Chapter 19:
Val was a bit surprised to find Lucy waiting up on her when she got out of bed. Usually Lucy and Mike were long gone when she rolled out of the sack and showered. They left early and came home late, and neither Val nor Silvia had really seen either in days. Val was a little worried about the both of them, wondering if they were alright–especially after hearing that Lucy was going under cover again. She'd kept her mouth shut on what had happened the first time, when she'd been found out, leaving her mother and aunts blissfully ignorant.
Now, as she came strolling into the kitchen after a night of fun, she found Lucy sitting in her mother's chair along with a pretty brunette who looked to be in her forties. "Morning, Val," announced Lucy. "Lucy," Val yawned. "Who's y'er friend?" "This is Betty," said Lucy. "The one human doctor on planet Earth who knows anything about aliens..." The beautiful doctor gave the young woman a warm smile.
Val helped herself to a cup of coffee from the pot on the stove, and came over and sat herself. The doctor's keen brown eyes fixed hers, and she said, "I understand you're a biochemist..." Yawning, Val nodded. She wasn't sure why these two were here. Right now she was an out-of-work biochemist. St. Austel's business license was suspended, the board of directors was under investigation, and the offices were locked while an army of DEA agents picked through the records. It was only because she was the person to blow the whistle that Val wasn't sitting under the hot lights of a police interview room herself.
Leaning forward, Betty Rush explained, "I've been called in as a special consultant by the Plumbers, Ms. Stack. I'm given to understand that the altered drugs being sold by the Incurseans may have come from your former employer..." Val nodded. "Those drugs have properties that make them highly addictive," said Betty. "Right now we have hundreds of victims who are more or less permanently addicted to heroin, and there may be properties of the drug that we don't understand... That's where you come in..."
They had Val's complete and undivided attention now. Betty said, "I'm a doctor by education, Ms. Stack..." "Call me Val," replied Val. "Well, Val," said Betty. "My credentials don't include biotechnology. I need someone to advise me who has some clue what went into making this poison. I have the research notes from Gen-Term, but I've got nothing else." She needed someone who could interpret those notes and the results.
Val was floored. Her eyes flicked to Lucy. Grinning, the pretty blonde announced, "welcome to my world, Val." Val put out her tongue at Lucy. Turning back to Lucy's guest, Val said, "well... I don't have a job, right now..." "I'm still working the deal with the Feds," said Betty, "but I think I can pay you a competitive salary." "Wow," murmured Val. "Not even an interview..." Betty gave her a sweet smile. Rising, Lucy said, "well... I have a briefing to attend. Later." And she headed out the door, bound for the ugly van that the neighbors had been complaining about.
The trip through NYC rush-hour traffic was about as miserable as could be. With no Mike on board to make the process pleasant, Lucy found herself very tempted to cheat and fly herself to their base. Of course shortly after, she'd get chewed out–like the time Ben used Jetray to get to school on time. Max Tennyson was relaxed about most things, but attracting attention wasn't one of them. As she rode along, a Chevy Cruze sedan followed her, mirroring her every move.
Ordinarily, Lucy would have been concerned about that–even paranoid. That was what it was like to be Lenopan on planet Earth. You were careful of the people around you. It just might be your life. With so much pulling at her–and the cat out of the bag besides–Lucy's mind was literally two-thousand miles away, where the Census Bureau was re-interviewing the population of Copper-Springs.
So far nobody had been making noises about deportation or anything else. One of the local Indian Tribes had even come to their defense, raising a stink at the Wyoming State-House when someone suggested legal action for more than a century of falsified birth-certificates. They had a deal in place now. All Lenopan would be issued new birth-certificates in exchange for their false ones. Like Jesus, the .gov was offering forgiveness so long as they sinned no more.
Of course there were still changes in the offing. The younger generation–always antsy and hungry for new vistas–was now bucking the system. Many were talking about going away to college–and not just to the U of Wyoming. One of Lucy's old neighbors was talking about joining the Marines. A lot of the town elders were now a little irritated. They had had things more or less how they wanted. Their world was quiet. Lucy had turned that life on its head.
As Lucy pulled up to the station, the Chevy drove on by, turning into a parking lot up the street. The Plumber went inside to find the briefing well underway. They had the NYPD's top SWAT-team, newly chipped and cleared for duty along with the BATFE team and their own people. The Feds had even borrowed Interceptor plate armor from the Army. All totaled, they were locked and loaded and as ready to take on the frogs as they were ever going to be.
Lucy came in and sat down in the back, as Mike explained exactly what they needed to do and when. They had been unable to crack any of the gangsters who had been to Rillec's hideout. Those boys had all been older thugs, men who had topped out in their gang's hierarchy. They were the most evil. They were men–and one woman–who would sell their mothers for power. Fortunately, Driba had come through.
The little genius had paid a visit to Verizon's facilities in the dark of night to do some Galvan-style detective work. Using tools of his own design, he'd traced the illicit traffic on their network, isolating the principle source on the Hudson-River waterfront. A little snooping by Lucy had pinned down the frogs' location to an old waterfront factory and warehouse. Now it was time to finish this before they had any other countries in the Big Apple looking to buy alien tech on the down-low.
