Infernal Affairs
Page 16
Freeman, however, didn’t look nearly as pissed off as the man with him. It was a Eurasian gentleman I didn’t know. He had deep black hair, wearing a dark, midnight blue FBI windbreaker that strangely enough, matched his eyes. For some reason, he looked vaguely familiar, though perhaps he just had that kind of face.
The…odd-looking FBI agent looked at Lawson like he was going to whip out a gun and open fire. “You! Are you Lawson?”
The acting mayor stood up as straight as possible. “Yes? And you are?”
“The guy who’s going to kick your ass up one side and down the other.”
Lawson sneered. “How offensive can you be?”
Father Freeman closed the door behind him as the Fed stormed forward, past me, and slapped his hands against the desk. He leaned over into Lawson and growled. “I’m going to offend you so hard, you’re going to shit your pants.”
I looked over my shoulder at Father Freeman. “Where did you pick him up?”
Freeman stopped over my left shoulder. “I was waiting in the lobby when he stormed through. I just followed.”
Mariel was on my right and laid her hand on my good shoulder. “I like him.”
Lawson rolled his eyes and glared at the newcomer. “May I ask what you’re doing here?”
“I’m here to hopefully talk you out of being a total idiot.”
Mariel laughed. “Too late.”
“Because, seriously, how stupid are you?” the Fed asked. “Do you have any inkling of what would happen if news of last night got out? Does the term riot and blood in the streets mean anything to you? You flaming moron!”
“How dare you reference my sexual preference.”
The Fed blinked, looked him up and down, and said, “You’re gay?”
Father Freeman gave a polite little cough. “If I may interrupt…?”
The Fed threw his hands up in the air, backed away from the desk, and waved Freeman forward.
Freeman stepped forward and nodded at Lawson. “Hello. I'm from the Catholic Church, and I'm here to help … Detective Nolan, not City Hall.”
Lawson scoffed. “Sure. Like you can help this homicidal maniac who killed a SWAT team and two city officials.”
Mariel huffed. “They were only politicians.”
Freeman merely gave a small smile as he tolerated all of this. “You see, the Mayor, who while he claimed to be Libertarian, ran on the Democratic ticket. Your ticket.”
Lawson rolled his hands in the air, indicating that Freeman should speed up. “And?”
“As such, that makes him the face of your party.”
“Yes. So?”
The Fed growled. “Did you know that the FBI had wired the house and grounds of last night’s shootout?”
Freeman smiled and waved at me. “By our request.”
Lawson’s face dropped, which made me wonder how much he knew about Hoynes’ various and sundry practices. Had Lawson been a knowing lackey? Or had he just suspected? Since there was no stink of evil from him, I suspected the latter.
Either way, the color drained from his face, which was an impressive feat for him. “But, but … but the house was destroyed,” he stated confidently, his spine firming up. “You can’t have anything left.”
The Fed sighed at the stupidity. “All the footage was uploaded to an off-site server, in real time.”
Freeman smiled. “You can't even imagine what the Mayor confessed to during the fight. Up to and including deliberately manipulating illegals, minorities, and trying to turn the city into a police state of willing slaves. Would you like to discuss prosecuting Detective Nolan now?”
Lawson blinked. His jaw tightened and ground together. His mind spun, racing for a solution. “Given the number of cops he killed, can Nolan really even stay in the city? There was even a cop killed in his own precinct, wasn’t there?”
I sighed, thinking back to Mary Russell. It was heartbreaking to think that one of my colleagues could have even thought of taking a shot at me. Heck, I thought we had been friends before she leveled the shotgun at me.
“No,” Freeman said, surprising even me. “And it is less because of the corrupt cops he has killed but because there is still a bounty posted for the Detective on the Dark Web.”
I winced. Yeah, that’d be a problem.
Lawson blinked, confused that there would be a legitimate reason to fear for my safety. “But the mayor is dead.”
The Fed growled again. “I have no patience for this idiot.” He pushed past Father Freeman and slammed both hands on the desk to get his attention. “Look, moron, you can’t just remove a page from the Dark Web and hope that’s it. To find the page you’re looking for, you need the exact URL. You can’t just google cop wanted dead or alive. There’s no way to be certain that all of the pages Hoynes posted the bounty on will be wiped. It’ll take weeks, if not months, for all of them to be caught and scrubbed. Just because the mayor is dead doesn’t mean that he didn’t make an automatic payment system set up in the event of his death. It doesn’t guarantee that everyone in on the bounty hears the announcement that the person who commissioned it is dead.”
Freeman nodded. “We are also not counting the corrupt cops he foiled. They must be cleaned up and disposed of.”
Lawson grinned. “So, he’s gone. Disappeared from the NYPD. Maybe witness protection is in order, hmm? Send Nolan off to some nice little farm in Ohio.”
