They had lunch at La Mesa, The Table, Alan's favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. It had been crime that first brought him here, the quality of the food and the people kept him coming back.

Austin had lost the scared look he'd been wearing when they first parked the car. The area had a reputation for toughness and there were still gangs and drugs on the streets, but not today. It was a sure bet that everyone on the street knew him for a cop, but Alan had no fear in this neighborhood and they knew it.

After Greg's killing, Alan had come back on duty to the streets here. His luck was holding up since he was just in time to get a robbery collar. The one family who owned several of the businesses along this strip had become the target for extortion and holdups. It meant additional patrols in a city where the squeaky wheel always gets the grease.

The robber had been holding a gun to the head of Mrs. Hernandez while pulling cash from the register of the tiny grocery store. It was just good fortune that Alan had parked the squad car and was starting a foot patrol. He saw the perp through the store window and waited for an opportunity.

The fool ran from the store and turned to look back. Alan broke the guy's gun hand with his nightstick and then cold cocked the man on the back of the head; it was all over in seconds. The perp was still out cold and in cuffs when backup arrived.

Mrs. Hernandez was the abuela, the grandmother, in a powerful family. The Chief of Patrol received dozens of calls and letters about Alan's heroics. The perp was still in prison and feared for his life every day as he should. He would be a dead man out here on the street.

As for Alan, he was grateful and embarrassed by the attention. He didn't see the occasional free lunches as graft since the family seemed to have adopted him after the incident. So now it was "Hola, mi amigo" whenever he came in the restaurant. He really liked that.

Alan ordered for himself and Austin. The boy had never had real Mexican before, just the stuff they dished out at that Taco franchise. It was too soon to tell if Austin was relaxed enough to fill in more details, but he sure dug into the food on his plate when it came.

"Wow ... this is pretty good ... thanks," the boy said.

"You guys get to eat well at the apartment?" Alan asked.

"I guess ... carry out mostly; we eat a lot of pizza."

Alan and the boy finished about the same time, and Austin sat back with a curious look in his eyes.

"Why did you become a cop? I mean ... well, what you like is ... umm, I don't know ... illegal." He immediately blushed. "Sorry ... I shouldn't be asking you ... "

Alan smiled, "I guess you deserve an answer. I was just like you ... except I never got caught."

Austin's eyebrows went up. "Wow ... uh ... you're not just saying that to get on my good side are you?"

Alan laughed, "You have a good side?"

Austin frowned, "I'm not some criminal ... I do what I have to ... do you get that?"

"You ought to be in school, doing homework, hanging with friends, going on dates ... not all this," Alan said.

"Not in my life you don't."

"That's why I want to help you make some changes."

"Hmm, I thought you just wanted to get in my pants." That smirk was back and Alan hated it.

"Actually ... no, it isn't on my list of things to do. You've had too much of that already ... I just want you to be a kid again," Alan said.

"What were you like at my age?" Austin asked.

"I made mistakes, dumb things really. But I was just trying to figure myself out, very much like you I believe. I met someone that blew me away and then he burned me badly, I still think about that. So, tell me about Kevin."

"Kevin ... why him?" Austin asked.

"He seems to know how this operation works, he's a leader, or at least an organizer in this little scam Bucky has going."

"What will happen to Kevin?"

Alan smiled, "You like Kevin, don't you?"

The look on Austin's face said it all; he had strong feelings for Kevin. No matter how he might deny it Alan knew they had been lovers at some point. It was sad really, Kevin would take a fall from his involvement with Bucky, it only remained to be seen how deeply involved the kid was.

Austin hadn't answered the question, he didn't have to. This Kevin was at least a pimp, probably arranging the boys dates ... online if he was a real savvy operator. Alan wondered if he had ever chatted with the boy ... probably. For Austin's sake he just hoped that Kevin wouldn't become an accessory to murder.

"So ... what happens now?" Austin asked.

