Whitehall Station 1.doc

8/22/2019 Whitehall Station 1.doc

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Whitehall Station

Chapter 1

Danny found a glass; perhaps a little less dirty than the others strewn from sink to table,

wiped it out with two fingers, and then wiped them on his pants. No need to worrybout it baby, he said to no one in particular, or perhaps to the glass, the booze will kill

the germs and I dont give a fart in a whirlwind, as Pappy used to say, bout the rest.

He poured four fingers of cheap scotch into the glass and made his way to the only pieceof furniture in the room other than the TV tray; a recliner stuck permanently in the recline

position, thrown out by the landlord when the tenants skipped on the rent. The covering

was authentic Naugahide, though Danny still laughed when Shu wanted to know what

the hell a Nauga was and howd they get the hide? Danny had always wanted arecliner to which Lori had answered why not just get a bed and lay in the living room?

Danny often thought this would be a fair option, realizing she did not really mean it.

Women, cant live with em and not allowed to shoot them.

Somehow Danny maneuvered his six foot three, two hundred and sixty pound frame into

the rag of a chair, put his drink on the trash bin salvaged tray table covered with contactpaper and picked up Loris picture for the thousandth time. His massive hand gently

caressed the wooden frame, scarred from dozens of slashing attacks from tugs jaws,

drunks guts and other forms of street scum mapped his lifes travel from street punk tothe hardnosed cop he was today.

Well babe, Danny took a long slow drink, here we are again. So, ya want to know

about my day. Huh? Well, lets seeI did some waste of time paperwork so the DAcould let some scum back on the street to feel up little girls. Uh, and then I stuck my gun

in some junkies mouth and squeezed his jewels till he told me who did the snatch atJacks Pub on Thursday. Oh jeeze, I almost forgot the best part. Some homeless guypuked on my shoes while I was given him a couple of bucks to get a meal. Great bein a

cop. Danny took another long pull and emptied the glass.

Danny thought about going into the kitchen and getting another drink, but it was too far

and too hard to get out of this chair. Hed just sit and look at Lori a little longer. It had

been two years now. Two long, lonely, dark, mean hard drinking years since Danny was

shot and Lori hit the wall like so many cops wives do; wondering if your old man wouldcome home or if youd get the call to look at the remains some hyped up punk blew away

for a dime bag. Yeah I know babe, Danny stroked the picture, glass broken and frame

askew from some previous drunk, but look at me. Whose gonna want to marry some oldover-the-hill fat ass cop? Huh? Hey thanks babe, but any freaking cop that is over 50 is

freaking over the hill and sliding down the backside, ya know?

He placed Loris picture back in its usual space, easily found because it was the only spot

on the tray that was not covered with dust, trash or dried food. He rolled stiffly out of the

chair and walked to the large picture window. Great view, he thought as his eyes

scanned the roofs of burned out tenements, old warehouses, a vacant lot and the flashing

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light of a check cashing business. He leaned his face against the window, dropped the

empty glass to the carpet and drew his Glock from its holster, resting it against his

temple. It was loaded, one in the chamberit was always loaded. Danny neverunderstood those cops who wanted to keep their gun safe. What good is a gun if it

aint ready to shoot when you need it, Danny would say, what are you gonna tell the

purp hey wait while I chamber a round?

Well Danny, have you got the cajones tonight? Well do ya, do ya? The reflection had

no response as Danny squeezed the trigger. Mid squeeze, he stopped again the same asevery other time before. Way to go candy ass, he said in disgust and placed his pistol

on the table next to the daily tabloid whose leading story was about some damn monster

that was half man and half bull running around China. Sounds like all bull to me, and

Danny threw the paper into the trash. Chinks, what a bunk of feakn nuts.

He thought about turning on the television but all that was on now was has-beens

dancing, morons singing or some cop show with a bunch of jerks who knew nothing

about real police work, or real life. There they were living in some fancy house with amaid and four cars, making a million or two a year and dressing like something out of

GQ or one of them chick magazines. Danny wished just one of the cops at the precinctlooked like those babes on the tube.

Kicking his shoes off without undoing the laces, Danny grabbed his belt buckle and withone motion, his belt was in his hand like a whip and pants fell to the floor. Stepping out

of the heap he picked up the pants, matched the bottoms in a neat fold and slipped them

between the mattress and box springs; ironing by sleeping was what Danny called it.

Lowering the mattress, he reached under the pillow to check for his .38; right where itbelonged. Then he walked back into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and removed a

small caliber Beretta from behind the orange juice. Dropped out the clip, checked the

slide, and wiped off the cream cheese. Yep ready to go. The pistol had a large piece ofVelcro glued to the grip, mating to one on the inside of the refrigerator.

Still walking around the apartment in his suit coat and tie, less pants, Danny practicedmoving through the debris with his eyes closed, the same as he had done every day since

he became a cop. At first, Lori found it funny, but over the years, she became more and

more fearful of the routine as it meant Danny was convinced that one day someone would

enter their home, not to rob, but to kill. Even the furniture was purchased for its function,not for its decorative qualities. The lamp on the nightstand had a heavily weighted

bottom and a thick neck, the chairs in the kitchen were made of cast iron, table was oak

with a metal plate on the bottom and even the towel rods in the bathroom were chosen fortheir use as nightsticks. Eventually it was more than she could bear.

