Moonlight Shadow

This story is part of an ongoing series.

The chronological order of my stories is now listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and

constructive

criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

Part 23 - Encounters At Point Hollow

"Oh my God!" Cindy gasped, her hand going to her mouth as tears sprang to her eyes. "Who did this to you?"

"I did."

The voice came out of the trees several yards down. A handsome man came out, dressed in all black. Cindy recognized him: he was CIA Agent 'Warspear'.

"Why are you doing this?" Cindy asked, her had going toward her gun.

"Oh, I wouldn't go for that gun, Captain Ross." said Warspear. "I have the equivalent of a 'deadman's switch' taped over my heart. If it detects that my heartbeat has stopped, it'll send a signal to the detonator on that vest."

"But why?" Cindy asked. "What has Callie done to you?"

"Think like a Michaux, Captain Ross." said Warspear with some asperity. "Your fiancée is bait. And that's why I had Agent 'Honeybee' call you. I want you to do two things. First, throw that crowbar over here. Keep your gun, but throw me the crowbar."

"You'll let Callie go?" Cindy asked.

"Eventually." said Warspear. "I have nothing against her. She's just excellent insurance for the moment. Your crowbar, please?"

Cindy tossed the green crowbar over to Warspear. "Okay, she said, "what's next?"

"I want you to call Dr. Laura Fredricson, and invite her to this party." said Warspear. "Don't let her know that her research assistant is wearing a vest lined with powerful explosives, and don't tip her off with silly codes, like the one 'Honeybee' used, mentioning the Bypass accident that is not there, to warn you of her danger. Now, make the call."

"I think," said a male voice coming from the near-side trees, "that Dr. Fredricson will be more inclined to take

my

call."

Everyone was stunned to see the tall man in the Tilley Hat and trenchcoat (and a hell of a lot of armor underneath), coming up, silhouetted by the streetlamps behind him.

"Ah, so Captain Ross did tell the Iron Crowbar." said Warspear. "Bad idea, Captain."

"She didn't tell me a thing." I said. "You are not dealing with an Agency of the Weak-Minded here, former Agent 'Warspear', a.k.a. Navy Lieutenant Timothy George Pierce. Ever since you acquired that plastique from the NS-14 thugs, I've been expecting you to do something active."

"Very good, Commander Troy. Very good." said Pierce. "You're not the Guardians of Justice; you're even better. It's unfortunate you have shown up here, though. What was simple, is now complicated."

"Not really." I said. "Let Ms. Carrington go.

I'll

wear the vest and be your hostage."

Pierce's eyes flashed for a second, then he said. "Very chivalrous of you, Commander. As expected. But no, that won't do. The CIA won't bat an eyelash for you; in fact, they'd just as soon that you die as live. But they'll cooperate to save their Agent. So, maybe I should upgrade to a red crowbar. Throw yours over here."

"Not gonna happen." I said. "Besides that, what are your terms?"

"Fairly simple terms." said Pierce. "Agent 'Honeybee' for Agent 'Zatanna', to be delivered by the Scorpion."

"Zatanna... the Magician Zatara's daughter." I said. "May Cialis."

"Yes, of course." said 'Warspear'.

"It's not her you want." I said. "You could not care less about May. You made love to her, you used her for your purposes, and she used you for hers. But it's not her you want."

"My husband is right!" came a voice. We all looked over to the driveway. She was standing there, dressed in a tight-fitting black spandex yoga suit... and carrying her yellow crowbar. It was (retired) Agent 'Scorpion', looking every bit the badass I knew her to be.

"Let them go." Laura said. "This is between you and me, Pierce."

"Yessss, it is." said Pierce. "And this is what you want to unlock that vest." He held up a small key on a ring, the key that would unlock the suicide vest. As he put it into his pocket, he said "It's right here, come and get it!" Taking the green crowbar, he moved out into the yard area as Laura advanced.

"Cindy," I said quietly as I watched, "get your hardbody ass away from this explosive vest. I'll stay with Callie. Move." Cindy was about to protest, when Callie said "Go!", her voice pleading. Cindy moved towards the driveway, but reluctantly, and not all that far. I stood next to Callie, somewhat between her and Pierce.

"You always thought you were better than you really were." Laura said as she and Pierce began circling each other about 8 feet apart. "You got someone killed because of it. And now you're threatening to kill another Agent, because you're not man enough to face me without doing that."

