The Blueprint (The Upgrade Book 1) by Wesley Cross Page B

certainty,” said Bill, getting up and cleaning his hands on the sides of his pants.
    “If I had to speculate, though, I’d say they’d breached the door, threw in two stuns first.” He pointed at two symmetrical scorch marks. “They tried to storm, but this fella took down the first two troopers.”
    “Okay.”
    “Hence.” Bill pointed to a bigger scorch mark. “The frag. But that didn’t go well either. Looks like he took down three more guys before the final showdown took place right over here.”
    He walked to the hallway and stopped next to a large pool of dried blood.
    “That’s all I’ve got, I’m afraid. From here, your guess is as good as mine.”
    He fished out a ringing cell phone from his back pocket.
    “Ryan.” He listened for a few seconds, frowned, then handed the phone to Chuck.
    Captain,
he mouthed to Kowalsky.
    “This is Kowalsky,” Chuck said formally.
    “Chuck, this is Captain Brennan,” said a heavy baritone. “I need you and your partner back in my office as soon as possible.”
    “Yes, sir. We’ll head back as soon as we wrap up here.”
    “You didn’t understand me, Kowalsky. You and Ryan are off the case. I need you here for something else.”
    “I’m sorry, sir. I don’t understand.”
    “You heard me. Grab Ryan and get your asses here.” The line went dead.
    Bewildered, Chuck handed the phone back to his partner.
    “Apparently we’re off the case. Cap wants us back in the office ASAP.”
    “What the hell?” Ryan pocketed the phone and looked around. “So we’re done here?”
    “No way.” Chuck took out his phone and started taking pictures. “Get a copy of the report from the lieutenant, then we’ll go.”
    •     •     •
    “What do you think this is all about?” asked Ryan as they headed back to the city. “Something else came up?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t think so,” said Chuck, steering through the traffic, merging onto Manhattan Bridge. “As you were talking to Sam, I placed a couple of calls and nobody seems to know anything. Nothing major at least. I don’t like this. I don’t like this one bit.”
    Chuck put on a siren first, but a few seconds later angrily flipped it off and eased his foot off the throttle. They rode the rest of the way in silence, the dark cloud of unspoken doubts hanging over them.
    Captain Guy Brennan was waiting for them in his office, his face even redder than usual, angry red splotches spreading from his bald freckled scalp all the way to his thick neck.
    “Sit down,” he said without looking up from his computer.
    “Sir?” Chuck didn’t move from the door. “Why are we off the case?”
    Captain finally looked up, his heavy jaws silently moving under the folds of flushed skin.
    “There was a burglary in Chelsey last night. I want you to check that out. Details have been uploaded to your workstations.”
    “What was taken?” Kowalsky asked calmly.
    “About forty grand of jewelry and seven thousand in cash.”
    “Anyone hurt?” Chuck thought he heard his partner quietly cursing under his breath.
    “No, the place was empty. Any other questions, Detective?”
    “Yes, Captain, just one.” Kowalsky walked over and put his hands on the captain’s desk, looking his boss in the eye. “What the fuck, Guy?”
    “I warn you, Detective, before you say things that you can’t take back.” Brennan stood, his multiple chins turning scarlet.
    “You heard me,
Captain
. I’ve known you for a long time, and this is the biggest bullshit I’ve ever heard you say. We have an assassination attempt, laser-guided bullets, and a slaughter house with six corpses in military fatigues, and you’re assigning me to a fucking burglary?”
    “Detective Kowalsky, please place your badge and your service weapon on my desk. You’re suspended from active duty effective immediately until further notice.”
    “If you say so.” Chuck slapped his badge and his gun on top of the pile of papers covering Brennan’s