Topper

As planned , we all met at a different Bistro, nowhere near our squadroom to talk about the case..

 Stacks of Pancakes

 Sausage patties

and hot steaming cups of coffee were around our table..

"Mo Mo, Nate  and I looked up all of the murder vicitims like you asked.."said Kylie.

"We got our information from INTERPOL and the trusted source you told us about in Luna City on the moon." said Monica..

"Every last one of them was a known Hacker...9 of them had prior convictions, for wire fraud, electronic ponzi schemes through the mail and the internet...The 10th  and 11th ones were suspected... At any rate they were the best at what they do...and they all were paid by this mysterious , non-existant Abe Strathmore.." I said..

"Only Abe Strathmore does exist...Just not under that name.." said Carlos.. 'And I think I know who he is now.."said Carlos..

"You do?" said Lt. Cotton..

"The only person he could be.....Albert Basemore Jr., son of the King..They've long been estranged...The father was the one who sponsored young Wendy Yoshimura...put her through grad school and eventually shared her bed...It led to a big divorce...Sometime around that period..Sonny Boy began sleeping with her too and was seen around town with her..Enter Brynn Collins into Senior's life...She's an Attorney...In the world of High finance, she's represented some heavy hitters...she's also much younger than dad and a former classmate of Albert Jr... It's not long before they start keeping company and a bed room..." said Carlos..

"Sometime around this time...Jr. and Wendy and 11 co-conspirators , all now deceased began siphoning money out of daddy's many accounts....At first daddy doesn't miss it."said Monica.

"But then it's brought to Daddy's attention, probably by wife number two, Brynn Collins and daddy hires a very sadistic and efficient man to hunt down the thieves and get that information off the street..."I said..

''11 murders later...Wendy, who is in this up to her earrings..skips Luna City and hides out here in Philadelphia with two trained bodyguards...She pretends to be a stripper to throw anyone off her trail.Only it doesn't work..."said Kylie..

"And here is where it gets cute.....I think Brynn figured out who was pulling the strings and instead of turning her secret lover in...decided to blackmail him for a considerable half or whatever...but daddy's little killer is closing in...and he has to go...so Brynn or somebody she hired..Maybe Favors, surprised the hell out of Dennis Taggert and killed him!!!....But they still need that Laptop and that money..So now that we've pulled our guys off...Favors goes to look for it..and of course he winds up dead as a doorknob!"said Carlos..

"They didn't count on that....But they still need that Laptop...." said Kylie..

"And I plan to give it to em..Just not how they think.." said Carlos.. Take the hard drive out...Let's put another hard drive in with fake pass codes and information...but let's attach a  tracer to it...It'll lead us to them.."said Carlos..

"Ouu that's devious.." said Monique..

"But how do we prove all of this other stuff?" asked Kylie..

"We don't need to...Our murders our down...We know Taggert killed about 13 or 14 people and he's dead...We know Favors or possiblly Brynn Collins more than likely killed him...He's dead...We got enough to send to Interpol for them to pick up Basemore Senior...All we do is wait for these two to go for that laptop and we reel them in..." said Lt. Cotton..

"Oh this is soooo perfect..."said Carlos..

 "Ouuuu, I can't wait.."said Monica..

"Me neither." I said..

II-

"You haven't heard anything yet?" asked Albert Basemore Jr.

"No they may be hip to me...so I've decided to follow the detective from Luna City...Carlos Wallace..I think he may have stashed it somewhere...The Philly coppers have no need for it... Their murders are down...but he's investigating the larger case..

"I'll just be glad when this is over and I get my hands on those pass codes.." said Albert Basemore Jr.

"You mean "We get our hands on them don't you?" said Brynn...

"Of course baby!!!..50 50 split right...Heh heh heh.."laughed Albert..

At the squadroom...

"Here's the Laptop...

Just as you asked Detective."said Lt. Cotton..

"Thanks...I'm going to stash it out near my place at Aqua Port...When the coast is clear...I'll take a sub to Octopus Gardens...Double back and head to Spaceport..Thanks for once again helping me crack a case Lieutenant.."said Carlos..

