Part II - Chapter 10: THE PHANTOM HAS STRUCK AGAIN

 

Chapter 10

The Phantom Has Struck Again
(Ó 2009)

Mid-July 1998

Wednesday Evening 11:45 PM

“Tactical Fifty-Seven.” Said the woman’s voice coming over the portable radio that rested on the hood of the unmarked car currently being used by Noel and David. The hood of the vehicle was also doubling as a makeshift dining table for the sandwiches and coffee that they just purchased from a nearby delicatessen.

Noel looked at the radio with an expression of puzzlement and asked, “Is that Patty?”

“Sure sounds like her.” David answered.

Noel picked up the radio, pressed down the SEND button and spoke, “This is Tactical Fifty-seven. Hey Patty! You back from maternity leave?”

The woman on the other side responded, “Hey Jaworski, yeah, got back on Monday. Hey guys, what’s your twenty?”

Noel pressed down the SEND button and answered, “We are just north of the Merchandise Mart, on Hubbard and Orleans to be exact.”

“Then you’re both close to the Kennedy, right?” Patty asked.

“Yeah, we can be there in two minutes, what’s up?”

There was a small pause of silence when Patty’s voice returned, “You both need to get to Fullerton Avenue ASAP, there a huge crowd gathering there just past Milwaukee Avenue. Xiang’s on his way there right now, these are his orders”

Both men looked at each other with a suppressed expectation, Noel then pressed down the SEND button and asked, “Xiang? What’s going on so that he has to be there?”

Patty then said, “I hate to be the one to be telling you both this, but it looks as though the ‘Phantom has struck again’ for you guys.” 

David, who at that moment was holding his paper cup filled with coffee, flung the cup to the ground causing the contents to explode leaving a large starburst shape on the concrete, “Ah FUCK ME!” He screamed in anger.

Noel pressed down the SEND button and said, “We copy you, Tactical fifty-seven is en route.” Noel then gathered the rest of his meal and opened the drivers’ side door of the car. He looked at his partner who was clearly angry, standing there with his hands on his hips in frustration. “Come on Dave, we gotta roll.” David then grabbed the rest of his sandwich from the hood with one hand, opened the passenger door and sat down hard in the seat. He then slammed the door hard behind him.

Noel turned on the emergency lights on the vehicle and sped northward on Orleans Street a short distance to Ohio Street, where he would then turn West and enter the Kennedy Expressway, all in about one minutes time. David re-wrapped the rest of his sandwich and placed it on the dashboard in front of him. He sat back in silence for a few seconds. Noel then turned on the siren as he came to the on ramp to the Kennedy Expressway. Right as they entered the expressway, Noel accelerated the car and began to travel at ninety miles an hour. David then began pounding his fists on his upper legs in rhythm to his shouts of, “DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT!”

“Hey Dave, take it easy.” Noel said as he drove and wove his way through the traffic. “We’re not sure it’s him.”

“Oh come on man, it sure as hell is him, you heard Patty. Why the hell else would Xiang call us in and be on his way there?” David said angrily then repeated, “Damn it! What now? What the fuck is it now?”

Within five minutes they came to the off ramp that would place them onto Fullerton Avenue. Noel accelerated the engine all the time having to make evasive maneuvers because of the traffic in front of him. Every few seconds or so he had to slow down or even come to a complete stop of the intersections leading to Milwaukee Avenue. It wasn’t long before the two men could see the flashing in the distance of all the blue and red emergency lights of all the vehicles that were ahead. In another moments time they arrived to the sights and sounds of anger and chaos on the street. Two uniformed police officers who were trying to barricade the scene saw them and waved them on in.

Noel brought the car as close as he could to the other vehicles. He then just stopped in the middle of the street in front of the brownstone building where all of the activity was centered from. “Here we go again,” David said angrily, “Here we fucking go again.”

“Come on Dave, calm the hell down.” Noel seemed to plead.

“How can I calm down? This guy just comes and goes on like this? All this time in between?” He then opened the car door abruptly and exited. Noel exited the car also and looked at his partner from across the roof of the car. David then said, “Remember in ‘Godfather 3’ what Michael said? “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in’, remember that? That’s how I fucking feel.”

“I know man, but what can you do?”

“I don’t want to do this any more man.” David said, “I don’t want to be involved in this anymore. It’s driving me crazy and you too. Driving our wives nuts. And if this is like the others, it’s going to make this even crazier.” He then slammed the car door shut violently.

Both men then looked around at all they could see. There was a large crowd of people that had gathered and had surrounded the front of the building. The crowd was composed of mostly Hispanics and all the locals from the neighborhood. The police were laboring to keep the crowd back from the building, and even though it was tedious they were succeeding. Both men now made there way to the sidewalk in front of the building. Noel asked one of the uniformed officers there, they both showed their badges then Noel asked, “What’s going on in there dude?”

The officer answered, “Some banger got all fucked up inside his home there. He must be well known around here because of all this attention.”

David asked, “How long ago did this happen? You know by chance?”

“This all went down just within the hour.” The officer answered, “The guy’s still in there being worked on by the paramedics, guess he’s hurt real bad. Plus there’s some lady in there, I believe it’s his girlfriend. She’s not making anything easier; she’s gone fucking berserk, screaming at everyone like a fucking banshee, you can still hear her all the way out here, even over all this noise.”

David responded in surprise, “The victim is still in there?”

“Yeah,” The Officer answered, “Like I said, this all just happened within the last hour. The crowd here seemed to arrive at the same time we did, and it ain’t helping the situation here any too I may add.” 

Just then David and Noel both heard a familiar voice, “David! Noel! Get in here!” They both turned to the building to see Celia Hanna waving in a motion for them to come inside the building.

Noel looked to David and said, “Well, Gang Crimes is here, so this can’t be good.”

Both men made their way to the building entrance where Celia motioned them again to get quickly inside. Once they were she closed the door behind them which also shut out the noise of the commotion outside, only for them now to hear the disorder that was coming from upstairs. “Good to see you two again.” Celia said.

“Likewise.” Noel answered, “Just wish it was on different circumstances.”

Then they heard another familiar voice, “Hey guys.” When both men looked down the hall, they saw Ernie Adams. Then stepping out from behind him was Captain Xiang.

“Oh, this just can’t be good.” David said.

“No it’s not.” Celia said.

“Okay then,” David said, “Who is the asshole with the funny nickname, and what organization with an equally stupid name is he involved with?”

Celia smiled somewhat, “His name is Carlito Garza and believe it or not, he has no street name. The name of the group he leads is the Los Aztecas Monarcas.”

“The Aztec Monarchs?” Noel asked.

“One in the same.” Celia answered.

“I’ve heard of them, they’re supposedly pretty bad ass.”

Ernie then spoke up, “Not bad ass enough to your guy.” He then stepped up to them, “In fact, I don’t think he believes they are bad assed at all, from what we can make out from up there. Your boy there, if it is your boy, he is like you say he is, he‘s got no fear of anyone. He just waltzed in there, with them in the house, and does what he does, right under their fucking noses, and no one saw or heard a damned thing.”

“Shit!“ David said gritting his teeth, “He’s starting to get more daring.” He then pounded his fist lightly on the wall. Just then the group of them heard the hysterical screams of a woman coming from the upstairs, everything she was screaming was in Spanish. “Who the hell is that?” David asked.

Captain Xiang answered, “That is Daisy Humene, she’s Carlito’s girlfriend and she’s the one who found him.”

“What’s his condition?”

“The usual. Usual enough to call you two here anyway,” the Captain answered, he then nodded and said, “his back is broken, right above his hips it seems, he has no feeling in his legs and the break does not look good. His girlfriend up there though, she’s making it difficult for the medics to do their jobs, plus she seems angry at us.”

Ernie then said, “Well, with her line of work, she just doesn’t like cops. You see, she is the number two ‘man’ with the Monarchs, they’re like the Hill and Bill of the gang banger world. Like a co-presidency. Except these two get along with each other.”

“And this all just happened within the last hour?” David asked.

“Yes,” Xiang answered, “it appears that our vigilante here is starting to become a bit more bold. He did this very quickly, from the little I have gathered, if this is the vigilante, he must have been inside their home up there. She left him in their bedroom for a few minutes, when she returned he was there, just lying on the floor with his spine broken.”

Dave then let out a sigh of anger. Noel then asked, “By any chance, was there anything missing?”

Celia then spoke, “We heard from some of the people that Daisy screamed something in Spanish, a short sentence, something about ‘the money is gone’, we’re trying to sort that out.

Just then, again they heard the screams of Daisy Humene coming from the upstairs. “Come on,” David said, “Let’s go up there and see just what the hell’s going on.” They all then began to make their way up the stairs to the third floor. The hysterical sounds of Daisy Humene’s screaming Spanish rants grew louder as they drew closer. They reached the third floor to find police, fire crews, paramedics, and some members of Los Aztecas Monarcas in the hallway. They were gathered at the entrance of the last large apartment on the left of the hall. As they made their way to the apartment they were greeted by the hateful stares of Los Aztecas Monarcas, as well as the grateful and relieved expressions of the fire crew, paramedics, and some of the neighbors who peered out their doorways. They maneuvered their way through until they reached the entrance of the apartment.

There they found the living room crowded with the same mix of people that was in the hallway, police, fire crew, paramedics and gang members. Sitting on the sofa was Daisy Humene, crying uncontrollably with a female paramedic who was trying to console her while at the same time being stern with her that if should would not stop interfering with the men who were trying to stabilize her boyfriend, that she could just make it worse. She would not listen though, every time she heard Carlito moan she would jump from the sofa and towards the bedroom that was on the right. Every time she would do this, some other girls, who were also members of Los Aztecas Monarcas, would hold her back and restrain her.

David and Noel went directly to the bedroom, once there they saw that all of the furniture had been moved outward against the walls and the paramedics were tending to Carlito Garza, who was lying face down on the floor. They were attempting to secure him in this position to stabilize his spine and to avoid any further harm. However, each time he yelled from his pain, Daisy would leap from the sofa to scream obscenities to the paramedics for causing Carlito’s discomfort. She was always held back by two female members of Los Aztecas Monarcas.

David approached the medics, “Hey guys, how long until you can transport him?” He asked.

The medic in charge, an Asian man in his late twenties answered, “To tell you the truth, we would have been outta here already if it wasn’t for that psycho girlfriend of his out there. Every time he makes a noise she starts screaming then pounding her fists on the walls, then she always ends it with a threat on our lives.” Carlito then let out a yelp from a jolt of pain, which was then immediately followed by the sounds of Daisy’s screaming. “Man she’s fucking out of control. She has to know that we need for him to be in pain right now in order for us to help him.”

“We’ll take care of her,” David assured the medic, “Is he able to talk?”

“Yeah, he’s conscious, he’s been able to speak, when we keep him stable. He’s afraid to move because of the pain, plus the love of his life out there is hindering everything.”

“Did he tell you what happened?”

“All we got is that he came in the room here to get something, someone grabbed him from behind, and he woke up here from the sound of that crazy bitch screaming.” The medic said. “We have him on this stabilizing stretcher so that we can get him on a gurney out front. He have to carry him down three flights of stairs and I know he gonna scream from the pain. We’ll do the best we can to keep that from happening but if somebody doesn’t muzzle that bitch out there and put her on a leash, we’re never gonna get him outta here.”

