WITNESS

A Derrick Olin Novel

Stellen Qxz

Copyright © 2019 by Stellen Qxz

3rd Man Publications

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or institutions or events, is entirely coincidental. (And you just try to prove otherwise!)

This is an authorized free edition fromwww.obooko.com

Although you do not have to pay for this book, the author’s intellectual property rights remain fully protected by international Copyright laws. You are licensed to use this digital copy strictly for your personal enjoyment only. This edition must not be hosted or redistributed on other websites without the author’s written permission nor offered for sale in any form. If you paid for this book, or to gain access to it, we suggest you demand a refund and report the transaction to the author and Obooko.

Copyright © 2019 by Stellen Qxz

3rd Man Publications

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or institutions or events, is entirely coincidental. (And you just try to prove otherwise!)

This is an authorized free edition from www.obooko.com

Although you do not have to pay for this book, the author’s intellectual property rights remain fully protected by international Copyright laws. You are licensed to use this digital copy strictly for your personal enjoyment only. This edition must not be hosted or redistributed on other websites without the author’s written permission nor offered for sale in any form. If you paid for this book, or to gain access to it, we suggest you demand a refund and report the transaction to the author and Obooko.

Also by Stellen Qxz on Obooko:

Robert Chandler & Alex Wells Series:

Principal Target

Cloak & Stagger

Extreme Prejudice

ChanWell

Hired Guns

Derrick Olin Series:

Compulsive

Criminal

Inactive?

Vicious

Deadline

Extraction

Purity

Reciprocity

Blackball

Retrograde

Fearless

Rogue

The Undercover Groomsman

Glock Smoke: A Derrick Olin Anthology

Traffic(k)

Faithful

Dangerous Liaison

Mercenary

Witness

The Asset

Other Works:

Lethal[a]

Critical Action[b]

Blood Debts

ABI Monk[c]

Pushback[d]

The Blown Whistle[e]

About the author: Since the age of 13 Stellen has written hundreds of short stories, novelettes, novellas, and novels. He is an avid reader of fiction and a lover of movies from the 1970s. When not writing, he works as a private security consultant.

For The Woman; daughter, mother, grandmother, friend. If medals were awarded, you’d have a chest full by now.

and:

Paresseux Garion, winner of hearts, changer of minds, inserter of foot into asses when necessary.

WITNESS

Chapter 1

Frankie Burrage may only be five and a half feet tall, and probably a buck forty soaking wet, but one should never underestimate a person based on size. An unfortunate and common mistake, and for some, it was often their last.

While it is true that Frankie is much better with a gun than with his bare hands—years as a shooter for Birmingham’s former top bad guy had seen to that—he has learned a thing or two about the unarmed arts since coming to work for me a few years ago. I watched him put those skills to good use this evening, much the same as a proud papa watching his kid parallel park the family sedan on her own for the first time after many hours of careful instruction and a fair amount of frustrated tears on both their parts.

Only Frankie wasn’t parking the family car, he was chopping the blade of his right hand across the side of the neck of the man who had tried to push past him into the ballroom, quickly following up with a kick to the shin, a raised knee to the solar plexus, and finally a kick to the groin, all delivered in rapid succession using the same leg. About as perfect a set of combination kicks as I have ever seen in operational execution against a much larger opponent.

Said opponent was now on the ground, attempting to clutch multiple points of painful impact, and there were, I believe, some tears in his eyes. That’s what happens when you’re an asshole and you encounter TripleD.

THE TEAM HAD BEEN CONTRACTED by Magic City Dreams Founder and CEO Nadya Shaba to provide security for a fundraiser at the Birmingham Crossplex in Five Points West this evening that was sure to draw some protestors. It was a fundraiser for Planned Parenthood of Alabama, which was in the process of building a new clinic on the west side of town to better serve minority communities in the area, and in light of recent draconian actions on the part of the state legislature in Montgomery, reproductive rights and freedoms were once again at the forefront of everyone’s consciousness, those pro, those con, and even those who probably didn’t care one way or the other.

There were a lot of lawyers getting rich right now fighting it out in court for both sides, and recently there had been some politically motivated groups fighting it out in person. Two Planned Parenthood rallies in downtown parks had recently been shutdown early due to threats on one occasion and actual violence on another. The Birmingham City Council had publicly come out in support of Planned Parenthood and rebuked the state legislature for their total abortion ban, but many citizens were beginning to complain that the city was spending too much money providing police security at these events and that the risk to the public might not be worth the cost.

“Horseshit,” was Nadya Shaba’s eloquent response when someone said something similar regarding her planned fundraiser at the Crossplex. “There is no price too high in defense of liberty and personal freedom. Anyway, West Precinct is just around the corner from the place, and as far as event security is concerned, I’ll be footing that bill personally.”

It’s good to be the Queen, I thought. And it’s good to be a rich queen, with a bit of a bleeding heart. And I’ve always personally liked the woman.

Of course the security she would be footing the bill for was my team and me, *D*D*D* Countermeasures; Deter, Disrupt, Defeat. The last D use to stand for Destroy but I have been advised that this sounds too bellicose, bloodthirsty even. And what’s wrong with that, I asked with a grin, but still agreed to the change anyway, after all, I was a businessman now, not a barbarian. More’s the pity.

The Crossplex hosts a lot of sporting events but the gymnasium can be converted into quite the ballroom/banquet hall with the right amount of notice and finance. Finance was never an issue for Nadya, her last divorce took care of that. So by the time the invitees started arriving for drinks as seven-thirty, the place was as well laid out as any fancy ballroom I had ever been in.

Actual physical security of the venue was handled by officers from Master-Plan Security, the best large-scale contractor in the state, and one with which I have a long-standing professional relationship. The current CEO is also a close personal friend. All it ever takes is a quick phone call to KeeAnn LaForge-Parker and I get whatever I need. There were twelve officers assigned, plus a sergeant to supervise. I’ve worked with most of them before, including the sergeant, so coordination with my team was easy enough.

And speaking of my team, George Oliver (Ollie), Frankie Burrage, Sheila, and Bert Cortez. An odd conglomeration of individuals as ever you would find, all with uniquely distinct backgrounds, and a group that in the beginning I was not sure would mesh well, especially with me leading them. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly proven incorrect as over the past couple of years they have demonstrated again and again that they are the best team of operators I’ve ever worked with; which is saying a lot, considering that just recently I celebrated my thirtieth year in the professional protection business, including ten years as an Air Force security and antiterrorism officer.

Nadya was in a sleeveless black evening gown, low-cut up top, of course, long on the bottom, but with a slit up the left leg stopping about three inches above her knee and showcasing her magnificently shapely thigh. At age sixty-seven the woman was still a head-turner and knew it well. She had started to let her gray grow out recently and her once long black mane was now equally mixed with silver. Her jewelry was modest in presentation but worth a fortune because I knew the woman never went for cheap. I especially liked the pearl choker at her throat, it went well with her milky complexion, and drew the eyes up toward her face, but that plunging cleavage would eventually draw most eyes back down, mine included.

I was near the south entrance talking to Ollie. Master-Plan officers in blazer uniforms were covering all the entrances and exits, as well as the back-of-house areas, but I had my people stationed close by the major points, with me roving around, and when Ollie felt he could move, he would do so as well after letting me know he was going mobile. We were both wearing dark suits and not liking it much, but if I do say so myself, we were two very dashing middle-aged black men in the prime of our lives. And I dare anyone to say different!

Nadya was talking to a group nearby, all but one of them female. She glanced over and caught my eye, smiled, hurriedly finished her conversation, then took one of the women by the arm and led her over.

“Uh-oh,” Ollie said under his breath. “Looks like Miz Nadya comin’ to see you. Think it be time for me to take another stroll, check on the rest of the troops, maybe hit the head while I’m at it.”

“Chicken,” I said under my breath as he quickly walked away. Although I could not see his face, I knew by the set of his shoulders that Ollie was grinning.

The woman with Nadya was quite attractive herself. Very light brown skin, thick black hair hanging just below her shoulders, dark brown eyes, large nose, full plum colored lips, and a full body, too. An inch or so taller than, Nadya, maybe, or it could simply be the difference in the heels both were wearing. Mid to late forties, I’d say. Not quite fifty, but getting there quick. She had on a blue evening gown, not quite as long as Nadya’s, but showing off nearly as much of her lovely brown cleavage as the hostess.

“Derrick,” said Nadya expansively, coming up and taking my hand, still holding on to the woman behind her. “Or should I say Superman?” She lowered her voice and added, “Maybe the Man of Steel?”

The woman behind her laughed and I liked her laugh. I cast a smirk at Nadya.

“Behave, Ms. Shaba,” I warned. “Or I might have to file a complaint with the EEOC about you creating a hostile work environment.”

Nadya snorted and squeezed my hand again.

“Then maybe I should do something really naughty so you’ll have something good to report,” she retorted, then laughed.

I laughed as well, leaned over and kissed her cheek. Though we had seen each other across the room most of the evening, this was the first time we had actually gotten a chance to speak. As usual, Nadya was the hostess with the mostest and took it as her personal mission to make sure that everyone was enjoying themselves, especially those with the fattest checkbooks, but she made time for everyone, even little ole me.

“Oh, Derrick, I have someone I want you to meet,” she said, turning and indicating the woman behind her, still holding onto her right arm. “This is Mrs. Monique Otis, but she goes by Niqe. And you two have something in common.”

I stared at Mrs. Otis curiously for a few moments, then extended my hand. She disentangled herself from Nadya with a wry look, then did the same.

“Derrick Olin,” I said. “Good to meet you, Mrs. Otis.”

Her handshake was firm but feminine, and she looked right into my eyes the whole time.

“Good to meet you as well,” she said in a voice deeper than I expected, and every bit as southern as a natural born Bama gal. “And if you don’t mind, I’m going to call you Derrick and you can call me Niqe.”

I told her I did not mind and she smiled, finally releasing my hand. I was a little disappointed about that.

“So, Derrick,” Nadya said, grinning at me. “You went to Jackson-West High School back in the 80s, right?”

I nodded. “Yep. Eighty-one to eighty-five. Ollie, too. That’s where we met. Earl Ashley Dexter as well.”

“Guess what Niqe does for a living?” she said.

I glanced at the other woman, smiled.

“Let me see,” I mused thoughtfully. “Lion tamer?”

Nadya laughed, Niqe smiled.

“Close in a way,” the latter said.

“She’s vice principal at Jackson-West,” Nadya said.

“Oh my,” I said, looking at Monique Otis. “That must be almost as exciting as taming lions.”

“And some days more,” the vice principal confirmed.

“How long have you been there?” I asked.

“Two years,” she told me. “Came over from Carver where I was an assistant vice principal and an English teacher for grades eleven and twelve, that’s my primary training, English teacher. Started out teaching primary school kids over twenty years ago, mostly loving it, or at least most parts of it.”

I could detect something unsaid there, glanced at Nadya and found her looking a little uneasy herself, definitely not normal for Ms. Shaba. However, before I could inquire, she spotted someone she needed to talk too and hastily excused herself, leaving J-W’s VP and me alone near the south entrance. We were still there talking about my old high school a few minutes later when Frankie had to put a party crasher on his ass and almost immediately afterwards Sheila called over the net about a large group of people who had begun to gather in the west parking lot carrying protest signs and TIKI torches.

Well, I thought ironically, this night just couldn’t get any better.

Niqe was standing aghast, left hand on her bosoms (lucky hand), and that’s when I saw her wedding ring for the first time. Pretty good size diamond cluster, no way was her husband a fellow teacher, he’d never be able to afford that set of rocks on a teacher’s salary. Not legally anyway.

I excused myself from the lady, telling her to stay close to the wall near the guard at the door and she would be all right, and without waiting for a response, made my way into the fray…

THE RECENTLY PROMOTED AND INSTALLED captain in command of the Birmingham Police Department’s West Precinct is a 44 year old twenty-two year veteran of the force who had spent the majority of his career working violent crimes, mostly as a homicide detective. Therefore, he knew the value of early proactive action when it came to curtailing such crimes, which means West Precinct, having been fully briefed on the fundraiser and understanding both the personal and political concerns at play, already had a presence in the area of the Crossplex and a plan to mobilize additional resources at a moment’s notice if they were necessary. This preparedness and quick action on the part of the new captain probably kept what otherwise might have turned into quite a violent protest with scores of injuries and arrests, down to a minor occurrence with no injuries to speak of and just three arrests, including the moron that Frankie had to put down, an individual the protest organizers later strongly denied was a member of their group.

The fundraiser ended at eleven and there was a heavy police presence still in the area as guests began to leave. Master-Plan officers continued to maintain watch of the ballroom as things wrapped up while my team slipped into the parking lot to keep an eye out, just in case.

Nadya and a few of the bigwig donors were among the last to leave and we escorted all of them to their vehicles. Nadya hugged and kissed me and told me she would talk to me tomorrow, and to send my bill to her accountant as soon as I was ready. I told her I would and bid her goodnight.

And then I saw Vice Principal Otis walking out of the main doors of the Crossplex building, glancing around, and still looking rather fetching. Ollie was at my shoulder.

“That the vice principal at J-W you was tellin’ me about?”

“It is,” I confirmed. “And I think I’m gonna go walk her to her car. You and the others do one last sweep of the place and then we’re done. I’m gonna have a word with the Master-Plan supervisor before I go, too. I’ll get in touch tomorrow for a wrap up rundown before I write it up.”

I could hear the snicker in his voice when he replied, “Aye, Aye, Commander.”

Ignoring my second-in-command’s puerile attitude, I walked toward Mrs. Otis as she came down the steps.

“Looks like you’re closing the place down tonight,” I said with a smile. “The last one to leave.”

She stopped and smiled.

“Well it was such a fun party,” she said. “Complete with full-contact combat. You guys really know how to show a girl a good time.”

I smiled again, held out my left arm. “May I escort you?”

Grinning, Niqe Otis nodded, took my arm.

“Yes, sir,” she said formally. “You may.”

Coincidentally, her red Durango was parked two spaces from my jeep. I stood aside as she took her keys from her purse, used the fob to unlock the door, then turned to stare at me, that same expression of wanting to say something back in her eyes. After a few moments I decided to ask.

“What is it?” I said. “Back before the ruckus you appeared to want to ask me something. And Nadya was a bit odd earlier, too, which for Nadya is not all that unusual, but there was something in her eyes, and the way she brought you over to meet me. Tell me.”

She stared for a few more moments, forced a smile.

“Nadya was right about you,” she said. “You don’t miss a thing.”

“Occupational hazard,” I told her.

She nodded.

“Well, Derrick, as vice principal, one of my areas of responsibility is security for the school,” she told me, and then I got it or so I believed.

I nodded.

“Not an easy thing in today’s environment,” I said.

“You better believe it,” she said. “Especially with budget cuts, not only in the school system, but also in the police department. And the apparent ready access that everyone, even children, seems to have to guns these days. Look, it’s late and I know you probably want to get home, me, too actually. Got an early day tomorrow. But Nadya suggested that I talk some things over with you and get your take. If you have some time in the near future, I’d love to buy you lunch.”

And I’d love to eat lunch with you, I thought.

I told her that would be fine and we exchanged numbers and email addresses. She thanked me, held out her hand, and we shook. I stood back and watched as she belted herself in, started the engine, and backed out. She waved before driving off, smiling, her eyes focusing on mine for maybe a few seconds longer than was necessary.

Ollie was at my left shoulder again.

“I saw you get her number,” his deep voice was filled with a sarcastic tint.

I sighed but didn’t turn to look at him.

“I know she’s a high school administrator, Ollie, but we aren’t in tenth grade anymore. And I got her number for professional purposes.”

“I’ll bet,” he snorted. “This wrapped up here, I was gonna cut the troops loose.”

“Sounds good,” I told him. “Head out yourself. I’m gonna say a word to the Master-Plan sergeant and I think the BPD patrol sergeant is still over there, too. Want to thank her and her captain for being on the ball tonight.”

Ollie nodded.

“A good night, all considered,” he said. “Kind of pissed at Frankie, though. He the only one of us got to bust a head.”

I chuckled, glanced at him then.

“Well at least he didn’t shoot anybody.”

Ollie laughed and then we said goodnight.

Chapter 2

Farina Warren has been with the local NBC affiliate in Birmingham for just over seven years, having spent the previous twenty years of her journalism career in a variety of high-flying assignments, some in far away and dangerous locations around the globe. She was an investigative reporter by training and desire, and had broken many major stories in her time, several while working in the Magic City, and had received just about every accolade and award for journalism that currently existed. I had no doubt that one day some intrepid young reporter would be receiving an honor called the Farina Warren Award for Journalistic Excellence, or something similar. Getting her to come to Birmingham had been a major coup for the local market, and offered stability to her sometimes chaotic family life.

She was initially hired as the Special Assignments Anchor and was given her pick of stories to work on and present in both on-air and digital formats. A year ago there was a shift in the news division at Channel 13, a reshuffling and consolidation of some of the desks. Special Assignments was merged with Special Investigations and Farina took on the new role of Chief Investigative Correspondent for the network, as well as associate managing editor of the news division.

The work was challenging, but she loved it, and despite all that it entailed, the huge chunk of her life that it took up, she still found the time to be a mom to three young and energetic children, two of them twins (she didn’t become a mom for the first time until she was forty), wife to an equally busy former photojournalist turned freelance photographer, and a very enthusiastic sportswoman. Farina was the daughter of an Olympic gold medal winner. Three gold medals, actually, and she had inherited the athletic gene herself.

She was six feet tall, at least, maybe a little more, slender and statuesque, with smooth, light brown skin and shoulder length hair that was still amazingly dark despite her having recently celebrated her fifty-fourth birthday. She did triathlon, she did 10-K fun runs, and three times now she had competed in marathons, Boston twice, New York once. It was exhausting just knowing her. I was almost fifty-two, in decent shape, ran, worked out several times a week, but she would leave me in the dust after a couple of miles, no doubt about that.

In fact, right now she was about to kill me. Still, if I had to go, this was probably the best way that I could imagine it happening.

I was flat on my back in the middle of the queen sized bed in my bedroom, the covers thrown off somewhere on the floor, my naked body covered in perspiration from stem to stern, my breathing barely controlled, my energy all but depleted, all my reserves focused in one direction: my cock!

Farina was sitting on top of me, her tight, shapely rump against my thighs, her long, sinewy legs across my chest, her ankles pinning my shoulders to the bed, and just to prove how limber she is, she bent at the waist, folding her long body in half so that she was looking directly into my eyes as she squeezed me in her womb. It was the oddest thing I have ever experienced, and that’s no joke. It was also one of the most uncomfortable, but at the same time, damn was it fucking hot!

I had actually cum about three minutes ago, and I’d lost count of how many trips over the edge Farina had made in the last hour, but she seemed determined to keep going, to see just how far she could push me before I cried uncle! Or died.

And then there was another surge of energy from somewhere, and I started moving my pelvis against her, grinding as hard as I could. Her deep brown eyes widened and her full red lips curled into a wicked smile. Drops of sweat fell from her forehead onto my face, and she appeared about to say something, but then her eyes rolled back in her head and she sat bolt upright as her whole body began to shake and she howled like a wolf at midnight. Or maybe like a horny black MILF whose G-spot had just gotten the right amount of stimulation to cause her to squirt like a fountain. This probably explained why I was a lot wetter down below than I had been just seconds before.

“YOU KNOW, IF YOU BREAK HIM, there are a lot of women in this town who might come for your head.”

Farina grinned as she lay on her stomach about ten minutes later, fresh from the bathroom, playful. Her long legs were together, her feet raised off the bed and crossed at the ankles. We were lying at the foot of the bed, both still naked, me on my back, my hand on her butt.

“Let the bitches come,” she said with defiance in her dark eyes. “Or maybe not,” she laughed, realizing the joke.

I laughed, too.

“You’re very bad today, Mrs. Warren,” I said, smacking her rump once.

She inhaled, leaning her head down on her folded arms, her face toward me.

“And you like me this way, don’t you?”

“I do. Although I’m not sure if I’ll ever be up for that one again. At times there it felt as if you were going to pull my cock off. Like she wanted to eat him up or something.”

Giggling, Farina raised her head, glanced down at my groin.

I held up a warning finger.

“Don’t go getting any ideas, missy,” I told her.

She laughed, glanced back over her shoulder at the bedside clock.

“Damn, I’m going to have to go in a bit,” she said, rolling onto her back.

I turned on my side and stared at her. There is nothing more exquisite than lying next to a naked woman after sex, any woman. Especially when the sex is so satisfying for both of you. I leaned over and kissed her shoulder, placed my hand on her tummy. The woman had very little body fat, and considering how much she worked out, in and out of bed, this was no wonder.

“Really?” I said. “Because I was just about to get my fifth wind, see if it was possible for Little Derrick to make one last ride.”

Farina snickered, took my hand and interlaced her fingers through it, both now resting on her bellybutton.

“Derrick ain’t that little,” she said to me. “But I’m afraid that I have to go, it’s a work thing. Need to meet a source about a story I’m trying to flesh out. Could turn into a major thing if I can confirm some more rumors. If true, it’ll be a really big story in this town.”

“Well now that you’ve teased me,” I said, snuggling closer.

She shook her head, looking into my eyes.

“Can’t say more right now, Derrick,” she said. “Not enough details, and if what I am getting whispers about is true, this story might be very sensitive.”

“You mean like my cock after all the bending and stretching you’ve done to it today?” I quipped.

She snickered again, turned on her side, raised her right thigh over my left.

“Even more sensitive than that, lover-man,” she said, then pressed her lips to mine. We lay together and kissed and played for a few minutes more, then NBC-13’s chief investigative correspondent rolled her lovely naked ass out of my bed and made her way into the bathroom, admonishing me from the doorway not to follow her.

If only she hadn’t been smiling and naked when she said it.

Bounding off the bed a minute later and heading in that direction, I was pleased to see Little Derrick rising for the occasion.

Chapter 3

TripleD was moving up in the world, and that made me think of the old TV sitcom The Jeffersons. Only in the case of TripleD, we were movin’ on up to the west side. Ensley to be precise, where it all began. Well, at least where I all began.

19th Street Ensley, the most magical place in the world, or at least it had been for little Derrick Olin back in the 1970s when he was growing up. When I was growing up. Starting to sound like Bob Dole there, referring to myself in the third person. So back to 19th Street Ensley and the magic.

Well by the time I was in high school that magic was fading fast as crime and poverty set in. When I graduated from college in 1989 and left for the Air Force, it was among the city’s worst neighborhoods with high rates of violent crime lingering until this day, thanks to fuckheads like the late Innes Redbone and the more recently late Malik Oldham, gangsters who made their livings off of human weakness and misery. However, with the passing of both those assholes and the dismantling of their criminal enterprises by the Birmingham Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Taskforce, not to mention a fair amount of investment and determination by people like my friends Earl Ashley Dexter and Reggie Killingworth, Ensley was making a comeback. Not fast, but steady, first with businesses moving back to the area, and eventually with new residents following suit as blight was removed by the city and neighborhoods were once again becoming livable and safe.

When I was a kid, there was an Ensley business district about eight blocks up from my house on 19th street, and you could find everything there. This was in the days before all the big box stores came to be and pretty much decimated community-based shops. Back then whatever you wanted you never had to leave Ensley to find it. I was saddened to see what had become of my old stomping grounds after leaving the Air Force and coming back in mid-1999, and sadder still because I knew there was nothing I could do, which is why I found a place to live in one of the suburban neighborhoods to the south of Birmingham; Homewood, which just happened to be the city where my old university was and is still located.

So to wind down this whole meander just a bit, the reason for the stroll down my memory lane is because recently the newly formed Ensley-Pratt Business and Neighborhood Revitalization Project had purchased one of the oldest buildings in the city, which just happened to be in Ensley, at the corner of 19th Street and Avenue E. And for the neighborhood, the Ramsay-McCormack Building was the tallest as well. Way back when, it was home to all kinds of professionals from doctors to lawyers and everything in between. It had fallen into receivership in the late 1980s and had been there ever since, dilapidated and falling apart, an eyesore to the community and a constant reminder of how far a once proud neighborhood had fallen.

The Ensley-Pratt Business and Neighborhood Revitalization Project—and they need to get a bloody shorter name—is the brainchild of my old chums, Mr. Dexter and Mr. Killingworth, and they are the co-chairs. They also co-own the building now, personally poured in a couple of million bucks of their own money to completely renovate the ten-story office tower and rechristened it the Dexter-Killingworth Building, or D-K for short. And in no time, with their connections to the business community throughout the city and the state, even across the southeast, the building was filling up with tenets.

Around this time Ollie and I had been hashing out plans for the future of our business venture and one of the things that had been weighing on my mind for quite a while was setting up an official office. For the most part since we began, my living room had been where we met and discussed business, usually over pizza or Chinese, and it wasn’t that I didn’t like having the guys and gal over at my place for these business sessions, but sometimes clients did not want to meet at their places of business because the matter they wanted to discuss was deemed too sensitive. On those occasions we usually used Ollie’s office at the Crossplex where EAD Enterprises and the Ensley-Pratt Business and Neighborhood Revitalization Project are headquartered. Ollie is still a senior vice president (at-large) with EAD.

The office was adequate to the task but over time I began to feel like an interloper there, using someone else’s business space instead of having one of my own. I considered renting an office there at one time and was thinking about it again when Ollie told me what Earl and Reggie were doing with the old Ramsay-McCormack Building in Ensley. That’s when I had a wild idea of my own.

Thanks to a recent windfall[vi], money was no object, sort of, at least for the time being. So I made a unilateral decision and called my good buddy Earl Ashley Dexter. The bastard said that because of my well-documented reputation for chaos and mayhem, he would have to charge me triple rent plus an insurance bond. But once he was reminded of all the shit I knew about him from nearly forty years of friendship, he told me we could settle for half the rent they were charging other tenants, and since I had so nicely blackmailed him, he’d let us have one of the four office suites on the top floor. At present no one else had taken one of them so I could have my pick of any. That decision I left up to the group, assembled them all one last time in my living room a month ago and told them what I was going to do, had already done. They each told me that it was about fucking time. The next day we went over to D-K and picked our new office, the suite facing north, which just happened to be the direction that Jackson-West High School lay in relation to the D-K Building.

There were two small offices in back of the suite; I got the one with the biggest window, by maybe a tenth of an inch. There was an open space in the middle big enough for four small desks, but we only needed three medium-sized ones, and a separate reception area out front. That led to another conversation and a lot of back and forth between the five of us. At the end the consensus was unanimous, TripleD needed a sixth wheel, somebody to run the office and manage the day-to-day business details since the other five of us were always working in the field. I had been doing most of that myself, and even with everything on the computer and alleged Smartphones abounding among us all, sometimes the actual work of the work got in the way of business details. Meaning we needed someone to take that task on full time. And coincidentally, around this time another good old buddy, Paige Palmer, mentioned something to me one day when we were having lunch. She knew somebody who was looking for a job, a former detective-investigator with the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office.

“And I’ll tell you right off, Derrick,” Paige said without preamble. “She’s former because she got fired. But that was politics. She’s a damned good cop, or was, and an even better person. She got a raw deal from those pricks up there. I met her last year when I was working with the DEA Taskforce up that way, she was assigned to it. Smart as a whip, knows computers in and out, too. She’s doing part-time PI work now, all over Northern Alabama while she’s looking for something better. I know she still wants to be a cop, but what you have might be better for her right now, let the dust settle on the Morgan County thing. You should at least talk to her.”

Well with Paige recommending them, that was good enough for a conversation. Glad I did, too. Three days after meeting with Ms. Jordana Kauffman, formerly of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office (pricks all of them), she became the first ever Office and Business Manager for *D*D*D* Countermeasures of Birmingham, Alabama, with offices located on the top floor, Suite B, at 508 19th Street Ensley, 35218.

Chapter 4

Jordana is thirty-eight, redheaded, tall, taller than me, not as tall as Ollie, with a rugged and healthy outdoorsy complexion and a confidence that can only come from working as a cop for twelve years, and being married to a Marine Special Operations officer for nine. She opened the office every weekday morning at 08:30 and closed it at 17:00, whether any of the rest of us was there or not. When not on a detail, I tried to drop by every day at some point, usually in the morning, sometimes hanging around till close of business just to make it appear that I was the guy in charge. Ollie popped in a few times a week as well, but the others only came by when required, and usually they had work to do thanks to our still growing and increasing business. A lot of small jobs, a quick protective escort for an out of town business person, security for an employee termination, and even some security courier jobs for local attorneys who wanted to make sure their hard-copy documents got to where they were supposed to unmolested. This bit was the result of work that began for Ashley Milner’s firm and she had spread the word far and wide that we did a great job, and since she was probably the most respected lawyer in the state, her endorsement carried a lot of weight (even though she is tiny).

Then there were the jobs like the fundraiser that required all of us on deck. Even though it was a short gig, the payday was always good. I was in my office finishing up the paperwork—although I haven’t written a report on paper in more than a decade—on that job, after action report, scheduling report, billing report, and when I was done I’d pass it along to Jordana to look it over one more time before sending everything to Nadya’s accountant so we could get paid.

Outside it was sunny, hot, and humid. In other words, a typical mid-June day in Alabama. Glad to be indoors with central air. I finished reading the billing report for the third time, satisfied that it was correct, closed the file and added it to the zip folder I was going to send to Jordana’s email. My mobile phone was on the desk to my right and it buzzed. I glanced over, saw that it was a text, smiled when I read the name.

The message was brief: “It was so good to meet you, Derrick, and I just wanted to say that I’m looking forward to talking with you more in the future.” Although it wasn’t necessary because of caller ID, the message was signed Niqe.

Smiling and leaning back in my chair, I thought for a few moments before typing out a quick reply, was about to put the phone down when a text came in from Bert Cortez. Status update on the job he was doing today. Just wanted to let me know that the employee termination at Farris Trucking went off without a hitch and he was hanging around for the rest of the day, as the contract stipulated, just in case the now former employee went home and decided to come back, perhaps with a gun, maybe with a lot of them. Over the next few weeks Bert would be making periodic checks at Farris, and keeping loose tabs on the terminated employee, monitoring his social media and such, just to see if he started making threats online regarding his ex-employer. This service was also included in the contract, and well-worth the price because too many times in the past, someone would be fired, stew about it for weeks, months, maybe even years, then one day they’d snap and go back to their former office and start killing people. Over the past decade, law enforcement has seen a significant increase in the number of these people who actually post about it online ahead of time but no one is paying attention or takes it seriously until it’s too late. Now the cops do, and so does TripleD.

I sent Bert a text in return, then sent the zip file to Jordana’s email. Not even a second later she was buzzing me on the intercom.

“Chief, you’ve got a visitor out here to see you.”

I shook my head, leaned back in my chair once more.

“Am I gonna have to start doing my Perry White impersonation?” I said, trying to sound irritated. “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me chief?”

“Sorry about that, Chief,” the smartass out front replied, not sounding the least bit sorry. “I’ll work on it. In the mean time, I’m not sure what you did, but the heat is out here, and it would be even more appropriate to call her chief.”

I frowned, sat forward.

“What?” I said.

“Your visitor is a cop,” she said. “Nice big gold badge with three stars on it that says Assistant Chief.”

Okay, I thought, still frowning, but standing as well.

“I’ll be right out.”

ANITA EPSTEIN WAS THE FIRST person to hold the recently created position of assistant chief in the Birmingham Police Department. She is a thirty-plus year veteran of the force, having started out at the age of twenty-one, worked in every division, holding every rank up through deputy chief, was the first Jewish woman to do so by the way.

She was smart, she was tough, and chances were good that she’d get the top slot in a few more years when the current chief retired from the job, or got canned like the last one. And I liked her. She hadn’t arrested me for anything yet so perhaps the feeling was mutual, although that might be about to change today as her stopping by was unannounced.

Instead of a uniform, today the assistant chief wore a black pantsuit and gray button-down silk blouse. Her shoulder length dark red hair was in the same style as always, neat and functional, far back from her eyes so that her peripheral vision was not affected. She smiled when I entered the reception area.

“Am I gonna need a lawyer?” I said with a smirk.

“Probably,” she returned, then smiled, holding out her hand. “I’m sure you’re guilty of something. Maybe a priest-confessor, too, or a rabbi.”

We shook hands, grinning at one another.

“Well I know I’m in trouble,” I said, glancing over at Jordana. “Two redheads in the office at the same time. Both with a history of arresting people.”

Anita glanced at Jordana.

“She used to be with Morgan County,” I said. “A detective.”

Anita nodded.

“Who’d you piss off to end up here?” said Birmingham’s number two cop, jokingly, of course.

Jordana smiled, a bit ruefully, before responding.

“The sheriff, the undersheriff, my captain, the DA, and the prick of a city councilwoman whose son I busted on drug charges,” she said matter-of-factly. Then added, “And I don’t regret it one bit.”

Anita Epstein glanced at the other woman for a few moments, then walked over and extended her hand. Jordana stood up and the two women looked into one another’s eyes as they shook hands.

“Good to know you, Detective Kauffman.”

“You, too, Chief Epstein.”

A few moments later, Anita turned to me, her expression solemn.

“Derrick, could I talk to you in private? I know I probably should have called ahead of time to make an appointment, but then I heard you had moved into a new office over here and thought I’d come by and have a look for myself. If you aren’t too busy.”

Smirking again, I indicated that she should precede me.

“Ms. Kauffman, if the governor calls, tell her to take a number. If the Secretary of Defense drops by, tell him we’ll have to reschedule that lunch.”

Ahead of me, Anita Epstein snickered. Jordana’s smirk was even better than mine.

I smiled and followed the assistant chief into my tiny office. It’s a good thing Epstein is kind of on the tiny side herself, otherwise I might have had to leave the door open.

Chapter 5

She got the tale out quickly, laying out the facts as she understood them, and just as quickly I saw that Chief Epstein had a very big problem on her hands. I also understood why she had come over to my office and wanted to talk about her problem in private. She wasn’t sure who she could trust in her own house, and when that happened, it was best to go outside. I was about as outside as she was likely to get and still be in the state.

“You oversee Internal Affairs, right?” I said.

“Yes,” she said. “A couple months ago the Chief decided to cut back from four bureaus to three, and while technically I still hold the title of Assistant Chief for Operations, the Administrative Services Bureau now falls directly under my managerial purview, and Internal Affairs, as part of Professional Standards, is under Administrative Services. In reality IA is outside the normal chain anyway, technically reporting directly to the Chief of Police. But essentially, to answer your question, yes. I directly supervise the C.O. for the Chief.”

“And they’re getting nowhere with their investigation?”

Epstein shook her head.

“No,” she said. “And that’s troubling, to say the least.”

“And you suspect there may be a problem in IA?”

“Derrick, I suspect there is a problem in the whole department. Which is the reason I’m sitting here talking to you right now while my assistant thinks I’m having my teeth cleaned. In the past four months we’ve had four CIs and two trial witnesses compromised. Three of the CIs have been murdered and both the witnesses have now refused to testify at trial. We’re compromised, badly, and lives are at stake.”

She paused, stared at me gravely.

“Do I need to give you the speech about the need to keep this confidential?”

“If you want to waste your breath, Anita,” I told her. “I’m not about to go running to the press with it. Have you considered going to the DA, or perhaps the feds? I don’t know the new FBI Special Agent in Charge over there yet, but there are some good people in the local field office.”

“I know,” she said testily, shifting and crossing her short legs in the single chair in front of my desk. “I’m not sure I want to bring the feds into this just yet, Derrick, and as far as the DA’s Office goes, the problem could just as easily be coming from there. And I know how paranoid that makes me sound.”

“Not paranoid, Anita, sensible. You’ve got a major problem on your hands, and in your shoes I might be suspecting everybody, too. So tell me, what do you want from me? TripleD is not a detective agency, and police internal affairs work is not up our alley, nor would I want it to be.”

She nodded.

“Yeah, I know, and I’m not here because I want you to help me investigate the internal problems at the PD, I’m working on that myself, using some folks I know I can trust, two of them. And I believe you know them both.”

I raised a brow inquisitively (Spock-like) but said nothing.

“Kurt Baxter, until recently a sergeant with the Neighborhood Enforcement Team working this area, as you know. He used to work for me back when I was captain out at East. Transferred to Criminal Intelligence a few months ago as a detective-sergeant. One of the highest felony arrest rates in the city, a real hard-charger, a former Army airborne ranger, and frankly, just too damned arrogant to be corrupted.”

I smiled.

“I’ll go along with that,” I said. “And Kurt is smart.”

“That he is,” said the assistant chief. “And so is Paige Palmer.”

Another eyebrow arch.

“As in former Lieutenant Paige Palmer?” I said. “And one-time second whip in CIU?”

“That would be her,” Epstein confirmed. “You know that even though she’s retired from the department she still consults, mainly with the feds, but I’ve known Paige a long time, trust her completely, and she owes me a couple of big favors.”

I smiled.

“Nothing like having a little personal blackmail to hold over your friends, is it, Chief?”

