Here you have it...the next installment. Sorry for the delay. I hope you enjoy it.
Special thanks to the international consulting team of mamaverd and Sairs J.
Frank had barely signed off with Oliver when he picked up movement from the corner of his eye. He looked up just in time to see Callaghan, who had been out on another case, storm in through the back. The detective didn't even bother stopping at his office, choosing instead to head straight to the war room. And following directly in his wake were Nash, Diaz, Williams, Barber, Epstein and Peck.
Frank wasn't really surprised. He was missing a fellow officer; they all were, but they were also missing a friend which made the stakes even higher for them. He shook his head. It was a losing battle and he knew it; there really was no use fighting them. On the plus side, it would also save time, and when someone was missing, every second counted.
Frank lifted himself up from his chair and exited his office to join the rest of the group in the war room to wait for Shaw and whoever he was bringing with him. He was as anxious as the rest were for answers.
Well…not quite. The second Frank entered the room, he was bombarded with exclamations and questions for which he had no answers. So he simply held up his hand and shook his head.
The anxious group looked to each other with widened eyes; surely he wouldn't ask them all to leave.
"I know as much as you do, people." He informed as soon as the room quieted. "Now sit down! Might as well save them some time."
With grateful smiles, everyone grabbed a chair. By the time Oliver's car pulled into one of the bays, it looked like parade was about to start; the room was almost full as officer after officer had continued to join them. They may not all have been close friends of McNally, but when one of their own was missing, they were going to do whatever they could to help.
Oliver pulled into the station garage and immediately exited the vehicle; they were cutting it close with Best as it was and they needed to hurry. The Sarge's mood was only going to get worse and Oliver wasn't about to aggravate that by being any later.
He was already circling behind the cruiser when he noticed Jennings opening Sam's door. Shit! He had almost forgotten about the door locks in the back. Just because he was transporting colleagues that didn't change the safety mechanics; they couldn't get out on their own.
He would have loved to just leave Boyd back there like the low life he was, but it was time for him to face the music.
Boyd rolled his eyes when Shaw finally popped the latch for him. "Gee, thanks." He muttered sarcastically before moving around the car to stand in front of Jennings. "Okay, now get Sammy into holding with the rest of them while we…"
The jaws of all three men dropped open in succession; they couldn't believe that Boyd actually thought he was still calling the shots.
Sam was going to set him straight though. "There is no way in hell you are leaving me in a cell while you..."
"Sammy…" Boyd interjected, backtracking quickly from Sam's glare. "Swarek…I need you in booking and then holding; we have to keep your cover."
Sam closed his eyes and took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching his fists, willing himself not to do what he desperately wanted to do to Boyd. "I told you in the car; I don't give a damn what you…"
"Well that's too fricking bad, Swarek!" Boyd barked back. "I'm the one in charge here and one of us has to think with our brains so…"
Oh no he didn't. Oliver and Jennings didn't hesitate for a second and quickly jumped in between the two men, each facing their respective co-worker.
Past wondering if Boyd was really that clueless, Oliver looked Sam in the eye and silently begged him to keep his cool.
Sam ran his hand through his hair and expelled a loud breath. If there was any way he could have done it without involving Oliver, he probably would have gone after Boyd but he knew his friend wasn't going to let him. Plus, there were more important matters at hand and there was no way Boyd was getting in the way of them.
Jennings just shook his head at his boss; he always knew the man was crass but this had to be an all time and hopefully uncharacteristic low. Though after the last half hour, he was really starting to wonder.
"What's your guy's name?" Jennings inquired, choosing to get straight to business and sidestep the elephant.
"Nate, Nate Foster."
Jennings wrote it in his note pad. "Cell number?"
"416…wait why?"
"I'm going to go talk to tech. You don't need me in there right away; I'll come as soon as I can. I already told you what I know and I'll be more help out here getting things moving. If your guy gets on the phone, we need to know about it."
"I told you he's not answering." Boyd reminded him.
"Not for you he isn't." Jennings retorted.
Sam smirked as Boyd finished giving the number. Sam was starting to like Jennings. He didn't let his boss' bias affect his work and that made him alright in Sam's books. Plus, he was doing whatever he could to help get Andy back and that, well that made him an ally.
