Vera looked her up and down with narrowed eyes and gasped when her eyes landed on the badge attached to her belt buckle.
“W-who are you?” she questioned. Her voice cracked as she breathed the words in a labored whisper.
“Let’s go. We’re gonna be late,” Kelly urged, grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the exit.
“Who are you?” she screamed at their backs. “Cameron! Kateri!Who are you?”
* * *
Donna walkedinto the 2nd-floor outer office of the Organized Crime building starving, wishing she’d stopped to grab a bite after she left the courthouse. They were there for an hour, getting prepped by the State’s Attorney only for the trial to be postponed due to a request for a continuance by Bobby Lee’s attorneys. To keep postponing the case until they either ran out of witnesses or lost interest was an age-old strategy used by defense attorneys.
She mumbled greetings over her growling stomach as she walked into the roll call room.
“Welcome back, Lady,” her partner, Joe Preston, said with a smile. “How was your big FBI assignment?”
“It was cool. Glad to be back, though.”
“Roll Call!” Bruce Riley, her team sergeant called out as he entered the room. He walked to the small podium and opened his binder. After a few announcements, he scanned the room.
“Welcome back, Devereaux.”
“Thank you, Sergeant.”
“It’s good to have you back, and your timing is perfect.”
“Why is that?” she asked suspiciously.
“We’re going up on a new spot. Need you to make a buy.”
“Huh?” Donna couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She hadn’t even been back a full fifteen minutes and they were tossing her right on the street. She looked around at any number of people that could’ve made the buy. In particular, Bonnie Sanders.
“I know what you’re thinking but we’ve set up surveillance on Washington and Leavitt. Bonnie won’t fit it. They’ll make her as soon as she hits the block.”
“Really?”
That was complete bullshit. Her sergeant was insinuating that Bonnie couldn’t buy in that area because she was white. Since white girls often traveled to the hood for dope, his reasoning was flawed. Besides, Bonnie had been in Narcotics for six years. If she couldn’t buy, why was she there?
“You and Joe hang back while we set up surveillance.”
Donna leaned back in her chair and blew out an aggravated breath.
“Go get ready,” the sergeant said, closing the matter to further discussion.
Donna rolled her eyes. She was sick and tired of the double standards. Officers like Bonnie were privileged enough to be assigned to specialized units, but they didn’t have to perform the same duties as the rest of them. It seemed most prevalent with women. Unfortunately, undercover units such as Vice and Narcotics mostly operated in neighborhoods inhabited by black folks. So, the common excuse was that they needed a black undercover officer. Truthfully, white women bought dope in black neighborhoods on a regular basis. In fact, it was common.
“This is some bullshit,” Joe muttered as their team filed out of the roll call room.
“Yeah, but I’m used to it at this point.”
“Well, gon’ and get crackheaded out,” he said through a chuckle.
“Washington and Leavitt is a heroin spot,” Donna pointed out.
“Is that gonna make a difference in how you dress?” he asked sarcastically.
“It actually does,” she informed with a grin. “Dope fiends and crackheads have an entirely different look.”
“How so?”
