Who Watches The Watchers Ch. 01

Britt: "Things with The City are a little bit different, though. The City is semi-sovereign; it runs itself, does not respond well to State oversight, and there are some State laws that are ignored or even countermanded by City ordinances. And as Carter said, the relationship between the SBI and the City Police has been so hostile that the SBI would be violently opposed if they attempted to assert any authority over The City."

Britt lowered her voice and said "So imagine my surprise when the City I.A.'s commander, Captain Wes Masters, came to my office in January. He told me that he was investigating corruption in the top brass of the City PD. He said he had reason to believe that his own IAD had been compromised, but he had no proof and he couldn't be sure who was good and who was bad."

Britt: "So let me tell you what you know already. The City Mayor is a man named Lucian Phelps. At one time he was pretty tight with Governor Jared and now-Sheriff Griswold, but as the politics have become much more deeply partisan and much more rancid between the sides, he's become ineffective. He probably will not run for Mayor again, and I have word that he's considering retirement by the end of this year."

Britt: "The City Police Commissioner is appointed by the Mayor, and can only be overruled with a 2/3 majority of the City's governing Council. The current Commissioner is Whitney 'Buck' Savage, a hardened, grizzled veteran of the City Police Force. He's always been a tough-on-crime, law-and-order kind of guy... until the riots and unrest they had the past couple of years, where he blatantly held back from doing what you guys did in your Town & County. His inaction has been considered to be the main reason there was so much violence and property damage."

Britt: "Next in line in the City PD is First Deputy Commissioner Liz Chennault, wearing three stars on her uniform. She's been behind a desk all of her career; she's never so much as written and handed out a parking ticket. Politically she's a very moderate Establishment Republican, often saying how great she thinks Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski are."

Britt: "Then there's Bureau Chief Ken Z. Adams. Bureau Chiefs have two stars on their collars, and Deputy Bureau Chiefs have one star. Ken Z. Adams is in charge of the Narcotics Bureau. Norm?"

SBI Lieutenant Norm Chow took over the narrative: "Inspector Maxwell tasked me to work with 'Coldiron' Masters, and he and I brought in an Agent that is like your 'Ice Cube' Perry used to be... Britt and I are the only persons who knows who he really is and that he works for us."

I took a napkin, wrote a name on it, showed it to Teresa, then to Britt and Norm. Britt's eyes widened in shock. As was normal for him, Norm Chow didn't even bat an eyelash or twitch a muscle as he said "Yes, that's him."

As I set the napkin on fire, then ground the ashes to specks on my dinner plate, Norm continued his narrative: "He was brought into City I.A. with a backstop of being from California, and the false name 'Matt Jones'. We expected that it would be weeks, even months, before he was able to get anything, since he was new and it'd take time for the others to accept him."

Chow: "But things were going pretty well, and a couple of weeks ago we got Terence here introduced into the CPD as a Narcotics Detective from Southport. We didn't think the City Police knew who he really was, and we made a backstop that showed him to be under suspicion in Southport for working with the drug distributors down there. His mission was to start asking about drug connections, and draw the attention of other CPD Officers that might be (air quotes) 'connected', and also see how fast that got to I.A. Terence?"

"Yes sir." said Terence, picking it up. "It looked like no one knew who I really was, but a week ago, just as the whiskey convention and the Federal investigation of it ended, I was contacted by DEA Agent Kevin Pitts. I'd seen him a couple of times at City Police Headquarters, but he never spoke to me, so I didn't think much about it."

Johnson: "But it turns out that he did know me. He asked me to have lunch with him at the City Diner. While there, he told me he knew who I was and who I was working for. I never admitted it outright, but it was pretty obvious that I had been made."

Johnson: "He said that my presence was interfering with a Federal investigation, and he wanted me and the SBI to stop our operation. He talked like he knew what my operation was, but then he asked me who else from the SBI was working undercover within the CPD, so I had my suspicions. I told him that I hadn't even verified who he was, so why should I listen to a word he was saying? He told me to have my people call the Feds's Deconfliction office."

"And we did." said Norm Chow. "Terence used a previously unused burner and left a message with another burner that eventually got back to me. I did check with the Federal Deconfliction people, and they confirmed Pitts was undercover and in The City. I asked if there were others working with him, and they said no."

