"So let me get things straight. They were seven of them, two of you and you still managed to neutralize them without any gun shot and barely any blood spill?" The detective asks Amal and Jean.
"Yes." Jean said, while Amal just nodded. Nathaniel urges them to say the minimum to the cops.
"For whom do you work for again?"
"Lyndon label."
"The music company?"
"Yes."
"You are way too skilled to work as an ordinary security agent." The detective says, starting to get really suspicious.
"We are not. We are the personal bodyguard for the CEO." Jean said.
"So why are you here?"
"Since the prosecutor is working on a dangerous case, he assigned us to protect his family. Turns out, he was right."
"Something the matter detective?" Ask a female voice that made him turn around.
Behind him, Karine Lyndon appears with a frown on her beautiful face. She had long since gotten dressed as she didn't want people seeing her in nightgown.
"No prosecutor, just establishing the time frame."He said, straightening himself.
"From what I have heard, this is done. I would like you to leave now. I'm due to court in the morning and I would like to have a little sleep before then."
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.