Exceptional Merit (9 page)

“I'm on the job,” Keegan announced to the officers.  “My shield and I.D. card are in my wallet in my back pocket and my gun is on my right side hip,” Keegan further explained, as he kept his hands on the Toyota’s fender.

Officer Williams challenged Keegan’s claim.  “What house do you work in?”

“I'm the Executive Officer of the Joint Terrorist Task Force.  My name is James Keegan.  I’m a Lieutenant.”

Police Officer Reed moved in and took Keegan's service weapon from its holster, exactly where Keegan said it would be.  The officers then asked Keegan for his I.D. card.  He turned slowly towards the officers and removed his wallet, handing Reed his N.Y.P.D. identification card.  After examining his identification, the officers returned his I.D. and firearm and apologized, telling him the nature of the radio run.  “No need to apologize.”  Keegan was very humble about the confrontation.  “You're just doing your job and I like the way you both handled yourselves.”

“Thanks Lieu,” Williams replied, in a slightly relieved tone.  Confrontations with off duty members of the service, especially those who out rank you, can be unpleasant sometimes.  “What's the matter with your car, anyway?  I used to be a mechanic before I came on the job.  Maybe I can help you out.”

“Oh, it turned out to be just a lose wire on the alternator.  Let me see if it starts now.”

Keegan got in the car, turned the key and the engine immediately started up.  “Problem solved,” Keegan was quick to announce.  He was greatly relieved and thanked the radio team partners for offering their help and the professional way in which they handled the job.  Keegan bid them farewell before driving away.  “Stay safe, guys.”

Keegan could not wait to get out of there.  This was the closest he had ever come to being caught.  A few minutes earlier…he didn’t even want to think of the implications.

As Keegan watched the radio car pull away, he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if they got this call when the car was being dropped
off?  If the guy who dropped it off was part of the I.R.A., he might have had a gun and tried to shoot it out with these unknowing cops. 
At least they’d handled themselves well and used good tactics
. 
What if some more laid-back cops picked up the job and the guy dropping off the car wanted to shoot it out?
  He would never forgive himself if he was even indirectly involved with a cop getting hurt or God forbid, killed.  He had been to too many Inspectors’ funerals over the years.

Time and time again, Keegan was haunted by the thought of how many lives in Northern Ireland he may have helped ruin.  It wasn't so much the soldier's lives that bothered him, though he understood that they had families, too.  The I.R.A. had declared war a long time ago and soldiers unfortunately get killed during a war.  Every time he would read that a cop in Northern Ireland had been murdered by the I.R.A., he would cringe.  He always felt they should leave the cops out of it.  They weren't really political figures, they were just cops.

Then he began to wonder who could have possibly called 911.  Was it a pure coincidence that they said there was a gun in the duffel bag, or had somebody been watching him?  He looked around again, not seeing anything unusual; he decided whoever called, had no idea that he actually did have guns or that he was a cop.  It was very common for a person to call 911 and say there was a gun involved to get a quicker response from the police.  After a brief debate, Keegan decided, t
hat must be what happened
.  At least, he hoped it was.  He drove the car a couple of blocks away to the predetermined drop off point and exited the auto, his duffel bag in hand.  He opened the car’s trunk; put the key inside and walked back to his own car.  Keegan started the car up and began his journey back to his mother's house.

Castillo watched intently how the radio team handled the job.  He noticed the female officer had looked inside the gym bag before Keegan had the chance to identify himself.  At least there was someone who knew exactly what was in the bag.  Castillo jotted down the radio car's number next to the license plate of the Camry on his note pad.  Castillo was confused as to what Keegan was up to.  His first impression was that the bag contained some sort of contraband that he had secreted in the auto; he doubted that now, seeing Keegan carrying the bag back to his private auto.  Or, could it be that Keegan was taking something from the car which he would then deliver to O’Brien?  If so, he would surely be on his way back to McBride's to pass it off to O'Brien.

Castillo followed Keegan's Explorer from a safe distance realizing that Keegan would be more alert than ever after the confrontation with the officers.  Castillo was surprised to see Keegan go through the Midtown Tunnel.  He had been sure that Keegan would be heading back to the bar to meet up with O’Brien.  Castillo decided he must be on his way home for the night.  There would be no sense in taking the chance of being spotted by Keegan if he was headed back home.

Castillo pulled off his surveillance of Keegan and decided to go back to the pier.  His best play now was to find out more about the Toyota that Keegan had left behind.  Who did it belong to?  What was Keegan doing with it?  Castillo wrestled with the option of sitting on the car to see who came for it next or calling department tow to bring it to a police facility so it could be more closely scrutinized.  Castillo decided he would sit on the car himself for a couple of hours and if Keegan, or anyone else, did not come back for the car he would have it towed.

It was less than fifteen minutes since Castillo had begun following Keegan until he returned to the spot where the Toyota had been parked.  It was gone.  Castillo shook his head in disbelief.  He immediately second guessed himself.  He should have stayed with the car, he now realized.  The car was the bigger piece of the puzzle than where Keegan was headed.  He couldn’t believe how it took only a few minutes for someone to pick the car up and drive away.  He knew the car was long gone, but there was nothing he could do about that now.  He was very frustrated; still, he felt that he was inching ever so closely to finding out exactly what Lieutenant James Keegan was up to.

Officer Reed picked up her portable radio from its holder on her gun belt
, “Sector Ida to central.”

The radio dispatcher at the other end of the radio promptly acknowledged.  “Go Ida.”

“You can mark the gun run a 10-91, proper I.D; off-duty member of the service with car troubles.”

“10-4
, Ida.”

Williams gave his partner a sideways glance.  “Did you recognize him Laura?”  Williams inquired of his partner.

