While Oliver looked back and forth between him and Zane curiously, Brooks jumped in with his next question before the man could look for holes in the BS story he fed him.
“How did you become a hunter?”
Brooks didn’t give a crap about Oliver’s life story, but his gut told him he’d get more out of the guy if he worked him slowly.
Across from him, Oliver chuckled and leaned forward, his face lighting up. “That’s my favorite story. I used it to tell my buddies all the time, and it never got old.”
Brooks had the feeling he and Zane weren’t going to be nearly as thrilled with it. “We’re listening.”
Oliver grinned. “I was in this bar in Tulsa when this fight broke out between this big ugly guy and a few other dudes. I didn’t know it at the time, but that ugly guy was a werewolf. And those other dudes? They were hunters. Gotta tell you, it was one awesome fight. Well, right up to the point when I shoved a broken bottle in the mutt’s neck. I remember it like it was yesterday.”
His eyes took on a dreamy look, like he was reliving the whole thing as he told them the story in excruciating detail.
Chapter 5
“Have we gotten anything on this new player in charge of the gangs yet?” Brooks asked.
He was in the training room at the SWAT compound, along with Diego, Connor, Trey, Remy, Ray, and the rest of the task force. Up until today, they’d held all their other meetings at police headquarters downtown. But with the media crawling all over the shootings at the warehouse, it was impossible to get anywhere near HQ without getting a microphone or camera shoved in your face.
It had been twenty-four hours since the raid on the east side warehouse, and they were still trying to figure out who was behind the murders.
On the other side of the conference table, Ray shook his head. “Afraid not.”
Brooks frowned. “How can that be? This guy had four people executed. And none of the gangbangers we arrested are talking?”
“I took another run at them this morning,” Ray said with a scowl. “Nothing.”
“What about the streets?” Brooks asked. “There has to be somebody associated with this new guy who’ll talk. Half the city should know his name by now.”
“You’d think so, but that’s part of the problem.” Ray spread his hands. “Whoever this new boss is, he’s not playing by the normal gang rules. And everyone on the street is lining up to follow his lead. Nobody is talking to us, and the people we arrested are willing to go to prison rather than cross this new guy.”
Brooks cursed. Ray was right. Gangs could be vicious and cutthroat in dealing with each other, but none of them liked the cops. It was ingrained into their DNA. No matter how bad it got out on the streets, no matter how many of their fellow gang members got wiped out, few of them would ever turn to the cops for help.
They went around the room, getting updates from each gang unit and narcotics officer present. When it was his turn, Rodriguez mentioned that fentanyl had disappeared off the street overnight.
“So, what the hell are we going to do about it?” Remy asked.
Ray sighed. “Look, I know you’d all love to figure out a quick, simple way to deal with this gang war, but the bottom line is that it’s been going on long before we all got on the job and will go on long after we walk away from it. If we want to do something about what happened in that warehouse and catch the guy responsible, we’re going to have to figure out who he is and what he’s planning. The only way we’ll do that is with good old-fashioned police work. Let’s get the hell out there and find a lead.”
There were grunts of agreement around the table. Rodriguez and the other members of the task force left a little while afterward, a sense of determination about them that hadn’t been there at the start of the meeting. Ray always knew how to get his people motivated. But as Brooks stood and watched his old friend slowly wipe down the white board at the front of the room, he couldn’t miss the furrow between his brow.
“What’s wrong?” Brooks asked after his packmates left. “And don’t try telling me it’s nothing. We’ve been friends for a long time, and I can tell when something’s bothering you.”
“Chief Curtis paid me a visit this morning,” Ray said softly without turning around. “He’s not too thrilled with how things turned out at the warehouse. Times are changing, and the department is under a lot of pressure to somehow fix the gang problem. He suggested that maybe it’s time for someone else to take over the gang unit. Someone with new ideas.”
“Screw him,” Brooks growled. “You’ve got over thirty-five years on the force with a list of citations longer than your arm. He might be the chief, but he can’t force you out of your unit without reason.”
Ray set the eraser on the tray along the bottom of the board, then turned around to give him a sad smile. “Maybe that’s true. If I wanted to fight it.”
Brooks stared. “Why wouldn’t you fight it?”
Ray pulled out a chair and sat down with a heavy sigh. “Jayden, I’ve been doing this for a long time, fighting the good fight and all that crap. But no matter what I do or how much I do it, things don’t get any better. Gangs are worse than they ever were, and kids are joining them younger and younger, screwing up their lives before they even start.”
“What are you saying?”
The man took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m saying I’m tired, Jayden, and I think maybe it’s time for me to step back.”
That was bullshit. Brooks opened his mouth to tell Ray as much, but Becker stuck his head in the door. “Hey, Brooks. You got a visitor in the admin building.”
