No Mercy (28 page)

Simpson had enough. He leaned forward and started firing as Paul rushed in. Simpson fired three shots all at Bud as the detective went down. Lynagh fired, as did Paul, who unloaded his Glock at Simpson, hitting him in the head twice and the neck. Lynagh struck him dead center in the chest as blood splattered onto Deborah and Rachelle during the exchange. The sniper Simpson hired was none other than Ken Anker, who was behind a table of clothes in the Uptown Girl clothing store. He had Paul in his sights to finish him, but Officer O'Brien pulled the rifle upward as the shot went off and then struck him in the head with his firearm, knocking him out. O'Brien spoke in a whisper. “I should have blown your head off so you could go to hell.”

Paul bent down to Bud and pulled his shirt open to find his vest, but he was unconscious. He checked his pulse and could not feel his heartbeat.

“Defibrillator!” Paul screamed. One of the officers in the hallway pulled one off the wall and rushed over as Paul attempted to use it on Bud.

Deborah was screaming as a crying Rachelle was trying to pull her away from Bud. Deborah was uncontrollable, and in the way, so Lynagh finally grabbed her and picked her up to get her away as they continued to work on Bud. Rachelle was on her hands and knees and her hair was covering half her face looking at Paul as he kept working on Bud.

As Lynagh carried a screaming Deborah Lance over his shoulder toward the exit he yelled for the medical personnel that they needed to get to the hallway. The medics arrived and they pushed Paul away to work on Bud. The two EMS men quickly used the paddles to defibrillate Bud to break the rhythm of his heart. Finally, on the third try his heart was beating normally. Paul fell to the side with tears in his eyes as he looked at Rachelle still on all fours. He was exhausted as he stared into the blood on the face of his lover as she kept turning her head from Bud to him. Finally she fell on her back near Paul as he held her. He held on to her as her cries echoed through the hallway. His heart ached like he never felt before.

O'Malley walked Talison out to the mall parking lot to hand him over to uniformed cops who were anxious to get their hands on someone who was involved in the Music Club Murders as well as responsible for killing cops. O'Malley took his cuffs off Talison and began to walk back into the mall when a single shot rang out and struck Talison in the head. O'Malley ducked down behind a car as he worked his way back to where Talison was shot. O'Malley reached the vehicle and saw blood coming from Talison's head. “Who fired the shot?” he yelled. The uniformed sergeant came up to O'Malley and told him it was no cop, that it was a sniper shot, and one hell of a shot at that.

O'Malley yelled, “We need to find out where it came from. I've got to get back into the mall!”

Lynagh finally put Deborah down outside the back of an ambulance. “Listen to me,” he spoke firmly. “You've got to get yourself together. Bud is going to need you. You're going to the hospital, and you will be there for him, but you have to calm yourself down.” Deborah was still crying, but she was attempting to compose herself. Lynagh spoke again. “One of the officers is going to take you to Stony Brook Hospital. You are going to clean yourself up and be there for him. OK?”

She was still shaking and nodded her head and spoke. “Is he dead?” she asked as more tears came out.

“Listen!” He grabbed her arms. “He had a vest on, but they were close range. There is always a chance with a vest, but he doesn't have any possibility without you there supporting him. He is not dead. Listen to me,” he repeated himself. “You need to hold it together.” He loosened his grip on her.

“OK,” she said. He motioned for the medics to take her. The driver got out and asked if there were any more injured before taking her to the hospital.

Lynagh turned around and yelled, “There are another ten fucking ambulances here. Get her there and have her looked at before I shoot you myself!”

The driver got back in the car and took off. Inside the ambulance, Deborah realized she no longer had her phone and asked the medic to borrow his. She dialed the number and said, “I need you, Dad.” She told him what happened between her cries, and he said he was on his way.

She pushed the buttons on the phone again as the voice on the other end picked up.

“Hi,” Deborah said, “you made me promise to call you if anything happened to Bud. Well, something did. He saved my life by sacrificing himself for me. I'm so scared I'm going to lose him.”

She began to cry again as the voice on the other end said,

“I will see you soon, and remember what I said almost two years ago. God works in mysterious ways.” The call ended.

