SIUBlues8

“The last two days were exactly what I needed, Nash, thanks,” Harvey told him over the phone.

“I’m glad you got everything worked out,” he returned, happy to know that his best man would be back on the job. “The SIU just wouldn’t have been the same without you. So what made you decide to stay?” he asked curiously.

“The same as you.” Harvey smiled in return, then shook his head. “I can’t imagine doing anything other than working at the SIU. That place is as much a part of me as Jerry.”

“Speaking of which, how is your boy doing? Did you get to spend any time with him?”

“All day yesterday and the night before.” Harvey beamed with pride. “That kid has me wrapped.”

Nash chuckled. “Yeah, they tend to do that. Listen, when get into the office this morning, I want you to get on that file Bixby gave to us. Work up a profile on him. Where’s he likely to be, what kind of information he’s likely to have access too, if he has any contacts in town. I want to know everything he knows before he knows it.”

“Sounds like a tall order, boss,” Harvey said with a smile. He was use to Nash giving him nearly impossible jobs and Harvey loved it when he was able to come through for him.

“An order I know you can fill,” Nash returned. “By the way, welcome back Harv.”

* * *

Harvey wasn’t surprised to see that Cassidy had been crying. He could hear it in her voice when she called shortly after Nash. He was anxious to get to the SIU, but he knew that this was one stop that he needed to make.

When he walked into her apartment, he saw all of the memorabilia that she had of Evan was scattered out on her coffee table. It was obvious that she had been doing some soul searching. He knew how she was feeling. He had just crossed that bridge himself. “I guess I don’t need to ask you how you’re doing,” he said lightly and gave her an encouraging smile.

He felt a stab of guilt when she began to cry again and wrapped his arms around her. He had been meaning to talk with her since Evan’s death, but he simply hadn’t had the chance. “I miss him too,” he whispered against her ear. “He loved you, Cass. You have to believe that. You were the last thing on his mind.” He felt his throat tighten painfully as he thought about those last few minutes. “I’m sorry I didn’t come by sooner to tell you that.” He held her closer when she began to sob at his words.

His insides began to knot. The agony of his loss, of their loss, returning anew. He knew that was the real reason why he hadn’t stopped in to see her. He had fought so hard to get past that pain. He wasn’t sure if there was enough left in him to help her too. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He had to hold it together. He had to be there for Cassidy. He owed Evan at least that.

Cassidy sniffed, rubbing at her nose with a well-worn tissue as she pulled back to look into Harvey’s face. She was fighting for control as well. “How did he die, Harv?” she asked without preamble, then clarified herself. “I don’t mean the events. I’ve already heard about that. I want to know what the reports don’t say.”

He had hoped that Cassidy wouldn’t ask that particular question about Evan. It had to be the most painful memory that he owned. There was nothing poetic about watching someone you care for die. But he knew that wasn’t what she wanted to hear. Harvey rubbed his hand against his jeans, a habit that he had gotten into when he tried to get Evan’s blood off of his hands. It was a subconscious movement now. Thoughts of the night Evan died brought it on every time.

“There isn’t much to tell,” he said hesitantly. “He fought as much as he could.” It had been beyond painful to witness. Evan had fought for every breath he took. Harvey had begged him to be still, to save his strength, but Evan groaned out every word he possibly could. He knew that he was dying. “He was worried about you, that there wouldn’t be anyone to watch out for you.”

She fought for a smile, then a fresh onslaught of tears escaped her. Harvey reached out to comfort her, but she held up her hand to let him know that she was going to be all right. Her hand was shaking so badly that she had to clutch at the tissue to keep from dropping it. She finally managed to take a deep breath to calm herself, then she cleared her throat. “Since all of this happened, I’ve been so confused. I just don’t see the point...” she began, then shook her head. Her emotions were too raw to voice that particular doubt. “I don’t know what to do, Harv,” she confessed. “I just got assigned my first undercover duty. We’ve already arranged the buy.”

The buy? The words were stuck in his brain for a moment, then he remembered that she had been assigned to vice. Cassidy making a drug deal? Nash was not going to like that. “Hey, congratulations,” he said with forced cheer. At least her job was a different topic. Anything was better than letting the grief surface again. Just being there with her was painful enough. “You’re moving up the ladder fast.”

