Burning Bridges

Missions

Late in the afternoon, Stone is sitting in his office. The hardwood walls gleam as only a fresh polish can do. Medals and commendations decorate the walls. Bookshelves, full of war and academic tomes, cover one wall, floor to ceiling. The natural light is minimal because windows provide targets. A knock at the door pulls him out of his reprieve. Tony enters.

“Have a seat, we have a job for you,” Stone indicates to the chairs on the other side of his desk.” How is your corporate?”

“If I am honest, a little rusty,” Tony responds dryly. “What am I doing?”

“Oil it up. You are going to North Bay Technologies as a secretary. We need eyes on Bridger, and you are one of the few new faces he wouldn’t recognize, and you have the background. Granted, you were secretary to the FBI director, but you have more experience than anyone else, and he only has male staff in his office, out of respect to Vee.” Stone informs him, “And, it also puts eyes on your current research project, Nathan Zachery. I got a bad feeling about him.”

“Initial intel on him is not all that great. He’s been fired a few times for harassment and misogynistic hate speech in the workplace. His last two girlfriends have restraining orders for domestic violence. We found a couple of r**e charges that were scrubbed from the system while he was in college,” Tony reports. “He comes from old money, but he’s been disowned. There is no real explanation, officially, as to why. Unofficially, he assaulted his father’s flavor of the month, and daddy had to pay out a massive settlement to the mistress. His access to his trust has been revoked until he shows genuine change. He lives with his current girlfriend, but she never leaves the apartment, not even with him.”

“So, getting surveillance inside is going to be difficult,” Stone states. “What about building maintenance? Or utility checks?”

“Only scheduled while Zachery is present.”

“Can we create an emergency? I want eyes and ears in that apartment.”

“I will get on that when I have boots on the ground. Am I taking back-up?”

“Yes, pick two new hires you trust, and we have allies there. You start your new job in three days. We are waiting for the date and time to meet face-to-face. Get The Burrows wired, and set up countermeasures because Bridger is not someone you underestimate. Have you picked a road name yet?”

“Nope. Letting the girls choose from the list they gave me. I trust they won’t embarrass me too much, and I think they need this. Vee and Lia are struggling,” Tony says, sadly. “I respect them, and I’ll do what I can to help. The boys and I will leave in one of the SUVs in a few hours. Have someone bring our bikes later, please.”

***Trigger warning-r**e and murder scene****

“Honey, I’m home! Today was a real bitch.” Nathan calls out as he drops his keys on the tiny kitchen counter. “Guess you’ll have to make it up to me.”

He walks to the bedroom, where the female is waiting. The chain attached to her leg only allows her to reach the bathroom. She has no clothes on, and a multitude of different colored bruises cover most of her body, but not her face. As Nathan walks in, she curls into a ball on the floor; she knows he will take it out on her again. She wishes she had never met the Zachery family. Everyone thinks she left the country after his father paid her off, but in reality, Nathan took her from her condo and locked her up in his apartment. She woke up from the drug he used on her to him beating her to a pulp. With her jaw broken, she can’t speak and isn’t healing well.

“Stand up!” He screams as tears roll down her face. He grabs her matted hair and pulls her up, getting in her face. “I said you have to make it up to me.” He pulls his arm back and punches her in the chest. “My boss humiliated me today! He said those two bitches wanted to get me in the ring and insinuated they could kick my ass!” His fists are landing blows for each word. She stumbles, weak from the lack of nutrition, being only allowed one meal daily. He throws her onto the bed and removes his belt. Her sobs only spur him on; he gets off on her pain. He hasn’t touched her sexually, just the constant inflicting of pain. He starts hitting her with the belt, some strikes drawing blood, and the look in his eyes changes; a new heat is there. His d**k is rising seeing the stripes the belt is leaving on her skin. She is terrified of this new dynamic.

“Oh, these marks are so gorgeous on your skin.” His eyes are hooded with desire. “I am going to give you what you want finally. You w***e, getting me excited.” He drops the belt and removes his pants. He jerks her face to his hardened member. “Open your mouth, oh, that’s right, you can’t. Let me do it for you,” she screams as he forces her broken jaw open and begins the assault on her body.

Hours later, long after her heart had stopped, he is finally gratified. “I’m sorry, love. I may have gone a little too far with the choking. Breath play has such a fine line.” He sighs as he traces the cuts on her dead body. “I guess I am taking tomorrow off, can’t leave you here.” He states as he removes the condom, “Can’t have any evidence.” He sets about washing her body down with bleach and wrapping her in plastic sheeting after removing the chain cuffed to her ankle.

