It wasn't every day Officer Dykstra needed sunshine. He usually carried it with him everywhere he went with that bright, charming grin of his. His sunbleached blonde hair with the slight curl to it, and his tan skin showed he looked more surfer than a cop. Paired with his usual friendly and flirty attitude it was hard to think he could ever have storm clouds.
But today was one of those days. There was no news from Andre yet, and as his handler, Bryce was getting antsy. He hoped Lisette Reyez would have good news for him, and cheer him up a bit. But first...
One did not just walk into Lisette Reyez's lair empty-handed. Not if you wanted her to like you that is. So, Bryce was showing up with gifts. Some fru-fru girly drink he could barely pronounce (though he never forgot) for the lady, and black coffee for him. Depending on the news his Baby Girl had to tell him, he'd even share a donut with her. Complete with sprinkles.
He followed the sound of loud Spanish pop music down the hallway of the lab floor. Dressed in his usual jeans, old school vans, and a blue t-shirt. His hair was still rumpled from bed this morning that he brushed with his fingers.
He rounded the doorway to the lab, blue eyes searching for her. Once he found her, his signature grin spread across his face as he juggled the drinks and brown baggy to turn the volume down on her speakers. "Special Delivery for the love of my life." He declared, moving further into the lab.
Lisette turned from her computer with a raised brow toward the automatic door as it whooshed open, but her expression brightened immediately when she saw it was her favorite human sunshine coming in first thing in the morning.
"Buenos dias, cariño,"she sang out, hitting send on the email before turning fully to take the cups from him and set them on the counter so she could hug him. What a nice way to start her morning--an iced caramel macchiato with a triple shot, sweet foam, and extra caramel drizzle and her very dearest friend. Caffeine and love: the things that made her world go round.
There was just one problem.
"Now," she started, face turning faux-stern as she drew back from him and crossed her arms and tapped her sparkling pink fingernails on her arm. "What is it that you need from La Diosa de la Verdad this morning, cariño? Something tells me that my sugar rush comes with strings this morning." She wasn't upset--she actually loved being the source of truth for all things. You could trust science, it never lied--if your results were wrong, it was because you missed something. In her lab, she knew how to have fun, but she also knew she could trust her tools and her brain to solve the crazy puzzles people brought in. There was comfort in that.
Bryce handed the cups over easily enough, tossing the baggy on the counter as well before he met Lisette's hug. Most people would question their co-worker relationships. How it was supposed to be professional, but in their line of work? There was a level of trust you had to have for everyone. They watched your back and you watched theirs. They were Family.
He gave her a squeeze, grinning down at her as she pulled away. "Other then your bright smile to make my day 1000 times better?" He asked. Oh yes, Bryce was a flirt, and there was no one he enjoyed flirting with more then Lisette. He reached over for his own coffee and took a sip from it. Arching a brow at her.
"Do you have anything on what I brought you on my last visit yet?" He asked. He knew she was busy with everyone else, and these test took time, but here was hoping. He gave her a sheepish grin and batted those baby blues at her. Hope showing in his eyes that she'd have something for him.
Lisette rolled her eyes at his insistence that she made his day a thousand times better, but she couldn't help grinning right back at him as she took a sip of her own coffee. Ahh, sweet, sweet energy. So good.
She was almost distracted by her coffee, but she tapped her nose in answer to Bryce's question as she licked a bit of whipped cream off her lip. "Mmm, I do, actually. It's not much, but hey, it's not nothing, hm?" She set her coffee aside and turned to her keyboard, acrylic nails clacking against the keys in a practiced dance.
"So your new guy, the one your guy got the cigarettes from? He's in the system. He's from Mexico, surprise surprise, and he's got a record as long as he is tall. He keeps skating off on charges somehow, probably corruption in la policia, if I had to guess. The big cartels, they have a lot of pull, you know?" She waved her hand vaguely as if filling in the details without dragging on.
"Last three cases? They were rape charges. He got off every time by saying the girls had been drunk and doing drugs, and when he made noise about doing drug tests, the girls dropped the charges." Her nose scrunched as if she'd just smelled something foul as she turned back to Bryce. "The rest are all the usual things from his line of work. Maybe he moved up here to send money home like everyone else? Or maybe these guys have some connections to his old cartel." She shrugged and changed her screen to show a close up photo of the shimmery blue capsules that Andre had given them as well.
"I'm still working on tracking the components on the drugs, figure out where they're sourcing it. Those capsules he gave you are a nasty cocktail of things. I'm sure it would be one hell of a high if you lived, but shit, man, you gotta be alive to feel high."
Last Edit: Jul 15, 2021 23:21:00 GMT by Lisette Reyez
Bryce tried to keep the flash of disappointment off his face. He’d been hoping for something big, but beggars couldn’t be choosers now, could they? At least she had something.
“Hey, I’ll take it.” He told her, crossing his arms over his chest while he sipped his own coffee. Walking up behind her so he could rest his hip on the counter. Watching those long-ass claws, as that’s what they were, clack across the keyboard. Pulling up whatever information she had for him.
