Part 137, Chapter 2348
Chapter Two Thousand Three Hundred Forty-Eight
5th January 1975
Tempelhof, Berlin
Standing there on the sidewalk with his hands in his coat pockets, Sepp felt extremely foolish to have walked past here in the first place. In the window of the discount clothing chain-store was a poster of an extremely attractive woman whose apparent discovery of the blouse she was holding was the greatest thing ever if the blissful expression on her face was anything to judge by. The blouse she was already wearing was extremely tight and a bit revealing. When Sepp had been thirteen the picture had sort of blown his mind. How could people walk past that all the time and hardly give it a glance? As silly as it sounded now, he’d had a crush on the model though as far as he knew she had done nothing else, and he had no idea how long the poster had been hanging there. Just the fact that it was still there years after he had first seen it spoke volumes. That he had gravitated towards here left him feeling rather foolish.
What had he been thinking?
Kissing Sophie had been stupid, but for a moment the experience had been blissful. Like something from the movies. Then she had pushed him away and the argument had started. The expression on her face… It was as if he had hurt her somehow. He had replayed that moment in his mind again and again trying to figure out what he had done wrong. The only thing that came to mind was Katherine’s warning from months earlier about how Sophie had had a difficult life to please be careful with her.
At the time, that had seemed presumptuous.
Now though…
For lack of anyone better to talk to, Sepp had mentioned this to his mother. She had asked how much he knew about Sophie’s past, and he had been forced to admit that he knew very little other than that she had once mentioned something about how the building she had once lived in, in Reinickendorf, had been torn down. There was also how she spoke during unguarded moments, a Working-Class Berliner accent not unlike the one that Sepp himself had. To his eternal regret, when Sepp had been hurt by Sophie’s rejection he had used that like a club to beat her over the head with. He had called her a phony and had rubbed it in once he had seen that it had drawn blood. He had been angry and hurting her back had all he had cared about. How could he have done something like that to someone he supposedly cared about? Sepp’s mother had told him that he was still growing up and learning which was far better than the alternative. Something about the way Sepp’s mother had said suggested that she had his father in mind when she said that last part.
At the same time, Sepp had royally messed things up with Sophie because he had simply not understood a key thing about her. She was one of the daughters of the Tigress and everyone knew that to play that role, you had to have a past that you wouldn’t wish upon your worst enemy. Whatever had happened in her past, it had caused her to freak out when he kissed her.
Feel a new wave of guilt and self-loathing Sepp continued up the street forgetting about the stupid poster. It wasn’t hard to figure out that what he had really wanted was for things to be simple again. Was that really too much to ask?
Los Angeles, California
It shouldn’t have been a surprise, but this wasn’t getting treated like just any “Officer Involved Shooting” after the details got spread around. The way things had panned out, the first news helicopter had arrived overhead before additional Officers had arrived on scene. Word had spread fast, the crew from over on East 22nd had been decimated and it had been a single Officer who had done the deed. Ritchie had gotten an earful about how they had part of a larger gang and that this was a source of great embarrassment in that some of their top soldiers had been taken down by him in seconds.
Ritchie had not done himself any favors when he had bristled at the mention of those undisciplined punks being called soldiers of any kind. When they had found themselves taking on a real soldier, it had proven to be a fatal mistake for many of them. He was also believed to have taken down a serious shot-caller or two, but a shotgun was quite good at erasing identities with an ounce of what they loaded the shells with. It remained to be seen how the Street would react to this incident, but word had spread about how there was a “Super Cop” out there. Which struck Ritchie as being totally absurd.
There was also the detail that he had sort of disregarded orders when he had rushed off to rescue Richard Anthony “Tony” Marin. However, it was unlikely that anyone in the Department would ever act against him because the FBI had descended on Parker Center along with a team of Federal Prosecutors. It had been that Tony had finally told Ritchie what all of it had been about.
Someone had tried to set up a Mischner style operation within Los Angeles. Cornering the market in every illegal activity in the County and imposing a Street Tax. Tony had caught a glimpse of who that was and that had been enough for there to be an attempt on his life. Even as Ritchie heard that, he realized that it could only be someone high up in the Department.
