The Tranarchists

By William Carlyle

This novel mirrors a real life situation in Southern California.It is an allegory (sort of) for government officials bending the law to their advantage. The players in this fictional universe have turned to vigilantism to correct perceived injustices. And their solution to some cases is extreme prejudice- no holds barred. They are well suited for the task with a mix of talents and not hesitant to apply them. Their main focus is on local law enforcement and the corruption within. Depending on the readers views,. the good guys and the bad guys are difficult to judge..

djudice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Carlyle
• Release date: Dec 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005793760

William Carlyle

Born 1941 to the best parents in the world. Oldest of 7 kids, 6 surviving. Live in the hills out of Santa Margarita, California with Maygee, my soulmate - Female terrier mix, the dog, not me.. Am a happy hermit: Love movies and good food. Joined Smashwords recently and find that I really like writing. Have written 3 novellos and one documentary.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

HAWKINS

It was quiet out. Fog had rolled in and Fred Hawkins tied up his skiff, looking forward to a hot toddy in front of the tube. The bass had ignored his ten dollar lures and he had lost one in the weeds: not an altogether great afternoon. He was chilled and slowly made his way up to the boat shed to store his gear. Retirement from the sheriff's department was not all that great: he had way too much time to think. Which was what he was doing when he entered the shed.

The inside was dark. Flicking the light switch failed to turn on the light. Tried it several times, but no light. Still mulling over his past exploits (and regrets), Fred walked towards the far end of the shed, where he knew the poles were stacked. Half way and his foot caught on something and he fell face foward. Instinctively, he raised his hands to ease the fall. And died.

CHAPTER 2

TANYA BAKER

She was 28, had a 10 year old girl, Julie, and never married. Born in Santa Cruz, her life's goal was to be a model. Unfortunately, her muscular body, didn't agree with that end game. So after graduating from USC and floating around a bit, she enrolled in the police academy. After finishing, Ms Baker applied for an officer's position in See Los Oso County with the Sheriff's Department. With a sharp intellect and a 'no nonsense' attitude, she quickly rose to the rank of detective.

On Monday morning, (everything always seems to happen on Monday), Tanya got a memo that a former deputy was not answering his phone: could she check it out? With nothing on her plate at the moment, she jumped into her SUV and headed out to Hawkin's place. He lived in an area at the edge of Loon Lake. When she arrived, just as a joke, she activated the siren and voiced on the loudspeaker, Come out with your hands in the air. No response. Waiting a little while, she went up the front steps and banged on the front door. Again nothing, so she opened the door and called out. No response.

Entering the house, Tanya noted the Fred was not the neatest guy. It also appeared that he had just stepped out. Calling out again produced nada and Tanya went from room to room, finding nothing unusual. Recalling that a notation in Fred's file mentioned a fishing shed, she vacated the house and after a little searching, saw the shed near the edge of the lake. Approaching the shed, she noticed the door was ajar. Closer and the unmistakable smell of death assailed her senses. As she pushed the door fully open, she was startled by a sudden flurry of motion and a raccoon barreled by her and back to the woods.

The shed was not large and from the doorway, the girl deputy could see the body, lying in the center. At first appearance, the guy had just fallen. On closer inspection, the floor under the upper part of his body was awash in dried blood. What looked like an accidental death began to seem quite the opposite. Tanya knew crime scene investigation procedure and immediately exited the fishing shed.

Her call to the central station brought an army of CS investigators within the hour. Reporting to her senior, Tad Sturges, she explained that the scene looked suspicious, and she did not want to contaminate the area. Tad agreed with her decision, especially since the dead guy was a retired deputy. Stay on site for a while and see if you can find anything out of the ordinary. he said.

While the crime scene investigators went about their work, Tanya hung around, listening to their synopsis. At first, it appeared that Fred had entered the shed and tripped on some fishing line. That theory proved to be short lived when it was discovered that the body had almost been decapitated. His wrists had also been sliced through.

One of the staff went through a pantomime of Fred's last moments on earth. He walked into the shed, faked tripping on some line and feigned falling forward as Fred had done. Precisely at the position where Fred's neck would have been after falling, was an extremely thin wire, stretched across the area.

They used this method in Germany, during the war. Stretched a cable across roads and killed by cutting off the heads of unsuspecting traffic. Another staff member gave a close inspection of the wire and said,I don't think the Germans had any of this wire at their disposal, as he stretched it between his fingers and instantly cut himself. This is high tech. Should be able to trace it.

Tanya was getting hungry and decided to head back to headquarters. Having one of those brains that never wants to shut down, she kept thinking that if this was murder, what could the motive be. She would later find that Fred had no large amounts of cash or other valuables and no kids. Having been divorced for many years, it did not seem likely that his ex would come after him. Had he angered someone? The fact that he had been killed, pointed to that possibility. Did it have something to do with his job or was it more of a personal vendetta? Questions without answers: all in a day's work.

CHAPTER 3

THE CHAPEL

Sean sat at the kitchen table, sampling some of Padre's latest experiment with grapes. It's not really that bad, Pete. The priest was silent, knowing that a further judgement was inevitable. Sean took another long sip and said, Actually, it is pretty good. Pete sat back in his chair and asked, How did it go with Hawkins? Sean was the facilitator for the tranarchists and very good at his calling. "Haven't heard from the source, but I am sure it went off without a hitch: it was well planned. Pete laughed Do I detect a hint of arrogance, Sean?" In turn, he just received a smile.

At that moment, Sean's cell phone gave out it's musical tone. Sean here. He listened for a moment and then hung up. "That was the source, apparently the wire almost took off Hawkins' head. Pete nodded, The specs on the wire are classified, but it can supposedly support over 500 pounds with no stretching. Sean agreed: And it is so fine that I could hardly see it and had to wear kevlar gloves to keep from cutting my hands up. And thought for a second. Can we get more of it? The priest shook his head. Not sure. It might be traced back to us, so we have to be careful."

Then the parishioners began arriving. The padre donned his robe and opened up the front of the chapel, greeting his flock. As the day progressed, he gave sage advice to troubled minds, told a few jokes and performed what all priests do in this world.

No one knew Pete's secret. Several years