2019-09-28 - Threat Level Midnight

It is a beautiful morning on the boardwalk. Last night's rain has given way to a partially-cloudy day full of beauty and bright sunlight. Gulls are just beginning to soar offshore, looking for crabs who are coming home a bit late. Businesses are beginning to open. People are just starting to come out for the day, mostly joggers and dog-walkers and early-morning types.

Everything still smells fresh and wet, like the world has been scrubbed clean. Puddles abound here and there, and the boardwalk retains a damp feeling that, thanks to the chill in the Autumn air, will not turn hot and muggy later in the day as it slowly evaporates.

One Tessa Chen sits at an outdoor coffee stand, experiencing it's last days before it closes up for the season as people simply don't wish to sit outside on cold-ass days. There's a little awning that goes over a collection of picnic tables for patrons of the shop, and the young teen with braces and freckles behind the counter is always friendly, with big smiles and fresh coffee at the ready, even if she sometimes gets the orders wrong and mixes up the blends.

It's where Sarah Stevens has asked Chen to meet her. She has BIG info. Huge. The kind of case that just falls into their lap. Drugs, lots of them, they're going to meet up, do some investigating, and then bring this case in to get the green light to bring some scumbags down. The most surprising thing about the text is how business-like it is, with none of Sarah's usual chatterboxing involved. Maybe she's actually taking this a bit seriously?

But if thaaaaaaat's the case, then what is taking her so long to arrive? Stevens is nowhere in sight and Tess has been waiting fifteen minutes already. That's long enough to observe all of the other patrons here. All... both of them.

There's a little old lady with a very small dog who keeps yapping. Looks like she probably doesn't get out of the house much. She chats with the coffee shop employee and the very large man who is petting her very small dog.

The enormous man seems to have melted at the sight of the 'spaniel, scritching behind his ears after asking what his name was and if he could pet them. He's all smiles, a bit rough-hewn around the edges with a stubbly face, vaguely Hispanic-looking, and didn't even seem to mind when the young lady got his order wrong the first time. He glances Chen's way with that same dog-loving smile and gives her a little nod of acknowledgement as if to say...

'Yes, I see you, too, know the beauty of canines and their magnificent allure. I am like you, you see. We are the same. I, too, love dogs, and we are superior.'

A quick check of the phone reveals no new messages since 4:41AM when Stevens asked Chen to meet her here at 8:30 SHARP!

Tessa walks about the streets of Gray Harbor with a faint smile to her lips. She is friends with the rain. They both clean the streets of filth, and get people down. She gets the rain. Moreover, it is the 4th. What a beautiful day to be alive. In her hand she has a very patriotic cap for Stevens, a little goof she wouldn't do to someone else, as she arrives by the coffee shop.

Stevens being late doesn't raise alarms. Stevens can't take anything seriously. Tessa walks into the coffee shop and readily starts chatting with the patrons. She loves family businesses, and has the good pratice of actually knowing her city's people. Tessa can actually be somewhat friendly to the good, decent people if they know how to handle the cop.

Work hard, no pigs in a blanket, no anarchy or communism talk, and she is mostly fine with you.

As Sarah doesn't show up, however, Chen thins her lips in a line. She doesn't text, but Tessa calls Sarah a few times before she notices the man eyeballing her. It takes her longer than usual, fooled by his dog-loving ways, but eventually the Chinese-American woman goes into alarm mode.

here the FUCK is Sarah?

She smiles at him, giving the armed now-suspect a disarmingly cute smile, before going back into the line. Tessa takes her time, but things click in her head, and by the time she has counted to three, her inner Charles Bronson has already reached Death Wish 3 levels of not giving a fuck.

Patient she is not. She has never been, and will never be. Tessa is fast in grabbing the gun, and lacking all the chill in the world, the thing is already pointed at her target. "On your knees now," she hisses, eyeing outside, before staring back at the man. For effect, she undoes any safeties or cocks the hammer back.

