The Jakes

20:00

Lt. Detective O'Malley was fuming and no one could blame him. Because of Lt. Detective Williams, his colleague at the 28th Precinct and fellow squad member of the secret task force entitled "Operation: Papi," a huge blunder had cost them the element of surprise and, of course, the City would be sued. Detective Perez was in the office with him and agreed that what Lt. Detective Williams had done went beyond having to break some eggs in order to make omelettes. Someone was passing by with a system blaring the Jamaican hit song the show "Cops" used as its theme song:

Bad boy, bad boy, whatchu gonna do, whatchu gonna do when they come for you?

Bad boy, bad boy, whatchu gonna do, whatchu gonna do when they come for you?

Lt. Detective O'Malley again stopped pacing and again placed a call to the 28th Precinct. Lt. Detective Williams was not available, no surprise there! He called again to the same tune of an endless ringtone. He tried calling Lt. Detective Williams's cellphone again, and again there was no answer. Not being able to get in touch with his colleague who had royally fucked up was infuriating. Then he had an idea. He placed a call to the Chief Tech Specialist of the 28th Precinct, Detective Quinones.

"Q here, C.O." Lt. Detective O'Malley was the Commanding Officer ("C.O.") of the taskforce, so he was called "C.O." or, rarely, "Commander."

"CTS Detective Quinones, good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, sir. How may I help you today?"

"You may help me by getting me on the phone with Lt. Detective Williams." There was a pause and some muffled voices in the background as Detective Quinones inquired after the whereabouts of her supervisor. The inquiry did not take long to proffer and the response was even shorter.

"Sir, they say he's gone for the day." She sounded like how Lt. Detective O'Malley felt: lied to.

"Effective immediately, Lt. Detective Williams is hereby removed from Operation: Papi. Due to his most recent impulsive actions, having cost the Department valuable and strategic placement, I hereby relieve him of his duty as one of the overseeing commanders of this joint operation between both of our precincts. Since I cannot get ahold of him at this urgent time, I will be forwarding this information to all staff concerned, including Central Command at Midtown Central and Internal Affairs." Detective Quinones was not in the least bit surprised. Lt. Detective Williams was a loose cannon and had cost them forward momentum on what he had known was a joint operation. Instead of seeking counsel of his superiors or colleagues, his gung-ho attitude had now led to this embarrassing fiasco (about which Detective Quinones did not really give a shit, anyway). The news would have a field day with this! Plus, for a little while at least, they could not go near Mr. Deaver because that would now be seen as harassment, and rightly so. Jeffrey Deaver, also known as "Get Right" would be set for a long time with the money the City would undoubtedly settle out of court to give him, on the second lawsuit in as many weeks. "Oh and Q?"

"Yes, C.O.?"

"Effective immediately, you are the new representative C.O. of Operation: Papi for the Two Eight. Concomitant with my just relayed orders, I will be alerting all staff concerned; again, including Central Command at Midtown Central, Internal Affairs, SWAT - the whole works."

Yes. She was deeper in the loop now. Wait until the family heard this. "Thank you, sir. I hope I can meet your expectations."

"I hope so too, detective. And what about that layabout former Sgt. Miller?"

"He's in lockup over here now, sir. The two detectives who brought him have been questioned and released. IA is going to question them again after a complete investigation."

"More lawsuits from the victims of Miller's shooting. How embarrassing."

"To be expected, C.O." Embarrassing? What about shooting people of color on the streets like animals and pretending it was justified?

"You never lied, detective. Keep me posted." He hanged up the call and followed it up with calls to Central Command and other persons and joint associations that had to be informed of his decision. "What about you, Perez? What news on your end?" he asked, turning to the said detective suddenly.

Detective Perez sat up. "I'm thinking about telling the DA to move the Grand Jury for next week."

"So soon?"

"It's not really soon, sir. As you yourself know, a few weeks is the normal time before suspects go to the Grand Jury and are thereafter arraigned. In addition, Mr. Garcia and Mr. Johnson just may be caught off guard. Also, we found some... strange evidence at the scene, sir. In the bedroom... we found DNA evidence of sexual contact between Mr. Garcia and his cousin, Mrs. Rodriguez... It doesn't appear to be consensual, sir."

O'Malley shook his head and whistled lowly. "Wow!"

"To say the least, C.O.... But I don't know exactly what to do with that info."

"You tried applying pressure with that info during interrogation?"

"All of that. He wasn't budging. Garcia knows something we don't, maybe a couple of things, and I'm hesitant to add any charges that will take attention away from the main charges." O'Malley wouldn't say whether or not Perez should add the charge of rape or incest or whatever; it seemed like it would be an unnecessary distraction.

"Well, that kind of thing might be normal in Garcia's family."

"That... 'kind of thing,' sir?" Detective Perez softly queried.

"You know... The whole incest angle."

Yeah, I know exactly what you meant to say, O'Malley: that incest is normal for Spanish or Dominicans. "I guess I'll just stick with the Murder 2 and Man 1."

Good, Lieutenant Detective O'Malley thought to himself, clapping Detective Perez on the shoulder in appreciation of his decision. There was no time for distractions. Everyone knows the spics are into that kinda shit anyway. As soon as O'Malley had gotten wind of them, he had vowed to take down the three upjumped hooligans who called themselves The Forum, and their Captains, bodyguards, street hustlers, etc. No matter how long it took.