Undercover Chapter 4
Ever since Agent Jason told us that they knew of our existence, Sam and I had both agreed to keep a gun beside us at all times, even at school, because even the assigned cops knew, they knew and they wouldn't mind if we were prepared. I never really thought of the whole deal with The Gates as a real cause. I guess I just didn't want to believe it was true. But it was, and it was time to think of the best ways to stay hidden. I remember the little bits of information that my parents told me about The Gates. That they were manipulative, that they didn't take no for an answer. But the biggest thing that they told me was when they wanted something, they never gave up. And now, they wanted us. And they weren't going to give up until we were in their clutches.
I shook my head. I need to stop thinking about this. But there was one thing that I did not particularly comprehend. Why would Jason have us go to a public high school when we could be risking every single life there? I knew that they wanted the drug problem gone, but which was more important?
It got cold in Lima. Very cold. Trying my best to fit in, I wore a pair of blue jeans that had been provided and a jacket that zipped up. I guess that's what people think it's cool to wear in high school? Whatever, I wasn't here to be trendy. I was here to carry out a job.
I heard a gentle knock on my door, and then Sam's voice. "Are you clothed?"
I chuckled. "Yeah."
Sam entered wearing just a t-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. He shook his head. "I don't know when these casual clothes became popular. All I know is I used to wear a suit and tie to everything back in California."
"And that probably has something to do with the fact that you were with some of the most important people in America. But this is high school, Sam. I don't want to leave here with nothing to prove."
Sam sighed and sat down on my bed. "Do you think that we'll have to tell them?"
"Eventually. But due to Jason's strict orders, they will find out that we're part of the police force, and we aren't eligible to reveal anything about the CIA, since it is restricted information. And then there's the questions about not being old enough to be in the CIA, not being old enough to be a cop even." I groaned just thinking about it.
He gave me a knowing nod. "I understand my fellow companion." He said, smiling.
"Fellow companion? I like the sound of that." I glanced at the clock. "We should probably go before we're late, though." I said, grabbing my school bag and heading outside to the car with him closely behind me. "Are you driving or am I?" I asked.
"I'll drive if you don't want to." Sam said.
"Alright." I said as I climbed in the passenger seat. Sam got in the driver's seat a moment later and we headed off to school.
It was normal at school now. People weren't constantly staring at Sam and I, people accepted that we're just friends, and nothing else. Santana and I had actually become good friends, despite anything Quinn said. When people said that Quinn was brat, they were right, because about everyday she had a new thing to say about me. Also Sam and Puck were good friends now, too. Him and Finn occasionally talked, but they weren't best buds or anything.
So it didn't surprise me when I got to my locker and Santana was waiting for me. I gave her a small smile and she moved for me to put my bag in my locker.
"It still appalls me that you're friends with her." Quinn said to Santana as she giggled with two Cheerios by her side. "Or anyone." She added, walking down the hall before Santana could spit something back at her.
So yes, if you asked me who the closest person I had to being a friend, I would say Santana. People were so wrong when they thought of her as a selfish brat. And even though I wanted so much to be honest with her, I just couldn't bring myself to risk her life because of a 'friendship'. I didn't know so much about her, and I didn't know if she would go and tell everyone in the school or keep it a secret. I just didn't know.
Santana just rolled her eyes and turned back to me. "So Rach, since its Friday, the glee club excluding Quinn is going to the movies tonight. You and Sam should totally come."
"Um, I don't know. I'll talk to him."
Santana leaned against the lockers. "Why do I still find it weird that you guys live together but still claim to be 'just friends'?"
I sighed. "Santana, I don't know how many time I have to tell you that we aren't anything, we don't have a baby," I felt Sam come up behind me. "We aren't married, there is nothing going on." I looked at Sam. "If you really want to know something, come over tonight."
Santana raised her eyebrows. "Fine." And then she left.
"Are you crazy! We can't tell Santana! What were you thinking?"
"I don't know, I panicked! I'm so sorry, what are we going to do?"
