Out of Time
Disclaimer: I own nothing
A/N:
Chapter 6 (Pillars of Community)
After going through all the paperwork, documentation, family contacts and proverbial red tape, Beck and Jade were officially newest interns working for Detective Gary Malone. Granted, they were primarily on file duty, but they would be allowed to assist with some investigations in the sense of observation and just learning how to deal with law enforcement work.
It took a week to prepare for just the first day of work, now it would be a learning process from here on out. On this first day, Jade was answering a quick phone call while Beck was busy putting together a desk.
Each of them were getting a small computer desk, which hopefully wouldn't fill the office too much. They were going to be on the same wall as Sam, with her being adjacent to the back wall, Jade would be adjacent to the front wall and Beck would be in between.
"I know we haven't gotten to talk to you much this last week," Jade spoke into her phone. Tori was on the line, concerned that she hadn't heard from them or spent any time with them this week. "Everything is okay, we've both got a new job, but I don't think we can talk about it too much."
Sam raised her head from the paperwork on her desk and she sucked in the air. "They can know you're file clerks at a law office." Jade's eyebrows bounced upwards and her lips curved to a smile. "I would just be careful not to mention what Detective you're working for."
Jade mouthed an 'okay' and cleared her throat. "Yeah Tori, file clerks for a city law office. It seems like it'll be good. Beck has a lot of interest in law enforcement and criminal justice, so it'll definitely help his future career pursuits."
"That's cool," replied Tori, "It's neat you guys are already thinking about what you want to do." They all had their goals, and to Jade's understanding, she thought Tori had wanted to be a singer. "I've been thinking lately, I'm not entirely sure just what route I want to take. I know performance arts definitely, but I like all of them. Acting, Theater, Singing, Art…"
"Not everybody finishes high school knowing exactly what they want out of life." She moved her hand to her chest and sighed. "I'm still not sure what I want to do. Give it time to figure out, I'm sure you'll come up with something you love."
"Yeah, but with high school ending, I feel like I'm running out of time." Tori chuckled sadly, causing Jade to shake her head. She'd had plenty of talk from her dad and from the school's guidance counselor telling her high school wasn't the end of the line and that she had to have a career mapped out.
"Look Tori, you've got plenty of time. High school is just the beginning, this is where you choose a college or take a break from school. College is where you figure out what you want, and some people don't even know what they want to be after that." She took a moment to pause, considering before speaking. "You remember the iCarly group?"
Sam's eyes drifted back to her and Jade could almost feel the girl's warning glare burning through her. "Yeah, I remember when we met all of them. I still wish Sam would spend some more time with us, but Cat says she won't."
"Sam's pretty busy, yeah. But look at Carly and her brother, for instance. Her brother's like a freelance artist or something, right? Carly's probably still a social media personality or something. They didn't figure that out right away."
"To be fair, Jade, Carly was doing her webshow since she was a preteen. What about Freddie, I wonder what he's doing."
"Not sure about him."
"Tech support," Sam muttered, "Attempting to deal with opening his own business." The blonde stood from the desk and looked from Jade to Beck. "Okay guys, Gary's almost here so we're going to need to get started."
Beck had finished assembling one desk and both chairs, so Jade grabbed one of the chairs and let him have the completed desk. "My boss is almost at the office," Jade told Tori, "I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Okay Jade, I'm glad everything's going okay. Maybe we can meet up when you have some time." Jade winced as Tori hung up. Sure, she'd love to hang out but she was wary after everything that was going on. Yet, all they knew still was the speculation that something sinister was going on, today was going to be the day Gary and Sam would explain some things about the situation.
Unlike Sam, who was wearing a dark blue blazer and pinstripe slacks, with a red button up shirt underneath; Jade and Beck were wearing the most professional looking dark blue polo shirts with brown khaki pants.
Sam put her hands to her hips and closed her eyes as Beck and Jade moved in front of her. The woman's shoulders rose slightly, her chest expanding and falling. "Okay," Sam began, "So you guys will primarily be reporting to me. I'd like to say, everything we've gone over on confidentiality…There may be rare times where it becomes necessary to break it, such as an emergency situation; but you should always go to your supervisor first. They need to make that call."
