Chapter One - An Offer You Can't Refuse

The nicest thing about the cheap hotel room that Fraser was sitting in was that it was only two miles from the park where he'd just given Ray a vague suggestion that he'd meet him. Fraser wished heartily that he'd been able to specify a time or make it clearer what he wanted, but he thought Ray had got the message. He hung up the phone and looked at the two people sitting on the other dingy twin bed in the room.

"Satisfied?" Corporal Dolenz, irritating plainclothes member of the RCMP, asked.

"Yes, thank you, kindly." Fraser said. "I don't think that Ray would have quietly accepted that I had left without speaking to him personally." He rolled his head gently from one shoulder to the other, easing the tension in his neck with a loud crack.

Things had been bad enough between him and Ray that very possibly Ray would have believed that he'd just go like that. Fraser hoped not. But whatever background briefing Dolenz had on his partnership with Ray was apparently enough to convince Dolenz of the expedience of allowing Fraser to make the phone call.

Now he'd just have to wait until he was left alone to sleep and sneak out of the hotel room. This situation was not something he wanted to go into with no-one but Dolenz knowing his whereabouts. Ray deserved to know. Fraser needed him to know.

Fraser looked from Dolenz to the other person in the room. It didn't feel right, to think he'd be working with her. But orders were orders, and it was for the good of his country.

"So." he said, as calmly and politely as if he were addressing the Queen. (Well, not quite as politely as all that, as he was seated and not using very specific honorific terms, but nevertheless, politely.) "I assume Zhang Xiaoxu is not your real name. How may I address you?"

-=-=-

Earlier that evening while sunset still painted the west horizon in flaming color, Fraser arrived home to his small apartment from taking Diefenbaker for a post-work run, to find Dolenz waiting for him inside.

Diefenbaker had bristled, the fur around his neck standing up, teeth showing in a silent snarl.

"Dief." A hand on the wolf's neck settled him to a wary but less aggressive stance. Both wolf and Mountie remembered Dolenz well from the incident shortly after their arrival in Chicago involving stolen military secrets. Fraser respected Dolenz's devotion to duty but could not like the cold man.

Fraser prided himself on maintaining a neat, regulation appearance. But Dolenz seemed to take it one step further. Not only was his suit plain to the point of vanishing into the crowd, and his hair a regulation length and dishwater brown, but there was a sense of blandness about Dolenz, a bureaucratic nothingness that made him seem slippery and somehow untrustworthy, as if he would flicker out of view if one were not looking directly at him.

"Corporal Dolenz. I see you've let yourself in." Fraser said. "Was there something I could do to help you?"

"Constable. I have orders here for you." Dolenz replied.

Fraser stepped into his apartment and closed the door before crossing the small room to take the papers Dolenz was holding out for him. He was reading over the papers when there was a knock at the door. Fraser opened the door to find two men in casual clothes with an animal cage.

Before Fraser could say anything, Dolenz said, "Come in, gentlemen. The animal is here."

Fraser was almost certain the hairs on his neck stood up as high as those on Diefenbaker's.

"As you will be undercover, Constable, and your cover story to explain your absence involves a trip home to the North West Territories, we've arranged for your dog to be kenneled at the Inuvik detachment for the duration of your assignment."

Fraser wheeled around, his hand still on the door. "Now, just wait a minute." he said. That was too much. It was one thing to be handed orders that had him reporting to Dolenz temporarily and performing some kind of undercover operation - not that he thought that was a good idea, but orders were orders - it was another entirely to take charge of what happened to Diefenbaker, to exile him for the duration.

"No, you just wait, Constable. Your country needs you to do this. I thought you understood the implications of that nasty business you got caught up in. I don't want to make this about rank, but I thought you'd do what was best for Canada."

There was something ugly in the way Dolenz said it, the way it was really obvious that he was using that appeal because it would work with Fraser, not because of any intrinsic patriotism. Still, it was a well-chosen argument, and Fraser knew he was on the hook.

