CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER
ELEVEN
Jayson escorted Lana past the officers guarding the entrance to the crime scene. When they came up on the body, he was glad they hadn’t been able to eat yet.
Before Jayson could move, Lana handed him a pair of gloves then put on a pair of her own. He watched as she studied the body, moving her head this way or that way.
“Have you guys had an issue with gangs, an MC, or the mafia?” Lana asked him without looking at him.
“A new gang that the gang unit might have tied to the cartel. They aren’t sure yet. Why?”
“How many other girls have gone missing and of those missing, how many have been found? Were they branded as well?”
Jayson looked at Lana in shock. She had zoned in on what took him months to point out.
“Who the hell is this?”
Jayson looked up at his Lt. and flinched. “Lt. Brown, this is Detective Lana Pennington. She’s visiting from Texas. She’s part of a special task force back in Texas that deals with stuff like this.”
“Never knew you to bring your fuck bunnies to a crime scene, Kenwood.”
Jayson nearly jumped when Lana twirled around and went toe to toe with the asshole who made the comment. Fuck, his dick just went instantly hard at that.
“First off, asshole, it’s Detective Pennington.
Even if I was fucking Kenwood, it would be none of your fucking business.
Second, it’s obvious your ignorant ass has no clue or even gives a shit about the victims since you’re standing there with your coffee in one hand and your ant size dick in the other. ” Lana calmly glared at the man.
“Damn, Brewer, we’ve known you for years and had to figure that shit out from your ex’s complaining about you. She’s known you mere seconds and she has you dead to rights.”
The man huffed as he sipped his coffee. “Doesn’t negate the fact that Kenwood bought his bitch to an active crime scene and that she’s contaminating said crime scene.”
“The only one contaminating anything is you since you’re not gloved up and in fact, you’re standing in a part of said crime scene, dropping your crumbs from your wrinkled suit.
Must be a bitch having to sleep in your car since the wife kicked you out of the house for cheating again.
Now, Lt. Brown, I can help you boys solve this case since your own detective assigned to the case doesn’t seem interested or I can leave which you will then wind up with a huge issue that will cause you a massive headache. Choice is yours.”
“What makes you think there’s more than one girl missing or branded? She’s not branded nor was she reported missing,” Brewer spewed back at Lana, making Jayson’s blood boil.
“We have twelve other girls missing. They have been disappearing as a single or a double kidnapping. There’s been three other bodies, besides this one, making it four found so far.”
Jayson ignored his Lt. and the asshat while Lana smiled at him in thanks. Any help she gave them would be a miracle at this point.
“What about branding?”
“Same as the other three. An ‘SA’ with the…”
“The ‘A’ having horns, one of the horns connecting to the ‘S’ and the end of the ‘A’ making a circle around the letters, ending with an arrow point almost like a pointy tail.”
Jayson looked from Lana to his Lt. in shock. That was a detail they were keeping on the down-low for all intents and purposes.
“The branding is usually on the inner thigh near the very top, if not on the hip bone near the private so the johns are reminded whose property they are touching,” Lana continued, not paying him any attention.
“How do you know so much about them?” Jayson asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.
“We wrote the book on Soriano Army. They are from El Salvador with ties to MS-13. They also have ties to a couple of different cartels that supply their market for them. They want to tie themselves to an MC because they think it’s easier for them because of the fear factor and the gun running they are trying to desperately become a part of. ”
“A one stop shop. Drugs, guns, and trafficked women,” Jayson quickly surmised.
Jayson watched as Lana continued to study the body. She was a work of art when she was in the zone.
He was glad to see that it hadn’t changed through the years. No matter what shit was happening between them, she still drove him crazy with her presence.
He still got rock hard just looking at her. She’d always be his one.
He admitted that he’d always compared the women he’d slept with to Lana. They left him bored and unsatisfied.
He was one and done with his conquests. He didn’t ask for their names or their phone numbers.
Half of the time, well more than half of the time, they did the deed in a bathroom of the bar, the alleyway, or the car the woman drove in the parking lot. He never took them home, held them, cuddled them, talked to them or anything, during or after the sex.
He was a complete jerk when it came to the sex with just any woman. And, to his defense, he usually was drunk during the event.
“That’s what they are trying. Right now, they mainly have a foothold in California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida.
We have heard rumors they were looking to expand along the eastern seaside.
We know they have a small chapter that’s trying to build numbers in Georgia and Virginia. ”
“So, all areas that are strong with seaports, minus Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Colorado. I’m surprised they haven’t tried the states along the Canadian border yet,” Lt. Brown surmised Jayson’s exact thoughts.
“They tried Alaska and got shut down. They are trying to grow chapters in New York and Pennsylvania, but they aren’t having much success. Intel has it as some of the smaller towns they couldn’t get into. They tried the fear tactic and got ran off by the locals opening fire on their asses.”
“But why our area? We don’t have access to shipping containers or shipyards,” Jayson mumbled as he studied the body.
“But you have trade routes. After Helene, now it is prime for them to move in. Strange people, eighteen wheelers, large companies coming in to ‘help’ them, you name it, are in and out of the area at any given time. Most law enforcement agencies are still dealing with the aftermath of so many missing and the areas devastated from the storm. It’s easy for them right now to build their spot in this area undetected.
Especially with fear tactics. You guys are maybe twenty to thirty minutes from interstate forty, a huge traffic road they could easily get lost on. ”
“Well shit,” Lt. Brown grumbled.
“She wasn’t killed here. She probably hasn’t been reported missing yet since she seems pretty fresh. The parents probably think she’s at a friend’s house and don’t know that she’s missing.”
“Well, aren’t you a lovely know-it-all!” Brewer seethed through clenched lips as he crushed his coffee cup in his hand.
“Watch it, Brewer. You’re already on thin ice,” Lt. Brown warned the man as he stepped forward.