The Fed sighed. “I think you mean Iowa or Idaho, dimwit.”
Lawson gave an amazingly limp-wristed wave of his hand. Seriously, was he trying to be a stereotype?
“No,” Freeman corrected him. “However, I do feel as though a transfer is in order. A transfer, perhaps, to the Intelligence Division? I am aware that the NYPD is the only department in the world that has its own foreign intelligence branch.”
Lawson frowned. “I would have to talk to the Commissioner about that.”
I didn’t say But you had no problem condemning me to whatever death you could arrange without talking to him. I merely smiled and wondered if schadenfreude was a sin.
Freeman smiled. “I already did. He’s all for it. I’m so glad you agree. We’ll be going now.”
Lawson opened his mouth, and the Fed held up his hand. “Oh no, you’re letting them go. You and I still need to have a very long talk about exactly how stupid you are.”
Mariel wheeled me around, and the three of us started for the door. I touched the Fed on the arm. “Is there a section of the Bureau dedicated to this?”
The Eurasian with the midnight blue eyes smiled. “Just me. I’m usually enough. Have a good vacation, Detective Nolan.”
We wheeled out. The door closed behind us, and the shouting started a second after.
Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me. Therefore I will praise you, LORD, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name. He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing love to his anointed, to David and to his descendants forever.
“In six months, the baby will have been born,” I said to Freeman.
The priest smiled. “Oh, we can make arrangements around that.”
Mariel gave a sigh of relief. “Thank God. I don’t want to be entirely alone with my mother as I get huge.”
“Amen to that.” I looked at Freeman carefully. “So, where exactly are you sending me? Once I’m healed up, of course.”
Freeman casually shrugged. “Oh. Certain people in Rome would like to talk with you. A very, very long talk.”
Acknowledgments
As we close out the first part of the Saint Tommy, NYPD series (no, this is not the end), I would like to thank some people I have missed in previous novels, as well as thank those who contributed to this novel.
First and foremost, my editors. All three of them: Margaret and Gail Konecsni of Just Write Ink, as well as L. Jagi Lamplighter Wrig
ht.
I would also like to thank Larry Correia, and his gun club with a book problem for the various and sundry advise I’ve gotten for these books. The ballistics of a nine millimeter in book one, the right age for gun ownership, all written with input from several corners of the internet. All mistakes are mine. But for someone who has held a whopping four guns during three range visits, I’m doing pretty darn awesome.
Also, this book is the culmination of suggestions from Hans Schantz, and my friend Jason. Hans suggested the development of abilities, and Jason suggested who the ultimate villain should be.
Of course, I would like to once again thank you, the reader, for joining me on this journey with Tommy Nolan. I’d ask that, no matter what you thought of the novels, you please go onto Amazon and/or Goodreads, and drop a review. Hopefully, sometime soon, you’ll have the opportunity to vote for Hell Spawn in the Dragon Awards.
Assuming you don’t have another book of mine in the queue, you can find my ramblings on DeclanFinn.com, or find me on Twitter at DeclanFinnBooks.
Be well all. And God Bless.
About the Author
ABOUT
DECLAN FINN
Declan Finn lives in a part of New York City unreachable by bus or subway. Who’s Who has no record of him, his family, or his education. He has been trained in hand to hand combat and weapons at the most elite schools in Long Island, and figured out nine ways to kill with a pen when he was only fifteen. He escaped a free man from Fordham University’s PhD program, and has been on the run ever since. There was a brief incident where he was branded a terrorist, but only a court order can unseal those records, and really, why would you want to know?
He can be contacted at DeclanFinnInc@aol.com
Follow him on Facebook and Twitter @DeclanFinnBooks
Read his personal blog: apiusmannovel.blogspot.com
Listen to his podcast, The Catholic Geek, on Blog Talk Radio, Sunday evenings at 7:00 pm EST
Also by Declan Finn
SAINT TOMMY, NYPD
Hell Spawn
Death Cult
Infernal Affairs (forthcoming)
LOVE AT FIRST BITE
Honor At Stake
Demons Are Forever
Live and Let Bite
Good to the Last Drop
THE PIUS TRILOGY
A Pius Man
A Pius Legacy
A Pius Stand
Pius Tales
Pius History
Also from Silver Empire
THE PRODIGAL SON
by Russell Newquist
War Demons
Spirit Cooking (forthcoming)
LOVE AT FIRST BITE
by Declan Finn
Honor At Stake
Demons Are Forever
Live and Let Bite
Good to the Last Drop
PAXTON LOCKE
by Declan Finn
Hell Spawn
Death Cult
Infernal Affairs (forthcoming)
PAXTON LOCKE
by Daniel Humphreys
Fade
Night’s Black Agents
Come, Seeling Night (forthcoming)