The F King:A Bad Boy Romance(12)

My CO closed his eyes, raised his eyebrows and sighed. "Go on."

"Between us, we subdued the other gang member, then we made a getaway  like a regular Bonnie and Clyde. We went to his apartment, on  Fifty-Seventh, for a short time, and I was still unable to steer the  conversation to drugs or money. Then I returned to my dorm."

My heart was hammering in my chest as I watched him for signs of  arresting me for my blatant omission of a few choice details. I could  see him running his tongue over his teeth inside his closed mouth for a  few moments as he mulled my story over.         

     



 

"Something's not right here," he said.

My heart exploded, and all of a sudden there was nothing booming in my  ears at all, just the background noise of rain hitting the roof of his  car. I'd just screwed myself bigtime.

I could feel my mouth creaking open as if on rusty hinges, with a  torrent of begging about to pour out, when Sergeant Shelton continued  his musings.

"This isn't exactly in The Cannibals' wheelhouse. F isn't crack, it's  not like any junkie looking to make a quick buck can make it in a dirty  old bottle. We haven't even been able to find a lab that can reproduce  it accurately."

"Th-that's what I thought too, sir," I said, scrambling to recover. "But  it's still possible, isn't it? All the rumors say the F King is one  guy, so if he chose to work with The Cannibals …  who knows, right?"

"You're not wrong there, but don't take it as a given. Keep looking for other possibilities."

"Yes, sir."

"Do you know when you're seeing Crewe again?" he asked.

"Monday night, sir."

"Alright. Anything else?"

"No sir, that's everything so far."

"OK, get back to it."

"Yes, sir."

I pulled at the door handle, but before I'd opened the door more than a  crack, Sergeant Shelton grabbed me by the elbow. With the rain streaming  in through even that tiny gap, I turned back to my commanding officer.

"Sarina?"

"Sir?"

"Do what you need to do, but even with such a fast start, this isn't  going to be easy. You've had a short and impressive career so far, and I  have every faith in you, but you're the youngest undercover cop I've  ever supervised. And I've seen more seasoned officers than you lose it  after being completely submerged in this shitty world for too long. Look  after yourself."

"I will …  thank you, sir."

"Don't miss your bus."

I dashed out into the rain again, practically sprinting for the bus  stop. That was a harrowing experience that my heart, career and life  might not be able to endure again.





Ryan





"One million dollars," I said, handing my friend, Billy D, a brown paper sack under the table that looked like a giant's lunch.

"OK, assuming nothing unforeseen comes up, that's the last of it.  Payroll, materials, and …  uh …  danger money are covered now, as agreed,"  he said.

"Except for-"

"Anything else for the two of you?" the waitress asked.

"Not for me, thanks. Billy D?"

Back in college there were three Billys in our class, we'd taken to  calling them Billy D, Billy G and Billy W (we'd pronounce it "Billy  Dubya") just for the sake of clarity. Even now that Billy D was the only  one I still spoke to, I couldn't shake the habit.

"No, I'm fine. Just the check then."

"Sure thing." She put her little notebook away and left.

This diner was barely within city limits, a couple streets off the main  drag into Highston coming from the north. Not only was it out of the  way, but they played the music pretty loud too. It was great for keeping  your conversations to yourself even if people were reasonably close.

"Except for the explosives, how much more do you need now?" I asked.

"Four hundred pounds."

My eyes widened. "That's …  a fairly big jump over the initial estimates."

"It is, sorry. But, hey, at least you know now and if you can supply it  at the same rate you have been, it's all good, right? We're still right  on schedule."

"I'll have it ready in two months, two deliveries," I said.

"Even better."

"Yeah, easy." I rolled my eyes. "So, hey, I forgot to ask, how's Laura and the kids?"

"Good, man. She's looking forward to relocating somewhere warmer when  this is all over. It's good timing too, before Brandon starts school.  Great time to turn up in a new city, retired and rich from "selling my  app" or some shit."

"Sounds good to me. I think the life will suit you," I laughed.

Billy D joined in. He was living proof that the old saying was true:

Give a man some fish and he'll say thank you. Give a man some pussy and he'll say thank you forever.

He'd have my back until his dying day, ever since I introduced him to  his wife, who was working as a stripper to pay her college tuition fees  at the time. Seven years later and they had a picture-perfect little  family going on.

The waitress returned with the bill. I picked it up to have a look  before sliding it across to my friend. "This must be your treat, knowing  what you've got in that bag."         

     



 

"I'm not opening that h-"

I waved him into silence. "I know, I know. I'm just fuckin' with ya."

I pulled out my wallet and left a few notes on the dish with the bill  before standing up. "I'll be in touch. Thanks again, you're doing a good  job."

"Gotta use the degree for somethin', right?"

"Exactly. Catch you later."

"Later."

Billy D still had half a cup of coffee left and he sipped at it as I  walked out the door. It was a happy coincidence that he happened to be  exactly who I needed to really fuck the Acardis. I hoped to have time to  visit him in whatever tropical paradise he called home next year.

For now, I had a shitload of work to do.



I carried a few of the smaller items I'd requested to my own private area in my lab. It was tough to keep the smile off my face.

Sure, I was making cash hand over fist for the Acardis, but if they knew  how much of that money was being used to wipe them off the map, they'd  shit a brick. Out there in the main area, my grunts were making F,  F-Pro, and conducting a few "experiments" for me that would result in  large quantities of explosives, as well as a few legitimate cases of  research and development.

The stuff in these boxes, though, I was going to use myself, because I  sure as fuck didn't need an extra four hundred pounds of the shit. Maybe  a dozen well-placed drops would do the trick in the end. That might be  all I had the time to use, anyway.

Already suited up in protective clothing, I opened the boxes,  double-checked that everything was exactly as I'd ordered, and set up  all my equipment. Fucked if I wanted any of this shit getting on me.

It was a relatively easy process for me, only made difficult by my  unshakable awareness of how bad it would be if a single droplet managed  to find a way through my suit and on to my skin. Still, it was a liquid  at room temperature, non-corrosive and non-volatile, so it was  deceptively easy to handle.

By the time my interrogation-from-hell concoction was in the centrifuge,  there hadn't been any mishaps, and the direct handling of the  ingredients was all done for the day. I cleaned up and walked the lab,  making sure everybody was doing exactly what I told them, no more and no  less.

Everybody did their best to not make eye contact with me as I passed,  unless I spoke to them directly, focusing intently on their jobs  regardless of how menial they may have been. They shrunk from me as if I  was radiating too much heat, and that was fine by me.

I didn't know how the Acardis handled the men I reported as being shit  workers, that was their business. It was my business to take care of the  "unskilled" help who appeared to be suspiciously talented chemists.  Everybody in between had learned over the months and years that it was  best to just do what I said without question.

It was a powerful feeling, and I reveled in it. In here, more than  anywhere else, everything was completely under control. The rest of the  city would follow soon enough.

Once the team was suitably motivated, I returned to my private corner  and scrolled through screen after screen of test results. Results from  the quality control on the latest batch of F, results from tests on the  legitimate experiments, results from quality control tests on the raw  goods coming in from suppliers, diagnostics on the equipment, and so on.

Everything was coming in within normal parameters, and I found my mind  wandering back to Sarina, time and again. I was looking forward to our  date even more than I thought I would.

It was so, for want of a better word, unusual the way she was so clearly  desperate to get me inside her again …  and yet she was making the both  of us wait. No other girl in my recent life was like that, especially  after they'd had a taste of the things I could do to them in bed.