by James Hunt
“You could have told me about this, Nate,” Jim said.
Nate shook his head. “The people I work for aren’t forgiving, and they have eyes and ears everywhere. I couldn’t risk telling you.”
Jim walked closer to Nate. “What do they have on you?”
“The warehouse where I work,” Nate answered. “Those shipments that I make sure are kept off the books…” He fidgeted. “I thought since no record is kept, I could take some, make a little money on the side! I wanted to buy Tim some stuff for school, and I thought—”
“Jesus, Nate,” Jim said.
“I was just trying to do something for my boy!” Nate shouted.
Jim held up his hand, trying to get Nate to calm down. “What did you take, and how much did you take?”
Nate bowed his head again. “It was coke. Thirty kilos.”
“Thirty?” Jim asked, shocked by the number. “That’s not exactly skimping a little on the side, Nate.”
“There’s ten times that amount that comes through!” Nate exclaimed. “I didn’t think they were going to miss it!”
It might have been the dumbest way for Nate to have made money, but considering his life choices to date, Jim was starting to understand how his friend had gotten into this mess in the first place.
“That still doesn’t explain why you called me,” Jim said.
Nate calmed slightly. “I don’t know, I just—” He tensed and then exhaled. “I thought maybe you could find him anyway. Stumble across him and then…” He shook his head, rubbing his eyes. “I don’t know.” He started to sob. “I thought maybe if you were looking for him, then it would buy me some time to get the money together that I owed in order to get my boy back, but… the dealer I was working with fell through on the product and now I’m fucked!”
Jim planted his hands on his hips and stared at his friend. He couldn’t believe how blind he’d been, but despite the colossal failure on both their parts, Jim remembered the reason he started all of this: to find a missing boy.
“Does it have to be cocaine?” Jim asked.
Nate looked up. “What?”
“The product you were trying to replace,” Jim asked. “Does it have to be cocaine, or can it be something of equal value?”
“I-I’m not sure,” Nate answered, suddenly growing hopeful. “It could probably be something equal value, yeah. Yeah, I could make that work.”
Jim remembered his conversation with Detectives Ruthers and Loughlin and the fifty pounds of heroin that were sitting in the evidence locker.
“Can you call your guy and tell him to set up a meet?” Jim asked.
Nate rushed to his friend, hugging him, but Jim stepped back. “Yes. I can make that happen.”
“Okay,” Jim said, formulating a plan. “It’s important that when you speak to this guy, you get proof of life of your son and you demand that your boy will be at the exchange. Is that clear?”
Nate nodded quickly. “Of course. Do you think this will really work?”
Jim had no idea what would work, but he knew he was in this too deep to try to go through the proper channels now. “We’ll make it work.”
17
Jim returned to the precinct while Nate set up the meet with Bill Fayette. He had no intention of losing the drugs once they made the exchange. Jim would be there, hidden, and when the deal was about to happen, he would intervene. The goal was to make it look like Nate had no idea about the bust, but that would only work if the people brought Nate’s son with them.
But even to try to make all of that happen meant Jim had to get the drugs, and he needed to keep it off the books.
The evidence locker at the precinct not only had a logging system and an officer on duty, but there were also cameras. The department wanted to protect itself against any type of evidence tampering, making what Jim was about to do difficult but not impossible.
Even with all of those systems in place, Jim knew the specifics of each section. There was a shift change coming up, and that would be his best chance in trying to get into the locker unnoticed. The first thing he would need to do would be to shut off the cameras between the shift changes and then hurry into the locker to check out an item from the last case he worked, which happened all of the time when a case had gone to trial so that wouldn’t be suspicious.
The only problem Jim hadn’t figured out yet was removing the thirty kilos of heroin from the evidence locker and then leave the precinct without drawing any attention to himself, but when he arrived at the precinct, he needed to come up with something quick. The shift change happened in less than three minutes.
“Shit,” Jim said, gripping the steering wheel as he racked his brain. “Think. Think. Think—” An idea popped into his head, and he believed he could make it work. There were still quite a few things inside of Kerry’s desk that he could pack up to make room for his new partner that would be assigned to him tomorrow.
No one would think twice about Jim collecting some of Kerry’s things. He could use that box to funnel the heroine out of the evidence locker and use Kerry’s stuff to conceal the drugs underneath. It was risky, but it was the only play he had at the moment. And he was out of time.
Jim found an empty paper box by the dumpster and brushed it off before he went inside. He would need to collect Kerry’s items first and then go to the video room to make sure the cameras were switched off, and from there, he would need to get to the evidence locker, load the heroin, and then get out before the next officer stepped inside, all without knowing if the shift change had already happened and he would be recorded.
It was going to be tight.
Jim quickly moved to Kerry’s desk and started opening drawers, dumping whatever was inside into the box. There wasn’t much left, but he hoped it was enough to conceal the drugs he was about to take from the evidence locker.
With the desk emptied, Jim hurried toward the surveillance room and was glad to see Officer Petty logging off of his computer.
