BLOODY SUNDAY


Christine

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CHAPTER ONESunday, July 15thMaria Montoya inhaled a deep, relieved breath when the doorbell rang and she saw the man standing on her doorstep. He was the delivery man from the baker named Shoemaker; she knew that from the fact he was carrying the three-tiered wedding cake in his hands. A cake made from a lot of chocolate, red marzipan roses with leaves, and the bride and groom on top.Ron Shoemaker owned the bakery, and had been Maria’s not-so-secret admirer for many years. More than once, he’d asked Maria to marry him, but she had always said no. He was a very good friend, still, and he had offered to make the cake for the happy couple, Alessio and Anna.Maria looked the delivery man up and down. He seemed to be Latin-American, wearing a jeans cap on his black, curly hair. His eyes were hidden behind mirrored sunglasses. “You’re late.” She reprimanded, “Ron had promised that the cake would be delivered at noon.”The delivery man nodded, but did not answer.She showed him where to put the cake; the living room had already been renovated after what had happened four months ago. The pictures were hanging on the walls again, and the once egg-shell colored sofa had been replaced with one that was pink. A table of beechwood was standing in between the sofa and two comfortable armchairs, but Maria still thought the room empty. There were too little plants in there…but she was doing her best to make it more homely, to change it. The wooden roof that covered the deck had finally been finished four weeks ago.On the decking, there was a long table with different delicious cakes. The delivery man placed the cake where Maria pointed, and then reached into her purse so she could give him a generous tip. He said thank you, before he left.Maria turned and finally rejoined the party, her eyes finding the bride and groom. The guests were congratulating them and drinking to their health with champagne or orange juice, or a mixture of the two, depending on personal taste.Two friends, who were students like Alessio and Anna, were walking around with trays, offering more drinks to the guests.“What a great cake!” Samuel Switek exclaimed enthusiastically. He licked his lips and his bright blue eyes were shining; like all kids, Sammy loved sweets, crème gateau above all. His mother, Gianna, leaned forward, touched his arm and murmured into his ear, “Don’t touch, my dear!” She knew that Sammy was very quick with his hands-and he could eat cake faster than anyone else could breathe. Four years ago, when his father, Stan Switek, had turned forty-six, she had made the mistake. She had put the chocolate crème gateau into the bedroom where it was always cool-but unfortunately, the door had not been completely closed. Sammy had not only eaten most of the cake, but had also decorated the walls with a real piece of chocolate art-not to mention the bedside table, the bed and the beige carpet. Even though he was older now…he could still be tempted, and temptation could be the delicious wedding cake.Not too far away, watching the proceedings, Rico and Sonny were standing next to each other. Rico was savoring orange juice because he didn’t drink, while Sonny was sipping champagne. He didn’t really like champagne; he was only drinking it because it seemed the thing to do at a wedding.Rico let his eyes sweep across the party; Anna and Alessio had invited many friends, and Anna’s family had come from Hamburg. Besides that, they had invited the whole of the Vice team, and their partners of course. Rico had only come with his daughter, Alaina, because his son Dylan had suddenly fallen ill with appendicitis and needed to have surgery two days before their plane took off from New York.Alaina was standing next to a young, black man who was one of Alessio and Anna’s friends. She was flirting with him. She was wearing a lemon colored, strapless dress, her shoes a perfect match. Her long dark hair was clipped back from her face with a slide. She looked so damn adult, Rico thought.Several children were running around; Stan and Gianna had brought both their children, Sammy and Fiona, and some of Maria’s friends had also brought their children. The German children were standing close to their parents; they didn’t look particularly happy, probably because they couldn’t understand a word.Gina had come with her daughter, Elena, who looked very similar to her mother. At the moment, Elena was watching Angelo very closely indeed. Gina was talking to Anna’s mother. Trudy was having a lot of fun with Stan’s daughter, Fiona, who was very sweet. Stan himself was talking with Damian and Marty; unfortunately, Abhisit had told Alessio and Anna that he could not come. Billy Crockett was talking with a German woman who could speak English very well.“How do you feel, pal?” Sonny asked Rico, interrupting his analysis of the event, with a big grin on his face. Rico watched as Sonny looked to left, and then quickly deposited his champagne into a flower bed. He acted as if he had not noticed, and instead answered Sonny’s question with an almost bewildered shake of his head, “My family is growing much too fast, man.”Sonny nodded his response, “Amen to that-““We’ll cut the wedding cake now!” Alessio announced, breaking through the many conversations.Everybody walked up to the table. The bride and groom-Anna, wearing a pure white dress, while Alessio had chosen white trousers and a dark red jacket-took position on one side of the table, Alessio holding a long knife. The guests were standing on the other side of the table, holding their digital and video cameras, ready for the perfect moment.The knife cut the marzipan plate where the model bride and groom were stood.The bang ripped through the silence as the cake exploded. Anna and Alessio were thrown backwards, as were those who had been stood closest to the table.The table was torn apart, sending splinters and large chunks of wood flying. A black cloud of thick smoke wrapped around the guests who were screaming in panic. The glass doors that led into the living room shattered, sending glass fragments raining down on the ground.And suddenly, it was completely silent.Parked on the junction of the street where the Montoya’s house was standing, there was an inconspicuous white van with no markings. A young Latin-American who was wearing a jeans cap and mirrored sunglasses lifted the phone, dialed a number, and with a big grin on his face announced, “It was a hellishly good wedding cake!”
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TWORico was lying on the ground. He felt something warm and sticky running over his face and hands. His back was agony, he could hardly breathe, and he had absolutely no idea what had happened. Sonny groaned. He’d been standing next to Rico and the force of the explosion had thrown him at the wooden pillar that had supported the roof. The pillar had broken and now something was lying heavily on his legs. His back was killing him and, like Rico, breathing was difficult. His head was bleeding, and his arm was screaming with pain.Rico forced himself to his knees, still unsure of what had happened. Around him, he heard nothing but groaning and crying, but what he could see as his vision returned to him began to explain what had happened. Startled, he almost stopped breathing.The bride and groom were lying around fifteen foot away from the place where the table had once been. Anna’s dress was soaked with blood and her face was only an unrecognizable mess. Alessio was lying beneath her, and Rico assumed that he too was dead.Not far away, he could see Sammy Switek who was lying motionless on his stomach. Blood was sticking in his blond hair. Gianna Switek, who had been thrown onto the lawn, staggered to her feet. Confused, she glanced around until she spotted her son. “Sammy! Oh my God, no! Sammy!†In a panic she turned around, searching for the rest of her family, “Stan? Fiona?†Rico examined her from a distance; she was bleeding from a wound beneath her left eye and somewhere on her head. On her left arm there was a deep wound, exposing the bone. When she turned, almost to face him, he could see that the other side of her face was also covered in blood. It seemed as though she did not feel any pain; with an almost insane facial expression, torn with shock and terror, she ran to her son. The adrenaline pumping through her veins, the desperation to get to her child, must have shielded her from the initial pain.Anna’s mother was lying in the porch, leading into the living room. The knife that had been about to cut the cake, was protruding from her chest. She had been unlucky.It seemed to hit him slowly, but then it was like a train rushing straight for him. “Alaina!†Rico thought, panic seizing his chest. As fast as possible, despite the dizziness, he got to his feet. “Alaina!†He shouted, his cry meeting others as they too shouted for their loved ones.In his search for his daughter, Rico spotted Sonny, and the beam that was lying across his legs. He glanced at his partner’s face, saw that he was conscious, and pulled the beam away, freeing his friend. He stayed only for a moment to check that there was no serious damage, listening to someone shouting for an ambulance and beginning to come to terms with the number of people lying in collapsed heaps around him. When he was sure Sonny was okay, he continued to search for the lemon colored dress his daughter loved. Eventually, he discovered it. She was lying beneath the young man she’d been flirting with; Rico could see his brain through a hole in his head. He ran to her. “Alaina!†He called, but she did not react.Stunned, Billy left the house. He had gone inside to go to the bathroom, not hearing the call for the cake. When he had gone in, everything had been fine. Now, it seemed to be a scene from a horror film, he’d heard the explosion…Stan staggered past him, toward Rico who was trying to help his daughter. A bloody hand touched Rico’s arm, “Fiona! Did you see Fiona? And Sammy?â€Rico managed to force his voice to croak, “Over there.†His throat hurt, and he was distracted with Alaina as he waved a vague hand in the direction where he had last seen Sammy. He knelt beside Alaina, listening for a moment when he heard the quiet moaning, he was relived because it meant that she was at least alive. Even though he knew it was in vein, he checked the younger man’s pulse before pushing him aside and freeing his daughter.Her eyelids were fluttering, and she was covered in blood, but Rico could not tell if it was hers or if it belonged to the boy. “Dad?†She whispered, “What happened?†She opened her eyes, fixing her confused and only half focused gaze on her father, “My stomach hurts…â€â€œDon’t move!†Rico answered, “Help is on the way!†He put his right hand on her forearm, squeezing slightly, telling her that he was there. He continued to look around, taking in the situation.Rico discovered Gina, who was lying in a contorted heap a few steps from him, her head turned away. She was motionless. Elena, who had been lying by an overturned table, which may have protected her from the worst of the explosion, got unsteadily to her feet, still bloodstained and sobbing. She was looking for her mother and after she discovered her, she ran to her, collapsing to her knees, calling for her. Sonny was also searching for Gina and when Rico turned his head, he saw Sonny rush to Gina’s side, putting one arm around Elena and searching for Gina’s pulse.Rico could hear a baby crying. That could only be Fiona…please, not Fiona, so young…but he could see her. She was with Trudy, who seemed uninjured apart from a small cut on her forehead that was probably from a splinter or some of the glass. She had not been standing as close to the table as others.“Dad, what’s happened?†Alaina murmured, her voice pained.“I don’t know, Alaina.†Rico admitted, “Don’t move, okay? I need to find out what has happened to Anna and Alessio.â€â€œDon’t leave me, Dad!â€Rico touched her hand gently, reassuring her, but he had to go to Alessio too! He glanced over his shoulder, although he didn’t want to see what had happened. He could hear the screaming sirens. “I’ll be back, sweetheart. It’ll only take a few minutes.†He promised his daughter, before standing.He watched as Stan seized his son, and saw Billy attempting resuscitation on another still body. Ricoglanced at Sonny, who was watching over Gina. His friend felt his eyes on him, and looked up. “What the hell happened?†Sonny demanded, voice rough.Rico simply shook his head silently before running toward Alessio and Anna.Anna was dead, but he had known that already. Only a bloody mass was left of her face and once pretty blue eyes. He could hardly look at her as he pushed her away from Alessio, because his stomach threatened to give way. The stench of blood was beginning to play with his system.Alessio also had injuries to his face. His nose was torn open on the right side and his eyebrow was shattered. It was bizarre, in the most frightening way, and Rico had to swallow to compose himself. Blood was trickling out of Alessio’s mouth. Rico tried to find a pulse. There was one, but it was weak and fluttered like the wings of a little bird. “Hang on, Less!†He implored quietly, raising his head away from the gore at his feet and to focus on something else.Stan was cradling his son close, and his wife seemed to have passed out. Rico hoped it was not a fatal collapse. He couldn’t tell if Sammy was dead or simply badly injured. He could hear Stan calling his wife’s name, tone tormented.Rico discovered the little girl with the red hair. The child that had been standing next to Sammy at the table had been discarded like a rag doll. He could see her bright red hair wrapped around the leaves of a bush.A shadow passed over Rico, and he knew the presence. It could only be Castillo. He glanced up at the old Lieutenant, who had seemed to have escaped injury; his suit was dusty and his hands were bloodied, but it was the blood of others. “How do you feel, Rico?â€The more he sat, the more Rico realized that he did not feel good at all. “Not great.†He admitted, “Did you see Maria?â€â€œYes. She’s seriously injured, but a neighbor is taking care of her. Several others are dead. I assume that someone had planted a bomb in the wedding cake.â€Rico looked down at Alessio again. He was breathing, but unconscious. That was a good thing. The pain would be terrible. Rico took a white hanky out of his pocket and covered Alessio’s face gently, hiding the injuries. Behind him, Alaina was shouting for her father. Rico was torn. “Go to her.†Marty advised, “She needs you more.â€He stood and turned to look his Lieutenant dead in the eye, “Who would do something like this, Marty?†He demanded, and his voice shook slightly.“I don’t know.†Castillo replied honestly, before turning and hurrying towards the child in the bush, hoping that she would be injured and not dead, although it did not look good.On his way back to Alaina, Rico passed a shocked Stan, who glanced up at him, “Rico…â€He turned and sat beside his friend for a moment, checking Gianna’s pulse. Now closer, he could see the injury in all its gruesome detail; the skin was gashed all the way up to her eye. Rico could see her lower jawbone. Two of her teeth were missing and the unconsciousness was merciful.“She’s alive Stan, and so is Fiona.†Rico tried to calm his friend down, but Stan simply continued to cradle Sammy close to him. When Rico asked how Sammy was, Stan did not seem to react. Rico got up, touching his friend’s shoulder, although he did not know if Stan had felt it and headed back toward his daughter.He saw Sonny attempting to revive Gina, while Elena sat beside her, crying. Rico could hear Fiona screaming, and perhaps that was the best sound, because it proved that she was alive.Rico knelt next to Alaina, “Hold on, darling. The ambulance is nearly here. You’ll be fine.†While listening to the sirens, such a beautiful sound because it meant that help was close at hand, he finally started to consider what had happened and thought, “Who could hate Alessio that much…to send him a bomb on his wedding day?â€

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THREEMore and more ambulances arrived, requested by the first – aid attendants who didn´t know where to start with their work. Several he****s stopped behind the ambulances. The firefighters and the detectives of the CSI started with their search for tracks and the reason for the fire.Several policeman were talking with the guests who´s been only slightly injured. Unfortunately, nobody didn´t know exactly what had happened because the explosion came too sudden, too unexpected, and much too fast.On the street, many neighbors had assembled. They were staring to the Montoya´s house. The deafening bang and the thick, black cloud that had been rising from Maria´s garden into the bright blue sky had torn them out of their occupations on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.Now they were standing there in groups, telling with what occupation they´d been surprised by the bang. Someone had spread out the rumour they also were talking about, but couldn´t believe it: Someone had sent a bomb to the nice, helpful, and all over popular Maria Montoya!Several rescue helicopters were revolving over the trees in search for a possibility to land. The tops of the trees were whirled and shaking. It was so loud that everybody had to shout to be understadable.Seven amulances left Maria´s propperty with wailing sirens. They either wanted to take their patients to hospital or to a place where they could be handed over to the helicopter crews.Six he****s were driving in another direction.Nobody paid attention to the unsuspected white van that was parking in a side street now.After the explosion had happened, several people had passed the van, but they´d only had a quick glance at the young man who was looking at a map.Behind the van, a policecar stopped. The policeman, a tall and vry heavy man got out of his. His uniform didn´t suit. The trousers were too short, and the jacket too tight. His very large feet were conspicious. The black polished shoes looked like lifeboats.In his hand, he was carrying a police jacket that he handed to the Latin – American now.“A nice expolsionâ€, he praised.The Latin – American nodded. “With the right result, I hopeâ€, he replied with a light accent while putting the jacket on. His friend gave him the police cap before the Latin – American got into the policecar.He drove to Maria´s house, but parked the car at the side of the street. The driveway had to be open for ambulances. He got out of the car. After adjusting the cap – it was too large, but nobody recognized it – he walked along the driveway to the house. There, he followed a small way to the left that led him to the backside of the house. He nodded at his “colleagues†who were all very busy. At the backside of the house, the man let his eyes travel around. The mess was absolutely perfect, but nevertheless he was unconfident. He discovered Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, both slightly injured, talking with an uninjured Castillo.Then, he saw an also uninjured Crockett junior, Damian Parson, and Switek who was kneeling on the ground holding a child in his arms.With his lips pressed together, the man returned to the policecar. He turned the car round in a driveway and drove to a park where his friend was awaiting him in the van.Carefully, he cleaned the inside of the policecar with a cloth to make his fingerprints disappear, but he left the jacket and the cap in the car behind.His friend had also cleaned the inside of the van. After they had finished they met at a Range Rover.“It hadn´t caught themâ€, the Latin – American told with a disappointedly sounding voice.â€

