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What if?
Chapter 11: Two Big Assignments
Cruz had put a floral-print dress on and was in Hope's office in the precinct. "So how do I look?" she asked Hope.
"That depends, what are you going for?" Hope asked. In the 5-1, Hope went undercover all the time, she would've went in with Cruz but she couldn't because one, she had to supervise Sully and two, went it comes to undercover work, prostitution was where she drew the line.
"I wanna come off as innocent at first."
"Innocent? That's too vague, you should act, shy."
"Shy?"
"Yeah, shy girls are the ones you LEAST expect."
"Okay, how do I act shy?"
"You have to have an unsure look on your face," Cruz made an unsure face, "No, that's laying it on a little too thick, how about looking uneasy like you're in an unfamiliar place."
"I can't do that."
"Okay, how about the way you walk?" Cruz paced around the room. "No, it has to be more feminine, and slower." She changed her pace, "No, that's too seductive, a little less." Her pace changed, "There perfect, now add on a nervous look." Cruz made a nervous face, "That's it! At a glance you look like a shy woman from the country or whatever."
"At a glance?"
"Your muscles give you away and your attitude…"
"What's wrong with my attitude?"
"You're gonna get too tough at some point, so I made you a resume so match," Hope gave Cruz a resume.
"Is this all accurate?"
"Down to the last period."
"Okay, thanks a lot sarge."
Monroe entered the office, "Ready to go Cruz?"
"So how do you like this assignment Monroe?" Hope asked.
"It's just fine if you like working the camera in porno flick," Monroe retorted.
"Just get going, oh Cruz, I have something for you," she took out a plastic flower.
Cruz picked it up, "What's this?"
"It's a bug, some more evidence for your collars."
"I like it, how much was it?"
"I have friends, now go."
"Lieutenant could've gotten me outta this," Sully was telling Ty on his way to Judge Halsted's house in an unmarked car, "He coulda told me that he really needed me on the street today."
"Relax how bad can it be?" Davis replied.
"I don't wanna baby-sit this woman!"
"'Special detail,' say it like that and it feels much better."
"Well I'm happy to share the feeling with some other cop."
"Well she doesn't want another cop, she wants the one that saved her life."
"Don't start."
"You were pretty impressive out there."
"Davis!"
"Alright I'll pretend you're not a hero."
There was a moment of silence between them before Sully started speaking again, "I mean yesterday, my car goes up in a ball of flames and today I gotta play nursemaid to Judge perfect under the supervision of Sgt. High and Mighty."
"That is a poor insult, Hope isn't a bad sergeant."
"You're a…"
"She really gets to you doesn't she?"
"What?"
"She doesn't mean to, but you let her."
"Listen Kojak, if you don't stop talking about Sgt. Pain-in the-ass, you can get out and walk your ass to the detail."
"Once again with the stale insults."
"…so I was working in a place in Tinac, Jersey City before that, but they had legal issues…" Cruz was explaining to the head of the whole thing, Dr. Ben Chow.
"Yeah, they were raided," he finished for her as he got a folder out of a filing cabinet.
"Yeah well, it's the kind of thing I can deal with once in a lifetime, getting hauled in like that, you know…" she quickly recovered, Hope didn't include any info on places that were raided. There were plenty of names on the paper, Cruz was surprised she remembered them all without messing up.
"Bad business in Jersey, they run their shops like whore houses. Whores are nothing but trouble, we're professionals here, you understand."
"Oh, I understand perfectly, you know I'm tired of all the drug addicts off the street, I'm surprised that I'm not HIV positive or…"
"And you don't have a problem helping someone with his medical problems?"
"I want guys to be happy, they're happy, I'm happy, I can make a living doing it, it's…"
"Step around to the first door on the right, take your clothes off." (Wow, this guy loves to interrupt her)
Cruz became a little worried, "For what?"
"I want to see what you're bringing to the practice."
She knew why Hope put so many places on the resume, "Well, then you're gonna have to pay me regular fee." She started to get an attitude, "You see, I've been doing this way too long to give freebies, even the boss."
Chow was surprised by her attitude, but he smiled, "Alright, I guess I'll be bringing a full set of teeth here to step up." Cruz smiled in victory, "Anything more than that doesn't really matter, does it?"
"Well…you're the boss."
Sully rang the doorbell and was let in by another cop that was protecting Judge Halsted. He entered and was surprised at the place, "Wow, so this is how the other one-tenth lives, huh?" He put his radio down on a table, "So what's she doing?"
"Nothing, just the way we like it," the cop replied as he took his own radio. "You're honor, we're changing up out here!" He left.
"You honor? John Sullivan!" he called, she didn't respond. "John Sullivan your honor."
"Make yourself at home!" she told him from upstairs.
Hope was driving when her cell phone rang. "Sgt. Campbell," she answered.
"Have I told you how much I love you?" Cruz asked.
"I see my product helped you."
"Yeah, you see, this guy wanted to 'see what I was bringing to the practice' and…"
"So your attitude and my resume saved you, now what're you gonna do with the patents?"
"I could charge them 'regular fee' and hopefully it'll be too much for them."
"Alright, keep me posted and put that bug on you somewhere."
"You got it Hope," Cruz hung up.
Hope closed her phone, "And you'd better have some protection too."
Faith entered a diner and saw Bosco, Ty and Carlos eating at a table. She decided to join them, "Hey guys."
"Hey Faith," the three of them greeted her.
"So Bosco, still planning to avoid Hope?"
"Yeah, she's gonna kick my ass when she sees me," Bosco answered.
