Chapter 21

Frost found himself back that the Boston Public Library for the second day in a row. Jane hadn't had a bad idea yesterday of meeting here. It was a nice quiet place to be able to search those hard drives and files without anyone else knowing what he was working on. He was here the minute the place opened. He had a deadline and he wasn't going to blow it. Jane needed him.

His assignments for the day were generally simple. He had the easy part of all of this. The part that didn't pose any risk. He had two main assignments. First, he had to compile all the evidence he could against the mole, Connors and patrol officer Johnson. He needed to create a file for each person and get as much of the documents, text messages, emails and other electronic data that linked the three to the mob as he could.

All of that information was going to be given to Cavanaugh to use. Cavanaugh was charged with obtaining and executing the arrest warrants for the three dirty cops. Not an easy task considering who the mole was. He had to get and execute the warrants without tipping off anyone that it was going to happen. And he had to execute the warrants at the exact same time and in coordination to Jane's visit to Cedar Junction.

Frost had the evidence. There was more than enough to merit arrest warrants but he wanted to get it all as the more information he could put together the better it would be for Jane. It was his second task that was going to be the harder of the two tasks. And it was the one that Jane counted on the most. He needed to unencrypt the email address the mole, Connors and Johnson had all sent emails to over the years. Jane absolutely needed to have their contact source within the Irish mob for her plan to work. She couldn't go into the meeting with Doyle without knowing that information.

Frost knew his knowledge of electronics was good enough to crack the encryption but probably not by the deadline. He needed help. And help was coming in the form of an ex-military, ex-con named Daniel Black. Frost was actually looking forward to meeting with him. The equipment he had secured for Jane was amazing and Frost was hoping he could forge a long standing relationship with a clear electronics expert. The algorithms he wrote for extracting the files Frost was reviewing was beyond Frost's capability.

Black arrived at the library right on time. Jane had called him on the only number he ever answered and explained what more she needed. He was a little reluctant to meet up with another cop but he had checked up on Frost and found nothing that made him suspicious. He knocked on the meeting room door and Frost let him into the room.

"Thanks for coming Daniel. We really need some help. Did Jane explain the situation?"

"She did. Seems my encryption algorithm has found something it can't unencrypt. I'm surprised by that. Whoever they have on their end must have ties to the military. Let's see what you have."

Frost and Jane had decided to be honest with Black if he asked for details. She owed him Maura's life. Had he not suggested the necklace tracer Jane knew Maura would probably be dead right now. But they also were going to try to keep details from him. He was ex-military and both Jane and Frost thought there was decent chance he would be comfortable with a 'need-to-know' basis and not ask a lot of questions. Frost could easily handle the document retrieval from the Command Center computer. It was the encryption he was struggling with and that was what he wanted Black to work on.

Black pulled out his own laptop and started to get to work. He wasn't much for conversation and he didn't ask any questions other than to see the email address. He looked at what Frost gave him and felt confident that he could find the owner of the account within the next three hours. Frost left him alone to get to work. He started loading up flash drives for each dirty cop.

Korsak had been given several assignments to help Jane. Promptly at 9 am he made his way up to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office. He got into the elevator and traveled to the seventh floor. There he flashed his badge and asked to speak with DA Patrick Hagan. Korsak liked and trusted Hagan. It was the reason he was here. Hagan's secretary alerted Hagan that Korsak was waiting and she was instructed to send him into the office.

"Vince, long time!" Hagan said as he got up and walked around from his desk. "You didn't get into much detail over the phone this morning. What can I do for you?"

Korsak shook Hagan's hand and then turned and closed the door to Hagan's office. "Pat, I'm in need of a lot of help. And you have to keep this quiet for right now." Korsak made a move to sit down and Hagan returned to his desk chair. He hadn't seen such a serious look on the detective's face in a very long time.

"What's going on Vince?"

"I need help obtaining arrest warrants for three dirty cops. I have evidence that three people from BPD are on the take and in with the Irish mob. Lieutenant Cavanaugh and I want to make a move on all three individuals but we need arrest warrants to do that. I need your help securing the arrest warrants and we need those warrants to be served tomorrow at the exact same moment."

"I can get you arrest warrants if you have evidence. I'd have to see the evidence first but it shouldn't be too hard to manage. What do you have?"

"Emails, text messages and encrypted documents linking our three suspects to the Mob. I will be able to get you copies to look at this afternoon. It is all being put together as we speak."

"Ok, so if the evidence is good why the worried look on your face? And why come straight to me?"

"Because of who one of the dirty cops is. You won't believe it but it's true."

"Alright try me. Who are the three?"

