Page 92 of Quasim III: King Inferno

She ran over and hugged me tightly. “Okay.”

Meer stared at me and saluted me as I took off down the hall, bypassing the meeting room. I stopped short, causing Brian to bump right into me. Sigel, with a fucking detective badge around his neck and a cup of coffee in his hand, was in the middle of talking.

The picture of Khaos, Goon’s brother, was the biggest picture up on the board. The name Menace Caselli was also on the board, but there wasn’t a picture up of him. As stupid as Zoya had been being with Sigel, she wasn’t that dumb to bring him around her brother or even give him an inkling of what her brother was into.

Somehow, he knew.

He turned, and I ducked and rushed toward the elevators right on top. “District Attorney Fern, Lucia Parker wants to talk to you.” Kevin Robinson, the director of the FBI met me at the elevators.

He held his hand out and I shook it. “I’ve heard… you know why?”

We stepped into the elevator, and he pressed the button to the garage. Soon as we got off the elevator, I damn near did a double take when I saw my brothers standing there in FBI windbreakers and badges around their necks.

“It’s all hands-on deck with this. With Dr. Mercer being held without bond and a lot of corruption and things being uncovered, we have every agency out there. Mercer has agreed to talk, and he has mentioned Lucia’s name. These are Federal agents, Ross, Kinya, and Henderso—” his phone rang. “Give me a second.”

He walked away from us to take the call, and I looked at Cappadonna, Capone, and Corleon. “How in the fuck?”

“Forty called me and told me that Mercer was going to talk. He mentioned Lucia’s name and her name won’t be the onlyname he drops . He knew something was going to happen, especially since Irie told him that Lucia had been spiraling and got suspended from work because she didn’t follow protocol and used obsessive force.”

“And you made this happen?” I looked at Corleon.

He laughed. “Nah. Forty pulled some strings and got these over to me. This shit is breaking news, and they need all hands-on deck. Lucia makes them nervous because she knows too much. FBI director right there… he’s a Case House client.”

Cappadonna gave me that look. It was that look of a bigger brother worried for his baby sister, and his only sister. Capone was giving me the same look. Neither of them rushed to speak, because they were worried and couldn’t put the words together. As much as they both were different in their own way, they both had similar reactions to things.

The director had walked further off and was screaming on the phone. “I’m going to be alright. Both of you stop giving me that look that daddy gives me.”

“I don’t like this shit, Pri,” Capone finally spoke.

I sighed and looked at them. “Trust me to know how to handle myself. I cannot leave Irie alone and not come when she asked for me.”

Capp quickly kissed my head. “You have too big of a heart, Baby Doll. I need you to know the minute we hear a gun shot, I’m busting up in there and airing shit out and don’t care about going back to prison.”

His tone and the look in both of their eyes told me that they were serious. I quickly hugged my brothers and then stepped back. “I got that Delgato blood in me, too. Lucia can’t get one up on me.”

Capone winked. “Bitch ain’t met Capri Inferno.”

Corleon gave me a side hug. “Hopefully she has some security cameras inside her house.”

Director Robinson finished his screaming match, and we all got into the SUV’s that were awaiting for us. Corleon rode in the front of the one I was in, while Capone and Cappadonna followed in the one behind us.

The negotiator was waiting as soon as they allowed us clearance onto the block. Meer had texted me that he was having Skyler take Peach home, and he was going to come onto the block.

I knew he wouldn’t be able to get onto the block because it was locked down. Nobody was getting onto this block unless they were helping in this hostage situation.

“Rick Morty, I’ve been speaking with Lucia, and she wants you. Doesn’t want money or anything and says she will let Detective Hill out. We’re going to get you set up with a bullet proof vest and everything needed.

“Capri Fern.”

“Oh, I know who you are, District Attorney Fern… big fan of you and the work you’re doing.” He spoke so damn fast that if you weren’t paying attention, you might miss something.

“Anything that I need to know going into this?”

He took a deep sigh and looked at me. “They have a witness that saw Mercer being arrested and has come forward with evidence. She said that she was tricked into being a housekeeper and ended up being used in the egg farming scheme.”

“We have a name or just someone throwing out shit she heard on the news?” I continued to fish as he tightened my bulletproof vest.

“Thea Armstrong, however, her name hasn’t been released to the public. She says she has proof of everything and even a murder that Lucia committed.”

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