“Son-of-a-bitch! That’s Asia Davenport. He was kidnapper number two, the one who had his hand on Dakota.” Sgt. Brocard fumed, looking over at her team members. “Looks like Ares and Jennifer are cleaning up. First Peter Robinson, then Candy Ruiz, now Asia Davenport.”
“That means we’re getting close. Those three were the weakest links.” Cortez stood up to stretch, looking over at Raso then Pratt before shrugging.
“Technically Jennifer is the weakest link. Only a matter of time before she’s next.”
“How did you come to that conclusion?” Carter asked Pratt, both confused and amused by her statement.
“Well, I can see them taking out Peter and Asia because we’ve identified them from the mall video, but they left them alive this long only because we never found them. Peter fucked up somewhere along the way because he was the first taken out. We never would have thought about Tampa if it wasn’t for his body being gator bait.” Pratt glanced over to Gene and Larry sharing a look for a few moments, before they both nodded.
“Candy was useful, until she wasn’t. Had she not been arrested for whatever put her on Tampa PD’s radar, she probably would still be alive. As soon as we landed, we found out she was here courtesy of Tampa PD. Candy bragged to officers and probably other prisoners about what she’s done. When she signed the paperwork refusing protective custody, she basically signed her death warrant.”
“What I’m not understanding is why leave Asia for last? We didn’t even assume he was here. We thought he would be gone as soon as Peter was killed.” Rameriez stated, getting up and walking around the room, pacing as she talked, a common quirk among the Alpha Squad members.
“That’s just it, when we assumed that Asia hauled ass, we didn’t even consider Jennifer’s link to Ares, we just assumed Jennifer was cleaning house. Even so, it doesn’t explain Red’s theory of Jennifer being the weakest link.” York looked over at Pratt.
“Jennifer couldn’t resist the temptation to contact me and brag about her association with Ares. She had to boast that she was coming after me for her mother’s death. She also confirmed that Ares is here in Tampa, therefore giving us hope that Dakota was too.”
“Shite, Laura is right. She painted a target on her back.” Highlander shook his head.
“Then why haven’t we found her body yet?” Alvarez questioned, looking around the room for an answer.
“Ares wants us to do his dirty work. Jennifer took out Peter, cleaned house. Either Jennifer or Ares ordered Candy taken out, attempted to take out Asia. Jennifer had Thompson taken out since his dick wasn’t useful anymore. Ares is amused at the ‘sibling rivalry’ that Jennifer assumes we are in.” Pratt used her fingers as quotation marks for the term regarding siblings.
“He knows she threatened Highlander and your kids, but your badge would prevent you from crossing that line.” Brody stated, watching Pratt for a response.
“Technically, yes, as a cop I can’t just take her out. Jennifer is banking on that part taking precedence over my first instinct as a woman, protect my family at all costs. She knows I value my badge over everything since it’s what caused the downfall of my marriage to Jon. But she doesn’t know the badge comes second when it comes to my husband, children, Dominick and those I consider family. I’ll put a bullet in your head without thought, fuck the consequences.”
“If Ares knows differently…”
Everyone looked at Devon before looking to Pratt, eyes wide open as realization dawned on everyone at the same time.
“Fuck a duck! That means it’s someone connected to the Senator and his family. Holy fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! When we went up against Arrow and their people, Joe, you fought Opie’s brother, the one he didn’t know about…”
“Pratt? What popped in your head?” Gene asked, concerned when Pratt looked out the conference room window, silent for several moments.
“Six years ago, we handled a case with a young girl, well she’s not so young now, but until she had gone missing a second time, we never knew who she was other than a girl we rescued,” Pratt rambled without breaking her staring contest with the outside world.
“Shane?” York asked, making sure she was thinking along the same lines as Pratt.
Pratt nodded slightly. “When she was found, she needed a blood transfusion due to the amount of blood she lost. That’s how Dom and I found out she was our sister. It was no secret dad fucked around on mom through the years. Because Dom always stood up for me, against the parents, they tended to favor Maria. What if, dad didn’t care about Dom taking over any ‘empire’ he has because he has another son? Who the fuck else would know about any shit I’ve done in my past? The Senator knows I took out his kid, well attempted to…” Pratt started to ramble again before looking over at Larry and Gene, staring at both of them.
“Shit, Laura, don’t get ahead of yourself with that thought. It could be a kid the Senator has that no one knew about. Could be another bad guy who gets his rocks off taking out people. Hell, it could be someone that the Senator hired.”
“What are you thinking, Detective Pratt?”
Pratt looked over at Ian for a moment, trying to gather her run away thoughts. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Pratt looked up and saw her husband standing behind her, giving her silent support.
“We all know that human trafficking is branches of a whole. What if Arrow and Ares are the same? Ares is a branch off of Arrow, a family business, with Jennifer as the go between, that may be the only thing keeping her alive right now.”
“That’s the general idea, about human trafficking. But we all know there are those who start their own branches, not really falling under the same organization, other than by trade. Gangs are one of the largest ones that have their own branch.” Rameriez walked over to the white board writing down the word ‘gangs’ on it then underlining the word.
“Don’t forget pedos. While they may not have a harem, they do traffic victims now and then.” Diesel spewed as if she had a bad taste in her mouth.
“Well, the mafia would also be another branch of their own. There they tend to branch out depending on the family. The Italians and the Irish…fuck it all of them branch out thanks to how they work it.”
“Technically, Ramz, the mafia, mafioso, mob, whatever you wanna call them, they do answer to a higherup, the Godfather! Wonder what it would be called if it was a woman leader though?” Diesel looked up at the ceiling in thought, causing her teammates to snicker at the look on the men’s faces as they shook their heads.
“Fairy Godmother!” Pratt answered, straight faced. “Anywho. Arrow isn’t mafia or part of a gang, the pedo shit is still debatable with some of the shit I’ve learned through the years. But, we can all, I hope, agree that he is part of a secret society with some of the connections he’s gotten through the years.”
