Rita met Chris outside the office doors next morning as he was walking in. He could tell something was up and that she wanted to catch him before he got to his desk.
"Hey, Sam. I got here a little early this morning, and guess what I saw."
Chris merely shrugged his shoulders.
"Captain has someone in his office, and you'll never guess who it is."
"Rita, it's a little early on a Monday to have me guessing this much, but alright...uh...your boyfriend Dominic DiBarto."
Rita snorted and rolled her eyes, "Get serious, Chris! Nope, I knew you'd never get it..."
And that was as far as she got, because Harry poked his head through the doors and said, "Good grief! I've been waiting all morning for the two of you. I have no idea why you're out here roaming the halls when I need you both in my office. Let's go!"
Chris gave a puzzled look to Rita, and she returned a smile as they followed Harry through the doors and towards his office. When they reached the threshold, the visitor stood and turned to greet them, and a huge smile broke on Chris' face.
"Lieutenant Hudson! What a surprise!" Chris threw his arms around his former commander and clapped his back a couple of times.
"It's 'Captain Hudson' now, Lorenzo, and it's great to see you again! Rita? You look as lovely as ever. I heard about what happened to you last month. I'm so sorry, but am glad you're doing well," he said, turning to Chris' partner and duplicating his hug before they all sat down.
Rita had noticed her old boss in Harry's office when she first walked in, and wondered if Harry was leaving. The time Hudson spent in Palm Beach had been good and she was thrilled he was visiting, but she had really come to love Harry and his wife. Captain Lipschitz was tougher than his predecessor, but possessed an enormous reserve of quirks and oddities that - while sometimes incredibly bizarre - made him so endearing and accessible as a boss. So while she was ecstatic to see Captain Hudson again, she was a bit nervous as well.
After a few minutes of pleasantries and catching up, Rita decided that if her Captain was moving on, she might as well rip the Band-Aid off and deal with it. She smiled, masking her concern, and asked, "So, what brings you back to Palm Beach? Is there another transfer in the works?"
Harry answered, "Actually, yes. A transfer of sorts. Or rather, the opportunity for a temporary transfer." He pointed his fingers at the two of them. "Your transfers." He paused for effect, watched his two detectives look at each other with raised eyebrows, and then turned to Captain Hudson. "I think I got their attention - not too bad for a Monday morning. You have the floor."
"Thanks. I started discussing this with your Captain several weeks ago and got his blessing, which is why I'm here. Ok, let me preface all of this by saying two things."
"First, as Harry mentioned, this is an opportunity for you, but you have the right of refusal. Once I explain everything, you will understand why I'm asking you, but if you say no, that's totally cool. No bad feelings, no black mark in your files, nothing. We simply move to our second option. Second, I want you as a team, so I get you together or not at all. If one of you opts out, you both opt out. Again, if the answer is no, nothing on your record, zilch. But you need to make the decision as a couple."
Chris leaned forward, "Wait, a 'couple'? What is this about?"
Their former boss replied with a bright smile, "Now I'm the one that has your attention. I said that right - a 'couple'. Here's the deal. Authorities in California have been working with the FBI for nearly six months on what appears to be a black-market baby-smuggling operation. Infants are being stolen from hospital wards in distressed and Third-World countries, brought to the States as contraband, and sold as part of an underground adoption system."
Chris listened, saddened for the families suffering the losses, but not really sure what he and Rita would, or could, do. Hudson pushed on.
"The families that adopt the children believe they are working with a legit boutique adoption agency, and the fees and paperwork all look official, but the agency is a sham. It's totally illegal."
"So where do we come in? We're in Palm Beach," Rita asked. She had begun to take an interest in helping exploited children, particularly young girls, so this seemed right in her wheelhouse. But it was somewhat strange given the distance between Florida and California.
Their former boss didn't hesitate. "You won't be needed in California. Authorities there are working to figure out if the children are coming into the country there. It makes the most sense given the nationalities of the children - mostly Asian. But they're having trouble nailing anything definite down. So while they're working that angle, I've been tasked to find a team to work on the adoption side - that's where you would come in."
