Chapter Two

Jack and Marcus walked into the briefing room together, taking seats near the front. Special Agent in Charge Allison Peña stood at the podium, awaiting their appearance.

"Nice of you two to show up," Peña said. "The other agents have been here for fifteen minutes."

"Yeah, sorry Allison," Jack said. "I just couldn't get enough of you in the dream I had …" The other agents in the room chuckled. Although Peña was a beautiful woman, with long black hair, dazzling brown eyes, and legs that looked as though sculpted by a Renaissance artist, she had a reputation as a cold, hard ballbreaker.

"That's enough, Forzenski. I'm sure you realize that I'll want to speak with you after the briefing?"

"I was counting on it." Peña scowled as Marcus and Jack settled in. "All right, here's the breakdown of the raid tonight. Villegos reportedly has, at most, three other men on the boat, a measure to reduce weight and move more product. We'll lead two teams of five on the raid, to better our chances of success. Garcia, you'll lead Alpha, commanding Frakes, June, Nanez, and Johnson. Hill, you'll lead Charlie, commanding Forzenski, Kilmeade, Drago, and Gillespie.

"Group Charlie will lead the land-based assault, coming in on Dock C, where Villegos' man in San Francisco, Tyson Chillemi, has rented slip J-141 at the Pillar Point Harbor. Drago will be the sniper, mounting on this small rise southeast of the docks. Group Alpha will lead the water-based assault with two Zodiacs, fanning out to the side and just behind Villegos' boat, hopefully barring him from doing anything totally stupid. Hill, I want group Charlie to apprehend the men on this boat, so do everything in your power to take them all alive. If that's not to be the case, please take enough precaution not to strike Villegos. We need to know who his supplier is, so that we can start going to the top.

"Gentlemen, this is of the utmost importance. Do not, I repeat, do not fuck this up, or you'll have me to deal with in the morning."

"Excuse me, Allison?" Jack said, raising his hand.

"What is it?"

"Do you know, by chance, if Villegos has a condo?" The agents in the room did their best to hide their snickers, but they could barely control themselves.

"That is all, agents. Forzenski, Hill, my office. Now."

"Aw, Allison, do I gotta?" Marcus protested. "I'm not responsible for the shit that comes outta his mouth."

"NOW!" Peña stormed away from the podium and toward her office. Marcus stood and kicked Jack in the leg.

"Now see the shit you got me into?"

"Hey, you were the one that said there'd be a condo."

-----

"Forzenski, you ever pull that shit in front of the other agents again, I'll be sure to have you stationed in Butt Rape, Lousiana, got it?"

"Gotcha, Allison."

"Since I've paired you two on this, I expect there will be no reason to worry about the arrests, right?"

"'Course not, Peña," Marcus said. "But we need to have Garcia's team rockin' it on the water. You sure he's ready to lead?"

"Garcia's had two assaults run perfectly under his command, so I'm sure there won't be a problem. You two, on the other hand, have a history of playing it by ear after screwing up reasonably east assignments. That's why you're going to run the land-based. There's less of a chance of it happening again. But mind you, if something should go wrong, you will both officially be on my shit-list."

"Allison," Jack interrupted, "if you're so sure we'll fuck up, why give us the lead on this one?" Jack's temper was rising, and Marcus was waiting for the mercury to burst.

"Because the office is too thin to do much about it at the moment. Hell, half the guys in this jurisdiction are still trying to clean up the mess Charlie Toruko made in San Francisco."

Charlie Toruko, a high level thug running out of Tokyo, had a tanker full of drugs, bootlegged sake, and illegal immigrants sidle into San Francisco Bay, only to be surprised by a dozen DEA and Coast Guard watercraft. The local DEA office was still busy logging all of the contents of the tanker a full three days later.

"Fine," Jack said. "I just hope you didn't throw us together as a 'shit-list squad.'"

"You have my personal assurance that your scenario is not the case. However, don't make it so. Dismissed."

Jack rose from his chair first, and hustled out of the office as fast as he could. Marcus strode up behind him in the hallway.

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to play by the rules once in a while," Marcus said.

"That chick really chaps my ass," Jack said, articulating carefully through a taught jaw. "Ever since we were assigned out here, she's been all over us like napalm on rocks."

"Just chill out, bro. We got a long night ahead of us."