Page 166 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

“Pretty damn close,” Crew said.

“Now what?” Rodgers asked.

Crew shook his head in annoyance. “Now we do as instructed, stand down and wait.”

“What?” burst from Rez. “Until when?”

“Until I get further word from either Williams or from the AUSA. Hard to serve a warrant to a dead Demon.”

Bob Williams was the task force’s supervising special agent and Crew’s supervisor.

“Actually, it would be helluva lot easier to serve a warrant to someone who’s dead,” Finn said.

But pointless.

“They might have to rename their MC to the Dead Demons instead of Deadly.” Cabrera added, “If anyone even survives.”

Of course there would be survivors. It would be impossible to pin all the Demons down at one time.

“What about Fletch and Wilder?” Finn asked.

Crew’s expression caused a knot in Nox’s gut.

“I’ve been trying to reach them since I first got word,” he admitted.

“Jesus fuck, they better not have been caught up in the middle of that shit. They knew about when the good guys would make an appearance but not the Russos. They might have been caught off guard.”

“Until I can talk to one of them, Pippi, I have no fucking clue. My worry was both of them getting caught up in the crossfire if this went down the way I feared.”

“Maybe they were still in their apartment when shit began going down,” Nox said.

“I can only hope. But they planned on being up and about for when we started kicking in doors. This way they could keep us in the loop.”

“But where did they plan on being?” Rodgers asked.

“Fletch said they would be at the Uniontown church. They were going to pretend they both got too smashed last night to head home.”

“Fuck,” Nox muttered. Grabbing his phone, he quickly texted both Wilder and Fletch.Check in ASAP. We need proof of life.

With his hands planted on his hips and his head shaking, Rez bitched, “Took too long to get indictments.”

The man was not happy. When it came down to it, none of them were. Getting to be involved in the arrests was like the cherry on top of the sundae. It was the finishing touch. That opportunity was being robbed from them.

Was it better for society if two criminal organizations took each other out? Fuck yes. Cheaper for the taxpayers, too. But hauling some drug-running bikers away in cuffs would be so damn satisfying.

“You know how this shit works, Rez,” Crew told him.

“We get strangled by all the goddamn red tape.”

“Without it, their charges would be thrown out and the indictments worthless,” Crew explained. Though, needlessly.

They all were aware of that, but that didn’t mean they had to like it. However, complaining wouldn’t change the process.

Unlike the Demons, they had to follow rules and procedures.

For the most part, anyway.

“Look, as long as Fletch and Wilder are okay, I won’t give two shits about the Demons or the fucking Russos. May they all rot in hell,” Finn exclaimed. “The fewer breathing at the end, the better.”

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