The Steel Kiss (Lincoln Rhyme 12)

And so he sat back, sighed and told her the truth. "Lincoln shouldn't quit."

She blinked, not understanding where this was going.

He could hardly blame her. "He shouldn't. It's just wrong."

"I agree. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything. Let me explain. You know what happened. He pushed the Baxter case too far."

"I know the facts. What--?"

"Let me finish. Please."

Funny about beauty, Pulaski was thinking. Amelia Sachs was no less beautiful than yesterday but now it was the beauty of ice. He looked past her out the window, unable to stand the beam of her eyes.

"I checked out the Baxter file. I've read it a thousand times, been through every word of testimony, every sentence of forensic analysis, all the detectives' notes. Over and over. I found something that didn't make sense." Pulaski sat forward, and despite the fact that his cover was blown and his mission in peril--Amelia by rights should put an end to it immediately--he felt the rush of being on a hunt that wasn't yet over. "Baxter was a criminal, yes. But he was just a rich man screwing over other rich men. At the end of the day: He was harmless. His gun was a souvenir. He didn't have bullets in it. The gunshot residue had ambiguous sources."

"I know all this, Ron."

"But you don't know about Oden."

"Who?"

"Oden. I'm not sure who he is, black, white, age, other than that he's got some connection with the crews in East New York. There was a reference to him in the notes of one of the detectives that ran the Baxter case. Baxter was tight with Oden. I talked to the detective, and he never followed up on Oden because Baxter was killed, and the case was dropped. The gang unit and Narcotics haven't heard the name. He's a mystery man. But I asked on the street and at least two people said they'd heard about him. He's connected with some new strain of drugs. Called Catch. You ever hear of it?"

She shook her head.

"Maybe he was smuggling it in from Canada or Mexico. Maybe financing. Maybe even fabricating it. I was thinking that might be the reason Baxter was killed. It wasn't a random prison fight. He was targeted because he knew too much about this stuff. Anyway, I've been working undercover... No, not sanctioned, just on my own. I told people I needed this stuff Oden was making. I was claiming my head injury was really bad." He felt he was blushing. "God'll get me for that. But I've got the scar."

"And?"

"My point was to prove to Lincoln that Baxter wasn't innocent at all. He was working with Oden, financing fabrication or importing of Catch. That maybe Baxter did use his gun. That people were dying because of the shit he was involved in." Pulaski shook his head. "And Lincoln would realize that he didn't screw up so bad--and he'd un-quit."

"Why--?"

"--didn't I tell anyone, why make up the story? What would you have said? To give it up, right? An unauthorized undercover op, using my own money to score drugs--"

"To what?"

r /> "Only once. I bought some Oxy. I dumped it in the sewer five minutes later. But I needed to make the buy. I had to build some street cred. I dropped a weapons charge to get some banger to vouch for me. I'm walking a line here, Amelia."

He looked at the Gutierrez file. Stupid. Thinking: Why didn't I check it?

"I'm close, I'm really close. I paid two thousand bucks for a lead to this Oden. I've got a feeling it's going to work out."

"You know what Lincoln would say about feelings."

"Has he said anything, now he's helping on Unsub Forty, getting back to work for the NYPD?"

"No. He told me nothing's changed." She grimaced. "He's working with us mostly to make a civil case for Sandy Frommer."

Pulaski's own face remained stony. "I wish you hadn't found out about this, Amelia. But now you know. Only I'm not stopping. I'll tell you right up front. I've got to play this out. I'm not letting him retire without a fight."

"East New York, that's where this Oden hangs?"

"And Brownsville and Bed-Stuy."

"The most dangerous parts of the city."