Page 74 of Mimosa

“I’m going back. Just once. I think they’ll let me explain, and it’s not the first one they’ve lost. I need to help a couple other people that are not…they’re not up for all this.”

“Then get them out and get out yourself. I’ll lay some groundwork before you get back. Talk shit about you, how you’re sloppy and have too many morals.”

“Just don’t go so heavy they want me dead before I can get a few more out.”

“I wish we could get them all out,” Sandy said. “I was there when they unloaded the women. All of them in a drugged haze, clothes ripped. And not one look of sympathy among the cops. What the fuck did they become cops for?”

“Power,” Campbell said. “The average man has very few avenues where they can become powerful. Politicians are almost solely from rich, powerful families now, and those that aren’t clawed their way to where they are. Why go to all that trouble when you can be granted a gun and shield that give you more power than even most politicians?”

Sonny nodded slowly. “They revel in it. I see that hunger in their eyes. And yeah, greed for money is part of it, but Campbell, you’re right about the power. The ones no longer cops are craving that feeling back, and those still in are craving more. It’s a sickness, an addiction like drugs.”

“Even if we get this bunch, there are a lot more out there with that hunger for power,” Taran said.

“It’s human nature, I guess, but for now? Let’s knock these fucks off the board,” Sonny commented, grimacing. “I can’t wait to bust these mother fuckers.”

“We’re all in full agreement there,” Taran said.

The paperwork was behind, so he got busy with it, sending it all to his superiors before tackling a stack of folders on each of the members of the cartel. In each, he added notes from things he’d recently learned and places that he knew they operated from. It took hours, but when it was finished, Sandy was there with a huge cup of coffee for him and a sandwich from the deli down the block.

“Replenish. I did my paperwork yesterday, and I was in bed by eight. It taxed by brain.”

“Yeah, this whole thing taxes my brain.”

“What is it, Sonny? You used to be so gung-ho about this. Now you’re…different.”

At that moment, he had no idea, but it came to him later that evening.

Sonny left and as he drove to the warehouse where they kept the men, he felt a knot growing in his stomach. There was only one sure way of ridding himself of it, if only for a little while.

He called Mims.

“Hey. I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon. Is everything okay?”

“I’m not even there yet. Just needed to hear your voice before I faced the wolves.”

“You needed a lamb to combat the wolves, huh?”

Sonny smiled, and his entire being was calmed just with his voice. “Yeah. My sweet lamb. God, how can there be people like you in the world and then people like them?”

“It takes all kinds, I guess. I miss you, B-T-W.”

“B-T-W?”

“By the way. Don’t you know text-talk?”

“Oh, right. Sorry, my mind is…a little scrambled. And I miss you too. I’ll try to call later.”

“I’ll watch for the call. I’m on duty tonight in the pub, so I’ll be around.”

“Okay. Talk soon.”

When he got to the warehouse, he got out of the truck and knocked on the side door, having it opened by Rex, one of the guys way down on the list of the cartel members. He nodded to Sonny, who walked over to the walled off area where they kept the young men.

The entrance was covered only with a blanket. He parted it to get inside, and right off, he saw that two of the men were sleeping on the mattresses they had scattered on the concrete floor.

Twelve all together, he saw a bunch off in a corner talking, but they shut up when Sonny walked in.

Then…he saw one of the men, who was on a mattress, but wasn’t sleeping. He was staring in horror at Sonny with one eye, because the other was swollen shut.

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