Schism

Chapter 32 part 1

Chapter 32

Bryan watched as Cray and Rios shuffled into the main squad room.  Cray glared at Bryan, silent as usual as he walked past.  Rios hooked his thumb at Hayes' office and stopped.

"You found him after we got the people out.  We tried to apprehend him together.  Cray attempted to tase the suspect, hit me accidentally.  That's all we saw."  Rios walked away.

Bryan watched Rios and rubbed his eyes; tried to push the tiredness away.  The night long search for William had worn him out more than he'd realized.  He'd been fine until he got to the office and sat down.  And as tired as he was, he was glad there wasn't a couch in the squad room.

As he stood, he caught sight of Nichols standing next to Dieterly and Hicks, the rookies.  The three of them watched Bryan move toward the Lieutenant's office.  Nichols looked like he wanted a bowl of popcorn to have with his entertainment.  Bryan gave them all a wave.  The rookies returned it.

He turned to see Hayes waiting outside his doorway.  "Get the hell in there."  As he followed the order, he heard Hayes yell out into the squad room.  "You want a show?  You want a show?"

Bryan peeked around Hayes' arm to see Nichols lumber away and the rookies scatter.  He stepped back as Hayes came in and slammed the door and stomped to his desk.  "Well.  They're covering for you."  He glared.

Bryan knew better than to answer.  Nothing he could say would help the situation.  He waited.

Slowly, Hayes lowered himself into his chair, didn't make any motion for Bryan to sit.  The blinds were drawn, but he could still feel the other detectives waiting outside, as if they were watching him stand court-martial.

The sound of Hayes' yell hit like a strong wind, he had to force himself not to wince.  "That's two goddamned cars.  Both with you on the scene.  Motor pool is throwing a hissy fit over this.  You have any idea how much tax revenues are down in this damn city?"

Again, Bryan kept his mouth shut.

"And, if you'd been smart enough to let me know about your damn tip, we could have gone in there in force, caught all these racist morons once and for all.  You think about what you've blown there?  All the damage they've done?  How much of this city that could have been saved if we'd stopped them last night?" Hayes said.

He knew he should keep quiet, let Hayes get it all out and get back out on the street as fast as he could.  He needed to watch over Jess.  Bryan knew all that.  "Except that they don't exist," he said.  "So the only one we could go after was the vigilante."

It was a mistake, he was sure of it.  Hayes had never stood for any back talk, and it was near suicidal when the lieutenant was worked up.  Bryan braced himself for the worst.

Hayes stared back at him, lowered his voice so much that Bryan had to lean forward to hear him.  "We'll see if the D.A. changes his tune on that today.  Gave him the prelim this morning."

Bryan was sure Hayes knew it was a foolish hope.  District Attorney Giles had refused to see the problem that had been growing over the last year.  One more incident would hardly pry the man's eyes away from politics to protecting the people and the city. 

"Without backup, all three of you could have been killed."  Hayes waved a hand as he rubbed his eyes.  "Sit down, goddamn it."

Bryan did, waited a moment for Hayes to speak, then went ahead and answered.  "They weren't trying to kill us."

That earned him a sneer from the lieutenant.  "They threw Molotovs at you, Mickelson."

"No.  The first one threw it at my feet.  He was close enough to have a real shot at hitting me in the chest.  That would have killed me.  And the other perp aimed for the headlights.  I think they had orders to throw and run, just to intimidate," Bryan said.

"Why?"

This was where Bryan had to be careful.  Too much information about this would lead to talk about William.  He had been thinking about it all morning, most of the night as well.  William had smelled like gas the day before, and there had been a burned section on his coat.  The white supremacist leader, Jared Smith, had been working things out, had come up with a way to hold William at bay.  His soldiers had been ordered to use the bombs to keep William back while they retreated, and had used the same tactic on Bryan, Rios and Cray last night.  But why was the more important question.  Why hadn't they tried to kill William last night?

"I don't know, not really," Bryan said.  "I think they’re planning something bigger.  It was a test last night, for something."

"Test?  A test for something worse than burning down a whole damn block?  What the hell do you mean?"

Bryan leaned forward, elbows on knees.  He had wondered if last night had been some kind of a set up by Jared to test William somehow.  If it had been, it would lead to something worse.  He organized his thoughts a moment, worked on a way to redirect Hayes.  "Another big fire?  Some new tactics or materials?  They didn't have to light these bombs before they threw them.  Just exploded when they hit."  He sighed and rubbed his face.  "I don't know.  I'm talking out of my ass."

He left his head down in his palm, waited for Hayes and actually enjoyed the moment of rest. 

"Forensics had a UV light.  I looked at the doors myself.  You were right.  All but six houses were marked."

Bryan looked up.  "All black?"

"One Mexican family.  Seems like they want them out too," Hayes said.

It was just what Bryan had thought.  "Going for the whole block, it would have broken that neighborhood's back."

"Yeah."

"It's a racial cleansing.  You know that, don't you?" Bryan asked.

Hayes' chair creaked as the big man leaned back in it and shook his head.  "Jesus, Mickelson, what do you think I do in here all day?  You think I just babysit your asses?  I work.  I do the job, no matter what the idiot D.A. says.  Do you even know where my family's from?"

Bryan was cautious with his answer.  "No."

"Lawrence County.  Missouri.  My grandfather had lived in Monett, then in Pierce City with his parents.  They hid in a basement as a mob of hundreds of whites shot up and burned down the black section of town.  When they ran out of ammunition, they raided the armory.  In 1901.  1901," Hayes said.

Bryan had no answer.