The Getaway - By Tom Barber Page 0,63

possible, if highly unlikely scenario. You don’t understand, Katic. I’ve known that man for over twenty years. He’s been a cop or a Federal agent his entire life. He’s a good guy. He wouldn’t cheat the game and betray his own people like that.’

Katic nodded. ‘You’d put your life on that?’

‘Yes, I would.’

Katic took a deep breath. ‘Look, don’t think that I have a vendetta against him. I don’t. I’m not saying that he is the leak for sure. He’s just been the one that I’ve been watching most closely. But someone in the team has dirt on them. Maybe more than one of them.’

Archer thought for a moment.

‘What about the three of you that were already here?’ he asked ‘The originals. Was anyone bent out of shape by Gerrard taking the post?’

‘Of course. All three of us were. We all wanted that spot as head of the detail. We’d put all the work in and then they just pass us all over for Gerrard. It was bullshit. We were pissed. For him, it was a demotion. For myself, O’Hara and Lock, it would have been the promotion of a lifetime.’

‘Think cold, unemotional. Take out any personal relationships. Could O’Hara or Lock have flipped?’

She nodded. ‘Yes. Conceivably so. O’Hara is a father of three. He’s got a lot of mouths to feed. And Lock is a single guy with extravagant tastes. He could be after some extracurricular income.’

She shook her head, looking at him.

‘Farrell’s crew are good. But they’re not that good,’ she said. ‘We should have rung them up and got them courtside by now. But it’s been over a year, ten successful jobs in the city, and we still haven’t got a set of cuffs on any of them. They’re taking the city for millions.’

Another car passed, but neither reacted. Archer didn’t take his eyes off her.

‘It’s uncanny,’ she continued. ‘They know exactly what to look out for and where to strike. Farrell and Ortiz, they’re fighters, not brain surgeons or college grads. Someone is helping them out. We upped surveillance on certain banks and trucks we thought they’d go after, but they always manage to hit the ones we aren’t tailing and box our counter-measures. Someone is telling them our game-plan. And tipping them off. They are always one step ahead of us.’

Pause.

‘Maybe Farrell has something on one of you? Maybe he’s made some threats?’ Archer said.

She nodded. ‘That makes sense. We’ve brought them all in for questioning. They know who we are. They even know our names. It wouldn’t be hard for one of them to dig deeper and try to find some leverage.’ Katic looked over at him in the driver seat. ‘Look, you probably think I’m full of shit. No one from the Bureau would ever go against their own team, right? How could that ever happen? But I’m not the only one with my suspicions.’

‘Who else has them?’

She looked him in the eye.

‘Had them. Your father. He agreed with every word I just told you.’

THIRTEEN

‘I made contact with him ten days ago,’ Katic explained, as Archer listened closely. ‘He’d been sent from D.C anonymously. No one in our office knew he was here. His superiors knew that he and Gerrard were old friends. Something wasn’t adding up with our numbers, and everyone in the Bureau knows about it. It’s an embarrassment. The NYPD Chiefs were aware of it from the reports and were using it as cannon fodder, taking shots at our organisation, like bragging rights. So they sent your father down here to investigate. Stay in the shadows and find out what the hell was going wrong.’

‘How did you know he was here?’

She paused.

‘Because I followed Gerrard home one night.’

‘What? Are you serious?’ he asked. ‘That could get you fired, Katic. You could get in some serious shit for this.’

‘I know. But I picked up something else instead. I saw your father, in a car outside Gerrard’s apartment. I recognised him from D.C. Couldn’t miss him, face like his. I approached him, tapped on the window, and asked if we could go for a coffee. He said yes. When we got there, we spoke. I outlined my suspicions straight away, put all my cards on the table. And he agreed with everything I just told you and told me why he was here. He agreed that something definitely wasn’t right. Bank robbery clearance rates in major cities are usually bad, but never this catastrophic. Something was very wrong.’

She paused.

‘And he agreed with