Hood and Mal sat in the surveillance van looking down at the cargo boat in the harbour. They had seen Jake come up and knock down a couple of the bikers but they saw Rex take him back downstairs at the end of a gun.
They knew about the plan in the morning at the theatre and they were pretty confident that Jake would still be alive at that point. However, Mal wanted to go down and rescue Jake and call the whole thing off. Hood and Walsh who was patched in by phone, thought they could still get the evidence they needed if they let the operation play out for a few more hours.
"You're putting my son's life on the line," barked Mal angrily.
"Jake knew what he was signing up for when he agreed to do this," replied Walsh.
"And its not like he doesn't put his life and everyone else's on the line regularly in his high risk capers," snarled Hood.
"Look Mal," Hood continued, "I can understand where you are coming from. If it was my kid or my partner, I would be desperate to get down there, too. Rex is a seriously bad dude. But we can have already seen that Jake can handle himself and they clearly want him alive tomorrow in order to draw Leslie and the rest of us out. It's their only chance of getting away without going to jail."
"I understand, but that's my son down there."
"Mal, we will leave a detail here to keep surveillance on the boat and we will try and rig a listening device so we can track what's going on on that boat. We won't leave Jake alone."
"I'm staying," said Mal.
"Only if you don't interfere," agreed Walsh.
"I will do my best," said Mal, reluctantly.
"Hood, you need to get back to Leslie so we can start planning for tomorrow," ordered Walsh.
When Hood got to the apartment, he found Leslie pacing and fretting.
He told her what they had seen on the boat and reassured her that Jake was still alive and likely to stay alive until the showdown at the theatre the next morning.
"You just need to stay calm and do your job, Bennett," he said.
"I know how to be a professional, Hood. You don't have to lecture me," she snapped.
"Actually, I do need to lecture you. Whenever Doyle is involved you make bad decisions, take stupid risks and basically put your career on the line. And you know what, I can actually understand why.".
Leslie shot him a puzzled look. "What the hell does that mean?"
Hood answered cryptically, "You're not the only one in this world who is in love with someone in danger. Now let's get down to business."
That was the closest Hood had ever come to admitting he was in love with Leslie Bennett. He knew he had no chance with her, with or without Jake Doyle around. Plus he had only just gotten married a couple of years ago. He could hardly be falling in love with his partner. But she just had that effect on people. Men, actually. He had spent this whole operation terrified she would get hurt. He sometimes kind of admired Jake, but he didn't trust him to keep Leslie safe.
"Okay, Hood, we need to start working out our cover stories for tomorrow. Walsh said you are going to be a biker from Toronto. How is it that we know each other or that you just turned up now?"
"When Jake was in the office with Harrigan and Tucker he told them that he could get some 'product' from Toronto. The story is that he called me after the meeting and I flew in on the next flight to check the situation out. Jake knows me because I am the main supplier of 'product' to the stars."
"Okay," said Leslie, "that works. You know me through Jake. You show up at our apartment and I tell you that I am worried because Jake is missing and you agree to come to the theatre in the morning and throw your weight around a bit."
Leslie backed up and checked Hood up and down. "We need to get you a decent set of clothes that are believable as big city criminal."
The doorbell rang. Walsh had shown up to contribute to the plan and offer some wardrobe options.
By the time they left for the St. John's Players Theatre, Hood looked the part in a black leather jacket, black turtle neck and black jeans. They also found him an old zippo lighter and some "roll your own" tobacco to finish off the look. With the bald head and tough stare, Hood was believable as a very bad guy.
