21. Gauge
GAUGE
My vision tunneled with nothing but the pathway to the precinct highlighted in my vision.
Engines revved and the ground shook, as if announcing our departure.
The vibrations between my legs made me come alive.
The grip I had on the handlebars of my bike made me wonder if the metal itself would warp at my command.
There was no language on the planet that had the words to communicate how angry I was.
How absolutely violent I was going to be with that bitch if someone left me in a room with her.
I drew in deep breaths, though. As I brought up the rear of the crew, keeping a watch out for our safety, I forced myself to breathe.
I forced myself into a state of calm that I only really ever achieved in Char’s presence.
We were playing on federal agent turf. We had to keep this shit as clean as possible.
But if it didn’t work? If Marcie still found a way to wiggle herself out of this one?
I’d snap that cunt’s neck and do my time like a good ol’ boy with a fucking smile on my face.
We skidded onto the main road and blazed a trail past the town’s city limit sign.
Deac revved his engine, kicking up dust for the rest of us to swallow as he pulled away from the guys.
I revved my engine twice, signaling for the guys to keep up.
And when a couple of them looked back at me, I gave the signal.
I twirled my finger in the air and pointed forward.
“Let’s go, you sorry bitches!” I exclaimed.
We didn’t even breach downtown, however, before we heard shit kick up once more. Lights and sirens crested the horizon, speeding toward us as quickly as we were speeding towards them. Cop cars and cruisers alike soared past us with blacked-out SUVs following quickly in their wake.
I skidded to a stop on my bike and whipped around before I clocked the government tag on the back of that SUV.
And when I peered over my shoulder, I found that everyone else did the same while they waited for their enforcer’s command.
“Let’s go, you sorry bitch!” Dallas barked over our heads.
I cackled with laughter as I revved my engine once. Twice. Three separate times. And on that third one, the rest of the guys fell in line.
“Let’s go see what’s happening now,” I glowered as a smirk spread across my face.
The second my foot kicked off from the ground, everyone else followed suit.
They fell in line behind me, a treasure trove of angry men ready to blow the town sky-high just to get Char out of its rubble.
Rocks kicked up and dust swirled in small tornadoes off to the side with each corner we rounded.
I kept in time with the police cars. I kept in time with the SUV.
And as they all pulled into the small medical plaza we had on the outskirts of downtown, I knew they were going to see Dr. Agemon.
Marcie herself scrambled out of the black SUV and pointed her finger at me.
“You!” she exclaimed.
I came to a stop and looked around playfully before I pointed at my chest, and the red look of hatred on her face filled me with pride.
“Me?” I asked as my eyebrows rose. “You… you lookin’ for me?”
“You,” she glowered as the rest of the guys came up behind me, “you have the right to remain silent!”
I watched her rip her handcuffs off her belt as Deac and Dallas came to sit on their bikes beside me. But she didn’t even get the handcuffs into view before Commander Hadley himself bellowed over all of our heads.
“One more move without my command, Dickerson, and you’re fired!”
Marcie froze. The redness in her face immediately fell away, giving way to a paper white blank expression. I folded my arms over my chest and grinned down at her. Rat barked with laughter somewhere in the background, causing the rest of the guys behind us to fall apart.
They laughed in that bitch’s face and it only served to make her angry again.
“It’s like she’s a mood ring,” Deac said with a smirk.
Marcie’s jaw trembled with the force it took for her to stay rooted in her place. But Nielson was quick to trot up to us.
“You guys shouldn’t be here,” he said.
I leveled that fucker with a look. “This has gone on long enough. End it.”
Nielson leaned closer to me. “If you would have stayed patient and waited for a phone call like I told you, you’d realize that’s exactly what’s about to happen.”
“What?” Marcie asked.
“Ah! She found her voice again,” Dallas said.
She snarled at him, but she didn’t budge. And goddamn it, I loved watching her be chained up by her own fucking boss.
“What’s going on?” Deac asked.
Nielson turned to face him. “The results of the fingerprint swabs are back.”
“You shouldn’t be talking to them about anything,” Marcie glowered as she waved her finger at all of us.
“Sheriff!” Commander Hadley exclaimed. “We’re burning daylight!”
“Go home,” Nielson said curtly. “In a few minutes, a call of relief is coming.”
