The Runners: Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Three individuals all dressed in black and dark glasses had followed Robin in to the restaurant. They looked up towards the upper level as Robin and David were being led upstairs. One female, who appeared to be the leader of the three, entered first followed by two muscularly built male companions. She wore one piece black tights covering most of her body with only her neckline and collar bones exposing. She had on a pair of towering black high heel boots that were also hugging her shins up to the knees. Although it didn’t seem to serve any functional purpose as far as her attire was concerned, she had on a shiny black belt around her waist. It, however, seemed to accentuate the woman’s physical attributes of well toned body. She stood about 5.7 feet or 5.10 feet tall with the heels. She sported a long blonde hair that was tied at the top and hung behind her back in a horsetail manner. She wore a black band around her neck that was accentuated by protruding round silver ornaments on the surface. As she entered, the light reflected off of these ornaments, which immediately drew the attention of the maitre d’.
She wore Mexican red pepper color lipsticks to highlight her full lips. She had a pointy nose, prominent cheek bones, and rather a narrow chin. Her eyelashes were long, which she painted in dark purple and raised them high towards the outer edge of her eyes. She had on a black trench coat that appeared to be leather like material and it was in perfect form sans any wrinkles. The coat did not have a collar, but simply rounded and hugged around her neck and came down to just below her knees. Each side had a pocket at waist high and she had her hands inside them, exposing only her thumbs as she entered the restaurant.
Behind her stood two men dressed in similar colors except they had on slacks and black blazers which appeared to be body hugging types. They also wore fedoras that were lowered to their eye levels. The two men stood well over 6 ft tall, with well built muscular physiques that were visibly bulging out through their suits. As the maitre d’ returned from the ‘Crane Room’, he saw the imposing site of the three new patrons. Nervously, he approached them and stood in front of the three people with an aura of overpowering force.
“Welcome to our royal establishment…,” the maitre d’ greeted as usual leaving some distance between him and the guests, so he could bow. One of the men, standing behind the woman signaled the maitre d’ to come closer to him. Taking nervous steps, the maitre d’ managed to move towards the man. Then, he bowed as he was trained to do once more and said, “Do you have reservation, sir?”
“No, but need a table!” The man said quickly in a manner as if he was talking to a house servant, who was expected to jump at his master’s command to please the owner.
“Let me see—,” the maitre d’ was cut off as he was trying to find a table for the three from his tablet.
“The couple that you have just taken upstairs,” said the man in black.
“Yes, sir?” the maitre d’ responded.
“I need a room next to theirs!” He demanded.
“But…, all the adjacent rooms are reserved and the guests will be seated within the next 30 minutes, sir…,” the maitre d’ responded tentatively.
“Have the guests arrived?” asked the man, now staring down at the frightened maitre d’.
“No, sir…,” said the maitre d’, still not able to look up at the big man.
“Then, I don’t see a problem!” The man took a step closer to the maitre d’ as he breathed right on top of the small, nervous and scared man.
“The guests…, are VIPs of this restaurant and…, I cannot, unfortunately, make last second changes. I could get.., in trouble sir!” This time he tried to put more assertiveness in his voice. But, what came out was a confirmation that he was still very nervous and fearful.
“You don’t get—,” as he tried to grab a hold of the maitre D’s clothes, the woman, raising her right hand above her shoulder, rubbed her thumb against the index finger, gesturing her subordinate to take a different course of action. Seeing this, the man stopped harassing the poor maitre D. He looked over to the second man and flicked his head towards the maitre D’. Observing all this, the maitre D’ grew even more scared.
There were so many people busying around in the restaurant, but the maitre D’ felt so alone, surrounded by these three strangers. He was bracing for the worst. Perhaps, he would be dragged outside and beaten up by the two men and end up in a hospital while the three people would get their desired seating afterwards, anyway. He was sweating profusely inside his emperor’s clothes.
The first man took a step back and the second man in black approached the maitre D’. He put his right hand into his inner blazer pocket and drew UN $100 bill, placing it very quickly and discretely, into the hands of the maitre D’. At the same instance, the maitre D’ was ready to offer them their requested seating as he shouted out of fear.
“OK! OK!” He raised his arms to cover his head from imminent pounding that he was sure to receive.
But, to his surprise, no punches or even slight sense of shaking was felt. Instead, he felt something crispy at the touch and quickly learned what was in his hand. He looked up at the second man, then the first, and the woman in turn. Apprehensively, putting the money into his own shirt pocket underneath the royal garment, he gave the woman a nervous smile.
