Author's note
It's taking a long time for me to upload mostly because of family circumstances. Thank you all for being so patient with me. I wanted to hit publish so I didn't edit this. Forgive me for all mistakes. I'd appreciate any feedback on on my writing. Love you all.
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It took a while for everyone to get settled, but soon they were all in action mode. Owen felt he should start the meeting, as he was still the team lead but before he could open his mouth Sam started.
"You people messed up big this time. You jumped into the water without knowing how deep it was and dragged Sang down with you. Now her life's in danger because of it."
"How? Explain Mr. Reynolds"! Owen demanded before another argument started.
"Because you people are dipshits who know nothing about real police work and like pretend that you do." Danny yelled out. "You guys are not even PI's for god's sake"
"We know what we are doing" retorted Nathan. "We were trained to do this."
"Tell me genius! What happens when you get caught breaking into someone's place? Get into some mess that you have now? This mess that you landed yourselves into is not like getting the boss's daughter's naked pictures from the boyfriends phone. This time it almost cost one of your friends life." Danny ended his tirade pointing at Luke.
"Danny down" his partner murmured. "This isn't going to help".
"Gentlemen, perhaps you could tell us why you are here" Owen asked the trio. The sooner he can get back to their own work the better.
Myers and Sam looked at each other. "Go ahead. It's your deal" Meyers told Sam. turning to the room he said "you guys better sit down, this is going to take a while."
After everyone was seated Sam looked at all of them. He felt sorry for the young ones. They were where he was, trusting blindly. Believing in something that was as full of empty promises as everything else in this world. "I hope they get their girl." he thought. After this is over they are going to need someone to hold their hand."\
"As I told you before I am former Academy. So I'm able to navigate easily through their minefields. You guys were sent here, rather he was sent here to infiltrate a college drug operation by the academy." he stated pointing to Luke. "This was done at the request of a former academy member, who has a family member involved with this group.Correct?"
"You said nothing that we don't know detective reynolds." Kota stated. "As a former academy member you know this is how usually things are done."
"So what!" Nathan asked angrily. "None of this makes it your business".
"It is my business when my sister is in trouble because of you idiots and what you were doing." Danny's voice boomed out.
Sam ignored the two of them and continued. "This wouldn't be a problem, well, it would be seeing that you have no authority to do so, but let's disregard that for a moment. This became problem when you started interfering with an ongoing DEA investigation that Texas PD was running. They already had their eye on that group and other people involved with them. These people were not only selling drugs on the campus, they were also coercing some of their female clients to turn tricks. And Marco Reyes and his team one of the primary suspect. The Academy knew about it"
The room went silent at that bombshell. Then pandamonium broke loose.
"Fuck you" Gabriel yelled out. "You can't just say that!"
"You just came here to cause trouble!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" North yelled out.
"Quiet!" Owen commanded in a clear voice. Turning to Sam, Myers and Danny he asked, "that is a severe accusation you are making. Do you have any proof of that?"
"You are not going to believe these assholes, are you?" Nathan said loudly. "They know shit about the academy! Sang probably told them everything. Why did this guy leave the academy? If he ever was there!"
"They are right." Luke's quiet voice said. He was still looking pale and lost but his eyes were on his team. "He is right. Reyes team was involved in it".
If there was one statement that could shock the Blackbourne team into silence, this was it. One by one all the guys turned to Luke.
"What are you saying Luke"? Asked Kota quietly. His fingers counting away. "How do you know this? When did you know this?"
"Αμώτο" Silas cursed. "That's all we need. You sure brother"?
"What the hell"! North yelled out. "What the hell did you send my brother into" he screamed at Owen.
"Are you sure, Mr. Taylor"? Owen asked. Mainly to have it confirmed. He believed the detectives. He believed Luke. he had his questions about this job from the beginning. Mainly because he found it odd that they would ask for someone from Charleston while there were more experienced teams in Texas.
"I started making the connections before I got shot. There is a girl that hangs out with the Reyes team. I think she is connected to one of them. I saw her with one of our suspects. I was following them when someone shot me." Luke answered them. He was tired. His face drained of color. The happy-go-lucky state he was in is gone. "What does it matter now" he thought. "We lost Sang. she'll never forgive us".
Everyone looked at each other. They were having hard time believing that a team from the academy would be involved in something like this. Why did the academy not know about it?
"Let's get everything on the table. We tell you what we know and you tell us your part." Sam suggested. He seemed to look at them with some hidden understanding.
Owen and Kota looked at each other. They always made the decision for their team. Even if they were all adults now team related issues were done with their votes.
"We were given this assignment as a favor to a senior academy member." Owen told Danny, Sam and Myers. "Her niece is a student at the college. The niece is what you would call an all american girl. Good grades, sorority girl, friendly, outgoing etcetera. That was until she was arrested with bag full of pills with the intent to sell. She admitted to her parents that someone has pictures of her that are very....personal,compromising. They were blackmailing her with it. She also said a lot of the other kids in college were in the same situation. So we were called in".
