Exceptional Merit (28 page)

Castillo considered things for a moment.  “That's great.  That means we know for sure he has the gun on him, right?  You are sure he took it back?”

Castillo couldn’t chance a mistake this late in the game.  Not now, when everything seemed to be coming together so nicely.

“Definitely.  I’m one hundred percent sure he still has it on him.”

Castillo made sure to keep a safe distance from Flynn's auto for fear of Flynn spotting the tail.  “That's the best news you could've told me.  Can I ask one more favor of you?”

“You're really pushing your luck.”  She offered a welcoming smile.  “Of course you can.”

“I want to follow this guy back to whosever house he's staying at.  I'll call a uniformed sector from the precinct concerned and you can sit with them to secure the house and make sure he doesn’t leave.  I’ll get an emergency search warrant for the location.  When I get back we'll search the house and when we recover the gun we'll place this guy under arrest.  With any luck, he'll give the subject of my investigation right up.  If not, I'll trace the gun back to whoever bought it, which once again, I'm pretty confident will be the subject of my investigation.

Winters had another idea.  “Why don’t we just jump him right here and now and arrest him.  He has the gun in his waistband.  Why go through the trouble of obtaining a warrant?”

Castillo playfully tapped her on the knee before explaining.  “The gun is only one piece to the puzzle.  He’s in America for a reason, and he and Keegan are plotting something.  If we lock him up now, he may roll on Keegan or he may not.  If he doesn’t, we will never know what their plans were.  A search warrant will give us a free peak into his life and there’s a good chance we learn more about what they have planned and maybe who else is involved.  I’m willing to bet we find more incriminating evidence if we wait on a warrant.”

Castillo was very confident in his plan of action. 
By the morning, I'll be drawing up the complaint with the District Attorney and by next week at this time, I'll be presenting the case to the Grand Jury.
  Castillo was on cloud nine.  He realized he was closer than ever to nailing Keegan.

Keegan remained motionless at the table for minutes after Flynn had left.  He considered the threats the man made against him and his family.  He became angry at himself for allowing the punk to push him around the way Flynn had done.  He glanced over at the bar and saw Dan O'Brien staring back at him.  He turned away from O'Brien for a short period of time and asked the waitress to bring him another Guinness.  When she returned with his stout, he gave her the forty dollars Flynn had left and added twenty dollars of his own to cover the bill and the tip.  Keegan slowly drank a long swig of Guinness and got up to go over to the bar.

He put his Guinness down at the bar where Dan O'Brien was waiting.  “So what might the problem be Jim?”

Keegan had hoped to avoid this conversation with O'Brien, but he now realized it was necessary.  His attempt to call things off with Flynn had blown up in his face.  O'Brien was literally his last resort before he would have to take police action in the matter.  “To be completely honest with you Dan, I think the hit on Devine is a mistake.”

There was no point in denying the hit.  O’Brien would hear him out.  “How so?”

Keegan lifted his Guinness to his mouth and took a gulp.  He was biding his time to choose his words carefully.  “Well Dan, the N.Y.P.D. has an intelligence report documenting the hit.  I'm going to be in charge of the detail, most likely.  And even if I weren't, someone else would.  I think it's best if we called it off.  The department is already aware of it.  One of your boys from the other side gave up the whole operation.  They even named Gerald Flynn as the shooter.”

Keegan hoped his lies would help convince Dan O’Brien to abort the mission.  “His photo was obtained through INTERPOL and every cop in the city was given a copy as they turned out for patrol.  It’s a suicide mission.  He won’t get anywhere near Devine on St. Patrick’s Day.  The parade security will be as tight as a Presidential motorcade.”

Keegan continued to embellish as he saw the concern on Dan O’Brien’s face, mount.  “There is just no way in the world this gets done.  Do you think you could talk Gerald out of it?  Cut your losses before anyone winds up dead or in jail.”

“Gerald, huh?”

“Yes, Gerald.  He didn’t deny his name, Dan.  So what do you think?  Will you tell him not to go through with it?”

