Buried With You

Chapter Seventeen

Tim
"Ugh." Tim knocked on his hair. "Why did my doppelganger have to be so greasy?"

Tim glared at Lopez. She'd been trying to suppress a laugh since she first saw him as Jake. Or Dim, as Lucy calls him.

"It's actually surprising how easily you turn skeevy."

Tim rolled his eyes at her. "I can't believe I'm going under as this guy, again."

"Aw, but you did so well last time. They liked you so much you got a second job." Angela's voice was full of amusement. "At least you have Lucy this time." She raised her eyebrows and smirked.

"Lucy's coming?" Tim felt his heart skip a beat. This op had been put together so last minute he hadn't received all the information yet.

Angela smirked. "Yes, she is."

Tim's emotions quickly shifted to worry. "She's been cleared by psych and physical?"

"She was cleared this morning." There was some worry showing on Angela's face as well.

"That's too soon, she can't go back out yet."

"We don't have a choice Tim, she's been cleared, Grey approved and she wants to go." Angela was trying to keep her voice steady, surely for Tim's sake but he could tell she was worried too.

"Why does it have to be her?" His voice verged on frantic.

"When we went and picked up Dim's girlfriend Sava, it was noticed she had a striking resemblance to Lucy. I'm not sure what's in the water here but apparently, people who look like you two are bound to fall in love." Her tone no longer held concern and was back to teasing.

"Wha- love? No, who said anything about love?" Tim could feel heat flood his face.

"No one, but then again no one had to." She smiled, not teasingly, she looked happy for him.

Thankfully for Tim, Thorsen entered the room taking away any chance to respond.

"We got Dayvion Mosby in a cell waiting for his parole officer. He won't be going anywhere anytime soon."

Relief filled Angela's eyes at Thorsen's announcement. "Good, that's one less thing to worry about now we just need to know the location and time of the job."

"Oh. Looking good, Juicy." Thorsen's exclamation brought all attention to the open door, where Lucy stood.

"Juicy?" Tim heard the tension in his voice. Why was Thorsen calling her that?

"Yeah, you know you're Dim she's Juicy." Thorsen looked proud of his nickname. It made Tim feel slightly better that he was just trying to be funny and not actually calling Lucy Juicy.

Discomfort shown on Lucy's face. "I am seriously second-guessing this tactical decision to wear a thong for authenticity. It's like..." She brought he hands up, motioning that the undergarment was causing the look of discomfort. The image of Lucy wearing a thong made Tim stop breathing. Jake's phone ringing fortunately brought his attention back to the op.

Tim looked at the caller ID. Hajek. "Yo. Are we doin' this or what?"

"We are. Meet my guys at Whittier Air Strip. 30 minutes."

Shit, the job wasn't local. That brought a whole new set of problems. "Airstrip? I thought this job was local." Tim tried to hide the shock in his voice.

Hajek's annoyed voice came over the phone. "It's not. Is that a problem? If so I'll have you both six feet under by the end of the day."

Shit.

Hajek must have taken his silence for compliance. "Great, see you in 30." The phone clicked.

"We have to call it off." Angela voiced.

"We can't, you heard him. If we don't follow through Jake and Sava's lives are at risk." Tim argued back.

"What's the problem?" Thorsen looked between the two senior officers.

Tim sighed heavily. "Once we're in the air, there will be no backup and no surveillance. If something were to go sideways, we'd be completely on our own."

"Plus, we'll have no idea where they're going. It's not worth the risk. I'm pulling the plug." Lopez interjected.

Lucy spoke up next. "The pilot has to file a flight plan. That's how we find out where the job is and then you can follow along in the LAPD plane."

"You're wheels up in an hour, there's no way to get the paperwork in and approved in that amount of time." Lopez's tone implied her mind was made up.

"I mean, I can get a private jet there in 45 minutes. Also, what kind of caviar do you guys like?" Thorsen glanced up at everyone's astonished faces. "I'll just get an assortment."

"Okay, I guess we're doing this." Lopez still sounded skeptical.

Tim and Lucy made a quick backstory while Thorsen organized the jet and Lopez updated Grey. 10 minutes later they were packed into the cars and headed towards the airstrip.

"You're late." Tim and Lucy approached a tall dark-haired man. Tim recognized him from the file, Lyon.

"Yeah, well, our quickie wasn't so quick." Lucy turned and put her hand on Tim's chest, drawing his attention to her beautiful face.

"Where's Dayvion?"

Lyon grunted. "Flaked. Hajek's pissed. We had to scramble to get a replacement. That's Sway." He pointed behind him.

Tim glanced at a tall burly man hauling what looked like a very large case of weapons.

"Hi, sexy. I'm Sava." Lucy kept her voice light yet seductive.

"What's up? Jake." He did not like Lucy calling someone else sexy, even as a cover. "We got a lot of gear. I think it's time you tell us what we're doing?"

Lyon looked Tim up and down. "When we're airborne. First..." He motioned Wisco forward.

"Cellphones." Wisco held out a Faraday bag.

Tim caught Lucy's eye. She didn't like that, neither did he.

"You'll get them back when it's over. Can't risk operational security."

"You hear that, baby?" Lucy brushed her nose against Tim's neck, shivers shot through his spine. "We're in the big leagues now -- using terms like operational security."

Lyons's annoyed voice broke the moment. "Get in the damn plane."

Tim took a deep breath, bringing his focus back to the man in front of him. "You heard the man. Get in the damn plane."

The plane had single seats on each side of the plane facing each other. Tim sat in the seat across from Lyon, pulling Lucy down on his lap. He needed her as close to him as possible.

"So, where are we going?" Tim tried finding a balance between professional and Don's normal nonchalant behavior.

"Vegas, we're targeting Roman Krupka's operation. He imports H for the Monarch Cartel. The thing is, Krupka's paranoid, he doesn't trust computers, and never keeps a written record. The details of his operation exist in one place, he calls him The Brain."

"Him?" Lucy pulled Tim's arm around her waist and squeezed his hand.

"A man named Leonard Madris. Usually, Madris is kept under heavy guard. He barely leaves Krupka's compound. Lucky for us we received a solid tip that he's headed to Vegas this weekend."

"If he's that important he'll have a lot of guards." Tim drew circles on Lucy's hand. Whether to calm her or himself he wasn't sure.

"That's where you come in. You guys take out the guards while I grab Madris. Then we torture The Brain for every detail, and take over the business."

"That's all?" Tim could tell Lucy tried to make her voice sound laid back, but he could tell this worried her.

Lyon scoffed but eyed Lucy hungrily. "Yes sweetheart, that's all."