Green Light (Sam Archer 7) (29 page)

‘
It started in the gulags generations ago. Sounds like
something out of a Hollywood movie I know, but believe me, it’s
some brutal shit. It’s a load of rules they’ve been following for
hundreds of years. Don’t underestimate it.’

‘
What kind of rules?’ Ethan asked.

‘
A mix; some of them are bizarre. Members of these gangs are
never allowed to serve in the military for example. Senior members
never pick anything up from the floor.’

‘
What?’ Archer said.

‘
The leaders regarded the ground as dirty because in those
days they lived among animals in the gulags,’
Massaro explained. ‘
Now it’s more a
sign of hierarchy, enforces position. Another rule is any man being
considered to get promoted to the top level, becoming what they
call a
vor,
must
disown their relatives, because their only family is the group.
Many gangs demand their members have their life stories tattooed on
their bodies, like business cards.’

‘
None of our dead guys had any ink,’ Archer said.

‘
The
Prizraki
are different; they’re called ghosts for a very good reason.
Although we think they follow most of the other Thieves rules, only
the highest-ranking guys in their organisation are permitted any
tattoos, just two stars to signify the guy’s a
vor.
They’ve run the docks on
Brighton Beach for decades.’

‘
I had some interaction with a group from Little Odessa once
when I was at Brooklyn South,’ Marquez said. ‘They were in a
different league to the gangs we normally had to deal
with.’

‘
They are. And these sons of bitches are as intelligent as
they are violent. That’s what makes them so dangerous and difficult
to deal with.’

‘
What’s the structure in the crew?’ Archer asked.

‘
It’s not based on personalities, but on networks. The
shot-callers are in Moscow, but they have separate factions in
scores of major cities, an entire web. They’re tough bastards too;
other Mafia organisations have been trying to acquire those docks
here for years and have never succeeded; most of them stay well
clear now. Before the last ten months, we figured the
Prizraki
have only lost
one guy in the past two years.

‘
Who?’ Archer asked.

‘
Their top guy here. Got picked off by a high-powered rifle
when he was getting out of a car outside his home in Brooklyn. Shot
through the forehead.’

‘
You know who killed him? Shepherd asked.

‘
Afraid not. Probably a rival, maybe the Georgians or
Ukrainians. His replacement took over at the end of last year; we
think he came from another faction, like Philly, Boston or
Pittsburgh, but whoever, he’d have been carefully chosen. That’s
how they operate. Like I said, people have been after that piece of
Little Odessa for years. One of my CIs on the street said he heard
there were some Chechens in town preparing to make a push, but we
haven’t seen or heard shit.’

‘
Who are they?’ Archer asked.
‘These
Chechens.’

‘
Real dark bastards; they call themselves
Volki.
We know next to nothing about
them, except our intel says they’re in the city somewhere. But
these attacks on you guys is a mystery.
Gangs at this level will do anything to avoid going against
the police, which is why what they did to you tonight is so
confusing.’

‘
No wonder they were pissed,’ Archer said. ‘They lost eleven
guys and wanted to send a message.’

‘
The wounded man said they had no idea we were cops,’ Hendricks
said. ‘I believed him.’

‘
So why feed you guys to the
Prizraki?’
Ethan asked. ‘Use them to
get revenge?’

‘
Or to give them time to find me,’ April suddenly said
quietly.

Everyone
glanced at her.

‘
No disrespect, but that’s a hell of a lot of effort to find
just one person,’ Ethan said. ‘And why you?’

‘
I have no idea,’ April replied. ‘Not to mention that these
sons of bitches killed ten of my friends and I still don’t have a
clue why.’

‘
Do the
Prizraki
run girls, Mark?’ Archer asked.

‘
Not on the street, that’s for sure. They’re sharks amongst
fish; they don’t go in for that small-time shit.’

‘
What about high-end stuff?’ Archer asked.

‘
I don’t think so. It would give us something to put on them.
We think they smuggle people in through the docks and sell them on.
That’s as far as their involvement goes.’

Archer
swore. ‘That breaks the pattern. If these disappearances are
Henderson, Tully and Lister’s work, which they almost certainly
have to be, these Russians are the first non-street sex-trade gang
they’ve targeted. Why?’

‘
And how did Henderson and Tully get those addresses?’ Ethan
asked.

‘
Christ only knows. These organisations have people
everywhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a hook.’

Looking
at Hendricks as he listened to Massaro, Shepherd glanced back down
at the phone.

‘
I’ll call you back, Mark. Thanks.’

‘
OK. Just one request, Sergeant; if you make a move, you’ll
let me know? We’ve been working this case for a while.’

‘
Of course.’

Hanging
up, Shepherd shifted his attention to April. ‘Until this is over,
you have an armed detective with you everywhere you go. This thing
stops right now. No-one else is going to die tonight.’

She
nodded; then taking a deep breath, she rose from the table for the
first time in over an hour.

‘
Excuse me.’

‘
Where are you going?’ Hendricks asked.

‘
The restroom.’ She forced a smile. ‘Do I need security for
that?’

Hendricks returned the smile and shook his head. ‘No, I
reckon that’s OK.’

She
walked to the door, Hendricks stepping to one side so she could
pass. Archer rose too and pulled his phone, scrolling for Josh’s
number, leaving the room to call his partner and get some air,
trying to work through how this all tied up. As he left, he looked
back at the victims’ screen, twenty eight faces, soon to be joined
by eleven more.