The maitre D’ looked down on his reservation device, made couple of changes to quickly move the original reservations to different rooms, placing the three individuals into the room next to where Robin and David were occupying. The maitre D’ then escorted the three quietly to their room labeled, ‘The Moon Room’ as if nothing had happened.
“Enjoy your evening!” said the maitre D’, bowing nervously as the three entered the room. There was a server in a dress similar to Ms. Mai and they were directed to their seats. As soon as they were seated, the first man looking down at the table and addressed the server by instructing her to leave them until she was called. Sensing the aura of authority, coldness, and even bad omen, the server complied immediately. She left the room in a hurry and shut the door behind her.
The woman sat facing the wall separating their room and the room that Robin and David were in.
“Let’s get moving!” She said softly, but with eminent authority. The first man rose up from his seat. He took out a small device and threw it against the wall separating the two rooms. In its flight towards the wall, the device grew pointy spikes all over it. When the device came in contact with the wall, it anchored itself at the spikes. Then, it began drilling itself into the wall until it disappeared completely, burying itself.
Immediately afterwards, as if synchronized, the three people placed small cone shaped hearing devices into their ears. Soon, they were tapping into the conversation between Robin and David.
“Before I show you the file, you must promise me one thing.” Looking straight into David’s eyes, Robin showed great concern as she produced a second rolled up cylinder of several pages of gray paper from her purse.
“What is it? What is troubling you?” Surprised at Robin’s gesture, David wanted to see if he could help with the issue that was worrying her.
“Just promise me!” Robin urged not taking her eyes off of David.
“OK. As an officer of the UNBI, I promise. Now, please tell me what?” David gave into Robin’s request, not just because he needed to see the report, but as he truly wanted to help her with what was troubling her.
“Thanks!” Robin said and she began telling a story.
“I have an older cousin that I grew up together with in Paris. She was full of life and had always stood on the side of the people. She went onto become a very successful attorney with a well known law firm in Paris. However, she has been disbarred due to her present circumstances—”
“Circumstances?” David interrupted.
“She was on a case defending a murder charge that was brought onto a client of hers. The client, according to her, did not have any possible motives to commit the crime. It was a case involving a victim whose identity was never revealed. The victim was shot through the heart at point blank range. The accused did not own any guns. He did not know the victim and to top it all, he was just a happy person who worked hard as a steel worker to support his ten year old daughter after separating from his ex-wife. There was no prior history of violence and he had no financial troubles.” Robin paused for a second.
“So, what happened?” showing a genuine interest in her cousin’s story, David asked.
“Well, Janet Kumar, that’s my cousin, was having dinner with her colleagues one evening. She had salad and a glass of white wine for dinner. During the course of the dinner, she received a call from someone from her client’s house saying that her client needed to see her right away. After the call, she left the dinner early. As she came near the client’s house, she felt extremely disoriented. So, she attempted to set her vehicle in auto pilot mode. Unfortunately, her vehicle did not comply.
At about the same time, her client was waiting for her outside as she was approaching. Recognizing her vehicle, her client came into the street to wave at her. She applied the brakes to bring the car to a stop, but, it had failed as well. She ended up crashing her car into her client and was found guilty of DUI and manslaughter. She was given 20 years and sent to a women’s prison in the European State.” Robin continued, her eyes gradually moistening.
“During the course of the trial, her colleagues and other eye witnesses testified that she did not finish her glass of wine before she had hurriedly left the restaurant. At most, they testified that she had two small sips. But, her blood alcohol level was at 0.2 based on the measurement taken later in the evening at the hospital. This evidence was used against her in the courts to prosecute her…” Robin paused for another second. She appeared emotional and distressed thinking over the incident.
“It sounds like there is more to this story…,” David said quietly.
“Yes. I saw her in prison before graduating from college. She told me something that everyone had dismissed at the time.” Appeared to be upset that she could not help her cousin when she needed it most desperately, tears formed and trickled down from Robin’s eyes. After wiping her tears, she continued.
“She said that her client’s daughter had told her that there was a phone call that evening to the house. She said that her father took the call and went out just moments prior to the accident. The daughter also had made a statement that she did not recall her father calling his attorney or my cousin, let alone, speaking to anyone on that evening.” With determination, Robin continued. “The whole thing was strange. At any rate, one of the reasons that I had joined the Chicago Office was so that I could gain clearance, to be in a position where I could look into the files of past cases. Finally, I was able to access Janet’s file. There was indeed a deposition of what her client’s daughter had alluded to. But, they were suppressed in the courts during the proceedings…”
“What do you think happened?” Taking sincere interest in the story, David asked as a friend who might have shared a similar ordeal.