Chris put a finger up and asked with a puzzled look, "So again, how did you, clear over here on the East Coast, get involved in a West Coast operation? And if you're not sure where the children are coming into the country, how did you discover the scam in the first place?"
Rita immediately followed up, "And you mentioned the FBI. Why don't they have their own people tasked to this? Why are you here and not them? Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to see you! It's just a bit unusual."
Captain Hudson smiled and said, "Very good, you both are thinking this through. You have that inquisitor's knack that I loved - still love. All of your questions are related, so let me step through this. First, the discovery of the crime. Six families have come forward. They adopted children, but when they applied with their local jurisdictions for Social Security numbers and other papers, the agency documents came back as fraudulent. Since three of the families happen to be in the same city - Colorado Springs - it got noticed. Some inquiries were made and the documents traced back to the same adoption agency, now long gone."
"That raised some eyebrows in Colorado, which led to more investigation. They discovered three other families - in Texas, New Hampshire, and Minnesota - with the same paperwork difficulties. One of those families adopted from the same agency as the first three, and the other two from a different agency. We believe it's the same group bouncing around under different guises. That got the Feds interested."
"As you might imagine, this is terribly traumatic for the families involved. Some have waited years to adopt, some have gone through the pain of miscarriage and loss - and now this. The children are still with the adopted families, but every possibility exists that the authorities will be required to remove the children and return them to their rightful parents if our suspicions prove out."
He paused for a moment. "As to my involvement, it doesn't start in California. It's in Jackson Hole, Wyoming."
"The land of the super-rich," Chris said with a chuckle.
"There's plenty of every class out there, but yeah, there's a lot of money, too. Ok, the most recent adoptions have been finalized in the Jackson Hole area. The top dog on the police force out there is an old cadet buddy of mine and he contacted me. He has been working to crack this thing from the front side - the adoption-agency side - without success. He got close..." Hudson let the statement hang, desirous of a question, which Chris provided.
"What went wrong?"
"Captain Winston had two of his officers go undercover, posing as husband and wife, to work the adoption process and hopefully take them down, but he believes the team was discovered by those running the scam. Unfortunately, they were gunned down three weeks ago as they drove to pick up the child, two very good officers killed."
He opened his briefcase and pulled out a manila envelope, which he opened and handed to Rita. "Be careful, these aren't for a queasy stomach."
Rita removed the eight-by-tens, showing the grisly remains of Geoff and Shawna Jensen. "God have mercy..." she whispered sadly before closing her eyes and handing them to her partner, who looked them over.
"Wow," Chris said, "somebody blew them apart. Oh my..."
"Captain Winston is taking this very personally. The woman you see in the passenger's seat is Sherri Winston, his daughter-in-law. Married to his son for four years, on the force for five, and mother to his little one-year-old granddaughter. And Sherri was five weeks pregnant."
Rita closed her eyes again and shook her head.
"The man is John Sebring, another talented officer in Jackson Hole, married six months. Their loss has cut the police force in Jackson by twenty-five percent. It also highlights the mistake Winston now believes he made. He picked his undercover team from a group that was too small and too well known in the area - too easily identified and marked. He really wants to take them down. They've added double murder - actually, triple murder - to all the crimes with the human trafficking."
Rita piped up, "So Captain Winston called his friend Captain Hudson and asked for help - an outside undercover team. And you flew to Palm Beach to request that Chris and I get married and go to Wyoming as a couple wanting to adopt."
Chris blinked a couple of times and looked at Rita.
Hudson smiled. "Close, except for the 'getting married' part. You can just pretend that piece of it. After Winston spoke to me, he called the FBI and they brought me in as a liaison to the case. I've been working with Captain Winston and, more recently, with your Captain to create the dossiers for each of you and get all of the necessary paperwork and background details done and in place."
"Thanks to our people and the information we got from the other victims in this, you've already been in contact with the agency and you plan to arrive in Jackson Hole either Thursday or Friday. The backgrounds we built have been vetted and approved by the agency," he paused to chuckle, "they've been checking you out and you didn't even know it. You have initial meetings with the adoption agency next week and hopefully, the adoption process takes place shortly after that, maybe before the end of the week."
