𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄, 𝗆𝗂𝖺 𝗍𝗈𝗋𝖾𝗍𝗍𝗈¹

¹⁶ 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙲𝙷𝙴𝙲𝙺-𝙸𝙽

Dunn finished patting Markham down then looked to Markham, nodding. He was clean, no weapon found.

"Hey, w-what's going on?" Brian asked

Markham ignored him.

"Hold this." Markham said

He tossed his gun to Bilkins, who caught it. Oliver's eyebrows furrowed. Markham practically ran over to Roman.

"You think you can shoot at me? I'm a goddamn federal agent!" Markham yelled

He pushed Roman roughly and Roman pushed him back.

"What are you talking about?" Roman asked

Everyone ran towards the two, trying to break up the fight before it began. Brian managed to pull Markham off Roman, pulling him back a few steps to give them some space. Dunn assisted Brian with Markham. Bilkins was trying to keep a hold of Roman with Oliver's assistance since he was struggling against their grip.

 "Man, get him away from me dog! Just 'cause you wear a badge don't mean you can come in here and mess shit up!" Roman exclaimed

"Get your hands off me!" Markham yelled at Brian

Brian continued to pull him further and further away from Roman.

"You're lucky I didn't shoot you!" Roman taunted

Oliver gave Roman a firm shove to prevent him from going after Markham again.

"Shut up, Rome!" Brian yelled

This just irritated Roman more. He was trying his hardest to break free. Bilkins lost his grip on Roman, but Oliver kept strong.

"Don't tell me to shut up, Brian! He almost blew our cover, old man." Roman exclaimed

"You shouldn't have shown up like you did. What, you didn't know Verone was testing us?" Brian asked Markham

"No. I thought you punks were running." Markham replied

His hands were on his hips as he glared at Roman.

"Running!" Roman repeated angrily

That had reignited his anger.

"Roman!" Oliver warned

This time, it was Brian's turn to be annoyed.

"That's great. That's real great! Oh, and if Rome wanted to shoot you, you wouldn't be here right now." Brian said

He reached behind into the waistband of his pants, pulling out a gun. He set it down on the table in front of Markham. Bilkins walked over and grabbed the gun, wanting to keep it out of their hands.

"All right. We gotta get this under control." Bilkins said

He put the gun in his holster. Roman paced back and forth, trying to distract himself. He spotted a large, white fast food bag and instantly felt his stomach growl. He grabbed the bag and started digging through it.

"Hey, that's mine!" Markham said

Roman was now inspecting the food.

"So?" Roman asked, nonchalantly

Roman had grabbed a burrito from the bag, much to Markham's dismay. Markham sighed, knowing he needed to pick his battles. Everyone gathered near the small tables in the center of the room. They all sat down.

"So tell me what you know." Bilkins said

He looked at Brian.

"Well, Rome, Ollie, and I will be making a run for Verone. I'm not sure when and where." Brian said

"But he did say that he bought us a window. I'm assuming from the local cops." Oliver added

"I can talk to some of the guys at the local P.D." Dunn offered

"No. No good. If Verone's got some of them on the payroll, then we can't let them know our operation." Bilkins said

"Exactly. In addition, Verone told us that he himself would be waiting at the drop." Brian said

"That's good news." Bilkins said

He glanced over his shoulder at Markham.

"If you're gonna be delivering drug money to him, then we can get him for laundering." Bilkins said

"No, there's only one problem." Roman spoke up

His mouth was full of food and everyone turned to look at him.

"What's that?" Bilkins asked

"Fuentes-- Verone's tapping her." Roman said

He took another bite out of the burrito he held in his hand.

"Tapping her? Tapping her how?" Bilkins asked, confused

"That is crap!" Markham argued

"What you talking about, homeboy? We know what we seen." Roman argued

"So, what do you think, little O'Conner? You think she's compromised? You should know." Markham said, smugly

He pursed his lips and Brian clenched his jaw. Oliver began to feel annoyed remembering what went down in LA.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roman asked

He knitted his eyebrows together in confusion.

"What? You mean your old pal O'Conner didn't tell ya?" Markham questioned

Brian glared at Markham.

"He flipped on Bilkins in LA. Gave his mark his car keys and let him disappear. That's why he's not a cop anymore. So, what do you think, expert?" Markham asked

"Man, I don't know," Brian answered, quietly

"All right. We'll keep an eye on her." Bilkins said

Brian looked at Oliver, then looked back at Roman.

"We're out of here." Brian said

He and Oliver stood up. Roman followed in suit, his burrito still in hand. The three made it outside before Roman spoke up.

"You let your man go, huh?" Roman asked

Brian sighed.

"Drop it. I don't wanna talk about it." Brian said

"Drop it, hell! I wanna hear about this, homey." Roman exclaimed

He nudged his old friend.

"Seriously, Rome. Drop it." Oliver said

"Oh, so you know about this too, huh." Roman said

"I said forget about it, cuz," Brian replied

The three of them got in Brian's car. Oliver hit his head against the head rest behind him.

"We got Fuentes in with Verone, Markham trying to blow our cover, and we got three wired cars that are no better than that damn ankle bracelet of mine. I'm-a tell you, brah. You let your man Markham do that shit again in front of Verone, that's gonna be our ass!" Roman ranted, angrily

"I know, man. I know. It's just- it's getting real thick real quick, and we may need a way out. We gotta come up with some kind of exit strategy." Brian said

"Exit strategy, huh?" Roman asked

"Yeah." Brian said

Roman took a bite of his burrito.

"I like the way that sounds." Roman said, mouth full

"What you got in mind?" Oliver asked

"I don't know, man. But we need three more cars." Brian said

Brian started the car engine and Oliver smirked.

"And I think I know just where we can find them." Oliver said