“See? That’s how I should feel about this,” she commented and saw him shaking his head in confusion. Her words came out in a rush. “I know that the only reason I got the gig is because we’re so short handed, but still, I should be excited about this, shouldn’t I? I should be thrilled that my captain thinks I’m up to the job.”

He shook his head.   He had a feeling he knew where that conversation was going. “Cassidy, if you don’t feel like you’re up to the job...”

“All I keep thinking about is how Evan died,” she interrupted. “Part of me is excited. I want to do well, to make Dad proud, but I can’t get Evan out of my head.” She sighed in defeat. “Now I’m not even sure if I should even be a cop at all,” she said overwhelmed with the magnitude of her situation.

“Then you’d better get sure and real quick,” Harvey instructed sternly as his eyes locked with hers. “The last thing you need is to be on the job and have your head full of questions. Questions make you hesitate and hesitation will get you killed.”

“I’ve been trying,” she admitted. “But then someone will say something or I will stop somewhere or the phone will ring and, just for an instant, I’ll think that it’s him and it all comes flooding back.”

He nodded solemnly. “I know that feeling,” he told her. She had no idea how much her words were reflecting his own thoughts and feelings. “I have to sit across from his desk every day.” When she reached out and grabbed his arm, he knew that he was getting through to her. She was connecting with him. “It’s definitely not easy moving on, but we have to. You have to get free of this, Cassidy. You have to make the choice and just do it. There are no second chances in our line of work.”

She nodded in acknowledgement. It felt so good to have someone to talk to that understood just what she was going through and she was well aware of the seriousness of the job. That was why she needed to talk with him. “How did you do it, Harv? How did you get over Evan’s death?”

He shook his head again. “I’m not over it, Cass, and I don’t think I ever will be. I’ve just put it into the proper perspective. For me,” he added quickly when she looked about to question him on that as well. “There’s no words of wisdom I can give you, Cassidy. You simply have to decide what you want to do, live in the past...” He gestured down to all of the photographs, letters, cards and knickknacks from Evan that she had spread out on her coffee table. “Or start working for your future.”

She studied him for a long moment. She was glad that he had been a part of Evan’s life and a part of hers. “He loved you too, you know.”

Harvey’s jaw clenched. Her words were like a stab to his heart. He could feel all of the raw emotions that he had managed to suppress welling up inside of him once more. He wrapped his arms around her again to hide the tears escaping his own eyes. He knew that meeting with Cassidy was going to be hard, but he hadn’t realized how hard. She had been the one regret that Evan had. He never got over how he had hurt her or the fact that he had never made her his wife.

* * *

Harvey watched Nash walk passed him and could practically see the fumes coming off of his head. He locked eyes with Rachel across the room and they both immediately moved to intercept Joe who was walking into the SIU at a much slower pace to give Nash plenty of space.

“Is it true man?” Harvey asked. He couldn’t believe that Nash hadn’t told him when he had called earlier. “Did someone actually have the nerve to steal the Cuda?”

“Didn’t you see the sprinkler system going off when Nash walked through?” Joe asked in response.

“Oh wow,” Rachel said softly as she caught a glimpse of Nash getting his morning coffee. “He’s going to be fun today.”

“You have no idea.” Joe rubbed at his red-rimmed eyes. “We drove around the city until three this morning trying to find it. Let me tell you, being cooped up with Nash when he’s in a bad mood isn’t something that I would wish on my worst enemy.” He thought about that for a moment. “Maybe Bettina.”

“Well this probably isn’t going to help, then,” Harvey warned him. “Captain Kellam over in vice called right after I got in. Cassidy and her partner are going to be making a buy tonight and he wanted to see if we could give him some extra backup.”

“Yeah, we’ve got a couple of people we can spare. That won’t be a problem.” Joe pondered that for a moment. “Actually, that might be just what Nash needs to get the Cuda off of his mind for awhile.”

“Cassidy is really going to love having Daddy looking over her shoulder on her first major bust,” Rachel remarked in warning.

