Chapter 17: WTF?

June, 1985

[ “Bob, it’s Sergeant Gregory, he wants to talk to you.”]

Bob motioned for us to stay quiet and put it on speaker. “This is Bob, what’s up? Do I need to come in or something?”

“No, unfortunately, this is probably unrelated, someone has broken into your apartment and trashed the place. Your landlord gave me your brother’s number. You had him listed as an emergency contact. How soon can you get over here?”

“I’ll be there in about 10 minutes. I’m leaving now.”

When we got out to Bob’s van, we saw that someone had slashed all 4 tires and smashed the windshield. A note was left wedged in the door.

I told Bob to carefully grab it by one corner and bring it with us, we would take my car ... Except, that 2 of my (the Chevy’s) tires and 2 of Greg’s had also been slashed.

Now, Greg and I were both PISSED OFF!

We flashed Mary and Jamie to see if they had seen anything when they left. They said they weren’t paying much attention and hadn’t seen anything unusual. It was disconcerting to think that gang knew where we lived.

I flashed that we didn’t want the girls to come home, but to go to Mary’s parents’ house instead. I told her we might have to cancel tonight’s festivities depending on what transpired at Bob’s apartment.

Greg grabbed Jamie’s keys. Since her car had been in the garage, it wasn’t damaged. Bob was relegated to the backseat of Jamie’s Toyota Corolla. (He’s the shortest.)

All the way over, Bob kept cursing Connie and apologizing to Greg and me. I told Bob that we might have to unleash the ‘Invisible Man’ to reign ‘Chaos and Mayhem’ on these ass-wipes.

Greg suggested we see what Sgt Gregory might have to say. It wouldn’t take long. He met us in the parking lot and we saw the crime tape across Bob’s door.

He wanted Bob to make a list of what was missing or damaged.

The first thing was the ‘S’ page had been ripped out of his address book, explaining how they found my house. That means they also knew where my parents lived.

They did trash the place and destroyed many pictures and most of Bob’s furniture. They also left something behind with a note. It was a tape and the note underneath it said, “These are the songs you need.”

Sgt. Gregory saw the trepidation we had and asked us what it meant. He asked us if we thought we might know who could’ve done this. Bob was about ready to tell him when I flashed to hold on for a second.

“Sgt Gregory, how much do you know about the Molokai gang in Rockford?”

I could see his blood run cold before he said, “Quite a bit, why? Do you think THEY’RE responsible for this?”

“I think it’s very possible. Bob’s ex-girlfriend tried to shanghai him into playing a gig for these guys. When Bob found out who the job was for he immediately backed out and said he wasn’t going to do it. He also found out that they had given his ex-girlfriend Connie an envelope with over $2000 in it, because she tricked Bob into doing the gig.”

I looked over at Bob’s answering machine and saw that someone had taken the tape out of it. I flashed Bob and he just said, “God damn that bitch!”

We explained to Sgt Gregory that the missing tape would’ve had evidence to back up what we were telling him. I told Bob to open that note that we found on his van.

Sgt Gregory stopped him. “How much have you touched that envelope?”

“I just touched the corner here, I’m assuming it’s a threat or instructions or both.”

Sgt. Gregory, who was already wearing rubber gloves, took the envelope and carefully opened it so as not to smudge any possible fingerprints. Removing the note with a pair of tweezers he opened it so we could read what it said.

“We know where your family lives and if you don’t

show up tonight at this address at 8:00 PM with

all of your equipment and the tape we left at your

apartment we will kill your entire family! Starting

with your brother and his cute wife. She was looking

good this morning in her Mustang GT. If you foolishly

attempt to call the police we’ll have no choice but

to kill your entire family. Call this number 555 – 1212

before 1 o’clock this afternoon to confirm your intentions.”

I was now freaking out. So was Bob and Greg. We were all looking at Sgt Gregory, wishing we hadn’t opened that note in front of him!

I looked at Sgt Gregory. “So, NOW what do we do?”

Sgt Gregory took a deep breath, then shook his head. “Well, it looks like you’re gonna DO that job! But don’t worry, you’re not gonna be alone.

“The problem, is I can’t say anything to the Rockford PD. My dad works as an investigator for the Illinois State Police. For the last year they’ve been investigating the Rockford Police Department for corruption and collusion with organized crime. They’ve also been investigating the Molokai gang. Every time they’ve tried to bust them, working in conjunction with the Rockford PD, all they managed to do was break up a bunch of old guys playing poker. They almost certainly have informants inside the police department. I can’t really say anything to MY department about this because regulations state that we have to inform the Rockford PD of any allegations of wrongdoing in their district. If I do that, I’d have to put your entire family into protective custody.”

I looked Sgt Gregory right in the eyes and asked, “Can we trust you Sgt? I mean can we REALLY trust you?”

I was watching him intently. Without batting an eye, he said, “YES you can. I’m certain that my department is clean but I’m not even going to take a chance with them. My dad’s been with the State Police his entire 25-year career. That’s why I need to make a secure call to him to try and get this set up. We’ll come up with a plan, the problem will be communications. Bob, when you get there tonight they’re going to search you for a wire. The address that they gave you is NOT where your gig is going to be. They will almost undoubtedly ‘escort’ you to the actual site and have you tailed to make sure you’re not being followed. With so little time, that could make things tricky finding out where the site is.”

I looked Sgt Gregory in the eye one more time. “The three of us are ALL going to be in on the operation. We can communicate with each other on a ‘frequency’ that can’t be intercepted, monitored or detected. The problem is, there is no radio in existence that we could give you. We can only communicate with each other.”

His brow furled as he began looking between the three of us.

I continued, “I don’t expect you to believe us without a demonstration, however, I have to have your word that you’ll never tell anyone about us.”

“Wow, like you guys have some kind of top-secret communication device?”

