Couples
Chapter 98
While sitting in her unit well down the block from Gina's Restorations, Kate notices a text arriving from Ryan. "Following Buck. Coming your way. ETA 10 mins." It makes sense. It's getting close to lunchtime, an hour when a couple, especially one that sets its own schedule, could meet. Buck might not show up at Gina's shop, but chances are their rendezvous wouldn't take place very far away. Picking up her small binoculars from her console, she double-checks that Gina's vehicle is still in its spot. The woman could always take the subway or even pick up a cab. But given the eagle eye that Gina keeps on her business, Kate guesses that no moments away would be wasted. Using public transportation can take time.
Who takes the subway when they have a luxury car anyway? All right, Rick does sometimes. But that's often for people watching, a job requirement for a writer. Gina is in a different situation. Another text comes in, this time from Esposito. "Buck pulling into parking lot of restaurant Sophia's Sanctuary, 99 Sullivan. Taking position in lot across the street."
Kate looks back at Gina's car to see Gina entering the driver's seat. It's a good bet she's meeting Buck. Kate and Rick ate at Sophia's Sanctuary before they were married. The food was good and the privacy even better. She has little doubt that's where Gina will be heading. And Sullivan Street is less than a mile away.
Lana would have liked to go by the courthouse to see Eli for a few moments while the trial recessed for lunch, but she's nowhere close. Her patrol area had been experiencing a rash of purse-snatchings, and that morning, she finally caught the suspect. She managed to open her unit door right into him while he was trying to take off, holding a victim's bag. She got him down on the ground in cuffs before he could recover but now is stuck at her precinct processing him.
At least she can do a quick check of her phone for any news feed on the trial. She finds a short blurb about jury selection, but that's all. She sends Eli a short text of encouragement, but he doesn't acknowledge it. He must be working through lunch. Maybe she can catch him during the afternoon break.
"We need a change of venue," Andrews complains in a meeting in Judge Markway's chambers. "There's no one in the jury pool who hasn't heard about this case."
Markway gazes longingly at the bag holding the pastrami sandwich and potato salad he had brought in from Katz's Deli. His stomach needs him to settle this issue as quickly as possible. "Mr. Andrews, where would you propose to move it? Mr. Flatt isn't just a real estate developer. He's a celebrity. From everything I've seen of him, in building his brand, he's worked very hard to be one. There was hardly a day when he hasn't been featured on Page 6. And stories about him are syndicated throughout the state and the country. Finding a jury who hasn't heard of him would probably be harder than finding one who hasn't heard of the president."
"But most members of juries outside the city haven't heard of Mr. Douglas," Andrews points out. "This is where he's running for D.A."
"But they have heard of you, Mr. Andrews," Eli interjects. "As a defense attorney, you haven't exactly flown under the radar. If a jury in the city has an opinion concerning me, a jury almost anywhere could have one concerning you."
"Which could be a positive or a negative in either case." Markway states. "For as long as I've been a judge, I still can't predict what goes on in the minds of some jurors. Mr. Andrews, I don't see that a change of venue will give your client any better chance at a fair trial. And sequestering the jury would serve no useful purpose either. They've already been exposed to personalities on both sides. I will, however, tell you what I can do: issue a gag order, so neither side can release any further information on this case. That would preserve whatever innocence the jury candidates still maintain. How would you feel about that, Mr. Douglas?"
Eli shrugs. "It makes no difference to me, Your Honor. I make a point of not commenting to the press on cases in progress, any cases in progress."
Markway turns his gaze to Andrews. "And you counselor?"
Andrews swallows, suppressing the urge to tug at his tie. Accustomed as he's been to using the press to his advantage, at least until his current difficulties, he's already formulated his media campaign. "That won't be necessary, Your Honor."
"All right, then!" Markway declares. "You two get out of here." Settling back in his chair as the opposing attorneys leave his chambers, Markway reaches for his too-long-delayed lunch.
Kate, Ryan, and Esposito observe as Gina Lorenzo enters Sophia's Sanctuary five minutes after Buck went inside the building. Kate toys with the idea of following, but alone, she'd stick out like a sore thumb. She could go with Ryan or Esposito, but there's a good chance she'd be remembered as being with Rick, especially since their marriage continues to be newsworthy. That leaves two possibilities: wait until Gina and Buck emerge or send in a couple. She giggles to herself. The bromance between Ryan and Esposito will have to deepen temporarily. If nothing else, Rick will get a kick out of it. He could write a whole chapter featuring Roach as faux lovers in his next Nikki Heat book.
It doesn't often happen, but the agency was taken by surprise by how fast things heated up in Ukraine. That the Russians had been running a disinformation campaign trying to paint the reform government as corrupt is no secret. Russian claws were so deep in the former regime that its demise gave the Kremlin a rude shock. For a while, it slowed The Bear's plans to annex Crimea, but only for a while. Even with the Ukrainian army still fighting the incursion, the invading army established a strong foothold.
The agency assumed that, unfortunately, Russia accomplished its final goal. Apparently, it and the rest of the alphabet soup of spy organizations were wrong. The Russians are increasingly on the march and have been at least since the explosion that surprised Jack. He's not surprised anymore, just pissed off.
When Reagan made his famous speech, and the wall came down, much of the American public assumed the cold war was over. And with the breakup of the Soviet Union, most people stopped worrying about the Russians. The focus of spy movies and television shows shifted to the Middle East and Afghanistan, and fictional heroes foiled the plans of terrorists.
The Bear may have retreated to lick its wounds, but it still had plans. Jack's involvement in that conflict never ended, but he did see the shift to active measures and cyber warfare. The agency was concentrating its efforts against those tactics. Now they're going to have to figure out what to do about an escalating land war against an ally. Jack's part in defending Ukraine is to uncover the weaknesses in the Russian supply chain, the chain of command, or both. Russia still depends on Ukraine for much of its food supply. Throughout its history, Russia has desperately wanted to control the Crimean warm water port in Sevastopol. But now, so much more is going down. And Jack's right in the thick of it.