Paragon - Chapter 21: Chapter 21

I managed to track Will down before he did something morbidly stupid. I slipped into our unmarked car before he had a chance to pull up the hand brake.
"You're late." He grunted, glancing at me as I flicked a hand ahead for him to accelerate.
"Do remember I called in sick earlier." I stated flatly.
He cut me a slightly apologetic look and I smirked in return. We pulled off the curb while the GPS traced a blue dot on the streets ahead.
"You're never sick." He filled the sudden silence, between weaving traffic and tracking the moving target.
"Well, I'm only human after all." I drawled, smiling darkly out the window as people crossed the streets and smoked.
Will growled when a driver ahead didn't move at the lights but wisely didn't make a scene or surround the road in flashing blue lights. I glanced at him. Bags heavier under his eyes, bloodshot and the smell of real coffee was inside the car space for once.
"Are you alright?" I asked slowly.
He cut his eyes at me slightly chaotically before accelerating more. Then sighed deeply and tightened his grip on the stirring wheel.
"I've been... putting a bit more focus on work." He paused and blinked once before speaking. "Caitlin and I are on a break."
"What?" I demanded in genuine shock.
Their hardy relationship was the last thing that I expected to be tested. An equal number of arguments as far as he told me but never rooted issues that couldn't be fixed with a simple nice gesture...
"Yeah–well there it is. Can we get back to tracking these bastards now?" He shot back.
"Your head isn't remotely where it needs to be for this sort of job, Will. Is this why you were so damn desperate–"
"Maybe I am desperate for one thing to go right this week!" He shouted past me, completely to my surprise. Will was a calm and reserved partner. Emotional displays weren't his style at all.
"Stop the car." I said calmly.
He whipped his head to me with a humourless laugh.
"Now." I repeated slowly.
"You've got to be fucking kidding."
"I'm not Will. Stop the car or I take this higher and you have more to worry about than me calling off this lead." I promised with no room to negotiate.
He grit his jaw and glanced at the screen deciding. He took another measured breath and chose the right option. I didn't want to stop him by any other means.
"Look at me." I stated with the same cool.
His tired grey eyes finally met my own.
"Go home."
"But I can't leave this! Not now!" He exclaimed desperately. Too desperately.
"This has nothing to do with the case anymore and you know it. Go home and I will finish this lead myself." I told him without breaking his stare.
"You're my partner–"
"And as your partner I am looking out for your best interest. You've got us this far and now you need some sleep and some time. Go Will."
He stared at me for many more seconds weighing my words. He dragged a hand through his dark hair that slipped onto his forehead before nodding.
"I'm... I'm sorry about tonight. Fletcher."
I shook my head, instantly relaxing into the seat. "You would do the same for me." I retorted. "Now get out of my seat so I can finish what you started."
He smiled a tired smile. Then gripped the door and slipped out into the cold night.
"If I see a cab tailing this car I will report it as stolen." I warned through the window.
He gave me a mock salute and pulled out his phone to call a car. I glanced back at the blue dot putting more distance between us. I gave him a final nod before pulling back into the busy road and after our only fresh lead on a criminal empire that we still hadn't put ties on. I could do more alone either way...
It took me thirty minutes before I could pull into an empty street outside a mess of warehouse buildings. There were ample moving vehicles and lorries littering the outside. A thick barred fence lined the storage units with razor wire lining the tops. Several cameras. Floodlights.
It looked like a legitimate storage space for high value assets.
I pulled my phone out and ran the brand name printed on the side. It was nothing but a technology and logistics company. Filed its taxes last month and had been trading legally ever since. So what exactly was a known drug kingpin doing pulling up inside the facility?
I watched movement for the next few hours with my lights off. Nothing but heavy duty vehicles moved in and out with the same tech brand. A good cover I must admit. If the source came inside these vehicles behind the guise of computer screens and electronics its no wonder they crossed borders. That meant we were dealing past the East end now... it could get a lot bigger.
My phone vibrated and I glanced at the screen. The word Lawyer appeared like my new favourite thing on a screen.
"All okay detective?"
I smiled at the screen and leaned back in the dark leather.
"My evening got surprisingly dull."
"At least that sounds safer than gunfights." She sent back in moments as if waiting for my confirmation of safety. Honestly how could she be concerned at all after what she had seen...
"Bullets aren't a problem for me either, Adams."
"How silly of me. I won't ask about your welfare next time."
I grinned at the phone. "What are you doing up so late?"
I quickly checked the surroundings of the building and noticed another heavy set truck go through a barrier.
"You realise it's the weekend tomorrow right?"
"Police don't notice. We get calls on weekends too."
"It's a good thing you actually have someone to give you a life outside of work now ;)"
That wink again. I sighed and leant my forehead on the cool glass. It didn't match the standards of the real thing but it still made me see her face again.
"I think you're right."
There was a pause this time. I glanced back up and saw a sleeker and dark Mercedes without a plate pull in. I cursed and dropped the phone onto the seat watching it stop before the security gate.
If there was anymore indication of something going down tonight this was it. I glanced at the clock and saw it edge towards 12:15am.
I got out the car swiftly and locked it over my shoulder. Pulling my collar up I ran rapidly for the shadowed side of the fence. There was a gap in the floodlighting. I grabbed two of the bars and flung myself high over the razor wire.
