The Assassin

Table of ContentsTitle PageCopyright PageDedicationONETWOTHREEFOURFIVESIXSEVENEIGHTNINETENELEVENTWELVETHIRTEENFOURTEENFIFTEENSIXTEENSEVENTEENEIGHTEENNINETEENTWENTYTWENTY-ONETWENTY-TWOTWENTY-THREETWENTY-FOURTWENTY-FIVETWENTY-SIXTWENTY-SEVENTWENTY-EIGHTTWENTY-NINEPRAISE FOR W.E.B. GRIFFIN’S ALL-TIME CLASSIC SERIES,BADGE OF HONORW.E.B. Griffin’s electrifying epic series of a big-city police force . . ."DAMN EFFECTIVE . . . He captivates you with characters the way few authors can.” —Tom Clancy"TOUGH, AUTHENTIC . . . POLICE DRAMA AT ITS BEST . . . Readers will feel as if they’re part of the investigation, and the true-to-life characters will soon feel like old friends. Excellent reading.”—Dale Brown, bestselling author of Day of the Cheetah and Hammerheads“COLORFUL . . . GRITTY . . . TENSE.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer“A REAL WINNER.” —New York Daily News“NOT SINCE JOSEPH WAMBAUGH have we been treated to a police story of the caliber that Griffin gives us. He creates a story about real people in a real world doing things that are AS REAL AS TODAY’S HEADLINES.”—Harold Coyle, bestselling author of Team Yankee and Sword Point“FANS OF ED MCBAIN’S 87TH PRECINCT NOVELS BETTER MAKE ROOM ON THEIR SHELVES . . . Badge of Honor is first and foremost the story of the people who solve the crimes. The characters come alive.”—Gainesville Times (GA)“GRITTY, FAST-PACED . . . AUTHENTIC.”—Richard Herman, Jr., author of The WarbirdsMORE PRAISE FOR W.E.B. GRIFFIN’S ALL-TIME CLASSIC SERIES . . .THE CORPSW.E.B. Griffin’s bestselling saga of the heroes we call Marines…"THE BEST CHRONICLER OF THE U.S. MILITARY EVER TO PUT PEN TO PAPER." —Phoenix Gazette"A BRILLIANT STORY … NOT ONLY WORTHWHILE, IT’S A PUBLIC SERVICE." —The Washington Times"GREAT READING. A superb job of mingling fact and fiction … [Griffin’s] characters come to life."—The Sunday Oklahoman"THIS MAN HAS REALLY DONE HIS HOMEWORK … I confess to impatiently awaiting the appearance of succeeding books in the series." —The Washington Post"GRIFFIN’S BOOKS HAVE HOOKED ME … THERE IS NO ONE BETTER." —Chattanooga News-Free Press"W.E.B. GRIFFIN HAS DONE IT AGAIN!"—Rave Reviews"ACTION-PACKED … DIFFICULT TO PUT DOWN."—Marine Corps GazetteBROTHERHOOD OF WARA sweeping military epic of the United States Army that became a New York Times bestselling phenomenon."A MAJOR WORK … MAGNIFICENT … POWERFUL … If books about warriors and the women who love them were given medals for authenticity, insight and honesty, Brotherhood of War would be covered with them."—William Bradford Huie, author of The Klansman and The Execution of Private Slovik"Brotherhood of War gets into the hearts and minds of those who by choice or circumstances are called upon to fight our nation’s wars."—William R. Corson, Lt. Col. (Ret.) U.S.M.C., author of The Betrayal and The Armies of Ignorance"Captures the rhythms of army life and speech, its rewards and deprivations … A WELL-WRITTEN, ABSORBING ACCOUNT." —Publishers Weekly"REFLECTS THE FLAVOR OF WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A PROFESSIONAL SOLDIER."—Frederick Downs, author of The Killing Zone"LARGE, EXCITING, FAST-MOVING."—Shirley Ann Grau, author of The Keepers of the House"A MASTER STORYTELLER who makes sure each book stands on its own." —Newport News Press"GRIFFIN HAS BEEN CALLED THE LOUIS L’AMOUR OF MILITARY FICTION, AND WITH GOOD REASON."—Chattanooga News-Free PressTitles by W.E.B. GriffinHONOR BOUND HONOR BOUNDBLOOD AND HONORSECRET HONORBROTHERHOOD OF WAR BOOK I: THE LIEUTENANTSBOOK II: THE CAPTAINSBOOK III: THE MAJORSBOOK IV: THE COLONELSBOOK V: THE BERETSBOOK VI: THE GENERALSBOOK VII: THE NEW BREEDBOOK VIII: THE AVIATORSBOOK IX: SPECIAL OPSTHE CORPS BOOK I: SEMPER FIBOOK II: CALL TO ARMSBOOK III: COUNTERATTACKBOOK IV: BATTLEGROUNDBOOK V: LINE OF FIREBOOK VI: CLOSE COMBATBOOK VII: BEHIND THE LINESBOOK VIII: IN DANGER’S PATHBOOK IX: UNDER FIREBOOK X: RETREAT, HELL!BADGE OF HONOR BOOK I: MEN IN BLUEBOOK II: SPECIAL OPERATIONSBOOK III: THE VICTIMBOOK IV: THE WITNESSBOOK V: THE ASSASSINBOOK VI: THE MURDERERSBOOK VII: THE INVESTIGATORSBOOK VIII: FINAL JUSTICEMEN AT WAR BOOK I: THE LAST HEROESBOOK II: THE SECRET WARRIORSBOOK III: THE SOLDIER SPIESBOOK IV: THE FIGHTING AGENTSBOOK V: THE SABOTEURSBOOK VI: THE DOUBLE AGENTSPRESIDENTIAL AGENT BOOK I: BY ORDER OF THE PRESIDENTBOOK II: THE HOSTAGEBOOK III: THE