A/N: I know, we spend quite some time (apart) in L.A. and New Orleans but let me tell you...
If I didn't suggest a world OUTSIDE of Langley, you wouldn't even know! Because once we get there, y'all are not gonna want to leave! trust me ;-)
Things are going to pick up, along with a small time jump, so let me cook. We will get there!
It's one of those precious stories where I planned it out and as I wrote it, it just took on a life of its own and I'm taking my time here.
The night before had been a restless one, saddled with the guilt from Rosalinda's bold gesture following the ballgame.
Tori knew it was wrong, but she discreetly enjoyed it all the same. She wasn't trying to toy with Rosalinda's emotions. Tori should've been more firm with setting boundaries but she genuinely enjoyed the woman's company. Rosalinda was a pleasure to be around. But because she liked her, that made it even worse. The truth was, Matilda was all a lie, a fabrication, a fraud. They could never truly be a thing.
And that hurt. Tori could see herself with this woman but from the moment they met, it was a masquerade.
The tan officer smacked herself in the forehead, opting that the best thing was to just rip off the bandage. Tori needed to settle matters between her and Rosalinda, preventing this from getting totally out of control.
She called and asked if she would meet with her. Rosalinda sounded out of breath, informing Tori that she was on a hike at Lake Hollywood Park. The cop remembered they recently ceased their long renovations and the popular hiking trail was open to the public.
Tori agreed to meet her there.
The Hollywood Reservoir was this beautiful oasis in the middle of this desert. Beyond the hustle of downtown Los Angeles was this picturesque area with tons of trees and shrubs. One one side, looming over was the famous Hollywood sign. One another vantage was the striking century old Mulholland Dam. It was this slice of nature's elegance to offset the concrete jungle.
People love going to this place for hiking and jogging. It was just so serene and offered spectacular views.
Tori mused why she had never taken advantage of the trails around here. Everyone, young and old, seemed to be enjoying themselves. She called Rosalinda a second time to figure out where to go as she was unfamiliar with this park. She told Tori to just park at the parking lot on top where the hiking trail ends.
She followed a dirt path that led to an area bordered by fences. Tori sat and waited for ten minutes, racking her brain as to how to begin this awkward chat. Sure enough, Rosalinda came running up, recognizing Tori's car and waved. Her smile or gait didn't waver as she jogged toward the vehicle.
Tori unlocked the door and the brunette made her way inside, breathing in and out with great intensity.
"You alright?" Tori asked.
"Yeah!" Rosalinda exclaimed, wiping her brow. "Might have overdone it at the end there. Usually keep a steady pace."
Her eyes met Tori's.
"But sometimes your heart starts pumping and you just wanna really GO, you know?"
The Latina nodded with a crooked grin, feeling like she was already losing her grip on the mission. She wasn't anticipating Rosalinda flirting right out the gate. Tori had chills sitting beside her as she tried to think clearly. This was the first time they had met since the kiss. Didn't help that Rosalinda was all sweaty and her workout clothes clung to her very nicely.
Tori blushed as she just let the car sit, running.
"Are we gonna go, silly?" the runner smiled with a shallow breath.
"Rosalinda..." Tori began. "Listen, I'm really flattered by...everything. But..."
The Latina rubbed her hands together, pressing her lips shut.
The dark-haired one smiled and leaned over, putting a hand on her lap.
"Hey, it's okay. You can tell me."
Tori inhaled and exhaled slowly, searching for a lie that she could let her down easy with.
"I was...I've gotten out of a relationship earlier this year. And... I didn't want to jump into another..."
Rosalinda covered her mouth with her free hand.
"Oh, my god. I'm so sorry! I didn't know...I..." she sighed. "That's no problem. We can slow things down..."
CRASH!
They both rocked in their seats from the violent jolt of being hit by someone. Tori checked the rear view mirror while Rosalinda turned around. There was a plum Ford backing up just to ram into them again.
"SHIT!" blurted out Tori, shaken up.
"WHO THE FUCK IS THAT?" shouted Rosalinda.
"Trouble," Tori shrugged. "And we're getting the hell out of here!"
She took it out of park and sped into reverse, but the other car matched her direction and speed. Before Tori could try any evasive maneuvers, the strange car rammed yet again, this time from the rear of the passenger side, sending them through one of the fences. Between the impact of the Ford and being forced over the steel fittings of the chain link fence, Tori's A frame was compromised. That meant her steering wheel was rendered ineffective.
Nothing could be helped to prevent gravity from doing its worst.
As Rosalinda had only entered the car and not buckled in, Tori held on tight to the other woman as they plunged helplessly down the steep embankment dotted with sage bushes. The car hit a large rock with enough force that it bumped the car into a horrifying death roll. The silver vehicle rotated sideways like a rolling pin down the sandy hills. Finally, the car was impeded by a massive California oak.
Smoke and broken glass spilled from the wreckage. The calamity attracted a litany of bystanders who rushed to aid the passengers.
Tori held her shoulder, wincing. Must have popped out of its socket, she surmised. The officer bit her lip and shut her eyes, prepared to do the unthinkable. Tori whacked her arm against the door, causing unfathomable pain. But she wasn't going to get out of this shit one-handed.