Jennings jotted down the number quickly anxious to get things going. He had to admit that he had been upset with McNally…at first. But now that he knew the whole story, at least one side of it, he knew that his blame was misdirected and now he just wanted to help get her back. He turned from Boyd to Sam with his pen still at the ready. "McNally's cell number?"
Sam looked at him curiously.
Jennings shrugged. "Same reason. If she gets on her phone…or someone tries to use it, we need to know."
Sam shook his head quickly. "If McNally can use her phone, she'll just call…shit!"
"What?"
He turned to Oliver. "We have to go to my place to get my cell phone; she'll call me. She'll call me. It's on my side table at home; we have to go get it."
Jennings gave Oliver a quiet nod and retreated into the building; they both knew it was going to be quicker for him to just get the number out of the system.
Oliver placed a calming hand on Sam's shoulder. "Sammy, she knows you were undercover; she won't be calling you."
"But what if all she can manage is speed dial?"
Oliver ignored Boyd's intentionally loud scoff. "Then she'll try Nash."
"I still think someone should get my phone, just in case."
Shaw knew his friend was grasping at straws but he also knew how much Sam hated feeling helpless; he just needed to do be doing something.
"We'll get your keys after the meeting and…"
"That's not soon enough." Sam insisted. "Send Epstein."
Oliver tilted his head to the side and readied his 'patient father' voice; they weren't the only ones who would feel the need to find her. "I don't think Epstein is going to be leaving the station to go anywhere but after McNally. He's her friend too."
Sam knew that; he did. But he was also more than certain that she couldn't mean as much to anyone there as she did to him.
"Fine." He conceded. "Give me your phone then."
Shaw reached into his pocket and reluctantly produced the cell. "What are you doing?" He queried, as the bright blue contraption was plucked from his hand.
"Call forwarding." Sam responded as if it should have been obvious.
Oliver raised his eyebrows.
"What?" Sam responded. "I'm not completely techno illiterate."
That was a debate for another time. "Are you ready?"
Sam held his hands out in front of his body so Oliver could retrieve his phone and snap the cuffs back on.
"Show time." Oliver announced before gesturing for Boyd to lead the way.
Boyd took this as his last chance to try and convince Sam to stay in holding. He glanced back over his shoulder. "Come on, Samm…Swa…think about it; just sit tight here for a bit and we'll get you out as soon as we can. Shaw will…"
Pausing to turn and open the door to booking, Boyd guided Sam through the opening and gave him the opportunity he was looking for. Shaw said it was time to put on a show so Sam was going to take full advantage and put all his frustration to good use.
Sam immediately slammed Boyd against the partially open door, before pressing his full body weight against the detective to hold him there. With his face just inches from Boyd's, he looked him square in the eye. "Go to hell, asshole! I don't take orders from you!"
The main holding cell was completely full as they hadn't had a chance to process everyone yet and the sound of the door slamming against the wall had everyone's full attention. Eyes widened as they took in the scene playing out before them.
Shaw started to pull Sam off of Boyd. His heart definitely wasn't in it though and his loose grip allowed Sam to slam into Boyd one more time and he smirked at the satisfying grunt that came out of the detective's mouth.
"Easy, buddy." Oliver instructed, as he reluctantly guided Sam away. His point had been made.
The grimace on Boyd's face continued to grow. Swarek was taking liberties with his animosity towards him and Shaw wasn't doing a damn thing to rein him in. Those shoves were none too gentle and when Swarek tried to jerk away and lunge at him again, Boyd was really starting to get pissed off.
"Those cuffs on your wrists tell a different story, tough guy. I think we both know who's in charge here and it's time you learned your place." Boyd spat back.
Sam shook his head and steeled his glare. "You have no idea."
"Easy, Sammy." Vic coaxed; he had been watching the whole scene play out like a tennis match, back and forth. But he didn't want to see his friend get into any more trouble than they were already in.
"Put him in here." Vic offered. "Let me talk to him."
Sam couldn't help but let down his guard a little; Vic really was a decent guy. But before Sam could respond, Oliver started pulling him through another door. "Actually, I think he needs to be alone for a while."
