Page 50 of Riot

“Sup. Man, they hit that place around 2:00am,” he said, voice rough like he hadn’t slept either. “Full force with a swat team. Kicked in every door and swept every inch.”

I leaned forward, elbows on my knees, heart beating slow but heavy. “And?”

“It’s bad. Seven girls, locked up.”

I closed my eyes.

Von wasn’t done.

“They found a stash of weapons—some imported, some untraceable. Fully automatic shit. Scopes. Silencers. Grenades. And a vault of narcotics. Cocaine. Fentanyl. Designer pills. Like a cartel bunker. They also had cages of rare animals in the back—some endangered. Like it was a damn zoo for psychopaths.”

I exhaled through my nose and rubbed the back of my neck.

“And the girls?” I asked.

“They’re safe. Got them transported to a trauma recovery center. They’ve contacted a few families already. Others’ll take time.”

“What about Boaz?”

“Still in the hospital. Cuffed to the bed. Under armed guard. His entire crew’s been detained. Not one of them made it out clean.”

Good.

“You snitched?” he asked.

“Fuck no. Boaz was good for business,” I laughed.

“How’d you know about call we got?”

“He was keeping a girl there, she got out and she called it in. She asked for my help. Is there anyway you can thwart them finding out who made the call?” I asked, hoping my number didn’t come up.

“Yeah, I’ll work on it.”

“Aight, bet. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Peace.”

I ended the call with a clipped thanks and shoved the phone onto the counter.

There was a knock on the door.

Three short taps, I could tell it was

“Come in,” I called.

Madeira stepped inside, dressed in her soft linen robe.

“You look troubled,” she said, eyeing me with a raised brow.

I leaned back in the chair, letting out a slow exhale. “Rough night.”

Her eyes drifted toward the direction of my bedroom.

“She still asleep?”

“I haven’t checked on her yet.”

“Give her a couple more hours,” Madeira said. “She needs rest. So do you.”

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