“Or,” Rat said as he walked his bike up, “just realize we deserve to watch this show go down and do what you’re going to do anyway.”
“They are not allowed in this morgue. This is official business,” Marcie said.
“I’m liable to agree with her on this one,” Hadley said as he walked up to us.
“Tough,” Deac said as he stared the commander down.
The two men silently faced off with one another, staring each other down. But it was Nielson who cleared his throat and removed the tension from the space around us.
“Everyone, inside. Dr. Agemon has a strict schedule to keep,” he said.
Marcie shot us death glares all the way inside, but we didn’t give a shit.
We were one step closer to putting that bitch away for good.
Every once in a while, Commander Hadley caught a glimpse of her stare as well.
It furrowed his brow deeper as he studied her, and I saw those gears turning behind his eyes.
He wasn’t an idiot. He knew something else was going on.
I just hoped he didn’t refuse the information we were about to present to him.
We walked silently, though. The second we stepped into Agemon’s morgue, it was as if the entire world put on noise-cancelling headphones.
It was eerily quiet, save for the clicking of boots and shoes against the tiled floor.
We were ushered down a puke-yellow-and-green colored hallway before it dumped us out into a room full of shiny metal freezer doors and desks all clumped together with shit for days stacked on top of them.
Fluorescent lights hung over our heads, lighting up the space with a putrid color that could only be considered something you’d find in a fucking haunted house.
But when we came down the ramp leading to the two bodies on the morgue tables, I couldn’t help but clock the dips in the sheet for Bait’s body.
“Oh fuck,” Rat said through his gagging as he bent toward the trash can to his left.
I reached out and patted Rat’s shoulder as I clocked Marcie’s death glare.
“Oh, get over it,” she muttered.
“Have some respect,” her commander spat. “These are human beings.”
And when she scoffed, a smile spread across my face.
She dug her own little grave, one shovel full of dirt at a time.
I couldn’t wait to watch this come crashing down on her.
“I need air,” Rat murmured.
“I got him,” Rico said as he walked back down the hallway with Rat.
“Well,” Dr. Agemon said as he came through a small door to our right, “now that everyone is here, I don’t have to do this multiple times.”
“Doctor,” the commander said as he held out his hand, “I’m sorry we’re meeting under these circumstances.”
Agemon held up his gloved hands before nodding his head. “Likewise.”
The commander cleared his throat and motioned to the bodies. “What do we have here?”
Agemon sighed heavily before he walked over to Bait’s body and stood there. “I assume you looked at the autopsy reports?”
“Talk to us like we haven’t,” Marcie said flatly.
Agemon looked at her for a while before nodding his head. “Actually, hold on.”
He ripped off his gloves and tossed them into a trash can near one of the desks. Then he pulled out three files. He walked over to Commander Hadley and gave him one before walking over to Nielson and handing him one as well.
Agemon walked up to Deac. “Make sure this gets to Rat. I’m not sure if he’ll appreciate it, but it’s there if he wants to read it.”
Deac took the folder from him and flipped it open before nodding and closing it right back up.
“Thank you, Doctor,” Deac said.
“Why is he getting a copy?” Marcie asked.
“Because one of the victims was his brother,” Dr. Agemon stated plainly before he looked around at the rest of us.
Commander Hadley shook his head. “I’m so sorry for your loss, gentlemen.”
“I’ll make sure he gets it,” Deac said as he tucked the folder up under his arm.
“Why are there so many copies of this same report? Weren’t they just delivered to the precinct?” Marcie asked.
Dr. Agemon answered without hesitation. “I keep multiple copies of everything, Special Agent Dickerson.”
His words practically sucked the air out of the room, and I relished it. I devoured the fact that the old man with white hair and little round glasses that kept falling down his nose could somehow shut up the biggest bitch in the room with the calmest voice possible.
What a fucking sight.
“So if you’re ready,” Dr. Agemon said as he pulled two more rubber gloves out of his doctor coat pockets, “we can talk about how these people came to be nothing but bodies on my tables.”
“Of course, whenever you’re ready,” Nielson said as he snapped the folder closed in his hands.
“For this young man here, who goes by Bait,” he said as he motioned to the sheet with the dips in it, “an explosion was the cause of his death.”
“Sorry, did you say explosion?” Commander Hadley asked.
