Mind Games - Part Four
#4 of Mind Games
This is a work of fiction. It involves adult themes and situations and as such should not be viewed by anyone under the age of 18.
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MIND GAMES - pt. 4
Saul and Cooper met Kaplan at Rosie's at about twenty after four. The canine activated his scrambler, then took two discs from his jacket and slid them across to Blackthorne.
"These are read only files," he informed the detective. "The discs are self-erasing and will blank themselves out two hours after you first access the data.
"That's not much time."
"No it isn't. But it was the only way I could release this information to you. I suggest you wait until you can brief your partner so you both have a chance to review what's here."
"You want me to bring Sergeant Fields in on this?"
Cooper nodded. "She's anthrop. She'll want this thing dead as much as we do."
"Okay, then, she's in," Saul replied, "but don't count on her being an anthrop to save your sorry butts. She can be quite passionate when it comes to her work, and she doesn't like Feds." Blackthorne noticed that neither of them smiled, making him that much happier he'd turned down the FBI recruiter when he was in college.
"There's something I'm still dying to know," said Cooper.
"What?"
"How did you scope out I wasn't a deputy in your department?"
Saul smiled. "It wasn't hard. First, you filled out those case summaries way too accurately for a rookie, even one with your purported book knowledge. That put me on guard. Second, you seemed unfamiliar with what I meant when I said we should Ten-seven at Rosie's. Everyone in the department knows Rosie. Her first husband was a deputy sheriff and she's a hell of a good cook. No one passes a chance to take a break here. Third, I threw you the name of a Deputy Chief who didn't exist, which meant you didn't know your own chain of command."
"Anything else I missed?"
"I don't know how they do things in the Navy, but here, rookies never pay their first week on the job. It's kind of a breaking in tradition we have that everyone knows about. You didn't."
"Looks like he got you, Lieutenant," Kaplan said, once more almost, but not quite smiling. "Oh, and thanks for the warning. Our tech guy appreciated not having his ear drums blown out, though he's still miffed about you ruining one of his bugs."
"Tough shit!" Saul replied.
Blackthorne and Cooper both rose to leave, the giant human leaning heavily against the table as he maneuvered his way out of the booth. Rosie waved to him from across the café. "Hey, Big Man. Aren't you going to have some of my pie with your coffee? It's fresh today."
"Later, darlin', when I've got time to really enjoy it."
"Bullshit... There ain't no later with my pie." Saul laughed and walked out to the car he and Cooper had used on surveillance. They drove over to the station and walked in on absolute chaos.
Saul looked over at Max on the front desk. "What the hell's all this?"
"Guess you didn't hear," the deputy replied. "We got hacked about forty-five minutes ago. The whole computer system's been affected, including comms."
Cooper and Blackthorne looked at each other then headed straight for the squad room. Saul sat at his computer station and accessed the case files... Nothing. He tried opening the reports folder. Again nothing.
"SHIT... everything's gone!"
"Let me see that," Cooper ordered. The otter's tone was such that Saul pushed away from the terminal without comment. He looked on as the NIS agent began typing furiously on the keyboard. He managed to pull up a command file and watched as several lines of data vanished. Nodding to himself, Cooper pulled a small rectangular box from his jacket and plugged it into the computer. He pulled up the command file again and began typing. Almost as if by magic, the vanishing text slowed to a crawl, then abruptly stopped.
"What did you do?" the detective asked.
The otter grinned. "Computers are my specialty. That's why Major Kaplan brought me onto his team." He pointed to the screen. "What you've got here is a Level V tapeworm. I've seen it before. If you can spare me an hour or two, I think I can isolate the damaged data elements and restore your system."
Saul shrugged. "Be my guest."
"BLACKTHORNE..." The detective looked up to see a rather angry badger standing in the doorway. He calmly went over to him. "What the hell is HE doing on your computer?"
"Fixing our problem," the human answered, "though you might want to have one of our own I.T. techs in here to observe. He is a Fed after all."
Captain Harris' eyebrows shot up. "How did YOU find out?"
"Don't tell anyone else... but I am a detective, right?"
The badger huffed in response. "You may be a detective, but your partner won't be once I get my hands on her furry little ass!"
"What...?"
"Security camera shows her tampering with the system just before everything went south."
"You don't seriously think...?"
"I don't know what to think. All I know is she showed up here, said she wanted to clear some files and proceeded to disrupt half the station."
"She was here, today?"
The badger nodded. "Not more than an hour ago."
A sick feeling washed over Saul. He went over to his desk and unlocked the top drawer. Inside he found all the data sticks he'd brought over from Tara Bellow's apartment snapped in half. The only other person with a key to his desk was Pepper! His eyes scanned the top of the desk and he spotted the envelope marked urgent. Recognizing his partner's handwriting he reached for it and quickly tore it open. He read the message there and cursed, then dashed for the door.
