Chapter 3

The station was quiet, despite having several dozen people milling about talking about their recent cases. Narcotics had wrapped up one case just to have another one fall into their lap. Unfortunately, the number one name in this case was the Baymont Kings.

Baymont wasn't a big city. Situated on Lake Duncan, it was the largest city in Exeter County. The city's biggest source of income was imports from Canada shipped on cargo ships. The second largest source was its two colleges; Baymont Community College and Wrightman University. Because both brought in nearly fifty thousand students a year, there had to be some places for them to let off some steam.

Carnival Street was just the place. It was where all the clubs, bars, and coffee shops were. It was within walking distance from the university and a mile and a half from the community college. Every weekend it was packd to the brim with students and adults just trying to let loose after a long week. It was also a prime place to deal drugs.

Narcotics had set up stings all over the street. Up until this point, they hadn't found too much to go on. Mainly marijuana and a few pipes, but nothing had stuck. The people who had been popped with their paraphernalia were just buyers. They'd tried to help with how the drops operated, but most did the same things. They put their money in a box at a specific location then waited several hours for their fix. No money changed hands per se.

Jud had watched several of the clubs where his reports had stated drugs were being sold. He had always been a paying customer, but most knew who he was anyway. He'd arrested several club members before so those knew what he was coming for. They were all too happy to tell him what they knew. Most of the time it wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. It had given Jud time to start putting the border pieces of the puzzle together.

His heart had twisted when one of his informants turned out to be a member of the Baymont Kings. He hadn't gotten too much from him, but it was enough to know he had to talk to Luke. He hadn't put any of that in his reports because he didn't want Luke's name out and about, but he knew things would get worse if he didn't.

It didn't matter anyway. One of his fellow narc members had already sniffed out the Kings as the source of drugs flowing out into the college community. She had put in her reports over the last week and a half about the Baymont Kings and her theories on what they were doing. She didn't have the inside people like Jud did, but she was respected among them. No one would second guess her.

As more information rolled in, the higher ups wanted a raid planned. A week's worth of reconnaissance had brought them a target. The Mixer was Amos Meyers' largest club. It was a gentleman's club where several of the city's well-known businessmen and politcians went to conduct business. It had been one of the hardest clubs to gain access to. If an invitation hadn't been offered, there was no way to get in.

Somehow, one of Jud's team members had gotten access. Myka Jordan had come in late Friday afternoon witht the gold embossed cardstock invitation. She had slapped it on the deputy chief's desk before she'd left for her two days off. More information had been collected until she returned. Without her, they would lose their way in.

Jud had to cover severnal overnight shifts this week. Overnight shifts were easy because all he really had to do was make sure there was a ranking officer in the building. It also gave him time to go through all of the information and hopefully plan something that will get them closer to finding out what was actually going on.

He ran into Myka as he stepped off the elevator. She was beaming a bit. She was used to being on the back burner as others of their team made discoveries that it made her happy to be of some use. She was very intelligent and could hold her own, but her persuasion skills weren't as clean as some of the other women in their department.

She looked at him and waggled her eyebrows. Jud could only shake his head. She was the youngest on their Narcotics Team 6, but she was probably the most well-educated. She could have had any job she wanted since he had a master's, but she chose to work with them. Not only that, she was Jud's closest friend at work.

"Why do you look so haggard?" she asked. She fell into step with Jud as they made their way to their briefing room.

"It was a long night," he replied. He yawned accidentally, and that made her laugh even more. "I have to work for Alexander for the next four nights. Chief said he would find a replacement by then."

Myka nodded absently. "I heard the baby had a turn last night. He's in the NICU right now, but I haven't heard much after that."

"Hopefully it's nothing too serious." Jud looked down at the woman as she hummed gently. "What?"

His friend turned into his shoulder, making sure her face was as close to him as possible. "Are you sure you're just tired, or did you have a little too much fun with Luke Meyers?"

She lifted her head to look into his face. He felt all of his facial muscles freeze into a scowl. He knew that being with Luke would be risky, but he thought he'd done a good job not letting on who he was sleeping with. He should have known that Myka would find out somehow. She was more perceptive than her male counterparts.

But unlike them, she didn't nag him. She raised her eyebrows to ask for more information. He shook his head. Her next look told him he was going to have to explain to her, but this was not the time to be doing so.

She pinched his arm harshly then turned on her heel to go into the briefing room. Jud watched her before he sighed and followed. It wouldn't do any good to dwell on it just yet. They had more things to discuss. Until he had the entire bit of information, he wouldn't pester her. Myka was going to ask him anyway. He should be honest, but it wasn't just his life he was playing with anymore.

Chief Helms didn't have much he wanted to do yet. He just wanted all the collected information from the weekend compiled into a massive report on the Baymont Kings on his desk by Wednesday. They would look it over, and by the end of the week they would decide what should happen.

It was a blessing and a curse. The blessing was nothing was going to be done immediately. There wasn't enough information for them to plan a full scale raid, but that also meant people were going to get itchy. The curse would come when people started talking to more and more Kings' members. Someone was bound to spill their guts, and an officer would get too cocky and blow the whole case.

Jud had seen it before. Several years ago he had just gotten out of the army and was training to be in this division. One of his trainers had gotten too cocky and had jumped the signal. He had gone into a raid without any protection and had been shot. Jud had pulled him out, but it was too late. He'd lost too much blood and hadn't made it. After that night, Jud had made sure his people were well equipped so they didn't jump the gun and die.

Since Jud had taken over team 6, he hadn't had any mortalities. One of his men had been shot in the knee a year ago, but luckily no one had died. He was the only team captain who could say that. His team was so well-organized that any who came into narcotics wanted to join, but he was very picky.