Danny tossed his jacket onto the kitchen chair along with his shirt and tie eying thewooden box on the floor in front of the picture window. Youre my ace baby, he said

pointing at the box with his index finger and thumb made to look like a gun. Now in his

boxers and tee, Danny checked the dead bolt along with a quick look out the peephole at

the stairwell across the hall. Fake wood contact paper on the inside and outside of the

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door made it look just as crappy as the table. This was the perfect apartment building, no

elevator and no fire escapes. Any piece of trash that wanted to come after him had one

way in and one way out. Of course, that also limited Dannys escape, but he didnt careabout escape, that was never the primary objective in his plan. If anyone was stupid

enough to break into his place, it was the last two-bedroom walk up they would ever see.

Generally, Danny looked like a fifty something old guy with lightly grey hair, a potbelly

from too many pizzas and beer, stuffed into a cheap suit. However, standing in his

underwear Danny appeared to be a formidable adversary. Potbelly aside, Dannys upperbody looked like one of those wrestlers on the ECW. His bulging forearms and biceps

were the obvious result of his nightly regiment of bench-pressing three hundred pounds

fifty times followed by another hundred push-ups. When he first met Lori, in college she

was over whelmed by his rugged good looks and his jet-black hair. Of course, a knockout set of pecks wasnt bad either. Danny often picked her up one-handed and held her

over his head as she screamed in mock fear. That was a lifetime ago.

Dropping the weights back onto the bench, he got up and headed for the shower pickingup a towel from the basket in the kitchen where he left it. Twice a week he dropped off

and picked up his laundry from the Korean place down the street. They did a wash andfold, but no ironing, and they did it for free. A couple of years ago, Danny busted the

Lees kid, Benny for possession. He was a good kid running with a bad crowd and

Danny knew it. He tossed the dope, told the DA it was lost before it could be placed intoevidence and the case was dropped. Old man Lee was so grateful that he said hed do

Dannys laundry for life and Danny accepted. Graft? Probably. Corruption? Nah, like

Mr. Lee said, merely balancing ying and yang. Or maybe it was Cheech and Chong.

Didnt really matter, clean underwear was a necessity of life.

Walking to the bathroom, Danny glanced down at the trashcan and noticed the tabloid

had fallen open to the center section. Across both pages was the headline, Devil lives insubway tunnels, murders continue. Danny shook his head and dropped his boxers as he

turned on the shower. Freakin Devil in the subway. Hell, everyone knows the Devil

lives in Trump Tower, drives and Audi and is freakin drinking buddies with Bloomberg.He had no idea how close he was to the truth.

*****

The banging on the apartment door started at 3:46 AM since that was the time on the

Westbend digital clock on the nightstand. It was set fifteen minutes fast so Danny wouldnot be late, but since he knew it was fifteen minutes fast, he would shut it off, roll over

for a few minutes more each morning and wind up ten minutes late. He grabbed his

revolver from under the pillow and made his way to the door.

Danny, wake up man, its Shu. Come on you turd, I cant stand out here all night, wake

up.

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Danny lifted the cover over the peephole only to see Detective Shu standing outside in

his perfectly fitted three-piece suit, button-down collar and subdued blue tie. Jeez, he

muttered, the clown looks like a Wall Street banker at freakin four in the morning.

So Shu, your old lady throw you out again? Danny called through the closed door. Of

course, Danny knew Shus wife was in San Francisco but this was the code phrase theyhad worked out to make sure some contract guy or strung out junkie didnt have a gun in

his back trying to get to Danny. Two years ago, that was exactly what happened in

Brooklyn and two good cops and one guys family all got wasted over some gang turfthing.

Nah, mother in law is in town so I needed to get out for a while, Shu replied, which

was the right answer. The wrong answer would have been, Yeah shes pissed becauseof my drinking, but since Shu didnt drink, it would have told Danny to pull out the big

guns.

Danny lowered the gun and undid the locks. Come on in, he called and stepped backfrom the door into the kitchen, just in case. Hey, cops go bad too, so dont take

chances.

My, my, said Shu, love what youve done with the place. Looks a lot like Picassos

trash period. What happened, maid take the year off?

Yeah, thats it, maids off. So what is so important that you need to interrupt my beauty

sleep, chided Danny.

Look dude, you could sleep till next Christmas and it wouldnt improve your looks any.

Ok, so whats the deal?

Grab your pants. Looks like some weird gang thing down in the subway. Maybe a cult

thing, dont know for sure but there is blood and body parts all over the place. Theuniform that found it puked his guts for twenty minutes, replied Shu.

What da mean, like some Manson kind of crap? Which way did the footprints go?

Which station? Danny was pulling his pants on the grapping his shirt.

This is where it gets a little weird. The whole thing went down at Whitehall

So whats weird about that? Gang bangers hang out there all the time.

Thats not the weird part. The uniform says there are no footprints. Blood over everyinch of the platform and streams in the stairwell, but not a single foot print or hand print,

Shu shook his head.

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Bull crap, grumbled Danny as he shoved his Glock in the shoulder holster. That

uniform is as screwy as those morons that wrote this crap, Danny pulled the tabloid from

the trash with the devil headline just below his clenched fist. Next thing these candyasses are going to say is the Devil did it. Crap, what a bunch of loonies.

Danny reached back to close the door as he and Shu exited the apartment. As he pulledthe door closed, he placed a toothpick between the door and the jam, and broke it off;

then locked the knob and the deadbolt.

What do you think someone is going to steal from you? Theyd have to leave you a

twenty for you to have nothing, joked Shu, slapping Danny hard on the right shoulder

and noticing that it was as though he was slapping a block wall.

