The Definition of Grail: Redefining Us
Disclaimer: I do not own HSM. Or Flashpoint. Or Rookie Blue.
Chapter Twenty-One- Define Deception
deception (noun): the act of deceiving.
Christmas music wafted through the house, finding its way to the living room. In the corner, beside the fireplace, Christmas lights twinkled on the tree. A handful of brightly wrapped gifts were arranged under the tree. The rest of the room was elegantly decorated for the season. A handful of tasteful garlands and silvery candles were arranged on the mantle of the fireplace. More candles and holly accents were on the coffee table. Gabriella straightened a dark grey and navy accent cushion and picked up the two remaining empty wine glasses from an end table. Replacing their coasters on the coffee table, she walked out to join the others in the kitchen.
In the kitchen, more wine was flowing. Gabriella topped up the two glasses she carried and handed one to Chad and took a sip for herself from the second. At the stove, Lucy and Mary were working together to finish up the vegetables and the gravy. The turkey was resting on the countertop and Charlie was craving thick slices onto a porcelain platter Gabriella had bought just the week before for this occasion. In the dining room Brian and Jack were laying out the plates as per Lucy's instructions. Gabriella set her glass down and began taking dishes to the table. Mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, beans, and cranberry sauce she's made from her mother's recipe book. Her heart squeezed when she put down the freshly baked rolls that were always Troy's favourite.
A knock on the door and the subsequent squealing of voices told her dinner should be ready. Cam Danforth and his wife, Ashley, along with their toddler, Declan, were the final people needed for Christmas dinner at Gabriella's. As the swirl of conversation went from Declan's new toys from Santa to Brian's folks up north, to the rookies who had drawn the short straws for holiday shifts, Gabriella couldn't help but smile. With the exception of the obvious missing person, her first Christmas in the house brought back happy memories that she had known she'd find when she bought the house. Bowls and plates were passed around the table, plates piled high with food. Glasses clinked with good wishes and conversation flowed.
It was later, much later, that Gabriella found herself alone in the kitchen. The dishwasher was full of clean dishes that she couldn't be bothered to touch at the moment. A plate of cookies was on the edge of the counter where she would see it on her way to work the next morning. Her cell phone vibrated from the pocket of her dark blue flared dress. Pulling it out, she held her breath until she saw the texter. Gavin could wait. She'd see him tomorrow. Footsteps echoed on the tiles in the foyer and she left the kitchen to see Brian slipping on his shoes.
"You're leaving," she said, stating the obvious.
"There's a three car pile up on the south exit," Brian told her sadly. "Drunk driver. Kids involved." He sighed. "Mac is off and Gonzalez is with the accident, but that means I'm officially on call. I'm going to head home and see if I can get some sleep before something comes up."
"At least take some food with you," Gabriella insisted. "There's so much left."
"No, I'm stuffed, really," Brian replied. "Thank you for today; it was great. I'm really glad you didn't leave me with a microwave dinner in my condo."
"Never," Gabriella grinned. "It was nice to have people around and I think having it here made it easier on the Boltons." Her grin disappeared.
"I have to be at Headquarters early next week, after the holidays. I'll see if I can find anything out." Brian slipped his coat on.
"No, don't," Gabriella sighed. "I already know what they will tell you, if they tell you anything." She leaned her head against the wall, arms crossed. "Kate told me they arrested Carros. If they have any luck, Carros will spill his guts. If they don't have any luck with him, they will wait until they get enough from Troy and then pass it off as Carros spilling his guts." She shrugged. "It's a waiting game. I knew it would be."
"He knows what's at stake, Montez," Brian assured her.
"The only stake he needs to remember is his life," Gabriella said quietly. "He knows everything else can wait until he's ready."
Brian grinned and said goodbye, stepping out into the darkness. The Danforths and Boltons followed shortly after, Lucy giving Gabriella and extra tight squeeze. Gabriella hugged her tight and then shut the door quietly behind them. Entering the living room, she found Chad seated on the floor in front of the tree. He was holding a red wrapped box. He saw her frown when she entered the room.
"You haven't opened any of your gifts yet," he pointed out. "How did we miss that earlier?"
"I am very good at distraction?" Gabriella suggested with a small smile.
"Yeah, I noticed that. Just like I noticed that Mom and Dad swallowed that line about Troy working today, but he's not, is he?" Chad toyed with the box in his hands. "Because if he was, he would have stopped by on a break. He would have called at some point. He would have at least called me and said 'Hey, man, I won't see you at Christmas dinner, but we should hang out before I leave'." Chad watched as Gabriella sat in front of him and took the box. "So, what are you distracting me from?"
