Chapter 1

Two weeks after Kathy Ray graduated from the Philadelphia Police Academy, she was given her assignment with her partner and now her fiancé, Nick Manelli. Kathy had a girlfriend from school, Carmine Kennedy, who had joined the "Mud Devils", an outlaw biker gang. The "Devils" were the distributors for one of the largest crime syndicates on the East Coast.

Jerry was the leader of the local Devils chapter, and Carmine was his little sister. Kathy was also the "key" to getting someone inside the Devils. Nick, and his Captain, convinced Kathy to join the force and partner with Nick, in order to try to shut down the East Coast drug supply for a while. It was dangerous work, and Kathy could not even tell her mother Tracy, and her sister Carol, for fear of reprisal against them. Thus, when she and Nick did go under cover she simply "ran off" with Nick and by Carmine and Jerry's sponsorship, they were admitted into the Devils.

They thought they were in trouble almost immediately. Jerry summoned Nick to tell him, "It might be best for us if you and Kathy went over to the Baltimore Devils Chapter. It seems the freaking cops in Philadelphia will arrest you for 'looking the wrong way down a one-way street.' What are they trying to pin on you?"

"They are trying to get me to rat out a friend of mine," Nick explained. "Remember that couple they found shot to death up by Florence last May? The one they pulled the car out of the Delaware and found them inside? Well the girl was his woman, so they think he wasted both of them. They are trying to get me to tell what I know. It won't happen."

"What do you know?" Jerry asked.

"How do I know you ain't an informant or something?" Nick asked Jerry. "Like I told the cops, I just knew the dude in school man. He got me suspended once and I got no use for him."

"So you protecting him," Jerry continued, "or do you not know?"

"I have been told their version so many times," Nick told Jerry. "If I told you something it might be because I dreamed it from hearing them tell me every time they hauled me in for being within city limits or something."

"Maybe you can stay for now." Jerry told him. "Just stay out of Philadelphia. No need drawing attention to us anymore than necessary."

Jerry told him that since Carmine and Kathy were friends, Nick would ride with him. That way he could "learn the ropes" faster. Of course Jerry wanted to keep an eye on him as well. That worked both ways. It also allowed Nick to keep an eye on Jerry and the workings of the Devils.

Most of their runs were within two hundred miles, bringing small amounts of crack cocaine, and marijuana to dealers in smaller towns and colleges. Mounted on Nick's customized Harley was a small video camera with wide-angle lens that could be zoomed remotely. Kathy wore a bra with the "wire", part of the "under-wire" and all had state of the art microchips built into them. Also in the seat of the bike was a GPS transmitter, which he could always say was planted while he was being questioned. It only sent a microburst signal when prompted remotely so anyone with a tracking station would not accidentally pick them up.

With the data gathered, when the big bust went down, it would be a multi-state operation, which would hit everyone the infiltrators gathered evidence on within a few minutes of each other. Law Enforcement agencies in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and all of New England were involved as well as the FBI, ATF, and Homeland Security. The proceeds from the drug sales went to finance various Terror Cells both here and overseas.

The Devils usually met their contacts in remote wooded areas, out of view of the more traveled routes. Sometimes this was at night and the contacts were hard to identify. For this there was an infrared camera still camera under the headlight. On the way back from a delivery in New Jersey they stopped to sleep in an abandoned house along the way.

Jerry told Nick he was doing just fine and was thinking of promoting him to be his permanent sidekick. Then he let them in on the big shipment coming in from Newark the night after Thanksgiving Day. Two container ships had docked and eight eighteen-wheelers were hauling the stuff. Each was headed to a drop off point, to supply a major metropolitan area, and the one for that area would be at the very place they had stopped for the night, at 3 in the morning.

"We have to get it unloaded," Jerry said, "and everyone on their way before daylight. You got a piece?"

"I can get one," Nick replied, "My buddy has one I can use. I can get a sawed off twelve gauge too. I'll teach Kathy how to use it."

"OK," Jerry instructed him, "First thing tomorrow, you get them, and meet me back at the 'Swamp' before dark."

"The Swamp" was a backwater area of the Delaware on the East Side of the river north of Philadelphia. It was once an old duck-hunting club that had been abandoned as the older members died off. The property had been seized for taxes, and remained unsold for the past fifteen years. It was where the Devils had their meetings and parties, and in fact the reason for the name "Mud Devils". There were the "Cape Devils" from the Cape Cod area, the "Ocean City Devils" from that area, the "Blue Ridge Devils", the "Bay Devils" from the Chesapeake Bay area and so forth.

Each chapter allegedly had a "plant" from various Law Enforcement agencies. Each had information that was being gathered and coordinated by the FBI and ATF. The discomforting thought is that if they had been all that good at gathering and disseminating intelligence, 9-11-2001 would be just another day in recent history. Hopefully that had changed.

