Planting Jade
Special agent Jade Colins paced in her office, her mind tearing apart her next target.
“Declan fucken Cruz. CEO of Cruz tours. A billionaire. A greedy evil monster. He just has to supply the most deadly drug in history of this country. All in the name of growing his empire.”
Her hands clenched into fists. She would physically tear the man apart if he were to show up at that moment.
Fog was the new drug on the block. It was ten times worse than meth and cocaine combined. A mixture of very addictive and toxic chemicals. Its victims loved the high. They described it as an out of this world experience. Except it was deadly.
She returned to her desk, where Declan Cruz’s picture stared back at her. His godlike looks made her mad, really mad. Declan had a smooth ivory skin.
Jade believed that he should have ugly scars and a horrible rash. Instead he looked like a model, better even. The grey piercing eyes gave him this dominant yet innocent aura. The physique would make a Greek god really mad, just as she was mad. She stabbed the picture repeatedly until it was unrecognisable.
“He is a monster,” she spat out right when Beth walked. Beth glanced at the file on her desk, then at the defaced picture of Declan Cruz.
“You know that he is just a person of interest at this point, right?” Beth asked. She knew how Jade hated drug lords.
“I know,” Jade quickly responded and threw the paper in the trash.
Despite having half of the department working on the case, they had nothing on Declan Cruz. Zilch. His company employees were the small fishes they knew about. More than four of them. It was just too much of a coincidence. The department was convinced that Declan was involved.
“He has to be the boss behind the syndicate,” Jade told herself.
Beth studied her before asking her the same question she asked yesterday.
“You sure you want to do this, Jade?”
“Yes,Beth.”
Jade had volunteered to go undercover to infiltrate the syndicate. Her mandate directly from the highest office on the land was to take out every stake holder. They knew the small fishes, but they needed the bosses. That was the only way to shut the syndicate down once and for all.
“No one has come back alive, J,” Beth reminded her of the danger she volunteered to face. The department had already buried eight detectives working on that case in that year alone. It was a deadly mission. Everyone who got too close to the players ended up dead. All of them execution style. That was the reason the mission was now on a volunteer basis and Jade volunteered to go.
“I know that,” Jade responded, unfazed.
“J.”
“It is dangerous, I know, but we can’t let these scoundrels kill more innocent kids. Fifteen teenagers, last week alone. It can’t go on. Someone is gotta stop it,” she explained her decision with anger rising inside her.
She joined the force to stop monsters and really angry that Declan was still out there. She regarded that failure on their part to stop him from hurting the vulnerable youth. That so many have died already.
“I know, Jade. It’s just…” Beth tried to speak.
“It’s my job and yours and it’s personal,” Jade interjected.
Beth let out a sigh. Their best friend, Jared, lost his son from Fog beginning of that year. Seth was his only child and an apple of his eye. Only fourteen years old. One stupid experiment and he was gone. Jared had been depressed since.
Jade was now taking it upon herself to stop the drug lords once and for all.
Captain Snow walked in with the rest of the team. They were all detectives in a specialised unit at the state department.
“Colins,” Captain Snow greeted with a sigh. Jade was his best detective, but she gave him grey hairs and fame too. Obeying rules was not Jade’s strongest attribute.
“Yes, Cap, I will be careful,” Jade reassured him.
“Those men have egos, Colins,” he stated and stared at her to respond.
“I know, Cap. I have one myself.”
The captain shook his head and rubbed his tired eyes. He had not been sleeping because of that case.
“That’s the point and precisely why we did not send you undercover on this before,” he told her while she flashed him her innocent smile.
Unfortunately, for him, Jared, who was the best in these types of missions was still on a medical parole for depression.
“I can be subdued, Cap.”
“Right,” he responded sarcastically while the other detectives rolled their eyes. Jade was the department’s hot head, who did not mind starting a fight with anyone.
“Ready boys?” Jade asked and Detective Luther took them through the plan over again. They all knew their roles.
The team would be able to hear everything through the plastic water resistant nano-mic deeply inserted into Jade’s ear, but they would not be able to help much once she was out there. She would pretty much have to fend for herself. She could not afford to make any mistakes.
“Are…are we sure about this? I mean it’s Jade, Cap,” Detective Rick Mosley asked.
“Fuck you, Mosley! I can do my job and be professional!” Jade hissed at Rick, but he continued.
“You broke the warlord’s jaw! The department is still under scrutiny for using aggressive force on a prisoner,” he reminded her. He and Jade clashed a lot. He was the smart geek and the spoiled brat of the department. Everyone let him be, except Jade. He and she had their fair share of fights.
“For the hundredth time, that bastard was stupid enough to fall on my fist. Didn’t you read the document?” Jade asked, already irritated.
“No one likes this, but kids are dying from Fog everyday. Jade is pretty much our last hope. So, everyone, just stop with your doubts or keep them to yourselves,” Captain Snow ended the brawl with a firm voice.
“Yes, Cap,” they all responded in unison.
“I don’t have to remind you how important and dangerous this is, Colins.”
“Yes, Cap,” Jade responded. She had no delusions about the mission. One mistake, she knew that she would be dead and she had no intentions of dying before meeting the man who would succeed at sweeping her off her feet.
A few minutes later, Jade pulled up at the parking lot near the skate park. She secured her motorbike in place and tied her black curly hair into a ponytail. Pulling out her skateboard, she headed to the park only to find it deserted.
Their intel told them that Ryan and Timothy should be there today. They were the small fishes she needed to get close to in order to get to the top.
“They are late Colins. Take one circle around the block,” Luther suggested, his loud voice in her ear startling her.
