Bronx, New York. 10:35.
"YOU SON OF A B****!" Piotr Droski yells at his lieutenant. He was walking around his desk yelling and kicking everything and everyone he was seeing for the last ten minutes. All the people present have been thrown out of the room leaving only him and his lieutenant. Igor had his head down and was trying to look everywhere except at his boss. He never has seen him that angry.
"How the fuck our seven men didn't succeed at grabbing a frigging kid!? Do we have only trash here!?" He yells, destroying the wooden chair near his desk with a powerful kick.
"They had security details around the appartement. Bad ass ex military. Our guys were not expecting it so they were neutralized before doing real damage."
"And none of you geniuses had the idea to scout her residence to spot a security detail?" He screamed.
"I did but I never saw anything. It's like they were never here in the first place! I look and I never see anyone!" Igor pleaded. He was lost, never anything like that had happened to him. He was always the one who took the other by surprise. 'It's like they knew we were coming!' He thought.
"Stupid, incompetent moron!" He yelled.
"Boss we need to leave! I heard from my source that one of our guys in the NYPD was taken into custody. They are onto us!"
"They are onto us because you fucked up everything! I give you a simple task, taking a fucking kid and you manage to blow it!"
Sitting back behind his desk, Piotr opened one of his drawers. Taking out a silvery desert eagle from it, he aimed it at his lieutenant who jumped from his chair and put his hand in a sign of appeasement.
"Boss please wait! I can help you with…"
His pleading was abruptly cut down when three bullets tore through his chest. With the force of the bullets in such close range, the body of his ex lieutenant was projected three feet back. Coming up to the body on the ground, Piotr spit on it while insulting him in russian. Piotr was enraged. Because his people fuck up, he was in danger to get jailed. He needed to leave the city and the state today before they learned where he was. He has set up over the years a series of safehouses and hideouts basically everywhere in New York. Nobody even in his own organisation knew exactly where he was and when except a few trusted people. The safehouse where he was currently was protected by at least ten people with machine guns.
That's why he was still shocked when the door of his office was suddenly ripped open by explosif and five SWAT members entered his office with tactical gear and M4A1 pointed at him.
"Police! Freeze!"
"Drop the gun Droski! NOW!"
Several voices exclaim at the same time, straining a machine gun at him. Piotr could hear the voice yelling at him but couldn't make out what they were saying. He finally came back and understood what they wanted. For a second, he was tempted to lift his gun and go down shooting but his survival instinct kicked in. Dropping his gun, he was quickly brought down to the floor before being cuffed.
Being escorted out of the building, he could see cops everywhere, the road cut off by patrol cars and a number of his guys in cuffs or unconscious as they were being looked out by paramedics on the scene. As he was shoved brutally in a patrol car he could not stop thinking. 'How they found me so quickly? How do they enter my safehouse without triggering any alarm?" Piotr knew that he was going to jail, they bust him second after killing his lieutenant, there was no doubt about it but he couldn't care less at that moment as his brain was focused on the question turning inside his mind. 'Do the cops have someone close to me who let them in? Or someone from the underground betrayed me?"
Not far from here, there was a nice café with french window. The atmosphere, usually peaceful here, was disturbed by the cops near here, getting the attention of everyone sitting on the porch and the waitress. Sitting at one of the tables, a handsome blond youth could be seen sipping at his hot chocolate. He did not appear to be interested in the ruckus nearby and was busy with a deck of cards and a youtube video on his phone.
Curiously when the patrol car containing Droski starts leaving, a cute smile appears on the youth's face. Finishing his chocolate and putting his backpack on his shoulder, he exits the café after giving a generous tip at the waitress who gave him a thank you smile. The youth then start walking on the street leisurely, heading to the Upper West Side.
*****
Few minutes later, in the DA office.
Director Mattews from internal affairs walks back in Karine office, pocketing his phone.
"How did it go?" Ask an anxious Karine.
"The anonymous tip that you received was right, he was indeed here. Hiding in an apartment above a bodega store in the Bronx. I can't believe it." Mattews said, shaking his head.
"Finally. Now I need to put him away for good." Said Karine with a faint smile.
"It gets better. The Swat team arrested him seconds after he killed one of his guys. We have the murder weapon with his fingerprint on it and testimony from the SWAT guys. There is no getting away from that. You got him for good Karine this time." He said with a smile.
"That bastard is going down now." She said with a satisfied smile. She looked like a cat who finally got the mouse.
"Yes, he is." He nodded with a frown.
"What's up with the frown?" She asked.
"Well, there were several… abnormalities... before the raid was carried out by our SWAT team."
"Abnormalities?" She asked, puzzled.
"Yes, our guys found six people who they believed were sentry to keep watch on the hideout knocked out behind the building. Nothing serious beside a few bruises or twisted muscles. The alarm and security surveillance had also been disconnected. The team leader that I talked to said that without all that, our team operation would have been very difficult. In fact, with the number of people and weapons on the site, they could really have been dead on our side and Droski would have escaped." He said, his eyes narrowing, examining her.
Hearing that, the eyes of Karine flicker for a second to Amal before they come back to Mattews. She had a hunch on who was responsible but she could not voice it. The same person who sent her a file with a lot of information on Droski coming from a ghost email address. That reminds her of a technique that she saw very recently with the Caldwell case. She could not help but frown.
"Did you send someone there Karine? I remember that there were two bodyguards who saved you last night, where is the other one?" He asks, scrutinizing.
"Jean is protecting my son in my father in law house and no. I didn't send anyone there nor did I planned to." She answered truthfully.
"Right. How is your son by the way? How did he take the attack last night?" He responded seemingly mollified.
"Pretty good considering. He is currently working on a role for a movie. He must take an audition in five days in LA." She said with pride.
She remembered how shocked they were when Nathaniel told them that he was asked to take an audition for a future blockbuster movie last night. At first when he talked about magic, they thought that he was messing with them until he explained. The fact that the role was asked by Jillian did not leave her insensible either. She even started feeling bad to not mention her to him before. They just didn't think about it.
"Knowing you, I am not surprised." He laughed."I need to get going now, keep me informed if anything comes up again."
"Will do. Thanks James for everything, I owe you a dinner." She said good naturally.
"Don't mention it! I will hold you to that dinner however, bring that son of yours too, I want to talk to him! I haven't seen him for years now, I'm curious to see how he looks now." He said before leaving.
After the door was closed, Karine started thinking before locking eyes with Amal.
"Amal, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I don't believe you want me to answer truthfully to that question ma'am." He said with his usual deadpan voice.
Thinking about it, Karine realised that he was right. She really didn't want to think about it.