Page 77 of Clap Back (Carter Brothers)

Damn, my mama was vicious.

“None of that has been approved,” Chief Austin snarled.

“It has, actually,” she said. “We went to the board last week about it.”

The board.

Holy shit.

They were serious, and not bluffing.

“And we don’t need permission to quit,” Atlas pointed out. “Nor do we have to offer two weeks’ notice.”

And just like that, we were walking out of the building.

It was like a wave, too.

One second it was just us walking out, and then suddenly there were about fifteen other cops walking out with us.

On any given day, my dad had told me that the Dallas PD had a hundred and twenty cops on shift.

And literally twenty-four of them were leaving. That was at minimum a fifth of the entire precinct walking out with us.

“There are more,” my mom said. “I’ve been busy talking to everyone. Some can’t afford to leave. Assman wanted to, but he’s got the baby to worry about, and his ailing grandmother. But he promised to be our eyes and ears.”

“My partner is quitting, too,” Quincy said.

“Half of my team is leaving,” Quaid said.

“There are two other K-9 officers who are heading out. That’s more than half of them.” Garrett chuckled.

When we made it into the parking lot, I said, “I don’t even know what to say.”

My mom walked up to me and cupped my face.

Sure, I had to lean down to give her access to my face in the first place, but still.

“There is no greater feeling in this world than love,” she said. “And to be quite truthful, working under Chief Austin has been a struggle for the last four years. We’re not unhappy with our decision, nor did we do this in haste. All of us decided it was time.”

“And we don’t expect to be out of the job for long,” Quinn admitted. “They’ll feel our loss quite effectively. Shit will be in chaos, and the board will be roaring to figure out why. There’s only one common denominator here.”

“And the board has been made aware of issues with the chief for a very long time,” Dad said. “There is way more to any of this than you know.”

“Oh, please share.” Quinn slung his arm around our dad.

“But share at home, because with an unexpected day off, I think we should go for a swim with the kiddos. They’ll enjoy it,” Quincy said. “Gather at the community pool at noon.”

I had to laugh at that.

There we all were, jobless, and we were talking about going swimming.

I fucking loved my family.

The drive back to Sunnyvale took longer than I expected, but I tried her at the bakery anyway in hopes that she was still there.

I was in luck, because I arrived to find her chatting with a man inside.

A man who was standing way too close to her.

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