“I don’t recall names, but I can get them. I know one was from the defense department.”
Dace’s expression went slack. “What the fuck?”
“Get me the names, if you will,” Carter asked of Eli. “I’ll do some digging on my end. Defense department mingling in a WITSEC safe house? That doesn’t happen.”
“I’ll get you everything I have, Carter.”
Dace turned his attention to Gannon. “What did you find? Something tells me these two worlds are about to merge.”
“Well, not too much. I can tell you there’s some shit on the street that shouldn’t be. We didn’t okay it and aren’t sure where it’s coming from exactly. It’s new, expensive, and whoever owns it doesn’t know that shit is controlled and goes through us. Either that, or they don’t care, and I don’t know which is worse.”
“If it’s small drug trade, I’d know about it, but we don’t have any new players on the radar,” C.T. said, referring to the Portland Police. He pulled out his notepad, and said, “But if it’s on my streets, I need to get a team on it. Do you have anything else on it?”
“I don’t. The trail goes cold. I have some dude saying it’s the guys that’ve been running on him, hijacking his territory. Black SUVs, heavy accents…that’s all I got. The dude was spooked when he rolled on them, and they pulled out some heavy artillery. My informant ran.”
“That’s why he’s willing to roll on them. He wants you to clean house so he gets his mom and pop operation back on the streets.”
“Exactly.”
“Black SUVs and accents? It’s almost too obvious. It hits all our bullet points. Cartel. Ivy’s attack in the alley. Black SUV in the area of that drug runner’s supposed murder-suicide.”
“That’s officially a homicide investigation now. I quietly made that change based on the evidence collected. Thought I’d mention that. He didn’t kill himself or anyone else,” C.T. chimed in. “Final straw…no residue on his hands. He didn’t fire a weapon at all.”
“The shit over at the coast on the beach. Black SUVs and cartel muscle for hires,” Wylie said. “We need to get Eva up to speed on this.”
“We will,” Dace agreed. “It’s starting to look like this shit all runs together. That’s a pretty big area and broad range to investigate. This gets more complicated by the day.”
“Drug mules running product in, not so low-key but careful with identity? Cartel would make their presence known so the Russians and Irish know there’s another player in town. The big weapons? That screams money backing this. We might have ourselves a war between organizations if we don’t get that piece figured out and quick. Weapons hit the street with those drugs, and we’re screwed. Especially if the Russians and Irish decide to clean out this third party together.”
“We’ll have a bloodbath on our hands,” C.T. said. “Shit. No kidding. As it stands, we know the Irish run a small weapons operation. Russians have dope. Both are running from down south in Northern Cali. You get a player in here running both – they’ll work together to clean house, then go back to their original treaty.”
Gannon nodded slowly. “We won’t be able to stop that. You know that, right? We’ll need to bring in the feds on that.”
“NO,” Dace nearly yelled. “If they’re not already all over this shit, they’re turning a blind eye on purpose.”
Carter let out a deep sigh. “Our new player on the street has the DEA and ATF in their back pocket – that’s the theory?”
“Has to be, right? How the fuck did all this shit go down, and we’re the only ones on it? Normally, we get called up to these cases by the feds, not the other way around.”
“Fuck. We can’t call anyone in. If anyone from either department is in bed with this asshole, we can’t trust anyone over there. We’d be playing right into their hand.”
“We keep it here for now. Until we get closer to the ball in play.” Dace was feeling closer to an answer than they’d been in weeks. But it wasn’t enough.
“I’ll tread carefully and see what I can get into on my end,” Carter said, referring to his resources in DC. “If this guy is linked to all this shit and has those guys on his payroll, it’s going to get dirty. Really fucking dirty.”
“Liam, we need you to kick it up a notch on facial rec, and all the other shit you do. Speed it up somehow. I don’t know…anything. We need to figure out exactly who Ivy’s father is and how he fits into all this – if he does.”
“I assure you, he does.” Eli spoke up. “He’s dirty. Dirty as they come. This is all him.”
“Let’s get a team down to Moss Bridge, Mississippi,” Dace said. “Let’s look at the house and see what kind of evidence is left.”
“That house was off the grid as far as that town was concerned. Nobody knows what happened, so I’m sure we’d be walking into a pretty grizzly scene this many weeks later. Be prepared for the battlefield of bodies,” Eli added.
Wylie dropped his head. “Jesus. We’re going to have to process the whole scene then and get a cleaning crew on standby.”
Gannon pulled out his phone and pecked at the screen. “I can help with intel and cleanup. We have a chapter just outside Moss Bridge. In fact, I believe a few of the guys live there because the club owns the bar on the edge of town. I’ll call in some favors.”
“We’re going to need all the favors we can get,” Dace said. “Let’s plan on wheels up in twenty-four.”
***
“Dace, you can’t go there.” Ivy pleaded while lying in her bed as tears welled. “It…it isn’t safe. What if someone is there…”
“I have to, Ivy. I’ll be fine.” Dace grabbed her hand as he sat at her bedside. Carly had given Ivy something to help her sleep after such a horrific day of reliving horrific memories. “It’s the last place our son was seen.”
“But he isn’t there. I looked everywhere. He’s…”
“Shh.” Dace noticed her eyelids growing heavy as sleep threatened to claim her. “There might be a clue as to where he is. I need to go and see it all for myself.”
“I can’t…” Ivy choked back emotion. “I can’t let you go.” Her voice dropped to a desperate whisper, “What if…what if you don’t come back? That place. It’s not a good place.”
Ivy’s eyes fluttered as she fought off the sleeping pills, losing her battle.
Dace stroked her head, brushing the hair from her face to comfort her as she gave in to the pull of the medication and hoped she still heard and felt his words. “I’ll come back, darlin’. Promise. I’ll come back. I’m not leaving you . I’ll never leave you. Never again.”
A lone tear trailed her cheek as she gave him a final glance. “I can’t lose you too. We’ve already lost…so much.”
She began to mumble, and it was clear to Dace she didn’t quite know what she was saying. He didn’t doubt that if totally coherent, they’d have a completely different conversation. A guarded one. She was showing emotion and sharing feelings she’d fought so hard to hide until now.