Chapter Seventeen
On the elevator, she rocked from toes to heels, prepared to shove off when it started to fill up. This time she fell into a pocket of elevator luck and made it to Homicide with only three stops.
Since Jenkinson and Reineke weren’t at their desks, she looked at Baxter.
“They caught one. Carmichael and Santiago are wrapping one up. My boy and I are holding down the fort and clearing some paperwork.
“Forget the paperwork.”
“Words that bring a tear to my eye. How about you, Trueheart?”
“Can’t talk about it. Chokes me up.”
“Bora Bora.”
“I’ll grab my go bag.”
“Grab your ’link, start checking high-end hotels, resorts, rentals. Single White male, late fifties. He would’ve checked in about . . . Peabody?”
“Shuttle landed at nineteen-twenty local time.”
“Okay, so look between nineteen-thirty and twenty-one hundred. Peabody’s going to send you an ID shot to share with desk clerks and managers. He may be going by the name Seth Connor. We do not want him alerted to our inquiry.”
“Got it. Trueheart and I hereby volunteer to go pick him up.”
“We live to serve,” Trueheart said, and made Eve’s lips twitch.
“I’ll note that down. For now, find him.”
And if they did, she thought as she started for her office, and they got that freaking warrant, she might just let them serve this one.
She got coffee, considered a candy bar, and looked toward her current hiding place—similar to one she used before. Out her office window, sealed in an evidence bag, and carefully taped to the bottom of the narrow ledge.
She’d stepped over to shut her door—trust no one—when her ’link signaled. Feeney.
“You got it?”
“Broke through. Moving now.”
“I’m coming up.”
Candy forgotten, she rushed out. “Peabody, with me. EDD broke through. Find that son of a bitch,” she said to Baxter.
“I knew they would!” Peabody finished one of the carrot sticks she stashed in the break room as she hurried to the glides with Eve.
“We get this, we put the squeeze on Banner-Wyst, we make it a lot harder for Redman to get to them. He can’t get to them, he makes mistakes.”
“He makes mistakes, we get him.”
“That’s the plan. When we’ve got what we need, when Reo gets the warrants, we need a team, a big one, for the search and seize. Banner’s unlikely to be there, but if Wyst is, we bring him in. If he’s not, we go get him. Then we go get Banner.”
“We might be saving their lives. Hell, pretty damn clear we would be. I don’t think they’ll really appreciate that.”
“Yeah, don’t expect a thank-you. We call a media conference.”
Peabody tapped the side of her head. “Sorry, I thought I heard you willingly doing a media conference.”
“Redman gets the word. He’ll know we’ve got them.”
“Do you think he’d try to get to them in lockup?”
“He plans, and wouldn’t have planned for this. But. I’m hoping I can speak to him through the media. Talk him down. It’s fifty-fifty at best, but it’s worth a try.”
“You’d bring up what they did to his family?”
“That’s right. And what the NYPSD has done, what the courts and the NYPSD are doing to bring all responsible for it to justice.”
“You’re appealing to the man he was.”
“I will. Some of that’s still there. Family photos turned away, family members carefully unharmed. Some of who he was is in there. I just don’t know if there’s enough left.”
She hurried past the circus where someone called out. “Dooser! Check it! The wheeze is mine!”
Eve rushed into the lab as someone’s drum solo pummeled the air.
“Show me,” she demanded.
“Cut music volume by half.”
“Seventy-five percent,” Eve pleaded.
“Down seventy-five percent.” Feeney’s grin lifted his hangdog face. “Craziest fucking excuse for a code I’ve ever worked on.”
“Genius in the weird and stupid.” Callendar slurped up some fizzy.
“Pattern?” McNab slurped his own fizzy. “This guy says, ‘I don’t need no freaking pattern.’ Key? Screw that. It’s all random. Random in three languages.”
“So?” Callendar gave a flourish toward Feeney.
“We embraced the random.”
Eve figured they deserved their touchdown dance, but.
“Show me,” she repeated.
“Main screen,” Feeney ordered. “Split screen, original doc and working doc.”
On the large screen the gibberish from Cruz’s computer scrolled on one side, names, dates, methods, payments on the other.
“Jesus, he’s got it all right there.”
“We got it all right there,” Feeney corrected. “You can see he started slow, a job or two a year. Then?”
“Banner-Wyst, July 2048. The address, Redman’s building. Gas leak/accidental. Got the down payment, the final payment.”
She pulled out her ’link.
“Hold a sec.” Feeney tapped a finger toward the screen. “The random’s a bitch, and we’re still working through it. But we’ve got two more jobs from Banner-Wyst. Car bomb in London, nine years back, took out a woman running for prime minister, her wife, an assistant, and the driver.”