HUNTERSTHE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, EnglandPenguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, IndiaPenguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0745, Auckland, New Zealand(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196,South AfricaPenguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, EnglandThis is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.THE ASSASSINA Jove Book / published by arrangement with the authorPRINTING HISTORYJove mass-market edition / May 1993Copyright © 1993 by W.E.B. Griffin.All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.ISBN: 9781440635786JOVE®Jove Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.JOVE is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.The “J” design is a trademark belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.For Sergeant Zebulon V. Casey Internal Affairs DivisionPolice Department, Retired, the City of Philadelphia. He knows why.ONEMarion Claude Wheatley, who was thirty-three years of age, stood just under six feet tall, weighed 165 pounds, and was just starting to lose his hair, had no idea why God wanted to kill the Vice President of the United States, any more than he did why God had selected him to carry out His will in this regard, together with the promise that if he did so, he would be made an angel, and would live forever in the presence of the Lord, experiencing the peace that passeth all understanding.He had, of course, thought a good deal about it. After all, he had a good education (BA, Swarthmore, cum laude; MBA, Pennsylvania) and as a market analyst (petrochemicals) for First Pennsylvania Bank & Trust, his brain had been trained to first determine the facts and then to draw reasonable inferences from them.The first fact was that God was all powerful, which Marion accepted without question. But that raised the question why didn’t God, figuratively speaking, of course, just snap his fingers and cause the Vice President to disappear? Or blow up, which is how the Lord had told him He wished the Vice President to die?Since He had the power to disintegrate the Vice President without any mortal assistance, but had chosen instead to make Marion the instrument of His will, the only conclusion that could be reasonably drawn was that the Lord had his reasons, which naturally he had not elected to share with a simple mortal.Perhaps, Marion reasoned, later, after he had proven himself worthy by unquestioningly carrying out the Lord’s will, the Lord might graciously tell him why He had chosen the course of action He had.And if that happened, Marion reasoned, it would seem to follow that God might even tell him how the Vice President of the United States had offended the Lord Most High.There were a thousand ways the Vice President might have caused offense. He was of course a politician, and one did not need divine insight to understand how much evil they caused each and every day.Marion suspected that whatever the Vice President’s offense, it was a case of either one really terrible thing, in the eyes of God, or a series of relatively minor offenses against the Lord’s will, the cumulative effect of which equaled one really terrible sin.When the Lord had spoken with Marion, the subject of repentance and forgiveness vis-à-vis the Vice President had never even come up. Marion, of course, would not have had the presumption to raise the question himself, but certainly, if God wanted the Vice President to repent, to straighten up and fly right, so to speak, it would seem logical to expect that He would have said something along those lines. It was thus reasonable to assume that whatever the Vice President had done to offend the Lord was unforgivable.But this was not, Marion had decided while having lunch at the Reading Terminal Market, the same thing as saying that the Vice President could not, or should not, make an effort to get himself right with the Lord. If the Lord was merciful, as Marion devoutly believed Him to be, He just might change His mind if the Vice President, figuratively or literally, went to Him on his knees and begged forgiveness.It was even possible, if unlikely, Marion had concluded, that the Vice President was unaware of how, or to what degree, he had offended the Lord. But if that was the case, it would certainly be a Christian act of compassion, of Christian love, for Marion to let the Vice President know that he was in trouble with the Lord.The question then became how to do so in such a way