Chapter 12

Kelly thankfully climbed the last of the stairs to Sabrina's apartment, feeling her legs continue to burn even as she walked the short distance down the hallway to Sabrina's door. Her head throbbed constantly and her eyes stung from sleep deprivation. It seemed a huge effort to even dig into her purse for her keys.

The girls all kept copies of each others house and car keys in case of emergency. Kelly was glad she didn't have to stand and wait for someone to answer. She keyed open the door and walked inside. The tantalizing aroma of eggs and coffee filled the room and she could hear the popping and sizzling of bacon cooking.

Jill was awake.

"Hey, Kell!" Jill called, popping her head into the living room.

"Hey, Jill. How are you feeling?"

"Much better. Amazing what a good night's sleep will do." Jill answered with a grin. She immediately realized the insensitivity of her comment and bit her lip.

Kelly laughed bitterly. "I can only imagine."

Jill gave Kelly a sympathetic look. "Sorry, Kell. Mental filter." she apologized. "Look, eat something and then go to sleep, you don't have anything to do today."

She spooned some eggs and bacon onto a plate and placed it on the table.

"Thanks, Jill." Kelly said softly. She slumped into a kitchen chair. Jill plopped down next to her after heaping breakfast onto her own plate.

Kelly suddenly realized she had no appetite. She ate a few bites and stared down into her plate as if in a trance.

Jill watched her with concern. "You ok?"

Kelly, completely oblivious to her question, stared at her eggs.

"Hey, Kell?" Jill called, waving her hand in front of Kelly's face. Kelly jerked her head up.

"Sorry."

Jill smiled at her. "Bri should be getting up now. She's driving me back home on her way to work. Come with us and I'll take you home."

Kelly nodded wearily.

Both girls turned as Sabrina bustled into the room, dressed for the day in a light green business pantsuit.

"Morning, girls." she greeted them. She served herself some breakfast and sat down at the table.

"Anything happen last night?" she asked Kelly.

"Nothing important. That was the last shipment, though. Tonight is when it all goes down."

Sabrina nodded. "Good. I'm sure you'll be glad to get this over with. I know I am." she said. "Will you be able to rest before tonight?" she asked Kelly with concern.

Kelly nodded her head as she listlessly stirred her food around on her plate.

Jill suddenly looked thoughtful. "You know how you forget stuff if you haven't done it in awhile? Wouldn't it be weird if you forgot how to sleep?"

Kelly and Sabrina stared at her.

When it became obvious that she wasn't going to get anything more than baffled looks from her two friends she sighed. "I know. Shut up, Jill."

Kelly nodded her head and turned to Sabrina. "One more night. Can't wait."

"Me too." Jill added.

Their breakfast was interrupted by the phone. The girls looked at it then looked back at each other and as was their custom, immediately smacked their fist into their open palms three times. As usual, Kelly was the odd one out, having abandoned her lucky two for a one for the first time in weeks. She sighed and pushed out her chair to get up, but before she could, Sabrina sprang from her seat, caught Kelly's chair and pushed it back in, giving her tired friend a smile of pity. Sabrina made her way into the living room and picked up the phone in the middle of its fourth ring.

"Hello?" she said.

"Good morning, Sabrina." Bosley's voice answered her.

"Morning, Boz, what's up."

"Is Kelly back with your car yet?" he asked.

"Yeah, she just got back. What's going on?"

"Good. You girls come down to the office before you head off to work. There's two guys here from L.A.P.D. They're going to help us out tonight. They want to talk to you three."

"Alright, Boz. We'll be there in twenty minutes."

She hung up the phone and walked back into the kitchen.

"Quick morning detour. Boz wants us in the office to talk to L.A.P.D. about tonight. I'll take you home after that, ok Jill?"

Jill swallowed the food in her mouth before answering. "Kelly too. And once we get to my car, I'll take you home, Kell."

"I feel like a ping pong ball." Kelly remarked sardonically.

Half an hour later, the three girls walked into the office where Bosley was waiting with two other men. The two men raised their eyebrows as they entered. Kelly and Jill instantly realized why. They weren't dressed very professionally. Kelly was still in a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers from the previous night and Jill's clothes were sadly wrinkled. She had borrowed pajamas from Sabrina and had planned to go home, shower, and change clothes before seeing anyone in the morning.

