Gaining access to Zoe Prince's Apartment could not have been easier. The Doorman known only as Rico was now seeing himself in a N,Y,P,D TV Drama. Getting him to believe that his role was staying in the lobby, and if anyone arrived to visit Miss Prince he must ring her phone four times and hang up, all of which proved to be easy when you were dealing with a man with an ego the size of Manhattan. Peterson and Delano for four hours searched every inch of the room, "We require coffee" said Ryan Peterson, "My head is spinning I need to calm down. It must be here she would need to be in contact at all times unless there was a cryptic message alert on her mobile phone" Delano turned on the Coffee maker, the tray was empty. "It is in the cupboard above your head" said Peterson. She stretched to reach the shelf and in doing so her knee pressed on a closed panel below the worktop and bingo it sprung open and there as if by magic lay Zoe Prince's Laptop. "What the fuck" said Peterson, "Get it over here. They opened it and like the nerd that he was Ryan Peterson began banging out numbers and sequences that he had memorized from his short spell with the US Intelligence Agency. They were the five hundred most memorable passwords in the English language, but sadly they all failed. "Sorry about that" he said, "Force of habit, but it helps to clear the mind. The premise behind it is that if you have not eliminated the obvious, then what ever you think of your brain will always go back to one of the five hundred, now I am clear" "Now what genius" asked Charlie Delano. "Simple" he answered, "We now search for the meaningful passwords, something with relevance to the user. i'e a name, a place, a birthday, etc, now think" For the next hour they entered every name, date and place that they could find on her Instagram Page, but nothing. "SPIKES" said Delano, "Something to do with SPIKES, SPIKE one, SPIKE two, they tried them all, still nothing. "I cannot believe that these Vigilantes would think of something too far out" said Peterson, "I mean what would be the point? They both stalled and stared at one another, "Vigilante" they shouted in unison. "Try it, try it" screamed Delano, "Vigilante one would be their leader, try Two" Ryan Peterson typed in Vigilante Two, nothing, Three, nothing, Four, Eureka they were in. But this was no normal Computer. There were no pop up adverts, no saved sites and no previous correspondence. It would seem that every time it was used it was then cleaned and rebooted. Ryan Peterson made the call. "We found it Boss" he told Rodriguez, "There is nothing on it to report but now we have a point of contact. All we have to do is wait" "Fantastic" answered an elated Rodriguez. "Just be patient" "How are things your end? asked Peterson. "Stagnant" was his one word answer. Detectives Rodriguez and Weldon had spent the day trying to find a solicitor who would represent Zoe Prince. All up until now who had been approached had respectfully declined. The obvious reason being the mention of the name Alejandro Castigliari during the first broadcast by Jocelyn Chabatti, this had placed the fear of god in the corridors of New York's legal system. But God as they say moves in mysterious way's, enter Richard Cohan a young Jewish, just out of Law School Solicitor eager to make a name for himself. Rodriguez wanted everything done by the book and the appearance of Mr Cohen then allowed the two Detectives to question their semi high profile suspect, and she had no legal grounds to refuse. The Detectives stared at their advisories across the scratched, cigarette burned table. "So you are NAILS I presume? said Weldon opening the proceedings. "No comment" answered Prince. "Are you a member of the so called SPIKES? asked Rodriguez. "Once again "No Comment. "Your initials Z,P were found scratched into the forehead of one of your victims, a Mitchel Burroughs, can you explain this? asked Weldon. "It could have been Zara Philips a member of the British Royal Family, it was certainly not me" she smilingly replied. "Well then maybe we should fly the DNA samples taken from Mr Burroughs over to England and match them with Miss Philips or should we just match them with the DNA taken from you this very morning Miss Prince, I think to save time we will go for the latter, what do you think? "Fuck you no comment" she replied. "Nice language for someone in such a prominent position" said a now smiling Rodriguez. "We have retrieved your Computer from the false panel in your kitchen units and as we speak our IT expert is checking it over, and yes we have discovered your Pass Word, Vigilante four therefor you know I am not lying. Your colleagues in the SPIKES cannot help you now (a) because you are here with me and(b) Because they do not know that you are here as my Detective has now taken your place and he will soon be V4 of the New York SPIKES." You could see the rage and hate in her eyes. At this point Rodriguez realized