She grinned, nodded.

“So you’ve got some good help on the investigative side,” I said, leaning forward and folding my hands on the back of the desk. “What do you need from me and my people?”

“I need what all of you do best, Derrick,” she said, uncrossing her legs and leaning forward as well, her small hands resting on the front edge of my desk, her dark eyes on mine. “I need you to keep a man alive.”

Chapter 6

Benita Bender is a thirty-two year old up-and-comer in the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, currently assigned to the Felony Division. Recently she made national headlines when she came out in support of a woman who accused a former Jefferson County judge and prospective gubernatorial political appointee of sexual harassment years earlier while she was in law school and he was her mentor.[vii] Benita had once clerked for the judge in question and had experienced similar harassment, as had approximately a dozen and a half other women, all of whom came forward once Benita told her story to the press.

Online trolls and some rightwing politicians initially tried to savage her and her reputation, but she rose above it with the support of family, friends, and coworkers, not to mention her husband, who personally promised to beat anybody’s ass who said another bad thing about his wife on television or online. A brief word about the Mister, Aaron Jacobson. He’s the strength coach for the UAB Blazers football team, and he’s got arms the size of cannons. Nobody thought he was joking either.

Anita Epstein wanted me to talk to Benita before agreeing to do anything because this would require support from the DA’s Office, and Ms. Bender was in the assistant chief’s small circle of trust. As luck had it, the leggy brunette prosecutor was also in mine.

We met for breakfast the next morning, and unfortunately it wasn’t in bed. I really need to stop having impure thoughts about a woman young enough to be my daughter, but she isn’t my daughter. However, she is too young, by more than a decade. Ah well, at least we had breakfast.

There’s a place called Tellie’s Diner three blocks away from the DA’s Office downtown, Benita suggested we meet there and I agreed, at seven a.m. Luckily I usually get up at five anyway, had time for three miles and a light workout before showering and dressing, and had managed to work up a good appetite by the time I arrived at the diner ten minutes early. Benita was three minutes late and apologized profusely, but I instantly forgave her once I saw her smiling face. Plus the light gray skirt suit and black blouse that perfectly fit her tall and lean frame. She was about the same height as Farina Warren, and I should stop the comparison right there, lest my mind wander into dangerous, albeit familiar, territory.

I had a booth in the back and stood up when Benita came in glancing around. Our greeting was that of two good friends, a quick hug and kiss on the cheek, and after her apology and my acceptance, we sat just as the waitress came over. Benita ordered black coffee and I asked for orange juice.

“You know I could strongly distrust a man who doesn’t drink coffee,” she said with a sideways smirk as she set her purse on the floor next to the wall.

I smiled.

“At least I have an intact stomach lining,” I quipped and she smiled.

“That’s what antacids are for, dear” she said, picking up a menu and giving it a quick glance. I didn’t need to because I already knew what I was having. When the waitress came back with the coffee and juice, we placed our breakfast orders and then she went away.

“And you don’t eat meat either. I’m gonna have to keep my eye on you, Mr. Olin.”

“Not like I’m going anywhere any time soon,” I told her.

She stared back for a few seconds, then tested her coffee, frowning slightly, adding sugar and cream, and then seemed happy with the result.

“Not with the way you eat, you’ll outlive us all. Even the bad guys have probably learned by now to give up when you’re around.”

“If only they were that smart,” I said. We were both silent then, staring at one another, probably the same thought on both our minds.

Back during that unpleasantness regarding the former Jefferson County judge/sexual harasser, the situation became even more unpleasant by the end when the man’s unstable, pistol-packing son had come after Benita one afternoon in the 22nd Street parking garage just a few days before Christmas and I killed him. We hadn’t talked much about it, although I knew she was seeing a shrink to help deal with past traumas and maybe they talked about that incident as well. I was cool with it, the kid, who was twenty-three at the time of his death, was armed and about to kill Benita. I ordered him to stop, to put his weapon down, but he didn’t. It was either him or Benita, no contest in my book.

The DA and BPD cleared me in less than a day, and because of the state’s so-called Stand Your Ground law, if there is no criminal conviction, then there cannot be a civil action for wrongful death. Meaning I couldn’t be sued by the judge and his family. However, it did not mean that I couldn’t be savaged on local conservative talk radio by the judge’s media allies, but I was cool with that, too. I don’t do social media.

Right now I was pretty sure Benita was reliving that fateful December day and I reached across the table and squeezed her hand reassuringly. Suddenly she seemed to come back to herself and forced a smile, picking up her cup with her free hand and taking a sip.

“How’ve you been, Derrick?” she said, smiling again, interlacing her long fingers together behind her cup and focusing on me.

I told her I was doing well, brought her up to date on the new office, too. She found that amusing.

“Finally decided to start acting like a grown up and stop running your business out of your living room, huh? I suppose you can’t sit around the office in your underwear all day either.”

I chuckled.

“We have a very relaxed dress code at TripleD,” I told her, and she laughed.

She took a few minutes to catch me up on her life, office intrigues, a recent vacation she and her husband had taken to Mexico, and during this time our food arrived. We thanked the waitress, Benita ordered more coffee as well.

The DDA moved the food around on her plate with her fork for a minute, lifted some eggs to her mouth and chewed them down very carefully. I was eating some grits when she looked over at me.

“So the assistant chief told you about our little problem, did she?” Benita said.

I nodded, swallowed, took a sip of juice.

“She did,” I said. “And I don’t envy the job she has right now. If I may ask, what’s your involvement in all this, Anita was a little vague regarding that.”

The Deputy DA nodded just as the waitress returned and refilled her coffee cup. When we were alone again she glanced around, then leaned forward. I did the same.

“You remember that murder outside the McWane Science Center last year?” she said.

I thought a minute and then nodded.

“I think so,” I said. “Suspected to be drug related, I think.”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “And no one has been arrested or brought to trial either, despite there being a lot of people out that night because there was a show going on at McWane.”

“Okay,” I said. “So what has that got to do with Epstein’s problem?”

“There is about to be an arrest and capital murder charges filed in district court,” she told me. “Birmingham is going to make the arrest today, their Intelligence folks have located the suspect.”

“Well that’s good,” I said, eating some eggs. “Are you handling the case?”

“I am,” she told me, sipping coffee. “This is a really important case, Derrick, because the crime took place in the heart of downtown, the Central City District, where a lot of people come, tourists and other important visitors from out of town. The mayor and the city council have been all over our asses to solve this murder, and the cops too. And now that we have finally got a suspect, about to bring him in, all the bosses want to make sure we get a conviction.”

“Okay,” I said. “Tell me the rest. The part that involves me and my team.”

Benita grinned, setting her fork down and folding her hands together once more.

“Yeah, there is definitely a part that involves you. The reason we can make this arrest and hopefully successfully prosecute the perpetrator is because the police finally got a witness to come forward and tell what he saw, and was able to make a positive ID from a photo array. Apparently he was very close to the scene and got a good look at the guy’s face, luckily that area is lit up like a Christmas tree at night. But because he saw this guy kill someone in cold blood, he wasn’t all that anxious to come forward.”

“I can imagine,” I said. “And I think I can see the problem. Once the arrest is made, everybody will soon know there is a witness, and even though you and the PD will try to keep his identity a secret, even under normal circumstances that would be hard, but with the possibility of a leak, a mole, on the inside, it’ll be harder.”

“About the size of it,” she confirmed. “I know Chief Epstein already told you about the CIs and the other witnesses, so this is a grave concern to us, and not just regarding this case, but this case is what’s in front of us right now. I’m going to push hard to get the guy to plead and hopefully we can get this over with without a trial. The eye witness is really all we have right now, but once we have the suspect in custody, who knows what else we’ll get. Maybe it’ll be enough to make him see that a trial is not in his best interest, and I can deal him down to life without parole and take the death penalty out of the equation.”

“But if he doesn’t plead?” I prompted.

Benita sighed heavily and glanced away for a few moments.

“If he doesn’t plead then we’re going to trial and I’ll do everything I can to get him strapped down on a gurney in Atmore[viii],” said the DDA without hesitation. “And that also means that I’ll need the witness to testify at trial. But in order to do that, he has to be alive and not intimidated into keeping his mouth shut.”

I nodded, finished my juice. The waitress came by and asked if I wanted more. I declined, telling her that I’d like some water, which she returned with promptly.

Benita sat staring at me for several moments before continuing.

“With the leak inside the department, possibly inside the DA’s Office, but less likely there, our witness might not be all that safe with police protection, or protection from the DA’s Security Squad. Chief Epstein and I have talked a lot about this and we both agree that it would be best if there were a third alternative, and seeing as how your company’s name is TripleD…”

I grinned.

“It’s all in the marketing,” I said nonchalantly. “Who else is going to know about this?”

“As few people as possible,” she said. “Right now only the assistant chief, you and me. The rest of your team will have to know, of course, but for now we’re going to try to keep it really close because we don’t know where the leak is coming from. BPD has a discretionary fund for paying consultants and Chief Epstein can tap it without much hassle. It’ll come out in accounting later, but hopefully by then this’ll all be over and she will document everything, including why she took such extraordinary measures to conceal what she did in hiring you. What we’ve decided to do is to play both agencies off one another and lose the witness in the bureaucracy of both. As far as my office is concerned, BPD will be handling witness security, and as far as BPD is concerned, the DA’s Office will be in charge of it. Our hope is that no one finds out the truth any time soon, but even if they do, you guys are outside the bureaucracy and are not suspect, so at least the witness will be safe. Chief Epstein and I probably won’t be if this blows up in our faces, but that’s just the chance we have to take.”

I sat and stared across at the woman from the DA’s Office for some time, mulling over what I had just heard. Even though the situation was far from simple, the part I was being asked to play was; as the assistant chief had told me yesterday, we just needed to keep a man alive. What we did best.

I agreed to the assignment, which I was already going to do anyway.

Chapter 7

I sent emails to the entire team yesterday telling them all to be at the office by 0900 today because it was likely that we’d have a new job to discuss. So when I got there at eight-thirty, I found what I was expecting, everyone already there, sitting in the bullpen drinking coffee and talking, mostly cracking jokes.

“I don’t pay you people to sit on your asses and drink coffee and gossip all day,” I said gruffly as I came out of reception and shut the door behind me. Of the five people gathered there, Jordana Kauffman included, four of them saluted me with the middle fingers of their free hands. Ms. Kauffman abstained, I guess figuring that she hadn’t been on the job long enough to flip-off the boss. She’d learn better in time.

I grinned and walked through to my office where I put down my laptop bag before returning to lean on the doorjamb.

“Morning, jackholes,” I said cheerily.

“Morning, dickweed,” said Ollie.

“Morning, tiny dick,” said Frankie.

“Morning, dickless,” said Bert.

“Morning, dick-for-brains,” said Sheila.

A definite theme. I glanced at Jordana as she stood with a cup of coffee inches from her mouth.

“Morning, Chief,” she smiled sweetly, then drank.

“The only worthwhile employee out of the lot of you,” I said, and received four more middle fingers by way of rejoinders.

“You guys are going to have to expand your vocabularies,” I told them, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I think our message is pretty clear, Chief,” Ollie said with a mirthful glint in his eyes, sipping his coffee.

“Indeed it is,” I said. “Jordana, I want you to start a new file, a temporary one for the time being because I’m not sure if the job will come to fruition just yet. Label it Q.B. tentatively, and if it goes, I’ll give you the new designation.”

She nodded, zipping back to reception to get her iPad, making notes.

“Client?” she said, typing.

“Leave that blank for now,” I said, then thought again. “No, put in Special Research Project 0001. It’ll change if the job goes.”

She nodded and continued typing, everyone else turned to look at me, curious. So I told them.

“I just came back from a breakfast meeting with Jefferson County DDA Benita Bender. Yesterday, Birmingham Assistant Chief of Police Anita Epstein dropped by here to see me.”

“Are indictments pending?” said Ollie with a smirk.

“I keep telling you there is no statute of limitation on Animal Husbandry in this state, Mr. Oliver,” I quipped. “And actually, yes, indictments are pending, just not against anybody in this room. Let me explain.”

Which I did.

“Know they gotta be desperate to go outside they house,” Ollie mused. He was sitting on the front edge of the desk Sheila had chosen for herself, the one right outside his office. Frankie’s desk was across from it, in front of my office, and Bert had the desk in front of Frankie’s. “So we be working for the city or the county?”

“Both, technically,” I said. “Although we’ll be getting paid by BPD, from their discretionary fund.”

“And you say there’s a possibility that the job won’t happen?” Frankie inquired.

“That’s right. The DA’s case isn’t all that strong right now, but once they get the suspect in custody that’ll likely change. And then Bender is going to lean on him very hard to take a plea, thus sparing the need for a trial. That way the witness won’t have to testify and there will be no risk of his identity being exposed.”

“But if that doesn’t happen,” Bert said. “Then they gotta go to trial and the witness gotta testify?”

“Correct, Mr. Cortez,” I said.

“And in that case,” said Sheila. “His ass be on the line for the killin’.”

“That would be correct, Madam Sheila,” I said and she grinned. I was probably the only person who had ever called her that. At least and lived.

“So if it go to trial they figure his identity get out eventually and if this leak is as bad as it seems, the baddies out on the street might find out where he being kept and make a move,” said Ollie. “Meaning it might be kind of dangerous to be around this cat.”

I nodded, looking at him.

“And danger is our middle name,” I said.

Ollie snorted.

“Actually my middle name is DeWayne,” he said. “But I know what you mean. Cover or shadow?”

“A question I have as well,” I said. “If the threat is as serious as it seems to be, then I would highly recommend cover, and take him out of circulation, keep him in a secure location that only we know about. But we have to take his feelings on the matter into consideration, too. This might go on a while before the trial comes up, which I’m sure the defense will try for, drag it out as long as they can. The witness might not want to stay hidden that long, especially if he has a job and some kind of life. We’ll have to get more into that once we meet with the guy, and do a thorough threat assessment. Frankie, Bert, you two will handle that one.”

Both nodded.

“Ollie, pick a safehouse, then two backups, make sure all the necessary supplies are in place, including trauma kits.”

“Roger, roger,” he said, finishing his coffee.

“Sheila, I want you to look into the suspect, everything you can get on him. Once we know his name, and that I’ll get once they have him in custody. The cops have an extensive record, but that only covers what they know, you might be able to get more from your sources, the real dirt.”

She smiled, nodded.

“Will do, Chief.”

Ollie snickered.

“Surrounded by smartasses, every one of you. Jordana, set up two billing tracts, one for round-the-clock safehouse protection, the other for protective surveillance. Both will be twelve hour shifts, two agents per either way. We’re gonna need to clear the decks of other stuff over the next few days, this could kick off before next week, depending. Bender is calling me after they have the suspect in custody. Probably nothing for the next couple of days, but that could change. Jordana, if something quick, like a courier job, comes up, we can probably manage that, but anything more significant will have to wait a while, unless it’s uber urgent for a regular client, like Nadya Shaba or Ashley Milner.”

She nodded and typed.

“Any questions?” I asked the room.

“Why does it always seem to rain when I’m sad?” Bert said.

I gave him a withering look as everyone else began to snicker.

“That’s it then,” I said, turning for my office. “Get to work. Mr. Cortez, twenty demerits and two hundred pushups, if you please.”

“Tengo que, jefe,” I heard from behind me as the door to the office shut. I was grinning too when I sat down at my desk and retrieved my laptop bag.

Chapter 8

Benita Bender called me at four-thirty just as the dark clouds that had descended around noon began to unleash fierce thunderstorms. I was still in my office, playing a submarine simulator war game on my computer. The busy life of a high-powered businessman.

“We got him in custody, Derrick,” she said without preamble. “He’s being booked at county jail right now. Kurt Baxter from CIU and officers from the Fugitive Apprehension Squad found him right where he was supposed to be, according to a CI of Kurt’s. And now I can tell you his name, Nicholas Ashworth, age 28, goes by Nicky, criminal record going back to before he turned eighteen, lot of violent stuff, too, including attempted murder, but no convictions on those. Has done some time though on some lesser offenses, still felonies. Major drug operator on north side. Guy he killed was a rival, and word is Nicky Ashworth doesn’t play well with others. I’m gonna email you everything I have on him now.”

“Got it,” I told her. “I’ve briefed the team and have set them to work, preliminary stuff, in case we get the word that the job is on, now I can give them more information. Have you spoken with the witness since the arrest?”

“No, Derrick,” she told me. “And I plan on doing that tomorrow, let him know we have the suspect in custody. Hopefully not too long after that I’ll have some even better news for him, like Ashworth is going to take a plea and he won’t have to testify.”

“That would be good news for him,” I said. “But is he prepared if it doesn’t go that way?”

A long pause, then a sigh.

“Probably not,” she admitted. “And we could have done a better job with that. If it looks like we won’t get a deal quick, I’ll want to meet with him in person. He’s a bartender at a place over in Inverness Corner, Bruno’s Sports Café. Works evening shift until close Tuesday through Saturday. If the murder he witnessed had happened one day later then he would’ve been at work and we probably wouldn’t have a case against Ashworth. Too bad for him but good for us. Anyway, if I go to meet him about this, I want you with me, okay?”

“Sure thing,” I told her. “Just let me know. We’ll be ready to go any time you need us, but as much lead time as you can give us will be much appreciated.”

“I’ll do what I can,” she told me. “And while I know it would mean you would be out of a job before it starts, I really hope we don’t need you on this, you know?”

“I know,” I said.

She paused again, took a deep breath.

“Really appreciate your help on this, Derrick. And so does Chief Epstein. Maybe when this is all over we can convince the mayor to present you with a key to the city for civic service.”

I snorted.

“I’ll pass on that,” I told her.

“Thought you would, being so humble and all. Well, Derrick, I need to wrap up here and get home. Aaron is cooking Italian tonight and my baby is really good in the kitchen.”

I’m sure he is, I thought, and probably a few other places, but I kept those thoughts to myself and bid her good evening, telling her to drive safely in the rain.

Jordana was the only one still in the office and she came to my door just before five.

“I was hoping the rain would let up before quitting time,” she said, leaning against the doorjamb. “Seems to have gotten worse.”

I glanced out the window behind me.

“Yep, and I don’t feel like driving downtown when it’s like this, so I suppose I’ll be here for a while yet, at least until evening rush is over.”

Jordana sighed, nodded to herself.

“Well there’s nobody waiting for me at home right now, with Frasier still deployed to the Middle East for another three months. So I guess I’ll hang out, too. There’s a book on Kindle that I can probably finish. You need anything, Derrick?”

“Lots,” I told her. “But right now I can’t seem to remember anything.”

She smiled, told me she’d be at her desk if I needed her, and then departed after leaving the office door open at my request.

I was now on level seven of the sub simulator game and already promoted to the rank of commander. With the way the rain was still coming down outside right now, before I left tonight I’d probably be admiral of the fleet.

Chapter 9

Over the next couple of days the DA’s Office had a lot of lawyering to do, and so did Mr. Nicky Ashworth. He rejected the court-appointed attorney he was assigned and said he would retain his own counsel, which required a delay in any talk of a plea deal with him. So this meant TripleD had time to pursue other interests. Luckily for us, there is always some unfortunate business that requires our skill set, and the right people know how to find us.

Not so random drug tests at an architectural firm based at the Regions-Harbert Plaza downtown resulted in the termination of the creative director and her senior architect. When they were shown the door by the CEO and the HR VP on Thursday morning, Ollie and I were there to escort them out just after nine a.m. This had been a rush job, a favor called in by Nadya Shaba because just about every tenant in the building had some connection to her or Magic City Dreams and when she learned of the situation, my mobile phone, not the office line, rang directly. And when I said favor, I meant a paying job. Nadya is, after all, a businesswoman herself, and liberal leanings aside, she understands that people need to be paid for their services.

Friday morning Ollie and the others were over at Master-Plan Security teaching an advanced tactics course that we had developed to the latest crop of close-protection specialists that were being readied for the field. It was a standing contract with Master-Plan, and the course was initially taught by me going back to when the late Mason Masters still ran the company. However, recently I have decided to delegate more responsibility to the team, and since Ollie is officially designated a team leader, I had him doing more things like this without me around. In time he would do the same for the others and maybe one day, if we grew more, each of them would lead their own team.

Jordana Kauffman and I were the only ones in the office and she was out front working on billing reports while I was in my office reading up on Nicky Ashworth, the file the DA and PD had compiled, and the stuff that Sheila had turned up so far, and I have to say, not surprisingly, Sheila’s bit was a lot more interesting.

I was considering the breadth of crimes Mr. Ashworth was accused of, in some cases convicted of, in his short twenty-eight years of life, impressed in a morbid way, when my Android alleged Smartphone buzzed. It was a text from Monique Otis, and I smiled. She wanted to know if I could talk. My reply text was since the day I was born. Ten seconds after I sent that, another buzz, this time an incoming call.

“Your family must have been impressed,” she said by way of greeting.

“And quickly invested in duck tape,” I said, then chuckled, she did the same from her end.

“You’re so bad, Mr. Olin, really.”

“Funny,” I told her. “I think I remember hearing that from a lot of teachers back when I was at Jackson-West two hundred twelve years ago. How are you today, Madam Vice Principal? Do I call you that even though school is out for the summer?”

“Yes you do,” she rejoined. “Until the board makes me a principal, that is. Also, regular school is out, but summer school begins next week. Which explains why I’m in my office right now poring over operating reports and lesson plans. The principal is taking this summer off, so I’m running the show.”

“So Acting Principal Otis then,” I said. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” she said dryly. “My husband is going to be away most of the summer anyway, he’s a truck driver and right now there’s a lot of interstate hauling work for him and he needs to take it when he can get it. And the summer gig for me will help out, too. We don’t have any kids, but thanks to misadventures in our respective youths, we do have a lot of bills.”

“Don’t we all,” I said, just to be saying something, because in truth, I really didn’t. “So, Madam Acting Principal, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call today?”

“Are you busy right now?” she said.

“Just taking a nap at my desk,” I said.

She snickered.

“I’m sure,” she said. “Would today be a good time to have lunch and talk? I’m actually free after about one today, and thought maybe we could meet up some place, my treat, of course.”

“You know, my office is just up the street from J-W,” I told her. “What used to be the Ramsay-McCormack Building, now Dexter-Killingworth. Why don’t you drive up when you’re done, that way you can leave your car here and we can take mine. I know the perfect place for a really good lunch, and the people know and love me there. Kind of.”

She laughed.

“Kind of, huh? Well I’m intrigued now. Sounds good. I’ll call you before I’m done here. By the way, this is a very casual day as school hasn’t started yet. I’m wearing jeans, is that okay?”

There was something that I very much wanted to say at that moment, but being an adult I have learned to let my brain control my mouth. Most of the time.

“That’ll be fine,” I told her. “Although they do have formal functions from time to time, Dex’s Place is casual friendly.”

“Oh wait, that’s the place in Five-Points West across from Crossplex?”

“It is,” I told her. “Owned by the same guy who co-owns the building I’m in at the moment, and is involved in half the redevelopment projects on the west side of town right now, along with another old J-W grad friend.”

“Well color me impressed, Mr. Olin, and I’ll call you as soon as I’m on the way.”

“I await your further communication with breath and heartbeat paused, my lady,” I responded for some dorky reason.

“Let me guess, you read a lot of Shakespeare in college?” she said.

“Actually it was after college,” I told her. “Which explains why I still remember it. Talk to you later, Niqe.”

“Bye, Derrick,” she said in a humorous tone, and then hung up.

Suddenly I was quite the smiling dude, and I won’t lie, a little horny. A few more hours of reading up on the life and violent times of one Nicholas Ashworth should clear that right up.

Chapter 10

Reese Tamblyn is the general manager of Dex’s Place, however this Friday was her day off, but she had an able assistant manager who knew me also, as well as my status as a close friend of the owner, Mr. Dexter, who wasn’t there this Friday afternoon, either. Being a very busy high-powered entrepreneur these days meant he had less and less time to spend at one of the crown jewels in his emerging economic empire, but assured that it was in very good hands when he was away.

Niqe and I were shown to a booth in the south corner of the main dining room with a floor-to-ceiling window that looked out on a small oriental garden beyond. I smiled, recognizing the hand of Neiko Dexter, Earl’s wife of the past couple of decades and then some. She was a native of Japan, and while she was very much the American lady of means today, and quite happy with that role, her roots to her native land still ran deep within her.

The waiter asked if we would like to see the wine list, and my first instinct was to say no, but glanced at my dining companion first. Then I said sure. Niqe did not object.

She wore gray sneakers, blue jeans that rather snugly fit her shapely lower half, a green T-shirt that rather nicely fit her shapely upper half, and a tweed blazer with elbow patches, which I had earlier commented made her look more like a college professor than a high school acting principal. She had quipped that she was ever hopeful that one day she might suffer that fate.

Recently I had some experience with wine so I selected what I thought would be a suitable white to go with lunch. I don’t really drink much myself, but know how to be sociable. We ordered lunch, grilled salmon and two veggies on the side for her, and a sautéed tofu and veggie salad with pita bread on the side for me. We each had a glass of wine in front of us when the waiter departed. We raised our glasses and toasted one another, then drank; only a sip for me.

“This is excellent,” she said. “The vineyard is in California, right?”

“Yes,” I told her. “Silverado. I’ve actually been there a couple times on business. Really neat place.”

“The world traveler you are,” she said, smiling at me across the table. “And you get to go to vineyards for work, how nice for you.”

“Not always,” I told her, and was not joking.

As we waited for our lunch, sipping our wine, Niqe told me about the goings on at my old alma mater, including problems that the school was having with the local and state boards. From the sound of it there was a lot of bad politicking going on, which was not doing much for the main mission of the school: educating children. I listened in silence, not really having much to offer, and then our food arrived. It was, as expected, delicious.

When she was halfway through her third glass of wine—me still on my first—, Niqe became more circumspect, and less talkative. I simply enjoyed my food and waited. The company was good, the food excellent, and the ambiance enchanting. I could enjoy all three for a very long time and keep my mouth closed while doing it.

“Derrick, I need some help with something,” she said finally, not looking up at first as she dabbed at her lips with a folded yellow linen napkin. “Something that I am not really authorized to do and will probably get me fired if my principal and the local board find out about it, but I think I have to do this.” She was looking at me now, her brown eyes suddenly blazing with determination and strength. “And right now I’m in charge of the school and technically do have the authority to do it. Sort of.”

She had my full attention now. Actually she’d had that the moment she walked into my office wearing those jeans about thirty minutes or so ago. I pushed my plate away, leaned my elbows on the table like a barbarian, folding my hands together, rested my chin on top of them.

“Tell me,” I said simply, then she did.

Chapter 11

It was almost five and we were back at my office building, in the basement parking garage sitting in my jeep still talking, but not about the problem she wanted my help with. We’d discussed that through the remainder of lunch and I had a pretty good handle on what she needed, was pretty sure I could take care of that on my own. Now we were talking about ourselves, actually she was doing most of the talking because I’m shy. Niqe was good company, and obviously lonely with her husband on the road all the time, and not having kids. I’d learned during lunch that the latter was not actually by design but rather the result of a medical condition that had resulted in two miscarriages before she was advised not to try again. On a happier note, I did discover a humorous obsession of hers that concurrently we had shared many years ago. Arcade video games.

“Yeah, I used to blow all my money on those damned things,” I admitted. “My favorites were Wizard of Wor and Zaxxon. Those things were like Crack to me.”

Niqe laughed and touched my knee.

“For me it was Ms. PacMan and Donkey Kong,” she admitted. “God could I play me some Donkey Kong. Always had the highest scores in my neighborhood, used to go to the arcade down the block from my house in Fairfield every damn day, and like you said, blew all my money.”

“They used to have a bunch of them around Ensley back then, one about three blocks down from where my old house used to be. This being the days before everybody had video game consoles and or computers in their houses. And I have seen those retro Atari arcade games you’re talking about. Three hundred bucks at Wal-Mart, right?”

“Yep,” she said. “And I got one. Eldon thought I was nuts, but he shut up when I reminded him about that motorcycle he bought a couple years ago that’s still sitting broken down in our garage. When I’m stressed, I can get on that thing and play for hours. In my hands, Ms. PacMan has wiped out whole villages of funky colored ghosts and goblins.”

She laughed, and I did, too. I had already decided to make a move today. She’d let me know at the outset that her husband wouldn’t be back from his current road trip till late next week, and now she confirmed that all she planned on doing this weekend was read more lesson plans to get ready for the kick off of summer school on Tuesday, and probably play a lot of Atari. Too much sitting around for a woman her age, I thought. She could probably do with a little physical activity this weekend. And maybe not so little. I swear I’m only thinking of her health. See, no lightening strikes.

Unfortunately, just as I was about to return her last knee touch with a less than casual sliding of my hand up her shapely left thigh, my phone started buzzing. I considered not answering it, but then my professionalism returned.

Good thing it did, too.

The caller was Benita Bender.

The news was not good.

Meaning that Monique Otis’ full, firm thighs were safe for the moment, as was the rest of her. I was about to spring into another kind of action, and the rest of TripleD was coming with me.

Chapter 12

Friday nights are always busy at Bruno’s Sports Café and for this reason no employee ever gets that night off, unless they’re dead. So Quinton Beasley was at his usual spot manning the back bar. Thirty-two years old, tall, slender, good looking, with thick, curly black hair, silver framed octagonal glasses, and an easy smile at the corners of his thin lips. He wore the uniform, gray polo with the café logo above the left breast pocket and dark slacks. And all the ladies at the bar seemed to be crazy about him. Most of the hetero guys probably wanted him to fall down a lot of stairs. Several times.

It was just after seven and the place was full when we arrived, barely standing room only. Ollie and I went inside, Sheila, Frankie, and Bert were in the parking lot, along with Kurt Baxter from Birmingham PD’s Criminal Intelligence Unit. Ollie and I separated immediately once we were inside, casually making our way through the throng of partying patrons until we had eyes on the bar, and on Quinton Beasley. We had Bluetooth communicators in our ears, confirmed visual ID with one another, then with the team outside. One minute later, Kurt Baxter came in. He’s kind of on the small side, just a little bigger than Frankie, and when he was in uniform he kept his dark blond hair high and tight. However, now that he was in Intelligence and did a lot of covert surveillance, he’d let his hair grow longer and was sporting a few days worth of beard growth. Still looked like a cop to me, though, but maybe that’s because I know that he is one, despite the blue jeans, black tee, and well-worn black leather biker’s jacket he wore.

Kurt was not alone. A stunning six-foot tall brunette wearing black boots, snug blue jeans, a blue pullover, and a heavily zippered black leather jacket of her own was at his side, towering over him, actually. Made me think once again about the fact that everybody seemed to have a leather jacket but moi.

Benita Bender was killing it in that outfit. She definitely didn’t look like a prosecutor in the Felony Division of the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office at the moment, and if you told the owners of all the eyes currently following her right now that that was her day job, most would never believe it. And honestly, most wouldn’t care, even if they currently had ten active felony warrants dogging them. A very lecherous part of my brain was trying to figure out a way of surreptitiously removing my phone from my pocket and snapping a picture. Wonder if I could get access to the video surveillance in this place? Damn!

Benita and Kurt moved through the crowd as quickly as they could, bumping into some happy revelers and apologizing, and when it was Benita doing the bumping, man or woman, the response was always a smile and an any time, honey. Kurt got some eyes, too, and some of them were from women.

The bar where Beasley was working was stacked deep, but Benita managed to elbow her way in close to the end not too far from where he was mixing a couple of drinks and flirting with a customer. He worked fast, and there were two other bartenders there with him, but still it took more than five minutes before he moved down Benita’s way, and when he looked at her at first he smiled just like he would with any other hot babe sidling up to his workspace, but then his eyes lost their playfulness when recognition set in, replaced by nervousness.

Benita waved him over quickly and it took a few seconds for his brain to kick in. She leaned across the bar and whispered in his ear.

I was glancing out toward the crowd, scanning faces, scanning hands, looking for anything, any sign that trouble was about to break out. That’s when I spotted a familiar face among a group of women about ten tables away from where I was standing. Her back had been turned to me before and I hadn’t paid that much attention, but now she was glancing around, probably looking for a waiter or waitress. Shit, I thought. Why the hell are you here?

The woman said something to the table, stood up, then turned and headed for the back bar where Benita Bender was still whispering into Quinton Beasley’s ear.

Shit!

I was about to move to intercept the woman, but then Bert Cortez’s voice came through my Bluetooth with an urgent warning.

About a second and a half later, despite the noise in the crowded bar, the distinct sound of erupting gunfire shattered the atmosphere.

Not to mention a lot of windows.

Chapter 13

Kurt Baxter is a man of action, there is no denying that, and quite agile. Guess all that Ranger training earlier in his life never really left him. And if I must say so myself, yours truly’s skills aren’t rusty either.

I was on the move as soon as I heard Bert’s voice in my left ear, Ollie, too, and he was closer to the side of the bar where Quinton Beasley, Benita Bender, and Kurt Baxter were standing. And unfortunately, Leigh Danton was moving that way.

A quick aside regarding Leigh Danton, born Holly Leigh Danton forty-six years ago, but has had three other last names in the past thirty years, three marriages that all ended in unhappy divorce. I’ve known her since she was fifteen, her older brother was a friend when I was in college, and it just so happens that her first husband was a friend back then, too, before he became an asshole. Anyway, over the past three decades Leigh and I have remained friends, close friends actually, and her oldest daughter, Erin, now twenty-nine, married, mother of three girls herself, is my goddaughter. Leigh used to be a PI and we worked together from time to time when one or the other of us needed backup, before she moved into forensic accounting. We still worked together some then, usually when both employed by Ashley Milner’s law firm on a case that required our combined sets of skills. Then a few years back Leigh made another career change, quite a dramatic departure from her previous ones. She’d always had a fondness for tattoos, had several herself, and three years ago an opportunity came her way that she just couldn’t pass up, the chance to own her very own shop, despite not knowing the first thing about that type of business, but she is smart, knew she could learn, if she could just swing the financing. I was able to help with that, became her very silent partner, meaning she ran the business and I kept my trap shut. Two months ago Leigh had invited me to dinner at a new vegan restaurant in a downtown boutique hotel not far from my place, and over tall glasses of chilled champagne, she slid a check across the table for the full amount of my investment, plus ten percent. In classic me fashion, I responded, “Lady, this won’t even buy my services for twenty minutes.” To which Leigh responded, “As if you could last twenty minutes with me.” We both had a good laugh, and the business partnership was dissolved. I really should not have been all that surprised to see Leigh here tonight, now that I think about it, considering her shop is just four doors down from Bruno’s, and this is a Friday night. I know she likes to take her employees out for a drink after work sometimes. Just why the hell did it have to be here and tonight?!

At the bar, Kurt Baxter shoved everybody in his way out of it and leapt across, tackling Quinton Beasley, taking him down out of sight as glass started breaking and people started to realize something bad was happening.

Ollie moved in and grabbed Benita Bender, pulling her around the side of the bar and down, covering her with his body.

I strong-armed everybody between me and my destination out of the way, not caring where they landed, or even if they ever did.

Leigh had frozen in mid-stride when everything started. She was a little rusty at the rough stuff because she had been out of the game for a while. In fact, the last time somebody shot at her she had been with me, too.[ix] But then she was armed. I doubted that was the case now, so when I got to her, I grabbed her around the waist and kept going, lifting her off her feet and shielding her body with mine until we reached a corner, then it was down on the floor as everyone else began to panic. I don’t think she realized it was me yet and she was struggling to get away, maneuvering so that she could find some leverage to break my grip. I had taught her grappling combat and knew what she was doing, and I knew how to stop her, but opted for something simpler.

I put my mouth to her ear and shouted: “MARVEL COMICS SUCK!”

Her head snapped back then, and despite the fact that her glasses were askew and the lighting wasn’t all that good, I knew Leigh recognized me. And I was probably gonna get punched a lot for that slam against her favorite comic book empire. Still didn’t stop me from going even further.

“Stan Lee was a pinko commie, too!”

“Derrick?! What the fuck??!

The glass shattering had stopped, and I think the shooting had as well, but people were still scrambling all over the place. I adjusted my Bluetooth, holding up a finger to forestall Leigh’s questions.

“Tango Lima, requesting status report!” I demanded tensely. “Anybody, report!”

A few seconds later, Frankie’s calm voice came over the net.

“I’m out back with the transport,” he said. “Tangos Two and Four are holding the front, think the hostiles have fled.”

“Copy that, Tango Three,” I said, rising, Leigh still in my arms. “Tango One, get them out the back, I’ll cover.”

Ollie was already on his feet, his left hand holding onto a badly shaken Benita Bender’s right arm. Behind the bar, Kurt Baxter stood, clutching the scared shitless Quinton Beasley by the forearms, dragging him through the opening at the side. They were all moving fast.

I turned to Leigh.

“Sweetie, I don’t have time to talk right now. Get out of here, be safe. And if you can, if you talk to the cops, forget you saw me or any of the others. I’ll explain later, promise.”

