Chapter Fifteen
Griffin
I didn’t know what the hell I expected when we walked into Knight’s office, but it wasn’t this.
He’d completed his upgrade, but I couldn’t see it now.
The place looked like someone had ordered a war room kit off the Internet and then let a madman loose with push pins and highlighters.
Every vertical surface was covered. Surveillance prints in grayscale, stacks of DMV photos, and blueprints of every major building in the Nashville area.
The air buzzed with electronics, cheap energy drinks, and the ghost of sweat from too many hours straight planning out every angle of a move none of us had ever made before.
Knight sat in front of another bank of monitors.
Despite the mess he’d made in his office, Knight looked surprisingly relaxed.
Gunnar stood several steps behind him, arms folded.
His face looked hard as he glowered over Knight’s shoulder at whatever our tech officer had on the screen.
Knuckles had claimed the big chair at the end of the table, legs sprawled out in front of him, looking almost like he dozed while the others worked. Which was a total illusion.
The surprise was Tonio Miles. He didn’t blend. In his tailored suit, he stood in the corner of the room, radiating a cold, predatorial calm. His dark beard was trimmed, his hair perfect, but there was nothing soft about him. He looked up as we entered, his dark eyes landing on Veda first.
She hesitated, but only for a moment. Then she walked in like she belonged in the room as much as everyone else. I followed her, shutting the door behind us. The conversation that had been humming died instantly.
“Good,” Knight said without looking up. “You made it. I’m almost done prepping the packet.”
Tonio gestured to two empty chairs. “Miss Garrison. Griffin. Have a seat.” He said it in a way that made it clear this was not a request.
Knight didn’t look up but continued to work in the methodical way he had about him.
“Judge Isaiah Marlin. State superior court. Tied to four trafficked women at minimum. I stopped looking after the last one because, once we have him we can find out more. The ‘I’ in the ledgers is him -- crossed against wire transfers, real property moves, and at least three burner phones. Before I presented everything I also found digital evidence to link him to everything I presented to Tonio independently. Guy’s guilty as shit.
” Knight glanced at Veda. “I’m also sure he’s the one who purchased Tessa.
If he doesn’t have her now, he knows where she is. ”
He tapped a key, and the wall monitor flared to life with a blueprint in the center and a dozen little yellow stickies flagging key features.
“This is Marlin’s estate,” Knight said. “Six thousand square feet, three security cameras on a loop, two entry gates, the main with a rotating off-duty cop, the rear with a night-crew domestic staff. His wife divorced him last year. His two kids are grown and gone. His daughter lives in L.A. and his son in New York City. It’s just Marlin and the help.
The neighborhood is designed for the privacy of the people living there, so even though there are neighbors, as long as there are no loud noises or an abundance of light, no one will notice. And the light is questionable.”
Tonio steepled his fingers. “Tomorrow morning, Judge Marlin is officially on vacation for a judicial seminar in Atlanta. He is not scheduled to be seen in public for three weeks.” He looked at Veda.
“In other words, tonight is the only night he can disappear before anyone thinks to check the house.”
“So we go tonight.” Knuckles cut in. “What’s the plan for Marlin’s security?”
Gunnar leaned in. “I got a list of the current guys. Half are ex-military, half are off-duty Metro cops. None of them have a reason to die for Marlin. They’re paycheck mercs. We catch them before they can make a move, we give ‘em the chance to walk.”
“If we’re surgical, it’s over in ten minutes and he never hears us coming. The only complication is if he’s got someone else inside. Sometimes he brings company.”
Tonio frowned. “He does. And that’s the problem.”
He reached across the table and picked up one of the folders.
“This is what you don’t have yet. For at least six months, Marlin has been using my father’s territory and resources to move his product.
Girls, drugs, whatever else he wanted. The Miles family owns the underworld of Nashville.
He’s letting everyone he sells to know he’s operating under our noses.
” Tonio’s calm was cool and deadly. Tonio dropped the folder on the desk in front of Knight.
It landed with a slap that made even Gunnar blink.
“My father is not pleased. And when he is not pleased, I am not pleased. And when both of us are not pleased, someone dies.”
Knuckles met Tonio’s gaze for long moments. “We can take care of the judge easily enough. That’s not an issue.”
