Chapter 20 #2
“Don’t know. Anyway, that’s the background. Being a former cop, you know that the prison phone calls, and visitations are recorded. DA Brooks knows this also, that’s why he reached out to the Warden to see if there were any other instances of Strokes talking to gang members.”
“What is the name of this gang?” Jake Cogburn asked.
“Flying Dragons,” the active FBI agents spoke as one. “They have gangs all over the country, and it’s international.”
“Correct,” Boggs said. “Strokes didn’t make the first phone call until after Karen’s first visit to the infirmary.”
“Do you think Strokes beat information about Caleb and me out of her?”
“According to the recordings, yes.”
The room went silent. It was a good while before Kevin cleared his throat, and asked, “Is my life in danger?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t know about Caleb. I do know that there were several phone calls made about you. I don’t know the number, but it’s less than ten.”
“Why?”
“Because during one call Strokes told the person asking questions about you that and I’m quoting here ‘the bitch grew a fucking backbone, and no matter how many times I beat her entitled ass, she’s not talking. The fucking bitch even fights back now’. Unquote.”
“That explains it.” He looked at Ryan and saw his nod. It was Ryan that explained to the others.
“Karen was an entitled bitch, and would spend hundreds of dollars for a new set of nails if she broke one. However, when I saw her before returning here with Kevin, she was a totally different person. Cold, brutally honest, and mean. Not the entitled mean of before. But a mean that portrays that I’m going to fuck you up first and ask questions later. ”
“Don’t forget the coldness in her eyes,” Kevin said.
“Captain, when was that quote made?”
“What do you mean?”
“Karen was on the inside for two years before she killed Strokes. She overheard Strokes talk about a bingo card, and she acted on it. I’m asking because if Strokes told the person on the other end of the line about Karen not talking, then why all of a sudden is she telling them about me.”
“No clue, Brooks is still looking into that. He told me to reach out to you to give you the heads up. We don’t know if your life is in danger or not.”
“I think it might be, Sir.” Kevin sighed, and told him why they were all gathered.
“Christ on a cracker,” Boggs said.
“Yeah,” Kevin said in agreement.
“Sir, I’m Clark Riceman, we’re here gathering intel because we have a lead on a possible gang where we are. We’re here with the Director of the gangs unit with the FBI from the local office.” He looked around and nodded when everyone realized he didn’t give their location, but he did give facts.
“Okay, is there anything I can do for you?”
“Yes, if you can. First, if you’re wondering about my experience, I was a Lieutenant of a SEAL team for fifteen years.
That team I led is with me now, and we’ll be helping the FBI with this mission.
My question to you is this, one, do you still have the seven men who tried to take Kevin out on his own property in custody? ”
“Yes, because they went after a police officer, they were denied bail, along with the warrants that were already out for them. They’ll be sitting in jail until their trial.
Oh, and in the case of this investigation, we’ve learned that all of them were out on parole, and coming after Kevin violated that condition. ”
“Good, second, are any phone calls they make, or any visitor they have, are their communications being recorded.”
“Yes.”
“Fantastic, now, third, and this is a doozy.”
“What is it?”
“Do you have a copy of this alleged bingo card?”
“I don’t, at least not yet. After the arrests in Lassiter’s back yard, we interviewed them.
Based on those talks, we were able to get warrants for their residences.
I know this sounds convoluted, but it’s the truth.
Based on what was uncovered during the initial searches of these residences, Brooks had to get more warrants.
They were executed two days ago. Hold on. ”
Everyone heard a loud knocking, and looked around, but it didn’t take long for them to realize it came from the phone.
“Brooks just walked in,” Boggs said, and they heard them discuss why they were there.
“Hey, Lassiter, do you have a fax machine?”
“I do,” he said, and gave them the number. “What are you sending?”
“Based on the new warrants, and the confirmation from the guys you and your buddies took down, we found the original bingo cards. There are six of them. However, I’ll be sending you seven sheets of paper.
The first one is how the cards work. Meaning what position you’ll be assigned to in the Dragons, based on how many squares are blocked off. ”
“Question,” Yvonne said as she told them who she was. “Do the people trying to become a member of the Dragons have to have their completed squares verified.”
“What do you mean?”
“Anyone can put an X on a square. What’s to prove that they did what the square said was actually completed.”
“Shit, that’s a good question. At one of the places we executed the warrant on, we found several flash drives, but haven’t had the time to go through them yet. I’ll get someone right on that. I’m thinking, if they have video proof, then the charges against these assholes will be adding up quickly.”
“One other thing,” Kevin said. “See if there are other Dragons around the country they are working with.”
“Will do, those papers should be heading your way.” They rang off and everyone in the office looked at each other with shocked expression.
“Fuck,” Kevin said, and that one word summed up how everyone was feeling.