Forty-Two:
Robert, Little Bobby, Demario was a third generation cop. Just twenty four years old, he'd been a recent addition to Hansen's little crew a couple of months ago. He understood that loyalty to his 'brothers in blue' was the most important thing he could do as a cop. The ride to the FBI building was spent alone in the suburban with two agents in silence. Each one of Hansen's team were transported alone in the same manner to keep them from talking to each other. Each one was lead to his own interrogation room where they were left alone to be observed by McCord. Hansen sat there staring defiantly at the two way mirror knowing he was being watched, with a cocky self assured smirk. His partner sat in the next cell with a similar demeanor. The third cell contained Marvin Simpson, a uniformed cop with a history of excessive force complaints and poor performance ratings also sure of his ability to walk away.
Demario sat in his room and nervously drank from the bottle of water left for him, his mind wandering to various scenarios, none of which had a good outcome for him. He knew what really happened, how they ambushed the two undercover DEA agents thinking that they were dealers trying to move into Simmons' territory. The other two men that were with the agents escaped the ambush with one being captured by a patrol officer that just happened to be a couple of blocks away at the time. They had practiced their story and Hansen assured him that they were protected by people at 1PP.
But that all changed with the identification of the two men as undercover DEA agents. Now the Feds were involved and even 1PP didn't want to get involved in something that could bring negative attention to the NYPD. Bobby rests his head in hands how things had gone so wrong.
Rachael watches and smiles confident that Bobby would be the weak link. Grabbing her coffee, she strolls confidently into the interrogation room and sits down facing him. "Mr Demario, you were read your Miranda rights correct?" Bobby simply nods his head. "You're being charged with impeding a Federal investigation into the deaths of two undercover DEA agents.."
Demario's face pales at the mention that the two men they ambushed were actually DEA agents. He regains his composure a little and replies. "I want my lawyer. I'm not saying nothing without my lawyer."
"Fine Mr Demario. Have it your way, but if things go the way I think that they're going to go, you're going to wish that you talked to me first. Your buddies are all speaking to agents right now. It seems that Louis and Marvin are spinning a tale of a trigger happy young cop trying to impress his elders." She got up from her seat grabbing her coffee. She stops in the doorway and faces him. "Generally, the first guy who confesses gets the deal.. I'll make sure that you get your call. Good luck." She turns and walks out, closing the door behind her, confident that he will break as soon as he realizes that they will sacrifice him to save themselves.
Rachael decides that now is time to test the waters with Louis. She walks into the interrogation room where he'd been sitting for over an hour now playing a staring game with the two way mirror. Sitting down, she opens the folder as if looking at the contents. "Mr Hansen, you've been read your rights, correct?"
"Yeah, yeah. Let's get this over with. I want my lawyer."
"Sure thing Louis. Take your time. The longer you wait, the better the odds are that you'll take the fall. After all I know that you're the leader of this little gang you have." She gets up from her seat smiling at him. "That Bobby is a scared kid. You never know what he might say.." She walks to the door and opens it. "This won't be like the white-wash your girlfriend in IA conducted.. Good luck. I have a feeling you're going to need it. You know how former cops are treated in prison.." She walks out of the room satisfied that the smirk on Hansen's face has been replaced with a look of pure malice.
Similar visits are made to Simpson and Greg Yoder, Hansen's partner with similar results. Each man was brought a phone and allowed to make their one call. Everyone of them called their lawyer, except Demario, who called his father and asked him to locate a lawyer. McCord decides that now might be a good time for a little 'tag-team' work on the boys before their attorneys arrive. She makes a quick call to her new friend in the FBI.
Despite it being nearly four in the morning, a confident Jordan Shaw walked into the building to the interrogation rooms and greets McCord. After exchanging greetings, Rachael explains the situation to Jordan along with the information that Castle provided about the people involved in Internal Affairs. Shaw listens intently and asks to take a look at the men in their rooms. Being the top profiler in the FBI, Jordan could read people by their body language and non-verbals better than nearly anyone. She was the type of person that could have made a fortune as a professional poker player as she was equally as good concealing her own 'tells' from others.
While McCord was convinced that Demario was the weakest link, Shaw felt that Yoder might crack first from what she observed. Rachael simply acquiesced to the FBI agent and watched her from behind the mirror as she strode confidently into the interrogation room where Yoder sat. She sat down facing Yoder and opened her manila folder that she carried.
She started to speak, but Yoder held up his hand for her to stop. "Look lady, I don't know who you are and really don't care. I'm not saying anything until my lawyer gets here." He returned his attention to the table, unwilling to make eye contact.
