Chapter Zulu #2
Davis shook his head. “I don’t fucking know you. I’ve only seen a badge from one of you. You could all be on Jefferson’s payroll.”
Both Burke and Rogers pulled their badges.
“ATF?” Davis said. Rogers was too far away from him for Davis to read that his credentials were CIA.
“And our colleague with her FBI creds will be here momentarily,” Burke said.
“Since when do several federal agencies investigate a drug ring together?” Davis asked.
“We’re a multi-agency task force, and the reason why this one warrants our involvement is way above your pay grade,” Wilson said.
Davis’s eyes went back to Burke. “ATF. So, she wasn’t lying about you? Is that what warrants this? Your personal relationship?”
“Get back on topic, Davis,” Burke said. “What did you think the DEA agent was onto you for?”
“I thought he was a gang-banging member of the drug ring. I didn’t know he was DEA. What she didn’t see was that it was self-defense. I didn’t mean to kill him.”
“But after you did, you discarded his body in an alley behind a dumpster like a piece of trash,” Rogers said.
Davis shrugged. “He was already dead, didn’t matter to him.”
Rogers’s phone chirped. “They’re here.” He went to the door and opened it.
Saxton and Dupont came in. Davis eyed them suspiciously. “I want to see badges.”
They both drew and displayed them.
“CIA? Well, fuck me,” Davis said, reading Dupont’s. His gaze shifted to Laura Lee. “Saxton?” he said aloud while reading hers. “You’re Charlie’s kid, the one he adopted. A Fed, well, son of a bitch.”
“You knew my father?” Laura Lee asked.
Davis nodded. “Yeah. I was new to the force when he was killed.”
“Were you the one who gave his name and said he was covering for the drug ring?”
“Involved with. I never said covering,” Davis said.
“My father was not involved in anything,” Laura Lee yelled at him. “You’re lying!”
Upon hearing Laura Lee’s voice, Donna, who’d stood by her bedroom door, straining to listen to what took place in her living room, re-entered the living room. She stood several feet back, behind the men and her sister.
“I’m not lying,” Davis said. “Charlie Saxton was involved in it. That’s what got him killed. Jefferson is the one who gave me his name.”
“How? How was he involved with La Vonn Jefferson?” Laura Lee pressed.
“Jefferson said he owned him until Saxton betrayed him, and for that he offed him. But I found out the truth. Saxton was involved in the same way I am. He was working for IA to get whoever is on La Vonn Jefferson’s payroll while carrying a badge.
Jefferson’s been protected for over a decade by someone inside RPD, the DA’s office too.
Charlie tried to get the person or people back then, and he got too close.
Whoever they were, they outed him to Jefferson.
That’s why Jefferson killed him. I’m doing the same now.
That’s how I knew there was an open IAB investigation into me. My contact inside IA told me.”
“My father was working for Internal Affairs?” Donna asked.
Davis nodded. “Yes, just as I am now. I’m one of the good guys. Now cut me loose!”
“Not so fast,” Burke said. “We have more questions first. Why did you kill the DEA agent.”
“I thought he was a gangbanger working for Jefferson. I thought he’d come to kill me because they were onto me. That’s why I had to kill him.”
“So, was it or was it not self-defense?” Wilson asked.
“Taking him out was self-defense. If he was coming for me, it was him or me,” Davis said.
“Why here? Behind my apartment?” Donna asked.
Davis’s gaze swept over everyone in the room.
“I tailed one of Jefferson’s lieutenants here and discovered that one of the units in this complex is a stash house for Jefferson’s products.
I’d been staking the unit out for over a month before your dead agent saw me.
And then he came for me, or at least that’s what I thought he was doing. ”
“So why the continued attention on Donna?” Burke asked.
Davis’s eyes went to her. “I was sure you’d seen me through your back window.
When you didn’t admit to it, and you knew who I was, you were either okay with a thug being put down by a cop or you knew I worked for Jefferson and you were neutral about that.
I had to know which. And quite frankly, I had to have a reason I was hanging around this apartment complex.
I suspected I was being watched. Pursuing you was that reason. ”
“I’d like to say I’m flattered, but I’m not,” Donna said harshly.
“How’d you get involved in this?” Wilson asked.
“I was approached by a cop I knew to join their ranks several months ago. I went right to IAB.”
“Is there anyone there who can substantiate that claim?” Dupont asked.
“Just my contact at IAB, Lieutenant Chapman,” Davis said.
“Got that Hound dog?” Wilson asked. “We need it verified.”
“Roger that, Taco. I’m on it,” Smith replied through comms.