"I told Fred about what happened yesterday."
"What'd he say?"
"Huh?"
"About what I did."
"He laughed."
"I guess he really hates me."
"'Hate' is an understatement Bosco."
"So he was pissed off about Bosco giving you a ride home?" Ty asked.
Faith was startled when he spoke, like she forgot he and Carlos were there, "Yeah, he was." Bosco snickered a little when he saw that Faith was surprised that someone else was with them, she just glared at him.
"I'm done," Ty got up.
"You still got food on your plate," Carlos pointed out.
"No, I gotta get back to the detail, I asked for a meal break and sarge said to hurry back."
"Why?"
"She has two assignments going on."
"Two?" Bosco asked.
"Yeah, one with Cruz in some prostitution clinic, and the one with the Judge."
"Wow, if that's not a good sergeant, I don't know what is," Faith said, amazed that Hope was handling two big things at once.
Judge Halsted was quiet for a while so Sully decided to go to check on her. He entered her office and knocked on her doorway, she looked up, "Yes?"
"John Sullivan from the 55th, just hadn't heard much out here," he told her.
"Sorry, I'm a little spacey."
"Spacey? Doesn't sound very judicial."
"I'm off the bench."
"Doesn't look like it."
"At this hour, my language takes a rest, even if I don't get to." Sully walked over to some pictures, he looked at the pictures. "My daughters, Trish and Rebecca, my late husband Jonathan and lot of grand children."
"Heh, they live around here?"
"Yes, and no."
"Meaning?"
Then, a brown haired woman came in with a cup of tea for the judge, "Have you met Neda, my house keeper?"
"Hi, John Sullivan."
Neda smiled, "Nice to meet you." She left the room.
"If you have any other questions," Judge Halsted stood up, "Please ask Neda. As it is, my house is yours, now I need to get back to work." She took a book from her book shelf.
"You know it might help, since you want me here, for us to talk things out," Sully said.
"Excuse me?"
"I just don't feel like spending the next couple of days dancing around these things."
"Should I know what you're talking about?"
"You don't remember me?"
"No."
"When you were still a DA, we worked a case together."
"I'm going to need more information."
"You can just sit there and pretend that this isn't why you wanted me on this detail."
"I wanted you because yesterday, you demonstrated a supreme lack of regard for your own..."
"I care a hell of a lot about my well being," Sully interrupted, being as stubborn as ever. "Yesterday, I was…" he wanted to say that what happened was an accident but he couldn't bring himself to say it "…I was just doing my job."
"Then keep doing it, unless there's something else are we finished then?"
Sully nodded and left the room and sat in a chair in the hallway, sighing.
Cruz straighten out the flower in her hair as her first 'patent' came in. "Hello," she greeted him sweetly.
"Hi," he said nervously.
"Have a seat."
The man sat down on the couch in the small room, "I'm…uh…"
"Don't be nervous, breath."
He took a deep breath, "I think the problem with me is…the medical term is performance anxiety."
"Really?"
"I wanna make…I do…but…I just…uh…I have trouble…sometimes."
"So you figure 'practice makes perfect'?" she turned the light off, "So how can I help you with your problem?"
"Um…I guess…um…I guess some kind of…therapy."
Cruz took the bug out of her hair as she let it down. "And what kind a therapy are you thinking of, specifically?"
"It's uh…you have a very pretty mouth."
"And they say romance is dead," she took off the coat they had given her, "Using my pretty mouth is 150."
"But…that's a lot."
"Yeah, well this is a medical service, your insurance will cover it. Trust me, you get what you pay for," she started to unbutton her shirt.
"Um…150, okay."
"Plus 300 cash."
"Y-you said insurance covered it."
"Yeah well, insurance is for the man, cash is my incentive."
"I don't…I don't have that kind of money."
"Well you gotta think of this as you get what you buy."
"Let's just forget this," the man got up.
She had a surprised look on her face, "I thought we had a deal."
"Just forget it," he left.
Cruz scoffed as he walked down the hall. When he was out of earshot, she smiled, "Score."
Monroe was outside recording what was going on, Cruz's 'patent' left the building. Cruz herself followed him pointing to him as she turned to corner. Monroe drove up near him and got out of the car, she flashed her badge on her neck, "You're under arrest for soliciting prostitution."
"Wh-what?" the man was dumbfounded.
"Turn around and put your hands up!"
He did was he was told and saw Cruz walking towards him, "How's my mouth look now?" she asked with an attitude.
"B-b-b-b-but, I never touched you!" he panicked as Monroe frisked him.
"Yeah, I'll try to get over that."
"Y-y-y-y-y-you can't do this! I-I wasn't doing anything! I have a problem!"
"Yeah, 'performance anxiety' that's the medical terminology for it, right?"
"L-l-look you can't, my wife, she'll leave me! I have…I have a family!"
"Right, cry now, that's good, you can try when you get to lockup we'll give you something to cry about!"
Hope was outside of Judge Halsted's house, waiting for Ty to return from his hourly patrol. He pulled up beside her, "All clear Sarge."
"Alright Davis, I'm gonna have a squad patrol now, okay?" Hope explained.
"Got it."
She picked up her radio, "5-Sergeant to Central, what 55th squad is currently closest to my position?"
"5-5 David," a voice from the radio replied.
"5-Sergeant to 5-5 David."
"David," came Faith's voice.
"Boscorelli, Yokas, I want you guys to come to 233 Avenue L roughly every hour."
"Copy that 5-Sergeant."