When Boyd didn't follow immediately behind, Oliver propped the door open again. "Detective, I believe we have a meeting to get to."
Boyd's face was a mask of confusion; once Sam was somewhat subdued he had a chance to really look around. There had to be at least eight guys still in the cell and only two guys working the desk. There should have been at least four people in there pushing these guys through. And where was the backup team; he would have expected a few of them to be hanging around too.
He looked over to the desk to an officer who seemed to be in no particular hurry. "Where is everyone?"
"You'll see." The man answered cryptically. He was a little bitter that everyone else was where he wanted to be, but someone had to process these idiots. What he didn't realize was just how much it was going to blindside the detective when he finally did 'see'.
Boyd furrowed his brow recognizing that was all he was going to get. He shook his head and proceeded to the open door to follow Shaw and Swarek.
The door had barely closed behind him when he saw Oliver pulling the cuffs from Sam. The dark haired man held Boyd's gaze as he lifted his arms to rub at his wrists and Boyd could tell he was considering putting his hands to good use.
Boyd cleared his throat and pushed past him. "Let's get this over with."
He knew he was pushing his luck when he heard Swarek's loud huff, but he would feel safer in front of Best. Boyd started to smirk as he neared the war room and what he thought would be a reprieve; Sam would be forced to keep his distance now.
Still thinking he could talk his way out of it, his grin held as he turned in through the door but he didn't look up till he was two steps into the room. When he finally did, the smirk was wiped clean off his face. He could not believe how many people were in there and for the first time he doubted that he was going to be able to sweep this dirt under the rug. It's not easy to cover your ass when there are eyes looking at you from every direction.
Boyd gulped audibly. He saw the look of ire on Best's face, but it quickly turned to confusion when the other two men entered the room. The answer probably should have been obvious had he given it any thought, but all Best could think of at the moment was protocol. "Swarek, what are you doing here?"
He turned back to Boyd. "Shouldn't you have him in booking with the rest of them?"
Boyd was more than happy to share the spotlight and had no problems trying to throw Sam under the bus. Better him than me.
"I told him to go, but you should know better than anyone that you can't tell Swarek anything. He's going to…"
"Sit down!" Shaw ordered the detective before he could shift the blame any further.
Everyone including Frank was surprised by Oliver's show of authority, but they also knew he didn't act like this without cause. He knew something that they didn't and they were more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"What do we know?" Frank asked.
Oliver slid seamlessly into the position of power and began, with Sam taking up residence on the side of a table at the front. "Okay, as you all know, McNally was in the can with Jennings watching the monitors. When the money changed hands, Jennings was going to call it."
"Apparently a few minutes before the exchange took place, they had an incident in the van." Oliver held up his hand to silence the grumblings that had started to move through the crowd. "They made more noise than planned and apparently one of Sammy's guys heard it and came over to investigate."
Still anxious to shift the blame, Boyd started to gripe loud enough for everyone to hear. "I should have known that Rookie would screw…"
Sam's jaw started to clench and at least a half dozen bodies shadowed his movement when he rose from his perch. Frank's hand on Sam's shoulder had him holding his ground, but not his tongue. "That rookie? Her name is Officer McNally, and she…"
"Did nothing wrong." Jennings finished as he walked into the room. "It was my fault; it was my headset that hit the side wall and caused the breach."
Boyd continued to mumble under his breath about her bad luck and how she had to have something to do with it. Sam was ready to shut the man up, and he wasn't alone. There were matching scowls on the faces of Chris, Dov, Traci, actually pretty much everyone in the room who was more concerned about getting McNally back then placing blame.
Jennings continued raising his voice in an attempt to drown out Boyd's passive-aggressive barbs. "We didn't realize anyone had heard until some guy started peering in the windows. When he started pounding on the door, we had to do something so I went outside to talk to the guy."
"I left McNally in the van to call it, which she did." He stressed looking directly at Boyd who had finally shut his mouth.
"I didn't have my gun out when I first started talking to the guy; I was hoping to just throw him off. I almost had him convinced that I was just a squatter, but when he heard the sirens, I think he must have panicked. Next thing I know, I'm waking up beside an empty parking spot with a bump on the back of my head. I walked down to the bust and they were loading everyone into the squads, and that's when I found out that McNally wasn't there either."
