Chapter Text
Whereas when Lucy Chen had last been kidnapped, the investigation into her and Tim’s disappearance wasn’t kept on LAPD property. Not when the potential for Heath Everett to get information from some random arrest or a distrusted cop was high. Instead, Garza and his team opened their office and it gave the LAPD much better resources. Only two days into the investigations, they’d generated a few leads and only trusted cops and detectives were tracking those leads down.
Grey found himself bent over the table beside Elena Flores looking at the screen where she was trying to track the various vehicles from the parking lot where Tim’s truck had been parked. “Any idea where that one leads to?” He pointed to a mid-size SUV that was pulling out shortly after the satellite data showed the two cops being subdued, the satellite only capturing only a short frame of the situation due to positioning.
Elena nodded, “towards downtown Santa Monica, but I lose tract of the vehicle after it enters a garage off the freeway.” She looked up at him, “I’m sorry.”
“You can only do what you can do.”
Angela Lopez on a phone across the room drew numerous eyes, “…fucking care what resources you have to use, just use them.” She nodded, “good, call me back as soon as you get something and don’t make me have to track you down.” She slammed the landline down and looked up to see eyes on her, “what?”
“CIs giving you trouble?”
“You’d think they were kindergarteners being asked to take a test on the Mexican American War.” She focused on Elena, her tone much softer than moments previous. “Anything?”
Elena shook her head, “still working on tracking the vehicles to and from the beaches nearby where they were taken. California has a lot of them, unfortunately.”
Some people entered the room and they looked up to see Matthew Garza showing in three men and women in plain clothes. “Alright, we’re going to get some new resources.” He motioned to the three people that entered the room, but before he could speak, one of the women beside him spoke.
“Lopez?”
Angela looked over and she blinked a few times, “Talia?”
Grey stood up straight, moving around the table. “Talia Bishop…” he smiled a small amount, “guess the ATF has a part of this fight given Everett.”
Bishop accepted the hug that Angela gave her and then looked to Grey, “good to see you again, sir.”
Garza looked between them, “you know each other?”
“She used to be LAPD once upon a time.” Angela explained.
Bishop turned to the man and woman with her, “Special Agents Yasmin Oxford and Will Dancer.”
Handshakes were exchanged before Garza started speaking, “Everett will be transferred to their custody today, but they will be assisting us with the location of your officers. They’re superior is in agreement that due to his influence in this whole mess, ATF will assist.”
Bishop looked between them, “why don’t you brief us.”
“Wouldn’t hurt to start over again, go back to the basics.” Grey told Garza, “refresh everyone’s eyes.”
“Smart.” Garza stated. “It’s been two days and we’ve run down leads so a refresh will undoubtedly do us good. You go ahead, they’re your people.”
Everyone sat down as Grey motioned to Elena, who started typing on her computer to bring up individual photos of Tim and Lucy. “Sergeants Tim Bradford and Lucy Chen were taken over forty-eight hours ago.” He moved to stand up, “they are the Watch Commander and dayshift Supervising Sergeant of Mid-Wilshire Division. They were last seen on a beach five miles north of Santa Monica Pier.”
“Back it up.” Bishop asked quickly, “did I mishear you, they’re the station’s Watch Commander and Supervising Sergeant?”
“You heard it right.” Angela told her, “he’s the Watch Commander and she’s the dayshift Supervising Sergeant, Field Sergeant too.”
Agent Dancer asked a question, “what were they doing on the beach? Outreach? With their families?”
“Elena…” Garza spoke to his niece and she brought up a video from the parking lot where Tim’s truck was shown pulling in. “This was the last footage of them before they disappeared, the camera was shot with a paintball rifle shortly after.”
“There’s no audio, sorry.” Elena told the group.
The room watched as the truck parked and the doors opened, Tim checking his pocket for something after closing his door. Lucy walked around the front of the truck and paused to wait for him. As he reached her, she spoke before clearly laughing at whatever he had to say. Tim’s face was unable to be seen from the angle they were at but Lucy’s was and she shook her head before motioning to the truck. As she started to move towards the passenger side again, he caught her arm and pulled her close around her waist. They shared a very short kiss before she turned around and moved towards the beach, holding out her hand which he took. They headed towards the beach and weren’t seen again in view of the camera.
