Chapter 1

After almost five years, the squad had proved that Adam Greer's idea of taking troubled kids and giving them a future, something to work for and to look to the future for, had worked. Pete Cochran, Julie Barnes, and Linc Hayes were living proof of that. In those four and some odd years they had solved hundreds of cases, some that may never have been solved because his initial thought that they could go where other cops couldn't was also right.

They were a family, all of them, and the Captain had been good to them in giving them time off to goof off and recuperate, something they needed to stay fresh. But this case wasn't being that kind. They had been on it non-stop for two months. They were tired and had made very little progress and they all knew it was the biggest case they had ever been assigned.

A drug cartel was smuggling hundreds of pounds of drugs into the city, and they knew who the drug king and even some of the players were, but the mechanics of how the drugs were being brought in remained a mystery. In fact, everything was shrouded in mystery. Pete and Julie had been hired on as part of Monte Wilcox's wait staff over two months ago, and Linc had been hired on as part of the janitorial staff around that same time, and in the entire two months, nothing out of the ordinary had happened despite the fact that Monte had entertained other drug pins in the industry several times. Tonight, however, might just be the night, and it was coming none too soon as nerves were raw and on edge after being on a case this long with nothing to show for it.

The difference with tonight's gala wasn't the menu, or the drinks, or even the guest lists; all the big players would be there. It was the location. Tonight's party, or meeting, was being held on Monte's private yacht in waters unknown. Whatever Monte was planning, it was of monumental proportion. Linc and the rest of the janitorial staff had been scrubbing the yacht for a week, and Pete and Julie had been scrubbing the eating and drinking utensils until they glistened. Monte obviously wanted to make a good impression.

Late that afternoon, the guests started arriving, and the guest list was quite impressive; more so than any other party Monte had thrown. Drug Lords from the coast to the Rockies were showing up in droves and the three young detectives wondered if they should have had help with this many criminals all in one place. Linc and Pete started the event by parking cars while Julie kept the guests happy with drinks. Monte must have had the guest list memorized because he knew precisely when to invite his guests to bring their drinks and join him on his yacht. People scattered everywhere from the comfortable seating arrangements to standing in small groups chatting as the captain revved up the engines for their little excursion. Actually, it was an ingenious plan as no listening devices would pick up their conversations once they were far enough from land and a hovering craft would be a dead give away. Of course, Monte hadn't planned on the listening devices his loyal staff had planted prior to their little cruise. They had also armed themselves with tiny cameras so that all the players could be caught on film.

Luckily, their host felt comfortable enough to engage the conversation during the meal, which left not only the tape recorders to record the conversation, but for Julie and Pete to listen in on it and take pictures. It seemed that all the drug lords had been operated as independents and Monte wanted to consolidate all of them west of the Rockies into one organized business, with him as the head of the operation, of course. Once again, the squad had captured all the details needed to put a lot of bad guys away for a very long time. Now they just had to get the goods to Greer. They had gotten a message to him about the night's outing. Hopefully, he would be on standby for their packages.

The yacht pulled up to the dock and the guests slowly made their way onto shore and off the premises. Soon, all that was left was the owner and the help. As the ship's captain steered the yacht back to her dock, Pete, Julie, and Linc were the only ones left on the upper deck to clean up. Monte appeared a moment later with a glass of champage in one hand and a bottle in the next.

"You all did very well, tonight!" he complimented them. "I couldn't be more pleased. So have a toast with me now to our bright future and tomorrow you can all take the day off." As Monte reached for 3 more champagne glasses, Julie, Pete, and Linc looked at each other. One of the tape recorders was under the cabinet. At the same time, the captain bumped into the dock, causing the recorder to come loose and fall.

"What the?" Monte questioned as he pulled out his gun before inspecting the device. "You three were the only ones up here, so you all together or is it just one of you? You cops or the competition? Don't matter none, you're all going down." Monte then called down to the captain not to dock the ship for the night as they'd be taking a little midnight stroll. Turning back to Pete, he aimed the gun his way. "I think you'll go first. You've always had the biggest mouth."

Julie was in the far back of the yacht cleaning ash trays, while Pete was in the middle picking up glasses. Linc was in the front closest to Monte mopping the floor when he saw him aim the gun at Pete. Out of instinct, he used the handle of the mop to knock the gun out of Monte's hand. Unfortunately, before it went flying, Monte may not have had time to aim, but he had time to pull the trigger. As he and the gun went flying one way, Julie went flying another - off the deck of the yacht.

"Julie!" Pete called.

Linc was too busy wrestling for the gun to hear the splash, but Pete heard it. She was in the water. Pete was torn between his two friends. Seeing Linc gaining the upper hand and retrieving the gun, he dived off the top of the yacht in search of his female partner.