You’ll find that we’re not alone.  But having seen who we’re sharing all of it is with, you’ll wish we were.

 

You’ll wish we were.

 

Those were the words that ran through Sean’s mind as he and his Unit partner of five years, Carlos Garza, waited on a little scab of beach just off the main highway. Sean’s eyes were trained on the ocean, searching for the telltale ruby red running lights of certain sleek speedboats.  A week after the nameless boy had died in the hospital, Sean had finally gotten a break.  A long-time snitch had whispered in his ear that the Powder came in by water in cigarette boats.  A huge shipment was said to be coming in that night.  Sean, along with four other members of the Unit, were here as part of the sting.

 

Sean glanced over to his right at Carlos.  They were posing as tourists enjoying a sunset.  Carlos was wearing shorts and a garish Hawaiian print shirt.    He looked like a colorful party balloon.  Sean couldn’t help the grin that flashed over his handsome, angular face at the thought.

 

“Can you see Lily and Rob?” Carlos asked, rolling the ‘r’ in Rob’s name.

 

Sean casually raised the binoculars to his eyes as though he were watching the seagulls feed.  “Yeah, looks like they’re right on target.  Check out the fishing boat about a mile north of us.”

 

Sean passed the binoculars to his partner.  Without them, he could barely make out the bright splash of color of Lily’s wide-brimmed hat made against the slate gray water.   His eyes skipped over to his left towards the long jutting pier where their Lieutenant, Michael Branish, was running the operation. Branish had just taken over control of the Unit four months earlier after the Unit’s former leader, Jack McCarthy, had unexpectedly retired.

 

Branish was as different from McCarthy as night to day.  Where McCarthy had been a slap-you-on-the-back, let’s-get-a-beer kind of guy, Branish was more distant, aloof and almost cold.  Yet I’m sure the Lieutenant knows more about us than Jack ever did.  Branish watches.  Always.  Then he acts and it’s as if he can read your mind.

 

Sean could almost feel those sharp gray eyes on him at that moment.  He knew for as much as the older man would be surveying the crowd on the pier, the Lieutenant would spend just as much time watching Sean.  From the start, Branish had fixated on him in a way that made Sean feel like prey.  It wasn’t leering.  It was an intense, all-absorbing gaze that sought to freeze Sean in place and consume him.  At first, the rest of the Unit ribbed Sean that Branish had a crush on him.  Only Carlos had stopped the teasing after awhile and actually tried to shield Sean from the Lieutenant’s view.  But not even Carlos knew the full truth about what Branish wanted from him.

 

Thankfully, Branish’s desires hadn’t stopped the Lieutenant from listening to Sean’s suggestions on the job.  The older man had agreed to the beach stakeout even though it seemed an unlikely spot for the drop.  Sean’s instincts were legendary and only a stupid man would ignore them.  And Branish wasn’t stupid.

 

Sean was like a magnet and the bad guys were his true North.  He was drawn to them, to trouble, to danger.  It had always been that way.  And this night, the Unit was relying more on Sean’s instincts than ever before because of the lack of intel on the drug and its purveyors.  No one knew how the Powder’s sellers would react to being caught.  A shootout or a request for lawyers?  The Powder was so volatile, so dangerous, that Sean believed that those who sold it had to be just as treacherous as their product.

 

Sean met Carlos’ dark gaze.  His partner winked at him and grinned, his white teeth glowing against the golden brown of his skin.  The exhaustion and fear that had fueled Sean for a week since the boy’s death receded a bit and he found himself relaxing in his partner’s warm presence.

 

“Sean, don’t you think we’re sticking out here a bit?  Who’s going to stop at this section of beach with us hanging out?” Carlos asked sotto voce.

 

“Maybe you’re right,” Sean answered, but his instincts told him that they should stay put.

 

“I mean this beach is isolated enough for a drop off, but with us around aren’t they going to stay away?”

 

“You’d think.” Sean shrugged

 

“Yet we’re not moving.” Carlos’ voice was lit with his mischievous smile.

 

“Nope.”

 

“You are one damn strange gringo.” Carlos chuckled.

 

“Strange is the only way to be,” Sean said.  He couldn’t help the sideways glance he gave towards the pier at that moment.

 

“Branish can’t see us.  He’s too far away,” Carlos said, his big face drawing down into a frown.

 

“He’s got binoculars,” Sean said, too casually, as he turned back to stare out at the water.

 

“You should tell somebody about him.  Or maybe I should,” Carlos said.

 

“What would we say?  That the Lieutenant looks at me too much?  That would go over brilliantly.”  He added silently to himself, And there’s no way I’ll ever tell anyone what he did do.

 

Carlos’ hands fisted in the blanket they were sitting on.  “If you were a woman and he looked at you like that, tried to get close to you like that, there’d be no question about what was going down!  It’s sexual harassment or something!”

 

Sean sighed.  “I’m a big boy, Carlos, I can handle myself.”

 

His partner bit his lower lip before he asked, “Have you heard the rumors about him?”

 

Sean shook his head. “What rumors?”

 

“They’re saying that McCarthy was pushed out.  That someone way high up sent Branish in to take over the Unit,” Carlos said.

 

“And you want me to report him when you’re hearing that?” Sean asked with a bitter laugh.  Carlos hung his head. “Who brought Branish in?  The Commissioner?”

 

“No, not him.  Someone higher.  Maybe one of those richer-than-god mother-fuckers on the Hill with federal connections,” Carlos nearly spat out the words.

 

The Hill was the wealthiest section of Winter Haven, which in itself was something of an accomplishment, considering the wealth in this city exceeded some nation’s GDPs.

 

“But why?  Why would someone bring him into the Unit?” Sean asked.

 

Carlos shrugged his big, rounded shoulders.  “No idea, mi amigo.  But all I can say is that when you get the attention of those wealthy Hill bastards things are bound to go bad.  And the Unit’s getting a lot of attention these days."

 

Carlos went quiet suddenly shifting his weight from side-to-side as he gave Sean guilty looks.

 

“There something more you want to ask me?  About the Lieutenant?” Sean asked.

 

“Some of the guys around the station are saying,” Carlos began then swallowed and looked away.

 

“For fuck’s sake, Carlos, what is it?”

 

“They noticed how the Lieutenant is around you and there’s this – ah – rumor that you’re batting for the other team,” Carlos said, softly.

 

“Are you asking me if I’m gay or are you just telling me that other people think I am?” Sean asked, his voice going cold.

 

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