Promises

I rubbed my head as I downed my second tumbler of coffee for the morning... I, ADA Keith Wallace sat in the FBI's mobile crime lab and looked out the window as FBI agents and members of Philadelphia's tactical squad surrounded the bank...

It had been an hour since we last heard from Angie and the Bank Robbers...The Bus they wanted had arrived and was parked in front of the bank and we still heard nothing...It was too eerily silent...One hostage had gotten sick and had been sent to the hospital....

My wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace  and Detectives Tyriq Pile and Edwin "Duke" Baylor had left...They were out trying to find out who the deposit box number that Angie had given us belonged to...

Sissy's other two ace detectives...Sirena Pile and Tony Hopkins were trying to find the bank building's architect or someone who could give us a floor design of the bank and all of the sub basements and tunnels in this block and where they led to...

With those five gone ,it seemed kind of empty , even though FBI agents and uniformed policemen were all over the area and working in this massive truck.. We had snipers on the roof..and I was certain that there was a GPS tracking device on that bus...Something the bank robbers had to know...Which was why something about this whole thing was bugging me...

These guys had taken down many banks, pulled off some of the slickest jewel heists in all of Europe, without one shot being fired, without one person being injured or hurt, without having to take hostages and so lightning quick and with such precision that were in the wind before the police arrived...Which is why they weren't caught...Why so sloppy now? Unless this was something else..

Detective Jimmy Barlow, the only one of Sissy's detectives who stayed behind...Walked over to Sissy and Sharon Hopkins of the FBI...He had some glossies in his hands...

"Lou, Sharon...I got something." said Jimmy.

''What is it?" said Sissy.

"These photos...The traffic cam pulled these photos of our guys entering the bank  in those two cars...Your FBI guys ran their faces through facial recognition and we got positive ids on all four of em....That's Jeff Tabor right there...The guy Angie said they call "Tubbs" and that guy right there is Brett Eagan...He's blonde...They call him "Sonny Crockett"...This cool cat is "Peter Gunn" aka Ezra Dane and the pretty girl is "Honey West" better known as Sylvia Johannson...We pulled their interpol files up...Their last known address was West Germany...Where they hooked up with two African-Americans who had just recently left the U.S. Air Force ...James Williams and Henry "Hank" Cato....They're suspected of being in the gang that robbed a museum of Bearer Bonds...Bonds worth more than any cash they would find in that bank...Oh and the cars? they were rented by a woman...a "Denise Tyco"....a phony name, done over the phone with a stolen credit card and picked up by..."Honey West" there" said Jimmy.  ''FBI guys got a positive ID of her from the camera in the rental place."said Jimmy.

"I wonder if those bonds are what these guys were really after...and if they're in that bank?" I said.

"Why would bonds stolen in West Germany be in a Philadelphia Bank?" asked Sharon...

"Well Henry Cato is a Philadelphia native...and James Williams is from New Jersey...Willingborough, to be exact." said Jimmy.

''True, but there was no sign of either of them in that bank and no proof that they are even a part of this." said Sissy. She smiled at her young detective...

"But you did good work Jimmy..."she added...

"Thanks to the FBI and their toys" he said smiling at Sharon.

II-

Sissy's phone rang....It was Angie!

"I told that girl to stop calling before they catch her." said Sissy looking more worried than I'd ever seen her.

"Angie?" said Sissy, who was interrupted by a male voice...

"So that's her name eh?  Very nice....You had a cop in here amongst us...And she was very smart...Hid her cell phone in her blouse....But not that smart...I have the phone and I have my gun at her head...What can stop me from shooting her right now?" he said.

"You-You don't have to do that...Your bus is outside...You can go..We won't follow you."said Sissy..

"You don't think I know you have a tracking device on the bus?  I also know that she has probably told you more than you should know." he said.

"Don't hurt her."pleaded Sissy..

"And if I do?" he said.

Sissy's whole demeaner changed...I could count the number of times I'd actually seen her angry..It hadn't been many...Sissy is a warm, caring woman, with a devilish sense of humor...She wasn't in that mode right now...

"OKAY JACKASS, HERE IS HOW IT IS GOING TO WORK!!...YOU HURT HER AND I PROMISE YOU,I AM COMING IN THERE MYSELF AND I WILL PERSONALLY PUT YOU DOWN LIKE THE DOG YOU ARE!  YOUR BUS IS OUTSIDE...WE GAVE YOU WHAT YOU WANT...NOW GET ON IT AND LEAVE....I GAVE YOU MY WORD WE WOULD NOT FOLLOW YOU." she said.

Jimmy smiled... I have to admit...I was kind of aroused by it..Sissy is a sexy woman, even when she's asleep, but when she shows her array of emotions , she's even more arousing...at least to me..

