“Available units, respond to D and D at the Gravely Park pavilion,” dispatch squawked over the radio.

 

Lily Donovan looked to her partner and training officer from the passenger seat of the police cruiser. “Should we take that?”

 

Hunter nodded. “Sure. We’re close. Nothing like a good ‘Drunk and Disorderly’ call to pass the time. These eleven to seven shifts suck. Anything to break the routine, huh?”

 

Lily grinned and pulled the mic from the holder on the dash. “Unit 3601 responding to D and D at Gravely Park.”

 

“Unit 3601, acknowledged. Responding to D and D at Gravely Park,” dispatch answered back.

 

Hunter put his foot down and turned on the lights, but kept the siren off. It was almost midnight, and despite it being a Saturday night, most residents would be sleeping. She may be a rookie, but Lily knew there was no point in waking everyone up for something as minor as a D and D call.

 

Lily watched as Hunter sped through the light traffic with skill and care, giving him quiet warnings of approaching cars. She had only been on the job for two weeks, and Sergeant Hunter Cullen, a twenty-year veteran of the Amberton City Police Department, was showing her the ropes.

 

Amberton, South Carolina, wasn’t a large city, but its sixty thousand residents made it large enough to have all the problems big cities did, but not so large that the police were overwhelmed. It was Lily’s home, and her family had been helping protect it as police officers for three generations.

 

“Unit 3601, see Joe Grimes. Medical is in transit,” the dispatcher said.

 

Lily frowned and looked at the radio in confusion. She picked up the mic again. “Dispatch, Unit 3601. Are there injuries?”

 

“Unit 3601. One injury. D and D was ejected from a concert by security. Injuries described as minor.”

 

“Unit 3601, acknowledged.” Lily returned the mic to the clip then grinned at Hunter. “Sounds like someone got their ass whipped.”

 

Hunter nodded, but his eyes were still focused on the road. Three minutes later, they were pulling into Gravely Park and made their way toward the lights and thudding country music coming from the pavilion.

 

As the car swung into the pavilion parking lot, the cruiser’s headlamps illuminated a group of men clustered around another man sitting on the ground. As they drew nearer Lily could tell the man on the ground was bleeding. Even at a distance, she could see several cuts on his face.

 

Hunter pulled the cruiser to a stop, and he and Lily stepped out of the car. Since she was still a rookie, Lily said nothing, even though she was the closer of the two officers.

 

“What seems to be the problem here?” Hunter asked as he stepped around the front of the cruiser, its red and blue strobe lights reflecting off the trees and pavilion.

 

“I wanna file assault charges again’ this asshole!” the man on the ground snarled, his voice slurred, and the edges of his words rounded off.

 

“You Joe Grimes?” Lily asked him.

 

“Hammer,” Hunter said, recognizing the tall, broad-shouldered man standing over the drunk.

 

The man wearing a green nylon jacket with Security written in bold yellow letters on the back took a couple of steps away from the crowd and extended his hand to Hunter.

 

“What’s the story?” Hunter asked as he took Hammer’s hand.

 

“He’s drunk and belligerent. We asked him to leave, and he got nasty. When we tried to escort him out, he decided he wanted to rumble.” Hammer reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a knife in a plastic sandwich bag. “This is his.”

 

Hunter took the bag and looked at the man on the ground. “This yours?”

 

“Not mine! Never saw it before! He’s lyin’!”

 

Hunter looked back at Hammer with questioning eyes. “He pulled it on me. That’s how he ended up with the bloody face,” Hammer explained.

 

“You touch it?” Hunter asked.

 

“No.”

 

“He’s lyin’! I never seen that before in my life!” the D and D protested again.

 

Hunter ignored him and continued his line of questioning with Hammer. “Any witnesses?”

 

Hammer motioned to another man wearing a security jacket, who came over to them. “This is David Brennan, part of my team.” Hammer jerked his head toward the officers. “Tell them what happened.”

 

Lily looked David over. David was tall, like Hammer, but where Hammer filled out his jacket with deliciously broad shoulders and a trim waist, David was just big and going soft with age.

 

Men hadn’t really registered on her radar of late—she’d always chosen a career over her love life—but this security guard was one hell of an Adonis. Even if the half-light, Lily could see Hammer’s chiseled, movie star jawline, smoldering dark eyes, and very kissable lips. With the cruiser’s lights flashing off of him, he looked like he could be in a Chippendale lineup… something she wouldn’t mind seeing.

 

She had to inwardly berate herself for letting her mind wander into fantasy Land while on the job.

 

“This asshole was being loud and disruptive. I asked him to quiet down, and he told me to go fuck myself. I called Hammer over, and we asked him to leave, then when he wouldn’t cooperate, we stopped asking. We were muscling him out when he jerked away and pulled the knife.” David grinned. “Not the smartest thing he ever did. Hammer took the knife away from him and body-slammed his ass.” David looked back at the man still sitting on the ground. “Stupid fuck.”