Hey, wouldnt want them to get my Mr. Coffee. That bad boy is an antique; nearly ten

years old. I never heard of one lasting more than ten months, Danny laughed and put

the remainder of the toothpick in his pocket. One last glance back at the door to be sure

and the partners headed down the stairs.

*****

Whitehall station was only about six blocks away and if it had been four hours later, itwould have been faster to walk than to drive. Shu had brought coffee. Dannys was

black, no cream and no sugar. Danny always joked, I like my coffee like I like my

women, plain and bitter. Shu didnt bring any donuts, although Danny liked them, Shuhad type two diabetes and had to watch his carb intake. Hard to believe a guy that looked

like Shu could have a fat mans disease. Danny should have been the one taking a pill

twice a day and living on wood pulp. Instead, he ate all he wanted; no cholesterol, noheart disease and only a few small gunshot wounds.

Uniforms and squad cars half a block away had blocked the entrance to the Whitehall

station. Shu flashed his badge at some kid that looked like he had been out of theacademy for about thirty seconds. I hear it looks bad down there, the kid commented

as he waved Shu through.

Murder is always bad officer, always bad.

The coroner, two ambulances, a hazmat unit, someone from the city transportation

department, two squads and an unmarked had parked at the entrance to the station. Shupulled in next to the unmarked figuring the captain would be close by. Danny headed to

the stairs where he ran into the coroner coming up.

Whats the story Nick? Bunch of bangers fighting over turf? asked Danny as he

reached out and took the arm of Nick Miller, the chief coroner. Maybe something funny

going on in a dope buy?

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No bangers here Danny. No dope either. This thing is like nothing I have seen in my

twenty-five years on the job. Jeez, Danny, there are body parts everywhere, not one

whole person to be found. My god, I cant even tell how many people were killed until Iassemble the pieces. My guess is somewhere between eight and ten. Looks like three

women and the rest men, Nick shook his head and snapped off his gloves.

So, somebody shot them and then hacked them up?

No. They were alive when they were dismembered. The blood patterns up the wall andon the ceiling clearly indicate they were alive at the time.

Are you saying everyone just stood around while a bunch of whack jobs hacked them to

pieces? Are you nuts? Danny quizzed in frustration.

Look Danny, Nick spoke in a small voice and pulled close to Danny so no one else

could hear. Heres the thing. These people were cut to pieces with something so sharp

it sliced clean through the clothes, skin and bone in one swipe. More than that, whateverwent around cutting them up never even touched the floor because there is not one

footprint anywhere.

Great, puffed Danny as Shu came down the stairs to meet him. Here we go Shu, I got

it solved. An invisible ninja with twenty arms and twenty swords floats around thesubway station and hacks everyone to pieces and then goes out for drinks with the Devil

that haunts the subway. That about right Nick?

Well, Nick looked at Shu and then back to Marks, youre the detectives and that is asgood an explanation as I have right now. Oh, one more thing. I found this in one of the

hands, probably a guy who tried to put up a fight.

Nick handed the object to Danny. Danny held it out so he and Shu could both see it. It

was a chain, silver or maybe platinum and on the end of it was some kind of a medallion.

Whats that look like to you Shu? asked Danny. Some kind of animal or something?

It looks Asian and it appears to beIm not sure, but it looks like the head of a wolf.

Danny put the object in a clear bag and placed it in his inside pocket. Ill keep this doc,

looks like the only real evidence we have.

Go ahead. Im not sure if it came off the killer or a victim. That will be for you to find

out, Nick turned and headed for the meat wagon. I can tell you this.

Whats that?

If it were me, Id be taking the bus for a while.

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Danny and Shu walked back up the stairs toward the unmarked car of Captain Joleson.

No use going down to the platform while the forensics guys and the hazmat guys cleaned

up, theyd just be in the way. Joleson came from a long line of cops; grandfather was aChief, father was a commander and now Joleson was on a fast track. Shu respected him

but Danny thought he was a suck-up. Then again, other than Shu, everyone was a suck

up in Dannys eyes if they didnt first walk a beat before getting a desk.

Well look whos coming, called sergeant Cawalwski trying to get the captains ear, its

the Abbot and Costello of the homicide division. Hey you guys still sleeping together?

Yeah, Danny called back. I got tired of sleeping with your wife. The noise of that

paper bag I had to put over her head each night kept me awake. So how about you? Still

banging hookers in the alley?

The sergeant lunged at Marks only to feel the burning pain of Shu grabbing his testicals

and giving them a good squeeze. Now Bobby, whispered Shu into Cawalwskis ear,

we dont want to hurt each other do we?

Cawalwskis eyes started to tear. Ok, forget it.

Shu let go his vice like grip and the two of them walked over to the captain while Bobby

bent over holding his knees.

Whats with Cawalwski? asked the Captain, pointing his thumb towards the kneeling

Sergeant.

Probably a cramp, replied Shu. I dont think he gets enough fiber.

I heard he was taking Viagra so he could see the end of his dick past that gut, offeredDanny.

Cut the crap you two. I know hes a jerk, but what am I supposed to do? Hes mysisters brother for gods sake.

Soorrry cap, the two replied in unison like schoolboys caught smoking in the

bathroom.

Look, this is a bad one. I dont need this kind of crap on my watch so you two clowns

better get to the bottom of this and do it quick. I already have the mayors office on myass because of that story in the paper, Joleson was starting to sweat.

You mean the one about the devil in the subway? asked Shu. Thats just tabloid crap.My favorite is the bat boy or that stuff about alligators in the sewers.

