by Tom Barber
‘She goes into Wit-Sec, people are going to die,’ Vargas repeated.
‘People are already dying, Al,’ Marquez replied.
‘Maybe you need to think about leaving the city,’ DiGregorio told Vargas.
‘I can’t take time out at the moment.’
‘I mean, for good.’
The group fell silent at that. The detectives looked at DiGregorio, then at each other.
‘I know you were born and raised in California, Alice. A relocation to that side of the country could be just the answer for the child. A fresh start, three thousand miles from where her father made so many enemies. Because this has to be related to him. Some old opponent, wanting to take shots at his kid.’
‘We’ve spent the last several years trying to give her a sense of normalcy,’ Vargas said. ‘Issy saw her entire family get slaughtered, had another group try to kill her before she could make it to court and now this, after we thought it was all over? It’s a miracle she’s even functional as a human being and not in a padded white room hugging her knees. She’s an extraordinary girl.’
‘Yes. She is.’
‘So, if we yank her out now, I think she’ll give up. Wondering, what’s been the point? She already struggles with feeling like an outsider. Who’s to say they wouldn’t follow us there too, anyway?’
‘Whoever is doing this can afford to miss. You don’t get a second chance. They succeed, she dies.’
Di Gregorio moved away from the team, approached Isabel and pulling up a chair beside the girl, held her hand while talking to her. Shepherd and the others watched, then making sure one of the 10th Precinct cops was on guard and knew where they were going, walked into the auditorium, seeing Archer and Chalky now on the stage. As Shepherd led Vargas and Marquez down the opposite aisle, using the one free of investigators, the detectives saw up close the damage the gunfire had wreaked on the wooden floor and rear curtain, which was now chewed up and badly torn.
The place reeked of gun smoke, copper and fear.
Whoever is doing this can afford to miss, Vargas heard DiGregorio’s voice again in her mind. You don’t get a second chance.
They succeed.
She dies.
‘Thoughts,’ Shepherd asked, after filling Archer and Chalky in on what Di Gregorio had just said. The team had gathered on an undamaged section of the stage, investigators working behind and around them. ‘Floor’s open. What do we do?’
‘Maybe the doc’s got a point,’ Marquez said to Vargas. ‘You should consider leaving the city.’
‘For now, right?’ Archer said.
‘Doc Gregorio suggested for good,’ Josh told him.
‘You serious?’ Vargas said to Marquez. ‘Thought you were meant to have my back, partner.’
‘You think I want you to leave?’ Marquez replied vehemently. ‘That any of us do? But I don’t want to be standing beside you looking down at her corpse. Or yours. For whatever reason, this man Chalky fought off has made it clear he’s gonna go through anyone to try to get to her.’
‘So that’s the solution?’ Vargas said. ‘Run away?’
‘Get her out of here,’ Marquez said. ‘Go live somewhere safe.’
‘Where’s safe, Lis?’ Vargas said. ‘This guy could track us, wherever we end up. And I don’t wanna go. Neither will she. Plus we won’t have you guys.’
‘I agree,’ Archer said quietly. ‘He’d find them and they’ll be way more vulnerable on their own. A guy coming at her this hard won’t just quit. And we don’t know who’s behind this yet. If it’s someone her father crossed, we have no idea of their reach.’
‘So what do we do?’ Josh asked. ‘First time, she only survived because she turned her head. Second time because Sam saw something out of place under Issy’s bed. This one was because Chalky was there, and the man still killed three people in the attempt. What the hell’s he planning next? Because he’ll have something. We can be as sure of that as the sun going down.’
As the group stood in a circle near the centre of the stage, Chalky was looking at the set and props around them. He’d stayed quiet, knowing this was the NYPD’s show, not his, but then glanced up at the lights, the spotlight shot out from where he’d killed the strobe, a CSU investigator visible in the control booth as he took fingerprints and bagged the shell casings littering the floor up there.
‘There’s one thing we could try,’ he said.
‘Was I unclear in what I wanted?’ a voice snapped down the phone, somewhere across the city. ‘Why am I hearing reports from my guy that she’s still alive?’
