“Any word from Denzili and Richardson?”
“They are on the ground and making their move on the target. Target E should be liquidated within moments.”
“Do we have a live feed?”
“Let me see if I can pull it up,” Ms. Wilson said as she started typing and swiping on her tablet. Within a few moments, the large screen in Dr. Hennigan’s office showed two live feeds, one from each agent. Superimposed over the feed was a green dot where Target E was located.
“What’s the green dot?”
“That’s the cell phone we’ve been tracking.”
“Do the agents on the ground have access to this information?”
“Yes, they do, sir.”
Dr. Hennigan stared at the monitor. The image was grainy, but then these feeds were always that way. She could see the agents were on a higher perch, probably eight to nine hundred yards from the target. The target was with the same woman from the photo and wearing the same baseball cap and sunglasses. An umbrella was partially in the way, but she knew Denzili could make the shot. Dr. Hennigan had seen her make much more complicated ones in the past during a blizzard, so this should be like shooting fish in a barrel.
* * * *
Blayne
Blayne looked over his shoulder and watched Kira emerge from Dream Bean with Dr. Reich’s and her coffees in hand. Dr. Reich was barely keeping it together, so Blayne reached out and grabbed her hand, reassuringly squeezing it as Kira settled and pulled out a yellow legal pad and a pen.
“Have you spoken to anyone from the school district yet?” Kira asked.
“No, I haven’t,” Dr. Reich started. “Should I?”
“No,” Kira said as her pen moved across the pad’s surface. “Please don’t talk to anyone calling from the school district. When they reach out to you, direct them to me. From a legal perspective, you shouldn’t get in the middle of any discussions. The school fucked up. They’re going to try to cover their asses. And their lawyers will probably attempt to get you to agree to something. We don’t want that.”
“Okay,” Dr. Reich said, sipping her coffee. “What else?”
“Well, I spoke to the district attorney this morning. They are debating whether to file charges against the criminals as adults. At first, the DA had considered trying them as juveniles, then she saw the video for herself. As you know, it’s damning.”
Blayne watched as Dr. Reich shuddered. “I wish I’d never seen the video. I can’t get those images out of my head,” Reich said as tears formed in her eyes.
Kira reached into her bag, pulled out a travel-size pack of tissues and handed them to Dr. Reich.
“Thanks,” Dr. Reich said. “I couldn’t sleep last night. Every time I closed my eyes, those images flooded my mind. I don’t understand how people can be so fucking cruel.”
“I also talked to a former friend who works for the Department of Justice. Given the history and background of this case, the DOJ could indict the teens on federal charges to ensure this trial is heard in a federal court.”
“Why?”
“To be perfectly honest, hate crime cases have not fared well in Texas courts. Since its first passing in 1993, Texas’ hate crime law has rarely been used. There’s still a huge political bias against these laws because of right-wing talking points ‘about punishing bad behavior’ and not ‘people’s politically incorrect opinions and beliefs’.” Kira accompanied her emphasized speech with air quotes to stress how she felt about these ideas.
“Where does this leave us?” Dr. Reich asked.
“There are two separate cases here. One is the legal case where the criminals who attacked and sexually assaulted your son will face criminal prosecution. The case will be handled by either a state or federal prosecutor. I’m trying to get it kicked up to the federal level because Texas has a horrible history with these cases. And finding juries who will convict teenagers is harder at the state level. Too many Texan good-old-boys and good-old-gals see bullying as a normal, natural part of childhood, so they’re less likely to hold these vile creatures culpable for their actions—especially when they’re white, suburban kids. Also, kicking it up to the feds would put it squarely within the federal court jurisdiction in Houston, which has a more sympathetic jury pool.”
“What’s the second case?” Blayne asked.
“It’s a civil case under David’s Law, where we show the school district was negligent in handling Jamie’s repeated harassment. We can show the district knew of the threats against Jamie, and they did not follow through with Texas law to adequately contact his parents, nor did they stop the harassment from happening. And since Jamie’s lawyer,” she pointed her index finger at herself, “warned them two days before the attack, they can’t claim ignorance.”
“You think they’d try?” Dr. Reich asked.
“Of course, they’d try. In these cases, school districts’ first line of defense is always to claim they did not know what was happening. Or if they knew, they did not know how bad it was.”
There was a sudden buzzing sound, and all three looked to see whose phone was making the noise.
