[Center][Img]https://footwearnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/blair-underwood.jpg?w=700&h=437&crop=1[/Img][/center]
[CENTER][I][h1][color=lightgreen]Dean Rivers[/color][/h1][/i][/CENTER]

[Color=lightgreen]Time:[/color] Afternoon 
[Color=lightgreen]Location:[/color] Downtown San Francisco to River Intel PI Office 
[Color=lightgreen]Interaction:[/color] 
[hr]

Dean was more than worried, he’d tried to no avail to get in contact with Paige. He had one final message from her, the contents of which were disturbing. She explained her mission was to bring down Floyd Banker & the Salzaras Cartel at all costs. She incriminated herself as the sole perpetrator of the gas station bombing that reportedly only Rita Salzaras had survived unscathed. Three others had survived with second & third degree burns, and 14 people had died.

Regardless of their history as officers in arms fighting the good fight, that was where even Dean drew the line. He was willing to play rough, good cop, bad cop but when innocent lives were lost he called it quits. Of course Paige had divulged more information then that including her own power & why she was best to take down Floyd, as well as the fact that she was willing to serve as many life sentences’s as needed to bring down those responsible for taking out the ones who ruined her sister’s life.

The crazy thing was despite all the anger fuming through him, he appreciated the fact that Paige had asked for him to be the one to bring her in. At first he was conflicted, not that he wouldn’t take her in after she caused innocents to die. Rather he didn’t want to be the one to do it, but his morality was too strong not to honor that request of hers. But now that he was unable to find her he wondered if she’d gotten cold feet, had the reality of her fate set in. After all a regenerating woman who might not even age serving consecutive life sentences. With her power she’d be sure to serve every day, if not in a cell then as a victim of a research facility who would have no qualms using her body for whatever purpose after her careless taking of lives.

But now his attempts to contact her resulted in nothing but radio silence. He almost took the evidence to the station but stopped, Paige was many things but a liar wasn’t one. She’d went this far to take down Floyd sure, but if she didn’t want to be taken in why would she even give him this information? It wouldn’t be sensible to bring him in the light about her recent crimes only to vanish right after. No something else was going on, that meant for whatever reason Paige wasn’t around anymore. [Color=lightgreen][I]Something’s not right about this at all[/I][/color]

Dean had taken an unmarked car & drove past Floyd’s residence a few times two Horus ago, but he hadn’t seen any activity. He’d even had a makeshift setup to view the premise with binoculars and didn’t see any activity illegal, regular or otherwise. It was far too quite for his taste, Paige had even shared a location with him. The locations’s last reported place was Floyd’s residence, then it was offline. Paige wanted to take down Floyd a all cost, then wanted him to swoop in and bring her in afterwards.  [Color=lightgreen]“Damn it Paige what the fuck did you get yourself into! You damned yourself, and didn’t even get the damn target!”[/color]

Dean yelled out as he slammed his fist against the dashboard of his cruiser. He took out all the paperwork & files he had on Floyd Banker. Even more surprising was finding out from Lisa, that she’d used to date that guy back when she lived in Atlanta. According to her he was a bum who sat around getting high & selling weed even though she supported all his needs. The relationship eventually came to a screeching halt once she came to her senses, but to her memory he was never a big time player. Yet it appeared he was a multi business owner living it up in California a few years later, and it was’t as if he’d gotten a college degree or a lucky break in the entertainment industry or anything similar.

Not to mention the last location pinged from Paige’s phone which she’d shared with Dean without him even knowing was his residence. [Color=lightgreen]“Banker you bastard.”[/color] Dean mutters to himself as he looked over the files of Floyd he had, and the ones Paige left for him. Apparently the FBI had taken an interest in his case & connection to the Salzaras Cartel before their investigation was shut down. It wasn’t often the FBI had a case swept under the rug from them, unless something major was going on.

He couldn’t fathom what type of major ongoings could be connected to Floyd, at the very most the intel he gathered made it seem like he was a dealer who’d worked his way up into the big leagues. Big enough to afford a far more affluent lifestyle then his credentials on paper made it seem possible, although owning two companies could account for that. Still one of the companies was a popular venue Taste of Paradise which was on the verge of being shut down because of another investigation by federal agents into potential narcotics trafficking taking place at the location. But alas just like the prior case, it seemed after Floyd purchased it all investigations into TAP had been halted.

His investigation had come to a sudden screeching halt. With no other way to move proceed he decided to visit & involve the one person he least wanted to see. But he had to swallow his pride, because he felt like everything he’d been peering Into all had to do with this Banker kid & the cases shut down around him. He decided to take an unmarked cruiser, one of the benefits of being a veteran narcotics detective.

He pulled into the driveway of Rivers Intel parking lot, a private investigation firm started by his cousin Devin Rivers. Like Paige he was an ex-cop, although he wasn’t let go because of outright police brutality, but rather his tendency to break as many laws as the very criminals he was going after to catch them. Unlike Paige the police agency hadn’t willingly let him go, rather complaints from well connected & lawyered up criminals in tandem with an internal investigation had been the causation for his elimination from the agents of justice.

To this day Devin was bitter about that, and more so that Dean didn’t stand up for him. But he had a life long career & mission on the line. His cousin’s inability to play by the rules meant he couldn’t risk his bacon to help him. Not after several warnings, and even breaking a rule or two himself to help him. [Color=lightgreen]“I hoped it would never have to come to this.”[/color] Dean let out a sigh as he gathered his bearings and made his way into the reception area of River Intel.