"Maybe I was distracting myself?" Gabriella told him quietly.
"Gabby?" Chad asked gently, "Where is he?"
"I can't tell you," Gabriella said. Her fingertips smoothed across the paper.
"What can you tell me?" Chad pulled her other gifts closer. Choosing one, he nudged it at her.
Gabriella thought for a moment as she read the tag and slid her fingers around the taped edges. She uncovered a stack of DVDs of her favourite TV show that she never got to watch because of work shifts. She grinned at him. "Thank you," she told him. "It's a good gift." She bit her lip. "I can tell you that Lucy and Jack don't know know, but they know. It's happened before. They have a system with Brian. He followed it this time even though I could have done it."
"And they are okay with it? Him just going—Just like that?" Chad looked annoyed and skeptical.
"No, they are not okay with it," Gabriella snapped. She pulled another gift towards her. "But they don't have a choice. They go along with it, or they don't. If they don't, there are possible consequences. So they follow what he tells him. He was on vacation and then he was in Boston for training. He is working over the holidays. He's really busy." She stacked the makeup brushes from the Danforth's on top of the DVDs.
"And next week? Next month?" Chad handed her another gift.
"He has more training. He's on loan to another department. He's at a reunion with his old army buddies. He's testifying in a Federal case in Washington." Gabriella listed off the many possible excuses Vazina had already planned out.
"And what about you?" Chad asked her. "You're okay with him ditching you?"
"He didn't ditch me, Chad," Gabriella told him, sounding tired. She added more gifts to her growing pile. Only one more remained. The red wrapped one Chad had been holding earlier. She picked it up again. She felt Chad watching her. "What he's doing is important."
"You know more than they do, don't you?" Chad asked, not surprised at all. As if it had suddenly just clicked and he saw her differently. "You don't tell them?"
"No," Gabriella agreed, "I don't. They don't ask, we agreed on that." She sighed and looked Chad in the eye. "Here are the rules if you're going to be in the know. You don't ask about it. You don't ask about work. You don't go out of your way to question it. You play along because that makes it easier for everyone to know what to do. You don't go by his place. You don't go by the station."
"And where else don't I go, Gabby?" Chad was solemn, serious, when he asked the question.
"I can't tell you that, Chad," Gabriella sighed. "Because I don't really know myself. I only know how it started. I don't know where it went after I was done. I'm out of the loop too."
"Well, at least you know that he remembered today," Chad pointed out with a small smile.
Gabriella held up the delicate silver link ID bracelet that she had unwrapped from the box. It was beautiful in its simplicity and elegant in its design. The smooth engraveable plate read TB & GM and a date. Gabriella read the card that had fluttered out. I found this a few weeks ago and gave it to Brian. He promised to deliver it for Christmas. See you soon.
"Is that-?" Chad reached over and inspected it. "I remember when he bought that."
"Yeah," Gabriella answered, still surprised. "It was a Christmas gift senior year. I sent it back with the rest of his stuff after we fought. I can't believe he kept it."
"I can," Chad told her.
"I hate to think of him spending Christmas alone," Gabriella sighed.
"Well, I can't help with that, but I can make sure you're not spending Christmas alone," Chad told her with a small smile. "Come back to Mom and Dad's with me. We can sing carols and eat cookies."
"Or you could stay here," Gabriella told him. "I have a guest room that has yet to be tested." She paused. "And I have eggnog."
"Well, I do enjoy eggnog," Chad agreed, leaning back against the sofa and crossing his feet at the ankles. "Got any more of Mom's cookies?"
Xander popped the color up on his coat as he hid amongst the shadows at the truck stop. Leaning against the rough brick wall of the convenience store and diner, he watched the long haul trucks with their containers come and go. Some went by the truck stop, others pulled in. Xander was looking for a specific one. Shoving his hands in his pockets, Xander gripped his cell phone in his left pocket. He itched to use it.
Jose appeared beside him, holding out a coffee. Xander took it. It was disgusting. Jose wrinkled his nose when he took his own sip. They stood in silence for a few moments and then Jose poured out the rest. Lighting up a cigarette, he offered a drag to Xander who declined. Shrugging, Jose took an extra long drag and let it out.
"Its not the ideal way to spend, Christmas," Jose pointed out.