that he would not draw attention to himself. Obviously, he could not call the Vice President on the telephone. There would be several layers of people in place to protect the Vice President from every Tom, Dick, and Harry who wanted to talk to him.The only way to do it, Marion concluded, was to write him a letter. And that was not quite as simple as it sounded. He would have to be careful to make sure the Secret Service, who protected the Vice President, did not find out who he was. Since the Secret Service would have no way of knowing that he was not some kind of nut, rather than working at the specific direction of the Lord, if they found out he had mailed the Vice President a letter telling him that he was about to be blown up, they would come and arrest him.Going to prison, or a lunatic asylum, was a price Marion was willing to pay for doing the Lord’s work, but only after he had done it. If he was in prison, obviously, he could not blow the Vice President up.And from what Marion had seen on television, and read in books, the Secret Service was very skilled in what they did. They would obviously make a great effort to locate him, once the Vice President showed them the letter. He was going to have to strive for anonymity.On the way back to the office from the Reading Terminal, he went to the Post Office Annex and bought two stamped envelopes. Then he went into one of the discount stores on Market Street and bought a thin pad of typing paper.He often worked late, so no one was suspicious when he stayed in his office after everyone else had gone home. When he was absolutely sure that there was no one in the office but him, he went to the typing pool and sat down at the first typist’s desk. He opened the top drawer and found two spare disposable ribbons.He took the plastic cover off the typewriter, then opened it, and removed the ribbon on the machine, carefully placing it on the desktop. Then he put in a new ribbon. He addressed the envelope:The Hon. Vice President of the United StatesSenate Office BuildingWashington, D.C.And then he took the envelope out and tore a sheet of paper from the typing paper pad and rolled that into the typewriter. He sat there drumming his fingers on the desk for a moment as he made up his mind how to say what he wanted to say. Then he started to type. He was a good typist, and when he was finished, there wasn’t even one strikeover, and Marion was pleased.Dear Mr. Vice President:You have offended the Lord, and He has decided, using me as His instrument, to disintegrate you using high explosives.It is never too late to ask God’s forgiveness, and I respectfully suggest that you make your peace with God as soon as possible.Yours in Our Lord,A Christian.Marion carefully folded the letter in thirds, slipped it into the envelope, and then licked the flap and sealed it. He put it into his breast pocket.Then he removed the ribbon from the typewriter, put the old one back in, and closed the typewriter and covered it with its plastic cover.He tore off the section of ribbon that had the impressions of the typewriter keys on it and put it into the second stamped envelope he had purchased against the contingency that he would make an error. He carried the envelope, the pad of typing paper, and the ribbon he had used and then removed from the typewriter back into his office. He turned on his shredder and fed first the envelope with the used ribbon inside into it, and then, half a dozen sheets at a time, the typing paper. Next came the cardboard backing and cover sheet of the typing paper pad. The only thing left was the almost intact unused plastic typewriter ribbon. It was too thick to get into the mouth of the shredder, and moreover, he suspected that even if it had fit into it, it probably would have jammed the mechanism.He took the sterling silver Waterman’s ballpoint pen that had been the firm’s gift to him at Christmas from his pocket, and held it through the little plastic inside of the typewriter ribbon. Then he fed the loose end of the ribbon into the shredder. The mechanism drew the ribbon between the cutters. It took a long time for all of the ribbon to be drawn into the shredder, but it was somehow fascinating to watch the process, and he was a little disappointed when it was all gone.He held the plastic center in his hand and left his office for the men’s room. He went into a stall and flushed the plastic center down the toilet. Then he carefully