“We’ll cut you loose for now, but we’re holding onto your weapons until Chapman is contacted, and he verifies you’re his asset,” Wilson said. He clipped the zip ties. “Do me a favor and just stay seated.”
“Who is it? Who’s working for Jefferson?” Laura Lee asked.
“I already gave the cop who approached me to Chapman. He’s only been on the job for three years.
I was looking for the other ones, the ones who have been providing cover for longer.
I’ve identified a few, but I know there’s more.
Unfortunately, it looks like he compromises cops and goes through them like most of us change our underwear.
There’s someone high up at the precinct or at District on the take, I’m sure of it. That’s who I want,” Davis said.
“You can go after those cops. We want Jefferson. Something that will stick and put him away for a long time,” Laura Lee said. “He killed my father.”
“He killed both of your fathers,” Davis said.
Laura Lee stared at him in disbelief.
“Yeah, I know who you are, Ruth and Denzell’s kid. You look just like your mother,” Davis said.
By this time, Donna stood beside her sister. She wrapped her arms around Laura Lee. “How do we get him?” Laura Lee asked Davis.
“He has records in a safe. The problem is we can’t go after a warrant. He’s protected,” Davis reminded them.
“Where’s the safe?” Laura Lee asked.
“He has a place in the Shockoe Bottom area, a nightclub where he tries to look respectable. He’s not.
His bartenders are dealing anything anyone could want, from drugs to weapons to people.
Name your vice. He’s got it for you. He lives above the club.
That’s where the safe is. In his penthouse apartment.
You’re going to want to go in before the club opens when he has less security on site. ”
“Hound dog, get Big Bear on the line,” Wilson said.
***
“Mission approved with two caveats,” Shepherd said, his gaze through the monitor serious. “One, Dorthea and Donna Saxton are to be stashed at a hotel immediately. Dupont, you check them in under your name. You’ll be onsite during the Op. Your role is overwatch.”
Dupont nodded.
“And two, I’ll obtain vests and rifles for you from the DEA.
They’ll be on standby as your backup and to take the scene once you’re done.
Anything found in the safe is turned over to them after your review of it.
Send photos of anything of interest to the Digital Team.
Then you get that moving truck packed up and you get the hell out of there. ”
“Will the DEA know the target?” Wilson asked. “We can’t be sure there isn’t a point of compromise there too.”
“No, we’ll feed them an alternate target to be on standby for,” Shepherd said. “Anything else?”
“I know his story was confirmed, but I still don’t trust Davis,” Burke said. “I’d feel better if he were kept at the hotel with Donna and Dorthea with at least one of us babysitting. I don’t even like that he’s out in his car right now unsupervised.”
“We searched it and him. There isn’t a phone out there. He’s not contacting anyone,” Wilson said. He glanced back out of the window at the black Camaro SS. “He has access to Jefferson. That access will get us inside the club and Jefferson’s apartment.”
“Agreed,” Shepherd said. “But watch him with suspicion.”
“I won’t be turning my back on him,” Burke muttered, which brought Donna’s focus to him. Her gaze had been trained on the black Camaro SS during the call.
“Anything else?” Shepherd asked.
No one voiced any issues.
“Okay, I’ll message you the location to pick up the vests and rifles. Dupont, get them to a hotel immediately and be ready to move when I contact you back. Be on comms during the Op. I’ll be back on and listen while you’re in.” His image then disappeared from the screen.
Burke stood behind Donna during the call. He tapped her on the shoulder, and when she stood, he embraced her. “You and your mom sit tight at the hotel. Stay in the room with the door locked and don’t open it to anyone but someone from this team.”
Donna nodded against him. “We will. Don’t worry about us.” Then her gaze swept over all five of them. “You all be careful.”
“We will, don’t worry about us,” Laura Lee said. “Try to keep Mom calm.” Her eyes then shifted to Wilson. “I’m going to go with Brad to get them settled at the hotel.”
“Let me have your car keys,” Burke prompted Donna before she left with Dupont and Laura Lee.
“It won’t hurt for us to have another vehicle.
” He followed them out. After they drove away in the vehicle Saxton and Dupont had rented when they arrived, he went over to the Camaro SS.
“You can come back inside, and we’ll return your phone and weapons. Thank you for your cooperation.”
“Does that mean Chapman corroborated my story?” Davis asked. “You contacting him better not have burned me.”
“You don’t think being involved in this raid today is going to burn you?” Burke asked as they crossed the parking lot, heading for Donna’s front door.
“If we play it right, no,” Davis said.
***