Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Lake Benson sat in the interview room of the Chelsea custody suite with his lawyer, Ms. Patel, waiting for his old army colleague to turn up to interrogate him. Garry was dragging his heels, making Lake wait in a power move as pathetic as the man himself. The tactic had no effect on Lake, who’d had patience drummed into him during his time in the SAS. The longer he was forced to wait, the more honed Lake’s rage became. That was something else he’d learned in Special Forces—anger could be pressed down and refined until it became a sharpened blade that could be used with precision to take out the enemy.
And Garrison Fitzwater and his family were very much Lake’s enemies.
They’d attacked his people, tried to destroy his business, made his family worry—and for what?
Yes, Lake was very angry.
As the door opened, Ms. Patel leaned into him. “This sweater is new, so I’d appreciate it if you could refrain from getting blood on it. It costs a fortune to clean cashmere properly.”
Lake didn’t smile. He wasn’t amused. His attention was firmly focused on the man in front of him.
Garry made a point of ignoring Lake while he sat at the table, DI Singh beside him. Once he’d settled himself, whispered to his DI, and checked his paperwork, Garry looked up at Lake. He pressed the button to start the recording.
“Interview commenced at nine twenty-two a.m. Present are Commander Garrison Fitzwater.” He gestured to the rest of them to say their names, which they did.
Then Garry sat back in his chair and considered Lake, a gleam of triumph in his eyes. “I hear you want to confess, is that right?”
“Yes,” Lake said, not taking his eyes from Garry.
The commander made no attempt to suppress his smug little smile. “I’m listening.”
Lake didn’t so much as twitch. He remained seated, hands clasped in his lap, as he focused on the enemy.
“I confess,” Lake said, “to having discovered that you’re using your police authority to falsely arrest and bully my team in an attempt to ruin my business.”
Garry started, then sneered at Lake. “I was led to believe this was a serious admission of guilt, not some ploy to air your grievances. Was I mistaken, Ms. Patel?”
She didn’t get a chance to reply because Lake was talking again. “I confess that my team has discovered you’re using your access to a server farm as a cover to hack into Benson Security’s server.”
“Now, see here?—”
Lake continued, “I confess that my staff found the information you were searching for an hour ago.”
Garry’s mouth shut with a snap, but beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. “It’s clear that Mr. Benson doesn’t intend to take this process seriously. This interview is term?—”
“I confess that, in a folder belonging to one of our clients, there’s damning evidence that your uncle, Giles Fitzwater, Minister of State for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention?—”
Garry shot to his feet. “Stop this!” he shouted. “Stop this recording at once. Do you hear me? The interview is over.”
“My client has the right to be interviewed on record,” Ms. Patel said evenly.
“I confess,” Lake continued, “to having evidence that Giles Fitzwater took mo?—”
Garry launched himself at the table and pressed the button to end the recording. “This interview is over.” Red-faced, his eyes bulging, he turned to the DI at his side. “Take Mr. Benson back to his cell.” He turned and threw open the door.
“You can stop the recording,” Lake said. “But you can’t stop my public confession.”
The commander froze mid-step.
Lake leaned forward, resting his hands on the table. “Through my lawyer, I released a statement to the press just before this interview started. I’m guessing you know exactly what I told them.”
“Get him out of here,” Fitzwater shouted.
It was clear the DI didn’t know what to do.
“I’m happy to go.” Lake stood slowly. “But I won’t be going back to a cell. I’m walking out of this building and taking my team with me.”
Fitzwater exploded and flew toward Lake while behind him, other officers gathered in the doorway, looking shocked and concerned.
“You don’t get to decide what happens here,” Fitzwater spat out, pointing a finger in Lake’s face. “I’m in charge. Do you hear me? I’m in charge!”
“Yes, you are,” Lake said calmly, his gaze fixed firmly on his enemy. “You’re in charge of using your position to keep incriminating evidence of your uncle selling state secrets to China from reaching prime minister, or worse yet, the press. But you’re too late. We found Carla’s files. We found videos she took of Giles with the prostitutes who worked for her. We know in detail what he did with them.” Lake leaned in toward the commander. “What he did to them. We also have a video of her banning him from her establishment. But, most of all, we have his voice on tape, telling those women all about his deal with China.”
The color drained from the commander’s face. “You’re lying! This is all a lie, invented to get your team out of here. You’re trying to blackmail me!” He spread his arms wide and looked around at the officers nearest him. “Don’t listen to him. This is all a lie. DI Singh, I order you to take this man back to his cell.”
Lake wasn’t done yet. “Do you know what’s funny?” he said to the flailing man. “We didn’t even know what was in Carla’s files until you started looking for them. Our job, the job she hired us to do, was purely to keep her information safe in case she needed it. So that’s what we did. Elle made a file for Carla’s information, and stored it away. None of this would have come out if you and your family hadn’t perverted the legal system to chase it.”
The commander spun back toward Lake, demented fury in his eyes. “Lake Benson, always so high and mighty. You think you’re better than everyone else.” He drew back his fist and swung at Lake’s jaw.
He sidestepped it easily as two young male officers rushed into the room to restrain the commander. “You always did signal your punches,” Lake told him.
Out in the corridor, a voice rose above the rest. “Someone take Commander Fitzwater to a cell while we clear up this mess.”
The two men holding him looked horrified but obeyed the order.
“You can’t do this to me,” Fitzwater yelled as they urged him into the corridor. “I’m in charge.”
“Not anymore,” said Assistant Commissioner Sturgis, as he appeared in the interview room doorway.
“He set me up,” Garry shouted as his officers led him away.
Sturgis strode into the room. “You just had to do this the messy way, didn’t you?” he said to Lake. “I’m sure we could have made this all go away without involving the press.” He turned to Ms. Patel. “I suppose that was your idea.”
She beamed at him. “What can I say? Guess strategic thinking runs in the family, Uncle Colin.”
The assistant commissioner sighed. “I should never have encouraged you to go into law. It’s caused me nothing but trouble.”
“Yes, but now you get to arrest two corrupt cops and a traitorous minister,” Patel said. “That should brighten up your day.”
The senior officer looked at Lake, suddenly somber. “We owe you for this.”
“Well, you can start paying off your debt by getting that hacker out of our server,” Lake said. “Then release my people too.”
“Nothing comes for free anymore,” the man grumbled as he offered Lake his hand.
Lake shook it. “I’ll have everything we’ve dug up on the Fitzwaters sent to your office. Carla has to be kept out of this though.”
“Carla? The madam who disappeared to a tropical island?” Sturgis shook his head. “I don’t have the manpower to chase her down. As of five minutes ago, I’m down two senior officers, not to mention I can’t ask the minister for police for more resources because he’ll be in jail too.”
“It’s a hard life, being in charge,” Lake said before giving him a slow, satisfied smile.