Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 82187 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82187 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
God rolled his eyes.
“Because we noted too many heat signatures. I’d never take that kind of fight onto the streets and risk innocents getting caught in the crossfire.”
“Let’s just watch the footage,” his captain said.
Every angle showed clean takedowns, all nonlethal rounds, no casualties, full recovery, and Mercer apprehended.
Just how they’d planned it.
And IA was still trying to sink them.
One pencil-thin IA agent leaned forward, voice nasally, pen tapping the table. “Godfrey, your men never announced the warrant before breaching.”
God shot him an exasperated look. “Oh, you mean in between the hail of gunfire. I did produce the warrant, but it was blown out of my fuckin’ hand by a semi-automatic.”
A ripple of laughter from his team went around the table.
The inspector from the commissioner’s office, who’d been outraged over Vasquez’s beating, was seated near the back. He cleared his throat. “Gentlemen, let’s keep this serious.”
The IA idiot glared back at him.
“Inspector Joshi, stay in your lane. You were brought in for one reason. Stick to it.”
Day glared at Joshi.
“And what lane is that, exactly? So far, all I’ve seen you do is stroll around the precinct in thousand-dollar suits and stare people down like you’re a bachelor scoping out prospects.”
Before Joshi could answer, Ro burst in, tossing a stack of files that slid halfway down the table.
“Interrogated two of the big buyers. One from Houston, the other from Miami. Both claim that Mercer set them up.”
God narrowed his eyes. “Mercer flipped?”
Syn shook his head. “Not as far as we know.”
Joshi scanned over one of the files before noting, “Your last two operations came up empty, Lieutenants. This one fell right into your lap. Mercer and all the big players. That’s a helluva coincidence.”
God pfftd. “Ever heard the saying: don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?”
The smooth man shot back, “Yeah, well, that’s one fat-ass gift horse.”
Ro pointed at his files.
“Mercer told them he had inside info, and that it was safe to meet for the deal.”
Free shook his head. “Fox and I scoured every call log. Nobody inside gave him shit.”
Captain Murphy leaned forward, tone steely, back straight despite the dark circles under his eyes. “Are you seriously trying to turn the biggest win this city’s seen in years into a fuckup?”
The IA lead stood and gathered his notes.
“Godfrey, Day, your unit will be audited, effective immediately. The task force is suspended until further notice.”
For a beat, silence hung heavily around the table.
God cracked a slow grin at his husband, getting a slow nod in return.
Ruxs clapped his hands hard. “Good! Because we’ve got nonrefundable tickets to Cancun next week.”
Green stood and grabbed Ruxs’s hand and dragged him toward the door. “We’ll see y’all on the next go round.”
“I just need you two to do one more thing,” his captain said. “The deputy mayor is holding a press conference at nine. After that…take some extended leave.”
God leaned back in his chair. Fuck yeah, I am.
God
A cluster of microphones buzzed on top of the wooden podium on the steps outside the precinct.
Dozens of reporters were crammed shoulder to shoulder with cameras perched on tripods, the lenses pointed at God’s face.
God and Hart stood in front, with Day on the other side of him. Syn and Ro flanked them with their arms crossed, looking as if they wanted to be anywhere but there. Wes and Law lingered half in shadow, tossing anxious glances back and forth at each other.
The deputy mayor smoothed his hand over his toupee before he stepped up to the microphones.
“Tonight, the City of Atlanta owes a great debt of gratitude to Lieutenants Godfrey and Day’s task force and the exceptional SWAT team who works alongside them. The war on drugs in this city is far from over. But we won this round of the battle. And we did it without a single life lost!”
Applause and cheers rose from the crowd until the deputy mayor raised his hand to quiet them.
“We seized a record number of illegal narcotics and eleven violent criminals are off our streets today and will be for a very long time.”
Hands shot up in the air from every reporter, and God wanted to turn and walk away.
“Mayor Whitaker, what charges will Mercer be facing?”
“Is there evidence tying him to any murders?”
“Why did it take so long for this operation to get underway? And is it possible Mercer might get off again on another technicality?”
Mayor Whitaker leaned in, answering firmly.
“Mercer faces multiple federal and state charges. Drug trafficking, conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute, assault on a police officer, and organized crime. As for murder, that investigation is ongoing. There’ll be no technical errors. The bust was the result of tireless planning and brave execution by Day and Godfrey’s team and the SWAT unit.”
A woman shouted from the third row, “Mr. Mayor, was there an informant inside the task force tipping off Mercer? It’s rumored that’s what took so long to bring him down.”