Chapter 13

URIAH

One week later…

I leaned up against the door, my head rested in my palm as I stared out the window. It was a quiet night in the West Bay. I sat there with my thoughts but the sound of the man next to me distracted me from any focus I had.

I rolled my head to the side and looked at Sanders. He was working on a slice of pizza. The cheese dripped down as he held it up. He slowly lowered the long piece of cheese into his mouth just as he took the first bite.

“I don’t know how you can eat at a time like this,” I said.

“This is the perfect time to be eating,” he said with his mouth full. “We need as much energy as we can get. Here. Why don’t you have a slice?”

He reached in the back for the box of pizza but I stopped him.

“No,” I said. “I’ve got too much energy. The last thing I need is a slice of pizza.”

“You nervous?”

“No.”

“You angry?”

“No. I’m just trying to stay focused.”

“I think you should be celebrating. I mean, you did it. You actually did it. One of those assholes spilled the beans on where Rivera was meeting up with his contact and now we’re here.”

“Now isn’t the time to celebrate. That was the easy part. Just because we know Rivera is coming and where he should be, I doubt it’ll be that easy to take him in.”

“We’ve got him surrounded. Cops are monitoring his every move. Damn shame we can’t take him down tonight.”

“We take him down tonight, there won’t be much evidence. We monitor and see what he’s up to. Gather as much dirt on him as we can then when we’ve got enough, we bust him. Captain’s orders.”

“It looks like you’ve got this all figured out, Kennedy. I’m really proud of you.”

He took another bite of his pizza and swallowed it down quickly. He was so satisfied with his food that it almost made me want to laugh. I guess spending time around a pregnant Omega got me used to seeing people eating more than I was used to.

Bryce was only a week pregnant and he was already showing obvious signs of pregnancy. I was with him every night, keeping him company until tonight finally came.

There was something bothering him. That much was obvious. But I never pushed him for what it was. Now here I was, about to scout out the man I was looking for and my thoughts were on the Omega waiting for me back home.

“Hey. You still there?”

Sanders snapped his fingers at me.

“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m focused.”

“You know, this past week, you’ve seemed a little more distracted than usual. Something wrong?”

“…No… Nothing’s wrong. I’m just ready to finally get some dirt on this guy and stop him before he gets started.”

“Don’t worry. There’s a reason Rivera never came to Snow Falls. SFPD is ready.”

Sanders’s reassurance was exactly what I needed. I turned back down the empty road we were parked along and stared out into the distance. I saw some headlights appear.

“There they are,” I said. “Right on schedule.”

“Who is it?”

“Can’t see… Looks like a group on bikes. One of the biker gangs, I’m guessing.”

The bikes came into view. They turned into the storage warehouse off to the side and disappeared.

“Wait here,” I said. “If anything is up—”

“Yeah, yeah. I got you right here. We got your back.”

Sanders shook his walkie-talkie at me then set it down. Most men would’ve been uncomfortable about Sanders’s nonchalant attitude but I wouldn’t want to have anybody else watching my back.

I stepped out of the car and hustled my way through the back alleys. I made my way through the back until I could hear the conversation in the distance. I peeked around the corner and saw the bikes parked there. They were too far away from me to figure out what they were saying.

A few moments later, another car pulled up into the small back parking lot.

Is that…

I narrowed my eyes but it was so dark in the back alley that I couldn’t get a good view. All I could see was a figure stepping out of the black, unmarked car. A few more exited as well. I didn’t hear any further conversation before all of them disappeared into the warehouse.

“Sanders,” I whispered over my walkie-talkie. “I’m going in now.”

“Copy.”

I could hear him snacking on another slice of pizza. Now wasn’t the time to scold him though. I had to get this done.

I slowly made my way down the alleyway then hugged the walls of the warehouse I knew they were in.

There has to be a way inside.

I searched around and saw an open window at the top of the warehouse. I was as quiet as I could be as I made my way up the fire escape. I managed to just get into the window and sneak in through it.

The warehouse was spacious but thankfully, it was mostly empty. Everything inside was covered with tarps, so I couldn’t see what was underneath. On the ceiling, a single light-bulb illuminated the men underneath it.

Rivera.

There was no mistaking it. He looked just like the pictures I’d seen of him. Black hair slicked back over his head. A thin mustache that looked like he spent too much time grooming. Eyes as intense as anybody’s I’d ever seen. Even from a distance, he was every bit as intimidating as I expected him to be.

He wore an expensive-looking, black suit that was perfectly-tailored over his wide frame.

The big man was flanked by two men in suits who looked like his bodyguards.

