Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10


As they pulled out of the parking lot, Kate offered her hand to Jon’s two friends, even though she was driving.
“Hi, Stan and Greg.” She found their eyes in the rear view mirror and made eye contact with each of them as she said their names. “I am Kate Thompson. Since yesterday morning, I have been Jon’s trainer.”
“You got a job? That’s totally cool!” Greg mussed Jon’s hair.
“I kind’ve got a job,” Jon tried to downplay it. Then, as soon as the sentence was out of his mouth, a realization struck him. “If this is a job, Kate, do I get paid?”
Kate smiled and nodded. “Yes, Jon. Of course you get paid.”
“For training, too?”
“Yes, for training, too. You will be paid with a nice pretty blue paycheck- come on! There are a few things that we need to talk about, here!”
“Getting paid is pretty important, I would think,” Greg interjected.
Kate made eye contact with him again. Just from the look in her eyes, Greg knew what would be the safest choice to make.
Stan took his cue to speak up. “Hello, Kate Thompson. Pleased to meet you, officially, without having a physical confrontation with you. What are you a trainer of?”
“I am Jon’s trainer for the Agency.”
“Ok.” Stan took it in stride, but he obviously had no idea what that meant.
“To put it in easy terms, The Agency is a super secret break off of the CIA to go undercover and help stop incidents that could tear a community, the country, even the world apart. For a quick example, one thing that we were about one or two days behind was President Reagan’s assassination attempt. Those are the things we like to avoid.”
There was silence from the backseat. Until, as always, Greg had to break it. “Holy shit! You’re a spy!”
Jon looked at Kate and realized that she wasn’t about to save him. In fact, she had a smirk on her face. “Yes, Greg, I am in fact a holy shit spy!”
Kate took a hard left turn into a fast food parking lot. “We’re here!” She zoomed into a parking space, braked hard, turned off the car and jumped out. Jon followed suit since he was used to Kate’s fast pace. Stan and Greg followed behind by a few clicks, not sure if they were to join Jon & Kate or not.
Kate swooped through the front doors with Jon close behind her. Stan and Greg had just entered the establishment when they saw Kate meet up with a 50-ish male who looked a lot like a favorite uncle. He had white hair, a beer gut, and had an on the job kind of look, but underneath, it was easy to see that he was a man of good humor. She must’ve asked him what was going on because he launched into what seemed to be a description of the crime scene.
“The two victims were working behind the counter. It must’ve been a slow night because there is no evidence of any other diners in here when they got hit. No uneaten food or spilled shakes or drinks. The perp probably came through the front door you guys just came through. Victim one was shot point blank at his register. The perp probably came right up to the counter and fired. ”
Jon kept a safe distance from the victims. He didn’t need to see the blood just yet. Stan and Greg however, had been taken over by the cool fact of being beyond the yellow tape at a crime scene. They followed Kate closely as the older man led her back into the kitchen, probably her superior.
When Kate’s eyes enlarged and she put a fist up to her mouth, Jon knew it couldn’t be a pretty picture. Stan turned away quickly, and Greg stifled a vomiting episode and ran back past Jon and threw up in a corner. Jon braced himself and started making a slow path towards the actual crime scene.
A young kid, no more than 16, had been shot in his left eye. His right eye had a relaxed look to it. There were small drops of blood all over the counter and the register. Jon knew that behind the register had been a sign that read “No checks, please.’ Now, it was just a piece of paper that had been painted red with blood, brains, and skull. The kid was flat on the ground, arms at his side, in a pool of goopy red blood.
“This kid never knew what hit him,” Jon said under his breath.
“What was that?” Walter asked.
“He didn’t know what was coming. He didn’t know the guy had a gun. There are no defensive wounds. Even his right eye looks perfectly calm and still. He wasn’t expecting it.” Jon walked back around the counter, pretending to be the criminal. “The guy probably came in, made some small talk, was pretending to peruse the menu, was commenting about how the temperature has dropped, la, la, la, the clerk is annoyed that his easy night had been disrupted. He probably nodded and said yes or I know what you mean a few times, and at some point, BOOM! The gun goes off, and victim number one is on the floor dead.”
Kate and Walter exchanged glances.
“If this is victim one, where is victim two?” Jon asked.
“Back in the freezer,” Walter confirmed victim two’s existence.
The group followed him back. Jon and Greg were the last two in line. As Greg brought up the rear, he whispered to Jon. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to puke in the evidence.”
Jon smiled. “It’s cool. This is pretty disgusting, don’t get me wrong, but I was expecting it to be worse. Somehow, this almost seems like a movie set or something.”
“Oh my God,” Stan mumbled as he walked into the freezer. Now, it was Stan’s turn to race through the group and leave the immediate area.
Jon moved up quickly, wanting to know what had unnerved Stan so badly. Greg was understandable, but Stan….