“I think the case was engineered against my cousin by some powers behind the scenes. Someone drugged her during the dinner outing and tricked her to go to her client’s place of residence. At the same time, someone prompted her client to come out as she was arriving. Her vehicle was tampered with and I believe that it was remotely controlled just prior to the accident. It’s hard to fathom that both auto pilot and brakes could have failed naturally at the same time. They were both operating perfectly normal when she drove it to the restaurant.”
Looking into the depth of David’s eyes, Robin requested once again,
“Promise me this! Should something happen to me, please help my cousin, here is her file.” Then, Robin slowly handed over the first cylinder of rolled up papers to David.
“Don’t worry! Nothing will happen to you and you will be able to help your cousin yourself!” David tried to assure and comfort Robin. David took the papers and took hold of her left hand with his right. He squeezed her hand gently, yet with firmness to assure her that he would hold her through any potential storms. David only hoped that Robin would recognize his feelings through this subtle gesture.
“I promise! But, it won’t be needed.” Again, David wanted to say that she would be all right. He decided that nothing would happen to her. He would ensure it. Yet, he also felt that there was a power greater than him that was moving behind the scenes in the Lahey case as well. But, he had managed to put on a mask and hide his concerns from Robin. He only needed to provide strength and comfort to Robin. She seemed vulnerable unlike her images of a confident investigator at the office. It was a different side of Robin. Slowly, David placed Janet’s file into the right inner pocket of his jacket.
“Thank you!” sliding her hand out under from David’s, Robin handed the second file.
“Here is the other file!” Nervousness seemed to have overwhelmed her as Robin placed the second file in the middle of the table. She remained calm, yet shook her hands visibly and looked around the room as if someone was watching them.
“We are alone!” David assured confidently. He reached out for the file, held it in both hands, and began unfolding the paper. He unrolled and placed the papers face down on top of the table. Then, he pressed the papers using his right palm and rubbed over the papers against the table as if to iron them. Once the papers no longer reverted back into the rolled up shape, he picked them up off the table and slowly brought the report up close and began reading.
First page, second page, he read them quickly. As he got to the fourth page, he bit his lips and the complexion of his face began to turn pale. Robin took a sip of her tea. All the while, she kept her eyes on David wondering inside whether this rookie investigator had what it takes to absorb and tackle what was in the report. After all, even McMichael who was her boss hasn’t been fully briefed on the content of this report. She broke the department policy in order to show David the report. As such, she needed David to be able to come through and help them both, before any disciplinary actions are to be handed down.
“I never suspected…, I never…,” David kept uttering these words as if he had been enlightened to a secret knowledge that was of dark and heinous in nature.
“’The vehicle used by the suspect in chasing and ultimately shooting down the birdie that the officer in pursuit had launched was discovered,’” David read paraphrasing the report. But, the first shocker was the fact that “’the authorization to release the vehicle from the Chicago office was signed off directly by Woodson’s department’” David looked at Robin who was already expectantly staring at him. Her eyes were blinking with uneasiness.
“Was the proper approval process followed in releasing the vehicle?” David asked.
“Usually, a lieutenant authorizes a release and once his approval is stamped, it goes to his captain then, to the head of the department. Once the department head signs off, a release order goes directly to the Department of Strategic Vehicular Support or DSVS, where it gets approved ultimately by the director. In this particular case, there was no stamp by the lieutenant or the captain under Woodson,” confirmed Robin.
“Is that unusual?” David probed once again, trying to understand the approval process.
“I talked to a filing clerk in homicide, with whom I have a very good accord with. According to her, she had seen in the past that older vehicle release authorizations hit her desk with varying approvals, some with all three stamps, identifying all the proper levels needed for the release approval. But, sometimes only the head of the department provided the needed approval, implying that their operation would not be compromised in any way. It depends on the original cost of the purchase as there were many vehicles used for varying assignments. This particular vehicle required just one signature, that of Woodson’s.”
Hearing this, David seemed confused. However, he had heard, during orientation, when he had signed on with the Chicago Office, that in order to eliminate potential corruption of the lower ranking officers, the awarding of contracts and, in this case, releasing of capital goods with any financial value, would always be accompanied by the higher echelon’s approvals. Based on certain criteria, the department head’s approval would be the only requirement to allow certain transaction to go through.
