Z’s laugh came through the phone’s speaker. “I told RT you’d hate the idea.”
“Understatement of the fuckin’ century,” Reese grumbled.
“What idea’s that?” Brantley inquired, curious as to what was at play here.
“Let me preface this by sayin’, I get that your task force was designed for one specific thing, but we’ve got a request. It might sound a little … unusual.”
“You think?” Reese grunted.
“All right, Tavoularis,” Brantley said firmly, addressing them both at the same time. “One of you better spill it now.”
From the phone came a gruff chuckle. “We need you to find a guy.”
Brantley took a sip of his coffee. “Is this guy missin’?”
“You could say that.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Reese hissed, spinning around and waving the spatula. “He wants us to play bounty hunters.”
Brantley frowned, the words processing. “Wait. He wants …what?”
Reese’s eyebrows rose. “You heard me.”
He glanced at the phone, then back to Reese. “Bounty hunters?”
“Surely you’ve heard of the concept,” Z said, his voice ringing with amusement. “You know. Like Dog the Bounty Hunter.”
“You …huh?” Brantley glanced down at the phone. “I don’t know what that means.”
“You know Dog,” Z said, disbelief replacing his amusement. “Duane Chapman? Only the most famous bounty hunter in the history of bounty hunters. Long blond hair. Sunglasses. On TV.”
“I still don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” he reiterated. “And I thought Boba Fett was the most famous bounty hunter.”
Z huffed. “You do find missin’ people, don’t you?”
Figuring it was rhetorical, Brantley didn’t respond.
Another huff from the phone, this one more frustrated. “Jesus. Y’all can be such pains in my ass, you know that?”
Another rhetorical, so Brantley took a sip of his coffee.
“Well, technically, this guy is missin’,” Z said calmly. “He missed his court date yesterday afternoon, and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.”
“That’s not the type of missing people we look for, Z,” Brantley informed him, a tad curious as to what had brought this on.
“I told you my request was unusual.”
“I’ll say,” Reese muttered.
Still eager to know, Brantley asked, “What did he get arrested for?”
“Drug possession,” Z answered simply.
“And you want us to step in why?”
“Well…” There was a soft grunt on the other end. “Possession was just one of the charges. He was also tagged for auto theft.”
Brantley stared at Reese, no longer wondering why his partner was frustrated with this situation.