I was about to move away, but she caught me, hugged me briefly but tightly.

“Okay, and take care of Quinton, whatever this is I guess involves him, too.”

A lot of questions came to mind right then, but there was no time for Q&A. Sheila was reporting the fast approach of the law and I believe I can hear the sirens myself over everything else. We needed to bug out.

So out we did bug.

Chapter 14

ACME Fruit Suppliers.

That really is what’s professionally stenciled on the placards attached to the sides of the gray full sized van in the back of which we’re traveling along I-459 South with Frankie Burrage at the wheel. Included with the name is an address, a phone number, and an email address. They’re all bullshit, of course, just like the name of the nonexistent fruit supplier.

I thought I was the only one who liked movies from the 70s (and Roadrunner cartoons), but Frankie recently revealed his delight in movies and TV shows from that era as well, particularly those that featured cops and gangsters, and in almost every one he said you’d see some truck or van with ACME something or other printed on the side. So he figured it would be a great cover for our transport vehicle. I was skeptical, but decided to let him do it anyway. He had several other placards for different companies, all of them ACME something or other. So far no one, not even the cops, seemed to think anything was amiss. Hopefully that would remain the case tonight, although there was a cop in back of the van at the moment, and a DDA, but right now she was looking a little paler than usual. There was also a very terrified Quinton Beasley and he couldn’t stop shaking. Benita sat next to him on a two-seat bench on the left wall in back.

The van had been modified, was more like a rolling command post, complete with a computer workstation on the right wall and three bolted down swivel chairs with seatbelts just in case the ride became rough. Kurt and I were in two of them, Ollie was up front riding shotgun next to Frankie, literally. Somewhere out there Sheila and Bert were covering in their own vehicles. Actually, Bert was in mine and Sheila was in Ollie’s, but same difference, and that reminded me of the recent renewing of my auto insurance policy earlier in the month. Perfect timing.

“What the he-hell’s going on?!” Beasley suddenly stammered, pushing Benita Bender’s hand off of his arm. “Was somebody shooting at the café? Did somebody get shot? What’s going on?”

“Calm down, Quinton,” Benita said firmly. “Please. You’re safe now.”

“Safe? People were shooting up my place of work! And you people come in and drag me out! I want to go home right now. Right now!”

“Not gonna happen, pal,” Kurt Baxter told him, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees. “People who shot up your work know who you are and probably where you live. Go back there and they come after you again, maybe get you next time.”

Beasley looked horrified, glancing from Kurt to Benita as the van continued to roll, switching lanes periodically, increasing and decreasing speed at irregular intervals.

“Who knows who I am? Why do they… This is because I came forward and identified that man, isn’t it? They want to kill me because I told what I saw? You promised that no one would have to know about me, that I would be safe if I helped you!”

Benita reached out and touched his leg.

“Quinton, I promised we’d protect you,” she said patiently, as if talking to a child. “And we will. Also, if you recall, I told you that if we had to go to trial, the defense would find out who you were and you would have to testify in open court, the accused has a constitutional right to face his accuser, but again, we would and will protect you.”

She paused, glancing over at me.

“Unfortunately, your identity leaked much earlier than we had hoped and we had to come and get you at your job before something happened. Luckily we were in time.”

Just barely, I thought, thinking back on the conversation we’d had about ninety minutes ago as everyone was assembling two blocks from the DA’s Office, Benita climbing into the front seat of my jeep already wearing her after work clothes, Kurt in the back.

“There’s been a breach,” the DDA said without preamble, visibly agitated and angry. “Several names have leaked, three more CIs and two witnesses in upcoming cases. One of them is Quinton Beasley’s.”

Kurt took over, leaning forward between the seats.

“In CIU we’re all over social media these days, use it for everything from information collection and technical surveillance to seeking the public’s help in identifying suspects and perpetrators. We’ve got some great techies in our section now, the new C.O. is a real forward thinker in that regard, and gets a lot of support from the current Chief. Anyway, I had one of them write a program to monitor all the major social media platforms for Beasley’s name and flag anything that linked him to law enforcement. A little while ago the program hit on a twitter post labeled #Eye-Spy_Rats! Beasley’s name, the other witness, and the CIs’ were all listed as law enforcement informants in the Birmingham metro, complete with personal data, including where Beasley worked. His home address in Five Points South is also there. We got other units responding to try and get to the others before somebody else gets to them, but Mr. Beasley is our primary concern right now.”

I looked at Benita Bender, saw the fear beneath the surface of her skin, the worry, knowing that it might already be too late. So we lit out like bats out of hell racing toward Inverness Corner, arriving, as the saying goes, in a nick of time…

BENITA WAS EVENTUALLY ABLE TO calm Quinton Beasley down, and now he had gone silent. She looked at me.

“Was anybody hurt back there that you know of?”

“I have no idea,” I told her truthfully, glancing over my shoulder at Ollie. “Sheila and Bert say the three shooters got away, the people out in the parking lot got down when the shootin’ started, none appeared to be injured, but they couldn’t really be sure. As for inside the bar, that’s anybody’s guess. Bullets did come through the windows.”

She sighed, shaking her head.

“What a Grade-A cockup,” Kurt Baxter said in disgust. “The press is gonna be all over this, and we gotta figure something to tell the cops. Technically Birmingham and Hoover share that jurisdiction, and neither department is gonna be happy that officers of the law left the scene without making an official statement.”

Benita looked at him.

“Call Chief Epstein and brief her. She’s gonna have to throw her stars around a little, do some tap dancing with Hoover PD. My boss finds out about me being involved in this, I’ll be doing night traffic court for the rest of my career. If I’m lucky.”

Kurt nodded, reached into his jacket pocket and took out his phone.

Benita looked at me again.

“Where are we going?”

“Right now we’re driving around in circles,” I told her. “Making sure we aren’t being followed. Once we’re sure, you and Kurt will be dropped off and can make your way wherever you need to by cab or Uber. Then the rest of us will be taking Mr. Beasley to the safehouse we already set up for him.”

Both Ms. Bender and Mr. Beasley were looking at me sharply now, both about to protest. I addressed the mister first.

“Quinton, a little while ago three armed men came to your job with the intent to murder you, and they didn’t care who else they killed in the process. They know who you are, they know where you live, if you don’t go some place they can’t find you, then you will not live to see thirty-three. Actually, you won’t live to see the sun rise tomorrow, and that may sound harsh, but that is the reality of your life at the moment.”

Now I turned to the miss.

“And while I know it is highly unlikely that either you or Kurt is the leak on this thing, the best way to keep him safe is to limit the number of people who know where he is to the team protecting him, the five members of TripleD. Period.”

“But, Derrick,” she protested. “I’ve got to be able to consult with Quinton, interview, depose and prepare him for trial, and a dozen or so other things. And that can’t be done on the phone, for legal reasons, actually.”

“Benita, right now the most important thing is keeping him safe. There will be time for all that other stuff once the primary is taken care of. We’ll figure something out, a neutral location where you can meet and do what you need to, and then we’ll take him back to the safehouse. Trust me, this is the best way, and the only way I’m going to do it. He’s already been compromised on your end, I won’t have that happen on mine. And don’t forget, this is precisely the reason that you and Chief Epstein came to me in the first place.”

Everyone was silent inside the van for a short while, then the DDA sighed and leaned back in her seat, folding her arms across her chest. She did not appear to be happy with me, not that I really cared. If I’d wanted to be liked I’d have chosen to be a Good Humor Man instead of a professional bodyguard.

“Fine, Derrick,” she said after two unblinking minutes. “We’ll do it your way.”

If only, I thought to myself, and kept that thought to myself.

I nodded, then turned to Ollie.

“You got a spot picked out?” I said.

“I do,” he said.”

“Good,” I said. “Let’s do it then.”

“Roger that, Commander,” he said, then pressed the transmit button on his communicator. “Tango-One to all Tangos, here’s what we gon’ do…”

Chapter 15

Thanks to that recent tax-free cash windfall I alluded to earlier, courtesy of my off-the-books work for Uncle Sam, I have become a property owner, or at least one of my aliases has become a property owner. And one of the properties I own is a newly constructed townhouse in Homewood off Carr Avenue not far from the Edgemont Shopping Center and Post Office Square on Green Springs Highway. Six units were built over the past eighteen months, three and three. Construction was complete on the second three shortly after I returned to Birmingham, and I decided to go over and have a look one night, when nobody was around. Isolated, in a decent neighborhood, on a regularly patrolled police route, Homewood Police, too, and I knew a lot of them, especially the evening and night shifts. I talked it over with Ollie, he had a look one night on his own, then said he thought it would be a good idea. We both agreed that it should not be in my name or the company’s name, or anybody directly associated with the company or us. This was not a problem, and owing to the work I used to do earlier in my life, and still dabble in on occasion, I have established a number of alias identities, fully maintained, complete with credit histories, some better than my own, by design. One of them, with the assistance of an Atlanta-based law firm that is really a front for a certain American spy agency, purchased the townhouse as an investment about five months ago. It is fully furnished and regularly maintained, and with the recent possibility of activation, additional foodstuffs had been added to the normal can and dry goods that are always maintained there. It even has its own backup generator and modified safe room.

After we dropped Kurt and Benita off where they would be picked up in a little while by Birmingham Assistant Chief of Police Anita Epstein herself, our three vehicle convoy continued evasive maneuvers for another half hour before Bert broke off to head over to the safehouse to make sure it was ready. The van and my jeep continued a meandering trek in and around the Birmingham metro for another half hour before getting an all-clear signal from Bert, at which time I told Frankie to head that way, but not directly.

We stopped in the Ollie’s Bargain Store (not owned by our Ollie) parking lot on Green Springs and Ollie, Quinton Beasley, and I made a hasty transfer to my jeep, Sheila staying at the wheel. The townhouses have small single-car garages attached to them but the van is too big to fit. Ollie’s Escalade was already there and that behemoth was already taking up most of the driveway, or would once Bert pulled in behind us after we entered the garage. Frankie would cover in the van, and once we were in the safehouse, would continue to patrol the neighborhood.

There is, of course, a weapons locker in the van, two actually, and while making the transfer to my jeep, Ollie and I grabbed a couple of goodies to go. Mine was a Bushmaster XM-15 and Ollie’s was an Aramalite .233, in many ways the same weapon, with a few minor differences, but both would kill you just as dead.

I led the way in from the garage, the door already open, courtesy of Bert, the house in darkness, but I knew where everything was. Once we were all inside the kitchen, Sheila secured the door and then I told everyone to mind their eyes while I flipped the switch and the bright overheads came on.

Bert reported from the driveway that there were no angry hordes on our tail and Frankie reported the same from the extended perimeter. I told them that was good to know and then turned to the client, who had not said anything recently and appeared to be in a state of shock. I nodded at Ollie and he took Beasley by the arm and led him out of the kitchen. Sheila and I went to check the rest of the house, even though Bert had already done that, we still double checked. Better safe than dead.

Ten minutes later, we reassembled in the front room and I noticed that Sheila had been into one of the weapons lockers that we keep in the safehouse because she was carrying an FN P-90 submachine gun slung across her chest, her Glock-19 now back in the holster behind her right hip.

“Black and deadly like you, girl,” Ollie said to her.

She smiled.

“Why I like it so,” she said. “House secure, Derrick.”

“Yeah,” I said, slinging my rifle across my back, glancing around. “Who on our team fired shots?”

“Me and Bert,” Sheila answered. “Frankie got the van around back quick as he could to get ya’ll. Me and Bert covered, like the plan said. Didn’t hit ‘em, I don’t think, just forced ‘em back. They was shootin’ wild and coulda hit anybody. I fired four, think Bert did the same, just a couple of high double, double-taps at the trees on the far end of the lot. Not high enough to cross Valleydale or 280, though. I hope.”

I nodded, walked over to the sofa against the front wall, unslung my AR, sat down with it between my knees, butt on the floor.

“Me, too,” I said. “Well we’ll let the cops worry about the details of that, the cops on our side I mean. They’ll come up with something. I’m not worried about that end, we were doing our jobs, protecting our client. Either of you get a good look at the shooters?”

“Bert better than me,” Sheila said, coming over to the sofa and plopping on the end opposite from me. “All black guys, though. Young punks. Bert spotted ‘em first, got out of a green Honda, didn’t see no plate. Soon as Bert got my attention I knew what they was, and what they was there for. We made sure they saw us before they got halfway to the front of the bar, that’s when they drew on us.”

I nodded. “Tell me all of it, please.”

She did.

Ollie went into the kitchen to get bottles of water from the fridge and passed two to us. We all sat drinking and thinking for a few minutes, Frankie reporting in from the perimeter once. It was now eleven-thirty. I checked the news feeds on my phone and saw that the story of the shooting at Inverness Corner was the local headliner with all Birmingham stations scrambling to get the details from their reporters and sources. I smiled when I saw a blurb from NBC-13 regarding a piece filed by their Chief Investigative Correspondent, Farina Warren. Apparently she was on top of the story, too. And that’s why I had smiled, thinking how lucky the story was right now because I was well aware of what it was like to have Ms. Warren on top of me.

“This is why we all keep our go-bags,” I said after putting my phone away. “Ollie, you and Frankie take off, be back at 0700. You two will have day shift for the time being, Sheila and Bert will do the nights. Seven to seven. I’ll fall in somewhere and spot you guys from time to time, depending on how long this goes on and what else comes up. For now, we’re in babysitting mode. I’m gonna talk to Beasley before I get out of here tonight. Might go over to his place and pick up some things for him.”

“Don’t go alone,” Ollie cautioned. “Baxter said his address was on that site, too, meaning they know where he live, probably watching the place.”

I nodded.

“Not my first rodeo, Mr. Oliver,” I said lightly. “Nor protection detail. I’ll take care; maybe invite Detective Sergeant Baxter along. Or hell, Jordana can lock up the office and watch my back for a couple hours if it comes to that. She nearly out-shot you during her qualifications.”

Ollie snorted.

“She good,” he said. “But not quite that good.”

I smiled.

“I’ll make sure she knows you think that,” I said. “Okay, let’s break. The van can stay in the driveway tonight, but tomorrow we need to get it out of here. I told Frankie to take the panels off before he comes back so it’ll be less conspicuous, kind of. And from now on, the shift comes in one car, that way it can be put in the garage. Ollie your Caddy might barely make it, but you probably don’t want to risk the paint job.”

“No,” he agreed. “We’ll use Frankie’s car. Meet up some place ahead of time and drop my ride off. Figure it out, no problem.”

“Okay,” I said, standing.

And so it began.

Game on!

Chapter 16

I don’t usually run on the weekends, but when I woke up at six this morning I felt like I had some excess energy that needed burning off, and there is no better way of accomplishing that than running. Well there is but at that moment I was alone, so…

I was back in my loft by seven, stretching in the small workout space across from my living room in front of the large picture windows that overlook the city’s 1st Avenue downtown, coincidentally, two blocks east of Birmingham Police Headquarters, also known as the Police Administration Building. I was thinking about calling Anita Epstein when my phone buzzed, an incoming text. I sighed when I saw the sender’s name on the display. Ordinarily any communication from my old friend and erstwhile occasional bedmate would be most welcome and received with joy. However, today, given the circumstances of our most recent meeting, I was not looking forward to talking to Leigh Danton right now.

That being said, I was grinning when I read her text: “Stan Lee may be gone, but as a duly self-appointed and righteous acolyte of the Marvel faith, I will defend his memory and his honor with my last ounce of strength, kicking the ass of any who dares insult the sanctity of Mar-Vell! Even if the ass in question is one that I have been pleased to see naked a time or two in years past! Also, I’d really like to know just what the heck was going on last night when you Wyatt Earped the bar I was in and then rode off into the moonset with my favorite bartender. Hope he’s okay, and you, too. Call me when convenient. The sooner I kick your ass over that Marvel comment and Stan Lee dig, the better we’ll both feel.” She signed it with some symbols that I have no clue what they mean, always have to look shit like that up, half the time I don’t bother. Today was one of those times. Words, people, words!

I thought about it for a few minutes, sweat still beading on my shaved head, decided to go ahead and get it over with, and that’s when Anita Epstein called me.

Saved by the Chief.

In retrospect, not really. It’s been a long time since anyone chewed me out, and I let it happen this time. Strange, too, because I wasn’t one of her cops and I was doing her a favor. Must really like this woman. Still might have to kick her ass later, though, just to restore balance to the Force, but for the moment, I took it.

Then she calmed down and said we had to meet, just not anywhere near police headquarters. I told her to give me an hour and then to come to my place. She said okay and hung up.

Enough time to shower and dress, then make breakfast for me and the Chief. Hoped she liked it veggie style because around here that’s the only way it’s served.

ONE THING THE CURRENT CHIEF DID that everyone in command grade at BPD seemed to like was to get rid of the white shirt for lieutenants and above. He was from LAPD and out there from the lowliest officer on the beat all the way up to the Chief, they all wore the same dark colored shirt, which matched their pants. So when he became Chief of the Birmingham Police Department, the white shirts went away, except for formal ceremonies when a uniform jacket was required. So when Assistant Chief Epstein arrived at my door around eight-twenty, she was wearing the Class-B version of the uniform, short sleeves, open collar, three stars on either side of it, dark blue on dark blue, and shiny black patent leather shoes. She carried her peaked cap with gold braid under her right arm above her holstered weapon, a SIG, and in her left hand was her briefcase. She looked tired and angry. I could understand why, stepped back and admitted her, then directed her into the dining area.

She stopped short when she saw that the table had been set for two, and suddenly her shoulders sagged. She turned to look up at me.

“I think I owe you an apology, Derrick,” she said softly. “I didn’t have a right to take your head off like that. You aren’t one of my officers and you were doing the job I asked you to, it’s just been a long night and I don’t see an end in sight any time soon. Still, no excuse, and I’m sorry about before on the phone.”

I stood staring down at her in silence for a full minute, pondering that perhaps I wouldn’t kick her ass later, still…

“I’ll let it slide this time, Anita,” I said, then stepped around her and went into the kitchen. “I was reasonably sure you hadn’t had time for breakfast this morning, and I was going to eat, so…”

She set her things down in the living room on the glass coffee table, then walked over to the dining table.

“A lot of bad coffee,” she admitted. “I really haven’t thought about food until now, but as soon as I walked in and smelled what you were cooking, my stomach lurched with hunger.”

“Then have a seat,” I told her. “It will be a meatless breakfast, I’m afraid. And no coffee. Several flavors of juice, from tomato to cranberry. Milk and tea, too, of course.”

She sat and said tomato juice would be fine, and didn’t mind a veggie breakfast either. I brought over grits, scrambled eggs, wheat toast, and walnut and peach oatmeal, along with juice, the tomato she requested, and cranberry for me.

I waited politely while she said a brief prayer, knew her to be rather devoted to her particular faith, and then we tucked in. The assistant chief ate for several minutes without looking up, occasionally taking a sip of juice. Then she wiped her mouth, glanced over at me.

“Guess being a bachelor you have to be a good cook,” she said. “Or order out a lot.”

“I’ve always enjoyed cooking,” I told her, finishing my juice and going into the kitchen for a refill. Epstein requested more as well.

When I retook my seat, I looked over at her as she sat back and glanced around my loft. This was the first time she had been there and she gave it the once-over with the experienced eye of a cop and the appraising eye of a woman, smiling a little.

“I know you didn’t clean the place up just because I was coming over, so you must be a neat freak.”

“I like order,” I said. “Even before I went into the Air Force I liked everything neat and in a place I could find it when I needed to. It works for me.”

She nodded, drank more juice, then set the glass down on the table and got up, going into the living room to retrieve her briefcase, paused and opened it, taking out an iPad and bringing it back to the table instead.

“First off, as far as what happened last night, the story is as follows: After discovering that the identities of several informants and witnesses important to the Birmingham Police Department were compromised, members of the Criminal Intelligence Unit started scrambling to get to them and put them into protective custody before anything bad happened. Sergeant Baxter led the team to retrieve Mr. Beasley at his place of work in Inverness Corner, he was accompanied by an unidentified female member of law enforcement. During this time, some type of altercation took place in the parking lot outside the bar where Mr. Beasley works, and this altercation resulted in gunfire. It is unknown if this had anything to do with Beasley but Sergeant Baxter decided not to take any chances and quickly evacuated him from the scene. There were a few minor injuries inside the bar, but nothing life-threatening. All the shooters, between three and five, got away. Descriptions are vague, video surveillance is not very helpful either. Hoover is investigating, along with detectives from South Precinct and Robbery-Homicide.”

“And Beasley is where now?” I said.

“Depends on who you ask,” she said, a faint hint of humor showing at the left corner of her mouth. “He’s either in a BPD safehouse with round-the-clock security, or he’s in a Jefferson County safehouse with round-the-clock security. Benita and I are spinning that as hard as we can. So far the Chief isn’t asking too many questions and neither is anybody else in my department. Hoover isn’t happy that Kurt left the scene, but I had a word with their Chief and he knows the score, or thinks he does. Anyway, for now we’re covered on that end. How is Beasley doing by the way?”

“Scared shitless but alive,” I answered, leaning back and folding my hands in my lap. “Checked in a little while ago, day team is on duty. Night shift reported he finally calmed down enough to go to sleep around four, and he’s still out. He is not happy about not being able to go home, but understands why. Benita is going to have to talk to him because right now I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have any plans to testify against anybody, but that’s not a part of my job so I’ll leave it to her. Has Kurt come up with anything more on the leak of the names?”

“Nothing solid that leads to anyone we can arrest,” the assistant chief told me, working on her iPad for a minute. “That twitter account has been shut down and we’ve already served the company with warrants to get whatever they have on the user. Probably a dead end because those things, like on so many other social media platforms, can be set up anonymously, even using someone else’s personal information. Probably a blind alley, but CIU will follow it up. I think it’s clear that Beasley was the target of the leak, the other four names just tossed in for good measure and probably to create more chaos.”

“I really shouldn’t ask this,” I said pointedly, “because it isn’t my responsibility, but I guess curiosity is getting the better of me. How does BPD control their CIs and witnesses? Is there a central database with all of that information stored inside? And if there is, is it that easily hacked? And if so, fire whoever designed that system.”

Epstein actually managed a grin.

“If it were only that simple, Derrick,” she said, and then began a lengthy explanation of something I should have known better than to ask about. That’ll teach me.

“So essentially what you’re saying is that there is not really a central database with all CIs and witnesses, that they are maintained in the various divisions and precincts, at least on the CI end, and witnesses are shared with the DA’s Office for obvious reasons. And unless a CI becomes a witness, in most cases the DA doesn’t get their names.”

“Correct,” said Chief Epstein.

“Which means you know what that means,” I said.

“I do,” she said wearily. “It means the leak is definitely inside the Birmingham Police Department. My house.”

Yep, I thought, very glad I decided not to become a cop after I left the Air Force. Who knows, right now I might be sitting in this exact same room, only wearing a dark blue on dark blue uniform with three gold stars on either side of my neck and up to those stars in deep shit.

Chapter 17

Paige Palmer called about ten minutes after Epstein left my place. I said she had good timing and asked her to meet me. She said okay, Paige was always accommodating, at least to me anyway.

The Southwood Garden Apartments in Five Points South is not a long drive from my place, but since I was looking for signs that somebody might be watching the complex, I took my sweet time driving around the neighborhood several times. When Paige arrived, she did the same thing, then we both drove a couple blocks away and left our cars in the parking lot of the neighborhood Chick-fil-A.

I’ve known Paige a long time, first as a uniformed officer working in North Precinct, later as a detective, and eventually as a lieutenant with Birmingham before she retired a few years ago. Retired but still in the game as a law enforcement consultant to the feds, and apparently as a troubleshooter for Anita Epstein.

She’s in her late fifties now, but as she did when we first met, Paige still looks good in blue jeans, something I commented on as she grinned and hugged me.

“You say that every time we see each other,” she said.

“Because it’s true every time I see you,” I said, my arms still around her waist as we stood and looked into one another’s eyes. “Hubby treating you all right, because if he isn’t, I’d be more than happy to help you get even with him.”

Paige snickered, and poked me in the gut.

“I think you have more than evened things up over the years,” she said. “Before and after I got married the second time. But I’ll keep it in mind.”

We started walking back toward the apartment building. In addition to the snug blue jeans, Paige wore white sneakers and an orange short sleeve T-shirt tucked in at the waist. She also carried a small brown backpack slung over her left shoulder that I was pretty sure contained at least one firearm.

I had on jeans as well, a dark blue T-shirt, black tactical boots with zippers up the sides, and a dark blue short sleeve jacket of Israeli design called a Shabak jacket, sometimes a Bodyguard jacket because Shabak is the Israeli security service (English translation: Israel Security Agency) with the primary responsibility for providing close-protection to the prime minister and other high government officials, and since it’s often hot as hell in Israel, they need something lightweight and cool to wear to conceal their weapons and other duty equipment. And since in the summertime in Alabama it gets hot as hell, too, I and my teammates have several of these jackets.

“So you let Epstein talk you into coming back for this mess, huh?” I said, casually glancing around as we walked.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Anita and I go way back, and I kind of owe her. Never would have got that tap for lieutenant’s pay before I left if not for her. But that aside, what’s going on now is more than a mess and I really don’t like it. The integrity of a department that I spent half my life working for is seriously compromised and people are being killed. She asked for my help and I really couldn’t say no. Besides, I am getting paid, too.”

I nodded as we took the crosswalk on the light.

“And you’re working with Kurt,” I said.

She chuckled.

“Dynamo Man,” she said. “Kurt’s a good cop, high-strung as hell, but a good cop. Won’t need a lot of coffee working with him, that’s for sure. How is everybody from last night?”

“Good,” I told her. “The client is still shaky, but that’s to be expected. I’m hoping that picking up some of his things for him will help him adjust to the situation better because it could be a good while before he can come back home, if ever. I’m not sure how prepared he is for that reality, but the DA will have to broach that subject with him later. I just have to keep him alive.”

“You were always a simple man, Mr. Olin,” Paige grinned as we turned onto the street side lawn outside the main entrance to the Southwood Garden Apartments at 1103 Richard Arrington, Jr. Boulevard South.

“Man has to know his place in this world,” I said, glancing at her, waiting for her to grin again, which she did, leaned in a little closer.

“You never had a problem finding your place, Derrick. And you know it.”

We were facing one another now, intimate, like a middle aged couple having a quiet conversation before going inside the building to their apartment. I reached forward and took Paige’s right hand with my left.

“I make two,” I said.

She smiled, nodded.

“Same,” she said. “What do you want to do?”

I smiled, leaned even closer, briefly pressed my lips to hers.

“Let’s go into our apartment, my dear,” I said.

Paige smiled, turned and led the way in, still holding my hand.

THE BUILDING IS THREE FLOORS, each apartment with a wooden deck out beyond the kitchen, including the ground units. Quinton Beasley’s apartment is on the third floor in back. There is no elevator but this is a building where young people live, early thirties and younger, in the trendy heart of Birmingham’s Southside known as Five-Points (South). Paige made a comment about perhaps needing a big strapping black fellow to carry her up the stairs. My reply was about what she expected it would be, and then she led the way up. I was glad for this, the view was spectacular.

When we reached the third floor I whistled.

“That Scottie is a hell of a lucky man, Madam Paige,” I said.

Paige paused at the top of the stairs, grinned back at me.

“He sure is,” she said.

There were two people in the corridor, one coming out an apartment two down from where we stood, a young black woman in what appeared to be workout clothes, and she had buds stuck in her ears, a Smartphone in a clear pouch attached to her left arm. Paige and I stepped aside to let her by and she smiled at us. We smiled back.

I had the keys to Beasley’s apartment in my left hand. Paige and I started down the narrow hallway toward apartment 3G, having a conversation about absolutely nothing as the young black man in baggy black jeans and an oversized gray sweat shirt leaned against the wall on the opposite end of the corridor next to the fire exit. He was eyeing us carefully, attempting a combination of indifference and menace, I think, but not pulling either off very well at all. Maybe it was his youth or the fact that a lot of people I’ve met over the years were a lot scarier than he and most of them are dead; many courtesy of me.

Paige laughed and bumped her hip into me.

“Baby, I hope you took your Viagra on time this morning, because I’m gonna ball your brains out once we get inside.”

I laughed exaggeratedly, slipping my arm around her waist and giving one plump cheek a deliberate squeeze.

“Honey, you know good and well all I gotta do is get this ass out of these jeans and that’s all I need to get me going,” I said, then stopped in front of 3G and slid the key into the lock.

Paige giggled and kissed my neck just as the lock turned and the door opened. We moved inside with our arms around one another, lightly pushing the door with our hips once we were in the small interior entryway. We continued to talk as two horny fifty-something year olds, apparently anxious to prove we still had the vigor.

In reality, as we kept up the sexy talk, Paige and I had removed our weapons from our holsters and had hastily taken up tactical positions within the apartment. There wasn’t much cover because Mr. Beasley appeared to lead a bit of a Spartan existence, at least on first blush, and only after looking at his front room. No time for a more thorough inspection and assessment, however, as the front door is being pushed in and the young man from the end of the hallway is rushing inside, a nickel-plated semiautomatic pistol in a clumsy two-handed grip.

If possible, the kid looked even more vulnerable now than he had out in the hallway. Could have something to do with the two Glocks currently pointing at him in steady, two-handed grips that belonged to people who had shot other people before. In my case, a lot of other people.

“This ends with that gun on the floor or you down there instead, son,” Paige said in her vintage cop voice, steady and sure. “Your choice. For us, it’s only a little extra paperwork.”

I could tell he really wanted to shoot, to show that he was a man, but in truth—and he probably always knew this—he was just a boy. A scared little boy. If he was smart, he’d get out of this life and still have time to become a man. Probably wouldn’t happen, but today he might just live a bit longer because he had the good sense to lower the pistol to the floor.

He was flat on his stomach and I covered while Paige knelt down, knee on the kid’s hip, and cuffed him in two seconds flat.

“Still got the touch, Lieutenant,” I said, walking over and securing the front door.

Paige hauled her charge to his feet and walked him over to the sofa, shoving him down. I retrieved the weapon from the floor, a Ruger 9mm, unloaded and left it on the small kitchen counter across from the living room.

“Did you call your friends outside before you decided to come in here after us?” I said to our would-be hard-ass.

He was reluctant to answer, not looking up, so I repeated the question, and Paige punctuated by kicking his left sneaker with hers.

“Man asked you a question, son, and he don’t like to be ignored. Best answer him.”

The kid shook his head. About what I thought, a complete amateur thug, figured he’d come in here by himself and get all the credit for finding out where Quinton Beasley was hiding. I glanced at Paige and she nodded, pulling out her phone.

I walked over and sat down right next to our uninvited guest, patted his left thigh and smiled.

“So, in the meantime, why don’t you and I get acquainted, sir? I want to know all about you. Your life thus far, the whole sordid story from birth to now.” I paused and the smile faded instantly. “But first we’ll start with your name, and then I want to know precisely why you were out in the hallway when we came up and why you followed us in here.”

The pressure on his thigh caused him to whence and glare at me. My smile was back and I leaned in very close.

“By the way, I’m not a cop, and neither is the lady on the phone.”

Which was true, Paige was just as much a civilian right now as I was, despite the gold lieutenant’s badge with RETIRED stamped on it in her side pocket.

The kid had difficulty swallowing, and when Paige was done she came over and sat down on the other side and we were all three nice and cozy pals.

It took Nathan Bishops about another minute to find his voice and then he spilled everything. Unfortunately, what he knew was next to nothing and of no real consequence.

When officers from South Precinct arrived and scooped up the other two wanna-be bad asses outside, not much more was learned, except their names. Those two had outstanding warrants, one for felonies in Jefferson County, they could be held on those alone. And since Mr. Bishops had unlawfully entered Mr. Beasley’s apartment carrying a firearm that turned out to be stolen, he, too, would enjoy the fine hospitality of local law enforcement for quite a while.

An hour after entering Quinton Beasley’s apartment, Paige and I finally got around to doing what we had come there for, packing the things Beasley had said he’d like to have brought to him, including his iPad and charger.

“Think we’re done here,” I said, glancing around the living room one last time. I had a large blue roller suitcase in my left hand and Paige carried a gray duffel. She nodded.

“Unless you want to go for a quickie on the sofa before we leave,” she teased.

I shook my head and made for the door.

“Not really in the mood now, luv. Maybe if we’d gotten to shoot somebody this morning…”

We were both laughing as we left the apartment and locked the front door in the now bad guy-free hallway.

Chapter 18

Deputy District Attorney Benita Bender was wearing blue jeans on Sunday afternoon as well, only with sneakers and a gray short sleeve T-shirt, but her black leather jacket with all the zippers was nowhere in sight. Understandable really, considering that outdoors it was a sweltering ninety-four degrees right now.

We were meeting in my office in Ensley. Even though it was Sunday and not many people were around her office (mine either for that matter), we thought it best that I keep away from there as much as possible, lest someone become unduly curious. Given my reputation for the unconventional and the unofficial, and the incident that transpired in the 22nd Street North parking deck last Christmas that involved both Benita and me, the dots might connect far too easily for comfort.

Although not a vegetarian, she was loving the veggie burger I had made with my own two hands and brought from home, along with veggie chips and Cran-Mango juice.

“Mmmm, this is really delicious, Derrick,” she said after swallowing a bite. “Juicy just like a hamburger, but not nearly as greasy or bad for you. Why someone (woman or man) hasn’t snapped you up by now, I just don’t understand.”

I was behind my desk, she was in front, the same configuration as when Anita Epstein had visited and started this whole thing rolling last week. Wiping my mouth on a napkin, I fixed her with a humorless gaze.

“I’m far too high maintenance to be worth the trouble,” I said.

She grinned, took a sip of juice from the bottle I had given her earlier, eyes alive with mischief.

“That’s what Aaron says about me, but that boy has always loved a challenge.”

I chuckled, thinking that I’ll bet he did, and a few other things that were very inappropriate, specifically what it would take to maintain those long legs of hers around my… Anyway, lunch was the best part of our get-together, the focal point, the discussion, was anything but.

“My bureau chief knows I was at Bruno’s Friday night but is content to let it slide because the cops are taking the heat. Chief Epstein has had a word with her, too. But I’m on a tighter leash right now, and am getting a lot of pressure to force a deal with Nicky Ashworth. Unfortunately, yesterday afternoon this became a lot harder when I was notified that Mr. Ashworth has retained new counsel; not some Public Defender a couple years out of law school carrying more than a hundred cases, either. No, he went out and hired Charles “Chuck” Bagby, Principal at Bagby & Associates. You ever hear of him?”

“Of course,” I said, leaning forward on my desk. “Seen his TV commercials, too. The felons best friend to have in Birmingham. After Ashley Milner, he’s probably the best criminal defense attorney in the city.”

“But unlike Ashley, he’s a scumbag,” said the DDA with obvious distaste. “Where as Ashley will do her damnedest to serve her client’s interests within the law, keeping us prosecutors on our toes with every legal stratagem in the book, she doesn’t play dirty, try to smear cops and prosecutors or expert witnesses who are just trying to do an honest job. If she thinks there is good reason to suspect bias, sure, she’ll pounce, and provide actual evidence to back up her allegations, but Bagby is the horse’s ass of a different stripe.”

She wiped her mouth again, her steam starting to rise.

“That asshole will make unfounded accusations, browbeat judges until they agree to useless hearings on frivolous motions that only delay trials and gum up the system, threaten witnesses with lawsuits for defamation of his clients, and go on TV spewing such bile about how his innocent clients have been improperly treated by us and the cops, that we have all conspired to manipulate evidence in order to frame them because we’re too lazy or corrupt to go out and find the real perpetrators. The guy just makes me fucking sick! And now a scumbag like Nicky Ashworth has hired him.”

I gave it a few seconds after she stopped talking, still fuming.

“You know I really hate it when you young people just don’t spit it out and say what’s really on your mind.”

Benita glared at me for maybe three seconds, then started grinning, and the money she spent at the dentist appeared to be well worth it because that smile could launch a thousand ships, or undo a thousand and one zippers.

“Well, pops, my generation’s been told it’s better for us kids to be seen and not heard.”

Oddly, her calling me pops sounded kind of nice, and that worried me a lot. Still, I smiled again.

“So does this mean you’re less likely to be able to get a plea deal with Bagby onboard?”

“Maybe. Bagby does cut deals because most of his clients are guilty, despite his BS to the press and the public, but usually after he’s tried every trick in the book to delay the process and wear down the prosecution. He’s got a lot of dogged investigators who know how to dig up dirt, always seem to find something on our witnesses that paint them in a bad light, some of the cops, too. Ashworth has a lot of priors and we got him on some outstanding warrants, too. He’s not gonna skate on this, but his lawyer is going to make it as hard as he can. And that’s why I really need Quinton Beasley to be fully cooperative.”

I sat back and sighed.

