Franklin Clovis' minions worked steadily loading the tractor trailer with crates of varying sizes, each one holding weapons of various styles and calibers as he, Fiore, Smith and a fourth man watched from the sidelines. Much to his chagrin, the southerner had brought in his own driver, a black man dressed in overalls and a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. Clovis watched with disgust as the newcomer spit a greasy wad of chewing tobacco onto the warehouse floor and shook his head slowly.
Ty Curtis just shrugged his shoulders and smiled a half-assed apology.
Carter ordered him to discard the tobacco in a trash filled 55-gallon metal barrel that stood next to the wall and, leaning in to spit out the offensive wad, Ty surreptitiously picked up and pocketed the handgun Dean had taped to the barrel's sidewall. With a slight nod to Carter he returned and took his place next to him.
Ty was armed but where was Bendis, Carter wondered? There were eight other men in the warehouse beside Clovis and Fiore, who looked the worse for wear. A Glock 17 even with its seventeen round clip wasn't going to be enough to go up against the Uzis held at the ready by the six men not loading. A ruckus broke out at the rear of the truck, punctuated by catcalls and whistles, and Carter spotted Dean and Erin Scott, dressed in the green evening gown, and wondered what the fuck Dean was thinking. Carter had asked Clovis to bring her along, to let him know she was still alive and well, before he would transfer the cash and take ownership of the guns but he'd expected her to be dressed ready to duck and run if necessary and not to paint the town.
Dean, his hand wrapped tightly around her upper arm, dragged her over to where Carter, Clovis, Ty and Fiore stood. Carter noticed the H and K MP5SD3 loaded with a thirty round box slung over Dean's shoulder as did the others, Fiore's eyes ratcheting down to slits. Clovis smiled like a Cheshire cat and, by the look in his eyes, he still wanted to fuck Scott while Fiore, his eyes hard and cold, most assuredly wanted to kill them both.
"Okay, Smith," Clovis started, "She's here and, as you can see, she's as good as new...isn't she, Killeen?"
"Better," Dean replied looking directly into Carter's eyes.
This time there were no subtle signals relating to the bust, only a slightly mocking look on Dean's face and fire in Carter's eyes as they stood facing one another.
Jamie had been watching the warehouse bay doors from across the street when Dean entered with the DEA agent in tow. They had eyes on the inside and she now watched on monitors as the two of them joined the others standing near the almost fully loaded semi truck. She could do nothing but wait for Carter to transfer the money and to send her the signal that the buy had gone down. Captain Maynard and Erin Scott's C.O., Special Agent in Charge Mathew "Mac" McLeod, sat with her in the surveillance van. His detail as well a a S.W.A.T. team stood at the ready while ATF waited in the wings to take charge of the weapons.
In the wings was exactly where Maynard had wanted to plant DEA's ass but he had ended up begrudgingly letting them partner up on the bust. A no brainer when "Mac" had threatened to supersede Maynard's command unless his guys were in on it. Maynard sighed. Jamie glanced quickly at him, the frown on his face pronounced, and knew exactly what he must have been thinking. They had done all the dirty work and now the feds were going to take all the glory.
But it wasn't the glory, or lack there of, that had caused Carter to almost blow a gasket when Ty told him about the federal agents that would be working with them. It was the fact that federal agents tended to be, in his words, "shoot first and ask questions later mutherfucking' cowboys" and all Carter wanted to do was to take Clovis alive and get his guys, along with agent Scott, out in one piece. Something an itchy trigger fingered Fed might make difficult if damn near impossible.
The money transfer began and Jamie nodded to the DEA SAC who began passing the word to "hold until his signal" down the line.
Inside the warehouse Carter lowered his phone and smiled at Clovis. "You should have confirmation any second now," he drawled, "and I'd be willing to add another cool million to help make your little problem here go away." He nodded toward Erin.
"I appreciate your offer but it's just a small matter of a bullet to the brain and 'problem solved'," Clovis said calmly shrugging his shoulders.
Fiore raised the gun he'd kept hidden behind his back and pointed it at the DEA agent and smirked at Dean. At Clovis' behest he would first shoot Erin Scott, then Michael Killeen, thereby solving all of Clovis' problems.
