David Rosenfelt - Dog Tags

“No… prison. But first tell me about Milo. I heard you got him off.”

“Yes. We prevailed.”

“Man, Pete was right. You must be good. Where’s Milo now?”

“Still at the shelter. I should have him out by tomorrow. Which brings up the question of what I should do with him.”

“Can you hold on to him until you get me out?”

“What makes you think you’re getting out?”

“If you go to the prosecutor, I think he’ll be willing to make a deal.”

“You’re going to plead?”

He shakes his head. “I’m going to trade.”

“Billy, I don’t think you get it. First of all, I’m not your lawyer; I only represented you for the purpose of getting Milo out. Second of all, if I was your lawyer, I wouldn’t put up with this cryptic bullshit.”

He is aware that I’m angry, and backs off immediately. “Okay, I’m sorry, you’re right. I need you to be my lawyer, full-time. I want you to do for me what you did for Milo.”

“No thanks. I’ve got all the clients I need.”

“Do it as a favor for Pete.”

“Been there, done that. Besides, he hasn’t asked me to represent you,” I point out.

“He will.” When I don’t respond, he says, “Come on, man, I’m a wounded veteran. Don’t you care about your country? What do I have to do?” he asks. “Sing ‘God Bless America’?”

There’s something obnoxiously charming about Billy, but I’ve always been able to resist obnoxious charm. Maybe it’s because I possess so much of it myself. The truth is, I don’t want this case; in fact, I don’t want any case. But I also can’t leave him confined to this hospital bed with no one to help him.

“All right,” I say. “I’ll compromise with you. I’ll handle your plea bargain—”

He interrupts to correct me. “Trade.”

I nod. “Trade. But you’re going to tell me what it is you have to trade. I’m not going in there unless I know what I’m talking about.”

He thinks for a moment, weighing his options, and then nods. “Okay. Jack Erskine… the guy that was killed… if there was ever someone on this planet who deserved to die, it was him.”

CHAPTER 20

ALAN LANDON WAS LISTENING TO THE MOST BORING SPEECH EVER DELIVERED WHEN HIS CELL PHONE RANG. More accurately, it didn’t ring; it vibrated. And it wasn’t his cell phone, at least not his main one. It was his second phone; the one he always answered, no matter what.

Since he was sitting on the dais next to the mayor of New York, and it was the same mayor who was giving the boring speech, answering the phone took some delicate maneuvering. He quietly got up and walked off the stage, hoping that everyone would assume he was going to the restroom. Since the mayor was twenty minutes into a talk on the intricacies of educational reform, the likelihood was that the audience was so close to comatose that they wouldn’t have noticed a hand grenade going off on stage.

As Landon was walking, he opened the phone in his pocket so that the call would go through without cutting to voice mail. He knew the caller would be smart enough to hold on and wait for Landon to answer.

Actually, there was no doubt that Marvin Emerson would hold on. M had called Landon at least thirty times in the last year, and Landon had answered every single time. He also always knew that it was M calling even before he said a word, yet M’s phone ID was blocked. It could only mean one thing: He was the only one who called on that particular phone.

When Landon reached an area in the hallway that afforded him some privacy, he took the phone out of his pocket and spoke into it. “You have news?”

“I do,” said M. “The lawyer pulled it off. The dog is going to be released from the shelter.”

Landon couldn’t help but smile. “Justice triumphs. When will this take place?”

“I’m told tomorrow.”

“Where will it be taken?” Landon asked.

“I don’t have that information yet. But I will. Our people will be there, waiting to follow whoever takes him.”

“Make sure that you are personally involved in that process. But don’t take any action yet. Just keep track of his whereabouts.”

“Will do,” M said.

“Is that all?”

“No, and the other news is not as good.”

Landon hated statements like that. He didn’t need anyone to characterize news in advance; he could certainly figure out for himself whether it was good or not. Those were wasted words, which amounted to wasted time. “Speak.”

“The operation in the prison was not successful. And one of our three people was killed.”

“The other two?”

“Don’t worry, they can’t implicate anyone. They don’t know where the orders or money came from.”

“I trust you’ll take other steps to rectify their failure?” Landon asked, though it was more a statement than a question.

“I will, but it’ll be much harder now.”

“That’s why I pay you the big bucks,” Landon said before cutting off the call and heading back to his seat on the dais. He got there just in time to catch the last five minutes of the speech, and to lead the applause.

Like everyone else in the room, he was applauding the fact that it was over.

CHAPTER 21

I HAVE NO IDEA IF BILLY’S OPINION OF THE LATE JACK ERSKINE IS FAIR OR ACCURATE. But I do know that his opinion can prove extremely damaging to Billy’s chances of ever getting out of prison.

Major Erskine was stationed in Baghdad, and was in charge of security in that city. It was a uniquely important position, especially as the war slowly wound down and police, rather than strictly military, action became dominant.

Many commanders earn and inspire respect from their rank and file. It doesn’t mean that they are soft on discipline, or that they act like one of the guys. All it means is that they have paid their dues, and are tough but fair.

Jack Erskine had earned no such respect, at least not according to Billy. While Erskine had little contact with anyone other than his direct reports, he had been widely disliked by virtually every soldier under his command. They had watched his willingness to throw subordinates under the bus and behave in a manner designed to curry personal favor with his bosses and Washington.

There were also the rumors that Erskine was corrupt, that he and a small coterie of his men used their power within the country to enrich themselves. Billy had no reason to believe it or doubt it, but with what he had seen in Iraq, nothing would have surprised him.

Not that Erskine really affected Billy’s life one way or the other. Billy enlisted to protect and serve; that was why he became a cop, and why he became a soldier. His father had done the same, as had his two uncles. But it didn’t take long for him to regret his decision, and he had resigned himself to putting in his time and going home. Erskine had no role in that decision one way or the other.

Then came that summer day and an event that was unusual for a number of reasons. The United States, eager to demonstrate what it called a return to normalcy of the country, had invited a number of major players in American private business and finance to meet with Iraqi leaders, in and out of the government.

Nothing of enormous consequence was to be discussed; those things generally got decided in far more private settings. This was for show, and was held outside the safety and security of the Green Zone as a symbolic way of telling the world that Iraq was ready to take its place in the world community.

A brief part of the event was to be held outdoors. That brevity was dictated by the oppressive heat, as well as the obvious fact that security was more difficult to maintain outdoors. But the authorities wanted the citizenry to be there and be a part of it, and more important, they wanted television to beam pictures of those participating Iraqi citizens around the world.