Chương 47: Fishin'

The dinner event was saturated in banal conversation. The average person was content to mostly talk about food or strange headwear they'd seen in their day to day. I didn't try to protest it or go against it, not out of any endorsement, but because this might be the only time the rest of the team would get to not think about being on the front lines. Front lines. We were playing deputies in an American city. Might be fighting terrorists and criminals, but we're not at war. Not yet, at least.

After being told about an aquarium in the restaurant elsewhere, I used that as an excuse to get up and walk away from the table. Just needed to separate myself from that false security. There was no reason to convince myself that I was part of the same part of the world as the rest of those people. I had already finished my food, so I wasn't needed at that point. A few minutes of wandering led me to the aquarium. Its size felt alien.

While my room's window was much larger, this vessel just had a greater mass to it in my eyes. Likely because I could actually see the whole thing instead of leaving it to my imagination. The fish inside were exactly that: Fish. Different colors, sizes, shapes. But ultimately all they were was fish. The colors and shapes didn't change that about them. If they weren't fish, they wouldn't be here. One lazily swam by, covered in stripes and strands that hung off of it in all directions.

Looked more like barbed, loose cloth floating through the water if you couldn't see its eyes. My gaze sat fixed on it for a few minutes before I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Not a big fan of the schmoozing, I see." Tancred.

"Had nothing to talk about," I explained, swiping his arm off my shoulder. My eyes focused on the aquarium, now trying to spot his reflection. I did manage to acquire it at the exact moment he gave a defeated shrug.

"Look, you don't need to convince me, I don't give a shit. Just checking in to make sure you don't need to walk it off or something." That could be answered with a shake of my head. Didn't need to say anything. He let out a hum first.

"Alright, good," he followed up.

"Anyways, bet you were wondering where I went before I got to the table, right?" Never liked being called out like that.

"I just assumed you were in the bathroom," I said, hoping he wouldn't dig further past that.

"Not at all," he answered.

"Unlike you chucklefucks, I actually keep my earpiece on at all times. Got a call from admin confirming we got a judge to sign off on a pile of warrants thicker than the New Testament. Your acquisitions at that warehouse gave us a bunch of networks to investigate and find ADU leads. This includes two of the guys from that briefing." My focus moved from the aquarium to face Tancred.

"And what's this got to do with me right now?" The agent's hands went in his pockets.

"You and May are not going on patrol next Tuesday. You two are going to be handling a raid for acquiring the two dopes. We do not have SIT authorization for Regulators to accompany you, but I did request some armed Commission agents accompany you, and it got approved. I made sure they're all minimum ten-year vets, so you're not going in with bright-eyed rookies."

"Where's the raid?" Attention was fully on him at this point.

"About twenty minutes out from Charlottesville in the county surrounding Charlottesville, Albemarle, there's this condemned, abandoned brick manor that was razed in the late nineties. It doesn't seem to be the ADU's headquarters, but a popular outpost for them. We're expecting a high population of these assholes."

"So why just me and May?"

"Simply put, we can't guarantee Jairo and Chris being viable yet for ADU missions. While Chris is a potent threat against humans, as we saw the magic tree bullshit can impede him in ways it can't impede you or Jairo. While Jairo has your strength factor, he lacks your visibility. May is an obvious one because she can burn things, plus she's second-in-command anyway."

"You think the Arboreal Senate's gonna be there."

"Hundred percent. It's deep in the woods. Great cover for giant tree people. Plus if they pack any of that Wyrdwood in the trees, bunch of big traps. And being surrounded by soil everywhere means they can pop up anywhere." With that kind of information, it sounded like there was no actual entry plan.

"How are May and I supposed to get in?"

"SWAT will be deploying and serving as perimeter security, and will make way for the Commission and you two to drive in. Once we find a good breach spot, you'll bust in. Since we can verify you can withstand some small arms fire, you'll be handling bulwark, but we will still be supplying you with a riot shield. Please try not to break it."

"Why not have the SWAT guys come in with us?"

