Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 68831 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68831 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 344(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
LAS VEGAS PD
At 2 am, a meeting was held between the feds and the police chief. In the day since Dario Capece’s ‘arrest’, Robert Hawk hadn’t led them anywhere. There had been no suspicious calls, and no leads to whom he had hired for the hit. The FBI was getting itchy, and their forensic accounting team had uncovered enough bribery and mail fraud evidence to build a solid case. A terse discussion was had, dicks were pulled out and measured, and then a decision was made.
At 4 am, the team sat quietly, their backs against the walls of the vehicle, and listened to their captain. The cramped compartment smelled faintly of body odor, and the van bounced over a pothole, jostling them in their places.
Captain Dowdey finished his orders as the van came to a stop before the Vegas mansion. Gripping the paperwork firmly in one hand, he said a silent prayer and stepped out of the vehicle.
Sometimes it was easy. Sometimes you knocked on a door, and they opened it up and smiled at you—a smile that deflated when the arrest warrant was flashed, their shoulders sagging, body obediently turning to allow you to snap on the cuffs.
Most of the time, it wasn’t easy. Assholes crawled out windows and ran. Sometimes a mentally-unhinged individual locked himself in a back bedroom with an automatic rifle, intent on killing as many uniforms as possible before going down.
Captain Dowdey climbed up the front steps and rapped on the door. Behind him, his men lifted their muzzles in preparation. As he waited, he hoped that this would be one of the easy ones.
After a moment, the man himself opened the door, dressed to impress, despite the early hour. He stepped forward and the dawn light illuminated his suit, one that must have put him back at least ten grand.
Dowdey shifted in his cheap pants, his Danner boots creaking in protest, and put on his best smile. “Mr. Hawk, I apologize for the early visit, but we are here to place you under arrest.”
“Ah.” Hawk adjusted the line of his suit. “And what, may I ask, are you arresting me for?”
“Bribery of a public official. Eight counts.” He resisted the urge to extend the arrest warrant, the gesture too similar to that of a child showing off a shiny toy.
“Bribery?” The man widened his eyes theatrically. “Now, that’s a federal crime. But you…” He waved a finger in the direction of the man. “You’re a local badge. And, what is your name?”
From behind the captain, Agent King stepped forward. “Don’t you worry, Mr. Hawk. We’re here too.”
The captain spoke up. “And I’m Captain Dowdey.”
The older man smiled, a gesture void of threat, as if they were two men waiting in line, discussing sports stats. “Ah yes. James Dowdey, right? You’ve got that lovely new bride…” His voice dropped off as he tucked his hands into his pocket and looked up at the ceiling, his face scrunching in thought. “Jennifer. James and Jennifer. Cute. Congratulations. There’s nothing more valuable to a man than his family.”
The friendly smile didn’t slip; the threat easily missed if one wasn’t looking for it. They’d found the bribery records in the bank statements. The intimidation … the coercion… that had been harder to prove in the last twenty-four hours. It was there; it was just impossible to get any officer to admit to it. As Hawk so clearly pointed out, there was little more valuable to a man than his family.
The Captain cleared his throat and stepped forward, keeping an eye on the two armed men who stood behind Hawk. They didn’t move, their hands still and visible, and he nodded to them as he pulled on Hawk’s shoulder, turning him away and grabbing one wrist as delicately as he could manage. The urge to wrench his arm from his socket, to painfully twist the joint and get the old man down on one knee … he let out a slow breath and focused on pulling his cuffs out and snapping one on.
He began to recite the Miranda rights.
THE CRAZY
In the bookstore, they had thought she was crazy. Funny how they were the ones who were actually chained up. Maybe not in a concrete cell, like she had been, but metaphorically speaking, they were chained by their jobs, their debts. Their dogged pursuits of money and material things. They didn’t understand, couldn’t understand the base principals that guided them.
She understood. That sort of clarity was realized when everything was taken away from you. When your life disappears, you realize the stupid things about it that you missed. Those stupid things showed your weaknesses. Robert had exposed all of hers. Shown her the triviality of them all. Released her from her shackles and given her a new life. A new purpose.
She’d gone back once. He’d opened the door to the warehouse and placed the car key in her hand. Told her to return to her old life and see what she had missed.