Charlie Foxtrot (Code 11-KPD SWAT 5)

So he went about working, never letting that phase him.

The nickname stuck, and Uncle Darren was forever going to be remembered as Shank’s little brother, no matter what his accolades were.

“Was that Shank Rhodes?” Gabe whispered loudly. “You’re related to Shank Rhodes?”

I blinked, turning to look at Gabe. “Yeah, why?”

“Oh, fuck,” Max and Foster said at the same time.

I really started to get confused then.

“What?” I asked, voice rising.

Which caught the attention of Gabe’s wife, Ember, who’d been speaking with an ER nurse. She walked up and wrapped her arms around Gabe from behind, poking her eyes out to see around his large arm.

Gabe wrapped his good arm around Ember’s back, holding her close as he said, “Somebody just shot up Shank’s kid’s house. Oh, my fucking God.”

Foster’s eyes widened, and he wrapped his arm around me.

“Mother fucker,” he breathed.

Ember, who’d stayed silent since she’d arrived, stared at me, taking in Foster’s arm placement, and then held out her hand to me.

“My name’s Ember, it’s nice to meet you,” Ember said pleasantly.

I took her hand, and shook it. “It’s nice to meet you, too. My name’s Blake Rhodes.”

“You’re Officer Shank’s kid?” She asked, eyes widening slightly.

I threw my hands up in annoyance. “What’s the big fucking deal with that?”

They all started talking at once, as if they were all little kids scared of the big bad school yard bully.

“He’s a badass.”

“You do not mess with The Shank.”

“The Shank is a fucking legend.”

“I heard about him while I was in Las Vegas.”

I just shook my head. “So should I ask him about this, or are you all going to give me the details that I need to make an informed decision?”

They stayed silent.

Obviously they’d rather stay silent.

Perfect.Chapter 129 out of 10 children get their awesomeness from their father.

-Proven fact

Foster

“Look at her fucking house,” Luke said, shaking his head in flabbergasted silence.

It was bad.

Really bad.

The entire house was ruined.

The front wall of the house, where the brick had once been, was nothing more than a mess of rubble.

In some places, you could see through the walls in a three feet wide mass.

“Dude, you’re dating Shank’s daughter?” Downy yelled, announcing his arrival with that big mouth of his.

I turned, catching my good foot on a stray brick, and tripped.

“Fuck,” I said, catching myself.

“Hey, that was pretty cool,” Downy said, looking down at my ‘blade.’

I found that I liked it.

It didn’t look remotely like a foot, like the other one did, but it was more functional…at least for me.

Everyone knew I was an amputee, anyway, so what was the point of hiding that fact?

“Yeah,” I said, bouncing lightly on the blade. “It’s pretty cool. As for doing anything with The Shank’s daughter, I won’t be speaking to you, or anyone, about that.”

“Good,” a dark, menacing voice said from behind me.

I turned to see Officer Shank, himself, inspecting the lot of us.

Gabe and Max were still with us, and they’d been joined by the rest of the SWAT team: Downy, Luke, Nico, Bennett, Michael, Miller, John, and James.

When something happened to one, something happened to all. And, although I hadn’t started anything ‘official’ with Blake, they knew she was mine.

Just as much as Shank knew it, too. That’d been why he invited me to dinner.

Downy, who’d been the one to make the comment about Blake, blushed.

Fucking blushed.

Downy was a talker. He never knew when to shut up, but anyone with any sense at all knew better than to talk shit about The Shank. Even Downy.

“Sir,” I said, offering my hand.

He shook it, then surprised me by pulling me into a hug.

“I know you weren’t here, but you put into motion having them here. If you ever, and I mean ever, need anything, call me. I’ll be there. You saved my girl’s life,” he said lowly, just loud enough for me, and me only, to hear. “Oh, and call me Lou. That Shank shit is getting old.”

I swallowed and slapped him on the back before he let me go.

I was actually a little choked up.

Getting a favor owed to The Shank, Lou, was big. Fucking monumental.

“You can all come to dinner,” Lou said before he nodded at us, and then walked down the street.

“Holy fucking shit,” Downy breathed.

I raised my brow at them. “I’m man-crushing.”

They all snorted. Every last one of them.

“And you’re dating his daughter. If you ever fuck up, you’re dead,” Miller announced.

That wasn’t something that hadn’t crossed my mind. More than once, in fact.

It was bad enough that she was the Chief of Police’s niece. Now she had to be The Shank’s daughter, too.

Knowing Blake’s father was The Shank wouldn’t change my mind about Blake though.

“Do you know that he has the record for the most drug related arrests in the state?” Luke asked the group as a whole.

“He also has the most weapon draws,” I countered.

“The most officer involved shootings,” Max rumbled.

I winced.

“The most…”

I ignored the rest of the comments, going off to walk around the rest of the house.

Once I got my fill of the outside, I walked inside, taking in the destruction.

The bullets had torn through the first two walls.

There were even some in the kitchen.

My mind struck on the spilled red nail polish on the coffee table.

Bullets riddled the floor, couch, and area surrounding the couch.

Red nail polish was spilled carelessly all over the floor, the bright red sight making bile rise in my throat.

That very well could’ve been her blood.

She could’ve died.

She would’ve died had Max and Gabe not been there.

“Did you get the plate numbers?” I asked Gabe.

I’d heard him come in behind me, taking in the destruction alongside me.

“Yeah, the plates were stolen. I have Jack doing what he can from the computer end, though,” Gabe said powerlessly.

Jack was another member of Free, and a computer wizard.

He was extremely smart, and from what I’d heard, his wife was even smarter.

The two of them together were a fucking wet dream in the hacker world.

And it made me happy to know they were on my side for this.

“Thank you,” I replied just as softly.