"We go back to the office and see if you can give us a good sketch of Bucky. Then we'll be looking for him. I'm pretty sure he's the one who can give us all the details," Alan said. "Kevin will wait for later, does that suit you?"

"Yeah, I don't want nothin bad to happen to him."

Jill Abrams was a no nonsense lady, a great cop and a better artist. It didn't take her long to win Austin over; she had a way with young people. Alan knew she'd attended some pretty rough crime scenes, but she always managed to do her job professionally and he respected that.

As Alan watched, a rough face appeared on the page and Austin supplied the finer details. Slowly the features took shape and Alan saw a young man, hollow cheeks and a goatee. The eyes were hard, the nose long and sharp. He looked like any normal young man ... so how did he get in this racket?

Maybe there would be an answer to that after they found him. If anything he had probably been a hustler himself, the sex market being what it was. The victim turned criminal, Alan had seen it dozens of times.

If the sketch did lead to an arrest then the boy's loyalties would be tested. So far he had proved invaluable but it was time to take him home. Maybe the mother wasn't that bad, Austin could be lying. But Alan knew he would check the woman out first before leaving the boy with her.

Unfortunately taking him home meant Austin might be back on the street fairly quickly. It wouldn't do to have the boy warn Kevin they were under surveillance. The only way to keep the boy off the street was to turn him over to the social services people and that wasn't going to work.

Jill declared the drawing finished and she handed it over. Bucky, if that was his real name, looked to be in his early twenties. He had a ring in his left ear and a small cross tattooed on his right cheek. Those features provided by Austin would be invaluable if the man was stopped for questioning.

Alan left Austin under Jill's observation as he went to file the sketch for distribution with the desk sergeant. He filled out the papers for a warrant, the basic charge being child pornography and assault on a minor. Then he went back for Austin.

"He's in the Men's room," Jill said, nodding at the door across the hall. "He said that lunch you fed him upset his stomach."

Alan got a sick feeling in his own stomach, and it wasn't the food. He pushed open the Men's room door and felt the emptiness inside, Austin was gone. The window was still open and outside it was a short drop to the fire escape on the back of the station building.

"Damn," he said to the empty tile room. Just when he was beginning to believe the boy might help out. The kid had only been waiting for the opportunity to run.

He dashed out of the Men's room and threw a glance Jill's way. "He took a jump out the window." Alan didn't wait for her reaction as he pushed through the stairwell door and dashed down three flights to the ground floor.

There were cops everywhere but he was sure no one had seen anything. The boy probably hit the pavement running and would be blocks away by now. Alan stood in the empty alley and knew two things had to be on the boy's mind.

First he had to warn Kevin. That could be done with a phone call but then Alan figured Austin would try and do it in person. That was the only way he would be able to drag Kevin away from the apartment to somewhere safe.

Second, Austin would have to get enough cash to stay hidden from the cops and Bucky. Once this pimp found out that Austin had blown the whistle there would be hell to pay, and he just hoped the boy was smart enough to stay out of sight.

It was futile but Alan rode over to Jackson hoping to catch a glimpse of the kid. He cruised slowly past the arcade, but this early there were few people out on the street in that neighborhood. The apartment was close by but Alan didn't have the address.

He criss-crossed the blocks around the arcade, something nagging at the corner of his mind. There were dozens of apartment buildings and the boys could be in any one of them. Pizza, yes ... that was the clue.

In the whole area there was only one Mom and Pop pizzeria and Alan parked up the street. Maybe it was a long shot, but what else could he do? Austin wasn't about to show his face on the street, but one of the other's might. Couldn't be that many boys carrying pizza boxes around by themselves.

The afternoon waned and traffic picked up as people headed home from work. If Austin had made it back to that apartment then within the next hour or so they would be getting hungry. He settled into the seat and kept his eyes glued on the front of the pizzeria.