"You are going to be playing a very short game of 'Where the FUCK is my partner'! You don't want to answer wrong, trust me." Tessa, to her credit, does look a little maniacal as she points her gun at the man.

Please, God, do not let Sarah walk into the coffee shop right now with her dumbass smile going 'Oops, late again'. Tessa's career can't take another complaint about her performance right now.

It's weird. Every time Tessa calls, Sarah's phone goes to voicemail after ringing a few times. The first time she does it, a phone vibrating nearby can be heard. The second and third times, it's coming from somewhere in the Teenager, Old Lady, Large Man trifecta. Each time the vibrations are perfectly coinciding with the phone calls Tess makes. Three guesses which one it is.

The gun is in Chen's hand in a blink, the man just starting to react by the time it's pointed at his face where he crouches. The Freckle Face the Teen screams and drops a glass. The little old lady clutches her pearls and backs away, gasping and pulling her yapping dog with her. The male seems surprised, but not as concerned as someone with a gun in their face should be.

"Of course, Detective Tessa Chen." The man's accent is tinged with a bit of an accent from somewhere south of the border. He touches his knees to the pavement, his smile both condescending and, given the situation, maybe a little suicidal. "I am here to take you to her."

Well that's suspiciously helpful. Thankfully for the policewoman's career, no blondes come walking up flashing a Hollywood smile while taking off her sunglasses. It's just the three of them- two of them now, with the little old lady hurrying away as fast as possible.

"But I will be needing my gun back. And yours. Precautions, you understand." He indicates his pilfered weapon with his eyes. "Or you can shoot me in the street, in front of witnesses, and Detective Sarah Stevens will never be found again. You let me know."

Tessa knew it.

She fucking knew it.

As her name comes out of that mouth, the Chinese-American isn't afraid for her, but for Sarah. Presses the gun to the man's head, and for a moment the hotheaded cop feels like squeezing. If not for that God damned dimpled smile, she might have. Alas, the man has her dead to rights.

She breathes slowly. She can't fuck this up now. Sarah's life hangs in balance, and they know way too much about her for the Texan cop to go on a rampage of vengeance to get her back.

Tessa yells in frustration and takes the ammo from the man's gun, and pops the one in the chamber out if needed. She shoves it in her pockets, and gives him both guns.

"What is your play here? If you have her, you know that killing a cop would be bad for business. Just let her go." Tessa manages to make her pleas sound like demands, it is a really unique thing, especially when she has all the power disadvantages in the world. Still, her words pack an edge to them.

Still, she follows, and now almost shoves the man out of the establishment, in a hurry. For all her nononsense, Tessa cannot help but show she wants her fellow officer in safety as fast as possible, and that it is affecting her judgment.

"The best thing for y'all right now would be to just scamper and let this disappear." Tessa is still frowning mightly. She is not used to risking other peoples' lives with her boneheaded ways. She can't act like she usually would!

The smile widens, smug and condescending as the gun is lowered. The man slowly gets to his feet, in no way moving threateningly, or even appearing hostile. Even his tone is cordial, gentle. Quiet. Too calm. He is a professional.

The gun is taken, as is the second one, one is tucked back into his inside-the-belt holster. The other into the back of his jeans. He smiles and starts to hold out a hand for Tess to walk out first, until she starts shoving him out. He holds up his hands as if the woman has a gun to his back, and walks out ahead of Chen, leaving a very frightened braces-wearing teenager to call her manager and ask what she should do about people waving guns around.

The walk down the boardwalk is brief, and the nameless man does nothing to draw attention to them. They approach a gray SUV with illegally-tinted windows, in front of which stand two more men. Both wear polo shirts and khakis, both of Hispanic descent. One is short, stocky, and balding. Permanent squint and a scowl. The other is skinny, average height, dark hair in a ponytail and a goatee, wearing sunglasses.