“He’s in a bad state right now, Nita,” I told her. “Yesterday was really bad, especially when he found out that Paige and I encountered three armed thugs at his place. And there’s the fact that he can’t go to work, he’s worried about his job, how he’s gonna pay his bills.”

Now she sighed, glancing down at her long, well manicured fingers.

“I’m gonna have to see him, talk to him, soothe him if I can. He’s got to understand the stakes here, that he will not be safe until we put Ashworth away. Can you set it up for tomorrow?”

“I can,” I told her. “But you aren’t coming to the safehouse and he isn’t going to your office.”

She stared at me for a few minutes, her lips turned down in a frown.

“You have to know I’m not a threat to his security,” she said. “Hell, you could blindfold me or put a bag over my head if you wanted so I wouldn’t know where we were going.”

I just had to laugh at that, and then couldn’t keep what I said next from coming out of my mouth.

“Nita, no sane guy is ever going to choose to put a bag over your head.”

She looked at me and smiled, and mercifully moved on without comment.

“Well since you won’t let me go to where you’re keeping him and he is probably better off not going to my office right now, least of all with you and your people surrounding him, could we meet here?”

“Yes,” I told her. “I’ll arrange that. Would nine be acceptable?”

She thought a minute, glanced at her watch. “Ten would be better. Monday mornings are for bureau staff meetings, usually kicking off around seven-thirty and lasting till nine. If I get out close to that, rush back to my office to take care of some other things, I might be able to make it here by ten. Sorry I can’t be more firm, but things get kind of crazy at the DA’s Office sometimes.”

I told her I understood, then moved on to the gentlemen Paige and I and South Precinct had apprehended on Saturday morning in Five-Points South.

“Nolan Bishops, twenty-three, Calvin Moss, nineteen, Ezra Gamble, 20. Despite their youth, each has an extensive criminal record, mostly drug related, some violence, hell, even some traffic warrants. All three have had their licenses revoked, which is kind of sad, given they hadn’t had them all that long to begin with. They’re all talking now, by the way, but don’t have much of relevance to say. Bishops got a call from a guy he knows asking him to go to this address on Southside and look for a guy named Quinton Beasley. If he showed up, Bishops was to shoot him.”

“I know the name and address of his home and job were on that twitter page, but how’d they know what he looked like?”

Benita Bender smiled grimly.

“Because we’re in the second decade of the Twenty-First Century, Mr. Olin, and everybody and their Aunt Fanny is on social media. Except maybe you. Beasley has profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, all with photos posted. He even tweets from work, stuff going on at the bar and like that.”

“Of course he does,” I said drearily. “Why make it hard for the stalkers and murderers to know what you’re doing and where you’re doing it every minute of the day? Surprised he wasn’t tweeting when we were hustling him out of the bar the other night.”

“The modern world, Derrick,” Benita said.

“If you say so,” I said. “But he can’t do any of that now because I had Sheila confiscate his phone. He was reluctant to give it up, and isn’t happy that he can’t get on the internet on his iPad right now either, but Sheila has a way with people.”

Benita smirked.

“Yeah, I know. Even though she has never been arrested and convicted of anything that I can find, there are files in my office and at the PD that do reference her, and some of the things she is alleged to have done. A very scary little woman indeed. Glad she’s a white hat now.”

“How much were they supposed to get paid to shoot Beasley?” I said.

“A grand each,” she told me.

“Life really is cheap,” I said.

“Tell me about it,” she said. “Bishops gave up the name and number, but it was a burner, and the name was only a street handle, he doesn’t know the full name nor where we can find the guy.”

“Convenient,” I said. “Tell me the street name and I’ll have my folks look into it, as you just pointed out, some of them have colorful pasts of their own.”

She thought a minute, nodded and told me. I entered the information into my phone and sent a text to Ollie, Frankie, and Sheila, since they used to play on the darker side of the street.

“And the leak investigation, what do you know?”

“That Anita Epstein is livid right now. She’s almost certain that the leak is coming from inside BPD and is doing whatever she can to find and plug it, but it’s not easygoing. They’re looking at the names of those who were compromised along with Quinton, trying to see if one particular division or even one person had access to all of them. Too much to be hoped for, I’m sure, but they’re looking hard anyway. Also, Kurt and the techies are still looking at Twitter, trying to see what they can learn from that deactivated account. You probably talked to Paige already but she’s set up as Anita’s one-woman IA Division right now, looking at people inside the department who might be compromised, living above their means, that sort of thing. A lot of drudge work, but I understand former Lieutenant Palmer was a very good detective in her day.”

I nodded.

“She was, and her day is far from done, whippersnapper.”

Benita grinned, finished the last of her chips and checked her watch.

“I need to get going, Aaron and I are having dinner with my parents tonight and we were going to hang out by the pool for a few hours this afternoon beforehand.”

I only thought about what she looked like in a bikini for less than five seconds before moving on. Well, okay, maybe ten. But no more than thirteen.

“As you can no doubt tell from my milky complexion,” she said, standing and grinning, “the sun and I are not on a first name basis. So when I referenced lying out by the pool, my loving hubby will be basking in the sun while my pale ass hides under a very large umbrella.”

I stood as well.

“Well enjoy your shade while Aaron enjoys his sun. And I’ll see you in the morning at ten, unless something changes.”

She nodded, collected her purse, and I walked her out.

In the exterior hallway outside reception she turned and looked down at me. All the tall women in my life these days.

“Thanks for all your help with this case, Derrick,” she said to me. “I mean I know it’s a job and you’re being paid, but still, thanks. I feel a lot better about our prospects for keeping the witness alive knowing you’re involved.”

I nodded, put out my right hand.

She smirked, pushed it aside and leaned down to hug me.

“You’re not gonna catch anything,” she teased.

“But you might,” I rejoined and she laughed.

She walked toward the elevator down the hall and I watched her go. She probably knew I was staring at her tight little ass in those adorable blue jeans, and right now I didn’t care.

Benita waved before stepping onto the elevator and I waved back. Damn, I thought, and that’s when Leigh Danton sent another text.

I thought damn again, then went back into my office to do something I couldn’t put off any longer. On the plus side, Leigh looked damn good in jeans, too, and in her case I didn’t have to fantasize about what she looked like without them.

Chapter 19

I was at home checking my weapons at four that Sunday afternoon. At the Homewood safehouse, Ollie and Frankie were on duty. They reported nothing had changed, the client was still restless and angry but so far hadn’t tried to escape. I told Ollie about the meeting tomorrow and he said they’d be ready to move when I brought the van over. I asked about team morale and he pointed out that we’d only been on the job a couple of days and since everybody (save for me right now) got paid more when working an actual detail, it would be a long time before anyone complained about the hours, more like never. It was the work we all did now.

He was right about that.

The doorbell sounded at two minutes after four and I went to answer it, already knowing who was on the other side, but checking the peephole just the same, and smiling because the person standing out in the corridor is kind of on the short side, much like the Assistant Chief of Police, but unlike DDA Bender or NBC-13’s Farina Warren.

Leigh Danton stood in the entryway and stared at me harshly when I opened the door. She wore jeans, a flowery button-down short sleeve shirt, and carried a large black purse over her left shoulder. I recognized that purse, a birthday present from me about three years ago. It had a special compartment for concealing a Glock-26 semiautomatic pistol. I’d bought that for her, too.

“Dame Leigh,” I said magnanimously, bowing fully. “How good of you to come see me this afternoon.”

After a few more seconds, she shook her head and pushed past me, emphasis on pushed. More like a shove. She knew the place well, although it had been a while since she’d been over. By the time I secured the front door, she was already in the kitchen getting a beer out of the fridge. I don’t drink beer, or alcohol all that much for that matter, but since I knew she was coming over and figured I’d play nice, picked up a six pack of Corona Light on the way home.

Leigh snapped the cap off on the edge of my counter and I winced.

“I have a bottle opener, or is that what you plan on doing to my head?” I said, approaching the counter from the living room side.

She took a long swallow, eyeing me the whole time, then wiped her mouth with the back of her left hand.

“I was thinking about something a lot lower,” she said, her lips forming a wicked little grin. “Especially since it took you so long to get back in touch with me, and only after I kept pestering you.”

“Sorry about that, luv,” I said. “Been a little busy since Friday night. I was going to call you yesterday, but then something else happened.”

“Like what, another gunfight?”

“Not quite, but close,” I told her honestly.

She stared back for a few moments, not sure if I was joking, then realized that I never joked about gunfights.

Leigh and I have known each other a lot of years, and I trust her, more importantly, I actually like her. Some days I’m reasonably sure the sentiment is reciprocated, even when I insult one of her top cultural icons and his entire life’s work.

We settled on a punch in the arm for my heresy, then a quick peck on the lips because I had gotten her out of the line of fire Friday night. I got a bottle of juice from the fridge and then we went to the loveseat in the living room and sat down.

“How’s Emma?” I asked about the thirty-five year old folk singer from Atlanta that Leigh had been involved with off and on for the past couple of years. Last time we talked it was back on.

“Good,” she told me, holding her beer above her lap. “We got together at her place two weeks ago when she was home off the road. When she gets back from her next set of gigs out west month after next, she’s coming over here for a week of lesbian debauchery.”

I smiled, Leigh grinned.

“Is there any other kind?” I said, and she laughed harder, bumping my knee with hers.

“Well I still like the fellas, too, big fella. As you well know. And somebody else we now have in common.”

I glanced at her and frowned, then it dawned on me.

“He’s practically a baby,” I mocked. “Still wet behind the ears.”

She chuckled. “Funny, that’s not where he makes me wet.”

I grinned, shaking my head.

“So you and the bartender are more than just friends, huh? That why you hang out at Bruno’s on Friday nights?”

“I hang out there sometimes because it’s close to the shop and the team and I like to let our hair down some on Friday nights. The added benefit is Quint. Started making eyes at me as soon as he got the job, slipped me his number a couple of times. I played hard to get, naturally, strung him along for about eight months. Then back during that last break from Emma, I was waiting for him when the bar closed one Saturday night. Went back to his place and showed him that a middle-aged, tatted up Bama gal could still rock his world. He showed me that a guy in his early thirties ain’t all that bad either. But to answer your earlier question, we’re not even friends, more like occasional fuck buddies. And he’s a hell of a bartender, too. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to him.”

“Well if I were the jealous type…”

Leigh snickered and put a hand on my arm.

“You don’t have it in you to let someone you’re protecting get killed, least of all because he and you happen to have fucked the same woman. And not that your ego needs it, but you ain’t so bad in the rack either, Mister. Or the shower.”

I smiled, remembering fondly that the shower was where we first…

“What’s going on, Derrick, why does Quinton need your protection? What’s he done?”

Strictly speaking, there was no need to tell her. In fact, I shouldn’t tell her anything. However, as I said before, I trust Leigh completely, after all, she is my oldest friend, and her oldest daughter is my goddaughter.

So I told her everything, except where she could find or how she could talk to her favorite bartender.

“But I will be sure to let him know you asked about him,” I said. “And that you think his dick is funny looking.”

Leigh laughed and punched me again.

“No, his cock looks just fine,” she said. “Tastes pretty good, too. Not that it’s easy to get all of it in my mouth, but…”

I shook my head.

“Okay, Lady Danton,” I said, making to stand. “That little detail you can keep to yourself.”

Leigh took my outstretched hand and I pulled her up. She stood very close and looked up at me for about a minute, then put her left hand in the center of my chest.

“Seriously. Take care of him, Derrick. And look after yourself, too. Erin would probably miss you if you died. Or she would until I told her how you insulted Mr. Lee. Then she’d probably want to dig you up and kill you again.”

I smiled, took her in my arms and we embraced for a long time. Then we walked toward the front door and said goodbye. I watched until she was on the elevator down the hall from my unit then closed the door and went back inside, a lot of things circling through my mind right now, and most of them were professional.

Chapter 20

It was raining when I woke up at five on Monday morning, but this didn’t stop me from doing a quick two miles through the wet downtown streets. By seven-thirty I was at the safehouse in Homewood with the van and everyone was up and ready to move. Mr. Beasley was experiencing a bit of cabin fever by now, even though it had only been a few days, and was looking forward to a change of scenery, even if he wasn’t going some place he actually wanted to go.

The safehouse was secure and could be monitored remotely from any of our laptops, iPads, or Smartphones, so I wasn’t worried about leaving the place empty for a few hours. Before we brought the client back, I’d have Frankie get there first and give it a quick check, just to be thorough, but for now we were all on the move.

The rain did not let up as the morning rush began and this was actually helpful as it would make it harder for anyone attempting to follow us, although I knew we were clean. Our countersurveillance tactics on the way over revealed nothing, and we’re pretty good at this kind of stuff. Still, we didn’t take any direct routes, but managed to get to the office in Ensley just after nine.

We let Beasley cool his heels in Ollie’s office and had a quick meeting in the bullpen. Though we were not expecting trouble, we were still prepared for it, and that’s the reason that this morning Jordana Kauffman was wearing her sidearm, a double-action SIG-Sauer P-228 with modified trigger, sights, and grips. And as I had mentioned earlier, she is rather good with that weapon.

The meeting didn’t last long, and I asked Jordana to go in and check on the client, having promised that he would be allowed to check his email but not his social media accounts, and he would only be allowed to respond to emails if I approved, something he really wasn’t happy about, but agreed to nonetheless. She nodded and went into Ollie’s office.

Ollie said he was going to go downstairs and have a look around, just to make sure nothing was amiss. He didn’t actually use the word amiss, funky was how he put it, but essentially the same difference.

Frankie sat on top of his desk and told me about the man referred to as Pointer.

“Used to know him when I was with Innes, and he was mostly a pretender then. Half-assed. Like to talk tough, always carrying a piece, but when it came to doing the hard stuff, he always managed to find somebody else to do it.”

“More like management,” I offered.

“More like a pussy,” Frankie corrected. “And not the good kind.”

I chuckled and he continued.

“Anyway, after Innes got clipped, Pointer started running with other gangs, stayed away from Malik Oldham though because Malik didn’t tolerate wannabes. If you was with his crew, you did everything he told you to do. Or he’d kill you, probably your family, too. And your dog. His real name is Justin Lincoln, about my age, tall, skinny black dude with really bad teeth. Haven’t seen him personally since Innes left the scene, but when you texted the name last night I made some calls.”

He gave me everything he had and I typed it all into my phone. It wasn’t a whole lot, but apparently more than the cops had, and maybe they could do something with it.

“So he’s working as a middle man now,” I said. “Freelance?”

“The way I understand it,” Frankie said. “Got his hands in everybody’s pocket. No direct ties to Nicky Ashworth, but I wouldn’t be surprised that he’d done some stuff for him at one time or another, Nicky being who and what he is, too.”

I nodded and finished typing, and then looked over at him.

“What’s the story on Ashworth?” I said. “From the wrong side of the street.”

Frankie grinned, leaned forward on his desk.

“A real mean asshole. You probably know that guy he killed last year downtown wasn’t the first body he dropped, just the first one that can be tied directly to him. Word is he was pissed with the guy he killed, had a deal set up with him and the idiot broke it, twice, was taking money out of Nicky’s pocket. Always a bad thing to do when you dealing with somebody who’s crazy. He found the guy and shot him on the spot, no plannin’, nothin’, just got out of his car and started shooting right there on the street. Too bad for him that thing at the McWane Center was just lettin’ out and Quinton Beasley was the first out the door. Anyway, what the cops have is pretty straight in terms of his operation, north side boy, lot of people over there scared to death of him. His crew is tight, and almost as crazy as he is. While Nicky is locked up, his number two is holding things together, but everybody know Nicky still calling the shots.”

“And his number two is Nelson Johnson?” I said.

Frankie nodded.

“Goes by Nellie. He and Ashworth grew up together, dropped out of school together, and wound up in juvie the first time together. Tight as blood.”

“Is he smart enough to figure out a way to breach the police’s CI and witness network?”

Frankie snorted.

“He nor Nicky that smart. They more ruthless than anything else. They know how to count, money and dope, and bodies for that matter, but tech stuff, nah, that ain’t them.”

“About what I figured,” I said thoughtfully. “But they have money, and with money, a lot of things are possible. Like the fancy lawyer that Ashworth has representing him now instead of a public defender.”

“Yeah,” Frankie said. “Enough money you can get pretty much anything.

My phone buzzed, a text from Ollie.

“Looks like the DA just pulled into the garage,” I told Frankie, sending a quick reply to Ollie. “Would you cover the hallway, please, and escort her in. Once the meeting starts, I want you and Ollie both on perimeter watch, inside and outside the building.

Frankie was already on his feet and moving toward reception before I finished speaking.

I added a few more details to the email I was going to send to Paige and Kurt, then sent it.

I knocked on Ollie’s office door, stuck my head in, let Mr. Beasley know that Benita Bender was on her way up. This news did not appear to cheer him in the least and I did not envy Benita’s next few hours in that office.

Jordana came out with me, shaking her head.

“He’s scared to death and angry. Your DA friend is going to have to go a long way to get any cooperation out of him right now.”

I nodded.

“And I’m glad not to be her,” I said as we walked into reception to await the arrival of the woman in question herself.

Chapter 21

Jordana sat at her desk in reception and took care of what she needed to while keeping a sharp eye on the entrance door, which, of course, was locked. Ollie and Frankie, checking in via encrypted radios every ten minutes, kept watch on the perimeter of the building and the interior, switching as they felt like it, one spelling the other for bathroom breaks and such. And speaking of that, since we didn’t have a bathroom in our office, when our client had to go, I would recall one of them to come up and help me cover the floor while he did his business in the unisex bathroom down the opposite end of the hall. During the four hours that he and Benita met, he came out three times for that. He drank a lot of Jordana’s strong black coffee that morning and apparently it was going right through him. Benita only had to come out once for that, but three times to take phone calls and the last one didn’t sound pleasant. It was just before three in the afternoon and the rain had started to come down again.

The DDA came into my office and plopped herself down in my client chair, leaning back and staring up at the ceiling, or she had been before closing her eyes. I bookmarked the internet page I was reading, closed the lid on my laptop, looked over at her.

“To quote J.P. Hansen,” I said. “‘The fight does not go well, Enterprise.’”

Benita opened her eyes and frowned at me.

“What?”

“Sometimes I forget how young you are,” I told her. “A Star Trek: The Next Generation reference from the fourth season opener, The Best of Both Worlds, Part 2. When they received a transmission from the scene of the battle at Wolf 359. Part of Admiral Hansen’s last words before the screen went blank. You look about like Hansen did then.”

She suddenly grinned, sat up.

“I have seen that show,” she told me. “Only in reruns because I was like one when it first started to air, and I remember the episode you’re talking about with Picard as a Borg. You know I actually cried when that happened.”

“I cried when Spock died,” I said.

She stared at me for a moment, not sure if I was putting her on.

“Well your secret’s safe with me, tough guy. Wouldn’t want the bad guys out there on the mean streets of the city to start thinking that Derrick Olin wears ladies underwear.”

I smirked.

“Hey, Joe Namath wore pantyhose to keep himself warm when he was playing football in freezing temperatures,” I said. “Even during the Super Bowl. So if I like to sport a lacy thong every now and then, so what?”

Benita stared at me, very unsure this time, and finally shook her head and laughed.

“Can’t tell if you’re serious or not on that one,” she admitted. “And honestly it doesn’t matter. I support your lifestyle as long as you’re happy.”

We were both laughing inside ten seconds.

“I needed that laugh,” she said eventually. “Quinton is giving me a headache. He’s pissed and I understand why, believe me, but right now he’s being a big child, threatening not to testify, threatening to sue me and the DA’s Office if we don’t leave him alone.”

“What about TripleD?” I said. “He want to sue us, too, for keeping him alive?”

“He hasn’t mentioned that yet, although he is pissed that you won’t let him have unrestricted internet and phone access.”

“Of course he is,” I said. “Doesn’t he realize that his internet usage is what made it so easy for these people to find him in the first place?”

“He says he’ll set up new accounts, be more careful.”

“And more than likely whoever found him the first time copied a list of all his friends, so they would know who to monitor in order to get a line on him in the event they needed to later. No, he isn’t getting access to the internet without one of us standing over him. Not as long as he’s under our protection because he would be putting the team at risk, too, and if he does that, I’ll kill him myself.”

Benita nodded, sighed.

“Guess it’s just gonna keep raining all day,” she said absently, glancing beyond me out the window. “A good day to be at home on the couch with a good book.”

“Or out playing in traffic,” I countered.

“You’re a weird dude, Derrick,” she said. I was just about to respond when her phone rang again. She held up a finger and then answered it after checking the caller ID.

“Yeah, Kurt, what’s up?”

Not that there was much color in her face to begin with, but what little there was quickly drained away as she leaned forward and grabbed the front edge of my desk with her free hand.

“Fuck!” she swore vehemently. “GODDAMN FUCK!”

I sat watching her, knowing that something was desperately wrong. She listened for another two minutes, saying very little, and then she told Kurt Baxter that she’d be wherever he was in about a half hour.

After she hung up she remained sitting forward, more leaning now, her hand still gripping the edge of the desk. I waited, watching, saying nothing. Frankie and Ollie checked in on the radio and I heard Jordana acknowledge them through the wireless receiver in my left ear.

Benita finally looked up.

“Three of Birmingham’s CIs were just murdered in separate incidents around the city,” she said, her voice eerily still. “None of them worked for officers in the same division, or have connections to any of the other exposures. Kurt said the techs found their names on another social media site, Facebook this time. The page was anonymous, already taken down by the administrators. PigSnitchingBitches, how original.”

“I’m sorry, Benita,” I said.

She inhaled, nodded, stood.

“I need to wrap up with Quinton quickly,” she said. “Then get back downtown. Please keep doing what you’re doing and keep him safe, Derrick.”

“Of course,” I said, then watched her walk out of my office and over to Ollie’s next door. I sat and thought for a few minutes, opened my laptop and checked the time difference between here and India. Ordinarily when there was computer stuff that I needed done I’d contact Nathan Patel, Master-Plan Security’s master tech guru. Unfortunately, right now Nathan was in his native land burying his maternal grandfather and wouldn’t be back for a few more weeks. I knew if I got in touch, despite what he was dealing with back home, he do what he could to help. But I wasn’t going to call him. His family came first.

Instead I took out my phone and called Paige Palmer.

Chapter 22

I was back in my office Tuesday morning doing more online research and trying to ignore the gloomy weather outside. The rain was back again today, with a lot of lightening.

Jordana was at her desk working on new business proposals I had approved as well as tweaking the spreadsheet we used for invoices to clients. I didn’t know what was wrong with the one we already used, but that’s why she was the office and business manager and I was the figurehead.

Farina Warren showed up at nine-thirty without an appointment or a warning phone call, which wasn’t really a bother, generally she was always welcome, clothed or not. Today it was going to be the former, and that really was too bad.

Jordana announced the arrival via intercom and I told her to send her back, stood and came out into the bullpen to greet Channel 13’s finest. Not surprisingly, the sight of this woman always brought a smile to my face, for various reasons.

Despite the rain, Farina wore a sleeveless yellow sundress that stopped at her gorgeous knees, tighter up top, loose at the bottom, so as she moved confidently toward my office, it moved around her while her low heeled green pumps clicked on the tiled floor.

She smiled at me, stopped, leaned forward and down just a bit to kiss my cheek.

“Hi, Derrick,” she said sweetly.

“Hello, Farina,” I said with a smile, glancing past her to make sure Jordana hadn’t gotten up from her desk and walked into the bullpen at the other end. She hadn’t. “Did we have an appointment today? And by appointment I mean…”

She grinned and put a long index finger to my lips.

“I know what you meant, Mr. Olin, and no, we did not. Unfortunately. And I’m actually here on business, following up on something. If you aren’t too busy at the moment, I was hoping you could help me out.”

I smiled again, stepped aside and ushered her into my office.

“My lady, I am always at your service,” I said as I followed her in and shut the door. She took the client chair, sat and crossed her lovely long legs left over right, smoothed out the bottom of her dress, careful to leave a generous portion of knee and lower thigh visible. I went back around and sat behind my desk, glancing at my laptop screen briefly before shutting the lid.

“So, Ms. Warren, what can I help you with today?”

Farina folded her hands on her knees as she leaned forward in the chair, her dazzling brown eyes focused on mine.

“Well the first thing you can do is tell me what you were doing at Bruno’s Sports Café in Inverness Corner last Friday night when several so far still unidentified individuals started a gunfight in the parking lot outside.” She was all reporter now.

Well shit, I thought, wondering how much she knew all ready and considering the likelihood that I could convince her to keep it to herself. Probably a zero on that last part, although it might be fun to try. Not to mention exhausting.

Shit!

“WHO SAYS I WAS AT SOME SPORTS BAR last Friday night?”

Farina looked at me with amusement for several moments, then sat back and took her phone from her purse, setting the purse on the floor as she started working the phone. After another few minutes, she stood up, came around the desk, and leaned down so that I could see the screen.

“Capture shots from Bruno’s security cameras,” she said. “Even in the subdued lighting and all the people around, you make for quite a striking picture holding up the wall there.” She advanced a few pictures. “And like Superman, you sprint across the room to rescue a damsel in distress when the shooting starts.”

I glanced up and grinned at her.

“That what passes for evidence these days, Ms. Warren? That could be any of a thousand strikingly handsome black men in this city. For all I know, you could have photo shopped that. More fake news from the liberal media.”

That earned me a punch in the shoulder. Seemed to be happening a lot these days.

“Watch it, buddy boy; you know that’s a sensitive subject with me. And you know damn well that’s you.”

“How’d you get access to security footage anyway?” I said.

She stood back up and smiled again.

“We reporters have our ways,” she said, returning to the chair on the other side of the desk.

I watched her admiringly.

“Yeah, I know you do,” I said, glancing back and out the window for a few moments, then turned again and stared at her.

“Farina, I know you have a job to do, and it is a job that I respect, however, you know I have a job to do as well, and the two are not always compatible. Now is one of those times. I would appreciate it if you didn’t publicize the fact that I was there the other night, kept that footage to yourself, but you have to do what you have to do, I understand that.”

“You weren’t there alone, Derrick,” she said. “I also spotted your associate, George Oliver, along with a sergeant from BPD’s Criminal Intelligence Unit, and Deputy DA Bender. The same DDA I broke that story on regarding the sexual harassment claims against former Judge Wade last year, and then you saved last Christmas when Judge Wade’s kid tried to kill her in that parking garage downtown. Also, several of the people I talked to, although they didn’t know who you or any of the others were, did see you all hustle a bartender named Beasley out the back. Mr. Quinton Beasley, age 32, a resident of Five-Points South. Oh, and also, there was a roll out from South Precinct on Saturday morning to an apartment building that just happens to correspond to Mr. Beasley’s listed address.”

When I didn’t respond, she continued.

“And I have it on good authority that present on the scene when the officers arrived was a former BPD lieutenant by the name of Paige Palmer, a friend of yours, I believe. Would you like to speculate as to whom I was informed was with her, in addition to the young black male she had already taken into custody?”

I sat thinking that BPD had a lot of leaky mouths in it; the only difference with Farina Warren being the recipient was that she wasn’t likely to use the information to get somebody killed.

“Sources also tell me that Lieutenant Palmer is now working as a consultant for Assistant Chief Epstein, but they aren’t sure what she’s doing.”

“Well that’s a relief,” I quipped sardonically. “Nice to know your spies inside the department don’t have access to everything.”

She smiled.

“Being a good reporter means having good sources, Derrick,” Farina told me. “You know that. And you also know that I would never use what I learn to hurt anybody, but if a story needs to be told, then I will tell it. I came to you first because I know you, very well, and you aren’t official. I’ll be talking to police officials on the record next. Epstein, the Chief himself, some in the DA’s Office, but right now I was hoping for a little background, specifically about how you came to be involved.”

I sat silently staring at her, my mind turning over several things, some quite pleasant, like agreeing to be Ms. Warren’s willing sex slave for a year in exchange for dropping her story. I pitched that to her and she laughed. It was a hearty laugh, a sexy laugh, and oddly, I was not offended.

“I do like you, Derrick,” she finally said, still smiling. “And a part of me—maybe several parts—would really like to take you up on that offer, but professionalism must will out here, I’m afraid. And before you turn me down completely, let me go ahead and tell you what I’m actually working on beyond what happened in Inverness last Friday night. You remember when we were together last I mentioned being onto a new story, a big story?”

I nodded.

“Well what I didn’t tell you is that it involves the Birmingham Police Department, and the rumor that there might be some kind of leak in their protected witness and confidential informant network.”

Well shit! I thought, shaking my head.

“And judging by the sour look on your face right now, my friend, I suspect you know something about this, perhaps that is the reason you’re working with the police now, and Lieutenant Palmer is back working for Chief Epstein.”

“Would two years work better for you?” I said.

Another smile.

“Afraid not,” she remonstrated. “But I do hope that over the next two years you and I have lots of opportunities to get together and fuck. Right now, however, work is what I am focused on. I really do hope you can help me.”

“With almost anything, luv,” I said with a sad smile. “But not with this. My professionalism, you understand.”

She sat and stared at me for about a minute, trying to out stare me, losing again, grinning, nodding, leaned down and dropped her phone back in her purse. I wondered if that nice glance she gave me down the front of her dress was purposeful, and even if it wasn’t I enjoyed it immensely.

“Okay then,” she said, sitting up once more, hands folded on her lap. “I’ll have to pursue other avenues for my story, and I can’t promise that your name won’t be linked to it in the end.”

I nodded.

“I understand, luv. Do what you have to. And never fear, you will always be welcome in my office. My home. My bed. My floor. My shower.”

Farina Warren grinned hugely and stood up, grabbing her purse off the floor as she did so.

“And don’t forget about those lovely floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of your loft,” she said in a husky voice as she turned to go.

“Never,” I said, then watched her leave, a recent memory of her naked brown body pressed up against one of those windows flashing through my mind. As, no doubt, she had intended.

After a long exhale, I picked up my phone and quickly dialed Anita Epstein’s number. I was really about to make her day.

Worse.

Chapter 23

I went by the safehouse on Wednesday morning to check on the team and the client, and to talk some things over with Ollie. He agreed that Farina Warren’s knowledge of our involvement was not a good development, didn’t see any use in worrying about it though. He did hint that in one of his other lives that a nosy reporter or two had been known to meet with unfortunate accidents when investigating some of his business associates up in Detroit, but assured me that those days were far in the past. Ollie’s sense of humor is as unfunny as mine sometimes, probably the reason we’ve been friends close to forty years.

The rain had stopped yesterday evening and today was bright and hot, and I was glad that I’d be indoors most of it. This afternoon I had another lunch scheduled with the Vice Principal (currently acting Principal) of Jackson-West High School. We met again in Five-Points West, but instead of going to Dex’s Place, this time we went to the Applebee’s at the corner of Ensley-Five-Points West Avenue and Warrior Road, a short distance from Dex’s and the Crossplex complex which included the recently built Comfort Inn and Suites hotel.

Today Monique Otis looked the part of a smart, no nonsense educational administrator. She wore a green skirt suit with white pullover blouse, flesh colored hose, and black pumps with three inch heels. Her makeup was lightly applied, professional, her hair was put up in a bun behind her head, and today she was wearing silver horn-rimmed glasses. I liked that look. A lot.

We met in the parking lot of the restaurant at one-thirty. Summer school was in session now and she wanted to be there until after all classes had had their lunch, then she told her secretary that she would be away for several hours this afternoon attending to business, and might not be back before everyone left for the day, but she would be reachable by phone.

I made a reservation, just in case, but the lunch rush was over when we arrived and we probably wouldn’t have had any problem finding a table anyway. Our waitress escorted us to a booth and set down menus, taking our drink orders.

We made small talk, with Niqe telling me about the first few days of running summer session at Jackson-West, how much she was actually enjoying being the woman in charge for a change, and she also mentioned that her husband, Eldon, who was by now supposed to have been back from his latest trucking adventure out in Texas, had been delayed for another few days on account of all the rain out there over the past week. Apparently the storms we’d been experiencing here for the past couple of days had come from that direction and had been even stronger and more devastating for the Lone Star State.

“Hopefully he’ll make it back by the weekend,” she said, sipping from her glass of ice tea. “We have plans to go to the movies on Saturday night and I’m looking forward to that, and dinner.”

I nodded. When I didn’t say anything about the goings on in my life, Niqe smiled, leaned forward until I looked into her eyes.

“It is customary, Mr. Olin, when one shares information about their life with a lunch acquaintance, that said acquaintance reciprocates.”

“Really?” I said, raising my glass to my lips. “What does reciprocate mean anyway?”

She smirked.

“Somebody’s a smartass,” she said.

“Family tradition,” I said, then gave her a quick rundown on my life since last we had seen one another, leaving out the part about the shooting on Friday, the near shooting on Saturday, or any of the details regarding the meetings in my office between Benita Bender and Quinton Beasley and Farina Warren and me.

Lunch arrived and we tucked in, continuing the conversation as we ate, with me learning more about her life, as an educator, as a person, the causes she was passionate about, the things she liked to do for fun.

“And, Mr. Olin, what do you like to do for fun?” she inquired, sliding a forkful of grilled salmon between her full lips, chewing slowly as she watched me.

A really loaded question, and a part of me thought it was deliberately so. Right now I was reminded of every teacher I had ever had a crush on up through college.

“I read,” I told her, then went back to enjoying my veggie pasta salad.

Niqe continued looking across at me and finally shook her head, laughing.

“Nadya said you were in the Air Force, right?”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

“Have you ever been waterboarded?” she said. “Because I’m seriously thinking about doing that to you right now.”

She said it as a joke and I laughed as well, keeping to myself the fact that I had experienced that little pleasure some years ago, but as a civilian, down Florida way when I was involved in dismantling a militia/domestic terrorist group called the American Defense Brigade[x].

I opened up a little more, told her that at one time I had been a great lover of Country music, before the pop-crossover ruin began in the late 1990s. And I told her about some of my other hobbies, when I actually had time for that sort of thing as my work kept me pretty busy.

When we were done the waitress tried to tempt us with dessert, and finally we relented, agreeing to share a chunk of New York cheesecake. I had brought my briefcase in with me and when our lunch dishes were cleared away I opened it and extracted an iPad, powering it up. Niqe moved around to my side of the table, scooting in close, and glancing down at the screen. I explained as I scrolled, paused so she could read some highlighted portions for herself.

The dessert arrived and we paused to sample it.

“Going straight to my hips,” Niqe moaned as she closed her eyes and savored the delicious flavor of the cheesecake. “But god is this stuff good. Have to spend an extra hour on the treadmill tonight, but it is so worth it.”

I smiled, shook my head, enjoyed my half of the cheesecake.

Niqe saw me, frowned at first, then smirked.

“And what are you grinning at?” she demanded. “You’re a guy, you probably don’t worry so much about stuff like that, but women have to, especially women my age.”

I probably should have kept my mouth shut and eaten the rest of my dessert, but I have always had a problem doing that when it comes to women, so why start now?

“First off, you look great, Niqe. Second, I’m gonna let you in on a little guy secret. Despite what you see on TV and other media outlets, most guys like women, period, regardless of size or shape. All women are beautiful, and practically every heterosexual male fantasizes about getting them naked.”

I ate the last bit of my dessert and reached for the glass of milk I had ordered with it.

Niqe sat back silently staring at me, her expression searching, then she leaned her elbow on the table, rested the side of her face in the palm.

“I’m not sure if I agree with all of that,” she said thoughtfully after some time. “But then I’m not a guy.”

“Definitely not,” I said, and she smiled, leaned over and touched my arm. We looked into one another’s eyes for some time after that, until she glanced away, removing her hand from my arm a little self-consciously. She finished the cheesecake and then asked me to continue the briefing I had been giving her regarding a recent proposal by the Birmingham Board of Education to privatize school safety and security, and a few things I had found out about some of the outside backers of the proposal.

She excused herself to go to the bathroom and when she came back I was just finishing up something on my phone, putting it away, the iPad already back in my briefcase. She was back on the other side of the table across from me now.

“Well, Derrick, you have done far better than I ever could have hoped, and I thank you for that. Can’t say I’m one hundred percent pleased with the results, though, or at all, but it is better to know than not. Now I just have to figure out what to do about it. Can you email all of that to me so I can look it over later?”

“Already done,” I told her.

She nodded.

“And your bill, please.”

I shook my head.

“No charge,” I said. “Research wasn’t that difficult and it was information that was good for me to have anyway.”

“But still…” she protested.

I held up a hand.

“No arguments, Madam Acting Principal,” I said sternly. “Unless you want to stay after class.” Why in the hell did I have to say that?

Niqe looked at me and grinned, and it was a nice little grin, wicked even.

“Now that sounds like a lot of fun, Mr. Olin,” she said, folding her arms on the table, eyes still on mine. “What happens if I do?”

I’m not a really good flirter, but I can tell when a woman is in to me, usually. And I do like to play. Sometimes, however, I find serious and direct is the best course.

“You know what I was doing on my phone when you came out of the bathroom?” I said.