As Deborah sat in the back of the ambulance, she never felt so alone. Deborah remembered the night Lindsey told her about God working in mysterious ways and mentioned it to Bud the night she gave him the CD after the Face of Fear investigation.

The medics got a steady heartbeat from Bud as they feverishly worked on him by putting an endotracheal tube, or ET as doctors referred to it, in him to pump air into his lungs. One of them came over to Rachelle and examined her as she lay on the floor of the mall. Paul sat up to look at her as she just stared at him without saying a word. A third medic attempted to look at Paul, but he pushed him off, telling him to help with Bud. Paul lay back down on the floor, unable to get up.

The medic yelled back, “He's got enough help. Stay still, you've been shot.”

Rachelle turned her head to Paul as he looked at her through his glassy eyes.

“No,” she said as she touched his face. “No, not now,” she said again as she cried. Paul's eyes stayed on Rachelle as he drifted off and lost consciousness. Paul had been shot by two of the sniper's bullets in the mall. One hit him in the back, which the vest saved him from serious injury. The second one hit him just above the waist on the left side, just missing the vest. He kept control in the mall by trying to deal with the pain. He needed to know Rachelle was going to be all right. The medics got Bud and Paul on stretchers as Lynagh was back in the mall to see what else was happening. Rachelle was alongside Paul's stretcher as they loaded him into the back of the ambulance. She took Paul's smartphone from his pocket and called his father. Lynagh met up with O'Malley and informed him he was now the ranking officer for Priority 1.

O'Malley looked at him and said, “Maybe they should call it Priority 2 since you and I are the only ones left that can do anything. Let's get back to Caulfield.”

When they reached the vehicle they saw Caulfield cut up and butchered. Lynagh spotted the mask and picked it up.

“What is this about?” O'Malley asked.

Lynagh looked around the parking lot as he spoke. “We have a vigilante killer again, and unless Madison Robinson is Houdini, it's not her.”

“Come on,” O'Malley said. “Let's make sure the mall is clear and you can fill me in on the blanks before we go to the hospital.”

When they got back to the mall, O'Brien was still in the Uptown Girl store with an unconscious Ken Anker. O'Malley ordered the medics to take him out through an exit other than where the vigilante shots had been fired.

As they loaded him up in the ambulance, Lynagh grabbed one of the drivers and spoke, “Make sure he is not on the same floor as our fellow cops.”

“Sir,” the driver said, “I have nothing to do with where he is put.”

Lynagh repeated himself with a much stronger tone.

“Make sure, he is on a different floor.”

The driver put two and two together as he shook his head and got behind the wheel as O'Brien jumped in the back.

Uniformed Officer Sergeant Church and his officers continued to search the parking lot and the small amount of cars that were still there. It was another ten minutes before they found a Ghost Face mask on the ground. The Sergeant called O'Malley who informed Lynagh.

“Looks like you were right. The spot where it looks like the shot that may have been fired from left another mask as a calling card. That's one hell of a shot.”

Lynagh shook his head in agreement as they walked the mall. O'Malley called over three uniformed officers and told them the mall was to be sealed off until further notice. He then notified the Fourth Precinct commander to get three detectives to the mall to investigate any possible information and evidence, including video in what O'Malley feared would be nationwide news. Both Lynagh and O'Malley waited another 35 minutes till detectives arrived as well as the crime unit to search for evidence that would help in the investigation. It was another thirty minutes of filling the detectives in before they could get to the hospital. They reached Stony Brook Hospital which now had Officers Chapman, Healey, Detective Ellyn Baker, as well as Powers and Johnson. O'Malley got into the elevator with Lynagh as he spoke.

“The place is just filling up with cops.” They reached the eighteenth floor where they were met by other uniformed officers that asked for ID. They no longer cared that Lynagh had a uniform on or that O'Malley was a thirty year veteran of the force. They were told that Paul was in surgery and it was determined that he was hit in the Iliac Pelvic bone which stopped the bullet. He was bleeding in the pelvic cavity but the doctors felt he would be stabilized in a short time. Although he was in excellent physical condition, Paul would not be walking for at least two to four weeks. Bud had slipped into a coma while Healey was satisfactory after the bullet was extracted from his leg. O'Malley and Lynagh went to Bud's room as doctors would not allow anyone else in the room. There were two uniformed officers by the door on the orders of the DA's office. Deborah was in the hallway being consoled by her father, and Lynagh could hear her telling him what happened in the mall.