The fact that a teenage boy seemed to be running the daily operation didn't surprise Alan in the least. Kids these days were some of the most sophisticated online operators. Kevin had to be pretty well organized and have some powerful equipment to run this kind of organization. That meant the cash flow had to come from somewhere.

The overwhelming lack of information had been his own damn fault; he should have interrogated the boy. But he had been blindsided by the boy's looks and cooperative attitude. The kid had manipulated him, plain and simple. It seemed pretty obvious now; Austin had a lot of experience in that department.

Five o'clock came and went. He wondered if this was just a dumb idea, maybe they were eating Chinese tonight. At least he wanted to know which building they lived in. It would give him time to plan an approach.

Alan knew that getting into the apartment where Kevin ran the operation was the first imperative. No doubt the boy had his computer rigged to wipe out any incriminating files with a keystroke. It meant getting the boy away from his keyboard for a few moments and that was going to be tricky.

He watched as this kid crossed the street and went into the pizzeria. Where had the boy come from? Something about the way the boy looked had caught his eye. He popped the car door and headed up the street.

At first he passed the doorway into the store just to catch a glimpse of the kid sitting on a stool against the wall. Good, he was waiting for the pie to be made. Alan stopped and looked at the menu taped to the glass window. He took out his wallet and glanced at the bills inside before smiling.

He opened the door and stepped inside. The boy gave him a glance but nothing more as he approached the counter. The clatter of pans in the kitchen was followed by a slam of the oven door. A man finally came forward and smiled at him.

"What's it gonna be?" he asked.

"Um, I'll take a large pepperoni pie with extra cheese ... to go please," Alan replied.

The guy wrote down the order and rang up the sale. Alan fished out his wallet and pulled out some bills, spilling a few others on the floor.

"Oops," he said, handing over a twenty to the guy behind the counter.

The boy on the stool was up in a flash and stooped to pick up the cash on the floor. He gave Alan a winning smile as he handed it over.

"Thanks, man," Alan said. "I seem to be all thumbs today."

"You're welcome," the boy replied. "Good choice by the way."

"Choice?" Alan asked.

"Yeah, they make the best pepperoni pies I ever ate."

"Hmm, a pizza fanatic, I can tell by that gleam in your eye."

The boy laughed at the comment and resumed his seat on the stool. Alan felt the eyes appraising him differently now. The kid knew he had cash and a fifteen minute wait for the pie. The boy looked down the hallway towards the back of the pizzeria and Alan could bet there was a bathroom back there.

He wondered how the kid was going to begin conning him, but he knew it was coming. For a couple of those bills in his wallet the kid would go down on him in that bathroom. A five minute blow job and the kid would walk away with his pizza pie and a handful of cash. But that temptation wasn't on the agenda.

Alan chose to block the kid's next move by crossing the room and picking up an old newspaper. He glanced thru the pages and tried to ignore the boy. The kid was squirming on the stool, finally spinning himself around several times ... anything to gain Alan's attention and resume the game. The boy finally took out a cell phone and began to play with it.

He couldn't be a day over fourteen, Alan thought. The kid's expensive clothes were tight enough to show off a lean body and a nice package between his legs. The sneakers alone cost a couple of hundred. Besides that, the boy had an air of independence bred from a lot of street time. He could never pass as one of the neighborhood kids; he almost looked out of place here.

Alan tried to ignore the boy but he just couldn't. The gold loops in his ears and the hairstyle all spoke of hustler, so this had to be one of the three Austin had mentioned. He was considering a chat with the kid again when the boy's pies arrived on the counter. The kid slid the phone back in his pocket, said a few words to the counter man and then gave Alan a smile as he made his exit with four boxes.

Through the glass he watched the kid cross the street and walk up a few buildings. The boy turned up the steps to an apartment house and then stopped. He looked around and Alan stepped back from the window as the boy walked back towards the alleyway and turned into it.