"But that wasn't true." said Britt Maxwell. "We pulled Terence that afternoon, but left (air quotes) 'Jones' in place. But then Masters contacted me a couple of days later, and said one of his I.A. Lieutenants, Herbert Walker, came to him and said the new guy Jones was an undercover SBI Agent, and also knew that Terence was SBI, but was pulled out. Masters played it cool, and said to start watching Jones, and then secretly suggested to me to pull him, and start over. So we did."

"And just in time, from what happened to Pitts." I said. "So the undercover Feds blew the SBI Agents's covers?"

"We think so." said Britt Maxwell. "We're not sure who else they have in City PD, and neither is Masters... Don?"

She had noticed that I'd gone into a reverie. I blinked, and then said "Sorry... it just struck me: Pitts blew his own cover by contacting Terence! Now why would he do that?"

"To get me, and all of us, out of there." said Terence.

"And that's my point." I said. "They didn't have to blow his cover to get you to take your guys out of there. One phone call from Jack Muscone, EAD Lange, Deputy Director Lawrence Lance, or the DEA Brass to Inspector Maxwell or even Governor Marshall would've sufficed to get that done. But no... Pitts contacted Terence, and now he's..." I did not finish the sentence.

"Sir," said Carter Fischer, "is it possible that Pitts's disappearance was staged?"

"Why would they want to do something like that?" I replied.

"Like you said, sir, he exposed himself." replied Fischer. "So he needed to find a way to be extracted without exposing whoever else has been inserted into the CPD... well, it was just a thought."

Teresa said "And a good one. It certainly is possible. After all, there were CPD Detectives at the scene, as well as you SBI guys, and then Commander Troy was asked to attend. And then------" She cut herself off. "Well, suffice it to say the Feds have been acting strangely about it."

"And sending out that 'Agent-In-Distress' call got everyone from CPD to the SBI to the Feds, to li'l ol' me involved." I said. "Having said that, I think he really was abducted. I think there are competing forces at work here." I then said "Why don't you guys go get seconds, or dessert. I need a moment alone with Inspector Maxwell."

Everyone else got up and went for more food. I said to Britt: "Just between you and me... Masters caught on to the Feds infiltrating both his I.A. Department as well as the CPD Narcotics Division. And I think he approached you because he realized the Feds are going after him, personally."

Britt said "I don't know how you do it, but nothing gets past you. Yes. When he came to me, he said he thought the infiltrators were the Feds. He contacted the Deconfliction office, and was told there were no Federal operations in the City, which was total bullshit."

Britt: "He asked to me to help him find out if they really were Feds, and if so, help him find out what they were doing, and to expose them if they were trying to set him up. He realized that with his own IAD possibly compromised, he needed an independent Agency... me... to expose whatever they are doing, if it's not on the up-and-up."

Britt then said: "And there's one more thing I need to tell you..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

3:30pm, Monday, February 22d. We were driving back towards the City Center when Teresa said "That was very interesting------" Then she noticed I had my finger over my lips in the 'hush' sign. We drove the rest of the way in silence.

As we walked through the Federal Building garage after parking, I said quietly ""Let's just be very careful of what we say, no matter where we are. I wouldn't be surprised if that SUV was bugged, nor if the Feds were listening in on our own cellphones, which they can do."

"Roger that." Teresa replied. "Just one question, and I don't care if they hear it... are you sure Dwight Stevens isn't dirty?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." I said. "He's just never forgiven me for not telling him about Marcie Harper's escape attempt, and it didn't help when I told him today what their whole operation is about."

"He's gotta get over himself." said Teresa.

When we got to the FBI offices, we went by Karina White's office, which once had been Jack Muscone's office. "Anything?" I asked from the doorway.

"No." said Karina, getting up. "Let me take you to Jack's office." She led the way to the corner office, where Jack Muscone was sitting behind his desk. When he saw us, he stood up.

"Let me take you guys to EAD Lange." Muscone said. He led the way to a small conference center two doors down, where EAD Owen Lange had set up as his office space. He was sitting at the near end of the conference table.

"Come on in, and sit down." Lange said. We all took seats at the table, Jack to Owen's left and Karina to his right. I sat to Karina's right, and Teresa sat at the far end of the table.

"How was your lunch with the SBI Inspector?" Lange asked. Ah, so we're going to play these games, are we now? I thought to myself.

"It was good." I said. "Thank you for asking." Everyone in the room understood that fully.

