Participants:
| Scene Title | Cold Justice |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Nash and Damaris make their move to apprehend their suspects. Things go more than a little south. |
| Date | May 31, 2010 |
Harlem stretches from the East River all the way to the Hudson, miles of packed residential districts filled with refugees and vagrants, a neighborhood stricken with crime and poverty. Harlem was, and has been for generations, one of the urban hearts of New York City. Before the bomb, this borough of Manhattan was the center of the African American community in New York City. Now after the destruction of Midtown and the wake of social devastation brought in by the bomb, the borough has seen better days. Much of Harlem suffers from the same plight as much of New York — Overpopulation and crime in the wake of the collapse of infrastructure in 2006. With major traffic arteries cut off, power and water only recently restored, the area was in chaos for those first few terrifying weeks after the blast.
Before the bomb, Harlem had been shaping up, cleaning up its crime rate and working towards becoming a safe place for its residents. All of that hard work was laid to waste in a single night. Many of the buildings on the southern side of the neighborhood bordering on Central Park were gutted by arson in the chaotic weeks following the bomb, and the vast majority of them haven't been torn down yet, leaving the southern edge of the neighborhood a burned out and dangerous ruin. Even if it wasn't for the fires, the looting, vandalism and crime that spiked shortly after the bomb only made things worse for the Harlem residents, followed by the electricity and water stoppage from the damage done to the city's infrastructure.
With the major highways mostly repaired, Harlem is in a process of reconstruction and revitalization. Most of the neighborhood's historic landmarks still remain, and the region surrounding 125th street continues to be the urban pulse of Harlem as a whole, and from that street it's hard to tell anything has changes. It is the center of the reconstruction movement, constantly packed with repair crews, construction workers and maintenance teams.
All roads lead to Harlem, isn't that what they say? Okay, maybe not Harlem, but Harlem is as good a place as any when you're tracking criminals. Especially then a wide trail is left for you to follow. Standing outside of the site of their suspects from yesterday's robbery slash shooting, the pair of Damaris and Nash are suited up with vests and have been told that no one has left the building. The road that led the two to this point seemed almost destined for success.
The video was the key, as there were two indentities that were recovered comparing them to mugs in the snapshot book. Once they had one name, it was fairly easy to figure out the rest, but second and it was a sure thing.
Making a few phone calls, they were pointed to this vacant building, the 'For Lease' sign still tacked all along the bricked exterior. With the video, warrants were easy to obtain, though on a Sunday, well, this is why they are going in Monday morning. Nash turns to Kaydence and cocks a smug grin, nodding to the door, "You want the honors?" Maybe it's his turn to see her at work, kicking in doors. Two can play her game.
"Like I was going to let you have all the fun," Kay shoots back with a grin equal to his. Her pulse is racing and one deep breath silences the roaring in her ears. Adrenaline does crazy things to a woman. She gestures for Nash to take one side of the door as she poises herself.
Locking eyes for a moment, assessing that Nash is, in fact, ready for this, Kaydence draws her firearm, takes in a breath, and kicks the door open on the first go. "Police!" she shouts ahead into the building, even as she darts inside and flattens herself to the wall. "Clear!" she calls back to her partner, waiting for him to join her in the entry.
Nash would readily tell you that he was born ready, and would deny that familiar nervous tension that chills him through the bone, yet mingled with that rush of power provides quite the fuel he needs as she kicks down that door, moving inside. Nash is there to follow as he takes up post on the other side. There's a collective sudden burst of activity in the building as the occupants begin to scramble for another exit — one that will not be had since the building has long since been boarded up.
"Get my gun.." a voice is heard, "And grab that spare. Shit! Help me pull this table down." Looks like they're planning on fighting this out. Nash is right there, at the corner. "Freddie, is this really how you want to do this? Toss the weapons and get your hands up and no one gets hurt. We got your face all over the video from that store yesterday."
"Ain't been to no store lately. You must be crazy, fucker! Me and my boys been here all weekend playing canasta!" Nash rolls his eyes, glancing over at Kaydence. "Whaddya think?" he mouths.
"So why don't you just come with us, Freddie? If you're innocent, you've got nothing to worry about." Kaydence stays pressed against the wall, exchanging a look with Nash. It's not nervous, but it is dubious. Like she knows that this isn't going to end without expending some bullets. "My partner and I? We don't want to fight with you guys. Just toss your weapons this way and come down with us to the station. We can clear up this misunderstanding in no time."
"We ain't goin' down for that, bitch!" There's a stray round fired off from their direction as Freddie decides to lay in a warning round. "Hey Freddie, don't be trying to kill no cops!" "Shut the fuck up, Ambrose. I got this." Freddie is a little louder when he talks back to the cops, "How about you toss your weapons over and put your hands up and see how you like it, white trash pig!" That earns a lifted brow towards his partner, but Nash quirks a smirk and shakes his head.
"How about we both lay down our weapons and we arm wrestle for it?" Might not be the best time to be a smart ass. "With those skinny ass arms of yours, I'm sure I could take you."
"Fucker!" A couple of shots are fired in thier direction and Nash is hugging his back to the wall. He looks at Kaydence and shakes his head. "We gotten end this." It really is almost like a stalemate.
