A Couple of Big Fish

The city of Philadelphia...Early Spring......The sun was about to set on the big city....but on the mean streets, the "sun" was rising on a new drama...a Drama that would soon attract my Attention...

I'm Assistant District Attorney ,Keith Wallace...I prosecute Homicides and other major crimes..

In an area called "Little Norway" which is actually peopled by Russians,Croations and several Eastern Europeans...A young man is running...A Black Caddilac Escalade comes to a stop and a tall man, Six foot four, muscular, Blonde Hair, Blue eyes and dressed in a Black Suit ,with a Black turtle neck shirt gets out..He takes aim and fires four shots at the fleeing young man...

He is not used to missing...But the young man is darting in and out of cars and people ,who begin to scatter as he coldly walks down the street with his gun aimed..Oblivious to being seen...

He knows that no one in this neighborhood and I mean no one will be seen talking to the police about something like this..

He fires again and again he misses..The young man turns and returns his fire..Missing him...He rounds a corner, with the tall man still on his trail..

He rounds the corner and fires at the young man, hitting him in the shoulder..

"ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH...I don't believe it..I've been shot!" yells the young man as he falls to the ground..

The Taller man smiles...He has hit him, but he hasn't killed him.. He confidently walks up to the fallen young man to finish the job and gets the shock of his life...

The man is still alive and has his pistol aimed at him!!!

"You should've gotten in your car and left after you hit me." he says and fires one shot...All he needs...

The shot rips through the big man's chest, pulverizing his heart and killing him instantly...

He falls into the street, very,very dead!

His partner ,who had been driving the Black Escalade gets out of the car,only to be met by a hail of gunfire from the young man...Gunfire that destroys the windshield and knocks the rear view mirror on the passenger side out...

He tries to return fire ,but is forced to retreat...He gets back in his car and pulls off at top speed...Leaving his associate's body in the street...

The younger man puts his gun back in his jacket pocket and runs in the opposite direction...

II-

Forensic Investigator, Dr. Hazel Baylor kneeled down and observed the body of the murdered gunman..

"Wow..He's a big one."she said.

 My wife, Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace felt the body...

"It's still warm Hazel...The body I mean..Ouu..He's six foot, five about..and look at his muscles..I bet he works out..." she said.

"Worked out!  He won't be working out anymore...My my my...what a waste...This guy was built...Body temp and lividity says he got shot in the past two hours...I know the cause of death...Gunshot to the heart....."said Hazel..

"Judging by the way our guy fell...His shooter was lying down...Shot from the ground up....."said Detective Tyriq Pile,who was observing the body while police photographers photographed it and other uniformed officers collected, bagged and tagged shell casings...

"This looks like an open air shootout...I'm certain the Street and Traffic Cams picked up everything..Not to mention Business Cams and ATM cams.."said Detective Jimmy Barlow.

"Any witnesses?" asked Tyriq..

"You kiddin Rico???....People lose their fingers around here for givin a cop directions to a street..."laughed Jimmy....

Carlotta looked at her two partners and smiled...She took a flashlight and she followed the trail....

"The gun battle began here...See these scuff marks...Our would be victim was in a car...He must have jumped out and ran...There is blood over there... I'm guessing he got hit......He played possum and when our victim walked up on him..." she said.

"Pow...He popped him....and dropped him." said Tyriq ....He and Carlotta had worked together so long, they finished each others sentences and thoughts..

"Heads Up Guys...We got company." said Jimmy smiling...

It was Sissy and me and others driving up in my SUV...

"Wow...It's been a few weeks since I visited a crime scene." laughed Sissy.....

 FBI Deputy Special Agent in Charge, Sharon Hopkins got out of the back seat too....

 With her was DEA Special Agent in Charge, Carol Redding, who none of had seen for about a month..

And Captain Eddie Cantrell, her husband, who we hardly ever see ....

"Hey Guys...I guess you are wondering why all of us are here" I said.

Carlotta gave me a soft sensuous kiss..

"I don't care why you're here honey bunny...I'm just glad you are.." she said softly...

"Our vic is a big fish huh?" said Tyriq....

"Russian Mafia huh?" asked Jimmy...

''We don't know who that guy is...but the guy he was probably trying to kill is very important to us.."said Sharon...

''We think that Mr. Brooklyn Decker contracted with a young man up here to be his represenative here in Philly and that he may have encroached on a Russian Gang's turf..."said Sissy...

"Ouuuuuuuu things just got real."said Carlotta...

