Cahill

I could hear the din from the bar as I exited my SUV and I was still almost a block away. What a shame! I knew from long experience that would change as soon as my foot crossed the threshold. I tend to have that effect on people. I’m six feet six inches tall and I weigh an even 250 pounds—all of it broad shouldered muscle. My Body Mass Index at my last physical was less than four percent. My light brown hair is styled exactly the way it’s been for the past fifteen years—ever since I first joined the Navy. Sure enough, no sooner had I taken my first step into the bar than the noise died. When I turned left and stepped up to the bar the people there couldn’t back away fast enough. I took a stool in the middle of the empty space and sat down, waiting for the bartender to approach. “I’m not looking for any trouble.” “Good…neither am I. Give me a ginger ale.” He reached under the bar for a glass and some ice. Twenty seconds later he slid the glass in my direction. I pulled a fiver from my pocket and dropped it on the bar. He ignored it and walked away to draw a few beers and pour some wine. It looked to me like this was a pretty cheap crowd. Checking up and down the bar all I could see were longnecks and drafts. I reached into the lower left pocket of my cargo pants. Like almost everything else I was wearing they were a true deep navy blue. My heavy shoes were black as was my wide belt. My belt said as much about me as the bold white lettering across my chest. Just below the American flag over my heart were the letters that were my life—U. S. MARSHAL. On my right hip was my nickel plated .44 Magnum Colt Python, just behind two speed loaders in addition to the twenty-four rounds on the belt. On my left hip was my ASP Talon baton—every bit as deadly a weapon in my hands as the revolver. A pouch at the back of my right hip held my stainless steel handcuffs and its partner on the opposite side held my radio—my link to my backup team. I placed the photo flat on the bar as the bartender returned to me. “I’ll have another,” I said in a loud voice, continuing so I wouldn’t be overheard. “Don’t pick it up and don’t make a production of looking at it. I’ve been told that he comes here a lot. Is he here tonight? If he is and he escapes because you’ve given me away I’ll see to it that you’re arrested for obstruction of justice.” He gulped a few times but did as he was told, nodding slightly in response. I continued almost at a whisper. “If my nose is pointing to twelve o’clock, my right ear to three, the back of my head to six, and my left ear to nine, tell me where he is. Again, don’t point or do anything obvious and we’ll be fine.” He pretended to wipe the bar as he whispered, “About 4:30 with his back to you.” I picked up the reflection in the mirror then asked, “Red shirt with black and white stripes, looking away from me?” He nodded again. Now, in my normal tone of voice I asked, “Where’s the men’s room?”

Fredrick_Udele · ファンタジー

レビュー数が足りません

69 Chs

CHAPTER 57

Two days later after breakfast at the diner, Max jumped into the back seat, sitting there while I carefully placed Melody's car seat behind mine. Max gave me a quizzical look, returning to the other side with his face out the window as I drove to the hospital about twenty minutes away. There was only one in the county so it made sense to have it centrally located. I parked illegally on the side of the circular main entry knowing that I wouldn't be ticketed and that, with luck, I'd only be there twenty minutes at the most.

Lucy had Melody bundled up in her hand-knitted sweater and cap, a gift from her grandmother, and a woolen blanket wrapped around her body. I kissed my wonderful wife then grabbed her bag as the nurse wheeled my two women toward the door. I walked outside first to get the SUV then returned to take Melody from her mother. "You're not going to put that baby in with that beast, are you," the nurse exclaimed when she saw Max leaning out the window.

"Melody will never be safer than when she's with Max," Lucy told her. "He saved me from a lunatic at the diner and I know that he's saved Matt several times." She reached up to pet Max who was understandably excited at seeing Lucy again. However, his tail would have struck Melody had I not told him to SIT! Max turned to me, noticing for the first time the tiny bundle in my hands. I placed our daughter carefully into the seat, securing the belts before taking her tiny hand into mine just as I had with Lucy months ago. Max sniffed then licked before turning his attention to Lucy who was taking her seat up front. I ran around the car to help her with the seatbelt and the door. We were on the road toward our home less than a minute later.

Daryl had jokingly offered me a police escort which I squelched in a second. However, we did pass six patrol cars on the ten mile drive home. I drove past Jonathan's Escalade into the garage where I released Max's door before helping Lucy into the family room. Max dutifully sat at her feet with his head on her thigh while I returned for Melody, placing her gently onto Lucy's lap. Max looked into Lucy's face when she spoke to him. "Max, this is Melody. We're counting on you to protect her. She's totally helpless now so she needs you as much as we do…probably more." I watched silently as she spoke to Max and it was clear that he understood. He turned to face away from Lucy and there was no question that he was on guard when he sat. I'd seen him like this dozens of times in the past.

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We had plenty of company over the weekend. Daryl and Jasmine were first, beating my in-laws by only a few minutes. I could see Daryl's future as soon as Jasmine held our daughter. I opened the door about thirty minutes later to greet Aunt Nell and Uncle Chuck. We could have had several hundred visitors, but I had put out the word that Lucy needed to rest. I insisted that she lie down for a nap both morning and afternoon while I handled the entertainment.

We knew immediately when Melody was waking up. Max was up, running down the stairs to get me then back up to Melody's bassinet which we had placed in our room until she was able to sleep more than a few hours at a time. I helped Lucy to sit up then brought our frequently screaming daughter to her mother's breast.

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The weekend flew by and soon it was Monday morning—time to return to work. Melody had awakened early so after changing and feeding her I kissed Lucy and dressed for work. Being in early enabled me to get through a lot of the accumulated paperwork. Checking the activity reports for each of the shifts over the past week was number one, just as it was every day. That was my way of keeping tabs on all of the problems the officers had experienced the previous day, or now—the previous five. I saw a disturbing pattern after checking the first three days.

Turning to my computer I checked on all of the problems at The Four Aces—a bar and club at 1111 Highway 234 and just inside the city's boundaries. "Too bad," I thought. Just another hundred yards and the sheriff would have had the problem instead of me. As expected, there was a long history of complaints that had gotten worse over recent weeks. I was making a few notes when Daryl strolled in. He passed me a jelly donut and cup of coffee from the coffee shop down the street before asking what I was doing.

"Just checking up on The Four Aces."

"That black joint up on 234?"

"That's the one. We've had seventeen complaints in the past three months alone—brawls, three stabbings, two reports of shots fired, and a couple of drug busts. What a cesspool." I called outside the office to Sandra, asking her to get Martin Albright, the City Attorney on the phone. Ten minutes later I had an appointment to see him at 10:30. I learned then what a really smart man my father-in-law was. I called Daryl into the office once I had returned.

"So…we don't need a warrant?"

"Not if we don't arrest anyone. Under the city ordinances we can enter any business considered to be a public nuisance, and if any business falls into that category it's The Four Aces. I want to raid the place tomorrow night just after midnight. We'll use second shift officers and let's make sure we have some of the new ones with us, especially Aimee Johnstone in case we have to frisk any female patrons. I want everyone in vests and I'll speak to Mulvaney down in the armory for enough shotguns for everyone. Let's make sure we have plenty of plastic handcuffs just in case we need them."

"How many officers do you think?"

"A dozen, I think. We'll need two outside the rear entrance and four in the parking lot to handle any gawkers or patrons we have to arrest. I'll try to avoid that by telling everyone to throw anything illegal onto the floor."

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