Mari's ANs: Sammy and Ilna, love you to the moon. REAL McRollers and Readers, thanks doesn't seem like enough, but thank you always.

Sammy's ANs: Mari and Ilna-you guys are the best. Thanks for all the love and support McRollers

One Less Scumbag

Beach House - Sunday Afternoon

Steve stepped onto the deck as happy shouts drifted up from the beach.

"C'mon, Angie! Mom's gonna win again!" DJ called to his sister.

Steve smiled, watching his wife and kids. DJ was sprinting through the sand, his laughter ringing on the breeze. Angie chased close behind him and squealed, "Let's try to beat Mommy and Cammie!"

Catherine laughed, her dark ponytail flying behind her as she ran with Cammie at her side. "You two wanted to race, remember?"

With a small grin, Steve stepped back inside, closed the sliding door and glanced at his phone. His features immediately changed to a scowl.

Over the last six weeks or so there had been a lot of vague intel flying around the island about an illicit fentanyl ring operating out of a warehouse down by the docks, but several raids hadn't turned up any trace of either the dealers or the product.

All of the usual sources of information had dried up and the team suspected it was because the man in charge, an ex-con by the name of Vince Marcellus, had a reputation for violence against anyone who got in his way.

In fact, the reason he was offered a plea deal in his most recent case was because the two main witnesses against him "disappeared" which led several others to change their minds and refuse to testify. He was initially facing the potential of life in prison but only ended up serving six years. Within weeks of his release reports of his fentanyl ring, and all the damage it was leaving in its wake, began to make the rounds.

The team had been hoping for a break for weeks and according to the text he just received, Chin had gotten a tip from a reliable CI. The man's little brother was in the hospital after being unknowingly dosed with fentanyl at a party and that was enough to make him decide to come forward with information. So no one else had to go through what he was currently going through.

Hoping this was finally the break they needed, Steve took the stairs up to the master bedroom three at a time.

Minutes later, he was holstering his weapon and clipping on his badge when Catherine appeared behind him. "Caught a case?"

He turned, his eyes softening as he looked at her with a nod. "Vince Marcellus. We have reason to believe he has a huge shipment coming in tonight. We need to stop it before it hits the streets."

"A few hours isn't very long to plan a raid," Catherine said. She knew that there was no one better than Steve and the team at dealing with these kinds of things, but she'd also read the case file and knew that a man like Vince Marcellus was gonna fight hard to protect his "business".

"We have to play the hand we're dealt," he said. "I'm just glad we finally have something concrete to go on."

"Be careful," she replied, stepping closer.

"Always."

"Thank you. Go, I've got dinner." It had been his turn to cook. "You can make it over the weekend."

"Well oiled machine, as always," he said as they headed downstairs.

Catherine raised an eyebrow, teasing him. "Definitely. I'll even clean up." She pecked his lips.

Just then, the sound of footsteps interrupted the moment. Danny appeared in the living room with the kids and Cammie in tow. "Okay, lovebirds, break it up for now," he said to make Angie giggle. "Time to get some bad guys."

Steve straightened, his focus shifting after he kissed Catherine and the kids goodbye. "Let's go."

As they exited the house, he turned to his partner. "Chin's CI said Marcellus is working with a local gang. Apparently this latest shipment is too big for his usual crew to 're moving a huge shipment into the harbor. Apparently the plan is to offload the product from the large freighter it came in on to a smaller boat that might be easier to slip past the port guards. That's gonna take some coordination so hopefully we can take advantage of the fact they haven't worked together before and may not know how each other will react."

"Great. Any idea how big the shipment is?" Danny asked as they got in the car.

"Thirty five kilos," Steve replied, starting the car and backing out onto the street.

Danny let out a low whistle.

"They're planning to offload in two hours. We need a perimeter around the harbor, and we need feet on the ground," Steve added. "Chin is calling Kono, get Lou on the phone."

Once the team met with Duke and decided the best positioning for the HPD officers serving as backup, they assembled just outside the row of warehouses that had been identified by Chin's CI as housing their base of operations. The way they understood it, the fentanyl was to be off-loaded from the incoming ship and then immediately broken up into smaller, less conspicuous bundles, and dispersed across the island to dealers ready to package and sell it.

"We've got an hour," Steve said. "Danny and I will take the east side; Chin, Kono, cover the North. Lou, have your guys ready. We don't know how long we'll have to take them down before the drugs are on their way to every part of the island. Obviously, we want to stop them before that happens."

"On it," Lou Grover said, "These bastards are gonna make me miss dinner, and my wife is making meatloaf which everyone knows is my favorite. Let's bag 'em…" he was interrupted by the low tone of a boat entering the slip on the other side of the warehouse.

"Go!" Steve ordered, and with adrenaline pumping through everyone's veins, they headed out.

The harbor was eerily quiet as they rounded the corner, the ocean lapping softly against the dock. The area was just far enough away from the always busy central harbor to afford Vince Marcellus and his gang some privacy.

Or so they thought.

"Do you hear that?" Danny whispered, stopping suddenly at echoing footsteps.

"Yeah," Steve replied, his senses heightened. "They're here."

TO BE CONTINUED…