Fletcher could see the New York Mets Citi Field and the Triborough, Whitestone, and Throgs Neck bridges, all close by around him. In the near horizon was the majestic skyline of Manhattan. The night was dark, but the city’s lights glittered everywhere on this cold evening. Directly below, however, there was little light. These Queens streets were not part of the great, powerful metropolis. They hid more than they revealed.The NYPD Harbor Scuba Team was an elite corps of police divers trained to deploy into any New York City waterway within six minutes. Detective Eddie Nardelli headed the team of two divers riding in the NYPD Aviation Unit helicopter for tonight’s rescue mission. Nardelli and his partner, fellow detective Kenny Rivera, were both in their black wetsuits, their scuba tanks already strapped on their backs. They were each armed with Smith & Wesson semiautomatic 9mm handguns with fluted firing pins capable of firing even after being submerged in the water, and they were ready to jump from the helicopter into the black murky waters around Flushing.“Fletcher,”
