Page 9 of Zeus

Maybe I’m judgmental, despite not being too keen on people judging me. Still, I never would’ve expected that the man would get involved in any crime-related activities, much less spend more time undercover than in his personal life.

"You gave that up to work for Cerberus?" Lark asks, and I find myself anxious to hear his response.

"Well," Zayne begins with a long sigh. "I discovered that several men on my team, including my mentor, were on the take. Actually, most of them were taking the guns, money, drugs, and other things from the compound to either keep themselves or sell on the side."

"Fuck," Jersey whispers.

"What did you do when you found out?" Jericho asks.

"I worked with ICE to build cases on them and have them prosecuted to the full extent of the law," Zayne says. "I've got no room in my life, personal or work, to accept that type of behavior. After the dust settled, I was offered a full-time job with ICE, but I turned it down. That's not exactly where I need my focus to be."

"Good call," Jersey says.

Jericho mutters an agreement.

"Nothing against the organization, but this case I'm facing now is exactly where my life's work is, and that's where I need it to stay," Zayne says.

"That being said," Casper says from his equipment-heavy computer desk in the corner. "Let's talk about The League of Liberty."

The massive television mounted on the wall comes to life.

"As far as paramilitary groups go, the LOL is pretty standard. They're dealing drugs, buying as many guns as they can, and stealing what they don't have legal access to. As if that isn't enough, Cerberus is getting involved because there have been numerous disappearances surrounding the group," Casper explains.

"The missing people, both men and women, are in your dossiers," Kincaid interjects as he hands out rather thin folders to each of us.

I flip through my folder, making note of the faces in the pictures in case I happen to see them during our undercover investigation of the group.

"As always, this group is known for its racism, barely formulated conspiracy theories, self-governance, hostility toward any group in a position of authority, including the United States military, even though from our research we know several of them are veterans," Hemlock says.

"Some of the missing people may have just given up their entire lives to be a part of something they consider the best answer according to their beliefs," Casper says.

"That's common," Zayne adds.

"What we suspect is that they're running a trafficking ring on top of all their other criminal behaviors," Kincaid adds.

"Despite the fact that abducting and/or selling humans for their own gain is a complete contradiction to their stance on the oversight involved in taking away their own liberties, we all know how much money there is in the trafficking industry," Hemlock interjects.

A rumble of disgust runs through the room.

"Zayne and Zeus, the goal is for you to get an invite to join the group and go from there," Hemlock continues. "The problem with that is this group isn't as flashy as some of the others you may have worked with, Zayne. Of course, all their vehicles are covered in stickers, making their views on life very well known, but we don't know the group’s organizational structure. We don't have a clue who is in charge, and since their compound is surrounded by twelve-foot-tall walls with a solid rotation of armed guards, no one has even been able to get a drone ten feet onto the property before it's destroyed."

"Also common," Zayne mutters as if he was hoping there would be something different about this group, only to be disappointed that they're like every other group of assholes he’s infiltrated in the past.

"Communication will be limited," Casper adds. "But we have ways of getting in touch with you guys if shit goes south."

"We've been working on getting this operation going," Hemlock says to Zayne. "But we'd love your input to ensure everything is as realistic as possible. Their paranoia alone is cause for concern, add in the suspected drug use, and we just have no room for fuckups."

"We have a house lined out for you guys," Kincaid says.

"When do we start?" I ask, trying to force myself to be more involved and feel better about taking the guys down than I can right now, given who I'll be working with.

"We have all the household stuff in the basement," Hemlock answers. "After we go through it and get it packed into the U-Haul, you guys will head out in the morning."

"We've gotten you as close as we could to the compound," Caspers says. "One thing about that is it takes you nearly an hour from here, and that could get a little hairy considering how easily you guys could be watched by members of the group. You have to stay in character at all times once contact has been made with them."

"We fully expect the house to be wired for microphones at a minimum," Hemlock says.

"When do you guys want to go through the props?" Zayne asks with a level of enthusiasm in his voice that would make most people question his mental health.