“Unfortunately, yeah,” He sighed as she told him about the possibility of corrupt officers. You didn’t want to think about it, but there was always that option. That lingering bit of doubt, that those closest with you were corrupt. Bryce however, like to think his people’s judgment meter was good, and there was nothing bad about those he considered his family in the force.
The mention of rape cases had him tensing, and sat his coffee down, leaning in closer for a better look. So the guy was a sick ole bastard eh? And Andre was going to have to deal with him. Undercover cops did not get nearly as much credit as they deserved, Bryce thought. It was bad enough Andre was sticking his neck out to get Bryce the evidence he needed, but damn.
“Either way, whatever he’s doing here it’s not good,” Bryce murmured. His blue eyes looking at the image of the man. “We got a name?” He asked her. Glancing down at Lisette. He clenched his jaw and gave a firm nod. “Our boy’s time just got shorter.” He sighed. Reaching up to rub his jaw. They couldn’t allow those drugs on the streets. Not if what Lisette said was true. “It’s gonna be a massacre if those get out and circulated.” He growled. Andre’s clock was going to start ticking to find out where the source was coming from, and Bryce suddenly hated being the one to tell him he had to try harder. But if those drugs got out to the public, it wasn’t going to be pretty for anyone. “Possible side effects of the drug?” He asked her. Some drugs, like steroids, gave people feelings of being superhuman or invincible. If they could figure out what the drugs did other than give you the time of your life, it would let them be better prepared for those under its influence.
Post by Lisette Reyez on Jul 15, 2021 23:33:49 GMT
"Yeah, guy is Pedro Suarez. Not exactly unique, unfortunately. He seems to be kind of a muscle/mule crossover. He delivers product to the dealers who are actually selling it the street level." She grabbed a sheet off the printer with the guy's name, photo, and summary, and passed it to Bruce.
"Possible side effects? No no, guaranteed side effects. It's got hallucinogens, a memory loss effect, plus a mixture of stimulants that are likely to make people twitchy and reactive at best, seizures at worst. Like, imagine if you took LSD, a roofie, and meth all at the same time. It's like someone just got bored and decided to fuck around with what was left in the kitchen." She shook her head and took another sip of her coffee.
"I'm guessing that if you take a small dose--one of these pills at a time--you'd be freaking wired, ready to go out and slay dragons and shit. Make the nightclub seem like a religious experience. But if you take more than that, you'll have taken out everybody in your house because you thought that they were the dragons, and then your heart will give out. It's not gentle stuff. Highly addictive ingredients, and a fast crash."
Just thinking about it made her skin crawl. She'd tried some questionable shit in her teen years, and seen people try worse, but this stuff… It was like it was designed to create a body count. She paled, all the sass and fire draining out of her face and posture as she turned to her computer to look over the compounds again.
"Bryce…" she began, slowly, hesitantly, "Can you find out more about this stuff? Like, if they're selling it, or where they're sending it? I just had a thought, and I don't like it. I don't like it at all."
Post by Bryce Dykstra on Jul 22, 2021 23:52:54 GMT
Bryce stored away the name for future reference in his memory banks. Shifting his weight slightly as he stood behind Lisette, and watched her monitors do her bidding, before he took the papers she handed him. Glancing down at Suarez with a with a semi serious face.
A grimace soon appeared on it as she told him there were no guaranteed side effects. He raised his head to look at her as that dread at the situation only grew more. He’d been hoping for good news and here he was essentially getting told he was working against the clock to a time bomb. Way to jinks yourself Brycey.
Hearing what was in the drug just made him clench his jaw. “It’s a suicide pill essentially,” He sighed. Anyone who took it was at risk at ODing and if you lived? How fucked up were you then? He listened to her continue and a thought popped into his head he didn’t want to think about. Her request didn’t make him feel any better. “I’ll see what I can do.” He told her quietly. He set his drink on the counter as well as the papers and crossed his arms over his chest as he widened his stance. “Whatcha thinkin? You don’t think it’s some form of terrorist attack do you? “ He said quietly. Any humor from earlier was completely gone and Bryce fixed her a look that told her to be straight with him. If it was an act of terrorism, it certainly was one way to do it. And cover it. Let people take out themselves in their own drug induced high, but shit man…
"No, not a terrorist attack...at least, not like you'd think. They're individual capsules, not just a mix, you know? If you wanted to add it to a batch of something big, why bother putting it in a casing? It seems more like it's designed to be slipped to someone. Like, one at a time, a specific victim."
She hated the words that were coming out of her mouth, but they made sense. The capsules would be easy to drop into a recipe, or to snap open and pour just the right dose of poison into someone's drink. Problem was, she had no idea why the gang would want something like this. Were they planning to sell it? Or were they going to use it themselves? It didn't make sense without more information.
"Your guy better be careful, Bry... This could be a lot worse than we thought."