Owen Lange said "I guess this is where I tell you what was going on, and you can fill in the gaps along the way."

"Touché." I replied. "And please... Pitts may still be alive, so please don't play games with me anymore."

"Yeah." said Lange in his scratchy voice. "Okay... the info the DEA got was that City I.A.'s Captain Wes Masters was the ringleader of a drug gang that was being run out of City PD. Dwight Steven is the SSA for this region, so he was tasked with investigating it. He in turn tasked Pitts and Ridley to go in undercover and see what they could find------"

"Hold on." I interrupted. "Exactly where did that tip, that information, come from?"

Lange said "All I can tell you is that Dwight's DEA superiors tasked him to find out------" He stopped as I rose to my feet.

"I've had just about enough of this." I said, my voice low and menacing as I took both sets of FBI credentials out of my pocket. "Now either you start being straight with me, totally straight, or I'm going to lay these on this table and walk out of here. And once I walk out, I will never, ever help the FBI nor any Federal Agency ever again."

I then looked at Jack Muscone and said "And you will no longer be welcome in TCPD Headquarters, not even to visit your wife. In fact, and I'm not joking here, she may be prompted to find new employment elsewhere."

"Whaa?" gasped Teresa.

"Are you threatening my wife?" Muscone growled, his beady black eyes flashing fire, though he had not yet stood up to confront me.

"No." I said. "It won't be me doing it. Police Chief Sean Moynahan will fire her, after I tell him what you are doing to Captain Wes 'Coldiron' Masters."

"You'd really do that to Tanya?" Jack said, both amazement and hostility in his voice.

"You don't get it, do you?" I growled as I stared at Jack. "Masters, Molly Evans, and Frank Soltis are to Chief Moynahan what Teresa is to me. He will force Tanya to choose sides. And she'll do the right thing, and choose her husband over the TCPD. And she'll be gone."

I looked back at Owen Lange. "So what's it going to be? Who gave the DEA that bullshit tip?"

Karina White tried. "Don, we need you. We've got to find Pitts. You really won't walk out and let him die, will you?"

"Dammit, Karina!" I said, not all that loudly, but the anger in my voice unmistakeable. "I can't help you find him when I'm being lied to or otherwise dealt with dishonestly like this. I can't help Pitts, and I can't help you help him."

Lange was peering at me, and I could tell that he was trying to decide whether to call me out and let me walk, or come correct and start telling the truth. He took too long. After about ten seconds, I threw the credentials on the table.

"Let's go." I said to Teresa.

It was Karina White that said "It was the Bob Rovers BAU team." she said.

"WHAT?!" I gasped out loud, then glared at Lange. "And you believed them?"

I noticed that Jack Muscone's beady black eyes had gone wide with surprise. Owen Lange was glaring at Karina. She was having none of it.

"You want my badge, too?" she said as she returned his look. "I'm tired of this shit, too! Now do the right thing, goddammit!"

Teresa had stood up, and she walked over and pulled my arm back to my chair. "Please, sit back down." she said. She walked over to the corner of the table, between Lange and Karina, scooped up my credentials, then leaned over towards Lange and said "Start. Talking. Now. And tell the truth, all of it. I do not want to lose Pitts if it can be helped, and I definitely don't want to lose my fellow Angel to your stupidity. And if you think Don is pissed right now? He's the Good Humor Man compared to me right now. And I'll remind you that he has a crowbar... and that I don't need one."

Dayum! I thought to myself. The Iron Wolf has spoken!

"All right." Lange said. Teresa came back around and put my credentials into my pocket for me, then sat down as the EAD started up: "Yes, it was the Rovers BAU team that made the claim, and Dr. Robin Isley of the National Security Agency ordered the DEA to investigate it."

Lange: "FBI Deputy Director Lance and I were briefed on the operation as a courtesy, since it was in our Region. The data behind the tip looked to be valid, so we went along with it. I briefed Muscone and White, but didn't tell them where the tip came from due to the past animosity between them and the Rovers team. I'm sitting here now wondering two things: how bad will the crowbar beatdown hurt, and how did Ms. White here know where the tip came from?"

"And I'm not going to say how I know." Karina replied.

I said "You spent over 20 years in the ATF looking over your shoulder. It becomes habit."

"Yes." said Karina. "And I have friends in many places, just as the Iron Crowbar does. That's all I'll say, except to say that Jack here didn't know, at least not from me."