washed his hands and left the office.He bought a Philadelphia Ledger from the newsstand at 16th and Chestnut Streets, and grew warm with the knowledge that he had done the right thing and pleased God. There was a headline that said, VICE PRESIDENT TO VISIT. * * * The meeting in the commissioner’s conference room on the third floor of the Police Administration Building, commonly called the Roundhouse, was convened, and presided over, by Arthur C. Marshall, deputy commissioner (Operations) of the Police Department of the City of Philadelphia.The police commissioner of the City of Philadelphia is a political appointee who serves at the pleasure of the mayor. There are three deputy commissioners in the Philadelphia Police Department. They are the first deputy commissioner, who is the highest ranking member of the Department under Civil Service regulations, and the two deputy commissioners, Operations and Administration.Under the deputy commissioner (Operations) are four Bureaus, each commanded by a chief inspector: the Patrol Bureau, the Special Patrol Bureau, the Detective Bureau, and the Command Inspections Bureau.Present for the Roundhouse meeting were Chief Inspector Matt Lowenstein, of the Detective Bureau, and Chief Inspector Dennis V. Coughlin, of the Command Inspections Bureau, both of whom were subordinate to Deputy Commissioner Marshall. Also present were Chief Inspector Mario C. Delachessi, of the Internal Investigations Bureau; Chief Inspector Paul T. Easterbrook, of the Special Investigations Bureau; Staff Inspector Peter Wohl, commanding officer of the Special Operations Division; and Captain John M. “Jack” Duffy, special assistant to the commissioner for inter-agency liaison.Internal Investigations, Special Investigations, and Special Operations in theory took their orders from the first deputy commissioner directly. In practice, however, First Deputy Commissioner Marshall and Chiefs Lowenstein and Coughlin exercised more than a little influence in their operations. There was no question in anyone’s mind that Lowenstein and Coughlin were the most influential of all the eleven chief inspectors in the Department, and that both were considered ripe candidates for the next opening as a deputy commissioner.Part of this was because they were first-class police executives and part was because they had long-running close relations with the Honorable Jerry Carlucci, mayor of the City of Philadelphia.Prior to running for mayor, in his first bid for elective office, Jerry Carlucci had been the police commissioner. And prior to that, the story went, he had held every rank in the Police Department except policewoman. As a result of this, Mayor Carlucci felt that he knew as much, probably more, about the Police Department than anyone else, and consequently was not at all bashful about offering helpful suggestions concerning police operations."Okay," Commissioner Marshall said, "let’s get this started."He was a tall, very thin, sharp-featured man with bright, intelligent eyes.There was a moment’s silence broken only by the scratching of a wooden match on the underside of the long, oblong conference table by Chief Lowenstein. The commissioner watched as Lowenstein applied the flame carefully to a long, thin, black cigar."Is that all right with you, Matt?" the commissioner asked, gently sarcastic. "Is your rope on fire? We can begin?""A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke. Remember that, Art," Lowenstein said, unabashed. He and Commissioner Marshall went back a long way too. Lowenstein had been one of Captain Marshall’s lieutenants when Marshall had commanded the 19th District.There were chuckles. Marshall shook his head, and began:"We have a problem with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs….""So what else is new?" Chief Lowenstein said. He was a large, nearly handsome man, with a full head of curly silver hair, wearing a gray pin-striped suit."Let me talk, for Christ’s sake, Matt," Marshall said."Sorry.""They’ve come to Duffy. Officially. They say they have information that drugs, specifically heroin, are getting past the Airport Unit.""Did they give us the information?" Lowenstein asked.Marshall shook his head, no.“You said, ‘getting past the Airport Unit,’ ” Chief Lowenstein said. “Was that an accusation?”“Jack?” Marshall said.“They stayed a hairbreadth away from making that an accusation, Chief,” Captain Duffy, a florid-faced, nervous-appearing forty-five-year-old, said.