Aaron

3- A special assignment

Thea's P.O.V.

Two days and still no leads. I was growing impatient. Any lead we found brought us to another dead end.

I sat down at my desk. Fresh start. New day.

I was reading over something when my desk phone rang.

"Detective Woods."

"Thea, can you come into my office, please?" Captain Riggs asked.

"Yep, I'll be right there." After hanging up the phone, I shut the folder I was writing in, turned off my monitor and headed to his office.

I knocked lightly, seeing Captain Gray sitting in the chairs in front of Briggs desk.

Briggs is very good friends with Gray and a former Captain of a few of my really good friends from the academy, Dylan and Justin. So we worked a lot together throughout the years until a few years back when Dylan fell in love with a woman he was helping out and quit his job or 'died'. Only a few people, including me, knew about Dylan's new life and identity with his wife, Annie. To everyone else he died during his last case. Justin joined the FBI a few months after that.

Captain Gray stood up. "Hey, Thea."

"Hey, what brings you over to this department?" I asked, giving him a hug before taking a seat next to him.

"I need your help."

"Is everything alright?" I immediately thought something happened to the boys.

"Yeah, everything is fine but I came here to see if Briggs would lend you out for a night."

"What do you need?"

"Someone that doesn't look like a cop."

I smiled. "Are you going to send me undercover?"

"Not exactly, more like a special assignment. Do you know Adrik Petrov?"

"I've heard of him. Likes young ladies and is part of the human trafficking in and out of Russia?"

"Exactly. You're fluent in Russian and other languages. I want you to go into Aces nightclub this Friday and keep him occupied."

Gross. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?" I asked, hesitantly.

"I talked with Justin a few nights ago and he immediately named you, saying you're amazing at poker."

I smiled at the memory of playing poker with the guys.

"I'm pretty good." I admitted.

"Find Adrik in the club and keep him busy while some of my guys find the deal that's supposed to go down. Adrik loves poker so that's where he'll most likely be. When he gets into the van to leave, we arrest him."

"Sounds easy enough."

"It should be. He will like you, that's why I'm not sure about this." Briggs admitted.

"I'll be fine Cap. I can handle myself and if I have a chance to save people and take down a dangerous man, I will."

"There's a catch. This place is usually filled with some of the most dangerous men in the world. It's a safe haven for them so if you have an earpiece in and someone notices… they won't hesitate to kill you."

"Or at least try."

"Exactly. I'll have a few of my undercovers sitting at the bar, watching you. One of them will give you a single when the deal is over and that's your cue to just lay low until we have Adrik in custody."

"Alright. I can do this."

"I'll meet with you Friday morning and give you the money. Buy in at this poker game is ten thousand."

"Holy shit."

"That's actually chump change to these people. Plus you'll have some cash to gamble with. I just hope you don't lose it all and get kicked out of the game."

"I've played enough strippoker to know what I'm doing." I sorta teased.

The Captains both snapped their heads towards me, making me laugh.

"I was the one that was always fully dressed." They gave me another look. "I'm teasing." I wasn't. "I know what I'm doing. My grandfather taught me. He played a lot so whenever I would go over there, we would play."

Briggs rolled his eyes, making me chuckle to myself as Gray continued.

"Anyways… While you're at the poker table with him, keep an eye out for a little black book. Since the deal is going down he will most likely have it on him."

"What's in it?"

"I'm not sure exactly but hopefully it will be proof of all his illegal operations."

*****
The next morning before I even left my apartment, I got a phone call from Ethan. There had been a drive-by shooting early this morning. One of our own, Officer Edward Hall was doing a routine traffic stop when the incident occurred.

Luckily the man Officer Hall had pulled over was unharmed and was able to call 911 but it was too late. By the time the officers got to the scene, Hall had died.

Walking into the office today, the mood was different. Everyone was quiet, different from the normal buzz that went around the office in the morning, which was understandable as word got around that Hall was shot and killed this morning.

He was forty-five with a wife and three young children at home. He was one of the best officers on the street and was taken away too soon.

I just hung up from the coroner's office about Victoria Miller when Captain Briggs sat down at my desk.

"What's up Cap?"

"Did you hear about Hall?

I sighed, "I did. Ethan called me early this morning and told me. Any leads yet?"

"No, they think it might have been a gang hit but nothing has been determined for sure yet."

I shook my head. So much violence.

"Anyways, have you found anything out with the Miller case?"

"Not exactly. I just got off the phone with the coroner's office. Jerry said Victoria was injected with some kind of sedative. This particular sedative keeps you awake but keeps you in total paralysis. The killer wanted her alive for whatever reason so she didn't scream but still felt the pain? Twisted and sick."

Captain Briggs shook his head, "We need to find this guy."

"I'm working on it. Cap, she had a lot of cases. I'm having Ethan and Maggie going through her begging and middle cases and I have the end ones, so far no hits."

"You will. I'm going to set up a donation box for Hall's wife and kids tomorrow."

"Ohh, that's a great idea. Where are you setting it up?"

"You know that one stand that's in my office when you walk in my office?"

"You mean the stand that holds the dead plant from your wife?"

He smiled, "That would be the one."

I started laughing. "Perfect spot."

"I thought so too. Alright, I have to make a few calls, I'll talk to you before you leave today."

"Sounds good."