"What about her?" Jemma asked and made a motion to a girl on the other end of the bar. "She's pretty."
"No. She looks like Jocelyn."
"Come on, laddie. There's gotta be someone in here that's your type," Scotty sighed. There was but he wasn't telling either of his companions that.
"Another one for the lady," the bartenders said, sitting a drink in front of Jemma.
"I don't drink," she chuckled as she slid it to Scotty. "Maybe if they were paying attention, they'd notice."
"They'd also notice that you weren't alone," he muttered. Scotty couldn't hear him but Jemma did.
"Aww, is someone jealous?" Jem asked him. Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes.
"Nope. Just stating a fact. You walked in here on Scotty's arm and you haven't talked to anyone but us. It's just…" he stopped when Jemma's face lit up. "What?"
"Dead cop. We gotta go," she told him. "Sorry, Scotty."
"It's alright, lass," the Engineer smiled. "Duty calls."
"Did I ruin date night?" Stiles chuckled as he looked Jemma up and down, she had dressed up a little to go out with him and Scotty. Leonard had a retort on the tip of his tongue but his partner beat him to the punch.
"Actually, you did. We weren't gonna say anything until the wedding but you caught us," she said. The other detective looked at her before he looked at Leonard, who was trying not to laugh at the look on his face. "I'm Scotty's wingwoman. What we got?"
"It's an unmarked car. Deceased officer's prints are all over it," Stiles said. "We found this."
"Benzupropine," Jemma said, scanning the container in John's hand. "It's made from an algae that grows in the ocean. It was only discovered three years ago. They call it The Bends."
"Just what the department needs, a corrupt cop with a trunk full of drugs," Stiles sighed. Leonard looked closer at the dead man on the ground. It's couldn't be.
Jemma ran facial recognition, "Detective Hikaru…"
"Sulu," he finished for her. "He's from the twenty-fifth division."
"You know him?" she asked. Leonard pulled her away from the body and Stiles.
"Pike knows him too. I went to the academy with Sulu. He was a good cop. No way he's dirty," Leonard told his partner.
"When was the last time you saw him?"
"Been a few years," he said. That was only half true. Hikaru was one of the few people that visited him when he was in his coma. Leonard tried to see him after he woke up but the other detective was undercover until a few weeks ago.
"Bones, a lot can change in a matter of years."
"Not this. Not Hikaru."
"He had drugs in his trunk. Do you want to read the initial investigation report?" Jemma asked.
"I don't care what it says, Jem. He's not dirty." There were a lot of things and a lot of people that weren't what Leonard thought they were over the course of the last few years, Hikaru Sato Sulu was not one of those people. There was a reason for all of this.
"He wasn't registered on any undercover operation. Someone pulled a subcutaneous wire from…" she said, pausing at the last part. "Why would a dirty cop have a wire?"
"Exactly."
"You know who that is?" Stiles asked as a tall man walked with Pike to the captain's office. "That's Barry Giotto. He's the captain of two-five precinct, narcotics division. This is the part where he tells Pike that IA was already investigating Detective Sulu for dealing on the side."
"Save it, Stiles," Leonard groaned.
"If he was such a saint, why'd he have fifteen liters of The Bends in his trunk?" the other detective asked.
"If he's guilty, why he was wearing a wire?" Leonard asked.
"Well, one theory's obvious," Stiles shrugged. "He wanted hard evidence against whoever's trafficking, use as leverage, force them to give him a bigger cut of the profits. I don't know. You tell me. He was your friend."
"Yeah, he was."
"Bones. His sisters are here," Jemma said. Leonard turned in his chair to see the two women, one a nurse and the other a uniformed officer, holding hands.
"Aiko. Yuki," he said as he got to his feet.
"Leo," they both gave him a small smile and spoke in unison. People often thought they were twins but Aiko was twelve or so years older than her sister.
"I'm so sorry about Hikaru," Leonard told them after a quick hug. "Come on. I gotta ask you some questions. Is that okay?"
"It's protocol," Yuki said, refusing to show weakness in front of other cops. Just like her brother. "We'll be fine."
He led them into an interview room. "This is my partner, Jemma."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Jem said. Both sisters thanked her before they looked at him.
"Tell me that's the crap I heard over the wire wasn't true," Yuki said. Of course she knew, cops talk.
"That's what we're trying to clear up. Did Hik tell either of you know anything about what he was doing?" Leonard asked.
"You know him, he never brought that stuff around mom. I had lunch with him last month but I haven't seen him outside family dinners. You're still invited to those, by the way. Mom was so worried about you," Aiko said.