“And Iron?”
Gunnar grunted, clearly not happy with something. “You know we can take care of Iron. Veda’s sister comes first. Then we’ll take care of the rest of the problem.”
Knight snorted softly. “I don’t give a fuck if you want the bastard drawn and quartered, so long as we get Veda’s sister back.”
Gunnar said, “If we’re up against cops, we need black-out masks. None of their bodycams can see our faces or we’ll all be headed back to prison.”
“Everyone will wear a mask, no exceptions,” Knight said. “You too, Veda.”
She nodded in acknowledgement but remained silent.
The screen at the far end of the table flickered. “Here’s our call,” Knight murmured as he accepted the video call everyone had apparently been expecting. The man appearing on the screen looked older, graying at the temples and salt mixed with the pepper of his short, neat beard. Seth Miles.
Tonio lifted his chin at the monitor, voice clipped. “Father.”
Seth nodded once, then turned his gaze to Knuckles.
“It’s a pleasure to see you, Knuckles. I hate that we have to meet under these circumstances.
” Seth spoke politely, not acknowledging anyone but his son and the ranking officer in the club.
“I want Marlin alive when he leaves his estate. He does not die there. You bring him to us. His men, if they resist and know what he is, you handle them. But Marlin belongs to me and my son.”
Tonio didn’t look away from Knuckles. “You have my go-ahead. Take him clean. Bring him back alive.”
“Leave it to us, Seth.” Knuckles didn’t comment on the man basically giving Kiss of Death permission to do something. No one gave Knuckles permission to do anything. The man simply did what he wanted.
The screen went black. For a full five seconds, nobody spoke. Knight finally broke the silence. “So. Mask up. Go in soft. Take Marlin. Bring him back. Yeah?”
We all stood. Knuckles stretched, cracking his neck left and right. “Ten minutes,” he said. “Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. Load up. Meet at the garage.”
Tonio looked at me, then Veda. “You have questions, now is the time.”
I looked to Veda. I could see she wanted to ask something, but she held back.
Tonio’s voice softened as he studied Veda.
“You are welcome on the op, Miss Garrison, but this is not negotiable. You will stay with Griffin. If you get caught, it’s not just you who will die.
It will start a war in the Nashville underground and that makes life dangerous for the entire city. Do you understand?”
She met his gaze. “I understand.”
Knight closed his laptop and stood. He wasn’t a big guy, but he radiated menace when he wanted to, and that had little to do with his freaky-ass eyes. “Let’s go get your sister, Veda.”
Down the corridor, I caught Veda’s wrist, pulling her aside. “You holding up?”
She nodded, but the tears were already welling up. “I have to do this. For Tessa. For me.”
I wanted to tell her she didn’t have to, that I’d do it for her, but I knew better. She’d never forgive me if I kept her from this fight. So instead, I just wrapped her tight, one arm around her shoulders, the other bracing her chin so she had to look at me.
“You stay with me, Veda. You do what I say. You want to get your sister back? You have to make it out, too.”
She swallowed. “I’m not afraid.”
“Good. But I need to know you’ll do what I tell you. Just this once, I need you to obey everything I say without question.”
She smiled, tears tracking down but her mouth hard. “Just this once. And only until we get back.”
“There’s my sassy girl.” I kissed her then, hard and fast because there was no way not to. Then I let her go and watched her walk down the hall, off to put her own mask on and ready herself for battle. Me? I’d been at war since the day I saw her. It was just time to finish it. Tonight.
We moved in three blacked-out vehicles. Knight had long ago made dummy plates to keep us off the radar when necessary, and with the dark tint on the windows, it would be impossible for anyone to see us, especially at night.
Tonio and his crew followed. Our rides looked like any other expensive SUVs.
Except these had bulletproof glass and the custom black-on-black rims. The third car was for backup.
It looked like a beat-up Escape, but the small vehicle had just as much bulletproofing as the SUVs.
Knuckles kept up a steady murmur with Gunnar in the front of the vehicle carrying the Kiss of Death crew, which included him and Gunnar as well as Hawk and me and Veda.
We stopped a short distance away to assess the situation in real time.
Knuckles and Gunnar continued to talk to each other and Tonio Miles via phone for several minutes, making sure we had no surprises.