Fraser stepped aside and let the men into the apartment, dropping to a crouch beside Diefenbaker.

"Diefenbaker." He put his hands into Diefenbaker's ruff, running his fingers through the soft fur and looking the intelligent creature in the eyes. "You have to go with these men. I'm sorry. I'll send for you as soon as I can."

Diefenbaker whined, obviously aware of the parting to come. But he got into the cage with minimal fuss. Fraser watched the men carry him out of the apartment with a sinking feeling that trouble was coming. The letter ordering him to report to Dolenz didn't have much detail and he had a hundred questions, but Dolenz was already bustling him officiously out of the room.

"You need to call the CPD Detective you liaise with and let him know you're going to be out of town. Cover is that you're visiting with a sick friend back home. No need for details." He handed Fraser his phone as they walked down the stairs. The expression on Dolenz's face suggested that any attempt to countermand his orders would meet with the same pressure on Fraser to do his duty that Dolenz had already brought to bear. Fraser thought that it was a mistake to try to cut Ray out without a real explanation, but he saved his breath to argue that later. As Fraser left a message for Ray on his voicemail, implying that he had flown out much earlier in the day and was already home in Tuktoyaktuk, Dolenz chivvied him out of his apartment building and into a waiting car.

After Fraser disconnected the phone call and handed the phone back to Dolenz, Dolenz gave the driver of the car brief directions.

"Sorry to whisk you away like this." Dolenz said to Fraser, though there was something in his tone and countenance that made it clear that this was a pro-forma apology. "Things got moving fast, and we have an opportunity here we just can't miss. I'll brief you fully at the hotel room."

The car wound through Chicago's darkening streets, and Fraser kept a sharp eye on where they were going. The traffic was dense, and true to his word, Dolenz was not providing any information until they reached the hotel, which left Fraser with time to think. By the time they reached the hotel Fraser had formulated the plea to make the second call to Ray, determined to achieve contact and pass on a real message. Every instinct screamed at him not to leave it to the simple voicemail.

-=-=-

The briefing with Dolenz and the woman who had, in the one night Fraser had known her, caused murder and mayhem, only served to unsettle Fraser further. What he was being asked to do was unnerving. The manner in which his cover had been set up was, frankly, outright distressing. Not that Fraser would ever let Dolenz see that.

When full darkness provided cover for Fraser to slip away to meet with Ray, sneaking out of the hotel room proved entirely too easy. Fraser had a room to himself. Apparently Dolenz hadn't considered that he'd need any precaution to keep Fraser in it. The hotel was cheap enough and old enough to have windows that would open given the right impetus, although it took an effort for Fraser to open the window slowly, so that the creaking of the ancient frame didn't wake his companions. Then it was a matter of leaning out, reaching across his arm span, grabbing the bottom of a fire-escape step, and playing monkey bars.

The two mile walk to the park was a pleasant escape from the overheated hotel room, but also an unpleasant reminder of Diefenbaker's absence. The wolf would have enjoyed romping through the light frosting of snow on the ground. Fraser arrived at the pond before Ray. He had no way of knowing when Ray would be there. Without a car's headlights, the pond and the area around it was lit only by the faint light of a street lamp some feet away on a path. Fraser stood by the water and waited. A warm front had melted some of the ice, making it weak and rotten, and in the dim light the pond didn't so much shimmer as lurk, waiting for an incautious person to step on a thin patch and fall in. There was a dank smell of stagnant water, plant life that had died while the pond was frozen over.

Fraser waited by the pond for three quarters of an hour. It was chilly, and he missed the warmth of his own sweater. Dolenz had apparently taken the liberty of going through his clothes and packing up the newest of his jeans, but otherwise his wardrobe was to be supplied, and apparently his role undercover required a selection of finely machine knit cashmere and lambswool sweaters in place of his thick hand-knits. At least he'd been allowed to keep his leather jacket.

