Sam heard a knock at his door, and he forced himself to open his eyes. A quick glance at the clock confirmed his suspicions that it was much too early for any company bearing good news; but then it wasn't often that JD received any pleasant callers. He rolled out of bed and pulled on a shirt before nudging the door open slightly.
He was greeted by the smirking face of Jamie Brennan. The man was much too smug for such an ungodly hour. Sam opened the door wide, allowing his 'boss' to come inside.
"You're up awfully early." Sam commented, attempting conversation.
"Now, JD,who said I ever went to sleep."
A slight raise of the eyebrows was Sam's only response. He waited for Brennan to announce his reason for showing up at his apartment; he knew better than to ask. If Sam had learned anything about his employer in the past 5 weeks it was that Jamie Brennan operated on a strictly need to know basis, and if you didn't need to know why he was knocking on your door at 5am then you bet your ass you wouldn't be finding out.
"Want something to drink?" Sam asked, more to fill the silence than anything else.
Brennan ignored his question. He walked around Sam's apartment eyeing it up and down as if he were a realtor surveying the property. Sam would be lying if he said that he wasn't at least a little nervous about what this could be about. His cop senses were buzzing; something was off here.
"You got a girl, JD?"
Sam was thrown off for a second by the sheer randomness of the question, but he had good instincts and didn't let his surprise show.
"Nope. I don't need any of that shit tying me down, you know, with my profession." Sam smirked, hoping he was the picture of a man completely unattached.
Brennan nodded, as if he'd already known the answer to this question.
"Always good to be focused on the work, but don't let this job become your life."
What the hell was this about? Jamie Brennan was a busy man, he was no nonsense. He did not stop by his employees houses to chat about their love lives; or lack thereof. Sam was becoming increasingly suspicious of Brennan's motives. After another bout of silence Brennan finally arrived at his point.
"There's a deal going down tonight. Be at Gyer's Pier at midnight." Without another word Brennan turned on his heel and walked briskly out the door.
Need to know basis indeed. Could that have been any vaguer? If there was one thing Sam hated above all it was going into a situation unprepared; he liked to have as much as intel as possible before heading into anything that held any possibility of danger. Now the only information he had was the location and time of the meeting. It appeared he didn't have any choice in the matter, however. He would just have to make the best of the situation, and put his training to good use.
Sam decided not to worry about that which was beyond his control and trudged back to bed, praying sleep would find him soon.
"McNally, Best wants to see you in his office." Her fellow officer walked away before Andy could ask what it was regarding.
How could she possibly be in trouble? She had been pushing paperwork all week. In fact she couldn't think of a single reason Best would need to see her. She had, quite frankly, been at her best the past few weeks. (Which made it all the more frustrating to be sentenced to desk duty, but it was a necessary evil for any police officer.)
She has been sharp, focused, and dead on as far as her instincts; she was solving case after case. It was safe to say that Andy McNally was on a roll. Sam would be proud of the cop she was becoming.
Sam.
Had something happened to him? Suddenly Andy couldn't walk fast enough. She brushed by Dov who was saying something to her, but she didn't slow her pace. She pushed aside the glass door of Best's office without knocking, which was very bad form, but she couldn't be bothered to care.
She gasped when a chair opposite Best's spun around to reveal none other than Donovan Boyd. Oh God, this was about Sam. With what little composure she had left she managed to get out,
"What's going on?" Her voice was frantic and she ignored the gesture for her to take a seat.
Boyd eyed her with distaste.
"Relax McNally; you look like somebody just killed your puppy." God, she hated his nonchalance.
"Don't." She knew she was flirting with danger, talking to her superior in that tone, but as had been pointed out; she wasn't exactly rational when it came to Sam. "Don't joke, until someone tells me that nothing is wrong with Sam!"
Boyd rolled his eyes.
"Swarek's fine, this is about you. Now sit down." His tone left no room for discussion.
