Page 1 of Flash and Bang
Prologue
“There! See him? There, Wolfe!”
Special Agent Thayne Wolfe stepped on the gas of the black late model SUV and drove like a bat out of hell down Venice Boulevard toward downtown Los Angeles. “I see him, Evans. Shriek in my ear one more time and I’m gonna push you out of the car.”
Thayne’s low threats and blue eyes, dancing with irritation, couldn’t help but put a grin on Jarrett’s face. The more he was able to frustrate his partner, the more it made Jarrett laugh like an idiot. Jarrett Evans had to respect his partner’s driving. It took a particularly practiced driver to be able to weave effortlessly between cars in the early morning rush hour and not crash their vehicle at these speeds. It wasn’t like he had much choice in the matter though. Jarrett had been relegated to the passenger seat because he’d had two accidents in the month since he and Thayne had been assigned as partners at the ATF’s Los Angeles Field Office.
The car ahead of them was a 2016 BMW 7 series and it contained three armed men suspected of selling guns to a particularly nasty street gang. The trunk of the beemer held a crate filled with semi-automatic assault weapons and Thayne and Jarrett had been trying to follow at a discreet pace. Once the suspects made their vehicle, the gun runners took off,charging down the crowded streets of downtown. The chase originated at Angelus Rosedale Cemetery on Washington Boulevard, several miles uptown where the head of the 18thStreet gang met the suppliers, who’d buried the guns under an old gravestone.
“Not a bad hiding place, actually,” Jarrett remarked as he effortlessly held on to the grab bar to keep from being flung sideways into Thayne’s lap as they swerved. “I mean cemeteries are usually pretty dead this early in the mornin’.”
Thayne jerked his head around to stare at him and Jarrett knew he was giving him the hairy eyeball under his black aviators. “You didnotjust say that.” Thayne growled and Jarrett grinned wider.
“What? I’m just sayin’, they would ‘a gotten away with it if they hadn’t been sufferin’ coffin fits.”
“Jesus, how do you come up with cemetery puns this early in the morning?” Thayne grumbled.
“Hey!” Jarrett said. “I work really hard to drive you stark graving mad.” He snickered.
“Dear God,” Thayne breathed, swerving in-between two cars. The suspect’s trunk was heavy with the contraband guns and it made the BMW fishtail through the street. They were making an all-out last-ditch attempt to flee from the scene of theircrime.
“Wolfe! Evans! Where the hell are you?” Sarah Connor’s voice barked into the earwigs both men wore. “We have the buyers in custody.”
“Good job, Sarah. We’re on Venice, approaching the downtown corridor. Traffic’s heavy but they’re two car lengths ahead,” Thayne replied.
“Go get ‘em boys. We get the suppliers and we can shut this ring down once and for all. By the way, who’s driving?” she asked.
“Hey! One little accident and you’re tarred and feathered forever,” Jarrett complained.
“Two little accidents,” Thayne corrected.
“Only one of those was an accident,” Jarrett interjected, “The other was an unfortunate meeting of…”
“This is a party line,” Special Agent in Charge Stanger interrupted. “If you don’t want to spend the weekend revising all your reports for the last accident, I suggest you shut your mouth right now, Evans.”
Jarrett was certain he could hear Sarah’s snicker through the earbud. “Hell.” He gritted his teeth. The suspect’s vehicle turned onto Figueroaheaded toward the Staples Center and screeched up to a ten-story bank complex. Jarrett relayed their location. Before Thayne could pull up behind, all three suspects’ doors opened and they tumbled out onto the sidewalk carrying MAC-10s, leaving the doors wide open as they bailed out.
“They’re headed into that complex,” Jarrett pointed.
“Let’s get ‘em, Evans.” Thayne screeched to a halt behind the suspect’s vehicle and Jarrett watched the three men in all black race into the building.
“They bailed out at the Bank of America building in the Staples Center, carrying MAC-10s and God knows what else,” Thayne reported to Stanger and the others listening.
“Whatever you do, do not let them out of that building, Wolfe. We need to contain this or we may end up with a bloodbath. The office building is probably still mostly empty at this time of the morning. You hear me?” Stanger ordered. “LAPD is on the way.”
“Got it, sir,” Thayne said, throwing the car into park as he and Evans jumped to the pavement. Thayne clicked the door locks as they ran through a set of glass double doors. Pedestrians and early-morning window shoppers screamed as they stopped in the center of the outdoor Bank of America shopping plaza.
“ATF! Who saw where they went?” Jarrett yelled, holding up his Glock and his badge.
“They went toward the elevators,” a bank employee said excitedly. The young man pointed to an exit around the side of the bank and Jarrett took off running.
He could hear Thayne coming up right behind him as he burst through the glass doors and into a marble lobby area which led into the ten-story office complex. They sprinted toward an elevator door as the last arms suppliers jumped into it and the doors closed behind him. Jarrett’s momentum caused him to splat against the door with a hollow crack as Thayne came up behind him, stopping to gaze up at the lit display of floors. The elevator where they were was traveling up… two… three… four. He glanced at his partner who was standing ten feet away.
“I’ll take the stairs!” he screamed. “Let me know where they stop, Wolfe.”
“You got it. Go on,” Thayne said.
Jarrett nodded, ran toward the door to the stairs, and yanked it open. He stepped into a widestairwell in the modern building and began taking the stairs two at a time. He concentrated on climbing, listening for the slamming of doors above him so he wouldn’t run over someone as he climbed. “Just passing the fifth floor!” Jarrett panted, a minute later.