Page 95 of Worth the Wait
“You didn’t know Worthbridge Police were preparing to breach that house as part of an organised drug operation?”
Nathan held his gaze, voice steady. “No. I didn’t.”
Carrick arched an eyebrow. “Then why didn’t you go to the front door? Why not knock and ask for your son like any concerned parent would? Instead, you waited in the shadows for over ten minutes, thenfive minutesbefore a live operation was authorised, you scaled the rear wall, entered through a window, and extracted him out the same way. Why?”
Nathan paused. His throat worked once. Then, “Cause I’m trained to.”
Carrick shot a glance at DS Bowen, then looked back. “Trained forwhat, exactly?”
“I’m a soldier. Until a few months ago, you’d have addressed me as Staff Sergeant Carter, Royal Anglian. I’ve been through doors in places you wouldn’t walk through,even with six behind you. I’ve pulled mates out of compounds rigged with pressure plates. I’ve cleared stairwells stinking of death. You think I’m gonna stand on a step and politely knock when I’m aware what sort of gear might be stashed in a place like that? What kind of people are inside? I was fully aware they weren’t gonna hand him over with a fucking party bag.”
He gathered his temper with a breath.
“I didn’t know that raid was happening. But I knew Alfie was mixed up in something dangerous. I saw him go in. I made the call. I went in the way I was trained to. Fast, unseen, like I was never there, and with no intention of leaving him behind.”
Carrick studied him for a long moment. Then tapped the photo again. “If your timing had been thirty seconds later, you would’ve come face-to-face with my entry team. Armed. Under pressure. That could’ve gone badfast.”
“Guess I was lucky then.”
The room stilled. Bowen and Carrick leant back in unison, arms folded, eyes narrowing in tandem. A coordinated silence designed to make him sweat.
Bowen broke it first. “Your prints are on the rear window. The same window used for entry.”
“I told you why I was there. I went in for my son. Nothing more.”
Carrick raised an eyebrow. “You’re admitting to entering a building under surveillance during a live investigation.”
“No. Like I said, I didn’t know it was under surveillance. So, no. I’m not admitting that. I’m admitting breaking and entering. Charge me with that, if you want. Hell, obstruction, too. And if you are, get on with it. But you’ve already got the timeline. You know I was out of there before the breach. You know I wasn’t involved withanything happening inside that house.” He stared them both down, shoulders squared. “I’m not part of that world. Was neverinthat world. I got my kid, and I got himout.”
Carrick exchanged a look with Bowen and Nathan felt the shift. The pressure change. This wasn’t just abouthimanymore.
Bowen leant forward, eyes locking onto his. “But your son was.”
Nathan’s back went rigid.
“Alfie Carter. Arrested for assault on Sunday at the skatepark. Seen with two lads who were found inside that house. On camera. On foot. And one of them was carrying. Now,” Carrick smoothed out. Professional. Rehearsed. Strategic. “We’re not interested in dragging you or Alfie through the courts. He’s young. Still impressionable. But we both know how fast that can go south.”
“He’s a kid who got himself into the wrong place at the wrong time,” Nathan growled. “He’s not a criminal.”
Carrick held up a hand. “Which is why we’re offering a way out.”
Bowen leant in. “We need names. Who recruited him. Who’s using the estate to run product. Who gave the orders. Your son has access and context. He could help us shut the whole thing down.”
Nathan’s blood ran cold. “You want to flip him.”
“We want to protect him,” Bowen replied. “The best way to do that is to dismantle what’s around him andhecould be the key.”
Carrick’s gaze turned heavy. “You say you went in to protect him. We’re offering you a way to finish the job.”
“He’s fourteen,” Nathan snapped. “He’s a child. Notbait.”
“And every day we let this slide, more kids like him get pulled in. You know how this works, Staff. You’ve seenwhat happens when you leave bad actors in place because someone hesitated to act.”
Nathan clenched his jaw.
Carrick leant forward. “We’re not asking him to go undercover. We’re not throwing him to the wolves. But he knows names. Patterns. Drop locations. If he tells us what he’s seen, we can build the case. Pull them out by the roots. You wanted to shield him? Then help us burn the whole system down.”
Bowen added, more gently, “You trained soldiers to make the hard calls. You know what it means to lose one because someone didn’t step up in time. We don’t want to lose Alfie. But we can’t protect him unless we know who’s pulling the strings.”