Andy sat down, feeling a little foolish for having jumped to conclusions and barging into her boss' office.
"Sorry," she said sheepishly.
"McNally," Best addressed her now, seeming to forgive her little outburst. "It's that time of year again."
Andy raised her eyebrows in question.
"Time for all the second year officers to have their first undercover competition."
Andy blushed as she realized the reason for her summoning. She should have remembered that it was today. Dov and Chris had been trash talking each other the entire preceding week, placing bets on how much more money one would make over the other. It was a long standing tradition at 15th precinct for the 2nd year coppers to pose as drug dealers for the day and whoever returned to the station with the most money was the winner. All the winner received was bragging rights, although word was that the winner of the competition usually held favor amongst Guns N Gangs if they ever needed a younger officer in one of their operations.
Everyone always appreciated a little undercover work as a break from routine, although not all were cut out for it. Which was another reason this competition was held; to see who could hold their own in UC and who couldn't.
After she was given a short debriefing - and a bus token - Andy emerged from Best's office in a much clearer frame of mind than when she had entered. As she stepped into the hall she almost collided with Dov.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked, the concern visible in his eyes.
"Yeah, sorry about earlier. I was just letting my imagination run wild. But what's up?"
"So, get this; Chris thinks he's going to beat me by $200." He laughed in disbelief. "Do you believe that?"
The ride in Boyd's car was uncomfortable to say the least. Even Dov hadn't been his usual chatty self, picking up on the tension in the vehicle. Andy climbed out as soon as the car screeched to a halt; grateful to no longer be in a confined space with her least favourite coworker. After a couple more clipped instructions, Boyd made a sharp U turn and quickly became no more than a spec in the distance.
The group of second years shuffled along slowly, unsure of where exactly they were headed.
"Well I'll see you guys." Dov said from the back of the pack.
Andy turned around. "Where are you going?"
"Boyd dropped us in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a bus token. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out we're supposed to take the bus downtown."
"Maybe it's for emergencies." Chris interjected.
"He said use what we know." He flipped his bus token in the air and caught it with a smirk. "I'm using what I know."
They watched as Dov walked in the opposite direction. A minute later Chris followed.
"Chris!" Gail shouted frantically after his retreating figure.
Chris waved his hand impatiently keeping on his path. The girls could hear as Chris and Dov argued all the way to the bus stop.
"Well it looks like it's just us girls." said Traci.
Gail scoffed.
"Oh no, I'm flying solo. The last thing I need is for you to burn me like you did on your last 'undercover' job." She put air quotes around undercover, letting Andy know exactly what she thought of her future in GnG.
Andy held up her hands in retreat. "Fine by me."
And then there were two.
Andy spotted a car rushing towards them and on a whim she flagged it down. The window rolled down to reveal a harried looking woman and her two kids. Andy started talking with absolutely no forethought as to what she was actually going to Say.
Somehow words just started pouring out of her mouth.
"Hi, sorry, my name's Candace. I'm in town for a conference, a silly conference really, on overwriting; insurance overwriting, new avenues." She was rambling, oh God she was rambling, but the woman seemed to be buying it. "Anyways, we were actually on a shuttle to the airport, but she had to pee, so we got off at the last hotel stop and I stupidly followed her and when I came back out the shuttle was gone."
"That's terrible." the woman sympathized.
"I know, all of our bags, purses, everything is gone. I mean it's a nightmare; I'm living a nightmare right now. Is there any way we could get a ride?" Please, please let this work.
"I'm sorry, I'm already late. Here, just grab a cab." The woman handed Andy a bill through the open window.
"Wow, thank you." The woman drove away and Andy held up the bill triumphantly. "Ha! Twenty dollars."
"Candace the insurance over writer?" Traci asked amused.
"Hey, no making fun. I got us something to start with." Andy hailed a cab and motioned for Traci to follow. "Come on. I have an idea."