Ignoring their appearance, the girls politely greeted the two policemen and took a seat on the couch opposite from them. Both men gave Jill a strange look and she blushed, very much aware that her face was still puffy and the bruise that encompassed the bridge of her nose and both eyes had taken on a darker shade of purple since yesterday. Bosley walked by with a tray of coffee for them.

"I thought you said twenty minutes." he whispered through his teeth as he set down the tray in front of them.

"I'm sorry, do you fly to work? This is L.A. Boz, the traffic was bad. Give us a break." Kelly fired back at him. Bosley gave her a cheerful smile to let her know he had been teasing. He patted her on the shoulder and stood up.

"Girls, this is Lieutenant Alan Michaels and Officer Clayton Summers. Lieutenant Michaels will be in charge of the group that is assigned to break up this illegal activity we've been following the past few weeks."

The girls nodded politely as they eyed the two men. Michaels was a well built, good looking man that looked to be in his mid to late thirties. He had a full head of reddish brown hair, and a matching mustache that gave him a gruff appearance. His body language and dark brown eyes appeared to be sizing up the girls, wondering if they were wasting his time. Officer Summers was several inches shorter than his companion, a thin, wiry man with curly brown hair. He was probably older than he looked, but his stature and lack of facial hair made him look to be in his late twenties. His polite smile put the girls at ease and made them want to communicate to him instead of his companion.

This was not to be.

Lieutenant Michaels cleared his throat and took over the conversation. "Yes. Your boss, Mr. Townsend called the station last night and explained the situation. I volunteered to lead a team. What I need from you is confirmation on what is supposed to happen tonight, if anything." he said.

Sabrina and Jill looked to Kelly. She looked back and realized that she was the only one who really knew what was going on.

"There have been constant shipments of cocaine from Bogota, Columbia over the past couple of weeks. The drugs get delivered to one of the old warehouses along the shipyard. Tonight at midnight, they're going to gather together a big group of high profile dealers in the area to sell it all off." she explained.

Michaels nodded his head slowly. "Who's in charge of the operation?"

Kelly shook her head. "We think it's Arturo Peralta, but we haven't had concrete evidence yet. We're hoping he'll show up tonight and incriminate himself."

Michaels raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Peralta? Really?"

Jill cocked her head. "Does that surprise you?"

"A little, yes. There's been suspicions before but never on anything this big time."

"We also think we might be able to link him to a series of murders." Sabrina added. "Possibly the murder of our former client."

Michaels nodded. "Yes, I heard. I was there last night."

"Drug dealing, organized crime, and murder." Officer Summers commented. "Sounds like quite the guy."

Sabrina smiled wryly at Summers. "Oh, he's quite a guy alright."

Summers chuckled softly. He seemed much more easy going and friendly than the lieutenant.

Michaels gave Summers an annoyed look and then turned back to the girls.

"So we'll show up at midnight and arrest the bunch of them, then."

The girls looked at each other uneasily.

Jill cleared her throat. "Well, if he shows up, we have a pretty solid case against him on drug possession and selling. But, with the murders-" she paused for a moment. "We have next to nothing. We want a confession on both. That would really guarantee that he gets put away. "

"We can get one out of him once he's in custody." Summers suggested.

Bosley shook his head. "Well the problem with that is that the guy is so well connected, he might be able to get out of a drug charge and even a murder charge. He has several higher ups in his pocket already. Maybe even a judge and some of the police. If we have a confession, it'll be much harder to contest in court."

Michaels scoffed, obviously used to being the one in charge. "And how do you propose to do that?"

"Let us worry about that. We'd just like you to be on standby. Once we get our confession your men can move in and arrest them."

The two policemen looked at each other.

"It could work. Can I ask you where you got this information?" Michaels asked.

"We've been monitoring him closely." Kelly answered evasively.

Michaels stared hard at her for moment and then nodded his head. "Fine. Sounds like a solid tip. We'll be out there at 11:30 tonight. What warehouse is it?"

Kelly tilted her head and thought hard for a moment, the big number painted on the wall escaping her exhausted mind for a moment. "Fifty nine." she answered finally.

"Alright, I'll get together a team to look into it." He looked towards Bosley. "You will let me know if anything changes?"

"Yes, sir." Bosley agreed good naturedly.