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You mean to tell me there are no alligators in the sewers? joked Danny. I was just

telling my neighbor, Mary Poppins, that she needed to be careful to stick to the rooftops

and stay away from the sewers because of them.

Listen assholes, this is serious, snapped the captain. There are a bunch of psycho

killers out there and you morons better get your collective asses in gear and get thembehind bars before something else happens or youll be walking beat in Harlem in your

birthday suit. You got that clear?

Yes sir, Shu replied.

I like Harlem, replied Danny.

Get outta here. Im keeping the lid on this as long as I can. You find these guys and

either put them behind bars or kill em and I dont care which. Just make sure none of this

happens again. Joleson slammed the door on his cruiser, Cawalwski slid into the

passenger side still holding his crotch. Say Bobby, asked the captain you gettingenough fiber?

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II

Marks and Shu headed back to the precinct with a planned stop at Shirleys Dinner alongthe way for breakfast. Marks had eaten his breakfast there for the better part of seven

years, making it a kind of his unofficial office for morning meetings, late night meetings

and lunch dates. The plates were clean, the food decent and the coffee was always hot.Shirley opened the place back in the fiftys but it had been sold several times since then.

Now it was owned by Tony Giordano and his wife Lucy. Tony was the cook and Lucy

was the brains. Tony had some extra business interests on the side and Lucy made surethat she knew nothing of them. Danny suspected that Tony ran a little book and knew he

ran an illegal card game every Saturday night in the back room. That was fine with

Danny as he frequented the card game and enjoyed the company of the goombahs

especially Fat Sam.

Fat Sam could get you anything you needed from broads to guns and a place to keep

them if you needed to hide them from your wife or boss. He was a guy, who knew a guy

who had a friend. Always a good source of information and a loan if you needed one,Fat Sam and Danny had met a couple of years before they played cards together. Seemed

Danny had been watching him as part of an investigation into a small time drug gang.The gang members were buying guns from Fat Sam, or so they said. When Danny

caught up with Sam, he had thirty long in cash but no guns. Sam said hed trade Danny

some good information if he could forget about the thirty grand. Danny made detectivefirst class and Fat Sam became Dannys snitch and revolving credit account.

So you boys having the usual or shall we get fancy this morning? asked Lucy.

Just the usual for me, Lucy, replied Danny

And you Alfonso, what will you have? Lucy smiled and pinched Shus cheek.

Shu hated to be called Alfonso, though that was his given name. What a thing to do to a

kid. He father was Chinese and his mother Italian. As a kid, he went by Al. Then, oneday in class a substitute was taking attendance and asked if A. Shu was there today.

The class burst out in laughter and from then on, they sneezed his name whenever they

saw him. Thats probably what drove him to get a black belt in Aikido.

Two egg whites, one slice of wheat toast dry and half a glass of orange juice, replied

Shu never lifting his eyes from the menu.

Hey Tony, Lucy called, I need a number seven heavy and a fairy princess.

Got it, Tony called back though an opening in the wall, next to the pie rack. Tell theboys I need to talk to them before they leave.

I hate when she calls me Alfonso and she knows it, moaned Shu

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Grow up Al she loves you and your Italian heritage. Besides if you piss her off, I aint

gonna get that special cannoli to go, Danny consoled, thinking of himself first, as

always.

They sat for a little over an hour discussing several different scenarios that might have

happened resulting in the carnage at the subway station. Top of the list was a gang warthing. There had been plenty of street talk that there was something brewing between

several gangs over the drug trade around Whitehall. Since the incident was so brutal, Shu

figured it was the work of the Korean gangs and that they cut everyone up to show justhow bad they were. Danny didnt buy it; this looked more like a cult thing. Maybe a

bunch of hopped up Satan worshiping mental cases running around the subway tunnels

with swords and some kind of knockout gas or something.

Ok, so we got a couple of ideas to run with, Danny starts to write notes on a pad taken

from his pocket. But, I think we need to add the twenty armed invisible sword slinging

ninja, just to be sure. He could not help but laugh as he said it.

Be real Danny. There are some really nasty characters out there and if they think they

got away with this one, theyll do it again. Shu downed the last of his orange juice.Hey Lucy, could I get a large ice water? I didnt get much sleep last night and I think

Im getting dehydrated.

Lucy, dont worry about it, Ill take it myself, called Tony from the kitchen. I need to

talk to Alfonso and Danny anyway.

Tony Giordano appeared from the kitchen door in his usual white apron, white tee shirtand white pants, all stained with tomato sauce so it looked like he just finished the St.

Valentines Day Massacre. Even though Tony was well into his sixtys he was as fit and

trim as when he was at thirty and except for the white hair looked like he could have beenAl Pacinos brother.

Tony placed the water on the table, leaned over and gave Shu a kiss on the top of his headand mussed his hair. Alfonso, you stay away too long. You need to bring your mama

out to the house on Sunday and Ill make a big dinner of my special pasta. Hey, how

long since your papa been gone, nearly ten years?

Actually, it will be twelve years next month, but thanks for remembering Tony

So long. You know you and your mama are like the family we could not have. Yourpapa was like a saint, god bless him. Why not make an old man happy and come

Sunday? Tony put his arm around Shu.

Ill ask my mom, and Ill give you a call, I promise.

Thats a good boy Alfonso. So Danny, this business in the subway at Whitehall was a

very bad thing, asked Tony, more telling than asking.

