Dream Chaser (Dream Team, #2)(61)

“What next?” Auggie asked.

“Slim and Mitch are trying to create a list of cops that might have been close to Crowley who he might have shared with,” Hank said. “Problem with that is that Crowley didn’t have a lot of friends, and considering what it’s become clear he was looking into, he probably was so paranoid, he didn’t share dick with anybody.”

“And if whoever is behind all this didn’t know already, they know now because they instigated it, they’re on my radar. So we can move a lot freer in looking into shit,” Hawk said.

No one asked how they were going to move a lot freer, mostly because Eddie and Hank were there.

Both cops understood this, probably dealt with this kind of thing with Lee Nightingale and his crew all the time, so they didn’t waste a lot of time saying good-bye and taking off.

When they were gone, Boone didn’t waste any time re-huddling with Hawk and the boys.

“I just shared in front of two of Cisco’s crew that Ryn got a call from Cisco admitting to conspiracy to commit murder,” he reminded Hawk. “Someone tells a cop that, a dirty one or other, they get a warrant from a judge to look into her cell records, she’s fucked.”

“Her cell records have already been altered,” Hawk said. “Any record of that call was erased.”

Boone felt his brows go up. “That was fast.”

“Hawk phoned me too, muchacho,” Jorge said on a grin.

Another reason all the guys depended on Jorge.

When he was given an order, he did not fuck around.

“Thanks, bud,” Boone replied.

“Don’t mention it,” Jorge said.

“Now, assignments,” Hawk decreed. “We got business to see to and we also got this business to see to. I’m assuming you’re all in for overtime?”

Overtime didn’t mean money. They were all salaried.

Hawk meant they could tap out if they didn’t want to wade in.

The responses were immediate.

“Yep.”

“Yeah.”

“Yup.”

“Absolutely.”

The “absolutely” came from Mag.

Boone was seeing he was going to be paying for rounds probably for the next six months.

He didn’t mind.

And anyway, it wasn’t the first time.

“Right, then let’s sit down. We got shit to discuss.”

Again the response was immediate.

They all walked into the conference room.





Chapter Twelve





So, I’m Out





Boone


Boone made one detour before heading back to Ryn’s.

He went to visit Smithie.

He called ahead and was not surprised, when he hit Smithie’s office, to see Smithie’s nephew Dorian there.

Boone didn’t know Dorian all that well.

But what he knew, he liked.

And considering he had a feeling Dorian was behind the switch from titty bar to revue, he liked him better.

Needless to say, after Smithie lived through the antics of the Rock Chicks in their heyday, he was not real pleased to hear that Ryn was caught up in some dangerous business that had nothing to do with her but included her being the target of a sex offender.

Smithie did not blow and bluster.

After Boone ran it down, the man leaned back in his chair, looked to the ceiling and said, “Dear God. You got my devotion. I know I haven’t lived a blameless life. But I do not get it. I mean, the question has to be asked. What the fuck?”

God probably got asked that question a lot, though maybe not with that language.

One thing Boone knew, unless you paid attention to the signs, He rarely answered it.

Boone believed in God, but he was not a churchgoer. His mother was and every Sunday growing up it was Sunday school followed by being bored stiff through a sermon.

His dad, who did not go to church with them, put the kibosh on that when each of his sons turned fourteen, saying to his mother, “They’re nearly grown men now, woman. They gotta learn to make their decisions about a lot of shit, including how they worship.”

He, nor any of his brothers, ever went to church again.

It wasn’t God.

It wasn’t faith.

Now that he was older and understood it better, it was the dogma.

In the end, on Sundays, he, his dad and his brothers would go out and do something, like take a hike or go play catch in the park. And with his mother not in earshot, his dad was big on saying, “This is where God is, boys, this is what He gave to us, not some damned building.”

Porter Sadler meant the park or the hike, and them being together.

And even when Boone was fourteen, he knew his father was right.

Boone didn’t share his ideology about religion with Smithie and Dorian.

He said, “I think Ryn needs to be given a hiatus until this shit is sorted so I can be certain she’s kept safe.”

Dorian waded in then.

He did this by saying, “No.”

Boone looked to the guy.

“Sorry?” he asked.

“No,” Dorian repeated.

Boone stayed silent mostly because he needed the energy to control his temper.

“Son, trust me. I’ve been through this,” Smithie said to Dorian, then jerked his head Boone’s way. “These boys got skills we do not have. They can get the job done. And still speaking through experience, it gets worse before it gets better.”