“In this particular case, I’m not above throwing every one of you to the wolf.” Joe nodded in Nash’s direction to warn them of his approach, then quickly did an about-face to go to his own desk.

“What are you people standing around for?” Nash growled and half a dozen people went scurrying. Then his eyes leveled on Harvey waiting by his desk.

Harvey looked around quickly for reinforcements, but Rachel had disappeared too. He was on his own. It that particular case, it was better to ignore the white elephant in the room and move onto business. “I’ve got the profile on Bixby that you asked for, boss,” he told him as he gave him the file in his hand. “No family locally, but two sisters in Detroit and a brother living in Canada. It’s my guess that he’ll go there when he’s tired of hanging around here. He doesn’t have any particular habits or fetishes that I could find, but he does, however, have an fairly rare skin disease called pemphigus. Some of the medication he’s taking has to be signed for.”

Nash could tell from the sound of his voice that Harvey had something more. “He has paid a visit to one of our local drug stores,” he guessed.

“Bingo,” Harvey returned, then dropped the other tidbit of information he had acquired. “A little mom and pop store down on fifth.”

His eyes grew. He knew exactly what place Harvey was referring to. “That wouldn’t happen to be the one about two blocks away from Kratz’ girlfriend’s home, would it?”

“Right again,” he returned. “I’ve already got a couple of uni’s canvassing the area, but I don’t expect them to turn up anything.”

Nash covered his mouth lightly with his hand as he evaluated the number of reasons why Bixby would have chosen that particular drug store. Then he remembered that Bixby had managed to get a room at the same hotel as Harvey and Evan. “Son of a bitch,” he whispered under his breath, then looked up at Harvey. “He’s following us.”

Harvey nodded his head slowly. “It could be any one of us or everyone one of us, but he’s definitely watching.”

“He knows that we’ve been handling Sinclair’s security in the hopes of drawing him out so he’s using us to keep tabs on when Sinclair’s on the move.”

“But then you have to ask yourself, why didn’t he go after Sinclair when he was transferred from the jail to the court house for his hearing.”

The array of possible reasons continued to mount and Nash quickly shook his head. “Let’s stay focused on the fact that he’s watching. We can use that.” His mind was already calculating, assessing and analyzing their next move. “Excellent work Harv,” he complimented him, then hesitated. “By the way, I’ve got something I want to show you.”

He gestured for Harvey to follow him over to a storage room at the back of the barge where he pulled out an armored vest. “Have a look at this,” he said as he pulled back part of the lining to expose a long dent in the metal.

“Wow. Looks like someone got lucky,” Harvey remarked as he ran his finger along the crease. “For a bullet to cause that kind of impression going in sideways, it definitely would have penetrated if it had been taken head on.”

“That was the assessment from the lab as well.” A small smile rose on his face. “This is Rachel’s vest,” Nash told him, then paused for a moment to let that sink in. “She would have died if you hadn’t put that bike down when you did.”

Harvey was stunned as he looked at the vest once more. He had been able to protect her after all. He felt as if a heavy weight was lifted and that was one burden that he was happy to be rid of. “Thanks Nash,” he said quietly.

* * *

Nash raised the binoculars to follow the path of the jeep on the beach heading in their direction until he was able to identify the driver. “Sarah and Cassidy just arrived,” he told Joe who repeated it into the walkie-talkie in his hand. “No sign of Freemont yet.” He lowered his binoculars as he checked his watch. It was already after ten.

When the image of Victoria Castle flitted across his mind, it surprised him. There he was standing on a sand dune watching his only child getting ready to walk into her first drug buy and he’s thinking of Victoria Castle. What was wrong with him? It had been a long time since a woman had penetrated his thoughts so thoroughly. However, he had to be honest with himself. Aside from Cassidy’s safety, one of the many reasons that he wanted that night to go smoothly was to have the opportunity to stop by her club after it was over.

“I don’t like this Joe,” Nash admitted with a shake of his head when Sarah and Cassidy stepped out of their vehicle to wait. “The girls are too vulnerable out in the open like this. We’re not going to be much help hiding in the bushes. It will take us a good thirty seconds to get to them even in the car.”

“Yeah, I don’t like it either, but it’s their collar. At least we know that Freemont doesn’t have any of his goons hiding in the bushes with us.”