Kaydence shoots Nash a sharp look. "What is your brilliant plan?" she whispers to him as she shrinks back against the wall further. Plaster from the impact of the bullet dusts her shoulder. That was closer than she would have liked.
"Ambrose?" Kaydence knows a better avenue when she sees it, "You're right. If you or your friend shoots one of us? That's bad news. If one of us gets killed? That's first degree murder. In New York, that can net you the death penalty. You and your friends don't want to be mixed up in anything like that, right?" Who'd have thought that The Bitch could play so sympathetic?
"I've seen this sort of thing happen a thousand times, Ambrose. You and your friends just wanted some beer. Everyone's hard-up right now. Nobody's got cash. You guys just wanted some beer so you could hang out and enjoy yourselves like we all used to before the city went to shit, right? The owner just scared you. Nobody ever meant to hurt him." To her credit, when Kay exchanges glances with Nash again, she doesn't roll her eyes. "He's not dead. You guys still have a chance to explain what happened. You don't have to make things worse."
A quietness falls inside the building as Kaydence's words give them something to think about. Ambrose's voice can be heard, "I think she's right, man."
"Fuck you. They get me for this, it's my third strike. I ain't doing that. And you ain't gonna turn me in."
During this exchange, Nash's phone lights up and it catches his eyes. The message tells him that the owner has died of complications, the charge has now been upgraded from attempted murder to murder. He tosses the phone to Kaydence so she can read it as his eyes narrow angrily. "What the fuck, Freddie, don't you point that shit at me!"
Something's definitely wrong and when Freddie tries to pull on the trigger to shoot Ambrose point blank there's a pause. Something's jammed inside the chamber and Freddie panics and hits Ambrose in the head with it as a scuffle ensues.
Nash turns to Kaydence and nods, "Go!" And around the corner he goes, weapon at the ready. "Stop Freddie!" As he raises his weapon, Freddie chucks his pistol at the male cop and barrels past the table and to Nash's eye he looks like he's going after Kaydence, though unarmed. There's a split second when a cop has to decide if he's going to shoot an unarmed suspect. His emotions are riding high, already fuelled by anger at the unnecessary murder of the owner of that store. He squeezes the trigger after lowering it, hitting Freddie in the lower back and he falls to the ground with a thud and a very loud curse.
Kaydence switches her gun grip to one hand quickly and deftly catches the cell phone in her left, reading the screen. She narrows her eyes and shakes her head, tucking it into her pocket for now, as it sounds like things are going from bad to worse in there. She swoops around the corner with Nash, making to handle the opposite side of the room from him. Split up the targets.
When Freddie comes rushing for her, she levels her gun at his chest. "Freeze!" When the shot rings out, there's a jolt through her limbs and a slight widening of her eyes. For a split second, she thought the shot was being fired at her. She doesn't look rattled, however. She can't afford to look rattled. "Stay on him," she orders Nash. Her gun comes up to train on the other boy. "Ambrose? I need you to disarm and lay down on the ground with your hands on your head. You're a smart kid. I just need you to listen to me right now so I don't have to worry about you, okay?" Considering his buddy just tried to kill him, Kay is hoping that he'll be inclined to listen to her.
Still holding the gun up, Nash watches Freddie fall, the red of blood already beginning to seep from the hold in his lower back. Freddie is not going to let it go so easily, as he begins to flip out. "Fuck! I can't feel my legs. I can't move." The ramblings go on and on as Nash walks over to him, lying on the ground. His mind seems to be a blank sheet at the moment as he tries to think back to his motive. He's fairly certain he did this intentionally, spurred on by anger and a sense of justice, but what he did just there goes against everything he thought he could be capable of. Kaydence's voice snaps him out of his moral dilemma as he turns to look at her talking with Ambrose.
Nash reaches for his radio to call for an ambulance for Freddie.
Kaydence has Ambrose on the floor and cuffed in short order, instructing him to stay there before she approaches her partner, her firearm firmly in its holster. She puts a hand on Nash's arm, staring down at the thug bleeding on the floor. "I need your gun." Her look is sympathetic, and thankful. It's standard procedure anytime a detective is involved in a shooting.
Their backup is making their way into the building after shots fired. Kaydence holds up her hand. "We're good. Get the kid into a car. We've got a bus on the way." Two uniformed officers nod to her instructions and help Ambrose up off the floor, guiding him out of the building.
The firearm is handed over to his partner and Nash puts on his best grin. "Clean it while you've got it, alright?" Hey, at least they got their bad guys and despite the outcome of trials or whatnot, someone has already paid for their crime. Right?
The ambulance arrives and the cops watch as they load the kid up into the back, and all along the kid is crying. Really, not much of a kid, at twenty two, but it's still damn young. Nash tries to put on a stoic face as he turns to Kaydence as the van drives off to the hospital. He turns and walks over, climbing back into the passenger side of the vehicle and buckles himself in.
Cops are not supposed to be proud of having to shoot someone, right? These things are supposed to be sad and tragic. Cop had to make a life and death decision in the matter of a single moment. There's supposed to be some remorse, or grief. Why then, does Christopher Nash feel none of these? In the cool exterior of a very arrogant man, he's beaming with a proud sense that justice, in the end, has been served here.