Pirate

Chapter Thirty-nine

Coney Island

LIGHTNING SIZZLED ALL AROUND THE OLD AMUSEMENT park. Every second or two, the bizarre skyline of rocket towers and roller coasters was etched in stark relief against the dark sky. Congreve stood in the blinding rain, bathed in flashing blue lights, wiping the water from his eyes. The English detective looked through the binoculars for the umpteenth time, silently praying that one of these jagged bolts would strike the great whacking tower atop which the Chinaman now clung for dear life.

Most noncivilians present were convinced that as soon as this driving rain and wind let up, the Chinaman would remove his weapon from the haversack on his back and start shooting. From his angle, at the very top of the Parachute Jump, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel. He would be able to see almost straight down into the swinging car where Joe Bones cowered. Now, thank God, it was all the assassin could do just to hold on. Congreve knew how he felt. He, too, was holding on, but his frustration was mounting with every added second of uncertainty.

Above his head, the rumble of thunder was preempted by the booming thump-thump-thump of the ATAC and NYPD helicopters hovering over the park. Most had their brilliant bluish white spotlights trained on the swinging car at the top of the Ferris wheel. A single black ATAC Sikorskey chopper under the ground command of Captain Mariucci was now hovering directly above the tower. The chopper trained its beam on the tiny man in white.

Also aboard was a medical retrieval team. And an ATAC sniper who stood braced in the open bay. He had his sniper rifle zeroed on the Chinaman’s heart. His finger was on the trigger but he didn’t dare pull it. He had orders not to.

He couldn’t fire because of the extraordinary political situation on the ground below him. Nor could his brethren in the circling NYPD helicopters. It wasn’t for lack of muzzles aimed in his direction that the man on the tower was still alive. There were plenty of guns trained on him. It was because an impasse had been reached in the raging turf battle between city, state, and federal law enforcement units. So, everyone just stood at the base of the tower and looked up at the Chinaman in the spotlight, clinging to the Parachute Drop.

Except for Captain Mariucci, who was stomping around, splashing furiously in the puddles and demanding to know who the hell was in charge here. It was a good question.

Amazingly enough, in Ambrose Congreve’s view, the sharpshooters on both sides of the law enforcement equation had been ordered to hold their fire. This was the crux of the argument. The man on the tower was trespassing, correct. He was a suspect in a homicide that had just occurred in Queens, yes. He was armed, yes, maybe, but you couldn’t prove it. Who knew why he was up there? And he hadn’t threatened or shot at anyone. Who knew?

An NYPD commander had just told Mariucci that, for all he knew at the moment, the guy had permits to carry a concealed weapon from the freaking FBI. At this point, who knew? Maybe it wasn’t even a gun in that case on his back! Maybe it was an umbrella! Or a nine iron!

“What? What did you just say?” Mariucci screamed. He put his hand over the mouthpiece and looked at Congreve, his face contorted with disbelieving rage. “You won’t believe what this lunatic just said to me.”

“What did he say?” Congreve asked.

“He said, and I quote, ‘Suppose we shoot this guy and when we scrape him up off the sidewalk we find out he’s some wacko Chinese rock climber on holiday who’s just getting in a little practice,’ close quote.”

Who knew, indeed?

Congreve and Mariucci, at least, were equally convinced of one thing. This was the Chinaman who had only hours ago stood over Benny Sangster and ingested his heart while the old mobster slowly bled out on his bed. Motive? It could only be that certain members of the French government had heard somebody was poking around inside a thirty-year-old murder case. So they sent a Chinese assassin to rub out the only two remaining eyewitnesses save the murderer himself.

That, at least, was the case the captain was making to the powers that be at One Police Plaza at this very moment. That, and the indisputable fact that it was an urgent matter of national security.

But Mariucci couldn’t prove any of it standing down here on the ground in the pouring rain.

More red and blue lights flashed across Congreve’s face as Ladder Company 103 arrived on the scene. The massive hook and ladder fire engine came rolling to a stop on the midway, just at the base of the Ferris wheel. Immediately, firemen leaped off the truck and converged on the controls at the rear. There was a huge extension ladder mounted on a turntable. The fireman operating the ladder began raising it.

As the ladder ascended into the rain-whipped sky, Ambrose Congreve had, as was his wont, an idea.

It took a few minutes, but he finally managed to get his friend the irate NYPD captain to stop screaming into the phone and discuss the situation like a reasonable facsimile of a normal human being.