“We need to get home, honey,” he said.

She stood up, telling him she couldn't leave Bud or Rachelle while Paul was in surgery.

“OK, OK, honey, we will stay,” her father relented.

Michael Corbin and Billy McAdams were in the club waiting for Linda Tangretti to tell them what was next. It appeared that Billy the bartender had been promoted a couple times since Detective Ellyn Baker had been beaten up. Tangretti had gotten a call from Caulfield before he was killed that it was OK to take the rest of the cash and that no one would be at the club for the next twenty-four hours. He also told her about the mall and that Franks, Lynagh, Healy, Powers, and Johnson were most likely dead, as well as Simpson. Linda got to the club at 9:45 pm and went to Brian Branca's office. She entered his bathroom, flushed the toilet, and held the knob down for ten seconds until the wall, where the sink and washbasin were, opened up. It was a hallway. She walked down the stairs that led her to another room, which opened up to an 1,800-square-foot hideaway apartment. Linda went to the bar and poured herself a drink and sat across from Michael Corbin and Billy the Bartender, as she called him.

“They're all dead except for Detective O'Malley and Officer Lynagh. We should take the money and leave. Patty has been avenged and Simpson got what he wanted.”

Corbin leaned over toward Linda and stopped her from taking a sip of her drink.

“If Simpson is dead, how do we get the money?”

Linda put her glass down and spoke. “The only way this would happen is if Simpson put the money in an account controlled by a bank trustee. Once their deaths are announced in
Newsday
the money is transferred to the individual accounts.” Linda held on to her drink then threw it in Corbin's face. “Don't ever stop me from taking a sip of my drink again.”

Corbin moved back on the sofa without wiping his face and looked over at Billy. He spoke again to Linda. “As of now, you claim there are only two left. How do you know for sure? Did you see the bodies?”

Linda was getting upset with Corbin as she replied, “Look, you small, little dickhead. Cops are out of the way and you seem to forget we lost a few of our own along the way. Those left in the hospital won't make it out with our contact from within.”

“Who is our contact from within?” Billy asked.

“Let's just say,” Linda added, “he has a badge.”

Corbin stood up. “If it's one of the two cops left uninjured then it might look a little obvious, don't you think?”

“You don't need to know who it is right now,” Linda replied. “You just tell Branca when it is over, I want half of everything from this building.”

Corbin was surprised by her remark. “You know that since Sysco ratted us all out that Branca will never see a dime from the club or this building.”

“You're right,” Linda answered. “He's a smart man; that's why this building and club are in his sister-in-law's name. She's never even been to this club, living in South Carolina and all.”

Corbin shook his head as he stood up again. “Who is telling you all this? Who is your source?”

“Like I said,” Linda answered, “he is a smart guy, but I'm smarter.” She looked at Billy. “Any questions?”

“No,” the bartender replied. “Except, where is Caulfield? Is he your source?”

“No,” Linda replied, “he was an asset, but he is either dead or long gone. I have not heard from him since we hooked up.”

“Hooked up?” Corbin said.

“Yes,” Linda answered, “screwed, fucked, had sex.”

“Oh, nice of you to mix business with pleasure,” he replied.

“Any more questions?” Linda asked.

“Just one,” a voice from the backdoor said as Cronin stepped forward with his Glock out, pointed at Linda. “Who is the source with the badge that is helping you on this?” Linda held it together and did not have a surprised look on her face while Corbin and Billy moved to the end of the sofa.

“You,” Linda answered, “just don't want to die, do you?”

“Sorry to spoil things for you,” Cronin answered.

“How did you find us?” Corbin asked.

“I have my own sources,” Cronin answered. “It's called technology. I really haven't been a fan, but it's growing on me. There's a cop called Lynagh who placed hidden cameras in here when you guys almost killed Baker.” He held his Glock by his side and looked at Linda. “Who is the source?” It was no longer a question, even though he phrased it like one.