Authors: Ken White
“I’m sorry, Dick,” I said softly as I pressed the barrel of the pistol against the center of his
chest.
His eyes bulged, his lips moved soundlessly.
The sound of the shot was muffled. His body jerked once, and was still.
Flashing blue and red lights signaled the arrival of the first police car. I continued to stare
at Nedelmann until I heard, “Drop the gun, meat!”
I looked up. A cop was in a combat stance beside the open door of a patrol car, his pistol
centered on me. I put my gun down on the sidewalk next to Nedelmann’s corpse and stood.
The cop was eying the scene around me, shaking his head slowly. “Hands on your head,
and get your ass over here,” he barked. “Move it!”
I slowly raised my hands and started toward him.
The cop bared his teeth. “Pick up the pace, bloodsac.”
I didn’t know what the hurry was. It was all over.
Whatever his problem was, the cop was clearly nervous about something. He kept
glancing around as I walked across the sidewalk.
I heard the roar of an engine and Takeda’s SUV came around the corner of Hennessy and
Second, shot across Second and up onto the sidewalk, clipping the police car. The cop went
flying as the open door hit him.
The SUV stopped and Takeda stepped out, sword in one hand, pistol in the other. The
cop was coming to his feet and raising his pistol.
“Area Governor’s Office!” Takeda shouted. “Stand down!”
Two more police cars rolled up, one on Hennessy, another on Second behind the first one.
Cops piled out, some with pistols, others holding shotguns.
“Lower your weapon, officer,” Takeda ordered, ignoring the new arrivals.
The cop shook his head and took aim at her.
The helicopter came in low. One second it wasn’t there, the next it was, hovering a
hundred feet above us.
A spotlight came on, bathing the sidewalk in a wide circle of bright white light. There was
a loud squeal of feedback for a second, followed by a harsh metallic voice. “This is the Area
Governor’s Security Force. You will all lower your weapons immediately.”
My eyes were on the cop standing opposite Takeda. He looked up at the helicopter,
shielding his eyes with his free hand, then back at Takeda.
As he raised his pistol again, the sidewalk beside him exploded. The short burst from the
machine gun on the helicopter above wasn’t close enough to hit him, but it sure got his
attention. He stumbled back, lowering the pistol.
“There will be no further warnings,” the harsh voice boomed out of the helicopter’s
loudspeaker. “Holster your weapons or we will use lethal force.”
The cop hesitated a moment, then stuck the pistol into his holster. Behind him, I could
see the other cops doing the same.
Takeda stared at him for a moment, then slid the sword into the scabbard under her coat and
walked around the front of the SUV. As she approached me, I lowered my hands.
“You’re unwounded?”
I nodded. “I’m good.”
She was looking past me, at Nedelmann’s corpse. Without a word, she brushed past me,
went to where he lay, and went down on one knee. I saw her look at the half-closed wound on
his neck and the bloodless hole in his chest..
Takeda was still staring down at him when I stopped beside her. She bowed her head for
a moment, then passed a hand over his face. When her hand came away, his sightless eyes
were closed.
She stood. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Sergeant Nedelmann was an interesting man.”
“Yeah, he was,” I said. “I think he found you pretty interesting too.”
She turned and looked at the other bodies on the sidewalk. “I think we should go inside.
You’re too exposed here.”
Takeda glanced up at the helicopter and spoke into a small microphone on the collar of
her coat. “This is Takeda. Stay on station until ground units arrive to secure the scene.”
As she cupped her hand over her left ear, I realized she had a small earpiece. She listened
intently for a moment, then nodded. “Good. When they arrive, you can return to your regular duties. Until
then, you’re authorized to use all force necessary to secure this location, including lethal force.
Nobody is to approach the corpses on the sidewalk.”
She lowered her hand and gestured to the building. “Mr. Welles.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
It took me about five minutes to describe what had happened from the time I heard the
first shot on the street to Takeda’s arrival. She listened without comment or questions.
We had just finished when the Security Force rolled up in armored personnel carriers.
Takeda stood at the window, looking down as her men went into action.
I found it interesting that she was keeping the Downtown District night shift completely
out of the picture. She ordered that crime scene technicians be brought in from Uptown
District, and that Al Ferrer, commander of Uptown Homicide and Ray Holstein’s former boss,
be put in charge of the investigation.
When she sat back down, I asked her about it.
“I am not comfortable with the loyalties of Downtown District personnel after this
incident,” she said. “They deliberately delayed Sgt. Nedelmann this evening, though it’s
unclear at what level the delay occurred. There is only one logical explanation for the delay.
They needed to give the men outside time to prepare their ambush.”
I shrugged. “I’m not saying you’re wrong, but Dick thought they were doing it because
they could.” I paused. “Maybe you don’t see it much from your perspective, but trust me, it
happens.”
“When I arrived at the Downtown District police station, Sgt. Nedelmann had just left,
according to the desk sergeant. I was with the watch commander when the shooting report
came in.” She paused for a moment. “According to Captain Snyder, when he spoke to Sgt.
Nedelmann earlier, all patrol units were on calls. He was specific that the situation had
changed approximately twenty minutes later, and that he had ordered a patrol car be made
available.” She paused again. “When he found out that Sgt. Nedelmann had just left, he was
quite angry that it had taken more than thirty minutes for his order to be followed.”
“Did you buy it?”
“No,” she said. “He was angry, of course. But I believe he was angry because I knew his officers
had ignored his order.”
“But you do believe he gave the order earlier.”
Takeda nodded. “Captain Snyder doesn’t seem to be a stupid man. His statement is too
easy to verify for him to lie.” She smiled grimly. “We will find out how this happened, Mr.
