Out Of The Cold

It was pretty strange now of days...We at the Criminal Investigation Division of the Philadelphia Police department are a pretty tight unit... But sometimes overlapping investigations cause us to be separated...

 Lt. Sissy Van Buren told me that even though we now had our own building for investigations.

That we shared with the FBI and ATF... There might still come a time when we'd have to use our secret off site location...

and that there might be a time when all of us wouldn't neccesarily be there together..   This was one of those times...

I'm Assistant District Attorney Keith Wallace..I prosecute major crimes...

Today...I rode along with Sissy, my wife, Detective Carlotta Rodiguez-Wallace

Her partner..

 Detective Tyriq Pile..

 His wife, Detective Sirena Pile

and Lieutenant Danny Ho of Robbery-Homicide...

For the past month they had been investigating a home invasion crew that had robbed several homes and killed at least two people....

We had finally gotten enough evidence on all five of the members of the crew and a location on their whereabouts.....

 ''You have the warrants Keith?" asked Sissy...

"Got em all...Arrest Warrants for all five of these mopes and for their residence.." I said..

'We ready to move?" asked Lt. Ho..

"Let's not waste any more time...Two of these guys have slipped away from us before...I want to get all of em this time."said Sissy..

'We are ready boss lady." said Carlotta..

"Let's do it.." said Sissy...

Carlotta, Tyriq, his wife Sirena and a tactical squad

of uniformed policemen entered three apartments... Surprising the hell out of three of our suspects, arresting them with their lady friends and finding lots of cash and some of the stolen jewelry and other items stolen...

Sissy and Danny Ho led another squad of Tactical Uniform policemen

into an early morning diner , surprising one of our suspects who had surprisingly gotten away from us two weeks before and arrested him......

His apartment ,like the rest revealed lots of cash ,jewelry and the murder weapon used in the two slayings...His was an important capture..

and their squad captured the final suspect as he was coming back from an all night bender... He was drunk and hungover and completely surprised to see the police surrounding him...

 ''Wow, this was kind of fun...Reminds me of how we met sexy...."His nickname for his wife Sirena.

 "Yeah...I was in Special Investigations working undercover and you and Lotta were working Robbery-Homicide with then Sgt. Danny Ho.."said Sirena..

"I remember...You two hated each other at first..." laughed Carlotta..

"Hate is a strong word Top...Let's say midly annoyed, yet attracted..."said Tyriq ,smiling and lustily checking out his sexy wife..

"I wasn't annoyed even and I uh kinda thought he was sexy...Remember Lotta when we talked in Sam Mother's Diner?" laughed Sirena..

"Yes I remember.."laughed Carlotta as the five suspects were loaded into the paddy wagon..

 "This was a good bust...Lt. Tragg won't have anything to say at Comstat tomorrow.

"He said enough during this case...I'm just glad it's over.."said Sissy...

"Don't worry about Tragg...He's goofed up two cases..."I said..

"He arrested a City Councilman for murder a few weeks ago and the killer was actually the Judge trying the case..We made that case.." said Carlotta.

"And he arrested the wrong guy in a double murder...Turns out it was someone else..ADA McCafferty and ADA Spade were not pleased with his work at all." said Tyriq.

"I know...I saw both of them the other day...They were still fuming about his lousy police work.."I said..

'Well we cracked our case...Your husband

 is back at headquarters Sis...Let's hope he fixed us a nice breakfast.."said Sirena.

"Yes...I think we've all worked up a good appetite after a good morning's work."said Sissy.

II-

Sissy was working with a skeleton crew team...Everybody else was temporarily assigned to our off site headquarters...

Deputy Special Agent in charge of the FBI/ATF Sharon Hopkins had her most trusted FBI and ATF agents there as well as Duke Baylor and her husband, Hop.

who she had borrowed from Sissy...

The person in charge of the Operation, DEA Regional Special Agent in Charge, Carol Redding...arrived with U.S. Attorney Karla Robinson..

