Your Favorite Crime

8. Green

"Ang, I'm pulling the plug on this operation. We're done, and tell Grey I quit," Tim demanded into his phone.

"We need to have a conversation. Can you meet me now?" Angela asked. She had no idea what caused his change of heart, but she knew she could talk some sense into him.

"Fine. Meet me at my house," he agreed begrudgingly, planning to multitask; he could pack his belongings while talking to his best friend.

"ARE YOU CRAZY? We're meeting at Los Torres."

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes and hung up the phone before walking back into the main house and entered the lair. Lucy was doing something on one of the computers when he saw her. "Luce, I need to go, but when I get back, we should talk."

"I'll be busy for the next few days, and while I am, your main house invitation has been revoked," Lucy said sternly.

"Revoked?"

"There are things I have to do privately. I'll let you know when everything's done, and then we can talk." He told her he loves her, and she had not fully processed how to respond. A few days of tearing down her operation would give her the time to think about to do now that she had fallen in love with an undercover cop who had yet to tell her his true identity, and Lucy knew she had not disclosed that she was aware of his secret. Being one step ahead has kept her out of jail this long, and she intended to maintain her advantage to protect herself and her family.

He swallowed hard and nodded when he checked to see if there was any doubt in her mind that she should send him away. Tim found she was pretty confident in her decision, so he had no choice but to respect her wishes and leave.

🝮 🝮 🝮 🝮 🝮 🝮 🝮

Tim was unsurprised to see the scowl on Angela's face when he saw her at Los Torres, but he had not expected Grey and Garza to be there, too.

"What's going on?" Tim asked.

"You tell us," Grey shot back.

"This operation is a bust, and I want out."

"She stole something from a bank right under your nose! It's not a bust! We're so close to getting her," Angela rebutted.

"We've got nothing, and we never will. Let's just pull the plug, okay?" Tim said.

"No chance. Her and her father have been getting away with crimes for years. The FBI has been monitoring him and his operations long enough to know that," Garza insisted.

Tim kept his face stoic; he refused to disclose that Lucy's father has been in a coma, so the actual boss is Lucy. The same woman he's in love with. And even though he is still a cop, he could not choose his sworn duty over HER.

"Bradford, all we have right now is your testimony of what you've seen. It's not much, but it's something," Angela said.

"There's nothing for me to testify to! They robbed a bank, and I wasn't even there. Lucy wasn't even technically in the bank. You have no witnesses or evidence. You'll never convict," Tim insisted.

"You almost sound like you don't want her to be arrested," Garza accused.

"Why don't you two give Tim and I a minute?" Grey regarded his fellow officers. Once Angela and Garza stepped away, he leaned in and asked in a low voice, "Tim, has something happened during this operation? We've barely gotten any updates from you aside from the texts to let us know you're safe."

"Nothing. I just don't think we can arrest her, so I'm wasting my time undercover," Tim lied.

"Why did Lopez tell me you wanted to quit?"