Page 32 of Newly Tied

“I’m leaving,” the Muscle informed Lang, and when he did, Tracksuit stopped moving.

“No, neither of you is going anywhere.”

“There’s only the two of you,” the Muscle pointed out. “How are you gonna stop us when the shooting starts?”

“By shooting you both,” Lang said flatly. “But why would you think there’s just the two of us here? Do you know where you are?”

Smart to keep them talking.

“Shoot them,” Mosbach ordered.

“Shut up,” Lang countered. “You’re the idiot who got them into this.”

“What’d you do, Mos?” Tracksuit yelled at him.

“I didn’t do⁠—”

“Federal marshals,” I heard Wes Ching roar as the SOG unit appeared in their black body armor, carrying automatic rifles, looking as scary as ever. “On the ground!”

We really were so close to work, which turned out perfectly.

Tracksuit and the Muscle both lay down on the floor, and the SOG team rushed over to them, put Plasticuffs on both, then on Mosbach.

“You two have had a long day,” Ching commented as one of his team came over and held out a plastic evidence bag for Lang to drop the Walther into.

“We like to stay busy,” Lang told him.

Ching smiled as his team took custody of the three and started walking them out of the lounge. “You know the drill. Both of you need to come back to the office with me and write up your statements since you’re the primaries.”

“Yessir.” I holstered my gun, watching Lang do the same.

“That’s good work, gentlemen,” Ching praised us. “Hopefully with this arrest we’ll be able to give the Regan family some closure.”

“I hope so,” Lang agreed.

“Do you want to ride back with us, or do you have a car here?”

“We’ll walk,” Lang told him. “I need to make sure my sister will be⁠—”

“Sharpe and White can drop her. They’re on call this weekend and were on their way home when you sent up the bat signal.”

“Oh no,” I said quickly, glancing at Lang, then back to Ching. “That’s okay. We just need to put her in a cab, and we’ll be⁠—”

“Absolutely not,” Ching stated. “She’s family. We take care of our family.”

“Thank you,” Lang replied, clearly touched and not at all understanding my concern. He hadn’t been with me earlier in the night when his sister first laid eyes on Sharpe.

The SOG team always traveled in two armored rescue vehicles, or BearCats, and so the first one left with the prisoners, half the team, and Ching, while the second waited on us. Jill Stowe, Ching’s second-in-command, came with us to get Talia.

“Sorry about this,” Lang said, walking over to Malik. “We have to go, so text me the total for Nicolette, me, Talia, and Del. I’ll send you the cash.”

Malik nodded, looking from Lang to me.

“I’m sorry I can’t see you home,” Lang said to Nicolette as Talia stood up beside him. “But it was a pleasure meeting you.”

“And you,” she assured him. “Talia has my number.”

“We can take you home,” Garvey offered Talia. “It’s no problem.”