"Don't Mention it..Thank you.."said Lt. Cotton..

 "Guess We'll see you in six Months huh?" said Monica.

 "Or maybe sooner."I laughed..

"Be well Carlos." said Monique..

"I will.Kylie come here.." he said..

He pulled her to him and kissed her passionately...

This performance was done for the one Micro-Camera we had left in tact..

We knew Brynn was picking up the entire thing..

The trap was set...






III-

Carlos was registered at one of the Off shore lofts near Aqua port where Transport subs left every hour on the hour for the Undersea Cities of Octopus Gardens and Lemuria..

It was beautiful and quiet..

Carlos was originally going to leave the Laptop and casually go out for a drink, giving the culprits time to break in steal it..Which was all going to be captured on a micro-camera we already had hidden there except..The plan didn't go as he expected..

When he arrived he saw Brynn and Albert Basemore Jr.. and both had guns with Silencers pointed at him..

 "Detective Wallace...How nice to see you again."said Brynn.

"What's that you got there?" asked the man with her..

"Agent Collins...I-I was going to call you.."said Carlos...

"Knock it off...You know I'm not with the FBI... Just hand over the Laptop..."she said..

looking at it..

The man with her took it..

"I'll take that off your hands.." he said..

IV-

Brynn then aimed her gun at Carlos and shot him three times in the chest...

"ARGGGGGGGH!" he screamed and fell out the window!, making a big splash in the water...

Albert Basemore Jr. looked on in horror..

"WHAT DID YOU DO? YOU JUST KILLED A COP!!!" he screamed..

"I don't like loose ends...Now the trail will go cold again...Let's get Out of here.." she said..

Just then...Two other men appeared...

 "Brynn, one thing I always loved about you...Is you always cut the crap and got right to the meat of the thing.." said the older heavy set man...

The man with him said nothing..He aimed his pistol at the two menacingly....

"Pop...Pop...look...this isn't what it looks like.."said Albert Basemore Jr.

"Oh I think it's just what it looks like...You stole from me...Stole both my women, stole my money with your little friends...I know it was you..I knew it was you Junior because you handled it just like you handle everything else..like an amateur son...I raised you better..At least I thought I did...When did you become so mediocre?" said Albert Basemore Sr.

"Pop please.!!!!..Here is the laptop.!!!..No harm, no foul...You can get all of your money back...All of it...I swear!!!! I swear!!!"said a frightened Albert Jr. ,who was urinating on himself.. "All thirty million...I'm serious..." he said.

''You need a toilet son!!!....You should've gone to the restroom before you came out here...My God! Don't beg son, be a man....for once in your miserable life...FINCH?" he said..

The man named Finch fired one shot..It hit Albert Jr. between the eyes and exited out of the back of his head.. He fell to the ground, dead....Killed instantly...

Brynn didn't flinch...she looked at Albert Basemore Sr.

"Albert Baby, I'm worth a lot more to you alive than dead...Especially in the bed big daddy.." said Brynn..

"You Known Brynn...I would have spared you , but you just killed a cop!  No wayyy I want that on me..Finch!" he said..

Before she could even think to protest!!!The man named Finch efficiently put a bullet between her eyes ,which exited out of the back of her head..She fell to the ground, dead as a door knob...Blood from her head splashed on the wall....

Albert Basemore Senior looked at both bodies..

"I'll miss my son.....I'll miss Brynn even more...She was good in bed... Ummmmmmph that woman did things to me I haven't had done since the dawn of this millennium....Lawd today.... Come on Finch, let's get the hell out of here...I'm hungry and could use a nice wine..." he said, stepping over the dead bodies of his son and his second wife..

The two men quickly exited and headed toward a Speed boat...

 "BASEMORE!! HALT...IT'S ALL OVER! " I said..

"DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" said Monica..

She pushed us to the side..

"Look out bae...he's got a gun! " she said..

The man named Finch fired two shots...He missed..

