Hetch (Men OF S.W.A.T #1)(42)

“You’re a *,” he grumbles under his breath, ultimately letting it go.

The purpose of today is to do a tactical reconnaissance. On top of detailed plans provided by the detective working Liberty’s case, I wanted to get some groundwork of the area and see what, if any, obstacles we might come up against, i.e. big f*cking dogs. And also see if there are any lookouts we need to be aware of.

Ever since the night Dominic and his boys threatened Liberty, I’ve been doing some digging, speaking to a few boys down in the gang unit and turns out, while Dominic is a smaller fish in the grand scheme of things, he still has ties to some seriously dangerous men higher up the food chain. And because, like most street gang leaders, they leave the hard work up to their “soldiers”, we’re going to have a hard time pinning anything on him. Doesn’t mean we’re not going to try. Today we begin the first round of trying to flush the f*cker out and get something on him.

“ETA this is going down?” Fox continues to jot down his notes.

“Tommy wants to go in after dark.” Warrants at night work a little differently. While we do have the element of surprise, suspects can get away a little easier.

Richard “Tommy” Tomelson is head of the narcotics unit. His boys have been sitting on this place for a while now. If he thinks going in after dark is our best play, then we will.

“There goes my night.” Fox sounds relieved more than annoyed.

“Don’t know if you’re happy about it or not.”

“Vanessa is coming around to pick up some shit.”

Vanessa is Fox’s ex-wife. Wicked witch of Trebook as Fox has been known to call her. I’ve personally never met her, but from the stories I’ve been told, she definitely lives up to the name.

“You still having issues with her?” Hart asks after I tell him to head back to the base so we can brief the two teams.

“When am I not? She’s just trying to get in my head. We’ve been divorced for two years, and she still finds a way to come over every few months.”

“Seems like she has you on a short leash, Fox.” I weigh in on his situation. I’m not as experienced in the relationship department as these guys; my longest relationship was in high school when I was head over ass in love with Amy Theo. I chased her for weeks before she finally relented and let me take her out. We lasted two years until her dad took a job across the country and left. We tried the long distance thing for a few months, but it never worked out. Since then, I’ve played the field and had a few girlfriends, but nothing serious enough to interest me in settling down.

Until Liberty.

“She thinks she has me on a leash. She comes around, throws her attitude around some, and then ends up in my bed.”

“You’re a sick bastard.” Hart shakes his head in laughter.

“She may be a bitch, but she’s a good lay.” He shrugs, not in the least apologetic about it. “What about you, boss? Sterling thinks you’re holding out on us with the sexy neighbor of yours.”

Fucking Sterling and his big mouth.

It’s been two weeks since Liberty caught the wrong idea about Kota. Two weeks of sleeping in each other's bed, f*cking every chance we’ve had.

Two weeks of falling deeper into the rabbit hole, falling off the face of the earth, and only showing my face for work, or when Liberty complains I don’t feed her enough.

Two weeks of telling myself I’m getting in too deep. Too fast.

“Sterling doesn’t know what the f*ck he’s talking about.” I shut the line of questioning down.

This week I officially received the promotion I’ve been waiting for: team leader of Trebook’s tactical unit. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. To say I wasn’t happy would be a lie. The team wanted to make a big deal out of it, celebrate the appointing with a big night out, but I wouldn’t let them. While I may officially have the job, I still need to prove myself and keep my head above water in my new role.

These last few weeks have really put me on my ass. Since my chat with the lieutenant back at the training base a few weeks back, I’ve done a lot of thinking and realized I’ve worked so hard for this position, and the only person f*cking up any chance of me succeeding is me.

“You’re f*cking whipped, admit it. You haven’t been at The Elephant for two weeks.” Hart weighs in on the conversation just as I see two teenage boys in a heated argument out the corner of my eye.

Is that Mitch? I twist my body back as we pass them, hoping for a better look.

Shit, I think it is.

“Who are these little punks?” Fox asks, picking up on my interest in them.

“One of them lives over at Boys Haven I think. Double back, Hart,” I order, hoping it’s not Mitch but some other kid who looks like him. Hart doubles the block in record time, before slowing and pulling up beside them.

It’s the hoodie he’s wearing that seals the deal. The black and red symbol on the back of his shoulders flashes in my mind from the night I found him leaning over Liberty.

Fuck, it is him.

“Hey, Mitch, what’s happening?” I ask as I step out of the cruiser, interrupting their conversation.

“Ahh, nothing much.” Mitch steps back, his eyes frantically sliding from the three of us to the punk next to him.

Okay, this doesn’t look too good.