"Well my fellow companion, we are going to tell Santana. It can't hurt for her to know. She's tough, and she can handle things. We'll have her sworn to secrecy. That is, though, after we get permission from Jason."
"I am so sorry I put you in this position."
"Chill out, Rach, she doesn't exactly have anyone to tell. It's not like you see her with a bunch of gossiping cheerleaders every day. Now it would be a whole different story if you told Quinn." Sam assured me.
"Tell Quinn what?" Finn came up beside Sam.
"Nothing, dude."
"Quinn is my girlfriend, you know. Don't talk about her." Finn said, eyeing only me.
"Oh because she never talks about me?" I felt my anger boiling and Sam put his hand on my shoulder. I took a deep breath, feeling calmer already. "Don't worry, Finn, we weren't talking bad about her. We were only comparing her to someone else."
"Whatever. Bye Sam." Finn said and walked off. I rolled my eyes.
"Can we ever get some privacy around here?" I asked, annoyed. "This is nothing like California."
"It doesn't matter, we have to discuss what we're going to do about tonight." Sam said. "It might take some time to convince Agent Jason to be able to tell her about us, but when we do, we have to keep the CIA part out. We'll be private investigators. Or detectives." He smiled and kept his voice low.
"I like detectives." I said.
"Cool, Detective Rachel Berry."
"I guess we're ready for tonight then, Detective Sam Evans." I smiled.
School went by too fast, and soon Sam and I found ourselves contemplating whether or not to call Agent Jason. I broke the tension and just hit the call button. Agent Jason answered quickly and he looked at both of us, his eyes far away, though.
"Uh, Agent Jason. Hi!" I tried to lighten the mood.
"Is this important?"
"Um, kind of. You see, there's this girl, Santana, she goes to our school. I kind of panicked and invited her over. She's one of my friends, though. I don't think she would tell."
"You're already going to blow your cover?"
"What? No! Santana is really cool, she wouldn't tell anybody." I assured him.
"If she does, I have the herbal tea in the refrigerator. I trust you know what you're doing. But if she slips, you know that that tea will erase a couple of hours of your life." I nodded. "And although I do not agree with the choice, I trust that you trust this girl. But that does not permit you to just go out and party with the 'regular' kids. You need to keep the profile low. You don't need too many friends, although it wouldn't hurt to have a couple."
"Actually, we joined this club, glee. It had like twelve people in it. They're really cool, though. We aren't going to let it out on all of them yet. Maybe right before they go. It's kind of cool though. I mean, they're like a family."
"Are we done here? I have an important meeting soon."
"Yes sir." Sam said, and I nodded.
The monitor went black, and as if on cue, my cell phone rang. I glanced at Sam before taking it out and seeing Santana's number across the screen. I took a deep breath and answered it. "Hello, Santana." I said.
"Hey Berry. You going to tell me your address so I can come see you and Sammy?" She asked.
I rolled my eyes. "Great nickname, Santana. I will come and pick you up, though. I think that will be easier.
"Whatever. See you soon Berry." She hung up.
I looked at Sam. "Moment of truth."
Sam gave me the smallest smile. "You can do this, Rach."
I got up from the chair and grabbed the car keys from Sam's pocket. I took my time going up the stairs and getting to the car. I already knew Santana's address, so it didn't prove to be difficult to get to her house. She got in the passenger seat of my car and looked at me in silence the whole ride. I had been stared at a lot lately, so it didn't really faze me. When we got back to the house, I exited the car in silence and I saw her looking strangely around.
"You live in the wilderness?" She asked.
I pointed out the house, still not saying anything and I saw her raise her eyebrows. I entered the house where Sam was nowhere to be found. He was most likely still in the basement playing with some of the gadgets.
"I don't understand. It's a house in the middle of nowhere?"
I sighed. "Santana, I don't want this to change anything. Well, I know it will change everything, but I just don't want you to freak out."
"It's that bad?" She asked.
