Here is the next chapter. Sorry for the delay. Hope you enjoy it.
Thanks again to Sairs J and mamaverd for their help.
The boss looked over; he didn't look happy about it but he no longer had a choice. "Sammy, you're up."
Yes! Sammy was finally getting his chance.
Sammy spent the next few hours going over the plans they already had and showing the rest of the guys how they could be better prepared in the event that Vicero showed up. He changed the positions of almost everyone, making sure that he was going to be front and center when it all went down. Now he would just need the boss to give it the okay. He knew the strategy was sound; he just wasn't sure if the boss would allow him to be as involved as he wanted.
Although Sammy was more than exhausted when they finished, he was thankful that he had spent a lot of time the night before thinking of the contingency plans. He had just proved his worth tenfold, and it was obvious that everyone else knew it. He only hoped that once the boss saw the plans, that his trust level in Sammy might be back and he might loosen up the constraints a little.
His UC apartment may have been a hell hole, but it was much preferred to having the two goons watching his every move. Plus, a little freedom might allow him to find a way to contact Boyd. He was pretty sure it was too much to think that he would get his phone back, but he could always hope. Maybe he could talk one of the guys into letting him use theirs.
Every detail had been reviewed with every possible scenario gone over and Sammy's plan appeared to be airtight. They were just about to give it one last once over when the door to the warehouse opened and in stepped Ray.
All the voices erupted at once, each one blending into the next: 'What the hell happened?', 'What were you thinking?', 'I hope you kept your mouth shut.', 'Does Vicero know?'
Sammy kept himself out of the fray and waited for it to die down before taking control yet again. "Tell us everything, and don't leave anything out." He ordered. "We need to know it all."
"Can't." Ray replied stubbornly, refusing to allow Sammy to call the shots.
"What do you mean you can't?" Sammy practically yelled. He needed to know what Ray knew about Vicero and what, if anything, he saw at the station.
"Boss is on his way; told me to keep my mouth shut 'til he got here."
Sammy cursed under his breath; he had really wanted a chance to talk to Ray before the boss showed up. The other guys weren't likely to pick up on anything that Sammy might find important, but the boss probably would.
Sammy sulked in the corner until the big man and his goons arrived, and it took all of his willpower not to yell at Ray to start talking immediately. Thankfully the boss was an impatient man as well and he didn't waste any time getting Ray to spill.
Apparently Ray had been watching Vicero during the day right from the start. He and one of the new recruits were on day and then they switched off with RJ and another guy for nights. Nothing much had been happening; Vicero himself had stayed fairly close to his main business, rarely even venturing out. But today it looked like he had called everyone to one of his storage sites. Ray and his cohort had counted six guys not including Vicero and his two goons.
The boss looked over to Sammy who nodded his acknowledgment, knowing without words what the boss wanted to know. Sammy had noted how many guys there could be and knew his plans had it covered. Seemingly happy with Sammy's response, he turned back to Ray and motioned for him to continue.
Ray explained that they had all stayed in the place for a good two hours when one guy left on his own. Ray thought it could be important so he decided to tail him. He left the other guy to keep watch on the warehouse with strict instructions to call for someone to come join him. He looked around wondering if anyone got a call. RJ confirmed that he had dropped off another guy to stay at the warehouse with Ray's partner, and said he would talk to them and find out what else went down when he relieved them later.
So Ray told them that he followed this guy for over a half hour until he realized that it was just a drop; he met some guy, took the money, and handed over a gun.
"I thought he might have seen me so I stepped into a bar that was across the street. I stayed for a drink and then left thinking he had probably gone too. But when I came out, he jumped me. "
The boss swore at Ray wondering how he could be so stupid as to get caught.
Ray continued sheepishly, knowing he really had no excuse. "He took a swing at me so I fought back. He got hold of me and tried to drag me away, said he wanted to take me back to 'meet someone'. I knew exactly what he meant and there was no way in hell I was going without a fight. Someone from the bar must have called the cops right away because before I knew it, three cars showed up."
That surprised Sammy; there was really only need for two cars at the most - one for each guy.
