Time seemed to speed into hyperdrive, and it was soon time for Sam to meet Raleigh and Maddie at the company area. Raleigh had left shortly after Maddie to go shower and change into a clean set of clothes for his meeting with Sergeant Wilson. Sam took the time to shower and unwind some before she left for the company. Since the drive was just down the street, she would go over and open the building so she could relax a little before Raleigh showed up and got her temperature rising again.
Raleigh, you do have a way of getting me hot and ready for sure. Sam closed her eyes and fantasized about what Raleigh would be like in her bed, how he would feel, and how his words would move her. She already knew how his touch affected her and how his kiss made her feel. Now she wanted more. Sam slowly opened her eyes and a figure appeared in front of her.
“Daydreaming again, Sam?” Raleigh laughed. “I hope this one included me inside you?”
“Ha!” Sam giggled. “In your dreams, Raleigh. I was working out a plan for the meeting tonight. Working it out in my head.”
“OH HELL NO! Sam, you aren’t going. You are just recovering from an attack. It could get a little sketchy tonight. I don’t want you in harm’s way.”
Without a thought, Sam shot back. “I can handle myself, Raleigh! I don’t need you watching over me.”
“I understand that, Sam. I am just concerned. But you are a strong and very stubborn woman and you’re gonna do what you want. I know there is no stopping you. All I can do is be here and watch your back if you need it,” he said, with a half-smile
“Good, I knew you would see it my way.” Sam ran to the front door and helped Maddie inside. Raleigh headed out to the truck to bring it closer to the building. Sam looked at the handful of papers and folders in Maddie’s arms and asked, “What’s all this?”
“Oh, this is stuff we found in a box in the warehouse. I thought you’d want to look it over.” Maddie piled the papers and folders on the table just inside the door. Sam rummaged through the documents as Raleigh motioned for them to load into the truck to go into the city.
“Looks like that’s us, Maddie. Let’s go!” Sam said as she yanked Maddie by the arm.
As Raleigh drove through the lanes of traffic, he listened to Sam and Maddie as they went on and on about anything and everything. Wow, these women sure can talk. He felt like an insider. The first man to ever get the inside scoop on what women think about and what they talk about behind men’s backs. It was either that, or he was the most bored man on the face of the earth because he found their conversation quite interesting.
He heard Maddie ask what happened last night then heard Sam reply, “I went to get dinner, left to get into my car, and that was the last thing I remember,” leaving the date with Raleigh completely out of the story.
Smart girl.
“Well, how did Chief end up finding you?” Maddie asked curiously.
“I guess he was there at the bar, but I didn’t see him.” Just as Sam was getting ready to go into more detail, Raleigh intervened. “Oh, I had just arrived at the bar. I didn’t see the attack, just Sam lying on the ground. Didn’t know it was Sam until I knelt down next to her.”
Maddie grinned and winked at Sam. “Oh, that makes sense.”
“Where are we meeting the Navy guys at, Chief?” Sam guessed they would arrive soon.
“Are you trying to change the subject, Sam?” Maddie always knew when Sam felt uncomfortable. They had known each other for a long time. They met in basic training at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, and then went to Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri for military police training. They followed each other to their first duty stations in Germany and deployed together to Afghanistan from Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Maddie had been with Sam through breakups and wakeups, through drunken nights and hungover mornings. Maddie knew Sam pretty well. She knew something was up but didn’t have time to find out. But she would. Sam knew Maddie would get the scoop if it killed her.
“Not changing the subject. There is just nothing to tell, Maddie.”
“Hey, ladies, we’re here.” Raleigh interrupted. He had a gut feeling he just saved Sam. She owed him and he would collect.
Raleigh could see a few men gathered ahead of them and parked near to the crowd. Jumping out of the truck, the three headed towards the men. Since Raleigh was highest ranking and the lead on the investigation, he would run the show. He had the experience and the know-how to run this operation and get the information they were looking for.
Raleigh would meet with Wilson while the rest of the group would conduct the raid on the warehouse down the road. This would be a pivotal meeting; Raleigh hoped they could gain more information on the list of names and addresses on Wilson’s old laptop. Raleigh also hoped the raid on the warehouse might recover some of the Twelve-Sixty-Sixth’s missing equipment, as well as other items they found listed on the laptop.
Raleigh sent the NCIS crew to the warehouse and would have Sam and Maddie watch from a distance as Raleigh met with Wilson. They would be his back up if something went wrong, and it would also keep Sam at a safe distance. Wow, that woman is stubborn. Raleigh loved that about Sam and knew—somehow he knew—she was his soulmate. He just had to convince Sam. That would be a difficult challenge but one he thought he could handle.
