There’s a heaviness weighing between all of us, but I need to show him I’m not only serious about this, but willing to do the job in front of me. I want nothing more than to make the Harrison name proud, and to serve my city.
“I can, Sir.”
But can I? Knowing that Cody, the man who’s been fucking over Magnolia, who’s standing between her and freedom, is the ringleader of this operation? The man we’re going to arrest? I’m almost salivating, because I want this to be over for her.
“Dismissed,” Drake says.
Dakota and I head out, the weight of what we’re going to do sitting heavily on us.
“You good?” Dakota asks once we’re alone.
“Yeah.”
“Bullshit. This guy’s been fucking with Magnolia. You’re about to take him down. That’s gotta mess with your head.”
I scrub my hand over my face. “I just want this to be over. For her sake and for the case.”
“It will be. We’ll make the buy, and then we nail this bastard.”
I hope he’s right.
After our shift ends, I find myself driving to my grandfather’s office. Chief Mason Harrison has been the chief of Laurel Springs PD for a few years. Before that he was a member of the Moonshine Task Force, and the Laurel Springs Emergency Response Team. If anyone can give me perspective right now, it’s him.
His secretary waves me through, and I find him at his desk, reading glasses perched on his nose, looking over some report.
“Levi.” He looks up with a smile, taking the glasses off. “What brings you by?”
“Needed to talk,” I say, closing the door behind me. He’s always the person I go to when I need it to be given to me straight.
His expression shifts from being glad to see me to concerned. “What’s wrong?”
I sit down across from him, and suddenly I’m twelve years old again, coming to my grandpa because someone pissed me off, and I’m about to take my anger in a way I shouldn’t. I’m coming to him because I’m nervous and I need someone to calm me down.
“I’m nervous about this operation,” I admit, hating to say that out loud. “About what might happen once we’re out in the field.”
He leans forward, putting his elbows on the desk. “Tell me about it.”
I can’t give him details, it’s classified, but I can give him the general shape of it. “There’s an undercover operation I’m involved in. There are high stakes. And I’m worried about making a mistake, about getting it wrong, about…”
“About getting hurt?”
“About getting Dakota hurt. About failing. About embarrassing y’all if this goes bad.”
Grandpa leans forward, his eyes serious. “Listen to me. Being worried, being nervous—that’s important. If you weren’t nervous, I’d be concerned. Fear keeps you sharp, keeps you careful. It’s when you stop being afraid that you make fatal mistakes.”
“How do you handle it? The fear?” I need him to tell me what to do to get rid of this damn pit in my stomach.
“You acknowledge it. You prepare as much as you can. You trust your training and your partner. And you remember why you’re doing this, Levi. To protect people who can’t protect themselves.”
I think about Magnolia, about all the people like her who’ve been hurt by people like Cody.
“Thanks, Grandpa.”
He stands, coming around the desk to pull me into a hug. “I’m proud of you, Levi. Your grandmother and I both are. You’re doing good work.”
I wrap my arms tightly around him, and take the pat he gives me on the back, closing my eyes and letting his strength seep into my tired muscles.
“I love you,” I say, my voice rough.
