I am pleased to announce my novel THE EXECUTION OF JUSTICE has been released by Blue Line Publishing House, Inc. It is AVAILABLE NOW at
http://www.MichaelPhelpsNovels.com, and will be soon at amazon.com, barnes&noble.com, and all other Internet booksellers. Coming soon also, to a bookseller near you.
THE EXECUTION OF JUSTICE is the debut introducing the Detective Mike Walsh novels.
Mike Walsh is a good cop, a devoted husband, and a good friend to have.
With just under six years experience as a uniformed patrol officer, he and his partner Brad Reccio are dispatched to a domestic dispute, just 45 minutes before the end of their Day Watch shift.
As they approached the address, Headquarters radioed a report of shots fired, changing their dispatch code from 2 to 3, which means emergency lights and siren. It was Christmas Eve. An overnight snow storm left about 4 inches on the ground.
As he parked the police car, Reccio exited and walked towards the front door of the well maintained ranch-style home. Walsh exited the driver's side and was walking around the car, putting his leather, rabbit fur-lined gloves on. Suddenly, the door was pulled open, and a man emerged, his left arm around the chest of a little girl, a .45 Cailber Automatic in his right hand. Without warning, he squeezed off three shots, Reccio fell to the ground, about twenty yards from the front door. Walsh dived into the snow, pulling his .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum from its holster, and grabbing his radio; "B-5 . . . SHOTS FIRED . . . CODE ONE . . . OFFICER DOWN!"
He was about tweny feet behind Reccio, and began inching his way to his fallen partner. He could see the snow under Reccio's mid-section turning a bright pink, then fading into a dark crimson as the splotch widened in the snow.
He almost whispered to his partner, asking where he had been hit, knowing he was wearing a Kevlar vest. Reccio responded he had been hit just under his vest, and in his left arm, he was in great pain. He was losing blood fast.
Walsh crawled on his belly to just past his partner, and pulled himself up on his elbows, and stood facing the shooter, raising his gun and pointing straight at the deranged man's face.
The suspect was yelling obscenities, and demanding the cops clear out . . . he was leaving, with his little girl hostage.
As sirens of responding police cars wailed in the background, Walsh began a dialogue with the crazed gunman. For several intense minutes, each stood, pointing their guns at each other, the little girl whimpering and crying.
Finally, the gunman dropped his gun, released his little girl, and Walsh rushed him, tackled him to the ground and placed him in handcuffs.
Reccio would spend six weeks in the hospital, and another three months at home recovering from his near fatal wounds.
Two months after the incident, Walsh is hand-picked by his old friend and mentor, Detective Sergeant Jack Lovell, to replace his retiring partner in the elite Robbery & Homicide Division of the Indianapolis Police Department.
Walsh is excited, yet apprehensive about the promotion. He fights feelings of inadequacy, insecurity. His wife is excited about the added income.
Helping solve a few armed robberies, and a couple of homicides, Walsh soon discovers he's actually quite good at detective work, and he likes his job. His wife, however, is not liking the change. Walsh is now putting in 16 and 18 hours a day, sometimes even on his days off. The marriage begins to suffer. Can Walsh hold it all together?
With just over a month in the job, Lovell and Walsh are handed an armed robbery case. The unknown suspects are well organized, and carry out their crimes with military precision. As the weeks pass, the gang's crimes escalate, and the violence with which they act increases.
Soon, the gang is Lovell and Walsh's first priority. Tracking down leads to the identity of the gang is a slow and exasperating process for the detectives.
Two weeks before Christmas, with twenty-three robberies, from several family restaurants, to banks, to the killing of a Brinks Armored Car Guard, Lovell and Walsh have got a lock on the suspects. A Confidential Informant has given them what they need to take the ruthless gang off the streets.
Lovell plans to execute raids on three separate dwellings, where the C.I. has assured the detectives they would find the leaders and most of the other gang members.
With teams of four Robbery & Homicide detectives and eight uniformed patrol officers, Lovell formulates a plan to excute the raids simultaneously at each of the three houses in the pre-dawn hours of December 11th.
At precisely 4:45 A.M., with all officers in place, Lovell gives the signal.
At the first house, the detectives find it empty.
At the second house, five men and four women are aroused from deep sleep, and taken into custody without incident.
At the third house, a duplex on the city's northside, Lovell pounds on the door, announcing the police have the house surrounded, and for all inside to come out with their hands raised. There is silence. Lovell has an officer wake the woman next door, who said she knows people are inside the duplex. Lovell yells again for the people to come out of the house. Again, he gets no response. He steps back, raises his right leg and kicked the door with all his strength. The door splintered, but opened only 6 to 8 inches.
Tragedy struck the team, as bursts of gunfire came from the opening in the door, Sergeant Lovell yelled; "OH GOD . . . I'M HIT . . . GET HELP!" Those were his last words.
As the sergeant crumbled to the frozen concrete porch, Walsh, jumped from his crouched position beside the porch and fired into the house. The other officers opened fire, and were met with a barrage of gunfire from automatic weapons. Walsh radioed headquarters a "Code One", requesting an ambulance and S.W.A.T. response.
A gun battle ensued, lasting two and a half hours. In the end, five men and four women, having thrown out several weapons, emerged and surrendered. A sixth man lay critically wounded inside. Paramedics rushed in, stablized him and rushed him to the hospital. Doctors worked feaverously to save his useless life.
Walsh's wife, hearing the drama over the police scanner in their home, calls Mike's sister Janet, who rushes over and takes her to the hospital. Doctors confirm she has miscarried, in her fifth month.
Walsh's life take a spiraling dive; his wife, not able to cope with her miscarriage, the stress of being a cop's wife, leaves him. He is depressed and guilt-ridden over his partner's murder. He falls into an alcoholic induced stupor, and contmplates suicide.
Can he survive?
With the help of his Captain, and his sisters, he manages to pull himself together, but it means making big changes in his life. He can no longer function as a cop, this much he knows.