"I'm not really one for Santa and sugar plum dreams," Xander drawled.
Jose laughed loudly and then promptly dropped the cigarette. Grinding it out with his heel, he gestured to Xander to follow his line of sight. The double linked container truck pulled into the truck stop, parking in the spot farthest away at the far end of the lot. Xander stood up straight and waited for his cue. This was his first pick up and he needed to not blow it. The truck had the tell tale company name stamped on the side, and the plates were from Texas. The driver stepped down from the drivers side and walked across the lot. When he reached the spot where Xander and Jose waited, Jose called out to him.
"Got a light, Amigo?" he asked, holding out an unlit smoke.
"No, my friend," the driver answered, "I left it in the truck."
He continued walking, heading inside. Xander waited for the next move. Jose was right. Spending Christmas at a truck stop waiting for a transport of illegally trafficked girls, most of whom should still be in high school, was not how Xander was used to spending his Christmas holidays. However, it would appear that while the average New Mexican family would be at home enjoying their new gifts and a post-turkey sleep, the average New Mexico drug smuggler used that to their advantage.
Lia had walked him through it the day before. He had handled Carros well. Frankie had turned himself in and it was all over the news that he had would be swimming in weapons charges. Lia had called him into her office and congratulated him. Then she promoted him. Xander would go with Jose on Christmas night to pick up the girls. Hands had been greased by cash and officials had been bribed to allow the container to cross the border. It had been picked up in Texas along with an order of lumber and the trucker would drive it to the Diablos warehouse where they would be unloaded. Xander and Jose's job was to make sure that nothing happened on the way to the warehouse. Using the likelihood that the police would be short staffed and focusing on drunk drivers and domestics, the pick up had been scheduled to happen just after midnight.
Xander checked his watch. Any minute the trucker would reappear and ask for some directions. Jose would go to the truck with him and then they would drive off together. Xander would follow on the way to the warehouse. Lia's concern would be that the police would be running check points and someone may be bored and start checking papers and searching containers. Xander was to keep them away. They had planned a number of possible scenarios to assure her that he would handle it. He tried not to look bored, because what Lia didn't know was that no one would be pulling over any containers that night. They would be around, because no cops would be suspicious, but Xander could relax.
In his hand, his phone chirped as Lia checked in.
As the plan unfolded and Jose left with the truck, Xander climbed into the SUV and began following. On the radio, a pop boyband was butchering a Christmas carol and Xander let his mind wander to all the possible scenarios where he was anywhere but on the highway and he was heading anywhere except to a Diablos safehouse.
Gabriella was in the gun room when a knock on the door announced Reece Vazina's presence. Gabriella took her time checking her weapon and then disassembling it before putting it away in the locker and slamming the door shut. Vazina watched quietly from the doorway. When she was ready, she turned to face him, arms crossed over her chest to hide the rapid beating of her heart. He could be there for so many reasons and despite working with him for almost two months now, Gabriella still found it difficult to read his face.
"You can relax," Vazina told her with a look over his shoulder. "I'm not here with bad news. Your team is out and I have intel that you may have to use tomorrow night. It can't be chanced over a scanner or radios. If you have to use it, use your cell phone with your team. If you have to go outside of your team, we have issued a code word that dispatchers and detectives have been made aware of: Operation Beijing."
"Beijing?" Gabriella asked, eyebrow raised and eyes ready to roll. "Really?"
"Yeah, really," Vazina said, all seriousness oozing off of him. Gabriella paused and kept her mocking comments on her tongue. "Because we're not raiding the Chinese," he told her, squashing all presumptions, "We're raiding the Colombians and they won't see us coming."
"Troy?" Gabriella asked, eyes wide and a grin on her face. "Already?"
"No," Vazina told her, shaking his head, "Jose Angeles." He paused as Gabriella processed the information. "Three days ago, Troy managed to get us enough intel to implicate Jose in the shooting of an APD officer six months ago. She survived, but had been shot from behind as she was arresting Jose's younger cousin. We suspected Jose, but the investigation could never turn up enough evidence to indict him."
"But why turn Jose in now? Why not wait until the whole operation is done and throw the book at him?" Gabriella inquired, keeping her voice low.
"Because Jose is currently calling all the shots on Lia's behalf. From what Troy can tell, what Lia knows, so does Jose, and as long as he is in the picture and competent, Troy will be following his lead but going no where." Vazina was watching her as she began pacing, putting the pieces together.
