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.