Page 76 of Crosshairs

Rob Trilling was trying to catch up on as much as he could and peppered me with questions. We were now set up in an NYPD surveillance vehicle that no one would notice. A beat-up hatchback. From it, we could see the off-site building where the fake cop was supposed to enter and leave. We could also see some of the surrounding buildings.

Trilling said, “How many people do we have out here?”

“For a big case, this is an absolute skeleton crew. Terri Hernandez and a couple of the detectives from our squad are on the perimeter. We have a special team led by Jeff Mabus of four ESU members for the takedown. I think Dennis Wu is lurking somewhere. We’re all on the same secure radio channel.”

Trilling said, “Are we trying to limit the possibility of a leak by only using a few people?”

“You’re starting to catch on. This is nothing like fugitive cases or patrol, is it?”

“I never would’ve been able to put this together.”

“After today you will.”

Trilling said, “Where’s the lieutenant on this surveillance?”

“He’s inside our trap building. He’s going to move the curtains and turn some lights on and off to make sure the sniper sees someone in the building. We purposely didn’t put a surveillance team on Tavarez so he wouldn’t get hinky.”

“Get what?”

I grinned. “It’s a word old-school cops use to mean suspicious. One of the problems with surveillance is if you’re following someone with some experience, they often spot the tail.”

“Words are a little like fashion. Their popularity rises and falls with different generations.”

“That’s pretty smart. Did your grandfather teach you that?”

“Modern Theories of Society, Columbia University.” He gave me a decent, smug smile, then cocked his head and said, “I’m curious. Do you also call marijuana ‘Mary Jane’?”

I laughed out loud at that one. Trilling sounded like one of my sons when they broke my balls. It was also possibly the first joke I’d ever heard him crack.

I said, “I’ll try to work on my vocabulary. I’ll admit I cringe when I hear older people try to use street slang. I guess that’s why I use out-of-date terms.”

Maybe hewasbecoming a New Yorker.

CHAPTER 96

THE SURVEILLANCE STARTED to drag on. I’d been on dozens of stakeouts like this. Even ones where the suspect acted hinky. I’ll admit, I might not have been worried, but I could feel my nerves. There was a lot that could go wrong with this plan. Even though I wasn’t in command, everyone knew it was my idea. The whole thing was my case. And I’d already made one major error on it. Thank God I’d been able to figure it out and correct it.

Trilling said, “If Lieutenant Grissom is inside our fake office, where are the ESU guys?”

“In an unmarked Chevy Tahoe a few blocks away. We’re the main team watching the fake office.”

Trilling sat up in his seat quickly. He moved, trying to see a building across the street. “I got something.”

I looked toward the older apartment building. “What do you see?”

“It’s tough from this angle, but I think a man walked into that building via the front door, carrying a case of some kind. I didn’t get a good look.”

I put it out over the radio and said we’d keep everyone updated. It’s a good idea that everyone knows what others are seeing during a surveillance.

Harry came on the radio. “Everyone stays in place until we hear something more definite from Mike.”

I hit the Transmit button when he was finished. “It’s the building to the south and west of you. Trilling thinks he saw a male walk through the front door with a case of some kind. We don’t have a perfect angle from here.” My heart was starting to beat faster.

Now Terri Hernandez came on the frequency. “I’m looking right at the building now. I can see in the lobby through the front door. There’s no one visible from here.”

Trilling said, “Should I get out and walk past the building? Or maybe try to get inside?”

“Let’s give it a minute. I want you out of sight. As long as Harry is staying away from the windows, the sniper doesn’t have a target. I’m sure the ESU guys are getting ready and can move anywhere we tell them to go.” It was easy to advocate patience but much harder to practice it. My first instinct was also to get out of the car and go to the building myself. But if Tavarez had scoped out the area and was watching from somewhere else, we’d blow the whole surveillance.