Page 168 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

“I know, it’s scary, right?” Cabrera said, hip-checking her lover. “I wonder if it’s the Centrum Silver vitamins I had him start taking.”

“She’s lying to you, J. Crew. Those little blue pills aren’t vitamins,” Finn warned him.

Crew made a face. “Like I need that.”

“Cabrera?” Torres asked.

She grinned and shrugged. “Those vitamins are definitely working.”

Rodgers gagged. “Goddamn it. Can we change the subject? I really don’t need to hear about Crew’s prowess, or lack thereof.”

“I think you speak for all of us, Rodgers,” Torres said.

“What do you want us to do, Crewser?” Finn asked. “Stick around for further word or head out?”

“No point in staying up here since this floor has been stripped down to the bare bones. We can head down to the first floor to wait, or you can leave. But if you leave, stay close to your phones in case anything changes.”

When Crew, Cabrera, Finn, Torres and Rodgers headed toward the door, Rez detoured and came over to Nox to lean in close. “Hey, wanna go for a ride? If we couldn’t join in the fun, we should at least get to witness the aftermath.”

He’d been having that same thought himself. “Fuck yeah, I do.”

“Then, let’s blow this goddamn popsicle stand. I’ll text Finn once we’re outside so he can make an excuse for not staying. I know he’ll want to go, too, and I don’t want Crew catching wind of what we’re up to.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Rez rubbed his hands together. “I love it when a plan comes together.”

“In this case, the plan fell apart,” Nox reminded him.

“This will be the next best thing. Witnessing the downfall of the Demons will make me giddy. It’ll just sting a little that I didn’t have a hand in it.”

“You did. There will still be indictments for anyone who survived, and you did have a hand in that.”

ChapterThirty-Eight

The three ofthem hopped into Rez’s Dodge Durango Hellcat. They figured they’d scope out all the Demons-owned businesses and buildings in group one’s area. Nox saw no point in heading south into West Virginia or west into Ohio to see the damage. Eventually they’d get access to view the photos and read the reports.

They did a quick drive-by of the car wash and Landry’s Laundromat. Since those businesses weren’t normally occupied by Demons, both still stood without any damage, proving the Russos were out for blood and not only taking out the Demons’ sources of income.

When they got as close as possible to Pizza Town, where Decker went undercover for a very short amount of time, Rez pouted dramatically. “Poor Deck, he’ll be sad to see his fav pizza joint burnt to the damn ground.”

“He might actually shed a few tears,” added Finn, sniffling loudly.

Since fire trucks and other emergency equipment blocked the streets, they couldn’t get close. Once they parked and got out, they flashed their federal IDs to the local uniforms standing guard and were told that the doors had been barred to the pizza shop from the outside before someone threw an unknown explosive device through the large front window.

Anyone attempting to escape was shot. Anyone who didn’t was burned alive.

The ambush was brutal but effective.

It was one way of taking out some Demons, as well as one of the businesses where they dealt meth and pot.

“How many Demons were inside?” Finn asked the cop.

The rookie shrugged. “They’ve found four bodies so far. Due to the conditions of them, they haven’t been identified. Right now, we have no way of knowing whether they were customers or members of that damn MC.”

No surprise. Nox only hoped no civilians lost their life in the explosion.

They drove to Hawg Wild Saloon next. If they didn’t already know where the bar was, it would’ve been easy to find. All they had to do was follow the billowing gray smoke. There was so much of it, it was easy to spot even in the early morning darkness.

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