“That’s something, I guess.” He checked his watch again. “He’s fifteen minutes late. Maybe he’s not going to show at all.”

“The Coast Guard hasn’t reported any incoming craft, but drug smugglers aren’t exactly known for promptness,” Joe said with the lift of his handset which remained silent. Everyone was using the walkie-talkies to monitor the operation, but the only report that the Coast Guard had given was that they were standing by. It only helped to confirm his partner’s suspicions that they weren’t coming.

“How long do you think Kellam will wait before he pulls the plug?” Nash asked, knowing that Joe had worked with Cassidy’s boss in the past.

“Not more than half an hour,” he returned, checking is own watch. “The tide is already starting to go back out. If they’re coming in by boat, it will have to be soon or they won’t make it passed that shallow land mass.”

“My money’s still on a sea plane,” Nash returned, bringing his binoculars back up when a glint of colored light caught his eye through the low cloud cover. The Coast Guard confirmed his sighting when they reported an incoming aircraft over the walkie-talkie. “It looks like we have a winner,” he remarked, handing his binoculars to Joe as he started the car.

“Everyone be ready,” Hayden Kellam’s placid voice came over the channel. “Drake. Bridges. Stay close to the jeep,” he continued, addressing his two officers on the beach. “Make Freemont come to you.”

With everyone’s attention focused on the seaplane moving in to shore slowly, the approach of a helicopter in whisper mode went virtually unnoticed until it was hovering only a few feet above them. Sarah and Cassidy exchanged surprised glances then tried to shield their eyes from the stinging sand kicked up into their faces.

“Something’s wrong,” Nash stated as he leaned anxiously over the steering wheel. “That helicopter isn’t making any attempt to land. It’s pinning them down.” With that revelation, he kicked the corvette into gear as Joe reported into his handset.

“It’s a set up!” Joe declared.

“Everyone move in!” Kellam ordered in the next second.

Nash fought to keep the car on the rocky path running parallel to the beach. He had to choose his direction carefully or he would risk getting stuck in the sand before he was able to reach his daughter and her partner.

Cassidy grabbed Sarah’s arm and jerked her back toward the jeep. She wasn’t sure what had happened, but she wasn’t about to play sitting duck. They had just made it to the other side of the jeep from the helicopter when the first shots rang out. With eyes watering profusely, Cassidy still managed to bring her weapon to bear on the aircraft hovering almost directly above them. After clicking off several rounds, she could only assume that she had hit her mark when the target moved away. Her eyes were burning so badly that she couldn’t make out any more than that.

“Get down!” Nash yelled out to Sarah and Cassidy as shots continued to ring out across the water. He had thought for a second that the gunfire was coming from the plane, but repetitive flashes of fire apart from the aircraft told another story. “Are those divers?” he asked Joe in surprise as he managed to put the car between the water and the girls to give them more protection.

“You’ve got it,” Joe returned as he opened his door and slid out of the convertible into the soft sand with his partner right behind him. They rose above the edge of the car to return fire, but the flare from the automatic weapons was the only thing that they could hone in on and even that was fleeting. The divers were virtually invisible against the murky water and the overcast night sky.

“Where in the hell is the Coast Guard?” Nash demanded as they ducked behind the car once more and heard it hit several times in a shower of bullets. “So much for selling this car in the next auction.”

“Here comes the cavalry,” Joe announced when he saw several vehicles speeding down the beach in their direction. The recoil of the additional armament from the beach sounded in the air over the revving of the plane engines as it powered up once more. Nash and Joe joined in, targeting the plane in the distance. They could see black clad figures moving into the aircraft, but the wind was too strong to aim with any accuracy.

Nash and Joe stood when the plane moved out of range, looking at each other in disgust when the Coast Guard boat appeared on the scene too late. “That wasn’t a buy. That was a hit,” Nash said with certainty as they hurried over to Sarah and Cassidy crouched behind the jeep.

“Are you okay?” Joe asked both women as they helped them stand.

“Were you hit?” Nash followed in concern.

“No, we’re all right,” Cassidy confirmed.

“Or we will be once we get the sand out of our eyes,” Sarah added as she tried to resist rubbing her eyes, but the temptation was too great.