"Jurisdiction limitations. While Charlottesville is the county seat of Albemarle, the county itself technically isn't part of Charlottesville. So Charlottesville PD's SWAT lack legal jurisdiction in an active capacity, they've only been permitted reactive activity. Sheriff's hands are tied." Sounded half-hearted, but there must be a limited time table if we're pushing this hard and going at half numbers.

"What are Chris and Jairo gonna be doing in the mean time, then? Will they be on call?" Tancred shook his head, looking towards the aquarium. The light from the aquarium bounced off of his dark eyes, almost put some measure of life in them.

"Jairo is on call since technically he can approach expediently. Christian will be on a separate delegation where if anything happens in the city, he's handling it. We may need it for Clowncar." Nodding, I put my own hands in my pockets, my gaze falling back to those fish.

"How badly do you think it's going to go?"

"Realistically? I think you'll succeed in the core mission because as fucking stupid as you are, you aren't incompetent. Anything else I couldn't say for sure. ROE is gonna be different on this as it's not a patrol."

"What are the differences?"

"All ADU presences in the location will be considered hostiles that have been warned three times. You are permitted to use force, just no lethal. The Commission agents with you will be permitted to use lethal force as they have been appropriately trained to identify where it would be required. You haven't. If they shoot someone, that's on them. You don't kill." This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Another serious raid.

One they're actually condoning. With planning, a budget. I might be able to get a tangible success out of this instead of these half-victories I've been getting where the initial perps are caught but there's always something they had a right to chastise me about. Real opportunity.

"Okay. Is there any sort of briefing on that yet? Are we doing a briefing?" He shook his head.

"None we're participating in. I'm gonna be passing you and May some documents you're expected to review and follow through on. We're maintaining this security to control dissemination. Even the fact we're congregated could slip to any moles, if there are any."

"Do we have to worry about moles?"

"Presently, no, but it's Super Commission policy. You come to me if you have any questions. You and May can discuss the raid. Do not discuss with Jairo and Chris. Eliza and Perry can't hear about it from you either." That's a lot more secretive than I expected. Something about this wasn't reading right. Knew it couldn't come this simple.

"What're you holding out on me, Tancred?"

"What the Hell are you talking about?" The fish haplessly passed by my gaze, fully accepting their boundaries in a way that I couldn't.

"Full approval for raiding an ADU location. Agents around us might be killing, but the police aren't even allowed in the building. We're not allowed to tell anyone, not even a briefing. But you're fine with bringing it up in a busy fucking restaurant? Are we just playing security for a hit job, Tancred?" The auditor's reflection shifted as he looked towards me. I matched his movement, looking back at him. He spoke with a tired, low voice.

"I can tell you right now if anyone of significant profile dies before we question them, the operation's a failure. The agents have all been made aware. Just like any other armed, offensive division of the government, we have a less than five percent acceptable losses margin."

"That's not an answer, asshole."

"Good fucking Lord, kid. You think if there was some extra caveat, I wouldn't tell you?"

"No, I don't think you would with how much else you do everything in your power to keep out of reach from us. I'm the only one who knows you have a power, and I don't even know what it is. Every time you've given me some half-measure of an answer, you immediately make it clear we're not getting the full picture."

"I have done no such thi-""You rant about random little details to try and leave me uncertain enough that I have to rely on whatever I get. I can't be doing that anymore, Tancred. Every time I get stuck thinking about all this shit, I blank out for so long I have no idea where I am for a few seconds. You want me ending up like that mid-raid?" The auditor pinched the bridge of his nose.

"For crying out loud. I didn't tell you this because it literally will just make that worse, but fine. We're pretty sure Governor Bailey, the one you crippled the son of, is actively covering up criminal activity that's adjacent. Shoving in all sorts of red tape. I had to pretend to fuck my ex-wife just so I could pass over the signed warrants because people kept 'losing' them." The agent shuddered.