"I'll give her a call when I get a chance, I promise," he smiled.
"You didn't notice anything else?" Jemma asked. Aiko shook her head but Yuki thought about it for a minute.
"He was worried," the younger sister said. "He stopped by my place a couple weeks ago, really off. Stressed out more than usual. I figured it was a case he was working." She sighed. "They're treating him like he's a criminal and not one of our own. He's innocent. You believe that, don't you?"
"I do. We just have to prove it," Leonard told her. "And no, you can't work it, Yuki. I know you want to but you can't."
"I know. It'll just look like I'm covering something up for him. IA is already gonna be a pain in my ass." You could feel the disdain dripping off the young officer.
"You sure there's nothing else?" he asked.
"He, um... took a day off earlier this week, went to the boathouse," Aiko said. "I called him and that's where he was."
"Boathouse?" Jemma asked.
"They inherited it from their dad five or six years ago," Leonard told his partner.
"Four walls, no heat. Hik loved it and we both prefer heat, so he's the only one who uses it. If you want some answers, that's where you should look," Yuki told him.
He looked at her, "You wouldn't mind?"
"No, of course not," Aiko said. "Please, just find the truth. Hikaru was a good cop and a good person and he doesn't deserve this."
"Wanna talk about it, Bones?" Jem asked.
"Nothing to talk about."
"What are we hoping to find?"
"That wire Sulu was wearing was transmitting to somewhere. I'm thinking that this boathouse is probably where he was running whatever this is from there," he told her.
"You seem entirely convinced that Sulu was somehow unfairly set up by these traffickers," she said.
"He was my friend. Until someone can prove any different, he deserves my allegiance. The same allegiance I would give you, Uhura, Pike… even Stiles, just don't tell him I said that."
"Secret's safe with me," Jemma said with a small smile as she unlocked the door.
"If I had to live in one of these things, I'd kill myself," he sighed. "Bit of a mess."
"Someone was here," she told him. "No fingerprints. No DNA outside the Sulu family. Different sized boots. A pair matching Sulu and his younger sister. The other two belong to men."
"Whoever they were, they were probably looking for the same thing that we are," Leonard said.
"Bones, if the same people that killed Sulu came here, that means they knew details about his life."
"Put a..."
"Protection detail on his mother and sisters. You got it," she smiled.
"Thanks," he chuckled.
"You're welcome, neighbor," Jemma chuckled and picked up a picture. "Is this you?"
"Yep." Leonard smiled as the old photo of him and Hikaru long before Section 31 and comas. "Hikaru was the only person in my class who could outrun me, outshoot me."
"So there were only two people in your class?" Jemma asked with a smirk.
"No. Our dads knew each other, worked the same precinct for a while, so we stuck together."
"It's a good picture," she smiled. That's when Leonard looked around.
"It's the only picture," he said. Hikaru was as high tech as the next guy. This was the only actual picture in the whole place. The others were either digital or holographic. "Scan that."
"There's an audio stick in here," she said after a few seconds.
"Thanks for the hint, buddy."
"Now does the finder's fee seem fair?" Sulu asked someone.
"We're talking six hundred liters of raw product. I'm gonna need to see him cook first," the other voice said.
Two gunshots.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Sulu again.
Two more gunshots.
"What… Whatever you're thinking, you're wrong!" Sulu's breathing was labored.
One more gunshot.
"So Sulu got a meeting with The Albino?" Uhura sighed.
"Vice has been trying to build a case against him for the last decade. No one's gotten so much as a photo, let alone a name," Pike said with a nod.
"Sulu found him," Leonard added.
"Found him? He was working with him... brokering a deal to sell him a cook," Stiles said.
"More like that was the only way to get a face-to-face," Leonard offered.
"There have only been a few deaths because The Bends is so difficult to harvest from the ocean. Six hundred liters of raw product sounds like an operation to mass produce," Jemma said.
"That's what The Albino does. If his pattern holds, first he takes out the competition, creates a shortage, drive up the price," Uhura took a breath. "The Bends is notoriously addictive. We could be looking at an epidemic."
"You wanted to see me?" Leonard asked his CO.
"We got a call from County. They have twenty-five cases of The Bends overdoses. Five dead already," Chris sighed.
"So, let's finish what Sulu started. The Albino still needs a cook. I could pose as one, get a CI to vouch for me," he offered.
"Ha. Jemma's a better cook than you and she doesn't even eat. You can't cook ramen. How the hell you gonna cook The Bends?" Pike laughed.
"Hey. Come on, I can cook ramen," Leonard said. The captain raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I can order ramen."