“No.  But he did look familiar.”

“He's the cop who broke the attempted federal courthouse bombing.  He was in all the papers.  He even went to the White House and met the President.”

“Holy shit!  Ya know, you're absolutely right, Kenny.  I knew I recognized the face but I didn't know from where.  Well that makes him an even a bigger asshole than I thought,” Reed instantly proclaimed.

Williams was clearly confused by her comment.  “Asshole?  Why does that make him an asshole?”

She began to defend her assessment.  “Well if I remember the picture on the cover of
Spring 3100
correctly, he was shaking the President's hand while his wife and three children looked on.”

Williams still wasn’t seeing the connection.  “Okay…so what does his picture with the President in the department's trade magazine have to do with him being an asshole because his car broke down
?” Williams was eager to defend Keegan.

“You just don't get it.  You men are all alike.  He's married, Kenny.”

“I still don't get what that has to do with anything?”

She had a disgusted look on her face as she explained.  “Think about it, Kenny.  It's a Sunday night.  He's in the Joint Terrorist Task Force.  In a detail like that, there is no way in hell he works weekends.  And if he was called in for something big and was on duty, he would be driving a department car.  Not his private vehicle.  So why in the world would he be around here except for the prostitutes.  He's got a wife and kids at home, and he's here fucking some whore!”

Williams wasn’t buying her argument.  “Relax, Laura, just because you caught your boyfriend cheating on you, doesn't mean all men cheat.  He could have some perfectly legitimate reason for being here.”

“C'mon Kenny, around here, there’s no legitimate reason for him to have parked his car.  There are no stores, no apartments, nothing…except the working girls.”

“Well, I'm still giving the benefit of a doubt to a hero cop.”  Williams shook his head at Reed.  “Did you ever think maybe he actually did break down?”

Keegan pulled his Explorer into his mother's driveway at about ten thirty.  He was extremely alert on the way home.  He had gotten off and on the expressway a number of times, constantly checking his rearview mirror making sure he wasn't being followed.  He had a bad feeling in his gut.  Being stopped and questioned by the sector car had made him a bit paranoid.  Over his years of gun running for the I.R.A., this was as close as he had ever come to being caught, and he didn’t like the feeling.

The plan worked like it was designed to; this obviously was the reason they wanted him, a police officer, to buy the guns and to conceal them in the car.  If anybody were to stop him, he would just identify himself as a police officer and there would be no reason anyone would question him any further.  If any other civilian was stopped in the same scenario however, they would certainly be scrutinized a lot more closely and the entire plan would likely unravel.

He parked his car and as he exited, taking a deep breath.  He was relieved the long night was behind him.  He used his key, which he had never given up, to open the front door of his mother's home.  Kate and his mother were seated at the kitchen table, drinking coffee.  Kate was the first to speak.  “How did everything go tonight, hon?”

“We staked the place out for a few hours before we got a search warrant.  When we hit the place, we came up empty.  I guess either our confidential informant gave us bad information or somebody told the mutts we were watching.  Either way, we came up empty
; very frustrating, a giant waste of time.”  Keegan sounded legitimately annoyed.  He didn’t like that he became so comfortable lying to his wife but he knew there was no other option.  “Where are the kids?"

“They're all fast asleep upstairs.  Would you like to get them or should I?”

“You're not going to wake up my grandchildren this late, are you, Kate?  Why don't you sleep here tonight?  Tomorrow is a holiday.  The kids don’t have school.”

Eileen Keegan had been terribly lonely since the passing of her husband and welcomed company anytime day or night.

“Alright, Mom, we'll stay here as long as Kate doesn't mind,” offered Keegan.

“Of course, I don't mind,” Kate agreed, as if her husband had left her a choice.

“Oh, good, then it's settled.  I'll warm up your dinner for you, you didn't eat, did you Jimmy?” Eileen Keegan inquired of her son.

He had in fact stopped on the way home for a burger since he hadn't eaten all day.  “Now, why would I eat when I know my mother has a home cooked meal waiting for me?”

After eating, he and his wife went up stairs to go to bed while Grandma Keegan stayed down stairs washing the dishes.  Keegan checked in on his sleeping children, giving them each a kiss goodnight on their forehead.  He climbed into bed with his wife and gave her a kiss on the cheek.  “Good night, Kate.  I love you.”

“I love you too, Jim.”  She took his hand in her own and held it gingerly.

Keegan held his wife for most of the night.  He was having a hard time sleeping.  He couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to Kate and the kids if he ever got caught.  He would be sent to prison.  There would be no pension or even a paycheck coming in for that matter.  He prayed he would never find out.

******************************

Keegan sat with his cup of coffee on his desk, reading through the morning paper.  There was an article on how far the conflict over religion had come in Northern Ireland.  The article had stated, with peace talks currently being held between the British government and the I.R.A., that there was hope that peace would come to the region before the end of this century.

Martin Devine, the man who will in less than two months become the first Protestant Grand Marshall of the Saint Patrick's Day parade, said that barriers between Catholics and Protestants had been broken with his selection as the Grand Marshall.  The paper quoted him as saying, “I'm honored by being selected to take part in the world's largest Saint Patrick's Day Parade.  My selection, in itself, is a symbol of how close the end of the strife which has plagued Northern Ireland actually is.  Eight hundred years of troubles will soon be behind the Irish people, so all can live in peace and harmony.”

Keegan resented the fact that a Protestant had been selected and thought this guy was sending a political smoke screen to get into the public eye. 
He must be getting ready to run for office.
  The media really seemed to like him, as he appeared more and more in the news as the parade approached.  Yet there was something about him Keegan and many other Irish-Catholic Americans did not trust.