The Hero Next Time: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 4)

Chapter Fifty-Eight: Sunny, Monday

Joe said to Sunny, "Tej was worried you were heading into danger, and wanted at least one of us to come help you if you needed it."

"We are heading into danger," Naira said, "but we've alerted the police and they should be on their way. You should just go home to your family. I feel bad enough that one of you suffered for my situation."

Joe shook his head. "Sunny's my buddy. I go where he goes."

The simple purity of Joe's statement moved Sunny more than he could say. He pumped his fist and said, "LSDC forever, right?"

"Damn right. And you know Lauren, Rachel and Al would be here if they were able to."

Naira nodded, impressed. "You're a big one, aren't you? Maybe I can use you as a human shield."

"Be nice," Sunny said. "Shouldn't we be letting the police handle any confrontation?"

"I'm police, remember? And the people where we're heading to are police, too. You know what they want, and that's me."

"Where are you heading?" Joe asked.

"There's an abandoned warehouse off Braid Street, near the Amazon Fulfilment Centre. Apparently it's not so abandoned, but it's not on any books."

"Naira," Sunny said. "You're not seriously going to give yourself up, are you? Not when you've stayed under the radar this long, and your story's about to break."

Naira sighed in frustration. "I don't know. I wasn't fast enough to save Jordan, and I feel like I owe it to Birinder for putting him in danger, to try to get him out of there. That's what the backup is for. Maybe I can lure them out."

"We need to rendezvous with the New West Police before we attempt contact with Naira in that warehouse," Sunny said. "Maybe you can plan something together."

She nodded. "Okay. Let's go. You want to follow us, Joe?" 

Joe nodded and headed back to his truck. Sunny and Naira climbed back into the Prius. Joe backed out first to allow them room to do a three point turn to get out of the driveway of the storage facility, then followed them along Stewardson Way as it became Columbia Street. They made their way into Sapperton, and Sunny realized he and Naira had taken this very route the first time they'd met; as he turned on to Braid from Columbia, it occurred to him that Naira had dropped him off just up the hill from where they were holding Birinder now, where they potentially could have been holding Jordan if this was a regular base of operations. 

He turned left near the bottom of the hill, and from there he could have turned right to get into the parking lot of the the Braid Skytrain station, or gone straight to enter the Amazon Fulfilment Centre (behind a rolling gate manned by a security checkpoint.) Instead, he turned left, and took an uphill slope to a series of smaller warehouses, one of which was converted into a trampoline park (which was closed in the early morning, but had its sign still lit, and it looked like fun. How did he not know this was here?)

The one at the end of the road was their destination. Unfortunately, when they  pulled up, there didn't appear to be any New West Police presence anywhere. There didn't appear to be any sign of life at all. No lights in any windows, no cars parked outside. 

Sunny looked at Naira and said, "Are you sure we have the right place?"

"This was the address she gave me. Your phone's GPS brought us right here."

He stared out into the empty darkness and said, "I don't like this."

"They're not going to want to advertise themselves. This isn't in the middle of nowhere. Maybe their cars are parked around the back, and they're using work lamps inside, like they use to illuminate crime scenes; that way they don't have to turn on overhead lights." She snapped her fingers. "I bet they're not even paying the electric bill because this isn't on any records. They're probably using generators."