“What?” she said.

“I was making a reservation for a king room at the Comfort Inn just down the street, already prepaid, for today.”

If I were expecting incredulity or pious indignation, I would have been disappointed. After a few seconds, Mrs. Monique Otis sat back and glanced around the restaurant, then refocused her attention on me. She smiled again.

“Then why are we still sitting here?” she said, making to stand.

I stood, too. The bill had been taken care of while she was in the bathroom as well, and I left a cash tip as we departed.

Outside, I held the door of her vehicle for her while she slid in behind the wheel, her skirt hiking up and offering a wonderful view of a smooth brown thigh encased in a sheer stocking. She caught me looking, leaned over and touched my belt.

“All good things come to those who wait,” she said. “Emphasis on the come.”

I grinned, squeezed her hand, then stepped back and closed the door. She started her engine, rolled down the window, leaned her head out.

“Last one there has to lie on the wet spot afterwards,” she whispered.

I laughed, leaned close to her.

“Honey, when we’re done, the whole bed’s gonna be one gigantic wet spot,” I told her, then turned and walked over to my jeep. She was still sitting and staring at me when I cranked my engine and waved.

This should be fun.

Chapter 24

There was awkwardness at first, as is to be expected with every first time encounter of this nature, and despite her air of confidence in every other circumstance thus far, when we were alone in that top floor king room about twenty minutes later, Niqe Otis seemed as timid as if this was going to be her first time ever. I guess to some extent it was, because according to what she told me as we rode up in the elevator together, she had never gone outside her marriage before, despite years of unhappiness in the bedroom with Eldon Otis.

It was three p.m., she wasn’t going to make it back to school before classes let out for the day, which is why it’s good to be the boss, even if only the acting. I might go back by my office before heading home, or not. No need to really, if anything important had come up or would come up, Jordana would call, text, or email. Right now all I wanted to concentrate on was the still fully clothed forty-seven year old caramel-skinned, full-bodied black woman in my arms.

In no rush, I stared into her eyes for a few minutes as we embraced, just holding her close, our bodies becoming used to one another, our arousal building. Her timid smile became more relaxed as our heat mixed together and she leaned her face close to mine.

The kiss took her by surprise, and it showed in her widened eyes. The suddenness of it and the fact that I had kept my eyes open. I always do.

Niqe looked at me for a few moments, then smiled, leaning in again. We kissed again, and she didn’t close her eyes either. This was the exploration and experimentation phase, both of us trying to determine what worked, what the other liked, and what we liked together. Actually, when it comes to kissing, I’m easy to please. Despite my outward manner most of the time, I’m actually quite fond of physical intimacy.

She beat me to it and I laughed.

“You work out a lot I see,” she said, grinning.

“Yes,” I said, feeling her squeeze my ass with both hands.

“Great glutes,” she said.

“Yours ain’t bad either, babe,” I said, acquiring my own grip.

We kissed again, and then I started moving her toward the bed, slowly, casually, in no rush. When we reached it, she pulled back a little, swallowed, glanced down for a moment. I released her butt, put my right index finger under her chin, lifted her head.

“If you want to stop…”

She sighed, shook her head.

“I don’t want to stop.”

I smiled.

“Good. Because I wasn’t gonna.”

Niqe laughed, raised both hands to either side of my face and pressed her lips against mine with a force and power that told me she knew exactly what she wanted, and what she wanted right now was Derrick Olin.

Luckily I be he.

THE NERVOUSNESS RETURNED AS I began to undress her, but her excitement grew as well, and I continued to kiss and stroke her, to tease and make her laugh, too. It seems that I’m quite the comedian in the bedroom, and soon she was lost in the pleasure of it all, not worrying about how she looked, how she thought she looked, only enjoying the things that I did to her. In time, as she relaxed more, she began to do things to me, too, things which I really enjoyed a lot, and at which Niqe was very good.

As my watch beeped and announced that the five p.m. hour had arrived (17:00 actually because my watch is set on the twenty-four hour clock), Niqe lay flat on her stomach quivering and panting on the bed, her eyes rolled back in her head. Twice she pounded the mattress with her tightly bawled left fist, screamed once, then continued to shake uncontrollably.

I sat beside her on the bed, back propped against a pillow, a self-satisfied expression warming my face all the way down to the pit of my stomach, perhaps lower. Maybe three minutes later Niqe started laughing, tried to lift her head, and when that didn’t work, turned it sideways so that she could look at me sitting to her left.

“What the fuck was that?” she said in a still breathless and incredulous tone.

“What was what?” I said innocently.

“What you just did to me,” she demanded. “Christ, every nerve in my body is still tingling, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get out of this bed, and speaking of that, you were right.”

I smiled again.

“About what?” I said.

“About the whole bed being one big wet spot,” she grinned. “If you do this to every woman you sleep with, I’m amazed you haven’t been kidnapped and locked in one of their basements by now, used as a sex slave for the rest of your life. Or they haven’t volunteered to become yours.”

I chuckled, turned and dropped down beside her on my stomach, kissed her shoulder and then stared at her for a few moments.

“Did you like that?” I said.

“The hell do you think?” she laughed. “I mean, Jesus, I’m probably still cumming right now but am too spent to notice. Yes, Derrick Olin, I liked it. I fucking loved it!”

“Good,” I said, kissing her on the side of the mouth, my right hand sliding down to her thick butt and slowly rubbing across it.

This brought a smile to her face and she purred.

“So you like my big booty?” she teased.

“Oh yeah,” I told her. “Couldn’t you tell?”

She giggled, then moaned as I slid a finger along its crease.

“I was pretty sure after the ten minutes you dedicated to eating it in the beginning. You know I’ve never had anyone do that. My husband and I have been married for seventeen years and he’s never even hinted that he wanted to try, and before him, I had a good number of boyfriends, but they were more interested in what pleased them, kind of like Eldon. All I can say is thank god for vibrators.”

I laughed, kissed her shoulder, continued stroking her ass.

“You were pretty sure of yourself today, too,” she went on. “Making that reservation, paying for the room in advance. What if I had said no?”

“Which you had every right to do,” I said. “But I knew you wouldn’t. When you told me that your husband was delayed out of town for a few more days, that was pretty much the signal, whether you realized it or not.”

She stared back at me thoughtfully for a few moments, then nodded.

“You like sleeping with married women, don’t you?”

After a brief pause, I nodded.

“Yes. I do.”

She stared some more, then grinned and turned on her side, my hand sliding over to her thigh.

“So then I can well assume that I am not your first? Or your third?”

I didn’t say anything, now stroking her thigh up to her hip.

Niqe leaned her face close to mine, slipped her arms around me.

“And I could not care less, Derrick,” she said, then we kissed.

She moved her hands down between us and started playing with my cock as the heat returned. I slipped a hand between her luscious thighs and started to do the same to her, feeling how wet she still was as two fingers entered her. Niqe gasped, eyes widening, and just a few short minutes later her eyes rolled back in her head again.

I turned to reach for another condom on the nightstand behind me, and that’s the moment that my phone started buzzing. Shit!

As much as I wanted to ignore it I knew I couldn’t, and after seeing the name on the caller ID this became more evident and shit morphed into fuck!

“Benita?” I answered on the fourth ring, trying to make my voice sound as normal as possible. Kind of hard to do with a horny high school administrator holding on to your cock, but I think I did all right. “What’s up?”

Chapter 25

Unlike a lot of people, I don’t hate lawyers as a general rule, but there are some members of the profession that I could do without. Chuck Bagby, Esq. was quickly becoming one of them.

Initially Benita Bender had thought time was on her side because past strategy suggested that Bagby would play the long game, stall, force delays, make endless motions to keep the prosecution busy answering them, filing counter motions and such until he wore them down. This is why Benita had wanted to get Beasley locked down and on the record as soon as possible so she could hit Ashworth with a strong case and perhaps force a deal, something that would have been made much simpler had he stuck with a public defender, but he hadn’t. He’d gone out and hired a shark with huge, razor-sharp teeth.

The call from the DDA was to tell me that she had to see Quinton Beasley today, as soon as possible, and if she couldn’t convince him to cooperate before tomorrow morning, then her murder case against Nicholas Ashworth was essentially finished. They’d probably get him on a few minor things, but at most he’d get one to two years max, serve less than half that, then be out and running his drug empire in North Birmingham again just like coming back from an extended vacation on the state of Alabama.

I listened, told her I’d call her back, then called Ollie, told him what I needed to happen. He said he’d alert the team and take care of it. Niqe Otis was sitting up in bed beside me as I spoke on the phone, and while I had been careful not to mention Beasley’s name, she had overheard more than I would have liked. Still, I didn’t view her as that much of a security risk, and I was sure I could entice her to keep her mouth shut about anything she heard. My mouth would likely figure prominently into that enticement.

I leaned over and kissed her on the lips.

“Gonna need a rain check, dear,” I said, staring deeply into her dark eyes, then kissing the side of her neck.

She squirmed a little, touched my chest, then let her hand drop to my lap, specifically my erection.

“You gonna be able to walk with this thing?” she said, and we both laughed.

I kissed her again, then rolled out of bed heading for the bathroom. I was dressed five minutes later, ready to go. Niqe was sitting on the side of the bed, her feet on the floor, still naked and beautiful, and I was glad to see that she was now quite comfortable with her nudeness. She glanced at me, just a hint of disappointment in her eyes, then stood and walked over to where I stood by the door.

“Call me when you can,” she said in a low, husky voice, then kissed me.

I held onto her for a few moments longer, nodded.

“I will,” I told her, then left without a backwards glance.

No need to worry there, I thought as I double-timed it for the stairs. Already at the top of my to do list. Or should I say, my who to do list?

EVEN THOUGH SETTING UP A MEETING between the DDA and my protectee seemed like a simple action on the surface, it was far from that in practice, and involved a lot of moving parts, and my entire team, meaning Bert and Sheila had to come on early this evening and Ollie and Frankie would be staying on past quitting time. It also meant that Jordana Kauffman would be remaining at her post back in the office to coordinate communications and whatever else might be necessary for backup before the night was over.

The transport van, now minus any side panels, was in its reserved spot in the garage back at the office. When I left the hotel in Five-Points West, that’s where I headed, already had a set of keys in my jeep—we all had a set. Once on the road I called Benita Bender, this was actually the second time I had called her back. She was still in her office, sitting on pins and needles, anxious because she wasn’t exactly sure how she was going to convince Quinton Beasley to cooperate with what she needed him to do. But, as always, that was her problem.

I told her to leave her office now and to drive over to Railroad Park and leave her car. Then to get out and go into the park for a while, walk around, do whatever, but stay ready to answer her phone when it rang next. And when it did, to follow the instructions of the person who called her without deviation. I asked if she understood me, there was a brief pause, then she said she did. I hung up without further comment.

I drove over to Homewood to the townhouse/safehouse. Not the best time to do so because everybody was coming home for the evening and some folks were still outside, a few curious eyes following the van as it progressed to the last townhouse on the left. I parked in the drive, climbed out, smiled and waved at my neighbors. They waved back, smiled, too, and before any of them got the bright idea to come down and say hi, I took out my door key and hustled inside. It had seemed like a good idea in the beginning, but perhaps this much suburbia was too much for keeping a safehouse; at least one that required irregular traffic at odd times. The people who lived here were middle class and curious, and probably would call the cops in a heartbeat if they suspected something nefarious. It’s a good thing I have excellent liaison with the Homewood cops, even the ones who don’t like me. A problem to be addressed later, though.

Ollie greeted me at the front door, his Glock .357 held down by his right leg.

“Beasley ready?” I said, moving past him into the living room.

“He’s dressed but he being kind of pouty, don’t understand why he has to keep going out to meet the DA lady, why she can’t come here?”

“Did you explain it to him?” I said, smiling.

Ollie smirked.

“Only explaining I do is with this,” he hefted the Glock, then put it back in the holster on his right hip. “But Frankie did, him being the diplomat and all.”

“That must have gone over well,” I said, glancing out around the closed front curtains. “Any of the neighbors try stopping by in the last few days?”

“Nah,” Ollie said. “Thought they might ‘fore now, but so far they been stayin’ away. Look like most of the people here work during the day, and since school out, the kids, if they ain’t in a camp somewhere, go to daycare. Pretty quiet during the day. Get busy during shift change, but they been leaving us alone.”

I nodded, turned back.

“Good,” I said. “But in the future we might not use this safehouse for a protectee who has to go out so much. Maybe use one of the others in the less family-friendly neighborhoods.”

Ollie grinned.

“You mean in the hood,” he said.

I didn’t respond, and my phone buzzed. It was Bert Cortez.

“Go, Bert,” I said, activating the speaker function so Ollie could hear.

“I’m on site and everything is five-by-five, boss. Ready and able to receive.”

“Copy that,” I said, glancing at my watch. I’ll let you know when we’re on the way. Bye.”

He said bye and hung up.

“Now all we have to do is wait for Sheila’s call,” Ollie said, and my phone buzzed again.

Sheila.

THE MASON CITY NEIGHBORHOOD IS WEST of Homewood and our destination is really only about four miles away, but, of course, we would not be taking a direct route, and before we were done it would be triple that or more.

Frankie drove the van and Ollie drove backup in Frankie’s car. It had been funny listening to him swear over the radio as he was adjusting the seat in Frankie’s car. There is a significant height difference between the two men. Frankie grinned and shook his head.

While we were moving, Jordana was at the office watching live feeds from all the traffic cameras in the area where we were operating, advising us of problems along the way, helping us to avoid the aftermath of two auto accidents. She was also keeping track of Sheila’s progress as she made her way to the rendezvous location with tonight’s special guest from the DA’s Office. If timing held, we’d get there a few minutes ahead of them. The sun was going down fast now and that would help with countersurveillance, make it easier to spot vehicles that kept showing up in the background, although we thought it highly unlikely that anybody was following us. Still, like I always say, better cautious than dead.

Safehouse #2 is located on Mayfield Avenue Southwest just north of 15th Avenue Southwest in Mason City, a place that would not be described as suburbia, not quite the hood either, but closer to the latter.

The house was the second from the north end of the street where Mayfield became Arthur Shores Drive. Neat and well-maintained, like most of the other houses on the block, save for a couple. There was no garage but a long driveway that led to the back of the house on the right side. Frankie pulled in and went all the way back while Ollie continued on past and did a more thorough perimeter check.

Bert’s car was in the backyard parked near the six-foot chain link fence. As Frankie braked near the back door, it opened and Bert appeared, holding an FN P90 across his stomach, mostly concealed by his arms. I was already rolling out of the back and reaching for Beasley, moving him inside quickly as Bert covered. Frankie was already turning the van around so that it would point in the direction we needed it to if a fast exit was required.

Inside, I took Beasley to the back bedroom and told him to relax until Benita arrived, asked if he was hungry, but he said no. He seemed very unhappy and I could understand why, but could do very little about it. For some strange reason at that moment I thought about Leigh Danton, mused that she could probably do something to lift his spirits, but that wasn’t happening right now either, so I left him alone.

Sheila reported she was one minute out. Ollie was somewhere down on 15th and reported that he could see her coming, told her to go to the front of the house and drop off her passenger, then circle down to Arthur Shores and check the perimeter on that side. Sheila acknowledged his order but added that she had something she needed to tell us both when there was time.

This did not alarm me, but I could tell by her tone that something was up and it was important. I told her to make a quick check of Arthur Shores and then come back, along with Ollie. Frankie and Bert would cover the perimeter while they were inside the house with me.

There were two acknowledgements, and after two more minutes, I was opening the door and greeting Deputy DA Bender. She had on a navy blue skirt suit and white blouse, her long black hair hanging freely around her shoulders. She had a green purse slung across her left shoulder and carried two large black leather briefcases in both hands. A lawyer loaded for combat. She was not smiling. I didn’t blame her.

After securing the front door and leaving Bert up front, I led her back to the bedroom where her witness awaited, knocked once, then opened the door.

I left them to it, returning to the living room and checking in with Jordana.

“No major traffic problems in your area,” she reported. “And the police scanner isn’t showing much activity either. I’ll keep monitoring.”

“Thanks, Jord,” I said. “Don’t forget to add in your overtime for tonight.”

She snickered.

“Are you kidding?” she said. “I’ve already put myself in for a raise tonight.”

I chuckled.

“Good luck with that,” I said, turning as I saw headlights reflect behind the curtains, turning into the drive. I nodded at Bert, then called Frankie who was still sitting outside in the van.

The switch off took sixty seconds and then Ollie and Sheila were in the kitchen with me.

“Let’s make this quick,” I said. “I want to keep somebody out in the van just in case we have to book in a hurry. Okay, Sheila, what is it?”

“Somebody was following the DA when she got to the park,” Sheila said in her quiet and simple way. “Two somebodies, and one of them I know.”

Okay, now I was a little worried.

After a quick pause and a glance at Ollie, I asked Ms. Sheila to continue, which she did.

Chapter 26

“Name’s Endre Evans, both names start with an E. Black male, approximately twenty-five, dark skinned, maybe six feet tall, thick black afro in desperate need of a trim. Last seen this evening near Railroad Park wearing blue jeans, an oversized LA Laker’s jersey, white high-tops, a blue ball cap turned around backwards, and black wraparound shades. And he was in the company of another black male, about the same age, but his identity is unknown. Blue jeans, a long white T-shirt hanging outside his pants, gray high-tops, red ball cap turned backwards. Maybe five-ten. I have it on good authority that Mr. Evans is a shooter in Nicky Ashworth’s north side crew.”

“Good authority?” Kurt Baxter said with a hint of sarcasm as he spoke through the phone. “Well considering what some of the folks who work for you used to do before, I suppose that counts as authority, but don’t know about good.”

I decided to let that pass.

“Anyway, when Benita was being picked up to be brought to the meeting she is in now with her witness, my operator spotted this duo following her around the park. Don’t think Benita ever realized it, not being trained for that sort of thing. Evasive action was taken once they left the park and we’re sure they weren’t followed to the meeting location, but I figured you’d want to know as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, Derrick, thanks, man. I’m at my desk now and looking up Evans. I’ll check known associates, maybe email some pics over to you so your guy can see if any match with the thuggie he saw.”

“That’ll be fine,” I told him. “But my guy is a gal.”

“Ah,” he said, fingers clicking keys down the line. “I stand corrected. Just a second, got it now. Yeah, Endre Evans. Long wrap sheet. He’ll be thirty in two months, if he lives that long. Been busted a lot, several convictions, done stretches in County and the State. And our files have him currently working for Nicky Ashworth. I got about fifteen, maybe twenty other possibles that I’m gonna send over to you. Some of the photos aren’t great, but it’s the best we got.”

“I’ll have Sheila take a look and let you know. But in the meantime, you know what this means, Kurt, and why I’m taking this so seriously?”

“Yeah,” he said as the typing on the other end stopped. “It’s beginning to look more and more like this leak has a lot more to do with Quinton Beasley and Nicky Ashworth than anything else. The leaks started before Ashworth was arrested but now it seems like he’s at the center, and so is Beasley. Whoever is behind this is somewhere at the heart of the PD or the DA’s Office, maybe both. Exposing the identities of witnesses and CIs, and now having the DDA on the Ashworth case followed, probably hoping she’d lead them to her witness. Gonna have to arrange for protection for Benita. Can you make sure she gets home safe tonight? I’ll call Chief Epstein and see what we can arrange, maybe arrange for a team from the DA’s Security Unit.”

“I’ll make sure she’s safe tonight,” I said. “When she’s done with Beasley, I’ll tell her about this. Really brighten up her night.”

“How’s it going in there?” he asked.

“Well I haven’t heard any shouting in the last half hour,” I said. “Progress I suppose. Benita is really pushing hard because as she said, if she can’t count on Beasley as a witness, her murder case is sunk. Won’t really be a need for anybody to kill him.”

“And that might be the point, Derrick,” Kurt said. “Intimidation works almost as well as dead. A witness that won’t testify is just as useful to the defense as one that can’t.”

Something occurred to me for the second time today and I took a few moments to reason it out. After a bit, Kurt inquired and I told him to hold on while I thought some more. I was in the living room. Bert and Frankie were out driving the perimeter, Sheila was in the van out in the back part of the long driveway, and Ollie was just outside the bedroom where Quinton Beasley and Benita Bender were doing verbal battle, a Benelli shotgun cradled across his chest.

“They were following Benita today, Kurt,” I said suddenly. “And how would they know to do that, today of all days? How would they know she was going to meet with Beasley? Today?”

“They could have been following her before,” he pointed out.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “But I know they weren’t following her on Monday when she came to my office. My people had the place covered, countersurveillance was tight. There was nobody on her. Today there was.”

“Means somebody had to know she was going to see Beasley tonight,” he said. “And the only way they could know that is if they were privy to current developments, knowing that she was going to need him to come to the office in the morning and make a formal ID and start the deposition process on the record. And the only way they could know that is if they knew what Ashworth’s new lawyer had started.”

“Which might be why Ashworth’s lawyer started it,” I said.

Silence, then a sigh.

“I think Chuck Bagby is a bottom-feeding asshole myself, Derrick, but it kind of goes with the territory for a defense lawyer. He does earn his money defending scumbags, no doubt about that, but thinking that he might have some involvement in our leak situation, and that he’s arranging to have a witness knocked off, that’s a little beyond it in my book.”

“Maybe,” I considered. “And maybe not. Kurt, the investigation belongs to you and Paige, not really any of my business, but I would highly recommend you consider the possibility that Attorney Bagby is somehow involved, maybe only in a peripheral way, and if that is the case, good luck to you on that one because getting a judge to sign off on any warrants for records, not to mention physical and electronic surveillance, is not going to be remotely easy.”

Kurt exhaled loudly and was silent for a long time. Finally I heard him exhale again.

“I’ll email those pics in a minute, Derrick,” he said. “Then call Chief Epstein and Paige. Thanks for the info, and the sinking feeling in my gut now.”

“Any time, pal,” I said with a dry chuckle, then hung up.

Just then I heard a door bang open at the back of the house. Interior door, likely from the bedroom where Beasley and Bender were. A few moments later Benita came steaming into the front room shaking her head in frustration and looking as if she were ready to kill. She stopped a few feet away from me, hands on her narrow but nicely defined hips, eyes defiant.

“Would you shoot me if I killed him right now?” she raged.

As inappropriate as it was at that moment, I actually smiled, walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Probably just wing ya,” I told her.

And despite not feeling like it, and struggling really hard not to, Benita grinned, too. It was good to see her do that, and I knew it wouldn’t last long, considering her current frustrations and what I was about to tell her.

“Come on,” I said, guiding her to the kitchen in back. “I’ll make you some tea and you can take a rest break.”

She sighed, nodded, exhaustion and frustration in equal measures coloring her countenance. Silently she let me lead her to the kitchen.

Chapter 27

The tea went untouched after I told her about the tail she had grown today, and though I didn’t believe it was possible, Benita’s complexion went even paler as the realization of what could have happened to her began to sink in. I reached over and squeezed her hands as we sat at the kitchen table, the cups steaming in front of us. After a couple of minutes, she looked at me, eyes still disbelieving.

“They might have killed me,” she said in a low whisper.

“Likely not,” I told her, not one hundred percent truthfully. “They wanted to see if you would lead them to Beasley.”

“Then they would have killed us both!” she raged.

“No, they wouldn’t have,” I replied calmly, still holding her hands. “Because my team was here. Beasley is safe and so are you.”

I don’t think she was listening to me anymore, at least not completely. She glanced away, then back, something occurring to her.

“If they know who I am, they might know where I live. What if they go to my home, Aaron is there!”

“Then they’re likely to get their asses beaten by his Incredible Hulk arms,” I said lightly. Benita was not amused, glancing around.

“I need to make a call,” she demanded. “Tell my husband to get out of the house, to go to a hotel or something.”

“Benita, you can certainly do that,” I said. “But you might not want to upset Aaron just yet. While we’ve been sitting here talking I’ve received two text messages, one from Kurt Baxter, the other from Anita Epstein. Even though you live in Hoover, Anita’s arranged to have an undercover car from CIU watch your house around the clock for the time being. They’re there now, in fact. Officers selected by Kurt. And beginning in the morning, you’ll have a protective escort, two deputies from the DA’s Security Unit, people you already know.”

“What about Aaron?” she demanded. “He’s my husband, they could go after him to get at me, Derrick! If anything ever happened to him because…” She broke off, nearly in tears, and there was a tremor moving through her body. I squeezed her hands harder.

“Nita, look at me, please.”

She did, both her eyes beginning to fill.

“I’ll see to it that he’s looked after, too,” I promised, right now having no clue how I was going to pull that off, given my limited and already committed resources. And it was unlikely that Epstein would be able to pull off police protection for a civilian, even if he was the husband of a lead prosecutor. Ah well, I’m sure I’d think of something. On the other hand, if something did happen to hubby Aaron… a sexy young widow in need of consolation… Best not to pursue that line of thought and get on with it.

KURT SENT THE PHOTOS IN AN EMAIL and I forwarded them to Sheila. A couple minutes later she hit me back, positively identifying Endre Evans and another fellow as his accompaniment from earlier, one Larry George Frazier, Jr., age twenty-three, of the Collegeville neighborhood. I took a few moments to download his photo and the one of Evans to my SD card, then sent the news to Kurt.

Benita had gotten up and gone to the bathroom. She returned just as I hit SEND. The woman I was looking at now was completely composed, strong, determined, and highly pissed off. I stood and stared at her.

“How you feeling?” I said.

She actually managed a cold smile.

“Like I’m going to ram my foot up somebody’s ass in the very near future,” she said.

I smiled.

“Quite,” I said.

The prosecutor nodded, turned, and headed back to the bedroom where Quinton Beasley waited. Right now I was glad not to be him.

My phone buzzed and I took it off my belt, glancing at the caller ID, then answered.

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT BENITA SAID to her witness during the next forty-five minutes that they were behind closed doors, but when next I saw him he was the one who looked as white as a sheet, and had great difficulty meeting anyone’s eyes. Benita, on the other hand, had a satisfied, somewhat smug, expression on her face as she walked out behind him, right hand resting on his left shoulder. Apparently Mr. Beasley had consented to go to the DA’s Office in the morning and make everything official.

This, of course, would make things more difficult for my team because we were supposed to be keeping the fact that we were protecting him a secret from practically everybody associated with law enforcement, especially in that building. However, Benita had the solution to that already in hand, and after hearing her idea, I thought it stood a good chance of working. And if it didn’t, at least the egg (and probably a lot of blood and brains) wouldn’t be all over the team’s face.

The team departed first, taking Beasley back to the Homewood safehouse.

“Aren’t you worried that I know about this place now?” she said to me once we were alone, standing in the front room. “Or do you plan to do away with me now that there are no witnesses around?”

I turned and grinned.

“And blame it on the bad guys,” I quipped. “Neat solution. But no. I’m going to set the auto-destruct before we leave.”

Again, she wasn’t sure if I was joking, I have perfect deadpan delivery. Then I smiled.

“Gotcha,” I said, stepping past her. “No, just gonna trust you to keep this place to yourself.” Not entirely true, because it was unlikely that we would ever use it for anything other than meetings in the future, probably only on this assignment. We had others that were still secure. “Time to get you home.”

She glanced at her watch.

“Damn, almost ten o’clock. I had no idea it was this late. I should probably call Aaron. I sent him a text earlier. He’s probably tried to call but I had my phone off while in with Quinton.”

“You can call him on the road,” I told her, glancing at my phone. “Our ride is here.”

She looked at me frowning.

“I was wondering how we were getting out of here,” she said. “Considering that all the vehicles left with your team. You order Lyft or something?”

“Wouldn’t even know how to do that,” I told her, moving toward the front door, peering around the front curtains. My jeep had just pulled into the driveway, driven by Jordana Kauffman. Tonight she would be doing a bit more than office and business management, and now more than ever I was glad I’d hired an experienced ex-cop for the job.

JORDANA HAD BROUGHT AN ELECTRONIC tracker detection device with her from the office and Benita and I sat in my jeep and watched as she carefully and expertly ran it over the entire exterior of Benita’s car on the west side of Railroad Park just after ten-thirty. She really hadn’t needed it to find the clumsily placed cheap Radio Shack GPS tracker they had placed on the gray Hyundai SUV’s back bumper, and now she was checking further to be thorough, just in case. I’d already smashed the tracker and had a look around to see if anybody was hiding anywhere close by. There did not appear to be anyone, probably figuring they could let technology do the work for them.

When she was satisfied, Jordana stored the equipment back in its case in the trunk and once more climbed in behind the wheel.

“It’s clean now, boss,” she said with a gleam in her eyes.”

“Miss the field much, Ms. Kauffman?” I said.

She grinned, but said nothing.

I turned in the seat to face Benita in back.

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to drive your car and Jordana is going to follow us, just to be sure. As I said before, there’s an undercover car at your place now and I have the number to the officers on duty. I’m going to call them before we arrive, let them know we’re coming. In the morning, your detail will arrive to escort you to work.”

“And what about Aaron?” she hurriedly asked.

“I’m taking care of that myself,” I said without hesitation, the details still fuzzy in my mind. Fuzzy as in nonexistent. At least so far.

She nodded, smiled tightly, thanked me.

I glanced at Jordana, she nodded, and then I climbed out and let Benita out of the back of the jeep, walking her to the passenger’s side of her vehicle.

Robert Frost came to my mind at that moment: “The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep…”

And I was also thinking about Charles Bronson and the movie Telefon as I climbed behind the wheel and started the engine. I was maybe twelve the first time I saw that movie and heard the phrase a man should do what he’s best at. In Bronson’s case, as KGB Major Grigori Borzov, what he did best was killing people. In my case, the opposite. Mostly.

I was tired and had a lot to do between now and in the morning, and some of it I had no clue how I was going to pull off. Almost forgotten was the couple of hours I had spent naked with Niqe Otis earlier this afternoon. Almost, but not completely. Something else to get back into later.

Benita noticed I was smiling as I pulled out onto the street, my jeep right behind us. She smiled as well.

“You laughing at my fuzzy dice?” she indicated the pair hanging from the rearview mirror.

I chuckled and nodded, but said nothing. Benita laughed, too, and it was nice to hear.

Chapter 28

Wednesday night was a two-hour night, meaning I only got two hours of sleep, and was lucky to get that. Over the years I have learned to survive off a lot less, even if I didn’t like it. I skipped the run Thursday morning, opting instead for ten minutes with my Body Blade and ten minutes of towel dancing, that exercise routine I had accidentally developed a few years ago which involved a bath towel and me moving about the front room of my loft twisting and turning, swinging the towel around, catching it, so on and so forth as I worked up a good sweat. This morning I only dropped the towel once.

So I was showered and out the door by 05:30, pulling into the lot of a diner off Lorna Road in Hoover by six, finding the blue Bronco that belonged to Jordana Kauffman already there, along with several others. The woman herself climbed out when I parked next to her, climbed in my front seat.

“Didn’t I just see you twenty minutes ago?” she quipped, settling.

“Seems like it,” I said, stifling a yawn. “And thanks for doing this, Jord. I know it’s not exactly what you signed up for.”

“Please,” she said. “I welcome it, Derrick. I like the office thing I do for you just fine, but to be honest, when Paige told me about the job at TripleD, I have to admit that I was kinda hoping you’d have a slot open in the field. I know you needed somebody for office support, and I’m cool with that, but I don’t mind this, too. Besides, I’ve got my phone and tablet with me. The office number is rolled to my phone so I can stay on top of work if I need to while I’m shadowing Mr. Jacobson today.”

I nodded, glancing around.

“I really don’t think he’s in any danger, but Benita is worried and I promised I’d have somebody keep an eye on him. I don’t know how much she told him last night, and I can imagine he’ll be more worried about her, and pissed off, probably won’t want somebody looking after him either.”

“Least of all a woman, right?” Jordana said.

I smiled.

“I don’t know about that,” I said. “After all, he is married to a really strong woman and I’m sure he wouldn’t want to piss her off.”

She smiled, glanced at her watch, and at that moment my phone buzzed. It was Benita Bender. She sounded a lot better this morning than last night, which was good. Then she told me about her conversation with her husband Aaron.

Yeah, he hadn’t been pleased at all.

AT EIGHT, OLLIE AND I ARRIVED AT the south end of the Lawson State Community College building at the corner of 24th Street and 7th Avenue North in the ACME Building Suppliers van, followed by Frankie in his personal vehicle, parking half a block away. Kurt Baxter was already parked at the curb in an unmarked black Suburban that screamed cop. Quinton Beasley was only on the street for two-point three seconds before he was in the back of the Suburban and Kurt took off the second the side door closed.

We covered them for the few blocks it took until they reached the DA’s Office at the corner of Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard and Reverend Abraham Woods Jr. Boulevard, a four deputy protective team already waiting on the street to escort them inside. Although we were tying up traffic on RAJ[xi], I told Ollie to hold for a few moments so that we could make sure they actually got inside the building unmolested. Just as they did so, I noticed another familiar figure close to the entrance, a few feet away, leaning against the brick wall with her arms folded across her chest. Paige Palmer in a dark blue pantsuit, eyes scanning everything top to bottom. I knew that if anyone appeared as if they were a threat to Beasley, Paige was ready to deal with them. That made me smile a little, and I nodded.

“Okay, let’s go,” I said, just as some angry horns started honking.

Ollie nodded, glancing into the rearview mirror.

“Roger that,” he said, waited a few seconds more, just because, then pulled off, turning left on 9th Avenue. “So how long you figure all this deposition stuff will take?”

“Benita says pretty much the entire day,” I told him. “At least till five o’clock. And while Beasley is there he should be pretty safe, and the responsibility of the cops. Probably a good bet nobody will take a run at him in there. Hopefully. I was thinking about giving you and Frankie a bit of a break if you need it.”

“I’m good,” Ollie said as he braked at a light. “Know Frankie is too. You got Jordana covering the DA’s hubby right now, right?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Not happy about that, but she’s all I have left in the quiver at the moment.”

“And she probably liking being out from behind the desk for a while?”

“She is. And if we decide to expand the number of field operators we use, she’s already let me know she wants to be considered.”

Ollie nodded as the light changed.

“Figured that,” he said. “And we could do worse. But right now it might be good if she go back to the office and let me or Frankie cover the husband. And one of us could hang around here, just in case.”

I thought about that for a bit, then decided against making that change right now.

“It would be the logical thing to do,” I admitted. “But Jordana might misinterpret it as a sleight of her abilities. She can handle the job, and besides, she probably blends in better at UAB than either of you.”

“Fair point,” Ollie said. “Frankie would have been my choice, though. Even in his thirties with some pretty serious eyes, he still look young enough to pass as a student. Me, probably a philosophy professor or something.”

I snorted.

“You mean professor of bullshit, right?” I said, and we both laughed.

Chapter 29

Paige met me for lunch at Mugshots in the Uptown District of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex less than a half mile from the DA’s Office. She was still wearing the pantsuit and I smiled when she came in carrying a briefcase slung over her left shoulder and wearing her glasses, something she usually tried to avoid doing in public. When she saw me grinning as she approached the table, she smirked, sliding into the booth opposite me, taking her eyewear off and tossing it on the table.

“Smartass.”

“I haven’t said a word,” I protested lamely.

“But you were thinking something naughty,” she replied, unstrapping her briefcase and setting it on the floor under the table.

I snickered, leaned forward.

“Well who would know that better than you?”

“Do I need to kick you under this table, Mr. Olin?”

“Kind of kinky, but I can get into it,” I teased.

Paige grinned, shook her head.

“Didn’t say I was gonna kick you in the nuts,” she managed. “But maybe somebody ought to.”

Our waiter came over and we made drink and food orders, both already knowing what we were getting. Actually the only thing I ever order here is the veggie burger with a side of sweet potato fries. Paige ordered a chicken salad and regular fries, and a beer.

When she saw me looking at her she smirked again.

“I’m not a cop anymore, so I can have a beer with my lunch.”

“Again, I didn’t say a thing,” I replied.

“And again, I could hear you thinking it,” she said.

I smiled, shook my head.

“Any news from the courthouse?” I said.

“Spoke to Kurt,” she said. “Beasley has made two formal IDs, photo array in dealer fashion, and an actual physical line up with Ashworth and others who closely resemble him. His lawyer, Chuck Bagby, was there for that one. Kept his mouth shut while the identification was taking place, but then went up to Beasley and introduced himself, told him that he was the accused’s lawyer and asked if he would be willing to speak to him. According to Kurt, Benita didn’t like that one bit, got between them and told Bagby to back off before she had him charged with witness intimidation. Bagby just smiled and walked out of the room to go tell his client that he got picked out. He’ll probably try for bail but is unlikely to get it, considering the crime and Ashworth’s extensive criminal record, but he has to earn his fee, I suppose. After lunch they’re gonna be doing the formal deposition. That’ll probably run through the rest of the day. Might even have to have him come back tomorrow to finish.”

I nodded and our food arrived.

A few minutes later, Paige wiped her mouth and looked over at me.

