Morgan grimaced as the van juddered to a halt. Despite the local anesthetic Lex had administered, the wounds on his back were still sore. Lex was their route into the Ghost Traders. He was an ex-Poacher, who had been helping Santiago with the investigation for over two years now.
"Strip down and put these on." Lex ordered. Morgan looked him up and down; this was a man who was very much used to giving orders, not taking them. He walked over to the table at the side of the room and removed his boots, jeans and t-shirt before putting on the greyed white shorts and t-shirt. Lex walked over to him.
He nodded in approval and ran a hand along the muscles of Morgan's arms. "Very impressive musculature, a healthy glow in the skin… Yes, we might just get old Nikolai to bite with you. Your friend, Prentiss was it? As a Russian speaker she perhaps would have been better suited to this op but females are much harder to sell. You on the other hand are exactly what we need."
Morgan couldn't help but notice the business-like manner of this briefing. Apparently you could take the Poacher out of the Ghost Traders but you couldn't take the Poacher out of the man.
The doors at the back of the van opened and Lex appeared with another man, one Morgan didn't know. Morgan struggled as they lifted him up and out of the van but there was only so much he could do with his hands bound behind his back and his feet shackled together with only a foot of chain between them.
"Where's the rest?" The man Morgan didn't know asked.
"None of your business, Watcher. I came to deal with the Lieutenant, not you." Lex replied sharply. The other man looked angry but didn't reply. Instead he marched Morgan forward and through the door from the loading bay into the warehouse, with Lex following just behind him.
Once inside, he pushed Morgan to a tall flight of metal steps that led up to the Lieutenant's office. The cold metal felt unnatural as it dug into his bare feet. The Watcher knocked on the door and on hearing an "Enter", he pushed it open, gesturing for Lex to go inside. He shoved Morgan through after him and had him stand in one corner of the room.
"Well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." The Lieutenant said, getting up from behind his desk and stalking around it to face Lex. "You've got some nerve showing up here. Two years chilling with the 5-0 and you think you're free to just stroll back into the fold?" He glared at him suspiciously. The tension within the room was tangible. The Watcher's hand shifted to the gun in his belt.
Morgan's heart was pounding. They'd been set up. How did he know that Lex was working for the cops? Why hadn't the Lieutenant killed them already? The two men in front of him were squaring up to each other in an intense standoff.
Suddenly the Lieutenant's glare merged into a smile and he laughed. Lex laughed as well and embraced him. "Good to see you, Nikolai. Hawaii's been treating me good but there's nothing like coming home to Boston."
Morgan's shoulders sagged in relief.
"What happened?" asked the Lieutenant, "I thought you'd retired and got out of the game for good? You were going to spend the rest of your days in luxury on the golden sands of Hawaii?"
"That's the problem with luxury, Nikolai; it burns holes in your pockets and then burns the money that was in those pockets. One minute I'm lying on a beach with a pretty lady on each arm and a scotch in each hand, next minute my bank account has been bled dry and I am forced to return to work."
The Lieutenant chuckled. "That's all very well and good, Alex, but why have you brought this Cheap to me. You know I don't buy local catch. You will have to take your wares elsewhere I'm afraid."
