Chapter 54

The flash drive she'd found in her pocket allowed Nikki easy access to pretty much any computer she could physically get to -- which was just a little scary. Nikki put aside her normal instinct to go have a chat with Bill and got to work. Since looking in Jerry's computer had been a bust, she'd decided to check his partner's computer. Ben, unlike Jerry (and boy did they hate to be compared to the ice cream), were pretty close buds. They did a lot of things together, and Nikki didn't like either one of them. Ben seemed to be a much nicer guy than Jerry and was considered the more level headed of the two, but that didn't matter to her; Nikki didn't like him. Not that she'd be able to say why if she was asked. However, even with Sensei's training, she wouldn't want to be caught in a dark alley with him.

Unlike Jerry, Ben's computer was locked, but only until she plugged in the little flash drive. A few seconds after she did, she was in. She didn't even have to put in a password. She smiled to herself, but wondered what would happen if Bill ever decided to use his abilities for Evil. She almost giggled to herself, but stopped it. She was nervous. Very nervous. Cops simply didn't spy on other cops. You were brothers and you stood by one another against all comers. If she was caught, well, losing her job would be the least of her worries. She'd probably have to leave LA, but if they were pissed enough, she could find herself harassed anywhere there were police.

There was nothing on Ben's computer either -- at least nothing that stood out. His inbox was noticeably lacking the tons of stupid emails that Jerry's had had. She clicked on the Outlook calendar and glanced through it. Nothing of import, although she did notice that Ben and Jerry both bowled on the same night. Bowling. Seriously? She pulled the flash drive and watched as the screen saver came back on. A random thought occurred to her and she hoped that the flash drive was clean of viruses. Then she rolled her eyes at the thought. As if Bill, UberGeek Extraordinaire would allow a virus on his stuff.

Nikki was at a loss. She knew something was going on in the department, but other than the snippet of conversation she'd overheard, there was no hard evidence. She'd focused on Jerry because he'd been the one beating on Jane and because she just had the feeling that if anything illegal was going on in the department, Jerry would be involved. She didn't like him -- never had, but one doesn't go around accusing fellow officers. She'd heard about the surveillance camera outage in the cells, of course, but that was being treated as a big joke by pretty much everyone. Considering that the guy who was working down there was a friend of Jerry's, that was a little too much of a coincidence for her. The common perception was that Jane had had it coming by using a bat on Harry during the raid. Nikki knew there was no way Jane would have done that, but she was smart enough to keep her thoughts on the subject to herself. Besides, she'd sparred with Jane and knew the woman didn't need a bat to take someone apart.

She walked by Mitchell's desk, noting that Ben was hanging out there again. The two of them were good friends, although Mitchell didn't seem to like Jerry at all. Showed he had some taste, at least.

" ... you gonna make it tomorrow night?" asked Ben.

"I'll be there," said Mitchell, but he didn't seem too happy with wherever he was going to be.

Nikki kept walking, but wondered what they were talking about. It was probably nothing, but in her hyper alert mode, everything seemed suspicious. The conversation was still nagging her later in the day and when she happened by Mitchell's desk, she noticed his computer wasn't locked. Also, Outlook was opened, and on a hunch, she clicked onto his calendar, looking at it. He actually used the thing and it was filled with appointments, but none of them jumped out at her. She changed it back to email and left, somewhat discouraged.

"How's your beemer?" asked Knife.

"Pretty trashed," said Ken, sitting down at the bar next to Knife.

On the other side of Knife sat Roger, despondently drinking beer out of a can. The bar was pretty empty and it wasn't located anywhere near where one would expect the Tankers to be hanging around.

"So how's everything going?" asked Ken.

"Not so great," said Knife. "Most of the club is still behind bars even though some do-gooder got us a great lawyer."

Ken shrugged. It was no big deal to have David handle things for the club. He'd managed to get some of the members out, but not all, since some of them had rather colorful pasts.

"It's no worry," he said. "We're kind of all in this together. I'm still hoping it doesn't go to trial, but if it does, well ... there's the bar video, plus the video of what went on in the cell. Those should carry some weight, but nothing's certain."