"And you think you're all that great?" snarled 'Warspear'. "If it weren't for your husband, you'd be dead. And now that you're out of the Company, they're beginning to become the organization this planet needs... one dedicated to wiping out the Jewish filth that plagues it. And we start... with

you!

" With that, Pierce plunged into the attack.

*CLANG!* *WHACK!*

Laura parried Pierce's blow, and delivered a pretty powerful one herself, catching him on the arm. He avoided another blow, then tried a different attacking line. As I stood by Callie and watched, I thought that Pierce would be ranked about 16th in the Police Boxing Matches... if I set those brackets up right, of course.

Laura was much better, and it showed. And her practice against me was now understood. She'd anticipated something like this, just as I had, though from different angles. Smart as well as beautiful, she was.

*WHANG!* *CLANG!* *WHACK!*

Agent 'Warspear' was losing, and he was tiring. He tried a martial arts move, but Laura sidestepped it and swung the yellow crowbar hard, catching Warspear on the back, causing a loud thudding sound. Angered, he whirled to deliver a blow, and took a vicious kick right to his solar plexus. He bent over in pain, and the yellow crowbar came down hard on his back.

*WHAM!*

Pierce went down. He was finished. Laura waved Cindy over to make the arrest. As Cindy took Warspear's right hand behind his back, with his left hand he reached for a small necklace around his neck, which had been hidden by his shirt. He was pressing the button, and seemed shocked that nothing was happening.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Pierce?" I called out. "Something wrong?"

I then held up the device in my hand. It was a little contraption similar to the bug-killer, but this device was more powerful, and created a dampening field around it so that no signals could get through to the detonator on the vest Callie was wearing.

"

Touché

, Commander." Pierce said resignedly, but the shrewdness in his eyes did not escape me.

"Make sure he can't reach for a cyanide pill." I said. Cindy all but tore off his shirt after cuffing him. Turns out he had one, but he couldn't reach it.

Cindy took the key out of Pierce's pocket and ran over.

"Don't use that key!" I said. "It'll set off the plastique!"

"Whaaa?" Cindy said. Callie was equally shocked, and Laura wasn't too happy, either.

"That's why he wouldn't let me put the vest on, even though I'd be a better hostage to lure my wife in than Callie is." I said. "He couldn't take it off Callie... it would've exploded. He also did a poor job of hiding his facial expressions about it."

"Damn you, Iron Crowbar!" Pierce snarled. "And perfidy to the House of Troy!"

"You have a nice day too." I replied, as Police Officers poured into the driveway and then the yard, several of them taking Agent 'Warspear' away...

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

"How do we get this vest off Callie?" asked Cindy, who I noted was trying hard but failing to hide her worry.

"That'll be easy enough." I said. "Lieutenant Easley!"

"Sir!" called out Easley from the edge of the copse of trees.

"Set up right here beside us!" I called out. "Captain Croyle!"

"Sir!" called out Teresa, who was next to Easley.

"Clear this property of everyone except Bomb Squad personnel, Callie, and myself." I ordered. "That includes my wife and Captain Ross... and if they do not comply, get some practice for the Police Boxing Matches."

"You heard the man, Ms. Hardbody." said Teresa to Cindy. "Let's go." Cindy knew she was going to lose that one, so she retreated with Teresa back to the driveway, taking a secure position on the other side of her SUV. Laura was already moving towards the driveway, with both green and gold crowbars in her hand.

Meanwhile, Roy Easley and other Firefighters, with heavy armor on under their fireman coats, had set up a 55-gallon drum next to Callie, then began stacking sandbags around it in a bricklaying pattern. Once there was a double layer of sandbags, a kevlar-woven cloth was wrapped around it all and fastened, which hopefully would contain the blast.

"Okay," I said to Callie. "I'm going to cut the top of this vest, which doesn't seem to have wires and should give us room to pull this over your head. Once it's over your head and I'm dropping it into the barrel, you run like hell into the trees... they'll protect you more than anything else around here."

"Sir," said Easley, bringing up a fire coat, "put this on." I did, noting how heavy it was. It was lined kevlar armor. I felt like a freeking tank with all the armor I had on my body.

"Captain Croyle!" I called out. "Got swords?"

