It was just after four thirty before Martin had a chance to make his way across to see Cheryl and Rae. Cheryl had told him about Steve, and he needed to know how he should proceed.
"Ladies, coffee, black, please." Martin looked into the van and wasn't surprised to see that neither of the two cops felt like making their usual sarcastic comments. "How is he?"
"Not good. But he'll be ok. Martin, be careful though. They really roughed him up." Rae looked at the young officer in front of her. He had been one of the first cops apart from Steve to accept her and offer his friendship. "They broke his hands."
"Oh, God." Martin looked at her, and she could see the concern mixed with horror in his eyes.
Cheryl saw it too, and hurried to reassure him. "You've accepted their offer, Martin, so it shouldn't be a problem. But stay on your toes, ok?"
"Yeah, don't worry, I will." Martin turned as he heard a sound behind him, and Rae moved back out of sight. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't want to be seen by the man now waiting to be served.
Martin picked up his drink and moved out of the way with a nod in the newcomer's direction. Cheryl looked at the new customer. He was about six two, six three; he had short black hair, and a very strange little beard. It seemed to follow the line of his jaw, and was very thin. He looked like he worked out a lot, and Cheryl got the impression that he didn't really belong here on the dock. She smiled at him and waited.
"Coffee, black, no sugar and two candy bars, the red ones, sweetheart." The man took a ten-dollar bill out of his pocket and laid it on the counter. Cheryl picked it up and put it in the cash box. She gave him his seven dollars change and then watched as he headed over towards Martin's warehouse.
Martin was sitting just inside the door at the front of his office. He had recognised the man waiting at the concession stand and had a feeling that he was coming to see him. He stirred his coffee continuously as he listened to the footsteps getting closer and closer.
"Mr. Anderson, and how are you this evening?" The man held out his hand and Martin shook it.
"You have the advantage over me, Sir, I don't know your name."
The man looked closely at him for a moment or two, as if considering his options. Then he smiled. "Larry. Larry Griffith."
"Martin. Now I guess we are even. What can I do for you, Larry?"
"There has been a slight change of plan. We don't need you this week. We had a . . . security problem, but hopefully we will get it sorted out real soon. So we will keep you informed."
Martin nodded. "Ok. What will I have to do, when you don't have a security problem?"
"We will let you know when the time is right. But I would suggest that you let your temp agency know just how much you love your job, and want to stay in it. It will be worth your while to do so." With that Larry held out his hand once more, and then with a wave wandered out of the warehouse and away into the darkness.
It was just after eight as Alex was walking down the hallway to pay an early morning visit with Steve that he saw a blonde haired woman walking just in front of him. She seemed to know exactly where she was going, and so he kept back. But his concern rose as he saw her turn to walk into Steve's room.
"Excuse me, Ma'am, but you can't go in there." Alex rushed forward and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" The woman turned to face him and smiled. "Oh, hi, Alex. How are you today?"
"I'm sorry…" Alex looked at her, her face seemed familiar. Suddenly the woman in front of him stuck her tongue out at him. "Rae? Wow, you look so different. Jesse told me you were working undercover, I guess this is for that, huh?"
"That's right. Now." Rae leant forward and picked up his tag. "Doctor Martin, may I go in and see my partner?"
"You may!" Alex felt himself blush, and he decided that he would wait until later to make his visit.
By the time Rae finished her conversation with Alex, Steve was sitting up in bed and Jesse was just finishing writing on his chart. The faces of both men lit up as she walked in the room, and she felt a blush as it rushed up her face.
"Hi, guys." She walked over to Jesse first, and kissed him tenderly on the lips. She wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do, or if he would respond, but she was delighted to feel him kiss her back. Then she turned to her partner, her smile being replaced by a worried frown as she did so.
"Steve, how are you this morning?"
"I feel as if you ran me down with your roach coach!"
"My what? A what coach?" She looked from Steve to Jesse and back again.
"That thing you drive, a roach coach." Steve moved in the bed and his face reflected his pain for an instant.
