Please Note: This is a sequel to my previous novel, SNAFU. If you haven't read that story, this one likely won't make much sense, so check it out first! To all of you returning to Cole and Gideon's world, welcome back and I hope you enjoy! 

This street was freshly paved, its black asphalt a deep abyss that reflected headlights as if it were wet. Every so often, there was a speed hump. The lines crisscrossing them were bright white, and the reflective warning signs were unblemished by graffiti. The street ran through a nice neighborhood, so those signs might forever remain as clean as the yards were neat.

Although the houses varied in style, each had a small yard, a garage, and a driveway. Despite the driveways, cars parked along the side of the road. Inside one of those cars, Cole leaned his forehead against the window with a sigh. The glass was as tepid as the air. Late summer humidity hung heavy and clung to every surface.

"It's so steamy in here even though we didn't do anything fun," he pouted, eyes cutting sideways to the figure in the driver's seat.

"Didn't you say a stakeout would be fun?" Gideon did not look up, flipping the page of his book. "Are you not having fun?"

Cole was not going to admit that he would have rather stayed home if he knew waiting around like this would take so long and be so boring. Not after the spat he had with Gideon about coming along. Besides, the reward at the end of the wait would be worth it.

He stretched his arms forward and his legs out as much as he could beneath the dash. First he curved forward into the stretch, then he pulled his elbows back, arching until his spine gave a satisfying pop. All the while, Gideon kept reading his book. Boring.

Cole's expectations for the night had revolved around them being stuck together in a car, sharing in the anticipation.

Instead, Gideon was spending some quality time with his Pacific Theater memoir or whatever he was reading.

"We could make it more fun," Cole suggested.

"What, do you want to play I Spy or something?"

"Hmm," Cole laid back in his seat, shifting to his side to face Gideon. "There's some other games I can think of that are more fun."

He didn't bother to keep the proposition out of his voice. This car was cramped, but he could still manage to bend over the center consol and replace the book in Gideon's lap with his head. His mouth already watered at the prospect.

"I spy with my little eye a cop sitting in that black sedan two cars up across the road from us," Gideon flipped another page. "He'd probably appreciate the free show, but I'm not in the habit of giving things away for free."

Cole bolted up in the seat and peered out the window. There was indeed the shadow of a person in one of the cars parked along the opposite side of the street. He grumbled and settled back down.

The sky was pretty, and it wouldn't make sarcastic remarks at him, so he watched the brilliant scarlet sunset as it began to simmer down into a burnt orange. As the saying went, a red sky at night was the sailor's delight, so such a light show should mean good things on the horizon.

He'd come a long way since he lived in this neighborhood with Logan. Back then, he never spoke to any of the neighbors because Logan didn't allow it. He didn't really go outside at all. But he'd driven back and forth when coming and going during the couple of years before he managed to move out on his own. It had been repaved since then, but seeing the familiar trees and houses made his skin crawl.

Soon, the dusky orange was swallowed by a black night sky. The streetlights shone strong over the neighborhood, not a single one flickering. Bugs and moths swarmed in little clouds around them.

He should have brought his sketchpad or something. But Gideon had left the house empty handed earlier, so he hadn't thought to. Gideon also had a book stashed in the glove box of this nondescript gray car, complete with a little book light and extra pair of reading glasses, as if he did this all the time. Maybe he did. Cole always thought the dark circles under his eyes came from overworking at the Accounting Firm and for his family after hours. Apparently, they came from straining his eyes reading by that little light in a dark car all night long while waiting for things to happen.

"We could at least get a pizza," Cole tried again, although Gideon had already said no to that idea. "They are always eating pizza in stakeouts on cop shows."

Without a word, Gideon popped open the compartment in the center consol. He tossed a granola bar into Cole's lap, and then a little hand held fan right after. Then he went back to his book.

Alright, Cole knew Gideon hadn't wanted him to come along, but he didn't have to be this childish about it. The man could be the most stubborn person in the whole world when he wanted to be, though. So, Cole went ahead and gave up. He pulled his phone out and started fiddling around on it as he munched on the granola bar.

His snack made him thirsty, so he leaned into the backseat to grab a drink out of the fully stocked little cooler on the floor. He hemmed and hawed, deciding between plain water since this was so boring anyway or a sports drink that promised to replenish his electrolytes. His electrolytes probably did not need replenishment. He hadn't done anything interesting tonight, after all.

He was reaching for the water when he felt a pinch on his butt.

Ready to smack Gideon's hand, he whipped back around, only to have his wrist caught in a broad, firm grip.