"So you take Jose out of the mix and you wait and see what happens to the hierarchy," Gabriella surmised. "What happens if Troy stays where he is and someone else steps up? You can't keep eliminating the middle man. Someone will notice."
"Which is why it will be made clear that the information on Jose came from our good friend Frankie Carros last week. We don't even have to tell them or leak that intel, it will be everyone's first guess." Vazina sighed. "You're right. There is a chance it won't be Troy. But Lia Mendez would not have lured Xander Barrington from California for no reason. She wanted something and its more than control or eye candy. She will put him in Jose's place."
"And then how long?" Gabriella asked.
"That depends on Lia," Vazina admitted, "But I like the odds better."
"So tomorrow? That's New Years Eve. It will be a shit show," Gabriella reminded him. "What do we need to know?"
"A detective from the one-eight division is going to show up Club Spade with an arrest warrant and a handful of rookie officers specifically picked for this operation," Vazina told Gabriella. "We're hoping that it will be obvious why we expect him to be there, but just in case and to make it look good, we will have teams raid his apartment and his girlfriend's place."
"Rookies?" Gabriella sounded unsure.
"Yes," Vazina explained, "Because rookies don't know Troy as Troy. They won't blow his cover. ETU Teams One and Six will be on the perimeter in case things go south. I don't think they will. One thing Lia has done to make sure we won't focus our attention on her is give us a reason to. Especially at the club. She does not want us to have a reason to raid her one clean and legal business."
Gabriella had to note the other subtle details that kept the op real. It would make sense to arrest Jose the day before a holiday to buy time before the court was opened. Rookies would be expected to have the crap shifts over the holidays. It would be easy to think all of Diablos would be at the club on New Year's. It was really well thought out and her heart slowed slightly. "So Team Three is purposely being left out of the op," Gabriella pointed out.
"Can't run the risk," Vazina told her. "If the timing works, Troy will be out of the way at the club, or gone altogether, but that's something he can't plan."
"So I just need to tell the team what you told me, using Xander instead of Troy, and not giving details," Gabriella summed up. She let out a breath. "Got it."
Vazina nodded and then left the room, leaving Gabriella behind to go over everything that had just been said. So many things to keep track of made her head swim. The return of her team from city patrol sent her out of the gun room and into the conference room where she edited Vazina's information into a twenty-minute overview of what they needed to know for the next night.
The music from the two dance floors upstairs had the entire building shaking on New Years Eve. Xander tugged his black hat further down over his ears and rubbed his gloved hands together. It may be New Mexico, but it was still chilly and the wind was cutting through his jacket. Standing out back of Club Spade, Xander was taking the longest smoke break of his life. It was early yet, the club was only half full, and there were still hours before the midnight countdown. Lia had already begun barking orders, and the head bartender, Diego, was already worried they were going to run out.
His phone buzzed in his pocket and Xander answered it, dropping the mostly unused cigarette to the ground. Pretending to smoke came in handy. On the other end, the music was muffled, and he looked around expecting to see Lia outside searching for him. He didn't and finally answered her.
"Yeah," he grunted.
"Where are you?" she demanded. "Diego said he told you to make a liquor run to Santi's an hour ago."
"Yeah, he did," Xander agreed. "And then you needed someone to help move the DJ system, and then JP was unloading glassware from the truck and I couldn't take it. Now, I'm having a smoke break."
"No, now you're going to Santi's," Lia told him, "and then Jose needs you on the door."
"Yup," Xander replied, "On it, Boss."
Slipping his phone into his pocket, Xander sighed. He had hoped to buy more time. Another half hour, and he would be five blocks away at Santi's Salsa Club, owned and operated by Jose's cousin or brother. Xander wasn't sure. Maybe they weren't even related. Instead, Xander fished the club keys out of his jacket and went to Jose's SUV. Maybe Santi's was busy too and he could kill time. If not—Xander sighed and shoved the vehicle into gear.
Gabriella was in the ETU conference room when her phone rang. Her team was out on patrol, awaiting any possible calls and keeping to the districts furthest from the op involving other teams. That way, the city was evenly covered. The other two teams on duty that night were already in place. Through the conference room doors, Gabriella could see the command desk where Devon was listening to the police scanner through his headset and was completing paperwork on two cases closed that morning. Gabriella pulled her mug out from beneath the one cup brewer in the room and answered her phone at the same time.
"Hello," she answered, tucking the phone between her shoulder and ear.
"Gabs!" Chad's voice was so loud she winced. There was music and yelling in the background. "You are missing one hell of a time!"