‘You got someone watching me?’
‘I want confirmation.’
‘I’ll bring you her head, like you asked.’
‘So you keep telling me.’
‘No-one’s got this brat yet, for a good reason,’ the tall man from the theater said. ‘She’s lucky, and she’s surrounded by cops constantly. This group seem like they’ve got their shit together.’
‘So do you, supposedly. And they can’t be with her all the time. Pick your goddamn moment and stop playing games. Just shoot her in the head.’
From his temporary hideout, the tall man looked at the news, which was covering the mini manhunt in Manhattan, the NYPD clearly pulling out all the stops to find him. The banner below also referenced tomorrow’s Independence Day celebrations, when most of the country would have the day off work to celebrate. ‘Relax, and lemme work. Tomorrow’s July 4th.’
‘So what?’ the man at the other end snapped.
‘Entire city’s gonna be on vacation. Eight million partying New Yorkers out there to blend into.’
‘Whatever. Just get it done. We want her dead by the end of the day.’
‘She will be.’ His eyes stayed on the TV screen. ‘That’s a promise.’
TWELVE
The next morning, at Archer’s apartment, Chalky was sipping a mug of coffee in silence as Sam finished getting ready for the day. He was rechecking the magazines for his Sig Sauer and pushed the 9mm bullets back into the last mag, accompanied by a click as each shell was loaded. Once finished, he put two in their holder on his belt and slotted the last one into the Sig, holstering it and checking the safety before rising to join Chalky, who was watching the TV.
The three guards’ deaths at the theater in Chelsea was still a major headline on the news, reports saying the search for the killer was ongoing. Fortunately they hadn’t linked Isabel to the shootings yet but knew it was probably only a matter of time before one of the parents coughed up that information. Chalky changed the channel, which switched to a far more upbeat Good Morning America segment, as Kelly Ripa and the ex-NFL player Michael Strahan presented the show from their studio in Manhattan. The audience erupted as some up-and-coming Hollywood actress came out to promote a new movie, dressed in a stars and stripes dress and waving a small flag, giving a wide smile before shaking Kelly and Michael’s hands.
As the actress settled into her seat and the interview started, Archer checked the time, then took his car keys off the kitchen counter before turning off the TV. ‘Briefing’s in thirty.’
Chalky nodded and tipped back his coffee, finishing it. ‘OK. Let’s go.’
Ledger had already arrived, and was sitting in silence beside Isabel, who’d slept at the police base on a put-up bed, Vargas on a couch beside her. Every member of the team had offered to house them while their apartment building was still under investigation, but Vargas had wanted them to stay here in the secure CT base, surrounded by law-enforcement. It was the only place she felt Issy was completely safe right now.
She’d stepped out to get them all breakfast, leaving Ledger on watch, who’d noticed Isabel studying him. There was an underlying reason for the former soldier turned NYPD detective’s aloof persona. Although his family hadn’t been violently killed like Issy’s, he’d suffered years of physical abuse during his early childhood, so understood some of her fears and traumas better than others might. He still bore the scars from cigarette
burns and beatings with a belt buckle to validate that.
Unsure of how to react to the girl’s unwavering and curious stare, he spotted a box of donuts from the day before on the table to his left, the sugar having melted and glazed inside the selection. He picked it up and offered it to her.
She glanced over the selection, then tilted her head, looking back at him with raised eyebrows.
Which one? the gesture said.
He pointed at a donut with a hole in the middle and no filling. She smiled and shook her head.
He pointed at another. A maple bacon. She wrinkled her nose. Nah.
He pointed at one packed with jelly and pink frosting with sprinkles, and she screwed up her face in disgust. He took it out of the box and took a slow, decadent bite, theatrically chewing and closing his eyes as if he couldn’t believe how delicious it was. She seemed about to laugh, then covered her mouth. He smiled back then opened his, showing her the chewed up donut. That caused her to giggle, the first noise in the exchange between them.
‘Morning, Harry,’ Shepherd said, walking into the room and ending the brief exchange between them. Ledger snapped his mouth shut and rose quickly before nodding to his team sergeant. ‘Morning, Issy,’ Shepherd added. ‘Did you sleep OK?’
