Breaking Barriers Chapter 50
Tori
They were sitting in the break room, sipping coffee; I'd wandered in to find Beckett, Benson, Lieutenant Taylor and the Bureau's Jordan Shaw sitting around the table.
"Hi guys, what's up?" Kate waved me to a seat.
"Hi Tori, we're just chewing over the case, pull up a chair if you'd like"
I'd always liked Beckett, she respected me for the job I did and had always treated me well, plus ever since I'd proved what I could dig out of the online world she'd been even more welcoming, almost treating me as part of her team which was really nice, there's nothing like an occasional demonstration of capability to reinforce your credentials, especially to people as capable as these four. As they continued to talk I made a Chamomile Tea and sat down; Lieutenant Taylor was speaking.
"We've gone through every location even peripherally tied to Lysenko" He nodded my way. "Every place mentioned in any way in any of the files Tori's turned up, nothing at any of them" Olivia nodded.
"Yeah, Alex has practically worn a path from her office to the Judge's chambers getting search warrants signed" She shrugged. "Once she explains the background to the case, not one Judge has said no" I nodded at that, this case had been horrific, I'd been sickened by what I'd discovered, the images and video still made me feel ill, it had been the stuff of more than a few sleepless nights, honestly I don't know how Olivia had held it together.
We talked over what we had and what we didn't, avenues that should be looked into, well they did, I mostly sat back and watched, seeing how tired everyone was. It was hardly surprising, the last few days had been brutal, Kate and Lieutenant Taylor were still getting over being hurt, the investigations into the shootings by the Department's shooting team, the case reviews, which Kate and the others had done a nice job of playing down my involvement in, for which I was grateful.
I was happy I'd been able to help, but really didn't want to explain to the powers that be exactly how I'd got some of that information, most of that particular skill set was from a past I'd long ago mostly left behind and some things are better left there, unnoticed and unrecognised. The fact there was likely to be no one to prosecute helped, thanks to that soulless monster Lysenko.
Another of the kids had passed away last night, Olivia and Jordan had been there when she did apparently, I couldn't have done it, to sit there and watch a young child die was something I just couldn't do, to sit there and try and comfort him; that must have been harrowing. My admiration for the others grew just that little bit more, together with my concern about their wellbeing; it was taking an obviously heavy toll on them all.
Honestly when I'd first heard that each one of those kids rescued was going to die, I'd headed home where I'd grabbed my cat Schrodinger and cuddled him while I had a good cry, based on how many kids were in hospital I had a feeling he was going to get very used to that treatment over the next week or so.
While I'd been sitting there thinking the conversation had stalled a bit so I tossed a question in to keep it going.
"Are we sure that Lysenko didn't have any other accomplices here in New York?" At my question there were looks my way as Lieutenant Taylor shook his head and spoke.
"Not that we've been able to find" I frowned as Olivia spoke.
"Obviously he had at least one back in Russia, someone procuring the children for his operation here in the States but no one here that we found"
"Well, no one that hasn't got the poison in them, so they're likely employees, not partners" There were slow nods around the table at Jordan's comment and at the point about Russia; we'd intercepted kids being shipped into the country already dosed with the poison and the suppressant.
"Someone back there was acquiring the kids, dosing them up and putting them on the plane, same as the extra muscle brought in with the kids" I nodded at Kate's summation then spoke up, seeing them look my way.
"I wonder if this is something for Jordan" She raised an eyebrow questioningly as I continued. "Maybe you can get the Russian police to look into the passports issued to the kids" I pulled a face. "They were all issued passports in fake names, so either someone was making really good forgeries or there was someone inside the system there procuring passports for everyone on demand" Jordan held her hand out horizontally in front of her and rocked it back and forward.
"They're definitely not forgeries, our lab went over them and they're definitely official" Olivia nodded and chipped in.
"So there's got to be someone in Russia, inside the system approving these passports, maybe the Russian cops can look into that" Jordan nodded as she replied.
"I've asked our liaison officer in Moscow to talk to the Militia, the local cops there, about potential accomplices, I'll make a note to ask about passports too" Kate jumped in on that.
"Yeah, wouldn't someone official over there have had to have approved it?" That triggered a memory, one I shared.
"Maybe, maybe not" They looked at me as I explained. "When I was on holiday in Rome a couple of year's back I had my passport stolen" I shrugged, a little sheepishly. "A pickpocket, they're really bad over there. Anyway, I went to the US Embassy in Rome and they issued me with a new one on the spot" There were sudden blank looks as everyone's attention was focussed elsewhere, thinking it through. Olivia was the first one to speak.
"Who in an embassy can issue a passport?" Mac shrugged and kicked the discussion on.
