I felt as if someone had just told me aliens were real. IAB was backing Jerry bringing in Carlos and Vinnie? Just what planet had I landed on?
"Joe?" Jerry glanced at the SWAT techie. "Can you grab that flash stick and bring it with you? We'll need it."
"Yes, sir."
Jerry gestured. "Come on. It's time to teach these rookies a lesson in following the chain of command."
Oh, this was going to be good.
"Mr. Gambino, Mr. Castellano, Eddie, I'd appreciate it if you waited in here until I call for you. I'll have my secretary get you some coffee." He pointed to the screen. "You can watch the proceedings there."
"Should we wait here?" Lany asked.
"For now, I just want Sal and his team. I'll call you in when the time is right."
Skip leaned closer to me. "Does that mean me, too?"
I nodded even though I wasn't positive. I'd rather keep Skip out of this altogether. He didn't need the fallout from what I was pretty sure was about to happen here. I also didn't want him in the line of fire. Someone had tried to kill him once already.
"Commissioner?" I called out instead of using his first name. We were at work after all. "Do you think this has anything to do with Skip's car exploding?"
Maybe it hadn't been Jean.
"Hard to tell," Jerry said, "but we'll certainly keep it in mind when we question everyone."
I was not reassured.
I gave Skip a quick peck on the lips and then squeezed his arm before following Jerry out of the room. I didn't like leaving Skip in here any more than I liked the idea of him going in front of all those idiot rookies, but I didn't have much of a choice.
I had a job to do if I had any hope of keeping him safe.
Chapter Sixteen
David
Walking into a room full of officers who'd tried to arrest me wasn't an easy feat. Part of me wanted to plant my fist in the first man I came to. The other part of me wanted to stand back and watch Jerry feed them their heads. A very tiny part of me understood that most of these guys were rookies and didn't understand how badly they had fucked up.
It was a very, very small part.
Jerry went to stand at the podium. I followed Sal and the others to stand in a line behind him. I set my legs and then clasped my hands behind me. At the moment, it was just Sal, Clarke, Burke, Joe, Brodsky, and me.
There were a few armed officers standing around the walls of the room. I suspected they were there to keep the others from taking off. Besides them, several men in suits stood next to the wall by the podium.
"For those of you who do not know me, I am Police Commissioner Jerome Harris," Jerry started. "Today..." Jerry drew in a heavy breath. "Today was a complete clusterfuck. I know most of you are new recruits just out of the academy, but that is no excuse. You fucked up, every damn one of you."
He waved his hand back toward us. "Do you recognize these men?"
"Aren't those the drug dealers we were supposed to be apprehending?" one of the officers called out.
"No," Jerry said. "This is SWAT Team One, the most elite SWAT unit in the city."
"Sir—"
"Quiet!" Jerry shouted. "You will listen with your mouths shut. If I want to know something, I will ask. Until then, keep your mouth shut and your eyes open and you just might avoid going to jail."
It was all I could do to keep the smirk off my face when several of the officers paled.
"Today, you went on a raid to bust a drug dealer. I know this. You know this. What you do not know, and what will not be held against you, is the fact that the detective in charge of this task force did not have approval from his supervisors."