5th January 1975
Tempelhof, Berlin
Standing there on the sidewalk with his hands in his coat pockets, Sepp felt extremely foolish to have walked past here in the first place. In the window of the discount clothing chain-store was a poster of an extremely attractive woman whose apparent discovery of the blouse she was holding was the greatest thing ever if the blissful expression on her face was anything to judge by. The blouse she was already wearing was extremely tight and a bit revealing. When Sepp had been thirteen the picture had sort of blown his mind. How could people walk past that all the time and hardly give it a glance? As silly as it sounded now, he’d had a crush on the model though as far as he knew she had done nothing else, and he had no idea how long the poster had been hanging there. Just the fact that it was still there years after he had first seen it spoke volumes. That he had gravitated towards here left him feeling rather foolish.
What had he been thinking?
Kissing Sophie had been stupid, but for a moment the experience had been blissful. Like something from the movies. Then she had pushed him away and the argument had started. The expression on her face… It was as if he had hurt her somehow. He had replayed that moment in his mind again and again trying to figure out what he had done wrong. The only thing that came to mind was Katherine’s warning from months earlier about how Sophie had had a difficult life to please be careful with her.
At the time, that had seemed presumptuous.
Now though…
For lack of anyone better to talk to, Sepp had mentioned this to his mother. She had asked how much he knew about Sophie’s past, and he had been forced to admit that he knew very little other than that she had once mentioned something about how the building she had once lived in, in Reinickendorf, had been torn down. There was also how she spoke during unguarded moments, a Working-Class Berliner accent not unlike the one that Sepp himself had. To his eternal regret, when Sepp had been hurt by Sophie’s rejection he had used that like a club to beat her over the head with. He had called her a phony and had rubbed it in once he had seen that it had drawn blood. He had been angry and hurting her back had all he had cared about. How could he have done something like that to someone he supposedly cared about? Sepp’s mother had told him that he was still growing up and learning which was far better than the alternative. Something about the way Sepp’s mother had said suggested that she had his father in mind when she said that last part.
At the same time, Sepp had royally messed things up with Sophie because he had simply not understood a key thing about her. She was one of the daughters of the Tigress and everyone knew that to play that role, you had to have a past that you wouldn’t wish upon your worst enemy. Whatever had happened in her past, it had caused her to freak out when he kissed her.
Feel a new wave of guilt and self-loathing Sepp continued up the street forgetting about the stupid poster. It wasn’t hard to figure out that what he had really wanted was for things to be simple again. Was that really too much to ask?
Los Angeles, California
It shouldn’t have been a surprise, but this wasn’t getting treated like just any “Officer Involved Shooting” after the details got spread around. The way things had panned out, the first news helicopter had arrived overhead before additional Officers had arrived on scene. Word had spread fast, the crew from over on East 22nd had been decimated and it had been a single Officer who had done the deed. Ritchie had gotten an earful about how they had part of a larger gang and that this was a source of great embarrassment in that some of their top soldiers had been taken down by him in seconds.
Ritchie had not done himself any favors when he had bristled at the mention of those undisciplined punks being called soldiers of any kind. When they had found themselves taking on a real soldier, it had proven to be a fatal mistake for many of them. He was also believed to have taken down a serious shot-caller or two, but a shotgun was quite good at erasing identities with an ounce of what they loaded the shells with. It remained to be seen how the Street would react to this incident, but word had spread about how there was a “Super Cop” out there. Which struck Ritchie as being totally absurd.
There was also the detail that he had sort of disregarded orders when he had rushed off to rescue Richard Anthony “Tony” Marin. However, it was unlikely that anyone in the Department would ever act against him because the FBI had descended on Parker Center along with a team of Federal Prosecutors. It had been that Tony had finally told Ritchie what all of it had been about.
Someone had tried to set up a Mischner style operation within Los Angeles. Cornering the market in every illegal activity in the County and imposing a Street Tax. Tony had caught a glimpse of who that was and that had been enough for there to be an attempt on his life. Even as Ritchie heard that, he realized that it could only be someone high up in the Department.
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