“Aight then,” Cannon said. “Sounds like we’re ready to make some noise. Let’s get to it.”
Nahla squealed excitedly and then clapped. “Yay! Noise is my love language.”
The rest of them burst into laughter, and Cannon said, “Corny ass.”
The moment lightened the tense mood in the room, but they all knew this would be the calm before the storm. Hopefully, they’d be prepared to handle the fallout.
Three WeeksLater
“You got this, baby.”
Nahla smiled. “Thanks.”
After Mace got in touch with his CBI associates, they formed a task force practically overnight. Nahla, Cannon, Capri, and Mace had had several meetings with them during that time, and all of them hadn’t been easy. Handing over her evidence was a difficult day. Nahla felt like she was handing over a piece of herself—her work, her risks, and all her fears about how the case would be handled. The CBI, however, handled the evidence with care, just like Mace said they would.
Capri had organized the files so neatly and efficiently that one of the agents offered her a job that she, of course, respectfully turned down. Mace had served as the liaison between the bureau and Nahla, keeping her abreast of every development, and Cannon.
Cannon had been keeping Nahla steady.
The CBI investigators verified everything Nahla gave them on their own. They had had several sit-downs with Ox, who was still working with Lyle PD undercover, of course. He had worked out an immunity deal in exchange for his unwavering cooperation.
They even tracked down Darius Laston and got an official statement from him. They had obtained a warrant for all of Blue Stone Holdings’ accounts, without their knowledge, and that was the real goldmine. They matched Ox’s bulldozing contracts to every piece of illegally seized land. They pulled GPS logs, raid schedules, falsified reports, and several emails.
The final meeting was the one that changed everything.
Agent Lewis, the head of the task force, contacted Nahla directly to inform her that Sheriff Redding had obtained a phony warrant for her arrest, and the word was that they planned to travel to Jasona to make a public spectacle out of handcuffing her.
That almost sent Cannon over the edge with rage, but the agents assured both of them that Nahla would never see the inside of a jail cell.
Because Lyle PD had already tapped Mr. Hill’s office phone, the agents decided to create a trap for Redding. Nahla would call her editor and openly say that she needed to return to Lyle to gather final quotes. To confirm this intel, they would have Ox tell them that he had heard her confirm the trip to Lyle while he was following her. They knew that once Redding heard that, he would try to pounce on her then. CBI agents would alreadybe stationed around town, ready to arrest Redding as soon as he approached Nahla.
Now here they were, pulling into the Lyle County Library to meet with the Howards as a part of the rouse. She was sure to leak details about the place and time of her fake meeting so that they could get things over with as quickly as possible. Mace and Capri were in the back seat, and she knew the CBI had eyes on her, even though she couldn’t see them.
“Aight, there are a few cars in the parking lot. I’m sure they’re undercover cops, ready to ambush us. La, stay behind me when we step out, and Mace, make sure Capri stays her ass in the car.”
Capri kissed her teeth, but instead of responding to her brother, she extended a hand to the front seat and placed it on Nahla’s shoulder.
“You got this, sis.”
Nahla nodded with a smile, then she and Cannon got out of the car. Everything happened almost immediately.
The front doors of the library burst open, and Sheriff Redding stepped out in his uniform with four deputies behind him and people from the local news station.
“Nahla Avery,” Redding shouted. “You are under arrest for bribery, coercion, and?—”
He didn’t even get to finish his statement.
Black SUVs rolled in from all directions, with their tires screeching. The car doors flew open, seemingly at once, and several agents swarmed the scene. Nahla watched as a female CBI agent grabbed Deputy Allen and slammed him against his own squad car. Two other agents moved between Cannon, Nahla, and Redding.
Finally, Agent Lewis stepped in, holding up his badge for Redding to see.
“Sheriff Redding,” he said, his tone full of authority, “you are under arrest for racketeering, conspiracy, fraud, witnessintimidation, and unlawful land seizure under Chaney State Code.”
Nahla could hear the female agent reading Deputy Allen his rights just as the sheriff started to protest. “Excuse me? This is my town, and you can’t just?—”
“No, sir,” Lewis said, stepping closer to the Sheriff. “This stopped being your town the second you sold it.”
“I knew his ass was dirty!” Nahla glanced at the library’s entrance to see that a small crowd of citizens, of different races, had formed.