“Almost forgot to tell you something. Patrol picked up Pointer, aka Justin Lincoln, the guy who supposedly dispatched the three to Beasley’s place last Saturday.”

“Really?” I said. “Do tell.”

“Unfortunately there isn’t much to tell, I’m afraid. Pointer claims he has no idea who any of them are and that he never sent anybody to Quinton Beasley’s place. And since everybody uses burn phones and have enough sense to get rid of them these days…”

“Dead end,” I finished for her.

“Yeah,” she said. “But the good news is he had some coke and ecstasy on him when Patrol got him, plus some warrants in other jurisdictions. They can probably hold him for at least forty-eight hours while they try to get something out of him, at the very least inconvenience him a little.”

“What about the two that Sheila identified who were following Benita last night?” I said.

“Still nothing there,” she told me, chewing down some of her fries. “BOLOs have been passed through every roll call in Birmingham and Jefferson County. We don’t have the resources to scour all their known haunts right now, but sooner or later we’ll run them down. Or somebody will give them up. Everybody’s tapping their snitch fund.”

I was quiet for a few moments and Paige stared curiously, continuing to eat her food.

“That’s probably more difficult than before,” I said.

“What?” she said.

“Using snitches, CIs,” I said. “Given what people know or at least suspect about what’s been happening there.”

“There have been some problems as I understand it,” Paige admitted. “More reluctance than usual, even when cops lean hard, threatening to use whatever they’re holding over their CI’s head to send them back inside. Some have said they’d rather be back behind bars and alive than be a dead snitch. We need to get a handle on this thing before the damage is permanent.”

“How’s it going on that front?” I inquired, taking another bite of my veggie burger. I hated the black beans, but Mugshots seemed to think this was the best meatless burger ever invented. It wasn’t but the Swiss cheese helped, and the BBQ sauce.

“Headache and a half,” Paige said, wiping her mouth and hands on another napkin, then pushing her plate away and reaching under the table for her briefcase. “Mind if I show you something?”

I couldn’t resist the smile.

“You fucking oversexed pervert!” she said in a low tone as she fought not to smile, losing that fight and shaking her head. “I’m not showing you that this afternoon. Maybe never again if you keep misbehaving.”

I chuckled.

“Right,” I said. “So what did you want to show me?”

She opened her briefcase and withdrew several file folders, piling them in front of her before returning the case to the floor.

‘These,” she said, opening the top folder and passing it across the table to me.

I WAS FINISHING MY THIRD GLASS of ice tea when I finished going through the brief Paige had prepared, shaking my head and suddenly realizing how much I needed to relieve my bladder. Paige laughed, said she had to do the same thing, now that I mentioned it. I won roshambo but gentlemanly offered to let her go first (we didn’t want to leave our table unattended while we both went), but Paige told me to go first because I’d likely be quicker. I was, back in three minutes, hands washed and all, and then she went.

When she came out ten minutes later, I had gone through the highlights once again, and ordered a fourth glass of tea. The waiter was hovering close by and asked if Paige would like a refill. She shook her head definitively. I told the waiter we were good and he could bring the check when he was ready, we were just going to sit and talk for a while longer. He nodded and left.

Paige hunched forward on her side of the table and stared at me.

“Well?” she said eagerly.

“Well the first thing I recommend is that Chief Epstein reorganize the department’s CI and witness accounting structure. I know the witness end has to be co-owned with the DA’s Office, but the snitches all belong to BPD and if this situation demonstrates one thing above all others, it’s that the current way of doing things is a joke that has already cost lives. On the one hand, there is merit in decentralization, but with this much decentralization, there is little to no accountability, and because of that those lives have been lost, others probably will be, and it makes finding out who is behind this that much harder, if not impossible.”

I paused as Paige nodded and released a breath.

“Preaching to the choir there, Derrick,” she told me. “When I was a sergeant in Intel I pitched the idea of centralizing all confidential informants through Intelligence. Local detectives and precinct officers would still be the primary points of contact with them, but CIU would have complete files on all of them, be able to thoroughly vet them and their information with other sources we already had in place, and in the event something happened to their case control, we’d still be able to get in touch with them. Also, it would help de-conflict operations where there are multiple informants but various case cops don’t know about the others. If CIU were the central clearing house for CIs and their product, we would know about conflicts much quicker and be able to negotiate around them, without revealing the identities of CIs to other case cops who don’t need to know about them.”

“Let me guess,” I said. “You got a lot of pushback from other divisions and the brass?”

“Exactly,” she said. “Especially out of the Detectives Bureau, and I understand why, from a purely territorial standpoint. Nobody likes to give up their power and control, but from the standpoint of us doing the best and most effective job we can, it’s complete bullshit. Maybe with Anita Epstein in the number two slot now something different can be done.”

“Maybe,” I said. “And maybe she’ll bring you back onboard as her executive officer. You haven’t been gone all that long; she could probably reinstate you with little trouble, probably pin captain’s bars on your collar to boot.”

Paige snorted and shook her head.

“Not on your life, bub,” she admonished. “I took the uniform off for good and I’m happy with that. Twenty-five years was enough. I’d be happy to consult, but that’s it. Anyway, back to this.”

I nodded, closed the folder I had been reading from.

“Looks like you’re doing the right things, the usual things, checking for financial problems, personal problems, work conflicts, people passed over for promotions, or who think they deserved one they really didn’t. And it is time consuming, especially when you’re doing it largely by yourself. One thing I would suggest is that you forget the lower rungs for right now, none of them would have the access required to know about the cross-section of CIs and witnesses who have been compromised. I’m thinking supervisor level, a sergeant at least. Doesn’t have to be a senior officer but somebody close to one, an assistant, and executive officer, somebody who is relied upon and trusted. But again, it could be a senior officer, too. The good news there is that there aren’t too many of them in BPD. Not like NY or LAPD where you have scores of captains and above. Did the computer people come up with any leads?”

Paige shook her head.

“Nothing solid, I’m afraid. We also need to do something about updating our computer system to allow for better tracking and accountability because currently that is sorely lacking. But as you said, this person is probably somebody who is trusted by their boss, assuming it isn’t a boss. They probably have his or her passwords, maybe access to a lot of other people’s passwords. Maybe they’re using a lot of different points of access to get the information. And even though we don’t have as many suspects as we would if this were LA or New York, there are still a lot, and no strong way to narrow that list down, at least not so far.”

I nodded, opened the file again, stared at the top page, then closed the folder. Paige noticed me grinning and asked what was so funny.

“Nothing really funny,” I told her as something turned over in my mind. “But I was remembering my Air Force OSI days when I was working Counterintelligence cases.”

“Okay,” she said. “And how does that tie in to what we’re discussing now?”

“Because in the wonderful worlds of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, outside of police work, you think like a spy and not like a cop who has to bring cases to court that can be officially and legally prosecuted before a judge and jury. And there is a subsection of Counterintelligence that is sometimes confused with CI but it’s a completely different thing, at least according to the CIA.”

“Well then I can’t wait to hear all about it,” Paige said skeptically as the waiter returned and put the bill down close to my right arm. I thanked him and he went away.

For the next fifteen minutes I explained the finer points of Counterespionage, specifically canary traps and barium meals, to former Lieutenant Palmer and how I thought they might be of some use in her present capacity as BPD’s resident mole hunter. She was smiling as we left Mugshots and headed back to where she parked her car.

Chapter 30

I pulled Jordana off the Aaron Jacobson’s protective surveillance detail after lunch and sent her back to the office. She was a little disappointed but understood the decision because it wasn’t like she could keep eyes on him all day in the Athletics Department at UAB, and the threat to him was negligible anyway, in my estimation. Probably in more danger when he was around his wife, but then there would be police protection for both of them. I would still keep my promise to Benita, though. Somebody would follow him to and from work to make sure he arrived in both places safely, but during the day it was a waste of personnel. Or so I hoped. Besides, Jordana had things to do at the office this afternoon, and with our primary concern still at the DA’s Office, Ollie and Frankie were largely unattached. I figured Ollie and I could get Beasley back to the safehouse on our own while Frankie went over in a little while to keep an eye on Jacobson.

Ollie was out taking a walk through downtown, occasionally circling close to the courthouse, but not close enough to arouse undue suspicions. I was in the van parked on the third level of the 22nd Street parking deck not far away, coincidentally, the exact same parking deck where Hoyt Wade III died last Christmas.

It did not bother me in the least to be back here, although the shooting took place on the first level. I was in here a lot considering the closeness to the Uptown District and the BJCC where TripleD did a lot of event security, and frankly, this wasn’t the only place I had killed somebody in this city. If I were going to start avoiding such places, after a while I probably wouldn’t leave home much.

I was in back at the computer workstation doing some research, lost in it when my phone buzzed. I checked the caller ID and smiled, marked my place on the webpage, then answered the call.

“Madam Acting Principal,” I said formally and Monique Otis laughed in my ear.

“Mr. Olin,” she replied in kind. “So good of you to take my call today.”

“Well it was so good of you to call. And how are you?”

“Still walking a little unsteadily,” she snickered. “But I’m managing.”

“Sorry to hear that,” I said. “Usually when I’m done most women can’t walk for weeks afterwards.”

Another snicker, then a full laugh.

“You know I’m in my office at work,” she said in a hushed tone. “And my assistant is just on the other side of the door. She’s gonna wonder what’s got me laughing so.”

“Tell her,” I said. “She’d probably be jealous.”

“No doubt,” Niqe said. “But I think I’ll pass. Have to maintain my dignity in front of the troops. It would not do for them to find out how wanton and wicked I can be when somebody is eating my ass.”

“To say nothing of spanking it,” I rejoined, leaning back in the workstation chair. “School day is almost done. Wrapping up?”

“Not quite,” she said. “Staff meeting will run till five, then home. Eldon is back, at least until next Monday, then he’s away for another three weeks.”

“I see,” I said lazily. “Then you’ll be a woman unattached for a while, sounds awfully lonely.”

“Well I do have work to keep me busy,” she teased.

“But work isn’t likely to be as good at eating that fine round booty of yours as I am, my dear,” I said.

Niqe chuckled pleasantly, then lowered her voice even more before responding.

“That’s for damn sure. Are you busy this week, we haven’t spoken since you had to rush out last week.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Sorry about that, but duty called, and is still calling, I’m afraid. Not sure for how long, but during the three weeks you’ll be solo, I’m sure something can be worked out. There are still a few fine points I’d like to go over with you.”

“Really?” she said. “Regarding that school security thing I asked you to look into or regarding my ass?”

“Both,” I responded without missing a beat. “And then there are your breasts, to say nothing of your thighs, and, of course, your…”

“I get the point, Derrick,” she admonished. “God you drive me so crazy.”

“Good,” I teased. “Say, you’re sitting at your desk with the door closed, right.”

“Yep,” she said. “All by my lonesome.”

“Skirt or pants?” I said.

“What?” she said.

“Are you wearing pants or a skirt today?”

“And why should I tell you that, sir?”

“Because if you don’t how else am I going to get your phone sex fantasy right?”

She choked with laughter, once again telling me how bad I was. I told her that I was likely to get a lot badder in the near future, and she told me she was wearing a green skirt today.

I chuckled.

“Not for long,” I told her. “Imagine this… I’m on my knees under your desk and your green skirt is hiked back over your magnificent brown thighs…”

Later I would be grinning from ear to ear imagining her sitting at the head of a school staff meeting trying to concentrate while remembering all the things I described doing to her that afternoon as she lay back in her chair and touched herself.

Yeah, Derrick, I mused to myself, you are a very bad man.

But you already knew that.

Chapter 31

Kurt Baxter called at a quarter to five to say that they were wrapping up in Benita’s office and would be leaving soon to return Mr. Beasley to our custody, once again with Kurt pretending to be a part of the security detail, escorted out by a squad of deputies. Ollie and I would meet them with the van at Macaroni Park on 7th Avenue and 25th Street North. By this time Frankie was in place at UAB preparing to follow Aaron Jacobson home and Jordana was back at the office monitoring, after telling me that we had two more business inquiries today and she was planning on scheduling meetings, even if I couldn’t make it. I told her that was fine, but I would try to make it, assuming all hell wasn’t breaking loose somewhere else.

As was to be expected for this time of year, even as the sun was on the decline, the humidity rendered that fact irrelevant in terms of the heat and discomfort factor. Luckily the van has a really good AC.

“God how stupid are people,” Ollie said from the driver’s seat as we watched people walking and running around the park, some with dogs for company, most of them with a towel or bottle of water in hand. “Go home, folks! Workout in an air conditioned gym! Or do it in the morning before it gets this hot!”

I grinned.

“If people were smart, Ollie, we’d probably have to do something else for a living.”

He grinned, about to respond, but then there was gunfire to our rear and we both reacted the same way, rolling out of the van with weapons drawn. A block straight down 7th we could see the big Suburban driven by Kurt Baxter racing our way with an old beat up white Plymouth closing fast, someone leaning out the passenger’s window firing a pistol. How original.

We were both running in that direction, Ollie about to cross the street, when a second vehicle, a green Dodge, cut across the intersection at 24th, sideswiping the bus that had pulled into a stop a few moments ago, and then broadsided the Suburban. Kind of stupid considering the unmarked police vehicle was built like a tank, although it wasn’t actually armored, it was constructed to withstand a lot of punishment, and the hit from the Dodge barely slowed it down. However, there was damage. Kurt had to over steer to avoid collision with other cars parked on 24th and this had him up on the curb as he approached the park. He fought the wheel to the left, avoiding an oncoming car, rolled right, sideswiped a parked car as the Plymouth closed the distance and the shooter leaned out even further to get a better line on the back of the Suburban.

Ollie got two shots off first and the shooter dropped his weapon as both rounds hit somewhere in the upper body. Kurt roared past us as Ollie and I moved out into the street and opened up on the Plymouth, mostly aiming for the front windshield. The car swerved to the left as the windshield cracked under a steady stream of .45 and .357 caliber rounds, slamming into two parked cars outside the church across the street.

The Dodge’s front end was severely messed up but it was still mobile, and now it turned in our direction, pistols coming out of both front windows and beginning to fire as Ollie and I stood side by side in the middle of 7th, fresh magazines in our weapons. A few moments later, the engine steaming, the windshields front and back shattered, the two occupants in the front seat sufficiently perforated with hollow-points, the Dodge rolled to a stop in the middle of the street.

Ollie and I didn’t bother to see if anyone in either vehicle was still alive. Honestly, it didn’t really matter. Sirens were approaching fast and people were starting to stir from their hiding places, no doubt some already out with their phones recording the scene, visions of their future television appearances already dancing through their heads.

Ollie and I quickly concealed our weapons and walked casually back to the van, climbing in, pulling out and departing just as the first of BPD’s new black & whites rolled into view.

I chuckled, taking out my phone.

Ollie turned right at the intersection with 25th and glanced at me.

“You going space happy on me, Commander?” he said.

I shook my head, still smiling.

“Nah, it just occurred to me that your name is Ollie.”

“Really, after forty years of knowing each other, it just now dawned on you?”

“I was thinking about Laurel and Hardy,” I said, checking the rearview mirrors. “Another fine mess, Ollie…”

Ollie snorted.

“And screw you, too, Stan,” Mr. Oliver said, and then we were both laughing. At least until Kurt Baxter answered his phone.

Chapter 32

After driving past us at the park, Kurt got on Highway 280 South and took it to University Boulevard. It didn’t take long for him to realize he wasn’t being pursued anymore, and he quickly got off the highway and doubled back, finding a place with a lot of other traffic where it wouldn’t be so easy to spot them, even though the Suburban was big and kind of banged up.

That place was the Full Moon Barbeque restaurant on 25th Street South. Ollie and I found the Suburban in the back of the parking lot a few minutes after I hung up with Kurt. Sergeant Baxter was at the wheel, a modified M-4 held across his lap beneath the window just out of sight until you got close enough to look inside. We didn’t see Quinton Beasley and for a second a cold lump settled in my gut.

“He’s on the floor behind the second row of seats,” Kurt told me. “Not hit, but scared shitless. And he ain’t the only one.”

“Tell me about it,” I said. “You call anybody else?”

“No,” he said, eyes scanning the parking lot behind his dark shades. “Figured that could wait until we properly secured Beasley back there. Man, I don’t even want to think about the paperwork on this one, or what’s gonna happen when the Chief finds out, which he no doubt will now that this has happened. I take it you and Ollie had to shoot people?”

“Couldn’t be avoided,” I admitted.

“Of course not,” he said. “Assholes with guns were shooting at you. You guys did what you had to.”

“Unfortunately there were a lot of people around who saw. No doubt some of them recorded the event. You know Farina Warren was already snooping around. Now…”

Kurt sighed, glanced at me for the first time.

“Got shot at a lot in the Army when I was a Ranger,” he said thoughtfully. “Not so much as a cop, which is odd considering the kind of cop I am. Now in the last week it’s happened twice. Don’t know if it’s me or hanging around you guys so much.”

I smiled, reached in and patted his shoulder.

“You’re welcome,” I said, and then his phone started ringing. A few seconds later, mine started buzzing.

QUINTON BEASLEY WAS PRACTICALLY MUTE by the time we got him back to the safehouse that night. Physically he was fine; not a mark on him, but the wild look in his eyes had me kind of worried. He might need to be looked at by a medical professional in the near future, but that could wait a bit longer. At least I hoped so.

Sheila and Burt were already at the safehouse when we arrived, having come in a little early after a quick call from Ollie to explain the situation. I let Frankie make sure Aaron Jacobson made it back to his and Benita’s place in Hoover, then had him come over as well. Jordana was still in the office monitoring the news and linked with us via Skype.

“Guess it’s true what they say, boss, the camera does add ten pounds. Or is that just your body armor? Were you wearing body armor today? Ollie looks great, by the way. Fit and trim.”

I snorted at the open laptop screen in the safehouse living room.

“All that cosmetic surgery is finally paying off,” I said. “Not to mention the hair plugs and lifts in his shoes.”

Jordana grinned, Ollie held up a middle finger.

“Plug this, boss,” he said.

“So we made the news, huh?” I said to the screen.

“Absolutely,” she said. “But if I didn’t know you guys, I might not recognize you. Phone cameras are not great for capturing live action gunfights when everybody is ducking for cover and all. Still, a lot of people do know you guys and will probably recognize it was you. Did Ollie call Meeka and let her know?”

I glanced over at him and he nodded.

“If I want to be able to come home again, I better not try to keep somethin’ like this from that woman. She won’t wait till I go to sleep, she’ll greet me at the door with an ass-kicking, right after she make sure I’m okay.”

Everyone chuckled, knowing the truth in that statement.

“The police aren’t giving out much information about what happened, their PIO[xii] is getting clobbered every time he comes out with a non-statement, the press is going to devour him soon. That lady who was in the office the other day, the one from Channel 13, she’s being really tough.”

I sighed. She would, and soon that toughness would turn on me. I had already sent three of her calls directly to voicemail and ignored two additional texts. It would not be possible to avoid her for long. She knew where my office was, not to mention where I lived, the layout of my living space, and just how much pressure she could apply to my lower extremities before I cried uncle!

“Has she called the office yet?” I said.

“Nope, should I expect her to?”

“Probably,” I said.

“And what should I tell her?”

“That I’ve moved into a condo on Mars.”

Jordana grinned.

“And when that doesn’t work?”

“Tell her that I’ll get back to her, but be vague on the timing, please.”

“Will do, Chief. This thing is a big mess now, huh?”

“An understatement, Jord,” I said, glancing at the rest of the team, all of whom sat as I stood. “Go home. Get some rest. I’m probably gonna have you tail Jacobson to and from work tomorrow, but you’ll go back to the office after he gets there in the morning. No sense in you hanging out.”

“It’s no trouble, really,” she said. “With my computer and phone, plus the wireless in my truck, I can run the office mobile.”

“I know you can,” I told her. “But I don’t think you need to. Jacobson probably isn’t in any real danger, especially while he’s at work. Plus I’m gonna have a talk with somebody I know in the UAB Police Department, see if I can arrange for one of their cops to spend some extra time around the Athletics Department for a while, till this is resolved.”

Though I knew she was disappointed, Jordana nodded.

“Alrighty, I’ll be ready in the morning. Anything else?”

“That’s it,” I told her. “Good work today.”

“You, too,” she grinned. “Later, boss.”

The screen went blank and I shut the lid. Sheila had gotten up a few minutes ago and went to check on Beasley.

“He look like he sleep,” she said, dropping back onto the sofa between Frankie and Bert. “On his side, knees up, still got all his clothes ‘cept his shoes on.”

I nodded.

“Think he’ll still testify now?” Frankie said.

“Good question,” I said.

“He was shitting himself before today,” Ollie said. “This the second time he been shot at in the past couple weeks. He got any sense he be thinkin’ about keepin’ his mouth shut.”

“And if he does, that isn’t our problem, that’s the DA’s headache, we just have to keep doing our job.”

“But we haven’t really,” Bert spoke for the first time, and it was clear from his tone that he was not happy. I stared at him for a few moments, moved to the one free chair in the small living room, dropped into it.

“Say what you have to say, Bert,” I said.

“If we had been doing our jobs today like we usually do, there’s no way those guys would have ambushed the client, not with us on him. Derrick, I know this job is tricky and not how you usually operate, and I know why it has to be that way, at least from the standpoint of outside factors. But if we keep on like this, somebody on our side is gonna get hurt, maybe killed, and maybe our client, too.” He paused, glanced around, sighed. Then he refocused on me. “You know me, man, I’m a soldier, I follow orders and do what I’m told. You and this team have been good to me and good for me and I don’t mean to overstep here…”

“Too late,” Ollie said from the easy chair a few feet away from mine across from where the three of them sat. His delivery was deadpan, and all eyes went to him. Frankie and Sheila were impassive, Bert looked a little apprehensive, but then he summoned his resolve, about to respond, but then Ollie’s face broke out into a grin. “Just fuckin’ with you, man. You good.”

Everyone else laughed and Bert glanced around, frowning before relaxing.

“I hear you, Bert,” I told him. “And you’re right. And things are going to have to change now. Probably would anyway with our public exposure today. We may be off the job by morning if Epstein and Bender can’t tap dance fast enough. Hell, they might be out of jobs, too. But until we hear different, Quinton Beasley is still our responsibility and we will do all we can to protect him. And from now on, we do it just the way we would with any other high-threat protectee, no exceptions.”

My phone was buzzing and I reached into my pocket to retrieve it.

“And right on time, too,” I said, preparing to swipe the screen with my thumb.

“Who, Epstein or Bender?” Ollie inquired.

“Epstein,” I said. “But what you wanna bet Bender is somewhere close? Probably both in front of a firing squad and calling to find out if I’m free to join them.”

Ollie chuckled.

I answered my phone.

Chapter 33

At ten p.m. Thursday night I had two cops, a former cop, and a deputy district attorney in the living room of my condo in downtown Birmingham, which was convenient to both police headquarters and the DA’s Office. Paige Palmer and Kurt Baxter sat on the large sofa across from the counter that demarked the living room from the kitchen. Benita Bender occupied the small sofa (loveseat) to their left, and Anita Epstein occupied the other one directly across from her and to the right of the sofa. I was sitting in the solo comfy recliner facing the large sofa with Anita and Benita to my left and right, respectively. I was also wearing flip-flops, after all, I was at home.

“You know the most annoying thing about Chief Reynolds?” Epstein said as she shifted her position on the sofa. “That laid back California persona is actually real, and even when he reams you, he does it in such a calm fashion, it’s worse than being yelled at. And boy did he ream.”

“Well my boss is a yeller,” Benita put in. She was wearing a navy blue skirt suit, white blouse, black pumps. She’d taken the jacket off earlier and I hadn’t noticed until now when she turned my way and tucked her left foot under her opposite leg that she had removed her shoes as well. Her feet were kind of big, compensation for her height, but they were cute, too. And I really shouldn’t be thinking about that right now.

“The phrase tore me a new one has never been more significant to me than today. At one point I thought he was going to ask his assistant to have tar and feathers brought in.”

“But he didn’t,” said Captain Obvious (me). “And neither did Chief Reynolds. So you both still have your jobs.”

“For the moment,” Anita said, glancing over at the prosecutor before looking at me. “Once this is resolved, even if it is done so in perfect fashion with wins all around, the axe still might fall. At least in my case. I’ve got over thirty years in already, though, so if I have to go out now, it won’t be too much of a worry.”

She looked at Benita again, who seemed to be lost in thought. When she realized all eyes were on her she glanced around quickly, then forced a smile.

“Sorry,” she said. “Just daydreaming about the unemployment line,” she chuckled, but only halfheartedly. “You know, if I get canned for doing my job, so be it. I have no regrets about what I’ve done on this case. If the DA wants to fire me in the future, it’s his decision. Until then, I’m good.”

After a few moments, Anita Epstein nodded.

“Me, too.”

I glanced over at Paige and Kurt.

“How you doing, Kurt?” I inquired.

He glanced up, smiled a little.

“Still kicking, Derrick. Captain Rossellini reamed my ass, too, for my participation in Chief Epstein’s private adventurism, but since I was following the orders of a superior who outranks him by several stars, I think that’s all I’ll get.”

“Unless I get the boot,” Epstein pointed out cheerily.

“Unless that,” Kurt agreed.

“Oh you both will be fine,” Paige chimed in. “Anita, you’ve got a lot of supporters on the City Council and in the Mayor’s office, not to mention the FOP[xiii]. And you’re a career officer, not a transplant like Reynolds. He knows he needs you. And Kurt, as you said before, you were following the lawful orders of a superior, an assistant chief no less. End of discussion.”

“What about me?” Benita said, leaning her elbow on the back of the sofa, resting the back of her head in her open palm.

Paige turned to the woman from the DA’s Office and shrugged.

“DA’s Office is more about politics,” Paige said thoughtfully. “And your boss is a politician who has to win elections for his office. You’re probably screwed, my friend.”

Kurt was the first to laugh, but soon we all were, and the tension was released. For the moment.

“All four of the people in the two vehicles died at the scene,” Epstein explained. “And they all died from gunshot wounds, in case you were wondering about your accuracy, Derrick. You and Mr. Oliver. Robbery-Homicide has been made aware of your involvement in the incident, and believe me, they aren’t happy you left the scene, but I explained to the captain that you were working a special detail for me and that you had to leave the scene before officers arrived. You’re still going to have to be interviewed officially. Sergeant Baxter has already given a statement. It can wait for a little while now because the shooters are no longer a threat. By the way, the two in the Dodge were Endre Evans and Larry Gonzales, Jr., the ones your associate identified as following Benita the other night.”

Benita shifted and put both her stockinged feet on the floor, leaning toward the square glass coffee table in the center of us.

“Are you sure, Anita?”

“Positive. They actually had ID on them, but we ran their prints, too. It’s them. They’re done.”

Benita exhaled slowly, then glanced at me.

“So they would have killed me if they had gotten their hands on me the other night,” she said. “They were killers.”

I really didn’t know what to say, turned back to the assistant chief.

“And the other two?”

“Bennett Johnson, twenty seven, of Collegeville, and Herman Cooper, twenty-three, of Fountain Heights. Both had long rap sheets, lot of violent stuff. No direct affiliation to Nicky Ashworth, but they all run in the same circles.”

“Question,” said the prosecutor as she sat back and crossed her long legs, her knee-length skirt riding up a little and she didn’t bother to smooth it back down. “How did they get on to Kurt so quickly? How did they know to follow him, that Quinton was with him? You can’t sit and watch the courthouse all day because Security looks for stuff like that, and these guys would have stood out, I’m sure. And Kurt used the secured side entrance to take him out. It’s fenced in and you can’t see through the fence from the outside once the gate is closed. So how did whoever know that Quinton was with Kurt when he left the courthouse?”

“Because somebody in the courthouse tipped them off,” Paige Palmer said, garnering long looks from the other three law enforcers in the room. I was not surprised by the statement in the least, after all, it was only logical.

“So the leak’s in the courthouse after all?” Benita said.

Paige shook her head.

“Not necessarily,” she said matter-of-factly. “Safest bet is still the PD. And there are a lot of cops from every department in Jefferson County who hang around the courthouse all day, some doing prisoner transfers, others waiting to testify, some doing who knows what. And because they’re cops, they have access to most of the secure areas, get to see and go almost anywhere and nobody pays much attention. Brothers and sisters behind the badge and all.”

“So somebody saw me come in with Beasley this morning and knew that at some point I’d take him out again, set up the ambush for when we were leaving this evening?”

“Likely,” Paige said. “Good news for us is that anybody, regardless of rank, has to sign in to get into the secure areas. Sign in and out. The head of courthouse security is a friend and I’m going to pull those logs in the morning, along with all the video surveillance footage from the courthouse. Gonna be busy the next few days but I think we might actually stand a decent chance of catching our leaker.”

“You mean our traitor, Lieutenant,” Anita Epstein said with fiery determination. “And I hope you’re right. Kurt, I want you working with Paige on this, just the two of you. I think you were telling me that so far your tech people weren’t getting anywhere with the internet tracking stuff anyway, right?”

“Yes, ma’am. Too many ways for somebody really good to mask themselves on the internet. Our techs are good and are working hard, but so far…”

“Okay. They can stay on that, you help Paige.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the Intelligence sergeant said.

“How’s Beasley?” Epstein turned to me.

“Scared,” I replied. “He’s gone quiet now and I think we might need to let a doctor look him over in the next day or so, just to be sure he’s all right. He wasn’t physically injured during this attack, or the first one, but violence does take a toll after a while, whether or not you actually receive a physical injury.”

“We can arrange a doctor,” the assistant chief assured me. “The department has discreet medical consultants, I can tap one with psychiatric training. I’ll get back to you tomorrow. Do you think he’ll still be willing to testify against Ashworth?”

“I have no idea,” I said honestly, glancing at Benita Bender. “Most normal people wouldn’t. I haven’t tried to talk to him about that, and maybe it could wait a few days, if you’ve got the time, Benita.”

“Well today was the big thing,” she responded, leaning forward and clasping her knees with her fingers interlaced, her diamond wedding ring gleaming in the subdued overhead lighting. “He made two formal IDs, one witnessed by opposing counsel, and he was deposed by me for several hours. Bagby is demanding a preliminary hearing before I present to the grand jury, and the judge will grant it because the defendant has that right. Also to reduce the chances for a reversal on appeal should we get a guilty verdict at trial. And in that hearing Quinton might have to testify. I don’t think it would be scheduled before the first of next month, which is only a couple weeks away. Maybe by then he will be calmed down. I need to see him, probably this weekend, maybe after he is examined by a doctor.”

I nodded, turned to Epstein.

“So what about us?” I said bluntly. “My team. What did the Chief have to say?”

Anita Epstein actually grinned, glanced over at Benita.

“Oddly, Derrick, both our bosses said pretty much the same thing.

“Yes,” Benita chimed in. “Almost as if they were reading from the same script. After Harvey finished yelling at me for deceiving him and the Office, he actually winked and told me he was glad that I had found a way to keep this off our books.”

Anita nodded.

“And while Chief Reynolds wasn’t happy at all that I was tapping into the consulting fund without disclosing to him the real reason for it, he told me that he could see wisdom in the decision to use outside resources. He wished I had chosen one who didn’t have such a well-documented penchant for violent conflict on the streets of Birmingham, his words, but he would retroactively approve the decision, and eat it with the press and the politicians, at least for now. But if this goes further sideways…”

“Your stars will role,” I finished for her.

“Something like that,” she said.

I nodded. “Mighty generous of him. Okay, so we all know where we stand. Anything else we need to talk about?”

Paige was looking at me and I could tell there was something she wanted to say, but to me only, so when no one else had anything to add, I stood and told everyone to get out of my place so I could slip into my jammies and get some shut eye.

Actually I don’t wear jammies, or anything when I sleep for that matter. Something that Paige Palmer knows only, too well. So I was lying in bed naked ten minutes later when my phone buzzed. I reached for it on the nightstand.

“Since when did you start wearing jammies?” she said down the line.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I rejoined playfully.

“No I would not,” she replied. “If you are telling the truth then I really am disappointed, my fantasy life is ruined, too. All those times I imagined breaking into your place in the middle of the night, sneaking into your bedroom as you slept, pulling the covers down and finding that sexy, naked brown body lying there… Oh the things that I imagined doing to you…”

“I hope you didn’t go too far away,” I told her, then moaned as I rolled onto my back. “Because now somebody has to come in here and sit on this hard-on you just created. And since it was you who did the creating…”

Paige chuckled pleasantly, told me she’d take a rain check, then told me what she had wanted to tell me before but not in front of the others.

Chapter 34

I got up for my five a.m. run the next morning and was heading out onto the streets by ten after. Farina Warren was waiting outside in the back parking lot wearing purple thigh length running shorts, a gray tank top, and white running shoes. She was bending and stretching next to my jeep when I arrived and that sight was an unexpected delight, despite her unwelcome presence.

“Don’t you live in Helena?” I said, stopping a few feet away and glancing around. This time of year the sun was already starting to come up but the lighting downtown was excellent and there wasn’t much darkness to dispel in the first place. “And won’t your husband and kids miss you?”

“Hubby understands what I do for a living,” she said, standing to her full height, feet a little wider than shoulder width, hands now on her hips. “And understands that sometimes I have to keep odd hours.”

“How long have you been down here?”

“About an hour. I know you usually go running around five, or so you’ve told me a time or two when we’ve been alone together. So I figured I’d get here early and wait. Saw your jeep was here so it was a good bet that you were home.”

“What if I wasn’t alone?”

“Explains why I didn’t go up and knock on your door,” she said with a grin. “I’m not into three-ways.”

I chuckled.

“That’s disappointing to hear. So why are you stalking me, Ms. Warren?”

“Who says I’m stalking you?” she said innocently, walking over to where I stood. “Maybe I just want to keep you company on your run today.”

“Says the woman who runs marathons for fun,” I replied. “You know, I was going to return your calls and texts.”

“Sure you were,” she smirked. “Some time around the next millennium. Let’s do it.”

“Do what?” I said.

“Not what we both probably want to be doing right now,” she quipped, turning for the parking lot exit.

I glanced after her, admired her shorts, and the ass they encased, then sighed and followed her. Not how I wanted to spend this part of my morning, but on the plus side, I was going to be spending it with a smart, funny, beautiful, and damn sexy woman. Not to mention one of the best interrogators I have ever known this side of the KGB.

IF I COULD HAVE MANAGED IT I WOULD have run all the way to Atlanta this morning, but that really wouldn’t have done me any good because by the time I arrived Farina Warren would have already been there a good hour a head of me. I knew she had stamina, drive, determination, and skills, plus incredible breath control, but this morning it was painfully obvious to me that the lady was so far out of my league in physical terms, and I was no slouch in that department myself. Even so, six miles was all that I was worth today, and felt a stitch in my side for the last mile as we ran back to my place dodging morning traffic at near breakneck speed. To my right, Farina’s long brown legs kept easy pace with me as she kept her long arms close to her upper body, head straight, eyes focused, breathing in and out in short breaths. For a while there as we ran down 1st Avenue toward the intersection with 22nd Street I was sure I was going to pass out, and throw up, but somehow I managed to make it across to my building and was barely able to stop before slamming into the side of it.

After a minute I was able to turn around and found Farina smiling at me and jogging in place. I think at that moment I hated her more than I have ever hated any other person in my life.

“That was a good warm up,” she said as she slowed and then stopped altogether. “Another set of stretches and then we can go again. Let’s do twelve this time!”

“I’m gonna shoot you,” I managed through ragged breaths. “Just as soon as my hands are steady again.”

Farina snorted and walked very close to me, leaning her mouth next to my left ear.

“Something tells me that your hands are always steady for that, Derrick,” she whispered. “Especially considering what I saw on some eyewitness video yesterday.”

And there it was.

She told me she had to go to her car and get her gym bag and change of clothes. I walked around to the back entrance, still catching my breath, and waited for her. This morning I really could have taken the elevator up to my floor, but pride would not let that happen and later I was going to kick pride’s ass good. Farina offered to carry me up the last flight but I declined, making a mental note to pay her back for all the smartassed comments this morning, but later, when I could both enjoy it and do it right.

We entered my unit, Farina ahead of me, and I shut the door behind us.

I WAS A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED BY the shower arrangements this morning, considering the number of times that Farina and I have showered together on other occasions. But this morning she took the guest bathroom out front while I had the master bath attached to my bedroom in back. Something about wanting to maintain a professional distance, considering current circumstances. I told her that I could maintain my professionalism while washing her back, and her other bits and pieces, too. She said she was sure that I could, but didn’t trust herself to do the same.

When I came out and dried off I picked up my phone and called the safehouse. Actually I called Sheila’s phone and she answered on the second ring, told me that the night went fairly well, but that our client hadn’t slept much, was restless, up most of the night moving around the house and acting anxious. Although I was no expert, I was thinking PTSD. I was going to have to get him to an expert fairly soon. I told Sheila to tell Ollie to give me a call when he came on, and that she and Bert should go right home and get some rest, things could develop quickly that might require me calling them in early again. She said she understood and then we said goodbye. My next call was to Jordana and she was already in Hoover waiting to follow Aaron Jacobson to work this morning before heading to the office. I thanked her for her service and she snickered, said she was glad to be of service to her chief, then hung up.