"DAMNIT...I MISSED!" he snarled..

We returned his fire..we missed him too!

He fired at us again...

Emotionless...Never uttering  a word...

Monica and I fired at him again...

He took cover and returned our fire..While Basemore Senior ran toward the end of the Marina..

Carlos, now out of the water fired one shot...All he needed...It hit Finch square in his back, severing his spinal cord and killing him instantly..!Finch fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.. Dead!!! He never said a word...

Carlos had been wearing a Kevlar Vest and a Trauma plate under his clothing..When Brynn shot him , she did no damage at all....

"Oh My, this has got messy! Time to get in the wind!!!" said Albert Basemore Sr., who fired three shots at us and then beat a speedy retreat..

 Albert Basemore Sr. ran towards the docks where his powerful speed boat was....

By now Kylie  and Tactical Squad members

and Lt. Cotton

flooded the area.....

"Get him...Don't let that Fat Bastard escape...GET HIM!" barked Lt. Cotton!!!

 "Come On Mo Mo...Let's get after him!" I said..

"Right behind you bae.." she said..

For a big hulk of a man, Albert Basemore Sr. could move...He had made it to his speedboat by now!

 We took to the air after his speedboat in my flying car...

I watched as Monica's hair blew in the wind as we got in hot pursuit of his speedboat...

Which was moving faster than any speedboat I'd ever seen..It was the 2044 model and was moving at almost 200 miles an hour in the water...

"You'll never catch me...This is the deluxe model..Fastest thing on the water.." he laughed ,while sipping wine..

The Coast Guard had a cutter after him and Helicopters....but that cutter was no match for his speedboat...

He was looking at us and laughing...and sipping wine...Fat Bastard!!!

He was out running all of us.. But My Flying Car was matching the speed of His boat and we were right over him...

It was too dangerous to try and enter his speed boat....


We were both traveling at incredible speed..and he was very close to international waters...

 "He's going to out run us all.." said Monica.

"I have an idea... I've still got those shock grenades....The ones I got from the FBI... I'm gonna toss a few ..this will slow him down..."I said.. My Flying Car was over his speedboat!

The shock grenades hit his boat and exploded , rocking his speedboat from side to side..causing it to spin wildly....

Surprisingly...the boat came to a complete stop!!...It was eerily quiet...Then we saw a bright flash...and heard what sounded like a firecracker popping!

We hovered right above it..

The Coast guard cutter stopped in front of it...The Coast Guard men entered the boat with guns drawn..

They found the body of Albert Basemore Sr below deck...He had taken his own life with one gunshot to the head... a half full glass of wine was on the counter...

Now the case was truly over...One of our bloodiest cases had come to a very tragic ending..

EPILOUGE-

The CSI Boys and the Forensic Boys were snapping photos of the bloody scene....

Monique was there as

The bodies of Brynn Collins

Albert Basemore Jr.

and hired killer, Toby Finch were all carted away....

The body of Albert Basemore Sr. was the last to be carted in...A fitting ,yet cowardly end to the man who had started the bloodbath in the first place..

 "I'm so glad you're okay.." said Kylie, who was crying..

 "What are you crying for.? I'm fine...My ribs hurt a little bit..but nothing a jacuzzi and some TLC won't take care of.." he joked..

Kylie and Carlos were kissing passionately.....

"Wow..what a mess...and ironically , he still didn't have the Laptop with the information he sought.."said Lt. Cotton..

 ''Wow, 18 people dead behind this...This was the bloodiest caper we've ever been involved with.."I said.

"I know...but this was the Topper!"said Monica..

She kissed me passionately....

''Oh lord, everybody's kissing...Come here Sugar baby..Give me my Topper" he said to Monique..

"Frankieeeeeeeeeeeeeeee… I'm working..."said Monique, giggling and protesting...

He  kissed her passionately...

"So am I." he said..

We cleared everything out and slowly began to head back into town....I would have liked to have brought somebody to justice...Perhaps this was the only way it could end..With all of these evil people judged by a higher court...and dead by their own hands...