Gabriella picked up the other mug of coffee and returned to the desk, passing one to Devon and then adjusting her phone with her free hand. "Chad, where are you? I can barely make you out. Are you at The Shield?" Gabriella had suggested the cop bar to Chad when he asked about a good place to grab some drinks on New Years Eve. He had asked for tame, quiet, but fun. She knew The Shield would be packed.
"No, we ditched it after the first round. A friend of Jason's called and said he had free entry and a bottle of tequila with our names on it if we wanted to join them," Chad told her, laughing and Gabriella could hear other voices.
"You're with Jason?" Gabriella asked. "He's home?"
"Yeah, just for the weekend," Chad confirmed. "Last minute thing when he knew I was in town. Mentioned Troy but I told him he was working. Zeke's here too. We tried to get McKessie and her man out but when she said no. Jason thinks she's being snotty about the club."
"Chad, where are you?" Gabriella repeated. She closed her eyes and knew before he even said it. She had known the moment she heard the music and the bit about free tequila.
"Some Spanish club off of Centennial," Chad told her. "It's great, but the line to get in was a bitch. Club something—" He yelled to someone not Gabriella and then relayed their answer. "Club Spade, Gabs. It's pretty sick."
"Chad, I need you to listen to me. Can you hear me?" Gabriella said to him.
"Yeah, Gabs, what's up?" Chad replied.
"How drunk are you?" she asked. "Be honest, I just need to know."
"I'm buzzed," Chad told her, "But I'm fine. Really. You won't have to fish me out of a drunk tank."
"No, Chad, this is important. Can you see the guys? Jason and Zeke?" Gabriella was standing behind Devon, watching the transcriptor write out the words that went with the radio headsets of all the teams. Each team had a screen. Gabriella was searching for clues. Anything to tell her how much time she had.
"Uh, yeah, they're at the bar," Chad told her. "Why?"
"Chad, you need to get them, and get out now," Gabriella told him. "Tell them you need a smoke. Tell them you want to call your girlfriend outside where she can hear you. Anything, but without letting anyone around you know, you need to get out of The Spade now." She paused. "Did you hear me?"
"Gabs, what is going on? Is this about what McKessie said about the bar being for goons?" Chad sounded skeptical but Gabriella latched onto it.
"Chad, trust me and trust Taylor. She's a defence attorney. That is not the place you want to be tonight. There is a real possibility of gang activity and you do not want to be an unfamiliar drunk guy in a Colombian club if something goes down. Get the guys and get out." Gabriella waited for him to acknowledge her.
"Okay, Gabs, if you think its not cool but really, all of these people are just having a good time." Chad sighed. "We'll get out."
"Chad? Call me when you're in a cab. Don't walk away from there, get a drive, and don't call me until you're away from there," Gabriella didn't wait for his answer. She just hung up.
"That sounded fun," Devon told her.
"I told him to go to The Shield. I specifically named a bunch of other places that he would enjoy. Of course he would end up at The Spade on tonight of all nights. What was Jason thinking?" Gabriella sighed and tugged at the end of her braid. "Is there any mention yet?"
"Yeah, we've got a bit more than thirty minutes. Lots of time for them to get out and not be remembered when the cops show up." Devon handed her a headset.
"At least I didn't have to tell him anything," Gabriella pointed out.
She watched the clock until her phone rang just before midnight. Everyone was in place around the club and Jose was inside according to a planted plain clothes cop. Gabriella let out a sigh of relief when Chad called to say they were back at Zeke's place. She hung up on him quickly, switching into work mode as intel started rolling in. Part way through Jose's arrest which went somewhat quietly but with plenty of crowd control required and some casual death threats, Gabriella had to leave that operation to Devon and deal with Team Three's incident of a traumatized war veteran who thought the fireworks were gunshots and shut down so much that he barricaded himself and his family inside their home and thought everyone else was the enemy. It lasted well into the morning.
When Gabriella was finally crawling into bed to grab a few hours of sleep before dinner at the Bolton's, her phone chimed with a text from Chad. Saw the news. We missed all the fun.
The park was mostly empty just before sunrise on the Tuesday morning after the holiday rush. In the shade, beneath the trees, it was dark and runners had to watch their footing. It was cold, but Xander had managed to maintain a routine where he ran Tuesday mornings before his shift at the warehouse, and Thursday nights before his shift at the club. He never ran with earbuds, preferring instead to be as fully aware of his surroundings as possible. He started at the north entrance gate, stretching and warming up beside the fountain, and then began one of two laps he completed each time.