"First one must have been real close, but I think they must have already had someone in the back. One cop didn't even get out, and me and Vicero's guy were taken to the other cars."
That made no sense to Sammy; it was definitely not procedure.
"Anyway, they took me back to the station and threw me in a cell. Took a bit of time until someone came in to talk to me but I clammed up and told them I wanted my call and was waiting for my lawyer. They weren't too happy about it but I really didn't give a shit. So lawyer comes, bails me out, got all my stuff back and here I am." Ray seemed pretty proud of himself and looked expectantly at the boss, hoping for a little recognition that he had at least handled himself well at the station.
Sammy was lost in his own thoughts; he still wasn't sure what was going on with the cars, but what he did know was that if they had any idea who Ray was, they would have searched his phone for numbers. If it was a routine disturbance though, that might not have happened. Dammit! He thought. If Andy had been there, she would have recognized Ray and told them he was part of the gang. But then again, if Andy was there, Ray could have outed her and subsequently him.
Sammy's attention was snapped back when Vic asked Ray a very important question. "Did Vicero's guy know who you were?"
"I think so." Ray admitted, stealing a sidelong glance at the boss. "He said a couple of things about sticking my nose into their business and were they going to have to 'put a stop to it'."
The boss had heard enough; he spoke quietly to his goons and headed to the door. He ordered everyone to be there at ten o'clock tomorrow morning as they would be scoping out the buy site. Previously, he had only given them the layout so they could complete the prep, but he had yet to give them the exact location. Tomorrow they would be going to test out Sammy's plan and make sure nothing, or no one, would get in their way.
Sammy was anxious to find out more specifics, but could only hope he would get his chance to talk to Boyd. As he watched the boss move closer to the exit, he kept quiet to see if he would leave without him. He wasn't sure if the boss was ready to trust him again or if it was because he was just preoccupied, but Sammy wasn't about to bring attention to the fact that he wasn't supposed to be leaving the man's sight 'til the deal was done.W
Unfortunately, Ray wasn't privy to Sam's thoughts and he took that moment to call Sam out. "Oh yeah…hey Sammy! Wanna know what that sweet little bachelorette babe of yours does when you're not around?"
Sam's head snapped up. Shit!
Boyd was practically pacing his office on Thursday morning. Dammit! Why hadn't Sam called yet? There had to be something going down by now. They had followed Ray to the warehouse watching as the big man appeared not long after. They were obviously meeting about something because they saw quite a few guys leave a while later including Sam with the boss. Why didn't he find a way to make the call? Sam was good; he always made the call. Well, at least they had eyes on Vicero and now the gang, but eyes weren't enough to make the bust. They could follow them, but they couldn't be prepared and there was too much left to chance. They needed more.
Sam hadn't responded to any of Boyd's texts and he needed answers, and he needed them now. He finally broke down and decided to call Sam on his cell. He thought about asking McNally to make the call, but he still wasn't sure if he wanted her to. What would she do if the wrong person answered? Would she be able to ad lib her way out of it? So far the only thing she was good at pretending was being Sam's girlfriend.
Andy was out on patrol with Chris when Dispatch called her back in. When she arrived, she was ushered to Boyd's office and told that he wanted to talk to her about Sam's op. Before he could ask her how she felt about making the call, she asked him how Sam's meeting went the other night.
Boyd's guys scoped out a meeting yesterday afternoon, but how the hell would McNally know about that. If Sam wasn't calling him, he sure as hell better not be calling McNally.
"What the f…" He took a deep breath, knowing it wouldn't help getting her on the defensive.
"What meeting?" Boyd asked through his teeth.
Shit! Andy quickly realized that she just blew it; she should not have known anything about Sam's meeting and now she had to cover their tracks. "He must have mentioned it that night at the bar; I guess I just assumed it had happened by now." She tried.
Boyd furrowed his eyebrows; she was still a terrible liar. If he had to, he could probably guess how she might know; Sam always bragged about how he could lose any tail. And Boyd knew the man well; he knew that if Sam wanted to see someone bad enough even while undercover, he would. And it was pretty obvious from Sam's call earlier in the week that McNally would fit the bill. But Boyd needed to hear it from her.
