by Newbiel
It was almost four now. The bodies of the russians thugs had been taken under extreme surveillance to the cop. Now, besides Nathaniel, his moms, the bodyguard of his grandfather, four NYPD officers, two CSI guys and two detectives were busy taking statements from everyone. Everyone's interview was finished beside the bodyguard. Surprisingly after the fight, there was almost no damage beside the crushed door and blood on the rug so CSI didn't have much work to do. They still took pictures of everything they could in the living room.
"Understood prosecutor, I would like to insist to keep yourself free and available if questions were to arise. I'm going to leave two officers in front of your door and two in a civilian car in front of the building for protection." He said. Someone wanting to kill a prosecutor was a big case and he knew that many people were going to inspect everything about this case. He needed to take all the precaution or it could very well be the end of his career.
"That will not be necessary, Detective." Nathaniel said, taking place beside his mother.
Looking at the young men in front of him, the detective could not help to be a little jealous. He was a poor kid from the Bronx and was never good looking. Looking at a kid who had both looks and money was not something that was easy to manage. When he interviewed him earlier, he was stupefied to learn that he was only sixteen. Moreover, his guts was telling him to be on alert in front of that kid. That was not even something that he was feeling when interviewing the two bodyguards. It was troubling.
"This is for your own security, trust me." The detective says. That was not in his nature to be that respectful to a kid but he decided to trust his gut feeling.
"We have our own security as you have seen. Just tell your sergeant to patrol our street more often. We will handle the rest." Assert Nathaniel with a nod.
Seeing the resolute expression on the youth's face, he turned to Karine.
"Prosecutor?" He asked, looking for help.
"Detective, I know that our police department is already stretched thin, as we have means to protect yourself, I will feel bad to charge the workload of our Police forces." Answer Karine in a caring tone and a kind smile on her face.
Hearing Karine's response, the expression on the detective's face ease considerably. He understood now and indeed it made a lot of sense.
"We are indeed under staffed as it is. I would get the word to the precinct, don't worry we will get to the bottom of it. The mob do not control this city, we do! It's time to show them that." He said before leaving with his partner and the last officers still present.
The door had been fixed in the meantime, Jean got numbers of people to call for virtually every problem that would arise. The fact that it was 4 in the morning just meant that he would be more costly. All in all, everything happened like Nathaniel thought it would and the history that they feed to the investigators was very plausible. More plausible than a sixteen years old youth who knocks 5 guys thirty pound heavier than him without a scratch and unarmed.
After they had left, Nathaniel helped his moms tidying things up while the two bodyguards were resting by the door.
"Sweetie, why did you not want to have the police protecting us?" Finally ask Karine. She thought about it for some time now but could not think about even one reason to refuse the detective offer.
"Two reasons mom. One, they took 6 minutes to arrive in front of our building."
"What about it? That's average I believe."
"No, it is not." says Amal with a furrowed eyebrow.
"Glad that you notice Amal." Say Nathaniel with a smile. It was easy sometimes to forget Amal with his little stature and the fact that he seldom talked. The truth was, he is a very smart man with a keen sense of observation.
"Care to explain?" Mary asks, a little exasperate.
"The precinct is located two block away. The only explanation to them taking that much time to come is that they came directly from there. We are in a rich neighborhood, the fact that there was no patrol car in the area is extremely weird." Explain Amal.
"I listened to the scanner on our way here, there was nothing that could justify taking patrol away from the area. No car accident either who could justify retarding the first responders. The fact that a prosecutor was in danger meant that the call must have been a priority for all cops." Jean jumps in the conversation.
The expression on Mary and Karine's face was grave. A tinge of anger and rage could be found on Karine's face.
"I will request the dispatch log of the evening. I will put Mattews on it. What was the second reason?" Ask Karine.
"Mom, you know as a prosecutor, your address is protected to prevent just this situation to occur. This is privileged information, to Droski to have it, he needs to have paid someone in the headquarters of the NYPD."
"Your saying that some cops were cooperating with Droski to have me kill?" Ask Karine, the blood leaving her face and making her appear pale.
"No." Said Nathaniel, shaking his head.
"No?" Mary asked, surprised.
"They were not here to kill you mom, they were here to kidnap me." Nathaniel reveal.
"WHAT?" Exclaim the two women, even the two bodyguard got a frown on their face.
"Think about it. If they were here to kill you, that kind of thugs were going to shoot everywhere once the door was kicked open. They didn't and even a couple of these thugs had the safety on their gun. Moreover, Droski knew that if he was going to kill a prosecutor, his life was basically over in this city. Kidnapping me, made a lot more sense. They could use me as leverage against you to force you to drop the case and for money." Said Nathaniel simply,not really bothered by the fact that he was talking about his own kidnapping.
Hearing that, the expression on everyone's face turned very unsightly. Even the usual stone faced Amal was showing signs of anger. He got rather fond of this smart and witty kid. He knew that there were things hidden inside of Nathaniel but that was not something that disturb him. He too was hiding many things so he was hardly in a position to resent other people from doing it.