that this woman was capable of anything. Following an invitation from Alejandro Castigliari to join himself and Jocelyn Chabatti for a meal District Attorney Collins, although declining the offer, did not make any private enquiries regarding the arrest of his Private Secretary. Assistant Director Chabatti had sensed a nervousness in the voice of the DA and once again lent heavily on her dangerous but long standing friend. She heard from Agent Delano of the discovery of the Laptop and the direction in which Detective Rodriguez had chosen to proceed. "This is good news Charlie" she said "The end maybe in sight, but there is one other thing if I may make a suggestion. You were relating to me the circumstances regarding disappearances during or after the SPIKES had committed one of their crimes. These taking place over many years and as of now you have no leads whatsoever. The thing is do you remember Agent Chris Paine? from your days at the Academy. I think if my memory serves me well you were involved" "Yes of course I remember him" snapped Delano, "But there is no truth in an involvement whatsoever, we were as they say, just good friends, although I do remember that he was a grade A student. What is your point? "Well the thing is" replied Jocelyn Chabatti, "He is back on my team and has been specializing in unsolved disappearances, and very successfully. I think he would be a great help to your team. If you are agreeably then make the suggestion to Detective Rodriguez it would hold more kudos coming from you. What do you think? It seems to me JC, like a great idea, I have not known Rodriguez very long but I can tell you that he is a stubborn old ass. However as they say nothing ventured, nothing gained. I will see what I can do. Zoe Prince was beginning to panic. She was not an unintelligent woman realizing that her young Solicitor was no more than a plant appointed by Judge Randolph Pratt to allow her to be questioned, but there was no escape, her SPIKE colleagues were now in isolation from her, contact could be disastrous. Rodriguez was well aware of this and decided to let her stew in her semi solitary confinement. He knew from old that constant harassment of suspects only achieved fragments of what you wanted to hear, not the complete facts or the whole truth. He had a recorded message to ring Agent Delano who was encamped beside Peterson in the flat of Zoe Prince. He rang her number. "Hi, Boss" she said, "Thanks for returning my call" "No problem" replied Rodriguez, "It sounded important" "I'll let you be the judge of that" said Charlie Delano, and proceeded to relate to him her conversation with Jocelyn Chabatti. Manny Rodriguez delivered his now customary five minute pause, and then, "It sounds good to me Delano" he said, "If you had said that she wanted to swarm me with know it all FBI Agents, no offence intended" "None taken" answered Delano. "The I would have thrown the idea in to this litter bin just to my left hand side, but one Agent snooping around in conjunction with the on-going case I would say could only be beneficial. Are you aware of this Chris Paine" he asked. "I am from our younger days" answered Delano, "He comes with an excellent CV, I think you would like him Boss. In some ways he strikes me as a younger you" "Enough bull shit Delano, get it done" Barked an ego boosted Rodriguez. Gena Pollock had returned from a fact finding mission to visit factories specializing in manufacture of Military style protective clothing. First of all Waco Texas and then Flagstaff Arizona. The facts being that the bullet proof vests, or suits worn by one or all of the SPIKES during the execution of their crimes were made in one of or both of these facilities. "Ok, Detective what do you have? asked Rodriguez wasting no time. "Well Boss" she began, "I had the sample we retrieved from Claire Clark analysed in their Laboratories and the jacket or suit worn by one or all of the assailants came from Harrington's a major supplier to the Marine Corp. These particular products are coated with a special Resin which distinguishes them from products sold in the civilian market. Therefore it would seem that some member of the SPIKES has had or still has Military connections." "Could they tell you in any detail where that product was purchased and better still by whom" asked Clarence Weldon. "Negative on that" answered Gena Pollock, " the products are as near as possible identical and are purchased in bulk to be delivered to a holding Depot just south of Chicago. I checked this place, it is the main distribution facility for Military goods in North Eastern United States. One thing they could tell me was that it came from a Divers Suit specifically worn by Special Forces" "Brilliant work Gena" said Detective Rodriguez, "You have just solved a small but very important piece of this puzzle"
YOU ARE READING
SPIKES
General Fictiona wayward childhood, a way to get even, or are the intentions really good.