As McLeod watched it all unfolding from the van, he assessed the situation and word shot down the line that the bust was a go. Charges went off at the locked doors followed by flash bangs and black clad agents with various block letters on their jackets and vests began to pour into the building demanding that those inside to put down their weapons. No one listened and the Uzis began to cough.
Return fire chattered all around them and Fiore, intent on his assignment, squeezed the trigger. Dean pushed Erin aside and the bullet meant for her hit him dead in the upper region of his bullet proof vest, breaking his collar bone. He went down heavily while Clovis and Fiore, both now trying to tie up loose ends, took ineffective shots at Carter and Ty then headed into the office.
Ty pulled the gun from his pocket and pushed Carter behind the truck while Erin knelt on the ground next to Dean trying to get the MP5 off of him. She rolled him over on his side and jerked the strap up and, with the gun securely in her hands, slipped off the safety. With a grunt Dean grabbed for the gun but she rose up and just stood in the cavernous warehouse, the cacophonous roar of gunfire echoing all around them, the automatic weapon pointed straight at him. If she shot him where he lay no one would question the fact that he had been wounded and unarmed. Nor would they question her or blame her. She would go through her psyche evals and lie her way to a clean bill of health and A.I.D. would call it a righteous kill...but then she would be no better than Kileen.
Motioning for him to get up, Dean Bendis got to his feet and, raising his hands, was temporarily remanded into the custody of the Drug Enforcement Administration when Erin's fellow agents surrounded one of their own protectively and trained four assault rifles on him.
LAPD rounded up Carter and Ty while S.W.A.T. took care of business inside the office. The op was over, finished in just minutes and both Fiore and Clovis lay dead, several bullets wreaking havoc on their bodies. The others in Clovis crew were either dead or spread eagle on the ground. Michael Killeen stood, hands raised painfully above his head as a female LAPD officer slammed him up against the wall to assume the position.
Erin crossed over to where he stood and heard him hiss as his hands were savagely pulled down and cuffed behind his back, his obvious injury causing him some serious pain. Grabbing him roughly, the female officer turned him to face the door through which a cruiser waited to take him away and his eyes locked one final time with Erin's.
"Wait!" she said, her quavering voice and trembling hands surprising her as did the genuine sorrow she'd seen in his eyes, "He saved my life."
Jamie Allen, dressed in her standard issue police uniform and bullet proof vest, pushed the woman out of the way and said under her breath, "That's what he's paid to do."
When Erin tried to speak to her again Jamie just ignored her and shoved Dean out through the door. Mac McLeod then came to stand next to Erin and reached out a gentle hand. She shrank away reflexively from his touch.
Damn it, McLeod thought as he stood before his agent in his subdued camos and wondered what the son of a bitch Killeen had done to her.
"Let's go, Erin," he said softly but firmly, "I want you checked out at the local hospital before we go wheels up."
Erin Scott was out of one bad situation and well on her way into another Carter thought as he watched her leave, Ty, now wearing a regulation LAPD jacket and ball cap, walked up to him and pulled the handkerchief from the breast pocked of Carter's suit and pressed it to his boss's head just at the hairline. Carter pushed his hand away, his adrenalin spiking wildly. He needed a wide berth if only for a minute.
"Hey, Dapper Dan," Ty said lightly, "You got hit. You need to go to the hospital...or at least see a medic."
Carter looked at the bloody piece of material Ty held out for his inspection, "Just a scratch," he replied woodenly and touched the source of the burning pain on his scalp. His fingers came away bloody and, when Ty tried to check his eyes, Carter scorched him with a look and he backed off. "Where's Bendis?" he asked, still no emotion in his voice.
Ty told him that Jamie had already taken him away. What he didn't tell him was where she had taken him.
Closing his eyes Carter stepped in close to Ty and said in a quiet voice, "I need you to get to Clovis' before anybody else does...especially the Feds. Clovis has a video of Dean. It's in the safe in his office. You need to bring it to me."
"You know I can't do a safe without some prep," Ty started but Carter cut him off.
"It's a tin box!" he snapped, "It won't take you more than five minutes."
Before Carter had even finished speaking, Ty was out the door shedding his cap and jacket as he went.