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How do you know about Whitehall? This thing just went down a few hours ago, the

precinct and the mayors office have such a tight lid on this one I figured if I farted, noone would smell it for a month, Danny leaned close into Tony. This needs to be kept

quiet no matter what. If the press gets hold of this, it will ruin the tourist trade, not to

mention putting every cop in town on double overtime. You could wind up feeling theheat too, if you know what I mean.

Please, Danny, you dont have to tell me. I just wanted to know if you had any leadsand if I could help. I got a call from Fat Sam around four this morning telling me that

some of his contacts had been sent down to clean up the mess.

Fat Sam has guys on the inside of the police department? Shu was stunned.

Nah, on the hazmat crew. He got some good pictures of the scene, plus something he

says the cops did not get a look at, offered Tony.

Like what? Danny was all ears.

Ok, Fat Sam says one of the guys working on the crew could see a reflection in the

window of the subway train so he went to see what it was. He climbed down onto the

track, and there on the wall, around the corner from the platform was this writing thatlooked Chinese or something. So he takes a picture of it and goes to get one of the other

guys to get a look. When he gets back, the writing is gone, like it was never there.

Did this guy get the pictures developed? asked Shu.

Developed? What are you stuck in the 70s? Nobody develops film anymore,

everything is digital now, Tony reached under his apron and pulled out the pictures. Sowhat does it say? It is Chinese right?

Hey, replied Shu just because I am half Chinese doesnt mean Im freakin CharlieChan. I cant read Chinese.

Danny studied the other photographs. The guy that took them was no crime scene

photographer, but he managed to capture the gruesomeness of the platform from everyangle. There were torsos and limbs scattered at odd angles over every square inch and

half an inch of blood to boot. Danny stared at the pictures for several minutes while Shu

called his cousin to see if he could translate the writing. The longer Danny looked at thescattered limbs the more it looked like they had some order. Like they were spelling

something. He wasnt sure but he thought the letters spelled HULI, but had no idea what

that could possibly mean. Maybe it was just a coincidence, maybe not.

*****

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Since Shu was going to go meet with his cousin Jack in Greenwich, Danny figured hisbest course would be to give Fat Sam a call and see if he could glean any more

information. Before calling Sam, it seemed like a good idea to check in at the precinct to

see if any of the reports came back from the crime scene squints or the uniforms. Onething about new cadets, what they lacked in experience they may up for by being as anal

as possible. One time, Danny received a traffic report from one of the newbies on a

fender bender that was twenty-one pages long and had six pages of pictures. It cost more

to run the copies than it did to fix the cars.

Danny walked up the tiled stairs of the precinct station grinning from ear to ear; how he

loved this place and everything about it. Since he was a kid, being busted for stealing aten-speed bike, he had fallen in love with the look and smell of the station. Granted, most

people would find that more than a little nuts given the look of the building. Dull, grey

granite, probably built in the thirtys, a few stones missing here and there, wire over thewindows, and a giant round light, kind of like one in front of a pawn shop hanging over

the entrance.

The second floor had a black and white asphalt tile floor that was practically wornthrough down the center of the hall and under the paths the desk chairs had rolled for

seventy or more years. Danny knew for sure that his desk had not been moved in thirty

of those years. Mike OMalley had the desk before him and Bob Martin before him. Thedesk was steel and grey. There must have been ten coats of paint on the thing, but on one

of the legs, where the paint had been scraped away by ten thousand shoe kicks, it was

green; ugly army green. That only reinforced Dannys assumption that this desk wasmilitary surplus, probably from the war office. The only question was which war, civil or

revolutionary.

Danny rolled his chair up to his desk, clicked on the green shaded bankers light he

purchased at Wal-Mart for ten bucks and started to look through the mound of paper on

his desk. Coroners report said the victims, six men and four women died of severe blood

loss from fatal wounds. Duh, thought Danny, ya think? Danny kept reading; it wasmore of the usual stuff, sliced skin, sheared bone, sharp object and so on. Why didnt he

just write, These poor bastards were hacked to death by some nut-job with a freakin

sharp knife? I can see the headlines now, SUBWAY MASSACRE BY GIANT VEG-O-MATIC. RON POPEIL SOUGHT BY POLICE.

With nothing new in the coroners report, Danny turned to the shift reports for the

uniforms that were in the area. He had called Carol, the desk sergeant, to make sure hehad them when he got there. She was a good egg who lost her husband, also a cop, to the

big C about ten years ago. Tom had been a beat cop and no one earned more respect in

Dannys eyes than a cop that actually had walked the street. Though Tom didnt looklike much of a cop, small and kind of quiet, the people loved him, even the punks. He

and Carol got matched up by their accountant, of all people. Turns out they were the

only two people this guy had ever found who had every receipt. Not just for last yearsreturn, but forever. The accountant used to roll his eyes and move his arms out slowly

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and the stretched out the word forever. Danny figured it was a genetic thing, like a

favorable mutation in that evolutionary thing. Danny didnt believe in evolution since it

seemed mankind was going the wrong direction.

Here we go, Danny read aloud to himself. Man seen urinating outside Dans Eastside

Tavern at 2:55 AM, that was news. Male and female engaged in sexual activity ohboy. Adult male seen levitating over central section of Brooklyn Bridge, 3:45 AM,

orange aura around male, average height and weight, dressed in black with hoodie.

Danny laid the stack back on his desk. Just the normal crap you see on any other night.

Well, perhaps not. Where was the report about the space ship, or the giant monster in the

pond at Central Park? Hmmmm, musta been a slow night for the boys, Danny

mumbled. He needed to get hold of Sam.