“I ran background on it,” Callendar told them. “He made it look like a radical anti-government group. Three people were arrested, convicted, and are still doing time for it.”
“Probably they did some bad shit,” McNab put in. “But not this bad shit.”
“I’ll let our pal at Interpol know,” Feeney said. “And an explosion in an armory in a village in Guatemala, attributed to a defective incendiary device. Twenty-six dead, thirty-two injured.”
“Six months later,” McNab told them, “Banner-Wyst built one of their company towns on that site.”
“You tagging up Reo?” Feeney’s grin spread again. “You can add those in. And let her know we’re going to find more. And a shitload of other clients who need a good stern talking-to.”
“I will. Send her what you’ve got, and thanks. Major thanks. Next round’s on me.”
Callendar shot up a hand. “The good stuff.”
“Absolutely. Before that? Do you want in on the raid?”
“Bet your ass and everyone else’s. I’ll put a couple more of my boys on this now, have them clean it up. We’re go when you are.”
“I’ll let you know.” ’Link in hand, she started out.
Reo answered. “You have more?”
“I have a great big pile of more. Feeney’s sending you what they have so far.
And what they have links Cruz and Banner-Wyst nice and tight.
Redman and two other jobs so far. Client name, location of job, date, payments, method used.
Other clients, jobs, etc., beyond Banner-Wyst. You guys are going to be real busy. ”
“Once I get the— Here it comes now. Feeney’s fast, and holy shit!”
“About sixteen years of holy shit. If Cruz wasn’t dead, you’d slam-dunk him into an off-planet cage. You’ll have to settle for Jacob Wyst and Calvin Banner. You’ll need to add in arrest warrants there. Oh, and we’ll be extraditing John O’Brian from Bora Bora.”
“Bora Bora?”
“Where he decided to run. I’ll get you that data when we nail it down.”
“Put your team together, Dallas. You’ll have your warrants before you’re ready to go.”
Eve brought in Whitney as she hopped on a glide.
“Sir, EDD has linked Banner-Wyst to Cruz, the bombing of Redman’s building, and two other bombings so far.
APA Reo is obtaining the search and seize for the company, for the Wyst and Banner properties, and arrest warrants for Banner and for Wyst. O’Brian has fled, and we’ve tracked him to Bora Bora.
I believe we’ll document his involvement in this and other illegal acts.
At such time we’ll request a warrant for his extradition. ”
Whitney held a beat. “You’ve been busy.”
“Yes, sir, and about to get busier. I’m putting a team together for the search and seize.
If Wyst is there, Peabody and I will make the arrest. If he’s not, we’ll go to his residence and do so.
Sir, I expect the team will confiscate a great deal of evidence, electronics, files, ledgers, communications. ”
“Understood. You’ll have a team of forensic accountants waiting. We’ll add more to EDD if necessary.”
“Yes, sir. Commander, as much as I’d like to make the collar on Calvin Banner, he’s unquestionably a flight risk, and he’ll hear about the raid almost as soon as it happens.”
“Get me his arrest warrant. I’ll take some officers and make the arrest myself.”
“Yes, sir. I believe a media conference will be appropriate and necessary after the arrests are made.”
“It may be low blood sugar. You’ve probably been too busy to eat a decent meal today.”
“I need to speak to Redman directly, Commander, show him we’re working to bring him justice, justice for his family. This might be a way to do it.”
“It’s a good thought. And since a media conference after arrests of this nature will be appropriate and necessary, we’ll set one up. I want all the data possible, the arrests, interviews, again, if possible, before we speak to the media.
“Tomorrow morning. The city of New York, and hopefully Steven Redman, can hear about it all over their bagel and schmear. Eight hundred hours. I’ll contact Kyung.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
“I’ll want a full report on the raid and arrests.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll need yours on Banner’s arrest.”
He smiled, broadly. “And you’ll get it.”
She stepped into Homicide. Before she could speak, Baxter lifted a hand. “We got him. He’s enjoying a great view in a lovely house he booked through Tropical Villas.”
“He had the place stocked with food,” Trueheart added. “Requested no staff but daily housekeeping. He’s got the house for two weeks.”
“Long enough to decide what to do next. Here’s what we’re doing next. Santiago, Detective Carmichael, have you closed your case?”
“Just finishing the paperwork,” Santiago told her.
“That can wait. Officer Carmichael, I need twelve officers for a search and seize. Peabody, get me a dozen more, and the necessary transpo. Baxter, Trueheart, Santiago, Detective Carmichael, you’re in this.
“We’re taking down Banner-Wyst. EDD will join. We’ll confiscate all files, electronics. This includes their labs, any and all restricted areas. No one is to leave the building until we have all files, electronics, and anything else that pertains.