BLOOD TIES (Decklan Jennings Thriller Book 1) by Philip Duncan (book recommendations for young adults txt) 📕

This made sense to Decklan now. He had several missions that involved tracking down terrorists in safe houses across the world. However, doing so in a domestic environment would be much different, and in his own backyard, no less. He had no intel. He didn’t have a team of highly trained Rangers to help him. All he had was a hunch and Langley.

Since they just stumbled across this, they had no way or time to develop a plan. They would have to figure everything out on the fly and just roll with the punches. Although the military prided itself on plan and then execution, Decklan had always been one to act on the fly and let the chips fall where they may. And he was damn good at it.

“They are moving,” Langley said, as they were both watching. “Time to roll.”

The black SUV pulled out of the parking lot and turned right down the road he and Langley just came from. They waited a few seconds before following behind. They managed to stay three cars behind in the right hand lane while the SUV stayed at a steady pace in the left. The only time they stopped was at red lights, and Langley was far enough back not to raise any suspicion.

“I wish their windows weren't so damn blacked out. I wanna get a better look at these assholes,” Decklan said.

“Don’t worry, this isn’t my first tail. I’ll make sure we get a great close-up of these guys before it’s all said and done,” Langley replied.

They continued for another ten minutes or so before entering one of the wealthier neighborhoods in the area. Every house was at least six thousand square feet, and they were all well over a million dollars.

“No way this is where their stash house is,” Decklan said.

“You would be surprised at the kind of money these guys have. Depending on the volume of product they are running, they could afford ten of these lucrative houses without breaking a sweat,” Langley said.

Decklan was blown away. He knew drug dealers could make good money but he had no idea it could produce this kind of wealth in his own town. Especially since he had no idea it was going on. He assumed if they could move that much product then he would have seen it or at least heard about it. After all, his little brother was the chief of police.

The SUV finally pulled into a house at the end of a street in the back of the neighborhood. Langley wisely kept his distance, stopping about seven houses back. He pulled out a pair of military power binoculars and handed them to Decklan.

“Here, take a look. I told you I would give you a close up. Tell me what you see.”

“I see four guys, three white and one black. Two of the white guys have full sleeve tattoos on both arms and the black guy is wearing a hat pulled down as far as it can go without covering his eyes.”

“Great. Now, what about the other guy?”

Decklan turned his sights to the last guy.

“He looks much older than the rest. At least fifteen to twenty years. He is dressed in an expensive suit. All black with a black undershirt, top button undone and no tie. I think he’s the leader,” Decklan said.

“Let me see,” Langley replied.

Decklan handed over the binoculars.

“Yes, I agree. That has to be the boss. But one thing is throwing me off,” Langley said.

“What is it?”

“Why would the boss go to a drug deal? Why would he put himself at risk out in the open like that when he has guys to do it for him? This would make more sense if it was a huge deal, but there weren’t enough people around for that to be the case. Something doesn't add up.”

Langley stayed locked in on the leader. After about five minutes, the conversing stopped and two of them, including the boss, headed inside the house while the other two got back in the SUV and drove off.

“What now?” Decklan asked. “Do we follow them again or sit here and wait to see if something happens?”

Silence filled the car.

“Langley, what’s our move?” Decklan said again, still waiting on a response.

Finally he came out of his thinking and answered. “I think we should go back to your house and regroup.”

“Regroup? What the hell for? We finally have a lead and you want to go back?” Decklan said, growing frustrated.

The mood between the two couldn’t be more opposite. Decklan was fired up and ready to take action, while Langley was calm and restrained. As frustrating as this was for Decklan, having a cooler head around was a good thing. It would keep him alive and out of trouble.

“I understand your frustration, Decklan. I really do. But I need you to trust me. That is the only way this is going to work.” Langley said. “I have taken down guys like this for years and if I learned one thing, it’s not to rush to action. The more calculated we can be, the better chance we have.”

Trust was hard for Decklan ever since he found out his dad was having an affair when he was in middle school. He walked in on his dad talking to his mistress one night when everyone was supposed to be asleep. His dad saw him and told him not to tell anyone, especially his mom. He said he was breaking it off. He said that was what the phone call was about. He was only eight years old at the time and looked up to his dad, so he agreed. Of course, he never really knew if his dad was telling the truth or not but he knew one thing for sure; he could never trust a man who would do something like that to his wonderful mother. And ever since that night, trust was a sensitive subject and something that was hard to earn with him.

Langley took