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FOURThe night had already covered Miami like a black cloth when Rico and Sonny exhaustedly sank on two chairs in the waiting area of the intensive care unit. Both were plastered on their heads and suffered with wounds on their hands, arms, and legs, but they´d had a lot of luck.Rico vaguely remembered that he´d leaned towards a rather small elderly lady who´d been standing next to him. She was Anna´s grandmother. She´d wanted to tell him something, but she hardly spoke English. Without thinking about it, Rico had leaned towards her, even though he´d known that it was nonsens. It didn´t make her words more understandable. Now, she was laying slightly injured, but with a bad heartattack on the intensive care unit. It was said that her chances to survive weren´t very good.Sonny had been standing on Rico´s other side. He only remembered that a smiling bride and groom were slowly cutting the marcipan plate on the wedding cake. Then there was the bang.He had a cut on his hairline and another cut on the backside of his head and several torn muscle fibres in his legs. Besides that, a very pretty doctor had removed five splinters off his cheeks and several off his back. Two of them had penetrated his back so deep that the wounds needed to be sutured.Castillo left the elevator. He was carrying a tray with coffee cups on it that he offered to Rico and Sonny. “Anything new?” he asked while Rico and Sonny were taking the cups.Still stunned, Rico shook his head. “Six dead persons and 13 badly injured people”, he enumerated. “Gina, one of Anna´s uncles, Alessio, Angelo, and little Sammy´s lives are hanging on a silky thread. Why?”Castillo put the tray on the the magazines that were laying on the small table in the middle of the room. Actually, people who were waiting for something should pass away their time with reading, but the three men weren´t keen on reading the gossips about famous people.Nurses were busily hurrying along the brightly illuminated hallway, the telephone was ringing again and again, and in one room they heard the alarm shrilling. Immediately, it got hectically. Rico, Sonny, and Castillo also ran to the door to let their looks travel along the hallway. Relieved they found out that the alarm had happened in a room at the beginning of the ward where an unknown patient was lying.Castillo returned to one of the white and uncomfortable plastic chairs where he sat down, his legs slightly wide apart. He held his cup in both hands and stared at the almost black liquid as if he could find the answer to Rico´s question therein.“Maria must have bad enemies”, he sometime replied. “Someone hates her!”Rico and Sonny also sat down. Rico drank a little sip. He thought about the day at the beginning of April when he got to know Maria. Then, Stan had told him, “Her vest is so bright white that you would become blind even if you´re wearing sunglasses.”Later, Alessio had proudly told him in what organisations his grandmother (that was what she would always be for him) engaged herself.Three times per week, Maria was working in Montana´s Soup Kitchen. Besides that, she belonged to an ecclesiastical group who visited people in hospital or those who were living in a nursing home every second weekend. She organized charity events and the proceeds of it were spent for further aid projects. So, they, for example, always supported a dolphin therapy center where profoundly disabled children could swim with the dolphins.Maria was tirelessly busy to do good things to other people. Nobody ever hated such a dear or was he mistaken?“The bomb had been placed in the wedding cake. Maybe, it wasn´t meant for Maria”, Sonny thought aloud.Castillo drank a sip of coffee while thinking about the less things they knew. A bomb placed in a cake… a gift on the occasion of a special event… that seemed to be familiar to him, but at this moment, he didn´t know where to put this story.“What about your daughter, Rico?” Catillo wanted to know while drinking another sip coffee. Actually, he didn´t think that this stuff deserved the name coffee.Rico sighed. Like everybody who´d been standing close to the wedding cake Alaina had been suffered with head injuries, but these injuries hadn´t been the worst as they´d found out when the first - aid attendants had carefully turned Alaina from her stomach to the back. The handle of a dessert fork had bored through her abdomen. With her fall, the fork´s prongs had bend and also digged into Alainas abdomen.“Unfortunately, I can´t tell you anything new. She´s still in the operating room”, Rico countered while staring in his plastic cup. “My son´s lying in a hospital in New York. Four days ago, he´s had an appendix operation.”The elevator doors opened and a doctor, who was wearing the coat in the color that was usual in the operating room, accompanied a nurse who was pushing a bed out of the elevator.Rico and Sonny jumped up at the same time because both were waiting for Alaina or Gina to leave the operating room.After the occurences in April, Sonny and Gina had met for several times. Now, Sonny was the only one who was able to take care for Gina and Elena..The doctor looked at Rico. She hesitated for a moment before she smiled. Rico looked at her and also hesitated. He couldn´t see her hair because it was hidden under a light green hood as it was worn in the operating room, but these amber colored eyes…She walked up to him, slightly shook her head and said, “Ricardo Tubbs! I´d never expected to meet you again in my life.”“Amber”, Rico replied while they were following the bed with Alaina in it. “What about my daughter?” Amber told him that Alaina was lucky given the circumstances. The fork had hurt the stomach artery, but at the same time it worked as a lock. In Amber´s opinion, her chances were very good.The nurse pushed the bed into the room where Maria and the two students who´d offered the drinks were lying in. So, it was easier for the nurses and the doctors to keep an eye on them.“Was this really a bomb attack, Rico?” Amber wanted to know.Rico nodded while dragging a chair next to Alaina´s bed. He sat down and took Alaina´s hand in his hands. It was cold and almost disappeared in his hands. He´d never noticed before that she had so small and fragile hands.When he raised his look, Amber was just checking Maria´s infusion before she took a little lamp out of her pocket to shine into her eyes.“My son got married yesterday”, Rico told. “The bomb was placed in the wedding cake and the bride is one of the dead people. Alessio had been taken to a special clinic by helicopter… like four others.”Amber had a look at the two students. She wrote something in the papers that were stuck into a folder at the foot of the bed. “That´s dreadful”, she admitted. She put the papers back into the folder before she returned to Rico and put her hand comfortingly on his shoulder. “Your daughter will succeed. Is your wife also one of the victims?”“My ex - wife, Suzy, is with my son in New York. Dylan had had an appendix operation four days ago. What do you know about the other victims, Amber?”Amber hesitated for a moment. Actually, she had no right to give Rico any information about her patients who weren´t his relatives. But she thought that this was an exceptional situation.“One woman has died about half an hour ago. I didn´t understand her name exactly, but I think that it was Juna… Gina… Joana?”Startled, Rico looked at her!

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FIVEElena had been pushed into another room. There, Sonny was sitting next to her bed now. She´d left the operating room a few minutes later than Alaina. Sonny had asked the nurse, who´d pushed the bed, about Gina, but she had apologized. She knew nothing about a woman with that name.Sonny looked to Elena who was Gina´s splitting image. Sonny thought about the last three months. Several times, he went out with Gina or they had dinner together in her apartment. Two times, she´d visited him in his apartment in West Palm Beach. The first time, she visited him without Elena who´d preferred to stay over night with her friend than to attend an “oldie – dinnerâ€.The second time, she had had no choice than to accompany Gina to West Palm Beach. There, she got to know Angelo. It seemed as if something was developing between Elena and Angelo, but now Sonny didn´t even know if Angelo was alive. He´d been one of the victims who´d been carried away by helicopter, the same as Alessio, Sammy, and Anna´s uncle who´d led Anna to the altar.Sonny´s thoughts returned to Gina. A few hours before while driving together to Maria´s house he´d been thinking about his return to Miami after his retirement, even though he wasn´t sure about his feelings for Gina… like in the past. The thought to return, however, appealed to him. Of course, he´d prefer to live in an apartment instead of a boat and he wouldn´t have a pet like Elvis, but maybe he changed his mind in these things.Living on the St. Vitus Dance had had something special. If he´d wanted to, he removed the ropes and sailed across the ocean. And Elvis? He´d forced up his consumption of alarm clocks and telephones, was responsible for several very nice talks with pretty shop assistents in a shop for mattresses and bed accessories, and he´d decimated his LP collection. Fortunately, Sonny had found substitute over the internet in the meantime.Sonny had had a lot of trouble because Elvis had visited people who weren´t keen on meeting an aligator. He´d chewed things that belonged to other people, but he´d been a great fellow!Then, he thought about the explosion and how he´d found Gina lying under a broken table. He couldn´t find her pulse and therefore, he desperately made attempts to resuscitation until the first – aid attendants arrived. Sonny only knew that her heart was beating when they´d taken her away, but in the meantime, it was dawning. Was Gina still alive?Ben had been the only one who had had to cancel the invitiation because Nelly, his daughter, had celebrated her 7th birthday the same day.“I don´t hope that you´re searching for a stupid accusation to get out of the birthday partyâ€, Joana, his ex- wife pertly had said. “She´s your daughter too, and you won´t leave me alone with 12 children!â€So, Ben drove to his ex - wife´s house to entertain the children until they went home at 7:30 p.m. Thereafter, he and Joana had tidied up, but Joana had railed about everything the whole time. Eventually, they´d had a bad and loud argument before Ben left the house at about ten.On his way home, Ben listened as the radio host was talking about a bomb attack on a wedding party in Coral Gables. Immidiately, a bad feeling spread out in his stomach. He didn´t believe that there´d been many wedding parties in Coral Gables today.Ben decided to drive to Maria Montoya´s house. Her garden was illuminated by several spotlights because the experts were still searching for tracks.Horrifiedly, Ben walked around and had a look on the tremendous destruction that inferred on many injured and probably also dead guests.Ben showed his badge to a colleague before he asked if they´d found an indication on the bomb, but he got disappointed.“The only thing I can tell exactly is that this wasn´t a normal bombâ€, the man in the white protective clothing told. “We neither found a fuse nor parts of a cable.â€Ben asked to call him if he got information. When Ben reached the man his calling card he frowned. “Vice? What´s Vice got to do with it?â€Ben let his eyes travel over the mess. He discovered the dried blood on the ground, the walls, and on the plants provided that they weren´t tattered by the explosion.“Several Vice – detectives had visited this wedding party. The groom´s father had been a Vice – detective and therefore, Vice should be involved in the investigations.â€He asked the colleague where the injured guests had been taken to and after he got the information he drove to the hospital. There, he only found Angelo, Alessio, Sammy, and Rudolf Schreiber, Anna´s uncle. He met Stan who had a head bandage and was carrying his left arm in a sling. Stan just left the intensive care unit where Sammy was treated.“St. Elisabethâ€, Stan only said. “Gianna and Fiona are also there and I´m on the way to them.â€Then, he left without paying more attention to Ben.In St. Elisabeth hospital, Ben met Castillo in the waiting area. The Lieutenant´s cup was already empty, but he was still holding it in his hands. His thoughts were always twisting around. He agreed with Sonny, a bomb like this one was absolutely personell. As it had been placed in this special cake, it could have been meant for Alessio or Anna and not for Maria. But Castillo was sure that he´d heard about a similar bomb sometime the last weeks or so. But if he was right and something like that had happened somewhere else, it couldn´t have been personell. Then, it was about different things.In his typical short, but precisely way he told Ben what had happened and what he assumed.“I´ll drive to the office to find out moreâ€, Ben promised. He got up and had already reached the door when he got an idea. “Switek is involved in too many personell thingsâ€, he said while turning around and looking at Castillo. “If Henderson asks you, are you in, then?â€â€œOh yes!â€, Castillo replied with grim expressions.

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SIX Monday 7a.m.Eliana Assani was an envied woman. She was good – looking and had a fantastic figure. With only 28 years she was very successful and could affort living in a huge house in Coral Gables that was hidden behind high walls. A electronical gateway and cameas on the walls protected her. When she was a child, she dreamed of owning a white Lamborghini. Now, the car was parking in her huge garage.Every day on 7 a.m., Eliana left her house to jog in the nearby park. Wearing a tight pink top, black shorts, and white shoes she ran along the sidewalk. A pink colored elastic band with fringes on it was tied round her honey blond colored pigtail. A small purse was tied around her waist.It was amazingly silent that Monday morning. Eliana discovered some cats who were straying along the street, but they ran away when they saw Eliana or ducked behind a bush. While running, Eliana turned her upper part of the body from the left to the right and vice versa for her warm up.Birds were singing happily and the air was rather warm, even though it was early in the morning. Probably, the temperature would raise in course of morning in almost unbearable heights. Then, she would be happy to spend her time in her air – conditioned office.Eliana ran along the sidewalk to a crossing where she turned right in direction to the park. Several cars passed her. The drivers looked at her, but Eliana didn´t pay any attention to them. She was used to that men stared at her.Eventually, the park appeared on her left side. The benches at the entrance were deserted, but she knew that elderly people would sit down there later to talk with others and to feed the birds.In the garbage can, she discovered plastic bags, paper bags, cartons, and plastic cups of a well – known fast – food chain. One plastic cup had fallen next to the garbage can. It´s lid had opened and the remaining content of the strawberry milkshake had spread out over the ground. Even though it had dried already several insects were trying to get something of it.Eliana ran into the park. Unter the trees whose tops united to a roof over the way it was comfortable. The sun drew pattern on the ground and again and again birds sank down to catch a worm or a bug.Eliana took the plugs for her walkman out of her pocket. She put them into her ears and switched the gadget on. She loved the music of the band Queen and that´s what she wanted to listen to while jogging.She enjoyed the peaceful silence of this Monday morning and while running she let he thoughts roam. She had to take care about several lucrative orders. E.A. UNIQUE, her boutique with a connected tailor´s, had the reputation to fulfil her customer´s most extravagant wishes. Her creations often were very extravagant and crazy, but her wealthy customers from all over the world loved it and paid bombastic prizes for the clothes.When she discovered the white van between the trees, she slowed her speed down. She let her eyes travel around, but couldn´t see anyone. Curiously, she walked closer to the vehicle. At the same time, she saw two women jogging along the path from the other side. She knew them because they often met here. The women were talking to each other and hadn´t discovered the van yet, but that changed a breathe later.While the two women stopped, Eliana discovered two legs behind the van.“Someone´s lying there!” One of the woman shouted while pointing to the place where Eliana had seen the legs.Then, they were standing not far from the dead man who was only wearing socks, shoes and shorts.Eliana took her mobile out of the small purse she´d wrapped around her waist and dialed 911.One of the women told her with a trembling voice and pointing to a bush, “I think another man´s laying over there.”The other woman who had a light blond mane of curls walked to the bush to confirm the assumption.In the meantime, Eliana reported the two dead men in the park in Coral Gables.“Mr. Crockett?” The female voice seemed to come from far away. In the first moment Sonny neither knew who had spoken to him or where he was now.“Mr. Crockett, there´s a call for you.”Sonny opened his eyes. The first thing, that he discovered was a white plastic tabletop where the left side of his face had been lying on. The second look hit the foot of Elena´s bed with her file.“The wedding! The explosion! Gina!” He thought. He wanted to get up with a start, but it was impossible. His whole body was cramped as a result of the things that had happened to him yesterday and, of course, the unhealthy position he´d been sleeping in.In his head, Sonny felt a throbbing pain and his face was tensing.“I´ll come immediately”, he groaned.While pulling faces, Sonny slowly got up. He let his eyes travel around to learn that Elena was sleeping and that they hadn´t taken Gina to this room.With a look at his watch, Sonny found out that it was about nine a.m.. Therefore, he assumed that the dotors had decided to bring Gina to another room.Sonny put his hands in his sides before he twisted his body slowly to the right, then to the left and back to loosen his muscles. He felt as if he had kocked together with a tank.He left the room and walked to the nurses office. The receiver was lying on the desk and he picked it up. “Crockett”, he said.Then, he listened to commissioner Pierson who was responsible for West Pal Beach. He was Sonny´s boss.“I really want to do that”, Sonny replied. “I´ll drive there immediately.”He hung up and turned around because he´d heard a noise behind him. Rico and Billy were standing there and curiously looking at him.“Operation Wedding Day?” Rico asked.Sonny nodded. “Are we riding in the same boat?”Rico also nodded. “Yeah , man, on the shortest way to the Vice department. I only have to get my gun.”Many people were already waiting in the briefing room when Rico, Sonny, and Billy arrived. Ben Bradford, Damian Parson (plastered, but with grim and determined expressions), and Martin Castillo were also sitting there.On the left short side, a man with a well – groomed strawberry blonde beard had taken a seat. He introduced himself as George Mc Arthur, leader of the bomb squad.The two other unknown persons were Estelle Garner who was working for homicide New Orleans, and Douglas Pride of homicide Savannah.Estelle was a slim, white, 35 years old woman with dark brown hair that reached to her chin. Her eyes were of the same color as her hair. She let them travel around, but stayed a bit longer on Billy.Douglas Pride was 42. He was also white, tall, and muscular. His hair was sand colored and his eyes were bright blue.Rico, Sonny, and Billy sat down. Then, Castillo, who was sitting opposite of George Mc Arthur, started to speak. “As Stan Switek is engaged I was willing to lead the Operation Wedding – Day. The detectives Garner and Pride joined us because there´d been similar attacks in New Orleans and Savannah. During the next hours, Detective Doyle from Philadelphia will also join us.”“Similar cases?” Rico surprisingly asked while looking at the others. If this was true, it meant that it neither was about Maria, nor Anna or Alessio.Estelle put into words what had happened in New Orleans. In April 2007, Lieutenant Andrew Fields celebrated a party in occasion of his 50th birthday. One of the gifts contained a bomb that exploded. Nine people died, thirteen got injured. Fields had let the investigations in the case of a trafficker in human beeings organization They´d brought in their victims with boats that were camouflaged as fischer boats.Douglas Pride had a very dark voice that was suitable for telling fairy tails. Relaxed, he was sitting on his chair, his back leaned on the backrest and his arms folded in front of his chest.He told them that the bomb in Savannah had killed Lieutenant Miranda Marshall, leader of the vice squad, on her Single Woman Farewell Party last February. The bomb had been in a big carton where the woman assumed a striptease dancer to be in. Seven women died and nine got injured. On the congratultion card that Miranda received she could only read, “Guess!”Miranda had let the investigations in a case of seven murdered minor girls from Siam who´d been illegal in America where they´d been working as hookers.“Except of the bomb, these cases have nothing in common”, Damian told.George Mc Arthur nodded. He leaned forward and put his forearms on the table. “These bombs were identical in their composition”, he explained. “They´d used Trinitrophenol acid or TNP.”George Mc Arthur let his eyes travel around to make sure that everybody paid attention on him. Next door in the open – plan office, Sarah Tobias was laughing about something that her colleague, Angela Billings, had told her. Several telephones were ringing, and several policecars were leaving with wailing sirens.“Trinitrophenol or TNP”, George repeated. “It´s good soluble in boiling hot water, poisonous, and it causes strong allergic skin reactions. Its salts are sensitive with regards to blow, friction, and sparks, as you unfortunately had to find out already. It´s used in the organic analysis, with microscopes, and to corrode metallic surfaces.”Again, he stopped. Sonny looked at Rico und his friend´s facial expressions told him what Sonny was thinking: “This guy loves talking!”“With a rapid heat up or through initial spark it detonates. The detonation speed is about 7100m/s and therefore about 10% higher than with TNT. It belongs to the substances of group A and private persons need a permission to buy it”, George explained.Someone knocked on the door. Then, Angela got in. She was carrying a tray with two cans of coffee, several cups, cream, and sugar on it into the room. Above all, she looked at Ben, smiled at him, and he returned it.Rico tried to sort the information. The explosion always happened on a policeman´s private party, even though the different cases occurred in widely separated cities and the concerned and killed policemen had worked in absolutely different departments.In this case, Alessio had been a policeman´s son, but who knew about that?“On what case are you working at this time, Crockett?” Castillo wanted to know.“Blackmailing of business people. If someone doesn´t pay, pays to little or to late, he gets killed. Four people have died already. The gang, who calls themselves Hell Riders, is very brutal.”, Sonny replied while filling a cup with coffee. “Therefore, we´ve got only little information. The witnesses are too afraid.”Rico also filled a cup with coffee. He put sugar in it and stirred lost in thoughts. He thought about Alaina, who´d gotten through the operation, about Anna, who was dead, and about Gina, who probably had died. Unfortunately, he couldn´t find out anything about Alessio and the others who´d been taken away by helicopter.How could there be a connection between these cases in different cities?“Tubbs?” Castillo asked.The same moment, Sonny softly touched his arm.Rico squinted. He realized that everybody expectingly was looking a him. Possibly, someone had asked him a question, but he didn´t hear it.“What case are you working on?” Castillo repeated his question.“Blackmailing and the murder on three business people”, Rico replied. “It´s a ticklish thing. Short after the death of the business man one could watch sex photos of him in the internet. They show the man in an embarrassing and compromise way. We assume that these photos should show other victims what happens to them if they don´t pay. Probably, these photots were taken in a sado – maso club, but until now we couldn´t find the club. But we received several indications we´re checking at this time.”Someone knocked on the door, then Sharon Evans walked in to tell them that one had found the missed policemen in a park in Coral Gables. Someone had killed them and taken their clothes off. One of the poliemen had been lying next to a van that was liscensed to the bakery owner Ron Shoemaker. His driver had disappeared.After Sharon had left the room, it got silent. Billy nervously was playing with a ballpen. In such moments he always wished that he could light a cigarette, even though he´d stopped smoking five months ago.Douglas Pride quietly coughed before he drank a sip of coffee while Rico was staring on the tabletop. Castillo cleared his throat. “It seems as if a big organizations tries to pick a fight with the police. Let´s get them!”

