“I… I…” Sutton swallowed, pulling the hat off his head slowly and holding it down at his stomach as his eyes searched the floor of The Hut.
“Chief?”
Howard closed his eyes, the regret there obvious. His voice was caged, though, unable to break free no matter how many times he parted his lips to try and speak.
Drew sensed the danger and glanced around at all his brothers behind him, his tribe, his pack, his club… and me. When his eyes landed on mine, all I could see was uncertainty—an emotion that wasn’t common for him.
He turned back to the chief slowly, parting his legs and taking a strong stance in front of Howard.
He was ready. Whatever news he was about to be told, he was ready.
“Sutton,” Drew began. “Say it.”
“I don’t know how to,” Sutton muttered.
“How bad are we talking?”
“Drew…”
“I can handle it.”
“Yeah, but I can’t.” When Sutton looked up, his eyes were glazed, and he had to rub his lips together to try and hold ontohis composure.
To my surprise, Drew smiled softly at him and shook his head. He never let his confusion stay around for long. He was a man of many battles. I guess he’d seen all the outcomes and had all the predictions in his hat already.
“It’s okay, Howard,” Drew said softly. “Do you need to take one of us back for more questioning? Do you need to—?”
“Drew, no. Stop.” Sutton swallowed again, his hands worrying his hat as he stared up at his old enemy’s eyes like he really cared. “It’s bigger than that.”
“Bigger?”
“Much bigger.”
“I don’t understand,” Drew said, frowning.
“When I got called away from the party, I was told it was an emergency. The station needed me. I didn’t understand what was going on. There’d been nothing big happening in Babylon since the whole warehouse incident. We didn’t have anyone of importance in custody. Life was quiet, apart from you guys and what was going on with my… my Sloane,” he stuttered, drawing in a breath and blowing it out almost instantly. “I’d never have left if I didn’t have to, but there was something happening. Something way above me.”
We’ve put things in place. Sutton is probably being stripped of his badge as we speak.
The words Travis had spoken came back to me all at once, smacking the forefront of my mind.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Drew asked in a quiet whisper.
“The mayor was there. So were a bunch of police officers from the Navs’ territory, Drew. They were accusing me of being in your pocket. They were checking my payroll. Everymember of my team’s bank accounts. They were on fire, going through files, trying to find a link between me and The Hounds that could strip me of this badge I’m wearing.”
Drew scowled harder, but he’d gone into silent mode, and his jaw was ticking tight, over and over again.
“They wanted to cut me loose, Drew.”
“So they can take over,” he whispered.
“The mayor was pretty adamant that I couldn’t be trusted anymore.”
“Why is the he getting involved in this?”
“I wish I knew.”
Drew’s nostrils flared as he exhaled. “There was nothing there for them to find, though, right?”
