Chapter 9

It had been a few weeks since my "kill" for El Curso. Ever since then, I have become his hitman. I know, weird right? Apparently, since I couldn't seem to get lucky with my first drug trade, he thinks that I might get hurt again. Despite not knowing why he worries so much about me, El Curso decided that since I was able to take care of John quite quickly, I could do the same with other unhappy clients of his. So I accepted, so I could tranquilize my targets and for the police to take them right after.

Speaking of the police, I was at the office today to discuss what had happened the first time I ever called them. The Chief doesn't know I'm here, I decided to get the drop on him so he didn't prepare his retaliation. I sighed uneasily, standing in front of his door. This wasn't going to be good and I know it. I wasn't great at arguing, especially when I stumble on my words when I let my emotions show. So the plan was to show as few emotions as possible to get my point across. I knocked on the door and waited.

"Come in."

James' P.O.V.

Kendall, Logan, and I were returning from burglary down at a bank. If you were wondering, yes, we did return from the police academy after passing it easily. Once we did that, we went to work at LAPD straight away.

There were pros to being officers now.

After we (temporarily) quit Big Time Rush, we were allowed to stay at the crib. Actually, ever since we joined the force, we had been getting respect from the Palm Woods kids. Not only that but we get to ride in a cool S.U.V while we patrol the streets. Why I keep using the word 'we' is because Chief Castline partnered us up together, which is the best part of this whole thing.

Now, with all this lovely goodness, there were also cons. Not everyone likes the police, which is my first point – you have no idea how many people have thrown dirty signs at us. Another thing: not everyone will rush out of the way on the road! It sucks, especially when we're trying to get somewhere in a hurry. The third bad thing is that the victim, criminal, or whatever might get hurt or killed if the situation goes out of hand. We had already had to experience the worst option.

And the worst con just walked through the door.

I felt Kendall and Logan stiffen beside me. I couldn't blame them, I did the same thing when Carlos walked through the door of Castline's office. We sat behind the door, so he didn't spot us at all. The first I spotted was the gnarly scar to the side of his head. It looked painful. I wonder how he got it.

"Garcia, I've been meaning to congratulate you for helping us imprison many convicts around the city," Castline smiled. Carlos didn't really care about the compliment and his expression stayed serious.

"Chief Castline. Do you remember the first call I made about John Sculvil at the parking lot drug exchange?" He asked, more like interrogating. Castline looked a little confused but, after a moment, he looked as shocked as I had ever seen him before.

"Holy… Garcia, I'm so sorry," he apologized quietly. He looked so ashamed and guilty that he nearly looked like a kicked puppy. "W-We… were celebrating Randy's birthday, it must have slipped my mind."

This information shocked all of us. Carlos went ballistic right after he heard that. He grabbed a stapler from Castline's desk and threw it across the room. The Chief shot out of his chair and glared at Carlos.

"Get out-"

"Like hell I am!" Carlos exclaimed, making my eyebrows shoot up. I've never heard him use that kind of language. "I nearly died that night, Chief! And while I was bleeding to death after I was robbed, you were celebrating a birthday party?!"

"Garcia, stand down!" Castline shouted. Carlos barely did but he did quiet down. Unfortunately, the Chief chose this time to mention us in the corner. "I have news for you, Garcia. You will not be working undercover alone. You have three new partners. Boys?"

We stood up, making our presence known. Carlos whipped around to face us and he looked like he was about to have a panic attack.

"Hey," I awkwardly greeted. Carlos ignored me to face Castline again.

"Y-You can't!" He pleaded. "Sir, they have no experience."

"Nonsense," he shook his head before sitting back down on his chair. "They're the best recruiters I've met. They'll help you wrap up this case even quicker. Let me introduce you-"

"I already know them," Carlos interrupted. The Chief looked surprised but said nothing. He nodded then excused us. We poured out of the office, following our small friend to wherever he goes. And that happened to be for the car outside. He said nothing, only sharply motioned us inside of the car. We silently obeyed. It was so intense inside of the car, I swear that Carlos was going to explode.

But he only put the car into drive and we were off to… I have no idea. Carlos was just kidnapping us with our consent. But with the way he looked like he was about to explode, I'm sure that the other two would agree that it was best to stay obedient.

It was a little weird if I was completely honest. It had been weeks since we saw him last and he isn't the same Carlitos that I remember. This Carlos was mean, stressed, and overall not fun. I looked over at Logan and Kendall, who were squished in the backseat with me (no one wanted to sit with Carlos upfront). They shot me panicking looks that made me nod slightly. Yeah, they weren't calm about this either.

The atmosphere never changed until we had arrived at the Palm Woods parking lot.

"Get out," Carlos quietly ordered.

"Carlos-" Kendall was interrupted by the driver's hand shooting up.

"Please… just, I'll talk to you later, but I need to cool down for a bit," Carlos sighed, watching us intensely through the rearview mirror. It seemed that he was holding himself back from blowing us away.

"Come on, guys," I urged, noting his expression. I sent a last look at my friend, who seemed slightly relieved, before leaving the car with Kendall and Logan reluctantly following. Once the doors closed, the car screeched away. We stayed there a moment.