I dropped into a crouch on the other side and darted behind several towering crates. Three dark cars were parked alongside each other and the warehouse doors were sealed. All I needed was cause for search. Evidence that gave us what we needed for an armed seizure.
I closed in towards my targets.
* * * * *
I landed on the roof silently. Quickly crossing the steel and concrete. A sturdy structure just to protect tech from the weather...
I heart several heartbeats below my feet and scented cigarette smoke even from on high. I picked a fire escape door fitted into a brick set box. The handle snapped under my cool hand and I rapidly ducked inside, closing it with little less than a click.
The stairs were dark save for the dim green light of the fire sign above. I didn't need the guidance in the dark either way. I took the stairs at a run and stopped before another door that opened just as carefully.
I heard the voices now. Below me and close to ten in number.
I looked down from the metal rafter I was upon that eventually dropped down onto the warehouse floor. I crouched in the shadows and pulled out a small standard issue camera. They worked better than your average smart phone for evidence but were by no means cutting edge.
I scored a few shots of the warehouse interior before moving to two more dark Mercedes that shone their headlights into the group of men. Most wore suits. More could have slipped into the city's inner network without a second glance.
Their voices echoed around the space and I zoomed as far as the camera would allow to catch one man pulled out a fully automatic weapon from the crate near by. I froze as the realisation hit me. Drugs weren't even half the picture of this operation. It was arms dealing.
I snapped the silhouettes and crates. Then the cars. The shadows of men with half their faces lit by the car's stark white beams. I cursed under my breath. Not only had Will struck the right nerve here–he hit the goddamn jackpot. The illusive underworld network of arms trade was beyond both of our pay grades. This was her majesty's secret service level of crime–even Paragon might bat an eye.
Then suddenly in the depths of that darkness the last thing I anticipated happened. It should never have happened because I didn't make these mistakes.
My non-work phone that I didn't have the foresight to leave behind started ringing loudly. The phone that never rang because no one had its number other than my drivers.
I froze into a piece of rock as the men below whirled on the sound from above and started drawing weapons out of crates. I calculated. I knew they would disappear like smoke in the wind once I ran–so I chose a different outcome.
No one would leave this place to send those weapons at all.
I swung my body over the rafter and dropped into a crouch with a crack of stone under my feet. The mortals saw nothing in the dark. So when I appeared suddenly in front of a headlight and dragged a man into the shadow he screamed.
Others whirled and fired blindly into the dark cursing. I snapped his neck silencing him and drew the weapon into my hands with lethal efficiency. I popped eight tires in rapid succession. The men who tried to get inside them suddenly flew to cover behind them.
"Get the fucking grenades!"
Explosives? That would gain too much attention.
I moved faster than they could blink and ripped a man off his feet flinging him off into the dark behind me before seizing the nearest suit and flinging him sharply into the car's front windshield.
I stopped moving.
The sharp tang of blood filled the air around me. My eyes shot to the body of a man that now bled profusely from the shattered glass. I grit my teeth and tried to push the thoughts away. Bullets fired at me in number. I didn't bother dodging them.
One hit me in the cheek and flicked off my skin.
I growled and turned to the man responsible who paled and cried out his own share of fear before me.
"What are–"
I snapped his neck in utter darkness, losing myself more. Another two scrambled for the door. I launched myself at the car and tore a door off before flinging it at them. They both dropped to the ground.
I was so damn close to the blood. I felt my teeth sharpen as I looked down at the mortal bleeding in perfect deliciousness before me. I clenched the car bonnet and bent it under my hand holding onto my self.
Only one more mortal was left and he was breathing heavily behind a crate several feet away thinking I didn't notice. I even smelt the puddle of urine under him. I quickly punched the metal below my hand and walked slowly in his direction.
My boots echoed in the space. Each step his pulse picked up.
Until he finally rushed out and dropped the weapon before me. I stopped watching him drop to his knees.
"Please–please. Anything–name it–" He dragged in a ragged breath as I watched the sweat drip past his bald head. "I don–don't want to die."
"I'm sorry mortal. I can't let you walk away knowing what you know." I murmured.
"I know how to keep my mouth closed!" He beseeched.
I closed in the last few steps shaking my head slowly. "I'm afraid I've heard that before."
He tried to scramble away, but I stepped rapidly behind him and locked his head in my hands before snapping it quickly. He dropped to the floor and the room fell silent. I looked around at the mess. At the bodies. The crates upon crates of weapons that would have gone to every corner of the country.
I sighed deeply. There was nothing I could say that would explain their deaths in a post mortem. Any half competent forensics team would find the cause of deaths too morbid. Impacts, fractured skulls, necks broken like firewood. Then my involvement in the area from my own partner's account...
This was finally it. My leave. My disappearance. A new name, new passport, new identity. It would be an unexplained incident in the East end that led to the untimely death of a detective in London's met. It might hold the headlines for a few weeks if that. The one thing that I would struggle with was how a persistent Lawyer would handle it.
There was no doubt in my mind that it had to be done now. I was the last officer tracing a lead in this area. It would put a spotlight on me that I could not accept. A spotlight on Paragon.
But I couldn't leave this many weapons here with the chance that it could be covered up again. I turned to the crates and soon found the objects I sought past straw and MP5's. I palmed four of the metal balls. Then ascended the stairs where I had been discovered. I pulled my jacket off and dropped it to the warehouse floor below.
Then I pulled the pins on all four grenades and dropped them to the crates below.