Welles. The first officer on the scene will provide us with the initial link in the chain, and we
will follow it to the source.”
“Yeah, there was something not right about that cop,” I muttered. “ You might want to
make sure that he doesn’t just disappear on you.”
“One of my men is accompanying Officer Coleman back to the police station. He will be
intercepted and taken into custody before he reaches his destination.”
She was silent for a moment, then said, “I have a question. Please do not be offended.”
“Ask away.”
“You killed Sergeant Nedelmann?”
I was silent for a moment, then nodded. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“You saw the body. You know what was happening to him?”
Takeda nodded.
I sighed. “Dick hated vampires. Passionately. They killed his daughter, destroyed his
world.” I paused. “Had he lived, that might have changed just a little bit. He’d never had
much contact with vampires, except during the war and in the camp. I was surprised he took
to you as well as he did.” I paused again. “He would never have been able to forgive what
happened to his daughter, but in time he might have come to realize that there’s good and bad
in Vees as well as humans.”
I was silent for a moment, then shook my head. “But there’s a difference between dealing with your hatred
and becoming what you hate. He couldn’t stop it himself. Somebody had to.”
She didn't say anything for a few seconds, then nodded. “It was the correct decision,” she said. “Had
you not done so, we would have had to destroy him anyway.”
“Why?”
“Those men could have killed Sergeant Nedelmann, correct? And you as well.”
“I guess.”
“Their goal was not to kill you, but to change you, make you both vampires.” She
paused. “After that, you would have no choice but to tell your bloodfathers everything you
knew about the investigation. They succeeded with Sgt. Nedelmann.
His only loyalty would have been to the man who changed him. We could not allow that.”
“Which means whoever is behind this already knows quite a bit about our investigation.”
“No doubt,” she said. “We know that the city police department is corrupt and involved
to some extent. We don’t currently know is how high the involvement goes.”
“And when you figure that out?”
“There will be....changes made.” She smiled.
It was almost midnight when Jimmy Mutz showed up. The Security Force had cleared
the sidewalk about half an hour earlier, taking the bodies to Central station for identification
and processing, and towing away the damaged police car. On Takeda’s order, the building
security guard had been taken for questioning, replaced by one of her men. If he came up
clean, I was going to make sure he got a raise.
The Security Force guard had called up, asking if Jimmy should be allowed through. At
my nod, Takeda okayed it.
Jimmy came into the office, glanced at Takeda, then looked at me. “Arnie Snyder called
me about twenty minutes ago,” he said. “Hell of a thing.”
I nodded. “Yeah, hell of a thing.” I jerked my chin in Takeda’s direction. “Tiffany
Takeda, Area Governor’s Office. This is Captain Jimmy Mutz, day shift watch commander
Downtown.”
Takeda bowed her head slightly. “Captain Mutz.”
“Miss Takeda,” Jimmy said. “I’ve seen your work. You’re very...efficient.”
“Thank you.”
I caught Jimmy’s little smile. I don’t think he’d meant it as a compliment. He looked
over at me. “So what the hell happened? Arnie Snyder sounded pretty pissed. Said Uptown
and the Area Governor’s Office was handling the incident. I think he’s under the impression
that he and his men aren’t trusted.”
“They’re not,” Takeda said.
“I see.” Jimmy sat down on the couch next to me. “So what’s the story?
“They jumped us. Tried to turn me and Dick into Vees, Jimmy.”
“Why?”
“So we’d spill everything we knew,” I said.
“You okay?”
“Couple of bruises,” I said. I was silent for a moment. “I killed Nedelmann. They’d
gotten to him and he was turning.”
“I didn’t know him well, but from everything I’ve heard...” Jimmy looked me in the eye. “I think
he’d thank you for that, Charlie.”
I didn’t say anything.
“You okay with it?” he asked.
“No. But sometimes you have to do things you’re not okay with because you have to.” I
was silent for moment. “Sometimes you don’t have the choices you want, so you take the best
of the bad choices. I’ll live with it.”
He nodded. I knew it wasn’t the last I’d hear about it from him, but now wasn’t the time
to get all weepy.
My cell phone rang. I flipped it open and lifted it to my ear. “Welles.”
An unfamiliar voice asked, “This is Charlie Welles?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” I said. “Who’s this?”
“Captain Al Ferrer, Uptown Homicide,” he said. “I understand you’re the one to talk to
about the incident in Downtown District earlier tonight.”
“That’s right, Captain,” I said. “I hear you’re running the investigation?”
“Correct. If it’s no trouble, I’d like you to meet me at Central station as soon as
possible.”
“You’ve made progress in the investigation?”
“We’ll talk about that when you get here,” he said. “How long will it take you?”
“I’ll be there in fifteen or twenty minutes.”
Takeda was staring at me as I hung up the phone. “That was Al Ferrer. He wants me at
Central station.”
“May I accompany you?” Takeda asked. “General Bain has requested that I stay close to
you, considering the situation.”
“Never had a bodyguard before,” I said. “Sure, you’re welcome to come along.”
“We’ll all go,” Jimmy said.
As we pulled up at the station, a thin, middle-aged guy in a loose gray suit approached us.
“Welles?” he asked, looking from Jimmy in his jeans and leather jacket to me in my all-purpose cheap black suit.
“That’s me,” I said. “You must be Al Ferrer.”
“Jimmy Mutz, watch commander, Downtown,” Jimmy said.
Takeda nodded to him. “Takeda, Area Governor’s Office.”
Ferrer nodded to each of us in turn, then said, “Okay, let’s go in. If you’ll follow me
please.”