Chain of Command(Slate, Chief//Riddles, Dylan)

“We have three of them in the tank, Sir.”

“Just three of them – what happened to the others?” The chief of police looked down at the report on his desk, “says here that the whole neighborhood was targeted and you want me to believe that these three were the only perps.”

“N-no, Sir” stammered the young beat cop, “these were the only ones that we could find alive.”

“Who killed the others?”

“We don’t know, Sir. Nobody seems to have seen anything in the mist of all the confusion.”

“Put the men in separate interrogation rooms; let’s find out what these guys know.” The chief resumed his study of the report giving the police officer his cue to leave the room.

Within a half hour the young man was standing back in front of the chief’s desk all color drained from his face. “What are you doing back in here, Slate?”

“S-sir, the m-men are dead.”

The chief looked up from his paper work, eyeing the young officer suspiciously. “What do you mean ‘dead’?”

“The jailer and I walked down to the cells and found all three of them lying on the floor. No pulse, nothing. The paramedics are on their way now, Sir.”

“Judy!” an immaculately dressed secretary rushed into the office, “Get me Detective Riley on the phone.”

“Yes, Sir,” the lady left for her desk and immediately began looking through her directory for the detective’s number.

“Slate, soon as I finish this call, you and I are going downstairs, I want answers. Nobody dies in my prison unless I say so.” Seeing the phone on his desk light up, he waved a hand to dismiss the officer. “Detective Riley, I have a job for you. . .”


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“It’s all taken care of, Dylan, no need to worry about the cops tracing anything back to us.”

The bearded man paced the room in annoyance. “I don’t care about the cops, you fool, I want to know who this girl is that keeps killing my men. Before I took out Larry he told me that she single handedly took out three of the boys. What kind of a woman does that?”

Sweat trickled down the sides of Riddles blotchy face, he didn’t like being around Dylan when he was agitated. “She’s just a girl. She’s been lucky is all, we could easily take her out if we wanted to but we agreed to no killings. It’s bad enough that three of those losers got picked up as it is. We don’t need more cops snooping around.”

“I don’t like this, Riddles, I want my money – all of it. I’m not going to be your pawn in this game any longer.” Without warning he pulled a knife from behind his back and held it under the fat man’s chin with just enough pressure to evoke fear. “Do you understand?”

Eyes bulging, the helpless officer slowly nodded his head. Satisfied, Dylan removed the knife. “I want you to do some work for me now. Find out everything you can about this girl – where she lives, what she eats, where she spends her time and with whom…”

“I told you, she’s just a girl. She’s not worth troubling with…”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Looking out the dirty window Dylan warned “Riddles, do this or the cops will have all kinds of interesting information about you. Do I make myself clear.”

“Crystal.” Mopping his forehead with a handkerchief from his pocket, Riddles prepared to leave. “Just tell me why she interests you so much.”

“I don’t know, that’s what bothers me.”

The two parted ways until their next meeting. Dylan was eager to end his association with the officer but he needed him around for just a bit longer. “Patience, Dylan, patience.”