Free Rough Justice by Stephen Leather Page A

they’ve faked evidence, and there’s a very good chance that they’ve committed murder,’ said Button.
    ‘They’ve beaten up Yardies, put a drug-dealer behind bars and maybe killed a paedophile,’ said Shepherd.
    ‘They’ve broken the law, Spider. We can’t be selective about justice. People either obey the law or they don’t.’
    Shepherd tapped the photographs of the three injured Yardies on the airport Tarmac. ‘Don’t tell me you feel sorry for them. We’re better off without them in our country, and if the government was doing its job they wouldn’t be here in the first place. And don’t get me started on paedophiles. You know as well as I do that there’s no curing a paedophile. They’ll keep on offending until they die. The only way of dealing with them is to lock them up so they can’t get near kids.’
    ‘There’s a few psychologists that would argue with you there’ said Button.
    ‘Once a nonce, always a nonce,’ said Sharpe. ‘And that’s a fact.’
    ‘Thank you for your input, Razor,’ said Button. ‘But it’s also a fact that murder is a crime, no matter who the victim is.’
    ‘You’re a mother, Charlie. How would you feel if someone molested her? Or worse?’ said Shepherd.
    ‘I’d rather not think about it but, frankly, it’s irrelevant.’
    ‘I know that if anyone ever deliberately hurt Liam, they’d have me to deal with.’
    ‘I do hope you’re not condoning vigilantism, Spider.’
    ‘I’d do what I had to do,’ said Shepherd.
    ‘Is that what you think these cops have become?’ asked Sharpe. ‘Vigilantes?’
    ‘That’s exactly what we think,’ said Button.
    ‘There’s no profit involved? They’re not ripping off their cash or drugs?’
    ‘There’s no evidence of that, no.’
    Sharpe sat back and folded his arms. ‘Then I for one think we should just leave them to it. Or give them a medal.’
    ‘Well, thankfully, the fate of the British criminal justice system doesn’t rest in your hands,’ said Button.
    ‘Again, Razor does have a point,’ said Shepherd. ‘We’re SOCA, the Serious Organised Crime Agency. My understanding is that we’d be going after drug-dealers, people-traffickers, armed robbers.’
    ‘What these guys are doing is serious and organised,’ said Button.
    ‘But they’re cops. We go after villains.’
    ‘In this case, the cops are villains,’ said Button.
    ‘Professional Standards investigate bad cops,’ said Sharpe. ‘That’s what they do.’
    ‘In this case, the commissioner for the Met has asked for our assistance.’
    ‘Then you should just say we’re too busy,’ said Shepherd. ‘I didn’t sign up to investigate cops.’
    ‘Perhaps “asked” is the wrong word,’ said Button. ‘The commissioner spoke to the Home Secretary and the Home Secretary spoke to my boss and my boss spoke to me and now I’m telling you two that your next assignment is to investigate these cops. And you can huff and puff as much as you want but at the end of the day that’s what you’re going to be doing.’
    Shepherd sighed. ‘Has anyone looked at the crime stats for the area that these guys work in?’
    ‘Crime’s down, if that’s what you’re getting at,’ said Button.
    ‘That’s exactly what I’m getting at,’ said Shepherd. ‘If they’re running drug-dealers out of town and crippling housebreakers and putting bad guys behind bars by whatever means, then I figure all the crime stats will be on the way down.’
    ‘Please don’t even think about saying that the end justifies the means.’
    Shepherd opened his mouth to reply but then thought better of it. There was no point in arguing with Button because basically she was right. It didn’t matter what the profession, a criminal was a criminal and SOCA was in the business of putting away criminals.
    ‘And what am I doing while Spider’s getting up close and personal with the TSG?’ said Sharpe.
    Button flashed him a sarcastic smile. ‘I’m so glad you asked,