She nodded, as other people entered the Conference room behind Shepherd. Marquez walked over and gave the girl a hug, while Josh held up his large hand and slapped palms with her much smaller one, the big man from New Orleans then ruffling her hair gently. ‘Hey kiddo,’ Karen Bridges from Hendricks’ team said to Isabel, she and her partner Phillips the last to enter the room behind Vargas, Archer and Chalky. ‘Want to come eat some breakfast with us downstairs? Mikey picked up some bagels. Heard you like cinnamon raisin and peanut butter. Guess what we’ve got.’
Issy glanced at Vargas, who nodded. ‘It’s OK. We’ll be right here, Is. Go with them.’
She nodded to Bridges and Phillips, who led the girl out of the room, Issy going slowly, her pulled hamstring causing her to limp.
Once they were gone, Archer closed the door behind him and the team settled around the room; Shepherd went to the front and nodded to Ethan, who put an operation plan on the main screen, drawn up last night as a result of Chalky’s idea.
‘How we catch a killer on July 4th in New York City,’ Shepherd told the room. ‘Listen up.’
‘Alright, I want feedback,’ he said, finishing outlining the idea a few minutes later. ‘Opinions around the table and be honest. The stakes here are huge. Sam, you first.’
‘I think it’s a good plan,’ Archer said, after a pause. ‘We’re running out of choices. This could give us back the advantage.’
‘Lis?’ Shepherd asked.
‘I don’t like it,’ Marquez said. ‘At all. First reason, how little time we have to set up. Second, having the girl in public again, in a crowd? And third, the consequences if we don’t play the right hand.’
‘You heard DiGregorio yesterday. She was emphasising keeping routine and a sense of normality for her. All her friends are going down to Coney Island, so it’s natural she would go too. Neither the kid or Alice can stay locked up in this building forever,’ he pointed out.
‘She can until we catch a break in the case,’ Marquez replied. ‘It’s gonna take the set designers at the school in Chelsea two weeks to fix the bullet-holes in the stage, replace the curtain, repair the light, shot-up wings and control booth, and clean the blood off the stairs. Knives being thrown? Home-made booby-traps? Attacks on theaters? We got no idea what this guy could come up with next. There’s no coming back from this if we get it wrong.’
‘CSU said they managed to get a partial print from one of the knives in Issy’s bed,’ Shepherd said. ‘Might not even be his, but if it is and he’s on file, I’m hoping we won’t need to even consider this plan. If we can get a firm ID, and with Chalky’s description, we stand a chance of catching this son of a bitch before the end of the day. Or at least finding out who he is.’
‘And if we don’t?’ Ledger asked.
‘Then this is an alternative.’ He looked at Josh. ‘Big man?’
‘You know how I feel about putting children at risk, boss,’ he said. ‘Same as you do. There must be other ways. We just need more time.’
‘If we can pull this off, that’s exactly what we’ll get.’
‘I don’t have a good feeling about it. Putting her out in public at a time like this.’
‘We have all the resources we need to protect her. Jake and his people are handling our caseload, and Franklin said we can get additional back-up if and when we need it.’
‘We can’t afford to mess this up,’ Josh said.
‘I know,’ Shepherd replied. ‘Harry?’
‘I like it,’ Ledger said. ‘We’ll nail him to the wall if we do this right.’
‘Alice? Your vote counts the most here.’
She sighed. ‘Lis is right. It’s so risky.’
‘I know. But my opinion is, we have to do this. Even if she’s in here for the next month, he’d find a way to get to her eventually. She can’t stay in here forever. The way he operates…he feels different, this man.’ Chalky nodded, as Shepherd’s attention shifted to him. ‘This was your plan, Officer. You still like it after hearing the operation outline?’
‘I do, but I’m not part of your team. This is your call.’
‘You’re part of it today,’ Shepherd said. ‘She’d be dead if it wasn’t for your actions yesterday. You might not be armed, but I want you right there with us.’
‘OK. Then yeah,’ Chalky said. ‘I’m in. Tell me what you need me to do.’