"That could have gone better," Logan noted. "I can't believe what Chief Castline did. That was some cold stuff, he should have been fired for that."

"I think that can be arranged," Kendall gave a knowing look. "Come on, let's see what we can do."

"What about Carlos?" I asked.

"He'll call us when he feels ready. But for now, let's give him a while to get his mind together." Kendall and Logan walked inside the hotel, leaving me alone to look at where my friend had disappeared. Ah, Carlos, what are we going to do?

Carlos' P.O.V.

I nearly crashed my car into my house. You have no idea how I feel. It's like everyone that I knew to trust betrayed me! Slamming the door open to my home, I was greeted by Echo the Doberman. I sighed heavily, giving her a quick pat on the head, before moving to the kitchen. I poured out her food in her metal bowl and placed it on the floor. Instantly, she ran over and gobbled up the kibble.

I grabbed a glass and some gifted tequila from El Curso before settling on my couch. I poured myself a cup before quickly chugging it down. The effects of the drink started to calm my nerves down.

"Why didn't I do this sooner?" I whispered, closing my eyes momentarily. I tried to avoid alcohol, especially knowing how it changed some people in my life, but now I went back on my word. (Of course, you would. You're a liar.) Leave me alone, can't you see that I have had enough of today?

"Who did he think he was?" I questioned aloud. "Oh, sorry, totally forgot to send backup while you had to deal with a dangerous suspect and almost got killed. So we're good right? Pathetic!"

I felt my anger rising quickly as I continued my rant. "I risk my life trying to go after the most dangerous criminal group in the entire city and I have no help! I have to do this myself! Oh, but not anymore! Now he decides to bring in the guys to be with me just so I could have the extra hands. No, that does not help, that's big-time trouble! I know those guys like the back of my hand and I know that they'll baby me into getting me or themselves dead."

Echo hopped on the couch, laying down next to me. I scratched her stomach, letting out a long heavy sigh.

"It's just… hard," I admitted. "I have so many responsibilities to look after, so many lives to save. One screw-up, I could kill many people that don't deserve it. And so many lies are built around this… I hate lying to people, I hate hurting them. Now I had lied to Maria, the guys, El Curso, and even myself. I keep telling myself… 'you're going to do this. You have too so you don't hurt anyone.'"

I felt tears leak down my face. I squished my eyes shut with my fingers, attempting to stop my crying. "Dang it… I'm such a liar. I can't do this, I can't hurt anyone else. But I already have, and I know it." I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

I chuckled lightly. "What do you think I should do, Echo?" I patted my dog's head. She looked at me for a moment before barking. She then directed her head in the direction of a picture frame. I stared at it for a long moment, debating the chance of my decision. Soon, I gave up. I needed help, I'll admit it, and if there's anyone in this world that could help me – it's them.

I pulled out my phone and went to my contacts. After a moment of hesitancy, I called them. I raised the phone to my ear, hearing it ring once. Twice. Three times.

Then the line picked up.

"Hello?" The voice greeted slowly. I internally sighed when I remembered how I treated them.

"Hey, it's me. I, um, think we need to talk. I'll send you my address but it's your choice to come." There was a long pause. So long and quiet that I thought he hung up on me.

"Send it to us. We're getting in the car now," he said a second later. I sighed tiredly.

"Yeah. I guess I'll see you here."

"Don't worry, Carlos. We're on our way." I smiled slightly, closing my eyes in peace.

"Thanks, Kendall."

I sent it to them like promised. I sat there, sipping my drink ever so slowly, and petting Echo continuously. My mind went abuzz the entire time like someone turned off a light bulb in my head and now I feel nothing. No light, no warmth, only cold and helplessness.

I had been so spaced out in my thoughts that I didn't even notice that my friends had walked into the room. I snapped awake when Echo began growling. I turned to face my worried best friends and then my dog.

"It's okay, they're friends of mine," I whispered to her ear. She seemed to calm down after that. I turned to the guys questioningly. "How'd you get in here?"

"Door was open," Kendall answered immediately. They sat around me, which I took little notice too as I began to stare off into space again. "So, why'd you call us?"

I sighed for what felt like the thousandth time today. They stared at me, awaiting my answer even though I'm sure they knew.

"Why… would you go become police officers when I told you not to get in my way?" I slowly asked, rubbing my head when I felt a headache starting to form. I took another sip of my drink, my friends staring at me intensely while doing so.

"Because we wanted to help," Kendall shrugged nonchalantly. He pushed the bottle of alcohol away from me, never breaking that intense threatening stare. Never once did I challenge it. "We saw that you seemed stressed about this so we just wanted to lend a helping hand."

"But you do realize that you won't be able to come with me everywhere, right?" They raised their eyebrows. I huffed in irritation. "I'm a part of the Garcia cartel family. If the leader, El Curso, thinks we know each other, he'll think something is up."

"We've already thought of that," Logan spoke up. "We figured that since we can't help you when any members of that family see us with you, we decided to help you from afar. We can help locate people, reassure arrest of the suspects while you go tell the leader that you did it. We can also file a report on what happened, leaving you out of your involvement."