"BLACKTHORNE! BLACKTHORNE... GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!"
Saul ignored the Captain's bellows as he dashed out to his car and roared out of the parking structure, tires smoking. Confused, the badger went over to the detective's desk and picked up the note he'd dropped there. The paper had only one word written on it... GOOD-BYE!
* * * *
It took Saul only three minutes to wend his way through traffic and reach the small bungalow that was Pepper's home. Sprinting up the steps, the detective frantically pounded his fist against the solid oak door, jamming the doorbell with the heel of his other hand. He jiggled the doorknob. Locked!
"PEPPER? PEPPER... OPEN UP. IT'S ME! SAUL!" When there was no answer the detective leapt from the porch and circled around to the large picture window facing the street. Pushing his face against it he could barely make out his partner through a gap in the blinds. She was standing in her bare fur, back to the window. She was facing a laptop computer holding something in front of her, out of sight. Her tail seemed to be swaying slightly, as if in time to some unheard bit of music. A dining room chair was positioned in front of the computer. The shadow of a noose could be seen against a nearby wall.
He raced up to the porch again, backed up a few steps and threw his shoulder against the door. The door shuddered under the giant human's onslaught. He tried again, harder. Something cracked, though he wasn't sure if it was the door or his shoulder. Backing up several feet, he charged forward with one of his best college football blocks, something the student's back then had nicknamed the Caveman's Crunch. The door held, but the frame around it splintered and gave way, the force of his impact driving it in and down. Fire knifed through his left shoulder as he staggered clumsily through the portal.
"PEPPER!"
The vixen turned to face him. A blank, empty smile lined her muzzle. She had cut off her long, raven-black tresses. They lay strewn about the living room floor. In her hand she held her service 9mm pistol. She pointed it directly at her partner. Behind her Saul could clearly see the computer screen. A strange, glowing test pattern filled the display and a soft, barely audible hum seemed to emanate from its speakers.
Desperately the detective tried to talk to her, keeping his voice calm and level. "Pepper. Can you hear me? Shake this off... Come on girl, you can do it. No one owns you." She didn't respond except to plant herself as if sighting on a target range. Saul stared into her eyes. Though blank, he could clearly see she fully intended to shoot.
Realization triggered action. Saul grabbed a bookend from a nearby table and hurled it, not at the vixen who could easily dodge, but at the computer. The heavy iron bust nailed the laptop dead center, sending it tumbling over backwards and crashing to the floor. Pepper fired simultaneously. Two rounds smashed into Saul's chest, driving the giant human back about a foot He staggered a couple of steps, then crashed to his knees and slowly keeled over. Blood seeped through his jacket, staining the plush ivory rug on which he lie.
Blackthorne's world turned dark gray. He could feel the fire in his chest, smell the musk that filled the room, but he couldn't move. It was like his mind was conscious, but his body was asleep. He tried lifting his arm or shifting his weight, but to no effect. Sounds came to him. A hollow metallic clank as a gun was set down on a table, followed by the wooden creaking of a chair. "Move... DAMNIT" Saul thought desperately. He felt a couple of fingers twitch.
Other sounds came to him; the sharp, ratching snap of handcuffs being closed, the soft, frightened whimpering of a woman's voice, and then a sharp, horrified cry.
"SAUL!"
Somewhere just beyond him he heard and felt the thump of a large object hitting the floor and the creak of a rope.
Saul's mind screamed at his body. "GET UP! GET UP... MOVE YOU GODAMN SONOFABITCH! MOVE...MOVE... MOVE!" The detective's body shuddered heavily as the world suddenly swam dimly into view. Pushing himself to his feet he could see Pepper, hanging from the end of the rope not five feet away. She was kicking wildly at the air, her chest heaving as she futilely tried drawing in even a single breath Her frantic writhing had started her swinging back and forth like some crazed pendulum.
Saul reached out, hooked his left arm around the vixen's waist then lifted her to take the pressure off her neck. A wave of dizziness washed over him and he felt himself blacking out once more. Reaching above Pepper, he clumsily grasped at the rope, wrapped it around his right hand and pulled throwing his whole body into the effort Fire ripped through his arm and shoulder. The rope bit deeply into his hand, scarring it, then slowly stretched, frayed and broke. The sound was like a gunshot. The giant crashed to the ground, Pepper still wrapped in his left arm.
The vixen gasped, taking great, blessed lungful after lungful of air. Her neck and throat hurt horribly, but for the first time today her mind was clear. Saul's grip on her relaxed as he passed out and she rolled free. She tried standing, but found her legs were too weak to support her. Reaching into his trouser pocket she found his key ring. She pulled it free and ran it through her fingers until she could feel his handcuff key. It took several minutes, but she finally managed to undo her own hand handcuffs. Reaching into his jacket again, Pepper pulled out his cell and dialed 911.
To be continued...