Three
sex-gangs, the top guys and then low-level pimps, killed and
flushed away.

Then a
Russian Mafia organisation targeted who didn’t run escorts and were
so tough they’d run the Little Odessa docks for over four
decades.

He
glanced at Henderson and Tully’s mug-shots on the other
screen.

Why the hell did you take on the
Prizraki
?

At St Luke’s, the elevator opened for the
14
^th
floor and Josh stepped out, walking down the corridor then
turning the corner.

The
moment he did, he frowned.

There
was no sign of the two night shift cops who were normally outside
Vargas’ door.

Before
he could take another step, he heard the bell ding behind him,
announcing the arrival of the second elevator. He turned just as
two officers appeared in the corridor behind him. Seeing Josh
standing there, one of them challenged him.

‘
Who’re you?’

‘
NYPD,’
Josh said, motioning to his
badge.
‘Counter-Terrorism
Bureau.’

One of
the officers stepped forward, checking it. ‘What are you doing up
here?’

‘
Came to see my colleague,’ he replied, pointing down the
corridor. ‘You guys shouldn’t leave your post.’

‘
Not us,’ the other said. ‘That’s why we’re here. Our two guys
aren’t responding.’

Josh
stared at the man for a moment; then he turned and sprinted down
the corridor, closely followed by the two men. Trying the door,
Josh found it was locked. Pulling his pistol, he dipped and smashed
it open.

The
moment they breached the room they saw a cop lying on the floor
beside a load of empty grey canisters.

‘
Oh shit!’ one of the men said, immediately calling it in and
moving swiftly out of the room to clear the immediate
area.

Looking
back at the bed and seeing there was no-one there, fear settled
over Josh. He was aware of a harsh chemical smell lingering in the
air, making his eyes water. Moving forward, stepping over empty
cans, he moved into the bathroom and felt his heart skip a
beat.

The plug
was up and the tub was empty but still wet.

And he
could see tiny pieces of white hospital gown stuck around the rim
of the bath.

THIRTY SIX

Standing
on the walkway inside the Bureau Archer frowned, looking down at
his phone. Josh wasn’t picking up. He considered trying him again
then decided to leave it for the moment. His detective partner’s
wife had just been in surgery; no wonder he was
occupied.

Returning the cell to his pocket, he glanced left and saw
April sitting alone in the Conference Room next door, having
returned from the ladies’ room but taking a moment alone. He
guessed she’d wanted some space and knew she didn’t feel
comfortable surrounded by police detectives; he could understand
that. She was still wearing the blue NYPD jacket someone had loaned
to her; it was too large but was giving her an extra layer of
warmth as well as acting as a literal reminder that the Department
was watching her back.

Walking
in quietly, he perched on the table beside her; he didn’t speak but
just stayed there, providing reassurance. All in all, she’d had one
hell of a day.

There
was a period of silence.

‘
I can’t stop thinking about what happened to them,’ April said
quietly. ‘It’s so horrible. I thought Leann getting shot was as bad
as it could get.’

She
sighed.

‘
It wouldn’t have been quick, would it? To do that to someone
would take some time. You said Alex hadn’t…finished before you
found him. Perhaps they might even have been still alive when they
were put in the bath.’

Archer
thought back to that bathroom.

‘
I don’t know,’ he said eventually.

‘
They would have known they were about to die. They must have
been so scared.’

She
looked at him, tears brimming in her eyes.

‘
Have you ever been in that situation? Thinking you were about
to die?’

He
smiled. ‘Once or twice.’

‘
But you survived.’

‘
Somehow.’

‘
Did you get lucky?’

He
nodded. ‘And I fought back.’

‘
What kept you going?’

Archer
went to reply but then remembered a Harlem rooftop six months ago
when he’d been sure he was finally done for. Vargas had been beside
him, Isabel too, the three of them seemingly trapped with no way
out.

‘
Just stubborn, I guess.’

There
was a pause. Glancing over, Archer saw April staring at
him.

‘
What?’ he asked.

‘
You’re different from the others.’

‘
It’s the accent.’

‘
No, not just that. You’re different. You actually listen to me
when I talk to you. I’m not used to that.’

He
grinned. ‘I grew up with a mother and sister. Had to learn pretty
fast.’

She
smiled back; there was a pause.

‘
Do you have any family left?’ he asked.

Her
smile faded. ‘I guess; I don’t know. I haven’t called them in
almost three years.’ She paused. ‘They have no idea what I do here.
I wouldn’t know what to say to them.’

‘
You can change this.’

‘
No. I can’t. I’ve been trying to leave ever since I got into
this shit but someone or something always stops me.’

‘
Palmer wants to help you.’

‘
And then what? Be real, Archer. I’ve got hardly any money; all
my friends are dead. I have no qualifications, no real skills.
They’ll be getting in line to employ me.’

‘
If you had a choice, what would you do?’

‘
It’s dumb.’

‘
Tell me,’ he said.

She
looked at him for a moment, as if daring him to laugh at
her.

‘
I’d like to be a mechanic. I love cars.’

He
grinned and shook his head. ‘That’s not dumb.’

‘
You think I’d fit into your typical auto-shop?’

‘
You think I fit in here?’

She
looked at him and nodded. ‘Yes. I think you do.’

She
paused.

‘
What was your ambition?’

He
thought for a moment. ‘I’m living it.’

‘
Was it what you expected?’

He shook
his head. ‘It hasn’t exactly all gone to plan. Right now I’m
suspended.’