They pulled up to the Alpine and Traci eyed the decrepit building doubtfully.
"A dive bar?"
Andy paid the driver the fare, begrudgingly parting with half her money.
"I have an idea." Andy repeated
She remembered, a while back, Sam mentioning the Alpine in passing when speaking of his prior UC ops as a popular hangout for drug dealers. Which, she told herself, was the only reason she directed the cab to this location. Not because she was actually holding out some asinine hope that Sam might be there at just the right (or wrong, depending on how you looked at it) time. No, because that would be extremely foolish and unprofessional to hope to run into an officer who was on a very important, very discreet operation. And Andy was anything but foolish and unprofessional, right?
She pushed open the heavy door to the bar and immediately her senses were assailed by the smell of booze, cigarette smoke, and sweat.
What a charming aroma.
"So what's your plan, Candace?" Traci asked, speaking as lowly as the pounding bass permitted.
"Just, trust me."
Andy led the way deeper into the bar, undoing a few buttons on her blouse as she walked. They made their way to the back corner where a pool table stood under very bad lighting, and the two men playing eyed them suspiciously. Andy rested her hand on the edge of the table and leaned over, effectively causing the stockier man to miss his shot.
"Mind if we join, boys?"
An hour later - mostly because of Traci's surprising skill - they were one hundred dollars richer. (Okay, so it was entirely due to Traci's skill. Was it Andy's fault that she'd only played a couple times here and there at the Penny?)
As Andy and Traci were counting their winnings inconspicuously as possible,they were approached by a silver haired man who appeared to be in his early 40's. Andy had the distinct feeling that she knew this man, but she couldn't put a name to the face.
"How would you like a chance to double that money?" the man asked, nodding towards the bills in Traci's hand.
Andy glanced around. "Where's your teammate?"
The man smiled at her patronizingly.
"Sweetheart, I've been watching and you're just dragging your partner down." He turned to Traci to address her. "One on one, double or nothing. What do you say?"
Traci turned a questioning gaze on Andy.
"Go ahead. I'm just going to go get a drink."
Andy turned to make her way to the bar, her ego a little bruised. Yeah, she sucked at pool, but did the guy have to be such an ass about it?
"Alright, you're on -" Traci trailed off, waiting for the man to fill in the blanks.
"Jamie. Jamie Brennan."
Andy stopped short for a second, but quickly regained her composure; she didn't need to draw any attention to herself.
Jamie Brennan, as in Jamie Brennan drug dealer, as in Jamie Brennan suspected murderer, as in the very same Jamie Brennan Sam was working for. Andy could feel her heart beating out of her chest as she sat at the bar trying to be as nonchalant as possible.
She ordered a drink and tried not to be too obvious in her appraisal of the man that had stolen the man she loved from her for 5 maddeningly slow weeks. For all appearances he seemed to be just like any other man, but after so many years in his 'business' you probably got pretty good at pretending to be somebody you're not.
Andy was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice two men sitting behind her at the bar until she heard a name that put her on instant alert.
"Yeah, we're Meeting JD at midnight." Her ears immediately perked up at the mention of Sam's undercover name. She could hear the quotations around the word meeting, and already her instincts were buzzing.
She stayed glued to her seat at the bar, determined not to move an inch, lest the men realize they had an audience.
"Did he tell you why -?" The other man started, but he was promptly cut off.
"No, he didn't tell me why! And I didn't ask. Jamie Brennan tells you to do something, you do it. No questions asked." he hissed lowly.
Andy shivered involuntarily at the menace in the man's voice. Something was definitely wrong here.
"Okay, okay," Andy imagined he had his hands up in defense. "Where is it again?"
"Gyer's Pier."
Andy felt a tap at her shoulder and she whirled around quickly.
"Whoa," Traci said, the surprise registering in her voice. "It's just me. Look, I think we should get out of here. Move along."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."