“Don’t rub them,” Joe ordered as he took Sarah’s arm. “I’ve got some bottled water in the car. We can flush them out.”

Nash watched the pair walk away, then he looked back at Cassidy. She was less effected by the sand storm that the helicopter had kicked up, but her eyes still watered heavily. “What happened?” he asked as he slipped his gun back into his shoulder holster. “Was your cover blown?”

“No. Our cover was solid,” Cassidy assured him. “I don’t know what went wrong. Were you able to see anyone? Was Freemont in either transport?”

Nash chuckled softly. “You can bet that he was a long way from here, sweetheart. He’s probably having a late night dinner in a very public place to fix his alibi.”

“Are you all right?” Lieutenant Kellam asked dispassionately as he stepped up to Cassidy. He watched her closely when she began to speak, then she merely nodded. “The Coast Guard is going to see if they can find any floaters, but it doesn’t look good with the tide going back out. You and Sarah get yourselves checked out, then do some back tracking. See if you can figure out where it went wrong.”

She nodded again, then went to check on her partner.

Nash stood to face Cassidy’s superior officer. “You don’t think it was a rookie mistake, do you?” he asked, already sure of the response.

“I’ve been monitoring them from the first minute of this case.” He shook his head. “They have done everything right. This should have been a routine bust.”

Nash nodded. Why did he have a feeling that something else was going on there? Bixby came to mind, but he couldn’t reason out why a former agent would have any interest in a couple of rookie cops. He looked over at his daughter getting her eyes flushed out with the water that Joe had in the car.

She had handled herself well. She had kept her head and reacted quickly. He was glad that he had been able to assist even though they had lost the bust. Seeing her in action gave him a little piece of mind even though the events didn’t. “You seem to be training my daughter pretty well.”

Kellam smiled at him. “I have a feeling that she got her training at an early age.” He held out his hand to Nash. “Thanks for coming in on such short notice. I appreciate the assist.”

“Anytime, Hayden,” Nash returned. As he started toward Cassidy and Joe, the image of Victoria Castle leapt to mind. He would definitely have to make time to see her again, but he knew it wouldn’t be that night.

* * *

Bixby chuckled when Nash seemed to be looking right at him as he watched through his night vision scope. “What is it with you people?” he asked no one. “Every one of you seems to have some sort of sixth sense when you’re being watched.” He shook his head as he watched Nash and Joe pull away in the black corvette that Nash had borrowed from police impound.

Bixby started his car and followed them out. “It amazes me how much you people pack into your lives. You actually made working for the DEA seem boring.” He chuckled to himself once more. He knew the people at the SIU didn’t have the luxury of travel, but San Francisco was like another planet. There was nothing ordinary about that town or the people who protected it.

* * *

Victoria shifted slightly in the fan-back chair, closing her eyes to the sun as the wicker creaked beneath her at her movement. Her breakfast was forgotten on the glass top patio table as she cradled her coffee in her hands. It was her favorite time of the day. The winds were still strong even though she was several miles from the shore. The upscale neighborhood was quiet after everyone had left for work. The wind chimes in her small Oriental garden played a soothing tune as they swayed in the breeze. She wasn’t afforded much space in the tight crunch of houses, but she had utilized every inch to make her back yard her sanctuary.

The tension eased from her shoulders as she listened to the chimes. Then, a flash of light brown hair and a slightly crooked smile entered her meditation and her eyes snapped open. She had been in the game far too long for one of the players to penetrate her thoughts, but Teddy Malone had intrigued her from the moment she saw him in her club.

As she took a light sip from her coffee, the cordless phone on her table began to ring. She looked at it as if it was an alien device which had materialized from nowhere as she was drug from her solitude with the rude noise. When it rang for a third time, she tossed her hair back over her shoulder and brought the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Tory, it’s Steve.”

“You’re up bright and early this morning,” she commented lightly.

“Actually, I haven’t been to bed yet,” he admitted. “I’ve been hearing a lot of stories about Malone and Hernandez.”

“They’re buyers?” she asked without surprise.

