by Mina Carter
The music thrummed through his body, the energy from the moving mass of the crowd energizing. He spotted Falcone and Lester peering down from a small catwalk a few stories overhead. He made his way to the stairs to join them.
He was wishing he hadn't worn his suit, since the people packed in the tight space made their own heat, but he felt better at having the three guns he wore hidden. Sweat trickled down his spine as he took his place beside Dennis Falcone.
Forrest enjoyed his new vantage point, able to spot those that looked out of place within the group below. There were five young ladies dressed in bright pink dresses, almost all alike. Blond hair with blue eyes; they danced together along the south wall, but looked stiff and nervous. It was not hard to tell that these were Falcone's 'girls'. He doubted any of them were over the age of sixteen.
Then he noticed a guy behind a small makeshift bar spreading a white powder along the slick surface before using a razor to cut it in small thin lines. Men and women lined up, and one by one, the powder disappeared.
A small pop occurred, and Forrest reached for the gun tucked at the small of his back, before noticing it was just a release of multicolored balloons, glitter, and small paper that slowly drifted down from the ceiling. When the crowd began to jump and grab tiny bits of paper and the lucky winners stuck it in their mouths, he realized it was acid.
His hands clenched in anger. They would be lucky if several people did not wind up dead tonight from overdoses.
The music kicked up a notch and bodies writhed uncontrollably.
* * * * *
Sometime in the hours that passed, the crowd began to disperse into the night. It was four o'clock in the morning when Forrest, Dennis Falcone, and Lester made their way down the stairs.
Forrest kicked at a few balloons littering his path. He saw Falcone nudge a girl wearing pastel paint all over her face. Her head rolled to the side displaying eyes open in death. He steeled the gasp that wanted to come out of his lips. There were tons of people littering the floor. Were they all dead?
"These things happen," Lester muttered, walking over to the bar.
One of the guys that greeted them on their first day in Anacostia was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.
"How many repeat customers?" Lester asked.
Bright white teeth were revealed when the man smiled. "I counted at least thirty." He straightened up and slapped a wad of bills on the bar.
Falcone let out an impressed whistle.
"Told you," Lester said with a smirk.
"Did you break even with what you gave away?" Falcone's voice was beginning to seriously grate on Forrest's nerves.
"Break even? The fuck you say!" Lester laughed. "This is pure profit." He slapped a meaty hand over the bills and promptly spread them along the bar. Fifties and hundreds littered the counter, at least several thousand dollars.
Dennis' smile was as wide as his entire head.
Forrest felt sick to his stomach. "Where are the girls?" he suddenly asked. He hadn't seen them for at least an hour. How did he forget about them?
"Who cares?" Falcone barked out a laugh. "I can get an hundred more where those came from."
Lester grinned, showing his own set of perfect pearly white teeth. "So we're in business?"
Falcone enveloped Lester in a hard hug, slapping at his back. "You're my new best friend, Lester."
Forrest had to look away or risk losing his dinner.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
FORREST STALKED INTO the training facility after the elevator doors opened and headed straight for Terry. He spotted his so-called boss going a few rounds with a large punching bag. He grabbed the blond's shoulder and punched Terry in the face, momentarily surprised that Terry did not go down.
Terry responded in kind with a punch to Forrest's jaw. "Hello to you too."
Forrest tackled him and sent them both sprawling across the padded mat, where they traded more punches and kicks.
"What are you doing?" Piper's voice along with a couple of other agents pulled the men apart.
Forrest struggled against the agent holding him, intent on ripping Terry a new asshole.
Terry remained steady, his gaze on Forrest as his own restraining agent let him go. "My office. Now," he hissed, walking off.
"What happened?" Piper picked up the pace so she could match Forrest's long stride.
Forrest shook his head, refusing to answer.
Piper slipped inside Terry's office after Forrest and proceeded to shut the door. "Let's talk this out, gentlemen."
Forrest began to pace the room.
Terry took out a freezer pack and placed it over his left eye. "You want to explain your insubordination?"
"Your fucking plan for the rave got six people killed! I have no idea where Falcone's girls wound up. And now they're planning on a partnership that will make Chernobyl look like Disneyland!"
Piper nibbled at her lip. "I don't know the specifics, but I'm sure Terry did what he thought was right."
"I don't have to explain my decisions to you, Forrest. But if they are doing business together, we can take them down," Terry said. He put the ice pack on his desk.
Forrest felt a small modicum of satisfaction at seeing the purple bloom of a bruise already surrounding Terry's eye. "And how does that help the missing girls and the dead?"
"You think I wanted those people to die or the girls to go missing?" Terry asked. "I didn't. What you have to understand is that what happened at the rave would have done absolutely nothing to get Falcone behind bars. Lester would have went in for a few years, if we could have traced the drugs back to him. You have to look at the big picture."
Forrest let out a growl and continued to pace. Fuck Terry for making his words make sense!
"Apologize, Forrest. You know he's right. I know you have one hot temper, and apparently Terry had no problem returning your gesture…"
Terry glanced up and had the audacity to laugh. "I'm always looking for a sparring partner."
Piper rolled her eyes and muttered "men" before returning her eyes to Forrest. "You two need to work together. You care, and the victims out there need you. So swallow your pride and get along."
Forrest stared at her for a long time before turning his eyes to Terry. "Sorry, but I can't promise it won't happen again."
Terry chuckled. "That goes both ways, kid. Now the two of you go away. I have a takedown to plan."
Piper walked back to the door, her heels clicking, with Forrest hot on her trail.