"What, Tom? Never mind, just keep still, and don't talk." She rested her hand on his arm for a minute, and her eyes took in all the bruises that were now livid on his skin. "Jess, is there anything I can do to help?"
"Well, you could give Steve his breakfast. I managed to persuade Mark to go and stretch his legs and get himself something to eat. I said I would help Steve, but I am sure he would prefer you to do it."
"Jesse." Rae went to speak to him, but he put his hand up to silence her.
"Rae, I didn't mean anything by it. If you feed him you can talk shop. We are both treading on eggshells right now. Rae, we need to talk, and I mean really talk, but you should both know that as far as I am concerned the incident is in the past." Jesse went to move away from them both, but Steve carefully raised his right hand off the bed. Jesse saw him and briefly placed his palm against his friend's. Then he turned and left the room.
Rae whispered to her partner. "I'll be right back." She followed Jesse until he was in the hallway, and then she placed her hand on his shoulder. He turned with a surprised look on his face. He hadn't realised that she was there.
"Rae?"
"Shhh. Thank you, Jess. We will talk, I promise you that, but I know Steve needed to hear you say that, so did I. I hope that you meant it."
"Honey, I love you, I did mean it, but now isn't the time to discuss it." Jesse went to move away again, but this time felt her hand soft on his face. He moved towards her and her lips were gentle against his. The kiss was brief, but so full of meaning that Jesse staggered back slightly as it ended.
"I'll see you later, what time do you finish?" Rae smiled as she spoke.
"At ten. I'll check to see if you are still here, ok?"
Rae just nodded and headed back into her partner.
It was just after eight-thirty before Martin left the docks. He made his way to his car feeling every muscle as he walked along. He had got into the habit of driving home and then standing in a hot shower until his body began to recover from a night in the type of cold air you only got by water. He got into the driver's seat and pulled out of the parking lot.
As he drove along he became aware of a dark sedan pulled in one car behind him. He watched as the cars around him changed but that one always stayed constant. He had a thirty-minute drive to his apartment, and the car stayed with him the whole time. He parked and walked up to his front door. He lived on the ground floor, and so he could easily see any other vehicles that entered the parking lot.
As he shut his door behind him he saw the sedan out of the corner of his eye. It had slowed to a standstill, but by the time he reached his front window it was gone. Martin picked up the phone, and put a call through to his Captain. He needed his apartment to be listed in the name of Anderson, because he had a feeling these men would check.
Rae walked back into Steve's room and smiled at him. "Did you order your breakfast yet?"
"Yeah, but I'm not really hungry." He looked at her and tried but failed to raise a smile.
"Steve, what is it? Do you want me to go get Jesse back?"
"No, I don't know what it is. I've been attacked before, and hurt worse than this, but I just feel, I don't know, not scared exactly, but real uneasy. I didn't hear them coming, one minute I was alone, the next." He shuddered, and Rae gently laid her hand over one of his.
"You're apprehensive, that's understandable, but no one is gonna hurt you in here. You're safe now; you just have to spend time getting better. So how about something to eat, you will probably feel better for it."
"Maybe, I only asked for toast, so I should be ok with that."
"You know, I have heard a rumour that somewhere in this large city, there is a guy who actually likes the food here." She smiled at him then, and turned as a nurse came in with his breakfast on a tray.
As Rae fed her partner she watched him closely. She had a feeling that part of the problem was that for the foreseeable future Steve was helpless. He couldn't do the most basic things for himself, and she knew that he would hate that.
By the time Mark came back into the room Rae had fed Steve two pieces of toast, and was holding up a cup of coffee for him. He was taking it in slowly, so as not to choke, but he stopped as he saw his dad in the doorway.
