Hellcat

Chapter 85

"After the attack on my home, I secured my family and came directly here," Nadeem finished a while later. "This is unbelievable," Tower muttered, shaking his head. "Believe it," Foggy spoke, his tone grave. I had been silent the whole time, but every now and again, Nadeem would glance at me. "I can convene a special grand jury today. Probably by 4:00 p.m.," Tower spoke, a strange excitement in his voice.

"Great. Our offer is straight forward. Agent Nadeem's testimony in exchange for full immunity." Matt was plain and quick with his words. Tower's face made it look like he had just dropped a bomb. The DA glanced between Matt and Foggy a few times to see if their stony expressions would change. When they didn't, he stood from the table, pointing to Nadeem.

"He just confessed to being an accessory in how many homicides?" Tower asked, still shocked by the story. "Cases you would never make in a million years without our client's testimony," Foggy countered, standing from the table with grace and ease. "If this was a larceny case, or corruption, maybe. But he's a federal law enforcement officer that looked the other way while Class-A felonies, homicides, were committed." Tower's argument wasn't unreasonable. I could see that Nadeem knew it on his face – the way he stared blankly at the table before him.

"Two men were murdered in front of him, and he never said a damn word," Tower barked as Matt slowly rose to stand beside his partner. "He didn't say a damn thing because he was afraid for his family. Fisk tried to kill them all last night, and Agent Nadeem is here today, telling you everything," Matt argued with passion. It was moments like this – when he defended people with no hesitation – that showed how much he fit being a lawyer. Even with the vigilante justice.

"Can you say you'd do the same, Mr. Tower?" Matt continued to argue. The DA hesitated, licking his lips as he thought. "Our offer expires when you walk out that door. Full immunity, or we're advising our client to run for his life." Tower shook his head, unable to fully grasp the idea of this deal. "Five years. On each count," Tower tried to bargain. "No," was Matt's firm response. "You can't do murder and walk."

"Come on, Blake, no jail time. You'll be the DA who took down Wilson Fisk, and the next stop on the Tower-train is the governorship," Foggy argued with ease. Tower paused, considering again. "Five years, on all counts. Final offer." Matt's response was to push in his chair and hold out his hand. "Thank you for coming by, Mr. Tower," Matt told him, waiting in silence as the DA just stared.

I knew why Tower turned away. I knew why he was about to walk out that door. Nadeem had been complicit in a lot of horrible things, and he couldn't just walk away from that. "Wait." Nadeem's voice was enough to stop Tower at the door. "He's right. I did the crime. And I need to keep my family safe," he said, looking to Matt and Foggy before turning his head slightly towards the DA.

"I'll take it." Silence filled the space between us all like a heavy fog. "It's okay," Nadeem spoke up, looking to Foggy and Matt. Then his gaze flickered to me. "It matters how we come back," he added softly, almost like it was just to me. I gave a small nod of understanding before he turned back to his lawyers. "I'm good with this." Tension hung in the air as we waited for the DA.

"Let me make a call," he said before stepping out of the room. "Me too. I need to call my son," Nadeem spoke up. "No, we can't use cellphones. Fisk could be tracking them," Foggy spoke up sadly, shaking his head. There was a deep silence that settled over the group for just a moment. And then Matt spoke up. "There's a payphone on the wall there. Still works," he said, gesturing to the far wall, hidden behind an alcove. Nadeem glanced around, heading right for the phone as soon as he saw it.

I sat beside Matt on the edge of the raised ring, trying not to listen in on Nadeem telling his son that he was going to hear bad things. That he was going to hear his father did bad things. Nadeem didn't try to sugarcoat it, but he wasn't explicit either. He admitted that he may not have done the bad things, but he let them happen, which was just as bad.