Gordon flinched hearing the line go dead. "How on earth…?!" He huffed. Of course, Gotham's prince had connections even knowing foreign policy leaders. Let the man pay the demand. It would be less paperwork for him.
Bruce pocketed his phone and went back to his laptop. Pulling up a secure file he loaded several documents up. It held pictures and documentation of five people. The current five people that now held the tile of the Queen's Shadow. One of them was dead. Screw Gordon. Bruce already knew who was dead after seeing the tattoo. It was a crown with a serpent's body interlaced between it.
The tracker with the fingerprints on it? That has been planted. By whom? Well, by none other than Bruce himself. Bruce was no idiot. He knew one day Alfred's past may come back to haunt them and it had. Only it hit sooner than he thought and now Dick was paying the price. The tracker was fake and he wanted Selena to get a hold of it. The photos of her being followed were also fake. He threw these pieces as breadcrumbs to the GCPD to get them off his trail. The name connected to the tracker whose fingerprints were in the so-called international database? Not fake, but it did lead to a French ambassador of a well-known party enough to stir the crowd but not take down anyone's career. Bruce or Batman rather was leading them on a wild goose chase. Why?
It was to protect them. Gordon had no idea who they were truly dealing with and Bruce wanted to keep it that way. The Queen's Shadow was lethal and the only reason one of their members was deceased was because Alfred knew their moves. In protecting his grandson and taking one of them out, Alfred would reawaken his long-buried past.
What stumped Bruce was why the Queen's Shadow had put out a hit on Alfred. The ones in the current position would have no prior knowledge of previous predecessors once they retired. It was like retiring from the Special Deep Forces. You and your record disappeared into the abyss never to be heard from again. Someone had dug that up and exposed Alfred; now his family was in danger. Bruce would find who was responsible, and the reason behind it, and let Alfred's past rest in peace. It was there for a reason.
Bruce knew why Alfred chose to step away from the Queen's Shadow and he could count on one hand those who knew about Alfred's career in that position thirty years ago. Bruce had a feeling the ransom demand was also a ruse. Ten million dollars in crypto in less than 7 hours? No. It was code. It was a warning for anyone who had ties to the Queen's Shadow to hide because they were the target.
Bruce had a feeling that the current members believed Alfred was training the next generation of agents who would grow up and serve in the Queen's Shadow henceforth taking their place. That was why they took Dick not knowing he had no clue who or what they were. That was why Bruce had to find him. If they discovered Dick knew hand-to-hand combat, they could kill him just based on self-defense moves alone. Bruce hoped Dick would try and play the innocent boy act, but knowing him he would bare his fangs.
Alfred would not be awake for several more hours which meant his main source of information was out of commission.
Bruce swiped left and studied each of the remaining profiles. ACE stood out to him. She was the leader and with her fourth in command dead, who knew what moves she'd make? Alice Mathaldy was her name on file or maybe another identity. Bruce knew Alfred had at least five or six other identities he could fall back upon if captured. She currently serves her 3rd year in command but has been in the group for nearly six years. It meant that she climbed the ranks fast. She would most likely have been the one to release the bounty on Alfred's head.
What are you up to?
She had shot Alfred. How did he know that? Alfred's note. Hidden inside the word Jewel was a "W". It was written at a sharper angle than the rest of the letters. W meaning woman or female. If it had been a male, Alfred would have written the "W" very small.
Part of Alfred's training in espionage was understanding the language of ciphers and symbols. Alfred spent several years with Bruce honing his language, communication, and intelligence skills even before he became the vigilante who stalked the streets. Considering the position he was currently stuck in, Bruce was so grateful for Alfred's wisdom.
Bruce leaned heavily against the table and let out a breath. What a mess. Bruce's priority was finding where the current ACE was. Where the ACE was his son would also be. Over the years after, Alfred's retirement, unbeknownst to him, Bruce kept track of their current movements worldwide. For them to come to Gotham meant it came with a purpose. The crew was known for never leaving missions unfinished.
However, the Queen's Shadow did not factor in the connection Alfred had with Batman. That was their first mistake. Taking out Alfred and kidnapping a child meant declaring war against the dark guardian who watched over all in Gotham's district.
It would be a game of hide-in-seek or watching the dominoes fall. The Queen's Shadow made their move. Now it was Batman's turn.
Bruce had to play this right. He called Gordon and told him he was going through with the money drop. However, the moment the crypto money entered the bank, it would trigger a trap. Inside a digital world lay a nest of possibilities including opening oneself up to vulnerabilities.
Bruce explained to Gordon that he planned to pay the ransom demand by sending Gordon the digital accounts which were nothing but dummy numbers. The crypto inside would send but its digital footprint traced back to a network that the GCPD could track.
Once the account was opened to see if the money dropped in, their location would be exposed even if they were on the move to get out of the city. However, there was a slight delay in the relay of information. Batman would get the location first before the GCPD could even round up their troops.
If all went well, Dick would be back in his father's arms before the end of the night. If not, that would remain to be seen.
Bruce called Selena to check in on how Alfred was doing.
"He's still the same," Selena replied softly. She was fighting back tears. "Bruce, when are you coming back? He needs you."
Bruce winced. This was the hard part. Selena didn't know his dual identity henceforth it looked like he was always running away.
"Selena, I know this is hard, but I need you to trust me right now. I am going to pay the ransom demand."
"What? Do they have your son? How can you ensure he's safe?"
Bruce paused. The next part was the truth. "I'm hoping the criminals will show mercy toward a small child and are after the money rather than wanting more blood on their hands."
"And what if they don't?"
"That is where he comes in."
"Is he trustworthy?" Selena didn't know Batman personally but also wasn't keen on trusting a man who dressed as a bat and stalked the nights as a hobby. How ironic.
Bruce sighed. "The GCPD is looped in and the moment the money is transferred they will be ready to move. Gordon has his best men on this."
"Alright. Bring him home. We'll be waiting for you. Be careful, Bruce."
"Always, Selena."
Bruce hung up and glanced at the time. It was nearing 9pm. Time to set the trap.