Page 17 of Papa's Beloved

“Maybe you’ll be the one that’s surprised.”

“It’s pretty to think so. How much hot sauce do you think we need for mac and cheese?”

Papa

NAY HELPS ME GET DRESSEDwhile officer Vega apprises me of a situation that needs the Kings’ special touch. She has my boots on by the time I hang up. I slip on a tee and my cut beforegrabbing my keys and racing out the door. I call Gambit while I’m racing down the stairs.

“This better be good,” he answers groggily.

“Vega and Simmons caught someone they think is involved with Danvers. They need me to translate.”

“Send me the address. I’ll get it to the others.”

“Will do.”

I end the call and pause long enough to shoot off the address to Gambit. Once finished, I hurried to my bike. I wave at the prospect in the gatehouse as I roar past the open gate. I navigate to the highway and open the throttle wide. I heard the roar of sleds in the distance and knew my brothers weren't far behind me.

Throttle wide open, I go as fast as I dare, weaving through traffic as needed. It still takes me half an hour to make my way across the city to the docks. I expected to see the dock lit up or at least a squad car outside the warehouse.

Vega didn’t tell me to come in silent, so I ride my bike through the open doors and into the dimly lit warehouse. I spot Vega first, then Simmons. Both are in plain clothes. They have a guy gagged and tied to a chair.

“You boys dress up for Mardi Gras?”

Vega chuckles. “We’ll explain more later.”

“Wagon’s on the way for pickup,” I tell him, hearing the roar of my brother's sleds.

They nod. Gambit rumbles in, followed by several more brothers and finally a white, mostly windowless van. Tully pulled to a stop not far from us. He stays in the van waiting for orders. Gambit approaches us first.

“Are we taking him to the Woodshed?”

Vega nods. “Yes.”

Vega, Simmons, and Stone are three of New Orleans’ finest. They are as tired of the broken system as we are. We’ve workedwith Stone for a few years and the other two, a little over a year. We trust each other to clean up the streets of our hometown.

Most of the Kings weren’t born in New Orleans but we call it home and we want to make it a better place. We do that by keeping human traffickers and other vermin off the street when we get the chance. We can’t kill them all. It would raise too many questions.

We load up the prisoner and head back to the compound. Vega and Simmons get into a late model muscle car and follow behind the van. Flea opens the gate as we ride past, heading straight to the back of the compound.

Saint and Everest pull the prisoner out of the van and strip him down before dragging him inside and throwing him in the jail cell.

Chapter 14

Papa

“Have a seat, fellas. We’ll let the prisoner marinate for a while. Give you a chance to fill us in and send Tully for breakfast,” I say.

Gambit is busy texting with his wife. Tully took everyone’s orders and headed to the local Waffle House. It’s not far and they’re fast. Plus, they’re used to us ordering en masse. Stormy doesn’t cook for us every day. Though she or one of the other ol’ ladies cook meals for us. We’ve been spoiled like that the first day Gambit and Stormy met.

Gambit grabs cold bottles of water from the fridge and brings them to the table.

“Who wants to start?” I ask.

“Simmons and I got assigned an undercover op a few weeks ago. We’ve been working on the docks looking for clues for a possible new human trafficking operation,” Vega says.

“Tonight, we were set to receive a shipment. Thirty minutes before it’s due to arrive, we have an influx of G’Dawgs and a crew of guys we’d never seen before,” Simmons adds.

“Turns out the shipment tonight was guns, but I overheard the guy in the cell and a few others talking about moving women. They have a shipment planned sometime soon. We don’t know when. We grabbed the guy who wasn’t a part of the G’Dawgs. He won’t be missed,” Vega finishes.

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