Rita looked at Chris, knowing this was the time for him to talk about his vacation plans. He said nothing about them, but asked, "And if the answer from us is 'no'?"
Harry responded, "Our people will call the agency, you will 'back out' of the adoption, and Captain Hudson gets on a plane tonight and returns home. He knows two officers with some undercover experience in Raleigh, North Carolina. He will start the process with them, and they won't have an option to say no. It will take a few weeks to set things up, but if it's not you, it's them."
"Harry is exactly right. Again, I came to you as my first choice, because I know your undercover work as a married couple first-hand, but you are not required to say yes. We should not underestimate these people. They are serious about protecting their crimes, and those photos show what they will do to stay out of prison. And they will be more wary now. We want as many of this group as we can nab...all the way to the thieves stealing the babies. We really want to ride down this rabbit hole as far as possible."
Rita looked at Chris, then asked, "Can Chris and I look over the information, talk it through, and then give you an answer?"
Hudson nodded, "Absolutely. It's a lot to process. I'm not your boss, but if I were, I'd tell you to take the rest of the day off, study the dossiers, talk it over, and give me your answer first thing in the morning. My flight out isn't until noon tomorrow.
Harry chimed in with a smile, "I am your boss, and I'm telling you to take the rest of the day off, study the dossiers, talk it over, and give us an answer tomorrow morning. Any more questions?" he paused for a moment before pointing at the folders and smiling, "Good! You have your homework, enjoy your 'day off', and we'll see you tomorrow. Now get lost!" he concluded with a chuckle.
When they got up and left, Hudson stood up and looked around. "Well, I don't necessarily care for all the Yankees memorabilia, but other than that, I love what you've done with the place."
Harry laughed, "Yeah, well, we can't all be Braves fans. They have a good team. I wouldn't be surprised if my Yankees are forced to beat them in a Series in the not-too-distant future."
Hudson laughed in turn. "We'll just have to see. Do you think Chris and Rita will accept this case? More importantly, do you think Rita is ready? From what you've told me, she's been through an awful lot the last few months."
"Without a doubt they will," Harry said without hesitating, "It isn't a traditional 'silk stalking', but that won't stop them. As for Rita, she will be fine. She had a rough go here recently, but Chris believes she has recovered and I do, too. She was very angry with me about the suspension, but I did that more to protect her - she was throwing herself into the path of a couple of dirty cops with violent tendencies - than because of performance. I did not put it on her permanent record. I think she understands that now and we're good."
Harry thought for a moment before continuing. "To be honest, I'm actually more worried about Chris. Something changed in him after Rita's assault. I can't quite put my finger on it, but he's not the same. He's who I'm watching now. Say, you hungry? We should go get a late breakfast. I can call Frannie and see if she wants to join us. I know she would love to catch up with you."
"This is delicious, if you don't mind me bragging just a bit. So why didn't you tell the Captain about your upcoming vacation?" Rita figured Chris would be quick to bring that up in the discussions and was a bit surprised he kept quiet. They had chosen the Gun Club Cafe for their breakfast, but the place was packed, so after a bit of discussion, they decided to head back to her place, where Rita would cook something up. She put together a batch of French toast that he thought was fantastic.
Chris looked up from his plate and responded with a question of his own. "Do you want to tackle this assignment or not?"
"Absolutely! As a woman who wants to be a mom someday, I cannot imagine my newly-born child being stolen from me and essentially sold on the black market. I would...I...don't even know what I would do. It's horrible!"
"Ok, now you know why I didn't mention the vacation. I can take that anytime."
"But Chris, you rea..."
"Let it go, Sam," Chris looked her in the eye. "I want to do this undercover as well. Those pictures really made me mad. I feel like this is payback for those officers as much as it is about the babies."
Rita thought for a moment before asking the one question still hanging over both of them. "So," she let the word draw out, "What about us being married? You going to be ok with that?"
