Page 15 of Nobody's Hero
‘I wouldn’t,’ Koenig muttered.
Glenister scowled but said nothing.
‘Good,’ Draper said. ‘The second thing you need to understand is that Koenig is an asset of the US government. He is required to check in with me on the last day of every month. We do this through a draft email folder. That way nothing is ever sent. And if nothing is ever sent, then nothing can be intercepted.’
‘Who the hell is this “we” you keep referring to?’ Glenister said.
‘Ifwetell you, you’ll wishwehadn’t,’ the grey man said, the first time he’d opened his mouth. ‘It’ll involve . . . paperwork.’
‘Now, because Koenig’s such an asshole,’ Draper continued, ‘we can’t trust him when he checks in. He always lies. Says he’s in Athens when he’s really in Alaska. Connecticut instead of Montana.’
‘I’ve never been to Montana,’ Koenig said.
‘Yet that’s exactly where you said you were last April.’
Koenig shrugged.
‘But I’m going to let Koenig in on a secret,’ Draper said. ‘Because we don’t trust him, we’ve been cheating. The moment he logs into our shared email account, his location is immediately made known to us. And as we need to ensure he’s fit and healthy, we also activate the computer’s camera and microphone. For as long as he’s logged in, we can see and hear him.’
‘In other words,’ the grey man said, ‘the conversation between Mr Koenig and Detective Cunningham was recorded in its entirety.’
‘And it turns out I’m not the only one who has to work with assholes,’ Draper said. ‘Shall I press play?’
Chapter 13
‘What do you think Detective Cunningham meant when she said she wasn’t walking away from the biggest payday she was ever going to have?’ Draper said. ‘Or when she asked Mr Koenig if he’d still have a smart mouth when her guy was peeling his skin off?’
Lieutenant Glenister, Detective Wagstaff and Detective Mallinson had watched the video in silence. It had lasted twelve minutes and none of it was open to interpretation.
When Glenister didn’t answer, the grey man said, ‘This video was taken under the umbrella of the Patriot Act. There was no entrapment. It’s legal, and copies have already been lodged with the FBI and the US attorney for the Southern District of New York. The East Coast Sweeney exists, and your guys were caught red-handed.’
‘What the hell did he say when you turned off the cameras?’ Glenister asked Wagstaff and Mallinson. He seemed to have aged in the last ten minutes.
‘Nothing that contradicts that video,’ Mallinson said. ‘He said there’s a Russian bounty on his head, and it does sound like those douchebags were trying to claim it.’
‘I’m aware things are moving extremely fast, Lieutenant Glenister,’ the grey man said. ‘I’ve arranged for the attorney general to call you in fifteen minutes. She’ll answer any questions you have. She’ll tell you how to proceed. But for the avoidance of doubt, we’re leaving right now, and Mr Koenig is coming with us. Please unfasten his handcuffs and return his possessions. If you don’t do as I ask, the FBI will arrest you.’
Koenig’s hands were stinging with pins and needles. He rubbed them together to get the blood running again. His possessions had been returned, even his sharpened credit card. After checking his Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife was still there – the only possession he had any emotional attachment to – he followed Draper and the grey man into the precinct parking lot.
‘My photograph isn’t supposed to be on any database,’ Koenig said. ‘How the hell did the NYPD find me via facial recognition?’
‘We dropped the ball,’ the grey man admitted. ‘The woman who monitors everything has gone on maternity leave. Something must have got missed in the handover.’
‘I killed someone today,’ Koenig said. ‘I put someone else in a coma. I scarred Cunningham for life. None of that needed to happen.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Who are you?’
‘Part of the team assigned to your case. I was here to make sure you didn’t spend any longer in custody than you needed to.’
‘Bullshit,’ Koenig said. ‘Jen has the biggest pair of balls in any room she’s in. She doesn’t need help, not when she has video evidence as damning as that. I’ll ask again: who are you?’
The grey man looked around the precinct parking lot. A few cops were milling around, sharing a smoke before they either went on shift or went home. They were staring at them with suspicion. ‘Not here,’ he replied.
‘Our car will be here soon,’ Draper said. ‘We’ll explain everything then.’ She took a moment. ‘That was a stroke of luck annoying Detective Cunningham so much she incriminated herself in front of the computer. It was almost as if youknewyou were being recorded.’
Koenig shrugged. ‘You’ve heard the fable of the scorpion and frog?’