Page 3 of Punished
“My training, if you follow orders and do not fight me, will go on for a few months.”
Yìchén mouth dropped open. “Months?”
“For you, yes. Do you even know how to fight?”
Yìchén snorted. “Of course I do.”
“I'll be the judge of that. In the meantime, we need to get down to the basement,” Chen said, then he walked over to the door, opening it. He turned to see if Yìchén would join him.
With a pout and dragging of feet, he finally left the comfort of his bedroom to accompany Chen to kill his uncle.
Chapter two
Milan “Ajay” Patel
“Idon't know whatyou're going to tell them during your debriefing, but if you want to keep your job, I hope you at least have some information to give us,” Agent Markum said as he escorted Milan “Ajay” Patel to their boss' office. The Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Bernard Perry. They traveled hours straight from the prison to their branch office in Tampa. It was nighttime, he was tired and hungry, but also ready to get this all over with.
“I know exactly what I want to say,” Ajay said right before he knocked on his boss' door. After he was given permission, both he and Special Agent Markum entered.
ASAC Perry sat behind his desk, a sour expression on his face. The man had spent over twenty years of his life working for the DEA and at one point, Ajay had looked up to him. Now, Ajay knew he was about to kiss the future he thought he wanted—to one day be where Perry was— goodbye.
“Leave us,” Perry told Markum, who obeyed, leaving Ajay alone with their ASAC. “What happened in there?”
Ajay took a deep breath, then released it slowly. “I wasn't able to get anything on the Lords, sir.”
Perry scoffed. “Because you weren't trying to. What did you tell them about our operation?”
“Nothing, sir.”
“Bullshit. You mean to tell me you've been sleeping with one of their members and they didn't tell you anything and vice-versa?” Perry snarled as he leaned back in his chair. He glared at Ajay with palpable anger.
Ajay could feel all of the emotions in Perry's expression and it made him uncomfortable. This was a man he never had wanted to upset or disappoint, but to him, The Lords and TT were more important.
Ajay cleared his throat. “I wasn't lying before. The Lords didn't tell me anything. I was in the prospecting phase. They make applicants do it for a full year. I was in prison, meaning I wasn't in any position to have to perform duties that would expose me to their lifestyle. I did their chores. Cooked for them, did laundry, cleaned cells, stuff like that. My goal was to get close—”
“Your goal was you were supposed to earn their trust so you could get us inside information,” Perry snapped after cutting Ajay off. “Not to fuck one of them. You've compromised yourself. Nothing you say here can be believed.” He scooted his chair back and stood up, walking around the desk toward Ajay. “I know you know something about them. Stuff we don't have on file. I also know you told them details about our cases. Even if you say you didn't, I don't trust you anymore.”
Ajay looked his superior eye-to-eye. “What makes you think I told them anything?”
Perry returned Ajay's starewith the same level of intensity that sent sparks throughout the area. Ajay could feel his heart thumping in his chest, his palms grew moist, and he loosened his fists to let them air out. He didn't want to show any signs of nervousness. Didn't want to make them even more suspicious of him than they already were, but he wanted to know just how much they did know.
“Why don't you tell me how you got those bruises?” Perry asked as he eyed each fading bruise on Ajay's face from his bouts with both Tiny Tim and Dragon after they found out the truth.
“I got into a fight.”
“With them? Did you tell them that you were an undercover DEA agent? Did they do that to you?” Perry asked, nodding his chin at the bruises.
Ajay could tell a lie if they didn't know the truth and just say that he'd gotten into an altercation with another prisoner in the laundry room or something like that. But he didn't want to. What would be the point when he'd already decided that he was quitting? Also, telling the truth in this matter might lend some credence to him telling them that he didn’t divulge any DEA information to the Lords. Mixing truth with lies was something he specialized in.
Ajay sighed and nodded. “Understandably, they were upset.”
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Perry growled; his lips twisted in a grimace.
“I was thinking that I would turn in my badge as soon as I was out,” Ajay said.
Perry frowned. “Are you kidding me? You're quitting? Because of them?”
“I don't expect you to understand—”