He checked his sidearm and prepared to meet Wilson. He didn’t know what was in store for him, but he was ready and willing to take on whatever came at him. Making his way down the sandy beach area to just under a boardwalk, he could see the Ferris wheel at the Pier in the distance. The lights and the sounds from the Pier and the faint outlines of the many tourists lit up the area. He thought about how beautiful the sight was. The sound of the water swishing against the shoreline and under the boardwalk was the only thing he heard. As he got closer to the water, he heard a muffled sound of thumping. It seemed weird, like the sound of a boat or driftwood slamming into the side of the pillars holding up the boardwalk. As he moved toward the noise, his eyes focused on the outline of a figure in the water but he wasn’t sure what it was. As he moved closer, he pulled his sidearm with his adrenaline pumping. It was GO TIME! He scanned the area around him and saw no movement except that of the figure in the water. Slowly he moved, scanning and aware until he reached the source of the thumping—a body. Raleigh checked for a pulse then got on the radio.
“Sam…Over.”
“Ya, Chief…Over.”
“Hey, get on the horn and call 911. We got a body in the water down here…Over.”
“Are you serious?” Sam said with a gasp.
“Ya, and I got a feelin’ it is our Staff Sergeant Wilson. It’s female for sure.”
Another voice came over the radio. It was the petty officer in charge of the raid on the warehouse.
“Chief…Over.”
“This is Chief Fitzgerald…Over.”
“Ya, Chief, this is Chief Petty Officer Ryan. We got the warehouse secure, and you are gonna want to get over here when you can…Over.”
“Alright, I will get there when I can…Out.”
Sounds of sirens approached and what seemed like a battalion of Chicago PD poured out of the cars. As the officers got closer, they pulled their sidearms, pointing them toward Sam and Maddie who already had their hands up. They quickly cleared Sam and Maddie; three other officers had Raleigh on the ground, cuffed him and helped him to his feet. Raleigh asked for a detective so he could explain what was going on.
A stout, thick man in a suit walked towards Raleigh and introduced himself.
“Hello sir, I am Detective Johnson of the Eighth Precinct, Chicago Police Department. Wanna tell me what happened here?”
Raleigh poured through the entire story while Detective Johnson listened. His facial expressions seemed shocked, dismayed, and at other times he seemed confused. As Raleigh concluded his story, the detective ordered one officer to remove the cuffs. The two men walked towards the crime scene crew as they were attempting to turn the body face up.
“Is this Staff Sergeant Wilson, Chief?” Detective Johnson said, as he motioned towards the body.
“Let me call over my assistant and her friend. They have a Department of the Army photo that we can use to make a positive identification,” Raleigh replied
Raleigh grabbed his radio and called Sam and Maddie, who were still on top of the hill near the truck, waiting impatiently to hear from him.
“Sergeant O’Hara, I need you and Sergeant Carr to get down here with those photos of Staff Sergeant Wilson for the Detective…Over.”
“Roger that, Chief. We are on the way…Out.”
Sam and Maddie grabbed the file and headed towards the men. Maddie, as usual, was full of questions. “Ya know, Sam, you still owe me an answer to what we were talking about heading over here. Ya know I don’t give up easy, so just know I haven’t forgotten,” she said with a huge grin on her face.
“Ya, Ya,” Sam said as they approached the men, holding the folder out to Raleigh. “Chief, here is the file.”
“Thank you, Sergeant O’Hara.”
Raleigh opened the file and handed the detective the picture as they approached the body of the unidentified woman. Her body had been pulled from the water and turned over by crime scene investigators. Both men looked at the picture and then down at the woman lying in the sand; she appeared to have a single gunshot wound to her head. She had been shot from behind, close to the water’s edge from all appearances. The crime scene pathologist told the men it appeared there was no evidence of a struggle and no forensic evidence to support a struggle. He guessed, and stressed he was only guessing, that she had been surprised and was shot at point-blank range in the back of the head, execution style. He would know more later after he completed an autopsy.
“It appears we will be working together, Detective.”
“Chief, I think once I speak with our Chief of Police, he will kindly agree to have our men assist and do the autopsy, but I am sure he will agree that this is a military matter and should be handled as such. I will get the ball rolling and see if we can get the body moved to the lab. You and your soldiers are free to leave.”
Raleigh shook the detective’s hand, thanked him, and headed up the hill to where Sam and Maddie were waiting. Maddie was flirting with one of the officers, but Sam’s eyes were clearly on him as he moved up the hill. At least she’s not trying to hide what she is thinking.
“You want me, don’t you?” Raleigh said as he strolled right past Sam to the truck. Before Sam could even reply, he had already made it to the truck.
“Well, ladies,” Raleigh shouted. “You coming?”
Sam lifted her head and smiled, then ran towards the truck. “Maddie, come on. Just get his number and text him later. We have work to do.”
Raleigh explained to Sam and Maddie they were all needed at the warehouse as soon as possible, stating the Petty Officer had said “you need to see this.” The building was only a few miles away, near a boat landing just off Navy Pier. It was in a warehouse district that the City of Chicago had just begun construction on a few years before. The city was currently using it to store equipment for construction crews working on renovations for Navy Pier. As they approached the warehouse area, a Navy sailor walked toward the truck.
“Chief, my Petty Officer told me to wait out here ’til I saw you and showed you where to go.”
“Roger that! Lead the way.”