The plan was simple, but it was one Lucy didn't really like. Mike was going to lead a SWAT team in the front doors–drawing the frogs' local hires away from their inner sanctum. Molly and the Alphas would strike from below the pier, hitting the frogs when the humans were out of the way. Lucy now understood Mike a little better. Make that a lot better, thought Lucy. The idea that he would be in danger of being shot... hurt. It was a feeling she found hard to describe. All she really knew was that there were a hundred ways for this to go wrong–a hundred ways for Mike to die–and she came close to being a wreck just thinking about it. So don't think, thought Lucy. React. Just do it.
Wrapping up his pitch, Mike asked for questions. Wise-ass to the last, Nick asked if he was buying after the raid. "Better believe it," replied Mike. "Ok, everybody. Remember to get sleep. We got cots laid out. We're moving at sundown..." The other cops trickled out, leaving Lucy alone at the back of the room. Mike spent a little while gathering up his papers.
As he worked, he was conscious of the eyes of his wife. He thought of her that way now, and he knew she was worried. He knew it and understood it. He'd been struggling with it himself the last few weeks as Lucy went into one crazy situation after another. He now understood why the Army wasn't keen on fraternization, and why they even separated close siblings. He'd found himself trying to change the way a cop did business just to shield Lucy from the risks she faced.
That was about as crazy as the thought of alien frogs humping heroin in the Big Apple would have been. Lucy was an undercover cop, born and bred. She wasn't a beat-cop. She wasn't a homicide detective. She was born to go sneaking into these nasty little gangs to destroy them from the inside. And Mike? He was built to kick down doors and throw down with people too stupid to turn themselves in when they were caught. They were fooling themselves if they thought that was ever going to change. So now Mike had come to a decision.
Gathering up the last of his things, he walked down the aisle to where his lady sat. Taking hold of the seat in front of her, he turned it around and sat down. "How'd it go with Val," he asked? "Dropped her in Betty's lap," replied Lucy. "When I left, they were talking salary." Grinning, Mike nodded. The mood was thick on his lady, and he could almost see tears in her eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Mike said, "babe... I have to apologize again for shouting at you a few weeks back..." "I thought we said no more apologies," sniffed Lucy. She didn't like to be reminded of that incident. They'd both done damage to their relationship, and they'd come close to breaking up. Softly, Mike said, "I guess... I guess I had an epiphany..." Frowning now, Lucy said, "go on..." "I don't think either of us is ready to really see what the other one does for a living," sighed Mike. Lucy's face went hot, and she glanced away.
Taking her hands in his, Mike said, "I'm going to recommend the Old Man don't pair us up, baby. I get crazy when I see you go out there... put yourself out there... and I know you feel the same about me." Lucy broke down and threw herself on him. As Mike held her, she blubbered all over his shoulder. Leaning back, the alien girl wiped tears away with the back of her hand, but her face was hard. "No," said she. Mike didn't understand, and he tried to explain why he thought they should stop.
"I heard you the first time, Mike," growled Lucy. Jabbing a finger into his chest, she said, "I was stupid getting into a van with a bunch of people I didn't know and couldn't trust. I was reckless putting another officer at risk, and I didn't think about my husband or my family. What if... God, what if we had kids, Mike? How can that work if we have kids of our own? You did the right thing stopping me from being an idiot. It was time I grew up anyway."
Mike blushed to his hair, but Lucy wasn't done. Not by half. Tugging on his chin, she said, "and you're now done being the man holding the shield or carrying the battering ram. It was sweet the way you did that, trying to protect guys who had families, but now it's time for some new guy who hasn't got a wife and kids to take that spot. It's time we both stopped being kids."
Mike blushed as he realized what she was trying to tell him. She'd said at the start that you sacrificed some of what made you tick for the person you loved. Now it was his turn to sacrifice. Nodding, he tried a smile on her. Tugging at his cheek, she sniffed, "as if I'd ever give up the best partner I ever had!" Mike reached out, drew her into his arms and hugged the stuffing out of her. In spite of the bruises, Lucy was elated. They'd needed to have that talk. They were cops. There was always a risk with what they did, but that didn't mean they had to be fools about it.
Rising, the two headed back to work. Mike had a report to deliver to the Magister, and Lucy had a little work to do on a program of instruction for the NYPD. The next infiltrator was going to have a very hard time of it here. There were a dozen different ways to catch a Lenopan, and she was going to clue New York's finest in on as many as she could before she left.
Outside in the squad area, Lucy found Nick practically hovering over Helen as the two went over floor-plans for the frogs' hideout. They were rather cozy, and Lucy wondered if either really realized just how close they had gotten. Helen was wearing green mascara today in a subtle shade that seemed to shift with the light, and Nick's eyes were locked on her face. Lucy couldn't understand why the idiot wasn't making a move. Helen was right there, open and waiting. You know the answer, thought the young officer. Nick Luchini was falling in love with a freak, and he was having trouble processing that.
It didn't help at all that Helen really looked at herself as a freak. It colored the way she met everyday life. She spent most of her time in a proto-suit. She rarely spoke to anybody outside the Plumbers, and she likely wouldn't have kept an apartment outside of their base if the Magister would let her sleep there off duty. She behaved like a freak, so people took her that way.
On top of that, the wench had the nerve to actually be old-fashioned, believing that the guy should approach the girl. That meant that she wasn't going to lift a finger to land Nick Luchini beyond dressing up a little. Lucy wished she dared give the fool a nudge, but she knew better than to interfere. She could only hope and pray to whatever higher powers there were that he would get off the dime and move. Moving past the two of them, she went to her own desk and got busy.