The Great Cleanup - стр. 5
“So arrest them?” Anna enquired confusedly.
The man in civilian clothing sighed:
“It's not so simple. Unfortunately, the criminal world has its own intelligence service. Someone in our very own law enforcement circles is working for the gangsters. We carry out one action after another, yet we can never catch the big fish – they get warned and slink away in good time. We strive for search warrants, arrest warrants, achieve them, but find nothing and nobody. All our hard labour, all our ambushes, sleepless nights, shadowing – down a very stinky drain!”
The moustached policeman shook his head:
“Wish we could get the bastard working for the criminal world!”
The young one added:
“Wish we could get him and just hang him by you-don't-care-what right on the pull-up bar in the station yard. Just so everyone sees how the good honest people treat criminals!”
“Yup,” the moustached man supported him, “One would nearly think rough justice is the only option in this situation. Wish I could just burn down Borscht's lair with napalm, and give the others a good solid mob thrashing too, not bothering about judges and juries.”
“No, lads,” the elder man took the floor again, “Everything must happen according to the law. Of course, even with this gypsy, we could just…” He gave Anna a quick questioning look, “Now, what floor are we on?”
“Twelfth.”
He spent a moment estimating something, then nodded.
“That would suit just fine. So, we could just drop her from the balcony, and claim that she fell while attempting to escape.”
The gypsy woman's eyes, wide to start with, widened further at these words.
“No loss of time, no formalities, and most importantly no repeat offences; she would never again use her base skill to harm people. As it is, she will serve her well-deserved time and then go right back to her dirty business again. But we must,” he sighed, “we have to follow the law, so now we shall, all together, go to the station and draw up the protocol in regard of a crime,” For some reason, he glanced all over Anna, “Are you ready?”
She nodded:
“Yes, of course.”
The policeman kept a narrow gaze on her.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Anna confirmed, though she did not understand the strange stare.
The guardian of the peace shrugged, turning his intent eyes away:
“Well, then, let's go.”
The gypsy was taken out of the apartment. Anna followed the others, just as she was – in a blue fluffy dressing-gown and red slippers with furry white poof-balls.
Anna and the elder policeman took the passenger lift down. The others brought the swindler to the exit in the bigger cargo one.
There was a police car at the apartment block entrance; the stripe on it was the same colour as Anna's dressing-gown. The policemen placed the gypsy in the back part, behind bars; Anna was welcomed into the front part as a regular passenger.
At the local police station they went together through several twisty corridors. Then the two armed policemen in uniform took the gypsy away somewhere. The third one, in civvies, pointed to a wooden bench, polished by the backsides of many people who spent time on it before:
“Please take a seat here. I will prepare the papers and call you up to sign them. Don't worry, we will formalize everything quickly, and you can go home soon enough. We'll take you there in our car, as fast as the blue flashing light…” He smiled: “The great cleanup won't be derailed.”