Page 25 of Daddy's Pursuit
Catching the bastard did.
That was all that was important.
Well, all that was important when it came to the case. In Jack’s other world, what truly mattered was cute Little Iris. But it was all connected. As long as an arms dealer was running around Los Angeles selling high-power guns to the highest bidders, no one was safe.
That included Little Iris.
And Jack would be damned if she, or any innocent person, was hurt because of Frank Holloway’s greed.
Right now wasn’t the time to be distracted by thoughts of Iris. It was imperative that he focus. So, as hard as it was, he shoved her from his mind and said, “How long until SWAT gets here?”
As if answering the question, an engine roared nearby. The detectives looked to see an ominous, black armored vehicle rolling up. If anyone was inside that warehouse, they’d probably already noticed the cops gathering outside. That didn’t matter, Jack thought. They’d know they were there soon enough either way.
“We need to move fast,” he said, once the SWAT commander had hopped down from the behemoth truck. “They have access to a lot of firepower in there. Let’s not give them time to mount a defense.”
The commander nodded, radioed a few orders to his men, and then everyone got into position.
It was go time.
“Shit!” Jack yelled, kicking an empty beer can that lay on the floor of the equally empty warehouse.
That can was all the cavernous room held.
The lights overhead shone brightly off the clean concrete floor. The echo of his curse was still fading off the high metal ceiling as he walked deeper inside.
“This was a setup,” Jack said. “He’s just toying with us.”
Toying withme, he noted silently. But he kept that comment to himself.
He exhaled loudly, turned to Detective Marshall, and said, “Five will get you ten Holloway was never at that club last night.”
The other man cocked his head to the side. “Huh?”
“Think about it.” Jack started pacing the bare floor. “We had a surveillance team sitting on that place. The front and back were covered. But no one saw Frank Holloway go in or out.”
Marshall shook his head. “But we have him on the recording.”
“That’s easy. He pre-recorded that. Hell, he might have even phoned it in, and they just put him on speaker. Could’ve been a Zoom call, for all we know. This day and age, that shit’s easy. He was toying with us, making us think he was there and that this was good intel. He just did this to rub our noses in it.”
A look of recognition flickered in Detective Marshall’s eyes. “Yeah. You’re right. We got played.”
More than ever, Jack wanted to punch Frank Holloway in the damn nose. But stewing over his anger wouldn’t help matters any. The arms dealer was out there somewhere. Every day that he was free meant more guns in the hands of people who had no business having them. Now was not the time to lose his head.
Nor was it time to reflect on how much the job was getting to him. But it seemed as if every day, the bullshit just kept piling up. More and more questions about the department and his role in it swirled around his head.
And now that Little Iris was in the picture, it was more important than ever that he stay safe. The thought of getting shot or knifed on the streets and leaving her in this world alone was enough to terrify him. She needed him.
Needed Daddy.
He shook his head. He barely knew her. Now was not the right time to get swept away like some hopeless romantic.
Now was the time to think clearly and solve this case.
And later tonight, it would be time to set everything aside for an hour or two and take a sweet Little out for ice cream.
That caused him to actually smile, despite the anger that roiled just beneath the surface.
Go on, Jack. Do your job today. Maybe you’ll be one step closer to finding this guy.