Fat Sam was nearly as paranoid as Danny, except Sams paranoia was based on fact and

Dannys was based on hunch. Sam was well aware that his phone was tapped and he was

being watched by Federal Agents trying to connect him to a Columbian money-laundering scheme. Sam didnt do any business with the Columbians but the Feds had

their own way of doing things. Sam did know, however, who was working with theColombians and the Haitians too, but in his position knowledge was power and too much

knowledge shared with the wrong people could get you twenty years under government

care on one hand or dead on the other.

Danny flipped open his cell phone and hit his number eight speed dial. Anyone looking

at Dannys phone would see the name associated with the number was Aunt Ruth. A

recorded message on an answering machine picked up on the third ring Hello? said anobviously older womans voice, This is Ruth, leave me a message but talk loud, ok?

Then came the beep and Danny began. Hey Aunt Ruth, Danny here, Im going to see

your friend the tall French woman at lunch today. Ill give her your love. With that, heclosed the phone.

Fat Sam had a couple of call drops that Danny could use to get in touch, each one thename of an old woman. Sam would have one of his boys check these phones every hour

on the twelve-minute mark to see if there was a message. Danny called at 11:06 AM so

he figured Sams person would be checking the drop at any minute.

Sams code was smooth. Today Danny had told him the tall French lady for lunch.

That meant they would meet at Battery Park, where they could see the Statue of Liberty.

If he had said he was, going to look at a car it would have been the Chrysler building;or check out a long legged babe it would have been the Brooklyn Bridge. His favorite

was going to the pet store, which meant the Empire State building. That was a King

Kong kind of thing, or Im meeting some jerk, which meant he would be in front of theTrump Tower.

The way it worked was Sams boys relayed the message, sometimes through two or more

calls before it reached Sam. The, Sam would either send a text message about a sale on

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something like shoes, meaning the date was a no go, or he would send nothing which

meant it was a go.

Danny waited twenty minutes, received no text message, and headed off to Battery Park.

He thought about taking the subway, but maybe a cab was best. The thought of arguing

with a Pakistani cabbie about whether the Yankees were better than the Sox was betterthan meeting up with a twenty armed sword wielding invisible ninja. Not a lot better, but

better.

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III

Shu pulled his wifes Honda Civic into the cobblestone circular drive of his Cousin

Jacks house. Greenwich, Connecticut is one of the richest towns in America and Shus

cousin was one of the richest in town. The house was modest my Greenwich standards, aDutch colonial with a three car garage, guest house and pool to the rear, probably a

crummy five thousand square feet.

Jack was an engineer by trade and loved to tinker as a child, building Heath kit radios

and model planes constantly. He still had everything he had ever built in his own Jack

Chow museum. While Jack was going to school at MIT he figured out a way to increasethe ability of solar cells to convert sunlight to electricity, then a means to make flexible

cells that could be screen printed and finally a way that layers of cells could be stackedon one another to give a seventy-three percent yield. All this before he was twenty. The

royalties from his inventions netted him somewhere around forty million a year, not tomention the money from the investments he had made, like buying Yahoo at five and

Google at thirty.

Still, money aside, Jack was the same old Jack, still working on new gadgets and always

deeply embroiled in some study. A few years back, he was convinced that there was a

giant gold reserve in northern China known only to the emperors. He had determinedthat the secret was hidden in ancient Chinese texts that were written in a picture graphic

style predating even the oldest forms of Mandarin. He worked with a professor of

Chinese history from Wuxi; Dr. Hun. Jack and Dr. Hun deciphered some 40% of thetext, which was enough to find the gold reserves that stretch like a great river across the

northern region of China. Jack made another small fortune, of course, but donated it to

the University in Wuxi in Dr. Huns name.

Shu walked to the door and prepared to knock when a womans voice spoke, May I help

you? The door was still closed, so Shu assumed there was some kind of a proximity

sensor around or maybe he set off a switch when he stepped on the porch.

Im Detective Shu, he replied to the air, looking around for the speaker. Im here to

see Jack Chow.

There is no appointment for a Detective Shu, please state your full name

Ok, my name is Al Shu, the frustration was obvious.

I am sorry, there is no appointment for Al Shu; please state your full name.

Crap. OK. My name is Alfonso Apollo Shu.

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Thank you Mr. Shu that is a match. Mr. Chow is expecting you, please follow the

attendant and do not stray. Your cooperation is appreciated. The voice clicked offwhile Shu considered where he had heard that voice before. He was sure that was the

voice of the telephone company computer on its automatic get you pissed machine.

The door opened to reveal one of those Honda robots only taller and slimmer. Plus, it

had breasts and was wearing a French maids outfit. Sexy it was not, but for weird and

original it scored at least and 8.5 from the judges.

Hello Al, came from the bowling ball head made of some kind of smoked glass.

Were awfully glad you could make it today. Ive prepared a light lunch; Jack says you

like peanut butter and banana sandwiches on toast.

The robot turned and walked down the hall with Shu following close behind trying to

take in the art collection on walls as he went. There was a Dali, an Andrew Wyeth, and a

bunch of others he didnt recognize but he knew they must be originals.

The hallway opened into a huge glass room, like a modern version of the capital rotunda;glass from floor to ceiling and then the ceiling was all glass too. Shu let out a long

whistle to denote just how big the room was. By his estimate, the ceiling was about

thirty-five feet above a black granite floor. The overall room dimensions must have beenthirty by fifty, maybe more.