"Being alone in a motel room with that broad is nauseating." Chief Tancred didn't know about all the arrest details. Was that part of the cover-u- Snap!

"Hey, no, you little shit, I see you spacing out. You stay on planet Earth." The auditor's calloused fingers sat in front of my face.

"Sorry. Was caught in thought. Your ex-wife, uh, the chief. She said there was basically no signs or record of gang activity in the areas I was patrolling, before you recruited me. You said it's because of a Richmond jurisdiction thing, but... That might be related.

""I did end up looking into that. Turns out I did send her some documentation. The fact she acts like she knows nothing is bullshit, I sent her the-" He cut himself off, his jaw hanging for a few seconds. His eyes sat wide.

"Fuck. Just like with the warrants." He then shook his head.

"Admin staff's got copies. I'll send them to her for verification directly." Tancred shuddered again.

"Fuck you for putting me back in that position, by the way," he complained.

"Do you think there might be a connection? The ADU deals with plants, maybe they're supplying the drugs?" Tancred shook his head.

"It was a fentanyl crisis, wasn't it?" I nodded. At least, all signs pointed to it.

"Fentanyl is entirely lab-made. Morphine and heroin are plant-based, but fentanyl is made by precursors. There could be heroin as part of the deals, though..." He trailed off, rubbing his chin.

"The drug ring might be getting heroin from the ADU, then mixing it with the fentanyl. Dilute with stronger stuff to sell more of it."

"Not impossible. I'll send a note to the guys handling that case. We might get approval to look into it. Can't believe I didn't put two and two together. Dealing with you brats is turning me stupid." He rubbed his face.

"But you did end up pointing out a relevant lead. Things might be more tied together than I thought. Go sit and deal with people. Treat it like a reward or something for hard work." I just nodded, before striding past him. Past the table. I went outside, and got some air. Then, I just spent a couple hours processing the kind of mess I had gotten myself into. There was an itinerary for me now, though. I had to review the raid information, and I had to talk to Sam about these lapses.

They were getting frequent and worse. I had no idea why. If I didn't figure that out soon, I had no idea what would happen. Staying at the edge of these thoughts, to avoid falling in and losing this time, the night had passed. Come morning, Tancred had supplied May and I with folders. He was in her room for a while, likely explaining everything. I took that time to review everything. There was a step-by-step list of everything each involved group was doing.

Charlottesville SWAT would surround the area about a quarter-mile out. Super Commission would have an armored van to break into direct perimeter onto the property. May and I would exit first and breach through the front door. I was to take the lead due to my durability. The raid was to happen during the day, under the notion that doing so at night would leave May highly vulnerable without freely-available daylight. There would be no media coverage until after interrogations were over.

The next page produced a floorplan of the manor. It included a sticky note that confirmed it was out of date. There were numerous renovations listed. This must have been sent to the county to get approval. Front door was on the eastern lower corner. There was a second door on the left side. This might have been a two-family home. Wasn't sure, didn't know architecture. Second floor wasn't laid out evenly, so maybe not. On a follow-up review of the first floor, I saw a bulkhead. A lot could happen down there.

Depended on how large the basement would be. Flipping over the floor plan, there was nothing else on that paper, but below it were a set of photos of the house itself. Brick. Reminded me of the foster home again. Three chimneys. Two sticking on either side, and one central one. Several walls had portions just fallen out. That meant easy access to light, May would have to stay in those areas. The front of the house had half of its porch torn in half. Just sunken in on its own supports.

That left only one door as accessible. Another photo showed the back of the house. More gaping holes. A small shed-like structure, exactly where the bulkhead would be. Must have been to protect it from the elements. What worried me, however, was there was an entirely separate house attached to the back. One not listed on the floorplan. Must have been an addition that never went through the government. It was so obscured by brush and vines that I couldn't even begin to imagine the details.

We were flying with no wings, here. Just loose instructions and pic-"Whatcha' doin'?" Sam's voice. My gaze snapped towards her, realizing she just saw everything Tancred told me not to show anyone. God damn it.