"You know it, sir." she said, coming up to me. She extended the short sword handle towards me. I grabbed the handle and slid the short sword out of its scabbard, then handed her my red crowbar in return. Teresa returned to Cindy's SUV.

"Okay, here we go." I said. Teresa's sword was a sharp as any in the world, and it cut through the leather with relative ease. Callie held up the left side after I cut it and moved to the right. Then I held the vest as she raised her arms. I pulled it up as Callie squatted down, and I guided the vest into the drum, dropping the dampening device into the drum with the vest so the detonator would not be activated.

"Run!" I yelled. Callie took off for the nearby trees, and I was following fairly closely, realizing I had an unsheathed sword in my hand, and it would not be a good idea to trip and fall on it...

Once in the copse of trees and well downrange of the drum, we stopped and turned. Nothing had happened.

"It didn't go off." I said. Callie and I made our way towards the driveway and road. When we got to Cindy's SUV, Cindy and Callie hugged warmly for a long time as I sheathed Teresa's sword, then returned it with a bow and words of gratitude.

"It's okay, baby." Callie said, consoling Cindy, who had tears running down her face. "I'm okay... it's okay."

"I was so scared I was going to lose you..." Cindy whispered as she hugged Callie to her, but not whispering quietly enough to not be heard by Your Iron Crowbar's ears...

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

Tanya's Tank,

sans

Tanya or anyone else, rolled towards the drum. Everyone had evacuated down the road except for Roy Easley and me. We watched as the vehicle moved on its tracked wheels to the drum, and a remote-controlled arm dropped a charge into the drum, then came back to us, trailing a wire that would set off the TCFD's charge.

"Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!" yelled Lt. Easley. Then he activated the current.

**BOOM!!**

The sandbags, wrapped in their kevlar sleeve, held for the most part. Some debris went up into the air, but the mess wasn't too bad. And with no human beings being harmed in the detonation of that vest, I felt very grateful and happy to bring this little situation at Point Hollow to a most very successful conclusion.

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

It was well past midnight when the Crime Lab CSI team finished processing the scene. The TCFD Bomb Squad left once they were satisfied that there was no more possible danger from explosives. Pierce was being booked and processed at County Jail.

Cindy came up to Laura and me as we leaned against my Police SUV, watching. "I was wondering why you were standing next to Callie, instead of kicking Pierce's ass yourself." Cindy said. "It was because you had that device."

"Yes." I said. "I had to stay next to her, and couldn't do what I really wanted to." Then I said with a grin: "And of course, I knew that Laura could take care of my 'lightwork' for me." Laura just looked forward, though she couldn't completely hide a smile.

"Yes, that loser was definitely 'lightwork'." my wife replied.

"Too bad they don't let Auxiliary Police Officers compete in the Police Boxing Matches." said Cindy.

"I wouldn't, anyway." Laura said. "I'm a doctor, Jim, not a barbarian crowbar fighter." We all laughed. "Oh, here's your green crowbar."

Cindy took it, but looked sourly at it. "I think I better get one of the other ones. This one keeps losing."

"It won't matter which crowbar you use in the Boxing Matches." I said.

"You're right about that, Commander." Teresa said with alacrity as she came up to us. "Neither red nor green will matter." We made two-finger pointings at our own eyes then each other.

"I'm just glad Slender Man wasn't in those trees." Teresa said. "You might not have come out of there at all."

"Well, I did have a sword with me." I replied, then said more loudly, as if to the trees: "And I would've whipped Slender Man's sorry ass!"

"Alpha-males." Cindy said to Callie.

"Well," Callie said, coming to me and hugging me, "I'm just grateful to this alpha-male for saving me."

"Me too." said Cindy.

"Me three." said Laura.

"And you all have Police reports to make." I replied. "Let's go."

As we all piled into our vehicles to leave, I held the passenger side door of my SUV open for Laura to get in. She appreciated the chivalry. As I went around to get into the driver's side, I looked back at Point Hollow... and a chill ran down my spine.

He was standing right there, right in the middle of the front yard, in front of the pitch-black house. Darkest suit and red tie, no features on his face, incredibly tall and thin. And he was standing right there as if waiting for me, confronting me.

It was the Slender Man.

"Laura!" I called out as I turned to fully 'front' him. "Do you see that?"

"What?" Laura asked, then I heard her gasp "Holy shit!" I heard the car door open for her to get out.