Mark looked at the scene in front of him. It looked like a typical hospital scene of an incapacitated patient being helped by his partner. But not the type of partner that Rae was. Their situation was so complicated it was difficult to know where to begin to try to describe it. He knew his son loved Rae, and he knew that the love was returned. He had seen the odd look or touch over the months, but had said nothing. Now they had to sort things out so that they didn't ruin what they both had with very special people. He wondered how he would have interpreted the scene if he and Rae hadn't had their little talk. He pulled himself together and moved into the room.
"Hey, Mark, how are you feeling this morning?"
"Not too bad, considering I spent the night in a chair. Thank you, Sweetie, I can take over now." He came up towards the bed and Rae moved back out of the way.
"I'll go then." Rae looked over at father and son and smiled. "I'll see you later, Steve." She leant over and kissed him on his forehead, which seemed to be the least bruised part of his face.
"Ok, Rae, thank you for helping." Mark didn't look over at her, and she left the room without another word. She knew that before she had told him what had happened, the fact that he hadn't turned to her wouldn't have bothered her, but now, she had some serious bridges to re-build in order that she could feel relaxed with her friends once again.
Jo's plane had arrived at LAX without a hitch, and she had put a call through to Rae as soon as she had got into her car. Michael had met her and taken her home to change and now she was on the way to the hospital. She stopped to buy some mints on the way through the lobby and after she had enquired where Steve was she made her way to his floor.
She could hear his voice long before she saw him, and she stopped for a minute and just listened to it. She had missed the sound of it so much, but she hadn't let herself call him because she knew she would have come running back before she was ready.
"Dad, when do you think they will let me out of here?"
"Steve, you have only been in here for twenty four hours. And I have to tell you; we are so short staffed at the moment, because the nurses are staging a sickout protesting the use-it-or-lose-it vacation time clause the Board of Directors is trying to stuff down the union's throats in the contract negotiations, that I won't be able to take any leave to care for you. I think you will have to stay here for about a month, maybe longer."
"A month! Couldn't you work it between you, Jesse, Rae and Amanda? I can't stay here for a month. I'll go nuts. Dad, please there must be something we can do."
"Well, honey, you could always let me have a go at helpin' you." Jo moved into the doorway but stopped in her tracks as she managed to stifle the gasp as she saw his bruised and battered face.
"Jo?" Steve tried to move his body towards her in the bed and she saw the pain as it lined his face.
"No, don't you move, I'll come over to you." She rushed across the room and placed a gentle soothing hand on his shoulder.
"Oh, God, Jo, I've missed you so much."
To Jo's amazement she saw his eyes fill with tears. As she put her hand onto his face she watched Mark leave the room. She placed her lips over his, and kissed him tenderly.
"Rae phoned me, an' I just hopped on my plane an' here I am. I don't intend on goin' anywhere until you are back on your feet an' ready to return to work."
She sat down on the chair next to the bed and ran her fingers up his forearm. Every part of his body that she could see had vivid bruises on it, the anger that she felt at his unknown assailants frightened her with its intensity. She pushed the feelings down and turned to him. "I got some mints, I thought you might like one, or do you just want to sleep?"
"No, I'll have one thanks. I just want to lie here and look at you. I can't believe you're here." Steve was as good as his word, and for over half an hour the room was silent and he just lay and watched her. As the time passed she could see that he was far more relaxed than when she had arrived. His breathing had eased and slowly his eyes began to close. As he fought the sleep a minute longer he looked at her intently.
"You will still be here when I wake up won't you?"
"Of course, I told you I'm not goin' anywhere, now rest, that's an order, Lieutenant!"
The next week passed without incident. Rae and Cheryl saw no new people on the dock except Steve's replacement. He was a dour man in his forties, who had a black coffee with four sugars on his way off on his round and a white coffee with two sugars on his way back. He never spoke except to place his order, and they knew absolutely nothing about him.
Martin had been keeping his eyes peeled for the dark sedan, but the problem was that LA was full of them. Nobody had made any further contact with him, and he was wondering if he could die of boredom before anything happened.
It was a week to the day after Steve had been attacked that Larry Griffith came back into Martin's warehouse. He was just getting ready to leave after another long boring shift when he was aware of somebody watching him from the shadows.