"Well, ladies, pleased to be working with you. We'll see you at midnight." Michaels said, with a curt head nod. He rose from his seat and clapped Summers on the shoulder. The younger man had been staring dreamily at Jill, and started at the contact. He quickly rose to his feet and followed his companion out the door.

The girls and Bosley watched as the door closed behind them.

Jill sighed. "I don't think he takes us seriously."

"Why do you say that?" Bosley asked, furrowing his brow.

"He didn't ask for a signal to let his team know when to move in."

Sabrina, Kelly, and Bosley took this in with interest.

"Maybe it slipped his mind?" Sabrina offered.

"I'll call him later on and we'll figure something out." Bosley said.

Sabrina sighed and rubbed her hands together. "Well, I have to be at work in ten minutes. You girls ready?"

Kelly and Jill stood and followed Sabrina out the door.

After dropping off Jill and Kelly, Sabrina drove to work. She arrived fifteen minutes after eight and walked straight to her office and shut the door. She wasn't in the mood to deal with Peralta and his unappreciated advances today.

She nervously paced her office, going through every step of the night's plan. It all depended on Peralta showing up. They had yet to have solid evidence of his involvement, save the pocket watch she had found. Though they were fairly sure he was the one in charge, their entire plan could fall through if he didn't show up tonight.

The hours ticked by as painfully slow as they could. Sabrina felt like she was losing her mind. She turned in the paperwork Charlie's connection had done for her and sat in her office pretending to work. When it neared ten, she stepped out of her office, needing to walk around to relieve some nervous energy.

She walked briskly towards the break room. As she rounded the corner into the it's hallway, she was pleased to see Tom Kessler approaching from the opposite direction.

"Hey, Sabrina." he greeted her warmly.

"Hi." she answered back pleasantly. She wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, but she didn't want to be rude. He was such a nice guy.

"You need a cup of coffee already?" he said with a grin.

Sabrina laughed. "Well I gotta keep alert. Don't want to misplace a decimal or something."

Tom smiled. "I was just about to get one myself. Now I don't have to drink alone." he joked.

Sabrina felt herself blush. He was casually flirting with her and it was much more appreciated than Peralta. She followed Tom to the break room. As they walked, she noticed that he had an armful of documents.

He had probably been on his way somewhere else when he ran into her. Not that she minded his sudden change of plan. It would be a nice way to pass the time.

The two chatted for ten minutes over a cup of coffee. Deciding that they needed to get back to work before they were missed, they got up and headed for the door.

"So, do you have any plans after work?" Tom asked casually, as they left the break room.

Sabrina almost laughed. She most definitely had plans.

"Yeah, actually I do." she said regretfully.

Tom nodded. "Well, what about for lunch?"

Sabrina tilted her head thoughtfully. She was about to politely decline when she felt herself suddenly slammed backwards. She only caught a flash of black and red from the unidentified person who had just run into her as she teetered backwards. She flailed wildly trying to catch her balance. A strong hand reached out and grabbed her arm, preventing her from falling.

Irritated, Sabrina steadied herself and looked around to see who had run into her. She was surprised to see Peralta himself, standing in front of her, one hand on the wall for support.

"I'm terribly sorry, Ms. Duncan." he breathed.

Sabrina studied him closely. He looked nervous and agitated. And he was obviously in such a hurry to get somewhere that he hadn't bothered to check if anyone was coming down the hallway.

"It's ok, Art." she said quickly.

He nodded to her and started down the hallway again.

Tom released Sabrina's arm and waved his file over his head. "Mr. Peralta, I was just on my way to bring this for you to sign. Would you mind, sir?" he called out.

Peralta halted and looked over his shoulder, obviously irritated at the continued interruption.

"Kessler, there's a message for you on your desk." he said quickly.

Tom nodded. "Thanks, sir." He held up his forms. "What should I-?" he trailed off waiting for Peralta to give him an answer.

"Just leave them on my desk, I'll sign them later." he snapped. Without another word, he bustled down the hallway, towards the stairs.

Tom frowned.

"What's wrong with him today?"

Sabrina stared at Peralta's retreating form. Where was he rushing off to? She felt uneasy about this. She had to follow him.

"Where are you going?"

Sabrina paused, remembering Tom. She turned around, a pained expression on her face.

"Hey, I gotta take care of something real quick. Lunch another day?"