Jennings felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out to look at the screen. "I'll be back." He announced before high tailing it out the door.
"What is it?"
"We may have a hit on the phone." He called back from the door.
"Which one?" Sam muttered mostly to himself as Jennings was already halfway down the hall.
Frank was nodding his head and you could see the wheels turning as he mulled over what had so far been disclosed. "Okay. So I understand how this guy could have gotten the jump on him, but…" and he turned to Boyd. "How come you weren't looking for him? Swarek's mike told us how many guys he had with him? How come we didn't know one was missing?"
When Boyd didn't answer right away, Frank shifted his focus to Sam and Oliver waiting for someone to give him an answer.
Oliver spoke first. "Go on, Boyd, tell him. You keep saying you're the one in charge here."
"Fine." Boyd relented without rising from his seat. "I wasn't looking for the guy because I wasn't going to bring him in."
The stunned silence lasted for only a few seconds before being broken by shared exclamations of 'What the hell?' and 'What do you mean you weren't bringing him in?'
"Please." Best implored, holding up his hand to try and restore some order. "Boyd?"
"He was my CI alright?" Boyd admitted sheepishly.
Frank erupted. "What the hell did you need a CI for when you had Swarek in deep?"
"Did you know about this?" He directed at Sam.
"Nope!" Sam responded, loudly popping on the 'p'. "Just found out tonight."
Best refocused on the detective. "Well?''
"I didn't need a CI in there; it just happened okay?"
"It just happened? It just happened?" Best's voice was getting louder with each question. "How the hell does it just happen? What kind of operation are you running here? Things aren't supposed to just happen; you're supposed to be in control here Boyd!"
"Relax, alright. I did have everything under control; he was supposed to get out of there as soon as it started going down. We had it all planned; things just went a little…sideways."
"A little sideways?" Sam scoffed.
"I don't call kidnapping an officer a little sideways." Best agreed.
"He didn't kidnap her. He just…caught a ride." Boyd suggested sheepishly.
"Bull shit!" Sam screamed, rising to his feet. "You screwed up! Why the hell can't you just admit it?"
Boyd stood at the challenge. "I'll tell you what screwed everything up; the second that roo…"
He stopped short when he found himself face to face with a very irate Sam. "Go on! Keep going! Just give me a reason!"
"Enough!" Best shouted.
"Are you kidding me? He deserves every…"
"Just…we need to calm down for a second here and get to the bottom of this. We're wasting time Sam, you know the first few hours are critical."
Sam did know this; it was just hard to remember all of his training when Andy was the one missing. He backed off…for the moment…conceding that Boyd would have to wait to get his.
"Okay, so who is this guy?" Best asked, getting back to the task at hand.
Boyd paused for a second trying to order his thoughts to put himself in the best possible light. "He was a CI for another gang and it had nothing to do with Swarek's UC."
"Ha!"
Frank was surprised by the outburst, but only because it came from Oliver and not Sam. He furrowed his brow but didn't get a chance to voice his question before Boyd continued.
"He was just playing lookout for one night, and I found out late in the game. He's helped me out a lot and I didn't want to lose him over a little security detail so I may have let it slip that he should make himself scarce before it all went down."
"How'd you find out?" Luke asked.
"What?" Boyd feigned ignorance.
"How did you find out he would be there?" He wondered.
"I…uh…I…"
"Yes, Boyd, tell us." Sam insisted in a sickeningly sweet voice.
With a quick glare in Sam's direction, Boyd formulated another guarded response. "I called him about his other gang and it slipped out. He didn't think it had anything to do with me so he wasn't going to say anything, but when I found out, I made a decision. I needed his intel on the other gang so I had to protect him. And now he owes me one so..."
"Yeah, you protected him alright." Oliver muttered.
"You got something to say Shaw." Boyd challenged, though he would soon wish he hadn't.
"Yeah, I do. That's a really pretty picture you're trying to paint here but we both know it's a bunch of garbage."
Before Boyd could respond, Oliver took the floor back and addressed the group again. "This guy, Nate, is from Vicero's gang."