"Well we know Lysenko was ex-KGB, whatever they're calling it now, he must have had contacts there who are still in the system. One of them must be in a position to issue passports"
I happened to be looking directly at Jordan as her eyes flew wide, then narrowed suddenly; something had just occurred to her. I watched as she unconsciously rubbed her chin in thought. Kate had taken up the thread though I continued watching Jordan, wondering what had just occurred.
"That's something we can look into, we've found a number of passports, there must be some way to find out where they were issued" Kate paused for a moment then spoke to Jordan. "Can you check into that Jordan?" Startled she looked round then replied to Kate's question.
"Oh yeah, there's a passport section in each Embassy, I'll see if they were issued by the Embassy here" I tipped my head to watch her; unsure of what she was thinking. Her eyes caught mine and widened a little as she realised I'd spotted her reaction; she then shook her head and looked away as I internally frowned. Jordan had just put something together but wasn't sharing.
"Is that something State does or can the Bureau do it?" Mac shrugged then continued. "No offence but after seeing State in action I kinda hope you can get the Bureau to do it, at least that way it'll be done right"
There were derisive snorts around the table at that brutally accurate comment; every woman even peripherally involved in the case had been called in to account for their whereabouts during the time window that that Russian diplomat claimed he'd been threatened.
All they'd had to go on was a woman had stepped out in the car park as he'd been leaving, confronting the attaché she'd spoken to him, telling him that if he had any way to find the suppressant that he should hand it over before it was too late, for the children and for him.
The attaché had said the woman had stood hidden in deep shadow, speaking clear English without any particularly discernible accent, calling him by name and wearing what looked like an overcoat and heels. He'd tried to get a clear view of her but she'd been nothing but a dark shape in shadow. She'd told him time was running out and that he had no time to waste then stepped behind a pillar and vanished, the attaché had looked around then gone straight back into the Embassy, rung the State Department and complained Olivia had threatened him, the idiot.
Each of the three women sitting here with me had an airtight alibi for the time period so the State Department guys had started looking wider, the ME's first, Melinda Warner, Laney Parish and Jo Danville, then when that had fizzled out they'd gone through the 12th Precinct, the other detectives like Karpowski, uniformed officers like Anne Hastings, even non-cops like the facial sketch artist and me, we'd all been grilled to no avail.
One poor State guy had rather suicidally suggested Gates may have been the culprit, though the look she'd given him when asked about her whereabouts had practically melted his balls right where he stood. She'd crossed her arms, looked him slowly up and down then pointed out that her alibi was the thirty plus cops on the floor as she hadn't left her office most of the day, doing annual fitreps on each officer.
As the State guy had wilted Gates told him that unless he was suggesting some grand conspiracy involving everyone at the 12th he'd better get the hell out of her Precinct before she had them all arrested for obstructing Police Officers in the conduct of their duties. They'd left.
I had my own suspicions about who it had been, something I was happy to keep to myself though. While I'd been wool-gathering the discussion had turned to yesterday's arrest of an internal affairs officer, by Captain Gates no less. Olivia was explaining the background.
"Tucker's got it into his head that everyone's bent, he crossed paths with me the first time years ago; he used me in a sting that went bad then dumped me in it. The next time he was sniffing round me and my then partner, claimed we were dirty, but had no proof, just accusations" She shrugged. "He's been like that for probably most of a decade, he sees two cops standing shooting the breeze and immediately assumes some kind of criminal conspiracy" Kate shook her head.
"A whack job" Lieutenant Taylor chimed in.
"People like that are part of the reason Internal Affairs is so hated and feared" He grimaced. "They don't need proof, just suspicion or paranoia, combine that with the power to make a cops life a living hell…" He didn't finish so I jumped in.
"What's likely to happen to him now, I mean he was arrested right?" They looked my way and nodded, with Olivia the first to answer.
"Normally I'd say nothing, IA looks after their own but Captain Gates is ex-IA, that holds a lot more sway that a normal complaint, so we'll see" Kate nodded.
"The Captain said she was going to take it all the way up to the Commissioner, that's a bit hard for IA to ignore" Mac spoke up.
"That's a big call; I didn't know they knew each other?" Kate nodded.
"Apparently they both served in the same precinct years ago, they know each other well enough for Gates to ask to see Reagan and get a slot the same day, just like that" I shook my head, reminding myself to not ever get on Gates' bad side.
"With all that, Lieutenant Tucker can't get out from under what he's done, can he?" Olivia was the one who answered.
"Ordinarily no, but IA people have a habit of sliding out from under any punishment for whatever crap they've pulled" Kate frowned.
"But a complaint from Gates direct to the Commissioner, you can't just sweep that under the carpet, that's got to count for something" Olivia just shrugged.
"We'll see" She shook her head. "I doubt I'm that lucky" She pulled a face then spoke up.
"I doubt I've seen the last of Tucker, unfortunately"
