Choices | HONDO

2

Raya's pov

All day before, I had taken physical tests in front of the team to demonstrate my skills, and I had passed all the tests magnificently.

I had gone to work an hour earlier just to train in the gym, but when I arrived Luca was already there with the recruits, so I just headed to the locker room where I met Tan.
"Tan" I said putting my bag in the locker
"Raya" he said doing the same
"First day on L.A. SWAT" he said with a smile and an elbow.
"I'll be fine I promise" I said winking at the kid.
"come on let's go, they're all in there" he said, so we went to the main room where we found the whole team together with Agent DeBuis and Captain Cortes
"it didn't go so well with the FBI" said Jessica starting to talk.
"The last week we have been working with their task force" Hondo added.
"Well, SWAT has to officially step in," Cortes resumed.
"for armored car robberies?" asked Luca.
"They're vans, not cars," interjected Tan.
"they call them armored cars" said Luca.
"my six year old son is more serious" said Deacon making Chris and I smile.
"call them what you want, focus" said Hondo taking the word again.
"We call them the pit stop crew because of the speed and coordination of the robberies, they block the vans with electromagnetic pulses and have killed three guards" said Officer DeBuis.
"we need to find them as soon as possible, let's see if our informant will give us anything more" said Jessica and then winked at me, so immediately we headed towards Black Betty and went up directly to a loan shark stand, and Tan did me the honor of leaving me in front with Luca while the rest of the team was in the back.
"sorry but you need to turn off your radio" I said grabbing the radio from a store guard as Tan pinned his arms down, he was probably alerting inside to our arrival.
"SWAT LAPD, get down!" we yelled grabbing our weapons as soon as we entered the store.
"It's locked" I said as soon as I tried to open the door.
"Luca open it" said Hondo, and immediately the blond with a single kick opened the door making us continue the journey
"Suspect on the run" said Tan, so as soon as he ran into a room Deacon opened it throwing the woman to the ground
"face down, hands where I can see them!" said Chris along with Chris and Tan as they pinned the three people to the ground, the rest of us continued
"hands up, freeze!" yelled Deacon as soon as he saw our man throw some money into the fire.
As soon as we arrested the man for recycling, Hondo walked away to answer the phone, when he returned

"Raya and Tan, with me," he said.

After a quick exchange of glances, all three of us climbed into the car.

<><><><><>

They had killed a friend and informant of Hondo's, probably because he was digging for information on the case.

Hondo asked us to go with him to notify the family of their loss.

"I was supposed to go to class at 12:30 but he didn't come, I knew something had happened," said the girl holding back tears in front of her grandmother
"I forgot to offer you the blueberry pie" said the lady leaving us surprised for a second
"ma'am-" Hondo tried to speak but
"I'll be right back," she said with the sweetest smile.
"Lana do you want some?" she asked her granddaughter.
"no grandma, thank you" she said smiling back.
"dementia" said the girl as soon as the old lady left the room.
"she doesn't realize that you just told her that her son is dead" she said letting a tear fall.
"that must be hard" said Tan
"now I have to take care of her completely alone" as soon as she said this a blockage was created in my throat, so I went out for a second, but as soon as I left I heard the tone rise, so I went back in.
"he was at the casino this morning, gambling away all the money we need to help grandma. Maybe she pushed him to become a gambler eh?" he said, but soon after the old lady returned to the room, and immediately the girl changed
"we better talk about this another time" she said following grandma into the kitchen and leaving us alone
"Lana's right, Craig wasn't playing" said Hondo approaching Tan and I.
"what if it was to find out information about the robbery team?" I asked on second thought.
"maybe he was following someone, a lead" Tan said nodding.
"They might have killed him because he found out something," Hondo said.
"let's reconstruct his movements and see" said Hondo, so we got into the car and headed towards the casino....

As soon as we entered, he immediately asked about the recordings, so we followed a guard into the video room until Hondo got a call from Deacon.
"What's new?" he asked after ending the call.
"he didn't talk to anyone, maybe Lana is right and he just came to throw some money at us" said Tan as he turned away from the screen slightly.
"he's not talking to anyone but he's definitely watching someone" I said pointing at Craig on the screen.
"Can you zoom in on the other table?" asked Hondo to the technician.
"Well, Dale said that guy was wearing a snake jacket" he said pointing at the man.
"that can't be a coincidence" said Tan.
"That's Machine, he's a regular" said the manager.
"Do you know the real name?" I asked, looking at the woman.
"I'd have to check, but like I said he's always here so he's probably here now" she said.

As soon as we left the club, we went to the place indicated by the manager and we immediately saw the man hugging a woman and on the phone.

"Machine we need to talk" said Hondo approaching with me and Tan at his side
"sure man, as soon as I finish the call" said the man resuming the call
"you're crazy you know that? I haven't seen Marcy in almost a year" he said over the phone but Hondo, tired of waiting, picked up the phone
"excuse me ma'am, is Marcy blonde with a nose piercing? Because she's here right now. I think she's a little too young for him" Hondo said into the phone.
"she hung up" he said then handed the phone back to the man
"A guy with a leather jacket is doing business with bad people," Hondo said, picking up the phone.
"nowadays many people wear them, they are fashionable" he said, bragging about the jacket.
"I'd say you're reading the wrong fashion" I said, squaring him.
"I don't think you can arrest me so Marcy let's go" he said taking the girl under his arm but I stopped her.
"Marcy how old are you?" I asked the blonde seeing the strange looks on the faces of the two next to me.
"Nineteen" she said and Tan took the glass from her hand.
"Since when do they serve take away skru-drivers?" he asked and then threw it in the trash not far away.
"go home Marcy" said Hondo then slammed Machine into the wall and handcuffed him.

<><><><><>

"we found the workshop he uses for maintenance, Street and Luca are going there, while Chris and Deacon investigate the employees" I said entering the room of Captain Cortes flanked by Chris.
"it's ok, keep it up" he said, so I left to go back to Tan and Hondo, while Chris stayed in Jessica's office.

After several hours of searching for information with Tan, the team finally came together and the tension between the two women in charge of the Task Force was palpable, and we had all noticed it

"let's focus on fruitful information for the investigation, the third van they installed the tracker on, what do we know?" asked Captain DeBuis
"It's been in the shop for two days for maintenance, it'll be out tomorrow morning at 7:00," said Hondo.
"We know which van it is, but we don't know where or when they're going to pick it up," continued the captain.
"He has to make twenty-five stops," said Luca.
"We don't have the time or the manpower to check them all," said DeBuis.
"They could do it at any time, not just at the scheduled stops." added Deacon.
"we could follow at a distance so that the gang can't see us" said Tan, drawing Hondo's attention.
"they were very quick, if you stay at a distance when you arrive it will all be over", the woman said.
"Tan's idea still seems valid to me," said Hondo.
"what if we get some agents into the van?" I interjected, finding Hondo's eyes on me again.
"and when they open it instead of money they'll find us with guns pointed at them," Chris said, nodding at my idea.
"and the rest of the team will arrive with the cars" Deacon added
"I can follow you from here and administer your cars" said DeBuis and left the room.
"That's a good plan, let's do it" said Cortes.