As they approach, Chen is pushed against the side of the vehicle in a manner she's all too familiar with... albeit from the other side. There is a no-nonsense frisk that happens next, and it is obvious the men are experienced. If she has a backup weapon, it is confiscated. So is her phone. The battery is taken out and thrown into a trashcan.

Two of the men pile into the car. The skinny one drives, the fat one in the passengers seat. The large, cordial fellow holds the door of the back seat open for Tess Chen.

"You are correct, Detective. If you were to be found dead, it would be very bad for business. If a pretty blonde were never found again, well... people vanish all the time, si? Come, we just wish to have a chat. Get in the car."

Tessa stares at Stocky and Skinny, and she makes it clear just with her stare that she doesn't care for them, and that she would fuck them up if she could. Alas, she can't, and the non-nonsense frisk is taken in stride. You don't get this far in law enforcement minding that sort of shit.

Her cellphone's battery is taken out. She doesn't care. Her backup weapon she does, but these are the rules of the game. what can she do now, anyways? A sentiment of dread nests in her stomach fast, however, as she cannot figure out these peoples' angles. What do they want with her and Stevens?

When prompted, Tessa walks inside.

"Feigned etiquette doesn't make you any more civilized," she lets out, annoyed at the polite behavior of the man. IT is unlike the incompetent yelling at each other, we should off this bitch talk she is more used to. This is purposeful, which makes it all the worse.

Alas, there she goes, sitting down and staring ahead, visibly angry. "This is the Fourth. People have places to be and they will notice our disappearance, I tell you that right now. So why don't you tell me what is going on and we can get this over with? I know you are not going to off any pretty white blonde if you can help it."

And that lays the issue, tobe sure. Tessa isn't a corrupt cop, and when presented with the opportunity to risk her life or go dirty, she chose the first. That was her life, though. Easy to gamble.

"For someone who claims to be willing to talk, you haven't said much of anything yet at all."

"Oh, now, of course it does." Laughs the man as he enters the car behind her. Things probably get far more alarming when the car starts moving and fatty turns around and points a gun at her from the front see, with a crooked-toothed sneer on his face. That's probably more of the incivility she's used to. There's no silencer on the pistol. They probably aren't going to use it unless she tries something. Not here in the middle of town, just leaving the boardwalk.

"Now, now. All this talk of pretty dead girls is somewhat depressing. I am not the one to talk to. You will meet him soon enough."

They begin to head north as Very Large Man produces a pair of ziptie cuffs to put over Tessa Chen's wrists, and then a black bag for her head. She could probably fight them, but in the tight confines of the vehicle, outnumbered, no weapons, it'd be a very dicey proposition.

The rest of the ride takes about half an hour, during which the men ignore what she has to say and speak in Spanish. Eventually the car rocks to a stop. A window rolls down, she can hear other men talking with those inside the car. More Spanish. The car moves again, but only for a minute or two, then stops. Parking. They are wherever they were going.

The car door opens and a rough pair of hands grab her, hauling her out of the vehicle. Something impacts the back of her head, then darkness.

...

Tessa comes to with water being splashed over her face. It runs down the bag and clogs her nostrils, triggering her drowning reflex. She's reclined, held down arms and legs by rough hands as someone pours water over the cloth covering her nose and mouth.

"How much do you know, huh? How long have you been investigating us!?" A harsh, gravelly voice screams at her. She doesn't have time to answer before the water comes again. It's not much, but it gags and chokes and makes her cough, sputter, and panic wants to rip out of her as the waterboarding continues. "What do you have on us?! Huh? What do you have, Pig!? Is FBI involved?"

Tessa may be tough, but she still has never been waterboarded. IF she could rank it, that would be absolutely up there in the lowest points of her life, as she struggles against the peopel drowning her and coming up short, having to endure their barbarism.

She sputters loudly, spits out water, just to have it doused all over he rface again. It is never ending from her perspective, and Tessa can feel her lungs burn after a while, sure she is going to drown and hyperventilate at the same time. The feeling is terrifying but admist all of that, she yells out and screams like a mad woman, trashing.

