Badge of Evil by Bill Stanton Read Free Book Online Page A

Frankie . . .”
    â€œVic, what the hell are you—”
    â€œI got the kid, Ayad Jafaari—”
    â€œThe fucking terrorist? The guy Brock shot?”
    â€œYou mean the unfortunate kid who was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Cannel said with a straight face. “You mean the dutiful son and brother, the honor student who worked part-time to put himself through school and help support his family? The kid who was wrongfully, horribly wounded by overzealous, trigger-happy cops? Yes, the kid Brock shot.”
    â€œWhoa, Victoria. Slow down. Slow way, way down. You’re gonna defend some motherfuckin’ Arab fanatic who wanted to blow shit up and kill people in my city? Our city? And you’re gonna go up against Lawrence Brock, the red-blooded, all-American hero of the moment? And you want me to help? I’m not the smartest guy in the room, but I’m not that fuckin’ stupid.”
    Bishop was quickly sobering up. He noticed a Page Six reporter from the Post sitting close by with a midlevel fashion designer. Both of them appeared to be trying to overhear what he and the lawyer were saying. Cannel, of course, had picked this up much earlier and was discreetly but purposefully playing to her audience. She wanted to see this in the paper, but now that she’d finished saying what she had to say for public consumption, she sent her assistant over to the reporter’s table to buy her a drink and distract her.
    She leaned in now to get close to Bishop, wrinkling her nose at the cheap stripper perfume that still clung to him. “Listen, Frank. This town is on fire. Brock’s raid has the entire country focused on what’s happening here. Talk about an opportunity. I want the terrorist scumbags eliminated as much as anyone. I’m just not willing to sacrifice the right to due process and the sacred concept that someone is innocent until proven guilty. And there’s no fuckin’ way I’m gonna cede those constitutional guarantees to that mouth-breathing Neanderthal Lawrence Brock. I got a big problem with Brock turning the NYPD into his private army. Where was the Joint Terrorism Task Force? Where were the Feds? That cretinous fucker did this without telling anyone and led the goddamned assault himself.”
    â€œWho hired you?” Bishop asked, trying to process his thoughts and figure out what to do. He’d been involved in his share of big cases, but nothing like this. Not because of the publicity this would attract, but because it was so one-sided. No one was going to sympathize with the kid.
    â€œHis mother, who’s American, by the way. Don’t be a pussy, Frank. Show some guts. This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of case, a case that’ll make your career. The kid has no history of violence, no record, nothing. Help me find out what really happened last night. Help me—”
    â€œVictoria, put away the talking-head bullshit for a moment and let’s at least be honest. You’re talking to me now. This case is about the front page of the New York Times , 60 Minutes , and People fucking magazine. Don’t wave the Constitution and the flag in my—”
    â€œOf course it’s about that. And it’ll be about that for you too. But it’s also about truth—”
    â€œJustice, and the American way,” Bishop said, finishing her sentence. “Yeah, yeah. I watched Superman on TV when I was a kid too. You wanna talk about injustice, less than an hour ago I had the world’s most incredible pair of tits dangling in my face and three women making out in front of me . . .”
    â€œSometimes I really think you’re hopeless. Like you’re the same kid I met years ago with no direction, no skills, and no clue how the world worked. Back then at least you had ambition, you had balls, you were willing to take chances. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and all you wanna