David looked up to Noel, “Get a couple of uniforms to hold back the woman out there, they got to move him now.” Noel nodded and left the room, David then turned back to the medic and asked, “Once you get him in the ambulance you have to continue to stabilize before you transport, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Can you keep him conscious? Conscious long enough so that I can talk to him real quick?”

“I have to keep him awake, like I said, I need to know where his pain is in order to try and not make this worse. He won‘t receive any pain medication until we get him to Cook County.”

“Can I have a couple of minutes with him before you transport?” David asked.

“Listen man,” the Medic replied, “if you can keep that psycho crazy bitch quiet and outta our way for the rest of this ordeal so that we can get him, and ourselves, the hell outta here, I don’t care if you bring Oprah in the ambulance to discuss his life story.”

“You got a deal.” David then stood and entered the living room. Noel was there with two uniformed officers; David stepped up to them and said quietly, “I need you guys to hold back that woman so we get this dirt bag out of here. I don’t care what you have to do, tazer the shit out of her if you have to.” He then looked to Noel, “Once he’s in the ambulance, they’re giving me a couple of minutes, just keep his lovely little angel over there the fuck out of all our way.”

“Sure thing.” Noel said. 

David then went out to the hallway he looked at the firefighters and police officers, then to the gang members. He then looked at the officers and said, “Clear everyone out of the way, we’ve got to get this guy down the stairs and out to the ambulance. I need the pathway completely cleared, we need it now.” With that the officers and firefighters turned to all the others in the hallway and stairwells and began clearing them all. 

David returned to the apartment and motioned to Noel. David said, “Okay, I’m going to take the point and get him down there, He’s probably going to make some noise, so let’s play defense and keep her back.”

“I got a feeling this is going to get ugly.” Noel said.

“Keep the females in front of you and on her, you and the male officers just surround them and hold her back.” David said and the quickly reentered the bedroom. He looked at the Asian medic and asked, “Is he secured down and ready to go?”

“Yes.” the medic answered.

“Okay, I’ll take the point and lead you all down.” David then stepped to the door, he turned and watched as the Asian medic and three other medics then slowly lifted Carlito Garza off of the floor. As they did, Carlito screamed out in pain. That then caused Daisy to stand up from the sofa.

“What the fuck are you bastards doing!?” She screamed. She then tried to make her way towards the bedroom when the two female police officers held her back. She tried to fight them off, however the other male officers then surrounded the three women. The two female officers placed Daisy in a double bear hug to restrain her, the male officers created a human blockade that helped to restrain their movement in order for the medics to evacuate Carlito. “LET ME GO YOU FUCKING BITCHES! I’LL KILL THE WHOLE FUCKING LOT OF YOU! WHERE ARE YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES TAKING HIM?!” Daisy screamed.

The medics then had Carlito off of the floor and had him now shoulder high to them. With David leading them they quickly, yet carefully moved him from the bedroom, through the living room and into the hallway, all the time hearing the screams and threats that were being screeched out by Daisy Humene. Once they came to the stairway, David ordered two uniformed officers to follow them down the stairway to insure that if Daisy were to in fact break away from the apartment that she would still be constrained from interfering with the medics so that they could place Carlito onto the gurney and to the waiting ambulance. Slowly they made their way down the three flights of stairs, all the time listening to the moans of Carlito and the screaming of Daisy. In ten minutes time they now found themselves outside at the main entrance of the apartment building. The crowd on the street had grown somewhat larger. David and the others first could hear the sound of the crowd as they came closer to the entrance, and then heard them as the fell silent when they came out of the building.

The crowd remained silent as the men placed Carlito onto the gurney face down, secured him down and then wheeled him to the ambulance. Once there they set the gurney on the left side if the vehicle, then guided it onto the tracks as the legs and wheels of the gurney collapsed and folded underneath. An instant later, the gurney was secured in its place; the medics along with David climbed into the bay of the ambulance and shut the doors behind them.

The Asian medic then began to speak to Carlito, “How you holding out Mr. Garza?”

Carlito answered angrily, “Jeezus fucking Christ! Can’t you give me anything? It fucking hurts so fucking bad!”

“Sorry Mr. Garza, but you’re going to have to hold out from that until we get to the emergency room, the doctors are waiting for you now. I need you to be in this pain right now because it lets me know what to do to keep this from getting worse for you.”

“How the FUCK could this be any worse!” Carlito screamed, and then he screamed again from the pain cause by the raising of his voice.

“The pain will let me know how to keep you stable, I need to keep you stable as possible because the bones that are broken could cause more damage, maybe even internal bleeding.” The medic explained in a calming tone to Carlito, “Now unfortunately we have to travel a bit slower in the ambulance for the ride over to the hospital to make sure we don’t hit any rough part of the road and even worse, any pot holes. So you’re going to have to bear with us.”

Carlito then asked, “Where’s Kittygato?”

“Who?”

“Kittygato,” Carlito answered more calmly, “my woman … Kittygato.”

“Do you mean Daisy, Mr. Garza?” David answered calmly.

Carlito tried to move his head to see who it was that was answering him but to no avail for it was completely secured down on the transport board and this just caused a shot of pain to surge through him. When the pain subsided he answered calmly, “Yes, yes Daisy. Where is she?”

David answered tranquilly, “She’s still upstairs in the apartment Mr. Garza. I bet if I were to open the window in here you could clearly hear her screaming all the way up from the third floor still. Don‘t worry though about her, we‘ll make sure she gets to the hospital, we‘ll take her there ourselves. But, first there are some things I have to speak with her about.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Carlito asked sternly.

David then leaned over next to Carlito. He took out his credentials and held them out to show them to him in front of his face. He could see Carlito look at his badge and identification card and David answered him, “I’m Detective David Todd, Chicago Police. Have you ever heard of me?”

Carlito remained quiet for a few seconds and then answered him, “Yeah, I heard of you. I’ve seen you on TV, your looking for that crazy guy who’s fucking up a lot of people.”

“Yes, that’s my claim to fame.” David said, “So, you probably know why I’m here then don’t you?” Carlito remained quiet and would not answer. David leaned over to him from behind his head and began to whisper to him “Listen you son-of a-bitch, I really don’t give a shit what just happened to you here. I could care less.” David then replaced his credentials in his pocket and leaned closer over Carlito and continued to whisper softly, “I’m not going to ask you if he said anything to you because I already know he did. In fact I could probably quote you word for word what he said to you.” David then leaned closer and continued to whisper, “He said something about that he wants you to know why this happened to you, that you have to always admit to what you did, and that he’ll be watching you always … right?”

Carlito tried to move his head as if he wanted to look at David’s face, however this caused him to feel more pain and he stopped himself. David could see that what he had just said had struck a chord with Carlito and that it had disturbed him greatly. David even sensed some fear from him.

“Well I guess that clears up that part of the investigation.” David said, “Let’s try and clear up the rest of it real quick shall we? So that you could be on your way. How much did he get away with Mr. Garza?”

“Get away with?” Carlito whispered back.

“Don’t play ignorant with me; you know what I’m speaking of, the money you had up there. How much was it?” David said, “How much money did he take from you?” Carlito did not answer; in fact he just lied there completely silent. David then continued, “Oh come on Mr. Garza. I’m sure that the people who were supposed to be the recipients of all that money will understand your predicament and just shrug it off as either the dangers of doing this sort of business and write it off as a business expense.”

Carlito stayed silent for a moment, and then said, “Fuck you man.”

“Fuck me?” David said sarcastically, “Fuck me? That’s pretty funny coming from a guy who up to an hour ago has been so fucked over that he’s never going to walk again.” Carlito’s body seemed to go limp when he heard what David had said. “That’s right Carlito, if I know my boy at all, he left you without your legs, do as the medic here says and stay as still as you can, if you do that may be as far as it goes.” Then David positioned himself so that he was speaking right into Carlito’s right ear and he lowered himself closer to the floor of the ambulance so that Carlito could see his face, if he strained his eyes enough by looking to his right. “And if there’s anything that I’ve learned from my mystery man, it’s this. He didn’t do this for no reason. There’s a lot more here than some shit for brains gang banger getting his back snapped in two, you’re just the beginning of this thing here. No, there’s more here. I know there’s money missing from you. Now my job is to find out how much, and who it was meant for.” David then drew himself even closer to Carlito’s face and whispered, “And just who gave you that cash to do their business.” David paused for a second and then asked, “So, are you going to make this easy for me and your girlfriend up there and just tell me, or you going to make me earn my pay. Either way is fine with me, I have all the time in the world. You and she? Well yours may be limited.”

Carlito then looked down directly to the floor and stayed silent for a moment. Then he said sternly, “Go fuck yourself pig.”

“Pig?” David said sarcastically, “They still call us ‘pigs’? Man I thought ‘pig’ went out with ‘groovy’ and ‘far-out’. I thought we were called ‘Five-O’ now. Well have it your way shit for brains. I know I’m not going to be able to talk to your for the next few days, you see, my guy has made me do some research and I know what’s in store for you. Tonight they will have to fuse your spine and place you in a body cast to keep you all secure. There’s gonna be a tube shoved up your dick so that you can piss in a plastic bag over the next month or so, but how you’re gonna shit, I never looked into that. Anyway, you will be in the same room for the next few months and you will be getting many visits from me and my partner. So I guess I’ll be seeing you there.” David then stood up to make his way to the back of the ambulance and he opened the doors and stepped out. He jumped back down onto the street and then said to Carlito, “And it doesn’t end with you Carlito. We have to watch everyone you know, you know there are some pissed off people out there. Sooner or later, with the combination of these angry people and what’s missing, everything will fall into place, and I and my partner will find out everything anyway. Think about that while you’re lying around in your room there at Cook County. When you’re ready to let me know, and you will be, just let me know.” He then looked at the medics, “You can now take this sack of shit to where he has to go.” David then shut the doors to the ambulance and then made his way back to the apartment building.

David then entered the building and then began to climb up the three flights of stairs back to the apartment of Carlito and Daisy. As he drew closer he could here the distinct sound of Kittygato loud and uncontrollable sobbing. In a short time he was on the third floor hallway where the mixture of police, firefighters and gang members had returned. Once he made his way back to the doorway of the apartment David saw that the room had now been occupied by a few more male members of Los Aztecas Monarcas and they had surrounded Kittygato and her two female cohorts. They all seemed to be trying still to calm her down and comfort her. David then joined Noel who was with Celia, Captain Xiang, and Ernie.

Daisy Humene then looked up at the group of them, wearing an expression of extreme anger that was mixed with tear stains, running make-up and mucus coming from her nose. “I know you!” She said angrily looking at David and then to Noel, “I know you two motherfuckers. I seen you both on TV and in the papers. You’re the two cops after that crazy motherfucker whose crippling guys aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” Noel answered, “that’s us.”

“So, was it him?” Daisy asked, “Was it your crazy motherfucker who did this to my baby? Huh? Was it?” She stopped and waited for their answer, but David and Noel did not respond. “ANSWER ME YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!!! It was him, WASN”T IT?!!”

“Yeah,” David answered nonchalantly, “I believe that it was him.”

“What is it with you two FUCKING BASTARDS?!” Daisy screamed at them, “Why can’t you find him? Why do you let THAT FUCKING MOTHERFUCKER continue TO DO THIS SHIT!? YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES! WHY? WHY CAN”T YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS CRAZY MOTHERFUCKER?! WHY?!”

