Patterson Array: NYPD Red

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Get moving. I’ll call you with the details.”

I was about to bolt when Cates held up her hand. She stared at me, stone-faced. “And Jordan…make sure your phone is on.”

Within minutes, Kylie and I were back in the PPV doing ninety on West Street barreling toward South Street Seaport.

There may only be seventy-five cops attached to NYPD Red, but there are another thirty-five thousand brothers and sisters in blue who’ve got our backs-and our fronts. By the time we entered the South Street Viaduct, which tunnels under Battery Park, we had two motorcycle cops from Highway Patrol clearing our path.

“Hot damn!” Kylie yelled. “We’re getting a police escort.”

Captain Cates had the full power of the New York City Police Department at her fingertips, and when we emerged from the tunnel, it was clear that she hadn’t hesitated to use it.

The road in front of us was clear. No, it was empty. FDR Drive, which is often preceded by the words “heavy backups” on the 1010 WINS traffic reports, didn’t have a single car on it-northbound or southbound.

One look at the service road, and I could see that there was plenty of traffic just waiting to clog it up, but there were squad cars with flashing lights at every entrance ramp holding them back.

Cates called, and I put her on speaker.

“We got lucky. We’ve got our bomb techs spread out across the city, and Jeff Ordway was on standby half a mile from the Seaport. Sergeant Ordway is one of our best. Jim Rothlein from Harbor Patrol will meet the three of you at Pier 17. He’s in an unmarked boat with a plainclothes crew so you can get close to the yacht without looking like cops. I’ve also scrambled Scuba and SWAT, but I’m keeping them out of sight. Benoit can’t know there’s an armada bearing down on him. This has to run like Special Ops.”

“How about the captain of the yacht?” I asked. “According to Spence, this guy Campion’s lifelong dream is to take down a pirate on the high seas. I don’t want him to go all Steven Seagal on us.”

“Rothlein radioed him on the NYPD frequency and told him to prepare to be boarded. As far as Campion knows, you’re just doing some routine follow-up on the shooting at the funeral home, and you couldn’t wait for the boat to dock tonight-nothing that would set off his cowboy genes.”

“MacDonald says there’s a swimming platform at the stern,” I said. “Can you arrange for us to board there?”

“Rothlein thinks it’s too visible,” Cates said. “There’s a cargo hold door on the starboard side. It’s harder to see from the top deck. Once you get close, the yacht will slow down, but not enough for Benoit to get suspicious. A couple of crewmen will open the cargo door and extend a ramp. The three of you will have to jump while both boats are moving at a pretty good clip.”

Making a sideways leap from a moving boat onto a narrow ramp was not nearly as easy as jumping forward onto a low-hanging double-wide swim platform would have been, but Cates was right. This had to run like Special Ops.

“Getting on board won’t be a problem,” I said.

“Once you’re on board, get Ordway to the engine room. Benoit is smart-he’ll know that’s where he can do the most damage. Odds are he plans to jump ship and set his bombs off by remote. Your job is to keep him from getting off that boat, because I guarantee you that as soon as he’s a hundred yards away, he’ll blow it up and laugh while it burns. I’ve got fireboats and EMS units tailing you, and I’ve got choppers and a chase team, but I’ve only got the two of you to keep him from pushing that button.”

“We can handle it, Captain,” I said.

“I’m counting on you, Jordan. Me and a hundred other people,” she said. “Put MacDonald on the horn.”

I held the cell phone close to Kylie. “Right here, Captain.”

“I’ve got a message from your husband. FDNY cut him out of the floor, he’s on his way to NYU Medical, and he loves you.”

“Tell him I love him, too,” Kylie said.

“I have a better idea,” Cates said. “Make sure you get your ass back here in one piece and tell him yourself.”

EXT. HUDSON RIVER-NEW YORK CITY-DUSK

Helicopter shot of SHELLEY TRAGER’s yacht as it sails quietly up the river. And there in the background, we see her, standing tall and proud as the sun sets-THE STATUE OF LIBERTY.

MUSIC UP: We hear THE RAT-A-TAT-TAT OF SNARE DRUMS, followed by HORNS, and then the track is filled with the unmistakable sound of the Greatest Musical Genius of All Time-THE LATE, GREAT RAY CHARLES, singing the best fucking version of AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL ever recorded.

RAY CHARLES (SOUND TRACK)

O beautiful, for heroes proved,

In liberating strife,

Who more than self, their country loved,

And mercy more than life.

The camera drifts in on the yacht, and we see a ramp slowly being lowered from the stern like a giant tailgate. As we move in closer, we see The Chameleon as he prepares to get off the moving ship.

RAY CHARLES

America, America,

May God thy gold refine,

Till all success be nobleness

And every gain divine.

The camera is in tight now as The Chameleon unties one of two Zodiac Bayrunners, a fifteen-foot pontoon boat Trager uses when he anchors offshore.

RAY CHARLES

O beautiful, for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

The Chameleon slides one Zodiac off the ramp and into the water. He jumps in and starts it.

RAY CHARLES

For purple mountain majesties,

Above the fruited plain.

The Zodiac slowly edges away from the yacht.

RAY CHARLES

America, America,

God shed his grace on thee.

Long shot as we see the Zodiac separating even farther from the doomed yacht.

RAY CHARLES

He crowned thy good,

In brotherhood,

From sea to shining sea.

Cut to a close-up of Lady Liberty as she looks down approvingly on the scene below.

RAY CHARLES

You know, I wish I had

somebody to help me sing this.

The CHORUS joins in, and now the music and the emotion build.

CHORUS

America, America,

RAY CHARLES

America, I love you, America

CHORUS

God shed his grace on thee.

Cut to a close-up of The Chameleon as he removes his CELL PHONE from his pocket.

RAY CHARLES

God shed his grace on thee.

Cut to a wide shot. Slowly the Zodiac slips out of the picture.

RAY CHARLES

He crowned thy good,

With brotherhood,

Cut to a close-up as The Chameleon dials his phone.

RAY CHARLES

From sea to shining sea.

Cut to a wide shot. The Statue of Liberty, a powerful beacon of freedom, is dominating the frame. The yacht, a symbol of greed, money, and injustice, looks insignificant in her presence.

CHORUS (MAJESTIC FINISH)

…shining sea.

The sound track is filled with the thunder of timpani and the crash of cymbals as the music reaches a crescendo, and the yacht EXPLODES into a fiery hell.

“So…what do you think, Charles?” Gabriel asked, still kneeling at Connor’s side.

“I knew you could get off the ship with one of the Zodiacs,” Connor said. “I just didn’t know you knew.”

Gabriel stood up and took a small bow. “Research. But I meant what do you think of the whole thing with the Statue of Liberty and ‘America the Beautiful’ playing counterpoint against a guy who’s blowing up a hundred people?”