Ken wasn't sure what he'd do if he and Jane were convicted. He rather doubted Jane would be, but one never knew how the cops were going to spin the raid. There had been video recovered of him and Jane involved in the fight, and if that were to be seen, it would only help the case against them. Combined, the two of them had done a lot of damage, even though they were defending and not attacking. The video also contained scenes of the Tankers being allowed to leave the bar by the incoming police -- who shouldn't have been letting anyone leave.

The entire case would be a mess, and no doubt about it. Although if Ken and Jane hadn't been involved, Knife's people would have been completely railroaded by the cops, and the bar fire would have taken care of all the evidence.

"So," continued Ken, after neither of the other two men said anything, "I've found some property that's zoned for a bar. Pretty nice too. You guys interested in seeing it?"

The question was mainly directed at Roger, since it would be his vote that carried the most weight about the new bar.

"Sure, what the hell," he muttered. This crappy place didn't even have any decent beer on tap, so leaving was fine with him.

The three of them went outside, Ken getting into his car, and the other two men getting on bikes. Ken pulled out into traffic and led the two to the first of three places Joan had found for possible bar sites. Ken liked the third one the best, so that was the one he took them to last.

Neither Roger nor Knife had shown a much interest in the first two places. They would serve, but they were in crappy locations. The final one was just off the PCH and it, unlike the other ones that had been small restaurants, this one had once been a bar. Apparently, the bank had foreclosed on it because in spite of the excellent location, it just hadn't done well. Considering what the interior looked like, Ken wasn't all that surprised.

"Hol-ee shit," muttered Roger. "Who the fuck designed this place?"

"Who the fuck would want to eat here?" asked Knife.

"Not a lot of people," said Ken, "which is why the place was foreclosed. Apparently the former owner thought she could do no wrong, and refused the advice of people who knew better. She went bankrupt and the property was reclaimed."

The three stood looking through the large bay window in the front of the restaurant. Even the beautiful view couldn't overpower the pink wall paper and the winged unicorns (with rainbows coming out of their horns) etched into the glass. The entire place was supposed to have been some sort of fairy princess themed restaurant, but the amount of pink and rainbow decor was absolutely eye-searing. Ken wondered if one could take brain damage just from being in here. Certainly eye damage wasn't out of the question.

Still, the location was good, and it had just come on the market the first of the year, which explained why it hadn't been snapped up. Roger, looking more enthusiastic by the moment, seemed able to ignore the nauseating interior. After a very thorough examination, the three of them headed outside to give their retinas a break.

"Man, that was painful," said Knife.

"And I've had to see it twice," smiled Ken.

They both looked at Roger, waiting to see what he'd said.

"Well, it's got potential," he finally said. "Thing is, I dunno about the liquor license. This is in a different county an' mine ain't gonna get transferred. They haven't yanked it yet, but they're probably gonna, and once they do, I ain't gonna be able to get another one. Ain't much of a bar without booze, ya know?"

"I'll take care of that part," said Ken. "I mean, I don't know how, but I'm sure Lenny will think of something."

"So how would this work?" asked Roger.

"I don't know," replied Ken. "I'm sure there's a lot to work out, both business wise and ownership wise. Question is, do you want to give it a shot?"

"Whadda you get out of it?" asked Roger.

"A place to party," said Ken with a shrug. "A place where I can have a say in the rules."

"Like bringin' Arianwen in for a 'party'?"

"Like that, yeah," replied Ken. "Maybe some others."

"I can handle that," said Roger, wearing the first grin Ken had seen on him since his bar had been destroyed. Considering Ari had healed him so he could have sex again, that grin was no surprise. "Knife?"

"Let's do it," said the man, holding out his hand to Ken.

They all shook on it, then went their separate ways.

"Ken," said Joan much later, "are you sure you want to do this?"

They were at the mansion, relaxing after dinner.

"Yup," he said.

"Well," said Joan, swirling some white wine in a glass, "I can start the paperwork tomorrow and get the ball rolling. But I don't know the first thing about getting a liqueur license. I'll have to make some calls."

"Okay," he replied. Then, after thinking for a moment, "Can you put the property in your name for the time being?"