I was in the kitchen making grits, scrambled eggs with shredded pepper jack on top, and buttered whole wheat toast when Farina came out of the guest bathroom on the other side of the front room sitting group wearing black trousers and a yellow long sleeve blouse buttoned to her throat with a simple long gold chain hanging over it. She carried her gym bag in one hand and a black jacket that matched the trousers in the other. She set those down on the largest sofa as she passed it, coming to the counter and leaning over it from the living room side.

“That’s how I like to see my men,” she quipped. “In the kitchen rustling up grub for me. Although the picture would be even better if you were wearing an apron. And nothing else.”

I glanced over my shoulder and cast a smirk her way, then finished with the two plates I was preparing. “Why don’t you do something useful like get the juice from the fridge, please?” She grinned and did that. A few minutes later we were eating at the dining table next to the floor to ceiling windows along the front wall.

“Simple but delicious,” Farina said after a while, dabbing at her perfect lips with a paper towel.”

“Like me,” I replied, sipping my juice, and she snickered.

“I don’t know, sometimes you taste a bit salty.”

I nearly choked on my juice, and this made her laugh.

We sat and stared across at one another for a long while, the remainder of our food untouched, not saying a word. Finally I glanced at my watch and leaned forward. Ollie called me at that moment and I got up and went into my bedroom to answer and talk in private. Farina did not appear offended.

When I returned she had finished her food and refilled both our juice glasses and was back in her chair, leaning back, legs crossed. Would have been a better sight if she was wearing a skirt or dress, but I’d take what I could get.

“How’s he doing?” she asked, genuine concern in her voice.

“He’s fine,” I said, retaking my seat, glancing at my plate and glass. “He’s Ollie.”

“And yourself?” she said. “Since you didn’t respond to any of my messages I never got an answer to that question either.”

I looked at her for a few moments, then told her that I was me. She nodded, smiled a little sadly.

“That you certainly are, Derrick,” she said in a low tone. “How’s your client, Quinton Beasley?”

“Who says I have a client named Quinton Beasley?” I replied smoothly.

“Sources,” she said.

“Unnamed sources,” I said.

“I know their names,” she said.

“Funny,” I said. “But I will neither confirm nor deny that I have such a client.”

“Now that is funny,” she said. “What’s that called, I can’t remember right now.”

“The Glomar Response,” I told her and she nodded.

“That’s right, it’s a CIA thing, some operation they had that involved Howard Hughes and a sunken Soviet submarine, right?”

“Something like that,” I confirmed. “The vessel that Hughes developed for the mission was called the Glomar Explorer. And when the operation leaked to the press some clever wit in the government came up with what was later coined The Glomar Response.”

“Were you ever in the CIA, Derrick?” she said out of left field.

“The Culinary Institute of America? My crème brûlée was never up to snuff.”

Farina uncrossed her legs and leaned forward on the table, her plate already in the sink in the kitchen.

“Fast on your verbal feet, aren’t you?” she complimented. I picked up my juice, held it up, then glanced at her.

“While I was in the other room you didn’t by any chance spike my juice or food with scopolamine, or worse, GHB?”

She smiled again.

“You’ll know shortly,” she said. “Drink up.”

I stared at her for a few seconds longer, then did just that.

“And if I did rufie you, don’t sweat it. I’ll make sure to give you a couple of aspirin to help with the headache after you wake up tied to your bed with a ball gag in your mouth and a dildo up your butt.”

My expression was incredulous, and I couldn’t help but laugh, and be a little aroused.

Then it was time to get serious.

“Farina, I can’t talk about this, sorry, it’s work.”

“Background only,” she probed. “I won’t attribute anything to you, I won’t mention anything about you protecting Quinton Beasley. And if it will make it easier, I’ll tell you some things and you can confirm them if you know the answer, maybe point me in the right direction if you don’t or aren’t sure.”

“Or I could just keep my mouth shut all together,” I told her. “Or lie to you.”

“You won’t lie to me,” she said confidently. “If that were the case you’d have already done that by now instead of letting me keep pestering you. Despite being a real bad ass, Derrick, I know you very well. You are a hard man and a real bastard, but you’re an honest one.”

“Man or bastard?” I said.

She grinned.

“Both.”

I sighed, sat back and glanced at my watch again. I had a lot of stuff to do today, but Farina Warren was not going to go away, and while I sat considering what she was asking, something else occurred to me as I remembered what Paige and I discussed last night, in between the sex talk.

Farina was right, I was honest, up to a point, but she was right on another point, too. I was a bastard.

I made my decision, nodded, mostly to myself. Standing, I collected my dishes and her empty glass, took everything into the kitchen and washed it. Farina was standing looking down at 1st Avenue and morning traffic when I finished and joined her.

“I’ll tell you what I can,” I said in a low tone. “But there is one nonnegotiable condition.”

She turned her head and glanced at me curiously.

“And what might that condition be, Mr. Olin?” she inquired.

So I told her, and she shook her head and grinned, her mouthful of pearly whites on full gleaming display.

We were sitting on the largest sofa in the middle of the group a minute later, or rather I was sitting on it and Mrs. Warren was straddling my lap as I fondled her breasts and answered the questions that I thought I could, and along the way, engaged in a little disinformation strategy that would hopefully find the right ears in time to do some good.

Farina shifted on my lap and I reached back and cupped her buttocks, squeezing contently as she leaned forward and nestled my head against her breasts, the Q&A continuing unabated.

All in all, it was the hottest interrogation in which I had ever participated.

Chapter 35

At nine p.m. Friday night we brought our client to our office to meet first with a doctor arranged by Anita Epstein and then with Benita Bender. The examination took place in Ollie’s office and he made a few lighthearted (mostly) rumbles about charging people rent if this kept up. When the doctor came out just after ten-thirty he and I and Benita went into my office to talk. The gist of the diagnosis was this: Quinton Beasley was physically healthy but the stress of his current situation was taking a severe emotional toll, and in turn this would eventually affect his health. He was very unhappy, and despite being surrounded by armed bodyguards twenty-four hours a day, he did not feel that he was safe. If he thought he could get away with it, he would start running and never look back.

This was not welcome news to the prosecutor, but it was about what I had assessed from my layman’s perspective. Benita stood, shook the doctor’s hand, and then showed him out. When we were alone in the office she leaned against the door and stared at me, her expression grim.

“I need him, Derrick,” she said softly. “If I don’t have him, then I don’t have a case, and Nicholas Ashworth walks for this murder and maybe for a lot of other bad things he deserves to do time for even though he got away with it before. But do I have a right to push Quinton to his breaking point, to ruin his health, not to mention his life, just so I can win a case?”

“I don’t answer questions like that anymore, Nita,” I said to her. “I’m just a simple country bodyguard; my job is to keep people alive, nothing more, nothing less.”

She shook her head, casting a not too playful smirk my way. Something tells me that had she been on the staff of TripleD right now I would be receiving a middle finger salute.

“Simple, my ass,” she said, pushing off the door and moving over to drop said ass into the client chair recently vacated by the doctor. Tactfully, I was able not to comment on her comment about her ass, but believe me, it was not easy.

“As I said before, Bagby will likely get the preliminary hearing he wants,” she said to me. “The judge wants to make sure there will be no grounds for a reversal on appeal if there is a conviction. Likely it won’t amount to much; pro forma really, then we go to the grand jury anyway. As the saying goes, a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich in a grand jury proceeding, but sometimes they get a no true bill when the case is shaky. To make sure this isn’t one of those times, I’m going to need Quinton in court for both the prelim and the grand jury, Derrick, I already know that. And if he isn’t, Bagby will raise a hell of a stink and the judge will insist that I get him in there.”

I nodded slowly, thinking.

“How soon will the hearing be, do you think?”

“Could be as early as Tuesday. If I’m really lucky the judge will kick it till the week after because things are kind of backed up in district court right now, but I doubt that. Chuck Bagby is a powerhouse to be reckoned with and a lot of judges try to keep him happy. Somewhere between Tuesday and Thursday, probably. Maybe as late as Friday, all depending on the court calendar, of course.”

I nodded, still thinking.

“Okay. It’s getting late, why don’t you go in and talk to him so hopefully we can all get out of here before midnight. I know your security detail has had a long day and so have all of my people.”

Benita looked at me for a few moments before nodding and making to stand.

“I can already tell something is percolating in that devious brain of yours, Derrick, and I’m not sure I want to know what. Just please tell me it won’t involve anymore dead bodies. The mayor is already screaming about the recent uptick in violence, and unfortunately a good bit of that has been directly related to this case.”

“I can make no promises, lady,” I said, then smiled. “But I will try.”

She stood at the door staring at me, looking simultaneously exhausted and alluring. She shook her head, smiled, walked behind the desk and leaned down and kissed me on the cheek.

“Thank you,” she smiled again, then walked out of my office, leaving the door open as she turned and went next door to Ollie’s office.

She was wearing jeans again this evening, and I need not say anymore than that.

With her scent still in my nostrils and the surge of blood to my groin still largely centered there, I took out my phone and scrolled through the contact list, selecting the name I wanted and then typing in a quick text message.

I was not surprised that it was returned within a minute, the person I was texting was pretty much a night owl, and someone who hadn’t slept more than a few hours at a time in years. My next message was much longer and took about five minutes to compose, check, edit, and then send.

The reply this time took fifteen minutes, but the response was what I expected. I sent my thanks and then stood up and went out into the bullpen with the rest of the team, Jordana Kauffman included.

Chapter 36

We changed safehouses.

After leaving the office just after midnight Friday night/Saturday morning, as per prearranged plan, we took our client to another house that I had purchased, through a different alias, in MaCalla, approximately twenty miles west of Homewood, in a less trendy and more secluded neighborhood on Crystal Drive, with quick access to I-459 if need be. Bert and Sheila were already there, having gone to get the place ready and letting the rest of us know before we left the office that it was secure. Quinton Beasley said nothing just followed instructions, and for my part I was good with that. I could tell that Benita was even more agitated when she left the meeting with him in Ollie’s office. As I walked her out to the hallway to where her two deputy escort waited to take her home, she was morose and quiet. She did turn to me and try to smile before leaving, but her mind was elsewhere, and I was pretty sure I knew where.

I gave Ollie and Frankie the next morning off since they had put in so much overtime on Friday. At six Saturday morning, I relieved Sheila and Bert and was in the small kitchen in back when my phone buzzed with the first text of the day. I was pretty sure I already knew who the texter was, verified this with a quick glance, then finished the glass of cold pineapple juice I had been enjoying.

Slipping my Bluetooth into my left ear, I walked into the living room and made a call. The line was answered on the second ring, a sleepy female voice on the other end.

“Somehow I knew you’d be awake already,” said Leigh Danton. “And not drinking coffee!”

“Pineapple juice,” I told her.

“God you fucking heathen, that’s practically blasphemy where I come from. However did you become my eldest daughter’s godfather?”

“As I recall, the decision wasn’t yours. Hubby number one, I believe.”

“The Asshole!” she retorted.

“I thought that’s what you called all of them,” I said.

“Yeah,” she confirmed. “But he’s the original, even if he is Erin’s father. How is Quint?”

“Very quiet,” I told her, sitting down on the sofa and leaning back. “And not happy at all. We had a doctor look him over last night right before I texted you. Physically he’s fine, but it’s his mental state we’re worried about. The DA really needs his testimony to win her case, hell, just to get her case before a jury. The defendant is a real bad piece of work and he’s hired one of the best criminal defense attorney’s in the city to represent him. Benita—Benita Bender, the Deputy DA—is afraid that without Beasley’s cooperation, the case will fall apart and this guy, Nicky Ashworth, will walk, at least on the murder charge.”

There was a pause in conversation and I heard the distinct sounds of a coffee machine in operation on the other end of the line. I waited until my friend of thirty-plus years loaded up her first fix of the day and then sighed with obvious delight as her drug of choice took effect.”

“Tell me, is it as good as sex?” I said.

“Better,” she said. “Especially with some people.”

“Should I be offended?”

“No, you were better than any of my husbands, especially The Asshole! Just not as good as the strong black stuff I’ve got in my hands right now and warming my tummy.”

“There are so many deliciously naughty things I could say in response to that comment, Madam Danton,” I said with a chuckle. “And I’m sure you know what most of them are.”

She laughed, paused to drink, then came back on the line.

“I do,” she said. “So, I’ve managed to clear my afternoon at the shop, Betsy is going to take my appointments so I’ll be free after twelve-thirty. Where do you want me?”

“A very loaded question,” I said and she snickered.

“Hey, have you forgotten I’m licking pussy this month?” she quipped and we both laughed.

“You, too, huh,” I said, and we both laughed again.

“Okay,” I managed a few minutes later. “Now that the witty banter is concluded, let me tell you where I want you, although it won’t be me picking you up. It’ll be Ollie.”

“Oh, goody!” she said. “Tall Brown Sugar. I’ll be sure to wear snug blue jeans.”

“I won’t even dignify that with a response, Ms. Danton,” I said priggishly. “But if Meeka ever finds out Ollie was alone with you and your snug blue jeans, he probably won’t live much longer, or at the very least have to visit his dick in a jar for the rest of his life.”

Leigh snickered and I continued, giving her the details of what I had planned. When I was done she repeated everything and I confirmed she had it right.

“Okay then,” she said, suddenly yawning. “I need to hit the shower and then get moving. I have one early appointment coming in before hours and then a couple after we open, but I’ll be ready and where you told me to be this afternoon, Derrick, no worries. If anything changes, text and let me know.”

“I will, luv, and I really appreciate this,” I told her. “And if you have any problems, need to change anything, let me know.”

“I will, but nothing will change. And you don’t have to thank me, like I said, Quint is a friend and if you think I can help him, then I’m glad to do it. Your obscene reference to Marvel God Stanley Martin Lieber[xiv] not withstanding. I may have to punch you again for that you know.”

“I might like that,” I said.

She chuckled again.

“Goddamn pervert! Must be why I love you so. Or perhaps it’s our mutual affinity for pussy licking, who knows?”

I laughed, a very inappropriate thought suddenly entering my mind that I would keep all to myself because as brave as I was supposed to be, there were some things I was not willing to risk. Putting a certain idea into Leigh Danton’s head was close to the top of that list.

Instead I thanked her again and said goodbye.

I heard the door to the back bedroom Beasley was using open and feet shuffling down the hallway, another door opening and closing. Looks like my client was awake and headed for his first piss of the day.

I stood and went into the kitchen, hoping I was doing the right thing with Leigh. Only time would tell.

Chapter 37

Sunday kicked off the first of August and it was both a stormy and extremely muggy start to the last full month of summer. I stayed at the safehouse all day Saturday, mainly because I wanted to see how the visit from Leigh Danton went with Quinton Beasley. She didn’t leave until just after eleven that night and by that time Beasley seemed a different man, was even smiling and laughing, a little. As they were saying goodbye in the back hallway, Leigh whispered something in his ear and he actually giggled. He was so much taller than she that he had to lean down considerably and she stood on her toes, both hands on his shoulders, kissed his cheek, then his lips.

“Be safe, Quint. Do what these folks tell you, they’re the best at what they do. And if you’re real good, I may come visit you again. Might even sneak you in a burger from Five Guys.”

“And Cajun fries!” he demanded and Leigh laughed, nodding. Another kiss and the goodbyes were concluded.

I drove her back to where she had left her car.

“You didn’t blindfold or drug me,” Leigh said when we were a few blocks from the safehouse.

“Well I know you like it kinky, my dear,” I told her as I stopped at a light. “But I didn’t know you liked an audience.”

“Smartass!” she retorted. “And when I was younger… Never mind. You know what I’m talking about. Now I know where your safehouse is.”

“And you’ll keep it to yourself even if a Cardassian gul interrogates you to within an inch of your life,” I told her, pulling off as the light changed.

“There are four lights!” she shouted and we chuckled at the Star Trek: The Next Generation memory.

“Of course there are, Captain,” I said. “Would you fancy some tea?”

She affected a terrible British accent: “Tea, Earl Grey, hot!”

When we reached the lot where her car was parked, we sat in my jeep and talked for a few minutes, Leigh reaching over with her left hand and taking my right, interlacing her fingers with mine.

“He’s angry, Derrick. Scared. And more than that, he’s pissed at himself for being so afraid. He knows that testifying is the right thing to do, and he wants to do it, but his fear is very strong. That second attack on Thursday nearly pushed him over the edge. If he could have run away from all of this, he would have. I meant what I said to him, I want to visit again, and maybe that will help calm him. But one thing I’d like to know is how whoever is behind this seems to know where to find him? He tells me that he was in the back of an unmarked police Suburban driven by a cop when they were attacked and that you and Ollie were waiting to take him back to another safehouse when the shooting started. And, of course, you took out the shooters. Were they on to the cop, or was the cop in on it?”

I smiled, mostly to myself. Never thought the woman sitting next to me was an idiot.

“Or is this something that I shouldn’t know?” she continued.

“You shouldn’t know a lot of this already,” I admitted. “So in for a penny…”

I told her everything, and not just because I’m a bucket mouth, rather because at one time Leigh was in the investigations business and had one of the best analytical minds I have ever come across. When I finished she sat silent for a long time, still holding my hand in the darkness of the front seat, her head back, eyes closed behind her glasses. I sat and waited, enjoyed the company, but I kept my eyes open lest I fall into a deep and dreamless sleep that I might not ever want to wake up from. And doing that around Leigh could be dangerous for all sorts of reasons, some pretty comical because she was a real practical joker.

Fifteen minutes later, Leigh opened her eyes and turned to face me.

“Well that’s fucked up,” she said ironically.

“It is,” I said. “That all you came up with?”

“I think that really sums it up,” she continued, squeezing my hand before letting it go and turning in her seat, raising her leg and tucking her left foot under her right thigh. “I think you’re right about the Canary Trap, though. Might be the best way to smoke out the leak and maybe identify and stop the threat to Quinton, although you’re probably right, too, about that being this Ashworth fellow, or somebody who works for him. And you could be right about the lawyer. I remember that name from my PI days. Represented a lot of bad guys back then, too. And as I recall from a past job with you, we used something similar—the Canary Trap again—to catch a corporate leaker who was deliberately trying to undermine a client of mine.”

I nodded, remembering that job, and for the uninitiated:

A Canary Trap is a method for exposing an information leak by giving different versions of a sensitive document or other restricted information to each of several suspects and seeing which version gets leaked. It could be one simple false statement. Special attention is paid to the quality of the prose of the unique language, in the hopes that the suspect will repeat it verbatim in the leak, thereby identifying the version of the source document. Also referred to as a Barium Meal in the spy world and may be a part of a larger disinformation strategy to exploit an opponent’s reliance upon a compromised covert source.

“Do you know if these leaks began before Quinton agreed to testify?” she asked.

I nodded.

“They did,” I said.

“So this is not unique to his situation. Curious?”

“How so?”

“It means that there could be something larger at work here, maybe?”

That made me pause because I hadn’t really thought much about it, mainly because my job was protecting Beasley, not thinking about the source of the leak or why it was happening now. Leigh did raise an interesting point.

“So what’s going on with Beasley could be a distraction or smoke screen for something else?” I said.

“Possibly. And it might involve this Ashworth character or it might not. He could be behind it or completely unaware of it, although, as you stated, most of the shooters sent after Quint have been affiliated, in some way, with him.”

“But that could be more smoke,” I said. “These guys aren’t exactly known for scruples and loyalty, or brains for that matter. If somebody offered them enough money, they might take a side job. And with Ashworth in jail, maybe some of his people aren’t as afraid of him as they would otherwise be. You know, going back to Bagby, the lawyer. It would be curious to know how he came to represent Ashworth, if there was a previous connection. As you say, he’s done a lot of criminal defense for real criminals, so his taking Ashworth’s case is not a shock or stretch. But there are a lot of good criminal defense attorneys in Birmingham.”

“But not too many with reputations like Bagby’s,” Leigh pointed out. “He’s a shark and a lot of prosecutors are afraid of him. He gets deals for his scum bag clients that other lawyers probably can’t get.”

I nodded, remembering what Benita Bender had said about Mr. Bagby’s reputation for digging up dirt on cops and prosecutors a like.

“Yeah, I can believe that,” I told her neutrally. “I asked Paige to have a closer look at him anyway, just to see, if nothing else, perhaps a little opposition research. But in light of what you just said about the possibility of something larger going on, what if you’re right? And what if Bagby, or perhaps another of his clients, is behind it, involved in it some way?”

Leigh stared at me sharply, then smiled.

“Now who’s got the devious mind, Derrick?” she said. “Yeah, might be nice to find out how he came to represent Ashworth. Who called who, and if he ever represented the asshole before. Maybe Quinton being a witness against Ashworth and the two attempts on his life have nothing to do with the Ashworth case. Maybe the leaks are for another purpose.”

“Well one big one I can think of right now is tying up the PD and the DA’s Office with suspicion and distrust of their own, and with the CI and witness program clearly compromised, there are a lot of future cases and prosecutions in jeopardy.”

“Which might be the point,” Leigh said.

“And you might just be right. What if Bagby had another client that he was actually trying to save by disrupting the police and the prosecution ahead of time? What if Ashworth were simply a tool he was using, a low-level drug dealer who killed his competition in front of a witness? And by doing it now, he makes it look like Ashworth and his gang of thugs are behind it.”

“Kind of elaborate,” I said. “And almost Hollywood-like, but stranger things have happened in real life. Might be worth a look at his clients and upcoming cases in Jefferson County. He’s been a lawyer in this city for three decades, he would have a lot of sources in the police department and the prosecutor’s office.”

“Or dirt that he could use to blackmail some folks,” Leigh said.

“Mine is not the only devious mind, Ms. Danton,” I said, grinning, checking the time by pushing the button on my watch. “I need to pass this along to Paige and Kurt. Problem is, they’re cops and have procedures they have to follow, and if they don’t and they find something, it won’t be admissible in court. Meaning that Bagby or whomever could walk on a technicality.”

“Well I can tell you from my time as a PI and all the work I did for lawyers, what a client tells an attorney is strictly protected by privilege, but the fact of who their clients are is not privileged. The cops can get that without a warrant. Probably get it through the DA’s Office if there’s a defendant in an upcoming case. And it might help to look at arresting officers associated with those cases.”

I nodded, taking out my phone and making notes.

“Sure you don’t miss the PI game, Leigh?” I said.

“Like VD,” she said.

I chuckled, she grinned.

“As someone who has had intimate knowledge of your lady parts,” I said, finishing with the notes and saving the file. “I do hope you are being sarcastic.”

“Hey, not my fault you put your tongue in places god never intended it to go!”

“And not just my tongue,” I retorted.

“Freak!” she rejoined.

“Yeah, this from the woman who wanted me to call her Han Solo and do her Wookiee style!”

We both laughed hard for a long time. I got out and walked her over to her car and she got in, rolling down the window after starting the engine.

“Night, luv,” I said, leaning down in the open window.

“Night, luv,” she said, kissing my lips. “And stay safe.”

“You do the same,” I told her, finishing with an unintelligible Wookiee farewell that had her snickering as she drove away.

“Never too old for Star Wars,” I said as I got back into my jeep. “Even if they have managed to fuck it up in recent years with substandard prequels and sequels to the original trilogy.”

Chapter 38

Sunday morning I was at home catching up on my sleep when the Android began buzzing on the nightstand on the right side of the bed. I think the display on the screen read 08:31, right under the picture of Paige Palmer in her lieutenant’s uniform from days past.

“Good morning, former lieutenant,” I said with as much chipper as I could muster, closing my eyes once more.

“Not so much,” she announced unpleasantly. “Your friend Farina Warren has been rather busy of late, as you well know, and this morning on the seven o’clock news on Channel 13 she did a pretty devastating story on our leak problem at BPD.”

Shit! I thought, but said nothing for a minute. I knew this was coming, and so did the cops and the DA, and in a free press society, there was nothing they could have done to prevent it.

“How bad?” I said finally.

“We don’t look great, Derrick,” she said. “And by we, I mean BPD, and since I’m technically back on the payroll, that includes me, as well. Chief Epstein and I have already talked once this morning. I suspect that was the first of many conversations to come. She’s pretty sure that she and the Chief will be in the mayor’s office first thing tomorrow. Probably testifying before the City Council before the week is out. This could seriously undermine the people’s confidence in the police, Derrick. Not that there was a whole lot to begin with, although Chief Reynolds has made a lot of strides in the right direction of building up trust between the police and the communities they serve. Still, this is going to hurt, especially if we can’t resolve the leak situation quickly, which isn’t all that easy given the fact that it could be any of a lot of people. I’m still working on the Barium Meal solution you suggested, but implementing it is going to be really hard to track, given that I’m limited in resources since we don’t know who we can trust.”

I sat up in bed and propped a pillow behind my back.

“You know, I’ve been giving that some thought,” I said, then began to tell her what Leigh and I had discussed last night, leaving Leigh’s name out of it because, strictly speaking, I wasn’t authorized to tell anybody about the leak problem and I didn’t have time for Paige to remind me of that.

When I finished Paige was silent for a few minutes, her mind working the angles.

“Tell me again why you aren’t chief of detectives somewhere?” Paige finally said.

“Because I’m too pretty to work that hard,” I quipped.

“Well you are pretty,” she said with a snicker. “And apparently a lot smarter than you look. You know, this kind of makes sense, Derrick. I mean, I can see Nicky Ashworth doing whatever he could to save his own ass, but like I pointed out before, he just isn’t that connected or that smart. Kind of obvious given that he killed somebody on a well lit street downtown where a lot of people could potentially see him. The leaks did start before he was arrested, but when Beasley’s name leaked and people started coming after him, we all naturally focused on Ashworth because the shooters had a connection to him. But what if you’re right and Bagby is involved on behalf of another client, and maybe that client is the one actually behind the leaks? And using the attacks on Beasley as a front, not to mention sewing us and the DA up pretty tight with internal problems and a mounting PR nightmare, thanks, in part, to Farina Warren, eagle eye reporter.”

“You need to look at his pending cases, Paige,” I told her. “Privilege shouldn’t prevent you from getting a list of his clients either.”

“No,” she said. “But I still need to bring the DA in on this, get her to sign off, and she might have to go higher for clearance. Going after a lawyer is not an easy thing, especially one like Chuck Bagby. If he gets wind we’re looking into him, even if he isn’t guilty of anything, he could cook us. And if he is dirty, and he has access to sources inside PD and DA, they could tip him. I’m going to start pulling pending cases, looking at arresting officers as you mentioned. Might be a connection to something. And I’m also going to pull past cases and have a look, too. Maybe when I’m done I’ll have a better idea of who I can feed some of those Barium Meals to.”

I told her I thought that was a good idea and after a few more minutes she hung up. I sat in bed thinking for a while longer, looked at the clock on the nightstand, then rolled out of bed because I really needed to relieve my bladder.

I was fed, showered, and fully dressed just after ten. My mobile buzzed again and I smiled at the display, sitting down on one of the living room sofas, the largest one in the middle, and turning to stare out the windows to my left.

“Well good morning, Madam Vice Principal,” I said in a cheery voice. “Oh, correction, Madam Acting Principal!”

Monique “Niqe” Otis chuckled throatily down the line and this sent a surge of warmth through me, and in one southerly direction in particular.

I was definitely taking the day off now, although it was highly likely that I would be putting in some strenuous labors later on.

Or at least I hoped like hell that would be the case!

Chapter 39

Monday morning, despite my exhaustive Sunday afternoon and evening, and maybe because of it, I decided I needed to do some flexibility exercises. Considering that made me smile and think about my associate from yesterday and perhaps what she might have to say about my flexibility. Of course, I could say a thing or two (or ten) about hers, as well.

I’d be really sore later on, and not for nearly as pleasant a reason as before, but when I was finished I did feel looser. If this were an episode of the FXX animated series Archer somebody would probably be making a comment about phrasing right now.

I was dressed and in my front room considering breakfast at seven, gray clouds prominent outside my windows, when my phone buzzed. It was Assistant Chief Anita Epstein.

“Derrick,” she said without preamble. “I need to speak with you.”

Twenty minutes later I was serving Birmingham’s number two cop breakfast in the dining area. Today she was in uniform again, Class-B, short sleeves, blue on blue, her auburn hair just off her collar.

“I’ve got a meeting with the Chief Deputy DA at ten,” she said by way of explanation. “And since the meeting is in his office, I figured it couldn’t hurt if he knew I was armed when I showed up.”

She said it with humor but I could sense tension in her voice. Once the food was on the table, I took my seat, felt a buzz in my side pocket, leaned back and extracted my phone. A text from Ollie, just a status report. I sent back a quick reply and then looked over at Epstein as she dug into her oatmeal.

“Oatmeal raisin?” she said. “And something else. Cinnamon?”

I nodded.

“Yep. My favorite.”

She smiled and we ate in silence for a few more minutes.

I was sipping my cranberry juice when she wiped her mouth with a napkin and looked over at me.

“First let me tell you that the head of Robbery-Homicide is getting antsy about interviewing you and Mr. Oliver,” she said warily. “Actually, I should say that he’s getting antsy for his detectives to interview you because Captain Armando isn’t that hands-on. In theory, I could stall him longer because I outrank him, but I’m afraid protocol must be followed, Derrick.”

I sighed, setting my glass down, nodding.

“Yeah,” I said. “Kind of why I left officialdom behind, and rarely work for the Man, or the Woman!”

Chief Epstein grinned, sipping her juice. Then she seemed to remember something unpleasant and set the glass back down. Obviously something was bothering her and she was reluctant to spit it out. So unlike her. I sat and waited. Eventually she sighed and looked directly at me.

“The reason I’m headed over to the DA’s Office this morning is because the District Attorney is unhappy about my decision, and that of one of his prosecutors, to bring in an outside contractor to protect a witness in one of their higher profile cases. Although, as I already told you, Chief Reynolds, though not completely happy, has essentially acquiesced, DA Shaw is a politician who has to run for office. I suspect some of his unease is stemming from the fact that his office could look weak if it were ever known that they couldn’t protect their own witnesses and had to go outside to a private team of bodyguards to do the job. Especially someone as well known in local circles as you.”

I smiled.

“And not necessarily known for good things,” I said.

Anita smiled, too.

“But not all bad either,” she said. “Benita’s been ripped a new new one over the weekend, got called to the office yesterday and read the riot act by Shaw and his chief deputy. This after another story from Farina Warren hit the airways. For now she’s still in charge of the Ashworth prosecution, but after that, she’s probably gonna be on shit duty in the DA’s Office for quite a while. The good thing for her is that she’s still very young and can probably recover in time to have a pretty good career.”

This news did not set well with me, in fact, it pissed me off, but I kept it in check, considering that at some point in the near future I might need to have a quiet word with Jefferson County DA Darren Shaw.

“I’m going to make my position very clear with the DA,” the assistant chief said firmly. “With tacit backing from my Chief. Since BPD is footing the bill for your services, you will remain in charge of security for Quinton Beasley until I see fit for a change. I’m sure I’ll catch a lot of flack over there, given that witness security is supposed to be the purview of the DA’s Office once a prosecution begins, but this is a special case, given the leak inside the department.”

“Do they know about that?” I said.

She nodded distastefully.

“Had to tell them,” she said. “But outside of Benita, only the DA himself and his Chief Deputy, Herman Cortez, are supposed to know. Hopefully the leak isn’t in the DA’s Office and it’s one of them.”

That last bit was said with a wry grin.

“Maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing,” I pointed out in like tone. “Save a lot of embarrassment on your end and maybe Benita gets appointed acting DA once they’re in custody.”

Anita Epstein laughed, about to reach for her juice glass once more, when her phone started ringing. She pulled it off the left front side of her belt and answered it. Almost immediately her face went ashen. After nearly a full minute of listening to what was being said on the other side of the line, Chief Epstein swore violently, which was unusual for her, or at least as far as I knew. She listened for a few moments longer, said she was on her way, and ended the call.

“What?” I said, watching as she stood.

“Another fucking leak, Derrick!” she said harshly, already on her feet and heading for the door, retrieving her gold braded service cap from the glass coffee table on the way. I stood and caught up with her quickly because I’ve got longer legs, saw her to the door. “That was Sergeant Baxter on the phone. He’s with the techs now. The good news is they think they might have something we can use this time. I might have to miss my meeting with Cortez, and that is a real shame, but police work takes priority.”

She stopped in the hallway outside my door, turned briefly, gave me a half smile.

“Keep doing what you’re doing, Derrick,” she told me. “I’ll stall Captain Armando a while longer. Don’t worry about that. It’s not like there’s a case to build for prosecution because there won’t be a prosecution, the four shooters are dead, and even though it isn’t official yet, given the eyewitness accounts and video, you and Oliver are in the clear anyway.”

I nodded, she nodded, and then started down the corridor to the elevator on the run. A few seconds later she was gone.

I went back into my home and over to the breakfast table, suddenly feeling a stiffness in the middle of my back. I smiled a little as I began to clear the dishes from the dining table.

Even though I was suffering a bit now, the memory of the heavy weight of Niqe Otis’ sweat-soaked body on top of mine as she rode me on the bedroom floor yesterday evening was well worth the sacrifice.

Chapter 40

Monday evening and night I covered Sheila’s shift at the safehouse where Quinton Beasley was currently residing. Tuesday morning, Sheila saw to it that Aaron Jacobson made it to work and back home safely but essentially had most of the day free. Tuesday night I did the same for Bert and he did the same regarding Jacobson on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday afternoon I was in my office talking to Jordana Kauffman about some meeting requests from other clients and potential clients. I had gone home after Sheila and I were relieved by Ollie and Frankie and gotten in a little exercise, then slept for four hours before coming to the office. Jordana was telling me about a preliminary meeting she had Tuesday afternoon with a sports promoter who was looking to hire local security when her client came to town next month. Apparently the client was a well known basketball player, which explained why I had never heard of him. As a rule, I’m not a fan of celebrity security, not that I think they don’t need or deserve it just as much as the next guy or gal, but some of the things that go with it, like dealing with fans, groupies, hangers-on, and outright nutjobs tend to put me off. Still, when it came to running a business that others depended on for their livelihoods, I couldn’t afford to indulge my personal dislikes too much. I told Jordana I’d take the next meeting when she set it up.

My phone buzzed before she could move on and I took it off my belt, sighed as I read the name. “Give me a minute, will you?” I said to her, then answered.

“Well if it isn’t my new public relations manager,” I said into the phone.

“I never mentioned your name,” Farina Warren returned mirthfully. “And think of all the business you’re liable to rack up once enough people figure that was you and Ollie last week. Hell, you might need a press manager in a little while. And if you make it worth my while, who knows, I might just take the job. And I can think of some really interesting side benefits that I would want in my perks package.”

It was obvious she was alone, but I was not, so my retort could not be as direct as I would have liked it to be.

“I’m afraid I have all the staff I can afford right now, Ms. Warren. In fact, at the moment I’m speaking with Ms. Kauffman at my office.”

“Ah,” she said knowingly as Jordana glanced up from her iPad. “Can’t be naughty on the phone right now because you’re not alone. And here I was planning on a little sexy talk this afternoon. Of course, I can still do if from my end. Make you so hard that the lady will think you’re about to hoist a flag.”

I made a mental note to put this tease over my knee at the very earliest opportunity, and making that note was a big mistake as it resulted in the erection that she had been joking about a moment ago. Unless the building was on fire, as long as Jordana was in my office, I wouldn’t be leaving this chair behind my desk any time soon.

“So what can I do for you, Ms. Warren?” I said in a businesslike tone. “We’re kind of busy at the moment.”

Jordana gestured at herself and then the door, but I shook my head. If I was alone right now this call would probably last a lot longer than it should, and I really did have work to do.

“A little birdy told me that someone in either BPD or the DA’s Office is looking into a lawyer named Charles Bagby and the firm Bagby and Associates,” she said flatly, paused, and then continued. “The man who at present represents a fellow by the name of Nicholas Ashworth, the drug dealer who killed that other drug dealer outside the McWane Science Center last year, the killing that was witnessed by the man you are currently protecting, a man who has now had two attempts made on his life that I know of.”

I waited, my mind racing, considering several things, none of which I liked. Well, other than a bare-assed Farina Warren lying across my lap as my right hand mercilessly smacked her tight, round backside… but I digress.

“Care to comment on anything I just said, Mr. Olin?”

“I’m afraid I have no comment on anything you just said, Ms. Warren.”

“Even after I sat on your lap and let you grope me the other day?” she said sweetly.

I glanced at Jordana.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to talk to someone in the PD or the DA’s Office for any information regarding your suppositions, Ms. Warren. I assure you that I am privy to no inside information from either quarter.”

She snorted.