Fraser was just beginning to wonder if Ray hadn't understood his message when he heard the familiar engine sound of the beater Ray was stuck with since the destruction of his beloved Riviera. Ray parked on the paved slope leading down to the pond and cut the lights, careful not to draw attention to the clandestine meeting.

"This better be good." Ray said as he walked toward Fraser. He knew it was unfair to still feel angry as if Fraser really had taken off for the Northwest Territories without letting him know, but his emotions had been in turmoil a while and were not easy to reign in now.

"Thank you for coming, Ray." Fraser said. "I'm not supposed to meet with anyone." He laughed dryly. "I'm disobeying a direct order, which I suppose you will find difficult to believe. But I couldn't let you think that I'd just leave- and- well, it's selfish, but I want someone to know where I went. In case...."

Ray took hold of Fraser's arm, looking at his face in the dim streetlight.

"What's going on, Benny? In case what?" he said sharply.

"Ray, do you remember the woman known as Zhang Xiaoxu?"

Ray's sharp intake of breath was enough to indicate that he certainly did.

"What, has she escaped, or something?"

"Not exactly, Ray."

Ray could hear the uneasiness in Fraser's voice and it triggered a deep protective instinct in him, remembering the damage the twisted woman had done before.

"So, what?" Ray prompted.

"I was approached by Corporal Dolenz with a, uh, well, with orders to co-operate in an undercover operation. It would seem that rather than face jail time, the woman we knew as Zhang was offered the opportunity to work for both Canadian and United States intelligence organizations, infiltrating a criminal organization. It was made to look as though she had escaped custody the night of the incidents in which we were involved, and she is allegedly a fugitive from both North American law enforcement agencies and the Chinese Government."

Ray looked taken aback. "They set the bitch - sorry- they set her loose?" he exclaimed. "But she - damn it, she committed cold blooded murder, and she would have killed you too."

"Corporal Dolenz said that she was still facing justice, that I should think of it as an extended term of community service." Fraser said, an edge of wryness tinting his otherwise deadpan voice as he repeated the comment that had been intended to mollify him.

"I don't understand, how do you come into this?" Ray asked.

"The criminal organization that Zhang infiltrated is in need of a person with particular skills." Fraser said, his voice still flat and emotionless. "Zhang persuaded them that I have those skills. Apparently it was a simple matter to make it appear that I was, in fact, complicit in the theft of military secrets that she was a part of, and furthermore, implicated in-" Fraser took a half-second breath, a barely noticeable pause to steady his voice "- the crimes committed by Victoria Metcalfe and the embezzlement associated with my father's death."

"God dammit Benny, that's not right!" Ray exclaimed, tightening his grip on Fraser's arm. "Dolenz went along with this?"

"I believe Corporal Dolenz has done everything possible to strengthen the cover story that Zhang has been establishing with the criminal organization." Fraser ran his fingers along his eyebrow shakily, the nervous gesture seeming more like an instinctive seeking of comfort than ever before. "I am to infiltrate this organization with Zhang. The story that she has told is that we fell out over the theft of the MiniDisc, but that she has now seduced me back to her side."

Ray thought Fraser had never sounded colder or more remote as he finished his explanation.

"Ray, I am to pose as her - as her-"

Fraser was saved from having to pronounce the word "lover" by the sound of another car. Ray immediately stepped in front of his partner, drawing his gun. The bright headlights dazzled him. The figure approaching could only be seen in silhouette, but even when Ray realized who it was, he kept his gun up, aimed steadily ahead.

"Corporal Dolenz, what a pleasure." Ray said sardonically.

"Detective Vecchio. Put the gun down." Dolenz said.

"I don't think I will, not until I know what's going on." Ray's voice was dark and full of warning. Fraser moved to step between them, and Ray put his arm up, holding Fraser back.

"Let me handle this for a minute, Benny." he said.

Fraser acquiesced, stepping back. A lot of trust had been damaged between Ray and him over the last few months. Since Victoria. He trusted Ray. He knew Ray wouldn't harm Dolenz without evidence of an immediate threat to their lives. Dolenz, on the other hand, he had no reason to trust. It went against the grain to stand up to a superior officer, but this whole situation was awry.