* * * * *
Forrest knew he should be nervous as he bounced in the seat of a truck with barely any shocks on it. Falcone was sitting in the middle of the bench, and a man that went by "Jinx" was the driver. The time had finally come. The back of the large box truck was filled with weapons and girls. The plan was to literally trade trucks at the rendezvous point, which was where the D.E.A. team would ambush for the takedown.
He cared about nothing but the safety of the girls. They were his only priority at this point---to hell with his own life.
Jinx slowed the truck down and it sputtered before going silent on the middle of the bridge.
They were alone. It was the middle of the night, and no traffic went through this abandoned location…unless they were up to no good.
It was only a few minutes before a truck came from the opposite direction and shut itself off in the other lane.
"Let's go, boys." Falcone slid to the right, climbing out after Forrest. He squared his suit coat and walked toward the space between the trucks.
Forrest stayed behind, closer to the front of the truck, as Dennis Falcone and Lester Johnson met, exchanging handshakes. He saw a brief flash of light from his left. His signal that things were about to get very bright.
All at once, the bridge lit up like the noon day sun, and operatives dressed in black from head to toe converged from either side of the bridge, and a few dropped down from helicopters that somehow descended quietly from overhead.
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Dennis and Lester wisely lifted their hands in surrender, but Jinx apparently wanted nothing to do with jail. He ran and managed to get back into the truck they'd arrived in and got it started before a barrage of gunfire erupted toward the truck.
"No! Girls and guns," Forrest shouted over the ensuing chaos. He'd temporarily put his arms up, because the D.E.A. had wanted him to keep his undercover status, but he was not going to allow the girls to get hurt.
He elbowed the agent that tried to handcuff his wrists together, and took off toward the truck as it sputtered to life.
"Hold your fire! Stand down! I repeat, stand down!"
Forrest knew it was Terry's voice issuing the order, and the guns stopped firing. He reached the driver's door and tried to open it, but it was locked. He used the butt of his Glock to hammer at the window, and it finally shattered.
Jinx screamed and leveled his own gun at Forrest.
Forrest ducked the shot, and gripped the driver's side mirror as Jinx put the truck in reverse and peeled out. He could hear the girls screams coming from inside the back. He did the only thing he knew to do and leapt straight through the broken window, landing inside as his mountain lion. His large cat body leveled Jinx across the bench seat, and the backward momentum was halted with the foot taken off the gas pedal.
Jinx screamed and punched, doing his best to knock Forrest's cat off of him.
Forrest was not about to let this two-bit getaway driver injure the girls. One large claw right to the gut of Jinx caused the other man's eyes to roll back in his head, a gurgled gasp escaping his lips.
Both doors opened at the same time and Forrest bared his teeth and hissed at the automatic weapon aimed at his face.
Terry pulled off his mask and lowered his weapon. "Nice kitty," he said with a chuckle.
Forrest's cat let out a grumble and bound out the open door.
CHAPTER TWENTY
FORREST WALKED OUT of the debriefing with a smile on his face. The drugs, guns, but more importantly, the girls were safe.
Dennis Falcone was being charged with racketeering, arms trafficking, human trafficking, and a host of other crimes. The government was also going to pursue charges of murder for the missing girls and the ones that wound up dead at the rave.
Lester Johnson tried to turn evidence against Falcone, but the government was having none of that. He was also being charged with murder, drug trafficking, and several other charges that would keep him locked away for the rest of his life.
The Department of Immigration was working with the girls to get them safely back to their homes. Most had come from Russia, but a few were Chinese.
It was natural to look toward Piper's office, but he paused at seeing Terry at her door. Piper was laughing and Terry was stretched to his full height, his hand high on the doorframe as he leaned in and said something else, a smile on his face. Piper laughed harder and gently swatted at Terry's arm.
Forrest started to walk again, turning away from the scene. Should he feel jealous? He wasn't; he was just surprised. Terry and he would never be best friends, but he wanted Piper to be happy.
* * * * *
Forrest breathed deep and sighed happily. His mountain lion perked up and purred, causing his eyes to open.
A familiar head of blond hair caught his attention and he smiled. "I'm beginning to think you live at the airport, Addie."
Addie turned and sighed softly. "I could say the same for you, Mr. Scott."
Forrest grinned. His dimples etched deeply into his cheeks. "Want to share a cab back to Pepper Valley?"
"No thanks. Mom is picking me up."
He picked up his pace and followed Addie out of the airport.
Mrs. Lahey came around her car and paused at seeing him. "Forrest Scott! My how you've grown into a handsome one."
Forrest umphed as Addie's mom hugged him hard. He looked over her shoulder to find Addie rolling her eyes.
"Did you just get in? Is Finley picking you up?"
"Yes, but no. Dad is working. It's nice to see you." Forrest pulled away.
"Get in the car. We'll take you home," Mrs. Lahey announced.
Forrest chanced a glance at Addie before agreeing. "Thank you."
Addie huffed before entering the car and shutting the door with more effort than necessary.
He crawled into the back seat of the sedan and shut the door.
She might not believe it yet, but one day Adeline Lahey would be his.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C.A. Tibbitts lives in Oklahoma, USA, with her husband of 18 years and a bossy parakeet. She has a degree as a paralegal and worked for the District Attorney's office, and before that, she worked as a travel agent.
Though she wrote for years as a hobby, her first published book was in August of 2014. Best known for her Pepper Valley Shifters series, she also has several short stories published with the Mystical Box Set Babes and in the Wickedly Exotic seasons series.
She loves to hear from her readers, and deeply appreciates honest reviews.
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