"How shit!"
"No, don't do that!"
She wasn't paying attention to the civilians, as much as they meant well. Her ears were ringing too much from the ordeal. All Tori could focus on was getting Rosalinda and herself out of this. Her own door was crumpled really badly, so Tori motioned for the onlookers to assist getting the passenger side open. Rosalinda was slumped against her, unconscious.
Tori was petrified that she wasn't going to make it.
"Come on, open it up!"
"Open it!"
"Be careful with her..." Tori warned, as she unfastened herself. "I just..." she groaned, the shock from her dislocated and now hastily reset shoulder having worn off.
Samaritans gently laid Rosalinda down, propping up her head with a folded jacket.
Tori limped her way to the girl and fell to her knees to be next to her.
"Some call an ambulance, NOW!" she ordered.
A couple nodded and took out their phones. Meanwhile, Tori soldiered through the mind-numbing pain in her left shoulder to assess Rosalinda. She had some bruising on her head from the accident, but not significant bleeding. That she could see anyway. Internal ruptures or broken bones were still a mystery until EMT's arrived.
But Tori was concerned with how Rosalinda wasn't breathing. The Latina began doing some routine CPR, not going too hard on the chest compressions. She had more upper body strength than the dark-haired one; so best not to exacerbate already potentially broken ribs. She drowned out everything around her, focusing on keeping count. A man in a beard kept Tori abreast whenever a minute went by.
Two minutes...
Three minutes...
Tori prayed to whatever god was listening. She didn't deserve to die, no matter what her last name was. It wouldn't be fair.
It was looking grim, until coughing came from the now revived woman. Rosalinda attempted to roll over but Tori and a couple others kept her from doing so.
"Easy, easy, easy..." Tori firmly told her. "Stay put until the medics get here."
A look of relief came over her face, thankful that Tori was over her, still alive. She couldn't stop herself from reaching up to touch her cheek as if she wanted to make sure she was really there and not a hallucination.
"Is this your phone?"
Tori glanced over to a young woman who had her Samsung with the cracked screen.
"Yeah," she sighed, taking the cell. Without thinking, Tori contacted the precinct. "This is Detective Tori Vega. I have to report an attempted murder. It was a Ford...um...plum color...didn't catch the plate but...it's looks older, so check 90's models registered...come on, Jake, get on the horn with your DMV guy!"
Brown eyes wandered down to the look of utter disbelief staring back up at her.
Rosalinda just mouthed the word "what?"
"I'm sorry," Tori whispered, her heart breaking.
Police and paramedics converged on the scene, along with a wrecker to take Tori's totaled wheels away. In less than an hour, this peaceful park was reduced to chaos.
Rosalinda was hurried away on a stretcher and slid into an ambulance. She past right by Tori but didn't bother to look at her.
"She'll be alight," one of the responding officers informed her.
"No," sighed Tori with a frown. "She won't."
Tori was carted off to the hospital, just as well since she didn't have a ride away from this place. She called her father and he said he would be there as quick as he can. The Latina just sat in triage, feeling absolutely awful. Not just her own injury, which the doctor admonished her for being so reckless as to attempt to pop it back in on her own. She would heal but it would be sore as hell for a couple of weeks. The cop would leave with a prescription for an 800mg ibuprofen.
David Vega finally made it and brushed past the men below him, saying that a briefing will have to wait. Nobody questioned the concerned chief of police. He was about to hug Tori out of worry, but she politely told him that he needed to go easy on her left side. Instead, he put his arm around his youngest daughter. Once Tori was questioned and no longer needed to stay here, she was allowed to go home.
Tori leaned her head against the glass window while David drove. They hardly said a word since they departed.
"I was talking to Trina on the way over..." he started.
The Latina sighed and closed her eyes.
"Maybe you want to call her up and let her know you're okay."
(Like she gives a damn.)
David knew as much as anyone that things were touchy between the sisters. He did his best to give them both attention, Trina being the most challenging as she had moved a while ago. The only thing he couldn't do was force them to talk. They were both adults now. The most he could do was gently nudge them in that direction.
After walking with Tori to her apartment door, he gave her another hug. She smiled but it was only for his benefit.
"Tori...I'm going to have you take a week or two off. Alright?"
Her smile faded and she just shot him a glare.
"Don't give me that face! This isn't a punishment. You've been through a lot and need rest." He pointed to her left arm. "At least until you can lift that wing without a butt load of pain."
"Not like it's my dominant arm!" Tori protested.
Her chief, her father just crossed his arms. The gesture was both "I'm not playing around" and "bet you can't do this right now."
The daughter conceded and nodded.
"Fine, dad. I'll sit home alone and go crazy," she sighed sarcastically.
He promised to check in with her soon after he deals with the swath of personnel and paperwork resulting from this whole ordeal. Tori did appreciate his help and tried to not let too much of her negativity drip out. Her dad was trying.
She shut the door and locked it tight. Then, she just wandered around the living room of her place without bothering to turn on any lights. The apartment stayed cloaked in darkness. Tori was still shaken up by everything that happened. She was glad that Rosalinda survived but that look of utter betrayal would haunt her.