"Not bad, just different. Follow me." I led her to the basement and before entering I called out to Sam.
"Down here." He said back.
I looked sincerely at Santana, and then led her downstairs. I watched as her eyes got wide and her mouth open the slightest bit. "What the heck?"
"Hi Santana." Sam said.
"What is this place?"
"Santana, meet Detective Sam Evans and Rachel Berry." I said.
She took a step back and blinked a couple of times. "Whoa. You guys are cops? Or detectives or whatever you're called? Oh my god." She sat down in a chair. "This changes everything! What? How?"
"I think she's going in to shock." Sam said.
"Santana, I am asking you to please not tell anyone about any of this. This is authorized information."
"No, no! Of course not, I wouldn't tell anyone. I swear, no." She shook her head. "I want to hear about it though."
"Let's go upstairs then, I don't want you to be intimidated by all these gadgets." I joked, and we went upstairs and sat on the couch. I sighed. "Alright, I haven't ever told anyone about this, so stick with me." I remembered the whole story that my mother told me. "I wasn't supposed to happen. I mean, my parents didn't have me intentionally.
"From the time I was born, I had to stay in secret. My parents were pretty 'hardcore' or whatever you teenagers say. Anyway, I would always have to be hiding somewhere because they didn't want the information of me to get out for the safety of me. My life depended on training. From the time I could walk, I had been put in self defense classes, fighting classes, and school lessons." I chuckled. "I remember when I was six years old I knocked my teacher out with my fist. It wasn't easy, though. Anyway, by the time I was ten, I was already fluent in seven different languages. When I was twelve, I built an engine.
"My parents were barely around. They were always out busting criminals or whatever, and so I would always be put in training sessions when they were gone. It was terrible. The agonizing pain from it, the pain never stopped. My mother told me that pain was just a part of the process. I could tell it killed her inside, though, seeing me in so much pain. Every day I would come home and cry myself to sleep. I did get used to it, eventually. And pretty soon, I didn't even flinch when I got punched in the face or kicked in the stomach. When I did something wrong and was punished, I barely even felt it. I'm still not sure if that is a good thing.
"I can't really tell you anything about the agency because that's authorized. But this is just my side of the story, and it wasn't a pleasant time growing up." I laughed. "Did you know that I never had a lollipop until just a week ago when Sam bought me one?"
"Did it ever get easier for you?" I could see her tearing up and trying to fight it. I knew my story was bad, bad enough to make people cry.
I shook my head. "It honestly never gets easier. I guess I've gotten a lot stronger from it, though. I have a killer aim, and I can take out about anyone in a matter of seconds. But emotionally, it never got easier for me."
"I can't even imagine going through that as a child." She said.
I shook my head. "Me either. But I did. I got through it, though."
"I speak Spanish, you know."
I nodded my head. "I kind of figured, Santana. So you aren't going to tell anyone, right?"
"Of course not, Rachel. What about the glee club, though? We're all a family. Are they going to find out?" She asked.
"Probably. We can't keep it a secret forever. The whole school mustn't know, though. So how am I doing with the whole fitting in thing?"
"I honestly thought you were two normal kids from a normal house with normal parents. You're good. Like really good."
I shrugged. "Training, acting classes even."
"You could be a professional."
"What can I say?" I laughed. "Santana, I need to ask you a serious question."
"Sure, what's up?"
"This might seem weird, but I need you to tell me the truth. Do you know anyone that could be a drug dealer? While Sam and I are here, our job is to fix the big drug problem here. This small town has some of the worst problems."
She shook her head. "I haven't even thought about using." She paused, obviously thinking. "But there's someone at our school who used to. She went to rehab, though."
"Great, what's her name?"
Santana looked me straight in the eye. "Quinn."
"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, Quinn probably won't even tell you anything." Santana said as I knocked on Quinn's door.
"Santana, I need to get this job done. So either you come with me or I can drop you off at home."
Suddenly the door opened, revealing Quinn with a pair of the shortest shorts I have ever seen and a tank top. She frowned when she saw us. "Can I help you with something?" She asked, obviously annoyed.