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SEVENCastillo devided up the teams. Of course, Rico and Sonny would work together. Billy should work wit Estelle, Damian with Douglas, and Ben should wait for Sam Doyle from Philadelphia.Together, Rico and Sonny left the department to drive to Eliana Assani. Sharon had told them that she and two other women, Patty Roberts and Eve Taylor, together had found the bodies.Billy and Estelle should drive to Ron Shoemaker. Alessio had told Billy that Ron, who made the best cakes in whole Miami, went for his grandmother. Therefore, he´d wanted to give the wedding cake as a present to him and Anna. So, Shoemaker war the best track for them now, even though it made no sense.Rico thought about Alessio who was lying in the university hospital now and didn´t know that he´d lost his wife only two hours after the wedding ceremony.Rico urgently had to find out the hospital´s phone number so that he could enquire of him.At this moment, it would be rather good if he could devide himself into three pieces: One piece stayed with Alaina, another piece drove to Alessio, and the third piece hunted for the murderer with Sonny.While riding down with the elevator, Sonny dialed the number of the St. Elisabeth Hospital to ask about Gina Calabrese, but he could´t reach anyone who was able to give him information.Rico swallowed hard and stared on the door. Again, he thought on if he should tell Sonny what he knew about Gina, but he hesitated.Sonny thanked the nurse on the other end of the line before he hung up. The same moment, the elevator doors opened.“I don´t understand itâ€, he said to Rico.“Probably, the nurses and doctors have a lot of things to doâ€, Rico only replied.They crossed the entrance hall and stepped outside into the sunlight. Some people passed them on the outside stairs. They were talking and didn´t pay attention to Rico and Sonny.On the sidewalk, Sonny almost was driven over by a biker. He jumped backwards and while shaking his head his look followed the bike.They used a gap between two parked cars, a black Ford Galaxy and a Chevrolet Captiva, to cross the street because Sonny´s Corvette was parking on the other side of the street.Suddenly, an engine was howling, tires were screeching. Rico and Sonny, who just had crossed half of the street, both turned their heads to the left side. A black motorbike with two black dressed people on it raced towards them. The rider on the pillon seat was holding a M4 in his hands, and standing on the footrests he fired on Rico and Sonny.Rico jumped backwards and covered himself between the parked cars. He tore his gun out of his shoulder holster and released the safety catch. Several bullets bounced off the paint of the Galaxy, passed through the panes of the side windows, and hit a man who was walking down the headquarter´s stairs. Immediately, he broke down.People were screaming and brakes were shreeking when driver´s were pulling the steering wheels around hard to escape from the shoot - out.Rico fired at the marksman, but couldn´t target right on him because of the volley the man was firing at him. One of Rico´s bullets hit the fairing of the motorbike, another one hit the driver´s helmet.Sonny jumped to the other side and covered himself behind his Corvette. He pulled his gun and shot in the moment when the marksman tried to transform Rico into a sieve. His bullet hit the driver´s left upperarm and Sonny could see as the leather jacket was torn off and blood was spreading out of the wound. The motorbike made a little swerve, but the man on the pillon seat had a damn good balance. Instead of falling off the motorbike, he turned the gun on Sonny and fired at him.Sonny ducked. He heard as several bullets bounced off his car and as somebody was sounding his horn before hitting an obstacle with a loud bang. The motorbike´s driver put his foot down.Sonny got upright. He jumped, like Rio did on the other side, on the street, and fired on the motorbike that disappeared around a corner now.“Are you OK, Sonny?†Rico wanted to know.Sonny nodded. “Yes, pal, and you?â€â€œMe too.â€â€œOK, then, let´s get him!†Sonny shouted while running up to his car.Quickly, Sonny glanced over the car´s painting. He found several demages that made his anger increase.They got into the car nd Sonny switched the engine on. While pulling the steering wheel around hard, Rico and Sonny saw several people that were taking care for the poor man who ws lyong on the stairs. Several policemen were leaving the headquarter in a hurry.Sonny raced along the street. Rico discovered a Pick – up that had crashed into a white station wagon, but both driver´s, allegedly, were uninjured, and climbing out of their cars. The Corvette was skidding around the corner with screeching tires. In front of them they discovered red traffic lights where several people were crossing the street. Two of them grew stiff in the middle of the street while the others were screaming and running back to the side of the street where they´d been coming from.Sonny ignored the red traffic light. With dogged expressions, he steered the car around the two people who were standing on the street like statues before doing the same with the Hummer that came from the right. Sonny pulled the steering wheel around hard and turned around the Jeep by a hair´s breadth.Rico sighed in relief.In front of them, they discovered the motorbike, a BMW R1150, that was racing along the street like a lunatic. It passed on the right and on the left and once it raced over the sidewalk. Screaming, the pedestrians jumped aside.Rico grabbed the radio to tell the colleagues about the motorbike´s and their own position, but he also warned everybody because the perpetrators were armed.Suddenly, Rico realized a big truck with a trailer on it that came out of a side street on the right and wanted to turn onto the main street. For that, it needed almost the whole street. From the other side, another truck was coming closer.“Sonny!†Rico startledly screamed. He let he radio fall to the ground and tore his hands to his face.Sonny braked, but he only wanted to find out whether the gap between the trucks was big enough for the Corvette. Then, he put his foot down again, and Rico had no other choice than to stop breathing.They came so close to the truck that wanted to turn onto the main street that Rico could see the little rips in the tires.On Sonny´s side there wasn´t more space either. But a second later, they were through it.Rico crossed himself while Sony was swearing, “Damn!â€They couldn´t see the motorbike. It seemed disappeared off the face of the earth.Sonny drove to the next crossing, then to another crossing, but eventually he stopped at the side of the street. He looked at Rico. “Who ever is behind this, he´s absolute serious and I´m sure that we´ll hear from him again.â€

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EIGHTRon Shoemaker was working in the bakery when Billy and Estelle arrived. The smell of freshly baked bread got into their noses and several ovens were humming. A young baker was mixing crème and on a table there were several bowls with different fruits in it waiting for their pocessing.Ron Shoemaker was forming pink and yellow marcipan roses with his black, skilful hands. In the bakery it was hellish hot. Therefore, sweat was trickling on his forehead. In regularly intervals Ron took a pure white handky out of his pocket to wipe the sweat away.“I don´t know what to sayâ€, he told while putting a yellow marcipan rose onto a big plate where, like little soldiers, ten yellow roses and ten pink colored roses were lying. “Maria is a wonderful woman…â€He looked at Billy and Estelle and when he smiled his pure white teeth were shining. “For years I´ve been trying to persuade her to go out with me, but she always said no. Nevertheless, I´ll never give up. How is she?â€â€œWhy don´t you vist her to ask her yourself?†Billy provokingly asked. For his taste, the man, who´d claimed that he was crazy about Maria, seemed to be too cool. After all, Maria almost got killed because of a bomb that had been hidden in a cake Ron had given as a present to Alessio and Anna.Billy was missing the horror, the shock, and the sympathy, but of course he knew that not everybody was able to show his feelings openly.Ron Shoemaker nodded so intensely that his double chin started moving while he was forming a pink colored marcipan rose. “I´ll do that.â€Estelle was leaning at a metal table with her arms folded in front of her chest. Her right leg was casually lying over her left leg and she only shored it up on her foottip.“How long has the driver been working for you?†she wanted to know.Shoemaker stopped working for a moment. The other baker switched the mixer off and one of the ovens started ringing to show that the cake was ready.“About a yearâ€, Shoemaker countered.The young baker carefully dragged the cake out of the oven and an irresistable smell spread out in the room.“Dean Rogers had always been a reliable employee. He was always on timeâ€, Shoemaker told while continuing with his work. “I´d never thought that he could be able to do something bad.â€â€œYou can only look at people´s foreheadsâ€, Billy replied.Ron nooded, put the rose to the other finished roses on the plate, dragged his handky out of the pocket, and wiped the sweat away. Then, he walked to a bowl with chocolate cream to try a little bit with a teaspoon. Thereafter, he quietly talked with his helper, who nodded understandably, before Ron returned to his marcipan roses.He frowned while looking from Estelle to Billy and back. Apparently, he´d lost the thread.“Tell us about yesterdayâ€, Estelle asked. She squinted to the bowl with the delicious looking strawberrys in it and had to force herself not to take one of them.Ron shrugged. Without interrupting his work or raising his look he told, “ I´d promised Maria to bring the cake at noon. It should be standing on the table before the wedding ceremony as an eye – catcher…â€Billy frowned and said, “It arrived after the wedding ceremony!â€Ron confusedly looked at him with his mocha colored eyes. “Dean had left at 11:30 a.m…â€â€œâ€¦ but he first arrived at three p.m.â€, Billy added. “We´re very interested in finding out what Dean had done in these three and a half hours. Can you give us Dean´s address?â€Shoemaker nodded. He walked to the wash bassin to wash his hands before he hurried to his office. A moment later, he returned with a piece of paper with Dean´s address on it. “I don´t know what the little bastard had made with the wedding cake, but if you catch him, lock him well. If I get him in my fingers, he won´t need a cell.â€Billy didn´t answer, but had a look on the piece of paper. Dean Rogers wasn´t living in the best area. “How long does it take to create such a wedding cake?†he wanted to know.Shoemaker snorted. Most of the people thought that he once could equally create such a cake. Therefore, they couldn´t understand why his prizes were higher than the prizes of other pastry – cooks. He knew that these policemen, assumably, didn´t recognize that each of his cakes was a unique work of art.“Many hours!†he replied while pointing on the plate with the marcipan roses on it. “The customer tells me what color he prefers, and then I make these roses and the suitable leaves myself. You want me to make a prayer book to place it in the middle of the cake? You´ll get it! Or you ask me to place the frosting bride and groom in an eatable, ivy covered archway on the cake? I´ll do it! I´ll fulfill the most extravagant decoration needs. That´s the reason why people come to me, you know?â€Billy nodded and Estelle thanked Shoemaker for the information. Then, they left the bakery. Shoemaker´s look followed them before he hurried into his office. Carefully, he closed the door before he picked up the phone.Five minutes later, he almost fled the bakery because Ron Shoemaker had something very important to do.

