A whisper sounded in his earpiece. “Go!”
A SWAT officer hit the front door with a battering ram, wood splintering, what was left of the door swinging on its hinges.
“We’re in!”
SWAT officers went first, Darius and Julia following them inside.
“Get down on the ground! Get on the ground now! Hands behind your head!”
But Riggs wasn’t listening. Instead, he was doing his best to evade them, dodging the officer trying to apprehend him and typing a text message on a new phone as fast as he could with shaking hands. “I’m not resisting! I’m just sending a text! I’m—“
He hit the floor with anoof, a little burner phone flying.
While a SWAT officer held Riggs down with a knee to the back, Darius stopped the phone with his foot, picked it up, saw that the message had already been sent.
Cops here with guns. It’s bad. Think they’re going to arrest me.
It was a burner phone, and there was no identifying information about the message’s recipient, apart from a phone number.
Darius knelt beside Riggs. “Who did you warn?”
The SWAT officer holding Riggs down barked at him. “Answer him, or I’ll start asking the questions!”
“I-I sent it to Kyle.”
“Kyle Watts?”
“Yeah, man.”
Darius sheathed his firearm, drew flex cuffs out of his pocket. Resembling plastic zip ties, they were much lighter than handcuffs and easier to manage.
Darius Riggs’ his wrists, restrained him. “Brennan Michael Riggs, you’re under arrest for conspiracy to commit assault resulting in grave bodily injury.”
“I had nothing to do with it!”
“Bullshit!”
Then Captain Skalbeck walked over to Darius. “We’ve cleared the place. There’s no one else here.”
Darius stood, held up the phone. “He used this burner phone to send a text to Watts, warning him. Where is he, Riggs?”
“I swear I don’t know! I-I just have that number. You took our phones, so w-we had to get new ones.”
Captain Skalbeck turned to his men. “Let’s turn this place over, find out what this shitweasel is hiding. You found drugs here before?”
Darius nodded. “Cocaine.”
While SWAT tore the place apart, Darius and Deputy Marcs hauled a handcuffed Riggs out to Marcs’ service vehicle and shoved him in the back.
“Aren’t you going to read me my rights or call an attorney or let me make a phone call or something?”
“Eventually.” Marcs laughed. “You watch too many TV shows, Riggs.”
Darius sat in the front and turned to face Riggs. “You’ve got one chance,one chanceto make this easier on yourself. I won’t ask again. Where is Watts?”
Riggs was sweating now, his gaze darting between his house and Darius. “He…”
“Out with it!” Darius shouted, letting his rage show.