"Mr. Anderson. I need a word."
"Mr. Griffith, what can I do for you?"
"There will be a shipment coming in tomorrow night. You will go for a long walk about two in the morning and when you come back, which won't be before three, you will ask no questions. Is that understood?"
"Yes, perfectly." Martin looked at him expectantly.
"There will be a packet in your desk." With that Larry Griffith turned his back and walked away. Martin considered what he had just been told. If he wasn't to stay in the area while the shipment was being made, he would have to find a way to get a look at it later. Otherwise the whole thing would have been for nothing.
He waited five minutes and then made his way over to Rae and Cheryl. "It's on. Two o'clock tomorrow morning. I have to go for a walk for an hour."
Cheryl smiled at her partner. "Well then, I guess you and I will spend some time together. Stands to reason we have gotten acquainted over the past few weeks, you can take me for a little walk in the moonlight. Maybe we might have to get back a little early, who knows. She winked at him and then handed him a coffee. "On the house, Sweetie!"
By the time Rae and Cheryl arrived the next night it was just after one. They had driven around their usual route, but were anxious to get parked up ready for the night ahead. Cheryl had a wire, and they were both armed. But once they were in position there was nothing to do but wait.
A few regular customers came and went and still nothing was happening. At one-fifty the man they now knew as Larry Griffith came for a coffee. "You know I was just down at Pier 52 and they could sure do with some refreshments there."
Cheryl tried not to look over at Rae, who had once again moved out of sight. "Thank you, maybe I'll head on down there in a little while." Cheryl turned away from the man to let him know that the conversation was over.
Just after two o'clock Martin came over to the van and Cheryl climbed out. She took his hand in her own, and making sure that she was in sight of Griffith she kissed him on the lips.
Slowly they walked away from the area and Rae was left alone. She closed the van, sat down on the floor and picked up her cell phone. She knew that Detective Chapman was in the area somewhere, and she wanted him to keep his eyes peeled.
It had already been arranged that there would be no arrests tonight. They needed to see what was happening, and find out how often each warehouse was used. This would be a trial run for whatever would happen in the future.
The dock was completely silent for just over twenty minutes. Rae had a serious case of the whim whams by the time she heard some noises. She still didn't know why she was keeping out of sight of everybody, but it just seemed the right thing to do.
It was just after three that Martin and Cheryl arrived back at the warehouse. They walked hand in hand towards the entranceway. Martin could see that there was still someone in there, so he stopped just by his office and placed his hand on the back of Cheryl's head. He gently pulled her towards him, and they put on a good show of being very much in love.
"Hey, Anderson, what the hell are you doing?" An urgent cry split the air and they turned towards the noise.
"Finishing my walk, why?" Martin faced Larry Griffith and kept a hold of Cheryl's hand. "You know Cheryl from the van."
She smiled sweetly at him, and held out her hand. "Hi, thank you so much for covering for Marty so that we could have a moonlight stroll. It was lovely."
"Yeah, whatever." Larry turned to Martin. "Well, 'Marty' I will let you get back to work. Don't forget the stuff that is in your drawer now, y'hear?"
They both watched as Griffith moved away across the dock.
"What stuff?" Cheryl looked puzzled.
"I have no idea, but I think it is payment for leaving."
Cheryl looked at Martin. "Hi, this is my girlfriend, Cheryl, or how about, I think you know Cheryl, but no, what do I get? You know Cheryl from the van! Thanks a lot!"
Martin smiled at her, opened the desk and looked inside. There was a long brown envelope, which he eased out by the edge and dropped into his jacket pocket. They walked together to the entrance of the warehouse and Martin looked over at her and in a whisper he spoke. "How am I going to get this to the station?"
Cheryl thought for a moment. "You could call in a break-in at your place, or your car. I could file a complaint for battery. You could go in to pay a parking ticket, or make a donation to the PBA, maybe you could have a noisy neighbour…"
"Ok, ok, I get the picture, there are lots of ways to do it. I guess I had better check what is in it, just in case they are watching." He turned away for a moment and Cheryl could see that he had pulled on a glove. Slowly he opened the envelope and let out a long whistle.