"You told us about the case without going to Gary," Beck remarked, stating the obvious. "I hope you didn't get into too much trouble." Sam chuckled once and swept her hands outwards.
"The gambit worked out. But yes, I should have talked to him before doing that. I felt, while in that house and listening to the two of you, that you could be in grave danger. You were beginning to pick up on some signs that would've made you ask questions, questions that could potentially put your lives at risk. I now feel more comfortable with the two of you working here, under my watch."
The door opened and Gary walked in, his brown coat was draped over his left arm. He had a blue button up shirt tucked into brown slacks, and a solid brown necktie. "Good morning," Gary said while raising the coffee cup in his right hand. "Beck, Jade, I trust you two are ready to begin."
"Yes sir," Beck replied. He moved hastily to one of the chairs in front of Gary's desk, Jade followed after, not wanting to make any mistakes. "My dad is doing better, and Mr. West is apparently happy Jade's got a job." Jade laughed, recalling how her father practically cheered when she said she'd gotten a job.
"Dad doesn't celebrate much," she said, "He actually took me out to dinner yesterday."
"That's good news." Sam moved to the side of Gary's desk, bringing her chair over with her. "How did your testing go? I know you said something about your parents talking to Principal Eikner about finishing out your schooling…"
Jade nodded, her heart skipping a beat. It was an opportunity that arose last semester as an option, but neither of the couple had thought much of it. They'd done enough coursework and were doing well enough that they had the option to test out of the last semester. With this new job coming up, they decided to take that option.
"We took that test on Tuesday and we passed!" To her credit, she had been extremely nervous about it. Now they could focus on this new job, get ready for summer and figure out colleges later. "Next week's going to be our last week at that school."
"I'm glad to hear everything went well." Sam flashed a smile, which was probably the best that the pair were going to get. "Probably a good thing too, because we're going to start with that school." She raised an eyebrow as Sam looked to her mentor. "Right, Gary?"
"Sort of," Gary remarked. He took a sip of his coffee and let out a sigh. "It's all kind of complicated, but we're going to tell you more about this case. You've done a little research on Sasha Grayson; but it goes beyond her. Far beyond…Now that you're here, you know my expectations."
Beck nodded and Jade folded her hands in her lap. They understood all the rules and regulations, they knew Gary's expectations of privacy. They knew that they were not to do what Sam had done, even though in such a case, they truly wanted to.
"There is an organization that has been operating underground in California for what we believe are three decades." Suddenly the air in the room swept away from them and Jade visibly paled. "I stumbled upon this organization while working in the police force and began investigating them; it was then I made the decision to leave the LAPD and form my own independent office."
Beck leaned forward, his forehead creasing. "How did you discover them?" Gary took another sip, his gaze peering out at them from the lip of his coffee mug.
"I was tracking the activities of a known drug dealer at the time, which led me to Hollywood Arts. I overheard a conversation between him and one of his organization contacts regarding potential victims. At that point, I started looking into things and found a reference to the dark hand mafia stashed away in his desk."
"Dark hand mafia?"
Gary leaned back slowly and nodded. "They're a California based gang that had popped up in police files for the last thirty years; but for some reason they've always been filed away and forgotten. Or ignored."
The man placed a folder on his desk, leaving it closed. "The first time they were around, they were a small bit gang, dealing with the scraps left over by more powerful groups at the time. Members would frequent jail for drug busts, robbery, and your typical gangland crime."
Jade furrowed her brow, wondering how this small group evolved. "They're big now?" Gary nodded.
"Massive. Somewhere in the late 1980s, they must have gotten a leader to prevent them from fading into obscurity and propelled them to greater heights." He opened the folder and the first thing they saw was a file on Hollywood Arts. Their hearts sank and they shared a look of discomfort. "We believe Hollywood Arts to be a perfectly legitimate school, but that the organization is using it as a front. That is why it is under investigation."
"And the Vegas?" Jade tore her eyes away from the picture, semi-grateful they were getting away from the school. Granted, Gary did say it was a legitimate business, but if this gang had their hands in it, she was truly frightened. Still, she wanted to move on to why they were investigating other matters. "Why are they on your radar?"
