CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Rory, Tailor, Alec, Billy, and the men of the D.A.'s office sat around the table, ready to begin the conference call. The cameras were on, and they were ready for this. The video had been put together by the tech team back home and the tech team with the D.A.'s office. Every single thing that Charlie Gates said was put onto the tape in a sound bite or video format.

"It's 0500," said Billy. "Showtime." He pressed the button on the computer and watched as hundreds of faces appeared before him.

"I know you don't want to be here this morning, but I promise you, I don't want to be here either," said the D.A. "It's no secret to any of you that we've been investigating the department for months now. In turn, we've been investigating many of you."

Some of the cameras went black, others just showed stoic faces unwilling to give anything away.

"I ask that you give this video your full attention. It will determine your future in this city, state, and country."

For the next twenty minutes, the video played with Rory giving the voiceover. It showed the stacks of materials, money, cars, and much more hidden by Gates, the video footage of him in the Square, as well as the conversations at Maison Soleil. Camera after camera flickered off, then back on. Scared faces stared back at them as the team watched them watching the footage.

When it was done, they turned off the video and stared into the camera.

"My name is Rory Baine. I'm a retired MARSOC Marine and proud member of Gray Wolf Security, former REAPER-Patriots, and Voodoo Guardians."

That got their attention. The faces that paled were guilty. The ones with grins knew they were going to be saved.

"Right now, Charlie Gates is stupid enough to believe he can still pull off this rally. If you believe that, then you're stupid too. Our teams have been out all night arresting the men and women that he hired to cause chaos at this rally. He expects to see twenty thousand people. He'll be lucky if two hundred show up.

"We have everything we need to arrest and convict Gates. And you," said Rory, glaring into the camera. "If you think for one moment we don't know your names, the ones involved, you're mistaken. You can thank Charlie for that. He left a ledger of everyone's name, address, and amount paid every month. He knew that if he were caught, he would bring all of you down with him."

"Except you all didn't know he had millions stashed in his own name," said Alec. "I'm Alec Robicheaux. Former CIA, member of Gray Wolf, REAPER-Patriots, and Voodoo Guardians, among other things."

There were a few smirks and nervous laughter as everyone stared at the big man.

"If you know something other than what we have exposed here, now is your time to come clean. It doesn't mean charges won't be brought against you, but it does mean it will count for you in court. We have no control over any of that. The feds have this case now.

"Earlier yesterday, every man who was present at the Maison Soleil meeting in New Orleans was arrested. Charlie ran."

"I don't believe you," said a man, leaving his camera off. All they could see was his phone number, but it didn't matter.

"Little man, and don't insult me by asking how I know that," said Tailor. "Any man hiding his face is a little man, in my opinion. You wanna argue about it, come see me. He ran. His own men heard what he did. Raping and killing a twelve-year-old little girl. Killing his own brother, Tom Gates. Killing Richard Baldwin, Ben, and Darren. He killed them."

"H-how do you know all that?" asked a young officer.

"Magic. We know what the fuck we're doing, that's how," growled Tailor. "Gates won't win this. He'll be arrested, and everything you thought you had will be gone. All of it."

"He's right," said an older man, turning on his camera. "I just checked the accounts. There's nothing there. Charlie already transferred everything. My name is Sam Porter. I was handling some of the books. I'm guilty. Guilty as anyone. Charlie and me were the only ones with access to all the accounts. I checked ‘em religiously every day. He's moved it all to an account in the Bahamas."

"We'll take care of that," said Rory. "Listen carefully. If you show up at the rally today, it had better be in the name of true law enforcement. If you decide to ride this train wreck out, you'll be dead by the end of the day. I guarantee it."

"If. If someone wants to come with me, I need to remove the explosives that were set in the nearby buildings," said a firefighter. "I'm sorry. I'll cooperate. I needed the money. It doesn't matter why now. Let me just make it right by getting everything out of there."

