Aftermath of the De-rotation

Disclaimer: This story contains sensitive information not suitable for all ages. Topics of violence, abuse, gore, and other suggestive themes are presented. Reader's discretion is advised.

“Look, I already know what you’re going to say.”

“They have to be connected. At the very least there’s a correlation between them. I mean she’s the ninth one in two weeks. Has the same mark between her eyes as the others and bullet wounds from a fully automatic, military grade. But she’s all cut up too, like they were holding a grudge or something. Wow it smells bad.”

“It’s been what, three months since the de-rotation, and now we have a criminal faction aimed at eliminating family members of cops and politicians? This city’s suffered enough as it is. If this keeps up, in less than a month we’ll have full-scale anarchy on our hands. They think they can just make the law themselves.”

“‘Cause they don’t respect us.”

“And why do you think that is? You think we’d have twice as much spine if Abeda had any sense in his thick skull? He shut down the entire country and hasn’t let up once. No ease for our shoulders!”

“Easy, Martinez. I hear you, and I don’t disagree. I’m barely able to feed my family right now too.”

“You and a hundred million others. National greenhouses weren’t a bad idea, but there’s not enough of them. Here, check her pockets to see if she had any notes.”

“You ever went to the desert before all this went down?”

“That supposed to be a joke? If it even gets below 140, I might consider throwing a picnic. People are dying like it’s the plague, Kash. I’ve already lost both of my parents to the heat alone. I mean they didn’t get enough exercise as it was so their bodies couldn’t take it but still… It didn’t help that the government put more sanctions on ‘excess’ food reserves. Anyways, you get what you need?”

“What I need is for people to keep their heads on straight. Even if we find the hive of the organization, there’s no guarantee we’ll have order after what’s happened. If a group of crime lords can murder and mutilate these kinds of people in broad daylight without reprimand then there may not be a way to resolve the situation even if we bring them to justice. Here, take these pics back to the commissioner.”

“What, you going home or something? I need you for this case.”

“I was on call for the last seven hours. But now that there’s nothing left to do but wait for her body to decompose, I’m done here. Don’t worry, I come back in at o’ six-hundred.”

“You can’t get a full rest in two hours.”

“Yeah, but it gives me time to have another nightmare.”

“Kash, don’t say things like that. You know we got your back. We won’t let your family get hurt.”

“Well Julio, unlike you and me, my wife and daughter can’t check their six. They’re probably targeting us too you know, and I don’t want them to catch up. If my family’s on a hitlist I’d rather be armed in front of them then find them at the bottom of a sewer. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

*** 05:00 ***

“Julio, Commissioner Ramsey wants to see you in his office. And I’d hurry too. He seemed rather hot when he dismissed me.”

“More funding cuts?”

“Worse from what I understand.”

“I… see. Thanks for the heads up, Em. How’s Patrick?”

“He had another heat stroke about eleven hours ago. Scared me half to death when I found him on our driveway. I had ice saved up thankfully, but I told him he couldn’t leave the house anymore… a-anyways you should see the commissioner. I’ll be okay.”

“Emily, hey. I understand. I… I get it. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. He’s… alive. C’mon you need to go now.”

***

“Commissioner Ramsey?”

“Si’down Martinez. I need a word with you. So as I understand there’s a homeless network with military arms targeting high ranking individuals’ family members as part of a ‘non-covert’ mafia organization?”

“Kashmir and I have it that way. I mean the de-rotation has made the homeless and many elites basically on the same playing field financially. But even that wouldn’t secure average homeless citizens with military assault rifles. There isn’t a base to raid within a hundred miles of the city’s borders, and even on a bartering system they wouldn’t have anything to offer the mob for those kinds of weapons.”

“So what good would it do a sophisticated a group as the mafia to hire street rats to eliminate those kinds of targets? I mean they aren’t even going after the big shots themselves, just they’re spouses and children almost like pawns. They’ve even started targeting the police. And when we interrogated some of the suspects, they didn’t budge to divulge any information on their organization. I mean how could they even command such loyalty from those kinds of individuals? What do they even have to gain from keeping quiet?”

“Maybe they’re using the family members as blackmail?”

“For what? No one has come out claiming a link to a motive. Not Rico, Alvarez, James, or Leander. Our own unit officers can’t make sense of the situation. If there is any ongoing mutiny in our station then they’ve managed to keep their mouths sealed and their actions so secret that our internal investigations unit hasn’t sniffed out an error. And it doesn’t help that they have the loyalty of these underpass tramps so tightly wound. All we have to go on is this symbol we found on all the victims. But why would they so clearly mark a connection to their group without making known any hint of a motive, moral, or political stance?”

“I can’t say for sure.”

“I thought not.”

“…Was there anything else you needed sir?”

“Yes, one more thing. Our funding is being cut even further. This is the fourth hit to our revenue stream. At this rate we’d start to do better as a private organization.”

“May not have a choice.”

“What was that?”