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NINEWhile driving to Coral Gables, Rico and Sonny always let their looks travel around, but the motorbike, of course, had disappeared. The driver got injured and they knew that he urgently needed a doctor. After Sonny had told Rico about that, he´d given the information to the colleagues by radio. Now, the police would take care for that all hospitals got the information, and the radio hosts should indicate on it in case that the motorbike driver went to a practice.“I still can´t imagine that all these different cases are connected to each otherâ€, Rico admitted. “I mean, they´ve got nothing in common, haven´t they?â€Sonny raised his right forefinger as if he was a teacher who wanted to explain something to his pupils. “Money, Rico! Drugs, traffic in human beeings, prostitution, and blackmailing have always been lucrative revenues to all kinds of gangsters.â€â€œYeahâ€, Rico mumbled while thinking about the photos of the three killed men that had landed on his desk in New York. He´d always had problems by understanding that someone could enjoy a treatment like that.Sonny stared on the street. Of course, there was a lot of traffic on this Monday morning. In front of him, an old station wagon was creeping its way. Sonny put his foot down to pass the car whith an elderly couple in it while Rico still was looking around in hope to discover the motorbike. It was better to concentrate on that than to think about the pictures of yesterday or on the pictures of the killed men in New York.Soundless, the gate to Eliana Assani´s villa opened after Sonny had shown his badge to the camera. Behind them, it closed the same way.Sonny followed a drive way with trees and bushes at its side. Elsewhere, one had already named this a street. Here and there, the bushes gave a view on the lawn and well cared – for flower beds. In one of them, a gardener, assumably a Mexican, was working who was wearing a straw hat to prevent his head from the sun.“Not badâ€, Rico said after a view on the house. It was full of corners with bays, towers, several balconys, and a light red roof. “Does she have a lucrative job or a wealthy husband?â€â€œI don´t knowâ€, Sonny replied while parking the car in front of the house. They got out of it and walked to the door of dark oakwood. After Rico rang the doorbell, a maid in a black dress and a pure white apron opened.Eliana Assani greeted them in her office that was completely furnished with white furniture. The only splash of color was a large, abstract painting in which everybody could interpret different things. In Sonny´s opinion, it was only a daubed canvas, and he couldn´t understand why some people paid more for such a picture that he could earn in his whole life.They had expected to meet a shocked woman who´d called her best friend, her mother, or her family doctor because she urgently needed someone to talk with about her dreadful experience of this morning. But Eliana Assani was absolute calm sitting behind her desk. She had changed clothes. Instead of her sports dress she was wearing a grey colored skirt and a lilac colored blouse now. Her hair was openly flowing to her shoulders. She was working on her computer, but Rico and Sonny could only see its backside.She was younger than Rico and Sonny had expected her to be. With a smile on her face, she got up to reach her hand to the visitors. Then, she offered them to sit down on the couch that was standing at a windowless wall. So, the fantastic view over her garden couldn´t distract her business partners.“Would you like something to drink?†Eliana asked. Her childlike voice didn´t suit to the beautiful, but cool business woman.Rico and Sonny turned the offer down. Sonny asked her to tell them what had happened this morning. Eliana repeated what she already had told the police in the park: She´d left the house at the same time as ever to jog in the park. She always jogged the same distance because she knew how long she needed for that. This time span was calculated in her time schedule. She´d realized the policecar and the van, who´d been hidden behind a bush. She and two women had found the bodies, then. She hadn´t touched anything, but immediately called the police.“You don´t seem to be shockedâ€, Rico honestly ascertained. “Eventually, one doesn´t find a body that often.â€With an almost apologizing smile Eliana looked at Sonny. “I insure that I was very shocked, but I´m also a business woman.†With her well – groomed hand she showed around. “I´ve been working very hard for all of this.â€â€œWhat is your job, Ms, Assani?†Sonny asked.“I´m the owner of a boutique, E.A. UNIQUE. The name is program. You´re looking for exceptional clothes in extravagant colors or special accessories…? With us you´ll find everything you´re looking for. I´ve got customers, above all female customers, all over the world. Two of them are waiting for their orders. We´re talking about $200,000.â€Again, she smiled in an apologizing way without taking her look from Sonny. She crossed her legs and her skirt slid up to give a clear view right up to her thighs. She didn´t wear that much under her skirt and Rico immediately thought about Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct.“I´m really sorry, but I can´t tell you moreâ€, Eliana regretted.Sonny returned the smile. Eliana had beautiful eyes and legs. He would have to be blind not to see that and silly not to notice that she was on the pull with him. He couldn´t deny that he liked it.Rico got up. “We won´t disturb you any longer, Ms. Assaniâ€, he said.Sonny also got up. He reached Eliana his calling card with the indication to call him if she remembered something inportant. She smiled and Sonny saw clearly that she would find many reasons to call him, but that not one would have something to do with the case of the murdered policemen.From a window on the first floor, Eliana watched the Corvette as it was leaving. She liked Sonny Crockett, even though he was older than she, but she didn´t go for men in her own age, anyhow. Most of them were students who didn´t know what they wanted to do later.“She goes for youâ€, Rico stated while they were leaving.“I didn´t think that she´s ugly eitherâ€, Sonny countered. In the outside mirror, he recognized a moving behind a curtain in a room that was situated in the tower. He knew that she was standing there and he felt her look as a light tingle in his neck.“In my opinion, she´s too cool, manâ€, Rico admitted. “Beautiful, but cool. About… what? Four hours ago... she´d found two bodies and now she can concentrate on two fashion orders?â€Rico shook his head. Of course, he experienced very strange things during his life. Badly injured people who were running around without feeling the pain, or the woman who´d stabbed her violent and drunken husband to death in their kitchen and was, cool as a cucumber, ironing in the living – room when the police arrived who´d been called by worried neighbors. One thing with Eliana´s behavior was bothering him, but maybe it was only his innate scepticism.“She´s a business woman, Ricoâ€, Sonny´s voice penetrated into his thoughts. “A very successful business woman…â€â€œâ€¦who´d found two bodies and had reacted in a very cool wayâ€, Rico repeated. “Do you know how our colleagues got killed?â€Sonny shrugged. He didn´t know more than Rico and the autopsy report wasn´t available yet.They drove to Patti Roberts. She was a very pale, red haired and morbid thin looking woman, who was sitting on the deck of the considerable house beneath a big lemon colored sunshade. Paul, her husband was a slim, well – groomed man in his fourties. He was black haired and had brown eyes.While Patti confirmed Eliana´s version of the story with a quiet and often hesitant voice, he always touched her hand.“Do you want me to make another cup of tea for you, Darling?†Paul asked. Then, he turned to Rico and Sonny and added,â€She´s dreadfully shaken because of this story. What luck that I´ve been at home today, but actually, I´ve to leave tomorrow.â€Trembling, Patti smiled at him. “Don´t worry, I´ll succeedâ€, she claimed.Rico and Sonny didn´t stay long. They said goodbye and drove to Eve Taylor, who was living in an older, but well cared – for apartment complex. A neighbor (she was an elderly woman in her seventies) opened the door. Immediately she told them how much this story had shaken poor Eve, and that she´d already taken a tranquillizer.“So much violence!†the elderly woman sighed. “First had happened this dreadful story on the wedding of Maria´s grandson, now these two dead men in the park… where should this all end up?â€Eve was sitting on the caramel colored couch in her light and friendly furnished living – room. She owned many plants and several pictures of family members were hanging on the walls.Eve was a woman with a boyish figure, violet blue eyes, and a light blond mane. Her skin also looked pale and her movings were fidgety. She told them that she and Patti jogged through the park twice a week. Sometimes, they met Eliana, but they only said good morning to each other.While talking with a calm and almost emotionless voice, her hands were folded in her lap and she stared on the table. She didn´t even raise her look once. Eventually, her worried neighbor said that Eve needed a rest now.Immediately, Rico and Sonny thanked her for the information and left.“Much too calmâ€, Rico told on the way to Sonny´s car.Sonny shrugged. “What did you expect? She´s taken a tranquillizer.â€â€œDid she make the impression of a shocked person on you?â€They got into the car. There, Sonny sighed and while starting the engine he replied, “No! Let´s drive to the hospital. I´m very worried about Gina. I don´t understand why nobody will give me information about her condition.â€Rico kept quiet and looked out of the window. A man who was wearing pants and an undershirt was washing his car. At the next house, a woman was weeding while a girl of about five years was unsteadily riding her bike on the sidewalk.Rico thought about what to do. Sonny was his friend. Together, they had experienced many things. Wasn´t it his job as a friend to tell Sonny what he knew? But on the other hand, Amber had spoken rather vaguely. She´d been working at another table, had concentrated on the human who´s life she´d wanted to safe. They´d all been wearing hoods and mouth protections, voices were buzzing and instruments were rattling. Amber couldn´t even tell for certain about the woman´s name.But who else should it have been? Rico didn´t know the names of all the guests who´d visited the wedding. Actually, he´d known almost nobody, but what he knew was that Gina´d been in a very bad condition. She needed to be resuscitated and with her it took the longest time until she was moveable.He sighed. “Let me take the Hummer until we drive to the hospital. I hope that someone there can give me the number of the University hospital.â€And he urgently hoped that the name of the woman who´d died wasn´t Gina Calabrese.

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TENDamian and Douglas had been waiting in the office for Billy´s call. Together, they drank a cup of coffee, chatted… of course about the case. Damian had called Trudy to find out that she and Fiona Switek were feeling well. “I´ll go home tomorrowâ€, Trudy told. “Then, I´ll give you support with your search for the murderer.â€To this topic Damian had his own opinion and it was absolutely different to Trudy´s opinion, but he was smart enough not to talk about it now.Eventually, Billy called to give them Dean Roger´s address. Immediately, the two men left the office.“Did you know the people who got killed in Savannah?†Damian asked when they were on the way.Douglas hesitated for a moment. He looked out of the window at the bustle of the city, and the bright blue sky that appeared every now and then between the hosues.He could have told Damian, that he´d been with Miranda Marshall, whose Singel Woman Farewell Party was celebrated that night, for two years before she fell in love with another man she had wanted to marry now.“Yesâ€, he eventually quietly replied. “I knew them and I´d been one of the policemen who´d been ordered to drive to the club after the explosion. It was dreadful, but I think you know what I´m talking about and I don’t need to tell you more about that, right?â€â€œRightâ€, Damian countered while thinking on the pictures of yesterday he, probably, would never forget in his life.He turned on the expressway. Kid Rock was singing “All night long†and without these horrible pictures in front of his eyes it could have been a rather normal summer day.Eventually, Damian left the expresswy again. Several times, he turned left or right and Douglas saw the changing in the view: empty factories, skyscrapers with many uninhabited floors, and smeared walls.Damian also let his eyes travel around. “Our friend, Dean Rogers, isn´t living in the best area.â€â€œI don´t think that he´s still in Miami. He delivered the bomb, received the money, and left the cityâ€, Douglas replied.The houses in the street where Dean had rented an apartment all looked dowdy. The plaster crumbled and the painting of the windows flaked off. The tiny lawns in front of the houses looked neglected, and the weed was merely growing between the cobblestones.The cars, that were parked at the side of the street, were old, full of dents, rosty spots or colorful because of many tries to paint the rosty parts over.Several teenagers with stubs in their mouths and Jeans on that were torn off on several parts were hanging around and looking to the Jaguar with interest.Damian folded himself slowly and in an impressive way out of the car. Casually, he showed his badge to the teenager, and let them have a quick look at his gun. Thereafter, he walkd up to the boys. He was much taller than each of them and his shoulders were wider.“If I return to my car and it looks different to what it´s looking now, I´ll find you, you understand?â€Damian looked into every boys´ eyes and they nodded.A Latin – American even left the apartment complex when Damian and Douglas arrived at the front door. The man looked the two policemen up and down and so did they. He was wiry and about five foot eight tall, rather smaller, with soft curled black hair. His eys were hidden behind sunglasses. It was conspicious that he was wearing cheap jeans, but Nikes.Douglas was the first who arrived at the door to hinder that it closed. Frowned, Damian´s look followed the Latin – American before he turned around to have a look on the nameplates next to the door. Dean Rogers was living in an apartment beneath the roof.There was no elevator and so Damian and Douglas had no choice than to use the scratched and stained stairs. Here and there, pieces of the stairs were missing, and Graffitis were smeared on the walls. Most of them were obscene pictures or messages one had tried to remove, but without success.The smell of different food and alcohol was filling the air, and a puddle next to wall ( the yellow spot that belonged to it began about three foot above the floor) looked suspiciously like urine.There were two apartments beneath the roof. On the right door, they could see the grinning face of a cat with a speech bubble. “Welcome†one could read. Damian and Douglas could hear “Mandy†from Westlife penetrating through the door and very unambiguous noises. On the nameplate next to the left door there was standing Dean´s name. Damian knocked on the door, but nothing happened.Damian and Douglas grinned at each other.“Did you also hear these suspicious noises coming out of the apartment, Doug?†Damian wanted to know.Douglas nodded. “In any case!â€The door wasn´t very stable. A well targetted kick and the lock broke. The two men entered the small apartment. On the left, there was a tiny bathroom with a sloping wall where Damian only could have had a shower with a bend back. He discovered soap rests in the shower, and on the edge of the wash basin, he saw a squeezed tooth paste tube. Next to it, there was lying a comb with more hairs in it as some people had on their heads. Unambiguoulsly, Dean was blond.On the nozzle of the can with the shaving foam, foam was glueing, and the can with the hair gel was also open.Next to the bathroom, there was the room that contained the kitchen, the living – room, and the bedroom. The kitchen was of white plastic furniture. Beneath the window that was situated in the sloping wall, there was an actually white, but now very dirty camping table with three chairs standing. On the table, the two policmen discovered a used cup and a plate with a half eaten slice of bread on it. The sausage on it was already dried out, but nevertheless, several thick flles were humming around it.Next to the plate, there was a magazin laying. A naked, light brown skinned beauty was looling about, a seductive smile on her face.In the fridge, Damian found four slices of bread, sausage, milk, and a meal to heat in the microwave.On the work surface, they could see Dean´s menu of last week: coffee spots, spots of tomato sauce, dried mayonnaise, and pieces of pepper and tomatoes.The couch had also been Dean´s bed. On it, there was lying the blue – yellow – and green checkered bedlinen. A bottle of juice, a used glass, and an overflowing ashtray were standing on the wooden table. Behind a dreadful orange colored curtain, they found Dean´s clothes: cheap jeans, shirts, and underwear. The man was owning two jackets: a sand colored one and a black one. Two travelling bags were lying on the floor.“So, what do we know?†Damian asked. “We´re looking for a white man with blond hair, assumably not taller than five feet eight. He´s not a vegetarian, but a smoker who dislikes alcohol and order, but loves porn magazines.â€In the meantime, Douglas had opened the drawer of the sideboard that was standing next to the couch. There, he found bedlinen with red, yellow, and orange stripes, about ten towels and washrags. In one of them, he discovered $200 by accident.“Either he didn´t push off, or something very bad had happened to him, or he´d fled in a hurryâ€, Douglas told while waving with the bills.Damian didn´t believe that Dean overhasty had left. An attack like that needed an intense planning. If the attacker had planned to push off, he immediately took his clothes and his money with him. He told Douglas about his thoughts.The detective from Savannah nodded. “You´re right, but where the hell is Dean Rogers?â€

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ELEVENThe nurse had asked them to wait until she´d called a doctor. With a regretting smile on her face, she´d told them that she wasn´t authorisized to give them any information. Then, she left the room in a hurry.Rico and Sonny were standing in the waiting area and listening to the usual hectic of the hospital. The telephone was ringing, nurses were busily hurrying along the hallway, people were coming and going. In one room, the alarm was cheeping, and over a loudspeaker Dr. Brown was urgently asked to come to ward 5.Nervously, Sonny ran around, watched by Rico who was leaning at the wall with his arms folded before his chest.“Her condition was very bad, Sonny”, Rico told in the attempt to prepare Sonny for the worst message, but of course he hoped that Amber had misheard. Names quickly sounded smilar, above all if noises, a hood, and a mouth protection made it harder to understand something.Sonny stopped. He pushed his hands into his pockets and urgently looked at Rico. Sonny knew Rico well and he´d recognized the careful tone. “Do you know anything I should also know, Rico?”Rico even had decided to tell his friend about all he knew, but in that moment Stan appeared. A big plaster covered his forehead and a bandage was wrapped around his right eye and his cheek. His left part of the face was swollen and of a blueish color, and his left arm was lying in a sling. Stan´s hair was standing in all directions, a beard was covering the lower part of his face, and he still was wearing the blood – stained clothes.The friends hugged each other. “How´s your family doing?” Rico asked.“Fiona had had luck. She and Trudy hadn´t been standing so close to the table, but Sammy´s in a bad condition. I´ve just spoken to the doctor in the University – Hospital by phone, and Gianna…? At least she ´d gotten through the night without mentioning problems. What about Alaina and Alessio?”Rico told him that Alaina had had luck, too, but that he hadn´t gotten any information about Alessio at this time. Immediately, he had a guilty conscience. Since they´d met first in April, they regularly had spoken to each other on the phone. At the end of May, Anna and Alessio had visited him for a few days in New York, and now he didn´t even know how his son was feeling. Maybe, he was already dead.“Mr. Crockett?” A doctor with Asian roots appeared in the door. Sonny immediately left the room to talk with the doctor while Rico was telling Stan that there was no need for him to be worried in consider of the investigations.“Castillo has taken your place and our team had been widened by detectives from New Orleans, Savannah, and Philadelphia. You should take care for your family now, Stan.”, Rico told. He put his hand on Stan´s shoulder and asked, “Can I do anything for you?”Stan lowered his head to look at his clothes that looked really dreadful. He felt dirty. Besides that the dried blood scratched his skin. “Could you get me other clothes? Showergel and my shaver…?”Rico nodded. “Of course.”Together, they left the waiting room. Rico let his eyes travel around, but he couldn´t discover Sonny. He accompanied Stan to the room where Gianna and Maria were lying in. Both women looked similar to mummies and they were hanging on so many tubes that they almost disappeared beneath them.Stan gave him his keys. “Do you need my car?”“No”, Rico replied. “I´m using Alessio´s Hummer. I only wanna wait for Sonny to finish his talk with the doctor because of Gina. I promise to hurry.”“Thanks”, Stan tiredly replied.Again, Rico comfortingly put his hand on Stan´s shoulder before leaving the room. He asked a nurse for the number of the University Hospital, and after receiving it, he dialed the number from a phone booth on the ward. The whole time, he kept an eye on the doctor´s room, but Sonny didn´t leave.The talk with the doctor at the Univerity Hospital was short, but it was calm for now because Alessio was alive. He was suffered with several bone fractures, a fractured skull, and several inner injuries with massive bleedings. It was amazing, but he wasn´t suffered with any face injuries, but nobody could tell the reason for that.Eventually, Sonny left the doctor´s room. He seemed to be calm, but Rico knew that it not necessarily meant a thing.“Sonny?”In a fending off move Sonny raised his right hand. “I´m OK, Rico, but I´ve to go to Elena now.”“What about Gina?” Rico asked.Sonny stopped. His facial expressions were as inscrutable as it was normally the case with Castillo. He took a deep breath and for a moment Rico thought that Sonny wanted to answer his question, but then he said, “We´ll talk later.”Rico was convinced that Sonny needed some time to catch himself again. Therefore, he only nodded and told Sonny that he would to drive to Stan´s house to get some stuff for the friend. Then, he left the hospital.Stan and his family were living in a nice house close to the water. It was situated in a development area where signs indicated to playing children. On this day, it was so terribly hot that even the children had preferred to stay in the houses. The heat was hanging like a giant bell over the city and it was hard to breath. On most of the houses, the shutters were pulled down.Rico parked the Hummer in front of Stan´s garage. He left it, walked to the front door, and a moment later he entered the house. A draft was blowing towards him and he wondered about that the Switeks allegedly had forgotten to close one window when leaving the house on Sunday.Rico walked up the stairs and opened the first door on the right side. It was Sammy´s bedroom. The boy, unambigously, was a great fan of SpongeBob. Several posters were hanging on the walls, and SpongeBob was grinning at him from the bedlinen, of a cushion that was lying on a chair, and from the desk chair.The next door led Rico into the Switek´s bedroom. The furniture was of walnut wood, the bedlinen were light red, suitable to the color on the wall and the curtains.On the search for a travelling bag Rico opened the walk in closet. He switched the light on and let his eyes travel around.Rico didn´t notice the shadow that was approaching over the stairs and he didn´t hear the fine sound when the blade of the knife snapped out.“Here´s the bag I´ve been looking for”, Rico confidently said and leaned forward to drag the bag out of lowest shelf.