''Hi Sharon..."said Carol.

"Hi Guys....Nice set up you have here.." said Karla.. "I got Federal warrants for Tony Montrose and 39 of his associates and I stopped by City Hall and picked up the state warrants for 26 drug dealers associated with him...buyers...We are ready to go...Are our operatives in yet?" asked Karla.

"They should be on their way." said Detective Edwin "Duke "Baylor, who was on loan to the feds and had been running point for Sharon...Co-Ordinating with Narcotics and Vice on intelligence and surveilience...

Sharon's Husband, Detective Tony Hopkins had been on the street with plain clothes cops keeping an eye on

 Detective Angela Belton -Barlow who was deep undercover, So deep that she changed cell phones three times and left information she gleaned on taxes, and finances from his books on zip drives that she left at agreed drop off spots...Spots where female plain clothes cops picked them up and returned them to Hop..

Jimmy, also undercover and posing as broker of sorts did the same thing and was just as deep undercover...

The two hadn't seen each other in weeks..They hadn't seen any of us..

The Feds had the evidence they needed to start making arrests...Both Angie and Jimmy were ordered to "Come In from out of the Cold.."

They did...The Condos we rented and paid for them were cleaned out...

They got in an unmarked car with Hop and he drove them back to our Off Site Headquarters..

Naturally they devoured each other's lips in the back seat....

 ''Chocolate Cupcake (Jimmy's nickname for his wife) I've missed you sooo much.." said Jimmy ,kissing Angie passionately..

"I've missed you too.." said Angie..

Kissing him passionately...

Hop and the uniform officer in the front who was driving just smiled..

When they arrived...DEA SAC Carol Redding smiled..

"Great work Guys...We got what we need..We start taking doors tomorrow morning...Come on and get some breakfast.." said Carol...

"Heyyy Partner...I missed you." said Duke, hugging Angie..

"I missed you too...I've missed everybody.."said Angie..

''I've missed everybody too..I heard my partners made a big bust this morning.."said Jimmy.

 as Steaming cups of Hot Coffee

 Eggs made to order...

 Hash Browns

 Sausage

and Waffles  were served to

Angie, Duke, Jimmy, Hop and the DEA, FBI and ATF agents working the case and staying here..

 ''So Tomorrow we take some doors..huh?" said Angie..

 "Not You...You and Jimmy are going home..Your jobs are done here.."said Duke , smiling..

 ''Wowww that sounds good...being back on regular rotation.."said Jimmy..

''Me and Duke will be joining you in a day..We are going to hang around to mop up.."said Hop..

''Sharon, as usual...You guys did an incredible job...We've been trying to make a case against Tony Montrose for the longest time...Now We've got him..."said a Happy Carol Redding..

"I'm just sorry I couldn't utilize Sissy and the whole team , but they had that ongoing investigation of that Home Invasion Crew going on...but I'm thankful to Sissy for letting us borrow four of her guys,My Husband, Duke, Angie and Jimmy."said Sharon..

"You all did incredible work...It was a pleasure working with you guys again..."said Karla..

III-

Unlike our comrades who were staying at the Site...The rest of us, were working a normal shift...sometimes a little overtime and going home at night..

Sissy and her husband, Eddie C.

and Tyriq and Sirena..

Anyone who passed by our homes..

Especially after 7:00 pm..

 Heard Bedsprings squeaking...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu, Ayyye Papiiii.."

"Carlotta, you are driving me insane...ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.."

 Soft moans and coos...

"Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Rico...Ricoooooo, ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm..."

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Sirena...."

and a combonation of both....

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Eddddddddddddddddddie....ouuuuuuuuu you like it daddy?"

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm you know I do Sis...you know I do....ohhhh."

And at our site..

Jimmy and Angie were making up for lost time....

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM..."

"OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!"

The bed was squeaking out of control and the headboard sounded as if it might come off...

 ''Damn....Junior is putting it down."mused Duke as he put on his Kevlar vest and his trauma plate..