Cheryl looked into the envelope it was full of twenty dollar bills. Following Martin's lead she looked very excited and kissed him on the cheek.
Ten minutes later Cheryl headed back towards the van, and tried to get in. She was surprised to find it locked.
Rae heard the noise of the door being tried and slowly eased herself up off the floor. Her fear was mixed with embarrassment when she saw a face she recognised through the glass. She couldn't believe she had fallen asleep. She moved over and unlocked it and Cheryl climbed in.
"Ok, let's get ready to go home, the drop was made and Martin is having a look around at the moment. When he has finished he is going to come over to talk to us."
They sat in the van and waited and watched as the sun came up. They needed to find out how long it would be before Martin was approached again.
It was almost five before Martin came out. He had been searching around in the warehouse for over two hours. Every few minutes he moved over to the doors to make sure nobody was watching him. He had searched around to see if the warehouse had been bugged or cameras installed. He hadn't seen anything and so he had carried on with his searching.
Cheryl opened the door and let him in. "So what happened, did you find anything?"
Martin just nodded. "The shipment was spread out around the place. I found cigarettes, some boxes that looked like they might contain drugs, and I did see them mixed in with boxes of green bananas. We don't normally get fruit."
"Did you get any pictures?" Rae looked over at the young detective. She could see that he was getting a kick out of this assignment at the moment.
"Yeah, I'll get them developed and sent into the Captain along with the money. There was one thousand dollars in the envelope." Martin smiled.
The prison cell was small and spotless. For most of the day he had nothing else to do but keep it tidy and make mental plans for his eventual release. But for now Phil Levington sat on his bunk and read the letter he had received that morning.
He had smiled when he had seen that it began My son, that meant that somewhere in the body of the letter there was information about Rae. His mother had been an ardent supporter of his love affair with his beautiful detective. She had made sure that flowers had been sent to the hospital and cards too when she had been so badly injured. He hadn't expected to receive replies to his cards or gifts; he knew that she would want to keep them a secret from her doctor friend.
After he had finished picking out the words he needed to read the hidden message, he let his mind run back over the events that had helped him form his strategy and tactics for the realisation of his plans for the future. It had started almost a month ago when his door had been opened unexpectedly. The guard who was standing there had a completely expressionless face. "Levington, you will come with me to the Warden's office."
"Yes, Sir." Phil had known that there was no point in asking why, he would get no answer. So he'd folded up his letter and slid it into his pants pocket. He smiled that day had been a day with mail too. Then with a sigh he'd followed the man out into the hallway. As he walked he went over what his mother had said. Rae had been out of town on a course, he knew that, because he had seen the article in the paper. But she should have been back now, and yet nothing had appeared since.
His thoughts had taken him all the way to the Warden's office, and he had waited to be ushered in.
"Ah, Levington." Warden Brown had smiled at him as he entered the room. "You may sit."
"Thank you, Sir." He had cultivated the personality of a quiet, remorseful, model prisoner. It irked him, but he knew it was counter productive to be otherwise.
"It has been brought to my notice that you seem to be quite contrite about the actions that resulted in your being here." The Warden looked over the desk at the man sitting in front of him. He thought he was a good judge of character, and he had a feeling that what he was about to suggest could be the turning point for this prisoner.
"We are starting a victim awareness program here next week. It has been found to be extremely useful, and we feel that you could benefit from it."
Levington had run a hand over his face as he'd tried to contain the smile that was threatening to take over and taken a breath. "Thank you, Sir, I am sure that I will find it helpful."
"There are only limited places on this course to start with, so don't squander this chance. That is all."
"No, Sir, I won't." Phil got to his feet and turned. He'd followed the guard back to his cell, and once he was inside had let the grin escape and he'd begun to plan and plot in his mind.