The Second Life of Nick Mason (Nick Mason #1)(72)

He had nowhere else to go. He waited there through the last hours of night until the dark horizon of the eastern sky started to lighten. A change almost too subtle to see unless you were watching for it. Black to something almost black and then to something almost purple. Mason sat and waited motionless through a hundred more shades until the sun finally started to rise.

He heard the traffic starting to hum on the roads surrounding the park. The city coming back to life for the day. He heard someone whiz by on the bike trail behind him.

He waited a few more minutes. The sun came up and sent its light across the surface of the lake. The boats all slept, covered and anchored in place. Nothing moved in front of him until he saw the man walking toward the fountain. A black silhouette against the blue dawn.

Mason stood up, stretched himself, worked the pain from his body. He walked over to where Sandoval waited for him.

“What am I doing here?” Sandoval said.

He was dressed in a dark blue windbreaker. Not his usual rumpled suit jacket. He wasn’t wearing a tie. His face was unshaven and his eyes still looked like he’d just gotten out of bed five minutes ago.

“I told the guy at the station five thirty,” Mason said, looking at his watch. “You’re two minutes late.”

“Go f*ck yourself.”

“I thought you might want this.”

Mason handed him the hard drive. Sandoval took it and looked it over.

“Don’t take it to the station,” Mason said. “Don’t check it into Evidence or you’ll never see it again. That’s very important. Don’t tell any other cops you have it.”

“What is it?”

“Take it home,” Mason said, “and make a copy. Make ten copies. Then go through everything. You’ll know what to do next.”

Sandoval looked around them at the empty park.

“You brought me all the way down here, at the crack of dawn, to give me a hard drive?”

“You told me there’s nothing more dangerous than a dirty cop. Here’s your chance to take down a whole squad of them.”

Sandoval just stared at him.

“I know your real target is Cole,” Mason said. “But you’ll never get to him through me. This is what you get instead.”

Sandoval looked at the box again. “Who exactly are we talking about here?”

Mason didn’t answer.

“There were three SIS detectives found at Thornton Quarry,” Sandoval said. “Someone on the road heard gunshots and called it in. Do you know anything about that?”

Mason shook his head. “Haven’t seen the paper today.”

“Were you there?”

“Read the official report, Detective. Whatever it says, I’m sure that’s exactly what happened.”

Sandoval kept staring at him. “Wherever you got this,” he said, “I don’t understand why you’re giving it to me.”

Mason couldn’t tell Sandoval the real reason. He’d been told by Quintero to bring this black box to him. To nobody else. Cole would be expecting it. He’d use it as a bargaining chip. A threat to have in his pocket. To make these cops get back in f*cking line.

That was the order. Mason disobeyed it.

He was taking the cops down because he wanted to. For his own reasons. It was personal. He was ending the war on his own terms.

And he had no intention of ever taking another order again.

“Let’s just say I hate dirty cops as much as you do.”

“Why not give this to the feds?” Sandoval said, holding up the box.

“In what universe do I go looking around for federal agents, Detective?”

“This is going to make me a pariah,” Sandoval said. “You know that, right? I’m not Internal Affairs. I’m Homicide. I’ll be back on a seven-man team, working with the same guys every day. What do you think’s gonna happen to me when they find out about this?”

Mason didn’t bother trying to convince him he could stay anonymous. He knew that would be a lie.

“They’ll know,” Sandoval said like he was reading Mason’s mind. “Cops talk to each other. I’ll be the most hated cop in Chicago.”

“Maybe you will,” Mason said. “But I think this is why you became a cop in the first place.”

Sandoval turned away. He looked out at the water for a while.

“You gotta understand something,” he said, still facing away from him.

“What is it?”

Sandoval turned back.

“No, I mean you really need to understand what I’m about to tell you.”

“I’m listening.”

“This changes nothing between us,” Sandoval said. “Absolutely nothing.”

“Not even half a day’s head start if I ever decide to run?”

“Absolutely . . . nothing.”

“I didn’t think it would,” Mason said.

The two men watched each other. They waited for something else to be said that would bring this to a close. Sandoval had a disk full of evidence to sort through. Mason had one more phone call to make.

“I’m still gonna take you down,” Sandoval said.

“You’re going to try,” Mason said.

Sandoval nodded to him. Then he walked away.