Tom looked wounded.

"Yeah, another day. See you later." he said, slightly confused by her seemingly erratic behavior.

Sabrina gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile before following Peralta's path. Once she cleared Tom's line of sight, she broke into a jog. She had to get to her car and call Jill.

Sabrina ran down the stairwell and out the back door into the parking lot. She could just see Peralta's car pulling out of its parking space. She ran to her car, started it and gave chase, catching up to Peralta within a few minutes.

While she drove, she dialed Jill's car extension. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel impatiently as she waited for her to pick up.

"Jill Munroe." Jill finally answered.

"Jill!" Sabrina started breathlessly. "Peralta is off somewhere. He looked real nervous. I'm following him now. Where are you?"

Jill was silent for a moment as she absorbed her information.

"I'm on Ocean Park and I-10 headed east. Where are you?"

"I'm on West 3rd street going west. I have a feeling he's headed to the shipyards. Can you meet me there? If he changes directions, I'll let you know."

Jill's voice grew distant as if she had moved her mouth away from the phone.

"Sorry, Kell. We're taking a detour." she heard Jill say. Her voice came back clearer. "On our way, Bri."

She hung up.

Sabrina frowned. Kelly was still with her? She was supposed to be at home asleep.

She shrugged it off and focused on following Peralta.

The man was weaving in and out of traffic as he sped along, anxious to get to wherever it was he was going. As they drove, Sabrina became more and more confident that he was headed towards the shipyards. She began to get excited. Maybe he would incriminate himself now and Kelly wouldn't have to get anything out of him tonight. She gripped the steering wheel tighter in anticipation.

She was startled when her phone suddenly rang. It was probably Jill.

"Sabrina Duncan." she answered quickly.

"Bri, I think you're right. There's some people here already. Me and Kell are going to spy on them. When you get here park in the alley behind the building. We'll be waiting."

"Got it."

She dropped the phone and continued following Peralta. He barely made the next light and Sabrina sighed in frustration as she was forced to stop. She fidgeted anxiously in her seat, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel and willing the light to change as quickly as possible. When it did, she lurched forward as quickly as she could.

Luck was not with her for the next few lights. By the third light she was stopped at, she felt like she was going to burst with frustration. She hoped that he really was going to the shipyards, because that's where she was headed.

Ten minutes later, she caught sight of his car and breathed a sigh of relief. As she had suspected, he made the turn into the shipyards. Sabrina followed, keeping far enough behind him that he wouldn't notice.

From the way he was driving though, she doubted he would.

She watched Peralta screech to a halt and jump out of his car. He rushed up the narrow staircase and banged on the door. It opened and he disappeared inside.

Sabrina eased her car carefully into the alley behind the warehouse. Jill's car was parked behind a dumpster. Sabrina parked and jogged over to the Cobra. Jill and Kelly were inside. They climbed out of the car when they saw Sabrina approaching.

"Bri, you can hear everything from under the building." Kelly said tersely, leading the way. Sabrina and Jill followed her around the staircase. The building, like most in the area, was on stilts, the thick wooden poles that held it up providing support to the structure and doubling as tie offs for small boats. The girls walked underneath the building and strained their ears to hear.

They didn't have to try hard.

"How did you let this happen?" they heard an enraged male voice yell. They could hear his footsteps pacing along the floor above them.

"Peralta" Sabrina mouthed.

"How was I supposed to know he would do something this stupid? I took care of it, didn't I?" another voice answered back defensively. Kelly recognized his voice as Fred's. She informed her friends.

"Did you?" Peralta shouted sarcastically. "Was he working with the other two kids?"

Kelly got a sickening feeling. One of her teenage cohorts had done something very foolish. She had a feeling he wouldn't be repeating his action.

"How the hell should I know? Probably not, I didn't see them here. Just him." Fred answered.

Peralta sighed loudly in frustration.

"Clean up, I don't want anything going wrong tonight. Did anyone know he was here?"

"No." Fred replied simply.

Peralta cursed loudly and began to pace again. Kelly grew impatient. She backed away from her friends.

"Something happened." she whispered to Sabrina and Jill. "I have to see what's going on."

She turned and jogged out from under the building and around the exterior, looking for the side door. She found it and pushed against it.

It was locked.

Muttering a curse under her breath, she pulled away and stood back, scanning the building for a way inside. Sabrina and Jill stopped short by her side.