The freezer was a complete mess. There were frozen hamburger patties all over the floor, hamburger buns thrown everywhere, chicken breasts and fish fillets scattered, several of the metal shelves were tipped against the back wall. Another young man, though not quite as young as victim one was lying on his back on the floor. His face was bloodied; his legs were underneath him as if he had fallen while trying to play limbo. There was a pool of frozen blood around his knees and his face. Two frozen hamburger buns were on the victim’s chest, but they looked different from the others. Jon took a few steps closer and put the puzzle together. He knew why Stan had run out of the room.
“His name is Jake Spencer,” Jon told Walter and Kate. “Stan knew him. He was on the basketball team.” Greg left the freezer to be with his other friend.
Kate put a gentle hand on Jon’s shoulder. “We know.”
Jon shrugged off the gesture and walked in and took an even closer look at the scene. “Jake’s face is bloody, but his shirt just has some spatter on it. What happened?”
“Mind if I ask you a question, Jon?” Walter asked.
“Go for it.” Jon didn’t avert his eyes. He was still studying the body.
“You’re pretty good at this. May I ask how you know so much about crime scenes?”
“My dad was a cop. I’ve been going to R-rated cop movies since I was 7. You pick stuff up quickly, if you pay attention to the good ones and forget about the crappy ones.”
Kate smiled and made a slight head gesture toward Jon while Walter was looking at her. He just smiled back and nodded his head. “We knew you were the right one for the job, Jon.”
Jon finally stopped looking at the body and locked eyes on Walter. “So, I’m the right one, huh? That’s great. Can you help me figure out what’s up with the blood?”
“Look at the legs again, Jon, smarty pants.” Walter used the name calling not to insult Jon, just to spur him forward.
“They’re torn up,” Jon commented. “Torn up. They almost look like meat themselves.” Jon paused and circulated the thought through his brain. “He was shot in the kneecaps.”
“Bingo.”
“There was a fight in here, but not out there. The registers weren’t touched, I assume, since they looked to be just fine. It wasn’t a robbery.”
“Keep going,” Kate encouraged him.
“Not a robbery.” Jon stood up and went back to the door of the freezer. “It wasn’t a robbery.” His eyes were darting all over the freezer looking for the one clue. “He was kneecapped, but not for money. What else would the perp want?” Jon walked back to the body and looked at Jake’s bloody face. “For there to be just blood spatter on the shirt, this didn’t happen until he was on the ground. Or…this put him on the ground!”
Jon walked back to the door of the freezer. “The criminal backs him into the freezer. Jake assumes it’s a normal fast food robbery, so he is expecting to just get locked in the freezer while the guy robs the place and leaves. For some reason, the criminal, turns his back, and Jake decides he’s going to fight back. He grabs stuff off of the shelves and throws it at him. He and the guy get into a frozen food fight, the gun must have gotten loose, and the criminal gets it back, and doesn’t want to kill Jake. He shoots him in the knees. Jake falls but is still upright by his arms or his ab muscles when the guy comes over and punches him in the face, knocking Jake out. The perp locks him in, realizes he’s done more than he wanted and leaves while Jake freezes in here.”
“Good try,” Kate nodded, “but not quite. Look closer.”
Jon looked the body up and down. He looked around at the freezer and all the frozen goods everywhere. On Jake’s head was a large bruise.
“The guy hit him over the head.”
“Okay,” Kate coaxed.
Jon kept looking and noticed a small trail of blood that led underneath a shelf that was still upright. Jon stood and walked over to the shelf. He stuck his hand out as he knelt down. “Kate, get me a bag or gloves or something. I’ve found something.”
Kate grabbed Jon a pair of plastic gloves from the wall dispenser and threw him a ripped apart bag that had held buns. “Here.”
Jon put on the gloves, leaned over and stuck his arm far under the shelving, when he pulled his arm back out, he was holding a wallet and something else.
Walter beamed. “I wondered where that was! We hadn’t totally processed the scene yet.”
Jon took the wallet and put in the plastic bag. Then, he stared at what was in his hand. It looked like a frozen quarter patty of meat. He brought it within eight inches of his face and just turned it over and examined it from all sides. Kate and Walter had strange looks on their faces. Then, on one of the turns, Jon saw something and realized what it was. He quickly put it in the bag and sealed it, tossing it to Kate.
“His tongue! The blood wasn’t just from a nose shot. That was his tongue! They cut out his tongue!” Jon stood up, stripped his gloves off, and threw them into the trashcan that was there in the freezer.
Stan and Greg had re-joined the group but were still standing several feet away from the freezer, but close enough to hear the conversation.
“The bastard knew Jake. This was personal. He shot his kneecaps as a warning shot and then he cuts out his tongue so he couldn’t talk! Okay, okay. Here we go.” Jon started pacing in front of Walter and Kate.
“This guy comes in, chats with Jake over the counter while looking at the menu or something. He shoots victim one out of nowhere. He never sees it coming. “ Jon took a quick walk out to the kitchen, brushing by his friends. “Buns! There are no buns out here! He realizes he needs buns, he tells his friend he’ll be right back. While Jake is in the freezer getting the buns, our shooter pops victim one. Jake hears the shot and starts coming out. Our guy blocks Jake’s exit. They talk for a while about something.
