Undeniable - Chenford AU

six

The two sat on the floor, huddled around the burner phone as they waited for Sergeant Grey to call.

Ring!

"Matt Lee," Tim said, putting the phone on speaker.

"It's me," Sergeant Grey said. "Lopez and Harper are here too. We need to discuss this meet-up in three hours."

"We really don't know if it's from Madris or not," said Lucy.

"But, it is our best lead," said Tim.

"And we agree," said Angela. "We'll send some backup with you two in case things go south."

"So we're really doing this?" asked Lucy, looking at Tim.

"Indeed," said Sergeant Grey. "If you need to pull the ripcord, don't be afraid. No mission is ever worth more than your life."

"We know," said Tim. 

"Good. We'll brief a team on our end to help with backup but you two need to get it together in time for this meet-up," said Sergeant Grey. "We'll call again an hour before to have one final talk," he said before hanging up.

"This is huge," said Lucy. "We could take Madris down. Tonight."

"No," Tim shook his head. "I know guys like Madris, they won't show."

"You think so?"

"I know so. This meeting is probably going to be with a few of the many of his henchmen that he has on his payroll."

Lucy yawned. "I think I'm going to take a little nap before the call."

"Good idea," Tim says, reaching for the alarm clock on the nightstand.

He set it to go off at 1:30 am and turned off the lamp.

"I've been meaning to ask you," he starts, slowly trailing off. "Remember that thing you told me? On our first night."

"I've told you many things, Tim," Lucy chuckles, climbing under her blanket.

"About why you have six locks on your door. Why you're so paranoid and sleep with your gun and taser next to you."

"Oh," Lucy says. "It's no big deal, honestly. I'm just super paranoid. Like you said."

Tim could tell she was lying. "Are you sure?"

She sat up to look down at Tim on the floor. "Um...when I was 18, I was living in a house with some of my friends in college."

She swallowed the lump in her throat before continuing. "I was walking home one night before I was approached by this guy. He was probably like...at least five years older than me. He started flirting with me and I rejected him."

She paused, unsure if she wanted to continue her story.

"And he didn't take it very well, did he?"

"He threatened to kill me. And so I ran, and I was so stupid and ran home. I thought that he had stopped following me but later that night he showed up and broke the lock on our front door."

"You're not stupid, you were scared," Tim says.

"No, I was stupid. He broke in, Tim. He threatened all of us with a kitchen knife until I would agree to go out with him. We hid in the bathroom, crying and just hoping that he wouldn't break the lock to the bathroom too."

"And did he?"

"We had called the police but by the time he heard the sirens he had run off. And they never caught him. The police officers didn't believe us. They thought we were just a couple of troublesome girls trying to pull pranks on the police."

"That's ridiculous," Tim says.

"I kept trying to file a report but no one ever listened. Not even my parents. I decided to move back home, transfer schools, and start a new life. At home. And far, far away from my old university."

"Is that why you became a cop?"

"Yeah," Lucy muttered. "My parents didn't approve. They said that cops were brainwashed servants for the government."

"What did your parents do?"

"They're both therapists. I was basically a walking social experiment as I grew up."

"That's rough,"

"Tell me about it," she muttered. "Nothing was going to make them happy other than me becoming a therapist."

"And so when you became a cop..."

Lucy sighed. "I haven't talked to them in like...six years. And I don't think that they'll ever reach out. They wanted me to do something 'meaningful' with my life."

"What you're doing right now could be saving thousands of lives."

"I know that, you know that, but they don't know that. And they never will."

Tim sighed, unsure of what to say next. "Why don't we get some rest?" 

"Yeah," Lucy says with her voice trailing off.

For the first time, she felt comfortable talking about her past. She had never told anyone that story or told anyone about her parents and their disapproval.

For some reason, she felt safe with Tim. Like she knew that he was trustworthy. She didn't have an ounce of doubt in his ability to keep her secrets.

Their short nap completely flew by and Lucy hadn't gotten any sleep.

"Tim," she whispered, leaning off the edge of the bed to slowly shake him awake.

"Tim," she whispered again. "Sergeant Grey is going to call us in five minutes.

"Mmh," he groaned softly, turning on his side to look up at her.

Her hair was hanging and he could barely see her face. "What time is it?"

"It's almost 2," she whispered.

She reached over to turn on the lamp and kicked off the sheets.

"Is it weird that I'm nervous about this?" she asked.

"No," Tim shook his head. "Meet-ups like these are always nerve-wracking. We have no idea what we're walking into."

"Not the meet-up," Lucy said. "The call. And the meet-up too I guess."

"Why are you nervous about the call?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "I guess I'm afraid that he's going to pull the plug on one of the biggest ops that I've ever done."

"The only reason why he would pull the plug is if it gets too dangerous. Grey believes in you,"

"Yeah..."

"He picked you for a reason,"

Lucy was unsure what to say. And thankfully she was interrupted by the phone.

"Hello?" Tim said, putting the phone on speaker.

"It's us," Grey said. "We're at the spot already doing a little steak out."

"Great," Tim said. "What do you need from us?"

"Just make sure you utilize this hour to prepare. Make sure your backstories are airtight."

"Got it,"

"Sir?" Lucy asked. "Do you really think that Madris will show up?"

"I don't know," Grey said. "But be prepared in case he does."

Unsettled, Lucy sank back into the bed.

"Call us if anything changes," Tim says before hanging up the phone.

"You ready to do this?" Tim asks, looking up at Lucy.

"Ready as I'll ever be,"