As I gazed around the parking lot, I took a headcount. I counted every man from the crew that had backed me up, I counted all of the people being escorted out of the diner, and I even counted the members of the Black Flags that were being put in handcuffs and hauled away two and three at a time.
Everyone I cared about was alive.
But, this area wouldn’t ever forget what happened this evening.
“What in the hell is all this!?”
The chief’s voice caught my attention and ripped me from my trance. “Chief Lundson!”
He walked over to me with a stern look on his face. “What in the absolute hell happened out here? And why the hell are you dressed like that!?”
I grinned. “Remember that plan I told you about?”
I held out my arms as if I had done something to be proud of, and that softened the chief a bit.
“Care to walk me through how seven people ended up dead on my crime scene?” he asked as he quirked an eyebrow at me.
I sighed. “Yes, things got a bit out of control. But, to be fair, this is why you don’t need to be making so many budget cuts. I didn’t have near the kind of control I would have had if some officers from your precinct helping me out tonight.”
His eyes grew stern. “Save the preaching and start talking.”
I closed my eyes. “I went undercover on Baron Street and found the Black Flags’ bottom girl. Her name was Beth Carter, and she agreed to meet me here this evening to talk. Only, it was an ambush set-up.”
“So, you got seven dead bodies and nothing.”
My eyes snapped open. “I sure as hell didn’t say that.”
He glared down at me and I corrected myself. “Sir.”
His cheeks puffed out with a sigh. “Tell me what you know.”
I turned my back to the chaos and leaned into his ear. “Beth finally cooperated when I told her she’d been looking at accessory charges for protecting the crew. She told me of a warehouse that’s not too far from here. Maybe only ten or so minutes? It’s a deserted warehouse the crew uses not only as their storage point for the girls to be brainwashed, but the upper loft area of the warehouse is their clubhouse. And with this shootout, we don’t have much time to get there before they’re all going to scatter to the wind.”
He nodded. “What’s left of them, anyway.”
I watched as an E.M.T. rolled a body by me, and when the hand slipped out from beneath the white sheet I saw her rings. Beth’s rings. The glittering, shining rings that were probably the only things she had in her life that she honest-to-God owned.
“That her?” Chief Lundson asked.
I nodded softly. “Yeah, that’s her.”
He drew in a deep breath. “She got a family around here?”
I shrugged. “Probably not. Most families will disown their children once they figure out the kind of lifestyle they’ve slipped into.”
I felt him staring at the top of my head. “Well, let me see what I can dig up. And if she doesn’t have any family, maybe I can move some things around in the budget and give her a little burial.”
I looked up at him. “You’d do that?”
“You just better hope this warehouse thing checks out, because that’s all we’ve got after this charade out here.”
I turned to face him. “Trust me, I know it’s going to check out. Let’s go, I know the way so I can–.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” he said as he placed his hand on my shoulder, “you’re not going anywhere.”
My eyes widened. “With all due respect, this was my case that I took on.”
“And now, we can take it from here.”
“But, Chief–.”
He placed both of his hands on my shoulders. “You did good work. Your reputation more than precedes you. But, you lost your informant tonight, and that’s going to alter how you view things going forward. You gave us everything we need to take these guys down, so let us take it into the finish line.”
“I don’t start something I know I can’t finish.”
He grinned. “Then, it’s a good thing you have. You connected the dots. You got us our proof. That was the whole point of you coming here, right?”
He had a point. “Okay, okay, fine. But, you need to know that the girls you’re going to find are probably in the middle of being groomed. And depending on how much they’ve been groomed, they might fight back against you guys.”
“Trust me,” he said as he started walking toward his cruiser, “we won’t harm them. Hey! You guys!”
His piercing whistle cut through the stale night air as I folded my arms over my chest.
“Caster. Rock. Stable. With me, now!” he exclaimed.
He rounded up his guys before he brought them over to me and they all stared at me with willing eyes. I took a good, hard look at them, especially the one woman in the group. Because after what Chops told me, I had a feeling that most of the dirty cops in this precinct were female.
“Now, tell us where to find this warehouse,” the chief said.
I kept my eyes locked with the woman. “There was something Chops told me before we took him down. He mentioned seducing some of the women in the department before he convinced them to be on his payroll.”
The female officer shook her head. “I’ve only been part of this department for a couple of weeks now. I was just read in when I hit my shift a few hours ago.”
And when I was convinced that I believed her, I told them all what I knew in terms of the location of the warehouse.
Except, the chief had one last question for me. “How did the Dirty Misfits get involved with all of this? Were they at the diner when you got here?”
I puffed out my cheeks with a sigh. “They were, actually. I think Beth wanted to meet here because this is a local meeting point for the crew, and she thought that maybe the Black Flags were less likely to attack us if another crew was sitting around.”
The chief eyed me carefully. “Smart woman.”
I shrugged. “When the Black Flags rolled up on us and started shooting out windows, they were only acting in self-defense. I’m pretty sure those guys thought the Flags were coming after them.”
The chief’s cheek ticked with a grin. “I’m sure they did.”
“Either way, they were a massive help tonight. I’d be dead along with Beth if it weren’t for them.”
The chief turned around and looked at the guys before he placed his hands on his hips. “All right, everyone. Let’s move out. We don’t have much time before we lose them for good again!”
And as the officers jogged off toward their cruisers so they could go find the warehouse, my eyes gravitated back toward the guys. The men that had my backs this entire time. A crew that I had once slandered and spat upon before I came to know the people behind those leather cuts.
Before I came to fall in love with one of the men behind those leather cuts.
“Ready to head back?” Finn asked as he walked up to me.
My heart skipped a beat as his body heat radiated toward me. “Hell yeah, I am.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Then, let’s get the fuck out of here.”
And I couldn’t have agreed more.