Hey Stinky, Jack called as he crossed the room to greet Shu. I see youve met Anne

here. Shes a great cook and a super bridge partner, and even good at chess.

Red lights came on inside the smoky glass bowling ball head. Please Jack, youll

embarrass me, chuckled the robot in a girly cheerleader type voice. Ill go get lunch,you boys talk.

I got to tell you Jack, Shu began, rubbing the back of his head, that is some kind ofweird. Youre not, you know like havingwell, you know, like the blowup doll thing?

What are you nuts? Shes a robot, highly advance and self learning, but just a robot,

Jack rolled his eyes back in his head. Dude, you need to get out more.

Ok, Ok, Shu was a little flustered. So your mom says you can see Martha Stewarts

house from your kitchen. Is that true?

Nah, you know how my mom is, she can never get a story right, Jack turned and

pointed over his shoulder to a house just beyond a wall of flowers and a moderategreenhouse. Thats it, but Martha moved after that securities deal; sold the house to

some rich asshole.

Really, have you met the guy?

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Sure, its me. Hey, I couldnt have just anyone moving in next door. I hear that once

youve had Martha for your neighbor, everyone else is a step down. Way down.Besides, think what a kick our mom will get when she gets to stay over there. Jack

grinned like a teenager, which made Shu grin, remembering when Jack had lived with

them during his high school years.

Jack was three years younger but in the same grade because he had been promoted so

many times. The schools where his folks lived were not that great, so Jack moved toShus for the better schools and a chance at a scholarship. Shu protected Jack all through

school, one because he was smaller and younger and two, because he was an all out geek.

That was partly what led to the Stinky nick name for Al.

It turns out that Jack, as smart as he was, could have been a poster child for someone with

ADD. He jumped from one thing to another constantly; working on several ideas, books,

and TV shows all at once. One day out of the blue, he decides to make a stink bomb and

toss it into the guidance office. He makes a beauty, slips it into his backpack and with atimer to go off at ten in the morning when the teachers take their break. Jack slips the

backpack off and slides it under the desk of Mrs. Cartwright while she is down the hallbreaking up a dispute between two girls.

Ten AM comes and BOOM just as planned the bomb goes off without a hitch. Well,except for one. Jack put it in the wrong backpack, so Alfonso is sitting in study hall

covered in an orange stinky slime. So, the name Stinky literally stuck to Al all the rest

of high school.

So, Stinky, smiled Jack, whats the scoop? Wheres this hot photo you were so

anxious for me to see?

Shu reached into the black folder he was carrying under his left arm and withdrew the

photo of the writing from the subway wall.

Hmmm and kind of a smacking noise came out of Jack as he stared at the photo.

Turning the photo several different ways as he walked around the room, Jack made his

way to a desk that had a keypad, several slots and a large glass square inset into itssurface. With his right hand, Jack pushed a key and with his left, he slipped the photo into

a narrow slot in the upper left corner of the desk. Instantly the glass inset began to glow

and the windows snapped from clear, to opaque.

Whoa, how did you do that? Shu was taken back by the sudden change in the room.

First, it went dark then little halogen spot lights came on all around the edge where theceiling met the wall.

What, the glass? No big deal, its made of a polarized crystalline structure. As long as

it has a low voltage positive charge passing though it, it stays clear. Shut off the power,

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and it goes opaque. No magic here dude, all science. Jack smiled obviously pleased

with his ability to impress Shu. As smart and rich as he was, Jack always had looked up

to Shu as his big brother, and would never see it any other way.

Ok Stinky, here we go, Jack sounded like a magician at a carnival, what have we got

here? From behind a wall somewhere, a projector produced an enlarged image of thephoto onto the opaque wall. Lets take that up one more notch and clear it up just a

little, Jack was talking to himself more than Shu as he typed several commands into the

keypad. Here we go.

The image was now about eight feet tall by ten feet wide. It was amazing how clear the

letters looked. The more Shu looked at them the more it looked like they had been

written in sootno lighter than that almost like smoke floating in front of the wallinstead of on it.

Jack was up against the wall, waiving his hand up and down repeatedly mimicking the

shape of the characters. This is awesome dude. I mean freaking right out of the X fileskind of awesome. Wait a minuteyoure not jerking me off here are you? I mean, am I

being punked here? I get it Bill sent you right?

Listen Jack, this is the real thing and damn serious too. Besides, who is this Bill guy

that you think sent me anyway? Shu hated to be questioned about his intentions, ever.

You know man, big Bill. Bill Gates, Stinky, he is always trying to get me on something.

Last year on my birthday, he filled the pool with Mountain Dew. We swam for seven

days straight without sleeping. What a rush.

No, this is the real thing, replied Shu, seriously seven days?

Ok, man dont get your shorts all up your crack, I believe you. Jack turned back to the

image. This right here is the ancient text alright. I cant read much of it but this first

word, which is a little difficult to put into English. It means something like I got you firstso you see if you can get me.

You mean revenge? asked Shu

Hey, good job man, that is a very accurate translation. Looks like it might be some kind

of saying like a poem or a psalm or something, but maybe not. Jack continued to study

the image. The thing here is, this is called spirit writing and I have never actually seen itbefore. Ive heard of it from Dr. Hun, but I kind of figured it was a legend type thing,

like levitation and that stuff in the kung fu movies.

I dont think I understand what you are trying to say, Shu moved next to Jack so he

could see the image from the same vantage point as Jack.