"The first is a patrol officer from District C-6 named Johnson, the second is William Connors…"

"Connors? Seriously? Connors leads the Organized Crime unit! He's on the take?"

"Yes. But he isn't the Big Fish, Pat. There's someone even bigger than that."

"Vince, what exactly have you gotten yourself into here?"

"A rather large mess to be honest with you."

"Who's the Big Fish?"

And Korsak told him. Hagan turned three shades paler. "What? Can? How? Can you prove this? I mean really, really prove this? Not an instinct or a gut. Not a tip or a suspicion. A real, tangible concrete proof prove this?"

"Yes, we can. With enough evidence that it will send them all to jail permanently."

Hagan now understood why Vince had the worried look on his face. This was big. Huge. Huger than huge. "I need to see the evidence. I can't make a move on this until I see it for myself."

Korsak nodded. "It will be ready by noon for you to look at. But there are some conditions and they are not up for negotiations."

Hagan now looked pale and confused. "What conditions?"

"First, not a single word about this to anyone. Not yet. There are things that are going to happen that make it absolutely crucial that the timing and rollout of all of this happens in a precise and exact way. So I'm serious Pat. No text messages. No emails. No cell phone calls. Nothing about this to anyone until you get my personal and in person go ahead."

Hagan nodded in agreement to that. He could live with that.

"Second, you will be able to see a copy of what we have today but not everything. Enough to absolutely convince you that all three are dirty and enough to convince a judge to issue the warrant. But you get none of it until Monday." Korsak pushed back the date to keep Hagan out of the loop on the pending confrontation with Doyle tomorrow. Hagan would actually get the files Thursday night if everything went according to plan. He just didn't want to tip him off that something specific was planned for Thursday so Monday sounded like a good time table.

"Why Monday?"

"Again, there are things going on and we can't release custody of the evidence until Monday. That is non-negotiable."

Hagan reluctantly agreed. If he could see some evidence why couldn't he see it all and have it all? He didn't understand Monday but was in no position to bargain with Korsak.

"Third, you can never reveal where you initially got this information. Not to anyone. Not a judge. Not another lawyer. Not the US Attorney's office. No one. There is legal access to all of this if you know where to look for it so you won't have any chain of custody issues to worry about or any search and seizure concerns." Korsak knew the information on the Command Center computer was the absolute property of the Boston Police Department and not one of the three dirty cops had a search and seizure argument for illegal activity conducted on BPD issues electronics equipment. They had all signed a release years ago granting unfetted access and search rights. Chain of custody would be fine.

That was one of the reasons the arrest warrants needed to be executed at the exact same time. The Big Fish needed to be prevented from attempting to wipe out the evidence from the computers. All three had to go down at the same time and the computers needed to be seized for evidence flawlessly to ensure nothing got erased.

Hagan thought for minute and agreed. "Ok. If you can promise me that the evidence is not tampered with, untainted and I won't have issues with suppression, I won't tell anyone it was you that gave it to me in the first place."

"Oh, it's not coming from me. I'm just a messenger in all of this."

"Who's it coming from then?"

"The bravest person I have ever known." And that was all he would say about that.

Korsak wrapped up the details with Hagan. They arranged to meet later that afternoon when Korsak had copies of enough evidence against the three cops to obtain the warrant. Hagan agreed to seek out the one judge he trusted above them all and start the process for arrest warrants. He would not mention names or titles to the judge without seeing evidence. And he assured Korsak that the judge he had in mind would keep things quiet once identities were revealed. Korsak then left the DAs office and headed to the station to speak with Cavanaugh.

Cavanaugh has his tasks to complete before tomorrow just like the rest of the group. He was absolutely amazed at what Jane had proposed and her willingness to go ahead with the plan. Especially considering the risks involved. Part of him wanted to try to talk her out of doing it but he was pretty sure she was going to try something with or without his help. So, he needed to help her.

His first task in all of this was to meet with the highest ranking member of the Boston Police Department. Superintendent in Chief Max Hamilton. Cavanaugh had requested and was granted a private meeting with Hamilton. He had known Hamilton for years and they had a fairly decent relationship. So at 9 am Cavanaugh made his way to Hamilton's office.

As he knocked on the door he was immediately greeted by Hamilton. "Sean, come in. I was just finishing a call and then I'm all yours."

Cavanaugh was quiet for a second and then heard talking. It was clear Hamilton was on a conference call. Hamilton signaled that the phone was on mute so it was ok for him to speak. "Thanks for seeing me. It's fairly urgent."

Hamilton nodded. "This call is about to wrap up. They just hit Q & A and no one will throw anything out there." And sure enough, no one on the call had any questions and the call ended. Hamilton hung up and then turned his attention to Cavanaugh. "Now Sean, what's so urgent?"