 

Hunter looked at the drunken perp. “Let me see your ID.”

 

“Fuck you! I’m not showing you shit!”

 

Hunter reached into his back pocket, pulled out his leather gloves, and began to put them on. Lily took the hint and followed suit.

 

“Get up,” Hunter ordered as he and Lily reached down and began to haul the man up by his arms.

 

The man seemed to comply as he allowed them to lift him up, but as soon as he was on his feet, he gave Lily a hard shove and jerked his arm free from Hunter’s grip at the same time. With Hammer, Hunter, and the cruiser blocking three of the drunk’s four escape routes, the man turned toward Lily. She was still a little stunned from his push, but she tried to block him to prevent him from escaping. The man put his shoulder down and slammed into her, knocking her to the ground as he rushed past.

 

But the man didn’t have a chance. Hammer sprang into action, slamming him into the side of the cruiser. He bent him over the trunk with one hand twisting the drunk’s left arm back at a painful looking angle, while Hammer’s other hand held the guy’s head flat against the metal.

 

Hunter was there in an instant, with Lily scrambling to her feet and joining them a moment later.

 

The drunk cried out in pain. “You fuck! I’m gonna kick—” His threat turned into another cry of pain as Hammer put more pressure on his arm.

 

The security guard muscled his wrists together so Hunter could slap some cuffs on him.

 

“You have anything sharp in your pockets?” Hunter asked.

 

“Ow! Ow! Ow!” the man cried, struggling against the handcuffs. “Fuck you! I’m suin’ for police brutality!”

 

“I’ll ask again, is there anything sharp in your pockets?”

 

“Fuck off!”

 

“Check him,” Hunter ordered. Lily quickly patted him down.

 

“He’s clean.”

 

Lily and Hunter hauled the man despite his struggles and stuffed him in the back of the cruiser. As soon as they shut the door again, the man leaned over and began kicking it from the inside.

 

“Thanks,” Hunter told Hammer with a grin. “I didn’t feel like chasing that turkey down.”

 

“You’re welcome.” Hammer turned his attention to Lily. “You okay?”

 

“I’m fine,” she growled. She was mortified about getting knocked down during her first on the job altercation, and in front of civilians too.

 

Hammer grinned, picking up on her embarrassment. “Don’t worry about it. It happens.”

 

“You seem to know how to handle yourself,” she threw back.

 

“Been doing Jujitsu for more than twenty years. Between that and the army…” He shrugged and gave her a sideways smile.

 

“Yeah, well, thanks,” Lily said.

 

Hammer snickered at the tightness of her voice. She was going to break her teeth with her jaws clenched so tight. “Don’t let it get to you. You wouldn’t believe the number of times I’ve been knocked on my ass. Especially when I’ve been caught off guard.” He made an obvious point of looking at her buttocks. “Of course, my ass isn’t nearly as nice looking as yours.”

 

Lily flushed in embarrassment. Now he was making fun of her, and in front of Hunter to boot. “Yes, well, thank you, but I’m fine.”

 

His grin widened. “Yes, you are. Like I said, don’t worry about it. It happens to everyone.”

 

She forced her eyes up, refusing to let him get the better of her. “Thank you again, Mr. Grimes, for your assistance.

 

He gave her a wink. “Always willing to help an officer any way I can.”

 

###

 

“You know that guy?” Lily asked Hunter as they processed the perp back at the station.

 

“Who?”

 

“That Grimes guy.”

 

“Know of him, yeah. He’s the president of the Immortal Souls.”

 

“Should that mean anything to me?”

 

“They’re a motorcycle club here in town,” Hunter explained as he filled out the paperwork on George Matthew Foster. They were charging him with public intoxication, aggravated assault, assault on a police officer, and attempt to evade. Hammer had declined to press any charges so they couldn’t nail Thomas for the knife.

 

“They do a lot of security gigs in the area,” Hunter continued as he typed up his report.

 

“Looks like they’re good at their jobs. Hammer, and that other guy, they were both armed.”

 

“I know.”

 

“But he didn’t pull his gun on the guy with the knife?”

 

“Apparently not. I’m sure the guy would have been screaming bloody murder if he had.”

 

Lily finished typing up her report and attached it to the case file. They still had two hours left of their shift, so as soon as Hunter was done, they would return to patrolling the streets.

 

“Why do you suppose Hammer didn’t want to press charges?” she asked ten minutes later, picking up the thread of their earlier conversation as they stepped out of the station and walked to their cruiser.

 

He shrugged. “Don’t know. So far as I know, they never do. Probably don’t want to get the police involved any more than they have to.”

 

She glanced at the older man as they settled into the car. “Why do I think there is more to this than you’re saying?”

 

Hunter smiled. “There are rumors.”

 

“Rumors?”

 

“The Immortal Souls owns and operates Soul Security. You saw that today. But there are rumors they do more.”

 

“More? Like what?”