As they followed the sailor, they passed many old buildings, some that had stood from when World War II Era soldiers trained at the Navy Pier for war not long after Pearl Harbor was attacked. It was like going back in time; most of the buildings were condemned or so dilapidated that they should be condemned. Both sides of the road were scattered with old wooden pallets and wooden boxes used for shipping odd sized equipment. They followed closer when the road converted from a paved road to an old gravel road. The dust billowed behind each vehicle as they moved along. A voice over the radio called out, “Chief, the building is just right here, two buildings up. I have to go back to the guard shack to monitor traffic…Over.” The sailor turned his car around and headed back.
Pulling in front of the building, Raleigh could see the petty officer out front speaking with a few sailors. Raleigh jumped out of the cab of the truck and walked around to open the door for Sam and Maddie.
“Let’s go, ladies. Let’s see what these sailors found inside this warehouse.”
As Raleigh helped the women out of the truck, Petty Officer Ryan moved his way. “Chief, if you follow me, I will take you in and show you what we found.”
Raleigh followed and motioned for Sam and Maddie to follow. “Chief Ryan, my associates will accompany me in. They are part of my investigative team.”
With a nod, Chief Ryan motioned the trio to follow him through a metal door, just adjacent to where they had been standing. “Right through here, Chief and sergeants.”
As they pushed through the door, the strong smell of mold and mildew pierced their noses. Next came the smell of feces from the various woodland creatures that made the warehouse their home. Scurrying mice could be seen just out of eyesight but the smell hung in the air. As their eyes adjusted to the shadowy surroundings, the outlines of cases upon cases of materials and equipment came into view. Pelican cases as far as the eye could see adorned the walls, stacked as high as the ceiling, which looked to be at least fifty feet high. The cases, wooden crates, and pallets were all organized in rows, as if they were meant to be there.
Petty Officer Ryan’s voice cracked, sounding exhausted. “My sailors have already started an inventory of what’s here, but we will need help. Do you think you can get some men down here to help inventory and assist in locking down the facility, Chief?”
Maddie was just finishing up with the petty officer when Raleigh called for them all to load into the truck. Maddie had her phone out typing away as she said her goodbyes. With a smile and a wink, Maddie turned towards the truck. Raleigh jumped into the driver’s seat, looked at Sam, tilted his head towards her, and placed his hand on her leg.
“How are you feeling, darlin’?” They were alone in the truck, so Raleigh felt it was ok to be a little bit more informal. After all, in his mind she was his woman and would always be. “You seemed a little out of sorts the last few minutes. Are you ok?”
“Ya, I am. Just got a bit of a headache. I think it is time to take some of those painkillers the doc gave me. Got any water?”
Raleigh looked around in the truck but came up empty handed. “Tell ya what, on the way back to the company we will stop by a gas station and pick up a bottle of water. Will that work?” he said with a smile.
“Yes, that’s perfect. Almost as perfect as you but not quite,” she said with a wink. Raleigh’s heart fell into his stomach, and he could feel it all the way down to his toes. Maybe I cracked her, finally? he thought to himself as he wiggled into position behind the steering wheel. His hand had just slipped off Sam’s thigh and he was just getting ready to snap back a witty remark when Maddie jumped into the back seat of the truck. “Ok, I’m ready. And I got his phone number to boot. Hooah!”
“Maddie, I swear you would get a guy’s phone number at a funeral. You have no moral compass at all,” Sam said as she rubbed her temples.
“Hey, you ok, girl?” Maddie asked with a look of concern.
“Ya, just the effects of getting bashed in the head. My head is pounding like a room full of drums. It’s just time for those pain killers the sexy Dr. Thompson gave me.” Sam looked over and Raleigh had a look of pure jealousy on his face. Hmmm, maybe he is the jealous type. Sam grinned and winked at Raleigh, making his face soften.
“Wait, what? I saw that,” Maddie said. “I knew it. Something is going on. Spill it, you two.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Maddie. I have something in my eye.” Sam blinked and squinted as she leaned in toward Maddie. “See, look.”
Maddie leaned in and looked. “I don’t see a thang. I think you are trying to change the subject. But hey, whatever. I will be here when you wanna spill your guts.”
Raleigh decided this would be a superb time to just pull the truck out and start back to the company area. He didn’t want to get involved, nor would he try to defend his position. It was safer to stay out of the line of fire.
“We need to move fast and get guards set up here, so we can do this inventory and get this evidence secured.” The calls went back and forth for the next few minutes, only stopping long enough to grab a couple of waters and coffees at the station around the corner from post.
“I’ve got six soldiers coming in from the Twelve Sixty-Sixth to help with inventory and for guard duty. Maddie is putting together a duty roster tonight for the guards, and we have twelve military police officers coming in from post to work the gate. Is that enough, Chief?” Sam looked up and realized Raleigh was on the phone. Oops.
Raleigh was still on the phone with General Winfield, and she strained to hear the men, but the tones were muffled. She couldn’t quite make out the exact words. She had a feeling from the tones of their voices that the conversation was intense, so she decided it would be best to just head to the truck and await further instructions. Better safe than sorry. Getting involved in the middle of that conversation was not an option. I am smarter than that, she thought as she crawled into the passenger side of the truck.