Detective Sergeant Brody King stared down a Hope City back alley at the dented steel exterior door that wore the scars of collisions it had survived. He and two of his men were assigned to cover this entryway. He listened intently to police comms via an earwig. Thanks to an undercover agent wearing a wire, the conversation inside the building was being broadcast to his team. Twenty-two men and women, permanently assigned to the Hope City's Joint Drug Enforcement Team, or JDET, waited in position for the undercover DEA agent to give the signal. At the undercover agent's predetermined code words, they would storm the building and take down the participants, including the undercover officer. His arrest would keep the man's identity from the rest of the scum currently exchanging cash for a shipment of drugs. His team was highly trained, briefed with the latest available intel, and ready to take down a major conduit of cocaine into the city.
"Standby, we may have new players inbound." Through the comms, DEA Agent Amber Swanson's voice slapped his ears in a hard, professional clip; gone was the soft, quiet voice he remembered.
A lot of shit has changed in the last ten years. The ten years since she walked away... and left him down on one knee holding a diamond engagement ring in his hand. Brody's muscles tightened with anger, confusion, and embarrassment—emotions he’d thought he’d put behind him. He drew a steadying breath. His past had nothing to do with this moment, and his focus needed to be on his team, this raid, and the takedown of a major player in Hope City's drug scene.
Brody held still while listening to the drug deal going down inside. Colt Rayburn nudged him and motioned down the alleyway. A blacked-out SUV drove into the tight alley. As one man, he, Colt, and Derek Watson, slid back behind a dumpster. The smell coming from the industrial sized garbage bin could choke a maggot, but it was the only place they could still see the doorway and be shielded from the SUV's direct line of vision.
"Juliet Three. Black SUV. Unknown occupants pulling up to the back door." He whispered the license plate number and shut up when the doors opened. Wonderful. The bastards were carrying Uzis.
He keyed his mic and barely breathed, "Four. Armed. Heavy."
"Are you in position to take them?"
He clicked the mic twice. It was their team's way to confirm without talking. Once for no, twice for yes. They'd be able to flank the bastards.
"The deal is almost done. On my count, move in." His captain's voice cracked over the comms. He motioned to Derek to go to the front of the vehicle. Colt nodded to the rear. He agreed with a slight movement of his head.
When they were ready, he keyed the mic three times, giving his captain the signal they were ready. It was a dance the team had done too many times to count.
Colt and Derek sprinted at the same time he did, except he didn't round the vehicle. He sprinted to the hood, used the bumper as a step and launched onto it. The sound of his weight landing on the hood swung all four men to his position. Derek and Colt yelled, "Police!"
"Drop your weapons!" His Desert Eagle Mark XIX leveled on the man closest to him. Looking down the barrel of the massive handgun would clench anyone's ass, and it worked almost every time. Their free hands went up, and all four leaned down and placed their weapons by their feet. Derek kicked the guns away as Colt spun the gunmen and zip tied their wrists.
"Clear!"
"Get down!"
"Police!"
"We got a runner!"
A door slammed; in the distance, he heard Amber's voice yell, "Halt, DEA!"
"You got this?" Brody jumped down from the newly dented hood of the SUV.
"Go!" Derek dropped one of the restrained men to his knees.
"Runner heading down Marlin Avenue!" Amber yelled into her open mic.
Brody sprinted through the alley and across the street, running full tilt down an alley the next block over. Marlin Avenue curved, and if the runner didn't duck into a building, he'd be coming around right where Brody would exit the alley.
Pounding against the asphalt, he saw the man flash by the alley entrance. He sped up and flew around the corner. He launched at the guy's knees and tackled the man as he ran full speed. The cement sidewalk stopped their fall.