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Heres the thing, the writing is done by waving the hand in the air like this, Jack moved

his hand mimicking the image. But the guy doing the writing doesnt have a pen or

brush or anything. He moves his hand and a kind of smoke comes out in the shape of thecharacters and hangs there in the air. It doesnt last long, only a minute or so.

That means the guy who took this picture had to have just barely missed who orwhatever was doing this, mused Shu.

Beats me, like I said, I thought it was some kind of Chinese fairy tale. Jack stood silentfor a few minutes. You know who might know is Dr. Hun. She is really into this stuff.

I think the story she told me had to do with the Jade Emperor and dragons, but I may

have them mixed up.

Thanks Jack, Shu reached out to shake his hand and mid reach, he decided a hug was

even better. Hey, Im sorry I havent been out to see you sooner, this place is amazing

and so are you.

Dont worry about it Stinky, I got all the free time, I should have come to see you, Jack

gave Shu the kind of hug only two brothers could really appreciate. Not even chickscould understand this one. Tell you what, if you dont mind, Id like to get a first hand

look at the spot where this writing appeared. You know do some checks, test my Chi, be

the man.

Ill take you up on that one but I can tell you my partner is not into all the ancient

Chinese secret stuff. He is a straight from the shoulder kind of guy. He thinks a Taoist

is someone who gives you a towel in the mens room.

Jack burst out laughing, which caused Shu to laugh at his own joke. Im telling that one

to mom, Stinky. She will love it.

Jack walked Shu to the door, with Anne carrying a paper bag in hand, as they walked.

I placed your lunch in the bag so you may eat it on the way home, Anne handed him

the bag.

Shu reached out and for no good reason gave the robot a kiss on the top of its bowlingball head and gave it a hug. Red lights went off all over the thing.

Way to go dude, Jack threw his hands in the air. She was bad before, now there willno living with her.

Shu threw a wave and started to open the car door.

Hey, Stinky, Jack yelled, I just remembered someone else that can help. Dr. Hun said

she knew a guy who was an expert in this stuff. I think his name is Huli. Anyway it

means fox.

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IV

Danny made it to Battery Park a little after noon only to see Fat Sam sitting on a bench

eating out of a bag of Swedish Fish. Sam had a real weakness for candy, not chocolatecandy, but stuff that was jellied, like sugar coated orange or cherry slices and jelly beans,

the big fat ones not the Ronald Regan ones. He was on the bench alone waiting for

Danny just as planned. One thing about Sam, crook or not, he was dependable.

Danny slid onto the bench next to Sam, So you come here often beautiful?

Careful there sonny, Sam said in his unusually high voice for such a big man. There

are half a dozen people watching us right now. Two of them are feds; two are from thelocal team and two of my guys.

I suppose your guys are model citizens and not in possession of any kind of illegal item

such as a semi-automatic weapon, Danny smiled.

Danny, I am surprised at you, implying that anyone that worked for me would be so

crass as to carry a semi-automatic firearm. Ill have you know we very progressive only

using the finest automatic devices money can buy, now Sam smiled. So you gonna be

at the game this week? Im looking forward to taking your money.

Nah, tied up on this subway crap. Its why I asked you here. By the way, thanks for the

pictures, Danny squeezed Sams arm.

No sweat, anything for a friend, Sam gave Danny a wink suggesting that there would

be some future trade for the favor.

So heres the thing, Danny began, ten people get sliced and diced like they been

tossed in a giant vegamatic and there are no finger prints, no foot prints, no witnesses and

no survivors. So other than that disappearing graffiti I got nothing. What do your guyshear on the street?

Truthfully, Danny, Sam began. He lowered his voice untill it was barely above awhisper. Theres a lot of bad on the street right now. I know some guys, who know

some guys, who do a kind of disposal and cleanup for some well connected families

around town, ya know what I mean?

Danny knew what Sam was saying. Years ago, the local organized crime families had

gone from the old cement overcoat to a more complete disposal method. Word was

they had some kind of shredder that ripped bodies down to pieces less than a quarter of

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an inch big and then they packed it in dog food cans or used them as chum out past the

twenty-five mile limit.

Sam went on as Danny nodded. So these guys who do the cleaning work have a little

place, maybe somewhere near the water. Anyway, they take their process waste, go out

on the boat, do some fishing, and well, you know, kind of feed the fish. Well, lately myguys notice that quite a few of the street elite aint in their favorite box or under the

bridge no more, so they sniff around. You know that kind of thing hurts business. Turns

out somebodys been dropping them off in plastic bags down at the disposal guys place.Not pretty man, not pretty.

So how many have wound up there? Danny was seeing a link.

Somewhere between fifty and sixty, but its hard to tell if you dont match up all the

pieces. It has been going on for about six months now. The cleaning guys are pissed

cause the fuel prices are so high just to run the boat out. I hear they are going to add a

fuel surcharge to each hit cause it is cutin into their margins. Sam started to laugh.

Man you can be really sick sometimesand I dont mean that in a good way either,Danny shook his head. Anything else?

Maybe, they found something on one of the stiffs, not sure what it was, but one of myguys will get it and Ill bring it to you, maybe tonight if I can make the connection. Fat

Sam was standing now. Take care of yourself Danny; I got a real bad feeling about

this.

Thanks Sam, but you know there aint nobody more careful than me, Danny tossed an

uneasy wave as he walked off.

Danny needed a drink; it was too early and he was on duty. So he had no other choice

than to head over to Harleys, an illegal blind pig run by cops for cops. Good place for

information and clearing the air about a case with guys that understood what was reallygoing on.

Documents

Whitehall Station 1.doc