Anti-Hero | Tim Bradford

Chapter Six - Questioning

"Regina was there that day... the day Morgan disappeared." Williamson said, keeping his eyes away from the steely faced detective Harper who sat questioning him. He could have felt her loathing from a mile away. He couldn't blame her though, he loathed himself just as much, but even so, he couldn't look at her. "She had some men, guns for hire, I recognised some from previous arrest records-"

"I will need names." Harper interrupted.

"Sure sure, anything."

Nyla took her pen out to make note of the former detective's confession. "Anyway, continue."

"She brought a file. Photos. She gave them to her, Morgan that is. I saw only a couple from where I was. It was a wedding photo of some kind. And one where the dude in it... it was the uh one who arrested me. Tom...?"

Williamson took a moment to readjust himself to the best he could with the cuffs on. "That's when Regina started talking about getting what's owed to her. She said something about her husband losing everything because of her... or maybe someone else. It was all so long ago."

"Her husband, Carter. died in a police raid five weeks after Regina Diaz."

"Then one of the men aimed the gun. And I ran. I heard a shot but I was gone by that point."

Harper hummed, looking at the mirror behind her where she knew Tim waited. She didn't need to see him to know what he was thinking. He had been in that second raid, he had arrested Regina. He had been the one to cause all this. Harper tore her gaze away and back to Williamson again. "When did you next speak to Morgan again?"

"Three, maybe four months later she called me. That file had photos of someone. Regina made an offer. She would spare his life but she would hunt Morgan down. She would take away his wife like he had taken her husband."

"So that's why she stayed away... as to not endanger her husband?"

"Initially."

"Initially? What does that mean?"

"Around seven months ago, she caught wind of their new operation, she said that she had to finish what she started. I last heard from her five weeks ago, she said that she was making a plan to intervene on their next shipment; she said it was going to be their biggest yet."

Harper looked up from her notepad, Williamson's words rushing through her mind. The Diaz family operation has been one of the biggest threats to the war on drugs in a long time. They had gone quiet after Carter had died, it was thought that the rest of them had gone to prison or dispersed into lower ranking gangs. They hadn't been important enough to keep constant eyes on. But they had rallied together, Nyla could tell from the information Williamson provided that they were going to take back what was once theirs and try to expand their control of the drug flow in Los Angeles.

"When was this shipment meant to move out?"

"The twentieth of this month."

"That's two days from now."

—---

Tim found it almost fascinating how quickly and effectively the LAPD could pull together an operation when one of their own was in danger. Multiple officers came together on their days off and some even came from other divisions across LA county. Bodies moved through the station, each with the same purpose, they were here to save her, they were going to save his wife.

"Officer Bradford," Tim turned around at the sound of Commander West speaking, "Can I have a word?"

Tim nodded before following the Commander into Sargent Grey's office. He remained standing as West spoke.

"We have gotten in contact with a few CI's. All of the intel seems to line up. We have called in the metro division, and have federal agents on stand-by. As you know, we have a full house of officers lining up for this bust..."

"Sir, if I may? What are you trying to say?"

West sighed, trying to pick his words carefully. He had been the one to clear all of the paperwork and the legal grey areas when Tim had originally worked on his wife's case. "What I'm saying is that you are not needed here. Yourjudgement is impaired, this is too personal. If we have any chance of bringing Detective Bradford home where she belongs, we need to have everybody who is in on this to have their mind focussed on taking down this cartel movement."

"I have to be there. I can't leave this to anyone else. I- I failed her once, I can't do that again."

"I understand. I really do." West paused again, this time he took a moment to collect himself. "If this was my wife, I would be just as determined to be on the front lines of this too. But we don't have margin for error here. So I managed to get a compromise. You will be there, and someone else will be in a car parked just under a block away. When we locate Detective Bradford, you will be called in to retrieve her."

Tim nodded at his words, trying to bite back the urge to argue with him. He knew that West was trying his best to find a compromise between the grey areas of the LAPD Code of Conduct and Tim's own drive to do what it takes to save Morgan. "Who will I be with?"

"Whoever you want."

"Put me with Chen, but please make sure Lopez is on the front lines of this. Morgan trusts her completely."

"I can do that. Thank you, Bradford, for being so compliant with this... I know it must not be easy for you to take a step back from this operation."

"No, it isn't." Tim said, moving towards the door. "But I will do anything to make sure she comes home, even if it means I have to trust others to do what I couldn't."

"You can trust us, and you will be there for her."

"I know. Nobody could stop me from doing that, Commander, not even you."