He could see the boy walk up the darkening alley until he came to a side door which he opened with a key. Looking around once again the boy stepped thru and the door shut behind him. The kid's vigilance alone said this was someone who had been warned to be cautious. It all but confirmed Alan's assumption ... this was Kevin's lair.

Somewhere in that building Austin and three others were digging into that pizza right about now. There was no way he could enter unseen, he would need a warrant and a team to do that. Alan accepted his pie and walked back to his car. All the way back to the station the smell of cooked pepperoni drove him crazy.

Alan dropped the pizza on the desk in front of a startled Mike Thomas, his number two man on the geek squad.

'Wow ... you brought dinner?" Mike laughed. "What's it gonna cost me?"

"I need a search warrant and the floor plan of an apartment building pronto," Alan replied.

The smell had attracted the two others in the room, the Laurel and Hardy of the computer squad. Brett Marlow and Wilson Chambers fit that image to a tee. Brett was a tall skinny hollow faced man who chewed constantly on whatever gum he could find in the vending machine down the hall. It was annoying, but then it was better than the three packs a day cigarette habit he used to have.

Wilson was the comedian in the bunch, and when he laughed his considerable gut bounced along with the joke. He was probably fifty pounds above the department's weight regulations but Alan fended off the rules to keep his computer savvy mind at work on the most difficult cases.

"What's up?" Brett asked. "I heard you had a suspect bounce out the window on you this afternoon."

"And I want him back before he becomes a liability to someone and disappears," Alan said. "Think I found his lodgings."

"You ran him down already? That was fast work," Wilson said.

"Pizza did it, the kid mentioned they ate a ton of pizza and I just followed my nose. The apartment building is at 1683 Elkins, a three story brick built, not your ordinary run down flop house either."

As he told them of the find, Alan watched as Mike got into the public archives and looked up the address in the Building Inspections file. Shortly he had a schematic of the place on his desktop screen.

"About eighty years old, and I bet it has plaster walls on the interior. Looking for any renovation permits now," Mike said.

"We're looking for two adjoining apartments," Alan said. "One of them will have some decent electrical upgrades, DSL or cable internet access too. The other may have been subdivided, three or four bedrooms at least."

"We gonna need the SWAT team in on this?" Brett asked.

"I hope not, this has to be covert as hell," Alan said. He went on to explain about Kevin and his thoughts on losing the boy's computer in a large raid.

"No doubt, he could begin destroying his files with a couple of keystrokes if he has the program in place," Wilson said. "Do they have a security system?"

"Yes they do," Mike threw out. "Look at this, Alan."

They clustered around the flat-screen monitor and watched as Mike traced the wiring diagrams in the file. The permit files were available to the police and fire departments in case of emergency, and a very useful tool for investigations of this sort.

"There's a building wide system, cameras around the building and the usual fire alarm system, all off site monitoring. But here, on the third floor, there's a keypad on apartment number 304 which indicates a separate system.

"And here, there's been an electrical upgrade. Wow, they even have a separate external grounding system with defaults built in. Looks like there has to be some pretty sensitive equipment up there. Are they running a website?"

"I don't know ... probably," Alan said.

"Well I bet they have a full setup, servers ... storage drives, maybe even a credit card scanning system. The phone records would show us that."

Mike looked over at Alan. "What are they doing up there?"

"A little of everything I suppose. We might be walking into a real big bust here, guys. I can evidence child pornography and prostitution, but if there's a larger role these boys play in some website then you can imagine where this will lead us if we can only get our hands on that computer."

"The key has to be this Kevin character I suppose," Wilson said. "What did you have in mind?"

"A gas leak maybe?" Brett said. "Emergency crews have access, and we have the uniforms downstairs."

"I'm sorry to drag you guys into this; I know it"s late in the day ... " Alan said.

A chorus of protests, they all wanted in. Of course Alan had known they would, desk jockeys always looked forward to a bit of action. This couldn't be that risky, after all there were only five boys.