Standing across from him were the bikers I’d seen earlier. Leather vests. Blue jeans and riding boots. They looked like the kind of thugs who caused trouble on a regular basis in the West Bay. The kind of criminals that Snow Falls PD got tired of having to deal with.

Every man down there was up to something. And I had them here, all under one roof.

I listened as closely as I could to make out the conversation.

“…Distribution will be up and running two weeks from now,” Rivera said, his voice deep.

“Two weeks?” the biker in front of him said. “You already have everything you need. Why so long?”

“It’s not a simple matter of having everything we need. Distribution takes a long time to map out. Territory in this part of Snow Falls is divided among dozens of groups. I’m not interested in starting a war in the West Bay.”

“If that was the case, you wouldn’t bother coming here. The sooner you get started, the sooner you can get to work stomping everybody else out.”

“Patience. You’ll get your money soon enough.”

I had everything recorded on my phone. I stayed as quiet as I could, hoping that I was picking everything up. If I didn’t have it on record, at least I could remember it for myself.

“And just how much money are we talking about here?” the biker said. “We won’t work for free, you know?”

“You’ll get 25-percent of every direct sale.”

“What? That’s it?”

The man appeared furious with Rivera.

“You can’t expect me to do that much work for you and only get that much—”

“If you’re not interested in 25, then you should be happy taking zero,” Rivera said. “I can assure you that I won’t have any trouble finding someone who’s willing. Besides, once we have a monopoly on distribution, you’ll understand that 25 is more than you ever imagined.”

I went over the details in my head and put everything to memory. I had most of the deal down. With the evidence I’d gathered, it was more than enough to charge Rivera and his associates.

“Do we have a deal?”

“…We have a deal.”

The two men shook hands.

Got ‘em.

I couldn’t believe that I’d actually done it. Rivera making a deal on record and I had it all on video. Now all I had to do was get this back to the station.

“It’s too hot here,” Rivera said. “I’ll contact you with another meeting when distribution is ready. All you have to do is—”

“Shit.”

One of his bodyguards interrupted him. He looked right up at me in the distance and pointed.

“Someone’s here,” the bodyguard said.

“Everybody out!” Rivera shouted. “Tear this place down! Now!”

“Dammit!”

I muttered to myself just as Rivera’s men pulled out their weapons. I managed to climb out back through the window just as they started firing. Bullets ricocheted off steel and rang in my ears.

“Sanders!” I said into my walkie-talkie. “They’re gunning for me!”

“I got you!”

The screech of a car in the distance filled my ears. I raced down the fire escape to try and get to the bottom floor. There was no telling what was going on inside but I got my answer when I heard the engines revving in the parking lot.

I got down just in time to see Rivera’s car peeling away down the alley. The bikers had all gotten on their bikes and started their engines. They all took off one by one. But the last biker I saw didn’t move. He turned around and looked right at me.

Even in the darkness of the alley, I could still make out his face. Green eyes that seemed to shine in the darkness.

His face…

He narrowed his eyes at me before turning around and racing down the alley. As soon as he was gone, I heard it. A loud explosion from inside of the warehouse. It was so loud that it rumbled the ground underneath me.

“What the hell?”

I looked up and saw the smoke billowing through the shattered windows of the warehouse above me.

I ran out the alley just in time to see all of the police cars gathered around the front of the warehouse. Sanders had pulled up right on the curb. He stumbled out of his car and walked up to me.

“Are you all right, kid?”

“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m fine. I think they just—”

“Just blew up all of the evidence. Looks like Rivera had everything covered. Destroyed his facility before he even put it to use.”

“We can’t use it as evidence against him.”

“Smart guy. But you heard his conversation though, right?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“Good. Then you’ll be able to identify the punks he was doing business with. You recorded it, too, didn’t you?”

Sanders raised his eyebrows at me, waiting for my response.

“I…”

I closed my eyes and then it hit me.

His face… Bryce…

“Kennedy? You got the evidence… right?”

I shook my head at Sanders.

“No,” I said.

“No? Why didn’t you record the conversation?”

“I… I forgot.”

“You forgot? Damn… I knew you should’ve had that slice of pizza. I don’t know where your head is, kid. But without any evidence and just your word, that ain’t much to convict a man like Rivera.”

I sighed a deep breath. I put my hands on my hips in frustration.

“Don’t worry,” Sanders said as he put a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll get another crack at him.”

“I… I think I need to get out of here,” I said. “I need to take a break—”

“Officer Kennedy.”

I looked up and saw Captain Lee walking toward me. I couldn’t remember a time I’d seen her out of the station.

“Head back to the station,” she said. “We need to talk.”

She spun around on her heel before I even had a chance to say anything. There was nothing for me to say though.

All of the things running around in my head would have to wait.