"WE GOT NOTHING ON YOU, YOU SICK FUCKS!"

She would much rather know something else, and tell them to their face she is not saying shit, but again, Sarah is somehwere, needing her help. So she is honest, with criminals, which is really something that hurts the soul.

She trashes and tries to avoid the water every time, and much to her credit, Tessa Chen is one tough mo fo. She doesn't break, and she keeps it consistent. She doesn't know shit, and there is nothing, yet. IT is easy when it is the truth.

Thankfully she knows Stevens hasn't been working alone on this for too long. She would have noticed, so the information sounds sincere. If Chen had to lie, she would be absolutely fucked.

Of course, she throws 'I'll kill you's and 'You are going to regret this's here and there, lacking the proper self control not to. Still, her answers are pretty clear. This is a budding thing.

"You lie! You lie and you will tell us, or you will begin to miss pieces of yourself!"

The gravelly voice threatens as more water comes. Such miniscule amounts, but they elicit the worst kind of reaction. The worst kind of panic. But Chen is one tough motherfucker, and she doesn't break. She doesn't wine or beg or plead, she doesn't ask them to stop. They get nothing out of her, if there was anything to get at all.

It's unclear how long it goes on for, but eventually no more water comes. Instead, the slight body of the exhausted detective is hoisted up, carried somewhere. She can see the variations in light as she's taken to another room and thrown roughly into a chair. It is uncomfortable, made of thin cushion over metal. She can feel the zipcuffs being attached to something, the arm of the chair. The chair is bolted to the floor. The wet bag isn't removed from over her head, but she can breath now. She can recover.

"This is one tough puta. Almost a shame!" There is laughter, and then more Spanish. The sounds of voices retreating. A metal door slams shut, and the voices and footsteps recede.

There's movement in the room, and then a scuffle. Murmuring. No, not murmuring, a muffled voice. Someone trying to talk through something. Wood clatters on concrete. More muffled talking, more scuffling. A voice that sounds paniced, and feminine, coming not far from her.

Bound by her wrists to one arm of the chair, the damned thing bolted into concrete, a bag over her head, while muffled screeching sounds from nearby, what is Tessa to do?

When Tessa is dumped somewhere and bound on a chair, she is still sputtering, kicking weakly at whoever is binding her. She curses weakly, dizzy and really unable to do much but be locked in place. Although she is light-headed, and still coughing, Tessa takes her time to breathe and get her bearings back.

The voice, she hopes, belongs to Sarah, so the first provision is to take the bag off her head. How Chen does it, of course, is by trying to break from he rbonds first. She growls and yells and tries but she can't. FUCK!

Slowly, she breathes. Sarah doesn't sound in any immediate danger. Okay, this means Tessa can think. She can stop and think for a god damn moment. She bends down, and slowly manages to take the bag off her face. Her eyes squint, adjusting to the light, and she finds the blonde there.

No time for hugs and kisses right now, though. Giving Sarah a quick look, she tries to assess if the blonde is okay, but soon enough Chen is is in full cop mode trying to find something to break them free with. Sarah's chair seems weaker, and immediately Chen thinks of breaking it.

"Come to me, Sarah," she whispers in a raspy voice, looking around for other, better ideas that do not involve destroying a chair with another cop bound to it.

Sarah Stevens is indeed there, bound to a wooden chair by her wrists and feet. She's barefoot, still wearing the same jeans and t-shirt she was last night. There's an abrasion on her head, a bruise and some swelling around one eye, and she has a split lip. Either she did not go quietly, or she was roughed up once she got here. There's a bit of blood on her shirt. Tape is placed over her mouth, preventing her from speaking.

As Tessa orders her to come closer, the blonde glances around, before nodding, and then muffles some words. She rocks, back and forth, back and forth... until she's balancing forward, on her tip-toes. It is... NOT easy. Not at all.

