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“Once I give the sign, you storm that place and take them all down. The Falcones are dangerous, and they won’t hesitate to put a bullet between your eyes. We’ve worked on this for so long, so let’s not give them any reason to ruin the case.”
“You heard the man! I want you to give a hundred and fifty percent out there—”
Dani half listened to the SWAT leader giving his team the usual pep talk, and the DA adding a few words to raise the stakes. All her attention was focused on the voice coming through the headsets… of the man who was undercover in the lion’s den. Malcolm Bright.
How their profiler got involved is a coincidence that still baffled her. One day they were solving a good old-fashioned murder, and the next, they were being approached by the DA’s office about a wider investigation that involved their Vic.
The DA’s office has been building the case against the Falcones for the better part of a year. The criminal empire had its hands in everything ranging from larceny to murder. When the NYPD and the DA’s investigations crossed paths, Bright’s history came into the light. It turned out that one of Bright’s undercover FBI aliases was the perfect cover they needed to take down the NYC cell.
Always too happy to assist, Bright agreed to use his old alias to broker a deal with Anthony Falcone himself — the head of the crime family — while wearing a wire. The SWAT team along with Dani, JT, and Gil were all on standby, waiting for his signal to breach.
Once they had a deal and it was all caught on tape, Bright was supposed to thank Falcone for doing business with him. Then the SWAT team was positioned to overtake the place and arrest everyone.
Only this never happened.
Twenty minutes after Bright went inside, they heard a scuffle, someone saying “he’s wired” and then the feed was cut off.
The fear Dani felt was reflected in everyone’s eyes. Bright has been made.
The DA was about to argue with Gil about whether or not to move in when they saw the Crime boss and his goons get into a car and drive off. Bright was not with them.
Everyone was immediately spurred into action. The teams were ordered to pursue the car, and the SWAT teams and other patrol men got into their vehicles to follow the culprits. Dani didn’t wait for further instructions, though. She did not care about pursuing the crime boss. She only cared about Malcolm.
With JT at her heels, they both ran into the warehouse to look for their profiler.
The place was dark and empty… save for a huddled person in the far-end corner. Dani halted for a moment, fearing the worst, but she heard him groan and exhaled in relief.
“I’ll clear the place, check on him,” JT said as he ran to check the other side.
Nodding, Dani made her way to where Bright was and knelt down next to him. There was blood at the base of his skull and on his jacket. Her heart skipped a beat.
“Bright, Bright! You okay?” She turned him over to check for the source of his injuries. Apart from his bleeding head, she couldn’t see anything else. It looked like they clocked him on the head. She reached for her radio. “This is Dani, requesting a medic.”
“Dani?” Bright slurred.
“Yes,” She nodded. “Quite a bump you got there.”
Her radio came to life. It was JT’s voice. “Dani, the Place is empty. Is he alright?”
“I believe he’ll be.”
“They knew… who I was…” Bright added, disbelief clear on his face.
“Yeah, we saw them escape,” she breathed. “Any idea why they didn’t…” she trailed off, not sure she wanted to say the words.
“Kill me?” he laughed then groaned, squinting his eyes from the pain. “Said something about a bigger plan.”
“Mmm?” she arched an eyebrow but said nothing. Whatever this guy’s reason was didn’t matter right now. What mattered was that Bright was alive…
“You look terrible,” she said as she helped him to his feet.
Bright swayed on his feet but mumbled “M’fine”
“Really?” she teased. Definitely concussed. She stuck her hand in front of him. “How many fingers am I holding up?”
“uh…Eight?”
Dani’s face dropped but then she noticed him smile mischievously. She rolled her eyes. “Not funny. Come, let’s get you checked out.”
“I…Aa–”
“And no, Bright. You are not fine,” she cut him off as she led him out of the warehouse.