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TWELVEBen had stayed in the office to wait for Sam Doyle from Philadelphia. He used the time to compare the different cases that obviously were connected to each other. They urgently had to find out what these cases had in common, except of the attacks with Trinitrophenol acid that was used to bring the investigations to standstill.Angela filled his cup with freshly brewed coffee. She still hoped that Ben, sometime, might see more in her than the helpful secretary. This morning, her hope increased because Ben had spoken with his ex – wife on the phone. Ben had left the office in purpose so that nobody could eavesdrop his talk, but after he returned he put Joana´s photo into the lowest drawer.“There´s no context between all of thisâ€, Ben groaned in desperation. While pointing on different files that had arrived by fax he explained, “Traffic in human beeings in New Orleans, murder on five Siam teenager prostitutes who´d been staying illeagally in the United States in Savannah, blackmailing and murder on three businessmen who liked things like sadism and masochism in New York, and blackmailing and four murder in West Palm Beach. Besides that, we have this drug glut with this adulterate stuff and I´ve no earthly idea what had happened in Philadelphia. That´s what Sam Doyle has to tell us about.â€Angela put her right hand on his left shoulder and softly masaged it. “In total, it´s all about money, Ben.â€She could feel his tensions and assumed that it was not only because of this case, but because of Joana.Ben sighed in relief and for a moment he closed his eyes. He was tired, his eyes were burning, his muscles felt as if someone had poured them with concrete, and his thoughts were twisting around. Who ever was behind these attacks, he would never give up as the shots on Tubbs and Crockett, where one man had died and two got badly injured, had proved. Immediately, they´d mounted the search for the motorbike and had given an indication to all hospitals, but Ben was convinced that it was in vain. Again and again, victims of shoot – outs were taken to hospital. How should one know if the motorbike driver was one of them? They had no description of him.Then, he thought about Joana and immediately his shoulders tensed. He asked himself how he ever could have fallen in love with her. She was an egoistically, unfeeling, shrewisch woman. In fact, she´d expected that he came to her this afternoon to have coffee and cake with them. OK, it was his daughter´s birthday, but he wasn´t in the mood to celebrate a children´s party.“I´m sure that your colleagues can manage to work a few hours without your helpâ€, she´d hissed into the receiver. “Your daughter´s birthday happens only once a year!â€He couldn´t believe what she´d said to him. Quietly, because two colleagues had just finsihed their break and passed him on their way back to their office, he´d indicated to the death and injured wedding guests.Thereafter, she started railing, threatened him in consider of the visiting rights before slamming the receiver.Suddenly, Angela grew stiff and stared to the door. Ben looked at her before he turned around. A woman was standing in the door. She was in her thirties, slim, and had a skin like white coffee. Her face was slim, and light brown eyes looked at Ben and Angela while a smile spread out on her face.The woman was wearing white, tidy jeans, a coral red blouse and suitable shoes. A small golden chain was laying around her neck, and a watch with a black leather band adorned her left wrist.“I´m Samantha Doyle from homicide division Philadelphiaâ€, she introduced herself.Ben got up. With a smile on his face, he reached her his hand while quickly looking her up and down. “Ben Bradford, your partner in Miami. I´ve to admit that I imagined Sam Doyle to look different. Where should we start?â€Sam laughed and while stroking a strand of her smoothed out hair out of her face she replied, “You´re not the first one who imagined me to be male. If it doesn´t inconvenience, I´d like to hear more about what had happened and to have a look at the scene of the crime.â€While Ben and Sam were having a cup of coffee and talking about the occurences of last Sunday, Angela was disappointedly sitting at her desk. After Ben had put Joana´s photo aside, she´d hoped that she could comfort him. Now, she asked herself whether it was worth to waiste one more thought on Ben Bradford.Elsewhere, things came thick and fast…

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THIRTEENThe chrome shining, brightly polished Chevrolet Blazer was already parking behind the run down warehouse when the motorbike, a BMW R1150, stopped in front of it.The driver parked the motorbike and let his look travel around without taking the helmet off his head. On the left side some equipment and an excavator were getting rusty. Weed was growing everywhere. Grass and dandilions had broken up the tar that buckled up like craters so that the weed could grow against the sun.He discovered empty, battered cans with bird´s excrements on them, he also saw on the walls. Probably, nesting colonies were located under the roof.Worried, the man looked at his motorbike. He hoped that the birds didn´t let fall their excrements on it.He walked up to the crooked in the hinges hanging door of the old warehouse, passing the Chevy. It was almost ridiculous. The boss wanted to meet him, but he shouldn´t come to his boss´ house to hinder that somebody found a connection between them. Instead, his boss drove with his showy car to this tumbledown shanty. As if the police didn´t wonder more about a car like that in such a bad area. Above all, he´d heard that the police was searching for the motorbike that was parking nex to the Chevy.The door squeaked loudly when he pushed it open. Light shone into the warehouse through several holes in the walls and the roof. It was enough to help him not to fall over the stuff somebody had left. Dust was dancing with the mosquitoes to race in the sunbeams that was drawing circles on the ground. A soft wind was blowing through the gaps, but nevertheless it smelled musty and it felt stuffy.The motorbike rider took the helmet off and casually wedged it under his right arm. With his left hand, he passed through his dark hair.A man came out of the semi – darkness. “Where´s Danny?†he asked like a shot. He had a dark voice and one could unambiguoulsy hear his South American accent.The motorbike rider took a deep breath. He knew that the boss hated bad news and if he had bad luck the boss pured out his anger on him.“Something went wrongâ€, he admitted while stepping restless from one leg to another. Nervously, he glanced around as if he was searching for a way out. “Danny got badly injured and as I didn´t know what to do I´d taken him to Al.â€The boss snorted like an angry bull. Everything had been planned so well, the same like in the other cities. There, it had caught the right people! – Of course, some innocent people also died, but one couldn´t hinder that.In fact, he felt sorry that they´d to sacrifice the bride and groom, but this bomb only had caught the wrong people.After he´d heard about that, he´d known that the cops would unit now. That was the reason why he´d made a new plan in a hurry, but now he´d to learn that even this plan hadn´t worked, and that this idiot in front of him had broken one of the first rules.“You´ve taken him to Al? Are you crazy? You know that you shouldn´t draw her in this thing and that you NEVER shall drive to her!†the boss shouted foaming with rage. “Are there only idiots around me?â€The door squeaked when the wind pushed against it. Immediately, the motorbike rider spun around, calculating that someone got in to aim his gun on him. Reliefed, he found out that nobody was there. His heart was pounding heavily and his hands were sweatting when he turned to the boss again. “Danny was bleeding like a pig and I could hardly take him to hospital. Should I let him die a terrible death?†he asked. “Damn, the cops suddenly were holding guns in their hands. We hadn´t expected that!â€Raging, the boss kicked against an empty coke can that was lying on the ground. It flew away and hit the wall with a light tone. The motorbike rider jerked and automatically ducked.“You hadn´t calculated that cops could be armed?†the boss shouted. He was at his boiling point. “How stupid can one be?â€â€œThey came to Miami because of the wedding. Who takes a gun to a wedding party?â€The boss felt his gun in the shoulder holster under his jacket and in fact, he was keen on shooting this incompetent and boastful idiot a big hole in his birdbrain, but unfortunately he needed him. Someone who´d taken the order had to finish it.He took a calling card out of his pocket to reach it to the motorbike rider. “Take care for that and don´t mess it up agan! It must be done until Thursday!â€The motorbike rider nodded while taking the calling card. He couldn´t read what was written thereon because it was too dark inside the warehouse. In a hurry, he left the warehouse through the protesting squeaking door.

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FOURTEENAfter the successless investigation of Dean Roger´s apartment, Damian and Douglas decided to have dinner together.Before getting into the car, Damian walked around it to find out that it was OK. He gave a bill to each of the boys in hope that the boys remembered the generosity if they saw the Jaguar elsewhere by accident and didn´t demage it, then. Thereafter, Damian and Douglas left.On the way, he called Castillo to report about their investigations and to tell the Lieutenant that they would drive to the OLD MIAMI STEAK HOUSE now.The OLD MIAMI STEAK HOUSE still was of good quality and its furniture of polished oakwood gave everybody a comforting feeling. The upholstery of the chairs, the curtains, and the napkins were of a light green color, the polished candle holders were silver shining. Classical music was quietly coming out of the loudspeakers. It wasn´t necessarily everybody´s taste, but it suited well to the restaurant.Damian and Douglas ordered steaks, potatoes in foil, and salad. While eating, they talked about their case.Douglas told that Miranda Marshall had been working on this case that had burdened her a lot until September last year.“The autopsy reports sound like a script for one of those horror movies that are on the index and the photos are really cruelâ€, Douglas explained after he´d pushed the empty plate a bit more to the middle of the table.“But why do they use Trinitrophenol acid? There are so many different explosivesâ€, Damian replied while leaning backwards.Douglas shrugged. On this, they´d thought in the department in Savannah too. “Maybe, they use it because it´s unusual or because they´ve the chance to get it unsuspiciouslyâ€, he assumed.Damian had a look at his watch. In the meantime, it was after eight p.m.. He thought that it was better to return to the office before they went home. Besides that, he wanted to visit Trudy who, possibly, could go home tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.Douglas told him that the dinner was on his expenses. He paid and they left the air conditioned restaurant.Rico felt a light draft, a tiny move in his neck that shouldn´t be there. The hair in his neck stood on end, his alarm bell started ringing, and automatically he tensed his muscles. He looked beneath his right arm, already holding the brown travelling bag in his hand.Even though, he hardly had time for anything, he noticed several things: Boots like motorbike driver wore them, black jeans, a red helmet in the attackers left hand, and a knife in his right hand. Then, the guy rushed upon him.Rico reacted instinctively. He tore the travelling bag out of the shelf, spun around, and slammed it ito the attacker´s face. An ugly, hollow tone sounded when the knife cut into the leather. Immediately, the man pulled it off the bag.Again, Rico used the bag to hit the attacker. The bag´s hard bottom struck the motorbike rider´s face. Something splintered and the man groaned in pain while staggering backwards. His head slammed against the doorpost, but he imediately ducked to dodge Rio´s next hit.The man tried to stab Rico, but he only hit the belt of Rico´s holster. The knife slipped, slit open Rico´s trousers and the skin on his thigh.Rico felt the burning pain, but he clenched his teeth. The guy meant it and Rico knew that he would use every little weakness to kill him.Again, Rico raised his hand. He hit the bag upwards and again he struck the man´s face. The attacker coughed and again he staggered backwards.For a moment, Rico saw a young man´s face. He had dark hair and was wearing sunglasses with splintered glass.It had injued his face and blood was running out of several wounds. Therefore, he looked like an Indian on the warpath.Suddenly, the man´s gloved hand cracked into Rico´s face. Rico felt dizzy, but instinctively he turend to the side to dodge the stab of the knife.From the far, he heard someone shouting his name. He thought that he replied, “Here!†In fact, he wasn´t sure whether he´d really shouted the word or only had thought it.Rico got on his knees. He felt the blood running warm out of his nose, and he noticed the knife coming closer. Then, he fainted.

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FIFTEENElena was lying in her bed. A nurse had put the head of the bed a bit higher because Elena hated it if it was too even. Her skin was pale and an infusion was still dripping into her vein. The doctor had promised that it would be the last one.Elena was nervous because several times she´d asked about her mother, but no one had answered her questions. Now, Sonny was sitting at her bed and he looked very serious.“Why don´t they tell me how my mother is feeling, Sonny?†she wanted to know.Sonny took Elena´s right hand. It was icy cold. “She´s alive, but in a bad condition. She needs to be given artificial respiration. Therefore, she´s lying in a single room next to the ward room. But she´d gotten through the last night and this day. That let us hope that she´ll get healthy again.â€Elena still looked at him. Sonny let his eyes travel over her face that reminded him so much of Gina. He hadn´t known Gina when she was sixteen, but he assumed that she´d looked exactly the same as Elena now.“When can I see her, Sonny?†Elena asked.“The doctor said maybe tomorrow. They hope that she´s feeling much better, then.â€â€What about Angelo?†Elena wanted to know.Sonny shook his head. He had no idea how Angelo was feeling, but he promised to enquire about that as soon as possible. Eventually, Angelo was one of his best agents an a bit like a son to him.Softly, Sonny squeezed Elena´s hand. He told her that everything would be OK soon, but noticed in the same moment what a silly saying this was. Nothing would ever be really OK again. The occurences of that Sunday would leave tracks in them forever.After he softly had touched Elena´s cheek, he left the hospital to drive to the office.Ben and Samanthat drove in Ben´s Chevrolet Blazer to Coral Gables. Samantha had told him that a bomb filled with Trinitrophenol acid had exploded on a departments party in February this year. The bomb had also been hidden in a cake. Seven people died and six got injured. At this time, the colleagues were investigating in a case of synthetical drugs with the pretty name Summerdream.“Summer nightmare would be more suitableâ€, Samantha disperagingly told. “Between November last year and February this year 53 people died because of using this stuff. In the meantime, the number increased to 88.â€Ben snorted while leaving the expressway. In the rear – view mirror, he discovered a silver colored BMW Touring.“It´s the same case we´re working onâ€, he told. “The people buy it because it´s cheapand supposedly extremly increases libido.â€â€œBut unfortunately even with insensitive people it leads to severe allergic reactions like the swellings of the mucosa, massive breathing problems, and finally to deathâ€, Sam counted.Again, Ben had a look into the rear – view mirror. The BMW still was there. He seemed to be stick on Ben´s Chevy. Unfortunately, Ben could neither see the driver´s face nor if he was alone because of the very dark – tinted windows.Ben felt as his nervousness increased. Nobody knew about how big this gangster organization really was. Assuming that they were operating in six different cities, possibly at the same time, he supposed that they had many employees.Samantha turned around. “A pursuer?â€Ben glanced at her. A prickly feeling spread out in his stomach when he caught her eyes of gold spotted, light brown eyes.“Possibleâ€, he replied.Spontaneously, he decied to drive a reroute to find out whether the BMW really was following him. But he didn´t only raise his look to the rear – view mirror, but also to Samantha while repeatedly turning off the street. The prickling feeling didn´t disappear. It was long ago since he´d felt these butterflies in his stomach. Sometimes, during his eight years lasting marriage with Joana, they stopped fluttering and after their divorce he´d thought that they had died. Now, it seemed as if they came back to life.Evenually, he returned to the street that led to Maria´s house.“Look out!†Samantha suddenly screamed into his thoughts and Ben instinctively, turned the steering wheel round.