A voice cut through the quiet of the room. “Tim was proposing.” Angela stated, “or that had been the plan, but instead they were kidnapped. I found their phones and the ring that he spent days agonizing over. He wouldn’t have left that ring behind without reason and considering the past, it was an indication of what happened.”
Grey nodded, “last time Chen was kidnapped, she dropped her ring as a way to find her. Considering Bradford found the ring the last time, he knew we’d get the message without misinterpretation.”
“Everett tried to bribe him.” Angela explained, “but his morals would be too high to accept the bribe. According to him, Everett told him he’d come to regret it. There’s only one thing that will make Tim Bradford do anything he doesn’t want to do and unfortunately, that’s…”
“Chen.” Grey put his hands on the back of a chair. “Man would move heaven and earth to find her. So many would die for their partners, but I’d go so far as to say he’d kill for her. This will turn to a no prisoners situation very quickly if they attempt to use her against him, no mercy at the end of the day.”
Agent Oxford motioned between the two’s pictures. “What about in the reverse?”
“It’s going to get bloody very quickly.” Angela was honest, “I’ve seen cops who develop loyalties with those they consider family. Chen and Bradford, they go back to the beginning and their bond isn’t without its issues. That said, even at their most strained, I watched that woman jump from an unmarked into a moving vehicle at top speed to get to him before he got himself murdered by a suspect. The only way we make sure they and their kidnappers make it out alive, is to find them and quickly.”
Elena brought up several satellite images, “this was everything we got before the satellites moved past visual range. The next go around we found nothing where they were.” They saw Tim and Lucy standing together, but the images slowly changed to four people in frame and then the two on the ground and people over them. “That’s all we got.”
“We believe they were subdued and transported away.”
“I’ve been working on tracking all the vehicles in the area or that drove past. Unfortunately, even with all our data and techs, it’s a time consuming process.” Elena motioned towards the back of the room. “Special Agent Wilson is working to go through all of the people in and around Everett’s life, but it’s a laundry list.”
Bishop glanced over at Dancer, “you were embedded in one of the investigations that Everett was a part of when he was an up and comer, before the war crimes started. He trust anyone?”
“Define trust?” Dancer asked, “with Everett, everyone is someone to betray him. The question that should be asked is who he has contact with. He’s not one to rely on messages since that could come back to bite him.”
“He’s being held under lock and key like it’s Fort Knox.” Garza was firm in that statement. “We checked his lawyer twenty ways to Sunday before we even let the man in the building and you can forget visitors.”
Grey looked at Elena, “who hired his lawyer?”
She started typing and then looked at her uncle, “his sister, Sarah Marx. We didn’t even give him a phone call and I remember all of us were surprised when the lawyer showed up.”
“You mean after my husband decided to drop him as a client.” Angela stated off hand. “He’s a legal warrior, so when you mentioned Everett had a lawyer, I thought Wesley just sent some idiot over to represent him.”
“Sarah Marx is a paramedic.” Elena stated as she finished typing, “she’d be able to draw up a sedative.”
Garza glanced at Grey, “we’ve been chasing our tails for at least half a day.” He was firm, “start tracing her movements from the time of the kidnapping.”
“Fresh eyes help.” Grey insisted.
As the room broke up, Angela’s phone rang and she found it was Wesley on FaceTime. She answered, “hey, give me a moment.”
“Of course. Call me back.”
“Can we talk?” Bishop asked Angela.
“Yeah, sure. I got to take this but it’ll be quick so join me as I head to get some coffee.”
Bishop nodded, “I could use some, we drove straight from San Diego where we’ve been for weeks on an op.”
In the breakroom, Angela sat down at the table and looked at the phone after dialing. “Hey, so how are you doing?”
“We’re okay, how are you doing?” Wesley asked, “any progress?”
“Some, we may have just caught a break.” Angela smiled, “how are Jack and Emmy?”