"Why the hell didn't the parents tell the police? This is not a just recover the picture situation. There were dangerous people involved, police should have been contacted. Instead of doing that they called in the mystery gang". Exclaimed Danny. "All you guys need is the huge dog"
"Maybe they can borrow Winnie" snickered Myers.
"How did you get made"? Sam asked Luke.
"I came in as a student. Started going to the parties she told us about. Started following the students i thought were distributing. Took me six months to find the connection to the main supplier. I have been following him for a few days and I was doing it that day too." Luke answered.
"Still doesn't explain why you think Reyes team was involved" Kota asked.
"When I was doing my party going student part, there were some I marked as the obvious sellers. This girl was one of them she was one of the main ones. Threatened the younger girls, hit the boys. I started following her and saw her go into Marco Reyes's apartment a few times. I knew what all the team members looked like. Started seeing one of them come meet her at the college. She was there at the dock when I got shot."
"It could be a coincident" Nathan said softly.
"Too often to be a coincident. She was very tight with the Reyes team."
"Why the Fuck didn't you call us? Tell us about all of this?" Gabriel yelled. His hair looked like he was pulling on them.
"You wouldn't believe me. Hell! I wouldn't believe me. You just don't go around and accuse an academy team without proof. I thought maybe they didn't know about it. But I overheard them talking. They knew. They were involved." Luke was tired from all this. He wanted to go to Sang. he wanted to wrap around her and sleep. He wanted this over with. He did the next best thing, he went into the bedroom and laid on the bed.
"How could this happened?" Silas asked. "Do you think this is why we were requested to take this job. Because the elders knew that the Reyes team was involved.?"
"possibly ." Owen answered. "It could also be that since some of the team members were students they wanted someone from outside."
"But you don't believe that do you" Sean summarized. He knew his friend better that anyone. He knew how his brain worked.
"How did the police find out about the Reyes team. And if you knew why didn't you do something yet?" Kota turned to the detective, who were sitting quietly all this time. Amusement clear on their faces.
"Well" Growled North. "You want to say something?"
"We could. But it's so much fun to see you guys work it out that you screwed up" quipped Danny.
"What about you computer guy?" Myers turned to Victor. "You have nothing to add"?
Victor looked at him and shrugged. "I'm keeping my input for last".
"Will you fucker just tell us already" Gabriel burst out. "Fucking wasting time."
"Watch your mouth."warned Sam. "Ill tell you. We found out about the drug business on the campus when quite a few students ended up in the hospital with drug overdose. After it happen a few times an investigation was launched. Eventually it included the DEA. We have some students arrested and questioned. Found out there was a ring working the campus. Whoever was the head of this thing had a system going. Throw a party. Drug a selected few, take videos of the doing incriminating things and later blackmail them into selling. We were working our way towards the number one guy when Luke stumbled on this and the whole thing went messy. Whoever it was found out about Luke being connected to Sang and through him Danny."
The guys cringed at the mention of Sang. They were scared that this time Sang was in more danger than ever. This situation blows Ashley Waters out of the park.
"She was right" muttered Victor. "It is us that puts her in danger all the time".
"You still haven't explained why you believe the Reyes team is involved in this." Owen asked.
"They are probably making it up trying to protect Sang" Nathan spoke out. "There is no possible way an academy team would be involved in drug dealing".
"You are as good as the company you keep" Sam looked at them and continued. "The academy is not the solution for every problem a member has. They can show you the rope, but whether or not to climb out completely depends on you. Marco Reyes was given that rope, instead of climbing up he went down. The girl in question is Marco's Girlfriend. They've known each other for a long time. The two other member in hi team are his brother and cousin. They are all involved in this"
"Do you have any proof of this" Owen asked icily. He was having trouble believing that an academy team would be involved in drug dealing and none in the academy would find out.
"I can shed some light in that area" victor spoke up. He was unusually quiet during all this. "I've been looking into a few things since we got here. And after Danny was shot i dug deeper".
"Why"? Sean asked. He was perplexed as the rest of the team. Why would Victor take such a step and not tell Owen or Kota.
"Who the fuck cares why. Victor said the fuckers were in on this, so they were". Gabriel added.
"I was a little curious about the fact that this job was given to a team outside of the area. Then after Luke was hurt I started to suspect that maybe whoever shot him knew him or knew why he was there. Only people that knew was the Reyes team." Victor paused. He was tired. But he needed to tell them everything. He trusted the academy and believed that to some extent they did serve the greater good, but over the years he had become a little less starry eyed and more realistic. There vas no guarantee for human behavior.
"That doesn't prove anything" Kota said. "You are assuming Luke getting hurt had to do with someone knowing the reason Luke was here. It could just be because Luke was caught following them."
