Execution Style (Code 11-KPD SWAT 4)

“Dude,” Foster yelled. “What the fuck?”

That had been directed at Silas and not me, luckily.

“What?” Silas asked, feigning innocence.

“We’ve been looking for her for two hours. If you knew where she was, why didn’t you tell us?” Foster asked with barely controlled patience. “And you,” he directed his gaze to me. “Do you know what the point of a cell phone is?”

I raised my brows at him. “Yes.”

“And what, pray tell, is that?” Trance rumbled, accusing eyes locked on mine.

I ignored them and fed another quarter in. “To play Angry Birds, of course.”

Silas snorted as he tried to hold in his laugh, but it made him sound like he was choking on his own spit.

I turned to him. “Did you know they were looking for me?”

He shrugged. “No, but then again, none of them called me. How was I supposed to know they were looking for you?”

Trance snorted. “You stayed for a reason, old man. And the fucking police at Miller’s door wasn’t a good way to start his morning. He had to go down to the station with them to explain what happened last night.”

“Explain what?” I asked, standing in alarm.

“That fucker from last night was killed,” Foster said eloquently.

I blinked, turning to Trance for him to translate. “What?”

“Faris Blue was killed,” Trance translated.

I blinked in surprise. “Why is Miller at the police station?”

“He had the flight information, as well as our names written on a piece of paper beside his office phone,” Trance explained. “They’re just following up with him and would like to speak with you, too.”

“Alright,” I walked past them. “Let me cash in my winnings and go talk to them.”

“Miller said for you to stay here; he’d tell them everything they needed to know,” Trance explained at my back.

Of course he would, because he had to take care of me, after all. I was a poor, pitiful woman who was incapable of taking care of herself.

“Whatever,” I said. “I’m going down there. Either you can go with me or get out of my way.”

Surprisingly, or could I say luckily, I missed Miller by a matter of seconds.

Trance had tried to call him, but the reception in the hotel we were staying at was terrible, making each call Trance placed to Miller practically worthless.

Now Trance was leading us into the depths of the Las Vegas police station so we could speak with the same man I’d met with last night, Tony DeRoy.

“Don’t say anything you think you shouldn’t,” Trance said as he reached the door.

I gave him an annoyed look. “Yes, father.”

He glared at me. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with, little girl.”

I snorted. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

“Alright,” Foster said, pushing the door open and walking between us. “Now that you’ve each measured your dicks, let’s get this over with before the reunion that starts in two hours.”

I didn’t bother telling him I wouldn’t be going. Especially since his parents were going to be there. That really was the last thing I wanted to do today.

“Mine’s bigger,” I whispered to Trance as I passed.

He snorted, but nonetheless followed me in.

“Tony, let’s do this. The reunion starts soon,” Trance said, ignoring me for the time being.

And that was how I realized that I wasn’t allowed to leave the state, because I was a suspect in the death of Faris Blue.Chapter 17Hard times will always reveal true friends. Why? Because those fuckers will be downing shots on the stool right next to you.

-Life Lesson

Mercy

“She’s told you this fifteen fucking times, Tony. Goddammit. How many more times does she have to tell you?” Trance asked, running his fingers through his hair roughly.

He was so cute, getting all defensive over me.

“Why are you still here, boyo?” Tony asked, sneering at him.

I just shook my head. They’d literally done this no less than five times now in the last hour.

I was really ready to get out of here. Not to mention that my baby that was the size of a lentil was somehow, miraculously, pressing on my bladder to the point of pain.

Needless to say, when Miller burst into the room a minute and forty seconds later, because, seriously, I was watching the clock while the two blockheads argued, I was more than happy to see him.

Except he didn’t look in the least bit happy to see me.

“Tony, you promised me you wouldn’t bother her,” Miller growled, turning his scowl on my captor.

“Yes,” he agreed. “I also agreed that if she came to me, like you said she wouldn’t, that I’d talk to her. Which she did, and I did. I’ve just got two more…”

“You’re done. Get up, Mercy. It’s time to go,” Miller said, stopping Tony’s explanation in its tracks.

“Hey!” Tony snapped. “I know you’re my friend and all, but this is a murder investing-”

“Now,” Miller growled.

I shrugged and stood, walking out the door, not waiting for Miller nor Tony to protest.

In fact, I ducked into the employee bathroom before either one could say a word.

Miller, obviously, didn’t see me enter the bathroom, because the moment I finally got to relieve myself, he was yelling the police station down.

“Mercy!” Miller bellowed loudly.

“I’m peeing!” I screamed at the door.

Goddamn. Couldn’t a woman pee by herself?

“You need to chill the fuck out, dude. I haven’t peed in four hours,” I muttered.

I shouldn’t have been surprised when he opened the door. The locked door. But I was.

He just barged in, and slammed the door shut behind him, billowing air like he’d run a mile at a dead spring.

“Jesus,” I said, turning my back on him as I yanked my pants over my ass. “What’s your freakin’ deal?”

I was still mad. Which was why I was being so mean.

I knew he was worried. Hell, I’d been worried about him, too. But he needed to back the fuck off. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with his overprotective streak that verged on the brink of irrational.

“What the hell’s your problem with me? I just saved you,” he asked, stunned that I’d snapped at him.