The Son of John Devlin Read Online Free Page A

Del Rio said, clearly surprised.
    Emily nodded again. “And the highest grade of morphine,” she said. “A grade so high, of such purity, that we speculate it comes directly from one of the pharmaceutical companies.”
    “A theft, hijacking?” Duffy asked.
    “In all likelihood,” said Emily Lawrence.
    “They’re very sensitive about that,” Duffy said.“They rarely report to us when a shipment has disappeared. It’s a bigger problem than people realize, shipments of controlled substances not reaching their destinations.”
    “Mr. Jones says the idea is to target the suburban and college markets in Greater Boston,” said Emily Lawrence. “We know independently that there has been a reduction in drug use among college students in the past few years. Ditto for the suburbs. Mr. Jones says the dealers have been searching for a product that will prove popular. Most of these things scare people, but they’ve done some test-marketing and Mr. Jones says the response to morphine has been very strong.”
    “Test-marketing?” Downey said with disbelief.
    Emily Lawrence nodded. “They think that with the economy so strong, they can build the business very substantially among these two target groups.”
    Anita Rogan nodded. “Makes perfect sense.”
    “That’s what’s scary about it,” said Emily Lawrence. “It’s so plausible. So levelheaded. So perfectly sensible from a business standpoint. They believe that morphine is right for a number of reasons. It’s safe. In part because it’s so high-grade. It’s taken orally, so there isn’t an HIV issue. It’s priced within reason. And it’s one of the greatest highs ever. Obviously, whoever is behind this knows what they’re doing. There are more than a half-million students in the Greater Boston area. Another million yuppies in the suburbs making good money. Think of the implications.”
    And to these law enforcement professionals experienced in the drug wars, the implications were immediately clear. Such a product could have enormous appeal, and if sold and distributed by a new broker, would attractthat traditional source of narcotics—organized crime—and quite likely result in a vicious and deadly territorial war.
    These men and women knew that the suburban cocaine scourge of the 1980s had been defeated not only by the collapse of the economy, but by the diligence of law enforcement officials. It had been very difficult, nasty work, however, and fighting again in the leafy suburbs was not something they wished to do.
    “I don’t want to sound preachy, but I say this because I believe it: Those of us in this room can stop this,” said Emily Lawrence. “It will require the same diligence and persistence we all displayed fighting cocaine. And it will not be easy, but it will be vastly easier if we’re able to cut it off before it begins. And that means doing whatever we have to do to prevent the shipment that’s coming from reaching its distribution channels. Ideally, obviously, our goal is to figure out who’s behind this, grab them and the morphine before the deal is consummated. And I think we can do that. But it will take some cooperation.”
    She glanced around the table at the men and the woman from the various law enforcement agencies. Everyone nodded in agreement, with the exception of Del Rio. He sat stonily silent.
    “Do we have any idea when this is coming down?” Duffy asked.
    “Mr. Jones wants to talk about the terms of a deal before he says anything more,” said Emily.
    “Have you pressed?” Del Rio asked. He set down a Dunkin’ Donuts coffee container and sat back in his seat.
    Emily shrugged. “As much as we’re able. Mr. Jones is rather theatrical. He goes at the pace he wants to go at.In the Suarez case it took him a year before he was ready to give us everything.”
    “But it sounds like there’s a sense of urgency here,” Anita Rogan said.
    “How much leverage do we have?” Downey asked. “I mean, I wonder how far a