The next morning, the precinct was a hive of activity. Things were going on left and r ight. The arrest on Walter Ortega had made headlines all over and the pressure to take down the lead mastermind in El Diablo was growing quicker and quicker. Captain Howard called a meeting to discuss our next steps.

  "Good work yesterday." he began, he looked around the room, sort of glared over at Jacob and I but he continued to speak. "But we can't rest on our small win. We may have captured Ortega. But El Diablo is out there somewhere and he is not going to be happy to say the least about Ortega's arrest. We need to stay vigilant and gather as much intel as we can to stay one step ahead of where Diablo might think we're at. Ortega's got connections. We got to stay sharp and make sure nobody tries to break him out."

  Jacob and I exchanged a glance. We both knew the real challenge was just beginning as Howard had mentioned. After the meeting, we headed to our desks to review the information that we had discovered thus far. As I sifted through the documents from the safe at Ortega's mansion, I immediately noticed a pattern in the financial records, large sums of money being shared through several shell companies."

  "Hey, take a look at this." I said as I pointed towards the documents. "These transactions are too regular to be random. El Diablo must be using these companies to launder his money."

  Jacob leaned over, he studied the papers with his eyes. "You're right. If we can trace these funds. We might get a lead on his location."

  We spent the next few hours digging deeper into the records, cross-referencing them with the known associates of Ortega. It was tedious work, but by midday, we had a list of potential targets. Our first stop was the warehouse in the industrial district we had gone to prior, which was listed as the headquarters of one of the shell companies.

  The warehouse was nondescript, blending in with the surrounding buildings. We approached cautiously, our senses on high alert. Inside, the place was a maze of crates and shipping containers. The air was thick with the smell of oil and metal, and the distant hum of machinery added to the tension. It was a normal building but still was creepy.

  "Stay sharp," I whispered to Jacob as we moved deeper into the warehouse.

  Suddenly, a noise from behind us, made us spin around, our hands moved towards our weapons. A group of men emerged from the shadows, all armed and ready for a fight. The leader, a tall man with a scar running down his face, he definitely looked as if he had been through somethings. He stepped forward, the man looked quite menacing to say the least, shaved head and tattoos everywhere you could think of.

  "Ahhh! Look what we have here. You must be the famous Detective Grantttttttt... What a pleasure, what a pleasure indeed. El Diablo sends his deepest regards."

  Before I could respond further, the man lunged at me. We grappled, our movements a variety of punches and elbows. I had managed to land a stiff elbow to the side of his jaw, which made him fall to a knee. The throb in my shoulder came back into play after the fact which again, made me wince in pain. He took advantage of my momentary distraction. He shoved me against a crate.

  "You think you've won Grant? Huh? Just because you captured Ortega? You think that you can capture THE mastermind? El Diablo is always watching!" He said psychotically.

  I glanced over to the side of the warehouse, Jacob was off fighting the other two men that arrived with the one I was brawling with, his movements a lot more quick and with a lot more precision than I.

  "Could really use some help over here Flint!" I yelled over to him as I continued to try and fight off the lead man who continued to have the upperhand on me.

  His dispersed the two and came to my aid, he grappled the lead mans arms from the back to put cuffs on him. I snarled at the man and looked at him dead in the eyes. The lead suspect tried to fight off the handcuffing. I kneed the man in the stomach to which he dropped onto the ground.

  "Instead of fighting what your eventual fate is. How about you exercise your right to be silent before I force it on you? That might be a smarter plan." I said.

  Jacob laughed at my forcefulness, he picked the guy up and shoved him against the crate I was pinned against along with getting straight in his face.

  "Now... Instead of brawling with a police officer. How about you give us some information friend. Huh? Where's the "mastermind" at? Where's he hiding."

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  The leader glared at me, defiance clear in his eyes. "You'll never find him. El Diablo is everywhere. Always hiding. Never in the same place twice." He'd finish, laughing psychotically again, not taken my eyes off of me once.

  "That's good for him but that's not what I asked at all. If you're not going to tell us anything. You don't have to. BUT. I'd like for you to deliver a message when you see El Diablo. He knows that we have already captured Ortega. Diablo is next. ONE way or ANOTHER. We're bringing everything that Walter Ortega has built down. We know they work close together. They both are prime targets. How about you tell Diablo that we'll see him real soon huh?" I said into the mans ear as I led him out to the squad car followed after I put him inside the car with force.

  Jacob came up next to me as I shut the door. He cleared his throat.