There was silence!

''Okay....I'm sending out all of the hostages...except your girl....I won't hurt her...but she's going to be insurance until we make our escape.." he said.

He hung up...The door flung open...and one by one...all of the bank's hostages filed out with their hands up...

Sharon and her FBI agents were out amongst them...They suspected that the bank robbers might try to blend in with the hostages and slip off..but they didn't...The woman they called Honey West and the three
gunmen appeared at the door with Angie, with their guns on her...

Jimmy looked at her longingly...He looked like he was about to race into them, when Sissy and I both grabbed him...

"Easy Jimmy,Easy...You don't want to do anything to make them hurt Angie." I said.

Sissy's cell phone rang again...

"You got the hot number today Sissy." I said, trying to add a little light humor to a bad situation...

''It's Chica!" said Sissy.

III-

"Boss Lady...you have to come...and bring Hazel....We've got a situation..."said Carlotta...

"What kind of situation?" said Sissy...

"We matched a number to that Safe Deposit box in the bank...It was a Henry Cato...Ex -Air Force, Lived in West Germany last and is a suspected associate of this gang.."said Carlotta...

"Yeah, we know that..Jimmy pulled up his file...He may have helped them rob a museum in West Germany."said Sissy..

"Well Duke,Rico and I found him...He was tied to a chair in his living room and his throat had been slashed.."said Carlotta.

"Oh My God....This is deeper than we thought...The gang has released all of the hostages except Angie..They know she's a cop...but so far they haven't taken the bus or attempted to leave."said Sissy.

"This is definitely something else Boss Lady." said Carlotta...

"Give me an address...Hazel and I are on our way." said Sissy.

"What's up?" I asked.

"What's going on Sissy?" asked Sharon.

"Duke,Rico and Chica found Henry Cato, our fifth man and missing suspect...He's been murdered!!" said Sissy...

"What? What is going on here?" asked Sharon...

"I don't know...I don't know.."said Sissy..

She looked at Jimmy...

"I know you want to stay with Sharon....I won't ask you to come...Call me if anything happens."she said.

"I will." he said..

Sissy whispered in his ear...

"When this is over...I'm going to take you to Bridget's store...I know Angie's size and let you order whatever you desire to see her in...and demand that she take you to a hotel and ravish you."

Jimmy smiled...

''When this is over?"

"Think Positively Jimmy...We are going to get Angie out of this." said Sissy.

Jimmy thought about making love to Angie...He hadn't been with her in a week....He suddenly had an unquenchable urge for her now at all times...I could tell by the way he looked at her in the doorway...I've often looked at Carlotta like that, even when she wasn't in any kind of danger..He managed a weak smile as Sissy and I and Hazel left and headed for the address Carlotta gave us.

IV-

Sissy ,Hazel and I drove up to the neighborhood in West Philadelphia...Several Police cars were already there as well as Crime Scene investigators and photographers....

"Hey Sissy, Keith, Hazel... he's inside...I'll let you guys look...but Duke here says he looks like he's been dead for at least a day." said Tyriq..

"Yeah, judging by the body temp and lividity...I'm close."said Duke...

Sissy ,Tyriq and I looked at him with a side eye..

But his wife, Forensic Investigator, Dr. Hazel Hunter -Baylor smiled...

"He hangs out with me a lot...and he uh reads my medical logs sometimes...He has really gotten into the science of forensics.." she said with a sheepish laugh...

"It has made Duke a much better detective...He is even teaching me some things I didn't know about forensics." joked my wife Carlotta, who heard the whole thing...

For a minute..We all forgot how serious this was....We allowed ourselves a laugh...We walked into the house and there was Henry Lee Cato, Dead as a doorknob, with his throat slashed and both hands bound to the chair..

"My hubby is right...He's been dead about a day...He was murdered sometime last night."said Hazel...

''Every one of his fingers were broken..He was tortured too...My guess is whoever killed him wanted some information from him.."said Tyriq.

''They wanted the number of the safe deposit box he had in that bank...He had bearer bonds in there...Worth two fortunes...That's what they really wanted...Not the banks money...and I think they've already found what they were looking for...They wanted a diversion for some reason." said Sissy.

"Top told me they let everybody go except Angie.." said Duke.

''Yeah..they know she's a cop..and my guess is they're planning to blast their way out of there."I said.

"What do we do next?" asked my wife Carlotta.

"We've got to hope Hop and Sirena found that map to the sewer system and the underground tunnels..and hope that maybe we can catch them coming out...and pray...pray they don't kill Angie just for sport." I said

Sissy walked away from us...She held her head down...For the first time in a long time...I could tell she was crying...She was afraid...I didn't bring the other's attention to that.

(TO BE CONTINUED)