Bad Boys Ride or Die: How to Get Away With Fraud

Chapter Three

The next morning, Armando was scratching the itch under his monitor with a screwdriver when he saw Lucius grab the keys to his bike off the kitchen counter. "¿Adónde vas?" he asked. "Para un conducir."

"Adónde?" Lucius shrugged. "Alrededor." Armando paused for a moment before nodding giving him the okay to leave. "Stay on the block." he told him. Before Lucius left, Mike entered the room. "Nah, he's leaving the country to go see that girl, man." he joked. When Armando chuckled, Lucius' cheeks got hot with embarrassment. "¿¡Por qué te importa!?" He exclaimed, storming out of the house. "That boy is growing up too fast, man." Mike said. Suddenly, a news story on the TV piqued his and Armando's interest. "The late Captain Conrad Howard who is best known for creating the Bad Boys themselves is now being accused of corruption and working with cartels his entire career." Mike's stomach dropped in shock. Captain Howard being accused of corruption? It couldn't be. "What the fuck?" he choked out. "He did?" Armando asked turning to his father. He thought he'd have some information about that considering he was a former Cartel member. "No! He didn't!" Armando jolted back at Mike's rage and watched as he grabbed his car keys. "C'mon."

"I can't." Mike approached his son with a look on his face that made Armando think he was going to get some form of corporal punishment. "People are over here calling Cap dirty. You're just gonna sit on your ass and let it work itself out!?" Armando lowered his eyebrows and lifted his leg, showing his ankle monitor. "No, I mean I literally can't." Mike's face softened. "Oh," he said. "Yeah, Imma just, head down to the station to talk to them about that and get that monitor off too, yeah?"

"Okay."

~~~

Mike, who eventually called Marcus, burst into the higher-ups' room during their meeting to confront them about their beliefs. "You guys can't believe this shit!" Mike exclaimed. Marcus was just as upset, but it was always his job to ground Mike from doing something stupid. "Mike Lowery do you mind!" one of them yelled back before another stood up. "We have evidence of millions of dollars from Cartel officials in his account."

"Yeah, and Mike has two at his house, they would know if that shit is true." the same man that yelled at Mike when they first came in spoke again. "You mean the ones that killed him?" he asked referring to the captain. As a favor, Mike refused to tell law enforcement who did what during the case of Howard's murder and his attempted murder. So, they only had the option to charge Armando, who agreed to take that punishment. "Serves that dirty bastard right." Mike, now enraged approached the man. "Call him dirty again," he warned. Marcus pulled him back. "Remember you're talking about a dead man, sir." Judy, Captain Howard's daughter, a police officer and investigator herself entered the room. Mike turned around, already knowing why Judy was there. "Judy-"

"Save it, Mike." now they had two issues: his father figure being framed, and his daughter trying to kill his son and grandson to avenge said father figure. "If anyone needs to be on this case it's me."

"I thought she was about to talk about Armando and Luci," Marcus whispered in Mike's ear. "You don't deserve it. Your own family murdered my dad, and not only do you reportedly not know who killed who, you bailed him out of jail!" Marcus rolled his eyes. "There it is," he whispered again. "I swear to god when I see either of them, it'll be their last day on earth." Mike scoffed. "I'm not letting you kill a kid, Judy," he said. "I don't need your permission to do my job, Mike." has said before walking away.

After that terrible experience, Mike and Marcus approached Rita to hopefully get Armando's monitor off his ankle early. "He has three more months, Micheal," Rita said, barely paying attention to either of them. "You know what's going on, Rita. We need him." Rita turned to face them, arms crossed. "You can do your job for once." she shrugged. Marcus and Mike tsked. "One favor, Rita. C'mon." Rita thought long and hard before going to her computer. "You two owe me a lot." The Bad Boys looked at each other and smiled. Thank God.

~~~

Back at Mike's house, Lucius returned from his drive with a look on his face that concerned Armando but didn't identify what was wrong with him. "¿Lucius? Qué pasa?" without acknowledging his father, Lucius stormed to his room and slammed the door. Before Armando could go check on him or at least form a thought, Mike and Marcus walked in. "You're welcome, man," Marcus said. "What?"

"You owe us a thank you in three, two..." Like the snap of a finger, Armando's ankle monitor popped open and fell off. "Thank you," Armando said, partially speechless. "Now why are people saying the Captain worked with cartels?" Mike asked, Armando stood up and shrugged. "Framed?" he suggested. "Yeah, no shit, dumbass. We're talking about why Lucius killed him in the first place." Marcus spat back. "She had Ángel kill him because of the things he had against cartels. But that wasn't the first time he was targeted." Armando told them, making their heads perk up. "What do you mean?"

"I don't remember his name, but a year prior to that, this man worked for my mother and was almost sent to kill him."

"What changed her mind?" Armando shrugged. "No sé." Mike and Marcus decided it would be best to take Armando and Lucius down to the station and go through images of that very event until the man could be identified. When Mike approached Lucius' room, Armando stopped him. "I don't think he wants to talk to anyone right now." Mike furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and knocked on his door anyway. "¡Déjame en paz!" he yelled from inside. "See?"

"Fuck is up with him?" Marcus asked. "I'd like to know the same thing." suddenly, Mike got a text from Captain Howard's number. "What the hell?" he breathed. "Cap's callin' us from the dead!?" Armando rolled his eyes at his uncle's franticness. The text was a video of Howard. When Mike opened it, he was confused and creeped out. "If you see this...I'm probably dead. I got caught in some real fucked up shit. I know I'm taking the fall for said shit. Follow the coke bottle giant." the video cut out. "The what?" Armando asked, furrowing his brows. Mike and Marcus looked at each other. "Fletcher." they said in unison. "Who?"

"He used to be an informant of ours. He's a real smart ass so be civil when you see him." Marcus explained. Armando nodded. They were one step closer to proving Howard's innocence.