The woman jumped when her phone vibrated, the screen revealing the call was from an anonymous number. With reluctance, she answered it.
"Hello?"
"Matilda, huh?" sighed an upset Leo.
Her eyes bulged and she quickly checked through the peephole and then outside her window for any vehicles that looked suspicious. So far, nothing out of the ordinary.
"Don't bother...I don't have a hit out on you."
"Oh..." Tori blinked. "Listen, for what it's worth, I'm..."
"SAVE IT!" he interrupted.
Tori swallowed nervously, expecting some form of contact in the fallout of her cover being blown. But a phone call wasn't what she had in mind.
"I'm beyond furious at your deception..." Leo explained. "And worse, you broke my sister's heart!"
That last thing cut through her like a dagger. Had she simply posed as an employee, and not mingled with Rosalinda, Leo would only be mildly angry by comparison.
"But...you saved her life. And I had heard you protected Rosalinda before." He clicked his tongue in contemplation. "Now, how do we balance that out?"
The heart behind the Latina's ribs was working harder than a diesel engine.
"I'm feeling generous right now, as I'm still relieved that I didn't lose her. So, listen well."
Tori felt the noose around her neck was loosening, but she hung on his words.
"I won't pursue this matter any further," Leo informed her. "Don't look over your shoulder, continue to open your mail without a care. BUT...I want you to stay out of my business affairs and anything else tangentially connected to my life. I'm warning you, detective, if you violate this verbal treaty there will be the most dire consequences for you and your family!"
She didn't realize how thirsty she was until Tori licked her lips.
"Do we have...an understanding?"
"Um..."
"Lovely."
It ended abruptly, leaving Tori holding her phone to her face. She was incapable of putting it down right away. Those last words marinated in her brain for some time. Tori had never felt such chills from a phone conversation in her life!
This whole thing was a big disaster! Tori had wanted to be a detective since forever, but this undercover business was nothing like she imagined. It was one thing to deceive a criminal to entrap them, but this got really messy.
Tori was determined to never do anything like that again. She wasn't quitting the force nor was she stepping away from detective work. Tori can continue to do her very best to help others while remaining true to herself. Deep cover may be fine for some, but she decided never again.
Albert twitched when he heard a banging on his door. He opened up and there stood a frazzled Richard. The older cop yanked the man inside. Once he had shut the door again, he hurriedly latched all of the locks with audibly loud clicks.
"You found out, too?" Rich asked.
"Of course, I found out!" Albert huffed. "God-fucking-DAMN IT! How was I supposed to know..."
CLICK-CLICK
Both men froze as a figure dressed in black stepped out of the totally dark bedroom, holding a gun at them. He was completely bald, and pale, along with round glasses seemingly small for his face.
"You didn't notice me," he snidely told Albert.
The old man was beyond words.
"How...how did..."
"That's the least of your worries!" the lone gunman coldly stated. At first it looked like he was holding his other hand up to emphasize, but he was actually holding a phone. It vibrated and glowed heralding an incoming call. "It's for you," he told Albert, handing him the cell.
Albert swallowed before answering it.
"Yeah?"
"Albert...Albert...what am I going to do with you?"
The was the unmistakable voice of Leonardo Ruzzolini and he was far from pleased.
"Leo, listen! Please, don't..."
"You know...I granted leniency on the man you hired because a job's a job. Besides, I knew he was telling the truth that Rosalinda wasn't the target."
Anyone who was worth their salt in the underworld knew about the Ruzzolini family tree. Had they been made aware that someone wanted any one of them dead, it would not work out for them. Assassins know better than to kill another killer when they are a much bigger fish. This hired hand was way more terrified of him than all of the LAPD. That's because the cops don't have his reach.
He did manage to sniff out who Albert hired after all. That alone scared the shit out of him. Leo probably went easier on him if he squealed who bankrolled the hit.
"But I didn't know either..." he shakily told Leo. "You gotta believe me!"
"Look...someone has to pay for this. You know that, right?"
The body language radiating off of the hitman intimidated Richard to have a seat. He knew that running would not be possible.
"Perhaps...Officer Vega would not had been this thorn in my side had it not been for you."
"W-W-W-What dd-d-do you mm-mean?" he stammered.
Leo groaned with impatience on the other end.
"Maybe if you blue bitches kept your noses clean, I wouldn't have the LAPD poking into my business!" he shouted. "See, I'm holding YOU responsible for the actions of your little cop buddies. Responsible for my baby sister being laid up in the hospital all banged up! MY SISTER!"
"Please, Leo, please...I can do something! This WON'T happen again!"
"I know."
The call had cut out before Albert could add to his rebuttal. Richard just hung there, overcome with the jitters.
The nameless gunman motioned for Albert to sit down. He complied and planted himself beside his friend.
"So, tell me..." he started as he pointed his gun at the pair. "You boys travel together?"
A/N: Yeah, we're not going to see those two cops again.
I mean, Leo wasn't wrong. The worst thing, Tori would have found something, and he would have attempted to cover it up. But Albert had to get involved and inadvertently messed with his family. That sealed his fate.