"It could be." Victor agreed. "That still leaves out the other proof I found of their involvement. Luke send me a few names to get information on. One of them was a woman, who according to Luke was one of the prime suspect. She was getting large amount of money deposited into her account every few days, despite not having a regular job and being registered as a full time student. She shared a last name with two of the other men in that list. I found out they were cousins and all three of them were well connected to the drug business."
"The boy did his research" Danny murmured to Myers.
"You think we can get him to work for us" Sam questioned.
"No way you fuckers are taking Victor" Gabriel told them.
"Hey! We have a shiny badge we can give him!" Danny protested. "I'll even throw in a good word with Sang."
"Will you clowns stop playing" Nathan shouted. "I want to hear the rest."
Throwing him a look of surprise and gratitude Victor continued. "After Luke was shot I went through the camera's in the area and the security camera picked the woman running out of the area. I found the phone records and the first call she made was to Marco Reyes."
"How are they connected Victor?" Owen questioned.
"Her name is Tania Aroya and she is Marco Reyes's girlfriend. The academy files have her name as his teenage relationship. It says academy gave him the option to end their relationship or leave the academy. On the surface he chose the academy. But I found records going as far back as five years ago that shows him being involved. Marco's team has contact with Miss Aroya and her cousins since before they were in the academy."
"What does that have to do with Marco Reyes being involved in the drug ring and Luke getting shot and Danny getting hurt." Sean was the one skiing this time.
"I followed the money." Victor answered. "Marco had money flowing into his account from her and then going into another account. She was arrested twice where Marco bailed her out. Two of his were in the same college. Threw the parties with her. Rented the houses. It's all here in black and white."
"The assholes set Luke up!" North jumped up. "I'm going to kill him."
"Άπνοια" Silas put his hand on North's shoulder. He was listening quietly all this time. He wanted to get to the bottom of this. Enough circles. "How did they know Sang. You said Danny was shot because of his connection with Sang" he asked the detectives.
"I'll answer that" Danny spoke up. He was getting tired and in pain. He wanted to go home and to sleep. But his sister loved these fools and he wanted to set them straight. "I knew Marco Reyes from when he came to visit Sang. That was when Sang first came to live with us. He cornered her one day and was upsetting her when mom showed up. Sang wouldn't tell us anything but it kept happening at school, at our house, at the street. Dad finally forced her to tell us because she became too scared to leave the house. She made us promise not to tell anyone because funny as it was, she didn't want you guys getting hurt or punished by the academy. The academy wanted her and send Reyes to pressure her into joining and not going after her legal documents. Reyes finally left her alone when dad got involved. That was the last i saw of him until dad showed me his picture on the DEA files."
"Those fucking assholes! They fucking knew where she was and didn't fucking tell us! Those assholes scared her!I'm going to hang those fuckers by their fucking balls and fuck them up!" Gabriel's words were met with no arguments. They all felt the same way.
"What do we do now, Owen?" Kota asked. Do they continue with the assignment? Do they let the academy know what was going on? Do they help the police? All these questions were rolled into that one line.
"Before you guys decide let me tell you something." Danny interjected. "Sang isn't the same girl you guys knew back then. She grew. Became more confident. More sure of herself. She loves deeply and cares too much. She is my sister all the through. She stayed by our side when it was a very difficult time for us. She is the reason for happiness. She is also very loyal. Her first loyalty is to her family. We are her family. But so are you. Despite all of your screw ups, she still cares for you. Can't tell you if she loves you or not that is something you guys have to find out for yourself. So what ever decision you make you have to choose now, who are going to be loyal to."
"I'll tell you something too" Sam said. "The Academy is good. The idea behind their actions are good. But this situation is beyond academy. You are not going to betray academy by staying out of this investigation and not telling Reyes. You'll be taking care of your family. Because even after all of their lofty ideals and intentions, academy looks after only academy. It's time for you guys to look after your own."
"We will stay out of your investigation" Owen told the detectives after a few minutes of silence. A relieved sigh went through out the room.
"It's best for Luke to rest and we have to look after him. Speaking of rest, Detective Rodriguez, you aren't looking so great either. You need to be in bed." Sean spoke up.
Before anyone could say anything else Danny's phone rang. After a few seconds of "uh-huh"and "I see" Danny hung up. He was smiling. "it seems my sister found a way to cope with being mad at you guys." He told them.
"She didn't"! Myers exclaimed. "Again"!
"Yep! She has Michael, Samantha and Marry-Ann for company"! Danny said gleefully.
"Great! At least its in the house this time" Myers sighed.
The guys and Sam were looking at the two of them with confusion. They couldn't make heads or tails of this conversation.
"C'mon! Let's go!" Danny commanded. "You guys are the reason for this. You can help me do damage control".