Chapter Twenty-Six
Judge picked up the binoculars and watched the Navigator do a slow U-turn in the street before pulling back in to the convenience store parking lot. Michaels was right beside him smelling like their sex from this morning. It was still heady and pungent in the modest-sized room.
Judge had taken up watch for a few hours while Michaels took a power nap. When he woke, he pulled on a pair of jeans instead of washing Judge’s essence off himself. Judge thought it was purposely done and he didn’t know how he felt about that. He wanted to turn and bury his nose in the crook of Michaels’ neck and sleep there for a day or so until he had no more worries. Worries of his age, worries of Michaels’ temper, of his father’s health, of being a partner, of telling Michaels what he might want, worries about how he wanted to live out the rest of his days. They ate the left over Chinese for lunch, both of them cringing and laughing at the horrible taste. “What I wouldn’t do for some of Linda’s homemade cooking about now,” Judge said absently. Michaels only nodded in agreement.
At four p.m., Michaels called work and was patched into a conference call with his bosses and team. He and Judge listened in as the team went over recent developments. God’s voice spoke up next.
“We ran the plates on the Navigator.”
“And?” Judge prompted.
“It belongs to Tony Marks.”
“Marks?” Michaels frowned, looking down at the phone as if something was wrong with it.
“What?” Judge said, quietly.
“The Marks brothers are both in prison.”
“Yes.” Day spoke up. “But a cousin took over their operation. The IT team has been on it all night.
Judge looked over at Michaels and saw that he had the same guilty look he knew he wore. While they’d been making love… uh… fucking, Michaels’ team had been hard at work.
God continued. “Jason Riggs worked for the Marks brothers when they were big time. Two years ago when they got popped, Jason laid low for a while before he picked up where they left off. It appears that Switch made away with the drugs that Jason Riggs never got paid for.”
“Shit,” Michaels retorted.
“You said it.” Day chuckled humorlessly. “This is an added layer of bullshit that we really don’t need. Now Riggs is there waiting for Switch, right along with you guys.”
“Don’t underestimate Riggs and his crew,” Syn chimed in, his raspy Vin Diesel-like voice unmistakable. “He’s smart and calculating. He won’t care if you’re law enforcement. He’s not going to let go of a half a million in coke without a serious fight.”
“I understand, Syn.” Michaels sighed. The situation just went from bad to fucked.
“Can you get your contact on the Miami PD to go and scare them away for a while, at least long enough for us to swoop in and get our guy?” Judge asked; his eyes still behind the high-powered binoculars.
“Probably. But it’d have to be timed right.” God was speaking, but it was more like he was thinking out loud. “Who’s to say that Riggs will wait even a second to rush Switch as soon as he gets there?”
“True,” Day said. “If we have them popped now, they’ll only be held for twenty-four hours before they’re let go. We don’t have enough on Riggs to hold him yet.”
“Give us a few hours to think on this.” Syn jumped back in, which was good because they were going around in circles.
Judge dropped the binoculars and sprinted over to the bed, yelling over his shoulder. “You got one hour God! The girlfriend is putting suitcases in her car! Those thugs are going to follow her, too!”
Michaels didn’t bother picking up the binoculars to check, he hurried and tucked his guns against his back and threw his t-shirt on.
“Don’t lose her!” God yelled, before the line went dead.
Michaels, Judge, and Bookem raced down the back stairwell to his truck. He put Bookem all the way in the back, just in case he needed to drop the gate and let him out. As soon as they climbed in the front, Judge burned rubber through the parking lot. They got to the street just as the red Corolla putted by. Judge waited a second, and sure enough, the black Navigator pulled out and followed at a discrete distance.
“How good are you at tailing?” Michaels asked.
“The best,” Judge answered easily. He let a few cars go by before he pulled out.
“Where the fuck is she going? Don’t tell me this is going down right now,” Michaels groaned.
“Looks that way,” Judge mumbled.
They continued to follow them through the city. The girlfriend merged onto the interstate and followed the signs directing them to Downtown Miami. Michaels was quiet next to him, his eyes focused on the red car. Judge knew to follow the Navigator, there was no way they’d let the girlfriend out of their sight.