Chapter 22

Ed Green closed the door of the Interrogation Room and turned to face Serena Southerlyn. "We need a warrant to search Zipodi's boat for fingerprint and DNA evidence." he told her.

"Do you have probable cause?" Serena replied.

Lennie Briscoe took a deep breath and recounted the process that had led them to Zipodi and the conversation they had had with Shapiro. At the end of his story Serena shook her head.

"Shapiro's right. All you have is a chain of inferences linked together by what could be a series of coincidences. No judge in this State would issue a warrant on that basis."

"It might help if we knew why you asked us to find out who sent you that envelope and what was in it." Green said sourly.

Serena shook her head. "No, it wouldn't." she replied. "Even if I were to tell you, the trail from me to Zipodi is tenuous at best. You have no direct evidence he sent me the envelope and, even if you did, it's an even bigger stretch to then say that Zipodi was instrumental in Bristow and Sloane's escape."

"He works for Shapiro who's Sloane's mouthpiece. He was on the river when they crashed out and Shapiro rushed down here before dawn on a public holiday like a rocket had been lit under him!" Briscoe pointed out, frustration showing in his voice.

Serena shrugged, "He's vigorously representing his client in accordance with the canon of ethics." she said. "At least that's what he'll argue. Look, I agree with you, it adds up but, even so, I can't get a search warrant on what you have so far." She paused, "However…" she added, "you said it was a hire boat?" Seeing the two detectives nod, she went on, "If you can get the owner to give you authority to check it for fingerprints and DNA, you don't need a search warrant."

Briscoe and Green looked at each other as grins lit their faces. Then they became more serious. After a brief glance at each other, Green spoke,

"Ms Southerlyn," he began, almost gently, "Two indicted killers are at large in this City. These are guys who think before they act so we have to assume they have some sort of plan; perhaps to kill people who might testify against them at trial or to flee the country. We have to stop them and put them back behind bars quickly. You've already agreed that the chances are Zipodi must have assisted their escape and we got on to him because of you. At this stage any information may be relevant in helping us to track them down. You must tell us what was in that envelope."

Briscoe nodded, "You of all people must know you have a duty to help us. Look, we were willing to do you a favour, no questions asked but now keeping things to yourself could lead to these humps getting away. That would be obstruction of justice." He smiled and added to take the sting out of his words, "Hey, you might think it's embarrassing but, trust me, I've been in this job for twenty five years now and I've seen and heard everything!"

Serena stared at them considering. On the one hand, the saying about a secret shared no longer being a secret was true but on the other hand, they were right; she did have a duty to justice here and would never forgive herself if somehow, Bristow and Sloane were able to escape their just punishment because she'd withheld information.

She took a deep breath, "I'm a lesbian." she announced baldly, "No-one at work knows, not even Jack McCoy. The envelope I gave you contained photographs of myself with my current lover."

She watched as the two men assimilated the news.

"There was no note with the photographs?" Green asked softly.

She shook her head, "No. I later received more photographs at work. That didn't contain a note either. I assume they were intended to soften me up."

"Thanks for telling us Ms. Southerlyn." Briscoe said. "We won't mention this to anyone if we don't have to."

There was a knock on the door and all three jumped. They stared like startled deer as Lieutenant Van Buren put her head round the door.

"The Santos girls' boyfriend has just let something interesting slip." she reported. "Lennie, Ed, I need you to do some historical research."

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Anita Van Buren watched as Serena Southerlyn disappeared into the Interrogation Room with her two top detectives. This confirmed her suspicions that whatever was going on somehow involved all three of them. Once again, she considered trying to find out what it was and, once again, she decided against it. They were all mature people in whom she had the fullest trust and confidence. If she needed to know, they would tell her. She glanced towards where Shapiro was still talking to the tuxedo clad young men and, with a sigh, made her way to her office.

She had just picked up the phone to check if there had been any developments at Riker's when she saw the lawyer and the young men approaching. She put down the phone and waited for them to enter.

Shapiro burst in first, without knocking.

"I understand from Mr. Vaughn and Mr. Weiss here that you're interrogating my client's daughter and Ms. Bristow." he said, aggressively. "Why wasn't I informed of this before?"

"It's usually considered polite to knock before entering someone's office, Counsellor." Van Buren said dryly. "And why should you be told? They're here as potential witnesses, not suspects. Neither of them has asked for a lawyer and, as far as we're aware, you haven't been retained to represent either of them."

"Well, I have been now, by these gentlemen. I want to see my clients immediately!"

"Isn't there a conflict of interest here, Mr. Shapiro as you're also representing one of the guys we want to re-capture?"

"If you think that, you can report me to the Bar Ethics Committee." Shapiro snapped. "But, in the meantime, let me see my clients!"

Van Buren hesitated. Ms. Bristow had now had plenty of time to digest the graphic photographs of the officer involved shootings she'd left with her and imagine her father lying there like a rag doll in a pool of blood rather than some stranger. If she was going to be persuaded to tell what she knew, this would be the time. Once a lawyer was on the scene, the opportunity would have passed.

"Look, Lieutenant, you're wasting your time. Nadia and Sydney don't know where their fathers are. There is no need for them to know and, whatever else you and the D.A. think Jack Bristow and Arvin Sloane may be; they're professionals. They've operated all their lives in a world where maintaining security is as natural as breathing." The slender, fair haired young man pointed out, in a tone that indicated he was trying to reason with her.

Vaughn, Michael Vaughn, Van Buren remembered.

"And anyway," the bulkier, dark haired man, who she remembered was called Eric Weiss, added. "Syd hasn't seen her father in days and she and her sister haven't spoken since it looked like Jack beat up on Sloane."