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SIXTEENMaybe, he was launched by an instinct or a hunch, but maybe Damian was only distraced by his thoughts and therefore used the wrong exit.In fact, he´d been talking with Douglas, had told him about the case he was working on, and of the wedding that had ended up in a cruel way.Suddenly, he realized that he had bent completely false and was close to the area now where Stan was living. As this street was narrow, it was a one way street. Vehicles that were parked at the side of the street and signs that indicated to children playing took care of that everybody drove rather slowly.If he wanted to return to the expressway, he´d to follow the street to the next crossing where he could turn off in two directions. Curiously, Douglas let his eyes travel around. This was a typical surburban idyll: Whitewashed houses with colored paragraphs around the windows and doors, white painted fences, paved driveways, and neat flower beds.“A nice areaâ€, Douglas praised. “What are we doing here?â€Damian grinned from one ear to another. “That´s what I´d like to know, tooâ€, he admitted while turning to the left, even though this way was much longer.Why did he do that? He had no earthly idea! Maybe, he only wanted to show Douglas the beautiful view on the ocean.Then, he saw the Hummer parking on Stan´s driveway, and the motorbike that was hidden behind a bush. The Hummer belonged to Alessio as he found out with a look on the rear window because, except of a sticker with the American flag, there was also a sticker with the German flag.OK, Rico Tubbs got Stan some fresh clothes, but what the hell was the motorbike doing here? Damian remembered the shoot – out in front of the headquarter and Tubbs´ information over the radio. It suited to the motorbike behind the bush.Damian braked and told Douglas, “This is Lieutenant Switek´s house. His family also got badly injurd yesterday. The Hummer belongs to the groom, Alessio. His father, Rico Tubbs, is using it at the moment…â€â€œAnd the description we´ve gotten of the volatile motorbike suits to the motorbike over thereâ€, Douglas added before he jumped out of the car.The front door was closed. Damian quietly told Douglas that he would run to the backside of the house to find out whether there was a chance to get into the house and Douglas nodded.With his gun pulled and his back squeezed against the wall, Douglas stayed while Damian was running along the small path next to the house that led to the backside.At a glance, Damian noticed that the glass door that led from the kitchen to the garden was demaged. The red suction cup, that had been used to lift the window pane out of the frame, stuck like a wound on the pane that was lying on the ground.The second glance showed him that the kitchen was empty. He flit into the room, stopped, and listened without breathing. He heard a muffled clap and someone groaned. Then someone breathed in a very loud way, a door slammed hard against a wall, and again he could hear the muffled noise. Unambiguously, the noises came from the first floor.Accompanied by more battle sounds from the first floor, Damian ran to the front door to open it for Douglas. Leaving aside all cautions he shouted, “Rico?â€â€œHere!†Rico replied.The next moment, someone slammed a door. Thereafter, it got ghostly silent.Immediately they jumped up the stairs.Damian noticd the open door that led to the Switek´s bedroom, the draft that obviously arose because somebody had opened a window or a door, and he heard a hollow tone somewhere outside of the house.Douglas tore open the first door on the right side and ran, followed by SpongeBob´s grinning, to the window to have a look outside. He arrived just in time to hear the motorbike´s engine howling before the driver raced along the street.Damian ran into the bedroom. “Tubbs?†he shouted a moment before he found Rico without consciousness in the walk – in closet. He knelt down beside him and touched the carotid artery.“I´ve found him, Doug! He´s without consciousness, but alive!â€Douglas appeared in the door, but immediately he turned around. He went to the bathroom, and returned with a wet flannel he reached to Damian.Rico sighed. He felt a cool thing touching his face that seemed to be consisted of mash. He tried to open his eyes, but it was impossible because they felt like lead. Again, he sighed. From the far, he heard a familiar voice that gradually became louder.“Rico, are you OK? Rico, can you hear me?â€â€œDamâ€, Rico croaked, squinted, and arduously, he raised his hand to his face. He touched blood on his hands, but relieved he found out that his teeth all were there. His nose seemed not to be broken, either.“The ambulance is on the wayâ€, Douglas told.“It´s not… necessaryâ€, Rico groaned while trying to sit upright, but he was powerless, and besides that his left thigh was aching badly. Again he groaned and sank back on his stomach.“Did you see the guy, Rico?†Damian asked.Rico tried to sort his thoughts, but that wasn´t easy. In front of his eyes, stars were dancing, and his head felt as if someone had tried to knock him square.“Latin – Americanâ€, he eventually told, even though it was hard for him to concentrate and to speak. But he knew, however, that it was important to tell his colleagues as fast as possible what the guy had looked like.“Early to mid twenties… curled… hair… slim. Listen, Stan urgently needs his new clothes…â€Douglas uttered a little laugh. “Unbelievable! Someone almost strikes the man´s skull and tries to write cop into his skin, and he´s only worried if his friend will get fresh clothes!â€Damian looked from Rico to Douglas and back. He was convinced that the Latin – American would have killed Rico if he and Doulas hadn´t appeared. That meant that there was no safe place for them because te enemies knew everything about them, but they had no earthly idea who their enemie was. Then, his look sucked on a dark spot on the door post. Damian got up to have a closer look.“Bloodâ€, he said unnecessarily. “And some hairs.â€He returned to Rico and carefully touched the back of his head before he added with a wide grin on his face, “And it´s not Tubbs´ blood!â€

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SEVENTEENMonday 8 p.m. in Coral GablesThe black van surprisingly appeared. In a hurry, it left a driveway and would have crashed into the front driver´s passenger´s seat of Ben´s car, if Ben hadn´t instinctively turned the steering wheel round hard and had braked at the same time. Protectively, Samantha tore her arms up while letting herself fall to the left side.On the first moment, Ben thought that someone was in a hurry, but only a second later, the van´s side door opened and they were taken under fire. The window panes splintered, bullets bounced off the car´s doors with a painful sounding light tone, and the tires were shreaking while Ben, in a half ducked position, was driving the car in serpentine lines across the street.A streetlamp exploded with a loud bang, and splinters and plaster pieces were buzzing around when the bullets also hit the walls.Samantha´s startled scream died away and now she showed that she was very professional. She pulled her gun and released the safety catch. For a second she appeared to orientate on the gangsters before she shot. Then, she hid herself again. This was repeated several times.It was hard to say whether she really hit the van because the Chevy lurched again and again. He hit a car that was parked at the side of the street, was turned around, and was standing across the street now.Again, Samantha got upright. Through the bursted windshield she saw a face behind the van´s steering wheel and with wild resoloute expressions she fired.Ben put his foot down, drove half on the sidewalk, and came dangerously close to a street lamp. Again, Samantha fired on the van that hopped off now.Ben followed the van while Samantha was grabbing the radio. She gave the colleagues the number of the liscenece plate and told them with Ben´s help their position and the driving direction.Again and again, brakes were shreaking when other drivers had to stop or make way for them.The van drove to the expressway and raced towards the city, but he could not depend on the Chevy. With her gun´s handle, Samatha wiped the fragments away that were hanging on a corner. One fragment lodged itself into her right forearm.“Au!”Ben squinted at her. “Is it bad?”Samantha pulled out the shard, threw it to the ground, and licked away the blood. “I will survive”, she angrily groaned.Again, Samantha gave their position and the driving direction to the colleagues by radio. Every few minutes, she repeated the anouncement until the van left the expressway.While racing through the city, the van ignored every red traffic lights, and drove the wrong way by a one way street.Again, tires were shreaking and someone sounded his horn. Glass splintered. The van crashed against a barrier, was thrown backwards, but ruthlessly it paved his way.A heavy man jumped out of a Mercedes Jeep that had crashed against a street lamp. While turning his back to the Chevy he shouted, “He, you idiot! Are you unable to read road signs? What a damn…!”Ben braked hard. The brakes were protestingly shreaking. The Mercedes driver unbelievably spun around and stared with his eyes wide open to the Chevrolet that skidded towards him.The van escaped!

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EIGHTEENTuesday night 17th of Juli 12:30 a.m.It was silent on the intensive care unit of the St. Elisabeth hospital. Only half of the lamps on the hallway were switched on. Even in the ward office only in the break area a lamp was switched on.The two nurses who were on duty that night had to take care for a motorbike driver who´d been delivered half an hour ago. He was lying in the second single bedroom.Noises like coughing or snoring penetrated to the hallway. In the ward office, the scent of the coffee that was brewing up spread out everywhere. An ambulance was leaving with flashing lights, but without a siren. The rotating blue light penetrated through the window shades into the rooms that were situated on this side of the hospital.It seemed to be a normal night.Almost soundless, the elevator doors opened and a doctor left. She was wearing surgical gowns. A blue hood was covering her hair, and a mouth protection coverd the biggst part of her face. She´d put on gloves and her feet stuck in shoes with a rubber sole.At the ward office, she stopped, found it empty, and continued her way. Three names were twisting around in her mind when she opened the first door.Three men were lying in this room: Kostopulos, Meller, and Swintek.They were sleeping.The woman crept to Sam Swintek´s bed. Sillfully, she removed the breathing tube through which Sam Switek received the essential oyxgen before she quietly left the room.The woman heard as the nurses were talking with each other while she was hurrying to the next room.When she opened the door, she discovered three women who were lying in the beds. Next to one bed, a man was sitting. He was wearing bandages and looked very tired, but allegedly he wasn´t as badly injured as his partner.Inquiringly, he looked at her. Immediately, she apologized before she closed the door. If Joplin or Calabrese had been aying in the beds, they had had luck for tonight.The false doctor went from one room to another and gradually she felt nervous. She had thought that it was an easy job that didn´t take more than five minutes. Now, she was on the ward for about ten minutes, but had neither found Joplin nor Calabrese.OK, the order was to catch at least one of these three persons and Swintek… or was his name Switek? In any case, he was already dead now.On her way back to the elevator, the woman passed the single bedrooms.In one of them, the nurses still were working, the door of the second single bedroom was slightly open.The false doctor curiously walked in and had a look on the name on the file that stuck in a cover at the foot of the bed. A smile spread out on her face and tiny wrinkles formed around her violet blue colored eyes.Gina was also ventilated. Her face almost disappeared beneath the bandages, her right arm was in plaster, and the left arm also had a bandage.The EKG was drawing regular lines while the breathing equipment was quietly hissing.The false doctor switched the EKG equipment off to hinder that it gave alarm. Thereafter, she removed Gina´s breathing tube, slipped out of the room, and unnoticed left the ward.

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NINETEENTuesday 17th of July 9 a.m.The team almost appeard in the office at the same time. Only Rico was missing because he´d to stay in the hospital, even though he had protested against it.Castillo was already sitting behind his desk. He was speaking with someone on the phone as everybody could hear through the open door. The coffee machine was working, and Sarah and Sharon obviously received indications over the phone.“Did you recover from the fright?†Ben asked Samantha with a smile on his face.They had had luck because the Mercedes driver had reacted much faster than his corpulence had let them presume. He jumped aside, snapped at his foot and fell on his knees, but Ben, fortunately, hadn´t caught him. But the man had been very angry because he´d bought the new car only three weeks ago. It didn´t calm him down to have a look at Ben´s and Samantha´s badges and to learn that they had followed a gangster.“Can I buy a new car of this?†he angrily had asked.After they´d left, Ben had invited Samatha for dinner. He told her that, in his opinion, nice company and a delicious meal were good after such an experience, but she refused politely, but firmly.While Douglas was flirting with Angela, Damian was talking with his sister by cell phone. Carla had investigated the blood they´d taken possession of at the door to Stan´s walk – in closet.Angela liked to respond on the flirt, but squinted to Ben every now and then. Unfortunately, Ben didn´t pay any attention on her.“I don´t know what to think of Shoemakerâ€, Billy admitted while walking with Estelle and Sonny to the briefing room. He was holding a freshly filled cup of coffee in his hands. “I continuously thought about him.â€He sat down on a chair. Sonny took the opposite chair while Estelle was sitting down next to him. He nodded. “Shoemaker seemed to be very cool!â€Douglas and Damian, who was still talking with Carla on the cell phone, also walked in, followed by Ben and Sam.Damian finished his call, folded up the cell phone, and put it into the right trousers pocket.“The name of the guy who´d attacked Tubbs is Alessandro DeLa Rosa. He was previously convicted because of rapingâ€, he told while settling on the nearest chair. “Does anybody know how Tubbs is feeling?â€On that moment, Castillo walked in. As always he was dressed in an absolute correct way, every hair was lying at its place, and nothing indicated on that the Lieutenant had spent half the night with thinking about the case. As usual, his facial expressions were serious and inscrutable.“Good morningâ€, he wished while letting his look travelling around. Then he added, “Crockett, Bradford, and Doyle, drive to the St. Elisabeth hospital. Last night a murder attempt was committed on Gina.â€Rico had resisted to being taken to hospital, but Damian didn´t listen. He´d called the ambulance and waited until it had left with Rico on board.In the emergency room, Amber leaned towards him, lit with a small lamp in his eyes, and softly touched his face in search of any injuries.“I´m OK, Amber! Really!†Rico declared.Amber turned to the Chinese nurse that was waiting her orders. Quietly, Amber told her what to do. The nurse nodded before she started searching for something on the metal carriage.“You´ve been without consciousness because you´re feeling so good, right?†Amber ironically asked, but Rico could hear the worry in her voice.Rico made a throw away move. In his head it was throbbing and his nose felt as if it was three times as thick as normal. He could hardly breathe because of the swellings, but he would never tell Amber about that.“That was only a momentary weaknessâ€, he replied, but sounded as if he´d caught a hefty cold.Amber understandably nodded. “And therefore, you´ll stay in hospital tonight.â€Rico tried to smile, but his facial muscles didn´t simply obey. It felt as if someone was pushing against it from his ears. “Are you on duty tonight?â€The Chinese nurse left the cabin for a moment. Amber used the favourable moment, leaned towards Rico and whispered, “Even if you think that I´m resentful, Rico, I haven´t forgotten that you´ve dropped me then. When I woke up after the accident, I´ve been waiting for you, for a call or a visit, but you neither came nor called.†Rico snorted, but horrifiedly stopped breathing because it seemed as if his skull wanted to explode immediately. Amber stood upright again, but Rico quickly grabbed her hand so that she couldn´t leave him alone. Then he explaind, “ I´d called several times and I would have visited you, but your father made clear that I´m not welcomed. He told me that you´d have enough to do with yourself if you regain consciousness, but he promised to tell you about my calls. You should have decided then whether you want to call back.â€Rico could see that she was startled. He´d assumed that her parents wouldn´t tell Amber about his calls because they, in his opinion, thought that an ordinary policeman wasn´t good enough for their daughter, but now he knew that he´d been right.Rico let Amber´s hand go off. For a second, they looked at each other before Amber almost hasty left the cabin. The same time, the nurse returned. She fixed up Rico´s face, comfortingly told him that there would stay no scars left behind, and took care for that he was taken to his room. There, he received two pills that allegedly relieved pain, but either one of them was a sleeping pill or the exhaustion was bigger that he´d thought. In any case, Rico slept so deeply and without dreams as if someone had given him anaesthesia.Sonny drove through the city like a bat out of hell. Ben and Sam could hardly follow him in the Chevrolet Blazer. Sonny was cursing on every red traffic light, on drivers who kept to the speed limit, and on pedestrians who were bad role models and crossed the street, even though their traffic light was red.Three times, he raced around such people who seemed to be tired on life. They horrifiedly started screaming when they were almost touched by the Corvette.Sonny´s thoughts were with Gina. After he´d learned that Angelo was on the mend and that the others also would survive, Sonny had thought that it would go up now… and then Castillo destroyed every positive thought with one sentence.Unfortunately, he´d given him only little information. Someone had removed the breathing tube and had switched off the EKG equipment to hinder that it gave alarm. The nurses found out about that by accident and had given alarm.A man had been killed the same way. His name was Sam Swintek. It indicated to that the murderer actually had wanted to kill Stan Switek.In Sonny´s head, Castillo voice was echoing. “He got killed the same way!â€Did that mean that Gina was dead?Sonny couldn´t and didn´t believe it. It could not be!His thoughts walked back to the past, to the nights they´d spent together on the St. Vitus Dance, and to the evenings they´d been sitting on deck, chatting. Sonny remembered the day when Gina had shot Lupo Ramirez, the son of a bitch, the lousy pimp, and rapist. She´d looked so needy and vulnerable and so it was on the day when Sonny had shot Sean Caroon, the Irish terrorist she´d fallen in love with.Sonny always comforted her, always knowing that she, actually, loved him. She was deeply hurt when he, overhasty, had married the rock singer Caitlin Davis, and so it was when he quit his job.While racing through the streets of Miami, Sonny thought about all the things he´d wanted to tell Gina a long time ago. Maybe it was too late now.Suddenly, he realized the motorbike, a BMW R1150, that passed him. Two people were sitting on it and he saw that the pillion driver was holding something in his hands. Sonny couldn´t recognize what it was, but the sight of the motorbike let his alarm bells shrill.There was neither a chance to make way, nor to put his foot down because it got jammed in front of him. Only the motorbike driver had no problems to wiggle his way through the jam. He came closer and closer. Now, Sonny could see that the pillion driver was holding a hand grenade in his hands. The motorbike´s engine howled while the driver was stepping on the gas… and then the hand granade landed behind Sonny´s driver´s seat before the motorbike raced away.