“Paul?” Marshall asked Chief Inspector Easterbrook, under whose Special Investigations Bureau were the Narcotics Unit, the Narcotics Strike Force, and Vice.Easterbrook was just the near side of being fat. His collar looked too tight.“Is heroin coming through the airport?” he asked rhetorically. “Sure it is. I haven’t heard a word, though, that anybody in the Airport Unit is dirty.”Everyone looked at Chief Inspector Delachessi, a plump, short, natty forty-year-old, among whose Internal Investigations Bureau responsibilities were Internal Affairs, the Organized Crime Intelligence Unit, and the Staff Investigation Unit. Eighteen months before, he had been Staff Inspector Peter Wohl’s boss.“Neither have I,” Delachessi said. “Not a whisper. And what is it now—two months ago?—when that Airport Unit corporal got himself killed coming home from the shore, the corporal who was his temporary replacement was one of my guys. He didn’t come up with a thing. Having said that, is somebody out there dirty? Could be. I’ll have another look.”“Hold off on that, Mario,” Commissioner Marshall said.“What, exactly, is the problem with Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs?” Chief Lowenstein asked. “You said there was a problem.”“They want to send somebody out there, undercover,” Marshall said.“In the Airport Unit?” Lowenstein asked incredulously. “As a cop?”Marshall nodded.“They’ve made it an official request,” Captain Duffy said. “By letter.”“Tell them to go fuck themselves, by official letter,” Lowenstein said.“It’s not that easy, Matt,” Marshall said. “The commissioner says we’ll have to come up with a good reason to turn them down.”“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Lowenstein replied. “There’s no way some nice young agent of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs can pass himself off to anyone in the Airport Unit as a cop. And if there’s dirty cops out there, we should catch them, not the feds. Do you think you could explain that to the commissioner? ”“Art and I had an idea, talking this over,” Chief Coughlin said.Ah ha! thought Staff Inspector Peter Wohl, a lithe, well-built, just under six feet tall thirty-five-year-old. The mystery is about to be explained. This is not a conference. Whatever is going to be done has already been decided upon by Marshall and Coughlin. The rest of us are here to be told what the problem is, and what we are expected to do. I wonder what the hell I’m here for? None of this is any of my business.“I’ll bet you did,” Lowenstein said.Shame on you, Commissioner Marshall, Wohl thought. You broke the rules. You are not supposed to present Chief Lowenstein with a fait accompli. You are supposed to involve him in the decision-making process. Otherwise, he is very liable to piss on your sparkling idea.“Matt, of course, is right,” Chief Coughlin went on. “There is no way a fed could go out to the Airport Unit and pass himself off as a cop. And, no offense, Mario, I personally would be very surprised if the people out there weren’t very suspicious of the corporal you sent out there when their corporal got killed.”“He feels very strongly that no one suspected he worked for me,” Chief Delachessi said.“What did you expect him to say?” Lowenstein said, somewhat unpleasantly. “ ‘Boy, Chief, sending me out there was really dumb. They made me right away’?”“So what we need out there is a real cop . . .” Coughlin said.“Are you inferring, Denny, there’s something wrong with the guy I sent out there?” Chief Delachessi interrupted.“Come on, Mario, you know I didn’t mean anything like that,” Coughlin said placatingly.“That’s what it sounded like!”“Then I apologize,” Coughlin said, sounding genuinely contrite.“What Chief Coughlin meant to say, I think,” Commissioner Marshall said, “was that if we’re to uncover anything dirty going on out there—and I’m not saying anything is—we need somebody out there who will (a) not make people suspicious and (b) who will be there for the long haul, not just a temporary assignment, like Mario’s corporal.”The rest of you guys might as well surrender, Peter Wohl thought. If Marshall and Coughlin have come up with this brilliant idea, whatever it is, there’s only one guy who can shoot it down, and he’s got a sign on his desk reading Mayor Jerry Carlucci.“Where are you going to get this guy?” Lowenstein asked.