The next evening Rollie drove the FX van to a street near the loading docks. Mira and Francis joined him in the van a short while later. Mira was holding a dossier and she pulled out a couple of pictures of the suspects they were watching. Mira looked around the van.
"Hey, where's Angie?"
Rollie was looking at the pictures "Huh? Oh....she's probably just running a little late. I'm sure she'll be here before the show starts. Ugly bugger aint he?" he cringed, holding up one of the pictures.
Just then the back door to the van opened and Mira and Francis both turned quickly, pointed their guns at the intruder.
"Hey! Hey, don't shoot!" Angie said, holding her arms in the air.
"Sorry, Angie," Mira and Francis apologized.
"It's okay. Sorry I'm late, but somebody forgot to tell me where we were meeting," she explained, glaring at Rollie.
He met her eyes, with his own icy stare.
Mira and Francis noticed the tension.
"Luckily, I placed this little tracking device in the van before I left," she continued as she sat in her chair at the ambler, pocketing the tracking device.
Rollie shook his head but didn't say anything.
"Mira. I want to apologize for last night. I shouldn't have gotten angry, I mean, it was just a surprise that's all. I haven't been able to tell Paul yet, you know?"
Mira nodded her understanding realizing that Tyler let the cat out of the bag.
Rollie wondered where his apology was. Francis scratched his head, not knowing what anyone was talking about.
"Tell Paul what?" Francis asked. No one offered an answer.
Mira handed Angie the file that contained the pictures.
"So what's the story here?" Angie asked.
"Well....." Mira began, glancing at Rollie, "These guys are bringing in drugs through the harbor. The drugs are coming in from the Asian triangle. That much we know...."
"What we don't know is how they are doing it, and who their connections are," Francis interjected.
"What we need to do is get something on tape, names, contacts, etc. And hopefully follow them to wherever their drop is," Mira added, "But there's also something else...."
"How do you figure?" Rollie asked, coming into the back area of the van.
"I'm not sure," Mira admitted, "There's just something more than drugs going on here. So keep your eyes and ears open for anything unusual. This could also get dangerous."
Rollie looked at Angie, still a look of anger on his face....but there was also something else in his eyes that Angie couldn't figure out. Angie just folded her arms across her chest defiantly in response.
"The minute there is any sign of trouble all the agents on the field are ordered to back off. That includes you two. We don't want to compromise the investigation and spook them," Mira said, looking at both of them. She could see that they were still angry at each other from the previous night. She just hoped that it didn't get them into trouble.
"Francis and I will be stationed at the warehouse right over there and we'll be in contact through the radio," she said, pointing out the window. "There are also a couple of undercovers who will be posing as dockworkers who Rollie equipped with mics...."
"And me too," Rollie stated.
"What? No, that's not what we discussed," Mira objected.
"C'mon Mira, you and Francis are watching from the warehouse. The undercovers are stationed over here, but over there...." Rollie pointed to a the area closest to one of the ships, "there's no one."
Mira could see the logic in what he was saying. There was no way should would agree to Rollie being out there if she had more cops with her. But she didn't.
"Besides...."Rollie continued, "We've got Angie here to monitor everyone."
Angie looked at him with murder in her eyes. Why did he always have to get in the middle of things? She asked herself.
"Alright," Mira agree reluctantly, "But remember what I said. At the first sign of trouble get out of there."
"No worries."
Francis placed a hand on Rollie's shoulder; "Rollie, I think you're going to have to put on a little weight if you're going to pass yourself off as a dockworker," he laughed.
"No worries mate!" Rollie replied, "I anticipated this little jaunt and...." he said as he reached into a box on the floor, "I brought along some extra padding," Rollie pulled out a sweatshirt and a plaid lumberjack jacket.
Angie turned in her chair, refusing to look at Rollie now, and started getting things ready on the ambler.
"The two undercovers are online now," she said.
Mira and Francis grabbed their radios. "Alright kids, it's show time," Mira smiled, "And Tyler....you be careful out there. Angie, that goes for you too," Mira and Francis left the van and took up their positions in the warehouse.
"Mira, Francis....you are coming in loud and clear," Angie told them as she brought their signals online.
Rollie put his PDA into his inside jacket pocket and he attached the small mic to the inside of his collar and put the small earpiece in place, so that he could hear Angie. He also attached a small camera chip into the face of his watch.
"Right...." Rollie said, looking around to see if he forgot anything and trying not to look at Angie, "well, I'm off," Rollie exited the van, placing a baseball cap on his head.
"Jerk!" Angie whispered to no one as he left.
"I heard that!" Rollie replied, "Keep the jabber to a minimum, will you Angela," his tone all business.
"Jerk!"
Rollie just smiled and let that one pass as he made his way over to the loading area. Along the way he passed the two undercovers who were talking and laughing with some workers.
"Okay, everyone's signal is coming in clear and strong. Rolling tape..... now," Angie had five signals she had to monitor plus the camera feed Rollie put into his watch. She hoped that Mira would get what she needed tonight, because she was getting a nervous feeling in her stomach now.
"Ange, zoom in on the cargo ships name. See if you can get the manifest," Rollie instructed as he pointed his camera at the ships hull.
Angie zoomed in. "Pasiphae," she said aloud, as she punched the name in the computer. It took a few minutes for the information to come up. She checked the audio of the others while she waited, each feed being recorded.
"Here it is, Rollie. It's registered with an Iberia shipping line. No surprise there, they are known for being lax, especially when it comes to paying for oil spill cleanups and the environment. The owner is a numbered account. I can check on that deeper once we're done here if it's needed. It's what's known as a 'tramp' ship, meaning that it doesn't have a regular shipping run. It says here they are supposed to be carrying electronics equipment like, tv's, refrigerators, microwaves and computers. It shipped out of port in Hong Kong two weeks ago. Hmm, no mention of drugs."
"I think I'm going to try and get a better look at one of those crates," Rollie replied.
"Tyler! Just observe. Do not, I repeat, do not call any undue attention to yourself," Mira warned him.
"I promise, I won't take any unnecessary risks. Any sighting of our suspects yet?"
"Not yet."
"Mira?" Angie interrupted, "There's some commotion over near your undercovers. I don't have eyes on them, but I think your suspects are here."
"Great! Francis and I are on the move. Keep us posted."
"Your suspects don't recognize your undercovers as dockworkers. They want to know what they are doing here. They're getting pushed around Mira!"
"Right. Damn it! We're on our way. I'm calling for back up just in case."
Rollie started snooping around the cargo crate that was being unloaded. He took out his screwdriver that was tucked into his belt and pried the box open. The crate was big enough to walk in, which Rollie promptly did.
"Rollie, what are you doing?"
"Just taking a look-see. These crates are huge...." he said.
"Well, attention K-Mart shoppers, they are transporting some big ticket items...." Angie reminded him.
"Yeah, so it appears," he whispered somewhat disappointedly as he opened one of the containers in the crate.
"Rollie?"
"Yeah, Ange?" Rollie's voice didn't contain the anger from earlier.
"I have a bad feeling," Angie whispered softly, "Please don't do that. Come back to the van. The undercovers may have blown their cover...."
"Alright. I'm on my way. Hold on..... what's this? Angie, can you make it out with the camera?" Rollie moved closer to the thing that caught his eye, "Bloody hell!"
"Rollie? What is it?" Angie couldn't make anything out from the camera feed. It was too dark.
"Rollie?"
"Rollie!"
There was no answer.