"They haven't seen each other in a month.. I perfectly understand.." said Hop..

"You guys ready?  Let's go.." said Sharon...

Carol Redding cocked her glock...

"I've forgotten how much fun this is..." she said..

FBI, ATF and DEA Agents backed by

Philadelphia Police Narcotics and Vice officers..

Led by

Detective Edwin "Duke " Baylor

and Detective Tony Hopkins

 Sharon and Carol fanned out, starting at 4:00 am in the morning and arrested 39 known associates of Businessman /Drug Importer, Tony Montrose.

in addition they arrested 26 drug crew members who bought his high line of Heroin, Cocaine and Opiates...

They raided his warehouses and impounded enough Heroin, Cocaine and Opiates to juice the entire Deleware Valley area and more...

They stopped short of finding Montrose himself..

He was not in his Highrise Condo....  Everything was as if he had just left...The bed was unmade...The sink was full of dishes...His clothes were still there...but he was nowhere to be found..

 ''Wow.sorry we didn't get him Carol...I know he was the big fish..."said Duke.

"Yeah, sorry.."said Hop..

''That's alright...He'll turn up eventually...We got his drugs...We made 65 arrests...We landed some pretty big fish....His operation is over and we can close up shop....Everybody can go home...We'll put out a warrant for his arrest....Good Job Guys!" said Carol.

"It'll be nice to sleep in our own bed...Won't it Honey Bunny"" said Sharon to Hop..

"It sure will babe." said Hop..

As he kissed Sharon passionately....

IV-

Soon, Sharon and Hop were home

 as well as Duke and Hazel...

The Band was back together again....

But this bizarre case was not closed...Little did we know...It was just beginning...

For at Olga's Diner out by the Airport....A Diner where Attorneys, Doctors, Politicians, Movers and shakers dined....

Tony Montrose....The main target of the large Federal Investigation  was outside on his cell phone..

"Hey man...What gives? I was supposed to meet with our Russian friend and his associate...They never showed up....I've been here for two hours...What's goin on?" he asked.

"Relax....I'll see if I can get in contact with them....Sit tight...I'll call you back." came the voice on the phone of Sonny...His Lieutenant and Second in command...Surprisingly...He was not named in any of the indictments..

"Alright man because we got problems...The Feds and the cops pinched 39 of our friends early this morning and from what the lawyers are telling me...It looks bad...real bad...Not to mention they got all of our customers...The drug crews that buy from us and worse..they hit both of my warehouses and impounded the left over product....Mannnn we in crisis.." said a very nervous Tony Montrose..

"This sounds like somebody was snitching...Either that or you got compromised.."said Sonny.

''Compromised by who? Everybody is in jail...Except me...and word is...I may be under indictment.."said Tony Montrose..

"Relax...We've made millions for our Russian Friend...That has to count for something...We just need time to get some more buyers..."said Sonny.

"Yeah, I mean it wasn't my fault this happened..." said Tony..

"What about that babe.???  That Accountant/Bookkeeper you were so smitten over.? 

 Angela Wharton." said the voice over the phone..

"She is solid...I proposed to her...I bought her a very expensive diamond ring....I love her and she loves me...It couldn't be her..."said Tony...

"Yeah? well her place is empty....Like she never lived there...and her phone is disconnected...and we can't seem to find a trace of her anywhere..." said the voice on the phone..

"WHATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT?" said Tony Montrose...

"Somethin else...That white boy....

Jimmy Fish from Fishtown that was buyin up a lot of product....He's vanished and none of his buyers got they product.....Went by his place...same thing...Empty...Phone disconnected...Either they both federallis or our Russian friend has already made them both disappear..Regardless let me call him, see why he didn't show up at the meet.." said the voice.

"Alright...I'll be here...Tell em I'm sorry and that I'll pay him back with interest..."said Tony Montrose...

"Got'cha.." came the voice.

He stood outside the diner sweating...

He didn't know it...but he'd never be seen again!


(TO BE CONTINUED)