Going Under_ A Bill Roberts Thriller - Silas Payton Page 0,32

on the left. Moving into the open room, they found a large lounge with comfortable looking chairs and low tables, and a bar along the side wall.

On quick estimate, Roak figured there were roughly forty people in the room, mainly clustered in groups. In the far left corner stood a raised stage with chairs in a semi-circle around it. Five guys sat around the stage watching two naked women dancing together. Six more men were at the bar, while roughly thirty combined men and women were sitting in clusters throughout the rest of the lounge.

Almost all the men had their leather jackets on, most of them full patches. The Tactical Team announced their arrival and everyone stopped to look at them.

Roak continued, "We're doing a search of the premises. I'd like any people in the room, who are not members of this organization, to move toward the front door. All patches remain seated and keep your hands where we can see them."

Most of the women in the room got up and moved to the door, where they were asked for their names and identification. Most refused and for the ones who gave ID, it was surely fake. They were then escorted out of the building.

The officers searched the gang members in the lounge and, finding no weapons, continued on with the search of the building. Two officers stayed behind to keep an eye on the bikers.

To the right of the lounge was a coat room. It was unoccupied.

Along the far wall were two doors labeled In and Out, which presumably went to the kitchen. Roak directed two officers to secure it.

Beside the kitchen was a double doorway, with the doors closed. They approached and could see through a window in the top half of each door. On the other side was a foyer with a staircase leading upstairs, and a hallway leading into another room. When they opened the doors, they could hear laughter coming from down the hall.

Bates led a group of four officers upstairs, while Sergeant Roak took a team of four others down the hall.

The hallway opened into a room smaller than the lounge, which had six poker tables. The tables were empty except for one. The only occupied table had six men at it, all of whom seemed indifferent to the police presence. They kept playing even as they were asked to stand and be searched.

"Evening, officers," said one of the players. While sitting, he looked like he would stand about six feet tall and spent hours a day lifting weights. "If you wanted to join, all you had to do was ask," he said.

The team started searching the men at the table while Sergeant Roak walked up to the guy with the loud mouth. "Louis Duprey," he said.

"Am I supposed to be impressed you know my name? You'll have to do better than that. I'm quickly becoming a household name. I kind of expected the cops would know me. You got anything else? You're disturbing our game."

Roak looked around the table and quickly recognized the two men Inspector Roberts was looking for, amongst the players.

"The only people who know your name are the scumbags you work with," said Roak. "You don’t mind if we take a look around do you?"

"Suit yourself. Just don't mess the place up or you'll be getting our cleaning bill," said Duprey.

As they moved about the room, again, no weapons and to their relief, no girl being tortured to death.

**********

Bernie Leduc

On the roof, Bernie was having a blast pretending to decapitate the cops still outside. Using the scope gave him a limited field of view, but with lots of cops outside, he had plenty to choose from. When he saw movement from the cops, he knew they must have made it into the building. He was quickly losing his play targets.

He moved onto one of the remaining officers.

"Pop. Pop. Pop," he said, aiming at his head.

Then he went back to the guy in charge.

He couldn't find him with the scope so looked without it. The head cop had someone talking to him.

There's one I haven't gotten yet. I'll take that head off.

Using the scope Bernie found the head honcho, then moved the aim to the side and found the cop next to him. Bernie stopped. He didn't move. He didn't breathe. He focused in on the guy's face.

It couldn't be.

But, it was.

Bill Roberts -- the prick who put me away.

Chapter 36

Sergeant Roak

Roak went back into the hallway and pulled the picture