The Midnight Club_ A Novel - James Patterson [66]
“Yeah. That’s right. Schweitzer said he was planning to put together a squad. He had orders directly from Police Plaza. He said that a lot…He said we were in the middle of a guerrilla war with the street mobs. Nine cops had been killed in the last year. He asked me to think about that. Just to think it over. No pressure.”
“Yeah, no pressure except now you know somebody at Police Plaza wants to shoot it out with organized crime. No pressure. Just go out and commit a few harmless homicides with some other vigilante cops.”
Parker smiled and seemed to enjoy Stefanovitch’s sense of irony.
“The third time we met, it was up in Mamaroneck. This time it was at the house of Deputy Commissioner Mackey. Beautiful old house. Mackey was very intense and serious. He raised ethical considerations. But he showed us a lot of hard evidence. How many cops had been killed for breaking the street law. He said there was nothing the department could do legally. The mob was using guerrilla tactics, then hiding behind the court system with their expensive lawyers. There was no way the department could win. The mob kills a cop, maybe even a judge, a certain witness, anybody they want to kill. If we can make any kind of case, they hire the best lawyers and get themselves off.”
“Did it get any higher than Schweitzer and Mackey?”
“There was another meeting the next week. This meeting’s up in Westchester, too. I get introduced to the rest of the team. Detective Jimmy Burke is former Vietnam and Manhattan South Vice. Detective Aurelio Rodriquez is from Queens Narcotics. His partner had been killed a few months before. I knew Aurelio. He wanted a little vengeance, just like me. The three of us were told that Commissioner Sugarman approved of the special unit himself. It almost sounded like it was Sugarman’s plan.”
Stefanovitch could feel a cold spot forming in his stomach. “This was a verbal approval from Commissioner Sugarman?”
“That’s right. You got it. Mackey used a lot of the police commissioner’s own words. He was trying to make us more comfortable. After that, we met only with Mackey. He’d give us the specific targets. Alexandre St.-Germain. Traficante. Ollie Barnwell. Everything was very organized. We even kept a surveillance log before and after the hits. We recorded our time on undercover.”
“Do you still have the surveillance log?” Stefanovitch was beginning to make a few written notes. “You did keep the log, Isiah?”
Parker smiled. “Sure I kept the surveillance log. It’s in a safety deposit box. A girlfriend of mine has the key. Just in case I ever get into an accident, in case something unfortunate happens. I never completely trusted my partners, especially Burke.”
Stefanovitch rubbed his forehead, then his eyes. He believed what he was hearing—he just couldn’t believe he was hearing it.
“I met with Mackey one more time. This was almost two weeks ago,” Parker said. “He told me about Atlantic City.”
“Did you keep a surveillance log on the meeting? Do you have a record of the meeting?” Stefanovitch’s heart was starting to beat faster. They were getting into what really mattered.
“The last meeting with Deputy Commissioner Mackey… I was wired. I wired myself. Like I said, I was very uncomfortable.”
“Jesus Christ. You wired yourself for a meet with Charlie Mackey?”
“The tape is in the safety deposit box I told you about. Safe and sound.”
“I’m beginning to see how you got all those narcotics arrests. Tell me more about Atlantic City. Everything there is to tell.”
There was silence as Parker lit up another cigarette. The detective seemed to be taking stock of what he had gone over, maybe what he hadn’t gone over yet.
“We were supposed to check into separate hotels in Atlantic City. I was in Trump’s. Burke stayed at Bally’s, Aurelio Rodriquez was at Resorts.”
Parker told about the chaos and confusion after the shootings at Trump’s. “I saw you outside on the boardwalk. I also think I saw Deputy Commissioner Mackey in the crowd. Some coincidence, huh?”
“Then Burke tried to kill me. Burke was waiting for me near my car…
“Rodriquez