The room went silent; all eyes were on David and Noel who had absolutely nothing to say to her. Daisy then buried her face into her hands and began sobbing again. There was a tension now in the room, with the only sound being that of Daisy’s crying. David and Noel looked around at the faces of the gang members who showed nothing but contempt and disgust for the two of them. The silence remained throughout the room for a few more seconds.

The silence was then broken by the voice of Ernie Adams who asked with controlled anger, “What the fuck did you just say … bitch?” All the faces of the gang members became one of surprise. Ernie looked at all of them, “What? What the fuck are all you shits looking at?” Ernie then began to make his way towards Daisy and her two female cohorts on the sofa. He stood right in front of them, leaned down to Daisy resting his hands on his knees and then said, “So, I’ll ask you again you stupid fucking bitch. What the fuck did you just say? You fucking dare say that shit to us, you fucking skank whore? You and these walking talking sacks of shit here dare to say something like that to us? Ernie stood fast and stated right into Daisy‘s eyes, she was silent. “Do you know how many fucking times I had to hear some mother holding her dead little boy in her arms because none of you gang banging sacks of shit can never just shoot each other. No, you just point a fucking gun in the general direction and unload the clip, never hitting the dirt bag you’re shooting at, just some five year old riding his bike. Or how about facing the father whose twelve year old daughter was just gang raped by your shit assed boyfriends as an initiation into your little organizations, huh? Having to face them and hear the same question you just asked … you scum sucking cunt. You now dare ask that question to us? Fuck you slut! I don’t care if you are a woman! I outta drag your whore ass down those stairs and out onto that street and just STOMP YOUR FUCKING SKULL INTO THE CONCRETE! You fucking slimy cunt!” Just then two male gang members began to approach Ernie, they must have both only been just initiated themselves for they only appeared to be fifteen years of age each. Ernie stood and as the came to him he forcefully drove the palms of his hands, one each into their separate chest and sent them flying across the room. He then turned to Daisy, “Is this the best this fucking gang has? You’re all shit! You just better shut your fucking face you stinking cunt! Your all worth shit now as it is! You got bigger things to worry about than your fearless leaders back trouble now!” Ernie then stepped back from her to join the others.

David looked at Ernie and gave him an appreciative smile; he then approached Daisy and gently knelt down in front of her. He then began to speak to her gently, but also loud enough for all else in the room to hear, “Officer Adams is correct with one important thing Miss Humene, I understand that you all do have something to be worried about, and if you noticed, our superior over there, Captain Xiang made no effort in holding back Officer Adams from his outburst.” Daisy then lifted her face from her hands and looked at David. “You know what happened to the 4-S and the problems that they are all still having don’t you? There credibility is shit now. The same thing now has just happened to you and these idiots you have under your control. 

“The 4-S had somebody come into their own turf, fuck up their leader and then take a huge amount of cash that was meant for some dickheads from South America, well they are still suffering for it. Now we know that you Miss Humene, were heard saying the words, ‘the money is gone’, and the man we are looking for may have taken this money. Tell Miss Humene, have you and Carlito been dealing with the Columbians? Has Los Aztecas Monarcas been taking on where the 4-S had left off after their fuck up? If that’s so, you are now in a total world of shit, and you and the 4-S now have something big in common.”

David then stood in front of her so all could see him. He then continued, “So, if this has happened to you now, Los Aztecas Monarcas means nothing to nobody. You remember what happened to the 4-S don’t you? Gem P ended up having some of his crew sacrificed by the Columbians. You all ever see a ‘Columbian neck tie’? It’s when they cut your throat and pull your tongue out through the cut. And the Columbians don’t care if it’s man or woman. You and some of the people in this room are probably now destined for that fate.” Daisy tried not to show her fear, then David continued, “But, we now have plenty of time to be talking about what’s happened and the situation you are all in. We know it goes a lot deeper than you and Carlito because gang bangers are just to damn fucking stupid to pull off any of this shit.” David looked around the room, “Yep, some of you won’t be around this time next year.” He then looked at the two female officers and said, “Ladies, will you please take Miss Humene to Cook County Hospital where she can join her beloved?”

Daisy and her cohorts looked up at him; she almost began to speak, but then stopped herself.

“You don’t have to say anything now,” David told her, “I know that there is someone way higher up than you that must also be taken into consideration. But believe me, they don’t give a shit about you, I hope you realize that. You’ve all been used to take the blame, and to take the wrath of those you have been dealing with. You see, to those ‘higher ups’ that you’re now protecting, you all are expendable. I’m sure they have already been prepared to have you replaced by some other group of naïve idiots like yourselves.”

Noel and the others now saw the dramatic change of both expressions and attitudes of all the gang members. Their intimidating stares had now become expressions of concern and yes, possibly fear. They all knew the truth of which David had spoken. They had witnessed and heard of the downfall of the once infamous South Side Stone Soldiers, and had also indeed knew of the “Columbian Necktie” incidents that he spoke of. Noel and his companions now wore the intimidating stares.

Daisy and her female cohorts now stood up from the sofa and along with the female police officers escorting them, left the apartment to be taken to the emergency room of Cook County Hospital where Carlito was now well on his way. David watched as they all began to file from the apartment after her. As they did he turned to the others and said, “Okay boys and girls, here we go again. Let’s start in the bedroom and sort through that mess they left behind. Hopefully they didn’t screw up too much so that we can figure just how the hell he pulled off this stunt.”

 

Part II-Chapter 9: OF WHAT YOU'RE RETURNING TOO

 

Chapter 9

Of What You’re Returning Too
(Ó 2009)

May 1998

Northwest Chicago

 

He lay horizontal on his back looking up into the cloudless night sky, looking at the few stars whose light could penetrate the city’s “light pollution“, as the astronomers would refer to it. The glow which was the result of the combination of the millions of lights of the huge metropolis. Anyone could see the radiance of the city night from a hundred miles away, and when the sky was filled with clouds, it intensified the luminosity.

He was on the rooftop of a four story brownstone apartment building, close to the short brick edge wall that was about two feet high. This was his second straight night here and he remained undetected the entire time, just as he had the several times before. This was his station for the surveillance of the building directly across the street, where the target for the latest mission resided. It was a cool comfortable evening and he decided to take a few moments rest from his surveillances. He looked up to these stars and he broke away from his contemplations of the target to focus on the few pinpricks of light above him. “This all wasn’t here,” he thought to himself, “none of this, this city, these people, me, none of this was here when the light I’m seeing right now first left those stars.”

He watched the stars for a few minutes more when his attention was then drawn to the voices that came from across the street. He then reached for the items next to him, a three inch square mirror that was attached to a thin telescopic handle and a small, yet powerful, hand sized monocular. He adjusted the mirror for the proper length he needed and then positioned it just above the edge of the wall. Then he looked at the reflection in the mirror through the monocular, seeing everything and everybody across the street. He positioned the mirror to the third floor balcony, first it was dark, then the lights came on and the living room was illuminated. He waited patiently for a few seconds, and then there walking into the room in his full view was the target, a dark skinned Hispanic man - - -

- - - by the name of Carlito Garza. He was a man of shorter stature; about five feet and seven inches with the muscular build of a boxer. He wore black jeans, Norteno boots and a tank top shirt that bore the logo of the Mexican National Soccer team. His arms, chest, and back were completely covered in tattoos; he had the Mexican Flag on his right shoulder blade and one of Our Lady of Guadalupe on his entire upper right arm. His long black hair was worn combed back and into a ponytail. He also sported a double daubed moustache that was worn on the extreme sides of his upper lip, the style that was made famous by the Mexican comedic actor, Cantinflas, this was also highlighted with a small “soul patch” beard in the middle and just below his lower lip. However, the rest of his tattoos had to do with the fact that he was always a member, and now the leader of Los Monarcas Aztecas, the Aztec Monarchs street gang.

He rose to power in the usual fashion, by proving that he was the most ruthless and the most fearless. However, it was also common knowledge that he was sadistic and demanded nothing but extreme total loyalty not only to him and Los Monarcas Aztecas, but also to the only person in the world he trusted, his girlfriend and lover, Daisy Humena, known to everyone as “Kittygato”. It was well known that Carlito did not run the Monarcas with an iron fist … but with a steel one. And if he had the steel hand, then Kittygato had the claws to match.

The loyalty he demanded was never tested. If someone in Los Monarcas Aztecas ever strayed from that loyalty, Carlito would torture them personally, which was set to record by the tattoos of small bloody fists above his left breast, which at this moment he bore sixteen. If there was an act of treason, Carlito would kill the traitors himself. Or, if someone outside of Los Monarcas Aztecas needed to be killed, Carlito would take on the most important jobs personally. The record of times that he performed these tasks was shown by the small tattoos of skulls with crossbones on his left shoulder blade, which he now displayed eighteen.

He was damned callous and uncaring to anyone, with the exception of Kittygato. It was said that the only time he would ever smile would be in her presence. And it was the truth, this man and woman, so cold-blooded in the way the conducted their business and lived their lives, they were in an acute bizarre way, totally in love with one another.

Carlito now sat in the middle of his sofa with his arms spread on either side of him, resting them on the back. His head was tilted backward and he looked upwards to the ceiling. He sat there for a few seconds when then up from behind him came Kittygato. She was wearing also a woman’s version of the tank top that Carlito wore. She also wore red shorts that rode up her buttocks slightly, the shorts were commonly referred to as “hoochie mama pants” by all those in the community, and she also had matching red high healed shoes. The tank top and shorts were one size too small, which accentuated her voluptuous figure. Her hair was long, curled and bleached blond which blended well with her dark brown eyes. She also bore some tattoos. On her right shoulder blade there was a rose with thorns that had the name Carlito above it. On her leg was the symbol for Los Aztecas Monarcas.

She had in her hand a cold bottle of Carta Blanca beer, which she handed to Carlito. She then bent over and kissed him very passionately, and then began to massage his shoulders as he drank the beer. She continued with the massage until he was finished with the beer, she then took the empty bottle from him, stepped around from the sofa and placed it on the table in front of him. She then sat down closely next to him on the sofa and placed her head on his shoulder, he then embraced her and began to stroke her bleached hair. He then drew her closer, continuing to stroke her hair with one hand, and caress her bare arm with the other.

If anyone else were to witness this, they would assume that this man and woman were just average hard working Mexicans in America toiling to get a better life. They both now appeared as a couple anyone would want to be neighbors with. As if they both had just arrived home and were resting together after a long hard day’s labor. No one would ever suspect how it really is. The brutality and corruption they both were involved with in order to live their lifestyle. It would not be questionable with this seemingly loving couple.

They both stayed in each others embrace for a few more minutes, then Carlito looked down at her, and she up at him to return his gaze. He then gave her a kiss on her lips and then motioned to her with his head for them both now to go to bed. She nodded back to him and he then released her from his embrace. She stood and held her hand out to him, he took it and then he stood up himself. They then both left the room with her leading him by the hand. In a few seconds - - -

 

- - - the lights were then turned off, and he saw only the empty darkened room. He then watched with the mirror and monocular for a few more seconds then placed them both on his chest. He looked up to the night sky, once again to the small pinpricks of lights that are the stars. He recalled being with the elders on nights like this, back in the land where the sky would be as bright as the city around him because of all the stars you would see. Where you could see as many stars as there were grains of sand on any beach.

“Soon.” He thought, “Soon this mission will be complete, all strategies and counter strategies are planned. If all goes well, this time, it will be over in a matter of seconds. I will enter, neutralize target, and remove what gives him his power … all done in a matter of seconds. In … execute the mission … and then out.” He then began to feel the anticipation that comes from planning the strike. Over again through his head of how he will enter, for he has already been inside a few times, of how he will come up to the target from behind, incapacitate him , then … then … then he stopped.