"Hi Carlotta, Rico, Jimmy...Indeed they did."said Carol Redding..

"I'm just out tonight because I felt like getting out of that office and on the streets." said Captain Eddie Cantrell..smiling devilishly..

"You guys got anything on the shooter?" asked Sissy..

"Not yet...No one is talking ..but they won't have to...This was so public..it's bound to be on the cameras...I've already got a team on the cameras..."said Jimmy...

''We are done here...Hazel..They can move the body."said Tyriq...

"You're the primary on this one Rico?" I asked.

He peered at Carlotta and gave her the side eye...

"Yeahhhhhh." he said.

"Next time Rico..Okay?" laughed Carlotta...

We all watched as the body was carted off..

III-

 In another part of town,at a bar...

 Detectives Edwin "Duke" Baylor and his pretty partner, Detective Angela Belton-Barlow were interviewing a surly young man...Damon Green...

He kept staring at Angie's cleavage and smiling...She was smiling back at him ,which made him smile and a little more talkative..

"So Mr. Green.....We found a man, identified as Julien Drex....hanging in an apartment in Mt.Airy....we found a gun with his prints on them that matched the ballisitcs of the gun used to kill Jimmy Bishop... We found a guy in a hotel room with a nice neatly typed suicide note and a lot of cash, hanging from the ceiling with the murder weapon lying neatly on the bed...The murder weapon used in the Jimmy Bishop Murder.."said Duke..

The young man smiled..

"So what's that got to do with me?" he said.

"Your fingerprints are on the suitcase that the cash was in sugar..."said Angie..

He smiled..

"You sure?" he said.

"I'm positive...And we traced your phone calls...You got a call from a burner phone just hours before we found Mr. Bishop and his killers body and you made a call to the same burner phone just minutes before Detective Sirena Pile found Bishop's killers body."said Angie..

"I heard it was a suicide.." he said.

"Oh you heard that? "said Duke Smiling..."We did too and see..We thought that at first...but we got you on tape in the lobby at the hotel..With the killer and Jimmy Bishop...and we got your license plate number of your car ,speeding away from his killer's suicide...just minutes after and we got you making a call on your phone to Detective Pile giving her a heads up..

He looked like he'd swallowed a canary at this point..

Angie pulled out her handcuffs...

"Stand up sugar...you're under arrest...Murder one...You can help yourself by telling us who hired you..."she said.

"You don't understand...Yall already put a bullseye on my back.." he said...suddenly frightened..

"Maybe..Maybe not...It's up to you.."said Duke as he,Angie and two uniformed officers walked the young man out of the bar...

III-

 Downtown at the Marriot...Detectives Sirena Pile and her partner, Detective Tony Hopkins were in the lobby with five uniformed policemen..and two plain clothes cops..

"Shame I've never stayed here...Seems like I'm always here."said Sirena..

"I hear ya.."said Detective Tony Hopkins...

They took two plain clothes cops and one uniform policeman with them...The other three Uniformed Policemen remained in the lobby...

Rod Khyber was sitting in his suite with three other well dressed men, smoking a cigar and drinking scotch...They were laughing and playing cards when Sirena walked in...

"Sorry to break up your party guys.. I'm Detective Sirena Pile...Mr. Khyber...I have a warrant for your arrest." she said.

He laughed..

''My arrest? For What?" he said.

"Suspicion of murder." said Hop ,who handed him the warrant...

He read it and laughed...

"You're out of your mind detective.." he said and preceded to rip the warrant to shreds and toss it in the trash can...

Sirena and Hop looked at each other and grabbed him and hand cuffed him, while reading him his rights..

A plain clothes officer walked in and hustled him out of the room ,while the other two men sat stunned..

"You crazy...I'll have both of your badges...Do you know who I am?? What's your names? Hopkins??,Pile?? Yeah, Alright,Okay...wait til my lawyers get a hold of you..." he bellowed as crowds in the lobby gawked as he was being dragged out by Sirena,Hop, Two plain clothes cops and five uniformed policemen.

IV-

Rod Khyber sat in the interrogation room...I walked in with Captain Cantrell...

"Mr Khyber...I'm ADA Keith Wallace..."I said.

"I know who you are...For now anyway..." he said.

''What do you mean by that?" I asked knowing already....He was not the first so called Big Wig who had threatened me or one of my detectives badges...

''What I mean is you should stick to busting Serial Killers...I've heard about your unit..they're pretty good at that...With me...you're swimming in water too deep for you to even fathom." he said with a self serving smirk on his face...