Every person on his team except Myka was ex-military. He had wanted it that way. It made following orders and planning things so much easier. They had the same mindset and wouldn't argue unless they thought Jud was making decisions based on personal issues instead of the information they had.

Jud wished he could make decisions based on his personal issues. If he could, he wouldn't go after the clubs that the Kings owned. He would go after the restaurants, but up until recently he hadn't had any information about them. His gut always told him the restaurants were where the imports were hidden, but since he hadn't seen them bringing in anything out of the ordinary, he couldn't target them.

In reality, he hadn't established a foothold in the restaurant area as he had done with the clubs. He knew the Kings had certain people running the eateries, but he didn't know them. That was his fault. He should have looked into everything, but most of the deeds weren't in the members' names. They were registered in secondary personnel names who paid the Kings for protection. Since they weren't officially affiliated to the mafia, he had never thought they would be of consequence. That was a flaw in his thinking.

Jud checked his email to see if there was anything important going on. Since he was going to be here tonight, he could read all the files. It would give him plenty of time to plan things. Until then, he would leave them alone.

"Sit down." He paused as he was getting ready to get up and leave. Myka sat on the edge of his desk. "You were wondering how I got into the club."

Jud sat and folded his hands over his stomach. "I was, but I figured you'd tell me later."

"One of my friends from college works there. She got in me as a backup bartender. She doesn't know what I actually do."

The captain nodded then asked the best question he had. "How do you know about Luke?"

Myka crossed her arms and lowered her voice. "Several months ago I was tailing one of his friends who had been named in selling marijuana. I just wanted to see where he frequented. Bennett's was completely packed with the queue line wrapping around the block. I lost his friend, but Luke walked out from a side door. "

He knew where this was going. "So you followed him to my house?"

She nodded, her face drawn in a tight line. "I was surprised at first, but when I saw how tender you were with him, I realized it had been going on for a while. So I stayed outside a while to make sure no one else had followed him. I left when… You should really close your blinds when you want to get freaky."

Jud laughed at how red her porcelain face got when she mentioned sex. She told him about her various partners she rotated through, but they had never talked about Jud's preferences. As a private gay man, he didn't usually talk about them. It wasn't because his team and other coworkers didn't know he liked men, but because he didn't want to answer all the questions. He kept a straight face when he met people that everyone thought he wasn't interested in those to whom he was introduced.

Myka scratched her cheek. "It makes sense now why you never go out with anyone who asks you." Jud tilted his head at her, mouth drawn into a line. He was waiting on it. "And that day it seemed like you were very comfortable with Luke. He even had a key."

Their eyes met. Jud's steady green-grey eyes watched Myka's honey ones levelly. She watched his face for signs of distress. When she received none, she sighed and scratched her curly head.

"How long?" she asked.

Jud couldn't help the little smile that pulled at his mouth. "What are you asking?"

She scowled at him. "How long have you been sleeping with Luke Meyers?"

He shook his head, making her look at him like he was stupid. "Myka, I'm not just sleeping with him. I'm in a relationship with him."

Her face contorted in shock. He made sure to keep his expression controlled. Just because she was very perceptive didn't mean the others were. If she made a scene, he was going to have to tell everyone. He didn't want to do that becasue he would run the risk of being pulled off the eventual task force that would raid the clubs. The only way he could ensure Luke's safety was to be on it.

Myka rubbed her face agitatedly. It was puffy and red when she was done. She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and nibbled on it as she tried to figure out how to talk to him without losing her temper. That was the thing Jud loved most about her. She was always concerned with her team that she couldn't control her concern when they did something stupid. Jud was always grateful he'd chosen her.

"Just tell me how long you've been with him?" she whispered.

"Four years, after the last raid on Hamilton. It was before he opened Bennett's." He leaned forward when she let out a harsh sigh, taking her hand in his. "Up until recently, I haven't had a need to know what he does. We don't talk about work. He knows I'm a cop, and I know who he is. He has never come across my desk so I have never had a need to tell anyone about it."

She pressed his face close to his. "You're playing a dangerous game, Judkins. If someone finds out who he is or who you are, you will be killed. Then I'll have to go on a kamikaze run to kill the bastard who kills you."

Jud raised his hand to pat her head. "Myka, you can't commit suicide just to avenge me."

"Asshole." She shook her head. "You're playing with fire."

"It wasn't a fire when I started seeing him. If we can figure out what's going on, I can put out the fire."

She made a noise then sat back. "Come to your senses while you're on overnights this week, please. Maybe we can figure out a plan."

"I plan to. He's going to do research on his end to see if he can find out what is going on in his family."

The only woman in his team shook her head, her face matching the noises coming from her throat. "You're a dumbass, but if anyone can pull off a relationship with the mob, it's you."

Jud let out a humorous laugh. "Would you like to work with me this week?"

She actually thought about it. "You know, that might not be a bad idea. I'll talk to the others and see what we can come up with. If you're here while we get information, it would make it easier to use to formulate a plan. The only thing I'm afraid will happen is someone will use our information and make a plan that will get someone hurt."

"We'll just have to make sure no one does. As much as I want to keep him safe, I know who he is. I'd have to make a choice on the scene. Let's try to keep him out of it as long as he's not technically involved."

Myka understood. She clapped him on the shoulder and went to find the rest of their team to give them the idea. If they were able to work without anyone else bothering them, they would have a better chance to make a clean raid. They were the best team in narcotics. If some other team was involved, there was no telling what would happen. Jud wanted Luke away from it, but adding someone else would make it worse.

He finished reading his emails then went home to sleep. He kept his phone on in case Luke called him. He hoped they could talk so he could tell him some more information about what was going on.