The secretary waved at him and offered some candies in a bowl up-front as well as bottled water. However that friendly demeanor halted and he was met with a scowl as she noticed who he was. “OH it’s you Uncle.”

[Color=lightgreen]“Yeah it’s me.”[/color] Dean said exhausted his niece was no friend of his, she knew well about what went down between him and his father. More than that she took his side wholly as did Devin’s wife which was expected. What made matters worst was there were a few officers who’d stuck out their necks for Devin during the final stage of the trial, and he wasn’t one of them. Of course the one that had been the closest to him had lost their jobs, but he’d heard that they had a much better paying salary working for Devin.

His rag tag PI firm wasn’t doing that well at first last year, but in the past three months they were making well over six figures. It dawned on him from time to time that maybe Devin was using his police connections & history to dip Into the dark side. Maybe he was embittered & frustrated that his fight for justice had landed him with a struggling business. But he quickly eliminated those thoughts from his head, and after a conversation in passing with his sister in law two months ago he’d deduced how Devin had become as succesful as he had.

It wasn’t Long before his niece told him to go outside, and since forty minutes had passed Dean relented and left. [Color=lightgreen]“I dunno why the fuck I came here, emergency or no emergency, I guess he’s still mad.”[/color] Dean muttered to himself as he marched back to the cruiser defeated only to hear the sound of folders hitting the back bumper of his car. Dean spun around only to see his cousin meeting him with a scowl.

“What is it Dean? You know where we stand, I honestly wasn’t about to come out. But with everything going on, and because you know my little secret, and haven’t told, plus you said it’s a emergency, and most importantly you said it’s about Paige, who unlike you actually stood up for me when everything went down I’m out here, but I’m letting you know right now if this is to help you and your damn career then just get in the car and pull off, so what is it what’s wrong with Paige?”

[Color=lightgreen]“What’s wrong with her…a better way to say it, is it what WAS wrong with her.”[/color] Dean said as his voice trailed off, and instantly the mood changed as Devin seemed to quickly understand what his cousin was implying with his tone & manner of speech, as well as a defeated look in his eyes that Dean didn’t manifest or showcase often.

“No…not her…I mean I heard about her and what happened, shame the force put some fucking dealer above her because of a little foul play with cameras, if you can even call it that. You know how I feel about these damn procedures, criminals with big enough pocketbooks can finagle their way through the rules, and leave us looking like the liberty trampling monsters when there the real demons, your not telling me that Paige got knocked off going solo, that’s not possible, trust me there’s things about her I know that you don’t, so if your saying you think she’s dead, I’m here to tell you that’s a damn lie at worst, or at best you just don’t know what your talking about.” Devin reported confidently, getting some more spunk in his voice as he continued.

[Color=lightgreen]“Oh cause she can regenerate right? Well what do you think happens if someone chops her head off, or tosses her in a vat of acid?”[/color] Dean replied with a bit of anger in his voice startling Devin who stumbled back.

“W..wait..someone did that? You..”

[Color=lightgreen]“No..well I don’t know, but I’m here to tell you she’s gone man, and we were working on the same shit. Something big it had to do with the brat she got fired for, plus the Salzaras, superhuman drug traffickers, and potentially the worst case of human trafficking in the bay ever and I need your help, if you won’t do it for me do it for Paige, and if you think I’m lying touch this.”[/color]

Dean reached in his pocket and handed Devin a phone. He raised an eyebrow and accepted the phone. Focusing he used his power causing his mind to flood with vision and he almost dropped the phone as he stumbled backwards. “No….she wouldn’t…she couldn’t…this…this..doesn’t make any sense!!”

[Color=lightgreen]“Yeah I thought the same thing, but the more I’m starting to connect the dots, the more I think it might have. WE both know her, and we both know the lengths she’s willing to go And more importantly the ones she’s not willing to take, meaning if she took them of sound mind, then she was facing something not just bad, but pure fucking evil.”[/color]

“Holy shit, I never thought I’d say this about you and by god I mean that but your right Fuck, come inside I’ve got some crown and ice in the fridge, we’re going to need to pour a drink or two about this, and bring the files, the burner phone, bring everything, and I thought what the mayor said was the worst of it.” Devin muttered to himself clearly shook by the sight of what he’d seen by touching the burner phone Dean presented to him.

Dean nodded and gathered his materials into a duffel bag before slinging it over his shoulder. Following Devin’s lead into the office, ignoring glares from his niece they went to the back-room where there were three TV’s all on different channels showing different news stations. As Dean opened up the bag and started laying the various materials he had across the desk from his cases, Devin went to the fridge to retrieve the bottle of crown, and two glasses filled with ice.

Dean nearly dropped some folders as his jaw widened seeing the display on the television screen. [Color=lightgreen]“You’ve got to be me kidding me, have you seen this shit?!”[/color]

“Quiet down man damn, ain’t nobody in this office that’s going take kindly to the likes of you being here, and you talking about the mayor right, don’t tell me your just now finding out, damn it, if you are then that means this shit with Paige IS really real,  realer then I care to think or admit, but I’m about to have to see it.” Devin said as he poured the crown In the glasses, pouring a bit more in both cups due to Dean’s reply to Mayor Chen’s actions on the television in light of everything going on.