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TWENTYTuesday, 17th of July 8:30 a.m.The young couple got out of the Convertible. Nervously giggling, Emilia Cordaro ran around the car to throw herself into her boyfriend´s, Benito Da Silva´s, arms. They were only together for six weeks, and Emilia wasn´t sure whether her decision, to follow Benito to the empty beach house, was really right. But Benito, who was already 21 years old, had claimed that, if she really loved him, she would want to sleep with him.In Benito´s parental home, there was no chance for them to be alone. Benito had four siblings for whom the word “privacy†was a foreign word. Again and again, they walked into Benito´s room without knocking on the door first. And then, they made themselves comfortable, chatted, and didn´t notice that they were disturbing.With Emilia´s parental home it was the same. Her parents divorced four years ago. One year ago, Emilia moved to her father, but the only reason for that was that her mother was with a guy Emilia couldn´t stand. If the guy looked at her, she had the feeling that he took off her clothes with his eyes, and sometimes he´d made suggestive remarks she disliked. Therefore, she decided to move to her father who often worked in his home office. But if Benito visited her, he insisted that the door was open. “Eventually, you´re just sixteenâ€, he´d told her.Benito had discovered the empty beach house by accident. He´d noticed the weed in the deck flower boxes. Thereafter, he´d investigated the area and the house to find out that the owner, apaararently, made off for any reason.It was a lonely house, in any case, one couldn´t see the next house. The wind had blown the sand onto the deck and the windows were dusty, too. Spider´s webs were hanging everywhere and showed that several weeks must have gone by until somebody had taken care for everything around the house.“I don´t think that it was a good idea to come here, Benitoâ€, Emilia told while looking at the spider´s webs in the door frame. In contrast to other girls, Emilia had no problems with spiders, but these spider´s webs seemed to tell her that she should stay outside the house.Benito laughed. He put his arms around her slim waist line, blew away her black curls, and kissed her on the neck while his right hand was searching its way untder Emilia´s lilac colored top. “Are you afraid of creepy – crawlies, Milly?†he whispered in her ear while his fingers softly were caressing over her stomach.Emilia grabbed his hand. “No, but… I think that it´s too early.â€â€œIt´s not too earlyâ€, Benito quietly contradicted.The wind that was blowing from the ocean pushed against the door. Surprised, Benito and Emilia found out that the door was open.“That´s like an invitationâ€, Benito said while pushing Emilia softly into the house.Inside, a very bad smell hit them. Somehow, it smelled sweet. Disgusting. Emilia´s stomach almost turned. She took her hand to her mouth and turned around.“I can´t stay in hereâ€, she choked out. “Oh, my God, what is it?â€But she didn´t leave the house. With both hands put at her mouth, she passed a closed door and walked towards the living – room where the furniture of the owner still was standing in. She could hear the dark and busily humming of myriads of flees. It got louder and louder, and the the bad smell got more and more unbearable. – And then, she discovered him on the floor.The stomach was lacerated and the guts spilled out. All around him, she discovered dried blood. His hands were lying on the torn open abdomen as if he´d tried to push everything back at its place again before he died. Cuts covered his arms and his face was nothing more than a bloody mass.Emilia just stood there. She couldn´t move, but only stared at the body where she suddenly discovered a moving. The big amount of insects that made haste in the open abdomen made the guts move.Emilia´s stomach started to rebell. Her stiffness disappeared. She turned around, left the house in a hurry, and threw off. Trembling and hyperventilating, she ran to the water where she fell onto her knees.Her thoughts were rotating. They´d to call the police… but then her father would find out that she and Benito had come to this house. He wasn´t an idiot. Immediately, he would know why she and Benito had driven here.But the man in the beach house got killed and his murderer still was running around freely.Emilia sighed. The wind was blowing in her pretty, elongated face, and played with her hair. Even though it was warm, Emilia got goose pimples. Above her a seagull was shrieking.Behind her Benito told, “I´ve called the police.â€Then he kneled down next to her to take her in his arms. Emilia put her head on his shoulder and his arms around his waist line.“I swear that he wasn´t there when I´d investigated the house on Friday, Millyâ€, Benito told with an also trembling voice. “I hadn´t been inside the house, but I had had a look in every room through the windows. I… would have noticed him.â€â€œI believe youâ€, Emilia quietly replied.Billy and Estelle drove off after they experienced the news about the body that had been found in the beach house. Actually, Vice had nothing to do with murder, but the beach house didn´t belong to anybody, but to Leonore Chandler. In her circle, her name was Lady Chain.Seven weeks ago, Leonore disappeared with unknown destination. Her business partner claimed that Leonore was on a longer holiday trip, but her sister contradicted that Leonore wouldn´t have left without telling goodbye.That´s what Billy told Estelle when they were on the way to the scene of the crime. “Incidentally, I just live a stone´s throw away from that houseâ€, Billy told when they almost had reached the scene of the crime and while pointing to a light blue colored house.When they arrived at Leonore Chandler´s house, Estelle got out of the car, looked at Billy over the Porsche´s roof, and said with a smile, “The cats in Miami can damn well jump!â€Billy smiled. He really liked Estelle´s kind of humor.Their colleagues were already there. They´d applied the mandatory caution tape and a pretty blond woman was investigating the door´s lock. The graphit powder was covering the sand.On the front side of the house where Billy and Estelle just had left the car parked a white Mercedes CLK 200 Elegance Convertible, and a colleague was talking with a young couple who were standing close to the car.Billy assumed that the Mercedes belonged to the young man. Both looked shocked. His right arm was lying around her shoulders while she was clinching his waist line with both arms.Billy and Estelle walked up to the colleague of the lab who was investigating the door. She raised her look, gave Billy a beaming smile, but looked rather cool at Estelle.Billy introduced the women to each other, “Mandy Westcomb from the criminial lab, Estelle Garner from the homicide division, New Orleans. How does it look like?â€Mandy got up. “Inside the house it looks horrible. On this door, I´ve found fingerprints of several persons. His…â€, she indicated to the young man, “…are definitely here, but he claims that the door was already open when they arrived. He´d only pushed it further open so that they could walk in. She swears that she hadn´t touched anything.â€Billy sighed. “Then, we should look around inside.â€With her foot, Many kicked open the door. “Did you already have breakfast?â€â€œNoâ€, Billy replied.“Yesâ€, Estelle countered, and Mandy told, “That could have been a mistake.â€The body was still lying in the position where Emilia and Benito had found it. The pathologist just was finishing his work. He took off the gloves, dragged a pure white handky out of his pocket, and whiped the sweat off his black face while walking up to them.Carla Scott, Damian Parson´s sister, was securing the tracks while a white man with dark blond hair was taking photos.“Probably, the heat is going to kill me one day, but you´ll have problems with arresting the murderer, thenâ€, the doctor groaned in attempt to make a joke. Then, he got serious again, and while looking at the body that was carefully put into a body bag now by two men, he added,â€He was killed here. Presumably, sometime on the weekend. I guess that he died on Saturday night or Sunday morning, but I´ll really know it after we´ve been talking to all the insects. Of course, the heat in the house makes it harder for us to determine the time of death. Someone slid open the man´s abdomen and let him bleed to death. He has massive fending off injuries, and I´m sure that even the attacker has suffered some injuries.â€Carla walked up to them. In her right hand, she was holding a transparent bag with a driver´s liscene in it. “His name was Dean Rogersâ€, she told.“Then, he definitely died later than 11:30 a.m. on Sunday or Shoemaker has lied to usâ€, Estelle countered.“Please, get in touch immediately if you know more about the time of deathâ€, Billy asked and the pathologist nodded.

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TWENTY - ONETuesday, 9:30 a.m.Sonny had only one chance to save his life and the lives of the people around him. He braked hard, jumped out of the car, and shouted, “There´s a hand granade in my car!â€Then, he crossed the busy road. Other vehicles had to brake with shrieking tires, drivers were angrily sounding their horns when Sonny almost landed on their hood.Again and again, Sonny waved his arms and shouted, “Get out of your car!â€â€œWhat´s your colleague doing in front of us?†Sam wondered. She and Ben had been driving seven cars behind Sonny. Therefore, they hadn´t noticed what had happened.The drivers and passengers of the two cars that were driving behind Sonny also jumped out of their cars. Screaming, they ran away. A woman was caught by a car. She flew away like a doll and landed in front of a truck that ran over her. Another woman had more luck. She ran into a car whose driver had already braked. Nevertheless, she fell to the ground.The same time, the hand granade in the Corvette exploded. The vehicle was torn apart, and fragments were buzzing around. Two further cars lifted up off the ground because of the pressure wave. They were catapulted back and landed with ear deafening noises on other vehicles. Burning pieces were flying around, landed in cars, and caused fires there.For a second, Ben and Sam grew stiff before Ben grabbed the radio to give alarm while Sam was jumping out of the car to take care for the injured people. The Corvette was burning, pieces of it were lying everywhere on the street. The steering wheel had smashed a shop – window. The woman who´d been hit by the car was sitting on the ground. Her head was bleeding because she´d hit it on the street. A man was sitting on the curb, holding a bleeding and crying child in his arms.Sam only glanced for a second to the woman that had been run over by the truck. Her body looked dreadfully. Immediately, Sam returned to Ben´s car and asked him for an awning to cover the body.Ben nodded and promised to take care for that.Sonny stood at the side of the street. Aghasted, he´d watched as his beloved car went up in smoke. Pictures of another black car spun around in his mind. He saw as the people ran away, heard them screaming, and felt the heat of the fire. Instinctively, he ducked when the steering wheel passed him to smash the pane of the shop window with a light tone.Then, he discovered Samantha Doyle who tried to help the injured people. At least, Sonny could move again. He ran to the man who was holding the injured child in his arms. Together with another man, he took care of the child´s injuries while trying to comfort the little girl.“Are you OK, Sonny?†Ben suddenly appeared next to Sonny who just glued the plaster on the girl´s forehead.In the far, they could already hear the wailing sirens of the ambulances and fire brigades that were quickly coming closer.Sonny got upright. He nodded. “Yeah, I´m OK.†While having a look on the mess around and discovering two police cars, an ambulance and one car of the fire brigade arriving, he added,†Who ever is behind this story, he means it, Ben.â€It took 35 minutes until they were able to continue driving in Ben´s Chevrolet Blazer. Sonny had to explain what had happened, and they had to wait until the colleagues had cleared a path for them in the mess that was big enough to drive through it.Sonny´s thoughts spun around. Still he had no idea whether Gina had survied the coward attack or if she was dead, and he asked himself who was behind this. For a moment, he thought about Curtis Walker. He knew that Walker had escaped. Unfortunately, they couldn´t find out how he´d managed it. Presumably, he´d been cowering on the sedan´s ground and managed it sometime within the huge mess to push open the door, let himself fall out of the car, and hide behind a bush, a container, or elsewhere before the sedan exploded.Actually, Sonny didn´t believe that Walker was behind the things that were happening now. The attacks with Trinitrophenol acid had started somewhere in April last year, a long time before Walker appeared on the scene again. Besides that, it didn´t suit to the man.Ben had hardly stopped the car on the hospital´s parking lot when Sonny jumped out of it. He only thought about Gina. While hurrying to the hospital and running along the hallways a moment later, different pictures were twisiting around in his mind: Gina on her very first day with Vice. She´d been young and unexperienced, but had an open smile on her face and the will to manage every challenge.Gina on his boat, wearing a white dress, his red T – shirt, or lying in his bed, sleeping. In front of his eyes, he saw her tortured face on the day when she´d shot Lupo Ramirez, the day when Sean Caroon died, when he´d told her that he wanted to marry Caitlin, and later, when he´d told her that he´d quit and would leave Miami.It didn´t escape him how she looked at him when they´d met again at the beginning of April. After the barbecue, they´d spent the night together, and when he showed up at her door two weeks later, she gave him a beaming smile.Sonny pushed open the ward door and ran along the hallway. Actually, Castillo had told him to notify at the ward office, but Sonny ignored the order. He walked to the single room where Gina´d been lying in yesterday.“Hello?†a nurse shouted behind him, but Sonny didn´t react. “Sir, where do you wanna go?â€Sonny pushed open the door, closed the eyes for a moment, and sighed in relief. Gina was lying in the bed.
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TWENTY - TWOThe address Alessandro DeLa Rosa had named when he was released from prisonbelonged to a trailer park outside the city. The area was enclosed with a 6 ft 6 high wire netting fence that was bulged in many places and almost overgrown with bindweed. The gate that assumably had automatically worked in the past was standing, half taken out of the rail, at one side and was overgrown with weed, too.The trailer park was an area of contrasts. There were well – cared for trailers with pretty dooryards and white colored fences, but one could also find the opposite of that: run – down trailers with broken windows that were repaired in a rough – and – ready way with cardboard. Weed had explored the dooryards, and in front of the doors there were tightly filled garbage bags swarmed by insects.Damian stopped the Jaguar next to an elderly man who was sitting on a stool and coloring his fence. Douglas let the pane down.“Good morningâ€, he friendly said. No reaction.“Good morning, sirâ€, Douglas repeated, lauder and more clearly at this time.The man had a look over his shoulder. Then, he grabbed to his right ear, apologized with a smile on his face, and switched on his hearing aid. “Yes?â€â€œAlessandro DeLa Rosa, can you tell me where we can find him? He should live here.â€The smile disappeared. Again, the man grabbed at his ear, but this time to switch the hearing aid off. “No!†he groaned before he continued with his work.Damian got out of his car, walked around it, and held the elderly man his badge under the nose. The man squinted from the badge to Damian´s face and back before he switched on his hearing aid again. Then, he got up. He wasn´t taller than 5 ft 4 and had to put his head in his neck to look at Damian´s face. After all, Damian was 6 ft 3 tall.“DeLa Rosa is a pig, the son of a bitch, one should have put under lock and key for the rest of his life. They should have castrate himâ€, the old man railed while his face more and more changed color until it looked similar to an overripe tomato.“Where can we find him?†Damian unpatiently asked.The man shrugged, snorted like an angry bull, and pointed on a run – down trailer at the end of the street.“He hasn´t been here for days and we´re glad about that. We don´t wanna have him here. Not someone like him!â€â€œIs anybody else living in the trailer?†Damian wanted to know.“Not since the old man DeLa Rosa piss drunk fell into a glass bottle and bled to death.â€Damian thanked him, got into his car, and drove to the trailer that didn´t look inviting. Together with Douglas he walked to the door that, of course, was locked. They couldn´t even have a look through the windows.Damian pulled his gun and aimed it on the lock of the outward opening door. He pulled the trigger and the shot broke the silence of the morning. Several people curiously, but also startled had a glance out of their windows, but then they disappeared because they wanted to have nothing to do with DeLa Rosa and the things in context with him. Damian opened the door, and he and Douglas entered the trailer.“Oh, man, what a garbage dump!†Douglas groaned. He turned his attention to the bedrooms while Damian started to investigate the kitchen and the living – room.There were two bedrooms, a bigger one and a smaller one, and both were crowded with garbage. Dirty and stinking clothes were lying everywhere on the floor, the bed, or were covering a chair. Douglas discovered empty beer cans, fast – food packings, juice bottles containing mouldy contents, empty pizza cartons and such with mouldy rests in it. In between of all of his, Douglas found several porn magazines.The other rooms looked similar to that. Thick dust, dirt, and mould were covering every possible place. Gingerly and with disgusting expressions Damian opened the cupboard doors and the drawers, but he didn´t find something special. Behind the couch he, however, discovered a wooden chest that, strangely, looked cleaner than everything else in the whole trailer. Either it wasn´t standing for a long time in this room or it was used very often.Damian opened the cover. He found yellowed cloth that were lying in a disorder. He took them out of the chest… and grinned.“Doug, I´ve found something!â€Douglas joined him. He watched as Damian took ten bags out of the chest, each one filled with little pills in different colors.“Summerdreamâ€, Damian told. “The market value of these pills is approximately about 200,000 dollars, rather more than less.â€Suddenly, they heard the loud roaring of a motorbike´s engine that came closer. Douglas had a look through the drapes. A BMW R 1150 was coming along the street. The driver braked and stared on the Jaguar that was parked parallel to the trailer before he hectically turned the motorbike around.“He pushs off!†Douglas shouted.“Let´s get him!†Damian replied while leaving the trailer in a hurry.