"Can we go for a walk and talk please?" He did not want to have this discussion inside the building. Paranoia was starting to get to him.

Hamilton was a little surprised but agreed. "Let's go get a cup of coffee." He indicated to his secretary that he was stepping out for a while and they both headed to the elevators. Cavanaugh deliberately kept the conversation casual and both got caught up on the status of each other's families. Hamilton picked up on the hint that Sean wasn't going to talk the issue until they were outside.

Once outside, Cavanaugh took control of the conversation. "I found the mole."

Hamilton froze. "What?"

"I know who the mole is," he said again and started walking. Hamilton scrambled a little to catch up with Cavanaugh.

"Who is it and can you prove it?"

"I can prove it. And there are actually three people you will have to deal with but the other two are small fish."

"Sean who is it?"

Cavanaugh took a breath. He normally had nerves of steel but he was about to try and virtually blackmail the highest ranking officer in the department. The man could crush Sean's career in the blink of an eye. But, he had things he needed. Jane had things she needed. The answer to the question was the leverage he needed to get what he wanted.

"Before I tell you that or show you one piece of evidence that I have uncovered there are things I need."

Hamilton looked incredulous. "Just tell me the names Sean. That's an order."

That made Cavanaugh cringe but he proceeded. "With all due respect, Sir, this isn't a traffic ticket we are talking about. And there are some guarantees I need to have before I can tell you anything. This has to play out my way or it won't play out at all."

Hamilton was mad but nodded. "What is it you want?"

"I need to control the arrests of the three individuals. And that arrest has to happen tomorrow."

Hamilton didn't say a word. He was waiting for the next demand. But no more would come. He finally realized that. "That's it? You just want credit for the collars and it has to happen tomorrow?"

"No, I don't want credit for the collars. This isn't about glory Max. I want to control how they happen. Give the credit to whoever you want. But I need to control the time and manner of the execution of all three arrest warrants."

"Why?"

"Because there is more at stake here that you will ever understand. I must be able to determine and control the arrests without interruption or interference. And the only person that can guarantee me that is you. So, promise me that, promise me that I can handle the arrests and that it can happen tomorrow and I will tell you everything I know about all three of the bastards."

Hamilton was quiet for a moment. He had tried for years to figure out who within the department was the mole. If Cavanaugh could tell him that answer and all he had to do was let the arrests happen how Sean wanted he felt that was a reasonable request. He had known Sean for years and trusted him to do the right thing. So, he conceded. "Fair enough. Alright Sean. This will go down how you see fit. I'll make sure of it."

Cavanaugh looked at Hamilton. Everything within him shouted that he could trust him to live up to his agreement. So, he told him who the Big Fish was. Sean had done his part. He would coordinate the three arrests tomorrow but other than that he knew the rest would be up to Jane.

Jane strolled around Harvard Yard waiting for her meeting. She hated waiting. She hated it even more today. Everything that had happened over the last month had fried her nerves. And now that they were so close to the end of all of this everything seemed to mean more. To matter more. She really just wanted all of this to be done and over.

She was surprised at how all of this was evolving. She had planned on just handling this on her own. Not telling anyone what was going on and just doing it. But then she told Maura. Told her everything. And then Korsak and Frost. And Cavanaugh. She was surprised that she trusted people enough to fill them in. And she was surprised just how much better she felt because she had shared this with people. Not so much because others were helping with tasks but more because for the first time she didn't feel alone anymore. And that was Maura's doing. And she knew she would owe that debt for the rest of her life. So doing this. Handling this. This was such a small price to pay to make Maura safe.

She looked up and saw her contact. He approached. "You're late," she said without disguising her annoyance.

"I've been busy. This hasn't been exactly easy to arrange you know."

"So, you can arrange it?"

"Yes."

"Everything?"

"Yes."

"And you can guarantee it?"

"Yes."

Jane was skeptical. "You can plant your guys in the prison?"

"That's already done."

"You can guarantee that your guys are involved with setting up my meeting tomorrow?"

"That is already handled too."

"They have total control?"

"Yes."

"Of the room?"

"Yes."

"Everything in the room?"

"Yes."

"So they can get me what I will need?"

"Yes."

"You know I won't be able to get my gun past the front door."

"Yes."

"So your guys can handle that for me?"

"Yes."

"The weapon will be there?"

"Yes."

"And it will be your guys escorting him to the room?"

"Yes."

"And your guys doing the search of him before he enters that room with me?"

"Yes."

"And your guys know how to handle things after it's done?"

"Yes."

"Alright. I'll deliver on my end."

"Are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this?"

Jane was quiet for a minute. It was definitely too late to turn back now. It was her turn to give a single word answer.

"Yes."