The apartments involved were 304 and 306, back to back on the same stretch of upper hallway. Kevin had to be in 304 with the extra security, which would be their main target. Wilson would play the gas company man since Alan judged him the best one to make a quick entry and pull the plug. Hopefully if Kevin had begun to destroy files Wilson would be able to stop any forward progress. Besides, he looked the part.

They commandeered an unmarked van from the garage and Brett came up with a small bottle of natural gas. Wilson only had to open the valve for a second before approaching the door and the hallway would have that telltale odor people feared so much.

They rolled in the van towards Elkins, with only one stop planned. Alan wanted to visit the local fire station to see if they had an access key left by the building manager. Many property owners preferred the firemen use a key rather than an axe to gain admittance in case of emergency.

Alan flashed his badge and spoke with the station chief. A quick look at the warrant they had and the man was all sorts of cooperative. A look in the books, a visit to the safe and a key was produced. The only caveat was that the chief would have to go along and open the door.

1683 looked pretty quiet as they approached up the back alley. Only Wilson was in his disguise, the others had their badges pinned on and side arms ready. They did a quick radio check before the chief unlocked the door and Wilson strode in. They gave him four minutes to climb the stairs to the third floor and then they followed. There was no sign of a security camera in this back hall and Alan was hoping that Kevin was too busy eating his share of the pizza to notice much.

At the third floor landing Alan cautiously opened the door and saw Wilson outside 304. He nodded at them and then turned his head looking back down the hall. Alan could already smell traces of the gas as he peeked around the corner and saw the camera at the far end. They would have to wait for the door to 304 to open before venturing into the hallway.

Alan nodded and Wilson gave the door a knock. The seconds ticked by and there was no response, Wilson knocked again. "Gas Company," he announced. Still no response.

Alan looked back at Brett and Mike. "Looks like it's your turn."

The two detectives stepped through the doorway and hurried down the short hall towards Wilson. Between them they carried the ram which was Plan B. Guns drawn, Wilson and Alan stood back as the two cops lined it up with the door locks.

"Police ... open up ... we have a warrant," Alan yelled. Ok, so politeness was over, the ram hit the door and the locks gave way. "Police," Alan yelled again ... and they went in.

A soft beeping sounded from the security system box beside the door. It didn't matter now as the guys fanned out. Alan found himself facing the living room. Two chairs and a table, no couch, no television, nothing. Brett gave a yelp from a side room. "Wilson, in here."

Wilson came out of the kitchen area and crossed the living room towards Brett's voice. Alan was still on alert as he opened a closet door. "Hey Alan ... come look at this," Wilson yelled.

"Secure," Mike said, sticking to protocol as he exited the bedroom. They both headed towards the source of Wilson's voice and the sudden burst of laughter that followed the summons.

Alan swept into the room and stopped short, causing Mike to bump him from behind. Two tables and a desk lined the walls, all stacked with hi-tech computer equipment. The only thing wrong was that none of it was on, or so it seemed.

"Son of a bitch, he pulled the plug," Wilson said.

"Go search 306 ... now," Alan commanded. Brett and Mike ran from the room.

Wilson stood back, his eyes taking in all the equipment. He shook his head and let out a short barking laugh. "This kid is a fucking genius."

"You want to explain that," Alan asked.

"This is the server ... see the empty bays? He pulled the skuzzy drives out and took the mother board too. This setup is the modem, wireless no less. Looks like he fried everything with this switch. See it lays in a line voltage thru that box, everything is corrupted and burnt."

Alan noticed the air did seem to have a burnt electronics smell to it. Kevin had sabotaged his equipment ... his very expensive hardware.

"I guarantee there isn't a bit of software left in any of this," Wilson said. "No programs, no traces ... nothing. My guess is he did this in about five minutes and was out the door."

"Can we at least figure out his service provider? They must have some records," Alan said.

