'Forget the chief,' she interrupted. 'This isn't his family that's getting destroyed. It's ours. Tell him.'
'Tell me what?' Chooch asked, obviously still in the dark about what was going on, not sure why his mother had asked him to meet us here.
Alexa had realized that it would be stronger coming from me so she hadn't told him any of it yet. But I couldn't speak. I just stood there.
'Your father didn't do any of the things they said he did,' she finally blurted. 'It was all faked with my approval. He's gone undercover in Haven Park and he's down there risking his life to expose a corrupt police department and city government. I won't take the chance that he could be killed without having the opportunity to set things straight with you in person.' She had a very determined look on her face.
'I'll wait in the other room,' she said.
I took my son out onto the balcony. The surf was breaking on the cliffside rocks, frothing in the landscape lights from the hotel deck above us. I told Chooch everything that had happened — how we'd set up the sting. I explained that I'd never even met Tiffany Roberts, and why we had been instructed by Chief Filosiani to keep him in the dark.
'I would have never said anything, Dad,' Chooch said after I finished. I could tell that our lack of trust in him badly hurt his feelings.
'How could they believe that I'd risk your life over stuff like that?' he said.
'Because they don't know you.'
After a while I saw a sad look descend on him. 'I'm sorry for what I said, Dad.'
He stood up and reached out to me. We hugged each other, locked in a long, silent embrace.
'You know something funny?' I said after we finally parted. 'I'd have been very disappointed if you'd acted any other way.'
Alexa joined us on the balcony ten minutes later and we talked about everyday, unimportant stuff. What was happening at USC, what courses his girlfriend, Del, was taking. It was great to be able to leave Haven Park behind for a little while. We told each other how happy we were to be a family again.
'You can never tell anyone about this. Not even Del,' Alexa cautioned Chooch. 'Not until this is all finished and the department releases the truth.'
'Do you think there's anything that would make me risk Dad's life? Are you kidding, Mom? I'd die first.'
And I knew that's exactly what he would do.
An hour later, when Chooch left, Alexa and I made love. I'd felt so empty these last days, so without hope, that the act of our lovemaking filled me, cleansed me, made me reborn again. Afterward we went out onto the balcony and sat holding hands.
'You remember when we were in Aruba, that other time you were undercover going after bad cops?' Alexa reminded me.
'Sure, I thought I'd lost you.'
She was referring to the case we worked several years ago, before we were married. I'd been undercover working the black market peso exchange where Fortune 500 companies were using their products to launder Colombian drug money. To set my cover, I had been asked by six rogue cops running the scam to shoot Alexa as my loyalty test. We had set up an elaborate hit where Alexa was wearing a Kevlar vest. I pulled the trigger, but didn't know that the rogue cops had put armor-piercing bullets in my gun. For two weeks, I thought I'd killed her. It plunged me into a deep depression. But we'd both survived.
'I'm trying to tell myself that this isn't anywhere near as bad as that,' she said, smiling at me. 'If we could get through that, we can get through anything.'
But Alexa hadn't been down in Haven Park. She hadn't seen the way things worked there. Tow tickets, protection rackets, and extortion. Murder was just another dish on the cafeteria line.
As I sat holding her hand, watching the waves explode in foam grenades against the craggy rocks below, I wondered if we would be able to survive again.
Chapter 27
Time was short, so I couldn't spend the night with Alexa no matter how much I wanted to.
I sat in the back of Little Swiss while she drove to the lot by the Santa Monica Pier and parked. She opened the back door and joined me inside. We kissed goodnight and held each other.
'Tin never gonna sign off on something like this again,' she told me. 'I can't take it.'
'It's an interesting thought,' I said, 'but if it's right, you'll do it again, because it's your job.'
It was a little past three A. M. when I got back to the hotel. I went straight to my room, set my alarm for seven A. M. and fell asleep.
My next shift was a complete waste. As soon as I got to the station I found out Alonzo was scheduled to be in court all day testifying. Lieutenant Eastwood set me up for another dull day of shuffling paper.
Over in city hall all anyone talked about was the big SWAT event at Haven Park High and how the feds' Special Tactics team had jumped our play. Most of the uniformed cops I talked to thought we had a rat in the department. Because I was Haven Park's greenest hoot, I was getting some serious stink eye.
At end-of-watch I got into the Acura and pulled out of the parking lot. I'd used up most of my twenty-four hours and had accomplished nothing. I was scheduled to check in with Alexa as soon as I was EOW, so I returned to the Bicycle Club and called her from one of the pay phone banks in the casino lobby.
'What happened?' she asked.
'Alonzo was in court. I spent the day filing paper.'
While she was mulling that over I asked, 'How about one more day?'
I knew from the prolonged silence that followed that something was up.
'Gimme another twenty-four hours,' I pressed. 'Today was a complete loss.'
'They still don't know you have that Mustang, right?'
'I parked a few blocks away. Unless they get into the Hertz computer and start looking at contracts, it should still be clean.'
'Get in it and drive north. Take Pacific Boulevard. I'm notifying Agent Love. She'll make a field stop.'
'What's up?'
'Homeland took over the case. They got spooked by all the AK-100s that were booked at the high school. You work for them now.'
I certainly didn't want my undercover op run by people I didn't know.
'I told Ophelia I want you out of there, but it's a federal case now, so her people have to sign off.'
'I'll be careful, honey.'
'Shane, I need to be in the loop. You know what information hogs the feds are. You've got to stay in touch with me no matter what.'
'I'll call twice a day. I love you.'
After we hung up I walked the two blocks from the casino to where I'd left the rental. I got into the Mustang and drove out of Vista on Pacific Boulevard, heading north toward a commercial district filled mostly with warehouses and freight yards.
I'd only driven four blocks when two black Navigators with tinted windows hedged me in at the curb. Four FBI guys in dark clothes swarmed the Mustang. I was pulled out of my vehicle at gunpoint, handcuffed and then pushed into the back of the lead Navigator. As soon as I was inside, it roared away. Seated beside me was Ophelia Love.
'Sorry, but this bust was the best idea I could come up with on short notice.'
She reached over and uncuffed me. 'Those weapons we took off the Locos last night are new Russian guns. Some of them were minted less than two months ago. My bosses think the Locos are moving this stuff for Russian mobsters who have ties with local Al-Qaeda cells. Homeland wants this pipeline shut down now.'
'I need more time.'
'Your wife wants you out of here. I told my local supervisor that I agree that you might be compromised. But he still wants us to try for a result. As point agent, it's my call, but everybody is breathing hard.'