He stopped at the south entrance loop, near a string of benches, and bent to tighten his shoe laces. Looking up, he noticed a new arrival in a pink long sleeved jacket and black leggings. Her sneakers were well worn and she fiddled with her running watch before she began a light, easy jog to set a pace. Xander waited for her to get fairly far ahead of him and then continued his route. He caught up with her just as the path entered a denser part of the park and ran along the edge of the river. Xander adjusted his ballcap and kept running. She moved aside, having heard him coming, and made room for him on the path. He altered his pace to keep time with her.
They remained quiet as the followed the path. They had left most of the other runners behind to do the quicker, flatter route that skirted the outside edges of the park, and opted to take the route that cut through the middle of the park, taking in a number of hills and rougher terrain. Xander kept an eye out for others on the path, and listened for anything out of the ordinary. When he was ready, he slowed his pace. His running buddy matched it. When they reached the top of a one of the steeper inclines, they slowed to an almost walk and she offered him a water bottle. He flashed her a smile and accepted. Tipping his head back, he splashed water into his open mouth without touching the lip of the bottle. Handing it back to her, he waited until she was taking a sip to say anything.
"Tell him it's done," he said to Charlie.
"We know," Charlie confirmed, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Luca has an informant, Nico, who is a low level dealer for Diablos. Luca and I met with him yesterday on a totally unrelated case—intel on an old cell mate of his from five years ago—and he asked if we knew about your promotion. We pretended we didn't know who you were."
"Good," Xander replied. "Is Jose talking?"
"Not much, but the feds are all over the guns and dope we found at his place so he may start spilling yet."
"Do they know about me?" Xander asked sharply. The worst thing that could happen from the police end of the op would be for the feds to send people in blind.
"They know we're running an op. They are working on Jose's contacts for now, following who he was selling to. Until we give them the go, they won't touch Lia or Diablos as a group." Charlie took another sip of water.
"Okay, that's good," he told her. "Let the team know that as far as I can tell right now, nothing is being run through the club. All of the drug deals are done with a dealer who brings the dope into the club with him and takes the cash with him when he leaves. He's being supplied by Lia and the rest of them, but there is nothing to tie the club directly to it. Same as the girls. Everyone working at that club is here legally and are legal age."
"So the club is clean," Charlie repeated.
"The club is clean, but the warehouses are not. There are also a half dozen safe houses being used for the girls. Lia keeps everything out of the club because it's the most likely to attract attention," Xander explained.
"So you found them," Charlie asked, voice quiet.
"Truckers bring them in from Texas and meet us at a truck stop. Someone drives with them to a designated warehouse, usually one that is accepting more than one late night shipment at a time so they can hide the activity going on. The legitimate cargo is unloaded inside, by the crew, and the girls are slipped into a back room, or an empty container that has already been cleared." Xander explained, voice low and eyes exploring everywhere around them. "When the crew leaves, the girls are put into vans and driven to the safe house."
"Is this enough?" Charlie inquired, mind racing but trying to maintain her cover.
"No," Xander told her. "If we go in now, we get the girls, we may get enough of the food chain to take out Lia, but its not enough. Lia is not the head of Diablos. She is just very good at her job and has made herself a valuable asset they want to keep around. She's not calling the shots without them knowing. We need them all. The suppliers, the truckers, the border guards, everything."
"How much longer," Charlie asked, starting to jog on the spot. The conversation was coming to an end. They couldn't stay where they were.
"I don't know," Xander told her. "I'm not sure how much Jose knew, so I don't know what she's going to tell me willingly based on the logistics I need to know, and how much I will have to find out on my own."
"We're trying to help," Charlie told him.
"I know," he answered with a grin. He paused, taking a heartbeat to make up his mind. "Cat?" he finally asked.
"Going stir crazy behind a desk," Charlie told him with a smile. "She saved your ass the other night. Your East High homeboys were at the Spade. She got them out before they got caught in the shit show of Jose's arrest."
"I miss her," Xander said quietly.
"I think it's mutual," Charlie replied.
They were at the end of the trail, linking back with the full circle route of the park. Xander picked up the pace, pulling ahead and heading back to his starting point. She followed, but at a slower pace. When Xander began his second lap, she veered off and left the park. He continued his routine, completing the second lap without a problem and then headed back home to shower and dress before heading out to run errands for the club.