Captain Cantrell said nothing...He simply banged on the window... Lt. Sissy Van Buren walked in...

Upon seeing her...Rod Khyber immediately sat up....

''Well Hello hotness...And who might you be? "he said smiling at Sissy and observing her every curve....

Sissy pulled out a smartphone and dialed a number....

Rod Khyber's phone started ringing at the same time...

"Who is this???..Excuse me..Might be my lawyer..." he said....but it wasn't his main phone....Turns out , he had a second phone...a cheap flip phone...He looked baffled.. Sort of like ,who would be calling me on this phone and now...??"

Finally Sissy spoke...

"Hello Mr. Khyber...I'm Sissy,Lt. Sissy Van Buren, Criminal Investigation Bureau and this is the number Mr. Damon Green got a call from , in fact several calls from in the hours leading up to the murder of Drug Kingpin Jimmy Bishop....He made a call to this very number right after the murder and the set up to let you know that everything was taken care of..." said Sissy, who then went in her purse...and pulled out a piece of paper..

"This is a receipt from your off shore account transferring money...a payment into Mr.Green's bank account...an Account he had just opened two days before Mr. Bishop's murder and oh look...Here is a photograph we lifted from the bank's camera of you and Mr. Green at the bank...the morning of...Making a withdrawal of half of that amount...The amount we found in the suitcase in Mr. Bishops room ,along with a suicide note and a suitcase that you purchased with cash from Target....That's you in that photograph....You've got no business with this phone on your person Mr. Khyber." said Sissy ,who smiled sweetly and walked out of the room...

Captain Cantrell busted out laughing..

I looked at Rod Khyber, who looked like he had crapped his pants....

"So uh Mr. Khyber...Come again?  Tell me about how your lawyers are going to take my job?  I think we have a good case for Conspiracy to commit murder...And you could be looking at Life behind bars...But of course you could start talking about Brooklyn Decker and cut your time in half..." I said.

He looked at me like I was crazy....

"I don't know any Brooklyn Decker.." he said.

"Okay...Suit yourself."I said.  "Duke!" I yelled..

Detective Edwin "Duke" Baylor walked in the room with two uniformed Police Officers...

''Stand Up....Rodney Khyber...You're under arrest for Conspiracy to commit murder in the death of James Bishop." he began..

V-

 While At the M.E.'s office- Dr. Hazel Baylor and FBI Deputy Special Agent in Charge Sharon Hopkins addressed the Detectives , Tyriq Pile, my wife, Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace and James "Jimmy"Barlow about their dead suspect.

"Your suspect didn't appear to have a sheet, but FBI Deputy Special Agent Sharon Hopkins here ran his prints through VICAP and then Interpol and we got a hit."said Hazel.

"He is Yuri Putin....Ex KGB...and prominent Russian Gangster.....Suspected of 28 murders alone in Europe...He's heavy duty..He's who you call in when you really need someone whacked..."said Sharon..

"And he gets taken out by a punk kid like Vladmir Breznev?" said Jimmy... They had already identified him on camera footage and by facial recognition...

"He's not such a punk anymore Jimmy..He's reputed to be Valarie Natchios number two man..."said Carlotta.

"Yeah...word on the street is that Valarie Natchios has the hot package...and that she's been selling it cheap to several drug organizations in the wake of a crisis of leadership...One that we have caused..."laughed Tyriq.

"That's right" came the voice of our friend...DEA Special Agent in charge, Carol Redding.."She's selling Heroin at a cut rate and all of the area drug organizations are flocking to Little Norway to make buys..Which is cutting into the profits of our friend, Mr. Brooklyn Decker." she said.

"Ouuu things could heat up around here.." laughed Carlotta...

Detectives Angela Belton-Barlow and Sirena Pile walked in just then...

"Or they could heat up now." joked Carlotta...It appeared that both of her partners were occupied..

Tyriq and Sirena were in the corner kissing passionately, they hadn't seen each other all day..

 "Heyy girl, how you doin?" asked Tyriq..

"Better, now that I'm with you.."said Sirena..

"You ready to go home baby?" asked Jimmy to Angie...

"Mmmm, ready if you are sweetie." said Angie as she layed a sensual kiss on him .......

It had been an interesting afternoon...We had a new murder victim...A Russian hitman brought in by Brooklyn Decker to handle a Russian...and we had Decker's Lieutenant in custody charged with a murder...

For the time being...Our side appeared to have the upper hand...


(TO BE CONTINUED)