“Detective,” Petty said, sounding surprised. “Can I help you with something?”
“Actually, yeah,” Jim said. “Do you have access to the interview I did earlier today?”
“The one with the perv? Yeah, it’s loaded already,” Petty answered.
“Could you do me a favor and pull it up,” Jim asked, keeping the box tucked beneath his arm. “I wanted to give it another listen. I think there was something he said that could help out the prosecution.”
“Oh, um,” Petty checked the time. “I was actually getting ready to clock out.”
“Oh, right,” Jim said and then adjusted the box under his arm. “You know what? Don’t worry about it—”
“No, it’s fine,” Petty said. “If you don’t mind sending it to yourself so I can get out of here, I’m meeting my girl for dinner.”
“Yeah, of course,” Jim said, stepping into the room.
Petty pulled up the video, and Jim heard the rustle of the shift change outside. It wouldn’t be long until Petty’s replacement was inside.
“Who’s got the night shift tonight?” Jim asked.
“Officer Stents,” Petty answered. “Okay, here it is. You good?”
“Great, thanks again,” Jim said.
Once Petty was gone, Jim found the feed to the evidence locker and then shut it off. He then made sure to email himself the video of the interrogation, just to cover his ass, and then hurried toward the evidence locker.
Jim spied Officer Stents in the breakroom. He was grabbing a cup of coffee, chatting it up with a few other street cops. If Jim moved quickly, this could actually work.
Once he checked in at the evidence locker, Jim hurried inside and then grabbed a notebook that the perp used to keep a diary for the last missing person case he worked. He dropped it in the box and then quickly found the heroin that Ruthers and Loughlin had confiscated.
The drugs were neatly packaged, and Jim began piling the needed kilos into the box. Once he was certain he had the right amount, he hid
Kerry’s things on top of the drugs and then hurried out of the locker, checking out the journal and stealing a quick glance at the camera that surveyed the locker room.
Jim stopped by the breakroom to see if Stents was still inside, but he was gone. Knowing that he wouldn’t get very far if he was caught, Jim decided to see if Stents had seen anything, and he returned to the surveillance room.
Jim found Stents sitting at the desk, sipping his coffee. “Hey, Stents.”
Officer Stents spun around. “Detective North, how are you?”
It was that one greeting that told Jim the man knew nothing. “Heading out for the day. I was actually looking for Petty. Have you seen him?”
“He left a little bit ago, I think,” Stents said. “Just missed him.”
“All right, have a good one,” Jim said.
“You too.”
Jim felt the sweat dripping from beneath his underarms. He couldn’t believe it had worked, and just when he was heading for the exit, he bumped into someone as he turned the corner.
“Sorry—” Jim immediately froze when he saw it was Kerry who he had knocked into. Neither of them moved for what felt like an eternity, but when Kerry saw the box in his arms, she frowned.
“What’s that?” Kerry asked.
Realizing he had come here under the guise of taking her things back to her, Jim knew that he needed to come up with something on the spot.
“Just some casework,” Jim answered, and he cleared his throat.
“Right,” Kerry said.
The pair fell into another awkward silence, and even though it had been only a few weeks since the pair had been partners, it was like Jim was staring at a stranger. But in addition to the surprise was a sense of longing. He didn’t realize how much he had missed his partner.
“How have you been?” Kerry asked.
“Good,” Jim answered. “You?” It felt like a stupid question the moment he said it aloud, but he couldn’t take it back.
“I’ve been all right,” Kerry answered. “I, um, I’ve been meaning to call you, but—”
“It’s fine, really,” Jim said. “We’ve both been busy.”
Kerry nodded. “Yeah. Well, I just came into the precinct to speak with the lieutenant about something, so…”
“Right, yeah,” Jim said. “It was good seeing you.”
“You too.”
Kerry stepped around Jim and continued down the hall. He felt like a kid in junior high who had missed his shot at the girl, but this was far more important.
“Kerry, wait.” Jim jogged to catch up with her, the box still tucked under his arm. “I’m in the middle of something, but we should catch up. Have breakfast like we used to.”
Kerry smiled, and Jim knew the expression was genuine. “I’d like that a lot, Jim.”
“Good,” Jim said. “How about Friday?”
“Perfect.”
Jim walked away, feeling better about the interaction after the second take, but the moment he was outside the precinct, he remained laser-focused on his goal. Because if anything slipped up here, he’d be behind bars before his breakfast on Friday.
After the conversation with Jim, Kerry paused at the lieutenant’s door. She wasn’t sure how she would feel after seeing Jim again. She had envisioned their reunion a hundred times but never anticipated the current scenario. Still, she couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face. And for the first time since she left the department, she felt like she had something to look forward to.
Kerry hadn’t expected to see Jim here so late in the day. He would’ve normally been on his way home if he weren’t out working a case. She remembered a time when she and Jim would have been here all night, but his relationship with Jen had given his life perspective.
As important as their work was here in the department, everybody still needed some time to decompress with the people they cared about. Because it was for those people, along with the public’s safety, that served as the fuel for everything that Kerry and Jim did on the force.