Anita stared at Weiss in shock. "Ms. Bristow and Ms. Santos are sisters?" she said.

She saw Weiss flush red as he realised he'd let slip information the police hadn't been aware of. He opened his mouth to say something but was forestalled by Shapiro.

"Their relationship is irrelevant to the topic under discussion. I want to see them both now. No more stalling!"

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It had just gone 10:00am when Sydney and Nadia, accompanied by Vaughn, Weiss and Shapiro walked out of the 27th Precinct.

Nadia took a deep breath of the freezing air. "Ah, that's good! The way those detectives were going on, I thought I'd end up taking my father's place in prison!"

Sydney seemed pensive as she turned to Shapiro. "Thanks for getting us out." she said.

"All part of the service." he replied. "The cops now know the two of you are related. They're going to go rooting round in your pasts to find out if they can use that somehow. Now, more than ever, you need to stick together; for your fathers' sakes."

Both sisters nodded.

"We will." Nadia promised him. "Why were you at the Precinct anyway?" she asked. "I didn't call you and Eric say's he didn't either."

Shapiro laughed. "Lucky chance." he said cheerfully, "I was there with another client."

Sydney gave him a suspicious look. "That seems …very convenient. Are you sure it wasn't related to our fathers' escape?"

Shapiro's response was evasive. "I can't talk about my other clients cases with you anymore than I can talk about you with them."

Nadia grabbed his arm. "Mr. Shapiro, we're grateful to you for your help but, we're both very worried about out fathers. If you know anything that can help us, you must tell."

Shapiro courteously shook her off. "I'm sure they're both fine, Nadia, Sydney. And I'm certain that they felt they had a good reason to break out." He smiled at the girls. "They've been in the business a long time. They know how to look after themselves! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd better be getting home. Happy Holiday!"

The four remaining members of the group watched him leave.

"He knows something." Weiss observed and the others nodded their agreement.

Sydney looked round at the others and spoke in a decisive tone. "Dad and Sloane don't do anything without a reason, so it must have been important for them to escape. Shapiro knows what's going on but he's been told not to talk. That means our fathers don't want us involved. Well, I'm not a little girl anymore, I don't need protecting, I'm a trained agent and I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

"Not without me!" her sister exclaimed, while the two men grunted their agreement.

"Shapiro won't talk, maybe Dad's attorney, Thirly Wilson will. Let's go see him." Sydney suggested.

As they walked along the street looking for a cab, Sydney pulled Nadia back a little so they had some privacy.

"Nadia, I'm sorry for the way I acted before. I really am trying to respect your right to build a relationship with your father but I guess it'll take a long time for me to trust him again; if ever! But, in future, I promise I'll try to wait until all the evidence is in before accusing him of anything. Can we go back to the way we were before?"

Nadia looked at Sydney, her face radiant. She didn't reply but the hug she gave her sister said more than words ever could.

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It was now past 10:00am and Jack and Sloane were still discussing their options. After half an hour or so, several of the men who'd entered Schirovsky's business premises had left to take up camouflaged positions outside. They'd tensed in case someone decided to use their building as a hiding place but they'd been lucky and no-one had. As they'd continued keeping watch, they'd noticed that after an hour or so, the men had been relieved by others. This made sense, it was a cold day and the guards were maintaining fixed posts. Frequent changes of personnel were needed to ensure they remained alert and fit for action.

Various plans had been considered and discarded. Although they had come up with a number of scenarios allowing them to successfully terminate Schirovsky, the odds on them surviving the encounter were unacceptably low, given they were heavily outnumbered and out gunned. The simplest solution was to wait for him to leave and take him out at long range. This currently seemed their best option but both men were aware of its pitfalls. Uzi's were highly efficient as assault weapons but less effective for long range surgical kills, especially when they were unfamiliar with the individual quirks of the weapons they were using. Additionally, they did not know how long they would have to wait before the target left the building. Presumably he'd wait until after the time he'd set for the meet but by then it would be dusk, reducing visibility and making target acquisition more difficult. That was even assuming he'd leave by one of the conventional exits. Although they could split up to also cover the loading bay, there was nothing to stop the man from climbing out a back window and making his way through the alleys to safety. Both shared an unspoken fear that he might already have done so.

They were also concerned at the fact that the longer they waited, the colder they would become. They were no more immune to the effects of the sub zero temperature than Schirovsky's men were. When the time came, their bodies might not be able to react as quickly or as accurately as necessary.

Sloane moved to get himself a coffee from the thermos flask. He raised an eyebrow and when Jack nodded, filled two cups, bringing them back to stand beside his old friend as they looked across at the warehouse opposite.

"We could try to work our way behind the guards and take them out one at a time." Jack muttered.

Sloane knew the suggestion was Jack's way of venting his frustration at the situation but he replied anyway. "We've considered that before Jack. We'd have to cross open ground to get to them. There's no way they wouldn't see us."

"We wait until after dark then."

"It could be too late by then. Schirovsky might have left."

"We can't just wait, hoping he's going to come out and let us have a clear shot at him from here!"

Sloane shrugged. "It's not the best plan we've ever come up with, but it's the only one we have. We need to be patient"

Just then, the stillness of the Christmas Day morning was interrupted by the wailing of a police siren in the distance. Sloane paused in the act of lifting the hot coffee cup to his lips and suddenly smiled angelically.

"Or maybe not!" he said. "Jack, listen to me. I may have an alternative."

T.B.C.

Glossary

Bar Ethics Committee – lawyers responsible for investigating allegations of unprofessional conduct by other lawyers/

Canon of Ethics – Set of rules setting out lawyers duties to their clients.

Obstruction of Justice – actions deliberately taken to interfere with legal proceedings.