The expression says that hell has no fury like a scorned woman. Looking at the face of Karine in that moment, people would realise that there was something that was far worse than that. In her mind, everything was clear. A car almost took her son away from her and now a mob lord wanted to do the same thing? Not in her lifetime, not ever! Her two hands were squeezed so tightly that she almost drew blood. Sensing the atmosphere in the room, Nathaniel spoke again.
"Don't worry guys, they would never take me. We need to organise ourselves for tomorrow. Amal, I want you to stick to my mom. Wherever she goes, you go. Understood?"
"I never said that I was going anywhere!" Exclaim Karine.
"Your face did. I know you want to nail that bastard to a wall, I will feel better if you have Amal beside you when you are going to do it."
Seeing that she was going to object, Nathaniel spoke again. He knew very well how much independant she was and the idea to have someone following her all day was not something that she wanted.
"Please mom, do it for me?" He said, pleading.
Seeing his pleading eyes, her anger and scorn vanished instantly.
"This is so unfair! How can I say no when you look at me with those eyes!" She grumbled unhappily which made Mary laugh.
"Thanks mom!" He said, kissing her cheek.
Looking at Mary, he did not have anything to say. She was going to work every morning with a driver who was an ex FBI agent and the Lyndon Tower was secure so he did not have much to do to improve on that.
"Mom, just go to work, you will be safe there."
"What about me? I will be the babysitter to keep you safe?" Jean asks with a mocking but kind laugh.
"No, I have something way better for you to do. You will be the one to tell everything that happens tonight to my grandparents when they wake up." Nathaniel says while the laughter of Jean dies down and he starts paling.
"Euh… about that, I don't think that…" He started.
>
"Your job is to act, not to think, soldier. Everyone here has a job to do except you so it needs to be you." Nathaniel was not saying that to punish him for his joke. He kinda likes this friendly banter with Jean they had going. He chose Jean because he knew that he was the closest friend of his grandfather and so the best people to tell him.
"What about you? What is your task?" Ask Jean bitterly.
"Me? I need to learn magic." He said happily while his family looked at him dumbstruck.
"WHAT?" They exclaim at the same time.
Chapter 32: :
One Police Plaza, New York. 20/06/2012. 08:30.
Commissioner John Mesger was currently sitting at his desk and drinking his third coffee since he arrived when someone knocked on his door.
"Enter." He said.
Opening the door, the face of his assistant appeared in the doorframe. She was a thirty years old woman with brown hair and a delicate face. People always thought that she was a vulgar secretary and they were gravely mistaken. She was an ex detective with a brilliant record on the force. She was as tough as it gets and the commissioner knew that he was lucky to have her.
"Sir, prosecutor Lyndon and director Mattews from Internal Affairs are here to see you." She said.
"I don't recall seeing them on my calendar." He sternly said. He was an orderly person and disliked everything that could deviate him from his schedule. He could not help to frown. To have a prosecutor and the director of IA on his desk this early in the morning, something was definitely not right.
"I know sir but they claim it is important. Did you read the report of last night's event?"
"I just got here." He justified and looked at the said file.
He quickly found what his assistant was talking about as it was the first line. The title 'Assassination attempt on Prosecutor Lyndon' was particularly ominous. Seven members affiliated with russian mob attacked the residence of prosecutor Lyndon around three last night. Luckily, her residence was protected by two bodyguards linked to the Lyndon Label. The commissioner read through it quickly with narrowed eyes. He knew that was going to be a heavily mediatized case and a really crappy day for him.
"Let them in and bring us coffee please Mary." He said, sighing. He knew that it was not going to be a peaceful meeting.
"Got it, sir." She said with a nod.
Opening the door, three people enter his office. He recognizes Mattews and Lyndon because they work quite often with each other and they meet a huge number of times. They greeted each other with a handshake before he made them sit on the other side of his desk. The third person just took position beside the door without saying anything. Once all of them were sitting and the coffee was brought, the commissioner started talking.
"I just learned what happened to you and your family last night Karine. I will make sure that no stone is left untouched until everyone involved in this affair ends up in jail. Can I know who he is?" He said pointing at his door.
"My security detail. He was one of the two who stopped them last night." She supplies, taking a zip of her coffee.
"Impressive work by the way. Two against seven and you manage to take them all down without a shot fired. I will ask you nonetheless to exit the room, this building is one of the safest in this city, she will be okay here without you." He ordered.
"I'm under strict orders to keep the prosecutor on my line of sight at all times." Amal simply responded, without moving an inch.
Frowning, the commissioner looked at the prosecutor who was trying not to show her amusement knowing that his 'order' was given to him by a teenager. Sensing the stare of the person in front of her, she just shakes her head, making him scowl. Looking at Mattews for help, he was surprised to find him shake his head too.
.
"Sorry John, he needs to stay."
"Okay, what's going on here?"