Dr. Agemon nodded. “And for Captain Murphy here, it was a single gunshot wound to the head. The first one killed him on the spot, and the other two were most likely for good measure.”
“Where were the gunshots?” Hadley asked.
Agemon tapped the areas of his body as we spoke. “Two to the chest, one to the head.”
Hadley paused. “Those are two pretty different ways to die, Doctor.”
Agemon nodded. “Yes, yes they are. Which is why I made sure to put a rush on the tests as I found things to test. Of course, we tested for drugs and alcohol and anything of the sort in their system. Bait’s blood alcohol levels were a smidge high, but still below legal limits?—”
Marcie interjected. “So he was intoxicated when he died.”
“No.”
“But he was drinking beforehand, right?”
Agemon shrugged. “Maybe three or four hours before his death, yes. But again, nothing that would?—”
Marcie scoffed. “So for all we know, he just stumbled drunkenly into the wrong place at the wrong time, and boom.”
All of us panned our heads toward her. All of our eyes locked with her as a scoff fell from my lips.
The way she shuffled on her feet told me everything that I needed to know.
The way she fidgeted with her hands was going to give her away if she wasn’t careful.
That woman was nervous. Her plan was falling apart.
I ate that shit up.
“Out,” Hadley commanded.
Marcie whipped her gaze up to him. “What?”
He turned his full body to face her. “I’m not sure what’s going on with you right now, but you and I will talk later. Right now, you need to leave.”
“But, Commander?—”
“Leave, Special Agent.”
That’s when Agemon interjected and stole the spotlight back. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
Marcie pointed at him. “See? Even Dr. Agemon thinks I should stay.”
“Yeah, you really should,” Nielson said flatly.
Commander Hadley looked over at him and narrowed his eyes. “Why?”
“Just listen,” Nielson said. “Dr. Agemon?”
The man drew in a deep breath before clearing his throat. “When I ruled out any sort of accidental death or overdose causes of any kind, I moved to the fingerprints and strands of hair that I was given.”
“What?” Marcie asked.
The doctor continued. “I put a rush on those labs, of course, because once I ruled out accidents and suicide, the only other option is homicide. And thankfully, we were able to dig up the crime scene where Bait’s body was found.”
“Dig up?” Marcie asked as her voice softened.
“Dig up? I thought you said he died in an explosion,” Hadley said.
Dr. Agemon walked over to a computer screen and tapped away. “Commander, Nielson, everyone. If you’ll all gather around. Pictures might help us get through this a bit quicker.”
We made sure Marcie was fucking front and center.
Sandwiched between the two men with the rest of us standing behind her.
I loomed over her with my fucking shadow.
I covered every square inch of her body as she stood there, darkened by my presence.
Every time she looked around, I wanted her to see us.
Every time she looked up, I wanted her to see me.
I wanted her to know that she was cornered. That she was caught.
And that her smart move was to play into the hands of her commander instead of trying to take us on.
“Now there were a lot of things that were found at the crime scene where Bait’s body was found that answered a lot of questions.
For instance, the ligature marks that I found around his wrists and ankles.
None of that tied into anything related to an explosion until Sheriff Nielson and Deputy Carlyle brought me this. ”
He typed around on his keyboard for a bit before pulling up pieces of the chair Bait was strapped to.
I looked down at Marcie and I took pride in how pale her skin became.
Instead of shuffling around and asking bullshit questions in an attempt to get a one-up on us, she was frozen in place.
I actually had to check her chest to make sure she was still fucking breathing.
As Dr. Agemon walked Commander Hadley and his band of misfits through everything we found at the crime scene, we finally got to the good part.
“Now with all of this to take a look at, it was a very long night for me,” Agemon said as he typed around on his computer screen again.
“However, we were able to pull fingerprints from a blackbox detonator we found in the very back of the bunker where Bait’s body was found.
There were some frayed lines, probably from a rat that chewed through things.
But the sheer amount of prints and hair we pulled from that backroom, as well as Bait’s chair, all match one person. ”
“Who?” Hadley asked.
And when Dr. Agemon pressed a button on his keyboard, Marcie’s fucking federal agent mugshot photo, with that smile of hers gleaming, popped up on the screen.
“Special Agent Marcie Dickerson,” he said as he turned to face all of us. “The fingerprints, DNA, and hair strands all match her.”