"Why is it you're only believable when you're pretending to be in love with Swarek?"
Andy knew she wasn't fooling him but she didn't appreciate his implication; he had no right to talk to her like that. She couldn't decide whether to give him an earful or just turn and walk out. Before she had a chance to make her decision, Boyd continued. "When did you see him?"
He saw the guilt flash in her eyes and he knew he had hit the nail on the head. She still looked undecided though so it was time to play his ace. "McNally, Swarek hasn't called in since that day he talked to you. I need to know what you know so I can keep him safe."
With Sam's well being on the line, Andy had no choice; she would never take that kind of chance. "I, uh, may have run into him the night I got shot."
Boyd didn't even flinch; he knew it. "Tell me everything and then I'll tell you what I can."
"I was walking home from the Penny when he stopped me. We…uh…talked for a bit and I told him I was okay." Boyd didn't need to know it was anything more than talking. "Before we could finish, he got a call to meet that night at eleven o'clock. That's all I know; I don't know where and I don't know what happened. I haven't seen him since; I swear."
That Boyd did believe. "Okay. Well I don't know much either; like I said, he hasn't called in."
Andy took a deep breath. This didn't sound good.
Boyd could see the fear written plainly on her face, and was uncharacteristically kind to her. "Don't read too much into it. Swarek is good, always has been. He'll find a way, and if he doesn't, we will. Thanks to you and Shaw, we followed that Ray character and we saw them all come out of a meeting, including Sam. We'll keep our eyes on him; don't worry."
"I'll go in." She blurted. "Just tell me where and when and I can pretend…"
Boyd interrupted her. "Only as a last resort; I don't want to put another uniform in danger. Right now we've still got some options and I'm not comfortable putting you in there just yet."
"Like you said; I can make this believable."
Boyd knew that but he was also pretty sure she wasn't pretending, and he wasn't convinced that those emotions wouldn't just get in the way. But if he didn't get a hold of Sam soon, this might be there only option.
"I'll let you know." He confirmed before dismissing her.
Andy simply nodded her head as she exited the office. She didn't trust her voice at that moment as she was still having trouble swallowing the dread that had crept up from her stomach. She took a couple of deep breaths as she approached the bullpen hoping to find Chris. He had said he was going to tackle some paperwork till she was done her meeting. Right now, she just needed to get back out on the streets to keep busy and take her mind off of Sam. Pushing a pen was not going to cut it.
Before Andy had even left his office, Boyd knew he couldn't trust her to make this call. If they got someone else, this could make or break everything and she wasn't ready. But if he didn't reach Sam, he also knew that she was probably their only hope of contacting him. She was the only one who could do it as she had already established a believable relationship with him. No one would question it if she showed up.
Boyd sat for a few moments going over his decision on how to approach this; he had been thinking about it for awhile now. If he got someone else, he would pretend to be Andy's brother yelling at some asshole who broke his sister's heart.
He dialed the number that had shown up on the phone when Sam called in a couple of days ago. As it rang, he prepared himself. A male voice answered; it definitely wasn't Swarek, but he couldn't let on that he knew that. "Is this Sammy?"
The boss was surprised to hear a male voice; he was expecting Sammy's needy little girlfriend. "Who wants to know?"
"Just answer the question."
"Yeah, sure. This is Sammy." He lied.
Boyd had no choice but to play along. "Who the hell do you think you are? You stay the hell away from my sister! If I catch you so much as anywhere even remotely close to her…"
"What if she comes to me? Have you thought of that." The boss interrupted. "Better check that phone of hers; sounds to me like she wants something pretty bad. Is she there?"
"Stay the hell away!"
"Oh, I'm not sure I'm quite ready to do that. Actually I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with her just as soon as I can."
Boyd cringed. There seemed to be a lot more truth to that statement than he was comfortable with. He knew getting Andy in would be easy, but he quickly realized that getting her out might prove to be a little more difficult. At this point though, he wasn't sure he had a choice.
"Don't push me." Boyd warned putting a lot more truth behind his words as well.
"Pushing is the least of your worries."