Wesley looked up from the phone, “someone heard you.” He pulled Jack into his lap, “you want to say hello to Mom?”
“Hi baby.” Angela spoke softly.
Jack leaned in, “Daddy says you help Uncle Tim.”
“Yeah, I’m helping to find him and Aunt Lucy. It’s just a really huge game of hide and seek right now at work.”
“Come play?” Jack asked innocently.
Nodding, she smiled. “I’m sure after I find them and they get rested, they’ll come steal you for the day.”
He grinned, “yay!” Seconds later he ran away from Wesley and the phone.
Wesley chuckled, “and he’s gone.”
“I’ll be home tonight. I’ll need some time with them to tide me over into tomorrow, but I know Grey will have me on speed dial.”
The lawyer sighed, “you should know I was at Mid-Wilshire today regarding a client. It’s tense enough to cut with a knife, I think they may riot at some point. Although, I did catch half the roll call and Nolan isn’t half-bad. I have no clue how he’s running the station though because I thought one had to be a sergeant.”
A smile graced Angela’s lips, “Lucy ran it as a P2 just out the gate of her rookie year.”
“Yeah, but that’s Lucy.”
“I’m sure it’s fine. Captain Scott is around and she’s keeping an eye on things, it’s probably why day shift hasn’t rioted yet. That or the yellow pages that would result when Tim and Lucy get back. Lucy will write them up, Tim will lecture them, and the stares they both give would make people volunteer for the drunk tank so quickly there’d be a month long schedule before end of shift.”
Wesley looked off to the side, “looks like Emmy is trying to climb Kojo so I have to go. Why did we volunteer to pet sit him?”
“You want to tell Lucy we left him at daycare during her absence.”
“No I do not.” Wesley stated, “I really have to go. No, Emmy we don’t sit on Kojo. No, don’t pull his tail.” The call ended.
Putting her phone down, Angela looked up when a cup of coffee we put in front of her. Bishop sat down beside her, “that the lawyer you were dating when I left?”
“Yeah, that’s him. We have two kids now, Jack is five and Emmy just turned two.” She picked up her phone and opened it to a photo, turning it so she could see. “The four of us just after Easter.”
“They’re cute.”
Angela leaned back, “things were so much simpler when we were training rookies, huh?”
“If you mean we were both trying to climb the ladder while Bradford was on a self-destructive streak, then yeah.”
“He’s better now. I mean, it was rough a year ago when he went on another self-destructive streak but he’s worked through a lot of it.” She gripped her coffee, “Lucy’s helped, that woman has the patience of a saint with him. Honestly, I’m shocked she didn’t kill him because it would have been deserved breaking her heart like he did.” She waved her hand, “but they focused on self-growth and gotten past that mess, back together like they belong.”
Bishop seemed skeptical. “Them two…” she shook her head, “they’re two different people. Plus she was his rookie, I know for a fact he put her through hell.”
“Made her the better officer and now, seeing the two of them running that station’s day shift like the power couple they are.” Angela pulled the coffee up to take a sip, “worth it. Don’t be fooled through, she has him wrapped around her finger to a certain degree. There is nothing he wouldn’t do for her and vice versa. When I say ‘totally in love’, I do mean totally in love.”
“I doubt that’s true.”
Pulling her phone up, Angela swiped at a few things before turning the phone to the side. “I got sent this by Tim’s sister.”
Weeks Earlier
The sounds of breakfast could be heard as Tim stood at the stove in the Chen-Bradford kitchen. Lucy was moving around him getting various things. The person recording was feet away, likely at a table if the height difference spoke to anything. Lucy moved around the bar and called out, “boys get your hands washed, breakfast is nearly done.”
“Thanks so much for watching them last night.” The voice behind the camera said.
“Of course.” Lucy stated and returned to the kitchen. “Remind me to send you the video of them with Kojo at the dog park.” Placing a hand on Tim’s back, she looked at him even if her face couldn’t be seen. “Hey, so how quickly will this meeting be today?”
Tim backed up a fraction before pulling her in to put his arm around her, “maybe two hours max.”