Kelly spotted a grimy, filth encrusted window and ran towards it. It was about a foot above her head. She turned to Sabrina and Jill for help.

Without a word, Sabrina dropped to one knee. Jill steadied her while Kelly put her foot on Sabrina's bended leg and hoisted herself up. With the additional height, her eyes were just level with the window. She peeked inside.

She had been right about something being wrong. Christian was lying dead in the middle of the room in a pool of blood. He had probably been shot. Had he snuck in to steal some of the merchandise? The poor kid obviously didn't realize the kind of people he was dealing with.

Kelly felt a pang of sadness. He wouldn't get a second chance. She tensed as Fred, Peralta, and another man she had never seen before walked into her sight.

She turned and looked down at her friends.

"Jill! Give me your camera!" she whispered excitedly. Jill dug in her purse and handed it to her.

Kelly turned the flash off and snapped a few pictures of the men together with Christian's body.

If catching him at the drop tonight wasn't enough to put him away, this would definitely seal the deal.

Once satisfied, she dropped back to the ground.

"We got him." she said with a triumphant grin.

"I sure hope so." Sabrina said as she started backing away from the warehouse. "Let's get out of here before someone sees us."

The girls quickly snuck back to the alley where their vehicles were waiting for them. Not wanting to stay any longer, they drove to the parking lot of a nearby office building to talk.

"You think this will change anything, Kell?" Sabrina asked, once they were safely away from the warehouse.

Kelly shrugged. "I'm not sure exactly. Fred will call if there's a change in plan."

She leaned on Jill's car and yawned.

"I'll call Lieutenant Michaels and tell him what we saw." Jill said.

Sabrina nodded. "Ok. I'm going to get back to work before anyone notices I'm missing. I get off at five. Let's meet at the office at five thirty. We'll compare notes and get everything ready."

Jill nodded her agreement.

Kelly stared absently off to her left.

Noticing her lack of attention, Sabrina waved her hand in front of her friend's face. "Kell?"

Kelly snapped her head around. "What?" she asked, completely at sea.

Sabrina gave her an understanding smile. "Meet at the office at five thirty, ok?"

Kelly nodded.

"Ok, I think we've kept you up long enough. Let's get you home." Jill said, linking her arm through Kelly's and leading her to the passenger's door. Kelly went without protest.

"See you guys at five thirty." Sabrina called as she got into her car.

Jill watched her drive away and drove off in the opposite direction.

"I'm gonna see if I can get this film developed today." Jill said out loud as she drove, more to herself than to Kelly.

Kelly turned and looked at her. "Where?"

Jill shrugged. "Remember Jack, the ice cream guy? He's an amateur photographer. He's got a lab and I think he'll let me borrow it."

Kelly stared blankly at Jill

"His name is Jack?" she echoed unbelievably, ignoring the rest of Jill's previous statement.

Jill giggled and nodded. Kelly was delighted.

"Jill, please marry him."

Jill burst into laughter and shoved her friend playfully.

"I don't think I could stand the teasing." she said with a grin.

Kelly looked thoughtfully at her friend and let her imagination run wild with all of the possibilities of such a union. She suddenly burst into a fit of hysterical giggles.

Jill shook her head at Kelly's delirious laughter.

"You need to go home and go to bed, young lady." she said.

Kelly wiped her eyes. She agreed wholeheartedly.

The dark figure watched the three women talk briefly in the parking lot before driving away. He had followed them from the alley. The three women had been spying on them. He watched them closer, trying to decide if they were a threat.

He suddenly recognized the slim brunette. She was one of the teens that Fred had recruited to help them.

This initially confused him. Why would a punk kid like her be talking to two young women? As he watched her interact with the two other girls, he began to grit his teeth with fury as he realized what was going on. She was no kid. He clenched his fist tightly by his sides. She had been playing them. He felt stupid for having been fooled.

The three women were obviously working together. But for what? He had seen the brunette snapping pictures. Where they all some kind of cops? Blackmailers?

It didn't matter. The girl had been lying to them and if she had any damning evidence of illegal activity with her, then she couldn't be allowed to live. Or her friends.

He smiled to himself as he took down the license plate numbers of both cars. He would get the "kid" over here as soon as possible and have her taken care of.

But first he would deal with her friends.