I simply grinned at him. “Yes Sir, something like that. If anyone found out we divulged our secret, even you at this point wouldn’t be safe from their wrath.”

“So in other words, I don’t WANT to know!”

“Do I have your word?”

“Yes, your secret is safe with me, I won’t breathe a word of it to anyone.”

I told him to take Greg into the other room and to tell him anything and I would write it down on a piece of paper. As soon as the door closed Greg flashed, “My direct line is 555 – 3343.”

They immediately came back out and I was already holding the piece of paper with that message on it. He looked floored. “Holy shit, so your communication is actually in real time?”

“Yes sir, it is, it’s as clear as the nose on my face and as you can see Greg didn’t even have to say word!”

“Okay, okay I believe you and your all in. Can you give me an idea what kind of range you guys have?”

“Let’s just say that 100 miles is not out of the question.”

“Jesus, our best Motorola’s don’t have that kind of range!”

“Now that that’s settled, tell us what you want us to do.” (He had NO IDEA the kind of Mayhem I was thinking of ‘raining down’ on these guys.)

Sgt Gregory said, “My men and I are going to leave now. In case they are watching us, I want to make sure that we’re long gone before you call them to tell them that you’re going to do it. We need them to believe that you haven’t contacted the police except about the break-in and that we were already here and called YOU. If you call them too soon after we leave, they might figure you opened that note while we were still here. My office is about five minutes from here. I want you to put a tape in your answering machine to record the conversation that you have with whomever answers it.”

I remembered the tires and said, “The problem is, those bastards slashed all four of Bob’s tires as well as two of mine and two of Greg’s. I don’t know that we can have it fixed in time.”

Sgt Gregory chuckled. “I would just tell those dumb bastards that if THEY don’t get the tires fixed YOU can’t do the show! I’ll bet you dollars to my next doughnut somebody will mysteriously show up and fix all those tires. You have to understand; they stand to make close to $100,000 at that gig tonight. We want to bust the entire operation, including the rich pedophiles that are paying close to $10,000 each to have sex with those young girls. Believe me when I tell you, if you tell them you can’t afford to fix the tires they won’t let that stop you.

“You have my direct line. I want you to call me at that number at 5 o’clock. I’m the only one that should answer. The first thing I want you to say is ‘Howdy’. I’ll reply ‘Doody’ and we’ll both know we got each other. If you get any reply other than ‘Doody’ you hang up immediately. I don’t want you to talk to anyone else. If I don’t hear from you by 5:15, I’ll call you at Charlie’s house.”

I told him, “Sounds like a plan!”

I flashed Mary, “Sweetheart, where are you? Are you all right?”

“My mother’s house like you said, yes I’m fine. What the hell is going on sweetie, I’m getting kinda worried.”

“That bitch Connie unleashed one of the worst street gangs in all of Rockford on us! They know where everyone lives including my parents. Bob has to do this job or they threatened to kill everyone. I need you to call everyone and tell them the party tonight is off. I need you to look outside and see if you see any strange cars outside.”

Bob flashed, “Mary, have you seen a beat up green and black Ford Pinto around at all today?”

Mary flashed, “There’s nothing outside here, but now that you mention it, this morning Jamie and I went past a car that looked just like that. There was a girl with black hair driving it and a big black guy sitting in the passenger seat. She might have been trying to follow me. Since I was in the left lane and she was right behind me, I mashed on the gas to get ahead of the guy I was next to and turned right real fast and I never saw her again after that.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about her driving. “So you lost her is what you’re saying sweetheart, or should I start calling you Mary-o Andretti?”

I could feel her giggling.

Bob was grinning at me when he flashed, “Jamie, I’m completely over the other night. Believe me, if anyone tries to hurt any of us I’m gonna RIP OFF THEIR HEADS and SHIT DOWN THEIR NECKS!”

“OK guys, PLEASE BE CAREFULL!”

We waited for almost 15 minutes after Sgt Gregory left before we called the number on the note. Bob put it on speaker so we could all hear. A gruff voice answered with, “HULLO, who dere?”

Bob said, “It’s Bob, the DJ. I got this note saying I needed to call you by 1 o’clock.”

“Oh, you deed, did you, what were da cops doin’ at your place just now maan? I thought I said no cops!”

“I didn’t call them, my landlord did because he saw that you trashed my apartment. Who’s gonna pay for all the damage?”

“Connie say you took our money maan, you can use that!”

“That fucking bitch didn’t give me a dime! If you want your money back, you need to go see her!”

“Let’s stop wasting time, are you gonna to do da job or note maan? Or do I have to start keeling your brudda and his girl?”

“Do you even know where they are?”

“I know your brudda’s weeth you right now maan. His girl gave me da slip but I’ll bet if I hang around her parents’ house I find her sooner or later.”

“Yes, I’m gonna do it! I’m going to bring my brother with me so he can help with my equipment.”

“Why do you need him; don’t you usually work alone maan?”

“Sometimes I work alone, but for this big of a job, I might need to bring my bigger speakers and I can’t lift them alone. Besides, he said if he couldn’t go with me HE would call the police, you don’t want that now do you?”

“I guess eet’s ok maan, you be at that address by 8 o’clock and no cops!”

“There is only one problem with that, you and Connie slashed my tires and I don’t have enough money to put new ones on.”

“I told dat beetch we shouldn’a cut your tires, your van still in da same place?”

“Duhh, yes, it is, it’s not like I could drive it anywhere! Oh and while you’re at it you better fix my windshield and the other four tires that you cut. Two of them on the Ford F-350 and two on that Chevy Caprice.”

“All right, I’ll do it, but you betta damn well be dare maan.”

“Don’t worry, I’LL BE THERE and you make sure that bitch Connie comes tonight so I can settle up with her.”