Page 165 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

His nostrils flared as he pulled in a long breath.

Everyone in group one who wanted to help serve warrants stood around sucking down coffee because it was still considered the middle of night.

The best time to hit the Demons was after the Peach Pit and Hawg Wild closed. When a weekend long party wasn’t being held at the Viper’s Den. When most of those motherfuckers would be asleep in their beds or passed out on a random floor or couch.

“Where the fuck is Crew?” Finn asked on a yawn. “If we don’t get this party started soon, I’m going to curl up on the cot and take a nap.”

Nox glanced at the time on his cell phone. They were supposed to meet on the third floor at three AM, then head out to meet the rest of the teams at four in some parking lot that only Crew knew the address to.

Secret squirrel shit and all of that.

The less details given out about the coordinated effort, the less chance for it to get leaked. Either on purpose or by accident.

As if Finn summoned Crew by saying his name, the task force leader came barreling through the door with Cabrera close on his heels, both wearing tactical gear like the rest of them. Only, the task force leader had his phone to his ear and wore an expression that made all of them on the third floor sit up and take notice.

Actually, everyone not only stopped slouching, they all shot to their feet.

“For fuck’s sake,” Crew muttered into his phone. “Okay. We’ll stand by until we get further word.”

Further word?

That didn’t sound like they were about to go bust in some doors.

Were they getting screwed out of the opportunity for some reason? Did Crew land on someone’s shit list?

Crew shook his head one last time before pulling the phone from his ear and stabbing the screen with his finger to end the call. “For fuck’s sake.”

“You said that already. Did you forget?” Cabrera razzed him. The woman had busting Crew’s balls down to a science.

And they all loved her for it.

“What’s going on?” Rez asked.

“We were told to standby and wait for further word,” Crew said.

“Yeah, genius, we heard that part. You want to explain why?” asked Luke Rodgers, another DEA agent like Crew, Cabrera and Torres.

“Don’t mind him,” Cabrera said. “Getting up this early meant he didn’t get all of his beauty rest. He’s a bit discombobulated.”

“Pretty fucking big word for such a tiny woman,” Crew retorted.

“I might be tiny, but I still pack a punch.”

Behind Nox, Torres snorted. “Foreplay for the two of you must be explosive since you are always lobbing bombs at each other.”

Finn grimaced. “I really don’t want to think about Crew having sex. Torres, you might have to apologize to Mel when that visual makes me unable to perform.”

“Don’t worry, she won’t notice,” Rez said.

“Will you tell us what the fuck is going on?” Nox demanded from Crew, trying to get them back on track.

“They’ve got the state and county emergency response teams responding.”

“To serve warrants? I mean?—”

“Not to serve warrants. That’s been put on hold for now. The Russos decided that last night was a great time to wipe out the Demons. Dead Demons are popping up everywhere. The Wolf Den. The Viper’s Den. The Bear’s Den. Every fucking business, every fucking clubhouse and party house that the feds are aware of, were all hit by the Russos overnight.”

“It was a massacre?” Finn asked.

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