Me: Good job. I’ll alert the team.
Marcus: I think we got this contained enough we can keep the club open. I’ll have to go to the station, of course.
Me: Yeah, buddy. We got you.
Less than ten minutes later,we were letting police and EMTs in the back door. I didn’t recognize one of the white officers. “You must be new,” I commented.
He immediately puffed out his chest and started to tell me about his experience. “I used to be an MP in the Air Force.”
I nodded. I’d have been less worried if he’d said he’d been in the Marines. I had a guy I was interviewing next week who had just left the Corps. I met him briefly and he impressed the hell out of me. This guy...didn’t. When he was ready to walk the suspect to his car, Marcus took one arm and I grabbed the other. “Let’s go. Keep it nice and quiet. We’re going out the back,” I muttered in the guy’s ear. He was small, young, and completely thuggish.
“It’s self-defense,” he argued.
“How so?” I asked. “He have a knife?”
The guy shook his head.
“A gun?”
The guy’s eyes flashed. “No, but he touched my girl.”
I smacked the back of his head. “You dumbass motherfucker. Do you even know what self-defense is?”
He started to open his mouth, but the new officer came over and held out his hand. “I got him.”
I licked my lips and tightened my grip. “In a situation like this, it’s best to have two people. This guy’s looking at assault with a deadly weapon, possibly attempted murder. You know…intent.”
“I wanted to kill that little prick!” The suspect announced.
“You might want to Mirandize him,” Marcus suggested.
“I got it, guys. Nice work and all.” The newbie completely ignored us and grabbed the guy from me.
I shook my head and struggled to hold my tongue. We’d be having words later. Now wasn’t the time. The minute the officer opened the door and shoved the suspect through it, the kid head butted him in the nose and raced away. While the officer bent over catching the blood from his nose. I shoved past him to try to capture the guy.
Behind me I heard Marcus grumbling while he joined the pursuit. “Those are my fucking cuffs.”
The suspect had tried to race to the back door, knowing the front of the club was too crowded. As he neared, it opened and a police officer entered. The suspect veered into the kitchen. I knew he could get out the kitchen exit if we weren’t careful. Instead, it was so much worse than that. The kitchen was working on the midnight buffet they laid out every night.
The guy bumped into the huge commercial fryer, sloshing hot oil, which was bad enough, since it caused the floor to be suddenly slick. Then I realized I could smell gas almost instantly. The fryer had bumped the connection and somehow it was now leaking. I stopped and turned to Marcus, sliding slightly.
“Gas leak. Evacuate the club. We gotta call the gas company. Turn it off outside right away,” I shouted to Marcus, while holding down the walkie so Tommy and Raven heard too.
Almost immediately, people were rushing out the doors. The suspect had slipped on the floor and knocked himself unconscious when he landed. I shook my head.
“What’s going on here?” Officer James asked. We’d worked together regularly thanks to the rowdy crowd the club attracted. He’d always been fair, honest, and easy to deal with.
I pointed at the new kid. “Newbie know-it-all thought he could manage the suspect by himself. Now we gotta shut down the club. Thanks a lot.”
And despite all the chaos, I was pulling into my driveway at least two hours earlier than normal. I thought nothing of it until I spotted a strange vehicle parked outside the place. “She wouldn’t,” I grumbled.
Only as soon as I opened the door, I could see clear through to the kitchen where my soon to be ex-wife was laying on the same table I eat at while some asshole was balls deep in her. Downstairs, I could hear Keyon crying.
“What the fuck is going on here?” I thundered.
The brother took one look at me and yanked his pants up before rushing past me out the door. Camilla looked pleased for a split second, thinking I was jealous.
“You broke the agreement,” I reminded her in a low voice as I made my way to the stairs.