Nathan plans the trip to the quarry to get rid of her body without knowing that his GPS has been hacked, and his movements are being traced.

The following day, after weighing down the body and dumping her in the quarry, Nathan returns to work. He arrives after lunch. “Sorry, Mr. North, I completely forgot that appointment.”

“We all have a life outside of work,” Bridger replies. “We finally have a new secretary starting tomorrow. He comes highly recommended. His name is Anthony Morrow. Looking at your face, you are confused. I only have male staff in my office out of respect for my wife. That is why it took so long to find a secretary. This person has government experience and a Master’s in Business and Artificial Intelligence.”

“Oh. I was confused, as most secretaries are female,” Nathan tells his boss, ‘and completely useless, he thinks. “I will make sure his paperwork and orientation are completed quickly. What branch of government was he in?”

“The Justice Department, I believe. He was the secretary to the Attorney General. It says he left for the private sector for personal reasons.”

“Please do, it will make everything run smoother and take quite a lot off our plates.”

In Nathan’s apartment, the team has made entry under the guise of a gas leak. Garrett calls out to warn any occupants that they are evacuating due to the gas leak. Seeing that no one is there, they begin placing cameras and listening devices in as many places as they can. Tony is behind Garrett and heads for the bedroom. He stops dead in the doorway. There is blood on the floor, and the room smells strongly of bleach. He sees the chain attached to the bedframe. “Um, guys…” They all look at him. “Something happened here recently.” He calls Stone.

“Hello.”

“Boss,” Tony begins, “We entered the apartment, and something isn’t right. There is no girlfriend. On top of that, there is blood in the bedroom, and it looks like someone was chained up in here. The chain is attached to the bed, and it looks like it only goes as far as the bathroom.”

“What the f**k?” Stone asks. “Do you have time to do a forensic search?”

“It’s still pretty early, so probably, but not a complete one,” Tony pauses. “I just found a tooth. I think this is going to be bad, boss.”

“Do what you can and maintain a chain of evidence. I knew that f**k gave me a bad feeling.” Stone swears his day needs to improve. “Check his GPS for the last few days.”

Meanwhile, Lia and the girls are at the campus bookstore getting their books for this last semester, bodyguards in tow. This last batch of classes should be pretty easy because it is all electives, and all their core classes are completed.

“Li, what are your classes again?” Pan asks.

“I have Astronomy 300, Comparative Philosophy, Pre-Judaic Anthropology, and Comparative Art Interpretation. Why?”

“Oh, so easy A’s?” Para laughs. “Wait, you don’t take easy classes, even electives.”

“Bite me!” Lia laughs.

Vee asks, “Which one of these prospects gets to carry all these books? My arms are tired.”

Greek’s POV

I really hate paperwork. It’s the only part of the Law that I just cannot stand. Getting everything together for the stock sale and the divorce is more paperwork than I usually see in a year. We just got all the articles of incorporation done a few months ago, as well as all the permits and licensing for the businesses. I still have to set up my offices for my legal practice. Can we just hit the road again?

Stone enters his office. “Hey!” Looking sheepish.

“What's happened now?”

“I was right about the PA. They got into his apartment and found some very shady shit.” Stone informs him. “I'm having IT dig deeper into this guy, and we need a warrant for his medical records.”

“What reason?”

“It looks like dude had a female chained up in the bedroom, and there is some blood, and Tony found a tooth. They are doing forensics and a deep dive into his GPS. I think there are going to be some serious skeletons in his closet,” Stone adds. He sighs, “I think he is a serial killer.”

“Why?”

“So far? Manic and Riot have been digging in the social circle; there have been several missing person reports for this bunch. All of them have had some kind of direct interaction with the PA. Mostly women, I think he has some anger issues.”

“Just what we need.” Greek shakes his head. “We don’t have jurisdiction in Fraiser anymore.”

“If we get enough evidence, we can take it to the feds and get a temporary pass, hopefully,” Stone adds, hopefully, “If it looks like it is going to go completely sideways, and as a last resort only, we give it to Bridger. It’s technically his mess to clean up.”

Greek laughed at that. “Ha. Yeah, you try to tell him that when we are basically jumping ship, calling a mutiny in his eyes. He’s been texting me. He is beyond pissed that everyone changed their numbers, and he has to speak to the king today.”

“Can I be a fly?” Stone smirks.