“You lie well, Derrick,” she said. “But I know better. And before you offer any more denials, the real reason I called is not because I wanted you to give me any information. Well that isn’t exactly true, I’d love an exclusive interview with you regarding Quinton Beasley, followed up by one with Assistant Chief Epstein and DDA Bender, but I’m not likely to get any of that. At least not right now. No, I called to tell you something.”

I waited in silence, looking over at Jordana as she typed on her iPad.

“But first I want you to know that I’m going to want something in return for this information in the future. And I don’t mean something as in your tongue on my clit. Although that will be part of the overall deal.”

I sighed, turned to glance out the window behind me. Another warm but overcast day, supposed to rain later this evening.

“Understood, Farina. So tell me what you want to tell me.”

“Information has been leaking my way from somebody on the inside of local law enforcement for months now,” she said, her tone more somber and reserved. “Not that this is unusual, I mean, after all, I am an investigative reporter and people tell me stuff all the time, off the record. Whistleblowers, disgruntled insiders, or just folks who like my smile. Or other parts of me.”

I had to smile at that.

“Anyway, ordinarily I wouldn’t be telling you or anybody this, least of all the cops, which is why I’m coming to you with it. The information about Bagby is the latest tidbit from this source, and it seems to suggest that the investigation into him is being conducted off-the-books and beyond legal means.”

I continued to keep my mouth shut, just listened.

“Paige Palmer is named directly, with hints that she is acting on behalf of Chief Epstein as some kind of covert fixer. There are also suggestions that Paige has been doing this work for some time, even back when she was assigned to Criminal Intelligence, and that Epstein has been spying on prominent citizens in Birmingham for years, amassing blackmail leverage on some of the most powerful people in the Magic City.”

She paused again, I was thinking at a mile a minute, turned and glanced at Jordana, indicated the door. She nodded, stood and exited, closing the door behind her.

“And you’re telling me all of this why, Farina?” I said in a low tone. “I mean it sounds like a hell of a story for you, guaranteed to make one hell of a splash.”

“Yeah, it would,” she said thoughtfully. “If it were true. And to be honest, even if it’s not.”

“You’re saying you’re skeptical?”

“As hell, Derrick. First let me tell you that this source of mine is completely anonymous to me, I have no clue if it’s a he or a she, I’ve never spoken with them directly, they only use one-time emails or texts from burn phones that they only use once. I get documents left at dead drops, I get links to temporary internet storage sites that delete ten minutes after I access them. I’ve got screen captures of a lot of stuff, but I can’t download any of it. Official police documents, stuff from the DA’s Office. You remember back when I first mentioned being on to a big story that could have a lot of repercussions for the city?”

“You mean that afternoon in my loft when you folded yourself in half and damn near fucked me to death?”

She paused.

“Yeah, I’m alone now,” I told her.

“Oh. Well yeah, that day. And the day before that my source had just sent me the first of what would become several pieces of data that suggested a compromise of the protected witness and confidential informant program.”

I thought about that, remembering that this had been right before Anita Epstein had come to see me about her problem.

“Okay, Farina, let me ask you again. Why are you telling me this, and why now in particular?”

There was a long silence down the line, and then a deep sigh.

“Would you believe it’s because I love the taste of your cock?” she said, and we both laughed.

“Well of course I would believe that,” I said. “I’ve been told that it tastes just like peaches and strawberries.”

She laughed again.

“Not quite, but it does taste sweet!”

I chuckled again, then waited.

“Because now I’m beginning to think I’ve been used, Derrick, and not in a good way, not by some whistleblower or somebody who wants to see justice done. I’m a pretty good judge of character, Derrick, but I know I can be fooled by some people, not easily, and usually not by too many people I meet in person. I do not believe Anita Epstein is a dishonest person. I know you know Paige Palmer well and could probably vouch for her character better than I can. And because of that, I’m forced to conclude that my secret source has been feeding me a line of shit in an effort to discredit the police and the DA’s Office, and maybe something even more sinister. And if that’s the case, I want to find out who they are and see to it that the truth about them gets out.”

I smiled.

“And, of course, NBC-13’s Chief Investigative Correspondent would be the one to tell that story exclusively,” I said.

A snicker.

“Well who the hell else would do it?” she said.

I nodded again, sat forward against my desk.

“Farina, I need you to send me all those screen grabs and whatever else you’ve been receiving from your secret source.”

“What are you going to do with it?” she asked, that reporter’s curiosity undeniable.

I smiled.

“Among other things, my dear, I’m going to get you your story.”

“And what about that clit thing?” she teased, and I heard keys clicking in the background.

“Baby steps,” I replied. “There’s a spanking I owe you first.” “Me over your knees?” she said.

“At first,” I said.

We laughed and she told me I should be receiving an email about now. My computer was up and it dinged a couple seconds later. I told her I had it and I’d be in touch. I ended that call and placed one to Paige Palmer immediately afterwards.

It went to voicemail and I left a quick message, then opened the email Farina had sent me and began to read the files attached.

Chapter 41

It was raining hard at five-twenty as Paige and I sat in the front seat of my jeep parked on the east side of Patriot Park in Homewood. Pizzeria GM was right next to the park and we’d gotten a to-go order and ate as we talked.

“Nothing like a messy calzone to satisfy a hungry tummy,” Paige said, wiping her mouth on a napkin, then taking a sip from the cup of tea she’d ordered with her food.”

“With enough meat on it to guarantee triple bypass surgery in the near future,” I quipped.

Paige glanced at me sideways and smirked.

“Well we can’t all be health nuts like you, Mr. Olin.”

“A nut maybe, but far from a health one. I just don’t eat meat anymore.”

“And more power to you,” Paige said, finishing her tea. “I could never do it.”

I wiped my mouth and stuffed the napkin and the rest of my trash into the paper bag it had come in, then collected Paige’s trash and did the same. I shared my hand sanitizer with her and when we were all cleaned up, Paige spent a few minutes glancing out at the rain before turning back to me and picking up our conversation.

“I never should have let Anita talk me into coming back for this gig,” she said at length. “Because I really do hate it now. Damn.”

I had sent her everything Farina Warren sent me and she pored over it while still at police headquarters with Kurt Baxter. It didn’t take her long to make some unpleasant connections, and after a little research on her own, plus verifying her Barium Meal distributions, she was fairly certain that she had homed in on her leaker, or perhaps mole was the more correct term after all.

“First, with Benita’s help, I was able to get a look at Bagby’s client list and a list of his upcoming trials. It seems that Mr. Bagby’s firm is in quite the demand these days, almost as if every criminal in a three-state radius has him on retainer. One in particular caught our eye though, and we dug a little further. Does the name Clayton Hicks mean anything to you?”

“Not a thing,” I said. “Should it?”

“Not really,” she said. “Especially if you don’t follow the news all that closely, which I know you don’t. And I think you were gone for that six month period last year when his arrest was big in the news. Clayton Hicks is the son of a very rich developer out of Meridian, Mississippi. He’s twenty-seven years old, product of old southern money and an expensive education, but is lazy as fuck and uninterested in anything even remotely resembling work. But he is daddy’s only son and daddy and mommy both have spoiled him rotten. I’ll cut to the chase because I know you bore easily. Last year, Clayton was here in Birmingham visiting some old classmates, other rich pukes from Mountain Brook. One of them was throwing a party, lot of alcohol and a lot of drugs. Yeah, ole Clayton likes his cocaine, too. Anyway, he and most everybody at the party get smashed out of their minds and all kinds of shit happens. By the way, this all took place in the family home of one of the Mountain Brook assholes while mommy and daddy were out of town.

“Anyway, as is often the case, the party got out of hand to the point where a neighbor called the cops to complain about the noise. When the cops arrive they have to bang on the door for a while before anyone answers because the music is so loud. Soon as the door opens, they can smell the weed. Probable cause, so they go inside, find a bunch of drunk, stoned kids all over the place, including in an upstairs bedroom where Clayton Hicks happens to be, along with two others, a young man and a young woman. And the young man is dead.”

Paige paused for a moment and I shifted my position to try to get comfortable again.

“Kid didn’t die from drugs,” she went on. “There was evidence of a physical altercation and eventually the ME ruled the death to be suspicious. Mountain Brook is a small department so they asked for help from the Sheriff’s Office and the DA. I suspect this had more to do with the fact that everybody involved came from money and Mountain Brook wanted some cover. Anyway, after a while the DA and Sheriff’s detectives gathered enough evidence to charge Hicks with first degree manslaughter. And Chuck Bagby was hired to defend him. In the meantime something else develops and Birmingham is brought into it because it’s within the city’s jurisdiction. A Vice-Narcotics CI provides information that suggests Mr. Hicks might have had a motive for killing the other young man that no one previously knew about.”

“Let me guess,” I said. “Hicks and the dead guy were the ones who supplied the drugs for the party?”

Paige nodded.

“And apparently this wasn’t the first time. And maybe they were dealing across state lines.”

“Oh-ho,” I said. “That would make it federal.”

“If the feds had decided to get involved,” Paige said. “According to Benita, they declined, saying that the state had a better case for manslaughter, perhaps even murder, than they did on the drugs, given that the CI might not make the most reliable of witnesses and the other guy was dead. They didn’t want to waste the resources.”

I glanced out my side window for a minute before turning back.

“So when is Hicks’ trial?”

“Next month. Actually in less than a month.”

“Let me guess, one of the CIs who was compromised was going to testify against him?”

“No,” Paige said. “One of the witnesses.”

“So this thing with Ashworth is a smokescreen, to get us looking in the wrong direction?”

“Looks like it, although he may be involved because if this helps Hicks it could also help him. They sure did a good job of spooking Beasley, and had it not been for your team, he would either be dead or definitely not in a mood to testify now.”

“I don’t know, Paige,” I said skeptically. “This seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through just to ensure a half-assed rich kid drug dealer gets off a manslaughter charge. I mean, the fee might be a lot for Bagby, but if this didn’t go right and the cops found out, his ass would be hanging pretty far out on a limb. And since witnesses were killed to prevent them from testifying, that would be a capitol offense. Would he risk death for a client like this?”

“I wondered that myself,” she said. “So I had a look into the life of Daddy Hicks. That guy is so shady I about needed ten showers when I got through half the stuff I found on him. He’s been investigated by just about every agency in the state of Mississippi, plus half the neighboring states, including Alabama. The feds have looked into him several times. FBI, SEC, IRS. No criminal charges ever filed, but a lot of civil settlements have been negotiated. He’s got a lot of money and a lot of connections. Rumor is he even talks to the White House when he wants to.”

I shook my head derisively.

“That’s not as impressive as it once might have been,” I said, but made no further comment in that regard. “So the Canary Trap worked.”

Paige nodded grimly.

“Just as you said it would. And luckily you’re a friend of Farina Warren’s or we might have missed it until later. The only place inside the department that could have known about me looking into Bagby’s clients was the Detectives Bureau, specifically the leadership. Two people. Deputy Chief Franklyn and his executive officer, Captain Monica Rickover, who, coincidentally, used to be my boss in CIU.”

The bitterness in her voice told me all I needed to know.

“I take it you cleared Chief Franklyn?”

“Yeah, and that really is too bad because he’s always been an asshole, but in this he’s clean. Not so much for Monica, though. She’s in the middle of this all the way up to her eyeballs and I now have enough to prove it, even if I don’t know why.”

“Money is always a good motive,” I said. “And you did say that the Hicks family is loaded. Have to be to afford Chuck Bagby. How close is Rickover to retirement?”

“She’s actually three years younger than me,” Paige said. “But has thirty years in. She could have already retired. And probably should have. Anyway, I’ve got a warrant coming so I can look at her financials, and maybe you’re right. Maybe it is the money. But Monica is smart, probably smart enough to know better than to put dirty money in an account that can be easily traced to her. We’ll see though.”

“Have you told Epstein yet?”

She shook her head.

“I’ve told no one except you. Not even Kurt. I wanted to talk to you first. After all, it was your information that helped me get to her.”

I nodded and we were quiet for a while. Eventually I realized there was something more that she had to say. I turned inquiringly.

“What?” I said.

She sighed heavily and met my eyes.

“I can prove she had access to all the names that got leaked, plus the information that’s been getting to Farina Warren. And it might be enough to cost her her job, but sending her to jail, and getting leverage to implicate Bagby, I don’t think I have enough. Not for a decorated cop like her. If we find a large amount of unexplained funds in a secret account we can link to her, maybe we can use that to get her to talk, but like I said, Monica is smart. Probably won’t be that easy.”

“So you need a smoking gun?” I said.

“Or a dead body,” she said ironically.

I smiled without warmth.

“I might have a spare one or two in cold storage somewhere,” I said.

Paige wasn’t sure if I was joking, but then decided that it didn’t matter. We discussed the next step for us, hatching a plan that was sure to cause discomfort for somebody. The beauty for her was that she was already retired and couldn’t be fired.

For me, I just didn’t give a fuck.

Chapter 42

Friday afternoon Chief Myron Reynolds, after consultation with District Attorney Darren Shaw, summoned Assistant Chief Anita Epstein to his top floor office at the Police Administration Building on 1st Avenue North and informed her of his decision to remove Quinton Beasley from the protective custody of *D*D*D* Countermeasures and turn that duty over to a team of deputies from the DA’s Security Squad. The assistant chief objected, respectfully but vehemently, but in the end the Chief’s decision was concrete, and the order was to be carried out with due haste.

I was informed of this development by phone at 14:30 hours, and if I must say so myself, I took the news rather well, only used a couple of expletives, and the last was zoobie![xv] Next I informed the team, and within the following hour all five field personnel, me included, were in the safehouse in McCalla, with Jordana Kauffman back at the office monitoring communications and one or two other things. No one liked this development, and not just because it meant the end of a paying job. The threat that Quinton Beasley faced, in our estimation, was still grave, and while the DA’s Security Squad no doubt had some fine people assigned to it, they weren’t us and could be susceptible to compromise. However, we all knew that the decision was not ours, and thus the responsibility for future consequences was not either. Even so, as Sheila had so eloquently put it, “This really blows!” Don’t think I could have put it better myself.

We were using three vehicles, our regular transport van, minus any decals this time, and two black Suburbans that Sheila and Bert picked up on the way over, arranged by Ollie, and, as usual, I didn’t ask him where they came from.

Frankie drove the van with our client in back, belted in and surprisingly calm. Ollie rode shotgun, with both a Benelli self-loading shotgun and a .223 caliber carbine within easy reach.

Bert was on rear guard alone in one of the Suburbans, just under a car length from the back bumper of the van, close enough to move up and cover should the need arise.

Sheila drove the other Suburban in the advance-scout position about two car lengths ahead, with me in the shotgun position ready to take on any threat that confronted us from a forward position. I also had a Benelli shotgun, but instead of a carbine, I opted for an FN P-90 5.7x28 mm submachine gun and it was strapped across my chest, muzzle pointed downward between my legs.

Our destination was Elyton Village in West Birmingham, and this was not the nicest of neighborhoods in the Magic City, making me wonder why Jefferson County had picked it. There used to be a thriving housing project community in the area but the city had closed it down some years ago and most of the units were suffering from decay and neglect and the whole neighborhood was on the mayor’s list of blight areas to be revitalized, after, of course, the more profitable neighborhoods got theirs first. There used to be a thrift store on Cotton Avenue across from Elyton Elementary School but that had shutdown back in the early 2000s, and as the neighborhood went further to pot, the then Godfather of Crime, the late an unlamented Innes Redbone, had taken over the building, renovated it, and turned it into his main power base. I had been inside it once then, for a powwow that I had hoped would resolve our differences concerning a former prostitute in his stable.[xvi] As could have been predicted, Mr. Redbone was not in a conciliatory mood and the meeting did not go well. On the positive side, I was able to walk out unmolested. Later Innes and I had another conversation at his home in Fountain Heights and he was better able to see my point of view. No doubt the large pistol I had pressed under his multiple chins had something to do with his change of perspective.

Now the former thrift store and crime lord lair was abandoned and left to rot just like the rest of the neighborhood, and for that reason we were going to do the hand off there at 17:00 hours. Naturally we arrived early, the van and Bert’s truck parking near the side street of the lot across from where what was left of the projects remained, and they looked even more desolate than the last time I passed through this area.

Sheila and I circled the neighborhood to have a look around, see if we could spot anything out of place, as if we would really know because this place really had fallen way past down in recent years, as so many once thriving communities in Birmingham had. This was beginning to turn around in some areas, slowly but surely, thanks to people like Earl Ashley Dexter and Reggie Killingworth, not to mention others, but for some the progress was not moving fast enough, and the poor were always the last to see any benefits from progress. If I thought about things like this for too long I’d have a tremendous headache, which is why I rarely did. I learned a long time ago that I could not save the world. This was right around the time that I discovered that the world really didn’t deserve saving in the first place. I just did what I could, what I was best at, and everything else either took care of itself or it didn’t. Cynical, yes, but realistic.

Sheila took Tuscaloosa Avenue across Lomb Avenue and turned right on 10th Street SW behind Princeton Hospital, pausing at the intersection on the north end. I checked my watch, glanced at Sheila, then called Bert over the secured network and told him to leave the lot and head in the opposite direction to scout that area, we still had a little time before the hand off. He acknowledged my order and left the lot less than thirty seconds later.

I checked in with Ollie and he said everything was fine in the van, the client still quiet and calm. He also added, once again, how much he was not a fan of this plan, and from his position I completely understood why. Then I added in my best Starfleet captain’s voice of authority: “Number One, you have your orders.”

The grim chuckle was just the retort I expected, as well as what he said next.

“Of course, Captain, you can’t see all the middle fingers pointed in your direction right now, but I assure you, sir, that they are plentiful.”

“I have no doubt,” I said, grinning, seeing Sheila do the same out of the corner of my left eye, and I was about to say more when Jordana Kauffman’s voice cut across us, her tone no nonsense.

“Cut the chatter, gentlemen,” she said in a flat voice. “We got incoming on the Cotton Avenue position, and they don’t look like cops. Three cars, two on Tuscaloosa moving west and one on Center Street coming from the north. Can’t tell how many occupants in any of them, but I would expect two or more in each. It’s showtime, folks.”

“Copy that, Charlie Papa,” I replied in like tone. “Okay, everybody, this is it. Stay sharp and don’t get killed.”

Everyone acknowledged my orders, even Sheila who was sitting next to me.

Chapter 43

There were a total of nine shooters in the three vehicles, most armed with pistols, but three had long guns, and unfortunately for them, were not well-schooled in their use. Everyone on my team was better than expert with the weapons they carried, as was the thirty year old detective from Kurt Baxter’s team who was playing the part of Quinton Beasley today.

The bad guys roared into the lot and closed on the van, several armed men filing out of the vehicles and opening fire immediately, and almost immediately after that, Ollie, Frankie, and the detective, all armored and carrying a long gun of their own, came out of their concealed positions nearby and began to pick them off.

Bert Cortez had not really gone that far away and he came in behind the vehicle that approached from the north on Center Street, used his Suburban for cover as he climbed out with an M4, adding his fire to that of the others and catching the shooters completely off guard and unprepared.

Sheila and I were the last to get to the party, coming up Cotton Avenue and stopping in the side parking lot of what had once been a thriving community church, now also left abandoned. By this time the shooters who remained on their feet were using their vehicles for cover and firing back wildly. Sheila and I joined the fight, moving across the street at a side angle, firing quick and controlled bursts from our SMGs, she had her own P-90 strapped across her chest now.

Bert began to close up from Center Street crossing Tuscaloosa Avenue and Ollie and the others did the same from the former housing project’s side of the parking lot. Soon we had them in a three-way crossfire, pouring unrelenting but controlled shots into their badly compromised position. The only place for them to retreat was toward the abandoned thrift store/gangster hangout, and to do so would leave them even more exposed. By the time they realized the hopelessness of their position, only three of the opposition were still on their feet, or rather their knees because they were all down as low as they could get trying to keep from getting shot while pretending they were still fighting. But that pretense soon ended with shouts of desperate surrender.

We ordered them to throw out their weapons and that was done in quick fashion. Still, we were cautious, moving in carefully. Bert, Frankie, and Sheila remained in cover positions as Ollie, Detective Ulrich, and I all moved in, weapons held tight. We ordered the survivors down on their stomachs with their hands far away from their bodies, and they eagerly complied. The detective had heavy zip-ties and he passed some to us and we quickly set about securing every wrist we found, including those of the wounded and the dead. As I was about to flip one of them over and secure his hands behind him, I recognized his face, glanced over at Ollie.

“What?” he said.

“Looks like Nicky Ashworth is going to need a new number two,” I said. “This is Nelson Johnson.”

“Well ain’t that a shame?” Ollie said as he unceremoniously secured the hands of another wounded shooter, the man moaning in agony. “Maybe he can hold a recruiting drive when he get out.”

I didn’t respond as I finished with Johnson, and in the background the sirens were closing fast. Glancing up, I looked at the drone hovering close by, tipped my imaginary hat in its direction. Via the wireless receiver in my left ear, Jordana Kauffman sounded relieved when she spoke.

“Nice to see you’re alive, Chief,” she said. “Guess that means I won’t inherit the business today after all.”

I chuckled as the first BPD cruisers arrived on the scene.

“Afraid not, Mrs. Kauffman,” I said, removing the protective earplug from my right ear. “How is Mr. Beasley?”

“Oh he’s fine,” she told me. “Sergeant Baxter and I have been keeping him company, even let him use the internet, which really made him happy.”

“Good,” I said. “You might be pulling some overtime tonight.”

“I didn’t have any plans, Derrick,” she said. “Hubby won’t be back for another couple months and there’s only so much Hulu a gal can binge on.”

I smiled, thanked her for her good work, then glanced around at the scene as more cops and now deputies arrived. The first paramedics were on scene three minutes later. By this time I was leaning against the shot to pieces van, another that was arranged by Ollie and not our actual transport, taking out my phone and making a call.

Paige Palmer answered on the first ring.

“It’s done, Paige,” I told her calmly, taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it before continuing. Even after so many years of gunfights, the aftereffects were always the same as the adrenalin levels in my body began to return to normal. I’d be shaking for about the next hour, but could still function as needed until then, as long as I concentrated.

“And there are survivors,” I told her. “Everybody on our side is okay, too, including Detective Ulrich.”

“Good to hear,” Paige said in obvious relief. “And that’s the linchpin. I’m with Chief Epstein and DDA Bender now. We got a warrant for Captain Rickover’s phone and internet. We now have proof she’s the leak.”

Although this should have been a cause for celebration, I completely understood the somber tone in my friend’s voice. We spoke for a few minutes regarding the next steps and then said goodbye. Glancing around at the scene, I groaned inwardly. Not a chance of getting out of here without talking to the cops this time. And knowing them, especially the pricks from Robbery-Homicide, I was probably going to be talking for the better part of the next week.

Ollie and the others came over to me, their long guns and SMGs, like mine, turned over to police. They looked at me and I looked at them. There wasn’t a need to say anything so we didn’t, all now leaning against the bullet riddled van watching the cops and the medics do their work.

Because TripleD had already done theirs.

Chapter 44

Monica Rickover was working late in her office that Friday evening when Paige Palmer dropped by unannounced, and she was not alone. When the captain saw the expression on the face of her longtime friend and former subordinate, mimicked on the faces of the Assistant Chief of Police and Detective Sergeant Kurt Baxter from the Criminal Intelligence Unit, Rickover knew the jig was finally up. Oddly, this came as a relief to the woman who had been living under so much pressure for the past couple of years ever since Chuck Bagby started blackmailing her.

Epstein informed her that effective immediately she was stripped of all police powers and asked for her badge and weapon. Once they were secure, Kurt Baxter stepped forward and began reading the soon-to-be ex-captain her Miranda Rights, although everyone in the room knew this was unnecessary, but protocol had to be followed, particularly in a case as serious as this. When asked if she wanted to summon legal counsel, Rickover said she did not need one.

“It really wouldn’t do any good at this point,” she said. “Considering that the three of you came together, I’d say I’m probably in too much trouble for anybody to get me out of it. And frankly, I’m kind of tired of lawyers.”

So they all sat and talked for a long time, Kurt’s phone recording both audio and video, including a second reading of her rights and her declining of legal representation. With the formalities out of the way, Monica Rickover exhaled, probably for the first time in more than two years, and then she told them everything she knew. Paige was more interested in the why (she had betrayed everything she had stood for for thirty years) than the what (the internal secrets she had given away besides the names of confidential informants and protected witnesses) but she understood that at the moment the latter was the more important consideration.

Later they would learn of a few cases from years ago where Rickover had helped the evidence along to get convictions against people she knew were guilty, and unfortunately, Chuck Bagby found out about after the fact. Then there was a hit and run car accident in Atlanta two years ago, a teenager left paralyzed. Bagby had represented the driver, another wealthy kid of privilege whose parents bought him out of trouble with barely a suspension of his driver’s license and a cushy addiction treatment program. The connection to Rickover was her then twenty-two year old daughter, a passenger in the car, one of two that Bagby managed to keep clear of involvement, with the right monetary incentive from the family of the driver. Regarding both passengers in the car, Bagby received leverage over loved ones. In the case of unknown passenger number two, a lifetime guarantee of legal work for a major South Carolina firm with scores of corporate clients all over the world; including a hefty annual retainer. In the case of Cyndi Rickover, the complete cooperation of her Birmingham Police captain mother whenever and whatever he needed for as long as she was on the job. No money ever changed hands, although Bagby had offered it on more than one occasion. Bagby was very smart and very careful when dealing with her, but Rickover did have proof of their illicit relationship, and was only too glad to share.

BENITA BENDER PRESENTED AN AFFIDAVIT to a friendly judge at her home early Saturday morning, laying out the reasons she wanted to have a shadow counsel appointed to Nicholas Ashworth, ostensibly to protect his rights and interests because in the opinion of the DA’s Office, Charles Bagby was not doing so. The judge carefully considered the details in the document, then spent some time considering the young prosecutor in her living room. Finally she sighed and issued the written order from her home computer, telling Bender that if this came back to bite her later on, hers wouldn’t be the only ass hanging out. Benita assured the judge that she was well aware of this.

A senior criminal litigator from the Milner Law Firm agreed to be shadow counsel for Ashworth and accompanied Benita to the county lockup for a hastily arranged meeting with Nicky Ashworth at ten Saturday morning. He said he was not going to talk without his lawyer present, and then he wouldn’t talk anyway. Benita informed him that he did not have to talk, just listen, and also informed him that the man seated to her left was now his lawyer because very soon Chuck Bagby would need legal representation of his own. For the first time since she had met him in person, Benita believed she saw worry in the young thug’s eyes.

She laid it all out for him, including the fact that his second in command had been shot to death on Friday afternoon while trying to kill the chief witness against him, a witness who was still alive and healthy and under the best protection in the city. She then explained what they knew about Chuck Bagby and his connection to the leaking of confidential police information, information that had led to the deaths of several informants and witnesses. Next came the explanation of the real reason why Bagby had been willing to use his influence to help Ashworth on the sly, and it had nothing to do with the drug dealer’s money. Benita might have led him to believe that she had more evidence to tie him to the leak case than she really did; hinting that witness tampering and additional murder charges might be forthcoming. The lawyer from the Milner firm asked for a private conference with his new client and about twenty minutes later he asked Benita to step back in. An hour after that they had hammered out a deal for a plea bargain, one that might just let Ashworth out of jail before his sixtieth birthday, if he behaved while in state prison, the death penalty taken off the table in exchange for complete cooperation.

Chuck Bagby was arrested at his Hoover home early Sunday morning by detectives from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in conjunction with Hoover PD officers. Benita had already been in contact with the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Birmingham Field Office as well as the head of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Monday afternoon, FBI agents from Birmingham as well as the resident office in Meridian, Mississippi paid Donald Marvin Hicks a visit at his palatial home just outside the city. In the coming days, more investigators would be dropping by to visit the Hicks home, most notably from the SEC and IRS, as well as a few state and local agencies.

By way of thanks for her assistance in wrapping up the department’s leak case, choosing to put doing the right thing ahead of breaking a story, both Benita Bender and Anita Epstein agreed to sit down for a joint exclusive interview with Channel 13’s Farina Warren to discuss those parts of the case that were now resolved and could be made public. I declined to participate and requested in the most strenuous terms that my name be kept as far out of the conversation as possible. Farina agreed, but made it plain that this would come at a price. “Emphasis on cum!” she had chuckled.

I saw the interview and thought it went well, didn’t really learn anything I didn’t already know, that is until the very end when Farina asked Benita about rumors she had been hearing about the DDA’s possible departure from the prosecutor’s office. Benita simply smiled told the reporter that she should know better than to listen to rumors.

A month later Benita did leave the DA’s Office for a junior partnership at the Milner Law Firm and took over the post of assistant head criminal litigator. Not too bad for someone who wasn’t even thirty-three yet, and her annual salary would quadruple by next year, not to mention partnership bonuses. They might not realize it for a while, but the DA’s Office had just suffered a major blow.

Quinton Beasley didn’t have to testify now that Nicky Ashworth had taken a deal, so he went back to his old life and Leigh told me that within a week or so he seemed to be his old self again, back at work driving all the ladies to distraction, occasionally a forty-six year old grandmother, too.

New jobs came in to TripleD and we were suddenly a lot busier. We still had to finish interviews with Birmingham detectives and in order to make sure we complied, the head of Robbery-Homicide had confiscated our personal security licenses until he was satisfied with our stories. This didn’t actually hamper us from working because only the state has the power to suspend security licenses. Besides, we all had digital copies of our licenses on our phones anyway, but it made the captain feel better.

One surprisingly mild day at the end of the month, a junior detective showed up at the office, and as luck had it, we were all there just finishing with lunch and a thorough BS session. The detective informed us that she was returning our licenses. She stood in the middle of the bullpen and read off the names and each of us raised our hands as she did so. She only had one left and turned to Sheila two desks away.

“Well since you’re the only gal, I guess that makes you Ms. Betancourt, then.”

Sheila did not comment, simply took her license from the detective and put it back in her wallet. I thanked the detective, told her to give my regards to Captain Armando, and walked her out. Then it was back to the BS session…

SUMMER SCHOOL HAD ENDED AND REGULAR school was already back in session. Vice Principal Otis was very busy for the first month as summer gave way to fall, and her husband’s work had slowed considerably. However, at the end of September, the last weekend in fact, Niqe found herself with a bit of free time on her hands, and I invited her over for a meal. She chuckled wickedly when I made the invitation.

“So are you going to feed me or eat me?” she said throatily.

“Both,” I replied, and we both laughed.

I made pasta and fruit salad, both served cold. The pasta had been intended to be served while it was still hot, but Mrs. Otis was clearly in the mood to play when she arrived so I shut everything off and we retired to the bedroom where I unhurriedly stripped the clothing from her buxom body while rebuffing her attempts to undress me. All her previous hesitations about being naked in front of me were now gone and when I removed the last item, her blue silk undies, Niqe did a quick spin around like Lynda Carter from the 70s and then stood with hands on her hips, staring at me defiantly.

I smiled, feeling my blood surge, reached out and pulled her to me. We kissed for quite some time and her hands were moving all over my still clothed body. She tried once again to undress me but I pushed her hands away, stepped back, grinned at her, then pushed her down on the bed on her back.

My grin became even more wicked at that point, and Niqe smiled in anticipation of what was about to come.

Of course, that was her in five minutes. Then again in ten. After that I lost count, kept taking her with my mouth until finally she could endure no more, pushed my face from between her legs and closed her thighs as she convulsed on the bed before me, her hands covering her vulva.

A look of utter self-satisfaction on my face, I stood and stared down at her, undoing the buttons on my shirt. Niqe’s light skin was flushing and she was still shivering as she watched me, and I liked that, letting her know with my eyes just what I planned on doing to her next.

“You’re so bad,” she finally managed to say, giggling.

“Niqe, my dear,” I said with a raised brow, moving toward the bed, my left knee insinuating itself between her feet. “You have absolutely no idea.”

Before she could reply, I reached down and grabbed both her feet, flipping her onto her stomach and straddling the backs of her thighs. Niqe inhaled sharply, then laughed.

“God, you’re fast,” she teased. “At least with some things. When it comes to licking my…”

She never got to finish that statement because the next thing she knew I had scooted back, spread her plump cheeks, and inserted my tongue…

The shocked squeal that erupted from her lips was music to my ears, and sent a surge straight to my already engorged cock. One day I intend to give some serious thought to how this oral obsession of mine began, and how I got so good at it. I suppose the second is easiest to answer, practice! Lots and lots of practice. I think I was twenty-seven the first time it occurred to me that I might actually enjoy going down on a woman. Turned out I was right, and over the years, with different women, I’ve learned a lot, developed some mad skills, which explained why Vice Principal Otis was now facedown in the middle of my bed howling like a banshee as my tongue probed her tight little asshole….

TWO MINUTES AFTER I ENTERED HER the first time she came, biting her lip, her short nails (thankfully) digging into my skin. I watched as her skin flushed, her eyes rolled back in her head, and little whimpers of pleasure escaped her thick lips, but I did not stop moving inside her for one second, pushed deeper and deeper, sliding my hands under her ass and lifting her towards me, feeling her thighs locking tighter around me as I slowly gyrated inside of her. After three more orgasms (hers) I withdrew from her body and she was stunned. Her eyes snapped open in confusion as she watched me kneeling between her legs smiling down at her, rolling the condom off.

“What are you doing?” she said breathlessly as I bounded off the bed.

“Kind of hungry,” I told her with a grin, then turned toward the bathroom. “You were a mouthwatering appetizer, but I think we both need to replenish.

I shut the door before she could say anything else, laughing to myself. I really was a horrible tease.

WE ATE IN BED AND TALKED, LAUGHED, played around. Although I am a fairly solitary person, enjoy my time alone—which explains why I’ve never been married—, I do enjoy the intimacy that comes with getting naked with a woman, and although I wouldn’t necessarily want this to get out, I like it better than the sex. Don’t get me wrong, though, I really enjoy the sex!

Apparently, so does Mrs. Otis.

“Oh Jesus, Derrick! Oh fuck! I don’t… Oh fuck!”

“You said that already,” I teased and she glared at me reproachfully.

I smiled, blew her a kiss, then continued to insert my Astroglide covered cock into that tight little spot between her round, brown buttocks that I’d been licking earlier. Niqe groaned, closed her eyes, her mouth dropping open as she began to pant.

“Slow and easy breaths,” I said in a soothing, steady voice. “In slowly, hold it for two counts, then release slowly.”

She opened her eyes.

“Easy for you to say,” she said, then grinned despite herself. That quickly went away as I slid in further. “Oh god!”

She was lying on her back and I was kneeling above her, her right leg hooked around my left thigh, her left leg raised straight up and braced against my bare chest. I stroked her thigh with my right hand while guiding my erection into her with my left.

“There,” I said. “That’s the head. Ready for the rest?”

For a moment she looked incredulous, then smirked.

“Yeah, right. Damn, Derrick, I can’t believe I let you talk me into this. Eldon used to try all the time when we first started dating, talkin’ about what a big bouncy booty I had and how much he’d love to play inside it for a while. Then occasionally after we got married he would drop hints. Ahhhh! Damn! Anyway, but I always said no. Finally he got the message.”

I leaned in a little, her leg folding between us. She stared up at me, moaning deeply, eyes closing for a moment. I didn’t move, stayed perfectly still as her body adjusted to this new sensation. When she opened her eyes again she was actually smiling.

“But you, after just a few weeks, have me practically folded in half and your cock all the way up my ass!”

I leaned down a little further, eyes unblinking.

“And I’m gonna make you cum out of your ass, too!” I told her, starting to move my hips. “But first…”

Her eyes widened as I lifted her other leg up to my chest and folded her completely in half, looking down at her from the pushup position.

Niqe gasped, cried out, and then I felt her squirt all over me. Grinning with supreme satisfaction, I steadied myself and then started moving inside her.

TWO DAYS LATER TRIPLED HAD TO FLY to Louisiana for a two-week job filled with far more excitement than was preferred for a man of my advancing years, but on the plus side, we all made it out alive. And, almost as importantly, so did our clients.

TripleD = 462.

Bad guys = 0.

THE END

Notes:

[a] From the Off Book Derrick Olin set.

[b] From the Off Book Derrick Olin set.

[c] Written under the pseudonym Leo Croix.

[d] Written under the pseudonym Leo Croix.

[e] Written under the pseudonym Leo Croix.

[vi] See Mercenary by Stellen Qxz.

[vii] See Dangerous Liaison by Stellen Qxz.

[viii] Atmore, Alabama is the location of Holman Prison, which houses the majority of death row inmates in the state.

[ix] See Rogue by Stellen Qxz.

[x] See Deadline by Stellen Qxz.

[xi] Richard Arrington Jr. (because I get tired of writing it out!).

[xii] Public Information Officer.

[xiii] Fraternal Order of Police.

[xiv] Stan Lee’s birth name.

[xv] Hebrew for fuck it.

[xvi] See Extraction by Stellen Qxz.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44