A/N - A couple of chapters being submitted. The first is a short transitional chapter that gets Steve into the operation and expresses his frustration at the process. The second, more important, chapter develops the relationship with Bradford. Mostly dialogue, they find out more about each other in transit to and from a meeting with the supplier.

Monday, December 6

Steve spent his first night at Hernandez's apartment, sleeping in Cruz's former room. The meeting between the two the prior night was not at all social. Hernandez showed up at Launch and Steve followed him back to a small two bedroom apartment.

"I don't cook - you fend for yourself as far as food goes," Hernandez said after giving him Cruz's keys. Hernandez then plopped himself on the couch and turned on the television.

Steve brought his suitcase in and didn't really bother to get settled. He didn't like this part of the plan at all, but the whole point was to find out what he could about the operation and Hernandez appeared to be a growing part of the picture.

Steve was allowed to keep the car that he and Johnson shared, which gave him a little more flexibility in the investigation. This was not a 9 to 5 job. Bradford ran things on a need-to-know basis and kept the men on call.

The afternoon of the next day Hernandez drove the detective to the warehouse, where Steve saw Bradford and Sanders on their own turf for the first time. Bradford called him into his office.

"Coulter, I trust you are settled in at Juan's?"

"Yeah, stayed there last night."

"Okay, fine." Bradford paused for a moment, "Look, you are here to understand the operations and do the 'due diligence' for Wilson. I get that. But I won't have you spying and roaming around on your own. You'll be here doing the work I need and if you have questions along the way, ask. I will call you when I need you and yes, you'll see what you need to see."

You'll show me what you want me to see, Steve thought.

"Sounds fair to me. Look, I am just here to do a job. Wilson will be looking for me to give him answers or it's my neck."

"Looks like we understand each other. For the moment, I just need you to stay out of the way. Can you drive a stick?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Take Sander's car over to the 76 station for an oil change. Here are the address and directions…"

The first two days followed suit. Steve saw very little, but was slowly getting the feel of how Bradford worked and the lay of the warehouse. Hernandez made himself scarce leaving Steve with very little of interest at the apartment.

Steve managed to drive over to Launch and met with Agent Liu. He observed how 'appropriately' dressed she was for an agent whose cover was a club girl. Her long black hair framed a pretty face with exotically made-up eyes, and her slinky pink dress showed off a slim, firm body. After a drink and a couple of close dances, Steve admitted there was little information to provide. Ting, having been in these operations many times before, understood and gave advice to be patient.

Steve agreed. While he was becoming restless and frustrated, the young man knew the best thing he could do was play it cool and wait.