“What am I going to do?” a still livid Mariucci said to Ambrose, snapping his phone shut. “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to get one of my guys here to volunteer to go up that frigging ladder and get Joey out of the frigging car. That’s what I’m going to do. Because, despite the mass of chaos and confusion you see on the ground and in the frigging air, I am in charge here, goddamnit.”

“The Chinaman will shoot as soon as your man starts up the ladder,” Ambrose said in a deliberately soothing voice.

“Exactly! Now, you’re thinking, Inspector. You’re right, he will! And, as soon as he even looks like he’s going to shoot, blammo, my sharpshooter takes him out like fucking dumplings in a box. Capisce?”

“A clever way out of the current stalemate, perhaps.”

“Thank you.”

“But you’re putting your man’s life in grave danger.”

“Really? I didn’t think of that. Good point. Now that I do, you’re absolutely right. But, gosh darn it, that’s just the way we do things here in New York City, Inspector. So, if you’ll excuse me a second—”

“I may have a less risky solution.”

“Really? How interesting? May I ask what is it?”

Congreve stepped back and looked from the top of the tower to the tip of the ladder, his brow wrinkled with concentration.

“Extend the ladder to its full height,” Congreve said. “Swing it around hard. Don’t be shy. Just be careful you don’t accidentally slam the ladder into the top of the parachute tower when you’re bringing it around.”

“What did you just say?” Mariucci said, looking up at him, and then the ladder, through squinty eyes.

“When you swing that ladder into position, be careful.”

“Yeah. I see what you mean about the ladder. Naturally, we got to be very, very careful when we move it. We wouldn’t want to hit the tower or nothing.”

“Definitely not. The Chinaman might fall off if you did that.”

“Accidentally.”

“Exactly.”

“He could get badly hurt. Even die.”

“Surely the latter.”

“Would you excuse me for a moment, Inspector Congreve? I would like to go over and have a quiet word with the fire chief of Ladder Company 103 over there. Name’s Bellew. Old friend of mine. No one in this very unfortunate turf battle has seen fit to inform him of the risks the man on the tower poses to our national security. I think I should do that, don’t you?”

“I certainly do.”

Ten minutes later, he was back.

“He’s going to do it.”

“Good for him.”

“What do you mean? Of course he’s going to do it. I told him the whole story. He’s a great American. Okay, here we go. Watch this.”

The turntable atop the fire engine began to rotate. The ladder, fully extended, began to move toward the tower in a great sweeping arc.

“You think this will work?” Mariucci whispered.

“I do. I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise.”

“How come you look so worried?”

“I must say I hadn’t considered the fact that you would have to involve your friend Chief Bellew.”

“What do you mean?”

“Repercussions. The law of unintended consequences. There will in all probability be an investigation into the ‘accident’ that is about to occur. Chief Bellew may face serious questions about his role.”

“Serious questions? He’s faced a whole shitload worse than that, Inspector. That’s a terrorist up on that tower. The tower’s going down, and he’s going with it. Poetic justice, right?”

“I suppose it is.”

“Inspector Congreve, listen to me. The New York Fire Department alone lost 343 of the bravest men in the world one very shitty day in September. It’s a day we’d all like to forget. But we won’t. We’re all in the antiterrorist business now. Every last one of us.”

“He’s doing the right thing. So are you. I’d like you to keep your job, though.”

“If I lose my job over this—look, it’s getting close—if I lose my job over this one, Inspector, I—”

“Yes?”

“I guarantee you I will leave the NYPD just like I arrived.”

“And how is that?”

“Fired with enthusiasm.”

“Oh, my God, look!” someone shouted. In the confusion, a few civilians had managed to evade the posted police and duck under the police tape strung up to cordon off the midway. It was mostly teenagers and younger children, but there were a few adults as well.

A cry went up from the small crowd when it became obvious what was going to happen. The heavy steel-reinforced aluminum ladder was moving fairly rapidly. Congreve thought it might just lop the top of the rotted tower clean off. But what happened was, it didn’t. The ladder slammed into the tower with a resounding clang that shuddered down the rungs from above. But the ladder had stopped dead upon impact with the iron structure. And when it had stopped, the Chinaman was still there.

The crowd below, in its ignorance, cheered.

When the ladder reversed direction away from the tower, the crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief. Only to cry out again when they saw that the ladder was swinging once more toward the tower. And this time, it was moving very, very quickly indeed.

“See what I mean about my guys?” Mariucci said. “New York City doesn’t forgive and it doesn’t forget.”

Ambrose couldn’t muster a reply. He was simply transfixed by the sight of the Chinaman’s death struggle at the top of the tower. He couldn’t go any higher. And he knew what was waiting for him at the bottom.