Chapter Seven

Bryan entered the DEA’s building, greeting several of his colleagues as he made for his office. He was almost at his office door when his phone chimed.

He opened the message which read.

‘Crucial meeting at the conference room by 8:30am’

It was from Ben, the Agent in charge of the Atlanta’s DEA division.

Bryan entered his tidy office, removed his jacket and opened his drawer to bring out a file filled with several short notes he had written on the Italian mafia. He was engrossed with what he was doing that he did not realize when his partner got to his office  door.

“Hey.”

Jamal called out to him.

“Hey man, come in. How long have you been standing out there?”

“Just got here now.”

Jamal said as he entered the office and took a seat.

“How are you holding up? I heard about what happened to your daughter.”

“I’m fine. It’s my wife I’m worried about. She was up all night crying her eyes out.”

“I’m so sorry man.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“You could use some rest too. You look tired.”

Bryan said after noticing the little bags under his partner’s eyes.

“Nothing a cup of coffee won’t fix.”

Jamal replied.

“Did you get a message from Mr Ben?”

Bryan asked.

“Yes I did. I came to call you so we can go together. Its almost time.”

“Give me a minute to tidy up.”

“This office looks tidy enough to me. Are you sure you’re not suffering from OCD?”

Jamal asked jokingly.

“Maybe I should go for a test. You’re not the first person to ask me this.”

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Kimberly was grooming Rex when the door bell rang. She carried her dog down from her laps and walked to the door.  she peeped through the key hole before opening.

“Hello.”

The delivery man said with a weak smile.

“Hi. Let me get my purse.”

She walked briskly back to the three seater couch in the middle of the sitting room and returned to the young man with a twenty dollar note.

“You can keep the change.”

She said as she collected the box of pizza from him.

“Thanks.”

She closed and locked her door  before returning to the couch where she took out a slice and started eating, while watching TV. She was at it for some minutes when her laptop chimed, notifying her that she had a video call.

She searched for the remote and muted the television before carrying the laptop and connecting to the call.

Staring back at her from the screen was her good friend, Oscar.

“Hey.”

She said with a smile.

“Hello.”

 He replied.

She noticed he wore black singlets, with his dog tag on, which indicated he was on an army base somewhere.

“Where are you?”

She asked.

“Syria. My tour will be ending in two weeks.”

There was poor network connection for a few seconds which muted the screen. Then Oscar’s voice came on again.

“…me?”

“What did you say?”

She asked.

“I got your text last night. You missing me?”

“You wish.”

She replied to which they both laughed at for a while.

“Do you know anything about the Blood gang?”

Kimberly asked.

“I don’t , but I’ll send you an address to check out. It’s a known Bloods crib. Be careful out there.”

“You know I always am. Thanks dear.”

Kimberly sighed, closed the laptop and unmuted the TV.

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Bryan entered the conference room with Jamal, to see Maggie and Justin already seated. The spacious room had a long table with twelve chairs around it. There was a projector mounted on a corner, with a large screen placed on the far end of the wall opposite the entrance.

“Hey. Any break in your case?”

Justin asked him.

“Not yet. What about you?”

He asked back.

“No.”

Maggie replied.

“Any idea why we’re here?”

Justin inquired.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

Bryan replied.

“You’re awfully quiet today.”

Maggie said to Jamal who smiled weakly and replied.

“Little trouble at home. I’ll be fine. Thanks.”

The door swung opened, which silenced the agents as Mr Ben entered the conference room. He was a fifty two years old plump man who was transferred from Chicago four months ago.

“Good morning everyone.”

“Good morning sir.”

They chorused.

He took a seat and cleared his throat before speaking up.

“The reason for this meeting is to create a new task force. There was a shooting early this morning which resulted in the death of two people .”

He paused, then reached for the remote in front of him. He pointed it to the projector, and the dead screen on the wall came to life, which displayed the face of a young man African American.

“This was Shina Johnson, also known as Lil M. He’s a known affiliate to the Blood gang. .”

He pointed the remote to the projector once more and another face replaced Shina’s.

“This was Anthony, a member of the Italian mafia.”

Bryan looked across the faces of his colleagues which said,

‘Now we know the reason for this meeting.’

“There has never been an open conflict between these groups till now. But one thing is certain. Both groups will surely plan on retaliating, which will likely result to  innocent civilians being caught in the cross fire.

You should all share resources and work together before this blows out of proportion into a full scale war.”

‘That is if the war has not started already.’

Bryan thought.