This way, the low ranking officers were essentially removed from the temptation and the lure of easy illegal profits. The UNBI believed that the department heads go through extensive character screening in addition to assessing the history of their accomplishments. Thus, The UNBI had firm blind trust that the selected department heads would only have the best interests of the UNBI as a whole, believing that those leaders would not succumb to such temptations. So, David understood that there was nothing unusual about this vehicle’s release from the department.
“Go to page five!” Robin instructed.
“How is it possible that a former law enforcement vehicle was used to follow me to obstruct official business?” Shaking his head, David scanned couple of pages and fixed his eyes on page five.
“What—?” David gasped a moment later.
“That’s right! The vehicle was eventually purchased by an individual, by the name of Eric Gilbert. I failed to locate him, a shaky character, no job, allegedly lives in a small run down half basement apartment unit in Chicago’s south side. He briefly worked at Midwest Vehicles up until five months ago. No noticeable trace of him until he had purchased the vehicle. Guess who has indirect ownership of Midwest Vehicles?” Robin threw the question lowering her voice to a near whisper.
“Who?” David followed immediately in the same manner, staring into Robin’s eyes.
“BOA.” Robin whispered as she answered her own question and continued,
“You see, the release authorization process went by the books. But, it was strange that during the auction, there was not a single competing bid. It was as if though Midwest was slated to take that vehicle home to their lot.”
“Well, that could happen. Maybe no one else was interested in that vehicle.” David explored.
“That’s what I thought too, initially. Then, it dawned on me that something obvious had escaped my mind earlier. Every Chicago Office’s vehicle comes installed with its own integrated GPS/RF tag under its hood. That is, the vehicle is traceable only by the UNBI-Chicago Office. Prior to releasing any vehicle to the auction lot, all law enforcement operating software gets flushed and relevant hardware removed. They went through the trouble of removing the software and other components, yet the simple IGR device that was installed by the Chicago Office was left intact…” Robin paused for a moment then re-gathering her thoughts, she continued.
“The procedure of removing the device is simple, yet, it was not done…”
“What are you getting at? Is BOA somehow tied into all this?” drawn into her explanation, David could not wait to get to the next line of Robin’s theory.
“For one thing, this explains why presumably, a decommissioned vehicle was visible on the Chicago Office’s tracking system that day. It was decommissioned, but never officially removed from the system since the IGR tag was still intact. The Chicago Office’s database still identified it as an active duty-bound vehicle. So, it gets tracked everywhere it goes. The movements get reported back to homicide because it belongs to them.” Robin took a deep breath and leaned forward over the table and whispered,
“I think someone else wanted to track the vehicle from the inside.” Having had almost a fatal encounter involving this vehicle, David thought Robin’s theory was a very credible one. Matter of fact, that was the most likely scenario of what had happened, David thought.
“But, shouldn’t the system, just by the fact that the vehicle being monitored had been decommissioned, tell everyone that it should not be on the road?” It confused David because if someone inside wanted to maintain secrecy, that individual shouldn’t allow other officers in the Vehicle Monitoring Unit or VMU to see an official tag on a decommissioned vehicle.
“Unfortunately, it is not a concern for the VMU. They simply pass on the information thinking that it is an official business that the vehicle was involved in.” Robin said with a feeling of disgust on the performance and procedure of the VMU in this case. Robin shook her head at the thought of how many cases in the past vehicle chases might have been compromised like this incident by the department.
“So, if they had simply verified what they saw or performed a little due diligence, they would have found that a phantom vehicle was on an official business?” David asked again expecting the obvious answer.
“That’s correct. But, it is possible that certain individuals manning the VMU office at the time of the incident may have all been in it together or they were just too lazy to dig deeper. I hate to think so, but, these are viable possibilities.” With her voice trailing lower as she made the observation, Robin was visibly concerned now because she was more certain that the inside involvement in whatever this was, was much more extensive than anyone could fathom.
“I see your point and it is disturbing. But, who would do this and why?” Still the key questions not answered, David pressed Robin to continue her theory.
“Two possible scenarios come to my mind.” Robin continued
“First, the IGR chip mistakenly left intact. But, considering the fact that no serious issues were observed in the prior vehicle decommissioning process, although some mishaps did occur, it is hard to accept that as a fact that the department’s process was not followed. Therefore, I would rule out this as an acceptable explanation for this case.”
After a short breather, Robin continued.
“The second scenario is that it was left there on purpose and someone wanted to track its movements. Then, Robin gave her discovery.
I wanted to backup this theory. So, I went to the UN-NA Department of Vehicle Registration database to locate Gilbert’s address. But, it was registered with Midwest Vehicles, a surprising finding.”