Something.

Something. Something was … asking him.

The anticipation of the mission was pulled from his mind and body because he sensed … something. What is that? He thought he heard the sound of the drums coming from his left. Then the wind chimes, they seemed to come from the ledge of the brick edge way, just at his feet.

“What?” He whispered to the sky. He could feel the words coming into his head, and then … the words burst into his mind. There came questions to him in a thought.

It made him pause when the questions shaped in his mind. The questions, “Aren’t you afraid? Aren’t you afraid of what you’re returning too? Aren’t you afraid of what you’re becoming once again?”

He now felt totally relaxed, breathing calmly. He thought of how he was then, back when he was happy. He thought of what he was saved from, and how it was he was saved. He thought of the man and woman he had put under his surveillance for all these months. How this strange couple were so in love that you could see it from a distance. He then thought of how once …

“No!” He whispered to himself with gritted teeth. Then the anger and rage began to return, “No! That was different. It was people like them, those two, people like them that made me … return to this.” He then turned onto his stomach, anger beginning to return swiftly, he crawled on his hands and feet backwards to a point where he knew he would not be detected and then stood, looking at the building across the street. He was now standing erect, his fists and teeth clenched. “Don’t even compare them to … what was.” He whispered angrily to himself. He then looked to the building that was directly next door to the one which he was standing atop of; it was equally at four stories high. He then began to make a running dash towards the building next to his, using the front parts of his feet to make his running silent, just as the elders had thought him. To run in silence … like the wolf.

He quickly came to the ledge and placed down his right foot on top of it and then thrust himself up higher into the air, over the forty foot drop between the buildings, then landing onto the ledge of the building next store just as silently. He stood, again looking to the building across the street and to the window of the darkened room that he was watching. “Soon,” he whispered feeling his blood pumping throughout his body from his returning rage, “yes … very soon.”

 

 

 

Part II - Chapter 8: A SPECIAL VISITOR

 

Chapter 8

A Special Visitor
(Ó 2009)

Seven Weeks Later

“So… you wanted to see us Boss?” Noel asked as he stood in the doorway of the office of Captain Michael Xiang. David was standing directly behind him.

“Yes Noel, you and David please come in and close the door behind you.” The Captain answered as he motioned them to enter. “Boys, we have a guest.” He then nodded to the corner of his office, and there standing holding a can of Coca-Cola Classic was Sergeant Ernie Adams.

“Hey Dudes.” Ernie said raising his can in a toast to them both.

 

David and Noel both were now inside the office and David shut the door behind him. “Hey Ernie,” Noel said extending his hand, “haven’t seen you for a long while.”

“Yeah Ernie,” David then said, “haven’t seen you since the hospital visit with the Gemster, I take it you have some sort of news from the front?”

“I just may have so guys,” Ernie said with a smile, “sit down, and let me fill you in.”

 

“Sergeant Adams just may have something that will be of interest to us all I believe.” Said the Captain.

Ernie Adams then produced three large manila envelopes, the type used for large documents that each had a tie string. He handed one to each man and then they all sat down in the chairs around the Captains desk. Each man opened the enveloped and took out the contents. Inside there were four photographs and a report. The photos were of a heavyset African-American woman that appeared to be in her mid to late twenties. These photos were taken during a surveillance of this woman, for they all were taken from a distance. The report that was enclosed was a timetable that pertained to the young woman.

“Gents, the woman in these photos is named Tiandra … Tiandra Holloway.” Ernie said, “She has recently become a special guest that has been visiting one Percy W. Higgins … and his mother. Now Percy has had the amount and the variety of his visitors cut back drastically over the past few weeks. You see, word on the street is that he has been quickly replaced. His bodyguards are no longer any use to him; Bigguns is still in a coma, and ‘D’? Well … ‘D’ has been reduced down to the equivalent of a big dumb kid. Your boy fucked them both up real good … for life.

“Percy has just started the beginnings of his rehab, that’s when Tinadra here started showing up. She was a fresh new face, so we began to tail her, and it did not take long for us to take some interest in her. That first photo there is of her leaving the hospital. The second photo is of her going into the home of Percy’s mother; if you look at the timetable you’ll see she had quite a long visit.” Ernie then held up the timetable report and showed where it was.

“The third photo is of her speaking with some of the new head honchos of the 4-S.” He continued, he then held up the last photo proudly, “And this friends is the icing on the cake, this is the photo of her returning to her place of employment.”

“How’s that the icing?” David asked.

“Because dude, after we saw where her job is, we did a little background check, and what we found just may make you cum in your shorts.”

“Okay Ernie, enough with the dramatics,” said Noel, “who is this lady.”

“It’s not who she is,” Ernie answered, “it’s who she works for, and how she’s related to this person. It turns out that Tiandra is employed by her Aunt, in fact she is her Aunt’s number one assistant.”

“Okay Ernie,” David said, “I’ll let you have your fun, okay and just who is her Aunt?”

“Dee Dee Stillwater.” Ernie said, smiling sardonically. 

Dee Dee Stillwater, the name brought silence to David and Noel. “Dee Dee Stillwater, the Alderman? Or Alderwoman? What ever the hell she is.” Asked Noel.

“That’s correct guys,” Ernie answered, “Alderman Dee Dee Stillwater, the black tornado of the south side.” 

Dee Dee Stillwater was the elected Alderman of the poorest and most crime ridden wards in the city of Chicago. She had “served” the people of her ward now for over two decades and has since built for herself a quite powerful political machine. How else could you explain why she would always run for re-election totally unopposed? Anyone that lived in her ward could tell you that life for them has absolutely had no change for the better in any way since she has been in office. Yes, they could tell you, however no one would dare ever tell her. 

She was known in Chicago for her signature African headwear and her large framed eyeglasses. She kept herself in office with three simple, one word concepts. Intimidation, anger and ignorance. She would intimidate anyone who opposed or questioned her actions. Mostly by using charges of racism, even if they themselves were Americans of African decent. In the Chicago City Hall if you disagreed with her, you were a racist. If you debated against her and her views, you were a bigot. She kept her electorate angry by using the old standby scapegoats of “corporate greed” and that “wealthy white America has ways to always keeps black folks down”. However, most of all, she used ignorance of her electorate, everything that kept them down and “in there place” was because of “powerful Republicans in Washington DC” and “powerful white lobbyists” etc. You see, to Dee Dee Stillwater, it was always somebody else’s fault, and in her ward, it always worked, and she made sure of it.

David and Noel looked at each other and then to Ernie. “Holy shit.” Noel then said.

“Yeah, holy shit indeed.” Ernie said, “I’ve always been suspicious of that bitch, and I never liked her to begin with. She makes it hard for cops to do their job. I’ll bet my pension that if I pulled that bull dykes pants down you would find that there would be a big blue blotch on her huge ass that was once a 4-S tattoo. What do you think Dave?”

David looked at Ernie and said, “Politicians … and missing money? You only need first grade arithmetic to add all that together.”

Ernie then said, “Yeah, and there’s still buzz on the street about that missing cash. We understand that the Columbians are just as pissed off today as they were that first night. They didn’t appreciate the fact that all their work, time and effort into that deal was wasted. The want compensation, that same old bullshit about, you know respect and street credit. They lost face, and they’re gonna make heads roll if retribution isn’t made. There’s a lot of tension still out there on this matter boys.”

David then leaned back in his chair, sighed and began rubbing his eyes, “Damn, he may have really done it now.”

“Who’s that?” Ernie asked.

“The Tapper, if we start to connect some dots here, I think that our boy may just have started to brew up another one of our famous Chicago political scandals, I mean a shit storm of great proportions.”

“Yeah, isn’t it great?” Ernie asked smiling, “I would love to bring a couple of those assholes down, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, I would … but …”

“But what?”

Captain Xiang then interceded, “What I believe that Detective Todd and Jaworski believe is that yes, bringing down a corrupt political official will be great. It’s just when dealing in these matters, the good will get hurt long before the bad, if we don’t work this right. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, yeah. I understand.” Ernie said with a disgusted tone, “You’re saying to back off, right?”

“You couldn’t be more wrong Sergeant.” Xiang said sternly, “I’m saying that we all have seen Ms. Stillwater and her cronies in action. If she even has the slightest hint that we know just this much about what may be going on, if she thinks that we are investigating this and even pursuing it at all, she will rally her troops behind her and will do everything she can to bring us all down. It will be the ‘big bad Chicago Police’ trying to stop the work of the ‘African-American Amazon warrior’ who is fighting for her constituents, and that this is just one of the many ways the Chicago Police are trying to hold ‘her people’ back. It will, and I mean will, be nationwide news, tabloid news, and she will win, I guarantee it. We all will be drawn and quartered by her and her people in all the black news media, we may even be forced to resign is disgrace.”

“He’s right Ernie,” David said, “when it comes to Dee Dee Stillwater we need to practice the three P’s.”

“The three P’s?”

“Yes, patience, persistence … and damn proof.” David answered.

Noel then said, “Dee Dee Stillwater is a master manipulator of the media, because she knows how it really is with them these days. It’s not about what‘s right, it’s about ratings and the truth be damned.”

“So we have got to be very careful here.” David said. “We all got to tread very lightly here, I’d like to see her go down more as well as anyone, but I don’t want any of us being thrown to the jackals either.”

“So how do we do this?” Ernie asked.

“The way you have so far,” Xiang said, “you’ve done two of the P’s; you’ve gotten what you have so far with patience and perseverance.”

“Yeah, that shit does seem to work, doesn’t it?” Ernie said sarcastically.

“Tell your crew to be extra cautious now.” Xiang continued, “Don’t be concerned with how much time that this all will be taking.”

“Yeah,” Noel said, “one thing Dave and I have learned is that time can become endless with what you need to do.”

“So what should be the next step here?” Ernie asked looking at the Captain.

“The best possible thing you can do is to find someone that we can plant in Ms. Stillwater’s ward office, someone new and totally unknown and above all someone you personally trust … unconditionally.”

“Someone right out of the academy maybe?” Noel asked.

“Or someone riding a desk or on some shit duty somewhere that’s looking for a break.” The Captain answered.

“I may have a couple of people in mind.” Ernie said.

“Are they black?” David asked, “Because Dee Dee will not have anyone work for her unless they are?’

“Aw, but ain’t that discrimination?” Ernie asked mockingly.

“Not in her eyes.” David answered.

“Yeah, these gals are black, and I think I can see if we can get one of them in.” Ernie said.

“You’ll have to find a way to get the one we choose to live in Stillwater’s ward, get them a dead end job somewhere as a cover.” David said. “Get them an apartment; maybe even put them on public assistance or something like that. Get some fake credentials on them; give them a background story that is a tearjerker and all. Also, make them a radical type, the whole nine yards. You know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I got cha.” Ernie said, “I’ll get going on this right now.”

The Captain then said, “We need to know who this person is once you decide who. Bring her here, let us meet her and get her prepared for what she needs to do.”

“Well then I guess I’d better go see my ladies then and give them the proposition.” Ernie said as he stood up. “Yeah I know, that sounded wrong. I’ll talk to the ladies, you know, maybe we could get them both in on it.”

Noel then thought for a second and then added, “You know, that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. Usually people would suspect that there would be one person as a plant if they thought they were under surveillance, not two. Maybe Ernie’s got something there.”

