"Alright- aggressive entry with Unit 55 on our tails." Ed informed.
"Target?" Spike asked.
"Neil Valadrez, a recent immigrant to Canada from Mexico. Known to the Mexican authorities as a child molester back in the 80s, and most recently for attempted assault with a weapon and attempted assault to cause bodily harm." Greg told us.
"And they let guys like that into Canada?" Brad said, as we were all thinking it, "I thought our crime rate was bad enough, and they're letting people like this in?"
"Immigrations Canada hasn't issued him permanent status yet," I said, as I punched the suspect's name into my PDA, "Looks like their decision is hinging on what happens today."
"Let's protect the peace!" Ed exclaimed.
Me and Sara held each other close. We were in my bed.
"I love you." I said.
"Right back at you, babe." she replied, "I don't want this moment to end."
"Me neither." I spoke as I smelt her red hair. It smells like vanilla-coconut.
"It's going to have to end soon." Sara said, "I have to go home, shower, and get ready for work."
"Darn," I said with a smile, "There goes the hope of trying that…"
"You know," Sara interrupted, "We should move in together."
The suggestion took me by surprise, but I just rolled with it, "Where?"
"My place." Sara suggested, "Master bedroom with an attached bath with a Jacuzzi tub. An extra bedroom for…"
"For what?"
"I'd like to have kids someday." Sara said, "You?"
I have thought about having kids before. Just not with Sara. I'll avoid the question by asking a question.
"How would that work?"
"Sperm bank or we could adopt."
"Who would carry?"
"Why don't we figure that out?" Sara said with a giggle, as she rolled me over, and came out on top, as we proceeded to make love.
Sara quickly reached for her clothes as she quickly got dressed.
"Damn- I'm going to be late." She said, "Unless- you mind if I shower here?"
I smiled, "Go for it."
"You're a lifesaver, babe." She said, as she quickly put on her shirt, kissed my forehead, and darted into the hallway and for the bathroom.
Once she was gone I started to get dressed myself.
I love her. I really do. But do I love her enough to live with her? I don't know. We're moving kind of fast, aren't we?
"Hey Megan." A voice said from behind me.
Half nude, I instinctively grabbed for my sheet and wrapped it tightly around me.
As I spun around, mom was in my room with Kristina.
"Oh, maybe I should've knocked." Jules said.
"Yeah, you think?" I snapped back, regretting it instantly, "Sorry."
"It's ok. You have the right to some privacy. Privacy and all though, can you watch Kristina for a bit while I do a few things?"
"Yeah sure." As I took Kristina.
As soon as my mom left the room, I let the sheet fall, as I put Kristina on the bed and finished getting dressed.
Ok, so maybe I wouldn't have to put up with my mom's nosey intrusions into my privacy if I lived with Sara. Not like it's a big deal. Well, I suppose it couldn't have killed her to knock first. Right? Maybe I'm overthinking this, like I do everything. I'm gay. I like women. I love Sara. She loves me. It feels like she's a part of me that I've been missing my entire life. Maybe I should move in with her.
I picked up Kristina, who was trying to gnaw on my sheets, as I tried to fix some of her brown hair that's growing like a weed.
"Life sure is simple when you're 4 months old, eh?"
"See?" Sara said from the doorframe, as she used a hair tie to tie her damp hair into a ponytail, "You're a natural."
"I don't think I would want to be pregnant." I admitted, "But yeah, I see your point."
"About?"
"Moving in together."
Sara smiled, as she gave me a kiss, "Talk more about it after work, ok babe?"
I smiled back, "Sure thing, sexy."
I got ready for work and went into SRU headquarters. I was early, but there was something I wanted to do first.
I walked down the hallway, and entered Greg's office. He was sitting at his desk working on some paperwork.
"Keeping busy boss?" I asked.
"I do what I can. What's up?"
"Can we talk?"
"Sure thing." Greg said, as I took a seat.
"How did you, Ed, and Mr. H find out?"
"About you?" Greg asked, "Ed said, the less you knew…."
"I need to know."
"Why?"
"It's complicated, boss." I said, "The only people who know are me, mom, Sara-"
"And Sara would be?" Greg interrupted.
"My girlfriend. Only me, mom, Sara, you, Ed and Hollerand know. I want to…I need to know."
"We had reason to believe that you were hiding something that could affect your job, so we investigated it."
"What gave you the reason to believe?"
"Brad. The night we went to the bar- he didn't drink at all. He saw you leave with her."
"So Brad sees me leaving with a woman and SRU decides to investigate? That's a bit personal, don't you think?"
"He went above my head Megan," Greg explained, "He went right to the Commander with it. I had no choice. You're not going to try to…"
"No, of course not." I reasoned, "Does he know?"
"No. All he knows was that the situation was investigated."
"Perfect, thanks boss."
I went to the equipment cage to get a replacement battery for my radio, as mine was on the outs. Low and behold- Brad was there, field stripping a rifle- although having some difficulty with it.
I put my radio on the bench, as I grabbed a similar rifle off the wall. "Here, you just extract the bolt, examine the bore, examine the bolt and but it back in." I said, as I quickly showed him and chambered a round into the rifle, and took the safety off, "Then check to make sure the safety goes on and off."
"Thanks." Brad said, "I didn't think there'd come a day where a woman would know more about guns than me."
I still had the rifle in my hands. That last comment pissed me off. I still had the gun in my hands. I bit my anger back and placed it back on the rack.
"I know."
"Know what?" Brad asked.
"I know that you went to the Commander and he had me investigated. You want to know what he found out?"
