Part 30 (1/2)

'Just rumors.'

'I don't think so.'

'Okay, where were we on the brief? Oh, read the search-and-seizure cases-'

'I did. Last year, for your cla.s.s.'

'I still can't place you.'

'I hid out in the back, behind my laptop. I was too afraid to speak up.'

'I don't know why you guys are so afraid of the other students-'

'We're afraid of you.'

'Me?'

'You're, like, a G.o.d at the law school.'

'I'm just a teacher. Teaching old cases that don't make a heck of a lot of difference in people's lives. But out here, I can make a difference. Sometimes.'

'But not this time?'

'Apparently not.'

'You ready to tell me the story?'

'What story?'

'How Nathan saved your life?'

Chapter 19.

'You got me fired, you sorry son of a b.i.t.c.h.'

'Mr. Koontz, my father was a cop. An honest cop. You're a disgrace to the badge. h.e.l.l, you're a disgrace to the human race. But you shouldn't worry about losing your job. You should worry about going to prison. You know what the inmates do to dirty cops in prison?'

Book turned away from Buster Koontz. Turning his back on a dirty cop was a mistake, even in a courthouse. He did not see Buster reach to his leg and draw his backup weapon from a concealed ankle holster.

He pointed the gun at Book and fired.

The first letter had arrived four weeks before, on a Monday, the same day Nathan Jones started his tenure as Book's intern. His first a.s.signment was to read and write responses to incoming mail, typically letters seeking speaking appearances, blurbs for books, recommendations for employment, and comments on important appellate cases-not letters seeking justice.

'Professor,' Nathan had said when Book returned from cla.s.s, 'you should read this letter.'

Back in the eighties, the bureaucrats running the war on drugs in Was.h.i.+ngton dreamed up 'regional drug task forces.' The idea was to coordinate law enforcement efforts across jurisdictional boundaries to better combat drug distribution in the U.S. Funded by the Feds, managed by the states, and manned by the locals, the task forces were granted authority to fight the war on drugs across wide swaths of America. But federal funding was 'incentivized': the more arrests you made, the more funds you got, similar to farm subsidies. If you subsidize corn, you'll get more corn; if you subsidize drug arrests, you'll get more drug arrests. The one thousand drug task forces now make two million drug arrests each year in the U.S. And the key to 'making the numbers,' as the arrest game is called, is hiring experienced undercover narcotics agents from outside the locality to come in under fake ident.i.ties and make the 'buy-bust' arrests. These agents move from task force to task force. They are not the Eliot Nesses of law enforcement; they are 'gypsy cops,' as they've come to be known in the business.

Buster Koontz was one such cop. He saw himself as a Dirty Harry type even though he was short and squat instead of tall and lean like Clint Eastwood. But he was dirty. The badge gave him power, and the power fed his ego. Buster rolled into the small South Texas town in the summer of 2007. In less than a year, he had conducted undercover operations that resulted in the arrest and conviction of fifty-three Hispanics, mostly young Mexican nationals with limited English language skills, all for 'delivery of a controlled substance,' i.e., drug dealing. Fifty-three drug dealers in a town of three thousand. His testimony was the only evidence presented at trial. The prosecution offered no corroborating evidence-no surveillance videotapes, no audiotapes, no wiretaps, no photos-nothing except Agent Koontz's word that he had purchased illegal drugs from the defendants. But his word was enough to secure convictions from juries determined to fight crime in their town and a judge seeking reelection. The mother of one defendant saw Book on television and wrote him the letter. Book turned to his new intern.

'Mr. Jones, we're going to South Texas.'

'Uh, Professor, I'd rather not.'

'Why?'

'Well, I read it's kind of dangerous down there, with the drug cartels.'

'So?'

'So ... I'm afraid.'

'Nothing to be ashamed of, Mr. Jones.'

'You're not afraid. Of anything. Even dying.'

'I'm afraid of not living.'

'Me, too.'

'No, you're afraid of dying, Mr. Jones.'

A week later, Book and Nathan Jones rode the Harley to South Texas. Nathan had conducted an Internet search on Buster Koontz and discovered that his past was checkered, to put it mildly. He was a drug task force hired gun, moving from small town to small town, putting up high conviction rates and then moving on. But scandal lingered behind: allegations that he had committed perjury-one convicted defendant was released from prison when his family produced time-stamped videotapes that proved he was at work when the alleged buy went down; another was released because he had been in jail in another county for drunk driving when Buster testified he had made the buy. Their first encounter with Buster Koontz was less than cordial.

'I want to commend Agent Koontz for his courage in wiping out the drug trade in our town. His remarkable work has resulted in twenty-two more arrests ...'

The local district attorney (up for reelection) was holding a press conference on the steps of the county courthouse to announce the latest victories in the war on drugs. Agent Koontz stood next to him and basked in the glory. Three print reporters and a camera crew from the Laredo TV station captured the moment. When the D.A. paused, Book jumped in.

'Mr. District Attorney, are you aware that Agent Koontz produced the same remarkable results with drug task forces in seven other states over the last eleven years, but that many of the convictions based on his testimony are now being overturned because Agent Koontz committed perjury and fabricated evidence. That many of his colleagues on those task forces regarded him as a racist, a liar, a bully, a rogue cop, and even mentally unstable. That-'

'Who the h.e.l.l are you?'

'Professor John Bookman, University of Texas School of Law.'

'And what brings you to our county?'

'Injustice.'

The D.A. cut short the press conference and retreated to his office in the courthouse. Agent Koontz did not retreat. He fought past the reporters asking if Book's claims were true and grabbed Book's arm. Book eyed Buster's hand and then Buster.

'You don't want to do that.'

'What?'