As always, Miguel, Ali, Roni, and Ryan belong to xXBalorBabeXx. Check out her MV stories too!
Officer Veronica Tubbs-Castillo wasn't the biggest fan of posing as a prostitute while undercover, but unfortunately in this situation, it was the best way to blend in as a woman in the red light district she and Ryan would be working. She prepared to go undercover wearing a skin-tight leopard print mini dress, false eyelashes, bright red lipstick and 5" patent leather heels which made her appear much taller than her petite 5'3" frame. With a small smile she wondered if her own husband would even recognize her. She sat at her desk, preparing mentally, as the ancient AC system in the OCB clanked away overhead. She mused that with the small exception of a computer on each desk, the office had changed very little since the days when her parents worked here. The walls were painted a pale salmon, now dirty and dusty with time. The inner-office, which had once belonged to Lieutenant Martin Castillo, was now occupied by Lieutenant Billy Crockett. Martin Castillo, Roni's father-in-law, now enjoyed a much-deserved retirement while meticulously tending to his garden and traveling with his beloved wife, Gina Calabrese-Castillo.
Roni busied herself applying extra colorful eye makeup while Ryan Rivera to finished his phone conversation with Ali before they headed out to the meet, Ali was Roni's best friend and sister in law. She was now nearing the end of her pregnancy with the couple's first child and was starting to reduce her working hours. So tonight Roni was backing Ryan up. She knew it frustrated Ali not to be able to follow through on this case.
Ryan nodded with the phone to his ear as he spoke to his wife. "I know you feel like crap, babe. I'll be home as soon as I can. Yes… yes of course I'll bring the food. No, I don't know if they have anything bigger than a large but I can ask the guy… yes, I promise I wont forget the curly fries this time. Okay, yes, I'll be careful. Love you."
Roni looked up at Ryan from across her desk as he hung up the phone, her eyes laughing with amusement, knowing her best friend's appetite had increased immensely in the late stages of pregnancy. "I guess the baby is hungry again?"
Ryan rolled his eyes. "When is the baby not hungry? But I guess it beats the morning sickness she had early on."
Roni smiled. "Hey, you'd better take her seriously or you'll be sorry! Just ask your brother in law! Jack was constantly making me want jalapeño peppers and ice cream. Together!"
"Oh believe me, I'm not taking any chances! Now, you ready to do this?"
Roni closed her makeup compact and shoved in in her purse along with her badge and gun. She took a deep breath. "Absolutely!"
Casually glancing down the street and listening through her nearly invisible earpiece, she could hear Ryan talking to the dealer down the block, the notorious Carlos Pedrosa. A months-long investigation was all leading up to this meet and everything hinged upon it. After six months off of work with baby Jack, she was just starting to get back in the undercover groove. It was hard not to think about her infant son and husband waiting for her at home in between avoiding confrontation with other girls on the street and feigning interest in the johns that approached her. Thought of home nagged at her, feeling like an extra weight on her shoulders. She knew that could be dangerous at a time like this Why didn't anyone tell her how much scarier this was going to get once she became a mother? She wondered if her own mother had felt this way when she was a Vice detective. Her heart rate quickened as she forced her mind to shift back to the task at hand. From the tone of Ryan's voice she could tell things were not going as planned.
Suddenly she could hear the sounds of a struggle over the radio followed by gunshots and two sets of screeching tires. Ryan's cover was blown and the perp was trying to make a quick escape.
She could see Pedrosa's Porsche fly down the street with Ryan in hot pursuit in in his fully restored black Trans Am. He skidded to a stop in front of her, the engine roaring.
"Roni! Get in!" He shouted.
Roni took a flying leap into the car through the passenger side window and Ryan sped off after the Porsche, weaving in and out of traffic, the wind blowing through her hair. Pedrosa attempted to lose them by making a quick turn into a dark alley, but found himself at a dead end. Both cars skidded to a stop and Pedrosa exited the Porsche, briefcase in hand, waving a gun from Roni to Ryan and then back to Roni.
Barricading themselves behind the open doors of the Trans Am, Roni and Ryan pointed their own weapons at the dealer. Nearly blinded by the early evening sun, she withdrew her badge from her handbag. "Miami Vice! Put your weapon down and put your hands where I can see them!"
In a split second, the dealer's gun fired at them twice. The sound of the gunshot was deafening, and for a moment, it sounded as though she were underwater and time was in slow-motion. As she moved to dodge the bullet flying her way, Roni could see images from her life flash in front of her: her parents hugging her, she and Miguel kissing in his bedroom as teenagers then years later at their wedding, the birth of little Jack…surely she'd never see them again! And meanwhile Ali was at home, pregnant, and waiting for Ryan… No! She fired back just as she felt a terrible burning in her left arm. She fell to the ground and the world seemed to go dark.