 

“They handle… problems.”

 

She grimaced. “Look, just be straight with me, okay? What aren’t you telling me?”

 

Hunter cocked another smile. “There are rumors they handle problems the police can’t.”

 

Lily felt a chill. She already knew where he was going with this, but pressed him anyway. “What kind of problems?”

 

“You understand there is no evidence whatsoever that links them to anything I’m about to say, right?” He waited until she nodded. “Rumor has it, if you need a problem taken care of, the Immortal Souls might be able to help. A few years ago, a girl was raped. The guy, Randy Fliken, was guilty as hell. He bragged about it to his friends, but then when it went to trial, all his friends changed their story.”

 

Lily bowed her head for a moment, recalling the story. “I remember... It made headlines when he was found not guilty.”

 

He nodded and then shook his head, with clear disapproval. “His parents are rich and they spread the money around.”

 

“They bribed the judge and jury?” she asked, a little shocked.

 

“I wouldn’t say that, but they hired the best lawyers and all these expert witnesses, not to mention the fact that the prosecution’s case was built on the testimony of his friends.”

 

“What about the DNA evidence?”

 

Hunter’s face twisted in disgust. “Somehow it got… lost. Then there was the witness who placed him at a party across town at the time of the rape. Her story was so full of holes it was like Swiss cheese, but it was enough. The four guys who changed their testimony pulled a year for perjury but…” he let his voice trail off.

 

“So what happened?”

 

“Four months after he was acquitted, Randy turned up dead. Some kids found his body in a field. It was an execution. One shot to the head.”

 

Lily’s eyes widened. “And the Immortal Souls did it?”

 

“I don’t know that. There is no proof linking them to the crime.”

 

“But you think they did it?”

 

His lips thinned. “I think that asshole got what he deserved.”

 

Lily stared at him for a few seconds. “Are you serious? You support vigilante justice?”

 

“No. Absolutely not. But Randy had his day in court. I’ve been doing this for twenty-two years and he was as guilty as anybody I’ve arrested. The victim identified him. Four people said he told them he did it. Then… nothing.”

 

“You arrested him?”

 

“Yeah. I served the warrant and brought him in. I remember him—the cocky little shit. You could tell he was guilty, but he knew he wouldn’t serve even one day in the slammer.”

 

“But still, Hunter… he was murdered!”

 

“Yeah. And if we could pin it on the Souls, I’d arrest the guy myself. But we can’t. Nobody knows anything. Every last one of them had an airtight alibi.”

 

“Then why do you think they did it?”

 

“Because of the rumors. We’ve had a few complaints from people about being threatened. We never could pin anything on the Souls because, just like with Fliken, they all had alibis. The interesting thing is, when we investigated deeper, we usually found out the person who was complaining was usually accused of harassing someone, or had threatened someone, or robbed or scammed someone, or something. It’s almost always a case that we ran into a dead end on or something we couldn’t execute on because we couldn’t prove anything. But if we hear about one or two a year, it makes me wonder how many things like that are happening that we don’t hear about.”

 

They rode on in silence for another minute.

 

“And you think it’s the Immortal Souls?” Lily persevered.

 

Hunter grinned at her again. “I don’t think anything. I’m just a patrol cop. They don’t pay me to think. That’s the detective’s job.”

 

Lily snickered. “Come on. You think they did it, don’t you?”

 

He tore his eyes off the road, glancing at her for a brief moment. “Yeah, I think they did, and while I would bust their asses for it if I could, I’m not going to shed a tear for that cocky little bastard. Maybe what happened to him will serve as a warning to some other douche bag in the future.”

 

Lily considered his words and eventually nodded. “I can respect that, but it bothers me someone is taking the law into their own hands.”

 

“Yeah, well, things aren’t quite so black and white when you’re actually out on the street.”

 

It was Lily’s turn to grin this time. “Which is why I’m riding with you, right?”

 

He chuckled. “Yeah. Welcome to the real world, kid.”

 

Lily and Hunter rode along in silence. They were in the dead zone, between four and seven, when even most of the criminals were sleeping, or fucking, or doing whatever they did when they weren’t causing trouble.

 

She watched out of the side window of the cruiser as Amberton glided past, dark, quiet and peaceful. She’d been mortified when Hammer had teased her in front of Hunter. She thought she’d handled it pretty well, being polite but firm in brushing him off. Though she would deny it to her last breath, she was actually secretly pleased that he’d noticed her butt. She worked hard to stay in shape, and though the ballistic vest hid most of her curves, it didn’t cover her bottom.

 

She smiled slightly. He wanted to help an officer? She’d give him something to help her with. It had been a long time since she’d engaged in any bedroom calisthenics, and that looked like something he could definitely help her with.

 

She turned away from the window, her daydreaming interrupted as a car flew past going in the opposite direction, clearly going over 50 when the speed limit was 35. She sighed as Ed looped the cruiser around and flipped on the lights. Time to go back to work.