“We think we have him,” Coughlin said. “We wanted to get your input.”Yeah, you did. As long as the input is “Jesus, what a great idea, why didn’t I think of that?”“We need an officer out there,” Commissioner Marshall said, “whose assignment will not make anybody suspicious, and an officer who is experienced in working undercover.”“You remember the two undercover officers, from Narcotics, who bagged the guy who shot Dutch Moffitt?” Chief Coughlin asked.“Mutt and Jeff,” Lowenstein said.Now I know why I was invited, Peter Wohl thought.The officers in question were Police Officers Charles McFadden and Jesus Martinez, who had been assigned to Narcotics right out of the Police Academy. McFadden was a very large Irish lad from South Philadelphia, in whom, Wohl was sure, Chief Coughlin saw a clone of himself. Martinez was very small, barely over departmental minimum height and weight requirements, of Puerto Rican ancestry. They were called “Mutt and Jeff” because of their size.Staff Inspector Peter Wohl knew a good deal about both officers. They had been assigned to Special Operations after they had run to earth an Irish junkie from Northeast Philadelphia who had shot Captain Dutch Moffitt, then the Highway Patrol commander, to death, and thus blown their cover. Assigned, he now reminded himself, through the influence of Chief Inspector Dennis V. Coughlin.“They now work for Peter,” Coughlin said.“Doing what, Peter?” Captain Delachessi asked.“They’re Highway Patrolmen,” Wohl replied.“They won’t be for long,” Coughlin said.“Sir?” Wohl asked, surprised.“We got the results of the detective exam today.” Commissioner Marshall said. “Both of them passed in the top twenty.”“So, incidentally, Peter, did Matt Payne,” Chief Coughlin added, “He was third.”Officer Matthew M. Payne was Peter Wohl’s administrative assistant, another gift from Chief Dennis V. Coughlin.“I thought he might squeeze past,” Wohl replied. Matt Payne had graduated from the University of Pennsylvania cum laude. Wohl didn’t think he would have trouble with the detective’s examination.“Well, hold off on congratulating him,” Coughlin said. “Any of them. The results of the examination are confidential until Civil Service people make the announcement. No word of who passed is to leave this room, if I have to say that.”“Let’s try this scenario on for size,” Commissioner Marshall said. “And see if it binds in the crotch. Martinez’s name does not appear on the examination list as having passed. He is disappointed, maybe even a little bitter. And he asks for a transfer. They’ve been riding his ass in Highway, Denny tells me, because of his size. He doesn’t seem to fit in. But he’s still the guy who got the guy who killed Dutch Moffitt, and he deserves a little better than getting sent to some district to work school crossings or in a sector car. So Denny sends him out to the Airport Unit.”Both Commissioner Marshall and Chief Inspector Coughlin looked very pleased with themselves.If there’s going to be an objection to this, it will have to come from Lowenstein. He’s the only one who would be willing to stand up against these two.Chief Lowenstein leaned forward and tapped a three-quarter-inch ash into an ashtray.“That’d work,” he said. “Martinez is a mean little fucker. Not too dumb, either.”From you, Chief Lowenstein, that is indeed praise of the highest order.“Do you think he would be willing, Chief?” Wohl asked.“Yeah, I think so,” Coughlin said. “I already had a little talk with him. No specifics. Just would he take an interesting undercover assignment? ”You sonofabitch, Denny Coughlin! You did that, went directly to one of my men, with something like this, without saying a word to me?“What we would like from you gentlemen,” Commissioner Marshall said, “is to play devil’s advocate.”“Will the commissioner hold still for this?” Lowenstien said.“No problem,” Commissioner Marshall said.The translation of that is that there was a third party, by the name of Carlucci, involved in this brainstorm. The commissioner either knows that, or will shortly be told, and will then devoutly believe the idea was divinely inspired.“What we thought,” Coughlin went on, “is that Peter can serve as the connection. We don’t want anyone to connect Martinez with Internal Affairs, or Organized Crime, or Narcotics. If Martinez comes up with something for them, or vice versa, they’ll pass it through Peter. You see any problems with that, Peter?”“No, sir.”“Anyone else got anything?” Commissioner Marshall asked.There was nothing.