Robert Tanenbaum - Bad Faith

“Then didn’t the Ellises show depraved indifference to their son’s suffering and potential for death?” Katz asked.

Karp shook his head. “They did not purposely do something to place their son in danger, not caring if he lived or died. In fact, I think there is ample evidence, which the defense is sure to introduce at trial, that they were shocked and devastated by his death. So we come at last to whether to charge them with negligent homicide or the more severe reckless manslaughter; for that I’ll use an analogy I’ve used many times when explaining the difference for grand juries.”

A man who thought best on his feet, Karp rose again and began to pace. “In this scenario, a man takes a child to the rooftop of a New York high-rise to check on his homing pigeons. When they get there, the man notices a gun lying on the ground. He doesn’t bother to see if it’s loaded, nor does he put it in a safe place, but just goes on about his business. But the child goes over, picks up the gun, it discharges, and the child is killed. That’s negligent homicide. The man failed to exercise reasonable judgment to protect the child. He violated the reasonable man’s standard of care.”

Katz nodded and took over the anecdote. “In the second scenario, the man sees the gun, picks it up and discovers it is loaded, but places it back down where he found it. The child picks up the gun and is killed-that’s reckless manslaughter. He was aware of the risk but consciously disregarded it.”

“Right,” Karp agreed. “So were the Ellises aware of the risk that their child would die?”

“Well, they certainly knew that he was very sick and in a lot of pain,” Katz said. “He’d suffered seizures and was probably blind before he went into a coma.”

“I think you just answered the question,” Karp said. “They were aware of the risk that their son was so sick that without medical attention he would die, but they consciously disregarded that fact to stick with their religious belief system, which, again, does not protect them from the criminal act of recklessly disregarding their son’s worsening medical condition.”

Karp looked at Katz and smiled. “So we cool?”

“Yeah, we’re cool,” Katz said.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door; Fulton entered and without speaking turned on a television mounted in the bookcase. The screen was immediately filled with an image, obviously taken from the air, of a ferry sitting still in the waters off Liberty Island. A bold headline across the bottom of the screen announced, “Breaking News: Terrorists Attack Liberty Island Ferry.”

As the videographer went to a wide shot, Karp could see that about one hundred yards from the ferry what appeared to be a cabin cruiser also sat still in the waters. Between the two were a number of smaller boats, several of them with the word “police” clearly visible on them.

“We’re taking you now to the Nine News Sky Copter and reporter Tessa Laine for the latest on this breaking event,” the news anchor said. “What can you tell us, Tessa?”

“Well, so far only that police have apparently intercepted an attempted terrorist attack on a Liberty Island ferry,” Laine reported. “It appears that the police are attempting to negotiate with the terrorists, who are in that boat you see surrounded by police boats.”

“Can you see what is happening on board the ferry?” the anchor asked.

On cue, the cameraman zoomed in on the ferry. “Only that there appear to be armed men on the ferry,” Laine answered, “but as the police seem to be concentrating on the other boat, perhaps the armed men on the ferry are on our side. We’re going to try to get a better picture of the people on the deck of the ferry.”

“Jesus, is that who I think it is?” Fulton asked.

Although the images were small and jumped around quite a bit from the movement of the news helicopter, the screen suddenly showed Karp’s daughter, Lucy; her fiance, Ned, who was peering at the terrorist boat through the scope of a rifle; Espey Jaxon; and U.S. Marshal Jen Capers. However, Karp knew that his friend’s exclamation wasn’t because he’d seen them. It was because of the blond woman who was standing with them, looking at the news helicopter.

“It is,” Karp growled. “It’s Nadya Malovo. She’s back in town.”

Jaxon rushed to the railing next to where Blanchett lay looking through the scope of his rifle. “What have you got?” he asked, lifting the binoculars he had hanging around his neck.

“Not sure but there’s a lot of movement and they appear to be arguing, or at least making a lot of aggressive-looking hand gestures,” Blanchett replied.

“They’re fighting,” Lucy confirmed. “One of them just called and said they wanted to give up, but then the phone went dead-”

At that moment, a shot rang out across the water. “That wasn’t at any of us,” Blanchett said. “I think there’s a mutiny-”

Suddenly, a man jumped from near the terrorist boat’s cabin onto the bow carrying a long tubular device.

“Rocket grenade!” Blanchett yelled.

“Take him out, Ned!” Jaxon shouted back.

The words were hardly out of his mouth before Blanchett’s M40A3 sniper rifle boomed. The man on the bow of the cabin cruiser reacted as though attached to an invisible wire that jerked him backward and off the boat.

The 7.62-millimeter bullet reached him not a moment too soon as while falling, he pulled the trigger on his weapon, launching a rocket-propelled grenade. However, having a hole blown in his chest destroyed his aim and the grenade soared almost straight up before plummeting down harmlessly into the water.

Everything was quiet for a moment, and then all hell broke loose. The cabin cruiser’s engines roared to life and the boat surged forward toward the ferry. Those on board began firing at all the police vessels, the gunboat, the police helicopter, and the ferry.

A burst of automatic fire stitched its way across the water and up the side of the ferry, passing only a few feet from where Jaxon stood. At the same time, a rocket was fired from the cruiser, striking one of the police vessels, which erupted in a ball of fire.

The response was furious. The Coast Guard gunboat opened up with its fifty-caliber, tearing chunks out of the cruiser as it roared across the water toward the ferry. The police officers on the smaller boats also joined in the shooting gallery while trying to run interference for the ferry.

Someone aboard the terrorist boat aimed at the news helicopter and opened fire. Struck, the helicopter began to bellow thick dark smoke and spun out of control into the water.

On board the ferry, the NIDSA agents fired away with their handguns while Blanchett’s big gun boomed again and again.

Jaxon glanced over at where Lucy had been standing when the shooting started and was horrified to see her lying on the deck, bleeding from an apparent shoulder wound. She was trying to help a NIDSA agent who lay motionless on the ground next to her, a pool of blood growing beneath him. Blanchett looked over at the same time and stopped shooting.

“I’ve got her, Ned,” Jaxon yelled, and ran to Lucy even as more automatic rifle fire raked the ferry, clanging off steel and whistling overhead.

“I’m okay,” Lucy yelled. “Just nicked.” She looked back at the agent she’d been trying to help. “But I think he’s gone.”

Blanchett’s expression turned from concern to anger as he nodded and began to shoot again, the big gun’s bullets punching hole after hole into the cruiser’s cabin and taking out gunmen whenever they appeared.

The battle ended as quickly as it began. Thousands of rounds had been exchanged, and the cabin cruiser was again dead in the water, only now there was black smoke pouring from it and a small fire was visible in the rear. The men on board had stopped shooting, though none could be seen.