Jordan simply starts to grin as she speaks. "That's ok Mr Yoder. Let me do the talking and you just listen. My name is Jordan Shaw and I'm with the FBI. It seems that Homeland Security caught wind of this and are now very interested. Something about domestic terrorism and the Patriot Act. We know about your little crew and your protectors in the DA's office and IA. This is a major conspiracy and people will go to prison for a very long time. I came to you because you're not a leader. Someone else has been calling the shots. This is your last chance to come clean, as I'm sure that the others will try to cut deals once their lawyers explain how serious this is." She pulled a sheet of paper from the folder and a pencil from her jacket, laying both in front of him. "This is a one-time offer. I'm pretty sure that Booby is working on his confession right now." She gets up from the table and walks out of the room leaving a stunned Yoder in her wake.
Shaw was walking past McCord when she reaches out to grab her arm, stopping Jordan. "What's with the Patriot Act shit?"
Jordan just smiles. "These idiots don't know that. They have no idea who they ambushed, that much is obvious. The Patriot Act is a government created boogeyman to scare those with the myths created as part of it. You keep an eye on Mr Yoder while I make a final run at Demario."
She turns and starts to walk away when Rachael asks. "What about Simpson and Hansen?"
"No point. I figure Simpson was the shooter and Hansen is the boss. They might crack, but not until we get one of these two to turn first." She gestures to the two interrogation rooms where Yoder and Demario are.
Jordan watches Demario from behind the mirror and can see that he's about ready to crack. She calmly walks into the interrogation room and sits down facing Demario. "You don't have to say anything unless you want to and I won't ask you any questions. I just wanted to let you know that Detective Yoder is working on his confession right now. I know that you weren't the shooter, but unless you cut a deal that will put away Simpson and Hansen for the crimes, you'll go down with them. You'll spend the rest of your life in prison, however short that may be." She could see that the man was near tears as he knew what she said was true. Pulling a piece of paper from the same folder that she has been carrying, she lays it in front of him along with a pencil. "The same deal I made with Yoder applies to you. You give me enough to put away Simpson and Hansen, and we'll see about reducing the charges for you, maybe even immunity if it's good enough. But let me remind you, I only need one of you. If detective Yoder has more information first, then he'll probably get the deal."
Jordan got up from her seat and confidently strode out of the room. She walks back to the two-way mirror to see the young man's reaction to the news. Shaw watches as he wipes tears from his eyes and walks to the door and knocks asking to speak to her. She walks to where Rachael was standing, watching Yoder behind the mirror. "Looks like Bobby is ready. Do you want to talk to him?"
Rachael just smiles. "No. You go ahead. I'll keep an eye on the detective here. He started to write something three times now, but stopped himself. He might be more afraid of Hansen and Simpson than he is of prison."
Bobby was the first to crack. He started explaining his involvement with the crew and just as Jordan expected, confirmed that Simpson and Hansen both were the shooters. She promised him immunity provided that he testifies against both of the men. She allowed his lawyer to help finalize the agreement. Jordan was pleased, but not completely satisfied. Bobby had only been with the other men about six months so he had little knowledge of some of their other crimes. They needed Yoder.
Armed with Demario's confession, both Jordan and Rachael enter his interrogation room. Shaw glances down at the paper in front of him seeing that it was still blank. Rachael sits down first and begins to speak. "We've got Bobby's written confession." She waves the document in her hand. "Looks like you'll be charged with conspiracy to murder a Federal agent. That's usually life without parole."
"While I can't get you immunity, we may be able to get your charges reduced in exchange for corroborating testimony against Simpson and Hansen. That's the best we can offer." Shaw comments.
"But we want everything, including who else in Internal Affairs is protecting you guys." McCord adds.
"Your lawyer is waiting outside. If he's smart, he'll tell you to take the deal. The problem is the deal may not be available then. I need to know now." Jordan comments as the two women volley back and forth.
"What would the charges be reduced to?" Yoder finally speaks.
"Depends on what you can give us. We know that your crew has acted as Vulcan Simmons own personal muscle. We want Simmons. We've already got enough to put you and your buddies away for life.. It's your call." Rachael replies.
"Can I talk to my lawyer first?"
"Of course. But remember this offer may not be available. It's up to you." The two women rose up from their seats and started walking towards the door when Rachael comments to Jordan. "You know, you were right. I thought he was smarter than that. Oh well, he'll go down with the others."
They were almost out the door when Yoder calls them back in. McCord assures him that depending on the value of the information that he provides, his charges could be reduced. It took well over an hour as the two women listened to his confession. Everything was being recorded for future use and a transcript would be prepared for his signature. As they waited for the transcript, Yoder met with his attorney who reluctantly agreed that this was his only real option. He did negotiate a written deal to where his testimony against Simpson and Hansen would guarantee his charges of conspiracy to commit murder would be reduced to a lesser charge that would still earn him some time in prison. Given Bobby's confession they felt fortunate to get that much.