"We have reason to believe that a number of cops were involved in the attack made on my house last night." Said Karine with a tone who failed to hide some anger and resentment.
Hearing that the commissioner took a visible hit. That was bad, something like this if the news got out could do long term damage to the relationship between NYPD and the DA office. If the news was to be leaked to the press, that could very much be the end of his career.
"What do you have?"
"The first patrol car to arrive in front of the residence of Karine took six minutes to get there. We requisition the dispatch data of all patrol cars for the last three month in the area in question. Look at it, John." Said Mattews taking a couple of files from his bag.
"That one is from the last three month and that one is from last night, the red point is the location of Karine's home. Do you notice something weird?"
Taking the two files and looking at them, he quickly found what Mattews was talking about. All the patrol cars who were supposed to patrol the area have been diverted elsewhere. They were no cops present in the area of the prosecutor home on a three miles radius beside the precinct. Seeing the grave expression on the commissioner's face, Mattews knew that he understood what he was talking about and continued speaking.
"We have arrested the sergeant in charge of the dispatch at zero six hundred this morning at his home. He lawyered up before even being cuffed. Preliminary analysis of his bank account shows that he received a significant sum of money coming from an offshore account two days ago. We also have several more cops under investigation from that precinct."
"I see, you have been busy. The fact that nothing about that came back to me shows that you keep a tight lid on everything."
"Yes, I do. This is as much for us as it is for you John."
"I know. The fact that you both are here shows that this is not it. What more do you have?"
"The fact that the russian found out the address of the prosecutor is troubling. As it is privileged information, the number of people to have access is very few and they are all here in that building. We have found a call from a burner phone to the second in command of Piotr Droski made this week. We didn't manage to find out the name of the caller but we managed to find out the call came from here."
"Are you fucking kidding me? You are saying that there is someone on the mob payroll under my nose!?" He screamed. At that point he could not hide his fury and got to his feet.
"Yes, we do." He respond calmly.
"Okay, what do you want from me?" He finally asked when he got his temper under control and sat back down. He was a shroud politician, he knew since they were here, they needed him for something. With some luck he could come out of it unscathed.
"We want complete access to the personal file of everyone who had access to the address of the prosecutor." Mattews demande.
"I will gladly hand them to you as long as you have a court order. You know the procedure guys, I can't make a precedent here."
"A court order will take a few days to get, this will take too much time, I want the files now commissioner." Karine said in a cold voice.
"Sorry prosecutor but this is not possible. I know that you want to get him, I would too if he tried to kill me but this is not the right way to do it." He said uncompromising. After saying that, he could see the two of them looking at each other which made him furrowed his brow
"What was that?"
"Preliminary evidence shows that Karine was not the target of the attack on her house." Mattews supply.
"Who was it then?" He asks, a little lost.
"Her teenage son was. We believe that they were after him to pressure the prosecutor to stop investigating them."
"I see but this changes nothing, I can't divulge these files to you."
"Suit yourself, I will just need to organise a press conference where I will tell in front of national TV that you refused to cooperate with an investigation to protect dirty cops. Then I will tell all about the cops' implication on the attack on my home last night" Karine said icily.
"You can't do that! That will be the end of your carrier and you could
destroy the relations between the DA Office and the Police. You will lose your job!" He exclaimed vehemently.
"I don't fuck*** care! They went after my baby! I will put everyone responsable in jail even if that means it will be the last thing that I will do as a prosecutor! I will perhaps lose my job but you will definitely lose yours too!" She screamed.
"This is insane, you are insane! Mattews say something to calm her!"
"I was at the christening of that child, John. Her family suffers enough already, just give us the files." He said unemotionally.
The commissioner wanted to scream to manifest how enraged he was. His department was involved with russian mob. If the story got out, he will without a doubt be label as an incompetent in the best case scenario. The worst being him accused of cooperating directly with the mob. His entire reputation will be destroyed and even his family would not be left untouched. He didn't have much of a choice in that case. He could not help but to sigh in defeat, his shoulder slumping. He feels very old at that moment.
"I will give you the files that you want."
"Thank you commissioner." Said Karine.
"Thank you John." Said Mattews.
"Just get the hell out of my office." He shouted with resentment.
Chapter 33: :
Bronx, New York. 10:35.
"YOU SON OF A B****!" Piotr Droski yells at his lieutenant. He was walking around his desk yelling and kicking everything and everyone he was seeing for the last ten minutes. All the people present have been thrown out of the room leaving only him and his lieutenant. Igor had his head down and was trying to look everywhere except at his boss. He never has seen him that angry.
"How the fuck our seven men didn't succeed at grabbing a frigging kid!? Do we have only trash here!?" He yells, destroying the wooden chair near his desk with a powerful kick.
"They had security details around the appartement. Bad ass ex military. Our guys were not expecting it so they were neutralized before doing real damage."
"And none of you geniuses had the idea to scout her residence to spot a security detail?" He screamed.