“Nothing. Sorry…”

“Know your place, detective. I can’t afford to doubt the loyalties of my investigations team. And you most of all. Remember that.”

“I understand sir.”

“Good. That’s all, Martinez.”

*** 06:30 ***

“Margarette, you okay? Why was the door open?”

“Julio, they have the kids!”

“Who does?! Honey?!”

“Easy Martinez. Pretty girl you got here.”

“Don’t touch my wife! I’ll blow your head off!”

“44 caliber eh? That a standard issue for a city cop? Or should I say head detective? I tell ya, it’s been kinda hard keepin’ track o’everyone lately. It was even harder tracking you down. You really did us dirty when you bought this place under your alternate alias. Woulda’ had this operation in our final phase over 250 hours ago if it weren’t for this hiccup.”

“You mind telling me who you are before I open a hole in your face?”

“Julio, please! They have Ignacio and Maria upstairs…”

“Might wanna take a hint from your wife here. She knows how business is done. She learn that in her accounting program at Georgia Tech?”

“How could you possibly know about…?”

“Take a seat Martinez. An’ put down the gun. Making your girl nervous over here.”

“That’s your doing you son of a…!”

“Watch your tongue, detective! You cussin’ in fron’ of a lady? You got guts I’ll give you that. Ha! You’re jus’ the kinda fresh meat our organization needs. Look I ain’t gonna do ya dirty by making a mess under your own roof. We gotta respect our clientele and our uh… what woul’ya call…? Ah, ‘colleagues.’ Look our business is jus’ about at full height, but we need some damage control. We need cops like you. Actually more like the collective ‘you.’ Your unit. The police station. The whole shebang full o’ corrupt money an’ power hungry do-gooders tryin’a play the roll o’ law an’ order so their womenfolk and kids can sleep at night yeah? You know how business is. An’ your organization’s taken a pretty big hit way I hear it. An’ look I don’ wanna injure your pride, but your sappy little way of life playin’ the hero is turnin’ into a dead breed o’ swine. You’ve turned inta pigs for th’ slaughterhouse. And what’s worse is you built that slaughterhouse wit’ your two hands!”

“You talk a lot. Who are you?”

“Look kid, hate to break it to ya’, but if you haven’ figured it out by now you’re a plank o’ wood level o’ stupid. This is blackmail. Plain an’ simple. Your gonna meet us a’ the police station at o’eight hundred. Blasted sun can’t even call it 8 in the morning anymore. You ain’t the only one’s been sufferin’ from this endless oven, kid. My boys upstairs are gonna keep an eye on your wife an’ kids. And don’ try an’ pull an idiot move like fightin’ or tryin’ escape with violence. These are trained professionals an’ they will kill them and you if they feel an edge o’ resistance. An’ it won’ be pretty either. We typically use our killin’s as warnin’s for anyone thick enough to cross us. Let’s jus say it’ll be very painful an’ very ah… unbecoming if you catch my meanin’. I have some business to take care o’ before me an’ my organization makes an appearance at your HQ. I look forward to our next meetin’ in a few hours, kid.”

“…”

“Oh and a’ that gun o’ yours… don’t think I don’t know when a cop’s been dealing in shady commodities. That model’s been illegal for more than seven years now. But hey who am I to judge?”

*** 08:00 ***

“They’re just inside, detective. Our boss wants to strike a deal will your organization.”

“…”

“Martinez! You wanna tell me why a crime boss and his mafia have the police and the FBI held hostage inside our own headquarters?”

“Director Crimage? What are you…?”

“Ramsey called me and told me it was urgent I get here. But when I did they turned me into a hostage. Apparently this mob boss has some ‘important business’ to discuss.”

“Hey kid, take a seat here an’ I’ll give you an’ your pals a rundown o’ the situation.”

“You in cahoots with my subordinate?!”

“Sir, please… they have Margarette and our kids back at the house.”

“The house? How did they even find you? We set that up for you under a false identity so you could live your double life as a detective in peace!”

“Look, Commissioner my organization don’ got time for you talkin’ shop an’ pointin’ finga’s. You think I wanted to do this? I already lost a lot a good men tryin’a set this whole thing up!”

“Your ‘good men’ infiltrated six government military operations and murdered troops on their own soil.”

“An’ now we can use those arms an’ vehicles to pawn off homeless rats to do our dirty work, Director. This ain’t all for show, we had a motive in all of this, an’ it took a fair amount o’ plannin’ to get us to this point.”

“How did you even manage to take over those bases to begin with?”