"Listen," he said, exasperated, "You can't have it both ways. If you don't want to do anything, then leave my ass alone."

But Gideon's eyes were dead serious, holding none of the teasing Cole would have expected after pinching him. He let go of Cole's wrist and pointed down the street. The garage door of house number 4603 was rising to welcome a pair of tall headlights that veered into the driveway. Logan's huge lifted black truck did not look like it would even fit in that little one car garage. Cole would never find out if it could because it stopped before pulling in.

The headlights cut out, leaving only the bug-addled street lights and soft spill of garage light to illuminate two figures emerging from the truck. Logan came around to the passenger side to help a young boy leap down. It would have been a chivalrous scene if Cole didn't know as much as he did about Logan. He squinted at the boy, but couldn't tell his age from here. Even up close, he probably wouldn't be able to tell. Logan's type was pretty boys with the kind of face that would make them look like they were in their teens even if they were well into their twenties. That, and actual teens.

Given the number of cops Gideon claimed were posted around the neighborhood, ready to raid Logan's house, he would bet this kid was a bona fide underage person. Or a plant who was claiming to be underage.

"What happens now?" Cole whispered.

"We wait," Gideon pulled his reading glasses off and tucked them into their case. He closed his book, turned off the book light, and put them and the glasses back into the glove compartment. Doing so made him lean over into the passenger side.

Cole inhaled, enjoying Gideon's scent. This might have been dreadfully boring so far, but there wasn't anyone else in the world he would rather be stuck in a car for long hours with. Gideon smelled nice, looked nice, and was nice. To him at least. He was saving up all his not niceness for confronting Logan later.

More waiting was not what Cole wanted to do now that they'd actually seen Logan go inside. He'd taken the boy in through the garage and closed it behind them. Using the garage door opener was more convenient than unlocking the front door, Cole supposed. The lights in the house flicked on, making the curtains glow.

Anticipation bubbled up in Cole's chest. "When are they going to make a move?"

"I don't know," Gideon drummed his thumbs against the steering wheel the way he did whenever he was driving. "We aren't cops after all. Just bystanders. A couple of the guys I know on the force are being kind enough to let us talk to Logan tonight, but that doesn't mean I'm in on everything."

The fact that a couple of cops were going to let a random guy waltz into their arrest was already impressive. All because Gideon was not a random guy, but a Barta. Other criminal organizations had connections to the police force through charitable donations and whatnot. But the Bartas owned the cops. They did not even bother to bribe them. Their relationship was a perfect storm of 'your enemy is my enemy' and terror.

The Bartas had been involved in several high profile take-downs, providing the police force with anything from anonymous tips to auditors to legal help. They assisted in rooting out everything from tax fraud to human trafficking, all to help themselves taking out their enemies. This made the cops look like they were doing something to clean up the city.

On the other hand, if the cops did not fall in line with the Bartas, they were likely to end up dead, framed for being dirty, or somehow finding themselves with a whole new career path. The Bartas may help dismantle a narcotics pipeline (that happened to be run by their competition), but they'd also exposed a Deputy Mayor for embezzlement (because he stepped a toe out of line).

So, everybody from the mayor's office down to beat cops made nice with them.

Having married into them, Cole couldn't quite fathom how such a fragmented and deeply fucked up inner family managed to keep a grip on this kind of reputation. Then again, he never saw the day to day operations. Nor did he want to. Nor did Gideon want him to see it. He only knew as much as he did through Elijah.

Coming along on this stakeout with Gideon was a one time event. He'd only wheedled his way into it by throwing a nuclear tantrum to remind Gideon that Logan's take down involved him. If Gideon barred him from coming along, he would never ever be forgiven. In the end, torn between his need to keep Cole away from all illicit activities, and his drive to give Cole everything he ever asked for, Gideon had agreed to bring him.

"What are they waiting for?" Cole complained after a few more minutes.

"They want to catch him with his dick wet," Gideon said. "Otherwise, it would be pretty hard to get anything to stand up in court."

Cole frowned because that was probably true. Unless they could get the boy to testify, him being in Logan's house didn't mean much in terms of lawbreaking. Knowing what it meant in reality, though, turned Cole's stomach. He'd been that boy for too many years. And he knew he wouldn't have testified back when he lived with Logan, at first too infatuated and then too afraid.

Finally, several dark figures approached the house. In a series of events that looked like they belonged in a cop show where stakeouts always involved pizza, they broke down the door and stormed the house, assault rifles in hand and bright white flashlight beams arcing all over the place. Shouts spilled out of the house onto the lawn as gradually every single window in the house was lit up.