“Our guy doesn’t like Jake’s responses, so he hits Jake with the bag of frozen buns that Jake was trying to get. That’s not heavy enough, so our guy tries fries, chicken, and fish, which are probably not frozen in stacks quite like the beef. These guys are tussling, knocking shit over. Finally, the killer grabs a bag of hamburger and wallops Jake. Jake goes down, but not for long. He rushes the guy and gets his knees shot out to stop the attack-“ Jon stopped. “Why shoot out his knees? The friend must know that he’s a basketball player. That’s going to stop him from playing basketball.” Jon was silent. He finally shook his head and continued with his theory.
“Jake is down, our guy comes over and punches him as hard as he can in the face. Jake drops to the ground, unconscious. The killer decides he may as well get a little extra cash, but doesn’t want to rob the restaurant. He’s been here too long already. He takes the wallet out and takes Jake’s money. Then, he opens Jake’s mouth and cuts out his tongue, tossing it aside, knowing Jake won’t need it again. But why the buns on Jake’s body? The food fight happened before Jake hit the ground?”
The freezer was silent again Jon could hear his friends talking softly. Stan entered the freezer. He bent down over his friend’s corpse and looked at the buns, not looking at his friend’s contorted face. He picked up the buns and held them close to his face. He took his pinky and put it on the bun over to one side and swiped his pinky along it. He put his pinky in his mouth and tasted the residue.
“It’s a signal Kind of like the fish I the newspaper in The Godfather. They’re buttered. It means he’s toast.”
“Jake knew something. He knew something that he shouldn’t have known and he was killed for it. Was the kneecap shooting a sign? A signal? Was it about the basketball team?”
“Am I in trouble?” Stan asked.
“We don’t know,” Walter answered. “That’s why I told Kate to bring you into our little secret. We’ve been watching your team for the last few months of practices and training. We’ve heard rumors about things happening, but they are all very vague. What do you know, Stan?”
Stan was confused. “Nothing. I don’t know anything. We’ve been practicing since the end of July. We were sixth place in our conference last year. Some of our players drink and drive after we win. We have the game coming up with Cottonwood this week.” Stan stopped as his eyes teared up. “I don’t know anything, man. I just play. I don’t worry about anything other than playing my best. I just play.” He started crying silently.
“Walter, he doesn’t know anything. Leave him alone.” Jon defended his friend but kept it low key and hushed.
“I wish I could, Jon, but we need him. He knows the team. He knows what has been happening up until now. He may be in danger. We need his help!”
“And Greg?” Jon asked.
“Well,” Kate admitted, “we just figured it would be easier to bring the three of you in than just two. You three are never apart, so if you and Stan started shrugging off Greg, we knew there could be a lot more problems.”
Jon ran his fingers through his hair. “Not only do you screw up my life, you’re going to screw up theirs, too?”
Walter stepped up. “I think you’re misunderstanding us a bit, Jon. We just need their help. We are not recruiting them. But we need their help, especially Stan’s to get you in.”
Jon didn’t get it. “What do you mean? Stan has nothing to do with the Agency.”
Kate tried to soften the news. “No, but he is on the basketball team.”
“Okay, that’s true. So?” Jon’s eyes widened with realization. “No! You don’t mean- you can’t mean-!”
“We need you to go undercover on the basketball team, Jon.” Kate finally explained.
“I can’t! I don’t play basketball! Isn’t there someone else who can do this?”
“We were going to try to integrate a new player this week before this killing. This just gave us a prime opportunity and a real reason to push this assignment.”
“Who was the new player going to be? You must’ve had someone else in mind before I came on board!”
Walter stepped up. “We did. Chad Peterson. Then, you shot him.”
Greg couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You shot a federal agent?”
Jon got defensive. “I didn’t mean to! It was an accident!”
Walter put out his hand and touched Jon’s elbow. “We know you didn’t mean to, but you did. Now, we need to do what we can. We need to improvise a bit. You are a new agent; you have a friend on the team. Since they won’t want to be a man short for the big game this weekend, he can introduce you to the coach as a clutch player, and bing, bang, boom, you’re on the team!”
Kate went to Stan. “I’m sorry that I had to hurt you today. You were a little out of control. And I am really sorry about your teammate, but we need your help, Stan. Can you get Jon onto the team?”
Stan shrugged. “I guess I can try. I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll try.”
Walter shook Stan’s hand. “We’ll try to get a grass roots thing going and get the parents desperate to get another player to fill out the roster. That way, Mr. Cannon will light a fire under your coaches ass and we will just slip Jon right in.”
“Cool,” was Stan’s only reply.
Jon walked out of the freezer finally. Without a word, he walked past victim number one and up to the dining area. The group followed him. Jon plopped down into a booth and put his head in his hands. When he looked up, there was a half circle around him.
“I’m going undercover on the basketball team?”
Stan smiled and looked down at Jon. “You’re going undercover on the basketball team.”