“They’re involved somehow. It looks like they have contacts in several different areas,” he returned. “I can’t find out where they’re localized, but I’ve heard rumors about them doing transport out of Las Vegas.”

Victoria’s spirits dropped slightly. She hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself, but she had hoped that she was wrong about Teddy Malone. She should have known better. “Thanks for getting the information so quickly for me Steve. Why don’t you take tonight off?” she suggested as she heard a click on her phone to let her know that there was another incoming call.

“I’ll be alright when I get a couple of hours sleep,” he returned. “I’ll be at the club tonight.”

A smile toyed at her lips from his protectiveness. Steve had been her self-appointed bodyguard since he had come to work for her at Flash. He had become a good friend that she could trust him with her life. “If you show up before seven, you’re fired,” she teased. “Sweet dreams.” She quickly clicked over to the incoming call. “Hello?”

“Hello darling. How are you doing?”

Her heart skipped a beat as it always did whenever she heard his voice. “Hello Cruz. I see that you’re keeping busy as usual. I was expecting you to call last night.”

“I got out of a meeting late last night and I didn’t want to wake you,” he offered as an apology. “Besides, I like the thought of you sitting out by the garden, sipping your coffee and wearing your long satin robe.”

Victoria glanced down at her attire which was just as he described and smiled as she set her cup back onto the table. “Sometimes I think you know me too well. When will you be coming back into town?”

“Probably not for a couple more weeks. I still have some business matters to settle. I miss you.”

Business matters. Victoria didn’t need to dwell on those two words to know that someone would be dead before long. “I miss you too,” she responded in kind even though her gut twisted at the thought of seeing him again. “I’ve got a bit of news for you,” she confided to avoid any further affection. “We have a couple of new players in town. Teddy Malone and Rico Hernandez. Have you ever heard of them?”

“The names don’t ring a bell,” he returned after a moments hesitation. “What’s your take on them?”

“Steve just called me and he said that they are dealers, but he can’t find their base of operation.”

“Are they someone that I will want to meet?”

She sighed as Teddy’s image flooded her thoughts again and she closed her eyes. “I don’t know yet. Steve said that they had their hands in several different areas, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are in your league. I just wanted to let you know that there were some new faces in town.” She heard the soft rustle of him covering the mouthpiece on the phone and prayed that it was something important enough to interrupt their conversation.

“I’m sorry babe, but I’ve got to go,” Cruz said moments later. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Victoria looked at the phone for a long moment before shutting it off. That was one relationship that she could do well without. But she knew that escape was only a dream.

* * *

Harvey walked into the impound yard with Joe in search of the Cuda while Nash hashed out the paperwork with the lot attendant. “I can’t believe Nash is getting his car back less than forty-eight hours after it was stolen. How unreal is that?”

“Nash has always been lucky.” Joe waved it off as he glanced around. “But I’ll tell you what, bubba, it couldn’t have happened soon enough for me.”

Harvey chuckled. “I’d have to agree with you there, man. Nash hasn’t exactly been his good-natured self lately.” His eyes skimmed over the cars in the area as their gait slowed. “Didn’t the guy in the office say that the Cuda was right outside?” he asked Joe to confirm when he didn’t see the telltale yellow.

“Yeah, he did,” Joe returned, glancing around to be sure of his directions. “He said it was right behind the build....” His words trailed off when they both realized what vehicle the lot manager had been referring to.

“No way,” Harvey muttered, his chin dropping to his chest as his brain tried to deny what his eyes were seeing. “That can’t be Nash’s car, could it?” He pointed at a bright red Cuda sitting before them complete with fur lined seats, pompom trim around the window and fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror.

“Call 911, Harv. Nash is going to have a heart attack.”

“What have they done?” Harvey asked in dismay. “That’s a classic car! You don’t mess with a classic! I’ve seen Nash drive to San Diego just to get a part for that car. It’s his baby.”

“Oh this is bad Harv. This is so, so bad.” Joe jumped when he heard Nash calling back to the lot manager on his way back to them. “We can’t let him see it like this,” he said in a panic.

“What are we going to do, man?” Harvey returned anxiously. “We can’t exactly slip this one by him. He’s going to notice the fuzzy dice when he gets in,” he said sarcastically.

