Wolf took over again.

“Meanwhile, we hear reports coming from Jamaica that the arrest has caused serious conflict between rival gangs.”

Donovan only half-watched the news and took his coffee back to his desk. He looked through the case load that was coming in this morning, but he found nothing interesting. Sedakis needed help again, but it was routine stuff. Morris, his neighbor, needed his help sorting out something with a copyright issue. He had cheated some writer out of royalties for a decade and the guy was getting angry.

His mind kept drifting. His mind drifted to the events of the past weeks again and he decided enough was enough. He thought about the news item he had just heard and he Googled the name he had heard. He skipped the first search results until he found an article from a local paper.

THE JAMAICA GLEANER

May 24, 2010

HEADLINE: Attack On State - Police Stations Set Ablaze Cop Shot Civilian Slain

Violence rocked sections of the West Kingston area throughout the day yesterday. Armed men brazenly took on the security forces in sustained attacks on police stations in anticipation of the apprehension of Inner City don, Marcel ‘Moses’ Brown. Four police stations came under attack; a civilian succumbed to gunshot wounds during an assault on the Fletcher's Land Police Station; and a policeman sustained a minor gunshot injury.

The Prime Minister said last night that two members of the security forces had been injured, but The Gleaner could not confirm the second case.

There were indications before dawn broke that something was afoot – five days after the Washington DC Supreme Court issued a warrant for Brown's arrest.

A Gleaner team observed a large convoy of Jamaica Defense Force vehicles – including armored trucks – with soldiers heading into Kingston along the Michael Manley Boulevard.

The tension, which simmered under the surface of day to day life throughout West Kingston, reached its boiling point yesterday as gunmen loyal to Brown came out in a show of support. Even as the security forces seemed to retreat as the day wore on, gunshots rang out and rained down until the early hours of the morning, causing residents in political strongholds to scurry for cover.

Darling Street & Denham Town Police Station

Early in the day, soldiers attempted to remove roadblocks of old cars and refrigerators which were mounted with increasing frequency in the areas surrounding Darling Street. Within an hour, the Darling Street Police Station came under attack. In the absence of strong opposition from local Constabulary Forces, the gunmen grew bold. By the afternoon, they progressed through the city’s ghetto and the Denham Town police station became the next target.

Hannah Town Police Station

Shots have been fired on the Hannah Town Police Station, forcing personnel to be evacuated. Armed thugs looted the empty station, removing computers and other equipment before razing the west wing of the building to the ground.

Downtown Medical Facilities

Medical staff at the nearby Kingston Public Hospital (KPH) and Victoria Jubilee Hospital have been put on alert. The unending sounds of gunshots punctured the air surrounding the two compounds. Medical staff have been abandoning their posts at both locations as they seek cover and safety.

Constabulary Forces have been dispatched to both locations to provide security, but the shots have not ceased in nearby Hannah Town and Denham Town.

Injured Officers and Civilians

It has been confirmed that an armored police vehicle brought the Police Commissioner, Owen Ellington to the KPH gun trauma unit. He released a statement that confirmed he was shot in the hand. The Commissioner’s condition is not considered serious.

A white Toyota Town Ace minivan brought a man into the Accident and Emergency Unit in critical condition. It was understood that gunmen sprayed his vehicle as they attacked the Fletcher's Land Police Station, hitting the occupant multiple times in the chest. He later died at the hospital. The police did not release his name.

The Police Commissioner said yesterday that the security forces would respond in an appropriate manner. “It is now clear that criminal elements are determined to launch coordinated attacks on our security forces,” he said in his statement. “The JCF wishes to advise the public that these attacks are unprovoked and coincide with our efforts to lawfully serve the public,” he added.

The Prime Minister has condemned the ‘calculated assault on our local authorities.’ A limited state of emergency has been put into effect with a curfew in West Kingston areas. He vowed that the security forces will use any force necessary to counter these thugs who have wreaked havoc on the capital.

“Let us make no mistake. The threats that have emerged to the safety and security of our people will be repelled with strong and decisive action. This will be a turning point for us as a nation to confront the powers of evil that have penalized the society and earned us the unenviable label as one of the murder capitals of the world. We must confront this criminal element with determination and unqualified resolve.”

He also sought to assure Jamaicans that the city was ‘not being shut down’ and that there should be business as usual after today's Labor Day holiday. Schools will reopen on Tuesday, he said.

The Government yesterday declared a state of public emergency for the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew, as tension mounted in the Jamaican capital. The state of emergency will remain in place for one month and may be adjusted by Parliament.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police said the security forces will respond with appropriate action. He said that images of barricades, other defensive positions, together with credible intelligence, indicate that scores of criminals from several gangs across the island have joined criminal elements in the Inner City.

***

Donovan grinned. It was the sort of case he liked. It was the sort of thing he wanted to be dealing with.

That afternoon, at home, he turned the television on again and he heard the news anchor report on the man again. There was still no attorney to answer any questions. The man was obviously guilty. And even if he was not, the situation back home was bleak too. The moment he was removed from his power-base, all hell broke loose and all his old partners, the people who ran things for him on the island, had begun to try to claim the top job. Chaos had broken out and even the man's political allies had deserted him. The Prime Minister had appeared on the news several times now, expertly dodging questions about Marcel Brown and his criminal activities, the corrupt government contacts that the man was rumored to have, and the year old extradition request that had laid unconsidered in the Jamaican courts that no one, even the suspect’s lawyer, seemed to be aware of. Instead, he emphasized the fight that the authorities were now taking against criminal elements in downtown Kingston and that their defiance in the removal process of Brown from Inner City, as they launched attacks against personnel and infrastructure, was considered a threat against the state. He was ordering a State of Emergency and curfews were being placed in several areas of the city.

Another person who had spoken out was the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, the current chairman of CARICOM. He had found the perfect moment to heckle the United States for illegally interfering in the CARICOM community. After the new treaties and regulations the US had been forcing onto the CARICOM members, he now had a reason to really stick it to the president and his government.