4: The Delivery Guy

L U C A S   K I N G   W A S  still having a hard time in deciding whether to join the Warriors or not and it so happened that he wasn't the only one with a full plate as Susan Claire was seated in her office at the precinct, going through a group of files scattered all over her desk.

The APD were caught in a fix with the rampantly rising drug smuggling cartels which started out in 2026—two years earlier.

"We just caught one, Captain!" came a voice from her door.

Yes. Claire was the department's new police captain, currently going on six years after Mayor Joshua Avery was impeached and charged with the assassination of the National Guard Commander back in 2016 together with the mastermind; Trevor Brandon, who is still in Atlanta's most wanted list after his escape from Georgia and has never been heard of since.

Following the events of the impeachment, a new mayor—and a very familiar face—was sworn in, who would later appoint Susan Claire as the Police Captain.

"Are you sure?" Captain Claire asked, setting down a file before pushing back her chair and standing up.

She was in a dark velvet blouse and dark blue denim jeans, all of which accentuated her look with her dark hair pulled back into a perm. She simply dressed as she did before back when she was a detective and formalities had never really been her thing, anyway.

"I think you should really check it out," the cop was saying as Claire moved from her desk to meet him outside the door, "we got him loading up a stash on his way from Hapersville Airport."

Captain Claire walked into the interrogation room while the cop shut the door behind him and stood in front of it.

The suspect was seated behind a large marble table with his hands cuffed to it. His hair was trimmed and was wearing a black coat and jeans.

The captain grabbed a chair and pulled it closer to the suspect before placing a file on top of the table.

"Felton, right?" she began, scanning his face.

The suspect, who's head had been facing down at his cuffs, turned to look at the captain.

He did not respond.

"You don't strike me as a smuggler."

"I'm not telling you shit," the suspect let out in a low tone and a bit of a smirk at the end.

Claire turned from the suspect to the cop at the door, then back to the suspect.

"Look, you seem like a guy that got mixed up in the wrong kind of business, so I'm going to ask you this, once," Claire leaned a little, "do you really wanna do this?"

"I won't say shit and I'll be outta here..."

"You forget we got you with a load of two dozen bags of cocaine!" the officer intervened this time.

The suspect muttered something inaudible before turning to the Captain and began shaking his head.

"Okay, look!" he finally blurted out, "if I spill, I'm as good as dead..."

"Well, if you don't give us something to work with, you'll be spending about twenty-one years behind bars, which can be overlooked if you help me take down the people behind this and you'll get full protection in return and your ass will still be alive."

The suspect turned his head down back to his cuffed hands, probably processing the compelling words of the captain.

"So, what is it gonna be?"

"I...I'm just a delivery guy."

"Meaning...?"

"Well, my job is to get smuggled drugs from the airport, docks and take 'em to the dealers."

"Do you know these dealers?"

"No. All I do is deliver and get paid."

"That stash you were caught with, who were you delivering it to?"

"I..."

The suspect hesitated again.

"Hey, you're just a delivery guy. You won't get into  trouble."

"I was supposed to meet some guys tomorrow in this apartment just a few blocks from the Seven Fifty-five North Avenue and that's where I'd get paid."

Claire got up from her chair and looked down at the suspect.

"If this goes right, things might just end up well for you."