"Leonard, let's talk about what's really driving you here. Sulu was your friend and you can't help but make this personal," Chris said. Leonard opened his mouth to speak but Chris held up a hand. "It's okay. If I were in your shoes… hell, I've been in your shoes. But we got kids dying on the streets here. We gotta hand this to Narco, and I'm sorry, but we gotta put your friend's case on hold."
"Look, this has got nothing to do with my friend. This is about catching The Albino. It's been ten years. This is our best shot. We finally have an angle on him. He's desperate to find a cook."
"If I agreed, where are we gonna find someone with a background in chemistry, that is so good, so believable in his skill, he'll convince even The Albino? We don't have time for this."
"Actually, I got just the guy."
"You want me to go undercover?" Scotty asked him. Chekov was actually Leonard's first choice but Jemma vetoed it since Chekov was barely old enough to drink and he rambled in Russian when he was nervous, there was no way she was allowing the kid to go undercover. It was actually kind of adorable the way she went all protective over the kid. Scotty was the next best option.
"Yes," Leonard said. "You'll be working on the front lines, a hero to the department. You'll be keeping a highly addictive drug off the streets and saving countless lives. All you gotta do is know how to cook. And it may not even get to that, if you get a face-to-face with The Albino first.
"Just please remember that this is an extremely dangerous job," Jemma told their friend. "We'll have you under full surveillance at all times. You'll never be out of sight and you know how good my sight is."
"Full surveillance?" Scotty asked.
"Yeah, an entire detail watching you, ready to move in if anything goes wrong," Leonard said.
"Okay, I'll do it. I'll do it," the engineer said.
"Fantastic. Stiles spent half his career working Vice. He'll be prepping you," he said to the enthusiastic Scot.
"Nyota's building your cover," Jemma added.
"Would I wear a disguise? Can I wear a disguise?" Scotty asked.
"Maybe you should check with Uhura and Stiles," his partner smiled as they headed towards the door.
"Hey. Where are you guys going?"
"To find someone to arrange the meet," Leonard told him.
Jemma looked at him as they walked to the car. "Did I do something?"
"What?"
"I get that this case is close to home for you but that's no reason to revert back to being grumpy," she said.
"It's not you. It's… I've been having some dreams that I can't quite…"
"Wanna talk about it?"
"No," he sighed as he started the car. "Yes. No."
"Which is it?"
"I want to talk about it. And I should talk about them. I just can't talk to you about them."
"Oh."
"It's nothing you did. It's just…"
"I'm in them. The dreams," Jemma said. Damn perceptive partners.
"Yes. Some of them end badly. Others… aren't exactly appropriate."
"I'm gonna assume I die in the bad dreams. That suggests that some aspect or quality I have is dying within yourself. Let's face it, I'm awesome, so that could be anything. Or you're worried about me," she chuckled. "Inappropriate dreams indicate a closeness we share that's depicted as sexual. Though, such dreams also indicate a level of attraction between us that you're too afraid to act on."
"This is why I shouldn't have said anything."
"That actually explains why we couldn't find you a girl last night."
"Drop it."
"Why?" she asked. "I think it's cute that you have a crush on me."
"Jemma."
"Leonard."
"Oh, God, I thought you were dead," Cyrano Jones, a low-level dealer for The Albino, said to him.
"Well, in the afterlife, you're still a dealer," Leonard chuckled.
"I'm not..." Cyrano started.
"He's holding. Three point six milliliters of The Bends," Jemma said.
"Three point six milliliters of The Bends. That's eighteen to twenty-four months, pal," Leonard told Jones. "Unless, of course you wanna cut a deal."
"Last time I did you a favor, I almost got my throat slit," Cyrano said.
"Lucky for you, he couldn't find it," Leonard chuckled.
"You got fat jokes? Don't get me started on that piece of silicon and carbon fiber you call a leg," the dealer said with a laugh. "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to broker a meeting between The Albino and a new cook," the detective told the other man.
"Are you insane?" Cyrano asked.
"All the time. It's usually funny," Jemma said. Leonard looked at her. "What? You are."
"What's it gonna be, Cy?" Leonard asked.
"It's gonna cost you something big," the dealer told them.
"Try me. I'm in a generous mood today."
"My girl got pulled over a couple months back. The cops found a few guns. She's got priors, which means major time," Cyrano said.
"What's her name?" Leonard asked.
"Nona Davison. She got booked downtown."
"Jem."
She went disco face for a second, "Dismissed the charges, officer's discretion."
"Set the meeting."