"Stay there!" I said, turning to look at her. When I turned back, the Slender Man was gone. The yard was empty. The air was still; not a sound was being made.

"Oh my God." Laura gasped. "It

is

real... you haven't been dreaming it."

Headlights suddenly blasted us with light. Cindy was coming back for us, Callie in the shotgun seat. "Let's go, House of Troy!" Cindy ordered, yelling out the window. We got into my vehicle and drove down the road, Cindy following us.

Part 24 - The Morning After

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Fox Two News!" shouted the lovely redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Thursday April 12th, from in front of City Hall. "Fox Two News has learned that arrests have been made in last week's murder at Ronald Reagan Park!"

"May Cialis, wife of the murder victim James Cialis," said Bettina, "was charged with murder with aggravating circumstances. Police say that the murder was a crime of passion, and that Mrs. Cialis murdered her husband in order to be with another man."

"And Fox Two News has also learned that the other man in this love triangle, Timothy George Pierce, was arrested last night after a standoff with Police involving explosives. The Town & County Fire Department's Bomb Squad safely detonated the charges after Police arrested Pierce. District Attorney Gil Krasney issued a statement saying he has asked the TCPD to ascertain Mr. Pierce's involvement in the murder of James Cialis. Police have not charged Mr. Pierce with any crimes related to the Cialis murder case."

"And in State news," said Bettina, smiling a lot more happily, "Fox Two News has learned that Governor Val Jared will likely

not

oppose the appointment of an Independent State Counsel to investigate alleged cover-up of the assassination of superstar singer Jasmine Nix, who was gunned down on the night she was releasing her final album,

Power of Police

, an anthem of the abuse of People of Color by Police. Many Republicans are calling upon the Governor to accept the independent probe. Roll tape."

Tape rolled, featuring Lt. Governor Graham Collins. "If Governor Jared has nothing to hide, then he should allow the Independent State Counsel to be appointed. He should welcome this examination, as it would clear him and shut Senator Maxine Watts up once and for all... if Jared is innocent and has nothing to hide, of course..."

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

Everyone at the coffee klatch was looking at Your Iron Crowbar. Your Iron Crowbar was sipping his coffee rather speedily.

"I'm too damn tired to get pissed about the obvious leaks." I said. "And I'm too caffeine-deprived to be upset at the D.A.'s Office." I drank some more coffee.

"Gooooood." drawled Chief Moynahan, who had just come into MCD after getting a few hours of sleep on the sofa in his office. "I've reserved the back room of The Steakhouse for tomorrow night for the victory party... and to hear the Commander's explanation of how he so brilliantly solved these cases."

"Hear hear!" came a chorus, along with applause.

"Give up a lot of that applause for Detective Davis." I said. "You did an outstanding job on this case, Jerome. Outstanding. In fact..." I motioned to Cindy, who brought me a blue crowbar.

"We've been talking about it," I said, "and I'm going to start awarding blue crowbars, in honor of the original which hangs on the wall of the MCD Lieutenant's office, to Detectives that do an outstanding job solving crimes. These are not participation trophies; they are for kicking perp ass and forgetting about the names later. And the first of these will go to Detective Jerome Davis today."

There was much applause as I handed Jerome the blue crowbar along with a handshake. I explained that the rules were for him to keep it at his desk or hang it on the wall next to the desk, and not carry it around. "I don't want you getting into trouble like rowdy Police Captains tend to."

"Not to mention one very rowdy Police Commander," replied Cindy, "who should be sleeping on the couch after not letting his wife win in their exercises."

"I'm still going to use an orange crowbar in the Boxing Matches." said Jerome. "I want to make sure the Commander actually sees the crowbar that beats him down when I take the title." Much ooohing and aaahing over that one...

"You're living in an Orange fantasy land," Joanne shot back, "like Tennessee fans when they play Alabama or Georgia."

"Ouch." I said. "That's gonna leave a mark on Rocky Top."

Joanne smiled and said "Commander, make sure I get to beat down Jerome on

my

way to the title!" More banter ensued by everyone... except Cindy Ross. She was strangely quiet this morning.

"Commander," said the Chief quietly to me, "when you're done with the smack talk here, come on into my office." I followed the Chief out the door and to his office.

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

After having me sit down, the Chief said "So... last night's action. Local mess or CIA issues on our football field?"