“Yeah, that does sound good.” David said. “What do you think Boss?’

“Yes, I like it. They could watch each others backs also just in case.” Xiang said, “Bring them both in Sergeant, we’ll go on from there.”

Ernie then shook hands with all three men and started to step towards the door. He placed his hand on the doorknob and before he turned it, he looked at the other men and said, “Okay guys, let’s go to war.” He then turned the knob and left the office.

When the door closed David let out a sigh, leaned forward in his chair and placed his face in his hands, “Oh that back crackin’ motherfucker.”

“What is it Dave?” Asked Noel.

David rubbed his eyes and hid his face in his hands, “Is this what he was trying to tell us? Is this what he wants us to find out?” He then looked up from his hands, “Is this what he knows about? Because I tell you if it is, we have now landed in a total world of shit.”

Xiang then said, “David, I know your concern, but if this woman is involved with what happened then we have to find out. If there is nothing, we’ll drop it, and she’ll never know that it happened.”

“But Boss, I’m almost sure she’s involved with this?’ David said. “What Ernie said when he called her a bull dyke? That is not off the target at all, because do not forget … Dee Dee Stillwater has a taste for young girls, after all … her name is on file there in Divic’s ‘Pink Book’.”

 

Part II - Chapter 7: THE BEST FRIENDS YOU'LL EVER HAVE

Chapter 7

The Best Friends You’ll Ever Have

(Ó 2009)

University of Chicago Hospital

Intensive Care Unit

17 Days Later

 

Leticia Higgins had arrived early that morning just as she had the previous sixteen mornings before to take her place by her son’s bedside. It had become a daytime vigil for her, in fact to would always go well into the evenings. Her son Percival had awoken around the second day after his surgeries. For the first five days he spoke not a word. He would lie staring at the ceiling. When his mother or the ICU nurses would speak to him he would not respond. However, especially at night, he would react in an alarmed manner at the slightest sound that seemed out of place. His eyes would open wide and they would dart around in every direction looking for whatever the cause for the noise would be. His right arm, which still performed well for him and seemed unaffected by the attack, would flail around in his fright. Sometimes the nurses and orderlies were forced to restrain his arm down to the bed in order for him not to endanger his condition any further.

Mrs. Higgins was pleased this morning because her son seemed to be calmer than he was on any of the other days. This also pleased her because that morning she was accompanied by Pastor Ben Butler from the Missionary Baptist church of which she was a member. She now believed in her heart that her son Percival needed to be “saved by the good graces of Jesus,” now more than ever. That they both needed “God’s love and guidance” through this “dark time” in their lives. Pastor Butler was there to counsel Percival whenever he decided that he wanted to “be saved.”

Leticia Higgins now stood next to her sons bedside, leaning over so that she could lock her eyes onto his face that was secured in the halo brace. She new his attention was now confined to her. “You need to do this baby; you need to ask for God’s love and guidance because we have some rough times ahead of us.” She said, holding her ever-present Bible in her hand and shaking it slightly for him to see.

“Mama,” he answered her with an annoyed tone, “Believe me, God and Jesus both can’t save my ass now.”

“Please don’t use that tone or language to me Percival,” Leticia said to her son, “I know you hurtin’ baby, but that ain’t no cause to talk in front of your mama that way.”

“Listen son,” Pastor Butler said stepping up to the bed and beside Mrs. Higgins, he then spoke in a concerned and eloquent manner as he continued, “I know that not only are you hurting the flesh but also in the spirit. I also know you’re very angry for what has happened to you. You’re going to need time … time to get this anger out of your heart. And I know that bringing Jesus into your heart and into your life will not only help you rid yourself of that anger, but He will uplift you and help you through not only this difficult time right now, but also for all those that lie ahead for you. He will help you to move on with your life and yes enjoy it. I’m telling you son, with Jesus there are no boundaries, there are no obstacles. But, I won’t push Him on you, I can only tell you who He is and how He loves you and He so much wants to be in your life. Only time can make you see the glory of Him, and that’s what you need son is time, and we have plenty of that.”

Suddenly a voice broke in from behind them. “Well, I beg to differ with you on that one Reverend.” Leticia and Pastor Butler turned around to see David Todd leaning at the doorway of the room. “Oh now, isn’t this just the coziest of family moments?” He said sarcastically.

“What are you doing here?” Leticia Higgins asked in a demanding tone.

“Oh, me and my friends just stopped by to pay Percy here a little visit that’s all.”

“What friends?” She asked angrily.

David waved to summon whoever was behind him and then he entered the room. Following him were Noel, Captain Xiang, Celia Hanna and Ernie Adams. David stepped up to the foot of the hospital bed and said to Pastor Butler, “Yes Reverend, I believe that Jesus would love for Percy here to accept Him as his Lord and Savior and all, but ‘plenty of time’ as you said? No, I don’t think so.”

“That’s him baby.” Mrs. Higgins said to her son, “That’s the man who gave me all that disrespect.”

Gem P shifted his eyes downward to look at David, “Is that true motherfucker?”

“Guilty as charged.” David answered smiling back at Gem P and waving to him.

“Keep smiling at me like that motherfucker,” Gem P said with an ominous tone, “you know what I can do to you? You think you can just come in here and fuck with ME? Your gun and badge don’t mean shit to me man. Do you know who I AM motherfucker? I AM Gem P, and I will have your balls cut off and placed in a solid gold bowl on my fuckin’ kitchen table.”

David looked at Gem P as if he was some sort of joke, he then turned to all the others and asked, “Excuse me, but is this the part where I’m supposed to be quaking in my shoes?”

Adams crossed his arms and answered, “Apparently so.”

David and Adams then stared at each other for a silent five seconds, and then both said aloud at the same time “NAAHHH!”

David looked at Leticia and said, “Gee Mom, you were doing so well a few seconds ago scolding your little boy here on his language. Why did you stop now? Or do you pick and choose that also?”

Leticia stood speechless, then she raised an upright index finger to David and started to say, “You watch your mouth to me cop, or else I’ll - - -”

Then Noel interrupted her in mid-sentence by waving his hand at her and picking up a chair, “Oh save it lady!” He then walked swiftly past her and placed the chair right beside Percival’s bed, sitting down at the upper end where his head lay on his left side. David in turn also took a chair and placed it directly across from Noel on the right side of Gem P’s head. They both were now sitting in a shoulder-to-shoulder position to Gem P, David looking across his shoulder at Percival, as well as Noel sitting from his side. They both were level with Gem P’s head, however since his head was secured with the halo brace he was unable to turn his head to look at the men on either side of him. David and Noel both strategically placed themselves in their position, and both watched as Gem P tried desperately to make eye contact with them. He strained his eyes from side to side trying to see them.

David then said, “Hello … Percy.”

Gem P gave a small snort from his nose and said, “Nobody calls me that man.”

“Calls you what?” David asked, purposely tormenting him.

“Nobody calls me that name, mother fucker.”

“Why not? That’s your name isn’t it? I mean, speaking of mothers and everything that is the name your mama over there gave you. Isn’t it … Percy?”

Gem P pursed his lips in anger and answered, “Man, when I get fuckin’ outta here, I’m gonna - - -”

“You ain’t gonna do SHIT … Percy!” David snapped.

There was some silence for a few seconds, then, with his eyes looking upward to the ceiling, Gem P asked, “Why you dissin’ on me man? Why you showing so much disrespect for me and my mother?”

“Well, the answer to that is quite obvious … Percy. It’s because that … I do not have any respect for you or your mother.” David then stood up so that Gem P could see his face as he spoke. David’s teeth were slightly clenched, “Why, you may ask is it that I have no respect for you and your mom? Because you both are low life scum sucking pigs that’s why. You had a sack of shit daddy who left your sorry ass and hers, so what did you do? You decided to take it out on the world. You became a shit for brains gang banger. You’ve made your money by beating and robbing and killing, or by prostituting someone’s daughter. You made tons of cash by extorting and instilling fear to innocent people around you. You made your living by supplying drugs to addicts, and above all, I disrespect you for doing it to your own people. You are the lowest of the low, you have exploited your own people and you lived high on the hog off their misery. And I have no respect for your mommy here, because she stood by and let you do it, all the time thumping the ‘Good Book’ and hiding behind Jesus.”

Gem P then tried to grab David with his free arm; however, David caught him by the wrist clamping his hand down tightly around it. Gem P then said through his own clenched teeth, “You fucking white motherfucker, I’ll kill ya, you just wait motherfucker … I’m gonna kill you!”

David then pushed down Gem P‘s arm and held it down to the mattress, “Now now … Percy, be careful there, I can arrest your broken ass carcass for assaulting a police officer you know.”

Pastor Butler then tried to speak up, “Officer! Unhand that man now or else - - -”

“Or else what … Reverend? Don’t give me any of your bullshit either,” David said to him, “you’re as much as part of it as she and he are, just by your apathy and going along with it. You’re supposed to be God’s representative on earth … and you allowed him and her to harm God’s children. You failed at your job. What would God say to you? Huh?”

The Reverend was silenced. Then Noel stood up, looked down at Gem P, and said, “Besides … Percy here is just putting up a great front. He’s bullshitting us all now anyway.”

Leticia asked, “Putting on a front? Putting on a front how?”

Noel answered all the while looking down at Gem P, “He’s putting on a front because Percy here doesn’t want any of you to know that right now he’s just scared shitless. Not from his present predicament, but from the other thing. Right … Percy?”

Gem P looked over to him and asked, “What the fuck you talkin’ about man?”

 

Noel gave him a sardonic smile and asked gently, “How you sleeping at night Percy? Having any bad dreams?”

Gem P glanced at Noel and kept his stare on him. “What you talking about?”

“Oh I think you know Percy.” Noel answered, “You just lying here and all. You have lots of time to just think about what happened here to you, and about who did it. Come on Percy, you know exactly what I’m speaking of. How is it here at night when you’re by yourself … all alone? Afraid to go to sleep are you?”

Percy looked right at Noel and said, “Gem P ain’t afraid of nothin’.”

David then spoke in an unnerving tone as he leaned over closer to Gem P’s face, “Here’s a newsflash for you … Percy. Gem P? Gem P … is dead. He no longer exists. He died on the floor of his living room some seventeen nights ago right there in front of his ‘throne.’ And all that was left of him is lying in this bed here, shitting and pissing in an adult sized diaper. All that‘s left of Gem P is the broken down remains of one Percy W. Higgins”

Percy glared at David and said through his clenched teeth, “Fuck you man.”

“Fuck me?” David asked sarcastically, “Naw, your fucking days are over … Percy. Besides, my partner and I are here only to confirm something with you then we’re going to be on our way. Then we’re going to leave you with these fine people and you’re probably never going to hear from me or Noel again.”

“Who the fuck is they?”

“They? Why … Percy, those are your new friends,” David answered, “probably the best friends you’ll ever have. Because you see … Percy, all your present friends are gone, and you have made some new enemies.”

Gem P didn’t answer back to him; Noel then said, “That’s true … Percy.” Percy’s eyes then glanced at him, “You and your crew pissed off some pretty predominant Columbians it seems, and inconvenienced the hell out of them in fact. I don’t know if you have noticed it or not, but visits from your former comrades in arms at the 4-S have gotten very scarce over the past few days haven’t they? That’s because you’ve been voted out and replaced.”

“Street politics,” David said, “ain’t it the shits?” As the conversation continued, Percy’s eyes just went back and forth between them as each spoke.