“So I was thinking, I could come pick you up and we could go hiking afterwards. I could pack a lunch, load up Kojo, we could make a date out of it.”
He kissed her before nodding, “I think that’s a great idea.”
“Good, it’s been weeks of work with no dates.” She pulled away and smiled when a post-teen girl came into the kitchen. “You’re up late.”
The girl shrugged, “call it a guest hazard. Did you guys have to be so loud at midnight?”
“We were both asleep by nine.” Lucy told her as she got coffee. “Yesterday was anything but simple and we were exhausted. You probably heard the boys and for that I’m sorry.”
She rolled her eyes, “I guess I should thank you for letting me crash since none of us were expecting that smoke bomb that Allie’s little brother set off yesterday.”
Two young boys came into the kitchen, “is breakfast ready?” The younger asked.
“Sit down.” Lucy told them and motioned to the table. “Also, you owe Tamara an apology for keeping her awake.” She tapped the eldest’s shoulder and pushed them both forward a fraction. “Also, you know the rules about bedtime so what’s the consequence?”
The older groaned, “we we…” He paused as he turned.
Tim pointed at them both, “don’t lie to your aunt in her own home.”
“We’re sorry Uncle Tim, Aunt Lucy.” The younger stated, “I know it means we lost the PS5 next time we’re here.”
“And?” Tim asked firmly.
“Sorry, Tamara.”
The girl shrugged, “it’s fine with me, trust me I’ve stayed up due to worse.” She turned to Tim and patted his arm, “you’ll probably make a half decent dad, so good for you.”
“Don’t make me kick you out, Tamara.”
Lucy turned, “pardon?”
The girl, Tamara laughed. “Oh it sucks to be you.”
Rounding the counter, Lucy poked Tim’s chest. “Don’t even think about it or you’ll find just how uncomfortable that couch can be to sleep on.”
“I…” he started to speak, “I mean, I wouldn’t actually throw her out.” Placing his hands on Lucy’s arms, he pulled her in. “I promise, she’s welcome in any home you exist in. Be it here or the house we buy together in the future.”
Lucy smirked, her smile from the side clearly seen. “Oh, is that so?”
“Yeah.” He kissed Lucy and she pulled back.
“So does that mean if she moves in Kojo can get a dog walker?”
He shook his head, “I already told you, Kojo isn’t getting a dog walker.”
“You’re impossible.” Lucy stated and rounded the counter.
“Like you aren’t.” He shot at her. “I seem to remember your actions yesterday nearly giving me a stroke.”
She rolled her eyes, “says the man that gets in any fight he can just because he’s bored.”
He pointed at her, “that isn’t what I meant by that.”
Voices from several people spoke at once even if it hadn’t been planned. “Stop arguing.”
Tamara spoke, “there are kids present that don’t need to see that side of you guys.”
One of the boys asked a question, “how does arguing make them happy?”
“Right there with you buddy,” The voice from earlier stated, “I have no idea either.”
Tamara smirked, “because they argued in a shop when they first met, or so I’m told. Brings them back to that time riding together I suppose.”
“It’s weird.” Plates and food were put on the table.
Tim ruffled the youngest’s hair, “you’ll understand when you fall in love one day, Austin.”
“Like you did?” Tamara asked, “because you didn’t fall so much as trip into that deep underwater trench.”
“Be quiet.” It was pointed at the girl from Tim. “Or do we have to bring up your most recent dating attempt and the hell it put everyone through?”
“Nope, no you do not.” She looked at Lucy, “control him, please.”
Lucy chuckled, “let’s just all forget about that and focus on the meal in front of us.”
Present Day
The video ended and Angela smiled, “the kid isn’t wrong, those two love to argue and the more they do, the happier they are. The station only got concerned when they were avoiding each other and quiet. They could argue in the middle of the station and everyone would just move around them like they’re a desk not a bickering couple.”
“How long…”
“Have they been together?” Angela asked, “three years if you could the breakup in between, which they do apparently.” She looked down at her phone when it buzzed, “Grey has something, let’s get back out there.” They stood up and left the breakroom to head back to the investigation.