"Partially because of me," Sam replied, "When I met all of you, I thought how much Tori looked like Sasha. It was uncanny, so when I started working here, I brought that up with Gary. He was already suspecting they were somehow involved."
"Holly worked at the hospital where Sasha and her baby disappeared from." Gary rolled his head to the right. "David pretty close to being in charge of the LAPD, since the Chief is in retirement years and has fallen into poor health." Jade cupped a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening at the concept being laid out before her.
"So," she said with a hurried tone, "Mr. Vega could potentially sweep away the notion of that group, and if Holly worked at the hospital-"
"Then it's possible she could be behind Sasha's disappearance and we speculate it's possible she raised Sasha's child as her own. We do not have proof of this as of yet."
"And the organization? How are they tied into it?"
Gary pulled a picture from the folder and held it up. The picture was of a young man, light colored skin. He had short red hair, a stubbly goatee and was wearing sunglasses. Neither of the couple recognized the man, but he was in older attire and the photograph looked like a 70s style picture.
"This man is deceased. He was an early founding member of this gang, close friends to the original leader. He had two children, his youngest daughter was Holly Vega."
With that, an icy chill came over them, and the picture that just seconds ago meant nothing was suddenly heavy to their eyes. "It's circumstantial," Beck muttered, "That's why you can't act. There's nothing to say that Mrs. Vega is leading this group, nothing to say that she's involved and-"
"Nothing to prove she's responsible for any missing people including Sasha Grayson or her baby. Even if we could take a DNA test of Tori, and even if that test came back positive, there's nothing concise enough to say Holly is responsible for child abduction. If we could find Sasha Grayson, that would be the smoking gun; but it's been eighteen years. At this point there is so much ice on her case that it could sink the Titanic all over again."
Sam shook her head. "That's his attempt at a joke." She crossed her arms and looked towards the folder. "What we believe this organization is involved in are two things…" She raised her index finger. "A sex slavery ring, forced prostitution." She raised her second finger. "And the selling of babies on the black market or through an illegal type of adoption. Our investigations have turned up transactions alerting to such, auctions and the like; but again, we need trace evidence to link any of the organizations leaders to the crimes. Until then, we've no way to take them down."
Jade was astounded, terrified that a group so evil and shady could exist. When she looked at Beck, she saw the horror in his eyes. Their entire world had just come crashing down, especially after hearing about Mr. Sikowitz.
Now they wanted to know just how and why they thought their friends were involved. Beck was still silent, pale, so Jade mustered up the courage to ask what was on her mind.
"What about the others? Andre, Robbie, Cat…they're on your radar too." She watched Beck grimly nod, his muscles tensed and the creases on his forehead grew. Sam frowned at her, her gaze dropping with her shoulders.
"When I first came down here and decided to room with Cat. I was in my bedroom working on some homework while they were all in the living room." Jade watched Sam's eyes close and the woman's tone had grown deathly quiet. "I was going to the restroom when I heard Cat mention the organization by name." Jade cringed, holding back a painful cry. "Andre was quick to tell her to be quiet, so…"
"I see, I wonder what they were talking about."
"Probably their parents. Mr. Harris is a state senator, Mr. Shapiro is our District Attorney, and Mrs. Valentine runs the education department."
Beck cursed loudly, his hands clenching into tight fists. "I get it," he said with a growl, "If they're involved, then they're pillars. Not to mention Mr. Vega being a Deputy Chief and Mrs. Vega being a director of hospitals." He threw his hand up, giving a scoffing laugh. "That gang has connections and power to rival any other! How do we take them down?"
"It's not an easy task at all." Gary leaned forward and laced his hands together. "But, I can almost guarantee if all those people have been involved, they didn't just start. Likely they've been longtime members and helped to shape the organization, making them what they are today. If we dig deep enough, push hard enough, we can find a trail somewhere that can break down all those pillars."
"Yeah?"
"And what happens when you smash all the pillars of a building? The building comes crashing down. We know our task, now we just have to connect the dots and start saving some lives."
A monumental task is before them. All the potential leaders of this shady group are such powerful members of society. If these pillars of community are indeed tied to this group, it looks like the investigation has their work cut out for them.