"I'm not asking for anything, and I don't expect you to share your secrets, ok?"
I looked into his eyes, "Right answer."
I watched carefully, as I saw Brad, Spike, followed by Ed and Greg enter the men's locker room.
As soon as Greg entered, I went in behind him.
Spike saw me first, "Hey you're supposed to ask first."
"Sorry, this won't take long." I said, "Some of you know a close secret about me. We're a team, we shouldn't keep secrets from each other- it's not healthy."
"You memorized Micheal Jackson's 'Beat It'?" Spike laughed.
I laughed. Spike's good at making people laugh.
"No, it's…I'm gay."
I looked up to see their reactions. Both Ed and Greg were feinting being surprised. They were bad at it. Brad stopped halfway of buttoning his shirt and just stared at me. Spike looked at me, blinked a few times and said, "You mean for textbooks, right?"
"No, Spike. I'm gay. I like women."
"That's….that's news." Spike said, as he wrapped his mind around it.
"I'm actually dating someone- her name is Sara. I love her. We're thinking of moving in together."
While the team was still trying to take in the information I gave them, Winnie came in.
"What's up with them?" Winnie asked, as both Ed and Greg were doing their best to avoid eye contact with me, and Brad and Spike were still staring at me.
"They're absorbing some big news." I said, "What's up?"
"Unit 55 just dropped this off for Greg." Winnie said, as she held up a file folder.
"For me?" Greg asked, as he took the folder and looked through it quickly, "Team, debriefing room, in five minutes. Ed- walk with me."
Both Ed and Greg left the locker room. Spike went back to putting on his uniform as Brad was still staring at me.
"What's with him?" Winnie asked.
"I'm.." I started, but Spike tried to interrupt by saying "Don't say it again!"
"I'm gay." I finished.
Winnie grinned. "Girls?"
"Yeah."
"Nothing wrong with that. Like what you see?"
"I'm actually dating someone."
"Rock on girl!" Winnie said, as we walked out of the men's locker room together.
We all assembled in the debriefing room.
"What's up?" I asked since nobody was talking to each other.
"Undercover unit 55 has been working closely with the crime lab. They believe they got a lead on the murders." Greg said.
Again, nobody said anything.
"Where?" I asked.
"145 Charles Street."
"What's the tactical plan?" I asked.
Both me and Greg looked to Ed.
Ed looked at me. "Alright-aggressive entry with Unit 55 on our tails."
"Target?" Spike asked, ending the code of silence.
"Neil Valadrez, a recent immigrant to Canada from Mexico. Known to the Mexican authorities as a child molester back in the 80s, and most recently for attempted assault with a weapon and attempted assault to cause bodily harm." Greg told us.
"And they let guys like that into Canada?" Brad asked, as we were all thinking it, "I thought our crime rate was bad enough, and they're letting people like this in?"
I pulled out my PDA and started searching the name, "Immigrations Canada hasn't issued him permanent status yet, looks like their decision is hinging on what happens today."
"Unit 55 thinks Valadrez is the Goddess killer?" Spike confirmed.
"That pretty much sums it up Scarlatti." Greg said, "We got a warrant for his arrest whether we find evidence he's the killer or not. Turns out Immigrations wants to have a chat with him."
"They can't knock on his door themselves?" I asked.
"Guess not, Meg." Ed said, "Me and Megan as alpha, Spike, Brad, and the boss on bravo. This is a story and half house, with a lot of rooms, so no mistakes. Valadrez is wanted alive and well, so we are less lethal all around- tasers, batons, rubber bullets, flashbangs and suppression gas if we really need it."
"Got it." Me, Spike and Brad said in unison.
"Let's protect the peace!" Ed exclaimed.
With several Unit 55 officers supporting us, we surrounded the house.
"Boss, you want to try a peaceful surrender first?" Ed suggested.
"Worth a try, if you want." Greg whispered to him, as he grabbed for his megaphone.
I hefted the door sledge in my hands, "What, I won't get to bust down a door?"
"You know Meg, you and your dad both had a thing for busting down doors. What's with that?"
"Dad was a Taurus and I'm Cancer." I said, "What else is there to tell?"
Greg brought up the megaphone and pressed the actuating trigger.
"Mr. Neil Valadrez of 145 Charles Street, this is the police Strategic Response Unit. We have your home surrounded- please surrender peacefully or we will be entering your home."
Suddenly the front door opened.
"Door, door, door, door!" Ed yelled as I ran up and pulled Mr. Valadrez out and cuffed him.
As soon as I did that, Ed, Spike, Greg, Brad and several other Unit 55 officers entered the house to search for evidence that he was the Goddess murderer.
"No evidence of the Goddess murders." Spike said, as he came back out and told me.
"This is because of that?" Valadrez asked, in a thick Mexican accent, "I am not a killer, you uncuff me now. That is your job, do your job- uncuff me."
I hauled Neil Valadrez to his feet and slammed him against the exterior wall. "Are you telling me how to do my job sir?"
"You do your job, cockroach, uncuff me!"
I spun him around so he could see my face. "That's crossing the line- cross it again, and you'll be charged with verbal assault and uttering threats to a police officer."
"Uncuff me!" he yelled, as he saw Ed walk up to us, "You have key, you uncuff!"
"I don't think so Mr. Valadrez- Immigrations Canada, they want to talk. Don't get too comfy there either, because the Criminal Investigations Unit will be coming to your house, and they'll be swabbing every inch of this place. If they so much of find a dead skin cell of Kendra, Hope, Juliet, Amy or Claire, you're looking at serious jail time."