"Maybe, but I doubt it. He could have piggybacked off anything, see this wireless device?"

Alan looked at another slightly charred piece of equipment. "You're gonna tell me he was bootlegging off someone else's system?"

"Yup, looks like he sure could. The wireless scanner could pull in a signal from any one of a dozen sources. There are a lot of hot zones in this town. Clever boy, not too many people know how to do that."

The admiration in Wilson's voice was getting on Alan's nerves. He walked over to the only other door in the room, probably a closet, and yanked the door open. "Whoa," Wilson said behind him.

A photo of Alan's face stared back at him, but the note scrawled underneath said it all. "Find what you were looking for, detective?" The words were written on the painted plasterboard and that was all it said. The photo showed him standing in the pizzeria, newspaper in hand. The pizza kid had taken it with his cell phone. Damn.

Mike and Brett returned. The other apartment had been cleaned out as well.

"Damn," Mike said when he saw the photo.

"They knew we were coming it seems." Brett added

"This is a very talented bunch of kids, gentlemen," Wilson said. "We underestimated them."

"One kid ... it's only one kid that engineered all this. I suppose it's useless but call the lab and get an ID team over here for prints and anything else they can find. What's next door?" Alan asked.

"Some pizza boxes, that's about all ... oh and this, it's got your name on it," Brett said, handing over a folded paper. "It was inside one of the boxes."

Alan took the piece of paper and slowly unfolded it. "Sorry about all this ... Austin. 555-8329 ... call me tomorrow."

"They left you a phone number?" Wilson asked, "That took balls."

"Probably a throw away, we'll never trace it," Mike said.

"Kevin doesn't know about this I'll bet. Austin did this on his own," Alan said.

"So we have an inside to their organization?" Brett asked.

"I believe Austin and I connected in some way this morning, I just don't know why. Somehow we need to get that kid back before the owners of this operation start looking for someone to blame for this little bug out. Losing all this stuff is gonna cost them."

"About ten, maybe fifteen grand I estimate, but they took the heart of the system, the rest is just hardware," Wilson said.

"Let's go over the rest of the building before ID gets here. I want to know how they left. Maybe Austin left me another clue," Alan said. "Mike you find the manager and explain the protocol for the broken doors. And find out who was paying the bills for this place. Pressure him if you have to, he had to know there were nothing but kids living up here. Show him the sketch of Bucky and see if he can ID that clown as well."

The team split up, with Mike headed down to the lobby. Brett and Wilson went out to search the halls and head down to the basement. Alan stared at the useless equipment and thought.

This was a well rehearsed move, he could feel that. Maybe it wasn't the first time they had to abandon ship. He would have Mike check the files and see if there were any other similar records of abandoned computer equipment. Ten grand was a lot of money, unless it was considered just a cost of doing business.

Kevin was the point man ... umm, a freaking kid ran this setup. That's what wasn't making sense. Bucky wasn't the geek, just the muscle ... this seventeen year old was running things day to day. But someone was financing all this, someone with ten grand to burn up. Someone who was deeply involved in child porn and prostitution ... and that meant he was someone dangerous.

Alan considered there might be a mob connection and then pushed that thought aside. The organized crime guys were into preserving their assets, not killing them. Was he beginning to feel some connection between this operation and the unsolved child murders? God, he had to get Austin back before something happened to that kid.

He looked at the note once again. So the boy did have some feelings about their brief encounter. The word 'sorry' stuck out, was he really sorry? Austin had managed to warn Kevin, to protect the one he loved ... did that leave him with feelings of gratitude?

Alan wanted to get back to the office, to his desk and the keyboard it held. Maybe he could spot which website was temporarily down, that might give him a clue. But even as he thought that he knew better, Kevin would be up and running in no time at all, they must have a backup plan ... he was too smart not to.


On to Chapter Three

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"On the Wire" Copyright © 16 November 2008 by Chris James. All rights reserved.
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