"If you'd like," she said. "But why would you want to do something like that?"

"Let's just say that I want to ensure there won't be any problems getting everything rolling," replied Ken. "Our 'friends' down town have lots of official friends. If my name is flagged somewhere in some computer, I don't want it associated with buying this property."

"Why not? It's perfectly legal to buy property."

"True, but after what happened to Roger's bar, I think it would be prudent to keep our names out of it. At least until after whatever circus the DA is planning for the trial."

"Do you know anything more about that?" asked Joan with a worried look on her face.

"I think it's going to work out in our favor," said Ken.

"Oh," replied Joan, surprised by how positive he sounded.

"Don't sound so surprised," Ken grinned. "We have a Goddess on our side."

Nikki hated bowling alleys. On a hunch, she'd tailed Jerry after work. She would have preferred to just beat him to the bowling alley, but she didn't know which one he was going to. Now, as she sat at a table, her blonde hair hidden under a dark wig, and her eyes hidden by tinted glasses, she aimed the small directional mike at them.

Nikki had always been fascinated by undercover work and hoped to one day be an undercover cop. As a result, she'd spent some time researching spy cameras and other undercover surveillance gadgets, and had even bought a few. Not too many, since they were expensive, although Scott had somehow found out about her interest and had gotten her a number of very expensive toys.

The microphone was an example of one of the toys Scott had purchased for her. The thing was amazingly directional and extremely powerful. Sure, the ambient sound in a bowling alley made listening in on what the group was saying somewhat difficult, but their conversation still came through pretty clear -- and all of it was being dumped to a very small recorder. Nothing they said would hold up in court, but at least it would let her know if her hunch was right about Jerry.

Considering who was there, she had her doubts. Yes, Ben and Jerry were there, but so were Mitchell, Bob, Burt and his partner Alan. That would make six people involved in something, plus the Chief. Jerry she could believe might be willing to do some dirty work, but not the other guys.

" ... at the meeting," Burt was saying.

"Fuck," said Jerry, picking up a ball. "I ... those losers ... But I can deal with that as long as I get paid."

"You mean as long as you get your cut of pussy?" asked Alan.

"And the..." said Jerry.

And the what, wondered Nikki.

"Well, tomorrow night, we..." said Bob.

Crap. She might have to move closer to get a better angle. She was losing too much.

"We do it until the job's done," said Mitchell.

Nikki casually got up and moved to a closer table. It was unlikely that they'd notice her. Cops are hunters, not the hunted, so it would never occur to them that someone was stalking them.

"I still don't get why you're in this," said Bud. "It ain't like you need the money."

That was true. Mitchell was a trust fund kid. Lived in a nice house. Had a nice wife and three kids. Attended church every Sunday.

"I told you it's none of your business," said Mitchell

" ... Chief finds out we're talkin' about this, he's gonna be pissed," said Burt.

"Fuck him," said Jerry. "He ain't the one out there mixing it up."

"Okay enough," said Mitchell. "We'll get more info tomorrow night. Until then, just keep your mouths shut."

The men grumbled, but they didn't bring up anything else that seemed connected in the next half hour. She didn't want to stay any longer since while they might not be actually looking for someone tailing them, they still might notice her and that she didn't need. She quietly got up and left, trying to make some sense of what she'd over heard.

Something was clearly going on, and the Chief was clearly involved in it. Since Jerry had mentioned pussy, she wondered if they were involved with some kind of white slavery. But no matter what, she just couldn't see Mitchell involved in something like that. He was one of those serious bible thumpers who got outraged if a woman was seen breast feeding in public. No way she could see him involved in any sort of sex trade. Of course, his outrage could be a front, but that explanation didn't feel right to Nikki.

None of that mattered though. It was clear that she was going to have to find a way to eavesdrop on the meeting tomorrow night.

Tina looked around the hallways and sighed. They were filled with other kids, going about their daily school day. She was bored. Her classes bored her, and she knew they'd continue to be boring as hell. As that idiotic "No child left behind" bullshit started to be enforced, more and more emphasis was placed on taking some stupid test, and less and less on actually learning anything. She needed out of this school and to get on to college -- her and Cindy both.