Chapter 62

Learner and I staked out a construction site the first night back. Sure as hell a couple of idiots tried to steal pipe from the site. I let the truck get inside the site where it was nice and bottled up, before I slipped the grandmother car into the neck of the bottle. If they planned to bring their truck out of the site they had to drive up and surrender. Just to be safe Learner walked in and confronted them. They jumped in the truck and tried to make a run for it. I stopped them at the entrance to the site. So much for all my intuitive skills. It was a slam dunk. The tip had come from someone's girlfriend or someone like that.

After that bust we really didn't have to do anything at all the rest of the night. We rode around the county roads but we could have just hidden out somewhere. The tiny little Special Operations Unit was proving itself to be very successful. It was a good feeling to be part of something so positive.

We went for a couple of weeks just doing routine patrol. We really were adequate at it, but we were best at special missions. Nothing happened at all during those two weeks. It became pretty boring even the weekends were a drag. Mary Ellen was up to something which did not include me. I expected it had less to do with video than it did with her personal life. She might actually be getting serious about Angel. They could be going to take advantage of the domestic partnership bit of contract law.

Either way it didn't include me. I was spending some time with the Learners, though I didn't really feal as though I belonged on those church type picnics. I sensed Jake was suffering some as well. I gave in most of the time for his sake. Well that and the food was excellent.

Between routine police work and my stagnant personal life I was ready for more intrigue in my life. So I didn't shy away when the call came for an undercover operation. I was all excited about it actually.

The chief deputy called me in to put it to me. "Porter, I have an offer for you. The Sheriff went to a regional conference kind of thing. They talk about all their problem and work on solutions. This time we decided on a short undercover operation against Dragon's brew. Do you know what that is?" he asked.

Actually I did but I decided to pretend that I didn't. "Never heard of it," I lied with a straight face.

"It's a liquor laced with pot," he explained. The Boyle Brothers explained it better.

"I'm going to have to take your word for it chief deputy," I said to Simpson.

"It sounds pretty unlikely I know, but they lace the mash with pot stalks before it ferments. Then they just make white liquor like any other only they say it is a different kind of high." he explained.

"Like I said, I'll take your word for it," I said. I thought I did a pretty good job convincing him.

"Anyway they have an informant in the distribution network. He can get one of our people in the inside. We figure they won't make a home girl." Simpson said. "You have the right accent for down east."

"I don't know so much about that but I'm willing to give it a try. So what"s my cover and what do I do to get in?" I asked.

"We want to stay as close to the truth as possible. You just got mustard out of the Air Force. You did two tours in the sandbox and now you are coming home. You did a lot of driving under stress so now you would like to make it pay off, You want to drive for the distribution outfit," Simpson said.

"Okay that sounds easy to explain, but how to I get the introduction?" I asked.

"Always the hardest part to bring the new member into the organization. I think you will love it though, You are going to be looking for a job in one of the drink houses, but not as a hooker. You will take a job as a hostess but you really want to drive a delivery truck or car.

"What about my place here?" I asked.

"Well the assignment, if it works, will only be about three months. If it were me I would just pay the rent on it before I left and leave it empty." Simpson said.

"You know cops live month to month," I said. "I don't have three months rent to spare."

"Tell me how much you need and I'll get them to advance it to you. I really do want you going in pretty near broke. It always plays better that way."

That's how I happened to disappear from the Warren Country Sheriff's department and wind up in Stoneville. Stoneville was a average sized town, but it was much larger then county seat and even larger than Dobson. It had a lot more poor working class concentrated in one place than either of those.

When I hit town, I checked into a welfare type motel. I had the address of the drink house but I pretty much needed an introduction. That's where the informant came in.

It was a Sunday night when I met him. The informant was approximately 28 or so and a fairly good looking black man. So I expected the customers of the drink house to be predominantly black. I wasn't at all disappointed when they turned out to be an even mix racially.

The drink house served both store bought and bootleg liquor. They didn't advertise the Dragon's brew. It was however for sale to anyone there. That made it easy for me to order it. "I have heard of this stuff and I aways wanted to try it." I said to the waitress.

"Well you certainly can," she said to me.

"Good," I said as I sipped the potent mixture. The owner was black so he came to flirt with me. Even with my hair only slightly longer than a crew cut.