Dan O'Brien became extremely annoyed at Flynn.  He had been given an alias for a reason and wasn't supposed to tell anyone his true identity
, no matter what.  He should have denied it, even if Keegan did confront him with it.  There was a reason he shaved his goatee and mustache off and grew his hair long.  He currently looked significantly different than he did in his arrest photo.  He could have even denied it was him in the photo, if stopped.  To admit to Keegan that he was in fact Flynn wasn’t smart.  If Flynn has jeopardized the operation with his arrogance, O'Brien made a promise to himself to inform Eamon Quinn back at home.

“No Jim.  To be completely honest with ya, I don't have the authority to call it off even if I wanted to.  Besides
, this fella is real dangerous and he enjoys killin'.  I don't think he'd terminate the mission at this point no matter who gave the order.”

O’Brien was telling the truth.  While Keegan painted a grim picture that wouldn’t matter to a man like Gerald Flynn.  O’Brien had known many Gerald Flynns in his day back home in occupied Ireland.

Keegan pleaded with the bartender.  “Dan, don't you understand he has to be stopped, my job is on the line.”

“Jim, there's a lot more on the line here than your job, ya know.  Why can't you just turn the other cheek and after the hit goes down blame it on a flaw in security.  If security is truly as tight as you say, maybe he will see he has no opportunity and opt out himself.”

O’Brien didn’t see this as a possible scenario but if it appeased Keegan, the lie would be worth it.

Keegan could see there was no reasoning with any of these men.  His temper flared.  “Goddamn it, Dan!  I took an oath of office to uphold the law and protect the citizens of this city and
you’re asking me to turn my back and let one of those innocent citizens get murdered.  Dan, I won't have blood on my hands for you, the I.R.A., or anyone else for that matter.  I'm out!  Don't ever call and ask me for anything again.  Do you understand me?  Have I made myself clear?”

Dan O'Brien let out a hardy laugh.  He looked around and was careful not to raise his voice too loudly.  “You're out, are ya?  Now that's a good one.  You're out!?”  He let out a barely audible laugh.

O'Brien shook his head at Keegan as he mocked him.  “
Once in, never out
Jim.  Have you forgotten that?  The only way out is when you're six feet under and there dropping dirt on ya.  Now that's when you're out and not a goddamned minute before then.”

Keegan didn't even want to think about the implications of what O’Brien had just insinuated.  He had a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.  Keegan decided to back pedal.  He quickly shifted the conversation in another direction.  “What is so important to the I.R.A. about killing a lawyer in New York, thousands of miles away from Northern Ireland?”

O’Brien would bite.  “Aye.  What indeed is so important about this man?  Nothing, that's what.  The man himself is totally unimportant, Jim.  What he stands for on the other hand is what we're after.  By executing this Prot here in New York, it shows people all over the world, not just in Ireland, that the I.R.A. isn't going to put up with any more outlandish insults such as a Protestant Grand Marshall at a Catholic parade.  This isn’t the fuckin’ Orangemen marching through Belfast in July.  It’s the
Saint
Patrick’s Day parade in New York City.  It’s a
Catholic
holiday, not the fuckin’ Prot’s.  Not
this
time!  Not ever.

We are not executing Martin
Devine; we are simply executing what he stands for.  He stands for the Protestants looking down upon us like where some pieces of shite to be scraped of the bottom of your shoe.  We don’t stand by idly during the Orangemen marches at home but that doesn’t get the world wide attention that this will.”

James Keegan would not buy this explanation.  “Dan, this is a human being who has never
spoken out in words or in action against the cause.  To execute him in the name of the I.R.A. just makes them seem like terrorists around the world.  Don't you see that?”

Keegan was pleading for Devine's life on deaf ears.  If he wasn't able to convince O'Brien the hit must be stopped, he would next have to go and personally visit Martin Devine.