Noel then said, “That’s right … Percy, you’re out, you … and your two apes are powerless to help you now too. Let’s see, Bigguns is still in a coma, and it’s likely that he ain’t coming out of it.” He looked over to David then asked, “And what about the other guy?”

“D?” David said, “Well, I understand that ‘D’ may now have the mental capacity now of a five or six year old. He keeps drifting in and out of his comas, but it looks as though he’s going to pull through. He’s probably going to be like Lenny in ‘Of Mice and Men‘, but he’ll be much more active than you … Percy.”

“Lenny in what?” Percy asked.

“In ‘Of Mice and Men’,” David answered, “You know, the book by John Steinbeck. It’s an American classic. Oh yeah that’s right, you’re too stupid to read anything but the funny papers.”

Noel then said, “Your ex-friends are now distancing themselves from you … Percy, they know when they are outmatched. Those people from down South America way are nothing and nobody to fuck with or fuck over. And that’s what they think you and your two wounded soldiers down the hall did to them.”

“Fuck them over how?” Percy asked.

“Come on … Percy,” David said aloud, “you lost something of theirs. Word on the street it was a pretty substantial package that you misplaced.”

“What fuckin’ package?” Percy answered confused.

David leaned closer to Percy’s face, smiled and then whispered, “Percy … the money. You lost their money, and those gentlemen from Bogotá want it.”

“I didn’t lose no fucking money man, it was taken from me by …” Percy then went silent.

“Oh Percy, Percy, Percy.” Noel said, “This was your first time dealing with the Columbians wasn’t it? You don’t understand. To them, that money IS already theirs. They went through the time and effort to deliver whatever it was that you had ordered and they expect to be paid. They kept their end of the deal. Now, they may have had to dump whatever it is you ordered from them to another buyer for a great discount. But they don’t give a shit, as far as they are concerned, YOU still have THEIR money.”

“And they want it.” David interjected. “And if they don’t get it, they’ll take something else from you.” Then David looked at Gem P’s mother, and this time she expressed fear.

“But the fuckin’ money was taken from me man.” Percy said.

“Percy … they don’t care.” David said to him calmly, “You are, or now I should say were, the head honcho. You made all the deals. Do you know what Harry Truman had on his desk?” Then David turned away from Gem P for a second and said to Leticia, “Oh why am I asking him this? He’s to damn stupid to even know who Harry Truman is.” He looked back down to Gem P and spoke to him like he were a child in the first grade, “Harry Truman was one of the Presidents of the United States. He had a sign on his desk that said ‘The Buck Stops Here’, you are, again I mean were, the president of the 4-S, you were the main man, the man in charge, the man responsible for everything and every deal. The ‘buck’ stops with you … Percy, you had the money. They consider it theirs; you lost it, they want it. End of story.”

Silence came to the room, then Noel leaned in to Gem P’s face and said, “Percy … always remember why this happened to you.” Percy’s eyes widened and Noel continued, “Always tell the truth on everything that you have done.” Noel then smiled at Percy, “Sound familiar?”

Percy began to breathe heavily, at first, he felt great anger and it built up inside him. He was ready to scream obscenities at Noel, however the anger suddenly subsided and all he could do to answer him was to simply say, “Yeah.”

“If you do not do this I’ll return to you and make this worse for you, I promise you,” Noel continued, all the while Percy staring wide eyed at him, “I’ll be watching you always.” Noel looked down at him for another few seconds, “Do you think he’s still watching you … Percy?” Gem P just stared at him and said nothing. Noel then looked to David and said, “Well, I would have to say that … Percy … here has been attacked by our guy. What say you Dave?”

David then looked down to Percy and said, “Yes, I believe that … Percy … here has just confirmed it. He and his two buds down the hall were indeed attacked by our vigilante. How does it feel … Percy? You’re now in an elite group of men. What you all have in common is that all of you are scumbags. Look at the bright side, you’re on the same short list as Jared Bartholomew. You’re no better than him, and he’s no better than you.”

“You also have something now in common with us too … Percy.” Noel said.

“What’s that?” He whispered.

“We have absolutely no idea, not one clue, who it is that did this to you and your home boys.”

“Yeah,” said David, “We have no idea whatsoever. He could be anybody and be anywhere, anybody on the street that passes you by. He could be outside this hospital right now looking at the window of this room. Hell, he could even be the guy whose going to be mopping the floor out in the hall tonight, we don’t know. So, what do you think … Percy? You think he is?”

“He is what?”

“Watching you, always, like he said.” David answered; he was smiling slightly, “Because personally, I do. I think he’s watching you still and will be … always. Think about it. He had to spend quite a lot of time watching you already, there in your neighborhood, watching you, your comrades, all of you. Watching you and planning his action against you.” He then stood and looked to the Pastor, “You see the last guy he attacked? Well, he lived up north in Lake County, in a forest preserve. I can see how he could not be detected at all up there in the middle of the forest with the dark and all.” He then looked down to Gem P again, “But, he watched you, in an urban area, in a neighborhood, for a long time, and nobody there ever even had an inkling he was around. We checked, we asked everyone in the neighborhood around your house, asking them to think back at least six months or so, no one could come up with anything that was of the slightest suspicion.”

“Yeah, I think he’s watching you too.” Said Noel, “I mean what he did to you here? I think that was the easy part for him. It’s what he did to your two buddies down the hall. I mean he reduced them down to harmless little shitballs. Those two guys, I mean Jeez, you know them. Can you imagine what kind of man we’re dealing with here, and with the skills that he has to do these types of things? I mean, that is frightening man”

There was a silent pause, then David said, “You’re painted into the proverbial corner here … Percy.” Gem P then looked at him, “You have some Columbian ‘businessmen’ angry with you, you have the man that did all of this to you, watching you … always, and needless to say, you now have us up your ass, all your friends in the 4-S are jumping the ship and swimming far away from you. Is there anyone else that you know of that you have to worry about?”

Gem P remained silent, and then Noel said, “Is there … Percy, is there someone else that you have to be worried about?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Oh come on … Percy,” Noel said, “We’ve all established, and all here totally agree, that you’re just too damn stupid, too stupid in fact to keep that large amount of money, none the less raise it all up on your own.”

“That’s right … Percy,” David injected, “you don’t have the brain capacity to raise that much cash, none the less have it on you. We know you have an outside investor and … we want to know who it is.”

“I don’t know what you talkin’ about asshole,” Gem P answered with somewhat of a nervous tone and expression, “all that cash was mine, and that motherfucker jacked it from me.”

“Bullshit,” Noel said sarcastically, “c’mon … Percy … who fronted you all that dough? We all know how you all are. The second you have cash it all goes to cars, gold chains and babes. You all don’t have the business sense to make a deal this big, no less have that much cash lying around. You’re the stupid one here, don’t be that stupid to think that we are.”

“Come on … Percy. Who’s your benefactor, who’s your silent partner here?” Asked David.

Percy then went silent and stared straight up at the ceiling, David and Noel knew that he was not going to speak any further to the both of them.

Then David said in a sarcastic happy tone, “Well, that’s not why my partner and I are here anyway. We just came to see if it was the guy we’re looking for who may have done this to you, and you confirmed that. These people over there though, they are they ones who want to know all this other shit. We have our answer, our job is done here. Probably won’t be seeing that much of you anymore … Percy … unless of course we need you to help remember anything that may help capture your attacker.”

“Now we’ll leave you with your new friends Percy.” Noel said. “Be nice to them and they’ll be nice to you. Like we said, they are now the best friends that you’ll ever have. Hell, whom am I kidding? They’re now the only friends that you got. You have nothing now … Percy … nothing. You’ve been booted out of the 4-S, so I think that any help you give your new buddies here is what’s going to help keep your broken down ass and that big one of your mama’s here alive and un-tortured.”

David and Noel then left the bedside of Percy W. Higgins. Percy just lay there with a shocked expression on his face and then followed the two men the best he could with his eyes. He saw as his mother and the Reverend Butler step aside to let both men pass. “Good-bye … ma’am.” David said to Mrs. Higgins stalwartly as he passed and swiftly made his exit into the hallway.

Once in the hallway both men made their way to the elevator quickly and David pressed the button to summon the elevator car. Not a word was spoken between them. In a few minutes, the doors to the elevator opened and both men stepped into the empty car. David then pressed the button that would take them to the main lobby. Once the elevator was in motion Noel asked him, “Do you think they bought it?”

“Yeah, I sure hope so.” David answered, “You saw the look in his eyes when we left, and he knows we’re not shitting him about the Columbians either. He’s going to need whomever it is that supplied him with the money to offer some sort of protection. Even mom looked as if she were about to shit in her pantyhose. I wouldn’t be surprised if she too knows who it is that fronted her boy.”

“Huge fucking reality check for her as well.” Noel said.

“Maybe even for the good Reverend there too. Well, we left a huge stinking pile of shit back there, let‘s see what kind of flies it attracts.”

 

Part II-Chapter 6: NOT LOST, BUT TAKEN AWAY

 

Chapter 6

Not Lost, But Taken Away

(Ó 2009)

 

The next afternoon found David and Noel in a conference room at the University of Chicago Hospital where they were being brought up to date on the conditions of the three latest targets of the ‘Spinal Tapper’ vigilante. They were both briefed earlier that morning by Captain Xiang, in his office, informing them that the hospital is going to be required to make a log of all visitors to the three targets, hoping that maybe anyone who may have some sort of connection with the missing cash would try and pay Percival Wendell Higgins a visit.

In the room with them were the doctors and the staff that performed the surgeries on the three men and the reports were somewhat grim. These reports were substantiated to both David and Noel when they saw for themselves the three targets of the vigilante recovering in their separate facilities of the Intensive Care Unit. They would go to the bedside of each man, while holding in their hands two files that dealt with each. One file was that of their criminal history, the other was that of their existing medical circumstances. All three men had some major setbacks since they were first admitted to the hospital, however it appeared as they’ve been finally stabilized somewhat.

They started with Isaiah Jefferson Price, known to everyone on the street as “Bigguns”. At first sight of him both Noel and David found it hard to accept what was true. Price was a massive black man with cannonball shoulders and large biceps. His hair was done in tight corn rolls and it was spread to either sides of the pillow. The hospital bed looked as if it was on the brink of collapse under the weight of the enormous man who was motionless, except for the slow rise and fall of his chest as he was breathing. The medical report showed that Price had suffered substantial brain damage that was due from the interruption of the flow of blood and oxygen to his brain. He was in a coma, and the doctors had no idea when he would come out of it … if he ever would. They were amazed that Price was breathing on his own considering the amount of brain damage thus far but, “The human body and brain mysteriously find a way to keep life going somehow,” as one of the surgeons stated.

David and Noel then looked again to his criminal history; they had been doing so since they received the records of all three of the latest targets. It turned out that Price, along with Darnell Spence, were in fact Gem P’s two main enforcers and bodyguards. Price was the stronger physically of the two, known for his sadistic punishing of all those who would either cross Gem P, disrespected him, or tried to harm him in any manner. It was widely known by all in the 4-S that one of Bigguns favorite punishments was to play “tackle”. This consisted of having the person who ordered to be punished placed in a small fenced in yard, free to run about, while Bigguns chased and viciously tackled him as he did in his days playing high school football. Sometimes he would even tie the victim up by his feet, hoist him up from the ground and use him as a live tackle dummy.