Encouraged by the recognition from the crowd he continued. "That's right. Boyd had an in to Vicero's crew for a month now and when he had the chance to pull Vicero into this bust and get them all tonight, he decided that he didn't want to. He warned his CI and told him not to let Vicero come tonight."
"We didn't have enough on him." Boyd insisted.
"Bull shit! You and I both know that between your CI and the rest of the guys we would have taken in we would have been able to scrounge up enough. Someone would have flipped. I can only imagine how you got the CI to talk to you in the first place. What was it you told us? 'He offered me an in with Vicero if I found a way to make his arrest go away; it wasn't hard.'"
"Don't go all high and mighty on me Shaw." Boyd warned before turning to the jury before him. "And don't pretend that I'm the first one here to let someone off to catch a bigger fish."
"Yeah…petty thieves, hookers maybe, but not an arms dealer." Shaw argued.
"Drop the drama queen act. He's not an arms dealer; he's low man on the totem pole. Sells a few guns here and there, maybe security from time to time, but he isn't dangerous."
"So what was he arrested for then?" Nash asked skeptically; like everyone else, she felt like Boyd was holding back.
"He wasn't arrested." Boyd insisted, still maintaining the ruse they had set up months ago.
Traci rolled her eyes. "What was he brought in for then?"
Boyd mumbled the answer inaudibly before being called out by someone from the back.
His ire back up, Boyd squared his shoulders and met the crowd's eyes. "Assault with a weapon."
Sam sprang to his feet, upon hearing this for the first time. "What the hell?"
It took three guys to hold him back, but from the looks on their faces, they would have been more than willing to join him in his assault.
"So how'd you do it?" Dov asked. "How do you make something like that just go away?
Boyd shrugged his shoulders this time, almost nonchalant. "The other guy wasn't an angel either so we…settled out of court."
Jerry stood up. "Okay so we have a BOLO out on the van and McNally; what about this guy? Nate, was it? We got anything on him? Home?"
"He own a car? You got a license number?" Jerry wondered.
Everyone's eyes were drawn away from Jerry and his question when Sam stood from his seat and walked purposefully towards the door. He had just remembered that they had all met at the warehouse. If this guy wanted his car, he would have to go back there to get it. It was as good a place as any to start.
"Swarek!" Frank called to no avail.
"Swarek!" He tried again, the threat evident in his tone.
Sam turned back.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"I know where he parked his car." Sam responded before turning to walk away again.
"Swarek! Sam!"
"I have to go!" Sam contested, trying to brush off the hand that Jerry had just placed on him.
"We all want to save her, Sammy."
"I have to go alone."
"No way!"
Sam shook his head. "I mean I have to go in alone first. I can make him think I got away too. See where Andy is, maybe talk him down."
Boyd disagreed. "No. No way. He has to stay here. If word gets out…"
"If word gets out, what? They'll know I'm a cop? Maybe they'll just think you let me go too? When will you realize that I don't give a shit about any of that?" Sam turned to Frank, almost pleading. "I'm her best chance. We can't go in half cocked or he could lose it, hurt her; at least this way, I can assess the situation. Call it if we need to."
Boyd shook his head. "You don't even know if he's going for his car; we can just send a unit by and see if it's still there. If it is, they can move in and take a look, and then stake it out if they have to."
"I don't care if he's there or not; that's where we start. Who's coming with me?"
The entire room with the exception of Boyd stood up.
Frank looked at Boyd. "I think you and I need to talk anyway. As for the rest of you, I need some of you on the streets. Shaw, pick your team…"
Sam didn't like the idea of being passed over and he shot Frank a glare; he wanted to call the shots.
"Swarek, you're too close and…you'll be going inside so…"
Sam smirked. Yes.
"Shaw, you're in charge. Grab your team and get out there. Everyone else, back on the streets. You'll know soon enough."
Jennings was snaking his way back through the bullpen when he saw the mass exit from the war room. Breaking into a half run, he yelled out. "Hold up! We got a trace."
"The warehouse?" Sam presumed without breaking stride.
"How did you know?"
"I swear it's like a sixth sense with him." Chris explained.