  "You alright? That was certainly a lot." He said as he laughed out loud a little.

  I nodded as I fixed my blazer. "Yeah... I'm good."

  I took a deep breath. "Let's do this." I said confidently.

  Jacob got into the drivers seat and I into the passenger seat. I checked my phone and noticed a missed message from Darius that I couldn't help but smirk at.

  Darius:

  Hey! Still on for dinner tonight?

  Izzy:

  Hey, sorry I didn't respond right away, been a crazy couple of days... Yeah! I'll be home a bit later today so maybe change the timing? Any time after 6. The case we're working on is a real headscratcher... I'll tell you later...

  I sent the message to Darius, I sighed for a moment before I put my phone away as we drove back to the station.

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The suspect we apprehended at the warehouse, the man with the scar, was taken back to the precinct and placed in an interrogation room. Jacob and I prepared ourselves for the session ahead. This man could hold vital information about El Diablo and his operations. I was shook a bit, the man startled me when he attacked, bringing me right back to that moment, I tried to not let it bother me though.

  As we entered the room, the suspect sat with his hands cuffed to the metal table. He glared at us, specifically me, defiance etched into every line of his face. I sat down across from him, while Jacob stood by the door, arms crossed, an imposing presence, calm, cool, and collected as always.

  "Let's start with your name," I began, my voice calm but firm.

  "Forget it, lady... Why should I tell you anything?" He sneered back at me.

  I stood up out of my seat, laughing a bit at the man.

  "Because if you don't I-"

  "Because," Jacob said, stepping forward, cutting me off, "We already know a lot. We know you work for El Diablo, and we know you're involved in illegal arms deals. Cooperate, and maybe we can help you. Keep stonewalling, and you're looking at a very long time behind bars."

  The man's eyes shifted between myself and Jacob. "Name's Xander but people call me X... It doesn't matter anyway, you won't be getting no words out of me."

  "We'll see about that," I said, leaning forward. "Let's talk about the warehouse. What was the shipment for?"

  Xander hesitated, then smirked. "You think I'm afraid of you? El Diablo will come for you, just like he'll come for me."

  "El Diablo's not here," I replied. "But we are. And unless you want to rot in prison, you'd better start talking!"

  Jacob pulled out a chair and sat down next to me, his eyes locked on Xander. "Here's the deal... Xander... X, whatever you wanna call yourself. We've got you on multiple charges already. You're guilty by association, and matter of fact, I don't like the way we got introduced... But help us take down El Diablo, and we might be able to work something out. Otherwise, you're looking at life. No parole..."

  Xander's smirk faltered. He swallowed hard, clearly weighing his options. "What do you want to know?"

  "Everything," I said. "Start with the warehouse. Who was the shipment for?"

  Xander sighed, resigned. "It was for a client in Central America. High-grade military stuff—guns, grenades, RPGs. El Diablo's been supplying them for months."

  "Who is this client?" Jacob asked.

  "I don't know... I just know he's a client, don't know what his name is..."

  "What about the nightclub?" I asked. "What's its role in all this?"

  Xander chuckled. "It's a front for everything. They launder money through the club—drugs, girls, you name it. It's where El Diablo meets with his lieutenants."

  "And the mansion?" I asked. "What's hidden there?"

  Xander's eyes flickered with fear. "That's where the money is. Cash, gold, you name it. He's got secret compartments, hidden rooms. It's his fortress."

  Jacob leaned in closer. "Where can we find El Diablo?"

  Xander shook his head. "I don't know. He moves around a lot. He's paranoid, always changing locations. But he's got safe houses all over the city."

  "Give us a starting point," I insisted.

  After a long pause, Xander sighed. "There's a safe house in Palm Bay. An old, abandoned building near the docks. He's used it a few times... Check that... You may have luck..."

  "Address?" Jacob asked, pen poised over his notepad.

  "1123 Palmetto Street," Xander replied. "But be careful. He's got guards and security systems. It won't be easy..."

  I laughed. "Oh please... You saw how easy we took down you fools."

  "And besides, nothing easy ever is... This is a must... Thank you for your cooperation X..." Jacob would say.

  As we left the interrogation room, Jacob looked at me, a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. "Looks like we've got a lead... Time for some fun huh?"

  I paused once again, my shoulder throbbing a little bit, thinking again of that night when I got shot...

  "Iz?" Jacob basically screamed my name, I looked around again. "Huh? Oh yeah... Fun...."

  He shook his head as well, a look of concern coming over him before a big smile... "Let's get a team together... It's going down!!"