“Jim, I think if you take a step back and look at it from our point of view instead of that of a police officer's, you'll see it our way.  Why don't you go home and sleep on it.  This is probably the single most important mission the I.R.A. has conducted to gain publicity since ten of our men starved themselves to death in the Maze in the early 1980's.”

O'Brien paused momentarily and studied Keegan's face before continuing.  “And don't forget Jim, you've a family to think of at home.  I don't think the boys at home would appreciate it if someone who was supposed to be on their side turned coat on them and squashed their biggest plans in over a decade, do you?”

Another threat
.

James Keegan got up from the bar stool and wondered how he had gotten himself involved in such a mess.  He walked to the door without saying a word to Dan O'Brien.  He had to try and come up with a way out, where he wouldn't lose his freedom and his family and yet he
is still able to prevent the murder.  He had no idea how he was going to do it but he knew he had to try.  Keegan walked out of McBride's well after three in the morning.  After exiting the doorway, he looked back into the bar and vowed as long as he lived he would never again step foot in that establishment.

Gerald Flynn parked his rented vehicle down the block from the hotel.  On his journey back to the hotel from McBride's, Flynn had never noticed Louis Castillo's Nissan carefully following him.  Flynn got out of the car, adjusted the gun in his waistband and began to walk to his hotel.  Louis Castillo and Sharon Winters watched from a short distance away.  “I didn't count on him staying at a hotel.”

Castillo thought about the implications.  He was frustrated.  “Now what am I going to do?  I can't get a search warrant for the entire hotel, and I'm sure he didn't use his real name when he registered.”

Castillo punched the dashboard in anger.

“I have an idea,” she began to explain.  “Why don't you call up the rental agency and find out what name he used to rent the vehicle under?  I bet that's the same name he used to register in the hotel.”

“Because Sharon, I wanted to do this tonight since I know for a fact he has the gun on him.  The rental agency is not open at this time of the night for someone to search through their paperwork and tell me who rented the car.  It needs to get done tonight.  There isn't a judge around who is going to give me a search warrant tomorrow because I saw a gun the previous night.  It would be a different story if I saw him with the gun on numerous occasions but I haven’t.  I can’t even establish he is staying here for certain.”

“Wait a minute, Louie.  I have an even a better idea.  Why don't I follow him to his hotel room?  Once we know what room he's in, I'll keep an eye on it to make sure he doesn't leave while you go to a judge and get the warrant.”

Castillo shook his head deliberately in agreement.  “You know Sharon…that could actually work.”

After initially agreeing, Castillo started to have second thoughts about following the man.  He was afraid to let his long time friend and former lover follow an armed man by herself.  No matter how badly he wanted to get Keegan, he didn't want to put Sharon in harm’s way.

Sharon knew Castillo very well and sensed a change of heart.  The look on his face went from excitement to a look of concern.  “On second thought Sharon, maybe waiting until morning isn't such a horrible idea.  We can just sit on his car until morning when the rental company opens and then just like you said check the hotel registry for the same name that rented the car.”

Sharon immediately felt the need to stand up for herself.  “I'm a big girl
Louie; I can take care of myself.”

Castillo hadn’t meant to insult her.  He shook his head.  “It's too dangerous.  He's armed.  He’s a fucking terrorist.  I don't want you following him by yourself.”

Sharon Winters felt the need to remind him, “Well I'm armed also.  And I'm a trained police officer.  Don’t forget, I was an undercover in Bronx Narcotics for over two years.  I’ve been in some hairy situations and always came out without a scratch.  I know what I’m doing and how to take care of myself.”

“On your undercover operations, you always had a back up team and a
ghost
only seconds away if the shit hit the fan.  It's not that I don't think you can take care of yourself it's just that…”

“Go ahead Louie.  I'm waiting.  Just that what?”

Castillo felt awkward.  This entire conversation had almost become a battle of the sexes which Castillo knew he was losing.  He didn't have an answer for her and if she were a man he probably wouldn't have thought twice about asking her to follow Flynn.  After all, it was merely a surveillance operation.  There would be no need in the world to confront the man.