"No, no…more like a compass." Dov threw in. "…with a big M on the top."
Chris chuckled. "Yeah, forget North; he just points towards McNally."
Dov was grinning and nodding excitedly. "Hey, have you ever noticed that when he gets real close to h…"
Sam stopped short, directing the full force of his trademark glare onto the two rookies. "One more word and you two stay here."
With a nod of assent, Chris wisely swallowed the automatic 'yes sir' that was on the tip of his tongue.
Dov simply waited for the senior officer to resume his course before calling his bluff and turning to Gail who had fallen into step beside him. "You know what I mean? You've seen it."
"Yeah. Sure." Gail agreed snidely. "Kind of like how your needle is twitching right now just being this close to Swarek in action."
Andy's eyes shot to the top of her head as she heard the man mention Boyd. What the hell was going on here? And who the hell's team was this guy even on?
The guy appeared to be working for Sam's boss, was apparently in tight with Vicero and now he knew Boyd too. Andy's head was swimming; if she wasn't over thinking things before, she certainly was at this point. But she couldn't afford the luxury right now and she forced herself to focus. Whoever this guy worked for or in this case was most loyal to wasn't important. She just needed to get out of there before she found out who had the biggest grudge against him.
She watched him walk past the side window barely giving her a glance; he was in his own world now. He moved towards the door they came in and made sure it was locked; he obviously didn't want anyone sneaking in on him. She listened as his footsteps echoed throughout the building; he was clearly checking any and all entrances to make sure they were secure.
As the footsteps closed in on her, she couldn't help but wonder how she was going to factor into his plans. It didn't look like he was going to be sharing anytime soon though because she thought she heard the sound of a metal chair and a loud sigh. Had he sat down?
She was glad that he had left her alone, but unfortunately, now that she couldn't see him, she had no idea how much time she actually had to work on her escape. She was going to have to take her chances though because she didn't know if or when she would get another one.
It was now or never. Andy shifted her body around and plucked the now loose earring from her ear. With a quick glance through all the windows she contorted her body to try and reach the key hole of the cuffs.
She tried coming at it from one side, but couldn't find a way to maneuver her ad hoc pick close enough to the locking mechanism. She finally tried lifting herself almost off the seat, raising her left elbow high in the air and almost mirroring it with her right elbow. Her face was practically planted against the steering wheel and she knew she would have to be careful not to hit the horn.
She paused for a second. Or should she hit the horn; it would definitely draw some attention. But would someone come in time. Probably not.
Deciding that the cuffs were still her best bet, Andy had her face so close to the wheel that it was hard to get a good look in the mechanism. With her body contorted like a circus performer, she huffed out a quick breath. If her life wasn't on the line, this would almost be comical. She could just see the looks on her friends' faces if they caught her in this position. Focus, Andy.
With her wrist bent almost double, Andy slid the stem of the earring into the hole in the cuffs. She wasn't sure how much further she could reach, and so far she hadn't hit the catch. She continued to shift the pick around hoping to find a way to get it in deeper.
Just a little further, she had to be close. There. Shoot. She lost it. For a second, she had felt what she needed but the earring had slid in her hand. She reset herself and started moving it around again, wholly absorbed in the task at hand.
With a single-minded determination, she became completely oblivious to anything outside the small confines of her makeshift prison, tuning out anything and everything…until the silence of the warehouse was shattered by an earsplitting bang.
Andy recoiled into her seat, freezing for just a second before her training kicked in. Her eyes scanned every inch in her field of vision desperately trying to discover where the threat was coming from.
But before she could find the source, three more bangs reverberated off the walls and shook the van and Andy to her very core. Where the hell was it coming from?
She needed to get out of there…now!
She took a deep, calming breath and rolled her shoulders; she had to relax. There was no way she was going to pick the lock and get out of there if her hands were shaking. She refused to buckle under the pressure though so she closed her eyes, inhaled and exhaled once more before spinning the base of the earring between her thumb and forefinger. She lowered her head and shifted her body around ready to give it another go.
She opened her eyes and sighed. It was too late; the pressure had already taken its toll. The earring had been snapped in two and it was now completely useless.
Damn it! Now what?