‘I don’t do majority votes,’ Shepherd said, looking at Marquez and Josh. ‘If we’re not all on board, we don’t do this. Yes or no?’
There was a long pause. Marquez had risen from her chair during the conversation, and was standing by the doorway, her arms folded, her head down as she listened.
‘Yes,’ she said quietly. ‘Reluctantly. But yes.’
Josh nodded beside her. ‘OK. Yeah.’
‘Call in Sergeant Hicks from ESU,’ Shepherd told Ethan. ‘His team need to be briefed on what we’re planning.’ He looked at Vargas. ‘This is preparation. We’ll scope out the boardwalk and you get the final say. You don’t like it for any reason, we pull the plug and think of something else.’
‘What about authorisation from up top?’ Josh asked.
‘I already presented the operation to Franklin this morning. He didn’t like it. Thought it was crazy risky, but I eventually managed to convince him otherwise. He says he needs approval from higher up though and we can’t move until we’ve got it.’
‘I can see why,’ Archer said. ‘We get this wrong, the fall-out will be huge.’
‘Franklin’s taking it up the chain and I’ve got a meeting with one of the Department Chiefs in thirty minutes. But let’s get things in motion beforehand, anyway, in the hope we get it. You’re both right,’ he told Josh and Marquez. ‘We don’t have much time to set the trap.’
‘And we can’t afford to lose the bait,’ Marquez said quietly, looking through the glass door and down through the gaps in the side of the walkway.
Issy was eating breakfast with Bridges and Phillips at their desks downstairs, with no idea yet what they had planned for her today.
Or how life-changing it was going to prove to be.
‘You two swapping policework for stand-up comedy?’ the Department Chief asked Shepherd, inside Franklin’s office thirty minutes later. The Chief was in jeans and a shirt, an unlit cigar in his top pocket. He’d come in on his day off, and it didn’t take Holmes and Watson to deduce he wasn’t thrilled about it. ‘You’re outta your mind, Sergeant. And you too, Lieutenant. Thanks for wasting my time. I’m gonna be late hosting a cookout because of this bullshit.’
‘We’re serious, Chief,’ Franklin told him. ‘This man has tried to kill this child three times in the past thirty six hours-’
‘Just her? He opened fire inside
a school filled with students,’ the Chief snapped, glaring at the two men. ‘We’ve had lawyers working all night trying to come up with a way to avoid us getting sued out the ass for putting them in that kind of danger. It’s a miracle none of those kids were killed. And we’ve still got three grieving families of guards who he murdered. They’ve got every right to take us to court for negligence and not taking suitable steps to protect them knowing there was a risk. Now you want to expose this girl in a crowd of thousands of people for the maniac to take another shot? You gotta be kidding me.’
‘If this works…’
‘It won’t work.’
‘I think it can.’
‘I put ink on these papers, I’d be signing this child’s death warrant.’
‘They can get this man, Chief,’ Franklin insisted. ‘I know Shep’s team. And they need to catch this guy, otherwise he’s gonna succeed sooner or later.’
‘You’re both insane,’ he snapped. ‘And you should be keeping your head down, Sergeant,’ he told Shepherd, glaring at him. ‘After that shit during the power outage in May, we’ve been getting chewed to pieces by the press. A lot of the city think we’re either all taking bribes, falsifying evidence, stealing it or can’t be assed to report any colleague who might be dirty. Think a kid getting killed on July 4th in a public place under our watch is what we need right now?’
‘It was my people who unearthed that corruption,’ Franklin reminded him. ‘I also lost one of my best detectives doing it. We needed to catch this guy yesterday. Today’s already too late.’
‘And you think this is the best way to accomplish that? By serving this child up with a target painted on her chest?’
‘It might not even be necessary. If it comes to that, she’ll be exposed for ten or twenty minutes, at most, with a ring of steel around her. We’re currently working with some prints lifted from one of the scenes. If we can ID this guy, none of this will be necessary.’
‘You fully realise the potential cost of this?’ the Chief said. ‘Are you ready to live with that if he does get her?’