“Not especially. He put on a happy face, but a guy who made who knows how many millions laundering blood money has an epiphany and gets a golden parachute into the United States to live off the taxpayers’ money in secret? He’s either a genius or a piece of shit.”
“Or both,” said Garza. “I had a great-uncle like him. A rascal.”
“What about your president, though? Secretly in bed with this guy.”
“I don’t have to like it. It affects me not at all.”
Fisk’s phone began vibrating. Three missed calls and a bunch of e-mails flooded in.
“There must have been something blocking cell signals at León’s place,” said Fisk, checking the source of the calls. All three were from Dubin at Intel.
“Shit.”
“What?” she said.
“That false alarm this morning. My boss is going to try to yank me off this.”
Garza checked the time on her phone. “Vargas is scheduled to leave the consulate soon for the Independence Day celebration.”
Fisk thought briefly about ignoring Dubin and continuing on with Garza. But he did not want to become a distraction. He wanted the Secret Service and Garza’s EMP men focused on the job at hand—protecting Vargas, stopping Chuparosa—exclusively.
It would be an hour’s ride back to midtown, but Fisk chose to drop her off at the consulate first. Then he would check in with Dubin by phone.
“One thing I think is clear,” said Fisk, as they neared the consulate.
“What is that?” she said.
“Unless you can find Chuparosa beforehand, Andrés León is a likely no-show at his own restaurant tonight. He seemed more concerned about the assassin than your president.”
“I think you are right.”
“Hey,” he said, grasping her arm as she tried to hop out at the curb at Thirty-ninth Street and Park Avenue. “Be careful.”
CHAPTER 58
Fisk called Nicole instead of Dubin.
“The Post already has pictures up online of you going after that photographer outside the Mexican consulate,” she told him, her voice low. “It says, HERO TERROR COP ON MEX PRESIDENT DETAIL. You knew you weren’t supposed to be there . . .”
“Dubin been by?”
“Back and forth from his office a dozen times, but he’s not talking to me. You need to come in.”
Fisk said, “This thing is still live.” He was most worried now about getting inside the restaurant that night. The way things were going, Fisk himself would be on a No Fly, Detain On Sight list before then. “Tell him I got a flat tire,” Fisk said.
Nicole said, “I am not telling him anything of the sort.”
“Okay, then tell him he can fire me tomorrow at nine A.M., if he wants to. But not before.”
“You have a sit-rep meeting scheduled with the United Nations security team regarding the General Assembly meeting.”
Fisk heard a beep. He had another call coming in. Kiser from Rockaway.
“Nicole, I’ll call you back.”
“Wait, what am I really supposed to tell Dubin—”
Fisk switched over, picking up Kiser’s call. “Nice job cracking down on the paparazzi,” said Kiser.
“Thanks. What have you got?”
“Three more bodies identified. All you need to know from that is that one was a coyote who went by the name Raoul. A trafficker of women, real piece of fried shit. That’s interesting because of the alert that went out under your name for that Mexican hooker.”
Fisk nodded. “Silvia Volpi.”
“Got a guy here saw her name in the news. You should talk to him.”
CHAPTER 59
The Celebración de El Grito de Independencia took place at a park in Woodside, Queens. The banner over the stage read ¡VIVA MEXICO! in the flag colors of green, white, and red. Women in traditional huipils, as well as dresses from Michoacán and Tabasco, the men in wide, red-rimmed sombreros and charro suits. Mariachi bands played throughout the crowd, and men threw down their hats and kicked up their heels in dance.
All very clichéd, and yet, Garza thought to herself, all very wonderful just the same.
EMP agents wearing less formal guayabera shirts filtered through the crowd undetected. Snipers were positioned on surrounding rooftops. Cameras at every entrance were capturing pictures of entrants and filtering them through facial recognition software.
Garza sipped a Diet Coke through a straw, feeling very anxious but ready. She looked out from the wings of the small stage again, seeing past the families and couples enjoying the day, looking for anything that didn’t fit.
She heard the footsteps of a group behind her, and she knew the president was near. She turned to see him following two EMP agents around the corner, his eyes on his speech. This stop was another chance to refine the remarks he was preparing to deliver at the formal treaty signing that night.
When President Vargas looked up, he saw Garza and went to her. Garza relaxed, anticipating an apology for his being so short with her earlier.
He said, “This needs to go off like clockwork. I must return to the hotel in time to shower and change and prepare.”
Garza waited a beat before answering. “Yes, señor,” she said.
Vargas nodded, stepping back. He was apparently unaware of the offense he had caused her earlier.
Normally she would not have been so bold, so forward, as to speak out of place. But the new president’s manner grated on her. The lack of respect she felt from him was an affront.
She said, “I do not believe Andrés León will be in attendance this evening.”
The president looked at her with a very odd expression. It was as though he had not heard her correctly . . . and had heard every word she had said at the same time.
He stepped forward, keeping his detail back with an impertinent wave of his hand.
“What did you say?” he said.
“Andrés León,” said Garza, unbowed. “Or whatever his name used to be.”
Vargas squinted as though trying to guess at her intent in telling him this. “That information is extremely privileged. You should not know about him.”
Now it was Garza’s turn to parse his words. “Why not, Señor Presidente?”
He scowled at her use of the formal. “Because, Comandante, such knowledge is powerful and even dangerous. Who else knows? Tell me now.”
Garza only told him because he would eventually find out anyway. “An NYPD Detective named Jeremy Fisk.”
“The one you’ve been going around with these past few days.”
Now she was not happy. “ ‘Going around with’?”
Vargas got closer, ensuring that their conversation remained private. “If it were to be made public that I am in any way affiliated with a man like León, it would weaken my hand.”
“Why is that?” she said.
“That is none of your business, Comandante.”
“Because he seems like a man eager to right his wrongs. You certainly have taken advantage of his largesse.”
Vargas’s eyes flared. “This is very much a game of perception. When the right things are done in the wrong way, people revolt.”
“The wrong way?” said Garza.
The president made to end the conversation. “Some things are better left unstudied, Cecilia,” he said. “Some stones are better left unturned.”
CHAPTER 60
The 101st Precinct police station was a brick and limestone box occupying the entire corner at 16-12 Mott Avenue. The arched doorway was accented on both sides by green hanging lanterns featuring the old-school, slanted, stylized NYPD font reading 101ST.
Fisk quickly found Kiser, who led him to an interview room. A young Vietnamese man in short sleeves and a home haircut sat at the table waiting for them. Near him, setting down and neatly folding a Vietnamese newspaper, was a more Americanized Asian wearing a white shirt and a maroon necktie.