"But what about when anyone sees us together," I frowned. "We're not exactly nobodies, if any in family recognized us, we'd be dead the moment we're alone."

"There's a plan for that too," James hinted but never explained. "The point is; we can do this with you so that you're not alone. You don't have to be so stressed all the time."

(Stressed? That's not even the start) I shook my head. "I don't understand why you guys want to get yourselves killed," I mumbled. "I don't know what I would do if that happened."

"It won't," Kendall asserted. He placed a firm hand on my shoulder. "You've got our backs and we have yours."

I looked at my drink, swirling the contents inside. I huffed in exhaustion before putting it down on the table.

"You'll have to follow my commands at all times," I instructed them seriously. I sharply looked at them and they seemed a little excited that I had sort of agreed to their help. "That means no secret plans. If you have an idea, run it by me first. Understand?"

"Yes, sir!" They exclaimed. I winced, remembering how I told them to call me that.

"And I'm sorry how I treated you guys before, I guess I got the stress to mess up my head," I apologized weakly. James scoffed.

"Dude, you don't need to apologize," he rolled his eyes. "We get it. Plus, the best thing about this whole thing, is that we get to be a team again."

I chuckled. "Yeah. I guess we do."

Logan cleared his throat, motioning his head toward the Doberman. "So, I see you made a new friend. What's its story?"

"Her name is Echo. I found her when I was tracking down that guy that did this to me," I explained, weakly motioning to my scar. "From what I could tell, she wasn't treated right with him. So I brought her home and I feel like she likes it here way better. Plus, she makes the perfect roommate."

"That's really nice of you, Carlos," Kendall smiled kindly. "So, what have you been doing this entire time?"

I let out a breath, only now noticing it has been a long time since I started this. So I told them from the beginning, starting with that one date night that birthed the idea of becoming an officer. They were so interested in what I was saying, I felt like I was storytelling to a bunch of little kids. It was nice, now that I could talk about this to someone. Thankfully, it was my friends. When I finally finished three hours later, they stared at me with wide eyes.

"Woah," they breathed.

"So, Maria," James suddenly said, wiggling his eyebrows. I cleared my throat uneasily. "Did you guys… you know?"

I gasped. "Dude! No!" I cried, seriously regretting myself telling them.

"So you didn't tell her who you really are?" Kendall frowned. "You didn't tell her that you're famous and that you didn't work for Gustavo as a security guard?"

"How could I? She lied to me about who she was-"

"But she did tell you the truth eventually," Logan cut in. James and Kendall nodded in agreement. I sighed.

"It's more personal than you think. I'm not going to tell her, at least not now," I explained.

"Are you ever going to tell her the truth?" James raised an eyebrow. I didn't answer his question. I have thought about all my options and consequences if I told her, all but one of them never going well. There was a reason why I haven't told her who I really was and, by the way, things are looking, I might never. But is that such a bad thing? Maria doesn't even know who Big Time Rush is and our relationship is doing better than I have ever expected. So far, the best thing to do is keep quiet. And what if she did find out? What would happen then? Are we over? Was there even something there to begin with?

"So, how was your first date like?" James' question sent me into a spaz. A… date?

"We… haven't actually gone on a date," I sheepishly admitted. They gaped at me.

"You have your lips all over her and you have never gone on a date with the woman?" Kendall exclaimed. I blushed a bit.

"Well, we've gone on assignments to deliver some packages together-"

"Dude, that's not a date," Logan deadpanned.

"We should set up a date for them!" James suddenly shouted. Before I could even say anything, Kendall and Logan had already agreed. They began planning while I looked on incredulously.

"Guys-"

"Sh! Can you not interrupt us? This isn't about you!" Logan interrupted one time before continuing to plan my date. I rolled my eyes amusingly. I took a glance at my clock – it was 11:30 p.m.

"Hey, it's getting late," I mentioned, standing up to put my drink away. The guys stopped their planning to look at the time, nodding when they noticed the late hour. "You guys can sleepover for tonight. By the morning, you can follow me when I go to El Curso."

"Really?" Logan's eyes shot up in surprise. They all seemed fairly shocked that I was granted permission to help.

"Yeah, definitely. It's better to start early," I told them as I went to a hallway and grabbed spare blankets and pillows. "There's a spare room where you guys can sleep in. The couch is also available but I don't recommend it."

"Thanks," they said as they grabbed the items from my hands before moving in the direction I led them. I watched them for a moment, seeing them get ready for bed. I smirked, knowing that sometimes they can snore loudly.

"What's so funny?" Kendall noticed with an amused expression. I snorted, shaking my head slightly.

"It's about time I had some noise in this quiet house. Was 'bout to drive me crazy," I chuckled. I didn't register the slight frown that appeared on their faces. I turned around and began closing the door. "Goodnight, guys."

"Night," they repeated. I closed the door and sighed quietly. I suddenly smiled. It was good to have them back, just like how it was before. Maybe before I know it, everything will go back to the way they were. I have hope (False hope).

TBC...