“You’re sharp kid. Tha’s why they kept you around all this time no? Look, the cartel got more resources than you think. We were able to leverage this whole earth-stoppin’ catastrophe to our advantage. Money talks. An’ when you deal in hardcore drugs on the daily an’ gain an even bigger profit margin when people are losin’ their jobs, their families, and soon their minds it becomes more of a business model than a crime center. Rich folk were able to sort it out when we brought the idea of usin’ their assets as a resource to incentivize people to build more efficient and bigger greenhouses. Make it ah… standard. Mass production. You know how it is. People are starving’ out there. You think criminals don’ got families too? But the regulations an’ the FDA and blah blah blah. It’s too slow an’ too risky for our organization to operate under a government agency. We’d be busted within a week even if we did cover all our bases. False aliases only get you so far. You should know that, eh kid? Anyways we had weapons of our own, but we needed more force. A lot more firepower and more defensive transportation in case things were to go south. An’ believe me, in this business things go south a lot faster when people act desperately. So we had our big business heads deal in the shady operations of transporting commodities like Kevlar vests an’ Chinese assault rifles. You think we got it bad? They been in th’ dark this whole time! Course that makes their job a lot easier ‘cause the feds can’t track them near as easy anymore. An’ in the mass panic, more people are willin’ to operate in the black markets if it means havin’ an extra buck to buy food for their mistresses. Private ships for th’ cargo, bartering that was easy, an’ in a few hours with th’ efficiency they operated at we had our guns an’ armor ready and did our military base raids. We lost a lot o’ people not gonna lie. But our organization had substantial growth up to that point what with th’ support o’ the rich elites an’ their investors. When people got families to feed th’ law comes second. But we ain’t about anarchy! Tha’s why we’re hear talkin’ to you. To strike a deal.”

“Why did you start targeting individuals and using a symbol to mark their corpses? And how did you get the loyalty of the homeless to keep their mouths shut?”

“I wouldn’ call it loyalty kid. A bribe more like. Told ‘em we’d set ‘em free once we struck a deal with you all. That and loads o’ cash. That got them excited now. As for the symbols it was blackmail with a message. Those cops in your unit kept their mouths shut ‘cause we had their families held hostage. O’ course we didn’t want them to call in their buddies to flush us out so we spilled a bit more about the size an’ brutality of our organization than we did with you.”

“That woman Kashmir and I found earlier was all cut up though.”

“Some o’ these people we recruit are fanatics, kid. Can’t always keep ‘em in total control. But he got he job done though so hey, I don’ complain.”

“I’ve just about had it with you. I don’t want to hear about a ‘deal’ you’ve come up with. I’m ready to pop off your head point blank no questions asked!”

“We shoul’ let Ronda know what you did once my blood is on your hands, Commissioner.”

“How did…? How did you find my mom?! You dirty psychopath!”

“Sir, easy! Please!”

“Son, you better be prepared to spend your life behind bars if you assist these criminals.”

“Oh don’ worry, Director. We have your family too. Perhaps you shoul’ call Ruth an’ ask her how she’s doin’.”

“What…?!”

“You two wan’ a bloodbath an’ your sweet families’ corpses to line th’ morgue? Your detective has more sense than your whole lot!”

“Commissioner Ramsey, please… it’s like you said before. We are losing money. We’ve already received four budget cuts.”

“Five. Got a call about an hour before you came in. Our numbers were gonna drop hard with this one too…”

“Commissioner…”

“Regardless, this crime boss still hasn’t told us who he even his. What’s your name you sick dog?”

“So th’ police commissioner is ready to play. It’s Anton. You’re cooperation is greatly appreciated. An’ what about you, Director?”

“Can’t believe I’m taking orders from this rat. What’s this deal you want?”

“I need you to enforce the legalization of our… business.”

“Your drugs and weapons? Tsk… c’mon at least try to act like you’re being serious.”

“Did I not furrow my brow enough to your liking when I spoke, Commissioner? Jus’ th’ drugs. We can deal with revolutionaries who abuse their power with force. You get to jus’ play the part of th’ peaceful law-enforcing police you are. But th’ drugs are off your radar! I don’t care how messy it gets. We clean it up. We can act in brutality an’ strike fear where needed while you keep th’ public order as peacemakers an’ rivals to our organization. We work on the bartering system meanin’ we always have a profit for whatever is in public demand, an' in turn our organization gets a very shiny cut. We use the rest to pay workers to build an' power bigger an’ better greenhouses meanin’ people finally have th’ food they so desperately need. Best part is our money is tax free.”

“My family’s gonna die if I refuse right?”

“I don’ like bein’ the bearer o’ bad news kid. But yes. Can’t have loose ends.”

“Detective, you are committing a mutiny and are a criminal!”

“Sorry, sir… I-I have a new boss now...”

“An’ you Commissioner? You not gonna join?”

“My mom can die peacefully knowing I upheld her and my honor!”

“Wait wait, before you do anything rash! If I work for you, my wife and daughters go free?”

“Not only that, you’ll be rich, Director.”

“Then I’m with Martinez.”

“I’ve had enough of this! This is mutiny! You’re dead you sick rat!”

“No sir! I won’t let you!”

“Martinez! What are you…?!”

***

“Don’ be so hard on yourself, kid. You did what you had to do. Actually, you’re not a kid anymore it looks like, Commissioner Martinez.”