“What did the vehicle’s tracking logs show? Somewhat mesmerized at what this young investigator was telling him, David wanted to understand where the vehicle had been to.
“It wasn’t easy. But, with the help of a security guru, who will remain anonymous, I was able to access the internal homicide department database. The vehicle had a very small perimeter of operation. Mainly, the areas near the Chicago Office, a business building in Oak Brook, Lake Geneva location owned by VTT or Virtual Travel Technology, and your rendezvous spot at Chicago Security Technology. Oh, by the way, on the way over here, I got a notification that the vehicle was found in Milwaukee, where it was abandoned in an ancient shipyard. The vehicle is being scanned and will be shipped down to our office early next week.”
“Three locations…” David murmured to himself and after a brief pause he said, “I think I have two places to visit tomorrow…”
Then, David continued, “but, what I don’t understand is that why would BOA go through the hassle of purchasing a former cop car? With their financial capacity, they should be able to go to any dealer’s lot and obtain a vehicle that would serve their purpose…”
Puzzled, David shook his head as he asked himself. Although David had a theory, he would let Robin answer that question, too.
“They wanted to stay discrete. They did not want to use BOA registered vehicles in such operations. So, they utilized Midwest Vehicles, who specializes in used vehicles as the front to hide their tracks. BOA’s indirect ownership of Midwest Vehicles wasn’t all that straight forward!” “Further,” Robin continued “BOA’s every move had been under the 24×7 surveillance by the non-violent crime division of the Chicago Office. Their financial dealings, what they purchased, where the organization’s VIPs go for business and social engagements, and entertainments were all being watched. So, any non discrete move would compromise their operations, which would bring law enforcement agents at their front door steps. Further, I believe that someone inside wanted total control over when and where these vehicles ought to be.”
Robin took another breather as her mouth dried up. She took a small sip of her tea that felt cold and tasted bitter. She picked up the tea kettle and poured fresh hot tea into her cup, adding it to fill to the rim. Then, she took another small sip.
“That’s better!” The effect of warm liquid touching her lips was very soothing as it gave her an instant relief from the enveloping anxiousness. After taking a second sip, Robin leaned over the table so that she could get as close to David as possible before she went on.
“They needed the cop cars because someone inside the department wanted to track and provide vehicular support to carry out their devious operations. My conjecture is that whoever was inside also wanted to monitor its movements. What better way to achieve this than slipping a car in with an official IGR? They found clandestine team of dirty cops within the Chicago Office to serve that purpose. All dealings were done in a secret manner, using cash and unknown individuals as the middle men to deliver the necessary equipment…”
There was a long pause in the room. The dead silence permeating throughout the enclosed space. The only sounds were from the slow breathing of Robin and David as they sat silently looking apprehensively at each other.
“Who do you believe the inside connection is?” David finally broke the silence, but afraid that it would only confirm his belief as to whom he believed was responsible inside.
“I believe the common denominator, the secret association between BOA and certain individuals in the Chicago Office, has been in existence for a while. All indications point to someone in homicide and my guess at this point is…,” after a brief pause and a sweeping look around the room, Robin let out in whisper, “detective Woodson!”
As soon as she revealed the name, Robin felt something very heavy lifting off of her shoulders. She sighed with relief and sat back against the back of her chair. All of her energy drained, she let out a lung full breath of air as she sank deeper into her chair.
Having his suspicion ratified by his intelligence colleague, David felt dizzy and the world has suddenly become a very dark place. Soon, he plopped down into his chair as if a shell-less mollusk was brought up onto the dry land by the rising tides, only to be left there helplessly as the water receded. He sank lower in his chair wandering how he would address this situation. There was still no hard proof, but only a conjecture, a possibility although a strong one at that, developed by two rookie investigators. They must come up with solid evidences in order to tackle whatever this was as David mumbled to himself, “what is the connection?” was the question that David and Robin must answer in order to move the case forward.
Once again, deathly silence pervaded the room as David and Robin looked at each other while the food became cold. Lost for words, their minds were wandering aimlessly as to how and why Woodson would associate himself with the BOA.
At that moment, as if on cue, with a subtle signal from the woman in black, larger man of the two pressed a button on his wristband. Following that, the device that was buried deep within the wall, which was transmitting the conversations between David and Robin emitted, a flash of red light. Then, the three people raised their dining table onto its side and took cover behind it. Completely submerged, below the side up-ended table, they counted down, “Three, Two, One.”