Chapter 323 Returning the Favor
The middle-aged man stretched out a hand to Luke. “Hello, Detective Luke. I’m Bill Yorlington. Thank you for helping Palmer.”
Luke shook hands with this Bill with a smile. “You’re too kind. She’s a friend, and more importantly, a colleague who’s working on the same case as I am.”
Bill had a sturdy frame, but his narrow eyes and thin lips made him look grim and cold.
There was nothing but a chill in his gray eyes. Though the man was expressing his gratitude, Luke couldn’t sense any warmth.
Luke wasn’t really surprised.
Bill was the deputy director of the DEA branch in Los Angeles. There was no telling how many drug traffickers had been put down because of him.
So, Palmer had a powerful supporter behind her.
Whoever tried to kill her would have to face Bill’s direct wrath once they were found out.
Different from most deputy directors who did admin work, Bill used to be a field agent, and he was well-known for his bad temper.
He wouldn’t hesitate to go out and shoot the drug traffickers himself if he was pissed off.
Tonight, the man was clearly enraged by the consecutive attacks. He wouldn’t hand the two traitorous agents over to LAPD either. This was an internal matter that the DEA should handle themselves.
Luke couldn’t argue with him even if he was the one who had saved Palmer and unveiled the two traitors.
Only by preventing this scandal from leaking out would the Los Angeles branch of the DEA avoid a hit to their reputation.
Luke could only go through the formalities with Bill before tactfully withdrawing.
This man was too powerful and wasn’t Luke’s direct boss, so there was no need to try and curry favor with him.
Before he left, he gestured to Palmer and stepped away from the cars.
Then, he said with a smile, “I’m calling in that favor.”
Palmer said, “Tell me.”
Luke said, “No matter how busy you are with this case, don’t forget to check up on Martin once in a while. I’ll consider the favor returned if you talk to him every few days. How does that sound?”
After staring at him for a long moment, Palmer heaved a sigh. “Are you Martin’s long lost brother?”
Luke chucked. “Given the way I look, I don’t think so. Alright, deal?”
Palmer nodded without any hesitation. “Deal.”
Luke said, “It would be even better if you can have dinner with Martin. That’s not part of the deal. Just a suggestion.” Then, he waved goodbye and left.
Palmer shook her head in amusement and got into her car. “Let’s go back to the office. We have a busy night ahead of us.”
Luke exchanged a few words with the patrol officers, before he and Selina got into their own car.
On the road, he called Elsa and said, “Boss, that sniper may be useful. Don’t let the DEA know anything, and don’t let them take him away. I’ll give you more details later.”
They returned to the police department.
Since it was late at night, the police department wasn’t as crowded as it was during the day.
They went to Elsa’s office, only to find Dustin there too.
They closed the door, and Luke briefed them on what happened today.
Elsa didn’t say anything, but simply looked at Dustin, who was pacing and lost in thought.
A few minutes later, Dustin nodded. “I got it. You can drop this case now.”
Luke shrugged. “Deputy Director Bill was there. I’m not qualified to look into this case even if I wanted to.”
Dustin looked calm but secretly scoffed, You think I don’t know how ballsy you are? If I didn’t specifically say anything, you would be wiping the DEA’s asses for them.
Luke’s earliest kill record was of thirteen shooters from a drug gang in one night.
Dustin didn’t think that Luke would go easy on any other drug traffickers.
Besides, Luke had already cleaned up a number of drug traffickers and shooters during the day. In the afternoon, Luke had delivered two shooters to the DEA, and one sniper to the police department. That night, three shooters were shot in the head, while one was shot three times in the abdomen, and died before he reached the hospital. There were no survivors.
Dustin was certainly scared of how efficient Luke was at sending people to the morgue.
After his instruction, Dustin said, “Alright, you can go back now. There’s work to do tomorrow.” He got up and left.
The other three people rose and saw their boss off.
Elsa picked up her purse and said, “Okay, we’ve finally closed one case today. Let’s keep trying tomorrow.” Luke snorted and walked out with Selina. Shutting the door for Elsa, he asked, “Boss, aren’t you going to praise us?”.
Elsa said without looking back, “Forget it; it’ll be good enough if I don’t have to take responsibility for the other two cases you’re working on.”
Luke was silent.
He wasn’t an idiot.
A lot of wrangling would be involved in the other two cases.
When it came to wrangling, Dustin and Elsa were professionals, and Luke only needed to work the cases.
Elsa wasn’t asking Luke to promise it wouldn’t happen; she was merely reminding him not to cross the line, or the pressure on her and Dustin would be too much.
The three of them went their separate ways.
After dinner at home, Luke began to go through the information.
He felt a little regret.
The gang that had put out the hit on Palmer was probably 23rd Street, which was a fairly large criminal group in Los Angeles. It was also one of Luke’s key targets, and he had cleared several of the gang’s nests.
The shooters weren’t from 23rd Street, however, but another smaller gang called Hellish Mushroom.
When Luke annihilated the members of WD-36, he had triggered conflict among the gangs, and the crime rate in Los Angeles had jumped.Now that the DEA had their eye on 23rd Street, Luke could take advantage of it.
Once the DEA’s revenge operation began, there would be a lot of movement, whether it was the police or the gangs; it wouldn’t be unusual for other gangs to move against 23rd Street.
Luke started to plot; he was sure everybody would be happy to see the smaller groups, which had popped up after WD-36 broke down, disappear.
The next morning, Selina was surprised to see Luke, who had just cleaned up, walk out of his bedroom. “You haven’t made breakfast yet?”
Luke chuckled. “I like a lie-in every now and then too, you know, unlike a certain someone who can sleep to eight o’clock every day.” Selina snorted. “But how many people have to train until midnight, and can only go to bed at one?”
Luke said, “Which is why I’ve made new snacks for you today.”
Selina had already rushed into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.
She knew that Luke wouldn’t allow her to touch the food until she had cleaned up.