David and Noel looked down at the once gridiron hero turned gang banger, his huge arms crossed on his abdomen. “Those aren’t arms,” Noel said, “those are somebody’s legs transplanted on his shoulders.” They both then took turns looking at the rope burn around the large neck of Isaiah Price that was deep and swollen. They could tell by the sight of the scar that whatever it was around his throat had been clamped down very forcefully.

What seemed ironic to them both was that lying here was a man who once was feared on all the high school football fields around the state of Illinois. Who once would maul down the biggest and strongest young men on his opposing teams defense. Who could easily bench press over three hundred and fifty pounds. Who was greatly feared by those in opposing gangs. That this huge man with the enormous strength and reputation, was brought down with what appeared to be a piece of rope no longer than eighteen inches in length.

 

Next, they came to the bedside of Darnell Spence, known on the street as simply “D”. The medical report showed so far that Spence might be the luckiest of the three targets … so far anyway. He had severe brain damage, also from the interruption of the flow of blood and oxygen to his brain. However, he would open his eyes every now and then. The doctors and nurses would try to communicate with him whenever he did open his eyes but with no avail. The doctors informed them that they would have to wait and see if Spence would recover enough to see how extensive his brain damage is to the normal functions of his body.

His criminal record though revealed that if Price was the stronger of the two, Spence was the more sadistic. If Isaiah Prices favorite punishment was his tackling, Darnell Spence also had his, it was rape. Spence would enjoy violating the women in the lives of those whom he was sent to do Gem P’s enforcing, most of the time right in front of their parents, husbands, brothers or boyfriends. However, his violation of these girls and women did not end there; he would always have to leave “his mark” as he called it. Darnell Spence would, after raping his victim; would then brand them, with a small special branding iron that he had specially made. He would brand them with a one inch sized capital “D”, which he would strategically place between one or two inches above his victims’ vagina. 

“I want to leave them more than just a couple of ounces of “D” juice.” he would sarcastically say to Isaiah Price, who would never participate in the rapes themselves, because he personally found the act “immoral“, however he would hold down and restrain the victims during their branding.

David and Noel then came to the bedside of Percival Wendell Higgins, known on the street and to everyone else as “Gem P”. He of course suffered the worst of the injuries that were sustained from the attack. Paralyzed from the shoulders down, however he may have complete control and movement in his right arm. He had to though be sent back twice for some additional emergency surgeries because of some internal bleeding and hemorrhaging in his spinal column. Something that the surgeons were suspicious of that may have come about from his attempts to set himself upward after the police initially found him.

Upon looking at his police record, which was rather extensive, David and Noel could see the history of his rise in power in the 4-S up to the point where he became the head of the street gang. That point came when he was the Number Two man in charge, then took over after the arrest, conviction, and life sentencing of his predecessor. 

Percival it seemed was always an angry and troubled youth. He had, what is to be unfortunate, the stereotyped story of a man in his position. Raised by a single mother, his father being unknown to him. His mother tried to put him on the righteous path when later in his boyhood she “found Jesus” and was “born again.” However, in Percival’s mind, Jesus was not around much to help pay bills and buy groceries, no matter how many Sundays he would go to the Church and watch his mother pray for it.

Therefore, at the age of thirteen, Percival found the South Side Stone Soldiers and quickly learned the art of surviving on the mean streets. To rob, steal, pimp, enforce the will of the 4-S, and yes, and even kill for them.

Percival’s mother, in the beginning, was incensed and dissatisfied in her son for becoming involved with such “riff-raff” as she called it back then. However, Percival started bring home money, lots of money, more than she had seen in years. Bills were being paid, groceries where then in the pantry and refrigerator, and the lifestyle of Ms. Higgins began to progress considerably. As her lifestyle improved, so too did her naïveté towards her sons “occupation”. She would cover her hypocrisy by telling him and everyone else that she would “Pray to the Lord Jesus to help him to find the right path and get saved”. She would then take the envelopes filled with cash that her son would secretly place in the drawer of the table next to her bed.

Moreover, subconsciously she knew that nobody would ever bring into question her taking of the money or bringing to her attention the double standards. She was after all the mother of “Gem P”, the soldier and now leader of the 4-S.

“It says here,” David said reading from the criminal record, “that the Gemster here is known for his anger and his temper.” He then closed the file, “I’d be pissed off at the world too if my mom named me Percy.” David said this though without his usual sense of humor. No laugh or smile, and Noel noticed this. In fact, Noel noticed that his partner seemed to be in a somber mood all day; he never smiled or made one of his usual wisecracks, not once. Noel figured that there might have been something personal going on, maybe an argument with Regina or something, so he didn’t pursue anything. 

He did though try his own attempt at some humor, “Is anyone around?” He asked.

“No … why?”

“Good.” he said and stepped right up to the right side of the hospital bed bending over Percival’s face which was straight upright and secured by a halo brace.. He was in a very deep sleep due to all of the painkillers and sedatives that were slowly being dripped into his bloodstream. Noel bent down and his face was just a few inches from the lips of Percival Higgins.

“What the hell you doing?” Asked David.

“I just gotta see for myself man.” Noel answered. He then placed his fingers on the lips of Gem P, being extra cautious as to not disturbed the halo brace. The fingers of his right hand above the upper lip, and those on his left hand just below the lover one. He then gently pulled Percival’s lips open and looked at his gold filled, jewel-encrusted teeth. “Holy shit Dave, you gotta see this.” He whispered enthusiastically to his partner.

“Ah man, you’re sick.” David said, however, he stepped up to the bedside and looked anyway.

“You think those are real diamonds bro?” Noel asked.

“I understand they are.”

“Looks like a diamond encrusted watchband or something.” Noel said, and then he released Percival’s lips. He saw no reaction from David, so then he asked, “You okay man? Something on your mind?”

“What? What do ya mean?”

“You seem kinda down today. You and Regina didn’t have a fight or anything did ya?”

“Regina and I fighting? No, it’s nothing like that. In fact, she and I are just great.”

“What is it then man?”

“I’ll tell you later outside, this ain’t the place for anything.” David then looked to the medical chart, “He’s pretty fucked up, he’s somewhere in between Jared and Divic.”

“Yeah,” Noel answered, “and his two home boys in the other rooms, I don’t think that they are going to be any better off.”

“We’ll have to see what’s in store for them when, and/or if, they come out of their comas.” David said, they both now stood facing Percival’s hospital bed, looking at both medical and police files.

Suddenly a woman’s voice spoke from behind them, “Just who in the Lord’s name are you two?”

David and Noel turned to see the source of the voice. Standing there was a woman of African decent; she looked to be in her early forties, quite an attractive woman in fact, with slightly graying hair that she wore in a tight bun. She was dressed conservatively in a blue dress that went below her knees with a black belt. In her arms was a Bible, which she clutched to her chest with both arms. David spoke, “Detectives David Todd and Noel Jaworski ma’am, we are here investigating the assault on this patient.”

“You? You two?” the woman said and her voice began to break while tears began to form in her eyes, “You two are the ones investigating just who did this to my baby?”

“Excuse me ma’am,” David then spoke sympathetically, “the patient is your son?”

“Yes, yes he is. That’s my baby boy.” the woman answered with her lips quivering, “And I know who you two are.” Her voice now had a tone of contempt for the both of them; she also wore expression on her face to match her emotion. “You the two cops that’s after that crazy man. That crazy man making it so that some people can never walk again. Puttin’ them in wheelchairs and such for the rest of their lives, aren’t cha? Aren’t cha both?”

“Yes ma’am, we are.”

“You think that this crazy man that you lookin’ for is the one who did this to my baby?”

“We have our suspicions ma’am,” David answered, “but we can’t confirm anything until we both are able to speak with your son. And from what his doctor informs us of, that may not be for another ten to fourteen days, maybe longer.”

“Ten to fourteen days huh?” Percevals mother said, her tone slightly more angry, “Sure, we’ll see about that.”

“I’m sorry Miss …?” David now asked somewhat confused at her attitude.

“Higgins. Leticia Higgins, and that’s my baby boy lyin’ there behind you all with tubes and needles runnin in him.”

“Well I’m sorry Ms. Higgins, but we don’t seem to understand what you mean.”

“You know good and well what I mean officer.” Ms. Higgins said sternly, “We’ll just see how hard you and your friend here work to find this crazy man who do this to my boy. He ain’t no rich mamby pamby white boy from the north side no. My baby is a hard workin’ black man from the poor neighborhood, he’s not goin’ to get any priority whatsoever outta you two.”

David looked at her dumbfounded, and then an emotion of disgust with the woman overtook him. He set his files down on the table next to the bed, placed his hands on his hips, turned his back on her and said with revulsion, “Aw … shit.”

“Don’t you go saying no swear words around me you hear?” Ms. Higgins said now raising her voice.

David snapped himself back around, stepped right up to Ms. Higgins, and said sternly to her face, “And don’t you dare play that race card bullshit with me lady.” His teeth were now clenched “Jeez, that shits getting so old that it squeaks. You want to know why your baby is here? Well here’s a reality check for you. If this is the work of our ‘crazy man’ as you call him, then he had a reason to do this to your boy, and that’s because your boy is a hard worker all right. Hard working at pimping someone’s’ daughter, selling drugs to addicts and exploiting his own people.”

Noel was stunned to see such an outburst from David, which for him was unusual and extremely rare, and to a woman no doubt. “Hey Bro, cool your jets a little man, were in ICU for Christ’s sake.”

“Don’t you dare defend me by taking the Lord’s name in vain, don’t you blaspheme!” Ms. Higgins said pointing at Noel with a rigid index finger.

“Lady … back off of us.” David said to her firmly, yet serenely. “Your ‘baby’ is also here because he’s the leader of one of the most notorious street gangs on the south side of Chicago. He’s responsible for hundreds of people being beaten, robbed and raped, and even killed. And now he’s in an elite group of people. The other people that have been attacked? Two were rapists, one liked to have sex with preteen boys, and the other was in the sex slavery business. The ‘crazy man’ targeted your ‘baby’ for a reason. Don’t you go trying to defend that shit to me while holding a Bible to your chest because that won’t shield you. God doesn’t like ugly.”

Leticia Higgins was struck silent, even the expression on her face showed that she was at a loss for words, and that she was looking for some sort of comeback line. Finally she said, “My Percival is a good man, he worked very hard all these years to support his mama.”

David’s face now showed an appearance of complete repugnance for the woman in front of him, he crossed his arms and laughed slightly. He then looked at her and said calmly, “You know, Percy here is also known to commit bribery from time to time. I guess his bribery has no borderline.”

“And just what do you mean by that?” Leticia demanded.

“He’s managed to bribe his own mother away from her Lord and Savior to blind herself to what a real scumbag her ‘baby’ is. Lady, you‘re all bought and paid for.” David then looked to Noel, “C’mon Ski, let’s leave ‘mommy” here with her ‘baby’, besides the smell of bullshit is mixing in with the other smells from this bed and if I don’t leave now, I’m gonna puke.”

David retrieved his files then stepped quickly past Leticia with Noel directly behind him. They then heard her shout to them “My boy don’t like it when people show me any disrespect!”

David stopped and turned to her and said to her, “I’m afraid your son is in no position to do anything about that anymore … MA’AM!”

Leticia Higgins became more incensed, “You just wait! You ain’t heard the last of this!”