"I'll help you, little man," said Tailor. "Meet me at the D.A.'s office in thirty minutes."

"I'll be there."

"Anyone else have any confessions they'd like to make?" asked Rory. "Alright, then, if you want to voluntarily come in, we'll be happy to speak with you. Otherwise, we'll be seeing you soon."

He ended the call and scooted back in his chair, staring at the others.

"Do you think they'll come forward?" asked Billy.

"I don't think they have a choice," said Rory. "We recorded every face, every phone number, every IP address. We know who they are. More than sixteen hundred men and women were on that call. Anyone who wasn't is probably getting an earful right now."

"The rally is supposed to begin at nine. We need to get men in every building, at every corner, in every spot," said Rory. Billy nodded.

"Let's go."

They were surprised but not surprised that Charlie Gates actually showed his face. While he was shaking hands and kissing babies, they could see that he was also shocked that there weren't more people in attendance. He looked around, trying to find familiar faces.

"A lot of cops here," said Tailor.

"I think they're here to see him fall," said Alec. "Did you get the explosives?"

"Yep. Boy only set a few to detract from whatever Charlie has planned. He's guilty as shit but I don't think it would have killed anyone, but it would have started a fire and chaos."

"That seems to be the flavor of the year for Charlie," frowned Alec. They watched as he walked through the sparse crowd, looking angry and lost at the same time. He stopped in front of one of the officers.

"Where the fuck is everyone?" he asked the man. The officer stared at him.

"Why don't you tell us, Charlie? Where is everyone? Did you leave them all behind in New Orleans? Or did you kill them like you killed the others?"

"Wh-what? What are you talking about?" he stammered. "You're nuts. Get the fuck out of here."

"Sorry. I'm working."

"Right this way, Mr. Gates," said the young woman at the stage.

"Why are there so few people here?" he frowned.

"I'm not sure, sir, but it's time for your speech." She pushed him up the stairs, and Charlie had no alternative other than to run up the stairs. Standing at the podium, there was light applause, but nothing like he'd become accustomed to.

"Good morning!" he said too loudly, waving at the people. "Our next stop is Washington!"

"Fucker is confident, I'll give him that," said Rory, watching from a distance.

"He won't be for long," smiled Alec. "The boys back home have a surprise for him."

"We've done so much good for the city of Atlanta!" he yelled. Behind him, the screen flickered with an image of crime rates dropping. He laughed, then looked around him once again. "What's going on?"

"It's just a technical glitch, sir."

"We've done so much good…" His microphone was cut off, and the video took over.

"We're going to destroy this fucking city and take what's ours. We'll rob every lonely bitch in our homes and take what belongs to us. When I'm president, I'll rule this country as it should be!"

The few people standing in the crowd stared at him. He started to back off the stage, only to see police officers coming toward him from all angles.

"I own you!" he yelled, pointing his finger at them. "I own all of you! I have evidence of what you've done."

"We know, Charlie," said one of the men. "We know. Problem is the feds have evidence of everything you did as well. We're all going down, but I'll be damned if you're leaving this city."

He tried to run, but an officer would push him back toward the stage. He tried to move the other way, but someone was there to push him again. He wasn't going anywhere.

"You killed that little girl, Charlie. You raped her and told us a drug addict did it," said one of the men.

"No! No, he did it. Not me."

"Don't lie, Charlie," said Mallory, her face suddenly directly in front of him. "Don't lie anymore."

"Get away from me!"

The men all stared at one another, then back at the man who was clearly losing his grip on reality. Completely surrounded, he just stared at them as three men broke ranks coming toward him.

"Who are you?"

"No one important," said Rory. "Just know we're the last men you'll ever see in your life."

Gripping the back of his neck, Tailor pushed the man toward their vehicle and into the backseat.

"You sure you're okay with this?" asked Alec, staring at the D.A.

"It will save us a lot of money and heartbreak," said the man. "It's too bad he tried to escape while in custody."

"It is too bad," said Alec. "Really, really too bad."