When she turned around the two men at the bar were gone. She immediately felt a sense of panic, and looked down at her watch.
11:45.
Once they were outside Andy pulled Traci away from the entrance and recounted the conversation she overheard.
"Doesn't that sound suspicious to you?"
"Andy, they're drug dealers. They don't exactly have the most normal conversations."
"I still say something's not right. We should go down there, just make sure everything is alright."
Traci's eyes widened.
"That is the last thing we should do. Boyd would have our badges for interfering in one of his ops! This time knowing full well what we're doing."
"Boyd doesn't have to know." Andy insisted, "Come on, nobody has to know. We'll go there, stay out of sight, make sure everything's kosher and then leave."
Traci still didn't look convinced and Andy shot her a pleading look.
"Alright." she relented, "I still think it's a horrendously bad idea, but I'm sure you're going to do this with or without me and I can't let you go alone."
"Let's go, we don't have much time."
They jumped into a waiting cab and Andy hurriedly told him their destination.
She tapped her fingers on the door handle impatiently as the clock ticked closer and closer to midnight. Finally at 12:15 they pulled up to the abandoned dock. Andy paid the driver the fare and twenty extra to wait for them. Of course, he demanded an another twenty when Andy told him to park down the road with his lights off.
They walked in silence, taking care to stay hidden. The shipyard was dark, rundown, and dirty, not to mention utterly deserted, it looked like nobody had been here for years.
"I don't think anyone's here." Traci whispered, just as they happened upon a scene straight out of Andy's nightmares.
The two men that she presumed were the two from the Alpine were beating a bound and gagged Sam literally within an inch of his life. She was close enough to see the pure, unadulterated agony flowing through his eyes, eyes that were fluttering; he was clearly teetering on the edge of consciousness.
She was about to make a run for it when she was grabbed from behind.
"Let me go!" Andy hissed venomously, struggling against Traci's vice grip on her middle.
"Andy! Stop! They'll kill you!"
"Let me go, or I swear I'll elbow you in the face." She didn't even know what she was saying anymore at this point.
"Please, stop. Let's think for a second! We need a plan."
Fuck that. "Okay,"
Traci slowly released her hold. As soon she was free Andy bent down to pick up a piece of scrap metal, ran in the direction the came, and threw it as hard as she could against the metal warehouse door. Quickly,she ran back to Traci's side and crouched low, pulling a stunned Traci with her.
The men stopped short, whirling in the direction of the noise and Sam's eyes popped open, suddenly focused and alert.
"What the fuck was that? He said this place has been abandoned since '05!"
The burlier of the two men turned back to Sam and gave him a swift knee in the chest. Sam groaned in pain and Andy had to fight to keep her feet planted.
"You got off lucky this time, JD. You better watch your back."
With another furtive glance around the men disappeared into the shadows, leaving Sam in a pool of his own blood.
It was all Andy could do to stay rooted to that spot for another few minutes. As soon as she heard the sound of a car starting she shot to her feet and raced across the lot to where Sam lay.
"Oh my, God. Oh my, God." she chanted, taking in his bruised and battered form. It was much worse up close.
His eyes opened slowly.
"Andy?" he croaked weakly. Before she could respond his eyes closed again as he fell unconscious.
Traci put her fingers gently against his neck. "His pulse is weak. We have to get him to the hospital now."
With a strength and willpower Andy didn't even know she possessed,she and Traci carried Sam all the way back to their cab. They laid him across the backseat and Andy sat on the floor next to him. To the stunned cab driver she said,
"Met Hospital, now. I'm a police officer and I give you permission to break as many laws as it takes to get us there as soon as possible."
The cabbie was motionless for a second before he sprung into action, screeching away from the shoulder.
Andy brushed some hair away from his sweaty face and willed herself not to break down.
"Stay with me, Sam."
AN: I think I'm getting back into this story. Leave me a review, let me know what you think. You might persuade me to update before I go on vaca :p