Armed with the two confessions, McCord allows the lawyers for both Simpson and Hansen to meet with their clients. She knew that neither would have cracked as they were confident that Bracken would pull some stings somewhere to get them out if they just stayed quiet. He always had in the past. They watched from behind the two-way mirrors as the men spoke with their attorneys. The audio monitoring was turned off as anything they said was inadmissible anyway. Both lawyers had been briefed by Shaw regarding the impending charges and the two confessions before they met their clients hoping that this would make them receptive to offering up Simmons to get a sentence reduction.
Both women knew that Simpson was nothing more than mindless muscle. They had two confessions that said he was the actual shooter. It was Hansen that could tie Bracken and Simmons together. They needed him to make this a slam-dunk, but wouldn't give him immunity as they were sure his attorney will ask for.
McCord and Shaw entered the interrogation room and sat facing Hansen and his attorney. Rachael opened her now growing folder and laid the two confessions out for the two men to read. "Your client will be arraigned tomorrow on charges of conspiracy to murder a Federal agent and first degree murder. Lucky for you the crimes were committed in New York, the maximum penalty would be life without the possibility of parole. Given the confessions and the seriousness of this crime, we will push for the maximum sentence and ask that no bail be granted."
Hansen whispered something into his lawyer's ear and smirked at the two women. "My client informs me that his is innocent of all charges and looks forward to having his day in court."
Shaw responds with a small laugh and turns to look at McCord. "I guess you were right. He's so sure that Bracken will get him out of this that he's willing to go down for the whole thing."
Jordan watches the expression on Hansen's face change from a smug grin to fear at the mention of Bracken being involved. He was now worried just how much they actually knew about Bracken's involvement in this arrangement. He leans over and whispers again into his lawyer's ear. The attorney looks at his client with a stunned surprised and asks the two women for some time alone with his client.
Both women smile as they leave the two men alone in the room confident that Hansen will give them enough to take down Simmons. They walked to the two-way mirror and watched Hansen and his lawyer in an animated exchange. They weren't sure what was being said, but were sure it wasn't pleasant.
Betty Wilson called in sick to work the next morning. Rick assumed that someone at the bar who witnessed the arrests contacted her. He was sure that Simmons must also know that the two drug dealers that he ordered killed were undercover DEA agents by now. Timing was critical as Vulcan had the connections and resources to get out of the country and someplace that was safe from extradition.
Castle was correct on both counts. Simmons disappeared sometime in the early morning hours and Betty Wilson was on a flight to Mexico City. Thanks to information provided by Finn Rourke and Vincent Cardano, they knew the locations for most of the 'businesses' that Simmons was operating illegally. The raids were well organized despite the small amount of time they had using agents from the FBI and US Marshall's service.
A similar raid was conducted at the PAC headquarters where the CEO and a few of the officers, including the IT manager were lead out in handcuffs. Castle was sitting in 1PP with Sandra and Ramone when the team lead by Rachael walked in and arrested Robertson. Agents were waiting in Mexico City for Betty's flight to arrive and her computer and all records were confiscated.
Jordan was the one who arrested Kip Bartholomew for his part in the conspiracy and the media was mysteriously notified in advance of the takedown at 1PP. The news broke nationwide within minutes with lots of video of the suspects being lead out in cuffs. It would take weeks to interrogate all of the people brought in. McCord called in for assistance from the AG's office and a team of agents arrived later that day.
X-X-X
Jennifer Burton was just returning from her morning run when she happened to turn on the TV. The big story was the multiple raids on businesses that were serving as fronts for Vulcan Simmons. The news stated that Simmons was missing, presumed to have fled the country. She watched the video as they marched the suspects out of 1PP. She knew that this somehow was tied to Bracken, but didn't know how.
The press was so caught up with the events in New York that a hastily called press conference in Washington DC was barely noticed. Senator William Bracken announced to the media that he was stepping down from public office immediately for personal reasons. He thanked all of the people that had supported him over the years and walked from the podium leaving his staff and supporters in stunned silence.
Richard Hunter watched from a spot hidden from public view as the senator resigned from his position. Bracken walked back to where he was standing and the two men walked out of his office building to where a black government car waited for them. Nothing was said as the two men rode in silence to the detention facility where the now former senator would be formally charged with the lesser crimes that he had already confessed to. All Bracken could hope for was a lenient judge that would take into consideration his assistance in bringing down Simmons, assuming they ever find him.
Jennifer (Kate) had just returned from enrolling in the summer semester at UC Davis when one of the news channels finally broke the story of Bracken's resignation. The reporter who covered the story stated that the former senator mysteriously disappeared after the press conference and hadn't been seen. She knew that Bracken must have cut some sort of deal to save his own ass from a life sentence and that infuriated her. She'd given up everything to find justice for her mother and now he'd walk? Jennifer tried to calm herself, but was unable. She wanted to call Castle and make him tell her that he had nothing to do with the deal, but knew that was impossible. So she did the only thing she could, she sat on her sofa and wept.