"You want to tell me what the hell is going on, Dolenz?" Ray said. "This Zhang woman or whoever she really is, she just about killed Fraser. She cut her accomplice's throat. She's dangerous. What are you thinking? And undercover work? Do you have any idea how bad Fraser is at that?"

Fraser blushed crimson, the car headlights illuminating his red face. It was true, though. He'd put the objection to Dolenz in terms of playing to one's strengths, but as a matter of fact, he was simply a poor liar, and the extended play-acting entailed by undercover work sat very badly with him. Ray, no doubt, was remembering his altogether abysmal impersonation of a car salesman.

"What appears to be going on, Detective, is that Constable Fraser is insubordinate. But I had a feeling he'd be meeting you somewhere. Constable Fraser, I'm not stupid. That phone call -well, let's say I might not have heard you leave the hotel but I had plenty of clues for where to look when I found you were gone. What do you have to say for yourself?" The disapproval in his tone was clear.

"Sir, I can make no excuse -" Fraser began.

"Hush, Benny." Ray said sharply. "Dolenz, he came to me because he can trust me, and he's finally got the sense to put that over your insignificant rank. Let me tell you something right now, Benny's not going in anywhere undercover without me. I don't care what you think about that, I'll find a way to blow the whole operation if you try to make him. Like hell you have the jurisdiction for this little game."

With his back to the car headlights, Dolenz's face was shadowed. But the ugly smile on it was unmistakeable, the shadows only serving to exaggerate it.

"If you think you know more about jurisdictional issues than I do, you're sorely mistaken, Detective. The big boys have it all sorted out. Put your weapon away, and I'll tell you what's going to happen." His tone was utterly condescending.

Ray hesitated a moment, then holstered his gun.

"Talk." he said.

"Not that you need to know, but in all likelihood, this operation will center around a Canadian target. As for your involvement, as I said, I did predict that Constable Fraser would turn to you. In fact, I argued for your inclusion in this operation from the start. You can thank politics for my failure to win that point.

"However," and here he looked ineffably smug in the half-light, "I prepared for the eventuality that Constable Fraser would compromise operational security, and I insisted that we have a cover set up in case of these circumstances, and paperwork seconding you to a different branch of your Government."

There was a smirk in Dolenz's tone of voice. "If that doesn't suit, you'll have to go in to protective custody to ensure that Constable Fraser's cover is safe. I'm sure your superior officer, your Lieutenant Welsh, will understand."

"You set us up. You set Benny- Fraser up." Ray accused, his tone furious.

"Not really. If Constable Fraser had obeyed orders and not contacted you, he would have gone undercover alone with our other operative alone as planned. But I do think you will be useful. You will report directly to me, although this operation falls under the auspices of your Federal Bureau of Investigation, if that makes you feel better." It didn't sound like it made him feel better. "Think of it as a joint task force. You already seem to have experience with cross-agency interaction."

Ray paused to wonder exactly what the Canadians had to trade off that the Feds were letting them run this show on US soil. Given the Secret Squirrel posturing from Dolenz, he wondered if he'd ever know. Perhaps Dolenz had worn someone down with his buzzword bingo. Maybe the Canadians would be more competent than the Feds who ended up in Chicago. Maybe not. Either way it was better to be set up and be with Benny than find out later that something had happened to him while Ray was still under the angry impression that he'd run back home instead of face the tension between them.

Dolenz's tone shifted abruptly from the smugly expository to the coldly authoritative as he interrupted Ray's woolgathering, "And now, you'll follow me back to the hotel, where Constable Fraser should have stayed, for a full briefing. Constable, you're with me."

Author's Notes: Well, here we go, off on the joyride! For those who love the wolf, trust me, he's not that easy to keep out of things. I'm so delighted that people are excited about this story, and I hope it will continue to entertain!