“Then all that remains to be done,” Coughlin said, “is to get with Martinez and drop the other shoe. What I suggest, Peter, is that you have Martinez meet us here.”“Yes, sir. When?”“Now’s as good a time as any, wouldn’t you say?” * * * Officer Matthew M. Payne, a pleasant-looking young man of twenty-two, who looked far more like a University of Pennsylvania student, which eighteen months before he had been, than what comes to mind when the words “cop” or “police officer” are used, was waiting near the elevators, with the other “drivers” of those attending the first deputy commissioner’s meeting. They were all in civilian clothing.Technically, Officer Payne was not a “driver,” for drivers are a privilege accorded only to chief inspectors or better, and his boss was only a staff inspector. His official title was administrative assistant.There is a military analogy. There is a military rank structure within the Police Department. On the very rare occasions when Peter Wohl wore a uniform, it carried on its epaulets gold oak leaves, essentially identical to those worn by majors in the armed forces. Inspectors wore silver oak leaves, like those of lieutenant colonels, and chief inspectors, an eagle, like those worn by colonels.Drivers functioned very much like aides-de-camp to general officers in the armed forces. They relieved the man they worked for of annoying details, served as chauffeurs, and performed other services. And, like their counterparts in the armed forces, they were chosen as much for their potential use to the Department down the line as they were for their ability to perform their current duties. It was presumed that they were learning how the Department worked at the upper echelons by observing their bosses in action.Most of the other drivers waiting for the meeting to end were sergeants. One, Chief Lowenstein’s driver, was a police officer. Matt Payne was both the youngest of the drivers and, as a police officer, held the lowest rank in the Department.There was a hissing sound, and one of the drivers gestured to the corridor toward what was in effect the executive suite of the Police Administration Building. The meeting was over, the bosses were coming out.Chief Delachessi came first, gestured to his driver, and got on the elevator. Next came Chief Coughlin, who walked up to his driver, a young Irish sergeant named Tom Mahon.“Meet me outside Shank & Evelyn’s in an hour and a half,” he ordered. “I’ll catch a ride with Inspector Wohl.”Shank & Evelyn’s was a restaurant in the Italian section of South Philadelphia.“Yes, sir,” Sergeant Mahon said.Then Chief Coughlin walked to Officer Payne and shook his hand.“Nice suit, Matty,” he said.“Thank you.”For all of his life, Officer Payne had called Chief Coughlin “Uncle Denny,” and still did when they were alone.Staff Inspector Wohl walked up to them.“Officer Martinez is on his way to meet me in the parking lot,” he said to Officer Payne. “You meet him, give him the keys to my car, and tell him that Chief Coughlin and I will be down in a couple of minutes. You catch a ride in the Highway car back to the Schoolhouse. I’ll be there in a couple of hours. I’ll be, if someone really has to get to me, at Shank & Evelyn’s.”“Yes, sir,” Officer Payne said.Chief Coughlin and Inspector Wohl went back down the corridor toward the office of the police commissioner and his deputies. Sergeant Mahon and Officer Payne got on the elevator and rode to the lobby.“What the hell is that all about?” Mahon asked.“I think Coughlin and Wohl are being nice guys,” Matt Payne said. “The results of the detective exam are back. Martinez didn’t pass it.”“Oh, shit. He wanted it bad?”“Real bad.”“You saw the list?”“I respectfully decline to answer on the grounds that it may tend to incriminate me,” Matt Payne said.Mahon chuckled.“How’d you do?”“Third.”“Hey, congratulations!”“If you quote me, I’ll deny it. But thank you.” * * * Matt Payne had to wait only a minute or two on the concrete ramp outside the rear door of the Roundhouse before a Highway Patrol RPC pulled up to the curb.He went the rest of the way down the ramp to meet it. The driver, a lean, athletic-looking man in his early thirties, who he knew by sight, but not by name, rolled down the window as Highway Patrolman Jesus Martinez got out of the passenger side.“How goes it, Hay-zus?” Payne called.Martinez nodded, but did not reply. Or smile.“We had a call to meet the inspector, Payne,” the driver said