Brad Meltzer - Dead Even

“You can get any lawyer you want,” Guff said. “All you have to do is give us the gun. You do that, and you’ll be in a much better position to get out of this.” Realizing he had Rafferty’s attention, he added, “You know I’m right. It’s the only smart thing to do.”

“This isn’t an easy case,” Rafferty said as he took his finger off the trigger. “With the right defense team, I’m off the hook. I’ll make bail by-”

“You think you’re making bail?” Sara blurted. “The judge isn’t going to allow bail for this. That cold-blooded murder of Conrad-”

“That wasn’t me!” Rafferty shouted, once again raising his gun.

“And let’s not forget what you did to Elliott and Kozlow, and Arnold, too.”

“She’s just trying to rile you,” Guff said.

“Don’t listen to him,” Sara said, still hiding Jared’s gun. Jared’s breathing became labored. She didn’t have much longer. “Once we have you, you’ll never see sunlight again.”

“Oh, I get it,” Rafferty said. “You figure if you enrage me enough, I’ll actually try and shoot you. And if I do that, this cop gets to put a bullet in my brain.” He shook his head. “I’m walking out of here, I’m making my one phone call, and I’m sleeping in my own bed tonight.”

“Not a chance,” Sara said, raising her voice. She could feel Jared shaking. “They’ll never let you out!”

“Sara, shut up!” Guff yelled.

“It’s a death penalty case!” Sara screamed. “You’re getting the death penalty!”

“Good-bye, Sara,” Rafferty said, lowering his gun. “It was lovely to make your acquaintance.” As he approached the edge of the platform, Rafferty raised his arm and held out his gun to the officer. The officer reached down to take it. But before the officer could even react, Rafferty pulled the trigger and shot him in the stomach. He then turned his gun toward Sara.

In one fluid motion, Sara pulled her gun and fired. Three consecutive bullets ripped into Rafferty. Two in his chest, one in his shoulder. As he staggered backward, Sara fired another shot. And another. And another. She pulled the trigger again, but heard only a click. Click. Click. Click. Rafferty continued to stumble. When he lost his footing on the train tracks, he fell backward and his body crashed to the ground. It wasn’t until that moment that Sara finally took a breath. The threats, the frustration, the angling and manipulation – they were all finally gone.

Hearing a soft moan from her husband, Sara dropped her gun and cradled Jared’s head in her arms. Right there: That was why she did it. “ I need an ambulance! ” she shouted. “ Please! ”

Blinking back into consciousness, Jared opened his eyes. “Did we win?” he whispered.

Her eyes welled up with tears. “Always the competitor.”

“Just answer me.”

She thought about Conrad. “Yeah,” she sobbed. “We won.”

“Terrific,” Jared whispered.

“Are you okay?” Sara asked.

“I’m not sure. I can’t feel my legs.”

“THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY WILL SEE YOU NOW, MS. Tate,” Monaghan’s secretary announced.

Sara headed numbly for the door.

Monaghan was sitting with his hands flat on his desk, a grim expression on his face. “Sit,” he demanded. “Let me get straight to the point. What you did yesterday was one of the most wasteful, egocentric, self-interested displays of power I’ve ever seen here in my seventeen years of prosecuting.”

“I can explain.”

“Explain?!” Monaghan hissed. “You killed one of my men! Conrad is dead!”

“Sir, I never meant-”

“It doesn’t matter what you meant! I’m not interested in your intent. All I care about is the fact that he’s dead. And not only is he dead, he’s dead for a stupid reason – because as a self-absorbed neophyte, you were raring to pull off your own stunt!”

“But the circumstances-”

“I don’t want to hear about the circumstances! I know you and your husband were both in danger. But if you had communicated your problem directly to me, we could’ve worked out a sensible solution. Instead, I have to deal with every reporter in the entire city, all of them wondering why I didn’t know what was happening inside my own damn office. Do you know what that does to me? Oh, no, you didn’t have time to think of that. Besides yourself, you didn’t consider anybody. You didn’t consider this office, you didn’t consider me, and you didn’t consider your buddy, Conrad, who you obviously cared nothing about.”

Sara shot from her seat and slammed her fists against Monaghan’s desk. “Don’t you ever say that! That man was my friend! When you were ready to kick me out on my ass, he took me in for no good reason. And for better or worse, he trusted me with his life. So you can call me stupid, and inexperienced, and an incompetent novice, but don’t ever, ever , tell me that I didn’t care about him! He’s the only reason I’m still in this office.”

“Then maybe you should take the hint and consider leaving.”

“Believe me, I was thinking about that all last night. There’d be nothing easier than for me to leave this place. I’d love to pack up my stuff, walk out that door, and wash my hands of the entire incident. Out of sight, out of mind – after this, I could leave the law behind in a heartbeat. But let me tell you: I’d never do that to him. He’s going to get far better than that. Every day I step into my office, though, it’s going to haunt me. Every day. I’m going to have to live with this for the rest of my life. But it’s going to be worth every minute – because that man deserves a legacy.”

Monaghan leaned back and crossed his arms, giving Sara a chance to calm down. “Tate, I hope the sermon made you feel good, because now it’s time to listen to me. First, I don’t give a shit about your whiny psychological consequences. This isn’t a Ph.D. program, it’s the DA’s office. And I’m the fucking DA! Do you understand? I don’t care that you saved yourself, or saved your husband, or caught the bad guy. I don’t even care that those two officers are stabilized. And you want to know why? Because my man is dead! Period! End! That alone gives me the best reason to fire you!”

“If you want to fire me, fire me. I’m not quitting.”

“Tate, get your ass up and get yourself out of my office. I don’t want to see you, I don’t want to know about you, and the only thing I want to hear about you is that the local news crews ate up your little fluff piece with the mayor.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“I’m talking about what you’re going to be doing this afternoon. Lucky for you, the mayor’s staff decided to make the most of it. He called me the moment the story broke last night: Wife ADA risks life and breaks rules to save defense-attorney husband. You couldn’t write a better headline. So get to the hospital and practice your smile. The mayor’ll be there at noon. He figures New Yorkers are going to feast on this.”

“I’m not doing a photo op at Jared’s bed.”

“Yes. You are!” Monaghan shot back. “And you want to know why? Because I say so, because I’m the boss, and because you’re going to listen.”

“But that’s not-”

“I don’t care what you think, Tate! I’m not risking any more bad press. You’re going to say cheese, and you’re going to scratch the mayor’s back, and hopefully, he’s going to say thank you by looking the other way when he’s slashing budgets. Otherwise, I’m going to have to revisit my list of expendable employees – where your assistant Guff is teetering on the edge.”

“Tell the mayor I’ll do it.”