"Hi Quinn. I just heard from around town that you used to use."
Quinn looked behind her and then shut the door and came outside. "Who told you that? I haven't used since last year, I swear, I'm clean."
I chuckled. "Relax, do you have your dealers name or phone number?"
"I told you, I quit, okay!"
"Then you don't need his phone number, do you?"
Quinn sighed. "Fine, just hang on. But I'm telling you, it really sucks when you get caught. Rehab is not a fun place." She went inside and came out a moment later with a business card. "Just be careful, and if anyone asks, that card is not from me. Now get out of my yard, RuPaul." She slammed the door in my face.
"RuPaul?"
"I'll explain later. Anyway, what are you going to do know?"
I smiled. "Want to help me bust a drug dealer?"
"Heck yes!"
In the car, I grabbed my phone and made sure that I had the number on restricted before I called it.
"Hello."
"Hi, is this Ron Upshaw?" I asked in a sweet voice.
"Explains, who is this?"
"Look, a friend gave me your number. I want to know if you're going to sell me anything or not. I'm getting desperate here." I begged.
"Sure, honey. Where should we meet? Give me the time and place."
"Let's meet in that old abandoned parking garage by the hospital. Get there as soon as you can. I'll be there in two minutes." I said and hung up.
After that, I called Sam.
"Hey, what's up?"
"I need your help. I'm about to bust someone, I just need backup. So will you run to the police station, get Mason and meet me in the abandoned parking garage close to the hospital? Like, right now. I'm about to get this idiot."
"Did you drop Santana off?"
"There's no harm in her seeing us in action." I smiled at Santana.
"Just don't take it too far, Rach. I'm on my way now."
"How did you get a taxi that fast?"
"I'm good, Rachel." He hung up and I started the car and got to the parking garage fast.
Once we were there, I leaned over the seat and opened the glove department and got a gun and handcuffs, which I see surprised Santana. I hid the gun and the handcuffs in my pocket. And got out. It was really dark in the parking garage, so I barely saw him. But then I did, and I motioned for Santana to get out of sight.
"You got the stuff I need?" I asked.
"Right here." He held up a bottle.
Just then, two cop cars came on either side of us. Ron looked at me and cursed multiple times. "Ron Upshaw, you're under arrest for possession of drugs! Put your hands where I can see them." He held his hand up, and I cuffed them easily, handing him to the cops.
Sam came out of nowhere and high-fived me. "Thank you, Sam."
"You're good, Rachel."
When the cops were gone with Ron, Santana came up beside me. "That was so epic! That was honest to god the coolest thing I have ever witnessed."
I shrugged. "That's what we've been trained to do." I gave Sam a look. "I should get you home though, alright? Never speak of this."
Santana nodded and then she followed me out to where the car was. I asked Sam if he wanted to join us, but he said he had somewhere to be. Whatever that meant. I took Santana home, careful to keep my eyes adverted to make sure no one suspicious saw me with her. I dropped her off at her house and then quickly got out of her driveway and made my way back to Sam and I's house. I took a deep breath and smiled at myself for catching, yet another, drug dealer. I noticed that Sam was still gone to wherever he was going, so I had the whole house to myself. I decided to walk down to the basement to mess with some of the gadgets. Not very professional, but very fun.
It wasn't until at least two in the morning when I heard the small squeak of the front door opening. I bolted up and gripped my gun tightly in my hand. I slowly got up from the bed to refrain from making any noise. I then crept over to the bedroom door with the gun down and hidden by my leg as I opened the door gradually. I had seen enough movies to know that calling out 'hello' wasn't going to do me any good, so I began to look around.
"Rachel?" I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I spun around, the gun intact. "Oh god, you're armed. It's just me, relax." What appeared to be Sam said.
I let out a shaky breath and handed him the gun. "I thought you were some murderer." I joked.
He stared at me for a moment, and that's when I realized. It wasn't Sam. "I am."