Jack Muscone said "You can believe me or not believe me, Don, but I didn't know the extent of the operation until just a few days ago, when the SBI Agents were outed and had to be pulled out. Britt Maxwell called me and threatened to expose our undercover Agents in retaliation. I asked her what was going on, and she told me. I went to the EAD because it looked like the whole thing was going to blow up... and it has."

Just then there was a knock on the door and DEA SSA Dwight Stevens looked in. "You wanted to see me, Mr. EAD?"

"Yes." said Owen Lange. "Come in here and sit down over there by Jack." Dwight did so, and Lange said "Okay, Dwight, I need you to brief these FBI Agents and our TCPD friends on everything, and I mean everything. And that is not a request."

Dwight Stevens said "My previous objections still apply, Mr. EAD."

"For God's sake, Dwight." Jack Muscone said. "Their clearances are higher than yours. Teresa's is even higher than Don's."

I looked over at Teresa and said "How'd you manage that?"

"I test aircraft for my husband's company." Teresa said matter-of-factly.

"You didn't know that, Don?" Jack said, a twinkle of amusement in his beady black eyes.

"Some things do get past me." I said, then added severely, "And to this point, the truth is not getting anywhere close to me. And that needs to change... quickly."

Dwight Stevens said "It really was nothing personal to you, Commander Troy, nor you Commander Croyle. I didn't tell anyone else, until I had to."

"No, it's not personal." I said. "No one else has told me anything, either... until they had to. So start talking."

Stevens: "First of all, I know your opinion of the Rovers BAU team, and most of the rest of the world shares it. So our first task was to verify their information, and it looked good."

I said "That forgery they made to try to implicate me in the Betty Morelli case looked good, too. Turned out to be anything but." (Author's note: 'No Way Out'.)

Stevens. "Yeah. Touché. Anyway, we investigated the allegations, and we found that the City Police had been doing something similar to that previous case with the L-sugars. They were capturing drugs and then selling them back to the pushers instead of destroying the stuff. And they were raking in a lot of money."

Stevens: "We were confirming that someone in City I.A. knew about it, and either was covering for the dirty cops, or were participating in the drug operation. Kevin Pitts was in frequent contact with me, and he gave us a lot on the dirty cops that Ridley had given him. One of those people was the Narcotics Bureau Chief, Ken Z. Adams. Pitts also said that at least one person, and a high-up person, in Internal Affairs knew of the ring, and was at the very least doing nothing about it. Pitts was trying to document that when he disappeared."

Stevens: "And then Pitts recognized an SBI Agent that was posing as a Detective transfer from Southport, with a too-convenient backstop. I asked him if he wanted to let that go or get the SBI guy out of there, and he said he'd talk to the SBI guy. The SBI did pull him, but he showed up at the Pitts crime scene this morning."

I said "Did you, Pitts, or anyone else say anything to anyone else about the SBI Agent? Because more than one man's cover was blown."

Stevens looked shocked at that. "No! And as far as I know, Pitts only talked to the one guy. Maybe the SBI pulled the others out of caution?"

I shook my head vigorously in disagreement. "No, they were exposed, outed. Tell me, besides Ridley and Pitts, who else did you have embedded?"

"No one." said Stevens. "We had some guys posing as the perps, either buying from or selling to the corrupt Police, but they weren't embedded within the Police, nor I.A."

"So your mission was focusing on Captain Masters?" I said. "Did you find anything on him? Anything definitive? Concrete?"

"We were still working on it." said Stevens. "We had the dirty cops in Narcotics, but nothing leading back to I.A., just------" He stopped talking.

"Just?" said Owen Lange with authority. "Just what?"

Dwight Stevens said "We did find a pipeline of money leading to the upper levels of the Police. Maybe even to the Police Commissioner's Office. Pitts was starting to work that angle in the past couple of days."

I nodded, then said "Okay. I have what I need to know. I'm going to go make some phone calls, and by God! y'all had better not try to trace them or listen in on them! If you do... it won't be me you're going to have to worry about when the OPRs start flying around..."

Part 6 - The Lost Flight

7:30pm local time, Monday, February 22nd. Clarissa Belvedere Esterson and Phyllis Troy settled into their seats on the BOW Enterprises aircraft. As it taxied to the runway, Clarissa said "I appreciate you coming with me, Phyllis. It was a very... interesting trip, wouldn't you say?"