Page 122 of Monk

Fuck, fuck, fuck.This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. This wasn’t the plan. Nothing about this situation was remotely close to what we’d anticipated when we’d rolled out this morning. I raised my hands slowly, palms out, fingers spreadwide, showing I wasn’t a threat. Showing I wasn’t reaching for anything. Showing I was compliant, cooperative, not looking for trouble. “Easy,” I said, my voice surprisingly calm despite the adrenaline flooding my system like a tidal wave, making my hands tremble slightly even as I held them steady. “We’re not armed. We’re just?—”

“SHUT UP!” the lead agent shouted, his voice cracking with tension and authority in equal measure, his gun now trained directly on my center mass with the kind of precision that told me he wouldn’t miss if he pulled that trigger.

The second agent was still screaming at Whisper, his face red and contorted with rage or fear or some volatile combination of both. “YOU’RE UNDER ARREST!” he shouted, spittle flying from his mouth. “GET OFF THE BIKE OR I WILL DRAG YOU OFF! I’M NOT GOING TO ASK AGAIN!”

Whisper finally moved.

Slowly. Deliberately. With the kind of calculated, measured movements that could either defuse the situation or make it exponentially worse. He swung his leg over the bike and stood, his hands raised high above his head in a gesture of surrender. But the damage was done. The tension had already escalated past the point of no return, like a wildfire that had spread too far to contain.

Two troopers rushed forward with aggressive speed, grabbing Whisper by both arms and slamming him face-first onto the hood of a patrol car. The impact echoed through the quiet street, and I watched helplessly as his body collided with the metal. His arms were yanked behind his back with unnecessary force, twisted at painful angles, and I heard the metallic click of handcuffs snapping into place around his wrists. “You have the right to remain silent,” one of the troopers said, his voice mechanical and devoid of emotion, as if he’d recitedthese words a thousand times before. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.”

The lead agent walked over to me, his gun still drawn. “Hands behind your head,” he said.

I complied, lacing my fingers behind my head as two more troopers moved in, grabbing my arms and pulling them down behind my back. The handcuffs bit into my wrists, cold and unforgiving.

“John Smith,” the lead agent said, his voice dripping with satisfaction. “You’re under arrest for conspiracy to transport unmarked firearms across state lines.”

My mind was racing.

They don’t have the guns. Blackjack has the guns. They can’t prove anything.But even as I thought it, I knew it didn’t matter. They had us and they were going to make this hurt.

The trooper finished reading me my rights, then shoved me toward one of the patrol cars as I glanced over at Whisper. He was already in the back of another car, his face expressionless. But I saw it in his eyes. The same thing I was feeling.

This is bad. Really bad.

The trooper grabbed my arm roughly and opened the door, practically shoving me inside the back of the cruiser as the ATF agent leaned down through the open door and got right in my face. His breath reeked of coffee and cigarettes as he said, “And when we find those guns, you and all your club buddies are going to spend the rest of your lives rotting in a federal prison. You hear me?”

“We are unarmed. You had no reason to arrest us,” I sneered back at him, trying to keep my voice steady despite the rage boiling inside me.

“I have probable cause, and even if I can’t make the charges stick on you and your mute buddy over there”—he gestured dismissively toward my brother—“I’m sure my friends will findsomething when they raid your clubhouse. We’ve been watching you boys for months.” With that, the fucker slammed the door shut with enough force to rattle the entire vehicle.

FUCK!My mind raced through all the possibilities, none of them good.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Lina

The manila folder felt heavy in my hands as I pushed through the clubhouse door.

I’d spent the last three hours compiling discovery documents for Kali. Financial records, property deeds, business licenses, everything she needed for the city council meeting next week about the community center expansion.

The gathering room was quiet for once. No music blaring. No brothers drinking at the bar. Just the low hum of the refrigerator and the distant sound of someone working on a bike in the garage.

“Kali?” I called out, walking toward the kitchen.

No answer.

I set the folder on the bar and pulled out my phone, about to text her, when I heard it.

The sound of engines. Multiple engines. Not motorcycles.

Vehicles.My stomach dropped as I turned toward the front entrance just as the doors exploded inward with a deafeningCRASH.

“ATF! NOBODY MOVE!”

Men in tactical vests flooded into the clubhouse, weapons drawn, shouting commands that overlapped into incomprehensible chaos.

“GET ON THE GROUND!”