"Oh yeah. We did a pretty good job the last time we did the married thing. We made the bust, we kept out of trouble," then he paused and squinted at her, "and except for you lying about that kiss meaning nothing, everything was perfect! I'm totally cool with it."
"I wasn't lying," Rita retorted with a smile, knowing she was lying to him for the second time. Though she did her best to put a clamp on her feelings, there was no denying that the attraction for her partner had grown as time had passed. They hadn't come anywhere close to any danger zones, but she could feel the tug. That kiss, now so long ago, had marked her.
After the attack in her apartment, Chris kissed her again in the hospital. It was light and very brief, and Rita had done her best to brush it off, but that kiss burned through the terrible pain of her injuries and the numbing power of the anesthetic. Chris Lorenzo had tattooed her soul again, and much as she tried to stay aloof, her resolve regarding him was beginning to waver.
Chris laughed, "I think you're lying about not lying. Anyways, are you going to be all right with being married? We'll probably have to hug and kiss and be kind of romantic and all." He gave her a questioning look.
"Absolutely, no problem at all. We're paid to do a job, and this is another job." She spoke with confidence, but she was lying again. She would need a will of steel to overcome her growing affections. "You going to be alright working with the Feds?"
It was Chris' turn to think for a moment. "If we have Captain Hudson running interference for us, we should be fine. He'll deflect the bureaucratic nonsense - at least I hope he can."
"It sounds like we're saying yes," she said, reaching over and opening the folders, "so we should probably figure out what kind of people..." she held the last word as she scanned for their names, "...Greg and S..." and then she started to laugh.
"Let me see that," Chris said, looking at her sideways and pulling the papers to him. He quickly looked down the page while Rita shook her head and then he stopped and laughed himself. "Greg and Samantha Stone. That is hilarious! What are the odds?" He asked with a smirk.
"He did that because you're a Neanderthal, Chris, and that was the easiest name for you not to screw up." She leaned over and kissed his cheek, adding, "You know I'm kidding."
By noon, the two of them were ready for a break, so they went out for lunch, grabbing some sub sandwiches before sitting on a bench overlooking the beach to eat. They spent the rest of the day studying their personalities and backgrounds.
The Stones were both doctors. Dr. Gregory Allen Stone was a young pediatrician at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine. He studied medicine at Emory University before completing his residence and then serving as a medic in Operation Desert Storm, where he met Dr. Samantha Lynn Burrows, an anesthesiologist. By the end of the one-hundred-hour ground campaign, they were in love. Six months later, the whirlwind romance culminated with their marriage in Atlanta, where Greg was working.
In the spring of 1992, Maine Medical plucked Stone from Atlanta, who accepted the position with the proviso that his new wife Samantha be hired as well, a condition the hospital gladly accepted since one of their anesthesiologists had just retired.
Their desire to start a family right away had been crushed by the devastating discovery that Samantha was unable to have children. As a result, Samantha had gone through a short bout of depression that caused much conflict in their home and nearly destroyed their young marriage. However, a brief, three-month separation had given them both perspective and solidified the reality that they truly loved each other, leading to a reconciliation and the restoration of their partnership. It also opened their eyes to the beautiful prospect of adoption. After much introspection and talking with friends who had gone through the process, the Stones decided to pursue adoption themselves.
They discovered the Hearts of Love Adoption agency from an advertisement in the Portland Press and, on a whim, decided to call and get some information. The agency was based out West and the closest office was currently in Idaho Falls, Idaho - a huge distance from Portland - but they offered the fastest processing and very thorough background checks.
"You know, 'Hearts of Love' sounds so warm and cozy, it's hard to believe it's a giant hoax." Chris looked up from the papers as he spoke. Noon had become late afternoon and the sun was drooping into the west. "I'm hungry again. Do you want to go out for dinner? Since I'm a rich doctor, I'm buying. I owe you a trip to the Seafood Bar."
Rita laughed at the thought and the memory. The last time they headed there, it turned into a long night waiting for a tow truck when Chris' car broke down. "I don't know, Chris. How ready am I to hitchhike back to town? I'll go, but I'm driving this time."