Ty liked the sound of that. He and Kell were definitely a powerful couple.
“With all that said. You are no longer trainees.” Duke reached out and took the manila envelope from Quick. “These came in on Friday.”
Ty grinned at the two, gleaming silver badges with the fugitive recovery bail agent star in the center. Kell was reclining back in his own chair with the same excited gleam in his eye.
“This does not mean you got free rein. You are now bail recovery agents on probation. You’ll be in the field, but you’ll have strict limitations. Basically, only what I allow you to do.” Duke picked up two file folders off Ford’s desk. “Quick and I came up with a test for you guys, if you will. I have two cases here that are medium priority. Potential violent. Both felonies. Before you two are allowed to put on those badges, I want you to review the files and come up with a plan to track and apprehend those two jumpers. You both will take field command with us as backup. You can issue the takedown order, but you cannot engage.”
Ty took his boots off his desk and sat up straighter. Now, this is the action he was talking about. His ass was going flat from sitting in that backseat and observing for weeks.
Duke tossed the two files on Ty’s desk. Kell rolled his chair over next to his and began looking through one. “Grand larceny?”
“Yep. Craig Morrison,” Ford started. “We contracted him out on a twenty-five-thousand-dollar bond for two counts of grand larceny. He stole five thousand dollars in lottery tickets from a QuikTrip.”
“Wow,” Kell mumbled, still reading over the guy’s rap sheet.
Ty turned to Ford. “What’s his story?”
“Craig, aka, the dreamer. He’s not the smartest guy in the world. The lottery tickets weren’t valid without the barcode being scanned. Said he needed the money to pay for some studio recording time for a rap demo he was working on.” Ford rolled his eyes, “Anyway, he was caught on tape. Never went to court, three months ago. We got a hit on the Sheriff’s system that another warrant has been issued for his arrest for assaulting a popular radio personality for not playing his CD at a showcase. Apparently, he really, really wants to make it big in the industry.”
Ty rubbed his hand over his fade, mumbling to himself. “Is that right?”
“He’s a damn ditz but he’s smart at being slippery. He has a boost phone that’ll take weeks to track, no employment, no credit cards, bank accounts, nada. He’s been bouncing from house to house, relative to relative, to neighbor to friend. No one sees him for more than two days at a time. Then if any acquaintances do answer our calls on his whereabouts they all say the same thing… he’s hard at work on his rap demo.”
“I’m sure he is.” Ty laughed. There were plenty of guys in Atlanta who wanted to make it in the rap game. But that was a dirty, cut-throat, dog-eat-dog world and it looked like their jumper, Craig Morrison, already had the chops. He was a straight up hustler who didn’t mind breaking laws, contracts, backs and necks to make his way to the top. Ty already knew what to do for that clown. Closing the file he said, coolly, “Next case.”
“This is a contract we accepted from Athens Freedom Bonds. They don’t have the guts to go after Alexander Donovan again after what he did to them last time.” Duke folded his arms over his chest. “This guy got popped in August last year with over ten kilos of cocaine bagged up for distribution. Athens contracted him on a fifty-thousand-dollar bond. When the owner of Athens sent his hunters for Alexander for his failure to appear, it turned into a huge mess.”
Ford tapped a few keys on his computer and one of his four monitors started playing a grainy black and white video. At first it showed a noisy club parking lot as people filed out at closing. The timer ticking on the security camera said two thirty-five a.m. People stood around a parking lot pimping, cars zoomed and swerved out of the small lot, showcasing their drunk driving skills. Then Ty saw two burly men approaching a man walking with a large group. He couldn’t discern what the men said, but when they pulled out the obvious warrant, all hell broke loose.
The man screamed “Danger!” and tried to run, but one of the men caught him in a thick arm. The group with Alexander Donovan attacked. Throwing wild punches, bottles, bags, shoes and anything else they could to help their friend, who was constantly yelling at the top of his lungs he was being gay bashed. At hearing those riot-inciting words, more people started joining in, forcing the hunters to retreat… without their bounty.