David now had a sarcastic smile come across his face. He was about to make another wisecrack to the mother of Gem P when he felt Noel suddenly grab him by his shirt at the shoulder and give him a harsh tug, “C’mon Dave, Jeez it’s enough, she just a stupid old broad.” David turned his face to his friend, Noel then continued to say in a more subdued manner, “C’mon man, you’re making yourself look like a friggin idiot in front of these other people. Let’s go man, now.”

David saw the concerned look on his partners face and then broke from his grip. He then headed towards the elevators. Noel was right behind him, concerned for his friend. David pushed the button to summon the elevator, then began to pace as he waited for it to arrive. “Fucking bitch.” he said under his breath.

“Dave, what is it man? I’ve never seen YOU have such a short fuse in my life dude.” Noel said trying to consol him.

“Can you believe that bitch?” David asked more calmly. “She dares to question what we are doing? While that piece of shit son of hers has gotten away with what he has? Shit!” The elevator door then opened and David abruptly stepped in with Noel following. The doors shut behind them leaving them both alone in the elevator car. Silence then came in the small compartment, David leaned his back to the side of the car, and within two seconds, both men felt it moving downward.

Noel let his friend calm down for and didn’t say a word to him until the elevator doors opened and they stepped out onto the main lobby. “C’mon Dave,” he said calmly, “what gives? What’s bothering you man? Dumb bitches like her never got to you like that before. As, a matter of fact, dumb assholes never did either. C’mon, you can tell me. What is it?”

David stopped for second, and then motioned with his head for Noel to follow. They both then began to make their way to the entrance of the hospital. “He had to come back didn’t he?” David said, “He had to come back. Why couldn’t he just stay gone? You know what I mean don’t ya?”

“Yeah I do.”

“I mean you feel it don’t you?”

“Feel what?”

“C’mon Ski, it’s like it was shut off then just turned right back on again, the craziness. You know how crazy this thing made us right?”

Noel nodded slowly in agreement, “Not only us, but the wives as well.”

“Exactly,” David said, “well, that insanity just switched itself on again in me last night, it’s like as strong as before, and like it’s never gone away. I’m back to the way I was before man, and it’s making me nervous.”

“I’m not gonna lie to you bro, I’m feeling the same way.”

“Yeah, but now there’s something different.” David said as they reached the large glass door that was the entryway of the hospital. Soon the stepped out in the warm humid air. David took a few steps out and then began to walk to where their car was parked. He stood close to the side of his partner and friend and said, “Last night, and the night before, some things seemed to be making some sort of sense to me, and it’s kind of strange.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think lately, over the past couple of nights, that I may have had some sort of revelation or something.”

“Revelation?”

“Yeah,” David said, now more calmly, “Take for instance the other night when I had the thought about the money, the idea that he’s trying to communicate and tell us something.” Then he began to speak a bit more agitated, “Hey there’s a thought. Why don’t we go back up there and ask mom if by any chance she knows where all that cash ended up at.”

“Relax there partner.” Noel said, placing his hands on David’s shoulders as a way to tell him to stay put where he was. He then quickly brought the subject back to the vigilante, “You really believe he’s trying to tell us something? Trying to lead us to something else?”

“Yes,” David answered and then he stopped walking. He looked into the eyes of his friend and then said, “Because last night, I got home around eleven thirty or so. I get out of the car, and I’m the only one outside in the neighborhood, and then I stop dead in my tracks because I got the most overwhelming feeling that … he was there … somewhere in the shadows … and he was there watching me.”

Silence fell between them, and then Noel asked, “Watching you? Really?”

“Yeah, really.” David answered, “I don’t mean a funny feeling, I’m talking something real strong, I felt him, and I would stake my life that somewhere in the neighborhood and he was there watching me, looking right at me from somewhere. Where? I don’t know. But he was there, I know it. I even stepped out to the sidewalk to look up and down the street. I still felt him watching me, while I was standing there looking for him. I must have stood there, looking for him, straining my eyes, up one end of the street and down the other, I must have been there doing that for about ten minutes.” He then looked at his friends’ emotionless face, “Yeah I know, after a while I waved it all off saying that I’m starting to go nuts all over again with this thing.” He then started again to make his way to where the car was parked, Noel staying right next to him. “So then I went into the house. I went into the den to put my files away and then I was going to go to bed. But, I just couldn’t do so without taking one more look outside, so I checked around again by looking out the window.”

“So, that’s why you got your ass all tied up in a knot with Gem P’s old lady?” Noel asked.

The then came to their car and David leaned up against it, he put his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and then he looked downward to the black asphalt, “No, that’s not it. After I left my office, I went upstairs to check on the kids. I looked into my boy’s room and there they were, sleeping as if the only bad thing in the world is the Cubs bullpen. Then I looked in on Nadine Rose, and looking at her made me forget how crazy I was just going. Then … I looked a Regina.”

David went silent and gave out a sigh, it appeared as if he were about to cry. Noel then stepped up, leaned on the car beside him, and said, “Hey bro, you okay? What is it? What is it man?”

David took in a deep breath and composed himself. He raised his head and looked around; he wanted to be sure that he and his friend were alone at that moment. “Tell me something Ski, and be totally honest with me.”

“What’s that bro?”

David looked at his partner right in the eyes and asked him, “Just how much do you love Mariola?”

Noel was taken aback, he then answered, but he stumbled through his answer, “Why I love her very much Dave, you know that.”

“No Ski,” David said, looking very seriously, “I mean it. I don’t want the generic answer, think about it for a few seconds and tell me. Speak to me through your heart. How much do you love Mariola?”

“Why are you asking me this man?” Noel asked solemnly.

“Okay man, I’ll help you out.” David said, now with a slight smile on his face, “After I checked on Nadine Rose I start to make my way to my bedroom. The door is ajar slightly and I see Regina asleep in the bed. I don’t know what it was, the dim lights or whatever, but I had my hand on the door knob and I was just about to open the door when I looked at her, and I just froze there in my steps. Because right there at that second, she was the most beautiful that I have ever seen her. Really man, I don’t want to sound mushy or anything like that. She looked so beautiful to me right there. Then I started thinking about us, about she and I being … you know … us. Memories firing in my head, and how she gave me my boys and my little girl. It was like I was in a rapture or something, and it all was so overwhelming that I actually had to wake her up to tell her that I love her.”

Noel raised his head up however he was speechless.

“So well, then we, you know, did it.” David said somewhat timidly, “and afterwards I was holding her close there in the dark of our room, in the security of our house, when then … I thought about him. The Tapper.”

Noel then had a confused look come to his face, “What in the hell made you think of him?”

“I started thinking about our initial theory about him, that he’s doing this because someone he cared for was hurt by someone, or maybe even killed. I started thinking as I was holding my Regina, I was asking, was this what was taken from him? Was there someone that he loved like I do Regina that was taken from him?” David then stood up from the car and faced his friend, “And then a terrible thought came to me, what if that’s what happened to him? What if that happened to me? What would I do if someone came along and … and … it’s just as hard for me to say it as it was to think it … what if someone came along and … killed Regina? What would I do?”

Noel stood there tightlipped and silent; he too now was starting to think about Mariola.

“Because I tell you Ski,” David said with some tears forming in his eyes, “I think I would be able to handle anything else but that. I mean you know, like a car accident, or getting sick, but hopefully old age. I know I could be able to handle losing her that way. But I’m not talking about losing her, but rather having her taken away. Someone coming along and in one motion, taking her from me. I don’t think I could have it like that, I think I would go as crazy as he has, and be doing what he does.”

Noel stood quiet; he had David’s words, thoughts and feelings swirling around in his head. He then said, “Dave, you sound as if you have sympathy for the guy.”

“If, and I do mean if, he had someone he deeply loved taken away from him, not lost like the ways I said before, but taken away, I mean killed, murdered, then I have to honestly tell you, yes, I have sympathy for him.”

“If that’s true, don’t you think that your sympathy could make things a bit complicated when we finally find him?”

David then took a deep breath through his nose and sighed, “Do you really think that we’re ever going to find him?”

Noel looked at his friend and answered, “No, but you never can tell what could happen.” He then looked to the ground and went quiet for a few seconds. He then said quietly, “And to answer your question from before, I’d be totally lost without Mari. I mean, hell yeah, I love her with every fiber of my being. If somebody came along and … did what you said, I’d be driven totally insane. Yes, I love her so much. She’s everything to me, the love of my life.”

David smiled at him then said, “I know you do man. But, that’s what’s been bothering me. That’s what’s been on my mind the past couple of days. He still may be communicating something else.”

“And what’s that?”

“If this is what’s motivating him, if the someone in his life was murdered, killed, or whatever, then it’s made me appreciate more what I got, what we got. I now want to hold it closer to me and protect it with everything that I got.”

“And you think that he may have lost … I mean had this person taken away from him by people with the likes of Gem P, Divic and the rest?” 

“Yes, but I can’t be sure, we’ll never know until we catch him,” David said, “but, it’s the best theory I got. When I sit and think about all this, I can see no other motivation why. I can see no other reason for him to be initially triggered off. Unless he’s completely nuts and just decided to go out and break people’s backs.”

Noel looked to the sky and said, “That’s one thing that has been driving me nuts about this whole thing, I mean it’s obsessing me. If, I mean when we catch this guy I want to know his story, I want to hear it, you know what I mean?”

“Of course I do.” David answered, “You don‘t think I want to know it too? But, this is what I think it is, and if it’s true, not only do I want to know his story, I want to know who she was.”

“Or he.”

“Yeah that’s true, you never know.”

“Jeez,” Noel said looking around their surroundings, “All this talk about this, if what you’re saying is what has happened to our guy, well, now you got me sympathizing for him.”

“It’s not that I am sympathizing, it’s just that, if this is what it is, I understand why he’s doing it.” David then looked to the ground and gave out a short laugh, “You know, my dear mother-in-law keeps telling me that God will tell me things through strange messengers.”

“What do you mean by that?”

 

“I mean it took some psycho vigilante to make me, and now I mean make us, both realize what a couple of really lucky bastards we are with what we both have at home.”

“Let’s get going man.” Noel said smiling.

Both men then got into their car, Noel on the driver’s side and David, the passengers. After David shut his door, he placed his hands on top of his head with his fingers interlaced. His head was tilted back to the headrest and he said aloud, “Oh Shit man.”

Noel, looking for the ignition key in his hand looked to his partner and said, “What’s the matter now?”

“I feel like I’ve just been on one of those dumb ass daytime talk shows that are on Regina’s women’s networks, you know what I mean?”

“No I don’t.”

“Oh you should see them man.” David said, “These ladies come on there and of course every problem in their lives has to do with a man of some sort. And if the guy happens to be there with his wife or girlfriend or whatever the case is, the show is designed so that the hostess, and in some cases the host gang up on the poor schmuck until he breaks down and promises to be a better man, and it’s all such bullshit. The weepy guys that are on them. I feel like that right now, getting in touch ‘with my feminine side’ as they would say.”

“Wait a minute, yeah; I’ve caught Mari looking at a few of those.” Noel answered laughing, “They will start talking about how this husband won’t do this, while that husband will do that, and she looks at me with her arms crossed giving me that look.”

“Then you know what I mean.”

“Sure, I guess we did have a ‘sensitive type o’ guy” moment.” Noel said as he started the engine.

“You want to stop off for a quick beer or something?” David asked with his hands still atop his head.

Noel placed the car in Drive, and with his foot still on the brake he turned to his friend and said, “No … I don’t think so tonight. After this discussion, I just want to go home and be with Mari.” He took his foot off the brake and proceeded to drive home.