Kerry knocked before entering the lieutenant’s office. She saw Mullocks behind her desk, hunched over some paperwork. “Hey, Lieutenant.”
“Kerry,” Mullocks said, “I was just about to head out for the day.”
Kerry shut the door behind her as she approached the lieutenant’s desk. She had played out her options in regards to dealing with Cutters and knew that she was at a crossroads. The information that she received from Myers was useless unless she established a chain of evidence. If she was going to be legitimate in her efforts to bring Cutters down, then that meant bringing in legitimate authority.
“What do you have there?” Mullocks pointed to the folder that Arthur Myers had given her as collateral for their meeting, which was scheduled to happen in less than an hour.
“I was wondering if your offer still stood?” Kerry asked.
Mullocks set down her pen and focused all her attention on Kerry. “It does.”
Kerry understood that once she brought the lieutenant up to speed, she couldn’t undo any of this lest both of them go to prison. But she knew there was no other way. “I need to tell you something.”
To her credit, Mullocks did an excellent job of keeping a straight face while Kerry explained her story. Not once did she ever betray what she was thinking or pass any judgment. And when she was finished, Kerry waited patiently to hear the lieutenant’s thoughts.
“The deal you made with him,” Mullocks said. “If you hadn’t done that, a lot of kids would have died.”
It wasn’t the response that Kerry had expected, nor did she anticipate the tears that fell from her reaction. She had been living with the weight of her decision alone and hadn’t realized how heavy it had been to carry it all this way.
“It doesn’t feel like I made the right choice,” Kerry said.
“The right choice feels like that sometimes,” Mullocks replied. “That’s the information the accountant gave you?”
Kerry nodded. “I’m meeting him soon, but in order for this to play out, I’ll need an alibi.”
Mullocks tilted her head to the side and arched an eyebrow. “Yeah, I suppose that’s going to be the biggest hurdle. In order for most of this to stick, we need to be operating under the pretense that you have been working this case from the beginning.” She drummed her fingers on the table for a moment, chewing the inside of her cheek and then stood. “During my time with VICE, I had a contact over at the DEA. I could give him a call and see what deal we could cut.”
For the first time since Kerry was tangled in this mess, she believed that there was a way out. “And he would be okay with backdating when I started?”
“To bring down Benjamin Cutters?” Mullocks asked. “If you can deliver, there won’t be a problem.”
The first feeling of relief since all of this started washed over Kerry. She could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now all she had to do was make sure the accountant held up his end of the bargain. “You should come with me to the meeting.”
“That’s happening soon?” Mullocks asked.
Kerry nodded. “We need to leave now.”
The lieutenant grabbed her jacket and met Kerry at the office door. “I’ll make the call along the way. Let’s go.”
18
After Jim left the precinct, he picked Nate up at the apartment. Together the pair drove to the meeting that Nate had set up.
“You confirmed that he’s bringing your son, right?” Jim asked.
Nate nodded. “I told him that if I didn’t see him, then the deal was off. They didn’t seem too happy about it, they made a bunch of threats, but I think, yeah, he should be there.”
“I can’t tell you how imperative it is that if he’s not there, you need to walk away,” Jim said. “We’re not going to get a second chance at this.”
Nate nodded quickly again, and Jim noticed that his leg was hammering up and down like a jackhammer. “I know, Jimmy.”
Jim was so caught up in the logistics of
the case in the meeting that he had forgotten about the human element. Even though Nate had lied to Jim, he understood it was simply to protect his boy. Of course, in hindsight, he should’ve said something, but there was nothing they could do about that now.
“This is going to work,” Jim said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible. “All we have to do is stick to the plan. We don’t deviate from it no matter what.”
Nate clung to Jim’s confidence and stopped hammering his leg so quickly. “Yeah. Stick to the plan.”
The goal was to have Jim hang back and watch from a distance while the exchange took place. The moment that Nate had his son, Jim would rush inside and catch Bill Fayette and his dealers off guard. Seeing as how Jim was going in solo, it was imperative he acted quickly. The probability of a gunfight was high, but there was no other way to do this without either Jim or Nate going to jail.
The meeting location was on the south side of the city, close to the coast. It ended up being an old marina that looked like it’d been shut down for years. But the area looked like it would work well for Jim since the fence was chain mesh and would allow him to see inside.
Jim parked out of sight of the marina, and he and Nate went over the plan one last time. “You go in there without the product; just bring a sample. Once they know it’s real, then you ask to see your son and only then, if he’s physically in front of you, do you make the call to me. I’ll drop off the rest of the product, and you take it inside. The moment you have your son, I’ll go in, and you and your boy get out of the way immediately. Got it?”
For someone who had been a dealer, Nate was incredibly nervous. But then again, Nate had never been involved in a case with stakes this high. Both men understood what happened to his son if they failed.
“We don’t get a second chance at this,” Jim said.
Nate nodded, and he started to gather his wits about him. “I know.”
“Good,” Jim said. “You ready?”
“Yeah,” Nate answered.