“We’ve got to keep him from coming back here,” Joe said. I t was the only thing he could think of. The pair stared at each other for a split second, then they hurried off to intercept Nash.

Nash clapped his hands together, an eager smile on his face as he saw his friends approaching him. “Is it back there?” he asked expectantly.

“Yes it is, Nash man, but they haven’t had a chance to clean her up for you yet,” Joe said quickly as he put his hand on Nash’s shoulder to push him back toward the entrance.

“Yeah,” Harvey concurred as he ushered him along. “We told them that we would be by to pick it up later.”

“Much, much later,” Joe confirmed.

Nash chuckled. “Not on your life, boys. I’ve been separated from my baby for far too long. I’ll have her detailed when we get back to the SIU.”

“No really, bubba. You’ve got to give these guys the chance to do their jobs,” Joe tried again, shooting Harvey a desperate glance.

“Oh yeah,” he agreed once more. “How often do they have a classic car like that to moon over for an afternoon.”

“Maybe even longer,” Joe added in the hopes of borrowing as much time as he could to get all of the necessary corrections on the Cuda.

Nash looked at Harvey suspiciously. “Since when are you his yes man?” he asked, then shot Joe a wary look.

Raising both arms suddenly, Nash knocked both of their hands off of his shoulders and stepped through them. His eyes immediately fell on a horrific excuse for a car and he started laughing. “That’s very funny. Where’s my car?” he asked as he turned back to them. One look at their expressions confirmed his worse fear. “Oh no,” he whispered, then whipped back around. His stomach churned and there was a sudden buzzing in his head. That couldn’t be the Cuda. He brought his hand up to cover his eyes. How could anyone do that to his car? “I need to sit down.”

“Take it easy, Nash man,” Joe insisted as he supported Nash from one side. “Don’t even look at it.”

“We can get it fixed, Nash,” Harvey promised as he supported his boss on the other side. “We’ll take it to the best body shop in town and have it factory perfect again in no time.”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Nash mumbled as he forced himself to take one more glance, then quickly walked away.

* * *

Cassidy walked up to her father’s desk with purpose. She wasn’t sure if she should be angry or scared. “Do you have something you want to tell me?” she demanded of her father as she folded her arms across her chest.

“Well, hello daughter,” Nash greeted her, unsure of why she could be angry. He searched his mental index quickly, wondering if he had forgotten an important date. Nothing came to mind. “Have I missed something?” he finally decided to ask.

“Yong Cha Chon.” She said the name with conviction, waiting for his explanation.

Now his curiosity was really piqued. He glanced over his shoulder at Harvey and saw that his attention had been captured by the name as well. The buy that Cassidy and her partner had set up the night before had absolutely nothing to do with Chon. “What about him?” Nash prompted her, wondering what she might know about the suspected drug king pin.

“Oh come on, dad,” Cassidy fumed. “You know as well as I do that what happened last night had nothing to do with me and everything to do with that case you’re working on.”

Harvey shot Nash a confused look. “When did we reopen the investigation on Chon?” he asked. He knew that he hadn’t been away from work long enough to have missed that news.

“We haven’t,” Nash returned as he stood to look his daughter in the eye. “You’d best give me this from the top,” he told her.

Her eyes darted between the two men. “Word on the street is that Chon was sending a message to you to back off of your investigation.”

Nash looked at Harvey and received a nod in return, then he looked back at his daughter. “We weren’t doing an investigation on him before, but we will be doing one now,” he assured her.

Cassidy wasn’t sure of what to do next. She wanted to believe her father, but it wouldn’t be the first time that he had kept her from worrying by making up something. “You’re not kidding me, are you?” she asked tentatively.

“I’ll ask around and see if anyone is doing an independent investigation,” Harvey told Nash. “I’ll see what I can dig up currently on him as well.”

“Are you sure that your source is reliable?” Nash asked his daughter. He simply couldn’t understand why someone would spread that kind of information when it wasn’t true. Was there a mole in Chon’s organization? Was someone trying to set Nash or the SIU up? Could Chon feel threatened by him?

“It came from more than one source, Daddy. I think that’s pretty reliable.”

Nash looked back at Harvey. “I don’t like this.”

* * *