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TWENTY – THREERon Shoemaker was sitting at his desk. In front of him, there was standing a plate with sandwiches and a cup filled with steaming coffee. He was reading the article in the newspaper that was, again, dealing with the bombing on the wedding party. The interest on this was big because Maria´s was well known because of her tirelessly social work in different fields. On the other hand a reporter, Sandy Mallon, had found out that similar attacks had also happened in other cities. Unfortunately, Sandy had also learned that he´d been the pastry – cook who´d baked the explosive cake. It was irritating that she even mentioned his name, and this morning she showed up in the bakery to ask him for an interview.Steamed, he´d shown her the door and threatened her with legal action. Later, three further journalists had asked him for interviews. Because of this, Ron had called Jonathan Collins, who wasn´t only a friend, but also a lawyer. He´d asked him whether it was possible to forbid the press to tell his name.“Sure you can do that, Ronâ€, Jonathan had replied. “Unfortunately, the demage has already happened. You would only offer the reporters food for further speculations. Believe me, the people will quicker calm down if you stay calm. Eventually, the explosive cake in Philadelphia wasn´t made in your bakery.â€The telephone started ringing. Shoemaker picked it up. “Yes!†He was annoyed and steamed. If this was another reporter, he would switch off the phone, but there was no reporter at the other end of the line.Shoemaker listened before he asked, “Really?â€While listening again, Ron grabbed his cup to have a big sip of coffee. Holding the cup in his hand, he eventually replied in an unpatiently tone, “Our agreement stays like it is. Settle your job, then you´ll get the rest of the money and don´t call me again before everything´s done!â€He put the cup so hard on the desk that the coffee splashed over. With angry expressions, he took a handky out of his overall, wedged the receiver between his ear and his shoulder, and wiped the coffee away. The desk was a handmade heirloom of his grandfather and because of this priceless for Ron.“If you do your job well, I´ll pay you optionally further 10,000 dollarsâ€, he offered before he hung up.Billy and Estelle had taken Benito home first, even though he struggled. He was sure that he could drive the car himself, but neither Billy nor Estelle listened to him. Estelle had steered the Mercedes CLK 200 Elegance while Benito and Emilia were cuddling on the front driver´s passenger seat.Emilia still was shocked and crying the whole time while Benito seemed to be grown stiff.Billy followed the car in his Porsche.The Da Silva family was living in a huge villa that was situated in grounds at he ocean where a private boot dock was also included.In front of the house, they left the car. Benito thanked Estelle for taking him home. Then, he hugged Emilia before he walked to the house.Estelle touched Emilia´s shoulders. She turned her around and directed her to the Porsche that was parking behind the Mercedes.Of course, it was uncomfortable on the foldaway seat, but Emilia didn´t notice it. Sobbing, she told them her address that was situated in the same area.The villa of the Cordaro family was large and pure white, only the roof was strawberry red. The long winding driveway was clean. No leaf and no fallen down bloom were to see. Trees and bushes were hemming the driveway that widened in front of the house to a place in size of two baseball fields.On the left, Billy and Estelle discovered a garage in the size of a family house. In front of it, a muscular man with dark blond hair and a conspicious balbous nose was cleaning the Cardaro´s sedan.“I can walk alone insideâ€, Emilia claimed after she, Estelle, and Billy had left the car. She seemed to be very nervous now. Again and again, she glanced over the windows of this side of the house as if she was afraid that someone could see her getting out of this car.“I don´t think that this is a good ideaâ€, Billy contradicted.“Listens, my dad doesn´t want me to meet with boys. He says…â€, Emilia started telling, but that moment, the villa´s front door opened and a man, wearing a white linen suit, left the house.Emilia seemed to shrink, but Estelle looked the man free and easy up and down. He was somewhere in his fourties, tall, and he looked very dynamic. With springy steps, he jumped down the five steps of the external staircase. Like a predator he walked up to the Porsche.The man had a slim face with an even nose and chocolate brown, melancholy eyes, as Estelle found out when he was standing in front of her. Lacquer black, light curled hair framed his almost beautiful face. He looked Estelle up and down with interest.She showed him his badge and his interest changed immediately into a mixture of amazement and horror. “The police?†he asked with a pleasant dark sounding voice. Unambiguously, one could hear his Latin – American accent.He looked at Emilia. “Has my daughter done something wrong?â€Emilia was absolutely intimidated now and stared to the ground.The man who was cleaning the car, Ben assumed that he also was the chauffeur, curiously looked at them.Estelle told that Emilia had a shock because she´d found a body by accident. Therefore, they´d peferred to take her home.On the outside, Senor Cordaro stayed calm, but Estelle could see as a muscle in his face started trembling. In a very friendly way he said thank you and wished a nice day before he dragged Emilia to the house. Quietly, he spoke in Spanish to her, but Billy and Estelle could understand nice words like “Gadaboutâ€, “Bitchâ€, and “Hookerâ€.After Billy and Estelle got back into the Porsche, Billy told in an ironically way, “It´s always an experience to see how worried some parents are in consider of their children. Let´s drive to Shoemaker and listen to the things he tells us!â€Now, Billy pushed open the door to the pastry – cook´s office and he noticed how upset the man was. Shoemaker knew that one could read in his face like in an open book. He quickly hid his face behind the cup of coffee to bring his feelings under control.I wonder who he´s been talking to on the phone, Billy thought.Shoemaker put, apparently surprised, the cup onto the desk. “The police again?â€H didn´t offer Estelle and Billy to sit down. Therefore they build up in front of his desk.“I told you about everything I knewâ€, Shoemaker claimed while leaning backwards.Billy shored up on the desk and looked into Shoemaker´s eyes. “You didn´t tell us everything. You forgot to tell us that Dean Rogers didn´t appear to work.â€â€œBecause he´d been dead, thenâ€, Estelle added.Uncertainly, Shoemaker looked from Billy to Estelle and back, but he neither seemed to be surprised nor horrified. Eventually, he remembered the question he´d to ask now. “Dead? But how? What has happened?â€â€œHe got killedâ€, Billy replied without letting an eye from Shoemaker.He knew that something was wrong with the man. Apparently, he was Maria´s admirer, but had sent her grandson an highly explosive cake. He didn´t visit Maria until now, and he´d claimed that Dean had left the bakery´s backyard on Sunday at 11:30 a.m., even though the man got killed sometime on Saturday evening.Besides that, Billy had overheard that Shoemaker had offered someone 10,000 dollars on the phone if he settled an order. What a coincidence that someone had tried to kill his father with a hand granade, not to talk about Tubbs who would have died without Damian´s and Douglas´ coincidental appearance.Again, Shoemaker hid his face behind the cup. The topping of the sausage and cheese sandwiches that was lying on a plate on his desk was already drying out and becoming wavy. A flee sat on the cheese.“Why don´t you tell us the truth?†Estelle pressed him. “Of course, we can take you with us to the headquarter. I´m sure that the press would rush upon this storyâ€, Billy added.Almost threatening, Shoemaker got up. Automatically, Billy and Estelle occupied a fending off position and put their hands on their guns. Shoemaker didn´t pay attention on it. He pointed to the wall behind him. There, at the end of a hallway, was the service entrance.“On Sunday, the white van was standing in the backyard in front of the service entrance. That´s how we always manage it if we´ve to deliver special cakes. I´d brought the wedding cake personell to the van and took care for that it was safe. It was a masterwork with homemade yellow and pink colored marcipan roses. I did not see Dean, but that´s not unususal because he often goes into the bakery to get a sandwich or a piece of cake. Punktually at 11:30 a.m. the van left the backyard and I swear that I was convinced to seeing Dean behind the steering wheel.â€Billy and Estelle slightly relaxed because the threatening expressions disappeared off Shoemaker´s face. Now, he looked at them with the pitful look of a dachshund.“If he´s playing a role, the man deserves an Oscarâ€, Estelle almost admiring thought. She had to pull herself together to remember that Shoemaker´s name was standing on first place of their list of suspected.“And whom did you, generously, offer 10,000 dollars extra money for a good job?†Billy wanted to know.

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TWENTY – FOURRico was feeling much better, even though he was amazed on how long he´d slept. It was almost noon. Actually, he was an early bird. The pain kept within an acceptable framework, and when he had a look into the mirror that was hanging above the wash bassin, he, in fact, recognized himself.He´d thought that the guy had broken his nose, but fortunately he´d been mistaken. Rico bared his teeth and relieved he found out that they still all were there. What luck! He was proud still to own his teeth. Most of his colleagues who´d been working underground had lost them sometime in their early years because of fights or palpable arrests. He always had had luck with that.His lower lip was split open in two places, however, and were sewn to one place. His right cheek was swollen and sensitive to pain.Rico had a look at the things in the bag Damian and Douglas had brought him to hospital. He found his cosmetic bag and towels and disappeared into the bathroom.While having a shower he tried to sort his thoughts. Who ever was behind these attacks, he was well informed. He always knew where to attack to kill or injure as many policemen as possible. Besides that he had his fingers in many criminal activities. Rico could have bet that they would also find suitable cases on the West Coast if they searched for that.While drying himself, he thought on Walker. “Dead is only who´s really buriedâ€, the man had written on the sympathy card.After Rico had given the card to Stan, the friend had taken care for several investigations. Vice had searched in Walker´s villa and after they´d found indication to that Walker wanted to fly to Europe, they´d controlled the pasengerlists on the airports. They hadn´t found anything and Ramona had insisted to know nothing. Walker had been a criminal, but he´d never had something to do with traffic in human beeings and prostitution, but only with drug dealing.After Rico got dressed he decided to walk to the intensive care unit. He wanted to visit Alaina, say hello to Maria, and chat for a while with Stan.While walking along the hallway, he suddenly discovered Sonny who was coming from a hallway from his right side. He didn´t see Rico, but hurried to the intensive care unit. Sonny seemed to be very hectical and that worried Rico. He walked faster in hope to catch up with Sonny.A nurse shot out of the ward office, but didn´t pay her attention on him, but on Sonny. “Hello? Sir, where do you wanna go?†she shouted. Sonny didn´t even turn around, but ran to Gina´s room.When Rico finally caught up to him, his friend was standing next to Gina´s bed and holding her hand.“Sonny?†Rico asked.Sonny turned a bit around and Rico squinted. Sonny´s white trousers were dirty and torn open on different places. The right sleave of his light grey colored jacket was half torn out and it was as dirty as the trousers.Misunderstanding, Sonny shook his head. “Damn, pal, in what kind of lousy game we got into?â€â€œNo earthly idea, man.â€Rico entered the room. He stayed at the foot of Gina´s bed and clinched his fingers round the metal bar.“Anyone has tried to kill her last night by removing the breathing tube and switching the EKG gadget offâ€, Sonny quietly explained. “I thought that she´s dead because Castillo sounded as if she was. With a man named Sam Swintek, the killer did the same. Swintek is dead!â€A doctor entered the room. Sonny showed him his badge and then he and Rico listened to the doctor´s explanations.“Ms. Calabrese had had a lot of luck because her condition had stabilized in a great way. She was able to breathe herself. From today on, the ventilation should be reduced gradually, anyhow. Unfortunately, Mr. Swintek was less lucky.†Rico walked to the room where Sam Swintek had been lying in. Carla Scott was there and searching for evidence, but when she discovered Rico, she shook her head.“I´m sorry, but I can´t find anything. On this ward, everybody is wearing gloves, hoods, and mouth protection. But in a container, we´d found clothes as they´re worn in the operating room. We assume that the killer had used them to be unsuspecting. We´ll investigate that.â€When Rico left the room to walk to Alaina, he bumped into Amber who was leaving another room. She angrily looked him up and down. “What are you doing here, Rico?â€â€œI´m workingâ€, Rico replied.Amber clinched his left arm while her amber colored eyes firmly looked at him. “You received several very hefty hits against your head during the last days, Rico. This is not to be trifled. You should recover first.â€Rico returned her look before raising his right hand to touch Amber´s left cheek. “I´m sorry, but I can´t do that. Seven people died last Sunday and last night someone tried to kill two policemen here in the hospitalâ€, he regretted.Amber nodded. Of course, she knew what had happened. Everywhere in the hopsital, it was talked about that and everybody was shocked. She softly touched Rico´s cheek with her right hand. “Look out, OK?â€With a smile on his face Rico took her hand. “That´s what I always do.â€On the ward, things were rearranged. The patients who´d been injured on the wedding party were put into one room or, if possible, discharged. Elena could stay with a friend, and some of the German guests would return to their hotel rooms. Trudy and Fiona Switek could also leave the hospital. Gianna´s parents showed up to take the little girl with them.In front of the room where the others were laying in, two policemen would keep watch, and it was only allowed for particular doctors and nurses to walk in.Rico had a lot to do with calming Alaina down and to make clear that it all was because of precaution. He didn´t tell her that a man got killed.Stan was completely devastated. Sammy´s condition was bad, Gianna´s condition, however, hadn´t changed, but unfortunately it meant that it wasn´t going upwards, and now a man got killed because their names sounded similar.Rico and Sonny rode with Ben to the headquarters where Alessio´s Hummer was parked. Douglas had driven it there after the attack on Rico because the parking lot was monitored.Even though Sonny felt relived because of Gina, he was in a funeral mood. The Corvette had been the car of his dreams. Above all it had been his car. He thought about the Daytona, who´d also said goodbye with a huge bang. He´d been shocked, horrified, and stunned, but Castillo had taken care for that he got another fantastic car… the Testarossa. But who compensated his Corvette now?“Do you know anything about the guy who´d attacked me?†Rico asked while hurrying to the headquarters with Sonny.Ben and Sam obviously had received another order because they were leaving with shrieking tires and wailing sirens in Ben´s car.Sonny shrugged. “I don´t know, Tubbs. Castillo told us about the attack on Gina, and I´d left in a hurry.â€Suddenly, they heard a noise. A crack. Possibly the releasing of a safety catch, but they could´t tell exactly because an airplane´s thrust reverser howled at the same time.“Tubbs, look out!†Sonny screamed while throwing himselt behind a parked car, and pulling his gun.

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TWENTY – FIVEWith high speed, the Jaguar followed the motorbike through the suburban streets to the expressway. With Damian´s support, Douglas gave the colleagues the motorbike´s and their own position. He asked for support and ordered a team to drive to the trailer park to take care for DeLa Rosa´s trailer.Alessandro DeLa Rosa drove slalom, and he didn´t even turned aroud once while using every gap in the traffic.Damian gave his best not to lose DeLa Rosa and he was glad to have a transportabel siren that helped him to make way. Unfortunately, many drivers had turned up the music as loud as possible, rarely had a look into the rear – view mirror, and therefore didn´t notice him.In front of Damian, someone pulled his Pick – up on the fast lane. Damian had to brake hard.“Damn!†he swore while sounding his horn, but it was in vain. The Pick – up driver neither put his foor down, nor made way for Damian, but passed, cool as a cucumber, a truck.Douglas tried to keep an eye on Alessandro, but it was impossible. When Damian, at least, was able to pass the Pick – up, DeLa Rosa seemed to be wiped off the face of the earth.“Maybe, he´s left the expressway hereâ€, Douglas thought aloud when they got closer to a departure.“Maybe, but maybe notâ€, Damian replied. With an angry gesture, he slammed his fist on the steering wheel, before giving the BMW R 1150 and Alessandro deLa Rosa to trace by radio.After leaving the expressway, Damian and Douglas always let their eyes travel around, even thoug they knew that their chances to discover DeLa Rosa by accident were minor.It was cracking in the radio. Then, they heard a male voice telling that policecar 19 had discovered the motorbike. They told the others about their position and Damian groaned, “Hurry up!â€He switched the siren on and put his foot down.“Even if we catch him, he´ll not tell us anythingâ€, Douglas claimed while staring out of the window.The car hurled around a corner and the Jaguar got very close to a sky blue van with the inscription, “Paint problems? The varnish doctor helps!â€Douglas horrifiedly groaned while closing his eyes. He´d always been a lousy front seat passenger and situations like this were poison for his nerves.Again, it was cracking in the radio. The colleagues told everybody DeLa Rosa´s new position. Immediately, Damian pulled the steering wheel round hard. With protestingly shreaking tires the car turned round itself, and Douglas, again, closed his eyes and stopped breathing for a moment..“Problems?†Damian asked with a sidelong glance.“Don´t pay any attention on itâ€, Douglas advised while trying to give his voice a calmed sound, but he didn´t succeed. “I´m someone who perefers driving the car himself.â€With shreaking tires, the Jaguar left the residential area and raced closer towards a bridge that was just refurbished.Douglas raised his look. The railing was missing on this side of the bridge. He remembered the TV report about a spectacular accident. A truck had broken through the bridge railing and was thrown to the street below after the driver had had a fatal heart attack at the steering wheel. It had been amazing that all together only three people died. Only a breath before, a fully loaded school bus had passed through the bridge. The passenger had even watched as the truck fell onto the street.Suddenly, Douglas saw something falling from the bridge with high speed. “Damian, look out!†Douglas shouted and automatically tore his arms to his face to prevent if of… what ever.Damian reacted instinctively. He braked hard and pulled the steering wheel round hard. The same moment something hit the street next to the Jaguar´s front driver´s passenger side.

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