“Not so loud! You will burst my eardrum for heaven’s sake!” Jade snapped before doing as suggested and returned to find their targets there. She rode her skateboard towards the two vigilant men who were pretending to be talking while scanning the place around for law enforcement officers.
“Hey lady, the park is closed,” Timothy shouted when Jade skated past them.
“No, it’s not,” she responded and continued skating past them. A strong hand grabbed her arm and spun her around.
“My friend just told you that the park is closed, now hit it,” Ryan commanded with a deep threatening voice.
“There she goes again,” Rick cried.
“The guy did grab her,” Beth came to her rescue.
“Even so, she needs to make friends with those guys in order to get into the syndicate. That’s the plan,” Rick continued while Jade blocked them out and focused on the two guys in front of her.
Ryan hesitated, his tall seventy kilograms of pure muscle body, and the ugly scar below his left eye usually intimidated and scared the crap out of most people, but he saw no fear in Jade’s eyes.
“You have guts,” he declared, impressed, and letting go of her hand.
“I know how to survive, and protect myself,” Jade responded, her eyes still blazing.
“Is that why you were at Pelly?” Ryan asked. He was very observant. He noticed the tattoo at the back of her neck when he swung her around. Even though she tried concealing it with a rose over it, the blue ink from the Pellidon prison otherwise known as Pelly was still visible to those who knew it.
Jade looked away “None of your business. I am not looking for trouble. I’m just here to blow off some steam,” she said, intentionally changing the subject.
“We are expecting friends. Give us no trouble, none will come to you,” Ryan warned.
“Sure,” Jade replied before getting on her skateboard and pivoting into a three hundred and sixty kick-flip.
Ryan and Timothy watched her ride the skateboard around the park with curiosity, each one of them with a different agenda. Jade made skateboarding look so effortless. Her well toned, obviously fit and sexy body seemed one with the board. Her black curled hair that was tied into a ponytail was swinging sideways as the wind blew on it, revealing the red rose tattoo on the back of her neck Ryan had spotted earlier.
“Continue doing that. They are looking,” Luther informed her.
Jade rode around the park a multiple times, completely aware of the eyes on her before turning back to the two men again. “If any of your friends are looking for help, besides prostitution, point them my way,” she said.
“That’s a pity, you would have a lot of customers,” Timothy suggested before taking her in from head to toe.
Jade jumped off her skateboard. Before Timothy could react, she had her hands over his throat, strangling him.
“Fuck you! And if you love your eyes you better stop looking at me like a piece of meat!” she hissed at him.
“Hey, hey. My friend meant no offence. It was a compliment,” Ryan intervened, pealing her hands off Timothy’s neck.
Timothy bent over, coughing uncontrollable. “You are crazy!” he exclaimed with a hoarse voice.
At the state department, Rick shook his head and threw his hands on the air. Jade had just assaulted one of the syndicate members instead of making friends with them.
“I can’t believe that I agree with that scumbag. She is really crazy. I don’t know what we were even thinking sending her to this mission,” he cried, while Captain Snow stared blankly at park footage and his department’s last hope.
“We might have a job for you.”
Ryan shocked his friend with his statement. Timothy was not alone in his shock. All the detectives at the state department exchanged looks, shocked.
Jade narrowed her eyes at Ryan.
“Oh, yeh? What kind of a job?” she asked, looking suspiciously at him.
“Waitress with some side job.”
“Are you insane? You can’t hire her. She is crazy!” Timothy exclaimed, still holding his painful neck.
“Come on, Tim. She’s fierce, that’s good for business, and she won’t need a bodyguard,” Ryan insisted.
“Look, I’m desperately looking for anything, but no prostitution,” Jade said, but careful not to sound desperate.
“No prostitution, I promise. Let’s meet tomorrow morning at Cruz Tours café. We open at seven sharp,” Ryan suggested.
“I will be there,” Jade replied before skating to her motorbike and riding off.
“I can’t believe that you just offered that psycho a job!” Timothy exclaimed in disbelief.
“She will be good for business.”
“How so?”
Timothy could not imagine how hiring such a hothead would be good for their side business.
“She is obviously hot. She will fit in perfectly at the cafe. That will even bring more customers. That tattoo on her neck from Pelly she trying to cover is proof that she is not a fed. With her looks, no cop will ever suspect her of anything. The cherry on top is that she is fierce, no asshole will mess with her either. She is perfect,” Ryan explained to his friend.
“If you say so.”
“Oh, come on, Tim. Besides the fact that you can’t screw her, you know that I am right.”
“Fine, hire her,” Timothy conceded.
All the detectives shook their head. Planting Jade was embarrassingly easy. What normally took the team weeks and even months had only taken Jade thirty minutes.
“You are crack and pompous, but very efficient Colins,” Rick admitted.
“Ncooaw. You love me Mosley,” she teased him.
“No flirting on a job,” Captain Snow warned, making both of them gag.
“My intel tells me that Mr Cruz will be at RED tonight. You might want to go clubbing,” Luther suggested to Jade. He was one of the few level headed detectives and very experienced.
RED was a famous night club where the who’s and wannabes of the country hung out.
“I guess I need a sexy billionaire-capturing attire for the occasion. Someone say shopping!” Jade exclaimed.
“Nothing extra. The department is not paying for anything above budget,” Captain Snow said firmly.
“But, Cap, how do I impress a crooked billionaire with a hundred dollars cheap attire?” Jade complained but Captain Snow was not very easily coerced.
“You will make it work, Collins. Defy me and I will deduct it from your salary,” he warned, knowing her too well.