And yet, inch by inch, hop by hobble, she makes her way closer to the other detective, panic and worry and relief in her eyes until she rocks back on her heels, the chair legs now planted back on the ground, within just a couple feet of the Asian supercop.

Looking around, there isn't much. They're in a pretty bar room, twenty by thirty feet, maybe. Some windows way up, too high to see out of, or even reach. There's a pipe along one wall, and it all seems to be corrugated metal and concrete, with a drain in the floor and brown stains around it. Likely a warehouse or storage facility somewhere. Maybe an abandoned factory.

But there, off to the side, is a piece of bent metal with a jagged edge that might make a good makeshift knife. It's just out of reach of Tessa's feet, but there's a strip of cloth under it she can reach with her foot if she twists and contorts juuuust right. It won't be easy.

There isn't much time to waste. While Sarah tiptoes closer, drawing Chen's eyes to her every now and then, the Chinese-Americna woman summons her inner MacGuyver to bring that very nifty piece of bent metal to her. It takes her surprisingly few tries to get it right, and soon enough Tessa has it.

Holding it firmly in her own hands, the Texan proceeds to eye Sarah from up close. There is no time to get angry over the roughhousing Sarah took, just that they need to flee.

Breaking Sarah's chair is harder than it looks, at first, but soon enough the thing crumbles, and Tessa is leaning in to hand the pipe to the blonde, offering her ziplined wrists up.

"Cut them off, Sarah. Hurry. We need to get out of here as fast as we can. They know our names, they know everything." She eyes sarah for a moment, not judging the blonde (wow) for probably giving up information on them. Tessa barely resisted the waterboarding, how could Sarah?

With both hopefully free, the question becomes how to leave. Tessa isn't a fan of fighting through cartel goons with guns to get Sarah to safety, so the order of the day si finding out a way out and, hopefully, a vehicle to leave in.

"Sarah," she whispers, helping that tape off the blonde's mouth, "Do you know if they have a car or thing we can use to leave? Do you know where we are?" THe discussion about 'Why the fuck were you investigating alone' comes later.

Getting the rusty metal into her hand is a true feet of martial engineering. But with her Bruce Lee skills and a few tries, she manages to kick it up and into the grasp of her fingers, without even cutting herself!

Sarah's chair proves somewhat stubborn, and the first kick just makes it, and the woman tied to it, topple over. Sarah gives a muffled curse and GLARES at her fellow cop. But the second kick does the trick, causing the piece of furniture to splinter into about a billion pieces. A few moments of struggling, and Detective Hollywood is getting to her feet and ripping the tape off her mouth.

"Tess, thank fucking God you're okay! I heard them say they were going after you. Are you hurt? Fucking, they're getting the okay from their boss to kill us and dump our bodies out of state!" Sarah talks fast, talks low, cutting at the other detective's bonds. "They think we were on to them or something, grabbed me while I was arresting some low-life fucking drug-peddler at the gas station."

Mistaken identity? Doesn't matter. They're in very real danger right now.

She shakes her head. "These aren't low-level goons. This shit goes back to Mexico. The Sinoloa." She grins, though it makes her split lip ache, as Tess' wrists go free. "Nobody ever expects the white girl to speak Spanish. Or maybe they just figured we weren't gonna live long enough anyway, they're pretty open talking about their shit."

"They have vehicles outside. We need to get keys and a phone. Let someone know where we are. We're still in town, that's all I know."

Sarah looks up, around, handing the metal back to Tessa once she's free. A sound outside the door makes her look towards it. "S-Shit! Can't reach the windows. Just here, hold these like you're still tied down! Distract them when they come in!" Sarah presses the zipcuffs back into the Asian's hands, before she scrambles to hide behind the door, unbuckling her belt and holding it in both hands, looping one end through to make a makeshift garrote out of it.

Everything is in place to attempt The Great Escape if Tessa agrees with her plan and doesn't have any ideas of her own...