I strode into the station and swiftly made my way back to the police chief’s office. I didn’t bother to knock. They called. I came.
Chief Watson was bent over his desk with Cramer, and I got my first inkling that something big was up.
“Have a seat, Markson,” Chief Watson instructed when he noticed me hovering in the door.
I sat down even though I felt like pacing the room. This reminded me of the last time I got called into his office. It ended with me falling off the face of the earth for months.
“We need you to go under again,” Watson said, getting right to the point.
My stomach clenched. I sat there stiffly for the span of two heartbeats. “Same case?”
“Yes.”
I exhaled. I always knew there was a possibility I would have to go back, but I really didn’t think it would be so soon… if at all. “Was there a break in the case?”
Cramer spoke up for the first time since I walked in and sat down. “The department has learned some new information. Apparently, the supply of drugs pumping into the Myrtle Beach area has been followed back to this area.”
That was surprising. Months ago I was called into the station unexpectedly and was told I was needed undercover on the outskirts of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Because the area is such a hotspot for entertainment and clubs, the drug scene was growing rapidly and new cocktails of dangerous drug combinations were appearing and claiming lives.
I was pulled from the unit here and sent deep undercover with a background story and a new ID to try to ascertain where the drugs were coming from, who was funneling them in, and to gain leads on how to stop the poisoning of a well-known vacation hotspot.
I was gone for months. Months of living in the ghetto. Months of no contact with my family. My friends. My life. I literally walked in the station one night a cop living his life and stepped out hours later with a new identity and strict orders to speak to no one that could possibly identify who I really was.
It had been the night I had my first and only date with Julie.
And now it was happening all over again.
I shook off the trip down memory lane and told myself I could wallow later. “So you’re saying that someone here, in our town, is the cause of all the drug and violent activity down there?”
“It appears that way,” Cramer confirmed.
A trail of expletives let loose from my mouth.
“My thoughts exactly, Markson,” Watson muttered. “This is absolutely unacceptable. These punks are our on turf now. It’s a direct challenge. We need to take them down.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“We have it on good authority that some of the thugs that are connected to LeBraun in Myrtle Beach will be at a club tonight in Jacksonville. We want you to assume your former identity and go there. Accidentally bump into the crew and get in with them.”
Concern rose up at back of my neck. “You’re putting me undercover in the same town that I work and live in?”
Watson glanced at Cramer with a sour expression on his face. “It’s not ideal. Under normal circumstances this would be a no-go. But we’ve been on this case for two years. This is the first break we’ve had at all.”
That I believed. The reason I was pulled out after several months of work was because the case was going nowhere fast, and it was a waste to have so many guys working on it. “Can’t you pull in someone from Myrtle?”
He shook his head. “We don’t know who we can trust there. Some of the cops on the force are on the take. It’s the same reason JPD was brought down there in the first place.”
“Plus, some of the crew here might have come from down there,” I murmured to myself.
“Exactly. You’ve been out of the loop here for months. You’ve just now been back to work and mostly it’s been routine stuff. You’re not in the club scene around here, are you?” he asked, a new apprising look coming into his eyes.
I shook my head. “Absolutely not.” Clubs were not my thing, never had been.
He nodded, looking relieved. “You already know this case, details that new recruits wouldn’t understand. We don’t have to brief you on this stuff. Not only will your presence save us time, but frankly, you’re our best option.”
Cramer picked up where Watson left off. “Point blank, Markson, you’re one of the youngest on the PD here, you fit the profile of a guy who might be in the drug business, and you’ve already built an identity that will open doors for us. We need you to do this.”
I wasn’t sure if I should be offended by what he said. It wasn’t every day a guy was told that he looked like a drug dealer.