It was not a risk Nick was about to gamble on with Kathy's life. When they went "to get the guns" they met with "Louie the Axe" Peretti, AKA Sergeant Lewis. The date, time and location were known, and independent of the National raid, the local one would go down, if there were a communication failure. Lewis hurried their Devils' jackets to the police lab where within an hour the squibs that looked like bullet impacts and the adhesive "oozing wounds" made from a new silicone compound were installed carefully and brought to a drop off point with the guns.

The area was scouted by a party of "grouse hunters" complete with one of the men's Irish Setter. The dog was a house pet, and stayed close for fear of getting eaten by a squirrel or something. However, it did add to the appearance of the "hunters" as they wandered past the abandoned house where the drop was to be made. The area would be mapped and was being filmed as they "hunted" their way past.

On the night of the bust, a NOTARS helicopter that was much quieter than a conventional one would drop them off in four groups. The NOTARS had no tail rotor to create the "wop-wop-wop-wop" sound that gives away a normal helicopter, and was almost silent at a distance. They were black for night use. Yes, there really are unmarked black helicopters.

When Nick and Kathy returned to "The Swamp" they had the guns with them, and Jerry wanted to see if they had sufficient firepower. Nick had a Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum like the one used in "Dirty Harry" and Kathy was equipped with a modified 12 gauge "Police" Remington 870 Pump with the extended magazine.

"Where did you get that?" Jerry demanded. "That's a cop's weapon!"

"WAS a cop's weapon," Nick said. "It was shall we say left unattended in front of Dunkin Donuts one night, and it magically walked to a friend's house."

"You get caught with that, you're toast, man!" Jerry yelled.

"Most definitely so since it could have a fingerprint or two on it that I missed, that belong to that murder suspect they always ask if I know." Nick explained. "If we have to use it, we are in trouble already anyway."

"Well keep both of them freaking cannons out of sight until you need them," Jerry said, and then walked off to get another beer. "Jeezus H. Christ," he mumbled. "I'm surprised you didn't bring back a damned grenade launcher!"

Nick and Kathy found their own little corner of the old clubhouse to do their own partying. Kathy was as nervous as the proverbial "whore in church" and Nick suggested the do as the locals do, and start with the sex party. The tenderness and reassurance of Nick's kisses were interrupted by one of the gang members called Swine for obvious reasons.

Swine was a good 400 pounds and well over six feet tall. You could smell him before you saw him in the darkness. "How about sharing her with a brother?" Swine asked.

"I don't remember you growing up, Swine." Nick told him.

"Naw, we's all brothers in the Devils man," Swine slurred as he spoke, the sour breath wafting across the room. "It's tradition, when a brother Devil don't have his own chick, you share. Then again, it's also a tradition that I can challenge you for her, and take her from you."

"Well, Swine," Kathy replied, "If you would clean up every couple of days, then you could find your own woman, and wouldn't have to threaten someone to take theirs by force. Wouldn't that be better?"

"I guess so," replied Swine. "I'll try, but if it don't work, I reserve the right to challenge for you."

He started to leave, and Kathy said, " Use some deodorant too if you would. Maybe then you can find your own girl."

"Yeah, whatever," he grumbled and left the room.

The Devils had tapped into the water and power that supplied the clubhouse. As Nick and Kathy walked towards the second floor bathroom they passed a huge man who had just come out. They didn't recognize him.

"I hope this suits you, Kathy," Swine said, "I'll try to stay this way when I can."

Not only did he bathe, but also he had washed his hair and trimmed his beard! Usually if you were within ten feet of him you knew it was Swine before you laid eyes on him.

"Much better," Kathy said, as she and Nick went to shower. Swine reached the stairs and a woman in her thirties with blond hair the color of wet straw stopped him, and began to chat with him. It was Cassie, who had been with Derrick French, until he was arrested for possession of twenty kilos of cocaine two weeks earlier.

Kathy and Nick washed each other, and went to the third floor to find a room that didn't still smell like the men's room in a low rent bar. They spread their sleeping bags out and zipped them together before crawling naked inside. As they held each other they heard the door click shut on the room next to them.

They heard a voice say, "I hope this room is all right Cassie. There's only two left."

Cassie replied, "It's fine Swine. You know when you clean up, you ain't a bad looking guy."

He said, "Cassie if you'll be my woman, I'll clean up every day."

"I'll think about that offer," Cassie said, "meanwhile I want to see this legendary equipment of yours the other girls talk about. I want to see if they are lying."

Swine took her in his arms, and kissed her with his "generic" mint mouthwash breath. He found some that was who knows how old, but it was better than sour beer breath. This time the bad breath was Cassie's who had been drinking all night. Swine grabbed a handful, even for him, of Cassie's "Double D's" and kneaded the right breast as she reached to undo his pants.