On The Grind

Chapter 26

"Leave your car here. We're gonna take a short trip," Alexa said, after Ophelia left. "We've got to go see someone."

"I can't be seen with you."

"Shut up," she said, and kissed me on the mouth. Then she stepped out of the truck and slammed the back door.

I heard her climb into the front seat and a minute later Little Swiss started up and we were rolling. As I sat there, it was very clear to me that I was betting my life on what Agent Love could set up overnight with Century 21. But I needed enough time for my Sammy from Miami ploy to pay off. I doubted if one day was enough. My strategy with Alexa was to take the one day she'd given me, then try to come away with enough good stuff to extend the time frame another one or two days after that.

But Alexa and Ophelia were right. I'd made mistakes in order to save lives. I'd compromised my cover to save Rocky and those twelve Crips. Both women knew I was skidding around on bullshit.

My best choice was to stay the course and see where I was when the clock ran out.

We drove for another twenty minutes and then the truck stopped and the engine shut off. Alexa opened the back door and said, "Follow me."

When I climbed out of the truck, I realized immediately we were at the beautiful Malibu Beach Inn, a swank contemporary luxury hotel located on a strip of beach known as "Billionaire's Beach." Because it was situated in an exclusive enclave, the hotel afforded its guests a good deal of privacy.

I followed Alexa to Room 26. She opened the door with a key from her purse and led me inside. The suite was gorgeous and had a private balcony with expansive ocean views.

Then I saw him. Chooch was standing in the room, leaning against the wall, looking very tall, handsome and uncomfortable.

"Tell him," Alexa said.

"The chief-"

"Forget the chief," she interrupted. "This isn't his family that's getting destroyed. It's ours. Tell him."

"Tell me what?" Chooch asked, obviously still in the dark about what was going on, not sure why his mother had asked him to meet us here.

Alexa had realized that it would be stronger coming from me so she hadn't told him any of it yet. But I couldn't speak. I just stood there.

"Your father didn't do any of the things they said he did," she finally blurted. "It was all faked with my approval. He's gone undercover in Haven Park and he's down there risking his life to expose a corrupt police department and city government. I won't take the chance that he could be killed without having the opportunity to set things straight with you in person." She had a very determined look on her face.

"I'll wait in the other room," she said.

I took my son out onto the balcony. The surf was breaking on the cliffside rocks, frothing in the landscape lights from the hotel deck above us. I told Chooch everything that had happened — how we'd set up the sting. I explained that I'd never even met Tiffany Roberts, and why we had been instructed by Chief Filosiani to keep him in the dark.

"I would have never said anything, Dad," Chooch said after I finished. I could tell that our lack of trust in him badly hurt his feelings.

"How could they believe that I'd risk your life over stuff like that?" he said.

"Because they don't know you."

After a while I saw a sad look descend on him. "I'm sorry for what I said, Dad."

He stood up and reached out to me. We hugged each other, locked in a long, silent embrace.

"You know something funny?" I said after we finally parted. "I'd have been very disappointed if you'd acted any other way."

Alexa joined us on the balcony ten minutes later and we talked about everyday, unimportant stuff. What was happening at USC, what courses his girlfriend, Del, was taking. It was great to be able to leave Haven Park behind for a little while. We told each other how happy we were to be a family again.

"You can never tell anyone about this. Not even Del," Alexa cautioned Chooch. "Not until this is all finished and the department releases the truth."

"Do you think there's anything that would make me risk Dad's life? Are you kidding, Mom? I'd die first."

And I knew that's exactly what he would do.

An hour later, when Chooch left, Alexa and I made love. I'd felt so empty these last days, so without hope, that the act of our lovemaking filled me, cleansed me, made me reborn again. Afterward we went out onto the balcony and sat holding hands.

"You remember when we were in Aruba, that other time you were undercover going after bad cops?" Alexa reminded me.

"Sure, I thought I'd lost you."

She was referring to the case we worked several years ago, before we were married. I'd been undercover working the black market peso exchange where Fortune 500 companies were using their products to launder Colombian drug money. To set my cover, I had been asked by six rogue cops running the scam to shoot Alexa as my loyalty test. We had set up an elaborate hit where Alexa was wearing a Kevlar vest. I pulled the trigger, but didn't know that the rogue cops had put armor-piercing bullets in my gun. For two weeks, I thought I'd killed her. It plunged me into a deep depression. But we'd both survived.

"I'm trying to tell myself that this isn't anywhere near as bad as that," she said, smiling at me. "If we could get through that, we can get through anything."

But Alexa hadn't been down in Haven Park. She hadn't seen the way things worked there. Tow tickets, protection rackets, and extortion. Murder was just another dish on the cafeteria line.

As I sat holding her hand, watching the waves explode in foam grenades against the craggy rocks below, I wondered if we would be able to survive again.